Chapter 76
We had arrived in Iberis, the city just before the royal capital.
It was a very large city with a large population. We decided to spend one night here—but if we were going to stay somewhere, I wanted us all to stay together.
However, I had heard that there were very few inns where we could stay with the beastfolk. We had come to the Adventurers' Guild to look for one, but...
I decided to ask the female employee in the red vest at the reception desk about lodging.
"I have something I'd like to ask you."
"Your Guild card, please."
The woman, whose red hair fell to about her shoulders, answered in a strictly businesslike tone.
"No, I'm not registered with this city's Guild. I just want you to tell me where I can find an inn."
"If you wish to use our services, please register first."
She said this with an annoyed look on her face. What an unbelievably curt employee. She might have been fairly pretty, but this was really starting to piss me off.
I wondered if the Guilds in Dalia and Astrantia were like this too if you weren't registered.
Before that, though, registering would cost me one silver coin (50,000 yen). In other words, she wanted me to hand that over. Reluctantly, I took out my Guild card.
"The registration fee is one silver coin."
I had no choice but to pay the silver coin as instructed.
"Please wait a moment."
I sighed as I watched the employee disappear into the back.
"Are all Guilds like this when you aren't registered?"
"Well, they're more or less like this, but this place is especially bad."
"That's right, nya—but they often treat us this way when the other party is a beastman, nya."
That was pretty awful too. I remembered how the beastmen had seemed ready to vent their frustrations on the Guild after we defeated Shaga.
While I was talking with the beastfolk, the female employee hurried back.
"Um! Are you the person who defeated the heinous bandit Shaga, Kenichi-san?"
Wait a minute! Don't go spreading someone's personal information around!
"I am, but I'd prefer it if you didn't reveal people's information so freely."
"I sincerely apologize!"
"Anyway, His Majesty the King summoned me, so I'm on my way to the royal capital. For now, I'm looking for lodging in this city."
"What?! His Majesty the King?!"
I took the parchment bearing the king's wax seal out of my Item Box and showed it to the female employee.
"Um! Please wait a moment!"
The female employee took the letter and disappeared into the back again. Hey, come on...
After a while, she returned, but this time she asked me to come to a room in the back.
"What is this about?"
I had everyone wait in the lobby while I was shown into a back room.
The interior was wooden, but it seemed to be fairly well constructed. The wood they used also appeared to be high quality.
I was shown into what appeared to be a reception room, where a man was sitting on a wooden sofa upholstered in red leather.
He was around my age, with short blond hair, dressed in earth-colored clothes with a belt and short sword at his waist. My letter lay on the desk.
"I am Teika, master of this Guild."
"I'm Kenichi. Pleased to meet you. Has some problem come up? That letter really is authentic, too—it was delivered through Viscount Eupatorium."
"No, I have no doubts about the authenticity of that seal."
Of course he didn't. If someone forged something like this, losing his head would be the least of his worries. And if he doubted it, his loyalty to the king would be called into question.
Still, I had no idea how loyal a provincial Guild master was supposed to be.
"Then... why have I been brought to a room like this?"
"What brings you to our Guild?"
"I was looking for an inn because I wanted to stay in this city, but some of my companions are beastfolk. I was wondering whether there might be an inn where we could all stay together, so we thought we'd ask at the Guild."
"That will be difficult... There are some bare-bones inns where you can simply rent a room, but..."
I rose from my seat and looked out the window at the Guild's backyard. It was a fairly good-sized space.
"Would you mind letting us use that backyard? If there's that much room, I can put a house there."
"A house?"
The Guild master eyed the word I had used suspiciously.
"I have a small house in my Item Box."
"Ah, I have heard the rumors that you possess an Item Box."
The rumors had already spread this far? If word of my whereabouts had gotten out, it was no wonder a letter from the royal capital had arrived.
"I suppose this is what they mean by rumors traveling a thousand miles."
"If that's the case, I may be able to permit you to use the backyard, depending on the conditions."
"What conditions?"
"I would like you to accept a request."
"There is absolutely no benefit to me in that. Perhaps I'll just leave the city and camp outside..."
"I could use my authority as Guild master to force you to do it, you know?"
"That may be so, but when we fought Shaga, a large number of Dalia's most skilled adventurers took part. Right now, I only have my family with me."
"I have received a report that the mage known as Kenichi can use a powerful iron summoned beast."
"Hmm..."
Damn, what a pain. They knew even that much?
If I refused the request here and restrictions were placed on my use of the Guild later, that would be troublesome. Did becoming famous mean dealing with more hassles like this?
"...I'll hear you out for now, but you do realize His Majesty the King has summoned me?"
"Even so, I would like to ask this of you."
According to the Guild master, there was a small forest some distance from the city, and ruins stood within it.
Apparently, goblins had taken up residence in those ruins. About fifty of the little monsters had made it their base after coming through the forest and raiding the nearby villages.
Iberis was far from the forest, and apparently there were no skilled adventurers in the city capable of dealing with them.
In my original world, goblins had an image of being weaklings, but although they were small, they were stronger and faster than ordinary farmers, making them fairly troublesome opponents.
In other words, they were about as dangerous as Shaga's men.
"Why not call skilled adventurers from Dalia or Astrantia?"
"We can't afford that kind of budget just to exterminate goblins."
Apparently, they would have to cover not only the reward, but also the round-trip travel expenses.
That alone would probably put them in the red—and the clients were farmers, so there was no way they had any money.
The damage caused by Shaga had been so severe that the reward had risen considerably, but things had apparently not reached that point here yet.
"What about appealing to the duke of this territory?"
"He refused, saying that he could not provide a budget or troops for something as minor as exterminating goblins."
The Guild master shook his head. At least, it seemed he had done everything he could.
"The people of his territory are suffering. Isn't it the lord's duty to help them?"
"It seems he judged that the damage was not severe enough to warrant sending troops to exterminate them..."
No village had been wiped out. Apparently, only crops and a dozen or so people had been affected. In my original world, even that would have caused a major uproar.
Besides, exterminating goblins wasn't something that brought anyone honor. Maybe it would if the opponent were a dragon... though I thought it would end with everyone being burned to a crisp.
If this were a small territory, they would need to respond immediately, but this was such a large noble domain. There were plenty of others who could take care of it—that was probably how they saw things.
"I understand the situation. But I can't decide on my own. I'll discuss it with my companions."
"I would appreciate it."
He didn't seem overbearing, and he honestly appeared to be in trouble—but still...
The reward was apparently ten gold coins, which would amount to one gold coin (200,000 yen) per person if ten of us went.
The opponents were fifty goblins. The danger was comparable to the battle with Shaga, yet the reward was only 200,000 yen for risking our lives. It was no wonder no one wanted to take the job.
I walked down the hallway and returned to the others, but the hall was noisy.
"When are you finally going to exterminate those goblins?!" "Women and children are being kidnapped too!"
"We are currently considering the matter..."
The female receptionist was surrounded by a large number of men on the other side of the counter, all wearing shabby clothes.
Their clothes were covered in patches and stained with dirt, and they had rough ropes tied around their waists instead of belts. They were probably farmers.
There were even small children among them, not just adults.
"You're always considering it! You're just planning to ignore a farmers' request because it won't make you any money, aren't you?!"
"That isn't the case, but—ah! That person is a very skilled adventurer!"
Hey, wait! Don't drag me into this!
"Will you take the request?!" "Oh!"
"Wait, wait. I haven't decided yet. I need to discuss it with my companions first."
For the moment, I pushed through the farmers and went over to the others.
"Boss, what's going on?"
"What is it, nya?"
"What happened?"
"What was the discussion about?"
"Nya."
Perhaps she had been waiting for me—Bell rubbed her black body against me affectionately.
"Well... They asked me to exterminate some goblins."
I explained the Guild master's request to the girls.
"With you and Anemone, I think fifty goblins would be no problem, Boss..."
"That's right, nya."
Even after analyzing the situation, the two battle-hardened women seemed to think our party had considerable fighting strength.
If we could gather the goblins in one place, Anemone's Explosion or my pressure-cooker bombs could take care of them in one shot.
Still, one should never underestimate a fight. This would be a genuine life-or-death battle, after all.
"We could refuse the request, but then they'd place restrictions on our use of the Guild later."
"That would be a pain. Did they threaten you?"
"Something like that. What should we do? I don't want to take any unnecessary risks, so I could just skip town and leave them to it..."
"It's up to you, nya."
"Hmm..."
As I agonized over the decision, a man who appeared to be the farmers' leader approached me.
"Please! I'm begging you! If this continues, more and more people will abandon farming, and our village will collapse!"
If that happened, the number of people living in slums like the one outside the city would increase again.
"I understand, but the reward is awfully low for risking our lives..."
However, when I said that, the children toddled forward.
"Here..." "All my pocket money..." "..."
Each of them held out a copper coin and gazed up at me with tearful eyes.
The coins they held were worth roughly 500 to 1,000 yen, but to the children of farmers, that was probably a fortune.
"Kenichi, aren't you going to help them?"
Anemone looked up at me too. Damn it! Stop it—that attack is super effective against me.
It was the children's devastating pleading attack. You little brats were targeting an old man's weak point! How could I refuse now?
"All right, all right. I'll take the request."
"Really?" "Hooray!" "Our village will be saved!"
"Hold on! You're getting ahead of yourselves. We're short-handed, so you're going to help too, understand?"
"I've never fought before, but tell me anything I can do! We don't want any more victims!" "That's right! I'll help too!" "We'll avenge them!"
Well, they were farmers. But if I taught them, they should at least be able to fire crossbows.
"All right! It's settled, then. Boss, I'll speak to the people here at the Guild and gather some helpers."
"Nyamena, please do that. Phew... I'm sorry, Primula."
"It's all right. You always say it yourself, Kenichi: 'Kindness is its own reward.'"
At least my family didn't seem to oppose accepting the request.
"Myaree, you're not saying, 'There he goes again, Kenichi's softheartedness'?"
"I am thinking it, nya. But I don't think Sage Kenichi can make a mistake, nya."
Enough with calling me a sage... I went over to the reception counter.
"Tell the Guild master that I'll accept the goblin extermination request. Also tell him to lend us the backyard. And one more thing..."
"What is it?"
"Stop blabbing people's personal information. If you do it again, I'll use magic to boil your blood."
I moved my face right up to the female receptionist's and threatened her. The Adventurers' Guilds in Dalia and Astrantia had never caused any problems, but this place was especially bad.
"Eek! I-I'm terribly sorry!"
The receptionist turned pale and hurried into the back.
Permission to use the yard was granted immediately, so I took the twenty farmers and children there.
I brought the house out of my Item Box in a corner of the backyard.
"Whoa! Magic?"
"It's an Item Box."
"So this is an Item Box..."
Apparently, the farmers here had never seen an Item Box before.
"I said I'd do anything, but you'll have to join my force. Don't worry about weapons; I'll lend you some."
"Y-yes..." "But we've never taken part in a battle..."
"Don't worry. I'm not going to tell you to fight with swords."
The farmers looked relieved when they heard that.
"We'll all stay here tonight, and tomorrow I'll take you to the ruins where the goblins are supposed to be."
"What? How are you going to do that...?"
"I'll have you ride on the back of my summoned beast."
"S-summoned beast?"
"A car that moves without a horse, nya."
"A carriage that moves without a horse?"
For now, I took firewood out of my Item Box and lit a fire. We had stoves and other equipment for cooking, but it would get fairly cold at night.
First, we needed to prepare something to eat.
"Primula, Anemone—there are a lot of people, so how about curry?"
"Sounds good!"
"Understood."
I took a large pot and stove out of my Item Box, along with vegetables and meat.
I had the children help peel the vegetables and put them into the pot one after another. There was plenty of meat too. Anyone heading into battle needed proper nourishment.
Besides, we no longer needed a pressure cooker. Anemone could heat everything with magic, cooking meat and vegetables with ease.
It was like putting the entire pot in a microwave and heating it up.
I left the cooking to the girls while we conducted military training.
The helpers Nyamena brought were two beastfolk—a tall calico woman and a large black-and-white man.
The man was wearing cute white gloves, but according to Myaree, he was apparently quite old. I had no idea how old beastfolk were.
He wore a necklace strung with what appeared to be fangs. They were probably from prey he had killed in the past.
He wore a shabby jacket and something like long, loose shorts. Most beastmen seemed to dress like that.
The woman wore a vest-like jacket and a miniskirt. Women often dressed that way.
This was a world without fashion or trends. They were probably doing all they could just by wearing whatever they could obtain.
The pay for the helpers was one gold coin (200,000 yen) per day. It seemed like a fairly good income, but they were risking their lives.
In the end, only these two had volunteered. Somehow, I kept ending up associated with beastfolk, but it definitely wasn't some personal preference of mine.
Besides, the beastfolk were probably drawn to me because I had a Forest Cat with me.
"Are you all right, old man?"
"I've been away from fighting for a while, but I can still handle myself."
His voice was incredibly deep and gravelly. I wanted to have this old beastman work as a voice actor.
"Besides... my grandchild is going to be born soon. I want to buy the little one something, you know? And getting to fight alongside Forest Cat-sama will give me something to brag about to my grandchild."
"That's wonderful news."
"You bet it is."
The female beastman seemed to be middle-aged. Once again, I had no idea how old she really was.
"Nice to meet you. I was just thinking of making a little money around here. I want to fight alongside Forest Cat-sama and share in Forest Cat-sama's good fortune."
Like the old beastman, she had a low, gravelly voice, so perhaps beastfolk's voices grew deeper as they aged.
I lent the beastfolk helpers polycarbonate bucklers and cutlasses.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any armor or anything like that."
Armor made for beastfolk would need to be a completely different size. Since armor for them was rarely sold, they apparently often made it themselves.
"No, being lent such fine weapons is more than enough."
The woman drew her cutlass and swung it around at incredible speed.
"I intend to keep you out of close combat as much as possible."
"Then how are we supposed to fight...?"
The male beastman raised his voice in confusion, but I silently pointed at the farmers.
"The farmers will use ranged weapons."
I took a compound crossbow and a bundle of grass I had cut earlier out of my Item Box.
To use the grass as a target, I leaned two sheets of plywood against the building wall and placed the bundle in front of them.
First, I demonstrated for the farmers.
"Hold it like this, look through this tube, and pull the trigger. Simple, right?"
When I pulled the trigger, the bolt shot out with a loud bang and sank deep into the bundle of grass.
"Oooooh!"
"Give it a try."
Nyamena would use one of the crossbows, leaving me with nine. We needed eleven more.
When I pressed the purchase button, eleven crossbows dropped from Shangri-La. Including the ones I had taken from my Item Box, we had twenty in total.
I gave each person a crossbow and had them practice shooting.
If we split into two groups of ten and alternated between shooting and reloading, we should be able to maintain a reasonably continuous attack.
Performing something like the famous three-rank firing formation would require training. Besides, I had heard that it might be a fictional tactic.
Pull the string, set the bolt, aim, and pull the trigger—it was simple. Even the farmers quickly learned the procedure.
They all worked the fields swinging hoes, so they had a decent amount of strength.
The crossbows also had scopes, so they were unlikely to miss by much.
"You see the cross inside the tube? The bolt flies toward it, so aiming should be easy."
"This is incredible!" "Even the duke's army doesn't use anything like this!"
"What do you think? You should be able to attack from a distance with these, right?"
"We can do it!" "Now we can avenge my wife!" "All right! Let's do this!"
They probably fired about twenty bolts apiece. I also took transparent polycarbonate tower shields out of my Item Box and had them practice with those.
They paired up and practiced reloading and firing while hiding behind the shields. Bell sat with her paws tucked beneath her, intently watching everyone struggle through the training.
The Guild employees had been peeking at us, and they must have reported what they saw. The Guild master came out to observe.
"Are those crossbows? Could I take a look too?"
I handed a crossbow to the Guild master, who was examining it with great interest.
"Oh! This is... what an exquisite crossbow!"
The Guild master loaded a bolt with practiced ease and hit the target dead-on.
As one would expect of a Guild master, he seemed to be a fairly skilled fighter.
"And the power and accuracy are incredible!"
"Unfortunately, it's not for sale. No amount of money would persuade me to sell it."
"That's a shame... I had heard that you possessed an Item Box, but I never imagined it contained things like this. No wonder the royal capital summoned you."
"I tried to keep it from becoming known, but I suppose I was too flashy in too many ways."
Of course, if I had done nothing and stayed hidden in the forest, no one would have found out. But wouldn't that have been boring?
This was another world, and I had a cheat ability. I had to enjoy the opportunities available to me. Still, it was true that various hassles had increased along with my notoriety.
Well, it was all a matter of perspective. If I went to the royal capital and managed to get the king on my side, the other nobles wouldn't be able to lay a finger on me.
But if they tried to conscript me without giving me a choice, I'd run away.
At least I had accumulated enough money. If that happened, perhaps I really would live quietly in the forest without doing anything at all.
I had nearly 200 million yen worth of goods packed into my Item Box.
If I lived another forty years, that would give me five million yen a year—more than 400,000 yen a month. I certainly wouldn't need to spend that much on food alone.
By the time the farmers' basic military training ended and darkness fell, the curry was ready and a delicious aroma filled the air.
There were so many of us that we sat on the ground and ate together. The menu was curry and bread.
There was too much bread for Anemone to bake enough, so I served bread I had bought from Shangri-La.
"Please eat as much as you like."
"It's delicious!"
Everyone began eating the curry as Primula and Anemone spoke.
"This is amazing! What is this?!" "Delicious!" "Is this a dish made with spices?"
The children ate the curry alongside the shouting farmers.
"This is way too delicious! I wish I could feed something this good to my grandchild!"
"This is the best thing I've ever eaten!"
While the beastfolk ate with their faces covered in curry, I spoke to the children, who were silently eating.
"Is it good?"
The children nodded silently and continued eating. Their speed never slowed, so I assumed they liked it.
I also served a cup of alcohol to anyone who wanted one. It was the cheapest shochu, though. If I gave them bottles, the beastfolk would drink all of it.
"But are you sure this is all right? You're letting us eat food made with such expensive spices..."
"And this is a silver spoon, isn't it...?"
The spoons were stainless steel, as usual, but there was no point explaining that to them.
"Don't worry about so many things while you're eating. Just eat. You'll be fighting tomorrow, so you need to build up your strength."
"That's right. Since Boss is treating us, call it a morale boost and eat your fill."
The female beastfolk helper held up her cup.
I would feed them, but we had agreed that all the items obtained during the extermination would belong to me.
The Guild master, who had been watching the training, was eating the curry along with everyone else.
"This food, those incredible crossbows... Just who are you?"
The Guild master held his plate of curry, wearing a solemn expression.
"Normally, I'm a merchant who uses an Item Box. So, what do you think of the spiced food endorsed by the nobles?"
"It is truly magnificent."
The female receptionist from before was peeking at us from behind the building, repeatedly glancing at the food as though she wanted some.
I had the children take her a small bowl of curry and a single piece of bread.
I really was quite a soft touch, wasn't I?