Chapter 183: A Gathering Of Wolves, A Bunch Of Dogs VI (1/2)

Advanced adventurer Cordis Avarak.

Also known as Avarak, the disheartened.

I don't know the story behind his nickname nor who gave it to him. But this is the name used to hire the third-rate adventurers from earlier. In other words, it's a name with an established reputation.

Regure and I moved to a district in the southern part of Lemuria.

This whole area is a bedroom community[1] for the wealthy. Amid the rows of immaculately white mansions, one particularly large mansion caught my eye.

In all likelihood, that was Avarak's residence.

High walls surrounded the compound, and two guards manned its sturdy entrance gate. They were well-built Hemus, but didn't have the air of adventurers. They felt more like soldiers………no, mercenaries specializing in combat.

「Regure, any ideas?」

「Let’s crush them head-on. Anyone who gets in our way will be silenced with my fists and cut down with your sword」

「I'm begging you, please think of the babies in your belly」

I can't believe this muscle-brained pregnant woman.

The children she's going to give birth to are going to have such a hard time ahead of them.

「I am thinking of them. With children on the way, it'd be too much if I killed. That's why I'm holding back and using just my fists」

「That's not what I meant at all~」

If you're determined to do this, then go fully armed, for crying out loud. At the very least, that would ease my mind somewhat.

「Oh, I forgot something important」

「What?」

I hope there's some semblance of logic and common sense in her next words.

I'm pretty sure that nothing of the sort is going to come out of her mouth though.

「Disguises. It'd be bad for you afterward if we act too conspicuously in a place like this, right?」

「Regure, in a lot of ways, it's too late」

The two guards had already gotten a good look at our faces.

「Hey! You two! I don't recognize your faces. Whose mansion do you――――」

「It's the mansion of a third-rate asshole who exploits children, right?」

Regure's fist ripped through the air. It was a left jab that looked like it could wrest the world into her hands.

The guard was knocked clean out by the blow to his chin. The other guard, I beat over the head with my cane.

「This is just ridiculous.」

In a sense, this is just like His Majesty's woman though.

「Hey, Souya. Let's get a move on, beat that asshole up, and then go home for dinner. It's gonna be delicious, right?」

「It'll be delicious! My sister and Lanseal's cooking is more delicious than mine!」

If it's just cooking rice, Rana is also good at it, and if it's just boiling pasta and making pasta aglio olio, Maria is also great at it.

I was getting hungry too. Along with my appetite, my anger also grew.

「Regure, if things get dicey, use this」

I tossed the cane-sword to Regure. She caught it between two fingers.

「And what about you?」

「I’ll use this」

I drew my main weapon from my hip and swung it downwards from an overhead stance.

After a moment of silence, the gate slid off diagonally and fell to the ground. There was a loud crash. I felt the presences inside stirring.

「Souya, how about giving that sword to the babies in my belly?」

「I'm not giving it to them. It's already promised to another」

Regure regarded my katana with a keen eye.

「Tsk, I'll give up, but I wonder what my kids will do? They'll probably be just like me~」

「Yeah, yeah」

I just wanted to get things over with, so I didn't take her teasing seriously.

Taking a deep breath, I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Probably helped along by the sound of the gate being destroyed, the footsteps of people could be heard coming from the inside of the mansion

『What the hell?!』

There were twenty of them in total.

About ten of them were dressed like adventurers and the other half had the same mercenary air as the guards.

Of course, they were all fully armed.

「You……if I recall correctly, you're the one from the foreign lands」

「Yeah, there's no doubt about it!」

「You asshole, I'll pay you back for what you did to my knee!」

「You son of a bitch! You'll pay for what you did to my collarbone!」

「Your woman attacked me from behind!」

For some reason, they all had grudges against me. Without needing to look all that closely, I could see that about a third of the enemies bore injuries.

Have we met before? It's no use. I can't remember them at all.

「What the hell are you doing here, jackass?! You stupid bastard!」

「I came to meet with……no, to defeat Avarak, the disheartened」

『HUHHHHhhh?!』

As one, they mocked me.

「You blubbering jackass. There's a difference between being a fool and being a complete moron, you dolt. Do you really think you can win against this many people, you nitwit?」

I was made much of by men with more bluster than bite.

Well, rather than trying to argue with such people, it's better to just beat them up and be done with it.

「Regure, stay out of this」

「If you take too long, I'll join in」

「I'll make it quick then」

I flipped the katana around, turning the back of the katana towards them.

In homage to the Unfettered Shogun[2], I struck them with the back of my katana.

I had knocked them all out without asking for Avarak's whereabouts.

「What should I do now………」

「Souya, let's go. I'm sure he'll come out if we make a big enough scene」

「That's so very haphazard though」

The words prudence and planning don't seem to be in Regure's vocabulary.

「Before that……」

Regure went through the bodies of the fallen men.

「My belly is heavy, so I'll settle for the lighter stuff」

She limited what she stole to gold coins and rings.

「Regure, that’s a bit……」

「Plunder everything from the enemy. That's the way of life for a woman of a Myriad King」

Wow, we've got a barbarian here.

This is all going to be blamed on me though.

For now, I left the men at the entrance and entered the grounds.

Across the courtyard stood a white, squarish, two-story building. The surface of the building was all smooth, and I wondered if it was actually made of concrete.

On the manicured grass of the courtyard, there were lines of golden statues of nude women. They were all modeled after beastkin women, and for some reason, I had the feeling that they resembled someone I knew.

They were in extremely poor taste.

I didn't feel like staying long, so I moved on quickly.

I kicked down the door of the mansion and went in.

The maid inside screamed when she saw me.

「Excuse me, where is Mister Avarak?」

「O, on the second floor」

I had found his whereabouts relatively easily.

But the inside of the mansion was also filled with gold-gilded items. My eyes hurt.

Is this guy an oil tycoon or something?

And then……

「Regureee, leave the furnishings alone」

「Ehhh」

「Don’t you “Ehhh” me」

Regure took things out from her jacket pockets and put them back.