A Disaster-Level Assassin Has Been Freed

Chapter 3: I'll Earn My Keep (2)

What on earth just happened?

That was the thought Jack had as he looked up at Harang.

Indeed, he had taken a huge fall just moments before.

Both his feet had momentarily left the ground, and normally, the dishes he was holding should have scattered in all directions and tumbled onto the floor.

But what did he see now?

The worker, looking at him with a calm face as if nothing had happened, and the dishes neatly stacked and held in both his hands.

‘What kind of guy is he?’

Jack frowned.

Come to think of it, there was another strange point.

It was the incident last night where the night watch was startled, and the guards on duty then were veteran mercenaries whose eyes and ears were quite sharp, despite their outwardly lax appearance.

Yet this guy had slipped past even their surveillance.

As he looked up at the worker thinking this, could it be that this fellow was someone remarkable?

The thought briefly crossed his mind.

“……Hmph!”

Of course, it was only for a very brief moment.

Jack got up and dusted off his pants.

Then, he spoke in a voice filled with as much dignity as he could muster.

“We-well done.”

“About what?”

“I, I thought you might slack off and drop the dishes, but you’re not that much of an idiot. I’ll praise you.”

“Uh, thank you?”

“But don’t get conceited. You’re just a worker, and I’m a mercenary. Although we’re doing the same job right now, there’s likely an enormous difference in skill even within that same job.”

“I see.”

“That’s right!”

Harang nodded, and Jack continued to treat him with an incredibly solemn expression.

It was comical.

If other mercenaries saw this, they might have pointed fingers, asking what kind of airs a greenhorn mercenary was putting on.

But right now, only Jack and Harang were here.

It was a situation where he could freely display his dignity as an industry senior without interruption.

“……Well then, let’s head out again.”

“To where?”

“To the water source, obviously! We have to go to the waterside to wash the dishes!”

“Ah, I see. You really are a senior.”

‘Senior?’

Jack’s expression softened slightly as he led the way.

It had only been half a year since he entered the mercenary industry.

Having only received disregard and ridicule so far, this was the first time in his life he had been treated as a senior.

That was why.

Unlike before, when he had stated, ‘You and I are strictly different, a worker and a mercenary!’, Jack began explaining the task without much fuss, and upon arriving at the water source, he even sincerely demonstrated.

“Ahem! Now, the basics of dishwashing are…….”

“Watch carefully, newbie. If you do it carelessly, like this…… see. Residue gets left behind.”

“But you shouldn't use too much detergent either. If you waste this, that ill-tempered, you saw him earlier, right? You might get an earful from that guy.”

“And this is…….”

Of course, it wasn't anything grand.

No matter how you put it, it was ultimately dishwashing, chores, wasn't it?

“Oh, I see. Thank you for explaining.”

But the worker guy once again lifted Jack’s spirits with pleasant words.

Showing an even more relaxed expression than before, he continued washing dishes and thought.

‘Maybe he’s a better guy than I thought?’

Or perhaps his dignity as a senior was finally starting to shine through belatedly.

Thinking that, Jack washed the dishes even more diligently, teaching the newbie.

Rinse, wipe, teach.

Rinse again, wipe again, teach again.

It went smoothly.

Both the teacher and the student were progressing very smoothly.

If things continued like this, it seemed like even the mountain of dishes would be sparkling clean in no time.

However, shortly after, something happened.

Scrub scrub

Scrub scrub

Scrub…… Crash!

“Ah, it broke.”

“…….”

“What should I do about this?”

“Damn it…… Didn’t I tell you to use moderate strength when washing glass dishes……!”

“I didn’t use much strength though…….”

Seeing the newbie who had broken the Merchant Guild Leader's expensive glass dish, Jack’s complexion turned deathly pale.

* * *

To get straight to the point, the incident was resolved amicably.

It was thanks to the mercy shown by Bianca, the Merchant Guild Leader's daughter and the Vice-Leader.

For her, known to be strict with herself but kind to others, this was something she could easily laugh off.

In the first place, Harang joining the merchant guild with no experience whatsoever stemmed from her goodwill.

However, there was one person who absolutely could not let it go smoothly.

“You! Don’t you ever let me see you again!”

“Don’t let you see me?”

“Right! Don’t even try to do anything. Do absolutely nothing, just follow quietly, and disappear at the next stopover! Did you understand me?”

The fuming middle manager of the merchant guild.

He couldn't help but be angry.

How on earth could he look favorably upon a new worker who had caused trouble three times in less than a day since they met?

Of course, Harang too could understand his negative feelings.

He felt quite sorry.

Thinking that he had repeatedly shown disappointing behavior to someone who was exceptionally kind, unlike the village managers, he even felt a slight sense of guilt.

So Harang resolved, this time for sure, to thoroughly carry out the order he gave.

‘Do nothing.’

‘Don’t stand out.’

The first was one of his favorite things to do, and the second was what he was most confident in.

Harang nodded and, from then on, acted thoroughly like an invisible person, and most people couldn't sense his presence during the trade journey.

Of course, it wasn't everyone, all the time.

Mealtime.

Only during the three meals a day did Harang emerge from his sincere concealment, approach his seniors with a cheerful expression, and scoop up food.

That's right.

Jack and Matthew were among the few beings within the merchant guild who could observe Harang for extended periods.

“…….”

“…….”

“What is it?”

“No, forget it…….”

“What is it?”

“I said forget it. Just eat your food.”

“Yes.”

“…….”

Watching Harang obediently listen to him, Jack felt his insides boil over again.

It was all this guy's fault.

If this guy were just a little bit normal, he and Matthew would be spending much more comfortable days.

It was obvious.

Even a child could calculate that if three people did the work meant for two, the amount of chores would decrease proportionally.

But this guy, while failing miserably at things like not wandering around at night and washing dishes, executed 'doing nothing' remarkably well.

It was strange not to be angry.

‘Damn it!’

However, he couldn't vent his anger on this guy.

If he did, the middle manager would surely come over and nag, asking why there was another commotion and if it was so hard not to stand out.

In the end, all he could do was grumble generally about the mercenary life.

Jack sighed and muttered a curse under his breath.

“……Damn it!”

“Jack? What’s wrong?”

“It tastes bloody awful. They earn so much money, they could put in more meat, what is this?”

“Don’t you have any leftover jerky? It tastes okay if you mix it in.”

“Don’t have any. Hoo, this damn mercenary life.”

Thak

Jack irritably dropped his spoon into the bowl.

Matthew tilted his head.

Although Jack was more hot-tempered than him, he wasn't someone who got annoyed this often.

Of course, apart from that, he agreed with Jack's words.

Mercenary life was truly crap.

Glancing around cautiously, he stealthily began to gossip.

“Mercenary work is dirty. The employer is annoying, and those middle guys acting high and mighty under him, bossing us around, are annoying too.”

“Tell me about it. The other mercenary bastards are the same. Who was that guy the day before yesterday with the really hairy arms? That bastard…….”

“Ah, Maite? Right, that guy’s unlucky.”

“And yesterday again…….”

Even without alcohol, the two excitedly poured out complaints like a waterfall.

The veteran mercenaries who ignored them, the trade route schedule far harsher than initially described, the endless camping out, and other trivial stories…….

There was no end to it.

Left alone, Matthew and Jack had enough momentum to talk for three days and nights.

However, their conversation was cut short before long.

It was because the black-haired young man, who had been silently finishing his stew, posed a question.

“Why do you do it?”

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

“Matthew and Jack, if you hate it so much, why do you work as mercenaries?”

This bastard, is he trying to pick a fight right now?

Thinking that, Jack made a choked-up face, but Matthew didn't.

Having spent a few days together, he had figured out that this newbie had a peculiar personality.

And this guess was correct.

Harang genuinely didn't understand the two, no, all mercenaries.

“It’s not just you two, everyone seems similar.”

“About what?”

“Hating mercenary work. Other people are the same. If you hate it so much, can’t you just not do it?”

If this were the village, he would have just accepted it.

That place wasn't somewhere you could choose not to do things just because you didn't want to.

But this was outside the village.

A world without coercion.

A world with freedom.

Why did most of the people living in the kind of world he had dreamed of his entire life force themselves to do things they hated with sour expressions?

“Ha, that’s obviously because…….”

“Obviously?”

“Uh, um…… because…… I want to succeed!”

Jack, who had been stammering, answered loudly.

That was right.

He was momentarily flustered by the sudden question, but he had run away from home to live a cool life.

Wasn't drawing a sword gallantly and traversing the continent a much more romantic life than bowing to the lord forever and just tilling the land!

His imagination taking flight, he continued speaking with elation.

“I’m going to become someone great. I’ll become a very strong mercenary and receive the Platinum Plate that supposedly doesn't exist yet on the continent, and I’ll earn so much money I can’t even count it.”

“Th-that’s right. Me, me too. I might be a greenhorn now, but I’ll work hard and become more famous and stronger than a knight. I’ll form my own mercenary corps, get engaged to a beautiful lady…… and then I’ll return home. I’ll go back and, wearing shining armor, I’ll tell my father.”

I succeeded.

That the son you mocked so much became this great.

Matthew, who had blurted out the words with excitement, stared into the air with hazy eyes.

“……Definitely.”

Jack was the same.

Was it because he had confided his inner thoughts to someone other than Matthew for the first time in a while?

Although he felt a bit embarrassed, a deeper and stronger emotion resonated in his heart.

It reawakened the ambition he had momentarily forgotten in his chest.

That's right.

He would succeed somehow.

No matter how hard and painful it was now, he would endure and endure, and surely reign at the pinnacle of the mercenary world.

Just as he was thinking that and turning his head back towards Harang.

“Hup!”

“Heek! Hic!”

Voices full of bewilderment flowed from Jack and Matthew’s mouths.

It couldn't be helped.

An unexpected figure had stealthily approached and sat down next to the newbie.

To them, a being who could perhaps wield even greater influence than the Barjean Merchant Guild Leader.

The leader of the Silver Plate Mercenary Corps, Carlson of the Twin Swords, looked at the black-haired young man and asked.

“What do you think?”

“……?”

“Do you agree with what those young men said?”

At his heavy voice, all surrounding gazes focused intensely.