Leave a comment

On that day, a lot of enthusiastic people were gathered at the martial arts tournament. A round ring was at the center of the location.

Two participants were crossing swords and causing sparks to fly in the ring. However, the battle was one-sided as a brown-haired handsome man was overwhelming a warrior in heavy armor. Eventually, the warrior fell to his knees and groaned grudgingly.

“Damn it…You coward…”

“Hmm, what are you talking about? I really wish you didn’t blame me for your lack of skills.”

“How shameless…! You…poisoned me!”

“Well, I don’t know anything about that. Maybe a subordinate who was concerned about me did it, but that has nothing to do with me, right?”

Their conversation was drowned out by the crowd, so nobody heard it. It merely looked like the loser was ranting.

“Well, even if it’s exactly as you said, you are just a lowly commoner, while I’m an outstanding noble. Between us, who is more suitable to bear the title of a hero? Even a child could understand that. The spectators don’t want your victory. They have come to see me defeat you elegantly and make you crouch before me!”

“You…!”

The warrior swung his fist, but failed to hit him. After drinking the water in the waiting room, he couldn’t exert even half of his full power. Debris laughed at him and swung his sword. The warrior shouted in pain as his forearm fell off.

However, nobody blamed him. Since this was a serious match with real weapons, it wasn’t against the rules to kill the opponent, although a victory without killing was preferred. Death and injury were considered an accident during the tournament.

“Argh…! Wai…I surr—”

The warrior tried to surrender, but Debris skewered his throat with his sword to prevent him from doing so. Naturally, attacking a surrendered opponent was a foul, but this was effective only if the referee heard the cry to surrender.

“………”

The referee did not hear it, even though it must have reached his ears. The voice that tried to surrender must have reached his brain through his eardrums. However, he did not hear it. He refused to hear it. If he judged it as a foul and earned the enmity of the Speth family, he would lose out in the end. Therefore, he decided to resolve the matter of the warrior’s death as a result of him choosing not to surrender.

“That’s the end! The winner is Debris!”

At the referee’s declaration, Debris raised both hands to appeal to the crowd, agitating the spectators. This was his trick.

Before the match, he would poison the drinks of his opponent, bribe the referee, and then win the fixed match. If he didn’t like the opponents, he would ignore any attempts they made to surrender and simply kill them. If the opponent was a woman who could become his toy, he would kidnap her under the guise of administering treatment, making himself out to be a gentleman in the eyes of the spectators.

Speaking of which, the toy he had acquired previously was quite interesting. She was certainly a female knight and since she had a pretty face, she was worth the effort to beat her up. While he was playing with her, she was calling out the name of some guy. What kind of reaction would he make if he were to see the woman in her current state?

Commoners were just something for him to look down upon, but they did have one value—serving as toys for his entertainment.

But toys would eventually break if they were played with too much. It was about time to throw that woman away. Recently, she had stopped showing any reactions. That was why he had designated her friend, a mage called Alfie, as his new toy. However, she turned out to be an outrageous ingrate who, let alone thinking of it as an honor, rudely ran away.

And then there was that Sei or something, who got in his way. Debris didn’t like how he was proclaimed as the hero simply because he was appointed by the king.

A commoner shouldn’t oppose or object to me. All of you are my toys. Your existences have no other purpose. Therefore, I’m going to break all of you.

He would destroy everything the hero thought was important. For now, he would start with his companions. By now, Debris’ subordinates should be heading towards the inn that they were staying in when they arrived in the city. It was about time they were under attack. There were many beautiful women among them, so it would be nice to capture them and make them into his new toys.

He didn’t notice it. He hadn’t noticed it yet. The beautiful woman was a walking calamity.

♊

There were many inns in Lægjarn. There were many mercenaries, adventurers, and swordsmen who came to the city to test their skills, so it was inevitable that there was more demand for such facilities.

If one were to ask what the best inn in the city was, people who were familiar with the city would all reply, “Ratone’s Inn.” This inn was originally started by a young man that one could find anywhere. He opened the inn in order to have the opportunity to meet his love interest.

His love interest came from a family of knights, so they practically lived in different worlds. However, the young man pined for her and loved her so much that he opened the inn in an attempt to woo her even if it wouldn’t work. Eventually, the inn gained a reputation for the innkeeper’s cooking skills.

At first, the knightly girl merely thought, “I should at least visit and try it out once.” Thereafter, it became a place she frequently visited. The innkeeper further improved his cooking skills in an attempt to please her. And so they came to meet each other many times and the inn became a place where she belonged. Before she realized it, they were mutually attracted to each other and they eventually became lovers.

—So said Dina, who was babbling on about the romance story during lunchtime, even though the innkeeper was nearby.

Hey, stop it, you idiot. Even if it has become a well-known story, it’s a kindness to keep quiet about it.

I bit into my bread and looked at Dina disapprovingly, but she didn’t seem to care.

“They’re so passionate,” she said such an insensitive thing and continued to tell the tale.

Why were women so interested in the love stories of others? I honestly couldn’t understand it. Hearing the love stories of others set a fire in my belly. They should just explode. However, the innkeeper, who was the subject of the story, had a dark expression and didn’t react to Dina’s rumors.

Did something bad happen? Or was he dumped?

While thinking that, I drank the soup…Sweet!? The soup was sweet!?

“Hey, innkeeper. Did you mix up salt with sugar for this soup?”

“Eh!? My—my apologies! I’ll replace it for you!”

Mistaking sugar for salt was so cliché that even light novels had stopped using it recently. I was worried that there was something wrong with my sense of taste. I had heard that the selling point of this inn was its delicious food, but honestly, it was rather disappointing. Every dish was somewhat lacking.

Perhaps I should say…his heart wasn’t in it?

It wasn’t actually bad, but it felt like he was cutting corners or messing up the taste because he was distracted. People often said, “Cooking comes from the heart.” It seemed that this was true. It wasn’t that a heart and love would really become seasonings and deepen the taste of the food. However, cooking depended on accurate calculations and tedious work. In other words, it was necessary to expend a lot of time and concentration to make a delicious dish.

This was especially true here since it was not Japan. One couldn’t put the ingredients in the pot and just wait for three minutes to get a delicious dish. There was nothing so convenient here. In other words, cooking without putting one’s heart in it would only skimp on time and effort, so the taste naturally went down a grade.

It seemed that the innkeeper was thinking of something else while he was cooking today. …Well, I wasn’t that familiar with cooking anyway, so maybe it was just my imagination. At least I wasn’t like those food judges in manga who could take one bite and conclude, “This dish is full of thoughtfulness and love! Seriously!” I simply didn’t have such a convenient tongue.

While I was thinking of this, the innkeeper cautiously talked to us.

“Um…I’d like to ask a question. Are you adventurers?”

“”Adventurers? Hmm. We are indeed adventurers.”

If I was asked whether I was an adventurer or not, I was certain that I was one. When I first arrived in this world, I had registered and received requests as an adventurer. I took on a simple request to make some money for my trip. Since then, I hadn’t done anything as an adventurer, so I was becoming a NEET. Anyway, let’s hear what he had to say.

“Innkeeper, is there something troubling you?”

“…Yes.”

That’s right. It must have been trouble if he wanted to rely on adventurers. It was also easy to guess from the heavy atmosphere. If he merely lacked ingredients or needed to procure some monster meat, the atmosphere wouldn’t feel so tragic.

“Can you accept a request? As for the reward…I can pay five hundred thousand eru.”

“That’s too much. It depends on the job, but even ten percent of that would be sufficient for an adventurer’s request.”

“No, it is necessary to give this much. This is because, in the worst case scenario, you could be going up against a noble.”

The innkeeper’s words stopped my hand which was holding a spoon.

I see. A noble huh? Once again, I had a bad feeling about this. Well, I should at least listen to his story…after clearing away all the boorish disturbances.

“Libra.”

“Yes.”

I called out to Libra who was standing behind me. She responded instantly as if she had been waiting for instructions. The innkeeper didn’t seem to know, but the inn had already been surrounded.

It would be too much of an eighth-grader syndrome to call it a murderous intent, but it was definitely directed at us. In game terms, it would be the feeling that we had become targets. Somehow, I just knew it.

The presences that were surrounding the inn…There were twelve people. Libra could deal with them alone. But if it was simply left to her, she would simply kill everyone, so it was necessary to be more specific about her order. I wanted to know why they were aiming for us.

“Capture everyone and extract information from them.”

“Understood. How would you like me to do it?”

“Hmm? Ah…Just do it as you normally would.”

“I understand the mission. Moving ahead with its execution.”

At the same time as I gave the order, Libra went outside casually. Immediately after, men started screaming outside. There were screams, followed by even more screams. I didn’t know who they were, but let’s leave sympathy aside for now.

Eventually, the screaming stopped. When the door opened again, Libra entered without a single drop of blood on her. She was dragging along twelve men who had been tied up. Without exception, all of their arms and legs were bent in the opposite direction. Their mouths were gagged and they were blindfolded. They had been completely neutralized.

“Capture completed. Moving on to interrogation. May I borrow Aigokeros?”

“Yes.”

“Wait a moment, Libra. If it’s interrogation, wouldn’t it be more effective to use this mistress’ poison?”

“No. We can extract the information without your help.”

“Tsk…”

And so Libra and Aigokeros went upstairs. Along the way, the men were bumping into the stairs. Was this really okay? Whatever it was, they’d better not dirty the room. I’d be staying there overnight after all.

“Sagittarius.”

“Yes.”

“After Libra extracts the information, find the person who sent them.”

“Understood.”

I gave the order to Sagittarius while breaking my bread and dipping it in my soup. Immediately after, the screams of the men resonated from the room we had rented. It was as if it was the end of the world. What in the world were they doing…? I didn’t really want to think about it.

Well, I didn’t know who it was, but since he had acted in a hostile manner, there would be no need for me to be merciful. If the other party wished to stir up trouble, then so be it. It would be too troublesome to leave an unresolved problem, so I might as well just crush it completely.

I could only say that the timing was bad.

If it was when I had just arrived in this world, I wouldn’t be so cold. I would have been more gentle.

There might be other ways to resolve this matter, but…

…Too bad. I wasn’t so gentle anymore.

Image from Light Novel Volume 1…for Web Novel Chapter 9