Chapter 33: The First Job: The Value of a Life

Chapter 33: The First Job: The Value of a Life

Part 1

The city Rikaris, house address number 2 in Kiribu's Row.

The architecture of the first floor is constructed as a long building that has 4 entrances.

The people who live in there cannot be seen as rich, but they are not poor to the extent of struggling in the slums, and are the average populace of the Magic continent.

In that place, there are 3 shadows moving about; 2 small shadows and a big shadow. They slowly lumbered around, arrogantly as if there is no one around.

And they stopped in front one of the doors without incident.

[Hello. The people from the adventurer's guild have come–]

A young boy's voice rings out loudly while he knocks on the door.

It is strange.

There are no adventurers in this area who will use such a courteous tone. Where adventurers are concerned, they are basically people who belong to the rough type.

But the resident of this house is deceived by the gentle voice and opens the door with a clank. What emerges from the door is a young girl who's about 7-8 years old, with a long tail behind her like a lizard and she has a forked tongue, carrying the traits of the Houga race.

The young boy smiles at the young girl and speaks.

[My sincere greetings, is this Meisel-san's residence?]

[Yes, w, what is this regarding?]

[Ah, my sincere apologies for not saying this earlier. I am Rudeus from <Dead End>, indeed.]

[D, Dead End?]

The girl also knows the name of <Dead End>, the evil devil from the Superd race that killed indiscriminately, accomplishing many military exploits in the Laplace war.

He is the most brutal individual.

If anyone meets him, they will only have a dead end. Anyone who had encountered him would say [If I didn't run away with everything I had, I would have died long ago].

This name is the definition of fear, and even amongst the adventurers who claim they are capable of defeating any Monsters, will tremble violently when they hear the name <Dead End>.

Meisel also knows the special traits of <Dead End>, and he is definitely not this pipsqueak.

[We have accepted your request to find your pet. I would like to inquire about the details, may I know if you have the time?] This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Dead End.

This is a frightening name, and the two people behind him are also strange, but after looking at the young boy who has used excessively polite words, her fear diminishes.

Furthermore, they are adventurers who seem to have accepted her request.

[Please help me find my Mii.]

[Yes, the name is Mii-chan right? It's a really adorable name.]

[It's a name that I picked.]

[Ah, your naming sense is really wonderful.]

Meisel becomes very pleased after hearing these words.

[Well then, what does Mii-chan look like?]

Meisel slowly describes the appearance of the pet, and how it disappeared three days ago without returning home. Usually when she calls for it, it will come running, and how it should be hungry now, and so forth.

She speaks in a way befitting of her age as she doesn't get to the point.

The average adult will find her speaking manner to be annoying, and most likely return without listening to what she has to say. But the young boy finishes listening to everything that she has to say with a smile, nodding earnestly in response to every sentence.

[I got it. Then we will set off to find it. Please leave it to <Dead End>!]

The young boy suddenly gives a thumbs up, and strangely, the two people behind him also give a thumbs up. Meisel imitates them by also giving a thumbs up even though she doesn't understand what's happening.

Confirming this, the young boy turns on his heels to go back. The hooded girl beside him also accompanies him. The biggest man squats down and place his hand on her head and speaks.

[We will definitely help you to find it, please wait without any worries.]

His face has a very long scar, and there's a gem on his forehead. His hair color is a speckled blue, and his face is very frightening. But the hand on her head is very warm, and she nods lightly.

[I, I leave it to you.]

[Aah, just leave it to us.]

To the three people who are leaving, Meisel looks at their backs and asks the biggest person.

[Excuse me, what is your name?]

[Ruijerd.]

He makes a short reply and turns his back to her. Meisel's face is dyed red, and she mutters the name Ruijerd.

Part 2

–Rudeus's point of view–

After meeting with the client, I certainly grasped the crux of the request.

It seems that I had imitated the worker who does door-to-door sales in my past life pretty well.

It's fine if I get laughed at by other adventurers, but we must give the clients a good first impression.

We need to use a respectful attitude to speak with them.

[As expected of you, to have such acting skills.]

When I feel relieved over how things turned out, Ruijerd speaks to me.

[No, no, Ruijerd-san, the final thing that you did is just too amazing.]

[The final thing? What are you talking about?]

[Didn't you say something after you placed your hand on that child's head?]

That was completely ad lib.

It made me fear for a moment, but it seemed to have gotten unexpected results.

[Ahh, you're talking about that, what's so good about it?]

What do you mean by "what's so good about it"?

That young girl was looking at Ruijerd with her face completely bright red. If I am looked upon by that type of expression in her eyes, my reasoning would have flown away to the skies.

But if I say the following words with a straight face, the Ruijerd who likes kids will probably warn me with a sullen face.

[Haha, that girl is completely infatuated with Aniki, gwehehehe.]

So I pretend to use a joking tone and use my elbow to poke Ruijerd's leg, and he smiles wryly and says without confidence.

[That's not true.]

[Ohohoho, if Aniki gets serious, that lass... Ouch!]

My head gets knocked with a bashing sound, and when I turn my head back I see Eris pouting.

[Stop that strange laugh! Isn't it just acting skills?]

It seems that she's not used to my sleazy behavior. She has started to hate low-life people ever since the kidnapping incident. Every time when she sees people who look like bandits in the city Roa, she will frown.

Even though it's just a joke, it seems that she is unable to stomach it.

[I'm sorry.]

[Sheesh! The Greyrats mustn't make vulgar smiles like that.]

I nearly snort in laughter when I listen to her words.

I have heard it, Madam.

Eris is talking about elegance.

That Eris who won't give up until the door is smashed down has become so graceful.

But even if you say that, you shouldn't do something like how you suddenly assaulted someone yesterday.

No, just look at Sauros and you should understand. Is it possible that violently beating someone all of a sudden is considered graceful?

No, that can't be possible, right?

...... I'm not sure how Asura nobles classify grace.

[By the way, are we capable of finding the pet?]

Since I'm not clear about it, I'll just change the topic. From what I gather, the pet seems to be a cat. Its color is black, and it has been with her since she was young. The size seems to be large as the young girl gestured by spreading her arms wide apart. Judging from that, it's about the size of a Shiba inu, which is big enough for a cat.

[Certainly. We already promised to find it.]

Ruijerd clearly asserts it. How reliable.

Just like that, Ruijerd walks in front without any hesitation in his footsteps.

However, I am a little uneasy. Even if Ruijerd has a radar, it will not be easy to find a small animal in the city.

[Do you have a plan?]

[The movements of animals are simple, take a look.]

Ruijerd points to an area, and even though it's not distinct there, it certainly has the sign of paw prints. That's too amazing, I didn't even notice that at all.

[We can find it using the paw prints?]

[No, this is another cat, it's smaller than what she described.]

I see, indeed the size of the paw print belongs to an average cat, well, even though I think the young girl has exaggerated with her gesturing.

[Hm–]

[There's something that entered the prey's territory.]

[Is that so?]

[Absolutely. The scent has gotten faint.]

The scent? Is this guy dividing the territory using his sense of smell?

[Over here.]

Ruijerd walks in the inner alley as if he understood something. I followed him silently, even though I don't really understand it, I have a hunch that things are looking up. The assistants of famous detectives probably have this sort of feeling.

Chasing and cornering the criminal, do a frightening interrogation and use magic to torture them into confession. In any case everything will be solved quickly, meet the infamous detective Ruijerd.

Just kidding.

[It has been found, I'm afraid it's this guy.]

Ruijerd points at a corner in the alley. You found what? What do you mean by "I'm afraid."?

I completely have no idea what's going on. At least I can't see any signs of paw prints.

[Here.]

Ruijerd smoothly advances in the alley without any hesitations in his footsteps. He continues deeper into the alley that keeps on getting narrower, until it is an area where only cats can pass through.

[Eh? Hey! Stop!]

Eris starts crying out and I immediately jump upwards. He removes his handcuffs during the moment that I started thinking in my mind.

Man A is probably doing something to Eris, trying to take Eris hostage under Ruijerd's watch...

[Wha...!?]

No, what enters my eyes is the short spear stabbed into Man A's throat. Ruijerd has stabbed Man A to death, and Eris watches him in stark astonishment.

The short spear is twisted horizontally before being pulled out and the blood spatters everywhere, staining the walls with crimson red speckles. Man A rolls backwards, his face hitting on the ground, and his blood continuously gushing out from his throat. The blood slowly oozes out from his back and spreads out on the ground to become a red pool.

The scent that gets released to the air is the smell of blood.

That man's body had convulsed once in that single moment and didn't move again.

He died. He didn't even utter a sound and died, killed by Ruijerd.

[W... W... Why did you kill him?]

My voice starts to tremble.

It's not the first time seeing a dead person. Ghyslaine had killed someone in order to save me, but this is a little different. Why is my body shivering and my heart filling with dread.

(What's wrong, what am I scared of?)

Afraid of someone dying? That's impossible, people dying in this world is a daily occurrence, and I know that clearly. But even if my mind understands that fact, perhaps it's different in reality when I see it for the first time? Then if that's the case, why didn't I feel anything when Ghyslaine killed the kidnapper?

[Because he kicked a child.]

Ruijerd uses a matter-of-fact tone, and says it indifferently.

Ah, so that's it. I understand now, I'm not afraid of someone dying.

It's a small matter to be kicked once, but I'm afraid of the Ruijerd who killed him as naturally as breathing.

Didn't Roxy once say it before?

[The Human race and Demon race differ a lot when it comes to common sense, and something might detonate because of what you shouldn't say.]

That's right. What if Ruijerd points his spear towards me? This man is incredibly powerful, even stronger than Ghyslaine, can I win with my Magic?

I should be able to resist. I have attempted many simulation battles against the people who are used to close combat. Paul, Ghyslaine and Eris. The people amongst me are close combat experts, and Ruijerd is probably the strongest amongst them. Therefore I have no confidence that I can say that I'm capable of a [Victory], but if he really wants to kill me, I have a number of ways to resist. But, what if he aims at Eris? Can I protect her at all?

Impossible.

[Y, you can't kill him!]

I say that in a panic.

[Why is that? He's a bad person?]

Ruijerd gets a huge shock after listening to me, completely unable to understand it from the bottom of his heart.

[Because...]

How do I explain it properly?

What do I want Ruijerd to do?

But going back to the bottom line, why must he be killed? I don't have a good heart and I'll definitely snort in derision at the people who says something like [You can't kill people.].

When my parents died I was exactly like that, I thought to myself that how bleak my future will be, and also thought "what does the funeral have anything to do with me", and compared to that, fulfilling my carnal desires is more important than the funeral.

If I use an excuse like [You can't kill people!], the contents and meaning of that sentence will be distorted by my own personality.

[There are reasons as to why you can't kill him.]

I'm shaking. Get a hold of yourself.

Right now I'm at the ends of my wits, I need to get a hold of myself before thinking.

First of all, why am I trembling? Because I'm afraid. From the beginning I have thought Ruijerd is a gentle man, but he killed someone so easily. I had firmly believed that the Superd is a race that's just misunderstood.

I am wrong.

Even though I don't know what that race is like in reality, but Ruijerd isn't like that at the least. He has continued to kill the enemies since the Laplace war, and this is just another incident to him.

Also, there's the possibility that he will point his spear at me or Eris; there's no eliminating that possibility.

I'm not the pure person that Ruijerd thinks I am. Sooner or later I will anger him with my words. At that point of time I'll just leave the fact aside that he might get angry, as it's something that cannot be helped if our opinions differ. It's a type of quarrel that we might have, but I have never thought that we would fight to the death.

No matter under what circumstances there is, there's no need to kill someone. Right now, at this very stage, it's an absolute necessity to correct Ruijerd.

[Just do this, Ruijerd-san, please listen to me.]

But I have not formed my words, what can I say? What can I say to make him understand? Plead with him not to kill us?

Are you serious?

Didn't I say a few days ago we are warriors that will fight along with him and not be under his protection? We are equals, and thus pleading is useless.

I can't tell him, we have to give the other party a chance to explain himself, because Ruijerd himself doesn't recognize that logic.

Think.

Why are we with Ruijerd?

Because we want to get rid of the Superd's infamy. If Ruijerd kills someone, the image of the Superd race will turn for the worse, and that is without question.

So there is a need to persuade him not to fight with other adventurers. The image of the Superd race is absolutely horrible, and no matter how many good deeds that he does, they will not be recognized once he kills someone.

All that effort will come to naught and Ruijerd will be seen as a notorious individual.

That's right, therefore he must not kill. We must not let people associate the Superd race with the word fear.

[If Ruijerd kills someone, the Superd's infamy will spread.]

[...... That means I can't kill bad people too?]

[It doesn't matter what person is killed, it matters who the killer is.]

I carefully pick my choice of words.

[I don't understand.]

[If someone from the Superd race kills, the meaning is different, it's like a Monster has killed someone.]

Ruijerd turns a little sullen after hearing that, it might be possible that he considers that as an insult to his race.

[...... I don't understand why that is the case.]

[People consider the Superd race as a race that only kills, and they are evil devils that will immediately kill someone if they are slightly unhappy.]

I might have worded that a little too heavily, but the world does view it that way and I'm trying to change that point.

[It's easy to just claim that the Superd race are not evil devils. But if you use actions to demonstrate it, many people will change their views.]

[......]

[But once you kill someone, everything will fail to come to fruition and people will certainly view the Superd race as evil devils.]

[That's absurd.]

[Don't you have any knowledge of it? That you saved someone and become good friends with them, only to have their attitudes changed quickly?]

[...... I do.]

I finish the conclusion in my heart and round things up.

[But if you don't kill anyone at all without exception...]

[What will happen?]

[People will think that the Superd race have reason in them.]

Will it really be like that? Not killing someone in this world will be perceived as having reason?

No, now is not the time to think of this. I should not be wrong. Ruijerd has killed too many people, and they will naturally treat the Superd race as one who will kill people indiscriminately. If he doesn't kill anyone, this viewpoint should change, it's a coherent expectation.

[Please don't kill anymore, for the sake of the Superd race.]

To kill or not kill, must undergo judgment. But I do not know the standards of this world's evaluation criteria. Ruijerd's judgment is probably over the top. Amongst the two extremes, it's too difficult to see where this line lies, and if that's the case, it's better to completely forbid all future actions.

[Since no one can see what happened here, isn't it fine?]

Ruijerd's words nearly make me want to flip a table and cry in dismay.

"Since no one is watching me so I can commit atrocious deeds", may I inquire where did this elementary school student come from?

This fellow over here, have you really lived for more than 500 years?

[Even if you think that someone hasn't seen you, there will be people who have seen it right?]

[But there's no one around here?]

Oh sheet, I have forgotten about the stone on his forehead.

[There are people who have seen it.]

[Where?]

Right here.

[Didn't Eris and I see that?]

[Hm...]

[Please don't kill anyone anymore, we don't want to feel scared looking at Ruijerd-san.]

[... Very well.]

At the final end of everything, I seem to have persuaded him with my tears forming up.

I really don't have confidence in my words.

But Ruijerd nods.

[Then I shall entreat you to do this.]

I lower my head to Ruijerd and state that. I look at my hand that keeps on shivering. Calm down. This thing is normal.

Alright, breath in.

[B-r-e-a-t-h.]

But I still cannot calm down, my heartbeats are still not slowing down. What about Eris, is she afraid?

I glance at her and she looks composed, even though she was surprised at what had happened, but she soon shows an expression that his death is justified.

No, I feel that she completely doesn't think that's it's a brutal affair.

But her crossed arms with parted feet, and a jutted chin is her most common posture. Even if her heart shakes, her actions are the same as usual.

Since she's already that composed, how can I be trembling?

My hands stop shivering.

[Then, let's continue with the interrogation.]

I forcibly smile in this room thick with the stench of blood.