CH 183

*This story is released in thanks of the release of volume 2, it was actually mentioned in the chapter title but I decided not to put it in cos it’s already long enough lol.

Characters in this chapter:

Sapphiras Perfectio, former 2nd son of the Earl of Aldridge

Percival Belisario, 3rd son of Margrave of Vanderwall on the Eastern Frontier

“Hai, thank you for your patience! It’s hot, so be careful when you eat!”

The bar’s poster girl with a lovely smile places a plate piled high with fried wild pheasant on the table. It’s freshly fried, piping hot and looks delicious!

“Thank you! Well then, Percival, let’s have a toast!”

“Aahhh!”

I quench my thirst with ale and immediately took a bite of the pheasant.

Biting into the meat while resisting the heat, the juices and fat filled my mouth with an indescribably delicious flavour.

Mmmm! Delicious! This also goes well with ale, doesn’t it? I can’t stop eating it!

“Is it good?”

“Yes!”

At the guild in this town, I asked the receptionist if there was any specialty food while I was looking for requests, and she recommended this bar. Apparently, some people come all the way just to eat this fried wild pheasant.

After getting a place to stay, we immediately headed to the bar, and it was already almost full, even though it was not yet dusk, and we were barely able to find a small table near the entrance.

The young lady was apologetic that the table was so small, but it was just the two of us, so it was no problem at all.

Still, with this flavour, it’s no wonder the bar is thriving. Not only that. The smile of the poster girl is pleasant, and the lively interior of the store is very comfortable. I’m grateful to the receptionist for telling me about this place.

“Hey, Percival. We’ll be staying in this town for a while, right?”

“Yeah. We’ve been camping around here for a while now, so I think it’s okay to relax a little. I think it would be a good idea to appraise the things we got from the ruins.”

“Are you going to leave the sword at the blacksmith tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I should probably look for requests I can do around here, like collecting medicinal herbs or something like that……”

We’ve been camping near the ruins in this area for a while now. It’s a ruin deep in the mountains, half swallowed up by the forest. Exploring the difficult ruins isn’t so tough if I have my teleportation.

I repeatedly went in and out of the ruins and spent a lot of time exploring them, but Percival’s sword and armour needed repairs soon. As expected, I can’t use my magic to repair them, so we decided to go to town.

Are you saying I can just transfer back to Vanderwall? That’s no longer an adventurer. It’s not enough to just transfer everything. Enjoying the journey is also important for adventurers.

Taking the specialties of each place like this is one of the best parts of travelling. And while we’re at it, we also need to see and hear a lot of things while we’re earning money for our journey.

As we talked lightly about our plans for the future, drinking ale and tucking into delicious pheasant, the door of the restaurant suddenly opened with a loud bang. I, who was sitting right next to it, involuntarily stopped eating my pheasant and turned around. The bustling interior of the bar instantly became quiet.

Four big-built men, who look like adventurers from their equipment, enter the crowded bar with a bang. It’s bad enough to judge them by their looks, but I don’t like the looks and atmosphere of these guys.

“Oh, oh! You’re doing pretty well today!”

The men forcibly pulled the customers who were sitting at the table eating from their chairs and stole their seats.

Yes, there is no doubt about it. He is not a good customer after all.

“Clean this place up quickly and bring me some ale and food!”

The smiling, lovely poster girl who showed us to our seats, apologising for the cramped space, made her way to the men’s table, her face stiff.

“Please don’t disturb the other customers! And if you’re going to eat here, you’ll have to pay all the bills you’ve been owing!”

“She said to pay all the bills owed till now! Hey, listen.”

“We are the saviours who defeated the monsters that attacked this town! Let us eat for free!”

“Hey, shopkeeper! Isn’t the young lady not very polite to her benefactor?”

“I don’t mind. I’ll teach you how to be hospitable.”

“Kya!”

The man who said that grabbed the young lady’s arm, held her down on the table and covered her.

“St-stop! Leave my daughter alone!”

The owner of the shop, who was in the kitchen, jumped out and clutched at the man covering the young lady to pull him off, but a fellow man grabbed him by the collar and threw him off. The shopkeeper rolls to the floor, knocking over a chair.

“Fa-father!”

The young lady cries out in distress, while several customers sneak out of the shop, perhaps fearing getting involved. The shop is full of adventurers, but they are looking down so as to avoid eye contact. Well, I guess they know what they’re capable of. There will be no assistance for yourself if you try to help someone and end up getting hurt yourself.

Anyway, people like this can pop up anywhere. Sometimes adventurers get a bad rap because of people like that. In the small village we stopped at earlier, adventurers were told to leave.

As expected, I can’t keep quiet about this.

“Wait, Percival.”

I pull Percival’s sleeve to hold him back as he tries to stand up.

“Can you leave this to me, please?”

When I asked that, Percival gave me a slightly troubled smile and let out a small sigh.

“……Don’t overdo it.”

Percival is well aware that I am the kind of person who has no choice but to intervene in times like these.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll hold back.”

I got up from my seat, took a step forward, transferred to the men’s table, and hit the man who was trying to rip up the young lady’s clothes on the head with my wand.

Oops, I almost forgot to hold back.

“Nah!”

I kicked the man, who had lost his movement with a shocked expression on his face, and rolled him to the floor, then helped the young lady to her feet.

“Are you alright?”

“Ye-yes…….”

The young lady is completely pale and trembling. It’s not surprising. It must have been scary for her to be held down by such a large man. Her clothes were in a lot of disarray, so I took off the cloak I was wearing and put it on the young lady.

“I’ll clean up here, go to your father.”

“Bu-but…….”

“I’m fine……and yes. Just how much do these guys owe?”

“Two large silver coins.”

Two large silver coins. That’s a lot of money. Well, they had a good time eating and drinking.

“I understand. I’ll take care of it properly, don’t worry.”

The young lady nodded and rushed to the shopkeeper.

“What the hell are you?”

“What, a magician?”

“So, is this magician going to host us in place of that girl?”

“Heh heh……you’ve got a pretty face, don’t you? If the condition of your back1they’re referring to his butt. is okay, we can make you a member of our party. If you’re a magician, you can be used for more than just your body.”

The men’s licking gaze wraps around my entire body. There is no way to not feel completely disgusted.

“That’s really vile. It degrades the dignity of adventurers, so stop doing that. Rather than that, please pay the price.”

“Huh? Why do we have to pay? We are the heroes who defeated the monster that attacked this town.”

“If that’s the case, you receive your reward from the guild.”

“Han, we Dragon’s Jaw Agito worked for such low reward. It’s only natural that we should be able to eat for free.”

‘Dragon’s Jaw’ is a pretty fancy name for a party, but isn’t it just a bunch of food and drinks for free? It’s disrespectful to the dragon, apologise.

“If you’re dissatisfied with the reward, you should tell the guild. Before that, if you weren’t satisfied with the reward, you shouldn’t have accepted the request. What you’re doing is nothing more than a rip-off.”

“What did you say, you bastard! Now you’ve said it!

“If you can’t chant, you’re nothing!”

The three men grabbed me at once. They probably think that magicians are insignificant unless they can chant. Lamentable.

Before the men’s hands could reach me, ivy sprang up from the floor and lifted them up in a flash.

“Nah!”

“What the hell is this?”

“Is there any fellow magicians⁉︎”

“I have friends, but unfortunately they’re not magicians. Well then…”

As I approached the men, who were tied up and unable to move, I went through the leader’s clothes and found a leather bag. Inside the heavy bag, I see that it contains a large quantity of silver coins.

“Don’t touch it, brat! That’s my money!”

Brat? I’m a grown man now.

“Heh, you’ve got quite a bit.”

“Fuck! You!”

The man is desperately trying to tear the vines apart, but the vines are not soft enough to be cut. Not sorry.

“I’m not trying to take all of it, so don’t worry.”

I take two large silver coins and five silver coins from the bag and return the leather bag to the man.

“I’ll take five silver coins as a nuisance fee.”

I gave the two large silver coins and five silver coins that the man paid me to the young lady.

“Here. Five silver coins will be enough to repair the broken chair and pay for the customers who ran away.”

“Th-thank you very much……”

Now all that’s left to do is to quickly kick the men out of the store. If I don’t hurry, the pheasant will get cold.

Well then, these guys should be banned now.

melon: sorry for the super late update! Been super busy trying to finish a commission but I realised I won’t be able to finish it anytime soon so I figured I should just work on this first.

On the bright side, the next part is also out and it should be posted by the time you finish reading this.