"I brought the bounty mone—huh?"
It was Azur who had entered the room. The next moment, Radia hurriedly pulled her hand away from mine and stood up from the chair.
"Big Sis, did I see wrong, or were you just holding his hand?" Azur asked with wide eyes.
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Radia snapped, striding over and tugging her ear.
"Ouch! I was wrong, Big Sis!" Azur yelped in a pitiful voice.
"Hmph. Give me that," Radia said, taking the pouch of money from her. She then walked back over and handed it to me. "Here. These are the bounties for the Bandit Brothers and some of their subordinates who also had rewards on their heads."
"Thanks," I said with a smile. I couldn't help but remember how she had tossed the pouch at me the first time we met—this was a significant improvement, especially considering it had only been a couple of days.
"So, what's your decision?" I asked, setting the pouch aside.
Radia met my eyes, narrowing her own before finally speaking. "…I'll decide after visiting the village myself."
I nodded in understanding.
"Hmm? What decision? What are you two talking about?" Azur asked curiously, glancing between us.
"That's none of your business. And why are you all geared up?" Radia asked, noticing Azur was wearing a knight's armor.
"Well, I knew you would go to the village where the bandits were, and I wanted to come take a look too," Azur admitted with an excited smile.
"Absolutely not. This was a vicious bandit group, and you're not even a knight yet," Radia said firmly.
"Why not? Hasn't his party already taken care of them all? There shouldn't be any danger left, right?" Azur said, pointing at me.
"It should be safe," I nodded.
"...Alright, you can come, but you will have to follow my orders strictly. Otherwise, I'll send you back," Radia said, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
"As you command, Knight Radia," Azur replied with a wide smile, thumping her chest plate proudly.
"Wait here. I'll go wake some people," Radia said, turning to me and completely ignoring her sister.
"Alright," I answered, relieved and thankful that she was willing to personally come to the village this late at night.
Once Radia left the room, I opened the pouch and began counting the money.
"This is the second time you've gotten the bounty for dealing with bandits, right?" Azur asked as she sat across from me. "Are you planning to become a bounty hunter then?"
"Nope. No such plans," I said while neatly stacking the gold coins.
"That's good. I was about to tell you not to," she said with a shake of her head. "They only have one guild, and that too in the Imperial Capital. The rumors about them always make them sound even more dangerous and vicious than the bandits themselves."
"Oh, I didn't know about that," I admitted, surprised the bounty hunter job had such a bad reputation. "Anyway, thanks for helping me out by calling your sister." I looked at her with a smile.
"Hehe, no problem. As a future knight, it's my duty to help people. Besides, this way I'm sure you'll feel obligated to take me into your party sooner." She grinned mischievously.
"Yeah, that's true," I chuckled.
Seeing her so eager, I almost wanted to tease her by saying only members of my harem could join my party, just to see her reaction. But that might actually scare her off.
"Hey, I wanted to ask you about the Royal Knights," I said, deciding to steer the topic toward information gathering. "I don't know much about them."
"Sure! I'd love to tell you about them," she said with bright enthusiasm and launched into an animated explanation about everything she had heard and read.
From her stories about their deeds and duties—especially the fact they had a Guild temple inside the Royal Castle—I was inclined to chalk them as a new Job pathway connected to the Knight Job, one that wasn't mentioned in the original story.
"That's fascinating to hear. By the way, if you're coming with us to the village, I suggest you at least bring a sword—just to be safe," I said, already noticing through Appraisal that she didn't have any weapon equipped.
"Oh shoot! I left it in my room," Azur exclaimed, quickly standing up. "Please don't tell my big sis, okay? She'll just give me another lecture about always keeping my sword within reach." She gave me a wry smile.
"Sure," I nodded.
"Thanks!" she said before bolting out of the room.
I couldn't help but chuckle. It was amusing how such a beautiful girl could suddenly seem so cute whenever her big sister was involved.
Meanwhile, I had already finished counting the bounty money—66 gold coins and 43 silver coins. A massive sum. Looks like the Bandit Brothers really were a big deal. It might also have included the combined bounty from their subordinates. Most of them were lower levelled than Hugo, but there had still been quite a few of them.
While I had a moment alone, I called the girls over the party link. Roxanne and Setsuna had just finished checking through the bandits' belongings along with a few villagers. They hadn't found much—barely a handful of silver and copper coins, not even a full gold among them.
Not surprising. Bandits weren't exactly the saving type, and even if they had stashed something away, it wouldn't be there. Also the village itself was quite poor. Setsuna did mention that her father used to have some equipment from his days as an Explorer—gear he was wearing when he fought—but it wasn't among the spoils. They had probably sold it already.
That suggested the Bandit brothers might have a hidden stash somewhere. But that was fine. I couldn't expect to get everything. Keeping them alive and torturing the location out of them had never been a smart option anyway.
What did bother me, though, was that they hadn't found Setsuna's father's horses. I had wanted to own a couple. After all, in this world, horses were basically the equivalent of cars.
I also had something else to discuss with Setsuna and Sherry. After I explained my idea, both of them were supportive. As we finished going over the specifics, the door opened again.
"Come, Michio. Big sis is ready for you," Azur said, beckoning me outside.
"So, where are we going?" I asked as I got up and followed her.
"We have a specific room for Adventurers to use Field Walk," Azur replied as she fixed her sword onto her belt.
After a few turns down the hallway, we arrived at a well-lit room. Inside, Radia stood with three other middle-aged women.
Two of them were Knights, while the third one was an Adventurer. Their levels weren't particularly high, but they do look experienced.
"This is Michio Kaga, the Adventurer," Radia introduced me. "His party was the one that took down the Bandit Brothers and their thugs."
She went on to explain that these three women would be staying at the village for a few days, if she deemed it necessary.
I was relieved. I had stressed more than once that the surviving villagers were mostly women, so I was glad Radia had taken the hint and arranged for female knights to stay there. I had been worried that sending male knights might lead to… problems.
Once introductions were done, I was asked to invite them all into a party. Before doing so I sent a quick message to Roxanne and Setsuna to let them know we would be arriving soon.
After inviting them, I muttered the chant for Field Walk while using Warp on the carpet screen present in the room.
Azur and the other women were the first to step inside.
"Thank you for doing this," I said as Radia was about to enter.
"I haven't accepted your proposal yet, Michio," she said firmly, her gaze sharp. "You should know—I don't make friends with just anyone."
"We'll see," I murmured with a confident smirk before stepping in after her.
The warp brought us out into the forest—the same spot I had used earlier to reach the village.
"Huh, is this the Slave Merchant's Adventurer you mentioned, Michio?" Azur asked, holding her lantern toward the unconscious old man tied to a tree.
"Yes," I said with a nod. "You should be able to use him to track down the Slave Merchant. He's definitely not innocent in all this."
I had thought once or twice about handling that Slave Merchant myself, but in the end, it was better to leave matters like this to the Knight Guild.
"Hmm… I'm curious what gave him the nerve to suggest to not inform the Knight Guild," Radia said, her voice hardening. "I just hope the Knight Order of Braston isn't involved in this."
They left the man tied to the tree and continued toward the village, which was still brightly lit and noisy despite the late hour.
As we walked, I used Party Setup to quietly check all the Jobs of the party members. Unfortunately, none of them had a new Job that I hadn't already encountered.
"Master!" Roxanne and Setsuna were the first to greet me, as they were already aware of my arrival. I introduced them to Radia and the others.
"Oh, so they're both in your party too, Michio?" Azur asked curiously, while the other women simply nodded before heading toward the villagers.
I asked Setsuna to accompany them, hoping her presence would ease the villagers' tension. Azur on the other hand had started chatting with Roxanne.
Meanwhile, Radia made her way straight to the pile of corpses stacked at the edge of the village.
"Does your party have a Wizard?" she asked in shock, her lantern's glow revealing the burned bodies.
I had thought about disposing of these bodies before bringing them here, but it wasn't easy. Digging multiple graves would have taken too much time and manpower, and burning them completely to ash was harder than it sounded. Also the smell of charred flesh was too horrible.
In the end, I had left them as they were—taking the calculated risk that their dead bodies would provide clues to how they were killed.
"Yeah, that was one of the reasons we managed to take care of them so easily," I said with a smile.
This was also why I had sent Miria and Remu back earlier. I didn't want Radia to learn exactly who had been present in my party when I attacked the bandits.
"You should have told me sooner…" Radia muttered under her breath with a sigh.
"Huh?" I tilted my head, not catching her meaning.
But instead of explaining, she turned back to me and extended a hand, smiling.
"I think we will be very happy to protect this village for a few days, at least until they can get back on their feet, Michio."
"Well, thank you, Miss Radia. I appreciate it, and so will the villagers," I said, shaking her hand with a smile.
"Please, just call me Radia. After all, we're friends now, aren't we?" she replied warmly. Then, with a small grin, she added, "I'm sure this little favor I'm doing… you and your party will be more than capable of repaying someday."
"Yeah, Radia, I'm sure our friendship will be quite fruitful," I said, grinning back. Though I also realised why her attitude had shifted so suddenly—after seeing all those scorched corpses, she must have concluded that my party had a powerful Wizard.
Which wasn't entirely wrong… but that Wizard was me, not anyone else. Still, if that misunderstanding helped me forge a bond with a beautiful noble Knight, I wasn't going to complain.
It also reminded me once again just how much weight the job Wizard carried in this world—even Nobles seemed to treat it with some reverence.
After some time spent talking with the villagers—especially Granny—we prepared to leave. Azur, Radia, and the adventurer woman went to rouse the old adventurer so they could track down the slave merchant, while the two Knights stayed behind to help the villagers clean and ready a few houses for rest.
"I thank you again, Michio-sama, for everything you've done. I only ask one thing—please, take good care of our Setsuna. She's such a kind and gentle child," Granny said, stroking Setsuna's head with trembling hands, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Granny, don't worry. Setsuna's Master is very kind. Setsuna is very happy… you should take better care of your health," Setsuna said, her own eyes wet with emotion.
"Granny, you and the other villagers have suffered so much. Please, accept this," I said, handing her a small pouch.
"No, please, I can't accept your money. You've already done so much for us," she said quickly, shaking her head.
"Please take it. This way Setsuna will also have some peace of mind," I said with a gentle smile.
"Please, Granny. It's Master's goodwill—it will help rebuild the village," Roxanne added from the side, her voice calm but persuasive.
Setsuna then stepped forward, leaned close, and whispered something in Granny's ear in the Burner tongue.
"Alright… i-if all of you insist," Granny said at last, sighing as she clutched the pouch, her eyes lingering on Setsuna with mixed emotions.
Originally, my plan had been to hand over the entire bounty I received from the Knights. With all the men gone, their savings plundered, and their homes damaged, surviving would be a harsh struggle for the remaining villagers. The bounty money—sixty-six gold coins—would have wiped away most of their troubles, at least for a time.
But when I discussed it with the others, Sherry proposed a different approach: to give them the exact sum I had spent to buy Setsuna at the auction. That way, it would symbolically be like I had purchased Setsuna from the village itself, leaving no room for complaints in the future.
She even insisted I use the discounted price that I got thanks to my Skill. I hesitated at first, but with both Setsuna and Roxanne also agreeing, I gave in. And so, the pouch held thirty gold coins—a hefty sum that would surely sustain the village for a while.
"You know," Radia said as preparations to leave were being made, "I've been waiting for that chat over tea you promised me, Michio."
"How about tomorrow morning?" I replied with a smile. "I'll come visit your Knight's Guild myself." I figured she would need some rest today after everything.
"Oh, then I'll bring snacks to go with it!" Azur chimed in brightly, cutting into our talk with a smile.
"Who invited you? Hmph." Radia sighed and pinched her little sister's ear who cried out in pain, as the two of them stepped into the Field Walk door.
I chuckled at their antics, then turned back toward the villagers. Giving them one last wave, I opened a Warp and stepped through.
"I am back home at last!"
***
[MN01 has redeemed an Extra Chapter this week]
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