The life of a goblin born in territories owned by ’superior’ races was more or less the same.
They were slaves, whether or not officially recognized as such. At best, they were servants who were just glorified slaves in the end.
Because their race was so meek and weak, and had such a low level cap, they were often the butt of jokes, the ball to kick.
Standing up for himself, and not shaming the inn made Tumble extremely happy.
Would the boss feel proud of Tumble?
Buwaya’s teammates wanted to start a fight, too, but they couldn’t leave the leader outside, right? They’d have to go back to town eventually, and annoying the captain here would mean hell for them back home.
And so the members of Buwaya’s team could only follow him out, under the curious and amused sight of others.
Anyway, the new guests saw the weird critters and happenings in the place and decided to be better behaved. Obviously, this was the secret to the Lotus town’s adventurer teams’ increase in strength and wealth. If they get blacklisted here, could they get left behind instead?
For example, there were a few other mercenary teams—a lot of which were from Lotus Town, too—who followed the group of a hundred adventurers heading to the danger zone.
One of the people here was the Kubeta Mercenary Team based in Lotus Town. They were the rivals of the adventurers there, but because they had experienced a lot of losses not too long ago, they didn’t bother with them for a while.
The next thing they knew, they were beating up mercenaries who used to bully them!
Some of them didn’t even know what to expect coming here. They thought it was a cave or something. Who’d have thought it was a freaking village ?
And one protected by a special barrier that only blocks beasts!?
They were quite bitter with the adventurers who hid this good thing, but they were definitely not going to ruin it for themselves!
That said, as mercenaries, they’d definitely make the most out of this!
Fortunately, while some were greedy, others were sly in the strategic sense. They studied the place’s offerings and measured their productivity, comparing the costs to the actual profit.
They concluded that this was really a money-making endeavor!
The most lucrative (money-wise) jobs for mercenaries were taking missions for nobles, regardless of whether they were palatable or not. It could be assassination missions, or making a territory suffer for another. It could also be a protection mission, in the safe zone, it had a lot to do with humans fighting humans, like bandits, noble rival families, and so on.
This was unlike adventurers who were fond of the danger zone; the mercenaries’ scope was mostly in the safe zone unless their client decided they wanted to go through the danger zone (which wasn’t that common).
That said, this also meant that mercenaries, on average, had lower levels and battle strength than adventurers. This was why they tended to lean towards trickery.
They mostly level up by buying cores, too, but those were damned expensive in the safe zone. Pure absorption was also dangerous and could even cripple them if they didn’t accompany it with proper training.
Moreover, Mercenaries weren’t brutes like adventurers who would be fine with sleeping on soil and animal feces. A proper inn in the danger zone was the perfect compromise for them.
They were also better at calculating costs and benefits, and this was definitely leaning much more on the latter!
The adventurer teams, at least those from Lotus Town, definitely made a deal. There was no reason their mercenary team, also from Lotus Town, wouldn’t be able to do the same!
"I recommend behaving while you’re here," a voice from the side caught their attention, making their steps pause.
"Oh? Micc?"
The team lead, Tae, laughed. "Heh, did you crawl all the way here?" He looked at the man’s less-than-normal legs. "HAHAHAA! You’re really like the worm that you are!"
"Weren’t we just beating him up a month ago? No wonder I didn’t see you in town anymore! You ran, er, crawled, all the way here!"
Boisterous laughter abound the area, and Micc was reminded of the many times the same laughter echoed in his ears, albeit in the setting of some random alley or dead end, and with various kicks and punches directed at him.
Despite this, Micc’s face was cool, and he didn’t seem bothered, which in turn bothered Tae and the rest of them.
"You won’t be able to beat me anymore."
"What did you say!?"
Before they could even step forward, a thick earth spike appeared and pushed them back.
"Wa–"
They rushed forward to retaliate, but they slammed on an invisible wall instead.
[You are now blacklisted]
Micc, chin raised, walked in front of them. He was only a meter away, but he was suddenly beyond their reach.
"Staff members can blacklist people, too," he said. "And you can only stay there."
...
With more people, there would always be more conflict. Now that not everyone was in the same party or side, there would even be conflicts in hunting locations.
Even along the easements of the barrier, there could be tension no less than the beasts outside.
"We got this side first!"
"We were obviously using it!"
"Huh? Where’s your name? You think no one’s gonna use this place while you bury your faces in the canteen?"
It was during these times that the staff was really busy. Fortunately, they gave each other shifts so they had the time to rest, do their jobs, improve their crafts, and train.
For now, one staff member was in-charge of watching over the guests. Anyway, the fights didn’t happen every minute, and even if the conflicts were simultaneous, the others could just step in as needed.
They could also just blacklist them, but that was only for really serious transgressions like purposely hurting the staff or repeat offenses.
They chose 3-hour shifts each time, with the person assigned handling the front desk as well. This time it was Micc’s turn.
He and his cane appeared behind the conflicting teams. "Please observe the rules of the village. You do not want to be blacklisted."
The arguing parties were one mercenary and another adventurer team from different territories. Mercenaries and adventurers tended to dislike each other already, and being from different territories also made them careless and unthinking.
After all, if they were not going to meet each other outside of this place, why would they bother watching their sharp tongues? They ought to get as much advantage as they could for the gold they paid for, right?
The tensions were high, and rationality was a bit on the low side. It wouldn’t take long for an actual fight to happen.
Fortunately, the enemy mercenaries were noisy and went around the barrier to look for pathways inside. They all cursed Micc, claiming he was abusing his power, and the Innkeeper should just kick him out.
Unfortunately for them, the inn 100% sided with the staff and they were really blacklisted forever.
Thanks to these people’s advertisements, the other guests understood that staff could and would kick people out as needed, causing them to be more mindful of their conduct!
If Tae and the rest found out they actually helped Micc instead, they would definitely want to pull out their hair!