Chapter 122 - Choice and Interruption (1/2)

Ch. 122: Choice and Interruption

Three pieces of paper were spread out in front of Loren.

They were copies of the job descriptions that Lapis had taken from the quest board next to the counter.

Since Lapis wanted him to choose one, he was about to take one and start reading through it, but when he thought about it for a second, it could be seen as Lapis making him choose between the said three, but when he looked at her, wondering if she was planning something again, she smiled at him, wondering if something was wrong, so Loren just stopped thinking about it.

He was moving with Lapis, who had been kicked out of her home amongst the demon kin to explore the world.

Deciding that there was no use being concerned about it after all their time together, he looked through the three papers and saw that although they weren’t about participating in the war, they were related to it.

“Reconnaissance in unknown territory? This is going through one of the possible battlefields. I’ve done some of these as a mercenary, but if you meet with an enemy squad, it’s immediately going to become a full-on battle.”

It was a job to scout out the terrain and condition of the battlefield before the actual battle started.

Going in without knowing anything about the battlefield was a great disadvantage, and it was normal to use a large amount of time and manpower to know everything you could about it, but it would mean thinking and doing the same thing as your enemy, so skirmishes were a common occurrence.

In the worst case, the main forces would be deployed, and the battle would start right then and there, which was what Loren was wary of.

If they made the wrong predictions, it meant the two of them would be mixed into the midst of the war.

“Guarding the supply squad to the main forces is a no as well. It’s common sense to hit the enemy’s supplies, so unless the defenses are rock solid, it’s more unlikely that there won’t be an attack. There would be a lot of mercenaries that are quick on their feet…and even though it’s a job in the back lines, the rewards are too cheap.”

It was because it was thought to be quite safe since it was in the back lines, but there was no way adventurers could fend of even a small group of trained mercenaries, and the chances of being attacked was quite high as well.

Another factor was that attacking the supply squad was a popular job since whatever was recovered during the attack would belong to the attackers.

Goods and money, and in the worst case, even people.

The morale of the attackers would be very high, and so was the danger.

“If it was within the boundaries of your country it would be easy…but that’s not the case with the current war, isn’t it?”

“No, it isn’t. It seems that the war is in the east border for this nation and south border for the opposing one. No idea why it’s in such an obscure place.”

“What’s that?”

Loren thought it was obvious that the nations were fighting over something.

If it was something simple, such as land, the war would be within the boundaries of either of them.

But the location that Lapis had told him belong to neither of them, so Loren couldn’t think of a reason why they would be fighting in such a place.

“It’s the plains in the southern central part of the continent. There are tribes of beast kin living there, although they are not their own country.”

Which meant they were fighting over unclaimed territory.

Since there were beast kin living there, Loren thought that it belonged to them, but their social standing on the continent was very low, so there was no way it would be theirs.

“Beast kin? They’re the race who look like humans but have some characteristics of animals, right?”

“It’s hypothesized that the people of the Ancient Kingdom created them.”

In other words, animal-human hybrids, or chimeras.

It was thought so because the Ancient Kingdom was known for such research, but no one knew if it was true.

Since they had the characteristics of different animals, many of them were stronger than humans, but their lifespan was shorter.

“Must be a nuisance for the people already living there.”

“There isn’t a single war that isn’t a nuisance to someone.”

As Lapis gave him a very dry answer, Loren shrugged and looked at the last piece of paper.

It was about guarding a caravan full of supplies to a village near the battlefield.

“This is another one with a not-so-low possibility of being attacked.”

A village that was a distance away from the battlefield.

The client, the village chief, wanted bodyguards to guard the caravan filled with supplies the village needed.

Even if it wasn’t directly related to the war, there were usually no merchants who would willing go near the battlefield.

But because of that, there would be no supplies going to the villages in the area and affect the people living there.

Loren guessed that the village chief, who posted the job, managed to find a merchant and needed people to keep him and the goods safe until it reached the village.

Although Loren was willing to take it even though the rewards were poor, since people’s lives were on the line, he looked at the paper again and frowned.

“Four days to reach the village. Eight for a round trip, with eight silver coins per person.”

“Everyone seems to be ignoring this because you need to pay for your own necessities as well.”

It was a joke.

Even though it was away from the battlefield, considering the high possibility of being attacked, there was nothing to gain from it.

He could understand that after paying the merchants for the goods and his service they won’t have much left for the rewards, but knowing why the other adventurers skipped over it, Loren flicked his finger on the paper.

“This one isn’t any good Lapis. It’s ridiculous.”

Even if a person needed to work to survive, no idiot would take on a job that would leave him worse off than before.