Chapter 6 - Exciting Farming
Chapter 6 - Exciting Farming
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Bandits and adventurers are practically relatives.
After all, broke adventurers usually transition into bandits.
Or they work two jobs.
'Their numbers are higher by one.'
Still, I'm not particularly scared.
Because Karl is right beside me.
"What should we do about that big lump?"
"That depends on their attitude. Hey! Barbarian."
Karl didn't even twitch an eyebrow at the provocation of being called a barbarian.
She seemed accustomed to hearing that sort of thing already.
Instead, strength gripped the hand holding the axe. Rather than falling for the provocation, it looked like she was preparing to fight.
"Leave the man behind and go. Then we'll let you off in one piece."
"...What do you plan to do with the man?"
"That's none of your business. Make your choice already."
However, Karl's choice seemed already decided. She readjusted her grip on the axe.
"Ha. I knew it'd come to this. Then I'll kill you as you wish!"
The woman who looked the burliest among the bandits rushed forward wielding a two-handed hammer.
The reach is longer for the woman. Normally, her hammer would smash a skull to pieces before the axe could even reach!
"Gotcha.... Gack?!"
However, the axe was a weapon that could be thrown.
Even so, throwing such a gigantic axe with absolute precision and speed would take a considerable amount of strength. Yet Karl managed to pull it off.
The bandit with the axe blade embedded right in her forehead collapsed limply without even letting out a proper groan.
"I'll spare one of you."
"...Don't shit your pants! We only need to subdue one of 'em!"
Did she learn nothing even after seeing her comrade die?
The bandit wielding dual axes rushed forward recklessly.
"Uwah, uwaaaaaah!"
However, his courage didn't seem to be contagious. That was because the other bitch looked like her legs had turned to jelly, sitting right there and pissing herself.
If all three had rushed us from the start, it might have been different. One croaked, and the other is sitting slumped and trembling in terror.
Even bare-handed, Karl clenched her fists with zero hesitation and said,
"Get lost."
Proceeding forward just like that, she threw a punch.
-CRACK!
The dual-axe bandit's face caved in directly. His body flew like a ball hit by a bat and slammed hard into a tree.
"Gubuh...."
"Both of them are pathetic. Doesn't even serve as a warm-up. Much weaker than that slime thing."
Well, that's just because you're way too strong.
"Do you know why I left you alive?"
"Y-Yes, yes...?"
"Who sent you?"
Saying that, Karl curled her finger as if preparing to give a flick to the forehead.
If you think of it as just a flick to the forehead, you're in for a rude awakening. It's a flick born from sheer physical strength capable of shattering a person's face with a single punch.
Take even one hit, and your skull would cave in and your eyeballs would pop right out.
Anyway, who sent them? Were these bastards hired?
"Their equipment is too good to be called bandits. It was even properly maintained."
"It's not uncommon for adventurers to moonlight as bandits on occasion, Karl."
"We'll find out about that now, won't we?"
-WHOOSH!
Karl's index finger snapped forward.
The force was so intense that the sound of the air tearing apart echoed menacingly.
"Hic!"
0.1mm.
Actually, I couldn't really tell. It might have been even narrower than that. Or not that close. I didn't measure it myself, after all.
Still, I could tell her finger had stopped right in front of the nose without needing to measure the distance.
"I hate repeating myself."
"I-I'll talk! Isabel! That woman Isabel sent us!"
Isabel...?
Why! I didn't do anything wrong.
If I had to pinpoint something, I did reject her proposal to get married, but....
To send assassins over something so minor! This is bullshit.
"Why?"
"To bring back the man next to you alive...."
"I see. A forced marriage by abduction. A common occurrence even in the snowfields. Stealing a groom to make a baby."
"That sounds terrifyingly extreme."
I can roughly guess the story.
Isabel, rejected in her proposal, must have sent people to haul me back.
How bitter. I thought she was a good person.
"U-Um! I told you everything truthfully, so ple-please spare my life!"
"I won't kill you."
"R-Really?!"
"Little warrior, Dennis. You execute her."
Karl turned back to look at me with her signature spine-chilling gaze.
'Kill a person?'
I've done all sorts of things since crossing over to this world.
I stole food because I was hungry, and threw myself into every kind of grueling labor.
Even so, the one thing I hadn't done yet was murder.
That was natural, if anything.
I was born and raised in a society where the law is taken for granted, and I managed to survive under the protection of that law.
Perhaps because of that, I simply couldn't bring myself to commit murder.
"...."
I slowly raised my sword.
The tips of my fingers trembled. Even though they were strangers I was seeing for the first time, I was about to permanently erase a living creature that had lived for over twenty years.
"Strike."
"Eeeeek! Sp-Spare m—."
The hesitation was brief.
By the time I thought I had already done it, the edge of the falchion swept across her neck.
"Gurgle."
Instant death accompanied by the sound of breath cutting off.
Was the pain brief? Or long? Honestly, I couldn't really tell.
"...Not a big deal after all."
It was at that exact moment.
Along with a sensation akin to the blood vessels in my head expanding, my vision spun rapidly.
'What the hell is this!'
Momentarily, the passage of time around me slowed to a crawl. Even Karl blinking her eyes looked sluggish.
'What the fuck!'
Was something about to awaken inside me along with my first kill?
I figured I was way past the age of going through eighth-grade syndrome, though...?
"Dennis?"
"Huuuuh!"
"Little warrior. You look a bit strange."
-Tap.
As I stood frozen, Karl gave my back a light tap.
Only through that stimulus was I barely able to snap out of it.... What the hell just happened?
'Must have lost my mind for a moment because of my first kill, I suppose.'
Even if you think you're fine, your body might recognize otherwise, after all.
"Sending an enemy off without pain is the virtue of a noble warrior. Little warrior."
"Is the reason you made me commit murder to teach me that?"
"No. For the technique. But there's no need for that. Dennis is already a fine warrior."
To my ears, it sounded like she was calling me a fine murderer.
Anyway, that was that. I wiped the blood staining the falchion with a leaf, then sheathed it once more.
"Let's see what these bitches had on them."
It's exciting farming time.
Corpse farming.
The act, referred to professionally as looting, is a vitally important job that sustains the adventurer world.
In other words, it stimulates the underground economy.
Corpses cannot engage in any economic activity. That means if coins remain on them in death, they get buried right along with them.
Adventurers like me thoroughly strip the belongings of corpses, pulling out coins that would otherwise stay buried and getting them back into circulation in the market.
"Even so, these bitches don't have much on them."
Searching the corpses of all three revealed they didn't carry much cash.
Maybe around 30 bronze coins at most? What a bunch of broke bitches. Is that why they took up this line of work?
"What matters is the stolen goods."
"Ah. Right."
The stripped equipment is as follows:
Three pairs of combat boots and two pairs of gloves.
Three quilted armors.
The swords and daggers they were using. And about a pair of dual axes.
'The weapons should be dumped as scrap metal.'
Their condition is so poor that I'd probably have to pay disposal fees instead. Since they're just heavy, let's leave them behind.
Still, the quilted armors are in decent condition.
Is it natural since good armor directly translates to survival?
"The quilted armors can probably be dumped at the blacksmith's for cheap. 20 coins each should do. The boots are moderately usable so we can get about 10 coins each. As for the gloves, they wouldn't even be useful as rags."
"...You talk like someone who's done this sort of work quite a bit."
"Pardon? Ah, when you work as a porter, you naturally end up handling corpse-searching duties as well."
I learned a lot of appraising skills back then, too.
Looking back, I really picked up a lot of skills while working as a porter.
"Since you killed all three of them, it's only right that you take all the money."
"I have no interest in pocket change. You take it."
True to form, Karl had zero interest in a few loose copper coins. I briefly considered haggling to make her take them, but knowing she still wouldn't accept, I decided to just take them myself.
'110 bronze coins in total, huh.'
This amount is enough to fill a small money pouch to the brim!
Have I ever earned such a massive fortune before? My hands are trembling.
"Karl, it'd probably be best if most of this money is used to arm myself.... After experiencing today, I definitely realized the importance of a good weapon."
"A prepared warrior always wins."
Once we get back, I'll need to buy boots and gauntlets first.
If I miss my weapon, I should at least be able to fight with kicks or punches.
It's impossible to beat down opponents in one blow with my own strength alone. Which means I'll have to push through with superior weaponry.
"...By the way, Karl. There's something I forgot to mention. The person who sent these three is a woman named Isabel, and she's one of the top-tier A-class adventurers in this city."
"A-class? How strong is that?"
Adventurer ranks can be classified from S-rank down to E-rank.
E-to-D-rank are ranks anyone can attain, but starting from C-rank, they enter the realm of transcendents.
And far surpassing that C-rank is B-rank.
Among them, those capable of wielding transcendental power become A-rank.
"If it's Isabel's level, she could probably slice through ten thousand of the likes of those three we met earlier."
"Even if 100,000 came instead of 10,000, I could still win. So this is what an A-rank adventurer amounts to — pathetic."
Karl brushed it off nonchalantly. A woman capable of killing her might be targeting her, yet she remained utterly peaceful.
"Let's head back quickly. It's still daytime, so we can take on another request."
Wielding her axe, she said so with a confident smile.