The next day, Hulim went to the caravan’s headquarters according to the address provided by Chander.

  "Miss Hulim, welcome~!"

  Chander enthusiastically invited Hulim inside.

  As she ate the pastries offered to her, Hulim stated her purpose.

  "Mr. Chander, I wonder if the bounty for the bandit suppression has come through yet?"

  "Oh, that matter! I was just about to send someone to find you if you didn’t come! Come, bring Miss Hulim’s things!"

  An assistant soon walked in holding a bulging money pouch.

  Chander handed the pouch to Hulim.

  "Miss Hulim, please check if this meets your satisfaction?"

  Hulim took the heavy pouch, opened it, and saw that most of it was gold coins, with only a few silver coins—no copper coins at all.

  "Mr. Chander, is there really this much?"

  Hulim was quite surprised.

  "Haha, Miss Hulim, you flatter me. This is what you deserve! We agreed to distribute it based on contributions, and you were the one who provided the intelligence, came up with the plan, and even captured the bandit leader in the end! Who else deserves the biggest share if not you?"

  "Hmm......"

  Hulim couldn’t refute, but after calculating, she found the amount was still off.

  "Even so, isn’t this too much......"

  "Not at all! We strictly followed the agreed-upon ratio. You think it’s excessive because we got lucky this time—there were two high-bounty targets among the bandits. That’s why the final payout is much higher. Thanks to this, even if we didn’t make money from this trade, the caravan still turned a good profit."

  "Two high-bounty targets......"

  Hulim understood the reason and no longer hesitated, putting the money pouch away.

  "Mr. Chander, could you tell me who those two high-bounty targets were?"

  "Those two? Hmm, I think they were the bandit gang’s second-in-command and third-in-command......"

  Second and third-in-command?

  A hint of confusion flashed in Hulim’s eyes.

  "Only the second and third? What about the leader?"

  Chander nodded. "I found that strange too, so I specially went to confirm—there really is no bounty on the leader."

  "That’s odd......"

  "Haha~, Miss Hulim, don’t overthink it. No matter what the leader did to cover his tracks, he’s in jail now, isn’t he? Do you think he can escape Count Leicester’s prison? No need to worry!"

  "Well, you’re right......"

  Hulim nodded, thinking she must be overcomplicating things.

  After leaving Chander’s merchant guild, Hulim returned directly to the inn.

  She poured all the money she had left onto the table and counted it.

  After finishing, she wore a rather subtle expression.

  "How much money did father give me when I left? I remember it was 100,000 Kohl...... and now there’s...... 823,540 Kohl!"

  "......It was supposed to be a trip where I spend money, so why did I end up with more?"

  Hulim calculated carefully. The reward Alex gave her was about 120,000 Kohl—roughly the standard rate for a C-rank adventurer’s long-distance escort mission.

  The total bounty for suppressing the bandits was over 660,000 Kohl.

  Adding those together gave more than 780,000 Kohl. With her original 100,000 Kohl, minus the expenses along the way—especially yesterday’s spending—the final amount was 820,000 Kohl!

  "......Could it be that I have a talent for making money?"

  Hulim crossed her arms and thought, but quickly dismissed the idea.

  "No, no, no. It’s not so much a talent for making money as it is a talent for being an adventurer!"

  After all, a veteran C-rank adventurer worked hard for days and nights to earn about 100,000 Kohl, and such lucrative quests might only come once a month. Most of the time, they took on quests that paid only a few thousand Kohl—which was already good. D-rank adventurers got only a few thousand Kohl per quest, and E-rank newcomers could only take low-level tasks that paid a few hundred Kohl.

  "Earning what a veteran adventurer makes in seven or eight escort missions in one go...... Adventurer money is so easy to earn—no, wait, bandits are really valuable!"

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  "Should I consider becoming an adventurer in the future......"

  "Well, I’ll keep it as a backup option!"

  Later, Hulim found a larger bag, hid most of the money, and only put enough gold and silver coins for the rest of the journey in her original wallet.

  Earning money was a good thing, but being seen with so much would definitely bring trouble.

  ......

  In the blink of an eye, a day passed.

  Hulim checked out of the inn and went near the station.

  It was still early before the caravan’s departure time, so Hulim left her luggage on the beast cart she would be taking, then wandered around the nearby street food stalls.

  "Mmm~!"

  Hulim ate an unknown skewer while wandering aimlessly down the street.

  Suddenly, she froze as if she had seen something, then quickly ducked behind a street shelf.

  Through the gaps in the shelf, she looked again at the figure she had just spotted.

  After getting a clear look at the person’s face, her eyes widened—she hadn’t misseen.

  "How is this possible...... Shouldn’t that person be in jail?!"

  The person she saw was none other than the bandit leader she had watched being taken away by guards a few days earlier.

  Yet the leader, who should have been imprisoned, was now walking openly down the street, hiding only his figure under a hooded robe—his face wasn’t even covered.

  "......"

  Hulim stared quietly at the bandit leader for a moment, then glanced at the person beside him. The identical robes and the aura that suggested they were from the same group made it clear they were accomplices.

  The two seemed to be talking about something, but they were too far away for Hulim to hear clearly. Just as she was thinking about how to listen in, the two unexpectedly walked toward the station!

  Hulim pressed her body further behind the shelf to avoid being seen.

  After the two reached the station entrance, they didn’t go in. Instead, they looked around, then moved to an empty corner and stood there.

  Hulim: "......"

  Watching the two men, who were less than five meters away but couldn’t see her behind the shelf due to the angle, Hulim didn’t know what to say—it was too coincidental......

  In reality, this situation wasn’t just a coincidence.

  When Hulim ducked for cover, she didn’t think much and instinctively chose behind this shelf. Unbeknownst to her, due to habit, she had picked one of the best hiding spots nearby. And because time was tight, she had to give up the optimal hiding place.

  Fortunately, she hadn’t chosen that optimal spot—otherwise, she would be awkwardly face-to-face with the two men now......

  Once in the corner, the two robed men didn’t speak directly. Instead, they first checked their surroundings—starting with an advertising wooden sign with a gap against the wall, which was the optimal hiding spot.

  After confirming no one was around, they continued their conversation.

  Hulim looked away, fearing they might detect her gaze at such a close distance. She slowed her breathing to the minimum and pricked up her ears to listen carefully......

  "......Zev, you idiot! I don’t know what you’re good for—getting caught by a mere caravan and a few adventurers! If you weren’t still useful, you’d be dead in jail for knowing so much!"

  The bandit leader’s companion, a man with a scar on his face who addressed him as Zev, said coldly.

  "It’s not my fault! Those bandits were all idiots—jumping straight into the trap. How could I have taken on so many people alone!"

  "If you couldn’t beat them, why didn’t you run? Don’t tell me you charged into the front lines with those fools!"

  "I...... I had a chance to escape!"

  Zev tried to defend himself vigorously.

  "Oh~!" The scarred man sneered. "Then who did I break out of jail?"

  "I——"

  Zev’s voice faltered, then he sounded extremely angry.

  "It’s all that damn kid——!!! Without her, I would have never been discovered, let alone captured!"

  "Kid?"

  The scarred man narrowed his eyes.

  "What kid?"

  "I don’t know who she is, but she’s the one who spotted me! I was on a mountain—you needed binoculars to see what was happening below, but she saw me anyway!? The worst part is, I had another chance to escape later! And she was the one who found me again! I hate that girl more than anything—I want to crush her face!"

  "......"

  The scarred man frowned deeply.

  "You don’t even know who she is. How are you going to find her?"

  "No——," Zev shook his head, speaking through gritted teeth. "I don’t know her name, but I heard when we entered the city—she’s Manacos’s student!"

  "Manacos——?"

  The scarred man froze, then laughed.

  "Hehe~, interesting~, really interesting~! You’re saying the kid who put you in jail is in Langard—the imperial capital where our headquarters is located?"

  Zev nodded. "That’s right! She’s definitely going to Langard! I remember her face clearly—someone that distinctive is impossible to miss!"

  "......Is that so?"

  The scarred man stroked his chin.

  "Indeed. Daring to ruin our plans—even Manacos’s student must learn her lesson."

  With that, the scarred man glanced at the leader.

  "Speaking of which...... Have you figured out how to explain this to the boss when you get back?"

  "That——"

  Zev’s expression instantly turned bitter.

  "Hehe~!" The scarred man continued. "The boss entrusted you with the important task of ‘acquiring’ slaves, and you messed it up this badly. In the end, the organization had to pay to get you out~! Tsk tsk~, if I were the boss, I’d skin you alive~?"

  Zev shuddered in fear.

  "N-no...... You wouldn’t, right? I’ve made great contributions to the organization! The boss wouldn’t abandon me after using me, would he......"

  "Hmph. It’s precisely because of those ‘contributions’ that you’re standing here now!"

  The scarred man smiled faintly, but his eyes were cold.

  If you weren’t in charge of slave ‘transportation’ in a large area, had several small organizations under you besides the ruined bandit gang, and controlled the contact channels of several key slave merchants, you really wouldn’t have made it out alive......

  "Heh~! How the boss deals with you will be clear once we get back to Langard. But before that, there’s one more thing for you— the money the organization spent to get you out is a loan. Don’t forget to pay it back!"

  "What——!?"

  Zev’s vision went dark, and he almost collapsed.

  "T-that’s a huge sum of Kohl!"

  The scarred man smiled and said "kindly": "So you’d better work hard to pay off the debt as soon as possible. You should know the organization’s interest rates are very high~!"

  "Hahaha~!"

  With that, the scarred man laughed loudly, left Zev behind, and entered the station.

  Zev stood there, fists clenched tightly, his expression changing constantly. In the end, his face turned pale, and he slowly loosened his fists—he didn’t dare to resist, for that would only lead to a more miserable future.

  Then, looking dejected, he followed and walked into the station.

  After the two were completely gone, Hulim stepped out from behind the shelf, stared in the direction they had left, her face expressionless, her gaze calmer than ever.

  "I see. Then there’s no other way."

  ......

  ......