Chapter 10

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Veil blinked with an absurd expression.

“And so, mister, Oppa Veil is making a mercenary company~”

Right in front of him, the little kid’s head was bobbing up and down.

“And the mercenary exam is breaking a small magic stone! But doing it alone is scaary, so he needs two more people~”

The big man who had just returned home looked just as flustered.

The man called Basto had been grabbed by the little kid who came running the moment he entered.

And he was now listening to the endless stream of chatter.

“Because mister is Hammer Mister, so you’re super strong!”

Basto glanced at Veil.

Veil furrowed his brow and met that gaze without looking away.

“And Tie is strong too ’cause I have a legendary Puppetmon! If the two of us make a mercenary company with Oppa Veil, we can break a small magic stone and get the identification number back too!”

The little kid panted after finishing, having spoken so quickly.

Basto, who had been staring at that sight, opened his mouth.

“……So.”

He looked Veil over thoughtfully and sorted out the child’s words.

“You’re saying this kid named Veil is making a mercenary company, and that he’s looking for two more people besides himself?”

“Yes!”

“And that you’d like it if you and I joined that.”

“Yes!”

Silence fell over the first floor of the inn.

Unable to hold back any longer, Veil stood up.

“Hey. Brat. Who said I’d let you in?”

Tie, startled, turned her body toward Veil.

“Do you think a small magic stone is some joke? If it were, I’d have taken care of it alone.”

Even a small magic stone was still a magic stone.

It created rifts and summoned troublesome monsters.

Compared to large or medium ones, it was true that the conquest difficulty was lower, but that did not mean it was not dangerous.

“When I said I’d get two more people, I meant skilled people, not some hammer and what? Puke, Pupemong? What do you think you’d even do with th……”

He swallowed the rest, which was, a hairy brute and a brat whose blood still hadn’t even dried on her head would be a huge help, sure.

Because while the brat was easy to handle, that giant muscle pig was genuinely threatening.

But the answer that followed was unexpected.

“A small magic stone is something I could handle by myself.”

Basto, holding Tie in his arms by the doorway, strode inside.

He draped his outer garment over the table, then dropped into a seat in front of Veil.

“Is it true? That story about you making a mercenary company.”

He could feel the sparkling stare of the little kid sitting on the man’s knees.

Veil was flustered, but pretended he was not and gave a small forced cough.

“Yeah.”

“And that you’re looking for companions to proceed with the mercenary exam?”

“I, I said that’s right!”

These days, the mercenary exam was conquering a small magic stone.

If you gathered all the monster cores and took them to the mercenary registration office, you could be issued a mercenary identification number, and once you had an identification number, you could officially work as a mercenary.

After that, you could freely enter the imperial capital, receive reward money each time you conquered a magic stone,

and if luck was on your side and your mercenary company’s name got registered in the ranking, it would only be a matter of time before you were sitting on a pile of money.

So this matter was important to Veil.

“Like I said, I want skilled people as companions. That thing you just said, that you can conquer a small magic stone by yourself, is it true?”

Basto gave a heavy nod.

“It is. I conquered one six days ago too. The small magic stone of Briowood.”

Veil’s brow narrowed.

Suddenly, the commotion that had happened near the gate a few days ago came to mind.

‘Come on, everyone, look! Karl Warben of Death Hound has returned carrying a gift for His Majesty the Emperor!’

The bastard with his long hair tied carelessly gave off a filthy impression at a single glance.

‘What are you all doing! I’m rank 12! The immortal Death Hound has returned, I’m telling you!’

Maybe because he was close with the holy knights guarding the gate, that bastard spent quite a while doing nothing but drinking at the checkpoint office.

And he had gone on and on about how he had conquered the small magic stone of Briowood.

‘I was startled when a flying monster suddenly appeared, but who do you think I am! I took those bastards down all by myself without any subordinates and……’

From what he had heard, the one that bastard said he had conquered had also been a small magic stone.

And as far as Veil knew, there was only one small magic stone in Briowood.

Veil’s eyes narrowed.

“You. If you’re lying to me……”

“It’s not a lie, you idiot!”

At that moment, the little kid sprang up on the man’s knees.

With her brow scrunched up as far as it would go, he began snapping at Veil.

“Hammer Mister was the one who really did it! Bad Karl stole it with lies! Karl even made Hammer Mister’s identification number disappear, so what do you knowww!”

Veil’s eyebrow twitched at the nonstop barrage.

It was true that he had his doubts, but what the brat said also made sense.

‘It’s common enough among mercenaries. They’re in a field where people steal each other’s credit and even commit murder over it.’

Veil had stayed near the gate for a long time in order to find companions to form a mercenary company with.

Had it already been about two months?

All that time, he had wanted to find companions and take the exam as soon as possible, but things had not worked out.

‘If something goes wrong, you can die.’

If he found the wrong companions, if he made even the slightest mistake while taking the exam.

Then his life would be over with no second chance.

And then his younger siblings, who would be desperately waiting for news of him back home……

Veil roughly ruffled up his hair.

His hair got tangled, but his head felt like it was going to explode even more than that.

‘This muscle pig. From the look of it, some other guy stole his credit.’

In truth, yesterday he had also seen that man and the little brat being denied entry at the gate.

‘And because they were afraid of what might happen later, it looks like the Death Hound side made this side’s mercenary identification number vanish.’

Once the situation was organized in his mind, making a decision became easier.

Veil let out a breath, then looked at Basto.

“You. Are you sure you can do at least one and a half people’s worth? You’ll have to at least do that much.”

He meant he was going to treat the brat as if she did not exist, but the brat herself did not seem to understand that.

Basto nodded.

“Of course. Just don’t be baggage.”

And so, the next day.

“Chew chew chew~ you mustn’t be picky~”

Tie hummed the picky-eater song she did not usually sing.

On her right was Mister Basto.

On her left she was holding the hand of a pretty oppa, and she was so excited to be walking on the way to become a mercenary.

‘A team!’

It had not even been a week since she came to this world, and she already had a team.

Once Kkamangi woke up, he would definitely praise her and say she did well.

‘Since Kkamangi is a legendary Puppetmon, he’ll be super strong even without using magic, right?’

Kkamangi could transform freely too.

And Tie also felt confident that she could help the team.

‘Tie was the fastest in Quail Class!’

Hide-and-seek, tag, cops and robbers!

If Tie became the catcher, all the kids in Quail Class were dead.

“Oppaa, don’t worry too much!”

He had only touched his hand because his expression seemed stiff, but Veil made a disgusted face and frowned.

Tie shrugged and this time looked at Basto.

“Mister! Don’t worry. Tie is really strong.”

But for some reason, Basto stopped in place.

Then, for some reason, she lowered herself and faced Tie, who was standing there bewildered.

“Astie. You will not be going.”

“Huh?”

“I hired someone. You will wait for us at a base not far from the magic stone.”

At those thunderbolt-like words, her big eyes wavered this way and that.

“Why, but why……?”

“Fighting monsters is not child’s play, Astie.”

Her head was spinning, but Mister Basto asked in a low voice,

“What are you most afraid of?”

Tie closed her mouth, then rolled her eyes.

“A tyrannosaurus……?”

“I don’t know what that is, but imagine that a monster is a being about ten times scarier than that.”

The twig Tie had been holding dropped with a tap.