What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

"I'm curious about something…" I muttered, turning to Ragbar who had joined me for his break time while his wife went back to work.

We were in their staff room at the back of the club this time since it was easier to have a conversation here without the music blasting in our ears.

There were a few other staff members around but most of them were doing their own things in their own spaces instead of sitting with us.

"Why not use android bodyguards for yourselves when you're travelling back home?" I continued.

He took a bite of the sandwich that he was eating and chewed on it for a while before he swallowed.

"Mmm… We did do that for some time… But then we started getting harassed by people who hate AI so we realised having them would open us up to hate from another group of people."

"Is that why you don't have any androids in your home either?"

"Partly. Though I would say it's more because of the fact that some people might be able to track androids and thus figure out where we live. So we kept them away from our home and only limited them to be used in the club."

"You can track androids?"

He shrugged, "Officially? The companies and people in charge all say it's not possible but there's rumours floating around that say it's possible. We weren't going to leave things to chance so there's that."

Great… Now that's another strike for me against getting an android… It's basically another layer of vulnerability for us if I cannot deal with it…

So unless Ries could make one herself, I don't think we would be getting one of our own from these companies.

For all we know, these companies might be spying and selling our personal information they gathered through these bots.

… I think I should stop thinking about it because now I'm wondering if my own ship could be doing that as well…

Yeah… Better to just not think about it…

Ragbar swallowed another bite of his sandwich before speaking again, "So anyway, are you planning to stay here until closing time? If you are… Wanna have a turn at the bar?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "You want me to do some mixing behind the bar?"

"Yeah! I think it would be good practice for you right? It's not like you get the chance to serve drinks professionally all the time!"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "You just want to make use of my drinks to draw in a bigger crowd, don't you?"

"Ahahaha! Can you blame me for trying though?"

"Did you even think about how you would be able to serve the same drinks after I leave and the customers start demanding for it and get disappointed when you can't deliver it?"

"Eh… We'll figure it out… So how about it? Want to try working a few shifts here? I'll even give you your own bar counter to manage!"

I stared at him for a good long minute and he was still smiling while looking at me like he didn't just suggest something ridiculous.

"Are you going to pay me for it?"

He grinned, "Oh of course! I'll pay you the same salary as we are paying our most senior bartender!"

"And I assume that 'most senior bartender' is either you or Valiea?"

"That's right!"

"... Neither of you get paid a salary, do you?"

"Ahahaha! Ok, you got me! Yeah, we don't."

Figured… This cunning guy…

These two are the owners and I believe their pay comes from splitting the profits every month so they really didn't get a salary at all.

He waved his hand, "I'm just joking with you alright? Tell you what, any tips you get, any drink you sell during your shift, they're all yours and I'll pay you the exact same amount as well. How about that?"

"I feel the need to remind you that I am not a professional bartender and I'm actually a Merc."

"Yeah and Mercs work for money right? Or are you telling me I have to submit an official Guild quest for you to do it?"

"No, I was pointing out the fact that I'm not a professional bartender and you're asking me to work as one. Aren't you concerned that I might screw up something or even do something that is taboo in the service industry since I never worked in it?"

"Oh come on, Miss Tera. With the drinks you can make, people would be literally closing their eyes to anything you might be doing just to get a taste of it. And you already said you do your own cooking, right? Then I don't need to worry about any sanitary problems either!"

"Sanitary problems?" I echoed.

"Yes? What? Did you think that people whose only cooking experience is to press buttons on a machine knows that they should wash their hands first before touching food?"

Ok… Point taken.

I thought about it for a moment before turning back to him again, "Won't this affect the challenge I'll be doing with Valiea next week though?"

His grin got wider and he turned to one of the other staff members in the room and gestured at him.

The guy nodded and went to the cupboard to take out something before walking over to us to place a featureless white mask in front of me.

"Just wear this. And you will be wearing it during the challenge as well so they will know who they have been served by this entire time."

I looked down at the mask and picked it up to give it a look.

I quickly realised that it was opaque on one side while the other side was transparent.

But there were no straps or anything to make the mask stay on my face though, so I was wondering how I was even supposed to put it on.

While I was inspecting it, Ragbar was still trying to pitch the idea to me, "Think about it! It would actually be beneficial to you as well! Instead of only appearing as a nobody on the day itself, people would recognise you as the bartender that served drinks to them a week before! They wouldn't be as biased as they were the first time!"

Ok… I have to agree with him there… That would certainly be beneficial to me.

I eyed him suspiciously, "And you're helping me instead of your wife because…"

He gave me a wry smile, "Tera… Let's just face it ok? I'm not delusional and I know how to take a loss. After all, I was the one who taught my wife what she knew and she already surpassed me. Sure, she can say that I flair better than her, but I don't have the talent to make as good of drinks as she could. Nothing makes me prouder to know that I managed to help her reach her full potential."

He then picked up the sandwich that he had been neglecting so far to take a bite out of it before looking pointedly at me, "That's why… With all that experience, I know for sure that there is no way that Valiea is able to beat you in any way on that day. The only thing that might be holding you back is if the crowd was rigged in our favour. And to us, who pride ourselves in this craft, we want a fair competition. We're not here to win all the time, we're here to be better. And competition helps us improve."

"Valiea's been winning against all her challengers so far hasn't she?"

"That's because the competition sucks, not because we intentionally made it impossible to win."

Fair enough…

"Aren't you worried that I may decide that this is a good business for me and I stop being a Merc to open up a competing bar across the street to steal business from you?"

He smiled, "Then I guess we'll just close up shop and go over to ask for a job at your place instead. And if you don't hire us… We'll retire and do something else. No big deal~"

"Just say that you know I won't do that instead of all that bullshit."

He chuckled, "Come on Tera, I entertain people and interact with all kinds of people on a daily basis. Do you think I don't know what kind of person you are already?"

"I could be putting on an act."

"Then I guess I have no one else but myself to blame for being unable to see through it. So, you want to try a shift or not? It just so happens that Jack is going to be on break in another ten minutes and his bar will be free."

I sucked in a breath before breathing out, "Fine… How do I use this mask anyway?"

Guess I might as well just take it as a way to prepare for next week.