Side Story 24: Firwood.

Side Story 24: Firwood.

So, this is Firwood. A town named after the numerous fir trees in its surroundings, Firwood was almost large enough to be classified as a city by the Kingdom of Artoriass standards. Considering that Firwood was able to protect itself with walls and had enough space to separate itself into several neighborhoods, including a commoners and nobles district, it was more or less a city to me.

Hey, why are you looking so doom and gloom? We finally made it to Firwood, the town closest to the Belzac forest. You know, the place where your coffee substitute is. Come on, smile more, Tatsuya, a young man equipped in full armor with a sword and shield combo tried to comfort me, but I couldnt help but look at it pessimistically.

A whole year and four months. We have been in this world for more than a whole year now.

My name is Tatsuya Nagata, a Japanese guy who was summoned to the medieval-like world named Peolynca about a year ago. In this time, I have been taken in by a church who called themselves worshippers of the Goddess of Light, Aurena, and was tasked by them, the very ones who were the ones responsible for summoning me to this world, in other words, my kidnappers, to defeat some king or lord from a race called the demonkin as a Hero of Aurena. In other words, I was to fight and kill the demon lord.

Now, most edgy, cringey high schoolers would probably believe this was an amazing idea straight out of a fantasy book, but when a religious faction was constantly breathing down your neck, you will feel quite stressed from the constant pressure. Aside from the fact that they were forcing me into life-threatening situations where I had to fight against monsters or people, they also thought it was smart to use me as part of a religious propaganda campaign to convert more ruling nobles and royals to the church, increasing the churchs wealth, power and influence.

How fun does it sound when you know you were just a pawn and all the influence you had as a Hero was merely some propaganda spread by the church? I was even made aware that they could denounce me at any time, robbing me of the one reason why I was helping them in the first place. To get a fucking ticket back home to Earth.

Yeah, brilliant, right? A dream come true

I guess thats true, I absent-mindedly replied to Kyouyas, my best friends, comforting words. We need to grind some levels and get some monster materials. Belzac forest is considered a C rank monster area in its depths, right? We can use the perimeter to grind. Stock up on Tamae-sans potions and curatives, and we should be able to last for a couple of days before needing to return.

Well, at least planning grinding sessions is similar to that fantasy MMO I loved to play.

As I was sighing at our current situation, a woman in white armor waved at us to come closer. Her overall appearance was similar to that of a Scandinavian woman I saw on the internet with her silver-white hair and sky-blue eyes. Wielding a long white ivory spear, she exuded an aura of confidence hidden behind a veil of laxness.

Oh my, oh my. Tatsuya and Kyouka. Always the two last to arrive. Ok, enough teasing, hahahaha! she chortled, pointing out my habit of admiring the buildings of any new city or town our group would arrive at, and how Kyouka would always bring me back to reality. Anyways, welcome to Firwood, everybody. Home of the Kingdom of Artoriass exotic spices and product farms, usually exclusive to the Belzac and Saelariel forest. Enjoy the food and dont worry, the street vendors cover up the gamey taste of the goblin meat well with spices.

That was one of our guardians assigned to us by the church, a commander of the Knights of Aurena. Her name was Yorshka, an incredibly strong dragoon. Unlike most of the knights Id met, who were more stoic and hard to approach, she oozed friendliness with a habit of teasing most people for a good laugh.

As I mentioned before, I have some business at the local hunters guild, so please go to the temple without me. Tamae-chan, please follow the instructions on the map I gave you and bring Asaka-chan to meet the High Bishop, alright? Sir Elrick, make sure they stay safe and out of trouble. After presenting Asaka as a legitimate candidate, you may all do whatever you want. Accept Quests, do some shopping, enjoy the local cuisine. Just make sure to meet up at this inn again, alright? Yorshka gave her orders to everybody.

We had just arrived at Firwood today after a five-day carriage ride from the Lecartiglio duchy. The reason why we came to this town was once again related to our duties as the Heroes of Aurena, and that was to present one of the two saintess candidates among our group to the local temples and churches. We were Heroes after all, and a saint or saintess was considered like the mortal representation of a god in this world.

Amongst our group, consisting solely of my classmates, two girls were selected as [Saint Candidates], and, since this world had a game-like system, they were attached as titles on their profiles. Those two girls were Aiko Hasebe a friend of mine who was traveling with her party in a location I currently didnt know about and my party member, Asaka Hanazawa, a blue-haired delinquent girl with severe motivational issues.

Speaking of colored hair, it was one of the characteristics I noticed the people of this world had. Thanks to the existence of mana in the air, people could be born with various hair colors ranging from purple, green, and so on; this little fact that made our little group rather conspicuous.

A church party comprised five classmates and one knight guardian, who acted as the leader of the party. Due to some circumstances I created during my time at the church, my party was traveling with another, resulting in a large group of dark-haired adolescents. So, in order to not stand out even more than we already were, Yorshka suggested having our hair color changed with some hair product she bought for us.

I used to have black hair, but I was walking around with dark green hair now.

After Yorshka left for her own business, a young man named Elrick came forward. His blond hair combined with brilliant white his armor gave off the model example of a knight in shining armor; with his forthright attitude, Elrick made a good guardian for our party. Everybody, the temple is close by, located at the gate leading into the noble district. Miss Tamae, would you please lead us there?

Wearing a magicians robe, the purple-haired girl that Elrick addressed was not only our ex-class representative, but also our parties enchanter and alchemist. With a nod, Tamae replied with a swift, Yes! Everybody, let us go.

This phase always feels like a school trip

Leaving our inn, one that felt like a mid-ranged hotel on Earth, we noticed a beastman conversing with two people a girl and a young man. The beastman was a green-haired bovline, an ox beastman, and he was laughing merrily with a pink-haired girl and a young man in shining armor, presumably a knight.

Thank you very much, Antonio! I really hope everything works out with your parents, Severa!

Yes, thank you, brother! Cernust will do his best, and I will make sure to learn much from him!

Dont be so overjoyed just yet, you two. The hardest challenge still lies before us.

Wow, so casual. In the Lecartiglio duchy, racism against beastman was pretty rampant, but here in Firwood? People are interacting with beastmen so normally. At least thats what it looked like so far in this town.

Walking east, we eventually stopped at a large gate. Elrick announced our arrival with a scroll stamped with the seal of the church of Aurena in the Holy State Aureolis, causing the two guards to scramble as they quickly bowed and let us in. We were reverently greeted by a group of bowing white-robed priests inside the temple, all of them already alerted to our arrival over a week ago.

Entering the ceremonial room, a lilac-haired man in a set of decorated white robes stood at the altar, greeting us with his name, Theodore Sirius. After praying with the priests, which was the standard greeting for church members, Asaka moved forward without commenting too much about it. When we first started, she would always complain about how annoying it was until she realized complaining about it all the time was more annoying.

Saintess candidate Asaka Hanazawa, first we would like to welcome you to our world Peolynca. As the High Bishop of Firwood, I acknowledge your status and would ask you to visit two villages in the vicinity of the Sirius March, Theodore began. The duty of a saint was to bring the word of their god to the people, which meant a saint candidate had to do the same thing. Last year, a tragedy happened in Carine Village where a group of bandits burned down the village and kidnapped a few of the villagers.

That is terrible to hear! Are the remaining villagers alright? Kazumi, one of the girls from Tamae-sans party spoke up, showing genuine worry.

Theodore nodded. Yes, two brave adventurer parties successfully handled the issue, managing to bring back all the kidnapped villagers safely and subjugating the bandits. However, due to the fire, the villages church was burned down. The temple is planning to rebuild it, so we humbly ask the Heroes and the Saint Candidate to bless the area in the Goddesss name and to soothe the villagers worries.

I understand. We will make that one of our goals. What is the issue with the second village? Asaka asked.

Rashan Village, to the northwest of Firwood. Just a month ago, the village and the local lords castle were besieged by a large horde of what was reported as undead, nearly wiping out all the villagers and soldiers. Two adventurer parties attempted to save the villagers from their plight but, unfortunately, further tragedy struck when they met their end in the ruins near the village. The local hunters guild had to increase the rank of the Quest to C rank, Theodore explained, causing me to frown a bit as I was worried he was sending us to fight something even two parties of adventures couldnt handle. However, this worry quickly disappeared with his next words. Please, be at ease, a brave party of adventurers managed to fight the menace back and purify the area. The young lady leading this party was also a priestess of Aurena.

Commotion. My classmates were baffled that a single adventurer party was able to appear tha quickly to solve the issue where multiple other parties could not. Some were relieved everything was well again, some like me were happy we didnt have to enter a dangerous battle, while a single person scoffed that the Quest couldnt have been that hard.

I see, that is wonderful to hear, Elrick praised. Pray, High Bishop Theodore, is there a chance we could meet this priestess? Lady Asaka is still mastering the teachings of our Goddess, and I believed it would be a great boon for her to learn from a traveling priestess. Capable and world-wise. So rare are they, no?

By teachings, Elrick meant Asakas [Holy Magic], which was two levels away from evolving into [Sacred Magic], an advanced element. Honestly, I was quite curious about the party in general, as it was rare for us to speak with another capable adventurer party. Even if we were to hide our identities as heroes, hunters and mercenaries arent very fond of nobles or church members in general. We might not be actual nobles, but we look like ones with how we dress.

In our travels, most of our support and aid came from the church, and while that was helpful, it meant we had a severe lack of freedom and different perspectives. I wanted to learn how an adventurer priestess, someone who was spending most of her time on the field and away from her fellow clergy thought of the church. After they kidnapped us to this world, I couldnt help but feel distrustful of the church, and I honestly wanted to know if I could trust them or not. Some concrete information would stop this annoying conflict inside me.

However, it wasnt meant to be.

Sadly, the priestess has already left for Griffonpeak about a week ago, I heard.

GriffonpeakYeah, we were there during winter. Outside of training, we were always forced to attend those stupid balls with all those fake-smiling nobles and plotting clergymen. I dont want to go there again if I can help it. Shame.

If you wish to learn more about the party, you may ask the local adventurer guild for the party name Aurora, Theodore seemingly read my mind, causing me to gulp. Back to the topic on hand. Rashan Village requires a lot of moral and religious support in their dire time. Please help them, Lady Asaka.

After Asaka accepted their second request, we were about to leave the church when Bishop Theodore suddenly intercepted us at the entrance. A carriage was waiting for him there. Was he leaving for somewhere?The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

Ahh, excuse me if they may sound rude, but I have a question I would like to ask of you, heroes, he began. I heard from an acquaintance of mine at the capital that you all are students? From an academy?

A school, but I believe an academy like the royal academy is an apt comparison, our second ex-class representative who has an obvious crush on Tamae-san Nishio answered in our stead.

Ahh, thank you. I am quite interested in how education is handled in your world. If I may ask, did your educator also join you in your summoning?

Why is he suddenly asking about Segawa-sensei? I thought suspiciously, a sentiment that Nishio seemed to share.

No, they did not, Nishio answered, giving no further information than was necessary to answer the question.

I see, well, then I must bid you farewell. Due to the Spring Blessings, I must depart. And with that, the High Bishop left on his carriage. I guess we will be talking with the assistant bishop from here on out.

Fukin hell, howd you miss dat, ya idiot?! a guy from the back complained to the one who tried to hit me with a cudgel

Shut up, those damn kids warned the brat. Fuckin hell, we gotta do this da harday. The one with the cudgel then turned towards me, pointing his crude wooden weapon at me. and over ya stuff, rich boy, otherwise well see you bleeding on the ground. Strip yourself naked, keheheheh.

The other two unsheathed their weapons. One had a broken sword while the other had the only functional-looking weapon, even if it was just a kitchen knife. What is this cliche? Going into an alley to get mugged by some countryside muggers? It wasnt even dark yet, this was a daylight robbery!

Go away, I gave the idiots a warning as I wasnt in the mood for this.

Huh? Look at this idiot, mate, he thinks- However, idiots stayed idiots.

Gale Steps.

Without letting him say another word, I activated the unarmed ability [Gale Steps] in order to close the distance to my still-laughing, would-be muggers. I dashed forward, readied my spear and attacked. Of course, while I wasnt intending to murder them, knocking them down or breaking some bones was a different matter.

Using my spears handle like a staff, I struck the cudgel goons shin with a clean hit, knocking him screaming to the ground as he grabbed his leg. From the sound of the impact, I probably shattered it. As they saw their friend falling down, the other two cursed at me and began moving. I did the same.

Knowing the knife-wielder was more of a threat I stepped to the side and aimed my spear handle. As he was about to swing his knife, I thrust the thrust the butt of my spear against his throat, causing him to drop his weapon and cough uncontrollably. I then brought my spear up and swung it down onto his back. A loud thud could be heard as he crashed on the ground, coughing and groaning at the same time.

When I turned my head to the last goon, his shivering hands dropped his broken sword before he ran away screaming hysterically. I could have chased him down with [Gale Steps], but I really wasnt in the mood for it. Sighing, I turned back to the kids before noticing the kitchen knife-wielding guy had dropped his ID.

Mercenary guild damn, what happened to these guys?

To earn money and build our confidence in battle, Elrick and Yorshka have been pushing us to grind up our hunter and mercenary ranks. Currently, my party and Tamae-sans party had everybody at D rank for the mercenary and hunters guilds, meaning we had our fair share of both monster and human battles. Taking down robbers or bandits was just normal for me now something a Japanese teen shouldnt really experience honestly. Fighting has become natural killing, on the other hand

Everything to go back. By all means.

Regardless, just as we needed to earn money, I guess these muggers needed money, too. So did the robbers and bandits I fought. All of them were just farmers or former serfs who were forced into banditry cause of their situation. It was a shame, but even on Earth that issue hasnt been resolved yet.

I kicked the guy whose shin I broke unconscious and told the kids to run away before they woke up. Without saying goodbye, they rushed behind me and scattered. As I was walking out of the alley, a tall man with dark brown hair had his feet on top of the one mugger who ran away from me. Was this their boss?

Yo, kid, hope you didnt get hurt, the man said, causing me to grip my spear harder. Woah, no need to be so agitated. Im not with these guys.

What do you want, I skipped the pleasantries.

Blunt, nice. Reminds me of someone, you know, the man smiled as he remembered something good. Anyway, do you know somebody by the name Saori?

HuhWhat?! Hey, where did you hear that name?! I demanded from him. However, he suddenly dashed out of the alley. Fuck! Stop!

When I turned the corner, the man was melting into the ground, no, it was a shadow. See you later, Tatsuya! Stay healthy, you hear? he shouted before disappearing completely.

What the fuck just happened?!

Questions were flying around in my head as I was digesting the situation. Did he really say Saori? Wasnt that Segawa-senseis first name? How did he know Segawa-senseis name?! Wait, was he even talking about, there? Could there be somebody else with the same name in Peolynca? Wait, how did he know my name?! Didnt he say Tatsuya?! Who was he?! How did he know all of this? Was he just mocking me?! What the hell is going on?!

All of these questions made my head spin, feeling slightly nauseous at the implications of the situation. I began massaging my head, as it felt like a headache was forming, and noticed that my head was covered in cold sweat.

Tatsuya!

I darted my head towards the sound, unsheathing my spear before pointing it forward.

Oi, oi, stop, Tatsuya, its me! as the red in my eyes subsided, the sight of Kyouya came into view. My eyes widened as I lowered my weapon, questioning myself what I was doing.

K-Kyouya? You said my name? I asked, feeling lightheaded.

Yeah, dude. Oi, why are you sweating?

As he asked me that, the rest of my party arrived. Asaka saw how I was holding my spear and asked if I was okay, Are you that addicted to caffeine that you need your fix now?! Wow, Haruka, I think you shouldve tried a bit more about the price. Tatsuya needs his coffee. She looked at me worried.

I-I think so, too. Im sorry Tatsuya-kun, Haruka bowed in an apology.

W-Wait, why am I causing everybody so much trouble, again?! Dammit. Calm down, Tatsuya. You must have misheard. You must have. Segawa-sensei? She couldnt have possibly been summoned to Peolynca the church hadnt summoned any other heroes besides my class.

Still, how did he know my name? Does he know the names of everybody else?

I decided to keep this information to myself for now. I didnt want to cause everybody even more problems. I was the reason for why Tamae-sans party had to stick with us, I was the reason why we even went to Firwood and why we had to pay a large amount for some simple tea leaves. I cant afford to cause them even more problems. It would be better to talk about this stuff with Elrick and Yorshka later on.

After I made sure that I was alright in my friends eyes, we walked back to our inn where we waited for everybody else. Sometime during the afternoon, Tamae-sans party came back with bags of ingredients and supplies, all bought so she could cook them. Even a nobles chef wouldnt be able to compete with Tamae-sans cooking.

You couldnt get any potion ingredients? Asaka asked Tamae-san.

No, no, no, I did, Tamae-san replied. When she unpacked the grocery, she complained she couldnt get certain alchemical ingredients for her potion-making. I got the common components from small potion shops, but usually when I want to get the high-quality ingredients I need to order them from the alchemical guild. As an alchemy guild member endorsed by the church, I have some priority over certain items if I can afford them, but I still need to visit the local guild for that. However, the one in Firwood is now a crater! Even the guild master died on the same night it happened, or so I heard, which is delaying the reconstruction. Lady Yorshka mentioned there isnt a mages guild in Firwood either, so I cant make our buffing potions.

No buffing potions meant no Strength or Agility boosters. Our mages had buffing spells, but potions were easier to use.

There should be some shops that sell what I need. Otherwise, we can ask the church. In any case, our preparations will require some more time.

It was unfortunate, but stuff like this happened sometimes. Well, maybe a guild building turning into a giant crater wasnt common. Actually, how did that happen? Did some giant laser shoot down from the heavens and scorch it? Haha, as if, thats crazy.

After having dinner, Yorshka finally returned, looking far more relaxed than usual. She had a wide smile and, looking at her hair, she seemed to have taken a bath. I wonder what she did? Enter the local bathhouse?

Okay, everybody~! I hope all of you had a good day in Firwood. Now, let me ask you, does anybody want to go to Cedaraille? she suddenly posed that question to us after we just arrived in Firwood today.

Commander Yorshka, why are you asking this now? Elrick had a brow raised.

Oh, because there is a dungeon in Cedaraille. I thought all of you liked the one in Griffonpeak, so I wanted to ask. Also, I noticed the local alchemy guild was destroyed somehow, so I wondered if Tamae-chan had a shortage of alchemy ingredients. Do you? she asked innocently.

Well, yes, I couldnt buy certain ingredients.

Yorshka nodded. I see, then it might be better if we delayed our trip into the Belzac forest. The whole forest is infested with monsters that can inflict abnormal status ailments, meaning we need to be prepared. After all, you all are to train yourselves, and me helping out would go against that idea.

She continued after sitting down, So, I suggest we visit Cedaraille. It is about four or five days by carriage and has a bountiful assortment of alchemical ingredients since it is the capital of the Greenveil duchy. What does everyone say?

And so it was decided. Tamae-sans party would travel to Cedaraille to refill our stock of potions while my party would fulfill the temples requests with Asaka. It meant we had to split up, but it was temporary as always. I was sure nothing eventful would happen to either party, so there was nothing to worry about.

Well, except for the fact that my name was somehow known by a stranger. And also that a Japanese song was sung by some street kids. Honestly, this simple day was already giving me a large headache.

I need my coffee