“That’s right,” I said to Jo Hye-Jin.

I didn’t think she’d catch on so fast, but it was only a matter of time before she witnessed what was going on here.

As soon as she raised her hand, the mercenaries went in and they sent spells at the monster while approaching the survivors. Some people in the audience frowned at the sudden situation, but the others felt excited by the sudden change.

Arrows and magic were landing on the monster and of course, some of the survivors were injured in the midst of it. It seemed like they were overdoing it to save the products we were buying, but the monster stopped moving not long after. In the end, they killed the monster because it had become unbridled.

I wished the mercenaries were more skilled, but it was already too late.

‘I should pay for them too.’

Unlike me who was thinking about the payment I had to make, Jo Hye-Jin was mumbling while looking at the sight before her and it was obvious what she was thinking.

“This…”

She never imagined that it could be handled this easily.

“This…”

Even while mumbling, the audience started yelling.

“Kill it!”

“What are you doing? Kill it!”

“You think I paid money just to see this?!”

“Kill it! Kill it!”

‘Looks like I’ll be paying a lot of money.’

But it wasn’t a bad ending…

“Simple, right?” I asked her.

“...”

“That’s the way it is. The problem was easily solved because I have purchasing power, not because of the place we’re in, Yuka. It’s the same when we’re outside. The majority of the problems we have can be handled with this pretty thing called money,” I explained.

“That’s…”

“It’s probably going to be more expensive than you thought, so I’ll lend you money, Yuka,” I offered.

“...”

“It’s a gift for becoming friends with me,” I added.

Jo Hye-Jin looked at me quietly and while a guide was approaching us, she was probably calculating how much we would have to pay for the situation just now.

“How would you like to pay, sir?” the guide asked.

“How much is it?” I asked.

“Four servants survived and they’re worth 50 gold each. Since one of them is an elf, it’ll be 500 gold…”

“That’s not a problem,” I told them.

“The dead monster costs 10,000 gold,” they added.

“Alright.”

I knew that a dead monster would cost more than a dead servant, but Jo Hye-Jin didn’t seem to understand because she stared at the guide who brought the statement over in a daze.

“Additionally, using the mercenaries to save them is 600 gold and the cost for treating the wounded is added in as well,” the guide explained.

“I understand,” I said.

“40,000 gold is the total audience admission fee, 20,000 gold for other damages and the base cost is 50,000 gold, which brings you to a total of 121,250 gold, sir,” they said.

‘It’s more expensive than I thought.’

It was a large amount even for me, but Kasugano Yuno in the Free City of Celia would be able to handle the expense.

‘I’m sorry, Yuno.’

Even a large guild wouldn’t appreciate spending this much money at once, so I decided to write Kasugano Yuno a letter since I would have to repay her one day.

“I’ll process the statement,” I told the guide.

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’m sorry for the unexpected situation,” Jo Hye-Jin said.

“It’s nothing,” I replied.

“It’s probably because I’m an enthusiast of other races, but seeing an elf die breaks my heart. Elves aren’t born to die, but I’ve never heard of them being the prey… Does the business not provide information about the show beforehand?” she asked.

“I apologize,” the guide said.

“I think it’ll be great if you created a pamphlet. Tsk,” she suggested, clicking her tongue.

“We’ll provide you with a few extra elves as an apology,” the guide replied.

When I looked at Jo Hye-Jin, I saw her nodding slowly. It would be strange to decline since she could free the elves in pain.

“Hm, I accept. I want elves that have some combat skills, but I don’t want ones that are too educated. If your apology earlier was sincere, it’d be best to show your sincerity since we want to maintain a good relationship with this place,” Jo Hye-Jin warned.

“You don’t have to worry because our goal is to satisfy our customers. By the way, when will you be returning…” the guide asked.

“I’ll look around for now since I’m not in the greatest mood,” she answered.

“I apologize for our company's negligence in this matter,” the guide said, apologizing.

“It’s fine, I understand. We’ll be leaving now,” she told them.

“There will be a lot of good elves coming out in the central auction house today… If you’re interested…”

I was impressed by this place because they were trying to do business even at a time like this.

“Are there any special items other than that?” I asked.

“Various items such as a monster’s egg and high-quality epic-ranked items will be auctioned. There are also various works of art that are no longer available…”

“I’m not interested in art, but… did you say a monster’s egg just now?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s a special item that had been difficult to get,” the guide answered.

“It sounds exciting, but… we’ll visit the central auction house another time,” I said.

I wasn’t sure how great the item was that it was going to be shown in the central auction house, but leaving this place immediately was the right thing to do and Jo Hye-Jin must have felt the same way.

What happened in the amphitheater must’ve been too much for her because she remained quiet when we left.

“So it was 50 gold,” she said.

“What was?” I asked.

“The people that had just died were only worth 50 gold. Only… only… 50 gold…” she mumbled.

“They were more expensive than I thought, but I guess that wasn’t the case for you, Yuka,” I commented.

“That damned monster cost 10,000 gold,” she cursed.

“Don’t you think it’s a reasonable price? I heard it’s hard capturing those types of monsters… and I’m sure taking care of them is even more difficult. It’s natural for monsters to be worth more than humans since they can take the monster’s corpse apart and use its parts as catalysts for hundreds of gold,” I explained.

“But I don’t understand…” she said in a low voice.

“It doesn’t matter if you understand or not because to them, what’s important is that a monster is more expensive, Yuka,” I told her.

“You…”

“I’m only telling you the facts, not my opinion and they’re the ones who decided on the cost. You’re free to be immersed in your emotions, but isn’t it time for you to wake up to reality? Or are you more naive than I thought? Didn’t you compromise with your so-called justice?” I asked.

“I… understand… I definitely understand, but…”

“You can’t accept it?”

“You can… say that,” she turned her head away.

Jo Hye-Jin looked like she was deep in her thoughts since she remained quiet and that was all that mattered to me. It would be a shame to leave after coming all this way, so when she entered the amphitheater again, there wasn’t anything else that really irritated her because what she witnessed earlier still disgusted her.

A carriage was waiting for us when we left and even though the group of shuddering elves was looking at us, I didn’t care.

‘Five.’

The company didn’t give us as much as I thought, but it wasn’t bad. The elves who were completely bound looked at us with fear.

“Not bad,” I commented.

“We hope you’re satisfied,” the guide said.

“We are and we’ll be sure to visit again,” I said.

“We hope you have a safe trip.”

“Please place those elves in the carriage,” I ordered.

“Okay...”

The scared elves got in the carriage after Jo Hye-Jin and me. As soon as the door closed, I saw her carefully reaching her hand out toward the elves.

“Kyah!”

They would obviously react that way because they saw Jo Hye-Jin as a crazy human instead of a courageous knight who saved them. She spoke to me while looking at the five trembling elves grouped together. “What… are you planning on doing with them?”

“Well… one of them is yours… but I’ll have to think about it. We can’t set them free on the way back to the castle, so we’ll have to find a place to keep them safe. Sending them to the Blue Guild is probably the best,” I suggested.

“You’re not going to set them free?” she asked.

“Nothing will change if I set the elves free right now because they’ll be captured again and end up in the same situation as before. Do you think the elves will be able to go back to their forest when they can’t do anything?” I asked her.

“...”

“We have important matters to take care of, so it’s impossible right now. I’ll take them with me when I visit the Elf Kingdom. It won’t be so bad to visit once this is all over,” I told her.

“That’s… a relief,” she commented.

“I’m not that bad of a person, right?” I asked.

“I don’t want to answer that question,” she said, turning away.

“I’ll take your silence as you agreeing with me,” I said with a smile.

“Why did you bring me here?” Jo Hye-Jin asked.

“It’s up to you to find the reason because I just wanted to show you the results,” I replied.

“The… results?” she asked.

“Yes, the results. The result of your decision. The difference between what you did at Castle Rock and what you did today. Think about which was the right solution. Actually, you can think about it if you want, Miss Hye-Jin,” I explained.

“That’s…”

“We both saved them. Your correct choice saved them,” I added.

“I don’t necessarily agree…” she mumbled.

“The result says otherwise, but I’ll respect your opinion.”

Whether she wanted to accept it or not wasn’t important because the most important thing was that I managed to plant my idea in her head.

Bonds weren’t formed in a short period of time. It required both parties to exchange values and ideas and once they started to understand each other, bonds would form. Her ideas probably weren't going to influence me, but at least, I had to show that I understood her ideas because right now, all that mattered was that we understood each other.

“I don’t necessarily think that… but… I’m thankful… about today, sub guild master,” Jo Hye-Jin said in a low voice.

‘I was right.’

There wasn’t anything money couldn't buy.