A Narrow-Eyed Nobleman Is Always Misunderstood

Episode 208 – Sometimes Things Work Out Just by Talking.

“Ugh, huh huh huh.”

Alberto was walking down the street, humming his song for the first time.

The road he was currently walking on was a highway that stretched straight towards a city.

At the end of this road, there was a gateway city that anyone wishing to pass from the Elpario Empire to the Bregen Empire must pass through.

A gateway city was a type of administrative district that was installed at the border of each country and served as a kind of checkpoint.

The larger the country, the wider the border, which inevitably meant that the troops it had to protect also increased proportionately.

So, the Elpario Empire and the Bregern Empire came up with the idea of controlling the entry and exit of all personnel through a single border checkpoint rather than installing an unnecessarily large number of border checkpoints.

In any case, people crossing the border illegally were bound to cross the border illegally, no matter how hard they tried to stop them.

In that case, it would be better to expand the means and methods of legally crossing the border, but handle this in one single city.

Instead, countless artifacts were buried along the border between the Elpario Empire and the Bregern Empire.

This was a tool that automatically notified nearby guards or the lord of the territory if unauthorized personnel attempted to cross the border.

Then, the guard or the lord of the surrounding territory who confirmed the notification would send troops to arrest the illegal entrant.

Although there was a lot of noise in the beginning, it provides many benefits to those who cross the border legally, so unless you are a really bad person, most people go in and out of the two countries through the gateway city.

However, this was only possible because the two empires were able to manage artifacts on a regular basis through large budgets, and most countries were building walls and operating several border checkpoints.

There was only one reason for Alberto to head to the gateway city.

‘Return to the Bregen Empire.’

The emperor of the Bregerne Empire had already been notified that he would return to his home country, and the Elpario Empire provided convenience so that Alberto could safely cross the border.

“As long as you show this small sign, they will let you pass the border inspection. The world has become so comfortable.”

That was the small token in Alberto’s hand.

It was about the size of an adult’s palm, made of gold, and had a pattern symbolizing the imperial family of the El Pario Empire engraved in the center.

Additionally, through complex anti-counterfeiting magic, unauthorized people could not touch or possess it.

Since Alberto was a very important guest for the El Pario Empire, the empire gave him special consideration so that he could travel comfortably on his final return trip.

So Alberto’s steps were very light, and his mood was as happy as flying through the sky.

To Alberto, the sun shining in the sky seemed to be shining brightly, as if blessing his way back.

The sky was clear and blue, as if showing his future path

The brilliance of that bald head, shining brightly as if anticipating his future, was impressive.

“Bald?”

The word bald came out of Alberto’s mouth.

Hehe, he’s a pretty smooth-looking guy. “Just give me the money I have and I’ll let you go!”

As he was happily walking down the street, a brightly shining highwayman with all his hair bald blocked his way.

Alberto was dumbfounded when he saw the highwayman blocking his path.

But he didn’t want to see blood on a happy day like today, so he wanted to move on quietly.

Before that, you first had to talk to the other person for persuasion and negotiation through sufficient conversation.

Hehe. It’s a very pleasant day, isn’t it?”

Alberto smiled and talked to the highwayman.

“Yes. It’s a happy day. A guy who looks like he has some money got caught like this!”

The highwayman also slightly misunderstood(?) What Alberto said and listened to it.

Alberto said it was a good day just to start a conversation, but the highwaymen heard it differently.

This was because they heard Alberto’s words as ‘I’m glad I met a good(?) Highwayman who will let you go if you give him the money he has.’

“We are still quite gentlemanly. It’s not that they took everything away, it’s that if you give them money, they’ll just let it go.”

A highwayman who appeared to be a colleague added to this. It’s not that they take everything away, but if you just give them the money you have, they’ll let you go.

If these people really only took the money they had and let it go, then they were on the ‘relatively’ good side among highway robbers.

Of course, the person who gets all their money taken away doesn’t know that and is a bad person.

There was only one reason why they did street robbery here for money.

This was because, from the perspective of someone who needed to cross the border quickly, it was cheaper to just hand over a reasonable amount of money.

So, they only robbed those who seemed desperate, and if the opponent seemed strong or someone who could not be underestimated, they were on guard or disguised as hunters wandering nearby.

Thanks to this, they lived the perfect life that every highwayman dreams of, robbing passers-by and not being caught by the security guards.

“Okay then. You have to take the item so that the thief doesn’t buy it. It’s much more profitable to just take the money and send it.”

Other highway robbers gave their own rational explanation as to why they only took money and let people go.

“Okay. Surely, what you say is correct. “It is difficult to transport stolen goods, and it is even more difficult to dispose of them.”

Alberto greatly sympathized with the highwayman’s words. In order to deal with stolen property, you ultimately need to find someone who specializes in handling it.

However, people who tend to live in places where many people gather, not in places where there are no people.

And in large cities, there were many cases where bounties were placed on people such as highway robbers and wanted badges were distributed.

So, if you go to a place with a lot of people to dispose of stolen goods, the chances of being caught for robbery increase.

“Yes! Now someone who knows something has appeared! Hey bro. Are you by any chance the same type as us?”

When Alberto resonated with his story, the highwayman wondered if he was from the same industry as them.

This was because ordinary people, rather than their understanding conversations, hated them.

“Why are you asking that?”

“Well, people in the same industry usually take it easy. It’s better that way without hurting each other’s feelings. Isn’t that right?”

Alberto may not have known it, but highwaymen and bandits had their own unwritten rules.

If people from the same industry met, they would just move on without touching each other as much as possible.

After all, we’re all just trying to make a living, so wouldn’t there be nothing left to fight for every penny?

Moreover, if you get hurt while fighting, you only suffer losses, so if you run into each other, it is to your mutual benefit not to fight but to retreat.

This was the unspoken agreement between bandits and highwaymen near the border.

As someone who is being robbed, if you find out that the people who are robbing you are making an unspoken agreement, you will probably laugh out loud.

So, they were just going to let Alberto go if he was from the same industry.

This was because there were quite a few conmen who dressed very nicely and walked around with people passing by, trying to rip them off.

In a sense, that kind of person was also a type of highway robber, so it was like falling into their unwritten rules.

Hehe, I see. There were interesting stories like that even among highway robbers.”

Alberto found it interesting that the highwaymen made their own rules.

Didn’t they say that fighting is the most fun when the worst people fight?

To Alberto, it seemed like the unspoken agreement between the highwaymen was to protect the food of the poor.

“Hmm? What is it, bro? Are you a novice scammer who just recently started working? If you want to rob around here, you don’t have to know this.”

“Ugh, if you’re just starting out, you’ll only get dust even if you shake it off. Hey, that’s it. Just go. Normally, when we meet, we end up with just one silver coin, but since you seem to have just started working, I’ll just let you go.”

The highwaymen looked a little perplexed when Alberto showed that this was their first time hearing about this.

Hehe. Okay. “This is all I have, so I’ll give it all to you.”

Alberto was amused by the highwaymen who misunderstood him as a ‘newbie’ conman and tried to let him go, so he decided to give them all the money he had.

The only money he had in his possession was two gold coins.

“Wow, wow! Two gold coins!”

“Hey, you idiot! “You’ve already robbed someone!”

Hehe, think whatever you want.”

“Wow, the newbie is already ready! Like it! Take care! Since there is no one else but us after this, we can just go!”

The highwaymen were satisfied with the two gold coins Alberto gave them and let him go.

They even told Alberto to be careful, and were satisfied with the huge profit of two gold coins, so they decided to end today’s robbery here.

But what they didn’t know was that they were fortunate that they accepted Alberto’s attempts at conversation.

What would have happened if they had taken out knives in response to Alberto’s attempt to talk?

As Alberto walked along the path that the robbers who had sent him had made aside, he thought about the robbers he had met so far.

Except for the one group of robbers he had just met, all the robbers pointed their knives at him.

“Still, they are nice. “Most of the robbers I met on the way here immediately threw away their knives.”

The robbers who attacked the Sword Master with their swords ended up losing their lives at the hands of Alberto.

“Pfft, but you guys saw through my words.”

They should feel fortunate that they tried to talk to Alberto first today.

Otherwise, like the previous robbers, they too would have become cold corpses lying on the street.

Alberto, leaving behind the robbers who were happy to get two gold coins, was finally able to reach the entrance of the gateway city.