Chapter 173: This Grudge, I Won't Forget!
"Wait, wait, wait! This is weird, right? No matter how you think about it, it's weird! Why is there a compensation fee?!"
The party members gathered together.
Satou Kazuma's hands trembled as he held a check. After seeing the high number on it, his voice trembled just like his hands.
He really couldn't understand why, after subjugating a powerful monster, he not only didn't get a reward, but had to pay money instead.
"And it's 150 million Eris?!"
Aqua was also dumbfounded, staring blankly at the bill.
"What an absurd amount. It's dozens of times higher than the compensation I've had to pay for the ruins I've destroyed in the past," Megumin said, raising her right hand and striking a "I'll have to do my best too" pose. It was unclear who she was competing with.
Darkness nodded. "Indeed. We went a little too far back then."
The group recalled the scene when they had taken out the Winter Shogun.
Hundreds of explosions, each with the power of an Explosion spell, had gone off at the same time, blowing a crater several hundred meters wide and bottomlessly deep into the plain. It was understandable that the compensation claim was as high as over a hundred million.
...Understandable my ass!
After working so hard to defeat a powerful monster, just as you're preparing to receive your reward, you're told you have to pay money. Who can understand that kind of pain?
Is this reasonable?! Isn't this just bullying an honest person?!
Kazuma rushed to the counter in a single bound, pointed at the number on the bill, and questioned the receptionist, "Miss Luna, why did it turn into this? Don't you think this number is strange? Actually, what's written in front of the amount isn't 'debt,' but 'bounty,' right! The kingdom's bounty is 150 million Eris, isn't it?"
"Well..."
Luna had a difficult expression on her face and didn't say anything, but that expression already told them that this was real.
Aqua excitedly grabbed Luna's collar, lifting her ridiculously large chest. As she shook her back and forth, the rippling waves and the white halo were reflected in everyone's eyes.
He turned his head slightly. Oh no, I was almost lost in it.
"What do you mean? Why is the compensation so high? Are you looking for trouble, hey~~!" The yakuza goddess glared at Luna with a displeased expression. That final click of her tongue, in particular, was the very essence of a street punk.
Sometimes, one couldn't help but wonder if she was really a goddess.
"Miss Aqua, even if you say that, it has nothing to do with me. This is the kingdom's decision... to be precise, it's the Lord's decision," Luna said, looking helplessly at the unreasonable Aqua.
Indeed, this had nothing to do with her. As a receptionist, the most she could do was convey the result of the judgment.
However, he seemed to have heard an interesting name.
The Lord? Aldarp?
Aqua relentlessly pressed on, "So even the Lord can't demand so much in compensation, right? There has to be a reason!"
"Actually..."
On this point, Luna gave an explanation.
—Destruction of the ecological environment, and obstruction of Axel's development plans.
The plain where he and the others had been doing their quest was not only home to Snow Sprites. Under the snow-covered plain, there were also numerous hibernating monsters. The high temperature from the hundreds of spells had melted the snow, causing many of the monsters to wake up early.
And because it was winter, most of the adventurers were resting, which led to the monsters running rampant everywhere. Many of the villagers' pastures were attacked, and more than half of the cattle and sheep they were raising were eaten.
"So we have to compensate the villagers for their losses, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
This compensation was reasonable.
Because of his own hot-headedness and arrogant desire to take out the Winter Shogun, his carelessness had led to the loss of the villagers' property. It was only right that he should compensate them.
"But it doesn't have to be that much!"
Aqua, hearing this, calmed down a little, but she was still so angry she was gesticulating wildly. "150 million! 150 million! Do you know how much high-grade sparkling liquor that can buy? Do you know?!"
This woman didn't care about the lives of others at all. She just didn't want to pay the high compensation fee for her own pleasure.
She didn't look like a goddess at all.
He sighed. He was just about to teach her a lesson, but then he heard another receptionist, who was wearing the same uniform but had short hair and small freckles on her face, chime in.
"Actually, it really doesn't need to be that much."
"Deborah!"
Luna's expression changed slightly, wanting to stop her colleague from continuing.
"What does it matter? It was that rotten, disgusting lord who asked the kingdom to increase the compensation in the first place," Deborah said, her face full of contempt for Lord Aldarp.
It had to be said that Aldarp was an extremely unsuccessful lord of Axel. Not only did the guards and adventurers secretly belittle him, but even the receptionists were indignant with him.
He turned his gaze.
"Miss Luna, we all worked so hard to defeat a powerful monster. Not getting any money and having to pay compensation instead... that's not right, is it?"
"It's not right."
"And you're still speaking up for that lord whom everyone detests. That's not right either, is it?"
"...It's not right."
"Then tell us what's going on."
Under his gentle persuasion, Luna didn't struggle much and quickly told the truth.
Originally, they only needed to pay for the destruction of the ecological environment. This could have been covered by the bounty from the kingdom for subjugating the Winter Shogun. But Aldarp had appealed to the higher-ups, saying that the trade route he was planning to build had been destroyed, and had forcefully used "obstruction of Axel's development" as an excuse to increase the compensation amount by 150 million.
If it had really been about destroying a trade route and hindering development, that would have been fine. But in reality, they all knew that this was just an excuse from the greedy lord.
"I see. So that's how it is."
He nodded with an expressionless face after hearing this.
As expected of an unpopular lord. The things he did were quite disgusting.
"Aldarp, right? Let's go and reason with that guy right now! I'll definitely make him pay!" Aqua was furious. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to rush to the lord's mansion to pick a fight.
He grabbed her and said, "It's useless. The other party is in the right now. Even if we go, it will just be making a scene, and it will give them an excuse to get a hold on us."
Darkness also chimed in, "Aldarp's reputation is indeed not good. It's useless to go and find him rashly. But this matter can be reported to a higher-ranking noble. If we can find evidence, we should be able to make him pay the price."
She was talking about her own family.
The Dustiness family, known as the "Kingdom's Sword in the Sheath." As a great noble family of the kingdom, their territory included Axel and the surrounding beginner villages. Especially since the Dustiness main family was in Axel... to offend the young lady of a great noble family, how could he not pay the price?
This grudge, I won't forget!
"Damn it!"
Aqua shed tears of unwillingness.
She was really crying. Crying her eyes out over the loss of so much money, not looking like a goddess at all.
And Dust, who had been a melon-eating spectator the whole time, jumped out to kick him while he was down when he saw that he had to pay a huge debt.
"Yo, Kobayashi. I hear you have to pay over a hundred million in compensation?"
"...Weren't you watching the whole time?"
"Hahaha, I never thought you'd see this day! How about it? No money left, right! You've become a poor bastard just like us!"
This guy—!
But it seemed he didn't know he was actually very rich. He could use this point to play with him a little.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, then immediately fell. He said with a feigned pain, "Ah, indeed. I have no money left."
"Hmph hmph hmph, then you can just..."
"All I have left now is 80 million Eris."
"Gak—?!"
Dust's eyes widened, like a giant toad's.
He had a feeling that he was humblebragging.
And what was even more excessive was that he deliberately sighed loudly, "What do I do? From now on, I can only have rare ingredients for one meal a day instead of every meal. And the sparkling liquor with the limited edition logo will have to be cut down from three bottles a day to one. Ah, what am I going to do!"
"Y-you...!"
Dust couldn't say a word.
The scummy punk that everyone in Axel cursed at... he should have been the one to assist and give him a chance to slap him in the face.
You've done well, Dust. I'll give you a five-star review.
And his affected appearance made the others in the guild grit their teeth in hatred. In their hearts, they were all silently thinking.
—I really want to punch him!
(End of Chapter)