Leave a comment

“Serge dislikes the very fact that someone weak like me is in the Mercenary Guild.”
“Erica…”

Erica muttered while staring at the glass before her, seeming to have overheard our talk.

Just to mention, she was drinking juice, not drowning in booze. I had to mention that to maintain her honor.

“He keeps going on and on and on about how I have no talent and how weak I am… He wasn’t like that before…!”
“Ah, that started before he met you.”

A man who entered earlier interjected in the conversation.

He had taken commissions with her party, so he should’ve been someone belonging to Serge’s original party.

He naturally sat next to Lilit and ordered a drink from Lashelle.

Cynthia’s eyes sparkled for a moment, so perhaps he and Lilit were close.

He quenched his thirst with the jug that arrived quickly, and continued his earlier words.

“That guy became like that ever since he lost in the Orbwight arena. He became kinda apathetic and sulky.”
“Is that so…”

Serge held quite a high ability as a human.

He wasn’t exactly a “genius” either, so if the confidence he cultivated through hard work shattered, I suppose it wouldn’t be strange for him to get discouraged…

Most people experience setbacks that make them aware of their limits, so even Lilit who had been listening grimaced in deliberation.

However…

“…I know that.”

Erica said so.

Her unexpected acknowledgment took not just the man but even Lilit by surprise.

“It’s about Magic Sword Tristan, isn’t it…”
“Yeah. After he lost to that guy, he gave up the sword and kept jumping from weapon to weapon, and he even quit doing his daily training.”

The man seemed quite dissatisfied about this situation as well and downed the rest of his jug in one go to disperse his negative feelings.

As the conversation came to a halt, people arrived at the right time to process their commissions and saved the mood that was turning deadly silent.

“—Please keep in mind that monsters subjugated outside of the designated region will not be counted. I wish you luck…”
“Right! We’re going, y’all!”

As the row of commission applicants ended, I thought I could finally take a breather, but…

“…I can’t give up, after all.”

Erica muttered so and stood up.

“Ms. Illya, I have a request!”

And bowed towards me.

We changed the location and were in the private room on the second floor.

“Please recommend me a weapon as well!”

The moment she closed the door, Erica bowed once again. I asked her to sit and calm down for the time being.

“A recommended weapon for you?”

I asked just to confirm it, and she gave a firm nod.

“It’s a common rumor that the weapons you recommend are extremely good to use and better than what people have used previously. Though everyone is keeping it in a close circle since they don’t want the information to spread too much.”

It seemed like they misinterpreted this same as the reason the monsters gathered together.

It was a blessing in disguise that they thought of it like some kind of superstition rather than making me the direct cause of it.

The reason they are keeping the information restricted is for their own sake, but I’m actually thankful too.

If people misunderstood that they could easily grow stronger through that, that would be too much responsibility pushed on me.

Anyway, putting that aside, let’s get back to the topic at hand.

“Why are you so intent on winning?”

Her class was a compounder so she held an above average Compounding skill. It seems like she specialized in poisons and recovery potions since she participated in battles, but she could always just work on a job in her profession if she wanted to.

Unlike the children who keep pushing forth as they set their desires as their dreams, adults had to stop when they saw their limit and search for a new way to continue onward.

She looked back at me as she heard my doubt and started to speak.

“I want to get him back on his feet.”
“…You said that he changed, right?”

Erica nodded silently and stared down at the table.

“…I wanted to win and prove it to him. That there was no such thing as pointless hard work. That he shouldn’t give up just because I defeated him once…!”

Her tears fell on the table and remained on the surface without soaking into it.

“But… I failed… I have no talent… I wanted to be with him instead of only being protected… I made a promise… but I couldn’t do anything…!”

Her tears kept falling after her every word. She seemed to be unable to contain her emotions as what she was saying wasn’t really relevant… but on the other hand, those were her true feelings.

I stood up and rubbed her back.

She must have been holding all this anxiety in her heart alone and was being crushed by it.

So I patted her back and talked to her from up close to let her know that she wasn’t alone.

“You tried your best because you wanted to be with him, right?”
“…Yes… But he keeps telling me to go back… that it’s useless since I’m weak…!”
“And you get scared when you think everything has been for naught, right?”
“…Yes…!”

After we talked like that for some time, she suddenly burst into tears like a broken dam.

When she finally stopped and raised her face, her eyes and nose were all red but her expression was somewhat cleared up. But at such great (or not so great) timing, her stomach rumbled and we decided to eat after a small laughter.

I judged that she had calmed down after crying, so I asked for her motives while we ate.

“Serge and I were childhood friends. At his best he used to be cool… and he promised me that he would protect me and we’d always be together, and yet,” she hit the table. It must’ve hurt since it was fortified by my magic, but she didn’t show any signs of it due to her anger, which was quite scary.

“He declared he’d grow strong and quickly left the village! Isn’t that cruel?!”
“Ouch… that’s pretty cruel indeed.”
“Right?! And he never listened to me when I said I’d go with him! So I instead started training with the bow so I could accompany him! He used to be a swordsman, after all.”
“You tried your best, huh.”

Erica nodded, having lost her drive a little.

“And then I joined Lilit’s party while I was chasing after him, and also learned compounding so I could be useful. Because I… wasn’t good with the bow.”
“Since you learned to compound, weren’t you very helpful?”

She was starting to get depressed after she mentioned she couldn’t improve, but hearing my words she smiled shyly.

“I’m not sure if I was helpful. But I could support everyone in more ways compared to just using the bow, so I was very happy.”

She seemed to be recalling those days, she smiled while having a distant look in her eyes.

But her smile quickly froze.

“I was trying to get a hold of his information while I traveled with everyone… and I heard about it. That he lost to a famous swordsman at the arena and gave up the sword. Since then I constantly worried about him and then we met here out of pure coincidence…”

At that point, he had changed more than she imagined.

“Even until then, I realized that I was the weakest in the party and a hindrance. But even as I believed that there were things I could do, he still insisted that the current party didn’t need me and told me to leave it.”

And that led to their current contest.

I wasn’t sure if he really considered her unnecessary or if he just wanted to keep her away because it reminded him of his past and it pained him, but I think he’s at least determined to make her leave the party.

“Ms. Erica, let me confirm this, but you simply want to win in this contest, right?”
“…I do. I want to win and bring back his old self… but…”

She seemed to have remembered the current state and faltered, but then added.

“…I want to stay with him.”

She spoke her true will. Thus, I decided to help her.

“Understood. I will offer my maximum support.”

Supporting the guild members was also part of the duty of the Union staff, after all.