"OSIRIA!"
. . .
. .
.
"oh well... I feel like I'll experience a heavy sermon once Liliya and Naoya return... they'll be resting there for 10 years right? god! that's way too short of a time!"
"My Lady, I do believe that you are partially at fault here"
Maya's immediate answer didn't help one bit
"I do believe that we will also be part in the long punishment Maya"
"Indeed Rohel, I just hope they'd give us a pat on the back for this"
"you two... I believe that tea time is needed?"
"Y-yes My Lady!"
"haahhh... those two has turned into demonic beast when they finally adopted that child... I don't even know what kind of scary punishments they'll bring to me!"
god!! this tension is way too much...
"I do believe that you need to relax on this matter, what you need to do right now is to manage the adventurers and mercenaries that are protecting your borther's and Mei's research, am I right?"
"right... thank you for soothing me a bit Juren, although, I didn't expect you to be the adventurer's guild master, that's quite unbecoming of you for a person that previously only wanted to kill us in the past"
"Perhaps I am not needed here? I did soothe you because of your servants bullying but I think that it is indeed proper and deserving for you"
"a-ahh! no, I'm sorry..."
seriously, when did he become someone like that, even I am quite taken back from his change
"are you... curious as to why I'm like this?"
"if it's not to your liking then we won't talk about it, but we have a group that we'd need to manage, we'll talk about this after"
"I see... then I'll be taking my leave... but..."
hmm? is there something wrong with him?
"no... nevermind... just let me say that I'm happy for Liliya and Naoya for their child... and... I'm sorry for ever harming all of you... that's all"
he steps out the door without another word...
"quite a bold apology there... demon of the black suit"
he has... indeed changed...
in the past, our problems mostly concentrated on him specifically, sudden abductions, dead servants. soldiers suddenly going M.I.A. on a certain place... everything that happened in the past was his doing. after Kirin's death, every event that involved him halted, and with that, even losing that former title and changed his full appearance, now tending to the adventurer's guild
"I'm quite happy for you, if not then I'll feel proud nonetheless"
"My Lady, I do believe that it's time to manage the remaining mercenary group?"
"ahh.. yes, indeed, invite their leader to this place then, please... I don't want to tire myself all too much"
"as you wish... I'll be delivering her to you then"
female... there's not many female leaders in a mercenary group... it's quite surprising...
. . .
the door opens with a child... what's the meaning of this?
"your calmness is quite surprising Lady Theia, I am Vera, the leader of the mercenary group, Black filament, it's nice to meet you"
"Ve-... miss Vera, I'm sorry for asking but... what's your age?"
"despite my stature, I am a 60-year-old spirit of the forest, as to why I'm a mercenary is something I choose to keep silent"
"I see... I could care less as to why you became a mercenary, what I want is efficiency and a hundred percent rate on missions, is your group capable of that?"
"I believe so madam, we may be a rowdy bunch but I can certainly say that we can assure our chances of winning, of course, with a price"
"that'll depend on the missions I give you, of course, it won't be short but not knowing your abilities is quite troubling, if possible, I want to see if you're up to standards"
"I see... then we shall prove our worth...
"first, I want to see what, as a group, you all size to, you'll be battling me and my servants, specifically Rohel and Maya, if you all are not able to injure me then I believe that you lot are not worthy of taking it up"
"but madam, even if you want to prove if we truly size up to your standards, not knowing what our mission is is something fatal in your plan"
well of course, everyone with a simple mind would even think of that
"that's why I'll be showing it to all of you in the yard, I'll tell the reward straight up here, it'll be a million fellon if you all succeed, does that strike something to you as something worthy to take?"
of course, a million Fellon is nothing compared to my bank slate, but for a band of mercenaries, it's enough to buy even their group a lifetime of supplies and women
"a-a million! just what are we going to protect!?"
"that'll be in the yard. now call your mercenary group and tell them to meet up in the back of this mansion"
certainly, this is the only way to distinguish if they can certainly be trusted with this job, the job of keeping silent and protecting the soul research of my stupid brother.
"my Lady, are you sure of trusting them? there are still some mercenary groups that can be used, and I dare to say but, there's certainly a much more efficient way of doing this, am I correct my Lady?"
Maya is correct about one thing, certainly, I could just tell them to protect a certain place and it will be alright but granting them access in the inside is something I need to do, also, I do know that there are people that are going to bribe a certain percent of their group so trust is something I must establish first, without it, the certainty of some information leaking out is something unacceptable, I might not even live after the ten years if both Mei and the others return
"what about the adventurers?"
"I have tasked Juren to only choose some specific hand-picked adventurers, especially those who have been transported from another world"
"? is that so? why though... sorry for questioning too my Lady but I can't help but not even understand a single thing you ever do"
"you see, we finally managed on cross-world transportation, with it, we can bribe and give them hope that they will finally return to their homeworld, of course, for now, this is one way and we have no way of confirming if the world was the destination like Mei has said but if we can turn and improve it into a two-way path then we can finally give them a peace of mind, war has completely stopped and monster lethality has died down, we have no further need for them or magic, we are also suffering in overpopulation in Laplace so transferring them is the wisest choice... for now"
I know that there are still quite a lot of holes in this theory but it's the most the people of Laplace will proceed
after the long conversation, we finally arrive in the empty yard that I have left to gather monsters... but the scenery it holds is something I definitely don't want to erase
"Maya, please prepare my battle wear, the one made by Mei specifically"
"as you wish my Lady"
she disappears and the mercenary group that I called in arrived with 20 people
"My, I certainly didn't expect a full platoon... this might be a tad bit of a problem"
"you said that I should call all of my men, are you regretting that decision?"
"oh certainly you jest, though this is a bit of a lifesaver for me, I'll tell you all in after my maid finally arrives with my desired clothing. the payment will be given little by little, since I know some of you wants the one million immediately so I'll be handing it all to you individually by my servants, furthermore, I won't be paying for your food and expenses so don't expect anything other than the reward, is all of that clear?"
no response... I'll take that as a yes
"My lady, I have arrived with the clothing you wanted"
"thank you Maya, now if you please"
what Maya is carrying is a crystal about 16 centimeters big in the shape of a diamond, these crystals have time and space compressing properties and by Mei's instructions, properly handling one will auto equip the cloth inside the crystal, although it's a one time use, it's still quite cheap, around a hundred Fellon or eighty thousand gold
"well then, shall we start? I have quite some time to spare so amusing myself might be in order, Maya, if you please"
with a gentle bow, Maya gently placed the crystal in my back and breaking it on the inside. a gentle dress, dark yet colorful, it's as if touching it would curse you forever
"I will approve on foul play on this, you lot move first, entertain me"
3 men, a sword and two spears, so this is their front I assume?
with a grunt, a spear as if it was there via teleportation was in my face, it seems that defeating me immediately is their goal, well... as if that would work
"wh- where is she?"
"you fool, stop searching for the enemy, feel its presence before it catches you, sleep tight child"
incapacitated, the man laid down the ground without resistance
"Maya, please take care of any incapacitated or unable to fight any further"
"as you wish my Lady"
. . .
. .
.
the evaluation took almost 168 minutes or almost exactly one hour, it's quite impressive to see a full squad still kicking and active in a fight with one hour...
"alright, all of you are approved, I'll send in the documents and confirm the contract, you all did well, you can all take a long break so get back to your place and I'll talk things with your leader tomorrow"
leaving the quite exhausted group, Maya still walking by my side questions the reason to do that
"just trust your master, Maya. it's not best to always question your master's ways. don't worry, I don't plan to torture them, I know for a fact that the other worlders are substantially weaker than us but stronger in fighting one on one, I expect them to complete our contract"
"I see... I shall call in Wells for the contract and the first cut of their reward"
"please do, and I'd hate to undress by myself so call one of the maids to dress me in my proper form"
"as you wish"
. . .
well then, I wonder what the other's are currently doing...