Chapter 19 - Chapter 19: We May as Well Just Crush Them
Good day to you. I am Violia Nico Fortesia.
Right now, I am incredibly startled because Giovan returned to the hideout covered in blood.
Him being blood-soaked is a quite dangerous sight!
"W-What happened!?"
"Hmm? You want to hear it right away? Then do you want to shower with me? ...Just kidding."
That is a joke I cannot laugh at! Given the situation, it is no time for laughing!
"Giovan. Report first."
"Ah—yes, yes. So the shower is on hold, then."
It is on hold! Naturally!
And so, we surrounded Giovan to hear what happened.
"First, I think my back was slashed? I can't see it, but it's probably cut. Lend me a hand later. Then, I think I cut my head a bit when I was punched. And I hit my knee when I fell, and I cut my palm on some glass or something that was on the ground when I put my hand down?"
"The enemies?"
"A pair. Both were large, so they don't seem to be the ones the young lady encountered. One had a knife. I didn't see the other one's weapon, but he probably had something on his fist. Something made of metal. That's what cut me when I was punched."
Giovan wiped the blood that was thickly coating his face with his finger and let out a sigh with an annoyed expression. Is a sigh all you have to say? For that?
"And... did you finish them off?"
When Doran asked that, Giovan glanced at me. Then, he tried to shrug his shoulders grandiosely, but it seemed the cut on his back pained him. He looked quite uncool, but he did not lose his cynical smile.
"Hardly. Are you saying that knowing I'm a non-combatant?"
...And that was the extent of Giovan's effort.
"Violia doesn't need to worry about it."
Doran cut everything away with that one sentence.
"...Heh. What? You've decided to trust the young lady?"
"Yeah."
Giovan looked at me again... and then, with a smirk and a resigned sigh, he finally said it.
"...Yes, yes. I get it. I killed them. I killed them. I tossed them into the canal. They'll probably be handled as if they were drunk and drowned."
"You truly can fight, can you not?"
"Only under certain conditions, and just a little bit. Don't go grouping me with Doran or Chesta."
I understand that. He certainly does not look strong.
However... that means he is likely suited for things like surprise attacks. He seems clever, and if he can pull off small tricks with his hands, there are likely opponents he can kill with just that.
Well, it is just a guess.
"Any idea who the enemies were?"
"I don't know for sure. But well, I have a hunch. The motive was jealousy. Something like that. So for now, there's no urgency. No need to worry."
"Jealousy... meaning?"
"Hmm, can we talk about that after I shower and do something about my back?"
Ah, that is right. Come to think of it, Giovan is injured.
...I can do nothing in a situation like this. If even a tiny bit of my blood were on my fingertip, the moment I touched someone else's wound, I might kill them.
"Understood. I'll prepare medicine and bandages."
"And some booze too, please. Whatever you like is fine."
Giovan said that and went straight into the shower room.
...Hah, I was truly startled.
A short while later, after Doran prepared the alcohol and took the first-aid kit out of the room—where Giovan's wound was likely treated—the two of them returned together.
"My, have I kept you waiting quite a bit, young lady?"
"Not particularly."
As for me, I have already started on a glass. It is something that cannot make me drunk anyway, but I like the taste.
"I also woke Chesta up while I was at it."
"He actually woke up? That's rare."
And Chesta is wide awake.
"Damn, my head hurts... did you do something?"
"No? Nothing at all?"
At any rate, everyone is now gathered. We can proceed with the conversation with peace of mind.
"Anyway, to summarize, I was attacked by a pair of large men when I left the shop. One had a knife. The other, I didn't know what he had, but it was the kind of thing you use to punch someone. And so, I got my back slashed and my head punched, but I turned the tables on those two. There are two corpses floating in the canal. Are we good so far?"
"Did that really happen?"
"While you were sleeping."
Once the explanation for Chesta was finished, Giovan poured himself some alcohol into a glass and began to talk about the rest while sipping it.
"And. This time, they probably came to attack me out of jealousy for how much we've been earning lately. That's why they didn't go for Doran or Chesta, but for me, who had just left the shop. That's my guess."
Hah, I see.
"Is the underworld not a monolith after all?"
"Of course not. Jealousy and envy are par for the course. We're all scoundrels who were kicked out of the surface world to begin with. If there's a group that's earning a bit, they'll get jealous on their own."
I suppose that is how it is. Well, I understand that.
These people are a bit special, but in this world, not all thugs possess character or intelligence.
They easily do things without reason, and they easily destroy themselves. That is the majority of the thugs in the world.
"And especially for us... you see, we aren't just 'good' petty crooks who are happy as long as we can suck some sweet nectar. If that gets out, every single person in the underworld will come to kill us. Without a doubt. So keep that a secret, young lady."
Ah... the part about wanting to destroy the Royal Family.
That is true. If you just want to suck sweet nectar, it is best to keep the nobles and royals alive but not too healthy. If the host dies, the parasite cannot live either.
...At this point, I thought.
I want to slaughter all those hateful bastards of House Orchesta from now on...
But if I do that, will I not be targeted not only by the nobles, royals, and the soldiers there, but also by the people of the underworld?
Ahhh, my thinking might have been naive! That is right! Because there are countless people for whom it is convenient for the Royal Family to be alive!
...Or rather, the country itself is currently a system where the Royal Family and some nobles greedily take excessive profits. Since the country itself is a system that is 'convenient for someone,' such chains of events naturally occur...
"That's why... well, there are people who have always seen us as enemies. Even so, we had a stance of 'it's best if we don't touch each other.' It's strange that they suddenly attacked us... but I think it's because we suddenly earned a lot lately."
"Suddenly earned a lot? What do you mean by that?"
I wonder if they did something big recently. When I asked out of curiosity.
"Well, it's because the young lady has been funneling a large amount of top-quality monster materials to us. Lately, monster materials have become our monopoly."
...Ah.
"Normally, no one hunts monsters at that frequency, and even if they did, materials in such good condition would never come out. You're probably the only one in the world who can kill a dragon almost without a scratch. A whole dragon skin from a single beast is something you can't even put a price on, but did you not realize that, young lady?"
Aaaaaaaaaah!?
I-Is that how it was!? Is that how it was!?
It is true that normally, adventurers sell all their monster materials at the Guild! That is the correct way to do it!
But some of them flow into the black market through the hands of adventurers like me. They sell for a higher price that way. ...And if those monster materials are 'rare in the black market,' and furthermore, 'skins and scales without a single scratch'...
Naturally, the black market price would skyrocket! It would not be bought up by the Royal Family either!
If that is the case, it would result in a massive profit... and naturally, it would stand out!
"In other words, is it my fault that we bought their jealousy!?"
"No. It's Giovan's fault for getting carried away and selling them."
"Yep. It's my fault, so don't get that wrong, young lady."
Well, that is true! That is true, but... it makes me feel an indescribable way.
Now then.
Let us think for a moment.
About the people who attacked Giovan this time and the guards I fought.
I do not know if these two are from the same organization or not, but either way, they both have a clear reason for wanting to crush us.
The people who attacked Giovan were likely jealous of our earnings.
And as for the guards I fought at House Castane, they clearly had the resolve to oppose us.
The head of House Castane, who tried to stiff us on the payment, would have known that Doran and Chesta would come to enforce it. In other words, it can be considered that information leaked from House Castane.
As for those guards, when they saw me, they said, 'I didn't hear there was someone like this.' That means they had already investigated Doran and Chesta.
...In other words, on the guards' side, they were fully prepared to oppose Doran and Chesta head-on.
And when I think about the motive... there seems to be none other than 'because we are earning.'
Alright. I have figured it out!
"I have figured out the solution for this time!"
When I raised my voice, Giovan, Doran, and even Chesta made surprised faces. ...Those faces are incredibly rude to me, are they not?
"The solution, you say?"
"Of course, it is a way to crush all the people who attacked Giovan and the guards I fought!"
"You actually thought of a way!? That's amazing! So, what? What is it?"
Basking in their gazes full of expectation... I told them!
"We shall earn an incredible amount! And then we shall smoke out all the idiots who are driven mad by jealousy and slaughter them all! That is the quickest and most straightforward way!"