Mercenary Office

“It should be about time…”

Dray Grimgald, the head of the Grimgald Mercenary Office, glanced at his wristwatch with an anxious expression and swallowed dryly.

They were called mercenaries, but technically speaking, they were closer to a private military company.

They sold force as a service, and their methods were naturally rough.

On top of that, the Grimgald Mercenary Office was not a major franchise like Antares or Plato. It was a young outfit that had only just begun making a name for itself.

Mercenary groups were already notorious for being avoided by wizards, and because his office was still small, Dray had very few chances to secure one.

Even when he managed to hire one or two, they were quickly poached by other groups or left on their own, unable to endure the harsh nature of mercenary work.

He had always tried to keep at least two wizards employed to avoid any gap in magical support.

But of course, things had gone wrong right when he accepted this request.

“I still can’t believe both wizards we hired this quarter left at the same time…”

At Dray’s sigh, Weian, the young man warming up nearby, let out a chuckle.

“I told you from the start not to work them too hard, boss.”

“I didn’t work them hard at all. I catered to them as much as I could and asked them to just endure until the quarter ended, and they still stabbed me in the back like this.”

“Maybe even that was too much for those delicate scholars.”

“Exactly. No point crying over what’s already happened.”

Kidel, a bespectacled woman holding a long gun, and Ike, a bald giant with thick arms, laughed along.

Seeing the dozen or so mercenaries chatting around him, Dray gave a weak smile.

“Fine. Jenny guaranteed this one, so at least for this job, we’ll have a proper wizard. Once this is over, I’ll have to start recruiting rookies again.”

“Is the wizard coming today any good?”

“They said he’s a highly skilled lightning wizard. He should be useful for this operation. That hard-headed woman demanded twenty million Cel, so he had better be worth it.”

An elemental wizard was valuable.

A lightning wizard capable of wide-area attacks was even more so.

For a large and lucrative job like this, the stability such a wizard provided was difficult to replace.

That was why Dray had agreed to pay twenty million Cel.

“His ability shouldn’t be lacking. As for his personality… I can’t say.”

Just as Dray was thinking about how exhausting it was to deal with wizards and their rotten temperaments, he lifted his head.

Someone was walking out of the alley at a slow pace.

It was a calm-looking young man in a shirt, chewing on a sandwich in one hand as he looked around.

“……”

The moment the young man’s eyes met Dray’s, he immediately changed direction.

The mercenaries watching from behind let out low groans.

“No way.”

“Boss, don’t tell me…”

Before Dray could answer, the young man stopped in front of them.

Lenoch, still chewing his sandwich, spoke first.

“Grimgald Mercenary Office?”

“…wizard Van?”

“That’s me.”

Lenoch finished the sandwich and shoved the remaining wrapper into his bag.

It was a paprika sandwich he had made for his health.

Amusingly enough, paprika was still called paprika in this world too.

The taste was painfully bland, but Lenoch was willing to endure many things for the sake of his body.

“Are you seriously smoking before the operation?”

Kidel snapped at him when he pulled out a cigarette, but Lenoch did not react.

“I need it.”

He had no intention of explaining why he had to smoke.

He had already smoked once on the way here to calm his nerves, but he needed another dose to prepare himself fully.

Since the Grimgald Mercenary Office was paying him a significant amount, Lenoch intended to do his job properly.

Dray silently observed him for a moment before speaking.

“We paid twenty million Cel for you alone.”

“……”

“I hope you won’t slow us down during the operation.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

Despite Lenoch’s first impression being far from what one would expect from someone heading into a mercenary mission, Dray nodded at his composed answer and turned away.

“Now that the wizard is here, we’ll begin the final briefing.”

With that, he took a laptop out of the bag he had placed on the ground.

After pressing a few keys, blue light shone from the lens above the screen and formed a hologram.

It was a model of a three-story building.

Dray rotated the hologram so everyone could see it clearly, then began his explanation.

“The Scavengers have occupied the rooftop of this three-story building and are siphoning power from there. The two routes leading upward, the elevator and the stairs, are guarded by armed personnel from three Scavenger branches.”

Considering that one Scavenger branch usually operated per district, that meant Scavengers from three different districts were involved in this operation.

“Their unit is made up of Scavengers with some combat ability and mana usage. They shouldn’t be impossible to handle, but don’t underestimate them.”

Dray continued, displaying numbers across the hologram.

“We don’t know why these rats are stealing power, but our job hasn’t changed. As discussed, Third Squad will break through the first floor, First Squad will enter through the second-floor windows, and Second Squad will infiltrate directly onto the rooftop.”

Lenoch stood with his arms crossed and listened quietly.

Dray spoke quickly, but his pronunciation was clear and steady, naturally settling the attention of those listening.

If the term field commander applied to anyone, it would be someone like him.

Watching him, Lenoch suddenly wondered what kind of person the Antares mercenary was.

If someone could command a man as strong as Dylan, then Antares must also be an exceptional commander and mercenary.

While Lenoch was thinking that, Dray’s briefing continued.

“Once Second Squad neutralizes the forces occupying the power facilities and confirms the server is safe, First and Third Squads will drive the Scavengers toward the stairs and eliminate them together. After that, Second Squad will descend from the rooftop while First and Third Squads push upward, repeating the same operation. Is that clear?”

“Understood!”

After hearing the mercenaries’ loud response, Dray ended the explanation and looked toward Lenoch.

“wizard, during the initial breach, provide as much firepower as possible. After that, stay with Third Squad and support from the rear.”

Lenoch gave a silent nod.

In short, they wanted him to remain behind the front line and cast spells whenever the situation called for it.

Compared to infiltrating a manufacturing plant and blowing up the basement, this was much easier.

Just as Jenny had said, they did not seem to be asking for anything particularly difficult.

Or maybe the Baritz request was simply too hard?

Dylan had been highly skilled and excellent at drawing attention, but if not for Crocken’s interference, destroying that factory would indeed have been a very difficult task.

Of course, Jenny had known Dylan’s capabilities and wanted Lenoch to experience a corporate request.

But Lenoch had no way of fully understanding that goodwill.

“Alright. We move immediately. Everyone, get into position!”

At Dray’s order, the mercenaries picked up their equipment and began moving in perfect unison.

Some carried uniquely designed hammers or tonfas, but the most common weapons were still swords and firearms.

In a world where mana could enhance physical ability, both close-combat weapons that maximized destructive force and ranged weapons that required little bodily strength had their place.

Because of that, it was only natural for situations to arise where magic became desperately necessary.

That was why people in this line of work were always so eager to hire wizards.

As Lenoch walked with the mercenary unit, the surrounding scenery quickly grew more run-down.

At the end of the alley stood a three-story building.

Wires were tangled around the windows in a chaotic mess, and armed figures could be seen loitering near every window and entrance.

Various firearms.

Uniform clothing.

And the faint trace of mana surrounding them.

This armed group was clearly different from the Scavengers Lenoch had encountered before.

From District 50 onward, the Balkan police had effectively abandoned the area.

It was a lawless zone.

That was exactly why groups like the Scavengers could occupy another company’s office and hold it so openly.

The financial consulting company that had lost its office was certainly wronged.

But at the same time, they were the ones who had chosen to open an office here, tempted by cheap rent and almost nonexistent taxes.

When problems like this became too troublesome for the police, another kind of force was required.

For example, the Grimgald Mercenary Office standing here now.

Lenoch looked at the wires extending from the windows, all of them leading toward the rooftop, and fell into idle thought.

It would be so much easier if I just opened with Thunder Calling.

If he dropped lightning onto the power facility on the rooftop, whatever scheme the Scavengers were running would be blown apart instantly.

However, doing that could also crash the server, so it was not an option.

One of the conditions in the financial consulting company’s request was that no data stored on the server could be lost.

It was a troublesome requirement.

But considering the payment, it was also a requirement they had to satisfy.

The mercenaries each chose cover, hid themselves, and slowly moved in sync with Dray’s hand signals.

Dray whispered to Lenoch, who was following from the rear.

“It’s unlikely, but there’s a chance they hired a wizard too. If you detect anything, tell me immediately.”

If the already-poor Scavengers had gone this far, that meant this operation was extremely important to them.

“Understood… huh?”

Just as Lenoch was about to answer Dray, he felt a sharp gaze pierce him, as if mana itself had stabbed into his skin.

It was a sensation he had never experienced before.

Even so, Lenoch’s powerful mana perception quickly identified its nature.

It was a substitute for vision created through magic.

Someone was watching them from above.

The moment Lenoch realized that, he instinctively extended his mana and seized the thread of that gaze.

[Ugh…!]

A startled voice echoed through the resonance of mana.

Lenoch’s sharp mana sense immediately followed that sensation and located its source.

…Found you.

Crackle!

Inside a secluded room on the third floor, a man was kneeling while casting magic.

Lenoch did not know exactly how he had done it.

But instinctively, he knew he could go further.

He gripped the probing gaze with his will and snapped it apart.

Crack!

With a sound no one else could hear, the mana extending from inside the wizard was severed by Lenoch’s own mana.

The backlash shattered the spell that had been in progress.

After confirming that the wizard had collapsed with blood streaming from his nose and ears, Lenoch spoke to Dray.

“The enemy wizard just used a surveillance spell.”

“…What?”

“I sensed it, traced it back, and neutralized the caster. We should breach now.”

It was such an absurd statement that it was difficult to believe even after hearing it.

But when Dray looked toward the third floor, he saw the armed forces, who had been maintaining tight security until now, suddenly moving in confusion.

An unexpected opening.

Dray noticed it immediately and signaled the mercenaries.

“Move…!”

Boom!

At his command, the mercenaries threw objects from their pockets and rushed forward.

Pshhh!

Flashbangs burst first, crushing the enemy’s vision, while smoke spread out and carved a path ahead.

With that, the mercenaries of Grimgald Office began sprinting silently across the asphalt.

Sensing that something was wrong, the Scavengers’ armed forces turned their guns toward them.

Seeing that, Lenoch immediately gathered his mana.

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