How to Live as a Hero in a Magical World (47)
Kaian casually said,
"What do you mean you're not going? Of course you're going. S-Saint... whatever. That's the northern entrance."
"Huh? I-is that so?"
The old woman clicked her tongue in disbelief.
"You brought someone who doesn't even know that?"
"Oh, that's because he's not an escort. He's my client and also a wanted criminal. I'm handing him over at the border, so give him some shackles. Something light but strong."
"Hmm. I thought wanted criminals had gone extinct."
"Exactly. That's why he's so rare. So make the shackles light, okay? Please. As you can see, his bones are... well, kind of weak. You know?"
The old woman shook her head as if she'd had enough.
"Good grief. You really do go out of your way to bring home nothing but trouble."
Kaian grinned.
"That's because I'm so valuable!"
"Hah! Hahaha!"
The old woman finally burst out laughing.
No matter what anyone said, the brat absolutely refused to lose an argument.
She swung her cane through the air.
Clank!
Shackles instantly appeared around Pett's wrists and ankles.
They were light ones, just as Kaian had requested.
Even so, Pett remained frozen in place, trembling.
Eventually the old woman raised her cane high and shouted,
"What are you standing around for?! For someone who looks like a rat, you've got no instincts at all!"
"Uwah! Y-yes! I'm going!"
Only then did Pett hurry after Kaian.
Judging from how quickly he could move, the shackles really were light.
"Thanks, Granny."
Kaian smiled at her.
Pett was too frightened to say thank you aloud, but he repeatedly bowed his head as he walked.
Kaian descended the spiral staircase into the underground passage and shouted back again.
"Granny! See you later!"
"Don't stay too long! Finish your business quickly! Staying in ⟨Saint Dust⟩ for too long is..."
"I know! Nagging old lady!"
"You brat...!"
Kaian's laughter echoed loudly from beneath the floor.
The old woman clicked her tongue, then struck the floor twice with her cane.
THOOM! THOOM!
The entrance to ⟨Saint Dust⟩ disappeared without leaving a trace.
"Haaah..."
It felt as though a storm had swept through the cabin and finally passed.
The old woman picked up the basket Kaian had brought and sat back in her old rocking chair.
The creaking sound of aged wood filled the quiet cabin.
Creak... creak...
She took out one pomegranate from the basket.
Her face softened as she looked at the beautifully ripened fruit.
"At last, the wheel of destiny has begun to turn."
Before long, that boy would leave the forest.
He had never been someone capable of remaining in such a small place forever.
Holding the pomegranate, the old woman closed her eyes and murmured like a prayer.
"[Happy fifteenth birthday, Kaian. May the blessings of mana always be with you.]"
***
Every time Kaian stepped down the underground staircase...
Step.
The lamps mounted along both walls lit up to illuminate the path.
Whoosh.
But as though they intended to light the way only for invited guests, the lamps went out with a soft puff as soon as Kaian passed.
Because of that, Pett had no choice but to keep a close eye on the lamps while desperately following the Reaper.
"M-Mister Reaper. Is S-Saint Dust the name of the northern entrance?"
"It's not S-S-Saint Dust. It's ⟨Saint Dust⟩."
Kaian kept walking.
"Our eastern entrance is different. Same with the western and southern entrances. Over there, every exchange runs under its own business name. But this place isn't like that."
He lifted a finger.
"There's only one thing here."
"⟨Saint Dust⟩."
Then Kaian pointed toward Pett's shackles.
"And as you can see, not just anyone can enter."
Pett nodded eagerly, desperate to stay on Kaian's good side.
"Of course, of course. Thanks to Mister Reaper, even I got inside. Normally you need that [Tag] thing, right?"
"Yeah."
Kaian nodded.
"When you make your first contract through an exchange, it gets issued automatically. Remember the contract we used at F&F? That wasn't just a piece of paper."
Kaian looked back at him.
"You signed it with your name. I used my fingerprint."
He held up his right index finger.
Pett tilted his head.
He had no idea what he was supposed to see.
"Come on. Look closer. Really closely."
Pett narrowed his eyes.
Then suddenly...
"Ah."
A faint rainbow shimmered across the fingerprint on Kaian's index finger.
"Th-there's something rainbow-colored!"
"Yeah."
Kaian lowered his hand.
"That's the [Tag]."
He turned around and continued down the staircase.
Step.
Whoosh.
"In this line of work, you can think of the [Tag] as both your identification card and your résumé."
Kaian explained as they descended.
"Every job you've accepted is recorded there. It also keeps records of transaction agencies, temporary shelters, visits to ⟨Saint Dust⟩, and things like that."
He glanced ahead.
"You'll probably see it yourself soon."
The staircase was finally approaching its end.
Pett tried to calculate how far underground they'd gone, then quickly gave up.
They'd spent so long circling down the dark staircase that he'd completely lost his sense of distance.
At the bottom stood a door that looked carved from a massive stone slab.
When Kaian approached...
It slowly opened on its own.
Brilliant light burst through the gap.
Fwoooooosh...!
The light was so bright that Pett squeezed his eyes shut.
Kaian grabbed him by the collar.
"What are you doing? Hurry inside. The door's going to close."
"O-oh! Yes, yes! I'm coming!"
Pett lowered his head and let Kaian drag him forward.
Little by little, his eyes adjusted to the light.
His vision gradually returned.
Once again, his burglar instincts activated.
He tried to scan the interior of ⟨Saint Dust⟩.
That attempt failed spectacularly.
"Uwaaaaaaaaah...!"
When Pett finally looked up...
A hall so enormous and luxurious that it could've belonged to an emperor stretched before him.
Only then did Kaian release his collar.
"Oh. You can see now?"
"Hooooo..."
And at last Pett realized something.
The Reaper hadn't lied at all.
⟨Saint Dust⟩ truly was...
A land of dreams and fantasy.
***
The first thing that overwhelmed Pett was the incredibly high and magnificent ceiling.
It was completely decorated in gold leaf.
The underground lobby was so bright that it felt like a city square at noon.
As if refusing to lose to the golden ceiling, silver chandeliers hung throughout the hall, proudly displaying their beauty.
This is seriously underground...?
Pett tried to remember how long they'd walked down the stairs.
It did feel like a pretty long way... but is there really enough space for a ceiling this high?
More than anything, it was difficult to believe that such an extravagant place existed directly beneath that abandoned-looking cabin.
Still staring at the glittering ceiling, Pett asked,
"M-Mister Reaper. How high is that ceiling?"
Kaian answered without even looking up.
"About seventy meters."
"Hoooo... seventy meters..."
Pett blinked.
"How high is that?"
"...About forty-one of you."
"Ohhh. I see. Forty-one of me."
Pett imagined another Pett standing on his shoulders.
Then another Pett standing on that Pett.
Then another.
And another.
And another...
By the time he'd stacked forty-one Petts in his imagination, he felt dizzy even inside his own head.
Still...
If forty-one Petts stood on each other's shoulders, they could touch those glittering chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Pett unconsciously swallowed.
Kaian heard it and immediately warned him in a stern voice.
"Don't even think about it."
Pett froze.
"Those are all crystal. Touch one and you'll immediately start playing tag with the security guards."
"Eeek! Crystal?! Oh. Ohhh..."
Pett slapped his chest as though the word "crystal" had made breathing difficult.
If those really were proper crystals, just cutting off and selling the tip of a chandelier would probably support him for the rest of his life.
The heart of a professional thief pounded wildly.
Normally, if grapes were impossible to reach, one could insult them as sour and walk away.
But these were crystal grapes.
How could they possibly taste bad?!
Pett desperately searched for a way to eat those grapes.
The more he thought about it, the deeper his sense of deprivation became.
His eyes practically stripped the ceiling bare as he scanned every corner.
Then he asked Kaian again.
"Mister Reaper, Mister Reaper. Then that shiny gold leaf on the ceiling..."
"Pure gold."
The answer came far too quickly.
"...Have you tried touching it before?"
"..."
"..."
Kaian looked down.
"Just watch the ground while you walk. That ceiling is extremely dangerous."
But the floor wasn't exactly safer.
The marble beneath their feet clearly wasn't cheap.
The lobby is this huge...
A seductive thought rang inside Pett's head like a giant plaza bell.
Surely nobody would notice if I removed a single tile from some corner...
Ding. Ding!
"Huh? That was a real bell."
Pett, who had been staring hungrily at the marble, looked up.
Kaian had already reached the information desk and was ringing a bell.
A smiling employee approached and greeted him.
"Welcome. We are pleased to have you at ⟨Saint Dust⟩."
She wore a purple uniform embroidered with golden decorations.
Those were the symbolic colors of ⟨Saint Dust⟩.
"How may I assist you?"
"Uh..."
Pett made a stupid sound.
Kaian silenced him with a single look, then smoothly began speaking with the employee.
"I'd like to register the completion of a request."
"Certainly. Please place the registered finger on the [Tag Scanner]."
The employee presented a purple magical device resembling amethyst.
It was a small rectangular device, tiny enough that Pett could've hidden it in his hand without anyone noticing.
Kaian was clearly familiar with the process.
He lightly pressed his index finger against the [Tag Scanner].
Lights immediately flashed rapidly inside it.
Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle.
Then they disappeared.
The employee checked the crystal orb connected to the [Tag Scanner] and nodded once.
The orb was covered by protective magic, so guests couldn't see its contents.
"Confirmed, Mister Kaian. This request was also accepted through F&F."
She continued in a perfectly clear voice.
"The request states that you were to safely transport the client and a shipment of high-quality tableware to the Silvaris border."
"If you register the completion of the request now, ⟨Saint Dust⟩ can handle the remaining transport to the Silvaris border."
She smiled.
"Would you like us to proceed?"
Her speech was neither too fast nor too slow.
Every word was perfectly pronounced.
Kaian answered with equally calm and clear diction.
"Thank you, but I'd like to discuss the agency service after ending the original request."
He looked toward Pett.
"I discovered a serious problem with the original request."
Pett doubted his own eyes and ears.
Kaian stood straight and spoke in a gentle voice.
He looked like a well-educated young noble who had grown up with proper food, sleep, and education.
No way... It can't be.
The way he swaggered around and mocked people wasn't ordinary at all.
The Kaian Pett had seen in Vernas Forest absolutely possessed the genuine behavior of a first-class bastard.
A noble couldn't possibly produce that naturally.
This was the boy who had forced Pett to cut off all seventy-five dark elf heads!
Not ten! Not twenty! Seventy-five! That vicious bastard!
His personality truly deserved the title of Reaper.
While shuddering over the number seventy-five, Pett suddenly remembered the chandelier.
Oh, right. That was forty-one Petts.
Forgetting his irritation at the noble aura coming from Kaian, Pett looked up at the ceiling again and drooled.
Even though he looked ridiculously suspicious, the Saint Dust employee didn't even glance in his direction.
She focused entirely on Kaian and the crystal orb.
It was a fierce battle of professional spirit between a professional receptionist and a professional thief.
"What serious problem did you discover?"
At the employee's question, Kaian glanced toward Pett.
Even with shackles around his wrists and ankles, the man still hadn't learned his lesson.
Greed wasn't merely overflowing from him.
It was practically leaking onto the floor.
Kaian clicked his tongue inwardly.
Pett was so focused on his profession that he'd forgotten what was about to happen to him.
Pett, who had coveted [Greedy Monocle] even with death right in front of him.
Pett, who hadn't even cared whether Marius was alive.
"..."
Kaian realized he couldn't feel even the smallest bit of sympathy for him.
He's the perfect example of trash that's almost impossible to rehabilitate.
That's the most serious problem of all.
Still, Kaian hid his contempt as skillfully as ever.
He smiled brightly at the employee.
"I'm requesting termination of the request due to identity fraud by the client and the discovery of a double contract."
His mercy had ended.
