Chapter 35 (2/2)
「Yo, lad . Want to exchange your money?」
The man, who definitely matches the name “muscle daruma”, called out in a low tone . To think that the exchangers have an extremely muscular build, or maybe he was publicising that he is considered as the rear shield of some random organization .
「A~h, I want to exchange some gold coins . 」
「Gold coins? How much?」
「Just one is enough . Please change it to large copper coins and silver coins . 」
The man took out a scale and put the one gold coin I gave him on the right side of the scale, and then placed a counter weight on the other side .
「Indeed, it is a genuine one . Subtracting the commission, it’ll be 5 large silver, 23 silver, and 20 large copper coins . 」
[TL : 25% commission]
His share was 25 silver coins altogether .
「That’s expensive . 」
「If you don’t like it, you can exchange it on a legal one, I don’t mind it either way . 」
Although the exchange commission in this place was certainly many times higher than the average of the slums, it wasn’t too outrageous either . Since I wanted to quickly start looking for an inn, I just shut up . The man took out large copper, silver, and large silver coins in front of me as he was counting them one by one .
And then, I was able to sense hostility from that man, no, it was also mixed with malice .
There was something . Today, my intuition worked way better than normal, but I still stayed vigilant and watched .
「Done, I shouldn’t have made a mistake when counting them . Here, take it . 」
However, I couldn’t detect any suspicious actions from that man . As expected, intuition was still nothing but a feeling, however, even though it was illogical, I could still feel some ill-intent from the man, and understood the reason after receiving the money .
「Ha~h, so this was it . HEY . 」
「What? What’s the ma- …kk!?」
I grabbed the neck of the man, who was completely caught off guard, and bashed his body into the wall behind .
「B-bbastard……, what?, I gave you silver coins, isn’t that right?…」
「Silver coins? You mean this copper coin?」
「Wha-……!?」
As I poured a small amount of mana to the silver coins that he gave me, there was aclink-, a snapping-like sound was heard and broke the illusion, transforming it back to a blackened copper coin .
All my skills related to magic perception were lost, and the swords which had perception enhancing passive skills, were sealed . So I couldn’t tell that an illusion was cast on the coin in the first place, without touching the coin . Even though I was in a festive mood, I made such a blunder .
「Tch, you are in the wrong for being deceived . This is the slums, you know!? 『Force Up』!!」
To think that he didn’t even try to stop and smooth things over… He threw away the chance to mend it over with such a vulgar expression and used physical ability enhancement magic on himself . I thought that he was just a muscle-headed daruma, but he was unexpectedly from the smart faction .
「Geez, Ha~h, this kingdom is really the worst . Every single one of you . 」
I feel completely disgusted . Interrupting my good mood, that guy smirking as he glances at me, and above all…
………Being seen as a guy who can be deceived easily was the most intolerable .
As if I was the same as the previous me who made the wrong choices, as if there was no change from last time .
Thinking that he’s the same kind as the targets of my revenge, who thought of fooling me, made my blood boil in rage and I really wanted to rip his limbs apart right now .
「Ha~h, I really want to puke . 」
I instinctively filled the hand that was being held by his arm with power .
「GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! You bastard, why can’t I tear it ooooooff!! 」
Although he seized my arm, which was holding his neck, and tried to tear it off, it’s impossible for this man to get away from me even if he reinforces himself with Force Up and is unbeatable even by the kingdom’s knights, since I had already strengthened my arm with mana some time ago .
「Gah~, Kuhhk, H-how…?」
By the way, this method for concentrating magical power isn’t well-known in the general populace . Since there’s no sign of me invoking magic, he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t break free from the hand of man who was way more slender than him .
「Ah, that’s right, since something good happened to me today, I can let you off the hook . 」
「Guh, Geho, GEHO!!」
I came up with something great so I said that, smiling and letting him go .
Maybe he reached a point where he understood that he messed with someone he must avoid, but his face paled as he asked me .
「I just have to apologize, right? I was wrong, it was my fault, I will apologize, apologize to you so please forgive me……
「Well you don’t have to apologize, you just need to take responsibility earnestly . 」
While saying that, I put away all the copper coins that I held in my hand for a moment . And without a sound, I took out the【Fire Spider Leg Sword] . This Spirit Sword is really playing an active role today .
「W-wait!! Please wait!!」
Normally, the punishment for counterfeiting money is chopping both arms off the culprit along with huge amount of debt . Although the punishment for counterfeiting money as a matter is, of course, issued with the backing of this kingdom, the culprit will be unable to return their debt due to his lost arms and might try to sell himself as a slave, or commit suicide .
The muscle daruma shouted and panicked because he remembered about such a thing and thought that I would cut off his arms with my dagger .
「What’s the matter, do you think that I will chop your arms off? Don’t worry, I won’t do that . In the first place, there’s no way I can do that with a sword of this size, right?」
Though it’s certain that I have more than enough power to sever them, I said that line while sneering at him .
「See, this little guy has a somewhat interesting ability . Usually, it can only be used as a campfire or grill, however, maybe due to the influence of its former life as a monster, it displays a tremendous amount of power when used against a certain material . 」
「Hah? Eh?」
The Prominence Spider was the acquisition condition for the 【Fire Spider Leg Sword] . It is a blazing big spider which lives in the lava cave .
They were never required to hunt to get their meal despite being a demon themselves . The staple food of Prominence Spiders are various minerals that exist inside the lava cave, it lowers the melting point of the minerals with its unique flame, which is called Poison Flame, then eats the dissolving syrupy minerals . In short……
「As I thought, to atone is to accept punishment of a far worse proportion than what you did . That’s why, I’ll have you eat them all with that lying mouth of yours, what do you think?」
Right after saying that, I broke both his legs and arms so that he couldn’t escape .
「G-GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」
His hoarse scream resounded through the streets of the slums . However, his nightmare had yet to end .
「Well then, let’s start with the first coin . 」
I forcibly opened his mouth with something made with a material similar to iron that I casually found close to me .
And as I poured a considerably large amount of magical power into the 【Fire Spider Leg Sword] that I held in my hand, I placed a copper coin on top of it . The copper immediately melted and slowly slid down the blade of the dagger .
「GyAAAAAAGAHGAAAAAAHGAAAAAAaa!!!!!!」
The blazing hot liquid dripped down as it emitted a dull light, and it roasted the man’s innards .
He won’t die easily though .
The 【Fire Spider Leg Sword] can easily dissolve metals, since it can lower the melting point of the metals .
Though it’s hot, it’s just about 300℃ at the most . If it’s just at this degree, the possibilities of him surviving are high .
「Look! Here comes the second coin . There still are 46 left . You can still endure it because of your activated Force Up, right? Oy, the third one is coming . 」
With each lump of scorching liquid dripping down, I let out a sneering smile while enjoying the soundless screams of the muscle daruma .