Chapter 139 (1/2)

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The Mysterious Dragon Slayer

Hikaru surmised that perhaps there was technology left behind by j.a.panese people in the Zuburan ruins. They might find information on the holy mana that Katy was studying on. Or maybe not. Either way, there was a high chance that Hikaru and Selica might discover information not yet known to this country.

Selyse was trying to say that how the information would be used was up to Hikaru and Selica.

「I have no intention of doing that.」Hikaru denied.

「What?」

「I promised Professor Katy to aid her in her research and that's not limited to the ruins in Zubura. It's up to her how she wants to use her findings. She'll most likely publish them, though.」

「And you're fine with that?」

「Yeah. No biggie.」

「You might gain a huge amount of profit. Surely you understand that, right?」

「I know that. Get off my back, sheesh.」

Earning large amounts of money through patents was a thing in j.a.pan as well. Hikaru believed j.a.pan's rights business was advanced. He didn't need to be reminded about the money he could get.

「I see.」For some reason, Selyse heaved a sigh of relief.

「I think that's enough, Selyse. Like I said, Hikaru is an honest and upstanding guy!」

「Hmm? What's going on, Selica?」Hikaru certainly didn't believe he was honest and upstanding. But there was something in the way Selica said it.

「I can explain. Sorry for testing you.」Selyse said, giving a wry smile.

「Remember the monster outbreak from Un el Portan? The battle was an official “request” to the adventurers through the Adventurers Guild.」

「That makes sense. There were barely any soldiers there.」

That reminds me, Hikaru thought. I wonder what happened to that special forces dude they captured. He was handed to the guards in Borderzard. They should use him as a bargaining chip against Ponsonia. Ponsonia will most likely play dumb, though.

「And we successfully defended the town. In other words, we received a reward.」

「So? What about it?」

「You still don't get it? You won't get even 1 gilan since you didn't officially partic.i.p.ate as an adventurer. I'm talking about the Solaris Mage who protected the town and the Mysterious Dragon Slayer who secretly killed the Earth Dragon.」

Hikaru didn't know such names were floating around. He was, of course, going to feign ignorance.

「I don't know what you're talking about.」

Selyse sighed.

「So you really want to hide it. Queen Marquedo offered an unprecedented amount of reward. But the top two people who contributed the most have gone missing, so there's still some money left over.」

「Oh. Not really my problem, though.」

「Why hide it?」

「I don't know why you're asking me. I can't give you an answer.」

「Just speaking generally. I'm not asking about you specifically.」

「Let's see… Maybe they don't need the money?」

「By the way the third on the list were the Four Stars of the East. They received a total of six million gilans. Four million for minimizing damage to the town, 1.5 million for healing the injured, and half a million for scouting the Earth Dragon despite the danger.」

Even the first to provide information about the Earth Dragon's death was rewarded. It was indeed a lavish amount—about sixty million in j.a.panese yen—but the Adventurers Guild should have seized the materials from the Earth Dragon. They could get good money from selling them. Hikaru burned the monster's skin and tentacles, but the meat, bones, and fangs still remained.

Combine those with the materials from the monsters killed near town, Forestia and the guild wouldn't be in the red.

「Is that so?」Hikaru said.「Then the first and second on the list must have higher rewards. Nothing to do with me, though.」

Selyse sighed once more.

「You do look like you don't want to stand out. The Queen wanted to conduct a parade for both the Mysterious Dragon Slayer and the Solaris Mage and show them to the public.」

Okay, that's just ridiculous. That woman's plotting something.

Right now, drawing attention wasn't a problem since Hikaru and Lavia didn't have to worry about pursuers from Ponsonia anymore. But still being well-known meant not being able to do a lot of things. The price of being famous, so to speak.

Rather than imposing such a disadvantage on himself, Hikaru would rather lay low. They weren't in trouble financially anyway. Converted to j.a.panese currency, he had more than a hundred million yen. The dragon stone should be enough reward for what I did.

Hikaru had no idea how much he could sell it for since he couldn't find information on it in Roland's memories. It didn't look like Roland dabbled much in dragon stones.

「Now they're having trouble since people are claiming to be the Dragon Slayer.」

「For real?」

「Yeah! They called me to verify their claims.」Sarah said from the driver's seat.