Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

We have returned to town, the renewal of Ayla’s card took a little time but the others were finished without any particular problem .

The guard who saw Ruby did not react much even though she’s a slime .

The public people change jobs a lot and sometimes even change overnight; items like the guild card don’t seem to be used in order to determine the identity everybody coming in .

We go to the guild next in order to complete the herb collection quest and obtain Ayla’s guild card .

「Welcome back, Hibiki, looks like it went smoothly」

Lily was at the reception desk when we walked up . She has been here since we departed this morning and is still here when we got back .

「Same to you, good job working from this morning」

Lily became happy since being thanked by adventures was a rare occurrence .

They deliver 5 herbs and receive the reward . Even though the guild buys up extra materials, it is necessary to save some ingredients to make their own potions .

「What is this, only bringing this many herbs even though you used up the whole day」

Looking behind, a bad looking man is smirking and laughing, behind him followed two other men that are also snickering .

「I guess that previous merchant escorting wasn’t that a big of a deal」

This guy, he even knows about the escort request, who is he? I decided to check his status .

******************************************

Ganford Delvaux Lv . 18

Swordsman 26 years old

Stamina

556(+50)

Strength

102(+5)

Agility

88(+5)

Intelligence

79(+5)

Luck

90(+5)

『Divine Protection of the Sword』

Strength status of the individual is raised (small)

Self-Targeted

Skill

【Sword】★★

Ability to master the sword weapon system .

*******************************************

It seems like it’s an adventurer with a 『Divine Protection』

「Hibiki, those guys are the party that was introduced to the quest before you」

Lily informed us about the other party . I understand now, they are technically a small party with a 『Divine Protection』holder .

The fact that they were rejected and a younger inexperienced party was chosen instead probably bothered them .

Certainly, Ganford has a 『Divine Protection』but its effects are very small .

The increase in my status increases with my base stats and is gradually raised, however his status increase seems to be a small fixed amount .

「Shud up! We came to place a complaint about that gatekeeper!」

I guess he heard us talking, Ganford began to yell .

The adventurers that were rejected at the door were you guys, huh .

「If that gatekeeper wasn’t there then we would have gotten that request, you guys stole it from us」

「I officially received that request from the guild, in other words does that mean you have a problem with how the guild operates?」

「Na!? This has nothing to do with the guild!」

Ganford begins to it deny it in a hurry, however I return fire immediately .

「Then this has nothing to do with us then right? Since this has nothing to do with the guild」

Ganford’s party begins to stumble back slowly from my words, it seems like he’s realized that it be a bad situation to start a fight here .

He probably just started picking a fight reflexively after hearing my name . It was an action taken with little to no thought .

However, it’s true that the gatekeeper seems like he would cause trouble though .

「I apologize Hibiki, Ganford has an abnormally high amount of pride」

Lily seems to be feeling apologetic .

I guess that’s obvious . The reason that Ganford even found out about us taking the request is due to information leakage from the guild .

He had probably heard about me from the success of the request, and since the quest required someone with 『Divine Protection』and so I who had successfully finished the quest as a holder of 『Divine Protection』was targeted .

「Ahh, I’m not bothered at all, I’m just pushing my problems onto the guild」

Information leakage is normal anywhere . It’s the fact that there is indifference in certain places that is the problem .

From the outside I probably look like a young upstart with 『Divine Protection』, there are probably a lot of people that don’t feel good about me .

It might be necessary to interact positively with the surrounding people for a while .

However, it would be good to not get along too well with others, since I am still ignorant about this world and may get dragged along into something bad .

「Just, can you inform me as much as you can about people like him?」

「Alright, I’ll tell you as much as I can, however don’t expect too much」

「Iya, hearing that Lily will help us makes me relieved, besides you I don’t have anyone else to rely on 」

「…don’t say things like that too often to other people, you are pretty popular within the guild Hibiki」

「There’s no way I’m that popular」

「It’s true though, you don’t yell at the other guild members, or act recklessly, and you act politely along with seeming strong」

We might be able to find some information of other adventurers immediately, while talking to Lily, let’s ask about other people .

「Really, to become popular by not acting recklessly, just how much do the other guys rampage around?」

「What do you mean, aren’t adventurers a gathered group of ruffians」

It is true that every time I came to the guild there seemed to be someone making a ruckus, and since I didn’t want to stand out I ignored it . I even began to come in the early morning when there was less people .

「Even I wasn’t trying to be polite, it was just that I understood that causing a fight inside the guild was a bad idea」

「That is the reason . People that think like that are rare and valuable」

Apparently my current attitude is too polite to be thought of as an adventurer . Well, it’s not like I plan on changing how I act any time soon .

「Then, could you tell the weak spirited me about other people in this guild that would try to bully me? Well, asking this after coming here for a month already probably makes me a risky adventurer as well . 」

「Even trying to prepare yourself against others is a very amazing thing . All of the other adventurers learn about their enemies by being harmed」

Are adventurers beasts or something?

「However, the guild here is relatively small with no lead adventurers and there aren’t that many people to look out for」

「Lead?」

「Yep, lead adventurers . If you don’t know about them I can explain」

「Yea, please tell me」

「Lead adventurers are the various adventurers that support the guild in each town . Each town has 1 or 2 lead adventurers, while the types of jobs they due are varied, the common point is the fact that they are hired by the guild」

「Does that make them a guild member? Do they get paid a monthly salary?」

「That’s right, a lead adventurer is always receiving jobs from the guild and you can’t go very far away from the town . The guild can also order you to stand by at certain times」

「Why are there no leaders in this town?」

「About 5 years ago we had one lead adventurer, however they got hurt and retired . At that point we no longer had a lead adventurer and since this town never really needed one, we never replaced them」

It seems like becoming a lead adventurer will increase the amount of ties and burdens you have, strength is also necessary of course, however a suspicious person cannot become a lead adventurer for the sake of the guild’s reputation .

In that case it may be better to leave the lead adventurer seat vacant . The stupid rowdy adventurers may scatter around trying to get the lead adventurer seat otherwise .

「Being bound with the contract with low paying salary makes no one want to do it」

「The payroll is low?」

「Yea, it definitely isn’t high」

Lead adventurer seems unpopular .

「That is why there aren’t any big differences in strength between the adventurers here . No problems should occur with your current actions」

「I see, thank you for everything」

「You are very welcome」

Giving thanks to Lily we leave the guild behind .

After walking a bit further away from the guild Ayla opened her mouth .

「Master, someone is looking at us」

「I see, it’s probably Ganford」

He probably wants to continue what happened inside, however we’ll probably win if we fight .

However, I wonder how the guild treats conflicts between fellow adventurers, I should’ve asked Lily about it .

「Fights between fellow adventurers are not specifically prohibited in any way . However, I heard that if there is no legitimate reason then a harsh punishment will be placed」

She probably heard the conversation between Ayla and me, because Amy guessed what I was thinking immediately .

「Is Ganford’s false accusations a legitimate reason?」

I ask Amy for confirmation .

「It is completely unfair . The fact that he reacted by backing away in the guild, he should also know that it is not a legitimate reason . That said, I believe he is going to ambush us instead」

「On the other hand, if we counterattack will it become a problem?」

「No, there is no problem with counterattacking when ambushed . The previous commotion inside the guild will also become insurance for our side」

In the meantime, since there is no problem with counterattacking, we decided to meet them head on . It would be a pain if they followed us and discovered where our inn is .

。

We head toward the east gate near our inn, and pass by as we head to a less populated area, after walking 5 minutes out of the gate we were surrounded by them .

「You’ve humiliated me . If I don’t slaughter you, I won’t be able to relax properly」

Behind Ganford are the two people we saw at the guild . One seems to be a light warrior and the other is a magician . Both of their statuses are below Ganford .

The light warrior, it seems like it would be better to call him a rogue rather than a warrior, but the status says warrior .

The magician had the skill【Fire Magic】★ it seems like if they don’t have 【Sage in the making】then the separate attributes become skills .

「Is this okay? If something happens to us with this kind of timing, the ones that’ll be suspected first are you guys」

Hearing my words the three guys hesitated . These guys really didn’t think about anything . Guys like these are the reason that the reputation of adventurers are so low .

I continue to rebuke their actions .

「Furthermore, the guild will not do anything to us if we defeat you here, so we will not hesitate to fight you」

The light warrior and magician begin to argue with Ganford, I think I heard someone say ‘we didn’t hear about this’ within the whispers

Of course we don’t have to wait and listen to them bicker . I used eye contact to signal to Ayla and I launched the attack .

While I did talk about counterattacking with Amy, she took a second to realize what was happening and drew her short bow, the target was the magician .

Our only long ranged member, Amy makes the magician her target in order to keep his magic in check .

Already coming into attack range Ayla and I slash at the light warrior and Ganford from behind .

The light warrior was wearing thin armor so one slash killed him, Ganford also fell but is still breathing .

The magician stares blankly at the arrow inside of his chest, at that moment a second arrow pierces his chest and he falls over like that .

I approached the still breathing Ganford and stabbed the sword into his back .

And with that my hand was trembling, this is the first time I have committed 『Murder』 in this world .

Ganford was going to kill me, so killing him is fine .

Thinking like that naturally makes me afraid of myself . I wonder if something has changed after I came to this world .

I wonder if it is also because it was the first time I felt the killing intent of another person that I decided to kill him .

Since I was being dazed and not reacting at all, Ayla approached me worriedly .

「Master, your complexion does not look very good, did you get hurt anywhere?」

Hearing that, Amy pulled out the medicinal herbs in a hurry .

「Are you okay? Would you rather have a potion?」

When I came to, I held both of them in each arm and stayed like that for a while .

And without a word the two gently return my embrace .