Chapter 175 - There Are Many Things Money Can Buy, But Most Of The Time It Can’t Buy What You Really Want

A few days later, at the same time as Smith was angrily muttering to himself while swinging his mallet after Buster asked him to repair his worn-out greatsword the minute he returned, the gentle rays of the afternoon sun streamed through the windows of an office in the Duke’s mansion in the capital city of Warren, which was a two-day journey from the north of Easteria…

After cleaning the dirt that had stuck on his armor, the knight Eldric entered the room to report the results of the subjugation.

“… And that concludes my report on the Valley Ant subjugation.”

“Good work, please submit the details of the report in writing later. You may now leave.”

“Thank you, Sir Eldric.”

Delia, the chamberlain who was waiting inside the room, also said a few words of thanks as she opened the door inwardly to lead their guest out, but the knight did not leave right away and seemed to be hesitating about something.

“Your Grace, a few words, if I may?”

“Very well, go ahead.”

“It’s about the soldiers who died on the battlefield… Please grant their surviving families a generous remuneration.”

“Of course. We shall also do the same for the Adventurers who have died in battle.”

After their favorable exchange, Eldric silently bowed deeply and left the Duke’s office.

“… You heard him. I’ll be leaving the distribution of payments in your hands.”

Delia thought back on the documents that showed the financial support given to the residents of Grau village who had evacuated to the city because of the Valley Ant attack, along with the estimated cost of repairing the damaged village, and after a few moments of thought, she responded to the Duke.

“Certainly, your Grace. May I add the reward money for defeating the queen since there is no recipient?”

The Valley Ant Queen is a dangerous monster species with a threat level of B, which is the limit of what high-ranking adventurers can handle, so the Duke of Ferias offered a reasonable reward for defeating it.

“I don’t mind, but it’s still just temporary financial support, isn’t it… how frustrating.”

Although he was willing to use the money to compensate the bereaved families, it is also a fact that the operating funds of a territory are limited. And as the person in charge of it, he could not afford to be irresponsibly generous.

“It can’t be helped, your Grace. As the saying goes, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’*, after all.”

Those who just want to criticize the government will claim to have good intentions and criticize the policies in place, but if they have a good grasp of the territory’s financial situation, then most of them will only see it as a road leading to self-destruction.

For example, even though it may be easy to say that there will be no more taxes starting tomorrow, after a few years, countless bodies could be lying in the poor districts as the city falls into disrepair due to the lack of functioning administrative agencies.

“How complicated…”

“I’m sure the residents of Ferias territory will be happy as long as your excellency thinks that way.”

“Anyway…” she continues.

“About the silver Steppen Kobold who took down the queen…”

“I also couldn’t help but worry if there were more of its kind, but that is probably the Holy Beast.”

As if intending to make Lord Ferias sigh, a few days later,  a brutally honest report about the Kobolds who lived in Easteria also arrived from Viel village…

As he did his best to read the letters from Maril who wrote in a cute, rounded script, he was enveloped in an inexpressible sense of exhaustion.

Unaware of such hardships, the silver-furred werewolf disguised as a human received his reward from the Adventurer’s guild and rested until evening in the “Four-leaf Clover Pavilion”, an inn three buildings away, and went to the guild’s connecting tavern with the happy little fox perched on his shoulder.

“Kuon, kuruaou gauoaan♪” (Big brother, I want to eat something tasty♪)

Dagger, who has accompanied me to town on many occasions, understood that money could buy food, pressed me on, and kept thumping her paws on my shoulder.

Although she is usually easygoing, she is not lacking in understanding thanks to her daily education. Just the other day, she had untied the bag that contained money in our room and her eyes were twinkling as she checked the few gold coins and numerous silver coins in it.

(It’s great that she could understand the value of money, but…I guess I shouldn’t let her get too attached to it either.)

Money can buy a lot of things, and depending on the person or situation, it can also buy love and dignity, but I know that it cannot buy what I really want.

The most important things to me are absolute trust and love, a strong body, and a steel-like mind. None of these can be bought with money no matter how much I save up.

(Well, you can hire strong fighters with it though…)

Suddenly, I remembered a well-known family in Athos. They were a noble family from the east who had adopted the western culture due to the long history of wars between the east and the west, and the head of that family had made a request to the mercenary corps that I was previously part of.

The request was to have his heir to gain achievements in defeating monsters, but the catch was that he would not be required to wield a sword. But what meaning is there in gaining fictional achievements?

“Hmph, there’s no value in it if it doesn’t go hand in hand with reality.”

At least if I wanted something, I would want to acquire it with my own hands even if it seems inefficient and foolish, as long as it doesn’t endanger my companions…

After I made a rough conclusion, I put my palm over my shoulder and patted my sister on the head as I went through the guild doors and searched the lively tavern annex, and found Muriel and her friends who had arrived earlier.

“Heee~y, over here!!”

Ares, who was looking in our direction, raised a mug full of amber liquid while Mirea, their archer who remained in the city to recuperate, gave us a small wave.

“I heard you performed really well and even took down two Imperial Ants?”

“Yeah, that’s why Archer’s treating us to dinner tonight!”

“Wait a minute, Riberto… How did it end up like that?”

“Well, I mean, didn’t you get paid more than us?”

If I remember correctly, according to Ms. Grace and Edgar, the two Adventurers who led the Adventurer units previously, they received a bit more for subjugating the large Imperial ants, but they had no obligation to buy anybody a drink, so I just took his words lightly as he seemed like he was already beginning to get drunk.

“Geez, Riberto, stop saying nonsense… Ah, come sit here, Archer♪”

Muriel, whose glossy red hair was illuminated by the lamp that dimly lit the room perhaps to conserve vegetable oil, lightly tapped the chair beside her and urged me to sit, so I willingly obliged.

This translation is brought to you by Nocturne Translations.

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Translator’s Notes:

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions” – the Japanese equivalent of this idiomatic expression is 地獄への道は善意で舗装されている (jigoku he no michi ha zeni de hosousareru) which emphasizes that you shouldn’t just behave well but act according to your intention or you will have problems later on.