Chapter 22: I'm a (Former) Japanese That Can't Say No
The next morning. The awkward atmosphere from last night was gone. At least, on the surface. Elsa was still talkative as always, Lloyd glanced over with a blush on his face before turning away, and the two escorts appeared to be deep in conversation about something sinister. Everyone, please follow Nicole’s example. But as I thought that.
“11 years old……somehow……with my son……”
It seems like he was muttering something ominous. Nicole, even you? For starters, I have no plans on becoming a merchant. I might run into the toad-faced man.
Although there were various worrisome issues, it seems that we will arrive in Harula in about two days. I would finally be free from the current situation. As I was wishing we would arrive soon, I continue acting as Elsa’s conversation partner while thinking absentmindedly. But as expected, something happened. Troublesome matters
It wasn’t something related to the escorts, but instead monsters attacked. Six orcs to be precise. I started hoping they had come in peace, but obviously that was just wishful thinking.
But fear not! We have two veteran adventurers escorting us! Since I have been feeding them quite a bit of food for a while, I would like you two to work hard now! Show me the power of those who work as adventurers for a living. Otherwise, I might have to reduce the amount of meat I was giving them.
If I was calculating benefits and loss.
“What!? What are orcs doing here!? And there’s six of them!?”
“Hey, Ziggy! This is impossible! Let’s hurry up and escape!”
What?
Just wait a moment, what are you two talking about? Isn’t your job to work hard here to allow everyone to escape? I was confused by their remarks.
“Hey, old man! As such, we’ll be escaping first!”
“What are you talking about! Stop messing around!”
“We’re not messing around! Why should everyone have to die? It’ll be the same no matter what!”
“That’s right, old man! That’s why, you should buy us some time until we can get away!”
The two of them immediately drew their weapons and slashed Nicole’s legs after saying so. I was still processing what was happening right in front of me. My mind had frozen up due to the various things happening.
As I stood there stunned, Ziggy approached me and tried grabbing my arm, but Bell drove him away. Norn was busy trying to intimidate the orcs and keep them at bay.
“Hey Ziggy! What are you doing!?”
“This brat might be worth using! Just those glasses alone might be worth something…….””
“Our lives come first! Hurry up!”
“Tch! Whatever!”
…….Those two were beyond saving. Maybe, I should just kill them right now. That sort of thought briefly passed through my mind, but there were various other matters that took priority. As such, I was able to remain cool. I turned my attention away from the two escorts who were running away and went towards Nicole.
Elsa was clinging on to him and crying. It was bad since she was also shaking him.contemporary romance
Both of his legs were cut. I looked over the injuries. Although the cuts were quite deep, they didn’t reach the veins. Something at this level should be curable with a low-potion.
I took out a potion and poured it over the wounds and they immediately healed. Nicole-san who had just been in pain, now had a surprised expression on his face, but he quickly recovered and thanked me.
“I’m sorry, to heal me with something so precious. I don’t think I can help you much in this sort of situation……I’m sorry for getting you involved in something like this, but I will try to buy you some time to escape. So please, during that time, can you please take Elsa and run away together?”
Lloyd had a club in his hand and was staring at us. He was definitely brave. Elsa was crying and shouting that she wanted everyone to leave together. That was natural.
“Please, Elsa.”
“Sorry, but I refuse.”
“Eh…….?”
I stood up silently and walked forth in front of the three people. I glanced around at the orcs heading toward us. A total of six. With one of them in the back. And the five in front being kept at a distance by Norn’s intimidation. The one in the back was being kept busy by Bell who was darting around its feet.
I couldn’t stand a crying child.
“Norn, please buy me some time.”
“Woof!”
Norn ran forth at once. Let’s start with the one in the back. I took out a stone, aimed, then fired. The head of the orc which Bell was keeping back, exploded.
When I turned towards Norn, one of the orcs she was dealing with had its head trapped in a ball of water. ……So there was such a way of using it. That orc became unable to move. Norn leapt high up in the air and swiped her front paws. Another orc’s head flew off. What is with this. She’s so cool. I’ll have her teach me that technique later.
There were now three remaining. I aimed towards all of them and shot. All targets were met with the sound of heads exploding.
For the last orc that was drowning, Norn had pressed it down as she cut its throat. She wanted to show Bell how to do it.
The entire fight lasted about 30 seconds. Even with orcs, we could fight them easily as long as we maintained a distance. Or at least until Norn’s MP runs out.
“It’s over.”
When I looked back towards Nicole and the rest, they were all standing there with their mouths agape and in shock.
In the end, after everyone calmed down, we decided to stop traveling for today and set up camp.
Well, that was natural. We almost died. As such, we set up camp a short distances away.
I also ended up keeping all the orcs that were defeated.
Well, even though I took all the spoils……I still ended up using them for dinner that night. After all, they’re freshly caught! Both Nicole and Lloyd had complicated expressions on their faces. Since these were the monsters that nearly killed them. Elsa? She was enjoying the meal right alongside me! She was quite delighted.
I made pork steak with a Japanese-style seasoning. I used soy sauce, but if I had oyster sauce I could’ve made it more delicious. Nicole had also provided garlic and chopped cabbage. The ingredients were actually meant to be sold, but he wanted to express his thanks to me for saving their lives.
“I never knew soy sauce could taste like this……simply delicious.”
Miso and soy sauce existed in this world, but apparently there weren’t many recipes that used them. Usually, orc steak would just be simply seasoned using salt only. Sometimes, a bit of additional spices might also be added As such, when Nicole ate the orc steak I cooked for today, he was honestly quite surprised. The person in charge of this world should work harder!
As for Elsa? She was mad at me when she realized that I had been cutting corners when I had cooked for the past few days. But she became so absorbed in eating that she quieted down.
After the meal, we discussed how we should handle the matter about the escorts who had ran away.
Rather than just abandoning their duties, the two of them had injured their client before running away. This was already beyond the level of a simple contract violation.
As such, when we reach the city, Nicole plans on heading straight to the guild and appealing. The two would likely end up being expelled from the guild and have their assets confiscated as compensation. As such, they would most likely end up becoming slaves. Since the two had ended up going that far.
As such, Nicole wanted me to go along with him to the guild to testify as a witness. Since it wasn’t anything too difficult, I didn’t mind going. Besides, I also wanted to register with the guild.
Since the escorts weren’t here anymore, the space inside the wagon was vacant so we decided to sleep in there for today. But Elsa was very against it. My tent had a cheat mat spread underneath it, so the difference was like heaven and earth, so I guess it couldn’t be helped.
Since Elsa was being noisy, I decided to bring out the mat only. But even so, Elsa? My chest isn’t a pillow, okay?
We headed off early the next morning. It seems that we were camping at a place very near Harula, so Nicole wanted to hurry back to the town so he could report the two escorts.
Since I was just sitting in the carriage, I had no problems with that.
Elsa acted as my conversation partner again and the town came into view by afternoon.
Thus, we finally reached Harula.
done.co