Chapter 242

Chapter 242

TL: Zimmings

Two months ago, the empire was surprised

by the news that a large amount of mana stone was discovered on the Akalia Peninsula.

The hope mercenary guild immediately contacted the Akalia Peninsula after hearing the news.

This was a golden opportunity for me, who needed a large amount of mana to maintain the devil.

However, it turns out that the mana stone was fake, made artificially by injecting mana into minerals.

And now, most of the large mercenary guild had already known that mana stone from Akalia Peninsula is fake.

"Mana stone on the Akalia Peninsula was a fake one. People with divine power cannot use it, and the injected mana also leaks out."

I snorted and folded my arms.

"In other words, by the time you move the mana stone from the Akalia Peninsula to other places, it will become a useless stone."

The chief frowned and looked at Hannibal. Hannibal fumbled and made excuses.

"I- we don't know that."

"Okay. Let's say you didn't know about the Akalia Peninsula because you were incompetent, but what about the 20,000 francs that you had to trade for 5,000 francs?"

"That's..."

"You ripped them off.

Hannibal's expression turned pale. I said as I approached Hannibal,

"You didn't want to make a proper deal, did you? You thought it'd be easy to fool them, right?"

"Th-this bitch..."

"Did you fulfill the 5,000 franc contract properly? Let's look at the ledger. Isn't he making a ridiculous profit?"

"Chief! This girl is insulting our mercenary guild! How dare this bitch......!"

Hannibal shouted and looked at the chief. The chief said with a cold look.

"What are you doing? Take the ledger."

I realized after hearing him, the chief is already on my side.

I giggled inside, and Hannibal was astonished.

***

While waiting for the ledger, I looked at Hannibal, who was trembling like a mouse in front of a cat.

"You wrote down a fantastic ledger. What could you buy with all of that money huh?"

"W- what? That's because the biggest flour production area was hit hard by the flood so I-"

"Uncle, are you going to be like this? Even though it's like that, the price doesn't go up to this point, right?"

"......."

I glanced at the chief by the door and lowered my voice.

"Just agree on 1 million francs. The remaining amount will be paid by me. And from now on, even if it's a fake ledger, you need to match the quantity. That's the basic, isn't it?"

"... Who the hell are you?"

"You don't know? I'm the youngest daughter of a tax evasion expert family."

"What?"

"Leblaine Dubblede. No matter how incompetent you are, you know my name, right?"

"......!!"

After noticing that his mouth was agape, he closed them. When he saw the chief, he whispered.

"How do I believe that?"

"You can see my portrait later. It's everywhere."

After writing something at the end of the ledger, I covered the ledger and told the chief.

"880,000 francs is the amount he cheated on and 120,000 francs as his apology. He'll pay a total of 1 million francs. Yes, so why don't you forgive him now?"

'The Kuhelm could only depend on Hannibal's mercenary guild anyway right?'

He looked at Hannibal and coughed.

"Give it to the mercenary guild. Once again, if this happens, the warriors of Kuhelm will not forgive you."

"Yes, yes... chief."

Hannibal bowed his head with a pale face, and I threw the ledger at him.

"1 million francs. It'll be ready within this week, right?"

"......."

"It will be."

"Yes......."

Hannibal staggered out of the room after greeting the chief. I raised my head arrogantly.

"See, I know how to make money."

"Isn't that why I treat you so nicely?"

When I crossed my legs with an arrogant expression, he smiled.

"1 million francs! 1 million francs! Thanks to that we could have our money back."

"Did you use a lot of money to kidnap us?"

"We had to sell a handful of barley left in the warehouse. You're very expensive."

We left the room while laughing.

The chief showed great favor for me, who earned 1 million francs and humiliated the arrogant merchant.

Just as I came down the stairs, the Odis students had just returned from the quarry.

They must've worked hard, they reek of sweat and their faces are pale from exhaustion.

They are in a different condition than me, who descend the stairs happily.

"Emeline, are you okay?"

When I asked Emeline, the chief approached me.

"Is she your best friend?"

"Yes."

"Don't let her work next time."

At the words of the chief, the young man who was my escort and monitored the work of the students bowed his head.

"Yes, chief."

"Prepare meals for the noble and her friend..."

"Excuse me."

It was Mina. Mina looked at the tired freshmen with pity and turned towards the chief.

"Give us a meal too."

"......."

"Since yesterday, we haven't eaten a piece of bread and suffered from work. We might die like this."

"What did you do?"

"......Yes?"

"The first child of fate earned money for our tribe. Thanks to this, we can live comfortably for some time. How did you help our tribe?"

"I've been working hard."

"Yes, work. Work is literally just work. You're the enemy we've captured. There is no reason for me to distribute our tribe's food to you."

"We're all going to die at this rate. Even if we're the enemy, you don't have to say it."

"When you held a sword to kill our warrior, did you ever think about us?"

"......."

"It's foolish of you to say that, second child of fate."

The chief said to the tribesmen without paying attention to the students.

"The first child of fate is our friend, a noble. If there's anything she wants, give it to her."

"Yes, chief."

"Yes. "

The Kuhelm tribesmen bowed their heads at once.

At that moment, my status in the Kuhelm tribe rose.

***

The freshmen were trapped in prison again. After a while, I also went into prison, but the atmosphere was different from yesterday.

"Leblaine!"

"Miss Leblaine."

The students welcomed me unlike before.

"How did the Kuhelm chief treat you so well? Oh my god, it's amazing."

"You had a hard time, right? Ah, sit here."

"No, come with me."

"Miss Leblaine."

"Miss Leblaine."

The students who confirmed that my status had changed in the Kuhelm tribe were sucking up to me.

"Do you want to share the authority you've gained from the enemy? Don't lose your pride! We're students of Odis..."

"Please shut your mouth, Alan!"

"Huh?"

"Miss Leblaine abandoned her pride for us. Don't you know how noble it is?"

Others shouted at Alan too.

Alan gritted his teeth and turned his head.

In the midst of that, Mina and Sandra said nothing, the students murmured while looking at me.

"I... can I get some dry bread?"

"I'm weak. My hands are rough after working hard.... I'm not saying I'm going to rest forever, but......."

Emeline laughed.

"You didn't say a word yesterday, but now you're defending Leblaine? You talked about the pride of the noble, but all of the people who had no pride were here!"

Emeline, who stared at people, held my hand.

"Go, Leblaine. Don't stay in this place."

"I'll ask the Kuhelm tribe for food."

Emeline's face hardened. On the other hand, the students cheered and shouted, "Thank you, Leblaine!"

"Let's go, Emeline."

"......."

"If you're with me, you can go out. You're going with me right?"

Emeline who chased me said,

"Why do you share the food you earned through hard work for them?"

"Of course I won't, like I said before, I hate them."

"Then why?"

"I want them to remember."

"What?"

I looked at the prison and said,

"I want them to realize who gave them bread and who they have to follow from now on."

Emeline smiled and shook her head.

"You're going to get stuck with them from now on."

"But they'll realize when we go back to school. That the first child of fate is better than the second one. Then the temple's plan to use Mina to pressure me won't come true."

"And to think that you can do it through simple food from the Kuhelm tribe."

We walked while giggling.

The young man, who was my escort, approached me in a hurry.

"Noble! I got the chick that you mentioned."

Then he showed me the chick he had in his hand.

'Great! Now I can go to Sourire.'

"Where's Sourire?"

"I have no idea. I haven't seen him since the afternoon."

"I'm going to go look for him..."

"I'm telling you just in case, but don't think about escaping just because the chief allowed you to go around the village. Each entrance has barriers, so if you try to run away, you'll burn to death."

"Of course, the chief trusted me, how could I run away?"

It's a lie!

I will definitely run away. Of course, with Sourire.

I carefully held the chick and looked for Sourire. However, even after searching the village for nearly two hours, I couldn't see a strand of Sourire's hair.

"Hey, child."

When I grabbed a kid passing by, he turned his head.

"Noble?"

"Did you see Sourire?"

"I think I saw him in the stable..."

"Where is it?"

"It's over there."

When I looked at the direction the kid was pointing, I saw a shabby building.

After that, I headed to the stable with Emeline. But there was no Sourire there either.

"Where the hell is he..."

After I muttered,

Bzzzt-!

I felt a strange sensation.

'This is obviously...'

I hurriedly looked around.

"Leblaine?"

"The devil's passage...'"

"What?"

I hurriedly found the epicenter of the vibration. I can feel the vibration on the stable's floor.

'Why do I feel it on the floor?'

The vibration is clearly felt from the bottom of the hay pile. I hurriedly removed the hay and felt the floor.

"I can feel the wind..."

"The wind from the floor. There isn't even an underground... no way."

After looking at each other, me and Emeline quickly looked at the floor.

While fumbling on the floor, a very small button was seen.

Let's press it...

Bzzt-!

With the sound, the floor opened and the stairs appeared.

"Blaine, this is..."

"You stay here. Just in case anyone is coming, keep it closed and open it when I signal from below."

"Are you okay going alone?"

"Yes."

After leaving the chick to Emeline, I carefully went down the stairs.

There was a corridor at the end of the stairs, it was dark, but it was not difficult to walk because there were torches all around me.

What I found at the end of the hallway was a huge door.

As soon as I was about to grab the doorknob, a familiar voice was heard.

[...ild.]

'Huh?'

[Child.]

I let go of the doorknob.

'This voice...'

This voice is definitely.......

I looked at the doorknob while trembling.

It's a voice that I can't forget. This voice that has always called me kindly since ancient times until now.......

I put my hand on the doorknob, and once again I heard his friendly voice.

[Child.]

"...Boone!"