Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 54: Those Who Arrived Late

They had entered Ashvale as if the village were theirs.

The four horses advanced slowly down the main street, unhurried, with the posture of those who know people will move away.

And people did move away. Residents retreated to the sidewalks, mothers pulled children by the arm, old men averted their gaze.

The weapons were visible. Not drawn, but visible. That was enough.

The leader was in front. Tall, unshaven, with an old cut on his left eyebrow. His eyes swept the village from one side to the other with the same expression as someone looking at a thrift shop.

"What a hole," he said.

"Worse than the last one," agreed one of the others, a fat guy with an axe on his back that was too big for him.

"The last one at least had a decent tavern." Another scratched his chin. "This one doesn’t even have that."

"Tavern doesn’t matter." The leader clicked his tongue. "Veteran Rank Core matters. We go in, clean it, take the core, and leave before nightfall."

"If the core is intact, the trip was worth it."

"You will be." The leader seemed to have no doubts. "In a small village like this, hardly anyone has touched this dungeon. They get scared and wait for someone competent to show up."

Low laughter among the group.

Then the words began to arrive.

First as a whisper. Then clearer.

"...it’s them, the adventurers who came to clean the dungeon..."

"...the dungeon has already been cleaned..."

"...it was cleaned a few days ago..."

The leader stopped his horse.

"...the dungeon has already been cleaned..."

"...the dungeon has already been cleaned..."

The man carrying the baggage on the rear horse approached the leader with a bad expression.

"This isn’t good, boss."

The leader didn’t answer. He looked around, listening to the comments that echoed from mouth to mouth along the street.

Then he dismounted.

He walked to a child standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at the group with wide eyes. Before he could get close, the child’s mother appeared and pulled her back.

He stopped anyway. He looked at the woman.

"The dungeon." His voice came out drier than he intended. "Where is it?"

The woman pointed with her chin to where the rumors said it was, without letting go of the child.

"The rumors say it’s over there. That big mansion."

He followed the direction with his eyes.

At the end of the street, between the trees, the roof of the Vandris Mansion was visible.

"Let’s go," the leader said, mounting his horse...

...

They entered the grounds.

Only half of the mansion remained standing.

The adventurers didn’t stop searching those ruins until they found the dungeon entrance. Or what remained of it.

The passage was collapsed. Large stones blocked the descent. The monster smell that normally permeates an active entrance wasn’t there. No trace. No sound coming from below.

Total silence.

The group’s mage knelt. He took the glove off his right hand and placed his palm directly on the ground.

He remained like that for almost a minute.

The others waited without speaking.

He stood up, shook his hand, and put the glove back on.

"There’s nothing here," he said, in a flat voice. "No presence. No residual energy. No core."

The fat man with the axe spat on the ground.

"Clean."

"Completely clean," confirmed the mage.

The leader stood looking at the blocked entrance. His jaw was clenched.

"A son of a bitch ruined our raid," he said.

No one answered.

Because there was nothing to answer.

The leader smiled.

It wasn’t the smile of someone who was happy. It was the smile of someone who had a plan B saved for a long time.

"We still have our method," he said.

The others exchanged glances.

The fat man with the axe was the first to understand. A similar smile appeared on his face.

"Small village," said the leader, looking around. "Guild far away. Who’s going to know what happened here?"

"We’ve done this many times," said the porter, shaking the dust from his hands.

"Exactly." The leader began walking back towards the mansion’s exit. "We feign success. Show up in the office looking like we almost died. And do what we always do."

"Extort," the fat man finished, with satisfaction.

"Extra compensation for service exceeding expectations." The leader extended his arms. "And we’ll leave quickly before anyone gets too carried away."

Laughter came low, through gritted teeth.

They returned to their horses, tore their clothes in the right places, rubbed dirt on their faces and equipment, and headed for the mayor’s office.

...

Before they arrived, the office already had its own problems.

Aldric sat in the chair in front of the mayor’s desk, his arm bandaged and the expression of someone who would rather be anywhere else.

"Well, Aldric..." The mayor clasped his hands on the desk with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "You and I had a deal. And you didn’t even bring the relics."

"Man." Aldric looked at him with utter exhaustion. "I was almost swallowed by something in the ocean. My hand was ripped off by a head with hands. Do you really think I hid the relics?"

"I do."

"I didn’t even want to go into that place anymore. I was giving up until those guys showed up."

"That’s precisely why I think you hid it." The mayor leaned back in his chair. "What you lost was too much. You wanted to take everything for yourself and now you’re coming to collect from me. I’m the one who got you this job."

Aldric opened his mouth to reply.

Two knocks on the door.

The assistant opened a crack.

"Mr. Mayor, the adventurers..."

The door opened before he finished the sentence.

The four entered without ceremony.

Torn clothes. Dirty equipment. Scratches on their faces and arms. The posture of those who had come out of a hard battle and were still standing in anger.

The leader threw his helmet on the table.

"Final payment," he said. "Another hundred silver coins."

The mayor blinked.

"Another... another hundred?"

"The dungeon was above the contracted rank." The leader pulled up a chair and sat down uninvited. "Veteran rank, you said. What we found inside was at least two categories above that."

"We barely got out," said the fat man, wiping a fake scratch on his arm with his sleeve.

"We lost two horses," said another.

"Damaged equipment." The mage displayed a torn cloak that he had clearly cut. "That has a cost."

The mayor stood up from his chair.

"But I already paid! That wasn’t the agreement!"

The leader’s expression didn’t change.

The office fell silent.

Then the fat man spoke, in the lowest voice of all.

"Paid what?"

Absolute silence.

The leader’s eyes narrowed.

"Paid what?" he repeated slowly.

"You arrived at the village and went straight to the dungeon without consulting me!" "said the prefect, protesting even more.

The leader rose slowly from his chair.

"Contract fraud," he said coldly. "You sent us to a dungeon without informing us of our real rank."

"That’s not..."

"Negligence." The axe-wielding man stepped forward. "Lying about the contract terms."

"You’ll hear about this from our guild," said the mage.

"And not just from the guild." The leader placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. "Do you understand what happens to prefects who send adventurers to die in dungeons that aren’t properly cataloged?"

"I didn’t lie about anything! The dungeon..."

"The dungeon has already been cleared." The voice came from the corner.

Everyone looked at Aldric.

He was sitting with the same weariness as before. He hadn’t moved. But now he was looking directly at the leader.

"There’s no point in pretending you cleaned it up," Aldric said. "I was there. I know who cleaned it."

The leader looked at him for a second.

"Some guy named Haru Mizuki cleaned everything up," the mayor said, almost desperately, as if revealing the name would solve anything.

The name solved nothing.

The leader straightened his back. He looked at his men. Then he looked at the municipal safe leaning against the back wall, with its old lock and peeling paint.

"Then there’s no money," he said.

It wasn’t a question.

The mayor didn’t answer.

"Then we’ll help ourselves."

...

It didn’t take long.

The safe was the first. The lock gave way with a blow of the axe. Inside were coins, two rings with small stones, and a bag of documents that no one had read.

The objects in the room followed. A bronze statuette. A wall clock. A pair of silver candlesticks that the mayor had received as a gift from a kingdom official ten years ago.

"The reserves," said the leader. "Where do you keep the rest?"

"I have nothing left..."

The fat man raised his voice without needing to raise his hand.

The mayor led them to the second drawer of the cabinet, where there was a bag with what little remained of the municipal finances.

There were supposed to be guards.

But the only guards the mayor had were the two mercenaries who worked for Vandris. And Vandris no longer commanded anyone.

The leader took the bag, threw it to the fat man without looking, and walked to the door.

He stopped.

He looked at the mayor one last time. "Get out."

The mayor opened his mouth.

"Get out of the office."

They pushed him out the front door.

The mayor fell to his knees on the dirt road. He knelt for a second, not quite understanding what had happened to his life in the last two weeks.

Around him, the residents of Ashvale watched from the sidewalk. In silence.

No one moved, no one spoke.

The leader stood in the middle of the street for a moment.

His eyes swept over the village once more. The crooked houses. The dirt roads. The residents who watched from afar without getting closer.

"If Haru got the core," he said, "we’ll take it from him."

No one argued.

It was logical. It was simple. It was what they did.

They stopped the first resident they found. An old man with a basket of vegetables under his arm.

"Haru Mizuki. Where are you?" The old man pointed without hesitation. "The boy from the inn."

The second resident said the same thing. "The foreigner? He’s at the inn."

A woman sweeping in front of her house looked at them suspiciously but answered anyway.

"The boy who brought Aldric back alive? Yes, he’s at Gordo Bento’s inn."

The directions all pointed in the same direction.

They followed.

On the way, they met the owner before the inn, who smiled broadly as soon as he saw the group approaching.

"Oh! You’re looking for our hero?" he opened his arms. "I know him very well. The boy did all this because of my inn, you know? He stayed here throughout the mission. My inn was the base of operations, so to speak..."

"Where is he?" interrupted the leader.

"Well, they’re not here now, but they’ll be back for sure." The owner straightened up proudly. "If you want to wait and talk, it’ll be ten copper coins. For the service."

The leader looked at him, then at the inn behind him, then gave a small smile.

"Looks like you’ve been making quite a bit of money off this hero, huh."

"Well, business has improved a bit, it’s true..."

"Then we’ll take what’s here too." The fat man with the axe gave a short laugh. "Looks like the inn is rich."

The owner’s smile faded.

He looked at the leader. At the fat man. At the swords half-drawn from their sheaths.

He realized too late.

"Let’s go." The leader pointed to the door. "Show us."

...

Haru’s entire troupe was returning from training down the side street.

Haru walked in front, looking like he hadn’t slept enough but had trained anyway. Isabela walked beside him, complaining about something he wasn’t listening to.

Kira came behind with Yukihime in her arms, the two talking quietly.

The two guards whispered amongst themselves.

It was Yukihime who saw first.

"Dad, look."

Haru looked up.

In front of the inn, chairs and tables were strewn across the street. Broken glasses gleamed on the dirt floor. The owner was in the middle of three of the adventurers, being shoved, his hand on his face and his apron torn.

"Do you think we’re fools?" said one of them, giving another shove.

"I swear they’re here! I swear!"

"Where’s Haru Mizuki?"

"I’m here." Haru replied, taking a deep breath.