None of them wanted to approach Lawrence, even the ones in front of him and behind him steered clear. It was a natural reaction, they were on their defensive. If he made the wrong move they could rush in with their spears. Luckily nothing like that had happened yet.
Hildir, though awake, was staying quiet. He seemed to have realized the situation they were in.
“We can talk if we stay quiet.”
Lawrence placed a soaking cloth in front of Hildir, who sniffed it and took it into his mouth. For a while he just sucked the water from that cloth and blinked his eyes.
“Are we heading there now?”
Since he was asking so directly, Lawrence was now certain that he had lied about leaving behind a letter.
“Hopefully we’ll make it.”
Staying vague was all the revenge Lawrence could muster. Hildir’s breathing stopped for a while, then he slowly exhaled. Lawrence replaced the cloth, and he resumed drinking. Clearly he was feeling a lot better now.
“Where.. are we now?”
He spoke softly, but it wasn’t because he was trying to stay quiet; he was just that weak.
“We’ve been crossing the mountains. We passed the first one this morning. If you look eastward you’ll spot in. There’s another one to the north.”
If Hildir was conscious enough he’d be able to piece the rest together himself. Indeed, he nodded.
“And Ms. Holo?”
Even Hildir was asking about Holo. Everyone wanted her to save them. Every time he heard that, Lawrence died a little on the inside. He didn’t know whether to feel guilty about putting her in this position, or jealous that she was so useful. He ended up feeling both.
“Not yet. But you said it yourself, huh? She’ll end up in Lesco first before she comes after us.”
“Yes.. there are only a few roads, so my friend should find us soon enough..”
Humans had come to rule the land and sea, but the sky still belonged to the birds. Lawrence didn’t have the heart to even nod back. He just held a piece of bread out toward him.
“Want some?”
“I don’t know.. if I can swallow it..”
“I’ll soften it with water.”
Lawrence hadn’t taken care of many ill animals, and all he knew how to make was a buckwheat or bread porridge and all he could do was try to get them to swallow it somehow. Hildir acknowledged that much, so at least Lawrence didn’t have to pry his jaw open.
“I can’t help the taste, though.”
Lawrence offered the bread after dripping some water onto it with the cloth. Hildir closed his eyes as he tried to painfully swallow the bread, but shook his head after a few tries.
“Damn.”
“What?”
“I’m.. so..”
Hearing his hoarse voice made Lawrence laugh. But it wasn’t out of sympathy, but self-mockery.
“With just one sentence, you made Mr. Ruward do something you couldn’t even have paid him to do. What more do you want?”
Hildir studied Lawrence out of the corner of his eye; that was his plotting pose. He might be weak, but those eyes of his kind never betrayed his emotions.
“True.. being too greedy leads to losing everything..”
“Just like your enemies.”
His eyes closed once more, this time with a bitter smile.
“Is anyone after us?”
“No news yet. But we’ll know by tomorrow. The scouts should be back by then.”
Diva could be giving chase, or they might simply ignore their small band. They might be too worried about Hildir’s disappearance to suspect that he was with them. Even if they put two and two together, they might choose to ignore it. People often took the easy way out, even if it was hard to believe that they would overlook someone as important as Hildir.
“Get some more sleep. It doesn’t matter what I think, you’re the important one here. We’ll probably need your help when push comes to shove, there’s nothing a peddler like me can offer.”
Lawrence was greatly impressed by Hildir’s cunning. Even Myuri had been bested. Lawrence was practically a fifth wheel, only useful because he was with Holo. That realization was the last thing Lawrence needed; a merchant should never lose their confidence, even if they had to lick the sole of another man’s shoe. He knew that, but also that he was practically useless now.
“..I’ll do that, then..”
Hildir replied without taking his eye off of Lawrence. He didn’t laugh, though. He knew that a top-tier merchant shouldn’t do something so nasty. Lawrence closed his own eyes, and covered Hildir with a blanket.
If Holo saw his face right now, he would get a kick for sure. That only made him feel more awful. He was simply outclassed by Hildir, and back to being a normal merchant again. Everyone was waiting for Holo now, and focusing on that wouldn’t improve his mood.
An amusing thought then dawned on him. Somewhere along the way, he’d started feeling like a wolf himself. Maybe he’d just been with Holo for too long. It didn’t matter, though, so he smiled to himself and kept walking along with the mercenaries.
He was actually starting to miss the old days, when he would walk around by his lonesome. That was his entire life before he’d met Holo, and yet it somehow felt novel. In fact he couldn’t really remember that time clearly. It surprised him that he was so used to traveling with Holo.
They climbed a slope and passed around a frozen marsh by following the tracks of some rabbits and deer. The sun was now directly overhead, and almost seemed to be racing off to the horizon to avoid the cold.
It was about time to ask Holo what she wanted for supper. Lawrence looked up with that thought, and a mercenary looked up as well. They were still watching him closely. His desire to see Holo intensified.
He soon caught sight of a mercenary running up to them, but ultimately the man ran by them and all that was left was Lawrence’s longing to see Holo. Every time he missed her like this, he was reminded of just how much he loved her.
A short while later the mercenaries stopped and Myuri had them gather around him. Apparently they were being pursued. Lawrence nervously listened as Myuri spoke to his men.
“The news just came in: someone is chasing us from Lesco.”
They went dead silent, just like the frozen surface of the lake they had just passed. They were waiting for their captain to relay his orders. Satisfied, their captain continued.
“They outnumber us by three or four times.”
Someone sucked in a deep breath, but they otherwise maintained the proud form of the bravest of mercenary bands. They calmly waited for Myuri to continue.
“They may be rich, but they’re hardly the knights of some duke. At best they’re on our level, especially when it comes to fighting in the mountains. They’ll be a good test of our courage!”
Myuri was continuing on with the theme of “reorienting, not retreating.” Some of the men were chuckling under their breath, but not out of spite. A captain normally downplayed their opponent’s skills so his men weren’t afraid, but Myuri was being honest with them.
He might be asking them to be careful or just reminding them that they had nowhere to run. Running deep into the mountains off these narrow roads wasn’t going to yield any food, only death. Battle was their only option. This cornered mouse had to attack the cat.
“Who are they?”
One of the men finally spoke up. No one turned their head, because they were all waiting for the captain to answer. In their profession, everyone knew their competitors. If they knew who it was coming after them, they would at least know their strength and fighting ability. The situation wouldn’t improve, but the knowledge could at least provide some comfort.
“You really wanna know?”
Myuri was dead serious. The men started talking amongst themselves. Even Lawrence swallowed nervously. Maybe they wouldn’t feel any more comfortable knowing it this time. But they hardly had a choice but to fight, and as mercenaries they lived for thrill of comb
at, so the man giving the group a voice urged Myuri on.
“Yeah.. who is it?”
It went deadly silent again, and people even stopped breathing. Myuri finally replied.
“The Hugo Mercenaries.”
Lawrence knew that name from Lesco; they were lead by a man named Reginald. Diva couldn’t afford to be careless this time, so regardless of what the Myuri Mercenaries were after, they had sent the best men after them.
Lawrence felt his fists clench; he was seriously thinking he might not get out of this situation this time. And yet.. the men all protested.
“Damn!”
“How terrifying!”
The laughed and shouted, raising their arms and weapons like they were disappointed. Lawrence had no idea what was going on.
“Hey now, don’t be that way. Before I knew who it was, I was just as anxious. But Reginald, that magnificent bastard.. well, they got so much money that they wanna share the wealth!”
As Myuri happily announced that, his men loudly booed the Hugo Mercenaries. Lawrence was still perplexed.
“Oh, very well! Let’s have some fun with them, they could use the exercise!”
Myuri handed it over to Moid.
“Get your britches on! We’re leaving! If you hope to have a ceiling over your head tonight, then don’t fall behind!”
Even with Moid loudly issuing the order, the men didn’t reply with any enthusiasm. They returned to their groups with nary a trace of tension. What was going on? Had they spoken to Hugo in advance? Myuri was friends with Reginald, but weren’t mercenaries ruled by money? Having returned to his horse, Lawrence looked up at Hildir.
“What happened?”
The ruckus had woken Hildir up, but Lawrence had no choice but to catch up to the team before they left him behind. His reply was brief.
“We’re being pursued.”
Hildir didn’t react with surprise or anxiety, just a dispirited stare.
“They sure don’t sound worried..”
Lawrence plucked the cage off of his horse, and let Hildir mull it over for a while.
“So they’re all friends..”
Hildir sighed, clearly having pieced it together as well.
“For real?”
Lawrence’s questions made Hildir’s ears stand on-end.
“Quite. Mercenaries aren’t as rude as they’d have people believe. They’re hardly the type that would do anything for money. They don’t like doing battle with their peers.”
Lawrence already knew that mercenaries weren’t what he expected, especially after the last few days. However, that was of no immediate comfort to him.
“Then hiring them must be like herding cats.”
Hildir finally smiled. Lawrence had only ever lived as the one being attacked by mercenaries, not the one hiring them.
“In war it all comes down to the knights and the mercenaries. Mercenaries are there to intimidate and capture people for money. They don’t destroy villages or towns unless they have to. You.. saw how they lived in Lesco, yes? How friendly the bands are with each other?”
It was true. Back in Lesco, even Myuri had been reduced to a drunken mess from all his meetings with the other bands. He’d drunk the whole night away when the new currency was announced. Hildir sighed when he saw Lawrence nod.
“Many bands have a proud history, and they’ve fought side by side with each other for most of that history. Mercenaries have their own code.”
“Then-”
“Yes, mercenaries aren’t hired to start fights, but to finish them. If they must, they’ll destroy towns and villages, but never other mercenaries - especially not the ones they’re friendly with. It’d be a waste of time and money to try hiring them for that..”
Hildir tucked his head back under the blanket and squinted out through the opening. He looked a bit too ashamed to be talking about such men when he’d let himself be captured by them.
“..it seems the barons are running things now.. oh, how pathetic.. my poor company..”
Hildir couldn’t even bear to finish his thought. He just smiled in shame.
“Well, at least they’re not in the same league as a certain merchant.”
Lawrence wasn’t sure what to say, but figured the truth was good enough. Myuri had praised Reginald in much the same way for being paid to essentially chase his friends and do nothing. If Myuri planned to play along and maintain the status quo, then Lawrence might as well do the same.
“Then it looks like they’ve finally found a way out of this.”
Hildir cut in while Lawrence was thinking.
“Oh?”
“If this is their choice then either Ms. Holo can’t help us, or..”
Hildir trailed off and stared into the distance. Lawrence couldn’t hope to keep up with his thoughts, so he just let him think about the big problems. Only someone from his world knew how to deal with such grand scales of money trouble anyway, and Lawrence’s chance to enter that world had already passed.
“Thirsty?”
Hearing his question, Hildir finally turned back and politely replied.
“Yes, please.”
* * *
They were finally overtaken the next afternoon. The men from Diva demanded that they turn Hildir over and surrender, making it clear to Myuri that they were trying to trap them by mentioning Hildir.
But Hildir already vanished earlier that night. They had already seen through Diva and it didn’t matter what the circumstances were, and mercenaries never surrendered. No one would hire a bunch of turncoats or cowards, so when the going got tough they dug in for battle.
Rather than surrender, they simply ”lost” their charges. Better for them to vanish then be captured or swept up into battle; that was how mercenaries guarded their reputations.
“Attack!”
Diva company were probably scared of starting the war themselves and wanted a scapegoat. Hildir, having fled with the Myuri Mercenaries, would be the perfect motivation for them to have done all of this. And yet, they didn’t approach. They simply fired arrows.
A veritable hail of arrows landed on both sides of the fray, with the mercenaries shielding themselves with wooden boards and hoping to find a chance to charge. Only two men had been injured so far, both while retrieving as many arrows that had been fired as possible.
Arrows were unbelievably varied, being bought from so many different sources. They were always used, over and over again, and the ones being fired now were so dull they had only injured two people. They were no threat unless one was struck in a vital organ; even a child could escape this onslaught unscathed.
It was only the shouting and the clouds of arrows that gave the illusion that this was a desperate battle. And desperate it seemed, at least to the Diva company representative that Lawrence was watching. The man nervously watched the scene with a grim look on his face.
“A great merchant can move goods and servants while he sits on a chair, but that just detaches him from reality. It isn’t that these guys are stupid, they’re just lazy.”
“It’s almost embarrassing.”
Between the men, they could see the captains on their horses and the sleds carrying goods. Moid, being the commander of Myuri’s forces, was barking orders from the rear. He sometimes trod forward for more wine, which only made it clear just how much of a farce this whole thing was.
“I can only assume they’ve completely pulled the wool over the eyes of the Diva representative. What say you?”
“Seems likely. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never been on the battlefield.”
Hildir probably knew the man personally, so he should know if that was the truth.
“A typical noble, then? Sharp mind, frail body, showing off his knowledge by writing his name in the Church language? Is that what you’re saying?”
Myuri raised one his legs up onto his horse’s back, then rested his chin on his knee. His sharp gaze and devil-may-care pose really made him seem like the veteran mercenary that
he was. However, Hildir wasn’t so charmed that he couldn’t fire back a lackadaisical reply of his own.
“Why ask me when you trust your eyes?”
Myuri stared at Hildir, but the rabbit didn’t move. It only yawned, making Myuri hum and end the topic with an “alright.”
“That just means we don’t have to worry about getting to Sovereign. I meant no ill will toward your former friend.”
“My friend? The compatriot of the barons who did this? Hardly. I just don’t figure they would send someone like him out with that force to greet us. He’s too young, to begin with. They must be planning something.”
“..Something that he knows, and has to make sure happens.”
“Exactly.”
Myuri and Hildir could understand each other well, and were both calm. One had cheated the other, but they didn’t squabble over it. It would change nothing, so being constructive was the obvious way to go. These great minds were already chatting like fast friends.
“Then your plan is still intact, and we need only continue forward, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, so you are certain of your plan’s success.”
It would have been ridiculous for the chief of a mercenary band to talk to a rabbit, so Lawrence stood with them next to a horse and held Hildir’s cage. Anyone listening in would assume Myuri was talking with Lawrence, especially since Lawrence hadn’t used his own voice. He just stood there the whole time, playing his role.
“..yes.”
Myuri smiled.
“Liar. You had no idea until you saw that they sent Reginald after us.”
He spoke with a slightly impetuous tone, but that only made Myuri sound even wiser. Even the nicest tool was essentially just dead weight to someone who didn’t know how to use it. Like Hildir, Myuri would have figured out all he needed to know about Diva the moment the Hugo mercenaries arrived.
“The barons are over-exerting themselves. They’re so blinded by profit that they’re using force to solve all of their problems. And you’re using that against them.”
“Of course. The numbers just don’t add up, everything’s a joke right down to how they’re distributing their forces. They’re probably still just sitting around in their office at Diva company.”