BXBX NOVEL Chapter 126 - A Slap for Every Penny Found (8)
Chapter 126 - A Slap for Every Penny Found (8)
"Wait a moment. I\'ll show you the relevant documents."
Scala rummaged through the stack of papers on her desk and pulled out a few to lay in front of me.
"These are the ransom demands from the other side. Ridiculous, right?"
"That\'s quite a lot."
"And this is the money we can scrape together from our mercenary group. It doesn’t even come close."
"You\'re right."
"And this is the amount you saved up under your name, Sophie. The amount matches, right?"
"Yeah, it matches. Now hand it over."
Scala shook her head at Hindrasta\'s demand.
"Sorry, but things were urgent, so we had to use it too."
"That’s my money! It’s not yours!"
"I know, I get it."
Scala sighed, looking fed up.
"I know. But what else could I do in an emergency? Our comrades are all captured. What, should we just let them die?"
"You keep saying \'comrades,\' but aren’t I one too?! I earned that money while I was part of the mercenary group!"
"Dammit!"
Scala slammed her fist down on the desk at Hindrasta\'s rebuttal.
"That\'s why I\'m saying, because you earned it as one of us, we used it to help save our people! I told you before too! We were uncomfortable holding onto your money, so we told you to just take it all and stash it in a bank! But what did you say? You couldn’t set up a bank account because your identity was unclear! So we had no choice but to hold onto it for you!"
"Does that mean you can spend it however you like just because it\'s not in a bank?"
Hindrasta shot up from her seat, knocking the chair over noisily. Scala immediately stood up too.
"We need to keep our comrades alive first before we can worry about paying you back! The money you left with us, we can earn it back in no time if we get the mercenary group back on its feet! We won\'t steal from you, I swear!"
Scala kicked the fallen chair, smashing it to pieces. Poor Orendi flinched and hunched his shoulders, looking terrified.
"And you, Sophie! Are you even human?! My dad took you in without a second thought when you were a nobody without any experience! He let it slide when you made a scene about wanting to join! He fed you, sheltered you, paid you on time, even got you the best equipment when you did well, and prioritized your missions! We’ve never missed a single paycheck, right?! We made sure to account for every penny and set it aside for you! Plus, we even gave you spending money to use however you wanted! And now you’re acting like this? Loyalty is thicker than blood! We ate, slept, and worked together for years! Don’t you have a single shred of gratitude for my dad?! Huh?!"
"That’s…."
Hindrasta stammered, looking flustered.
"So can you please stop talking about money for a moment?! My head’s already about to explode! Everyone’s been captured, from my family to my subordinates, and I’m the only one left—what the hell do you expect me to do?!?!"
Scala was gasping for breath, her head hanging down as she stomped on the broken pieces of the chair.
"So please… help me. I can’t do this alone…. I promise I won’t cheat you out of your money…. Just stop bringing it up until this is all over…. I’m begging you…."
Hindrasta hesitated, her mouth opening and closing before she finally managed to speak.
"I… I’m sorry…."
And with that, a cold silence fell over the office.
I could almost hear the sound of Orendi’s eyes darting around nervously.
I could understand both Scala and Hindrasta.
Right now, Scala didn’t have the luxury to care about anything other than saving the captured mercenaries.
So, she probably had no choice but to dip into the funds Hindrasta had left with them. Given the situation, it made sense.
But at the same time, it wasn’t unreasonable for Hindrasta to keep insisting on getting her money back.
Scala was appealing to her sense of humanity, but Hindrasta wasn’t human.
As a dragon, she didn’t care at all about the lesser races she deemed inferior, and she had an obsessive attachment to her possessions.
So, the fact that she apologized to Scala, even a little, probably meant that she had come to understand humans somewhat over the ten years she had been forced to live in a polymorphed state.
"Alright, Sophie. It looks like you understand how urgent the situation is for the mercenary group."
Hindrasta nodded weakly.
"Yeah, the old leader did a lot for me…."
"Good. Let’s sum things up, then. The mercenary group got involved in a territorial conflict, lost, and most of them were taken captive. The ransom they’re asking for is more than what we have, even with all our cash and loans."
"That’s right."
Scala answered, her tone grim.
"Isn’t there any way to get support from the capital?"
"We’re out of favor now that the war’s over. We’ve gotten too big, so they see us as a threat. The capital might even be happy to see us struggling like this."
"Hmm, I see. But if this doesn’t get resolved, Sophie won’t be able to get her money back. And that’s why we’re here."
I stroked my chin, watching Scala lower her head and Hindrasta sigh, and then I made a suggestion.
"What if we tried this, Scala?"
"What?"
"If there aren’t any prisoners, there’s no ransom to pay, right?"
"Well, that’s true… but don’t tell me you’re suggesting we just abandon the prisoners."
"Of course not. What I’m saying is, let\'s make it so there were prisoners, but now there aren\'t. Do you get what I mean?"
Scala\'s eyes widened as she stared at me.
"Can you do it?"
"Yes. I’ll tell you the plan."
My plan was simple: a prisoner rescue.
We don’t have the money to pay the ransom, and we’re not going to abandon our people. So, we’re going to take them back by force.
That way, we won’t have to pay anything, and we won’t have to leave anyone behind.
The enemy might not get their ransom, but they still won the territorial war and grabbed plenty of spoils, right?
It can still be a happy ending for everyone.
The problem is figuring out who that nameless swordsman was.
If they were just a mercenary hired by the other side, they\'re probably long gone now that they\'ve been paid. But if they are part of their knights or soldiers, we’ll have to deal with them.
The thing is, we have no way of knowing if they are still there or not. So we’ll just go and find out.
Despite my straightforward plan, Scala’s face remained clouded with worry.
"It’s not a bad plan… but even if we gather all the mercenaries we have left, we don’t even have ten people. That’s too few."
"We don’t need to bring everyone. Just you, me, Sophie, and Orendi the mage here."
"Four people?! That’s reckless! And what if that nameless swordsman shows up?"
"No problem. We have the best swordswoman from the Reblanc Mercenaries—you, Scala."
"M-me…?"
She pointed at herself, startled at being singled out.
"You want me to fight that guy?"
"You haven’t forgotten what I taught you, right?"
"Well, no… but if my dad and brothers couldn’t beat that guy…."
"Do we have anywhere else to go? If you’re not planning to jump off a cliff, we have to push forward."
The Reblanc Mercenary Group was at a cliff’s edge. There were no options left to negotiate or compromise.
So, we’ll advance.
And there’s nothing legally problematic about it.
The Empire’s laws don’t apply inside a noble’s territory.
In the fief, the lord is the law, and if you can overpower the lord, then you make the new law.
"And if things get too rough, Sophie will help us. No one can withstand a beatdown when we gang up on them."
Hindrasta jumped.
"Me?! Why me all of a sudden?!"
"Because if you want your money back, this is the fastest and easiest way. If we beat them up and make the ransom a non-issue, that money will go straight to you."
After a simple explanation, Hindrasta nodded.
"Well, yeah, that makes sense. Fine. Let’s go smash them up. But what about you? Are you just going to watch?"
"For now, I’ll observe. I want to see how my students perform in a real fight."
Scala had trained with me for about a month during the war, and Hindrasta had received intensive training during a month-long competition, so calling them my students wasn’t entirely wrong.
With that, everything was settled.
"Orendi, open the dimensional gate. We’re short on time."
"Ughh… I don’t even care anymore…."
With a resigned look, Orendi opened the dimensional gate.
# # # # #
The exit of the gate led directly to the enemy’s territory. Ahead of us was the lord’s castle.
There were a few guards wandering on the walls, but overall, security didn’t seem that tight.
They must have relaxed after their big victory in the territorial war.
Inside the castle, lights were blazing, and there was a loud clamor.
Maybe they were throwing a big feast, celebrating with the reparations they wrung out from the family that hired the Reblanc Mercenaries.
"So, the prisoners are supposed to be in there?"
"That’s what I’ve heard. There’s supposed to be a prison underground."
"Hey, Orendi. Can’t you open a gate straight into the building or the underground?"
Orendi’s face scrunched up in discomfort at my request.
"It’s hard to calculate coordinates that precise…."
If it were Kaiden, he would’ve opened a gate right in front of the prison door, maybe even laid out a red carpet.
"What about dropping in from above?"
"I thought of that, but the castle has a coordinate-disruption spell."
That would prevent us from opening a gate accurately. It could lead to a dangerous situation if we ended up in the wrong place.
This is a common setup for important facilities, done with simple totems enchanted with magic.
If it were Kaiden, he’d find a way to slip through, but Orendi still had a long way to go to reach that level.
"Looks like there’s no choice. Orendi, blast the front gate with an attack spell."
"Yes—Wait, what?! An attack spell?! I thought I was just here to open dimensional gates!"
"We have to get the gate open if we’re going to enter. Or did you think we’d just ring the doorbell and politely state our purpose?"
"Well, no…."
Orendi looked around nervously, glancing at each of us.
Scala and Hindrasta both had desperate expressions, their eyes silently pleading with Orendi.
"I… I guess there’s no other way."
Unable to ignore those looks, Orendi finally extended his hands.
"Let’s hope they don’t have any defensive spells."
He muttered, conjuring a bluish glow in his hands.
"I don’t even understand what’s happening anymore… I was relaxing in my room, and now I’m about to attack a noble’s castle… Here goes!"
A straight line of magical energy shot from Orendi’s hands, crashing into the front gate of the castle.
With a thunderous boom, the gate was blown clean off its hinges.
Guards on the walls began shouting, ringing bells, and causing a commotion.
"Alright, let’s go."
We charged into the castle, pushing through the rising clouds of dust.