Who Does That Business? (1)
“……”
The inn fell into an eerie silence as if the world itself had held its breath.
The scene was so shocking that even Kyle and Chloe were frozen in place.
The first to break the silence was the dwarf.
“…What? What did you say? My fault?”
The dwarf pointed at himself with a face flushed red. Despite his small stature, his entire body twitched with anger—tattoos and muscles writhing like living things.
He stared silently at the group at his table for a moment. A serious glint passed between them. Kyle swallowed hard.
…Is this about to turn into a brawl?
He watched their movements closely, muscles tense and ready to cast magic the instant anything broke out.
…Huh?
But what followed was nothing like what he expected.
“Ho ho ho ho ho ho!”
“Ho ho ho ho!”
The dwarf suddenly burst into wild laughter. The other dwarves at the table joined in, chuckling heartily.
Then, without warning, he apologized.
“Oops! Sorry! It was my fault…!”
“Yeah, Herald! What are you supposed to do if you move like a brute like that?”
“He’s already completely drunk!”
“Ho ho ho ho!”
…What the hell are these guys?
The dwarves were more entertaining than Kyle had imagined.
Their macho looks were misleading—their hearts were impossibly warm.
There was more.
“Hey, Myojok friend. How old are you?”
“…Twenty, but why?”
“Still so fresh and youthful! My own son is the same age!”
The gray-bearded dwarf who had first stood up pulled a thick money pouch from his pocket and, with a flash of silver coin, forced it into Karif’s chubby hand.
“Here, here. Sorry, so take this.”
“…?”
“Come on, take it!”
“…….”
Karif accepted the money with a dazed expression. Kyle patted his shoulder casually.
“You’ve been through a lot coming to a strange land, young Myojok boy.”
“…….”
“We all suffered the same way when we were young. Anyway, your hard work is admirable and makes for a fine sight!”
“…….”
Ah, so that was it.
Kyle finally understood as he listened to their conversation.
In the end, over 80% of the empire’s people were ordinary humans. The subhuman tribes, though few in number, were surprisingly friendly toward each other. This kind of mishap was nothing to get angry about.
These uncles…
They were really cool adults, weren’t they?
We should give them extra service!
***
Late at night.
Karif slumped wearily onto the table. It was his first day working at the inn. The day had passed in a blur of nonstop activity. He was exhausted.
“So, is the work any good?”
Kyle sat across from him and asked. Karif thought back over the day and answered.
“…Better than I expected.”
There was plenty of physical labor, but nothing difficult. The pay was easier than mercenary work, yet it felt unreal.
“But why did they tip so much?”
“That’s how it usually goes. Sometimes you get even more, depending on the situation.”
“…….”
The official salary was two gold coins a month, roughly three silver a day. Adding today’s tips made the day’s earnings over two silver—almost the same as one normal mercenary job. But that job usually lasted a week, so this was far more.
…I’ll never feel like it was wasted time.
He had also felt something strange for the first time: a sense of camaraderie. Chloe had been kind and patient with him. Kyle had helped out. Karif had always hated crowded places, but here at the inn the atmosphere felt completely different.
Laughter never stopped, and everyone was happy.
Just the mood itself made him feel good. It was still a little unfamiliar and awkward, but…
“…I’m glad I came.”
“Right?”
After the work ended, the cup of Rancho Leaf Tea was even better after a hard day. As he savored the fragrant aroma, Karif thought.
Can I do this kind of life every day? And have a full week off twice a month?
He never could have imagined it before he tried it himself.
Just as he was lost in the moment, Kyle suddenly changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, you said you were scammed by a magic ink contract last time… Could you tell me more about that?”
Why was he so curious?
It was all over now…
It wasn’t a memory he wanted to revisit, but Karif simply told Kyle the whole story, thinking it was just complaining.
“…He was completely rotten, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
Karif felt a little better. Even if Kyle didn’t solve his problem, just having someone listen to him was enough to ease the bitterness he felt.
But Kyle seemed to have more questions than expected. He asked.
“Karif. Do you still have that contract?”
“The contract? If you look, it should be somewhere… Why?”
“Could you lend it to me for a second? I just want to check something.”
“Yeah… Just a moment. I’ll go to the room and get it.”
“Okay.”
Karif fetched a copy from the room and handed it to Kyle. While Kyle examined it closely, he nodded to himself and murmured.
“…As I thought.”
Kyle’s muttered words sounded like he had guessed correctly. Karif watched him, puzzled, but Kyle didn’t explain further.
“I’ll borrow this for a bit.”
“It’s fine, but why…?”
Kyle answered in a colder tone than usual.
“Just going to clean up some trash.”
“…Hmm?”
With that puzzling reply, Kyle headed somewhere.
***
The bustling center of Raman.
On the third floor of a luxurious building right beside the mercenary guild.
There, the plump merchant, Varsha Dotz, sat in his chair receiving reports from his employees. He skimmed the documents, frowned at something he didn’t like, and shouted.
“Why is this month’s sales such a mess? What’s the problem?”
All the employees standing in front tensed at his grumpy words. They had all experienced how viciously the merchant acted when his eyes rolled back once.
Everyone was exchanging glances when the oldest employee finally spoke up.
“T-that is… Varsha-nim. The prices of the herbs we mainly import and sell have surged in the neighboring territories, so our margins… are a bit…”
“What nonsense. If costs go up, we raise the selling price!”
“T-the problem is… we had long-term supply contracts with them…”
“Wha—”
Varsha’s face turned even redder with rage as he shouted again.
“So what, you’ve been watching sales drop like idiots? Then you should have compensated it somewhere else! Or cut your own salaries?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“These idiots…”
As Varsha scanned them coldly from head to toe, he turned back to the oldest employee and asked quietly.
“By the way, what happened to the last penalties? You all received them, right?”
Penalties. It was an in-house term used only between the two of them and one of the hidden income sources of the merchant group.
They enticed naive mercenaries with poison clauses, or used double contracts to design all sorts of dirty tricks.
“Yes. Most of them received them, and for the few who refused, we put pressure on the mercenary guild. After more time passes, they will be forced to come begging first.”
“Yeah. Do it properly.”
Varsha finally nodded.
But then—
“Varsha-nim! A crazy man is causing trouble in the first-floor lobby!”
“What? What idiot dares to do that…? Send security to kick him out!”
“That’s… it’s impossible… He’s waving a contract and threatening to report it!”
“…What?”
Varsha and the oldest employee’s eyes met at the same time. They both understood the situation instantly.
“…One annoying bug has gotten caught.”
Sometimes shady guys who knew a little law or noble attendants who reported for their masters showed up smelling money and issued threats. This seemed to be the same.
“Go down right now and find out who the guy is.”
The merchant rose leisurely from his chair, his fat body moving with ease. He had dealt with this twice before, so he was calm. The bribes he gave to the city officials were enough to silence anyone. Extortion wouldn’t work.
…Just give him some money and shut him up.
As always, a proper bribe would do. After all, the other side wanted the same thing. There was one more possibility…
If he’s just some ordinary commoner…
He could be disposed of without a trace. Making one nameless commoner disappear in this vast empire was no big deal.
With that thought, Varsha slowly descended the stairs.