163 - The Observation Of A Certain Former Mercenary

To be honest, I had thought it was impossible.

Mercenaries made a living by risking their lives in exchange for money.

The greater the danger, the greater the pay—naturally.

And then some noble flipped that arrangement for their own convenience, and Alberto went along with it.

In the mercenary world, as the situation stabilized, jobs dried up—some even ended up turning to banditry.

I also remembered Loyd telling me that the dragon hunt probably had the side goal of reducing the number of mercenaries like that.

But those circumstances had nothing to do with the mercenaries themselves.

They had simply had their pay cut and their honor stolen.

That fact was all that mattered.

“I am standing here as one human being living in this country.”

Alberto’s speech began.

The mercenaries listening looked disgruntled across the board, and some of them were even openly radiating killing intent.

Many had been dragged here with their will ignored under the authority of the state, and this hall had been prepared after pulling the Mercenary Guild in—so they wouldn’t explode.

I looked up at Alberto on the platform from behind and wished him success.

Whether I survived depended—regrettably—on this guy.

Emotionally, I didn’t want to cheer for him, but I couldn’t afford to be picky.

Now that the collar was gone, I wanted to limit my help to what I owed that old man—but if I didn’t see it through to the end, the worst-case scenario wasn’t a joke.

“Do you gentlemen know the new species—the monster named ‘Argos’?”

Alberto asked.

At the same time, murmurs spread among the mercenaries—“Is he trying to pull the same thing again?”—and a few who had joined the dragon hunt shouted abuse.

“Bastard, are you going to use us again!?”

Alberto gave the man who yelled that only a brief glance, then raised his head and spoke.

“Some of you have likely encountered it. We have learned much about this new species, and every bit of it indicates a monster of extreme danger. We recognize that this Argos may cause damage on the same scale as the dragon calamity.”

That set off more angry shouts.

A dragon again—meaning this would be a repeat of last time—and the backlash came from that assumption.

Ignoring it all, Alberto continued.

“However, that is only as things stand now.”

The abuse lessened—just a little.

One of the calmer ones, someone who couldn’t quite measure what Alberto meant, raised a hand.

“When you say ‘as things stand now’… does that mean you believe the threat level of the new species will increase or decrease from here on?”

The old mage’s words quieted the room.

Given who had asked—a person whose interruption was understandable—the mercenaries around him seemed to support it by staying silent.

And besides, no one here was going to cut off Marcus, the leader of Golden Spark—and regarded in the Kingdom of Canaan as a top-tier mage.

“Yeah, he’s the right man for it,” I muttered like it had nothing to do with me, and Alberto halted his speech to answer, nodding once at the old mage’s question.

“Only, the threat will keep increasing. And the speed won’t be normal.”

Maybe because it was an answer given mid-speech, Alberto’s tone returned to his usual one.

“…Because of its high intelligence, we suspect Argos is imitating humans. We have already observed it using weapons and tools, and thinking tactically. If we leave it alone, the damage may not merely rival the dragon calamity—it may even surpass it.”

At Alberto’s words—his tone now back to the formal cadence—the mercenaries fell into dead silence.

“Therefore, if we cannot defeat Argos here and now, there is a possibility we will lose the very place where humanity can live.”

Back then, the conclusion Alberto had reached—it was humanity’s extinction.

If we had no effective means against a single monster called Argos, the Kingdom of Canaan would, from now on, have its land continuously ravaged.

And the result would be war with Seizeria.

Human nations growing exhausted, while Argos’s threat kept climbing.

If that state dragged on…

If the period where extermination couldn’t be carried out properly continued, it wouldn’t only be villages that fell.

A future where a nation—one I couldn’t dismiss as “impossible”—failed to handle a surging horde as one possible ending… and then the monsters’ trampling of humanity began.

If it stopped in the northern part of the continent, we would avoid the worst.

But Alberto had said this:

“Even if Canaan and Seizeria were to fall… how many monsters do you think would spawn in that empty zone?”

And he had added: think about what would happen if Argos led them.

Just imagining it made me let out a dry laugh.

The elves in the west didn’t have the population to fill that empty zone.

The Furon Council-State had its hands full with visitors from the southern continent.

I could picture the swelling monsters swallowing two countries whole.

And because I knew that thing, I understood this wasn’t the ravings of a madman.

“Unfortunately, there are many nobles who think of this as mere monster hunting and hesitate to commit their forces. The domain armies are few after being worn down in the previous battle, and we have not secured enough strength to rely on. Therefore, I want to borrow your power.”

“So you’re going to snatch everything again, huh?”

One mercenary cut in with a cold tone and frosty eyes.

The room resonated with agreement—but Alberto had anticipated this.

In this case, I was pretty sure he was supposed to move up the schedule and… what was it again?

“I intend to pay you enough to satisfy you. I had the lords make that guarantee. I cannot tell you to rest easy, but you may expect success pay. And the ones who will stand on the front line this time are me—and the man who knows it best.”

And that was where I was supposed to come in, but unfortunately I had forgotten what I was meant to say.

So I just raised a hand where the mercenaries could see it, and left it at that.

Alberto looked at me with icy eyes.

Obviously, I ignored him.

“…I have no intention of refusing participants. Those who are confident they can face Argos, step forward.”

If it was only going to be us fighting, why call mercenaries at all?

Plenty would think that.

So Alberto revealed the answer—and the best killing line prepared to reel them in.

“This holy sword cut off its hand.”

With a theatrically staged motion, he drew the holy sword at his waist and displayed its mysterious blade to everyone present.

“There are two things I ask of you. One is to prevent Argos from escaping. And the other is… if I am defeated by Argos, use this holy sword to kill it.”

Probably only a handful understood what that truly meant.

So the mercenaries stayed silent, staring at the raised holy sword while searching for the intent behind it.

“People who’ve lived through fights with numbers like this are here. At least one of you can handle a holy sword.”

Alberto shrugged and laughed as if he were joking.

But the next moment, he loudly fanned the flames.

“You’ve all heard it at least once! A holy sword is the weapon possessed by the strongest of humanity! Then—those who seize this chance are the strong! I’ve offered the reward. If you can’t trust me, then in the middle of the battle, kill me and take it—fine! Those who want money, honor, and the title of the strongest, hunt Argos with me! Defeat the monster that even scattered the kingdom’s army, and show who is truly protecting this country—its people! And then—”

“Flip the standing with those nobles who can do nothing but throw their weight around!”

Alberto said something outrageous—as if he didn’t care what the nobles would think.

The meaning probably wasn’t literal, but it worked: a few mercenaries chuckled and stepped forward.

“I want the money. Honor wouldn’t hurt either. But I don’t like you.”

The mercenary at the front pointed at Alberto as he said it.

But he wasn’t the kind of man who would step out just to say that.

Our acquaintance wasn’t exactly short.

That was why my prediction didn’t miss.

“Even so, that ‘strongest’ title… I want to reach for it too. If you die, I’ll use that thing. And besides… watching some noble beg us for work isn’t so bad.”

At Cain’s words, many mercenaries burst out laughing.

However it happened, Alberto had won his gamble.

‘I thought it was going to turn into a disaster when he failed to get a line from the elf allies, but I guess it works out somehow.’

I let out a breath of relief, leaned against the wall, and blankly watched Alberto as mercenaries pressed in on him and peppered him with questions—when I noticed a pair, a man and a woman, walking over this way.

“No collar means you’re going to cooperate, Captain?”

“I’m not a captain anymore. And why the hell are you here?”

“Because neither Loyd nor I can stand just taking it lying down.”

And she added that it wasn’t just them, then tossed her gaze behind her and urged me to look too.

There they were—the familiar faces.

“Annie, how many people did you talk to?”

Annie snorted in reply to my question, and it felt like ordinary life from a little while ago had returned, if only a bit.

It amused me, and I ended up laughing.

“We can’t lose, can we?”

“Obviously.”

I laughed again.

Seeing those faces again after so long, I raised a hand lightly in greeting.

All right—let’s start preparing for the fight.

As an aside—Alberto did manage to gather the mercenary companies, but afterward he couldn’t track Argos’s movements.

It also seemed to have vanished from within the kingdom’s territory, and with the mercenary companies effectively tied down, Alberto agonized over the costs—until he finally started dipping into his own savings.

Watching him slam both hands onto a desk and curse, “Damn you, Argos!” was satisfying—but was he really going to cut my pay first as payback for pointing and laughing?

And the elves were sighing the moment they saw Alberto.

Isn’t it going to be bad if we don’t do something soon?