Chapter 72: Caravan Ambush

Those three girls behaved quite differently when they saw us the next day.

It was quite obvious that Sabrina and Melissa were much more conscious of me compared to before, especially since they were more quiet and didn't initiate any conversation with me, something Katsuki also noticed but was unsure of the reason.

Mother obviously knew why with that smug look she was giving me and I knew she's still going to keep it a secret from me. At least she promised that once we've reached the capital city, I would know why this was happening.

Nevertheless, I still tried to engage them in conversation to at least try to lighten them up.

"So how long have you all been Mercenaries?"

"Umm… Umm… Ab… About… Ten years… Lady Aster…" Melissa stuttered.

"That's cool, anywhere interesting that you have been?"

Sabrina poked her fingers together, "Not… Not really…"

Godamnit, seriously Mother… Who are we?! Are you really some SSS rank Mercenary or something?! What can cause these two girls who were so energetic and upbeat to suddenly look like the executioner is looming over them?!

I sighed and gave up, deciding to turn to Katsuki instead but that got Mother's attention.

"Ara, ara? Is my dearest child already leaving the nest? I remember how my little one would always come running to Mama. Now that you have little Katsuki, my child doesn't need Mama anymore?"

I puffed my cheeks at her, "I'm still angry about yesterday, Mother!"

"Oh dear~ If my little one is calling me mother instead of mommy, you really must be upset! Here, here, Mama is sorry ok? Don't be angry at Mama anymore~"

I got pulled into a hug where she shoved my face right into her bosoms, holding me there tightly while smothering me with her chest while patting my head.

She finally let me go before I asphyxiated, giving me a peck on the cheek like she didn't just almost kill me.

"Ufufufu~ Is that good enough for my little one to forgive Mama?"

"Unggghh!! Stop teasing me…"

"Ara? But my little one is so cute! Don't you girls agree?" Mother asked, suddenly turning to Viera and her girls.

"Oh yes!"

"Yes, yes! Definitely yes!"

"Lady Aster is definitely the cutest!"

Mother giggled, "Ufufu~ Then in that case, isn't it much better that she has some friends she can talk to that would make her look much cuter? I think it's much better to see my little one having fun with her friends~ Also, she likes being casual, by the way~"

"Ah… Ah! Of course! Lady-- I mean… Miss Aster! How long have you been a Mercenary?" Viera asked quickly.

"Umm… Not that long… A week or so I guess?"

Melissa quickly jumped in, "Oh! What was your first quest?"

"I… I think it was a goblin village subjugation quest."

Katsuki gasped, "Is that the one where Mistress saved us?"

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that. It actually is. I just registered as a Mercenary that day and thought that quest would be the best one for me to start with."

Sabrina's eyes widened at me, "Wait… Are you saying you took on an E rank subjugation quest as your very first quest?"

"Yes? I dealt with goblins before so I thought it would be quite simple to do."

All of their eyes immediately went towards Mother but she had already fished out a book from somewhere and was busy reading it while humming away.

Viera continued, "Which Mercenary group did you go with, Miss Aster?"

"Hmm? I did it alone."

"WHAT?!"

Their shouts of surprise got the other's attention and they quickly reassured everyone that nothing was wrong. The coachman in charge of driving our wagon even jumped when he heard the scream.

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"Miss Aster took on the quest by yourself?" Viera asked, this time in a softer tone of voice.

I nodded, "I had experience fighting goblins before so I know how to take them. Plus I went during the night and I was lucky since most of them were preoccupied with raiding merchant convoy at that time. Thus, I managed to set a trap for them when they returned."

"Ooohh… I see. Still, that is really impressive, Miss Aster. Normally someone at your rank would never take such quests alone."

I tilted my head, "Has there never been such a case like this?"

Surely those Off-Worlders would have also done something like this right? I can't be the only one.

Melissa shook her head, "While I won't say that it's rare, it's also quite uncommon. But most of these cases are people who have joined the Guild late in their lives after they have already achieved notable feats elsewhere. Unlike Miss Aster who is only ten years old."

Wait, shouldn't there be other Off-Worlders who also chose the reincarnation route? They should also be… Oh, right… Meslatars mature faster physically and anyone else who also reincarnated would still be stuck in their younger bodies. Except other Meslatars I suppose, wonder what those Off-Worlders are doing?

I guess we'll all still need to wait for a few more years before some prodigious children start popping up all over the place with their cheat stats.

That's assuming the Off-Worlders who got sent to this World are also familiar with this kind of tropes and are actively working on becoming the strongest or something. That's usually the case with these stories right?

Anyway… I guess I should try and explain away my strength somehow.

"I was trained from a young age, so it's not really a big deal."

Once again, their sights went towards Mother before turning back to me and nodding their heads like I just explained everything.

I decided to turn the questions back to them, I'm here to learn more about how real Mercenaries work after all!

"So what about you girls? Do you do any quests aside from escort missions like these?"

Sabrina groaned, "Ugh… It's mostly left to Jack to decide what quests we do. Don't get me wrong, these missions do pay quite well, but they can get boring most of the time. Even worse when the passengers we're assigned with are creepy old men who keep disturbing us."

"Oh, I also wanted to ask how this party thing works? Are you all friends or what? What makes several Mercenaries come together to form a group?"

Melissa chuckled at me, "There's several reasons that can happen. For our case, it's several solo and small sized groups of Mercenaries that decided to band together to create a party for better missions. Like the three of us are… Umm… Really good friends though the others were strangers before we joined. There's also cases where the Mercenary groups are made up completely of friends, former colleagues or even lovers."

I leaned forward in my seat, "Is there a limit to the party size?"

Viera shook her head, "Not at all. Although Mercenary groups larger than fifty people form what we call an 'Assembly'. Some of them may be hired to take part in wars, though most of them also serve as a headquarters of sorts to Dungeoneers."

"Are there… Are there a lot of wars, then?"

Sabrina giggled, "Oh dear. I suppose this is Aster's first time going out? The Kingdom isn't as peaceful as you think you know? The lands are given to various nobles to govern and some of these nobles covet the lands of their peers or may just not like the look of their neighbours, resulting in skirmishes along their borders. It's never really too bad though, otherwise the Royal Family would have gotten involved for sure."

Melissa nodded, "Not to mention the threat of the Nekinumi Kingdom also exists and the slavers of Shendhala Oligarchy would also happily raid the Kingdom for slaves too. Mercenaries do take jobs to fight in those skirmishes or to just patrol and defend borders. Those are more dangerous but… Well… If nothing happens, it's also just as boring but more stressful than an escort mission."

How interesting.

Sabrina turned to Melissa, "That, I disagree. Remember that quest we took to guard that lord's manor near that village or whatever? Best food I've had!"

The mage scowled at her colleague, "Yeah, that's also because you weren't paying much attention to your own duties and focused more on eating than anything else. Do you know how stressful it was for everyone else?"

"Unn… I… I couldn't help it ok?! They were so nice and gave us these really great puddings! Which other job gave us puddings for dessert?!"

"And yet you're still the strange one who wouldn't mind going dungeon diving on your day off. Seriously, Sabrina, why are you so weird?"

"I'm not weird!"

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle at their antics, glad that they were finally relaxed again.

"So do you have any advice for a newbie Mercenary like us?" I asked, gesturing to Katsuki and myself.

Viera was just about to answer when the sound of something whizzing through the air was heard.

The next moment, our coachman gasped and fell out of his seat with an arrow stuck in his chest, rolling down onto the road.

"Bandits!! Everyone to their positions!!" Someone yelled out, right as several figures burst out from the forest.

Great…

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