Chapter 14: Royal Capital Razhausen

“That was difficult wasn"t it! But I bet you were safer than anyone Nito-dono.”

“It"s all thanks to Kiez and Sierra.”

“What are you saying? They had someone who could heal wounds so they were able to fight without fear.”

William had come to convey a message from the village elder, it seemed that as thanks for saving the people of the village they wanted to invite us to a feast tonight. As it were, I had absolutely no reason to turn down this offer. Although for some reason I never seemed to get tired of the wine I was dying to eat something other than cheese.

“So that"s what I came to tell you, anyway…. Hm? Oh what an adorable young lady.”

“She goes by Toa, it seems she was captured just like the village women but apparently she"s not from here.”

“I see….”

With no words of thanks Toa acted cold towards William as well. After explaining that she was shy William responded like a true gentleman before returning to the villagers. “I was unaware, please accept my apology.”

“So is talking to William a no as well?”
“…..” It seemed so.

What in the world doesn"t she like about them? Even I have no idea.

“Why don"t we go over to where everyone is for now? If we just stand here…. aren"t you hungry?” The sun was already beginning to set.

“Masamune….. follow.”

“I see.”

I had no idea why this little girl trusts me so much.

“Oh right, I forgot to tell you but, when we are with other people please refer to me as Nito. I"ll tell you why later.”

“OK.”

※

We were invited to a feast, complete with music that seemed to come right out of an rpg and the villagers dancing around a bonfire. Jack also seemed to be dancing with a young girl around his age that I a.s.sumed was Lily.

If I hadn"t used [G.o.d Speed] at the time what would have become of Jack? The sight of them dancing set my heart at ease.

“Masamune, what is that?” It seemed that Toa had taken an interest in the villagers feast.

“Did I ask you to call me Nito?”
“It"s fine, it"s not like anyone can hear me right now anyway.”
“Well… if you can why don"t you try talking to some of the others as well?”
“…..” Silence.

From a little distance away Sierra kept glancing in our direction. Earlier she had joined us pointing at Toa who was practically clinging to me.
“Who is this girl?” Sierra appeared upset.

Said girl continued to hide under her hood with a displeased expression on her face. Since then she"d continued glancing in our direction. If you"re that curious why not just come over here?

“By the way, why were you captured in the first place?”

Toa was eating some kind of meat called Walstein Beef.

“I don"t know, I went into the forest and before I noticed they had already taken me.”

This conversation appeared to be pointless as even Toa didn"t know how she ended up there. It"s strange but I"ll just chalk it up to the fact it"s a different world.

” Well then, do you know where you live? ”

” No clue. ”

This looks like it"s going to be a long journey, but I wasn"t worried. Traveling companions were essential for an adventure, and now there were two of us.

“Well I guess all we can do is patiently search.”

“Mhm.” Toa replied while shoveling food into her mouth. I could get used to this kind of thing. Thinking that I pulled the wine out of my storage. If it"s just wine I can make it seem as though I pulled it out of my clothes, I"ve gotten used to this skill as well.

“I want some too.” As I was drinking Toa said that and stole the bottle away.

“Alright, let me get you a cup.”
“That"s OK.” She then proceeded to drink the wine directly from the bottle. I tried to stop her but I was a bit too slow, and although she appeared to enjoy the wine for me it was my first indirect kiss.

※

When everyone had fallen asleep after the feast William and Kiez were organizing the goods in the carriage.

“So how did it go today? I"m sure Sierra"s sword techniques were splendid.”

“Indeed she wielded the sword with superb killing intent, it was magnificent. Were we to compete with just the sword even I could not overcome her.”

“I see, if it"s just the sword huh.”
“Yep” Kiez answered lightly.

William retrieved his pipe and lit it.

“The problem is that healer.”

“Nito-dono? It"s going to be difficult for him after this. He wants to be an adventurer even though he has such disadvantageous abilities. He even said he would return Toa to her home, but who knows if it"s even possible for him.”

“It probably won"t be an issue.”

William and Kiez had a long relationship with each other. To William Kiez was a trusted escort and Kiez himself was loyal to William. That"s why William could tell Kiez was holding something back just by looking at him.

” What does he look like to you?”

“Some kind of monster.”

“For you to say something like that….. I
I see, how interesting.”

William bit his pipe as he slowly exhaled smoke.

“Still, us meeting him should have some kind of meaning behind it.”

The exhaled smoke dance about in the air before disappearing under the moonlight.

“Ah, how nostalgic. What do you think Kiez?”

“It is indeed.”

In this sort of atmosphere William smiled gently.

※

Early the next morning the villagers came with us to the village entrance.

“I should thank you properly. I appreciate what you"ve done for us.”

The village chief lowered his head as he said this.

“Please raise your head.” Sierra replied.

Sierra thanked them for the first and Jack yelled his thanks to me as he waved. Beside him Jack"s mom lowered her head to me in thanks.

“Grow into a man who can protect Lily.”

“Right!”

Jack was a bit shy.

Last night I had talked with William regarding Toa and said ” Not a problem.” easily giving permission for her to accompany us.

And so, we left the village.

“That was a nice village.”
“Wasn"t it though? Nito even got a girlfriend.”

There was a tinge of irony in Sierra"s voice. So with a bitter laugh I tried to gloss over her comment, but on the other hand Toa did fall asleep while leaning against me.

“By the way Nito-dono, you still haven"t told me about the skill you used back then.”

And there it is, Sierra looked like she"d been wanting to ask about it this entire time. Feeling helpless I decided to answer her.

“You really have a skill like that?” Contrary to my expectations she actually accepted my explanation. However afterwards she doubted as to whether or not I was truly a healer. So with no other choice after camouflaging or other ways blocking the important bits (Name, Level, etc.) I showed her the occupation column of my status.

“I apologize for doubting you.”

Sierra appeared to have been doubting my ident.i.ty but what about it she was doubting exactly I didn"t know. However she seemed to be suspicious.

“Nito-dono, you can see it!”

At last, we"ve arrived at the royal capital Razhausen.

The capital was far larger than I imagined, it"s walls continuing off into the distance. How long would it have taken to surround the city inside. We were stopped at the gate to be searched but were aloud past without incident once Sierra showed her face.

“Oh Sierra is famous, I"d expect nothing less.”

“It"s nothing of the sort.” Sierra"s face turned red as she replied.

It seemed that although the royal white Knights don"t usually show their faces in public there were still people inside that knew Sierra.

We got lucky this time by getting someone that she knew, the search didn"t take long at all.

“Well then Nito-dono, as a merchant I have a job I must do. I really should be going.”

“Thank you for bringing me all this way with you.”

“Thank you.” I was relieved to hear Toa also properly thank him.

“Think nothing of it, as I was able to hear all about Nito-dono"s heroic escapade. It made for quite an interesting trip. I hope we can meet again someday.”

With that William left on the carriage.

“Alright, let"s get moving as well.”

Sierra led us over to the adventurers guild.

A Guild.
A place that if I ever got the chance to visit a parallel world I wanted to visit at least once. The cla.s.sic starting point of many an RPG.

The guild was a beautiful brick building.

” Well, let"s head inside.” Sierra said.

Inside was quite s.p.a.cious, to the left was the reception while on the right a meeting place had been provided. Over in the meeting place a wide selection of adventurers and their companions were conversing. A few of them were quite scary to behold.

“Well then, please state your Name and occupation.”

I went to the reception desk first to proceed with the application procedure. I was a little worried when they brought out a magic tool to register my status but the disguise seemed to hold and I managed to clear the registration.

My level appeared as the average of those in the meeting hall, while my occupation stayed the same.

I was registered under my alias, Nito.
I don"t want those in Greyberg to know that Hidaka Masamune is alive. The process was over almost as soon as the magic tool was placed in my hand.

“You"re occupation is healer correct? Well then Nito-sama, Alan"s blessings upon you.”

Alan seemed to be an adventurer"s name. It seemed as though the receptionist was referring to a G.o.d that I was unsure existed. However, on the contrary, he appeared to be a real person. The guild master to be exact.

I asked Toa if she wanted to register at the guild but since it wasn"t necessary she refused.

“Beautiful women on both arms, whoo that makes me jealous. Hey why don"t you come over here and share boy. Spread the love.”

I disliked the owner of the voice immediately.

Turning around there was quite the scary looking adventurer, his friends laughed loudly. However, nothing about this was funny.

” If I heard correctly, you"re a healer right? ”

It appears they had been eavesdropping,

“You"re and adventurer? Healers can"t be adventurers, this isn"t some place children can come play around in. Why don"t you run on home to momma and let us take care of these two ladies for you.”

He narrows his eyes glaring at me.

“Why don"t you two stop hanging around with this kid, come over here and talk to us.”

One of the men sitting around the first man spoke.

Make no mistake, if this had happened before my reincarnation I would have been left shaking unable to speak. Now though, I had been baptized in the h.e.l.l that was that labyrinth, something like this didn"t even phase me. Not to mention, I took a look at these guys statuses, they sure can talk big for being so weak. It"s annoying but I decided it"s better to try and avoid meaningless fights.

“My apologies I didn"t intend to come her to ‘play", if you can please overlook it. Also these two are my friends so…”

“I just said leave those friends of yours and get out. Are you incompetent in the listening department as well?”

I intended to make this easy for them but they weren"t able to understand. Instead they got p.i.s.sed at nothing. However, at that moment the doors swung open and in walked several knights clad in armor.