Chapter 187

Roenn entered the audience chamber, a gray letter in his hand.

“My lord, we’ve received a report from the Light Wind leader.”

He walked up to Glenn, who was sitting on his throne, and handed over the gray letter.

“Report…”

Glenn frowned as he looked at the letter.

“I wonder if he can even write a report.”

“Certainly, most of his reports were verbal when he was a head instructor.”

“Yes. The only time he gave me a report and documents was during the survival exam.”

“Haha.”

Roenn smiled. Rimmer personally visited him to report most of the time. The only report he had prepared was the list of locations suitable for the trainees during the survival exam.

Whir!

Glenn raised his finger, and the letter floated on its own from Roenn’s hand, landing in front of him.

“Let’s check it out.”

Glenn’s hand trembled upon taking the letter from the envelope.

“What kind of report is this crazy bastard…”

“D-Did anything happen?”

“You should see it by yourself.”

Glenn handed over the document, which only contained two lines.

[Raon won against the seventh apostle. Wow!

Mission complete!]

Roenn fell speechless upon reading the contents of the letter. He was dumbstruck by the simplicity, and he felt dizzy from the ridiculous statement.

“L-Let alone the simplicity, an apostle should be at least…”

“Yes, he’s a Master. There’s no way that ageless monster would nominate someone that didn’t surpass the wall as an apostle.”

Glenn nodded, looking at Roenn’s confused expression.

“The young master should still be an Expert. How could he have defeated a Master?”

“I’m also curious about that. Moreover, I cannot grasp the situation because this damn bastard’s report is too simple. He didn’t even write whether he’s safe or injured…”

“Considering the simple expression, he shouldn’t be seriously injured.”

“Who knows? That gambling addict has a different mindset from us.”

“At the very least, it must be true that he managed to defeat the seventh apostle. Rimmer isn’t the type of person to lie about something like this.”

Roenn swallowed nervously, holding the document in a trembling hand.

“Indeed.”

“He defeated a Master while being an Expert himself. I rarely get surprised now that I’ve grown old, but Young Master Raon surprises me every time. From my knowledge, he must be the first one on the continent…”

“I’ve never heard of it before either. It’s really bothersome that he doesn’t lead a normal life.”

Glenn nodded. His eyes were sharp, but the corners of his mouth were drawing into a smooth curve.

“Why did he have to defeat an apostle and make me so curious?”

“I know, right?”

“Defeating a Master as an Expert. Everyone might go crazy. Ahem!”

“Huhu.”

Roenn smiled, watching as Glenn awkwardly boasted about his grandson.

“I want to issue an order to the Shadow Agents, but it will be faster to have the boy tell me about it directly. I want to make them return quickly and listen to the story.”

“Yes, I’m also curious.”

“And that bastard Rimmer needs a beating.”

“……”

* * *

Raon went to the city hall alongside the Light Wind squad. Since the annex building was under the main street, they had to walk for a while to reach the city hall.

“W-Wait! That’s…”

“Blonde hair and red eyes! Zieghart’s uniform!”

“That’s him! The Light Wind’s vice-leader, who defeated the seventh apostle!”

“Raon Zieghart!”

The people on the main street exclaimed upon recognizing Raon.

“I heard he was seriously injured. Why does he look perfectly fine?”

“The superhumans have a faster recovery, you know.”

“I can’t believe that such a young swordsman killed the archbishop and defeated an apostle.”

“That’s not all. He’s the one that discovered the location of the White Blood Religion’s Porvan branch!”

“I heard he even declared that he would kill the tenth apostle!”

“Is this what Zieghart is like?”

People were already aware of Raon’s deeds.

“What’s going on?”

Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked around. Everyone seemed to know about him.

“The rumor that you killed the archbishop and defeated the seventh apostle has already spread.”

“Who… Ah, I guess that’s obvious.”

He didn’t even need to ask. It was clearly the gambling addict squad leader’s doing, since he had nothing else to do.

“Well, the squad leader had the biggest contribution, but the hostages that remained there talked about you a lot.”

Burren continued with a faint smile.

“People’s awareness of the Light Wind squad has increased tremendously thanks to you. Although it was just our first mission, the rumor is spreading that you are the best among the young warriors of the Six Kings.”

“Hmm…”

Raon frowned slightly. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“He looks even more awesome when he frowns!”

“Indeed! A Zieghart needs a cold-blooded appearance like that!”

“Is he not completely recovered yet?”

“I guess. He must have a serious internal injury, since he defeated a Master while being just an Expert. He must be enduring the pain right now.”

“And he even declared war against the tenth apostle in that state. He’s a born hero!”

However, people exclaimed even more loudly, captivated by the frown.

The positive interpretation made him somewhat understand why Rimmer told him to become famous.

As he was about to enter city hall with an awkward expression on his face, a group of people came out. It was Morell, Salaman, and Princess Jayna.

“Hiee!”

As soon as the princess saw him, she shrieked as if she had seen a ghost, then stepped back. The others looked at her, and she lowered her reddening face.

“It’s been a while.”

Raon bowed to Morell politely.

“How is your body?”

“Body?”

“B-But! Isn’t the mission already over… Sir?”

Morell’s eyes widened in panic, but he still remembered to add ‘Sir’ in the meantime.

“Indeed, the mission is over. I was just kidding.”

“Ugh…”

Once he said it was a joke, Morell frowned and breathed out a sigh of relief.

“You are more playful than you look.”

“I’m sorry.”

Raon smiled faintly.

“Anyway, you really did great. On top of finding the White Blood Religion’s Porvan branch and defeating the archbishop, you even won against the seventh apostle.”

His eyes, which looked cold at a glance, were still reflecting his shock.

“I admit that our Balkar completely lost against Zieghart this time.”

“There’s no winning or losing since it was a mission.”

“No, we did lose. Have you ever heard the Balkar name on your way here?”

“That’s…”

Morell was right. All he heard on the way was his own name—that of Zieghart and the Light Wind.

“The Six Kings are allies, but also competitors at the same time. It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but Zieghart’s stature has been raised while Balkar’s stature has been lowered from this incident.”

“Are you saying that a single mission affects the value of a name?”

“That’s what it means to put the Six King’s name on the line. Moreover, everything you did was a surprise. The archbishop was one thing, but I was completely shocked when I heard you defeated the seventh apostle. I couldn’t even properly extinguish the fire in the food warehouse because of that.”

Morell smiled bitterly in regret.

Tsk, it wasn’t that amazing.

Wrath clicked his tongue in frustration.

Finish your business already and go to the restaurant.

There was nothing but food and the restaurant in his head.

“The loser will leave now. There’s nothing else for us to do here.”

“Thank you for your effort.”

“There wasn’t really any effort. We’ve just been played by your plan. I don’t understand how a weirdo like Rimmer managed to raise someone like you.”

“He still gets serious when it comes down to it.”

“But it rarely comes down to it.”

“Well, that’s…”

“Anyway, I’ll pay back today’s humiliation the next time we meet.”

Morell shook his hand, then went down the main street. He was speaking rather nicely, but his pride seemed to be hurt.

“Sir Raon, I’ll be looking forward to the next time we meet.”

“Yes, see you again next time.”

Zatice bowed at a 90-degrees as he passed by, and Raon nodded with a smile.

“……”

Princess Jayna walked between the magicians in order to avoid meeting his eyes.

“Princess, am I really not even getting a thanks, despite having saved you?”

While trying to run away, Jayna flinched and stopped walking.

“Th-Thank you…Sir.”

After saying that, she hurriedly turned around.

‘I knew it.’

Raon snickered. As expected, the prideful princess didn’t tell anyone about the incident.

“Hey.”

He called out to Inield, who was walking at the very back.

“Yes? Ah, yes!”

He straightened his back like a soldier. He must’ve realized from the rumors that Raon was on a completely different level from him.

“You didn’t get any serious injuries, right?”

“Of course not!”

He answered, but he didn’t have any front teeth.

“You should be careful in the future where you step in, since you might lose your life from recklessly interfering.”

“Yes! Th-Thank you for saving me!”

Raon tapped his shoulder, and Inield’s body trembled as he nodded.

“You can go now.”

“Yes!”

He hurriedly ran towards Morell in order to avoid being called on again.

Raon snickered, then opened the door to city hall. He could guess that the rumor was also spread inside city hall, since everyone inside widened their eyes.

Raon nonchalantly accepted their surprised gazes, heading upstairs to see the mayor.

“Ooh! You woke up!”

As soon as he entered, Porvan’s mayor, Owist, quickly stood and ran up to him. His big face was filled with a smile.

“How is your body?”

“I’ve recovered thanks to your consideration.”

“That’s a relief.”

He nodded, maintaining a big smile.

“Please, take a seat.”

“Yes.”

Raon sat on the chair the mayor pointed to.

“You really did something amazing. You saved my life—no, it wouldn’t be excessive to say that you saved Porvan City.”

“Well, it’s not that much…”

“No! It’s true!”

The mayor shook his head violently.

“Let alone the matter with the White Blood Religion, Balkar would’ve enveloped the entire city of Porvan in flames if the kidnapped princess couldn’t be rescued. You found the branch to save the princess, and even defeated the archbishop and the apostle.”

Owist wasn’t just flattering him, since it was true that the Balkar’s king treasured the princess.

“I don’t know how I can repay the favor of saving me, the citizens, and the city itself.”

He stood up from his chair and bowed deeply to express his gratitude.

“I’ve only completed a mission bestowed upon me.”

Raon showed humility for instance.

What are you doing? You came here to get money! Show your true nature!

Wrath yelled at him to show his true nature already instead of wasting time.

‘Wait a little. I can’t just straight up say that.’

He casually shook his head.

“Since you’ve completely removed the White Blood Religion’s branch and even defeated an apostle, I’d like to grant any of your wishes.”

“Ah, now that you mention, you said you would grant a reward once we completed the mission, right?”

“Yes! I did!”

Owist confidently thumped his chest.

“Well, in that case…”

Raon stretched his hand towards Dorian on his right side.

“Yes.”

Dorian put his hand in his belly pocket, taking out a contract filled with lots of small letters.

“Actually, we have so many shortages because we are a new organization. I’m really thankful that you are willing to provide us with everything.”

“What? I-I didn’t say everything, though…”

“First of all, there is too much dust in our training ground. We need to fill it with soft soil, which is best suited for training.”

Before Owist could finish the denial, Raon mentioned the first article written on the contract.

“S-Soft soil’s price is…”

“Next, I’d like to give our members a small elixir per person, because they are too exhausted from fighting this time.”

“Th-The price of elixirs is a problem, but the supply…”

“And we’d like sage’s fabrics to maintain our swords, as many as our members.”

“S-Sage’s fabric is more expensive than high-quality silk…”

“We also need some activity funds because we are a new organization, as I mentioned before. I think this much gold should be appropriate as compensation…”

“Gold on top of all those articles?”

“Yes, we absolutely need them.”

Raon ignored all the denials from Owist, listing the articles written in the contract before proceeding to the gold part, where he showed the precise amount they needed.

“Uawwgh…”

Owist’s eyes lost focus upon seeing the articles and the amount of gold.

“Do you guys need anything?”

“I want to refill the supplies that I used during this mission!”

Dorian immediately raised his hand.

“Since I used them during the mission, it should be okay, right?”

“O-Of course, that’s fine.”

Owist nodded despite his confused state.

“Really? Then, please buy me these items!”

Dorian took out from his belly pocket a paper even longer and wider than Raon’s.

“First, one big club, a small club, a special contract, a normal contract, and seventeen tents and sleeping bags. I also used a smokescreen bead and a lighting bead…”

“But you still have the clubs and the tents.”

“You know that the value depreciates after usage.”

“I-I feel like my words are getting twisted…”

Owist’s face gradually turned pale. He grasped his stomach with trembling hands.

“I need equipment to maintain the training outfit. I saw a product using water magic stones and wind magic stones on the way here.”

Burren didn’t miss the opportunity, mentioning an object used for maintaining clothes.

“I don’t have any.”

“Bead ice cream.”

Martha shook her head and said she didn’t need anything, and Runaan mentioned the ice cream, as expected.

“Ice cream? Sure, be my guest…”

“Shop.”

Owist cheered up for the first time, but his face turned yellow again once Runaan continued.

“What?”

“Bead ice cream shop.”

“……” 

* * * 

Raon left city hall with the contract signed by Owist.

Because of what he said before, he had to sign the paper, grasping his stomach as if he had an ulcer. The signature was a bit messy because of that.

What a terrible guy…

Wrath shook his head in revulsion. He didn’t seem to believe that Raon would seriously get everything written on the contract.

‘You gotta thoroughly benefit from an opportunity.’

Since you could never anticipate when the next opportunity would occur, you had to benefit from it as much as you could when you had one. Moreover, all the money would’ve become Rimmer’s gambling money if he missed it.

‘I earned quite a lot.’

Adding Owist’s gold to what he earned from the casino, he had enough money to settle anywhere on the continent, which felt rather reassuring.

While he was tapping on his inner pocket, where he placed the gold, he could see Runaan pouting slightly.

She seemed to be sulking a little because her request for an ice cream shop wasn’t granted.

“I can’t buy you a shop, but I’ll buy all kinds of ice cream instead. Let’s eat for now.”

“Mhm.”

Once Raon said he would buy her all the ice cream she wanted, she stopped pouting and nodded.

‘Where was the restaurant you wanted to go to again?’

Raon tapped Wrath, who had his arms crossed in displeasure.

Are we finally going?

‘I promised, so I’m keeping it.’

Fine! That’s what a human should do! The name is the Eastern Cockscomb! It’s famous for dishes made of chicken!

‘How did you even find out about that place?’

While you were investigating those fanatics, the King of Essence investigated the restaurants.

‘That’s amazing…’

It looked like he had gathered information about restaurants with his hearing. His passion was worthy of admiration.

“Since the mission is over, let’s go eat together. Today, I’ll buy.”

Raon gathered the swordsmen and invited them to eat together.

“Ohhh!”

“Really?”

“How generous! I knew you were different from the squad leader!”

“I heard the Eastern Cockscomb is nice. Does anyone know its location?”

“I do!”

Dorian immediately raised his hand. He really knew everything, Raon thought.

“Let’s go there since they apparently make delicious chicken.”

“Yes!”

While Dorian guided them to the Eastern Cockscomb, a red-haired elf walked towards them from the front, his shoulders drooping.

“Squad leader?”

“Raon? You woke up!”

Rimmer removed his frown and smiled brightly as he approached them.

“You have a healthy complexion. Though, weren’t your wounds more severe than this?”

“It’s all thanks to your quick measures.”

“What? Ah, yes. I did really well back then.”

Rimmer agreed with a grin.

“But you look like you lost everything.”

“I-I didn’t really lose…”

Judging from his dubious voice, he must’ve lost down to the ground in the gambling house.

“Which casino did you gamble at?”

“Cat’s Jelly.”

“……”

Raon felt like he heard that name before, and it sounded like a den of swindlers.

“Since we are having a meal together, how about joining us?”

“Meal? Of course! I’ll join! But this squad leader has something left to do. I’ll join you later.”

“Alright, come to the Eastern Cockscomb.”

Raon bowed, before heading towards the road on the right side.

“Okay, okay.”

Rimmer waved his hand, then went to city hall. A smile secretly appeared in his awkward expression.

‘He finally woke up. I can go there now.’

His conscience didn’t allow him to discuss monetary rewards while Raon was still unconscious. That was why he postponed the meeting with the mayor, and he decided that it was fine now.

“Huhuhu, you are all dead!”

Gambling was all about how much one could stake. Rimmer was already smiling, looking forward to gambling with the huge amount of reward that the mayor would give him.

“Hnngh!”

Rimmer went to the mayor’s room, humming in anticipation.

“Welcome, Sword of Light!”

Owist was grasping his stomach, his face pale. He looked like he wasn’t feeling too well.

“Are you okay? You don’t look healthy.”

“Ah, I just have a sore stomach…”

“You should be careful with your body.”

Rimmer worriedly examined Owist from top to bottom.

“I-I’m alright.”

Owist personally made some tea and placed it in front of Rimmer.

“But what’s the purpose…”

“You remember what we talked about before, that you would give us additional rewards after this mission…”

“I see, you came to confirm. Haa, your subordinates are really amazing.”

“Sorry?”

Rimmer opened his hand to get the money, but his eyes widened.

“Everything they requested was of high quality, but I couldn’t even refuse because it was still possible to acquire it in Porvan. I’m sure he thoroughly prepared beforehand.”

Owist sighed, while placing the contract on the table.

“Th-This is…”

Rimmer realized what was happening after reading the words and the names on the contract. Raon and the Light Wind had beaten him to the punch.

“Getting extorted to this extent was a first in my career as the mayor. I realized once again that I have to be careful of what I say. I should’ve said that I would grant something like five requests.”

Owist tightly grasped his sour stomach once again.

“You must’ve been worried about whether the Light Wind managed to negotiate properly, but there’s no need. Starting from Sir Raon, all of them are amazing fellows. Haha!”

“B-By the way, how about the additional gold…”

“They took it, of course.”

He pointed at the empty coffer behind him.

“They didn’t only take the articles, but also the activity funds. I’ll have to spend my own money on top of the city’s budget.”

“Ahaha! S-So, they even took the gold…”

Rimmer nodded like a fool. He couldn’t bring himself to ask for more money when Owist mentioned he would spend his personal money on top of the city’s budget.

“S-Since I’ve confirmed, I’ll get going…”

A sorrowful tear dropped from the gambling addict’s left eye as he turned around.

It’s a tiger cub that I raised…

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]