55
My Villains Chapter 55
15. The Fools of the Ship's Horn Inn (2)
"Ugh-"
On a refreshing morning, as I walk out alone with a refreshing stretch...
My face feels strangely hot.
The owner rolling beer kegs at the bar, the newly hired young waitress and the middle-aged waitress, and the guard soldiers seated at tables near the entrance were all focusing their attention on me.
Well, I have become quite a celebrity.
Not only did I make a name for myself in the battle at the dock, but I also completed a near-impossible mission and received a direct reward from the lord, so it's understandable.
My nickname is still the cringeworthy 'Bloody Swordsman'... But being famous isn't always a bad thing.
Thinking this, as I move towards an empty table.
"Oh, Mr. Luke?"
"Phoenix, my boy."
Mr. Luke, looking somewhat tired, was sitting at a table. I quickly planted myself in the seat across from Mr. Luke.
I still couldn't see Mr. Luke's character sheet. Considering that Ellen's tab appeared immediately upon meeting her, it was a bit perplexing.
Seeing that Utequais tab hasn't been added either, it doesn't seem to be just Mr. Luke's issue. What could be the condition for being able to see the character sheet?
"You look tired. Did you not sleep well last night?"
"...Well, about that."
"Perhaps Utequais, Hatanka did something strange-"
The Berserker, 'Hatanka Utequais', was currently staying in the same room as Mr. Luke.
They say he arrived at the inn at dawn yesterday and drank beer until evening without even taking a nap.
By the time I got up late and came downstairs, he was completely passed out from drinking.
Well, considering all his close companions, whether comrades or family, had died, it's not incomprehensible... But I'm worried he might have caused trouble for Mr. Luke, who's sharing the room.
However, Mr. Luke shook his head with a bitter smile.
"No, it's not that. No matter how strong he is, after drinking forty mugs of beer, there's no way he could be conscious."
"What? Forty mugs? He drank that much?"
For reference, the beer mugs at the Ship's Horn Inn are roughly 600-700 milliliters. And he drank forty of those?
That means he drank almost 20-30 liters - is that even humanly possible? ...Well, considering Utequais' size, it might be possible.
Just then, the owner, who was bringing Mr. Luke's food, shook his head.
"I've never seen someone pay with silver coins just to drink beer."
"Haha-"
"What's even more unbelievable is that it wasn't enough, so he gave another coin. He was drinking like a whale."
Mr. Luke nodded in agreement.
Ah- this, did I give him money unnecessarily?
The lord gave thirty gold coins as a reward.
Actually, I didn't expect to receive this much. According to the contract, I was supposed to receive five gold coins as an advance payment and ten gold coins as the balance.
Receiving this much money was the result of the lord's goodwill.
Of course, it's a bit difficult to see that goodwill as purely genuine.
It seemed like a performance largely conscious of Prince Ulkar.
Wasn't it to show, 'I have such an excellent warrior under my command, and I treat them extremely well!'?
But strangely, he didn't offer long-term employment?
I had prepared words to refuse in case the lord tried to bind me with a long-term contract like Grania's group, but he didn't even make an offer.
Anyway, 30 gold coins.
That's 150 silver coins, or 1,800 copper coins.
Needless to say, it's an enormous sum.
According to Mr. Luke, a rural landlord's annual income is about twenty gold coins.
How rich must the lord be to casually hand out more than that?
Of course, I didn't pocket all this money alone. I distributed it fairly to Ellen, Mr. Luke, Grania, and Arnal.
...Ah, of course, I didn't say 'equally'. I'm not a communist, you know.
There's a clear difference in abilities and contributions to the mission, so how could I just divide it into exactly 5 equal parts?
So I gave six gold coins to Ellen, five each to Mr. Luke and Grania, and four to Arnal.
What about the remaining ten coins?
Of course, I took them.
Actually, Plan A was for me to take half.
No matter how I thought about it, the contribution of the other four combined seemed about equal to mine. Really, objectively speaking.
But- I decided to hold back.
It might make me look too greedy, and someone might be dissatisfied.
Of course, Ellen expressed dissatisfaction even with the generous Plan B. But since the other three seemed to agree with the atmosphere, she had no choice but to accept my distribution plan.
In the end, while it was going to be done my way anyway, she still threw a tantrum.
Immediately after receiving the money, I placed an order at the workshop. I paid two gold coins just as a deposit for custom-made shield and armor.
They said it's being made completely from scratch so I only need to wait a few days... Sigh, until then I'll have to make do with what I have.
Anyway, after finishing the distribution, Grania and Arnal returned to the guard. It was regrettable, but since they were bound by contract with the lord, I couldn't hold them back.
Ah, as for Mr. Randel and Ivo - I wanted to take care of them, but since they're under Prince Ulkar's command, it felt a bit awkward for me to do so. The prince will probably take care of them.
And Utequais.
Although he joined late, he performed quite well at the end.
Especially, easily subduing 'Raid Chief Pageno' and his archers was clearly Utequais' achievement.
In addition to that, with the desire to form a good relationship in the future, I gave him one gold coin from my share, but...
"Surely he didn't spend all that money on drinking, did he?"
"Hmm, I don't know about that."
Mr. Luke sighed while touching his dark stubble.
"Shaking off pain is a difficult task for ordinary people. Once fallen into the easy path of alcohol, it's even harder to get out of it easily."
"Hmm..."
That's not good... I can't just watch a comrade I've just gained fall into alcoholism.
"Life is a path full of pain. Even the momentary pleasure given by alcohol or women soon turns into deprivation and anguish, and eventually becomes attachment and pain. If one doesn't realize this, they'll forever moan in pain."
"That's why, you know. Hatanka needs to understand that too."
Huh, but- why is the topic of women suddenly coming up...? Is this perhaps directed at me?
As I was nodding along, I soon scratched my head and asked.
"Uh, but the reason you're tired now..."
"You, are you really asking because you don't know?"
"...Pardon?"
"I thought the inn was going to collapse."
"One should know satisfaction, until that dawn... Tsk."
Wait. Then the reason why people were giving me meaningful looks earlier...?
"...Ah."
As I let out a sigh full of shame, Mr. Luke shook his head and picked up his spoon.
Today's date is May 24th.
It's been about three weeks since I fell into this world.
Three weeks was not enough time to turn an ordinary modern person into a hardened medieval person.
I was still living in this world, encountering and learning new and unfamiliar things day by day, while simultaneously shuddering.
I had experienced countless incidents that would have left lifelong trauma if I had experienced them as Kim Seung-soo.
A merchant dying in front of my eyes, pierced by arrows, a pirate with severed limbs twitching, battles overflowing with madness, public executions and cheers in the square, attacks by insects the size of calves and giant crocodiles...
And even more shocking than these experiences was none other than murder.
Flap.
I unfolded the list I had written to calculate experience points.
Pirate 7 x 15 = 105
Pirate 30? x 15 = 450
Iron Mask 11 x 50 = 550
Highwayman 7 x 15 = 105
Action Member 4 x 40 x 0.6 = 96
Poison 700 x 0.6 = 420
Plunderer 8 x 30 x 0.5? = 120
Tobald 500 x 0.5? = 250
A record of murder, with the cold confession that I had taken one hundred and seven lives written on it.
After committing such acts, I still pretended to be a modern person, saying I hadn't adapted to this world's barbarism.
And that murder was a shocking experience?
That's a lie.
I wanted to believe I was still a normal modern person.
If I confessed that far from being shocked by murder, I felt exhilaration and pleasure...
I'd sound just like a psychopathic killer.
Yes, this must be a side effect of the skill.
It's a side effect of 'Blood Thirst', the rank 1 self-buff skill of the Blood Knight that increases attack power and accuracy.
The reddening of vision and the thirst for blood are due to the latent desires in the phoenix's blood going wild.
"Haa."
I roughly folded the paper and crumpled it into my bag, then put on my half-cloak and picked up the newly bought round shield.
An acrid smell emanated from the raw leather covering the shield plate, which helped calm my pounding heart.
After finishing arming myself, I looked back to see Ellen still lying down, covered with a blanket.
"Hey, what are you doing? We need to leave soon."
"...Not going."
"...What do you mean you're not going? Are you joking?"
Damn, why is she acting up again?
"We don't have time to dawdle, man. We need to go ahead and secure our positions."
"You go. I'm not going."
"No, why suddenly? Are you not feeling well?"
"Don't talk to me and just go."
...Ah, I feel like swearing.
The reason I'm trying to leave the inn right now is because of the informant's letter.
According to the letter, the city's informant would be moving with their subordinates at sunset today.
The letter said they would greet us with a green flag, so we might be able to catch some evidence.
Of course, I don't intend to do this alone.
I handed over the obtained letter to the guard captain. Along with strong advice not to report to anyone, not even the lord.
By now, the guard captain would have hidden about a hundred subordinates throughout the city.
He said he'd also tipped off the training captain who also commands the gate guards, so there shouldn't be a lack of manpower.
If everything goes according to plan, we should be able to subdue the 4th pick name of this chapter, 'Unveiled Location', without much trouble.
Then the boss fight would be easier, and we'd naturally catch Kingpin Ubar too.
...In this situation, Ellen acting like this is really irritating.
"Why are you suddenly acting like this? Are you sick somewhere?"
"I'm not, so just go."
"Hey. Look me in the eye when you're talking. I can't hear you well when you're mumbling under the blanket."
"Hey, Ellen."
"Ya! You jerk."
Whip!
This girl, finally reacting... Huh?
"Uh- did you cry?"
"No, I didn't."
That's bullshit, there are caterpillars on your eyelids.
Seeing your eyes all bloodshot, it's 100% certain. It's not like I've only seen Ellen cry once or twice, how could I mistake this?
"...What's going on?"
"Just mind your own business and leave, please."
A cold gaze to match her tone. She seems seriously angry.
When Ellen is irritated or whining, her face is full of life. Her large eyes and varied expressions make her emotions clear, whether negative or positive.
On rare occasions when she smiles or chirps in a bright voice, no, even when she's just peacefully asleep, she looks like an angel.
And sometimes, when she's seriously angry and puts on a stern face, her delicate features freeze like ice.
Maybe because her usual facial expressions are so clear, when she puts on a serious face, she looks like a lifeless doll or statue.
At those times, even her milk-white complexion, her rosy cheeks, and her flawless blonde hair seem unfamiliar.
I didn't like that.
I took off my helmet with a deep sigh.
"What exactly are you dissatisfied with?"
"...How many times do I have to say it? Just go."
"How can I ignore when my companion is telling me to go without any explanation? Don't just tell me to go without reason, tell me why you're acting like this."
Even with my urging, Ellen kept her mouth shut tight.
...Actually, I have some idea.
As I said before, Ellen doesn't know how to hide her emotions.
In addition, I'm originally quite perceptive. The thirty years I lived as Kim Seung-soo were truly a life of being at the bottom.
"Is it because I slept with Daria?"
There were no words, but just looking at her gaze towards the floor and her lips biting down, I could infer her answer.
A heavy rock seemed to settle in my chest.