Interlude I: The Adventurers
I took the day to go and visit the guild’s reading room, so that I could read through the Monster Encyclopedia they had. With Linze’s help, my literacy had improved substantially.
In my world, a Monster Encyclopedia would be like one big book full of mythological creatures and plots for kaiju movies. It was a really fun read.
There were entries for all different kinds of monsters, magic beasts, spirits, and even Heavenly Beasts, each with their own detailed illustrations. However, there were some that lacked illustrations, which I assumed meant they were as-yet unidentified.
Out of all the monsters in the world, the ones I could find the least information on were Dragons.
Dragons were monsters, yet not monsters. That alone already made them a different kind of lifeform. It was written that the optimal means of dealing with a Dragon was to run away. It seemed like they were considered the strongest things around even in this world... Not that my old one actually had any real Dragons.
The guild didn’t allow anyone to check any books out of the building. If you really wanted to refer back to anything you’d read, then you just had to note it down. I, however, had the ultimate ally in the form of my smartphone.
I used my smartphone’s camera to photograph all of the pages containing info on any local monsters. It was so that I could refer back to it later to look up any of their behavioral traits, valuable body parts, and general points of notice. Don’t try doing this at home, folks. I’d have been fine simply copying the pages with my [Drawing] spell, but the room was protected by a barrier preventing any spells from being cast. These sorts of books were apparently pretty valuable, so it was entirely plausible that some people had tried to use magic to steal them in the past. I didn’t really mind just photographing the pages instead, since it took up less room that way anyway in addition to being far easier to sort through.
I also found books with details on demi-humans. It surprised me to find out that this world even had demonkin in it, which were a separate thing from actual demons.
One major difference was that these demonkin weren’t inherently evil. Instead, they seemed somewhat similar to demi-humans.
Really, the term demonkin in this context referred to things such as vampires, werewolves, alraunes, lamias, and ogres. These races weren’t immediately hostile to humans in the way that monsters were, but they didn’t exactly seem to be on good terms, either. Most of these so-called demonkin apparently kept to themselves in a place known as Xenoahs, the Demon Kingdom, far to the north. They rarely ever approached countries inhabited by humans.
I couldn’t be sure whether they were being isolated or whether they were deliberately staying out of the way of humans... But, well, even beastmen were discriminated against. Demons seemed like they’d have it even worse than that.
One thing I found interesting was the difference between werewolves and wolf beastmen. Basically, a wolf beastman was like a human, except they had wolf ears and a tail. A werewolf was a human-sized wolf standing on its hind legs, with five-fingered hands and five-toed feet. In other words, werewolves still had the faces of wolves.
Also, werewolves didn’t transform under moonlight or anything. They wore clothes and could still talk just like any other demi-human.
Still, between a human with wolf ears and a man with the face of a wolf, I could see the former being accepted among a human community far more easily. Though if we shared languages and could still communicate with them, then physical appearances didn’t seem like such a big deal to me.
Other types of demi-humans included winged races, fairies, aquatic races, horned races, dragonfolk, elves, and dwarves.
Even beastmen could be further divided into sub-types like dog or fox, so it felt pretty difficult to grasp just how many different kinds of demi-humans there were.
Looking at a world map taught me that while the world was fairly big, its climate was a complete patchwork mess. Countries didn’t get colder in the north or hotter in the south, or follow any kind of consistent logic like that.
This climate was said to be caused by the spirits dwelling in the lands, but the details were unknown. Hell, I couldn’t even be sure that the world was even spherical like Earth. It wasn’t secretly being held up from beneath by elephants or turtles or anything like that, right? I was surprised yet again to find out that there were completely accurate world maps. Then again, even without blimps or planes, there were still winged demi-humans and probably even magic allowing for human flight, so it wasn’t actually that strange.
Oh, time’s up... The guild charged extension fees if you used their services for too long, so I closed up the book and decided it was time to leave.
There were a bunch of adventurers talking in front of the request board when I returned to the first floor. More than there would normally be at this time of day. Was it because it was the weekend? I made my own way over to the request board to see if there were any exceptionally good jobs available or anything, though I had no real intention of accepting any.
We had decided to take the day off since Elze was feeling “under the weather.” It must’ve been tough dealing with... girl problems like that. Even my [Recovery] spell had no effect. Probably because it wasn’t classified as an abnormal status condition, or so I figured. If anything, that kind of pain was proof that her body was functioning properly.
I had been looking over the request board when I heard angry yelling coming from outside.
Guild offices typically stood next to bars, most of which also stayed open throughout the day. They mainly sold light meals during the day, but they still served alcohol regardless of the time.
There was also a larger inn than the Silver Moon fairly nearby, and its guests would frequent the bar due to the convenient location.
All of those things combined meant that there were drunkards out and about at all times of day. It should go without saying, but most people who did just want a light meal wouldn’t usually go to a bar for one. That much was obvious.
I’d only ever been in the place a handful of times at most. I didn’t drink alcohol, and I hated having to deal with drunkards.
The high number of drunkards also meant that loud arguments were a common thing. People inside the guild building had gotten used to it, with it maybe arousing a few complaints at most. Under normal circumstances, at least. It was a different story when you could hear the sounds of clashing steel.
I ended up leaving the guild office to join the crowd of onlookers. Out in front of the bar, two adventurers were glaring at each other red with anger. One was a bald-headed bearded man, and the other had a mohawk and a long face. Both of them already had their swords out.
“What’s going on? A duel?” They had their swords drawn in the middle of the road, so it wasn’t just your average scuffle. Worst case scenario, someone could end up dead.
Honestly, it wasn’t my first time witnessing a duel. Typically a duel went the way of stating your name and the reason for the duel, and then you get the consent of the other party. After that had been established, outsiders would refrain from butting in. But this wasn’t anything as sophisticated as a duel. Just a pair of drunkards at each other’s throats. Neither of them had any acting witnesses, so it was clearly no formal altercation.
The townsfolk were treating them like a pair of pests, too. If it wasn’t a duel, then a patrolling knight would probably be around to stop it before long.
“...How stupid. They should at least take their fight somewhere out of everyone’s way.”
“Alright, where’s the smartass that said that?!” The bearded baldy turned in my direction, looking like he was about to blow a gasket. Seemed he’d overheard me.
The other onlookers moved out of the way like a sea being parted. Every last one of them fled as if explicitly telling me not to get them wrapped up in it. Dang, that’s cold.
“Were you the one that called us stupid?!”
“He called us what?!”
“No, I said that what you were doing was stupid. I didn’t mean to personally offend either of you by it...” I made a small attempt to explain myself. It was true that I thought they were a pair of idiots, though.
“Hold on... You’re that brat who joined the guild recently, the one that’s always bein’ followed around by a buncha girls! You’ve been pissin’ me off for a while now, y’know that?! You tryin’ to show off how popular you are? You makin’ fun of the rest of us?! Well, are ya?!”
“Yeah, Mr. Bigshot! Unlike you, there’re some real adventurers out here putting our lives on the line! The guild ain’t your playground, so go screw around somewhere else!”
“...I see. So being an adult means getting drunk and hacking away at each other with your swords in the middle of town? It really does make me look like the childish one when you put it that way, doesn’t it?” I ended up spitting out some sarcasm after what those guys said annoyed me a little.
Don’t lecture people for being childish when you’re going around picking fights with literal children. That’s about as immature as you can get.
The two men who had been fighting mere moments ago united in their hostility toward me instead. Apparently they saw me as a common threat.
“Bastard... You’ve got real guts, you know that? Feel like finding out what color they are, do ya?!” The bearded baldy moved toward me. There were veins bulging on his forehead. He was over two meters tall, so I ended up having to crane my neck to meet his gaze.
The man before me had muscles like a pro wrestler. Plus, his behavior gave the impression that he was a real nasty guy. But in all honesty, I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. I had memories of being yelled at by my late grandfather that were far scarier than the guy in front of me. When I realized that, I accidentally let a laugh slip out.
“You son of a...!” As I thought, the guy hesitated to draw his sword on me. Instead, he swung his massive left fist straight toward my face.
Yup, I can read his every move. I tilted my head to the right a little and cleanly avoided his punch.
Using my opponent’s momentum against him, I grabbed hold of his arm and pulled in order to break his balance before sweeping his legs out from under him. The bearded baldy who’d come charging at me dived straight to the ground in a single breath. Alright, I managed to pull it off. Glad I got Yae to teach me how to do that.
“C’mere, brat!” This time the mohawk rushed at me with his sword. You shouldn’t point sharp things at other people.
“[Slip].”
“Ghwah?!” I knocked down the crazy mohawk guy using my trip-up spell, making the sword go flying out of his hand in the process. I picked the sword up and, very carefully so as not to get noticed, cast [Modeling] to bend its shape with my hands as though it were made of rubber. This spell made me able to change the shape of any material in front of me into something else. Any complex new shapes or sculptures took a lot of time, but something simple was a piece of cake.
I threw the bent sword back down in front of the mohawk guy.
“What?! Eep!!!” Mohawk guy let out a squeal of terror as he crawled away. Seemed like he was so scared that he couldn’t even stand. He probably thought that I had superhuman strength after a display like that.
“You goddamned...!” This time the bearded baldy came charging at me from behind, swinging his sword down on me without a shred of mercy. Does nobody around here have any manners? I sidestepped to avoid the bearded baldy’s attack and moved behind him, sweeping at his legs from the back this time.
“Ngwuh?!” He let out a grunt after falling backward and hitting the back of his head against the ground. He probably had a minor concussion. He was already drunk, but was now unable to even keep his head straight as it bobbed from side to side.
I picked up the bearded baldy’s sword and worked my spell on it, same as with the mohawk guy’s. The man went pale as he watched his sword being bent out of shape before his very eyes.
“D-Dammit! I’ll get you for this!” With the parting words of a two-bit thug, both of the idiots ran away.
Don’t go around being an angry drunkard in the middle of the day, for heaven’s sake. You’re making trouble for everyone around.
“Hey, you gonna be alright, man?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Not like they managed to actually hit me.” One of the onlookers showed what appeared to be concern for my well-being, so I waved my hand to show him I was just fine.
“No, not like that... I mean, those guys were with the Steel Fangs and Poison Snakes, right? They’ll probably bring a whole bunch of scary guys to get back at you.” Steel Fangs? Poison Snakes? I don’t get it. As it turned out, they were a pair of adventuring parties that happened to be somewhat well-known in the area. Not that I’d ever heard of them. We never really interacted with other parties outside of our own. And we didn’t have any reason to hang out around the bars, either. I guess we were short on local knowledge thanks to little things like that. From what I’d heard, the Steel Fangs and Poison Snakes were both parties mainly composed of Blue-rank adventurers.
We were a party of Green-rank adventurers, so technically both of them outranked us.
Your Guild Rank rose based on the points you’d earned from completing requests, and it went up starting from Black-rank, going up through Purple, Green, Blue, Red, Silver, and Gold, in that order. This didn’t mean that higher ranking people were more amazing by default, but naturally, ascending through the ranks got harder and harder the more you rose through them.
It got so difficult to attain the highest ranks that almost nobody ever made it to Silver, let alone Gold. Hell, there was only a single person in the whole world who currently held the status of Gold adventurer. It took an absurd amount of points even just to rise from Red to Silver.
That’s why Red-rank adventurers were generally considered to be some of the best around. The ones below them in Blue-rank were generally considered Veterans for the most part.
...Neither of those guys just now had seemed very veteran to me, though. They were both stupidly weak. Then again, them being a higher rank was a separate issue from how strong they actually were.
I honestly didn’t believe that either of those parties had so much free time that they’d bother coming back for revenge or anything of the sort. Quarrels between adventurers was practically an everyday occurrence, and it wasn’t like I’d seriously injured either of them.
At that time, I had no way of knowing just how wrong I was...
“Care to explain what you’ve gone and done, would you kindly, Touya-dono?”
“Well, I don’t really recall doing anything that would get us in this kind of situation...” The next day, following right after Elze, Linze started having her own “girl problems,” so I went with Yumina and Yae to the eastern forest on a hunting quest.
Our target was a monster called a Wind Fox — a fox that attacked with blades of wind like a kamaitachi youkai. I thought that myth was about a weasel spirit? Why the hell is it a fox in this world?
We had defeated the monster without any trouble whatsoever and cut off its tail for proof when we were suddenly surrounded by a group of mean-looking adventurers.
“Hey there, brat. We’ve come to pay you back for yesterday.” Among the group of adventurers, there was one that I recognized. It was the bearded baldy who had been causing a bunch of trouble on the street in front of the bar the other day.
Huh? Is this what I think it is? Did all of these guys seriously come here for a petty reason like that?
“...Hmm... So basically, you were so embarrassed yesterday that you brought all your friends along thinking to teach me a lesson, is that about right? Picking on a kid I can brush off as immature, but this is just pathetic.”
“Shut the hell up! If I just left things as they were, it’d be like smearing mud all over our reputation! I’m gonna show you what it means to pick a fight with the Steel Fangs!” The adventurers around the bearded baldy all smirked as they readied their weapons. There were quite a few of them. One, two, three, four... Nine in total. Seemed like the Steel Fangs were a fairly large group after all.
“Bringing a whole group of people to settle a score with someone makes you a pathetic excuse for a man — no, a pitiful outline of human-shaped scum. Touya, what’s the plan here?” Geez, Yumina, even trash has feelings. I mean, look at poor old bearded baldy. Being lambasted by a twelve-year-old girl is making him red in the face. Look at the steam rising from him, I could probably cook an egg on his head! I was surprised by the backbone on Yumina. Quite honestly, I thought she’d be a bit more scared in these types of situations. I guess she wasn’t just a princess for show.
“I do believe this is rather overdoing it, do you not think...?” Yae muttered a bit to herself as she averted her gaze, her cheeks flushed red.
“Really? They go around as a group ganging up on people, so surely they were prepared for something like this to happen to them one day, don’t you think?” I had erected nine posts by the side of the highway leading toward Reflet, and dangling by the ankles from each post was a stripped-naked member of the Steel Fangs.
To complete the display, I had put up a sign that said “We’re the adventuring party called the Steel Fangs! Currently recruiting new members.”
“Say cheese!” I took a photo of them with my smartphone, then cast [Drawing] to transfer the image onto paper. When I showed that image to the Steel Fang losers, they started crying and whimpering through their mouth gags.
“If you keep bothering us, I’ll spread this image all through the streets of Reflet... No, I think I’ll post it up all around the capital for everyone to see. If you’re fine with that, feel free to come pick more fights with us. I’ve still got plenty of punishments in mind, you know?” I let out a deliberately evil “Heheheh...” as I called out to the men. With that threat still lingering in the air, I smiled as innocently as possible and delivered the finishing blow.
“...Next time you try anything like this, I’ll slice the tip right off with a razor blade.” The thought alone was too much to bear, so one man wet himself. As he was hanging upside down, he ended up soiling his own whole body.
Yumina and Yae naturally found the whole thing a bit too much, and stood with their backs to the scene the whole time. Even so, they clearly understood what was going on.
“You’re really merciless today. Did you need to go that far?”
“Don’t you get it? The next thing guys like this tend to do is go after anything they might see as my weakness. That could mean them trying to kidnap one of you or hold you hostage. I definitely don’t want to see that happen, so I’m crushing their spirits so badly that they won’t even consider the idea.” This fight was my problem and mine alone. I didn’t want to get Yumina or the others involved any further. Anyone who would dare lay a finger on my precious companions didn’t deserve any mercy, even as a second thought. “When you crush someone, make sure they’re crushed utterly and thoroughly.” That was something my grandpa taught me.
...Wait a second. That other guy from yesterday’s fight belonged to a different party, didn’t he? The Poison Snakes, I think it was. Wait... don’t tell me...
“[Gate]!!!” I had a bad feeling about things, so I opened up a [Gate] straight to the Silver Moon and took Yumina and Yae back with me immediately.
We stepped out of the [Gate] and stood outside the Silver Moon.
What we found was a group of seven unconscious men in the middle of the street.
I recognized one of the guys on the ground. It was that stupid mohawk guy. Wait, did that mean these guys were Poison Snakes?
What in the world...?
“Oh, welcome back. That sure was fast.”
“Howdy there, Touya.” Welcoming us back were the master of the Silver Moon Inn, Dolan, and the owner of the Weapon Shop, Barral. The two of them were sitting on a bench out front of the Silver Moon, playing a quiet little game of shogi with a pile of unconscious men right next to them.
“What happened here?”
“Well see, these guys came marching up while we were playing shogi and demanded I bring Elze and Linze out immediately. I told them the girls weren’t feeling well and to go away, but they went and barged right on into the place. I flipped on ’em and it ended up like this.”
“We sparred with them a little an’ they just up and collapsed on us. Didn’t even put up much of a fight. Y’sure these guys’re even adventurers?” Barral muttered. I looked down at the Poison Snake guys, completely dumbfounded. I found myself pretty surprised by how strong Dolan and Barral were. Geez...
That said, both of them were built pretty well, and they worked at an inn and a weapon shop respectively, so they were probably used to dealing with tough-guy types. If they couldn’t fit the job, then they could easily go out of business.
“So what’s the deal with them, anyhow?”
“Er... Well, I think they came to settle a score with me. Probably planned to hold the girls hostage or something...”
“What, so they were a gaggle of human garbage, then? In that case, we should’ve roughed them up a little more.” Dolan clicked his tongue as he said that. Micah came out front shortly afterward. She had an annoyed expression on her face. Well, that was understandable. There was a bunch of trash outside her inn, after all.
“Oh darn it, this is nothing but a nuisance. Touya, it’s your fault these guys are here, right? Could you do something about this?”
“Oh, uh, sure. Just a second.” I knew instinctively not to try arguing given the situation. I used [Power Rise] to pick up all the unconscious men, then I tossed them through a [Gate].
Back out on the highway, I strung the Poison Snakes up the same way as the Steel Fangs — bare naked and by the ankles. They came to their senses and noticed their pitiful state immediately.
When they then noticed the Steel Fangs hanging up opposite them, they went completely pale.
I did the whole routine a second time, putting up a signboard, taking a photo, and scaring the living daylights out of them.
They tried to scream about something, but I didn’t give a damn. They could stay there all week repenting for all I cared.
From what I heard later, it seemed that Dolan and Barral were both former-adventurers. Both of them reached Blue-rank, but never made it to Red. Though since they were both solo adventurers, that was still mighty impressive.
I couldn’t get over the fact that those losers were the same rank that Dolan and Barral used to be. Adventurers really did come in all shapes and sizes.
You couldn’t judge a book by its cover... except Dolan and Barral were both exactly as strong as they looked? One was a red-haired giant of a man and the other was built like a bear, after all...
I ignored the hanging dimwits and returned to the Silver Moon through my [Gate].
“Hmm, sounds like you’ve been keeping yourself busy.” Back in full health, Elze was getting a story about the other day’s events from Yae and Yumina.
Linze wasn’t quite back to her usual self yet, but it didn’t seem so bad anymore, so she joined us at the dinner table.
“Still, that was a sight I shall not be forgetting anytime soon, I won’t. You should have seen the look on Touya-dono’s face the moment he thought that Elze-dono and Linze-dono were in trouble.”
“He looked dead serious, didn’t he? It was almost frightening.” Oh c’mon, haven’t you talked enough about that already? Finding myself getting all fidgety, I downed the rest of my fruit juice in one gulp.
“Hmmmm? Did you get all worried about us when you thought we were in trouble, didja?” Elze closed in on me, no doubt to tease me about the whole thing even more. Now see here, you...
“Of course I was worried. Felt like my heart was going to burst when I thought that something might have happened to you. Dolan and Barral saved the day this time, but if they hadn’t been here and something had happened to you two, I’m pretty sure I’d have done something unspeakable to those thugs.”
“H-Huh? Oh, i-is that so...”
“Ah...” Elze and Linze both turned their faces downward, red as tomatoes. Huh? Was it something I said?
“Touya, what if it had been me or Yae in danger? Would you have reacted the same way for us?”
“Well yeah, of course I would. Both you and Yae are my precious companions. I’d go to any lengths to save you if you were ever in trouble.”
“I-Is that so, is it...?”
“That’s my Touya!” This time Yae turned her bright red face downward, while Yumina shot a beaming bright smile at me. What the hell’s up with this mood...? Ah, whatever.
“C-Come to think of it, those two parties seem to have broken up after what you did, Touya-dono. All of their members also skipped town as if fleeing from some horrible monster, they did.” Well yeah, that was a pretty natural reaction. I had pretty much expected that to happen when I went and did those horrible things to them. Though it did make me somewhat infamous in the process. That didn’t really bother me so much, since it meant that less people were likely to target us.
Those parties weren’t particularly liked among the guild members either, so nobody filed any complaints against me or anything of the sort. As a general rule, the guild didn’t involve itself in conflicts between adventurers.
“I never thought you were capable of such nasty things.”
“You reduced two groups of men to tears, you did... It was quite the off-putting sight, it most certainly was.”
“I understand that villains of that sort need to be thoroughly taught a lesson lest they try something even more foolish, but even so...”
“I still think... that sounds like a bit much...” Linze gave me a fairly rigid little smile.
No, see, it’s not like that, right? I felt like someone needed to teach them a lesson... No, phrasing it that way still makes me sound like a villain... Hrm... I did it so that they’d never try something stupid like that ever again...? Right, it was to protect me and my friends! I psychologically tortured them into submission for the sake of protecting my friends! I derived no sadistic pleasure from it whatsoever!
...I’m not lying, okay?
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