“Even discounted, that’s still far too expensive.”
[You damned creature. To ignore the words of a god! Apostle! Punish him! Punishment!]
I decided to ignore the muttering evil god.
“Then give up. It’s not as if you are banned from going out for life, is it? At most, it will be one month.”
I’m saying I’ll get purified to death by the Saintess while waiting that month.
“......Then how about this instead of money?”
“What do you mean?”
“That key from last time. I found out its composition. And the refining method too.”
At my words, Junknus’s eyes lit up four times brighter than usual.
“......Is that true?!”
“Why don’t you believe me? Have I ever lied to you, Brother?”
“Many times.”
Mm. Was that so?
“Shall I list them one by one?”
[Oh? This is getting rather interesting.]
“The place you said had a steel vein last time was piled with monsters.”
“There was a vein there too.”
That was not a lie.
“Do you think I don’t know you pushed your mission onto me?”
“But since you went along with it, didn’t that mean you liked it?”
I had merely not told the truth. It was not a lie.
“Hoo. You are always like that.”
“Come on. You’re strong too, Brother, so that much is fine.”
“In the end, I did profit from it, so I have nothing to say, but......”
Then that was enough.
“In any case, I’ll tell you how to make that key, so please get me the potion for free.”
“But how did you find that out? Even this great Junknus gave up researching that thing.”
I could just grab the person who made that thing by the collar and ask.
[Hmph! Who said I would teach that precious refining method to you, dwarf!]
“Hurry! Tell me quickly! Argh! If I had known, I would never have handed that thing over to you!”
[I will never teach him! Never!]
“Wait a moment. I left the paper with the refining method behind.”
I walked out of the building and entered a secluded back alley.
“Hey.”
[What?]
“Tell me.”
[To that dwarf? Obviously, I refuse.]
“No, to me.”
There would be no problem if I heard the refining method from you and told Brother afterward, right?
[......]
“You swore by the River Styx, didn’t you?”
The River Styx, the place where the four ancient gods, including the Chief God, were first born. An oath sworn there could never be broken, no matter what.
“You know you can’t forsake that sacred oath, right?”
[Of course I will tell you.]
She should have done that from the start.
[But do you truly have to tell that dwarf too?]
“If you’ve got a problem with it, cover your ears.”
[How did I end up leashed by the nose to someone like this?]
“Retract that. It offends me.”
With those words, I took a sheet of paper and a quill pen from my breast.
[What are you going to do?]
“I’m going to write the refining method here.”
Writing it down and showing it would be more effective than explaining it with words. If I scorched it here and there so it looked like an ancient object, that would be the finishing touch.
[Soak mithril in holy water and refine it with blue flame.]
“That’s it?”
[......It is efficient if you mix steel with it too. For the ratio, five to five is......]
It felt as though I had acquired a personal secretary.
[And as for how it can be applied.]
“Okay. And?”
[......By the way, is my apostle going to write down even the applications and give them to him?]
“Then?”
[Why not save that for the next deal?]
In other words, she was suggesting I use this information to exploit Junknus again next time.
“As expected of an evil god, the level of your thinking is different.”
She was basically saying we should suck Junknus dry down to the spine.
[That is because I am a god!]
“Uh. Sure.”
......That was not a compliment.
***
“Good! I shall try to get you the potion! Come back in about two days!”
Junknus, who had received the paper I gave him, answered with a bright smile. He had probably calculated for a moment in his head whether the theory was possible.
“But do you really have to get it for me? Wouldn’t it be easier to go to the black market together? You could just cover the money.”
That seemed faster.
“......Do you think that will work?”
What reason was there that it would not?
“What do you think is in the black market?”
“Goods, I suppose.”
“......That is technically correct, but.”
Junknus answered as though he was dumbfounded, then spoke again.
“The black market is where goods forbidden by the Order are brought in. What do you think will happen if a holy knight goes there?”
“I’m an apprentice.”
“Being an apprentice does not mean you are not a holy knight, does it?”
No one ever called me a proper holy knight, though.
“In the first place, with the method I know, only one person can go. You cannot bring a companion.”
What in the world did they sell for security to be that strict?
“You look curious about what they sell.”
“As expected, Brother, you know me too well.”
“I have never been to the VIP side, so I do not know about that, but I know everything other than that. Usually, monster byproducts, artifacts, or magic tools come in.”
“......?”
Why did he repeat artifacts and magic tools? Were the two not similar? Did he simply misspeak?
“Other than that, demon byproducts occasionally show up too, but honestly, where are demons in this day and age? They just slap that sort of name on strange things they picked up and sell them.”
Mm. There might not be demons, but there was an evil god beside me.
“Then why doesn’t Grandpa Harkan clear that place out?”
“I do not know. If it is only byproducts and artifacts, perhaps he turns a blind eye. Well, to put it bluntly, it is not as if they are selling slaves.”
Did he think of it as a necessary evil?
[A holy knight thinks necessary evils should exist......]
Well, there could be such a thing.
‘You are just evil outright, though.’
[What?]
As for the whining evil god at my words, ignoring her was still the most comfortable answer.
“Then I should come back in two days?”
“Yes. The black market will probably open tomorrow.”
“When does it open?”
“Every half-month.”
“It’s a black market, but is it all right to tell me that so easily?”
At that point, instead of calling it a black market, they might as well change it to a half-month market since it opened every fifteen days.
“Sir Harkan probably knows anyway.”
“Hey! Blacksmith! Are you still not done with the work?!”
The person who flung open the workshop door and entered looked like a thug no matter how one looked at him.
‘A thug.’
[A thug.]
Hair falling long to his waist, a scar drawn diagonally across one eye, muscles that looked ready to burst, and a rather rough voice.
‘He is practically the model specimen of a thug, isn’t he?’
What did a thug like that want?
“Hah? What are you supposed to be? Do you even know who this great me is, talking back like that?”
As the thug said that and confidently thrust his body forward, something silver hung around his neck.
“An adventurer?”
The silver identification tag was certainly that of an adventurer.
“You stand before Gadar, a Silver Grade adventurer!”
At those words, Junknus instead snorted and responded.
“Well, now. Listen here, brother. This is the Holy Kingdom. Whether you are Silver Grade, Platinum Grade, or Diamond Grade, you are still below a holy knight here.”
“Tsk. This is why countries that believe in some god are no good.”
“Hey. Where are you from?”
How ridiculous. Who was he to insult our country?
“I asked where you are from.”
If anyone was going to insult it, it would be me.
“......Why should I tell you?”
A rotten beast stench came from the bastard as he spoke so brazenly. That smell made me frown.
“I see. You’re from Claw, aren’t you?”
The Claw Kingdom, a place where all manner of beastfolk, beggars, gamblers, and various other criminals lived.
No, it was a lawless land that could hardly be called a kingdom.
[Beast......folk? What kind of race is that?]
These uncivilized bastards. How dare they enter the capital of the Holy Kingdom?
“Hey.”
“......”
“You had some nerve infiltrating the Holy Kingdom, being from Claw.”
The disgusting stench of a beast stabbed my nose.
“You do know that people like you are forbidden from entering the Holy Kingdom, right?”
At my question, the bastard named Gadar drew the greatsword on his back and charged at me.
“Hah!”
The bastard swung the greatsword down.
CRACK!
The wooden floor broke easily. However, even in that situation, Junknus was not surprised.
“Haa...... I wonder how long it will take to fix this again.”
“Sorry. I’ll give you the money later.”
“It will be the Order’s money again anyway, will it not?”
“Do not look down on me!”
Gadar retrieved his greatsword and this time approached me to execute a horizontal slash.
“Aidin! Grant me strength!”
The bastard moved his greatsword while shouting a prayer, though I did not even want to call it that.
“How absurd.”
CLANG!
“Huh?”
He thought he could cut me with mere metal?
“Aren’t you being too arrogant?”
I lifted the greatsword I had caught with my hand. Gadar, who had been gripping the greatsword tightly, sailed through the air along with it.
CRACK—!
The floorboards gouged by the greatsword collapsed as they were.
“You’re getting cocky.”
The floor was completely smashed to pieces.
“Tsk. This one was also a believer of an evil god.”
This was why people from Claw were unacceptable. He followed an evil god even though he was not beastfolk.
[You follow such an evil god too, do you not?]
......Quiet.
***
“......”
“What?”
“Can you not stay still while you are banned from going out?”
No, then was I supposed to stay still when someone from Claw came in?
“There was also the option of leaving it to the Order.”
“What if that Claw bastard ran away in the meantime?”
Was this not actually something I should be rewarded for?
[Even lacking a conscience has its limits.]
An evil god talking about conscience was funny.
“You are a patient! A patient who suddenly collapsed and made me worry myself sick, no less!”
“That is true, but I’m not sick.”
“We do not know whether there will be aftereffects after you collapsed or not!”
Tsk.
“That is why I was going to observe you for one week......!”
“Then why is the outing ban one month?”
“Because of the trouble you caused. If I do not ban you now, when and under what pretext would I do it?”
Aha!
“I think you’re a little too harsh on me, Grandpa.”
“Why do you do this to me?”
How cruel to an adorable grandson.
[Blech.]
Do not vomit.
[By the way, what kind of race are beastfolk?]
“Haa...... Fine. You did well catching someone from the Claw Kingdom.”
“Is there no reward?”
“Do you want anything besides lifting the outing ban?”
Tch. He was sharp.
“Hmm......”
“If not, forget it.”
“Promotion to full knight?”
[Apostle?]
Argh, she kept talking to me.
“Do you think that will work?”
“Tsk.”
“Catching a single evil god worshiper is not enough. You would have to beat down at least two or three apostles to receive a special promotion.”
If that guy just now had been an apostle, I would only need one more.
“But I only need to catch three? Then I can become a full knight?”
[Apostle? I am asking what beastfolk are.]
That was easier than expected.
“You rascal. Do you think apostles sprout if you dig the ground?”
......There is one right in front of you, Grandpa.
[It seems my apostle has grown old after all. He keeps failing to hear me......]
What nonsense.