GDTEA Ch 61

Negotiation

The village chief and officials hurriedly arranged a separate meeting to speak with the mercenary group.

However, before they could even begin, Vireta spoke first.

“I’ve secured the support of the Magic Tower.”

“R-Really…!”

“Our mercenary group will also prioritize the village’s safety as commissioned.”

“Thank you. Whatever compensation we can offer…”

Boom. Vireta placed a gold medallion with a scorpion emblem on the table.

It was the gold medallion that the village chief had sent instead of an explanation, as Sharti had instructed.

“First, this scorpion medallion-.”

Vireta’s eyes blazed.

“Can I really accept this as an advance payment?”

****

While the village chief was dealing with Vireta, Ashu was also busy. As this was their first time hosting guests, the villagers were moving about busily.

The mercenaries were generally free-spirited, and the villagers who got caught up in the atmosphere were completely distracted.

Amidst all this, there were people who quietly huddled together, sprawled out in various parts of the village.

“I-I can’t believe it…”

“Can you see my hands trembling? I’m going to make my grave right here.”

“Hey, wait your turn.”

“Is this the ‘holy’ state those drug addicts talk about? This must be paradise.”

These were the mage members of the mercenary group that Vireta had brought.

As soon as they entered the village, they had become limp as if drunk and were stuck to the ground, refusing to get up.

Among them, the mages with larger mana vessels were in an excited state, breathing passionately.

“Hey, I never thought I’d feel full just by breathing, without even eating.”

“I just cast healing magic on people I normally wouldn’t even glance at. I have mana to spare, seriously.”

“Me too… I cast… preservation magic… Everyone was… surprised…”

The mages were excited as if dreaming. It felt like a dream.

They could feel mana in the sky, the earth, and everything that made up the village.

For the mages who had been living as restricted mercenaries, Ashu’s village was paradise itself.

They didn’t make a fuss about how such a place could exist.

Of course, they harbored fundamental questions, but the mages desperately suppressed their curiosity.

‘What’s important now is that we’ve set foot in this place!’

‘It was originally a hidden village. If we poke around too much, we’ll be disliked.’

‘If we show signs of digging into secrets, we might be kicked out! Let’s stay as calm as possible.’

Instead of delving into the past, the mages began to dream of the future.

And their minds were already filled with plans for workshops they would build when settled in the village.

The same went for other mercenary members.

Besides the mages, Ashu’s village was also popular among the mercenaries.

“Is Sister Vireta negotiating with the village chief right now as our representative?”

“Since she was the first to receive the request. It will take time as it’s a negotiation that involves not just us but also the Magic Tower.”

“That’s not all. This village could become our mercenary group’s first base.”

Unlike other mercenary groups, the Krofl Mercenary Group that Vireta belonged to had never had a home base.

Since they each had stories of falling out of favor with nobles, like Vireta, securing a base wasn’t easy.

In contrast, Ashu’s village, true to being a hidden village, was located deep in a high mountain, with ample land.

Moreover, the fact that it was within the Neweiton Empire yet unregistered was inevitably appealing.

“So be nice to the villagers. Smile a bit.”

“With this face, they’ll be frightened, brother.”

“Then you smile as our representative. We’ll be indebted to them for a long time, so we need to make a good impression.”

As the mercenaries showed goodwill toward the village, the residents, though puzzled, could breathe a sigh of relief.

People collapsing one by one, Doctor Sharti’s visit and the disappearance of food that followed, and then the revelation of the disease—how frightened and anxious they had been.

Eventually, the village chief made the choice to save the village and commissioned the mercenary group.

[Trust and follow us.]

With the sudden changes, the villagers couldn’t help but feel confused. It was natural to feel anxious when the implicit rules and controls they had followed for years changed overnight.

And mercenaries at that. It was like a storm warning for their peaceful and quiet village.

However, the mercenary group that visited the village was friendly, making their worries and tension seem unwarranted.

“Let me take that! You can ask us to carry heavy things!”

“Feel free to put us to work! We’re here to help!”

“We’ve stored all our weapons over there, so there’s no need to worry.”

Instead, the mercenary group was considerate of the villagers and excessively friendly.

It was only natural that their likability increased.

Even the villagers who had been cautious and maintained a proper distance relaxed and didn’t reject the presence of the Krofl Mercenary Group.

“Have you been behaving well?”

After a while, Vireta returned from completing the negotiations.

Dozens of mercenaries immediately gathered in front of Vireta.

“How did it go, Sister?”

Karun, the leader of the Krofl Mercenary Group who had been absent, leaving the negotiation entirely to Vireta who had received the request, approached her.

Karun was an old man of similar age to Vireta, with graying hair and a large vertical scar over his left eye. Behind Karun, who carried a greatsword on his back and blinked his one remaining eye, were the expectant eyes of the mercenaries lined up.

“Unpack your things. The negotiation ended well.”

The mercenary group let out a silent cheer.

While his comrades quickly moved their belongings, Karun approached Vireta discreetly.

“Did you also get permission for us to build an office or quarters?”

“Yes.”

At the easily given answer, Karun scratched his head.

“Why, now that we’re here, do you not like it?”

Vireta raised her eyes at Karun’s flippant attitude.

Karun chuckled.

“That’s not it. I just can’t believe it. Until now, no domain or village has accepted us knowing our circumstances, Sister. Can you really believe that we can live in such a good environment right away?”

“You’ll soon realize it.”

Vireta gestured to the mage members.

“Children, quickly contact the Magic Tower. We need to finish before that scorpion smells us and attacks.”

“The crystal ball was activated earlier!”

While sprawled on the ground and squirming, the mage members had quickly assessed the environment of Ashu’s village. The massive mana flow deep within the earth, the mana currents mixed with the air visible at a glance. Nature and life where mana accumulated like dust.

It was evident that even the Magic Tower would go crazy at the sight of such a massive mana resource.

“Vireta, we’ve connected with the Magic Tower!”

“Then hurry and urge them to send support. I’ve already given the word to the Deputy Tower Master, so they should come right away.”

“Yes-!”

Vireta had temporarily postponed detailed coordination with the Magic Tower. Although she had given them a hint, the Magic Tower would be skeptical of Vireta’s words, so it would be better for them to see it directly.

Even Vireta would not have realized it if the mercenary mages hadn’t been crawling on the ground praising the mana circulating in the village.

“Now disperse and diligently fulfill your assigned commissions!”

“Yes!”

Following Karun’s instruction, the mercenary members dispersed into groups throughout the village.

Karun also left, saying he would meet with the village chief separately to greet him.

“Um, excuse me…”

At that moment, some villagers approached Vireta.

With a look of good timing, Vireta pointed to the mage mercenaries who remained.

“Do you know where our child is who said they needed a mage?”

Shortly after, Vireta was able to meet Sharti inside the hut where the patients were isolated.

Vireta didn’t even glance at the dark figure standing behind Sharti and opened her arms.

“You’ve worked hard, child.”

“…!”

Sharti brightened up and ran to Vireta’s embrace.

As the wrinkled hand stroked her back, Sharti smiled with relief.

“Now, as you said, I brought our mages first.”

At Vireta’s signal, the mage members quickly examined the patients.

As they ran their staffs over the patients’ bodies, bright light particles floated in the air.

Only after examining all the patients in the hut did the mages return.

“It’s mana poisoning.”

The prediction was correct.

Sharti exhaled a short sigh.

“All the patients have something in common. Their mana vessels are smaller than normal people’s. You can think of it as a kind of incompatible constitution causing problems.”

“Bodies that couldn’t withstand it would eventually feel the air heavy due to the high-purity mana.”

They added that because massive mana resources are rare, and there are almost no cases of ordinary people living in such an environment, this was the first time they had seen mana poisoning progress to this extent.

Family members of the patients quietly sobbed at the statement that if a mage sensitive to mana flow had been present, measures would have been taken earlier.

“To exaggerate a bit, they’re in a state like a time bomb. In other words, they would have died soon from the mana exploding inside their bodies.”

The villagers who had followed with anxious faces also turned pale.

Even Sharti felt goosebumps as she realized how dangerous the situation had been.

“Is there a solution?”

The mages flinched at Ren’s question.

He was intimidating with his large build that rivaled fellow mercenaries and his robes.

The mages, who glanced at Ren dressed identically to Sharti, grudgingly nodded.

“It’s difficult right now. Specifically, we need to suck the mana out of the patients’ bodies, but we’re currently full of mana ourselves.”

“First, we need to reach mana depletion before we can extract the mana from these people’s bodies.”

“And even then, we can’t do it all at once.”

In other words, until support arrived from the Magic Tower, they could prioritize saving only the high-risk patients.

One of the mages stepped forward.

“Let me give you an example.”

The mage raised his staff toward Sharti.

It briefly looked like an attacking stance, causing Ren to immediately block in front of Sharti.

“What are you trying to do to my master?”

“Ah, no, I was just trying to show an example.”

The mage cowered and shrank his shoulders at Ren’s growling posture, ready to pounce at any moment.

Watching the confrontation between the two, Vireta clicked her tongue as if it were pathetic.

“Step aside and watch, boy.”

“If you want to show an example, do it on me. Not on my master.”

“This damn mutt…”

Vireta’s gaze toward the still ill-mannered Ren was sharp.

Sharti couldn’t raise her head due to Ren’s overprotectiveness.

“F-Fine! I’ll do it on the gentleman over there, okay?”

Finally, the mage began casting while pointing his staff at Ren.

Luminous mana light gathered in the staff.

“Ohhh…”

“M-magic!”

Small and large exclamations flowed from around them.

At that moment, with everyone’s expectations focused on him, the mage raised his staff high.

The mana light swelled as if it would burst toward Ren at any moment.

“…?”

But that was it.

“What happened? The light suddenly disappeared.”

“Wait and see. Changes should happen to the doctor’s assistant now. He cast magic on him.”

The mage’s expression began to sour at the expectant whispers around him.

His fellow mages also looked at Ren with ambiguous gazes.

“What did you do?”

Ren asked, tilting his head.

The question wasn’t about what he had done, but rather if he had done anything at all.

It was the mage who was flustered.

“T-that’s strange…? The magic should have enveloped your face… Why did it disappear?”

“Were you really trying to cast it on that man? Why did the magic disappear? Did you make a mistake because you were scared?”

“T-that can’t be!”

Ren took a skewed stance, as if it were pathetic.

Sharti looked at Vireta, wondering what was happening. It was strange to Vireta as well.

“J-just a moment! Ahem, I must have done something wrong!”

The mage, who had glossed over it as a small mistake due to lack of concentration, pointed his staff at Ren again.

Just like before, the light only gathered but didn’t do anything more.

“H-huh?”

“Sigh. Let me try.”

Other mercenary mages stepped forward, but the more they tried, the more people looked at them suspiciously.

“…?”

Magic would not cast on Ren.

“Your skills are pitiful.”

At Ren’s cynical evaluation, the mages trembled while gripping their staffs.

The villagers watching also showed clear signs of disappointment.

“Hmm…”

Only Vireta observed Ren intently with sunken eyes.

“This is absurd!”

A mage member confident in his skills burst with a surge of competitive spirit and raised his staff high.

With a shout, the mage swung his staff down through the air.

“Where are you…!”

Ren sensed something was wrong, but before he could react, the light generated from the staff was shot. However, this time the target wasn’t Ren but Sharti. This time, the light enveloped Sharti’s body, and a magic circle briefly formed around her face before disappearing.

This magic seemed successful as the mage looked satisfied.

‘…There doesn’t seem to be anything strange?’

Sharti tilted her head from side to side, checking her body condition. Ren was also quiet, seemingly seeing no outward abnormalities.

At that moment, the mage pointed at Sharti’s hood.

“Take off your hood! I cast a facial transformation spell!”

“…!”

Sharti was startled and touched her face.

She could clearly feel that her facial contours had changed.

“Let me see.”

Vireta checked Sharti’s face with her back to the people. Then she chuckled.

‘Is it very strange?’

In response to Sharti’s questioning look, Vireta slowly removed her hood instead of answering.

Wheat-colored curly hair had changed to straight black hair flowing out from under the hood. Not only her face but also her hair color had changed.

As Sharti looked confused, the mage kindly created a mirror with magic.

‘My eye color has changed too.’

The reddish-orange eyes had become a calm, mysterious purple color.

The once gentle eye corners were also slightly raised, giving a sensitive impression.

‘Wow…’

Sharti touched her face in the mirror, amazed.

She had truly become a different person. This wasn’t just a transformation spell, but more like a complete metamorphosis.

Glancing around, she saw everyone looking at her with curious faces.

As she made eye contact with people without any barrier, Sharti felt a small thrill and turned her head sharply.

‘Ren! How do I look?’

Sharti smiled brightly and looked at Ren.

However, Ren’s expression upon making eye contact wasn’t very good.