Chapter 76

Eberheid's ambition to dominate the world quietly came to an end, known to almost no one.

By the time the expedition team led by Wegener woke up, everything was already over.

Seeing the ruins turned into a pile of rubble, Wegener fainted.

The shock must have been great, given how enthusiastically he had taken on this major task.

Of course, it was nothing compared to Eberheid's situation.

After Wegener calmed down, Mear explained the sequence of events to him.

"So, the ruins went boom, and everything went whoosh, and Abel rushed in, and there was a flash of light, and then boom! It was really intense, even from a distance... really, really...!"

"Hey, bring an interpreter over here."

...To avoid being blamed for destroying the ruins, I had to clearly re-explain the situation.

I explained that Eberheid had used hypnotic magic, that the golems had carried everyone out, that the ruins had exploded, and that we had safely shot them down.

"Well, well, what a troublesome fellow... trying to take credit with Wegener..."

...I re-explained, but no one believed the part about destroying the ruins.

Eberheid, who was also a party to the incident, was just staring blankly at the debris, so I decided to fudge it a bit.

After all, if they believed I had destroyed the fortress, it could have caused problems later on.

This was probably for the best.

However... it was a shame we couldn't bring the golems back.

We couldn't fit them in the carriage, and if we activated them, we might violate the regulations.

"Whatever exaggerations there may be, I'll overlook the fact that you moved the golems while I was unconscious. Normally, I would have had you locked up as a dangerous person! Be grateful for my magnanimity!"

...In the end, the golems were left to Wegener to collect over time, by the lord's authority.

Wegener's position must have been precarious, given that the ruins were destroyed and he had no credit to claim, especially since he had been entrusted by the lord.

Eberheid had also received considerable financial support.

However, it was frustrating to have done so much and receive no return, so I decided to sneak some useful minerals and other items from the ruins' debris while Wegener wasn't looking.

Allen, one of the expedition team members, helped distract Wegener.

After a few days, we returned to the city of Romane and headed to the Adventurer Support Office to cash in the parts of the monsters we had slain along the way.

What we brought were hound pelts, Sufi tails, and hobgoblin ears.

The Sufi and hobgoblins were mainly defeated by the expedition team, but they had given everything to us in secret from Wegener.

I now regret not bringing the griffon out of the ruins.

It was buried under the rubble.

A B-rank monster would have earned a substantial reward, which is a shame.

"Normally, the party leader writes the report, but what do you want to do? If Abel wants to write it, I can let him..."

"I don't really understand, so let Maisen do it."

Apparently, to cash in the monster parts, a report needs to be written.

Many adventurers are from the slums and can't write, so some people earn a little money by teaching or writing reports for them.

"Is that okay? The content of the report can affect an adventurer's promotion, especially for lower ranks with lax reviews."

According to Maisen, it's common for party leaders to write reports in their own favor.

Many parties of E and F ranks rely on a leader to function, so leaders often have absolute authority.

"Well, F rank is fine for now... I'll think about upgrading when I have a specific goal."

"...You say that so lightly. You could probably become anything you want, though. I'll write it, but please check it for me."

"Sure, sure! Mear will! Mear will write it! I've always wanted to do this! My handwriting is a bit questionable, but if you write it for me..."

"Alright, I'll leave it to you, Maisen."

Unfortunately, I've already confirmed Mear's lack of expressive ability.

If I let her do it, the report might be half onomatopoeia.

The hound pelts were the only items of real value; the Sufi tails and hobgoblin ears were mostly just proof of the kills.

The main purpose of the rewards seems to be to support adventurers and maintain their numbers, rather than directly improving public safety by reducing the number of monsters.

The monsters we hunted weren't part of any specific request, and we couldn't expect any special reward from the lord.

Wegener, the head of the expedition team, didn't seem to have a good impression of us either.

Each item might not have been worth much, but the sheer number of them meant we at least broke even.

We discussed the distribution at the rest area.

After deducting expenses like food and carriage fees, we divided the remaining amount equally among the three of us.

Each of us got a little over 100,000 G.

If the expedition team hadn't given us the hobgoblin ears, we would have been in the red.

However, since neither Mear nor I had done much in the way of slaying, I had some reservations... but I accepted the share under pressure from Maisen.

Honestly, it was a relief. With this, we could be comfortable for a while.

"Then, I'll give Mear's share to Abel. Mear didn't do anything, after all."

After parting ways with Maisen, Mear tried to hand me a small bag of money.

"No, actually, I owe you, so I'd like you to keep my share as payment..."

"You don't have to pay that back. Think of it as a shared fund, and let Abel manage it..."

Mear smiled and grabbed my wrist as I tried to push the bag back.

She was surprisingly strong.

"But... you see..."

"There's no need to rush to settle things. Mear doesn't really understand money, so let Abel keep it. Okay? Okay?"

"O-Okay..."

Her eyes weren't smiling.

This girl is a bit scary...

Maybe I should talk to that merchant, James, next time.

After the distribution was settled, I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman behind me.

"Hey, did you hear? About that barrier ruin?"

"Hmm, not really. Something about an explosion, right?"

The two shady-looking guys were talking about the Zeshum ruins.

I stopped and listened.

"The elf hired by the lord tried to take over the ruins and ended up blowing himself up spectacularly. He's in jail now. What an idiot."

"Wow... trying to get greedy and ending up with nothing... That's the worst. I thought elves were supposed to be smart..."

...I couldn't bear to listen anymore and quietly tuned them out.

Eberheid's incident was handled as a case of a greedy elf's rampage.

Thanks to this, Eberheid avoided the death penalty, but... I honestly don't know which was better.

This reputation would likely follow Eberheid until his death.

Would Eberheid, who takes pride in his race, be able to endure this?