Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

I am more or less exhausted after finishing my long explanation with the Adventurer Guild but I still moved my legs to the Mercenaries Guilds next door.
It’s just walking from one side of the building to the other not moving between two buildings though.
Is it just I or The stench of alcohol in the Mercenaries Guild is stronger than in Adventurer Guilds? Maybe it’s my nose playing tricks on me because of the image of drunkard mercenaries in my head.

 

“Welcome to the Mercenaries Guild.
How may I be of service?”

 

“I’m here to commission several mercenaries to escort a merchant corps.”

 

“Please proceed inside.”

 

Different than the Adventurer Guild, the receptionist here is a fairly old man.
I suppose there’s no need to offer the hospitality of a beautiful woman to the client who came here to commission the rough mercenaries.

 

This old man is probably a former mercenary who retired due to old age or injury.
To support the retired mercenary is one of the reasons why a guild exists after all.
Though the support the guild offered isn’t on the same level as the retirement support in modern times.

 

It’s hard to define the exact difference between a mercenary and an adventurer.
A very rough answer is adventurers are people who venture into dungeons while mercenaries are people who engaged in battle in an open field.

 

The most significant difference between the two is their versatility.
Adventurers are a jack-of-all-trades.
They can venture into dungeons or accept investigation requests like mine.
On the other hand, most adventurers moved in small groups.

 

That’s why an adventurer needs knowledge and experience to adapt to various situations.
It’s not even a stretch to say adventurers who lack both are the one that dies first.

 

While mercenaries are commissioned for a situation in which combat will be expected.
Mercenaries rarely accept a commission for things like investigation, gathering magical herps, or labyrinth exploration.
Of course, they won’t accept commissions like exploring historical ruins.
If it’s guarding an archeologist on a historical ruins’ exploration there’s a slim chance they might accept it though.

 

Also, some adventurers dislike combat and won’t accept commission related to it, like exterminating bandits, but mercenaries generally will accept.
Simply put, mercenaries are combat specialists.

 

Then, long-term jobs like becoming a city guard or maintaining public order in certain places are generally mercenary jobs, while adventurers tend to perform short-term jobs.
The variety of jobs accepted by adventurers is also more compared to mercenaries.

 

Let’s take my commission as an example.
For a short-term escort job that goes from town A to town B that’s an adventurer’s job while for a long-term escort job that goes from town A to town B, C, D, then back to town A that’s a mercenary’s job.

 

It’s not exactly a rule though.
It’s more of what kind of job most merchants and adventurers usually accept.
If an adventurer already knows and is close to a client that adventurer can accept a long-term escort mission.

 

Mercenaries are also often commissioned as one large mercenary group.
Among these mercenary groups, there’s a proper division role like an accountant, etc and in many cases, the group operated as a single organization.

 

Because many mercenaries move as one big organization it takes less time for an employer to explain the division of roles for jobs like escort missions and protection missions.
This is different compared to adventurers as many adventurers are bad at operating as a large group.

 

Nevertheless, when it comes to mercenary groups it’s important to carefully select them since depending on their leaders,  their ability and work ethics can be vastly different from one another.
Some mercenary groups have good work ethics, while some groups are no different than bandits.

 

Well, mercenaries that are no different than bandits are useful to be hired during disputes between countries since their fighting ability is rather high, but they are often despised.

 

“So you wish to put an escort commission?”

 

“Ah, yes, the specifics are…”

 

I told him the name of towns the merchant corps are going to go to, the scale of the merchant corps, the schedule adjustment based on the appearance rate of demons, and the necessary time needed for conducting business in the various towns the merchant corps are going to visit.

 

The reason why the opposite party show a surprised expression while he was listening to my explanation must be because he thought I came here not for an official business but for playing like a typical debauchery young nobles. 

 

I guess it makes sense that he won’t take a child that looked like he’s still a student seriously.

 

“Then, how many people will be protected?”

 

“About 7-8 cart.
Including the porters, the number of people that need to be protected is around 40 people.
Well, this is excluding the cart horses.”

 

“Hmm… Then since the guards need to work in shifts, the number of mercenaries you need to hire is going to be 40 or more.”

 

“I suppose so.
I think the total number of people that will go, including the mercenaries are around 150 people or slightly less.”

 

For a merchant corps that’s going to travel to a dangerous area this amount isn’t that big.
At least for me, who is a count’s heir.
If Mazell is here though, he will probably say something like ‘That’s big enough, Welner’.