Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 49
The party paused and turned to look at me. Gerard looked annoyed, but Kyle nodded without hesitation.
“Yeah. We don’t know what’s ahead, so let’s take a short break. Catch our breath, have some water.”
Quickly catching on, I pulled a water bottle from my pack and handed it to Kyle.
“Gerard, if you have any information on mercenaries, could you take it out? I want to find out which mercenary company these guys belonged to.”
While the others focused on the mercenaries, I slipped quietly to the back.
After making sure no one was following, I waved my hand at the empty air.
“Larry, Larry, are you there?”
He had said he’d keep following me, but since I couldn’t see him, I wasn’t certain.
But soon enough, I was relieved to see something black flutter down from the tree above.
—Yes, Master. I’m here. Did you need something?
Larry tilted his head at me, and I sat down on the ground.
After glancing around once more to make sure nobody was listening, I whispered softly to Larry.
“Can you check what’s ahead for us?”
—That’s easy, Master! I’ll be right back.
Larry answered and soared into the sky without a backward glance. Not knowing when he’d return, I awkwardly surveyed the forest, waiting patiently.
“Lysian, what are you doing over there by yourself?”
I was startled by the voice that suddenly sounded behind me. When I turned around, Elonen was approaching with a curious expression.
“I thought I saw something, but I must have been mistaken.”
I pretended to glance around, worried my lie would be caught.
“You disappeared all of a sudden, so you startled me. It’s dangerous to be alone. You have to stay with us.”
I didn’t want to rejoin the party until Larry came back with news, but I didn’t really have an excuse. With no other choice, I followed Elonen back to where the party was.
There, Kyle and Gerard were still deep in discussion beside the corpse.
How they could talk so nonchalantly next to a dead body, I couldn’t imagine. Their stomachs must be made of iron.
“Here, it’s the same symbol. Looks like it’s the White Beard Mercenary Guild?”
It seemed Kyle had identified the mercenary band by matching the symbol on the badge to one registered with the guild.
“If it’s the White Beard Mercenary Guild, they’re C-rank. Their area of activity isn’t far from here.”
According to Kyle, all mercenary companies on the continent needed permission from the guild to operate. Once registered, the guild would assess the scale of each group and assign a rank.
“My guess is that the lord already hired a C-rank mercenary company to resolve this issue. But they were wiped out right here in the forest. He deliberately left that part out when he asked us for help.”
C-rank was the lowest rank, but it still felt wrong for the lord to omit such a dangerous detail when the situation was so dire.
If the lord had concealed the truth on purpose, he’d basically lured us into a death trap.
“Are we really going through with this? I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”
For the first time, Gerard and I agreed.
I made sure to nod emphatically so Kyle would see. It was a signal that I completely agreed with Gerard.
“But it’s only a C-rank mercenary guild, and all the mercenaries we’ve found so far were rank 3. It’s hard to conclude it’s too dangerous just yet.”
But Kyle wasn’t so easily swayed.
Elonen stood between the two of them with a conflicted expression, and Kakaros was off scouting the area, oblivious.
It looked like Kyle intended to press on, so all I could do was wait for Larry to hurry back and tell us what was ahead.
But even as I thought that, I wondered how I’d manage to sneak away and talk to Larry when he did return.
—Master!
Just then, I heard Larry’s voice from somewhere, and I startled, turning my head in the direction of the sound.
