CH 130

Farma came down from Garuda after winning the match. I greeted her with a smile.

“Nice work, Farma.”

“Good job, Farma.”

“It was a good fight. You had a good understanding of Garuda and your opponent’s magicraft characteristics.”

Farma was embarrassed by everyone’s praise, and her face turned red. Then the person who was in charge of the game came up to us. He was probably here to hand over the prize money.

“It was a great battle. My master would like to give you the prize in person, so could you please come to this location at the indicated time?”

When Emina saw the paper she received, she was surprised.

“This is the royal castle of this country, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Please keep it confidential if you can.”

The Lord says to come to the King’s castle…….

We had a little while before the designated time, so we decided to go back to the ride carrier and talk to Jean, who had just finished arranging the supply and was returning.

“What the hell, you had a match like that?”

“Farma won, that’s good, but they want us to go to the castle, it might be a bit troublesome, should we go or not?”

“You idiot! There’s a prize to be paid! What if you don’t go? I’m going too, because they might make some false claims!”

I knew I could count on Jean for this kind of thing. Later, if we were going to the royal castle, Linnecarlo, who has the title of Princess of Meltaria, would also be present.

When we got to the castle, the gatekeeper politely responded to us, probably because he had already been informed. The person in charge soon came out and showed us around. We were led to an audience room in the castle. I could have imagined it, but the person who appeared was the king of Emou Kingdom.

“The King of Emou, Brash II. I’m sorry to have summoned you all the way to the castle.”

“I don’t mind as long as we get paid.”

“Yes, let’s get the bounty to them right away.”

Then he instructed his subordinate to bring him the bag containing the prize money. He placed it in front of Farma, the winner. When Farma was wondering what to do with it, Jean said, “It’s yours.”

Jean seemed to admit that the prize money was Farma’s personal income. I was worried that he would collect all the money earned by the members of the group as income for the Iron Knights but that didn’t happen.

“I’m sure that the reason you called us all the way to the castle wasn’t to give us the bounty. Can we get down to business, please?”

Jean’s words startled me.

“What? Is that so?”

“Of course. It’s not normal to summon someone to the castle just to give them a prize, and then have the king himself deal with them.”

“Hahahaha…you know that much, as expected from the mercenary group that defeated my Rough Gun.”

“Is it possible that you’re the rider of Rough Gun……?”

“Yes, I was the one riding the Rough Gun.”

I was a little surprised. I had no idea that the king of this country was riding in that thing…….

“I’m actually looking for a trustworthy mercenary group, preferably you guys, the Iron Knights.”

“Well, I suppose that’s about it. But, do you have the time to ride a magicraft and fight to find mercenaries?”

“Well, I don’t trust mercenaries in the first place, and there are many mercenaries who sell themselves as the strongest or the most invincible mercenary group, but in reality they are not very good. That’s why I decided to see with my own eyes and find out which mercenaries to hire.”

“I see, that may be true. So, what kind of conditions will you hire us on, if we’re worthy of your attention?”

When Jean said this, Linnecarlo spoke up.

“King Emou, do you know who I am?”

“Well, do I know you from somewhere…..?”

“I’m Linnecarlo, the third princess of Meltaria. I think we met once at a ball in Faldia.”

So Linnecarlo was acquainted with King Emou.

“!!! Princess Linnecarlo……One of the Twelve Heavenly Masters, the Thunder Emperor Linnecarlo……”

“That’s right, you’d better think about how much the Thunder Emperor is worth and offer us some good terms.”

“I didn’t expect to find a mercenary group belonging to the Thunder Emperor…….It was a close call…….I was about to offer a rude price…….”

King Emou said honestly.

“So, how much do we get paid?”

“The rider who defeated me, and I’m sure the Thunder Emperor……and the other members of the group are excellent as well…….Very well, how about a reward of one billion gold.”

“Mr. King, you’re not a cheapskate to offer such a sum for a country of this size.”

“You must have thought very highly of the Iron Knights.”

“That’s enough. All right, we have a deal.”

It must have been a very good deal for Jean to make a quick decision. But……what about the planned trip to the giant beast’s nest?……Well,  the nest it’s not an urgent matter.