Translator: Silver  Editor: Namorax

「Border Town Gurado」Part 2

The monster was covered in black and gray fur and four tusks were sticking out of both sides of its mouth. It was a Fanged Boar, similar to the one I had killed before. However, it wasn’t two meters long as the one before, this one was maybe one and a half meters at best.

One of the fleeing boys, who was carrying a simple wooden shield with a thin iron plate riveted to it, turned around to confront the Fanged Boar with his short sword. When I focused on the boar, I noticed that there was a bleeding cut on its body and it was scratching the ground as it stared down the kid with the sword.

The boys must have angered the boar when they tried to slay it and now the boys would meet their end by impalement.

My black cloak fluttered as I ran towards the kids and drew my sword. Ariane had already sent out a flying mound of rocks that hit the ground in-between the Fanged Boar and the children, throwing up a cloud of dust.

When the Fanged Boar tried to leap back and groaned, I aimed for its neck. The monster tried to reorient itself when it recognized a new enemy, but it’s movements were too slow.

By the time the Fanged Boar started to turn, my sword was already in mid-swing. With a booming shout, I brought the 『Holy Thunder Sword』 down on the crown of the monster’s head. The sword easily cut the Fanged Boar’s head in half and the remaining momentum caused the blade to hit the ground and create a large fissure.

The two boys stared at me with their mouths wide open, wearing dumbfounded expressions.

“I am a priest, are either of you injured?”

After I swung my sword to remove the blood and sheathed it, the boy with the sword quickly stepped forward to answer me.

“W-We’re alright! I was just about to slay the beast myself!!”

The boy’s small brown eyes, which complimented his short brown hair, glared at me in annoyance. When he thrust his sword in my direction, the boy’s trembling arms threw off his aim.

Suddenly the pale boy with similar gear that had remained silent till now, tackled the other boy that had been in the middle of his sloppy thrust and knocked him to the ground.

“Onii-chan what are you doing?! What do you think you’re saying to our savior?!”

Apparently the two of them were siblings.

The younger one’s hair was lighter and slightly longer than his brothers, and he seems to have a more reserved personality compared to his overactive older brother. He had the same brown eyes as his brother, but he had more common sense.

After hitting his brother on the head as he stood up, the younger one lowered his head to me.

“Sorry, I apologize for my brother’s actions! My name is Levitto and this is my brother──”

“I am Raiatto Dalsen De Gurado! I am the rising star of the next generation’s feudal lords!”

While he did cut off his brother Levitto, Raiatto’s arrogant introduction with his arms crossed over his chest and puffed out cheeks was rather heartwarming. Well, it was a rather interesting thing to do in front of a mysterious knight clad in a black cloak and women clad in a gray cloak at least.

“Quite the interesting child.”

Ariane started to chuckle at the boys’ antics as she slowly made her way over.

Still, these boys were apparently the sons of the feudal lord. That begged the question as to why they were outside the town, trying to fight monsters with weapons. Confused, I decided to ask the boys about it.

“By the way, what are you boys doing in a place like this?”

It wasn’t Levitto that answered like I expected, but the older brother Raiatto that spoke up.

“I’m not a boy! Since there have been recent monster attacks in the Gurado territory, I’ve taken it upon myself to pacify the land!”

He was definitely at the  stage between child and teenager.

“Isn’t that a reckless thing to do? Nothing would be accomplished if you died.”

“I-I can do it! I am not being reckless! I can do it!!”

When I gave some frank advice, Raiatto’s face turned a deep red and he stomped on the ground like a child. Since I couldn’t deal with him forever I turned towards the younger brother who’d been standing off to the side.

“I have a small question Levitto-dono, do you know the closest town in the the empire from here?”

“The closest town in the empire? I don’t know, but I bet father does.”

As he spoke, Levitto apologetically shook his head in response to my question. There was no need to ask the feudal lord, but it seemed that we wouldn’t be changing our destination from Gurado. However, Raiatto soon leaped up and started to shout in protest.

“Hey! Hey! Don’t ignore me! Ignore me and I──”

“Kyun!”

All of a sudden a gust of wind blew up and smacked Raiatto in the face as Ponta cried out from the top of my head.

“What!?”

After being hit by the gust Raiatto began to wildly swing his sword around until he fell on his b.u.t.t.

“What just happened!? That green fur baー ah!!”

“Kyun! Kyun!”

Ponta jumped from my head to the ground when Raiatto started to glare daggers at her and puffed out her fur while baring her fangs at him.

“How about we all just head to town and decide what to do from there. Let’s get there quickly.”

“T-Thank you very much.”

After I broke up the fight, Levitt and Ratio led the way to town while Ariane was following them with Ponat in her arms. After quickly picking something up I brought up the rear.

There was a deep trench dug around Gurado’s walls and there was a drop bridge at the entrance. There were several guards at the front gate and all of them rushed forward when they noticed our group approaching.

“Levitto! Raiatto! Where did the two of you run off!? Dalson-sama has been worried sick about you!!”

One of the guards rushed forward to check on the two brothers, who looked a little embarra.s.sed when they heard that this Dalson person was worried about them.

Even the hyperactive Ratio was quiet when he heard this. It was Levitto who told them how Ariane and I came across the two of them and safely brought them back to town.

When the guards took us to the center of the town, we encountered a gathering of many people, who were all wearing heavy equipment. There were twenty knights adorned with excellent armor, while the remaining ten men were dressed in leather armor, all holding different weapons.

When one of the guards that had been leading us ran up to the group he saluted to the person standing in the center.

“Dalson-sama, your sons have been found!”

The man called Dalson was wearing armor like the people around him and his physique was slightly larger than the rest. He appeared to be in his early thirties, had a stubby beard, short hair and the same brown eyes as the boys.

Although he carried the atmosphere of bandit leader or veteran adventurer, I couldn’t deny that he was the boys’ father and thus Gurado’s feudal lord.

A vein was visibly throbbing on Dalson’s forehead and he wore a strained smile on his face as he approached us with long strides before striking both Raiatto and Levitt on the top of their heads.

“Ouch〜〜!!”

Raiatto started rolling on the ground, holding his head, while Levitto crouched on the ground in pain.

“Shut up!! Fools, you’ve made me worry for nothing with this c.r.a.p!!”

Dalson rubbed his fist as he shouted at the two, before he turned to me.

“A stranger? At such an unusual time?”

“My name is Arc, a traveling adventurer. This is my current traveling companion, Ariana.”

“Kyun!”

There was doubt on Dalson’s face when I introduced Ariane and myself and only Ponta’s cry when she jumped on my head broke the silence. Dalson gave us a once over before he moved his eyes back to my face and asked me another question.

“What’s that on your shoulder?”

“Oh, on our way here we ran into your sons while they were attacked by this monster. In order to prevent its death from being unnecessary, we brought it here for processing.”

As I said that, I threw the Fanged Boar I had been carrying around with one hand at the feudal lord’s feet, making everyone around us shout in surprise.

When Ratio saw that, he quickly hid behind the nearest knight’s back.

While more veins appeared on Dalson’s temple, he simply snorted and looked back at me.

“You said you were an adventurer, right? If you have the power to slay that d.a.m.ned beast in a single blow, then you are a considerable fighting force. Would you consider being employed by me for a while? What’s your price?”

Dalson kicked the head of the Fanged Boar corpse as he stared at me.

“While I am grateful for the offer, I’m currently employed by another party……”

I glanced in Ariane’s direction as I spoke.

Dalson looked disappointed at my answer as he sighed and scratched the back of his head.

“I see…… To come to Gurado at such a time, do you have an errand here?”

“No, we’re trying to reach the nearest city in the empire. Do you happen to know the way, Dalson-dono?”

When I asked about reaching a city in the empire, Dalson widely smiled and turned towards Ariana.

“Regrettably, a group of Ogres has holed near the highway up ahead, so it’s currently quite dangerous to travel to the empire.”

I often encountered Ogres in the game, they were a demonic looking monster. Their most notable traits were their high physical strength and offensive power. Basically, a troublesome enemy at the beginning but a suitable grinding monster for the mid-game.

Ariane and I should easily be able to deal with them ourselves or we could just use 【Dimensional Step】to avoid the trouble.

However, judging from Dalson’s aura, he wouldn’t allow two people to attempt a dangerous trek to the empire by themselves.

“I have a suggestion for you, we’re preparing to subjugate the Ogres right now, so how about you lend him to us? Adventurers rarely visit the border, and one with the strength to kill a Fanged Boar with a single blow is one I’d like to work with.”

His proposal for leasing my contract was directed at Ariane since she had been presented as my employer.

Ariane’s golden eyes looked towards me from beneath her hood so I gave her a simple nod.

It was my way of telling her that I didn’t think exterminating the Ogres would take too much time to accomplish.

“I don’t particularly mind.”

When Ariane accepted his proposal Dalson’s smile widened even more.

“Is that so. Well, thank you for that. Of course, you two will be handsomely rewarded for your contribution. You said your name was Arc, you are in agreement with this, right?”

“I don’t really have any objections. How big is this group of Ogres?”

“According to our scouts, there are about ten of them.”

If there were that few, then this could probably be settled before noon.

“Though this promising fellow has joined us, but don’t think you can be careless. You lot, don’t be too reckless!”

“OHH!!”

A battle cry rang out a Dalson’s exclamation. The knights shared promises of returning safely with their friends and families as they gathered to make their final equipment checks.

I looked to Ariane as the spectacle unfolded, but she simply shrugged and shook her head.

This situation seemed more serious than I initially thought it to be.

Given Dalson’s not too serious att.i.tude as a feudal lord, I’d thought that is would be something similar to a hunting trip in the mountains, but maybe I was wrong.

There would be no chance of victory if the commander had a hopeless expression. Nevertheless, he was a rather brave man to lead the subjection himself.

Though this town wasn’t very large, judging by the small number of knights present, they were also short-handed.

“I a.s.sume we’ll depart after everything is put in order.”

Dalson’s eyes bulged when Ariana spoke up.

“Well, I thought that you could wait here in town for our retur──”

“Wouldn’t my magic and skills with the sword also count as a great war potential?”

She created a fireball in her hand as she spoke, before extinguishing it the next instant.

“Oh! Lady luck is truly smiling down on us! Every last one of you better come back alive!!”

“Oooou!!”

Following Dalson’s energetic jab came the ecstatic shouts of the men around us.