Dogora

At the drugstore, I heard about the day Rodan was badly injured. I learned about the friendship between Rodan and Gerda, and decided to keep it to myself.

(Is that a weapon shop next door?)

I left the drugstore and went into the weapon shop beside it.

"Excuse me."

"..."

Apparently, this was one of those shops where nobody answered. The owner, standing toward the back, looked familiar.

(Huh? Isn't that the father of the kid with the axe?)

He was the father of the axe-wielding boy who'd sat at our table during the banquet. So he owned the weapon shop. The shopkeeper stood with his arms crossed as a boy in ragged clothes came in. He seemed to recognize me as Allen and stared at me.

Since he didn't kick me out, I looked around the shop.

(I thought this was a weapon shop, but it's more like a general ironware store. They've got pots and cleavers, too.)

It was a small village that had only recently graduated from being a pioneer settlement. The shop probably sold all kinds of things, not just weapons. Even convenience stores in the countryside sold vegetables and whatnot.

(I don't need one right away, but I'd like to stop using a wooden sword.)

I'd come in to upgrade the weapon I used to hunt Alba Herons. My wooden sword sometimes broke. I brought a spare just in case, but if one broke in the middle of a fight, I wouldn't have time to switch, so I had to pin the bird's neck down with my arm and finish it off.

"How much is this dagger?"

"...Fifty silver coins."

He was curt, but it seemed he would answer my questions.

Almost everyone in the village knew that the black-haired boy's father was Rodan.

The shopkeeper knew Rodan was one of the serfs' leaders. Since the early days of the settlement, Rodan had helped develop the village and hunt boars. He and Gerda were two of the serfs' leaders, and they had a fair amount of influence in the village. With serfs making up seventy percent of the population, it was easy to see how important they were.

Normally, if a six-year-old boy in ragged clothes asked the price of a weapon, the shopkeeper would assume he was just browsing. He answered because of Rodan's influence.

(I see. Even the cheapest-looking dagger costs fifty silver coins. That's five Alba Herons' worth.)

"By the way, how much would an iron bar about the same size as this wooden sword cost?"

"Around twenty silver coins."

I usually carried my wooden sword tucked into my sash.

(That's pretty expensive.)

Even a blunt iron bar cost as much as two Alba Herons.

I'd like to buy one and improve my equipment, but upgrading my weapon just to satisfy myself wouldn't be right. I wanted to save as much of the Alba Heron meat as possible for my family.

I gave up and left the weapon shop.

(Now, I should buy firewood and head home. I've more or less finished my market research.)

I went to the firewood shop I'd visited two days ago.

"Oh, it's you, kid. Firewood again today?"

"Yes. I'd like to trade this meat for some."

I must have made quite an impression, since the firewood seller remembered me. I traded the meat for four days' worth of firewood—sixty kilograms—and tied it to my back carrier.

The firewood seller said something like, "You're amazing," and I left the shop. I carried several times my own weight in firewood home. It was still before ten in the morning, and quite a crowd had gathered to watch me.

I ignored them and continued down the road. Up ahead was a familiar potato-faced boy: Dogora.

"Ah, there you are! What are you doing around here, blackhair?"

The weapon shop owner's son had probably heard about me from his father. This must have been Dogora's territory, and he was picking a fight with me.

"Hm? I just came to buy firewood."

I said that and tried to walk past Dogora, who was standing in my way. I figured he'd started some kind of trouble, but I decided not to engage with him.

"Hey! Don't ignore me! Are you running away?"

He didn't like my attitude. He shoved me in the chest with an open palm. I took a few steps back and steadied the firewood on my back.

"Hm? What are you doing?"

"I'm not letting you through! If you become my underling, I'll let you pass."

Dogora was telling me to become his underling. Maybe my not resisting had convinced him he'd already won; he couldn't stop grinning.

After hearing that, I kept a blank expression and set my carrier down at the side of the road, out of the way.

In my previous life, when I was Kenichi, I was a gamer. A pretty hardcore one, too. When I played online games like MMOs, people on internet forums would sometimes call me an online gaming addict, even though I was supposed to be a working adult.

An online gaming addict was a title earned only by those who devoted their lives to a game. Office workers didn't qualify.

My approach to games was simple: to get stronger, I leveled up, improved my equipment, and fought stronger enemies. I didn't run a blacksmith shop or collect items that wouldn't make me stronger. I ignored all those confusing seasonal events, too.

Naturally, I had no interest in PvP battles in arenas, either. Fighting other players didn't give me experience, so it wouldn't make me stronger. The enemies Kenichi fought were monsters and magical beasts, not other players.

But when you became famous enough to be talked about online, you had to pay the price of fame.

When I went out hunting, I sometimes got attacked by players called player killers, who made a living out of attacking other players. They might do it for fun or to steal your equipment.

How did I deal with them? I took down anyone who got in the way of my hunting, whether they were middle schoolers, housewives, or men pretending to be women. Honestly, in an online game, you couldn't tell your opponent's age or gender. I always kept gear specifically for dealing with player killers, and I made sure to beat them.

"Oh, are you gonna be my underling?"

Dogora had watched me take off my carrier.

"As if."

I said that and drew my wooden sword from my sash. I gripped it in both hands and raised the tip to chest height.

"W-What?!"

Dogora was unarmed. He hadn't expected me to draw my wooden sword.

"What are you waiting for? Come at me."

"Y-You're fighting dirty!"

"Would you say that on a battlefield, too, Knight of the Axe?"

After three years of playing knights with Krena, I'd gotten used to speaking like one. The words came naturally. I had to thank Krena for that.

"Guh?!"

"I'll wait. Go get any weapon you like, Sir Dogora, Knight of the Axe."

"W-What?! Don't run away!"

Dogora dashed off at top speed, then came back just as quickly. He had something large in his hands.

He must have found it in the weapon shop: he came running back with a large, round stick like an oversized pestle.

Dogora took a stance with a grunt.

"What are you waiting for? Aren't you coming?"

"Ngh... Yaaah!"

Maybe the taunting had enraged him. The knightly duel between Dogora and me began. He swung the round stick with all his strength, and I carefully blocked it with my wooden sword.

Quite a few people were watching Dogora and me play at being knights, but they simply watched in silence.

(An axe-wielder, huh? In the games I played, they were called axe warriors. Well, I've started playing knights with him. Now what?)

I'd started without thinking. This wasn't a game, so I couldn't let it turn into a bloody fight. I kept blocking Dogora's swings while trying to figure out how to end this.

"Hah... Hah... What are you waiting for? Aren't you coming at me?!"

Dogora taunted me for doing nothing but block. Fine, then. I put a little strength into my next swing and met his round stick with my wooden sword.

December had arrived, and the Alba Heron hunting season was over. The farm work was mostly done, so I didn't need to use as much strength. Rodan was recovering, too.

So I'd switched from Beast F to Plant F to increase my Magic and gain more Skill Experience. Even so, I was still several times stronger than Dogora—and the adults around here.

"Gah!"

Dogora was knocked away despite blocking with the stick. He cursed and tried to get up, but I pointed my wooden sword right at his nose.

"Are you going to keep going?"

"Guh!"

It seemed he'd had enough. He was panting and wheezing. He glared at me but made no move to get up, so I picked up my carrier from the side of the road and hoisted it onto my back.

"Hey, Sir Dogora, Knight of the Axe."

"W-What?"

"I'll be back to shop around this time in two days."

"What?!"

With that, I headed home, leaving Dogora behind as he made no move to get up.