A Clue to the Dragon Slayer

I'm in an Imperial city bordering Sobana.

I came here looking for someone who, like me, seemed to have been transported here from my original world. But I got no information on the first day, so I ended it by filing a request for information with the guild.

Would it really be all right to file a request like that with the guild? I was a little worried, but I couldn't think of any better way.

I couldn't stay here forever. I had to make contact with the Dragon Slayer before the Imperial nobles or officials caught wind of me.

Even so, this person seemed to be quite famous. Why had they come to this city in the first place?

They might have been targeted by others too, or perhaps they were infiltrating the Empire on a top-secret mission.

But if it was top secret, it seemed strange that rumors were circulating around the city.

To stay on the Imperial side, I went to an inn near the guild.

I climbed a small staircase, opened the door, and went inside.

"Welcome~!"

A female server greeted me. She wore an indigo dress resembling a maid's uniform, along with a large apron.

The inn's first floor had about five round tables, all occupied by men. They seemed to be eating and drinking.

The sun was already sinking, and the inside of the building was dim. Two orange-glowing kerosene lamps were lit.

"Are you here for a meal? Or are you staying the night?"

"I'm staying. Do you have a room available?"

"The attic room at the very top is available."

"That'll do. How much?"

"You're from the Kingdom?"

"Yeah."

She said it was 8,000 yen with meals, or 5,000 yen without. That seemed a little expensive—or did they charge Kingdom people a little extra?

She said Kingdom money was fine, so I paid for three days—three small square silver coins (15,000 yen)—and signed the inn register the woman handed me.

The language worked in the Empire too, but apparently the writing was different.

The name I wrote was 'Shaga.' Of course, it was a false name.

It would be bad if using someone else's name got them in trouble. I could have used a more Imperial-sounding name, like Hans or Peter.

Well, I'd already told them I was from the Kingdom, so there was nothing I could do about it.

The server showed me to my room. The third floor had only one room. It had no ceiling boards, leaving the beams exposed and showing the underside of the triangular roof.

When I stepped inside, the floorboards creaked and the room felt cramped, but it wasn't too bad. In fact, it had a rather nice secret-base feel to it.

"There's a lamp too, but it costs extra."

"Oh, I brought my own, so I don't need it. Thanks."

When I gave the woman a copper coin as a tip, she looked suspicious.

"But you don't have anything with you."

"I have an Item Box."

After hearing that, the woman seemed satisfied and went downstairs.

Well, time for dinner. When I'm alone like this, cup noodles will do.

I should still have some cooked white rice in my Item Box. With that princess around, I always prepare meals in large quantities.

To prepare dinner, I took an LED lantern out of my Item Box.

Oh, right—the gasoline lantern I left at home will last three days, won't it? Well, I'm sure they'll manage somehow.

I took out a cassette stove and boiled some water. This was water I'd collected at the mountain pass.

I decided to make boiled eggs out of the Kokka bird eggs I'd bought at the market. They were small, so I didn't think they'd take long to cook.

Even if they were only soft-boiled, I could put them in the cup noodles and eat them. I boiled the egg for about five minutes, poured hot water into the cup noodles—and then waited three minutes.

In the meantime, I prepared the rice.

When it was ready, I removed the lid and slurped up the noodles. I tried the boiled Kokka bird egg too.

It was small, so it was difficult to crack the shell, but I popped the egg—twice the size of a quail egg—into my mouth.

"Oh, this is delicious. The flavor is incredibly rich."

Then I dug into the white rice. Ahh, I couldn't stop. I was on the third floor, and there was only one room, so I didn't have to worry about the smell.

"Delicious! So delicious! Ten-man-goku—"

Come to think of it, the Imperial guy in question probably hadn't eaten cup noodles in quite a while either.

He probably hadn't eaten white rice, either. I hadn't seen any at the market.

But first, was the Dragon Slayer Japanese? If they weren't Japanese, things would be a little troublesome.

I kept eating white rice as I thought about that, but something felt like it was missing.

I wanted to add some nori. I bought nori from Shangri-La, toasted it over the stove, wrapped it around rice, dipped it in soy sauce, and ate it.

"Delicious! I really am Japanese, aren't I?"

Since the Dragon Slayer knew about abacuses and pitcher pumps, I thought they were Japanese too... Though wasn't the abacus originally Chinese?

Well, I wouldn't know until I met them. Assuming I could meet them.

After finishing my meal, I threw the trash into the trash can. I wiped everything else down with alcohol and kitchen paper, then stored it in my Item Box.

My stomach was full, so I took a rest after eating.

The bed looked a little questionable, so I spread an air mattress on the floor and lay down.

If only Anemone were here, she could heat the bed with magic to sterilize it...

They say lying down right after eating will turn you into a cow, don't they? But this was another world, so Japanese sayings like that probably didn't apply.

"Now, what should I do until I fall asleep? Should I read another isekai light novel?"

But then I thought of something good. Maybe I should count the offerings made to Bell.

I got up, took the offering box out of my Item Box, and began piling up the copper coins.

I made stacks of ten, and they gradually grew. There had been about a thousand beastfolk there, after all.

Well, I could have simply sorted them and put them into my Item Box, and it would have counted them automatically—Copper Coins × 200, for example.

But this was fun, like counting the contents of a piggy bank.

When I finished counting...

891 copper coins—891,000 yen. Some people had put in two or three coins instead of one.

30 small square silver coins—150,000 yen.

One silver coin—50,000 yen.

Total—1,091,000 yen.

Not everyone there had made an offering, though...

Phew—even small change packs quite a punch when it adds up.

I could see that collecting small change from a large number of people was more profitable than taking a large amount from a small number of people.

Heh heh—religion really is profitable.

Joking aside, I'd gotten so absorbed in counting the coins that I'd completely lost track of time.

"I suppose I'd better go to sleep..."

I took out a blanket from my Item Box. Before sleeping, I had to secure the door. I'd heard there were robbers around too.

The door could apparently be secured with a simple crossbar, but something like that would break if someone forced it open.

I decided to use the infrared sensor I'd used in the forest. I took the sensor and a mobile battery out of my Item Box and connected them.

If anyone entered, the buzzer would alert me. Beside my pillow, I placed a loaded crossbow with a laser sight, along with several bolts.

I also prepared some bear spray and a cutlass.

I removed the yellow stopper from the bear spray. I also decided to set up a sensor light, which I could use to blind them.

Was this overkill? But I had always been able to sleep soundly because Bell and the beastfolk served as living motion sensors and protected me.

Being alone for the first time in a while made me feel extremely vulnerable. I needed this much to feel safe.

Reliable companions really were important...

"I wonder if everyone is all right."

They were at the ducal estate, so it wasn't as though anyone was likely to attack them...

I fell asleep on the air mattress I'd placed on the floor.

------◇◇◇------

In the middle of the night, I was jolted awake by a shrill buzzer.

A glaring white light illuminated two suspicious men. They appeared to be wearing light armor and carrying swords.

"Damn it!" "What the hell is this?!"

I sprayed the men with the bear spray beside my pillow, coating them in yellow.

"Cough, cough! Gaaah!" "My eyes! They hurt!"

It was my first time using bear spray, but the mist was yellow.

Next, I grabbed the crossbow and fired at the man in front, but even after the bolt pierced his chest and light armor, he raised a dagger at me.

It completely lacked stopping power.

As the white blade reflecting the light flew into my view, the world around me lost its color and shifted into slow motion.

I'm going to die!

I knew it instinctively. I dropped the crossbow, twisted my body, and grabbed the cutlass. Anemone's face and those of the others flashed through my mind one after another and vanished—so this was what they called a life flashing before one's eyes.

It must have lasted only a fraction of a second, but it felt like several dozen seconds before the thug's sword reached my shoulder.

Then the cutlass, which I swung horizontally a moment too late, sank into the man's temple, spraying out red brain matter.

I caught the man's falling body and threw it down to my left.

"Aaargh! Damn it! I can't see!"

The other thug, streaming tears and snot, swung his sword around as he searched for me.

He was flailing it wildly, making it too dangerous to approach.

I reflexively picked up the crossbow I'd dropped, activated the laser sight, and loaded a bolt.

I aligned the red dot with the thug's head and pulled the trigger. The bolt pierced his head, and he crumpled to his knees on the spot.

"Haa... haa..."

I ran my hands over my entire body to check. I was fine; it seemed nothing had been cut.

The sword had definitely hit my shoulder, but I was unharmed. It didn't hurt when I touched it, either.

Not even a cut!

I was covered in blood, but it was the blood of the enemies I'd defeated. Just then, I heard a voice from below.

"Hey, you idiots! What happened?! I told you not to kill the guy on the third floor because he's an Item Box holder!"

Hearing that, I spat out,

"Damn it!"

There were still enemies around.

I loaded the crossbow again, took it in hand, and went outside the room.

A kerosene lamp, presumably carried by one of the thugs, sat in the hallway, bathing the area in orange light.

I slowly peered down the stairs.

At that moment, I met the eyes of a bald man with a pitch-black mustache who was looking up.

I raised the crossbow, aligned the laser dot with the man's brow, and pulled the trigger.

The bolt pierced his skull, and he fell backward with his eyes rolled back.

"Aaargh! Boss!"

It was a woman's voice. I loaded another bolt into the crossbow, then slowly went downstairs to the second floor.

There were five rooms on the second floor. Every door stood open, with what appeared to be guests' corpses lined up inside.

Women and children in their nightclothes were among them, and blood had spilled across the wooden floor.

As on the third floor, kerosene lamps lit the area, and a lone woman sat on the floor, trembling.

Looking closely, I saw that she was the server from this inn. But seeing her, I immediately understood what had happened.

"You let these villains into the inn, didn't you?"

She must have unlocked the inn's door, let the villains in, and told them all about the guests staying there.

"N-no, sir! That's not it!"

What did she mean, not it? She had called him Boss a moment ago, hadn't she?

"Are there any others besides these three?"

"N-no! There aren't! There were only three!"

"They even killed women and children..."

I aimed the crossbow's laser sight at the woman's head. Her face twisted with fear.

"N-no, that's not it! Listen to me!"

"No arguments..."

I pulled the trigger, and the bolt pierced the woman's skull—of course, killing her instantly.

She had even told the villains that I was an Item Box holder—and she still claimed she hadn't done anything wrong?

"Haa..."

I let out a deep sigh and crouched down where I stood.

"What am I supposed to do now...?"

I pressed my hands together in prayer before the child's corpse.

"I've avenged you, so rest in peace. Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu..."

Once I had caught my breath, I realized my throat was parched. I took a bottle of Some-Kind-of-Delicious Water from my Item Box and drained it in one go.

"Phew..."

But I felt a little dizzy. I checked my body again, but nothing seemed wrong.

Thinking it over, I realized I was hungry. It was the same feeling as when I used Natural Recovery (Heal).

So when that thug's sword hit me, some kind of ability must have activated. Was this the power of the Holy Knight too...?

I see. It seemed I wasn't so easy to kill anymore.

I took two bananas and a calorie bar out of my Item Box and ate them.

Eating while looking at corpses... I really had grown thick-skinned.

Why had violence become the default like this? How had things come to this?

I didn't plan to return to my original world, but even if I did, I worried whether I could live a normal life.

I wanted to return to the peaceful life by that lake soon... But I did want to meet someone from my original world.

Once I had food in my stomach and sugar began reaching my brain, I calmly considered the situation. Now, what should I do?

Come to think of it, using bear spray in such a small room should have been like spraying myself too... but I was fine.

Natural Recovery was probably working. Maybe that meant I was now immune to poison gas and poisoned food too.

"Hmm..."

More importantly... If I reported this to the Imperial officials, it would definitely cause trouble. If I had instantly killed four villains, they'd realize I wasn't an ordinary merchant...

Then I would be suspected of being a spy—which I actually was.

I'd used a false name in the ledger, so they probably wouldn't be able to trace me.

In that case... I would dispose of the villains' corpses by putting them into the trash through my Item Box, then flee.

That way, it would look as though the inn had been attacked, all the guests had been massacred, and the bandits were on the run... Would that work?

I felt bad about leaving the guests' corpses like this, but I hoped they would forgive me since I had avenged them.

I immediately put the villains' corpses into my Item Box. The woman's corpse too.

I returned to my room on the third floor, put the two corpses into my Item Box, and stored my luggage as well, but...

Anything covered in blood had to go into the trash. Looking around, I saw that my clothes and pants were covered in blood too.

The blood didn't show much on my black jacket, but it still felt disgusting. I bought a new shirt and pair of trousers from Shangri-La and changed into them.

Then the villains' corpses went into the trash too. When I pressed the button, the text 【Corpses ×4】 disappeared from my Item Box.

I checked the room, looking around again to make sure I hadn't left any evidence behind.

I bought a black blanket from Shangri-La and draped it over myself. A robe would have been better, though... So I searched the site.

"Oh! They sell one!"

Shangri-La sold a black robe resembling a monk's habit. Was it meant for cosplay?

Well, anything would do as long as it worked. I bought it and tried it on—it was pretty good. I should be able to blend into the darkness with this.

I went downstairs to the first floor, lighting the way with my LED light, and found corpses there too.

This one was the innkeeper, who had been behind the counter. They really had killed everyone.

I opened the back door a crack, checked my surroundings, and went outside.

There were no streetlights, so it was pitch-black. But beastfolk could see in the dark, so it would be troublesome if one of them spotted me.

Still, my face was hidden by the black robe, so I should be fine.

I crossed the street, bathed in the blue light of the moon, and turned into the side street beside the guild. There wasn't a soul around.

I had nowhere in particular to go, but I decided to try the market.

I lit the cobblestones at my feet with my LED light as I made my way to the market. Naturally, there was no one there.

The market had been packed away, with parts of the stalls piled up here and there.

"I wonder if no one steals this stuff."

As I thought that, I caught glimpses of orange light in the distance.

They were probably guards or patrolmen. I hid in the shadows of a shop along the market's outer edge.

I evaded the patrol and checked the area, finding a good spot.

There was a staircase beside one of the shops leading down to a semibasement, and luggage was piled up at the bottom, covered in dust.

It didn't seem to be in use. If I covered myself with the black blanket here, no one would know I was there.

"All right, I'll sleep here..."

Still wearing the black robe, I covered myself with the black blanket and huddled in the cramped space.

------◇◇◇------

I woke up. At some point, I must have fallen asleep. It was dark around me—but only because I was in the building's shadow; when I looked up, I could see blue sky.

I could hear the market's bustle too. I put the black blanket into my Item Box and took off the black robe.

Then I climbed the stairs and emerged into the market. The merchants were in the middle of setting up their stalls.

Naturally, the shops weren't open yet.

I was hungry, so I took bread from my Item Box and ate it. I wanted some vegetables too, so I drank some vegetable juice.

It was nice not having to worry about food. As I munched on bread, someone called out to me.

"Are you a merchant? What are you doing here?"

"I want to go to the guild, but it's still too early, so I'm killing time."

"Ha-ha, are you unemployed? Hang in there."

Well, I was eating here without doing any work, so I couldn't blame him for thinking that.

Before long, the market began filling with people. It was probably around seven in the morning.

In this world, everyone started their day when it got light and went to sleep when it got dark.

The guild should be open by now, so I headed there.

When I reached the front of the guild, I saw that plenty of people were already coming and going.

The inn where I'd stayed stood diagonally across from it, but a crowd had already gathered there.

Probably a guest who had come to eat breakfast at the inn had found the bodies.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" "Apparently there was a break-in at the inn." "Good grief, what a nasty business."

As I watched, men who looked like officials in black uniforms arrived, along with a man who looked like a knight, wearing armor and riding a horse.

They were probably there to inspect the crime scene. I watched them from the corner of my eye as I entered the guild.

Even when I checked the bulletin board, my request was still posted.

I waited at the guild for a while. In the meantime, I went to the market and looked for a new inn, until the sun went down.

Everyone I asked said that people gathered either at the market or at the guild.

I had nothing to show for it, but I paid an additional fee and had my request sent to the other guilds too.

Apparently, there were four job-placement guilds in this city.

"I can't think of any other good way. I wish I could ask around in the pleasure district, but..."

I wasn't confident doing that alone, and if it turned into trouble and I had to bring out heavy machinery, it would cause a huge commotion.

Sighing, I trudged toward the inn.

The new inn was a small building run by a fat middle-aged woman. At three sen (3,000 yen) for a room without meals, it was dirt cheap.

It was a little run-down, but that didn't matter. I wasn't going to use the bed; I would sleep on an air mattress on the floor.

Once again, I decided to set up the sensor in front of the door before going to sleep.

------◇◇◇------

It was my third day in the Empire. Nothing happened at the new inn.

I'd been waiting at the guild since morning, but there had been no response. The other guilds hadn't sent any word either.

Not that there were telephones or anything. The beastfolk merely brought documents and letters over as couriers.

Then, after noon had passed, a female beastfolk was looking at the request posted on the bulletin board. It was the one I'd filed.

She had black fur like Myaree's, but Myaree's belly was white, and if you looked closely, she had black stripes—the woman in front of me, however, was completely black.

She also had large, triangular ears sticking up from the top of her head.

She was beastfolk, but could she read? I decided to ask her anyway.

"Can you read?"

"What does this request say, nya?"

So she couldn't read after all... I read the wording aloud to the beastfolk woman.

'We will pay 10 yen (100,000 yen) to anyone with valuable information about the Empire's 【Dragon Slayer】.'

"Hmm, nya."

"You don't know? Have you heard anything about them?"

"Hmm, nya."

I couldn't tell whether she was reacting or not. Perhaps she didn't understand what the request was about in the first place.

I stayed in the guild for a while, then went outside to get some fresh air.

I sat on a stool on the sidewalk, pondering, when someone called out to me from behind.

"Are you looking for the Dragon Slayer, nya?"

I turned around and saw the beastfolk woman from before. She wore a short brown jacket and a red miniskirt that left her navel exposed.

She appeared to have a dagger tucked into a thick belt.

"You know something?"

"Hmm, nya~ What should I do, nya~? I don't know what kind of person you are, nya~."

That was fair. If the person was hiding away in seclusion or on a top-secret infiltration mission, they probably wouldn't want people to know about them.

"The Dragon Slayer is from the same homeland as I am. I want to meet them. If you really know them, please help me!"

"From the same homeland, nya? Really, nya?"

What was a good way to prove it...? That's it. I took paper and a pencil from my Item Box and wrote a letter on the stool.

'I'm Hamada Kenichi, from Japan. Are you Japanese? If so, I'd like to meet and talk.'

I wrote it in Japanese, mixing kanji and kana.

"Nyaa, the writing looks like Akira's, nya."

"Is that person's name Akira?"

"Oops, nya!"

The woman covered her mouth with both hands.

"Then give them this letter, please!"

I handed her two Kingdom silver coins as well—the same amount as the success fee, just in case.

"What should I do, nya~?"

But then the woman began sniffing me repeatedly.

"What is it? Do I smell?"

"You smell like beastfolk, nya—and what's this smell, nya?"

I hadn't returned to everyone for three days, and I hadn't bathed or done any laundry, so that made sense.

I told her that two beastfolk and a Forest Cat were with me.

"You have a Forest Cat too, nya?!"

According to her, Forest Cats were also considered messengers of the gods by the beastfolk on the Imperial side. But apparently, they had almost completely vanished from sight.

Hearing that, the woman came right up to me and sniffed me vigorously.

Perhaps the Imperial Forest Cats had been hunted almost to extinction, or perhaps their numbers had fallen for some other reason.

"If you have beastfolk and a Forest Cat in your family, I suppose I can trust you, nya. Then, would tomorrow be all right for the reply, nya?"

"Of course!"

"Then wait here tomorrow morning, nya."

"I'm counting on you!"

I parted ways with the beastfolk woman.

I did it! Talk about unexpected luck—like peonies falling off a shelf or a horse jumping out of a gourd. It could be a trap, but beastfolk weren't capable of complicated schemes.

Accidentally letting the name slip and being so careless were very beastfolk-like too. Besides, Akira was definitely a Japanese name.

Still, Akira, huh—probably a man, right? But there were women named Akira too.

I hadn't asked whether Akira was male or female... Well, I could find out when we met.

Was that beastfolk woman their companion—or their lover? If they were Japanese, they probably wouldn't be prejudiced against beastfolk—probably.

Was this moving a little too smoothly? Maybe becoming a Holy Knight raised my luck too?

If so, that would be seriously amazing.

Now that I had a lead, I returned to the guild and canceled the request. The silver coins I'd deposited as the success reward were returned, but the filing fee was not.

I returned to the small inn run by the fat landlady and decided to take it easy while imagining what would happen tomorrow.