Chapter 49: Reaping the Harvest - 2
Chapter 49: Reaping the Harvest - 2
A Common guided Jiha toward the VIP room.
The VIP room in the barracks—a space only Unique Grade individuals were permitted to use.
It was normally reserved for receiving guests.
Instead of entering immediately, Jiha pressed his ear to the door.
He could hear Enril and Leticia's voices.
"I don't understand why you purse your lips like that over something as trivial as skin color. Have you never been drenched in blood on a battlefield? Do you think you can keep that pale skin pristine under enemy blood and the dust and mud of war?"
"Oh my, a dark elf talking. Is your only asset that rear end of yours—is that why you flaunt it so openly? It looks terribly unwieldy. Is that your emergency ration? If you run out of food in the wilderness, do you plan to slice off your own ass and roast it?"
"That's what packed meals are for. You cut off an elf's head, pop the skull cap, clean out the inside nice and neat, then fill it with hardtack and dried meat. An elf's skull makes the perfect lunchbox, don't you think?"
"That kind of brutish, vulgar thinking is exactly why other races are repulsed by you. Do you know the unmarried rate among dark elf men? It's a full twenty percent higher than among elf men. Even Normal Grade women tend to find dark elf men rather off-putting."
"Elf men must be quite popular, then? Ah, now that I think of it, the Unique Grade elf from Purple even has a fiancé. How nice for you, having such a popular male elf fiancé?"
"......What is a big-assed dark elf who's never even stepped on a man's shadow yapping about? If you got on all fours and offered up that rump, passing children would choke to death—they'd think they'd wandered into a desert, it's so broad and flat."
"At least it's not flat. Just because your own backside is shriveled up, do you assume every other woman's is the same? Isn't that a bit rude toward women in general?"
"You big-assed bitch......."
"Still better than you and your shriveled-up apple-core figure."
Jiha was left speechless by the relentless volley of insults Enril and Leticia hurled at each other.
Were they both always this sharp-tongued?
They clearly loathed each other so much they'd stockpiled venomous remarks well in advance.
It was entertaining enough that he wanted to keep listening to them tear into each other, but Jiha opened the door and walked in.
The dark elf Enril and the elf Leticia, seated across from one another on the sofas and glaring, fell silent the moment Jiha appeared.
Jiha sat down naturally in the empty seat of honor, a single-person sofa.
Leticia was dumbfounded, but Enril showed no particular reaction to Jiha taking the head seat.
"How far did you two get in your conversation?"
"......Why are you sitting in the superior seat?"
Leticia ended up voicing the question.
She had sensed that Jiha was no ordinary Common, that he was dangerous, and had been avoiding a direct confrontation.
Yet here he was acting as if he were in charge, as if it were only natural.
Even if she set aside his outrageous behavior, Enril's lack of reaction was something Leticia could not comprehend.
She hated Enril but also knew her well.
A dark elf who would have snapped five bones the moment a mere Common acted insolent.
"Do I need to introduce myself again?"
When Jiha smiled, Leticia's mind raced.
She concluded there had to be some secret pact, cooperation, or otherwise strange relationship between Jiha and Enril for this to be happening.
In any case, she could not afford to look weak in front of Enril.
"Dark elves these days can't even train their slaves properly, it seems. Though I suppose when all the nutritional content of the master's head goes straight to her backside, what can you expect from a slave?"
"......."
But unlike before, Enril did not retaliate.
When the dark elf, who never yielded a single word, pretended not to hear, Leticia was baffled.
'......What's gotten into her?'
Jiha let out a soft laugh.
"The back-and-forth is entertaining enough to keep listening, but let's settle business first."
"......."
Still puzzled, Leticia nodded for now.
Jiha cut straight to the point.
"What are Purple's demands?"
"Hand over the culprit, Kobold Deubang, to Purple, and send the other two Commons along with him."
Four elves were dead, while Blue had lost only a single goblin.
Blood for blood. The demand meant they wanted three more lives in payment.
Jiha shook his head at once.
"That won't be happening."
"Blue Seal killed four of Purple's Rare Grade members. Settling it with Common heads is exceedingly generous."
"Four, was it?"
At Jiha's question, Leticia's face stiffened.
She had personally disposed of one of them.
But was he planning to say that in front of Enril?
'......No, if he exposes the manipulation, he's finished too. What is he thinking?'
Leticia broke into a cold sweat internally.
She wanted to close this case as quietly as possible, as quickly as possible—especially since she was the only Purple Unique in Waris.
Jiha spoke casually.
"It was the result of a fair fight on both sides, so why demand lives? If anything, I'd like to commend Deubang for fighting well."
"......First, clarify your status. Are you, a Common, currently negotiating as Blue Seal's representative?"
Leticia demanded an official procedure.
Jiha looked at Enril and played it slick.
"No. I'm attending as an advisor—the Common who went to clean up the aftermath that day—in order to bring this matter to a close. Enril here is my supervisor and will make the final decision."
"......."
Lies flowed like water.
Leticia knew full well that Jiha was the one who had engineered that scene.
But she could not bring up those words, which had risen to the tip of her tongue, with Enril present.
Above all, she had no idea what Jiha was scheming.
Jiha delivered his conclusion.
"Let's do this. Monetary compensation. One million rel per elf, four million rel total, and we're done."
"......Do you think that makes any sense?"
"It had better make sense, don't you think?"
Leticia's face hardened.
It was a veiled threat that things would become unpleasant if Leticia did not make it work.
"......No matter how you look at it, it's absurd. They weren't Normal Grade; they were Rare Grade. The Elf Council will never accept this decision. Is this truly Blue Seal's official position? That you killed four Rare Grade and intend to finish it with four million rel?"
"I was thinking of your wallet, actually."
Leticia was struck speechless.
He was demanding that Leticia personally pay the compensation that Blue Seal would owe.
What sort of brazen bandit was this?
It was so outrageous her head spun, but the problem was that Enril was watching and listening.
"Wait, hold on....... Let's talk, just the two of us."
"No, no. What are you saying? How could a Common like me dare to enjoy the honor of a private audience with Purple's noble High Elf? I'm far too humbled and must politely decline."
"Stop joking around!"
As Leticia floundered, Enril bowed her upper body.
Because she was about to burst out laughing otherwise.
Jiha kept up the act.
"A woman who has a fiancé, seeking a private word with an unrelated man late at night? I'm truly terrified this might invite misunderstanding from polite society."
"......This meeting right now is an unofficial visit. And do you think a mere human like you could do anything to me?"
Leticia gave a disdainful snort, and Jiha laughed softly.
She wouldn't be saying that for much longer.
"Fine. Let's talk one-on-one, then."
At Jiha's glance, Enril rose from her seat and covered her mouth with her hand.
She was hiding the twitching of her lips, but Leticia was too busy composing herself to notice Enril's state at all.
Once the door closed and they were alone, Leticia sighed in relief and glared at Jiha.
"......What exactly are you scheming?"
"I'm making a perfectly legitimate request here."
Jiha answered breezily.
"I'm giving you the chance to quietly clean up the mess your fiancé caused—a mess that left people dead in droves. So why should I be the one to take a loss?"
"Even so......."
"Blue Seal will pay nothing for this incident. That's the official stance."
Leticia's face went pale.
If Blue Seal responded with silence, Purple would naturally launch a detailed investigation into what happened.
The security officer had no real authority and would have to twiddle his thumbs even if he noticed the case had been manipulated. But if Purple conducted its own investigation? Even Leticia couldn't stop it once things escalated.
"......Then it's completely over."
"For me, not really. I can find my own way out."
Jiha smiled gently.
"Blue Seal's Legend would be thrilled to hear about this situation, you know. She'd probably throw a feast over a mere Common brat killing four Rare Grade from the enemy camp she despises."
"......."
Leticia could not refute his words.
Even if the truth of this incident came out, Blue Seal would try to shield Jiha to some degree.
If your household mutt takes a shit on the upstairs neighbor's floor after they caused a racket, wouldn't you find it endearing?
'Of course, since he's ultimately a Common, they'd toss him aside the moment things got bad.......'
Jiha was looking that far ahead, while Leticia bit her lower lip.
She realized it had all been calculated by Jiha.
As the silence stretched, Jiha asked,
"Under normal calculations, how much would Blue Seal have to pay?"
"......At minimum, one hundred twenty million as condolence money to the bereaved."
"Thirty million per head, then. You can afford that, right?"
"......."
It was infuriating, but Leticia understood that she had to clean up this mess.
She wanted to force Pamin to pay, but then the entire Rosen family would find out.
And if it came to light that Leticia had killed an elf man to cover things up.......
A cold sweat trickled down Leticia's pale cheek.
"......Fine. I'll handle it."
Unique Grade individuals were wealthy.
Moreover, elves lived long and accumulated substantial assets.
But even for Leticia, a sudden expense exceeding a hundred million was considerably burdensome.
It stung even worse that she had to clean up a mess she hadn't made.
"Good. Then we'll end it at one hundred twenty million. Proceed as you see fit."
"......Even so, you still won't hand over the kobold?"
Leticia asked, perplexed.
Even if compensation was delivered to the bereaved, the elves would have difficulty accepting things emotionally if the culprit, Deubang, remained unharmed.
The dead weren't just any grade—were they really supposed to let a mere Common walk away unscathed?
"That guy staying alive does neither you nor me any good. Why not just kill him?"
"That's for me to decide."
"Money alone won't solve this. There's absolutely no way the elves will accept a compromise like......."
Jiha looked at her askance.
"You accept it, but the Elf Council won't? And that puts you in a bind?"
"......Yes."
Leticia admitted it in a reluctant tone.
"Which is higher: you, or the Council?"
"What does that......."
When Jiha suddenly fell silent and simply watched her, Leticia grew flustered.
The look was so meaningful that, uncharacteristically, she could not help but hesitate.
'What the hell is this guy......?'
Leticia kept revising her image of Jiha.
At first, she had seen him merely as a foul-mouthed lunatic.
When he was beating up Pamin, he'd seemed like a mad dog she wanted nothing to do with.
But now, engaged in this loaded conversation, she was even more confused.
She could not figure out whether this man really was just a Common or what he was thinking in doing all this.
"Shall I make you an offer?"
Jiha dangled bait she could not help but bite.
"I'll make that engagement of yours vanish completely."
Prey that, the moment she bit, would forever be pinned beneath Jiha.