“Uncle Basto. Do you know who pooped on my head like a bird?”

Compensation Bureau, reimbursement window for byproducts of magic crystals.

Sitting in the waiting area, Tie leaned toward Basto’s ear and whispered.

“That Holy Knight uncle over there, he’s exactly like in ‘Who Pooped on My Head,’ right?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a story. A mole goes on an adventure to find out who pooped on his head.”

“I see. And who was the culprit?”

“Actually.......”

For some reason, Tie suddenly fell silent.

Glancing around for no reason, she asked:

“Uncle, if I spoil it, is that bad?”

“Spoil it?”

“If I say who pooped — that’s a spoil.”

“Then that’s bad?”

“Maybe?”

“Then don’t. And I won’t listen.”

Tie nodded as if that was exactly what she had expected.

“Nee.”

The girl obediently stared forward again.

Inside the Compensation Bureau.

Other than them, no one else was waiting for settlement for magic beast cores.

‘There are hardly any visitors. But we have to wait sooo long......?’

“And there’s no mix coffee, and no Baccas.”

Tie quietly licked her lips.

Usually in places like this there should be a machine with mix coffee, where sweet milk flows for free.

When she finally got bored enough to start swinging her legs that didn’t reach the floor—

“......Agavert?”

The door behind the counter burst open, and an unfamiliar man hurried out.

“That’s us.”

Basto raised his hand, and the man awkwardly circled the counter and stood before them. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Then, looking at Tie, he asked:

“So you are the King of the Dead?”

Tie glanced at Basto and slightly lifted her chin.

“Mm.”

The man’s eyes widened instantly.

He shifted his gaze to the mountain of core sacks piled beside the waiting area......

“P, please, come inside!”

And he led Basto and Tie into the room behind the counter.

‘Like a bank!’

Once inside, Tie looked around with curiosity.

When she went to the bank with her grandmother, she sometimes saw people being guided inside like this.

And now it was her......!

“Hee.”

After giggling, Tie quickly fell quiet.

In front of her, the bureau employees were counting the magic beast cores brought by Agavert one by one.

“So these are all byproducts from the Pearlcity sea magic crystal?”

“That’s right.”

“It seems there were creatures among them that have never been seen before?”

At the question from Ornel, who introduced himself as director of the central branch, the tired-looking woman standing beside him nodded.

“Yes. There are several that the scanner can’t read.......”

She had been pressing the cores with a strange magical device for quite some time, producing beeping sounds — beep, beep.

“Well, since they’re from a sea crystal, that’s not surprising. Bring another sack.”

An employee stepped out.

With a proud expression, Tie tried to imitate Basto’s manner of speaking.

“There was also a special octopus.”

“An octopus?”

“Yes. With really long legs and lots of suckers!”

She remembered the creature in Pearlcity that had split Kal Worben’s ship in half.

But Ornel’s face instantly stiffened.

“A, and how did you deal with it?”

Tie °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° tilted her head.

How did they deal with it?

“Um, I ordered my subordinates?”

But that was true. At the time, Tie had merely given an order to the wandering spirits awakened from the abyss.

She had asked them to help — they needed to save the governor’s sons and the squad members.

After that, their middle leader, Grimnir, had handled everything.

‘I wonder if Grimnir is okay?’

Since leaving Pearlcity, she had not seen him even once.

To meet him again, would she have to go to the sea?

She was just thinking that when—

“F, first. Excluding what the scanner failed to recognize, and taking into account the recent incident in the Weapon Pavilion district, the compensation amount is approximately.......”

Ornel quickly scribbled something on paper.

A moment later, the sheet was handed to Basto and Tie.

Tie slowly read the numbers. How many zeros were there?

One, two, three.......

“Nine thousand golds?”

Ornel awkwardly glanced toward the door where the employee Remi had stepped out.

“For now. Once we include all the creatures the scanner didn’t recognize, the amount will likely increase. Approximately another six thousand golds......?”

Tie closed her mouth.

So a total of fifteen thousand golds?

But one gold was ten thousand won.

Then one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand.......

Seeing her glassy stare, Ornel grew nervous.

“I, it won’t take long. We only need to register the new sea creatures in the system! At the latest — a week?”

“.......”

“Ahem! Well, I’ll try to speed up the process. Of course, the already calculated nine thousand golds will be paid today.......”

But at that moment, Tie wasn’t hearing anything.

‘Nine thousand golds today? That’s ninety million won?’

And another sixty million in a week.

She remembered the old fried chicken truck that sometimes came to their house.

When she and Father bought two chickens, it cost ten thousand won.

And this was nine thousand of those.

And another six thousand......

Tie stared at the table, lost in thought.

Suddenly she remembered what Grandfather Nordix had said.

About how Tie had awakened incredible magical power.

To be honest, until now she hadn’t thought much about it.

Because she never realized she had done anything special.

When she summoned skeletons and commanded wandering spirits, it had just been......

‘Like calling friends to play together, wasn’t it?’

Even Stasia’s manifestation in Caldenbein Ridge had been the same.

Back then, Stasia had looked at Tie the whole time with a soft, warm gaze.

As if she wanted to speak with Adeline.

And Tie had simply opened the entrance from which magic power surged inside her.

‘Like pouring water from a cooler.......’

The amount of magic depended on how Tie regulated it.

If she opened it slightly, like peeling yogurt lid — just a little.

If she pressed the tap on a kindergarten water cooler harder — it would gush out.

And because of that, right now Tie—

“Here are nine thousand golds.”

Several sacks filled with gold coins were placed before her.

‘I earned this?’

Tie stared blankly at the sacks.

“The remaining six thousand golds will be delivered once prepared. You said you settled on Rosevobel Street?”

Basto nodded.

“That’s right.”

“So Rosevobel Street now has two mercenary headquarters.”

Basto frowned.

“Two? Who else is there?”

Ornel looked at him in surprise.

“Tregava. They set up their headquarters right on the street of noble townhouses, and there was quite a commotion...... Wait. You said Rosevobel Street, number 89?”

Tie looked at Basto in confusion.

Ornel added:

“Yes, 89! Then you’ll be occupying the building next to Tregava! Their headquarters address is Rosevobel Street, number 90.”

The expressions of Basto and Tie went blank at the same time.

“Ninety million...... Tregava.......”

After leaving the bureau, Tie sat in the cart Basto was pushing and muttered to herself.

Right before they exited, Ornel had also said that Agavert’s rank had risen again, but Tie had completely forgotten that.

‘Tie earned ninety million won.’

And another sixty million in a week!

Of course, thanks to the jewels brought by her skeletal friends, Tie and Agavert were already wealthy.

But officially receiving something like a salary — it felt strange.

And second—

‘Our neighbors are that very first mercenary squad whose name Tie flipped around.......’

She remembered the rattling windows of the neighboring building.

The building had been empty for now, but what if the people from Tregava returned?

‘How dare you flip the name of our first squad and make it your own? Pay rent for the name.’

For some reason, the image of Tregava’s unknown commander appeared ominous.

Feeling gloomy, Tie let out a small sigh.

“Are there casualties in the northwestern border territory?”

A serious voice sounded ahead.

When she lifted her head, she saw two men standing before the huge mansion at the end of the street.

At that very moment, the cart suddenly stopped with a loud clatter.