Chapter 58 The Mercenaries
'Isn't a hundred thousand a little too much?' Constantine thought when he received the notification from the trial.
His debt is ridiculously big indeed, but that is also not a small number, all he did was increase Sophia's lifespan by ten years... nothing else, he didn't even save her, how does that amount to that many points?
Unbeknownst to him, there were two individuals whose eyes were shining and those were precisely Andre and the little boy, Malik, their eyes were shining with utter respect towards him.
[The Fate Jewel is the one that calculates how much your actions are worth, you have just changed someone's fate in this room... It is not necessarily Sophia's... whoever Fate you switched, it will have immense repercussions to this world and even beyond.] Zebellia gave an explanation.
'Then for the sake of my debt, I should start healing people...' He didn't think that each time he performed this 'ritual', it would amount to so many points.
'Might as well just exploit my sweet goddess' blessing to clean my own name'
[It won't guarantee anything but indeed, perhaps you can be lucky again and again... you'd have to save the enterity of Sandoria to clear this debt though.] Her voice contained mockery, truly the person in this universe with the highest debt.
...
For some time the family had a sweet chat with Valentine in which all of them pledged that they would be of use to him in some way, Anya even started calling him big brother but he had to refuse, she eventually settled for some 'Brother Tine' as she thought his name was too long compared to hers.
The Conqueror had to reject again, much to her sadness, he couldn't allow himself the shame of being called such.
"What is our next course of action?" Andre asked while they had some casual dishes cooked by Sophia.
"We have to do many things... the first thing I want you to do is to get us a property, I want it to be big enough for all of us, have one floor for Zamira and me, one floor for your family and a ground communal floor... I want it to have a huge clearing as well were we can train, I'll be training the two of you..." Constantine started to talk like the Emperor he was, but his orders weren't caught immediately by the family who simply looked at one another in disbelief.
Certainly, they now had the money to get such a property... but the naturality with which he demanded all of that luxury still surprised them, with their life on the line they managed to get this small apartment that not many have the luck to say they own.
Still, since they're his orders, the only way forward was to follow them.
"What can you tell me about this mercenary organisation, how does it work, how does one become a mercenary?" He needed information about this as well.
"Mercenaries are recruited by recommendation... you need to catch someone's eyes with your skill, your appearance, your behaviour... some mercenaries will decide to coach you into their teams and that's how you become a mercenary, you can't 'apply' to be one... and that's where the most difficult part comes in..." Zamira explained only to end up with a gaze filled with resignation looking at Anya and Malik who certainly lacked the 'bravery' of a mercenary.
Anya scratched her elbow in shame, "We have never left the town... usually we have to leave and make our own adventures, defeat monsters and bring their skulls or something else back in order to convince mercenaries to coach us."
"That's ridiculous..."
"But that's how it is, they won't waste time in someone without potential... in order for me to be recruited in my first team, I had to hunt a crimson tiger... I nearly died back then but after managing, I was recruited in my first team..." Zamira confessed her experiences while Andre too mentioned something about killing a gorilla and bringing back an arm.
"I don't want my daughter to have to do that to survive..." Sophia sighed in sadness while in the other part, even if Malik wasn't one of their own, the boy worked hard to get his way around the town without having to come out, but eventually he'd have to.
"I usually get fruits and deals from other shops that I go around, that's how I survived before you all took me in, thank you again."
"Don't worry Malik, your mother was my friend, I wouldn't be able to let you out when you're not yet prepared, moreover, Anya clearly likes you... you two should stop being nonsensical and have a child already..." Sophia groaned and scratched her own head while Andre felt like he was going to get a heart attack.
!!!
And he wasn't the only one, Malik was having a heart attack too.
"MOTHER!" Anya blushed in shame but one could see she was... smiling, meanwhile Constantine visually gasped.
"S-Sophia..."
'S-So soon?!' All of his daughters had gotten married in his thirties... and that's because he was restrained, otherwise... they might have remained as saints -how he wanted them to remain.
He couldn't conceive that Sophia was asking her daughter who was still this young to not even reach his chest with her height... to have a child.
"Constantine, girls that aren't good prospects usually have their first child by the age of fourteen while mercenaries like me usually don't have a child until their last moments, they even choose their partners carefully... j-just so you know." Zamira looked away, recalling the scene from the night before where they were quite close to 'making a child' she wouldn't have minded but she fell asleep... she could only sigh in repent, thankfully, he had said he wanted an entire floor of their own.
'Nights like the ones before are bound to repeat...' She thought with excitement, the still gasping Constantine couldn't notice the furtive glances she was throwing him, he also didn't notice how she licked her hand a little before using it to send back her hair, accentuating her face.
Clearly not an action of someone that thought her face was 'ugly'.
"That's right, Mr Constantine... Malik and Anya are always outside fending on their own, although we'd normally not allow Anya to be with anyone who is at least a mercenary... I am quite content with Malik~" Sophia confessed while cupping her own cheeks lovingly, still enjoying how healthy she was feeling, so much so that she couldn't stop herself and cooked.
However, her 'acceptance' wasn't agreed upon by the bulkier man in the room.
"BUT I AM NOT CONTENT WITH YOU BOY! SO YOU CAN ONLY DREAM! EITHER YOU BRING ME THE HEAD OF A DRAGON, OR YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT HAVING MY LITTLE GIRL!"
"..." The Conqueror saw some many resemblances with himself in that single sentence, that he wanted nothing but to curse out loud, 'did I look that stupid when I said that back then?'
Zebellia didn't miss the chance to make fun of him.
"YES SIR! I DON'T HAVE THAT INTENTION SIR I WILL THE DRAGON SIR!" Malik stood upright as if he had been called for war, those weren't the words he wanted to say, but those were the ones that came out to save his life.
"You don't?" Anya seemed as if she was going to cry.
"Here we go again..." Constantine smirked and had his tea, yet another lively morning with this family.
**
**
After the poor Malik was 'disciplined' into sitting in a corner for no reason, Constantine finished his meal, he felt like having a cheesecake and therefore, decided to head to the streets.
"Anyway, I will be leaving the housing issue in your hands." He said and stood up together with Zamira, he intended to take out some money for this purpose, but the family rejected him adamantly.
"Please, no... we will get it with our own money, allow us to do this much." Sophia said, she couldn't allow him to give them even a coin more, it would be an insult, all she could hope was that he didn't insist.
Constantine shrugged his shoulders and accepted.
"Sure, Zamira and I will be off, I want to visit this mercenary organisation myself."
"Please take care, I will have dinner ready by the time you come back~" Sophia waved to the two of them and even led them to the door.
"COME HERE BOYY!!"
"F-Father-in-law p-please leave me al-" By the time the poor boy realised what he said, it was too late.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!? BOY, YOU WANT TO LIVE NO MORE!"
With giggles and despaired groans as the background, Zamira and Constantine hit the streets again.
**
**
"They're such a lovely family, right master?" Zamira smiled and bent forward as they walked, looking at his gaze directly with that same infatuation from before, Kurohana hung proudly on her back.
"Sure they are." He shivered, perhaps they're too lovely.
"I wonder how would it feel to have a family like that, to have children..." She asked while fidgeting, sending a furtive glance his way.
"It feels wonderful." He asked from experience, at least the first years are wonderful, once those little rats grow up, it is all trouble.
"D-Did you have children, with your wives...?"
"Yes, I did..."
"I see... that means you will be a wonderful father~" She started dejected but then her countenance brightened up in realisation.
"... and you will surely be a wonderful mother too."
!!!
"H-How can you tell?" She asked with curiosity, what aspect of hers would make her a good mother?
"You're quite strong and beautiful... shrewd and protective, qualities that a mother must have to properly protect her children, regardless of what you think, I believe you would be a wonderful mother."
"Thank you."
What followed afterwards was an awkward silence in which Zamira wanted to say some words that wouldn't come out of her mouth, while Constantine sighed, not able to say the words she wanted to hear.
...
"Do you know where we can find an Alchemist, Zamira?" He asked while they made their way to the mercenary organisation, Zamira was leading him... there weren't that many people in the streets today and the sun was shining brightly with a light breeze.
"Mostly in the capital, it is extremely difficult to meet anyone involved with magic and craftsmanship in the outskirts... another way is, that an alchemist has presented a quest in the mercenary organisation."
"A quest?"
"Yes, Alchemists usually send mercenaries and other groups to get ingredients that they're lacking for their preparations."
'Secretary, sit down and take note, we have to meet an alchemist to study those flowers and also, to see what I can do to grow up in this magic field.'
[...]
His debt is ridiculously big indeed, but that is also not a small number, all he did was increase Sophia's lifespan by ten years... nothing else, he didn't even save her, how does that amount to that many points?
Unbeknownst to him, there were two individuals whose eyes were shining and those were precisely Andre and the little boy, Malik, their eyes were shining with utter respect towards him.
[The Fate Jewel is the one that calculates how much your actions are worth, you have just changed someone's fate in this room... It is not necessarily Sophia's... whoever Fate you switched, it will have immense repercussions to this world and even beyond.] Zebellia gave an explanation.
'Then for the sake of my debt, I should start healing people...' He didn't think that each time he performed this 'ritual', it would amount to so many points.
'Might as well just exploit my sweet goddess' blessing to clean my own name'
[It won't guarantee anything but indeed, perhaps you can be lucky again and again... you'd have to save the enterity of Sandoria to clear this debt though.] Her voice contained mockery, truly the person in this universe with the highest debt.
...
For some time the family had a sweet chat with Valentine in which all of them pledged that they would be of use to him in some way, Anya even started calling him big brother but he had to refuse, she eventually settled for some 'Brother Tine' as she thought his name was too long compared to hers.
The Conqueror had to reject again, much to her sadness, he couldn't allow himself the shame of being called such.
"What is our next course of action?" Andre asked while they had some casual dishes cooked by Sophia.
"We have to do many things... the first thing I want you to do is to get us a property, I want it to be big enough for all of us, have one floor for Zamira and me, one floor for your family and a ground communal floor... I want it to have a huge clearing as well were we can train, I'll be training the two of you..." Constantine started to talk like the Emperor he was, but his orders weren't caught immediately by the family who simply looked at one another in disbelief.
Certainly, they now had the money to get such a property... but the naturality with which he demanded all of that luxury still surprised them, with their life on the line they managed to get this small apartment that not many have the luck to say they own.
Still, since they're his orders, the only way forward was to follow them.
"What can you tell me about this mercenary organisation, how does it work, how does one become a mercenary?" He needed information about this as well.
"Mercenaries are recruited by recommendation... you need to catch someone's eyes with your skill, your appearance, your behaviour... some mercenaries will decide to coach you into their teams and that's how you become a mercenary, you can't 'apply' to be one... and that's where the most difficult part comes in..." Zamira explained only to end up with a gaze filled with resignation looking at Anya and Malik who certainly lacked the 'bravery' of a mercenary.
Anya scratched her elbow in shame, "We have never left the town... usually we have to leave and make our own adventures, defeat monsters and bring their skulls or something else back in order to convince mercenaries to coach us."
"That's ridiculous..."
"But that's how it is, they won't waste time in someone without potential... in order for me to be recruited in my first team, I had to hunt a crimson tiger... I nearly died back then but after managing, I was recruited in my first team..." Zamira confessed her experiences while Andre too mentioned something about killing a gorilla and bringing back an arm.
"I don't want my daughter to have to do that to survive..." Sophia sighed in sadness while in the other part, even if Malik wasn't one of their own, the boy worked hard to get his way around the town without having to come out, but eventually he'd have to.
"I usually get fruits and deals from other shops that I go around, that's how I survived before you all took me in, thank you again."
"Don't worry Malik, your mother was my friend, I wouldn't be able to let you out when you're not yet prepared, moreover, Anya clearly likes you... you two should stop being nonsensical and have a child already..." Sophia groaned and scratched her own head while Andre felt like he was going to get a heart attack.
!!!
And he wasn't the only one, Malik was having a heart attack too.
"MOTHER!" Anya blushed in shame but one could see she was... smiling, meanwhile Constantine visually gasped.
"S-Sophia..."
'S-So soon?!' All of his daughters had gotten married in his thirties... and that's because he was restrained, otherwise... they might have remained as saints -how he wanted them to remain.
He couldn't conceive that Sophia was asking her daughter who was still this young to not even reach his chest with her height... to have a child.
"Constantine, girls that aren't good prospects usually have their first child by the age of fourteen while mercenaries like me usually don't have a child until their last moments, they even choose their partners carefully... j-just so you know." Zamira looked away, recalling the scene from the night before where they were quite close to 'making a child' she wouldn't have minded but she fell asleep... she could only sigh in repent, thankfully, he had said he wanted an entire floor of their own.
'Nights like the ones before are bound to repeat...' She thought with excitement, the still gasping Constantine couldn't notice the furtive glances she was throwing him, he also didn't notice how she licked her hand a little before using it to send back her hair, accentuating her face.
Clearly not an action of someone that thought her face was 'ugly'.
"That's right, Mr Constantine... Malik and Anya are always outside fending on their own, although we'd normally not allow Anya to be with anyone who is at least a mercenary... I am quite content with Malik~" Sophia confessed while cupping her own cheeks lovingly, still enjoying how healthy she was feeling, so much so that she couldn't stop herself and cooked.
However, her 'acceptance' wasn't agreed upon by the bulkier man in the room.
"BUT I AM NOT CONTENT WITH YOU BOY! SO YOU CAN ONLY DREAM! EITHER YOU BRING ME THE HEAD OF A DRAGON, OR YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT HAVING MY LITTLE GIRL!"
"..." The Conqueror saw some many resemblances with himself in that single sentence, that he wanted nothing but to curse out loud, 'did I look that stupid when I said that back then?'
Zebellia didn't miss the chance to make fun of him.
"YES SIR! I DON'T HAVE THAT INTENTION SIR I WILL THE DRAGON SIR!" Malik stood upright as if he had been called for war, those weren't the words he wanted to say, but those were the ones that came out to save his life.
"You don't?" Anya seemed as if she was going to cry.
"Here we go again..." Constantine smirked and had his tea, yet another lively morning with this family.
**
**
After the poor Malik was 'disciplined' into sitting in a corner for no reason, Constantine finished his meal, he felt like having a cheesecake and therefore, decided to head to the streets.
"Anyway, I will be leaving the housing issue in your hands." He said and stood up together with Zamira, he intended to take out some money for this purpose, but the family rejected him adamantly.
"Please, no... we will get it with our own money, allow us to do this much." Sophia said, she couldn't allow him to give them even a coin more, it would be an insult, all she could hope was that he didn't insist.
Constantine shrugged his shoulders and accepted.
"Sure, Zamira and I will be off, I want to visit this mercenary organisation myself."
"Please take care, I will have dinner ready by the time you come back~" Sophia waved to the two of them and even led them to the door.
"COME HERE BOYY!!"
"F-Father-in-law p-please leave me al-" By the time the poor boy realised what he said, it was too late.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!? BOY, YOU WANT TO LIVE NO MORE!"
With giggles and despaired groans as the background, Zamira and Constantine hit the streets again.
**
**
"They're such a lovely family, right master?" Zamira smiled and bent forward as they walked, looking at his gaze directly with that same infatuation from before, Kurohana hung proudly on her back.
"Sure they are." He shivered, perhaps they're too lovely.
"I wonder how would it feel to have a family like that, to have children..." She asked while fidgeting, sending a furtive glance his way.
"It feels wonderful." He asked from experience, at least the first years are wonderful, once those little rats grow up, it is all trouble.
"D-Did you have children, with your wives...?"
"Yes, I did..."
"I see... that means you will be a wonderful father~" She started dejected but then her countenance brightened up in realisation.
"... and you will surely be a wonderful mother too."
!!!
"H-How can you tell?" She asked with curiosity, what aspect of hers would make her a good mother?
"You're quite strong and beautiful... shrewd and protective, qualities that a mother must have to properly protect her children, regardless of what you think, I believe you would be a wonderful mother."
"Thank you."
What followed afterwards was an awkward silence in which Zamira wanted to say some words that wouldn't come out of her mouth, while Constantine sighed, not able to say the words she wanted to hear.
...
"Do you know where we can find an Alchemist, Zamira?" He asked while they made their way to the mercenary organisation, Zamira was leading him... there weren't that many people in the streets today and the sun was shining brightly with a light breeze.
"Mostly in the capital, it is extremely difficult to meet anyone involved with magic and craftsmanship in the outskirts... another way is, that an alchemist has presented a quest in the mercenary organisation."
"A quest?"
"Yes, Alchemists usually send mercenaries and other groups to get ingredients that they're lacking for their preparations."
'Secretary, sit down and take note, we have to meet an alchemist to study those flowers and also, to see what I can do to grow up in this magic field.'
[...]
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