EFWM 09

Chapter 9

“Erica, what are you doing here? Smells like bread.”

It was Karon.

His burly, muscular build hadn’t changed in years — very much like a mercenary who wielded a greatsword.

“This bread! I wasn’t eating it! It’s just that Shurin’s been skipping meals lately because she’s been treating so many mercenaries, so I brought it for her—”

“Huh? Since when? I eat just fine.”

“……”

Haha. Seriously, what’s with her?

Erica forced a smile, eyes wide with disbelief.

Shurin, who seemed to have no sense of tact, looked over at Karon.

“Karon, did you come here because you’re hurt?”

“My left shoulder’s in pain. Mind taking a look?”

“It’s not like you fell from a high-rise or anything. Come here.”

“Who fell from a high-rise? Do we have someone that stupid in our guild? Maybe we should kick them out.”

Karon walked over and set down his greatsword on the floor with a heavy thud. The sound was loud — proof he’d come straight to the guild after completing his request.

He sat down and took off his shirt.

Shurin stood beside him, lifted his arm, and examined his shoulder.

“Does this hurt?”

Karon grimaced, replying with a pained groan.

“Am I going to lose use of my shoulder? How tragic.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just a sprain.”

“Phew.”

“……”

Karon, despite his intimidating appearance, was quite the drama queen.

Erica leaned her chin on the table.

Click, click. She clicked her tongue, ready to tease him for being such a baby — but Karon beat her to it.

“Hey, Erica.”

He looked at her like something had just occurred to him.

“Did you check the request board today?”

“Nope.”

Erica stretched lazily, yawning wide.

“I just came back from an A-rank mission, so I planned to take this week off.”

“Yeah? I see.”

Karon casually rolled his stiff shoulder as he added, “There was a request to subdue a wyvern in the Rujis region. Interested?”

“……?”

Erica widened her eyes and stared at him.

“A wyvern in Rujis?”

“Yep. A mission to eliminate a wyvern in the Rujis Canyon. It just popped up.”

“No way!”

“Right?”

“How could I pass up Rujis?!”

A Rujis Canyon Wyvern Subjugation Request!

No one who hadn’t experienced it could understand just how thrilling and fun it was.

An absolute blast — Erica could confidently say it was the most exciting mission available.

The Rujis Knights would only ask the guild for help when the wyvern population got so out of hand that they couldn’t handle it themselves. It was an S-rank request that might show up once a year — if that.

The problem? There were barely any mercenaries capable enough to accept it, even among all the guilds combined.

“My blood is boiling with duty! I must save the suffering people of Rujis…”

“Don’t you just want to go there again?”

Erica was one of the few high-ranking mercenaries who could actually take that job.

The exhaustion from her recent long-distance mission or the lingering pain from falling off a tall building? Not a problem at all.

She couldn’t resist a fun mission.

‘I have to snatch the request before someone else does!’

Before she even realized it, her feet were already flying down the stairs.

Thud-thud-thud!

As Erica disappeared down the stairwell, the two left behind let out sighs.

Especially Shurin, who looked conflicted.

“No one else in the guild can even accept that mission, so I don’t know why she’s in such a hurry.”

“S-rank requests are rare. It’s not often one comes along that Erica actually likes, so of course she has to rush.”

Karon sounded indifferent, but Shurin’s face remained worried.

“She’s going alone, right?”

“Of course. No one else will go. I mean, no one can go.”

“Still… she’s been looking kinda lonely lately.”

“You’re reading her all wrong.”

“Karon, seriously think about it. Erica might look like she gets along with everyone, but does she have anyone she can really go on high-level missions with?”

“What can she do? There aren’t any other mercenaries her age with her level of skill.”

Helping out less skilled guild members could only be tolerated so many times. Erica had the patience of a saint.

“If I were Erica, I’d be doing solo requests exclusively by now.”

Karon added coldly.

Erica liking friends and enjoying team missions was a separate issue entirely.

No matter how many battles she’d survived and how much of a veteran she had become, she was still an outlier in this world.

She could laugh and chat loudly at the tavern with other guild members, but once they started a mission, her position always became awkward.

Her overwhelming skills for her age — and the fact that she was a woman in a male-dominated mercenary world — made others uncomfortable.

Carrying underperforming teammates didn’t always work out. It could even lead to resentment.

There was a complex hierarchy in the mercenary world, and navigating it was never simple.

Nothing had happened yet, but Shurin — who had watched Erica closely — couldn’t help worrying.

‘Shouldn’t the guild leader at least look after her?’

But the guild master, Pethenic, had apparently lost his mind and disappeared on a solo adventure ages ago.

He’d said he was going to explore some ancient ruins and never returned. Maybe he’d died in a desert or swamp… or maybe he got obsessed with some ancient artifact. Either way, he didn’t seem to have any plans of coming back.

‘And Karon doesn’t really keep her company, either.’

Karon was powerful, but his combat style didn’t mesh well with Erica’s.

In fact, their coordination was so bad they had an unspoken agreement not to take the same requests.

Shurin let out a long sigh.

‘She doesn’t show it… but she must be lonely.’

Years had passed since she’d become the guild’s exclusive healer.

She’d seen many mercenaries come and go.

And Erica — she was a special case.

She’d whine about small wounds but quietly treated the deeper ones alone.

She always looked cheerful on the outside, but there was no way she wasn’t lonely inside.

‘I wish she had a friend her age.’

Preferably one with similar skills and chemistry in battle.

That hope came from a place of concern.

* * *

Rujis was located on the border between the southern and western regions.

It was quite far from Denteras.

Erica wasn’t thrilled about traveling such a long distance alone, but she had no choice.

S-rank missions were rarely done in teams unless her master joined her.

‘So far…’

She was used to enduring long journeys.

She crossed steep mountains, forded rivers.

She took naps in nameless villages and immediately hit the road again. Rinse and repeat.

Still, she’d barely made it halfway.

At one point, she even climbed onto the roof of a guesthouse and roared in frustration.

Finally, when she reached the barren land’s entrance—

“Yahoo!”

Rujis!

Erica recalled the first time she’d ever visited Rujis.

It was a few years ago.

“…Can people really live here?”

Dry, cracked earth. Smoke rising from various places.

Towering cliffs and terrifying gorges.

The arid land was no good for farming, and the canyons were home to flying monsters.

Who would settle down and build a home here?

But surprisingly, as she headed into the residential area, she saw plenty of people living there.

Rujis turned out to be a large and historically rich region.

The local lords who ruled Rujis for generations were all known for their integrity.

It was a stroke of luck.

Unlike the corrupt western nobility, they genuinely cared for and protected their people.

Even their private forces were above the empire’s average. Especially the knight order — they were skilled and respected even in nearby regions.

Erica had liked Rujis for a long time.

‘This is what I call human resilience.’

Harsh land. Strong people.

A community that had endured and survived for generations.

Even beneath the cracked earth, she could feel the life force pounding like a heartbeat.

There was another reason Erica liked Rujis, but—

(To be continued…)