You'll Have to Pay More

He fell silent for a full five seconds at the name, as if checking whether he'd heard it right.

All he'd done was have a couple too many drinks at the tavern last night and sleep in a little this morning.

How had he come back to find himself out of a job?

Besides, the kid was wearing a filthy, old, ragged hemp robe.

He was obviously just some beggar picked up off the side of the road.

Seeing him freeze, Annis raised her chin even higher. "Move."

Odin's gaze passed over Annis and fixed on He Xi inside the carriage.

He didn't dare take his anger out on his employer, but that didn't mean he couldn't take it out on the "beggar" who'd stolen his livelihood.

"Your name's Galen, right?"

"Get down here!"

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

He Xi had of course suspected that this glittering Gold Shield wouldn't be so easy to earn.

After all, people who could casually hand out a Gold Shield were usually no fools.

He had a pretty good idea of what was going on now.

So this young lady, Miss Anise, wanted to use him as a "knife" to drive off that guy named Odin.

But so what?

That was a real Gold Shield.

If only I had a spell like Appraisal Spell. Then at least I could get a read on this guy...

The thought crossed his mind as he looked at Odin in front of him.

Fortunately, the man looked all bark and no bite to him.

He didn't even seem as formidable as Captain Kadan of the Plint Guards.

The risk was manageable, and the reward was huge.

With that in mind, he no longer hesitated.

Magic flowed through his body, and his thoughts stirred it into action.

[Earth Spike Technique]

In an instant, the ground burst apart!

Three sharp earthen spikes, each nearly two meters long, jutted up at carefully crossed angles. In an instant, they trapped Odin and his horse, catching the smug man completely off guard and forming a natural stone cage around them.

"Neigh—!"

Startled, the tall warhorse suddenly reared up on its hind legs and let out a long whinny.

Caught unprepared, Odin was flung backward by the horse's powerful movement. With a scream, he grazed the edge of a sharp earth spike and landed flat on his back in a sorry heap.

He Xi was a little surprised, too.

He'd only meant to intimidate the man. He hadn't expected him to be so pathetic.

After all, that move he'd just made to block the road on horseback had looked pretty convincing.

"S-spell!?"

Odin stared in terror at the earth spikes shimmering with a yellow-brown glow beside him. His face went pale as he scrambled backward.

"I... I give up! I surrender, Esteemed Mage Galen!"

Annis's beautiful almond-shaped eyes widened, and she instinctively covered her mouth, her face full of disbelief.

She'd only wanted to drive Odin away. She hadn't expected the young man she'd casually "picked up" by the roadside to actually be a mage!

More importantly, she knew a few spells, and this cage of earth spikes was clearly not a basic spell.

He Xi had never intended to hurt Odin. Otherwise, the spikes would have burst up to skewer him instead of merely surrounding him.

Leaning against the carriage, he said lazily, "I'm not getting down. You can get lost on your own."

Odin nodded and bowed, as if reprieved. He even tried to flatter him in his clumsy way. "Yes, yes! I'll go, I'll go right now! Your... your magnanimous radiance is simply—"

"Don't you dare leave!"

Annis suddenly cut him off. Leaning halfway out of the carriage, she pointed at Odin's nose and said bluntly, "I knew you were a fraud! How dare a fraud act so high and mighty? You even demanded that I listen to you on the road!"

Odin's face fell at once. Embarrassed, he tried to explain, "I was just trying to look professional... I heard that all the really good adventurers act that way."

Annis: "..."

His ridiculous logic left her nearly speechless. Then she scolded him even more angrily. "You did that same horseback roadblock trick in front of the butler, and he believed your nonsense! He even said, 'As expected of an experienced professional!'"

Odin hurriedly begged for mercy again. "My young lady! I'm just a riding instructor! In a backwater place like Hord, where would you find any truly powerful adventurers? It's... it's just that you were paying so much. I... I couldn't help—"

As he spoke, he fumbled with the heavy money pouch at his waist and tossed it onto the ground.

"This... this is the deposit from before! I'm returning it all to you! Every last coin!"

Without even looking at Annis, he turned and ran after his startled warhorse, scrambling in the direction it had galloped off.

"Hord?"

He Xi had caught the place name.

He remembered clearly that Annis had acted as if she'd never heard of the place.

He turned to look at her.

The young lady had realized that her lie had been exposed. Her pretty little face slowly turned red, and she froze in place, her eyes darting away as she avoided his gaze.

He Xi immediately guessed what had happened.

She probably looked down on a "backwater place" like Hord and was too embarrassed to admit she knew of it. Maybe she was even from there herself.

No wonder she'd claimed not to know the place, yet insisted there weren't any decent adventurers there.

Finding it amusing, He Xi felt as if he'd caught her in something and looked at Annis. "Miss Anise, about the place name Mr. Odin just mentioned... I've noticed that my memory isn't always very good."

Annis looked up at him and glared, fuming. "I just happened to pass through there! It's perfectly normal not to know anything about it!"

He Xi thought that sounded like an excuse.

"I think if you let me hold on to the deposit Odin left behind, perhaps... I could completely forget what I just heard."

At that, Annis's face nearly steamed!

She bit her lip and stamped her foot in anger. After a moment's thought, she reluctantly forced two words through clenched teeth. "Deal."

He Xi nodded with satisfaction and gently patted Bruce on the back.

His old friend understood at once. He jumped down from the carriage, dashed over, picked up the heavy money pouch in his mouth, and quickly ran back.

"Hyah!"

The coachman, Fred, raised his whip again, and the fine steed "Night" pulled the carriage back onto the road.

Annis puffed out her cheeks and turned to look out the window. She didn't say another word the whole way.

Perhaps she was embarrassed that her little lie had been exposed, or perhaps she was furious that He Xi had "extorted" money from her.

After more than an hour, He Xi figured the mood wasn't going to improve. He picked up the money pouch, weighed it in his hand, then untied the cord.

He poured the coins onto the soft carpet. Silver Scale gleamed inside the carriage.

"...Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty."

"Fifty Silver Scales." He Xi did the math. "Looks like Miss Anise offered that blockhead Odin one Gold Shield too, and paid half of it upfront as a deposit."

"I wonder what Miss Anise's family does. How can they be so generous?"

"For an ordinary escort job, even one to a dangerous place like the edge of the Gray Mist Forest, they wouldn't pay this much, would they?"

"Besides, Odin was obviously just an ordinary man who was a little stronger than most..."

He put away the Silver Scales and weighed the pouch in his hand, unable to help sighing.

"It seems that no matter where you are, frauds are the best at making money."