Chapter 77 : Information Gathering
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“Ren-dono! Your buff magic is so amazing!”
“Is that so? But I’m glad I can be helpful.”
Melchior-san, who had been exchanging blows with the other guards, came to me while wiping his sweat. As soon as he was standing right in front of me, Melchior-san excitedly began to talk about my buff magic. Seemed like he was very pleased with it.
“Hey~ It’s better if you can receive buff magic from Ren-chan, right?~”
“Yeah! Christian-dono is very strong too! As expected from A-rank! Even though you didn’t receive any buff magic, I still couldn’t land a single blow on you. I’d love to steal some of everyone’s moves on this journey.”
Still holding onto his twin swords, Chris-san stood beside Melchior-san and spoke to him. This time, Melchior-san’s excitement was apparent while he replied to Chris-san. He was breathing very heavily. Just where did the calm knight demeanor disappear to…?
But I really admired his determination to improve himself when he said he wanted to steal some of our moves. I was only just watching from the sidelines but I could see that the three of them were indeed very amazing. They could easily defeat the other guards while being outnumbered in one against three fights.
I think the guard’s moves weren’t bad at all. The difference in level between A-rank adventurers and them was just too vast… I wonder if I was already at the right level to take a promotion test…?
“I know it’s a little late to say this now but isn’t it hard to keep calling me Christian?~ You can just call me Chris if you want?~”
“Oh, you can call me Sig too.”
“I don’t mind if you call me Fer as well.”
“Then you guys can call me Mel.”
While I was busy contemplating the promotion test, the four of them were getting more friendly with each other and began to talk in a more relaxed manner. I went along with the flow and introduced myself to the rest of the guards.
It turned out the first two guys to have mock battles were brothers. Their names were Tad-san and Timothy-san. They were 23 and 22 years old, almost the same size and every mock battle always ended up in a draw. That was why everyone was so shocked to see Tad-san’s overwhelming victory in the earlier mock battle after receiving the buff.
The other members were also quite young, some were in the first half of their twenties, some were in the middle of their thirties. They said the more veteran members were with Francesca-san’s father and so they weren’t available here.
“Sigurd-sama, why don’t you come for a tea with me if you need to take a break?”
Assuming Sig-san was finally taking a break because they were chatting with the guards, Francesca-san, who had been sitting on a table set that she had brought, approached Sig–san. Chris-san and the others were still standing near Sig-san but seemed like she had only eyes for Sig-san.
In the first place, I guess Francesca-san had already planned to only have tea with Sig-san since there were only two chairs there.
“No, I’m good. I’m going home soon. Ah, right. You don’t need to prepare food for us the four for this quest.”
Sig-san only spared Francesca-san a single glance before he outright rejected her advances. Sig-san also informed her about our meal arrangement as an afterthought.
Well, we had arrived here at 14.00 and now the time was 16.00. We had to go home soon.
“Huh?! Why? Our chef’s food is really delicious, you know? Sigurd-sama likes meat, right? Our chef will do their best to cook the best meal for you so let’s eat together?”
Despite Sig-san’s curt reply, Francesca-san was still trying her best to invite Sig-san to eat together with her. The last time they met was two years ago and yet, Francesca-san still remembered Sig-san’s favourite food… She really liked him, huh…
“I said we don’t need it, didn’t I? We will eat Ren’s food. We can’t have all of the escort party members eat the same thing and have the same thing happen to us.”
“Wha-?! Are you insinuating that our chef is planning something with the food?!”
Sig-san told her the reason why we were going to eat my food but Francesca-san came to the conclusion that we were suspicious of her family’s chef. Her face was flushed red in anger.
“No, that’s not the case at all. Basically, we will eat different food from our client and their guards. For example, in our case, there will be a lot of people accompanying you on this trip so the chef will often cook the food on the spot, right? Not to mention there is news about a gang of bandits on the way to Laserna and if they were to slip some drug into the meal the chef cooked, we would all be annihilated in no time. That’s why we want to have a separate meal in order to reduce the risk as much as possible.”
Fer-san explained it in detail to Francesca-san. This was what I had told them, even before we had heard about the robbery. That was why I diligently prepared the meal and crammed them all in the magic bag.
I was told there was a case when the client targeted the adventurer in various ways so I shouldn’t trust the client blindfoldedly. If I had to eat together with the client and I was in no place to refuse it, then I needed to cast [Detox] before I ate.
As a support magician, I could cast [Detox] on everything simultaneously beforehand. The three of them could use [Detox] too to some extent but they weren’t good at it. They would need to keep on casting [Detox] continuously so it was really troublesome.
That was why they said they’d entrust the detoxification to me if such a scenario were to happen to us. Although… I wouldn’t be able to bear it if I were to get attacked by the client I was supposed to protect…
“Ohh… So that’s the reason why…? I understand. I will give up on eating together during the trip but will you please have a meal with me after we arrive in Laserna?”
Francesca-san, whose anger had dissipated after listening to Fer-san’s explanation, wasn’t the least discouraged. She brought her hands together in front of her chest and begged Sig-san with upturned eyes.
How should I say it… She really looked like a maiden. Even though she is already married.
“Ren, do you mind? Of course, Ren and the others will come too…”
“Yes. Francesca-san, is it alright if we all come too?”
As I had expected, Sig-san couldn’t refuse her when she pleaded like that. He agreed to have a meal together as long as everyone was invited.
“Y-Yes…”
Francesca-san didn’t expect Sig-san would say that. It took her a moment before she regained her composure and smiled back at Sig-san.
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Since the test for my buff magic had gone well, we were on our way home as we had planned. Francesca-san kept on glaring daggers at me every time Sig-san wasn’t looking. She really resented me for being Sig-san’s fiancé.
I’m not that good at my job but work is work. I need to do my job right!
“Which reminds me, Fer-san always speaks formally on a daily basis but it turns out Chris-san and Sig-san still speak like usual even in front of a client, huh.”
As we were walking, I spoke about the things that came to my mind. I had thought they’d speak formally with the client but… The two of them were speaking casually like usual. In fact, Sig-san was being a little rude if I may say.
“Hm? Ahh~ It’s just a quest, it’s not like we’re tied to a master and servant contract or anything, after all ~ There’s a lot of people who will misunderstand if you change your tone when speaking with them~ So I just talk like how I usually do~”
“It’s difficult for me to change my way of speaking at this point so I opted to speak like how I usually am too. And if someone were to say something to me, of course I’d talk back to them. If I have to speak casually for a quest, I’d do it though.”
“Oooh… I’d love to see Fer-san speaking casually one day.”
I see… So that’s why… I was thinking if it’s alright for them to speak casually with a client.
So that is why Fer-san always speaks formally. As for me, I spoke in a mix between formal and casual but I guess it should be fine for me to keep speaking like this?
But still.. Fer-san speaking casually… I wonder what kind of quest would require him to speak casually?
“Fufu. I will show it to you one day, alright?”
“I’ll be looking forward to it!”
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“Three cases in one week…”
“Yes. The first two cases were discovered late because the entire carriage was disposed of far away from the highway. As for the third case, there were three witnesses who managed to escape so we were able to discover the total damage relatively quickly. Thanks to the third case, we were able to find out that the first two groups hadn’t reached their destination after… We don’t have any concrete evidence but we’re sure the first two groups’ disappearance is related to the third group.”
After leaving Francesca-san’s residence, we came to the guild to ask about the robbery in which Nora-san, who was attending the counter, gave us a thorough explanation.
“Then the guild will receive a subjugation quest soon I guess?”
“Yes. The country hasn’t sent us a request but as a temporary measure, since Pedrel and Laserna are connected to each other through this highway, there will be a reward funded by both cities if the bandits were to be subjugated. It will take about a week before Aspel sends us a formal subjugation request so the temporary measure is going to be implemented until then.”
I see… So the cities can work like that if the country can’t send the request right away…
“Seems like we won’t be able to take the subjugation quest now. What about if we take it when we’re returning to Pedrell from Laserna?”
Sig-san said.
“That sounds like a great idea. In a case like this, more than one group can take the same quest so we can have a head start by looking around first during our escort quest.”
Fer-san replied.
If I wasn’t wrong, taking the quest beforehand would make the paperwork easier for us but even without accepting the quest, we could still receive the reward if we were to subjugate the bandit, right? Well… Actually there wasn’t any demerit in taking the quest first either. Maybe it should be alright for us to accept it first.
The only disadvantage of taking this subjugation quest beforehand was we had one less slot of active quest. We could only have up to ten active quests at the same time after all…
Also, I wonder how many members that group of bandits had? No matter how strong the three of them were, wouldn’t they have a hard time if there were too many enemies?
“Nora-san, do you have any idea how many bandits there are?”
I asked Nora-san again who was still standing by in case we had another question for her.
“According to the testimonies from the victim who managed to escape, there are about 20 of them. The victim said their group had the same number of people on their side and managed to put up some resistance but it appeared there was one wizard who was able to cast paralyzed magic. Most members of their group were killed and the good-looking ones were captured because of it. Unfortunately, there’s a high chance they’re already raped or sold as slaves.”
“Is that so…”
20 people… They had quite a number of people on them. I wonder if the captured people were going to still be alive by the time we managed to save them. If they’re still alive, I want to save them but… If there was a wizard with paralyzing magic, then it’d be better if we always put a magic barrier?
“If it’s just 20 people then we can manage somehow. But if one of them managed to catch Ren, it’s going to be bad. They’re definitely going to rape Ren. If possible, I want to catch them but…”
“We’re probably the easiest target. We have quite a lot of people on our side who obviously look like they don’t possess any combat abilities and not to mention, we have a lot of cargo too. There’s a high chance we’re going to get attacked.”
“Well~ I don’t think you can really know for sure though~”
Huh?! 20 people is considered manageable for them?! These guys… I wonder how strong they are…
“For now, our priority is escorting our client. We can think more about it after we’ve escorted the ladies safely to Laserna. If they were to attack us then all we have to do is defeat them.”
Fer-san said.
“Yes. Nora-san, thank you so much. We’ll be taking our leave now.”
I didn’t actually know what would happen in the future but just like Fer-san had said, tomorrow we only had to focus on our escort quest. We bid farewell to Nora-san before leaving the guild.
“Ren-chan~ Malik-san is coming home late today, right?~”
Chris-san pulled my hand into his and asked.
“Yes. He should be home around 22.00 tonight. He said that I won’t have to prepare dinner for him.”
I answered as a matter of factly. I wouldn’t be able to see Malik-san for quite a while so I had planned on waiting for him to come home and have a small talk before I leave. That was why today I won’t be coming to their rental house.
“I see… Then you won’t be staying at our home tonight, right?~”
Chris-san asked, he sounded sad.
“Is it alright if you come for dinner?”
Fer-san added.
“If everyone is fine with it, I’d love to have dinner together with everyone.”
I answered.
“Sounds good. It’s decided then?”
Sig-san spared no moment to answer.
As for me, I felt lonely eating by myself so I’d love it if I could have dinner together with three of them. I decided to intrude on their home for a meal.
“Then what should we have today? Yesterday we had hamburgers so should we have fish tonight?”
“Yes. No matter what Ren-kun cooks, everything always turns out delicious. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Fufu~ Thank you very much. Let’s visit the market on our way home then.”
While having a pleasant conversation, we stopped by the market to buy ingredients for dinner. I had dinner with the three of them in their house and then they sent me back home to wait for Malik-san.
Now then, tomorrow is the start of our escort quest! I will do my best!
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Character Introduction
Name : Tad
Age : 23 years old
A member of the escort team. Timothy’s older brother. Has a calm personality.
Name: Timothy
Age: 22 years old
A member of the escort team. Tad’s younger brother. Hate to lose.
Chapter 77 : Information Gathering
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
“Ren-dono! Your buff magic is so amazing!”
“Is that so? But I’m glad I can be helpful.”
Melchior-san, who had been exchanging blows with the other guards, came to me while wiping his sweat. As soon as he was standing right in front of me, Melchior-san excitedly began to talk about my buff magic. Seemed like he was very pleased with it.
“Hey~ It’s better if you can receive buff magic from Ren-chan, right?~”
“Yeah! Christian-dono is very strong too! As expected from A-rank! Even though you didn’t receive any buff magic, I still couldn’t land a single blow on you. I’d love to steal some of everyone’s moves on this journey.”
Still holding onto his twin swords, Chris-san stood beside Melchior-san and spoke to him. This time, Melchior-san’s excitement was apparent while he replied to Chris-san. He was breathing very heavily. Just where did the calm knight demeanor disappear to…?
But I really admired his determination to improve himself when he said he wanted to steal some of our moves. I was only just watching from the sidelines but I could see that the three of them were indeed very amazing. They could easily defeat the other guards while being outnumbered in one against three fights.
I think the guard’s moves weren’t bad at all. The difference in level between A-rank adventurers and them was just too vast… I wonder if I was already at the right level to take a promotion test…?
“I know it’s a little late to say this now but isn’t it hard to keep calling me Christian?~ You can just call me Chris if you want?~”
“Oh, you can call me Sig too.”
“I don’t mind if you call me Fer as well.”
“Then you guys can call me Mel.”
While I was busy contemplating the promotion test, the four of them were getting more friendly with each other and began to talk in a more relaxed manner. I went along with the flow and introduced myself to the rest of the guards.
It turned out the first two guys to have mock battles were brothers. Their names were Tad-san and Timothy-san. They were 23 and 22 years old, almost the same size and every mock battle always ended up in a draw. That was why everyone was so shocked to see Tad-san’s overwhelming victory in the earlier mock battle after receiving the buff.
The other members were also quite young, some were in the first half of their twenties, some were in the middle of their thirties. They said the more veteran members were with Francesca-san’s father and so they weren’t available here.
“Sigurd-sama, why don’t you come for a tea with me if you need to take a break?”
Assuming Sig-san was finally taking a break because they were chatting with the guards, Francesca-san, who had been sitting on a table set that she had brought, approached Sig–san. Chris-san and the others were still standing near Sig-san but seemed like she had only eyes for Sig-san.
In the first place, I guess Francesca-san had already planned to only have tea with Sig-san since there were only two chairs there.
“No, I’m good. I’m going home soon. Ah, right. You don’t need to prepare food for us the four for this quest.”
Sig-san only spared Francesca-san a single glance before he outright rejected her advances. Sig-san also informed her about our meal arrangement as an afterthought.
Well, we had arrived here at 14.00 and now the time was 16.00. We had to go home soon.
“Huh?! Why? Our chef’s food is really delicious, you know? Sigurd-sama likes meat, right? Our chef will do their best to cook the best meal for you so let’s eat together?”
Despite Sig-san’s curt reply, Francesca-san was still trying her best to invite Sig-san to eat together with her. The last time they met was two years ago and yet, Francesca-san still remembered Sig-san’s favourite food… She really liked him, huh…
“I said we don’t need it, didn’t I? We will eat Ren’s food. We can’t have all of the escort party members eat the same thing and have the same thing happen to us.”
“Wha-?! Are you insinuating that our chef is planning something with the food?!”
Sig-san told her the reason why we were going to eat my food but Francesca-san came to the conclusion that we were suspicious of her family’s chef. Her face was flushed red in anger.
“No, that’s not the case at all. Basically, we will eat different food from our client and their guards. For example, in our case, there will be a lot of people accompanying you on this trip so the chef will often cook the food on the spot, right? Not to mention there is news about a gang of bandits on the way to Laserna and if they were to slip some drug into the meal the chef cooked, we would all be annihilated in no time. That’s why we want to have a separate meal in order to reduce the risk as much as possible.”
Fer-san explained it in detail to Francesca-san. This was what I had told them, even before we had heard about the robbery. That was why I diligently prepared the meal and crammed them all in the magic bag.
I was told there was a case when the client targeted the adventurer in various ways so I shouldn’t trust the client blindfoldedly. If I had to eat together with the client and I was in no place to refuse it, then I needed to cast [Detox] before I ate.
As a support magician, I could cast [Detox] on everything simultaneously beforehand. The three of them could use [Detox] too to some extent but they weren’t good at it. They would need to keep on casting [Detox] continuously so it was really troublesome.
That was why they said they’d entrust the detoxification to me if such a scenario were to happen to us. Although… I wouldn’t be able to bear it if I were to get attacked by the client I was supposed to protect…
“Ohh… So that’s the reason why…? I understand. I will give up on eating together during the trip but will you please have a meal with me after we arrive in Laserna?”
Francesca-san, whose anger had dissipated after listening to Fer-san’s explanation, wasn’t the least discouraged. She brought her hands together in front of her chest and begged Sig-san with upturned eyes.
How should I say it… She really looked like a maiden. Even though she is already married.
“Ren, do you mind? Of course, Ren and the others will come too…”
“Yes. Francesca-san, is it alright if we all come too?”
As I had expected, Sig-san couldn’t refuse her when she pleaded like that. He agreed to have a meal together as long as everyone was invited.
“Y-Yes…”
Francesca-san didn’t expect Sig-san would say that. It took her a moment before she regained her composure and smiled back at Sig-san.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Since the test for my buff magic had gone well, we were on our way home as we had planned. Francesca-san kept on glaring daggers at me every time Sig-san wasn’t looking. She really resented me for being Sig-san’s fiancé.
I’m not that good at my job but work is work. I need to do my job right!
“Which reminds me, Fer-san always speaks formally on a daily basis but it turns out Chris-san and Sig-san still speak like usual even in front of a client, huh.”
As we were walking, I spoke about the things that came to my mind. I had thought they’d speak formally with the client but… The two of them were speaking casually like usual. In fact, Sig-san was being a little rude if I may say.
“Hm? Ahh~ It’s just a quest, it’s not like we’re tied to a master and servant contract or anything, after all ~ There’s a lot of people who will misunderstand if you change your tone when speaking with them~ So I just talk like how I usually do~”
“It’s difficult for me to change my way of speaking at this point so I opted to speak like how I usually am too. And if someone were to say something to me, of course I’d talk back to them. If I have to speak casually for a quest, I’d do it though.”
“Oooh… I’d love to see Fer-san speaking casually one day.”
I see… So that’s why… I was thinking if it’s alright for them to speak casually with a client.
So that is why Fer-san always speaks formally. As for me, I spoke in a mix between formal and casual but I guess it should be fine for me to keep speaking like this?
But still.. Fer-san speaking casually… I wonder what kind of quest would require him to speak casually?
“Fufu. I will show it to you one day, alright?”
“I’ll be looking forward to it!”
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
“Three cases in one week…”
“Yes. The first two cases were discovered late because the entire carriage was disposed of far away from the highway. As for the third case, there were three witnesses who managed to escape so we were able to discover the total damage relatively quickly. Thanks to the third case, we were able to find out that the first two groups hadn’t reached their destination after… We don’t have any concrete evidence but we’re sure the first two groups’ disappearance is related to the third group.”
After leaving Francesca-san’s residence, we came to the guild to ask about the robbery in which Nora-san, who was attending the counter, gave us a thorough explanation.
“Then the guild will receive a subjugation quest soon I guess?”
“Yes. The country hasn’t sent us a request but as a temporary measure, since Pedrel and Laserna are connected to each other through this highway, there will be a reward funded by both cities if the bandits were to be subjugated. It will take about a week before Aspel sends us a formal subjugation request so the temporary measure is going to be implemented until then.”
I see… So the cities can work like that if the country can’t send the request right away…
“Seems like we won’t be able to take the subjugation quest now. What about if we take it when we’re returning to Pedrell from Laserna?”
Sig-san said.
“That sounds like a great idea. In a case like this, more than one group can take the same quest so we can have a head start by looking around first during our escort quest.”
Fer-san replied.
If I wasn’t wrong, taking the quest beforehand would make the paperwork easier for us but even without accepting the quest, we could still receive the reward if we were to subjugate the bandit, right? Well… Actually there wasn’t any demerit in taking the quest first either. Maybe it should be alright for us to accept it first.
The only disadvantage of taking this subjugation quest beforehand was we had one less slot of active quest. We could only have up to ten active quests at the same time after all…
Also, I wonder how many members that group of bandits had? No matter how strong the three of them were, wouldn’t they have a hard time if there were too many enemies?
“Nora-san, do you have any idea how many bandits there are?”
I asked Nora-san again who was still standing by in case we had another question for her.
“According to the testimonies from the victim who managed to escape, there are about 20 of them. The victim said their group had the same number of people on their side and managed to put up some resistance but it appeared there was one wizard who was able to cast paralyzed magic. Most members of their group were killed and the good-looking ones were captured because of it. Unfortunately, there’s a high chance they’re already raped or sold as slaves.”
“Is that so…”
20 people… They had quite a number of people on them. I wonder if the captured people were going to still be alive by the time we managed to save them. If they’re still alive, I want to save them but… If there was a wizard with paralyzing magic, then it’d be better if we always put a magic barrier?
“If it’s just 20 people then we can manage somehow. But if one of them managed to catch Ren, it’s going to be bad. They’re definitely going to rape Ren. If possible, I want to catch them but…”
“We’re probably the easiest target. We have quite a lot of people on our side who obviously look like they don’t possess any combat abilities and not to mention, we have a lot of cargo too. There’s a high chance we’re going to get attacked.”
“Well~ I don’t think you can really know for sure though~”
Huh?! 20 people is considered manageable for them?! These guys… I wonder how strong they are…
“For now, our priority is escorting our client. We can think more about it after we’ve escorted the ladies safely to Laserna. If they were to attack us then all we have to do is defeat them.”
Fer-san said.
“Yes. Nora-san, thank you so much. We’ll be taking our leave now.”
I didn’t actually know what would happen in the future but just like Fer-san had said, tomorrow we only had to focus on our escort quest. We bid farewell to Nora-san before leaving the guild.
“Ren-chan~ Malik-san is coming home late today, right?~”
Chris-san pulled my hand into his and asked.
“Yes. He should be home around 22.00 tonight. He said that I won’t have to prepare dinner for him.”
I answered as a matter of factly. I wouldn’t be able to see Malik-san for quite a while so I had planned on waiting for him to come home and have a small talk before I leave. That was why today I won’t be coming to their rental house.
“I see… Then you won’t be staying at our home tonight, right?~”
Chris-san asked, he sounded sad.
“Is it alright if you come for dinner?”
Fer-san added.
“If everyone is fine with it, I’d love to have dinner together with everyone.”
I answered.
“Sounds good. It’s decided then?”
Sig-san spared no moment to answer.
As for me, I felt lonely eating by myself so I’d love it if I could have dinner together with three of them. I decided to intrude on their home for a meal.
“Then what should we have today? Yesterday we had hamburgers so should we have fish tonight?”
“Yes. No matter what Ren-kun cooks, everything always turns out delicious. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Fufu~ Thank you very much. Let’s visit the market on our way home then.”
While having a pleasant conversation, we stopped by the market to buy ingredients for dinner. I had dinner with the three of them in their house and then they sent me back home to wait for Malik-san.
Now then, tomorrow is the start of our escort quest! I will do my best!
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
Character Introduction
Name : Tad
Age : 23 years old
A member of the escort team. Timothy’s older brother. Has a calm personality.
Name: Timothy
Age: 22 years old
A member of the escort team. Tad’s younger brother. Hate to lose.
