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Join the ServerBefore he knew it, ten days had passed since returning to Cheaf.
During that time, Hay had put his training on hold, rested plenty, and looked for work.
Five months after receiving his mercenary renewal from Kisen, he passed a simple evaluation and had his mercenary badge reissued.
Now he was officially an S-rank mercenary, but finding work proved tricky.
The minimum daily pay for an S-rank mercenary was eight gold. That was enough to hire two really skilled A-rank mercenaries.
With such a high price tag, and with Hay never having proven himself as a solo mercenary, not a single request came in.
That wasn’t the only problem. Around the same time, the civil war in southern Cheafel had made things worse.
Outlaws and monsters had grown bolder outside the city, and most merchant caravans had already signed yearly contracts with mercenary bands, so there were no openings.
He had looked into freelance contracts with mercenary groups, but unfortunately, every group he met only wanted year-long commitments.
He had plenty of money now, so there was no need to force himself into something he didn’t want. He was taking his time when Stan brought him a job.
Stan, who had said he was heading to Duke Yepisnon’s estate as soon as he arrived in Cheaf, went to Arkabiya to see Lorelai. He came back a week later.
He said a merchant company he knew needed mercenaries and offered to make the introduction.
If not for him, finding work might have taken over two weeks.
“How did it go? Did you sign?”
Three days later, this morning, Stan, who had just returned from Arkabiya, asked offhandedly.
“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be carrying my luggage out here.”
The two sat crouched in front of Stan’s house.
“Are you leaving today?”
“Yeah. In thirty minutes.”
“That quick? They said they needed a mercenary urgently. Signing a contract and leaving three days later, they really must be in a hurry.”
Stan spoke through a puff of pipe smoke.
“By the way, what’s your relationship with the Jemin Company? Why did you set this up?”
“It’s one of my clients. I used to supply them with potions.”
Hay had signed with the Jemin Company.
Considering that the young Duke of Yepisnon had disguised himself as the company’s youngest son and trained here, it couldn’t just be an ordinary business relationship. But Hay decided not to ask further.
“How’s Lorel? No problems with her mana channels acting up?”
“She’s perfectly fine. Doing well. She’s restarted her leg rehabilitation and lately she’s gotten into teaching the kids at the healing house.”
“The healing house kids?”
“The Richen Noi healing house. Richen Noi.”
“Ah, those little brats.”
“Right. Oh, I almost forgot. Lorelai told me to give this to you.”
Stan took off the bracelet from his wrist and handed it over. Hay looked at it curiously.
The bracelet was made of ivory beads, carved with runes Hay didn’t recognize.
“Isn’t this the bracelet Lorelai used to wear?”
“Yeah. Apparently, a month ago she was going to give this to you instead of the Crimson Jewel. But after she got the Crimson Jewel, she figured that would be more helpful, so she gave you that instead. You know the rest, it got stolen. She wanted me to tell you she’s sorry for dragging you into something difficult, even if it wasn’t on purpose.”
Hay took the bracelet.
“No need to apologize. It wasn’t Lorel’s fault.”
“Right. It was that goddamn Dylan or whatever his name was.”
Hay thought about bringing up the compass Renki had gotten from some wizard, but he gave up. He was already out of Arkabiya, and mentioning it now might only make things more complicated.
The ivory bracelet radiated a warm energy, as if some special magic was woven into it.
“She said her teacher gave it to her. It’s imbued with fire energy, useful for increasing compatibility with fire.”
“Looks like she knows I haven’t contracted with a spirit yet.”
“Spirit contracts aren’t easy. I did tell her I figured you’d be making one soon, though.”
“So is the Crimson Jewel staying in Arkabiya for now?”
Stan took a slow drag on his pipe before answering.
“For now, we’ve agreed to keep quiet about it to the Srahanila side. From their perspective, our situation looks suspicious, as you heard from the Archon.”
“What happens if they find out the Crimson Jewel is in Arkabiya?”
“At the very least, diplomatic friction. In the worst case, war. But that’s unlikely.”
Hay frowned. Stan might have spoken lightly, but this was clearly no ordinary matter.
“That unknown wizard really left a bomb behind.”
“As long as nobody finds out, it doesn’t have to be one. I can’t say more, since this isn’t something I can discuss with an outsider.”
Hay nodded and stood up.
Renki, who had gone back into the inn saying he suddenly needed the bathroom, came out.
In his hand was a bundle he hadn’t been carrying when he went in.
“What’s that?”
“The head chef gave me some jerky.”
“Caleb?”
Hay’s eyes went wide. He took the bundle from Renki and opened it. Beef jerky.
“Oh, that looks good.”
Stan, who had been sitting beside him, dusted himself off and stood up.
“Want me to open a portal to the company?”
“That’d make it easy if you did.”
“Ten gold.”
“I’ll just walk.”
“Alright, alright. I’m joking. I’ll open it for free.”
Stan let out a dry laugh and swung his arm in a circle in the air. A portal appeared.
Hay slung his bag over his shoulder.
The bag he’d bought in Arkabiya had more than enough room for all his belongings. Renki stuffed the beef jerky into his bag and put it on too.
“Who knows if we’ll see each other again.”
“Probably not.”
At that, Hay shrugged.
Stan said he was planning to sell his house on Popenini Hill.
Once he returned to Arkabiya the year after next, he wouldn’t leave except for missions.
Unless Hay went to Arkabiya, it seemed unlikely they’d meet.
“If you ever need to come to Arkabiya, contact me. I’ll come pick you up.”
Hay made a face.
“I’m never going to Arkabiya. If you tell me about a sea route or a sky route other than the Mirror Labyrinth, I might think about it.”
Stan burst out laughing at that.
“You really have terrible luck. On my trip to Arkabiya this time, I didn’t run into any of the Guardians. You two might be the only people in history to have met four of the six.”
Hay didn’t bother mentioning that someone had met five.
“If fate allows, we’ll meet again.”
He said the words, but the tone suggested he never wanted to see Hay again. Stan shrugged.
“Guess so.”
Stan turned his gaze to Renki. The moment their eyes met, Renki bowed politely.
“Thank you for everything, Master.”
“Study the second class content the way I taught you. Your mana control still isn’t perfect, so train diligently. When you have a chance to practice magic, make the most of it. And…”
Stan covered the mask over Renki’s face with his palm, then pulled it away a moment later. The rusty red parts disappeared cleanly.
“You’re going to get metal poisoning on your face. Don’t you take care of that?”
Stan said to Hay. Hay had completely forgotten.
“I was planning to fix it.”
“You left it like that for almost two months. I was wondering when you’d get around to it.”
Hay scratched his head, embarrassed. People forget things sometimes.
“Go now.”
Stan tilted his chin toward the portal. Hay nodded.
Neither said any special farewell. Hay stepped through the portal first.
Renki was about to follow, then stopped. He turned back to Stan.
“Something else you want to say?”
Stan took a long pull from his pipe.
“Since I passed Class 1 properly, if someone asks who my master is, can I say I’m your disciple?”
Stan raised his eyebrows. He remembered what he had said at the start of their contract.
‘If you don’t complete Class 1 properly, don’t go around using my name and calling yourself my disciple.’
Stan chuckled and shrugged.
“Do whatever you want.”
Renki grinned and nodded.
Renki didn’t offer any special parting words either. He stepped through the portal with a light step. The portal closed immediately behind him.
Stan stood alone in front of the now quiet house, blowing out smoke.
A little while later, he opened another portal.
This time it was a long-distance portal heading to the Duke of Yepisnon’s domain in the northeast.
Stan stepped through without hesitation. Where the second portal closed, only a faint smell of tobacco lingered.
[“They’re all gone.”]
Lorelai stood up from where she had been sitting, right in the middle of the spot they had occupied.
She looked out at the view of Cheaf from the empty hill, then turned and went inside.
She went straight to her room and looked at the glass box on her desk.
‘The person who will bring you happiness will approach, and this flower will fall, petal by petal. When you finally meet that person and all the petals have fallen, the flower will bloom again, petal by petal. When all the flowers bloom, you’ll be happy.’
Alexandra had said exactly that when she gave her this glass box.
Now, the flowers inside were all in full bloom, just like when she had first received them. But that wasn’t proof that Lorelai had become happy.
Rather, it was proof that she was ready to become happy.
When she first saw Hay, she was sure Alexandra’s words were about him. But her guess had only been half right.
Lorelai had planned to heal her mana channels using the Elkynon and get Kasa back. She had firmly believed that would happen. But her mana channels were not healed.
Still, meeting Hay had certainly given her the chance to become happy.
If she hadn’t met Hay, ‘Dylan’ wouldn’t have come to her, and she wouldn’t have obtained the Crimson Jewel. And she wouldn’t be in the state she was now.
She felt it on the day she crossed the Mirror Labyrinth, when she used too much of the Crimson Jewel’s power to protect Stan.
That she could die if she made a mistake.
There was no way to stop her mana channels from burning away helplessly.
Without Hay’s spring water, she might have been unable to calm the fire of Sol still inside her body, and both her flesh and soul would have been burned to death.
Fortunately, the spring water stabilized her mana channels, and Lorelai succeeded in suppressing that power. The result was this.
A half-spirit state.
Lorelai placed a hand on the glass box. The flowers inside blazed up and vanished without a trace.
‘If you choose Kasa and want to become the spirit of the Crimson Jewel, I won’t stop you. Whatever you choose, the owner of this stone will be Hay Styles eventually.’
Lorelai recalled what her friend had told her. And she made a resolution.
‘I won’t become some petty spirit. For myself, I’ll become the greatest fire.’
It was still far in the future, but there was work she needed to do until then.
Lorelai opened her eyes.
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