The Porter Has No Interest in the Hero’s Party

The Demon King’s army officer, Bloody Belles, was a fellow who knew a lot of important information. Therefore, the process of torturing and brainwashing him to extract information took place.

While the military collected information from the Demon King’s army, we had to move to Levra Village as originally planned. Thanks to departing a day later than scheduled, I was able to spend a hot night with the widow, and the rest of the party could also set out on the journey with refreshed faces.

On the way, the hero had an opportunity to check the valley that Bloody Belles had been blocking. It was a narrow passage between two V-shaped steep rocks, with the entrance blocked by a palisade and spears. Seeing it during daytime, it was clear that if someone had just guarded this place, ordinary soldiers would have had no way to break through.

“Why did he come out from there?”

“Someone must have threatened him with a sword, saying ‘Come out now!'”

Lena threw in a joke, and the hero nodded seriously as he passed through the path. I glanced at Lena carefully, but she was humming a tune and kicking away a demon corpse that hadn’t been cleaned up yet. The head of the rotting corpse fell off limply and rolled on the ground.

Levra Village was a huge village, closer to a city. Because all trade routes in the kingdom passed through this village, it had unexpectedly flourished, but as the story goes, it remained an incomplete village because the foundation and terrain weren’t good enough to build walls and make it into a city.

As if to prove this story, the hastily built walls for wartime were so shabby that they seemed like they would collapse if we just pushed and rubbed against them. The hero was nodding while feeling the walls, and Mille remarked that the walls looked just like elves’ houses.

“These kinds of walls are surprisingly hard to climb over. It’s noisy if they collapse when you apply force.”

Lena commented on the walls from a thief’s perspective, and we arrived at the village with a relaxed mood. The hero unfolded some documents and talked about the upcoming schedule.

“It seems that thanks to our capture of the Demon King’s army officer, the kingdom’s military has had a significant harvest. They need to modify plans according to the information they’ve gathered about the operation plan, so they want us to rest today and will designate our next destination tomorrow. Since this village has a variety of things, I think we should relax and rest today.”

No one dislikes the word “rest.” Lena whistled and nodded, and Ashuria and Mille also brightened up. Mille held the hero’s hand tightly and said:

“Hero! Then let’s go to the market! I saw so many interesting things there earlier!”

Then Ashuria grabbed the hero’s other hand and smiled.

“The hero is going to the church with me to pray for the next operation. You’re going to the church, right?”

The hero pushed away the two clinging people with a troubled face and said:

“Sorry, I have some things to discuss with the Baron who manages this village.”

Since he said he had work to do, both Mille and Ashuria looked disappointed, but they didn’t press the hero further. Whenever the hero went to any village or city, he always greeted the nobles or had important discussions with them. From what I knew, the hero had grown up in a rural area just swinging a sword, so I couldn’t understand what he could possibly talk about with nobles.

After the hero disappeared, I finished organizing my luggage, sat in a chair, and looked out the window. As a bustling village, there were many people in exotic attire, and the goods loaded on carts were as diverse as the people walking the streets. Touts danced or played instruments to attract people, and persistently grabbed passersby, begging them to look at their goods.

“Please have a look at this. The goods are cheap!”

“Lots of good stuff here!”

Just watching the scene made me feel good. I stretched and moved the chair to a sunny spot, then closed my eyes. The bustling sounds and the rolling of cart wheels. People chatting on the lower floor of the lodging. All sounds seeped into darkness, and in the dark orange view warmed by the sun, I fell asleep.

“Mister. Are you sleeping?”

A cold sensation touched my cheek, and I opened my eyes. A cold bottle was rubbing against my cheek. A bottle of ice water was shaking with a tinkling sound in front of me, and the water droplets forming on its surface made my throat parched. I stretched and took the bottle.

The sounds of touts had subsided, and the number of people walking the streets had decreased. Judging by the sun that had shifted from the east, I seemed to have slept for quite some time. I took a drink of water and said to Lena:

“Did something happen?”

“The hero said we should eat together? He received meal vouchers.”

“Meal vouchers?”

He said he was going to meet the Baron, so did he get vouchers for a fancy restaurant there? I rubbed my temples and came downstairs. In front of the lodging, the entire party, including the hero, had gathered. Ashuria and Mille seemed pleased at the thought of having lunch with the hero, and Lena was also humming a tune.

The hero said with a pleased face:

“There was an old man doing something like a folk game in front. I played a game with him, and he was so good, you know?”

“Game?”

Lena, interested in the word “game,” asked a question. The hero nodded and continued:

“Yes, a game. He placed three cups in front and I had to guess which cup contained something. He was so good that I lost quite a bit of money, but he gave me these meal vouchers because he was grateful I played with him.”

I gave Lena a look. Everyone’s expression, except for the cheerfully laughing hero, was strangely stiff. Mille looked like she was contemplating how to respond, and Ashuria was openly showing her discomfort. Lena said:

“Oh my, that game sounds really fun. Where can I play it? I want to try it too.”

“Huh? It was right in front here. I’m not sure if he’s still there.”

“Wait, Hero. Let me go win it all back.”

Ashuria, pretending nothing was wrong, stood up and said:

“I’ll go up to the room for a moment. I forgot to bring my knuckles for eating.”

“Ah! I also forgot to bring my bow for eating!”

“…For eating?”

The hero was about to ask a question with a puzzled face, but faster than his question, Ashuria touched my shoulder and said:

“Buy us some time.”

I nodded and sat across from the hero. As the hero sat facing me, he rolled his eyes with a strangely tense expression, then tapped the table and said:

“Everyone left.”

“You said you’re from the countryside, right?”

The hero’s shoulders jumped at my words, and he awkwardly smiled and nodded.

“What? Ah, yes. That’s right. I’m from the countryside. I spent all day swinging a sword in the countryside, so I don’t know much about the ways of the world.”

“I see. Actually, I also grew up in the countryside when I was young. It was a place with clean air.”

“Ah, that must have been nice.”

The hero didn’t seem to be empathizing with my words, but rather sending admiring glances. I nodded and looked around. Ashuria and Mille were coming down the stairs very slowly. I felt the need to buy more time.

“What kind of place did you live in, Hero?”

The hero rolled his eyes around and continued:

“Well… It was a place with very good air and clear water. Um… Deer running around and birds singing and such. Where I lived, only my father, mother, and I lived, so I spent all day swinging a sword.”

“I see. What kind of person was your father?”

“He was a wonderful person. Um… He was a woodcutter. That’s right. An excellent woodcutter. Um… He was praised by the villagers as a really good person.”

“I see. Hearing that he was an excellent woodcutter, I’d like to meet him sometime. Actually, I had a few friends who were woodcutters. They all had muscular forearms and impressive drinking capacities. Did your father also enjoy drinking?”

I nodded and kept the hero talking. At this rate, it seemed like I could buy enough time.

“Come on! Come on! Put your money down, take money!”

The game scammer was in a good mood today, having extracted money from a pretty knight who looked like a woman dressed in fancy clothes. What he earned today would be enough to live comfortably for a week. Thinking how nice it would be if such luck came every day, he gathered people.

He thought that on a day when money was coming in well, he should accept more customers.

“Wow, that looks fun. Let me join in.”

And before such a game scammer, a woman with a spider tattoo on her neck approached, humming a tune. The scammer brightened up at the arrival of a customer, but upon seeing the tattoo on her neck, his face stiffened and he averted his gaze. The woman, chewing gum, put her face right in front of the scammer’s and said with a smile:

“What are you doing? Start.”

“Ah, I… I’m not doing business.”

The woman grinned and stopped chewing her gum. Then she licked her lips with her tongue, tilted her head slightly, and looked straight into the man’s eyes. The man was busy avoiding her gaze, cold sweat running down his face.

“What do you mean you’re not doing business? I saw you doing it earlier.”

“That, that was the last one! My, my wrist hurts…! Today, today is over! Today…”

The scammer shouted and tried to clear the cups on the table.

Thwack!

“Hieeeeek!”

A sharp dagger split a cup in two and stuck into the table. The woman grinned and said:

“You’re annoying me. Just do it, would you? Don’t my words sound like words? Try doing what you did to fleece my friend right in front of me.”

The man recalled the knight who had been laughing like a sucker moments ago. He thought he was a naive gentleman who didn’t know the ways of the world, but he didn’t know he had such backing. The man knelt and began to beg the woman:

“I’m, I’m sorry! I’ll, I’ll return the money! Here, here’s the money, exactly as it was! I haven’t spent a penny! Please spare me!”

The woman, counting the money, spat her gum on the ground with a pleased expression.

“I like that you understand. Good. Take care, mister. And don’t cross my path again, ok?”

“Ah, yes! Yes!”

The woman disappeared into the distance. As soon as she was gone, the man frantically began to pack his things. According to his instinct, such threats didn’t end with just one occurrence. He had to leave this city as quickly as possible to preserve his life. He folded the table into a bag, wrapped his business capital in a cloth, and looked around before walking towards the back alley.

“Ugh!”

Then a rope caught his neck, and without a chance to resist, he was dragged into a deeper alley.

“Who, who…! Mmph…!”

A heavy cloth was stuffed into the man’s mouth, and arrows pierced both his hands. Because of the arrows that penetrated the wall, the man tried to scream, but only muffled screams dominated the alley.

“Mmmmph! Mmph!”

“Shh.”

A nun with black hair and black eyes appeared before the man, putting on knuckle dusters.

“God is listening. Keep quiet.”