LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 3: The Price I Must Pay
As I entered the Adventurer’s Guild, the scene inside was even more brutal than outside. All sorts of humans and non-humans alike were looking at me, weapons in hand.
A quick glance revealed that some had silver or gold identification tags around their necks or on their wrists. Those must be… adventurer’s rank tags.
It made sense that such things would exist in a world with monsters, magic, and humans who could jump as if they were flying.
Even in the real world, people were implicitly ranked by their occupation or wealth, so it was only natural that such a system would exist in this world where might made right.
Perhaps because I had overturned the place once before, no adventurers rushed at me. I had fought a gold-ranked adventurer before, and although it was quite tough, I had managed to completely crush them.
Maybe the word had spread, because the other gold-ranked adventurers didn’t dare to challenge me either. I was seriously considering crippling one of them as an example if they tried to pick a fight this time, but it seemed that wouldn’t be necessary.
The receptionist was fully armed, wearing a strange helmet that looked like an onion. It was dented and scratched in various places, as if she had picked it up from a warehouse.
She didn’t have that last time. Did I cause too much of a ruckus?
No. It was entirely the fault of those who challenged me without knowing their place.
“…H-hello!”
“Hello.”
She still greeted me. I could see a hint of fear in her eyes as she slightly lifted the visor of her helmet.
I had nothing more to say, and there was no reason to stay long, so I urged her a little.
“…Settle, please.”
Using the few words I had learned and the words I had learned from the receptionist, I conveyed my intention to exchange the items for money and placed the bundle on the counter.
It was so large that it knocked over everything on the table, causing a cute little accident, but the receptionist calmly untied the knot and reached into the blood-dripping sack.
“…Bicorn horns, several mid-to-high-grade magic stones, damaged special organs of monsters, this is… Ainokion’s marrow and hide. And this is Dalocos’ magic core…? How did you even get these… No. Wait a minute, after deducting the hazard pay and the service fee for the adventurers…”
She was rambling on about something, but I could bear it when I saw the clinking gold coins.
Sometimes she took some gold, but I could always find more when I rummaged through the lumps of meat, so it was fine. I received a little over 50 gold.
That was 10 gold more than last time.
“…Here, 50 gold. Take it! Your, thing.”
She used vocabulary at my level and put the coins in a small pouch that seemed to be made from scraps instead of the blood-stained sack. Of course, it was also covered in blood because she had touched the coins with her bloody hands.
Such details usually moved people. I gave her a silent nod, then took out the crumpled sack I had brought with me from the original sack.
I couldn’t carry food in a sack that contained nearly spoiled organs, so I politely threw away the one I had brought and gave her a nod before heading out of the guild.
…I heard some ominous footsteps, but there was no sign of an immediate attack, so I decided to ignore it.
If they attacked, I would just show them my power then. The guards were still waiting for me, maintaining a dense wall of spear blades.
Every time I saw the guards, especially that bald one, I wondered. Could they find solace in repeatedly doing something so futile?
I didn’t like their faces, which seemed to suggest they were in control of the situation, so I briefly considered playing a prank on them, but decided against it.
It would be a joke to me, but they would obviously take it as a life-threatening situation.
They had surrounded me again, leaving only one side open as they did when I came to the guild, so I should just go along with it. I felt better when I thought about the sweet foods that I could enjoy for at least a month.
Dairy products and other perishable items had to be eaten within three days. But candy and sugar could be stored for a long time, so my steps quickened a little.
The shopkeepers were not much different from the receptionist.
No, they were even worse. It was not a pleasant sight to see them wearing pot lids or tying cutting boards and unread dictionaries to their chests as if they were armor.
They looked at me with fearful eyes, but they couldn’t take their eyes off the sack I was holding, seemingly hoping that I would come to their store. It made me think that humans were sad creatures, weak to gold.
I bought from that store last time, so should I buy from here this time?
…By the way, the store I bought from before. It seems to be doing better. Am I just imagining it?
The owner of the store I entered was trembling, but a greedy smile hung on his lips.
“Welcome! Dragon who carries gold, you have a great eye. The store may look humble, but all the products are directly imported from Sandevile, where high-quality sugarcane grows. Once…”
Sorry. I don’t understand what you’re saying at all. I threw a gold coin at his face, and he hurriedly caught it and fell silent.
I swept up everything that looked delicious, and my spare sack became quite full.
The reason I threw gold coins was because they often whined when I only threw silver coins. They would quiet down if I threw about four more, but to avoid such a hassle, I started throwing only one gold coin a year ago.
The items were well-packaged, so it seemed like a disaster could be avoided if I was just a little careful on the way. I waved my hand a few times to indicate that I was leaving, and then headed to the place that smelled of medicine.
When I entered the place, which I didn’t know if it was a pharmacy or a clinic, the person at the counter looked bewildered, unlike the store owners, as if asking why I was there.
“Why is a half dragon here…?”
Hmm. I guess he’s educated, but I don’t know. I threw a gold coin as usual, jumped over the counter, and put the bandages that replaced clothes, a glass bottle of red medicine, and a glass bottle of blue medicine from the shelf into my sack.
The red medicine healed wounds, and the blue medicine helped clear the mind, so it wouldn’t hurt to have one of each.
“Wait a minute! Those are for the patients…!”
What? One isn’t enough? I threw another gold coin, and the doctor finally quieted down. I left the store.
I had no more business here, so I was just going to leave, but I kept feeling vibrations on my horn as if someone was following me. I tried to ignore it, but there were quite a few of them, so I couldn’t just let it go.
For now, I tore up the paved road a little and made the pieces float around me as a precaution. The guard was startled, but who cares.
The guards slowly backed away, perhaps afraid of the stones circling around me like satellites.
Thanks to that, I was able to get out of the village very peacefully. The ominous footsteps showed no sign of stopping until I reached the entrance of the mountain.
There were about five or six people in terms of numbers.
I dug up the ground a little, gently placed the sack down as if storing a bouquet of flowers, turned around, and let out a roar from deep within my belly.
“───────!!!”
I felt the vibrations of birds taking flight and small animals fleeing. And two adventurers fell from a nearby tree.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“Damn it, Jake! Breathe! Fuck, I shouldn’t have brought this scaredy-cat! We were definitely blocking our presence, what the hell is this monster…!”
One of them seemed to have fainted on the spot, his eyes rolled back and foaming at the mouth, and the other one didn’t look much better.
Both of their identification tags were silver. They sure had guts. How dare these pieces of trash try to catch me, when even gold-ranked adventurers couldn’t?
They looked like they couldn’t even catch the animals in the mountains, let alone me.
It made me angry.
I threw one of the stones I had been spinning around to test the waters. The fact that he barely managed to deflect it with his sword, even though I hadn’t even focused my magic on my horn, made me even more annoyed.
He had a nice-looking sword with a blue aura, but his skills seemed to be far inferior.
How dare he aim for my neck with such pathetic skills?
I focused my magic on my horn and shot a large stone at the guy’s thigh. Before he could even react, the stone shattered his leg.
That was the end of the fight. I left the guy bleeding and clutching his severed leg, and picked up my sack again.
There were still about three of them left, but… this should be enough of a warning. If they were stupid enough not to understand this kind warning, I’d have to drive a rock into their heads.
The rock I used on the way down was about to break, but since I had already paved the way, I could probably use it to go back up.
It would be a disaster if it broke. But that won’t happen.
I put my leg back in, reinforced the rock with my ability, and focused a huge amount of magic on my horn.
Then slowly, the rock began to move and climb up the slope. Unlike when I came down, I had to go against gravity, so my magic was draining faster, but it was still manageable.
I’ll probably be tired for a day tomorrow.
And so, I returned to my abode.