Chapter 127.3

127 Part 3

Haruki couldn’t be frightened by an empty attempt to intimidate him that was nothing more than sound.

Yoshioka’s face became even redder than before.

He didn’t seem too amused by Haruki’s lack of response to his threats.

“All of you adventurers are like that. The moment you get a little power, nothing will stop you from resorting to theft, robbery, injury, and intimidation, to get what you want. You’d soon resort to all sorts of violence. You only think about yourselves. It’s always money, money with you! If there’s no money involved, you wouldn’t move a finger to save human lives or the future of a city. Once you get powerful enough, all of you’d abandon Hakodate in a heartbeat!!

But unlike you scum, we are protecting this city! Even though nothing ever happens here, as soon money is involved, you lot gather here like a pack of hungry hyenas! We will never lend a hand to you bastards!!”

“Mr. Yoshioka, please calm down–”

“Shut up, you scum!! The Self-Defense Force will take care of the unique-species of Dungeon Lord. This is our job! You meddling hyenas stay out of this!”

“But–”

“I said SHUT UP!! Why do you think the Self-Defense Force can’t do anything about this? Just how much better than us do you adventurers think you are?”

“Wait–”

“We, the Self-Defense Force, have conquered the Mt. Hakodate Dungeon many times. There is no way we can’t defeat this rare species monster!! Don’t underestimate us, you scum!!”

Yoshioka’s head seemed as if it was about to explode.

That’s how furious he had become.

The reason for this was that his opponents were adventurers.

To him, adventurers were selfish people who cared for nothing more than money.

As soon as they gained enough power, they would abandon their hometowns and friends.

They were cruel and cold-hearted people.

As the number of workers decreased along with the population, it became impossible for major industries to continue fishing for squid, and business declined overnight. Adventurers simply throw away such Hakodate because it is not profitable.

There was a dungeon in Hakodate.

And people were living around it.

Under these circumstances, Yoshioka simply couldn’t help but feel an intense hatred for adventurers, who had abandoned Hakodate in the past.

He wondered if they had any love for their hometown.

He asked himself if they didn’t feel they had any obligations for their hometown at all.

These adventurers who abandoned their hometown wouldn’t be able to see the people shedding tears because they could no longer fish for squid.

They wouldn’t be able to see the companies going out of business because they couldn’t get their hands on squid.

Wasn’t an adventurer’s job to help people?

If that was the case, shouldn’t they be helping the citizens of their hometown of Hakodate, who had fallen to despair, instead of those far away!?

Why risk their lives becoming adventurers when they could stay safe in their hometown and help protect the people there!?

After all, they only had eyes for money.

In order to make money easily and quickly, they would aim to become adventurers and abandon their homeland and friends for greener pastures.

Then, when something happened in Hakodate, they would waste no time storming the city.

They were like loan sharks, showing their ugly smiling faces only when it’s profitable for them.

Yoshioka didn’t want any of those greedy “adventurers” to come anywhere near his homeland.

“…”

Kagemitsu was at a loss for words as he stared at Yoshioka breathing heavily and baring his fangs like a mad dog.

He wouldn’t listen to anyone while he was like this.

However, the food situation in Hakodate had become tight due to the appearance of that unique-species monster.

Under such circumstances, it was way too strange to not accept help from outsiders, let alone even refusing to talk.

When they met the other day, they were still able to hold a conversation like two civilized people.

Kagemitsu couldn’t understand why he was throwing such a tantrum now.

However, because of this, Kagemitsu could clearly see that it would be extremely difficult to carry out the request.

“You coward! Why are you sneaking around! Show yourself!!”

Yamaoka’s roars made Haruki’s shoulder tremble.

After all, he was the one Yamaoka was yelling at.

A little while ago, Yamaoka had called him a “monster”.

Moreover, he felt it was his fault that the negotiations had gone this badly.

If I hadn’t come, maybe they would have been able to talk this out peacefully…

His depression made his presence feel even fainter than ever.

So faint, in fact, that it had disappeared completely.

Yamaoka must have misinterpreted that as some sort of provocation.

But I didn’t have the slightest intention to do that…

Haruki’s eyes started to well up in tears.

“I-I’m not trying to hide.”

“Don’t lie to me! You were trying to scare me, weren’t you!?”

“No, I would never–”

“So why are your eyes shining like that!?”

My eyes!?

Haruki’s back jumped in surprise.

It seemed that his energy was inadvertently poured into his mask because he was yelled at by Yoshioka.

The eyes of Haruki’s mask had started to emit a faint light.

“Are you trying to make fun of me!?”

“N-No, not at all!”

Flustered, Haruki’s control of his own energy was disturbed even further.

Immediately, the mask’s eyes began to flicker.

Many people in the room stared at Haruki’s mask and held their mouths while their faces went completely red.

Haruki could hear Karen’s “Pff, pfft”. She sounded as if she was about to die from it.

At that moment, someone in the room couldn’t contain their urges and let out a “teheehee”.

That seemed to have been the last straw for several others, as they followed along with more “pfft”s and “teheehee”s of their own.