Ch#118
"Basto uncle. Do you know who pooped on my head?"
Reward bureau, magic stone byproduct redemption counter.
Tie, sitting on the waiting bench, whispered into Basto's ear.
"That Holy Knight uncle earlier said exactly 'Who pooped on my head,' right?"
"What's that?"
"It's a fairy tale book where the mole goes on an adventure to find out who pooped on his head."
"I see. So who was the culprit?"
"Actually......"
For some reason, Tie closed her mouth.
Tie glanced around before asking.
"Uncle, can you handle a spoiler?"
"Spoiler?"
"Telling who pooped is a spoiler."
"Is that bad?"
"Kinda?"
"Then it's fine. I don't need to hear."
Tie nodded as if she'd expected that.
"Neeeng."
The child turned to face forward obediently again.
Inside the reward bureau.
They were the only ones waiting to redeem magic beast cores right now.
'Not many customers, but we have to wait forever......?'
"No mix coffee or Bacchus either."
Tie smacked her lips to herself.
Places like this usually had vending machines with free sweet milky mix coffee.
It was right when bored Tie started swinging her legs that didn't reach the floor.
"......Agavert?"
The door inside the counter opened, and a man she'd never seen rushed out.
"That's us."
As Basto raised his hand, the man hurried around the counter to stand before them.
Then he looked at Tie and said.
"Then you must be the Sovereign King?"
Tie glanced at Basto before slightly lifting her chin.
"Yep."
The man's eyes widened instantly.
He turned his gaze to the mountain of core sacks piled next to the waiting bench and......
"F-First, come inside!"
He guided Basto and Tie into the room behind the counter.
* * *
'It's like a bank!'
Having entered the back of the bureau, Tie looked around with a curious face.
She'd sometimes seen people getting led inside like this when going to the bank with Grandma.
And now it was Tie......!
"Eek."
Tie, who had been giggling, quickly stifled her laugh.
No wonder—right before her eyes, bureau staff were counting each and every magic beast core Agavert had brought one by one.
"So all these are byproducts from that Pearl City maritime magic stone, you say?"
"That's right."
"Must've been quite a few magic beasts we'd never seen before, huh?"
At Ornel's question, who had introduced himself as the central branch director, the hollow-eyed woman beside him nodded.
"Yes. Some aren't even registering on the scanner right now......"
She had been beeping the oddly shaped magic tool in her hand against the cores, beep-beep.
"Makes sense since they're from a maritime magic stone. Anyway, bring another sack separately."
The staff member stepped away.
Tie mimicked Basto's tone proudly.
"There was a special big octopus or something in there too."
"Octopus?"
"Yeah. One with super long tentacles and tons of suckers!"
It was about the magic beast that had sliced the ship's hull in half back in Pearl City.
But tension immediately filled Ornel's face.
"H-How did you deal with something like that?"
Tie tilted her head.
How did they deal with it?
"Mm, had my subordinates handle it?"
But it was true. At the time, Tie had just commanded the spirits awakened from the abyss.
Tie had asked them to help save the governor's sons and her members.
After that, Grimnir, the mid-level boss among the spirits, had taken care of everything.
'I wonder how Grimnir's doing?'
Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Grimnir once since leaving Pearl City.
Did she have to go somewhere with the sea to meet again?
As she pondered,
"W-Well, first off. Excluding the ones missing from the scanner, and including up to the Weapon District incident recently, the reward comes out to roughly......"
Ornel scribbled something on a paper.
Soon, a document was pushed toward Basto and Tie.
Tie slowly read the number written on top. How many zeros?
One, two, three......
"9,000 gold?"
Ornel gestured awkwardly toward the door where staff member Remi had gone.
"For now, that's it. We can probably get a bit more once we tally the ones not registering on the scanner. Another 6,000 gold or so......?"
Tie closed her mouth.
So all together, that meant 15,000 gold?
But 1 gold was 10,000 won in Korean money?
So one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand......
Ornel fidgeted anxiously seeing Tie's dazed face lost in calculation.
"I-It won't take that long. We just need to register the newly discovered maritime magic beasts in the system! A week at latest?"
"......"
"G-Geez! Fine, I get it. I'll push it through as fast as possible. Of course, the settled 9,000 gold will be paid today......"
But at this moment, nothing was entering Tie's ears.
'9,000 gold today? That's 90 million won?'
And in a week, another 60 million won.
She recalled the old fried chicken truck that sometimes came to the front of her place.
Two chickens from there with Dad cost 10,000 won.
And that times 9,000.
Then 6,000 more after that......
Tie stared blankly at the desk in a daze.
Suddenly, something Nordics grandpa had said came to mind.
About how Tie had awakened enormous magic power and such.
Honestly, Tie hadn't thought much of it until now.
She had no awareness of having done anything herself.
No wonder—she'd summoned skeletons and commanded spirits just like......
'Inviting friends to play together—nothing much different?'
Even manifesting Stasia back in Kaldbain-Ridge had been like that.
At the time, Stasia had kept giving Tie wistful looks.
As if she wanted to talk to Adelin.
So Tie had just flung wide open the gateway for the magic power gushing from inside her body.
'Like pouring water from a water purifier......'
The magic power released from her body varied in amount depending on how Tie controlled it.
A little if she controlled the force like popping a yogurt lid.
Gushing out if she pressed hard like filling a cup from the kindergarten water purifier.
And because of that, right now Tie had
"Here's the 9,000 gold first."
Several sacks stuffed full of gold coins placed right in front of her.
'I earned this?'
Tie stared blankly at the sacks.
"We'll send someone with the 6,000 gold as soon as it's ready. You set up base in Rosewbelga, right?"
Basto nodded.
"Yes."
"Then that makes two mercenary corps bases in Rosewbelga already."
Basto's brow furrowed.
"Two? Who else besides us?"
Ornel stared at Basto as if he didn't know.
"Trebaga. They set up base right in the street full of nobles' townhouses and caused a huge uproar for a while...... Hold on. You said Rosewbelga 89 earlier?"
Tie looked at Basto in confusion.
Meanwhile, Ornel added.
"Yes, 89! Then you're next door to Trebaga! See, their base address is here, Rosewbelga 90."
Soon, Basto and Tie's faces went blank.
* * *
"90 million w...... Trebaga......"
Having left the reward bureau, Tie muttered to herself while sitting on the cart Basto was pushing.
Right before leaving.
She'd completely forgotten what Ornel said about 'Agavert's ranking rising again.'
'Tie earned 90 million won.'
And in a week, another 60 million!
Of course, Tie and Agavert were already rich thanks to the jewels the bone friends brought.
But getting what felt like a proper salary was a strange feeling.
And the second thing was,
'The house next door belongs to the number one mercenary corps that Tie named herself after......'
She recalled the rattling window next door.
It was empty now, but what if those Trebaga people came back?
'How dare you flip our number one mercenary corps name to make yours? Pay name rent.'
For some reason, the image of the unknown Trebaga leader appeared villainous.
As Tie sighed 'Haah' without realizing,
"Casualties in the northwest border region?"
A quite serious voice came from far ahead.
Lifting her head, two men stood in front of an enormous mansion at the end of the street.
At the same time, the cart jolted to a stop with a clunk for some reason.
