“You are! You are all right...” The smaller girl hugged Nina tight. Nina hadn’t realized how cold and stiff she’d become until she was wrapped up in that embrace. Tien was so small, yet so dependable.
“Now hold on just a minute!” snarled Pearly Cloud. “Forgotten where you are, have you? Don’t think I won’t kill you just ’cause you’re a lupalune!”
At his words, the mercenaries who’d been bowled over by what they’d just witnessed regained their composure.
“Y-Yeah! Surround them!”
“You ain’t gettin’ outta here, brat!”
“Call the rest of the men!”
It was two small girls against a huge crowd of fighters. But then, they weren’t mercenaries for nothing—they knew full well that they couldn’t judge Tien’s strength by her appearance.
“I’m so sorry, Tien,” Nina said. “I only wanted to help you...”
“Chi wants you not to worry about that.”
Tien watched the mercenaries that surrounded them like a hawk. But even with her incredible strength, Nina didn’t think she could beat all of them.
You could have cut the tension in the hall with a knife. Everyone was waiting to see who would make the first move.
Nina clutched Tien tight, then—
“What in the blazes is going on here?” roared a voice from above them.
The mercenary captain emerged from the third floor of the atrium. His clothes were disheveled and he slurred a little as though he were drunk. The commotion must have drawn him out—though the woman he’d brought back was nowhere to be seen.
“This maid stole my necklace,” Morning Star said. “We are ensuring that she does not escape.”
“What? That’s all?” the captain said, stomping his way down the stairs. “Then what are all those men do— Hey! Who smashed the door?!”
He stopped in his tracks, eyes bulging.
“That brat did it,” Pearly Cloud said.
The captain turned to look at Tien. “Is that...another lupalune?! A real one?!”
“That is right. Chi is not a fake like them.”
The captain looked like he’d been hit over the head. “What d’you mean, ‘fake’?”
The mercenaries, meanwhile, began to whisper excitedly.
“Wait, so that girl really is a lupalune, then?”
“You reckon she’d join us? With three lupalunes, we’d be unstoppable!”
“Shut up, you imbeciles!” Pearly Cloud shouted, then rounded on Tien. “You think you’re safe just ’cause you’re a lupalune, huh? Well, you don’t know the Dark Frost Mercenaries! We’ll teach you not to underestimate—”
“You talk too much,” Tien said, cutting him off. “Fight me already, you fake.”
Nina could tell Tien was baiting Pearly Cloud—but why did she keep calling him a fake? If Tien wanted to find her parents, she ought to try and get information from Pearly Cloud and Morning Star, and they’d never talk to her if she provoked them like this. And what did “fake” even mean?
But Nina had no time to ponder the questions whirling through her mind.
“Come on then, brat!”
“Pearly Cloud, no! She’s just a child!”
“Shut up!”
Trembling with fury, Pearly Cloud ignored Morning Star’s protests and advanced on them. Tien moved in front of Nina to face him head-on.
“I’ll send you wailing back to your mother!” With a bellow, Pearly Cloud threw his massive fist at Tien.
Nina instinctively closed her eyes—but there was no crash of impact, nor was Tien hurled across the room. All she heard was a dull thump.
“Huh...?” Nina opened her eyes a crack.
Tien had one hand in front of her, gripping Pearly Cloud’s fist.
“Wh-What the hell?!”
Pearly Cloud shook with effort, but Tien used her strength to absorb the impact of the blow. She didn’t move an inch.
“Chi would have realized straightaway had Chi come instead of Nina.”
“Huh?!”
“You are both fakes. Chi should have known. You smell all wrong.”
Pearly Cloud barely had time to look shocked before Tien spun around, locked her other hand below his elbow, and hurled him across the room instead. Pearly Cloud was a big man, but her throw sent him all the way down to the other end of the hallway. He smashed into the ground and rolled a few times.
“N-No way... Pearly Cloud?!”
“The mighty lupalune warrior...”
“She beat him?!”
For a moment, the mercenaries were gripped by shock.
“Get it together, you numbskulls!” bellowed the captain. “Right, Pearly Cloud got careless and made an ass of himself. No one is to breathe a word of this to anyone!”
The mercenaries all nodded.
“Ugh... Shame to waste a lupalune, but what can you do? Deal with those two. I want them dead! Don’t let them outta here!”
There was a roar of assent from the mercenaries. They raised their weapons.
“Nina...” Tien softly. One-on-one, she’d made short work of Pearly Cloud, but it seemed she knew she stood no chance outnumbered. “Chi will clear you a path...”
However, just as she was about to tell Nina to run, someone else emerged from the depths of the mansion.
“Look at all of you, an army of men waving swords at two little girls. And you call yourselves mercenaries?”
It was an old man. The only old man who had any business being in that house. Apparently, he had hung around after helping Nina with her altercation at the gate.
“Stay back!” Nina cried. “It’s too dangerous!”
But for some reason, the mercenaries flinched and fell silent at his words.
He chuckled. “Look at you, worrying about me even now. You really do have a heart of gold. Don’t you think, Morning Star?”
“Yes, sir... That is... No, I mean...”
Despite standing above the other mercenaries, even Morning Star seemed rattled by the sight of the old man.
Her reaction baffled Nina—just like she was with the old man himself. Gone was the kindly, unassuming grandpa she’d known. In his place stood a battle-hardened warrior—though his smile was the same as ever.
The mercenaries parted to let him pass as he strolled over to Tien and Nina.
“B-But what about our reputation?!” spluttered the captain. “If this gets out, we’ll lose our standing as the empire’s strongest, Captain!”
Had he just said “Captain?” How could that be? Nina had been told that the man living on the third floor was the captain.
“Let me explain,” said the old man. “As all the older servants and mercenaries know, the real captain of the Dark Frost Mercenaries is me. That’s my son—the acting captain.”
Nina gaped. She couldn’t find her voice, but internally, she was screaming. This man, whom she’d assumed was no more than a merchant running errands, was the master of the house?
He’s the mercenary captain?!
“I’d hoped you were ready for me to officially hand over my title... But you’re not there yet.”
“D-Dad... Captain, I mean... That’s not fair! It’s thanks to me that our mercenary company got this big!”
“Idiot. You still don’t get it, do you?”
“G-Get what?”
In response, the old man pointed to the doorway. Without the doors, it was now wide open to the outside. And outside, there stood a mage. Her staff was raised.
“Emily!” Nina cried.
“If any of you lay a finger on Nina, I’ll blast this whole damn house into a pile of dust.”
It was clear she wasn’t bluffing. The mercenaries were seasoned warriors—they could tell the difference.
Emily’s magic was already swirling around her, a vortex of power that sent her fiery red hair whipping about her face. All she had to do now was let it loose.
No one was in any doubt. This was war magic.
The mercenaries knew what spells like that could do, even against a whole army.
“Not one of you noticed the mage on our doorstep getting ready to cast war magic,” the old man said. “The capital’s strongest? You idiots are a DISGRACE!!!”
He bellowed the last word so loudly that all the magic Emily had worked so hard to gather scattered and fizzled out.
Meanwhile, the captain—or rather, the acting captain—slumped his shoulders in defeat.