NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: (2)
During an emergency request where the entire inhabitants’ safety was at stake, it turned into a sort of compulsory request. For example, during the appearance of a powerful monster or a war. In such cases, to ensure the safety of the residents, the request would be issued as an emergency measure, just as its name implied.
「Depending on their scale, there’s a possibility that the bandits would come raiding the town, after all. Well, it’s still hard to tell at the current stage, though.」
「….」
Tanaka passed through the gate and entered the town. An intense foreboding feeling was welling up inside of him. Racking his self-proclaimed genius brain to come up with a solution, he headed to the guild.
◇ ◇ ◇
「I’m planning to return to the countryside to start farming once I’m done with this request. 」
「Hmm, I see. In that case, I’ll be issuing your wanted poster then.」
Jody swiftly dismissed Tanaka’s idiotic remark while doing her job in a matter-of-fact manner.
「Just why?! Why would I have a wanted poster for becoming a farmer?!!」
「Just kidding. Rather, it’s your fault for spouting such a strange thing all of a sudden. In the end, I’m sure you’re just thinking about running away after you heard the matter about the bandits from Hachi, am I right?」
「…..」
Jody had read one step ahead of Tanaka’s thoughts. A true natural enemy. Tanaka was trembling in fear at the horror of the receptionist in front of him. Something that totally didn’t really matter.
While Tanaka was trembling in fear of her, Jody quickly finished the completion procedure of the request. Then, as she handed over his reward to Tanaka, she added.
「Well, it’s not like you’re going to be dealing with them right away or anything anyway. But when the time comes, be sure to resolve yourself and properly accept the request, alright? Until then, you are free to continue doing what you’ve always done. Well, it’s not guaranteed yet that we’ll issue an emergency request anyway, so just take is easy.」
Saying so, she dismissed Tanaka with her usual business smile.
After that, as Jody told him to, Tanaka went about his daily life as usual, praying that the bandits would disappear on their own.
However, just as his bad premonition had expected, the damage caused by the bandits didn’t cease. In fact, the damage had actually increased dramatically, and eventually…..
◇ ◇ ◇
「Hi there, are you guys my guards for this trip? My name is Echigoya, and as you can see, I am an up-and-coming merchant. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.」
A seemingly sociable young merchant casually greeted the guild members who had come as his escorts.
Although the number of bandits’ victims had increased dramatically, it wasn’t like all of the passing merchants were indiscriminately attacked. In fact, from the perspective of this town’s merchant as a whole, they felt that there was a high possibility that everything would pass safely.
However, for being able to act so cheerfully despite all of the ensuing events, it was unknown whether it was because of how young the merchant was, or because he was a seedling who would grow into a big tree someday.
However, Tanaka didn’t have the leisure to think about such a thing. As one of the guild members who were chosen as the guards, Tanaka was feeling depressed all by himself.
「Not good… it’s totally not good. What’s not good you ask? First of all, the name ‘Echigoya’ absolutely reeks of something not good. I feel that we’re most likely going to be involved in some kind of trouble along the way….」
Despite Tanaka’s pessimistic thoughts, the preparations were smoothly finished and Echigoya, along with the rows of carriage, finally departed the town. It was a two-day journey to Fugu town, a neighboring town to the north of Hazama.
Incidentally, Fugu town was similarly a small town surrounded by forest. From his past experience, though, Tanaka was too afraid to ask what fugu was. Something that didn’t really matter.
The trip went on smoothly, and before he knew it, Tanaka was already chatting heartily with Echigoya. Echigoya was a rather handsome young man, who would normally be categorized as an enemy by Tanaka. Moreover, he might call himself an up-and-coming merchant, but he did seem to know what he was doing. Echigoya was building up a good rapport with Tanaka leveraging his excellent conversation ability.
「Oh, so you’re an E rank then?」
「That’s totally right. I tried to escape… I mean return to the countryside to start farming, but…. Ngigigigi.」
Tanaka was indignant as he recalled how Jody and the other guild staff had blocked his escape route.
「Hahahahaha, but then I guess I shouldn’t ask you, who’s only an E rank, for too much of a favor, huh.」
「Well, I’m dabbling a bit at magic, while they may be only the live-support types, but you can leave the camping-related matters to me. Also, I have great confidence in my ability to run away.」
「I’ll be counting on you, then. Though, please spare me from running away, hahaha.」
Tanaka, who casually made such a crisp and no-good remark. Echigoya, who responded and laughed at it, as expected he was most likely going to grow into a great man in the future. However, in his mind, Echigoya was working on an emergency plan with the escorts other than Tanaka, the two D-ranked guild members, as the main fighter.
And so time passed as they did this and that, and the day was about to set without any signs of the bandits showing up in front of them. They then stopped their row of carriages and began the preparation for the night camping.
Tanaka used the housework abilities he had honed on his long journey to promptly get the camps ready. Well, his housework abilities were actually not that great in itself, however, Tanaka possessed an above standard item box. Despite Echigoya’s doubts as to why Tanaka brought these items on him, Tanaka quickly took out and prepared satisfactory meals and beddings out of his item box.
Afterwards, the three escorts quickly finished up their meals. The two escorts, other than Tanaka, stayed to guard the carriages, while Tanaka on the other hand headed into the forest to gather up firewood.
「Actually, I even have some firewood in my item box… I wonder if they aren’t good enough.」
Even as he muttered about such a thing, Tanaka decided to refrain himself. Thus he continued to earnestly gather up firewood. As he continued to move deeper into the forest for a while, he had gathered up quite a lot. When he thought it was about time to return, his field of vision suddenly brightened up. He seemed to have arrived at the riverbed next to a stream.
Then, he noticed that there were three large-built men who were standing beside the stream.
「Oh, to think you’d personally bring yourself here.」
The three men immediately unsheathed their swords and readied themselves for battle.
Year 5963 of the creation calendar, Autumn, Tanaka had a life and death battle against humans for the first time.
Name: Tanaka
Level: 16 Experience: 1143/1600 Guild Rank: E
Vitality: 2.9e13/2.9e13 Magical energy: 3.8e13/3.8e13
Strength: 2.9e12 Dexterity: 2.7e12 Agility: 2.7e12
Intelligence: 3.8e12 Spirit: 3.8e12
Skills: Sword (2.01) Magic (1.04) Believed One (1.02)
Equipment: Short sword, Cloth clothing
Money: 2872,000G