Chapter 43

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In a beautiful sunset in the alley of a port town, I found myself surrounded by dangerous people, and before I knew it, a knife was pointed at me.

I tried to distract them by scattering gold coins, but they charged at me without even looking.

A dull blade pierced my stomach.

"Ugh!"

Hot blood splattered. My face turned red.

...Wait? I didn't scream, did I?

I touched my stomach, but it didn't hurt. However, my body was covered in blood.

It made sense; the man in front of me was spurting blood from his chest.

I finally realized I was drenched in warm, foul-smelling blood.

"Wh-What?!"

I finally screamed and fell to the ground, my legs giving out.

There were four of them surrounding me, but before I knew it, they were all collapsing, blood gushing from their chests.

What happened?

"Akira, are you okay?"

I was spoken to with a unique intonation.

"Y-Youlai"

With a swing of his massive estoc, Youlai, an elf dressed in Native American attire, splattered blood and came to my side.

I was struggling to keep my trembling legs from buckling.

"Robbery in the city, that's unusual."

People died.

Youlai, who had killed them, showed no emotion. His tone was as indifferent as if he had just met someone at a convenience store.

He tried to pick up the scattered gold coins and hand them to me, but my mind couldn't process it.

"K-Kill..."

I pointed at the bodies.

"I'll call the guards."

Youlai disappeared down the main street without waiting for my response.

I was left alone with the four... no, four bodies for a while.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but Youlai returned with three soldiers.

"Akira, he was attacked."

One of the soldiers muttered after a quick inspection of the bodies.

"Hmm. I don't recognize them, but they're probably from the slums?"

"Maybe. Their weapons are better than their clothes."

"True, the weapons are of higher quality than what thugs usually carry."

Two soldiers discussed, while the third carefully examined the bodies.

"Hey, you, do you have any idea why you were attacked?"

A soldier shouted at me.

"Uh... Ah..."

I couldn't form words.

The blood on my body felt disgusting.

"What's wrong, or did you do this?"

"N-No... Ah... Probably..."

My throat was dry.

"Recently... I've been working for the Veriello Guild... so..."

The two soldiers exchanged glances.

"Could you be the rumored...?"

The soldier stared down at me intently.

"I see. You have plenty of reasons to be hated. But you were lucky to survive being surrounded by four of them."

Indeed.

"The spirits told me."

"Typical elf. ...But good skills. One hit for all of them?"

"I'm a warrior. It's nothing."

The other soldier grimaced.

"I understand the situation. You're Akira and Youlai, staying at the Whale Inn, right? If anything happens, we'll come back to talk to you, so please cooperate."

Youlai nodded and offered me his hand.

I tried to take it but noticed my hand was covered in blood. Youlai, on the other hand, didn't have a single drop on him. This must be what a warrior is like.

Despite my hesitation, Youlai took my hand and helped me up.

"Can you walk?"

With his help, I managed to stand, though my knees were still wobbly.

"Sort of... yeah."

"Good."

He supported me by the shoulder and led me back to the inn.

---

Before entering the inn, I used a cleaning tool to clean the blood. It turned into a reddish-brown powder in an instant, which was a bit shocking. When I shook it off, the stains disappeared as if by magic.

I used the same tool on Youlai's thin leather jacket, and the stains came off just as easily.

When we returned to the room, Hagg was waiting, but I wasn't in the mood to make tonkatsu, so we settled for a katsu sandwich.

Youlai returned the gold coins he had picked up. I tried to give them to him as a thank you, but he refused.

I drank water to finally calm down.

"Youlai, thank you so much."

"Don't worry about it."

"But how did you come to such a place? Was it a coincidence?"

"No. The spirits were acting strange, so I went to check. I sensed a crowd-dispelling spell. That's when I found Akira."

"I see... Thanks for that. Really, thank you."

"It's fine. Helping the weak is a warrior's duty."

Ugh. I'm called weak.

I can't deny it. I can't even swing a massive iron bar. But it feels like I'm being treated like a child... maybe it's just my imagination.

"Hey, damn elf, did you properly crack their skulls?"

"Don't lump me with dwarves, you sloppy one."

The conversation is scary.

"But... are there a lot of those kinds of thugs?"

"Most of the rough types are in the southern district, young man."

"I see."

"The slums have been expanding over the past few years."

"That's scary."

"Because of that, the number of customers is decreasing."

"That's unfortunate... Why are you just joining the conversation so casually?! And when did you even enter the room?!"

Narnia had joined the conversation so naturally that I hadn't noticed!

"I've been here for a while?"

"...Is there no such thing as privacy in this inn?"

"What's privacy?"

It seems it doesn't exist...

"Ah, whatever. Anyway, this town is more dangerous than I imagined... I didn't expect to be attacked twice in one day."

I leaned against the wall next to the bed.

Incidentally, the bed was occupied by me and the cheeky Narnia, while Hagg and Youlai were sitting cross-legged on the floor. That's why it's so cramped!

"...Wait, twice?"

"Huh? Oh, the first time wasn't me, but I got caught up when Chelina's carriage was attacked."

"Was that a coincidence?"

"That's strange."

Now that I think about it, it does seem a bit odd.

"Could you be the target?"

"Me? Not Chelina?"

"Yes. It seems... suspicious."

"Thugs can't use crowd-dispelling spells."

"Maybe they had a crowd-dispelling tool?"

I don't know if such a tool exists.

"If they had one, they could get hired instead of being thugs. They could make a living by lending out the tool."

I see, even if they could use spells or had a tool, they wouldn't usually struggle for work.

"...So, am I really being targeted?"

"It's possible."

"Really?"

"Will you die, big brother?"

Narnia said something ominous.

"No, don't say that. I have no intention of dying."

But I have no means to protect myself. If I could get the prototype of the "Light Sword" I'm working on, it might provide some basic defense, but... I doubt I could use it on a human. I might get stabbed by a knife while hesitating. I even thought I was stabbed today.

"How about hiring a bodyguard? I'd like to protect you, but... I still have a contract with the Blacksmith Guild. I could break it, but I'd rather not."

That's understandable.

"Can I be your bodyguard?"

It was Youlai.

"Are you sure?"

"I'll charge for it."

Youlai is strong enough. Scary strong, actually.

"How much would it cost?"

"10,000 is fine."

"What?! An elf warrior for just one day?!"

Narnia jumped up on the bed. Stop it, you'll crush the straw.

"It's because of our connection."

It seems quite cheap. I can afford it for a while. Considering the possibility of losing all my money today, it's a bargain. Besides, I want to repay Youlai for his help.

"What's the usual rate?"

"Don't worry about it."

"It's fine, he's a good person. He's not working for free, so hire him at that price."

Hagg took a swig of his drink.

"Then, Youlai, I'll leave it to you from tomorrow."

"Leave it to me."

We shook hands.

"...By the way, I'll treat you to breakfast."

"That's great. I'm looking forward to it."

"I want to eat too~!"

"Bring money and I'll sell you some."

"You're so stingy, big brother~!"

I stuffed a candy into Narnia's mouth.

Remaining balance: 9,308,920 yen.

When the three left the room, it suddenly became quiet.

The room was pitch black when I blew out the candle.

Looking out the window, the sky was still filled with stars.

This world is harsh, but the stars are beautiful. I reported this to the god of commerce, Merhes.

---