Ch#51
Ollek was flustered and mumbled with his lips.
‘Why do we have to leave when we haven't done anything wrong...?’
He had expected anger and curses to fly first.
He hadn't anticipated that the Sovereign King would ask for a reason in such a polite way.
Turning around, the other blacksmiths wore similar expressions.
However, Ollek quickly composed himself.
They all knew, including himself, that Berugon's decision was unfair.
But as the chief disciple, he couldn't argue back—that was the problem.
‘Who could sway the elder these days?’
Berugon's stubbornness nowadays was at a level that even the emperor couldn't overcome.
Ollek stared straight at the Sovereign King again.
“Even if you politely ask again, it won't help.”
Then he deliberately twisted his face into a fierce scowl.
“What does the reason matter? Here, Forge Master Berugon's word is law and truth itself. Just understand that once he issues the order to leave, we have no choice.”
The Sovereign King's lips parted slightly.
“Eh? But...”
His mumbling voice was wrapped in considerable shock, so Ollek swallowed hard.
He watched the agonized Sovereign King with extreme tension.
‘Don't let your guard down, Ollek. The Sovereign King is a man three times the size of an ordinary person, covered head to toe in fur. He might snap at any moment and wreck the place.’
His goal was to minimize damage and chase the Sovereign King and Agavert out of the Popullosa Weapon District.
And to do that, no matter what, he had to wrap things up quickly without dragging it out.
“By the way, leave everything in the carts behind too. The forge master instructed not to sell anything to you.”
The Sovereign King turned to look at the cart behind him with a shocked expression.
As if to say, ‘Not only chasing us out but also refusing to sell us the goods?’
After a brief silence, just as the Sovereign King's lips were parting—
“Captain. What's going on?”
Agavert members from other sections joined them.
Each one pushing a cart filled with items they wanted to buy.
The member who had been with the Sovereign King shrugged.
“No idea. We were picking out weapons and suddenly...”
“H-Hand over the carts right now!”
That was when Ollek sprang into action.
He hurriedly snatched the nearest cart—Raoul's—and hid it behind him.
It was a trick he'd picked up from chasing out mercenary groups countless times before.
‘If the situation drags on, it always gets messy.’
So, the best timing to eject rebellious, battle-hardened mercenaries.
It was right at the start, when they were flustered by the sudden order to leave.
“C-Come on! Get out quick! Head that way!”
“Yeah, yeah! You can browse weapons later once the forge master's anger cools.”
The blacksmiths rushed forward en masse and snatched the remaining members' carts.
“Hand over this bag too.”
Finally, Ollek seized the small parrying dagger bag Veil was holding and turned to the Sovereign King.
“You'll find good weapon shops galore on the way to the Capital. Look there instead of...”
“Unfaiw!”
But at that moment.
The Sovereign King, who had been quietly observing, grabbed the end of the bag Ollek had snatched.
“This is discwimination! Kids hate!”
Ollek's eyes went wide at her words.
* * *
Tie huffed and glared up at Ollek, who was easily several times her size.
A few months before coming to this world.
Exactly once, she had faced a situation just like this.
At the gelato shop next to the playground on the way home from Hanbit Kindergarten, heart pounding with excitement.
‘Kid, I told you to leave. Didn't you see the sign outside? No kids allowed—couldn't you read it?’
The gelato shop had opened next to Hanbit Kindergarten about a month prior.
They'd been running a grand opening event for a while.
One day, Hyunwoo's parents from her class had bought her the smallest size cup.
The taste of gelato, which she'd never had before, was so sweet it stuck with her constantly.
From that day on, Tie started saving 500 won a day to buy some.
It was the money she got for giving Dad a 10-minute massage each night.
But when she finally scraped together 4,000 won and went to the shop with excitement—
‘Can't you hear me? Get out.’
The shop owner, mid-phone call, snapped irritably the moment she saw Tie.
‘Uh, bro, I'll call you back later. Yeah, the kindergarten brats from the alley are here again. Like I said last time, they touch the showcase with their dirty hands and leave fingerprints everywhere? Yeah! And they spill it all over the floor! Every time kids come, the tables and chairs get so sticky...’
Tie froze in front of the door, clutching her eight 500-won coins.
The woman on the tall stool didn't even glance at her, continuing her call.
‘What I'm saying is! Business sucks and it's driving me crazy! Oh, I put up that no-kids-zone sign. But it's useless—these kids are here again today... Hey, you still haven't left?’
The woman scanned Tie from head to toe with an annoyed glare.
Tie instinctively shrank her shoulders.
‘We're closed for today. Not selling anymore.’
Tie hesitantly looked around.
The wall clearly said ‘9:00 open, 8:00pm close’—it wasn't closing time.
‘But the wall says...’
‘What?’
‘...we open at nine and cwose at eight...’
‘God, you're so annoying!’
The woman flung open the counter door and stormed out.
Tie looked up at her with a frozen, frightened face.
Phone in one hand, the woman glared and yanked the door wide.
‘This is a no-kids-zone. I'm not selling to you. Got it?’
‘Why...?’
‘Because I don't want to sell to you, that's why. Keep bothering my business and I'll call your parents. Hey! What's your mom's number?’
Her heart pounded in fear.
And besides, Tie didn't even have a mom's number to give.
Feeling wronged, Tie turned to leave but her eyes drifted to the showcase unbidden.
Among the many gelatos, the sweet brown one held her gaze captive.
It was the chocolate gelato from before.
‘Um, Tie can have just one smol chocowate... I have money!’
‘Out.’
But before she could finish, the owner shooed her away.
The rough shove on her back sent the 500-won coins in her hand rolling across the floor.
Tie stood there in front of the gelato shop for a long time, expression blank and defeated.
‘I wasn't noisy. I didn't touch anything or yell or run...?’
No matter how much she puzzled over it, she couldn't figure out why she'd been kicked out.
That night.
Tie told Dad everything that happened.
After hearing the story, he said gravely,
‘Our princess did nothing wrong.’
‘Tie no fault? Then why kick Tie out?’
‘Some bad grown-ups are like that sometimes. They get mad somewhere else and take it out on easy targets.’
‘...Super mean.’
‘Yeah. So don't just accept that anger as normal, our princess.’
‘Don't accept as nowmal?’
‘Right. If you stay silent about unfairness, that silence becomes the truth.’
‘...’
‘It's okay to resist unfairness, Tie. To a certain extent.’
Those words came back to her now.
“Unfaiw!”
Shouting that, Tie yanked the parrying dagger bag's edge with all her might.
“This is discwimination!”
Since entering the Popullosa Weapon District, Agavert hadn't done a single bad thing.
Not one bit of the rowdy customer behavior that would warrant getting kicked out.
Yet they were being chased out anyway.
“Kids hate!!”
The only explanation was that the Popullosa Weapon District was the no-kids-zone Tie hated most.
