Chapter 48

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: The Kid Hiding Her Awesome Power is Looking for Dad 143

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One week later.

Compensation Bureau Central Branch.

Beep-

Beep-

Beep...

A red light blinked rhythmically in the silent office.

It was the light that came on every time Compensation Bureau staffers Ornel and Remi activated the scanner.

As soon as the review of all the cores was finished, Remi began listlessly stuffing them into a sack with bleary eyes.

Ornel set down the scanner and looked up.

A knight—no, a mercenary—with a calm demeanor sat across from him, watching him.

Ornel asked,

"Y-You brought one sack of cores from a small magic stone yesterday, right...?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"The day before, you conquered a medium one."

"Yes."

"And the day before that, two small ones..."

"That sounds about right."

Ornel was at a loss for words and shut his mouth.

"Ah, the rewards go over here."

In the meantime, another member of the Agaveert Mercenary Corps was loading reward gold onto a cart nearby.

Ornel stared at the sight, then finally managed to pry his lips apart again.

"How in the world are you doing it...?"

Enzo, who had been counting sacks of gold coins, looked up.

Raoul, standing beside him, echoed the question with a faint smile.

"Doing what?"

"Conquering them! How are you doing it this fast?!"

With twenty years at the Central Branch,

Ornel had met countless mercenaries over the years.

And most of them were fairly renowned in the mercenary world.

Only people of that caliber came to the capital, teamed up with the Holy Knight Order to conquer magic stones, and such.

But,

'Even famous groups like the Grim Reaper or Trevaga never brought in cores at this pace!'

Ornel's head spun as he recalled the past week.

Agaveert had visited the Compensation Bureau without fail every single day.

To register their conquests and exchange magic beast cores for rewards.

"Are you just dividing up byproducts from magic stones you conquered in advance and bringing them bit by bit?"

Raoul burst out laughing.

"The scanner would tell you if it was us doing that, Chief."

Remi glanced over from the scanner and replied in a flat tone.

"...The coordinates are different. Today's are from the Gargonta Floodplains, yesterday's from the Selbun Glade Prairie."

Ornel's mouth fell open wider.

"Th-That's what makes it even weirder! The Gargonta Floodplains are in the north of the empire, and the Selbun Glade Prairie is in the south...!"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Just going back and forth between those two takes a whole month! But you went to each one yesterday and today...?"

Ornel shook his head vigorously, as if trying to clear his mind.

Then he swallowed dryly and grilled Enzo.

"Fine! You're layering multiple teleportation circles, right? But does that even work with teleporters? Burning dozens of sheets just to conquer one magic stone would be a loss. Wait, no, not teleporters...?"

Teleportation circles didn't let you get arbitrarily close no matter how many you stacked.

For safety reasons, they usually left anywhere from two hours to a full day of travel distance before activating.

"Then how in the world..."

As the confusion in Ornel's eyes deepened, Enzo joked,

"What does it matter how we conquered them? The important thing is that we did. Thanks to us, magic stones threatening good imperial citizens are disappearing every day, aren't they?"

He grinned good-naturedly as he loaded the sacks of gold coins onto the cart.

Then he patted Raoul on the shoulder.

"Let's go, bro."

The two stood, bowed to Ornel and Remi, and withdrew.

"See you tomorrow."

The office door thudded shut.

Ornel flopped into his chair with a gasp.

"That Commander King... is he insane?"

Magic stones were scattered sporadically across the entire continent.

So it usually took weeks just to get to one, and weeks more to get back.

And that was it?

Whether Holy Knights or mercenaries, being human meant they needed a few days' rest after grueling battles with magic beasts.

'But conquering without a break? How did they cover those insane distances so fast...'

Over the past week, Ornel had met nearly every member of Agaveert except the Commander King himself.

On the third day, he'd even met a middle-aged housekeeper from their place.

'Oh dear, all our members are so busy. I came in their stead.'

The housekeeper, no mercenary herself, had shown up with a young boy in tow to collect rewards.

Ornel had worried she'd get robbed on the way back.

"Chief."

Then Remi brought over documents related to Agaveert.

Registering today's cores had triggered another ranking change.

"9th place?"

Passing three top mercenary groups in a week.

Ornel stamped the papers, muttering like a man in a daze.

"They're crazy. Yeah, definitely crazy..."

He pictured the Commander King, grinning like a kid at play despite hauling in mountains of cores.

Since that first meeting,

the Commander King had become synonymous with terror in Ornel's mind.

"A monster worse than Tesetan. Gives me chills just thinking about it."

"This workload is what's giving me chills."

He was so lost in thoughts of the Commander King that he barely registered what Remi said.

Meanwhile, Remi took the stamped Agaveert documents and moved to her spot.

The center of the office.

Toward the wall covered entirely in wooden boards.

The boards displayed the status of high-activity mercenary groups.

Remi pinned Agaveert's papers at the far right, then spotted something and fell silent.

Over Trevaga's papers in the center was a brief update from the latest report.

Remi left the board with a weary face.

"...It's not just Agaveert. Mercenaries... they're all crazy..."

Meanwhile.

Tiye sat in a restaurant chair, waiting for Raoul and Enzo.

She swung her legs back and forth, and Veil, sitting beside her, asked,

"Kiddo. Heading out again tonight?"

Tiye shook her head.

"Nope! Today’s a rest day!"

Veil's face lit up with surprise.

"You were nagging us every day to go conquer, and now what wind blew this way?"

Tiye answered by glancing to her side instead.

On the table in front of Ppu Ppu lay Marbas, its wood grain shriveled and withered over the past few days.

Tiye shrugged.

"Marrr says it's too much to reinforce two teleportation circles every day. So Tiye's taking today and tomorrow off. Tiye's a good boss!"

A satisfied look spread across Veil's face.

"Yeah, you need to rest sometimes."

For the past week, the members had conquered a magic stone every single day without fail.

Small ones went down smoothly without Tiye even stepping in, and mediums weren't too tough either.

Now that Agaveert was swimming in money.

Just equipping proper gear had boosted everyone's combat power massively.

"You did a huge thing, Blackie."

But no gear beat Lukarion's barrier.

Ppu Ppu's mist also helped by momentarily blinding the beasts.

"Compared to when we were starving and running missions, our movements are insanely lighter now. People really do need good nutrition."

As Basto chuckled at Veil's words,

Ding-a-ling!

The bell over the restaurant door rang brightly.

Tiye jumped down from her chair.

"Raoul bro and Enzo bro are here!"

Tiye hurried to the entrance with the other members.

And flung the door wide open.

"Raoul bro, Enzo...! Huh?"

But standing at the door weren't the Wavebrill twins.

"Excuse us! We got a bit delayed because the sea route was blocked...! We're here to pick up our Selina!"

There stood the neighbors from next door.

The Belmore couple, faces on the verge of tears.