CH 11

Translator: Lore_Temple

“Have you heard those rumors?”

“What rumors?”

“What, you don’t know? There’s an adventurer who wanders around from village to village and hunts down bandits and monsters.”

Two men were drinking ale at the inn, the one with the shaggy beard said.

“He must be an adventurer who is particularly obsessed with money, a money grubber, nothing new.”

“If you listen to the rumors, that’s quite opposite of the case. Some villages even said that he refused to accept even a single penny.”

“An adventurer who refuses money? What the, man, and you believe ’em? I’d rather be a dog stop pooping.”

“It’s true. Uncle Zod, you may not know it because you travel so much, but they are too many to be only simple rumors. Here, two ales as you ordered.”

Emily, the waitress at the inn, placed two glasses of ale between them. At that, Zod burst out laughing.

“Is that so? Okay, then, let’s hear the name of this so angelic adventurer.”

“Uh….. yeah! It’s Cloud. Adventurer Cloud!”

“Cloud? Where did I heard that name…”

Zod tapped his head with his finger, in thought.

“Look, you’ve already heard the rumors too.”

“No, no…. Ah! Yes, it seems that Cloud was among the names of the heroes announced by the Empire last time.”

“Hero? Whoa, haha! Yo, dude! That’s one hella of a big shot, does it seems like he will be hunting bandits in a rag-tag place like this?”

“Bah, who said he was a hero? They just have the same name.”

“Still, I think it would be so cool if he actually was actually the hero. A honorable hero who moves for the people under incognito.”

“Emily, aren’t you quite older, still reading fairy tales, eh?”

Emily frowned as she watched Zod giggle.

It was when she was about to say something.

“Take order here!”

The inn door opened and a man entered.

“Yes, welcome…”

Emily’s smile hardened as she moved to welcome the new guest with a smile.

Her trembling pupils were filled with fear.

“Emily! Long time no see!”

The man who had just entered the inn smiled broadly.

However, the smile of the man with a bloody craze emanated by those hideous scars only made the atmosphere appear frozen.

“Ah… ha ha, yes. Long time no see, Mr. Calix…”

“What, Emily doesn’t seem to like me?”

“Oh, no, no. How could it be? Mr. Calix, there’s an empty seat over there, so please be seated.”

The direction Emily was pointing at was the table next to the quiet man in hood who was peacefully drinking his soup.

Calix sat on the seat Emily pointed to and draped his shoulders over the chair.

“Anything you would like to order…?”

""

She appeared to be panic-stricken—Emily, who was bubbly when dealing with the two uncles, looked withdrawn when dealing with Calix.

Calix smirked as if he found it funny, and patted the own table.

“I can’t hear you very well. Come closer and talk to me.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll talk louder. Anything you would like to order…”

“Aren’t you coming, eh?”

As Calix frowned at her, Emily shivered and walked closer as he told her to.

“Yeah, it’s nice when you do what you’re told to. There is no need for me to get angry then.”

His rough hand caressed Emily’s shoulder. It was an unpleasant feeling, but Emily clenched her teeth and held back.

Seeing this, Zod tried to stand up from his chair as if he couldn’t take it any longer—only for his party member to hold him back at the spur of the moment.

“I know what you’re trying to do, but hang in there, dude.”

“Don’t be a pus*y! Are you seriously asking me to stay back after seeing a sight like this?”

“He’s the younger brother of the One-Eyed Bandits’ leader located right next to the town. If you touch him, the town will be layed waste!”

“That motherf*cker…”

Zod bit his teeth.

As his friend said, if that guy is the younger brother of the bandit groups’ leader, he can’t attack him recklessly.

It’s impossible to win, and even if he wins, bandits will come to loot the town using revenge as an excuse.

Because of this, Zod had to watch Emily, whom he had been seeing since her childhood, be harassed by Calix in front of his own eyes.

“Why don’t you come with me? You will be treated much better than here.”

“I’ve told you several times, I’m fine. So stop…”

A scuffle broke out between Calix, who tried to force Emily to sit next to him, and Emily, who resisted against him.

Eventually, Emily resistance became fierce, and she accidentally knocked on the table next to her.

As a result, the soup the customer next to her was drinking spilled on her floor.

“Ah! I’m sorry, sir. I’ll get you a new one right away.”

“Where are you going?! I told you to sit here!”

“What are doing–! I have to bring the new soup for this sir right now.”

“What a triffle… Hey, bro. Wouldn’t you like to bring your soup by yourself, eh?”

“…”

“What… Shouldn’t you be answering to me by now, ha?”

When he didn’t answer again—Calix got pissed as he had been bluntly ignored, frowned and banged his hand on the table.

“Hey you bastard, when I say answer—”

A sharp dagger pierced through the back of Calix’s hand.

“Aaaah! You motherf—”

Perhaps that alone was not enough, the hooded man gave a simple twist to the dagger.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

The flesh was torn and the bones were broken. Unable to bear the pain, Calix plopped to his knees.

The man grabbed Calix by his hair and pulled him up. The man said as he looked at Calix trembling in excruciating pain.

“Friend, I was peacefully having this breakfast, and what a pleasant morning. Although the taste buds were bonking my head, I had to eat, so I ate even this soup of a porridge with honey, what the, even honey, haash…”

“So yeah, as I ate it like that, do you know what I saw? The bottom of the bowl. When I was about to feel the freaking sense of accomplishment that I had finished this eatery, this friend overturned the bowl. But instead of apologizing, this friend got angry? So, can you feel how miserable I’m currently feeling?”

“Heh heh heh… you bastard, do you know who I am?”

Bang!

The man slammed Calix’s head on the table.

“Can you feel how miserable I’m feeling?”

“You, you don’t know… I…”

Bang!

“Can you feel how miserable I’m feeling?”

“My older brother… of the One-Eyed bandits…”

Bang!

“Can you feel how miserable I’m feeling?”

“M..Moma… woo… aahe, yeah, yeah! You must be very angry.”

Calix answered with blood dripping down his forehead.

“I know, right? So what should this friend say to me when I’m angry?”

“That, that…”

Bang!

“What should he say?”

“I’m sorry… I was wrong… I won’t do that again…”

“Yesh. If you made a mistake and offended the other person, you should apologize, right? You got the correct answer, good, very good. Now let me stamp it for you.”

Bang!!!

Calix, whose head was banged on the table with a force stronger than ever before, passed out as it was.

* * *

“Huh…guugh!”

Calix opened his eyes.

He was lying on the bed, not on the table. His hand, which had been pierced by the dagger, was rolled up in a clean cloth.

“Where is this…”

Calix recalled his last memories before he lost consciousness.

A hooded man who mercilessly hammered his head on the table.

“That bastard..!”

Calix stormed out of the door.

He could see the empty hall of the inn on the first floor. There, Emily and the innkeeper were sitting.

“Oh, are you awake? Your hands are fine…”

“Shut up!”

Calix impetusly kicked the approaching innkeeper. He pointed his finger at the innkeeper who has landed on his butt thumping on the floor and hollered.

“Do you rats think you will get away with this? Hang in there. The moment I go back and tell my brother, this town will be dead meat.”

“No, you can’t..! Please forgive us for only this once. He was a wandering traveler and had absolutely nothing to do with this town. No one in our town intends to go against the One-Eyed Bandits.”

“That’s not my f*cking business. And Emily!”

At Calix’s call, Emily became as hard as a stone. He raised the corners of his lips devilishly and spoke cheesyly.

“You will regret for not taking my offer.”

Calix sprinted out the inn door as it was.

He strode in the direction of the One-Eyed bandit’s hideout.

‘That bastard… he must have not gotten far way.’

If they chased on horses, he will surely catch him, then torture him, and then at last, kill him.

Calix spurred his pace. He soon reached the hideout, but there were no guards in sight from the watchtower.

“…these bastards must stretching under the eaves again.”

It’s not like it had happened once or twice, so Calix swung opened the gate and entered the living quarters.

“Garlix! Listen to me. Some bastard in town…”

Calix’s snitch did not last until the end.

As he saw the sight in front of his eyes, his legs gave strength and he flopped down on the ground.

He had no choice but to do so.

“Aren’t we meeting each other for the second time, my friend?”

Because that hooded man at the inn earlier was lazily sitting in the middle of the hideout. And the bandits—they were lying strewn on the ground, thrown like vegetables.

“You… you… why are you here…”

Instead of answering, the man threw something at Calix.

It fell on the floor and rolled over to Calix’s side.

It was the head of Calix’s older brother, Garlix.

“Just a home visit.”

The man took off his hood and smiled.

The smile of the handsome man was refreshing, but to Calix, all he felt was bone-chilling fear.

* * *

I have raided 12 bandit groups and killed some monsters met by chance.

============

Lv.20

Strength: E (130)

Agility: E (120)

Durability: F (100)

Mana: F (95)

=============

The result is this.

My status, that Emily told me.

As one can see, the level has risen by 3. All other stats have also went up by 15.

Since the level has risen by 3, and the stats has increased by 15, so the stat have increased by 5 per level up.

‘Yeah, surely a trash body.’

The other heroes will go up by 8 or 9 every time they level up, but I alone only go up by 5.

In the end, even if I level up, the basic hardware was inevitably different.

‘Well, that’s that, I have to work out hard or consume some inner core.’

In the game, when you hunt monsters, there is a certain probability that you get it’s inner core.

If you consume that inner core, your stats will increase, as for what kind of stats will increase depends on what type of inner core you consume.

‘By the way, it takes more time to level up than I thought.’

In the game, you could level up by quite a bit by clearing these bandit groups. Maybe it’s because it’s the reality, the number of bandits needed to level up has skyrocketed.

This will mess up the plans a bit.

The plan to hunt for equipments after a quick level up session had to be scrapped.

From now on, level up and farm equipment at the same time.

“Excuse me, Mr. Cloud..”

A voice from behind broke my train of throught.

I turned around to see Emily with her head bowed and her face blushing.

She hadn’t gone back yet?

“Yes?”

“That… Thank you for helping our town this time. Everyone is happy that the bandits are gone.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Everyone had to struggle and labour under the tyranny of the bandits. So, we decided to hold a festival in the town to express our gratitude to Mr. Cloud.”

“I see.”

“Yeah… So… If you’re okay with Mr. Cloud, can join with me…”

“I’m sorry, but I’m busy right now. Can you please leave?”

“Yeah..? Ah, yes… that, sorryy, y-yeah, you are busy…!!!”

Emily ran out of the room, blushing.

I feel sorry for her to refuse so coldly, but I couldn’t help it.

‘I can’t even make tents, what’s the use of setting the mood?’

A sweet exploratoy atmosphere without a boner?

It’s just annoying.

Ah. I want to get that big root plant quickly.

I sighed deeply and plopped down on the bed.

‘The first thing I need to get are the rings.’

Rings, which are accessories that can be worn in the ‘The Hero’s Party’, each have special abilities.

Whether it’s raising magic resistance or increasing the attack power.

In addition, multiple rings can be worn at the same time, which greatly affects the character’s stats. So the more rings you get, the better.

Starting from tomorrow, I will start from the capital city of the Kingdom of Prona, where the game begins, and follow the progress of the game to brush off the remaining rings.

‘Ah, on the way to the Kingdom of Prona, should I meet that punk once?’

It is a sequel to ‘The Hero’s Party’ and a game that shares the same worldview.

The main character of ‘The Tale of A Knight’s Affair’.