CH 180

Mercenary Recruitment

What do you do if you can’t gather enough mercenaries? The recruiters came up with a solution. They are now holding a recruiting session that provides compensation just by attending.

A large rental conference room was rented on a trading planet and many famous mercenaries that are active in nearby systems have gathered there.

“Umm, everyone, thank you for coming……..”

An imperial military officer in a suit greets the mercenaries with a cold sweat. In front of her were various mercenaries who wear whatever they want with no regard for the dress code. All of them appear to be fierce warriors and their atmosphere is pretty intimidating. It would be unreasonable to ask her not to be nervous speaking in front of them.

“Enough with the pleasantry, where’s the money?”

A mercenary said in an unmotivated voice. Her expression showed that she only wanted the money and quickly go home afterward. These women were invited specifically by name and they only attended because they heard that they will be rewarded just by attending this briefing.

“Th, the compensation will be transferred to your bank account after the briefing is over so…….”

While wiping the sweat on her forehead, the officer lowered her head as though she was begging for the mercenaries to stay. The temperature in the room is by no means high but being subjected to the mercenaries’ gazes, the officer can’t help but sweat.

“You don’t need to brief us about anything. Most people who came today must have already looked into the situation after all.”

An old woman casually said that while waving her hand to dismiss the officer. She seems to be at an age where she shouldn’t be active anymore but she’s actually the head of a well-known mercenary corps. In reply, the other mercenaries all silently nodded at her words.

“To put it simply, you want to invade Calencia right? Well, do whatever you want. Leave me out of it.”

“Wh….why! Calencia is but a small country with a meager army! It should be a simple job of crushing some old scrap strikers with your Zeniths!. This amount of reward should be more than sufficient!”

Her outrage is understandable since her boss’s head will literally fly if the recruitment takes any longer than this. The Imperial Army also allocated as much budget as they can to this effort and the reward here is exorbitant considering the scale of this war.

“Who cares about the reward! That [Wicked Star] is there in Calencia right.”

Another mercenary said in a sore mood.

“W, well, yes. We’ve confirmed that the mercenary who goes by that second name is currently being employed there……..However, a single ace or two shouldn’t be a big problem to you all right?”

A powerful pilot is certainly troublesome to deal with but in the end, that’s just one person. The Imperial Army believes that they can win this war through sheer numbers. That being said, things are not so simple since Diaroze was captured before she sent the report back to Nored so they will be going in almost blind inside an enemy turf.

“Haa….”

The old woman sighs and shrugs as though she’s dealing with a fool. Seeing that, the mercenaries around her started to giggle.

“W, What!”

“If the [Wicked Star] is on the enemy side then you definitely will lose. You can’t just chalk that guy up as an ace. That’s a real bad omen. It’s not that I believe in bad omens in general but don’t ask me to join if that person’s going to show up.”

The old woman said with her wrinkled face distorted.

“Right now the bunch that does not take the name [Wicked Star] seriously are either newbies or reckless fools. I learned my lesson a year ago.”

Apparently, the old woman has fought [Wicked Star] before. Meanwhile, another mercenary seems to sympathize with her.

“I agree. There are not that many of us who would willingly join a losing battle and there are only a few newbies that will try to use this chance to prove themselves. Now you understand?”

Understand what! The officer shouted internally but managed to prevent that retort from bursting out loud. After taking a few deep breaths, the officer continues speaking in a softer voice.

“Come on, that’s just an exaggeration. The rumors say that this [Wicked Star] is actually a man too. There’s no way intergalactically famous mercenaries such as you all can not deal with him.”

“Hah!”

The old woman snorted. A blue vein popped on her forehead.

“It seems I can’t talk any sense to you. I’m leaving.”

The moment she said that, the old woman got up and started walking to the exit. The mercenaries around her also began to leave. The officer hurriedly tried to stop them but she was immediately shut down by their glare.

“N, Noway……”

Left behind, the officer pitifully groaned. After all, if she fails this job, her head might be going to the guillotine as well. When she was wondering if she should escape the country, a woman suddenly tapped her shoulder.

“I have a question.”

In a hurry, the officer looked back at the young mercenary with long ice-blue hair. The officer immediately recognized her face since she had read the file of every attendee beforehand.

“You are……Chief Makina of the Wibel Hounds?”

The Wibel Hounds is a famous band of mercenaries that own multiple battleships. Their leader, Makina is also said to be a top ace when it comes to striker combat.

“Of course, please ask away by all means!”

If she can hire the Wibel Hounds then she could at least avoid the guillotine so the officer happily replied.

“Is it true that [Wicked Star] is going to appear?”

“Y, yes, that is correct. We received that information from our intelligence agency so there’s no mistake.”

“Fumu.”

Makina’s groan somehow contains a clearly uplifting mood. She clearly has a different attitude from her unmotivated colleagues.

“I…..no, we the Wibel Hounds was looking for a chance to have a rematch with him. This is good. We’d like to join.”

It appears that she has some kind of personal agenda with the [Wicked Star]. Anyway, since she managed to hire someone it seems that she has escaped decapitation for the time being. Thinking so, the officer strokes her chest in relief.