Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Volume 7 E-Book

Kenichi

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 411

Beschreibung

Having finished his stay in the royal capital for now, Tenma returns to Sagan with a team of powerful companions to challenge the dungeon once again. But this time, Sagan’s dungeons are teeming with more formidable monsters than ever before. He and his party find themselves in trouble when a monster creeps up from the depths, overwhelming even Valley Wind! To add to the chaos, they receive a visit from the king, who just loves surprises...

Tenma’s journey reaches new heights (and depths!) as the Dungeon Revenge arc begins!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Chapter 7

Extra Story

Afterword

Color Illustrations

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Color Images

Table of Contents

Chapter Seven

Part One

“Right here’s just fine, Tenma,” Namitaro piped up.

Namitaro got out of the carriage just as we arrived at a river midway between Sagan and the capital. He jumped into the water and began to splash and swim around with incredible enthusiasm.

“Ahh, man! I haven’t been in a river in ages and it feels so good! Ho ho ho!” Clearly in high spirits, Namitaro jumped out of the water again and again, splashing everything and everyone around him.

“Namitaro! You’re getting us all wet!”

“Oh, sorry about that! It’s just been so long I almost forgot how to do it!” Seeming a bit calmer now, Namitaro slowly swam over to the shore near the carriage.

“Are you leaving now?”

“Guess so. This is the biggest river around these parts, right? So I should say my goodbyes now,” Namitaro said.

He held out his right fin. I took it in my hand and he vigorously shook it up and down.

“What, you’re leaving already, Namitaro? Things’ll be lonely around here...” Gramps said.

“It’s not like I’m sayin’ goodbye forever! We’ll see each other again. Ah, but you might be dead by then, Merlin...” Namitaro said with a laugh. Since he’d made himself at home in the pond behind Gramps’s mansion in the capital, and was practically a member of the family by now, Gramps was used to his jokes and wasn’t offended.

“Tenma, if anything happens you use that flute, okay? Well, sayonara!” And with that, Namitaro began swimming downriver at full speed.

We watched in bewilderment as his figure grew smaller and smaller. Jin’s carriage caught up to us a few moments later, but by that time, Namitaro was already long gone.

“Talk about cold. He couldn’t wait to say goodbye to us?”

Jin and the others had gotten to know Namitaro quite well too, so they seemed a bit sad that he hadn’t said goodbye to them.

“Well, since we’re by the water, how about we take a little break here? Even if we’re feeling fine, we should give the horses a rest,” suggested Jin.

My horse was fine, of course, since Valley Wind was a golem controlled by Rocket and therefore wouldn’t get tired. Rocket’s mana would deplete, but I could always trade off with him, so it never posed a problem. We could even travel nonstop all the way to Sagan if we wanted. However, Jin had rented horses for their carriage, and despite having made improvements so it was easier to pull than a regular carriage, the horses would still get tired.

“That’s true. Well, in that case, that looks to be the highest point over there. If we stay too close to the water, we might get attacked by some kind of weird monsters,” Galatt said.

Under normal circumstances, we’d just rest by the river, but when you were near one that was as wide and deep as this, it wouldn’t be unusual for large, carnivorous monsters like crocodile sharks to be lurking about. That was why it was necessary to put some distance between us and the water.

“All right, let’s do it,” I said. “As promised, I’ll be in charge of food, so you’re all in charge of standing watch while we’re on break.”

According to the agreement we’d made beforehand, I’d be in charge of all the cooking along with Gramps. In exchange, the Dawnswords, along with Blanca and Amur, would take care of keeping watch during breaks and at night.

At any rate, I decided to make something simple while I put Gramps in charge of the furnace. Well, when it came to cooking, it had to be something simple—otherwise, Gramps wouldn’t be able to manage to do much.

“Let’s see here. This is kind of a weird time, so I’ll just make something light.”

I took some flour, eggs, chopped beef, onions, lettuce, and some other vegetables out of my magic bag along with oil, salt, and pepper. I was going to make crepes.

I arranged the grilled ingredients and chopped ingredients on plates by category, fried the dough into thin wrappers, and then it was ready. Each person would gather their favorite toppings, wrap them in the crepes, and eat. For Rocket and the others, I prepared a separate dish of roasted meat and veggies. I made lots of crepes, so if there were any left over, I was thinking about eating some for a midnight snack. However...

“I’d like another helping, Tenma!”

It actually seemed like I was running out. My biggest miscalculation was Amur’s appetite. She was scarfing down crepes one after another right next to me. Even though she was the smallest member of the entire party, she ate so much that I wondered where she was even putting it. Actually, in terms of who ate the most, it was Amur, Blanca, Galatt, and then Jin. Everyone else ate about the same amount except for Leena, who came in last place.

The beastfolk were in the top three positions with Jin putting up a good fight for the humans. Even so, he was pretty far behind Galatt, who was in third place.

“You guys sure eat a lot,” I muttered as I watched them.

They all froze at the same time—apparently, they’d heard me.

“You think? I feel like this is pretty normal,” Galatt said.

“Lots of beastfolk have big appetites,” commented Blanca.

“Do you not like it when girls eat a lot?” Amur asked.

When I asked them more about it, they told me that, when it came to food, beastfolk had a lot of customs similar to animals, like worrying about food scarcity. So, when food was placed in front of them, they tended to eat as much as they could. And since they were physically stronger than other classes, they burned more calories, which in turn meant that they needed more calories in the first place.

“That’s why there aren’t many full-time farmers in our village. Most of the families are part-time farmers who are also hunters and adventurers.”

Amur had never done any farming. Blanca had some experience, but only a little.

“That sounds like Kukuri Village,” I said, effectively ending the conversation, and we all resumed eating together.

I replenished the toppings and the crepes a couple more times before we all finished eating. We were going to depart again now that we were done, but for some reason, I noticed I had some unexpected guests.

“Leena, Mennas, Amur... What are you all doing in here?”

All the girls from the Dawnswords, plus Amur who had been riding in the other carriage until now, were in my carriage.

“It’s too cramped over there,” Leena said.

“And it’s uncomfortable,” chimed in Mennas.

“Bath.” That was Amur.

Honestly, I could understand where they were coming from. Jin’s carriage wasn’t small or run-down, but it definitely wasn’t as spacious as mine. In fact, my carriage was so comfortable that the king himself had asked to buy it. But I used it far too much to sell it, and I didn’t have time to make a new one, so I had just handed over the blueprints and let him go to town. He’d paid me for the blueprints as a design fee of course, and we had also drawn up a contract which had stipulated that if he made more than one, he would pay me patent and design fees on those units as well.

“Okay, but what did Jin and the others say?” I asked.

Honestly, I didn’t mind if they rode in my carriage, but the problem was Jin. Unlike my carriage, someone always had to control the horses for that one, so losing three passengers all of a sudden put more of a burden on the remaining ones.

“Don’t worry, we already talked to him about it,” Leena said.

“They’ll have way more fun just traveling with guys,” Mennas insisted.

“I shut Blanca up.”

Leena said Jin had known about it already, but what about me and Gramps? And how exactly had Amur shut Blanca up?

“Blanca’s weaknesses are his wife and my mother,” Amur said. “If I bring up their names, he’ll do anything I want.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have asked in the first place...

Well, it seemed like they had gotten permission, so I let them into the carriage. Once Gramps heard why the three of them were here, he seemed to sympathize with Jin and the others.

“Tenma, sorry to bother you so soon, but can I use your bath? I’ve been curious what a bath inside of a carriage looks like.”

“Yeah, let’s try it!”

“Wanna join us, Tenma?”

“I don’t care if you take a bath, but there’s only room for one person at a time so you’ll need to take turns,” I said. “Plus, the bath, toilet, and changing room are all in one space, so make sure to get undressed in there. And be careful to lock the door behind you. I won’t be held responsible if you forget, so if you fail to protect yourself, I’ll send you back to Jin’s carriage and ban you from riding in mine again.”

I wanted to be extra firm to prevent Amur from going rogue. I didn’t expect I’d have to worry about Mennas and Leena because they’d followed those rules from the beginning, but Amur seemed displeased. I’d made the right decision to be firm from the get-go.

While they decided who’d bathe first, I began dinner. Well, I was just frying up some chicken and vegetables in a pan. Later that night, I’d warm it up and add some more ingredients.

“What’s that you’re making, Tenma?” Mennas asked. She’d apparently lost the battle to bathe first. Amur was behind her, so that meant Leena got to go first.

“I was thinking of making stew.”

“Stew?” they said in unison. Neither of them seemed familiar with it.

“I guess it’s like a thicker soup with meat, vegetables, and milk added to it,” I explained.

Mennas nodded, but Amur looked confused.

“If it’s eaten mostly in colder regions, it’s probably unusual in the south,” Mennas said, and Amur agreed. Apparently, it was warm all year round where Amur lived and it had never snowed, not even once. By the way, in the capital, sometimes they’d get close to a meter of snowfall during the winter. It had snowed often in Kukuri Village, but only about half as much as the capital.

“The nights have been a little cold lately, so I thought it would be a good time to make it. Just for reference, are there any vegetables you don’t like?” I asked.

Since they both shook their heads, I added a bunch of different kinds to the pot. However, Shiromaru and Solomon grimaced at the sight, which only made me add even more veggies.

By the time I finished making the white sauce, Leena and Mennas were done with their baths and it was Amur’s turn—but she quickly came back out, half naked.

Leena scrambled to throw a blanket over her, but I did catch a glimpse of her for a split second. It was incredibly awkward.

“There’s barely any water left because of them, and it’s lukewarm!” Amur cried.

“You’re making it sound like I’m heavy or something!”

“Leena, you’re making it sound like I’m heavy,” complained Mennas.

“I’m taller than you, Mennas.”

Mennas seemed a bit irritated by Leena’s comment, but I ignored the two of them and headed to the bath. I used Water magic and Fire magic to add hot water to the tub and turned around.

“How’s this?” I asked Amur.

She stuck her arm into the water to test it out. She nodded, and I quickly headed for the door. But just as I opened it, I felt hot water splash by my feet. Luckily, I had my back turned already so I didn’t have to see anything awkward this time.

A few hours after our first break, it was finally getting dark, so we decided to make camp atop a small hill nearby.

Jin and the others were in charge of keeping watch, but Gramps put up a magic barrier around the carriage just in case. The barrier was so others wouldn’t sense our presence and to let us know if any enemies were nearby. But barriers weren’t foolproof, of course, so it was still necessary for Jin and the others to keep watch.

After dinner, we all chatted for a while and then I delivered Jin and the Dawnswords’ dinner before returning to my carriage.

“Here’s dinner, Jin. I’ll put it in your carriage. I made several helpings for each of you,” I said. “Sorry if it’s not enough.”

“Hey, thanks! We’ll wake ya up if something happens during watch, so hurry up and get some rest, Tenma.”

They divvied up the watch between the three groups, with the first being Jin and Amur, the next being Blanca and Mennas, and the final one being Galatt and Leena. They had split up into groups of men and women and then drew lots to see who’d go first, with each group taking a three-hour block. Blanca and Mennas had it the hardest—they’d have to go to sleep immediately after eating dinner.

Even though we were all adventurers, it was a bit strange to have men and women sleeping in the same quarters, so they decided that the women would sleep in Jin’s carriage and the men would sleep outside next to it. As for my carriage, only me, Gramps, and my followers were sleeping inside it. I’d made that request because I didn’t want us to have to get the women up every time the guard changed. This seemed to be a common thing among adventurers, so Jin and the others didn’t complain. If there was some kind of trouble during the night, we’d still be woken up, so Gramps and I had to go to sleep early to be on the safe side.

“Hmm?”

I woke up in the middle of the night when I sensed some kind of presence. Shiromaru got up the same moment I did, followed by Rocket, Gramps, and Solomon. Whatever had crossed the magical barrier was incredibly strong.

I braced myself and was ready to fight at any moment, but just then, someone quietly knocked on the door.

“It’s Blanca. Tenma...you’re awake, aren’t you? Sorry, but can you come out?”

I went outside and saw Blanca standing there with a serious look on his face. Mennas had gone to wake the others and soon returned with a sleepy Amur and Jin behind her, both of them rubbing their eyes.

“So? What’s going on?” Jin asked Blanca. “If Tenma’s up, it must be something dangerous.” Although he looked sleepy, he had his sword at the ready.

“Yeah. I sensed some strong monsters the moment I stepped outside the barrier. I don’t know if they mean to attack us or not, but I knew that if we had to take them on in a fight, just the two of us wouldn’t be enough,” Blanca said.

Blanca told us that there was a group of monsters nearby, and although he and Mennas would be able to fight them, it wouldn’t be without significant injury. That was why he wanted me and Gramps standing by.

“We should get ready to fight right away. They’re heading here really quickly.”

While I listened to Blanca explain the situation, I used Detection in a wide range around us. The group of monsters was about five kilometers away and coming towards us. At this rate, they’d reach us in two to three minutes.

“Seriously?! Then we’d better hurry!” Galatt smacked his face with both hands.

Taking that as our signal, the rest of us also readied ourselves.

“If they do charge us, it’s best to fight outside the barrier. It’s possible they still haven’t noticed us, so if we show ourselves, they might change their course. Tenma, do you know how many and what kind of monsters they are?” Gramps asked me calmly amid everyone else’s panic.

I used Detection to get a count and then used Identify on the group. “There are more than five, but fewer than ten...and I think they’re unicorns.”

I’d never seen that kind of monster before. In my previous world, unicorns were mostly portrayed as some kind of sacred animal, but in this world, they were a monster like any other. However, since they were so high-ranking and there weren’t many of them around, it was said that finding one was more difficult than defeating it.

“Unicorns, eh? I’ve only seen ’em once or twice, back when I was in my heyday,” Gramps said. “Although they’re ferocious, they’re quite intelligent monsters. I doubt they’ll attack once they realize we’re here. If we show ’em that we’re willing to put up a fight outside the barrier, they’ll probably go elsewhere to avoid trouble. So don’t try to attack them unless absolutely necessary—otherwise, they’ll choose to fight rather than run away.”

We took his advice and went outside the barrier, positioning ourselves in the direction of the unicorns.

Shiromaru and Solomon were in the front. Behind them were the Dawnswords, with Blanca and Amur on either side of them. Gramps and I stood a distance away.

We put Shiromaru and Solomon in front because one of them was a large, carnivorous beast that would be a unicorn’s natural enemy,. The other was a monster who ranked higher than the unicorns, even though he was still a baby. Hopefully, this would keep the unicorns in check. If the monsters still didn’t back down, Gramps and I would get ready to attack with magic from the left and right. Then Jin and the others would attack head-on. Oh, and Rocket was inside of Valley Wind—that would be useful in case we needed to pursue them.

Also, even though I had kept the fact that I could use the abilities Detection and Identify a secret, Gramps had immediately asked me about the types and numbers of monsters and he’d believe my answers. He must’ve been really confident that I was just that capable of sensing those things on my own.

“Here they come.”

Blanca glared into the distance as the herd of unicorns came into view. They all appeared to be adults, and although Valley Wind was twice the size of any one of them, they were quite large in comparison to normal horses. The one in front was particularly huge, and the horn on its forehead was longer and thicker than the others. It was probably the leader of the group.

Although we were on top of a small hill, the unicorns didn’t seem to have noticed us yet. Just as they came within a kilometer of us...

“Aroooooo!” Shiromaru tipped his head towards the sky and began to howl with all his might. It seemed like the very air itself trembled in response, and Leena and Amur both covered their ears from the sound.

“Ugh, that’s so loud, Shiromaru!” Amur complained casually to Shiromaru, but no one could hear her.

Shiromaru’s distant howl made the unicorns aware of our presence, and their leader let out a loud nicker in response, which stopped the herd in their tracks. Then, a staredown ensued. Normally unicorns were said to be Rank A monsters or higher, but the leader seemed like it was a Rank S monster, maybe even higher. And if it was in charge of the other seven, this could even be a more troublesome fight than when I took down that earth dragon.

However, even if they were more trouble than earth dragons, I knew we wouldn’t lose. We outnumbered and outmatched them in terms of ability. However, if they decided to just charge at us at full speed, it was possible we’d get swept up in the commotion and someone could get injured.

“Tenma, when the unicorns are about half the distance they are from us now, once the leader passes that boulder up there, we attack with our magic. Prioritize the number of moves over the power of the blows, and make sure to spread them apart,” Gramps said. “Don’t let Jin and the others get caught up in the middle. Be careful and aim to defeat each one. If possible, I want to defeat the leader first, but don’t push yourself too hard.”

Once everyone heard Gramps’s orders, the tension in the air immediately increased. The unicorns seemed to sense our nervousness and became more alert. They began to slowly move forward without taking their eyes off us.

They closed the distance between us by one hundred meters, then two hundred meters...and just as we were about to attack, the leader suddenly let out a loud whinny. All of them turned at once and ran away.

“Horse meat go bye-bye...”

We were too stunned at the sudden development to react to Amur’s murmurs. We all remained at the ready until the herd of unicorns disappeared completely.

“It looks like they just left...” Blanca said.

I confirmed Blanca’s comment with Detection. “Yeah, they’re out of my range of sight. I guess we should keep our guard up, but from the looks of it, I don’t think they’ll be coming back.”

Jin and the others seemed to be relaxing already—they were all yawning and stretching.

“Seriously, why would a herd of unicorns just show up in a place like this?” Galatt wondered aloud.

“Who the hell knows?” snapped Jin. “Just be grateful you saw a super rare monster! I’m going back to bed! Those stupid unicorns woke me up from a dream! Should’ve just turned ’em into materials we could sell!”

Jin then headed towards his bedroll, seemingly in a slightly bad mood. I guess he was woken up at a frustrating point in his sleep by the unicorns’ approach.

“Blanca, can you eat unicorns?” Amur asked. As usual, she was only thinking about food. She’d been muttering “horse meat, horse meat” to herself over and over again—probably because she was hungry.

“Hm? Yeah, I’ve heard it’s pretty good. But their horns, oil, and...packages are more valuable than the meat. They’re said to be highly effective ingredients in medicine,” Blanca explained.

“What do you mean by packages?”

“I guess you could call them...a symbol of their manhood.”

“I see... Owww!”

Amur had been staring at my crotch, so I took a loaf of bread out of my bag and threw it at her. It struck her right in the face and fell to the ground, but since it was wrapped in cloth, it was still perfectly edible.

“I get the horns, but is the oil really that expensive?”

“Speaking of that...”

Even though I had asked Blanca that, for some reason, Leena butted in with a smile on her face.

“Their horns are said to be very effective at reducing fevers, detoxification, and can be used in a tonic when you drink it. Not only that, but when it comes to detoxification, they say it works on almost anything,” explained Leena. “The oil, on the other hand, acts like stomach medicine when ingested and serves as a remedy when applied to wounds. And when you dry it in the sun, crush it, and then char it, the oil becomes an aphrodisiac. Since unicorns are extremely rare, the moment it hits the market all the high-ranking nobles rush to buy it and— Owww!”

Perhaps irritated by Leena’s smugness, Mennas lightly poked her in the side.

I decided to return to my carriage before I got caught up in any more excitement tonight, but when I opened the door, I saw there was already someone in my bed. I rolled them over and saw Amur sleeping there with breadcrumbs around her mouth.

I didn’t want to touch her again and give her some excuse to find me guilty later, so I left and got Blanca to remove her. As he took Amur away, I thought I heard a small scoffing noise, but since she was supposed to be sleeping, I decided to ignore her. I wanted to go right to bed, but unfortunately, the crumbs were all over. I had to stay up longer than I’d hoped in order to clean my bed up before finally turning in for the night.

“It feels like I haven’t been here in ages...” I murmured to myself.

A day and a half had passed since our encounter with the unicorns and we’d made it safely to Sagan. We hadn’t seen any other strong monsters after the unicorns. In fact, the journey had been so smooth that we actually had more free time than expected. We’d actually taken a little detour and gathered some medicinal herbs for a change of pace. Now, we had so many herbs that we could practically open a shop.

“Yeah, but at this rate, it seems like it’ll take forever,” Jin said as he stared at the line ahead of us. Under normal circumstances, adventurers who were Rank C or above were allowed entry through the special entrance, but unfortunately, there were some in our party who didn’t meet that requirement.

“Sorry...”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking!”

Amur and Gramps were the ones apologizing. Since Gramps hadn’t worked as an adventurer for quite a few years, he’d let his guild membership lapse, and until he completed the necessary paperwork, he would only qualify as an average citizen. In Amur’s case, being fourteen, she wasn’t yet old enough to register for a full guild membership.

So we had no choice but to obey the rules and go to the end of the line. I told the Dawnswords they could go on ahead, but they insisted on waiting with us since we’d come all this way together in the first place.

“I-I’m not blaming you! Please lift your head!”

Although Jin tried to get Gramps to stop bowing his head, the other three members of Dawnswords piled on and started teasing him from behind.

“Whoa, you actually made Master Merlin bow to you?!”

“Look how far we’ve come...”

“Tenma! Please convince Master Merlin that Mennas, Galatt, and I have nothing to do with this, and it’s all Jin’s fault!” Leena insisted.

“Come onnn!” Jin yelled in protest.

Seeing the four of them like this made Gramps burst out laughing, and soon Blanca and Amur joined in as well.

“All right, that’s enough joking around. People are staring,” I said.

With that, the people staring at us averted their eyes. Obviously Jin and the others didn’t like the attention either, and they quickly calmed down.

Now that everyone was quiet, I decided to use some of the medicinal herbs we’d gathered to make some tea. Well, all I did was lightly roast several different kinds of herbs I’d dried and then boiled them in water—I’m not sure if you could call that tea or not.

“Here ya go. Too bad we don’t have any snacks to go with it, but it’s better than nothing. This should have a mild sedative effect, which is perfect for Jin.”

I handed cups of tea out to everyone so we could all take a break. After we’d waited in line for about an hour, we finally entered Sagan without incident.

We all went to the guild together, but for some reason, the people who were walking towards us would get out of our way and scoot towards the edges of the road. There were two main types of people who gave us the right of way. The first were those who looked at us like we were some kind of unusual sight. The others were those who seemed like they didn’t want anything to do with us and averted their eyes as they hurried past. Most of the people in the first group were ordinary citizens and the latter mostly dressed like adventurers.

Once we arrived at the guild, Jin and the others filled out the paperwork to return their rental carriage. They had rented it from the guild in the capital, but could return it here with no problem. Since many adventurers frequently traveled back and forth between Sagan and the capital, the guilds had an agreement with each other. If one guild ever had a carriage shortage, they’d just post a quest to go retrieve carriages from the other city. It was a popular quest since it was quite lucrative. However, a certain degree of trust from the guild was required, along with strength and experience, so there weren’t many adventurers who were eligible to take it on.

“We’re gonna go sell the herbs,” I told everyone.

While Gramps went to fill out the paperwork to reinstate his guild membership, Blanca, Amur, and I headed over to the sales counter. We’d decided that we would split the herbs three ways—me and Gramps taking one share, the Dawnswords another, and Blanca and Amur would take the final share.

Gramps and I were taking the most effective medicinal herbs. However, they were also the most valuable, so we’d have to check the selling price of each and balance our portion with the other groups’ shares.

“Here’s the total purchase estimate with a breakdown by item.” The guild staff member handed us a piece of paper. The purchase total would be 30,000G. Most of that came from the medicinal herbs with the highest efficacy, which were valued at about 20,000G.

I decided to talk it over with everyone else first. “Thanks. I’ll discuss it with the others and decide how much to sell,” I said and left the sales counter.

Gramps and the Dawnswords had finished at roughly the same time and came over to me.

“I’m all done. They agreed to reinstate my old rank without much of a penalty,” Gramps said. “Apparently, Alex pulled some strings. Under normal circumstances, they’d make me start all over again!”

“We’re done too. Hey, Tenma. How much’ll they give us for the herbs?”

I handed them the piece of paper and we went to a nearby empty table to sit down and discuss it. We only took about five minutes.

“In exchange for keeping all the herbs, I’ll pay you all their appraised value,” I suggested. “You can split it up equally among yourselves and I’ll just take the appraisal fee out of what I owe you. That good?”

Come to think of it, I was currently richer than most nobles, so it was no wonder they readily agreed to my proposal. The medicinal herbs that I took were worth more than 30,000G on the market, and if I were to make medicine with them and sell it, I’d definitely make more than 30,000G. So even if I paid Jin and the others for the opportunity, I wasn’t going to be losing out no matter what.

Once we reached an agreement, I paid the appraisal fee at the counter and our deal was fulfilled on the spot.

“Well, let’s take another quest together if we get a chance!” Jin said.

“Just no more dragons!” Galatt warned.

Mennas pouted and said, “And make sure to actually invite us next time!”

“And make us more desserts!” Leena added.

So with that, the Dawnswords said goodbye and returned to their inn. Any normal adventurer would have a hard time securing a long-term rental at an inn, but since they’d earned so much money and had such a reputation here in Sagan, it wasn’t a problem.

“Yeah, see ya later!”

“They really helped us out. We should have drinks together sometime,” Gramps said.

But now, the problem was Blanca and Amur.

“I had no idea all the inns would be full...”

“Yeah, I’m shocked.”

After Jin and the others left, we took the two beastfolk around to the inns in town, but they were all full. This was most likely because the tournament in the capital had concluded. Many people had ended up in Sagan: those who participated but didn’t place well, those who lost their bets and were completely exhausted, those who spent too much money at the auctions, and so forth... That naturally happened since this was the closest major city to the capital and had a dungeon of its own.

Because of all this, every one of Sagan’s inns was filled to capacity. To make matters worse, adventurers who couldn’t find a place to stay ended up sleeping in the town square or even in the dungeon.

According to the townspeople we ran into, this was a common thing that happened in Sagan every year after the tournament, but this was the first time there were this many people here. Of course it was a blessing for innkeepers and others who did business with adventurers, but for everyone else, it was a complete disaster. After all, some adventurers were no better than criminals and believed that if they had power—money—they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it. Their victims were mostly those without power or people in tenuous positions.

That was why people kept glaring at us, even though we hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Well, looks like we aren’t gonna find anywhere for you to stay. But don’t worry, I know a place. And if there aren’t any vacancies there, then I’ll negotiate with them for you to stay at my place,” I said.

“Thanks, I owe ya one,” Blanca said as he bowed his head.

“Living together! Living togetherrr, arrrghhh!” Amur started to flip out, but Blanca immediately shoved her head down too. It was so sudden that it seemed she accidentally bit her tongue on the way down—she covered her mouth with tears in her eyes.

I cast Recovery magic on her mouth, but the moment I got close to her, she made a move to kiss me. Blanca had to restrain her while I protected my own lips.

“It’s right over there...” I said.

“If he ain’t here, then I’m tellin’ you I’ll rent the damn place!” someone yelled.

We were just about to the apartment building when I heard an angry voice come from around the corner. I had a bad feeling about this, so I hurried over and saw Amy’s mother and grandmother, Arie and Karina, being accosted by several men.

“As we’ve already told you, the renter of that room has paid in advance. It’s already booked! Now please go somewhere else!”

“Shut up, ya old hag!” said one of the men as he reached for a sword at his hip.

“Shiromaru! Protect them!” I opened my bag and gave Shiromaru orders as I took out my wooden sword and charged towards the men.

“Grrrrrr!” Shiromaru returned to his original size. He stood in a protective stance in front of the women and growled menacingly at the men.

“Eek!” While the men shrank back, I circled around them and thrust my wooden sword towards one of their necks.

“That’s enough. I’m the one renting this room!” I said.

“Y-You bastard! Don’t think you can get away with doin’ somethin’ like this in the middle of town!”

“I think you’ve misunderstood. I’m protecting two of Sagan’s upstanding citizens from a bunch of thugs. Now, if you wanna try to turn me into the guards instead, go right ahead. I’ll be eager to see how that works out for you,” I said to the idiot. I made my voice sound as deep and scary as I could while I threatened him. “I’ll let you go this time. But if you ever try something this stupid again...you’ll regret it.”

By the time I finished speaking, Blanca had approached the men with an incredibly intimidating look on his face. The men trembled and quickly scurried away.

“I think they thought you were gonna kill them instead of me,” I said.

“Well, in that case, they’re true idiots. You’ll never find a nicer guy than me,” Blanca said.

“Blanca, have you ever looked at your own face in the mirror? I got one. Wanna see?” Amur joked in response to Blanca’s casual comment.

I saw Blanca’s eyebrow twitch, but he realized he’d walked right into that one, so he didn’t bonk her on the head this time. He’d made himself look intimidating on purpose when he approached the thugs, though. His normal face wouldn’t make a crying kid cry harder and pee his pants, but his face moments ago would have.

“Welcome home, Tenma!” called Arie. “And I’m sorry for all this trouble right when you got here! Thank you for intervening.”

“No problem. I’m just glad you and Karina are fine,” I said. “It’s good to be back. This is my grandpa, and these two are adventurer friends of mine I met in the capital.”

“The name is Merlin. I’ve heard you’ve taken good care of my grandson!”

Arie looked surprised when Gramps greeted her.

“I’m Blanca, a tiger beastfolk. I met Tenma at the tournament and accompanied him back here.”

“I’m Amur. Tenma took something precious from me at the tournament, so now we’re lovers.”

“What?!” Arie and Karina exclaimed in unison. They both immediately looked at me.

I shook my head. “Amur likes to joke around, so she often says weird stuff like that. Go ahead and ignore her.”

“Hmph!” Amur didn’t seem to approve of my attitude, but I knew if I didn’t shut it down right away, some very troublesome people would rush here from the capital. I couldn’t be vague about it.

“So, are there a lot of guys like that coming around here lately?” I asked.

“There are,” Arie began. “We’ve been talking to some innkeeper friends of ours and they agreed there have been more adventurers causing trouble around here than usual. They’re especially causing trouble with adventurers who have been in Sagan for a long time.”

“Public safety has gotten pretty bad. The guards have increased their patrols, but there’s just too much trouble out there for them to keep up. It’s gotten to the point where not only is it too dangerous to go out at night, but some people even avoid going out alone during the daytime!” Karina then informed me.

“Hmm... In that case, I think it might be partly my fault that there are so many of those idiots around here.”

I explained to the two of them what I meant by that. I made a whole lot of people lose money gambling since I’d won both the individual and team competitions at the tournament in the capital, caused such a commotion, and cooperated with cracking down on criminals here. As a result, those people, and those like them who were trying to do bad things, seemed to have moved on to Sagan instead.

“Still, it’s not your fault, Tenma. It’s the criminals’ fault for gambling to the point where they destroyed their own lives. They deserve to be punished. If they’re too afraid to face the consequences, they should’ve acted right in the first place! And you have no obligation to catch criminals. That’s the government’s job.”

What Arie had said made me feel a lot better. I was about to respond, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Blanca looked like he wanted to say something.

“By the way, is it possible for this many people to stay in my room?” I asked instead. “These two weren’t originally planning on coming to Sagan, so they didn’t rent a room in advance. Everywhere else is booked up.”

“Let’s see... So there would be Tenma, Master Merlin, Blanca, Amur, Rocket, Shiromaru, and Solomon all in one room?” Arie asked.

“I think that’d be a little difficult...” Karina began. “After all, that room was only made to hold two or three people. Four would be pushing it, but then adding three of your followers to the mix? There’d be no place to sleep! If it’s just for one night you could manage, but if a nonrelative stays with you for too long, we might get fined by the city. So I think it would be tough...”

She was beating around the bush, but it didn’t seem like Blanca and Amur would be allowed to stay with us. In this case, “relatives” referred to family members or slaves (who were considered property) of the tenant. I guess there was some kind of hotel business law against it.

I’d figured this would happen though, so I went ahead and took the next step. “Then can I rent the space outside next to my room? I’ll put my carriage there and use it as another room. I’ll pay you the same as if I were renting another one, of course.”

Arie and Karina had a little chat among themselves about my proposal. “In that case, we agree. You’ll have to submit the documents to the inn association though, and they’ll write you a contract.”

I’d learned about the method I proposed back in the capital. There were several parking lots where nobles and merchants would park their carriages and sometimes the coachmen and guards would sleep in them, which gave me this idea. That was the method I’d considered as a last resort when I first came to Sagan too.

However, according to Arie, if a guest at an inn wanted to do something like that, they had to submit a permit application to the association. Since some guests came via horse-drawn carriage, it wasn’t difficult to get a permit, but if you went ahead and parked without one, you could get a warning. In the worst-case scenario, there might even be a fine.

Arie handed me a form. “Could you fill out this area of the document, describe how you plan to use the space, and then sign in the last column?”

I went ahead and filled it out, signing “Tenma Otori” in the last column that she’d indicated.

“‘Otori’... Tenma, did you always have a last name?” Karina gave me a puzzled look.

“Oh, I won the tournament in the capital so I received a last name as my reward,” I told her, which she immediately understood.

After that, I transferred the room so it was in Blanca’s name, and the problem of where he and Amur would stay was now solved.

Karina went to submit the paperwork to the association. Meanwhile, Arie gave Blanca the room key and he went to put down their things. Gramps and I then cleared the space where we’d put the carriage.

“By the way, where are Amy, Rocky, and Birdie?” I asked.

“Amy’s at school with Rocky and Birdie. She doesn’t go every day, but lately, she seems to study harder than she did before.”

As we chatted, Amur suddenly jumped on my back. Since she was light, it wasn’t a big deal when she did that, but she was hugging me pretty tightly. I could barely breathe.

“Who’s Amy?” she asked in an accusatory tone.

I asked Blanca to get her off me. I explained to her that Amy was Arie’s granddaughter and Karina’s daughter and that she was my apprentice who I was teaching to be a Tamer. Amur seemed satisfied with that explanation.

After that, I gave my old room a quick clean and was about to leave, so Blanca and Amur could use it, when Amur suddenly tried to carry her luggage back to the carriage. To her surprise, Blanca quickly grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, lifted her up, and carried her outside.

“What? I don’t get it...”

Blanca managed to persuade her to calm down, both with words and by physically reprimanding her. Arie quietly watched them and smiled.

Karina came back just as I finished sorting my things and told me that the documents had been submitted successfully. The association had just said that I should avoid causing problems. Apparently, they’d received various complaints about adventurers lately, just as Karina and Arie had informed me.

Suddenly, I heard Amy’s cheerful voice. “Master! Welcome back!”

Behind her were Rocky and Birdie, who’d grown a considerable amount in the time I was away. However, they still couldn’t fly for very long, so they’d flap their wings a bit, then run, then fly a little more, and run again.

“Wuff!” The moment Shiromaru spotted the rockbirds, he barked at them, and they both landed on his back.

“I’m home, Amy. I brought this for you as a souvenir. This is yours, and you can split the rest with everyone else. Oh, and this is for Rocky and Birdie.”

I handed her the souvenirs I’d bought for her at the capital, along with magic stones and cores for Rocky and Birdie. They were small ones, but since there were a lot of them it would probably last them several months.

“Thank you! Hey, where are Jeanne and Aura? And who are those people?” Amy looked at Blanca and Amur curiously.

“Jeanne and Aura are back in the capital. They’re looking after my grandpa’s mansion and Aura’s older sister works in the capital, so there’s nothing to worry about. Also, these are adventurers I met in the capital. Meet Blanca and Amur. They were headed home in the same direction as me, so they decided to stay in Sagan for a little while.”

“Oh, fun!” she replied. “I’m glad Aura was able to see her sister. It’s nice to meet you, Amur and Blanca. I’m Amy. And these are my followers, Rocky and Birdie!”

“Wow! I can’t believe she’s not scared to look at Blanca’s face!” Amur exclaimed, shocked that a child like Amy wasn’t frightened of the beastfolk. As usual, she got bonked on the head for it.

“I’m planning on dungeon diving tomorrow, so I’m going to eat an early dinner and go to bed. Is everyone all right with having some free time before dinner?” I asked.

Gramps and the others nodded, so we went ahead with that plan.

But since no one else had ever been to Sagan before, they all ended up tagging along with me anyway.

“I guess this is what happens in a new place...” I murmured.

Since we were walking around as a ragtag group, we attracted quite a lot of stares from passersby. It made me a little embarrassed.

First, I decided to take a peek inside a store that sold medicine. After that, I shopped a bit for food, and then, finally, I took a look at some weapons.

“There sure are a lot more defensive items sold here than the capital. Maybe because of the dungeon?” I wondered aloud.

The weapons and armor that were sold varied in each city. For example, since there were so many visitors to the capital, weapons sold better since armor restricted movement. And since there was a high population of nobles there, weapons often had flashy decorations to make them stand out more. But here in Sagan, goods focused on function over fashion, and many blacksmiths made armor instead of weapons.

The royal capital was filled with ostentatious people and the area was surrounded by vast grasslands, so there was plenty of space to use all kinds of weapons. But here in Sagan, weapons were really only needed in the dungeon, which limited the types you could use. And since many people thought it was more important to protect themselves from attacks launched from blind spots, armor was given more precedence than weapons.

“Find anything good?” I asked Amur.

“No! The one you made for me is way better!” she answered, twirling around to show off her armor again.

“I couldn’t find anything either,” Blanca agreed.

“I’ll take you to my friend’s place next time. But we should have just about everything we need for the dungeon, don’t you think?”

I’d replenished my stock of medicine, bought vegetables to eat in the dungeon, and some tools to sharpen and repair our weapons if necessary. Oh, and Amur bought tonight’s dinner. She had gotten way more food at the food stalls than she could eat and wound up with leftovers. Our dinner ended up being pretty tasty as a result.

“Piece of cake, just like I thought,” Blanca muttered as he knocked down a goblin that leaped towards him.

“That’s right!” Amur swung her short spear, sending the goblin that attacked her straight into the other one.

I finished both goblins off and threw their bodies into my bag. Gramps was positioned behind us, watching out for attacks from the back. Rocket and the others didn’t have anything to do, so they were resting in my dimension bag.

“How about we go farther down, then?” Gramps asked.

“Good idea.”

Right now, we were fighting effortlessly on the tenth floor. Since this was Blanca and Amur’s first dungeon, I thought we’d start on easy floors to get them warmed up and used to it. But now, it was clear they’d have no problem and we could move to lower floors.

“I think we should have dinner first, though. There’s a good place to take a break around here,” I said, heading towards the nearest dead end.

“There’s no way out?” Blanca asked when he saw the place I chose, but Gramps didn’t answer him, so he just shrugged and didn’t say anything further.