novel
| ← Ch.074 | Ch.076 → |
"Darryl how could you think I'd do this?" Hit her myself and bring her here?
"Why not, you seem the type. OMG...you must be in pain, come here."
Darryl snickered as he went to retrieve a large armchair from the back of the store.
"Don't say such things even as a joke, you're breaking my heart.
Looking at me with a playful face he then turned to face the little girl and spoke in a softly, completely the opposite of his usual way of talking.
"Sit here"
She collapsed into the comfortable chair, clearly exhausted and Darryl gave her some more bread and water. She ate her fill and soon after fell asleep.
"So what happened Johra?"
"I don't know much, I just saw her getting roughed up in the alley"
"Who did it?"
"It was that Wolf club. Her parents owed them money so he gave up his little girl as payment."
"Those worthless scum bastards!"
His anger caused his muscles to bulge out. It seems like the physique from his past as an adventurer was still there.
"So can you take care of her for a little while?"
"Does she really have no place to go? I did require an assistant so just leave her here with me, but..."
"Hmm...Don't worry about the Wolf club, I will handle them. Just please keep her safe."
"Yeah, but do you intend to fight head on with those thugs?"
"Right, I was already planning on taking care of them"
He was a kind person. That's why he would give bread to beggars with the excuse it would soon go bad. He was the third son from a famous bakers family in a big city. Since when he was young he would secretly give some bread to beggars without his father knowing. But finally his father caught him and they argued. He then ran away from home and hasn't gone back ever since
"I'd like to help but I have my own things to protect now."
He would definitely have helped if it were his younger adventurer self. But if he were to cause problems now then his bakery and his livelihood would be at risk.
"I can do it on my own, I already have an idea."
I already suspected that the only reason the gang could operate so openly in this area was that they had the backing of officials who turned a blind eye.
Do you have a plan?
"Yes... kind of?"
I left Darryl's bakery and headed to the city hall. As I remembered, although Gartmar's mayor was a bit absent-minded, he was a wise person. I thought that if we talked face to face, we can find a solution.
"What brought you here?"
The first floor receptionist asked suspiciously. It was a normal reaction considering my appearance as a beggar.
"I'd like to see the mayor."
"I'm sorry but he is very busy and hard to get a meeting with."
Her cold response was not entirely unexpected.
"Could you please please inform the mayor that the Gartmar's first adventurer has come to discuss the city's security."
I stealthily handed her a silver coin. It was definitely a bribe, but was common practice to do so and if you wanted to get things done you occasionally had to tiptoe across the line.
"Well... if it is just sending message, that I can do. Please wait a minute."
The receptionist called over an attendant and handed him a note before he took off. Soon after an official appeared who whispered something into the receptionist's ear. She then turned to look at me with a bright smile.
"The mayor has 5 minutes to spare, please follow this attendant."
'One silver coin (~50$ US) for 5 minutes, quite expensive. '
I was brought to the mayor's office. When I walked in I was surprised to see the complete lack of any extravagance, he was hard at work behind a pile of paperwork on his desk.
"Please speak quickly, I have many issues which require my attention."
"If you are too busy I can come at another time."
"No, this is almost like a break time for me. Did you say you are the city's first adventurer?"
The mayor gave me a brief look before returning his gaze to the paperwork before him.
"Indeed"
"And you wished to speak of a security matter?"
He continued speaking while staring at the documents on his desk.
"That's right, have you ever heard of the Wolf club?"
"I had received some complaints some time ago and thought it was taken care of. Are they still active?"
The mayor's reality existed only in the documents on his desk.
"Definitely not gone, they continue to intimidate and extort your citizens."
"I see, but it isn't easy to get rid of them without any evidence. After all even if I'm the mayor I still have to respect the law."
He was very smart and understood the situation with but a few words, prompting me to come forth as a witness to their crimes.
"Should I bring some evidence?"
"Right."
"Yes I'll find it for you."
"Wait"
"Yes?"
Ting!
He tossed me something and I caught it. It was a single gold coin (~500$ US)
"Here is the commission for the quest, if you succeed then you can keep it, but if you fail, you'll owe me double, understood?"
It came without any strings attached, in fact I could just skip town since I hadn't signed any contract.
"Okay"
The mayor had faith in me, as the town's first adventurer. I left the building content, I only had to find some evidence of the Wolf club's wrongdoings to kick them out of town.
'This shouldn't be enough to change the flow of history too much right?'
I went to the Warrior's guild/Weapon store with my gold coin in hand.
"Oh... a gold coin is it? It's isn't fake right?"
Ryan questioned me as I payed with the gold coin. He bit down on the gold coin and then laughed.
"Don't leave any tooth marks on my gold coin!"
"Just barely a scratch, here are your 5 silver coins as change."
I had bought a pair of used studded leather gloves, a cloak and some leather shoes.
I thought some equipment would make it easier to fight other humans, especially the gloves.
'My fists should be enough, and at worst if I really needed to use a weapon my dagger should work just fine. '
At this point I was full of confidence, thinking I could easily take down this small organization. What I didn't know was that of their 15 member club, the top 3 were all former adventurers.
As I was buying my items at the weapons shop, a kidnapping was taking place a Darryl's bakery.
"These scum! Assaulting regular folk!"
"Fuck!"
"Shut up old man baker, this is what you get for not paying the protection fee."
The one who spoke was a woman covered entirely in black leather, as she kicked Darryl's in the stomach.
"You thought you were strong, but there is always a higher mountain. Let's end things here."
On their way out the lit a torch and tossed it inside. The wooden shop quickly caught fire.
"No, don't do it!"
Ignoring Darryl's pleas they simply walked out with the petrified little girl. Darryl struggled to put out the fire but the store was more that half burnt by the time he got it under control.
I saw the fire as I exited the Warrior's guild. Despite running there it was all over by the time I arrived.
"Darryl"
"Sorry Johra, they took the girl and I couldn't do a thing."
"Dammit!"
I ground my teeth in anger
"This means war!"
"Yes, but you should know that some of them are former adventurers. I couldn't even lay a hand on them so they must at the very least be of iron rank.
"Oh, is that so?"
Before rushing in I stopped to think about the situation.
If they are stronger that Iron rank then they'd be at least level 20. It would be hard for me to emerge victorious.
Darryl was a level 15 adventurer, so to easily overpower him required at least a level 20 powerhouse. My strength would be the equivalent of smashing and egg against a rock.
"Darryl why don't you make an official report?"
"It would be meaningless."
There is no evidence and it is just my word against theirs so it would simply be treated as a workplace accident. This is a world where might makes right.
"Darryl I need your help, I know you still have that young adventurer's fire inside of you."
It is a shame about that little girl, but there was nothing I could do at the time. I could only do my best to level up quickly.
"Your right, and until the bakery is restored, I only have my adventurer skills to put food on the table."
I accompanied him to the Adventurer's guild.
"Oh, is it Old man Darryl. An original adventurer is it?"
I pretended like I knew nothing about that.
"Yeah, my bakery burned down and I don't have any other recourse."
"I had heard rumours about your strength, but finally I can confirm the truth."
He scratched his head helplessly and chose to accept the Goblin hunting quest. I took out the remainder of the Mayor's gold coin to provide him with some decent equipment.
"What... when did you become rich Johra?"
I shook my head.
I received it as an advance for a quest, so I still need to complete the job.
"Is that so? I'll be sure to pay you back for this.
I only had a single silver coin left. If I failed the mayor's commission I would have to slaughter countless Goblins just to pay off my debt.
We left the guild and headed to the forest together. This time we went deeper that I ever had before, and stumbled across a goblin camp.
"Johra, aren't there too many?'
"Hey Darryl, what kind of skills do you have?"
"I have an aggro and dash skill."
"I see, so we'll do things like this, You take the lead and defend against their attacks, while I deal them the finishing blows, alright?"
"Wouldn't it be safer to pick them off one at the time?"
I shook my head
"I dont have the time"
Compared to Darryl who could only hunt normally, I had to take some risks to benefit from my experience bonus. If I was able to hunt 10 of them at the same time, (1+2+4+8+16+32+64+128+512) was the equivalent of hunting 1023 goblins. There was a huge difference in experienced gained between hunting 10 individually and 10 at the same time.
Darryl remained unconvinced but nodded all the same.
Uh Oh Oh!
He used his taunt skill to secure their aggro and all 10 goblins rushed towards him. I stealthily came at them from the side with my dagger in hand.
"Kite them back around that big tree!"
"Okay, got it!"
Keek Kiiek
Despite me chasing after them with my dagger, they didn't change target and continue after Darryl.
'This looks like a good spot. '
"Ok stop and defend now!"
"Okay!"
Kang! Kung!
The goblins smashed into his shield with their clubs, but he was able to firmly hold his ground. The power of a level 15 warrior was not to be underestimated, and these lower level goblins could at most cause him a single point of damage each attack.
Still since they were many, even if these small 1 damage attacks were numerous enough, it was enough to kill humans since it was as race which originally had little HP.
'Now!'
As the 10 goblins were busy wailing on Darryl's shield, I came from behind and slashed their necks. Some who had already take 3-4 points in damage from Darryl, died in a single stroke.
[+11 experience points]
[+22 experience points]
[Level increased 7? 8]
[+44 experience points]
[+88 experience points]
[Level increased 8? 9]
[+176 experience points]
[Level increased 9? 10]
[+352 experience points]
[Level increased 10? 12]
"Damn, I missed three of them."
Although I didn't get all 10, the power leveling was more or less successful. I one shotted the rest of them and became level 13.
"Huh... I'm completely spent. Even if they were measly goblins, it isn't easy to kill the 10 of them. It was all thanks to Uncle Darryl's assistance this time.
"Nonsense, you are the one who did all the killing!"
"Haha... I feel great. Has my level gone up?"
Throughout the fight he had gained a level. Maybe he already had a lot of experience points and just needed a few to promote.
It wasn't possible for normal people to view their own statuses. Adventurers who lucky enough to have the ability were less than 1 in 10, and they could find a cushy job as a guild councilor when they retired.
"Why don't you have your status checked next time we go to the Guild?"
I had to pretend to not already to the result.
"Yes, that's a good idea. It's been over 10 years since I was an adventurer, my blood is starting to boil."
I had discovered another difference between the humans and my previous undead body. Humans would have there MP and HP completely restored upon levelling up. It was a small advantage for the human race which didn't have much else going for them.
"Well then, should we try to catch some more?"
"Sure, I think I can do this at least once or twice more."
When I returned to the guild later that day, I was level 19. The receptionist was shocked at my improvement but I simply replied that it was a secret. She understood because it was very common for adventurer to have their own secret methods and didn't pry any further.
"Yeah! It's decent money! 10 silver coins!"
"Here you are, take 5."
"No, you need it more in case you need to pay off the mayor's debt."
"No, just accept the money as an advance payment for bread I'll buy from your bakery in the future." Although he was reluctant at first, after I insisted several times he finally caved. Although he felt bad taking the money, I knew that my current leveling would have been impossible without his help today.
"Thanks"
"Not at all, can we do it again tomorrow?"
"Sure, come find me in the bakery in the early morning."
"Okay and take care, you never know what you Wolf club guys will be up to."
Uncle Darryl nodded heavily before taking off. I headed back to my alley with my 5 silver coins in hand.
"Now it's time for the next step."
I didn't know why I still felt bad for that nameless little girl which was taken, but I knew that I still didn't have the means to save her. With a small sigh I headed towards the Temple.
*——-Translator's Note ——-*
Rank:
-Based on overall Stats and Strength.
-It isn't an absolute measure of an individual's prowess because it doesn't take into account skills or magic spells.
-Within the same rank, a difference in skills or spells can lead to a drastic difference in power.
(H)orrible - Strength of a regular human. Also referred to as the Human rank.
(G)ood - Strength of an exceptionally strong human.
(F)air -War veteran, the peak among regular humans.
(E)xcellent -Considered a beginner along the path of power.
(D)ominant -The average level of a Chosen Warrior.
(C)onquerer -The highest rank a Chosen Warrior can achieve.
(B)eyonder -The strength of a Dragon.
(A)bsolute -Strength of an Elder Dragon.
(S)uperior -Strength of a Dragon King
God -Strength of a Lesser God.
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