How a Mercenary Handles a Mad Husband and a Mad Request - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: How a Mercenary Protects Their Charge (4)

It was about four days later that Regina finally opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a familiar ceiling, and next were the welcome faces surrounding her bed.

“Regina!”

“Ugh. I can’t breathe.”

Even before her dazed mind fully cleared, Regina repeatedly patted Maut’s thick arms wrapped around her. True to his status as Persona’s second-in-command, his strength was overwhelming.

“U-uncle. I can’t breathe.”

“Sweetheart, do you know how scared we were?”

“Ugh… Lady.”

The mercenaries each babbled with tears in their eyes, making Regina’s ears ring.

She’d been injured countless times doing mercenary work, and each time it ended like this. No matter how much she scolded or consoled them, nothing changed. It was a scene that, when she was away from the Persona Guild, she would oddly find herself missing.

“More importantly, what about the request? Where’s Gail?”

“Geez, even now you’re worrying about that? The request was completed successfully, and Gail went to buy the pudding you like.”

Relieved by Maut’s response, Regina felt at ease. The process hadn’t been smooth, but it was a relief the mission had ended well.

‘I was worried we might fail.’

A failed request meant a massive penalty. Regina always did her best to protect Persona, her family.

“Then did we get the remainder of the payment? We have to pay the penalty to the Corr Merchant Group.”

“They said someone would be coming to deliver it. Not sure why, but they’re dragging their feet.”

“Tell them to come immediately.”

Trying to skimp on the money? Regina furrowed her brow.

Two things she hated most were people who looked down on mercenaries and those who didn’t pay the promised fee.

If Maut hadn’t said he’d contact them right away, she might’ve gone herself.

“Ugh, we should never have taken on that imperial family escort job. It was shady from the start! Mercenaries protecting an imperial, really.”

“Let’s start by hunting down those assassins. How dare they attack someone under Persona’s protection!”

“Who on earth would target an imperial family?”

“Probably some noble dispute. Nobles act all high and mighty, but they’ve got plenty of enemies. Even a mad prince would be the same. Right, Regina?”

Regina only smiled. For a moment, the image of him drinking water from her hand crossed her mind.

‘Still, he wasn’t quite as crazy as the rumors said. Well, I won’t be seeing him again anyway.’

“More than that—do any of you know where my father is? He still hasn’t come back from running away, has he?”

At her question, everyone turned their heads in unison, as if rehearsed. Her barely relaxed brow knit again at their suspicious behavior.

“Spit it out.”

“…He came by the guild briefly. But while we were out on a mission, the Captain seems to have taken money from the vault again. Even the emergency funds.”

Ah. Regina remembered another thing she hated: Gellen when he was in love.

“What?! Again?! Why are you telling me this just now?!”

Enraged, Regina suddenly summoned explosive strength and pushed off Maut, who had been clinging to her, then sat up in bed. She should’ve stashed the vault key inside her own guts instead of hiding it in the stable.

She could no longer let her childish father off the hook. Tonight, she resolved to settle things with Gellen—so he could never date again, let alone function as a man.

“Regina, you’re a patient! Where do you think you’re going?!”

“The Captain’s long gone. Probably impossible to find now. And for the record, we all tried to stop him.”

“Haah.”

Regina let out a deep sigh of frustration. Gellen had probably taken everything from the vault, including the gold bars. They were likely left with nothing.

He’d be too scared of getting scolded to show up again for months. Because of him, the guild could collapse at any moment.

‘Why does he turn into an idiot whenever he falls in love?’

Gellen, the King of Mercenaries, was a hopeless romantic. Pathetically so—if a woman asked, he would likely split open his chest and offer her his heart with his own sword.

“Regina, your sigh just echoed down to the first-floor lobby.”

Without knocking, Gail entered the room and handed her pudding. It was an expensive dessert favored by nobles, one Regina only indulged in on special occasions.

Spooked by her fierce outburst, the Persona guild members quickly pushed more pudding toward her.

“Yeah, eat that and cheer up.”

“Later.”

Uh-oh. She was seriously mad. Regina only refused pudding when her mood wasn’t just low, but scraping below rock bottom.

And with good reason. The penalty owed to the Corr Merchant Group was three times the commission fee. On top of that, their over-ambitious guild expansion had left their finances in serious jeopardy.

But Gellen, who hated numbers, remained indifferent despite being the guild master, leaving Regina to suffer the stress alone.

‘At this rate, we’ll go bankrupt. But I can’t ask the guild members, who were just getting used to a period of stability, to take on life-risking missions again.’

Persona Guild had only been established for ten years. Compared to other guilds, that was a very short history. They hadn’t yet grown sturdy enough to remain unmoved by harsh winds.

“And even if we take on more jobs…”

Anger slowly crept over Regina’s face as her words trailed off.

The black-masked assailants who attacked the Corr Merchant Group’s supply wagon had left many members of the Persona Guild bedridden. It would take at least a month for them to recover.

“Hey, Princess Regina. Why are you worrying so much? We’re here.”

“Don’t call me princess, seriously.”

“Hahaha! If not you, then who? There’s not a soul in the mercenary world who doesn’t know your name! There’s no woman tougher than you!”

Everyone exaggeratedly leaned back and laughed out loud. Strangely enough, it did make her feel a little better.

“Now that Regina’s awake, let’s go!”

With Maut in the lead, everyone ran toward the liquor storeroom. Gail, carrying the pudding, slung an arm around her shoulder.

“Regina, what about you?”

“I’m not drinking. I just woke up, and we might get a night visitor.”

Regina, having snatched the pudding, gazed out the window. Before she knew it, the sun had set. Night would soon fall, and it would be time for the reverse side of the Persona—the mask—to turn over.

‘I almost wish a night visitor would come.’

A mask looks different on the inside and out. Each has its own shape and purpose. That was what the Persona Guild was.

Even in the dazzling and splendid capital of the Manemo Empire, Mentenko, Persona Guild occupied the most remote spot in District C. The clientele they saw by day and night were entirely different.

When night fell, they became mercenaries for those clients. Each wore a different mask, slipped into the shadows, and carried out covert and dangerous missions. During those times, they were vicious vipers.

And Regina, too, during those dark hours, was the fiercest of those vipers.

“We don’t get many night visitors these days.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. I wish we could get another big commission.”

“Still, we really went through a lot this time. Thanks to Regina, the prince made it out safely.”

Regina chuckled at Gail’s words and nodded.

Before her eyes closed from the poison, she had thought everything was over. She was certain the request had failed. Three failed requests in a row—she believed she had led Persona Guild to an unprecedented disgrace.

‘Seems the others arrived just in time. Lucky I made it out alive.’

“Did you take care of the remaining assassins?”

“Hm? When I got there, that Thomas—or Tomato or whatever—imperial knight had already handled it. Didn’t seem that strong, though.”

Regina also thought it was odd. Could that knight have really dealt with all the assassins in that short time before the rest arrived?

Still, the request was over, and she decided not to question it any further.

He was a noble duke she’d never see again anyway. Regina rotated her once-dislocated shoulder. It must’ve been treated while she was unconscious—there was no issue.

“So, what was that crazy prince like?”

“Well, he seemed pretty normal. Handsome, too.”

Come to think of it, why was he said to be mad?

According to recent rumors, a massive fire had broken out in the prince’s palace, and he had suffered permanent psychological trauma.

But the man Regina met seemed fairly sane. Just looking around, the guild was full of mercenaries crazed by bloodlust.

“Handsome, you say?”

“Yeah, I’d never seen a face like that before.”

“Better looking than me?”

Gail’s face had crept so close she could feel his breath tickling her nose. Regina blinked, familiar with his antics. She then jabbed her fingers between his ribs, tightening her hold on the arm he’d wrapped around her neck.

“Oof.”

“Didn’t I tell you to quit it with the jokes?”

“I get jealous.”

Regina playfully tousled Gail’s red hair as he pouted. Then, hearing a loud voice from outside the room, she slipped out of his grasp.

“Hey, Regina! Gail! Hurry up!”

***

Under the high-hanging moonlight, piercing screams and crashing noises filled the room.

Startled by the sight of the violently raging Valentin, Head Maid Finette Baymon wrung her hands in panic. In nearly forty years of service, she had never attended to a master like this.

Clatter!

“Aaaagh!”

“Your Grace! Please calm yourself!”

She’d heard he was a mad prince prone to seizures, but not to this extent. He smashed everything in the room and darted about like his body was on fire.

“The flames, the fire’s clinging to me! Someone put it out!”

Worried he might step on sharp fragments, Thomas shouted urgently at Finette.

“Don’t look! He’s sensitive to gazes!”

“I-I’ll help, Sir Finn.”

Finette, prideful of her years of experience, stepped forward and grabbed Valentin’s shoulder firmly. But touching someone mid-seizure was taboo.

Valentin, deep in a manic episode, violently rejected any physical contact. His upper body bore the marks of severe burns.

“Don’t touch me!”

“Ah! I’m sorry.”

Though briefly irritated after being struck, Finette quickly bowed her head. Even if he was mad, he was still her master.