Chapter 75

Chapter 75. Are You Trying to Cheat Me Out of My Money?

Oskal was considerably flustered. He had never imagined that the Barbarian before him would reject him so cleanly.

How could he refuse without even a shred of hesitation? In front of the Red Tower, no less.

Oskal had lived for a long time as a member of the Red Tower and commanded countless people, but he had never seen anyone like this.

“Are you serious?”

“Why would I lie?”

“Why?”

“Are you asking because you truly do not know? How can I accept a request when I do not even know its contents?”

“Even though it is an opportunity to earn a great deal of money?”

“No matter how much money I earn, it is useless if I die.”

“Death, is it? Are you afraid of that, by any chance? Is that why you are trying to run away?”

“Of course.”

“This is disappointing. I heard Sir Balun was an extraordinarily brave Warrior.”

“You heard something strange. Balun is a complete coward and a timid weakling. Ooh, how frightening.”

“Pardon?”

Oskal could not believe it. What Barbarian would call himself a coward? This was the first time in his life that he had seen such a case.

The way Barbarians responded was always the same. They hated being called cowards to an extreme degree, so if they were provoked by being called one, they usually flared up.

Yet this Barbarian did not flare up at all. Instead, he even agreed with it, as though it truly were the case.

But did that make sense? This Barbarian was a coward?

Ha, absolutely not.

If he had been a coward, he would never have distinguished himself in the expedition, nor would he have earned Count Rotenfeld’s favor.

Then what was the reason?

Was it perhaps because he disliked mages? But if that were the case, this Barbarian had already formed a connection with the Blue Magic Tower. That meant his aversion to mages would be much weaker.

To begin with, if he were doing this because he disliked mages, he would not have come all the way here.

Then there had to be another reason…….

“Very well. I will pay you more. 1,000 gold. What do you think? That is far higher than the original request fee.”

“I refuse. Until you tell me the contents of the request, I have no intention of accepting it. Are you going to tell me what the request is?”

“That would be difficult. Instead, I can tell you this much. It is a task that requires Sir Balun’s martial strength.”

“So I will be fighting.”

“That is correct.”

“And it will be dangerous.”

“Probably.”

“Then I refuse after all. I am really leaving. See you next time.”

“Sir Balun? Sir Balun!”

Oskal’s expression turned incredulous. Balun had truly left.

“Ha!”

Soon, Oskal let out a loud, hollow laugh. He could not be more dumbfounded. To think his request had been refused.

He had never even imagined it. Until now, not once had anyone ever rejected a request from him.

What kind of mercenary refused a request from the Red Tower? In fact, most were desperate because they could not receive one.

How many times had he coldly driven away mercenaries who begged like paupers, stretching out their hands and asking to be included in his work?

Yet he had now experienced such a thing himself. It was truly absurdly poor treatment.

‘He really is an unusual Barbarian.’

As Oskal thought that, he heard footsteps approaching. A shadow drew near beyond the closed glass door, and its build was as large as a mountain.

‘He came back? Did he change his mind?’

Oskal chuckled.

‘I knew it. There is no way you could refuse this.’

Clack!

“Did you change your mind?”

“There was something I forgot to ask.”

“Please speak.”

“How much is that magic Elevator?”

“Pardon?”

“Is that one perhaps 300 gold too?”

Oskal dug at his ear.

Had he heard wrong?

“Do you not know how much it costs?”

“Why are you asking about that?”

“I absolutely need to know.”

Balun’s expression was incredibly serious. Oskal opened his mouth without realizing it.

“Uh, as far as I know, it costs roughly 500 gold…….”

“Oh, this one is more expensive. No wonder it looked wider. Thank you!”

“Sir Balun? Sir Balun!”

Creak.

Thud!

Oskal stared blankly for a long while as the enormous shadow shrank beyond the closed glass door.

***

‘Damn it, should I have just kept asking stubbornly about the request?’

Balun shook his head fiercely. He had not thought much when he left, but once he actually left the Red Tower, he regretted the request fee.

It was a request fee of a full 1,000 gold!

No matter how reluctant he felt and how much that made him refuse, a large sum of money was still a large sum of money. He could not help but feel tempted.

‘No. They would not even tell me the contents of the request, so why would I be crazy enough to accept it? How would I know what kind of work it was? Who in the world would accept a request like that?’

Surprisingly, most mercenaries would accept it. Forming a connection with the Red Tower itself was a level of fortune that might come only once in a lifetime.

However, there was no way Balun would know that.

‘No, enough. Not doing it is the right choice. It is obvious it will be a dangerous matter related to the Black Tower. That must be why he asked if I was a minion of the Black Tower.’

Balun decided to give up decisively. Money was money, but he had a stronger desire not to get involved with a globally dangerous black mage terrorist organization like the Black Tower.

He already wanted to avoid war because he hated it, so what good would come from getting involved with a terrorist organization?

The best option was to avoid those Venus flytrap-loving madmen who disguised secret laboratories as ancient ruins to lure people in. No matter how dangerous they were, if he did not get involved with them, he would not suffer harm.

‘I should just learn Stealth. I need to learn it quickly and leave this place.’

Balun began with preparation. He took a room at an inn and collected information while wandering here and there. He asked people questions, visited various places, and after roughly two days, he was able to obtain the information he wanted.

“If you mean the best Rogue Guild in Mirehal, then of course it is Eclipse.”

“Eclipse?”

“That is right. At least within Mirehal, there is no Rogue Guild that can beat them. Hic!”

“How are they compared to Crescent Moon Blade?”

“Crescent Moon Blade is impressive too, hic, but I doubt they can match Eclipse.”

“I see. Thank you. This is a gift.”

Balun placed one gold coin beside the drunkard’s beer mug and left. Not long afterward, a huge fight broke out in the tavern over who would take the gold coin, but that was none of Balun’s concern.

‘Eclipse, is it? I should go there.’

It was not simply because of what the drunkard had said. Over the past two days, he had heard the same thing more than a hundred times.

Drunkards, merchants, passing mercenaries, Adventurers, guards, and many others had all said the same thing in unison. At this point, was it not worth believing?

Without hesitation, Balun went straight there. After asking and asking again, he arrived at the base where Eclipse was located and opened the door.

The inside was a dim bar, and there were quite a few people. The person who greeted Balun was a female bartender inside, wearing a tight, bright-red dress.

When he approached and sat in front of the bar, the smell of cheap perfume stung his nose.

‘Ugh, the smell.’

“Who are you? A customer?”

“Is this Eclipse?”

“It is, but did you come here for business?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of business? Are you buying something? Or buying information? If not that, do you need help? We can do anything.”

“What do you mean by anything?”

“Well, anything that makes money. Just say the word. We can do anything. The price will get expensive, though.”

Balun nodded. In other words, this place was an errand agency. A fairly large-scale one at that, with dozens or hundreds of branches.

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to learn a technique.”

“A technique?”

“Yes. I came to learn Stealth.”

“What?”

The bartender’s eyes widened, as though she had not expected that at all.

“Are you serious?”

“I am serious. Is it possible?”

“It is possible, but…… you really want to learn it? A Barbarian?”

“That is what I said.”

The bartender’s eyes turned doubtful. It was truly a fresh shock. A Barbarian, who should have despised cowardice to the extreme, had come to learn Stealth, the very byword for cowardice.

“Well, fine. Then follow me. New recruits are always welcome. It looks like our guild will have the first Barbarian Rogue in its history.”

Balun tilted his head.

What was this supposed to mean now?

“Why am I a new recruit?”

“Because you came to join, so you are a new recruit. Come in. We need to go through the procedures.”

“I am not joining, though.”

“What?”

The bartender, who had been walking toward the passage, stopped.

“You said you came to learn Stealth. But you are not joining?”

“That is exactly right.”

“???”

The bartender stared in confusion.

As if she could not understand, she paused for a while before speaking.

“Do not tell me you are saying you want to learn Stealth without joining?”

“That is exactly right.”

“Ha.”

The bartender chuckled. She had lived long enough, but this was the first time she had seen someone like this.

“Come on, big guy. Do you think that makes any sense?”

“Why would it not?”

“Now I see you are properly insane. What guild teaches techniques to someone who is not family? There is no such place anywhere in the world.”

“Ah, I did not mention this. It is not free. I will pay tuition.”

“It will not work even if you pay. We cannot carelessly teach precious techniques. Go back. No matter how much you say you will pay…….”

“100 gold.”

The bartender’s words stopped.

“I will pay 100 gold as tuition. What do you think?”

“…….”

“Is this not enough? Then 200 gol…….”

“W-wait. Wait here for a moment. I will be right back.”

After saying that, the bartender opened a door in the corner and went inside.

She came out about five minutes later and nodded.

“The deal is made. We will teach you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Permission was given. Honestly, it is a little flustering, but if the money is that much, there is nothing we cannot do. It is a profitable deal for us too.”

“Good!”

***

Balun kept grinning. It was good that he would be able to learn what he wanted, but more than anything else, he was glad he had saved a lot of money.

If it meant learning Stealth, he had been willing to pay as much as 1,000 gold in tuition.

But he could settle it for only 100 gold?

What an incredible profit.

‘As expected, money is the best. What cannot be done with money?’

“Tomorrow. Come early in the morning. We will begin immediately from tomorrow.”

“That is fast.”

“What is the point of delaying it?”

“That is true. Ah, you are not going to cheat me out of my money, are you?”

When Balun narrowed his eyes and glared at her, the bartender let out a hollow laugh.

“What is with you? What do you take us for? In this business, trust is more important than you would think. And you only paid half anyway, did you not? We have not even received the remaining 50 gold yet.”

Balun had paid only half in advance because he did not fully trust them.

“If you cheat me out of my money, you die. I will chase you to hell.”

“I understand, so stop glaring. You are going to make me piss myself from fear.”

“I will trust you for now. I am leaving.”

Balun left the building.

Before he knew it, the sky had turned completely black. There were almost no people on the streets, and only guards were occasionally walking around with torches in hand.

As Balun walked along the empty street to return to the inn, he thought, ‘Two months. I will finish the basics within that time. Then I will leave this place.’

Honestly, he did not know whether he could finish the basics of Stealth in two months, but he decided to try. Goals were always supposed to be grand, were they not?

Perhaps he might even shorten it further. If he could shorten it by even ten days, it would be far easier to leave the Kingdom of Corint.

‘What if I cannot learn it within two months?’

Balun thought about it for a moment, then stopped. What was the point of worrying about it already? It would not be too late to judge after taking his first lesson tomorrow.

For now, he would sleep early. He needed to sleep early so he could wake up early and not be late for class.

Rustle.

‘Mm?’

Balun flinched. It seemed as though he had suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him. Was it his imagination?

Rustle.

Balun whipped around. In the pitch-black darkness, he saw a silhouette flicker past for an instant.

And the sharp sensation faintly left behind in that spot.

‘Killing Intent.’

Balun’s senses sharpened. There was no reason for Killing Intent to arise on an empty street.

Which meant.

‘The target is me.’

A question arose.

Why would someone target him?

‘Are they after my money? Because I have been throwing money around?’

Over the past two days, Balun had indeed scattered tips here and there.

It would not be strange if rumors spread.

However, even so, there was no reason for someone to emit such sharp Killing Intent.

Then only one possibility remained.

‘Could it be Eclipse?’

These bastards, are they trying to cheat me out of my money……?

Without stopping his steps, Balun quietly moved his left hand to the left side of his waist.

‘Phew.’

After taking a deep breath, he quickly drew his axe.

Whiiiiish!

At the same time as he twisted his waist sharply, he hurled it into the darkness.

He could not see the target. It was only his instinct.

Thud!

“Ngh!”

A faint groan.

‘I hit!’

Tap, tap, tap!

He heard the sound of someone fleeing.

Balun immediately kicked off the ground and ran in the direction of the sound.