GILF Hunter

Chapter 274: 274 Buying me with Money

On a boulevard where countless people passed by.

Lia’s steps came to a halt in front of a certain building.

"...This is the place?"

Looking up at the building upon reaching the location, Lia muttered inadvertently.

It was a place completely different from what she had expected.

...Did I read the address wrong?

No matter how many times she re-read it with that thought, the building indicated by the address was definitely this one.

After re-confirming the address, Lia scanned her surroundings with a slightly flustered expression.

Thinking she might have taken a wrong turn, she asked a nearby shop, but the result was the same.

Lia raised her head and looked up at the building before her.

A Guild House. Lia knew at least what kind of building this was.

In fact, because she knew exactly what kind of building it was, she was even more bewildered.

"They definitely said it was a D-rank mercenary group."

The nameplate on the building also clearly bore the name of the Ian Mercenary Group.

Lia recalled the memory of when she was first introduced to Ian by Rebecca.

Did Ms. Rebecca actually say B-rank or A-rank, and I just misheard her?

Lia paced in front of the building for a long while, agonizing, before finally standing before the door.

No matter how much she fretted like this, the address she had confirmed multiple times wasn’t going to change.

Whether she liked it or not, she had to meet Ian and settle the matter regarding yesterday’s events.

"...."

Finally standing before the door, Lia stared at it with weary eyes.

In the end, she hadn’t slept a wink last night.

After that incident, Lia had returned to the inn immediately, but...

Due to the overwhelming embarrassment of having her secret hobby discovered, her pounding heart simply wouldn’t settle down.

Even when she closed her eyes to sleep, those thoughts kept resurfacing, and after tossing and turning, the sun had risen before she could get any rest.

Perhaps due to the tension, she didn’t feel sleepy, but instead, her sleep-deprived mind felt hazy as if filled with fog.

"...Let’s just get this over with quickly."

Dragging this out any longer wasn’t going to change anything.

After agonizing in front of the door for a long time, Lia finally knocked cautiously.

...There was no turning back now.

Waiting for the door to open, Lia quietly closed her eyes.

She wondered what kind of attitude that man would take toward her.

If the opponent had been a mere D-rank mercenary, she could have just ignored him.

Between mercenaries who both had nothing to their names, trust was something that ultimately came from one’s rank.

But...

’...He seemed quite close with Ms. Rebecca.’

Clumsy lies wouldn’t work against that woman’s intuition.

If rumors reached Rebecca’s ears, she would certainly try to dig out the truth.

If she ended up talking to Rebecca about that subject... every single one of her shameful actions would be laid bare.

She had to prevent that at all costs.

"Who is it?"

Hearing the voice that suddenly spoke, Lia’s eyes snapped open.

Before she knew it, the door of the Guild House was open.

From within, a person she had never seen before with braided red hair poked her head out and looked at Lia.

"...Who are you?"

"Huh?"

When Lia inadvertently asked back upon seeing someone completely unexpected, Tanya, who had asked the visitor who she was, was also flustered.

"...."

"...."

The two stood there flustered, staring at each other in silence for several seconds.

Lia was the first to regain her senses.

"This is the Ian Mercenary Group, right?"

"Yes, that’s right. How can I help you?"

Is she a mercenary of this group?

Lia’s mind, which had been intoxicated by fatigue from lack of sleep, finally began to function a bit.

Right. Since it’s a mercenary group... of course there would be mercenaries.

Lia, who had only been thinking about what to say when she met Ian, was slightly taken aback by meeting an opponent she hadn’t anticipated at all.

Lia first tried to introduce herself to Tanya, the mercenary who had opened the door.

"I am..."

Um.

Lia paused for a moment.

...How should she introduce herself?

Should she say she’s the person who was caught taking a walk naked last night by their captain and came here because she was threatened?

As Lia stood there agonizing for a long time, Tanya read the room and cautiously asked her.

"Are you the Captain’s guest?"

Tanya recalled hearing from Ian that a guest might come looking for him today.

A red-haired mercenary, just as she had been told. Thinking this was likely the guest, Tanya asked, and Lia belatedly nodded her head.

"Please, come in."

Though the first impression was quite strange, Tanya opened the door for Lia, who appeared to be a guest, and guided her inside.

Guided by Tanya, Lia stepped into the first-floor lounge.

"Rin, go call the Captain! We have a guest."

Tanya shouted toward the upper floor from the stairs.

A moment later, a quiet reply of acknowledgment came from above.

In the meantime, Lia, who had taken a seat guided by Tanya, looked around.

It was a space decorated in a considerably elegant style.

It was far too nice a place to be the living quarters of a D-rank mercenary group.

...Is this really a base a D-rank mercenary group can possess?

Even though she was a C-rank mercenary, Lia, who had stayed in inns all this time because she couldn’t decide on a place to belong, felt a bit intimidated seeing the scale of this enormous base.

"He said he’ll be down in a moment."

While Tanya prepared tea for the guest and brought it to Lia, Rin and Mika came down the stairs.

Having heard that a guest had arrived, the two who came down to the first floor first cautiously observed Lia.

Similarly, Lia also caught glimpses of the newly appeared mercenaries to gauge her opponents.

The one who opened the door and brought tea. This one... didn’t seem to be a combatant.

As for the others, one swordsman and one mage.

They didn’t seem like mercenaries with particularly long careers either.

She observed the members for a bit, wondering if they might be a B-rank or A-rank group hiding their true strength... but they really were members at a D-rank level.

...What exactly is the true identity of this mercenary group?

While she was pondering that, someone else came down the stairs.

"Hello. You’re early."

It was the person Lia had been waiting for. Ian made his appearance.

* * *

Ian sat in the seat opposite Lia, and soon a teacup was placed before him as well.

The members left the room to allow for a conversation with the guest, but the two sitting across from each other remained silent for a long while.

They both held their teacups without saying anything for a time.

Ian simply drank his tea quietly, and Lia couldn’t bring herself to speak easily, merely tilting her cup.

A quiet silence stretched on for quite some time.

Eventually, it was Lia, who was in the more urgent position, who spoke first.

"About yesterday..."

Why did I do such a thing?

Lia’s face turned faintly red as she recalled that night.

Of course, it was a risky thing to do. Lia understood that perfectly well with her head.

No matter how late at night it was, if someone happened to be passing by, one could encounter another person at any time.

Of course, she had done it because of that dangerous thrill, but...

She had thought that even if she were caught, she would be able to smooth it over somehow.

Thinking about it now that she had actually been caught, it was a truly foolish act.

"About yesterday.... Well, I can keep it a secret."

When Lia hesitated, unable to continue, Ian finally brought up the topic she wanted to discuss first.

Keeping it a secret wouldn’t be a difficult task.

They weren’t enemies, and Ian likely had nothing to gain by spreading the flaws of someone he had only met once.

The problem was what Ian would demand in exchange for that.

Lia looked at Ian with a tense expression.

Since she knew them as an ordinary D-rank mercenary group, Lia expected that Ian would probably demand money.

If it was within a reasonably acceptable range, she intended to pay it without complaint.

But...

Lia’s gaze flickered toward the interior of the Guild House.

It was a place that looked as if an entire noble’s mansion had been moved here.

Lia thought to herself that she could never prepare enough money to satisfy this man with her own abilities.

Looking at Ian sitting across from her, Lia spoke cautiously.

"I assume.... you want something from me in return?"

Lia swallowed hard with a nervous face.

If not money, what kind of price could she pay?

In Lia’s mind, all sorts of imaginations from last night flashed by.

Looking at this building, it was hard to think of them as a simple D-rank mercenary group.

He wasn’t an opponent she could resist.

Since she had her weakness caught by such a person...

Perhaps, in the basement of this building. Locked in a dark prison.

She might be confined while bound by cold chains and a collar.

Heh heh...

Ian would look down at Lia with a cold smile.

Lia would stare at Ian with an indignant expression, shouting to ask what he intended to do to her.

But Lia, bound in chains, would be unable to offer any resistance, merely glaring helplessly at Ian.

"You say that, but this part of you is quite honest," he would say.

Ian would reach out toward the bound Lia and...

"Here. Read this over and sign if you like it."

Hearing Ian’s voice addressing her, Lia, who had been lost in thought for a moment, snapped back to reality with a start.

Ian picked up a document he had set aside while talking to Lia.

It was something he had prepared in advance for when Lia visited.

A document of unknown nature.

It was a contract.

Swallowing the lump in her throat with a tense expression, Lia took the document placed before her and cautiously read the first line.

She wondered what kind of unreasonable demands would be written there.

Application for Membership.

"...Application for membership?"

Lia muttered as she looked down at the paper in her hand.

"I heard you were looking for a mercenary group."

"You’re telling me to join this group?"

Lia frowned slightly as she held the application.

It was true that Lia was in a difficult position because her weakness had been caught.

But that and this were strictly separate matters.

Lia wasn’t treating mercenary work as a joke either.

"If you’re trying to blackmail me with that incident..."

"Just read the contract first."

On the page behind the application was a contract detailing employment conditions.

Lia’s gaze inadvertently shifted to the contract.

It wasn’t as if reading the contract would change anything.

Even if he used that incident as leverage to hire her for this D-rank group under unfair conditions...

Unfair...

"...."

Lia’s eyes twitched slightly as she read the contract.

She checked again to see if she had misread the numbers.

She checked slowly to see if there were any poisonous clauses she hadn’t noticed.

Lia read the contract thoroughly several times without realizing it.

With a voice much meeker than before, Lia glared at Ian and spoke.

"...Are you trying to buy me with money right now?"

If you don’t buy a mercenary with money, what else are you supposed to buy them with?

After about three minutes of agonizing, Lia’s signature was eventually written on the contract.