Chapter 85

"Then, here is your reward."

Gaston received a bag filled with coins from the receptionist. The sound of Gaston swallowing hard reached my ears.

Gaston put his hand into the bag and pinched a gold coin. Glared at by Gordon, he returned it to the bag with a sigh.

Gaston walked out of the facility with large strides, glancing back at the suspicious onlookers. Mordon, walking beside Gaston, gave me a nod. I thought it would be best to follow them.

Just as I was about to chase after Gaston after he left the facility, I noticed that the number of his followers was increasing. One, two, three... A woman suddenly jumped out from the crowd of onlookers. In no time, there were seven of them.

"Sure enough, Gaston, you're amazing!"

"Gaston, you're really different!"

"Of course! He's our Gaston!"

They praised him and tried to please him. Perhaps he was more popular than I thought. In fact, Gaston's tyranny could be a powerful force when used for the right side. They probably felt reassured having Gaston as their leader.

"So, Gaston, I've already talked to the old man at the Drunken Inn. He said, why not start the party in the middle of the day? The old man was happy to hear that Gaston had done well."

Gaston's expression changed suddenly. Gordon, unable to bear the situation, stepped between Gaston and his followers.

"Hey, you guys. Without his permission..."

"What? Who do you think you are, Gordon? Just a baggage carrier getting ahead of himself. You know, Gaston isn't a small-minded guy like you. He wouldn't do something so petty. Right, Gaston? Let's have a big party, okay? We'll party, right?"

The followers' gazes all turned to Gaston.

"O-of course! Let's go, everyone!"

"Sure enough! Got it, Gordon!"

Ah, this is no good. Gaston hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment.

He probably wanted to maintain his dignity in front of his followers. He readily agreed. It seems using Gaston might be impossible.

"Hey, wait! Hey! Hey! Wait, this... talk..."

Gordon shouted and grabbed Gaston's shoulder as he tried to leave with his followers.

"Shut up! Don't tell me what to do!"

Gaston shook him off and grabbed Gordon's back, pulling him to the ground.

"Wait, this..."

Gordon, with Mordon's help, stood up and turned to me. His face was pale, and he conveyed with his eyes, mouth, and gestures, "I'll take care of it." He seemed to feel responsible, perhaps remembering our fight.

Gordon and Mordon hurriedly ran after Gaston, their faces fierce.

Is it really okay to leave it to them...?

All I could see was a future where they would be used.

"Isn't this bad? What should we do?"

"What can we do..."

Honestly, even if I intervened, I couldn't do anything. Officially, that money was something Gaston earned on his own. I could beat him up later, but by then the money would probably be gone.

Besides, I don't have the nerve to crash a party at a bar. They're all really rough, and frankly, I'm scared.

"...It'll be fine. Look, Gordon was looking at us like he wanted us to leave it to him."

"Is it really going to be okay? I'm really worried, Abel."

"Gordon is probably used to dealing with these kinds of conflicts."

Poison to counter poison. It's the quickest way to deal with rough guys. Let's do what's best for the situation.

"Still, it was a good idea to involve Gordon, yeah. Anyway, once we get the reward, we'll have a lot more money for living expenses. I want to buy a lot of things in the city..."

"Abel, are you avoiding reality!? If we fail to collect the reward, we'll lose our inn!"

In the end, we decided to think about the worst-case scenario and put off shopping for now. We went to the Kudur religion's church in the city center and spent time in the library inside. The Kudur religion's church library is open to everyone without restrictions.

Chasing after Gaston right now wouldn't do me any good. I decided to do some research today and get a good night's rest at the inn. By tomorrow, Gordon will surely have collected the reward for the Baum bird.

The Kudur religion is the state religion of the Dinarath Kingdom. It is a gentle religion that does not discriminate against followers of other religions, except for a few extremists. However, it has many rather wild myths, such as stories where believers try their best to calm a god who is raging and trying to devour sinners.

I thought the church library would mainly have religious texts like Bibles and hymns, but it had a wide range of books, from magic guides to adventure stories and even romance novels. The Bibles and academic books were pushed to the corners, and the popular novels were prominently displayed. Thanks to this, there were quite a few users, but I wondered if this was really okay for the church.

I saw a woman in a nun's habit sleeping face-down on a desk. Saliva was dripping from her cheek onto a thick book, which was the Kudur church's Bible. Is this really okay, Kudur church? I heard the god here is short-tempered and devious.

Anyway, I had Mea bring me all the books on alchemy and bio-magic that I wanted to research. There were about thirty of them. This field is deep, and no matter how much I research, I can't see the bottom. I considered reading them standing up to save the trouble of carrying them, but they were too thick, and my arms would give out.

"Sorry, Mea, for making you carry them."

"N-no... it's fine..."

Mea was out of breath after making several trips.

"Um... can you really read all of these today?"

Looking at the pile of books on the table, Mea was slightly taken aback. The gazes of the other library users were also painful. Maybe I was a bit rude.

"No, with these kinds of books, you basically skim the overlapping content. I won't read all of them."

"Is that so? I don't really understand anymore..."