We got out of the carriage and went to the gate, where we found a familiar face, the gatekeeper, who knew us.

'I know it's time to close the gates, but could you wait a little longer?'

No matter how many newcomers to the Adventurers' Guild you have, you can't bend the rules.

　And despite the words, his face is smiling.

'Yeah, I know that. But we were attacked by a hundred bandits in the village we were asked to visit yesterday.

　Then the gatekeeper called for his friends and sent word to all the parties concerned.

I'm sorry, but I want you to prepare any evidence or witnesses that can confirm this.

I will. And please give a message to the Adventurers' Guild.

　When I asked him to leave, he replied that he had already sent someone there.


　I returned to the carriage and informed Lily and the others that Serna would be the witness, and it was decided that Banza and the other bandits would be the evidence.
　Selna told me that she had relatives in the village, so I asked the gatekeeper to bring her back.

　After about 10 minutes, the first deputy guild leader from the Adventurer's Guild came running in at a great pace.
　She was a small, childish-looking woman of the human race, whose name was Flute.

''Are you all safe!''

　I'm going to make sure we're okay while I'm out of breath. Apparently they were in a hurry because they had only been informed that we had been attacked by bandits.
　He was later stuffing the gatekeepers to make sure that the information was accurate.

'I thought it was odd. I didn't think there was any way I'd be able to keep up with a bandit with Temma-san around...''

　He laughed with some kind of strange high regard for the situation.
　We gave Mr. Flute a brief synopsis, asking him about the weapons in the larder and the enslaved women and the banzas and other bandits, in particular.
　As a result, we were entitled to the food, jewelry, and weapons, but the jewelry and weapons would still be exchanged for a reasonable sum of money if their owners were identified.
　The women will be released after screening (to make sure that the identity is confirmed and that they are not lying) as long as they are not in trouble, and this one can't claim ownership, but the city or the guild will pay some gratuity, and if someone is not released, the right will arise.
　Finally, as far as the bandits are concerned, you're sure to get a reward for your capture and a bounty (if and only if it's been put on you), plus half of the sale price you get for selling the captives as slaves.

　That's quite a profit, Flute laughed.
　Just then, five knights arrived with a slaver, a female judge (who could use the magic of judging) and about fifteen soldiers.

'Any adventurer who catches a bandit, come here at once!

　One of the knights raised his voice, quite high-handed, but he didn't care, he stepped forward.

This is Tenma, the leader of the party I captured the bandits from.

　The knights looked like fools when they came forward to say

'Don't lie to me! False statements are a felony. Tell the truth!

There is no reason and no need to lie. We've got him.

You're kidding me! That's Banza lying over there, the one we tried to catch but couldn't! I'm not someone to be held captive by a bunch of kids and little girls like you!

　I started to yell at them, the knights had the same attitude, except for one of them. I was getting more and more pissed off too.

'You must be incompetent if you're having trouble with someone the kid and the lasses could have captured.

　I said. The knights turned red in the face, but to stop them.

'We won't hand the bandit over to you. We will take them to another city where we will tell them what happened and they will take them back. Thank you for wasting your time. You're welcome to return to your duties.

　I turned on my heel, foolishly.

'Don't be silly! You want to die!

You had your hands full with Banza, do you know what you're doing?

　And when he turned and challenged him, the knight drew his sword and slashed at him... but...

Don't stop! It's disgraceful, you should be ashamed of yourself as a knight!

　One knight who had been silent from earlier raises his voice, it seems to be a woman from the height of his voice.

''Finally, the squad leader(s) are here?''

　I could see that there was an upset from the knights, including the women, as I said.

'You knew. 'I thought I was hiding it,'

Yes, I recognized him right away. There was one person who looked too different.

　I didn't belch the fact that I had a half-hearted hunch that it was a good idea.

I'm sorry about that. But please do not provoke him unnecessarily.

It depends.

　I blurted out a response.

'Well, that's fine. But not as much as that guy, but it's something I've been wondering too. Did the four of us really destroy the bandits by ourselves?

　How's that?" he asked.

Then I don't know if I'm going to be able to prove it, but I'll show you what I'm capable of.

　And then the knights got ready.

'Oh, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you.

　I took out the nucleus of a golem from the bag and threw it in a place where no one was around and summoned it.
　The golems I summoned are about 10 large ones, 30 medium-sized ones, and 30 small ones. I can still get them out, but this should be enough.
　And from the other bag, I took out a Shiroumaru.

　The knights fell in love with the golem and panicked when they saw Shiroumaru.

''This is my strength. By the way, Shiroumaru... this wolf is currently a demon with the equivalent of A-rank strength.''

　The moment I heard Shiroumar's rank, one of the knights drew the sword he was holding. It may have been a reflex action, but Shiroumaru saw it as a hostile action and tried to jump at me... but I grabbed his tail and pulled him back.

'Can!'

　Shilomar screamed, and I lightly chided him and looked at the knights. The knights were sitting on their backs, except for the captain.
　It's not surprising that a wolf of nearly three meters in size, if not an A-ranked demon, jumped on them, it would be hard for someone of low skill level, even for a knight, to do anything about it.

''Ki, you! Now that was a fine hostile act, you know that!

　'Oh!' shouted the knight, who was still hunched over.

'Don't get me wrong. You are the ones who drew the sword first. And this is not the city. It's a noble self-defense!

　Shiroumaru also roars in response to my fury. It sounds like a thug like, "I'll do it any time!" but I'll ignore that.

''Can't we both just stop! I'm sorry I doubted you too, so can you bring that wolf back?

　And although it felt more like an order than a plea, he agreed and returned Shiroumaru to the bag and retrieved the golems' nukes.
　The knights were all open-mouthed and stunned as they watched Shiroumaru go into the bag.

　It was then that someone who claimed to be Serna's uncle appeared. The person was said to be an assistant treasurer of the city council and the identification was soon completed.
　So the examiners examined them and found that no one was in trouble, so the slave-trader man lifted the collar. The women were immediately taken to the sanitarium, but only Miss Serna remained as a witness.

'Then how do you wish to hand over the bandits?

　Before the captain could answer, Mr. Flute asked.

'There was 200,000 g in Banza, and two other bounty hunters with 50,000 g, so those three alone would be over 300,000 g. And since there were twenty-three prisoners of war, all of whom were men, the selling price was 100,000 g. Let's see...half of the 2.3 million g. That's 1,150,000 g. So, together with the prize money, we'll pay at least 1,450,000 g.

'Mr. Flute, I have 75 bodies of the thieves I killed, what should I do with them?

　I asked, and Mr. Flute was surprised to hear that so much, and then

'If you can prove that they are a band of Banza thieves, if they are dead, ten thousand g's per person will be paid in the name of a consolation prize for defeating them.

　The bandits alone are at least 2.2 million Gs, he laughed.
　In contrast, the knights looked like they had bitten down on a bitter worm. It's because this payment is set to be taken out of the Knights' budget on a temporary basis. Even if it's temporary, it's still several months away from being replenished by the knights, so it's hard to make ends meet in the meantime.

''What should I do about the other jewelry and weapons?''

　I look at the knights and ask Mr. Flute again, getting a little carried away. Mr. Flute hmmm, while crossing his arms.

''There were two small boxes of jewelry, 146 swords, 132 spears, 130 bows, and 12,200 arrows, and as far as a quick calculation goes, the jewels were estimated to be at least 20 million Gs, and the weapons were of decent quality, so the swords were 5,000 Gs of 5,000 Gs per sword, 1,056,000 Gs of 8,000 Gs of spears, and 2,000 Gs of arrows. 260,000 g, 24,000 g with 20 g of arrows, which is 2.29 million g. However, if the jewels were to be auctioned off in the royal capital or elsewhere, the value would be even higher.

　He answered with a slurred answer to his selling price forecast, which he must have memorized.

'Wait, wait a minute,'

What is it?

　I asked the captain, who had interrupted me, if he had any problems, and he replied

"I can't pay that much money right away. I'm going to need you to pay me later.

　He said.

'I'll just take the bandits. I'll take the weapons and stuff to the place that buys them.

　And make it look like you're only going to respond with a lump sum payment.

''You know how much it hurts us 'Gunjo City Knights'!

What about it, it's none of our business, is it?

　I know this is almost like taking it out on them. I knew in my head that these guys had nothing to do with the soldiers of three years ago, but the condescending attitude at first made me think of them as the soldiers who abandoned us in the village of Kukri and ran away, and I couldn't control my emotions.

　When I cooled down a bit and looked around, I saw the frightened expressions on the faces of the lillies nearby.
　I took a few deep breaths to try and stay calm and then opened my mouth.

'First of all, let me make it clear. We and you are 'not on equal footing' in this matter. We are, of course, above you.

You're kidding me.
Shut up!

　The captain restrains one of the rebellious knights.

'I'm sorry. Carry on.

'We didn't mean to do it, but what we did was ultimately a clean-up for you guys.

　He broke off his words and looked around at the knights.

'The Banzas have been in that village for about three weeks now, and during that time most of the villagers were killed. It's because you guys couldn't catch them. We happened to kill them and capture them. But you mocked and looked down on us. Why should we deal with such people? We have the right to choose you, but we do not have the righteousness.

　I finished my story without saying a word about whether I had misunderstood.

　After saying this much, the knights finally realized why I was angry... although they weren't the ones who would change their attitude once they realized.

''It's only natural to cooperate with the knights who are protecting the city!

'So I'm saying that if you can't pay, I'll deal with 'people who can' so that you don't have to force yourself to pay,'

　I gave the knight a simple explanation for his high-handed attitude, "What do you want?

"What do you want?

　The captain asks me.

'No purpose, I just don't want to make a one-sided deal with someone I don't trust.

What can I do to make you trust me?

　I was a little dismayed. I didn't know if this captain was a nice young lady, or if he wasn't telling me something important. I sighed.

Who are you first?

　He asked the elementary question.

'....Huh?

　"I'm sorry," said a stupid voice from the captain's mouth.

'So, what is your name, your affiliation, your rank, and what authority do you have? We haven't been taught anything, though.

　I told him that I hadn't provided him with the necessary information to do business with the company.

"It's only because of that...

　He didn't seem to be able to voice whether he didn't accept the deal. But from our perspective, it's a big deal.

'Of course, that's not the only reason. One of the reasons is that they have looked down on us and made fun of us. But if you're a knight, so deal with me unconditionally, then there's a loss for us, but not a gain.

　Still looking at me with a dumbfounded look on his face, the captain continued.

What's more, if you do business with someone who tells you that you're a joke and you pay later without presenting your identity and you get ripped off, you can't expect to get away with it.

　The captain's face is indeed offended by this, and his captain's face is red.

''There's no way I would do something so fraudulent!

　But I didn't give a d*mn.

I'm not doing business with you because you haven't told me the identity of this 'me' thing.

　When I said that, he finally seemed to realize that what he was trying to do was 'the same thing as the words and actions of a con-artist', and he looked down, red-faced in a different way than he did earlier.

''Do you understand, who likes to do business with someone who has a bad attitude and might be a con artist?''

　The captain was still looking down, but the other knights were not silent.

''You, disrespect! I'll cut that head off!

　And drew his sword from his waistband.

'Wait! Wait! The fault is ours in this case! Besides, if you try to hurt this person with this, you could turn the Adventurer's Guild against them!

　and seized the knight who had drawn his sword. At that, Mr. Flute saw it.

''That's right. If 'Our Guild's Promising Newcomer' is hurt by such a trivial matter, the news will quickly spread to all the guilds on the continent. If that happens, each guild will stop sending adventurers to this city and warn them not to stop by.

　I said, "You can see what that means. In fact, if the adventurers were to disappear from this town, their business would not be able to survive, and there are concerns that the security situation would worsen.
　For better or worse, the adventurers, who are called 'do-it-yourselfers', play a major role in maintaining the city's economy and security.

　The knights who understood this are pale with a pitiful look on their faces. If such a thing happened in reality, they couldn't just have their own heads blown off, they said. Of course, that includes the physical meaning of it.

'Then let me ask you again on that. Who are you?