“I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Najin looked at the girl holding out her hand to him. She seemed to be about his age. Her commonplace light brown hair did little to catch his attention, but her eyes, gleaming with desire, were another matter. Eyes of such bright yellow gold were rare.

Some would see the gold of a coin in those eyes; others would think of a snake. She seemed to have no intention of concealing her desires, and her eyes laid her intentions bare. The emotion in them was interest. After meeting her gaze, Najin lowered his eyes to her outstretched hand, clad in a snow-white glove.

He took her hand and stood, then followed as she led the way, keeping one hand on the sword hilt at his waist.

“Something seems fishy. Are you sure you should follow her?”

'She said she’d buy me food.'

Even as he muttered that inwardly, Najin remained on guard. Yet, quite indifferent to his suspicions, the girl really did take him to an ordinary restaurant.

It stood in Cambria’s central square. When Najin entered the clearly upscale establishment, what greeted him was not a vicious blade... or anything of the sort, but the delicious aroma of food that made his empty stomach cry out.

“Sit there, please.”

Najin remained wary right up until he sat down, but he could not keep that up in the face of the plates arriving one after another on the table.

He swallowed.

These were foods he had never even seen in the underground city. The warm, fragrant dishes made him swallow again, his mouth suddenly dry. Before he knew it, the hand resting on his sword hilt was reaching for the fork on the table.

“You must be hungry.”

Watching him, the girl smiled.

“Shall we eat first and talk afterward?”

Only moments ago, he had thought that sly smile concealed dubious intentions. Now it looked like the smile of a saint. Najin took his hand off his sword hilt and seized the fork.

* * *

It was delicious. Truly.

Even accounting for the fact that this was his first proper meal in days, it was genuinely moving. As he chewed a piece of perfectly roasted meat, Najin very nearly shed a tear.

So this was what people up above ate every day?

In the underground city, even a feast amounted to dried-out meat of indeterminate age, or a stir-fry of scraps left over after livestock were slaughtered up above. He could only taste even those dishes when Ivan generously decided to hold a celebration for the city...

'This is on a whole different level.'

Najin was sincerely impressed by the food up above: tender rather than dry, rich with fat, and satisfyingly filling. He felt much the same emotion he had as a child, when he had caught Ivan’s eye after living by rummaging through garbage and enjoyed his first proper meal.

Once Najin had finished eating and was cleansing his palate with water, the girl sitting across from him finally spoke.

“Good, isn’t it? This is one of my favorite places.”

Najin nodded emphatically. His wariness had already eased. Whatever her reason for treating him to such a meal, he intended to give it very favorable consideration.

He straightened in his seat. Once the girl saw that he was ready to listen, she spoke.

“First, allow me to introduce myself.”

She took a nameplate from inside her clothes and handed it to him. Ivan had taught Najin to read and write the Empire’s standard script, so reading the inscription posed little difficulty.

The nameplate identified its holder as the head of the Dieta Trading Company and was densely inscribed with the names of dignitaries who recognized the company’s legitimate authority. At the very top was what appeared to be the girl’s name.

Dieta ■■■■■.

He could not make out what followed. Rather than having worn away with age, the letters seemed to have been deliberately obliterated with repeated cuts from a knife. Tilting his head, Najin handed the nameplate back.

“My name is Dieta.”

She spoke as she took it back from him.

“As the nameplate says, I run the Dieta Trading Company here in Cambria. I’m fairly well known in this city, but...”

She glanced at Najin.

“Judging by appearances, this is your first time here?”

“I only arrived today.”

“And you haven’t had a nameplate issued yet?”

“They said it costs money, and I don’t have any.”

A nameplate was required to begin accepting commissions and working in earnest in this city. But having one issued also cost money, and Najin had none. He had spent all the travel money Offen had given him when he escaped the underground city just getting here.

“You really did come here with nothing, then?”

“It’s a long story.”

“In this city, it’s harder to find someone who doesn’t have one.”

Dieta tipped her teacup. After moistening her throat, she spoke as though she were finally coming to the point.

“You seem to be in a difficult position... Would you be interested in making a deal with me?”

“A deal?”

“Yes, a deal. I have a problem that’s been giving me headaches lately, too.”

Najin sensed it immediately. This was what she really wanted. She had treated him to a meal not out of pure goodwill, but because she wanted something or had some purpose in mind. That made him more comfortable, too. Pure goodwill was difficult to understand; the latter was straightforward and easy to grasp.

Still, something bothered him. What could the head of a trading company possibly lack that she needed him? The more he listened to Dieta, the more his eyes narrowed.

“So...”

After hearing her out, Najin spoke.

“You want me to catch the bastards who fiddled with your company’s books and give them hell. Is that it?”

“Exactly. They tampered with the books and went into hiding in the back alleys, can you believe it? I’ve reported them, but this city’s guards aren’t terribly reliable.”

“But why ask me?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question. A company that large surely had its own private soldiers. And even if not, couldn’t she simply hire other mercenaries, rather than entrust the job to someone of uncertain ability like him?

“Does the reason matter that much?”

Dieta answered his question briefly.

“Isn’t the important thing that I’m offering you a good opportunity... and that you have nothing to lose by accepting this commission?”

Did her intentions really matter?

“It’s perfectly fine if you don’t accept. Rest assured, I have no intention of doing anything as petty as demanding, ‘Pay for your meal!’ because you turned me down.”

Dieta merely smiled, just as she had at the start. Her smile was deeply suspicious, but Najin decided not to probe further. As she said, he had absolutely nothing to lose.

It was certainly an attractive offer. Even Najin, whose sense of money was still underdeveloped, could tell that the sum Dieta promised for bringing them in was substantial.

“It certainly isn’t an offer you’d lose out on. There’s just one thing you need to check, isn’t there?”

Merlin’s voice rang in his ears. Najin answered inwardly, since she seemed to be thinking along the same lines as him.

'I just need to check whether the people she wants me to catch really are criminals.'

If they weren’t, this would be a trap. If he went around killing people without considering the circumstances, as he had in the underground city where Ivan was the law, he would become a criminal in an instant. Najin understood that.

“So you’re not entirely clueless.”

Leaving Merlin’s satisfied reply behind, Najin nodded.

“Do you have descriptions of them?”

“You can choose from these. You don’t have to take all of them; pick as many as you like.”

Dieta spread wanted posters before him, roughly six in all. As he studied them, Najin suddenly smiled. Three of the six described people who had gone into hiding in territory exceedingly familiar to him. He pointed to those three sheets.

“I’ll take these.”

“... Three of them?”

Leaving the somewhat surprised Dieta behind, Najin rose with the posters in hand, bearing the details of the commission and drawings of the targets.

“One last thing.”

Before leaving, he asked Dieta a question.

“How strong are these targets? Can they use mana, for instance... or produce sword aura?”

“... Pardon?”

For the first time, a noticeable change came over Dieta’s face, which had maintained its utterly harmless-looking smile until then. At Najin’s question, she wore a peculiar expression, as if wondering whether she really needed to explain this. Soon, however, she composed herself and answered.

“If they could produce sword aura, they’d be Sword Experts... In that case, I’d hire a knight or a professional mercenary company, wouldn’t I? And the fee would need another zero or two.”

She explained it step by step.

“I’ve heard they hired a few bodyguards, but their abilities should extend no further than handling blades. People who can produce sword aura don’t work for so little.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Have you been training deep in the mountains, by any chance? This is practically common knowledge.”

Deep in the mountains, huh. Najin chuckled and nodded.

“Something like that.”

“... What?”

“I’ll be back to see you soon. And thank you for the meal. I’m feeling nicely full now.”

Just as he was about to leave the restaurant, Najin let his gaze drift. It landed on a man sitting in one corner, who had been watching him and Dieta ever since they entered. Their eyes met.

The man’s gaze seemed to pierce him, but rather than look away, Najin stared straight back, as if to say, What the hell are you staring at? Their gazes clashed for a moment before the man gave an incredulous chuckle and turned away first.

Leaving the man behind, Najin departed. Before going, he made sure to note the restaurant’s sign and location. He walked off thinking he would definitely return once he had earned some money.

2.

Shortly after Najin left, a man approached Dieta as she sat alone sipping tea. It was Pasion, the knight who stayed close to protect her. He was the only knight to follow her when she had all but run away from House Arbenia, and he owed a debt of gratitude to her mother, now a cold corpse buried in a grave. Dieta glanced at him and spoke.

“What did you think, Sir Pasion?”

“Not bad. He noticed me.”

“... He noticed you?”

“Yes. I was concealing my presence, but he seems to have picked up on it. He stared at me for quite a while before leaving.”

Pasion laughed in disbelief.

“He seems like a cheeky young pup.”

“Anything unusual?”

“He seems to have a good eye, but nothing else stood out. That aside...”

Pasion sighed.

“As I always tell you, please refrain from dealing with those people lurking in back alleys. There’s no telling what they might do.”

“That’s what makes it fun. You don’t understand, Sir Pasion.”

Dieta chuckled.

“Once you’ve experienced the pleasure of finding things that shine where there’s no light, you’ll understand too. Every now and then, one or two shining things emerge from the alleys. Making a good impression on talented people for the price of a single meal? That’s pure profit.”

“Considering that you’ve bought meals for nearly forty people so far, and only two of them have earned their keep, it certainly sounds like a venture worth investing in.”

“It’s three now.”

“... Pardon?”

“Three, including the boy who just left. Three out of forty isn’t bad, is it?”

Her tone was confident.

“...”

Pasion glanced silently at his mistress. Though she belonged to House Arbenia, she lacked the shining blond hair of its other members, having inherited more strongly from her mother than her father.

But those eyes...

Those bright yellow, snakelike eyes that assessed people’s worth and saw straight through them resembled those of Arbenia’s head. Looking at his mistress’s sometimes unsettling eyes, Pasion sighed inwardly. When she was this certain, there was usually something special about the person in question.

“You seem quite taken with that boy.”

“Well, he’s handsome, for a start.”

“... Was that your reason?”

“I do have other reasons, but...”

Dieta trailed off.

“They aren’t something you’d understand through an explanation. It’s simply a feeling.”

Dieta rested her chin on her hand as she recalled the boy. His presence had been sharp and bristling. He possessed the distinctive air of someone who had clawed his way up from rock bottom. Yet his eyes were different: they held a clear light, untainted by anything.

Those eyes were at odds with the air he wore, and they intrigued Dieta. For now, the boy was merely a dirty, grimy newcomer who had only just arrived in the city and seemed to carry a complicated past, but...

“There’s something about him. I’m not sure what.”

“A hunch?”

“You could call it that.”

Dieta chuckled, her chin still propped on her hand.

“Sir Pasion, care to make a wager?”

“On what?”

“How many days it will take that boy to finish the commission and bring them in. How many would you bet on?”

After a moment’s consideration, Pasion answered. He bet on a week, while Dieta bet on four days. Both estimates reflected a favorable assessment of the boy. Even Pasion’s week was a tight deadline by the standards of ordinary bounty hunters.

Dieta had told the boy no lies. The targets he had chosen really were unremarkable fighters. The problem was their skill at fleeing. Having come from the back alleys, they roamed this city’s labyrinthine lanes as if they were their own home. Finding them might not be difficult... but catching them would be far from easy.

3.

“It’s not a trap.”

“Apparently not. It’s still suspicious, but...”

The commission offered by the girl named Dieta. Having confirmed that its targets were wanted criminals, Najin was heading straight for the alleys. Dieta had marked a street where they were known to appear.

Stepping onto that street, Najin took a deep breath. The foul air of the back alleys was familiar. No sunlight reached them, leaving them dark, but that posed no problem for him either. Having lived where light never reached, Najin was accustomed to seeing in darkness like this.

“I can’t deny it’s a good opportunity.”

It certainly was. To live in this city, establish a foundation, and begin growing in earnest, Najin needed starting funds. He needed money to find somewhere to stay, and money to keep from starving. It didn’t have to be a fortune, but he intended to secure enough that he wouldn’t have to scrape by.

“Let’s earn a good chunk first, then get started.”

“Right. At the very least, a person shouldn’t have to live by rummaging through garbage.”

“I told you, that was a joke.”

Leaving Merlin to grumble, Najin slowly steadied his breathing. As he warmed up with a few light movements, Merlin whispered in his ear.

“But do you have a plan? Finding them in a place this dark seems difficult. Why those three posters, anyway?”

Najin merely smiled at the question.

The three wanted posters Najin had selected. The place where those three fugitives had been spotted was none other than the city’s secluded back alleys. In short, the environment was very similar to the underground city.

“Well...”

Familiar territory. And familiar work.

“This is my specialty.”

The organization’s executioner, who had spent many years serving as Ivan’s hound, smiled. Catching and beating the hell out of bastards who took the money and disappeared had long been Najin’s specialty.