Chapter 3 Hero and the Newbie Adventurer (3)
After ordering some tasty drinks at the only inn of the village, I came and sat in front of the woman at the table.
She seems to have calmed a lot from the battle against the goblins but her expression was still dark.
Well, coming so close to dying, I guess it’s only natural. It’d be nice if this doesn’t become a trauma for her though.
Since the atmosphere didn’t allow me to talk either, we just faced each other waiting for the drinks to arrive.
It seems she was the same as she fidgeted around.
Is it weird of me to think that that action of hers looked actually cute?
Since she was still equipped with the leather breastplate, the gap in between was—–
[You…….really treat every woman the same.]
An extremely fed up voice came.
Although I was the only one who could hear it, I still felt a bit down.
Well, in actuality, my heart isn’t actually that weak though.
Living in this different world, even if one doesn’t want to, his mind and heart will be trained naturally.
“Um, thank you very much.”
As I was thinking other things, the woman in front of me gave her thanks.
As she bowed, her honey coloured hair hung down and hid her expression.
Putting her hair back with her fingers, she looked towards me with nervousness in her eyes.
Huh? She seems to be frightened of me?
[Although they were just goblins, you did kill 4 of them alone after all.]
Oh, so that’s why.
Although I used a surprise attack, I ended up working too hard it seems.
I guess I overdid it.
In the guild of a rural area like this, she must not have expected that there would be such a strong adventurer.
Though, I was only lucky this time.
The fact that the daggers flew straight, that I was able to block the goblin’s attack and the surprise attack had made them panic, all were lucky things due to which I was able to win so skilfully.
[After showing such a violent fight, it’s only normal for an amateur to be fearing you.]
“Shaddup.”
“?”(woman)
I ended up saying that out loud involuntarily again. The woman, who couldn’t hear Ermenhilde, looked at me questioningly.
After all it must have looked like I was talking to myself.
In fact, the woman didn’t even seem much alarmed considering the current situation. She must have nerves of steel.
From here onwards, when saving someone, I’ll try to save them by helping them run away rather than fighting the monsters.
Well, I have saved people quite a few times in the past year but failed to do the aforementioned every time though.
While I was thinking such things, the landlady of the inn brought us fruit juice.
By the way, my drink was simply milk. Even though I didn’t ask for it, she automatically brought the cheapest one for me.
I’m thankful that she is aware of the pitiful state of my purse.
I thanked her with my gaze and gave a thumbs up.
[……this is so pathetic.]
“Milk is good for the body. I love it.”
[Your favourite is still alcohol which isn’t really good for the body though.]
I can’t deny that.
Today my purse is warm, I think I feel good already.
“…….Um.”
“Go ahead and drink it. When you’re tired it’s good to drink sweet things.”
24 copper coins. That was my earnings for today.
Considering that I can live through one day by spending only 8 copper coins, I think I can live for 3 days without any problems now.
Thus expenses weren’t a problem for me right now.
Luxury also enriches one’s heart as well.
While thinking of such philosophical things, I wondered if I was actually correct on that point.
“Thank you, very much.”
Holding the wooden cup with both hands, she started to slowly drink.
She must not have realized herself but her body was demanding for sugar as she quickly drank it all.
She sure is drinking with an enjoying expression. While looking at her, I also began to drink my milk.
This milk that was not flavoured like the ones in modern j.a.pan is, honestly speaking, very ordinary.
But I still drank it well. It would be ridiculous to waste some of it. That would be so wasteful.
…….but I did understand why children did not like milk now.
“Then, um,…….can I at least know your name?”
The taste of the milk was getting even worse but the atmosphere seemed to have gotten a bit lighter so I decided to try and talk to her.
Why this newbie adventurer woman was so fixated on monster subjugation quests?
I don’t really want to pry any deeper into her matters but if she has some important reason I could think of helping her a little with that.
She’s a beauty after all. I don’t really need any more of a reason to get to know women.
[The milk is getting on your beard……Pfft.]
Oops. I wiped it with my sleeve.
Nice, Ermenhilde.
[…..Pathetic.]
Leave me alone.
“I’m called Francesca. Francesca Barton.”
“Barton……”
[What, so she really was a n.o.ble.]
She has a family name. In this world, normal people don’t have family names.
Only n.o.bles and families with Knight lineage are allowed to have family names in this world.
From her atmosphere, I did think that she might be a n.o.ble, but I actually didn’t expect it to be true.
It’s rare for n.o.bles to become adventurers. There are basically nil of such cases.
There are times when a n.o.ble might become an adventurer seeking thrill and excitement but that’s usually the second or the third son of the family that cannot succeed the house.
Also, most of them would soon quit after facing the hardships of such a lifestyle.
I have been in parties (T/N: Adventurer party.) with such people and they were usually reluctant to even sleep in a tent outside.
I wondered what were they actually expecting of an adventurer.
And those second and third sons would also, in the end, open up a business and get into administration work.
They basically do not have any money problems after all. So it’s only obvious to chose a peaceful method of earning money rather than living the dangerous life of an adventurer.
There are lot of things like management and administration that they would need to learn but it’s still better than risking your lives I think.
Thus, it was rare for a n.o.ble to become an adventurer. Especially for a beautiful woman like her.
After knowing that she was a n.o.ble, I got worried that she might actually be burdened by some kind of huge debt after getting cheated.
That actually sounds plausible.
In this case, she must be the daughter of the Barton household but…..I’ve never really heard the name before.
It’s probably a lower level n.o.ble family.
“I am Renji. I’ve been an adventurer for three years now.”
I should just give my name here.
The name Renji is definitely rare, but it’s not like no one else might have it.
But my surname Yamada is definitely one of a kind. I doubt there’s any other Yamada in this whole world.
Thus, I decided to only use Renji as my name so that I don’t stand out.
“Three years….”
She cutely inclined her head to the side.
Well, I understand what she wants to say.
If one stays an adventurer for three years, he will only be at an intermediate level.
At such a level, it would be very surprising for someone to have easily defeated goblins like I did.
Well it’s actually thanks to the World transfer compensation though. Also my cheat, Ermenhilde.
Without those, I would have really been nothing more than villager C.
“So, why is a n.o.ble trying to be an adventurer…….”
And, monster subjugation, on top of that.
On being called a n.o.ble, Francesca-san’s expression became gloomy.
Could it be, that she doesn’t like being called and treated as a n.o.ble?
“I have some circ.u.mstances.”(Francesca)
“fuun.”
I gulped down the milk. It’s still tastes bad.
“Are those circ.u.mstances the reason why you’re so fixated on monster subjugation?”
“yes.”
Well I don’t really care whether she’s a n.o.ble or not, it doesn’t really matter to me.
Rather than that, are those circ.u.mstances such that she has to risk her life?
The actions she took today were not risking her own life but abandoning her own life.
I ended up becoming curious of these circ.u.mstances of hers.
It won’t hurt just listening to her.
Also, I smelled money. She’s a n.o.ble as well as a newbie adventurer. If I were to help her, I might get some rewards……or something like that.
But that’ll depend on the details. I want to avoid anything dangerous.
I took another sip of the milk, and urged her to continue.
If it sounded something really dangerous……well, imight try helping her a little I think.
“Actually, there was a test at the academy…..”
“……hm?”
“If I fail at that test I will have to drop out.”
What, it was much lighter than what I was expecting.
But I wonder how it relates to her becoming an adventurer.
If it’s a test then stick to your desk and study like crazy.
“Should I read the textbook?”
‘She was anxious about the practical test and decided to practice against actual monster.’
If she had died for such a reason, her parents wouldn’t have been able to even cry. They would have cried in the end though.
“Uu……I’m good at making notes but practical tests are…..”(Francesca)
[Wow a typical big-headed person.]
Don’t say that.
I hit the medal from above my pocket. Ouch, my thigh actually hurt.
“Well, you do seem bad at physical exercise.”
“uu.”
She must have been sensitive about it as she moaned and looked downwards.
She actually feels like a small animal.
Also, I could see her cleavage…….well with such a rack it’s only normal that she’d be bad at physical exercise.
After understanding this, I felt that it couldn’t be helped that Francesca was bad at it.
In fact what do you actually eat to get something like that?
Among my former comrades, there was a woman close to my age.
She was, well…….that. If I were to put it in words, when looking there you would get done in so n.o.body did so.
By the way, ‘done in’ here means ‘to be killed’.(T/N: it could have also meant as doing it with her but unfortunately that’s not the case here.)
I want you to tell her what you eat normally to get something like that.
“Exercise is, well, learning to move your body properly right? You should stop trying to fight monsters for that.”
As expected, I could not tell her directly that she was not suited for it.
Well, it might have been fine even if I said that though. It is true after all.
Now that I have heard her situation, I can’t recommend her to subjugate monsters.
If she tries to do it even then, then I’ll have no choice but to directly tell her that.
“That…..the physical skill test is actually demon subjugating itself.”(Francesca)
“………”
[This girl is going to fail hard.]
I thought the same thing.
Or rather, what kind of school makes its students hunt monsters.
There’ll even be casualties. Isn’t that bad for a school in various ways?
“What school is this?”
“It is the Magic City Academy, around three days from here by carriage.”
It ended up being an extremely big school.
The Magic city was as its name suggested, the whole city was meant as a place for all sorts of magicians to come together to learn and research magic.
Similarly, there are also Tactics City, Commercial Sciences city, Steelworks city etc as well.
The Tactics city is a place where those who can’t use magic gather. There they are taught the way to use swords and spears and also battle tactics. People who graduate from there usually end up as Knights or soldiers in the Royal capital. In this city there are more Dojos rather than schools. Basically it’s filled with muscle headed idiots.
Most of them barely know how to read and write and can make basic calculations sometimes.
The Commercial Sciences city was, as its name suggests, a city where trade and commerce is prosperous and is also called the biggest city of the human country [Imnesia].
I think its even more lively than the Royal Capital as well.
Also, there are schools here that teach about commerce etc as well. Well it’s good that a lot of money flows there, but the city also has its dark parts and I can’t really say that the public order is good there.
The Steelworks City is the city of blacksmiths. After inviting elves and dwarves from the country of beastmen [Elfreim], they create magic enchanted weapons and Mithril weapons there.
The magic weapons or Mithril weapons sold all over [Imnesia] are produced and manufactured only in this city.
Its not very efficient but apparently there are problems like politics, circulation of funds and goods etc.
Every big village also have a place to learn but if one wants to learn something seriously, it’s normal to go to one of these cities. Though, its usually only rich n.o.bles or absolute geniuses who get their expenses paid by the people of the City that actually go there.
A child of a rural village won’t be able to pay the expenses and end up being expelled and returning back.
Then that means that the woman in front of me is definitely a rich n.o.ble family’s young lady.
The Magic academy……that place’s physical test is monster subjugation, is it?
I guess I was mistaken to think that sharing research reports was more magician-like.
“Could you not have made a party with your cla.s.smates?”
“Actually that was the plan but everyone seems to avoid me……”
“What the heck?”
[Seriously what?]
I could only sigh while fed up.
I don’t know the reason but those cla.s.smates that are making this woman to do something like monster subjugation alone are definitely crazy in their heads.
Either they don’t know the dangers involved or they have some hidden reason behind it.
I don’t know what level of n.o.ble is she but still she’s a n.o.ble family’s daughter. If a problem occurred, the school will also have to take responsibility.
It sounds troublesome.
“Um, I had a request—–“(Francesca)
Ah, as expected.
I knew what she was going to say next.
The problem is whether I should accept or not.
I don’t really have a problem. And, if she’s a n.o.ble, I should get a good reward as well.
But the problem is why was this woman made to fight against monsters alone.
It’d be fine if its just me over thinking things but what if something happens?
I really don’t want any trouble. I don’t really mind teaching a n.o.ble woman what an adventurer is like.
Even I, if told that I could get closer to such a beauty, would quickly accept it.
But, I really hate trouble.
I also have my special circ.u.mstances. I really hate trouble as well as standing out too much.
But I need money. I really want it.
If it’s a reward from an adventurer the, maybe gold coins—-no maybe even silver coins…..(T/N: silver>gold here)
“Could you to please teach me the way of fighting?”
“yeah, sure.”(renji)
While bending forward, she looked at me with sincere eyes.
Right, she was leaning forward.
As she did that, the greenery suppressed by the leather breastplate certainly swayed.
And before I realized, I had already accepted her.
[I won’t get angry so tell where were you looking when you gave your answer? Just say it.]
“Your eyes don’t seem to be lying so I guess…..it’s fine.”(renji)
I averted my gaze.
It’s not like I suddenly felt guilty of anything. I wasn’t really scared of Ermenhilde inside my pocket either.
The scenery outside the window was completely cloudless.
.
.
.
When we returned to the guild, the bear faced adventurer was not here anymore.
Probably, he must have taken some newbies to teach them the way of hunting.
In such a rural village, young ones were precious military resource after all.
They needed to be perfectly trained from the basics so that one day they could also pa.s.s this knowledge on to the next generation.
The boy at the reception was looking this way with an amazed face.
“I’m surprised……Renji-san has brought a woman with him.”(boy)
“fu—–Even I am able to do things when I want to.”(renji)
[You don’t do anything usually though.]
Shaddup.
I cursed at the medal inside my pocket, which made a tsukkomi with a fed up voice, within my mind.
But even then, that voice still sounded somewhat happy, probably because I actually did some actual work for once.
That too, a monster subjugating job that I don’t do at all no matter how much it asked me for it.
I hope that it doesn’t take this as an opportunity to start scolding me to do more jobs like this.
Well, after I get the reward for this I’ll be able to live peacefully for some time though.
“But still, Magic City eh? She sure came pretty far to search for a prey.”
I’m pretty sure that there are a lot of guilds there. It might have been troublesome to search for the required monster subjugating quest but at least the danger would have been lesser.
But even so, to have spent three days to have come to this far off rural village is quite unthinkable.
According to her, till she came from the Magic city till here, there was no request to defeat the monsters that she needed.
I guess something like that can also happen.
If a student was going to hunt, it would only be a goblin or a kobold. And he would also be escorted by a pro as well.
“Now then, what kind of monster are you looking for?”
I had been requested to teach her the way of fighting but if I don’t know the target I won’t be able to do that after all.
During the times when we were trying to defeat the Demon G.o.d, I had fought with most types of monsters so I am a bit aware of their characteristics.
If it’s a monster whose subjugation will appear in a rural village then even I should be able to properly teach her that.
Yes, I was thinking this. With a simple request, I could a great reward.
“It’s an Orc.”
“Pig eh?”
[If it goes well, you’ll be able to get a luxurious food as well.]
Orc.
It wasn’t actually a pig but was a monster that had a nose and fangs like a pig. In the first place, there are no pigs in this world, so the word pig itself was nonexistent.
As I saw Francesca tilting her head at my weird words, I felt calmed down.
That Orc.
It’s height was around 2m. Its special characteristics were its physical strength and stamina. It was pretty tough due to its large body.
It’s movements were, as one would expect, dull so as long as one doesn’t let down his guard and be careless, I’ll be able to manage it……..probably.
I looked at Francesca.
…….Her stamina probably won’t last till I kill it.
“Does your test also have a time limit to complete?”
“1 month. I have already used up around 1 week so only around 20 days are left.”
“Then we have quite a lot of time.”
Goblins and Kobolds appear in the gra.s.slands but Orcs only appear in caves and forests.
Or sometimes they come to human habitations and fields for hunting.
Orcs normally eat anything. Vegetables, meat, even humans. Thus, if it appears in a village, a subjugation request is sent out quickly. And since they are easy to kill, such requests are dealt with quickly.
It’s pretty strong but very dull. Its meat is sold at a high price since its really delicious.
The rewards for the request as well as the earnings from selling Orc meat. I could live for almost 10 days easily with such incomes.
Since there are no caves nearby, we’ll have to head deep inside the forest or in the worst case, head to a nearby village which is close to a cave.
It’s been 1 month since I settled here.
I guess it might not be too bad to move now I think. To have met Francesca must have been a good opportunity.
“Guess I should prepare to go on a journey.”
“journey, is it?”
“For the time being, our objective is to search for Orcs.”
[This journey sure has a weird objective……..]
I agree.
But that’s very like us.
I lightly laughed with my partner, Ermenhilde.
And our new companion looked at me curiously.