Chapter 148

Chapter 148

“Buddy, are your taste buds broken? How could you have lost your appetite?”

Honestly, the food was really delicious, but still, how could I say that? Huh, Berserk?

“This food does perfectly match your pathetic self.”

Urgh, whatever. It was true that the owner’s words had completely ruined my appetite, so what I said wasn’t wrong.

I knew it wasn’t the owner’s fault, but I still decided to lash out. After all, I couldn’t always be the good guy.

I also had my biases.

Creak.

“...Are you also leaving?”

“Erm, yeah. I should check on the horses. I feel kind of worried about them.”

Deb's reply as he stood up was rather awkward. Thanks to me, however, the others didn’t seem to find his departure too unusual. They probably assumed he’d be going after me.

Damn, what a relief. But this somehow left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Finish your meal first, young hunter.”

“It’s fine.”

I even confirmed that Deb left his half-eaten bowl behind.

Of course, I didn’t see this with my own eyes, but I knew it based on what I heard. I’d already left the store and was heading toward the horses, so I couldn’t possibly see Deb leaving the shop half a beat later.

Not that my character would ever look back in this situation, anyway.

“Damn, there are six horses here.”

“Is some rich person around here somewhere...?”

“Is there only one errand boy looking after them?”

“No, that wizard also cast a spell earlier.”

I moved while making sure Deb was following a good six feet behind me.

I then came across a group of people eyeing the horses we’d left in this clearing. They were standing on the path and chatting, so it was impossible not to notice them.

“Get lost.”

Normally, I would have simply ignored them, but since they were practically blocking the path, I had to say something.

I complained inwardly, trying to make my voice as menacing as possible. Those guys then turned around with a “What are you—” before meeting my eyes.

“Th-Th-The knight.”

“W-We’re sorry!”

“W-We swear we weren’t planning on stealing the horses!”

Sure, you weren’t. They’d been practically drooling over the horses, but sure.

“We’re sooorry!”

I didn’t intend to escalate this situation. Letting them run off, I approached the horses. The young boy standing alert in front of them flinched when he saw me.

“Go.”

I flicked a coin to the boy.

Despite my wallet being a bit lighter due to having to spend a good amount on those bridge repairs and my regular expenses for things like toiletries and food... I still had more than enough left to tip the boy.

“Thank you!”

The boy beamed and ran off. Deb, who’d been silently following me, glanced at him before approaching me.

“Mister, erm...”

Seeing me lean against a wall with my eyes closed, Deb shut his mouth again. Instead, he squatted down and gently stroked the nose of a horse eating hay.

“...I’ll go buy another cloak.”

A cloak? But he was already wearing a hooded cloak... Ah. To cover his ears better.

I glanced at the hair visible through the hood and his pointed ears.

The latter was inevitable, but the former was clearly fatal. Because of his ears, the color of his fur was on full display. The hair sticking out through the holes in his hood was also unfortunate.

That was the downside of having large top ears (positioned near the crown of the head).

Well, even if one had side ears (positioned near the temples), one look at the Sland tribe, who sometimes needed to make holes in the side of their hoods because their ears were too big, showed that the problem might just be having big ears in general.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

Anyway, he took off once again.

I’d gotten up first to avoid leaving him alone, but now... Hadn’t he already been targeted by that Demon not too long ago? Was it safe for me to just let him go like that?

I felt conflicted. However, going with him would be breaking character.

In the end, I decided to trust that Deb would simply buy a hood and come back. He was sharp enough to consider the possibility of coming across the Demon, so this wasn’t just blind faith.

So, instead of following Deb, I popped one of the candies I’d bought into my mouth. I had purchased it with the limited amount of money I had.

But I couldn’t even give them to the person I really wanted to.

* * *

“Oh dear, I shouldn’t have said anything...”

The Inquisitor was glumly stirring her soup as she looked at the backs of those who’d just left.

The food had been so delicious until just now, but after they left, she felt strangely empty.

“Inquisitor, are you full?”

“N-No.”

She couldn’t bear to waste the food she’d ordered. That would be sinful.

So, she quickly took another spoonful of soup, cutting the meat into smaller pieces to eat them.

“My apologies. Did I offend your companions...?”

“It’s fine. You said these things without ill intent, after all.”

The Inquisitor’s eyes wandered aimlessly around the room as she continued eating. Those two empty seats and the dishes left behind caught her attention.

Not only that troublemaker, but the Demon Knight had left nearly half their food on their plates.

It seemed it didn’t suit his taste. He was usually the kind of person who’d finish his meals, even if the food was terrible enough to make anyone else grimace.

He even ate meals with meat, which he definitely didn’t like, without complaint.

“Could it be that the Demon Knight dislikes tomato stew?”

“But didn’t he eat tomatoes just fine last time?”

“Hmm.”

Then what could’ve been the problem? The spices? Its sweetness? Neither was overly excessive, though.

“Maybe that guy just has some weird taste?”

“Th-There’s no way that’s true!”

There was no way the Demon Knight disliked this dish for no reason, so there had to be something about the food she’d overlooked.

The Inquisitor groaned and pondered. It was a truly unsolvable problem.

From the sound of it, a fight seemed about to break out.

“...If you don’t want any trouble, get lost!”

“...Haah! Why don’t you get lost instead?!”

I approached the commotion. The crowd was densely packed, but fortunately, I was tall enough to see over it.

On average, the people in this world were at least 10 to 20 cm shorter than me, except the people of the Shaggi Tribe, of course.

“...And you still call yourself a citizen of this city?!”

“Hah, of course! I’m a proud resident of Ednium! Unlike you, who’s kicking up an idiotic fuss over some hair color!”

“It isn't just that guy’s hair color—!”

“Shut up, don’t blame others without any proof!”

Two groups, about three or four people on each side, were arguing fiercely.

The problem was that, behind one group, I spotted Deb fiddling with his new cloak.

Seeing that his face was red under his hood, it looked like he’d been slapped. My eyes twitched in anger.

Swish.

“Hey, don’t push from behind—Huh.”

“M-M-M-Move out of the way.”

“...A knight!”

“A-A knight? Isn’t he just an adventurer?”

Damn, looking at this mess, it seemed our kid had gotten hit for no reason, and a few righteous citizens stepped in to protect him.

That’s what happened, right? Just because those guys hated people with green hair, did it make sense for them to beat up someone who was—from what it seemed—completely unrelated?!

And you, meat dumpling, why were you hanging your head like a condemned criminal unable to say anything about the beating he’s receiving?! What did you do wrong here, huh?! Lift your head!

“Wh-Who are you?”

“I’ve never seen you here before. Be careful. Those guys are ruffians who randomly hit passersby.”

“What?! Ruffians?!”

“Yeah, ruffians!!”

You could tell what kind of characters they were just by how they were being treated.

I cut through the crowd, satisfied with their concern for my safety.

I moved as if I wasn’t planning to get involved and just wanted to move along.

“Don’t get involved in something that doesn’t concern—”

When they spoke up, I deliberately stopped right in the middle—so they could only see my side profile—and didn’t even move my eyes to look at them.

I placed my hand on the hilt of the sword hanging from my waist.

“These days, it seems things that can’t even be called people frequently speak as if they are.”

“...Mister?”

Ah, just like that young master in Camborough and these people before me, why were there so many of these things threatening ordinary folk these days?

“E-Even if you're a knight, if you attack me...”

But these guys were the ones who...

“Then?”

I glanced at him sideways.

“E-Even if you’re a knight, k-killing someone...”

“How ridiculous.”

In addition, I turned and slowly approached the guy as he continued to speak. I hadn’t knocked him over like I did that young master, so he stood before me and directly faced me.

Although, he had to tilt his head back due to our height difference.

“After you ignored the law and struck someone, why do you think you’re protected by it?”

“H-Hieeek!”

“Get lost, scum. If you ever block my way and bother me again, I’ll make sure your loose fists become even looser.”

Still, I refrained from using violence. After all, I was a civilized, modern person.

Instead, I glared at the guy as menacingly and forcefully as possible. The guy’s legs were visibly trembling, and he and his crew quickly scurried away.

My roleplaying won.

Well, as a side effect, the people surrounding me also flinched and stepped back, but that didn’t matter. They were just passing strangers.

“Mister...”

Most importantly, Deb didn’t seem scared.

“...Did you come looking for me?”

“Ridiculous.”

I did, actually. I was glad I’d found him so quickly.

“...Erm, I was just about to leave... but then this fight broke out... I’m sorry, Mister.”

What was he sorry for? This clearly wasn’t his fault.

Were his cheeks hurting? Did he bite the inside of his mouth?

Ah. Damn it. If only that guy who’d run away just came back. I wasn’t a big fan of the whole “eye for an eye” thing, but I sure wouldn’t mind giving him a proper punishment. How dare he do something like this to our meat dumpling?

“Mister.”

What?

“Mister... what if you did something you thought was right... but ended up harming a lot of innocent people...”

I walked away from the scene of this commotion, with Deb following me. It wasn’t hard to get away since the people in our way parted like the Red Sea with every step I took.

“What would you do then?”

Our meat dumpling’s question was quite a problem.

“A worthless question.”

But what could I do? This kind of question perfectly clashed with my character’s ideals.

“If you can’t even take responsibility for what you did, you shouldn’t have picked up your sword in the first place.”

Even as I answered, I questioned myself.

Was that right? Was that really right?

“...I guess so.”

No matter how I thought about it, this didn’t seem right at all...!!

“Maybe someone like me shouldn’t have picked up a sword in the first place.”

Uwaaaaargh!! Archmage, help!!!

____