Translation note

I apologize for the late upload. I caught flu last Saturday and I’m

currently recuperating making it impossible for me to post the chapter on

scheduled time.

==============================================================

There are two men who are silently inside the base of the <Dawn of War> which is located at L’Ecole Street. One is Orlando the leader of the group sitting in front of the desk with papers in front of him just keeping silent and the other is Edward, a tall slender man with blond hair who is the general staff of the group for a long time. Though he looks like he is in his thirties, he is only 27 years old he had looks that would make look older than his age. Even if he is concerned about this, he is keeping an intense pressure in front of the leader of the group even though it might be the reason why he looks old.

[Erm..]

Edwards fixed his glasses and broke the silence, startling Orlando making the latter to avert his gaze breaking off eye contacts

[Commander, I believe I said this already three days ago that you need to go over these documents.. so could you repeat what you told me back then]

The pressure increases. Even Orlando knows that he needs to answer but he is scared.

[Commander..]

Voices filled with mixed emotions collides, Orlando knows the he must answer but he can’t open his mouth.

[Commander! You should at least be able to read and write!]

[But- but I can’t help it okay!]

[I know your brothel ban is over, but please understand that as a commander you have an important role to play as the face of this mercenary group!]

[B-but I can at least write my own name..]

[Anyone who wants to be a mercenary can do that much Commander!]

Edward countered Orlando’s arguments.

[..Commander, should we ask Alitta and Lloyd to watch you study huh?]

Edwards word causes Orlando to shudder and look away giving Edward a hint.

(So, you skipped your study)

Even without saying it out loud his eyes were already accusing him.

[We don’t have enough time so I’ll just summarize the main points. Please try to memorize it and word for word so that you don’t forget it]

An hour later a dazed Orlando entered the room where the members of the <Dawn of War> is waiting. All but the leaders of the group were already there so Edward who will act as the facilitator prompted to start the meeting.

[Let’s get started]

[The firs thin in our agenda is a boring talk centering in our financial situation. As you know we are currently improving our equipment with our next goal in mind. This leads in our group’s funding to drop to less than half. Not to mention the cost of my treatments as it is a necessary expense]

Orlando says while he shows his healed of fingers making the others on the room laugh.

Truthfully, the treatment was not that much but the cost of the weapons decreased the fund by more than 60%. Although he doesn’t remember the exact numbers, Edward knew from experience that it’s not always a good idea to disclosed the financial status of a group. So, he said nothing and listen in silence.

[I don’t properly need to go in details, but now that we will be able to get dealings with the lord directly, we can address it so it won’t be a problem. Now for the next report.]

Orlando then shifted his eyes to Edward who then nodded.

[We have confirmed that there was a goblin colony in Old Eirquel, south of the Old Rukdiel where we last fought]

Amidst the clamor one of the members asked him what did he mean by <there was>

[It’s gone now. There was a colony with an estimated size of 2,000 goblins but was wiped out]

Two thousand goblin is a large number for a goblin colony. When everyone found out that it was wiped out, one could only assume that something bad had happened creating uneasiness to everyone in the room.

[According to the information provided by <Fudo> and <Rengetsu> who was in-charge of the investigation that there are signs that the colony was destroyed by a single individual]

Everyone gasped. Even if they weren’t present, they would still be able to identify who did it.

[It’s hard to believe that <Rengetsu> and <Fudo> would have done a mistake in their investigation. I’m very sure that it is done by that new species. Also, as a result of discussion with the guild master.. were not so good. It is currently designated as <calamity> class and the only reason it’s not on the top is because it doesn’t have done any damage as of now]

Edward continued regardless of the members reaction.

[Currently we are the only one who had experienced and encountered the new species, so we would like to withheld any information we and ask everyone here to remain silent on this detail. We don’t know how powerful he really is the threat that he brings is still not clear so we need to make sure that the world recognizes this threat.]

After Orlando took over the story from Edward.

[So, this time our new job is to eliminate the goblin at old Fort Karnash. The only difference is that there might be a queen there and the fact that the fort is still functioning to some extent so you could say that we would be attacking a goblin stronghold and this would be a rare experience. We have to thank our client.]

The motivation of members is high that they raised a laugh. As for Orlando, he was expecting them to whine for having other goblins as another target, but this was a happy miscalculation.

[We don’t have the proper estimate of the size but we deduced that it would be around 800 monsters and max of over a thousand and if there would be some Imperial weapon left there, the difficulty of the mission would jump. This will also be a joint mission with Fudo and several mercenary groups. The knights and soldier under the direct command of the lord will also come as reinforcement but rest assured that they nothing more of a chaperone.]

Naturally, since the presence of the knights is unwelcomed for mercenaries. That was because a lot of their peers have ended up having their troops destroyed by the meddling of the knights while in their quest for achievements.

Once that this was not the case, the members voiced their relief.

[so that’s all about it, this would be a casual work but I want you guys to prepare properly]

With a clap of Orlando’s hand, it became the signal to disperse and everyone started leaving the room. And once everybody has left, Orlando looked at the ceiling as if leaning back.

[We’ve bought weapons but we don’t have enough and its quality is questionable to go against the new species.]

Edward then voiced his concerns and lets out a loud sigh of agreement.

[If we push ourselves, I think we can get weapons, but our current problem are people]

[that is same everywhere especially when it comes to talented mage. We would need a large amount of money to pull them to our side or train them from the scratch and with our current financial situation, we can’t do both. No matter how hard we try we could only increase our staff by one]

[I guess so..]

Orlando plops down at his desk

Edward also lets out a sigh as he knows there’s nothing, he can do about this. Even in Seizelia where magic has been predominant for a long time, far longer than Canaan has the same shortage of mages.

[I’ll tell Annie]

Edwards said while laughing with cold eyes when Orlando went and get up from his chair.

[Hey! Why does her name come out there! Wait Ed! Where are you going! Hey!]

Orlando chases after Edward as he leaves.

The commander of the Dawn of War cries over the cost of alcohol he spent that day.

==============================================================

Author’s note:

Fudo: Official name <Fudo Daiken> and doesn’t get along with Dawn incidentally the group has history of losing quite a few members when their leader changed his weapon to halberd

Rengetsu: officially called Renya Shingetsu a very devious mercenary group that specializes on surprise attack and blackmail and are good with information gathering and is led by a pair of twins.