11
My Villain Chapter 11
4. South Harbor (2)
Fortunately, Ellen came down to the first floor not long after, and I was able to have a chance to make excuses.
Even after explaining that I had misunderstood the culture, Ellen looked at me as if I were a madman.
However, soon she muttered, "Well, it's understandable for someone who doesn't even know the currency system..." and nodded as if she understood.
Now, my image to Ellen must be something like a stupid pervert, right?
...Damn it.
"Alright, first hand over all the money you have."
When I said this while tapping on the neatly cleared table, Ellen made a displeased expression.
"Is this really necessary?"
"Isn't it obvious? You need to have funds prepared to do any kind of work."
"Ugh......"
Wait, is she doubting me? My voice naturally rises with indignation.
"Hey, I spent five silver coins to save your life! If I were a con artist, would I have spent such a large sum?"
"Is that really such a big amount...?"
"Oh, come on, seriously."
What on earth did she eat wrong to act so prickly? I really wish I could punch her philtrum just once.
Seeing my face rot away, Ellen flinches for a moment. Then, with her lips protruding, she took out a pouch from the small sling bag on her shoulder and handed it over.
The pouch was lighter than I expected, making me frown.
"Is this all?"
Judging by her silent glaring expression, this seems to be everything. It feels like I'm extorting money from my niece. How thrilling.
But the pleasure was short-lived. Opening the pouch, I frowned and asked again.
"Is this really all?"
"Yeah. That's all."
All that came out of her pouch were two silver coins and twenty copper coins.
"No way..."
What exactly is this girl's purpose? She can't use magic, has little money, and no weapons. What am I supposed to use her for?
Seeming to read my pathetic gaze, she flinches.
"...W-What are you looking at?"
"What were you thinking coming all the way here?"
"Why are you picking on me again?"
As she furrowed her brow, I asked while resting my chin on my hand.
"No, I'm not picking on you- I'm just curious, curious. Did you plan to keep traveling with this much money?"
"Of course, that's not enough. But there are many places to find work."
"Work?"
"Yes. Like monster extermination or escort missions."
Ha, look at that confident expression.
My only companion, who should be helping me when it's not enough, can't even cast spells but still holds her head high.
Suddenly, I'm getting annoyed.
"Ah, like a mercenary?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Wow, that's cool."
I nodded as if I understood well and continued speaking.
"But you can't use magic, right?"
Ellen's expression darkened a bit.
"Well... I can handle objects with inherent magic..."
"Really? Is someone going to give you a useful magic wand?"
Wands with skills weren't common items, of course.
Even a wand that could use Flame Arrow 30 times... I'm not sure, but wouldn't it cost at least a few gold coins?
"...That's not it."
Her gaze fell to the floor.
I continued to mock her, aiming at the top of her head.
"Right? Then maybe you've learned swordsmanship or spearmanship? Or archery?"
"It doesn't seem like that either, so what are you so confident about? I'm curious."
As Ellen lowered her head and pressed her lips tightly, I belatedly thought I might have gone too far.
Hiding my awkward feelings, I returned her money pouch and said, "Here, keep this. For emergencies."
Ellen shook her head and replied in a mumbling voice.
"...No, it's okay. Use it to buy what you need."
"I said it's fine. This is just a few coins, what would I use it for? I don't need it."
As soon as I finished speaking, a tear rolled down Ellen's cheek.
"Uh... Are you crying?"
"...Shut up, you idiot."
She barely managed to speak in a sobbing voice before raising her arm to cover her face.
...Sigh.
Kim Seung-soo, you pathetic human. You're not even acting your age.
If the game I fell into was Three Kingdoms X, Ellen's loyalty would have been 0.
She would have betrayed me out of resentment or run off with treasures or a castle.
Still, I wouldn't have cared much.
Why? Because Ellen would have been a useless general with less than 100 points combined in strength, leadership, intelligence, political skill, and charm.
But this is the Dark World.
Ellen, a fugitive and surplus human, couldn't do anything in South Harbor where she knew no one.
No matter how badly I treated her, I'd still be better than a complete stranger to Ellen, since we saved each other's lives.
And I couldn't ignore Ellen either. She's my only companion right now, and she's destined to become an incredibly powerful mage someday.
"Sob, sniff."
"Um... I have some boiled duck eggs, want to eat? They're really delicious."
"Just... Shut up."
"Okay. That's probably better, right?"
So Ellen couldn't leave the inn even while crying, and I wanted to run away immediately but worked hard to comfort her.
Of course, my desire to run away was due to embarrassment at my own childish behavior that didn't suit my age.
I absolutely did not think she was pathetic for crying so much, I can assure you.
"...But how long are you going to cry?"
"I said *sniff* shut up."
...Really, I didn't.
Anyway, thanks to the various conflicts in a short time, I was able to roughly grasp Ellen's personality.
High pride with low self-esteem.
It's a common personality type in modern society, and it's not too difficult to deal with. If I'm a little more careful from now on, I should be able to avoid unnecessary friction.
Ellen wiped her face with her sleeve and showed the same sharp expression as before.
Good. I was worried she might go into introvert mode, but thankfully that's not the case.
"Ahem, so the money we have... Is four silver coins and forty copper coins."
"...What? What about the money I gave you?"
"Huh? Yeah, that's including what you gave me, four silver coins and forty copper coins."
"Wait, then you..."
Ellen raised her twisted lips and made a strange expression.
"You had the same amount of money as me and still acted like that?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? Of course I matched what you put in."
"...What? Why? Weren't you going to collect all the money we had?"
She's saying something absurd.
It's common sense that couples put the same amount into their date savings account, and even in private loans, the installments are matched. How could there be a difference in contributing to party funds? That's absurd.
"Of course we should contribute equally to the common fund."
"Common fund?"
"Yeah. The money we've collected now is the common fund, joint funds. We should use this to buy things we both need. Isn't this how it's usually done?"
At my nonchalant question, Ellen narrowed her brows and tilted her head slightly as if confused.
"...Is that so?"
"Yes. I was going to just let us use our own money since it wasn't much, but you cried and made such a fuss..."
"Stop. Shut up, I get it."
"Okay."
Tsk, so ignorant of the ways of the world. Well, when would you have met someone as faithful to principles as me?
"Anyway, we need to prepare our future plans with this common fund."
"You have a plan?"
Ellen sends me a suspicious look. Hmm... I need to establish my authority as party leader as soon as possible.
"Yeah. We're going down to the sewers."
"The sewers?"
Her face contorts greatly.
With her eyes all swollen, she looks like she's been beaten up somewhere. How satisfying to see.
"Why the sewers of all places?"
"Not, ‘why of all places’... The sea is blocked, and outside the city gates is dangerous, so where else should we go?"
"Still..."
South Harbor was a city that had existed since the time when the ancient empire ruled the Middle World, before the Kingdom of Milanol was established.
It is estimated that the cities of the ancient empire had a considerable level of water and sewage facilities, but now only the sewage system maintained its form.
Therefore, South Harbor also had sewers of considerable scale and depth.
"Sigh. What are you planning to do in the sewers?"
"There are many jobs we can do in the sewers. There's the rat-man extermination mission posted by the lord, rescuing missing persons, capturing wanted criminals, collecting slime fluid..."
After the fall of the ancient empire, not many cities properly managed their sewers.
This was understandable, as sewer management required its own administrative system and considerable manpower.
And since skipping maintenance a few times didn't immediately cause major problems, it was easy for it to be pushed down the priority list.
As a result, new residents made their nests in the sewers untouched by human hands.
Various beasts and monsters were the main characters.
Thus, the sewers became dungeon-like spaces and a headache for the city. It was natural that there were many related jobs.
But there was another real reason we had to go to the sewers.
"For a while, we'll handle these trivial jobs and look for a way out of the city."
Obviously, the sewers had multiple points where water came in and went out, and these exits were all located outside the city.
If we are careful of the monsters and criminals settled in the sewers, we should be able to break through the siege and get outside the city.
"Hmm. Come to think of it, I think I've heard that sewers are used like secret passages in many cities..."
"That's exactly it. So we need to prepare with the mindset of conquering the sewers."
Ellen listened to my words, pondered for a moment, then tilted her head.
"But is there any guarantee that there's a secret passage in this city too? You said you're new here as well."
"There will be. Definitely."
"Hmm... Well, okay. So, what are we going to do now?"
"Wait a moment."
I pulled out a piece of cloth from my pocket. Ellen's eyes widened at the cloth, about the size of two palms, densely covered in writing.
"What's that?"
"Huh? It's nothing much. Just roughly wrote down what I heard from Daria earlier."
"...Daria? The whore?"
"Tsk, I told you not to use such words."
I frowned and warned her, but Ellen just shrugged her shoulders without saying anything back. What's with this insolent brat?
"First, we need to buy consumables. We'll try to keep our schedule to day trips, so we won't need tents or blankets, right? I already have a whetstone and flint... Leather canteen, lantern, oil, torches, rope, climbing hook, telescope... We won't need those. It'd be hard to get them anyway. Hmm, we might encounter otherworldly monsters so we'll need a crowbar, and a shovel too. Glass bottles for collection would be nice, and a map... Wonder if we can get one?"
"...What does a crowbar have to do with monsters? And do we really need that much?"
"Of course! This is already narrowed down!"
"It's too much. We're only two people, it's foolish to carry so much luggage."
Is this brat dismissing my adventure knowledge built up through TRPG play?
Well, it's dismissible.
"Is it too much? I think we can carry it all."
"It's good to be well-prepared, but... If we're loaded down with luggage, it'll be hard to react to sudden situations. The sewers especially have narrow visibility, so it could be dangerous, you know?"
...She's right.
Ellen, whom I dismissed as a loser who can't even use magic, seems to have gained some experience during her life on the run. What she's saying makes sense.
"The underground passages are all made of stacked stones and bricks, so what are the shovel and crowbar for? And there are stairs, so we don't need climbing hooks. I have glass bottles for collection... It'd be better to buy plenty of dried food instead."
Saying this, Ellen started crossing out unnecessary items from the list of consumables I had written.
"At this level... We should be able to get everything within one silver coin."
"Okay, let's leave it at this for now then."
"For now? Is there something else?"
"Of course. We need to buy equipment, don't we?"
"Equipment? What equipment?"
I pulled out another piece of cloth and showed it to Ellen while explaining.
"Then with the remaining common funds... Ah, let's set aside forty copper coins for lodging and food. With the remaining three silver coins, we should buy a pair of leather boots and gloves each. It'd be good if the boots have studs, and for the gloves, ones reinforced with chain mail should do."
"What? Why are you buying your things with the common funds? You have money stashed away separately!"
I shook my head with a stern face and said, "I need that money to buy a helmet and shin guards. If there's any left, I'll buy a breastplate too."
"...You shameless bastard. You're already sturdy, why are you only looking out for yourself?"
"Why not?"
She's saying weird things again.
"You're going to stay behind, no, provide rear support anyway, right?"
"Even so..."
Her face is full of discontent. Can't be helped.
"If there's money left, I'll buy you a head protector or something."
Though there probably won't be any left.
"Is that all?"
"Yeah. Why? Don't tell me..."
I threatened her with a stern expression.
"You're not planning to act as a meat shield wearing armor, are you?"
"That's not it, but..."
"Then just shut up and hide behind my back. Don't talk nonsense. Got it?"
I was worried she might rebel due to her pride, but surprisingly, she just pressed her lips together and nodded.
Is she respecting my authority as the party leader? This is why leaders always need to communicate.
Anyway, the more I talked with Ellen, the more concrete our plan became.
Hmm, why do I have a good feeling about this?