Chapter 25 - (Chapter 79): Finding Employment
Year 7442, Month 6, Day 4
I heard a scream like gya~ It was from inside the tent. I wonder if they"re torturing him? Well, just make sure you don"t kill him. Since as long as you don"t kill him I can heal him and there"s less trouble when we hand him over to the knight group.
..For a short while I sat on an appropriate rock and watched the fire. Just staring at the small fire and I can"t but think, ah, it"s pretty. And at the same time I also found it strange. Come to think of it that Dereonola is a reincarnated person. Since he was speaking in j.a.panese and when I identified him this afternoon I confirmed his Unique Ability "Highly Efficient Digestive System" so there"s no mistake on that.
But, wait just a moment? Why did I think it was a good idea to hand him over to the knight group? If it"s the normal me then I would have done something like Begulu and force him to pay me an amount he can"t pay to overlook his crime and then make him forcefully into a slave, even if he"s a s.e.x offender, hes still a reincarnated person...No, I guess it"s impossible since he was already a slave, wait, it"s not impossible. If I had requested the payment from his owner? The owner would probably just give him to the knight group without paying I"m sure. No wait, he"s a s.e.x offender? If he made the stupid mistake of putting his hands on one of my subordinates and created discord then, in the first place I"ve always thought s.e.x crimes were worse than other crimes since the past.. when was the past? before I reincarnated. Theft, intimidation, fraud, murder, there"s a mountain of despicable crimes but if it"s a crime other than a s.e.x offense I"ve always thought there was room for pardon. Even though that"s the case accept him? There"s no way! That"s right, that woman, the Bunny-man reincarnated person named Asuka since she was about to be raped by him. Did I try to hand him over to the knight group thinking about her? If I were to just think about her then you could say that even in the case of revenge murder isn"t good, so that might be ri..right. But, if I think about in another way then I"m in a situation where I want as many reincarnated people as allies as possible. Did I discriminate against him because of his Unique Ability? Asuka"s "Shooting Intuition" is extremely useful after all. Putting aside combat in the dungeon it"s an ability that is considerably useful outside and especially when I make guns later.. though if I"m going to say that while it"s useless in battle but even Dereonola"s "Highly Efficient Digestive System" can"t be made fun of. If it"s a long-term concealment or scouting mission then being able to have less food on hand is directly related with significantly reducing the amount of luggage. In worst case you could last quite a while just eating some insects. Though it"s true that "Shooting Intuition" is a useful ability in a different direction. It"s not a problem of which is better. No, it"s not a problem of the Unique Ability, his personality is the problem. Just thinking about eating meals together with a disgusting s.e.x offender who has no sense of reason makes me feel like throwing..what was I thinking about again? Stop, what point is there in thinking about these kinds of things right now! If I don"t think about them now then when will I! Calm down, even if there"s something I don"t know don"t get emotional, there"s nothing good that will come from it. Yeah, that"s right, I should calm down and organize things. Just like usual. Now, I"m going to do it.
1. Dereonola is a reincarnated person. His Unique Ability is "Highly Efficient Diges
tive System".
2. Asuka is a reincarnated person. Her Unique Ability is "Shooting Intuition".
Both of them have useful Unique Abilities. Depending on the time and place they both have their advantages and disadvantages. That"s why there"s no problem at all that far. I want both of them as my allies, they"re talents I want as my subordinates.
3. Dereonola is a despicable s.e.x offender.
He was a slave. I don"t know if he was already a slave or was made into a slave for some reason but it"s probably unrelated to his s.e.x crimes. I think there"s room for pity in the fact that he"s a slave on its own but I think that no matter what reason he had I can"t accept the fact that he committed a s.e.x crime just to satisfy his own desires. Ah, it could be thought of as a type of revenge, maybe? That doesn"t matter for now. It doesn"t seem it"s that sort of reason this time after all.
4. Asuka is searching for Semayousuke. It"s probably someone she knows that died together with her in the accident.
It"s certain there"s a reincarnated person named Semayousuke, or rather there"s a pretty high probability they"ve reincarnated. I"m sure Asuka is searching because she"s confident of it as well. In that case then if I can make Asuka into my ally then later on Semayousuke might automatically come along as well.
5. Derenola"s history of s.e.x crimes didn"t start with Asuka. It seems he"s done it several times.
Someone who"s committed s.e.x crimes a number of times is..no good I"m sure. His willpower is weak and it means he has no self-restraint as well. His MP was 7 but it"s not a problem to think about just in terms of MP. I"m sure there"s differences in individuals. If that wasn"t the case then this would be a world where crimes don"t occur. With no crimes or conflict, in terms of public order you could say it"s a utopia but I"m sure that would just be dystopia. That"s why crimes should have no relation to how much MP you have. It might be interesting to try a.n.a.lyzing it but I"ll stop for now.
6. The reason Dereonola was in Baldukk.
Unknown. Was he born and raised here?
7. The reason Asuka was in Baldukk.
She most likely came searching for Semayousuke. Since it seems she was born the Kingdom of Devas. It must have been a coincidence she was found by Dereonola.
When I thought as far as that Asuka and Ralpha came out of the tent. I stopped thinking and offered the easy to sit on rock to them. Well then, let"s start with introductions, I decided on you from the start, please take care of me from now I guess. Eh? Neruton Red Whale Group*, don"t you know it?
"How did it go?"
When I tried asking that Ralpha responded.
"There"s nothing to it. That guy is the worst."
Seeing that Ralpha, Asuka apologetically said,
"I didn"t think it through enough. We"ll talk about those sorts of things later. First let me properly offer you my grat.i.tude."
While saying that she continued her words.
"Really thank you very much for saving me from a dangerous situation. My name is Soma Asuka. My name on Orth is Bernadett Koloil. I was born in the King of Devas but as I"m sure you"ve already realized I"ve come this far searching for my boyfriend who died in that accident together with me."
After saying that Bernadett politely lowered her head to us. If I take a look after calming down she"s quite cute. Since she"s still 14 years old there"s a bit of innocence remaining but for a j.a.panese she"s extremely cute. With this then I"m sure she must have been a considerable beauty before as well. On Orth she probably wouldn"t be that well accepted though.
"Yeah, it"s fine. I just happened to overhear that man giving the message to someone at a restaurant. When I saw that man"s face and heard him say "semayousuke" it came to me. That there was another j.a.panese similar to myself involved in it. That"s why, honestly speaking I had no idea what would happen. Just that I thought a pair of j.a.panese were going to have a secret talk so I thought to eavesdrop on it out of interest."
Since Ralpha is here as well it shouldn"t particularly be a problem if I talk about it. It"s hard to give a good impression with eavesdropping but there"s no better way to put it and I"m sure Ralpha has already talked about it as well.
"Yeah. I"ll apologize for trying to eavesdrop as well. I"m sorry. But, since we"re both j.a.panese I wanted to try talking. It"s my true feelings that if possible I wanted to enter the dungeon together."
Ralpha says apologetic.
"However, no matter what the reason it"s true that you came running in that situation and saved me. Thank you so much truly."
Bernadett lowered her head again while saying that.
"I see, well it"s fine. "Also, from here on out let"s talk in {Common Language}. It would be troublesome if the knight group comes."
After saying that I continued talking.
"My name is Alan Greed. Al is fine. In j.a.pan I was Kawasaki Takeo. I was born in Bakuddo Village a remote region of the Rombert Kingdom."
"My name is Ralpha Firefreed. Ral is fine. Just the same in j.a.pan I was Ono Misa. I was born in Ralpha Village of Rombert. It seems I was an abandoned child. I just said it right? I was picked up by the dwarf Zenom when I was a baby."
After hearing what Ralpha said was so surprised her eyes widened but I"m sure she remembered that they aren"t in a relationship where they"d share every detail about their origins, while pretending to act calm she said, "Call me Bel."
"After that is Ralpha"s father who she mentioned just now Zenom Firefreed and my combat slave the Lion-people race Dadino Zulu. Since Zenom is short just call him Zenom. Since it seems Zulu is proud of his family name feel free to call him Zulu."
While saying that I add another branch that would work as firewood to the campfire. In the next moment, Bel nervously asked me.
"By the way, Al-san. Is that a "gun"?"
Just as one would expect from someone with the Unique Ability "Shooting Intuition" it seems she has interest in guns.
"Ah, that"s right, I thought it was strange as well. What does that have the shape of a "gun"?"
Ralpha"s hopped on the question as well. Come to think of it she never asked until now. I"ve noticed her just staring strangely at my bayonet occasionally but since she never said anything I just ignored it.
"Ah, in the past...I think it would be around 40 years in the past from now? No, around 35 years. I was a "Self-defense officer". That"s why I can decently use the sword normally but in reality the "bayonet" is easier for me to use. That"s why I made it in this shape."
After responding with that and Ralpha says.
"Oh so that was the case. I had thought that you were a "Chuu-ni-byou Gun Mania"."
What in the world is that?
"But, Al was in the "self-defense force" huh? Did you become a "salary-man" after quitting the "self-defense force"? How old are you?"
Ralpha still talks in a way as if she doesn"t even know the existence of the word "discretion" as usual.
"Yeah, I entered the "self-defense force" after I left "high school". I was in the "self-defense force" for about 6 years. After that I quit being a "self-defense officer" and spent close to 20 years in sales for a foodstuff company. I died when I was 45 years old so now I"m 59. Also, I wasn"t a "self-defense force" but a "self-defense officer". Use the word properly."
I responded with a sullen expression. Thinking of me as a chuu-ni-byou gun mania..this s.h.i.tty brat.
"Uhe~ 59 like, aren"t you already an old man. Not to mention you"re so picky about everything~"
Ralpha says while laughing. Th..This..
"Shut it. You were a "high school student" but in that case aren"t you already an old woman past 30? In the first place I"m still 14 years old on Orth!"
Bel started laughing at our idiotic argument.
"Then, I"m a 35 year old woman now because I died when I was 21 years old as well."
And said that, so we stopped our pointless argument and faced her. Sorry.
"It"s already fine to just ignore her. Then, is semayousuke Bel"s boyfriend?"
I tried asking that. It"s an obvious attempt to change the topic.
"Yes, that"s right. He was a cla.s.smate in college. We were both born in the same Gifu prefecture and got along together."
"Then, that guy isn"t semayousuke right? Well, if he"s your boyfriend then you would recognize him if you saw his face I guess."
After I replied with that and Bel said surprised.
"Eh? Even after reincarnating our faces remain the same?"
Has she never looked into the surface of some water?
"It"s not completely the same. For example my face is like it was when I was 14 years old then made into a human of this world. In terms of j.a.panese I guess you could say it"s kind of like being a half? If it"s the person them self or at the family level of familiarity then I think they would easily be able to notice. Have you never tried looking at your reflection on the water"s surface Bel?"
After I say that and,
"There were no mirrors and since the water in the river moves so I couldn"t tell very well...Ah, I guess it would have been fine if I had stored it inside of something.. I never had any particular interest in my own face in the first place."
Is it that sort of thing? It"s true that even Ralpha never thought of looking at her face on the water"s surface as well it seems. After being reborn as a baby and spending countless months unable to move, I"m sure that checking your face wouldn"t be very high on the list of things to do once you can move. If you spend several years like that I"m sure you"d become indifferent to your face..I guess? Since sheet gla.s.s with a high transparency hasn"t been invented there"s no proper mirrors. But, while their amount of reflection is bad and they"re expensive it isn"t like there aren"t mirrors at all. Since I"m a man I didn"t particularly care much about it in the first place, though Mary was a bit younger than I am since she"s still easily at the age of an old woman as well in terms of mental age so I never really thought about it.
However, Ralpha is an ex-high school girl and Bel was a college student. I wonder if a young girl that was born and raised in j.a.pan would normally be this indifferent to their own looks? Or maybe it"s because of being born and raised in the environment of Orth? I wonder what is up with this out of place feeling. In the first place, even though I was a man even in my past life I would check my appearance in the mirror several times every day. Well, I"ll put it aside for now. It can"t be helped just thinking about it.
"Well putting that aside. And about facial features but this isn"t just my opinion. They"re not here but I know another two reincarnated people, a man and a woman. Ah, reincarnated people are what I call the j.a.panese that were reborn in this world. When I met them we exchanged a variety of information. Our facial features was one of those things. It seems that our faces are as if the racial characteristics of this world have entered our faces from our previous life. Ah, the man isn"t Bel"s boyfriend. I think he said his name was Kojima., it seems he was a "high school student". Those two entered the knight group in the territory I was born and are being worked hard right about now."
After I said that and Bel made a relieved expression and said.
"Then..Then if he seems my face or I see his then we"ll know it"s each other right!"
She seems quite happy.
"Yeah, probably."
After I said that this time Ralpha entered the conversation.
"The knight group sure is slow."
Mu, quite a bit of time has pa.s.sed since then, it should be a good time I guess.
"I guess so. Isn"t it about a good time for them to get here? Bel, I"m sure you want to talk with a bit more detail but we"ll do that later."
I say that while standing up and brushing the dirt off my b.u.t.t.
"Umm, before that is it okay if I ask?"
After Bel said that I sat down again.
"You all are adventurers right? Are you earning money in the dungeon of Baldukk?"
Bel says while bracing herself.
"That"s right, we"re adventurers. Well, we only just arrived in Baldukk the other day, I think it was about one week ago. We"ve only entered the dungeon once so far though."
Ralpha said proudly while sticking her chest out for some reason.
"I see. If it"s alright with you then would it be alright if I went with you until Yousuke comes, no, even if it"s just for as long as you"re in this town? Since it"s just me, alone, and that sort of thing happened I"m feeling a bit lonely.."
Mu, of course that"s fine though. Ralpha glances at my face while saying.
"We welcome strong reincarnated people. Right, Al, isn"t it fine?"
Of course it"s fine. But you know..
"Bel, are you troubled with money?"
It"s no good if we don"t decide on the conditions.
"No, for the time being it"s not a problem in particular but I"m thinking of waiting for him in this town for at least 10 years. As expected I don"t have enough money to live in this town for 10 years so.."
10 years huh? Even though she"s a foreigner since she"s a n.o.ble she doesn"t have to think about taxes..Huh? I wonder what happens in the case of foreigners? I"ll investigate it later. In any case, supposing that it"s tax-free for her and she stays at the cheapest inn, including food she should be able to go on living at about 1,500 Z per day. In the worst case if she were to camp on the edge of the town I"m sure it would be even cheaper. If it"s just the bare minimum food then I don"t think it would cost more than 200,000 Z per year. However, I"m sure both of those are impossible in reality. It"s a lifestyle that"s on the verge of begging and it could end up having bad effects on your health. If you just think about living normally for all expenses other than inn and food then it should cost around 1,000,000 Z per year. Well, since Bel is from a Sub-Baron family it seems so she should have enough money to live for a few years I"m sure.
"Of course you"re welcome to join. I"ll give you wages as well. It"s 200,000 Z per month. After that whenever we find items in the dungeon I give bonuses as well. If you"re fine with that then we can make a contract just like Ralpha and Zenom. But, before that let me ask you a question. Bel"s boyfriend.. it"s about your basis for waiting for Yousuke-san in Baldukk. Why?"
After I said that and Ralpha said.
"Ah, I want to know that as well."
Of course you do as well. If she just pa.s.sed through Baldukk on her journey searching for boyfriend then I would understand. But the way she put it was almost like she knew for sure that her boyfriend would come to Baldukk? Ah, I guess since it"s "at least for 10 years" then she"s not completely sure?
"Since he should definitely try searching for me as well. No matter what type of family he was born in and in order to go on a journey to search for me it"ll cost money right? That"s why I thought he might come to Baldukk which is rumored to be good for earning money. And there"s monsters wandering around on Orth as well. I"m sure he wouldn"t be able to endure a journey until he grew up to a certain extent. That"s why I left my house before becoming an adult and came straight here. Since he"s pretty careful I think he"ll endure at least until he becomes an adult and then it"s only obvious he"ll come here in order to make money to search for me. I believe that he will do that."
I see now, it"s weak but it"s not like she has no basis for it at all. Rather, in the case that reincarnated people who are familiar with each other try to accomplish the goal of meeting each other then I guess you could say they have somewhat of a basis for it. If they were to just randomly wander around I"m sure that would be even more difficult to meet each other.
"So that"s how it was. Got it. If the conditions just now are fine then I"m fine with writing up a contract tomorrow even. How about it? Ah, don"t think too deeply about it. That"s right, I think it would be best to do it with the feel where you"re being employed in a company that I"m the president of."
However, in your case, you can"t independently retire so easily though.
"Is Ral in it as well?"
Bel asked Ralpha. Are you an employee of this guys place as well? Can he be trusted? I"m sure it"s something like that.
"Yeah. We properly made a contract as well. It"s Zenom and I for 400,000 Z per month. Since we had good luck today he gave us a bonus of 100,000 Z each."
Ralpha says to Bel while smiling. That"s good, Ralpha just like that invite her.
"And..I"ll talk about it later but, I think it would be best if you were together with us. About Bel"s facial features as well.. you"re considerably cute. Hmn, that"s not all. He probably can"t hear but there"s things I don"t want to let that guy hear as well. If you"re hesitating then I"ll tell you about it later."
Ralpha says that while looking towards the tent and looking at me. What is it? I get what you"re trying to say but you don"t need to look at me every time.
"Al is fine. He"s strong and he can use magic extremely well, and I"m being taught magic by Al right now as well."
Stop it, you"ll make me embarra.s.sed.
"Well, he is an old man after all? The faces of people over here are more my type than the faces of j.a.panese people as well? Zulu is cool."
"Ku...I"m not interested in a kid either, you brat!"
However, I don"t get her interests, Zulu of all people? It"s unusual for a commoner woman to fall for a slave. A forbidden romance across social standings huh? I guess it"s not particularly unusual and it doesn"t matter at all. Do it all on your own.
After seeing us like that Bel apparently found it quite funny because she laughed and said.
"I understand, Al-san, would you please hire me?"
Alright that"s good girl. With an expression like a spider closing in on a b.u.t.terfly caught in it"s trap I say.
"Yeah, different from a brat a beauty is greatly welcome. I"m looking forward to working with you from now on."
After saying that the right hand I grabbed was rough with blisters.
I can hear a voice calling to me from the distance. It seems that Zulu and Zenom have brought the knight group.