"Now, let's all get going!"

The mercenary guild members were busily moving, even though it was still dawn and the sun had not yet risen.

"Ugh... my body..."

The members were each groaning as if their whole bodies were screaming from the previous day's battle, but they did not neglect to move their bodies.

"Hey! You there, the mage... well, it's a bit much to call you a kid, so what should I call you?"

"It's Nella."

"Right, Miss Nella. Get on the carriage first. Don't get hurt by wandering around here."

A sense of affection dripped from Pirkan's rough tone as he worried about Nella.

"...Thank you."

Pirkan, who smiled brightly at Nella who was bowing her head, stylishly swept his hair back, but there was no hair to be scattered there.

"Ahem... hey! Valteri!! Where have you been and you're just coming now!?"

"Ah, I was just in the bathroom..."

"This bastard always disappears with the excuse of the bathroom in the morning, doesn't he?"

"It's true! What can I do if my stomach hurts when I wake up!?"

"Shut up, you bastard!"

Lucas and his group were also helping the energetic mercenary guild members clean up from the morning.

"Well, those friends seem to be very nice friends."

The captain, who was looking at them, praised Sament casually.

"Right? I've been fond of them since I was at the academy! Hahaha!"

"Their skills are also amazing. Don't those friends do any part-time jobs during the vacation?"

"Oh my, brother. They may look shabby now, but they're all from well-known families. Do you think they'd follow a mercenary guild during the vacation to earn that little bit of money?"

"Really...? Then there's nothing we can do..."

At those words, the mercenary captain licked his lips, leaving his disappointment behind.

"Now! Then let's get going!"

"Yes!"

***

As if they knew the way on the desolate desert with only sand, the carriage carrying the mercenary guild members was running toward its destination without hesitation.

Unlike the members who were divided into two carriages, Lucas and his group were all in one carriage.

The members, who knew their skills, had put all the group in the leading carriage, and the captain, as well as Sament and Pirkan, had also boarded.

That's why the leading carriage was full.

"Oh, my throat is so scratchy."

The members were constantly coughing as if their throats were scratchy from the continuous sand dust.

"Ah, I hope we get to Citata soon."

"Khuk... Citata is always a good place to go. The delicious food..."

"Captain! Are we sleeping at that inn again this time?"

"Right! There! It was really good..."

Sament and Pirkan, who were on the carriage, were talking about Citata in an excited voice.

As they said, Citata had made a remarkable development over the past three years.

Thanks to the environment and economic foundation of Citata, which the Gold Nine Trading Company's head had grabbed by the scruff of the neck and had pulled up, voices were even beginning to emerge, asking if it was not becoming a new duchy.

"Right. Citata is good. When we go this time, let's rest for three or four days and then move on!"

"Oh yeah! The captain is the best!"

Lucas had given Sament a heads-up in advance and had asked him not to mention that he was the eldest son of the Rodrigo family.

That's why the members were all quiet, but that would all end when they entered Citata.

"Ah, by the way, that request that came in last time, are you going to do it?"

"Which one?"

"Ah, you know. The one that was mentioned in some religion."

"Ah, you mean the one that came from the Resurrection Cult?"

As if he had just remembered, the captain slapped his thigh and nodded his head.

"No, I'm not going to do it."

"Huh? Why? Wasn't the pay quite good?"

The captain shook his head firmly at Sament's words.

"I have a bad feeling about it."

"Ha, really! Sometimes the captain has a strange side of believing in strange things, doesn't he?"

"Right, that's right. You canceled a request last time because you had a bad dream, didn't you?"

But the captain just shook his head, not caring about the members' nagging.

"You guys don't know. How ominous the dream was then! Ugh!"

"No, then why haven't you told us about that dream yet?"

"If you heard it, you'd be so surprised that you'd feel like your pants were getting wet!"

"No, I'm telling you to tell me!"

"Where are you shouting! I'll get you!"

Lucas, who was watching their silly bickering, opened his mouth.

"But what is the Resurrection Cult?"

"Huh? You don't know the Resurrection Cult?"

The captain, who was surprised at Lucas's question, asked back.

"Ah, they might not know. The academy restricts information a little to protect the students."

Sament nodded his head slightly and added an explanation to the captain's question.

"No, but still. There's a lot of information even if you just go to the square?"

"Well, maybe they didn't go out to play."

It was accurate. The longer their academy life got, the less they went out.

And the troublesome things that happened every time they went out also contributed to them not going out.

From the advanced class onwards, the faces of the current students began to be known a little.

The reason was that the mercenary guilds and other countries wanted to recruit talented students, and it was also because they could handle large and small matters in life much more cheaply than asking the imperial mages.

That's why the children had to face annoying requests every ten steps they took outside since they had advanced to the advanced class.

The most troublesome among them was Pola. Although it was difficult for people to make silly requests to the other children because they were from noble families, people would rush at Pola, who was a commoner, without any hesitation.

"The Resurrection Cult is an amazing religion."

"A religion, not a temple?"

"Right, but it's different from the silly religions that have appeared so far."

"...?"

"It's amazing! It hasn't been long since it was created, but it probably has more believers than most temples."

As they began to talk about the Resurrection Cult, the members began to explain in an agitated voice, without exception.

"Right, where was it? Herdone! I heard that it has surpassed the number of believers in the Herdone Temple."

Lucas's brow furrowed in an instant at the name 'Herdone'.

Herdone, the goddess of joy, was a god who had existed since the beginning of time, and her roots were different.

To think that it had surpassed the number of believers in Herdone.

He had a strange feeling.

"You mean Herdone?"

"Right! It's an amazing religion."

"That's right, that's right. The request that came in this time was also some kind of fund transfer."

"Well, it's probably the construction fund for an orphanage or a nursing home. Well, they do a lot of good things, right?"

None of the members were talking badly about the Resurrection Cult.

"Then why aren't you doing it? That request."

Lucas, who had a question about that part, asked again.

"I told you. I have a bad feeling about it."

The expressions of the members who were looking at the captain, who was shrugging his shoulders and putting peanuts in his mouth, were not good.

"Well, I'm at a loss for words..."

-Keeek! Keeek!

It was then. At the creepy sound that cut through the sky, the members instantly grabbed their scabbards and went into a battle stance.

When they opened the window and checked outside, a group of wyverns came into view.

"W-wyverns!!!"

Lucas's expression instantly became serious at the sound.

'Damn it! Why did I have to say something like that!'

The words he had said when he had dealt with the scorpions flashed through his mind.

"A-all hands, battle stations!!!"

-Keeek!

"You guys help too!"

Lucas and his group also nodded their heads with a determined expression at Sament's urgent cry.

***

"Count? May I make a suggestion for the first time in a while?"

The blonde woman sitting in Duke Cibie's office was Allie Orineus, the head of the Gold Nine Trading Company.

"...Again?"

The Count swallowed a dry gulp at her words.

Whenever Allie said something like that, something big always happened.

The last thing she had done was a big business of collaborating with the dwarves to create and export artifacts.

Of course, the work that Allie touched always brought amazing results.

It was no exaggeration to say that Allie was the one who had turned the barren land of Citata into a land comparable to a small country.

"Yes, well. I've been thinking about it for a while, but Citata is good in every way..."

"...But?"

"The accessibility is a bit bad. The merchants who come in keep complaining."

Allie, who had indifferently picked up the cookie in front of her and had taken a bite, continued.

"What do you mean by that..."

"Should we buy some land nearby?"

"..."

"Not a lot... just, you know, a decent amount..."

It was scary. There was never a small matter when Allie said something like that.

If Allie, who usually took action first and then reported to the Count, was asking for permission first, it would not be a small-scale matter.

"..."

"You don't want to? No, I mean, we can just maintain the roads around here... but then the other kids will eat up all the commercial rights there, right? Then the money we earn will also decrease..."

"That's..."

"No, I mean, it's not like we're going to eat everything up! That's not it. If people who are growing their power like that emerge, there will be no order, right?"

"..."

"Am I wrong?"

Allie's words were never wrong. The Count knew that fact.

As Allie said, if they developed the roads on the land away from the county, it would be easy for small shopping districts or villages to form around it.

But if the county couldn't manage everything one by one, it would be easy for people to emerge who would collect tolls or threaten the lives of the common people.

But if they bought all that land and the county managed it, the probability of such a thing happening would be much lower.

"...That's right."

"Then wouldn't it be good if we bought some of that land, paved new roads, and formed a new commercial district?"

"H-hey, Allie-nim. Allie-nim's words are right. They're right... but it's not like we're creating a country..."

"No, it's not like we're creating a country~ that's not it. But look at Citata. Have we ever exploited the residents or broken our promises?"

Allie, who was urging the Count with a rather agitated tone.

"No..."

"You know how high the satisfaction of the people who have moved to Citata is, right? And how transparently the Count is running the territory!"

"..."

"So why should we leave a concern that such a seed of evil might grow? It's not like we don't have money! Let's just buy it all...!"

That was right. Allie was now talking about buying all the land on the way to the county.

"All of it...?"

"...Ah, well. Not all of it."

"..."

"If the people who already have the land say they won't sell, then we can just ask them to contribute money to the development of the roads..."

"That's not possible."

"If not, we can give them a chance to fully enter the county."

"..."

There was no better answer. Cibie was always caught up in one of Allie's conversation techniques.

The best option left after the bad options.

Allie's technique of preventing refusal by pushing that.

It was no wonder she was the world's best trading company head.

"Then shall we proceed a little for now?"

Allie, who had been sitting comfortably, raised her body forward and smiled slyly.

"...Do as you please."

It was just a suggestion in words, as always. In reality, it was no different from a notification disguised as a suggestion.

'Haa... how big are you going to make things this time...'

The Count's face was full of worry, and Allie's face was full of joy.

"Then, I'll be counting on you this time too."

The Count awkwardly took Allie's hand, which she had held out with a bright smile.

"Yes..."

(End of Chapter)