Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Ch. 20 .｡.:✧ Chapter 20 ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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On the way back, we captured the ones that had escaped from the nets, and when combined with the ones we had previously caught, the total number of captured orcs reached thirty-one.
Since the number we had captured this time was significantly lower, it was inevitable.
However, even this was a lot. Although more than ten were young ones, we could still receive around 40 gold.
‘Even excluding the price of the house…’
20 gold would be left over.
Of course, if we deducted the cost of the traps, reagents, herbs, and equipment used here, the net profit would decrease, but it still remained an enormous profit.
After sending Athena back home, Kayla and I immediately headed to the castle.
‘It would be noisy to keep them near the house.’
We didn’t have enough sleeping pills to put over thirty orcs to sleep.
Even if we did, it would be too wasteful. It was also troublesome to manage.
Therefore, we immediately handed over the captured orcs to Albert, and the rare sight of over thirty orcs being captured attracted the residents of the castle, who came out to watch in amazement.
Albert also seemed quite surprised when receiving the orcs.
Perhaps Kuman had spoken well of me, as I was able to immediately receive an ID card and a building.
Naturally, I also received the ownership certificate, so it could now be considered completely my building.
Since I could receive the remaining payment later when Kuman returned, I immediately headed to the building I had been given.
“Is this your residence, Master? It’s quite large.”
It was on the 1st floor and smaller than Nenson’s house outside if you thought about it.
However, this was inside the castle, and not just the outskirts but closer to the center.
The difference in value was incomparable.
Kayla said those words knowing that fact.
‘In the first place, Nenson’s house was at a level that could be obtained with just a few words.’
The value of a house where safety wasn’t guaranteed could be considered extremely low.
I examined the interior of the house.
There wasn’t much furniture, but it was quite clean.
‘It does have a basement.’
The problem was that it was too small.
‘I’ll have to expand this a bit…’
Although it was a matter for later.
In fact, this basement would be the place I valued the most in the house.
After checking the entire house, including the basement, I locked the doors and left the development castle.
Although I could rest here for a day, there was no furniture inside, and I had no intention of furnishing it today, so I just returned to where the sisters were waiting.
“Welcome back.”
Athena was already resting after taking a bath.
Kayla and I also washed our bodies and inspected our equipment.
While eating the meal prepared by Thea, Athena said.
“How was it?”
Even though she knew that she and Thea couldn’t go to the house inside the castle, she couldn’t contain her curiosity.
“It was alright. Smaller than here, but it wasn’t a building on the outskirts.”
“Really? Ugh. I’m so envious.”
“Even if it’s difficult right now, you’ll be able to go someday.”
“Right? Ah, of course, it’s nice here too, but…”
“I know. Still, it’s not as safe as inside the castle.”
“I’m fine, Sister. Inha, you don’t need to worry about me. I prefer it here rather than the development castle.”
She seemed to find people scarier than monsters or beasts.
Athena let out an awkward laugh at Thea’s attitude.
After finishing the meal, while Thea was cleaning up, I called Athena and Kayla and said.
“I’m planning to take a full day of rest tomorrow.”
“Rest is important. That’s a wise decision.”
“After that, focus on training. I’m planning to visit the castle periodically. I need to receive the payment and bring back reagents, herbs, equipment, and such.”
“Will it be alright for you to go alone?”
“Yeah. It’s fine. We returned the horses and wagon, but the mule is still here. That’s enough.”
We didn’t need to move the capture cages like before, so the mule was sufficient.
Kayla’s body was also inconvenienced.
‘But she seems to enjoy combat…’
Well, she wouldn’t have said she’d do anything if I just fixed her leg otherwise.
“For a while, don’t worry about external activities and focus on training.”
“It’s more comfortable for me that way. Got it.”
“If you need me, please call me anytime.”
After the brief announcement, we each took a rest.
Like the other two, I also rested fully for a day, and from the next day, I started moving diligently.
Since we had enough money, we stopped hunting and began frequently visiting the castle and building friendships with various people.
Thanks to becoming famous after supplying a large number of orcs, it wasn’t difficult to get close to people.
“Hahaha. You lack confidence!”
“I was really just lucky. Kayla is strong, but still not to the extent of facing an entire orc tribe.”
“I know that! But you can’t seize that luck without skills.”
The person I was talking to was named Danian, one of the members of the Pipis Mercenary Corps contracted with Kuman.
His rank was low-level.
Meeting Danian was purely coincidental.
Today, I had visited the tavern in the castle to expand my connections, and he was the one who recognized me first while drinking there.
‘I was planning to get close to the residents first and then become friendly with them.’
The reason for building connections was simple.
The first was to naturally blend into this area, and the second was to naturally investigate the inside of the castle.
Although I had Kuman as my backing, for natural activities, it was problematic to only be close to the upper class.
Since I had obtained citizenship, it wasn’t difficult to naturally infiltrate inside.
Under the pretext of furnishing the interior of the house, I had spoken with Bedwig, a carpenter, and Angolf, who ran an inn and tavern.
Although meeting Danian was coincidental, there was no reason not to become friendly with him.
‘I need to know the inside of the castle accurately. That way, it’ll be easier to turn this place into a dungeon in the future.’
Moreover, to eliminate future troubles, I needed to find out where Kuman’s secret passage led to and from.
I intended to make it so that, unlike in the past, there would be no survivors at all in this territory.
In my first life, during this period, I was almost exclusively confined to the basement of Kuman’s mansion, and I had practically come out only after the territory had collapsed, so even if it was troublesome, it was something I had to do.
To carry out these tasks smoothly, it was essential to blend into the territory.
“By the way, how’s that Kayla? Is she good in bed?”
“…Bed?”
“Why are you pretending not to know?”
Danian made an obscene gesture.
I smiled bitterly and answered honestly.
“We don’t do that kind of thing.”
“…What? You don’t do it? Are you impotent?”
Of course not.
Thanks to returning to the past, my body was full of vigor, and therefore, I had sexual desire.
“I could do it if I wanted to, but I need Kayla’s combat power more. If I made her do bedroom duties, her morale would drop.”
“Sheesh, what a waste. If it were me, every night…”
Danian spewed all sorts of lewd talk, and using my experience from the first round, I appropriately responded to his words.
“Tsk, if it weren’t for Lord Kuman’s orders, I would have held her long ago. I wonder what kind of sounds she would make.”
He said that when she fell into my hands, even the noble Kayla would be finished.
‘These things are still the same.’
In my first life, when I was working as a mercenary, I had experienced a lot of such lewd talk.
Even female mercenaries would say such things without any qualms, so if you engaged in mercenary work, you had no choice but to get used to it.
Seeing Danian getting drunk, I judged that it was time to wrap things up.
“To commemorate our meeting, I’ll pay for the drinks this time.”
“Hahaha! You’re a straightforward fellow! If you have any troubles, come find me anytime!”
Even though I had only paid for the drinks once, he put his arm around my shoulder as if we were brothers.
Of course, I knew it was just bluffing and empty words.
After about a week of getting acquainted with various people, Kuman returned, and…
“…Pardon? The lord?”
Through him, I received the news that the lord had summoned me.
Reward
‘The lord?’
I was puzzled as to what this was about.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected to meet the lord.
Well, I had thought that I might meet him once in a few months, but I never imagined that he would specifically invite me at this time.
‘Is it because of the citizenship?’
I didn’t think that was the case.
It wasn’t a large territory, just a development territory. It didn’t make sense for a lord to personally grant an audience to someone who had just obtained citizenship in a frontier territory with only one knight and an army mainly composed of mercenaries and self-defense forces.
‘Even genuine grand lords don’t see newly naturalized citizens. If they call for them, it’s the administrative officials who summon them.’
In other words, the possibility of it being due to citizenship was low.
Rather than that…
‘Is it because of the orcs after all?’
I couldn’t think of anything else.
Capturing orcs, and at the tribe level at that, was certainly an impressive feat. However, I found it hard to believe that the lord would summon me because of the capture.
‘That’s because… I’m a monster hunter.’
If it were a noble who lacked strength and desperately needed troops, they could secretly summon me.
Secretly. They had no choice but to do so because monster hunters were considered uneducated and lowly, and just summoning them could lead to unfavorable rumors.
Rather than capture, if it were the annihilation of a tribe, they could have summoned me to commend my valor.
Capture was something done by those who sold their souls for money and had no sense of honor.
Annihilation was a courageous act of sacrificing for the safety of the territory.
That was the perception.
‘Annihilation is easier, yet that’s how it is.’
Even if money was received as compensation for annihilation, it was still considered an honorable act.
They considered it a reward for risking one’s life.
Not all nobles thought that way, but since the major high-ranking nobles in the capital had such thoughts, it became the mainstream.
In fact, the standards were arbitrary and included the ideologies of the strong, but since those top-tier nobles were the ones who controlled the country, such perceptions had taken root.
Therefore, nobles with ambition who sought to be incorporated into the capital tended to adhere to such absurd words, and I believed the lord of this place, a developing lord, was no exception.
‘Rather, rural nobles are more likely to adhere to them.’
They did so to avoid being caught by the schemes of the capital nobles, which could cause them great harm.
‘The grand lords who dominate the region also enforce it.’
It could be seen as a political reason.
Anyway, with this background, I couldn’t understand why I was being summoned by the lord.
‘He didn’t seem to be hiding anything either…’
I had no idea why he was summoning me.
‘Come to think of it, it’s quite amusing.’
The capture was done because the mages needed it.
Nevertheless, it was treated as a lowly task, so even though they valued mages, in a way, it could also be seen as keeping them in check.
‘In the end, I won’t know until I meet him.’
It was regrettable that I couldn’t prepare in advance, but this couldn’t be helped.
Even when I asked Kuman, he only said it was a good thing for me.
‘I wish I at least knew the lord’s personality.’
In the end, after spending a day in the development castle, I headed to the lord’s mansion.
Kuman’s mansion wasn’t small, but it couldn’t compare to the lord’s mansion.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Lord Kuman.”
“Thank you for the invitation, Lord Summer.”
The one who greeted us was an elderly butler, and as expected of a noble family’s butler, he had quite a dignified appearance.
“The lord and the young master are waiting for you.”
“Oh my, it seems we’re late.”
“No. On the contrary, you’ve arrived early. The person next to you…”
“This is the person the lord invited this time.”
He glanced up and down at me and soon nodded his head as if satisfied.
It seemed he liked my clean and neat appearance, which was better than he had imagined.
‘Kuman took some care of it.’
Summer glanced at Kuman, and Kuman slightly nodded his head.
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