Chapter 5: Duplein (2)
Those who first saw Derrick on the mercenary scene all made the same doubtful expression.
He was too young, far too young, and although he wore decent equipment and looked sturdy enough, his impression was far too kind.
Too young, or too kind.
Even having just one of those traits was enough to get you stabbed in the back and thrown away in this world. But Derrick's impression carried both.
How could such a young and kind boy survive so well in the mercenary scene? Anyone would inevitably harbor such doubts.
However, one truth was clear.
Derrick had lived the life of a mercenary since he was still a boy whose blood had not yet even dried on his head.
What that really meant became clear once you went to the battlefield with Derrick.
–Hwaak! Paak!
–Keeeek!
A goblin struck by a 1-Star magic, Mana Arrow, sprayed dark red blood and collapsed in the middle of the forest.
The outskirts of the Duplein Ducal House's territory, a small path in the forest leading to Ebelstein.
With the Longsword in his right hand, he stabbed the bridge of that disgusting creature's nose and split it in half, and Derrick's face was splashed with blood.
In the meantime, a goblin that had lost one arm rushed in while bleeding, but Derrick avoided its axe swing with a single step back, grabbed the goblin's face tightly, and manifested Full Power Manifestation.
–Pajijijik!
–Kreeeek!
While the goblin was being electrocuted and screaming, he drew the dagger from his thigh and drove it into its neck.
Crimson blood filled his vision and a wave of blood stench rose up, but there was not the slightest change in Derrick's expression.
That did not mean he looked like a cold-blooded machine.
Rather, he looked exactly like the kind and strong-willed boy one would see in a tavern. It was just that the blood covering him made that contrast even more vivid.
This boy felt not the slightest reluctance in killing living, moving creatures. It was something he had done as naturally and routinely as eating and sleeping.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
The boy asked kindly while shaking the blood off his sword, but his body was already mottled with goblin blood. Around him were chunks of goblin flesh scattered everywhere.
Melvin, who had been guarding the entrance of the carriage, swallowed his dry saliva without realizing it.
It was nothing strange for rough mercenaries to tear monsters apart without a second thought.
However, seeing a boy who should be innocently playing around at that age, drenched in blood and asking such a question with the face of someone who had seen everything in life, was something that instinctively stirred a sense of unease in people.
In an age where magic had become the exclusive property of refined nobles, this boy was a mage who had grown up on the streets.
Anyone could tell at a glance that his path was different from those greenhouse flowers.
*
"As expected, traveling with Derrick makes things easier. It's convenient to identify enemies with Search Magic, and we can suppress even distant enemies without much trouble."
"It's nice of you to dress it up like that, but didn't you, Captain, catch about eighty percent of the monsters?"
"Tsk .. a guy with not a single lovable trait. If someone praises you and lifts you up a bit, at least learn to be happy about it."
Jayden clicked his tongue and patted Derrick's shoulder a few times.
"......."
At the tavern, Melvin had been that rude, but inside the returning carriage he had become quite quiet.
Just as Jayden had expected, the request brought by the three mysterious members of the ducal house was extremely simple.
By the time the sun was setting, there were already no visible monsters, so they were able to board the carriage back to Ebelstein right away.
"I have to admit, your work skills are impressive."
Melvin still had a vicious expression, but in the end he gave a high evaluation.
Jayden smiled in satisfaction and, while sitting in the carriage seat, wiped the blood off his sword blade.
"You flatter us. Then, since the problem you were worried about has been resolved, please pay the remaining amount."
"Understood."
The advance payment was one gold coin, and the completion reward was two gold coins.
Considering that most subjugation requests only exchanged silver coins, it was income that naturally made the corners of one's mouth rise.
Jayden, grinning broadly, tossed the gold coins into the leather pouch.
"Good work, Derrick. When we get back to the tavern, I'll settle your share too."
Derrick, sitting on the seat, nodded vaguely as if to say he understood, and stared blankly at the setting sun.
It wasn't particularly exhausting, but since he had used some mana, a lingering sense of weariness remained.
Derrick crossed his arms and leaned against the carriage wall, intending to get some rest.
"You seem to be able to handle a variety of 1-Star magic."
However, the inspector wearing a robe hood spoke to Derrick.
She was someone who had barely spoken up all day. A clear voice with a girlish tone, but Derrick replied while still leaning back as if he did not care much.
"I've learned a bit of everything. If you want to make a living in the mercenary scene, it's better to be versatile, isn't it."
"You said you're sixteen this year, right? Our age difference isn't even that big, but you're amazing."
When Derrick glanced around, he saw the old man named Melvin and the maid named Delia swallowing their dry saliva.
It seemed they were watching that so-called apprentice inspector's mood. The way they kept acting timidly suggested that they felt uncomfortable with Derrick's relaxed attitude of lying back and chatting casually.
In truth, Derrick himself was also secretly surprised.
The girl had said their age difference was not much.
Honestly, Derrick had thought she would be at least an adult, because there was a strangely mature air about her behavior.
"How did you learn magic?"
"Living on the streets, I just picked it up."
"You don't seem to have even had your coming-of-age ceremony yet, but that's really amazing. How many 1-Star spells can you use?"
She asks a strangely large number of questions. Derrick felt a sense of discomfort, but acted as if he did not care.
'You don't seem to have even had your coming-of-age ceremony yet …'
Ordinary commoners rarely held such grand coming-of-age ceremonies in the first place.
"I can handle about four or five 1-Star spells."
"If it's four then it's four, if it's five then it's five ... saying 'about four or five' is a bit strange, isn't it?"
When Derrick looked toward the inspector while still lying back, he saw her faintly smiling under the robe hood.
"Surely, you can use even more than that, right?"
"......."
"You don't need to hide it so much. I'm just genuinely curious that someone your age can handle magic at that level, that's why I'm asking."
Katia, Derrick's teacher, used to say it like a habit: having excessively outstanding talent could earn the hostility of nobles.
The other party, no matter how you looked at it, was someone deeply connected to the Duplein Ducal House, one of the greatest magic noble families.
Derrick thought there was nothing good to gain from revealing his true abilities.
"The reason I expressed it ambiguously like that is because I'm not a mage who follows the theory of the School of Magic of Discipline, which is currently the mainstream in the magic world."
"Pardon?"
"I come from the Wild School. If the Discipline School strictly separates the system and rules of magic, the Wild School is somewhat detached from that."
Derrick sat up and began to explain in earnest.
When he started talking about the distinction between schools, the girl in the robe looked at him with eyes shining in interest.
"The Wild School ...?"
"It's been a long time since the noble Discipline School firmly established itself as the absolute mainstream, but in the margins, research into non-mainstream schools continues."
Katia, Derrick's magic teacher, was also a mage of the Discipline School lineage, but Derrick himself was someone who had stepped outside those rules.
When he had first learned magic from the old man and had to choose a school, Derrick had chosen the Wild School.
"The Wild School focuses less on rules and regulations, and more on practical mana usage and magic needed directly for survival. It mainly uses magic suited for adventure roads full of variables, and it's good at improvising by twisting and bending the use of mana according to the situation."
"I've heard that there are mages who use magic from that perspective, but this is my first time meeting one in person."
"Well, it's not like I use particularly high-level magic either ... I'm just talking about theory. As I said, I'm just a commoner-born 1-Star mage."
Derrick tried to lower himself as much as possible, but the eyes of the inspector in the robe were already filled with curiosity.
She's someone who's very interested in magic. That was the feeling he got.
"Of course, the noble Discipline School's magic is the most researched and the most systematically developed. There's always a reason why something is non-mainstream."
"Still, there must be a reason why you chose the path of the Wild School, Mr. Derrick, right? May I ask what that is?"
Why on earth was she curious about that? The strangely interview-like atmosphere was uncomfortable, but since the other party was a client who paid a large sum, he couldn't treat her roughly.
Considering that the work they had done was far too easy for the money they received, it might be better to think of this as part of the service.
Thinking that, Derrick gathered mana in his hand.
"To put it simply, since you seem to be knowledgeable about magic, it's because it's advantageous for survival."
As Derrick gathered mana in his hand, a small flame was burning above his palm.
A flame manifested using mana burns in midair even without fuel. To those ignorant of magic it would look like a wondrous sight, but anyone who knew even a little about magic would know that this was not a particularly high-level use of mana.
Dispatched Officer Melvin and the maid Delia also looked at the flame without much sign of amazement.
As people working for the Duplein Ducal House, they must have seen this level of magic many times.
However, the girl called the inspector widened her eyes at the sight of the flame.
"Huh?"
Even though she must have seen this level of magic plenty of times in noble houses, she was looking at Derrick's flame as if it were something strange.
" ... Um, doesn't it feel like the process of drawing out mana is really simplified?"
'Would you look at this person?'
Derrick was secretly surprised when he heard the girl's observation.
She can sense the movement of mana. In other words, it meant she was at least a 1-Star mage as well.
"Yes. In the Discipline School, the process of using mana is divided into four stages: recognition, extraction, manipulation, and manifestation. But in the Wild School, we don't make such detailed distinctions. We lump the whole process of using mana into one and rely on our senses."
" …..Have you always used magic like this?"
"Yes. It has its advantages, but of course it also has disadvantages. If I were to explain all the details, the story would get far too long ... "
Derrick did not want to continue explaining in such detail.
They were just people who would part ways after this anyway. He wanted to wrap up the conversation appropriately and end it quickly.
"In short, you can just understand it as the field of magic being a bit different."
The difference between schools is not something that can be neatly cut apart with a knife like that.
He roughly summarized it like that, and Derrick leaned back against the carriage wall again.
To people from prestigious families, he would be nothing more than a 1-Star mage anyway. To people who actually live seeing 4-Star and 5-Star mages, the magic of a 1-Star non-mainstream school would be nothing more than a trivial trick.
Thinking that, Derrick closed his eyes and was easing the fatigue of his tired body, but.
In the eyes of the girl looking at Derrick, there was a strange sparkle.
*
He thought he would never see those three strange attendants again, but the next week they came to the tavern again.
The request they brought was similar. It was that monsters had once again appeared on the outskirts of the ducal territory.
They were generous spenders. Naturally, Jayden responded with a grin from ear to ear.
However, since they again insisted on bringing a mage along, Derrick had no choice but to continue accompanying them.
And so they subjugated monsters, parted ways, then the next week they appeared again and made another request ... that kind of thing repeated.
Each time they killed the demi-humans, and on the way back in the carriage they chatted a bit about how the world was these days or about magic. It was just the kind of polite conversation you have because it would be awkward to sit in silence.
Even so, they were always diligent about killing monsters.
Goblins, trolls, kobolds... they would be extremely dangerous enemies to the inexperienced, but to mercenaries whose bones were already hardened, they were enemies that posed no great danger as long as they were dealt with carefully.
Going back and forth to the ducal territory like that several times, they took care of the monsters in the outskirts and made a pretty decent amount of money.
Jayden ended up humming all day with a grin from ear to ear, and after Derrick also received the settlement of his share, he couldn't help but be in a pretty good mood as well. Money was always right.
And so, just when they were living comfortably, eating expensive meat dishes for the first time in a while and having their equipment thoroughly maintained.
"Seeing how you've been subjugating monsters, your skills seem trustworthy. For this request, the ducal residence is offering fifteen aidel gold coins."
" ... Fifteen coins? I didn't mishear that, did I?"
The aidel coin, the most widely used currency in Ebelstein, could fill an entire room with freshly baked bread with just one gold coin.
Fifteen coins was, without exaggeration, an amount that could completely replace this entire tavern building with a new one.
"Uahaha, how generous! This time it must be a monster that's a bit hard to handle, right? Don't worry! You've seen well enough over the past two months how cleanly this Veldern Mercenary Corps gets the job done! If you just give us enough preparation time, we'll even cut the head off a demon from hell for you! Hahaha!"
The delight on Jayden's face had gone beyond refreshment and reached ecstasy.
Seeing a middle-aged man looking so ecstatic was not exactly a pleasant sight, but when he thought about the share he would receive, Derrick couldn't help but swallow his dry saliva as well.
He had heard stories about how nobles spent money, but he had never imagined it would be to this extent.
"It's a bit different from the requests we usually do. Still, like always, you'll have to ride along in the carriage with us."
"Yes, we've already arranged the carriage. We're not strangers after just a day or two anymore, are we. Hehehe."
"Then I should introduce myself first."
"Aren't we already quite close! Hahaha! Why the formality now, what introduction! Please treat us comfortably! Comfortably!"
"I am Delron, the chief steward of the Duplein ducal residence."
The smile on Jayden's face, which had been so friendly, suddenly froze.
The name Melvin had been an alias.
Derrick had more or less expected that the other party had been lowering their status, but what did it mean to reveal it at this point?
Before he could even sort out that thought, the maid who had been standing next to the chief steward also bowed her head and greeted them.
"I am Katarina, the head maid of the ducal residence."
Not a Dispatched Officer but the chief steward, not a scullery maid but the head maid.
Among the servants, the chief steward was ranked third in hierarchy, and the head maid was the person just below the head of all maids in the mansion.
They were, in other words, the top leadership among the servants, people who normally did not leave the ducal residence.
They were people who earned in just a few months what an ordinary commoner would have to work decades to make.
And then the girl who had been called the inspector also politely lowered the robe hood she had been wearing and, smiling neatly, said.
"Aiselin Eleanor Duplein."
Clear purity in her gentle yet firm eyes. That brilliant gaze seemed to be directed at Derrick.
In the girl's voice, as she looked straight at Derrick like that, there was, as always, an indescribable nobility.
"Oh my."
The girl, who had been quietly looking at Derrick, softly added.
" ... You're not surprised?"
That was only natural.
Derrick had already had some guesses about her identity.
He knew their status was not ordinary and had pretended not to notice. Derrick had only been thinking about continuing to do the work and collecting gold coins like this.
Why were they revealing their identities only now?
The reason was obvious.
"If it's not too much trouble, could you accompany us to the Duplein ducal residence?"
The Duplein Ducal House was one of the three most prestigious noble families in the entire Empire.
The girl was speaking as politely as possible, but there was no way Derrick had any right to refuse.
[Dear readers, you can support me here: https://ko-fi.com/reaper87 ]