CH 45

Chapter 45 – Insurgents

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After three days of going around as the new character, Komon, the topic finally came up in the Fukuzawa household. It was around the time that everyone was together having breakfast.

“Come to think of it, I recently heard a rumor about a woman in a hakama, clearing dungeons alone.”

It was Minako, Jouichirou’s wife, who brought it up.

“Eh, is that true?!” (Kanna)

As a girl, she easily took the bait at the sign of a rumor. However, Jouichirou’s expression remained grim, saying that it seemed like a really frightening tale.

“Why, Papa! If the dungeons are being cleared, then that means there would be fewer monsters to disturb all of us, right?” (Kanna)

“That’s true. You’re right, Kanna, but when I think of one person plunging into danger alone, and a woman at that…” (Jouichirou)

Perhaps this was what he thought as a doctor.

“Ah, now that you mention it… I wonder if she’s okay.” (Kanna)

Kanna was a kind girl, and she seemed to be sincerely worried about Komon.

“Besides, thanks to the efforts of that group, the Apostles of Peace, the monsters in the city have been thinning out a bit. If she were to work alongside people like them, I’m sure it would be a bit safer.” (Jouichirou)

It seemed that Otaka and his comrades were doing their best out there. Since they were my valued clients, I wanted them to continue to spend more on weapons.

“But why do you think she’s acting alone? Hey Torimoto-san, what do you think?” (Jouichirou))

“Hmm… Let’s see. Maybe she’s not good at working in groups. Well, in other words, perhaps she just prefers to be alone.” (Torimoto)

“I see. Anything else?” (Jouichirou)

“It’s more convenient to be alone after all.” (Torimoto)

“Hmm? What do you mean?” (Jouichirou)

“Without knowing that person’s story, it’s hard to say, but if she’s been fighting alone all this time, she might just think it’s easier to move alone than to have other people burdening her.” (Torimoto)

Well, I said that because it was true for me. Excluding Sol and Shiki of course.

“Ahh…” (Jouichirou)

“Besides, she might not trust other people. Perhaps she just doesn’t like people in general?” (Torimoto)

“I see. Revenge against monsters… That’s certainly possible,” Jouichirou said with a complex expression on his face. He must have seen many such people at the hospital. There were probably countless people who hated monsters because they had been hurt by them or had their family members and homes taken away by them.

“Ah, but maybe if this house gets turned into a dungeon, maybe we can have that woman come to help us!” Kanna exclaimed in an innocent manner. It wasn’t like it was something that anyone could have simply thought of, but…

“Kanna, don’t go saying something so ominous. Besides… I want to stay away from making a decision that involves forcing someone to put their own life in danger.” (Jouichirou)

“Papa… I’m sorry.” (Kanna)

Minako looked at her with a wry smile, as if she understood how Kanna felt. The powerless had to rely on the powerful to get by.

It was a very natural thing, and it wasn’t wrong by any means. Kanna’s opinion would be considered reasonable in the eyes of most ordinary humans. However, Jouichirou’s thoughts were more righteous in regard to being human.

Not wanting anyone to get hurt for their own sake… That was an admirable aspiration.

However, if Kanna and Minako were stuck inside of a dungeonized house, would Jouichirou still refuse to rely on the strong?

No, he would have to rely on the strong then. Because he wouldn’t want to lose them. But Jouichirou only chided Kanna just now because he didn’t want to think about such an outrageous situation. Surely, he knew that as well.

Even if he doesn’t want to rely on the powerful, there were times when there was no other choice. Even if it meant other people getting hurt for his sake. He knew that sacrificing anything to protect his precious family was the right thing to do.

After breakfast, Jouichirou said he had the day off, so the family was going to Akito’s house.

Kanna begged me to go with her, but I declined, saying that I had a personal matter that I couldn’t afford to miss. Kanna looked disappointed, but when I told her that I would bring back a souvenir for her, she smiled happily and left with Jouichirou and the rest of the family.

Naturally, I was going to go around clearing dungeons, which had become my daily routine as of late. If it was going according to how I imagined it, it wouldn’t be strange if I were to get approached soon.

As I thought, I was walking through the city as Komon Shiina. Suddenly, a car passed by and stopped in front of me, and two figures hopped out of the car.

Ah damn… I didn’t want this kind of approach though.

I didn’t show it on my face, but inside, I was disappointed. After all, it was a police car that had stopped in front of me.

“Hey you, would you hear me out?” One of the police officers said as he approached me. His expression showed that he was clearly wary of me.

It made sense. I had a katana, so even if he had heard the rumors, he wouldn’t be that friendly.

“…What is it?” (Komon)

“No I mean, that’s… a katana, isn’t it? Do you have a permit for that?” (Police Officer)

“What a strange thing to say. You’re still speaking of the law in such a world?” (Komon)

“W-What…? This is Japan, a country governed by law, you know?” (Police Officer)

Well, duh. But look at the current situation. Is the law helping anyone here?

But there was one curious thing. The atmosphere they were giving off was too overdone for a police questioning. The guy in the back had a police baton in his hand.

Moreover, they seemed to be looking at my body… no, Komon’s body, while licking their lips.

“What would you do if I told you that I haven’t received a permit?” (Komon)

“Of course, we’ll be taking you to the station.” (Police Officer)

“…Could it be that you’ve heard the rumors and have been searching for me?” (Komon)

Immediately after I’d asked that, I could clearly see from their expressions that I was right on the mark.

These guys… They show too much on their faces. It’s so damn easy to read.

“Sigh. The police don’t have enough time to deal with a single person like me, do they? There are so many dungeons in this city alone, and there are many people suffering because of the monsters. Don’t you think that they’d be busy saving people, and wouldn’t have the time to spare for someone as insignificant as me?” (Komon)

“Tch, hurry up and get in the police car! If you resist, you will be forcibly arrested under the grounds of obstruction of justice!” (Police Officer)

“Well, well, well. How scary. Excuse me, but may I see your police identification card first?” (Komon)

The two ‘police officers’ looked at each other and nodded, annoyed that I wasn’t obeying them as they wanted.

“Shut your fucking trap!” the man who was questioning me shouted, grabbing my right arm.

I see… There’s no doubt about it. Then there’s no need for me to hold back.

I grabbed his arm with my left hand and crushed his bones with the force of my grip.

“Aaaggghhh!!?” (Man)

The man was forced to release his grip on my arm, and fell on his buttocks due to the pain from his crushed arm.

Naturally, with his buddy in such a situation, the other man swung his police baton at me.

With a flash of my sword, I cut the police baton in half. The man began to back away slowly, trying to get away from me.

I had no intention of letting him get away. I stepped in under his reach with a single bound and slammed him in the jaw with the palm of my hand, then delivered a high kick to his face as his head snapped upwards. Carried by the momentum, the man crashed into a telephone pole and lost consciousness.

Ah man, there’s blood coming from his head… Did he die? Well, not that I care.

“…Well then.” (Komon)

“Hyyyaaaaa?!!” (Man)

The only one left was the other man, who was frightened out of his wits, unable to stand. I held up my sword and pointed it at his face.

“Answer me. What were you planning to do after capturing me?” (Komon)

“F-F-Forgive me, please! We were only acting on a request!” (Man)

“There you go again with your damn canned phrases. So? I’ll hear you out. Who sent you?” (Komon)

“A guy named Kuzuhara-san!” (Man)

“Kuzuhara…?” (Komon)

That name…

I suddenly recalled where I had heard that name. It was the name of the leader of the Inochi-shirazu, an insurgent group who had been running rampant in this town recently.

But just to make sure…

“The leader of the Inochi-shirazu?” (Komon)

“T-That’s right! We’re s-still just underlings! He said that if we wanted to become executives, we just had to bring that female monster hunter who’s been getting a lot of attention lately!” (Man)

Ooh, so he called me a monster hunter, did he?

I was true that I was hunting monsters while clearing the dungeons, so it wasn’t strange for them to call me that.

“What did Kuzuhara want from me?” (Komon)

Well, what should I do here? I could kill them right here and change Komon’s character so far, but is it still too early to kill them?

If I just let these guys live, they would surely commit pointless murders in the future. Not that I really cared what happened to other people, but to be honest, it was a pain in the ass to have the number of potential clients reduced by the likes of these guys.

Right. These guys were the kind of bastards who wouldn’t hesitate to kill a child with their own hands. Just like Ohsaka…

“….Beyond saving, huh?” (Komon)

“Huh….W-What are y―” (Man)

In the next instant, the man’s head was flying through the air. Of course, the one who did that was me. Then, I walked over to the other man who had lost consciousness and cut his head off.

“Don’t blame me. You guys deserved to be killed.” (Komon)

Besides… the Tanaka family had left me a fortune. It worked out for me as I’d also wanted to get a bit of revenge for the Tanaka family.

“Well then… Sol.” (Komon)

“Yes!” (Sol)

I called out to Sol, who had been flying in the sky above while keeping an eye on the surroundings.

“I’m gonna need you to find out more about the Inochi-shirazu. At any rate, this matter that happened today will eventually reach Kuzuhara’s ears. That guy tries to act like a ruler, so he’ll definitely try to make contact with me. Before that, I want to get some more information about him.” (Komon)

“Okay! Shiki, I’m leaving Master’s protection to you!” (Sol)

“Understood!” (Shiki)

After Shiki responded from the depths of my shadow, Sol flew off at a speed faster than my eyes could follow.

…Anyway, I really didn’t think that I would be spotted by these people first.

It would have been nice if the people who wanted to request that I clear dungeons for them reached out to me first, but of course, I did consider the possibility that insurgents like Kuzuhara’s group would try to get in contact with me as well.

At any rate, those guys desired power, and they wanted it for two reasons. One was for the sake of increasing their strength, and the other was to kill anyone who tried to harm them.

“I won’t let them have their way. I’ll teach a lesson to those guys who act like they’re the strongest. They ought to know that there are cheat-like existences in this world.”

It was frustrating to see these guys act like they could force others to do whatever they demanded. At the same time, it was annoying to me when people easily yielded to people more powerful than them.

No matter how strongly these guys pressured me, I would never yield. I would continue fighting and struggling to the end. This was the conviction that I intended to uphold in my life.