Chapter 252 You look like a real mage

"Then.... I hereby declare the first emergency meeting of the Ian Mercenary Group open."

Rin announced with a solemn face to the two sitting beside her.

Tanya and Mika, stealing glances at each other, clapped their hands quietly to avoid making too much noise.

Rin, Mika, and Tanya were sitting on the spare bed in the cramped double room.

And then there was Ian, lying in his bed.

...What on earth are they doing in my room all of a sudden?

Ian, lying in his bed, quietly shifted his gaze to look at the three of them.

Ian’s state—fallen ill with a cold—was first discovered by Rin when she came to fetch him for lunch.

He tried to tell her it was just a simple cold and he was fine, but Rin immediately dashed out and hurriedly rounded up all the members....

And the result was the current situation.

Staring at the three of them huddled together in the tiny room, Ian raised his head and spoke.

"...You’ll catch my cold, so just go outside."

"No, no. The Captain being sick is an absolute emergency."

Leaving him like this? That was out of the question.

Rin shook her head at Ian’s words.

With a serious expression, Rin turned her head to ask the other two.

"Right?"

"Well...."

Anyway, if you were to weigh whether it was a big deal or not, it definitely was.

If the Captain was out of commission, the rest were just rookie mercenaries who didn’t even know how to write a mission report on their own yet.

Mika and Tanya also nodded silently.

Even if he were to somehow admit that it was an emergency situation....

There was surely no need for them to be gathered in a sick person’s room like this.

Since today was a holiday with no missions anyway, Ian, who had intended to just take it easy and rest for the day, said:

"It’s a holiday anyway, so everyone just go rest."

"We can’t do that!"

Hearing Ian’s words, Rin jumped up from her seat and shook her head.

An emergency where Ian, the mercenary leader, had collapsed from illness.

When a commander is rendered incapable of leading, command usually passes to the vice-captain.

...Actually, he didn’t recall ever officially designating such a position, but in any case, Rin was the most senior member after Ian.

In other words, Rin could be considered the one in command in the current situation.

As the most senior member of the mercenary group... I am the one in charge.

Does the position make the person, as they say?

Rin felt a sudden surge of responsibility.

"I’ll take responsibility and handle this."

"...The cold?"

Nodding, Rin turned her attention to Tanya and Mika.

This was why she had called the two of them for a meeting.

"Now then, let’s all find a way.... to solve the Captain’s cold."

Faced with the sudden question, the two hesitated, unable to come up with an answer immediately.

But Rin nodded as if she understood.

When Ian was acting as Captain, he always stepped forward first to give his opinion. Now, as the acting Captain, she had to take the lead.

With that thought, Rin spoke up first.

"Isn’t there a potion we use for times like this?"

"I heard healing potions don’t work on illnesses."

"Mika, do you know of any other elixirs?"

"Uh...."

Mika pondered for a moment before suddenly recalling information she had read in a book.

"I heard that using Ent fruit can cure diseases, but...."

"That’s it!"

Rin, about to say it was a great idea, felt a huge sense of deja vu at the name.

...Even that Night Tail corpse from last time sold for gold coins. What about a monster of that caliber?

"How much is that?"

"...50?"

"Silver coins, right?"

"Gold...."

"...Is there anything a bit cheaper?"

The meeting immediately hit a wall.

While Rin and Mika put their heads together, trying to think of something that could be bought for roughly the price of silver coins.

"Um...."

Tanya tentatively raised her hand to call the two of them.

"Colds... don’t they just get better if you rest?"

Rin and Mika’s gazes snapped over toward Tanya.

Tanya was suddenly subjected to their stinging glares.

The Captain is sick, and you’re saying something so irresponsible?

As those silent gazes fixed on her, Tanya’s confidence withered, and she eventually lowered her hand.

In fact, if one were to look closely into the cause, Tanya was the reason Ian had caught a cold in the first place.

Tanya had offered the most realistic opinion, but unable to push her view aggressively, she eventually hung her head in silence.

Knowing they wouldn’t listen even if he tried to stop them, Ian had been lying still listening to his members chatter. He checked the time and spoke up.

"Lunchtime has passed. Aren’t you guys going to eat?"

"...Ah!"

Only then did Rin remember that she had come to get Ian so they could have lunch.

"But Captain, will you be able to eat lunch?"

"...I’m just going to sleep."

"You can’t do that. You have to eat something."

"Go eat yourselves first."

Even so, they couldn’t really all just keep starving together....

Rin thought it over, then turned to the other two.

"Alright, then let’s have lunch and meet back here after each of us finds a solution."

The three of them looked at each other, nodded meaningfully, and left the room.

"...."

Ian decided to take advantage of this time to just get some more sleep.

***

"Captain!"

After an unknown amount of time spent sleeping.

Ian woke up from his light slumber at the sound of Rin’s voice.

The first one to visit Ian’s room was Rin.

Arriving with a confident expression, Rin was holding a cup whose contents were a mystery.

As Ian sat up, Rin held the cup out to him.

"Here! Try this."

...There probably isn’t such a thing as cold medicine here.

Suspecting as much, Ian took the cup and cautiously examined the contents.

The steaming liquid looked like transparent water at a glance.

Since he couldn’t tell what it was by its appearance, Ian cautiously took a sip, then grimaced.

His sense of taste was dulled by the cold so he couldn’t tell exactly, but as the water Ian drank went down his throat, it left a burning, searing heat behind.

"...It’s alcohol."

"Hehe. I went all the way to the market and bought the exact same liquor we had back in my hometown."

Rin nodded with self-assurance.

While wandering the market, she had just happened to remember something the older men in her village used to say.

"The old folks said a single cup of this would cure a cold."

Ian closed his eyes for a moment without replying.

His head was a bit dizzy, but as his body heat rose, his fatigue seemed to vanish slightly.

Even if it was just an illusion caused by the alcohol, his mood improved a little anyway.

It probably wouldn’t help much with the actual cure... but rural folk remedies were often like that.

"How is it, Captain?"

"Right.... I think I feel quite a bit better."

"Ah, really?"

Rin smiled with a proud face.

***

"Next?"

"Put this by the bedside...."

Mika, who visited Ian’s room after Rin, spread out all sorts of items she had gathered from here and there.

The method Mika had prepared was.... a ward against evil.

What Mika held in her hand was her secret grimoire that she had been carefully treasuring.

It was an item she had purchased for a high price at an old bookstore in some city she happened to find during her journey to Labyrinth.

If Ian had checked the information on that book, he would have seen it classified as a useless "miscellaneous item" with no effect....

But its appearance was convincing enough to certainly stimulate the eyes and purchasing desire of a novice mage.

Although Mika hadn’t been able to master even a single spell because the magic inside was too complex and obscure, she had been treasuring the book, thinking it would be useful someday.

Following the book’s contents, wards tied with complex knots were hung in various places around the room.

"Be careful with that one. The orientation shouldn’t be changed."

"L-Like this?"

"It’s tilted too far to the left."

Rin carefully placed the wards according to Mika’s instructions.

"Next, to the north.... where’s north?"

"Maybe this way?"

Mika watched them, peering intently into the book, and dropped a handful of salt in various spots around the room.

"Oh.... Mika. You look like a real mage."

"I

am

a mage."

Mika, who had been concentrating with a cautious expression, finished the final task and looked up.

First, she had used every means from the book that she could perform herself.

Faint sunset light leaked into the room.

The room, decorated by Mika, now looked like an altar where a suspicious ritual was being performed.

Mika looked around the room with a satisfied face.

"Good. It’s perfect. Now that all the ill fortune has been driven out, the cold should be gone in a day or two."

...Don’t colds usually get better in that much time anyway?

Ian, lying under the blanket, muttered softly.

***

After Rin and Mika, pleased by the praise that he seemed to be doing better, returned to their rooms.

Peace finally found its way back to Ian’s room.

...It was definitely a holiday, but Ian felt like it had been a more tiring day than usual.

As Ian lay down after seeing the two out, the fatigue he had forgotten for a while slowly washed over him.

Just as Ian’s eyes were closing and he was about to drift off to sleep, feeling his body sink heavily into the floor.

With the creak of a wooden door opening, someone cautiously entered the room.

It was the last guest of the day.

"Um... Captain?"

"...Tanya?"

When Ian raised his head to look at the door, Tanya cautiously entered the room carrying something.

"I’m sorry I’m late. I don’t really know much about this sort of thing...."

Seeing the room flamboyantly decorated by Mika, a slightly intimidated Tanya smiled awkwardly and spoke to Ian in a voice lacking confidence.

"I borrowed the kitchen and made some porridge...."

As Tanya drew closer, warm steam rose from the bowl on the tray she held, carrying a scent that put the mind at ease.