Mile Chapter 50: Escort

Greeting Everyone. After a while, I decided I will pick up Mile (Average Abilities)

 

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As an RPG lover, I will change the “hunter job” to “hunter quest”. Even if you complain I will not change my mind. 😛

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I can’t add the picture in other chapters because that’s not my page.

So allow me to show you again all character image so far.

Mile

Rena

Maevis and Pauline

Monika and Oriana + Adel hug Marcella

Mile Vs Guren

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ED: Lowe & Bluegraine & Hatsune Vocaloid Miku

 

After resting for 3 days,『Red oath』 returned to the guild, in order to get a new hunter quest.
During those 3 days, just as expected, rumors regarding the 『Abbott Merchant Association』 began to spread.

For example:

 

“Don’t accept 『Rock Lizard』’s requests from Abbott” (Hunter A)

or “He said he will buy it for 15 small gold coins.” (Hunter B)

“But I hear he only pays 60% or less of the value.” (Hunter C)

“He said the requested items were defective, but I looked at those items myself and they were in perfect condition.” (Hunter D)

and “I heard that the guild bought the 『Rock Lizard』 for 20 small gold coins, so if we have anything we better sell it to the guild.” (Hunter E)

 

Such conversations could be heard between hunters.
Since he couldn’t find the means to gather supplies, Abbott himself came over to meet the girls directly.

 

“We already sold it to the guild for 20 small gold coins. At that time, you wanted to buy it for only 15. The guild also said there were no defects.” (Pauline declared)

 

After that, he had no choice but to go home.

Normally, 『Rock Lizard』 would be purchased for around 25 to 28 small gold coins each.

After that, the merchant would divide it into small chunks and sold them all for more than 40 small gold coins on the market.
If he had purchased it for 15 small gold coins as requested, he would have earned 25 gold coins per 『Rock Lizard』, equivalent to 250,000 Japanese Yen.
If only he knew that we had not only three but actually 26 of them, he would have been more regretful. Nevertheless, he reaped what he sowed.

And from then on, five 『Rock Lizard』 were issued for sale from the guild every week and we also learned that Abbott would not be able to purchase from them.
If he wanted to get 『Rock Lizard』, he had no choice but to purchase them from the market, but that also meant he would hardly gain any profit.

 

“Well, I’ll look for the next quest.” (Rena)

 

Agreeing with Rena, everyone came towards the request board. After a few minutes of browsing, Rena showed an interest in a certain quest.

 

“U~n …”  (Rena)

“What’s wrong?” (Mile)

 

Mile called out to Rena who was pondering in front of the request board.

 

“It’s this request, I think that the rewards are a bit too good, I wonder why…” (Rena)

「Escort request: 9 days return trip to Amuros, 1 day free at the city.
Require C rank or above.
Total requirements: 12 people.
Payment: 24 small gold coins per person.
There will be an extra payment for B rank or higher」(Notice)

 

It was an 8 days quest with life-threatening dangers, each person will be paid 24 small gold coins.
It was 3 small gold coins per day. With the price this high, it was really suspicious.
However, it wasn’t like the hunters would have deadly battles or face danger all day.
On the contrary, the possibility that nothing happens during the whole process was really high.
If it was such a dangerous road, which was attacked every time, the merchant could not do their businesses in the first place.
But the possibility that the merchant group would be attacked by bandits would be high if they didn’t hire escorts.
And even if there were no bandits, the merchants might still be attacked by monsters.
It was natural to hire a number of escorts relative to the size of the merchant group in order to prevent bandits and monsters.
However, the market price should be a bit cheaper, 2 small gold coins per day.

 

“Let’s confirm with the receptionist for now…” (Rena)

 

Rena walked towards the receptionist while Mile panicked and followed shortly after.

 

“Oh, that escort request…?” (Leria)

 

Leria, the receptionist answered Rena’s question at the reception desk.

 

“Actually, on the road to Amuros, they come out…” (Leria)

“Ah… you mean a ghost… right?” (Mile)

 

Mile was cut off by Rena who tapped on her shoulder.

 

“No, please don’t say anything unnecessary! S-So what comes out?” (Rena)

 

Rena’s face had become somewhat pale.

 

(Huh? Maybe Rena is …?) (Mile’ inner thought)

 

While Mile was absorbed in her thoughts, Leria continued talking.

 

“A-Actually, that ghost…!” (Leria)

“Hi~i!”  (Both Rena and Pauline cowered immediately)

“Will not come out …
aaa … I’m so sorry!” (Leria)

 

Although it seemed to be a light joke, Leria apologized in a hurry when she saw Rena and Pauline were seriously scared.

 

“Bandits, I mean bandits!
It seemed that something happened in the country, and there are many cases of bandits attacking.
Merchants often get attacked and the supply of goods to other countries was reduced.
Prices are rising and demand is high.
Still, because there’s a high chance that you will be attacked, you’re better off not taking it.
Even though the dangers are many times higher, the reward is only 50% more than the regular price.
It just isn’t worth it.” (Leria)

 

After hearing the brief description from Leria-san, Rena and the girls left the reception desk.
Bandits rarely gathered in large groups, if they attacked a single carriage with a large number of people, the loot wouldn’t be enough to be distributed amongst all of them.
So It’s understandable that they would either rob a small merchant many times or joint forces to attack a large merchant group one time.

But if they were to attack a merchant group with many hunter escorts, they would also face the risk of being wiped out.
On the other hand, if the damage from thieves became too great, trading and businesses would stagnate.
The country and its lords would not overlook that.
Large-scale troops would be organized and sent out to eliminate all of them.
Hence, the bandits’ group was often small and active in a wide area to avoid attracting attention.

Actually, only those who were unlucky and those who didn’t have escorts got attacked occasionally.
It would be okay if a merchant had enough escorts since most thieves would pass on the tough opponents and aimed at the easier preys.
If you were attacked, you would most likely be killed during a battle, but if you surrendered you would only be stripped of your items and you would not be harmed.
On the other hand, if you didn’t surrender and fought desperately, in the end, you would get killed and the cargo would still be looted, which would result in more damage and no earnings.

For the escort quest, if the merchant client decided to reduce the damage by surrendering, the hunters who surrendered would not get the [Achievement of the Requested Task] but since their duty had been truly fulfilled, the escorting hunters would not be given penalties such as fines, and their rewards would be paid appropriately.

Though it seems that this time, a large bandit group had traveled from other countries.
They used the hit and run tactics so the soldiers still hadn’t yet discovered their hideout.
The merchants and the hunter escorts were slaughtered.
Perhaps after robbing, they would move to another country again before the soldiers could be assembled.
Naturally, it also took time for the lords and countries to move.

 

“Let’s accept that.” (Rena)

“Hah…?”  (Mile + Pauline + Maevis)

“If we let Mile wear lovely clothes and sit on the coach, the thieves will surely come.” (Rena)

 

The three of them were surprised at Rena’s decision.

 

“But, that request is too dangerous …”  (Maevis)

“Not to mention the reward isn’t balanced against the degree of risks.” (Pauline)

“If we go out again for nine days, our staying fee will be wasted…” (Mile)

 

Rena became angry with the negative words from the three.

 

“You guys, just leave it to me. I already told you we will take an escort mission!” (Rena)

“You certainly said that. Someday we will take on an escort request, so if we accept it early, we will get accustomed to escorts and will have the chance to face human opponents.
However, the probability of being attacked is considerably higher than usual, the reward is small in comparison to that, and there are too many thieves.
I don’t think we should bother to take the quest with such risks and such low reward.
I’m sure there will be other chances to have other escort missions again in the future.
And I think that there’s no need to be so rushed.” (Maevis)

“Well, I think so, too …” (Pauline)

 

Continuing after Maevis-san, Pauline also said her thoughts

 

“About that, it  …” (Rena)

 

Maevis-san kept speaking.

 

“Someday, the time will come when we will need to kill a person, but it will be a time we need to do so, at our own discretion.
Otherwise, we will surely regret it later.
Unless we make a choice for ourselves, we will regret it.
Rena, I have a feeling you aren’t trying to fulfill the duty of escorts but instead are trying to accept that request for the sake of killing thieves, am I right?
Someday when we need to kill people for the first time it should come naturally, we shouldn’t force the situation on ourselves.” (Maevis)

“Not only that…” (Maevis)

 

After pausing for a while, Maevis-san continued…

 

“What’s with dressing Mile in a cute dress?
It’s the last thing you should do in an escort fight!
Our primary objective is to make the robbers hesitate to attack.
By showing that there is a girl, not an escort, you thought it will provoke the robbers to attack, right?
So what would you do if the carriage or goods are damaged?
What would you do if the client, coworker or other guards are hurt or worse, dead?
Why bother doing things that go against the contents of the request and cause troubles that could lead us to danger?
And besides, if Mile wears such a dress, she will have to fight without armor when the robbers attack.
Our opponents are a lot of thieves, and it will be our first-time-fighting humans.
Have you ever thought about it thoroughly?” (Maevis)

 

Maevis-san cast the last words on Rena who fell silent.

 

“… Why are you so impatient about this, Rena?” (Maevis)

 

Rena kept silent for a few seconds but in the end, she ran away.

 

“Rena …” (Maevis + Pauline + Mile)

 

At the corner of the guild, the three people of 『Red oath』were standing there without a word.
Rena reappeared at dinner time.
She didn’t say anything and kept eating quietly.

 

“… ” (Rena)

 

Maevis-san called out to Rena who continued to eat dishes without saying anything.

 

“Rena …” (Maevis)

“…” (Rena)

 

Rena continued to eat silently while ignoring Maevis-san.

 

“We already received that escort request, so we can’t oversleep since we’ll set off tomorrow morning.” (Maevis)

*cough cough* (Rena)

“Gyā ~a~a!, that’s dirty, Rena-san!” (Mile)

“Aaaa, my rice is… Aaaa!” (Maevis)

 

Mile and Maevis were screaming. Pauline had already evacuated her plate.

 

“Ah, but you said we won’t accept that request!”  (Rena)

“Fuwahaha, that is a lie!” (Maevis)

 

Rena-san somehow became desperate and she kept staring at Maevis-san.

 

“I didn’t say that. I just considered the pros and cons and said we shouldn’t accept it.
And, since you were gone before we could reconsider it together, we just reached a conclusion that we could review and accept with the remaining three members, so how was that?” (Maevis)

 

Rena-san kept looking at Maevis-san and said

 

“After saying all those things… So, what happened with your pros and cons ?” (Rena)

“Oh, there’s no problem, as a result of various considerations we have reached the conclusion that it’s still within the acceptable range.” (Maevis)

“What’s with that!” (Rena)

 

Rena suddenly fell on her knees.
And from behind, she was poked on the shoulder.
It was Reni-chan who smiled and gave out a wooden water tub and a rag. (meaning: clean up, okay?)

 

“We’re sorry” (Mile + Rena + Pauline + Maevis)

 

Back that morning after Rena ran away from them in the guild, Mile told everyone her opinion.

 

“No matter how you look at it, something must have happened to Rena-san in the past, which made her behave like that.
Even if we stop Rena-san now, she’ll not be happy or accept it.
If we do as such, our party might start to fall apart and if Rena-san is going to do it sooner or later, I think it will be better if she does it when we are there with her.
We need to know about her problem first before we can help her, after all, she is our precious comrade in 『Red Oath』.” (Mile)

 

After a little pondering, Maevis-san answered

 

“Let’s check for more details about that request for now.” (Maevis)

 

Then the girls went back to the reception desk again and decided to meet with the client to listen to the whole story. Fortunately, it was still morning so time was not a problem.

 

“I see, so there was such a circumstance… If that’s the case, can we do something like this…?” (Maevis) 

“Huh? Yes, it’s fine if you want to do such a thing…” (Merchant A) 

“Then, come here…” (Merchant B) 

“Uhm, about the budget…” (Merchant A) 

“But if we fail, we won’t get anything, right?” (Pauline) 

“Un~, let’s discuss things first.” (Merchant A) 

“Instead, why do you want to do such a thing?” (Merchant B) 

“Well, don’t you worry about it.” (Maevis)

“Yes, it’s okay.” (Pauline)

“If you say so. The departure is delayed because we waited for the escort to gather so I’d like to start the meeting at once, is that fine?” (Merchant A)

“No problem, our「Red Oath」can start at any time.” (Maevis)

 

Before noon that day, we rented the meeting room of the guild and discussed our escort quest with two men and three girls.

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Having a daily dose of Mile or Arge is nice.

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