The Trap is Sprung
Nothing happened.
“……Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. And you, Lily?”
“I slept well, too…….”
Slept well, my foot. You were tossing and turning all night.
Lily, who had been fidgeting in the spot next to me all night, stood up sluggishly. Her hair, which she usually kept neatly groomed, was a mess.
Her ears were slightly red. It seemed she was embarrassed to be sleeping in the same space after she had insisted on renting a room.
I expected as much. I had anticipated this because we’d been in similar situations a few times before.
She was the type with high attack power but low defense; when a situation actually presented itself, she tended to freeze up.
Lily, who had scurried out of the room covering her reddened cheeks, returned with a meal.
“Please eat, Your Majesty.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“……Cal.”
It was a simple meal of bread and soup.
I had worried that my body, now accustomed to luxurious meals, wouldn't be able to stomach it, but it went down surprisingly well.
After finishing the meal.
“I’ll go look for the Assassin’s Guild.”
“Then I’ll go poke around the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Lily nodded. After confirming that she had vanished as if sinking into the shadows, I left the inn.
I had already scouted the location of the Adventurer’s Guild yesterday.
Since this is a romance fantasy, it has all the tropes, including guilds. They just weren't mentioned in the original work because the story didn't focus on them.
In the first place, it would be strange if there weren't any guilds. In reality, they’re just employment agencies.
Creak-
“Welcome!”
As I opened the guild door and stepped inside, a receptionist greeted me warmly.
She was a woman with an innocent look, her brown hair braided to one side.
This is what fantasy is all about. I was satisfied with the thick, fantasy-like atmosphere.
“How may I help you today?”
“I’m looking for a quest.”
Without further ado, I pulled my adventurer’s badge from my pocket.
“Th-this is a Gold-rank badge…?”
The receptionist’s eyes widened. It seemed that even a Gold-rank adventurer was a rarity in a small kingdom like this.
Naturally, it was a forged badge.
Well, not actually forged—I’d just grabbed one from the Imperial Guild Headquarters.
The Empire is the Empire, after all.
Even while the country was falling apart, things were easy because the headquarters for all the continent’s guilds were located in the Empire.
"Stop blabbering and just hand it over."
"Ugh."
The Guild Master had grumbled a bit, but still.
I told him this was all necessary to save the country and the continent, didn't I?
Regardless, the receptionist, unaware of the circumstances, looked at me with sparkling eyes.
“What brings a Gold-rank adventurer all the way out here….”
I recalled the information from the original work and the intelligence I’d received from Hecate.
The omens and incidents that appeared in the original. And the internal affairs of the Black Serpent that Hecate had told me about.
Combining these, there were a few ways to know about an incident before it exploded.
After a moment of thought, I opened my mouth.
“Are there any monster subjugation quests?”
“Oh, yes! Would you like to see them?”
“Nothing else. Do you have any quests regarding monsters with human-like shapes, or monsters with bizarre, mismatched forms?”
“Um……. Just a moment. Let me check.”
The receptionist ran off.
I just had to wait a little.
A short while later, the receptionist returned.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Unfortunately, there are no quests matching what you’re looking for.”
“Then, could you contact me here if such a quest comes in?”
I wrote down the name of the inn where I was staying.
“Oh, yes. I can certainly do that much. If a Gold-rank adventurer takes on the quest personally, everyone will feel reassured.”
The receptionist bowed her head.
I’d be satisfied with this much for today.
Instead of heading straight back, I glanced around the room.
It’s rowdy even in the middle of the day.
Guilds are the same wherever you go, I suppose.
However, perhaps because this place was in a remote area, I could feel wary gazes directed at me.
It was that typical rural territoriality.
That’s fine.
When this happens, this is all I need.
I pulled a money pouch from my pocket. It was filled with a handful of silver coins. Gold coins? Pulling out gold coins here would be an act of madness that would just draw unnecessary aggro.
“Nice to meet you, friends. My name is Cal.”
Clack. All eyes gathered at the sound of the heavy money pouch being placed on the table.
“This is the milk and honey that will feed you all today.”
In other words.
It’s on me.
Anyone who says, “In the middle of the day?” here is disqualified as an adventurer.
These are the people who sit around the guild all day long.
Which means there are no quests for them to take.
And an adventurer without a quest is synonymous with an unemployed bum.
The bums asked with wide, gleaming eyes.
“On you?”
“How much?”
I grinned.
Well, obviously.
“Until the sun rises tomorrow.”
“…….”
A moment of silence.
And immediately after, cheers erupted.
“Our friend Cal! Welcome to the Trier Kingdom!!”
And just like that, I became friends with the adventurers of the Trier Kingdom branch.
Easy.
*
Information came in quickly.
Not only did the receptionist I asked help out, but my new friends also put in the effort to find out the news for me.
My friends, indeed.
It was a new request that had come in from a small village. It detailed that people were disappearing periodically and that monster attacks had become frequent.
I almost missed it because it lacked the keyword “monsters with unique appearances” that I was looking for.
But an adventurer who had eaten on my dime told me about it, saying it felt suspicious.
And so.
Rattle, rattle.
I was currently riding a carriage to a small village on the outskirts.
“Hey, buddy. They say you’re a Gold-rank adventurer?”
A man with a rough-looking impression spoke to me.
His name was Logan. He was the guide assigned by the guild.
When I stared at him blankly, he laughed sheepishly.
“Just curious, that’s all. I was born and raised here, so I haven’t seen many Gold-rank adventurers. Especially someone young like you.”
“What are you curious about?”
When I indulged his question, Logan beamed.
He had a naive side that didn’t match his rough appearance.
“Well, I mean, just looking at you, your quality is… it’s no joke. So, tell me, you’ve been playing in the big leagues, haven’t you?”
“Big leagues” referred to the large powers that dominated the continent’s order, like the Empire or the Kingdom Alliance.
The Empire, huh.
“That’s right. I came from the Empire.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Upon hearing the answer, Logan nodded, saying, “I knew it.”
“What’s your name?”
“Cal.”
“Cal! That’s a cool name, too.”
Hmm.
He’s buttering me up too much.
Perhaps realizing that I was looking at him with a sour expression, Logan scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Hey, buddy, in a way, we’re friends now, right?”
“Well, I suppose so.”
The adventurers of the Trier Kingdom guild were all my friends now, at least for the time being.
That was the setting.
Do you know how much money I spent that day?
“Hahaha, then tell me. Can’t you share some of your adventure stories? I love that kind of stuff.”
“Adventure stories, huh.”
It wasn’t difficult.
And the journey was boring anyway.
I nodded readily.
What should I tell him first?
After a moment of thought, I opened my mouth.
“Do you know the story of a sad love?”
*
“Waaah! Ohhh, waaah! Romeo, Juliet…!”
Adventure stories?
I didn’t have any of those.
He must have been expecting dangerous yet heart-pounding stories from a Gold-rank adventurer.
However.
Danger? That was a word that had no connection to me. Even when I was out collecting hidden pieces, this body had never experienced any physical crisis.
Telling him those kinds of stories wouldn’t have any dreams, hope, or emotion.
So, I just took a story from the modern world that I knew and adapted it as if I had experienced or seen it myself.
The result was a success.
“Waaaaah!”
Basically, this world is a world overflowing with love.
Setting aside the fact that it has a somewhat dark side, it is what it is. Regardless of what you say, isn’t this a romance fantasy?
In other words, it means it’s a world overflowing with sentimentality.
Thanks to that, I got to witness a middle-aged, alcoholic adventurer bawling his eyes out after hearing ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
This isn’t easy.
“Sniff. You’ve really been through a lot. As expected of a Gold-rank adventurer.”
Sniffle—Logan said, wiping his nose.
“It’s just average.”
“You call this average? The world is so wide that a frog in a well like me can’t even imagine it.”
That was when it happened.
“We have arrived.”
The carriage stopped. It seemed we had reached the village that had requested the quest.
“Let’s get off.”
“Oh, oh.”
I stepped out of the carriage. Perhaps because we’d left quite late, it was already late evening.
After waiting a moment, a kind-looking old man approached us stealthily.
“Are you the adventurers from the castle?”
I pulled out my adventurer’s badge and showed it to him.
“Please, come in.”
“Let’s go in, buddy.”
Logan took the lead. I followed him and looked around the village.
It was a small, quiet village overall.
The village chief guided us to his home.
“This is my house. It’s a humble place, but there are two empty rooms, so please sleep there.”
“Hmm, it’s late, so we should sleep for now and move out tomorrow. See you tomorrow, buddy!”
Logan went into his room first.
“Then, goodnight.”
The village chief bowed his head.
I watched the back of the departing village chief in silence.
.
.
.
Night fell.
After laying out the bedding and waiting blankly for a long time.
Creak—the door opened.
Judging by the presence, it was the village chief who had grown up here and offered us the rooms.
Finally, he’s here.
“……Even a Gold-rank adventurer wouldn’t be able to withstand this sleeping incense.”
The village chief muttered.
Hmm.
As expected.
I thought I smelled something. But since this body is immune to poison, it had no effect on me whatsoever.
“Are they really asleep?”
“Do you think so?”
“What?”
“Lily.”
Thwack! Lily, who had popped out of the shadows, subdued the village chief.
“Ugh!”
The village chief collapsed to the floor. Lily, pointing a dagger at his throat, said indifferently.
“What shall we do, Cal?”
“Th-think you’ll be safe after doing something like this! How do you think just the two of you can handle us!”
“He says that.”
“Yes, I have already severed the leg tendons of all 34 members of this village.”
“Wh-what?”
Good.
“Uh, hey, buddy. What’s going on here? Who is that lady, and why is the village chief bowing his head to the floor?”
Logan popped out at the sudden commotion.
What’s going on, indeed.
“It means this entire village is a trap.”
You must have been laughing gloomily, thinking you’d caught us.
But it’s the opposite.
I’m the one who found you.