Magic Scavenger Part 1 Chapter 7

 Chapter 7: The Night Before the Mercenary Company's Departure

"This employer's in an awful hurry, isn't he... having just arrived and moving out again the day after tomorrow. Doesn't seem very noble-like, if you ask me."

"Word is somebody even higher up is coming from the capital to inspect things. Probably 'cause this war started over somethin' stupid and it's been draggin' on way longer than it should."

The inn's dining hall at night looked just like a tavern with the members of the Karejasu Mercenary Company drinking like there was no tomorrow.

Counting Uval the captain, nine other scruffy men kept their tankards from ever running dry. But the talk was all business and none of them looked like they were enjoying a pleasant buzz.

"Captain, this employer... Viscount Danres, right? You talked with him today. He's trustworthy, right?"

When one of the mercenaries asked, Uval, who was drinking more than any of them, held up two fingers.

"Pay's good, at least. We got this much extra."

"Two silver each?"

"Two gold each."

"Huh?! That's more than the original pay!"

The mercenaries had just learned they'd get that much on top of the original pay, not instead of just it. You'd think their drinking would pick up even more but instead, they stopped.

A single gold coin was enough to support a family for a good while. They couldn't drink their way through that kind of money in a week, let alone one night, even with the wine and ale flowing like this.

And that was just the bonus for moving out the day after tomorrow. The price obviously ran well above market rate and the mercenaries grew suspicious.

"Bein' a magic academy grad, sure, he's got money, but... ain't this a bit much even so?"

"Original pay was one gold each, right? 'Course, with the battlefield scavengers on the payroll too, each of our shares ends up a bit smaller, but... two MORE on top of that? What's goin' on here?"

"Who knows... all I can tell is he wants this war wrapped up fast. Real bad."

Uval drained his tankard with a serious look on his face.

Someone refilled it with ale right away but he just stared at the foam without drinking.

It seemed like Uval had his own doubts about this job too, not just the rest of the mercenaries.

"Heheh! Must be that big shot comin' to inspect is real scary, huh?"

"Guess bein' scared of the higher-ups don't matter if you're a noble or one of us! Ahahaha!"

That bit of grumbling-flavored laughter about their higher-ups seemed to break the tension and everyone's drinking picked back up to its usual pace.

Uval drank down the ale he'd been poured in one long swallow, as if trying to wash down his own suspicions with it.

"Oi oi, there ain't a boss out there better than me... a real kind boss who treats you to drinks every damn night."

"Nah, captain, you ain't really all that."

"Honestly we could just leave you behind somewhere."

"Wouldn't mind if you just went and got yourself killed out there either. We'll keep the company runnin' just fine."

"Oi, you lot are underestimatin' me way too much."

Pure drunken modd, the kind where rank stopped mattering for the night, not the kind of banter you'd expect between a captain and his men.

Loose talk over drinks was just an everyday thing for them and even hearing that from his own men, Uval didn't look the least bit angry.

"Captain's fine, but see... Big Sis Griare, now SHE'S the scary one."

"Ain't that the truth! Piss off Big Sis and you'll end up pukin' up every drop you drank!"

"That woman's a berserker wearin' a woman's skin, is what she is!"

"Ahahaha! That just makes her a straight-up monster!"

The mercenaries were working themselves up over Vice-Captain Griare, who wasn't even there to hear it.

Uval had joined in, laughing right along with them, when a different voice broke in.

"Hmm. Didn't think that berserker would be coming back, did you?"

A refined, cutting voice sliced clean through the boisterous laughter and took command of the room.

The laughter cut off dead and not one of them dared meet Griare's eyes as she walked toward them.

Their earlier boisterousness had vanished into thin air and the mercenaries had shrunk so far into themselves they were taking tiny, timid sips from their tankards, like little girls sipping water from a cup.

Griare walked a slow circle around the now thoroughly subdued mercenaries and took a seat beside Uval. The whole time, not one of them could bring themselves to meet her eyes.

"How's it feel, Uval? Having a berserker sitting right next to you?"

"O-oi, what are you all standin' around for?! Pour Griare a drink, a drink! Bunch of clueless idiots! Hurry it up!!"

"Yes, captain!!"

"Big Sis! Want a shoulder rub?!"

"Big Sis drinks wine, right?!"

With impressively coordinated teamwork, the mercenaries fell over themselves waiting on Griare hand and foot, doing everything they could to get back in her good graces.

They must have been that afraid of her, because left to their own devices, it looked like every last one of them was about to start groveling at her feet.

"S-so, how'd it go? The battlefield-scavenger kids. You went to check on 'em, right?"

"As expected, there are some kids feeling anxious with the war dragging on this long."

"This one's draggin' on way too long for its size. That enemy mage of theirs is doin' good work, damn him."

"On the other hand, maybe it's a small mercy that some of 'em are calm about it, whether that's guts or somethin' else."

"I see..."

Hearing "calm kid," one particular face came to Uval's mind too.

"Speakin' of calm... Kanata's seemed a bit different lately, hasn't he?"

"Kanata, that's the kid who collects the Rubbish, right?"

"Today I caught him badmouthin' the employer. Gave him a bit of a lecture, but... he covered for that kid Roa, the one who's always with him..."

"I always figured it was the other way around, Roa lookin' after Kanata."

"Yeah, that's why it caught me off guard. Always figured he didn't care about much of anything besides that Rubbish of his."

As far as Uval saw it, Kanata had always been a kid who didn't act much like a kid.

When they'd first taken him in, he'd been quiet, did his quota without complaint and never once talked back to anything he was told.

These days, tease him about the Rubbish and he'd react like any normal kid. But back at the start, he never showed a trace of childish selfishness. Not until he'd started collecting the Rubbish did he seem to open up at all, even to Roa, the one looking after him.

"Griare, you know anything about it? You like lookin' after the kids, don't you?"

"...No? Unlike the rest of you, whose heads are only good for buying women and booze whenever you're in town, I do keep an eye on the kids but nothing in particular seems to have changed."

Griare kept quiet about the fact that Kanata had somehow become able to use magic and about the mana-sensing experiment he was still running but her usual irritation started show plainly.

Maybe because the anger itself was genuine, no one doubted a word she said.

"Uh oh, Vice-Captain's still mad."

"I'm just bein' dragged along by the captain against my will, Big Sis."

"Ah, no fair! Me too, me too!"

"When the captain invites us out, regular company grunts like us just can't say no. This's gotta be that 'alcohol harassment' thing everyone's been talkin' about lately."

"Oi, I'm your captain here! You're throwin' me under the wagon way too fast!!"

On top of everyone being drunk, Uval and the rest of them were too busy scrambling to get back in Griare's good graces to ever notice what Kanata had actually been up to behind the scenes.

And so the night wore on for the Karejasu Mercenary Company, who'd be back on the battlefield again in two days' time.