It's Just Money

Twenty thousand gold coins. The sum the lord's son Abaus had demanded.

By sheer coincidence, it was the exact total of Master's entire fortune, minus his slaves.

The shop, the land, the cash, even the money tied up in pending deals. All of it combined.

Had he said that number on purpose? Or had he genuinely poured twenty thousand coins into the statue?

Or had he just thrown out a number at random?

Master looked at the sword pressed to his throat.

The blade rested flat against his neck. If Evris, the Temple Knight, applied even a shred of force, his head would leave his shoulders.

The plaza hung on a knife's edge between adventurers and Temple Knights, but the sword at Master's throat kept everyone in check.

Abaus wore a smirk, as though he already knew what Master would choose.

"I don't want to hear it, no no no…"

Azu was trying to cover her ears, but with Elza gripping her shoulders, she couldn't so much as squirm.

She seemed to believe Master would hand over the slaves' heads and keep the money.

Elza simply watched in silence.

As always, impossible to read.

Alexia gripped her battle-axe, her eyes screaming at Master to fight back.

For Master, each second felt like an eternity.

Money. Money had always been important to him.

He'd said without hesitation that it was the most important thing after his own life.

He firmly believed that while money couldn't buy happiness, it could ward off misfortune.

That as long as you kept earning, most hardships could be overcome.

His father, who'd died from complications of a serious injury, could have received better treatment. His mother wouldn't have worked herself into an early grave.

The tool shop had only started turning a real profit under his management.

His parents' generation had run it with prices too kind for their own good, noble poverty taken to an extreme.

He could just buy more slaves.

Losing twenty thousand gold coins would be an irrecoverable blow, but slaves could be replaced.

The merchant in him whispered that calculation.

But the voice vanished almost instantly.

If he didn't choose Azu and the others, they would be lost forever.

He could no longer imagine his days without them.

He could still recall the day Azu first came to his home as clearly as if it were yesterday.

Watching that frail girl grow under his care. He realized it had simply been a joy.

"You people took my money, the thing I value most after my own life."

The words spilled out before he could stop them, emotion running ahead of reason.

"And now you want to take my slaves? The ones I value more than my life? Don't make me laugh."

The blade at his throat bit into his skin. Blood trickled down.

"It's just money. You want gold? Fine, take it. But I'm not giving them up."

He could always earn more money.

One gold coin was the same as any other.

But even if he bought new slaves, they wouldn't be Azu. They wouldn't be Elza. They wouldn't be Alexia.

So he had no regrets.

"Is that so, is that so. Quite the lovesick fool, aren't you. They are easy on the eyes, I'll grant you that. Then I'll just kill you, take the money, and have the slaves too."

The instant Abaus said that, Evris bore down with force.

Master's body went rigid, bracing for the end.

But his head stayed on his shoulders.

Instead, Evris's right arm went sailing through the air, spraying a ribbon of blood.

"Mmmmmm?!"

Evris clutched his right arm with his left hand and sank to the ground.

He looked up at Azu. She'd slipped free of Elza's hold at some point, and with a single upward swing of her sword, severed Evris's right arm clean through his armor.

"My right arm… armor and all… this little brat…"

Evris got that far before the words died in his throat.

The moment he saw Azu's face, he had nothing left to say.

Her expression was blank.

But tears were streaming from both eyes.

"Slave! I'll teach you what happens when you defy me!"

"If you hurt Master, I'll kill you."

"Wh—what…?"

Azu answered Abaus's threat without a heartbeat's delay.

There was no emotion in those words.

Abaus looked away from Azu's eyes.

Because her words had been utterly, terrifyingly sincere.

"Mmmmm! You think you can take on everyone here?!"

"Yes."

"We are Temple Knights of the Church of the Sun God. If you kill us, there will be—"

"I'll kill them too. I'll keep killing until no one comes after us anymore."

"… Mm."

Evris grabbed his severed right arm with his left hand and backed away from Azu.

"Even if I can't kill all of them, I'll fight until Master can escape. I'll drag as many down with me as I can before I die."

It wasn't a bluff. Azu meant every word.

For the first time, Azu understood what it felt like to have a full heart.

The knowledge that Master had chosen her filled her body with strength.

She stood before him. Shielding him.

"Azu…"

The iris of Azu's right eye shifted from blue to a shimmering rainbow.

The Sealed Sword Grungaus blazed with mana.

"Azu-chan… The Apostle's Vessel reacted to her emotions. Sooner than I expected."

Elza murmured this while healing her own wrenched hand.

Facing Azu alone, the Temple Knights retreated.

Evris assessed her as he tended to his arm.

Dawn was breaking. The sun began to show itself on the horizon.

"Evris, what are you doing cowering before a single girl?! They'll think we're pushovers!"

Abaus spat the words at Evris and drew his own sword, leveling it at Azu.

Without a shred of hesitation, Azu pointed her blade at the lord's son.

Nothing in this world took priority over Master. Not anymore.

Azu took a step forward.

Abaus took a step back.

Azu took another step.

Abaus retreated two.

The adventurers raised their weapons as well.

The balance between the townsfolk and the lord's forces was crumbling.

Alexia gripped her battle-axe, fixing the Temple Knights with a glare.

As Abaus kept backing away, his foot caught on the headless bronze statue lying on the ground.

He stumbled and fell.

Then, without warning, the statue's right arm, motionless until that moment, seized him.

"Wh—what?! Hiii—"

The statue crushed him, bathing in his blood.

It rose again.

A blue flame appeared where its face had been.

The flame slowly shaped itself into a human visage.

"No sacrifice was obtained. How vexing. Children of the Creator King."

The rasping voice spoke.

"Azu-chan, cut it down!"

At Elza's shout, Azu cleaved the statue in two.

Split apart, the statue lost its flame and collapsed for the last time.

Abaus was, by any measure, dead on impact.

Evris glanced at the corpse, then gripped his sword and started to back away.

But his feet stopped.

Kingdom banners were visible outside the town walls.

A tax collection delegation had arrived.

"Mmm. That's enough. We're pulling out."

The Temple Knights fired a signal flare into the sky, then fled en masse.

At the same moment, Azu collapsed.

Master rushed to catch her.

She was unconscious. Her right eye had returned to normal.

Elza gently placed a healing miracle over her.