The Swordmaster, Now a Porter on Site!?(2)
After that, the railway construction proceeded without a hitch. The porters and laborers moved their bodies until sweat poured down like rain, and the railway stretched out before their eyes, growing bit by bit with every blink.
But if this had been a place where construction could proceed without any problems at all, there would have been no need to hire adventurers as guards in the first place.
"M-monster!"
When a laborer working on the distant railway screamed, everyone dropped what they were doing and began to flee. The moment Evan heard the cry, his hand flew instinctively toward his waist.
And upon seeing that his waist was completely empty, he let out a sharp gasp of realization.
'Ah, right. I hung it in my bag….'
The Dragon Killer was stored in his spatial pocket, and in its place, he had hung the black bag he'd purchased. Neither was in his hands.
Just as Evan was considering whether to draw the No-Form Sword, the adventurers who had been sitting quietly resting all this time suddenly surged forward as one.
"It's a Dirty Frog! Watch out for the mud it spits!"
"Blunt attacks won't work, so blunt weapons, fall back!"
"Bows! Someone shoot with a bow!"
Individually, each of these adventurers was weaker than the monster they faced. And yet, they were people who lived their lives carrying the profession of monster hunting on their shoulders.
Professionals who hunted monsters stronger than themselves. When dozens of them gathered together, the monster was slaughtered in the blink of an eye.
"Alright! Now for the dissection—"
"—Hold it. If the hunt is over, drag the corpse far away. Construction comes first."
"……Ah, yes. Right, of course."
The adventurers, who had been about to gleefully dismantle the monster's remains, heard the knights who had suddenly appeared urging them on, and carried the body far off.
Only after moving the corpse did the adventurers realize that dismantling it would bring them nothing at all. The escort commission had stated it plainly: all byproducts generated during the escort belonged to the state. Thanks to that clause, the adventurers roughly tossed the body aside and returned to their respective resting areas.
'Is it really okay to leave it like that?'
"Hey! Eri! Over here!"
"Ah, yes!"
Evan, who had been staring at the mercilessly slaughtered corpse for a moment, heard his name called and hurried over.
The body was left behind.
Blood seeped into the earth.
Unnoticed by anyone. Very leisurely.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Kia, look at this—since it's the state doing it, the food's actually pretty good."
At lunchtime, Beige marveled at the meal the state was supplying. Unlike adventurers, who ate whatever they could scrape together depending on whether they had money or not, the food meant for knights and laborers was remarkably substantial.
He felt like he could do this job for the rest of his life. Beige savored a spoonful of soup while thinking just that.
"Kia—using magic for meals. I swear, knights always do the most extravagant shit, right? Don't you agree, Eri?"
"Yeah, well. I guess so."
"Hmm? What's wrong? Doesn't it taste good?"
"No. It's not very tasty."
But Evan couldn't be satisfied. The problem was that for over half a year now, he'd been eating food prepared by a royal maid.
When he'd first come up from the countryside, he'd been content with the guild food adventurers ate. But now, his body had become incapable of settling for that.
"If it's not tasty, give it to me. I'll eat it?"
"No, I still need to eat my meal."
"Right. If you skip it, you'll be in big trouble later."
As Evan forced himself to continue eating at Beige's words, a group of adventurers who had been watching the two of them from afar slowly approached.
With a casual thump, a bald adventurer draped his arm over Evan's shoulder and grinned as he squeezed Evan's neck tightly.
"……?"
"Hey, you're a porter, right? That thing only the lowest-rank adventurers do."
"Yes, that's right."
"Then, kid—you're my replacement, huh? Then you should greet your senior properly. Don't you think so?"
"Senior?"
"Yeah, you little—can't you see this?"
The man said this while holding up his adventurer's badge, made of silver. Mid-rank adventurer. The goal for countless people working as adventurers, and the ceiling for ordinary folk.
Having displayed the proof of reaching that ceiling, the man grinned and pointed at Evan's luggage.
"As your senior, I'll ask you. What's that?"
"What?"
"Your sword. What is it? Is a rookie adventurer allowed to use something that good?"
"Well… it's not that good, actually?"
"Hah—really?"
The man said this and, without asking permission, reached for Evan's luggage and took the sword. Upon seeing the blade that came out along with its scabbard, the man couldn't hide the greed on his face and drew it.
Shhhhk— A sound sharper than sharp, almost crystalline, rang out. The dazzling blade reflected sunlight off the bald man's head, flashing wildly.
"So this isn't a good sword, is it? Then it's fine if I trade it with mine."
"Huh? What do you mean—"
"What? You said it was a cheap sword, right? Then I'll trade it with mine. My sword is a really good famous blade."
Saying this, the man thunked his own sword down onto the ground. The scabbard was worn, the hilt frayed. You didn't even need to draw it to know: this was trash.
Not that the sword itself was trash, but that it had been neglected. Probably, the teeth were chipped in places, and in worse spots, it might even be rusted.
Evan, catching on to this, naturally opened his mouth as he looked at the man trying to take his sword.
"No—"
"—Isn't that a bit much? On a kid."
Beige, who had opened his mouth, rose to his feet and glared at the bald man. The bald man glared back at Beige as if to say, "Try saying that again." The subordinates who had followed him glared at Beige just the same.
The Beige who had been scared of the man who shouted at him on the train was nowhere to be found. He didn't back down and continued speaking his mind.
"Aren't you ashamed? Threatening a kid and forcibly taking his sword. It's because of trash like you that all adventurers get a bad reputation."
"What did you say? You little—?"
"I said it's because of trash like you that all adventurers get a bad reputation."
The bald man, who couldn't stand the insults, swung his fist. Beige raised his guard, knowing the man would move, but it was far too late.
By Evan's estimation, by the time Beige's guard came up, the bald man's fist would have already shattered his face and then some.
'I can't let that happen.'
With their attention focused on Beige, Evan kicked out his foot and threw off the bald man's balance. The man stumbled mid-swing, and his fist whiffed over Beige's guard.
"H-eh—?"
"You bastard—!"
And there was the opening. Beige, being a veteran adventurer in his own right, didn't miss it. He punched the bald man squarely in the jaw, and the blow landed with startling precision, knocking the man unconscious in an instant.
Was it the sense of accomplishment from defeating a silver-rank adventurer a tier above him? Beige clenched his fist and roared.
"Come on, you bastards!"
"That bastard—!"
"How dare you—our boss!"
At the same time, several men who had confirmed their boss had fallen charged at Beige. Evan, watching from the side, tripped their legs with a casual nudge or stabbed their pressure points with the No-Form Sword, making them writhe in place.
Unable to attack when they should, unable to defend when they should—Beige alone took them all down without taking long.
"Hah, hah—! You, damn bastards……."
After knocking all of them down, Beige panted and picked up the sword the bald man had thrown far away, then approached Evan.
"—Here. Eri."
"Wow—thank you, mister! He was super strong!?"
"Huh? Ah—no. I just got lucky, that's all."
"Lucky? No, it was skill!"
"I, is it? Ahaha!"
Beige looked down at his own fist, pondering when exactly he had become this strong. But that was only for a moment. Having received the tray Evan handed him, he continued eating.
The fallen gang slowly came to their senses and cautiously left the area. Evan memorized their faces.
'He called himself a senior, right.'
He hadn't expected that someone with a higher adventurer rank would pull a stunt like that. But now that he knew—he'd make good use of it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Construction continued.
After the laborers laid the railway, mages installed anti-monster approach magic circles over it.
Since this process took more than twice as long as simply laying the railway, they couldn't just keep building forward recklessly.
If they did and a monster chewed through the railway in the middle, they'd end up doing the work twice.
"—So those guys swung their fists at me. And I blocked that fist in an instant—"
During the resulting break time, the garrulous Beige had become something of a local celebrity. After all, he was a low-rank adventurer who had beaten a mid-rank one.
People loved an underdog. And they loved even more the story of a despicable mid-rank adventurer getting beaten by a brave low-rank one.
Beige's mouth never stopped moving, and people were so captivated by his stories they couldn't bring themselves to snap out of it.
Yes. No one.
—Krrrr…….
"Hmm? An earthquake…?"
He hadn't anticipated the beast beneath the earth, drawn by the scent of blood.