Adventurer's Guild pt.5
The next day, I headed to the plaza by the south gate to meet
the members of White Rain. There were many horse-like creatures with
carriages lined up, so it was like meeting someone by a bus station.
When I got there, I saw them already waiting for me, and ran over.
"Sorry I'm late."
"No, we just got here a minute ago, don't worry
about it."
Allen answered, with the other two people not even looking
at me, which made me kind of sad. Working well together seemed like it would
be difficult.
"Well then, let's get going."
"OK."
We
were headed to the village where orcs were appearing. I followed Allen down the road to where
they'd rented a carriage, and he led the party to a rather fancy looking
cloth-covered carriage parked beside the road, which was hitched to two
pseudo-horses.
Considering the Ester's silvery plate mail and the nice
carriage, White Rain seemed to have a lot of money.
(Somebody here
must have rich parents, and I'm pretty sure it's this blonde loli.)
I
was suspicious of where their money was coming from, but actually asking
about that seemed like a bad idea.
(I'd at least want to get to the
point where I could have a normal conversation with Ester and Sophie before
bringing up that kind of topic. My membership in their group could end after
this one time if I handle things badly.)
If possible, I wanted to
work with them more in the future.
"Do you have a minute, Tanaka?"
Not long after we'd entered the carriage, as the town was still receding
into the distance, Allen wanted to talk to me.
"Ah, yes, what is it?"
"If it's OK, I'd like to confirm the level of your recovery magic."
"Ah, I see."
(But how should I answer that?)
"What kind of
an explanation are you looking for?"
(In my status window, it's
listed as Lv.MAX. Is that something I can actually tell them? Somehow I
doubt it.)
"A normal rank designation is fine. It's E-level, right?"
"Umm..."
I had no idea what kind of a rank designation I would
have, but apparently that was something I supposed to know.
I just
nodded and went along with his assumption.
"Yeah, it's about that
level."
"I see. Understood."
(Yeah, lying was the best option
there.)
I didn't know what "Rank E" involved, but I was confident
that my magic was at least at that level. After all, it was max level. When
it came to recovery magic, I shouldn't lose to anyone.
"That's
basically useless. Rank E at your age, what have you been doing with your
life?"
"No, well, um, various things?"
Ester delivered a
direct hit without even knowing what it really meant to me.
Apparently, Rank E was low for someone my age. However, I couldn't take back
what I'd just said, so I'd have to live with the situation.
"I'm
sorry about my lack of skill."
I decided to just apologize without
worrying about who was actually in the wrong.
"Well, Ester is about
that level too. Let's just work together as a team."
At Allen's
words, she turned away like she was bored and pouted a little bit.
"By the way, I was wondering if you can use that sword."
"Ah, this?"
He was looking at the short sword I'd bought the day before.
"It's for self-protection, or maybe decoration. I haven't even swung it
yet."
"Ah, I see. Sorry about the weird question."
"No, no,
I'm sorry about my misleading outfit."
I felt like I'd been
apologizing for something continuously, which was probably because my
position in this world was even lower than it had been in Japan.
(I
was satisfied just getting a sword and armor, but just having them probably
doesn't amount to much. Maybe I should try raising my level a bit.)
Some time passed, with me sitting in silence while the carriage shook.
◇◆◇
"Goton, goton." The only sound was the carriage
wheels on the rough road.
(Well, this is awkward. I wonder if White
Rain would normally be having a vibrant conversation right now, and it's
only because of this foreign material called "Tanaka" that everyone's
silent.)
(But there's nothing I can do about that.)
Allen was
partly lying down and seemed to be sleeping. Next to him, Ester had her arms
around her legs, and her face against her knees. Sophia was doing basically
the same thing.
That left me as the only one with my head up.
"......."
My butt hurt.
The carriage had a flat wooden floor
with no seats, about 6 feet by 9 feet. It was kind of like riding in the bed
of a pickup truck.
Between the oppressive silence and the discomfort
of my rear, I was miserable.
"........"
I was starting to
regret going on this trip.
If I tried to start a conversation with
one of them, I'd have nothing to talk about. The culture and common
knowledge was completely different from what I knew from Japan.
I
even envied the lone driver in front of the carriage.
Just as I was
about to start talking with nothing to talk about, the driver broke the
silence.
"We'll be reaching a rest area soon, what do you want to
do?"
(Oh, it's time for lunch.)
◇◆◇
Lunch.
I'd had a solid breakfast at the inn, and because of the carriage's
endless shaking, I hadn't been feeling very hungry. So, I figured that just
having some dried meat I'd bought at the general store the day before would
be fine for lunch.
However, the members of White Rain thought
differently.
At the driver's announcement, Allen enthusiastically
said, "Well then, let's prepare for lunch."
The carriage stopped in a
grassy area beside the seemingly endless road, and the driver tied the
pseudo-horses to some trees. Forest extended to both sides of the road, and
around the clearing, so making the highway must have involved clearing a
path through the forest.
"I'll go collect some firewood."
"No,
that's not necessary. She'll handle the fire."
"Eh?"
Allen
interrupted my offer, and gestured towards Sophie.
(I see, they use
magic for that.)
"Um, what should I do, then...?"
"Some help
with the cooking would be good."
"Ah, OK. I understand."
They
seemed to have already worked out a system for preparing food.
I had
no reason to eat my dried meat separately, so I decided to help with their
cooking. It seemed like the cooking implements and utensils I'd bought the
day before would be useful, so I was glad I got them.
(If someone saw
me with my large bags of stuff in Tokyo, they'd definitely think I was
homeless. Or rather, I actually am homeless; I can just afford to stay at an
inn. It's a good thing we're traveling by carriage.)
(Maybe it would
be good to consider what luggage I'm bringing a little more carefully next
time.)
"Um, what about water?"
"Sophie can provide the water."
"I see, the water is from magic too."
(Magic is really useful.
I'd like to learn some magic that can produce drinking water at some point.)
"Um, I'd like to get some water..."
Sophie was standing nearby.
Ester was standing next to her, and she glared at me.
(Hey, I wasn't
talking to you. I was talking to the person next to you.)
"In that
pot?"
"Ah, yes."
I handed her the pot, which White Rain had
brought. It seemed new, not having any burn marks on it.
She held the
pot with both hands, brought it to her chest, and started mumbling something
quietly while staring into the pot. It was really cute.
After a
little bit of that, the pot started filling up with water.
(Amazing.)
It was like a little water fountain going into the pot.
"Oh,
that's pretty useful."
"...yes. Here."
She handed the pot back
to me.
It was 8/10 full, and heavy. The liquid inside was the same
weight as water, it didn't have any smell, and it was completely
transparent.
(Yes, it's real water.)
"Thank you very much."
I gave her a nod before turning and setting the pot down. I started
washing some vegetables with that water, peeling them as I went.
"Ah,
magic is really useful."
"Definitely. I don't know what we'd do
without Sophie."
"You have a good party."
While helping fix
lunch, I finally managed to have a bit of conversation.
Thanks to
Sophie-chan, not having a kitchen was not a problem.
I chopped
vegetables I didn't know the name of with a "tontonton" noise, using a knife
I'd just bought. I put the chopped vegetables into the bubbling pot, along
with some of my dried meat.
"Um, you're pretty good with that kitchen
knife, Tanaka, aren't you?"
Allen was watching me cut the vegetables,
and seemed very surprised.
"It's a bit embarrassing, but I've lived
alone for a long time."
"Ah, I see."
The menu was something
like pot-au-feu with bread.
(I don't know what any of these
vegetables are, but oh well, it's probably fine.)
I put away the
cooking equipment. Talking to Allen, this clearing dated back to when the
highway was originally constructed, some hundreds of years ago. Apparently
it was natural for an encampment like this to exist about half a day from a
larger town.
"Um, is there anything else I can help with?"
"Ah, you could go get the plates and such."
"OK."
I got along
well with Allen.
On the other hand, Ester couldn't do anything but
watch the process. According to Allen, her cooking skills were a weapon of
total culinary annihilation. And Sophie-chan was almost as bad, so Allen
normally did all the cooking.
"Ah, I'm really glad that you can cook,
Tanaka. It's a big help."
"No, I'm just glad I could be useful."
Allen was setting up plates with a smile.
Altogether, it took us
about 15 minutes to fix lunch.
Our dining table was the floor of the
carriage. With White Rain, myself, and the driver, there were 5 people.
Still looking like she was in a bad mood, Ester offhandedly said,
"...it's pretty good."
"Really? Ah, I'm glad."
"Hmph!"
At my smile, she turned her face away from me pretentiously.
Having a
conversation with the two girls still seemed difficult. We all ate in
silence for a while, with the only noise being people chewing.
"Do
you have a minute, Tanaka?"
"Ah, yes, what is it?"
I looked
over to Allen from my plate.
"Because you can use recovery magic, I
was wondering if you perhaps came from a church, or maybe studied at a
university."
"No, it's not like that."
This sounded like a
conversation I'd had before. Thanks to that, I'd thought of a backstory for
myself.
"You could say I'm a late bloomer; it's a bit embarrassing but
I only registered at the guild at my age. Until then I was doing ordinary
work in a town."
That was technically true.
"Is that so..."
"So, I realize that I'm new to adventuring and might cause you some
trouble..."
"Ah, no, we're also beginners, so don't worry about it."
"Thanks, I really appreciate that."
After that, they didn't ask
about my history again.
◇◆◇
After we ate, we continued
riding the carriage.
After 3 more hours of riding, we finally arrived
at our destination. According to Allen, it had several hundred homes, which
made it large for a village but still too small to be a town.
Once we
arrived, we had free time until dark.
The orcs we'd come to deal with
only appeared at night, invading farm fields and injuring any people in the
area. So far, they'd never appeared during the day.
The first thing
we needed to do was check-in at an inn, and leave our luggage there. The
plan was to have one room for the men and one for the women.
(But
personally, I wouldn't mind sharing a room with Ester and Sophie too.)
"Well then, let's meet back at the inn when it's time."
"OK, I
got it."
We agreed to meet up again in an hour, and Allen left with
the two girls.
(I wonder what they're going to be doing.)
I
was a little curious, but I realized that I'd just be an annoyance if I
tried to go with them.
Outside the inn, the neighborhood was quiet
compared to the town that I'd been in. It felt like a farming village, and
with the men still at work, the population density was low.
I started
walking with no particular destination in mind. Leaving the inn was fine,
but thinking about it, there was really nothing for me to do.
(This
was a mistake.)
I started heading back towards the inn.
(If
the other people were staying in the inn too, that would be awkward, but
they're definitely going to be out for a while. They seem to take having fun
outside as seriously as fighting monsters, so they're probably having a
lively conversation at a restaurant right now.)
I was still full from
lunch, so I didn't really want to get dinner.
(If I get hungry, I can
just have some of my dried meat.)
More than anything else, getting
some sleep seemed like a good idea. Riding in a shaky carriage all day had
left me feeling weak, and I was suddenly filled with the desire to lie down
in a soft bed.
So, I decided to do exactly that.
I'd walked
for a bit under an hour, doing one trip around the village and looking at
some tool stores and bars as I passed by. The architecture was a lot like
villages I'd seen in fantasy games.
My legs were getting tired when I
got back to the inn.
I nodded to the manager as I passed, and headed
back to my room. The first floor was mostly devoted to food, with everything
above that being rooms for customers.
The corridor creaked with a
"gishi gishi" sound as I walked.
"Ahh, I'm sleepy."
In front
of my room, reaching towards the doorknob, I suddenly heard a noise from the
room next door, which the two girls were using.
"Ah, ah! Oh, Ares,
that's good, that feels good..."
"Ahh, it's good for me too."
"Hey, hey, do me too!"
"Hold on a second, I'll make you feel good
soon."
I was hearing some amazingly lewd voices.
(I think I
hear a heart breaking, too. Oh, that's mine.)
"..........."
Ah, more, more, deeper! More!
"Ahn! Ahn! Ahn! Ahn!"
"It's,
it's inside, it's big..."
"Ah? Ah, ah, aaah!"
I could hear the
voices of two women and one man coming from the room. All of them were
voices I remembered.
(...seriously?)
(I should just pretend I
didn't hear anything.)
I went back the way I came, as quietly as
possible.
That was too much for me. I left the inn, and walked back
to a bar that I'd passed earlier.
I sat down and ordered 4 or 5
drinks.
"Ahhh, delicious alcohol."
As the sun was setting, the
bar started getting more busy. Men came in after they'd finished work,
drinking and singing some drinking songs. It wasn't a very large bar, and
about an hour after I'd entered it was a full house.
"Yuna-chan, one
more!"
"Coming!"
"One for me too!"
"OK, just a second!"
She wasn't as much of a beauty as Sophia-chan at the bar in the town,
but she was pretty. She was probably about 17, with brown hair to her
shoulders, and more cute than beautiful. Watching as she hurried between
customers and energetically answered each time one called her was kind of
soothing.
She seemed to be something like the local idol of the
town's older guys.
(...and she's probably the same way with her
boyfriend at night.)
I continued sipping my foaming beer-ish drink.
It seemed to have a fairly low alcohol content.
(I haven't seen any
distilled alcoholic drinks in this world yet. Maybe the culture is about
equivalent to Earth in the 10th century?
Looking at my drink, I'd
finally managed to distract myself from some things I didn't want to think
about.
Suddenly, the doors to the bar opened with a bang as someone
stumbled in. At the same time, they shouted, "They, they're here! The orcs!
Several of them!"
A man I didn't recognize was shouting with all his
strength.
The bar was in a tumult as everyone got up and started
talking at the same time.
"Seriously?"
"Why so soon?!"
"How
many are there?!"
"Hey, what happened with that subjugation request?!"
"Get the women and children inside the houses!"
"Everyone, get a weapon
and head to the east side!"
(It seems like it's time for us to get to
work. Apparently the orcs are on the east side of the village.)
(I
guess I have to get going, then.)
"Yuna-chan, yuna-chan!"
I
called the waitress.
"Um, um, sir, the orcs..."
"Here's the
payment."
"Ah, yes..."
"Keep the change."
"OK...?"
I dropped a silver on the counter as payment. As I got up, I said
something like, "The drinks were delicious, so I'll stake my life on this
fight."
(Oh yeah, that was so dandy.)
At that, Yuna-chan just
stared at me, dumbfounded. I headed outside without minding her reaction.
Outside the bar, panic was spreading, with villagers running left and
right.
(If it's like this, even the team at the inn should notice.)
(I'll get going then...)
I decided to head straight east.
◇◆◇
The orcs were bigger than I imagined, about 3 meters
tall.
(They're wearing some animal pelts and using wooden clubs, so
they obviously have some intelligence, too. But unlike that goblin, they
don't seem like I could have a conversation with them.)
The group of
orcs was rampaging around one end of the village. It looked like there were
about 15 of them. Some men came running at them, and they were all struck
down in two or three hits. On the ground, it looked like some women were
being raped on the spot.
"...they're big."
The scene looked
like a picture of Buddhist hell. Women's cries echoed in my ears.
(With this many, the men of the village probably don't have a chance.)
If I'd been sober, I probably would have stayed away and just watched.
"Hooooooooo!"
A group of orcs started running towards me with a
loud war cry.
I'd been told that they eat humans.
(Damn, here
they come.)
(Maybe I can attack with that fire magic.)
passive:
magic recovery: Lv.Max
magic efficiency: Lv.Max
language
skill: Lv.1
active:
recovery magic: Lv.Max
fire magic: Lv.1
remaining skill points: 0
(Shit, here I go...)
"Come
on! My strongest magic!"
I put one fist forward and shouted. As I
did, some kind of magic formation appeared at my feet. It glowed red, and
had geometric figures inside a circle.
(Whoa, cool.)
As I was
thinking that, light came off my arm from my hand to my elbow, and a
fireball appeared in front of my hand, growing to 40 cm while pulsing like a
beating heart and spitting out sparks.
It seemed like it would be a
pretty effective attack.
"Go, damn it! Fireball!"
It fired.
I'd focused on the fireball with a mental image of a compressed ball of
flame shooting like a pistol bullet.
And it worked.
As I'd
imagined, it hit the orc at a speed too high to follow with my eyes.
"Zudonnn." It exploded on impact, and the upper half of the orc was
completely destroyed. For a moment, the surroundings lit up with reflected
red light from the explosion.
Having lost half its body like that,
the rest of the orc fell down where it was standing and didn't move.
(Ah, it's that feeling again, I must have gained a level.)
name:
Tanaka
gender: male
race: human
level: 5
job: nothing in
particular
HP:609/609
MP:93500000/93500000
STR:75
VIT:60
DEX:52
AGI:42
INT:5922000
LUC:19
(My "LUC" stat doesn't
seem to go up much. Is that basically the same as being unlucky?)
(Ah, if my level went up, I should have gained skill points. With this many
enemies, it's probably bad if my only means of attacking is Lv.1.)
passive:
magic recovery: Lv.Max
magic efficiency: Lv.Max
language skill: Lv.1
active:
recovery magic: Lv.Max
fire magic:
Lv.1
remaining skill points: 2
(Good, it went up.)
passive:
magic recovery: Lv.Max
magic efficiency: Lv.Max
language skill: Lv.1
active:
recovery magic: Lv.Max
fire magic:
Lv.3
remaining skill points: 0
(OK, that should do.)
As I was thinking that, I heard several roars.
"Hooooooo!"
"Woooooo!" "Gwooooooo!"
All of the orcs were focused on me. They
started running towards me.
"......"
I checked the status of a
random sample of them.
name:
gender: male
race: orc
level: 13
job:
HP:1420/1509
MP:0/0
STR:170
VIT:220
DEX:121
AGI:187
INT:20
LUC:88
name:
gender: male
race: orc
level: 13
job:
HP:1500/1809
MP:0/0
STR:220
VIT:190
DEX:101
AGI:177
INT:10
LUC:78
name:
gender: male
race: orc
level: 13
job:
HP:1220/1509
MP:0/0
STR:201
VIT:190
DEX:121
AGI:161
INT:29
LUC:38
Their stats seemed to be about the same. They all seemed stronger than that
guy who'd thrown stuff at me in that tavern.
(Why is their HP so
high? Because they're big?)
"Hah, small fry!"
I tried to
imagine a swarm of fireballs.
One fireball wasn't enough. I'd be KO'd
in one hit by the next orc. Even so, I felt confident, thanks to the
alcohol.
"The hell I'm gonna die a virgin in my 30s!"
Instead
of a single fireball, 12 or 13 popped into existence around my arm. I could
only manage one before, but now I'd raised the skill level.
They grew
in size, up to about 1 meter each, spitting out spurts of flame like coronal
ejections from the sun.
(Wow, Lv.3 is impressive. Rather than
"fireball" it's more like "meteor storm". But I'm not going to complain as
long as it works. The important thing is the killing power. I've played
enough games to know that the best defense for a mage is a good offense.)
"HOOOOOOO!!"
An orc was within a few meters of me when I fired
them.
I fired them, and they hit the orcs almost instantly and
exploded. "ZUDONZUDONZUDONNN!" I could feel the ground shake slightly.
The fireballs exploded like cannonballs as they hit the orcs, with even
more power than the first one. Blood and orc flesh flew through the air and
splattered on the ground.
"Ugh, gross..."
I got some on my new
armor, too. Some piece of an orc had hit my leather armor, and looked like
it left a permanent stain.
When the smoke and steam cleared, it
looked like the orcs had been wiped out. None of the orcs were moving. Most
of their bodies had been destroyed, and what was left looked like big lumps
of some unknown meat.
"...is it over?"
(Good job, me.)
I finally lowered my arm.
"No, it's not over."
Some after-care
still remained. Or rather, that was the main thing I was there for.
I
headed towards some injured women lying on the ground.
(Maybe I'll
get some side benefits after this...)
As I was walking over, I heard
a huge roar.
"HOOOOOOOOOOOo!!"
From the forest bordering the
village, a single orc appeared. It was a different color from the other
orcs, with grey skin, and it was bigger, almost 5 meters tall. Its head was
above the shorter trees.
(It definitely seems like a boss monster.)
"....."
I stared at it for a while, but it didn't move.
(I
should check its status.)
name: Gale
gender: male
race:
high orc
level: 56
job: leader
HP:20609/20609
MP:100/100
STR:7500
VIT:9662
DEX:6752
AGI:9942
INT:190
LUC:1339
(This guy is dangerous! What the hell is this "Gale" guy? Even if he's a
boss, that status has to be a mistake! If his stats are an order of
magnitude higher than the orcs I fought, what does that mean?)
"It's
a high, a high orc..."
The villagers behind me seemed to be going
crazy.
"Why is there a high orc here?"
"Run! You can't fight
that!"
"We have to abandon the village!"
"A horse, a fast horse!"
"We need to contact the knights!"
"Aaaaaaaugh!"
The villagers were
panicking. I was starting to panic, too.
(How well does magic even
work on this guy?)
Then, I heard some familiar voices from behind me.
"Tanaka!"
White Rain had arrived.
"Ah, you came."
I
was focused on the orc, so I only gave them a glance. They came running
towards me, but stopped when they saw the giant orc, their faces full of
surprise and fear.
"High, high orc??"
Allen was muttering to
himself.
"...why is it in a place like this?"
"That, that's a
high orc? They're that big?"
They were completely terrified.
I
was scared, too. Everyone was.
If fighting that was the job of
adventurers, it was a big job. After all, it was apparently an enemy that
called for dispatching a division of professional knights from the country's
army.
I exchanged a few words with the playboy behind me.
"Tanaka, what, what's the situation?"
"There's only one left. Let's
work hard, everyone."
(I'm not jealous, I shouldn't be jealous, I'm
definitely jealous. Of course I'm jealous.)
(I want a 3-player game
too, damn it.)
"Um, but..."
The blonde tsundere next to him
was worried about Allen's safety.
(Ah, I want someone to worry about
me like that too...)
I got jealous all over again.
"Tanaka, we
should retreat! This is impossible with just us!"
"No, but, there are
some unconscious people over there."
I gestured with my chin towards
some young women on the ground. They'd been handled violently by the orcs,
and there were also some people with limbs bending the wrong way lying on
the ground. I couldn't just run away under those circumstances.
"Even
so! We have to call the knight corps!"
People kept talking about the
knight corps.
"So, Tanaka, you need to retreat!"
But the enemy
wasn't going to wait for that.
"HOOOOOOooo!"
The orc boss
howled and started running towards us. Its speed was much greater than the
other orcs, and it accelerated towards us faster than a motorcycle. There
was no way I could escape by running away, and that only left one option.
"Well, shit."
I created a fireball.
"Tanaka!"
"Hey...you..."
I heard the voices of White Rain's members behind me.
I ignored them and focused. Tens of fireballs appeared around my right
arm as I concentrated, floating in the air and growing.
"Hah! Burn!"
I launched the fireballs.
(I was so cool there!)
They hit
the orc and exploded.
"ZUDONZUDONZUdonn"
The explosions could
definitely be heard from miles away.
(I want to cover my ears, but
that would ruin my cool pose.)
I was standing with my right fist
extended forwards and my left hand in my pocket, looking cool.
picture by みてみん
I couldn't see anything
through the dust and smoke.
(Alcohol is dangerous. I wouldn't have
done this if I was sober...)
"HOOOOOOOOOoooo!"
A howl came
from inside the haze.
(It's still alive? I hope that's the sound of
it dying, but...)
A second after that, it came, its huge body
piercing through the edge of the smoke and dust. It charged at me, reaching
out its huge fist that was big enough to grab my torso. I tried to think of
a way to escape or dodge, but my mind went blank.
I just stared at
it.
(Yeah, that's why magicians need a certain-kill attack.)
(Ah, I'm going to die.)
I just closed my eyes.
"......."
But the impact never came.
As I opened my eyes again, the wounded
high orc fell to its knees and elbows, and a second later collapsed
face-down onto the ground with a thud.
I'd just barely survived.
"....hah, easy."
My heart was beating loudly and my armpits were
completely wet.
I slowly lowered the arm that I'd been holding out.
The nearby villagers started cheering.
(They're cheering. They're
cheering for me! Because of what I did!)
It was the first time in my
life that something like that had happened. The first time I'd felt that
way.
It was a good feeling.
(Yes! I'm the greatest!)
"Tanaka!"
The members of White Rain rushed over.
"Ah, sorry
about that, I went ahead and finished things by myself."
(Acting
alone is bad for a team, after all.)
"No, that, that's fine..."
"Or rather...you can use attack magic too..."
"Well, compared to
my recovery magic it's low-level, though."
I still didn't know what
number "Max" was equivalent to.
"...I, I see."
That reminded
me about the injured people lying on the ground. I turned and headed that
way.
"Ta, Tanaka?"
"I remembered something I needed to do."
"Ah..."
I hurried over to the victims. Checking their status, it
seemed that the having 0 HP meant they were dead, while anything more than
that meant that they were alive. Some of them had things like STDs or
poisoning listed, which got cured at the same time.
(Recovery magic
is good, but this status window is amazing too.)
◇◆◇
Shortly after I'd finished healing the injured people, the village chief
called for us.
I was led to a reception room, 16 square meters, with
chairs and a table. There was some sort of tea in cups on the table. I took
one, and it had a good smell.
The members of White Rain were there
with me. Allen was next to me, with Ester next to him and Sophie next to
Ester.
The village chief was on the other side of the table. He
looked about 45 years old. He had an average build, and short light-brown
hair with a little bit of grey.
"Really, thank you very much."
The first thing he did was bow to us, almost touching the desk with his
head.
"Thanks to you, there were only a few casualties."
"That's good to hear."
"You really saved us."
"Ah, that's what
the contract was for."
"But we never thought that a high orc would
appear..."
"Unexpected things can always happen. They managed to do a
lot of damage, and I'm sorry about that."
Apparently 13 people had
died. In a village this size, that was a significant loss.
"No no no,
there was certainly damage, but with that many orcs, they would have
destroyed the village through here if you haven't come."
I was still
worried that they were going to try to claim reparations for damage the orcs
had done. I hadn't even read the request or contract; Allen had handled
that.
"No, Tanaka, we're the ones who should apologize."
"You
must be tired. You can rest here at my house tonight."
"Ah, yes. But
we already got rooms at an inn..."
"The rooms here are a bit bigger
than the inn's, so we can bring your luggage over here instead."
"Um,
Allen, what do you want to do?"
"Er, ah, yes. That's fine, right?"
"In that case, thanks for your hospitality."
"You must all be
hungry after that. Dinner should be ready soon, and we've pulled out all the
stops for today's meal."
"Ah, really? Thank you."
(Nice, it
sounds like I can get a high-grade meal tonight.)
After that short
meeting, a number of villagers gathered in the chief's home to say thanks.
"Thank you."
"Thank you very much."
That went on for a while.
It was the first time I'd gotten that kind of treatment.
I was too
tired to really appreciate the food. After eating, I went straight to my
room to sleep. The room setup was the same, with me and Allen in one room
and Ester and Sophie in the other. Even if the village chief had a
relatively nice house, it wasn't large enough for everyone to have an
individual room.
(I could have had the inn room to myself, then...but
that would be rude...)
(I think it's been over 10 years since I
shared a room with somebody. The last time I did that was probably when I
stayed in a friend's room in college.)
I started feeling a bit
nostalgic.
◇◆◇
"I'm really sorry about that, Tanaka."
"No, no, everything was fine in the end, so don't worry about it."
"But we were..."
"No, no..."
(Maybe I should ask him to
lend me Ester and Sophie for a night as an apology.)
(Once I get the
payment from this job, I'm definitely going to find a brothel.)
"Tanaka, I think you should have the entire reward from this request."
"You don't have to go that far. There were various expenses you payed
for, after all."
"Don't worry about it. We can afford that kind of
thing."
"In that case, I'll gratefully accept. Sadly, I could use the
money right now."
I was sitting on one bed, and across from me,
Allen, Ester, and Sophie were sitting on the other.
(I'd rather have
two people on each side, though.)
Ester: "You, what was that magic?"
She was looking at me indignantly.
Tanaka: "...wasn't it
basically a fireball?"
Ester: "I've never heard of that!"
I'd
answered honestly, and she suddenly yelled at me. Loudly.
"Ah, sorry
about that."
"Your recovery magic too, there's no way that's rank E!"
(Wow, she can be really loud.)
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."
"Hey, you, are you making fun of me here?!"
"Ester, he has his
own circumstances. Getting recklessly involved in someone else's personal
life is a bad idea. You have a thing or two like that yourself, don't you?"
"But, but..."
"Sorry, Tanaka. She's strong-willed, but she's a
good girl at heart, so don't think too badly of her."
"No, no, I'm
sorry about misleading you."
Ester looked like she was going to jump
at me. With a bitter smile, Allen grabbed her arm at what seemed like the
last moment.
"Allen!"
"Well, calm down a little bit, Ester. We
were saved by Tanaka too. You understand that, right?"
"But he, he
tricked me!"
"Ester, he's an adventurer, the same as us. And we just
met him yesterday."
"That's...ummm..."
Ester was grumbling.
Unusually, Sophie said something.
"I have one question. Where did
you study magic?"
"Ah, yeah, that's right..."
(I hadn't
thought about that. I'll just have to make up something...)
Her
slightly scrunched-up face as she asked was cute, but now that I knew her
relationship to Allen, her stock value had fallen in my view.
"I
prayed to god, and became able to do that."
(Yeah, that's kind of
true.)
"...god, you said? Specifically, what's the name of this god?"
(Did that god mention something like a name? Not that I remember...)
"No, I don't really know..."
"You were praying to a god you don't
know the name of?"
"Ehh, well, various things happened."
"...I
see..."
I was starting to feel like Allen had the best personality
out of the group. Despite being a playboy.
I was still jealous.
"Well then, it's gotten late, so we should get some sleep."
"That's true."
◇◆◇
The next day, we headed back to the
town, having finished the job.
The village chief's son was in the
carriage with us, to report the damage to the town and the appearance of a
high orc to some government official. He was in his mid-20s, and apparently
he would become the village chief himself before too long.
"Gatan
goton." Once again, the bumpy ride was making my butt hurt.
"Yeah,
adventurers really are amazing. The best fighters in our village together
could only handle one or two orcs, but you burnt a whole group of them in an
instant."
He was really excited as he talked to us.
The death
of 10-some people in the fight did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm. We'd
been riding for an hour, but he showed no signs of stopping. Getting stared
at by a young guy with stars in his eyes like that made me uncomfortable.
"No, well, I just barely managed. I thought I was going to die there."
I remembered that huge orc's fist almost reaching my face.
"Thank
you so much. We should have investigated better and told the guild about the
size of the group and the possibility of a high orc being there."
"Ah, you're welcome."
"My daughter was actually there,
so...really...thank you very much..."
"Ah..."
(I see, that's
why he's so enthusiastic.)
The trip back was uneventful. We stopped
at the same place again for lunch, and ate together with the driver.
We arrived back at the town when the sun was starting to set.
After
returning the carriage, our group of 5 people went to the adventurer's
guild.
◇◆◇
"OK, I understand the situation."
With the village chief's representative and White Rain's members working
together, explaining what happened went smoother than I expected.
I'd
been worried about how a chump like me claiming I defeated a strong monster
like a high orc would go, but that wasn't a problem. Having four
eyewitnesses made things a lot more credible to the macho bald guy at the
counter.
"The village's request underestimating the orcs was foolish,
but I have to apologize for how the guild handled this situation. A high orc
appearing...that's the kind of blunder that might happen once a decade."
"I see."
"In this case, the guild will give you an additional
reward payment. But I need to consult with some other people at the guild,
so, I apologize, but can you come back tomorrow to get that? We'll give you
the original reward at the same time."
Allen: "Then, please give all
of it to Tanaka."
"Eh, that too?"
(They should probably get
some kind of reward just for being there.)
"We were there, but we
really just watched. Or rather, we couldn't have defeated a high orc
ourselves, so you saved our lives too..."
"You don't want to confirm
the amount first?"
"...and so, please give all of it to Tanaka."
(He's a generous guy. It's also interesting how the two girls have zero
interest in the money.)
"Well, if you say so, then that's fine."
(Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Ester seems rich, so I
shouldn't worry about it.)