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Chapter 2
Sniff sniff.
A dish with tomatoes today, huh. The smell tickled my nose early in the morning and woke me up.
Kaiser had given me the room because I had contributed more to securing this house. Thanks to that, the only room in this house became mine, and Kaiser’s “room” naturally turned into the old sofa in the living room.
Well, whatever. In this place, I was learning to be satisfied with small things. A kind of minimalist lifestyle, I guess. Living with what I had, and accepting what I didn’t. And since we couldn’t afford maids, Kaiser and I had to do all the housework ourselves.
We were especially tight on money because we needed to save up for both of our return fares. By now, we had completely divided the chores.
Cooking belonged to Kaiser.
That was because I was truly hopeless at cooking…
Once, after eating something I made, Kaiser had slammed down his spoon and said,
“This is an insult to ingredients. You’ll be punished for playing with food, Milena.”
I thought, “Let’s see how good you are then,” but he actually made food far beyond my expectations. Turns out all the camping he did as a mercenary taught him cooking. Everything you learn really does come in handy. Just like how learning Siern language in case of emergency had become our biggest survival key.
I originally learned it in case I followed the original story’s death route and had to flee to Siern. Life really is unpredictable.
Anyway, I handled cleaning and laundry, and Kaiser took cooking, washing dishes, and taking out the trash.
When I washed up and went downstairs, Kaiser was already waiting with the food set out.
“Milena, I need to talk to you.”
“What is it?”
I sat down and naturally picked up my fork. It was fried rice mixed with tomatoes. Simple, but delicious. For camp food, the presentation was even surprisingly good. Maybe he should’ve worked in a kitchen instead of becoming a mercenary.
No, that would’ve been too expensive. Mercenary work paid much better because of hazard pay.
While I stuffed food into my mouth, Kaiser spoke with a very serious expression.
“I don’t know how many days it’s been since you last did laundry. I have no clean clothes to wear right now. I’ll have to wear yesterday’s clothes again today. May I ask when you plan to do the laundry?”
“Cough!”
I almost choked from his nagging barrage. I took the water he handed me and drank it, then muttered weakly.
Now it was my turn to shrink.
“I was busy, I was busy. I was planning to do it tonight anyway.”
“Hoo. Even if you’re busy, you should make time. That’s part of our contract.”
Kaiser said this with a dissatisfied face. I glanced at his stern expression and pouted.
“I’m sorry. I’ll do it for sure.”
Ugh, seriously. I will do it. I will.
Meanwhile
While Kaiser worked as a mercenary, I got a job at a bakery.
It was the largest bakery on the street, and they happened to be hiring front staff. The good thing about the bakery was that if you worked until closing, you could take the unsold bread home. That bread greatly reduced our food expenses.
That was actually the main reason I applied.
Meanwhile, Kaiser joined the largest mercenary group at the port. After seeing his swordsmanship, they hired him even after learning he couldn’t speak properly.
Before going to the bakery, I stopped by the mercenary guild with Kaiser.
There were tons of request notices posted on the board on the first floor of the guild headquarters, and I had to translate them for him. Kaiser couldn’t communicate and couldn’t even read the language.
After three weeks, people at the counter had gotten somewhat used to me and even greeted me now.
I exchanged light conversation with them and scanned the board.
Then I picked out requests that seemed manageable alone. Since Kaiser couldn’t communicate, working in teams was difficult.
I avoided missions that required protecting others or heavy teamwork.
Sigh.
Those paid better too. Group missions were higher risk, so the rewards were bigger. It was a pity, but there was no choice.
I picked two request papers and showed them to Kaiser.
“Which one do you prefer? This one on the right is a wyvern subjugation. Three of them appeared near a nearby village. And the one on the left… it’s a team mission, but only two people. Just take one partner…”
“I’ll take the one on the right.”
I closed my mouth and glared at him.
“How long are you going to keep avoiding teamwork? The reward on this one is much higher.”
“Right one.”
Kaiser spoke in a low voice as if he hadn’t even heard me. Was this really the time to act cool? He couldn’t even communicate and insisted on going alone!
“…Fine. The right one it is.”
Tch, stubborn to the end.
I slapped the rejected request back onto the board and handed Kaiser the one he chose. Then I walked to the counter.
“Kaiser wants this one.”
“Three wyverns? He can handle that alone?”
“Yes. Luckily, Kaiser was one of the top knights in the Luikaron Empire. It shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Tsk tsk. If only he could speak even a little, he could take on more jobs. What a waste. Such skill going unused…”
“I think so too, but what can we do?”
While Kaiser got the guild stamp on the request, I looked around.
The truth was, there was a reason we came to this mercenary guild. The sailors who rescued us had said this guild was connected to smuggling ships. Apparently, smugglers used this place to recruit mercenaries. Crossing the Sea of Monsters was dangerous, so they hired a large number of mercenaries—and supposedly always took people from this guild.
The mercenary group Red Rose was even said to have built its wealth on that.
So far, nothing seemed suspicious.
But when would it appear? Of course, it wasn’t easy to travel from Luikaron to here. I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
“Milena.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll drop you off on the way. Come on.”
“Yes, Duke Kaiser.”
As we walked, I tried teaching him how to read signs along the way, but strangely, he wasn’t improving at all.
Wow. Is his brain really that stiff? He uses a sword so well, and he’s excellent at strategy and work efficiency. Maybe this is what people mean by being talented only in certain areas.
When I gave him a strange look, he said in a low voice,
“I am a great knight, and the master of the House of Duke Lorencia.”
“And?”
Is that important right now? You can’t even learn words! Busy is just an excuse! I’m busy too!
“…That is the most insulting look I’ve ever received. I will memorize five words today.”
“Seven.”
“…Six.”
I sighed automatically. How does he always try to reduce the number even by one? I glared at him and nodded.
“Fine.”
Just memorize at least those six. For all the effort I put into making your word list.
