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Chapter 29 – Black Flame Sword
The next day
.I was called over to the reception desk by Maltida.
“Elma-san, right? I need to notify you that Hilde-san has fulfilled the aforementioned 50 million gold payment. You can ask for it anytime you need.”
“So she really managed to gather all that money, huh
.”
It hasn’t been even two days since then yet.
In the worst case, I was prepared for her to delay paying it as much as possible.
“The Guild is quite experienced with dealing with disputes between adventurers. The Guild can even revoke an adventurer’s permit to enter Dungeons if it comes to that. To begin with, Dungeons are a resource that belongs to the Lord, which is made available to the adventurers through the Guild’s handling.”
“
.well, that’s true.”
Generally, unless you register at the adventurers’ guild as an adventurer you won’t be able to enter a Dungeon.
From that point of view, the basis of an adventurer’s livelihood is invariably controlled by the nobility.
“That being said, the Lord and the adventurers are in a give-and-take relationship
.If the Lord takes advantage of that privilege, then he may find his territory unable to defend against a monster calamity, ultimately leading to its destruction. 
..however, it still serves as the ace in the hole for the Guild against adventurers that don’t follow regulations.”
“No wonder it’s that effective of a threat.”
It seems they collected the money from Hilde by threatening her with getting her access revoked to Dungeons.
“But how did Hilde manage to gather that 50 million gold? From what she said, she shouldn’t have been able to get more than 30 million gold this soon
.”
“Adventurers also possess resources that are different from hard currency. If we pay no attention to the fact if the person dislikes the method or not, in most cases it’s more than possible for them to produce the money.”
“What does that mean exactly
.?”
“Ah! E-Elma-san, look
.”
Luce pulled on my sleeves as she whispered the last part.
“Hmm?”
When I looked at the direction Luce was pointing, I saw Hilde walking within the Guild.
She had a Black Steel Sickle and a Bear Shield on her.
When I saw those unfitting items on her, I immediately realized what happened.
It was the most stereotypical make-do equipment of the recently bankrupt that she was wearing.
Even in Magic World, there were players sometimes walking around in equipment like that.
They would be wearing whatever equipment they still had on hand after losing their main weapons due to money problems.
The Black Steel Sickle that’s not a custom weapon, but still has a pretty good Attack bonus.
Then the Bear Shield, which has an okay performance, but is quite affordable.
In the center of the shield, a large drawn chibi face of a bear could be seen.
I was doubtful if there was a single adventurer that could bear the embarrassment of wearing something like that, but I never would’ve thought that Hilde would be one.
She was blushing from embarrassment though, and kept sending killing intent filled glares at her surroundings.
“Aah, I see
..she sold her weapons.”
Now I understand what Maltida was trying to say.
An adventurer’s different kind of resource was their weapon, in other words.
“Aaah! There! You bastards!”
Hilde raised her voice and pointed towards us.
“Luce, we are running away.”
“You think I would let you get away!”
Hilde swiftly circled around to block our path.
“
.what do you want, Hilde? I expected you wouldn’t want to meet us ever again?”
“Don’t talk to me while you are looking my shield in the eye. Do you find my shield that captivating!?”
I quickly raised my gaze up to Hilde.
“You bastards keep making light of me! However, I will have the 50 million gold you stole from me back now!”
It seems she wasn’t able to give up on that 50 million gold after all.
However, it’s something that’s officially ours because of that duel.
When I was about to turn back to Maltida to get her to intervene as a Guild employee
.I felt an intense pressure coming from in front of me.
“Hilde, is that the Heavy Knight you told me about?”
“Yeah, yeah! It was these two, teacher! These two robbed me of 50 million gold by using vile and underhanded means!”
It was a tall, silver haired man.
His long hair was tied up in the back.
He was somewhat of a pretty boy, with an expressionless face.
However, a strong will could be felt from looking him in the eyes.
It was obvious from the way he stood and carried himself.
This guy was strong.
This is the first time I’ve felt a pressure this strong from a human.
I knew it without asking.
This person was the real Black Flame Sword.
“I’m Kalos, a Magic Swordsman and an A rank adventurer. I’ve heard about you two from Hilde and I really wanted to meet you.”
A cold air swept through the place.
I felt that it was made obvious that he’s on a completely different level just by coming face-to-face with him like this.
Going against someone at his level with my current strength would be all but impossible.
“I’m sorry, but I need to confirm something with you first. Is it true that you cheated Hilde out of 50 million gold somehow?”
“
..we were threatened to hand over the Mythril Sword, which somehow led to us holding in a duel to resolve the situation. That was the outcome of that duel.”
The Black Flame Sword was someone truly strong.
One of the few A rank adventurers, of which there weren’t that many of, even in this City of Adventurers.
Fundamentally, the Guild is still at a higher standing compared to him, but when it comes to an irreplaceable battle resource like an A rank adventurer, it’s not that straightforward.
I honestly don’t know how much effect hiding behind the Guild would even have at this point
.
“I see, just as I expected.”
Kalos nodded quietly, then made a fist and dropped it straight onto Hilde’s head.
A dull impact sound rang out.
“U-ugh
.! T-teacher, what are you doing all of a sudden! Don’t believe a word this guy says!”
“I thought this would be the case right from the beginning.”
“Wha-
..! You said you believed me when I told you what happened!”
“I only told you to take me to them because I wanted to meet them.”
Kalos let out a sigh of being so done with this whole thing.
“You keep calling me teacher teacher again and again, but I don’t remember taking you as a student
..”
“Eh
.ah
..T-teacher
..?”
Hilde looked like she was about to cry.
Kalos just held his head and let out a deep sigh.
“
.but I guess if I said that now it would just be shirking my responsibilities. It seems that due to my negligence, I’ve caused a lot of trouble for you.”
Kalos bowed his head to us with a pained expression.
“N-no, it’s not a big deal
. I only accepted the duel because I couldn’t help but respond to her provocation. If I really wanted to, I could’ve refused it.”
If he starts apologizing to me about that, then I would be the one to feel bad instead.
“You are a good guy, Elma.”
“
..I even thought of it as a good chance to make some pocket money, so you shouldn’t judge me so highly.”
He is such a good guy that I have no idea how his disciple ended up like that.
He’s being so honorable, in fact, that I’m starting to feel uncomfortable here.
“When I was just starting out I had no luck with finding good comrades. However, after experiencing all that, I’m confident that I’m good at judging people.”
“I-I see
..”
Really, please stop it already.
I’m starting to feel stifled.
If he asked me right now to return the money while bowing his head, then I would simply hand it over, just to get out of this situation.
“Then, about that money
.”
He brought up the topic like he was aiming for this.
I resolved myself for what was coming.
“She is the type that doesn’t learn without pain, so for her sake too, please don’t give her that money back for any reason.”
“Ah
.okay.”
I nodded slightly.