Punti was eating dinner in a bar he'd found in Arnia's castle town. On that day—when Iina kicked him in the balls—he vowed that he would kill Iina even if it was the last thing he did. In order to fulfill that promise to himself, he came to Arnia's castle town without returning to the army.
However, much to his misfortune, Moon Blossom was no longer in the castle town, and was rumored to be heading to the southeast battlefront. Punti sat alone at the bar counter. There were only a few customers here and there, and it didn't seem that it was doing very well on the financial side.
"Hello there. May I sit next to you?" a silver-haired girl asked Punti.
"Beautiful miss, why do you want to sit next to me? There are plenty of empty chairs."
Punti's guard went up, but he wasn't armed at the moment. In fact, he wasn't wearing anything at all that could reveal him as someone from the Great Therbae Kingdom. Even his clothes were something he'd torn off a corpse back in Mullux Village.
"I hear that you're searching for Moon Blossom?" Ignoring Punti's question and his obvious caution, she sat down next to him and ordered some milk. She was so beautiful that she could sober up a drunkard with her looks. She was dressed like a normal villager and didn't seem like she was hiding anything under her clothing.
"I'm a fan," Punti said after he recovered. "I was simply going around to try and hear some stories about them."
That was the truth, insofar as that was how Punti carried himself when he talked to the Arnians. Moon Blossom had only made their mark on history a few days ago, and yet the populace was already treating them like heroes. Of course, only the Arnians viewed them that way.
"I'm Nayori, an information broker," the girl said. "My job is to sell large amounts of information for little coin. Of course, part of my job includes buying intel as well." She finished her joke with a smile. Punti wasn't into girls younger than him, but the smile was so alluring that he felt a little shy.
"I already learned what I wanted to! Sorry, but I don't wanna buy what you're selling," Punti replied with a wave of his hand.
"Oh, really? But I think you should. I'm sure it must be a terrifying experience, being alone in enemy territory as a Therbaen." The smile on her face morphed into a jagged one that sent shivers down Punti's spine.
"Why—?!" Punti shot to his feet and lowered himself into a fighting position. He wasn't armed, but he was a trained fighter.
"I told you that I'm an information broker, didn't I? I know who you are, but I have no intention of exposing you. Sit down."
Punti swallowed. "Who are you?"
"An information broker. How many times do I have to remind you of that? Now, sit down, Punti."
"I see... So you even know my name? Are you a spy? Or are you from another nation, one unaffiliated with either Arnia or Therbae?" Obeying her order, Punti sat down at the bar again. He watched the bartender slide the girl her milk. After he walked away, Punti asked, "Okaaay. So how much is the information you wanna sell me?"
"A hundred dora."
"That's cheaper than I expected. What's the catch?"
"Fine. I'll make it two hundred dora. There's no catch." After she said that, the girl took a swig from the milk. Punti took out a hundred-dora bill from his pocket, placed it on the counter, and then slid it to the girl. "You only paid half of my asking fee, but that's all right. The mercenary group, Moon Blossom, is at the battlefront in the southeast. However, their leader isn't with them."
Punti thought about the information. "So?" he asked. He had no interest in their leader.
"But their vice captain, Lumia Canarre, is with them."
'Lumia Canarre'... Punti had never heard that name before. She was a complete nobody, yet Marx had said that their vice captain was incredibly strong.
"I suggest you challenge her to a one-on-one fight," Nayori continued. "It's not an overstatement to say that she is the only person with some measure of conscience in Moon Blossom. She keeps her promises. If you win, then she'll fulfill whatever request you make."
"That's not a one-on-one fight. That's a duel."
"What's the difference?" the girl asked with a shrug.
"A one-on-one fight can take place on a battlefield for a wide number of reasons. However, in a duel, you and the other party discuss what you want first, and it only happens when both fighters give their consent. After the duel, the winner's wish gets granted. There's more, but those are the basic differences!"
"I see. Then, you'd be asking for a duel." The girl chuckled, looking convinced of the logic.
"In saying that, though... I don't reeeeally think that a mercenary would agree to a duel. I put my money on her little friends joining in halfway through our fight so that all of them can try to beat me up."
"Don't worry. Lumia won't let that happen. I don't know about duels, but I do know that she enjoys one-on-one fights, thanks to her past profession."
"Was she a knight or something?"
"Not exactly. She was a soldier."
"Hmm..." In any case, Punti had never heard of her. Judging by the name, it sounded like she originated from Central Felsen, but he would've heard rumors about her if she were famous. "Nayori...was it? Why do you know so much, hmm? You don't seem like a normal information broker to me. Are you sure you're not a spy?"
"I'm just an information broker," Nayori said. After she enjoyed some of her milk, she continued. "Moon Blossom's a hot topic right now, so all I did was sniff around."
"So do you know anything about the flat-chested girl they have? With the black hair? Her name is—"
"Iina Kuusela? Is that who you're after?"
Punti placed yet another hundred-dora bill on the counter, and the girl reached her beautiful white hand for it. Why would someone with looks as lovely as hers work as an information broker? No, she was lying about her profession. She was probably a spy, as pretty girls were suited for espionage. She wasn't just pretty either. Her broken and terrifying smile was proof of that.
"Iina Kuusela is a former bandit, and she joined Moon Blossom because the leader liked her. She's around fifteen, if I remember correctly. She specializes in wind magic and archery. Of course, she can use other weapons as well. As for her personality, she's cruel and cold, and gets off on the sight of people screaming and crying."
"So she used to be a bandit, and she's a messed-up pervert..."
"Her rival is Lumia, her vice captain. Apparently, their personalities don't mesh well together."
"So if I challenge Lumia to a duel and win, do you think she'll hand Iina over to me?"
"At the end of the day, it's just a group of mercenaries. They're not bound by any rules or laws. Iina is particularly ill-mannered, so I don't believe that anyone will raise a fuss if you really do manage to win against Lumia, the strongest member of Moon Blossom."
"What if I directly challenge Iina to a duel?"
"Do you seriously think she'll accept? Even if she does, that future you feared—the one where everyone surrounds you and beats you up—will come true. Listen, Lumia is the only person who will go for it, as well as the only one who will play by the rules."
"I see! Okay, I got it. Thanks! I'm going to go back to my inn." After paying his bill, Punti left the bar. Right before he exited, he turned around one last time and saw the girl giving him a small wave.
***
"General Matias! We're being attacked again!" As Matias was resting up in his tent, a messenger ran in with the news.
"Damn! Again?! This is the third day in a row! Give me a break, for crying out loud!"
Matias shot to his feet, grabbed his sword, and ran outside. Moon Blossom hadn't appeared on the day he'd heard they would arrive at the battlefield. He'd gone out to the front lines himself to personally destroy the group, and yet they'd never showed.
However, they appeared that very night. They set fire to several tents before disappearing into the night, with one of the tents they'd attacked having contained their food stores. Matias tried to deal with this by increasing the number of guards at night, but many tents were burned down the next evening as well. Tightening security had only cost him more of his soldiers.
"General, they burned down our food stores again! If we don't stop them soon, our men will starve to death!" a commander reported as soon as he saw Matias emerge from the tent.
"How do they know which tents contain our rations?!" Matias exclaimed. "Just where are they coming from?!"
Under normal circumstances, night attacks were not conducted in large-scale wars such as this one. That was because they exhausted soldiers on both sides. As soon as the sun set, the soldiers would lay down their arms and take a rest. That was the unspoken rule of warfare. Moon Blossom was completely ignoring this etiquette. Aside from the food, the soldiers would soon get too fatigued to fight if this went on.
"We must destroy them! We must do everything we can to prevent them from leaving the camp alive! I'll go into battle as well! Where are they?!" Matias demanded.
"Th-They're coming this way!"
***
"We've been succeeding in our raids every day. It's like, 'Wow, maybe we're, like, actually super dope,'" Jyrki commented. From atop his galloping horse, he shot off a flame-tipped arrow. Salume was sitting behind him, holding on to an extra quiver. Her job for this mission was to carry their supplies while observing the mercenaries at work.
"All we're really doing is following the vice captain's orders. Her past experience in the army is really useful," Marx said while atop his own horse. Like Jyrki, he was releasing flaming arrows from his bow. All of the fire they were using had been created with Jyrki's manifestation magic.
"I'm still shocked that the vice cap'n used to be a military gal. Welp, it's thanks to that why we know what's where in the enemies' camp. Not to mention that night attacks are super effective."
"Is my past in the military really that surprising?" Lumia asked. From her horse, she swung her lance in a wide arc, mercilessly smashing the approaching enemy soldiers into the ground.
"Weeeeell, how should we put it? Judging by the way you talk and walk, you feel more like a noble!"
"There are nobles in the military too, though."
Both Jyrki and Marx continued to chitchat as they let loose fire arrow after fire arrow. They'd brought quivers stuffed completely to the brim with oil-tipped arrows. The flames from the burning Therbaen tents illuminated the area so brightly, it was practically daytime.
"Whether I used to be a noble or not doesn't matter," Lumia said. "I'm not doing anything that special either. It's just that the Therbaen soldiers expend all their energy fighting during the day, so they're absolutely exhausted, unlike how we can take our time to rest up."
There was no chain of command present to order the Therbaen soldiers. They ran towards Lumia to meet her in battle, but running towards her without a single plan or strategy was literally all they were doing. Lumia's spear was not one that could be dodged by such a mindless approach, and all they succeeded in doing was adding to the mountain of corpses on the ground.
"It seems like they've increased the number of guards, but they're hardly a match for us." Marx was using fire arrows now, but when he killed the team standing vigil earlier, he'd used a sword.
"All right, we're going to thoroughly thrash them today. We're going to force their retreat tomorrow. If we waste too much time, Asura'll do something unnecessary."
"Oh, woooow, didya hear that, Marx? The vice cap'n described the boss's plan as 'something unnecessary.'"
From the trading city, Jyrki and the others had traveled through the forest in the north and then attacked the Therbaen camp from the side. Right now, they were somewhere around the very middle of it. On the first day, they'd gone all the way to the back and struck there. Yesterday, they'd attacked in a way that looked like they were dashing from the south side all the way up to the north.
"It's true that it's unnecessary, isn't it?" Marx replied. "It feels like we've got everything handled here."
Both Marx and Jyrki had started this operation doubting that they'd be able to force the Therbaen army to retreat. Even if it was possible, they had imagined it to be an incredibly arduous task. Yet, now that they were actually in the thick of things, the Therbaen army was dropping like flies, unable to lift a finger against Moon Blossom's night raids.
"U-Um," Salume said, "I...also feel that way."
"Oho? Big talk for someone who was shaking the entire first night."
"I'm used to it now."
After Salume finished her sentence, a spear flew past her face and grazed Jyrki's right arm. It continued to shoot past them, aimed straight towards Lumia. She deflected it out of the air with her lance and pulled on her horse's reins, slowing it down. Upon seeing her do so, Jyrki and Marx followed suit.
"That was a dangerous way to say hi," Jyrki snorted. "I'm used to that kinda stuff, but that probably spooked you good, eh, Salume? Did you wet yourself?"
"I did not wet myself," Salume answered, sounding miffed.
"Vice Captain, why are we stopping?" Marx asked. "They'll surround us."
"Well, we should at least return the greeting," Lumia replied with a small smile. She turned her horse around and called out, "Good evening, Sir Matias, Hero General."
A man was standing before her eyes, and several soldiers surrounded him. The man wore armor as red as fire, from which a white cape blew in the wind. He had short silver hair and was of a similar physical build to Jyrki.
"Vice Cap'n, don't tell me we were ridin' towards him this whole time? Oh, come on..."
"If you had mentioned this at the beginning, I would have argued against this plan until I ran out of breath."
"And that's why I didn't say anything." The smile on Lumia's face never faltered.
"You're the mercenary group, Moon Blossom?" the man—Hero General Matias—asked.
"Yes, that's us. My name is Lumia Canarre, the vice captain of Moon Blossom. I wouldn't say that I'm excited at the prospect of fighting, but...let's play for a while."
She kicked her horse's sides and urged it into a gallop, charging straight towards Matias. In response, he pulled out his sword. In the instant her horse ran past him, she struck out with her lance. Matias parried it, then countered the hit.
Though Lumia dodged the worst of it by tilting herself backwards while still on horseback, the blade still made a small cut down her abdomen. Lumia's hair and robes billowed around her from the wind pressure caused by the swing of Matias's sword.
"You gotta be kidding me. That wind reached us all the way here! It didn't feel like an attack from a human. If I were the one out there, I'd be dead."
"Heroes really are as monstrous as they say... And before that, he parried the vice captain's lance as if it were nothing, and even countered! That is unbelievable to me."
"The vice cap'n dodging the counter was...also pretty monstrous..."
"Oh?" Matias said, sounding impressed. "You're strong. You have what it takes to be a hero."
"And you're as strong as I'd expect from a hero on active duty. I don't think I'd be able to win against you one-on-one."
"If you were a young girl of eighteen, I'd have you quit your mercenary group on the spot and make you into a hero candidate by my side..."
"Don't spout nonsense. If I'd spent the past decade living a normal life, then I already would've become one of the greatest heroes in the world," Lumia replied. "But I don't regret a single day from these past ten years."
Lumia hadn't improved as a fighter in ten years because all of her attention had been focused on raising Asura.
"So no one knows your name because you wasted a decade of your time?" Matias sighed. "And today, you'll be throwing away your entire life."
"That won't happen. We're the mercenary group, Moon Blossom. We're soldier-mages. And more than that, we're your worst nightmare."
"Our worst nightmare? You're not entirely wrong about that. Do you plan on keeping me up all night?"
"Exactly." Lumia sucked in a deep breath and then yelled, "You and your men shall never know peace! We will never let you sleep, nor will we let you rest! We'll continue to attack you, night after night!"
"Until your soft-bellied soldiers all lose their minds and die!" Jyrki added to Lumia's words. He understood what she was trying to do.
"We won't give you even a moment of peace! Quiver in fear whenever the night approaches!" Marx, too, knew what Lumia's plan was.
"Hey, Salume, you say somethin' too," Jyrki prompted.
"Huh? Ah, all right." Salume took a deep breath. "You dummies!!!"
"Wow... So uncool..." Jyrki sighed. It sounded like the kind of insult a kid would sling on the playground.
"Try to stop us if you can! But let me warn you that not even a hero will be capable of doing that! Good evening, everyone! We'll be seeing you tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that, until we destroy you all!" With that, Lumia raised her hand and created a Flashbang.
"Phew, harsh," Jyrki murmured approvingly.
Lumia's plan was to destroy the enemies' morale, as well as implant the fear of never knowing when to expect a raid. Not only that, but with a single attack, Lumia was able to demonstrate to them that she possessed strength rivaling—or perhaps even surpassing—that of a hero candidate. At the same time, though, her brief bout with Matias showed Marx and Jyrki that not even Lumia was capable of defeating a hero.
"If I kill you all here, then this will end!" Matias tightened his grip on his sword.
"So you're unaware of what this is? I used it back in the forest, you know?" Lumia smiled as the ball of light she'd created with her right hand started floating into the air.
"Close your eyes," Jyrki whispered to Salume before he squeezed his own shut.
"This is called Flashbang. Remember that, unless you want us to escape from right under your noses tomorrow as well."
The ball of light burst, and immediately, a blindingly bright flash filled the air. All of the enemy soldiers, including Matias, pressed their hands to their eyes as they yelled and writhed in pain. With this one spell, Lumia proved that not even a hero could stop Moon Blossom. All of this was to crush the enemies' spirit.
"The vice cap'n really is cruel. I wonder what kinda soldier she used to be." Having Lumia as an enemy would be the absolute worst-case scenario imaginable. Even without their leader—a complete ass who was rotten to her core—she was able to do this much damage to the soldiers. "Her hobby is warfare. And I guess that makes her talent 'breaking enemies' spirits'?"