Chapter 11: Of Course It's Time to Split the Money
Ren and Elfman went to the neighboring room. The moment the mayor saw them, he rushed over enthusiastically.
"Mr. Ren, you're awake! I am so indebted to you and Mr. Elfman for last night. If not for you, I would have been murdered."
The mayor was profoundly grateful. He had witnessed the entire battle. Those Rune Knights from the Magic Council had looked impressive, but all of them were wiped out by the Phantom Marauders. They were completely unreliable.
Thank goodness Ren had unleashed his awesome power and taken care of all the enemies. Otherwise, he'd be in pieces right now.
Ren spoke with a noble and righteous air. "Think nothing of it, Mr. Mayor. You are our client. Protecting our clients is the foremost duty of a Fairy Tail mage."
"What an outstanding mage!"
The mayor then walked to a table and placed a large case on it.
"Mr. Ren, this is the reward for the request. Please, count it."
Ren's eyes lit up at the sight of so much money. Elfman wasn't much better. On average, he only made a little over 100,000 J per job. A difficult one might be 200,000 J. At most, he could do four or five jobs a month.
7,000,000 J... he couldn't earn that much even if he worked himself to death for an entire year without eating or drinking. Seeing 7,000,000 J all at once was a quite a shock.
"Your Honor is too kind. Of course we trust you."
Even as he spoke, Ren's hands were not idle. He immediately picked up the case. His term of address had even changed from "Mr. Mayor" to "Your Honor."
The mayor was delighted. "Hahaha! Gentlemen, if you're not in a hurry, why not stay in the city for a few more days? I must properly host my two saviors."
Ren waved his hand. "We appreciate the sentiment, Your Honor, but there's no need. We have to get back to the guild and report the mission. If we're gone too long, everyone back home will start to worry. Besides, with such a major incident, you must be very busy. Perhaps next time!"
"Very well. In that case, I won't keep you. I wish you both a safe journey."
"Then we'll be on our way. If you ever have this kind of trouble again, remember to call on Fairy Tail!"
The mayor shook his head with a wry smile. "I'd rather not ever run into this kind of trouble again."
Once was more than enough. His heart wouldn't be able to take a second time.
Ren and Elfman left in a carriage.
Inside the carriage, Ren opened the money case. The bright, glittering cash was dazzling.
"Gulp!"
Both of them instinctively swallowed. They had never seen so much money in their lives.
Ren took out half and pushed it directly into Elfman's hands.
"Huh? Ren, what are you doing?" Elfman was completely baffled, holding the pile of money.
"What am I doing? What do you think I'm doing? Splitting the money, of course!"
"Sp-sp-sp-split the money?!" Elfman was so stunned he started to stutter.
"Yeah! You came out on this mission with me. Of course we split the reward!" Ren said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"No, no, no! That's not right! I was just guiding a new member, not teaming up for a mission. Besides, I didn't do anything on this job. You did it all yourself. I can't take this money!"
Elfman quickly tried to put all the money back. Guiding rookies was an obligation for senior members; they didn't get paid for it.
Ren just pushed the money back at him. "You wasted your own time, and you protected the client. You deserve to be paid."
"But not this much! I'll just take this, that's more than enough." Elfman took out 100,000 J.
"Nope, too little. This wasn't a normal mission. You risked your life. How can you only take this much?"
After a long back-and-forth, Elfman finally accepted 1,000,000 J. Seeing him take the money, Ren nodded in satisfaction.
Elfman had been dragged into this mess because of him. Since he had risked his life, he absolutely had to get a bigger reward.
Elfman, however, felt the money was burning a hole in his pocket. He hadn't done anything, and 1,000,000 J was enough to cover his living expenses for months.
Ren is way too generous, he thought. ...Maybe I should introduce him to my sister.
At the Fairy Tail guild.
Mira was doing her routine mail call. Most of it consisted of request forms sent by clients. Every day, she had to organize, log, and post them on the request board for the guild mages to accept.
"Hm?"
Just then, Mira noticed an envelope with a large "S" written on it. This designated it as an S-Class request.
S-Class requests were extremely rare due to their high danger level. But because of that danger, the rewards were also enormous, starting at a minimum of 5,000,000 J. Every guild took S-Class requests very seriously.
Mira opened the S-Class envelope. When she saw the contents, her face went deathly pale.
At that moment, the guild hall was as rowdy and cheerful as ever.
Mira burst in, her face frantic. "This is terrible! Master!"
"Hm? What's wrong, Mira?"
"The Phantom Marauders mission... it's been upgraded to S-Class!!"
"Pfft---!"
Makarov spat out the mouthful of beer he had just taken.
"WHAT?!!"
The entire guild fell silent. An S-Class mission. That was a job only S-Class Mages were qualified to accept. And even then, S-Class Mages wouldn't lightly take on such a difficult request. For them, S-Class missions were still incredibly dangerous; one wrong move could cost them their lives.
"What happened?! Why was it changed to S-Class?!"
Mira hurriedly handed the request form to Makarov.
Makarov read it, and his expression changed dramatically. "The King of Assassins, Camille? That guy is the leader of the Phantom Marauders?!"
"What?!"
"The King of Assassins, Camille?!"
The guild members were horrified. The King of Assassins was infamous. He had earned his title by killing countless powerful mages. It was said that no one he targeted had ever survived. His power was terrifying.
"Master, what do we do now?" Mira was frantic. It wasn't just Ren; her little brother, Elfman, was with him. Her sister, Lisanna, had died on an S-Class mission. If her brother died on one, too, leaving her all alone... she didn't know how she would go on.
"I'll go myself!"
None of the guild's other S-Class Mages were present. And even if they were, facing the King of Assassins was a huge risk. He would have to go personally.
Just as Makarov was about to open the door...
Creeeak---!
The guild's main doors swung open. Ren and Elfman were standing in the entryway.
"Ren!!"