"Just as I thought, the original story is all a lie..."
Watching Erza's industrious figure looting the bodies, Ul stared blankly and muttered words he had no idea how many times he'd said since arriving in this world.
You had to know!
In the original story, Erza was a girl who strictly upheld the justice of a knight. How could looting bodies possibly suit her?
This sort of trivial thing could have been left to Ul!
Ul was deeply disappointed.
Whether he was disappointed in Erza's personality or in something else was hard to say.
But right now, the most pressing matter!
The thing Ul needed to do most was loot Jeris's body.
Perhaps because he was so inexperienced, Ul had actually forgotten the classic saying, "Murder and arson make a golden belt." After defeating Jeris, he hadn't looted his body at all.
That was absolutely not the sort of thing a proper cheat-user would do!
There wasn't much on Jeris, and the most suspicious thing was the backpack on his back, wrapped in a black robe...
While Erza was busy "looting the bodies,"
Ul quietly opened the backpack on Jeris's back and peeked inside.
That one glance made his pupils contract and his heart nearly stop. He hurriedly shut the backpack and took several deep breaths before finally recovering from the shock.
Once he had calmed down, Ul's eyes began to dart around...
The contents of Jeris's backpack were none other than piles of gold coins. Judging by the number of coins, they were clearly what Jeris had obtained from the auction.
Jeris was clever.
He knew that the money he'd made from the auction wouldn't be safe as cash or on a stored-value card.
So he'd simply converted all of it into gold coins. They were easier to carry, and their value was unlikely to fluctuate much.
And what Ul was thinking about now was how to reasonably pocket those coins.
After all!
A guild wasn't a charity, nor was it a public service organization!
It was just a place where business was done.
You paid a price, and the guild handled a problem of matching scale!
The only task Ul had been given was to capture the thief Jericho, so the reward for it was only a few tens of thousands of J. If the task had also included "retrieve the jewels," the reward would definitely have been much higher.
Ul didn't know whether the wealthy client who posted the job had left that out on purpose or simply forgotten!
But none of that mattered now.
Because Ul was already blinded by the sight of those gold coins. No matter what, he had to find a way to reasonably claim them for himself.
Come to think of it!
It was true that this wasn't something a "righteous Mage" should do, but Ul had never claimed to be a "righteous Mage" in the first place!
Compared to the other Mages in Fairy Tail,
Ul was more like an ordinary Mage from an ordinary guild: he cared only about jobs and money, not people.
.........
"System, can I use these gold coins to recharge?"
After finding the coins, Ul hurriedly summoned the system in his mind.
Ding-dong!
[In reply to our host Daddy, you can absolutely recharge with gold coins! And using gold coins has plenty of other benefits, too!]
Although the system couldn't speak, Ul could clearly sense the flattery and ingratiation in the words displayed on the system panel.
As expected!
Money made you Daddy!
"Good. Help me recharge these coins first. We'll talk about the rest later."
[You got it!]
Two words quickly appeared on the system panel, and then the system got to work with great enthusiasm.
It didn't take long!
A crisp chime rang out.
Several lines appeared on the system panel.
[Congratulations, host. You have successfully recharged 120 gold coins. Would you like to...]
"No!"
Before the system's message had even fully appeared, Ul cut it off.
Honestly!
Recharging all those coins had been a necessity.
After all, 120 gold coins wasn't a huge amount, but it definitely wasn't small, either.
But Ul didn't have the nerve to walk around with that many coins in a place like this.
Not to mention—
If Erza discovered the coins on Jeris, she'd only have to ask a few questions before handing them all over to the guild or returning them to their original owner.
That was what happened when Fairy Tail had far too many good-hearted people.
If it came to that, Ul wouldn't even get a chance to resist.
Erza wasn't as strong as she would be at the start of the story, but she was still far beyond what Ul could handle right now.
After all, her talent had already surpassed S-Class potential and reached the level of "self-awakening."
A genius whose magic had "self-awakened" could learn magic far faster than anyone else.
Besides, this woman lived by the spirit of knighthood. She could be pretty cute sometimes, but she was also incredibly stubborn, rigid, and serious. She never showed the slightest tact...
Emmmm!
And she hit hard, too. She didn't know the meaning of holding back!
......
......
"By the way, Ul, why did you kill all these people?"
Ul had just recharged the coins when Erza finished "looting the bodies" and walked over to him, a probing look in her eyes.
"Nothing much. These Black Mages would only cause trouble if left alive, so I thought it'd be better to kill them all."
That was just an excuse Ul had come up with on the spot, but it wasn't exactly wrong. The other Mages on the continent felt that when it came to Black Mages, it was better to kill one too many than let one go!
After hearing Ul's answer, Erza stared at him for a long while before finally sighing softly. "Since your mission is complete, you should leave here at once. It's too dangerous for you!"
"Uh... okay!"
Ul nodded. Though that seemed to conflict with his plan again, he didn't refuse.
But just as Ul turned to leave, Erza spoke again with her back to him, her gaze conflicted. "Ul, I don't know what you've been through, but... I hope you won't let hatred and killing blind you and make you lose yourself!"
Ul: "?????"
Before you continue