GILF Hunter

After wandering the streets and hesitating for a moment, Frenda knocked on the door of a building.

The place Frenda visited was the base of the Ian Mercenary Group, located in the prime spot of the plaza district.

’Yes, who is it?’

’Um... I have something to deliver to Leader Ian.’

’Oh... Ah! You’re from the temple. Would you like to come in and wait for a moment?’

The staff member who opened the door guided Frenda inside.

Although she hadn’t made an appointment in advance, she had been here a few times during expedition preparations, so the staff recognized her face and let her in.

Inside the mercenary group’s base, it looked incredibly busy.

Come to think of it, it was only natural. Most of the people in this city were moving busily.

Even the temple, which didn’t directly participate in the invasion, seemed quite frantic, so a mercenary group that directly joined the battle would naturally be even busier.

While she waited quietly on one side to avoid getting in people’s way, a member whose face Frenda knew appeared before long.

’Ah. Frenda.’

’Rin. It’s been a while.’

It was Rin, who had hurried down after hearing news that a guest had arrived.

Rin, who had come down the stairs, discovered Frenda and greeted her.

She was the member with the least to do right now, and she held the nominal title of Vice-Leader. She was the best member to handle such sudden guests.

Frenda, who had brought a few items from the temple just in case, held them out to Rin.

Inside were special high-grade potions made at the temple.

While standard potions could be mass-produced at the temple without much issue, high-end items with superior performance were difficult for the temple to increase in stock. It was because the materials for those potions were hard to obtain.

Ultimately, such items were stored away and only brought out when absolutely necessary or requested by important guests, but this time, Frenda had brought back a large amount of materials, allowing the stockpile to be significantly increased.

Since it was thanks to the materials donated by Ian, she had brought some of it as a token of gratitude.

’Um, I came to see Leader Ian. Is he very busy?’

’Ah... the Leader? He is busy, but...’

Rin replied as she accepted what Frenda offered.

Rather than being busy... Ian wasn’t here at the moment.

Recalling what Ian had said as he left this morning, Rin explained to Frenda.

’The Leader went somewhere else right now. It looked like it might take a while...’

’Somewhere else?’

’Well, he said he needed to help out the Knights.’

’The Knights...?’

If he had visited a place like the Guild... she would have simply chosen the wrong day to visit and would have had to return quietly.

But rather than the Guild, it was the Knights. Hearing an unexpected name, Frenda wore a puzzled expression. As far as Frenda knew, there were no separate Knights in this city. There wasn’t even anyone qualified to confer knighthood in the first place.

’...Ah.’

At that moment, something suddenly occurred to Frenda.

She had momentarily forgotten since she didn’t stay with them at the temple... but only then did Frenda recall that there were other people from the temple who had settled here besides herself.

＊　＊　＊

Right at this period, ahead of the monster invasion.

Mercenary groups belonging to Labyrinthos had quite a lot of things to prepare.

Once the Guild established the primary defense plan and delivered guidelines to each mercenary group, the groups had to prepare on their own for the operations they would participate in.

It was something they naturally had to endure to engage in mercenary activities in this city according to the contract with the Guild, and they could receive an advantageous distribution after the invasion was over. Strictly speaking, it was a task where the mercenary group side profited more financially.

In exchange for leaving the bothersome tasks to the mercenary groups autonomously, the Guild shared the profits more generously with them.

However, that was only good for those familiar with mercenary activities here. It was bound to be a difficult demand for those who had just started their mercenary activities.

’So... the supplies you’ve prepared, the ones here are all of them.’

’Yes. That is correct.’

Ian, who visited the nearby base of the Knights, asked while looking over the equipment organized on the floor.

On the surface, it was a mercenary group composed of retired knights, but everyone around called this place the Knights. Even the Guild and City Hall called them the Knights in places other than official documents.

...Anyway, it was the same for these Knights to have to prepare ahead of the invasion. They were strictly operating in Labyrinthos as part of a mercenary group.

Ian wordlessly observed the equipment and supplies neatly organized on one side of the Knights’ base for a while, then asked the knight guiding him nearby.

’...Why are these here?’

’In case of a long-term battle, or to hold out when surrounded...’

’There won’t be any reason to be surrounded.’

’Pardon? I certainly heard that monsters swarm to the point where they can’t even be seen.’

’There’s no reason to go down outside the city walls to fight, so these aren’t necessary.’

Shaking his head, Ian crossed out several items from the list of supplies the knights had prepared.

He didn’t know what form the monster invasion the knights imagined in their heads took.... Most of the supplies prepared were significantly off-target.

As expected, the problem Ian had been worried about was clearly showing itself.

Leaving all preparations autonomously to the mercenary groups helped the Guild reduce costs and administrative procedures, but ultimately, this kind of problem occurred.

Well, if the Guild interfered with every single supply of each mercenary group, it wouldn’t be able to handle the administrative workload, so it couldn’t be helped.

Checking the deficiencies one by one, Ian asked the knights again.

’By the way... did you only prepare for battle?’

’Pardon? Is there anything else to do...?’

’Did no requests come from the Guild by any chance?’

’We haven’t received anything other than the location where we’ll be deployed during the invasion.’

Actually, the tasks that C-rank mercenary groups without achievements primarily had to handle were more non-combat things, but it seemed no particular guidelines had been delivered here.

...Then again, who would assign such chores to the Knights? Thinking so, Ian also let it pass without saying much.

Since it was a mercenary group that couldn’t possibly be seen as C-rank in terms of power alone. It seemed the Guild had decided to just treat them that way.

Ian, who had looked over all the supplies prepared by the Knights, spoke.

’Anyway, we’ll have to start the preparation again from the beginning.’

’Yes... if you let us know, we will refer to it.’

The things the knights had prepared were items that looked like they were going on an expedition to some monster-infested forest. All the basic things needed during an invasion were missing.

In fact, if they had started from E-rank mercenary, they would have naturally come to know these things even if no one told them.

They would have learned how the monster invasion proceeded and what needed to be prepared while naturally taking on supply missions and clean-up duties in the rear.

But these were outsiders who had suddenly settled in Labyrinthos.

If told to prepare for an invasion of monsters they had never seen before all of a sudden, this kind of result was bound to come out.

’Finish the preparations like that, and on the day of the invasion... since you’ll likely be deployed near our side anyway. We can just move together.’

’Ah, the same area?’

’Yes. It will probably be right next door. Be sure to ask before you move.’

As a result, Ian had no choice but to look after them from start to finish.

It was because the Guild had deployed the Knights in the area right next to the Ian Mercenary Group.

...To be honest, he didn’t want to get deeply involved with the Knights. It was a task the Guild had personally requested.

Ian had said several times that he had no relationship with the knights, but it seemed no one in the Guild believed him... anyway, Ian was the only one with at least some acquaintance with the knights.

The Guild was in a situation where they were stumped on how to handle this mercenary group, which was officially C-rank but had excessively peculiar members and power levels.

In the end, the conclusion the Guild reached... was to dump it on Ian.

...It was an unfair situation, but when asked if he wasn’t the one who provided the cause, Ian, in a position where he had nothing to say, eventually had to cooperate with the Guild’s decision.

At that moment, the sound of someone knocking on the door was heard.

The door of the Knights’ base opened quietly. Frenda, who had come after hearing Rin’s story, cautiously poked her face in.

’Ah, Priestess!’

The knights hurriedly crowded around Frenda.

Seeing that, Frenda let out a small sigh. Looking at the situation inside, she could roughly guess what kind of atmosphere it was.

’Everyone. I told you not to cause trouble for Leader Ian.’

’Well... we tried to handle it on our own as much as possible, but it couldn’t be helped.’

Frenda pointed out the knights’ behavior, but she actually had no room to talk.

She herself had come to help with Ian’s work because she wasn’t particularly helpful at the temple either.

’I understand. Then I will also help with the preparations.’

’Is that alright? You said it would be suspicious to those nearby if an active priestess kept showing her face among retired knights.’

’It can’t be helped in a situation like this, can it?’

Honestly, it seemed no one nearby was fooled by this setup. Frenda now just decided to let it slide moderately.

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