BXBX NOVEL Chapter 123 - A Slap for Every Penny Found (5)
Chapter 123 - A Slap for Every Penny Found (5)
"Looks like there\'s a big fight going on at a mercenary office."
The conversation between some passersby reached my ears.
No matter how I considered it, this had to be Hindrasta.
Who else but Hindrasta would be causing a ruckus at a mercenary office as a student of the academy?
It looked like things had escalated enough for the guards to be called in. I couldn’t just leave it alone.
"Wait here for a moment, you two."
Leaving Ismera and Olysia behind, I ran after the city guards.
When I arrived at the scene, I saw a large crowd gathered in front of a building.
From inside, the sounds of something breaking, shattering, cursing, and shouting could be heard.
They were clearly having a huge brawl in there.
"Professor!"
Merilda and Knightley rushed towards me from the crowd.
"What happened here?"
"Sophie went inside there!"
The door at the entrance of the building Merilda pointed to was missing. Upon closer inspection, the small, shattered wooden pieces scattered on the ground seemed to be what remained of the original door.
As I thought—it was Hindrasta.
"We ran into her just out front and invited her to join us for lunch, but she said she had to collect her money first, claiming she’d treat us once she got it…."
"Honestly, what an idiot."
Knightley clicked her tongue.
"Sure, unpaid wages are terrible, but if she handles it like this, she’ll probably end up paying more in compensation later."
"If Sophie had enough brains to think that far ahead, she wouldn\'t have broken down the door in the first place…."
Merilda calmly stated the facts, causing Knightley to frown.
"Move aside! Step back!"
The city guards were pushing the crowd aside when suddenly, the second-story window shattered, and something flew out.
With a loud crash, an orc hit the ground, his nose bleeding and his swollen eyes making him a pitiful sight.
"Help me! It’s a monster! A monster!!"
"Eek?!"
The terrified onlookers retreated several meters in an instant.
A mercenary company of any decent size would inevitably hire members from various races, and the most popular among them were orcs.
With immense strength, animal-like reflexes, and an almost natural-born affinity for combat, orcs were the ideal warrior species.
Having just one orc in a mercenary group significantly boosted their combat power, and for a large guild like Reblanc, it was practically a given.
They even had monsters that had been tamed from a young age. Regardless.
In this case, it was a burly, muscular orc being thrown out. The city guards, who had been boldly pushing their way into the building, now hesitated, exchanging nervous glances with each other.
The frightening noise inside continued.
"Captain, what should we do…?"
"Didn’t they say it’s an academy student…?!"
The guards muttered, hesitating.
"I think we should call for reinforcements from headquarters. If an orc ends up like that, there’s no way we can handle it alone!"
"This is a disaster. And during my shift, of all times…."
With the city guards still unable to decide whether to enter, I moved forward.
"Oh! It’s dangerous! Please step back!"
"I’m a professor at the academy."
I pulled out my ID card, proving I was an academy professor.
There were plenty of stores in the city offering teacher discounts, so I always carried it with me on outings.
"It seems like one of our students is in there, so I’ll go in and check things out."
"It’s far too dangerous. Look at that."
The guard pointed to the orc, who was now sitting on the ground, wiping the blood from his nose.
"It’s reckless to enter the building unarmed when someone was able to do that to an orc."
"It’s alright. She’s my student, and I’m the Head Combat Professor. It’ll be better if I go in than if the guards try."
"Hmm… if you insist…."
The captain reluctantly gave his permission, and I approached the building.
"Sophie! It’s me!"
I shouted from the entrance, but there was no response.
"I’m coming in, so let’s talk!"
Without waiting for an answer, I stepped through the broken doorway into the building.
"Ugh… Don’t step on me…."
"Oh! Sorry."
Feeling something soft underfoot, I looked down to find a mercenary sprawled on the ground.
"Get outside. The city guards are here, and they can help you."
I helped the mercenary to his feet and continued deeper inside.
"Aaagh!"
I narrowly dodged a falling mercenary as I climbed the stairs to the second floor, where several mercenaries had formed a defensive formation in front of a safe.
They were all armed with various weapons, but it didn’t seem like a great choice.
Hindrasta, standing opposite them, had flames blazing from her shoulders as if she were on fire.
No matter how well they polymorph, a dragon is still a dragon.
No matter how brave these mercenaries were, in the face of an enraged dragon, they were still nothing more than frail humans.
"Open the safe!"
"Please, calm down! We need approval from headquarters first!"
At Hindrasta’s roar, the mercenaries were practically begging, their voices almost shrill.
"Approval, my foot! Just take the money out now and get approval later!"
"I’m telling you, there’s no money here! We recently sent everything to headquarters as a down payment for a job!"
"That’s your problem! Does that mean all the work I did for your mercenary group counts for nothing?! Open the safe!"
"No one’s saying you didn’t work hard, Sophie, but we don’t have any money on hand right now! And besides, you weren’t even officially part of our branch! If you want to argue, go to headquarters!"
"Headquarters is too far! I can’t go there and get back before my weekend leave is over! I have to return to the academy today, so open the safe! Let’s see if there’s money or not!"
This wasn’t going anywhere. Dragons are incredibly possessive of what they consider theirs, especially gold and treasure.
Seeing that the situation was going nowhere, one of the mercenaries stepped forward angrily.
"Are you really going to keep this up?! Do you think the mercenary group doesn’t know your situation?!"
"What do you mean by my situation?!"
"You abandoned the mercenary group without permission!"
"What?"
"We sent you on a bodyguard mission, not to take the academy entrance exam! Then you suddenly joined the academy without any word and just settled down! Everyone in the branch knows about it!"
The mercenary’s temper flared as his voice grew louder.
"That’s a clear breach of contract! If anything, you should be paying us a penalty fee! No matter how talented you are, you can’t just treat this line of work like a joke!"
"What did you just say?! You think I joined the academy because I wanted to?! Penalty fee?! Do you want me to kill you all?!"
Hindrasta stomped her foot, shattering the wooden floor beneath her.
If this continued, someone was going to die.
"That’s enough, Sophie."
I pushed my way past the mercenaries and moved forward.
"Enough already. This isn’t something that can be solved like this."
"Stay out of it! I’ll handle my own problems!"
"I’m not trying to interfere; I’m trying to help you. If someone dies, things will get really complicated."
"Grrrr!"
Hindrasta was clearly at her boiling point and looked ready to leap forward at any moment.
"Think about it. You’ll have to live in this city for a long time with that appearance."
Reminding her of the thousand-year curse seemed to calm her down a bit.
"Ugh… nothing ever goes right…."
Avoiding my gaze, Hindrasta scratched her head in frustration.
"Phew… I really thought I was going to die…."
The mercenaries behind me put down their weapons and breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"Thank you, sir. I don’t know who you are, but you saved us."
"I’m a professor at the academy Sophie attends."
"Oh, you’re really a professor. I’m the head of the Reblanc Mercenary Group\'s Calvassar branch."
I shook hands with the branch head, whose expression turned slightly curious.
"Excuse me, but are you really a professor? The calluses on your hands… they don’t seem like the hands of someone who teaches."
"I’ve eaten my share of battle rations. I’m the Head Combat Professor."
"Ah, I see. I thought there was something different about you. Anyway, thank you for saving us. Sophie is incredibly strong-willed, and I honestly thought we might die here."
"Shut up! Just give me the money already!"
"Ugh, seriously! How am I supposed to give you money when there isn’t any?!"
"Stop lying! Then open the safe and show me! Why won’t you open it?!"
"Do you think we can just let someone who’s no longer part of the mercenary group open our safe?!"
It looked like another argument was about to start, so I raised my hand to stop them.
"Enough, enough. This will never end if you keep going like this. Let’s settle this through conversation. But first, we need to deal with the city guards outside."
At the mention of the city guards, the branch head’s face looked troubled.
"The guards are here?"
"Of course. They’d be neglecting their duty if they didn’t respond to this commotion. So, what do you want to do?"
The branch head sighed deeply in response to my question.
"We don’t want the guards involved."
"Alright. Then I’ll tell them this is an internal dispute within the mercenary group."
I went outside and explained the situation to the guards, and they reluctantly accepted it before leaving the scene.
It seemed the guards also didn’t want to get involved in any unpleasant business with the Reblanc Mercenary Group.
It was customary for the guards and mercenaries to generally avoid interfering with each other.
Besides, there wasn’t much the guards could do about a fight between mercenaries anyway.
"Now, let’s hear the details. I’m no lawyer, but I’m the only one here who can mediate for Sophie at the moment."
"You’re right. Then, this way."
The branch head righted a table and chairs that had been knocked over during the fight and had Sophie and me sit down.
"Would you like some tea? Ah, no, never mind. Everything’s broken."
He glanced at the shattered teacups and spilled tea leaves on the floor and gave a bitter smile.
"That’s alright. Forget the tea, just tell us what’s going on."
The branch head sighed deeply and began to speak.
"Our mercenary group is on the verge of bankruptcy."