Cardboard Houses Do Not Tear

47 – Debt collection done legally, justly, and appropriately

After I calmed down, I peeked out my eyes again.

The wall of torches was getting closer.

“I don’t know what you guys are doing.”

And in front of him, a man stood.

“At least I can’t just let people go after seeing human trafficking in this town.”

The man holding the butcher’s knife, whose handle was full of rust, spat out his black-edged words.

Then I asked the party.

“How much will you sell it for?”

“…What?”

As Raymond asked, someone from the crowd came out.

It was a woman with her hair scattered and her eyes wide open.

“The kid is 50 Cooper!”

She shouted, brandishing the tattered cloth she was clutching tightly.

Perhaps it was a piece of cloth that was thought to be a swaddling cloth.

Again, an old woman came out and howled.

“The virgin is 70 coopers!”

This time a man with a loose left sleeve came out and muttered in silence.

“Anyone who can carry a shield gets paid a little more than that. I will not disclose the amount.”

The voice was the lowest, but the gestures were the most effective.

“The price was a bit high.”

The flap of his single wing aroused even greater anger.

The flames were moving forward.

…..!

…..!

Every word they couldn’t understand was hurriedly approaching.

As the mercenaries who were accustomed to war knew the power of the momentum emitted by the majority, the reaction was soon output with a backward step.

“Trying to run away!”

“Catch it!”

“Kill!”

The quality of their mouths started to drop.

And the first to react to it were the children.

“Give me!”

“Die!”

There was only innocence in the innocent eyes that were smiling brightly.

But the words that came out of his mouth were cruel, and the feet that came out were innocent.

The steps taken by the children on a night out, holding their parents’ hands or avoiding their parents’ eyes, were like playing house.

And the result was a growing sense of justice in the wrong direction, not knowing how to turn off.

Soon the newcomer shouted.

No, we’re not-

It was Zach who kept him quiet.

As the mercenaries had already been pushed near the front door, I could hear them groaning.

“In that state, I don’t believe you even if you are the lord. We are already branded as human traffickers in their heads.”

The point of view shared by the group is like a stereotype of the elderly, so it does not change easily.

So, as Jack said, we are human traffickers to them.

Even if you show the mercenary plaque you were carrying, the same is true.

It will change from ‘just a human trafficker’ to ‘a mercenary even trafficking people?’, But nothing will change.

“Jack, then if these guys are bandits-“

“White handkerchiefs do not exist in the slums, rookie. It would be easier to find a virgin’s testicles.”

“Ha.”

The only thing he could utter after hearing Zach’s words was a sigh.

“Damn it, I’ve seen this from day one.”

“So I told you to shut up after catching him. If you don’t make me scream for no reason, stay alert.”

The newcomer, who had been muttering quietly, settled down again, and I put my head behind the wall.

The room was lit up by a nearby torch. I had to find a way.

What can I do?

Escape?

Escape alone is an exception in the first place.

Attack?

Mercenaries massacre his people in the castle where the lord lives?

And it was our mission to catch the thieves here.

So there is only one thing left.

Once I found the means, I had to come up with a plan.

But I know nothing about them.

What should I do?

“You bastards, run away!”

“If you go inside the house, I will set it on fire!”

A bloody sound came from outside.

It seems that there is not much time left for our friends to lead us.

At that time, a shout came from outside.

“Hey you bastards!!”

“Newcomer!”

Looking outside again, the newcomer shook off Zach’s hand and took a step forward to them and shouted,

“You bastards. Does it make sense to talk about human trafficking when you don’t even listen to what people say?”

In the middle of a moment of silence, the butcher’s knife from earlier came out.

“Then, would the traffickers say that they came to kidnap people?”

“What kind of human trafficking? We’re here to get money. You bastards, footwraps!”

“…What?”

As if hearing something strange, the butcher knife asked again.

The rookie shouted as if it was unfair.

“These bastards came to get the money they carried, you bastards.”

But, of course, they didn’t believe it.

“You want us to believe that?”

“Are you sure you don’t know that you guys are trying to trick and drag you away?”

At the cry of the poor, the newcomer grabbed his head.

“Wow, this is going crazy.”

Again, someone shouted.

“Give evidence. You human traffickers!!!”

Proof.

When I heard that, something flashed in my head.

And we didn’t have time.

Sereung.

After I pulled out the arming sword I took from the thief, I went to the guy who was tying the rope and called him in a very polite manner.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

That wasn’t the answer I was looking for.

I shook my head and decided to be a little kinder.

Sureuk.

An aid for quick understanding was put on his pants.

“Hee… Hee! Why are you stabbing your leg all of a sudden?”

“Come on. I hope you will cooperate with me honestly, frankly, and honestly.”

Give guidelines to those who are lost,

“If you don’t want to go all the way to the guards on your own feet.”

In return, he even promised a well-deserved reward.

“I will. Please put away this knife, this knife first!”

At the hospitality I extended, he nodded his head saying he would be happy to do so.

“Okay. What is your name?”

“This is Haln.”

A mutually beneficial, win-win relationship is finally established.

After hearing all I needed from the kind Haln, I asked one more question.

“Do you have anything to use as ink and a pen? I think I saw the paper in my luggage, but I couldn’t find the writing utensil.”

“Yes?”

“Um.”

A question, a question.

I don’t know about other times, but I didn’t have time right now.

Sureuk.

And the answer in this case, as always, is that one hundred words are worth one thousand words.

“I’m in a bit of a hurry right now, so if there isn’t one, I have to make one.”

I’ll leave it up to his imagination what to make of it.

Haln’s throat gurgled when the knife touched it, and I muttered quietly.

“I’ll give you two options this time.”

I asked him again.

“Yes or no?”

And the man who shook his head like crazy had exactly what I wanted.

I’m so glad.

I almost wrote letters with burnt wick soot.

“After, lived.”

I heard him relieved behind his back.

What the hell were you thinking?

***

Before I went outside, I double-checked what I had to do and figured out the situation.

There was still a lot of noise outside the door, but that meant our friends weren’t burned to death yet.

I stepped out the front door.

“What is so noisy?”

When a new clown stormed the stage, attention was focused.

Then I heard the murmur of people in the distance.

“Oh my God. What?”

“It’s not enough to wear baby swaddling clothes in women’s underwear, so it’s a swaddling bag this time?”

No, maybe there will be more ridicule.

Anyway, women’s underwear, what kind of crazy guy is that?

Just as I was about to check who in the party had worn it, someone called me.

“Hey, who else is that?”

It was the man with the butcher’s knife from before.

“Me?”

“Yes. You. What else are you?”

To my question, he responded with a question.

However, it was natural for me to answer a question once I heard it, so I pointed to myself and asked again.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Yes, I must tell you who I am.”

I slowly moved my feet down.

Creak, creak.

As I descended the rotting, screaming wooden stairs, I made eye contact with him and said.

“I don’t even know who you are, but I have to tell you.”

“What-“

-Boom!

“Isn’t it?”

The man’s horse was cut off by an ax that suddenly hit the railing along with it.

“Hello. He’s here to get money.”

The children started to cry while giggling at the sudden self-introduction, but I ignored it.

The thing I want to cry the most at this moment is because I had to deal with it.

“Just know that.”

I added a word to the guy who was staring at me.

“I’ll let you know your name when you come to borrow money from me. Whenever I need money, I come to you on my own.”

The answer didn’t come back, and the pointing didn’t come.

As expected, the half-stuck ax was enough to change the mood and raise respect for people.

I left the ax as it was and continued down.

Creak, jerk.

“Okay-“

“Shh.”

I opened my mouth before the mercenaries who passed by on the way started talking to me.

“Never step out. I will take care of it.”

And before passing by completely, he said only one word.

“Nice job, rookie.”

His answer was drowned out by the sound of footsteps, and soon I saw his stiff face in front of me.

“Come on. So-“

“I introduced myself, but I don’t think you have heard of them yet. What is your name by any chance?”

I cut him off.

“…Interrupting people, it’s not normal behavior.”

The guy didn’t introduce himself.

It’s a one-way relationship, and it’s sad.

“Since when was it normal not to listen to people?”

I asked that question, but I didn’t get an answer.

Because he turned around right away and pointed at our friends with empty hands.

“Looking back, I think you said that our children weren’t here for human trafficking. Why don’t you make someone to kill?”

This time, he pointed to the thieves lying face down, tied to the ground.

“Isn’t the middle of the night as bright as daytime to save the pups who jumped out of the 10 silver? You are the guardians of the neighborhood.”

After I finished talking, I looked at him again.

“No matter how ugly we look, that is. Seeing that they didn’t listen to me, it seems like a harsh world. In the first place, we don’t do such heinous things.”

“10 Silver?”

The butcher’s knife responded to the amount instead of my joke.

It seems that he is also an adult whose innocence is worn out.

“Yes. 10 Silver. I came all the way here to get it somehow.”

He replied with a smirk.

The butcher’s knife asked again.

“Do you have any evidence that those people borrowed money?”

“Ask me directly.”

Then the butcher knife asked the two thieves.

“People chained there! Have you ever borrowed money from these people?”

The two thieves shook their heads madly and spoke only the truth.

No.

I also nodded.

“I guess so. They say that the thief stole it, and the guy who stole the money said well that he stole his money. Cancer.”

“How can I trust that side and listen to it as it is?”

“When did I tell you to believe? Faith is only found in churches, because what I am looking for is money.”

But he was quite tough.

“Is there evidence? Wouldn’t there be a contract or something like that?”

Then a thief shouted.

“Of course not! That madman is trying to kidnap us-“

“Tada.”

So, in my arms, I showed them the proof they wanted so much.

“It’s a contract that says those two bastards and the three guys in that house borrowed money.”

In the hand of the man with the butcher’s knife, the paper went up.

His eyes narrowed.

I made a joke.

“I’m asking this because I really don’t know, isn’t it possible that you can’t read?”

He was hot.

“Of course!”

“That’s good.”

It didn’t matter if he was really illiterate or if he was just trying to bolster his ego.

If it’s the former, he’ll nod, saying yes even if he doesn’t know the contents of the contract, and if it’s the latter, he’ll nod because he’s got all the details.

His eyes narrowed again.

“…A little bad handwriting.”

“Please understand. I have bad handwriting.”

I can assure you, what that man is reading is probably the fastest thing he’s ever written in his life.

But it has everything you need.

“The above figures are worth 10 silver…”

To the fake clause written in the contract form that the mercenaries got tired of.

“These fingerprints are-“

“By the way, I don’t have any of my fingerprints or anything like that, so don’t worry.”

Because the last line had five bloody fingerprints intact.

“Is this real?”

“Then you brought a fake contract?”

I don’t know much about them either.

But they don’t know much about me either, so if you hit Gara, you can hit it as much as you like.

– Evil! Go away!

-You just need to take two fingers, Harleun, you bastard- Ahhh!!

Although I took two or three finger tips from each of the two guys except Haln to get this fingerprint.

How about this and that?

It’s enough for us to live alone.

“That’s a lie! It’s fake!!”

A while ago, the guy who was talking about the evidence said something.

I replied with a smile.

“Bring proof that it’s fake.”

I already put the evidence in the hands of the man with the butcher’s knife, and he didn’t.

“Okay, now that I have shown you the evidence…”

I said as I took the contract out of his hand again.

“Can we do another legal, just and properly done debt collection, Defenders of Justice?”

They said nothing.

The time has come when tears weigh less than a sheet of paper.