Episode 015
As expected of a high-class inn, perhaps?
“Doesn’t it taste quite good?”
“…Ah… yes.”
Warm soup served for breakfast, bacon, mashed potatoes slathered with butter and cheese, and the like.
It was a simple menu in the extreme, but the taste itself was rather decent.
A smell that stirred the appetite. I picked up a piece of freshly baked bread from the basket and put it in my mouth.
In particular, the flavor of this mango-looking fruit and the braised meat was excellent.
If I had to compare it…
“E-excuse me?”
A mysterious-looking woman wearing a black hood over her head set her fork down on the table and cautiously spoke.
“What is it?”
“Um…”
Why is she acting like that?
“Shall I order you some more braised meat?”
“Then I’d be gratef— No, I mean… shouldn’t you let those people go now…?”
Has it already been that long?
There are eyes on us, too, so I’ll end it here.
“Up.”
When I casually waved my hand, the guys who had been sitting on invisible chairs awkwardly rose to their feet.
“This will never happen again, my lord!”
“S-sorry.”
“We failed to recognize you as a martial artist and committed a grave discourtesy…”
In any case, now that the woman had come to find me first, I wasn’t free enough to spend more time on lowlifes like them.
I had to raise my fame as quickly as possible and start the scenario.
“If you’re going to apologize, do it sincerely.”
“H-how should we compensate you? It may not be much, but if you let us go like this, we can pay you compensation…”
The three idiots clutched their dangling wrists and bowed their heads, making the most pitiful faces they could.
Oh?
Looks like they have some money.
In that case.
I stood up, looked around at the surrounding tables, and bowed my head as I spoke.
“Everyone, I apologize for causing a disturbance so early in the morning.”
At the apology, which even carried a certain elegance, the other guests gave wry smiles and nodded as if to say it was fine.
“Innkeeper.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“I don’t know if it will be enough compensation, but as an apology, we will pay for everyone present here today, so please relax and enjoy yourselves without worry.”
“Ooh…!”
“What a windfall.”
The moment they heard that, joy bloomed on several people’s faces.
Since this was the largest inn in Artem, the cost in gold would be quite burdensome for some of them.
“The bill.”
“…Pardon? Y-you mean us?”
Who else would I mean but you?
“I won’t stop you if you don’t want to. I’m the type to respect an individual’s choice.”
As I slowly raised one hand,
the men trembled for a while, twitching like perverts,
“…We’ll pay.”
and soon nodded as if they had resigned themselves.
“If you cause another disturbance over this…”
I raised a finger and pointed at their broken wrists,
Swoosh—
“……”
Gulp—
then stopped at their throats.
“Understood?”
“…Yes.”
“Good. Don’t show your faces again.”
I stood up, waved my hand, and walked outside.
If they were only at this level,
they wouldn’t think of coming at me a second time.
++
[You subdued the Mseumseusi Three Brothers of the Back Alley without killing them.]
*Your fame in the nearby area increases slightly.
++
Rumors are bound to be exaggerated.
Whether they’re good rumors or bad ones.
They’ll probably spread stories about me all over Artem’s back alleys.
The main point is this woman here.
Since last evening, I had been giving off the scent of money and scattering bait, and she had taken it splendidly.
It was possible because, while Artem was a large village, it wasn’t on the scale of a city.
In any case, it was the fastest way to recruit a new party member.
“So, miss, what business do you have with me?”
I already knew the reason,
but I asked her as though I had no idea.
“My name is Mylene. …Originally, I only meant to ask you for financial support, traveler.”
“And?”
“I know it’s shameless, but… could you perhaps help us?”
“Who do you mean by ‘us’?”
Having said that much, she politely bowed her head and spoke.
“We are Artem’s… no, the adventurers of the borderlands.”
**********
An old, shabby inn.
Following her, I walked into a secluded place.
It was worn-out here and there, with no light coming in, so it must have been neglected for a long time.
“When on earth is the guildmaster coming back!”
“It hasn’t even been that long since he left for the subjugation. There are probably still two more weeks to go, no?”
“No, we did send an urgent messenger. It’s just… even so, it’ll take at least five days for him to return.”
The people filling the inn were all utterly lifeless.
“We’re finished.”
“Haa… What a mess this is.”
They only kept letting out deep sighs, like people about to die.
“This is a violation of the kingdom’s law! I’ll go to the royal capital right now and…”
“By then, the guild will have completely fallen into those mercenary bastards’ hands.”
“Are you saying the Springfield family is just standing by and watching this?”
“Stop it, just stop… What would a child know? He might even stupidly side with the mercenaries!”
I had heard a certain amount from Mylene,
but it was a situation that could be easily inferred just by listening to their conversation.
‘Did the mercenary bastards take the Adventurers’ Guild?’
When a nation’s public order value drops, it becomes common for other factions to occupy state-owned buildings like this.
At first, you might think, ‘It’s only the Adventurers’ Guild,’ but later, it could even be the royal palace.
‘Even so, this is too fast.’
This sort of thing only happens after it’s been left unattended for a long time.
Judging by the trial having ended, the prologue should only just be over, yet public order is already this bad.
“……”
My head was already starting to throb.
Was it because that hero had left bastards like Copy Demons alone?
Whether it’s the kingdom or the empire, they should be buying time for the heroes to grow.
I want to avoid a situation where I leave the starting village and the final boss appears with a ta-da.
The other four are already…
“…Ha.”
I shook my head from side to side and brushed away my idle thoughts.
‘This isn’t the time to worry about others.’
At this rate, my own life was in danger. Until now, all I had done was thrash guys who hadn’t even received proper training.
If elite monsters or the Demon King’s army came charging in, I could die helplessly.
If we fail to subjugate the Demon King, in the worst case, I might have to live in this world forever.
That absolutely cannot happen.
“Then what are we supposed to do!”
“How about we wipe out all the mercenary bastards?”
“Who doesn’t know that? We can’t do it because it’s impossible!”
Actually, this works out.
Since all I need is fame anyway.
“If only we could at least rescue the hostages…”
“The mercenaries have the Immovable on their side. That bastard’s defense can’t be broken! …If we attack, we’ll all die.”
“If the guildmaster doesn’t come, we’re finished!”
As if there were no other sharp solutions, the conversation continued with no progress.
What a waste of time.
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Right now? W-wait…”
After glancing once at the hooded Mylene, I strode without hesitation into the center of the inn.
“Uh, huh? What?”
“Don’t push.”
If this kept up, they would only continue their pointless talk, so it was time to cut off the flow.
“Who the hell are you!”
“……”
After looking around once, I slowly raised my hand.
A strange man appearing before terrified people was enough to draw their attention.
“Who’s that bastard?”
“No idea. Never seen him before… E-rank?”
“E-rank? Then isn’t he an inexperienced brat!”
“No, look at his equipment. He must be at least a D-rank adventurer!”
Whether it had worked or not, murmurs soon rose from here and there.
“Adventurers of Artem, this is no time to be doing this.”
“No time to be doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
Ignoring their questions, I continued speaking confidently.
“The mercenaries will not only sell your families as slaves, but before long, they will drive out all the adventurers!”
Adventurers and mercenaries were in a relationship of friendly competition.
When it came to force, mercenaries were generally superior, but in many other fields, adventurers were more useful.
“What?”
“On what basis are you saying that!”
“You’re saying they didn’t do this simply because they wanted to settle in this region.”
Since they could be seen as being in a symbiotic relationship, questions mixed with doubt burst out from all around.
“Are you curious?”
“Hurry up and tell us!”
“Say it already!”
Of course they’d be concerned.
It was the information they were most curious about.
I paused there once, cleared my throat, and looked over the faces around me.
“The reason the number of mercenaries has strangely increased… is simple. It’s because the Springfield family is gathering them.”
“Why on earth?”
“Is that true?”
You still don’t get it after I’ve told you this much?
Do you people really live in this region?
When I lightly gestured with my hand,
“Mylene? Where has a guild officer like you been until now!”
the mysterious woman, Mylene, quietly walked out with her arms crossed.
“We needed funds, so I went to meet nearby nobles.”
“And the result?”
“Not good. Maybe because of the rumor that the Demon King’s army is about to finish conquering the eastern continent, most of the nobles have already sold their lands and left for the royal capital.”
“H-how can this be…”
That was right.
It was common knowledge that mercenaries were stronger in simple combat power.
They intended to drive out the adventurers and fill the region with them.
‘Even so, that’s truly one-dimensional thinking.’
There’s probably someone behind the scenes trying to control them.
Perhaps because they thought hope had vanished,
the room quickly fell into silence at the woman’s words.
At that point, I clapped my hands,
“All we need to do is show the merchants and nobles the strength of adventurers.”
and refreshed the atmosphere.
“But the mercenaries have that ‘Immovable’ warrior, don’t they?”
As expected, it was difficult to earn their trust with just a few words, and the reaction was still negative, so I glanced back at Mylene.
“…In the end, we were planning to bribe the Immovable with money, weren’t we?”
“The guildmaster left for the subjugation, so that was the only method we had…”
“Then that’s settled. This man will take on the Immovable.”
In the end, it was a matter of who would put the bell on the cat.
“This kept man-looking bastard?”
Eyes filled with doubt.
But this was the very reason I had made contact with Mylene.
“His skill is certain. Even the head of the Barden family was impressed.”
“That man?”
“Look at that sword! Isn’t that the crest of the Barden family!”
Their trust in an officer must have been considerable, because one by one, they began nodding.
“W-what reward do you want? As you can see, our guild has no money…”
The reason he trailed off ambiguously
was probably because it would be troublesome if I refused after coming this far.
“Just allow me to take on missions without rank restrictions. In other words, I want the guild to guarantee my identity.”
“…Will that really be enough?”
It might be different near the royal capital,
but in the borderlands, skill was everything.
There were no fools who would unknowingly take on high-ranking missions.
I smiled good-naturedly and extended my hand.
“Aren’t we supposed to help each other when we’re in trouble?”
“Ooh… They say even when the sky collapses, there’s a way to survive… When the guildmaster returns, we’ll make sure to reward you separately.”
It doesn’t really matter what they give me.
My goal is fame, after all.
After looking around once, I placed my hand on my scabbard and spoke.
“Then get ready.”
“For what?”
“To retake the guild.”
“Now?”
They say to strike while the iron is hot.
We have to move immediately.
##