The female mercenary growled at the newcomer after hearing his absurd accusation. “Who the hell are you? I was just starting to have fun. Don’t interfere!”

“I saw someone weaker than me suffering. I couldn’t just walk away.”

“Weaker? Do you know how much trouble that little rat’s caused us? And you—stop right there!”

I had tried to slip away while the cloaked mercenary and the psycho woman argued, but unfortunately, she caught me. When she aimed her sword at me, the newcomer stepped in front of me. Just as I’d thought: a good mercenary who couldn’t keep out of other people’s business.

“What, you think I’m joking because I’m talking? Die!”

The psycho woman charged, swinging her sword at the mercenary blocking her way. At the same time, a blade slid from the scabbard in the cloaked mercenary’s hand.

FLASH!

Lightning flashed before my eyes.

“Yikes!”

The psycho woman who had charged in stumbled back. She was skilled, after all. An ordinary mercenary would have had trouble dodging that strike.

“You’re skilled enough to dodge my sword, yet you bully a little child? Shame on you!”

“Damn it, you nearly killed me! And what the hell are you talking about, a child?”

The two mercenaries had very different things to say about me.

One knew how well I fought and couldn’t believe I was a child. The other hadn’t seen me fight and seemed to have judged by my size. No, that didn’t quite explain how certain the cloaked mercenary sounded. Was there another reason?

The thought passed through my mind, but my eyes had been fixed on one thing for some time. From the moment the cloaked mercenary drew the sword, I couldn’t look away. Unlike its scabbard, the blade had an ancient look to it. It was so well maintained that it flashed like lightning when swung, and it resembled the swords of the old empire I’d seen in history books.

But its resemblance to those swords wasn’t what held me transfixed. It was the emblem engraved on the blade: a bird soaring toward the sun. I had definitely seen it in my previous life—at the entrance to the cavern beneath the ruins, and at the abandoned cemetery.

What Adria had said at the cemetery that day came back to me.

[“A sword looks like it would fit perfectly in this hole... Maybe if we push one in, it’ll set off a mechanism and reveal a hidden treasure chest?”]

She had said it while looking at a hole in the bottom of a coffin. She’d been babbling to distract herself from the anxiety of our predicament, and I’d barely paid attention. Yet the sight of a sword bearing the same emblem brought her words back as vividly as if I’d heard them yesterday. I didn’t know whether she was right, but at last I’d found the emblem I’d been searching for.

As I stood staring at the sword, the woman’s voice reached me. “Damn it, what’s taking them so long? This nuisance is giving me trouble.”

I snapped out of it. I couldn’t stand here any longer. This was my only chance. I started running toward Mercenary Street.

“I told you to stop!”

Naturally, the woman came after me. Just as naturally, the meddler blocked her again.

“Let the child go!”

“You bastard!”

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Lightning flashed again, and I heard swords clash. It was frustrating. If I’d had a better sword, I wouldn’t have needed to run like this. Once again, I couldn’t repay what she’d done to me in my previous life. We’d met several months earlier this time, but I’d worked hard and been sure I was stronger than before. Yet here I was, fleeing and leaving my back to a stranger because of my arrogance, my haste, and a poor sword. Was it the wound? My legs grew heavier with every step.

“Damn it! The brat got away! Just you wait. When the others get here, I’ll cut off your arms and legs and mount you like a trophy!”

“You’re a terrible person. Poisoning your blade inside the city, too? If the domain guards catch you, you’ll get worse than a fine!”

“What the hell are you talking about? Are you even a mercenary?”

They kept fighting with words as fiercely as they did with swords.

The fight had tipped decisively in one direction. The cloaked mercenary outclassed her in both swordsmanship and the power of the blade. But it wasn’t ending quickly: the poison on her sword kept the cloaked mercenary from landing a finishing blow. As they fought, whistles sounded closer and closer.

“Heh, sounds like they’re coming. I’ll have to play with you instead of the little runt who pissed me off.”

The cloaked mercenary faltered at her words, seemingly weighing what to do. I thought I should settle the matter.

WHOOSH!

I hurled the remaining half of my sword with all my strength and shouted to the cloaked woman, “Attack!”

My voice startled them both. Of course they were surprised—the one they thought had escaped had come back. But both seemed experienced.

“How dare you!”

CLANG!

The female mercenary managed to block the sword flying at her.

“Urgh! A sword charged with mana?”

But she hadn’t expected the force behind the broken blade. It knocked her off balance, and the cloaked mercenary struck in that instant, bringing her down.

“Y-you...”

With those predictable parting words, the woman collapsed.

I approached them with a slight limp.

“I thought you’d run away.”

“I meant to, but I couldn’t.”

I shook my head at the mercenary’s grating voice.

I’d run toward Mercenary Street, but my legs had grown heavy and I’d stopped. Then I’d turned back and limped through the dark alley. I couldn’t think of any particular reason. I just hadn’t wanted to run away. So I’d slipped back, hidden in the shadows to watch the fight, and thrown my sword to help. Thinking about it calmly, it was incredibly stupid. This person had nothing to do with me. We’d only met once. Had I naively decided to help because I’d been helped? Or was it because I’d found the emblem that might be a clue to the tomb? Whatever the reason, I was lucky it had worked out. It hadn’t been a good decision.

“You didn’t kill her.”

At my words, the gaze beneath the cloak seemed to grow a little stern.

“A child, already talking about killing people...”

That was hardly something a mercenary would say. No, even nobles didn’t talk like that. Had this person spent their whole life frolicking in a flower garden?

I picked up the broken sword lying nearby. Cracks ran all through what remained of the blade. It was completely useless now. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the woman’s poisoned sword. Where had it gone? Broken sword in hand, I walked toward her. The whistles were closer, and now I could hear shouting. There was no time.

I stood over the fallen mercenary and brought my sword down, aiming straight for her throat.

THUD!

But my blade never pierced her. Another sword stopped it, shattering the broken blade.

“Why stop me? She tried to kill us.”

“Honestly... What is this country coming to...?”

After muttering those strange words, the cloaked mercenary pointed behind us.

“People are coming. I don’t know what happened, but you can’t let them catch you, can you?”

The mercenary took my arm and started running toward Mercenary Street. I followed without resisting. It was too late now. My sword was shattered, and with this meddler stopping me, there was no way to kill the woman before the others arrived. Still, making someone with an injured leg run?

“That woman was Noah, wasn’t she? Deputy commander of the Red Bear Mercenary Company.”

So the cloaked mercenary had known who she was all along and pretended otherwise.

“I’d heard she was notorious for her foul temper, but seeing her in person, that hardly seems to cover it.”

No kidding. She was insanely dangerous. Then why had you stopped me?

“But even if she is like that, if the Red Bear Company’s deputy commander dies here, it’ll cause us a world of trouble. Neither of us will be able to stay in this domain. We might spend the rest of our lives being hunted by the Bear Company.”

Wow. For a busybody, that was remarkably logical.

“She doesn’t know my face, and she’s got the wrong idea about the kid. As long as we don’t kill her, things should settle down soon.”

From the perspective of an ordinary mercenary who didn’t know who I really was, it made perfect sense. I wanted things quiet, too. I was starting to put a plan together; an uproar wouldn’t help. Killing Noah would have been good, but leaving her alive wasn’t so bad for my plan either.

“More importantly, why was she chasing you? It didn’t look like she was simply after a child because she’s a pedophile.”

That would be a pretty terrifying reason to be chased, too.

“I must have heard something I wasn’t supposed to. She came after me saying I’d eavesdropped.”

“Hmm. Eavesdropped... So you’re not just an ordinary kid, either?”

Huh? Had that simple explanation given the wrong impression?

“I happened to hear it while I was walking down the street.”

“A kid who evaded several mercenaries, sneaked up on me with an injured leg and threw a mana-charged sword without my noticing... And that kid just happened to overhear something?”

Damn. Now that my abilities were out in the open, the excuse wasn’t working.

“Well, I don’t regret helping you. But since things have come to this, I can at least hear what happened in return, can’t I?”

We reached Mercenary Street just as the cloaked mercenary asked. It was still bustling—or rather, it seemed even louder now that the night had grown late.

“Do you know me?”

“We saw each other earlier. Remember when I caught that pickpocket for you?”

So the mercenary had recognized me after all. I took off my cloak.

“There’s that handsome face. Much better without the cloak.”

The more the mercenary spoke, the more the voice changed.

‘She must not be used to disguising her voice.’

I looked toward the face hidden beneath the cloak and spoke. “You knew what I looked like, so... what should I call you? Miss? Big sister?”

She stopped dead, looking flustered.

“You figured it out?”

Her awkward voice slipped back to its natural sound. It was husky, almost androgynous, but unmistakably a woman’s voice.

“Talk long enough in that awkward voice and anyone will figure it out.”

“I suppose so... I was trying to be careful, but I must have gotten too worked up.”

Which part had worked her up? Meddling in someone else’s business? The fight? Either way, I had questions of my own.

“Where are you staying? It’s too late tonight, so I’ll come see you another time. I owe you a thank-you, and I’ll tell you what happened.”

I had plenty I wanted to ask, but something else was more urgent right now. I needed to find out where she was staying and meet her later. Fortunately, after a moment’s thought, she told me. It was another inn, a short distance from here.

“Come in the evening. If I go out, I’ll tell the innkeeper when I’ll be back, so you can ask.”

Once we’d arranged to meet, she pressed a bottle of medicine into my hand and left.

The bottle held a fairly expensive medicine made specifically for treating wounds. I thanked her, then sat by the corner of a building and applied it to my injury. The bleeding stopped, and the wound immediately began to foam. It was good medicine—far too expensive to give a child she’d only just met. I found that odd, but thanks to her, the pain in my leg eased considerably. After checking my leg, I headed for the inn where Adria was waiting.

Martin was nowhere to be seen at the inn. Adria was waiting alone, and fortunately, she seemed to be in a good mood.

“My brother had something urgent to do, so he left first.”

Hmm. I had a feeling that urgent business was me...

“We talked so much. He’s changed a lot, but he hasn’t changed at all, either.”

As we left the inn and headed back, Adria went on telling me about her conversation with Martin.

Unfamiliar mercenaries passed by, looking for something, but none paid any attention to the two of us, who looked like siblings. The crowds thinned once we left Mercenary Street, and by the time we neared the temple, the streets were empty.

“Oh, right. I told my brother about the secret passage. He said he’d come see me when he has time.”

So she’d told Martin about the passage after all. It had happened several months earlier, but in the end, that part hadn’t changed from my previous life. I smiled to myself. The gears were falling into place.