Volume 3 - CH 4

Act 3-4: Information Gathering 1

After returning to the inn we were staying at, I took Zack, who was training, Anna, who was babysitting Faf and Myu, and Rose to visit the territory granted to Rose for the throne competition. We rode on Phoenix’s back.

After travelling at high speed for a few minutes, we arrived at our destination.

「There’s seriously nothing in this place…」

Only two scenery welcomed us, a vast wasteland and a vast jungle.

This place didn’t seem like a place where humans could live at a moment’s notice. I mean, the only people who can live in this place might be those who enjoyed a “thrilling” survival life to the fullest.

The Amelian king did intend to make Rose manage land with literally zero citizens. Due to this, it would be normal for one to think that the king simply hated Rose’s guts. But, from their interaction in the throne room, it didn’t seem to be the case.

The first reason was the judge. If the king really wanted to make Rose the ruler of this kingdom, all he had to do was choose a judge who would favour Rose instead of the impartial prime minister. Naturally, he chose the prime minister to guarantee impartiality in the judgment. However, the main reason might be that that personage himself seems to be the type that hates unfairness.

「Then, the first thing to do is to look for citizens, I guess.」

「You say it like securing citizens is a simple matter. Do you have a way to break this situation?」

「Nope, not at all.」

Rose heaved a deep sigh upon hearing my reply.

「Let’s go back to the royal capital and think about our plan first.」

She could only say those words.

After returning to the royal capital, Rose proposed for us to change the inn we were in currently. Her reason was that the inn had too much traffic, which prevented us from having a proper discussion. Sure enough, only an idiot would think about discussing the crown contest in such a place. Since no one objected to Rose’s idea, we immediately changed the inn.

As for the inn we would use next, we had two conditions for that.

First, the entire inn had to be reserved for us, and us only.

Second, the content of our conversation couldn’t leak no matter what.

Keeping aside the first condition, I’ve never heard about an inn that can fulfill the second condition. I guess I’ve no choice but to ask the ones who know about such matters.

And a few hours later, we stood in front of a certain building in the southwest corner of the royal capital, which was guarded by several ruffians.

「Shifu, are you really going to ask them?」[TL: 師父(Shifu) means master. This position is equal to one’s father, teacher for life to speak.]

Zack asked that question to me with an obviously bored expression.

By the way, Zack had started to call me “Shifu” after I started training him. And whenever I told him to stop calling me that, he just ignored me. So, I just leave him be. I mean, yeah, it might be some code or whatever.

「Yes. It shouldn’t be a problem even if we use a slightly rough method when asking them, right?」

""

「The way you’re saying it. Aren’t you basically gonna beat the c*ap out of them?」

「That’ll depend on them.」

There was karma in this world. Those who kill someone should be prepared to be killed until at the end of their life.

That’s basically the same as us, the warriors. If you’re not prepared to stain your hands with blood, you should never step into this blood-stained path from the very beginning. You should walk under the great sun instead.

「Well, Shifu is Shifu, after all.」

Zack swung his head to the sides as he let out a predator-like smile. Then, he cracked his fingers.

That was an awful remark, but you’re more eager to butt your head with them, huh! 

I heaved a sigh and then walked toward them.

「Oi, stop right there!」

When I arrived at the entrance, a short-haired man with a scar on his cheek and a ruffian with permed hair pointed their swords at me as a warning.

「I want to meet your boss. You won’t suffer if you obediently call your boss.」

So, I told them that with the most refreshing smile I could muster.

「Yeah, we belong to the king-type after all.」

Oi, Zack-kun, your remark has zero persuasive power when you say it while cracking your fingers. Be more elegant, and show a good smile like me.

And just as I expected, their cheeks twitched when a lump of muscle like Zack said those words.

「G-GUYS, we’re under attaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!」

The next moment, dozens of armed ruffians stormed out of the building.

U~hm, things developed as per my prediction, after all.

Just when I was about to step forward…

「Shifu, leave these men to me. They are just the right targets for me to test my newly acquired power.」

Zack stepped forward while cracking his fingers, enveloped by his mana. The next moment, a pale-coloured, transparent membrane-covered him.

Hoh! His countless invocation is much smoother than before. Moreover, he has turned it into toughness. Interesting!

Toughness transformation―it was a type of reinforcement magic in which the user covered themselves with a thin membrane of mana, then added toughness to that membrane. In short, the basic concept of that was in contrast with my 【Herculean Strength】, which reinforces everything inside up to the cellular level.

But well, wrapping everything inside up to the cellular level might be impossible for the current Zack. He himself seemed to have realized that and came up with the idea of covering his body with mana instead. His combat sense is indeed sharp.

Among the ruffians, a tall, skinny man with an unshaven beard, who stood at the end of the line, halfheartedly looked at me and Zack, but…

「The idiots over there, do you know who we are? If they came to act like scarecrows, bring them inside!」

The ruffians went back into the building upon hearing the order from the man.

It seemed that man was the boss of this place.

Maybe because of the overwhelming difference in the number of both sides, these guys showed relaxed smiles as if their vigilance from before was a lie.

The man with permed hair then approached Zack and pushed his long sword to the latter’s cheek.

「It’s our boss’s order. Be a good boy and die.」

He threatened Zack with a remark that came straight from a third-class opera.

「Fool!」

Zack caught the blade with his bare hand.

「Oi, you better not make any stupid mo― Eh?」

He twisted the blade till it couldn’t be used anymore.

""

As if that wasn’t enough, Zack then took the long sword from the perm-haired man’s hands and kneaded it with bare hands as if it were mere clay.

As they saw this surreal sight, everyone surrounding us stood still, at a loss for words.

「M-MONSTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER」

Zack showed a belligerent smile to the perm-haired man, who was shouting in fear. And that was the signal of the wild beast(Zack)’s trampling.