Ossan Saikyō Chapter 14 Part 06
I was led by Mr. Dunken to the guild’s underground warehouse.
As we descended the stairs, we came to a large room where numerous wooden crates were stacked up like a mountain.
When he moved several of the crates, a small space surrounded by boxes appeared. It seemed to have been turned into a little room, with a simple bed, desk, and chair inside.
A single boy was standing in the room. He was an exceptionally handsome boy with neatly trimmed silver hair and a refined-looking face. He appeared to be around 15 years old.
Although he was dressed like an ordinary commoner, his bearing made it obvious that he came from the upper class. Considering the situation, he was clearly someone with “complicated circumstances”.
“Ryūsha-sama, sorry to keep you waiting. It seems we’ve finally found an adventurer we can entrust this to.”
When Mr. Dunken spoke to him, the boy gave a small nod.
“Someone who will take me to the Marquis?”
“That’s right. He’s currently one of the most trusted man in the Adventurer’s Guild, so I’m sure he’ll get you safely to the Marquis.”
“That would truly be a relief, then... Nice to meet you. My name is Ryūsha.”
The boy looked at me and bowed. His movements were remarkably graceful as well, giving me the distinct impression that he was no ordinary person.
“My name is Soushi. At the Guildmaster’s request, I’ll be escorting you to His Excellency the Marquis. It’ll probably be quite a difficult journey, but leave the road to me.”
“I understand. I must reach the Marquis no matter what. I hope I can count on you.”
The boy bowed once more, and Mr. Dunken turned toward me.
“Well then, Soushi, when do you want to set out? It’ll take at least 3 days to reach the Marquis. We’ll need to prepare food and such. Though there’s hardly any food in this city to begin with.”
“I always keep that sort of preparation in my【Item Box】, so I can leave whenever. If sooner is better, I can go right now.”
“Really? Then sooner is better. What about you, Ryūsha-sama?”
“Yes. I’m ready.”
“Then let’s have you leave immediately. Judging from the Count’s bearing today, it looks like a war is coming soon.”
With that, Mr. Dunken took a sturdy-looking backpack large enough for one person to fit inside from a shelf in the warehouse.
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I left the guild and walked down the street toward the castle gate with the large backpack on my back.
The boy I had just met, Ryūsha, was curled up inside the backpack. He was slender and light, so carrying him felt no different from carrying a bundle of feathers. That itself was no problem.
As I had mentioned earlier, the request this time was to deliver Ryūsha to His Excellency the Marquis in the south. The problem was that the boy was “wanted” by the country, and if we were discovered, neither he nor I would get off lightly.
On top of that, the destination being the southern Marquis made the whole affair rather suspicious.
The Marquis had taken a position of refusing to follow the current King’s policies, and apparently a civil war between him and the Royal Family was about to break out.
Furthermore, Ryūsha seemed to have an important role to play in that civil war. Hearing that, I felt like I could more or less guess what kind of person he was, but prying into that would surely be rather tactless.
As for the important matter of payment, I was told I would receive it from His Excellency the Marquis, and depending on the outcome of the civil war, it seemed I could receive quite a substantial reward.
However, if you asked me whether it was worth the risk, I had serious doubts.
To begin with, I questioned whether this was the sort of request an ordinary adventurer should even be accepting. Of course, I had neither an obligation nor any particular reason to take it, but I did have my reasons.
One was that if the Marquis succeeded in overthrowing the current regime, adventurers would be able to leave the country freely. For me, who wanted to go to Orz peacefully, that was a major matter.
The other was that I was reluctant to simply leave this country as it was.
From what I had seen in the Capital, it was obvious that the country was in a seriously bad and dangerous state, and if left alone, they would probably start a war with Orz as well. There was no doubt that the slave hunts targeting elves and beastmen would intensify too.
Turning a blind eye to all of that and then leaving the country by breaking through the border didn't sit right with me.
Well, in truth, I could strongly feel the presence of my【Bad Luck】skill, so there was also a part of me that had resigned myself to the idea that this was something I simply couldn't escape...
(E/N: How hopeless 😂!)
In any case, that was why I had accepted the request and was now heading toward the castle gate.
Incidentally, although this was a rather gray job, Mr. Dunken had explained it this way:
“This is, first and foremost, an official guild request. Even if it were judged to be a crime, I, the Guildmaster, would be the one held responsible.
…
Though it won’t be judged a crime in the first place. Something similar happened in the past, and that precedent has already been established.”
Nothing happened on the way to the castle gate. I was simply an adventurer walking along with a large pack on his back.
The problem would come when I try to leave through the castle gate. Ryūsha was a wanted fugitive, and apparently the authorities were constantly on alert to prevent him from escaping the Royal Capital.
In fact, not long ago, soldiers had searched houses throughout the city. They had apparently called off the search for the time being after finding nothing, but inspections at the castle gate for people leaving were still strict.
“You there, adventurer. What’s in that bag?”
As I tried to pass through the castle gate, I was naturally stopped. Three thin soldiers approached me.
“Oh, hello, sir. There are my weapons in here. I keep them in a bag because carrying them out in the open would frighten the citizens.”
“Weapons? There’s no way you’ve got a weapon that big. Let me see it.”
“Sure, sir.”
I took off the backpack. As I opened it, I activated【Item Box】inside the bag and took out a mace, showing it to the soldiers.
The 3 soldiers’ eyes widened when they saw the bizarre mace I had raised.
“?!! …What the hell is that? You can actually swing that thing around?”
“Yes. If you would please step back a little.”
When I swung it around a few times, the soldiers were so shocked they nearly fell over. It was a mace that even an A-Rank adventurer wouldn't be able to swing around. An ordinary person would naturally react that way.
“Can I put it away now?”
“Y-Yeah. I understand. It’d be a nuisance if you walked around carrying something like that out in the open. Hurry up and put it away.”
“Sorry about that.”
I pretended to put the mace back into the bag and stored it in【Item Box】instead.
If they had pointed out that the shape of the bag hadn't changed when I took the mace out and put it back in, I would have been done for. But just as I had expected, everyone was so distracted by the mace itself that nobody noticed.
“I’m heading into a dungeon for a few days, so I’ll be going now.”
“If you can, bring back some food. Though the nobles will just eat it all anyway.”
The soldier grumbled that and returned to his post. The security looked strict at first glance, but the soldiers themselves seemed to have very little motivation.
Mr. Dunken had given me the same assurance, and if that hadn't been the case, I doubt we would have attempted such a sloppy escape in the first place.
I put the backpack back on gently and continued walking straight out through the castle gate.
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E/N:
The mace so absurd, so monstrous, even the soldiers shat themselves… One-man army, Ossan 😂!
Stay tuned!
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