novelraw Chapter 124 : Manager
Chapter 124 : Manager
Chapter 124: Manager
Robin sheathed his blade without a word.
Only then did the man relax his expression and walk over to the bar table.
“No one can fight in a rest stop. It’s an absolute rule, so memorize it.”
He hadn’t known there was such a rule.
It was his first time coming to a frontier-region rest stop, after all.
‘Strong.’
The man called the manager was no ordinary person at a glance.
About 190 centimeters tall, his body packed with muscle.
In terms of sheer size, he couldn’t be compared to Sigbard.
But the pressure he made no effort to conceal dominated the entire rest stop.
‘Could I win?’
It was hard to predict recklessly.
If he and Sigbard charged together, their chances would increase, but even then he couldn’t be sure.
‘At best, 50 percent.’
While Robin was gauging his opponent, the bandits spoke up.
“Thank you, Manager!”
“As expected of Raymond. I knew we’d be safe if we came here.”
“You treated us like dogs earlier, but you didn’t see this coming, did you!”
The attitude of those who had been begging for their lives just moments ago had completely changed.
‘A rule that says you can’t fight. He said it was absolute.’
Their faith in that rule was firm.
It was probably because of the existence of the manager named Raymond.
This was getting troublesome.
Thud.
Raymond set down a bundle of flyers on the table.
He, too, seemed to have complete confidence that as long as he was here, no conflict could occur.
Like part of his daily routine, he began flipping through the flyers.
“Manager, then we’ll be heading upstairs.”
John tried to hastily wrap up the situation.
Sigbard was about to stop him, but Robin blocked him.
Clashing with Raymond here and now was not a good decision.
“Wait.”
John, who was about to go upstairs, stopped short.
He turned back and rummaged through his backpack, but all he found were daily necessities.
“Haha… looks like we didn’t pay the lodging fee. Sorry, but we don’t have any money right now. Would it be all right to pay with monster byproducts instead?”
“That’s fine.”
“Thanks! What are you all doing? Get the dire wolf hides out.”
‘Those bastards….’
The bandits, including John, dug through their packs.
Robin’s and Sigbard’s were no exception.
As Robin was suppressing his anger and wondering if they really had to let this go.
Raymond spread several flyers out on the table.
“Mosep, Simon, Blanche, Adelaide, Steven.”
“W-Why, why are you saying that?”
“You’re wanted criminals.”
The faces of the five who had been called out were filled with panic.
John hurriedly bowed his head.
“Aren’t you the king here? I’m begging you. Please pretend you didn’t see anything.”
“No. No way. Money walked in on its own feet—there’s no way I’m letting it go.”
A brief silence followed.
Then the archer made the first move.
No one knew when he did it, but both his arms were suddenly free.
He cut the rope with a dagger and tossed it to the guy beside him.
While the other quickly caught it and undid his bindings.
The archer sprinted toward the outside of the rest stop.
“Are you just going to watch?”
Robin asked, but Raymond looked indifferent.
The moment the archer reached the entrance.
Raymond picked something up from under the table and threw it.
‘A liquor bottle?’
Thud.
The archer was struck on the back of the head and collapsed on the spot.
It must have been a pretty sturdy bottle, because it didn’t break even after hitting the floor.
Meanwhile, the swordsman who had freed himself shouted.
“Everyone, run!”
This time he tried to escape through the back door, but he failed as well.
After getting smacked with an ashtray, he went down.
Seeing that, the remaining three couldn’t even bring themselves to attempt an escape.
“Please spare us! We’ll do anything. So please…!”
“Anything?”
“Yes, yes! Anything!”
“I was planning to head to Narvik anyway. This works out well.”
“Pardon…?”
“Carry some luggage for me to the city.”
“But if the guards find us, they’ll arrest us….”
The bandits pleaded pitifully, but Raymond snorted.
“Isn’t it better than dying here?”
“……”
“If you understand, stay put for a while. If you run, you die.”
Impressive.
There was no will to resist left in the bandits.
“Don’t just stand there. Bring your comrades too.”
A staggering bandit got up and followed the order.
When he brought back the two unconscious men, Raymond pointed upstairs, and they obediently went up.
“Wait a bit. I’ll lock you up.”
Robin gathered the bundles the bandits had been carrying one by one.
Raymond didn’t stop him from doing that.
While putting the liquor bottle and ashtray back in place.
Robin casually asked Raymond.
“Are all rest stop managers as strong as you?”
“No. I’m exceptionally strong.”
After putting the bottle away, he pulled out a gold badge from his chest and showed it.
“Most safe-zone rest stop managers are silver-rank adventurers.”
“If it’s gold-rank, then you’ve been to the extreme regions.”
“It’s a place that makes you miss home.”
‘He’s even more impressive than I thought.’
The extreme regions bordered the Demon Realm.
An environment where humans couldn’t live.
‘Still, I have to get what we’re owed.’
Four people remained on the first floor.
Robin, Sigbard, Raymond, and John.
Raymond didn’t touch John, who didn’t have a warrant on him.
Robin approached John’s side and spoke smoothly.
“Did you like the gift my friend John prepared?”
“Friend?”
Raymond looked at him as if asking what he meant.
“Yes. He brought you five wanted criminals, after all.”
“I’m grateful for that.”
“I heard there are other criminals here too. Is that true?”
“Other than you who just came in, there aren’t any.”
‘So it was a lie after all.’
Robin erased the information John had given him from his mind.
There was nothing he could trust.
“Looks like John got it wrong. Anyway, I’m glad you liked the gift.”
“Seems like you want something from me. Stop beating around the bush and say it.”
“I want to register as an adventurer.”
“Good grief. So you were an unregistered beginner. Why are you telling me something the guild handles?”
“I thought that with a gold-rank adventurer’s guarantee, it might be possible to prove our identities.”
“So it’d cause problems when you return to the city.”
Raymond crooked his finger.
“Hand over your copper badges.”
Robin set down two copper badges.
Raymond opened a drawer and took out a seal.
“Name, date of birth.”
When Robin gave Sigbard’s as well, Raymond stamped the seal onto the copper badges.
Chijijijik.
There was the sound of something sizzling against heat, and Robin’s and Sigbard’s names were engraved.
“Consider yourselves lucky. The clerk left behind an engraving artifact.”
He had never expected to receive copper badges.
If a guarantee proved difficult, he had planned to suggest returning to the city together, but things had worked out easily.
“I’ll substitute the registration fee with those guys’ bounties.”
“Thank you.”
“Manager, how much are the bandits’ bounties worth?”
At Sigbard’s question, Raymond snorted and replied.
“Five silver per head, so with five of them, that makes twenty-five silver.”
“Twenty-five silver? You’re saying you’ll take all twenty-five silver yourself!”
“That’s right. Got a problem with that?”
“They’re the ones we caught! Why does the manager take it all!”
Sigbard’s argument was reasonable.
However, he had chosen the wrong opponent.
Even after being beaten badly by Sigbard, the bandits had chosen to flee outside the rest stop.
Even though staying inside would at least guarantee their safety.
‘They must have judged that manager to be more dangerous.’
According to the rule the manager mentioned, anything was allowed outside the rest stop.
In other words, they had attempted to flee with the prospect of facing Robin and Sigbard in mind.
‘We lack information on gold-rank adventurers.’
It was certain that he was strong, but difficult to gauge his exact level.
Above all, it was troublesome to clash with someone in a key guild position.
Like it or not, there would be many occasions in the future where the guild was necessary.
Before Robin could stop him, Sigbard opened his mouth.
“If you’re that strong, fight me.”
“Do you mean that seriously.”
“I do.”
“Fine. Follow me.”
Raymond and Sigbard went outside the rest stop.
Only John and Robin remained.
“John.”
“Y-Yes……!”
“If you run, you die.”
“…Yes.”
John knew it too.
That this rest stop was currently the safest place.
When Robin went outside, the two were facing each other.
“Come at me.”
“You’re going to fight barehanded?”
“Yes.”
“Then I won’t use a weapon either.”
“You’d be better off using one.”
Sigbard ignored Raymond’s advice.
“Robin, hold my weapon for a moment.”
He tossed the rod to Robin and clenched his fists.
“Here I go.”
Whoom!
A massive fist grazed past Raymond’s ear.
Such was its power that wind was stirred just from it extending.
In contrast, Raymond did not attack at all and only dodged.
Whoom! Whooom!
Fists dangerous enough that a single hit would be fatal came rushing in without pause.
Before gripping a rod in the snowy mountains, Sigbard had fought monsters with his fists.
It meant he had some expertise in hand-to-hand combat.
“Crude, but threatening.”
“Just take one hit!”
Despite not being slow by any means, Raymond did not allow a single blow to land.
Perhaps deciding this wouldn’t do, Sigbard raised his kicks as well.
Raymond then retreated five steps in a single motion.
“I’ll meet strength with strength.”
“Come!”
Raymond’s stance changed.
He bent his right knee and stretched his left leg back.
He lowered his upper body until it was nearly parallel to the ground and lightly clenched his fist.
Bang!
Raymond shot forward like an arrow and threw his first punch.
Straight toward the fist Sigbard was swinging.
Thump.
Fist met fist.
A faint ripple spread out from the point of impact.
After one second, both fists withdrew at the same time.
“Manager, you’re strong.”
“You’ve got decent strength yourself.”
“We’ll stop here.”
Sigbard accepted the result.
He hadn’t landed a single effective blow, while Raymond had precisely targeted Sigbard’s fist.
Even in terms of power, he hadn’t been pushed back.
That alone decided who held the advantage.
Though it had been a light spar for both of them, Raymond had been more relaxed.
“That rod looks like your weapon. You can challenge me again if you like.”
“If I go all out, the rest stop might get destroyed. Would that be all right?”
“That won’t do.”
When the three returned to the rest stop.
They saw John diligently scrubbing the floor.
“Welcome back! I was cleaning for the peace of the rest stop!”
“My friend John. You must be tired, yet you’re cleaning. Get some rest.”
“No! I’ll devote this body to easing Raymond’s burden!”
‘Trying to curry favor with the manager, huh.’
Raymond and Sigbard exchanged words.
They couldn’t be called close after that spar, but Sigbard had succeeded in drawing Raymond’s interest.
Leaving John to his cleaning, Robin stepped in at an appropriate moment.
“How much is one night’s lodging here?”
“Ten cooper per night.”
“That’s cheap. Per person?”
Raymond replied that it was.
Robin took out thirty cooper from his wallet.
“The three of us, including my friend John, will stay for one night.”
“Go upstairs and take any empty room.”
“You won’t object to friends sharing a room, right?”
Robin naturally slung an arm over John’s shoulder.
However, Raymond was firm.
“I told you disputes are forbidden in the rest stop.”
‘Didn’t work.’
Now that he had even received an adventurer badge.
There was no longer any reason to keep John alive.
He harbored hostility toward Robin and Sigbard, and if released, he would clearly prey on others again.
“Ah. What happens to someone who doesn’t pay for lodging? You’d kick them out, right?”
“They can’t enter the guest rooms.”
“That’s good news.”
Raymond let out a small laugh.
“The shared first-floor space can be used even without money.”
Relief flickered across John’s face.
Robin pressed on.
“You wouldn’t provide meals to someone without money, surely?”
“Of course not. Staying on the first floor is free, but using the facilities requires money.”
Robin took ten cooper back from the thirty.
Raymond nodded and accepted the money.
“If I may give you one piece of advice. The frontier regions are crawling with guys like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you try to deal with them every time you meet them, it’ll get annoying.”
“Then what should I do. I don’t intend to let him live.”
“I’ve got a decent idea. Care to hear it?”
Robin nodded with curious eyes.
John watched anxiously, waiting to hear what would come out of Raymond’s mouth.