Side Quest
The fundamentals of information gathering when it comes to RPG is canvassing the town’s people.
In my case, it’ll be the usage of 【Character Introduction】 from a corner.
There was already one bandit group member going in and out of the guild, so I suppose it wouldn’t be strange even if there were others.
“My my, it sure is unbearable though it’s the same old ruckus in the guild”
As I was looking at the situation of the vicinity, an Adventurer who spoke to me appeared unexpectedly.
Furthermore, he shares my table extremely naturally. Is it a difference in culture? Somehow, I don’t like it.
That being said, I engage in the conversation since it’s a rare chance.
“Does something like that, happen all the time?”
“Yup. It’s a daily occurrence”
“Hmmー”
I activate Skill No. 1,【Character Introduction】, without delay.
I’ll have the considerably older-looking well-built him let me take a look at his profile.
◆Dazley
Sex: Male
Age: 39
Profile:
『Underling of Godey Bandit Group. In search of sitting ducks who visit the guild alongside Zirky. Approaches the individual he identified as the prey and tries to acquire their trust while Zirkey is drawing attention. Targeting for the bandit group’s leader’s daughter, Yuri』
Misdeeds:
『Stealing valuables of people who trusted him』
『Looting valuables from the corpses he killed for the sake of robbery』
……wait, you too!
A second bandit appeared in front of the Hero!
‘I wonder if there are others?’, I check out the people inside the guild from the corner.
Looks like the bandit group members, are only the two of them.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, don’t worry about it”
Does him speaking to me on top of having this profile mean, he think of me as a sitting duck?
Why. Me, do I look like I have money?
“You, you look like you got left behind by ya buds. Did you end up fighting or something? It looks like ya received the guild’s request by yourself as well”
“No, we are just acting separately”
“Hmm? However, that female bud of yours, that’s a noble or something, right? Are you some well-off young master as well?”
Uh-oh. Princess Alicia’s elegance left an influence in a place like this?
He approached me to target the Princess huh.
Good grief, Princess-samaー……how troubling!
“I will leave it to your imagination”
“Hehe! It’s cause you look like you’re also well brought up, I can tell, ya know?”
I look like, I’m well brought up?
Well, I guess it seems that way because of the public security issue between a medieval-style Otherworld and Japan.
The clothes I’m wearing are also those that the Royal Castle prepared after all; maybe their quality is good or something.
“So, is there something you want from me?”
“Not really? It’s because a noble-san showed up, accepted a request alone, and his companions went off. I was wondering if something happened. Also”
Bandit Dazley moved his eyes to the item I was holding in my hand.
What I’m holding in my hand is the 【Godey Bandit Group Subjugation】 request’s acceptance-proof.
It’s an ornamented metal stick.
I was handed it by the guild’s receptionist when I accepted the request.
By the way, it seems this metal stick also serves the role of a dog tag.
It’s a tool to confirm the identity of the Adventurer who died in the middle of the request.
They were saying that the guild card has the same purpose as well.
“An acceptance-proof of that colour, is not handed over when it’s monster hunting, but when the target of the request is people”
“Hmm”
There are different meanings depending on the colour as well huh. Now, what I’m holding is a yellow metal stick.
“If your companions are gone. It’s that, right? I thought maybe you need manpower. How about forming a party with me?”
“……I see?”
The man who was left behind by his two companions and lonelily accepted the request by himself even though he came into the guild in a three-person party.
‘That sight made it seem like you really desire companions’.
If I just didn’t see the profile, I sure would be moved to tears from gratitude.
“I think it ain’t a bad deal though!”
If you aren’t a part of the bandit group!
Judging from how he also has his eyes on the acceptance-proof, were they reverse-trapping Adventurers who try to do the bandit group hunting?
It’s amazing how it’s not exposed to the guild.
It seems they’ve set up base at a location that’s easy to slip from the Chivalric Order’s eyes after all, so they might be a formidable bunch.
“Oi oi! This fellow, it’s seriously useless talkin’ to him!”
“What did you say! You’re the one who came and got involved with me, right!”
Henry-kun and Zirky-chan were having a cliché Otherworld reception banter battle, but they’re behaving in a way that they’re spreading the fire over to us for some reason.
After all, for Zirky-chan, Dazley is his partner.
Eh, won’t this, drag me in as well?
“I, don’t do well with those kinds of people”
That’s why, maybe I shall have them let me go back hereー.
“Those kinda scenes, it’s a daily thing in the guild, ya know? You’re a newcomer, right. Hehe, I think you oughtta get used to those kinda things as well, ya know?”
“No, it’s seriously impossible for me. If she saw something like that, even my gentle younger sister would snap”
Leaving whether my younger sister is gentle or not aside. I wonder if she’s doing well in Japan, my dear younger sister.
“Oh? You’ve got a younger sister? You, you ain’t born in this town, right? Did you come out to make a living or something? Or is your younger sister staying over in an inn or something?”
“……that is not the case”
“Un? What do you mean, ‘that’s not the case’? Is younger sister-san, a kiddo who’s still living cosily in the noble’s house?”
“She does live with our parents, but we are only a year apart, so she is not young. Well, she is staying far away; at a distance where it is impossible for whatever is in this town to affect her”
“Whyy”
‘Whyy’, my ass.
That face of yours, you’re thinking of laying hands on my sister as well if the chance arises, right!
Onii-chan1 ain’t gonna allow it, koraa!
“Wha-! You over there are on my side as well, rightt!”
“Yes?”
Ah, Henry-kun came asking for help from me.
This right now, it’s probably totally steered by bandit Zirky.
You, you’re being played, you know.
“Persistently getting involved with me and arrogantly lecturing me with the senior card even though you came after me! You low-rank Adventurer who’s getting proud about just hunting monsters that aren’t that strong anyway! How about you have more ambition and work hard at increasing your rank before getting involved with me!?”
“Aan!? It’s because I don’t like ya fucking attitude!”
How scaryー, won’t you do it somewhere elseー.
Mediating a fight or whatnot, it’s impossible for meー.
“My my. If they’re that heated up, it probably ain’t gonna settle that easily”
“Haa. Don’t tell me they’ll settle things through a duel or something?”
“Yeahh. That’s what they call the Adventurer’s way”
“Hoo”
As I thought, it’s resolved with a bare-knuckle brawl huh, an Adventurer’s dispute.
“It’s just that, that Nii-chan2 also just started out, right? A direct showdown ain’t gonna go well”
“Is that so”
So, since you guys are in cahoot, you want to steer it in some kind of direction, right?
Dragging me in as well while you’re at it.
……over here, shall I intentionally get on board?
In any case, my objective is these guys as well after all.
“I think there is a difference in their capabilities to have a duel; should there not at least be fair rules in place?”
, I steer it in a slight direction beforehand.
“Haa! Do we need something like that? This Nii-chan just has to obediently fucking apologise!”
“Why do I have to do something like that!”
Henry-kun, he be angry. He’s being provoked a ton after all.
However, I can’t get behind him taking an obnoxious attitude towards the shop attendants, also known as guild employees.
Honestly, I don’t wanna be on the side of either of them.
“Aah, if you’re gonna keep going, then I ain’t gonna let you off either! Oi, come outside!”
“Oi oi! Cut it out with the direct confrontation! That ain’t good! It does no good for the guild either, right!”
Bandit Dazley responds to Bandit Zirky’s dangerous attitude with his realistic acting.
What a farce. Those guys, what kind of compromise are they wishing for.
“More importantly, ya know. How about doing it like an Adventurer here and having a monster hunting competition?”
“Haa?”
“Hmm?”
A ‘monster hunting competition’ huh.
“It’s a good idea, ya know! Nii-chan, you’ve also become an Adventurer, so exhibiting your strength is precisely how you oughtta show off, right!? Though I don’t know which family ya from!”
“Tch! Why do I have to……”
Totally. Why do I have to do something like that.
My vote goes to Henry-kun here.
“Oi oi, are ya scared! Hunting monsters is precisely what makes an Adventurer, you know!? Someone who gets scared here……haa! There ain’t no doubt that for the rest of your life, you’ll be an F Rank scrub! Gyahahaha!”
“Wha-……!”
Monster hunting huh. What’s in it for you guys in that?
Ah, luring us to an easy-to-assault location huh.
“Alright, sure! I’m not so kind as to let you off after you go that far and say that to me!”
“Interestin’! But, ya know. Nii-chan, you’re a newcomer, right. Is it alright to jump into monster hunting all of a sudden?”
No, you’re the one who suggested monster hunting, right, Dazley-san.
“What are you trying to say! Aren’t you the one who proposed it!”
“Why, I’m saying it’s better to make the conditions fairer. Like this here Nii-chan said just now!”
“Well, I did say it”
“Right? That’s why. How about a 2vs2 match amongst Adventurers here?”
“2vs2?”
What’s that. Isn’t the way he’s dragging me in too forceful?
“Nii-chan will choose either this here composed-feeling Nii-chan or me as your partner. That ruffian over there will choose the remaining one as his partner. Then we’ll start the monster hunting first thing in the morning tomorrow……that’s right. We’ll hunt F Rank monsters for an entire day and compete with the numbers; how’s that?”
How’s that, my ass. There aiーn’t anything in it for me.
“Nii-chan, I think it’s also good for you to experience relying on new companions rather than your companions that leave you behind at times like these. You need numbers no matter what when it comes to accomplishing against-people requests, right?”
“Haa, well, thank you. Haha”
Your consideration for new Adventurers sure is a step above the rest huh, good grief.
◇◆◇
“Myy! To think that on top of having already found two whole bandits who infiltrated the guild, you even finished making contact with the two of them……as expected of the Hero-sama!”
I join up with the Princess and Chivalric Order Captain and talk to them about what happened in the guild from start to finish.
After that, I designated the 【Otherworld Transportation Technique】’s targets to Bandit Dazley and Zirky.
Let’s surveil them and fish for their hereafter direction.
“It is decided that tomorrow, I will accompany their monster hunting competition. More likely than not, I think their aim is Henry-san and myself. It is just that it appears that they got their eyes on me, because they saw through that the Princess-sama is a noble in the first place. It appears that they believe that I am a fallen-from-grace noble through the influence of that”
Princess-sama’s nobility draws aggro.
“Which means they think you’re a sitting duck with valuables huh”
“Yes. Also, my apologies, but there is the risk that I was tailed on the way back to the inn, and they target their main target, the Princess-sama”
Or rather, I’ve established that Dazley was tailing me through the monitoring function.
“That’s, well, I shall do something about it”
“Please do”
I left the counter-measure to the Chivalric Order Captain and directed my eyes to the Princess.
“Hero-sama. We went to talk with the town’s Feudal Lord before coming to the inn”
“With the Feudal Lord-sama?”
“Eeh. We were just thinking about moving to the Feudal Lord-sama’s mansion”
“Moving to the Feudal Lord’s mansion, is it”
Well, it’s kinda inappropriate to make the Princess stay in an ordinary inn as well after all.
“We’ll go to the mansion. It’s fine for the Hero-sama to rent the inn here. I’ve already paid the fees after all. I’ve given the other side a week’s worth”
“A week’s worth of lodging……is it?”
Which means, I’ll stay at this inn? I’m being left behind?
“Is that the deadline for the bandit group extermination?”
“If we are talking about deadline, then I suppose?”
“Haa……?”
The condition changed to a subjugation with a deadline. I wonder why.
“I plan to have a talk with the town’s Feudal Lord as the Princess and ask if there are any other problems and whatnot as well. It is the job I have to do in my position. I will impose on their place and also hear what they have to say, and then bring that back to Fath-……to the King. The sojourn at that Feudal Lord’s mansion has been scheduled to be a week. I would like to leave the bandit group’s extermination during that time, to the Hero-sama”
She started doing her work seriously as a Princess remarkably normally!
Well, she’d been doing her work since the beginning though.
“Is that so. Well then, how do I go about with the progress report?”
“Please visit the Feudal Lord’s mansion if there is anything”
If I remember correctly, her plan is to console me at the time of my mental breakdown when I ended up committing murder, innit.
Me with a battered-heart heading over to the mansion……is maybe what she’s envisioning.
“Hero-sama, when it comes to being confronted by two people of the bandit group in question, what do you plan to do?”
“Yeah. I will ask just in case, but even if I ended up rendering them……dead, I will not be charged with any crime?”
I’ve got to confirm this here beforehand. The law part of things.
“Eeh! Nobody will blame you just because you executed those who degrade themselves to being a part of something like a bandit group and torment innocent citizens in this day and age when monsters are spreading”
“Is that so”
“Yes. In the first place, they should’ve already robbed people of their lives. It’s no more than a matter-of-course retribution even if you turned the table against those who stole people’s lives and are trying to steal them again”
“Hoo”
Which means they think that once you’ve done something, it’s only a matter of course for something to be done back to you huh.
For Princess Alicia-sama, who summoned me to another world, to have such a mindset.
……this sure is something to look forward to afterwards!
“Apprehend them if possible, or let them free and fish for the hideout’s location. Is what I have in mind”
“Is that so. Please do exhibit the Hero-sama’s prowess!”
“Eeh, of course. I am Princess Alicia-sama’s Hero after all”
“Myy!”
‘Fufufu, hehehe‘, the lovers(we) laugh black-heartedly.
“I believe that the aim of the bandit group’s two is to lure us to a location that is convenient for a sneak attack and wait for a chance. On the surface, it is a 2vs2 monster hunting competition. I hear that the target is, the Orc that I have never seen before”
I wonder if an ‘Orc’ is an F Rank monster.
I have a strong image that it’s more of a bad news though.
“Orc huh. If it’s an Orc of the level in which it dwells in the forests around these parts……well, it’s possible even for the current Hero-sama”
“It puts me at ease as well to have your reassurance”
It’s roughly the strength that even the current me can subjugate huh. Is it the type that has power but movements are slow?
In the worst-case scenario, I have 【Absolute Counter】, so I guess I can defeat it one way or another even if it hurts a lot.
“About the remaining problem, it is the Adventurer who is arranged to tag alongside me on the monster hunting competition”
“Does he also have some kind of relationship with the bandit group?”
Now then, I wonder how far I should say? Nnー. I guess I’ll talk about everything here.
In part, making the appeal of the skill’s usefulness as well.
“No, he is not, but according to 【Character Introduction】. He has a horrible personality, and he, too, was born of a noble house, but he had laid his hands on multiple maids and had been banished from his house. He has also managed to steal a family heirloom’s shortsword-ish item from his family”
I wonder if I said too much? I guess it doesn’t really matter.
“……oh my. What is his name?”
“Henry＝Darkus. He is the third son, and it seems he is already met with the punishment of being banished from his house”
“Hoo”
“Since it is something I established with my skill, I cannot say I have proof of the theft of the family heirloom’s shortsword. Also, he may have been banished from his house, but be that as it may, will the Princess-sama be troubled in the case where something happens to him? There is also the possibility that he is the son of one of your retainers”
It seems he’s a noble after all, so I suppose it’s possible.
“Darkus. If we are talking about Darkus……Alicia-sama”
“Yeah”
“Is there something to it?”
“……House Darkus, is a noble who is supporting Princess Sophia-sama”
Uh-oh. Then he’s not Alicia’s faction?
Is he possibly the son of the enemy forces?
“He committed such unchaste acts, and nevertheless, it settled with a banishment; I believe that is the compassion of the aforementioned family. But I suppose through the act of stealing the family heirloom shortsword, he trampled on even that compassion. Even if, the Hero-sama ended up killing that individual……. Eeh. I cannot imagine that it will be of a huge inconvenience to me”
No, don’t I have not have any motive to kill Henry-kun?
He doesn’t really have any plans to kill me either, so I have no plans to turn the table on him as well, you know.
“If possible, that stolen shortsword or whatever, I would very much like the Hero-sama to retrieve it. That guy is different from the bandit group, but he is in the same category as bandits. It is not a request from the guild, but that aforementioned family is probably awfully troubled by the fact that their family heirloom was stolen”
“Retrieve the family heirloom shortsword, is it”
“Yes. If it is the Hero-sama……that will be possible as well, right? Fufu! I believe in you, Hero-sama!”
Ehー……?
Please stop it with the side quest, Princess-sama!
- お兄ちゃん(Onii-chan): Older brother
- 兄ちゃん(Nii-chan): In this context, it’s used to refer a young guy. It’s similar to calling somebody ‘lad’.
