GILF Hunter

Chapter 329 Application

Ian and Airi sat facing each other across a table.

A moment later, a contract was placed in front of Airi.

A mercenary group application form and an employment contract. To Airi, who had been working alone all this time, both were unfamiliar objects.

There had been a bit of a commotion where the atmosphere turned slightly awkward while introducing her to the members, but anyway.

Since Ian had already decided to accept Airi as a new member, the two of them finally sat at the negotiation table after various twists and turns.

Ian spoke first toward Airi, who was sitting with her head bowed low.

’Now. Read it over and sign here.’

Ian handed several documents to Airi.

Airi cautiously took them and stole a glance at Ian.

Was it really okay to take the words ’read it over’ so literally?

She was a slave; wouldn’t he get angry if she read it in detail and tried to pick at the conditions?

Thinking so, Airi picked up a pen immediately, but flinched in surprise at Ian’s remark to read it carefully, hurriedly apologizing before picking up the contract.

Airi slowly read through the contract she received from Ian.

Reading the contract thoroughly several times while gauging Ian’s reaction, she checked in detail if there were any strange clauses.

After re-reading it several times, Airi, convinced that the contents of the contract were strange, looked at Ian and asked cautiously.

’I-Is this for real...?’

’It’s a real contract.’

Could he have brought the wrong contract? Or was he trying to lure her into an even bigger trap? Thinking so, Airi looked at the documents and Ian with suspicious eyes.

It was because the conditions were too good.

What Ian gave Airi was the same contract as a regular member.

However, Airi was currently bound by a slave contract. There was no need to match the same conditions as a regular member. Even if he offered the lowest conditions, Airi was in a position where she had no choice but to accept.

Considering the typical working conditions of a slave, what Ian offered was an absolutely nonsensical contract.

’It seems the amount is wrong....’

’That amount is correct too.’

From Ian’s perspective, unless it were the very early stages, saving a bit on one mercenary’s salary in the current state was an amount that didn’t hold much meaning.

If the salary was too low, even a slave’s satisfaction would drop, and there was no reason to do that just to save a few gold coins.

But from Airi’s perspective, it was a substantial amount.

Setting aside her position as a slave, it was a condition that would make anyone’s mouth hang open even across an entire mercenary career.

Airi couldn’t easily set aside her suspicion and deliberated for a long time.

However, no matter how much she thought about it, what choice did a slave have? Even if there were some ulterior motive, she would just have to endure it.

In the end, Airi signed the contract and application form Ian offered.

’The paperwork is finished. I’ll get your mercenary plaque swapped at the guild later.’

’Y-Yes....’

Now, for the two years bound by the contract, she was in a position where she absolutely had to work here.

Ian packed the documents and stood up from his seat.

Airi also stood up from her seat, following Ian with an awkward face.

Ian turned his gaze to the members who were staring intently at this table from nearby and gestured toward them.

’Well then, shall I introduce the members?’

’Eh, uh....’

An introduction. Did that mean those self-introductions she had only read about in books weren’t just a figment of imagination but actually happened in reality?

While Airi stood frozen with that thought, the members who had stepped aside during the contract filled the lounge again.

’This is Rin, and....’

It was the first time in a while a new member had joined.

The members all gathered in the lounge, each introducing themselves one by one.

Airi muttered to herself, trying to memorize the names she heard while flustered.

She looked panicked as it was her first time learning so many people’s names at once.

...Since she had the [Poor Communication] trait, which made it difficult to build rapport from the start, it would likely take some time to get close to the other members.

It was a problem that time would solve anyway. It was just slow, but if left long enough, the affinity would eventually fill up.

After the brief introduction time ended, Airi asked Ian in a small voice.

’By any chance... do I, work as part of a party?’

’Since it’s a mercenary group, of course you have to move together.’

He planned to assign Airi the role of the long-range attacker for the first-string party.

At the mention of a party, Airi trembled, her body shaking.

’I-Is there no work I can do alone....’

’Alone?’

When Ian asked back after hearing Airi’s question, Airi spoke while cautiously gauging his reaction.

’Scouting, gathering, or even something like cleaning....’

’First of all, you can’t pay off your debt in two years just by cleaning.’

’T-That’s true, I suppose....’

No matter how little the salary mattered to him, he couldn’t have her clean after paying such a cost.

At Ian’s answer, Airi also nodded with a dejected expression.

’And as for the rest. Who does those things alone?’

’I... do them alone....’

Airi answered Ian’s question while watching him warily.

’I-I.... I took those kinds of requests alone too.’

’All the way to C-rank?’

Airi nodded.

He had wondered why her stealth was so high, and it seemed it was the result of wandering around alone all this time.

’Eh....’

’From the very beginning?’

And the members who were listening nearby all stared at Airi with shocked faces.

They had thought the comment about not having an affiliated mercenary group during the introduction just meant she wasn’t currently part of one. It meant she had been solo from the moment she became a mercenary until now.

She was a loner to an extreme degree.

It was certainly impressive to have operated alone for this long. But seeing as she ended up a debtor because of it, one had to wonder if it was impressive or foolish.

But putting that aside, everyone felt a great deal of interest at the story of her reaching C-rank alone.

Everyone crowded closer around Airi.

’How did you do the promotion exam?’

’I, I took it about 8 times, and somehow passed....’

’What kind of way do you do requests alone?’

’T-That.... That is....’

Surrounded by the members and facing a barrage of questions, Airi hurriedly grabbed Ian’s sleeve tightly.

’U-Um.... Can I just, go to the quarry instead.’

’...No.’

Ian left Airi among the members in the lounge so she could get a bit closer to them.

Airi was subjected to conversation while letting out pathetic whimpers, as if she were surrounded by a pack of sharks.

＊ ＊ ＊

Self-introductions.

Small talk and tea time.

And then the following welcome party.

After finishing all those thrilling events she had only read about in books, Airi finally reclaimed her solitary time.

’Sigh....’

Inside a bathhouse where thick steam was rising. Finally alone, Airi sat there with a weary appearance and let out a quiet sigh.

She had almost entered the bathhouse together with the others.

Still, by making various excuses and delaying, she managed to find an opening and quickly slip in alone during a vacant time.

Alone in the quiet bathhouse, Airi finally calmed her mind and composed herself.

She felt a bit dizzy after doing several months’ worth of conversation all at once today.

Having finally recovered a bit of energy by being alone, only then did the appearance of her surroundings enter Airi’s sight.

The bathhouse inside the guild’s base. It was a place that was quite well-decorated externally as well as having bathing facilities.

...The facilities are incredibly good.

This was Airi’s impression after belatedly checking the facilities of the bathhouse she had entered in a rush.

Airi, who had always stayed in the cheapest inns to save money, had entered a building with its own private bathhouse for the first time.

The facilities are even better than a public bath. Do only the people here use this?

When her thoughts reached that point, Airi only then realized that the mercenary group she had joined was no ordinary one.

It was an incredibly wealthy mercenary group.

At this level, it must surely be a famous mercenary group....

Airi, who was poorly informed about rumors, could only speculate like that.

Airi, who normally had no one to converse with, had almost no chance to hear rumors about famous mercenary groups.

Occasionally overhearing conversations from the next table while eating was the limit of the rumors Airi could hear.

...Come to think of it, I feel like I might have caught the name Ian Mercenary Group somewhere?

Airi carefully splashed hot water on herself while thinking such things.

To be able to use such a facility alone was a very luxurious experience.

...I thought it was a strange mercenary group.

Airi quietly recalled the appearance of the Ian Mercenary Group she had seen so far.

...Isn’t it a strange mercenary group after all?

Such a thought occurred to Airi as she pondered for a moment.

Except for the Master, Ian, all the rest were women.

No matter how she thought about it, wasn’t it inevitable for a strange suspicion to arise?

It was while Airi was looking around the bathhouse facilities a bit leisurely with those thoughts.

The sound of someone walking could be heard from outside the bathhouse.

’Hm? Is someone inside?’

’...!’

It was Ian’s voice.

Airi did not answer those words but quickly scanned the area, finding a place to hide and concealing herself in a corner.

She hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was just Airi’s instinctive behavior to avoid people when they approached.

’No one? I’m coming in?’

Ian, hearing no answer from inside, opened the door cautiously in confusion.

He felt sure there had been a presence inside, but there was no one in the bathhouse.

If there was no one, he had probably misheard.

Thinking it was just as well, Ian entered the bathhouse.

Keeping her presence hidden, Airi, who had poked her gaze out ever so slightly from behind a pillar, discovered Ian, who had entered the bathhouse.

Ian... seemed to be intending to bathe.

Well, what other reason would there be for entering a bathhouse.

A panicked, naked Airi hid her body more thoroughly behind the pillar.

Actually, she just had to answer that she was inside, but....

Evidently, that was not an easy thing to do.