“Let me guess, you probably said, ‘Let’s go see the dragon with the resolve to die!’ Didn’t you? With that approach, you’d fail even if you tried every day for a month.”

“Your insight is flawless.”

“Heh, I’m starting to understand you a little better, Iola. Anyway, it was bound to fail. People are rather fond of their lives, after all.”

“Just hoping that Viretta might learn that extra lives aren’t something money can buy…”

“Though I, Viretta, won’t let a single life drift by like a river out of sheer hesitation, I can’t do anything about the fear that ordinary people have.”

“Hoping it would awaken a bit of fear…”

Ignoring the pious prayers Lanken was muttering nearby, Viretta continued.

“But if we look hard enough, we might find a magician willing to take on dangerous work and a mercenary who’d handle the safer tasks. We’ll be the ones risking our lives!”

“…Are you even listening? Hello? Could you take in at least something I say?!”

As Lanken started venting his frustration skyward, Viretta waved her hand to calm Iola.

“Don’t worry about it. Lanken’s just acting pouty. He may seem rough, but he supports my decisions and cheers me on. That’s his way of saying, ‘Let’s find comrades willing to risk their lives alongside us!’”

“Ah, understood. Sometimes actions and words don’t always align with one’s true feelings. In that case, I’m in favor, too. The more people we have, the better chance we have of fending off any pursuit from my father, if it comes to that.”

“True. But… even if he does pursue us, he wouldn’t go so far as to kill us, right?”

As the thought of a mercenary pursuit took shape in her mind, Viretta shivered.

Though she spoke calmly, the image of Najin’s mercenary commander hunting them down made her ribs ache.

Her father might just send people to bring her home, but Monain was different.

As the leader of a prestigious mercenary band, he was a terrifying warrior said to have defeated ten men at once.

Still, he wouldn’t actually kill them. No matter how angry, he wouldn’t harm his own children.

“Of course.”

Iola chimed in, supporting her view.

“He’ll probably just kill us halfway.”

The look in Iola’s eyes as he said it seemed to say, Rest assured, and Viretta willingly abandoned her rationality and fear.

“Thank goodness. That’s… reassuring.”

If disaster was inevitable, there was no point in wasting time worrying over it. Viretta quickly threw caution to the wind and dismissed reality.

When faced with overwhelming tragedy, people lose their judgment all too easily.

Well… it should be fine. People can survive when they’re only half-dead, right?

“What’s so great about that?! Does nobody here listen to a word I say?!”

While Viretta nodded in agreement, Lanken was left rolling on the ground in frustration.

After twenty minutes of rolling around, Lanken reluctantly got up.

Despite his tantrum, which involved an adult man rolling on the ground, Viretta hadn’t budged.

She sat near him, elegantly sipping tea and poring over a magician’s catalog, completely unperturbed.

Even as villagers whispered about the odd scene between the two, she simply smiled in response.

Viretta’s iron-clad composure was impossible to break in a battle of wills. As Lanken abandoned his resistance and dropped his shoulders, Viretta offered him a taunting remark.

“Feeling better now?”

“Oh, do you actually care? After ignoring me for twenty whole minutes.”

“Well, I couldn’t help it. Iola said you shouldn’t give in to a child’s tantrum too easily—something about modern parenting techniques. To be a good mother, one must wield the rod of love.”

“You’re not my mother, and besides, I was sold off to a mercenary band after being abandoned by mine.”

As if juggling the roles of older sister, employer, and now mother, Lanken was exasperated as Viretta responded with a look of feigned pity.

“Lanken, revealing a tragic past out of the blue should be saved for after the 70th chapter of a novel or when you’re close enough with friends to invite them out for drinks. Mysterious backstories need foreshadowing before they’re unveiled.”

“What are you talking about? This isn’t a novel—it’s my life!”

“Exactly, so it needs even more care. Who’s interested in someone else’s misfortune anyway? You have to pretend you’re a knight hiding a sorrowful past before they’ll take an interest. Otherwise, no one cares.”

Her words were cruel but had a twisted logic. As Lanken clenched his fists in frustration, Iola closed the mercenary catalog.

“Don’t worry, Lanken. Wounds from one’s mother can be healed by finding another woman who embodies her qualities.”

“Enough! I’m done with this conversation! Can we just talk about slaying the dragon, you fools?!”

“Understood! Truly a valorous knight!”

Watching Iola, brimming with joy, Lanken felt the urge to lay down on the ground again.

It was becoming harder to endure these two, who ignored everything sensible he said.

Their utter disregard for others’ miserable pasts was intolerably irritating.

Grinding his teeth, he picked up one of the catalogs Viretta and Iola had stacked up.

They had The Magician’s Catalog, The Mercenary’s Catalog, and The Craftsman’s Catalog.

These booklets were published annually by the artisan city of Massad, where the three of them were headed.

Located at the eastern edge of Fillian, near the borders of three countries, Massad had a unique history. Originally a settlement for magicians and craftsmen wanting space for large-scale projects, it grew over time.

Magicians and craftsmen settled in, followed by mercenaries offering protection, then nobles and merchants hiring craftsmen, and eventually, more mercenaries to fill new jobs, shaping it into a bustling hub.

Now, practically a recruitment center, Massad published employment catalogs as well as academic journals.

All the hireable magicians and mercenaries were listed in Massad’s catalog. To find a quality magician, they’d need to study it carefully.

Rejecting the flow wasn’t an option anymore. They might as well find the most skilled magician they could.

Lanken glared at the cover of the catalog.

“How much are we spending?”

“Since we’re going after a dragon, the details of the costs don’t matter. I’d like to make it a contractual deal where we pay a deposit and share a success reward. I’m hoping to hire them as comrades rather than just employees.”

“Great. Just like that, the difficulty level rises again.”

“It’s an honorable journey. We should have a reliable vetting process! Otherwise, we’ll have magicians lining up just to take the odd jobs.”

“That’s wonderful news. Then, we can select someone from that group to accompany us…”

“—But it’s not so easy to shake off those kinds of applicants!”

Realizing she almost caused more trouble with her exaggerations, Viretta quickly corrected herself.

To prevent Iola from chiming in with a rebuttal, she hurriedly changed the subject.

“We still have time before we reach Massad, so let’s review our options carefully. I’ll brainstorm ways to, um… encourage someone to join us for the dragon hunt. Meanwhile, could you two handle some of the other preparations?”

“What would you like us to do?”

“To obtain the single most essential, unrivaled treasure for a dragon hunt, the ultimate key to controlling the hearts of men and the crowning jewel of human civilization.”

Three and a half hours later.

They had set up a small stall at the entrance to the village market.

Iola admired the thick cuts of horned beast meat cooking in a large pot.

“So, this is what you meant by ‘earning money.’”

The single most essential, unrivaled treasure for a dragon hunt, the ultimate key to controlling people’s hearts and the crowning jewel of human civilization…

While Iola was initially uneasy about what exactly they’d be searching for, the answer was, of course, money.

Not exactly wrong, and that left Iola quietly impressed.

“Heh, Father always said that money is the pinnacle of human achievement. With enough of it, we can hire a good magician. And there’s plenty of horned beast meat left over, too.”

Rolling up her sleeves, Viretta busily stirred the pot, while Lanken, already well-accustomed to this routine, efficiently took up the role of assistant.

Iola looked on in admiration at the wealthy daughter now transformed into a seasoned street vendor.

“Amazing. You even obtained a sales permit already.”

“A permit…?”

“Market transactions in the eastern region require a permit, don’t they? I thought it would be quite a process for an outsider, but you’ve already acquired one.”

“A permit…?”

Viretta’s voice stuttered out the word syllable by syllable, like a malfunctioning wooden puppet. A subtle worry began to creep into Iola’s smiling face.

“May I ask, did you… not know that—?”

“Of course, I knew! I was just a bit flustered because you’re so inexperienced with business. Hah! Did you forget I’m the daughter of the Medleridge Trading Company? The first rule of Medleridge business…”

With her chest puffed out, Medleridge’s second daughter declared confidently.

“Of course. So, you did know—”

“The basic rule of business is tax evasion. If you can dodge the law, dodge it.”

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