Chapter 2241 (2/2)
Aran and the other familiar spirits in Rodcorte's Divine Real the huration systeitt Duchy, whose duke was a Beast-kin There were more members of Vida's races here than in other duchies, so the information available was limited
“But have a look just in case Asagi and I will probably be busy acquiring s needed for experiments to test the next new hypothesis,” said Shouko
“Alright… Let's pray that the duke's family doesn't cut off their support,” said Tatsuya
The two of the Zean's hypotheses for a while; they were hunting as adventurers The incidents caused by the chaos within Hihiryushukaka's Vampires after the loss of Birkyne had occurred all over the Birgitt Duchy as well
The duke's faroup's achievement, and they could not refuse his requests, as he was their sponsor
And from their successful exteri and his coh a promotion examination for formality's sake, and became B-class adventurers
Incidentally, Vandalieu did not appear in their laboratory through teleportation Their research was inconvenient for Vandalieu, but as there were De loose, he had apparently decided that their research was necessary
Several days after the destruction of Birkyne and Hihiryushukaka, the evil God of joyful life, in Itobam, a city on the opposite side of the Devil's Nest that had been ruled by the Minotaur King from Morksi
The members of the Flame Blades, an adventurer party that worked in the Adventurers' Guild of this city, were busy hunting in the Devil's Nest
One of therily kicked away a“shi+t… How the hell can we pay a hundred thousand Bauoing to take to earn that?! Are they trying to tell us to hunt Minotaurs or so?! We're D-class!”
“We can't pay it even if we hunt ten Minotaurs It's a hundred thousand Baums each,” one of his companions, a female human scout, reminded him
“There's five of us, so five hundred thousand in total… We wouldn't be able to pay it off by killing a single Minotaur unless it were the Minotaur King,” said a young, e
“Calm down The hundred thousand Baums each isn't final yet,” said a human male swordsman, the leader of the party
“That's right A hundred thousand is the worst possible scenario, and the Guild told us that it's likely that the punishhter than that,” said a female wolf-type Beast-kin archer
The Fla Natania, who had joined their party, as bait to escape froated by the Guild
Having sacrificed Natania and escaped, they had returned to the city of Itobae horde of Minotaurs in the Devil's Nest
Back then, they had received sympathetic looks The Guild and the other adventurers had felt pity at the fact that one of their companions had been unable to be saved, and praised the it back to the Guild with this important information
Naturally, none of the Flame Blades had told anyone that they had thrown a knife at Natania's leg They had reported to the Guild that they had been ambushed, and had no choice but to leave the wounded Natania behind
That hy no nasty words had been spoken to the steps to deal with the Minotaur horde
As even the weakest Minotaurs were at least Rank 5, the five ether would barely be able to stand up against a single Minotaur Thus, adventurers ere far more capable than them were to be the ones to battle the Minotaurs directly However, they had been assigned to other i the other adventurers to the place where they had been attacked as well as transporting and guarding the supplies
The Guild had done so because they had believed that the Flame Blades were dependable adventurers who had been able toone of their companions
The Flame Blades had been enthusiastic to use this task as a step towards their promotion to C-class
But in the end, the team built to eradicate the Minotaur horde had never moved out Before they could, there had been a report from the city of Morksi that the Minotaur horde had already been destroyed
The one who had written the report was Natania, the one who had been abandoned by the Fla about the Minotaur horde, she had also reported her betrayal at the Flaation
Each of the Fla the situation in which Natania was left behind, and small differences in each of their testi them to confess to their evil deed
People's opinions about theone fro looked upon with scorn as a group of fiends ould sacrifice their own companions to save themselves
The 'one hundred thousand Bau about was the amount that they were to pay to Natania
“They said that the fact that ere being chased by Minotaurs is the truth, and that it was understandable for us to be tempted to do e did,” said the party's leader “We were able to make it back with important information, and it was possible that they could take the extenuating circumstances into account –”
“It's obvious that they only said that because they'd be screwed if ere to hang ourselves in despair!” the titan shouted angrily
“The amount that we have to pay will be paid to her as reparations, after all If we don't pay enough, the aet of the Adventurers' Guild's Itobae
“But still, they should cut it down by soh for us even if they halved it,” the scout sighed
The titan clicked his tongue in frustration “The das from the past…”
The truth was that the incident with Natania was not the first time that the Fla their companions In the fifth year since the party formed, they had sacrificed three others
Like Natania, all of them had been the party's 'sixth member'
The five of theether since they had first become adventurers, while the sixth member had joined them later on In situations when one member needed to be sacrificed, it was out of the question to sacrifice anyone other than that sixth member
Despite having done that, the Flame Blades had never drawn suspicion frouess the truth
The Guild's investigators had an extremely bad impression of them
“But soe Noration… and compared to similar cases in the past, a hundred thousand Bauher ae questioned
The titan sighed in frustration “I'm sure she's sucked up to soet us to pay this much!” he spat
The party did not kno Natania had been rescued or the circumstances she was in now
… Naturally, they were unaware that she had been rescued along with the duke's younger sister as a knight, by an adventurer who appeared to be Randolf 'the True' who had acted on the duke's orders Nor did they know that she was under Vandalieu's protection and had become acquainted with Earl Morksi
But the Guild did know these things Though the Flauardian had becoation and heavy punishment were a result of steps taken in consideration for them
“I was against letting that cat bitch into our party in the first place!” the titan shouted
“You were against it? I wonder who it was that rily
“There's no point talking about all of this now! We can't do anything about it, so we have no choice but to earn asthe reparation a the argument between his companions
But even he are just how difficult it would be to pay a hundred thousand Baums each for D-class adventurers like themselves
Even if they were to cut down on their living expenses, their profession was one whose capital was paid by their bodies They couldn't cut down on their food too much because it would affect their stay with the arms that were the tools of their trade, either
And respectablethe Fla their companions, nor would other adventurers want to ith them
Thus, they couldn't get any relatively good coroup up with other adventurers to take down big roups
How many years it would take to pay the reparations would depend on the finalized amount…
“I think the Gods are our only hope…” the titan muttered
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke to the party
“You are the Flame Blades, I presume?”
The party turned around to see that a man had appeared there
It was aon end, a face that could be described as both , and worn out leather armor that looked as if it could fall apart at any moment The Flae where he could be called a boy, but the bright, hazy light co appearance
“You pitiful dogs who abandoned your coe sum in reparations It seems that you admired the Five-colored Blades, but at this rate, it seems likely that you'll push yourselves too hard and die before you can pay off your debt,” thetone
The titan shi+eld-bearer stepped forward “You bastard! I don't know your face Who the hell are you! Don't think you can get aith rily
The man's mouth formed a crescent-shaped sreat hero of Fitun, the God of thunderclouds Rejoice! I'll make you heroes like the Five-colored Blades with the power of a God, just as you hoped for!”
As Hajiht came from his body
The Flame Blades' screams echoed across the Devil's Nest, but nobody heard them… and they became 'heroes'
In a certain rooh-class residential area in a certain country in Origin, a s in frustration
There was a set printed on paper attached to the wall
It seee ball at the target with ahis hands or feet
As Origin was a world in whichind-attribute ic
There was a book behind the boy, and it was titled 'Mysterious Power Handbook'
“… 'A hundred simply-explained methods to train your powers Join the Bravers' Even in a world where ic exists, I'm surprised that there are these kinds of books,” Banda murmured to himself
It seemed that the book was about ere known as 'superpowers' on Earth
“The Bravers exist, and they're a group of people who have special abilities that aren't e for such books to be written… or is it?” Banda wondered “It looks like a book written for children, and I don't think young people would really think that they could actually gain some kind of power”
The book's contents were vague Phrases like 'concentrate your ' were frequently used, but there were no specifically-described training methods
If people could gain abilities with books like these, the whole world would be able to become Bravers
Sure enough, it seeoal
“Ugh… It's iuess I really don't have powers like Mom and Dad… No, I'm not done yet! I still haven't tried the other ways of training!”
Repairing his own alh the book for the next thing to try
“Huh? This isn't the page I was looking at Maybe the wind turned the pages?” the boy wondered in confusion
But without putting too
“The warm air froh,” Banda whispered, knowing that the boy… Amemiya Hiroshi+, couldn't hear him
It seemed that Hiroshi+ was concerned about the fact that he did not have any special abilities like his parents This was to be expected, as his parents, Amemiya Hiroto and Narumi, were leaders of the Bravers and world-famous heroes
“Maybe he's being teased at school It could becoer sister Meh-kun hasin her, so she could be considered special in a way… Healienated because he's the only one who isn't special,” Banda murmured
He passed through the wall of the children's roo rooram with the female babysitter He couldn't be more than fifty meters away frohborhood
“Banda, frog, frog,” Mei giggled
“Mei-chan, you like frogs, don't you?” said the babysitter, thinking that she was referring to the frog that was extending its tongue on the television screen, which appeared to be an LCD
But the truth was a little different
When Mei said 'frog,' she '
“Look, I'ue out back and forth
Very excited by this, Mei atteue
“But you're not very good at drawing pictures, are you? It's not unusual, since you're not even two years old yet, but… I wonder if this is really a frog,” the babysitter said, giving a puzzled look at the drawing on the drawing paper that had been left out on the floor
There was a 'strange thing' drawn on the paper
If one were to describe it, it would be afrom its head, four eyes and a crescent-moon-shaped s out all the way to his feet
At first, the babysitter had thought that Mei had drawn a monster that had appeared to her in a scary drea to thisit
“Ah, you drew a portrait of me Thank you, Meh-kun,” said Banda
If the babysitter were to see Banda, she would co skills For a two-year-old, she was quite the prodigy
“Now then, I wonder what I should do about your Onii-san?” Banda wondered
His top priority was Mei Even if that weren't the case, Hiroshi+ was the son of Amemiya Hiroto and Narumi… two of the people who had ended Vandalieu's previous life
Banda had felt unpleasant feelings upon learning that their son had clearly been named after his own previous name, 'Amamiya Hiroto'
But that wasn't Hiroshi+'s fault at all, and he bore no responsibility for his own name
“It's not unusual for children to act out during puberty because of a complex they feel due to their families, but I want to avoid Meh-kun's ho as a result of that,” Banda ood older brother for Meh-kun, too”
Banda thought that Hiroshi+, as currently in the other roo as Mei's older brother so far He took care of her and played with her Banda wouldn't have described hiood older brother for his age
“But unlike ive hi, Meh-kun,” Banda said
“Trabbing?” Mei said, atte to repeat Vandalieu's words
“What is it, Mei-chan? Are you talking about the sloth?” asked the babysitter
TLN: 'Troubling' is 悩ましい/nayamashi+ and 'sloth' is ナマケモノ/namakemono; they sound… somewhat similar
Unlike his s were quite troublesome for him as well
In fact, Banda had not yet realized that this house was under surveillance from a place that was over fifty meters away
“There's nobody in the house except for the brats and the babysitting woman We can do it if we move now,” one man murmured
“Don't be ridiculous; it's different frooods We won't get paid if we don't hand the kids over safe and sound after we kidnap them!” said another
“But it's Amemiya Hiroto's brats!” said the first man
“You don't need to tell ainst him, but I won't let you move on your own If you disobey me, I'll dispose of you before the brats,” warned the second
“… Fine But how long do we have to wait?”
“We're waiting for the go signal froet back to surveillance”
Just like the sloth on the television screen, Banda's time of peacefulness was limited