CH 187

Bakkenheim

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Bakkenheim had long been known as the city of science.

The foundation of the city was the city where the King's residence was located, and a private school  was founded by scholars to compete with the commercial and political center of Aldaros.

Centering on that private school, various academic research facilities were created, and merchants gathered for the students and new technologies, and the current Bakkenheim was formed.

The founding principal of the private school, who was a core member, was also the founder of the current Bakkenheim family.

Since Bakkenheim was built based on a sense of rivalry with royalty and aristocracy, it had been a city with a strong populist power since it was one of the cities of the Kingdom of Resenburg.

And when the Resenburg Kingdom was divided due to the encroachment of the Devil's Forest, Bakkenheim was the first to advocate independence.

Bakkenheim spearheaded the secession, but after independence, the political center was transferred to the thriving commercial city of Breichberg, taking a step back.

Bakkenheim's basic stance was that it was an academic town.

Bakkenheim was a city that had developed in such a way that shops and residential areas filled in between the scattered research and educational facilities.

Therefore, instead of an orderly townscape divided by squares, the city was a mosaic of vast research facilities and a maze-like townscape.

"Reese-san, I feel like we've been going around in circles for some time now."

"Fufufufu, that's right, the roads that the carriage can pass through are limited, and there are restrictions on the direction of traffic, so it's impossible to reach your destination in a carriage without turning corners many times and weaving your way forward."

"Uwaa, I wonder if I'll be okay going home ..."

"Don't worry. In Bakkenheim, there are carriage guides who guide carriages to their destinations. If it's the son of the Volzard family, then he should be accompanied by a butler, and he would have already made arrangements."

"A carriage-specialized guide ... it's like a dungeon, isn't it."

The roads that horse-drawn carriages could pass were limited, and there were some one-way roads depending on the location.

Even if you wanted to go right, you couldn't turn right, so you had to turn left, left, left to change directions.

When we entered the town of Bakkenheim, many people waved at us.

Everyone seemed to be looking at Bran.

Bran could only walk slowly because sometimes children ran up to him and hugged him.

Ruija said that she was famous as a Monster User in Bakkenheim, but it seemed that he wasn't feared, but was loved like a mascot.

Ruija and Bran, who had been flaring up at me for a long time, stopped flaring up at me after I annihilated the bandits at Rivarre Pass.

Or rather, when Bran glared at me, I could hear a growl resounding from the depths of the earth.

Bran probably didn't like my presence, but it didn't seem like Zeta-tachi were going to allow Bran to rush at me.

The Bakkenheim Guild functioned as the Headquarters that oversees all the Guilds in the Landshelt republic, and if the Volzard Guild was a village office, this was like a central government agency.

If the building was larger, the number of people coming and going would be incomparable, and I felt quite overwhelmed.

Maa, compared to Shinjuku or Shibuya in Tokyo, it was tranquil, but I guess I had gotten used to the tranquil atmosphere of Volzard.

It seemed that Takayama, who was next to me, was thinking the same thing.

"Kokubu, there are quite a few people."

"That's right. Compared to Volzard, it's quite a lot, isn't it."

As soon as Reese-san got out of the cabin, she was surrounded by staff who rushed in and seemed to be pressing her to pay for this and that.

Anyway, I guess it was the price of taking it easy in Volzard.

Although I was asked to accompany her, a wall of waiting staff had been created between me and Reese-san.

After finishing the payments, one by one, they left the line, but three new staff members were added ... it felt like the number of people would not decrease at all.

I mean, today was supposed to be the day of rest, but the Headquarters Guild doesn't have a day off, does it.

"Kent, Shuichi, wait for me in room seven!"

"Understood!"

I guess that's the room where the guild staff met with the people who came for requests.

It was just a room with a simple reception set and a bookshelf with writing utensils.

"For now, let's sit down."

"That's right."

In the four days before coming to Bakkenheim, Takayama was thoroughly trained by Lau-san.

The basics were physical strengthening magic, but from the third day onwards, he was forced to activate and control fire-attribute attack magic.

In the first place, in the world of knights, knight types and magician types were considered separately, but in the world of adventurers, it seemed that it was common not to draw a strict line.

Lau-san told us that using whatever was available and surviving was the basics of being an adventurer.

Takayama was also trained as a magician at Lastock, but when he was in Japan, even in his second year, he was selected as a regular member of the basketball club, and his basic physical abilities were high.

However, since he's the type that lacks dexterity a bit, by being assigned to practice like learning by rote by Lau-san, it might be better to train his body to react on its own instead of thinking with his head.

However, until the body remembered it, it seemed that failures were repeated many times, but when we went goblin hunting again for Bran's lunch, Takayama's attack magic almost burned me to a crisp as well.

"Kokubu, let me use the special training ground."

"Impossible, that's impossible because it takes about a day and a half to walk normally from Volzard! Rather, you can do it at the guild's training ground."

"Is that the only way ..."

"Ah, why don't you train with Gilik-san?"

"Gilik, you mean the one with the old and new duo?"

"Right, right, it's said that he's a promising candidate among the young people of Volzard, so break his nose and make him say 'ouch!'."

"Hey, why is Kokubu treating that Gilik guy as an enemy?"

"Because when I just arrived in Volzard, I was so-to-speak 'Treated tenderly'."(TN:An ironic meaning of 'kawai gatte'/'Treated tenderly' is 'tormented' or 'trained harshly'.)

"Ah, I see ... You're thinking of beating him up someday."

"No, I've already beaten him in a serious match with magic."

"That's right, you can't beat Kokubu if there's magic."

"Well, I have no intention of losing, and I won't lose."

Takayama was flabbergasted by the fact that Mart-tachi were sitting next to me on the sofa as if it were natural, and when Zeta-tachi and Nero also stuck out their large heads, he watched them demanding to be petted. 

At first Takayama was freaked out just by watching the bandit subjugation, but now he's no longer surprised when Zeta-tachi show up.

"Seriously, you're a Monster User."

"That's wrong. They're my precious family, so it's not like they're working for me."

"Right, it's a big family."

The door to the room opened when Nero was rubbing its face against me, maybe because it was happy to be called family.

"Excuse me ... Iyaaaaaaaa!"

The female staff member who opened the door without knocking while carrying a tea set in her hand, perhaps under Reese-san's instructions, froze for a moment and then let out a scream and fell on her butt.

Well, if you look at Nero with its mouth wide open, it's understandable for that to happen.

The sound of a broken tea set and the loud sound of a metal tray being dropped resounded, and the surrounding people gathered to see what was going on, by the time the female staff member screamed, all my genus had disappeared into the shadows.

"What's wrong, Chiko, get a hold of yourself."

"M, monsters ..."

"What, if there's a monster, where is it!"

A man who seemed to be an adventurer rushed over to the female staff member who was sitting down and trembling and shaking ... Yeah, it looks like it will be troublesome.

The female staff member just pointed at me and Takayama.

The male adventurer was in his late twenties, not very tall, but he had a fearless look.

The sitting female staff member called Chiko was a canine beastman with droopy ears and was probably in her late twenties.

"Hey, you guys, what are you doing here?"

"Master Reese asked us to wait here, so we're waiting, what's wrong?"

"Where did you put the monster?"

"There are no monsters anywhere. I don't mind if you confirm it."

When I spread my hands out and showed him, the man stepped into the room, checked behind the door and behind the sofa where I was sitting, then suddenly threw his fists at me.

If it was me four days ago, I probably would have been mercilessly beaten, but by the time the man entered the room, I had already activated my physical enhancement.

Compared to Lau-san's special training, it looked like a fly that was barely moving, and I easily caught it with my left hand.

"Hey, bastard, you!"

With his right hand grabbed, the man punched with his left fist, but my right hand could easily catch it.

"Bastard, damnit! Uwaa ..."

The man whose hands were grabbed desperately tried to throw a front kick, when I let go of his hands, he lost his balance, and when he lifted his right leg to try to kick me, he fell flat on his back.

Yup, he had talent as a clown.

"This shitty brat! I'll kill you!"

With his face so red that his veins were about to burst, the man got up and pulled out the knife hanging from his waist.

The instant the man raised the knife, I fired a prepared wind attribute bullet at the right hand of the man holding the knife.

"Gua ... Bastard, when did you chant ..."

The knife flew to the wall and the man crouched down holding his right hand.

It was only intended to be powerful enough to knock the knife away, but was it a little too strong?

"If you're too persistent, I won't take it easy on you either. If you say you're going to keep this up, you had better be resolved that it's okay to lose an arm."

"Youuu ..."

"Fel-san, please stop it. Any further violence in the guild would be a problem."

Chiko-san, who was sitting outside the door and watching the battle, called out to him, and it seemed that the man called Fel finally felt like withdrawing.

"Damn, I'll back down for today on behalf of Chiko's face. I'll remember this ... Hey, Chiko, your hand ... Guaaa ..."

"Ah, Fel-san, are you okay."

No, he's a refreshing small-fry character, so I wonder why he held out his injured right hand.

Fel seemed to have talent as a comedy actor in addition to being a clown.

When Chiko finally stood up after grabbing Fel's left hand, a dignified voice resounded.

"What is all this fuss about?"

A slender woman in a guild uniform appeared, with short ice-blue hair on her head, pointed triangular ears, and a bush tail swinging behind her tight skirt.

The sharp expression gave the impression of a strong woman, and she reminded me of a wolf, not a dog.

"Rita-san, these bastards tried to play a joke on Chiko."

"That's not it. It looked like there was a monster in the room, so I was surprised ..."

The woman called Rita threw a sharp glance at me, and I answered with a raised hand pose.

Rita-san looked at Chiko and Fel again, and after she let out a small sigh, she bowed her head towards us.

"I'm sorry that my people caused a disturbance."

"Why are you apologizing to these guys, Rita-san! Generally speaking, these guys ..."

"Shut up! Fel, can you kill 30-odd bandits by yourself?"

"Ehh ... Th, that's unreasonable, isn't it."

"If that's the case, don't think of doing unnecessary things for me."

"Why, for such a brat ..."

"This is Kent Kokubu, the youngest S-rank adventurer in history, who used monsters to single-handedly annihilate 30-odd bandits at Rivarre Pass."

"No way ... He's an S-rank adventurer ..."

At Rita-san's words, the people who were there raised their voices in surprise.

"Umm, I'm sorry ... That's Shuichi Takayama, and I'm Kent."

"Huh!? I, I'm extremely sorry."

Rita-san was so confident in her introduction that it was a bit difficult to correct her, but just in case ...

"Also, I was talking to Takayama just now, but my genus are my family, so they're not working for me, so please let me correct that as well."

"My apologies. Chiko, clean up here and prepare some tea ..."

"Y, yes, understood ..."

Rita-san entered the room and closed the door after driving away Fel, who was still standing in place with an expression of disbelief.

"I'm sorry. The door was suddenly opened without knocking ..."

"I see, is that so ..."

Rita-san seemed to understand the situation just by explaining the situation briefly.

"Master Reese is busy with work, so I will take care of the formalities in her stead. First of all, here is the document regarding receiving bounties for the bandit subjugation. Please take a look, and then please sign here."

It seemed that a bounty of 20,000 Helts would be paid per bandit subjugated.

There were 37 people this time, so 740,000 Helts. In the sense of Japanese Yen, it would be about 7.4 million Yen.

It may be too wild to think that one person's life was worth about 200,000 Yen, but I felt like taking a life, not being charged with a crime, and even getting a reward was far from the Japanese sense.

After signing the bounty receipt, Rita-san handed out additional documents.

"Here is the document for the nomination request from the Volzard family. It is a request from the Volzard family, but since the starting point of the escort is Bakkenheim, this request will be handled by us."

Klaus-san's son and daughter were accompanied by a butler and a maid, who would come to the lodgings for a meeting later.

It seemed that we could use the facilities for visitors attached to the guild for the dormitory.

It was a so-called S-rank privilege, and Takayama seemed to be treated as my servant.

"Would you like to have dinner? We can prepare it for you, or you can go out to eat ..."

I made eye contact with Takayama and we decided to go out to eat.

"Then, I will send you a map of Bakkenheim with recommended shops later. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, there's nothing in particular, but are there any places to be careful of when going out into the city?"

"That's right. Bakkenheim is an academic town, and public order is good in Landshelt. However, please do not approach the dark alleys. Also ... When you go out to dinner, Fer from earlier may interfere, but please do it as calmly as possible, to the extent that it cools him down a bit."

"Understood, we'll do our best."

After that, Rita-san guided us to the lodging facility.

The accommodation facility was connected to the guild by a connecting corridor, but it was in a separate building.

There were two security guards stationed in the hallway from which I could see the entrance to the room, and if we had something to do, we could tell the security guards and they would be able to meet most of our requests.

After Rita-san left the room, Takayama and I looked at each other in silence for a while.

"Takayama ..."

"Kokubu ..."

"We can finally stay in a decent roooom!"

On the way to Bakkenheim, on the second and third nights, Lau-san handed us 200 Helts per person and ordered us to find an inn within that amount.

In other words, it was a practical exercise to find an inn in a city we visited for the first time.

After being baptized at a cheap hotel on the first night, we were taught various techniques for finding an inn.

However, there was a big difference between knowing and being able to do it.

On the second night, we didn't have much time to look for an inn, so I had to clean up and exterminate pests again.

On the night of the third day, although we managed to get a room where we could sleep, thanks to persistent price negotiations paying off, we didn't realize that there was an extra charge for the meal, so we ended up spending the night with an empty stomach.

While we were impressed by the fluffy and clean beds, and the bath that was shiny and had hot water, there was a knock on the door of the room.

When I opened the peephole, I saw a picture-perfect handsome butler and a beautiful maid standing there.

The butler's dark green hair was tied back slightly, and although he was slender, he had a build that looked like he was in good shape.

The maid had slightly slanted eyes, ice-blue straight hair, and looked like a fox beastman with triangular ears and a bushy tail.

"We belong to the Volzard family. It's correct that Kent Kokubu-sama's room is here, is it not?"

"Yes, please wait a moment."

I closed the peephole, unlocked the room, and invited the two of them in.

"Please ... To the interior ..."

"Excuse me."

The butler and the maid proceeded to the living room after bowing their heads firmly and gracefully.

For the time being, I followed the two after locking the door.

Oh, Maid-san, with that fluffy tail ... Hey, she's looking at me with murderous intent like Lau-san ... I wouldn't touch it, really.

"It's my first time to meet you. My name is Johannes, and I am the butler of the Volzard family. And this person is the maid Fione. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance ..."

Johannes and Fione bowed their heads deeply, but perhaps it was just my imagination that somehow their words felt harsh.

"Is it okay if I talk about the escort matter?"

"Ah ~ ... I'm sorry, but that's Kokubu."

"Eh!?"

Johannes and Fione turned around with great force.

Well, if it's just going by looks, Takayama is taller and a little more handsome.

"Hello, I'm Kent. Please, have a seat."

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

"Ah, I'm the same as Klaus-san, I'm not good at formalities, so let's talk about the escort."

"Is that so ... As you wish."

Johannes bowed his head lightly as he agreed, but he seemed a little annoyed.

Fione ... She was looking at me with cold, bloody eyes, but I wondered why.

"In a message from Klaus-sama, we were told that Kent-sama would escort us, but the only ones who will accompany us are Kent-sama and this one ..."

"I am Shuichi Takayama."

"Is it just the two of you, Kent-sama and Shuichi-sama?"

"That's right. However, I've been told that he doesn't mind if I leave if there's urgent business."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that guarding the Volzard family is a side job?"

They didn't seem to have heard the details from Klaus-san, and Johannes didn't even try to hide his frustration when he heard that I might leave halfway through.

"No, no, it's not a side job, and I'll leave a substitute escort properly while I'm not here."

"What do you mean? Can a replacement be found on the move?"

"I am a dark attribute magician, and I have many monsters as my genus. I will summon the best among them and assign them to the escort duty, so you don't have to worry."

"What is that, do you mean to have monsters guard Angelina-sama."

When I said that I would have my genus act as guards in my absence, Fione raised her eyebrows and protested.

"Are you dissatisfied?"

"Of course. The likes of monsters ..."

"I would like you to withdraw those words. If my genus weren't here, Volzard would have suffered a great deal of damage due to the massive outbreak of monsters. The subjugation of the Griffon that attacked the other day was also thanks to the activities of my genus. My genus are like family to me. If you speak and act in such a way as to deny their existence, then I will have to reconsider my relationship with Volzard from now on."

"Are you going to put Beatriche-sama and monsters on the same level?"

"Yes, that's right ..."

"What the hell ..."

Knowing or ignoring the speechless Fione's feelings, Mart suddenly came out and I held it on my lap.

"Ehh ... From where ..."

The surprised Johannes and Fione aside, Mirt and Murt also came out and snuggled up.

"Goshujin-sama, are these guys your enemies?"

"I wonder if that's the case ..."

"Did the Kobold speak?"

Mart-tachi were staring at Fione with their eyes wide open.

Observed by six eyes, Fione seemed extremely uncomfortable.

"Fo, for the time being, we'll leave it at that for today ..."

"They're not enemies ..."

"They're not enemies?"

"For now ..."

"For now?"

Mart-tachi, who tilted their heads together had a high destructive power.

The reason Fione's hands were wiggling was probably because she wanted to mofu.

For a mofuist like me, you can see it.(TN:All MCs must have one utterly braindead trait they believe to be absolutely true, like seeing that everyone wants to fluff the mofus when they're scared or whatever.)

She finally understood when I told her that there were other powerful genus besides the Kobolds, and that they had exterminated the bandits at Rivarre Pass on the way to Bakkenheim.

"Then, at 5 o'clock tomorrow morning, we will pick you up in front of the guild and head straight to Volzard, is that alright?"

"Yes, it's fine. I'll prepare well."

They're not 100% convinced, but we've decided to leave for Volzard, so let's go out for dinner.