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In the new town to the west of Lüenheit, the Rolmund soldiers were going through hell.

“Schukin’s been taken out! Rekoi, provide cover!”
“Damn it, another werewolf!”
“Magiarms staff isn’t working on those things! And we’re running out of mana!”

Barricaded inside a house under construction was the Second Heavy Sniper Squad of the 209th Magiarms Battalion. The twenty-man elite unit had already been reduced to half its original size.

Fourth Lieutenant Natalia, who had been keeping watch on the rear from a window, shouted to the squad leader.

“Human soldiers! Number unknown!”
“I can’t send shooters over there! Defend with spread fire—”

The squad leader’s voice trailed off.
Instead, a thud could be heard.

Realizing that two werewolves had attacked from the ceiling, the Rolmund soldiers frantically repositioned their magiarms staffs inside the house.

“Too slow!”
“Bro, there’s one over there.”

She thought she heard those words spoken in human language, but in an instant, the interior had turned into a scene of carnage.

“Aaaargh!”
“It’s over—run!”

How many had been killed? How many had managed to escape?
Natalia had no way of knowing anymore.
Shouldering her magiarms staff, she dashed out onto the street.

“Hyahaha! It’s a woman!”
“Hey, don’t kill her! Capture her!”
“Watch out for her weapon! Corner her slowly!”

Huge men with vicious expressions were shouting.

“You—!”

Just as she was about to aim in the direction of the voices, the wall of a house collapsed, revealing two werewolves. Their fur soaked in bright red.

“Eek!?”

Natalia turned her back on the werewolves and took off running.

“Hah, haah, haa, haah…”

*It’s hard to breathe. If I’d known it would come to this, I should have taken my basic training more seriously.*
*Ever since I was assigned to the Heavy Sniper Squad for my high magical power and concentration, I feel like I’ve been neglecting my physical conditioning.*
*When I get back home, I’ll have to get back into shape.*
*That is, if I make it back home.*

The streets of Lüenheit are eerily quiet. Occasionally, she hears the distant howl of a wolf, but other than that, there are no sounds suggesting combat.
It seems that while she was running frantically, Natalia had strayed outside the combat zone. This is going to get her in trouble.
But as long as she could survive this very moment, nothing else mattered.
Natalia caught her breath and clung to the long magic staff used by the Heavy Sniper Squad as if it were a real walking stick. This, too, was a punishment.

The Second Squad must have been wiped out. She wondered if the other squads were okay.
Since only the squad leader carried the communication ring, Natalia had no way of knowing.
Just as she began to calm down a little, Natalia groaned in pain.

“Ugh… it hurts…”

She must have banged herself all over while escaping; her shoulder and leg were aching. The continuous firing of the magic staff had completely drained both her physical stamina and magical energy.

Just as she was thinking of resting for a moment, a young man appeared from the other end of the alley. Judging by his clothes and gentle features, he seemed to be just an ordinary citizen.
The young man spoke in a friendly tone, a smile on his face.

“What’s the matter?”

Feeling apologetic, Natalia replied to him.

“I’m sorry, I won’t harm you, but could you show me somewhere to rest…?”

At that moment, Natalia suddenly realized something.

Something’s off.
If he were a civilian, wouldn’t he be avoiding combat and taking cover?
Natalia instinctively raised her magiarms staff. Then she shouted.

“S-stop! Are you really human!?”
“No?”

At that instant, the man transformed.
She was the Black Werewolf.

“KYAAAAHH!?”

She fired without thinking.

The black werewolf didn’t even try to dodge the magic bolt. It hit him squarely.
Yet he didn’t fall. He wasn’t even injured.

“Eek!? AAHH!”

One more shot. Two. Three.
High-powered light bullets were fired from the magic staff she’d charged with a massive amount of magic power to destroy the inner gate.
Yet it still wouldn’t go down.
Eventually, her mana ran out.

The black werewolf walked toward her slowly.

“What’s the matter?”

It was the same tone as before, but that single phrase was enough to shatter Natalia’s sanity.

“Waaaaaah!”

She gripped the magiarms staff with both hands and swung the massive weapon at it.
But it was easily parried, and the werewolf’s vicious fangs closed in on her.

*It’s over. I can’t beat him.*
Natalia drew the short sword from her waist and, following the military code of Rolmund, tried to stab it through her own throat.
At that moment, she heard a voice filled with panic.

“Whoa!? Wait, hey, stop it, you idiot!”

The moment she thought she’d been grabbed by the shoulder, her limbs suddenly went limp. Natalia collapsed to the ground.
By the time she realized she’d been hit with magic, every muscle in her body had gone limp.

“Help… Princess…”

Just as Natalia tried to scream, her consciousness began to fade away.
As the world around her was engulfed in darkness, she heard that voice again.

“Hehe, don’t worry. I’ll let you see your precious princess later.”

Natalia lost consciousness.

.

Meanwhile, at that time.
The mercenary unit approaching the East Gate of Lüenheit was marching with heavy steps.
Even though this was a dangerous siege, they weren’t allowed to loot within the city.
This is unbearable.
Still, they had to work hard enough to earn the pay they’d been given. It was a matter of trust.

A young mercenary, sword drawn, let out a small sigh.

“It’s scary to storm the Demon Capital…”

Then, a veteran mercenary, loading a thick arrow into his crossbow, laughed it off heartily.

“Don’t get too worked up about it. Just do the work you’re paid for. It’s easier than fighting bandits, right?”
“True, it’s better than being a bandit…”

He’d become a mercenary instead of a bandit because he figured it was better than getting caught and hanged, but if it meant storming the Demon City of Lüenheit, where the Black Wolf Lord resided, maybe being a bandit would have been the better choice.
Such were the thoughts running through the young mercenary’s mind.

A veteran mercenary walked briskly—but never to the point of getting out of breath—and patted the young mercenary on the back.

“Pull yourself together. If that princess wins, we’ll get a hefty reward.”
“And if she loses?”
“We’ll just have to win the next battle. That princess probably won’t get a next chance, but that’s none of our business…”

The veteran mercenary suddenly tilted his head and stopped.

The young mercenary stopped as well, and the other mercenaries around them stopped too.
The veteran mercenary muttered.

“I just heard something.”

As they all strained their ears, the sound of drums drifted in from the distance.

“Hey, this…”
“No doubt about it—it’s that damn march of Lotzo’s.”

In an instant, the mercenaries froze; they sheathed their swords and slung their bows and shields over their backs. They were getting ready to head home.

“They’re already here… And it was such a lucrative job.”
“Hey, who was it that ratted us out to that old fart Petore?”
“No idea. It’s probably Diego’s crew anyway.”
“It wasn’t us!?”

The young mercenary looked on in confusion as the others began preparing to leave.

“We’re leaving already? Isn’t Lotzo a fishing port in the south? Why?”

Then, a veteran mercenary placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him like a father admonishing his son.

“Listen, if you want to keep working as a mercenary in Miraldia, don’t ever defy the military flag of Lotzo.”
“What do you mean by that!?”

The other mercenaries chimed in one after another.

“If that old man gives you the stink eye, you won’t be able to work as a mercenary in Miraldia anymore. He’s incredibly vindictive.”
“That guy doesn’t give a damn about contracts. He’s a total a̲s̲s̲h̲o̲l̲e̲.”
“But the pay’s good in Lotzo, though.”
“The Senate and that princess seem to be on their last legs, so maybe we’ll go to Lotzo’s Merchants’ Guild next… What are you gonna do?”
“Hmm, maybe I’ll go back to guarding the dockside warehouses for a while.”

The young mercenary still seemed a little hesitant and asked the veteran.

“But Lotzo’s army is outside, right?　If they storm into Lüenheit, won’t it be irrelevant? We should probably stick to the contract…”

The veteran mercenary sighed.

“If the Lotzo army storms into Lüenheit, we’ll get caught in a pincer movement right in the city. Besides—”

He pointed at the city walls of Lüenheit.

“You can see something over there, right?”
“Huh… oh, yeah. A flag? It’s bright red and all tattered.”

A red flag, torn as if by claws, fluttered on the city walls of Lüenheit.

“Kid, remember that too. It’s the bloodstained flag of ‘Wott the Claw.’”
“Wott the Claw?”

The veteran mercenary continued in a tone tinged with nostalgia.

“He’s a legendary mercenary. A master of hidden weapons—a man who looks completely unarmed but slices his enemies to pieces with brutal weapons. I can’t believe he’s still alive.”
“Is he really the real deal?”
“I’d rather escape with my life than find out. I know he once stormed a bandit stronghold all by himself and cut all sixteen of them to pieces.”
“……Seriously?”

Patting the frightened rookie mercenary on the shoulder, the veteran mercenary laughed.

“Come on, let’s go. I’ll look out for you. Follow me.”
“Ah, yes.”

The mercenaries began to withdraw from the battlefield.

It was the Rolmund soldiers in charge of capturing the East Gate who were left flustered.

“H-hey, wait! This isn’t what the contract says!”

But the mercenary captains shook their heads.

“Sorry, we apologize for breaching the contract. But we’re mercenaries from Miraldia, you see. We can’t have a situation where we can’t make a living back in Miraldia.”

The Rolmund soldiers were furious at the mercenaries’ reasoning.

“If you were just going to run away here, you shouldn’t have come in the first place!”
“Exactly.”

One of the mercenary captains gave a wry smile and snapped his fingers.
The mercenaries deployed around them all raised their crossbows at once.

“What!?”

The mercenary captain laughed at the Rolmund soldiers, who stood frozen in shock.

“We could finish you off right here and sell your heads to the Southern Federation.”

Another captain continued.

“But of course, we won’t do that. Plus, we’ll return your contract fee with a penalty added. So please, just let this go.”

There was no room for negotiation—they’d been told that if they complained any further, they’d be killed.
With only a handful of them, the Rolmund soldiers had no choice but to remain silent.

“Do as you please, you cowards!”
“Well, we are Miraldian mercenaries, after all! Goodbye, Rolmunders!”

The mercenary captains laughed and rode off on their horses.

Meanwhile, on a hill a short distance from Lüenheit, a cavalry unit of nomads lay in wait.

“Stop the drums. The mercenaries have started to retreat.”

As soon as the lookout said this, the group stopped playing.

“Is this enough? If you had asked, Lord Aram, we’d keep it up all night.”
“No, it looks like we’re in the clear now. Put away all of Lotzo’s banners, too. We borrowed them from that old fart Petore. He’ll give us hell if we get them dirty.”

They had been asked by Aram, the Governor of Schaldir, to pose as Lotzo’s army and force the mercenaries to retreat.

“With this, the young folks who moved to town should be treated well, too. Lord Aram is a man of his word.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Come on, let’s head back to report. Lord Aram, a man of his word, will treat us to some lamb.”

Once the desert nomads had seen the mercenaries retreat, they spurred their horses and vanished from the battlefield.