Chapter 15: Encounter
“Why are you surprised?”, Kasha asked.
“What if the reserve burns? You will be in trouble too.”
“Why?”
“Why?! You have to deliver 50 frits to me by next week……”
“…”
“Actually, Kasha here knows many more frit reserves besides this one.”
At that moment, Ron’s expression changed. He was staring holes into Kasha
“Is that true?”
Kasha, bewildered, looked at me. I gently nodded, then she replied carefully.
“Yes.”
“……”
“You may not know but I am an adventurer from a different region. Due to my past experiences I know many more places stacked with frits.”
Ron’s face contorted with frustration.
He is the head of a branch of an organization as big as the Siris. He must have already noticed this.
“Surely we need to deliver 50 frits to you……
“But If we deliver it from another frit reserve, the quest will still be fulfilled. It doesn’t matter if the ones from this reserve are on fire or not. No, honestly…”
“……”
“This site burning up is actually better for us. Then there will be a frit habitat that only the Hagnut Guild knows of. After that, you will now have no other way to execute your plan, except for entering a long-term contract with us.”
Ron spoke in a determined tone, as if he were making a final act.
“But at least this is the only reserve around here. If the place Kasha knows is too far…”
“Of course the fee will go up.”
“……”
“Isn’t that fortunate? We still haven’t accepted the long-term contract.” A faint smile crossed my face.
“Didn’t Mr. Ron mention that the fee rate is flexible and adjustable?”
Ron bit his lips. He should have entered a long-term contract with us from the very start.
Then, no matter how far the frit’s, we would’ve delivered the goods at the initial low price.
However, Ron tried to test the Hagnut Guild by signing only one short-term contract. Thanks to this, after this habitat burns, we can increase the fee and Ron will have no other choice except accepting the contract. The only ones that’ll know about the new frit reserves will be the Hagnut Guild.
After a while, Ron bleakly muttered, “I got it.”
“What?”
“I’ve never wanted to hit someone so bad until…”
You’re a violent man.
“Okay. I’ll officially put in the request.”
“……”
“If this reserve burns out, you guys will enter a contract with a higher fee. I can’t afford it.”
“Yes of course we will.”
“I request it formally. Please prevent that reserve from burning.”
In the meantime, Burns had already emptied the barrels and was searching for something, an ignition device maybe.
I got a bit nervous as well, but I tried to keep my cool and said, “Our opponent is an A-class adventurer. Can I judge this quest as Class A?”
“……Yeah.”
“Thank you. As per the situation, I will write the contract after work is done.”
I glanced at Kasha. She was still confused.
“Kasha…please.”
“Uh? Huh? Yeah?”
“You were listening to all of it. Stop Burns Iai.”
“I…I’ve never fought against people before.”
“Who told you to fight? Just stop him, scare him with your magic.”
At that, Kasha scratched her head.
“Hmm. It won’t be that easy to scare an A-class… but I’ll try.”
After that Kasha took a deep breath and then jumped upon the rock. And she cried out, “St….Stop it!”
I touched my forehead, her voice was trembling. It seems that she was quite nervous as it’s her first time fighting against a person. Kasha’s face turned red.
But even more surprised was Burns Iai.
“What, what!”
“I am Kasha Flame. Aren’t you Burns Iai?”
“……”
‘Does she lose all intellect while she’s nervous?’
“What were you doing there? No, I’ve been watching you from the beginning, so you don’t have to tell me.”
Seems like I have to handle this myself or she’ll keep talking gibberish. I quickly got up and revealed myself.
Burns looked surprised, “Taylor Mason?”
“Do you know me?”
“Everyone knows about you, you’re a celebrity.”
Burns realized something and spoke,
“If you’re here…does it mean that deputy guild master Dirk’s predictions were correct?
“My body still listens to me. As an adventurer, I think my retirement is about to come. If I can’t move my body then I’ll have to use my head.”
With that, he slowly placed his hand on his sword.
I was nervous, but said without expressing it, “How about quietly retreating without causing anyone any trouble?”
“……”
“Both of you are A-class adventurers. A fight between two A-classes will end ugly.”
Burns remained silent for a moment, Then his party started talking to him from the carriage.
“Brother. What should we do?”
“What the fuck. Let’s take them down right here.”
“There are only two of them anyway.”
“One is a small kid. We will take care of her.”
I only agree with one thing those idiots said. Kasha is a kid.
But Burns said firmly, “Do you guys know who that kid is?”
“Who?”
“No matter how small her current guild maybe, I have memorized the faces of all the A-class adventurers. That small kid is none other than Kasha Flame.”
I could see their faces distorting with fear. After talking to his party Burns he turned to me.
“Hey. Mr. Taylor.”
“Just call me Tay.”
“I am thirty-seven. I am an A-class adventurer, but I seldom accept difficult quests.”
“……”
“I am going to retire soon. And what I’m doing right now was a direct order by the guild.”
He smiled and continued. “I mean, dirty things that interfere with other guild quests like this.”
“……”
“Those idiots behind me are roughly similar. They’re old or badly handicapped, not fit for regular quests.”
His tone became bitter,n“If we don’t do this, our income will be cut off. Especially in the case of me, I don’t have a lot of money saved, but my kids are still growing.”
Come to think of it, that guy had four kids.
“You do it for money?”
“Then what else is there? If I go back here without any results, the Wyvern Guild won’t even give me this work anymore.”
While saying that, Burns slowly slid his hand off his sword.
‘This guy.’
It was then.
“So I have to do something about it!”
In an instant, he pulled out some flint, lit it up and dropped it into the field.
“Something just like this…”
I almost swore without thinking. It’s all thanks to Kasha that the reserve didn’t catch fire.
“What?! Why didn’t it catch fire?”
It must have been oiled a little before, but the flint fell to the ground and the fire went out.
Kasha. Kasha behind me was puffed up while sticking one of the hands out.
“It’s stupid to try to use fire in front of me!”
‘When will this girl come back to her original tone?’
Anyway, when I turned back Burns suddenly raised his hands.
“We surrender. We’ll step back. Please don’t hurt us.”
My eyes narrowed.
However, Kasha put her hand down and sighed with relief. She was relieved that the situation didn’t become too ugly.
‘This idiot.’
I tried to warn Kasha, but before that I heard Bunt’s voice, “You should go back to the carriage first.”
“But what about you brother?”
“I have something to talk about with Mr. Tay over there.”
“……”
“Go quickly. Hey, the youngest there! Don’t leave the others behind.”
The weak guys are being sent away. Still, he was a leader and looked after the comfort of the party members he was responsible for.
‘Hmm. It’s okay.’
Burns was a good leader. But right now he was against me. I tapped on Kasha’s back, and told her to be vigilant.
“Wow!”
“What Tay?”
“Get ready. It will be real from now on.”
“……”
“I don’t think he will retreat that easily.”
As Kasha gulped at my words, she put her hands together and put them in front of her. As a swordsman puts his hand on his sword, that’s the basic combat stance that wizards take.
Meanwhile, Burns’ party hid inside the carriage. Burns said after confirming their safety.
“Because I told your wives this morning that the quest wasn’t dangerous, you don’t have to worry at all.”
“……By the way.”
“You’re clearly lying….”
Even before I could finish, his body was completely gone.
“Ha!”
At the same time, a lot of dirt rose in front of me. Before I realized, Burns was swinging his sword right in front of me.
‘This is bad.’
“Tay!”
Fortunately, the sword stopped right in front of my neck. It seemed like It was being blocked by some invisible wall.
“So you’re determined to kill huh?”
Burns said he was retiring soon. However, the A-class adventurer was different from the C or B-class adventurers that I encountered all day in the guild.
Burns said as I was admiring him, “Kasha, I didn’t know you could use defense magic.”
“Don’t touch him! Soi Endil!”
I could feel the heat behind me. I looked back to see what had happened. That sight was a sight to behold.
Some of them were floating above Kasha’s head. With more of them filling up the sky, countless arrows made of fire.