Episode 95: The Mercenary Group
Jeez… this is rough.
Often in fiction, you see royalty and nobles portrayed as greedy villains, and the common folk as hardworking, virtuous people. But the reality is far from that.
More often than not, the vulnerable, the common people, are the least likely to be the kind of people you’d want to save. That’s just how it is.
Even back on Earth, you hardly ever find a poor girl who’s cute and kind-hearted.
It’s all just freeloaders on welfare, bragging on social media about how they don’t have enough money while perfectly capable of working, old geezers blowing their welfare checks on pachinko, and foreigners living it up with welfare money through some shady means… That’s the reality.
It was the same when I was a doctor. If I could, I would have loved to save a cute, sick little girl and have her say, “Thank you, Doctor!”
But in reality, it was always some dumb old geezer who I’d told to quit drinking a hundred times, but kept boozing until his belly was swollen with ascites, and his idiot family who watched him do it but then got mad at me when I said, “He’s going to die if this keeps up…”
That’s just how it is.
The weak are generally not the kind of creatures you want to save.
It’s the same in this world.
The farmers, that carpenter from earlier, they don’t have a proper sense of ethics.
The nobles, as arrogant as they are, are still better because they have manners.
Especially their attitude towards women… it’s really something else.
In the countryside, women are treated as “property” rather than people.
This is a world without human rights, and even in that context, women and children are treated worse than others.
Everyone should try reincarnating in another world. Just being a little considerate will make you super popular with the girls…
While pondering such things, I set up a tent near the river.
“Andrews, do you have a moment?”
Oh… it’s Katrina.
“What is it, Katrina? About the plans?”
“Yes… The attitude of the people around here is worse than I expected. We’ll use this as a base, but I’ll leave about ten more people behind than planned.”
“Hmm. So, you’ll rotate the personnel left behind to give them breaks?”
“Yes, but… I’m sorry to ask this, but I’d like you to be a little cautious as well. It seems they’re looking down on us because we’re mostly women.”
“Yeah, they were totally underestimating us. If I get any trouble, can I just take care of it?”
“Well… but…”
Katrina frowned, looking troubled.
And for good reason.
The villagers are one thing, but…
The mercenary group stationed here as guards for this village-to-be-town is 100% guaranteed to cause trouble.
And beating them up… would probably be possible, but doing so would leave the village without defenders, which is inconvenient.
Of course, we have a direct request from the Lord, so if we took it to the authorities, we’d probably win.
But even so, stirring up trouble would make it impossible to use this village as a rest stop, a base camp.
Even for the Blue Comet, it’s impossible to keep fighting in the frontier without a base camp.
Well, Katrina and the other aces of the Blue Comet, like Kaede, Shio, and Margot, are capable enough to manage in the frontier, but we’ve brought a lot of new recruits this time.
We have to prioritize safety.
“This might be overstepping, but isn’t the Blue Comet a group of women who were ostracized by men for unfair reasons? If you compromise here because you ‘don’t want to stir up trouble,’ won’t there be complaints?”
But for the Blue Comet, they have to take action, or it won’t work.
Living without causing trouble is good, but it’s not good to be unable to stand up when it matters. Caution and cowardice are different.
“…You’re right, I understand. But, when you do it, make sure they make the first move, okay?”
“Understood!”
That’s how it was decided.
So, I was boiling pasta.
But not long pasta, short pasta.
Long pasta doesn’t seem to be common around here. Dumpling-like pasta is more popular.
So, this… ribbon-shaped one… what was it called? Farfalle… I think? Something like that.
I’ll boil it and make pasta soup.
I wonder if tomatoes are okay? I hope they don’t say, “Red is creepy!”
But it’s delicious, so it should be fine.
And, as a side dish, bread…
“Hehehe…” “Hey, look at that.” “A guy’s cooking for them.”
Oh?
Here they come.
The mercenary group that the people of this village hired as guards.
“Hey, bro, are you the women’s lover?” “You’re popular.” “I wish I could be like you.”
“No, I was just hired as a cook.”
I answered while stirring the pot.
And, subtly using magic, I put an invisible force field shield around the pot in advance. Hygiene is important!
“There are so many of them, give us two or three!”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean! Give us some women!”
“Let me see… you can’t get a single woman without getting them from someone else? It must be tough being unpopular…”
I gave them a look of pity.
Like, “Sorry I’m so handsome, ladies love me.”
“Huh?! Are you making fun of us?! Do you know who we are?! We’re the Jigoba Mercenary Group, skilled mercenaries who conquered a Demon Lair in the frontier!!!”
No… I don’t know…
“About women’s crotches, there’s a trick to licking them. Want to hear it?”
“I said I don’t want to hear it!!!… You’re mocking us! That’s it, I’m going to kill yo—”
“Since the women are here, how about I show you how it’s done?”
“Eh?”
Behind the men were several members of the Blue Comet.
They were outnumbered. If they attacked here, they would definitely be killed, even if their opponents were women. Even if they were stupid, they could do that much battle calculation.
“H-Hey! You’re being protected by women, aren’t you ashamed?!”
“Well, yeah… but… I was hired with a contract that said no fighting. Cooking for thirty people is as tiring as fighting, you know.”
“Tch…! H-Hey! Let’s go!” “Y-Yeah!” “Damn it!”
Oh, they ran away.
…Hmm, I wasn’t expecting this.
This job might be tougher than I thought.