Category: No Fatigue

RAW: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n6990ch/79/
Editor: Karuma

I’m still not comfortable with translating sound effects…

Enjoy the chapter~

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Marquekt had a long history and since the Spring of the year 1296, there are 2 rumors that came out of the Adventurer Guild HQ in the royal capital Monokans. Even though they were different, both of them were about the same household, the Chrebl Household.

The first one, the subordinates of the Lord Chrebl keep successfully hunting many high ranking monsters.

As the reward of his achievement, he was given the ownership of a dungeon, which was located rather close to the royal capital.

It’s basically a demand to expand one’s territory towards Sonorat, so there was a strong dispute between some upper-echelons of the country. But since it was requested by the Lord Guardian, the B-class dungeon 『Abandonded Ancient Firedrake Nest』 located about half a day from the royal capital became owned by Marquis Chrebl.

At first, it looked like it will overlap with Adventurer Guild’s authority, but originally the dungeon had many humanoid monsters. Since there is little demand from the material side, the guild had no desire to monopolize the dungeon.

The adventurer guild was entrusted with the task of keeping the monsters in check, they can’t neglect to thin out monster populations in the country. And of course, it costs money. Of course, revenue may be generated from materials and drop items, but it is too small. Considering the trouble of managing the dungeon, the cost greatly surpasses the profit so it can be said that it is a “bad dungeon”.

The adventurer guild had to think about they should do with dungeons like this, but there’s nothing much they can do. In the end, they decided to “push” it onto Marquis Chrebl. The young people, who heard about the now discussed dungeon, foolishly rushed inside expecting profits. Meanwhile, the people from adventurer guild laughed mockingly in their minds while handing over the rights of the dungeon to Marquis Chrebl.

However, they heard that Marquis Chrebl seemed to be looking for a dungeon. At that point, the Guild started to question what was Marquis Chrebl’s plan.

In that dungeon, there must be 『something』 that exists beyond the guild’s imagination, but the famous hero, Marquis Chrebl knew about that certain 『something』. It must be the reason why he wished for a dungeon as a reward for his achievements.

Even so, Marquis Chrebl can’t monopolize the dungeon. As long as they are paying the toll fee and making a report, the adventurers from the guild are allowed to dive into the dungeon. Using that premise, the guild issued an investigation to several high ranking adventurers to dive into the ancient fire dragon nest to try finding that 『something』.
However, after confirming that it was a troublesome dungeon with low profit, the people from the guild had to give up further investigation while tilting their heads.

The other rumor besides the Abandoned Ancient Firedrake Nest, there’s a strange adventurer that was witnessed in several dungeons and fields. Even though the adventurer looked like a 17 or 18 years old maid, it was said that she was swinging around a gigantic sword and fighting.

Moreover, witnesses also said that the girls fought like the heroes in legends. Her big sword was wrapped in flames, swinging as fast as lightning and sliced through the enemies with tremendous speed. At the end of the fight, she divided the ground using her big sword and swallowing her enemies into the crack.

Based on the rumor, the girl is now called 《White Frilled Hero》.
Is she an adventurer?
Is she a retainer from a certain noble?
No one knows who she is.

(TL: ホワイトブリムの勇者 – howaito burimu no yuusha means hero of the white brim. White brim is the frilly hat that maids wear so I translate it was White Frilled Hero)

Regarding her appearance, some say that she looked cute and lovely, while others say that she looked like an ogre.
It has been confirmed that she was not registered as an adventurer from Monokans, but everything else is an enigma.

Regarding the girl, some witnesses said that she had been seen together with Marquis Chrebl in the Abandoned Ancient Firedrake Nest. Some say that she’s the follower of the hero Lord Protector of the House Chrebl or his secret disciple. Some also say that she’s Marquis Chrebl’s illegitimate child. Various speculations were made. Meanwhile, Marquis Chrebl himself left no comment on this matter.

◆◆◆

「ーuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!」
「Ogre! It’s an ogre!!」
「No way! It’s a variant!」

Screaming in the 5th layer of Abandoned Ancient Firedrake Nest was the C-rank party 《Battlefield Hammer》. The party itself is formed by ex-mercenaries. They are often found causing trouble for other adventurers due to their roughness and temper. However, they were still an asset to the Guild since they would take dangerous quests without hesitation.

Right now, the 〈Battlefield Hammer〉 was inside the low-profit dungeon Abandoned Ancient Firedrake Nest for one reason. It was because the gossip flowing around the kingdom.
That is…
『Whether or not Marquis Chrebl was hiding 『Something』 about the Abandoned Ancient Firedrake Nest』

To own such a low-profit dungeon and frequently bring his knights into the dungeon, it was way too suspicious even by the eccentric Marquis Chrebl’s standard. This story is famous among the guild’s adventurer.

Marquis Chrebl said that he is trying to train the knights under his wing, but who would really believe even half of what he said?

『There is something in the depth of this dungeon, something that the Adventurer Guild doesn’t even know. And Marquis Chrebl is trying to monopolize it』 and such rumors were spreading around.

And the 《Battlefield Hammer》 was one of those people who believed the rumor.
To the people who have little faith in the noble’s good deeds, they don’t believe that Marquis Chrebl simply leads his knights into a dungeon with the intention of simply raising their levels.

There must be something here. And so, the guild issued a secret mission to conquer the dungeon.

Despite the danger to the C-rank adventurers, despite their sorrow, they still came to the job and are now struggling to escape from a group of ogres.
Why?

Because originally the dungeon rank was B. It was obvious that the dungeon doesn’t fit their level.

(TL: please excuse my language here. They are mercenaries so they must have sailor’s mouth)
(ED: Let the swear-fest begin)

「You fuckers stand your ground and stop them!!」
「Are you fucking kidding me! I don’t want to be caught dead in this kind of place!」

The party leader ordered the bottommost members to hold their position, but of course, they would refuse.
but…

「Then I’ll force you to do so!」
「Guaaaaa!!!!」

The leader swung his huge mace and crushed the knee of one member.

「We must do our best to keep surviving! Thank you, Buffet! We will survive thanks to your sacrifice!!」
「Gyahahahaha!! Thank you very much, Buffet!」

The other adventurers escape while mocking the fallen adventurer.

「You fucking bastaaaaー」

The fallen adventurer somehow managed his sword and leaning against the wall, staring at the incoming ogres.
They were approaching.

「shit. shit. Shit. SHIT! SHIIIIー」

He decided to stand his ground, raise his sword, and fight until his end.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew from the back of the ogres, past the adventurer.
The adventurer turned his eyes towards the source of the wind and exclaimed.

「w-w-why is there a maid in this kind of place…?」

Right.
There was a maid.
The maid carried a gigantic greatsword and used it to block a club swing from an ogre.

「O-oi! Those ogres are variants! There’s no way a woman could beat them!」

No wonder the adventurer thought like that.
The maid looked like a small and delicate girl.
Her approximate age is 17 or 18 years old. She had long chestnut hair. Her stature from behind looked rather innocent. But most important of all, she looked rather glamorous.
But, normally she wouldn’t able to fight the ogres.
Even soー

「〈Flame Tongue〉!!」

The moment the maid murmured the chant, her sword was clad in flames.

Guoooooooooo!!!

The ogres shrieked in anger.

「〈Thunder Strike〉!!」

The maid’s greatsword swung at an unbelievable speed. The adventurers, couldn’t even perceive the speed. The large sword slices through the neck of the ogre variant while scattering out electricity.

The maid with her greatsword strikes and thrusts like a lightning bolt and managed to deal damage to the variant ogre that the 6-man-party 〈Battlefield Hammer〉 couldn’t touch.

「w… whoa…」

While the adventurer murmured, the other ogres snapped and attacked the maid.
The maid sliced the ogres with the flame-clad sword like a lightning bolt.
Furthermore, she shot a water bullet from the handle of the sword and took a distance

「〈Ground Dash〉!!」

She swung the sword into the ground.
And the ground exploded.
The rock flows from the place the sword hit and swallows the group of ogres.

The adventurer still looked at her while gaping his mouth.

「ーーfuuh. I somehow did it~」

said the maid while humming a light tone.
The maid pulled the sword with a cute「uu~n」 from the ground.
Behind her, a huge shadow approaching.

「Behind you!」

The adventurer shouted to warn the maid.
It was the variant that should have been killed.
The mutant, with blood still gushing out from the neck, picked up his fallen club and tried to attack the maid.

*whoosh*! *splash*! *drop*!!

The adventurer couldn’t understand what happened then.
Something flew at a blinding speed, hit the ogre’s arm and blew it up. The club flew past the maid’s head and crushed the unfortunate rock when it landed.
He tried to look back slowly to see the aftermath of the club and missed what happened in front of him.

When the variant draws near, a sudden metallic sound was heard, and the variant fell to the ground.

「Thank you for saving me, Ed-bochama」
「Now Steph, what did I tell you about being wary of your surrounding?」

(TL: just in case because someone asked me before, bochama is used to address someone with status of very very young master)

A human figure came and the adventurer still couldn’t believe his eyes.
The one appeared before him was a 5-years old child.
The child lowered the bow on his arm… So does that meant that it was his arrow that blew off the variant’s arm?

「But, I didn’t think anyone would still be alive after that much of damage」
「It’s because ogres are stupidly durable, especially since it’s a variant.
This mutant seemed to possess the ability 【Toughness】」
「Then please tell me beforehand~!」
「But didn’t Steph just say to leave it to you? Well other than that, are you okay?」

The boy approached the adventurer and called him out.
He was still puzzled but replied.

「A-ah… Thank you.
Thank you for saving my asー rear」

The man tried to choose his words carefully since there were a maid and a boy with questionable age right in front of him.

「Uwaa, this is a terrible wound. Even his bone popped out. Is it from those ogres?」

「No… it was from my party members. They crushed my leg to buy them time to escape. Those basー guys… washed their hands of me just like that」
「I see. So it was misfortune.
Party is it? So you must be an adventurer. But it’s really weird. I have confirmation from my father that no adventurer is supposed to be diving today」
「Father…?」
「Yeah, he is the Marquis Chrebl. The owner of this dungeon」

The man’s expression paled after hearing the boy’s words.

「O-oi, you look pale. Don’t worry, I’ll heal you now. ИーHeal」

The boy drew a shimmering magic character and the man’s wound started to close.

「oooh… This is the first time I’ve witnessed 【Healing Magic】」
「So what happened? Did you perhaps not submit to the Adventurer Guild and dove into the dungeon anyway?」
「You (Omae wa)… no, are you (Anata-sama) really the son of Marquis Chrebl?」
「Using 『Omae』 is fine. I’m just 2 years old. My name is Edgar」
「tw… two?」

He almost muttered 「are you kidding me?」.

「My name is Buffet. The truth is our partー no… my previous party tried to enter this dungeon without notice」
「Since just making a report is not an obligation, I won’t blame you for it. But why did you do such a foolish thing? You can’t call for help if you got caught up in something」
「We know it. But… that…」

Towards the hesitating man, the boy gave a nasty expression.

「Ahahaha… Do you seriously believe in that rumor? 」
「That is how it is…… But, as Edgar-sama said, is the rumor a hoax?」
「You don’t need to add 『sama』, but putting that aside.
My father had said since the beginning. This dungeon is a place to train his knights. This dungeon is really useful as training grounds since the monster pack moves in an organized manner, it was like fighting in real combat. Well, the raw material we get are few in number, but after the middle layer, the monster levels were raised as well」

「So that is what happened. Damn… They even said that 『Nobles always try to extract profits from people to the bone』 We were completely deceived」
「I’m sorry for you. Well, when you get back to the guild, you can report that you were dumped as a scapegoat. I’m sure the punishment for injuring a party member and turning them into a decoy will result in their expulsion from the guild」
「Even though you’re a child, you sure know a lot about the Adventurer Guild. That attack before, You are Marquis Chrebl’s son of a devil. …… Ah, I apologize. That was very rude of me」

(TL: Just a reminder, he has a sailor’s mouth so calling him a devil’s child was actually a compliment)
「I don’t mind~ By the way, can you go back on your own?」
「I think so… It will be really embarrassing to be escorted by the son of a noble and not the other way around. Even so, as a scout, at least I should be able to scurry home」

Hearing that response, the boy glances at the adventurer.

「If you say so… But, your 【Stealth Step】 is quite sluggish, no? You know you can use it to walk on the surface of the water if you’re careful, right? Meeting goblins or orcs should be alright, but you might be ambushed by Kage-Tokage though」

「water surface… I see! I understand! If you think about it, it’s true!!」

(TL: Kage Tokage basically means Shadow Lizard but I want to preserve the pun. It probably looks like this certain part of an obsolete rank-4 engine from yugioh cardboard)

Hearing the boy’s words, the man hit his hand *pon* since it was such a good idea.

「Good bye then. Have a safe trip. If I were you, I will also report to the guild about the abandonment. After all, you should be allowed to have your revenge, no?
ーNow, Steph. Shall we make some profit?」
「Eeeh? Haven’t we hunted plenty enough already?」

「I see, so Steph is the type who will slack off when left alone. We have to keep on earning relentlessly whenever we are together.
That said, if you leave people like Elemia alone, they will persist doing things excessively so you have to stop them somewhere」
「We had been working too hard these past few days, hence why Elemia-sama took a day off. I’m so jealous~ I also want a day off」
「I wish I can work with Elemia」

While doing such a casual conversation, the boy and the maid disappear into the dungeon.
The craggy ground from the maid’s magic? The boy aimed his palm to the ground and the dungeon regained its original appearance like nothing had happened.

「…… so that was the Chrebl’s demon of a son and the 《White Frilled Hero》…」

The adventurer totally forgot about escaping, he could only just stare blankly as the two left him alone.

◆

「To~oh!!」

Along the stupidly placed shout, a huge sword was swung at a terrifying speed, cutting the unfortunate goblins in its path.

While watching her fighting, I reminisced about what has happened so far.

Since the start of the training, Steph’s clumsiness could be seen as clear as broad daylight.
To be honest, I think Steph’s power would be too much for regular everyday life. She could swing a great sword like any normal ones. I won’t be surprised if she couldn’t adjust her strength to daily life.
Steph herself didn’t think that she was that strong, but people around her had expected to be a victim of her clumsiness.

Whether it was the effect of her class as 〈Spell sword〉or the result from rigorous training, Steph doesn’t seem to have any trouble controlling her strength.
Thanks to that, her “clumsiness” is reduced to almost non-existent. Her efficiency in jobs like cooking, laundry, and cleaning had improved greatly. Since she can do heavy lifting work, she had grown to be regarded as Ace-class personnel among the maids in the mansion.
The head of Corbette village once remarked when he had seen her growth 「I thought this would happen since the first day, I can’t imagine her growth after this point…」 and shed emotional tears.

Even though there were many mistakes such as mistaking sugar and starch and made an incredibly thick black tea, she has undeniably come a long way.

It was also thanks to the Royal Capital’s maid education trainer we employed, she gradually grows into a refined maid.

Currently, the result of Steph’s 【Appraisal】 is as follows.

《
Stephanie Poporus (Attendant of Chrebl Household | Daughter of the Chief of Trenadette Village | 《Powerful Maid》 | 《White Frilled Hero》)
Level 31
ＨＰ １２３／１２３（７８＋４５）（↑７０）
ＭＰ ５８／１７２（１２７＋４５）（↑１２０）

Skills:
・Master_Class
【Sense_Presence】２（ＮＥＷ！）

・General
【Simultaneous_Invocation】４（ＮＥＷ！）
【Martial_Arts】３（ＮＥＷ！）

Class
〈Spell Sword〉Ｃ（↑２）
》

To encourage her class growth, I told her to focus on her skill, so even if she learned other skills, it will be included in the 〈Spell Sword〉 class by the【Skill Magic】.
【Simultaneous Invocation】 was learned to obtain the counter stop bonus, which is 【Uninscribed Invocation】. Unfortunately, her low affinity really slows the growth.
【Sense Presence】 was obtained with much struggle by combining other low-affinity skills like 【Keen Hearing】 with other skills. Her aptitude for【Martial Arts】was low as well, but to make her able to fight a little in case she doesn’t have her sword, I’m doing my best to have her learn it.

Her recently acquired title 《White Frilled Hero》 seemed to be counted as Magic-related title, so it’s possible for her to do max MP expansion technique.
Therefore, her magic sword, which has a bad MP cost and can only act as a trump card, could be used quite easily. If her MP kept increasing, she will become quite a broken character indeed.
Her level also increased considerably after Alfred-tousan asked her to hunt down some monsters on a whim.
Right now, even Gazaine would have some trouble to take her as a hostage.

Regarding 〈Spell Sword〉, she can even use it to give some form of retaliation against my father.
When she is pitted against a human opponent, for example against my father when he’s going easy, she can win 2 or 3 times out of the total of 10 fights. Father’s frost magic had a lot of progress after his match, but Steph’s explosive power output is not something to scoff at.

And that is the how the 2 years-old me spend my days. While training Alfred-tousan, Julia-kaasan, Steph, and Elemia, I am still going to raise my skills and continue my research. Even though every day is monotonous like this, I’m still enjoying it the best I can.

Chapter 76 is located at Shinku Translation

https://www.nekoseirei.com/no-fatigue/chapter-76/

RAW: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n6990ch/76/

ED: Karuma

Just because the title has the word (Part 1) doesn’t mean that I divided this chapter into parts, this is the full chapter. Chapter76 is titled “Arrival to the Capital (Part 2)”

This chapter is very long, about twice the amount I usually translate.

And this is the survey result.

And a discord link so we can chat with each other. I need a number of members before I can discuss my future plans.

Please enjoy the chapter…

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Midgardztan is an elongated peninsular continent that became narrower at the northern end.

As for the shape of the continent as a whole, it was a combination of Italia peninsula and Boso Peninsula in the previous life. Only the scales were different. The size of the continent is estimated because there is no accurate information. Perhaps it’s slightly smaller than North America.

It looked long and curved like a serpent dragon’s tongue, but people usually call it 『Fur Boots』. Besides toes and heels, there seemed to be a fluffy middle part resembling a fur.

The Santamana Kingdom owned the territory from the heel of the shoe to the ankle and some part of the arch.

The northern part of Sonorat kingdom was in the state of internal conflict until recently, which was located on the lower half of the shin part. There’s a central plateau divided by some countries and small cities in the fur part. Going north from the middle part, there’s the Myoken Empire. (TL: the RAW says 北限帝国 – Hokugen Teikoku but Karuma suggested that I changed it into Myoken Empire. I think it’s a reference)

Finally, if you go even further north, there’s a continental bridge called Frostbite. The goddess said that the climate became worse near the Frostbite. It also coincides with the fact that when the Gods came to this world, they created areas where humans could live. In other words, The flame spirit’s power exists as far as the Myoken Empire, but from Frostbite onwards, the flame spirit’s power suddenly declines. Therefore, it was said that only demons can live further north from Frostbite.

Next, about the western side of the continent, the south is filled with dense forest, the north is the mountain range, and human countries are built on the eastern side. On the west side, there lived many elves, dwarves, and beast men. There are also monster habitats and unexplored dungeons left unattended but the actual information is not clear for the people in the east.

However, for the moment, those things are irrelevant.
For the time being, we are involved in the Santamana Kingdom where we are and it’s royal capital called Monokans. Other than that, all we need to do is keep in mind about the political instability in Sonorat in the north.

That’s rightーThe royal capital Monokans of Santamana Kingdom.

We, the Chrebl family, are currently on our carriage to that city.

「Uwaa… It’s so lively」
「It’s the first time for me to see so many people at once」

Both of Melby and I reacted while inquiring the state of the kingdom.

My first impression about Monokans is 『It’s huge』.

Monokans is in the south-eastern part of the Santamana Kingdom in the south-eastern part of Midgardztan. Specifically, the sole of the shoe part narrowing toward the arch.
Just like Saroma Lake in Hokkaido, there’s a big lake connected to the sea in Monokans. There’s a huge island in the lake which called 『Old City』. It consists of the royal castle and noble houses under the rule of the king, Visgard the First.

Since there’s 『Old City』, there’s also 『New City』. 『New City』 is a city developed far outside of the lake and about 3 times as large as the old city.

By the way, there are no walls surrounding Monokans.

It’s because the castle walls are not necessary for the royal castle which is located in the natural stronghold on the island in the lake. Since it was created rather spontaneously right outside of the Old City, the New City wasn’t covered in walls as well.

Even when I entered Monokans, we saw guards but they didn’t check our belongings.

In other words, anyone can come and go freely in the new town.

In the first place, imagine the chaos if the guards trying to guard the whole un-walled city against newcomers. It’s just impossible.

(ED: I want to say something but I won’t)
(TL: Karuma, no Trump jokes!)

The castle walls were built long ago and still exist, but the city spread even more outside of the castle walls. It seemed that it couldn’t really be called a castle wall at this point.
We passed the old castle wall and ride forward.

「Dad, I think there are good and bad things from the freedom of entrance and exit. What do they do when an enemy attacks?」
「In case of the Old City, the lake is a natural fortress so there’s no problem. However, people must leave the New City. Especially since nobles only live in the Old City, there are not many reasons for the enemy troops to harass the New City’s residents. However, there’s a possibility of looting would take place so they are planning to build a wall. A great wall. The greatest wall of all that would surround the New Town」

Alfred-tousan answered my question.

「How many people live in Monokans?」
「There’s no accurate statistic, but it was said to be about 150 thousands. About 30 thousands in the Old Town, 110 thousands in the New Town, and about 10 thousand imperial armies」

In the carriage, there were Melby, Alfred-tousan, Julia-kaasan, and Elemia.
Elemia was supposed to be adopted as a daughter but the adoption by nobles has to be approved by the King, so now her situation is in a precarious state. Because of that, Elemia was looking nervous in the carriage.
I tried talking to Elemia to calm her.

「Elemia, have you been to the kingdom?」
「…etto, I came here a few times… for my duties…」

In other words, did you came for assassination for 〈Yatagarasu〉?
I stepped on a landmine.

Apart from Dad, who came frequently to the Kingdom, Julia-kaasan, Elemia, and I were distracted by the beautiful landscape seen from the window of the horse drawn carriage. We quickly forget about the landmine I stepped on.

Eventually, we stopped in front of a huge gate.
No, this is not a gate.
It’s a bridge!

「Isn’t it big? In this whole continent, there are only a few bridges that were as massive as the Monokans Goldengate Bridge」

Looking from the entrance, the Monokans Goldengate Bridge looked like a combination of Arc de Triomphe in Paris and Tower Bridge in London.
It was about 50 meters tall. The gate was like the letter H and has 2 towers on the upperside. Its walls were decorated with various sculptures.
From the top of the tower, a strong chain is stretching over the opposite shore.

(TL: Literal translation is golden gate bridge. You know that I’m always open for suggestion)

「…Is the bridge suspended by that chain?」

I asked my father.

「That’s right, but it’s not all. They can also raise up the whole bridge」
「eh? Raising up a bridge that huge?」

I was surprised.
I was completely under the impression that it’s suspended like the Great Seto Bridge and the Rainbow Bridge, but to think they can even raise it. (TL: Thanks, Idling)
Even though the bridge was so long that you can’t see the opposite shore from the other end.

「Would the bridge break when it was raised?」
「Even though I said that the bridge was raised, I didn’t mean that it was lifted all the way from one end to another. It’s more like the bridge was bend and drawn into each side」
「Huh? you can do that with this world’s technology?」
「Ed, your way of saying it isn’t good. Especially in the presence of nobles with high pride, please refrain from saying things that seemed to look down upon this world」
「un…… sorry…」

Well, I admit that what I said was certainly rude.

「However, your doubt was reasonable. Indeed, we couldn’t really do it with our current technology」
「Then?」
「The bridge was originally an ancient artifact.
Thanks to this, Santamana Royal Castle can feel relieved even without a wall.
The tide was quite intense thanks to the ocean connected to the lake, so you can’t reach the other side using some half-hearted war vessels. So it’s impossible to reach the island once the bridge is raised」
「What kind of power did they use to bend a bridge that big?」
「I don’t know the details, but it seemed that there’s a large mechanism in the basement of the bridge tower which store the power of the tide. I heard that everything is moved not with magic but in a purely physical way. They say that it was raised and lowered once a day. They raised the bridge when the sun was set and lower it again when the sun had raised」

While my father explain, our carriage started moving again.
The coachmen showed something to the knight at the gate.
Since there’s no castle wall in the New City, is this how they check each person entering Old City?
While being sent off by the knight’s salute, the Chrebl carriage advance to the other end of the bridge.

「Uwaaa!!」

Julia-kaasan looked out the window and admire the view.
From the top of the bridge, I could see the whole lake connecting into the sea.
Even the calm and composed Elemia couldn’t contain her excitement.

「Because the lake is connected to the ocean, you can smell the scent of the ocean」

As my father explain, the smell of the sea was entering our carriage.

「It’s true」

Elemia sniffed the air while saying it in reserved manner.

「Eh? Didn’t you said that you have been here before?」
「At that time…… I was sneaking inside a merchant’s cart…」

I stepped into another landmine. Julia-kaasan glare gave me a chill.

Ugh…
But it’s not on purpose…

「Hey look! Something is over there!」

Melby pointed at something on the other side of the bridge and raised her voice.

As the horse-drawn carriage moves, another town could be seen from the distance.
You can see brown-tiled roofs built around an elegant castle.
Since there’s a natural castle wall which is the lake, the buildings look more elegant than the New City.

「Isn’t it pretty? Other than the bridge, this is the symbol of the royal capital, the Santamana Royal Castle」
「It’s so pretty~」

Both Dad and Mom were looking behind their shoulders and enjoying the scenery.
Dad explained the building every now and then 「That is the mansion of the famous Marquis Sagastine. And over there is the mansion of …」.

Meanwhile, Elemia was staring at rope-like thing spreading next to the bridge, not the royal castle.
There are 2 ropes, one that gradually descends from the front to the back and the other that descends from the back to the front, making an X shape if looked from afar.

「What is that rope?」
「Hmm, a little while ago, a basket-like container slid down on that rope」
「Heee… So it’s a ropeway?」
「Ropuwei?」
「In my previous life, there are things called ropeways that were made to transport people. It seems that in this world, it was used to transport things downwards. It uses height differences to transport things」

As I explained, a basket ran through the ropeway.
It was quite fast, I wouldn’t notice it if I didn’t have 【Discern】.
The basket wasn’t that big, it was about the size of a parcel.
Still, it must be much easier than carrying stuff along the bridge.
Since the bridge tower was 50 meters tall, connecting a rope from the top of one tower to the lower end of the opposite tower seemed to function as a ropeway.

「The ropeway is used when there’s an urgent transmission. They can even use it at night when the bridge was raised」
「…Did something happen?」
「I don’t know, maybe it’s a message about us coming」

That makes sense, maybe they just informing that the Chrebl Family has arrived.

After we crossed the bridge, a knight approached us from the Old City and saluted.
My father peered from the carriage and the knight spoke.

「His Majesty the King is waiting. I’ll take charge of guiding you from here to the castle」
「I’m with my family, is that okay?」
「If it’s alright with you sir, your family may come as well」

Eh? Us too?
My father seemed a little surprised as well, but there was no choice.

「…I understand」
「You must be tired. We have prepared a place where you can have a meal and rest. I was told that you are allowed to eat anything you desire in the Old City. Should I lead you there now or would you prefer to go straight to the castle?」
「Pardon me, but I’d like to go inside the castle now」
「Very well, sir. Then I shall be your guide」

Lead by the knight, the carriage started to move again.

「…Since we were told that way, I can take Julia with me, but what about Ed, Elemia, and Melby?」

Dad asked.

「…I woul- no… I’d like to decline if possible」

Elemia declined.
Now if you think of it, Elemia wasn’t officially adopted by our family, so that would be better.

「I understand. But, can you please not to speak so formal with us?」
「y-yes… I knoー ehem… I understand, however…」
「I know it’s impossible to do it straight away, but please think of Julia and I as your parent」
「Mia-chan is really a good child」

Julia-kaasan embracing Elemia while saying so.
Elemia squealed like a kitten but my mother didn’t concern about it.
Iya, it’s not that she didn’t mind. She might possibly use brute force to embrace her.

「I always wanted a daughter~」

Speaking like that, I really don’t know how she made that conclusion.
My mom sent a gaze towards my father.

「…Nee, Al-kun. I wanted to give birth to a girl」
「*COUGH COUGH*」

Dad was choking while Elemia blushed and looked away.
Unexpectedly, Elemia was knowledgeable about sex.

「Then I’ll wait here with Elemia. The conversation topic sounds complicated」

Melby says so.
It may be prejudice, but there may be nobles who do bad things behind the scenes. It may be troublesome if they know about Melby.

「What about Ed?」

Dad asked me next.

「Of course, I’ll come. I want to see the King」
「Okay. But just in case, even in public, he must be referred as 『His Majesty the King』.

While dad was explaining common etiquette, our horse-drawn carriage arrived at the royal castle.

***

「Viscount Chrebl, traveling such distance must be tiring」

Inside the audience room, speaking on a decorated throne, the Santamana Kingdom’s ruler, Visgard the First.

I guessed his age is probably about 40 years old. His physique is quite athletic and his beard is shaved clean. He wore clothes like the Kings on those playing cards. It was a strong looking man with intense eyebrow and nose. Under his deeply carved eyebrows were his eyes which shine strong, gazing towards us parents and child during the audience in interest.

(TL: Another western stereotype in Asian countries. Westerners have strong looking nose and intense eyebrows. Just like westerner can’t differentiate Asians, us Asians can’t differentiate westerners because white people looked exactly the same)

「On this occasion, I summoned Viscount Chrebl to the Royal Castle in order to give the explanation on the matter of 〈Black Wolf Fang〉 and 〈Yatagarasu〉. Even so, since we have received the report in advance, you can do it later. I was tired after doing audiences so it couldn’t be helped」

After his words, some ministers who lined up on the left and right made bitter faces.

The audience room is maybe as big as a gymnasium. Even though it’s wide, the room itself seemed narrow. The ceiling is probably about 5 meters tall. The walls are made of marble-like stones and some painting were hung but it’s not too over decorated. Curtains were hung on the wall. The ceiling seemed to be covered with embroidered cloth. A red carpet was spread towards the throne.

The throne floor was about 1 meter higher than the other floor in the room. There are staircases on the both sides of the throne. The ministers were lined up on each of the staircases.

「The audience we are having today is to reward Viscount Chreblーoi」

When the king called, one of the servants handed over a tray with some kind of papers to the king.

「Fumufumu… In addition to protecting Ranzrack Fortress from 〈Black Wolf Fang〉, he counterattacked and taking Goleth’s head. After their leader was killed, 〈Black Wolf Fang〉 who was hurt by magic lost their coordination and was destroyed. Arrangement for the suppression of their remaining units was quick and accurate and resulted in a complete success of capturing many of them who ran towards Santamana…
Everything is nothing but excellent military gainsーoi」

「…Your majesty, Please stay serious…」

One of the ministers presented a complaint.

「Furthermore, when your mansion was attacked by the assassin group 〈Yatagarasu〉, even though they kidnapped your son, not only did you recover your son, you also uncovered the mystery behind the religious assassination group. You defeated their leader, captured all of their executives, and cornered 〈Yatagarasu〉 into their destruction.
Wahahaha, now this one is big!」

The minister tried to add something but he quickly gave up.

「Looking at this, I don’t know if you have good or bad luck.
Achievement-wise, you are indeed lucky, but I think it’s a misfortune to be attacked by 〈Black Wolf Fang〉 and 〈Yatagarasu〉 in a row.
Ah, I know. You have the luck to overcome troubles」

The king who laughed while saying such things looked more like a Leader of Thieves rather than a king.
《The Merry Monarch》
Dad told me the King’s title beforehand, but Santamana Kingdom’s King, Visgard the First, is clearly a person who speaks honestly without reserve. He was also famous as a friendly king who loved his 3 queens from the bottom of his heart.

「In addition, you were alternating crops to match the climate of each of your territory, which increased the grain harvest to 50%. Recently, there are also some who succeeded in growing cotton cultivation in Trenadette village, which becomes hot and humid during summer due to the seasonal wind.
To be able to solve military and internal affairs, as a head, Viscount Chrebl is surely excellent!」
「ahaha… I’m humbled…」

As expected from Dad, to be able to stand in that situation.
Or should I say, taking those emotional damage.

「After all, you son also played an active role as well」
「Is it Belhart?」
「No, it’s David」
「David?」

According to what I learned from 【Appraisal】, I think David-niisan was assistant librarian in royal library. As an active imperial guard of Knights Order, there seemed to be opportunities to increase his achievement.

「Umu, Do you know the rumor about the slashing demon in the royal capital?」

Now I heard about the slashing demon.
I first heard the rumor from Gazaine when he hinted it back in Fauno City.
In addition, it may be related to the other reincarnator, Kizaki Tooru.

「The slashing demon… Certainly, it sounds like a demon who would cut people up like raging wind, or an invisible midget running around with a knife.
Even though it sounds absurd, there are citizens who suffer from scratches that looked likes cuts from sharp knifes」
「David-shisho finally revealed his true identity.
It was said to be a demon, but it’s actually a natural phenomenon. In the windy season, the wind spirits become agitated which caused 【Wind Magic】with equivalent power as 《Wind Thrust》 to occur randomly」
「So the magic happened naturally?」

I feel like it’s not natural phenomenon at all, but magic is categorized as natural in this world.

「To be precise, the thoughts of people who were frightened by the rumor of a slashing demon interferes with excessive spirit power and unintentionally developed as magic.
Based on this hypothesis made by David-shisho, I decided to experiment a bit. Iya, even though I said it’s an experiment, it’s just David’s recommendation」
「So what kind of experiment is it?」
「After spreading David’s hypothesis, we made a silver coin penalty to anyone who spread the rumor about the slashing demon」

If you convert a silver coin to yen, it’s roughly a thousand yen.
It’s a rather light punishment. It’s like a fine for the inconvenience of the rumors.

「As the result, this year’s report of slashing demon incident was reduced to less than a tenth.
David-shisho was awarded the title 《Natural Phenomenon Scholar》 and some rewards. Eventually, he would be promoted into a librarian. Even among the librarian, he was the youngest one in the front line. We have finally reached the 4th class victory」

…Somehow, I have a feeling that something uncomfortable just being said nonchalantly.
The library… I think David-niisan helped in the royal library as an assistant librarian.

What the hell is library battlefront?
Despite my confusion, the story goes into a different direction.

「About Belhart, needless to say, the imperial guard of the Knights Order worked well.
Even so, the one with the most merits is you, Alfred.
…no」

The king cut his words there and gave me a meaningful look.

「Well, I’ll listen to the details later.
For this kind of achievements, it’s only natural to be promoted, isn’t that right?
For now, would it better to promote you into a Duke?」
「pfft! *COUGH COUGH*…」

My father choked at the king’s words.

The noble rank in the Santamana Kingdom is roughly the same as in my previous life, which are: Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron respectively.
Right now, Dad is a Viscount. If he promoted into a duke, he would rise 3 ranks.
Rising to the top like that is way too far.

My father glanced at those ministers.
His gaze was enough to know that he would refuse.
Either a good luck or bad luck, there are consequences in rising 3 rank at once. Many problem may surface if he accept it.

「I-I am truly grateful but to have an incompetent person such as I pronounced duke sounds like a dream but– 」
「To dare to refuse the offer, insolence!」

A minister cried out behind the king.
So what now?

「What are you talking about? You are, without doubt, one of the most talented individuals in this country.
Furthermore, I still haven’t rewarded you enough after the Golhata Campaign 2 years ago」
「P-please at least promote me into a Count」
「I am going to promote you into a Duke. Are you trying to deny my words? hm?」

Even though the king was smiling, it was clearly a threat.
Oh, what about the minister behind the King? He seemed to be impatient to say something.

「B-but your majesty, promoting a viscount into a duke is unheard of! There’s no precedent for it in history!」
「Then this shall be the first one. You only need precedent if there is no king」
「But it’s not necessarily good for Viscount Chrebl! Promoting to early will surround him with envy!」

「umu… You have a point. If you guys became envious, then who will throw me tsukkomi?
ーWhat do you think, Viscount Chrebl?」

「Yes. umm… Please forgive me in advance but please promote me into a Count.」

Dad said so with sweat running from his forehead.

「Wahahaha! 『Forgive me in advance』eh? Very well then」
「Then?」
「However, why did you said so while running a cold sweat?
I will not take back my words so easily.
How about this Take the Duke and Count and turn him into a Marquis?
Until a while ago, there was a rank of a marginalized warrior treated like a marquis, but it was abolished」

Marquis, noisy nobles with honeyed-words.
Some nobles stared at Alfred-tousan. Indeed, refusing this would be too disrespectful.

「I-I am truly… grateful…」

With a stiff face, he finally accepted the promotion into Marquis.
The ministers behind the king didn’t say anything this time.

「Obviously, a new territory will come with the promotion, but we’ll talk about it next time. I will also attach a title.
That’s right, we’ll call you 『Lord Protector of the House Chrebl』.
Everyone, from now on Marquis Chrebl will also be known as the Lord Protector of the House Chrebl」

The way to gain a title is numerous. If a king orders everyone to call a certain person with a name, the condition of 『Having a number of people acknowledging the name』 would be easy to complete.
Attaching titles like this didn’t cost money, so it’s certainly a good mechanism to reward someone for their achievements.

After that, my father gave a formal greeting and that ended the audition with the king.

***

Or not.

As soon as we left the audience room, the minister spoke to us.
Apparently, his majesty said that he wanted to have dinner with us.

It’s one or two hours before dinner so he guided us to a waiting room inside the castle and prepares some snacks. After about an hour, we were guided into a private dining room where the royal family take their meals. I felt nervous while waiting, soon afterward, the face I saw during audience came into the dining room.

Next to him was a refined middle-aged woman. From the outer appearance, this woman the queen.
When we stood up and try to say hello, the king told us that it’s fine to stay seated.

「You were from before, is he your new child」

The king suddenly turned his eyes on me.
etto… what should I do?
I’ll introduce myself for the moment.

「My name is Edgar. I am honored to be able to meet the famous wise king」

I tried to lower my head a bit.

「Wahahaha… I’ll get embarrassed being called wise. Well, it’s a fact, though」
「Please don’t get too cocky dear」

His Majesty laughed happily while the queen landed a fist on him.
Both Julia-kaasan and I stared in amazement, but my dad just gave a bitter smile.

「…So, is this woman Alfred’s new…」

The queen shift her attention to Julia-kaasan and ask nervously.

「Yes ma’am, my name is Julia. Being a former-adventurer, there may be some impoliteness. So please excuse me」

Julia-kaasan gave her a gentle nod.

「Hee, isn’t she such a pretty wife. She certainly took Alfred out of the corner」
「Even so, I’m grateful for it. Since Alfred lost Kanan, he was…」
「I’m sorry I caused so much inconvenience at that time」

Alfred-tousan replied to both of them.
Kanan. So that was the name of my father’s ex-wife.

「Julia and Edgar might not know, but Alfred, Kanan, Eriza, and I went to the same military academy. We used to do a lot of mischief together. We would register to the Adventurer Guild using fake names and go to hunt monsters」
「Even though he said together, we were taking different majors. By the way, Vis was in the martial arts department, Alfred was in the war tactics department, I was in the magical department, and Kanan was in the divine department」

The king explained and the queen supplemented.
I see, so that’s why the king is so friendly to dad.

Visgard the First.
I have heard about him before. The king of reformation. Eliminating the complicated many territory disputes, establishing the gold-silver-bronze system with a royal decree, fixing the exchange rate between gold, silver, and copper. He was vigorously making progressive policies since he became a king.

「Well, the reason I invited you here, besides cheering you up, is because I wanted to hear about the 〈Black Wolf Fang〉 and 〈Yatagarasu〉directly.
I was conducting investigations by sending people here and there but I am confused by the multiple sources of testimonies that were hard to believe.
Regarding my information source, I got full confidence in their reliability. But when I combine those information together, the one who took the head of the mercenary group’s leader and the head of Yatagarasu’s leader

… is that boy」

The king’s intelligence network. It was a quite excellent organization to be able to grasp information to that extent.
Therefore, right now, His Majesty the King has one of his most concerning object of interest, which is me.
By the king’s words, dad and mom turned pale.

「It’s not that I’m threatening you, don’t make such a face.
But you better say it straight away. Son of Alfred, Edgar」
「Yup」

The king stared right into my eyes as I said those words.

「Did you… come from a different world?」

---

AU: Since it became longer, I divided it into 2 stories and posted it one day ahead of the schedule. Sorry, it’s not the usual notice.
The next story is tomorrow (15/5).

ED: That’s another chapter done sorry it took so long a lot of stuff happened which delayed my chances to work on the chapter

TL: Sorry for the delay. Like I said, this chapter is quite long. I made a discord server so please click here to join. You can ask me about the progress and everything there. I will also hear any complaints you have and I will forward any complaint you have to Shinku as well.

I need a number of people to join the discord before I can start a discussion about a project that I will start probably next year.

Then as usual:

Let’s play a game.
A game which all of us knew.
I did my best this time.
Now go find 20!

About Hokugen=Myoken Empire (Thank you, jorgelotr)

It is a reference, but not to any manga, anime or game. I really don’t know why it was that interesting to make the reference. Myōken is the deity of the Polestar and the Big Dipper (originally they were different deities, but there was a mix-up), as well as the protector deity of the north direction, and she’s a very respected and vastly worshipped deity in Japan, having pervaded into Shinto and Buddhism, to the point that there are sects in both dedicated to her exclusive worship. She has also made it to Taoism as Taizan Fukun and into Onmyoudo as Chintaku Reifujin.

RAW: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n6990ch/75/
Editor: KuroAgeha-sama

The last time I felt this sick was when I got food poisoning. I can’t even sit straight on my chair and I could barely look at my phone screen.

Since I recovered enough, I can go back translating. Luckily, I didn’t puke all over my keyboard.

Sorry for the wait and please enjoy chapter 74.

---

(TL: 元少年班 moto shounen han. Just because I mention “boy group” doesn’t mean all the members are boys. Elemia and Donna are not a trap)

Before we part ways, I wanted to do a last adventure with the previous boy group.
Yes, I’ve asked my parents for permission. Surprisingly, Julia-kaasan opposed the idea.

“Children must not go on quests alone,” she said.

Of course, I argued since Elemia, Miguel, Beck, and Donna were strong enough to hold on their own.

「ーStill no. It’s not about level, she said it’s all about knowledge and experience. Like how a monster would move and attack. No, even before that, we need to be able to judge how dangerous the monster we are going to meet and how to deal with them. She said some dangerous monsters don’t even look dangerous at all」

Julia-kaasan told me about a monster called Acid Slime for an example.

Acid Slime is a slightly more yellow version of regular slime. Only experienced adventurers can identify them.

Anyway, Acid Slimes have the ability to shoot strong acid to their prey.
It is said that every year there are many rookie adventurers dies from mistaking this Acid Slime as regular Slime.

「I don’t really mind if you want some experience, but if someone got serious injury it won’t become a good experience, right?」 Julia-kaasan added.

Well, it was a good reason.

「Even though I can ask Moria to accompany us, I don’t like the idea of adventuring while being babysat by someone else. Oh right, how about you ask Chester?」

For that reason, I promised to ask Chester-niisan to accompany us.

Therefore, the 7 members for this adventure would be Melby, Elemia, Miguel, Beck, Donna, Chester-niisan, and me.

An adventurer party doesn’t have any limit for their member, but most parties has 4-6 members so we have a bit surplus. However since Chester-niisan won’t interfere unless it’s too dangerous for us, practically we have 6 members.

We made a simple formation and dived into the forest near Fauno City.

***

This forest is also known as 【Newbie Forest】 by the members of Adventurer Guild. They said that only basic monsters spawn here and all of their levels are low.
Since our level was unsatisfactory and we lacked both knowledge and experience, this is an ideal place for us.

After 15 minutes exploring the forest, Donna finally broke the silence.

「I can smell slimes. There are a lot of them」

While suppressing Miguel, who was trying to rush right into it, we head towards the source of the smell. We found the slimes without any trouble.
It was hard to count those soft and flabby bodies but there must be at least 200 of them.

Slime.

According to 『Abaddon Magic Compilation』

It is known as the weakest monster.

Even though they don’t pose much danger, there are many mysteries surrounding the creature. First of all, there is no clear answer whether slimes are really a living creature. Since they have attributes, it’s possible that they are created from leftover spirit energy. However, there is no actual record of anyone witnessed a slime spawning. It is also said that magicians from ancient times could spawn slimes anytime and used them for various purposes.

The slimes are extremely interesting existence as a subject for magic research, but because of the bad results that were brought upon by the slime’s weakness, Slime researchers tend to be made light of by others. I had asked my disciples to study Slime’s breeding method. Unfortunately, despite opening various knowledge and hypotheses related to fundamental of magic studies, the idea of 『researching a slime』 was foolish and became a laughingstock.

I think the researchers who focused too much on such a prejudice is the real laughingstock.

(TL: need help here Slimeは魔法学の研究対象としては非常に興味深い存在であるが、Slime自体の弱さが災いして、Slimeの研究者は周囲から蔑ろにされがちな傾向がある。Thanks, Idling)

In short, slimes are a semi-transparent flabby gel that even rookie adventurer can hunt without much problem.

Forget 『Abaddon Magic Compilation』 for now, let’s hear what our party’s walking dictionary has to say.

「Melby, do you know anything about the slimes ?」

I asked about Melby about these squirming flabby colorful gel in front of us.

「According to Master, Slimes are a jellied form of leftover spirit’s energy. That’s why they can be found almost everywhere around Marquekt」
「Jellied? So they’re not alive ?」

「It depends on how do you classify a something as “alive”. You can say that they are in a state between spirit and living creature. Normal slimes are usually harmless. I think they fall under “plant” category in the ecosystem.
Since they don’t move much, they don’t pose much danger. But since they provide magical powers to their surroundings, periodic extermination is necessary. Even ordinary people can defeat this monster, much less rookie adventurers.
But as Julia-san said, some variant can trap other animals and monsters so we need to be careful. Especially if they are violent, they can stalk and kill their own prey」

I tried using 【Appraisal】 on a random slime.

《Slime Level：１、ＨＰ：５／５、ＭＰ：８／８、Attribute：Water》

From a glance, I think there were no acid slimes like Julia-kaasan was talking.

「The easiest way to deal with slime is by hitting them with their opposing attribute.

ーNow look. Spirit of fire, embrace our enemies with burning flames!」

Melby attacked the slimes with 【Spirit Magic】.
It was the slime that I appraised.
The spirits set the slime on fire.

After a few seconds, the slime made a damp sound and disappeared into thin air.

「That slime has water spirit attribute. So by hitting it with fire attribute magic, which is the opposing attribute, it disappeared into thin air」
「How do you distinguish slime’s attribute?」
「Ed, you can use 【Appraisal】 to quickly distinguish them but you should remember the general way as well. Look over there, do you see the traces that slime crawled on?」
「……it’s a bit wet」
「Correct. If the slime has water attribute, the place they crawled on will be wet. If it’s fire attribute, it should be dry or burning. If it’s wind attribute, there are wind patterns around them. And if it’s ground attribute, the ground is softer」(TL: softer/fluffier/mushier)

Thanks to Melby’s attack, the slimes were focused towards us.

…iya, I didn’t realize because I saw them looking, but I caught some reaction from my 【Sense Danger】, so it’s no doubt that we were the target.

「Ω Gaia」

I used 【6 Basic Attribute Magic】 to generate soil and attacked a wind attribute slime.

The slime made a hissing sound and dissipated.
I think it didn’t die from the damage but from the reaction with the earth attribute.
It’s like when you put some salt on a slug.

「How can we kill them with weapons?」
「I’ll show it to you! ーttei! yaaah!!」

Miguel jumped out and started bashing the nearest slime with his fists.
It’s HP decreased slowly. As expected, physical attacks didn’t work that well on slimes.
Miguel hit it a few more times and the slime disappeared with popping sound.

「Hey Miguel, don’t forget to collect the manastones」

Beck reminded Miguel.
Following Beck’s line of sight, some kind of colorful pearl is rolling near the slime.

Manastone.

It’s a pearl like lumps on monster’s body, usually near its throat.

Manastones grows gradually from the time the monster was born, so if you look at the manastone, you can estimate the monster’s age.

What is this? A gallstone?

In my previous life, I saw images of gallstones from a dissected gallbladder, I kept worrying about mine ever since.

On very old monsters, the manastones grows too big and create some unnatural bumps around its neck. Just listening to the explanation made me feel uncomfortable.

About these manastones, they don’t actually have much use.
Even though it’s called “mana”stone, it can’t store mana, so it can’t be used as a mana battery.

However, since it’s a convenient proof that you defeated a monster, Adventurer guilds will buy the manastone as the reward for subjugation.
(TL: to any of you who don’t understand, they used manastone as proof of subjugation quest instead of monster parts like goblin ears)

As expected from trained assassins, we exterminated the slimes quickly.

Suddenly I noticed something while destroying slimes.

「…Maybe」

I caught a wind attribute slime and hit it with earth attribute slime.
Both of them destroyed each other.
Everyone stopped and looked at me.

「Ed, what are you doing?」
「Iyaa, since slimes are jellied form of spirit energy, I thought they would disappear if I hit them with another slime with opposing attribute」

It feels like solving a collapse puzzle. (TL: example of collapse puzzles are Bejeweled Deluxe, Spongebob Collapse, and *sigh* Candy Crush)

After the discovery, our slime-extermination speed was increased even further. We cleaned up a group of 200 slimes in about 10 minutes.

Obviously, there were no injuries.

「Niisan, does slime often group together like this?」
「No, usually there are only a few of them together. But when a lot of slimes spawned together, other monsters may have increased as well so we need to be extra careful.
……Maa, looking at the situation before, I think we should be fine」

Just as he ended his sentence, he looked at the forest with vigilance.

Then I heard *hyuuuuuu* sound like a kettle.

「un!? Be careful!  There are *eye-pokes incoming!!」(TL: Mezashi)
Chester-niisan gave us a warning.

Mezashi? Dried sardine? In a forest? (TL: mezashi is roasted sardine)

I realized the next instant.
Something sharp was flying towards us at great speed.

「《Mad Bull Stance》!!」

Beck stood in front of everyone and increased his defense.

「《Stronghold Fortress》!」

I made an earth wall around Beck using 【Uninscribed Invocation】.
It’s the combination that we used to fight the young firedrake.

*dogadogadogadoga*

Intense sounds were heard and something slammed into Beck or the wall.

It was birds.

The beak was thin and very long. Just the beak alone occupies half of its body length. Meanwhile, the body was a bit bigger than a sparrow but less than crows. It has shining red eyes and bizarre looking tongue between its beak.

The bird flew in high speed and attacked us.

「It’s an eye-poke bird. They’re famous for killing newbies. They don’t pose much danger if you calm down and avoid them or use a shield, but depending on where they hit you, the wound could be fatal. As the name says, it often targets the eye butー」

He stopped and observed the fallen eye-pokes.
The eye-pokes seemed to be in a daze after crashing and they twitched on the ground.

「If you block them with a shield, they will knock themselves like this. It’s easy to earn money this way. They always make a unique *hyuuuu* sound right before attacking so it’s not hard to notice them」

While saying so, niisan took a dagger from his waist and stabbed an eye-poke.

「It’s a nice job for the part-time adventurer and some of them even buy iron shield just to hunt these birds. Hunting them doesn’t require any skills or fighting experience. They’re not very tasty but at least they are edible」
「Part-time adventurer?」
「There are some farmers who work as adventurer during slack seasons. About half of new registration in the guild are from part-time adventurers」

Somehow the story was quite depressing.

「……okay everyone. Have you noticed?」

My older brother looked around and said so.

Of course, we noticed.

Not only Elemia with her excellent ability as a scout, but Donna had【Keen Hearing】 and Miguel was also talented in detecting signs despite his appearance.

Beck is the only one who didn’t notice it. It’s not that he’s insensitive, it’s just the other members are overly sensitive.

「All of Ed’s friends sure are excellent. It feels like I might get overtaken soon」

Niisan shrugged and took a step towards the back.
It’s a sign that he was going to support from backrow.

The slimes extermination could be done like puzzle and the eye-poke birds were slamming themselves to death, but it didn’t prove anything about our power.

Right here, the perfect opponent appeared.

「ーMore than 20 goblins, about 20 orcs, and about 15 evil dogs」
Donna said nervously.

Goblin’s appearance is like an evil-version of a dwarf while orc looks like a pig standing on 2 legs. The goblins are about the same size of a human child but I heard that orcs are taller than average adult male. Both of them used primitive weapons.

Evil dogs are said to be a monsterized stray dogs. Like wild dogs and wolves, they hunt in groups with their sharp nose and their prey can’t escape. After becoming a monster, their bodies grow a bit larger and their fangs and claws became sharper.

「It seemed that the goblins and the orcs are gathering together. Some goblins are equipped with bows. There are some goblin mages as well. Meanwhile, many orcs are equipped with metal shields. Ah… it seemed that a group of harpies comes from the sky. There are about… 7 of them I think」

Elemia added.

You understand that much from the signs alone?
My level of 【Sense Presence】 should be above her. Is there any trick to read presence apart from skills?

「It seemed that they come for the slime’s mana, ne?」
Chester-niisan added

「Judging from their number, it’s best if we withdraw unless Julia-kaasan or Moria partying with us… so what are we going to do?」

「Let’s do it, Edgar-anchan!」
「……un, I’ll protect you guys」
「maybe… maybe we can do it」
「e…Eeeeh!? B-but are you sure?」

Miguel, Beck, and Elemia answered with enthusiasm.
Donna was the only one surprised but she didn’t look uneasy about it.

「It’s alright. Let’s do it, niisan」
「Very well. This time, I will participate as well. I’ll clean off the harpies, you guys take care of the rest」

As he declared, he took 3 arrows from his quiver, tucked them into his bow, and shot at the harpies in the sky.
Each of 3 arrows slightly changed its trajectory and pierced another harpy.

「Amazing!!」
Miguel shouted.

But even without him shouting, the goblins and orcs roaring can be heard from the forest.

「These guys can’t be compared to the Firedrake’s roar」

Beck came to the front and put up his shield while saying reliable words.
It’s the huge duralumin tower shield that I gave him when fighting the firedrake.
Donna hid behind it, taking something like a ball of firework from her pouch.

「Ja, will Edgar fight by my side?」

Elemia and her 【Fatigue Transference】seemed to chose to fight with me. Melby was by my side as always. Miguel was left behind.

「Leave Edgar’s brother’s protection to me!」
He declared and entered my brother’s cover.

「「We will show them our power!!」」

And that was the cue to our fight.

***

On the way home…

「It was a big hunt」

Chester-niisan nodded to my words.

「Actually, those number of enemies would give any low-leveled adventurers a run for their money. Are you guys really E-rank?」
「Are you asking me that now? Anyway, is this happen often?」
「If this often happening, we will have many casualties… Maybe because there are large quantities of harpies this year. It may be influenced by that」

「Come to think of it, what caused their abnormal behavior in the first place?」
「I don’t understand it myself. In the case of harpies, if we can kill the queen who leads the flock, they would escape to save themselves. Unfortunately, we haven’t killed any queen this year」

While we were talking, we arrived at Fauno City.

「Edgar and Elemia are going with Edgar’s parents to the royal capital. Donna is going back to Ganash-jiji. It’s going to be lonely here」

Miguel became depressed.

That’s right. Our family was heading to the Royal Capital Monnochanus. Alfred-tousan had to explain the chronology the previous incident to His Majesty.

Donna and Ganash-jiji also said that they were leaving Fauno City at the same time and heading their hometown Sonorat. I heard that they wanted to build a tomb for Donna’s mother.

After that? When I asked Ganash-jiji he answered.

「The poor child was locked in a cellar for too long. I want him to travel here and there a bit」

And that Donna herself too.

「I was brainwashed by 〈Yatagarasu〉, I’m not strong enough, maybe because of the lack of experience. Back then, I know nothing about life outside my village. If I know, I may be able to notice things」

That being said, I agree with Ganash-jiji’s opinion.

Donna was concerned about the other children in the kid’s room back in Crow’s Nest, but recently they have a prospect for the future.

Dad had borrowed a vacant house in Fauno City as a place for them to stay, it was originally an inn. The elderly couple who own the building offered to take care of the children as well.

Since Donna was one of the older kid, she felt responsible for the younger children, so she went back to check on them from time to time.

The elder couple and the children confirmed that they were doing well, so now Donna could focus on doing whatever he wanted to do.

「Wasn’t Sonorat in an internal conflict, is it really alright?」
「Un, I decided to ask Huffman-san’s party to escort us. Beck was also born in Sonorat」

「What the hell! So Beck will come with you as well!?」
Miguel was surprised.

「Edgar and Elemia are together, Beck and I are together. So Miguel is left alone?」
Donna poured some venomous words and laughed.

「Gah!!」
It seemed that Miguel was seriously depressed.

「Don’t worry, we will come back as soon as possible」
Donna tried to comfort Miguel… Oi! Aren’t you the one who hurt him in the first place!?

「U-umm… Are we going to be 『Previous Boy Group』 forever? How about we name our group?」
Elemia asked nervously.

「Yeah you’re right! It’s weird calling ourselves 『Previous』 all the time. Let’s think for a name!」

Miguel rode the conversation and decided a name for us.

「Jaa, dragon busters!」
Miguel proclaimed.

「No, we don’t even defeat dragons」
Beck coldly rejected him.

……Let’s keep silent about my 《One who beat the dragons – Dragon Buster》 title.

「How about blue bell orchid? I think there are some near the nest」
Elemia suggested a name. (TL: 青鈴蘭 / aosuzuran / blue bell orchid)

「Umm… Elemia, let’s be quiet okay?」
This time Miguel rejected her.

「Ususake Mushrooms…… no… forget it」
Donna tried to add an idea but rejected it herself.

「Okonomiyaki?」
「Those are just food you guys wanted to eat!」

Miguel looked at Beck in scorn.

「The only one that connects us… something besides Yatagarasu… amida-sama?」
Elemia murmured.

「amida-sama… pure land sect… ikkou-ikki」(TL: monks and peasants uprising)

I failed to watch my mouth.
Miguel bit into my words.

「What is ikkouikki?」
「N-no, it’s nothing」
「Okay but what is it?」
「It’s… It’s when people who believe in Amida-sama rioted… in my previous life… 」

I replied reluctantly.

I had explained to everyone that I had knowledge from my previous life.
It would be a problem if I had to talk to the others when they realize later on that Edgar at that time really was eccentric.
It’s easier for us to speak with each other and asking them to keep it a secret from each other is troublesome.
Of course, the main reason I revealed my past was that I don’t want to keep it a secret from them.
(TL: help pls 後になって、やっぱりあの時のEdgarは常識外れだったと気づいて、周りに話したりされると困ったことになる。Thanks, Idling)

「Isn’t that good? But the name 『ikkouikki』 is a bit mouthful… Yosh! Let’s go with 『Ikki』!」

STOOOOOOP!!

(ED: YAMEROOOO!!!)
(TL: イッキ is read ikki. It means “drinking alcohol fast without breathing” and said repeatedly in parties.

kanpai is equivalent with the elegant cheers
ikki is equivalent with the brutal CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG!!!)

「H-how about rebel resistance at least?」
「But shouting 『We are the Rebel Resistance』 right in the middle of a city is a bit…」

Ugh… Damn you, Miguel.
Damn you and your perfect and rational reasons.

「Besides, I don’t really mind since people don’t understand what 『Ikki』 means」
Donna agreed with him.

「It was Edgar who connected us so it’s good to be named something from Edgar’s previous life」
Elemia… you too…?

「I guess it’s okay. Ikki… It seemed like powerful force from the bottom of your stomach. It sounds mysterious」
BEEEEEEECK !!!!!

「Jaa, we are graduating from 『Previous Boy Group』 to 『Ikki』!」
「Yup!」
「Okay!」
「It’s sounds good!」

Under the sunset, under this really extraordinary situation, I couldn’t tell these 4 people to stop…

That is how I formed the group 『Ikki/Chug』 in the different world.

If you think about a group of 6 children saved by the namu-amida-butsu, it didn’t sound that bad.

---

As usual, let’s play a game.
You know the game.
It’s not that game (You lost BTW)
To be honest, I lost count so find as many as you can.

Special Thanks:

• 刺し (Yuushin)
• Rezel
• KuroAgeha-sama
• Idling
• Kumachi
• Pantasma Namer

Chapter 73 is located at Shinku Translation

https://www.nekoseirei.com/no-fatigue/chapter-73/