Chapter 109

The day after the Evil Bound fiasco, I met up with the Gordon brothers in an alleyway .

Of course, it was to give me the reward I had collected from Gaston .

As I walked in as promised, I saw Gordon looking at me and waving his hand .

Gordon yanked the bag from Mordons hand and ran towards us .

By the looks of it, the retrieval from Gaston seems to have gone well .

Mea doesnt seem to have a good impression of Gordon, perhaps because of her first time seeing him, so she lowered her mouth a bit as Gordon ran towards her and quietly hid behind me .

Brother Abel! Heres the reward for this subjugation and the redemption of the roots! Its awesome, how much do you think it is?

Gordon said as he stopped in front of me, waving the bag around .

Mordon catches up a little later .

Wai-, wait brother you dont have to run so fast

Mordon is resting on his shoulders, tired from running so fast to keep up with his brother .

I dont know how much Gastons reward handover was worth, as it took place at a special window .

I heard that Evil Bounds roots are worth a lot there, and once the private army withdrew, they must have been getting more attention .

Its not very discernible from the bulge in the bag, as it depends on the price .

Is this about 800,000 gs?

If theres so much money coming in consistently, it might be enough to get out of town at least once a month now .

Well, the atmosphere will freeze if it exceeds the actual value here .

Lets say my expectations are low .

500,000 something

Oh, thats a lot, well, About a million gs?

Mea, who had been hiding behind me, half-showed herself and covered the words in a slightly overwrought voice .

As soon as I could, I stepped forward, holding Meas shoulder to hide her .

One hundred and fifty thousand Gs, one hundred and fifty thousand Gs! A million for the defeat! Five hundred thousand in root cash!

Hundred!?

Was that demon really that dangerous?

Youll often see guys in the tavern complaining that the rewards for adventurers will be narrowed down considerably, but theyve been very generous .

It feels a bit strange to say if he was that dangerous of a demon, but it was after the lords private army had retreated, so perhaps the timing was good .

Gaston did a good job of giving it honestly .

I honestly thought that with so much money, Id just leave town and disappear .

Yeah, hes weirdly obedient . He was in a good mood . Said hed look after you .

That old man is a lot easier than I thought he would be .

I wonder if he was that happy with his reputation .

Its just that he asked me to lend him some money, so I lent him some of my own money . Hes afraid of giving away his abilities, so he cant organize a party, and hes struggling to find the money . Theyre going to be repairing the city wall, which is a temporary job .

Yeah ohhh, yes . So thats whats going to happen

If the citys heroes are out repairing the walls, thats probably more suspicious .

In the first place, you cant do adventurer activities even if you raise your rank, what is he going to become like this?

When this one guy wanted to quit, I should have cut him off as soon as possible instead of keeping him .

Hes gone from being a semi-D-class adventurer to a day laborer .

Why is that guy happy with that?

Ho, really, do you have a million and a half? Let-, let me count them .

Mea shows herself out of me again and gently reaches out to Gordon .

Does the amount really bother you that much?

Whats up, little girl on the corner? I dont mind, but you wont want to get too much attention here .

After receiving the bag from Gordon, Mea crouched down to it, put his hand in the bag, and began to count the coins .

Fif-, fifty thousand, one hundred thousand one hundred and fifty thousand'

With a thoughtful expression, she mumbles to himself .

Oh, I thought she was acting strange, its because this time around, Ill be able to pay off most of my debt to Mea .

No wonder I thought she was strangely concerned about the amount .

Mea has a record of trying to buy up Jamess entire merchandise and lending me two million pounds, so for now, Ill keep it as a livelihood fund .

But I cant keep this up forever .

It would be nice if I could pay her back in some way .

After receiving the reward money, I gave the commission to the Gordon brothers and then said goodbye .

I gave them more than enough for Gastons debt .

For now, I had trouble storing a large sum of money, so I decided to replace it with precious metals and hide it inside the World Tree Ortems body .

This would allow me to get them close at hand and provide excellent security .

I adjusted and insured it with magic so that if it was touched awkwardly, it would cry out loudly and flail about, and then go on a rampage .

I spent quite a bit of time on it, so I hope it works at least once .

I head to the Adventurers Support Center halfway for gathering information .

I have to make sure Gastons reputation from his surroundings .

I found some men who used to be Gastons cronies, so I decided to eavesdrop nearby, pretending to read the Adventurers Newspaper .

Ah, Gaston-san have become so distant now I knew this would happen someday, you know . The way he swung his sword was different, after all . This is what happens when you swing your sword

A large man with a hood on his head says that with a knowing look on his face while nodding his head in agreement with a single person .

Thats just the weight of the sword pulling you down, isnt it? You were laughing at the bar, too . You know, dancing around with your sword, imitating Brother Gaston . Dont you think youre being arrogant because of brother Gastons achievements?

The relatively small man in the group glares at the big man with a kleptomaniacal smile .

The big man glares back at the smaller man with a disgusted expression .

Nono, we knew he was going to be big too . Its just that he smells differently than we do .

Yet another man praises Gaston as if to quiet them both .

I heard he got drunk last night at the Drunkards Pavilion . Isnt that strange? Because all of a sudden this happens, this is absolutely crazy .

Again, the small man interrupts .

He shakes his head in a big, deliberate way and exhales loudly, Haaaa, as if in disgust .

The faces of the men who have been talking enthusiastically are clouding over .

You want to criticize Gaston-sans performance, Childe? Huh?

Eh, no, but

The small man, Childes expression crumpled as he looked around and then realized that his companions were gone and his expression fell as if he was impatient .

You look so happy talking behind people . Who do you think you are? Would you like to be rust Gaston-sans sword?

Gaston-sans sword is in the pawnshop now .

What nerve . Step outside .

Wait! Be-, because! Because! Let go of me, youre hurting me! Hey!

Childe was quickly surrounded and led out of the facility .

Mea and I watched the destination of Childe, who was being dragged away with a blank expression .

Rumors are a scary thing, arent they?

Weve seen how the truth is being crushed by the majority .

The way Childe said it must have been a disaster, though .

Tha-, thats true .

I was about to leave the Adventurers Support Center with a bad vibe .

As I was about to walk off quietly, I was called out from behind me .

Isnt that Abel? We meet again .

Hiiiiii!

I turned around, screaming, and saw a familiar blonde .

It was Maizen .

wha-, what, so its Maizen . You look fine, whats

I was about to utter the template for when I met a familiar face, but I stopped the words in mid-sentence .

There were circles under Maizens eyes .

If, if you have something to worry about, Im all ears, okay? Are you okay?

Yeah, yes, we-, well, its not a big deal . If its up to me, I can handle an ordeal of this level! maybe .

Apparently, the partys cushiness has yet to be resolved .