by Aneko Yusagi
“Oh woooow! No, really, thank you so muuuuuch!”
“Oh, it’s really no trouble at all. But it is a secret, all right?”
A secret? I don’t think so! My suspicions had been confirmed. I figured out why I hadn’t heard anything about Itsuki this whole time.
He was the kind of guy that liked to hide his real abilities so that he could pull them out when necessary and drive everyone wild.
If he really was able to enjoy that kind of game, he had pretty poor taste as far as I could tell.
He was going out of his way to hide his identity just so he could revel in the joy of exposing himself. If that’s not what he was after, why would he be standing there in the middle of the street? Or at the very least I’d figured out that he didn’t have to run from anything like I did, so he wasn’t doing it to protect himself.
I could picture it all now. The evil governor demanded taxes they couldn’t pay, so he took this girl away from her poor geriatric father as payment. I’d seen a period drama like that on TV once.
Give me a break. I got out of town as fast as I could.
We travelled for half a day or so before we came to a town near the border with a neighboring country.
We were able to sell all the food that we hadn’t sold off the day before, and it sold out very quickly. I guessed we were getting into areas affected by the famine.
But there were a lot of people around that didn’t seem to be locals.
Maybe it was the way they dressed. I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but I could tell they were from somewhere far away.
“Hey, you guys…”
I’d heard rumors of a nearby country ruled by a despot, but the tyrant had recently been ousted from power. I felt like I was probably getting close. Were these people citizens of that country, here for business?
Some of them walked by, and a passing glance into my carriage excited them so much that they immediately ran over and started talking business with me.
But they didn’t want to use money. They wanted to barter with me. I could use medicinal herbs and stuff, sure—but I didn’t have much use for lumber or wooden handicrafts. I climbed down from the carriage and started talking with them.
“I’d really prefer money.”
If they foisted their bundles of straw and twine and stacks of charcoal on me, I’d have no way to get rid of it. On the other hand, I could take a lot of medicinal herbs and process it all into medicine.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have money…”
The person speaking was all skin and bones. He looked like he might keel over at any moment.
“I’ll get some food for you all. Eat it and be on your way.”
There was no getting around it, so I borrowed a large pot from some villagers. It looked like the villagers were also on the verge of starvation, so they were more than willing to help.
“Thank you so much!”
Everyone gathered around the giant pot and ravenously scarfed the food down.
While everyone was eating, I took the opportunity to ask just what was going on in these parts.
They said that everything was fine until the despot was ousted. The tax burden was eased, and everyone’s lives started getting better.
But soon enough things went back to how they had been.
The worst part was the leaders of the resistance had started raising taxes again as soon as they were in power.
“But why? After all they went through to oust the bad king?”
“Well, they needed funds to manage the country, and to secure enough money for the military, they had to raise taxes.”
I was starting to understand. It wasn’t just that the king was a bad guy. It was that he needed to raise funds to secure their military strength in order to protect the country.
If your country lost its citizens then you wouldn’t have a country—so you would lose your country if you didn’t protect its citizens.
In the midst of all that, if you only listened to the negative rumors about the king, well, of course you’d want to oust him from power.
I didn’t know anything about that king, but I couldn’t help feeling an affinity for him—to be hated and ousted by your own people.
Certainly there were times in life when you had to do things because you had no choice, whether or not your actions would be viewed in a positive light or not.
But that doesn’t apply to the Trash king. That guy was an evil idiot from day one.
“Even if the leadership changes, we still can’t support ourselves. So we’ve brought all our valuables across the border, here to Melromarc, to see if we won’t have better luck in this more prosperous land.”
“The poor king! He really was thinking of his citizens first! Whose fault is it that I’m this hungry?!”
“Shut up! You would doubt me?”
“Yeah!”
Filo knew just what to say to piss him off, so I had to control her.
She’d started to learn a little bit about how the world works, and she’d developed a dirty mouth in the process.
“I thought he looked…”
Raphtalia was whispering to herself and looking over at us with a strange look on her face.
“Maybe… Mr. Naofumi?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Filo was running her mouth off, but if I had to make a guess from the rumors I’d heard, it sounded like Itsuki had been assisting the resistance. Maybe his heart wasn’t as pure as he wanted everyone to think it was. As for these refugees, were they sneaking across the border to buy stuff on the black market?
By the way, it looked like market prices in the area were soaring. That was good for me. Itsuki, the little General that he thought he was, traveling around righting the world’s wrongs, you’d think he would stick around to give some support. He was only using these people to satisfy his own little sense of personal justice!
“With how things are now, our country is at great risk of invasion! Anyone could rush in and take over, but we can’t even afford to eat.”
“Really.”
Maybe it was due to the waves, but it seemed like famines were breaking out everywhere.
“Oh well.”
I found the leader of the ragged group and gave him one of my improved BioPlant seeds.
“What’s this?”
“If you plant it, it grows food very quickly. It actually caused a big problem down in the south, but I was able to fix it with a special technique of mine. It should be fine now, but you should still keep a close eye on it. If you don’t manage it well, it could turn into a real headache.”
“Oh, Wow!”
“I’ll come back through here in a while. I’ll accept your gratitude then.”
The next time I came through the area, I was sure to get a warm greeting.
They all obviously knew who I really was. Later, I heard that the citizens of that small country, suffering from famine, finally had some food to fill in their bellies.
Chapter Eight: Before the Storm
The sun was setting, so we went back to the inn for that day and focused on treating Raphtalia’s wounds.
I poured the holy water into a different bottle so I could use it to soak bandages. And then I wrapped those around her body.
There was a soft hiss, and black smoke slowly snaked from the bandages. Her skin was looking much better, but apparently the root of the curse was still in there somewhere. If we kept up with her treatment the wounds were sure to heal though.
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, yes. It’s like... it’s like… itchy, and my muscles relax. It feels strange.”
“Oh…”
I wanted her to get better as soon as possible. Especially considering that I was the one who had hurt her.
“The places that you’ve treated feel much better than they did, Mr. Naofumi.”
“That’s good to hear.”
I wanted her to be completely healed
. How much longer would that take?
“Hey, no fair! Big Sister gets to cuddle Master all by herself!”
Filo knew that we were trying to treat Raphtalia’s curse, but she never missed a chance to yell something annoying.
“We are not CUDDLING!”
“She’s right. We are trying to heal Raphtalia’s wounds.”
Cuddling? Is that what she thought? Oh well. Where did she even learn a word like that? Regardless, we weren’t cuddling. Raphtalia and I did not have that kind of relationship.
“Oh… Because Raphtalia is all black?”
“I wouldn’t phrase it that way.”
They were becoming good friends.
“Well, the next wave will be here soon. Why don’t we head back to Castle Town, pick up the new stuff from the weapons guy, and then take it easy?”
“Okaaaay!”
“That is a good idea. We’ve been very busy lately. A little break would be wonderful.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”
“Master, are you going to make food for us?”
“Sure. Maybe we can borrow that metal plate from the weapon shop guy again.”
“Yay!”
We spent the rest of the night tending to Raphtalia’s wounds, and then we went to bed.
After a few days of meticulous holy water application, Raphtalia was completely cured. I was so relieved that worked so quickly.
We decided to stop our traveling sales activities for the moment and went back to Castle Town to see what kind of things the weapon shop owner had prepared for us.
The wave would be here soon enough, so it was high time we got prepared in earnest.
We arrived at the weapon shop just as he was opening his doors for the day.
“Hey kid, you’re out bright and early.”
“I guess. Well? How’d it go?”
“Check it out.”
The old guy went into the back of the shop and came out with his arms full of my new equipment.
It was made from bits of chimera and dragon bones: Bone Mail… Except that it looked almost exactly like the equipment I already had.
It looked like something an apocalyptic gang member might wear.
Honestly, from a distance it looked the exact same as my current armor. Except that it had some glossy parts, and some color here and there.
“Old dude, are you trying to turn me into the boss of a bandit team?”
I guess it was because he’d made it from parts of the bandits’ armor, but it would have been nice if he had taken it in a different direction.
“Huh? What are you talking about, kid?”
Was I supposed to wear that? I know it was a fantasy world, but it was starting to feel like all of my clothes had a villainous look to them.
“What do you call that armor?”
“Well, it’s all custom, so I don’t even know. How about Barbarian Armor +1?”
“I don’t think the +1 really captures all you’ve done.”
The armor had been held together with a denim-like fabric before, and that had been replaced by dragon skin, which looked like glossy black rubber.
Around the chest was a plate of metal. It really didn’t look any different.
Barbarian Armor +1: defense up: attack endurance (medium): fire resistance (strong): shadow resistance (strong): HP restore (weak): magic up (medium), magic defense processing: automatic recovery function
The armor came with a whole list of resistances.
Automatic recovery, I think that was pretty much self-explanatory. It would probably repair itself if it broke.
If the armor came with so many different functions, I’d probably never take it off.
“What is it, kid?”
“I thought maybe you were holding out hopes for me.”
There had to be some reasons that he made the clothes the way he did. Did he want people to think I was a criminal?
“Master, are you going to ride on me dressed like that? I hope so! Guess what? I found some black glasses? I think it would be fun to run if we were wearing these.”
Filo was staring at me, her eyes shining. What was she up to?
“Kid. When that bird-girl is in her human form and she yells ‘ride me,’ there are bound to be some misinterpretations.”
“Shut up! You know we don’t mean it like that!”
I wondered, did he just think of armor making as a way to piss me off? Was this some kind of joke to him?
“What is it, kid?”
I guess not. He didn’t seem to have anything but good intentions.
“Oh, um… Nothing. I’ll take it.”
Raphtalia was standing off to the side, saying how cool I looked. Whatever.
If I walked around town dressed like this, I was going to stick out like a sore thumb.
“All right, what should we do?”
If we wanted to get any stronger, we’d have to find some way to class-up Raphtalia and Filo.
When the wave came, we’d be automatically summoned. If so, why not use our time on a trip to the neighboring country where we could make some money and level up a bit?
“We still have some time before the wave comes. Raphtalia, Filo, do you guys want any accessories?”
“Accessories?”
“Yeah, to compliment your equipment. I think we could get some made up easily enough.”
I’d made up my mind to try and get them some kind of present for their efforts. This was a good time to do it.
“Raphtalia, you’re getting to the age where you probably have started to care about that kind of stuff, right?”
“I... Uh…”
“Me tooo!”
“I know. That’s why I asked you both if you wanted anything.”
Raphtalia looked like she was a little stunned. Was what I was saying really all that surprising?
“Hey! You know what I want? A hairpin!”
So Filo wanted a hairpin? That was a shock… I thought for sure she would ask for a saddle or something.
“A hairpin? Why?”
“It won’t pinch me when I transform!”
I guess she was still worried about that. Whatever, if she put it on her head she would be just fine.
And considering how young she looked when she was in human form, it actually wasn’t inappropriate at all.
“Raphtalia, what do you want?”
“Me? Hmm…”
She thought about it for a moment before looking at me and answering.
“I’d like a bangle. But I would like it to be imbued with equip effects.”
“What?”
“I would like something that will contribute to my abilities, Mr. Naofumi.”
What was she hinting at? She had responded differently than I’d expected, and I couldn’t quite follow along.
I thought she would want a ring, or earrings, or a necklace, but she wanted a bangle—and it had to have equip effects. I’m sure it was my fault for raising her this way.
“Oh, um. Okay then. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Me tooooo!”
“Okay, okay.”
Chapter Nine: Framed Again?
“Oh! There he is!”
We left the weapon shop to find, for whatever reason, Itsuki, Ren, and their parties all running in our direction.
Ren was like me. No, actually he came from some sci-fi version of Japan where people could actually enter virtual worlds online.
And he was summoned to this world as the Sword Hero. Like Motoyasu, he had a handsome face, attractive. There was something almost womanly about him. His black hair had a shiny quality to it, and he was silent—cool.
What did it mean? They were all together here in the town at the same time?
Itsuki, unlike the last time I saw him in shabby dress, was clad in good equipment.
They must have noticed the miserable look on my face. Itsuki stepped forward and called out in a loud voice:
“It was YOU. I fulfilled an official r
equest, and you swept in to steal my reward!”
“What?!”
Why did I have to steal his petty reward?
“Me too. You stole my rewards as well.”
Ren looked like he could kill me with his eyes.
I had an idea of what he was getting at. Who was it that caused all the trouble in the mountain town? Who let everyone get infected by that horrible disease?
“Ren, okay, you’re right about that. But I don’t know what Itsuki is talking about.”
“You’re going to play dumb?!”
“I don’t know what I don’t know.”
“Ok, hold on. We need to talk it out first, if we don’t, what will Naofumi confess to?”
“You’re going to assume I’m guilty before we even talk?”
“Did Master do something?”
“Nothing I can remember.”
I tried to comfort Filo and Raphtalia while glaring at Ren and Itsuki.
“Anyway. Why don’t you at least tell me what you are talking about?”
Itsuki started explaining what exactly his qualm with me was.
“It happened in a northern territory. I’d been charged with investigating the actions of a local despot, and then I was charged with removing him from office—which I did.”
After that, he apparently did what he always did, which was send one of his party members (who was always dressed in gaudy armor) to receive his reward payment from the guild that divided out these requests. But when he went to receive payment he was told that the payment had already been accepted, and the only person Itsuki could think of that would do such a thing was myself.
“Um, excuse me for speaking out of turn, General Commander, but have you ever considered that if a hero goes out of his way to hide is real identity, he might not get recognition for his actions?”
“General Commander?! What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You were walking around with a sword on your belt, pretending to be a generic adventurer. Weren’t you, General?”
Itsuki, perhaps thrown off guard, started yelling at me. His attitude of secrecy towards his quests was clearly becoming a problem.
