Highest Patreon Supporter: RegisRagnarok!!!
Proofread: Shiro
I decided to retreat early after eating and drinking because we were drawing attention from others.
Thus, I hurriedly paid at the register counter. As I was about to leave, the waitress who I helped earlier saw me leaving and chased after me.
[Uh, uhm excuse me!]
[Yeah?] (Ryouta)
[Thank you so much for earlier! To help a stranger like me…..Is there anything I could do to repay my debt?]
[Don"t mind it, it was by chance that I was there too.] (Ryouta)
[By chance?]
[Yes it is. Since I coincidentally dropped by your bar, by chance you needed help so I did.] (Ryouta)
Yes, everything was unexpected. It"s not like I purposely went around looking for trouble to occur.
[B..But…..]
[Ah, I remember someone I know mentioned something along the lines which says [If there"s someone in trouble, then there will be someone with the power to help.]. I just followed what he said.] (Ryouta)
[Still…….Thank you so much!]
The waitress bowed her head.
[I will definitely return this favour of yours.]
[As I"ve already…..] (Ryouta)
[DEFINITELY!]
The waitress stared at me with dead serious eyes.
This wasn"t some half-a.s.s resolution, but eyes which says she"ll do whatever it takes to return the favour.
[……I…I see. Well, my name"s Satou Ryouta. Normally I would be at Shikuro, so you can find me there.] (Ryouta)
[Eh?]
[I won"t try to stop you from returning the favour, but don"t force yourself from doing something impossible. I won"t try to run or hide, so you can just find me anytime.] (Ryouta)
[Y, yes…..]
[If you feel troubled by not being able to repay me, someday I"ll have the chance to help you again like what I did just now.] (Ryouta)
I winked at her, and said what I thought.
The waitress suddenly gasped, before she bowed deeply again.
[Yes! Thank you so much again!] is what she said.
After waving her goodbye she walked back into the bar, and I started walking.
Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle—–
I could hear the overlapping footsteps of two people.
Seems like someone was following me from behind.
When I stopped, the person behind stopped as well.
The person who was following me…..I don"t even have to see as I knew it must be Nicholas.
[Sigh……why the heck are you following me?] (Ryouta)
[You"re so cool just now, the way you talked to that girl.] (Nicholas)
[No no no, that"s not true.] (Ryouta)
[That girl must"ve fallen in love with ya. If you try to chase after her, I"m sure she"ll be yours.] (Nicholas)
[It"s not like I wanted her to be—–] (Ryouta)
[I too have once again fallen in love, I"m wet!] (Nicholas)
[I don"t do it for that either!!!] (Ryouta)
My back was shivering with fear.
[Hey, hey. Do ya wanna drink with me after this. I won"t say we won"t quarrel, but we can still drink together.] (Nicholas)
[My body is sending me danger alerts from every corner, so I politely refuse.] (Ryouta)
[It"s alright once in a while. Don"t worry, I won"t just suddenly start a fight with you. I don"t feel good when the person is not prepared to fight with me.] (Nicholas)
[Don"t you even appeal to me! I don"t even want to know what the h.e.l.l you"re thinking!] (Ryouta)
[Then let"s go have another drink!] (Nicholas)
Nicholas rudely put his arms around my shoulders.
It"s surprisingly normal, like a brother to brother kind of skinship.
No, I was pulled by Nicholas.
I have to be 100% on alert as he"s a pervert. However, he doesn"t beat around the bushes, so it"s not like I hate him or anything.
As he pulled me along, we arrived at an old district block.
We were just at a bustling street with newly furnished buildings, but the moment we got here, the scenery shifted as all I could see are old and broken buildings.
[Must we pa.s.s by this place to get to where you"re saying?] (Ryouta)
[No, this is where I live.] (Nicholas)
[Eh? Here?] (Ryouta)
[Well, while we"re talking about it, here is where I live.] (Nicholas)
Nicholas dragged me to an old looking building.
It seems to be properly maintained, but with just one glance I could see that it has been many years since this building was constructed.
Probably around 50—–No, 100 years since this building was constructed.
[You live here?] (Ryouta)
[Yeah.] (Nicholas)
[…..But why? Instead of living in this old place, I"m sure you could live in a mansion of sorts right?] (Ryouta)
A 7☆ man, with many subordinates (probably), I"m sure he"s the head of the family.
When we first met, I didn"t really ask much, but he gave off a mafia like feeling where he"s the boss running the family, so I thought he would be living in a well-off place.
But to think that…..he would live inside such a 100 year old looking house, it was a huge surprise for me.
[I"m sure, for outsiders they won"t understand. But this home, is the oldest building in Samechiren, you know?] (Nicholas)
[The oldest?] (Ryouta)
[Yep. This was the first house ever built when this city appeared. Well, it doesn"t look like how it was, but this is the oldest building.] (Nicholas)
[The oldest…..That"s right, previously you did order the .] (Ryouta)
[Yep. You……do you know what is the number one luxury in this world? It"s time.] (Nicholas)
[Time….] (Ryouta)
With a flat p.r.o.nunciation, I repeated his words.
[You can make as many good things as you want. And we want the best things in life. So humans can just keep on making new things time after time, right?] (Nicholas)
[I see. But something that is old is impossible.] (Ryouta)
[Yeah. Old things have a time limit in them. And human strength can"t do anything to stop it. Hence why it"s the number one most extravagant thing.] (Nicholas)
[I see.] (Ryouta)
Old sake, and the old house.
I was wondering why he was so fixated on these, but when he told me the reason, I soon understood as well.
[So you must need plenty of money for it.] (Ryouta)
[If it"s money, I already have plenty. I already own many buildings in this city, which is what makes me money.] (Nicholas)
[Oh, so you"re not an adventurer?] (Ryouta)
I knew it when he placed his arms on my shoulders.
Nicholas—–Is strong.
With everyone I know so far, he can be considered one of the strongest. His level might be no less inferior than that of Neptune.
[Well, I"m a Final F.] (Nicholas)
[Is that so.] (Ryouta)
That was unexpected.
It has nothing to do with your strength, but the second page of your status.
Your drop status, it"s what people call when all your Drop Ranks are F.
Basically, even if you go inside the dungeon and fight monsters, you won"t get any drop whatsoever. In a sense, it"s a derogatory name to be placed onto someone.
[I see why now.] (Ryouta)
[Anyways, let"s leave that and come in and have a drink.] (Nicholas)
[B, Boss…..]
[Huh?] (Nicholas)
Nicholas, who tried to bring me inside the house, stopped as someone called him from behind, which left him in a bad mood.
While only looking at him with one eye, his mouth was distorted in one corner.
From the shadows, there came a guy.
It was someone I do not know, but from the looks of it I could kinda understand.
It was the same feeling as I got from those subordinates— it must be one of Nicholas"s subordinates.
That person then slowly went in front of Nicholas.
[What is it.] (Nicholas)
[Actually…..]
After looking at me for a brief moment, he went close to Nicholas"s ear and whispered.
At first, Nicholas had an expression as if saying why the heck did you bother me, but soon after his face changed slowly to a surprise, and he suddenly had a smile on his face.
[——-is what is going on.]
[I got it. Go and accept it.] (Nicholas)
[Is that alright Boss, about the compensation?]
[Huuuh!?] (Nicholas)
[I"m sorry I understand I"ll immediately convey it now!]
The man immediately straighten his back and saluted before running away from the place.
What the? What the heck just happen.
[——!]
Suddenly my upper body reacted. It was something sharp, and it was freezing as it sc.r.a.ped my nose.
I kicked the ground and jumped away, and after I landed on the ground, I tried to grasp the situation.
Nicholas suddenly had a short sword, as he swung it down.
The blade of that short sword was emitting a purplish-red aura, and wherever I look at it, it seems to be a dangerous weapon.
And that was the thing that grazed my nose.
[What the h.e.l.l!] (Ryouta)
[I"m currently doing my job right now.] (Nicholas)
[Your job?] (Ryouta)
[Yeah, it"s a job from my loyal customer, and the request was for me to make a certain guy disappear.] (Nicholas)
That guy…..without asking it must"ve meant me.
[I"ve killed plenty in this job, well it"s just a regular business after all.] (Nicholas)
[I don"t think that"s qualified as a regular business!] (Ryouta)
I retorted, but Nicholas licked the blade of the short sword with his tongue, and he had an ecstatic expression.
He had an extremely dangerous eyes looking at me.
[I can finally fight with you……well it"s as usual, my usual job that is!] (Nicholas)
[d.a.m.n!] (Ryouta)
I saw Nicholas"s figure shake—–and as I was thinking he was suddenly in front of me.
It was an incredible leap, I"m sure his speed is at A.
With one swing, he slashed at me with a vertical swing that I immediately dodged.
Rumble rumble…..Boom!
I could hear roars from behind me, how ironic, the oldest building in this town was cut in half, and the cut made the building shift.
His power is also high, or is it the weapon"s strength?
Whatever it is—-He"s a strong opponent.
[Aah…..This is good, this is super duper good! I knew I would get a good fight out of you!] (Nicholas)
While looking at me, he rushed over to me again.
With calm eyes, I avoided his slash and got near his belly before releasing a counter punch.
The punch went right deep into his stomach, and he flew backwards.
That attack was something like a super ball. A similar kind of shot.
Nicholas flew towards a rural old building and crashed there.
With one full punch connected.
With this I don"t think he can stand——
[Ouch, that hurts man. Hehe.] (Nicholas)
Nicholas stood up, but with suffering agony he stood up, and his lips was smiling all the time.
Nicholas continued to rush towards me.
With incredible speed. The short sword that he was holding looked bent, and when he slashed, it felt dangerous in a physical damage standpoint, but I calmly coped with the situation and adjusted before counter attacking.
5 consecutive punches, and five times he flew backwards from the impact.
[I, I"m sure after this he can"t—–] (Ryouta)
[Awwwww yeah!] (Nicholas)
[Are you kidding me?] (Ryouta)
After knocking him back, Nicholas jumped out of the building he crashed into.
He shouted joyfully as if he has won.
I put on a stance, this time with my best attack.
But, he did not come.
Nicholas who jumped out did not move from where he stood.
[……]
I cautiously looked at my surroundings.
However, Nicholas suddenly fell down to the debris with his body flat like a [大] character.
His clean clothes were filled with his own blood, and of course after taking my counter blow, his clothes were tattered as well.
He should"ve been knocked out and unconscious from the damage exceeding his limit—–but he didn"t.
Even his face had a satisfied look.
[Phew…..this should be alright. But….] I looked around.
Perhaps because Nicholas has bought over it, but there were no one around us at all.
However, the buildings were all destroyed by his slashes rather than my attacks, and it was all in ruins.
[I mean I"ve won, but to not win with one hit…..]
With that thought in mind, I was frustrated.