Chapter 14
THUNK!
Jake's bolt flew past the man's side and struck the wild dog's left eye perfectly.
"YELP!"
Since it still cried like a dog...
Apparently it had not completely transformed into a magical beast yet.
The wild dog lost control of its momentum and tumbled forward.
The man, who had stood in front of the woman prepared to die, turned around with a delighted expression.
"Move!"
Unfortunately...
What he saw was Jessica's fist.
THUD!
Stars practically flashed around his head.
He collapsed sideways.
Jessica jumped over him and thrust her sword toward the rising beast.
SHUNK!
Unfortunately...
Jessica's sword buried itself in the dog's shoulder.
At the last moment...
The beast moved its head aside.
"Tch."
Jessica let go of the sword lodged in its shoulder.
"Longswords really don't suit me."
She immediately drew a dagger.
Grrrrrrrr...
While Jessica drew her dagger...
The wild dog staggered upright.
A bolt was buried in one eye.
A sword was still sticking from its shoulder.
Yet its aggression had not weakened at all.
Mana had transformed pain into rage.
The wild dog ignored its wounds and prepared to charge.
Jessica immediately moved toward the side of its injured eye.
By moving into the creature's blind spot...
She prevented it from attacking properly.
The beast turned to follow her.
And in doing so...
It failed to notice another attacker.
A second bolt from Jake struck its face.
Unfortunately...
This one missed the eye.
Still...
The new pain caused the beast to violently shake its head.
That was enough.
It lost track of Jessica.
Now!
Jessica darted beneath the monster like lightning.
Her dagger flashed across its neck.
This time...
The blade passed exactly where she wanted.
The artery in its neck burst.
The huge dog collapsed.
"Ugh! Blood got everywhere."
Jessica stared at her stained clothes in frustration.
"This is why I hate daggers."
She grumbled.
"You have to fight right in front of the enemy, so it's the most dangerous."
She looked down at the blood.
"Then there's all this mess... and their disgusting breath."
Jessica sighed.
"I seriously don't know why I ever decided to become a thief."
She had immediately chosen the profession after seeing her childhood friend's talent.
But every time a fight ended with her clothes covered in filth...
She became depressed.
"At least you saved someone's life."
Jake had already driven the wagon closer.
He tried to comfort her.
"Why does your voice sound like that?"
Jessica turned toward him.
"Anyway, thanks to you, it ended easily."
She looked him over.
"You could probably make a living as a mercenary right now."
"The crossbow is basically the only thing I can do."
Jake's voice remained deeper than usual.
"Anyway, I'll leave the rest to you."
He calmed the irritated old horse and began moving ahead.
"Well, I am the mercenary, so handling the aftermath is technically my job..."
Jessica paused.
Then her eyes narrowed.
"Hey! Employer! You're just running away because this is annoying!"
Even when Jessica shouted angrily...
Jake only waved one hand above his head and continued driving.
"Seriously..."
Jessica sighed.
"I picked up such a strange escort job."
The man and woman stared blankly at her.
The woman was hiccupping from shock.
The man's face was already turning blue where Jessica had punched him.
Both were curious what their rescuer would say next.
Jessica smiled.
"All right."
She placed a hand on her hip.
"How much should I charge for saving your lives?"
Everything mercenaries did was ultimately paid work.
The order had become slightly reversed this time.
Still...
Jessica was confident she could collect proper compensation.
Fortunately...
The two people could pay enough to satisfy Jessica.
Jessica was not demanding a large amount.
And the pair possessed something they could offer.
"So that's what you brought back?"
Jake looked toward her.
"A ring?"
"They also had a few copper coins, but that wouldn't even cover the contract fee."
Jake examined the items.
"No matter how I look at it, those don't seem like ordinary rings."
"There are two of them, one large and one small."
Jessica shrugged.
"Probably engagement rings."
A matching pair made from silver.
There were no gemstones.
They were probably worth only a few shillings.
But they clearly carried a value greater than mere money.
"Well, we saved their lives."
Jessica shrugged.
"They can always buy new rings."
She glanced back.
"And it's not like we're going to drag that annoying wild dog back to the village and sell the meat."
She shook her head.
"It probably hasn't even formed a mana stone yet. Not worth the trouble."
Jessica thought for a moment.
"If those two sell the meat themselves, they'll probably recover most of what they lost anyway."
Jake agreed with the logic.
Still...
He felt rather guilty about effectively stealing the engagement rings of his childhood friends.
Unfortunately...
He had deliberately changed his voice and avoided showing his face.
He could hardly go back now and return them.
"This is a memory too."
Jessica grinned.
"They get engaged, try to celebrate their happiness with a little romance, then get chased by a magical beast."
She laughed.
"Then mercenaries save them right before they die."
Jessica seemed oddly pleased.
"After they're married, they'll be telling this story until the day they die."
Having freely created someone else's precious memory in her head...
Jessica handed one of the rings to Jake.
"Your share."
Then she kept the larger one.
"I got covered in blood, so I get the bigger ring."
Jake did not think she had been quite that drenched.
Still...
Giving a ring to Jake, who was not even a mercenary, was actually fairly conscientious.
After thinking briefly...
Jake placed the ring inside his clothes.
When he eventually returned to his hometown...
He decided he would have another matching pair made and give them to his childhood friends.
Anna. Dave.
You two fought all the time. I never thought you'd end up together.
Live happily.
I'll buy you a proper wedding gift someday.
Jake looked back.
His childhood friends were already small dots in the distance.
He silently said goodbye.
"They're gone..."
"Yeah. They're really gone."
"Hic."
Anna sat on the ground.
Her clothes were ruined.
Her ring was gone.
She was still hiccupping from shock.
"Hic... I'm happy we're alive, but my one and only proposal was completely ruined..."
Eventually...
Tears appeared in her eyes.
"Well..."
Dave looked awkward.
"The mercenaries saved our lives, and we didn't have anything else to give them..."
"I'm not complaining that you gave them the ring!"
"Hic!"
Dave had no defense.
After giving her the ring...
He had apparently lost his head and immediately tried to sleep with her.
As one of the better-known merchants in the village...
That made his guilt even worse.
"But..."
After some time passed, Anna's anger weakened.
Her hiccups also stopped.
She thought about the male mercenary who had driven past them.
"Didn't that guy look familiar?"
She frowned.
"I feel like I've seen him somewhere."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Even his voice sounded familiar somehow..."
Something began tickling the edge of her memory.
She was almost about to remember.
Then...
Dave destroyed the thought completely.
"I'll become a mercenary and buy you an even better ring."
Dave grabbed both her hands.
"Just wait a little."
Anna froze.
The mercenary dream Dave had abandoned as he grew older...
Had suddenly returned.
"No!"
Anna turned pale.
"You don't need to hurry about the ring!"
She grabbed him.
"I already agreed to marry you!"
"That's exactly why I can't leave it like this."
Dave looked determined.
"If you wait just a little, I'll come back with an amazing ring."
This was bad.
Anna clung to him with a completely white face.
Dave, however...
Continued staring in admiration toward the direction the two mercenaries had disappeared.
Because of their meeting with Jake...
The future in which his childhood friends became an ordinary farming couple had suddenly started moving in a completely different direction.
Completely unaware of what would happen to the pair left behind...
Jake and Jessica continued their journey.
Because they had taken a long southern detour to visit Jake's hometown...
It took an entire month before they reached the area near Lutetia Territory.
A great deal happened during that month.
Jessica taught Jake the basic knowledge expected of mercenaries.
She also taught him how to use his body properly.
Through repeated fights with wild animals...
Jake gradually engraved those movements into his body.
In return...
Jessica discovered black tea.
She saw Jake drinking it almost every night.
After stealing a sip once or twice...
She became completely addicted.
When she eventually learned the price...
She nearly collapsed in shock.
Still...
It looked unlikely that she would be able to quit.
During that month...
The two became very close.
They no longer felt like employer and mercenary.
They resembled party members who had traveled together for years.
Even so...
Jake never revealed his secrets.
He secretly dyed his hair again in a city they passed through.
He never explained why they had taken the detour south.
Fortunately...
Jessica accepted those boundaries.
Their secrets never made the relationship awkward.
She did, however...
Describe Jake's background to other people in bizarre ways.
"So basically, this kid is a professional marksman who escaped from serving as a butler to a fallen noble family falsely accused of treason."
It was Jessica's cute way of complaining.
Everyone else simply assumed she was joking.
"Hahaha!"
A mercenary who had just been introduced to Jake laughed loudly.
"Your new companion sounds incredibly interesting."
Near Lutetia Territory...
Jake and Jessica had joined a merchant group.
Jessica had once again fulfilled her old promise:
If there was someone they could travel with for free...
They would.
So now...
They traveled with the merchants not as employer and hired escort...
But as two mercenaries.
Because they were close to Lutetia...
One of the mercenaries in the group already knew Jessica.
Even he had no idea Jake was not actually a mercenary.
Jessica looked almost unchanged from the beginning of the journey.
Jake, however...
Had changed considerably.
His formerly pale skin had turned brown under the sun.
His thin arms and legs were now covered in lean muscle.
The fragile apprentice scribe had begun to look like a sturdy young mercenary.
"So how have things been lately?"
Jessica asked.
"Terrible."
The mercenary sighed.
"A new emperor's about to take the throne."
"Everyone's either lying flat and hoping not to be noticed..."
He frowned.
"Or panicking and starting rebellions on their own."
Then he clicked his tongue.
"And didn't His Highness throw out the duke's daughter? Things are definitely going to get worse."
Whenever a new emperor ascended the throne...
The empire always went through several events connected to the Omniscient Emperor's future knowledge.
One of them was the Coronation Invitation.
Another...
Was a bloody purge.
Officials and nobles the emperor had seen in the future were removed in advance.
Ordinary kingdoms also experienced purges when rulers changed.
But in the empire...
People regularly lost their heads for no obvious reason.
Faction did not always matter.
Guilt did not always matter.
Because of that...
Many nobles and officials simply stopped doing anything during this period and tried to become invisible.
Others panicked over what they might have done in the future and rebelled before anything even happened.
"There's a small territory near here where a rebellion happened."
The mercenary continued.
"The rebels turned into bandits, so everyone's been tense."
He relaxed slightly.
"But we're almost in Lutetia now. At least we can finally breathe easier."
The moment he finished speaking...
A commotion erupted near the front of the wagon line.
"Enemies!"
"Bandits!"
Jake and Jessica immediately looked toward the mercenary.
"What?"
He looked offended.
"It's not because I said it."
Then he muttered.
"Maybe I forgot my morning prayer. Damn, what bad luck."
He immediately jumped onto the wagon.
"Get ready!"
Jessica drew a dagger.
Jake was already loading his crossbow.
"Tch."
Jessica rotated her sword in one hand to loosen up.
"Running into bandits this close to Lutetia is rare."
Her expression darkened.
"The atmosphere really is bad."
Then she glanced toward Jake.
A small smile appeared inside her.
She had been the one training him.
And she had done an excellent job.
Jake leaned against the wagon while aiming his crossbow.
He looked like a veteran mercenary.
Satisfied...
Jessica jumped down.
She looked toward the hill ahead where the enemies were supposed to appear.
Then...
Her expression became confused.
"Huh?"
Bandits were climbing over the hill.
They were running toward the wagons...
With terrified expressions.
"Was this really some kind of trend?"
Unlike Jake's childhood friends...
These people were proper bandits.
They were holding swords as they ran.
That only made Jessica more confused.
Then...
A short while later...
The rest of the group saw the people appearing behind the bandits.
"The Lutetia Rangers!"
A group of soldiers wearing leather armor rode agile horses while pursuing the bandits.
Each carried a crossbow in one hand.
They were the mountain soldiers for which Lutetia Territory was famous.
The Lutetia Rangers.
