The Knight's Refusal
The festive atmosphere had completely vanished, replaced only by icy hostility and an awkward silence that hung over the assembly hall. The villagers remained quiet. A chilling tension lingered in the air.
“Hajun oppa.”
Haneul pushed through the crowd, waving her hand. She ran straight over to us and explained what had happened. Her story went like this:
The knight had recovered after receiving treatment from Maya, but he didn’t have any money on him right then. Maya had asked for 1,200 ron as the treatment fee. The knight, who was short on cash, said he would return to the castle and borrow some money. Maya waited for him to come back with the payment. Not long after the sun had set, the knight returned. It was right when the villagers were throwing a modest party to celebrate their victory. Maya had been among them, enjoying drinks and food. When she spotted the knight, she cheerfully invited him to join the drinking circle. Come and have fun with us, she said.
But the knight pulled her aside and told her,
Maya thought she must have misheard him because she was drunk.
The knight repeated his intention once more.
This time she understood clearly. She hadn’t misheard. The knight was refusing to pay the treatment fee. An argument broke out between the two. The mood had soured, and it had stayed that way. Someone needed to step in and mediate.
“Why is he acting like this?”
“How should I know?”
Maybe that blow to the head from the orc had done something to him. I tried to think of a reason, but nothing particularly convincing came to mind. The most plausible guess was that the treatment fee was simply too expensive for him. 1,200 ron wasn’t pocket change. Once this escort mission for Maya was over, we were supposed to receive 1,300 ron. Money didn’t grow on trees, and it might be a burdensome amount for a knight to pay. Or maybe there was another reason.
We pushed through the villagers and approached Maya.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“Hajun.”
Maya glared at the knight with the same intensity she might use on a goblin and said,
“That man says he won’t pay the treatment fee.”
That matched what Haneul had already explained. What about the knight’s side? The moment I looked at him to hear his thoughts, the knight spoke as if he had been waiting.
I had no idea how he knew who we were when we’d never even met. As the most reasonable modern person here, I spoke on everyone’s behalf.
“What kind of nonsense is this from a grown adult? You got properly treated and now you’re suddenly saying you can’t pay? After someone saved your life, isn’t that the least you can do?”
The knight stroked his mustache and replied,
He was suddenly spouting complete bullshit. I almost lost my temper, but my modern sensibility helped me endure it.
“Speak in plain words, please.”
The knight cleared his throat and continued.
Of course a knight would have such a long-winded tongue. Would this even end today?
“Enough.”
I couldn’t listen to any more.
“Just get to the point. The point only.”
The knight who had introduced himself as Seoryang frowned and continued.
After Seoryang got wrecked by the orc, Maya had saved his life based on her strong professional spirit.
Seoryang pointed dramatically like a judge in a courtroom drama and shouted,
It felt like I’d been slapped across the face. There was no need to comment on how ridiculously dramatic that idiot knight’s voice had been. The way the villagers were looking at him with seemingly convinced expressions was an absurd farce that wasn’t even funny. Even though I wanted to get angry, the situation was so ridiculous that I couldn’t muster the energy.
Roa listened to Seoryang’s story all the way through, then whispered to me,
I patted Roa on the shoulder.
“Hold back.”
It was a strange situation. This knight was pretending to be cultured, as if he’d picked up a few things somewhere, but he didn’t seem particularly smart. He didn’t look clever either. It was also suspicious how his attitude had suddenly changed after he went to ask the lord for advice. There was something going on here.
Maya, who had listened to the knight’s entire speech, looked like she was about to die from disbelief.
“What… did you just say?”
“Maya.”
“How… can you say I’m lying! Don’t say such ridiculous things!”
“Maya, please calm down for a moment. I’ll talk to him.”
Maya was too worked up to think straight.
“Roa, can you look after Maya for a bit?”
“Yes.”
I set the fuming Maya aside for now and focused on the knight. The more I thought about his story, the more I felt it would be dangerous to let this slide. Saying Maya wasn’t an alchemist? This was coming from someone who had even seen her explode potions during the fight. There was no room for misunderstanding. To anyone who didn’t know her, Maya was clearly an alchemist. But claiming she wasn’t… it was highly likely he had picked up some fake news from somewhere.
“You’re Seoryang, right?”
“That is correct.”
“Please explain in detail. What exactly did Maya do?”
Suddenly Seoryang stared at me quietly, then crossed his arms.
“…What is it?”
And my ominous premonitions were never wrong.
“…”
Fucking hell.
“And if I am?”
Several of the villagers gathered in the hall gasped. No matter how much this was a fantasy world, mages were rare, and necromancers were even rarer. Let’s remember this wasn’t some big city where explorers roamed freely and all sorts of fantastical things happened every day. To the people of this backwater village, a necromancer was someone whose very name inspired fear and terror. A few women and children who had come to watch hurriedly fled the hall.
Seoryang spoke with even more wariness than before.
Not a problem for me to interfere with, my ass. He was really pissing me off.
[Scent of Death]
Because of the necromancer’s unique trait, becoming friendly with the knight was out of the question. He probably saw me as some kind of evil dark mage. One who traveled with a fake alchemist, no less.
“I don’t know where you heard what, but the Maya here is a legitimate alchemist affiliated with the Alchemist Guild. She is also the person who saved your life while you were unconscious after getting beaten by that orc. She is the one you should be thanking on your knees and paying. Instead of throwing a tantrum here. Aren’t you supposed to be a knight? Can’t you even understand that much?”
Then Seoryang said something that scraped at everyone’s nerves.
“…Do we look like some kind of medical volunteer group? Do you think healing potions grow on trees? We’re not being unreasonable. We’re just asking you to pay for the treatment you received!”
“…”
If Roa had asked “Should I kill him?” right now, I probably would have told her to put a bolt straight through that thick-skulled knight’s head. If Seoryang said a few more words, I felt like I could write an entire thesis on why murder sometimes happens.
“Wait a moment!”
At that moment, the mediator we had been waiting for finally appeared.
“The lord has arrived! Lord Yanggol is here!”
The lord who governed Jerad village entered the assembly hall accompanied by his subordinates.
Lord Yanggol… looked so much like a stereotypical lord that it was almost cliché. It was understandable that he wore clothes embroidered with noble patterns and was followed by groveling subordinates. But his bulging belly, greasy face, and the jeweled rings that looked painfully tight on his plump fingers made him seem downright unpleasant. Next to the lord stood a sly-looking secretary who was glaring at us. He was a rat-faced man with a goatee, wearing an expression that practically screamed, ‘To think we were called for such a trivial matter.’
They really were an unpleasant pair. The secretary looked around before his gaze settled on Maya.
“…Senior.”
I whispered quietly.
“Who is he?”
“He’s my senior from the guild.”
“But he’s not anymore, right?”
“…”
Maya looked at me with a momentarily dazed expression.
“I suppose… that’s true.”
They were the ones who had kicked Maya out of the guild, yet they still expected her to treat him like a senior? Wasn’t that a bit too shameless?
The lord stepped forward.
Seoryang and Maya calmly explained the situation. Seoryang spoke with complete confidence, as if there wasn’t a single shameful thing about his claim.
Lord Yanggol let out a deep sigh and muttered,
Baul spoke calmly.
“Explorers, huh.”
Lord Yanggol twitched his double chin and said,
“You have. Those who deceive others are punished with flogging.”
“That’s right. If you beat them hard enough to wake them up, anyone becomes obedient. Especially swindlers.”
Lord Yanggol jerked his chin. The waiting soldiers immediately swarmed forward and surrounded our party.
Shit.
Wait a second.
“Hold on, Lord.”
It felt like the law was being enforced with ridiculous speed, but that wasn’t important right now. What mattered was that I was about to be completely screwed.
“Is this it? We’re just going to be dragged away like this?”
Lord Yanggol looked at me with eyes that seemed utterly fed up.
“Aren’t you going to hold a trial? Won’t you even listen to our side of the story?”
Baul spoke coldly.
That son of a bitch.
“You shut your mouth. I was speaking to the lord.”
The alchemist’s eyebrows twitched.
“Yes. I’m talking to you. Can’t you just stay quiet?”
The alchemist’s face flushed red as if it would burst, and he shouted,
“In front of the respected lord, of course.”
The lord was silently watching us. Since the insult wasn’t directed at him, he stayed quiet. From the look of it, the lord had no intention of getting involved no matter what we did. He just seemed to hate anything troublesome.
Let’s skip the complicated stuff and get straight to the conclusion.
Baul glared at Maya and said,
For a moment, Maya’s eyes flashed with a terrifying light.
“I have no intention of dancing to the tune you created.”
“You? You don’t even treat me as your senior anymore.”
“That’s what I decided.”
“So your desire to return to the guild has completely disappeared. Is that how I should take it?”
Maya ground her teeth.
“Even because of you, I feel like I have to go back. At least to hold you accountable for this incident.”
“Hmph. You think that would scare me?”
Lord Yanggol sighed and said,