Ten days on foot from Belphirn. About five days by wagon. The area around Alcate was known to be free of magical beasts.

The reason was simple. The magical beasts in Belphirn were so powerful that no other beasts dared to approach the surrounding area.

As a result, it wasn’t uncommon for people in the area to have never seen a magical beast in their lives.

Moreover, because of its proximity to Belphirn, soldiers from the three kingdoms often passed through to transport criminals, leaving no room for bandits to exist.

“Even Rigo, where there are mercenaries, is far away, so if you want to hire one, it takes months. And it’s not easy to hire mercenaries from other realms – it’s not easy to cross the border. If you were part of a big trading company, they would vouch for your identity, but a powerless pedlar like me can’t even dream of that.”

Deverick sighed heavily.

Normally, mercenary requests were handled by mercenary guilds. Since most mercenaries couldn’t read, they couldn’t even look at a request without the guild translating it for them. And once a mercenary had completed a job, they would return to Rigo without stopping anywhere else, so it was rare to see them on the streets.

In the beginning, mercenaries were nothing more than “the exiled” disguised with a fancy name.

The only place where these outcasts could build a home and live was Rigo, so it was understandable that they would return there immediately.

But could a place where such people lived really be safe?

It was the region with the most active magical beasts, while Alcate, the furthest away, was an area with little to no magical beast activity.

Even if you sent a request to the guild and a mercenary accepted it, it would still take months for them to arrive, travelling at human speed.

“Is this the only area where magical beasts have appeared?”

“From what I’ve heard, it seems that magic beasts are becoming more active everywhere. They’re starting to appear in places where they’ve never appeared before, and in places where they’ve already appeared, they’re now appearing in packs.”

“Huh, if they’re coming in packs, they must be busy fighting each other for territory.”

“Yes. After the magical beasts have ravaged an area, it’s not just the crops that get destroyed – if you’re really unlucky, houses can collapse as well. The damage is no joke.

If the whole region was in chaos, then maybe it wasn’t directly related to this area.

Ethan tried to piece together the information Deverick had given him with the time he had spent in Belphirn.

“Then there must be a lot of requests for mercenaries. Haven’t any come this way yet?”

Only mercenaries hunted magical beasts. Sure, nobles could easily deal with them using magic, but nobles only ever intervened in wars over land.

Still, Ethan hadn’t seen any mercenaries around here.

Having spent some time in Rigo himself, he knew the faces of most mercenaries – at least the common ones – but he hadn’t spotted any.

Mercenaries running around covered in blood every day was not a pleasant sight.

It was natural for people to avoid those who made their living by slaughtering others-be they humans, magical beasts, or livestock.

On top of that, their personalities were often rough to the point of brutality, and with their large, sturdy frames, mercenaries stood out wherever they went – and not in a good way.

At Ethan’s question, Deverick let out a long sigh.

“Well, it’s just… what I’ve heard here and there…”

“Is there any more news?”

Including the time he’d been in Belphirn, and everything from his capture to his torture – even though it hadn’t been that long, a lot had happened without him knowing.

“Mm. You know, the Mercenary King is quite famous. Not overwhelmingly so, but famous enough even among commoners.”

As for the commoners’ opinions of the Mercenary King, they were extremely divided.

There were negative views that saw him as a member of the despised mercenary class, and positive views that admired the achievements he had made despite being from a class considered even lower than commoners.

The former opinions were mostly held by middle-aged or elderly people, while the latter were held by children and the younger generation.

But as is always the case in such social conflicts, the loudest voices won out – and that, of course, meant the former.

“It seems that a lot of people have expressed their opinions about the execution of the Mercenary King.”

“So they fought.”

It wasn’t as if the commoners ever spoke well of the mercenaries.

On top of that, relations with the inhabitants of the surrounding area had never been good.

There had been problems with the blacksmiths, and thanks to the unruly mercenaries of Rigo, even they had suffered damage – so it’s not surprising that many would say things like, “Good riddance, he deserved to die.

And since mercenaries were known for their fiery tempers, there was no way those who knew Ethan would keep quiet.

Whether Ethan himself had a twisted personality or a dark past didn’t matter – mercenaries were all like that, so it wasn’t considered a flaw.

Even if they weren’t very good at communicating, they were people who had saved lives and kept others alive longer – who would dare to speak ill of them?

Except for that traitor, of course.

Ethan clicked his tongue and frowned as a certain face came to mind.

“We were never really on good terms to begin with…”

Just because the Mercenary King had become famous didn’t mean that the treatment of mercenaries had improved.

The area around Rigo was harsh in many ways.

An abandoned port, abandoned people, and those who had been displaced –

A ragtag group that had come together to form a village.

The houses they had built themselves were little more than crumbling ruins, and with everyone running around drenched in blood, the streets constantly reeked of blood and decay.

Even if they earned more than commoners, it was all money paid for risking their lives.

When death could come at any moment, how much restraint could anyone have?

In Rigo, there were drunken revelries day and night, and it wasn’t uncommon to see people who treated the ground like their own home.

Naturally, such a place attracted all sorts of lowlifes who had given up on life.

Rigo was large for a village, but still smaller than a city.

Although it was often nicknamed “The City of Mercenaries” due to the number of mercenaries living there,

Despite their numbers, the mercenaries themselves weren’t exactly of good character, so in many ways it wasn’t a pleasant place for commoners.

Not only the nearby villages, but even the closest cities refused to sell refined goods or weapons to mercenaries, so terrible was the relationship between them.

“Besides, mercenaries absolutely despise nobles, don’t they?”

Knights are seen as righteous and brave defenders of the nation, while mercenaries are seen as slaves obsessed with money – or so the nobility thinks.

But whether on the battlefield or hunting magical beasts, it was always the mercenaries who went out and shed blood.

They were sent out as human shields to make sure no knights died while the knights themselves stayed safe and waited.

So it wasn’t just that mercenaries despised nobles – it was closer to outright hatred.

Especially when a close comrade under a noble’s command ended up dead and they couldn’t even recover the body.

Most of them, having returned empty-handed with no trace of their friend, refused to accept further noble commissions, drowned themselves in alcohol to the point of death, or accepted the rare requests from commoners to hunt magical beasts – and died in the process.

“And now that the mercenary king has been captured and executed by the nobles, those who spoke carelessly have only added fuel to the fire.”

It was a rather ridiculous situation, really.

Ethan himself had had some trouble with the people around him when he was in Rigo.

“Figures.”

“Right? In the end, it just turned into a fight between the mercenaries and everyone else.”

“The higher-ups aren’t going to just sit back and watch, but they’re holding up surprisingly well.”

“Exactly. The commoners went to the lord and demanded that the magic beasts be destroyed, and the lord sent a request to the mercenaries-but they say the mercenaries just ignored it. If this stalemate continues much longer, even the royal family may intervene.

The area around Rigo was overrun with magical beasts.

Neighboring areas were also frequently attacked, and mercenaries regularly accepted requests from local lords to hunt them down.

It hadn’t been that long since the war had ended, and now there was talk of a civil war.

Ethan furrowed his brow as he adjusted the hood over a now sleeping If.

A while ago she was sulking, but now that her stomach was full, she was fast asleep – like a child, really.

Would it be all right to take her to Rigo?

There would be a lot of problems.

Ethan let out a long sigh.

“If you’re going to Rigo, you must have a lot on your mind. I’m not the type to talk this much, but since you said you were taking a sick woman to Rigo, I thought I’d tell you.”

Far from being sick, she was probably healthier than anyone else – but if a civil war broke out, she would be the first target and in grave danger.

Even if he kept her hidden under a hood, there was no way they could keep that up all day, for days on end.

No matter how much he protected her, there would be gaps, and if it was discovered that she was an Ancient, a civil war would surely break out in Rigo as well.

There would be those who wanted to turn her over, those who wanted to use her – and then there was him.

The moment If’s identity was revealed, Ethan would have to face all of Rigo.

He didn’t know if going to Rigo was the right choice, but for now it was the only place he could go.

Like all mercenaries, he had no home to return to, no family waiting for him.

If blinked slowly.

The world was still dark, and all that remained of the campfire was a faint warmth and scattered embers.

Her eyes, rolling sleepily, turned upward.

The platinum hair above her, damp and soft from the night’s forest dew, looked fluffy and light.

A hand slipped out from under the hood and gently gathered the puffy strands, pulling them down to her chest.

As she cradled the head in her arms and stroked the hair, the dew clung to her palm, dampening it.

With each touch, the water-laden hair began to droop, weighed down by the moisture.

This time, her fingers spread, moving through the strands in smooth, practiced movements – a gesture she seemed quite familiar with.

Seeing her mimic exactly what he had done, Ethan lowered his head with a faint, helpless chuckle.

Still, he had never taught her to grab someone by the hair – where had she learned that?

He couldn’t understand what was so fascinating about that hair that she always had to play with it.

Ethan carefully tucked the loose strands back into the hood and thought about the leftover ingredients from yesterday.

Since she had only eaten magical beast meat so far, there was no way of knowing if she would eat normal livestock meat.

Well, if she didn’t like it, he would have to go hunting again.

Yesterday, when he had tried to get her to talk, he had only fed her fruit – and that had been a mistake.

Even though he had managed to get some good meat, she had filled herself with fruit instead.

She leaned her head close to Ethan’s ear.

“Can I talk now?”

“…”

He hadn’t expected her to keep her word so well.

Sure, he’d taken the job because he needed the money, but in retrospect, this wasn’t a good way to handle things.

Ethan glanced toward the wagon to see if anyone else was moving, then gave a small nod.

“It’s hard not to talk.”

She had spent more days in silence than talking, but every time she saw Ethan, she felt an overwhelming urge to talk to him.

With a sullen expression on her face, If finally let her pent-up frustration out.

“I want to talk to you too, Ethan.”

At her little pout, the corners of Ethan’s lips slowly lifted into a faint smile.

“Why? What did you want to talk about?”

At Ethan’s question, If fell silent.

Her head tilted slightly in a gentle curve, and a deep crease formed between her brows as her eyebrows drooped.

“I’m not sure.”

“Well, after everything that happened, I’m sure there were a lot of things you wanted to ask.”

“Even though it was all stuff I didn’t really understand, I wasn’t that curious about any of it.”

More than that, it was just that listening to Ethan’s voice was more fun than hearing those stories.

The face she was looking at was constantly changing expressions, and his voice was constantly changing in tone and pitch.

She was just frustrated that his eyes weren’t on her.