| Author: Sasaki Ichiro | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: Mab | English Source: Re:Library |
| Editor(s): Silva | |
After a heavy thud, a bulging leather bag was pushed into the room through a small window from the other side of the partition.
The man casually turned over the leather bag on an unadorned desk, inspected the contents that shone brightly in the light of the hand lantern, and whistled lightly as he confirmed that they were, without a doubt, imperial gold coins upon the use of Appraisal.
“Well, well…how very zealous over a single child.”
“…Our Messiah, the Saintess, is generous and magnanimous. How can her disciples be stingy? Let these heavy hands be lightened.”
The middle-aged deacon’s arrogant voice came from beyond the partition. While the man could not see his face, he could clearly imagine his arrogant and pompous appearance.
(It’s not even his own money, how can he be so cocky…) He, of course, didn’t say that out loud.
While indeed the point of contact was a deacon of the Saintess’ Church, he could easily imagine (or rather, confirm beforehand) that the person behind this deacon was someone in a much higher position. In other words, the deacon was merely an intermediary. Tracing the trails of money would probably reveal that this came from donations, offerings, or bribes that the believers paid to the upper echelons of the Church, but ended up in the pockets of individuals.
(I’d bet even the Saintess would frown if she knew that the monetary offerings her followers paid in good faith are being used for closed-door negotiations, more so that the wicked negotiation is taking place in a confessional, where one repents and confesses one’s sins…then again, money is money, it’s neither clean nor dirty.)
The man, not letting such thoughts appear on his face, put the gold coins back in the bag, which he then kept safe in his own pocket as he remained compliant.
“I have certainly received it. So, as for your request, all I have to do is to take care of the rumored Child Prodigy?”
In a church in the daylight, within a confessional, a man asked a clergyman “Should I kill a man?” and his client simply nodded, saying “Yes.”
However, the deacon stopped midway, as though remembering something.
“…wait, no, save that for the last resort. The Young Master wants…ahem, I mean, I want to see the despair on the face of that uncouth lad, I think…no, I mean, yes, I do. It is simply not interesting if he were to pass away so easily. Is there any way to brand him as a sorry excuse of a clergyman and human being altogether?”
“Which one of you is the sorry excuse of a clergyman…” The man thought to himself, but his lips said otherwise; “If that’s what you wish for.” After that, he pondered in silence.
“According to the documents, the Child Prodigy will be returning to his hometown before he heads for the capital. However, there is only one road from there connecting to the capital. I will set up a net and wait for a reaction.”
“…what are you planning to do?”
“The demon beasts in its vicinity are all of a lower class, but apparently a Leader has recently emerged there. I am thinking of using it to cause some commotion.”
“A Leader?! It’s not a King class, is it?”
The deacon’s tone turned sour.
Usually, demon beasts form groups of five or six, or at most 50 or so. However, in rare cases, an extremely powerful specimen known as a King might appear. When this happened, the King would absorb not only the herds of its own kind in its surroundings but also herds of other kinds of demon beasts and took organized actions — literally creating a nation of demon beasts with the King at its center.
By then, individual adventurers couldn’t hope to tackle this issue alone. The humans must form a sizable group or dispatch an army before the playing field can be even. In other words, the emergence of a King could lead to a war suddenly breaking out within the country.
“I don’t think it’s as powerful as a King, but… Well, there are signs that the threat this specimen poses is pretty close to that of a King. It seems to organize attacks on humans and caravans passing by on the streets at random so that its activities are hard to track, meaning that it is quite shrewd despite not being that powerful.”
“That is a crisis…!”
The deacon seemed frustrated by the man’s easygoing attitude and tone.
“It’s still a low-grade monster, a B-rank specimen at most. A good enough party of adventurers should be able to take care of it easily. Besides, it hasn’t been long since it evolved. If you deem it an unnecessary complication, I can remove it from the picture with extra fees.”
“…”
The middle-aged deacon probably didn’t have the authority to make the judgment and pay the extra fees. With his client staying silent, the man continued in a light tone.
“This is happening in the hometown of the Child Prodigy. Suppose an incident happened to the town with him present, if he didn’t do anything then it would be an abdication of responsibility, and even if he did try to do something, what could he even do in such a backwater place? However the dice rolls, this is a suitable excuse to exploit his inadequacy. Besides, in case he tries to pose himself as a hero, we can just have him feel a little pain…and, well, I’ll jump in when he’s one step away from dying, winning his favor.”
“—hou. Hmm…”
The man could feel the eyes of the deacon glinting from the other side of the partition.
“Let me get this straight. You can handle this Leader by yourself?”
“It goes without saying.”
“…got it. I will contact you again for further negotiations, but for now, make the arrangement to get that devil spawn run into the monster.”
“Sure thing… However, what should I do in case the Child Prodigy defeats the Leader?”
“How ridiculous! He’s no folk hero, what can a little prick with a bit of brain even do?!”
The deacon dismissed the notion with a laugh, and the dark-haired, non-special merchant-looking young man in the confessional simply chuckled at that, shrugging his shoulders without saying anything else.1
♢♦♢♦♢
“NYAAAWAAAAAAA!!! PIGS! It smells like pigs! This is the worst! My body odor—my body will smell like pigs!! The stench stings, disgusting! Deodorant! I need deodorant! Boiling water…not enough, I need to sterilize it! It needs thorough sterilization!!”
“…sterili—what again?”
The source of the stench so bad my nose shriveled and my eyes ached was the disgusting monsters that filled this entire area, so packed there was no room to step.
Where were they all hiding?! Was there a pigsty nearby or WHAT?! I screamed inwardly as a horde of humanoid pigs, commonly known as Orcs, advanced in such overwhelming numbers. I fished out a clothespin and a bottle of perfume from my Close Art at the speed of sound, pinching my nose and sprinkling the perfume around it, but it did basically nothing to the stench.
I felt like, midway through, I was just uttering nonsense…or maybe I was screaming. I was this close to going into a frenzy.2
“Huhee, hee, hee, hee, hee,” before I knew it, a pillar of flame was roaring out from the tip of my wand like a flamethrower that went several tens of mertes ahead.
“…it is impressive that you can keep such an intense Magic Art for so long.”
As Priest Cestlavie looked at me with admiration, he pulled out some paper cards from his pocket and held them up. It seemed that the medium for his Magic Art wasn’t a wand or a cup, as was often the case, but rather card-based Talisman Art.
Well, the state of my mind was far from concerning myself with that, as the only thing that existed in my consciousness was to wave my silvery white Wand in all directions to destroy these pig monsters…
