Selena continued briskly:

“I’ve recently been looking into imperial mercenary squads.”

Tie immediately focused on her.

“It turns out that neighboring Tregava has as many as twenty three members.”

“Twenty threea......?”

“Tie, do you happen to know how the Tallocium Empire defines large mercenary squads?”

Tie shook her head.

Selena straightened her shoulders and went on:

“You have to participate in the siege of mid tier magic crystals at least five times per quarter, and the squad must have no fewer than twenty members, not counting the squad leader. Only then can you register as a large mercenary squad.”

Tie hesitantly raised her hand.

“And if you become a large squad, what does that give you?”

“Oh, Tie.”

Selena answered as if revealing a secret:

“The name sounds cooler!”

“The name?”

“Yes! Like there’s just Tanipan, and then there’s Royal Tanipan—different levels. Same here: a regular squad and a large squad.”

“A large squad......”

“So think about it—would Tregava want to merge with Agavert? Agavert is just a squad, and they’re a large one.”

Tie swallowed.

Thinking it through, she realized Selena was right.

Of course, Agavert had not only squad members, but also Lucarion, Pupu, and Marr.

But they were Tie’s summoned beings and were not officially counted as members.

Raul, who had been watching, hesitantly interjected:

“Um, but isn’t strength more important than numbers......”

“Then we just need to recruit people!”

Tie cut him off.

With her hand still bandaged, she began running in circles around the sofa.

“We’ll quickly gather twenty people! We’ll become a large squad too!”

Basto grabbed his forehead. Veyl let out a “ha” and stared at her.

But Tie, with an innocent face, ran up to Basto.

“Uncle Basto! Where do we get people?”

Her green eyes sparkled again.

“Maybe Tie can write ‘recruiting squad members’ and hang it outside? Right?”

Basto let out a short sigh and stood up.

But contrary to expectations, he answered calmly:

“There are many ways.”

By now, he understood.

If Tie decided something—she would do it no matter the cost.

Telling her to rest was useless.

She would just wander around with drooping shoulders, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Promise not to go to school for just two weeks, and I’ll find new members.”

Shock appeared on Tie’s face.

“S-school...... for two weeks......!”

But soon, determination filled her eyes.

“Okay!”

Basto couldn’t help but ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) smirk.

Patting her fluffy head, he thought:

‘Well, I was going to expand the squad anyway.’

He was already going through several mercenary agencies in his head.

The next day.

Across the Empire, large notices appeared in mercenary agencies.

“Did you see that?! The King of the Dead is recruiting!”

Mercenaries wandering the agencies began talking excitedly.

“Did you see the conditions? There’s a non disclosure oath because of the King of the Dead’s identity.”

“An oath? Isn’t that complex magic?”

“What’s there to worry about? The King of the Dead is a mage—she’ll cast it herself. So, will you apply? They say you can contact them through a communication artifact.” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“What? Agavert already has a communication artifact?!”

“Well, they’ve got a base in the capital. Of course they do. I’m applying.”

Within a single day, the flow of applicants to Agavert did not stop.

Meanwhile, at the base, Raul and Enzo were handling calls without a break.

“Yes. Please state your name, age, and main weapon.”

Raul took the applications, while Enzo carefully wrote them down.

When the connection ended, Enzo slowly read aloud:

“Russ Samuel from the Piconto squad. Age thirty two.”

“Hm, one moment?”

Selena opened a thick reference book beside them.

Marbas gathered mana and created a special magnifying lens.

With it, names could be quickly found among hundreds of pages.

[Here he is!]

Tie had obtained this mercenary data reference through contact with Marianne Veivril, the ruler of Pearlcity.

She had contacted her mother, Marquis Veivril, who immediately sent people with the documents.

All available data on mercenaries had been placed at their disposal.

“Before joining Piconto, Russ Samuel served in a northern knight order. He was discharged in disgrace.”

Selena relayed the information to Enzo.

“That’s right. The reason.......”

Enzo smirked.

“Embezzlement. And internal information leakage within the order?”

Raul, Enzo, Selena, and Marbas exchanged glances.

And said at the same time:

“Rejected.”

As soon as they crumpled the paper, the communication artifact rang again.

“AAAAAA!”

“Help! Run!”

Night.

A battlefield where a fierce fight between monsters and mercenaries was underway.

“Re retreat! We’ll regroup at the village entrance—aaah—!”

Flying monsters attacked the retreating group.

Clinging to life, the mercenaries hid under bushes and behind trees.

“We shouldn’t have listened to the leader... how did we even think we could siege a mid tier crystal!”

The wounded cried.

“I promised I’d come back......”

Faces of family and loved ones appeared before their eyes.

And then—

The sound of wings approached rapidly.

They shut their eyes, waiting for death.

“What a mess.”

Light flared in the forest.

“Veyl oppa, don’t say ‘mess’. Everyone is trying, don’t scold them.”

“If it’s a mess, I’ll call it a mess.”

“Eeng, Tie doesn’t like it when you scold!”

Several mercenaries opened their eyes and peeked out from behind the trees.

And froze.

Amid the swarm of monsters stood four figures in black cloaks.

Beneath the cloaks—pink patterns of unknown origin.

It was Agavert.

“Kkamani will catch the sparrow monsters!”

Tie called out brightly.

The mercenaries swallowed.

“The King of the Dead......?”

At that moment, a gale rose.

Tree branches bent sharply in one direction.

And pale spirits began to appear.

“Kiiiii!”

The spirits instantly pierced the monsters’ hearts.

The falling creatures were immediately dragged underground by skeletons bursting out of the earth.

Watching, Nordix calmly said:

“There are many injured here. Veyl, help me.”

“Old man, are you kidding me! I still have to collect cores!”

“You can do that later.”

Nordix headed into the forest with medicine, and Veyl followed, grumbling.

The mercenaries silently watched as Agavert cleared the battlefield.

But that wasn’t all.

An hour later—

They stared ahead in even greater shock.

Tie, surrounded by black smoke, floated in the air.

“And if you join Agavert......”

She swung Cleansing of Oblivion lightly in her hand.

A few weeks later.

“Has the bleeding stopped?”

Tregava’s base.

Allerik entered Tesetan’s wrecked office.

Tesetan opened his eyes, leaning back in his chair.

On his wrist, the vow bracelet had tightened noticeably.