As such, there were always two sides to a story. Without light, there would be no shadow. The existence of workers could be described in the same way. For money, they were willing to ignore regulations and often make a mess of things, however, there were also cases where they had brought benefits to the people, such as the creation of cheaper medicine.

Having said that, this was the kind of profession this man had—Hekkeran Termite.

"Hmm... what to buy?"

There were simply too many magical items Hekkeran wanted. For the time being, he should probably focus on defensive items first. After that, there was one more that he wanted due to special reasons.

"First I should deposit the money... the rest will be used to buy the magic items needed for adventuring. Eh? Got the order wrong. First buy the items, and then deposit the rest."

Hekkeran scratched his head.

If it's like that—

"As the vanguard, I need to have more magic resistance, maybe it's time for me to take out my savings as well. No, if for some reason I still need to rely on subjugating undead from Kattse Plains to make a living, it might be better for me to buy items which make me more resistant to poison, paralysis and sickness."

Magic items were highly valued in this world. Especially the ones that were useful during battle were highly sought after by adventurers. If it was a first-rate item, then he would simply give up on buying it.

For the time being, the items on his mind were not the extremely expensive ones. However, it would still require years of saving in order for an average person to purchase them. That was why he was taking his time to properly think things through.

His relaxed face, which couldn't contain the smile behind his excitement suddenly became tense the moment he sighted a group of knights currently standing by the side of the road.

The group composed of light and heavy-armored knights were standing guard at a road junction. Due to the Temple of the Four Great Gods being in the vicinity, the amount of patrols in this area was considerably high. Although these knights wouldn't just suddenly start questioning normal people who were simply passing by, Hekkeran could still feel the gaze of the knights gathering on the weapons that he was carrying.

It might be alright for adventurers, but for workers like Hekkeran that had no backing from any organizations or persons of influence, it simply wasn't wise to get into conflicts with knights tasked with protecting the Empire.

As he had hoped, Hekkeran walked by without incident. After checking his face with the list of wanted criminals and not finding any match, the knights made no further movement.

Having made past the territory of the temple, he finally relaxed and set his sights further ahead. A huge building came into view, and along with it, the sound of cheering, battle and the thirst for blood.

That unique building was the Grand Arena, which only existed in the capital of the Empire. It was also one of the most iconic buildings in the capital.

For Hekkeran, who had seen enough blood spilled during work and had no interest in gambling, the arena was a place which held no meaning to him. However, to the populace of the capital it was one of their most important sources of entertainment. Even from where he was walking, the cheering could be heard. It seemed the arena was completely packed today as well.

"Is it the finals? The excitement is really high."

In the past, Hekkeran had brought his worker team to the arena, where they had to fight continuous hordes of monsters. Because monsters did not accept surrenders, losing would result in death. Of course, it wasn't like casualties didn't occur during battle between humans.

On a typical day in the arena, it was very rare to not see a single person die. If something like that did actually happen, the pressure exerted by the audience was strong enough to kill someone, since the events with many deaths were very popular.

Among these events, the one with the highest casualty rate was therefore the most popular one, the Grand Combat Tournament.

Hekkeran shrugged.

He had absolutely no interest in seeing such bloodthirsty scenes taking place, and had no desire to visit that place. However, events that happened in the arena were hot topics that people often talked about, so there were always reasons to go.

I'm not planning on entering today, but when I get back I should probably ask for the highlights. It seems like the matches that took place today are quite exciting.

While trying to memorize the plans that he made, Hekkeran started walking towards an area that contained variety of shops. Soon after, he saw the familiar sign which said "The Singing Apple Pavilion".

The shop was said to have started with the gathering of bards who built their instruments using the wood of apple trees, but now it was a bar and an inn. From outside, the shop seemed a bit outdated, but the interior was surprisingly tidy and in good condition. It kept the cold out. The floor was kept well polished. The quality of the shop was actually quite high but not overly expensive. To Hekkeran and his comrades, no in fact, to the majority of the workers, this shop was regarded as the best inn without a doubt.

Although it can't be compared to the top-class hotels in the Empire, those type of hotels were better suited to the adventurers who stood on the public stage.

Firstly, the work given to the workers usually required discretion. Eye-catching hotels in public places weren't convenient at all for the kinds of people that required the services of workers. But at the same time, they couldn't always meet in shady locations and conduct their business there.

Next would be the need for multiple teams of workers to stay in the same spot at the same time. Therefore inns like "The Singing Apple Pavilion", which were much more discreet and where guests could discuss things in private, were ideal locations that met the clients' needs. Due to the fact that workers did not have the support of an organization like the Adventurer's Guild, the clients were required to search for worker teams themselves. It would be very troublesome for everyone if the workers stayed in different places.

Furthermore, from the perspective of the workers, staying near each other brought about a sense of camaraderie, as well as the benefit of avoiding conflicting jobs that would cause unnecessary bloodshed. And last but not least—which would also be the most important reason—the food here was really nice.

While thinking about tonight's dinner, Hekkeran opened the door to the inns. If it was his favorite pork stew, he would be very happy. Having these kind of thoughts as he entered, the words that he heard were not the typical "Welcome back" or "Good work" which he expected but