“Well...it’s fine,” I said. “And I know this plan would deviate from the protection job you ladies have agreed upon, so there’s no need for you to be a part of it, of course. Oh, but I’d like to keep our contract going until we capture one of the enemies and make them talk, since they might attack again.”
“Whaaat?!” the Blazing Valkyries said once more. They seemed quite surprised, but I thought it would’ve been a given. I couldn’t tell them to die in a hopeless battle for the job description and compensation that’d been offered in the contract. Not to mention, I couldn’t have anyone other than my enemies see how I fought. That was why...
Wait, why are they giving each other those looks?
It seemed veteran hunters could communicate through eye contact alone. After they finished their infrared eye contact communication, they all turned toward me and said in unison, “We’ll join you!”
“Huuuh?!”
How did this happen?
“Wh-Why?” I asked.
“Well, if our client dies before we successfully complete the job, it would tarnish the name of the Blazing Valkyries! We must insist on going with you! (It’s not like we have a choice if we don’t want this continent to sink!)”
What am I gonna do now?
If it was just me and my enemies, I would’ve had options. Sure, I’d be up against soldiers who were just following orders from their superiors, or people just carrying out the job assigned to them by their employer, but they were knowingly committing the illegal act of kidnapping me, so “they were just following orders” and “they have families too” were pointless arguments. If those statements meant anything, you wouldn’t be able to fight back against invading soldiers during a war. No one was dumb enough to actually think like that. Besides, even if I didn’t want to make their families sad, that was no reason for me to just let them kidnap me.
So I’d intended to wipe out pretty much every one of the enemies coming after me, make them spit out who the mastermind was, then go find those people and annihilate every last one of them. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to spread the word that going after the stray priestess and saint would have dire consequences. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be about the Goddess’s protection or miracles either. Maybe there’d be a violent group of militant believers, or maybe an influential person whose daughter I’d saved hired a squad of guards to watch over me.
Whatever the reason, whoever meant me harm would be met with a terrible fate, and something good would happen to those who were on friendly terms with me. Such rumors would go a long way toward letting me maneuver more freely, both in terms of safety and...retaliatory activities. Even if something unfortunate happened to my enemies, it would’ve been done by a mysterious organization of their own volition, so I wouldn’t be responsible in the slightest.
For all those reasons, I’d planned on visiting the orphanage by myself. It was on the outskirts of town because the land was cheap and well-suited to farming, and the kids could live freely there without having to see how regular households lived.
Come to think of it, it was pretty uncommon for orphanages to be smack-dab in the center of the good part of town. If I brought a cart full of food to the orphanage, I’d probably get attacked for sure. They’d have plenty of time to see me on the way there and prepare to attack me on the way home. Plus, I’d be going out of town without anyone escorting me.
Normally, it would look like a trap, but they’d probably interpret it in a convenient way, like I was just a dumb commoner with no sense of danger or that I’d run out of money to keep paying my bodyguards. At the very least, they wouldn’t have expected me to be able to prepare enough forces greater than theirs, and that was true.
This plan wouldn’t be possible if the Blazing Valkyries were to go with me. There were a million ways I could deal with attackers as long as there were no witnesses, but the Valkyries would be witnesses I couldn’t get rid of. And even if they did go with me, we’d stand no chance against a group of seventeen with soldiers in the mix. Even if we managed to come out on top, most of my allies would be dead or critically injured. It was safe to assume we’d lose, and I couldn’t allow people to die or get hurt because of me. So...
“Denied!” I said.
“Whaaat?!” the Valkyries said in unison, but this wasn’t up for discussion.
“This is my order as your employer. You’re all to stay here at the inn when I instruct you to. If you disobey, our agreement will be immediately terminated as a breach of contract.”
The Blazing Valkyries fell silent, but I had to do this to make sure they wouldn’t get hurt. I knew they were all good people, but they wouldn’t survive long as hunters if they did foolish things like risk their lives for an escort job lasting just a few days. Their judgment must’ve been clouded because they thought I was a child, but I was no kid, and I couldn’t let them die.
There was a short silence that felt like forever, and there were infrared eye contact beams being shot between the ladies the entire time. Finally, Ishris nodded as if she were making a painful choice.
“Very well... We’re working for you based on our contract, so we must follow your orders in accordance with the terms of the contract as long as those orders wouldn’t compromise our own interests. Though it does shame us to do so...”
Good, that’s what you should do.
To them, this was just a day job to make some money for living expenses. It made no sense to risk their lives here. All they had to do was put in an appropriate amount of work for the pay they’d receive. To hell with going above and beyond! If you wanna work for free, do it yourself! Don’t drag your subordinates into it!
Haah... Haah... Haah... Oh no, that brought back some bad memories from another life...
Anyway, the Blazing Valkyries finally agreed, so that was that. I still had much to do. I’d go buy some food first thing in the morning, then leave in the afternoon. Then I’d have time to cook it and feed the kids, and it would start to get dark by the time I began heading back. It would be easier for my enemies to attack when it wasn’t the middle of the day, and it’d be less likely for a third party to witness their “divine retribution.”
Good, good...
“This is an emergency! Sherna, report to the lord right away and request a deployment of troops! Emis, you head to the Hunter’s Guild and report to the guildmaster there! I don’t care if he’s attending to guests, state your party name and barge in there! We’ve already declared Marth One, so no one’s going to stop you. Chessie, you investigate the route to the orphanage and find spots that would be suitable for an ambush. Nailey, you’ll escort Miss Edith with me. Now go!” Ishris ordered.
“On it!” the Blazing Valkyries said in unison.
After Kaoru retired to her room, the Blazing Valkyries had a meeting and declared their resolve, so that three of them could leave for town to fulfill their duties. Normally, Ishris should have gone to the lord as their party leader, but since only two of them would be available for escort duties, she had to remain as the most capable bodyguard of the group. And since she trusted in her party mates, there wasn’t any doubt in her mind as she’d made her decision.
“I’m counting on you girls...” she thought as she clenched her teeth and looked in the direction that they’d left in.