Chapter Nine: Unfair
We slept that night at an inn near the castle and went back to the castle gates the next morning. We were taken to the throne room, where Trash was waiting for us. Itsuki was there as well. He seemed to be grumbling something about how he hadn’t really lost the duel.
“At this rate we’ll never be able to abolish slavery here,” he mumbled.
But from what Father had told me, it was his full intention to get rid of slavery as soon as he could. Itsuki’s point was that so long as a hero had slaves, abolishing slavery would be difficult. And for that reason, Itsuki glared at Father as if Father were his mortal enemy. And Ren was staring at Itsuki in turn with an unpleasant expression.
But it was too late for them to steal anything else from Father, I say! Even with a large group of castle guards surrounding Keel, Sakura, Yuki, and Kou, if push came to shove, we’d have no trouble defeating Trash and Itsuki. I nearly burst into laughter.
Still, I noticed that Father seemed to be proceeding cautiously. I remembered him mentioning last night before going to bed that although he lost his temper and ended up winning, it might have made things easier in the long run to lose on purpose since, if the course of events deviated too far from the first go-around, we might end up in a tough spot.
We had a month and a half until the next wave of destruction. That was when Father’s name was finally cleared in the first go-around. So to get there, we’d have to continue to pretend like we were staying in Melromarc for the next six weeks.
Trash looked over the four of us from his throne and cast Father and me a glance as if to say we were rubbish.
“Now I will be giving out some funds to help you prepare for the next wave of destruction,” Trash said.
One of his attendants brought out pouches of coins. I could tell that they were all of different sizes, but even the smallest should have about 500 silver coins.
Father had warned me last night that because of the incident yesterday, Melromarc might try to start something new. But if they did, that would just further accelerate Ren’s suspicion, as he had already observed plenty of unfairness toward Father. In fact, it seemed like Ren had already broken off from Melromarc entirely.
“Dispense the funds,” Trash said, and the attendant passed the bags out. I glanced inside, and as expected, there were around 500 silver coins. Father’s pouch was about the same size as mine.
So what to do with this new money?
Based on how far along we were in the timeline . . . it was the perfect time to find Filo-tan, I say!
Oh yes! I know for a fact that Father first purchased Filo-tan around this time. In the previous round as well, this was when I had bought up all the filolial eggs from the monster trainer. But Filo-tan hadn’t been among them.
Just what had Father told me about the time he got Filo-tan?
All I could remember was him saying that he bought her from the monster trainer. The specifics were unclear.
Maybe it was actually the monster trainer who had told me that, not Father. I couldn’t exactly remember. Either way, I knew that the timing was right.
Since we were still caught in a situation where we couldn’t trust anyone, I had to consult with Father first.
“To begin, Sir Itsuki,” Trash said. “Your noble deeds have been felt across the realm. You’ve taken on difficult missions and fought hard for the benefit of our nation. As a result, we’ve awarded you 7,600 silver coins.”
Father’s jaw dropped. 7,600? That’s 76 gold coins! It was the amount I had received from Melromarc in the first go-around, plus more. I guess this time around Trash gave even less to the rest of us.
Itsuki raised the enormous pouch of jangling coins and showed it to us. “This is the reward for following the path of justice,” he said.
Itsuki seriously irritated me. No, you were simply following the path that Trash and the Crimson Swine laid out for you, you fool!
“Next to Sir Ren, for fulfilling the mission and fighting the wave of destruction, we’ve awarded you 3,800 silver coins.”
“Half of what Itsuki got?” I muttered.
That was the same as what Ren got in the first go-around. Since he had no reason to be mistrustful of Trash and the Crimson Swine, he had taken it without complaint. But now, he undoubtedly felt that it was unfair that he had gotten less than Itsuki. He didn’t outwardly make a fuss about it, even though the rumors spreading around Melromarc were all focused on the deeds of the Sword Hero and the enigmatic bird saint.
Ren’s companions could tell that Ren was angry and didn’t even try to say anything to him.
“Next up is Sir Motoyasu. Since you didn’t achieve anything of particular note, we’ve awarded you 500 silver coins.”
Much, much less than Itsuki and Ren. I supposed that from Trash’s perspective, I was as good as Father’s accomplice, so he was doing everything he could to slow me down. Unfortunately, Father is way ahead of you, Trash!
I felt a slight urge to kill him and be done with it, but patience is a virtue, I say. Only another month and a half, and we’ll be done with it.
I saw the Crimson Swine sitting next to the king with a pleasant smile on her face. What a revolting sight.
Last up was Father.
“Hmm, we would’ve appreciated a bit more effort from the Shield Hero,” Trash said. “We’ve also subtracted the cost of healing Sir Itsuki. That was 200 silver coins.”
So Father was only getting 300 coins? I supposed they added that portion to Itsuki’s reward. They really had no shame.
“The cost of healing was 200 coins?” Ren asked, glaring at Trash. “You mean the result of forcing them into a duel? And Naofumi did just fine in the wave of destruction.”
I could tell that Ren was pretty much fed up with Melromarc at this point.
Ren turned to Father. “It sounds like they’re mad that you haven’t done any jobs for the guild yet,” Ren said. “You heard of it?”
Father glanced at me. It’s not like Trash would’ve given Father the chance to do a job if he had wanted to. But what was the best response here? I didn’t want to send Ren out of control. It wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario like that, if we answered wrong here. If Ren did snap, he would still trust us just fine, but his relationship with Itsuki would be totally severed.
I sensed that we were losing our last chance to keep Ren calm and on track per the events of the first go-around.
“You see, we met with the guild, but they didn’t offer us any work,” I said.
“Gotcha,” Ren said. “Well, it is Melromarc, so I honestly shouldn’t be surprised.”
It would be hard to lie to Ren in this position. We would risk all of our hard work going to waste if we told a lie and got caught. And we couldn’t just say that we hadn’t heard of the guild either. This whole scenario was a gamble from the beginning.
I wasn’t sure what he would do next, but I had to keep in mind that Ren staying alive was also crucial to our success. We knew from the last go-around that Itsuki was prone to falling in line with Melromarc. Which meant we had to protect Ren as well.
If Ren were to flee, I figured he would go to Zeltoble. But would Melromarc go after him? He hadn’t done anything beyond simply be suspicious yet, so I think they would let him move freely. He hadn’t totally turned on Melromarc. But it was certainly a possibility that they could go after him like they had done with Father, making him an enemy of the state.
As I had done with Itsuki last time around, it was worth considering killing off Ren’s companions.
When I thought back on the last three months, it was clear that the Church of the Three Heroes had been hiding a lot of their suspicious activities. I decided that I could simply sit back and watch their plans backfire and see how Ren reacted to the news that the princess was helping Itsuki from behind the scenes. And in the meantime, Trash would still want to drive us away.
Which means that, ultimately, not too much would be different from the first go-around.
Ren turned to Trash and pointed at him. “You should be giving a minimum . . . No, you should be treating the heroes equally.”
Trash crossed his arms. “Hmph. It seems like the guild may have let their personal feelings toward the Shield Hero interfere with their treatment of him. On their behalf, I apologize.”
He may have said the words, but I didn’t sense an ounce of sincerity there. Trash simply wanted to see Father lose and suffer, and there was nothing else we could do about it.
“So the guild believes the nonsense rumors about Naofumi and wouldn’t give him a job, and you punish him for it?” Ren asked.
“For the inconvenience, I shall increase the Shield Hero’s reward by 300 silver coins,” Trash said. “I would suggest simply taking it.”
So Father got an extra pouch of money. I could tell by Trash’s body language that he was reluctant to hand it over, and by the Crimson Swine’s obviously manufactured smile.
Like Ren, I, Motoyasu Kitamura, was tired of this farcical charade! It was all I could do to hold in my vomit.
“That concludes our little gathering today,” Trash said. “Until we meet again, I hope that you continue to make a great impact on our nation!”