Chapter 5 (2/2)
Age: 17
Race: Human
Battle role: Swordsman
Adventurer rank: F
Party rank: F
Party: Scorn Road
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I peek at Minnalis’s as well to see that it has information written there in the same way .
“Also, this is the plate that shows your adventurer rank,” the receptionist adds . “You are F-rank, so your plate is purple . If you show this to any city’s gate guard, you will be exempt from the city entrance fee, so please take it with you when you accept requests outside the city .
“Is there a need to put the plates where they can be seen?” I ask .
“No; it does not matter as long as you have it on your person when you enter and exit the city, so there is no need to place it where it can be seen . However, they do act as a kind of status symbol, so there are some who place their cards where it can be constantly seen once their ranks have increased to a certain extent . ”
Well, there aren’t any cities that have what I, a former Japanese person, would call good public order . It goes without saying for the slums, but even outside of those kinds of places, there are idiots who act like bosses who can only engage in physical fights .
With a high-enough rank, the number of small-fry picking fights with you would probably decrease, too .
While we were having this conversation, the petty argument nearby has been continuing . It seems that the other two members of the trio have joined in partway through, and now they’re surrounding the young man as they confront him .
I know that the young man has been silently imploring us with his eyes to help him while we were talking to the receptionist now that he is in a three-on-one situation .
It’s obvious that he wants our help despite knowing that we’re of similar age to him and we are newbies who have just finished registering .
So if we seem like we’re just going to leave without saying anything…
“H-hey, don’t you guys think so as well?!” The boy calls out to us in a panicked voice .
“Eh? Ah, huh . ” I smile on the inside .
It’s great for me that he’s such a simple boy . With this, Minnalis and I are both third-party individuals who have been caught up in this entirely by coincidence .
“It’s because there are adventurers like you with no ambitions, who are happy after hunting a weak, rare animal and get drunk in the morning, that people think lowly of adventurers as a whole!” the young man exclaims .
“Huh?! This brat, after I let him have his say…”
“Hey, Barkas-san, going any further’d be bad . ” Dot moves forward to hold Barkas back .
Terry is also avoiding eye contact, as if pleading with his eyes .
There’s a rough-looking man who has been watching the argument through half-closed eyes from a receptionist’s chair .
But he’s not only rough-looking; most people with his occupation are famous adventurers who settled down with this job after retiring, so his physical strength is certainly real .
“Well, I’ve been listening to your conversation for a while, so how about this? We will accept some kind of monster extermination request together . Why don’t we have a competition to see who can hunt more monsters in a day?” I suggest .
Both parties look at me, seemingly interested .
“It seems like nobody will reach any conclusions by continuing this verbal argument, and this way would be better to show your strengths as adventurers better than having a foolish fistfight once you leave this place, wouldn’t it?” I continue . “The winner will take all the rewards . There would be no problems with this, would there?” I add, looking at the receptionist that I was talking to up until now .
“Y-yes, the exchange of money through personal conflicts is prohibited in this city, but with this method, the guild will not interfere,” she replies .
The exchange of money through personal conflicts is prohibited .
This is apparently an agreement that came about due to repeated occurrences of overly self-conscious newcomers having money taken from them in incidents such as these . It’s not a crime, but the guild hands out proper punishments for it .
In other words, even if both parties fight each other directly to settle things, both sides suffer, no matter who wins or loses . The only thing that is satisfied is their pride .
“Tch, well, I suppose it’ll be good entertainment,” Barkas says as he runs his eyes over the young man, having seemingly sobered up .
Even if they were to fight one-on-one, Barkas would never lose . I’m sure that Barkas himself is aware of this difference in strength, but the young man is dressed like a mage .
Magic generally has high power; it’s unlikely that Barkas would escape with light injuries after taking a direct hit . It seems that these guys are not stupid enough to take this risk for a contest with no physical reward .
“I don’t mind these terms either; in fact, it’s just what I want . What will be our prey?” the young man asks .
“Hah, there’s no way that there would be any requests that an F-rank like you who just registered today could accept . This one,” Barkas says as he tears off a single request form .
The request is for Goblin extermination . It is considered complete after five Goblins, and each Goblin after that yields an individual reward .
“With your ranks as they are now, this is the only one we can accept,” Barkas says, waving the request form around .
“Kuh, I might certainly be an F-rank adventurer who registered today, but I’ll have you know that I’m a mage who can even use the Fire Lance spell . My natural abilities are on a different level from people like you!” says the young man .
Barkas’s eyes narrow in suspicion .
Fire Lance is a spell of considerable difficulty . Its destructive ability, power and the amount of MP it consumes are all high, and it needs a large degree of control as well . Being able to use it at his age gives the young man plenty of reason to be arrogant .
… Well, that’s only if he is able to control it with his own abilities alone, though .
I perform a quick appraisal on the staff that the young man is holding to find that it has a ‘Flame Magic Bonus’ enchantment on it . Its quality as a staff is high; it’s clearly a weapon that’s worth several gold coins .
It seems that Barkas has realized this as well; his eyes contain desire the color of sludge that you’d find in the bottom of a swamp .
I suddenly become curious and pour mana into the Eight-eyed Transparent Tome Sword hanging from my waist to peek at Barkas’s Status .
“… Huh, this is…”
“I see, so that is how it is . ”
Minnalis and I are whispering to each other quietly so as not to be noticed by the others, who have their attentions focused on each other .
As we peek at his Status, we see a single ability in the unique skill column .
… ‘Gold Vein Olfaction . ’
“Either way, things look like they’re going to get interesting, don’t they?” I whisper .
“Yes, they do,” Minnalis agrees .
I return my gaze to the three men, who are still arguing, once more .
Barkas, Dot, Terry .
There are plenty of people who did the same thing that you did, and it’s not like I remember all of them . The life of running I lived during my first time through this world wasn’t so easy that I can remember the faces of the masses .
So this means that you guys were just unlucky .
It’s just a matter of you just coincidentally happening to be in a position that made you memorable .
A matter of you happening to meet us in this city that has a large population .
A matter of you happening to encounter avengers who have no desire to act in a fair, logical way .
A matter of you being unlucky, just as I happened to be summoned out of the 7 . 3 billion people on Earth .
That’s why this is…
Just a matter of this being how things started here today .
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it,” I murmur .
And then the two of us laugh quietly so as not to be heard .
Right in front of us, we have people that we can freely enjoy killing .
Prey that we can kill without having our consciences blame us . Right now, that is good enough .
“I’m really looking forward to it . ”
My entire head is already filled with how I should make these three suffer as I kill them .