Silver Coins and Gold Coins

The Earl Tahe's castle hall was less a place for receiving guests and more a showcase of his wealth.

The cold stone walls were covered with heavy tapestries depicting the glory of their ancestors' conquests, and the metal candlesticks flickered with an overly bright and glaring light, reflecting on the Earl's well-maintained face, which was full of arrogance and impatience.

Himmel bowed gracefully, holding the longsword, which exuded a chilling aura and whose scabbard was covered with fine ice crystals, in both hands. Her voice was clear and bright, showing no sign of fatigue from the journey. "Earl Excellency, I have fulfilled my mission. Your family heirloom sword has been retrieved."

Earl Tahe didn't even get up; he simply waved his plump hand, adorned with a large gemstone ring, as if shooing away flies. A servant immediately trotted forward, carefully carrying the longsword, and presented it to the Earl.

The Earl squinted, tapped the sword tip lightly through the air with his fingertip, and let out a soft, ambiguous hum, as if inspecting a newly delivered item of questionable quality.

He raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over the travel-worn group, lingering for a moment on Himmel's excessively handsome face, which remained composed even after a fierce battle. A barely perceptible hint of jealousy and contempt flashed in his eyes as he drew out his words:

"Hmph... You took so long to find it. And you call yourselves heroes... Fine, fine, since the sword is at least intact, this Earl will let bygones be bygones."

He waved his hand lazily again, and another servant brought over a small silver tray covered with dark red velvet, on which lay ten coins that gleamed with a dull silver light, looking particularly shabby in the luxurious hall.

"Here, this is a reward for you. Take it and get out of here. This Earl has important business to attend to." His tone was as casual as if he were dismissing a few uncooperative beggars blocking the doorway.

Ruby's face instantly turned bright red, her emerald eyes almost spitting fire, and her little fists clenched so tightly at her sides that they cracked, and she looked like she was about to jump up and argue.

Himmel subtly stepped aside, cleverly blocking her path, her face still bearing an impeccable, slightly aloof, polite smile. She gracefully reached for the ten silver coins, her movements fluid and natural, as if accepting not a humiliating meager reward, but some symbolic medal of honor.

"In that case, we shall take our leave, lest we disturb Earl Excellency's 'important business'." He nodded slightly, his tone calm and unwavering.

As Ruby turned to leave the castle, Ruby could even catch the Earl's disgruntled grumbling behind her. "... So inefficient! They made me worry for ages. If they really couldn't be found, they'd have to be locked in the dungeon for years to reflect on their actions..."

She was so angry she wanted to bite her teeth, but remembering Lowell's "special operation" that night, she forcibly swallowed back the rebuttal that was about to come out of her mouth. She forced a sly smile that seemed to say "wait and see what happens," mixed with her barely suppressed anger, making her expression quite strange and complicated for a moment.

The evening glow painted the horizon a warm orange-red, draping the desolate Northern Frontier wilderness in a soft cloak. About twenty miles from the castle, behind a sheltered earthen slope, a campfire had been lit, the dry shrubs crackling in the flames, dispelling the chill of the night.

Lowell strolled leisurely out of the deepening twilight, his face carrying a languid ease that came from finishing his chores. He casually carried the ice-blue longsword in his hand, the chill emanating from the blade seemingly diminished.

Seeing the crowd gathered around the campfire, he smiled and handed the sword to Sam, who stood motionless like a statue. "Here, keep it safe. Return it to its rightful owner."

Sam stepped forward, took the longsword with both hands, his golden vertical pupils remaining calm and expressionless, only nodding slightly.

Lowell glanced at him, then, as if suddenly remembering something, reached out her hand, a barely perceptible ripple of magic emanating from her fingertips, and gently pressed it against the pair of dark, menacing horns on Sam's forehead, symbols of his Demons identity. The horns, as if merging into the shadows, slowly became transparent and eventually disappeared.

"Sam, you're too conspicuous walking around in human territory like that. Here's a temporary disguise for you."

He withdrew his hand, his tone casual yet carrying a hint of caution, "Remember, when you get there, try to conceal your presence. Unless attacked first, try not to hurt anyone. Listen to Millialdai or Serie's arrangements, and also observe how humans live and interact with each other. I think... you should be able to adapt."

Sam offered no objection, simply replying, "Yes."

Then, he bowed slightly to Lowell, performing an ancient, military-style salute, before turning around without hesitation. His tall figure strode steadily into the vast twilight, heading south with unwavering resolve, without the slightest lingering or hesitation.

Ruby stood on tiptoe, watching Sam's figure disappear completely below the horizon, before sidling up to Lowell. Her large, bright blue eyes were filled with curiosity and inquiry. "Lowell, you just told Sam, 'I think you should be able to adapt'? But... aren't Demons' ways of thinking very different from humans? You seem... quite comfortable letting him study?"

Lowell crouched down, casually plucked a dry blade of grass, and poked at the campfire to make it burn brighter. Hearing this, he smiled and explained, "Well, usually speaking, they are worlds apart. But this guy... is a bit special, or rather, a bit too stubborn. Maybe he was influenced by me a little bit a long time ago."

He paused, glancing in the direction Sam had gone, a hint of wistfulness in his eyes. "Think about it, why did he choose to 'steal' the sword? With his strength, Earl Tahe's city mansion was nothing but a paper tiger. If he were the kind of demon who followed the law of the Demons, he probably would have simply stormed in, seized the sword, and made a quick snack of that arrogant Earl's family. Why go through all this trouble?"

Ruby blinked, seemingly lost in thought, "Oh yeah... so he doesn't seem like... really that 'bad'?"

"That's one of the key points," Lowell said with more certainty.

"By retrieving this sword, I've averted a potential catastrophe for that foolish Earl. Possessing a treasure is a crime, yet he dared to openly claim it was an ancestral heirloom? The magical energy emanating from this sword is as conspicuous as a lighthouse in the night to any Demons with even a modicum of skill. Even if Sam hadn't taken it, other, more ruthless Demons would have come knocking sooner or later. Then it wouldn't be a simple 'theft,' but a true bloodbath. We've indirectly... saved his life, though he'll probably never know it, nor will he ever appreciate it."

Ruby realized, slamming her little fist into her palm. "Oh, I see! Then we actually did that nasty guy a huge favor!" But then she pouted, kicking the pebbles at her feet angrily, "But he only gave us ten silver coins! And he complained we were too slow! As if we were begging him! It's so infuriating!"

Seeing her little face, which was both relieved and frustrated, Lowell couldn't help but laugh. He magically pulled a rather heavy-looking money pouch from his pocket, weighed it in his hand, and it made a heavy, pleasant clinking sound of gold coins.

"Don't worry, when have I ever made a losing deal?" A mischievous, sly smile played on his lips. "When I returned the sword, I also casually swiped a little something for his emotional distress from his poorly guarded vault. Exactly twenty gold coins, enough to make that old bastard ache for a while."

He tossed the money pouch aside, then turned his gaze to Himmel, who was wiping his longsword, a hint of teasing and questioning in his voice. "Don't you think this goes against the code of heroism, Himmel? After all, we genuinely saved his and his entire family's lives while he was completely oblivious. A mere twenty gold coins for a life—by all accounts, he got a huge profit, right?"

Himmel looked at the bag of gold coins, a look of astonishment first appearing on his handsome face, then turning into a helpless wry smile. He elegantly spread his hands:

"Uh... while this method... does indeed deviate somewhat from my usual understanding, upon closer examination of Earl Tahe's actions and the potential consequences... it seems... hard to say that your approach is wrong."

He was not a rigid or inflexible person after all, and he did not have a good impression of Earl Tahe. In this context, his actions, which had a "Robin Hood" flavor, did not seem entirely unacceptable.

Frieren had been quietly munching on hard jerky by the fire, brightened slightly when she heard "twenty gold coins." She immediately looked up at Lowell, her tone calm yet carrying an undeniable certainty and a hint of barely perceptible excitement:

"Twenty gold coins. That's a lot. I want to eat Mercury Pudding, lots of it."

Lowell couldn't help but chuckle at her self-righteous little face and readily nodded, "Okay, no problem, eat as much as you want. Now you can finally have your premium pudding freedom."

However, before he could finish speaking, Frieren suddenly stood up without warning, brushed the grass clippings off her mage robe, walked behind him, raised her little leather boot and gave him three light kicks to the buttocks.

Lowell stumbled forward half a step after being kicked, turning around with a bewildered look. "Huh? What are you doing?"

Frieren had already withdrawn her foot, and sat back down as if nothing had happened. She picked up the half-eaten jerky and continued munching on it, her face returning to its usual calm expression. She glanced at him with her emerald eyes and stated in a flat tone, as if reciting a natural law:

"This is a reward. You said it. You said it was a reward when Ruby kicked that bald bandit."

Lowell: "..."

He opened his mouth, looking at Frieren's matter-of-fact expression, which even carried a hint of "I have a good memory, don't I?" Then he looked at Ruby next to him, whose shoulders were shaking violently and whose face was flushed from trying not to laugh, and at Himmel and Heiter, who had also turned their heads away, pretending to look at the scenery but with their lips curled up in a crazy smile. In the end, he could only let out a long sigh filled with the helplessness of "lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot."

"No... I... Tsk. You've learned this really fast!"

The campfire crackled, its flickering light illuminating the smiling, varied faces of the group. The Northern Frontier night winds were still biting cold, but the small camp was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

In the distance, in Earl Tahe's castle, he's probably raging and sleepless all night over the lost sword and the mysteriously vanished twenty gold coins. Let him rage on.