Chapter 233: Hidden hideout of the smuggling group

I didn’t expect Death Warrior-sensei to actually not be a Death Warrior.

Furthermore, he is a noble!?

I once again used Job Appraisal to look at Death Warrior-sensei’s job.

【Knight Lv25】

It displayed knight.

Knight ― a knight huh? From the way he speaks, he felt more like a warrior than a knight. He wasn’t riding on a horse either.

Perhaps he possesses the Status Forgery skill? I thought of that possibility but if he could do so, he would have changed his own job before they investigated him.

In that case, he probably had Status Forgery III applied on him just like us and had altered his job.

We’ve been totally fooled by him.

“Appearing in the midst of the enemy ― I guess you are dispensable?”

“Please wait. We can leave the questioning till after the deal. Moreover, I almost had my job snatched from me by this fake Death Warrior-sensei. Let me torment him a little ― do you have any issues with that?”

After I said that, Kuso and Yaro smiled and shook their heads.

Haa, I couldn’t let them kill Knight-sama after all.

For now, I lightly hit Knight-sama’s head with my fist.

― Piko.

Along with the cute sound, Knight-sama bit his teeth and closed his eyes.

He had probably fainted due to the Piko Piko Hammer skill.

We used a rough rope meant to secure the goods and wrapped it around Knight-sama.

“Pavlov. Lock this man in the room we were using. Don’t let the other men touch him, I plan to give him a good beating after all.”

“Understood.”

Very good, with that, Knight-sama’s safety was secured.

Since it was Pavlov, he would probably not beat Knight-sama up in order to release some stress.

“Ah.”

“Hn? What is it, Suzuki?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Suzuki showed a clearly disturbed expression.

… Don’t tell me that Suzuki left something behind in the room we were in?

But if he couldn’t mention it now, that probably meant it was the thin book after all.

We can always retrieve it later.

“Now then, let’s set off.”

I voiced my suggestion and we headed toward the enemy’s headquarters.

Naturally, we did not use the roads.

We continued walking through the forest. The cart was caught by tree roots countless times. That naturally took an intense toll on the stamina of the two giants.

Just as I was thinking it was about time we took a break,

“This is an order. You can’t rest.”

The collars on the giants pulling the cart glowed after Yaro said that and I heard them groan.

I see, the collars the men were wearing looked slightly different but they were slave collars.

Under the effects of the slave collar, the slaves could be forced to continue working even beyond their stamina limit.

Metias-san in Florence mentioned that slaves had the minimum human rights as well and killing them or hurting them for no reason was a crime but was that not a crime in the South Continent? Ah, thinking about it, Yaro was a criminal even without taking into account his treatment of slaves. His job was a Thief as well.

The two giants had Pugilist jobs so they were probably hired to carry the goods.

That would not be needed if they had an item box but … item boxes were quite expensive and the commercially available item boxes could only store several times the volume of a regular bag. Daijiro-san’s item bag was a little too special.

“What’s wrong, Ichinojo-san?”

Kuso asked.

He would probably suspect my job once again if I said that I was feeling sorry for the slaves.

“Nothing, I just felt that Yaro-san’s speech sounds similar to Kuso-san’s speech.”

“That’s natural. Yaro-dono and I are brothers after all. He is my older brother.” (TL: Small fact, Kuso = shit (curse), Yaro = bastard)

“Ah, I see.”

Their parents are pitiable too.

Both their sons became criminals.

“Incidentally, the leader of the other party we are about to meet is my father ― although, he is a man who will betray his own brother, father or relatives. Please don’t let your guard down.”

I took back my previous words, the parent was the root of the evil.

After that, Kuso described to me how he rebelled against his parent and worked as an upright peddler and how he ended up in his current position.

Apparently, he was a man who likes to make his own competence known and likes to be the center of attention.

In the end, he said ‘I am not somebody who will stagnate in such a position and when that time comes, I hope Ichinojo-san will help me.’ so I quickly replied with my agreement.

Then, after we entered into a valley, I saw something that seemed like ancient ruins.

That seemed to be the other party’s hideout.

I sensed multiple presences within it.

When I investigated the surroundings using Hawk’s Eye, I discovered two men holding bow gun-like weapons on the roof of the ruins.

I’m guessing if anything happens — or perhaps even if nothing happens? — they plan to attack us.

“Kusunoki-kun, I think this should be good enough.”

Suzuki said. I assumed we would act after we met the leader but,

“Ah, yeah — well it would be troublesome once we enter.”

I nodded and we moved simultaneously.

Suzuki and I each punched the right and left giant respectively and made them faint.

“”Turning coat!?””

Kuso and Yaro cried out at the same time but,

“Sorry but I never intended to be your companion from the very beginning.”

I said and,

“Slash”

Swung both my arms.

The two sword waves sliced the two men above the roof.

“What! You noticed them — guhe”

Yaro shouted but he was interrupted by Suzuki’s fist and swallowed the ending of his sentence.

“I-Ichinojo-san! You have superb skill! That’s right, you will be our smuggling crew’s new leader! With your strength and my negotiation skills, we will be able to reach even greater heights.”

“Yeah. Kuso-san isn’t a man who belong here, right?”

“Yes, that is very true. So —”

“You look like you will fit perfectly in a cell!”

Kuso fell unconscious with my punch that was accompanied by a Piko sound.

“Kusunoki-kun, you didn’t kill the two on the roof, right?”

Suzuki asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry, it was a joint skill between Slash and Piko Piko Hammer. With the effects of Piko Piko Hammer, they should still be alive … probably.”

My level didn’t increase so I don’t believe I killed them.

After using the Job Seeking skill, only my first job will be able to receive experience. Although it would be a different story if Opportunistic Thief was a job that was hard to level.

“You say probably … so, why did your job turn into a criminal job? I believe the Status Forgery effect has expired.”

“Ah, well it was thanks to a trump skill I have that allows me to change my job for 24 hours … but I have to choose one job from a choice of five random jobs. It won’t change my status so it doesn’t affect my fighting. Incidentally, my job now is Opportunistic Thief.”

“So there is such a skill. Or rather, I am more interested in the Opportunistic Thief job. It was not listed in the world job listings. Hmm? What kind of skills can you learn?”

“I have no idea. I’ll let you know once I level up and learn a skill.”

Just as we were talking, twenty men appeared from the ruins.

“Don’t push yourself. I am interested in the skills but don’t kill anybody if you can. And definitely, don’t let anybody escape.”

“So many orders. Keep it to one sentence.”

“Please act in a manner that Haru-san and the others can be proud of!”

“Okay, that’s easier to understand!”

I said and drew my steel sword.

(TLN: The author’s footnote mentioned that the web novel reached 660,000 words with this chapter while the light novel reached about 900,000 words. And the light novel only adapted about 450,000 words from the web novel. So apparently half the light novel is different from the web version … If there are any interested translators out there you can try translating the light novel :] )