Volume 9 - CH 5

"Nice to meet you, Your Excellency. Thank you for your time. My name is Yumi, a merchant who belongs to the Merchant's Guild. Today――"

Yumi and I stood up and were about to greet him, but the Marquis interrupted us with a light wave of his hand.

"Oh no, no need for a lengthy greeting, as we too are bored with time."

"I'm sorry. I understand."

"No need to apologize, but you said your name was Yumi. I've heard that name before. I've heard of her. She works for Perros-san. She's young but very capable. How is your mother?"

"Oh, yes, thanks to you, she's fine now."

From this exchange, it seems that Yumi's mother is ill. If she's working hard to earn money for her mother's treatment, I'm impressed.

"I see. If you ever need a rare medicine, let me know. I might be able to help."

"Yes, thank you very much. I may ask you to help me at some point, but today is a different matter."

"I heard there's a disturbance on the main street today, is that one of them?"

"Yes, well."

"Hmm. So, who are you?"

"I'm Alec, a B-rank adventurer from the Black Cat of the Wind."

I said it a little arrogantly to see his reaction, but the Marquis of Seiren nodded without any sign of anger. It seems that you have a lot of experience in doing business with adventurers. It seems he's more experienced than I thought.

"It's an interesting day when you can meet the hero who caused the disaster. The combination of the two makes me wonder if you're here to talk about Cacoo coins?"

"Wow, how did you know?"

"My sense of smell for trouble is naturally trained. I also have a rare set of related skills."

"I see. Is that how you got this job?"

"No, I used to be the Minister of Finance. But now is not the time to talk about my past. What happened over there?"

I told him that Serina had been arrested and I wanted to release her.

"Hmm, a B-rank with no particular criminal record. No one died, right?　Then it's easy. I'll get it done today."

""Thank you very much""

"You can show this letter to the knight in charge. However, the condition is that you pay the bail money to the royal castle and do not flee. It's collateral, so it's going to be reasonably expensive. Do you think you can pay it?"

"How much would that be?"

"If it's a B-rank party, I'd say 50,000 gold per person."

Yumi looked at me, but I can provide that much. If it's not enough, I can sell one of the Flame Swords.

"No problem."

"Very well. Then you'd better help your friends quickly."

"Thank you, Your Excellency. It's very generous of you to help me, but my clan is planning to enter into a state of war with the White Dog. I'd appreciate it if you could help us with that in the future."

Yumi asks.

"I refuse. I'm neutral on everything. Well, don't worry about that, I'm sure the higher-ups will take care of it."

"So you're saying that His Majesty the King will make a move?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But if you don't return the money you collected by breaking the contract, and if you cause mayhem, there's no way His Majesty will keep quiet about it. He doesn't approve of collusion, you know."

"Yes, sir."

"Marquis, this is just a free advice, but now that you've met us, there might be assassins coming here as well. You might want to beef up your security."

I gave him this advice as a thank you.

"You have nothing to worry about. Jade!"

"On your side."

A voice came from behind me, right next to my ear.

"Kkuh!"

Before I could turn around, she had two knives to my neck, but it seems he has a competent bodyguard.

"Oops, don't kill me. This is just a free introduction."

"Oh, excuse me."

The man with the crooked back put down his knife and crab-walked away, keeping his gaze fixed on me with a smile. What a creepy bastard.

I've never seen an assassin with that kind of skill before.

He must be some kind of skilled assassin.

"Is that the same guy you exonerated?"

You're far from a good lawyer when you've got assassins around you like that.

"No, you're wrong. But he came to me saying he was looking for a job, and he pulled a knife on me."

"That's why you hired him. That's some fucking courage."

"Courage, huh? If you value your life, I suppose."

It seems that there are some circumstances, but for me, it's fine as long as Serina and the other are released.

"Marquis, how much is the key money this time?"

"I don't need such a thing. I'm not doing this for business. This is just a belief."

"Hou~. I'll keep your name in mind."

In the future, if he have any requests, I'll be happy to listen to the Marquis' requests for a low fee. However, it would be troublesome if he were used me like a handyman like the current king, so I won't say that much.

I looked at the skill list and saw that 【Unexpected Strike Lv5】 had increased. It's the Assassin's skill from earlier.

I think I can use this in battle.

"If you need anything else, please let me know."

I thanked the Marquis again and went to the royal castle on that foot, summoned the knight with jurisdiction and handed him the letter.

"Alec!"

Serina, Luka, and Letty were released and came out.

"Thank you. It looks like you asked for me."

"Yes, I did. But it's not for free. Bail is 50,000 gold each person."

"Ehh, ......?　Oh, well, it can't be helped."

"I'm sorry."

Luka felt responsible and apologized, but the one who was at fault was Seirina, who had cashed in 500,000 gold.

"Yumi is paying for it, so you guys can pay for it later."

"I understand"

"Yumi-san, wait 50,000 days, I'll pay you back."

"Sigh"

You're only going to pay back one gold a day. You can take the interest only on Letty now.

I left the castle and tried to return to the inn, but I found a lot of wooden coins on the road.

"Oho!　It's money!"

"Don't pick it up, Letty. It's just a piece of wood."

"Eh?　Well, I guess that's what they call it."

"Also, now that this has happened, you should know that we're going to war with White Dog. Well, it seems that the "Hero☆Serina☆Kira!" has exposed the evil deeds of the evil merchants."

"I don't want you to make fun of my name, but are you saying that if I hadn't cashed in, this situation wouldn't have happened?"

"Well, not this time, but it would have happened eventually, so don't worry about it."

"Hmmm ......, y-yeah!　I'm going to have to trust Alec."

Otherwise, she's the one who caused the Great Depression.

But to have this happen just by withdrawing a large amount of money, it's still a problematic currency.

We arrived at the inn where we were staying, the Dragon's Lodging Tree, to find a large group of unfamiliar adventurers.

There were many unfamiliar adventurers wandering around the inn.

All of them had scars on their faces and a sharp look in their eyes. They were probably not the kind of people you'd expect to see in a mild-mannered or good-natured group.

"Please be careful. They must be mercenaries hired by the White Dog."

Yumi said, and all of us slowed down to a defensive walk.

"What are we going to do?　There's a bit too many of them."

Serina asks.

"If possible, we'd like to meet up with the guys in the inn. Until then, don't make any moves on them."

"I got it."

"Oh, Alec, that's you, isn't it?"

One of the mercenaries stood in front of me.

"So, what is it?"

"Heh, I'll tell you who you've been fighting with. Die!"

All at once, the mercenaries drew their swords and slashed at me.

"Tsk, Letty, hit one of the big ones with whatever you've got!"

"I'm on it!　To the owner of the Seven Keys of the Hill, I am a claimant under the Blood Pact of Ages. Come forth, tower of the sun, press and blast!　Art is an Explosion!"

As Letty quickly completed the spell, the feet of the adventurers who had been running towards us exploded with a flourish.

"Gyaaa!"

"Owaaa!?"

"Pupi?" (?)

"Abeshi!" (?)

Okay, there was enough noise. Now the people inside will have noticed.