A loud bang interrupted the captain who was about to lose his temper.
The Village Chief slammed the table hard, and the pipe on it jumped up, rolled to the edge, and nearly fell off.
“Captain! You’ve gone too far!”
He seemed to have been holding it in for a long time, and he roared angrily.
“The commission is done. Our village no longer needs your Mercenary Group.”
“?”
The Captain turned his head, staring wide-eyed at the Village Chief.
This Village Chief, who in his memory had always been humble and pleading with him, actually dared to yell at him?
But he quickly regained that disdainful expression and sneered.
“No longer need us? Hah, Village Chief, you’d better think carefully. What if there are other monsters in that Forest? What if that Blood Eagle has other companions?”
“Even if there are, we don’t need you!”
The Village Chief wasn’t intimidated by his words; his volume only grew louder.
“These two kids not only helped us clean up the Poultry Coop Toxin these past few days, they also went into the Forest at night to find the culprit, and now they’ve come back covered in wounds.”
“And you? You all dawdled in town for days without finding anything! In the end, I had to beg you?”
The Village Chief slammed the table again, and the heavy thud made Xi Ya quickly pull his elbow off the table.
“And you had the nerve to ask for five Gold Coins?! A farming household in our village couldn’t save up that much even after a whole year of hard work!”
“If you don’t want to help, then leave! Don’t bully these two kids here!”
The more the Village Chief spoke, the more agitated he became, his voice trembling with anger.
He could no longer stand this Mercenary Group Captain—he had begged him to come help, and not only did he do nothing, he was throwing a tantrum and even laying hands on these two children.
The Captain’s face sank completely.
He stared at the Village Chief and said mockingly:
“That sounds nice and all.”
He walked back in front of the Village Chief and crossed his arms again.
“Village Chief, let me ask you—do you really think these two brats actually took care of that monster?”
“Yes, so what?”
“I just find it funny.”
The Captain shrugged.
He glanced at Xi Ya, his eyes full of contempt.
“Look at this kid. His clothes are all torn up. He probably got chased by that monster all night and barely escaped with his life, then told you he killed it, and you actually believe him?”
He then cast another disdainful glance at Dailina.
“And this little girl—she looks so frail you’d think she wouldn’t even dare kill a chicken. And she claims she killed a monster too?”
Xi Ya was about to retort when Dailina beside him stood up.
“Sir, we’re telling the truth. Last night we encountered the Blood Eagle, and we did take care of it.”
She said seriously, her eyes fixed on the Captain.
“Oh? Then show me the proof! Where’s the Blood Eagle’s corpse? Let me see it?”
The Captain raised both hands, raised an eyebrow, and wore a mocking expression.
He knew these two brats couldn’t produce any evidence.
“Proof…”
Dailina was stumped by his question, but Xi Ya crossed his arms and fired back with a string of questions of his own.
“You want proof? Who do you think you are? Why are we obligated to give you proof? Can you stamp the Commission Letter? Can you pay us? Hilarious.”
Trying to provoke him with demands for proof?
He wasn’t falling for that.
There was no need to prove anything to this guy—what was the point anyway?
It wasn’t like they’d get paid for it.
By now, a noisy commotion had broken out outside the door.
“What’s going on? What’s going on?”
“Hey, I just heard the Village Chief say those two kids found the thief! And the thief turned out to be a monster!”
“A monster? What did it look like?”
“I heard that monster was two stories tall and could kill an ox with one swipe!”
“Good heavens, those two kids took down something like that?”
“Really? Those kids look so young…”
“So what if they’re young? They’re Academy students. They know Magic!”
More and more Villagers gathered, and the chatter grew louder.
Xi Ya listened—how were these Villagers exaggerating more and more with each retelling?
If this kept up, they’d probably say the thief was the Demon King.
“The Village Chief seems to be arguing with that Mercenary Group Captain.”
“Which Mercenary Group? The one that demanded eight Gold Coins before agreeing to help?”
“What the hell, eight Gold Coins?! That’s robbery!”
“I also think I saw him hit that young man. Look at him—his clothes are all torn by him. What a shameless jerk.”
The Captain listened to these remarks, his face growing uglier and uglier.
He couldn’t take it anymore.
He turned around and shouted at the crowd by the door:
“What are you all yapping about?! Shut…”
“What are you yelling at us for?”
Before he could finish, a middle-aged woman stepped out of the crowd, hands on her hips, her voice louder than his.
“This is our village’s business. Who gave you the right to make a racket here?”
“And look at you, a grown man—you think it’s justified to bully kids?!”
“That’s right, that’s right! Absolutely shameless!”
“You people…”
The Captain’s face went from pale to red.
He wanted to talk back, but he was drowned out by the Villagers’ scolding.
Finally, unable to bear it anymore, he burst out:
“You bunch of damn peasants!!!”
That outburst immediately sparked public outrage.
The Villagers pointed at him and let loose with colorful language.
“Who are you calling a peasant?!”
“You! @#$%”
“Come on, let’s go in!”
Several burly young Villagers had already started rolling up their sleeves.
The Villagers surged into the meeting hall and quickly surrounded the Captain.
“You get the hell out of here! This village doesn’t welcome you!”
“Why aren’t you leaving? Want us to break your legs and throw you out?”
The Captain wanted to fight back, but looking at the Villagers with their rolled-up sleeves, he realized he was no match for so many people.
He glared at the Village Chief, then glared at Xi Ya, and finally gritted his teeth and said:
“Fine, you’re all something else! Don’t ever come to me again for your village’s problems!”
With those words, he left without looking back.
The Villagers automatically made a path for him, and as they did, they pointed and whispered about him.
“Pah! What a piece of trash!”
“Exactly, he should’ve left long ago!”
The Captain’s figure disappeared beyond the door.
The villager who had come with him stood there awkwardly, looking at the Village Chief, then at the door, before chasing after him.
“Captain! Captain, please wait…”
***
The meeting room finally quieted down.
Xi Ya leaned back and let out a long breath.
That scared him half to death—he’d thought the Captain was really about to throw hands.
“Village Chief, doesn’t this mean you’ve offended the Mercenary Group in town? Will there be trouble?”
He uncrossed his arms and asked the Village Chief with concern.
“No.”
The Village Chief waved his hand.
“They’ve been making things difficult for our village for years. I’ve long wanted to break ties with them. This is a good opportunity to cut the connection.”
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll retaliate later?”
“Not afraid. Our village is so remote and so poor. Mercenaries like them, who only care about money, won’t waste their time and energy coming after us. Don’t worry.”
“That’s good then.”
The Village Chief announced the results of the discussion to the Villagers, and they all accepted it.
After expressing their deep gratitude to Xi Ya and Dailina, they dispersed one by one.
The two said goodbye to the Village Chief and headed to the town where the commission had been posted.
The official in charge stamped their paperwork without any hesitation.
His look of utter relief was so obvious that Xi Ya didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
With the commission successfully completed, they could finally return to the Academy.