Erika: My Friend Is Obsessed with Me
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
에리카 - 친구가 내게 집착할 때
First, a wooden training crossbow for beginners, followed by a leather-wrapped longbow.
Countless blisters formed and faded on the fingers drawing the bowstring.
Calluses hardened and thickened, settling into place like an extra knuckle.
Thwip—
Thud!
It was far more fun than she had imagined.
A thrill coursed through her every time she struck the target Pechenik had set.
Erica possessed naturally sharp eyesight. She could easily focus on objects even at great distances.
‘This is fun.’
The range grew longer and longer.
Since she was both talented and passionate, the quiver never left her back.
She yearned to shoot arrows even during other training sessions, so when Pechenik briefly banned the bow, she would sneak out quietly at night and shoot to her heart’s content before returning.
Pechenik didn’t scold her for that.
Instead, deciding that Erica didn’t need much sleep, he added nighttime swordsmanship training.
Day after day.
She shot arrows and swung her sword.
Training began at sunrise, and sweat poured even beneath the moonlit sky.
Erica was happy.
Erica’s martial prowess grew at a rapid pace.
Thanks to that, she often roamed the mountains alone.
Today was the day she successfully hunted a bear for the first time.
Excited, she slung the bear over her shoulder and returned to the village inn.
“Baby bear~ doo-doo-doo-doo~ So cute~ doo-doo-doo-doo~”
A hum broke out from her lips, eager to brag to her master.
“Baby bear!”
Thud—!
She dropped the massive bear onto the ground. It was definitely not a baby bear.
She spotted Pechenik in the distance. Just as she was about to shout proudly about her hunt—
“Uh….”
Erica realized this was a situation that called for greetings first.
She approached hesitantly.
“Master.”
“You’re back early.”
“Who’s that?”
A strange man stood beside Pechenik.
He was bigger than the bear. Big enough to make the bear Erica had worked so hard to hunt look small!
“Greet him. He’s part of our mercenary group starting today.”
“I’m Caron.”
“Hello. I’m Erica.”
The bear-like man explained his circumstances with a grim, resolute expression.
“I lost in a duel against Commander Pechenik, so I accepted the outcome and decided to join the mercenary group.”
In truth, it hadn’t been a duel.
Pechenik had simply gotten bored and picked a fight with Caron as he walked past.
Naturally, Pechenik had won overwhelmingly, but since Caron had held out longer than expected, Pechenik found him interesting and invited him to join.
“Looking forward to working with you.”
A fierce face, a thick beard, and a rugged, burly physique.
One might feel intimidated by a giant old enough to be her uncle, but Erica simply scanned Caron from head to toe.
“Excuse me, are your parents bears by any chance?”
How are you so huge? Erica stared with wide, sparkling eyes, utterly fascinated.
She even circled around Caron, examining him from every angle.
“……?”
“Nice to meet you! Come to think of it, I’m a mercenary too. I completely forgot that Master and I were a mercenary group.”
“……??”
The new recruit, Caron, felt that something was terribly wrong.
What kind of mercenary group forgets that they’re a mercenary group?
Had it been a mistake to jump at the contract just because he was awed by Pechenik’s swordsmanship?
As Caron’s eyes trembled with anxiety, Pechenik thumped him heartily on the back.
“Don’t worry. We just haven’t started our mercenary activities yet. Our cute founding member has been busy training, you see.”
“Look at this!”
The cute Erica dragged the hunted bear over. It was a massive beast four times the girl’s size.
An arrow was lodged firmly in the bear’s forehead, struck dead center on the first try.
“I cracked its skull open in one shot.”
“Cough! Cough!”
Caron choked on his breath.
For a girl as small and adorable as a squirrel, her mouth was surprisingly foul.
“Can I try skinning it?”
“Of course.”
“Yay~”
Without hesitation, Erica drew a dagger.
Watching her with a satisfied smile, Pechenik nodded.
“Erica.”
“Yes?”
“I’m thinking of gathering about ten mercenaries and then taking over the Southern Guild. What do you think?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I’m going to take the head off a certain organization.”
“I’ll take it off!”
“You can’t do that yet!”
“Hmph!”
“What’s with that insolent look toward your master just now?!”
“I’m going to do it!”
Erica grew up spirited and bold.
After bringing Caron in that day, Pechenik began recruiting freelance mercenaries who caught his eye, one by one.
Since Pechenik’s standards were sky-high, mercenaries who met his approval were exceedingly rare.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“Looking forward to working with you.”
The members who joined from time to time were all exceptionally skilled individuals.
Though they possessed diverse personalities and abilities, every one of them was overwhelmed by Pechenik and treated him with deep respect.
And—
“Please introduce yourself. Can you do the duck dance? I can drink beer while doing a headstand.”
“……What on earth is that kid?”
They were secretly terrified of the sheer eccentricity of young Erica, who always clung to his side like a keychain.
The great southern city, Dangtus.
Befitting a bustling commercial city, the streets were packed with crowds.
Day or night, the lights in the city center never went out, creating a city of sleepless brilliance.
In the middle of the square stood a fairly large inn.
Because it was operated by the Dangtus Merchant Guild, security was excellent and the management was top-notch. The facilities were good enough that lower-ranking nobles occasionally stayed there.
If there was just one flaw, it was that being in a bustling downtown area meant it was noisy day and night.
Someone with sensitive hearing could hardly sleep.
“Sigh, it’s way too noisy.”
The healer, Shurin, unpacked her bags on the second floor of the inn and came downstairs.
The first floor was a dining hall.
‘Should I move to another inn? But the ones in the back alleys are full of thugs, which I hate….’
There was no helping it.
Shurin shook her head and sat down at a table.
The food she had ordered in advance arrived promptly. She took a spoonful of tomato stew, and it tasted reasonably good.
The dining hall bustled noisily with patrons.
The space between tables was extremely narrow, arranged to accommodate as many customers as possible at once.
“……so you …… right?”
She couldn’t help but overhear the conversation from the neighboring table pressed right up against hers.
“Erica, will you be able to do it before we reach the sea?”
“Yes! I’ll do my best. This is so much fun.”
It was a neat, well-dressed father and daughter.
In truth, calling them well-dressed did not do them justice; they possessed extraordinary looks.
Shurin stole glance after glance at the adjacent table. She was peeking so much her eyes felt cross-eyed.
‘Are they nobles?’
The father was a handsome, middle-aged man exuding nobility, and the daughter was overflowing with so much loveliness that one might mistake her for a fairy.
Definitely nobles secretly experiencing commoner life in Dangtus.
Shurin felt delighted just looking at them. Handsome and cute people were truly the best.
Just as she was thinking she wanted to observe the supposed noble father and daughter a bit longer—
Swish—!
Suddenly, the girl thrust her hand forward, fork in hand, aiming straight for her father’s neck.
Clang!
Having parried the fork almost simultaneously, the father’s expression remained completely unchanged.
Only Shurin, who had been watching, gasped in shock and dropped her cutlery with a clatter.
“Erica. You won’t make progress like this. I’ll have to increase the intensity of your dawn training.”
“I would’ve succeeded if this restaurant gave us knives.”
“Blaming your weapon is a bad habit.”
“Can’t you say that after you actually buy me a weapon? How long do I have to keep whittling wooden swords to use?”
“Until you can touch a single strand of my hair.”
“Hmph.”
The girl, barely reaching up to her father’s waist in height, was clenching her small fists and huffing with indignation.
What kind of conversation was that? What in the world just happened at the next table?
Shurin blinked repeatedly in disbelief.
Then a shadow fell over her. A hulking man sat down in the chair opposite her.
“Mind if I share the table? There are no empty seats.”
Since he sat down before Shurin could even answer, she had no choice but to accept.
Feeling a bit awkward, she lowered her head to eat her tomato stew—
“I’m Caron.”
The man introduced himself.
Having no particular reason to ignore him, Shurin returned the greeting.
“I’m Shurin.”
“I know. Aren’t you a fairly well-known herbalist around here?”
“You don’t know at all, do you? I’m a healer, not an herbalist.”
“Aren’t they the same thing?”
“They’re different.”
“Understood. First of all, join our mercenary group.”
“……?”
