"It’s a lot different from what I imagined...."

The high-end residential district in the south of the city.

Lia looked up at the building in front of them and muttered reflexively.

Since they were going to meet an officer, she expected a decent shop near the barracks, but their destination was a luxury residential area.

In terms of sheer scale, the guild house was obviously larger, but this was the southern street where property values were the highest in the city.

In terms of price, they were likely on par.

"Getting into the Defense Bureau at that age is difficult without a background. Officers serving in the central command are usually not ordinary citizens."

Ian finished explaining to Lia and looked up at the building before him as well.

Captain Leona, with whom he had a brief encounter during the last invasion.

He had reached out to meet her to offer his thanks, but being invited to her private residence was quite unexpected even for him.

A rather headache-inducing conversation was likely ahead.

It meant there were topics she wanted to discuss without worrying about prying eyes.

After a moment’s thought, Ian quietly knocked on the door.

* * *

"It’s been a while. This is a gift."

Ian first presented the gifts he had prepared.

There was the one Ian prepared himself, and another from Louise, who had also received help and asked him to deliver it on her behalf.

Leona glanced at the gifts and spoke to Ian.

"A bit too extravagant for a simple greeting gift."

"I received help from Second Lieutenant Mikhail. Thanks to that, everything was resolved well."

Ian placed Leona’s coin on the table.

Leona tilted her head as if hearing the name for the first time.

"Mikhail?"

"He’s with the patrol unit."

The patrol unit.

After a very brief moment of thought, Leona nodded as if she remembered.

"...Ah. I think I recall now."

He wasn’t someone she had particularly kept an eye on, but Leona, having recalled a faint memory, asked Ian.

"How was he when you met him? A very transparent opportunist, wasn’t he?"

Since it wasn’t a topic where adding his own words would do any good, Ian simply gave a small smile.

"Well, I see. It happens to be the time for personnel changes in the guard. I’ll submit a recommendation for him."

"A recommendation?"

Leona observed Ian’s expression. He looked surprised that she would go that far after speaking as if she didn’t like the man.

Leona smiled.

"Regardless of who it is, if they are owed a debt because of this, it’s only natural to pay it back on their behalf."

Saying so, Leona flicked the coin Ian had offered and returned it to him.

The weight of the value contained in that simple coin was immense.

"That’s how its value becomes more expensive."

Do you know how many people are hovering around just to get one of these from me?

Leona muttered to herself.

The casual exchange of thanks ended there.

Ultimately, it was merely an excuse to create a place to talk further with Ian.

Leona picked up a bottle of liquor that was on the table.

"Will you have a drink?"

She filled the empty glasses one by one. Leona’s gaze then shifted to Lia, who was standing quietly behind them.

"And you... your name is?"

Leona narrowed her eyes as she looked at Lia.

She seemed quite skilled, but she was someone Leona had no memory of. Someone of this caliber should have certainly left an impression.

"I am Lia."

"You seem like a mercenary I didn’t see during the last operation."

"I joined recently."

With a simple glance, Leona realized that Lia was a mercenary who had seriously mastered the sword. Likely a C-rank mercenary.

She didn’t seem like a dissolute mercenary. Nor did she seem like the type of person who would follow just anyone.

"It seems good people gather around a good person."

"...Thank you."

As she said this, Leona filled Lia’s glass.

Lia suddenly remembered the reason she had joined the mercenary group, and her face turned red for no reason.

Tilting her glass, Leona asked Ian first.

"Apparently, you weren’t interested in my proposal."

Seeing as there had been no contact until now, it seemed the offer to become an officer was a refusal.

"Being a mercenary suits my disposition better."

Hearing Ian’s answer, Leona whispered to herself internally.

It would be nice if that were truly the case.

Where else could you find people as easy to draw in as mercenaries?

However, how contradictory and troublesome is a mercenary who does not desire money or fame?

"Shall I ask point-blank? I dislike playing power games with things like this."

After a moment of thought, Leona spoke honestly.

"I need your ability."

"Why would you need a mercenary like me?"

It was a somewhat puzzling statement to Ian.

Certainly, what Ian had shown back then was a new strategy capable of drawing interest from those around him.

But why would Leona, who was still just a regular officer, need someone with such an ability?

At the very least, it wouldn’t be for personal reasons.

Leona understood Ian’s doubt and, after a brief silence, spoke cautiously.

"Do you happen to know what kind of person the current Mayor is?"

"I don’t know the details."

Mercenaries were not citizens, so they could not participate in voting.

Ian had heard news that the mayoral election was being held, but since he had no way to influence the vote, he had only checked the candidates and the results.

The result this time was the reelection of the incumbent Mayor.

Leona didn’t expect Ian to know much either.

It wasn’t a topic an ordinary mercenary would be interested in.

"The current Mayor is a disarmament advocate. He always talks about the costs of city defense being too heavy."

The city’s defense is stable, and the system is solid.

The overall level of mercenaries has also increased over time.

Among the residents, almost no one truly feels anxious that the walls will fall.

"To the merchants, doesn’t it sound like a pretty good deal? The burden of defense costs decreases, and if the number of mercenaries increases further, the market will grow too."

Leona looked down at the swaying liquid in her glass.

"You came from the outside, so you probably don’t know. I’ve lived here since I was a child, and there was a time of great damage during an invasion."

The wall’s defensive line completely collapsed, and monsters entered the residential areas.

Leona recalled a faint memory from her childhood.

Perhaps because of the alcohol, an old wound throbbed for no reason.

"The mercenaries who were there back then fled. No matter how much money you give them, who would jump into a place where they are certain to die?"

She had no intention of blaming the mercenaries who didn’t risk their lives to hold the line at that time and place.

However, things could have been better than they were.

"As I grew up and became an officer, the more I learned about the city’s affairs, the more I realized."

It didn’t have to be like that.

This city had more than enough resources to prevent it. Both then and now.

The reason, then and now, is likely one and the same.

Because the gold coins that can be saved are more important than the absolute safety of the residents.

On their scales, gold coins were heavier than citizens.

"If you leave the city to such people, something like that might happen again someday."

Leona stopped mid-sentence as the thought suddenly struck her as strange.

Now that she thought about it, this wasn’t a lament she should be sharing with a mercenary.

It was just that he didn’t seem like a typical mercenary.

She chuckled to herself under her breath.

The Mayor, huh.

Watching Leona, Ian recalled the mayoral candidates he had looked into a while ago.

There were two candidates for the current election.

The incumbent Mayor supported by the merchants, and a rival candidate from a military background.

It was obvious which candidate Leona would side with without even asking.

Unfortunately, the city was still too peaceful for the citizens to worry about its safety.

Although he had no voting rights, who became Mayor had a slight impact on Ian as well.

If commerce develops, high-end items circulate in shops, and the mercenary group’s income increases.

Military development directly aids the city’s defensive power.

From Ian’s perspective, it didn’t particularly matter either way.

He would just move according to the Mayor’s decisions. It wasn’t something he could choose directly even if he wanted to.

However, if there was an opportunity to choose....

When Ian remained silent for a while, Leona laughed.

"My apologies. This is too political a topic for a lone mercenary to answer, isn’t it?"

"No. I feel the same way."

Hearing Ian’s answer a moment later, Leona wore a somewhat surprised expression.

The city’s political issues were something an ordinary mercenary wouldn’t care about.

The smarter a mercenary was, the more they tried to distance themselves as much as possible from such matters where involvement meant a loss.

Leona guessed as she looked at Ian’s face.

...Apparently, you have something you want.

It was unexpected, but positive. Having a desired price meant there was room for negotiation.

Leona thought about what Ian might want in exchange for stepping into political matters.

He seemed to not want to enlist.

Taking a position in the Guild was something he could likely do on his own.

After a moment’s thought, Leona asked.

"Do you want a seat on the City Council?"

"I’m going to enter the Labyrinth."

Damn it. No wonder.

Leona emptied her glass without answering.

"Do you believe in that too? That there’s a treasure or something at the deepest part of the Labyrinth that grants wishes."

Most of those who wanted to enter the Labyrinth were like that. People with presumptuous wishes that could be fulfilled neither by money nor power.

Ian didn’t give a particular answer to that and asked cautiously.

"Whatever my reason may be. Isn’t it necessary for the plan? Someone who will take the lead in uncovering the Labyrinth."

Leona looked up at Ian’s words.

It was a question that precisely pierced the part she needed most.

"And here you said you didn’t know much about the mayoral election."

"I heard the candidates’ pledges. Knowing them in advance might be helpful."

To actively support Labyrinth exploration, which had been left to autonomy until now, to suppress the emergence of monsters and prepare for threats.

It was the pledge that had remained most in Ian’s memory.

In reality, it was a perfectly viable strategy.

Monster waves occur when monsters created in the Labyrinth overflow to the outside.

If you enter the Labyrinth and destroy the source that creates the monsters, the scale of the next wave decreases accordingly.

The more sources you destroyed, the weaker the next wave became, and it was even possible to target and remove the sources of monsters that were difficult to defend against, such as aerial monsters.

Since it hadn’t been just a day or two since this city was built and Labyrinth exploration began.

This was already commonly known information.

"Have you found someone to enter the Labyrinth?"

"...Not at all."

However, there were two reasons why that method had not been utilized.

Until now, they could defend sufficiently without doing so.

And there was no one who would enter the Labyrinth for the sake of the city, rather than for personal goals.

Leona had met quite a few mercenaries to find collaborators, but Labyrinth explorers were all so deeply immersed in their own personal goals that proper negotiation was impossible.

"Does that mean you are different from those people?"

"At the very least, haven’t I come out to a meeting like this?"

"I didn’t call you because of the Labyrinth."

Leona sighed and leaned back against her chair.

Leona needed the ability of Ian she had seen back then.

Ian certainly possessed the strategic capability to further develop the defense of this entire city.

The best scenario was him joining as an advisor, and the secondary option was receiving continuous strategic advice.

But of all things, the Labyrinth.

"So, what you want is... not to take a position somewhere, but...."

Leona organized her thoughts for a moment, then looked at Ian and asked.

"Support for your Labyrinth exploration?"

Ian nodded.