CH 26

Chapter 26

Furthermore, this territory had few knights or soldiers. Armies were institutions that would constantly consume money; it was impossible to maintain large active forces in poor territories.

The biggest problem was that, even if Arya presided over his estate, there was no stone that he could turn, here, to scrounge up money. Because the village past the Dalum Gorge was a place many traders crossed through, Ayra considered doing anything–hunting, catching, and selling magic beasts–to prepare 300 cells if all else failed. Two days out of the precious week’s worth of time had already passed; he was running out of time.

Ayra firmly declared to the two who were desperately trying to persuade him not to leave, “Frankly speaking, any escort who lacks the skill to deal with 10 Ramams at once is nothing more than a burden.”

It was then that the two seemed to recall Ayra was a mage. For the first time in a long while, Ginas’s eyes filled with hope as he looked at his lord.

[Hess Ru Ginas’s affection value has increased by 2]

[Current Affection: 6]

Ayra was taken aback by this alert. Wow, Ginas’ affection is already at 6? This young governor was now officially three times more fond of Ayra than Janus, the young lord’s self-proclaimed lover… On the other hand, Sir Bloom was so worried that he continued to desperately dissuade his lord.  This was where the difference between Ginas’s affection of 6 and Bloom’s affection of 78 was pronounced.

“You still can’t. Dallum Gorge should only be crossed by those that know their way. Since the area is always snowed in, the path is quite dangerous,” Bloom argued.

‘It’s cold enough for constant snow? How worrisome. But it’s clear that soldiers or knights would only be a nuisance. There may be instances where I’m forced to use my magic. What if they ran away due to fright? Or if I have to protect them while fighting magic beasts…’

At that moment, a rather clever idea flashed through Ayra’s mind. “I know a decently competent mercenary that has lived here for 10 years.” Then, already anticipating the two’s question about the money needed to hire such a skilled mercenary, Ayra continued, “I’ll probably be able to hire his services at a cheap price.”

————————————————

“Janus!” Ayra shouted as he abruptly opened the door to the mercenary’s office. Overwhelmed by the force behind the young lord’s voice, the office fell silent.

Janus, who had been chatting and laughing with his fellow mercenaries, paused with a giant wooden cup in hand. He murmured, “Hm?” as he turned to look at Ayra.

[Target: Janus Rehzedt–Navigation completed! :D]

Shoving away Pebble’s vivacious system message, Ayra approached his chosen mercenary. The others looked on with clearly interested gazes. Janus held out a sloshing cup full of alcohol and asked, “You want a drink?”

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

​​”Mmm, well…I don’t know what you want, but later. Not now.” It seemed that Janus, having been interrupted while he was in the middle of uproarious partying, couldn’t be bothered. He placed his drink down and wrapped his arm around Ayra’s waist. Then, he looked the young lord up and down in amazement. “Why are you so bundled up?”

The hand wrapped around Ayra’s waist lifted the skirt of the young lord’s heavy robes. Underneath, a long inner-garment that covered his calves were exposed–beneath that, more and more layers of clothing clung to Ayra’s skin… Finally, Janus’s red eyes gazed at the thick, waterproof leather boots.

Ayra asked, “How much does it cost to hire you for a day?”

“Well, it changes from day to day. What’s going on?”

“First, let’s talk someplace else…” Ayra pulled at Janus’s arm, but the mercenary was not dragged along. Instead, Janus pulled at Ayra and sat the young lord beside him. Janus chased away the mercenaries, swatting his hand like he was swatting a fly. “Get lost, all of you. Let me talk in secret with my lover.”

“I haven’t even touched my drink yet!” Someone shouted.

“Can’t the two of you go to another room?”

“You know, your lover is a real beauty…”

Though the other mercenaries whined and grumbled, they rushed to vacate the premises like obedient dogs. Some settled in the farthest corner, glanced curiously at two in the middle, and whispered amongst themselves. Janus popped a well-fried bean into his mouth before hand-feeding Ayra one as well.

Though Ayra chewed out of courtesy, he became annoyed when the mercenary placed a bean in his mouth whenever he opened it to talk. Eventually, Ayra spat out the bean and asked, “Have you ever been through Dallum Gorge?”

Janus pretended to be disappointed, exaggerating with his sullen eyebrows. Once again, he turned his attention to the thick clothes Ayra wore. “Dallum Gorge? Aha, I thought you dressed quite peculiarly today. I’ve crossed it many times; what business do you have there?”

“Some mattersinvolving the lord’s castle. I’ve never set foot there and need a guide.”

Janus chuckled at the prospect of being a guide yet again. A strange, long and rumbling laughter came pouring out of his throat. Ayra thought he saw a passing flash of annoyance cross the mercenary’s face, but Janus simply brushed off his clothes and stood up.

Due to the heating in the mercenary’s office, the young lord felt a little hot; Ayra opened his eyes wide as Janus wiped the sweat that collected on Ayra’s forehead. How many lovers has this man had in order to be at ease while acting so unsuitably doting?

“Fine. Since you’re my lover, I’ll give you a special discount. From what I can tell, you’re dressed to leave straight away, right?”

Pleased with what Janus said, Ayra followed him immediately lest the other would go back on his words. He’d never hired a mercenary before, so he did not know how much that would cost. It would have been nice if the mercenary had offered his services for free…

As Janus walked leisurely to the door, he took a small pouch out of  arms and threw it at the reception desk. “Nadal–the money for these guys’ alcohol.”

“Oh! Thanks for the drinks, Janus. Have a safe trip~!” Nadal smiled broadly with his friendly face. He also waved his hand at Ayra and told him to return safely.

As they left the mercenary’s office–which was once again as rowdy as it was before Ayra barged in–the young lord checked Janus’ stats out of habit.

<Janus Rehzedt>

Magic attack: ???

Affection: 2 ♡

‘It’d be nice if I could unveil the HP or physical attack stat.’ Sorely tempted, Ayra checked the quest window once more.

<Quest!>

[Let’s open another stat category.]

*Accumulated Stat Window Use time (11:59:53/12 hours)

*Check two stat windows simultaneously (100/100)

*Check three stat windows simultaneously (30/30)

Reward: Open one stat category designated by the User.

Ayra was deliberately holding out on that last minute. Each stat clearly had its uses, and he was unsure of what went wrong with the merchant. He wanted to save the quest reward until he could make use of it immediately. The young lord suppressed his desire to open another one of Janus’ stats by filling in that remaining minute.

He had many motivations to take Janus to Dallum Gorge, but this was one of the biggest reasons. Ayra wanted to confirm with his eyes the vague and ambiguous threat he felt from Janus the day of the earthquake.

‘We’re sure to run across at least one magic beast while crossing Dallum Gorge.’

By seeing this man fight in person, he would be able to gain a rough gauge of how strong Janus was — and the outcome of Ayra’s judgement would then determine the manner in which he handled Janus in the future. Lost in thought, Ayra chewed his lips, ‘I don’t feel good about this.’

Naturally, he’s in a poor mood since his territory is on the verge of collapse, but Ayra felt uncomfortable–like there was something he’s missing. Perhaps his awakened magic was warning him subconsciously.

“So, how much is the special discount for lovers?” Ayra asked.

“Who~ knows~ I guess I’ll have to think about it.”

With that uneasy, vague answer, the two hurried to horses that Ayra had dragged from the castle. Though the horses of this region were a little slower than the horses in the south, they were bulky and fluffy. The young lord thoughtlessly handed over one of the reigns to the mercenary before whirling around, “No way, are you planning on going like that?”

Since Ayra’s arrival, the temperature in this region had dropped with each passing day; recently, it had been cold enough for him to see his own breath. Yet, Janus only had one layer of clothes on him and a ragged sword sheath by his side.

‘Yeah, I’m going like this,” Janus said as he stroked the loudly braying horse–was the horse uncomfortable about something? The mercenary was barely dressed; he only had a tunic and a vest.

‘Wait a minute–can I even call that stroking the horse? It’s like he’s grabbing it by the mane…’

At any rate, the horse calmed down rapidly under Janus’ ministrations. Ayra tried to follow along and grabbed his horse’s mane the same way, only to almost get bitten. The young lord shook his head, “You said you’ve been to Dallum Gorge many times before. I’ve heard that it’s nestled in between perpetually snowy mountains.”

“Since the place is perpetually snowy, it’ll be cool and refreshing.” With that said, Janus sprung onto the horse’s back in one leap.|

Ayra carefully placed his foot on the stirrup and scrambled atop the horse. Though the young lord had ridden before, horseback riding was always an ordeal. Worried that the horse would freeze to death, Ayra packed a blanket to cover it; with a sharp shout, he commanded the horse to start moving.

After a short while, two horses disappeared through the gate that survived, intact amongst the collapsed walls.

TL: Quick update! Super busy with work lately T_T

After May 6th, I’ll be wholly free!