Chapter 94 – Reward Part 6

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

“We swear to never betray Your Excellency. And even if we did betray you, we will probably not be able to escape from your subordinates, correct? ……I suppose you already know the location of our base of operations as well, right, Your Excellency?”

“………Is it the fifth house to the right of the Commerce Guild head office?”

“Exactly. I didn’t think you would even be aware of that secret underground passage…… It’s our complete defeat. Just like Your Excellency said, you have grasped all vital information about us while we know very little about you.

We brought our current situation upon ourselves. If we ever make any mistakes to your detriment, please feel free to take our lives.”

“……You claimed earlier that there was a fifty-fifty chance of the prime minister sending out his private forces. Are you able to delay their deployment?”

“Yes. That is a simple matter for us. ……For how long would you like them to be held up?”

“It would be enough if you can delay them until we’ve entered the Sea of Trees. Once we’ve entered, we’ll be able to deal with them adequately.”

“……Understood. ……Is that all you ask of us, Your Excellency? To be honest, I feel like such a task is a little lacking in exchange for our lives.”

Well, just get a load of this guy. It looks like delaying the private army of the prime minister was an easy matter for him. Well, he did say, there was only a fifty-fifty chance.

“Guinea Alchemint. Do you know of it?”

“……Yes. I’ve heard rumors that it’s stored deep inside an abandoned mine tunnel somewhere. I have some candidates for the location, but all of them are tightly guarded, and people’s movements are cleverly disguised. It’s not easy to pinpoint its true whereabouts.

Only a handful of people know about the Guinea Alchemint and the full extent of its operation.”

“I want to get ahold of it.”

“Certainly, acquiring the Guinea Alchemint will be a true test of our loyalty and dedication. We will definitely acquire it for you, Your Excellency.”

“What is the name and number of people in your village?”

“There aren’t many people who know of it since it is practically a hidden village. It’s called Exter, and it houses about two hundred people.”

“……They certainly don’t look like they’re living good lives. There are 209 people living there, all in all, right?”

“Y-You have also investigated our village, Your Excellency!?”

“Well, yes, I suppose. ……Alright. Bring the rest of the villagers to my territory. We will take care of them. If your people want to live in the city, I will prepare houses for everyone. And if they want to continue farming, I will prepare arable fields for them. I will allow them to live better lives compared to now.”

“……If that is possible, then please grant them fields. Most of our people only know how to grow vegetables.”

“Vegetables huh. That’s fine. Growing vegetables is one of the most important and profitable jobs at this point in our development. Your people will probably make a pretty good fortune out of growing and selling them. If you have vegetables you prefer to grow, then you can go ahead and bring some seeds and seedlings yourselves.”

“Yes. We certainly will.”

“……Elvin, the extent of my reach is quite far. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“……Yes. It will be the end for us if we ever betrayed you, Your Excellency.”

“Never forget those words. My agreement, no, contract with you will be dissolved once you’ve fully paid back my investment. Until then, your lives are mine.”

“Yes. Thank you for your generosity!”

“By the way, will there be no problems now that you’ve killed that guy?”

I pointed to the headless corpse of the observer they killed off earlier.

“There is no need to worry. We will properly dispose of the corpse. We will also clean up our swords and daggers and send them to the inn you are staying at later.”

“……Are you fine with that?”

“We didn’t actually pay for these things anyway, so it’s alright. They aren’t worth more than our lives. Please go ahead and take them.”

“I will take you up on that offer then.”

“……Um, Your Excellency. I’ve been wondering about them for a while, but what are those things the two ladies are pointing at us?”

“They are weapons.”

“Weapons? ……They do not look like that to me though.”

Selena raised her A18P laser gun and smoothly fired several shots. High-pitched electronic sounds echoed throughout the alley.

The high-powered laser shots went past the men and methodically tore the corpse lying on the ground to pieces. Whoah, that’s pretty gory.

Elvin and his men jumped away from the location of the corpse in shock. They gazed at the now-torn apart corpse with trepidation and gaping expressions.

“Now it should be easier to carry that heap of meat around. Or perhaps…… did I do something unnecessary?”

Selena asked as she pointed her laser gun back at Elvin.

“…………No, thank you for that, my lady.”

Elvin bowed low enough to almost hit the ground again.

It looks like Selena was pretty pissed off huh. No, that’s not it. I guess this was her way of warning them of the consequences of betrayal. In other words, a demonstration.

“Alright then. Please contact me if anything crucial comes up.”

“Yes.”

Elvin and his men knelt down and bowed their heads deeply once more. I left the place with Selena and Sharon as they continued to bow. We finally made it back to the main street.

“Alan, was that really okay?”

“I want to avoid going up against the prime minister’s private forces as much as possible right now. It’s too early for us to get into open conflict with this country. If that happens, there will be no point in me gaining a noble title. Even if it’s a dangerous bet, I think it’s worth the risk. Well, even if I actually do get betrayed by them in the end, I’m sure we’ll be able to do something about it.”

“That’s true, but……”

Since they already attempted to assassinate me, they shouldn’t have any complaints if I did the same to them, right?

(Iris.)

Iris appeared right in front of us.

“Strengthen your surveillance on those men. Of course, this includes the army, castle, the prime minister, and his house’s territory as well.”

“Understood.”

Iris disappeared after offering a military salute.

“Man, I don’t feel like sightseeing anymore. Let’s head back to the inn.”

“”……Yes.””

When we got back to the inn, the rest of the Clan members wanted to hear about the details of the audience with the king, and when I talked about the rewards I was going to receive, they all got excited. Everyone was particularly pleased that I’d be able to keep the title of Lord Protector.

By the way, I kept silent regarding being surrounded by Elvin and his men. It’s already resolved anyway, so there’s no need to make such a big deal about it. And more importantly, they’d probably overreact and restrict my freedom even more. I’ll have nothing of that, thank you very much.

Soon, it was already dinnertime. Katolle called out to me while we were in the middle of having our meal.

“Alan-sama. Alan-sama, were you expecting packages to be delivered to you today?”

It looks like Katolle already received them for me, and he was now having his assistants bring in five large and heavy-looking wooden boxes.

“Oh, so they’ve arrived huh. Alright, let’s open them up and check them out.”

When the lids of the wooded boxes were opened, sets of swords and daggers neatly packed within the boxes were revealed. When I counted them, I confirmed that there were a total of 55 sets. That means there were a total of 110 weapons delivered.

There was more than the number of men we faced earlier. Perhaps they accounted for the knights we broke out of the castle dungeon as well. If that’s the case, then those guys were pretty attentive.

“These are…… swords and daggers?”

“That’s right. I was told they’re all pretty high quality.”

“High quality…… Can I take a look? I’m a former weapon shop manager after all, so I know my way around weapons.

……Let’s see… Magic swords! And judging from this mark, these are actually from the Iririka Kingdom, aren’t they!? Ah, these daggers are from there as well! Just how did you manage to acquire so many of these, Alan-sama!?”

“It looks like they really are pretty great items huh. I actually got these for free.”

“Eh! No, no, something like that is impossible, Alan-sama! Each one of these swords has a purchase price of at least 120,000 Guineas, these daggers… should go for 80,000!? Of course, they would sell for even more when bought from a weapon shop.”

“They’re that valuable!? ……Wow, I actually netted a profit of eleven million Guineas huh. That’s way more than I expected.”

“……Did you really get these for free?”

“Of course. A guy I happened to meet in the city told me to take them. I’m sure it’s due to my personal virtue. Hey, everyone, gather around for a bit.”

The people present in the dining hall gathered around to see what the fuss was about. Their gazes gathered around the sword being held by Katolle.

“Ooh, that is one fine-looking sword.”

“Is that a magic sword?”

“Yes. It’s the highest grade of magic sword produced in the Iririka Kingdom.”

“”Iririka Kingdom!?””

It looks like knights and soldiers were very knowledgeable regarding swords, just as I expected.

“Adjutant Dalshim, there are fifty-five magic swords and fifty-five magic daggers here. It’s an odd number, but these are a gift from me to everyone as thanks for all their hard work and effort. I’d like you all to receive them.”

“You actually got all these valuable goods for us……… Alan-sama, our utmost and heartfelt gratitude.”