Enjoy the chapter~
TL: NyX
ED: Onihikage
Chapter 21 – Situation
I went to the Adventurer"s Guild, but I didn"t remember how to accept a request. The memories from when my parents took requests with me had already faded.
Basically, you can"t accept a request unless you have a Divine Treasure or occupation. I was helping out at the inn until this point, so that was why I didn"t show up at the Guild until now.
「I"m sorry, Mear-san. I"ve never actually taken requests from the guild before, so I don"t know what to do at all.」
「Oh. Really?」
「Yeah. I usually just went out alone to hunt goblins…」
「You can"t do anything about that. I"ll show you how it"s done.」
She hit her chest with her right hand, the left on her waist. Her chest shook a little from the impact.
After walking through the guild for a bit, I noticed adventurers staring at Mear-san. They eventually came after us and suddenly started running their mouths.
「Hey hey, Mear. Why are you here?」
「……..」
A man who seemed familiar with her called out her name, but she kept walking and ignored him.
The guy who spoke before cut us off and stood in front of Mear-san.
「…can you get out of my way?」
「Hey, it"s rude to talk to us like that, you know? You"re going to be demoted to F-rank, aren"t you?」
Mear-san reacted to the grinning adventurer. It seems the other party is aware of her situation.
Two more guys came and the three of them stood in front of us. Seems like they might be a party. One stood in front of me, slightly taller―basically a skinhead, and probably the leader of this party.
「You"re young. Hasn"t this guy just finished his blessing ritual?」
「…that"s right.」
「Are you really going to invite someone like him to accept your last request? Even if you avoid demotion this time, you don"t really have a future, do you?」
「…….」
Mear-san tightened her lips as the man"s grin widened, and he brought his face closer to hers.
「I didn"t say anything bad, did I? Why don"t you make a party with us? I"ll show you what a real adventurer is like.」
The man suddenly smiled normally.
…What"s with this guy? He"s definitely said some rude things, there"s no doubt he"s a terrible person.
「Of course, I"ll give you a few things along the way!」
He was clearly a complete a.s.shole. The men were just constantly leering at her.
Mear-san"s lips were quivering, and she was about to blow her top at them. I grabbed her hand.
「Mear-san is in a party with me. Would you quit making suspicious propositions to her?」
「What"s with you, kid? Aren"t you just some amateur who only just got a blessing?」
「Yeah, so what?」
「I ain"t talking to some milk-drinker like you. Don"t interrupt me.」
As soon as he reached towards me, I grabbed his wrist.
「…You little brat.」
The man tried with all his strength to shake me off.
…I wonder if I can just hold him in place here?
「Wh-what"s with this strength?」
His resistance against me was completely over-the-top, but I didn"t feel any strength behind him at all.
…He"s doing that on purpose, isn"t he?
Well, if it"s not on purpose, it might be the effect of the equipment I"m wearing. A total of five S-Rank Strength Enhancements might have overlapping effects. I guess not all of them will have the same effectiveness.
Then he kicked at me. It was unexpected, but I was able to avoid it by letting go of him.
「You little s.h.i.t… trying to make a fool out of me! I"m your senior adventurer, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Don"t make fun of me!」
「…Weren"t you originally making fun of someone else?」
When I turned the man"s words against him, he glared at me.
The adventurers around didn"t stop us even though they clearly seeing us.
Or rather, quite the contrary―
「Ohhh, what now!」
「This looks interesting! Which one you wanna bet on?」
「Well of course it"d be Bunsue! He just hit C-rank the other day, you know?」
「Then my money"s on that boy there. It"s been a long time since I"ve seen an adventurer with that kind of strength.」
「Teach that cheeky newcomer a lesson, Bunsue!」
「Do your best, kid! It"ll cost me my lunch if you lose, you know!」
They are laughing at us. When I look at the guild staff… they"re just sighing as if all this is normal.
Bunsue seems to be the name of the adventurer in front of me, who"s currently tightening his fists and lurking towards me.
「If you apologize now, I"ll let this go, understand?」
「In that case, if you apologize for being rude to Mear-san, I"ll apologize for rudely grabbing you.」
There"s certainly a line that gets crossed by grabbing someone"s wrist all of a sudden. However, Bunsue grins and flips me off.
「Didn"t your mama ever teach you manners, kid? The senior always sits above the juniors, and juniors always serve their seniors. That"s just the natural order of things, you know? That"s how it is in most places, not just here.」
「I didn"t know rules like that were in place much of anywhere.」
「Oh, you didn"t know, huh?」
「Well, that doesn"t seem like something I particularly need to know.」
Bunsue"s anger showed on his face, and then he jumped to one side of me.
…He"s so slow.
I completely saw through his movements.
I dodged to the left and swept his legs out from under him. Bunsue comically fell face-first onto the floor, and then stared at me, rubbing his nose.
「B-b.a.s.t.a.r.d… how did you dodge that!」
「Because you"re just too slow.」
「…Don"t f.u.c.k with me!」
Bunsue jumped at me again, but I caught his leg as firmly as I had his wrist before. He flailed to keep his balance.
The guy just looked at me in shock.
「N-no way, it can"t be true, right? H-he really can move faster than me…」
「Do you understand now?」
「Shut the h.e.l.l up, you little s.h.i.t! I"ve been an adventurer for ten years…!」
Bunsue screamed and swung his fist at me.
Apparently, I"m at least stronger than this C-rank adventurer, probably thanks to all the skills I"ve put on my equipment. I could dodge it like I did before, but that doesn"t seem to emphasize the difference in our strength.
I catch Bunsue"s fist with one hand, and give it a hard squeeze.
「Gaahh!? Aaaow ow ow, leggo, let go of my hand!」
「Well then, are you going to make any more suspicious propositions to Mear-san?」
「Gaarghh! I won"t! Anymore!」
「Really, now?」
When I released his hand, Bunsue quickly left, trembling. His friends were looking at me like they"d seen a ghost.
「Do you still need anything?」
「N-no… nothing.」
With that, they quickly left the building.
「Whohoh! Amazing!」
「The kid won!」
「Pretty sure, Bunsue couldn"t beat that kid even if he used his Divine Treasure!」
The surroundings became noisy, but I ignored them and looked at Mear-san. She was staring at me.
「Mear-san, sorry I couldn"t make him apologize to you.」
「N-no, it"s okay. Y-you, um… thank you.」
Her dog ears were twitching happily.
「Well then, Mear-san, can you tell me how to accept a request?」
「Oh yeaahh…」
With Mear-san"s smile, everything was alright for now.