Kays Translations

Intermission The back seen by the boy ③

“Ha, I never thought bandits would settle down here again. Seriously. They really are like vermin cockroaches.”

After cutting off the head of the bandit who had fallen on his buttocks and was looking up at him, he turned his gaze toward the corpse of the thief as if he was looking at garbage, and walked straight into the cave.

The bandits were still drinking in the cave.

“Oh? Well, what happened to the idiot who couldn’t catch a single kid?”

“Hey, isn’t it a toilet?”

“Gahahaha! Don’t say anything like that. Look, he’s back. Come on, come on, get in a good mood. ……”

The sound of footsteps made the bandits’ gazes focus on the entrance to the room, thinking that their companion had returned.

“It’s so dirty and smelly. It’s not much different from a goblin’s den.”

However, standing there was a muscular stranger. The thieves immediately stood up and prepared their weapons, completely reversing the relaxed atmosphere from before.

“This is a sudden meeting, you know, you don’t look like an adventurer or a soldier, are you in the same profession?”

The leader of the band of thieves says to Gray as he holds up his Falchion.

“… Oh? No matter how you look at it, I’m an adventurer, but do you have knotholes in your eyes?”

After being treated as a bandit by the bandits, Gray wrinkles his brow and glares at the leader.

“…Adventurer huh? How did you find out about this place?”

The leader of the bandits, although trying to appear calm, was inwardly quite impatient.

(Damn…I’m curious as to whose request it is, but honestly, I have too many ideas. The fact that the location of this cave hideout is known is more problematic, and there’s a good chance that the adventurers guild or town lord will form a strike force at any moment…It’s a shame, but we’ll just have to scrap this place.)

He never dreamed that the one who made the request to the adventurer was the boy that his subordinate had let go. And he still thought he could get away with it if he put this adventurer away and got the hell out of there.

“Why…Because I’m the one who got rid of the bandit pests that used to live here.”

“… Hmm. I don’t know how many people were here before, but do you think you can handle this many people by yourself? I know you were blinded by money when you accepted the request to take them down, but I’m going to make you regret it right away…you should have just stayed back and picked up some medicinal herbs!”

“Oh? Are you kidding me? You’re worth less than a bunch of herbs.”

“Huh?”

Gray’s words bring a dubious look to the faces of the thieves.

“Did you know? Collecting herbs is commission-based. The guild buys the medicinal herbs you collect. By the way, each herb costs 1 copper coin.”

“What’s your point?”

“The fee for killing all of you is six copper coins. In other words, each of your lives is worth less than one copper coin.”

“Don’t fuck with me, this guy!”

“I’ll lick you and kill you!”

The thieves were enraged by these words and attacked Gray.

“No more chit chat. You will die like those bandit vermin, begging for your lives, Earthgrave.”

At that moment, several small spears made of stone extend from the feet of the bandits, penetrate their shins and thighs, and lock them in place. Some of them, including the leader, seem to have escaped, but those whose legs were pierced screamed in pain, unable to move or fall.

“Tch… don’t avoid it, it’s troublesome”

“Magic?! Is this guy a wizard?!”

One of the bandits who evaded the earth spear Earthgrave shouts out to Gray, who looks deeply annoyed.

“Wizards don’t wield swords.”

Saying this, he decapitated a nearby bandit who was unable to move.

“First one.”

Gray swings his sword at another thief. The thief tried to block it with the sword in his hand, but the thief’s sword, which was not properly maintained, broke easily, exposing his defenseless neck.

“Son of a…”

“Two”

In this room that had turned into hell with the screams and begging voices of the thieves, only Gray’s voice counting numbers could be heard loudly. After counting twenty-four, Gray and the leader of the bandits were the only ones still alive in the room.

(Haa…haa…na, what? What the hell is this guy?!)

The leader of the bandits breathed on his shoulders even though he was barely moving, his eyes unfocused with fear.

No sympathy or dealings of any kind were acceptable to the man who slowly approached me, and he showed it in front of my eyes in a disgusting manner.

But still.

“I-I don’t want to die…no…wait…”

“twenty five”

The bandit leader’s last words were still just a plea for his life.

In this way, Gray finds the passengers of the carriage tied up with ropes in the back room and helps them out. No one was seriously injured, and of course the boy’s family was safe.

There were guards in front of this room as well, but when they heard the screams of their comrades, they went to the large room in the center to check on them, saw the devastation inside, and tried to escape, but unfortunately their eyes met Gray’s, and before they could even raise their weapons, they were beheaded with the word “16”.

Thus, the bandits who had settled in this cave were destroyed because they let one boy escape.

After that, the passengers, including the boy’s family, thanked him immensely, and Gray said that since the boy had made the request, they should thank the boy.

I return to Bastok, stare a little dazedly at the sight of the boy and his family crying and hugging each other, report the accomplishment of the request at the counter, receive the reward of six copper coins, and as I am leaving the guild, the boy approaches me. The boy’s face shows none of the fear that I saw in him when I first met him, in fact, there is even a hint of admiration on his face.

“Um… Oji-san”

“What?”

“Thank you for saving my father, mother and sister!”

Gray was grateful for the appreciation.

“Oh”

I replied shortly.

“…The festival in this city runs until the day after tomorrow, so have fun.”

Saying that, he patted the boy’s head lightly before leaving the adventurer’s guild.

Staring at his back, the boy decides that he, too, will become an adventurer when he grows up.

It’s another story for such a boy to become a famous adventurer in the future.

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