“Yes. Having heard that you went to Rainfield… the Archbishop Rebethra started heading to Rainfield.”
Riley was about to drink the tea. However, having heard that, he opened one of his eyes big and looked at Nainiae.
“All the way to Rainfield?”
“Yes. I heard that he was traveling on a carriage… It’s about time he will be arriving at the Rainfield, so Sera said it would be good to let you know.”
“Ugh… on a carriage?”
Riley was finding all this to be ridiculous. Right at that moment, he could hear approximately three people outside.
“Ah, could it be?”
Nainiae mumbled as she wondered if it could be Rebethra. She looked out the window to see the front of the hotel.
“Is it here?”
Kiiiik.
The hotel’s door opened with a squeaking noise. A boy wearing a raincoat entered the place while holding a spear on his shoulder.
“Ah?”
Riley vacantly opened his mouth as he looked at the three that suddenly came to visit him. Riley remembered the three. They were the people that he ran into before arriving at Rainfield.
“Oh, he is here.”
It was the Lightning Boulder mercenaries.
Of them all, the one standing in the front, a smaller framed boy, Basilisk, found Riley in the hotel’s first floor, sitting on a sofa. Basilisk opened his eyes wide.
“Young Master, how do you do?”
Basilisk walked toward Riley. He raised his hand, the one that wasn’t holding the spear, and greeted Riley. It seemed he was glad to see Riley.
“I think I didn’t say hello to you, so…”
Right after that, Basilisk also greeted the owner of the hotel. Basilisk casually walked toward Riley and set next to him.
“Should I get you some tea?”
“Ah, Ms. Nainiae, I’ll be fine. I’ll be drinking something else.”
It seemed like Basilisk came to the hotel as a customer. Nainiae nodded and stepped back.
“Can I have a cold one here?”
“Yes, yes!”
Basilisk shouted toward the kitchen and looked at Riley.
Riley couldn’t be certain about Basilisk’s reason for coming here. However, judging from his looks, it seemed Basilisk didn’t have any ill intent.
“You were still here?”
Riley took a sip of tea and asked. Basilisk, with a bitter look on his face, responded.
“To us, Mr. Reitri was like our lifeline… Finding a new client who is as good as him is turning out to be difficult. I feel like I’m still tied to him. So… we thought about it hard and…”
After the dark mage incident, Basilisk’s group became unemployed after Reitri left Rainfield. Basilisk explained it all to Riley and looked at him steadily.
“…”
Noticing that their commander was not able to continue, Rorona, the archer, spoke for him.
“Please hire us.”
“… What?”
Riley narrowed his eyes and asked back.
“Why should we?”
“If hiring us is not quite to your liking, then let us accompany you at least. Please.”
Rorona lowered her head and pleaded.
Confused, Riley looked at the three people and looked at Nainiae who was standing on the side.
She looked just as confused. She only shook her head left and right.
“You said we need to watch our mouths, right? In that case, won’t it be more convenient for you to have us be at your side so you can watch us?”
To convince Riley, Isen asked with a serious face. Having heard it, Riley cringed.
“Are you blackmailing me?”
The mood took a sudden, downward turn. Having realized his mistake, Isen blurred the end of his sentence.
“No, we are not blackmailing…”
If keeping their mouths shut was the goal, killing them all without anyone knowing like Tess merchant group, unknown even to rats or birds, was a way to go about it.
“Don’t pester me.”
To Riley, it was certain that they were pestering him. Riley narrowed his eyes. He was about to warn them again, but he felt another presence outside the hotel.
“… Young Master.”