The Undetectable Strongest Job: Rule Breaker

Hikaru surmised that perhaps there was technology left behind by Japanese people in the Zuburan ruins. They might find information on the holy mana that Katy was studying on. Or maybe not. Either way, there was a high chance that Hikaru and Selica might discover information not yet known to this country.

Selyse was trying to say that how the information would be used was up to Hikaru and Selica.

「I have no intention of doing that.」Hikaru denied.

「What?」

「I promised Professor Katy to aid her in her research and that’s not limited to the ruins in Zubura. It’s up to her how she wants to use her findings. She’ll most likely publish them, though.」

「And you’re fine with that?」

「Yeah. No biggie.」

「You might gain a huge amount of profit. Surely you understand that, right?」

「I know that. Get off my back, sheesh.」

Earning large amounts of money through patents was a thing in Japan as well. Hikaru believed Japan’s rights business was advanced. He didn’t need to be reminded about the money he could get.

「I see.」For some reason, Selyse heaved a sigh of relief.

「I think that’s enough, Selyse. Like I said, Hikaru is an honest and upstanding guy!」

「Hmm? What’s going on, Selica?」Hikaru certainly didn’t believe he was honest and upstanding. But there was something in the way Selica said it.

「I can explain. Sorry for testing you.」Selyse said, giving a wry smile.

「Remember the monster outbreak from Un el Portan? The battle was an official “request” to the adventurers through the Adventurers Guild.」

「That makes sense. There were barely any soldiers there.」

That reminds me, Hikaru thought. I wonder what happened to that special forces dude they captured. He was handed to the guards in Borderzard. They should use him as a bargaining chip against Ponsonia. Ponsonia will most likely play dumb, though.

「And we successfully defended the town. In other words, we received a reward.」

「So? What about it?」

「You still don’t get it? You won’t get even 1 gilan since you didn’t officially participate as an adventurer. I’m talking about the Solaris Mage who protected the town and the Mysterious Dragon Slayer who secretly killed the Earth Dragon.」

Hikaru didn’t know such names were floating around. He was, of course, going to feign ignorance.

「I don’t know what you’re talking about.」

Selyse sighed.

「So you really want to hide it. Queen Marquedo offered an unprecedented amount of reward. But the top two people who contributed the most have gone missing, so there’s still some money left over.」

「Oh. Not really my problem, though.」

「Why hide it?」

「I don’t know why you’re asking me. I can’t give you an answer.」

「Just speaking generally. I’m not asking about you specifically.」

「Let’s see… Maybe they don’t need the money?」

「By the way the third on the list were the Four Stars of the East. They received a total of six million gilans. Four million for minimizing damage to the town, 1.5 million for healing the injured, and half a million for scouting the Earth Dragon despite the danger.」

Even the first to provide information about the Earth Dragon’s death was rewarded. It was indeed a lavish amount—about sixty million in Japanese yen—but the Adventurers Guild should have seized the materials from the Earth Dragon. They could get good money from selling them. Hikaru burned the monster’s skin and tentacles, but the meat, bones, and fangs still remained.

Combine those with the materials from the monsters killed near town, Forestia and the guild wouldn’t be in the red.

「Is that so?」Hikaru said.「Then the first and second on the list must have higher rewards. Nothing to do with me, though.」

Selyse sighed once more.

「You do look like you don’t want to stand out. The Queen wanted to conduct a parade for both the Mysterious Dragon Slayer and the Solaris Mage and show them to the public.」

Okay, that’s just ridiculous. That woman’s plotting something.

Right now, drawing attention wasn’t a problem since Hikaru and Lavia didn’t have to worry about pursuers from Ponsonia anymore. But still being well-known meant not being able to do a lot of things. The price of being famous, so to speak.

Rather than imposing such a disadvantage on himself, Hikaru would rather lay low. They weren’t in trouble financially anyway. Converted to Japanese currency, he had more than a hundred million yen. The dragon stone should be enough reward for what I did.

Hikaru had no idea how much he could sell it for since he couldn’t find information on it in Roland’s memories. It didn’t look like Roland dabbled much in dragon stones.

「Now they’re having trouble since people are claiming to be the Dragon Slayer.」

「For real?」

「Yeah! They called me to verify their claims.」Sarah said from the driver’s seat.

「Did you see this Dragon Slayer, Sarah?」Hikaru asked, frowning.

He had his Stealth on back then. No one should’ve seen him.

「I didn’t. But my ladies’ instinct tells me who he really is. Also, the ones coming forward were rough-looking men. One look and they were out.」

Sarah seemed to believe that Hikaru was the one who killed the Earth Dragon. That much was obvious when they talked in Borderzard.

It must be her Instinct… My Instinct is also telling me to just answer with “No comment”.

Hikaru shrugged.「I don’t know what you’re talking about.」

Even Selyse gave up.「Fine. I won’t press the issue any further.」

「Selyse lost a battle of endurance!」Selica exclaimed.

「Hikaru is a tough nut to crack, okay? He carefully chooses his words so he’s not committing to anything, and there’s nothing I can really say when he’s this defiant.」Selyse told Selica.「Sorry for prying and being persistent, Hikaru. We didn’t exactly have a friendly conversation back in Borderzard. I had a lot of questions too, but we didn’t really get anywhere.」

「It’s fine. No need to apologize. You carried out my request anyway.」

In exchange for providing information about Forestia, Hikaru asked the Four Stars to protect Claude and Luka, and they managed to accomplish that. Right now, Claude and Luka were in Jarazack. As payment, Hikaru told them everything he knew about the country.

「Hikaru. To be honest, I think 6 million gilans is too much. We didn’t even work that long. So I want you to take half of it.」

「No.」

「It doesn’t matter who you really are. I’m giving it to you out of pure goodwill. Just because you take it doesn’t mean you admit that you’re the one who killed the Earth Dragon.」

「That’s not it. I asked rank B adventurers to do a job. I know the information I gave is not enough for payment. Just keep it. Maybe the Dragon Slayer—who is definitely not me—wants you to have it.」

「Here I was, planning to use the request to make you feel indebted.」Selyse told the truth.

「I figured as much.」

At first glance, Selyse Lande, the Sun Maiden, looked like a cheerful and sincere woman, but she was actually quite the cunning devil. Hikaru didn’t want to owe her anything, or vice versa.

「So you saw through everything.」

「An utter defeat, Selyse!」

For some reason, Selica was delighted even though her party leader just lost.

「What did you talk about?」Hikaru asked Paula as he entered the room.

Later that evening, they entered a town and checked in at an inn. Going with the Four Stars would only draw attention so they booked different places.

「L-Lady Sophie advised me to join the church or the Healers Guild.」

「Healers Guild?」

Apparently there was a small-scale guild where Healers gathered. Healing magic only manifested to those who had great faith, so there weren’t a lot of them around. Potions could be substituted for weaker healing magic, but for the more powerful ones, potions were rare. As such, Healers sometimes get kidnapped.

For Paula’s protection, Sophie strongly advised her to join such organizations. In fact, Sophie pushed the issue too much, wearing Paula out.

「I see. Must’ve been rough.」

「I-I’m fine! I told her that I have you! About 500 times…」

Oh, that woman was really persistent.

「I’ll teach that stubborn philanthropist a lesson so she doesn’t bother you again.」

「You’d do that for me?」

「I just hate it when people touch my stuff. I’d even get pissed if someone took my veggies I couldn’t finish because I was full.」

「Am I like a parsley to you?!」Paula cried.

Hikaru was about to add some nonsense like “I actually love parsley” to cheer Paula up when Lavia cut in.

「Paula, Hikaru’s just trying to hide his embarrassment. Since he took you in, he’ll take good care of you.」

「Lavia-san!」Paula clung to Lavia.

「I really wonder what you two talked about while I was gone.」

They’re getting along too well.

「A secret!」

「It’s a secret!」

The girls answered in unison. Hikaru gave an exasperated sigh.