Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 46: My Father, Again
Tauro remained beneath the eaves in the pouring rain, his hood pulled low over his face.
He had a bad feeling.
It was troubling enough that his father was here, but the man had been shunned in their old village and had presumably fled to this one—where he had been accepted.
And this was a village that didn’t welcome outsiders.
Tauro’s unease deepened.
He spoke quietly to Kuzoth.
“…My father is here.”
“You mean… that man?”
Kuzoth’s brief response suggested that he knew about the incident between Tauro and his father at the Yasuragi Inn.
“…Yes.”
Cheek seemed to understand from their exchange that something was wrong and watched to make sure the gatekeeper didn’t approach the eaves.
Kuzoth had apparently reached the same conclusion about the suspicious village through [Search] and its atmosphere. He glanced at Cheek.
Cheek nodded silently.
“Sir, it doesn’t look as though the rain will stop, so we’re giving up on hunting monsters and heading home.”
“What, you’re leaving already?”
Byrne emerged from the shabby watch hut.
“We want to be gone before dark. Since we’re leaving early, could you lower the price?”
“Come on, you’re haggling now?”
Byrne made an exaggerated show of protest.
“All right, then. How about three silver coins for the three of us?”
“Th-that much…? Well, if you insist, I suppose I’ll settle for that.”
“Here you are.”
Cheek handed him the three silver coins, and the group bowed before leaving immediately.
As they ran, Kuzoth said, “You had me worried when you started haggling!”
Cheek gave a low laugh.
“Paying without complaint would have looked more suspicious.”
“But you still gave him three silver coins, didn’t you?”
Tauro asked. That seemed excessive merely to stand beneath an eave.
“I wanted him in a good mood so he would delay reporting us. More importantly, are you certain your father was there, Satou?”
“There’s no mistake.”
As Tauro answered, Kuzoth, who had cast a wide [Search] net around them, reported, “…People are beginning to gather near the village entrance.”
“My father—that man—may have reported us. Let’s pick up the pace.”
The other two nodded, and all three ran faster.
Using [Search] and [Presence Detection], they evaded their pursuers through the rain.
By the time the downpour weakened to a drizzle, they had slowed down. They avoided every nearby village and continued walking through the night.
“We should keep away from the neighboring villages and the highway rest stations. The bandits probably have lookouts there. If we rush in during the night and alert them, they may flee.”
The others agreed with Kuzoth’s proposal, and the three headed directly back to Saisi.
As soon as they reported what they had found, the guild dispatched fast horses in every direction.
If their conclusion was correct, the village stood near the borders of several nobles’ territories. Even organizing a subjugation would therefore present jurisdictional problems.
Only a few organizations could act freely under those circumstances: the kingdom’s central army or the Adventurers’ Guild.
Territorial borders didn’t restrict the royal army, but it would take time for the soldiers to arrive. That left the Adventurers’ Guild, which had already sent riders to its other branches.
The operation would likely be carried out by a coalition of branches.
Tauro wasn’t permitted to join the reconnaissance of the bandit village.
The reconnaissance team had to learn the surrounding terrain, the bandits’ numbers and strength, whether they held hostages, and then keep the village under observation.
It was more difficult and dangerous than the search assignment, and the guild judged that Tauro wasn’t yet ready.
Originally, Tauro had intended to complete only the search quest and leave the subjugation to more experienced adventurers. Now the circumstances had changed.
For better or worse, the man who was his father had fallen in with the bandits. Tauro couldn’t simply leave everything to others.
He didn’t intend to kill his father, but he felt that he had to witness the outcome with his own eyes.
Tauro’s first bandit-subjugation quest was about to begin.