Adventurers and mercenaries were similar in that they lived life on their own terms, but how they did so was entirely different. Where adventurers fought monsters, mercenaries fought other people, earning money in exchange for fighting in wars. They worked not as individuals but rather in bands of several dozen members.
The Dark Frost Mercenaries kept a grand mansion on a sweeping estate within Thundergard. Owning such a large property, even on the outskirts of the city, made it clear that they earned good money. The mansion was surrounded by high walls that obscured all but the roof of the third story.
“What a large house...” Nina said.
Astrid whistled, then turned to Emily. “Are mercenary companies this lucrative, then?”
“Well, they operate on a bigger scale than an adventuring party, so it figures they’d earn more too.”
Only Tien said nothing. She was perhaps about to meet two of her fellow lupalunes—but it wasn’t nerves making her quiet.
The reason for that was the hat.
Even though Emily didn’t know why Duke Werther was looking for Nina, she assumed that it wasn’t good. The fact that news of it was spreading also posed a problem. Apparently, the reward just for information about Nina was a whopping ten thousand tellus—enough to pay for lodgings for all four of them for two months. Emily decided that in order to avoid trouble, it was best to cover up that they had a maid and a lupalune. Hence, the hat.
“Chi’s ears itch.”
The oversized pageboy hat fully covered Tien’s lupalune ears. Unfortunately, it also seemed to be quite uncomfortable for her.
“Hang in there,” Emily told her. “You can take it off once we’re back at the inn.”
“So Chi must wear this the whole time while out in town.”
Emily, unable to come up with a better solution, just said, “Come on, let’s go.”
The four of them approached the front gate of the Dark Frost Mercenaries’ estate. It was shut, but through the steel bars they could see the mansion. Off to the right was a large open space that appeared to be used by the mercenaries for training, though just then, it was deserted. There was no bell, but as they waited in front of the gate, a stout man came out of the door of the mansion.
Yawning, he came down to meet them. “Eh? Who’re you supposed to be?”
“We heard we’d find two lupalunes here,” Emily said. “Their names are Pearly Cloud and Morning Star.”
“You heard right,” the man said. “But I ain’t gonna let you see ’em.”
“Huh?! Wh-Why not?”
“’Cause they’re busy, aren’t they?”
Pearly Cloud and Morning Star, the man told them, were famous not just in the Yupiter Empire but abroad too. They were the Dark Frost Mercenaries’ “star players,” so to speak, and many clients put in requests specifically because of them. Some even sent donations.
“They don’t see nobody that doesn’t have an introduction or a prior appointment,” the man finished. “You be on your way now.”
Emily, however, had expected this kind of reception. “Oh really?” she said. “Well, what do you say after you see this?”
“Eh?”
Emily pushed Tien forward, and with a “Ta-daaa!” whipped the hat off the girl’s head. “That’s right, she’s a lupalune too! I reckon Pearly Cloud and Morning Star would like to meet her, don’t you think?”
The man looked taken aback for a moment—but then he said, “Blow me down, if those aren’t the best-made pair of false ears I’ve ever seen!”
Emily gaped at him. “Uh... False ears?”
“Look here, miss. We get no end of folk showing up here in the hopes of meeting Pearly Cloud and Morning Star, and about one in ten of ’em claims to be a lupalune. So off with you already! Shoo!”
“B-But—?! You’re kidding!”
But the man walked away without so much as a backward glance.
“Who the hell does he think he is? I’ll show him, making a fool of me like that!” Emily slammed her fist down on the table.
“Ma’am, please be gentle with the furniture...”
“Oh, sorry...”
She apologized to the owner of the little restaurant where she and the others had stopped off for an early lunch, a bald but bearded man with bulging muscles who brought them fluffy gnocchi coated in a rich tomato sauce flavored with garlic and anchovies. It was absolutely delicious. It even satisfied Tien’s discerning nose—she wolfed down one mouthful after another.
“The look on your face back there was priceless,” Astrid said, snickering a little. “It makes me laugh just thinking about it.”
“Shut up and help me think about how I’m gonna get revenge on those stupid mercenaries!”
“Always straight to violence with you, isn’t it? I think what you meant to say is ‘How are we going to introduce Tien to Pearly Cloud and Morning Star?’”
“Right, yeah. That...and how to exact my sweet revenge.”
Emily held such a bad grudge against the man for stonewalling her that she was at risk of forgetting what they were there for.
“Hmm...” Astrid crossed her long legs, considering. “We just need to confirm whether they know anything about a lupalune girl separated from her parents in the Werther Duchy, or the whereabouts of other lupalunes. For that, all we have to do is talk to them about Tien.”
“Easier said than done when the ones we want to talk to never go outside,” Emily grumbled.
Needing to know more, they went back to the adventurers’ guild after lunch. Most adventurers gathered here, so it was the best place to ask around.
Although mercenaries didn’t have their own guild, the different companies did recruit from the adventurers’ guild. Right now, however, there were no recruitment notices. Most of the posted jobs were for guards to escort the clients to seaside resorts; it was, after all, nearly summer.
Speaking to different adventurers, they learned that whenever Pearly Cloud and Morning Star led the Dark Frost Mercenaries into battle, they never lost. They were among the most famous mercenaries in the empire, but the more their fame grew, the more people tried to curry favor with them, hoping to leech off of their achievements. Fed up, the pair stayed shut up inside the mansion.
“I guess they can’t help but stand out with black hair and those white-tipped ears...” Astrid said.
“Looks like if we want to talk to them, we’ll have to find a way to infiltrate their mercenary company.”
“What about you, Emily? You could be a mercenary.”
“Except they’re not hiring, are they?”
“But I mean, you could just say you’re a Fifth Degree mage.”
Emily sighed. “Think about it, Astrid. If I revealed that then sure, they’d probably hire me. But do you think they’d just let a Fifth Degree mage walk away? I’d end up stuck working as a mercenary for years.”
The Fifth Degree magic that Emily could cast was exceptionally powerful—the kind of high-level magic that could decide battles.
“True... Well, it was nice knowing you, Emily.”
“Hey, don’t just make up your mind to leave me behind! Why don’t you sneak in? You could repair their magic items or something.”
“These organizations have merchant houses on call for that sort of thing. A stranger would never get inside.”
Emily groaned in frustration.
“If I may...” Nina, who was wiping tomato sauce from around Tien’s mouth, spoke up. “What if I sneaked in as a maid?”
“Huh?”
“Maids come and go all the time. Scullery maids sometimes change every month. It’d be only too easy for me to get a job—”
“No way,” Emily and Astrid said in unison.
“I already know how that would go. You wouldn’t make it five minutes without drawing attention.”
“Nina, the fact that no one noticed your talents before was basically a miracle. We shouldn’t hope for the same miracle to repeat itself.”
“Wh-What?” Nina was totally lost.
“Chi also does not want you to put yourself in danger. Especially not for Chi’s sake.”
“Is it just me, or are you saying you’re fine with Astrid and me putting ourselves in danger?” Emily said. “But I guess I see your point. I can use magic to get out of any scrape I find myself in. Nina, on the other hand...”
“I’d be just as helpless as Nina in a scrape against an entire mercenary company,” Astrid pointed out. “But I’m with you on this.”
“Do you think I’m that unreliable?” Nina said with a huff.
Tien shook her head emphatically. “You are very reliable,” she said, “but not with this. Still, Chi is grateful that you want to help.”
In the end, it was decided that Emily, Astrid, and Tien would go out and look for information that might lead them to contacting Pearly Cloud and Morning Star.
Nina, however, had other ideas.