Chapter 16

“You son of a bitch! How! Dare! You! Touch! Our! Goods!”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three people. No, four.
Near the main house of the Quantums Merchant House.
In the dim, deserted space behind the building, there were four people.

“This is why beggars are hopeless. They should just waste the food we provide for free.”

Three people who seemed to be affiliated with the merchant house, and one young beggar being beaten by them.

“Keheok. That is nowhere near enough. My younger siblings, my family, are starving!”
“What does that have to do with us, you son of a bitch?”

Thud!

Watching the situation in secret, Serpens frowned at the somewhat familiar sight.
The young beggar was growing more and more bloodied.
Even so, the merchants’ kicks showed no sign of stopping.

“I…… I was wrong……. Please just spare me. If I die, my family won’t even be able to get a meal.”

Crack. Thud.

Horrible. It was truly a horrible situation.

‘The empire’s finest merchant house, my ass.’

Serpens made up his mind.
From now on, he would never trust the word “finest.”

“Just die, you son of a bitch.”
“If your family dies, the other beggars will be happy. Another mouth in this empire will be gone.”
“I disagree with that.”
“……?”

Serpens, who had naturally cut into the conversation, quietly revealed himself.
He smiled faintly, but he did not look happy at all.

“……Are you a guest of the merchant house?”
“Something like that.”
“You look rather young.”

At the words that seemed to doubt his status, Serpens quietly took out a silver coin and showed it.

“I am an aspiring knight. I ended up looking like this while dealing with monsters.”

The merchants looked half-convinced and half-doubtful.
But a sword and a silver coin were not things a mere beggar could have.
If he really was a guest, then if they treated him poorly, they might be buried by the higher-ups.
The merchants had no choice but to be careful with their words and actions.

“This is the main house of Quantums, so we do not sell goods here. If you go outside and continue straight, there are places that sell our merchant house’s goods, so you may go there.”

One merchant put down the wooden carving he had been holding and spoke.
However, the other two hadn’t stopped their violence.

“I feel like doing that in front of a guest is not exactly appropriate.”
“We apologize for showing you something unsightly. He is a thief who dared to steal our goods.”
“Oh, a thief?”
“Yes, that is correct. Our merchant house’s policy is to deal firmly with every kind of nuisance.”

Crack.

The merchant kicked the beggar in the abdomen.
Red blood began to flow from the beggar’s mouth as he clutched his stomach.

And Serpens didn’t stand by and watch that.

“Hey, hey. Hold on there.”
“What’s the matter? That is our merchant house’s business. It is not something a guest should involve himself in.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine if I pay for the goods that kid stole instead?”

Serpens answered with a relaxed expression.

“Paying bail doesn’t erase the crime.”
“But it can get someone out of prison. Is that not right?”

The merchant hid his surprise.
The guest before him was also a child.
He couldn’t have been more than two or three years apart from the beggar being beaten behind them.
But this one possessed something that didn’t fit his age.

The merchant recalled Serpens’s words.
Could it really be true that he was an aspiring knight at such a young age?
For that to be possible, this boy had to possess genius with the sword.
Someone like that had come as a guest.

Rejecting someone who might become a major customer of the merchant house in the future because of this current friction.
The merchant was not confident he could handle the future trouble that might follow.
And if he became close to this person…….
The benefits that would follow in the future would surely not be small.

“Let him go.”
“What? Are you serious? What will you do if someone finds out?”
“If that side pays the money, there will be no loss to the merchant house, so it’ll be fine.”
“But…….”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility for all of this.”
“If you are willing to go that far……”

Only then did the violence stop.
Serpens passed the three merchants and helped the collapsed kid up.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

Serpens asked, but no answer came back.
He had already lost consciousness.
Things didn’t look good.

‘That’s unfortunate.’

Serpens frowned.
It was because of the kid’s dangerous-looking condition.
If the kid could’ve run, Serpens would’ve chosen to flee with him instead of handing over the money he had.
For that reason, Serpens didn’t like this situation.

“The price of the goods he stole is one silver coin and twenty copper coins.”
“What?”

Serpens looked at the kid he was holding.
One silver coin and twenty copper coins.
At that point, he was not a beggar but some master thief.
What had he tried to steal with this tiny body for the price to come out that high?

“That is ridiculous. He would have to steal two months’ worth of food for the price to come out that high, so how could this little kid steal all that by himself?!”
“He did not steal only food. The price came out that high because he stole clothes and all kinds of daily necessities as well! It seems that tiny body has quite the guts.”
“And that still comes out to one silver coin?”
“Blame that bastard’s hands. Those hands that stole valuable things.”

Serpens stopped himself from sighing without realizing it.
The money he had on hand was one silver coin and one gold coin.
He had big money, but no small change.
It was almost touching that a day had come when he could call copper coins small change, but he could save that sentiment for later.

“Let us call it one silver coin.”
“That won’t do. Price adjustment is not within my authority.”
“I have a silver coin, but I don’t have change.”
“Raising the price is possible, but lowering it is not.”
“Ah, seriously!”

Serpens roughly scratched his head and looked around.
There were certainly many places to run.
But they were impossible while carrying this kid.

‘If I were Lucas…….’

Serpens thought back to when Lucas had helped him.
That image of him breaking through the situation with indifferent gestures.
It was impossible for Serpens as he was now.

“If you won’t pay the money, then return the one beside you even now. We need to hand him over to trial and make him pay with his body if necessary.”
“Can you calculate change?”
“It’ll take a little time, but it is possible.”
“In that case, well……”

Serpens took the gold coin from his pocket and showed it to the merchants.

“This will do, right?”

Perhaps they were merchants after all.
The three merchants examined the gold coin carefully.

“Of course it will, sir.”

In an instant, the way they looked at the boy changed.

Whoosh.

Serpens threw one gold coin.
His hand trembled, but what of it?
They said they would calculate the change.

Tap.

The gold coin was snatched from the air.
It settled into the depths of the merchant’s pocket in the smoothest movement in the world.

Seeing that, the corner of Serpens’s mouth twitched faintly.

“Please wait a moment, guest.”
“Hurry back. I need to take him to a doctor.”
“Understood.”

After talking for a moment, the merchants moved.
Fortunately, all three of them moved together.

He had thought they would.
If they believed the gold coin had passed into their hands,
then even if they ran away, they would have nothing to regret.

Or perhaps they might be busy plotting to swallow part of the gold coin among themselves.

“Haa……. Haa…….”

But as the breathing of the boy in his arms gradually grew rougher, Serpens began to grow anxious.

Now that he had opened a suitable distance from the merchants.

“Idiots.”

Serpens began to run while holding the kid.

‘I did it myself, but I didn’t think it would actually work.’

By now, the merchant bastards had probably realized the problem and hurried back to where they had been.
They must have been surprised.
Because what he had thrown was not a gold coin, but a silver coin.

‘Their eyes were filled with greed, and sure enough, they got stupid.’

There was a high chance those three had been trying to rip him off.
Change? Of course that was bullshit.
It was not as if he had been rolling around in this world for only a day or two.
They surely would’ve found all sorts of excuses and refused to give him the money.
Because merchants were people who chased profit.

‘That is why they are stuck as lackeys.’

And because merchants were people who chased profit,
they had to know how to restrain their greed.

Greed clouds judgment.
With clouded judgment, one couldn’t obtain the best profit.

Because they didn’t know even the common sense a back-alley beggar knew,
they fell for this kind of sleight of hand.

Inside the boy’s pocket, the gold coin jingled violently, showing off its existence.

‘……My precious silver coin.’

Serpens missed the song it used to sing as it jingled together with the other silver coins.

“Keheok! Cough!”

Meanwhile, the kid’s body was reaching its limit.
He had to find a doctor as quickly as possible.

“You little bastard, you had better not die!”

Compared to a gold coin, it was true that he had gotten off cheaply,
but the value of one silver coin was also absolutely not something he could ignore.

At the very least, so that the tearful silver sacrifice would not go to waste,
he had to save the kid on his back no matter what.

‘To think the day would come when I would spend a silver coin to save someone else.’

The goal the boy had told Lucas was to create a world where beggars could live comfortably.
At least that much was absolutely not a lie.
It was the wish that, at the very least, there would be no people who had to live a life like his.

Until now, the circumstances had not allowed it,
but if he ever had room to spare, he had always wanted to try this thing called giving.

During all the days he had lived as a beggar,
he had never once seen anyone give to him.

‘What is so hard about sharing one piece of bread?’

Serpens had always thought he would become someone who gave to others.
So he had simply put it into practice.

Tap. Tap. Tadat.

Serpens began to run like mad.
The sheath clattering at his waist was uncomfortable, and the kid in his trembling arms was only heavy.

Everyone passing by looked at Serpens strangely.
A child running while carrying a blood-covered child.
Some looked at him with concern, and others with misunderstanding.
But no one offered a hand.
That was the reality of the world, and of beggars.

‘A world worse than beggars. I will change it no matter what.’

Was money important? No, it was important.
But if even he prioritized money over these people, the world would surely never change.
His goal would surely never come true.
That was why Serpens hurried his steps.
Because a goal one did not move toward was nothing more than a wish that would never come true.

“His treatment went well.”

The doctor said with a smile.

Serpens couldn’t smile even at the good news.
Even the gold coin he had treasured had turned into three or four silver coins under the name of treatment fees.

‘This is all because of those merchant bastards.’

If he really had to argue it, the treatment fee had grown because those bastards had beaten the kid to the verge of death.

“When will he wake up?”
“He should recover soon. His internal injuries were very severe, so it will be difficult, but for a while, he should avoid foods other than porridge.”
“It would be fortunate if he had food to avoid.”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. There are things you wouldn’t know, Doctor.”

The doctor looked at Serpens with a puzzled expression.
Serpens ignored that gaze.
The boy smaller than him, sleeping soundly.
How much money had he spent because of this guy?
Serpens had properly realized the difficulty of good deeds.

“Ehew.”

Serpens sighed and turned around.
Faintly, the color of the sky had begun to turn red.
The time he had promised Lucas was gradually approaching, so he had to move.

“Guardian? Where are you going?”
“I am not his guardian.”
“But what about this child……”

The doctor couldn’t continue.
The person he was speaking to was also a very young boy.
He kept forgetting the astonishing fact that the person who had urgently brought in the patient and calmly paid the treatment fee was a boy.

“When he wakes up, please tell him that from now on, he should only show courage after reading the situation. Also add that tact is life.”
“What does that……”
“If you just tell him, he will understand on his own.”
“……?”

Clatter.

Serpens left the clinic and walked slowly.
He felt hollow, as if all the strength had drained from his body.

“Ehew. Money appears in an instant and disappears in an instant.”

It felt as if the gold and silver coins that had vanished were floating before his eyes.

The road back to the inn felt especially lonely.
The passing people, the blowing wind, Serpens felt that everything was meaningless.

“Phew…….”

Still, he didn’t feel all that bad.
A strange feeling wriggled in one corner of his heart.
For the first time in his life, Serpens was feeling pride from helping someone.

Serpens set off, humming because of the feeling he could not quite name.

His strange steps repeatedly grew lighter and then slower.

“Wait, you there. Stop.”

Then, a sharp woman’s voice stopped Serpens in his tracks.
When Serpens turned around, in his sight were a blonde woman who seemed to be the owner of the voice and three familiar faces.

“Huh……? You guys?”

Glaring fiercely at Serpens,
were the three merchants he had seen at the Quantums Merchant House.

“You dared to rip off Quantums?”

It seemed those three idiots had brought their owner and come looking for him.