41-Chapter 2-14 Greetings, from...

The next time I woke up, it was long past noon. When I went downstairs feeling somewhat languid, Lily and the others were already up and sitting around the table.

'Good morning everyone is Mr. Flute off today?'

I greeted her that way, but she didn't answer back. I wondered, and tapped Millie, who was closest to me, on the shoulder.

'Whew! ...Ouch.

He screamed and held his head down. I looked at the other three.

My head is killing me.

I don't like it.

It hurts... it hurts.

'I've had too much to drink~. Ah~ Temma-san, good morning~ good morning~...ugh.

I took out four specially made recovery pills from my bag instead of anti-intoxicating drugs, and gave them to the four of us.

After taking the recovery pills and casting a recovery spell, the symptoms seemed to lighten considerably.

Hey, old man, another one!

I want a refill!

I'll take a big one!

No, let me correct that. He seemed to be completely healed and was eating his old man's special sick (hangover) porridge.

''Well I'll just have the soup.''

Mr. Flute didn't seem to have an appetite for quicksilver and only drank the soup.

'So, Mr. Flute. Are you sure you're ready to work today?

Yes, I've taken the day off, just in case. I'm sure the guild leader will be working in your place by now.

He seems to have pushed the guild leader to say that it won't make much of a difference if I take a break now and then.

''I see........oh, I'm going out soon.

The moment I said that.

""Temma, I'm leaving!"

The three of them, who were munching on their porridge, had an amazing reaction.

'No, no. I just thought I'd say hello to a few of the people who have been so kind to me.

When I explained that that's why, I said okay, go ahead and started on the porridge again.

When I went outside, the first thing I did was to head to the Knights' headquarters. When I gave Primera's name at the reception desk in the headquarters, I told her that I was currently doing a patrol in the city, so I told her my requirements and said I would come back later, and then I headed to the next.

Next, we headed to the Gunjo City Council headquarters and asked for Mr. Marx at the reception desk.

Mr. Marx seemed to have his hands free and came right away and bowed when he saw me.

Thank you for that, Serna. By the way, what can I do for you today?

Yes, actually, I've decided to leave the city soon, so I thought I'd say hello.

When he said that, Mr. Marx looked startled, and then he lowered his voice to

Was it still because of yesterday's duel?

I'm sorry to hear that.

That's part of it, but I was originally a traveler, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get back on the road.

'Well actually, I have a house near here and Serna is there. Can you wait a moment while I go get her?

When I agreed, Mr. Marx left the reception room at a trot.

He returned in about 10 minutes, but Mr. Marx seemed to be out of breath and unable to make a sound. Serna, on the other hand, was out of breath when she first arrived, but after a minute or two, she began to catch her breath.

'It's been a while, Serna-san. Are you feeling well?

Serna-san was caught by the bandits not long ago, and her strength should be quite low, but from the looks of it, she appears to be fine.

''Yes, Temma-san. Thank you for all the help you gave me in that section. The recovery medicine that Temma-san gave me is working well, and my body is even better than before.

He was smiling and laughing. But all of a sudden his expression turned serious.

'Mr Temma, will you take me on a trip with you? I want to do something to give back!

That's what I heard.

'No. We can't take Miss Serna with us.

I said no, categorically. Mr. Serna's words made Mr. Marx look quite surprised, and at my words, he looked relieved.

'Why is that, sir? May I ask you to tell me why?

'The reason is that they are a liability. And you cannot take a man on a journey where his life is in danger if he is not steadfastly determined.

And look at both Mr. Serna and Mr. Marx.

'I'm not prepared to take responsibility if anything happens to Miss Serna.

At my word, Serna said.

I'm sorry you've been dumped.

It doesn't sound too disappointing, but I'm sorry for sounding so harsh.

Where do you plan to go from here, Temma-san?

Mr. Marx came into the conversation I honestly forgot he was there.

'I'm going to aim for a dungeon somewhere. I don't know what will happen along the way.

'I see. It's certainly a long way to the dungeon, you know.

But if you were Tenma-san, wouldn't it be faster if you flew to the dungeon?　

Ms. Serna has a point. But.

'Oh come on, Serna. That's no fun, is it? There's no first romance!

I almost nodded. Sure, Mr. Marx had a point.

'Mr. Marx. I understand what you're saying, but that's not why I'm here.

I denied Mr. Marx's words in passing.

'Serna, this trip is like my training. So I'm going to travel in a carriage so that I can gain a lot of experience.

As a man, I agree with Mr. Marx, but this is a bigger reason to travel. Well, I can't help but say that it's a hobby.

''I see........I thought your only purpose was to go to the dungeon.

Well, that's why I go around saying hello to all the people I know.

After that, we had a great time chatting about trivial matters. It was only about an hour due to Mr. Marx's work, but it was a fun time.

At that time I asked Serna about the other women, and they all seemed to be on the road to recovery... but although their physical wounds and strength were recovering, they hadn't gotten better yet, even their emotional wounds, and they were terrified of seeing men or being approached by them. Some people start to cry or panic, she said.

They have no choice but to wait for time to heal them, Serna-san said.

After that, I decided to visit the knight's headquarters again and parted ways with Serna and the others in front of the assembly.

Serna-san seemed to be planning to see me off until I was out of sight, and I was somewhat embarrassed because every time I turned around, our eyes met.

When I came to the headquarters, the receptionist was the same as before, and she said she had already talked to Primera, and she led me straight to Primera's place.

'Hello, Temma-san. I heard from the receptionist that you've set a date for your departure?

Primera asked as soon as she was ushered into the room.

'Yes, I thought I'd leave for a trip in a couple of days, so I came to say hello.

'I see. That was a quick decision.

Primera was at the meeting with the Duke yesterday, so she wasn't surprised that I was leaving the city, but as expected, she didn't expect me to leave in a couple of days, and she was surprised at how quickly I was able to do so.

''The Duke is not here, is he?''

Oh, your father left yesterday. What I heard is that he wanted to get Regil to King's Landing as soon as possible.

He's a very light duke. Normally, he's a natural, but I hear he's quick to act when it comes to a crisis.

''I see. Well then, if you have the opportunity, please give my regards to the duke.

Yes, sir. Of course.

After that, we talked about some random stuff.

Primera, you're blocking my way!

With that, the general and three captains of the Order came in.

''What's wrong with you, Commander-in-Chief? And all of you.

At those words, Alan, the general manager, said

'What's the matter with you, Temma's leaving town, and you've come to say hello!　

That's right, Primera. He's done a great deal to keep the peace around this city. I suppose it's only natural that he should come and say hello.

Santos said that, followed by Aida.

I rather take issue with the fact that you're not letting us know about it.

Then Aida stared at the primera with her sharp eyes.

'Well, well, calm down. You knew Primera was out of it.

Simon also pretended to follow up with Primera, but in reality he was shooting his mouth off (...).

'Ah! I'm sorry. I had forgotten about it!

It would be a sign of being a primera to say something that wasn't necessary there. The men laughed, but Aida started fiddling with the weapons and armor equipment.

The only thing you can do is to get a little bit more out of the way. That's why we came to see Temma's face.

Perhaps to distract Aida, Alan returned to the conversation.

''I'm sorry for taking the trouble. Normally, we should have come to you...''

You don't have to use honorific titles. It's not a classy place, unlike the Knights of the King's Landing. Besides, I came here to ask a favor from Temma.

Alan interrupted me and told me what his request was.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea. It's an irregular match with five captains for each of us.

The match was to be held at the training field.

However, the result was an overwhelming victory for me. All five of us use swords as our weapons, our coordination is poor, and we don't look like we are serious about winning.

''Next time, let's have a one-on-one match format, please.

With that, Alan decided on the order of the five.

The first one was Aida. From the looks of her, she seems to be a speed-oriented swordsman type with a lot of hands.

''Then, nice to meet you.''

Taking that word as a cue, Aida rushed straight at me, holding a slender sword in both hands. I held out my sword (an imitation sword) as a check, and she tried to get behind me while catching the thrust out, but my kick hit her body and pushed her back in front of me.

As soon as I could, Aida crossed her sword and took a defensive stance, but

Slow!

My single swing was released to cut up Aida's right sword from underneath, sending Aida's sword flying through the air.

Aida's hand seemed to have gone numb from the impact, and she was defeated, unable to overcome my blow with one hand.

'Alright! My turn!

Santos, who was second in line, was wielding a large sword like a claymore with one hand.

The method of attack is also a threat if it hits with a fighting style of getting close and smashing through, but if it doesn't, it doesn't matter.

With that in mind, I jumped into my pocket, and before I knew it, a machete-like sword was held in Santos' vacant left hand.

Perhaps Claymore was a decoy and this sword was the real deal. But I didn't care to see it, I stepped in further and

Hmph!

I slammed my left hand into Santos' abdomen with my left hand while holding Santos' left hand down.

''Ugh!''

With that voice, Santos knelt on the ground and surrendered.

Simon, the third one........what a bad match with me. Simon's attacking style is mainly based on fencing-like thrusts, and besides overwhelming the opponent with his hands, he can dexterously change weapons and styles to suit his opponent, but against me, his thrusts are also overlooked and his attacks are light, so-called dexterity poor, so he won easily with a straightforward attack.

Alan came out in fourth place.

Who is your master?''

'From my father and grandfather (including Merlin and his previous life), though it's the closest thing to my style nowadays.

I couldn't afford to be respectful. Obviously, Alan's skills are probably the strongest of any I've ever met.

'Let's go!'

Just when you think you've gotten into the spirit, the signs disappear from Alan. To be precise, he intends to suppress the signs as much as possible to make it difficult for people to realize his attack. I took the initiative and unleashed a thrust, but it was easily repelled.

In return, Alan's sharp thrust attacked me. From then on, we exchanged swordships, but we were both lacking in decisive strikes. To settle the matter, Alan flew backwards and I lunged as hard as I could and released a thrust. Alan tried to duck this one by shifting his body.

Sweet!

He unleashes a so-called hira-tsuki (...), releasing his sword in the direction Alan ducked.

As expected of Alan, he seemed surprised by this, but he defended it without difficulty. However, as much as he was surprised, it created an opening.

I guess I win.

The blade was thrust into my neck with the returning sword.

'Shame.'

He muttered to himself and shook hands with me, which was greeted with applause by the captain and his men.

''Um, I'm not done yet...''

Primera softly raised her hand and muttered.

''Oh, I forgot!''

It was the Primera who fell to her knees, depressed by everyone's words.

I managed to get him back on his feet and played the game, and surprisingly, he turned out to be pretty good at fighting.

However, while the basics were good enough, he seemed to have trouble with application, and when I put in a few feints, he got stuck in an interesting way.

'Please don't play!'

He was shouting a lot throughout the game, but I think it's worse to be caught out.

In the end, I was stunned to lose, but I think I put up a pretty good fight once I got to the feint.

'Temma. I'm sorry to go on, but can you get some practice on the other guys? No pressure, of course.

Saying that, Alan brought in a few of the higher-ranking members of each squad.

''As expected, it's a hassle to deal with each of them individually, so can I deal with them all at once?''

'It's fine. Between you and me, it's not a good look for the captain to lose to a 15 year old boy all together. So I'd like to do the same to the guys downstairs and make as many accomplices as possible.

And as far as I was concerned, I overheard the idea.

'Then why didn't you just not do it in the first place?

When I hear that.

This is a good opportunity to have a real fight with someone other than the Order, and it would be a waste of time!

He said so proudly.

'I understand, but I'm sorry if I made you lose your confidence.

Then he turned to the knights.

All hands on deck!

I challenged him. There were a total of twenty knights, five from each squad, and at first they surrounded me and closed the gap between us, but due to the five of them (the fourth squad) who rushed in without thinking, they couldn't coordinate and were destroyed one by one.

When they all went down, they all looked bitter when they returned to the captains, but Primera, in particular, seemed to be the most uncomfortable.

''Fundamentally, we need to review our training.......especially the Fourth Squadron.

Alan muttered to himself.

"...Yes, I'm sorry...

Primera replied with a voice that seemed to disappear. From the next day, the fourth squad, including Primera under Alan's supervision, was to begin their intense training.

After these years, the Fourth Squad, which had been called a fallen unit, was called the most elite unit in Gunjo City Knights........I wish.

Perhaps noticing my stupid thoughts like that, Primera was looking at me with resentful eyes.

''Well then, I'll be leaving soon.

I left the Order, trying to escape Primera's gaze.

I then stopped by the guild, but as usual, the guild leader wasn't there, so I decided to go back to the inn.

Flute-san was still in the dining room of the Fullness Pavilion, and he was in some kind of hurry.

''I'm back.......What's wrong, Flute? You're in such a hurry.

'Oh, Temma. Actually, Lily and her friends...

With those words, I hurried to the room where Lily and the others were.

Ew, that's disgusting.

Ugh, I'm gonna throw up.

I'm getting out.

The three of them were lying on their sides with their stomachs bulging.

''.........What is this?''

I asked Mr. Flute, pointing to the three of them.

''It's a result of the burnout. To relieve myself of the gloom of not being able to keep up with Temma-san, I've been drinking and eating until just now after she went out...

I lost my worry. I mean, how many hours were we eating, these three.

"Ah~ Temma. Tasuku~tete~

I don't feel good~~

I need my pills.

"Go to the bathroom and puke! That's the best medicine!

The three of us slowly....really slowly, like a turtle (I think turtles are faster than that) heading for the bathroom at those words.

I didn't want to think about what happened after that, but just as it was dinnertime and the diner was crowded with diners, the three of them made the necessary beeping sounds. I heard that some of the customers who were there at the time had left without ordering.