Chapter 86

It has been two days since the battle in the city-state of Reiting.

Thanks to the efforts of the mercenaries and soldiers, the city successfully repelled the horde of beasts, and every night since then, the streets have been filled with wild celebrations, enveloped in a heightened atmosphere.

Against the backdrop of this bustling noise, different from the commotion before and during the battle, two figures sat on the sofas in the reception room of the Ritt Chamber of Commerce, and one person stood.

"So? You just went off on your own and came back on your own, huh?"

"I thought you were the one controlling it."

Mariya and Nicole spoke one after another.

"I didn't do anything. It moved on its own."

While looking at the red sword in his hand, Aldis wore a troubled expression.

"The woman with the red eyes, huh... Did you see her too, Nicole?"

"She was incredibly beautiful."

"Yeah, that's some really useful information, isn't it?"

Mariya dismissed Nicole's enthusiastic explanation with a smile.

"Do you really not know anything about this sword?"

"As I've said many times, I've already told Aldis everything I know. I don't know anything more than that."

Mariya's answer was far from what Aldis was hoping for.

Despite not being controlled, the sword moved on its own and even subdued a monster that seemed invincible.

It flew off somewhere on its own and returned to Aldis's hand after a while.

Additionally, there was the presence of a phantom that looked exactly like Nelle.

The sword, which was already mysterious, has only become more suspicious.

"No returns, okay?"

"It's not like I bought it from you."

Mariya's light-hearted joke only made Aldis frown.

Honestly, Aldis was beginning to think that this was something beyond human control.

Even if Mariya offered to take it back, he would hesitate to hand it over with a simple "Here you go."

In some cases, it might be better to discard it in a place where no one would find it. That's what Aldis thought.

The only relief was that it no longer had the ominous aura it once had.

In the past few days, the strange red creature that used to appear from the sword has stopped appearing. The curse, if it was one, seemed to have been lifted.

"Miss, shouldn't we get to the point? You're starting to look like you're about to say, 'If you have no business, I'm leaving.'"

Nicole, who had been observing Aldis's expression, hit the nail on the head.

"Hey, Aldis, you're always so cold."

"Your introduction is too long. So? Why did you call me here? I want to go eat."

Right now, Ted and the other members of the 'Morning Star of the White Night' should be at a famous tavern in Reiting known for its delicious food.

On the first day Reiting was attacked by the horde of beasts, Aldis and his companions fought alongside the guards to repel the beasts at the West Gate.

At that time, Ted had made a deal with the elderly captain leading the guards to treat them to a delicious meal as a reward.

With the post-battle chaos somewhat settled and finally taking a break, the captain was going to take them to his favorite tavern today.

But then Mariya's summons came, interrupting their plans.

Aldis had plenty of reasons to be unenthusiastic about why this person always called him at inconvenient times.

It wasn't that Aldis was upset about missing out on free drinks and food.

He just didn't like being at the mercy of the gray-haired merchant sitting in front of him and was feeling sleepy, wanting to get to bed as soon as possible.

"Anyway, the main point. Aldis, you apparently killed a lot of monsters in this battle."

"Killed a lot is an exaggeration. I did hunt a fair number, though."

"No, no, if you call it 'a fair number,' the other mercenaries, including me, have no place to stand."

Nicole immediately chimed in.

In this battle, Aldis killed eighty-seven monsters.

Although he didn't use all one hundred talismans, including the monsters he killed with attack magic from the city walls, it easily exceeded one hundred.

Of course, he couldn't claim rewards for the monsters he killed with attack magic since he couldn't affix talismans to them.

However, even without those, the rewards for eighty-seven kills amounted to 261 gold coins.

Additionally, some monsters had parts that were highly valued as materials.

The degenerated small wings on the back of 'Whips,' the fur of 'Hounds' and 'Trolls,' for example, were sold at very high prices.

"So, can we buy the monsters you hunted from you? I'll give you a friend's price."

"Why do I have to get a friend's price when I'm selling? It should be the other way around. First, when did we become friends?"

"Hey, Nicole! This cold attitude! This treatment of a friend who shared hardships with you!"

"Miss, did you hear what he said? Besides, I think he's always been like this."

Nicole coldly dismissed Mariya, who turned to her for an opinion.

"You're right."

The short-haired girl quickly recovered and continued as if nothing had happened.

"Okay, I'll buy them at market price."

"Why are you being so condescending? You're just buying at market price."

Mariya, speaking in a condescending tone, was met with a response from Nicole.

"Sure, but how do you plan to recover that many? Not just recovery, but you'll need people to dissect them too. Let me tell you, even civilians are being drafted for material recovery, so you can't hire anyone even if you have the money."

Most of the defeated horde were beasts, not monsters.

If left alone, they would rot and cause disease, so they needed to be burned and buried quickly. Before that, everyone would want to recover valuable materials.

While the value of beast materials is lower than that of monsters, there are still high-value items like fur and fangs, and the quantity is enormous.

Soldiers and militiamen don't carry talismans like mercenaries.

Thus, the ownership of the beasts outside the city is unclear.

It's more accurate to say it's a race to get them.

People are frantically dissecting the beasts to get their materials, and some families are even bringing their children to help.

The damage from the beast horde and the disruption of supply lines are significant, but the profit from monster and beast materials more than makes up for it.

Reiting, which has acquired an unprecedented amount of materials, is showing signs of unprecedented prosperity.

"Some people are trying to recover the materials themselves, and others are being hired by mercenaries for recovery work. I don't think anyone in Reiting is having trouble finding work. Even soldiers are going out on their days off to earn extra money."

Soldiers have the task of burning and burying the beasts, but they are human too. On their days off, they go out with dissection knives to earn extra money.

"Our chamber of commerce can provide a lot of temporary workers."

Mariya smiled as if to say, "How about it?"

"The effect of the talismans won't last forever. Sure, you're strong. You're the best at killing monsters."

But when it comes to dissection, it's a different story, Nicole pointed out.

Aldis doesn't mind fighting monsters, but dissection and recovery are different. While he has basic skills, his speed and precision are not particularly outstanding compared to other mercenaries.

However, that's not a reason for Aldis to panic.

By freezing them and burying them in the ground like he did in Tria, he can take his time with the work.

"Dissection is manageable."

"Then, what about the sale? Where do you plan to sell the recovered materials?"

"There are other chambers of commerce besides this one."

"Not really. The only chamber of commerce that can buy the large amount of materials you want to sell is ours."

Mariya gave an unexpected answer.

"Huh? What do you mean? There are other chambers of commerce in Reiting, right?"

"Sure, there are many small ones."

Nicole was the one to answer Aldis's question.

"Originally, there were four major chambers of commerce in Reiting. One is the well-known Ritt Chamber of Commerce. Another is the Lovel Chamber of Commerce—"

"Kirill's place?"

"Right, that one. Lovel Chamber of Commerce had a major business failure recently and is trying to recover with a loan from the Ritt Chamber of Commerce. They don't have the resources to buy a large amount of materials."

"There are two more, right?"

"Yeah, that's the problem. Among the four, the one that has been the most powerful in recent years is the Jinbaryl Chamber of Commerce. Have you heard of it?"

"The one that gained a lot of influence in this incident?"

"Exactly. They ran away."

"...What?"

Aldis, who didn't understand what Nicole was saying for a moment, let out a puzzled sound.

"Ran away."

Nicole repeated the words.

"...What do you mean by 'ran away'?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. The chamber president, Jules, disappeared suddenly. He was last seen on the city walls during the battle, and now no one knows where he is."

"By the time the battle was over, he was already gone. All the key figures disappeared, causing chaos. The lower-level employees are trying to keep the business running, but Jules seems to have taken most of the operating funds. They're likely to hit their limit soon."

Mariya, shrugging, revealed information known only to her fellow merchants.

"Of course, they don't have the resources to buy a large amount of materials, right?"

"That's right."

"Then, the last major chamber, the Roachia Chamber. They're in a bad spot. They recently aligned with the Jinbaryl Chamber to expand their business. But with Jinbaryl running away, they're going to take a direct hit. They were so closely tied to Jinbary that they might as well be under their umbrella. The president is probably turning blue right now."

Nicole seemed to have no good feelings towards the Roachia Chamber, almost saying, "Serves them right."

"That's the situation. The other chambers are too small to buy a large amount of monster materials, and they've probably already spent their funds on previous purchases. Fufufu, Aldis, the only chamber in Reiting that can buy your materials is ours."

"Or something like that, but this girl is actually worried about you."

Mariya, who was playing the role of a villain, was suddenly flustered by Nicole's interruption.

"Wh-What? Nicole, what are you saying!?"

"As I said, the only chamber in Reiting that can buy a large amount of materials is the Ritt Chamber. On the other hand, there are still a lot of materials waiting to be recovered outside the city walls. If this continues, there will be a surplus of materials."

"Nicole!"

Mariya protested.

"What will happen then? More people will want to sell, but fewer will be able to buy. The result will be a decrease in material value. In other words, they'll be bought at lower prices."

"You didn't have to say that."

Mariya tried to stop Nicole's mouth, but she was a skilled mercenary who could easily handle three Despairs. Her attempts were easily evaded, making her look like a kitten pouncing on a toy.

"In fact, there are already signs of this. Glass Wolf fur has dropped by 20% in the past seven days. Monster materials might not drop as much because they are fewer in number, but they won't be unaffected. Consider the kindness of this girl, who wants to buy your materials at a fair price before their value drops."

Mariya, who finally realized her resistance was futile, stood behind Nicole, facing the opposite direction, her ears as red as Orphelia's drunk face.

Seeing this unfamiliar, awkward side of Mariya, Aldis's anger from earlier disappeared.

He almost burst out laughing but managed to suppress it, responding with a wry smile.

"Alright. I'll talk it over with my companions."

In the end, Aldis decided to entrust the dissection and material purchase of the monsters he hunted to the Ritt Chamber of Commerce.

While there were no other options, Noris's comment, "Basically, Aldis just doesn't like this Mariya, right?" also influenced his decision. When he thought about it objectively, it wasn't a bad deal.

Afterward, Aldis and Ted and the other 'Morning Star of the White Night' members stayed in Reiting for a while to handle the aftermath.

After receiving their rewards and selling the materials, Aldis and his companions left Reiting for the capital, Gran, about ten days after the battle.

2019/05/03 Typo correction: "appearance" → "appearance"

*Thank you for the typo report.

2019/07/30 Typo correction: "example" → "tatoe"

2019/08/11 Misuse correction: "gaze" → "gaze"

2019/08/11 Typo correction: "exceed" → "exceed"

2019/08/11 Typo correction: "reward" → "reward"

*Thank you for the typo report.

2020/02/12 Content correction: "last week" → "seven days ago"