Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 49

As soon as Trowel left, Isana fell asleep as if she had fainted. The accumulated fatigue and the tension she felt while dealing with him earlier seemed to dissolve all at once with the soft touch of the bed.

With nothing particular to do, I carefully slipped out of the room. Descending to the first floor, I saw the Champagne Mercenary Group [a band of hired soldiers] sitting at a table, deeply engrossed in conversation while poring over a map of the Empire. They seemed to be planning their future schedule.

However, that atmosphere didn’t last long. Trowel spotted me and waved his hand enthusiastically.

“El! Come on over.”

Thanks to him, all eyes turned to me, and I awkwardly nodded as I approached. Herol greeted me with a cheerful expression.

“Yo— welcome, kid. But you’re alone? Where’s your sibling?”

“Ly is asleep. I’m sorry. Am I interrupting your meeting?”

“No, no interruption at all. You must have been bored all alone. Come and sit down.”

He patted the spot next to him as he spoke. Then Iril, sitting across from him, glared fiercely.

“How ridiculous. Who said you could decide that? He’s Matthew’s friend, so naturally, he should sit next to him. So, over here!”

“What? Where’s that written? We’ll be seeing each other for a while anyway, so we should all get along.”

“Hmph, I wouldn’t trust you, of all people. Your intentions are too impure.”

“What did I even do?”

“You sometimes look at Matthew with lecherous eyes. I realized it early on. Letting the boy sit next to you is like releasing a wolf into a flock of sheep.”

“That’s because Matthew’s appearance itself……!”

“See? Even you admit it.”

“Who admitted it? No matter how hungry I am, I wouldn’t go after a guy, okay?”

“Who would believe a pervert?”

“Ugh, seriously!”

While Herol scratched his head with a frustrated expression, I quietly sat next to Trowel. Iril then handed me a glass of fruit juice.

“Do you want to drink this?”

“Ah, thank you.”

It seemed Iril was generally kind to people other than Herol. Seeing her gentle expression, so different from how she treated him, I responded with an awkward smile.

“You said you were going to visit relatives in Claymore, right? What about your parents?”

“I don’t have any parents.”

“Oh dear, you’ve suffered a lot at a young age. Well, none of us have parents either. We’re either orphans who lost them early or were abandoned during the drought. The pasts of mercenaries are all pretty much the same. It was such a difficult time. Actually, it’s hard to believe there was such a time these days.”

“Ahaha, right.”

“When you think about it, isn’t it funny? Who would have thought that the long, endless drought would return to normal so quickly after just a few rains? It feels like we were toyed with by nature.”

“…….”

The recovery was particularly fast because the Spirit Kings intervened, but I deliberately remained silent and just sipped my drink. Trowel also didn’t seem interested at all and didn’t participate in the conversation. Fortunately, even without my reaction, they started to continue the conversation among themselves.

“What’s the point of the world getting better? Life is still the same as before. The common people are still poor and struggling. Even if there’s plenty of water around, we can’t use it freely.”

“That’s true. Damn nobles.”

“But it seems like the last part will be resolved soon, right? It’s been raining regularly and frequently these days.”

“Ah, you mean the ‘Miracle of Three Days’.”

“Cough! Cough, cough!”

“El, are you okay?”

“Ah, uh-huh.”

I hurriedly nodded and wiped my mouth with a napkin. I never expected to hear about that rumor here. Thanks to that, I learned the rare fact that even Spirit Kings can choke, but I wasn’t in the mood to laugh. Fortunately, everyone was focused on the conversation and didn’t seem to find my behavior suspicious.

“By the way, is that rumor really true? That the oracle is false, I mean.”

“Well, we can’t know for sure yet. But the fact that it rains at a fixed time every three days is definitely not normal. If you think about that, wouldn’t it make sense?”

“I guess so?”

“Tsk, tsk, I knew it from the start. There’s no way the Demon God’s oracle would be given so easily. And there’s something fishy about the Emperor being crazy too.”

“Anyway, it seems like the Duke’s side is getting impatient because of that rumor. I heard the bounty on the knights will be increased soon. Moreover, it seems like an arrest warrant for the Emperor has been issued separately.”

“……!”

Good heavens, they’ve even issued an arrest warrant for Isana? As frozen as I was, the others also wore surprised expressions.

“An arrest warrant for the Emperor?”

“It’s reliable because I heard it from a useful information merchant. The rumor is already widespread among bounty hunters. It seems like the Duke’s side has judged that the knights and the Emperor are acting separately. That’s why they issued such an arrest warrant out of the blue. Well, if they’re putting up posters so openly, I would act separately too if I were them.”

At Mighty’s explanation, Hussen frowned and muttered.

“Either way, the inspections will be strengthened thanks to that, so it’s not good news for us. I hope we don’t have any troublesome incidents.”

“What’s the big deal? We’re not just any ordinary mercenary group, are we? We’re a group with a Gold Plate mercenary! Who would dare to mess with us?”

The one who confidently retorted was Herol. Unlike him, who smiled, revealing his teeth, Hussen sighed slightly.

“A Gold Plate doesn’t solve everything.”

“Still, it’s true that it helps a lot.”

“……Gold Plate?”

I don’t know what that is, but it seems to be something very good. Then, as if he heard my mutterings, Herol immediately turned his gaze.

“Ah, you don’t know what a Gold Plate is? It’s a symbol that only first-class mercenaries can possess.”

“First-class mercenary?”

“Except for temporary mercenaries who don’t need to join the Guild, all mercenaries are graded through a skill test received from the Guild. There are only three grades, from the lowest third-class to the highest first-class, and the identification plate given depends on which one you belong to.”

Saying that, he took out his identification plate. It had the same shape and pattern as the plate I had, but his was a little different. It was made of pure white silver instead of wood. It was much prettier, but the fact that it was metal gave it a formal feel.

“The lowest third-class is bronze, the middle is silver, and the first-class is gold.”

“Ah, so that’s why it’s called a Gold Plate.”

According to Herol’s explanation, the requests that mercenaries can take on also vary depending on the identification plate they possess. Bronze plates are mostly used for catching petty thieves or patrolling villages (this is also the grade that accounts for the largest proportion within the Guild), and silver plates can receive high-level requests such as escorting merchants or subjugating monsters.

Silver plates themselves are rare, but among them, Gold Plate mercenaries are quite rare. Only those with outstanding abilities that surpass the skills of high-ranking mages or high-ranking knights can qualify. For that reason, the number of them is so small that they can be counted on the fingers of both hands within the Guild, and not just anyone can take the test. Moreover, that test seems to be quite difficult.

Therefore, Gold Plate mercenaries are treated like nobles and respected in any empire they go to. And there is that rare Gold Plate mercenary in this Champagne Mercenary Group. Surprisingly, it was Hussen.

“Huh, Group Leader Hussen?”

“Yeah, surprising, right? He may look like a wimp, but he’s actually a huge monster.”

“……Do you want to die by that monster?”

At Hussen’s low voice, Herol quickly retracted the finger he was pointing at him and smiled awkwardly.

“Ahaha, I was just joking. Anyway, most mercenaries with Gold Plates tend to act alone. Our group leader is a bit unique in that he prefers group life. And here’s another surprising piece of information for you. Maybe Matthew will receive a Gold Plate after this year.”

“Eek? Tr…… No, Matthew?”

Surprised by the unexpected story, I looked at Trowel in embarrassment. He was avoiding my gaze with a rare embarrassed expression.

“He took the test at the beginning of the year and is almost at the final stage now. Unless something goes wrong, he’ll probably receive the Gold Plate without any problems around winter. Amazing, right? He’ll probably be the youngest Gold Plate mercenary in the Guild’s history. With this, our Champagne Mercenary Group will have two first-class mercenaries. Yay! I need to step up my game too.”

“Ahaha…….”

In addition, I also learned that the Champagne Mercenary Group was a rare mercenary group with all members possessing Silver Plates, in addition to the Gold Plate holder Hussen. Usually, most mercenary groups only have one or two Silver Plate holders, and the rest are made up of Bronze Plates.

There are only six of them, but other mercenary groups start with at least ten or more people. Perhaps that’s why their group seems to be quite famous in the area.