52 - the back of a river

The man of the purple-eyed tribe called himself Rorolf.

He is a red-iron warrior, twenty-six years old. His specialty weapon is a one-handed axe with two blades.

He is the eldest of three brothers, so he is a responsible and dependable man.

The second son is Ninilas.

He is also a warrior of the Red Iron class and is two years younger than Ninilas. He is a heavy, thick two-handed axe-wielder.

He is a man of simple character, but when he has to, he can do it.

The third son is Gugtaf.

He is another red-iron warrior, and is also two years younger than Gugtaf. His pride and joy is his two-handed spear.

Unlike his older brothers, he is a man who cares.

The reason why Thor and his friends know so much about the men's personal information is because they have been attending the tea parties.

All the personalities are their own.

"So?"

"Yeah?　What?"

"No, what are you guys doing here?"

Thor asked them in a tone of exasperation, as they sat on the ground and lifted their cups to their mouths, not taking their eyes off of Sola and Yuril at all.

Thor asked them in a tone of exasperation. Sola and the others had tried to give up their chairs, but they had insisted and sat down on the riverbank, saying that they were fine here.

It seems that the reason for this was not out of discretion, but because they could see the women better from a lower position.

All three of them were taller than Thor by a head, and were quite huge men.

They have amber hair and deep purple eyes with drooping corners.

The older two have chiseled jaws and a rugged appearance, but only the third son is slender and has a smart face.

However, all three of them had the same kind of an air of being unpopular.

They had not bathed for a few days, and their sparse stubble and stale body odor added to it.

"What do you mean ....... What?"

"What was that?　I don't really care when I'm looking at beautiful women."

"That's not a good idea, bro. I thought you said you were going to find out if it's that one or not."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. You guys are new here. I thought you might need a little advice. You know, that. Neighborly relations."

The eldest son, who was staring at Moe as he used his favorite cup, hurriedly explained with a deliberate hand gesture.

"Have you been hunting here long?"

"It's been almost two years. I'm sick and tired of being on the river all day, every day.

"You said you were next door, but I didn't see you on the way here."

"Yeah, we're a little further downstream. The riverbanks are wider than here.

"Are you catching a lot of fish, by any chance?"

At Thor's words, the three looked at each other and let out a dry laugh.

"Haha, downstream is just like anywhere else. There are only frogs and fish.

"......Why don't you go upstream?"

Since you don't seem to be satisfied with your current hunting grounds, there must be a good reason why you are not moving.

However, with nearly two years of experience, a promotion to the white hard grade does not seem so far away.

When Thor asked him if he had enough experience to go upstream to the hunting grounds, Roloff gave a broad shrug.

"It's not that I won't go, it's that I can't go. I don't have the ............ money."

"What do you mean?"

"Just the way it is. You have to pay a shitload of money to go upstream to the hunting grounds."

Can you elaborate?"

The three of them nodded their heads broadly and explained the situation to me, each complementing the other, as follows.

First of all, downstream, there are only less tasty monsters such as red poison frogs and blood-spewing fish.

And when it rains, even the worst of them appear.

But upstream, there are monsters such as rampaging river horses and red-shelled crabs that are delicious in terms of materials and skill points.

There is a natural weir made of driftwood and stones a little further upstream from the office, and it is said that river horses and crabs seldom appear downstream because the current is weakened there.

Even if they do appear, they are naturally caught in the hunting grounds near the upper stream and do not flow to such a place.

However, this would make it almost impossible for adventurers in the downstream hunting grounds to defeat multiple rampaging river horses, which is a condition for promotion to rank D.

For this reason, there is the "Liberation Day.

These are the days when only a few of the rampaging river horses are driven downstream twice a month, and on these days, fierce fights break out on the quarry fields where special permission to fight has been granted.

If the party wins a few times, they are recognized as a party on the verge of promotion and are allowed to go to the upstream hunting grounds.

What about parties that are not good at fighting with monsters?

But the reward for killing a red poison frog is 50 copper coins.

They will buy the poisoned skin for 50 coins, but most of it is thrown away because it is troublesome to handle and the bags used to bring it in get ruined every time.

A blood-spewing fish costs three large copper coins including materials, but this is a very troublesome opponent to defeat unless you have a flying tool.

It is said that making money downstream is quite difficult.

"So that's how it is."

"Yeah, we're good at hitting them directly, but if they come at us from afar, we'll never get to them in time."

"Besides, fighting over things is a little too brutal for my liking."

The men nodded their heads demurely after making comments that did not suit their muscular bodies.

Ulil, perhaps concerned about their condition, calls out to them.

"Oh, dear. Would you like some more tea?

"Thank you!"

This is so good!"

"Bon appétit!　I get nervous and thirsty when there are so many beautiful people."

"Oh, you're so good!"

The third son, who was in a good mood, was severely beaten on the back of the head by his older brothers.

Mu, who had rolled his eyes, somehow came up to him and smacked him on the back of the head.

Thor asked the three men, who instantly cheered up, about the important point.

"So, let me get this straight. The people in charge are--"

"Yeah, the guys from the sub-branch."

"I knew it."

Thor shook his head silently, remembering the receptionist's face, which had been smiling a smelly smile the whole time.

It was impossible for an adventurer to manage a hunting ground on such a scale.

"Well, is the Adventurers' Bureau doing something wrong?"

No, it's not that it's bad, it's just that someone has to be in charge or we'll end up killing each other. Also, he said something difficult about the right to reserve the right of site management.

"But taking money from them is ......."

"Right!　We didn't agree with that part either."

"But when I tried to appeal to the main office, they wouldn't take my case at all."

"I'm sure they're using the money they've made to get around to the security sector."

When Thor finished, the three of them fell silent again.

Thor urged them to continue when the child, bored with the story, climbed into his lap and began to bite his collarbone sweetly.

"So?"

"Yeah?　What?"

"No. Have you been putting up with that for a long time?"

"Well, I guess you could say that. But don't underestimate us.

"Yeah, I bet they'll all be half in tears when that's done."

"Brother, that's why you're not ready yet!"

"Oops, that's right. Forget I said that. I'll teach you a few tricks instead.

The three brothers show their teeth and smile at each other.

They are not at all less suspicious, but they are still very hard to hate.

"Are you guys ever in trouble when you try to tap a frog and a fish gets in the way?

"Ojama-jama-jama!"

"Yes, I've had a lot of run-ins with them."

"There's a simple solution to that one, sweetie."

"Really?　Oh, wait a minute. Well, how about pulling it more this way?"

Not relying immediately, Sola presents the idea she has been thinking hard about.

If we move away from the riverbank, the fish will be less likely to find us and the water bombs will be less likely to reach us.

The frogs would also have a harder time escaping.

"I'm afraid that's not possible. Those frogs don't get away from the river very much.

I see. Well, I give up.

"Well, why don't you try it like I said?　You'd be surprised how easy it is."

With these words, the trio smiled again, this time with a friendly smile.