Treat People Properly, Pay Them Right
“Please, Jane. If you don’t come with me, I won’t be able to eat!”
Peter’s earnest plea left Jane unsure what to do.
Crystal Baker was the first friend Jane White had ever made.
The pretty but scheming friend had approached her not for money or profit but simply because she was bored while they happened to be in the infirmary together.
At first Jane had been startled by Crystal’s shamelessly narrowing the distance without hesitation. But once she realized there was no ulterior motive, she even felt grateful for the approach.
‘She was about to be sold because of me.’
It was a natural thing to say, but the debt Crystal had incurred had nothing to do with Jane or the White Merchant Guild. It was because a relative of the unrepayable Crystal had arbitrarily taken her as collateral.
Jane knew this fact. She knew it. Nevertheless, she had always believed she had no right to be Crystal’s friend.
It was a natural conclusion for Jane, who, despite the absurd thought process, could not separate herself from the White Merchant Guild due to the education that had continued since childhood.
“So I can’t go, Peter. I’m sorry, but I’ll go alone……”
“Don’t make fun of me!”
Jane was truly surprised by Peter’s shout. If the usually quiet Peter shouted like this, it must mean how much he wanted Benjamin’s cooking.
But Peter wasn’t shouting simply because he wanted Benjamin’s cooking. He was simply angry for the sake of his friends.
“For such a reason, cutting ties? You’re joking! Do you think you’re the head of the White Merchant Guild? No! You’re just Jane White! Ah, I see! You are White! But what does that have to do with it!”
“What do you mean ‘what does that have to do with it’…… I am……”
She should have answered that she was the daughter of the guild head and would become a merchant of the White Merchant Guild in the future. But for some reason the words wouldn’t come out.
Just Jane White. That phrase kept ringing in her ears.
“You are you! Don’t get eaten by your family! Damn it! Seeing you makes me angry because it feels like I’m seeing myself!”
It was said that extremes meet. Jane unexpectedly understood Peter’s words.
Peter, who had nothing to lose, and Jane, who had too much, were not that different.
Peter, who had vented his emotions by shouting once, continued by slightly slumping his shoulders.
“Still, I believe I can’t choose the family I was born into, but I can choose how I live. Of course, it won’t be easy, but I don’t want to abandon my friends because of something I didn’t choose.”
Even Peter, saying this, might not be able to act like that if he were in Jane’s situation.
That’s why Jane wanted him not to crouch like herself. Because she had only known the girl in front of her recently, and from the first moment she saw her, she hadn’t felt like a stranger.
“That was for another reason at the time. Anyway, let’s go. I’m hungry.”
Seeing Peter grumbling while clutching his empty stomach, Jane couldn’t help but smile.
She didn’t know if she could live like Peter, separating herself from her family in the future.
But losing a friend over this was definitely a waste. Moreover, if she missed this opportunity to enjoy the homemade cooking of the Jenkinson Count, she might regret it for the rest of her life.
Having made her decision due to the above reasons, Jane was about to come out of the hotel room when
“-Peter!”
Someone’s club struck Peter’s back of the head.
--
I took out my pocket watch and checked the time.
Peter, who was supposed to bring Jane, wasn’t coming back. If it was just because she refused and it took time, it was fine, but……
“Benjamin, I’ll go to the hotel.”
“No, since it’s come to this, shall we all go together? With Jane’s personality, even if she panics, she might come out.”
Camilla and Miya, who had the same thought, said so. Crystal was pretending not to know, but she seemed no different from the other two.
After thinking about their words for a moment, I decided it was better to go than to wait idly and nodded.
We took the carriage to the hotel. And as soon as we arrived at the hotel, we realized something was wrong.
Many people had gathered around the hotel, and the Royal Capital Guard was there too. We immediately got off the carriage and ran to the scene.
I hoped it was a false alarm, but it wasn’t.
Camilla and Miya swallowed hard, and Crystal clenched her teeth.
What the Royal Capital Guard had secured was Peter, beaten to a pulp and covered in blood.
“If you come any closer, I won’t…… Count Jenkinson?!”
“Move aside.”
The guards who were checking Peter immediately backed away. I bent down to examine Peter who had fainted.
“……There are severe injuries, but fortunately there’s no fatal wound. You there. Call a doctor immediately.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Tell the doctor. All costs will be paid by Count Jenkinson. And if this guy messes up, you’ll die too. Understood?”
“I will definitely convey it!”
While watching the guards run away, I tried to stand up, but I felt someone pulling me. I looked down.
Peter’s hand was holding me.
“Hm?”
Upon closer look, something was sparkling in Peter’s hand that was holding me. I lifted the hand he was holding and unfolded it.
It was a button.
“Well done, Peter.”
Peter was alone in the hotel where Jane was staying. The situation was clear.
I left Peter to the doctor and told Camilla and Miya to guard him in case of emergency. Then I looked at Crystal and asked.
“Are you coming too?”
“Of course.”
Thinking it was a foolish question, I got back into the carriage with Crystal.
--
Pablo Black, the young leader of Glass Owl, the premier assassin syndicate in the continent, based in Animus Kingdom.
“Ugh.”
He was groaning from a hangover.
“Damn. I drank too much again……”
His head was spinning and his stomach was churning, making him feel terrible.
Since he was an assassin who had undergone special training close to body modification, he could have made alcohol not affect him, but Peter thought, why drink if you don’t want to get drunk.
Last night was a bit too much, but since there was no big problem that required him to move immediately, he had decided to rest well for a day using the hangover as an excuse.
Until his subordinate burst open the door.
“Leader! You have to come out quickly!”
“Ah, why.”
Even assassins knock. Entering without knocking meant it was an urgent situation.
The problem was that Pablo had already decided to rest. Unless it was an extraordinary opponent, he had no intention of going out even if it was a royal request.
“So who is it?”
“It’s Count Jenkinson.”
“You should have said that from the beginning, you brat!”
Pablo, who rose from the bed at a speed that made the subordinate clap in admiration, ran full force.
The news that a monster who had forced his direct senior to retire as a gardener had come was enough to make him forget his hangover.
Pablo ran at the speed of the wind and jumped into the room for important customer reception, and something flew from Count Jenkinson.
“Eh? This is……?”
What he received from the count was a button.
Not just an ordinary button, but a special button used in a famous tailor shop in the royal capital.
After confirming the unique pattern engraved on the button, Pablo casually looked up and met eyes with Count Jenkinson.
It gave him a chill. The count was definitely angry right now.
‘Again, which crazy person touched that monster?’
While cursing in his heart that people who don’t know market order are not allowed, the count said.
“Find among the customers those who have grudges against the Jenkinson family and the White Merchant Guild and find their current location and come.”
“Is it an urgent matter?”
“I’ll give you one hour.”
Then the count placed a heavy pouch on the table that could be used as a weapon and added.
“If you find them within 30 minutes, I’ll give you one more.”
Seeing the gold coins pouring out from the slightly open pouch, Pablo smiled and shouted.
“Please wait just 25 minutes!”
Soon Pablo went out and summoned the owls and gave orders. A short time later, the owls, who had received the leader’s command, began to scatter in all directions.
--
Although Jane was kidnapped and her hands and feet were tied and her eyes were blindfolded, she was calm. It wasn’t the first time she had been in such a situation.
She was more worried about Peter than herself.
While recalling Peter’s appearance as he stubbornly clung to the kidnappers to protect her even while being beaten severely, Jane heard the kidnappers’ conversation from the next room.
“Have you gotten any contact from the guys who went to the count’s house?!”
“Yes…… It seems like something happened.”
“I don’t need to tell you that! Because of that, I had to move myself!”
Thinking that the reason he seemed sloppy was because of that, Jane focused on the voices.
The man thought to be the leader of the kidnappers poured out complaints mixed with curses for a long time, then shouted as if he had made up his mind.
“Damn it! I can’t just sit here and get caught! Get ready to leave immediately! As soon as I get the money from the White Merchant Guild, I’ll leave the kingdom!”
It seemed like the plan had gone wrong. From the feeling, they were just executors, and the one who ordered the kidnapping was separate.
“What should we do with the captured girl?”
“What are you asking! Until we completely leave the kingdom, we have to take her as insurance! After that, sell her in the red-light district!”
So that was his intention. It wasn’t that she wasn’t afraid, but Jane maintained her usual calmness.
She had been trained to maintain a cool head in any situation. Even if she was abandoned at the edge of the continent, as long as she survived, she had the intention to return.
The only thing she regretted was that she had to part with Crystal without reconciling.
‘If I had known this, I could have been more honest.’
Even if she regretted it, it was already too late, so Jane quietly waited. Before long, the next room became noisy.
She braced herself thinking they had finished preparing to leave, and the sound of the door opening came. Someone came close to her and pulled the cloth covering her eyes.
The figure of someone faintly visible due to the sudden light entering her eyes gradually became clear. Jane, whose mouth and limbs were now free, rubbed her eyes.
“You are the most foolish person in the world, Jane White.”
“Eh?”
A voice that shouldn’t be heard here came. In the clear vision, the figure of a person who shouldn’t be there appeared.
She suspected she was dreaming.
That was right. The person in front of her eyes was none other than
“……Crystal?”
Her friend.
“Fool.”
Only after Crystal hugged her was Jane able to believe that this wasn’t a dream.
“……………I’m sorry.”
Jane, who said the words she had wanted to say the most upon seeing her again, hugged Crystal and cried.