Chapter 173: That’s Taking Brute Force Too Far

It had only been four days since I returned to the royal capital, Leclerc, after finishing my haul at Marquis Romberg’s estate in Moorian.

With nothing better to do, I stopped by the Adventurers’ Guild for the first time in a while to kill some time, and the purchasing guy called out to me.

“Hey, Breeze. Since you haven’t been bringing in birds, Chief Holtz has been crying, you know.”

“I’ve been busy with other work. I’ll bring some when I have time.”

Sharp-eyed old man.

Since it was still a bit early, Nanga and the others weren’t around, so I grabbed an ale and sat in a corner seat. As I sipped it slowly, a lot of people kept staring at me—probably thinking I was low rank since I rarely showed up.

Then Chief Holtz, still wearing his bloodstained apron, came over.

“Breeze, go catch some birds. Ever since you stopped coming, people keep demanding Chikki-Chikki Birds. It’s a pain.”

“Holtz, you’re too loud. I’m busy with other work right now.”

“Yeah, I know. But ever since you stopped showing up, hardly anyone brings them in. Just while you’re in the capital is fine—please. We can’t gather them in decent numbers anymore.”

“I can’t promise anything, but if I catch some, I’ll bring them. Don’t expect too much.”

“Alright, I’m counting on you.”

Even one bird brings in good money, but they’re hard to find, and if you lose an arrow, you lose a whole day’s earnings. Unless you’re confident with a bow, no one’s going to specialize in hunting them.

“Leon, they’ve got high expectations for you.”

“When did you come to the capital?”

“Nanga, how’s your income?”

“It’s embarrassing to compare to you, Leon, but I’ve been training hard and can earn a bit now. So you’re in the capital?”

“Just some errands. Stopped by to kill time.”

Since the royal family is going to request the snake dissection, I might as well bring in some Chikki-Chikki Birds and act like I have nothing to do with it.

After parting ways with Nanga and the others, I stayed at Martins Hotel for the first time in a while and went to buy souvenirs for Mom, Granny Felica, and Old Man Roy.

After spending about two days hiring a carriage and finishing my shopping, I checked out of the hotel and camped near the forest, waiting for morning.

At dawn, I woke up to the cries of Red Chickens, had a light breakfast, and started zigzagging along the forest edge using [Hover!].

I startled early-rising birds and caught Runner Birds mid-takeoff with whirlwinds. Using Detection to locate them and Presence Sense to close in while hovering, I was basically hunting Runner Birds nonstop.

Once I started seeing other adventurers in the distance, I moved deeper into the forest and switched to searching for Chikki-Chikki Birds at high speed.

I hadn’t used Hover much lately, but it’s incredibly useful when hunting.

I had been circling Leclerc clockwise from the west gate, but once the sun got high, I ended the hunt and headed back. After ascending to check my position, I saw the east gate in the distance, but returned toward the west gate and landed in the grass near the entrance.

As I pushed through the grass and stepped onto the road, I was surprised to see people pointing toward where I had landed and making a fuss.

“Hey, did anything fall from the direction you came from?”

“Huh? Like what?”

“Something like… a person? But definitely something big fell.”

“Yeah, I saw it too. I’m sure of it.”

“If you came from that direction, you must’ve seen something…”

“The grass is tall around here, and it gets noisy when the wind blows, so I didn’t hear anything.”

“You’re not carrying anything… you’re an adventurer, right?”

“Yeah. Wouldn’t want to be swinging weapons around this close to the capital.”

I pulled out a short spear from my Magic Bag to show them, and while they kept pointing and talking, I casually headed to the gate, entered through the adventurers’ lane, and went straight to the guild—

…only to freeze in surprise.

A two-horse carriage bearing the royal crest was blocking the front of the guild. Royal knights stood guard in front and behind, glaring down at adventurers from horseback.

So today’s the meat pickup day. Looks like the king is showing it off to the nobles.

As I tried to slip past the guards toward the entrance—

“Boy! What’s so funny?” 

One of them shouted from horseback.

“Huh… what do you mean?”

“You were just looking at us and smiling!”

I must’ve been grinning while thinking about the king.

“Even if you say that, I wasn’t looking up at you. If I seemed like I was smiling, it’s just because I had a good haul today.”

“A haul? You came empty-handed—don’t spout nonsense—”

“What’s going on? Oh, Breeze. What are you doing?”

“I was asked by Chief Holtz to bring in some birds, but I got yelled at out of nowhere.”

“Oh? You brought a lot, right?”

“Yeah, I think he’ll be satisfied.”

“I see. There’s a royal envoy here, so you can’t go into the processing area right now. Go have an ale and wait.”

The Sub-Master shooed me off, so I retreated into the dining area.

While sipping ale at a table near the back wall, I saw knights escorting a storage mage out of the processing area.

Looks like it’ll be ready for delivery tomorrow. Good enough.

As I watched them off, I noticed someone staring at me from the side.

Not killing intent—just watching me closely.

When I turned, I recognized the face… barely.

His clothes were worn, clearly not doing well, but he seemed to recognize me. Holding a mug, he stood up and approached with a forced smile.

“Long time no see. I had no idea the one who helped me back then was the famous Leon. I’ll never forget that whirlwind.”

“I don’t remember you. Who are you?”

“Come on now. It’s me, Namul—I was with Stib and the others.”

Oh, he was one of the two men who split from Stib’s group, returned to town, went broke, and later tried to mooch off me.

“Who’s Stib? I don’t remember you.”

“You really going to say that? I could report what happened back then to the guild, you know.”

He muttered it quietly. Idiot.

“You’re funny. You picked the wrong person to leech off. If you’re going to threaten someone, make sure they’ve got something to hide. I’ve got nothing for you—so you won’t get a single coin.”

“Leon, who’s this guy?”

“Looks like he thinks I’m solo and is trying to mooch, but I don’t really get what he’s saying.”

“Get lost.”

At Holtz’s single word, the guy shrank back and slunk away to another table with a bitter look.

“Did you catch any?”

“I brought Chikki-Chikki Birds and Runner Birds.”

“Good. Let’s go to the processing area!”

In the usual back area, I lined them up on the table, starting with the Chikki-Chikki Birds.

I caught a bit too many, so I only put out 26 Chikki-Chikki Birds and 31 Runner Birds.

“Hmm, as clean as always. Looks like I won’t hear complaints for once.”

“You shouldn’t rely on me. You’d need someone skilled with a bow… actually, not just that—tracking and presence detection too.”

“Even if the unit price is high, parties don’t like hunting them since they often end up in the red. But you’re solo, and a wind mage… how do you even catch them?”

You’re just realizing that now?

I quickly filled out the appraisal sheet, and he pushed it toward me.

“While you’re in the capital, I’m counting on you.”

Chikki-Chikki Birds: 26 × 78,000 = 2,028,000 dara
Runner Birds: 31 × 44,000 = 1,364,000 dara
Total: 3,392,000 dara

“That’s a maxed-out appraisal.”

“Yeah. People are willing to pay top coin for them.”

Figures.

I suddenly felt like eating roast bird again. Maybe I’ll have Mom cook it when I get back. Crispy skin, juicy breast meat, fatty legs…

Even yakitori is good, but properly cooked meat is on another level.

Though first, there’s the snake meat. Not sure who I should ask to cook that.

When I landed outside the Chancellor’s office as usual, Marginus came to greet me—but instead of heading to the office, we went deeper into the royal castle.

“Marginus, are we going to see the king?”

“Yes. Everything is prepared, but His Majesty has something to discuss with you.”

A discussion… I’ve got a bad feeling about this. But I can’t skip out without getting the snake meat.

Inside the king’s office, I was greeted warmly—but the two men behind him immediately set off alarm bells.

“Leon, good to see you.”

“This feels suspicious. What are you plotting?”

“Thanks to you, things have mostly settled—but new problems have arisen. A duke’s house and two marquis houses have disappeared. Technically, two of them are marquis houses.”

“Two marquis houses?”

“Did you forget? Korché in Merizanne was Marquis Fleming’s territory. That incident also started because of you, didn’t it?”

“That’s not fair. That was because of that greedy merchant Warrens. I was only a victim.”

“You could say the same about this case. You weren’t directly responsible, but you were still involved. That aside, losing three high-ranking noble houses is a serious problem. We have therefore decided to adopt Jeslan into House Langueille as its heir.”

“That’s… pushing it a bit, isn’t it?”

“We know. The nobles and merchants won’t accept it, but the common people won’t care about bloodlines. We’ll make it look like the royal family stepped in because the original heir was incompetent. The story is already prepared.”

You’re really just saying that outright, huh…

“The problem is that both Marquis Fleming and Count Fleming died in ‘accidents,’ and now Marquis Romberg is gone too. That one was too flashy—rumors are spreading, and we can’t hide it.”

“You went pretty flashy at the Langueille estate too.”

“That was officially the eldest son, Skoltin, rebelling against his father and being put down. That’s why Jeslan will inherit the ducal house.”

…This old man is really forcing it through by brute strength.