Chapter 337 - How?
The first thing Hal did when Tanya said those words, was to turn around and look at Ehrlich and sure enough, he was grinning.
Hal shook his head and sighed,
"What do you want me to say? Apologize for killing him? Because I won't" he said.
Tanya shook her head,
"No I don't want you to apologize for killing him" she said and the grin was immediately wiped off Ehrlich's face,
"Y-y-you don't?" He asked in disbelief while Hal allowed a smile to play on his lips.
Tanya shook her head,
"No, I don't. Would I have preferred the supplier be captured alive and well enough to tell us how he made it into the empire? Absolutely, but I also understand how things don't always go according to plan.
In fact, I believe you deserve more commendation" she said to Hal.
"You do?" Ehrlich asked and once again, there was incredulity coloring his words.
Hal shook his head secretly while he lamented on Ehrlich's lack of ability to think adequately ahead.
At least enough to not be in this kind of situation.
Tanya looked over at him,
"Are you hard of hearing Ehrlich?" She asked in a cold voice and the buff man stood straight immediately before bowing,
"I'm sorry, Princess" he said and she turned away from him and back to Hal who had now adopted the poise of a sage who seemed untroubled by the storms and the topsy turvy manner of the world.
"As I was saying, you were at a severe disadvantage most especially since your opponent had a strengthening technique to boost his strength which already surpassed yours.
It proved that I was not wrong about you" she said.
Ehrlich frowned in annoyance.
When he had given his report, it had not come to his mind at all to embellish his words to the princess as that was borderline lying and something he would never dare to do.
Mostly because he was sure she would be able to tell which was an assumption that stemmed from the fact that she had been able to tell whenever he was dishonest before.
No matter how flawless he tried to be.
When it referred to this mission, he saw no reason to embellish as everything already spoke for itself since Hal jumped the gun to kill Beldar.
The way he saw it, him falling unconscious through the whole thing was mild compared to Hal's actions.
Alas, Tanya did not see it that way which was made more obvious by her next words,
"Ehrlich on the other hand is a different case altogether since he was unconscious while you were fighting for your life. I understand that it became a kill or be killed situation and that is why I believe you deserve commendation.
Also, you kept Beldar's body intact and his technique was undamaged as well. Both of which, after careful research, could prove useful against Dystopia.
Ultimately, you did good." She told Hal with a smile that was noticeable even behind the veil,
Hal cleared his throat and raised his eyes to look up at the ceiling,
"A good deed is its own reward" he said.
Tanya nodded,
"I'm glad you think so." She said and Hal's head came down so he could look at her,
"I still want the actual reward though" he said with a selfish grin.
Tanya nodded,
"Of course" she said and with a flick of her wrist, she retrieved a token from her Spatial ring which she passed to Hal.
Hal inspected the token which was glowing white with 1000 M.P written on it which he took to mean 1000 merit points.
"That's a merit token and it is divided into three color grades; white, Blue, and Green with white the lowest and green the highest.
It will take 500,000 merit points to reach the blue grade and 1,000,000 merit points to reach the green grade. However, the highest level of merit which if you remember was mentioned to you in our last meeting only starts after 2,000,000 merit points.
This mission of yours was only meant to be reconnaissance assuming Ehrlich did his job since as you already know, without you, he would have still found the supplier and so it was only meant to be worth 200 merit points. 500 if I was really impressed which I was.
However, defeating Beldar and getting his body and technique to be undamaged got you an extra 500." She explained.
Hal was so shocked by her explanation of Merit points and what he had earned from the mission, that he did not register that she just glossed over Ehrlich's input of being the one who actually brought the body and technique to her.
'I only earned five hundred? How many missions to earn the highest level of merit points? 4000?' He said with incredulity coloring his mind voice.
'I thought you didn't care about merit points?' Grimoire said with a sneer.
'I don't. It's just that I realize it can't be too bad to have the continent owing me favors. Especially with there been the possibility that I go rogue.'
Tanya gestured to the token,
"Once you imprint it, all merit points you earn, not just from me, will be recorded on it" she told him and Hal imprinted the token before sending It into his inventory and looking expectantly at the princess who sighed,
"You really do love money" she said, a tad bit disappointed that he had not shown this level of interest with the merit token.
"Who doesn't?" Was Hal's reply when she tossed him a spatial pouch which upon reception, he inspected with Astral perception and saw it contained 350,000 Blue gems!
"It's just a little over half of all the Blue gems Beldar had with him. You helped get It so you get half. It probably won't be a regular occurrence but at least for now enjoy it" Tanya said and Hal nodded with a controlled expression while he worked to keep his reactions contained within himself.
That amount of Blue gems was a lot and had he lost control of himself to show how excited he was with getting it, it would have been understandable. Mostly because he was already known to be from a small city and hence would be looking to gain any amount of wealth he could.
Remaining cool, however, was what Hal felt was most reasonable for the situation.
"Nice, but I do have a suggestion" He said as he passed the spatial pouch into his inventory under the pretense of keeping it inside the spatial ring on his finger,
"What is it?" Tanya asked.
Hal pointed to Ehrlich,
"Next time you want me to go on a mission, don't have Ehrlich kidnap me." He said knowing it was her plan to begin with.
Tanya smiled lightly,
"Noted"
Hal stood up and was about to leave when he turned back to make one last mention,
"One more thing, I hope you will be glad to hear that the copy of Beldar's technique that was sold at the auction has been destroyed"
Tanya raised a brow,
"Is that so? That's good then." She said and Hal observed her for a while to see if she planned to make any additions to his merit points but left once it was clear that she was not.
Once Hal was out of the room, Ehrlich fell on his knees and hit his head on the ground with a thud while he spoke with remorse,
"Forgive my incompetence"
Ehrlich could not believe he had been so stupid not to even realize that no matter how forward Hal's actions had been, it was still nothing compared to his obvious incompetence.
Of course, he had apologized for said incompetence when he had given his report, but clearly, the princess was still very much upset about it.
Tanya looked at him on the ground and sighed. However, it was not a benevolent sigh but one done in annoyance and contemplation.
Eventually, she waved her hand and a gentle force lifted Ehrlich upright while she addressed,
"Incompetent as you were, you were still useful" she said.
Ehrlich's eyes widened slightly,
"I was?" He asked as he could not see how that could be.
Tanya smiled lightly,
"Of course you were. You allowed Hal to step up and gave him the opportunity to showcase just what he is capable of."
This was just the kind of situation where it could be said that all things happen for a reason.
Now Tanya's grin behind the veil was obvious,
"As per your testimony, without the technique, Beldar was at the peak stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm and Hal who is now at the mid-stage of the same realm, an advancement speed that remains baffling, was able to defeat and kill him even with the activation of the technique which let him contend with you who is at the Early stage of the Cosmic Aurora realm.
In fact, from your testimony, Beldar was actually once victorious and that was with you making use of my weaponized semi-saint pressure. So...
How exactly did Hal do it...?"