Chapter 39 – The Company ◆

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As soon as the men spotted Kei and Aileen, they stopped their arguing in front of the Gavrilov Company’s headquarters.

Their group consisted of one plump, middle-aged man and three armed, brawny men.

They looked at the two suspiciously, starting to act before either Kei or Aileen could say anything.

The middle-aged man retreated a step while one of the strong-looking men — a big man with red hair — moved in front to cover him. The other two spread out to the sides, getting ready to draw their swords at a moment’s notice.

Their teamwork was natural and flawless, even without any of them saying a single word.

The red-haired man in the middle hid the middle-aged man from Kei’s gaze, standing between the two. The two on the sides were positioned far enough to not interfere with each other in case they had to pull out their swords.

The way they were on guard actually looked somewhat refreshing to Kei.

Aileen froze up with a cramped smile, her mouth agape as she was about to greet them.

“…What do you want?”

The middle-aged man in the back — perhaps one with the highest status here — asked them with a low, irritated voice.

He spoke in Snowlander’s tongue (Russkiy). Apparently he had no intention to use the “Duchy language (English)”.

Aileen worried about Kei for a moment, but decided it’d be better for her to take the lead, and after wetting her lips with a lick, answered in Russian, “…Please don’t get so worked up. We didn’t come to pick a fight or anything.”

The man pointed at Kei with his chin, “You brought a Grasslander. That is enough for us to be on guard.”

“He isn’t a Grasslander. He is certainly with me, but you can trust me on that.”

“I don’t care about that. What do you want?”

The man repeated his question, displeasure still showing on his face.

Aileen shrugged, already imagining where this conversation would go, “We heard that Gavrilov company was forming a caravan.”

“And what of it?”

“…To get straight to the point, we’d like to come along. We’re heading for Belyansk as well.”

“What?”

The man blinked a few times in surprise, then snorted and shook his head, “Not happening. Go away.”

“I’m not asking you to do it without compensation. It’d be beneficial for you too, of course.”

“Oh? And how? Are you planning to sell your body?”

One of the guards standing on the side smiled sleazily at Aileen while looking at her as if licking her body all over with his eyes. Aileen didn’t reply and simply snapped her fingers.

【——Kerstin.】

Then, the atmosphere was filled with a strange presence. The shadow at Aileen’s feet swayed.

The repulsive, writhing, dark shadow — as if countless snakes were winding within, or perhaps hands groping for something — caused the four to see a vision of a gracefully smiling lady behind her.

“…A magician, huh?” The middle-aged man snorted, glossing over his slight unrest with a brazen attitude.

The rest of the men also stiffened for a moment, but quickly loosened up again, reverting to their previous natural postures. Their feelings aside, they did seem calm at least.

“Oh, you don’t seem surprised.”

“Our company also has a magician… his magic isn’t as repulsive as yours, however.”

He spoke while putting up a strong front, but he looked quite disturbed by the crawling shadows.

Kerstin had continued to evolve her shadows into something quite extreme, seemingly having taken a liking to acting after they had repeatedly performed their evil magician play over the last few days. Thanks to that, her shadows gave anyone the impression that they’d be cursed to death by no more than a simple touch of her shadows, despite the fact of it actually being an empty thread.

Still…they’ve got a magician, huh? That’s a problem.

Aileen started to think.

If there was a magician among them, they would have seen magic being cast on many occasions. She wanted to obscure the level of her abilities, but it didn’t seem like she could cut corners here.

Or maybe that changes, depending on what type of magician they are.

It was one thing if everything was common knowledge thanks to walkthroughs like back in the game, but in this world magicians probably wouldn’t reveal their hands so easily, she suspected. And assuming those magicians kept to themselves, it was even more likely that they wouldn’t be very knowledgeable of other people’s Contracted Spirits.

In other words, as long as they weren’t contracted to a Spirit of the exact same class as Kerstin, there was a good chance a little deception wouldn’t be exposed.

If so, I wonder what kind of magician a company like this would hire? Based on the information I’ve gathered in advance, the main road used to be relatively safe before the mounted bandits appeared. Considering that, hiring a magician specifically for guarding a caravan would be a “luxury” that one shouldn’t be able to afford so easily. Hence they’d have opted for a magician who would be useful for miscellaneous background work. If you were to think of a Contracted Spirit that wasn’t too rare, it would come down to…

Aileen gazed at the Gabrilov Company’s headquarters once more. Square holes dotted the second floor’s wall. Ideal for small animals to be used for entering and leaving. Yes, for example, a bird—

“Do you possibly keep crows?” Aileen asked with a smile, but the old man remained silent without a change in his expression.

Bingo.

Nevertheless, Aileen had read it in his eyes. The magician hired by their company was most likely contracted with a Plague. They saw crows carrying letters several times during their journey from Urvan to Dilan’niren. They were surely using them as messenger crows.

“…So, how would your magic help us?”

As the conversation came to a halt, the red-haired man calmly urged her to continue.

“Ah, yes. As you can see I can control shadows. Their real mettle becomes apparent after the sun has gone down…”

She waved her coat and gave a graceful bow. Petals made of shadows accompanied her smile, fluttering down towards the ground.

“I offer you peaceful sleep. The veil of darkness will become my kin and drive away any lawless folks. I will greatly lower the risk of you being attacked during your night camp. In particular, my shadows will seep into the darkness of the night, detecting and repelling enemies before they reach us. Considering the current state of things, I expect this to be an attractive offer. How about it?”, she asked while tilting her head.

“Only during the night?”

The big man in the middle asked with unexpectedly round and cute eyes. For an instant, Aileen bated her breath upon that critical question.

“…Only during the night, yes. It’s bright out during the day, so there’s no point.” She tried to dodge the question without explaining it in detail.

“It’s pointless because it’s bright?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“…I mean that using the spell during the day has less effect.”

“But wouldn’t the shadows be deeper during the day?”

“Yes, but my Spirit doesn’t like working during the day.”

“Does that mean you can’t use the spell during the day?”

“I can… I can, but it costs more.”

The red-haired man hit her with genuine, yet crucial questions. Since he was inquiring about her actual abilities, it’d possibly come back biting, if she lied about it, so she had no choice but to answer him honestly to a degree. Outwardly she was still smiling, but in reality she was grinding her teeth in vexation.

As the two talked, the middle-aged man pondered about something with closed eyes, before opening his eyes again and slowly speaking up, “…As you say, the significance of a safe night is big, considering the recent problems with the mountain bandits.”

“Right?”

“However, I don’t trust you people at all.” He easily turned them down. “If what you say is true… then your — Miss Magician’s ability is extremely useful. However, I can not entrust the caravan’s safety to a complete stranger, and on top of that, during the night when it counts the most. And at present, we have no time to build up any trust from scratch.”

He shrugged, his face mostly devoid of its previous expressions. Now he was looking at them with the face of a merchant, and not with that of someone being highly wary of strangers.

“So, there you have it. It would be difficult to let you come with us tomorrow. Maybe we can build some trust and form a proper contract at some later point in time.”

“Hmm…”

Aileen pretended to brood over his words, but in reality she was laughing at him in her mind as she had obviously hit the nail. After everything was said and done, this man still wanted to form a connection to her as a magician. People who could control supernatural powers always were a great source of income, in one way or another.

He just needs one more push.

Showing someone the benefits of being on your good side usually pushed them to become more open-hearted with you. All the more so when it came to merchants.

“Kei, can you take out the alarm for a bit?”

“Sure.”

Kei had been standing around like a statue while listening to the Russian mambo jumbo all this time, but upon Aileen’s request, he reached for his luggage and started to rummage in it.

They had left most of their luggage at the inn, but they had brought along the stuff that would require strenuous effort to replace, if possible at all, such as precious metals and potions.

Aileen’s alarm was one of them.

“…What’s that?”

“This is the prototype of a magic item… Or well, calling it like that would be an exaggeration, but we plan to eventually sell it as a proper magic item. We call it alarm.”

“Oh…?”

The old man tried to feign calmness, but his eyes were pinned on the item. Then he suddenly looked up, apparently having realized something.

“Speaking of which, I forgot to ask your name.”

“I’m Aileen. He’s Kei. Best regards.”

“I am Genrikh. Likewise.”

Aileen walked up a bit to the middle-aged man—Genrikh, and explained the alarm.

“—And so, to put it simply, it threatens any enemy approaching you within a radius of a hundred steps, and informs you of their presence by ringing the bell.”

“I see… How do you define enemy?”

“It would be someone who, directly or indirectly, harboring an evil intent towards the user — at present that would be me, the spell user. You can’t lie before a Spirit, so unless it’s someone who embraces an evil intent without actually intending to do so, it can cover a wide range of threats, including bandits or even animals. But well, I’m casting a spell on this device, so there exists a certain degree of flexibility when it comes to the precise trigger conditions.”

Since it was a special situation, she decided to demonstrate it.

She placed the alarm on the square’s ground, set the detection range to ten steps, and cast the spell. Then, after she had Genrikh’s three guards secretly decide on a villain among them, she asked them to enter the detection range simultaneously.

They repeated this procedure several times, changing the villain each time, but on every occasion, Kerstin’s shadows only reacted to the one that intended to harm Aileen.

“We’re planning to change this device into a magic item that runs on catalysts without requiring me operating it for the future.”

As Aileen explained proudly, Genrikh raised a voice of admiration.

“…This is quite useful.”

“You don’t need to tell me. I know that.”

“I’d love to have the finished product.”

The men started whispering among themselves. Aileen folded her arms, revealing a smug expression. Kei didn’t understand what they were talking about, but it didn’t seem to be anything bad as far as he could judge.

“Certainly. No doubt, this alarm is a wonderful tool. I would even ask you to let my company deal with it. But still…!!” Eventually, Genrikh spoke with a sour expression. “Still… that is beside the point now. If you want me to add you to tomorrow’s caravan right away…”

“It’s not possible?”

“I don’t doubt the performance of this magic tool, but it’s still an issue of trust with you, Aileen. At present, the performance of this tool depends entirely on your spell. In other words, you are free to do whatever you want with it. It is still quite possible that you are part of those mounted bandits, only trying to make us believe that we will be perfectly safe at night for the sake of using that opening to call your friends when we are asleep.”

“Ugh, I guess you have a point…”

They both looked troubled. As expected, the basic function of the alarm was like a black box for Geynrith, turning it into a bottleneck in this situation.

Their surroundings slowly grew darker as the silence went on.

“—Oh, you guys seem to be doing something fun over there.”

But just before their negotiations broke down completely, a voice called out to them from above. Looking up, a crow was peeking its head out of a hole in the company building’s wall.

The crimson-eyed crow tilted its head and spoke, “I’d love to get in on this as well.”

It flapped its wings and descended to the ground.

Then, its contour slowly blurred — just for a white-haired old man in a dark red robe to suddenly stand there in the crow’s place. He was tall but thickly skinny and thin, his eyes as red as a crow’s.

“Sir Vasily!”

The Gavrilov company members were all startled. On the other hand, Aileen wasn’t overly surprised. This was the transformation spell, a special skill of all Plague contractors. Kei, who couldn’t follow their conversation, was slightly surprised, however.

“I sensed a flow of magic power so I decided to take a look. Nevertheless, what a lovely witch we have here…”

The old magician smirked — a smile that could only be described as somewhat sticky — when he saw Aileen and bowed.

“I’m delighted to meet you. I am a magician attached to the Gavrilov company, Vasily.”

“I’m Aileen. A wandering magician as you can see.”

Silence followed that simple introduction. Both cautiously scrutinized each other.

Before long, Vasily smiled, straining his unnaturally wrinkled face.

“…This is quite marvelous. Such magic power at such a young age. I am losing confidence here.”

Aileen looked quite troubled after hearing his words. She had increased her magic power without so much as an effort by simply setting her character to auto-training mode, which included having it meditate and read grimoires. Meeting a real magician triggered a guilty conscience in her for having cheated.

On top of that, Plague was a type of Spirit which cursed its contractors atrociously in exchange for power. Perhaps it was only natural for Aileen to feel somewhat inferior when compared to Vasily who had paid a heavy price as obvious from his bad health.

Vasily saw that Aileen was uncomfortable, and thus threw his hands up as if playing the fool after stealing a quick glance at Kei.

°”Ah well, that matters not. I am more interested in this device and spell.”°

Maybe sensing Aileen’s feelings, he casually brought the conversation back on track. Aileen was about to start explaining, but she intuitively realized that this old man was quite something for creating an atmosphere that lured her into talking willingly.

Speaking of the alarm, this old magician might be able to reproduce it. The method itself wasn’t particularly difficult—it was built around the idea of using the catalyst, which would be consumed as price for the spell, to operate a mechanism.

It was pretty clear that someone would copy it quickly, If they put it on the market since this world didn’t know the concept of patents. As such, she decided it would be more beneficial to learn how a “magician of this world” would react to her idea than trying to cover it up.

In the end, she explained some of the details of how the alarm worked to Vasily.

Vasily wasn’t particularly surprised hearing about the spell itself, but when she told him about “using the consumable catalyst as a weight,” he slapped his forehead, obviously having realized his huge blindspot.

“What an idea! It…never crossed my mind. In the first place, I am not suited for creating such tools. I’ve only ever tried to make a few such tools… But dear me, this could become quite popular…” Vasily muttered in admiration.

“Does that mean you can create something similar, Sir Vasily?” Genrikh asked reservedly with cunning in his eyes.

“No. I may be able to make something similar, but not anything identical.”

But Vasily’s immediate denial devastated Genrikh.

“Y-You can’t…?”

“It’s a matter of affinity.”

Vasily looked slightly offended as Genrikh’s obvious disappointment apparently had hurt his pride.

“My magic uses birds as an intermediary. It is fundamentally different from hers, which uses darkness itself. Birds that can see in the dark are limited as well… Well, if we limit it to just daytime, I could perhaps create something similar. However, you’d need to bring a special bird along, which would prove quite troublesome.”

“I-I see…”

“But still, this is amusing. Instead of standing out here, would you care to join me for some tea inside?”

“I’d love to, but I still have business here…”

“Hmm? Speaking of which, what have you been discussing all the time anyway?” Vasily asked in wonder.

Once again, Aileen explained their wish to travel with the caravan.

“What, it’s just that? Genrikh, if you’re so worried about the spell, everything will be resolved if I just confirm it before she uses it on the alarm.”

“…In what way?”

“Before sunset, I will possess a crow and check the spell from a distance.”

According to them, Gavrilov Company benefited from Vasily’s magic, always taking a few carrier crows with them. They were fundamentally for emergency use, but if Vasily felt like it, he could possess them to talk to the caravan member in real-time.

“Well, that’s how it is. I’ll tell you if she tries something clearly suspicious.”

“U-Ugh…”

“Besides, why not think of this as a trial run for the future? You can just use the alarm while also standing watch during the night as you always do.”

“Well, I suppose that works…but still…”

“You’re still not satisfied? I’m having trouble understanding what worries you so much.”

Vasily doubtfully asked as he saw Geynrith still frowning.

“…As expected, it still comes down to the lack of trust. I don’t doubt that she’s a skilled magician, but that would make her all the scarier if she turns out to be an enemy.”

“Oh, you’re worried about that?”

Being convinced, Vasily once again turned to Aileen and asked.

“Young lady. Let me confirm, but you don’t mean any harm, do you?”

“I do not.”

“Could you swear on it?”

“Of course.”

“In that case, please give me your hand.”

He gently took Aileen’s hand and chanted at the same time, 【—Wohlfart, la sekreto estas elmontrita】

Vasily’s eyes gleamed redly and Aileen saw jet-black wings manifest behind him.

She felt like her heart started to beat strangely slowly.

“…Okay. She’s not lying. I can guarantee it.”

Letting go of her hand, Vasily spoke as he folded his arms inside his robe.

“…Was that a spell to see through lies just now? No, Evil Eye?”

“Oh, color me surprised. It seems that you also have a profound knowledge of Plague magic.”

Vasily smiled pleasantly, seeing Aileen uneasily rub her chest. Genrikh, on the other hand, remained puzzled.

“Sir Vasily, what was that spell?”

“Hmm, well it was a type of Evil Eye. Simply put, if you lie, you’ll get cursed.”

Vasily explained in amusement with Aileen frowning on the other hand.

That Evil Eye just now penetrated my resistance…

Evil Eye was one of the Plague spells. Inside the game, it was a spell to apply physical ability debuffs and continuous damage to the targets in the line of its caster’s sight. The caster’s eyes shining red was its notable characteristic, and it showed its effect regardless of the distance as long as the caster’s eyes fell on the target.

You could resist it if you had a certain level of resistance, but Vasily’s Evil Eye didn’t allow Aileen to resist. The fact that the spell was completed was proof of that.

If Vasily felt like it, he could cast strong curses regardless of the distance, causing Aileen to raise her evaluation of him as a magician.

As expected, an old man’s wisdom isn’t for show.

“…This is the first time I heard about you possessing such a spell.”

“Because I never mentioned it. But good grief, it really tires me out,” answered Vasily somewhat listlessly, which showed that the spell was in fact draining.

The Evil Eye seemed to consume quite a bit of magic power.

“At any rate, there shouldn’t be any more problems with her accompanying you, right?”

“…I suppose.”

“Good. Now then, as I said, care to join me for a cup of…”

“Please wait! What about that guy?”

Suddenly one of the men asked, pointing at Kei. It was the guy who had ogled Aileen with a sleazy gaze earlier.

“I don’t care if he comes with a magician or not. I don’t wanna work with a Grasslander!” The man spat out his hate.

Aileen sighed and answered, “…As I said at the beginning, he’s not a Grasslander. Geez.”

“…Is there a problem?”

Even if he couldn’t understand the words, Kei could still guess the situation from how they were all looking at him.

“Yeah, there’s one troublesome guy. Sorry, but can you show them your ID?”

“Sure.”

He searched in his chest pocket and pulled out his Duchy ID and handed it over to Aileen. The big and rough parchment had his profile records and even his portrait.

“Here, this is his ID. He’s an honorary citizen of Urvan. He’s also the champion of the tournament that was held a month ago.”

Aileen thrust the ID at Genrikh who was still looking doubtful. His guards put their heads together, reading what was written on the ID.

“It really says honorary citizen.”

“Shit, I’m bad at reading Ducal…”

“Uhh… Isn’t this fine? They wouldn’t give their citizenship to some shady dude.”

“But still, we can’t get careless… There’s no proof that he’s not a bandit.”

“The champion of the martial tournament? I did hear that a Grasslander won, but did they mean him?”

“So he IS a Grasslander!”

It seemed that the tournament information had spread after being distorted, which now made the situation even worse. Aileen looked up to the sky.

“…Oh right, Mr. Vasily. Do you mind casting the spell from before on him as well?”

Then she suddenly remembered about the Evil Eye, casting an expectant look at Vasily.

“…Hmm. He doesn’t speak our language, does he?”

“He doesn’t speak Snowlandish, yes. He can speak Ducal…”

“I can’t speak that one. That Evil Eye needs both parties to understand each other.”

“…What if you use “Esperanto” to talk?”

“Oh? So he is one too?”

Vasily asked in surprise, but at the same time he appeared to also be somewhat convinced.

“…However…Sorry but I don’t have confidence in that. Or rather, I don’t want to speak the Spirit Language without preparation. My Spirit isn’t very flexible, so it may interfere with the spell and Evil Eye… Frankly, it’s too dangerous,” Vasily admitted, looking ashamed.

Kerstin’s thinking had quickly grown flexible ever since they’d been transferred into this world, so Aileen thought all Spirits on  this side were the same, but this didn’t seem to be the case.

Is it due to the difference between the humanoid and animal Spirits…?

“Then what if I “declare his lack of hostility”?”

“Ah, that may work. If that convinces these folk, but… it’s really tiring.”

Vasily sighed once more after throwing a chilly look at the men who had continued to kick up a fuss.

†††

In the end, Vasily testified to “Kei’s lack of hostility” through Aileen, resulting in the two being allowed to join the caravan on the next day.

One of the guards, the red-haired man with a calm tone—apparently he was Pyotr—backed them up, which contributed a lot to the case. The other Grasslander-hater was against it, but after Pyotr scrutinized Kei, he said something to him.

Neither Kei nor Aileen understood what he’d told Kei, but it was apparently a big insult in the Grasslandish, so since Kei didn’t react to it at all, it proved that he wasn’t related to the Grasslanders.

Afterwards, Vasily postponed the tea invitation as he had grown quite tired after using so much magic, and the two returned back to their inn after promising that they’d have a chat the next time they came to Dilan’niren.

On the next day, when the sky started to turn gray, the caravan organized by the Gavrilov Company had already assembled at the northern gate. Mercenaries and merchants riding covered wagons and horses had formed a line, waiting for the departure.

Kei was assigned to be a scout by Genrikh, the commanding officer for the caravan’s guard protocol.

Kei and Aileen’s position within the caravan was quite ambiguous as they could be labeled as guests, guards, and simple travelers. Then again, Genrikh didn’t show any reservation when it came to ordering Kei around. He repeatedly barked curt instructions at him in English.

The caravan members were full of complaints and discontent over Kei’s presence, and thus, after backing and getting Kei on board, Genrikh wanted Kei to persuade the others of his usefulness by putting in enough work. Aileen, on the other hand, was being protected in the middle of the caravan, so the difference in treatment between the two was pretty obvious.

Aileen was very dissatisfied with Kei’s situation, but Kei himself simply followed Genrikh’s instructions in silence, trying to not cause any further trouble.

Amidst cold, piercing glares—making him feel like he was walking on a bed of nails—Kei rode to the front of the caravan on Sasuke.

“Hey, we meet again, Kei.”

It was Pyotr. He likely was one of the very few individuals in this caravan interacting normally with Kei. Seeing him to be his colleague gave Kei a bit of peace of mind.

“Morning, nice to see you again. Are you a scout too?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Thank god.”

Kei shrugged and Pyotr also smiled wryly.

“You’re quite hated. Scouting is a dangerous job, so not many are willing to do it.”

“Guessed as much.”

“By the way, I don’t speak much Ducal. I can do simple conversation, but I don’t understand complex wordings.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not my native language either.”

“That’s great to hear. Please talk to me in simple words. It’ll allow me to understand you.”

“Got it.”

It has been ten-odd years since Kei started speaking English, but there were times he couldn’t keep up with native speakers as it was, in the end, a language he had learned. Talking with “simple words” was something he actually preferred.

The two exchanged a firm handshake atop their horses. afterwards, Pyotr explained the key points of scouting in broken English as they waited for the caravan to finish its preparations.

Then as the morning sun finally rose above the horizon, orders were hurled in Russian from behind the two.

“Okay, let’s go, Kei. It’s time.”

“Got it.”

A scout’s duty was to go ahead of the caravan and ascertain a safe passage. They started moving before the caravan did.

Looking back, Kei could see Aileen standing far in the back, between the carriages, while staring at him full of worry.

He didn’t know whether Aileen could see him, but he still waved at her, just to suddenly spur on Sasuke in the next moment.

Galloping next to Pyotr, Kei clenched down “Dragon Stinger” with his left hand as he focused on the road ahead.

This was the peaceful start, leading them northward along the Bratya Highway.

A/N:

Pyotr and Genrikh from Naka-sama.

Man, Pyotr looks just like I imagined him, so I was really amazed.

Thanks as always, Naka-sama!!

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