## Chapter 603 – The Scent of Spring

ㅡHaa, haa.

Looking around, everyone seemed to be panting, exhausted.

How many hours had we been tracking?

It seemed to have slightly scrambled their brains. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be making such outrageous demands after seeing my armor.

Or maybe they were feeling confident now that there were six of them.

“We’re not asking for everything. Just one of the two. And we’ll even take the smaller one. Wouldn’t that be fair? We drove them here, and you caught them, so you could say it’s a kind of collaboration.”

I seemed to have unknowingly collaborated.

Of course, that was bullshit.

“Collaboration my ass. Hey, I killed them, so just fuck off. Seriously, you might end up dead. I’ll let it slide just this once.”
“No, wait a minute…!”

The adventurer’s face turned red as he shouted back at my sharp retort.

“We drove them here, so we’re just asking for one! It’s a reasonable request, so why are you talking like that…? You’re an adventurer too, so how can you treat a fellow adventurer like this!”

Why was this bastard being so brazen?
Did he have something he was relying on?

“Where are you from?”
“The Krasheim Adventurer’s Guild.”

So it was those guys?

Then we wouldn’t be seeing each other again. I could just beat them up a bit. A good beating was the best medicine for people who talked nonsense.

“Then why didn’t you stay there? Why are you trying to take what I caught, you blockhead? Is that how all the Krasheim adventurers act?”
“What nonsense! We exhausted them with our pursuit, and you just finished them off!”

I understood what he was getting at, but we just couldn’t bridge the gap in our thinking.

Why did he think they had ownership just because they drove them here?

Even the guys who demanded a spot when I went to find the meteorites weren’t this brazen.

“So, you’re saying that because you drove them this way, they’re all yours?”
“Can’t you understand something that simple?”
“Heh heh heh, you son of a bitch.”

ㅡCheoeok.

As I took a step forward, he raised his hand to stop the adventurers who were starting to exude a menacing aura.

It seemed this guy was definitely the party leader.

“Hey, then listen to this.”
“What?”
“If these drakes are yours, then you’re saying you drove them here poorly, putting me in danger? Then shouldn’t I be demanding compensation from you?”

If these things belonged to them, then they failed to keep the drakes under control, causing them to attack me. Then I should be getting compensation.

“Because of you bastards, I was attacked by drakes.”
“Th-That’s ridiculous! How could we have known that!”

Did he think I was stupid?

“I didn’t know you guys were driving them either, you dumbass.”
“That’s why we’re saying we should split it in half!”
“Don’t talk nonsense, you son of a bitch. Whether you drove them or not, I killed them.”
“We exhausted them!”

Trying to freeload off someone else’s kill.

In the first place, all these guys did was chase after the fleeing drakes. The fact that the drakes had no significant injuries proved that.

“Bullshit. Hey, hey. Exhausted them my ass. Look closely, you idiot. The drakes don’t have a single scratch on them.”

Since they were just chasing them, their demand to split it in half was just picking a fight. It wasn’t ethically justifiable either.

“If you guys had fought hard, at least there would be some injuries. But other than the parts I smashed, they’re perfectly clean. And they were perfectly fine, so exhausted my ass.”
“What nonsense…!”

I was trying to avoid unnecessary violence since I became a paladin, but these kinds of guys just had to show up.

“Don’t listen to him, Vyton! There’s no need to listen to his unreasonable demands!”
“Just because I exchanged a few words with you, you think you can talk back, you little punk!”

When I told them the facts, the adventurers behind him got angry and shouted.

“Hey, guys, damn it. I know what you’re thinking, but I killed them, okay?”

If a monster I was tracking with all my might suddenly disappeared from my sight and ran somewhere else, and then that monster attacked a passing pedestrian, and the attacked pedestrian caught that monster…

The ownership is entirely with that pedestrian.

What these guys were demanding was the same as me going to that pedestrian and saying, “Hey, I was tracking that, so let’s split the spoils in half.”

Even robbers weren’t this brazen.

“Just because he’s a barbarian, he doesn’t understand us!! Vyton! Let’s just take it! There’s no need to listen to his unreasonable demands!”
“W-Wait a minute!”

One brave adventurer placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and shouted fiercely. It looked like he was really thinking of starting a sword fight.

“Take your hand off the sword hilt.”

I would give them one last warning as a paladin of the Brass Sky Church.

“Or what if I don’t—”
“That’s it, you little shit. What’s the point of talking?”

ㅡTeoheong!

I immediately rushed at him and slapped his chubby cheek with my palm.

“ㅡKeok?!”

The guy who was hit spun around and flew away. At this point, I could just beat them up and take some compensation.

“Heok! You son of a bitch!”
“Vyton! It’s an attack!”

The adventurers who had been shouting drew their weapons and charged at me.

“Didn’t I tell you to stop!!!”

The party leader, called Vyton, tried to stop them, but adventurers were the kind of guys who didn’t listen to their own parents. Would they listen to me if they didn’t listen to their parents?

Actually, the party leader wasn’t their parent anyway.

“Iyaaap!!”
“You bastard!”

Four adventurers charged at me at the same time, but I was just dumbfounded. All of these guys were worse than the low-level instructors I faced at the same time when the Martial Artist Guild was kidnapped.

“These weak-ass bastards are unbelievable!”

ㅡChaeng!

I easily blocked the sword of the guy charging at the front with my gauntlet, grabbed his wrist, and swung him around with all my might.

ㅡHuuk!

“Kkyaaaaaaaaaaaak!!!”

The adventurer whose wrist I had grabbed became a screaming human club, sweeping through the air and hitting the other adventurers.

ㅡPeoeok!

“Euaaaaaaaak!!”
“Kkyaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!”

The weight of an adult male, close to 70kg, slammed into the other adventurers. It was a truly tremendous impact. The guys who were hit by the human club flew in all directions, screaming in pain.

It wasn’t even that hard to grab someone and swing them around.

I threw away the last guy and tossed the guy I was holding with all my strength.

“You sons of bitches!!!!!”

In the end, it only took about 30 seconds to take care of the six adventurers, including the party leader. Lying on the ground, they groaned in pain and vomited blood, probably from internal injuries.

“Ugh…!”
“Keuhaeuk!”
“Kulheok!”

I could really feel how much stronger I had become.

This was entirely their fault. But I was a paladin. I needed to value mercy. Fusion Confucianism also encouraged mercy.

“Heh heh heh, you little shits.”

I looked down at them and said.

“Don’t even look at something you didn’t kill, you sons of bitches.”

It wasn’t like I had finished off something they were fighting hard against. I just killed the guys who attacked me, so why should I split the spoils in half?

“I’ll let you off once since you’re not professional robbers, but if you act up again, you’re dead, got it?”
“Kkeueueuk…!”
“Keuk…”

Despite my warning, none of them answered.

They were all lying around with broken bones all over the place. Anyway, I searched all of their pockets and stole all their wallets.

There was one guy who weakly resisted, but he quickly quieted down after I punched him in the forehead. Searching wallets was a very familiar task, so it didn’t take me more than 5 minutes to search them all. If they had hidden it in a really deep place, I would have cut their clothes with a knife.

After checking the money I had taken from the six of them, it was about 24 silver.

“Heh heh heh. You little shits. You have so much money, yet you’re so greedy.”

Seeing the silver coins, the anger that had been rising began to subside like magic.

“Ugh… Th-This can’t be…!”
“Shut up, you idiot.”

Yeah, well, if I took this much, I could let them off once. People could lose their minds and act up once in a while, right?

Anyway, I made money as soon as I arrived.

I immediately gathered the fallen guys in one place and cleaned them up, then cut off the drakes’ heads and skinned them.

After removing the teeth and claws, I spread out the skinned hide like a bundle and put the loot inside and wrapped it up. It was quite bulky, but not so much that I couldn’t carry it.

Then I headed to Schled.

* * *

Schled was a fairly large village.

The atmosphere was just like that village when I went to the Kobold Dungeon a long time ago. Adventurers were passing by here and there, and the original villagers were making and selling food.

ㅡJeobeok jeobeok.
ㅡJeobeok jeobeok.
ㅡJeobeok jeobeok.

Even the lord’s soldiers were moving in formation. The information that they were launching a suppression operation based in this village seemed to be true.

“Warrior! Did you catch a drake?”
“Huh?”

As I was crossing the village, a middle-aged man who looked like a resident ran up with a bright smile. Drakes might attack, but he seemed to be in a good mood. In fact, they would all be exterminated here, and the village economy had been revitalized due to the large influx of adventurers and soldiers, so it was only natural.

“The village is currently buying drake hides, teeth, bones, and heads! This is for those who find it troublesome to return to Isbant!”
“Ah, so you’re planning to buy them cheaply and then sell them directly in Isbant later?”
“That’s right! Wouldn’t it be too difficult to hunt while carrying all that around? Just sell them here!”

It wasn’t a bad offer. I couldn’t carry this bundle around all the time. And it was difficult to store it somewhere.

I immediately followed him and handed over all the drake materials I had brought, including the heads. The price came out to be about 19 silver, which was reasonable.

If I went to Isbant to sell them, it would be about 20 silver.

These guys’ margins were a bit high, but I couldn’t take all the materials to Isbant, so it was better to just sell them. They would recognize me for my achievements if I brought the heads, but that didn’t mean anything to me anymore.

“Making money is easy.”

It was really easy.

Anyway, I asked the merchant for the location of the village inn and headed there.

He said that there might not be any empty rooms because so many people had come. And even if there were, they would be expensive.

There was always a rip-off wherever you went.

Well, I made money, so who cared?

I barely managed to get a room, put down my luggage, washed my face, and immediately went outside. I was thinking of gathering some simple information from the soldiers. I needed to know where the soldiers would be fighting.

If I said I was a quasi-priest, they would tell me everything.

“Hoo.”

As I was stretching and heading to the village square…

“No way!!! It’s you!!!!!!!!”

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed loudly from the side. Wondering what it was, I saw a woman with impressive red pigtails striding towards me.

“Barbarian Warrior!!!!!!”
“I-I greet the young lady of Isbant!!!”

ㅡTsupat!

I reflexively knelt on one knee and lowered my gaze!

There was no woman with such high tension and pigtails in Isbant other than the young lady of Isbant! I heard she was here, but I didn’t expect to meet her as soon as I arrived!!

It was an unexpected situation, but my two years of military life had made me a master of showing respect to superiors.

I was satisfied that my reflexive etiquette had come out.

Even though she had shown me some favor, a noble was a noble. She might slap me in the face if I made a mistake.

“I knew it!!! I had a feeling you would come! A warrior righteous enough to be a quasi-priest couldn’t possibly miss such an event!!! I recognized you as soon as I saw you from afar! Consider it an honor!”

She had definitely shouted “Barbarian Warrior” as soon as she saw me from afar.

“It is a great honor for my humble self to be recognized by the young lady! If I ever return to my tribe, I will boast about it for generations to come!”
“Ohohohohohot! Of course, you should! Now, stand up, Barbarian Warrior! You are not a warrior who should be kneeling!”
“Th-That’s an honor!”

I immediately stood up.

The young lady was looking at me with a smile on her face.