The silence in the room was broken by Cyril's comment.

'But if that's the case, it's probably too much for us to handle on our own. We're talking about the size of an army, right? Do the elves not have such an army?

The person Cyril was talking to was LeFania's mother, Finola.
A youthful looking elf, who looked no more than a sister to LeFania, shook her head with a bitter expression.

'Of all the Elven settlements in the vicinity, the one with the largest number of warriors was the one I was staying in. The size of that settlement was twenty-three elven warriors. ...... No, it's even smaller now. A number of warriors were killed or captured by them.

I'm not sure what to make of that.

I'm sure you're not the only one who has a problem with this. I'm sure there are hundreds of elven warriors in the faraway Great Fairy Forest, but from there you have to cross many human borders, and it takes more than a month to go one way.

Finola broke off once there.
Then she fixed her eyes and spoke the following words.

'And that amount of time would be enough for many of our captive brethren to fully nurture the Orc child in their bellies and then die when their bellies are ripped open to give birth to it. ...... Orcs that bear children for other races have an unusually short time to give birth.'

I'm not sure what to make of that.
Mee and Cyril seemed to be feeling angry as well.

When I saw that, I thought, "This is not good.
All three of you are feeling too forward.

I understand your feelings, but if you don't keep your cool, you'll make a bad decision.
First of all, we have to judge whether this is a case we should go into or not.

But at present, I seem to be the calmest person in the situation.
While calculating the appropriate amount of compensation for this case in my head, I turned to Finola and said.

'Finola, I have one question. If we were to assist you in this matter as mercenaries, how much would you be willing to pay?

'Will! I'm talking about ......!

Satsuki came at me from the side, but I looked at her and shook my head.

'No, Satsuki. If you're going to get involved in this, you should do it as a job. If you think that you will risk your life to destroy the enemy and rescue the trapped elves, you will really die. In the event that you've got any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

'......! I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it's worth it.

Satsuki scratched her head.
She seemed irritated because she had no place to put her emotions.

But after a while, she stopped moving,

'...... All right. I'll leave it to Will. It's probably for the best.'

She then left the decision-making to me.
I looked over at Cyril and Mee, who also shook their heads.

'I know I'm not calm right now. William, I'll leave it to you.

'Me too. William, please.'

I nodded at their words and resumed my negotiations with Finola.

'The amount of reward we demand is 20 gold coins per day as daily wages for the four of us, plus another 200 gold coins as a reward for achieving our goal. This is the amount that we think is appropriate, considering our strength and the size of the opposing forces. If we judge that the danger to ourselves is too great, we will withdraw from this discussion. In this case, we will still ask for the daily allowance for the days we have already worked. I'll cooperate with you if you agree to these conditions.

Finola listened to me and was silent for a few moments.
Then she asks her daughter a question.

'LeFania, these people are worthy of your trust in their abilities and character, aren't they?

'Yes, mother. I can vouch for his character. And the competence, I don't think he's lying.'

'Yes, ......, okay. William, is it? Then I'd like you to help me with that. Please do.'

Finola then stood up and came over to me and shook my hand.
I also stood up and shook her hand.

'I will do my utmost to bring about a good result. I look forward to working with you.

And so we entered the battle between the Elves and the Orcs.


Meanwhile...


At the same time.

At the training ground in the courtyard surrounded by the walls of the royal castle in the royal capital of Greysburg, Princess Irene received a report from a soldier.

'Oh no, another orc?

Irene shouts in disgust as she receives the report.
This was already the third request for Orc extermination in recent days alone.

The princess, who looked like a beautiful girl dressed as a man with short-cut silver hair, told the four apprentice knights facing her to take a break and listened to the soldier's report while wiping sweat off her face with a hand towel.
At the same time, the apprentice knight boys, who had finally been allowed to take a break, collapsed in a heap on the ground.

They were boys of the same age as Irene, but even with four of them, they had been lightly beaten by a girl.
But this did not mean that the boys were weak.
They have been training day and night to become knights, and even at this stage they are as good as or better than ordinary soldiers.

The princess, Irene, is just too strong.
She's a genius swordswoman, but she's still in her infancy, and her abilities have yet to reach their ceiling.

The soldier continued to report to the genius and beautiful princess dressed as a man with a nervous look on his face.

'Haha, another orc! So this time, the princess wants you to go to defeat them. ......'

'I see, I understand. You know how your father is, he says everything is an experience, right? I'll take care of it. Besides... an orc like that would be perfect for training an apprentice knight.''

Irene said, looking at the four knight apprentices stretched out on the ground.

In the event that you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

'Haha. I'm sorry to tell you this, but the king has given me another message.

'Hmm, from your father? What?

'That's ....... "I sense a disturbing presence. Don't let your guard down. I don't care if you die if you're not careful.''

'Haha, that's just like your father. In any case, that 'disturbing presence' is probably just a hunch. But I understand. I'm not sure what to do.



'Yes, sir!

The soldier who had finished contacting Irene saluted and left the scene.
While confirming this, Irene clapped her hands to the four limp knight apprentices.

'Okay, then the break is over. We're going to go on an orc-slaying picnic now. Get ready.

''' Yes!

The apprentice knight boys jumped to their feet at once and replied cheerfully.
For them, Princess Irene was not only the object of their admiration, but also a demon instructor that they could not disobey.