75-Chapter 4-9 Mountain Thief King

After Maria and the others told me about the marriage, things were difficult.

We went to pick up Jeanne and the others first, and she is quite tired.

Aura was even more exhausted than Jeanne, and she seemed even more emotionally unstable.

As soon as she saw me, she looked around and then cried to me. It seems that she was half traumatized.

''Te, Tenma-sama.......please take me and run away.......''

Yeah, that's absurd! Aina says the next training session is in two days. Ganba!

I put my hand on Aura's shoulder as she spoke nonsense and said it as briskly as I could.

I can feel the atmosphere of being upset from Jeanne, but I don't get any response from Aura.

''........No response. Just a corpse........''

To such Aura, I muttered a famous line from my previous life, but I didn't get a tsk from Aura.

Aura, who is dexterously fainting in a mid-height posture, looks like a well-made sculpture.

''Title, 'Despair'!

Jeanne replied to my naming with a wry smile.

From the next day on, our lives became more regular in a way.

For me, the first and second days were spent attending to requests from the guild, the third day was a rest day, the fourth day was spent training with Din-san and his team, the fifth and sixth days were spent attending to requests from the guild, the seventh day was a rest day, the eighth and ninth days were spent training with Din-san and his team, the tenth day was a rest day, and so on.

Jeanne and Aura spent the first day with me and the guild, the second day with Aina's instruction, the third day as a rest day, the fourth day with Aina's instruction, the fifth day with the guild's request, the sixth day with Aina's instruction, the seventh day as a rest day, the eighth and ninth days with Aina's instruction, and the tenth day as a rest day, which is the basic way that Jeanne and Aura spent their time in the royal capital.

In the beginning, Aina had planned to instruct Auna from the first to the sixth day, the seventh day was to be a rest day, and the eighth to tenth day was to be the instruction of Aina, but Aura cried out that this was too much, so we negotiated, and finally my plan was adopted, with me as the master.

'Temma-sama, you are very good! Temma-sama, who saved me from that demon (Aina), is truly a god!

That's Aura's line. It must have been very hard for her. She was bursting with joy at having more time to be free from Aina.

However, this joy was to be broken from the first day.

When I went to the guild to receive a request, I found Aina there in a maid's outfit and equipped with a halberd.

''Since we're going to be here, I'll accompany you. That way, I can work on instructing Aura in my free time.

I forced myself to register for the party and followed the request.

Aura's face was tinged with despair, but since I didn't refuse, it was decided that Aina would join the party.

Aina told me later that it was apparently Maria-sama's order that she entered my party.

Aina herself is recognized by other noblemen as a maid for Maria-sama (the queen), so she was sent to keep them from meddling in her affairs.

He wanted Aura to keep quiet about it because it was interesting.

The guild's request went around with requests that I had never experienced before, as much as possible, from the ones that could be done in a day.

In that case, I didn't care about the reward money, so the guild and the client were quite pleased with me.

Since the guild's requests had travel time within the King's City, I would take the requests the day before, complete them the next day, and then leave after receiving another request.

Occasionally, I took requests for overnight stays, using the rest days, but at that time, Jeanne and the others were away from home and were under Aina's tutelage, and sometimes they complained when they returned.

The training with Din-san and the others was basically just mixed in with the training of the knights, but sometimes we were made to train in a real battle style.

Sometimes it was me versus my knights in a handicap match, and other times it was me versus my knights, or my knights against my knights, so the castle workers were not surprised to see Shiroumaru, Slarin, and Solomon.

In the rest days, I was accompanied by a stressed Jeanne and Aura for shopping, or by royalty, or by my grandfather.

After a month of this, I asked the guild to register for the tournament, and I passed an oddly dressed person.

The guy was about two meters tall, his entire body was covered in tiger fur, and his head was wearing a tiger-shaped armor, so it was impossible to determine his gender from his face or his body.

From the looks of it, it was too suspicious.

So I tried to use an appraisal to find out....

The appraisal doesn't work!　

For some reason, the status I saw in the appraisal was garbled and blacked out, and I couldn't read it.

I was quite wary of that first experience, but that guy just looked at me for a second and walked out.

'What the hell is that guy?'

He was kind of a creepy guy, Temma.

A few people, including us, were in the path of the tiger furry just now, and they were all surprised by the strange look of the man and gave way.

'Have you ever seen someone like that? Sis.　

No, I don't but I've heard of it.

At Aina's words, we and the adventurers nearby quieted down and listened to Aina's words.

''I don't know the name of the person in the tiger fur just now, but his features are similar to the person who was called the 'Bandit King'.

'The Bandit King? Are you a criminal?

Jeanne listens with a tilt of her head, but it won't happen.

''It won't happen. After all, the security and guilds in King's Landing are not so lax as to allow criminals to invade so openly........''

This is what it means. It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for, but it's not as easy as you might think.

''Then why are you called the Bandit King?''　

'That's because of the way they look and the requests they receive. The Bandit King likes to receive requests in the mountains and forests. Moreover, while doing so, he will take down the bandits lurking in the mountains and forests. And he'll crush a large number of bandits with a single blow...

But that doesn't make sense to the bandit(...) king. Many adventurers seemed to think so.

"Hey nee-chan, doesn't that make the bandits strange?　

One adventurer came to visit Aina, and the adventurers around her nodded at the question.

''Yes, of course you're right. At first, he thought that the guild was simply an adventurer with good skills, an adventurer with good instincts, but they caught too many bandits (...), so they decided to ask a question.

What's the question?

Aina stopped speaking at my question. Those listening around me gulped and waited for her next words.

'Isn't that the person leading a huge bandit organization? And.....

The way Aina speaks becomes more and more like she is telling a ghost story.

The number of adventurers listening around her is increasing, and eventually, all of the adventurers in the guild are paying attention to Aina.

''That's why, not to mention from the guild, a group of knights were sent to investigate from the land lords and this royal capital. However, since not a single trace of such an organization was found, nor did anyone claim to have actually been harmed by the tiger-furred person, the investigation was terminated, but rumors circulated by those who heard the rumors of the investigation that there was a king of bandits, or bandits hunting bandits, or someone claiming to be a king in the mountains, etc. At some point, they called him 'The Bandit King'.

Aina exhaled loudly, as if to say that she was done talking all over. The tension that had been hovering around the area fizzled out as she caught it.

'So Aina, when did that happen?'

I asked the question that had stuck with me halfway through.

'A hundred years was a long time ago, wasn't it?'

It was a no-brainer. After all, it's strange that all the adventurers here don't know such a story together.

Then I thought it was most likely a story made up by Aina, or a story from when the adventurers were not born (........).

''But the story about the Bandit King is true. Probably, there is some material left in this guild.''

At those words, some adventurers and guild staff ran to the archives.

''Even if that story is true, is it unlikely that that guy from earlier is the same person?

What is it, Master Tenma? Perhaps it could be a long-lived species like the elves?　

Aura's question is most definitely asked, but....

'If you're an elf, you don't get that lumpy, and if you're a dwarf, you're shorter, and even if you're half of those things, I still don't think you're going to be that big.'

That's right, elves are said to have a lifespan of about four to five hundred years, and dwarves are said to have a lifespan of about two hundred years, and even half of those halves are said to have half of that... but most elves are slender, probably due to their life in the forest, and dwarves are muscular but short. This is a characteristic of the person.

Rarely, there are some people whose blood is thin enough to cause ancestral regression, but it is said that the person's ancestral features are more pronounced at that time.

''So, it's not without the possibility that Aura mentioned, but the idea that another person is pretending to be a bandit king, or dressed the same way, is more likely.

I see.

Aura seemed to agree. The remaining adventurers around them also spontaneously disbanded after Aina's story was over.

''Well, at any rate, whether that 'bandit king' is real or fake, there's no doubt that we need to be careful...''

My mutterings disappeared without the other three people hearing me.

I found out afterwards that the bandit king had come to register for the individual tournament, so he might be fighting me soon... Aura was talking about it for some reason in a great way.

When I heard that the bandit king had registered, it was then that I learned that registration for the martial arts tournament had begun, and I decided to register for the individual and team competitions.

The team members for the team competition could register under their representative's name, and the other members could simply apply on the day of the first day of the competition.

'Temma, what about the team members? Are we leaving too?

'No, it's going to be me, Slarin, Shiroumaru, and Solomon. It'll leave an opening in the crew, but I think it'll be a good match.

I'll try to say that with my mouth, but I actually believe that we have a pretty good chance of winning. Even in the state of holding back, we're still winning even if we're dealing with multiple knights and kinsmen. I don't know if Ding-san's class is on the other side, but there aren't many people with that kind of strength, and Ding-san said he wouldn't participate.

The Bandit King was a concern, but it wouldn't be difficult to compete in both individual and team battles, if only to participate in the main competition. We must not be too careful though...

There were no requests for that day, such as defeating or collecting, and they didn't find anything very good.

According to the guild staff, due to the proximity of the tournament, many adventurers from other cities and villages are coming to the city, so requests for money are quickly disappearing.

''I can't help but accept requests to clean up the city and so on... from now on, let's make the day of the guild's request a day of self-discipline.

Aina's eyes lit up at my casual suggestion........I think.

''Then I would like to make Jeanne and Aura's free time a day of instruction for me. Temma-sama, is it alright?

Aina asks me for permission in a manner (...), but I guess it's actually a decision in Aina's mind.

Jeanne and Aura are signaling me to refuse from a position where Aina can't see me, but I quickly ignore them.

'Fine. I was going to go to the castle on my free day anyway.''

Thank you. Now, let's get started right away today.　

I nodded at Aina's suggestion and left the guild.

Jeanne and Aura both had slumped their shoulders, but I followed Aina without saying a word.

They seemed to have been trained a lot over the past month.

Our schedule changed from that day on. Jeanne and Aura unfortunately had more time to teach Aina, but I would take the opportunity to learn some new magic.

In the castle's storeroom, there might be some books that contain magic I don't know about.

It's a good idea to ask grandpa to teach me, but it's not efficient when you don't even know what magic you want to learn from him.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to ask him to teach me a new magic, Grandpa, but he'll probably say 'Okay! What magic do you want me to teach you? I don't think I'll be able to move on from that.

For now, I'd better look into it myself and see if there's any good magic to ask about.

After seeing Jeanne and Aura being taken away by Aina, I decided to go and ask the king for permission to use the storeroom.

It's not a good idea to go to the king's room as it is, so I decided to find Cliffe and ask him to take me to the king's place first.

However, only in this kind of situation, I couldn't find the divine butler. As I continued to search the castle, I found something hiding in the shadows of the forward furnishings.

That something doesn't seem to have noticed me, so I approach it with my breath and gently........

Wow!

I surprised him.

'Kyah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ................Huh?

After being surprised, for some reason, the one who was desperately apologizing was Luna, the grandson and princess of the master of this royal castle, who was also a princess.

''Moo~! You scared the hell out of me! I thought your brother had found you~!

I don't know what happened, but I heard that Luna is currently running away from Tida.

'I'm sorry... so why is Luna running away from Tida?

At my question, Luna looked bummed out.

''Um ... you won't be mad at me?''

Depends on what you're saying but I can't promise I won't be angry as much as possible.

Luna seemed to respond to my answer only to the part where I said I wouldn't get angry, and she taught me to pay attention to my surroundings.

''You know what? It's a study day today but I ran away! That's why your brother was chasing me!

When I asked for details, apparently today's study was a day to be taught by Tida, and Tida's purpose was to review and learn how to teach Luna by teaching her, and Luna's study was an added bonus.

'I didn't know why I was getting involved in your brother's study, so I ran away!

Which is the right thing for me to do in these cases?

There are two main things I can think of, one is to let Tida know and the other is to pretend I didn't see it.

I thought about it for a moment and tried to pretend I hadn't seen it, but then I realized something here.

'Come to think of it, Luna was royalty too...'

What's the matter with you, bro?

So I made one suggestion.

'Okay, Luna. Let me show you a good hiding place.

Really!

As I thought, Luna with a bite.

'Yeah, come with me to the storeroom. It shouldn't be hard to find out in there but is it okay for me to go into the storeroom without permission?

At my question, Luna craned her neck to think about it, but she quickly came up with something.

'It's okay, brother! If I'm here, they shouldn't complain... and I'm the only one who's going to be pissed off when your brother finds out...

Luna blurts out the last word. He probably thought he said it so that I wouldn't hear him, but I heard him correctly.

"What did you say, Luna?

Hey, it's nothing! Come on, let's go.

Luna pulls my hand and hurries ahead. She seems to have left the anti-Tida measures to me, and seems to be less wary than before.

'I'm here. Quick, quick!

Opening the door to the stacks, Luna beckons from inside, half-heartedly.

But then.....

Oh, Temma! Have you seen Luna!

Tida appeared from the front of me.

Luna's voice startled her, and she quickly stepped inside. Then she hid in the shadows of a nearby bookshelf, frantically holding up a finger to her mouth, pleading with me to keep quiet.

'Luna dude, it's study day and he ran off somewhere... so have you seen Luna?

Tida didn't seem to notice Luna and came over to me and asked for information about Luna.

I looked sideways for a moment to see where Luna was, and my eyes met with Luna's, who was peeking at my face.

At that moment, I smiled at her.

'Temma-san?' How can I help you?

'Oh, I'm sorry, that was about Luna. I know, or rather, she must be close by.

'Really? Where are you?!

Tida reacted loudly and Luna shrugged.

'Yeah, I asked Luna to bring me here and give me permission to use this place but she ran off in the opposite direction just before Tida arrived.

Then he pointed in the opposite direction.

'Thank you!'

Tida thanked him and hobbled off to find Luna.

''Well it looks like that's enough, Luna.

I walked into the stacks and called out to Luna.

Luna sat down on the floor as if she was deflated, then looked up at me and puffed out her cheeks.

'Moo~! Don't freak me out!

Luna yelled out from the recoil of her previous breathlessness... without even checking her surroundings.

'Shut up, Luna! This is the place to be quiet. If you make too much noise, I'll call Tida!

Hee!　

Luna was surprised by the sudden reprimand, shrugging her shoulders involuntarily.

The owner of that voice was the Lord of Finance, who was piling up books like a mountain on a table in the middle of the library.