The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

Proofreader: Xemul

"Loren, who is this guy? Do you know him?"

Standing ready, Klaus asked. Perhaps he had guessed from Magna's words and actions that he had some history with Loren's party.

Loren glared at Magna, who was standing imposingly at the room's entrance. He did not want to deny their connection, but he also did not want to be associated with this guy. Magna, on the other hand, did not move at all and simply looked at Loren's group from his position. He still kept his longsword in his hand, but did not hold it at the ready.

"Just a bit, and it was some time ago. But be careful. He's a bit of a pain."

Loren warned. If they thought the guy was alone and let their guard down, they could be dealt a terrible blow.

Holding up his shield and sword, Magna said with an air of mockery.

"Watch your mouth, peasant."

His stance alone caused Klaus' party to tense up. They probably had realized that Loren's warning was an understatement.

"This… must be a very troublesome acquaintance you have."

"Sorry, but I don't think so."

Loren gave a terribly ambiguous response to Leila's comment. She probably didn't understand what he meant, but regardless of whether this encounter with Magna was a coincidence or fate, he was thankful that it happened here.

If he was right, Magna would not be able to fight with all his power, and to confirm his guess, Loren made a move.

"Where's the Dark Elf that you had by your side? Did she get tired of you? Being considered unworthy is sad, isn't it?"

As Loren lightly provoked him, Magna's gaze turned to some place behind their group for just a moment. The direction of his gaze confirmed Loren's thoughts.

"She's in this coffin, isn't she? What a terrible thing to do. You're a piece of shit, you know that?"

"It wasn't by force. I didn't hold her by the neck and shove her in there. She laid down in the device voluntarily."

When Magna and Loren met last time, he was accompanied by a dark-skinned elf, a Dark Elf. Loren could only think of two possibilities when he didn't see her here. One was that she may be aiming for a surprise attack from somewhere, like an assassin. The other was that the Dark Elf might be inside one of the coffin-like devices lined up in the center of the room, which seemed to be in operation at the moment.

Magna's answer seemed to indicate the latter, but then another question arose.

"What are you doing, shoving the Dark Elf who has been following you into a coffin like this? It can't be that you want to bury her before you, can it? If that's the case, then you'll be left out in the open when you die. There's no one to bury you."

"How impudent. Do you think I'm going to go to the trouble of explaining my purpose to a lowlife like you?"

"If you think you're so superior, at least explain it to me in a dignified manner."

"Th-That's correct! At least explain, you gloomy bastard!"

"What are you trying to do, coming out of nowhere like this? Why don't you at least tell us your name? How shy are you!"

The support for Loren's provocation came from unexpected sources: Ange and Laure, who Lapis was looking at with a somewhat surprised look on her face. The girls were standing behind Klaus as if he was protecting them. They seemed to be intimidated by Magna, who was speaking in a superior manner. However, as Loren repeatedly provoked him, their anger seemed to prevail over their fear. The fact that they had Klaus and Leila, their dependable companions, in front of them was probably a big part of the reason too.

Being barked at by two girls, Magna raised an irritated eyebrow.

"Shut up, you mongrels. I have no reason to tell you my name!"

"His name is Magna. He's a thief who broke into warehouses and stole equipment a while ago."

"Who are you calling a thief? They were mine to begin with!"

Magna, who could not bear to be called a bandit, raised his voice.

"Well, anyway. I'm sure you're up to something by shoving a dark elf in this coffin. Which means you cannot risk using that sword ability of yours in this room."

Magna's sword was capable of emitting a flash of light from its blade to attack the enemy. The power and speed of the attack were so nasty that even Klaus and his party, not to mention Loren, would be unable to defend against it. However, if it was in the limited space of a room and Magna himself could not afford to damage the equipment in operation, it was unlikely that he would use the sword's effects.

"Provided that you have the brains to take that into account."

"Have you already forgotten that you were defeated by me in swordsmanship as well?"

Despite Loren's continued provocation, Magna still did not fall for it. But Loren snickered as if he was making fun of him.

"That was thanks to that armor, wasn't it?"

"Being able to make use of your equipment is also a skill."

Loren was about to agree, but that would have been the end of their conversation.

In fact, Loren was not just prolonging this talk for no particular reason. Everyone's attention was focused on Magna when he appeared on the scene, but Loren noticed that the color of Lapis' eyes had turned back to purple. As she used his body as a shield and observed Magna closely while avoiding eye contact with the guy, Loren thought that perhaps she was analyzing and appraising Magna's equipment. He was stalling for time, thinking that it must be a task that would take a certain amount of time, given that Lapis was still staring at Magna from behind him.

"Well, didn't I break one of those equipment that you're so proud of, the helmet?"

As Loren said with a deliberate smirk, Magna's expression turned grim, and a small sound of teeth grinding could be heard from his mouth. Thinking that he really must have held a big grudge for it, Loren continued.

"How did it feel to have a piece of your precious equipment melt away?"

"You!"

"Oh? That's a good reaction. You must have felt awful about that, huh?"

Loren prepared himself for a slash, but Magna, despite raising his voice, did not seem to have lost control of himself yet. While he glared at Lorren hatefully, he did not try to cut him down himself.

Loren would like to escape if he could, but the only entrance and exit to the room was blocked by Magna. There were no other ways out.

In the event of a battle, Loren had no confidence in his ability to defeat Magna. It was true that the guy's power would be augmented by the items he was equipped with, but whether the augment was in effect or not, as long as it actually existed as a possible threat, there was nothing to do but treat it as such. And when everything about Magna was considered as a threat, it was hard to think of him as an opponent that could be defeated.

He was stalling for time, hoping that Lapis would somehow find a flaw or weakness in Magna's equipment, but he wondered what he should do if she couldn't find such a thing.

>"It's not good, Loren."

Lapis whispered into Loren's ear from behind. Wondering if she had finished analyzing Magna's equipment, Loren focused on her voice without moving his eyes, but the information he received from Lapis wasn't inspiring at all.

>"That armor, it's concealed so well that I can't make out anything."

>"Seriously…"

>"They have very strong concealment property. With such strong concealment, those items will instantly become national treasures if they are presented to any country."

Even though they were newly-retrieved, Lapis' eyes were still the eyes of a demon. Just the fact that those items could hide their information from her eyes made Loren understand that they were considerable treasures. If such things were to be released into the world, they would certainly be designated as national treasures.

"One-on-one is out of the question, but… maybe three can work?"

Loren thought that if it was just him alone, he would almost certainly have a tough time against Magna, even if he couldn't use that flash attack. There was one thing that differed from the last time they fought though: the presence of Klaus and his team.

At the very least, Klaus was a swordsman who could be counted as a force to be reckoned with, and it was hard to believe that Leila was only following Klaus as a decoration. In addition, last time there were only Lapis and Gula as the rear guards, but this time there was also a magician named Ange and a priest named Laure to lend their help. As long as no one dragged their feet, their strength should be higher than when they had fought Magna before.

"Eh? Wait, what's this?!"

Just as Loren was about to make up his mind that they would have to try this, Ange suddenly raised her voice. She sounded startled.

Loren, who could not take his eyes off Magna, could not see what was happening on the side where Ange's voice was coming from, but instead Magna started laughing happily, as if the grim look on his face was a lie.

"I don't know what you were thinking, but you wanted some time, didn't you? It was the same for us."

Loren wondered what he was saying, but immediately realized that there was a possibility that Magna actually needed time, too.

As for what Magna was waiting for, there was currently only one thing. It was the Dark Elf, whose name Loren had heard to be Noel, who had entered one of the coffins here.

"There was still some time before that Noel woke up. I don't think I'm going to lose at all, but if we're going to fight anyway, the easier the better, right?"

Loren couldn't suppress a shiver down his spine as he heard what Magna said. Thinking that was probably why Ange raised her voice earlier, he took her eyes away from Magna and looked toward the center of the room.

The lid of one of the coffins, which was supposed to be closed, was open with a cloud of white smoke.

Loren came to the realization that it wasn't just them who needed time - Magna was waiting for Noel to wake up.

"Well, that's the end of the chatter. Noel, get up and help me. We cannot let those who intrude our territory return alive."

As Magna called out, from inside the coffin, which was still spewing white smoke, a tanned hand appeared and grasped its edge, trying to pull the body out of the smoke.