Ch#143
One week later.
Reward Office Central Branch.
Beep-
Beep-
Beep….
Red lights blinked regularly in the silent office.
It was the light that came from the reader every time Reward Office staff Ornel and Remi operated it.
As soon as the verification of all the nuclei was finished, Remi began packing them into sacks with weary eyes.
Ornel, who had set down the reader, lifted his head.
A calm-mannered knight—no, mercenary—sitting across from him was looking at him.
Ornel asked.
“Y-you brought one sack of nuclei from a small Mana Stone yesterday, right…?”
“Yes, that's correct.”
“The day before, you sieged a medium Mana Stone.”
“Yes.”
“The day before that, two small ones….”
“Probably.”
Ornel shut his mouth, at a loss for words.
“Ah, the reward money goes this way.”
Meanwhile, another Agavert member was loading the reward money onto the cart beside them.
Ornel, staring at the sight, barely managed to part his lips again.
“How on earth are you doing it…?”
Enzo, who had been counting the sacks of gold coins, lifted his head.
Raoul beside him asked back with a faint smile.
“Doing what?”
“Sieging! How are you doing it so fast?!”
Having worked at the Central Branch for 20 years.
Ornel had met countless mercenaries over that time.
And most of them were fairly renowned in the mercenary industry.
Only those of such caliber came to the capital, allied with Holy Knights to siege Mana Stones, and such.
However,
‘Even famous groups like Grim Reaper or Trebaga never brought in nuclei at this speed!’
Ornel recalled the past week with a dizzy head.
Agavert had visited the Reward Office without fail every single day.
To register their siege accomplishments and exchange monster nuclei for reward money.
“Are you perhaps dividing up the byproducts from Mana Stones you sieged in advance beforehand?”
Raoul burst into laughter.
“The reader would tell you if it were us, Branch Chief.”
Looking toward the reader, Remi answered in a dry voice.
“...The coordinates are different. Today's is from Gorgonta Floodplain, yesterday's from Selbun Glade.”
Ornel's mouth fell open wider.
“Th-that's why it's even stranger! Gorgonta Floodplain is in the imperial north, and Selbun Glade is in the south…!”
“Well, yeah?”
“A round trip between those two takes a month alone! But you went to both yesterday and today…?”
Ornel shook his head vigorously as if to clear his mind.
Then he swallowed dryly and pressed Enzo.
“I get it! You're overlapping multiple Teleportation Circles, right? But does that even work with Teleportation Circles? Burning dozens for one Mana Stone siege would be a loss. No, wait. Not Teleportation Circles…?”
Teleportation Circles weren't items that let you get arbitrarily close just by using multiples.
Due to safety issues, people usually left anywhere from two hours to a full day of walking distance before activating them.
“Then how on earth….”
As the confusion in Ornel's eyes deepened, Enzo joked lightly.
“How we sieged isn't important. What matters is that we did siege them. Thanks to that, Mana Stones threatening innocent imperial citizens are decreasing every day, right?”
He smiled affably as he loaded the sacks of gold coins onto the cart.
Then he patted Raoul's shoulder and said.
“Let's go, bro.”
The two rose from their seats, bowed to Ornel and Remi, and withdrew.
“See you tomorrow.”
The office door closed with a thud.
Ornel plopped down in his chair with a gasp.
“The Necromancer King… is insane?”
Mana Stones were scattered sporadically across the entire continent.
Usually, it took weeks just to reach one, and weeks more to return.
And not only that?
Whether Holy Knights or mercenaries, being human, they typically took a few days' rest after grueling battles with monsters.
‘But sieging without rest? How are they traversing those vast distances so quickly….’
Over the past week, Ornel had met nearly every Agavert member except the Necromancer King himself.
On the third day, he even met the middle-aged housekeeping woman who worked at their house.
‘Aigoo, all our members are so busy. I came in their place.’
She wasn't even a mercenary, yet she came with a young boy and collected the reward money.
Ornel had worried she'd get robbed of it on the way back.
“Branch Chief, this.”
Then Remi brought documents related to Agavert.
It was a paper noting another ranking change after registering today's nuclei.
“9th place?”
Overtaking three top groups in a week.
Ornel stamped the document, murmuring like a man in a daze.
“Insane, yeah. Definitely insane….”
He recalled the Necromancer King, who had brought in an enormous amount of nuclei while grinning like it was child's play.
Since that first meeting.
The Necromancer King had become synonymous with terror in Ornel's mind.
“A monster worse than Tese tan. Gives me chills.”
“This workload gives me chills.”
He was so lost in thoughts of the Necromancer King that he didn't even properly hear what Remi said.
Meanwhile, Remi took the stamped Agavert documents and moved.
Toward the wooden board covering the central office wall.
The board had status reports on high-activity mercenary groups.
Remi pinned Agavert's documents to the far right, then fell silent upon noticing something.
Above Trebaga's documents in the center, a recently updated note was briefly indicated.
[Trebaga - Status Report.
Still vigorously sieging in the Northern Continent.
Secured substantial profits from the Escaro Principality as a result, and His Majesty the Emperor views it positively.
P.S.: Unpleasant conflict between some Trebaga members and the Church. All safe now….]
Remi left the board with a fatigued face.
“...It's not just Agavert. Mercenaries are all insane….”
* * *
Meanwhile.
Tie was sitting in a restaurant chair, waiting for Raoul and Enzo.
Veil, sitting beside her as she swung her legs, asked.
“Kiddo. Going again tonight?”
Tie shook her head.
“Nope? Today is a rest day!”
Veil's face immediately showed surprise.
“You were nagging us every day to go siege, and now what wind blew in?”
Tie eyed her side instead of answering.
In front of Ppuppue on the table, Marbas lay collapsed, its wood grain shriveled over the past few days.
[Kuhk, I can't anymore…! I need to conserve energy today!]
Tie shrugged her shoulders.
“Mar-Mar says reinforcing two Teleportation Circles every day is too much. So Tie told him to rest today and tomorrow. Tie's a kind boss!”
A satisfied expression spread across Veil's face.
“Yeah, you need to rest sometimes.”
Over the past week, the members had sieged Mana Stones without a single day off.
Small ones were sieged smoothly without Tie's involvement, and even mediums weren't too difficult.
Now that Agavert had more money than they knew what to do with.
Just equipping proper gear had greatly boosted the members' combat power.
“Kkamangi did the big one.”
But the greatest asset beyond any gear was Lucarion's Barrier.
Ppuppue's mist also helped by momentarily obscuring the monsters' vision.
“Compared to when we were skimping meals and running missions, our movements are unbelievably light now? People really need good nutrition.”
As Basto chuckled at Veil's words.
Ding-a-ling!
The front gate bell rang clearly in the restaurant.
Tie hopped down from the chair.
“Raoul bro and Enzo bro must be here!”
Tie toddled to the entrance with the members.
And flung open the door.
“Raoul bro, Enzo…! Huh?”
But standing at the door weren't the Wavebrill twins.
“Excuse us! We were a bit late because the sea routes were blocked…! We came to pick up our Selina!”
There stood the neighbors from across the street.
The Bellmore couple, faces on the verge of tears.
