The audience chamber of Hamelon Main Castle perfectly resembled the city's character.
Excessively wide, and excessively flashy.
Gold decorations spread along the walls, and expensive fabrics and jewels were placed casually.
A space for display rather than utility.
In the middle of it, Valewin, the Lord of the border city, was sitting comfortably leaning back.
"Ah, the benefactor of our North!"
He half-rose from his seat and clapped as soon as Iden entered.
Excessive embroidery was placed on the hem of the clothes wrapping his belly, and jewels glistened on every finger.
Air mixed with the smell of alcohol and perfume filled the audience chamber.
"It is an honor that the benefactor of the North has stepped into our Hamelon directly."
Valewin said with a laugh.
The status gap between a Lord of the North and a mere mercenary member is truly the difference between heaven and earth.
But Valewin didn't mind that and showed off his respect for Iden without reservation.
Official Wintel Recommendation Letter.
The power it possessed was clearly radiating here as well.
"Blue Wolf Corps, capturing the Northern Barbarian Chief alive. I can't tell you how great the rumors are."
Iden only gave a formal greeting. Valewin nodded as if even that was satisfactory.
"Furthermore."
He snapped his fingers meaningfully.
"Receiving the Official Recommendation Letter from the great Wintel family, one cannot be unaware."
He guided Iden inside the audience chamber with a hand gesture, and called an aide to order in a not-so-low voice.
"Look here, bring the highest quality alcohol. And... hmm."
After scanning Iden for a moment, he added.
"Bring a girl worthy of our North's benefactor too."
Iden shook his head firmly.
He had already finished a short evaluation of Lord Valewin.
If he was a Lord who valued wine and women more than state affairs, there was no particular reason to play along.
"It's fine."
Valewin's eyebrows rose slightly.
It was an expression mixed with interest for the first time.
An expression as if seeing a man refusing alcohol and women for the first time.
"Then?"
He asked with a laugh.
He figured it out.
That he came to find him with a clear sense of purpose, not for hospitality and entertainment.
"Tell me what you want. Since there must be a reason you came all this way, status? Gold? Land? Or perhaps a title?"
Iden spoke without hesitation.
All plans were after finishing calculations.
"I want to work under the Engineering Captain."
With the Official Wintel Recommendation Letter, he could become the Engineering Captain immediately, but Iden didn't do that.
There is only one Engineering Captain position.
Even if he snatched it and went in, there would be no unit members who would follow the words of a rookie with no experience.
It was obvious it would only cause fierce noise.
Instead, if he demanded a position under that, a plausible position would be created by the Lord's discretion, and he could start with minimized noise.
"..."
The audience chamber became quiet for a moment.
Valewin opened his eyes wide, then soon laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! No, wait. Bringing the Wintel family's Official Recommendation Letter?"
He shook his head as if absurd and said.
"With that level, you could aim for a semi-lower noble position, so why do you dream such a modest dream?"
Iden didn't answer.
It would be reading scriptures to a cow's ear anyway.
Instead, he smiled briefly.
A strong light that couldn't be affirmed hovered in that smile.
Valewin lost his words for a moment seeing that expression, then soon wore eyes as if he discovered an interesting toy.
"...Hehehe, indeed interesting. Then I will create a position within a short time, so rest well in the meantime. The guide will lead you to the prepared mansion."
Iden didn't say more.
His eyes were already looking at the next move.
The library of the mansion Lord Valewin prepared was excessively quiet, and had excessively many books.
It seems his characteristic is that everything is excessive.
Iden was turning over the documents organized on the desk.
It was data Pamir collected in half a day.
Neat handwriting, classification by item. It wasn't a simple collection of rumors, but a level sufficient to scan someone's history.
[ Personnel File: Target Analysis ] NAME Erwin Vermir APPEARANCE Sharp impression, short blonde hair and red eyes. AGE Twenty-three (23) FAMILY Youngest daughter of Hamelon Lord Valewin. POSITION Hamelon Engineering Captain. TENDENCY Prioritizes practical affairs, values principles. Frequent field participation. SPECIAL NOTE No lover.
Iden put down the document and glanced at Pamir.
It was an expression full of absurdity.
"No... lover?"
"Haha, I investigated that separately just in case you were curious..."
Watching Pamir scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, Iden let out a short sigh.
Although he's a guy with a lot of playfulness and annoying corners like this, keeping someone who trusts and follows him entirely in a strange land brings more gain than loss.
Especially with this level of information gathering ability, he was a useful guy, so Iden was deciding to maintain the employment relationship with him.
"You worked hard."
"Don't mention it. Then please call me anytime again if you need anything!"
"Okay."
Pamir left, and Iden leaned his back on the chair reviewing the Engineering Captain's personal information.
A face with many thoughts at a figure more unique than expected.
"Youngest daughter of the Lord and youngest Engineering Captain..."
Only twenty-three.
Although it was a position that would definitely have many troubles and talk for a noble young lady to step into, Erwin, who volunteered there herself and even gained the recognition of the unit members, definitely seemed not to be an ordinary person.
And.
A strange sense of kinship arose.
Daughter of the highest authority family in Hamelon border city.
There seemed to be a clear reason why the daughter of a family where gold and silver treasures would come into her hands just by staying still insisted on a hard path, and he had a hunch that the reason would be similar to his somehow.
No.
He hoped the current déjà vu was indeed a sense of kinship.
Because having common points means it's that much easier to build a bond.
A bond soon becomes solidarity, and solidarity will birth a single goal.
"..."
Of course, it wasn't that he endured 2 years hoping for luck, nor that he didn't keep the variables of the plan in mind.
From now on, only the task of resolving the checks of the Engineering Unit, which he will enter by parachute, remains.
For that, primarily.
'I must become a perfect soldier before appointment.'
If he looked like a clumsy fool who couldn't even do a single drill properly, he might have to waste the 1 year remaining until the war on explaining.
There was no day to fill with waste in the 1 year.
Even to prevent great sacrifice, every day had to be perfect.
From that day.
Iden began to erase the traces of a mercenary.
It wasn't abandoning the name or major of the Blue Wolf Corps.
It was changing the attitude and habits ingrained in the body.
Because from now on, he had to be 'Soldier Iden', not 'Mercenary Iden'.
He stood in front of the mirror and corrected his posture.
He repeated the practice of straightening his waist, fixing his gaze, positioning his hands, and matching the angles of his head and feet.
Opening the picture book Pamir obtained, he learned the form and discipline of saluting, and recited countless times so that the tone and speed of repetition stuck to his mouth.
One beat slow in front of a superior, one beat fast in front of a subordinate.
He understood through text and pictures that the weight when giving and receiving orders is different.
Peeling off the 2-year-old mercenary grime wasn't easy, but it wasn't something he couldn't do either.
He also cultivated the habit of tidying his hair neatly and checking his attire frequently.
And even in the midst of that, he didn't neglect training Summoning Arts and studying architecture and military science.
Although it was an amount where even two bodies wouldn't be enough, Iden didn't become loose.
Day by day passed like that, and finally, the appointment date was set.
It was the beginning of summer when warmth settles in the Northern Territory after a long time.
"Whew..."
The night before the appointment, Iden stood in front of the mirror wearing his uniform.
The clothes were refined to fit his body, and the rough shadow of his mercenary days had faded a lot.
Although it couldn't be called perfect, it was sufficient in the sense that he knew his shortcomings.
He looked into his own eyes and quietly caught his breath.
Tomorrow is the start.
The new life as [Engineering Unit Senior Adjutant].
Erwin Vermir was always the same appearance.
Short blonde hair was undisturbed, and red eyes always faced the front without revealing emotions.
Her uniform maintained a knife-sharp crease without missing a single day.
The interval of buttons, position of epaulets, not even a single wrinkle ever deviated from regulation.
There were almost no soldiers who didn't know her in the Hamelon Engineering Unit Officer's Room.
Because that place was her living space.
A cot, a simple desk, walls full of maps and blueprints.
Solving most of her room and board there, Erwin met the beginning and end of the day in the same place.
It was her own will that she came here.
It wasn't due to family discord or power struggles that nobles usually experience.
It was because she knew better than anyone how many lives a single trivial accident on the Northern border takes.
If one wall collapses, one village disappears, and if one moat is filled, an invasion route opens.
Erwin wanted to prevent that.
So she didn't trust anyone.
Others' judgments can become loose anytime, and responsibility is easily dispersed.
Eventually, thinking that the only things she could trust were her calculations and hands, Erwin volunteered here.
"Ha... damn it."
The problem was that the financial resources to execute those calculations were disappearing.
Walls needed periodic repair, and traps had to be looked at again every season.
Moats become useless if sediment isn't scooped out, and siege weapons destroy themselves if neglected.
Erwin knew all of that, and organized it into documents to report upwards several times.
However, the returning answer was always the same.
Budget freeze or cut.
Once, unable to bear the frustration, she took off her rank insignia and ran to her father to argue passionately, but she couldn't help but lament at her father who only laid out excuses that budget allocation wasn't done by him.
It couldn't be helped.
She had no choice but to split and split the allocated budget to repair the defense line.
Erwin led the Engineering Unit even donating her own salary, and the Engineering Unit was barely continuing its work while making metallic sounds like a hinge with less oil.
Then one day, the decisive blow came down.
"What...? Budget cut again?!!"
Bang!
Erwin slammed the desk with two fists, and that day, Erwin damaged military property for the first time.
She couldn't stand it.
On the day the news was delivered that the Blue Wolf Corps captured the Northern Barbarian Chief alive, even the remaining budget was readjusted again.
Under the justification that the threat of war decreased, city defense was pushed to a lower priority.
Of course, it wasn't that she didn't understand.
No, it was a happy thing and something to celebrate.
Since the biggest of the existing threat forces was stopped, it was self-evident that peace would visit the Northern Territory for a while.
But there is no eternal peace, and the Northern foreign tribes are a kind that lives feeding on revenge.
As she thought that someday the price of carelessness would be paid in blood, she absolutely couldn't understand the budget cut.
Furthermore, where is there budget to cut further!
Erwin sat on the chair hollowly and let out a deep sigh.
Numbers didn't lie.
In this state, it was difficult to endure even the next quarter.
Therefore, Erwin was racking her brains reviewing budget documents today as well.
Feeling like looking down at an exam paper with no answer.
Feeling like having to helplessly watch water leaking through a hole in the dam.
Just as Erwin was about to sweep back her hair annoyedly, a knock was heard.
Knock knock—
"Come in."
The door opened and a man entered.
"Loyalty!"
Officer uniform attire, posture was neat, gaze was unwavering, and a man radiating uprightness.
The moment Erwin saw him, she recalled the name on the document she reviewed a few days ago.
The name on the document saying he's coming as Engineering Unit Senior Adjutant.
Iden.
Blue Wolf Corps.
...Budget cut!
Erwin's gaze, opened wide, slowly moved to him.
Iden could not yet know what that gaze meant.