Chapter 164. Recruitment (4)
“What do you mean by that?”
April asked back with a slightly dazed expression. Her pink eyes were clearly agitated.
“The freelancers of the 37th outsourcing district? All of them, for a mission?”
Instead of answering, Enoch nodded. April blinked her eyes a few times, then narrowed them.
“You don't mean you're going to hire a large number of freelancers from the 37th outsourcing district as mercenaries for the 19th outsourcing district in the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain, do you? Is that what you mean?”
April stared at me for a moment, her eyes shining sharply under the brim of her ball cap.
“……It doesn't seem like a joke.”
Enoch nodded his head quietly. April let out a small sigh and shrugged.
“Hmm. I see what you're thinking, but will it work out?”
“What do you mean?”
“Because freelancers aren't suited for group battles.”
April asserted, resting her chin on one arm and sloshing the remaining drink in her glass.
“Freelancers are basically mercenaries who play individually, or at most, groups of two or three. They won't be suited for a job of that scale, will they?”
Enoch quietly agreed. She was right.
You couldn't expect organized action from the proud freelancers of the outsourcing district. In the first place, many of them wouldn't have the temperament to work that way.
Even if the person who becomes the commander gave orders, it would at most become a series of individual battles.
In contrast, what about the enemies?
The magical beasts currently gathered somewhere in the huge forest outside the outsourcing district were extremely organized, no matter who looked at them.
It would be reasonable to assume that there was a commander somewhere. In the first place, I had confirmed with April in the 19th outsourcing district that they were not naturally occurring magical beasts.
However, there was nothing that could be done about it. Enoch opened his mouth calmly.
“I'm just making the best possible choice.”
Right now, it was no use blaming the cards I didn't have in my hand. I would always just play with the cards I had in my hand and aim for victory.
That was precisely why I had chosen this method.
In order to save the 19th outsourcing district, where many freelancers had died due to the appearance of these magical beasts, I would hire freelancers from other outsourcing districts as mercenaries.
By utilizing the cards I had in the best possible way, changing the future someday was what I ultimately wished for.
April also nodded her head calmly.
“Lord Enoch's thoughts are surely right. And it will be the best choice.”
“Then?”
“But it's also true that I have concerns as a freelancer.”
“If you have an opinion, I'd like to hear it.”
Enoch asked calmly.
April was surely more knowledgeable about this ecosystem than Enoch. As such, her information could be trusted. She nodded her head, which was covered by a ball cap.
“Well, from now on, I'm just going to speak from my experience and thoughts as a freelancer, so please take it with a grain of salt.”
April turned her gaze away, fiddling with the glass.
“It's good that the Elsyde Main House has dispatched you, Lord Enoch, to the scene, but I'm a little concerned that you can't expect any more support than that.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If they can't be dispatched publicly because of the political situation in the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain, they could have secretly deployed more family personnel, but that's not the case.”
April took a final gulp of the remaining drink in the glass and quietly opened her mouth.
“To put it simply from an outsider's point of view.”
“……”
“The situation is not that good. To the point where no one would care what happens in the 19th outsourcing district in the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain from now on.”
She added meaningfully.
“Or, ‘they are made not to care’.”
Enoch could understand the meaning without difficulty. As she said, there would be various ways.
I could be sure because I had seen the past experienced by the last Sword Saint of the Empire.
Control of information, distortion. That was the Empire's specialty.
Enoch looked at April calmly.
As a freelancer of the outsourcing district, she might be well-acquainted with such darkness because she was in close contact with it.
Just then, April lifted her head and their eyes met. She looked at me and said quietly.
“The family didn't promise any special support to you, Lord Enoch, who is in charge of this operation, so you're hiring freelancers like this, aren't you?”
I didn't answer, but she wasn't wrong.
The family would try to use such high-quality resources to solve more important matters than ‘saving’ the people of the outsourcing district.
If Enoch's mission was in danger of failing, then and only then would there be a high possibility of additional support or whatever.
That way would certainly be more efficient.
Of course, regardless of how many freelancers or citizens of the outsourcing district were sacrificed in the meantime.
“……I did expect it, though.”
April said calmly as she looked out the window.
“It's a lonely struggle of the alienated. In the end.”
Enoch stared at her with a calm gaze.
As April said, it was a survival struggle of the weak that no one in the Empire cared about. That would be the essence of the battle that the 19th outsourcing district was facing.
April turned to Enoch with a swish. Her eyes were now shining with a bit of determination.
“As you said, the freelancers of the outsourcing district. I'll put up a recruitment notice based on the office I belong to.”
“How long is the recruitment period?”
“It'll probably take a day for everyone who wants to participate to gather. This place is overflowing with people who are crazy about money.”
April, who answered nonchalantly, moved only her eyes to glance at Enoch and said.
“Still, since you're here, Lord Enoch, the freelancers will probably be persuaded to some extent, right? If it's a mission with a client who is a direct lineage of the Main House, there's also the aspect of wanting to try it out of curiosity.”
“You mean there's a possibility.”
“Of course? Everyone risks their lives for money. Even if you see dirty things as a mercenary, that's why you put up with it.”
“You seem to be used to it.”
“The treatment, at least.”
April said as she glanced at the weapon case leaning next to her.
“Well, you get treated like a mercenary a lot as a freelancer. There are many Main Houses that treat freelancers from far-off civil wars or conflict zones as consumables, you know?”
She glanced at me, winked lightly, and threw a question calmly as if it were a quiz.
“Hmm, come to think of it, what about you, Lord Enoch? Am I, a mercenary like me, nothing more than a consumable?”
To April, Enoch replied nonchalantly.
“I don't particularly think of you as a consumable.”
“Ahaha! I know that, I was just kidding.”
When Enoch answered immediately, she smiled brightly and waved her hand.
“If you were that kind of person, Lord Enoch, I wouldn't have taken this mission in the first place, and as I said before……”
April smiled slightly, looked straight at Enoch, and her pink eyes shone.
“It's a recommendation from a pretty reliable person, after all!”
Enoch smiled faintly without a word.
It was certain that rolling around in the outsourcing district as a mysterious freelancer until now had not been in vain.
That was precisely why he had been able to gain April's trust now, even in his identity as Enoch.
That trust was the most important asset.
According to April, as a member of the Main House, he couldn't have just hired freelancers with money alone.
“Then, as I said. I'll take care of the recruitment.”
April quietly stood up from her seat.
“It'll be difficult to expect outstanding operational skills, though. At least, quite a few freelancers will probably be recruited.”
“That much is enough.”
“Then that's a relief.”
April added with eyes full of anticipation.
“Besides, I'm personally curious about what would happen if we gathered those kinds of people together. This is a really rare event as a freelancer, you know?”
Well, that was probably true. It was something that wouldn't have happened in the original Official History. But not now.
With a different approach from the Official History, I had to change the development. Enoch slowly lifted his head and stared straight at April.
“Then I'll leave it to you.”
No one knew what the outcome of the joint front between the freelancer of the outsourcing district and the direct lineage would be.
But one thing was certain.
Enoch resolved calmly. The future he would create this time, he would also change it as he wished.
Because that was the only way he could survive in this world as Enoch Elsyde.
***
As soon as he returned, the place Enoch headed to was not his room, but the training ground.
Since the only bed in the room was usually occupied by Sirocco without permission, this underground training ground was actually more comfortable for him than that place.
Except for when Sirocco would kick open the door with a triumphant attitude, demanding a spar, there was no better place to concentrate.
Enoch opened the door of the training ground and walked inside.
In the silent room, the sound of his footsteps echoed regularly on the floor.
Now, there were three days left.
It was a mere three days. There was still no time to rest easy.
Just then. Enoch stopped in his tracks.
In the faint darkness, a silver-haired maid leaning against the achromatic wall of the training ground came into view.
Lien, who was looking at me with chillingly cold eyes, opened her mouth coldly.
“You're back.”
“Have you been waiting here all this time?”
“……”
Lien just stared at me with a calm gaze and didn't answer. However, in her icy gaze, there was a faint trace of transparent anger.
It was a gaze with quite a bit of emotion. It was surprisingly so for the Lien that Enoch had known so far.
“Have you forgotten the promise about being accompanied?”
Enoch answered with a blank expression.
“If I, a maid, always accompany you when you're out and about, it would attract a lot of attention from those around.”
“That may be so. But it's no longer important.”
“Why is that?”
“I've been looking into what exactly happened to your body on my own. I might get a proper clue soon.”
“……”
Lien pushed herself off the wall and approached. Her steps were filled with a chillingly cold presence.
“Keep this in mind.”
Lien stopped in front of Enoch with an emotionless gaze and lifted her head. At the bluish-silver eyes slightly hidden by her silver hair, Enoch held his breath without realizing it.
She then opened her lips as if whispering.
“This mission is dangerous, so I will follow you.”
Enoch calmly met her gaze. Lien declared coldly right in front of him.
“I will not let you get hurt in this mission.”
For some reason, her tone was even colder than before. Enoch nodded his head quietly.
“Alright.”
It was so like Lien that it was actually reassuring.
Since he had been getting hurt in various ways since last time and she couldn't stop it, it would be natural for Lien to react this way.
It was a strangely amusing feeling.
He didn't know what relationship Lien and Enoch had in the past, nor did he even know the proper reason why she declared she would protect him.
The only thing that could be inferred was that the previous Lien was incredibly close to Enoch, to an extent that couldn't even be guessed.
And yet, in a relationship that was just this, what was the reason he felt a sense of relief in his heart from her unwavering attitude?
Enoch smiled bitterly to himself.
…Perhaps even this was the original Enoch's feeling?
I didn't know. Not yet, not for now.
“Then, I will go back and prepare a meal in advance.”
Lien, who had turned her head slightly, added only that and then opened the door of the training ground and went out.
Enoch let out the breath he had been holding without realizing it.
It seemed he would have to consider it a fixed matter that Lien would accompany him on missions from now on.
After staring at the place where Lien had disappeared for a moment, Enoch slowly turned his gaze to the front of the training ground.
There was no time to be lost in thought.
Now, he just had to do what he had to do.
He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts.
First of all, the growth of his Follower Family, Sirocco, was not something that could be achieved in a short period of time. So, her additional training right now would be meaningless.
He needed something a little more certain.
Because he wanted to finish the best possible preparations before this mission.
As the flow of his thoughts sharpened, the things he needed to aim for were soon drawn clearly in his mind.
Enoch held his sword in his arms and sat down, leaning against the wall of the training ground. In the end, there was only one thing he had to do now.
Enoch quietly lifted his head and stared straight ahead.
It was time to perform the sword's succession, for the first time in a while.