Ch#96
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A moment later.
Standing in front of the inn, Basto pressed his forehead and opened his mouth.
"......I'm saying this one last time. No matter what happens in the plaza, we don't step in recklessly."
"Neeeng!"
Tie answered first,
"I got it, how many times do I have to say it? Man, you're exhausting."
followed by Veil's irritated retort.
But Basto sighed, recalling what had happened just moments ago.
A little earlier.
Tie, caught sneaking out of the inn with Blackie, stood her ground defiantly.
"Tie, where are you going right now."
"To the plaza with Blackie!"
"Why the plaza?"
"Uuum...... If the bad villains bully people, then Tie has to save them first, right?"
Basto was at a loss for words and shut his mouth.
But he soon spoke gravely.
"Listen well, Astie. You're not going. Making an enemy of nobles is dangerous no matter the situation."
"Eeng? But Tie's a mercenary though?"
"Us being mercenaries and this village's affairs are separate. We have no obligation to save them."
At those words, the child looked shocked.
Then she fiddled with the mercenary badge on her chest for a long while before asking in disbelief.
"Then we're playing the villain role here? Not the good guy role......?"
And rightly so, Tie had been deeply misunderstanding one thing about mercenaries all this time.
'I thought mercenaries and heroes were the same!'
In little Tie's mind, a 'mercenary' was something like a superhero.
Helping people in danger.
Handsomely defeating monsters.
And when people shouted 'Thank you, Sovereign King!', giving a thumbs-up with a casual 'Hehe'.
In fact, things had always played out that way in Pearl City and the Weapon District.
So Tie had been building her pride as a mercenary day by day.
But to learn it was all an illusion.
"Sh, shocking......"
As Tie staggered in her seat, Basto was speechless.
Seizing the chance, Veil began persuading him.
"You know what you're doing? You're not just shattering the kid's innocence—you're grinding it to dust."
"When did I shatter Astie's innocence......"
"Don't you want to strip away her professional sense of duty too from a kid already living tough? What if she hands in her resignation like this? You know Agavert's done for then, right?"
Basto had no choice but to concede to Veil's words soon enough.
To be precise, Tie's dejected look was weighing heavily on his heart.
"Haaa."
Basto sighed, staring at the plaza now crowded with people.
'Probably nothing major.'
As Nordics had mentioned at the pub, the crates in the plaza were filled to the brim with coal each.
In other words, the tributes were met, so no major issues should arise.
Of course, there was one exception.
A slightly underfilled crate that looked worrisome.
Basto gazed at the one at the twelve o'clock position with conflicted eyes.
The amount of coal in it was a bit less than the others.
But since the difference was so slight, Basto forcibly looked away.
'It'll be fine.'
Basto knew Veil's intentions too.
Veil seemed wary of the knights using violence against the villagers.
Especially after they used the word 'punished'.
He had been utterly indifferent to others' affairs throughout their journey, so it was baffling why this time was an exception.
Then Tie's chatter came from beside him.
"Veil bro. If the bad knights bully people, Tie will deploy first!"
"What are you gonna do?"
"What do you mean. Tell Ppuppu to make fog, then we all run away together!"
Listening, Basto shook his head as if he couldn't stop her.
That was when.
"M-Move! Everyone, make way!"
Suddenly, the opposite side of the plaza grew rowdy.
Turning their gaze, a group of knights came into view.
Then, pushing through them, a man in fine clothes strutted into the plaza.
Kaldbain's current lord, Reginald.
"This week's tribute, my lord."
At the knight's report, Reginald slowly surveyed the plaza.
He widened his eyes, then burst into satisfied laughter.
"Hahaha! I knew it! Didn't I tell you, huh? If you try, it works, right?!"
He circled the plaza excitedly, peering into each full crate one by one.
"What? Yield dropping? Tunnels on the verge of collapse? Ridiculous. I already knew it was all excuses and bullshit."
Reginald gazed leisurely at the villagers.
"See? If you make the effort, it all works out. Right?"
The plaza's air instantly turned frigid.
But he shamelessly continued.
"I was a bit annoyed when you made excuses and slacked off, but I'll commend this effort and freeze the tribute amount for a while."
He smirked, tilting his chin up.
"So from now on too, put your respect for me into it and mine diligently one by one. Then......"
But at that moment.
Reginald, about to leave the plaza, froze as if spotting something.
The smile on his face vanished in an instant, turning expressionless.
He soon quietly walked somewhere.
Toward the crate Basto had eyed earlier, the one with slightly less coal than the others.
"......Quilly."
Reading the surname branded on the crate, Reginald looked up.
"Who from the Quilly family?"
At those words, someone was dragged out from the crowd by the knights' hands.
It was an elderly man with ashen hair loosely tied, leaning on crutches.
Reginald held out his palm to the knight beside him, and the knight handed over what looked like a ledger.
Skimming it, Reginald narrowed his eyes.
"Why didn't your family meet the tribute quota?"
The old man visibly trembled and opened his mouth.
"R-Respected lord. Three days ago, I fell in the tunnel and my, my leg broke...... so I couldn't mine......"
But Reginald cut him off abruptly.
"The Quilly family failed to meet the quota six weeks ago too, it says here."
The old woman widened her eyes.
"No! The next week, we definitely offered extra for the shortage...!"
But Reginald raised one hand as if annoyed, silencing the old man again.
Nodding to the knight, the knight roughly struck the crutches away, toppling him.
"Ack!"
The old man lost balance and fell to the plaza floor.
"Grandma!"
At the same time, a child about Tie's age burst from the crowd.
The child ran over with a pale face, hugging the old woman and checking her pitifully.
"G-Grandma...... Are you okay? Huh?"
"Lea. Go back, hurry back......"
The old man urged urgently, but the child didn't loosen her grip.
Watching quietly, Reginald muttered.
"......Now I see, even with a broken leg, there was a way to meet the tribute."
The old woman looked up blankly.
Reginald continued calmly.
"You should have sent your family to the mines instead. Narrow, low tunnels are easier for kids to work in anyway. Kids can crawl or crouch into any tunnel, right? Your family will offer 30% more than usual next collection day."
He grinned at the child.
"And little one, you step aside. Your grandma has to receive punishment for not meeting the quota......"
That was the moment.
Veil, charging from somewhere, slammed his fist into Reginald's right jaw.
"Guh, guhk-!"
A long streak of red blood splattered on the ground.
Then, two raw teeth rolled under Reginald's feet.
