Chapter 41 - The Mage and the Barbarian (1)

“N-no! Just once! Please give me one more chance!”

“What are you all doing? Drag those two out and lock them up!”

Once the begging investigator and the unconscious explorer had been removed, the compensation process proceeded swiftly. The moment the agreement not to discuss the incident was signed, a total of six million Stones was handed over in cash, including a separately added “fee for their trouble.”

Though that wasn't the end of it.

“These are all the belongings registered under your name.”

“Well? Take a good look, Mr. Jandel.”

The mage gave the barbarian a peculiar look as he rummaged through his recovered backpack.

“Something might be missing, after all.”

“... Missing?”

The barbarian briefly flinched, then grinned as though he understood.

“Now that I look, I do think something is missing.”

“Oh my, don't tell me something was left out?”

“Not an item... About a million Stones in cash is gone.”

Their conversation was so obviously an act that anyone could tell. Listening in silence, the branch manager felt his blood pressure soar until his vision nearly went white.

What kind of bastard and bitch were these two?!

“What are you talking about?! An explorer fresh out of the Labyrinth couldn't possibly be carrying that much—!”

“Are you saying we're lying?”

The mage's icy voice made the branch manager flinch reflexively.

“W-w-well, of course—”

“Where's your proof?”

“How could there possibly be—”

“Oh my, you're calling us swindlers without any proof? Mr. Jandel, I think we'll have to add this branch manager to the list of people to punish.”

“You're right. Falsely accusing an innocent barbarian and mage of lying? Clearly he wasn't raised proper—”

“Enough.”

Unable to watch any longer, the district manager stepped in with a sigh.

“... We'll compensate you for the missing money as well.”

“Since that's only what we're owed, I won't bother thanking you.”

How was this any different from outright robbery, other than the absence of a knife?

Their shamelessness was beyond belief, but there was nothing the branch manager could do except watch it unfold.

“Here is one million Stones.”

“Wow, the Explorer Guild really is as rich as they say. All we have to do is ask, and the money comes straight out of your pocket.”

“... I believe I've shown the Magic Tower more than enough respect. Do not push any further.”

“Fine, then.”

“Will you hand over the crystal ball now?”

“No. I think I'd better give you this after I've confirmed the punishments have been properly carried out. Of course, I promise not to show it to anyone in the meantime.”

“... You must keep that promise.”

“Of course. Don't worry. Anyway, we'll be leaving now, so I'll leave you to deal with the people gathered outside.”

With that, the barbarian and the mage left. A heavy silence settled over the room, as though a storm had just passed through.

“...”

“...”

In the end, the guild had been robbed of another million Stones and still hadn't gotten the crystal ball back. They were also left with the task of dealing with the crowd outside the guild and everyone involved in the incident.

The district manager, who had forced himself to smile in front of those two bastards, now looked as cold and frozen as perpetual snow. Feeling a chill so intense he could barely breathe, the branch manager struggled to speak.

“Um... D-district Manager...? Th-thank you for earlier...”

“Thank me?”

“W-well... You went along with those two bastards' absurd demands to protect me, didn't you?”

“Well, you are one of my people, after all.”

“Urgh! I'll never forget what you did today. I'll work hard for the rest of my—”

“Even if you have to be cut loose, I'm the one who should do it.”

The branch manager, who had been pledging his loyalty with a face full of emotion, went slack-jawed.

“... Pardon? Wh-what exactly do you mean...?”

“You're surprisingly naive, now that I look at you. Did you think you'd get away unscathed after making this much of a mess?”

“B-but I really—”

“Enough. I'll handle everything from here. If you want to escape with at least your life, watch even how you breathe until the attention dies down. Whether you're stripped of your position or that fellow suddenly drops dead somewhere, it has to be entirely unrelated to this incident.”

Before he could say anything, the district manager turned sharply and looked at his daughter.

“Daughter, I'll hear why you came here today later.”

“... Yes, Father.”

“Let's go, then.”

The office emptied in an instant. Left alone inside, the branch manager thought to himself.

“Ha, hahaha...”

It had to be a dream.

* * *

A black spire soaring high into the sky.

I was on the thirty-first floor of that building.

“Well? How does it feel to visit the Magic Tower for the first time?”

“It seems like it'd feel stuffy without windows.”

“Uh... Well, yes, but... Without that condition, we wouldn't have been allowed to build anything this tall in the city.”

I was currently in the private laboratory of Allua Raven, a mage of the Altemion School.

“Here, have a seat.”

I cleared away the papers piled haphazardly on the chair and sat down. She brought me a drink.

In an Erlenmeyer flask.

“Oh, I don't have any cups.”

I took a moment to inspect the drink she'd given me from every angle, then reached a conclusion.

“... It's water.”

“Yes? Would you like some basilisk extract in it?”

“No, this is enough.”

Of course, I didn't drink it. I knew it really was water, but I didn't feel comfortable drinking it just like that. Hadn't that flask probably held one of those colorful solutions or a preserved monster organ until recently?

I got to the point.

“So why did you bring me here?”

“There's something important I want to discuss. You promised to do me a favor later, remember?”

So that was it, as expected. I'd been desperate enough to agree without thinking at the time, but now that I was here, I was regretting it.

She wasn't going to ask to experiment on me or something, was she?

“As I said then, only if it's within my power.”

“Good. That will do.”

“So what's the favor?”

“I'd like exclusive rights to study the Essence you absorbed. I'm sure it'll help you too, Mr. Jandel. Since there's no precedent, we might discover something unusual, don't you think?”

As she went on, the look in her eyes changed. The calculating gaze she'd worn when dealing with the district manager gave way to the scholarly enthusiasm I'd seen in the rupture.

Well, it wasn't hard to understand. Aside from the variant rupture we'd just experienced, no rupture on any floor had a Vampire as its Guardian.

“But what do you mean by exclusive rights?”

“Oh, that? Simply put, you'd only provide samples to me. I want to submit a paper to the academic community under my own name.”

Were mages in this world like graduate students or something?

I couldn't understand her motivation at all, but I'd heard scholars were unrivaled when it came to craving recognition.

Uh, no, wait a minute.

“Don't tell me this is why you asked them to erase the records about the Vampire earlier?”

When we'd signed the agreement at the guild, she'd taken the initiative to ask them not to record the fact that I'd absorbed a Vampire's Essence. Of course, I hadn't expected that alone to keep it completely secret, but I'd agreed because it seemed better than doing nothing.

'They do say to keep seventy percent of your abilities hidden.'

Honestly, I'd even felt grateful that she was taking care of such fine details for me...

She scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“Uh, um, well... It's not that it wasn't...”

A double negative. In other words, yes.

Raven promptly changed the subject without even trying to hide it.

“Ahem! Anyway, I'm not asking for much. I think you could just come by once a week and help for about three hours.”

Three hours a week, huh...

“For how long?”

“Hmm, I think about half a year should be enough...”

“Let's make it three months.”

“All right. So you're agreeing to the favor itself?”

“I am.”

With the first item settled, Raven immediately raised the next.

“Then, getting back to business... Shall we finish settling accounts?”

Settling accounts? There was still something left to settle?

When I gave her a look that said, What the hell are you talking about?, she shifted her demeanor too. Just as she had during her battle of wills with the district manager.

“Not only did I save your life, but you got a total of six million Stones for free thanks to me. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for my share.”

Haha, I see.

I was starting to understand mages. If I was an efficiency freak, these people were profit freaks taken to the extreme.

So I decided to change my mindset too.

“Asking me for money? That's an amusing thing to say.”

Just as I would when smashing a goblin's head in.

* * *

The argument continued, our voices more heated than before.

“It would've been the same with any other mage.”

“I wonder. Anyone else probably would've sold the crystal ball the moment the district manager made his offer.”

“But you already got paid for that by the district manager, didn't you? A whole million Stones, at that.”

In fact, she'd earned that much thanks to me, so by Vehella, if anyone should be demanding a share, it was me.

“... Then at least give me the million Stones you earned with the backpack at the end. You got that entirely thanks to my advice.”

Had I said I wanted to get along with her earlier?

I took that back.

Did she think barbarians were suckers?

“No.”

“All right. Since you agreed to help with my research, I won't ask for all of it. Just give me half. Five hundred thousand Stones.”

“No.”

“Phew, then at least two hundred and fifty thousand—”

“I don't need to hear it. No.”

I wouldn't compromise in the slightest. After all, anyone trying to make me lose gold was a fucking bastard.

And I didn't negotiate with fucking bastards.

If anything, I'd take money from them instead.

“This discussion is over.”

“What? Do you have any idea how much I lost in that rupture because of you?”

At last, I made up my mind.

'I'd better put her in her place before she starts looking down on me any more.'

To be honest, it wasn't as though I felt no gratitude for her help with this incident. But that aside, if we were going to have a long-term, friendly relationship, I needed to show her what kind of person I was.

A guy who just laughed along no matter what you did wasn't nice. He was just a dumb fucking pushover.

'She probably kept pushing not because she really needed the money, but mostly because she wanted to put me in my place.'

“Enough. Let's move on to the next account.”

“The next account?”

She tilted her head as though she had no idea what I meant. Like a proper barbarian, I came straight out with it.

“You owe me five million Stones.”

“F-five million Stones? Why on earth would I?”

“Because you made me absorb the Corpse Golem's Essence without my consent.”

“Wh-what?”

She shouted in utter disbelief.

“Ha! Unbelievable! I gave you an Essence everyone wants for free, and now you're asking me for money? Does that make any sense to you?”

It did.

I wasn't simply being unreasonable. I didn't know why everyone had so little imagination, but if you examined the details, everything I was saying was perfectly sound.

“Why do you think it doesn't make sense? You forced me to absorb that Essence without my consent to save your own life.”

“C-can't you consider that I was trying to save yours?”

“Well, I wouldn't know about that. What I do know is that I didn't want it. So pay me ten million Stones. I heard that's how much it costs to have an Essence removed at a temple—”

“Why would you erase something so precious, you crazy barbarian?!”

“Because it wasn't an Essence I wanted. You've caused me serious harm.”

Unlike earlier, when she'd been playing at haggling, her face flushed red. It sounded like obvious nonsense to anyone, yet there was a certain logic to it, which was pissing her off.

After doing nothing but breathing heavily for a while, she regained her composure.

“... I've heard explorers can't get enough Essences. So that makes no sense. If anything, you should be paying me!”

“Isn't that just your prejudice as a mage? Go ahead and ask another explorer how they'd feel if someone made them absorb an Essence they didn't want.”

“Ha! You're only saying that because you think I don't know any explorers, aren't you? Just wait. I'll check right now.”

Still thoroughly worked up, she grabbed the crystal ball on her desk. She operated it as though dialing a phone number, and soon the call connected.

“Oh, is this Mr. Patzran?”

[“And who might you be?”]

“Hello. This is Allua Raven of the Altemion School. We met with my master last time, remember?”

[“Ah! Miss Raven! I remember. But what brings on this unexpected call...?”]

“There's something I'd like to ask. How would you feel if someone made you absorb an unplanned Essence without your consent?”

[“Hahaha! I don't know why you're asking such a strange question, but to answer... I think I'd be furious.”]

“... What? Furious? E-even if it were a rank-7 Essence? A very rare one you can only get in ruptures?”

[“It would make no difference. An unplanned Essence would be one that did me nothing but harm. You may not know this, Miss Raven, but you'll never reach the upper floors if you just absorb any Essence you come across.”]

Her triumphant expression when the call connected lasted only a moment. After hearing the explorer's kind explanation, she turned pale and began gauging my reaction.

“Th-then, then... Hypothetically, if something like that happened... How should the person be compensated?”

[“If it were me, I'd demand cash compensation first.”]

“About how much would that be...?”

[“About fifteen million Stones should be appropriate.”]

“Th-th-that much?”

[“The cost increases each time you have an Essence erased. How can people who claim to serve the gods be so greedy? Tsk...”]

“Ah, aaah, I seeee...”

As though her grip had gone limp, the communication orb slipped from her hands and rolled away. I picked it up for her and put it back in her hands.

“You still have one more question to ask, don't you?”

At my whisper in her ear, the blonde girl who looked to be in her mid-to-late teens asked in a trembling voice,

“... Wh-wh-what if they couldn't compensate you with money? What would you do then, Mr. Patzran?”

[“Hmm, let's see. If that happened and the person responsible was right in front of me...”]

The man on the other end of the orb answered heartily.

[“I'd probably twist their neck sideways and kill them. Hahaha!”]