Master’s Smile

C83 – For Money

“…All I did was sell information to Rousseld’s group.”

Heroro finally began to speak.

There was nothing more for him to hide, and his words poured out endlessly.

“The information was everything about how we were going to move and what kind of people Master and Sorglos are. That’s all there is to it.”

Lucille imagined how Heroro was passing on the information.

For instance, was it that one time when all the guild members were drinking and he was never seen?

Was he meeting with Rousseld and giving him the information instead?

“W-Why…?”

Lucille asked in a trembling voice.

He wanted to raise his voice in anger, but the shock of Heroro’s betrayal prevented him from speaking.

Instead, Heroro’s voice regained its strength.

In a way, he must have been taken aback.

With a strong emotion, Heroro put together his answer.

“…It’s money.”

“Eh…?”

Lucille asked Heroro to repeat his mumbling again.

It wasn’t that Lucille couldn’t hear him.

Certainly, his voice was low, but his remark was strong enough to reach Lucille’s ears.

However, his words were unbelievable, hence he asked again.

“The reason I sold the information to Rousseld is quite simple. I could… get a lot of cash.”

The same words came out a second time and Lucille was astonished to find that he had not misheard it.

He sold his family in exchange for money?

“F-For that reason, you-…!!!”

“…”For that reason”, you said?”

This time, Heroro’s words were laced with rage as Lucille snapped at him furiously.

Lucille felt his anger and was silenced.

” ‘FOR THAT REASON’, YOU SAID!?”

Heroro raised his head and glared at Lucille.

It was different from the usual anger he had shown when they had been joking around.

As it was based on a deep-seated anger.

“Don’t you know how important money is!?! You need money to do anything in this world! You need money to eat, to buy necessities, everything!!!”

“I already know that! But you sold out your friends!… Your family! For money!”

“ーーーIt was your fault to begin with, Lucille!!!”

“…Huh?”

He wasn’t sure why it was his fault as Lucille looked at Heroro with wide eyes..

Heroro’s eyes were bloodshot and he was glaring at Lucille sharply.

His breathing was ragged and his whole face was flushed, but Heroro didn’t seem to be calming down.

Rather, he seemed to be getting more and more emotional and violent.

However, if this continued, he would not be able to say what he wants to say, thus Heroro desperately tried to suppress his emotions and cool down.

“…Fuuh. Oi, Lucille. Our guild is small, isn’t it?”

“I-It is…”

Lucille nodded at Heroro’s words.

It is true that their guild only had five members, which was just under the requirements for an established guild, yet a small one to be exact.

“We were small, so we didn’t make as much money as other guilds. After replenishing our supply of healing potions and antidotes, we had a tiny bit of money left to spend freely. The reason I became an adventurer in the first place was to become a rich guy. You can’t expect me to put up with that trivial amount?”

“S-Still, we were having a great time, right…?”

He knew that Heroro was more obsessed with money than the others.

But that was natural for an adventurer and Lucille had never found it suspicious.

In fact, he and Lucica became adventurers as children in order to earn money and get food.

Moreover, although Lucille and his guild was small in number, it was full of members with a moderate level of strength.

For that reason, they had been able to do things enjoyably like a family, without having to struggle for money to survive tomorrow.

“…Ah, yeah, that’s right. It was fun, really.”

This time, Heroro suddenly gave a weak smile.

If he was really only interested in money, he would have left the guild and gone to a bigger one.

Heroro was not a small fry either.

If he didn’t have high hopes of joining the big guilds, …then it’s still possible for him to join a medium one like Prishield.

Even so, he didn’t leave Lucille’s guild because he felt comfortable there.

He quarreled with Lucille, teased Lucica, drank with Apollo, and received sermons from Rieg….

Heroro took a liking to that routine.

However, one incident changed his mind.

“But what I enjoyed was, the things we did before the curse took hold of Lucica.”

“T-The curse….”

Lucille shrunk back by the look in Heroro’s eyes as he looked at him.

That fact felt terribly familiar to him.

“That’s right, The curse that Lucica received for defending you… Master said it was Lagell’s curse, was it? Since then, I-… the guild has changed.”

Heroro laughed as if to mock himself.

“It’s true that I don’t hate Lucica, and I don’t hate you either. I’ve always been generous with the healing potions when you guys got injured, and I’ve never hesitated to spend my money for you guys.”

“…….”

That’s right. Heroro showed an obsession with money, but he never once hesitated to spend it on items for Lucille and the others.

Hence, Lucille didn’t realize Heroro’s greed..

“But hey,… It’s ridiculous to see how much money we’ve lost so far! Aah!?!”

“…!”

Lucille shuddered at Heroro’s angry tone of voice.

As he had an idea of what Heroro had just said.

“All we did was buy the information on the elixir and our savings had gone instantly! We spent every penny we had saved up! And since that wasn’t enough, we had to sell our guild’s equipment, too! There’s nothing left in the guild!!”

The rarity value of natural elixirs is greater than that of a human life.

That’s why, essentially, no matter how hard Lucille’s small guild tried to save up, they would not be able to get any information if the amount was too small.

Yet somehow, an informant named World Eye demanded a sum of money that was just barely enough for them to pay, and they easily sold the information to Lucille and the others.

『We-… ah, no, I just want to do a little harassment on someone I don’t like, ye-… that’s all.』

That was what World Eye said when they sold the information, though Lucille’s group didn’t quite understand what they meant.

But as a result, their guild savings was almost completely empty.

“No, that’s not all. We’ve even gone into debt…. You’ve got to be kidding me! I didn’t work dangerously as an adventurer, to live in that kind of predicament!!”

“B-Because of me….”

Lucille had a strong sense of remorse.

It was Lucille, not Lucica, who was on the verge of getting Lagell’s curse.

She had only put herself on the line to help her brother.

Hence, It would be wrong to hold her responsible.

Heroro glared at Lucille and continued speaking.

“Lucille, you didn’t know this, but I had told Apollo and Rieg many times. “Let’s give up on Lucica”. “I don’t want to pay for the information on the elixir”…. One time, they were troubled with her, too, you know?”

“………!!!”

Lucille gritted his teeth.

Hearing Heroro’s remark, he still didn’t feel like blaming Apollo and the others.

That’s obvious. There was no way that they could simply pay a large sum of money that would cause the guild to collapse, no matter how much it was for the sake of their friend..

“But still! They decided to pay in order to save Lucica! Even though I was against it so much!!!”

Heroro remembered his conversation with them and snarled.

What do you mean by friends? What do you mean by family?

For the sake of one friend and family member, they were willing to make life even more difficult for the rest of them?

And it was only for mere information.

There was no guarantee that they would get the elixir even if they paid that much money.

In fact, if they got so busy searching for the elixir that they were unable to take on normal quests, they would lose all the money they had in the guild.

They would have to pay off their debts, so they won’t have any money in their pockets either.

“That’s what I couldn’t stand!!!”

“Heroro….”

Lucille couldn’t find the right words to say to Heroro.

He had indirectly killed his precious family members, Apollo and Rieg.

But he couldn’t denounce Heroro, who spilled out his emotions at Lucille as if he was spewing blood.

“And, for the final straw, you were the reason I had given up on them, Master.”

Saying so, Heroro glared at the silent Master with hollowed eyes.

Even under such intense gaze, Master calmly smiled

“Because you suppressed Lucica’s curse, it was even more impossible to end the search. Apollo and the others were not going to stop either, and when I suggested it one last time, both of them got mad at me.”

What if Master hadn’t poured his mana into Lucica and the curse continued progressing?

Heroro didn’t know the details about the curse, but at least within a year, Lucica would have died of a full-body infection.

If that happened, they could start all over again.

For that period of time, he could be patient.

But with the arrival of Master, the amount of time they could spend searching for the elixir had increased dramatically.

“The reason I betrayed them is because of you, too, Master…!!!”

“You’re wrong! He saved us!!”

Master only smiled back when Heroro gave him a sharp look.

Instead, Lucille protested to Heroro, but Heroro gave a snort.

Then, as if he had said everything he wanted to say to Master and Lucille, he turned around and went to Rousseld.

Rousseld, who had been listening to Heroro with a grin on his pallid face, spoke to him as he stood next to him.

“Oh, are we done?”

“…Yeah. I’ve vented everything I wanted to say. You want to kill Master, don’t you? He’s an annoying bastard for me, too, so I want you to give him a thorough beating and then kill him.

“AHYAHYA! I don’t need to be told that.”

Rouseeld laughed unpleasantly at Heroro’s words.

Hearing those words, Lucille was convinced that both him and Heroro won’t have mutual understanding anymore.

Rousseld pulled away from the tree he was leaning against and put his hand on Heroro’s shoulder.

“Well then, did you say your goodbye?”

“…Yeah. Just make sure you give me the money.”

Heroro glanced at Lucille and said so.

He was moved to see Lucille alive for the last time.

However, he had already made up his mind when he joined forces with Rousseld and Inicken.

Yet, Rousseldo scoffed at Heroro’s determination.

“Idiooot! You’re wrong. You have to understand what I’m saying….”

“……?”

It was when Heroro tilted his head, not knowing what Rousseld was saying.

ーーー*Zudoo!*

Such a sound was heard.

Lucille’s eyes widened as Rousseld’s mouth curved into a smirk right after confessing.

“…Ah?”

Heroro finally felt Rousseld’s arm piercing his stomach.

(TLN: Damn it! The nerve of him to get done in that fast!?) (EDN: The fate of a mob)