The brothers found themselves by the village entrance at midnight. Yevgnen had his hands wrapped around Boris’ shoulders. Boris thought his brother’s hands were cold. It wasn’t just his hands. Yevgnen’s entire body felt cold.
They were waiting on top of the roof of a small farmhouse near the northern entrance to the village. They made no noise, as there were probably people inside the building below them. Boris figured that Yevgnen was cold because the night was chilly.
Summer was ending, and it was exceptionally chilly tonight. The moon was like a pendant hanging above their heads. The scattered scars were the string that it was hanging from. Had someone lost their necklace?
Yevgnen found his mark. He pursed his lips in silence.
This was where things would start getting difficult. He didn’t know how skilled Yanika Goth was, but in any event, she most likely wasn’t as easygoing as she had pretended to be before. He needed to be careful. Extremely careful.
Yanika appeared beneath the light of the moon. Her footsteps were light, just as they had been on the night they had met, as she walked up to the guards posted that the village entrance and began chatting with them. Then, she nodded, turned around, and gestured to someone behind her. Romabac walked up to her. He was still alive, contrary to Joachim’s prediction.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
Yevgnen paid closer attention to Romabac, who wielded a crossbow with poison-laced bolts, than to Yanika, who he was still unsure about. In any event, he didn’t see Wills anywhere. Yanika and Romabac were sitting next to each other under a tree as they chatted. They still seemed to be on friendly terms. Yevgnen couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see them clearly in the moon’s light.
He continued to wait. He hadn’t spotted Winterer among Yanika’s belongings yet. There was a sword hanging at her waist, but it wasn’t Winterer’s white scabbard. Yevgnen would need to be blind before he failed to recognize Winterer.
Just then, Boris tapped his arm and said,
“Over there.”
The mercenary guild had finally arrived. There were ten of them at first, but more and more continued to show up. One of the mercenaries was as beefy as a giant, one of them was carrying a long and slender weapon, one of them was wearing robes that were dragging along the ground, and one of them was wearing a horned helmet…
Mercenary guilds were common in the barren lands of Lekordable. Each guild ranged from dozens to hundreds of members in size. Some guilds were regarded as elite troops that held political power in Lekordable. Most, however, were hastily formed and just as hastily disbanded. Mercenaries traveled all throughout the continent as long as there was money to be made. The only place they avoided was the infamous Mortal Land.
The more renowned guilds made lots of money working for nobles or even the royal family. Mercenaries were generally paid very well. They pleased their employers in all kinds of warfare, except for naval warfare, by showcasing their persistent fighting spirit and aggression, their high survival rate, and their unnecessary cruelty.
There were several dozen members of the guild that had bought Yevgnen and Boris that they could see, but it was entirely possible that this wasn’t their main force. The brothers could not let their guards down.
Yanika climbed up to her feet and shouted at the mercenaries, “You rang?”
Yevgnen couldn’t be certain because it was too dark to tell for sure, but it looked like there were at least around fifty mercenaries present. Yevgnen had seen Yanika and Romabac take down twenty men on their own previously in an ambush. But their opponents had been mere thugs back then. The mercenaries, in contract, were battle-hardened warriors. It was Yanika and Romabac who would find themselves at the disadvantage if they picked a fight just because their feelings were hurt.
One of the men stepped forward. He was a head taller than Yanika and his shoulders, which were protected by leather shoulder guards, were as thick and hefty as a horse’s thighs. He wore no helmet over his shining bald head. Someone else lighted two torches. The torches helped Yevgnen and Boris see better.
The bald man, who looked like he was the mercenaries’ leader, was not wearing any armor. He was only wearing guards around his joints, such as his shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and heels. He was carrying a long spear.
Yanika stepped forward.
“Wow. It’s an honor to meet the Golden Spear in the flesh, Guildmaster Deraki,” she said with an exaggerated bow.
Deraki, the guildmaster, didn’t bother returning her facade of courtesy as he bluntly demanded, “I want compensation for our losses.”
Yanika straightened herself out, placed a hand at her waist, and rolled her head. Even Boris could hear her bones cracking.
“Your losses? What losses?”
“The kids you sold us escaped.”
Guildmaster Deraki’s baritone voice was so low that it was eerie. Two mercenaries walked up to where their leader was with their hands on the hilt of their blades. They were clearly trying to threaten Yanika. Yanika, however, did not so much as flinch.
“Oh yeah? But, isn’t that your fault for taking your sweet time collecting them? Or maybe they escaped because the people who were supposed to be keeping an eye on them sucked at their jobs. Either way, the fault’s not mine.”
Before Guildmaster Deraki had the chance to respond, Yanika quickly added, “Regardless, we made a deal like we always do. And we held up our end of our deal. Whatever happened next has nothing to do with us, yeah?”
Evidently, this wasn’t the first time Yanika’s party had kidnapped people and sold them to a mercenary guild. Yevgnen frowned heavily as he continued observing.
Guildmaster Deraki replied, “We never got the goods. That’s the cold, hard truth. I want compensation for our losses.”
“Why don’t you stop being so stub—”
Romabac cut Yanika off just then. There was an obsequious chuckle in his voice as he said, “Gosh, let’s not be too hasty, now. We’ve been business partners for some time, haven’t we…? So, Guildmaster Deraki. How exactly do you want us to compensate you? We’ll at least hear you out.”
“You can compensate us in one of two ways. First, you can pay us back twice the amount we paid you. We were busy, but you made a mess of things by making us wait for you. If you don’t want to pay up, then…”
“Then?”
Yanika already looked less than pleased.
“Then you two can join our guild instead and work off what you owe.”
“What the fuck?!” Yanika shouted in a surge of anger. Romabac hurriedly stopped her from continuing. They weren’t in any position to be offending the mercenary guild. Both of them had heard plenty of rumors about how bloodthirsty the guildmaster, Deraki the Golden Spear, was. While Yanika—whether it was because she had that much faith in her skills or if it was just her temperament—tended to speak without filter, Romabac was better at reading the situation quickly.
That was why he did his best to mellow his tone as he said, “We’ll obviously compensate you for any losses you suffered. This isn’t the first time we’ve done business with you, right, Golden Spear? But neither Yanika nor I are the type of people to be working for a mercenary guild, as I’m sure you’re already aware. We’re too accustomed to moving by ourselves. We’d only get in your way, Guildmaster, and we’d probably just end up bringing down morale. That being said, I think it’s too much to ask us to pay you twice the original amount when what happened wasn’t even entirely our fault. So, how about this instead? We’ll pay you back the original amount that you paid us.”
The words were barely out of Romabac’s mouth when Guildmaster Deraki shook his head and said, “No can do. Either pay up, or work it off.”
Yanika’s shoulders began quivering with fury. She tried to step forward, but Romabac stopped her again. There were heavy creases in his brow as he tried to come up with an alternative.
“Then what about 1.5 times the original amount? You’ll be making back half of what you originally paid in less than a day. You won’t find a better deal anywhere else,” he proposed.
“Romabac!” Yanika yelled. “What the fucking hell?! Why the hell should we have to pay them?”
“Yani, please…”
Unfortunately, Romabac was not successful in persuading Yanika otherwise. Yanika shoved him away before walking up to Guildmaster Deraki and squaring her shoulders.
Then, she said, “We’ll pay you back the original amount only. Take it and leave.”
“Twice the amount,” Guildmaster Deraki repeated himself.
“What kind of fucking scam is this bullshit?! You’re gonna find yourself in trouble if you keep making light of me!” Yanika grumbled to herself for a bit after her initial outburst before she resumed shouting. “Here’s your money, you dirty bastards!”
Then, she pulled out a heavy pouch from her pocket and hurled it to the ground. One of the mercenaries stepped up, opened it, and began counting the coins with some of his colleagues. Not that they needed to.
That was because Guildmaster Deraki bellowed, “I, the Golden Spear, don’t give a damn about what you lowlives are scheming. If you’re not going to pay up or work for us, then I’ll kill you where you stand.”
Romabac backtracked and readied his crossbow as soon as he felt that things were beginning to get dangerous. Yanika also jumped back, but not before she snapped, “Go ahead and try! Do you think we’ll go down that easily?”
The Golden Spear’s mercenaries promptly spread out and surrounded Yanika and Romabac. The sounds of weapons being unsheathed echoed throughout the area.
Romabac walked up to Yanika and desperately whispered to her, “Please! Do you really want to die like this?”
Yanika glowered as she spat, “Then do you want to get dragged away and be worked like slaves instead?”
“No, I don’t, but… Look. It’s not like we’d have to stick with them forever, right?”
Yanika immediately understood what Romabac was implying. They could simply pretend to work for the mercenary guild for the time being and run away at their earliest opportunity. Considering their skills, it was more than possible for them to fight back a couple of the mercenaries before making their escape. It would wound their pride a little, but that was still better than dying here like dogs.
“Wait, Guildmaster Deraki! Let me just ask you one thing. You’re not going to make us work for you until we die, are you?” Yanika asked with an apparent sudden change of heart.
Guildmaster Deraki sounded as fearsome as ever as he replied, “I’ll let you go if you do well on your first job.”
The real reason why Guildmaster Deraki, who commanded a guild of over a hundred mercenaries, was going out of his way to get two more people working under him was because of a contractual issue. A certain senator from the Republic of Travachess had requested the guild to bring exactly fifty members to a certain location, but they had lost two people by accident along the way. He had sent word to ask more of his guild members to join him, but he did not think that they would be able to make it on time for the contract. That was why he had tried to buy two more people in order to reach the requisite headcount. Thus, he had purchased Yevgnen and Boris. Boris was useless because he was so young, but it wouldn’t be too difficult to find some kind of work for him to do as long as he helped meet the headcount.
The mercenaries of Lekordable were proud and violent. Not many people wanted to incur their ire over trivial matters.
“Fine! I don’t know what kind of job it is that you want us to do, but we just have to do it well, right? Shouldn’t be too hard. But don’t you dare go back on your word later.”
It looked like the situation was about to resolve itself. Just then, however, Yevgnen spotted a long hilt jutting out from behind Yanika’s back. He hadn’t been able to see it earlier because it was mostly hidden under her armor. He felt something hot exploding from his chest. He leapt up to his feet and jumped off the roof without another thought.
“Halt!”
Everyone heard him. It was Yanika who reacted first. She shouted, “The hell? Didn’t you run away?”
Boris jumped down after his big brother on instinct. Yevgnen pointed the sword that he had taken from Joachim at Yanika and roared, “Give me back my sword, you crook!”
Yanika looked happy to see them. Instead of addressing Yevgnen, she turned to Guildmaster Deraki and said, “These are the guys you were looking for. That means we’re done here, right? Oh, and give me back my fucking money.”
Yevgnen was furious. With his sword still pointed at Yanika, he fumed, “Nonsense! What right do you have to sell us? Have you forgotten that slave trade is illegal in Travachess?!”
Snickering off to the side, Romabac cut in, “Don’t be ridiculous. You were weak enough to get yourself sold off in the first place. Just shut up and do as you’re told. Who do you think you are to be preaching at us? Go home to your mommy if you wanna stand there and whine like a brat.”
Boris did not remember what his mother looked like. However, he knew exactly how his brother felt about her. Boris was normally a quiet kid, but he was also fiercely protective of his big brother. He flew into a rage and shouted back, “You kidnapped us while we were sleeping like a bunch of cowards. You call that being strong? Are you proud of yourselves, huh?”
Romabac huffed and retorted, “What are you gonna do about it if I say we are? Did you babies really think that you’d manage to get even a single hit on us in a fight? You were only carrying around that sword because you let it get into your heads after waving a sticking around a few times back at home.”
Yanika cackled and added, “That’s why we’ll take real good care of it for you, yeah? This sword’s much too dangerous for you kids. Hahaha…”
“The reason you people are cowards,” Boris started. Boris was suddenly reminded of how his brother had laughed back inside the shed. He knew that Yevgnen was wringing out every last drop of strength he had in order to protect his little brother. That was why he hated the fact that others were looking down on Yevgnen. Even if it was true that Yevgnen was no match for Yanika’s party because he was young, he had undoubtedly still done everything he could so that he wouldn’t be humiliated while his little brother was watching…
Boris wanted to say that was enough. Maybe being wary and doubtful of everyone just in case they might end up deceiving you like a coward was the smarter thing to do. But that didn’t suit his brother. That just wasn’t the kind of person Yevgnen was.
Boris continued, “Is that we trusted you, and you used that against us! That’s the whole reason why you decided to approach us to begin with, wasn’t it? To trick us! Saving us from the people who attacked us was just another part of your ruse, wasn’t it? You probably didn’t even kill them for real! You people have no honor! You’re not warriors—you’re just crooks!”
He had simply spoken whatever had come to mind. He hadn’t even actually contemplated the possibilities that he had brought up at the end. That being said, however, if Romabac truly was skilled enough that he could kill twenty people in an instant with nothing but his crossbow, then why wasn’t he showing off his skills now? The gang from before had gone down in barely a blink of an eye.
“T-that damned, fucking little brat…”
Romabac looked visibly stunned. He stepped back and glowered when Yanika slapped him on the arm.
Just then, Boris felt someone staring at him. He turned around. His gaze was quickly lost in the sea of mercenaries, but he realized that Guildmaster Deraki was also looking at him. The guildmaster looked different up close. The dense pack of mercenaries looked frightening enough on their own right, but Guildmaster Deraki’s face was scarier. A large scar ran from the guildmaster’s left eye to his temple, and he was also missing his left ear. His sharp and slitted eyes made it feel like he could see around the back of his head just by rolling his eyes.
It was with those sharpened eyes that Deraki looked back at Boris for a moment before turning his gaze to Yevgnen. No one could tell what he was thinking. Then, completely out of the blue, he said, “Looks like you’re telling different stories.”
Sensing that the tides were turning against her, Yanika yelled back, “What the fuck are you talking about? Let’s get this done and over with already! We’re busy, you know? Just give me back my money!”
Guildmaster Deraki slowly unfolded his arms and replied, “Fight it out amongst yourselves. The winners can capture the losers and sell them. I’ll pay the winners the money they’re owed, and take the lowers with me.”
“What?”
Yanika was so enraged that she was at a complete loss for what to do. Yevgnen, on the other hand, quickly grasped the situation. He didn’t know why, but that tough-looking guildmaster had taken his and Boris’ side. It was in his best interest to accept the guildmaster’s goodwill. After all, who knew how long it would last?
Yevgnen immediately stepped forward and got ready to do battle. He may have loathed Yanika and Romabac, but he was still not the type of person to attack his opponents before they were ready.
Would he be able to beat Yanika?
“Fuck you! Don’t blame it on me if I end up selling you a pair of corpses!” Yanika screamed shrilly as she made to draw Winterer, which she was carrying on her back. She changed her mind mid-movement, however, and ended up drawing the blade at her hip instead. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that revealing the fact that she had gotten her hands on an amazing weapon would only mean that Guildmaster Deraki might decide to take it for himself.
Yevgnen and Yanika clashed before anyone officially started their duel.
Boris watched them in silence. Yanika’s sword was moving so quickly he could barely follow it with his eyes. He saw Yevgnen blocking her first blow with much difficulty. But he only managed to block the first blow. Yanika’s sword stabbed into Yevgnen’s right shoulder and left scratches on his neck and chin in a blink of an eye. She also stabbed him squarely on his right wrist. Then, she deftly stepped back as her eyes glistened before jumping back and resuming her storm-like assault.
Yevgnen was bleeding quite a bit, but none of his injuries were fatal. However, Yanika’s attacks had managed to break his morale. He was already focusing more on defending than attacking before he knew it. On the other hand, there was a light grin on Yanika’s face. She knew that she was more than enough to handle him.
Boris was clenching his hands into tight fists as the blood drained from his face. He was anxious. He was so anxious that he could hardly believe that he had actually managed to sense that unfamiliar gaze on him again. He didn’t even realize that he had a talent for it. He turned around to look for the owner of that gaze before he could stop himself.
However, Yevgnen fell into danger the very moment Boris looked away. He couldn’t help but cry out, “Ack!”
Yevgnen had already known that his defenses had crumbled by the time Yanika’s sword began closing in on his throat. She was already too close for his sword to do him any good now. Even sacrificing an arm couldn’t save him. Was this the end?
Yevgnen didn’t quite know what he was thinking, but he jumped up with everything he had. Jumping didn’t help him avoid Yanika’s blow. Her sword simply connected with his chest instead of his throat.
“Huh?!”
Yanika froze up in alarm. She was so sure that she had stabbed her sword squarely into Yevgnen’s chest, but her sword simply slid across him and pulled her along with it. Both Boris and the mercenaries were also taken by surprise.
“Ugh!”
Yanika immediately tried to pull away, but she couldn’t. Yevgnen had circled behind her. Instead of attacking her with Joachim’s sword, however, he let it go and grabbed Winterer’s hilt instead. The mercenaries only saw that he had dropped his sword because he had his back to them. They thought that he had dropped it because of the wound he had suffered on his wrist earlier.
But Yanika knew better.
“Ugh…”
Yevgnen hadn’t even drawn Winterer yet, but the coldness it exuded froze her in place. She couldn’t move a muscle. There was only one reason why she had lost. She hadn’t known about Snowguard, which Yevgnen was wearing under his clothes. The Winterbottom Kit, which had been temporarily split up, displayed unbelievable power once it was finally whole again. Yevgnen drew Winterer from its sheath and pushed Yanika away. She fell over like a stone statute.
Yevgnen was breathing heavily. Boris kept his eyes glued on his brother, and he ran over to where Yevgnen was as soon as Yevgnen let go of Yanika. But just then…
“Hmph.”
Something shaped like an arrow with long white feathers flew past the brothers’ eyes just as they heard Guildmaster Deraki intoning quietly. Someone screamed before its bright afterimage faded.
“A-argh!”
It was Romabac. It was only then that the brothers finally turned around and realized that he had readied his crossbow and was pointing it at them. But his arms were quivering, as if they were paralyzed.
It was dark. That was why it took a moment before they realized that there were three daggers planted into Romabac’s arms. They turned back around only to find a new figure standing next to Guildmaster Deraki who hadn’t been there before. They were holding three more daggers, which looked exactly like the ones planted into Romabac’s arms, between their fingers.
Yevgnen couldn’t believe his eyes. Those daggers had found their mark with extraordinary precision and accuracy. Had they really been thrown by a little girl who looked barely older than ten?
“Naya,” Guildmaster Deraki called out to the girl.
The girl—Naya—didn’t respond. Instead, she lowered her gaze for a moment before shooting a glare at Boris. Boris instinctively realized that she was the owner of the gaze he had been feeling on him earlier, though he couldn’t quite explain how he knew that.
Her long silver braids were eye-catching even in the darkness. She had a turban, a head covering typically worn by those who believed in a specific faith in Lekordable, wrapped around her head. The faded purplish color of her turban suited her amethyst eyes.
“Capture them,” Guildmaster Deraki ordered. A couple mercenaries ran forward and grabbed Yanika—who still couldn’t budge—by the arms and pulled her up, and a few others made their way to Romabac.
Romabac hadn’t given up yet and was still aiming his crossbow at the mercenaries despite how badly his arms were trembling. His voice was filled with malice as he shouted, “How could you do this to us?! We were business partners! How could you kick us to the curb like this and side with a couple of brats from gods-know-where?! Are you fucking blind?! Are you being nice to them because they’re just kids? Tch, you goddamned dirty bastards!”
“You…” Yevgnen said as he struggled to catch his breath. That being said, he still managed to convey his thoughts articulately. “You were looking down on mothers earlier… But would you be able to go up to your own mother and proudly tell her what a terrible excuse of a human being you are? You’re worse than an insect… You should consider not meeting your mother again while you still yet live, for her sake.”
Romabac’s visage crumpled pathetically. This was the first time in his life that he had failed to murder someone who had insulted him. He had put his faith in Yanika—was she even still alive?—, but she had proved to be absolutely useless to him. Who knew how long it would be until he finally managed to escape from the mercenaries at this rate? But… fuck! There was no getting out of this now!
The little girl with braided silver hair stepped forward just then. She walked past Boris and Yevgnen and made her way over to Romabac. Her footsteps were light, she was tiny, and she still had a babyish face, but she carried herself with so much dignity that no one dared to block her path.
One of the mercenaries who had been handling Romabac turned to her and said, “You don’t need to come over here, Nayatrei.”
The girl—Nayatrei—didn’t reply. Her petite lips were pursed tightly shut.
Then, she suddenly jumped up, landed about two steps ahead, and swiftly spun around. The last thing that Romabac saw was the way she shot herself at him after spinning around. She was no slower than the daggers she had thrown earlier. What happened next was too quick for the naked eye to follow. Nayatrei reached out, and her braided hair danced as it cut through the darkness. She hadn’t hit him, but Romabac nevertheless collapsed before he even had the chance to so much as scream.
Thud.
Nayatrei had leapt back in the direction she had originally come from before anyone could stop her. She landed with one knee on the ground and with her left arm over her face, almost like she was a dancer performing in a circus. Even the way she walked had suggested that she was highly skilled in martial arts.
What just happened?
Boris only understood what had happened after he had turned his gaze back to Romabac. The crossbow he had been holding and the three daggers that had been pierced into his arms had disappeared. The little girl was apparently an expert at disarming others while being unarmed herself. Boris and Yevgnen had heard that it was possible, but even Yevgnen had never actually seen it being executed in person before.
“You’ve gotten cleaner. Well done, Naya.”
Nayatrei climbed up to her feet and gave Guildmaster Deraki a small nod. Then, the guildmaster gestured to the other mercenaries. He didn’t seem to care about Yevgnen and Boris anymore. Not that the brothers had wanted his attention to begin with.
Nayatrei walked back to the guildmaster. The mercenary who had called out to her before chased after her and patted her on the head. He was a man in his early twenties with his long red hair tied behind his back. Nayatrei looked up at him, but she didn’t say anything. That being said, she didn’t seem offended by the treatment either.
The mercenary guild left the village shortly thereafter. Nayatrei did not look back at Boris again.
