Chapter 28
Well, I’m also a hikikomori that can’t get back home and a loner, who is being scolded by 20 high school girls daily……
「Isn’t there something? Like a job that can instantly solve all financial problems? Something super big?」
「Just how much does the job have to pay to solve the financial woes of someone who spent 8,000,000 in one day? We don’t have such a job!」
Yeah, I didn’t get my share of flat gaze this morning since the president and the others left so early, but coming here to get my fill wasn’t a mistake. As expected of the president of receptionists. Currently, she is the best master of flat gaze among the native population of this world. Well, not like I know of any other.
No, there is really nothing. It’s not like I’m being picked on or trying to pick on them? There is nothing? A worrying lack of good requests that make me suspect a recession or monster deficit.
Nothing at all. Absolutely.
「Or rather, aren’t all those requests the same as yesterday? Nothing changed? Why did I even come here? The person in charge of the bulletin board isn’t doing their job? I’ll turn into Jean Valjean![1. TL Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Valjean] I’ll steal bread! I wonder if I will receive a silver candlestick?[2. TL Note: When Jean stole the bishop’s silver, the bishop admonished Jean for not taking the candlestick as well, hoping what that silver can help Jean part with the life of crime.]」
「I’m not sure why you think that you will receive a silver candlestick if there is no job, but when will you actually start keeping a low profile?」
Okay, I got my fill of flat gaze for today. After all, the flat gaze is the last glimmer of twilight, the flat gaze is the last darkness and the last dawn.
As a bonus, I even got scolded.
The girls won’t be back until the evening. Since they are hunting while receiving training from Akemi-san and others, this might drag on until the night. I have to find ways to make money as well.
I know that mushrooms can be sold for quite a sum. They are expensive and not widely available on the market. Even though they were just a useless stock item before. That’s a great promotion, huh, mushroom-san?
That’s why I can’t sell them.
If push comes to shove, they can become medicine, food, and money. I should share them with the girls as well, For adventurers living in a town they might be even more useful than gold. Just having them is reassuring.
In fact, I sold HP mushrooms and MP mushrooms to the general store for 50,000 ere each. It seems that mushrooms have ranks as well, with the lowest one worth 50,000 ere. Since she didn’t have enough funds to buy them, I traded them for a simple version of Item Bag.
The simple item bag, despite its high price, can’t hold many items, and on top of that, big items also cannot be put inside. But it’s convenient to have anyway. Especially for an adventurer.
One bag costs 100,000 ere, so for the time being, it’s out of reach for the girls. It seems to be a rare item, by chance the store had an opportunity to buy 8 of them. A bulk purchase! The payment is all in mushrooms though.
Stuff them with mushrooms, and then add some infinite fruit juice, and I can be at ease after giving those to the girls. The president also has the magic stones that I gave her earlier.
In this case, I should be going back to the cave, but there are no signs of the geeks. Good grief, just where are those geeks geeking? They said that they will be waiting in the town, yet they are nowhere to be found. Those damn geeks…
Do we have no other choice but to go on geek hunt?
Waiting for them is a pain after all.
Wouldn’t it be faster to just track them down?
They are probably geeking somewhere anyway.
Okay, I left a message at the inn. Only two roads are leading out of this town. I don’t know which way they went, but they must be geeking along one of them.
Then, let’s hunt. Why? Because the geeks are there!
For starters, let’s check the road that follows downstream.
First, let’s stick behind a merchant and sneak through the gates.
Then, take off into the sky, and if I see something geeky on the way, hunt it. That should do it. Yeah, sounds nice. No doubt.
・
・
・
Here I’m running, or rather sprinting, or maybe leaping? Anyway, advancing forward.
I tried to fly at first, but going too fast I couldn’t see a thing. Since I can’t see anything I also can’t hunt. And crash landing each time hurts, Even if my clothes are intact, it’s still painful.
As such, I run. If I can travel at such a speed, then getting back to the cave won’t take even one day. If I fly I can make a round trip in a day. Though there will be casualties, I should be able to do it. Or rather, I’m going to be that casualty.
The crash this time also involved 30 gobs. Good grief, those gobs have such bad timing. Don’t gather in groups at places where people are falling. Gobs really can’t read the mood. They are so bad at taking hints that I’m sure, were they in our world, they would’ve been bullied along with the geeks. Jeez, the geeks are geeking, gobs are gobbing, which means, there are probably kobolds kobbing somewhere as well.
I saw a village midway, but since it had no signs of the geeks, I ignored it.
There also was a carriage, but since there are no signs of the geeks, I ignore it.
There also were bandits, but since there are no signs of the geeks, I ignore them.
The carriage got attacked by the bandits, but since there are no signs of the geeks, I ignore it.
「Kill that kid with the nasty eyes as well! Leave no witnesses!」
「Huh? Fire Bulletーーーー!! Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, buuurn!」
Okay, I feel better now. I’ve always been thinking that when you feel stress, the best way to get rid of it is to exert stress at the source of your stress. The stress about someone calling my eyes nasty just exploded. I feel great.
「……」
「Eh? Not exploded? I didn’t burn you enough? Maybe I didn’t put enough fire? Undercooked?」
「This brat, is a mage? Crap, even though I have items for magic defense…… What the hell is this! Why!!」
Huh? Other bandits are also standing up. So they are undercooked? They appear well-done though? Did I go too easy on them?
Tattered and wobbling bandits move to surround me… What I was searching for were the geeks though… Haah, I’m once again surrounded by old men, just what did I do to deserve this? Why do old men keep gathering around me? Is there some kind of old men assembly nearby? And why are they asking me why and what? Why am I supposed to know that?
「Are you an idiot? Go and cry about it to the person that sold you this crap. Ask the person that made it. Why are you asking me? No way I’d know that? Do I look like a salesman for magic protection gear? Do you think I’m going to start explaining it to you? Do you think this is sales with the presentation? Are you expecting some kind of 『Buy one item right now and get another one for free』deal? Keep dreaming, or rather, I’m not even selling anything, who are you calling a dealer?!」
「Shut up, stupid brat.」
After asking why and what themselves, they are now telling me to shut up? Huh? Don’t they know that having a conversation is a lot like playing catch ball? You have to pass the ball. Not to brag, but the other day the president called me a conversational wild pitcher. ……I’m really not bragging…… Those words were a dead ball right into my heart.
「He is a caster, surround him! The only thing he has is a staff, go for close combat!」
Apparently, they are going to surround me. Apparently, they are going to fight me in close combat. Why are they telling me this?
「URRAaah.」(Thud.)
「…………?」
「ORAAAYAah.」(Thud.)
「…………??」
「A magic-type job?」
「What? I’m jobless.」
「Huuuuuh?……」
「Eehm?……?」
Don’t ask me if you are going to 『Huh?』on me. I just told you! Why do I have to take emotional damage in the middle of the fight? It hurts, you know! My heart!
Massive damage.
A critical hit.
「This kid is level 9……? Use weapons skills!」
「Level 9! Are you looking down on us?! You little shit!」
Tch, and I used 『Concealment』to hide it. So one of them has 『Insight』? Weapons skills, huh. Apparently, getting hit by them would mean my death.
「Slash」「Double」「Slash」「Cross」「Bash」「Swing」「Slash」「Reap」「Slash」「Crush」「Slash」「Fast」「Attack」「Thrust」「Slash」「Cross」「Bash」「Swing」「Slash」「Reap」「Slash」「Crush」「Slash」「Fast」「Attack」「Thrust」「Slash」「Rolling」「Bash」「Slash」「Cross Attack」「Bash」「Swing」「Slash」「Square」「Rolling」「Bash」「Square」「Slash」「Cross Attack」「Slash」「Rolling」…(And so on in a loop)
Aah, how annoying.
「「「「Huff, huff, huff, huff」」」」
Well, if you are going to shout that much during a fight, you’d obviously run out of breath. Are they idiots?
「「「「Huff, huff, huff, huff, huff, huff.」」」」
Do they lack exercise? For a bandit, their body is their greatest asset. Well, the head doesn’t count……
『Cloak of Evasion – SpE +20% Evasion UP (Lesser)』. The effect is lesser, but it seems to be more effective than I expected? These guys have skills, but they are slow. Slower than goblins. They have less SpE than even Lv 5 goblin. And their brains are no different from goblin’s. Though their faces are more like those of orcs?
Ah, dropped to the ground? Their faces are blue, is this cyanosis? Or they are just ugly? Or maybe they are actually orcs?
・
・
・
「Allow me to express my gratitude. For defeating…… Making the bandits collapse? For saving us? Eh? But you ignored us earlier? …… Thank you very much? You have my deepest gratitude.」
Yeah, rather than saying that I defeated them, it’s more like they collapsed on their own? They are still down? Do they have problems with breathing? I doubt that this is asthma.
The soldiers are making some kind of a ruckus. Is there a problem with the mushroom flavor after all? Or is it about the smell?
「Their weapons most likely were smeared with poison……」
Crap, if I got at least scratched by them, I could’ve used that massive load of antidote herbs that I’m carrying…… Damn, if there is no use for it then it is no different from a common grass. It would mean that I simply weeded out the forest.
But level wall is a problem after all The attacks weren’t even that good, but they were fast, sharp, and heavy.
The people using the skills were slow, but their hands, or more like their weapons, suddenly turned fast, accurate, and powerful.
So those are weapon skills, huh. Intense physical movements while shouting… Is this some kind of weight-loss exercise? One more set? Taicho?[3. TL Note: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy%27s_Bootcamp] I should tell the president and others about this when I get back. After all, it took them only one evening to eat that large quantity of dried fruits…… And they cost quite a penny. Even though they were so mad about my excessive spending. Saying that I lack planning. ……And how are they any better?……
「………Errr? H-hey? Hello? Are you listening?」
Ah, it seems the Young Lady was saying something.
「Are you hurt anywhere? Right now I have suspicious mushroom flavored liquid? If you get one right now, you can have another one for free?」
「……?」
Looks like she doesn’t need it. As expected.
The soldiers tie up the bandits. It seems that they were poisoned, but managed to recover. Thank goodness. Really. The large volume of antidote herbs finally became useful. So it didn’t turn into a pointless weeding. I was so smug, saying 『Antidote herbs? Is this a flag?』, after all. So it wasn’t just grass. It wasn’t just a useless weed. The soldiers now stink of mushrooms, but it’s great that they recovered.
「……Pleease, listen to me, being ignored feels very depressing. Heey.」
Oh my, looks like the Young Lady was saying something.
「I’m the daughter of Omui Town’s Lord. My name is Meriel Shimu Omui. Are you listening? Really? I introduced myself 5 times already? I’m going to cry, you know?」
「I heard you. Totally. I’m Haruka. Merimeri-san?」
I’m listening properly, but she seems to be underestimating my memory. It seems that she came from the town called Omui. The daughter of the local lord. A Young Lady, a scion of a noble. Coming to this world, it took me 3 weeks to meet a young noble lady. Meeting a princess must be impossible. It will probably take 50 years. All princesses will turn into grannies by then.
「……I’m really going to cry? A whole river? I don’t care if you drown in it? Why won’t you listen to me? Who is Merimeri?」
Oh my, looks like the Young Lady was saying something.
「Haruka-sama. We are going back to Omui. If it’s fine with you, could you accompany us there? I would like to formally thank you, and um… the guards are also asking that you would come with us.」
「Hmm, I don’t mind, but is it close? I can’t go if it’s too far away, I have to be back in town by the night.」
「Haruka-sama, from which town did you come?」
「Aah, the one upstream on this river, hmm, the name… Did it have a name?」
「……I’m sorry, probably, the petty lord of that nameless unknown town is my father. I’m sorry for acting like a daughter of a noble family despite coming from an unknown lineage. I will change my name to Merimeri. I’m sorry……」
The soldiers scolded me.
・
・
・
The gatekeepers scolded me as well.
Which reminds me, I snuck out of the town. And I just openly tried to go back in a carriage.
「Ah, yeah, which reminds me, it’s super well known Omui, everyone keeps saying Omui, Omui, well known and popular. Even goblins keep saying Omui, Omui. 」
I’m in full damage control mode. While we were riding in the carriage I kept trying to make excuses, but I guess it isn’t good that during that I forgot the name of the town for about two times?
「What’s the point of it being well known among goblins? Doesn’t that mean that they will attack the town? And also, at times you say Omoi. It’s Omui. It might be unknown, but it’s Omui. (Sob)」
The president saw that I made the daughter of the local lord cry, and also scolded me.
After finding out that the gatekeepers scolded me for sneaking out of the town, the president scolded me again.
Then, she also scolded me for writing『I’m out for geek hunt.』in the note that I left at the inn.
I tried to follow up by saying that I couldn’t get any geeks, she got mad at me again.
Then, after hearing from the guards that I fought high-level bandits and was attacked with weapon skills, the president scolded me once again. While crying. She kept scolding me with tears in her eyes…………