Those thoughts brought out the words he used to flail himself.
Even if a merchant was resigned to licking the boots of the other party, if he became servile, he lost. But knowing that did not mean one could do anything about it.
“… I shall do as you advise,” Hilde said after staring at Lawrence for a while. His eyes did not scoff at the servile Lawrence. Hilde had no reason to do so, for he was an excellent merchant.
As Hilde closed his eyes, Lawrence covered his body with a blanket. If he wore a face like this when reuniting with Holo, she would give his backside a good hard kick, he thought.
Something in his head slackened. The situation – with Hilde’s greatness right before his eyes, Luward and his men seeing him as only a traveling merchant, and everyone around him depending solely on Holo – might have put him in a bit of a sulky mood.
It was foolish, he thought. Perhaps having spent so much time with Holo had given him notions about being a wolf himself. Lawrence smiled at his own absurdity as he walked in the center of the silent mercenaries.
He then realized it had been a very long time since he had walked in silence. My journeys were always like this before I met Holo, he thought with fresh wonder. Furthermore, he could barely remember what it felt like back then. Lawrence was amazed with himself at how much he had taken traveling with Holo for granted.
They climbed a plateau, crossed a frozen swamp, and walked on deer and hare tracks as they moved forward. It was already past noon as they made a rapid pace toward the horizon, as if fleeing from the cold.
When he raised his head, thinking this was about when Holo would be asking what they were having for supper, the mercenaries around him raised their heads as well, as if waking up. Perhaps it was the coincidence that made Lawrence expect to see Holo there when the mercenaries all looked back together.
The one running from behind looked like a mercenary through and through. But even when he ran right past Lawrence and headed toward the vanguard, for a while he still had his hopes up that Holo might appear.
When Lawrence finally had to accept she was not coming, he realized that he had fallen for Holo to a truly pathetic degree.
Shortly thereafter, the advance came to a halt and people gathered all around Luward. A report had come that there had indeed been pursuers dispatched from Lesko. There was a faint sense of tension enveloping everything around him.
Then, Luward faced his audience and spoke.
“Just now, I’ve received word pursuers from Lesko are drawing near us.”
There was no murmur among the mercenaries. It was quiet enough to hear a drop of water falling onto the ground as they awaited their leader’s next words.
Luward seemed satisfied with that as he spoke grandly.
“Our opponents are roughly three to four times our numbers.”
Unsurprisingly, he heard a light inhale of breaths.
However, since they judged themselves to be the most valiant mercenaries of all, they did not falter at all. Fiery looks mixed with caution poured onto Luward in silence.
“Also, besides being well funded, they aren’t a bunch of weaklings under the command of the third son of a noble half playing around. Their mountaineering is just as good or better than ours. At the very least, it’s a fine opponent to test our valor against.”
A fine opponent to test one’s valor against. It was like referring to a retreat as advancing in a different direction. Among the mercenaries, small chuckles spread around, along with wondering out loud who the opponent was, with blustering laughter mixed in.
Lawrence had heard that, normally, one belittles their opponent to reduce fear before engaging in battle.
Saying straight up what a dangerous situation might have been to warn them not to let their guard down, but even more than that, to tell them there was nowhere to run.
In these narrow passes, even if they fled into the mountains, this was a barren, snowy place in wintertime. They would freeze or starve to death in no time.
Even a mouse driven into a corner had no choice but to bare its teeth to the cat and fight.
“So, what unit is this anyway?” one of the mercenaries asked, unable to bear the suspense any longer.
Not a single person looked in the direction of that mercenary, their eyes squarely on their leader, Luward, since they were all thinking the same thing.
The mercenary business was a small world.
If one knew who they were facing, they would know his skill level and tactics, too.
Though knowing their opponent did not necessarily improve the situation, there would surely be some measure of relief merely in knowing who they would be fighting.
“You really want to know?”
Luward had such a serious face as he spoke that the mercenaries murmured all around. Even Lawrence held his breath. There were times when knowing was a relief; sometimes, it was better not to know.
Either way, if the pursuers caught up, there would be battle.
But these were vain mercenaries. Another mercenary spoke for the rest of them.
“Who is it?”
As the question was asked, everyone’s murmurs truly stopped that instant.
Luward smiled at the silliness as he looked at his feet. He raised his face.
Everyone held their breath.
Luward said this.
“The Hugo Mercenary Company.”
Lawrence had heard that name in Lesko. He was sure the man commanding that unit was named Rebonato.
The Debau Company was not taking any chances. Whatever the Myuri Mercenary Company’s objective, no matter how small in size, they had sent a force with overwhelming numbers, forged over the course of a hundred battles.
Lawrence clenched his fists.
But the next moment, cheers went up all around.
“Come on! Don’t scare us like that, boss!”
“If you’d scared me any more, I’d have pissed my pants!”
A clamor arose from many lips, with protests mixed with laughs as sword and spear were raised.
Lawrence felt like a fairy was tickling his nose. He had no idea why they were suddenly filled with such joy.
“Ha-ha, don’t be so sore. I didn’t know what to think till the moment I heard who was chasing after us, either. But Rebonato’s done pretty well for himself. He’s apparently taken a lot of the Debau Company’s gold, after all.”
As Luward cheerfully spoke, the mercenaries raised their voices to display their displeasure at the Hugo Mercenary Company and the “fat and stupid” Rebonato who commanded them.
But Lawrence still had no idea what they meant by it.
“Well, let’s play along to give him a good excuse at least.”
Luward had spoken; the rest was left to Moizi.
“So, that’s how it is! Forward march! Walk quickly if you want to sleep under a roof even a day sooner!”
The mercenaries gave Moizi’s spirited command a lackluster, halfhearted response.
They were finally dismissed and returned to their previous formation, but the atmosphere had completely changed from just before.
Could they really be that relieved that it was the Hugo Mercenary Company pursuing them?
Perhaps dialogue was an option to begin with? Certainly, Luward and Rebonato were drinking partners and seemed to get along well. But mercenaries that would not switch sides if they were paid enough gold simply did not exist.
When Lawrence returned to his own horse, Hilde’s face was peeking out slightly from the wicker cage mounted on the horse’s back.
“What is going on?”
The earlier shouts had apparently woken him up.
As the vanguard was setting out without delay, Lawrence went along with the flow and replied, “Pursuit approaches, apparently.”
Those words brought neither surprise nor sadness to Hilde. The eyes wordlessly facing Lawrence betrayed nothing.
“Though they don’t seem to be worried about it at all…”
&
nbsp; Lawrence spoke while taking the wicker cage down from the horse’s back, wrapping one arm around it.
Hilde thought about that for a while, seeming to carefully select his words as he replied, “It must be a unit they know well.”
Then, he made a sigh of relief. Hilde seemed to know what this, too, meant.
“What do you mean?”
As Lawrence asked his question, Hilde’s ears rose a little.
“It is quite simple. Mercenaries are not quite the barbarians the world fears them as; they will not simply do anything for money. In particular, they rarely raise their blades against their own kind.”
Lawrence had begun to understand over the last several days that mercenaries were far from mere crazed killers.
However, that did not immediately put him at ease by any means.
“Therefore, the employer’s side… has a fair bit of difficulty handling them.”
The hare within the wicker cage narrowed his eyes as he laughed.
Lawrence had always seen things from the perspective of those attacked by mercenaries.
In Hilde’s case, he was the one hiring them.
“On the battlefield, killing is chiefly the role of knights and thugs hired for short periods. The job of real mercenaries is to capture their opponents alive. That way, they receive ransom for their captives as well. They do not pillage nearby towns or villages any more than necessary. In Lesko… you surely saw how they live. In particular, the good relations the units have with each other.”
Certainly, Luward had spent two whole days drunk, seeming to show his face in every corner. He had used letting others know about the Debau Company’s issuing a new currency as cover for heavy drinking all night long.
As Lawrence nodded, Hilde made a somewhat exasperated sigh.
“There are people in mercenary companies who have a long history together. Their bonds were born in the course of meeting together on the battlefield many times over. They are a group that dances to its own tune.”
“Then…”
“Yes. That is why… one truly hires them not for offensive strength, but as a check upon others.
“Though they are used to pillage towns and villages and lay waste to the countryside, depending on circumstances. Even by mistake, one does not hire mercenaries to pursue other mercenaries, particularly when the two units know each other well. If one did so, it would be… a waste of money.”
As he ducked his head under the blanket in the wicker cage, his red eyes narrowed as he spoke, growing ever more mortified. He probably thought it pathetic that the company built by someone he trusted could engage in such incomprehensible stupidity.
“… All the real authority is probably being held by the lords. My subordinates would never consent to employing money in such a clumsy…” Hilde’s mouth stopped mid-sentence.
Then, he made a somewhat embarrassed laugh.
“I should say, the traitors… would not do such a thing.”
Lawrence did not know how to react to that. All he really understood was that Hilde truly was a great merchant.
So that was why Luward said Rebonato had done well for himself. He had been paid good money to pursue them without any intention of engaging in real battle whatsoever. Perceiving this, Luward would engage them just enough that they could make excuses to their employer. A fine trade, indeed.
“But with this the state of things, we might just manage.” Hilde suddenly spoke.
“Eh?”
“To make that determination, surely… then, even if Miss Holo is absent… or perhaps…”
Within the cage, his head under the blanket, Hilde gazed far into the distance.
He was immersing himself in his thoughts, continually thinking about his next move.
But Lawrence could not follow whatsoever. This was on too grand a scale for him to grasp.
There really was a world known only to those who made great fortunes move.
The time when he wanted to peer into that world, even just a little, had passed.
So he asked, “Would you like to drink some water?”
Hilde finally looked back at Lawrence, stating politely, “I would indeed.”
After the following morning, the Myuri Mercenary Company was overtaken by the Hugo Mercenary Company, the pursuers dispatched by the Debau Company.
An envoy from the company brought a demand to surrender and hand Hilde over. They had understood what had happened with Hilde immediately. That Hilde and the mercenaries vanishing during the same night were tied together was not bad thinking on their part.
But whether the demand was for good reason or not, no one ever heard of mercenaries submitting to a demand for surrender.
No one would ever hire mercenaries that surrendered just because the going got rough. Hence, those who sullied their flag through surrender suddenly lost their way. As a result, they vanished from the battlefield.
So the world was full of undefeated mercenary companies.
“Fire!”
In the end, the Debau Company side probably meant to rout the Myuri Mercenary Company for its connection to Hilde regardless; after a declaration of war, battle commenced.
But this was not a direct clash between the mercenaries, but rather, an exchange of arrow fire.
From time to time, arrows poured down like rain. Various soldiers defended themselves with wooden shields while others loosed arrows when the other side was preparing to fire its next volley.
During those intervals, Lawrence and the others advanced; once they had gone ahead a little ways, the archers advanced as well.
So far, there had been only two wounded, and it seemed they had been hit by stray arrows while collecting arrows that had already fallen.
What was hard to believe was how the scale of arrows being traded back and forth required the combined efforts of several towns’ worth of craftsmen to make. Though they had been properly maintained, the arrow tips had been blunted from having been fired so many times. That was why one of the two wounded was merely bruised. If not hit in a bad place, even a child probably would not die from such arrows.
Even so, with large men yelling battle cries as they let a great many arrows fly, it would look like a fierce battle to any observer.
From time to time, Lawrence could make out a merchant in the enemy ranks sent by the Debau Company to keep an eye on things, but he was the only one who seemed to have sweaty palms as he meekly observed the battle.
“While remaining in their seats, eminent merchants can move great amounts of goods and people from one place to another. But almost none of them actually see people and things in motion. That the cunning can fool them is not because they’re incompetent. It’s because they’re careless.”
“Painful words to hear,” Hilde replied curtly from within the cage Lawrence cradled. The scouts and the baggage mounted on sleds formed the vanguard; Luward and the other leaders followed right behind on horseback.
Moizi had remained in the rear of the unit, raising his great voice as he took temporary command. However, he returned from time to time to moisten his throat with wine. Surely he had enough leeway to have snacks with his wine, too.
“From Rebonato, we have word he’s nicely fooling the overseer, but what do you think?”
“It is surely as he says. This must be that one’s first time laying eyes on a battlefield, after all.”
Hilde seemed acquainted with the merchant sent to oversee matters. It was clear to a ridiculous extent that all was in the palm of his hand.
“So it’s a greenhorn with conventional thinking, huh? He probably takes pride in printing his name in church letters. You okay with this, though?”
Luward was sitting with one leg across his horse’s back, resting his cheek upon his palm. In doing so, he looked the part of a veteran mercenary. That was indeed the case, but Hilde seemed even calmer as he replied, “I think it is quite all right for you to look with your own eyes and judge accordingly.”
Luward silent
ly looked back at Hilde, but Hilde, who could do nothing but stay put within the wicker cage, seemed almost asleep.
“Well, fine,” Luward said with a snort. “As long as Rebonato’s well fed, we’ll make it to Svernel just fine. Not trying to put your old comrades down here.”
“No, surely it was the lords who decided to dispatch troops. I am not praising them out of affinity, but this is not the man they would select were they attacking us in earnest. That is surely why the overseer is so young.”
“Because they know how this’ll turn out even without coming to see?”
“Yes.”
As they were well aware they were both in the palm of the other’s hand, each was rather calm about it.
One was the one who flattered; the other was the one who was flattered. A person would think if they had the time for this, they could use it for more constructive thoughts, but instead they were shooting the breeze.
Both legitimately excellent men, their conversation went as smoothly as between two old friends.
“Well, at this rate we’ll end up arriving in Svernel just like the plan you drew up.”
“Yes.”
“You thought we had a shot?”
As the head of a mercenary company could not be seen talking to a hare, Lawrence was carrying the wicker cage as he walked alongside the horse. Those around them thought they saw Lawrence speaking to Luward, but in reality, he had no right to get a single word in. Seen from above as well as from below, he was a porter, nothing more.
“… Yes.”
“Liar. We only had a chance once Rebonato showed up.”
He spoke in a lighthearted tone, but his insight penetrated rather deeply.
Depending on how one used it, even the sharpest tool could be turned into useless junk.
Just as Hilde seemed to, Luward, too, regarded how the tool called the Hugo Mercenary Company was being employed as an instant revelation of the current internal state of the Debau Company.
“Lords and nobles with their eyes wild over profits get all worked up. They figure brute force is gonna solve all their problems. That’s making me treat everything you’ve been doing till now like water under the bridge.”
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