But contrary to those fears, the actions of the Frost Mercenary Union turned out to be unexpected.

"Who did the association grant the commission to?"

"They say it was given to a small mercenary squad recommended by the Lord of Lindelfel. Apparently they know the local terrain well."

"No way. Is that really true?"

The Frost Mercenary Union began distributing the rights to carry out state commissions in an extremely honest and fair manner.

This completely shattered all expectations that corruption and connections would flourish there.

"Tregava also requested the right to take that commission, didn’t they? I was sure the association would hand it to Tregava...!"

"They say the association actually thought about it for a long time. If Tregava had taken the job, the siege of the magic stone could have been carried out almost without risk."

"Then why? Why did they pass over Tregava and give the mission to some small squad nobody has even heard of?"

"I told you already. The leader of that squad is from Lindelfel. He knows the terrain perfectly, so he can act flexibly even in chaotic combat."

"...I can’t believe it."

"Neither can I."

The Frost Mercenary Union treated all squads exactly the same.

It made no concessions to the top squads and did not suppress the weaker ones.

Thanks to that, the number of mercenary squads joining the association naturally began to grow.

‘In recent years things have been quiet, so I forgot about it for a while.’

In truth, after leaving Des Hound, Basto had no reason to pay attention to the Frost Mercenary Union.

When you carry out magic stone sieges alone, the right to take state commissions does not matter to you.

"...And now that very association is coming to save us."

And Agavert is not even a member.

But there was something else surprising.

Among those who received the muster order were the squads ranked first, second, and third.

Well, the arrival of Grimreaper and Scream of Silvar could still be taken calmly.

But Tregava—that was truly unexpected.

As befitted the squad that permanently held first place, it was a true giant. For a single mission they demanded tens of thousands of gold.

"I think this isn’t only about us."

At that moment Bale spoke.

He thoughtfully rolled the communication artifact in his hand.

"After all, it isn’t only a child trapped in the subspace. The master of the forge is there too."

Basto froze for a second but quickly came back to his senses.

‘Right.’

Because of his worry for Tie, he had completely forgotten about Berugon.

Berugon was considered the greatest blacksmith in the entire Empire.

Even the emperor himself had to personally come to him for weapons.

"That guy once shouted at the emperor himself and still stayed alive. At most he spent a couple of days under house arrest."

Basto had also heard about the incident when Berugon caused a scandal with the emperor who had brought him a broken weapon that Berugon himself had forged.

‘And he did it right in front of nobles and Holy Knights, so the rumors spread across the entire Empire.’

A mere blacksmith had humiliated the emperor himself.

If it had been anyone else, he would have been executed immediately and his head displayed on the gates of the imperial palace.

But the emperor spared Berugon.

Although people spoke of execution, in the end he was allowed to continue forging weapons.

Behind that decision stood the strong ties between the imperial court and the church.

"If something happens to Berugon, the Holy Knights will immediately run into weapon supply problems. They already depend heavily on him. If they suddenly can’t conduct sieges because of a shortage of weapons, it will be a huge blow to the emperor’s prestige."

After saying this, Bale looked meaningfully at Enzo.

"So that was a good idea. Asking the association for help. Honestly, I was so frightened I couldn’t think of anything at all."

An awkward smile appeared on Enzo’s face.

"It’s nothing special. I just did what I had to do as a member of the squad."

But he clearly could not smile calmly while worrying about Astie trapped inside the subspace.

Growing more and more anxious, Basto clenched his fist and looked out the window.

The time that passed while waiting for help to arrive felt unbearably heavy.

‘If a person spends even half a day inside subspace... they are most likely already dead.’

Since Olek had said those words, half of that time had already passed.

And when Basto felt the blood draining from his body again, he silently grabbed his forehead.

"Hey!"

The workshop door burst open, and a blacksmith rushed inside with an excited face.

"A magic circle appeared in front of the Weapon Hall!"

That meant one of the mercenary squads that had received the muster order had just arrived in the weapons district.

Basto abruptly jumped to his feet and looked at the squad members without even catching his breath.

"Let’s go."

And everyone followed him out of the workshop.

"Damn, this is all so annoying."

Second place in the mercenary rankings.

The leader of Grimreaper, Reaper Aldovrat, muttered irritably while pulling a gauntlet onto his hand.

Raising his head, he looked around at the gloomy landscape of the weapons district.

Dry earth.

Crisp leaves rolling in the wind.

Gray buildings without the slightest hint of beauty.

"That’s exactly why I never come here. Everything here is so damn black."

"Leader. But the products of Popullos cannot be underestimated. After all, you always use armor forged here."

As soon as the vice # Nоvеlight # leader Gaben said that, black smoke poured out of the chimney of one of the buildings.

Reaper irritably pulled up his gaiter and pulled it all the way to his nose.

"Yeah. But Berugon annoys me more and more. I was already thinking of changing suppliers."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But who would have thought I’d be summoned specifically to rescue that old blacksmith Berugon. If this weren’t a state commission, I would..."

Reaper cut off the sentence and clicked his tongue before turning around.

Not far away, the magnificent Weapon Hall came into view.

He murmured quietly in a strange voice.

"So the subspace of Krazar opened right there."

There was not a single mercenary who did not know about the great magical beast Krazar.

Even if now only its core remained.

"Can the cores of magical beasts really come back to life so easily? It was supposed to be a weapon. I offered that old Berugon dozens of times to sell it to me, but he refused every time."

Gaben scratched the back of his head.

"Um... according to what the association told us, it’s not exactly a resurrection."

"Then what is it?"

"How did they put it... the residual magical power inside the core may have created the subspace."

"That’s basically resurrection. Though it doesn’t really matter. We’ll just smash it and that’s it."

Reaper struck his chest with full force.

The metal armor and gauntlet clanged loudly.

Gaben nodded reluctantly.

"Yes... but the subspace can’t be seen from outside at all. So it seems Tesetan Veronio has to arrive first."

"And why do we need that guy!"

"As annoying as it is, only his ‘that eye’ can remove the camouflage of the subspace."

"Ah."

Reaper grunted briefly and nodded.

If that was the case, Tesetan’s help would indeed be necessary.

But at that moment—

"Oh my, what should we do? It seems Tregava might not come after all."

A soft voice sounded from behind.

When they turned around, they saw a woman with silver hair standing before them, wearing a white blouse and a beige apron.

She was looking at Reaper and Gaben.

Reaper’s eyes instantly narrowed.

"...Elanes?"

Third place in the rankings.

The leader of Scream of Silvar — Elanes.

She smiled, waving a wooden spoon in her hand.

"Long time no see, Reaper. A very long time."

Reaper’s face twisted.

He looked her over with irritation.

"What kind of look is that? You look like you just walked out of the kitchen."

Elanes twirled the wooden spoon in her hand.

"Oh, how did you guess? I really did just come from the kitchen."

"You? In the kitchen?"

"Well... I felt a bit embarrassed that I always eat what my husband cooks, so I decided to try cooking something myself. I just didn’t expect a muster order to be announced so suddenly."

Reaper shook his head.

Then he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"By the way. What did you say earlier?"

"About what?"

"About Tesetan Veronio possibly not coming."

Elanes drew out an "Ahh" and smiled.

"You see..."