Besides, there was also gut flora, which were, strictly speaking, living organisms. If each teleportation wiped out the gut biome, it would be a definite health hazard. He had wondered if it might be related to the lack of mana, but Zenjirou had magic tools on his person—the Windhammer and the teleportation pendant—and was able to use the spell without issue, so that mustn’t be it either. He’d wondered what would happen if he cast the spell on something like a snake after it had swallowed another animal whole and alive, but there was no way he’d be able to muster the willpower to cast it on such a dangerous creature, so he hadn’t been able to test it out. He’d eventually decided that thinking about it too deeply was pointless and chalked it up to one of the mysteries of magic.
Killing a rabbit was practically an everyday action for a mercenary as a food source, so Yan had no real reason to hesitate. “Very well,” he said, before wrenching the captive rabbit’s neck around with frighteningly practiced movements. The rabbit died so quickly that it probably hadn’t felt any pain. “Will that suffice?”
Seeing the man kill the animal bare-handed had shaken Zenjirou. “It...is. I shall send you now. Send that which...”
His first attempt failed, but his second succeeded, and considering Zenjirou’s disposition, that was a significant improvement. While the process was completely familiar to Zenjirou, it was the first time the mercenary was experiencing it, and he hadn’t even known of its existence beforehand. Therefore, despite all of Zenjirou’s explanations, it still took him a few seconds to understand the situation he was in after the spell had been cast.
It was a failure he would be ashamed of as a veteran mercenary. A few seconds could mean death on the battlefield.
“Welcome, Commander Yan. I am Queen Aura I of Capua, wife of Zenjirou, who sent you here.”
The calm, dignified voice of the queen finally let him understand the position he was in. He was currently standing in a dimly lit room. The floor, ceiling, and all four walls were made of stone. If Zenjirou’s words were true, this would be a room in the royal palace of Capua on the Southern Continent, but he had no way of verifying that.
Even so, his sharp awareness meant that he understood there had been a change that could not be normally explained. The change in question was the difference in the air. Moments ago he had been in Uppasala, where the atmosphere was cold and dry. The air in this room, though, was hot and humid. The difference was enough that the brazier burning in the middle of the chamber couldn’t account for it.
There was also a distinct difference in the scent of the area. In his long history working as a mercenary, Yan had experienced much of the Northern Continent’s weather and could intuitively understand that this was not the same place.
There were four other people in the room with him. One was a woman in her twenties who had introduced herself as the country’s queen, Aura. There was also a middle-aged woman in a maid uniform behind her, plus two soldiers flanking them with leather armor and short spears. They were wearing leather helms, so he couldn’t tell their age, but he could see they were well trained.
The maid was the only one of them he recognized. She had been at Zenjirou’s side when they had met in the hotel. There was no doubt as to the connection between them. Internally, he let go of some of his wariness.
All four of them were fairly dark-skinned, and outside of the maid, he had never seen clothing like that worn by any of the other three. All of those small pieces of information came together to let him accept that this was an unknown world to him—the Southern Continent. For the time being, he decided to proceed under the assumption that what Zenjirou had told him was true, that he’d arrived via teleportation to Capua on the Southern Continent, and that the woman in front of him was its queen.
“Ma’am. I lead a small mercenary group on the Northern Continent and am called Yan. It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”
He bowed. His words and actions were fundamentally that of a Northern mercenary, so they were different from the norm in Capua, but they were refined enough not to cause offense even with completely new civilizations.
“Indeed. This is an extremely private matter, and neither of us are blessed with time, so I cannot provide much in the way of a welcome. I suppose you would prefer that as well, though. It is an extremely plain provision, but I have prepared seating, so let us sit and talk. I wager you have that much time at least, no?”
“Of course,” the single-eyed mercenary agreed. “However, it is rather convenient that there is a fire here. I would like to place this within it, if that would be acceptable?”
He lifted the rabbit as he spoke.
Aura lifted an eyebrow. “I do not mind, but I would ask why.”
“I wish to match the situations as closely as possible. Priest Yan was burned to death.”
His voice was low as he spoke and sounded like it came from deep within the ground. However, Aura would not flinch from that.
“Very well. Do as you wish,” she said curtly.
Now that he had permission, he strode up to the fire and hurled the rabbit’s corpse in without hesitation. There was the foul stench of burning fur, followed briefly by the fragrance of cooking meat. With those scents filling the room, Aura and Yan sat in the seats that had been specially added to the room. The two chairs and the table between them were all plain and made of wood, with the absolute minimum of quality to be fit for royal use.
Once the maid had placed cups of tea in front of both of them, the conversation began.
“So then, Commander Yan, considering you have accepted the invitation to teleport here, can I assume that you are willing to accept our suggestion as outlined in the letter?”
Aura’s opening move was to get some form of commitment from him, and his lips lifted into a smirk.