A bit long, so bear with it.
Chapter 1: The Road to Royal Capital Isn’t Exactly Smooth
With only halfway to the royal capital, trouble struck. A noble lord hostile to Ryoji’s lord Yuhan Stokman, who was also a count, blocked Ryoji and his party from passing through the city.
It seems that the Lord had ordered his subordinates to harass them, saying, “Whenever Yuhan’s men pass through the city, stall for time”. Even though they complained about the procedure taking longer than usual, they were given a curt reply, and Ryoji spent two days in idleness.
“Can’t you do something about it?”
“I can’t help you, sir. I’ll contact my supervisor, so please wait a while. If you’re in that much of a hurry, why don’t you take a long way around and go through the forest? You don’t have to wait, you know?”
The others were annoyed by the half-smiling officer and tried to confront him. Ryoji raised one hand to stop him and checked with Melta.
“Does that forest have a name or something?”
“It’s been called the Board Forest for a long time. There is no record of why it is called that. What we do know is that when you take a break in the open spaces scattered throughout the forest, monsters come out. The only way to get through that forest is to go through it without stopping, but it takes several days, so I’ve heard that it’s no longer used.”
After hearing Melta’s explanation, Ryoji told the civil servant, who had an irreverent attitude after thinking for a while, with a blank expression in a low voice.
“Then tell your Lord that Ryoji Uchino said, ‘I am going through the forest’.”
“……. A-As you wish. I’ll inform my master.”
Ryoji’s sharp gaze made the official flinch for a moment, but when he managed to adjust his stance, he realized that he had been intimidated, and he said in an annoyed and piercing tone,
“That forest is full of monsters, so please be careful. I don’t know what a single knight can do.”
“Thank you for your advice. By the way, I never heard your name.”
After hearing the name from the civil servant, who had been looking down on them from beginning to end, and receiving written confirmation that combat in the forest would not be a problem, Ryoji entered the forest with a smile on his face, as if he had been lying about his blank expression until now.
The forest that Ryoji and his group entered was dense and alternated between areas with extremely poor visibility and areas with good visibility that were unnaturally well maintained. Even though they had heard that the road had not been used recently, it was unnaturally well maintained, giving them a bad feeling along with a sense of discomfort.
“They seriously harassed us, didn’t they? Isn’t this a diplomatic issue?”
“Yes, it is. We have Yuhan-sama’s letter of introduction to the King, and we will report to him that we were forced to take a dangerous path. Besides, it’s great that Ryoji-sama was able to get a letter from that civil official. That lord is probably looking very pale right now. The response was so poor.”
They all proceeded to badmouth the noble lord and the civil servant who handled the situation. In the meantime, a sharp voice came from Carena, who was relieved to have reached the square, nervously rubbing her shoulders, as if she could not get used to the atmosphere of the dense forest despite the light.
“Be careful! There’s an enemy in the front!”
“Carena, identify the monster. Melta will start attacking with her bow as soon as she sees the monster! The rest of you stay in the carriage.”
Ryoji drew his own mithril sword and put the lightning attribute on it, and waited for the enemy to come. As soon as they were ready to intercept the enemy, Carena told them the enemy’s name.
“Master Ryoji! That is a monster known as a Demon Rabbit!”
After hearing the report, Ryoji activated the interface and searched for the demon rabbit.
Demon Rabbit
A monster that lives extensively in Safyria. Resembles a rabbit. Be careful because it moves quickly. Its meat is popular for its tenderness, but it rots easily, so it is mainly sold as dried meat. Target rank: D.
“Big! Eh? Are they this big?”
Melta shot an arrow next to Ryoji, who was screaming at the sight of a rabbit the size of a capybara. However, the Demon Rabbit dodged with an unbelievable motion considering its size and charged at Ryoji with the same momentum.
“Naive! First one!”
With a strike, he confirmed that the first one was dead and stored it in storage, and with his sword, he slashed the head of the other one that came at him from a different angle. Ryoji attacked the third one in a fluid motion. The other two took advantage of the gap and came at the carriage.
“Shit! Melta!”
” Please hit it!”
As Ryoji instructed, Melta continued to shoot at the demon rabbits from the top of the carriage, but all of them dodged.
“Aah! Horses!”
The Demon Rabbit, which had dodged Melta’s attack, aimed the horse and struck it head-on in the side. The horse, which had been hit by the attack, neighed weakly and collapsed convulsively on the spot. The rabbit then used its momentum to hit the carriage.
“Melta, don’t be shaken off the carriage! I’ll use spirit magic to ……”
After loudly instructing Melta, Carena calmed down to start chanting to attack with spirit magic. Ryoji shot a light that she had never seen before at the demon rabbit.
“W-What? What was that light?”
“Sorry! I just wanted to try out some magic.”
As she listened to Ryoji’s words as he approached the carriage, Carena checked the back of the demon rabbit. There was an unseen object stuck in the back of the rabbit that was glowing gold and had sparks coming out of it in various places.
“Ryoji-sama. What is this?”
“It’s a modification of lightning magic.”
Ryoji replied with a big smile to Carena, who was afraid to ask a question about what she thought was unknown magic.
“Is it possible to improve it? Can you even improve magic?”
Ryoji, who felt that Melta was mumbling with a puzzled face and going crazy, hurriedly began to make excuses.
“Just kidding! There’s no way it can be improved and done that easily. Well, let’s see. That’s it. That! Yes! It’s a magic spell called Lightning Shot that’s standard in Japan!”
He looked at Carena and Melta’s faces as he gave them a bitter excuse, but no matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem to be fooling them. But the two looked at each other and gave a small nod.
“Well, it’s Master Ryoji, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. So let’s get it over with.”
He was relieved that they did not pursue him, but he confirmed that there were no more enemies in the search mode.
“There are no enemies, so let’s take a break.”
“Understood.”
After defeating the demon rabbits, the group took a break. Carena and Melta were on the lookout just in case, and those who hadn’t participated in the battle began to dismantle and cook the defeated rabbits.
“I heard that Ryoji-sama’s item box contains many things. What kind of things do you have?”
“You want to know? Vegetables, fruits, and seasonings, of course. And there’s some fruit water, and some liquor, but I won’t serve it to you right now. There are also plates and spoons. There’s more at …….”
Ryoji, who was being spoken to by the civil official accompanying him, happily began to bring out the tools in the storage one after another. He was looking at Ryoji with a dumbfounded expression, but when Kamado came out, he was so surprised that he almost fell over.
“K-Kitchen Stove? Kitchen Table! Y-You just took it out of the item box?”
“Hmm? Kitchen Stove, right? Are there enough of those? There are five demon rabbits in total. Let’s make some smoked food. All right, got it. Wait here for a minute. I’ll make it now.”
Ryoji nodded, mistakenly assuming that the number of rabbits was small, and began to use earth magic to create a similar stove.
“For once, it doesn’t matter if it’s messy, right? The rest is water for cooking, I guess. I’ve made this barrel so that water comes out from underneath when you twist the stopper. It’s easier that way, right?”
Ryoji created a series of stoves and barrels, filled the barrels with water magic, and confirmed that water would come out when the stopper was twisted, only then did he notice the stunned civil servant frozen in place.
“Hey! What’s wrong? Let’s start cooking.”
“‘Y-Yes! I am very calm, sir! I will begin cooking now.”
As he tilted his head towards the civil servant, who began to cook with the awkward movements of someone who had just woken up from a bad dream, Carena and Melta approached him with wry smiles on their faces.
“You can’t do that. Ryoji-sama. You should not impose your insanity on people who are not used to it. Right. Carena?”
“Yes, yes. Ryoji-sama is a mass of insanity.”
Ryoji, who was accused of being insane by both of them, was sober and depressed as he used fire magic to ignite the pot and began to cook it with water.
“I’m a little curious about something.”
The stew and skewers made from the demon rabbit meat were well received, and the smoked meat he made to preserve the meat was also satisfactory.
“What’s on your mind?
“I searched the Board Forest, but there are squares all over the place. Also, it looks like this square is now owned by me.”
“The square is owned by Ryoji-sama? What is the meaning of this?”
“For now, let’s move on to the next square.”
Ryoji didn’t have an answer to Carena’s question, either, and while both of them tilted their heads, he instructed them to put away their luggage and proceeded to take the carriage to the next square. The next square was smaller than the previous one, and as Ryoji and his friends entered the square, three demon rabbits attacked them.
With no questions asked, Ryoji used a lightning shot to finish them off at once, and when he checked in enemy search mode, he found that the owner was Ryoji.
“I knew it. I became the owner of this place too. It seems that if you defeat all the monsters in this square, you become the owner. Also, this forest square is laid out like a board. I don’t know what it means, but there are over thirty large and small ones in the whole forest.”
“That’s strange. I have a bad feeling about this, so I suggest we go for the shortest path. ……”
“But! Don’t you think it makes sense that the owner would be me?”
Although Melta and the civil servants nodded in agreement with Carena’s opinion, they gave up when they saw their master’s face gleaming in the sun.
Ryoji, who had begun to conquer the square, had owned thirty-five of them in five days, and when they rushed into the remaining square, Ryoji and his group were surprised at the unprecedented size of the square.
“Ohh! This square is huge.”
“It’s true. It’s so much bigger than befor–“
As Melta was about to reply to Ryoji’s impression, a woman’s inorganic voice echoed throughout the square.
[This is the final stage of the challenge. In five minutes, the final enemy will appear. We cannot guarantee your life, so please leave the final stage if you are not the challenger. Repeat. All non-challengers must leave the final stage.]
“Wh-What? Where is the voice coming from?”
While everyone was puzzled by the voice that was suddenly heard throughout the square, the woman’s voice began to count down.
“It looks like this is the last place. Carena, Melta. Hurry and retreat to the previous square! Escort the non-combatants on the spot!”
“Ryoji-sama! Are you planning to fight alone? At least I’ll stay behind!”
Carena countered Ryoji’s order. Ryoji sensed that she was worried about him and replied lightly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll finish it off quickly!”
“‘……. I understand. But don’t do anything rash! If it looks like you’re in danger, please run away.”
After sending the worried-looking Carena and Melta off with a smile, Ryoji set up his mithril sword and waited in the middle of the square for the enemy to come out.
As if he had been waiting for them to finish their preparations, he heard the earth-shaking from the back of the square. The sound alone was enough to give away the size of the monster, and Ryoji shouted with joy when he saw that the trees had collapsed in front of him, revealing the monster.
“Ohh! A dragon!”
The dragon roared in response to Ryoji’s happy voice. It was as big as a dump truck, and its body was covered in scales, with sharp claws and fangs. The dragon seemed to feel uncomfortable that there was no response to its own roar, so it roared again and began to charge towards Ryoji.
“Huh? Is it not working at all?”
The lightning shot that he fired while getting around the side in time seemed to have been stopped by the dragon’s scales and did no damage. Ryoji then fired a series of fire arrows and ice arrows, but they had no effect, so he paused and tried to plan a strategy.
“Naa!”
Ryoji was caught off guard thinking that he had the upper hand. He looked at the dragon with a quizzical expression on his face when it suddenly stopped moving and observed the situation. And then, just as the dragon stopped, it lowered its posture and spat a fire breath at him. Ryoji tried to evade it in a hurry, but he couldn’t dodge the breath completely and suffered a burn on his right arm.
(Ouch! It hurts! It really hurts! Strength? Eighty-two percent? It hurts so much I can’t concentrate! Quickly recover… Wha! An assault? I’m going to have to evade!)
“Gah!”
Ryoji, after evading the breath, activated his interface on the spot to check his remaining strength. And for the dragon, it didn’t have any reason to stay still, so it began its assault while lowering its stance. Ryoji evaded the attack in a hurry, but he was met with a serious assault. He used the invisible shield gauntlet to prevent a direct hit, but he could not kill the momentum and was flung away.
“Damn it! How dare you do this to me! Now it’s my turn!”
Ryoji managed to adjust his stance, took out a potion from storage and drank it down, then double-applied lightning magic to his mithril sword and started running towards the dragon.
As Ryoji charged at him, the dragon tried to crush him with its paws. He managed to avoid it just in time and stabbed his mithril sword into it just as it touched the ground.
“Yes! The double attack was effective!”
As Ryoji closed the distance and attacked, the dragon realized that the opponent in front of him was dangerous because of the pain from the attack on his paw, and swung away with his tail while releasing a roar to decide the battle at once.
However, Ryoji was not there and quickly circled around to his left leg, thrusting his mithril sword up to the brim and adding another lightning attribute. The moment the triple lightning attribute was added, the mithril sword began to glow and burst with a violent sound.
“W-What the hell?”
Ryoji, who was blown away by the explosion with more force than when the dragon charged him, stood up with his mithril sword at the ready while rolling and adjusting his stance. However, the dragon continued to spit out-breaths in anger as it flailed around in pain from its missing left leg.
“Ohh! It’s working! Okay! Let’s settle this at once!”
Ryoji used his earth magic to create a huge wall and then went behind it while trying to hide. As the dragon was looking for its prey while destroying the wall that had suddenly appeared in front of it, Ryoji ran up its back in one fell swoop and thrust his mithril sword into its neck area. The dragon, which had received a fatal attack from behind, flailed about for a while, but gradually lost its momentum and stopped moving with a loud noise.
After Ryoji confirmed that the dragon was dead, he pulled the mithril sword from the dragon’s neck and shouted loudly.
“I’ve become the Dragon Slayer!”
A fanfare sounded in the square as Ryoji’s shout took over. Then the inorganic female voice that announced the start of the battle was heard again.
[Congratulations! You have completed the challenge in five days, thirteen hours, and forty minutes, making it the shortest time ever recorded. As a special reward, the player who broke the record has been given the sub-administrator authority of the Board Forest. Do you want to register your name? If not, please skip this step. After the registration process is complete, the reward will be explained.]
“Sub-administrator authority? What’s that?”
When Ryoji muttered to the explaining voice, it began, saying, [Help function activated, explanation of subordinate administrator authority].
[Sub-administrator authority is the privilege to manage the Board Forest. You can rebuild the board, deploy monsters including the last boss, and set up squares. However, it is not possible to place more than the specified number. Unless another user clears the game as fast as possible, the Administrator Authority will remain with Ryoji-sama.]
” It feels like you’ve been speaking my world’s language for a while now, but it can’t be my imagination, right? Saying things like “last boss” and “clear”.”
“The help function is based on information provided by the creator. I don’t have an answer to your question.”
“If you don’t know, it’s okay. What’s the second-best time?”
“The second best time is seven days, sixteen hours and twenty-five minutes. The player’s name is Amadeo Sandstrom. His last login time was 188596 days ago.”
“Eh? Again the player name and the last login time!”
“The player’s name is Amadeo Sandstrom. The last login time was 188596 days ago.”
He was curious about the name he had heard somewhere, but after checking the last login time again, Ryoji was stunned as he muttered to himself.
“Well… Some amazing numbers came up. If you divide it by 360 days, it’s around 500 years ago. I guess nobody’s been doing this for a long time. But who is the creator?”
[Would you like to register your name? If not, please skip.]
As he was thinking about the creator of the board forest, he heard a voice prompting him. Ryoji answered, deciding to think about the creator later.
“The player’s name is Ryoji Uchino.”
[ Ryoji Uchino-sama has been registered. I’ve also given you sub-administrator authority, so please let me know if you need any changes. Now for the rewards. In the Dragon’s Treasure Chest, there will be two pieces of magical equipment, three kilograms of mithril ore, and 30 wyvern magic stones.}
“Oh! I can get that much! By the way, what are the two magic tools?”
[I’ll answer your question. The two magic tools are the sword of flowing water and the room of expansion.]
Ryoji didn’t know what they were, but he activated the interface and began searching for the expansion room and the sword of flowing water.
Expansion Room
It’s a palm-sized box, but when stuck to the wall, it becomes a door. Inside, there is a kitchen and a room where about ten people can live. It can be removed at will, but cannot be removed if there are people inside.
Sword of Flowing Water
A sword with a blade that flows like water, which attracts the observer. The sharpness of the sword is the same as the iron sword, but when you attack, the water attribute is automatically added.
“Wow. Both are good. Especially the expansion room, wouldn’t it be great to install it on the carriage?”
[That’s it for rewards. Are there any other questions?]
While storing the rewards that suddenly appeared before the dragon, he answered to the sky.
“Nothing in particular.”
[Understood. Looking forward to serving you again.]
As soon as the voices faded, Carena’s and Melta’s voices echoed in the square.
“Ryoji-sama, are you all right?”
“Ouu! Come here!”
Carena and Melta came into the square with worried faces. Ryoji was waving happily at them. When they noticed Ryoji, they were happy to see that he was okay, but they were afraid to approach him when they saw the huge dragon behind him.
“Ryoji-sama. Did you fight this dragon?”
“Yes! It was very difficult to defeat it.”
Ryoji replied with a big smile to Melta, who muttered while looking up at the dragon in a daze, and Carena spoke to him while holding her temples.
“I think I understand what Marco is going through. All right. Ryoji-sama! Dragons are not something that can be defeated by one person. You have to gather A-rank adventurers in raid class, plan a strategy, and prepare your equipment before you can expect to win. And yet you can defeat it alone? Perhaps it was because it was a young dragon and not a dragon with treasure? If that’s the case, then with Ryoji-sama’s strength, it might be possible to defeat it.”
Ryoji spoke to Carena, who was talking to herself at the moment, hiding the fact that the dragon’s treasure chest was his reward.
“I found out about the board forest. This is a challenge to see how long it takes to defeat the dragon. As a reward for breaking the record for the shortest time, I’ve become the administrator of this forest.”
“We’ll have to ask the royal family to decide on the administrator.”
While listening to the conversation between Carena and Ryoji, Melta and the civil servants, who had finally accepted the fact that a dragon had been defeated, joined in the conversation.
“What did you receive as your reward?”
“Oh. Here they are.”
He began to explain as he took out from his storage the expansion room, the sword of flowing water, and a small amount of mithril ore (one kilogram), muttering in his mind, “It’s okay, they won’t find out”.
Ryoji and his group, who had left the forest for the first time in a week, were driving their carriage towards the royal capital. With only three days left until the royal capital, they had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery.
“Ryoji-sama. Are you sure you want to leave that part about the interference by that noble?”
“It’s fine. As a result, we’ve got a whole dragon, a nice set of magic tools, and the authority to manage the board forest. Besides, I guess they think we’re dead because we never came back from the forest. Still, it’s peaceful.”
“It’s rare that I haven’t seen a monster so far. Usually, we can at least see them from a distance.”
The civil servant answered while feeling good about not seeing the monster. Ryoji was on the lookout with the range of the search mode set to 500 meters while conversing, and when he confirmed that about 10 monsters were approaching with a clear hostility, he took out his mithril wand from storage and spoke to the official.
“That reminds me. Didn’t you say it’s rare that you can’t see a monster?”
“Yes. Isn’t that correct?”
“There’s a word in my country called flag. You should be careful because the word”rare” can be a flag.”
“What do you mean?”
As the official tilted his head, he noticed a cloud of dust rising from the right side of the seat. The official saw monsters with large horns and bodies, even from a distance, and among them, the one leading the way was exceptionally large.
The official tried to stop the carriage in a panic, but the group of monsters was quite close, and a sudden change of direction would be difficult.
“W-W-What to do! Ryoji-sama!”
“Don’t panic so much. It’ll be over soon. Lightning Needle 24 strikes.”
When Ryoji pointed his staff at the monsters and muttered, 24 golden needles, thinner and shorter than the Lightning Shot, appeared above his head. Four of the lightning needles flew at the largest monster, and the remaining ones, two each, flew at the rest of the monsters and pierced them between the eyes.”
“It’s over! Let’s go collect them.”
The official, who had come to his senses at the sound of Ryoji’s voice, had his mouth agape at the speed at which he had done it, but he shook his head as if he had given up and proceeded to drive the carriage towards the group of monsters.
“‘Did the monsters attack you while we were taking a nap?”
“But I took them out with one blow!”
“Please wake me up next time. As I said before, as an adventurer, there is no way I could sleep during a monster attack.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful next time.”
After being forgiven by the two, Ryoji took out one of the monsters he had stored in the storage room and checked it with Carena.
“It’s a huge horned bull, isn’t it? It’s a docile monster that usually lives in herds. But it’s quite difficult just to kill one of them.”
“I see. By the way, we killed eleven of them in total.”
“Ehh? You killed eleven of them? W-Well. Of course, Ryoji-sama did. But wasn’t it a lot of work?”
“It didn’t take more than ten seconds. Right?”
Ryoji looked at the official who was nodding with a dry smile and asked Carena, who was forcibly convinced that a dragon slayer should be able to do it, to explain about the giant horned bull.
“Anyways. Its meat is delicious. And the horns can be used to make medicine. If the head is still intact, some nobles have it stuffed and displayed.”
“That’s good to know. Well, I’ll let the nobles decide what to do with the giant horned bull. Maybe I should sell it at a discount. Would be best if we could make connections with them.”
It was around dusk when Ryoji and his group arrived at the city of the Papal aristocracy. It was supposed to be a city close to the royal capital, but it didn’t seem to be very lively. The gates were closed and the gatekeepers stood in full armor and large shields as if a war was about to start.
No one was around except for the carriage of Ryoji’s group, and as the group approached the gate in a somber atmosphere, the voice of someone or something reached them.
“Stop right there! Don’t move an inch! Where did you come from?”
“We’re on our way to the capital from the city of Drugul. We are not suspicious. Can you tell us what’s going on?”
When Ryoji got off the carriage and greeted them using his etiquette skills, the tension from the gatekeepers seemed to soften a little.
” I apologize, sir. Sorry to bother you, but we have an emergency and we need to see some proof of your identity.”
“I understand. I will present the letter from my lord to the royal family and my adventurer’s card.”
At Ryoji’s words, the official handed the royal letter from the luggage to the gatekeeper, and Ryoji presented his own adventurer’s card. The gatekeeper checked the wax seal of Yuhan the Frontier Count and returned the letter with reverence, and then froze as he tried to return Ryoji’s adventurer’s card after a brief check. The gatekeeper alternated between the adventurer’s card and Ryoji for a while then spoke to him in a shaky voice.
“A-Are you really the Rank B adventurer from Drugul, R-Ryoji-sama?”
“That’s exactly what it says, I’m Ryoji Uchino, who recently became a rank B adventurer.”
As he tilted his head at the gatekeeper, who was looking at Ryoji with worshipful eyes, he confirmed it as if he were shouting in an excited voice.
“You’re the hero of that Drugul!”
“I don’t know what ‘that’ means, but that’s what they call me in Drugul.”
In response to Ryoji’s words, the gatekeeper hurriedly returned the adventurer’s card, saluted reverently, and began to apologize.
“I accept your apology. By the way, can you tell us what’s going on?”
“There is a giant horned bull that runs amok in the area, and when it sees people, it thinks it’s invading their territory and attacks them. Usually, there are two or three giant horned bulls in a herd around here, but this time more than ten giant horned bulls are rampaging, and they’re out of control. Hmm? Can I do something for you?”
Ryoji tilted his head as he listened to the gatekeeper’s explanation, and the gatekeeper questioned him quizzically.
“No. By the way, the one leading the charge is a Giant Horned Bull that is bigger than the normal, right?”
“That’s right. Have you seen it anywhere? We’ll pay you for the information, so let us know!”
“Will there be a reward for killing it?”
“Of course! A request has been sent to the guild for 10 gold pieces to kill it. The reward and purchase of the part will be calculated separately from the request.”
“It won’t matter if I don’t accept the request from the guild, right?”
The gatekeeper, who was answering Ryoji’s question, became increasingly suspicious and confirmed it.
“Did you do something?”
“I beat it.”
“What?”
Ryoji looked at the gatekeeper whose mouth was half open and felt that he needed to show him the real thing to convince him, so he took out a Giant Horned Bull from storage.
“Look at this! I defeated that violent Giant Horned Bull!”
“Huh? E-Excuse me, sir! This is the violent Giant Horned Bull?”
The runaway giant horned cow was unharmed and had a sharp look in its eyes as if it was about to get up and attack. When Ryoji misunderstood that the stunning gatekeeper didn’t think it was the Giant Horned Bull that was running amok, he began to lay out another Giant Horned Bull next to it.
“Ryoji-sama! I’m not doubting you, sir! I was just stunned. Can you please put it away?”
“Is that so? I killed every one of them in the same manner, so can you confirm that the killed parts and the purchase are clean?”
“I’ll report it to the top, so please accompany me!”
With an excited look on his face, the gatekeeper opened the gate to take Ryoji and the group to the lord’s mansion.
“What? Those rampaging Giant Horned Bulls have been defeated? I’m sure no support has come from the royal capital or the guild yet, right? Have there been any high-ranked adventurers in this city?”
With a surprising look on his face, the Papal faction’s leader, Harrold Cortrezis, received the report. The northern part of the territory in contact with the Board Forest was not strategically important, as it was just an expanse of grassland, but the inability to cut down trees in the Board Forest was a problem.
However, the giant horned bulls rampaging around were too dangerous to be defeated using the knights under his command, and he planned to deal with them with support from the royal capital or the guild.
“I’m glad to hear that it was defeated. It must have been killed by a famous adventurer.”
“The Hero of Drugul defeated it.”
“Hero of Drugul? You mean Yuhan’s treasured child? What brings him to my land?”
“He’s on his way to the Royal Capital to enter the Royal Academy of Magic.”
“So he’s about eleven years old? How formidable.”
The reporters confirmed the details of the reception as he muttered admiringly. Harrold replied with a broad nod.
“Don’t be disrespectful to the Hero who secured the safety of the grasslands.”
With that, Harrold began to consider the possibilities of recruiting Ryoji, the hero of Drugul.
“Welcome, heroes. My name is Harald Cortezis. I am the leader of the Papal faction, as they say. Thanks to the Hero of Drugul, our territory is now safe.”
“My name is Ryoji Uchino. My master, Yuhan, has told me that it is a knight’s duty to face difficulties. I am also an adventurer. Defeating monsters is necessary for me to make a living.”
“Hahahaha. The hero of Drugul is a careful man. If you told that you were a knight, you could get away with a letter of thanks and an agreed amount of money, but if you told that you were doing it for a living, you would have to prepare an appropriate reward.”
Harrold nodded happily, and the servant who had been waiting for him reverently presented Ryoji with a leather bag. The bag was heavier than he expected, and Ryoji tilted his head lightly and asked a question.
“Excuse me, but I heard from the gatekeepers that the reward for defeating them was ten gold coins via the guild. It seems to be more than that?”
“That’s because there’s no need to call for reinforcements from Royal Capital. And the reason it didn’t go through the guild is that I heard that you haven’t accepted the request.”
Ryoji observed Lord Harrold without being rude. Contrary to his gentle appearance, his eyes were sharp and he seemed to be assessing himself. Ryoji raised his guard a notch when Harrold reminded him of a successful CEO he had dealt with when he was a businessman.
“By the way, I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“Here it comes.”
Ryoji muttered quietly and began to speak first as if it were a preemptive attack.
“It is about the handling of the violent Giant Horned Bull, you see? It is a monster that we defeated in Harrold-sama’s territory, and since we defeated it without receiving a request, we had trouble handling it. I’m hoping that the Duke will be able to give us some great suggestions.”
Harrold, who had looked mildly surprised when Ryoji told him the whole story, gradually smiled, then crossed his hands around his chin and began to make a detailed proposal.
“Soon there will be an entrance ceremony for the Royal Academy of Magic in the royal capital, and at the same time, the nobles will have an audience with the king. I’m thinking of presenting the King with a stuffed Giant Horned Cow that was defeated by Ryoji-dono. I’m sorry, but can you give it to me?”
“Eh? Is that all right? I thought you wanted me to give you all the credit. ……”
“I can’t be that arrogant. By now, the gatekeepers have probably heard that the Hero of Drugul has defeated the Giant Horned Bulls that were running amok.”
Ryoji made a further suggestion, surprisingly feeling that the suggestion was lighter than he expected.
“Then, let’s give away the whole thing, including the violent Giant Horned Bull. But I also have a request.”
When Harrold heard Ryoji’s suggestion, he narrowed his eyes slightly in alarm and urged him to continue.
“I want you to pretend that you have sent a request for reinforcements to Royal Capital and Drugul to defeat the rampaging Giant Horned Bull. My lord Yuhan received the request and dispatched his subordinate knight and adventurer, Ryoji Uchino, before heading to the academy. What do you think?”
“What is it that you’re after with that proposal, Ryoji-dono?”
“I want my Lord and Lord Harrold to be connected.”
Harrold considered Ryoji’s suggestion. Now the Papal faction and the aristocratic faction maintain their power in two halves. However, adding Yuhan’s power to that would be a great advantage. As a Frontier Count, Yuhan has a reputation for being a good man, and Ryoji’s proposal is only beneficial. Harrold agreed to Ryoji’s proposal without a second thought.
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Thx for the chappy~
Error?
If you told that you were a knight, you could get away with a letter of thanks and an agreed amount of money, but if you told that you were doing it for a living, you would have to prepare an appropriate reward. -> If you told that you were a knight, I could get away with a letter of thanks and an agreed amount of money, but if you told that you were doing it for a living, I would have to prepare an appropriate reward.
Thanks and keep up the good work. 🖖