“Hey, do we even have the money to pay them?” Donovan hissed, alarmed.

“A bit,” Grandma said, though she felt a bit exasperated by the surprise announcement. Still, it was more or less in line with what she had planned to do anyway. 

“I have funds,” Jiyon spoke up, eager to contribute.

[Of course he does,] Mina sighed. [He’s basically a walking purse.]

The mercenaries gathered around them, forming an unruly mob with Grandma, Tanner, Mina, Donovan, and Jiyon at the center. Grandma pulled up a slab of earth that elevated Mina above everyone’s heads, and let her address the crowd.

“We’ve determined that the source of the monsters is to the southeast. We will set out tomorrow. Once the source is destroyed or contained, you exterminators will no longer need to risk your lives here. If you join our expedition, we’ll compensate you for your contributions. Anyone who is interested, meet us at sunrise at this gate.”

Translation: after we finish our work, you’ll have no reason to stick around, so get out. Grandma watched the crowd. A small portion of the fighters looked genuinely pleased and relieved by Mina’s proclamation. The majority, however, glowered. Even though it was dangerous work, their livelihood was being threatened. Grandma marked all the fighters who weren’t part of their troup, and separated them into two groups: those who were happy about their help, and those who weren’t.

[Here,] Grandma shared an image of her sorting to Mina and Tanner. [We’ll need some people we trust to stay behind. Probably Donovan and Fariel, though they’ll be upset about it.]

As Grandma predicted, Donovan and Fariel opposed the plan, though they kept their voices down to prevent others from overhearing. “This is reckless,” Donovan said.

“We have no evidence that they’ll try to harm us,” Fariel added.

“I’m sure that will sooth the fears of the townsfolk who already live in terror of the mercenaries,” Mina sneered. “You know as well as I do that they’re abusing their position as so-called defenders of the town to take advantage of the people who live here.” The girl pointed out the fighters one by one. “That one wandered around the market and took whatever she wanted without paying a single coin. That one has been touching the bar maids all evening, despite being asked repeatedly to stop. The others at the table have been egging each other on as well.”

Grandma created a small illusion that showed everyone in the room as blue dots. As the girl enumerated the multitude of sins, the criminal’s corresponding dot turned red. With a wave of her hand, Grandma added little triangle markers over the heads of the ones she had deemed potentially dangerous. The overlap was nearly perfect.

“Tell me again, how they won’t harm us,” she growled. “They are already doing harm.”

Fariel dropped his head into his hands and sighed. “All right, what do you want us to do?”

“Just keep an eye on things here. We’ll give you a mirror that lets you see a map of the town and all the marked mercenaries, and two bracelets that shake when a potentially dangerous one is nearby.”

Grandma pulled out a rectangular mirror studded with small stones and positively stuffed with mana. Fariel took it, and activated it with a touch of his own magic, then cooed over how clever it was. A gray outline of the town appeared on the surface of the mirror, with colorful triangles that moved about. A dense cluster of red and blue triangles sat in one spot, the inn where they were currently eating dinner. Other triangles slid slowly along the gray streets beyond the inn.

The bracelets were little more than metal cuffs, with arcane symbols engraved on the inside. Donovan and Fariel examined the cuffs, flipping them this way and that, before slipping them on. 

“You can activate them with a little mana, and also deactivate them when you’re in a big crowd of them like right now so your hand doesn’t keep shaking.” Mina demonstrated. “Uncle Captain, can you circulate enough mana to do that?”

Donovan scowled at the impudent girl. “Of course I can. You taught me ages ago.”

“If anyone causes trouble, pulse mana into the bracelet three times and it will remember the marks of everyone nearby. Fariel, please keep notes on abusive behavior. Note the day, time, actions, and people involved. We’ll clean up here after we clean up the dungeon.” Mina’s face was hard and cold. She spoke matter of factly, with the carefully precise enunciation that indicated she was exerting supreme self control. Neither she nor Grandma had any tolerance for people who abused their power or their position, to instill fear and cause suffering for others.

Donovan shivered. He had seen Mina like this a handful of times in the years they’d been together. He could help her achieve her goals, stay out of her way, or be ruthlessly trampled. He chose to help.

“You got it, little miss. Stay safe out there.” Donovan clasped her hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze before releasing her. “See you in a few weeks, most likely.”

In the gray light before dawn, Grandma, Mina, and Tanner gathered at the gate where they had fought the night before. The monster corpses had been stripped for parts, and Grandma had dissolved the remainder into mana and stored it in her golem body for future use. A small crowd coalesced around them as the sun rose. Nearly all the fighters that Grandma had marked as harmless had shown up, and maybe half the reds. Donovan and Fariel would have their hands full. 

“Why should we follow a little girl like you?” One man challenged as the sun cleared the horizon.

Mina checked his mark: red. “Because I’ve done this quite a few times already, and because I’m stronger than you,” Mina answered with a sweet smile.

A few chuckles sounded among the crowd. The cocky man strode forward, not knowing when to back down. “Yeah? Prove it.” He drew his sword and lunged toward the girl.

Mina didn’t bother to draw her sword in answer. She raised a little bit of stone in front of the man’s foot with magic and sent him sprawling into the dirt, sidestepping him neatly as he skidded past. Before he could rise, she placed her boot on the back of his neck and leaned down, shoving him face first back into the ground.

“Wanna test me some more?” she asked.

The man, lacking the self preservation instinct of the lowest mosquito, struggled to rise, cursing and spitting in the dirt. Mina shook her head and clicked her tongue against her teeth, making a sharp disapproving noise. The soil around the man softened, then reformed as shackles around his wrists and ankles, binding him to the earth.

“Anyone else?” she asked, sweeping her eyes over the assembled fighters.

Grandma watched the crowd’s reaction, adjusting her markers. Some hid smiles, while others scowled. Still others kept their faces carefully blank. The ones who knew enough to hide would cause the most problems later on, she was sure. Grandma flagged them in black.

Donovan and Fariel had insisted that Mina take at least half the troops along, including their elite six, which unfortunately included Jiyon. Grandma thought he would have been safer staying behind in the town, since this time they weren’t just hunting magical beasts. Still, the boy grew up in the imperial court, so perhaps he had learned something about the kinds of scheming and betrayal people could get up to. For his sake, Grandma hoped that he wasn’t as naive as she suspected.

It was a small blessing that frogs were generally quite calm and kept to themselves near water. For the most part, they did not encounter any trouble as they marched toward a destination only Mina could sense. Along the periphery, Tanner and Grandma’s beasts followed them, keeping mostly out of sight and dispatching any frogs that did get a little frisky.

The mercenaries self sorted into roughly two groups, more or less along the same lines that Grandma had suspected. The ones who were genuinely curious and eager to end the waves of giant frogs followed along closely, chatting up the soldiers and learning as much as they could about the dungeon. Some of the blank-faced fighters moved among them, listening in or making small talk, but they carried a subtle frisson of tension in their bodies.

The questionable mercenaries straggled behind them, jostling each other and making boasts or bets, or discussing crude topics that Grandma hoped Mina couldn’t hear. People were people everywhere she went, Grandma thought, for better or for worse.

Tanner and Grandma brought up the rear. Grandma’s golem carried an enormous pack, ostensibly acting as Mina’s servant. Tanner was easily overlooked as another servant, plodding along next to the golem. The mercenaries paid no attention to either of them, dismissed them as beneath their notice after a fleeting glimpse, all except for one man: the mercenary that Mina had provoked on their first day in town. That man glanced back at them periodically, as if he expected Grandma to knife him in the back. Grandma was tempted to give him exactly what he was thinking of, but she held herself back.

They reached the dungeon entrance after several days of marching. Mina was amused to see that it was another stack of stones, this time in the middle of a marsh. Though the sun was dipping toward the horizon, they decided to presson through the dungeon entrance, since nobody wanted to camp in the mud.

On the other side, it was also wet and spongy, but with the sudden abundance of mana, Mina was able to raise up enough stone to keep everyone dry, and even shelter them with walls. Tanner and Grandma helped, subtly, out of sight, so that the mercenaries’ attention would remain fixed on the girl. They camped for the night, and made preparations for the real work that would begin the next day.