Chapter 51:
Bounties
“ARE YOU SURPRISED?” Captain Oght asked.
“Yes. I’d heard that it would be less than a monster information fee.”
“Normally, yes. But two of the four people we arrested this time are wanted for murder.”
“For murder?!”
“We had to turn them against each other, but we managed to
squeeze something out of one guy. ‘One of my buddies killed somebody,’ he told me. Threatened the man into silence, too. You can imagine how shocked I was!”
“Seriously…”
“We looked into him, and we found that his face and build matched those of a man wanted for murder. His name was different, though, so we dug into that as well. Turned out his family had put out a search request for him. Remember the tallest guy in the group?”
“Yes. He was the scariest one.”
“I bet. We looked into him, and it turned out that the real guy with his name had died. He killed the guy and took his identity—trying to hide in plain sight, I guess. When we questioned him, he told us one of the women was a murderer, too.”
“I…see.”
The captain sighed. “Those interrogations were a heck of a lot of work.”
“Thank you for your hard work, sir. Is the gratuity so high because they were wanted murderers?”
“Hm? Yeah, that’s partially why, but the two radal came from the guild. The murderers had bounties on their heads, one radal each. Gratuities are normally 5,000 dal per person, but murderers fetch two gidal each. The other two are the usual 5,000 dal, making a total of three gidal.”
“Umm, I’m not registered with the guild. Does that matter?”
“You’re not?” Captain Oght was surprised. “Well, that’s fine—you get bounties whether you’re registered or not.”
“I see. Still, I can’t believe murderers were after me! I’m lucky they got arrested.”
“The two murderers will be permanently enslaved,” he reassured me. “The other two will be in long-term slavery, too. You don’t have to worry.”
“Okay.”
“Unfortunately, our fortune-teller Altra wasn’t available, so it took a while to get things straight. Sorry we took so long.”
“No, it’s fine.” I hesitated. “Umm…”
“Yeah?”
“It would’ve been faster with Altra around? Why?”
“Ah. People with fortune-telling skills can judge other people,” Captain Oght explained. “At one star, you can tell if others are lying or not. At two stars, you’re a pretty big deal—you can tell whether people have committed crimes or not. At three stars, you can even find out what they’ve done…or so I’ve heard.”
“I see.”
“Our Altra has two stars, so she can tell if you’re lying. She’s fantastic… She can even make a broad judgment regarding what crimes you’ve committed. We rely on her so much that I honestly feel a little guilty about it.”
“That is incredible.” To think that fortune-tellers did stuff like that, too. I’d talked with our fortune-teller a lot, but she never told me much about her work. She’d never even mentioned how she cared for our village’s main crop.
“By the way, you said you’re not with the guild?” Captain Oght asked.
Oh. I’d best explain myself now. “Right. Um…you see, I ran away from Ratomi Village.”
“Ran away? So they didn’t kick you out to save food?”
“Yes, I’m sorry for not being honest. My parents were close to the chief, and the chief…believed I didn’t belong, so…”
“Really? What the hell is the lord out there doing if a child has no choice but to run away?!” Lords, as I recalled, governed villages, but ours had had a close relationship with the chief. I’d seen them from afar, but I’d never wanted to get too close. “If you ran away, then it might be best to hold off on registering with the guild until you’re officially an adult.”
“Until I’m an adult?”
“When a child registers with the guild, their home village is notified. We can explain the situation and ask that they don’t report it, but you never know where info might leak. If Ratomi has changed for the better, then it wouldn’t be an issue, but I’ve gotten no such news.”
They’ll notify them? Even if I’m an adult, I won’t be able to register…
“Ivy, how old are you?” Captain Oght asked.
“Eight years old. I’ll be nine next month.”
“Eight! Wow. You look…well, you do look young, but you’re doing very well for yourself, Ivy.”
“Oh, not at all, I—” I tried to deflect the compliment.
“Whoops. We’ve digressed, haven’t we? Umm, what was I doing? Right! I have your money here.”
There were two gold and three silver coins atop the desk. This was the second time I’d ever even seen gold coins. I took out the small magic bag that the old man had given me, put the money inside, and dropped it into the bigger bag at my hip. I’d decided to save money for winter, but I was getting a lot more than I’d expected, so I was worried. I’d have to be careful during my travels.
“Don’t you have a bank account with the guild?” he asked me.
“Huh?”
“You’re worried about walking around with that much money, aren’t you?”
“Um, I thought you couldn’t bank with the guild if you weren’t registered?”
“Huh? That’s not the case at all.”
What is he talking about? Is everything I know wrong?
“That may be true of the adventurer guild,” he added quickly, “but you don’t need to be registered at the merchant guild.”
“An account at the merchant guild?” Can you make bank accounts there?
“Look, it’s dangerous to carry that much money around on your person. Let’s go deposit it now.”
“I can really deposit money at the merchant guild without registering?”
“You’d need to register if you were planning to do business, but that doesn’t seem to be the plan.”
“No, it’s not.”
“You’ll need a drop of blood to prove your identity and make an account, but that’s all.”
“Really?” It was all such a surprise. “I had no idea you could do that.”
“Well, the merchant guild was just founded around ten years ago,” the captain explained. “It only has a presence in the capital, towns, and big villages so far. A lot of people don’t know the details.”
That made sense—it only existed in places with large populations. Still, I was really excited to have my own bank account!
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