Chapter 19: Escort 2 (Part 3)
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Translator: SFBaka
I looked around the room. A lot of stuff was piled up here and there; about two carriages worth of items at least. At a glance, I could immediately recognize various types of clothing, swords and spears. I was expecting more treasure-like items earlier, so I felt a bit disappointed.
“Do the goods here all belong to you?”
“Most of them are. These items are my wares. Ah, and I think the money’s inside that box over there.”
Tarus-san pointed his finger toward a small box in a corner.
“Is this box yours as well?”
“No, it’s not. But I think they put all the money I had on me inside it as well.
I see. So this thing’s a safe of sorts. It certainly seems like a tough-looking box reinforced with metal.
“Um… All of the bandits’ loot should belong to the ones who defeated them. It’s a proper reward guaranteed by the law.”
What!? I didn’t know that. So all of this stuff here now belongs to me then?
“Can I open it?”
“It’s yours anyway. However, I don’t know where the bandits put away the key.”
I took out the electromagnetic bladeknife and cut away all of the parts that looked like they would get in the way.
“Amazing! Is that knife a magic tool!?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
After opening up the box, a lot of different types of coins spilled out of it. But most of it was bronze and silver coins. There were only a few gold coins mixed in. There was also a knife inlaid with lots of precious-looking gems. Finally, something which looked like a genuine treasure appeared.
Yosh, I don’t know how much it is exactly when converted to gold, but I think we won’t have much problems with our finances for a while with this much money.
“Is this knife one of your goods?”
“No, it isn’t. It looks like quite the luxurious item.”
That’s great. Though I do feel a bit bad for this thing’s former owner even if it’s now mine.
“I’ll give everything here back to you apart from the contents of this box then.”
“Will that be fine? It would get you quite a sum if you sold them.”
“I don’t mind. The contents of this box are enough for me. It’s not like I know their market value anyway.”
“Well then, allow me to do as I said earlier and give you an appropriate compensation.”
“No, you really don’t have to. By the way, how about the belongings of your comrades?”
“One of my employees and the five adventurers escorting us were all killed. They were all people I’ve associated with for quite a long time.”
“I’ll make sure those bandits are all brought to justice. What about your carriage, Tarus-san?”
“It seems they only took the goods and discarded it. They sold the horses for gold immediately after capturing me.”
“Well that’s troublesome. Our carriage is already completely full. We won’t be able to load this much goods on it at all.”
“Then we will just have to fetch these at a later time. I don’t think anything will happen to them, considering they are located deep within these mountains.”
“I see, understood.”
Time to go back. I don’t have any business here anymore.
I brought out my collection bag. I put all the money I managed to get inside it. It turned out fairly heavy. I also put the jeweled knife inside.
I also found some sturdy-looking rope inside the hideout. I’ll use these to tie those bandits up.
“I’m thinking of tying up the bandits with these ropes. Is it alright if I take them?”
“But of course. Go ahead and use them. How many of those bandits have you managed to capture alive?”
“Um, fifteen of them. Probably.”
That’s if those guys I kicked in the head earlier didn’t actually die.
“Eh? You managed to catch all fifteen of them alive!?”
“Well, there might be one or two people who kicked the bucket. By the way, I heard that there would be some rewards given out. Would you happen to know much I would get for them?”
“As I recall, you’ll get 2000 Guineas for each corpse. And if you managed to capture them in a healthy enough state to serve as ***, you’ll get 5000 Guineas.”
There’s an unfamiliar word. It seems I won’t be able to translate it even if I update the language database. Looks like they’ll use healthy-looking bandits for some purpose. Well, it’s all good as long as I manage to turn them over alive, I guess.
A corpse is worth two large gold coins and a living bandit’s worth five huh. I can’t judge if that’s a fair amount because I still have no idea about the market price.
“Alright then. I’m going to go back to our carriage. Please follow me. My friends are all waiting for me. Do you have anything else you want to bring with you?”
“Well then…”
Tarus-san took some swords and other items and put them inside a bag.
The two bandits I left at the entrance were still out cold. It took some effort to kick them back awake.
I let the two bandits walk out front while pointing at their backs with my sword. I heard how their merchant convoy was attacked from Tarus-san.
Three days ago, their group was taking a rest when he was suddenly shot with an arrow and was quickly suppressed. It seems the reason for his travels this time was to develop new sales channels. They were in the middle of coming back to Gotania from the trip when they were attacked by bandits.
We finally arrived back at the carriage.
“Alan!”
Cleria rushed to welcome me.
“Did you encounter any sort of trouble?”
She looked fine, so I don’t think they encountered any trouble anyway.
“We’re alright. This person is?”
“He’s Tarus-san, a merchant. He was captured by those bandits and I ended up rescuing him.”
Tarus-san was surprised upon seeing Cleria.
“I’m Tarus, the owner of a general store in the city. I am pleased to make you acquaintance, My Lady.”
He then respectfully bowed towards Cleria. His attitude is quite different from when he met me.
I went over to the bandits. Looks like they were all awake now. None of them were injured, so I guess Beck and Thor didn’t get to have slashing practice after all.
“Well then, gentlemen. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get that much after visiting you hideout so I’m afraid I won’t be able to release you all. As such, I’ll have to take you all back to Gotania and hand you over to the authorities.”
All the bandits turned towards me.
“That’s a lie! We got a lot of money and loot from that merchant! You’re playing dirty!” nameless grunt A complained.
You’re bandits so you don’t have the right to call me dirty, you idiots.
“All of you, shut up! You already know how good I am with magic! Just try and resist even a little. I’ll stick some arrows on you and send you straight to the heavens! I can still get reward money even if I handed over your corpses instead after all. I’m fine either way.”
“Beck, Thor. Use these ropes to tie these guys up in a straight line; one guy following behind the other. I don’t mind even if it’s tight to the point which impedes their blood flow a little, so make sure those knots are secured.”
“Understood!”
“Oh, yeah. Don’t forget to frisk them for money, y’hear.”
“Can you keep an eye on the both of them, Ria?”
“Sure.”
“Sorry about this, Tarus-san. Can you wait a bit for us?”
“But of course. It does feel quite nice seeing these ruffians getting roughed up like this. By the way, they all seem to be injured on their shoulders?”
“You’re right. I did that with my magic.”
“You gave all of them identical injuries?”
“Yeah. Even if I don’t look like it, I’m actually very proficient in magic.”
Looks like Tarus-san still isn’t all that convinced with my explanation.
“Incidentally, what is your relationship with that female knight?”
“Ah, her. I’m sort of like her retainer.”
Tarus-san looked at me strangely. Un, it did look like I was the one ordering Cleria around earlier. Oh well.
“That knight is a ** isn’t she?”
There’s another unfamiliar word. It’s the same word Zack used back in the village. Just what does it mean?
“Well, we have our own circumstances.”
That’s mostly the truth anyway.
Tarus-san didn’t press me further after hearing that.
We were able to secure all the bandits after about thirty minutes. In order to tow them with the carriage, we tied them up in groups of seven and eight and connected the rope binding them to the back of the carriage.
“Alan-san, what are we going to do with the money we got from them?”
Beck and Thor came up to me with hands filled with money.
“Ah, please put them all in here. You can look at what’s inside as well.”
I opened my bag and showed its contents to the both of them.
“Amazing! That’s a lot of money!”
They made a commotion after seeing what’s inside the bag.
“Let’s divide it up later.”
“What!? But you’re the one who recovered them, Alan-san!”
“It’s fine. You guys also risked your life. You have every right to get a share.”
“But…”
“Let’s put that matter off for later. You already loaded the bandits’ weapons on the carriage right? Yosh, let’s get going then.”
The carriage started off for Gotania once again.
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