abcnovels
Volume 1 10 (Fleeing) 2
Volume 1 10 (Fleeing) 2
Volume 1 Chapter 10 (Fleeing) 2
Translator: HASUTSUKI, Editor: Thorrium.
“Here you go!”
A hostess put two large mugs on Ryouma table.
Then she pours the drink with amber looking liquid until the bubbles spilled to the black table.
“… I didn’t order for this, though?” Ryouma alternately looking at the mug filled with beer and the hostess.
“It’s on the house! Please drink it!” Saying that the hostess sat down on one of the chairs.
“I’ve never seen your face around here before, are you traveling person?” She talked with a friendly tone to Ryouma.
“Are you on break?” Ryouma asked the hostess who has sat down on the chair.
“Look around? there’s only you here.”
Hearing the hostess words, Ryouma looking around the restaurant, and it turned out, he’s the only customer left.
When Ryouma entered the restaurant, there were still several visitors, but it seems they had already gone back home.
“It’s the time you see. We finish lunch at 3:00. Since you come at 2.58, the restaurant was not yet closed.”
Saying that the hostess mischievously shakes one of the mugs in front of him.
“Though the kitchen staff have already started taking their break a while ago, there’s still cleaning to be done. Nonetheless, it would be boring to stand alone until you finished eating so I decided that you will keep this auntie ‘s company for a bit, and this drink is your payment for that.”
After saying that, she pushes the mugs toward Ryouma. “Is that so?
I’m very sorry. For causing the trouble.”
“Don’t mind it, don’t mind it~. So? are you a traveller?”
The tone of the hostess is very frank and smooth. And one can tell that she’s a talkative person.
(Well there’s no harm. Since there’s a lot of things that I want to know too.)
Ryouma decide to talk about his personal history for a bit. Because what he needed the most was information.
“Indeed. That’s right. This is the first time I come here…”
‘He~, so you came to the Ortomea imperial capital for the first time eh? You’re alone?”
“No. I came here with my father… and the other day, my father died due to a disease…” Saying that Ryouma lower her head.
The hostess must be thinking that she had asked about something unpleasant and therefor quickly said.
“Ah~. I’ve asked something wrong ne~…”
Ryouma raised his head while smiling. “No. There’s no helping it for his illness.”
“Is that so?…So it was an illness huh… then you, what are you going to do now? Going back to your hometown?”
“I think I will live in the imperial capital. Since I’ve travelled with my father here and there, I would like to settle down in this neighbourhood.”
(Here it is, the main subject. I have to speak carefully so that she won’t think of me as someone suspicious.)
Ryouma waited for a chance to hear the information he wanted to hear patiently, since he knows that if he were to be too impatient, it would only make the hostess suspicious.
The hostess seems to believe Ryouma story entirely. Since originally a good person won’t doubt others people origins; besides, Ryouma story sounds very believable.
“Is that so. So, where are you going to live?”
(Here it comes!)
Ryouma is pleased that the topic he had waited have come
First, I have to work to live. However, for Ryouma who had come from another world, he didn’t know if he could get a job here or not.
Furthermore, if he did not listen properly to the general common sense and information, it will cause suspicion along the road.
And since he exposes his face, Ryouma also worried that his face would become know if he does anything illegal here.
“About that… to be honest, up until now I’ve been helping my father with his work, so in particular I can’t do anything really… at most I can use the sword to some degree.”
“I see. Well~ in the case with your age~ you’re too young to become a craftsman and a merchant would be difficult to do~.” The hostess nodded her head while looking at Ryouma face.
“I can’t be a merchant?”
“I don’t say you can’t, but I think it would be difficult you know? It is a job that you need to train since childhood see~.”
“Is that so?… Wah, this is bad huh…”
Ryouma pretends to feel down.
“You… You said you can use the sword? Then why not try being a mercenary or adventure~?”
“Oh, I can?… but, how am I supposed to do to become one of those?”
“What’s this? you don’t know??”
“Indeed. I don’t know much about the details, if you don’t mind, can you tell me about it?”
Ryouma polite tone makes the other ease their wariness toward him, and make them think that they should help him. In fact, in term of courtesy, the hostess will at least answer it no matter who had asked.
“Though it’s not really that detailed. At got some grasp on it since sometimes adventurers and mercenaries come here to drink, is that alright?”
“By all means, please do tell me about it.” Saying that, Ryouma lowered his head.
“I-It’s not something that great. You just have to go to the respective guild and register, then it’s done.”
“Huh? I heard that they need a background check and other necessities, though?”
This is the thing that Ryouma worried about.
Ryouma who had come from another world, have nothing like family registry or someone who can guarantee his identity. If that is needed, to be honest, he has no way out of it.
It would be straight line to become a highway robber, however luckily the hostess had is quite a simple answer.
“You don’t need a guarantor or proof of identity to become an adventurer.
The ones who needs those are the merchants, soldiers and the craftsman. Ne~…
If you want to register at the guild alone, you can do it over there.”
Ryouma then shows smile on his whole face. It seems like he can find job at least.
“Really!? I’m glad that you told me all this~. I thought they would need identity guarantee! Turn out it was just misunderstood in my part eh…”
Ryouma said so while energetically drinks the ale inside the large mugs.
“You must have been mistaking them when they talked about becoming merchant or something else. By the way, the guild location is just outside of this restaurant, you go toward the left side heading to the main street, and you will find it immediately.”
“Thank you very much! Ma’am. I will head toward that please immediately.”
“Is that so? then do come for dinner and report to me later alright?”
“Sure! well then, the bill please.”
“Sure! 1 person portion serving for menu A is 25 bahts.”
Hearing that Ryouma hardened. It’s not because he does not have any money, no the reason is quite different… (Damn it! I still don’t know the value of the money…)
A while before when I bought the clothes, I handled it by letting the girl take the money herself so I could leave quickly, but here I can’t use the same method.
Since there’s no other choice Ryouma took one gold coin which seems to be the most valuable and put it on the table.
“W-Wait you. Even if you take out 10.000 baht, there won’t be any change…” Seeing gold coin on the table, the hostess look amazed.
“Do you not have any 100 baht silver coin?”
(Alright… I found the value of the money.
If one piece of Gold coin is ten thousand baht, and one silver coin is a hundred baht. Does that mean, one piece of copper is 1 baht?)
“Ah… I’m very sorry. Please wait a moment.”
Pretending to be in a hurry he took another money bag from his pocket.
“I probably put it in this one… 25 copper coins right?”
“That’s right. 25 baht.”
“Ah! Here it is… I’m very sorry. I’ve put my small change here.”
He put the 25 copper coins on the table while glossing it over.
“Alright! Thank you very much for your patronage.”
While the hostess put the copper coins on her apron, she asked Ryouma.
“You, you don’t have a card? since we can use card here, please use that next time.”
(Card? Does she mean Credit Card?)
He could not say that he don’t know anything about that; thus Ryouma made up a story matching up with the hostess.
“Ah well about that~ the truth is that I lost the card… but since I hold some cash, I think I won’t feel troubled for a while…”
“Oh? I see, so that’s what had happened. Well~ I guess because the depositor is the only one that can use the money it is safe, but, sometimes it’s inconvenient. How about reissuing it? There are banks near the guilds you know?”
(As expected, a bank huh? Or rather, really? A bank? in this world?)
Since Ryouma thought that it would be a waste without asking back, he asks the hostess a question.
“Do reissuing it not need any family identity proof?”
“You don’t need it you know? If you make it at the same time making bank account application, you will only require personal information.”
“Oh~. Is that how it is? I don’t know that… Thank you very much!”
After that being said Ryouma lowered his head toward the hostess.
“Don’t mind it, don’t mind it! Please just come back here again later.”
As she went off, Ryouma then left the restaurant and walked toward the main street.
“First, I need to go to the bank!”
He follows the direction that the hostess had told him about, then he saw a sign of money being stacked on the left side of the road, and he also saw a sign with a picture of a soldier wearing armour.
(Such an easy to understand signboard huh… to think they use pictures.)
Ryouma went toward the bank while thinking such a thing.
Honestly speaking, it’s quite heavy to carry seven bags of coins.
Especially when there are some pursuers, thus he wants to be as light as possible.
That’s being the case, Ryouma went toward the bank before heading to the adventurer guilds.
“Welcome. What kind of business do you have today?”
A middle-aged man from the lobby spoke toward Ryouma after he passed through the bank entrance.
The receptionist is exactly like a banker in Japan.
Black suits with white shirt. And a red necktie hangs on his neck.
(Suit? why is he wearing a suit?)
Ryouma did not understand this world for some reason.
If we think about how this world looks like medieval Europe, this place looks very modernistic. Such thing as, suits, and credit cards as well.
(I thought I went to a different place, to think it would be this similar… I can only admire them…)
“Emm?… Excuse me?”
The man called Ryouma after looking at his face that seems to be flustered.
“Oh, I’m sorry. It was my first time to come to this place… I’m thinking of making an account.”
The man nodded toward Ryouma and then then led him.
“It’s this reception, sir.”
“Thank you very much.”
“This person wish to open an account. I’ll leave the rest to you alright.”
After saying that toward the woman receptionist, the man left the place.
“Welcome. you wish to open an account yes?”
Navy blue jacket and red ribbon. A woman wearing her uniform sit down on the counter.
Such your ordinary receptionist.
This kind of scene would not surprise me if it had been back in my own world.
“Yes. Because this is my first time, I don’t know very much about the procedure…”
For Ryouma, the good point is that he can just listen obediently for the things he doesn’t understand.
Rather than pretending to know, this is much safer.
“Certainly. Excuse me, but, please fill in your name.”
Then she handed him the parchment and the pen.
(Why parchment?)
Ryouma suppressed the question that welled up inside of him while receiving the pen and minutes.
Name = Mikoshiba Ryouma
Age = 16
There’s no address column and other entry, it only needs name and age.
After being unconsciously writing his name and age, Ryouma returned the parchment toward the receptionist.
(Huh? The letters… it’s Japanese right? are those letters common here?)
However, contrary to Ryouma confusion, the receptionist worked on it without minding anything.
At least, it seems like he can communicate using Japanese.
“Name is Mikoshiba Ryouma. Age is… 1… 6? Did you make a mistake here?”
The receptionist gazed at Ryouma face. She probably did not see Ryouma as a 16 years old.
She gazed at Ryouma suspiciously.
“Indeed. As you can see, but?”
I can guess that she would surprise when he told them her age.
(After all, I have such old-looking face…)
“Or is there possibly a rule saying that, one can’t make an account if their age is only 16?”
She shakes her head at Ryouma question.
“No… There’s no problem with age. Emm… since dear customer is very calm, I was surprised to see the age written here. I’m very sorry.“
“Oh. It’s alright. Since I’m used to it already. Then please establish the account.”
“Certainly. Please wait a moment as we will make the card.”
After saying that, she write down something on a card as big as a business card.
After that, she presses the card between two transparent plates.
(Lamination processing??)
He really can’t decide if this world standard is high or low.
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. Please put your hands on this sphere.”
The card is being inserted inside the glass ball, then Ryouma being asked to touch it.
“Like this?”
When Ryouma put his hand on the glass ball, the ball begins to shine.
“Yes. Thank you. With this Mikoshiba-sama information is already registered. You could make it again in the future if you lost it by coming to the nearest bank.”
While saying such thing, she handed the card to Ryouma.
“Is it done already?”
“Yes. The procedure for opening an account is over. Is there anything else
I can do for you?”
“Then… I would like to deposit my money into the account.”
“Depositing money is it. Thank you very much. Please put the money that you wish to deposit as well as your account card on the tray.”
Saying that, she put the tray on the counter.
Ryouma thus picked 10 gold coins, 20 silver coin and 50 copper coin from the bags, then he put the remaining bags on the tray.
“Thank you, we will check the amount now. Please wait for it a few minutes.”
She then took all the money out from the bags, and stacked the coins in 10’s of each type.
(You’re going to count it by hand huh…)
Even though card such as this exist, it seems like a money counting machine did not exist.
She keeps counting the money despite Ryouma’s comment.
He waited for around 20 minute in which she finished after counting the coins three times.
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. After counting all of it, there are
23 gold coins, 58 silver coins, and 731 copper coins, the total sum of the deposit is 236.531 baht. Is there anything wrong with the amount of money?”
(Lunch at the Oceanic Nois is 25 baht per serving, so for now there’s won’t be any problems with money. I Guess I won’t seems to have any trouble with inns and paying for meals.)
“Indeed. This is good.”
“Certainly. Then 236.531 baht. We officially confirm it.”
Then she returns the card to Ryouma and lowers her head afterward.
Though he feels like he has a good living expense, if he don’t find work, he will be unable to keep it up in the long run.
Ryouma left the bank and went toward the guild next.
There are several counters where the receptionist is sitting behind it.
Ryouma walked over to one of the vacant counters and sat down.
The receptionist asked“Welcome. What can I do for you, sir?”
“I would like to register as an adventurer, and also be introduced to their work.”
“I understand. Excuse me, but do you have a bank account?”
“Is this alright?”
Ryouma then handed her the card he just got made.
“Yes. This is enough. Recently, the payment of rewards have changed so they are being done via card, and those wish to register will be required to prepare an account in advance.”
“He~. Is that how it is? I heard that you don’t need to prepare anything.”
“Indeed. There are a lot who comes here without it. At that time, I have to ask them to come again later after having one made.”
After saying that, she put the card in the opening that opened on the glass ball base.” Here we go, the registration is complete. Mikoshiba-san”
“Eh?”
We can share the information from the bank and the information on the guild.
Therefore, if one have the bank card, then I can just use it to read the information from it then finished.”
While saying that, she took out a bunch of paper and began looking at it.
“Emm, can you receive group mission?”
“Yes.”
Ryouma nodded.
“Do you know the guild system?”
Ryouma shook his head.
“Then~, I’ll explain it alright. Please do ask if there’s something that you want to ask.”
Saying that she took a card and a paper and put it in front of Ryouma, and pointed toward the very bottom letter on the card, a single I.
“The initial rank after registration in the guild is rank I. In the guild ranking, a single I is the lowest rank. The rank is shown on the surface of the card. Please do take care of it, because it also serves as your identity as an adventurer.”
“You will also start out as level 1, simply put levels as another rank that the Guild bestows to the adventurer based on their battle experience. By the way, battle experience is about how much power that you took from other creatures. Do you know about the absorbing power?”
“Yes. When you kill other creatures, some part of their power will be yours, right?”
“Indeed, just like what you say. Level 1 is the average power of a human being, and when it reaches level 10, then it’s 10 times of that. There is not much meaning for adventurer based work, but if you do mercenaries work, this will raise and lower your salaries.“
“I see~. If I’m a level 10 then is that mean I can get 10 times more salaries?”
Well~ basically. Next is guild rank, this rank will go up by accumulating your achievement point from each quest you succeeded in. The higher your rank is, the better quest will be given to you. You may undertake quest according to your rank and one rank bellow you.”
Ryouma took notice of the notes written on the paper.
“Is this the instructions?”
“Yes. You may accept any number of quests at once, but the quests has a due date. If you exceed the period, then you have to pay compensation, and your achievement points will go down.
“Do your rank fall?”
“Indeed. Rank will go up every time you accumulate 100 achievement point.
In the case of Mikoshiba-San case, the order will be from I to H. The rank will fall to I again if you failed on doing a quest and the achievement point is down more than 100 points. However…”
Her finger pointed to one of the columns on the paper.
“If it turns out that the quest has a different requirement that was not stated originally, then there will not be any compensation required from even if the person who undertook the quest were unable to finish it. Depending on the situation, compensation may even be requested from the client. In such case, you may contact the guild, and we will take care of it.”
(This feels like a temporary employee agency…)
“That should be all the needed explanation. Is there anything that you have questions about?”
“No.”
Ryouma shook his head.
“Then, I will choose Mikoshiba-San first job alright~.”
She took out a bundle of documents again then put it on the counter before
Ryouma.
On top of the paper, there’s a single I rank, which means that everything under it were possible jobs.
“Emm. What kind of request quest does Mikoshiba-san like to do? Adventurer job? Or a Mercenary job?”
“Both is fine…”
(I feel like receiving an interview…)
Ryouma remembered the recommendation interview he received at the time of his high school examinations. Back then they asked him what his future plans where, and he thought that this is kind of the same.
“U~nn. If you have confidence in your fighting capability, then the mercenary job would be good I think?”
Saying that, then she began to make a red circle in several columns written on there.
“The thing that I’ve circled, is primarily jobs that requires fighting alright? It is stuff like wild dog subjugation or wild bi subjugation. There is no time period, and by the end of the report it tells, that you need to subjugate the X marks, and the reward is 3 copper coin. The achievement point of clearing it is 1 point.”
Ryouma then thought of something.
Is there a work where I can also go to another city? For example, escorting someone or deliver something.
“Is there work where I also can go to another town?”
“Deliver item category is it~. There’s none for escort category~.”
She shakes her head.
“Because the escorting category is directly related to the client’s life, we will only give it to someone who has at least some level of ability. In rank, that would be around rank C or above.”
“Then if it’s delivery category, is there something that delivered to oversee?”
“Hmm… with I rank, long distance delivery is impossible. You may only take a delivery quest to the next town at most.”
Unlike a game, there seems to be restriction here and there.
Ryouma then looked at the map stuck behind her.
“By the way, is there quest to the other side if I’m looking at the other town?”
“Probably yes? If it’s a delivery quest that is…”
“Emm, may I borrow some map.?”
“The receptionist gave a strange face; however, she pulled out a folded map from the drawer and spread it on the counter.
“Emm… Ortomea, which one is it?”
“Here is imperial capital Ortomea.”
Her finger pointed at a big mark on the center near the southern border of the map. It has the description of Ortomea Imperial Capital with thick letters.
Furthermore, there’s a thick red line enclosing the imperial capital mark.
I guess this is the border of Ortomea Empire huh. This is considerably wide.
(Garik, Melferen, Gildas and Oitto… if I were to go out from here, these would be the four closest towns huh…)
Ryouma eyes looked at the four towns. All are towns that can be regarded as suburbs of the imperial capital.
“Then is there any delivery work toward Melferen?”
Upon Ryouma question, the receptionist began to look at the bundle of documents again.
“Please wait for a moment… emm. This one, the rank is not enough… this one already being picked up… emm… Ah! There is a letter delivery. The reward is 30 copper coin. The achievement point will be 5 points.”
There is not much of work Ryouma can take as a rookie. Furthermore, he decides the town by himself. Work is not something that will come conveniently after all; furthermore, there might be someone who already undertook it as well.
However, Ryouma is lucky.
The receptionist-san who finished looking at every corner of a bunch of documents, looked at Ryouma with a smile.
“Then I will take it please.”
Ryouma immediately receives that quest.
In this kind of situation, being decisive is important. There’s no time to hesitate.
“Sure. Then please take this.”
She then writes something on a board that is connected to the ball glass stand.
Then the glass ball twinkled.
“Here we go. It’s completed, the deadline is within 3 days. The quest will end when you are successful at delivering the letter to Melferen’s guild. Do you wish to accept another quest?”
“Then, I would like to accept the subjugation quest from a while ago.”
“Sure., the wild dog subjugation and the wild bi subjugation, and the subjugation of wild rabbits, right. Since there’s no deadline, please do report to the guild when you finished.”
“Understood.”
“Ah right. Though it might be late for me to saying this, if there’s no specific designation of the requested quest then you may report it at any guild. Well then, please do your best ne~.”
After receptionist-san finished instructing Ryouma she smiled and lowered her head toward him.
“Yes. Thank you very much.” Ryouma lowered his head lightly and left the guild
There’s a reason why Ryouma accepted those request quest.
He’s being chased by the Empire; thus he wants to get out of the country as soon as possible, however, there’s a problem.
If we take the pursuers into consideration then it’s dangerous just hanging around while moving between towns, therefore I need a reason.
A reason to walk along the highway, in that respect, the job of delivering letters is a great excuse.
And there’s a reason why he took quest toward Melferen located in the east.
According to the map, he saw earlier, the imperial city is located in the southeast. In other words, it would take a considerable amount of time for him to go toward a national border located in the west and north.
The closest border from this imperial city would be to the south, however, based on his prediction; the pursuers might also go there.
Thus by thinking about it in various ways, the safest way he could go would be toward the east.
Of course, it is unknown if this judgment is correct or not unless he goes and see it