Chapter 76 - Twenty-Eighth Episode - Zeshum Ruins (19)
Chapter 76 - Twenty-Eighth Episode - Zeshum Ruins (19)
Ebelheid’s ambition to rule the world had quietly come to an end, almost unbeknownst to everyone.
By the time the investigation team led by Wegener woke up, it was all over.
Seeing the ruins reduced to a pile of rubble, Wegener was in a state of apoplexy.
This man must have been shocked because he too had been so proud of his big job.
Although, it wouldn’t be comparable to Ebelheid’s.
After Wegener had calmed down, Mea explained to Wegener what happened this time.
“The ruins went swoosh and bang, then Abel went with a wham, and then it glowed with a blinding light and a boom……!”
“Hey, go get a translator.”
…… Since the offender that destroyed the ruins that matched is nowhere, that is the thing that we precisely explained again.
The fact that Ebelheid used hypnotic magic, that I carried everyone out with the golem, that the ruins flew away, and that he shot it down safely.
“No no, this is very troubling…… trying to curry up to this Wegener and exaggerating it for the merits……”
………I explained it again, but they didn’t believe me about the matter of shooting down the ruins.
The party involved, Ebelheid, also just had empty eyes while looking at the wreckage, so I decided to deceive them appropriately.
Well, even if I had them believe that I destroyed the fortress poorly, there was a possibility that it would have been troublesome later on in that case.
This would have been good.
However…… it was painful for not being able to bring back the golem.
They can’t even put it on a carriage, and apparently, if it’s activated poorly, it’ll get caught in the ordinance.
“I don’t know how far it’s legal, but I let the fact go that you moved the golem while I was unconscious. Originally, I would have had you in jail for being a danger yourself! You can thank me for my generosity of spirit!”
…… In the end, with the lord’s authority pushed through, and the golem settled on Wegener recovering it all over the days.
Wegener’s position would be in jeopardy if the ruins were shattered and no credit was given to him, even though he had been entrusted by the Lord to do so.
It seemed that Ebelheid had received quite a bit of financial support as well.
However, it’s hard to say that we have so much done and have no return, so we took a look at Wegener and decided to sneak some useful-looking ores from the wreckage of the ruins.
Distracting Wegener was aided by Allen, a member of the investigation team.
After returning to the city of Lomarn after a few days, we headed to the Adventurer’s Support Center.
The purpose of this is to have the parts of the demonic beasts that we defeated in the ruins and along the way redeemed for cash.
We brought a hound’s fur, a Sufi’s tail, and hobgoblin’s ears.
The Sufis and hobgoblins were mainly killed by the investigators, but they gave it all away to us without Wegener knowing.
I should have carried the gryphon out of the ruins as well, I think to myself now.
That was already underneath the rubble.
It’s a shame because I heard that the Demonic Beasts with a class B danger level were rewarded with an order of magnitude difference.
“The defeat report is usually written by the party leader, what do we do? If Abel wants to write, I’ll give it to him, but……”
“I don’t know, so just do what Maizen wants.”
They need to write a report in order to get the parts they kill to be redeemed.
Many of the adventurers grew up in the slums, so there are people who earn pennies by instructing or substituting for their counterparts who can’t write.
“Are you sure? It’s the content of the report that determines an adventurer’s promotion. Especially at the lower levels, where the screening process is looser.”
According to Maizen, it’s rather standard practice for the party leader to write whatever he or she wants to write to his or her advantage.
There are many E and F class parties that would not be possible without a leader, so they tend to be leader-absorbed.
“I don’t have any problems with F-class for now…… If I can find a concrete goal, I’ll raise it then.”
“…… you’re putting it mildly. Well, It’s true, If it’s you, you’ll have no problem in doing whatever you do. Then I’ll write it down for you, just check it out.”
“Yes, yes! Mea will! Mea will write! I’ve been kind of longing for something like this! My handwriting is a bit suspicious, but if I could write for me…!”
“Then it’s up to you, Maizen.”
Sorry, but Mea’s lack of expression is already confirmed.
If it were left to her, half of the report could be filled with onomatopoeic words.
The only thing we can use as the material is the hound’s fur, and apparently Sufi tails and goblin ears mean little more than proof of defeat.
The main purpose of the reward seems to be to support adventurers and maintain the number of adventurers…… rather than directly improving security by reducing the number of demonic beasts.
The demonic beasts that we hunted this time were not specifically requested to be defeated.
We also can’t expect any special reward from the lord.
Wegener, the head of the investigation team, didn’t seem to have a good impression of us either.
Each one may not be exactly the same value, but due to the large number, the original value was obtained for the time being.
At the rest stop, we discussed our share of the money.
We decided to subtract food, carriage fees, and other expenses from the reward money and divide the amount into three equal parts.
That’s a little over 100,000 G’s for each head.
We would have been in the red if the investigation team hadn’t gave the ears of the hobgoblins to us.
However, as far as defeating them, neither I nor Mea had done much of anything, so I had my thoughts…… but I was forced to take it by Maizen.
Honestly, it helped. With this much, we’ll be safe for a while for now.
“Well then, I’ll give Mea’s portion to Abel. Mea hasn’t done anything after all.”
After we parted with Maizen, Mea tried to hand me the small bag of money.
“No, I have my debt, so I’d rather want you to collect my share of the compensation but…”
“You don’t have to return that one, do you? See, if you think of this as community property and Abel can manage it…”
Mea smiled and grabbed my wrist as she tried to shove the sachet back.
She’s surprisingly strong.
“But…… look……”
“You don’t have to be in such a hurry to settle your account. Mea doesn’t know what to do with the money or anything, so Abel should hold it. Okay? Okay?”
“Yeah, well……”
She’s not smiling in her eyes.
Oh no, this girl’s a bit scary……
Next time I see that peddler, James, It be better to talk to him about it.
When the distribution was settled, the voices of a man and woman talking behind me came into my ears.
“Hey, did you hear that? You see, the story of the warding ruins.”
“It’s not much. Did it explode somehow?”
A couple of people who looked uncharacteristically badass were talking about the Zeshum ruins.
I couldn’t help but stop talking and listen towards the voices.
“The Elf that the lord hired tried to take it all to himself, in the end spectacularly exploded, they said. Now he’s in jail. So stupid right.”
“Uwaa…… Being greedy and in the end, no one gains a thing is the worst…… I had an image of an elf being more intelligent than that, you know.”
………I couldn’t bear to listen to it, so I gently removed it from my consciousness.
Ebelheid’s case was treated as the rampage of a greedy elf.
It seemed to have saved Ebelheid from being executed because of it… but I honestly don’t know which was better.
Perhaps this rumor will continue to follow Ebelheid until he dies.
Will Ebelheid, who is proud of his race, be able to withstand this?