Encounter
Encounter
"Ah, I understand! If you insist, I won't trouble you further!"
At the guild leader's reply—he was paying a steep price for grasping the seriousness of the situation a little too late—I raised my voice even higher, as if emboldened.
"Exactly! We haven't even accepted a secret request, so shouldn't the report be made at the reception desk?!"
"O-of course. What you say is most reasonable."
Even though I was the one who'd half-destroyed that reception desk, I naturally decided to gloss right over it.
"Then let me ask you properly, Guild Leader. What exactly did those wretched, fraud-like bastards who arrived at the guild yesterday report?"
"Well... they reported that an unidentified group was observed attacking the village, and that during further investigation, your party members fled..."
"You believed a story about them running away just from signs, without an actual battle occurring?"
"W-well, when a person's anxiety and fear reach their limits, they can go into a panic, can't they?"
"Ah, panic."
I acted as if I was buddying up to the guild leader, putting my arm around his shoulders in a chummy way. Then, wearing an expression of extreme astonishment and an exaggerated tone, I pointed respectfully at Gin with my other hand and asked again.
"Dwarves... panic...?"
And slowly shifting my hand toward Yekaterina, I asked once more.
"A Great Warrior of Ravil who freely wields a war hammer no different from a siege ram that even an aura-awakened warrior would struggle to lift... panic...?"
In that multiracial world, there were all sorts of racial prejudices, discriminatory remarks, and consequently, various insulting comments. Among them, one that crossed the danger line was the act of disregarding the mental fortitude of dwarves and Ravil warriors. After all, skulls could be split in any number of ways.
With all eyes already on us, one slip of the tongue would instantly get you fucked over—that was common sense. He seemed out of his wits, but even so, shouldn't he have looked over the companions standing right behind me and figured out which things to say and which to keep to himself?
Of course, Yekaterina might not actually be a Great Warrior of Ravil, but if the opponent openly attempted incitement and fabrication, it was only proper to fight back just as openly.
Confirming that the crowd's attention successfully shifted to Yekaterina, who was holding back laughter with her arms crossed as if tickled by my words, I grabbed the guild leader's shoulder firmly and growled.
"Fucking bullshit. If anything, it would've been berserk rage, not panic. Ah, I said that not to you, Guild Leader, but to those fraud bastards who should be rotting in prison. Isn't that obvious?"
"O-of course. I-it seems there has been a huge error and misunderstanding because we couldn't properly ascertain things."
"Of course. Naturally, there was a tremendously huge error and misunderstanding."
My instincts were tingling. I had a hunch this bastard had something shady going on.
On the way here, while we were switching positions in turns, Gaendal had filled me in a bit. Those fraud bastards had clearly guessed it was a mercenary band called the Hawk's Talon Band and bolted. Yet they came to the guild and reported it as an unidentified group? When they could have gone all out exaggerating and embellishing?
"R-regarding this inadequate response, we sincerely apologize..."
"...and it will come with appropriate compensation, is that what you're saying? Of course, I never doubted that for a moment!"
Stepping away from the guild leader, who was going "Huh?" with a flustered expression and stammering, I spread my arms to gather the crowd's attention again and spoke in a cheerful tone.
"To gloss over such a serious and grave mistake that nearly tarnished the reputations of capable people whose talent is recognized even at the capital guild and for whom becoming purple-rank is only a matter of time—with just empty words, that's something only outright thieves do! We almost had to suffer utterly unjust disadvantages. Isn't it only natural? And all of that nearly happened solely because of the guild's sloppy handling!"
"O-of course... Apart from the request, we'll... we'll have to compensate you."
"I knew you'd be reasonable, Guild Leader, unlike that receptionist! Those who run the guild are indeed on a different level!"
He'd tried to wrap things up with a half-assed apology and slink away. Like fuck I'd let him.
I grinned with feigned cheerfulness and patted the guild leader's back hard with feeling—thump, thump—and his grimacing face began turning into a tearful one. But in the middle of it, as if he thought my story had more or less wrapped up, he quietly threw out another question.
"B-but about that mercenary band you just mentioned... earlier you clearly said execution..."
With his question, the guild leader betrayed a subtle hopefulness. It didn't quite mesh with the attitude he'd shown before—it was as if he was now clinging to the hope that the source of the problem had disappeared.
"Of course. The victims are witnesses, and since we couldn't clean up the corpses anyway, we just left them there, so you can go back and confirm at any time."
"Every last one of them?"
Look at that. Instead of paying attention to the fact that the 'unidentified' bastards were a mercenary band and asking which one, he was only interested in whether they'd been wiped out? And seeing him even have that weird hopeful look, it looked like he was tangled up in something.
"No. I kept one alive. You need a witness, don't you?"
"R-right? Of course, a witness is needed. The guild will coordinate with the city and handle it properly! So, where is the guy...?"
"Hahaha. I'm glad you're so duty-minded. But don't worry. I've already loaded him onto a wyvern and sent him to the kingdom's capital."
Smiling more cheerfully than ever, I told the guild leader firmly.
"There is evidence that they cooperated with someone plotting treason. I myself had to personally fly here from the capital because of it. I sent him off on the wyvern I rode in on, so he should have arrived by now."
At the same time, I confirmed the life draining from the guild leader's eyes and face. Treason aside, the bewilderment that would appear when the punk in front of you suddenly became 'someone who could personally ride wyverns' filled the void instead.
Judging by the reactions around us, it must have been hard to believe that an adventurer had personally ridden a wyvern. Wasn't his imagination already inflating some imaginary powerful figure who must be backing me?
But sorry, the only one behind Eldmia Ega was Eldmia Ega himself. Unlike a matryoshka doll, no matter how much you peeled it back, the presence never diminished.
"T-t-treason?"
"Yes. Treason. The crime of rebellion."
The royal family might have wanted to quietly handle everything before making a proper announcement and show off their competence, but I didn't give a shit. From the moment they'd tried to use me without saying a word, our relationship had become purely transactional.
So I'd just use them as suited my convenience.
I didn't lower my voice one bit, and sure enough, murmuring spread among the adventurers who had been listening in without much thought, like a contagion.
"He surrendered actively, expressing his willingness to cooperate, so I specially spared him. The vice-captain of the Hawk's Talon Band... what was it. A name that sounds like he'd be good at cards. Gwent? Ah, Gwens. Anyway, after a brief chat with him, it didn't seem like he was spouting lies just to save his skin. We'll definitely be able to grab the tails of the high traitors involved."
I patted the guild leader's shoulder affectionately, pat pat, but he flinched and stared at me with eyes that were still visibly trembling.
"The request you and some official from the gate city of Raviel posted got tangled up in this by coincidence, but in a way, isn't it just like creating a golden opportunity to tighten the noose around the traitors' necks? I think it's something to be proud of as subjects of the kingdom!"
Adventurers may have little sense of belonging and often lack nationality, but it was rare to find one who disliked a story about villains being punished. Say what you will, it was a tale of good triumphing over evil.
Naturally, the adventurers got excited that the bad guys were being punished and began making a fuss, saying "Serves them right!"
"What! I thought the guild leader had been screwing up for once, but he actually did something good!"
"Is that like that saying, 'a cow steps backward and steps on a frog'? What a great coincidence!"
"Fucking hell, with Demonfolk running wild, what's with treason? Well, good riddance!"
Seeing those perfectly normal reactions made me cheerful too, but the guild leader couldn't laugh at all. Hidden by my bulk, many couldn't see him well, but anyone who directly checked his face would instantly know he'd committed some crime—his expression was oozing such naked despair.
From the looks of it, he'd definitely committed a crime, but whatever he'd done, it had nothing to do with me now.
I leaned in slightly and whispered in his ear.
"So, right now, either resolve our matter in a positive way and go up to cut your ties quickly, or get dragged onto the wyvern that came back on my orders and hauled off to the capital. Your choice."
I'd merely presented the best option available to someone who'd committed a crime, but the guild leader snapped to attention as if I were some secret royal agent, and hastily processed our business.
With everything sorted in an instant, having secured the safe handover of the victims and appropriate compensation, we walked out of the guild boldly under the admiring gazes of the other adventurers.
Once we were outside and facing each other, Gaendal nodded quietly and spoke.
"Now that it's settled, let's go eat together. The food at the inn we're staying at is quite good."
Because many eyes were still on us, we moved naturally and quietly, as if we had anticipated all of this and always planned to do so.
Without a single word of coordination, we walked calmly as if it were all arranged, entered the inn-cum-restaurant Gaendal mentioned, sat around a table, ordered food naturally, and looked at each other's faces again.
And then we all burst out laughing at the same time.
"That guild leader is definitely in on it! That bastard is definitely involved!"
"Eldmia! Quickly pull out that script from your sleeve! How on earth did you come up with that off the cuff?!"
"Heh heh heh. I've seen something truly funny after a long time. You'd never starve even if you quit being an adventurer."
As we were all roaring with laughter and talking, Yekaterina heartily slapped me on the back—thump! thump!—making me choke violently, but aside from that, it seemed to have wrapped up quite satisfactorily.
"You spoke well, but what was with that thuggish tone? I was so embarrassed I freaked out!"
Except for Asilie, whose face had belatedly turned red, seemingly genuinely embarrassed, that is.