The woman took another step closer to Ainz.
Standing before him was a raging bull, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.
Ainz held back his sigh. It was his fault for tossing the man without thinking about where he would land, but Ainz had his reasons as well, so he wouldn’t compensate her so easily:
“…How about getting your money from that man? If he didn’t stretch out his short leg, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened, isn’t that right?”
Ainz glared at that man’s companion through his slit visor.
“Ah, that’s true…”
“But…”
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter who, just compensate me for the potion… the price was 1 gold and 10 silver coins.”
The men lowered their heads; it didn’t look like they were able to pay the money. Thus the woman looked at Ainz again:
“As expected. Of course they won't have any money, considering the way they're drinking. With such a flashy armor, you must have some potions, right?"
Ainz understood why the woman was asking him for compensation. This was a rather difficult case.
After thinking for a while, Ainz braced himself and asked:
“I do have some… but that was recovery potion correct?”
“That’s right. I worked for every drop—“
“—Yes, yes, you don’t need to say it. I’ll compensate you with a potion and settle the issue.”
Ainz took out a low grade potion and gave it to the woman. The woman looked at the potion with a strange expression and received it reluctantly.
“… Are we even now?”
“Yeah, everything is good.”
The woman sounded like she had something to say, but Ainz ignored the doubt in his heart. More importantly, he was worried about Narberal starting a big ruckus.
Even with Ainz warning her, Narberal eyes still looked sharp. A few people felt uneasy after sensing her murderous looks.
“Let’s go.”
Ainz told Narberal with a tone signaling restraint and went to the tavern owner. He took out a leather purse, picked up a silver coin and placed it in the owner’s rough hand.
The owner silently put the silver into his pocket and grabbed a few copper coins.
“Here are 6 copper coins as change.”
He put the copper coins in Ainz gauntlet wearing hand and placed a small key on the counter:
“The first room on the right, up the stairs, you can store your luggage in the chest behind the bed. You don’t need me to remind you not to approach the rooms of others carelessly. It would be troublesome if a misunderstanding occurs, but that’s not a bad way to get others to know you. You look like you can handle any situation, just don’t give me any trouble.”
The owner glanced at the man moaning on the floor.
“I understand. Please prepare the minimum necessary equipment for adventurers. We lost our stuff and the Guild told us you would prepare them for your customers if we asked.”
The owner looked at Ainz and Narberal’s dressing and stared at Ainz’s leather purse:
“Yeah, got it. I will prepare it before dinner. You need to ready your money too.”
“Sure. Nabel, we are leaving.”
Ainz climbed up the old, creaking staircase with Narberal and headed towards his room.
After Ainz’s figure disappeared onto the second floor, the companions of the man thrown by Ainz hastily cast a healing spell on him. Their action was like lighting a fuse, and the tavern became rowdy again.
“…Seems he is as tough as he looks.”
“Definitely. That arm strength is too powerful, how did he train to reach that level?”
“No weapons other than the two big swords on his back, he must be confident.”
“Why did this have to happen again… now there’s another person who’ll surpass us immediately!”
The conversations were filled with sighs, surprise and fear.
Everyone knew from the beginning Ainz wasn’t a normal adventurer.
The first clue was his flashy equipment. Full body armor wasn’t cheap, only those who kept adventuring and had plenty of experience could afford them. Only those who had advanced to silver medal rank could accumulate such wealth with the remunerations of their missions. But there were still some who inherited or picked it up from the battlefield or dungeons.
That was the reason they wanted to know his actual power.
Everyone was a companion and a competitor at the same time. They all wanted to know the capability of the newcomers, so the process just now kept on repeating.
All who were present went through the same ritual. But no one had passed through the rites so easily. That meant the duo wearing the copper medal…
Be it companions or competitors, they were definitely powerful, that was evident to anyone who watched them.
“How should we deal with these two?” “We can’t flirt with that beauty anymore.” “But if there are only two of them, they can join our team.” “You got it wrong; we should be the ones asking them to join their party.” “I wonder what he looks like under that helmet.” “I will eavesdrop from the neighboring room of that guy tonight.” “He mentioned Gazef Strolonoff, the strongest warrior among the neighboring nations just now right? Could he be the disciple of the knight captain?” “That is possible. Let me take on this heavy responsibility with my good hearing (thief ears)”.
As the crowd noisily discussed the mysterious duo in high spirit, the tavern owner walked towards one adventurer:
It was the woman who got the potion from Ainz.
The woman — Brita shifted her gaze from the red potion she was staring at intensely and looked at the owner with a dull expression.
“What potion is that?”
“Who knows?”
“… Hey, you don’t even know? Didn’t you accept his compensation immediately because you knew the price of this potion?”
“That’s impossible, I’ve never seen such a potion before. Didn’t you come here to take a look as well because you haven’t seen this before, old man?”
Brita guessed right.
“Can this potion really compensate you? Your potion breaking is a fact, right? This one might be cheaper than the one you bought.”
“That might be… this is a gamble, but I am confident I’ll come out ahead. This was given to me by a guy in flashy armor after hearing the value of my potion.”
“I see…”
“… I have never seen a recovery potion with such a strange color; it might be a rare item. If I hesitated back then and asked to be paid with money instead, it would be the same as leaving the tiger’s den empty-handed. I’ll get it appraised tomorrow and find out how much it is worth.”
“Oh, I will foot the appraisal fee. Not just that, I will even recommend a good place for you.”
“Old man?”
Brita frowned. The tavern owner wasn’t a bad guy, but he was definitely not a charitable man. There must be a catch.
“Hey, don’t give me that look. I just want you to tell me the effects of your potion.”
“Is that what you were planning?”
“It’s a great deal right? And with my connections, I can introduce you to the best pharmacist, that Lizzie Bareare.”