CH 141

“Request from the King.”

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

“Request from the King.”

A few days after obtaining cooking oil, I was suddenly summoned by the king. I was a little surprised at the king’s sudden call, as I had been busy with various production activities such as cultivating yellow plants, teaching at the orphanage, and working at the workshop in the mansion until the king called me.

“Thanks for coming all the way out here.”

“So, what’s this all about? Did the neighboring country start a war? Or is there a dragon?”

“…why are those the only two options?”

I shrugged my shoulders at the king’s reply. The fact that he summoned me, a man who fought off the demons and saved the country, even if only in a certain way, was most likely a serious matter. If not, the matter would have gone to someone else, not to me.

If no one else was qualified for the situation, and if there was a need to call me…it meant that it was something serious that needed to be resolved by force. And from that, I gave a specific example of a problem that could only be solved by me, either a war with a neighboring country or a dragon attack, but apparently, I was wrong.

“There is a port town called Marine Trill, just south of here in Titania, and a powerful SS-ranked monster called Octopus appeared near the town’s offshore waters.”

When I asked for more details, I was told that since the octopus appeared, fishermen have been unable to go fishing and have had to subsist on the local mountain food.

In such cases, it was usually the lords and those in control of the town/city who would be the first to flee, but the king assured me that the lord of Marine Trill was a sensible man who always thought of his people and would never flee.

Well, for me, it didn’t matter whether the lord was good or bad, but as long as he didn’t get in my way, there was no problem, so I didn’t have to worry about him in particular.

“So you want me to do something about that Octopus?”

“That’s the short answer. Of course, I will reward you. How about it, will you do it for me?”

The people who govern a country must be able to solve domestic problems quickly, but would that make it acceptable for them to impose their problems on children who have not yet reached adulthood? …Huh? I’m not a child? What do you mean? I haven’t even grown a bud yet, you know?

But this might be an opportunity. Being a port town, of course, there would be an ocean, there would be fish, and most importantly, the monster that was attacking was an octopus…or in other words, an octopus monster.

“And I should be able to stock up on fish and get ingredients for takoyaki. …Hmm, not bad.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing important. More importantly, about the reward, do you mind if I get that octopus?”

“Of course. The ownership of the material after defeating the monster belongs to the person who defeats the monster. It is a natural right.”

“Then, when I kill Octopus, I will receive all the carcasses I have killed. Let’s talk about other rewards.”

Although it was a bit troublesome, it was nothing to worry about as long as I could get fish and ingredients for takoyaki. It was a lighthearted matter, like going to a port town to stock up on fish and finding an octopus, so I decided to pick up an octopus along the way.

It was said that it was an SS-ranked monster, but the place where I would fight it was probably on the sea, and I did not know detailed information about Octopuses, but if it was within my expectations, I could see from the conversation that it was quite large, just like Kraken.

The combination of the situation on the sea, where humans were at a disadvantage, and the adverse conditions of having to deal with a large body, led me to guess that it might be classified as SS rank, and I decided to accept the king’s request. I wasn’t lured by the fish and takoyaki, you know…slurp.

After discussing the reward for this request, we agreed on the following conditions.

The first condition was, needless to say, to avoid the troublesome ties of being an aristocrat. The king was reluctant, but perhaps the threat of exile to another country had an effect, he did not outwardly object.

And as a second reward, I demanded a prime piece of land within the commercial district that was controlled by the royal family because, of course, I wanted to start a business here in the royal capital as well.

Of course, I would not be in charge of the business myself, but I wanted to act as an investor in the background, so as a third reward, I asked him to introduce me to the second or third son of a family merchant, or an apprentice, so that I could entrust the management of the store to them. In other words, I wanted Greg No. 2.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“It’s enough. For me, it’s just a little something I do while I go sightseeing in the port town. If you think it’s not enough, just give me another few hundred large gold coins and an appropriate medal.”

“Alright. I’ll make sure everything is in order.”

With this, my discussion with the king was complete, and after informing all parties, I departed for Marine Trill, where the Octopus was said to have appeared.

Immediately after leaving the royal capital, I moved to an unpopular place. Using wind magic and holy light magic, I headed for Marine Trill by flying in a state of optical camouflage so that I could not be seen.

According to the king, it would take around seven days from the royal capital to Marine Trill by carriage, but flying would save a lot of time, and I could get there by the end of the day.

If the human being could visualize me now, he or she would say. “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a…super—”. For more information, visit the Web. (+)

After a few hours of casually using the ridiculous cheat of flying invisible, I finally arrived at Marine Trill, a town with a fishing port. The word “finally” might not be appropriate here, since the distance that would have taken seven days by normal means of transportation had been shortened to a few hours.

“Welcome to Marine Trill…”

“You seem a little off.”

“Yeah, well, considering what’s going on in this town right now.”

“Anyway, here’s my guild card.”

I knew that the town’s gate soldier was not energetic because he expected that the Octopus was attacking, so I said nothing more and presented my guild card. When the gate soldier saw the guild card, he said, “Such a kid is an A-rank adventurer!?” his eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly regained his composure and returned the guild card.

“I-I’m sorry! I had no idea you were an A-rank adventurer!”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m more interested in your recommendations for lodging in this town.”

It was the nature of the ex-Japanese to want to see that since there would probably be that law in this town also. And if it wasn’t the pattern, I’d have to go in and say, “Noo!!” I had to rush in and ask the soldier to recommend a place to stay since I felt somewhat defeated by that, which was an unimportant but subtly complicated feeling swirling around me.

The soldier recommended an inn called [Summer Gentle Breeze], which he said serves seafood dishes using a lot of seafood. However, seafood dishes were not available now due to the Octopus crisis.

“This is the material for takoyaki…In other words, I must hunt the Octopus. So I can make takoyak…I can save Marine Trill!”

I felt that the emphasis was placed on a different goal other than saving Marintrill, but since hunting Octopus would ultimately save Marintrill, I decided to completely ignore that.

At any rate, I decided that it was important to secure a safe base, so I headed for the [Summer Gentle Breeze], which the soldier had introduced to me.