When it comes to how the mercenaries of the Western Region perceive the war with the East, it’s probably something like this: a troublesome job with little reward despite the tough work.

That’s why the Western mercenaries aren’t really motivated.

I understood that after listening to Alec’s story… but apparently, that wasn’t all there was to it—he continued speaking.

“They see the war with the East as something to get through without overexerting themselves. Even getting injured would be idiotic.”

Alec chose his words carefully, but to put it bluntly, they’re slacking off.

Well, nobody wants to risk their life for something that won’t even benefit them.

“Yeah.”

I nodded in agreement, thinking that made perfect sense—and this time, it wasn’t Alec but Zighart who continued the conversation.

“In times like these, people familiar with both sides act as intermediaries to help others safely withdraw from the battlefield. On the Western side, it might be a mercenary who’s worked as a guard for merchants traveling East. On the Eastern side, it might be an adventurer originally from the West. Of course, there’s a sense of obligation to the client, and once someone pulls out, there’s an unspoken rule that they don’t return to the battlefield. So it’s important to keep a good grasp on the situation. Depending on the circumstances, it might even be seen as abandoning the battlefield, which can lead to complications after the war. It really depends.”

“I see, I see…”

“Since the East is usually the stronger side, negotiations usually start from there. Still, for the Western mercenaries, it gives them an excuse—they can claim they’re reducing enemy forces from a disadvantaged position.”

“Ah, I get it.”

I nodded along with their explanation.

A setup, or a rigged match, so to speak…

Even so, if it allows both sides to remove their forces from the battlefield without suffering losses, then maybe… it’s acceptable?

“Oh! Then maybe the reason we took no damage this time is because of that?”

The intermediary stuff Zighart mentioned… it really seems like our group was the perfect candidate for that.

After all, Zighart used to be a well-known mercenary in the West, and Alec and Luban are also apparently somewhat known over there.

Well… they’re not technically mercenaries now, being regular soldiers, so I’m not sure how that affects the withdrawal rule… But it feels like they’d be more flexible than typical mercenary unspoken rules.

Besides, our group doesn’t exactly seem eager to make a name for themselves through war.

At my comment, the two of them made hard-to-read expressions.

What kind of faces are those…?

“This time was close to that. In wars in the West, there’s usually a unit that monitors mercenary activity. They watch from the rear—so mercenaries don’t like them much. It’s not a fun job.”

The watch unit, right?

A unit that monitors the performance of their own troops.

Zighart is probably referring to something like that.

Maybe he has unpleasant memories about them, because there’s a bitter tone to his voice—but he continued talking.

“In wars between Western factions, each side provides their own watchdogs. But when it comes to war with the East, the large powers in the West are the ones who handle it. They’re the ones funding the mercenaries, after all… so I guess it’s only natural.”

“Yeah…”

Speaking of large powers, that would be the Empire, the Allied Nations, and… the Holy Nation too.

So those are the ones backing the war against the East…

“Hm? But they weren’t involved this time, right?”

“Yeah. This time, they didn’t show up at all—not even to monitor things. That’s probably why… The night before the war was to start, after both sides had assembled their forces, multiple mercenary bands from the other side contacted us. They said they would stay in the rear and look for an opportunity to withdraw. They told us we didn’t have to pull back, just not to target them…”

“…Isn’t that basically abandoning the war? Is that even okay?”

Approaching us about withdrawal before the battle even begins, regardless of which side is stronger…

And they’re saying we don’t have to pull back—they just don’t want to be attacked. That’s basically just desertion, right?

“It’s not okay.”

“Of course it’s not.”

“Thought so.”

As expected.

Both of them said more or less the same thing in unison.

Then, Zighart raised his cup to his lips and downed its contents in one go, then let out a deep sigh.

Something on his mind?

Leaving Zighart to his thoughts, Alec picked up where he left off.

“We didn’t trust their story right away either, so we stayed alert for a while… but in the end, most of the mercenaries on their side pulled back on the first day and didn’t join the battle at all. The only ones left on the Western side were either battle maniacs fighting solo or tiny unknown groups. The former is whatever, but the latter were probably private forces raised by the nobles of the participating nations… In effect, the real fighting power pulled out on day one.”

“That’s… a total mess, huh?”

No monitors, and since there’s no reward in it, they just dump the job entirely.

I get it, sure, but to bail out before anything even starts…

“It’s worse than a mess. Much worse than you think.”

“Huh?”

At Zighart’s words, I tilted my head and muttered.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sera ・Blessing・【Hideout】+1 【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Water’s Garment】

Blessed Item ・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana ・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena ・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec ・【Power Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards