Atelier Tanaka

Book 1: Chapter 6: Adventurer's Guild pt.5

The next day, I headed to the plaza by the south gate to meet the members of White Rain. There were many horse-like creatures with carriages lined up, so it was like meeting someone by a bus station.

When I got there, I saw them already waiting for me, and ran over.

"Sorry I'm late."

"No, we just got here a minute ago, don't worry about it."

Allen answered, with the other two people not even looking at me, which made me kind of sad. Working well together seemed like it would be difficult.

"Well then, let's get going."

"OK."

We were headed to the village where orcs were appearing. I followed Allen down the road to where they'd rented a carriage, and he led the party to a rather fancy looking cloth-covered carriage parked beside the road, which was hitched to two pseudo-horses.

Considering the Ester's silvery plate mail and the nice carriage, White Rain seemed to have a lot of money.

(Somebody here must have rich parents, and I'm pretty sure it's this blonde loli.)

I was suspicious of where their money was coming from, but actually asking about that seemed like a bad idea.

(I'd at least want to get to the point where I could have a normal conversation with Ester and Sophie before bringing up that kind of topic. My membership in their group could end after this one time if I handle things badly.)

If possible, I wanted to work with them more in the future.

"Do you have a minute, Tanaka?"

Not long after we'd entered the carriage, as the town was still receding into the distance, Allen wanted to talk to me.

"Ah, yes, what is it?"

"If it's OK, I'd like to confirm the level of your recovery magic."

"Ah, I see."

(But how should I answer that?)

"What kind of an explanation are you looking for?"

(In my status window, it's listed as Lv.MAX. Is that something I can actually tell them? Somehow I doubt it.)

"A normal rank designation is fine. It's E-level, right?"

"Umm..."

I had no idea what kind of a rank designation I would have, but apparently that was something I supposed to know.

I just nodded and went along with his assumption.

"Yeah, it's about that level."

"I see. Understood."

(Yeah, lying was the best option there.)

I didn't know what "Rank E" involved, but I was confident that my magic was at least at that level. After all, it was max level. When it came to recovery magic, I shouldn't lose to anyone.

"That's basically useless. Rank E at your age, what have you been doing with your life?"

"No, well, um, various things?"

Ester delivered a direct hit without even knowing what it really meant to me.

Apparently, Rank E was low for someone my age. However, I couldn't take back what I'd just said, so I'd have to live with the situation.

"I'm sorry about my lack of skill."

I decided to just apologize without worrying about who was actually in the wrong.

"Well, Ester is about that level too. Let's just work together as a team."

At Allen's words, she turned away like she was bored and pouted a little bit.

"By the way, I was wondering if you can use that sword."

"Ah, this?"

He was looking at the short sword I'd bought the day before.

"It's for self-protection, or maybe decoration. I haven't even swung it yet."

"Ah, I see. Sorry about the weird question."

"No, no, I'm sorry about my misleading outfit."

I felt like I'd been apologizing for something continuously, which was probably because my position in this world was even lower than it had been in Japan.

(I was satisfied just getting a sword and armor, but just having them probably doesn't amount to much. Maybe I should try raising my level a bit.)

Some time passed, with me sitting in silence while the carriage shook.

"Goton, goton." The only sound was the carriage wheels on the rough road.

(Well, this is awkward. I wonder if White Rain would normally be having a vibrant conversation right now, and it's only because of this foreign material called "Tanaka" that everyone's silent.)

(But there's nothing I can do about that.)

Allen was partly lying down and seemed to be sleeping. Next to him, Ester had her arms around her legs, and her face against her knees. Sophia was doing basically the same thing.

That left me as the only one with my head up.

"......."

My butt hurt.

The carriage had a flat wooden floor with no seats, about 6 feet by 9 feet. It was kind of like riding in the bed of a pickup truck.

Between the oppressive silence and the discomfort of my rear, I was miserable.

"........"

I was starting to regret going on this trip.

If I tried to start a conversation with one of them, I'd have nothing to talk about. The culture and common knowledge was completely different from what I knew from Japan.

I even envied the lone driver in front of the carriage.

Just as I was about to start talking with nothing to talk about, the driver broke the silence.

"We'll be reaching a rest area soon, what do you want to do?"

(Oh, it's time for lunch.)

Lunch.

I'd had a solid breakfast at the inn, and because of the carriage's endless shaking, I hadn't been feeling very hungry. So, I figured that just having some dried meat I'd bought at the general store the day before would be fine for lunch.

However, the members of White Rain thought differently.

At the driver's announcement, Allen enthusiastically said, "Well then, let's prepare for lunch."

The carriage stopped in a grassy area beside the seemingly endless road, and the driver tied the pseudo-horses to some trees. Forest extended to both sides of the road, and around the clearing, so making the highway must have involved clearing a path through the forest.

"I'll go collect some firewood."

"No, that's not necessary. She'll handle the fire."

"Eh?"

Allen interrupted my offer, and gestured towards Sophie.

(I see, they use magic for that.)

"Um, what should I do, then...?"

"Some help with the cooking would be good."

"Ah, OK. I understand."

They seemed to have already worked out a system for preparing food.

I had no reason to eat my dried meat separately, so I decided to help with their cooking. It seemed like the cooking implements and utensils I'd bought the day before would be useful, so I was glad I got them.

(If someone saw me with my large bags of stuff in Tokyo, they'd definitely think I was homeless. Or rather, I actually am homeless; I can just afford to stay at an inn. It's a good thing we're traveling by carriage.)

(Maybe it would be good to consider what luggage I'm bringing a little more carefully next time.)

"Um, what about water?"

"Sophie can provide the water."

"I see, the water is from magic too."

(Magic is really useful. I'd like to learn some magic that can produce drinking water at some point.)

"Um, I'd like to get some water..."

Sophie was standing nearby. Ester was standing next to her, and she glared at me.

(Hey, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the person next to you.)

"In that pot?"

"Ah, yes."

I handed her the pot, which White Rain had brought. It seemed new, not having any burn marks on it.

She held the pot with both hands, brought it to her chest, and started mumbling something quietly while staring into the pot. It was really cute.

After a little bit of that, the pot started filling up with water.

(Amazing.)

It was like a little water fountain going into the pot.

"Oh, that's pretty useful."

"...yes. Here."

She handed the pot back to me.

It was 8/10 full, and heavy. The liquid inside was the same weight as water, it didn't have any smell, and it was completely transparent.

(Yes, it's real water.)

"Thank you very much."

I gave her a nod before turning and setting the pot down. I started washing some vegetables with that water, peeling them as I went.

"Ah, magic is really useful."

"Definitely. I don't know what we'd do without Sophie."

"You have a good party."

While helping fix lunch, I finally managed to have a bit of conversation.

Thanks to Sophie-chan, not having a kitchen was not a problem.

I chopped vegetables I didn't know the name of with a "tontonton" noise, using a knife I'd just bought. I put the chopped vegetables into the bubbling pot, along with some of my dried meat.

"Um, you're pretty good with that kitchen knife, Tanaka, aren't you?"

Allen was watching me cut the vegetables, and seemed very surprised.

"It's a bit embarrassing, but I've lived alone for a long time."

"Ah, I see."

The menu was something like pot-au-feu with bread.

(I don't know what any of these vegetables are, but oh well, it's probably fine.)

I put away the cooking equipment. Talking to Allen, this clearing dated back to when the highway was originally constructed, some hundreds of years ago. Apparently it was natural for an encampment like this to exist about half a day from a larger town.

"Um, is there anything else I can help with?"

"Ah, you could go get the plates and such."

"OK."

I got along well with Allen.

On the other hand, Ester couldn't do anything but watch the process. According to Allen, her cooking skills were a weapon of total culinary annihilation. And Sophie-chan was almost as bad, so Allen normally did all the cooking.

"Ah, I'm really glad that you can cook, Tanaka. It's a big help."

"No, I'm just glad I could be useful."

Allen was setting up plates with a smile.

Altogether, it took us about 15 minutes to fix lunch.

Our dining table was the floor of the carriage. With White Rain, myself, and the driver, there were 5 people.

Still looking like she was in a bad mood, Ester offhandedly said, "...it's pretty good."

"Really? Ah, I'm glad."

"Hmph!"

At my smile, she turned her face away from me pretentiously.

Having a conversation with the two girls still seemed difficult. We all ate in silence for a while, with the only noise being people chewing.

"Do you have a minute, Tanaka?"

"Ah, yes, what is it?"

I looked over to Allen from my plate.

"Because you can use recovery magic, I was wondering if you perhaps came from a church, or maybe studied at a university."

"No, it's not like that."

This sounded like a conversation I'd had before. Thanks to that, I'd thought of a backstory for myself.

"You could say I'm a late bloomer; it's a bit embarrassing but I only registered at the guild at my age. Until then I was doing ordinary work in a town."

That was technically true.

"Is that so..."

"So, I realize that I'm new to adventuring and might cause you some trouble..."

"Ah, no, we're also beginners, so don't worry about it."

"Thanks, I really appreciate that."

After that, they didn't ask about my history again.

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After we ate, we continued riding the carriage.

After 3 more hours of riding, we finally arrived at our destination. According to Allen, it had several hundred homes, which made it large for a village but still too small to be a town.

Once we arrived, we had free time until dark.

The orcs we'd come to deal with only appeared at night, invading farm fields and injuring any people in the area. So far, they'd never appeared during the day.

The first thing we needed to do was check-in at an inn, and leave our luggage there. The plan was to have one room for the men and one for the women.

(But personally, I wouldn't mind sharing a room with Ester and Sophie too.)

"Well then, let's meet back at the inn when it's time."

"OK, I got it."

We agreed to meet up again in an hour, and Allen left with the two girls.

(I wonder what they're going to be doing.)

I was a little curious, but I realized that I'd just be an annoyance if I tried to go with them.

Outside the inn, the neighborhood was quiet compared to the town that I'd been in. It felt like a farming village, and with the men still at work, the population density was low.

I started walking with no particular destination in mind. Leaving the inn was fine, but thinking about it, there was really nothing for me to do.

(This was a mistake.)

I started heading back towards the inn.

(If the other people were staying in the inn too, that would be awkward, but they're definitely going to be out for a while. They seem to take having fun outside as seriously as fighting monsters, so they're probably having a lively conversation at a restaurant right now.)

I was still full from lunch, so I didn't really want to get dinner.

(If I get hungry, I can just have some of my dried meat.)

More than anything else, getting some sleep seemed like a good idea. Riding in a shaky carriage all day had left me feeling weak, and I was suddenly filled with the desire to lie down in a soft bed.

So, I decided to do exactly that.

I'd walked for a bit under an hour, doing one trip around the village and looking at some tool stores and bars as I passed by. The architecture was a lot like villages I'd seen in fantasy games.

My legs were getting tired when I got back to the inn.

I nodded to the manager as I passed, and headed back to my room. The first floor was mostly devoted to food, with everything above that being rooms for customers.

The corridor creaked with a "gishi gishi" sound as I walked.

"Ahh, I'm sleepy."

In front of my room, reaching towards the doorknob, I suddenly heard a noise from the room next door, which the two girls were using.

"Ah, ah! Oh, Ares, that's good, that feels good..."

"Ahh, it's good for me too."

"Hey, hey, do me too!"

"Hold on a second, I'll make you feel good soon."

I was hearing some amazingly lewd voices.

(I think I hear a heart breaking, too. Oh, that's mine.)

"..........."

Ah, more, more, deeper! More!

"Ahn! Ahn! Ahn! Ahn!"

"It's, it's inside, it's big..."

"Ah? Ah, ah, aaah!"

I could hear the voices of two women and one man coming from the room. All of them were voices I remembered.

(...seriously?)

(I should just pretend I didn't hear anything.)

I went back the way I came, as quietly as possible.

That was too much for me. I left the inn, and walked back to a bar that I'd passed earlier.

I sat down and ordered 4 or 5 drinks.

"Ahhh, delicious alcohol."

As the sun was setting, the bar started getting more busy. Men came in after they'd finished work, drinking and singing some drinking songs. It wasn't a very large bar, and about an hour after I'd entered it was a full house.

"Yuna-chan, one more!"

"Coming!"

"One for me too!"

"OK, just a second!"

She wasn't as much of a beauty as Sophia-chan at the bar in the town, but she was pretty. She was probably about 17, with brown hair to her shoulders, and more cute than beautiful. Watching as she hurried between customers and energetically answered each time one called her was kind of soothing.

She seemed to be something like the local idol of the town's older guys.

(...and she's probably the same way with her boyfriend at night.)

I continued sipping my foaming beer-ish drink. It seemed to have a fairly low alcohol content.

(I haven't seen any distilled alcoholic drinks in this world yet. Maybe the culture is about equivalent to Earth in the 10th century?

Looking at my drink, I'd finally managed to distract myself from some things I didn't want to think about.

Suddenly, the doors to the bar opened with a bang as someone stumbled in. At the same time, they shouted, "They, they're here! The orcs! Several of them!"

A man I didn't recognize was shouting with all his strength.

The bar was in a tumult as everyone got up and started talking at the same time.

"Seriously?"

"Why so soon?!"

"How many are there?!"

"Hey, what happened with that subjugation request?!"

"Get the women and children inside the houses!"

"Everyone, get a weapon and head to the east side!"

(It seems like it's time for us to get to work. Apparently the orcs are on the east side of the village.)

(I guess I have to get going, then.)

"Yuna-chan, yuna-chan!"

I called the waitress.

"Um, um, sir, the orcs..."

"Here's the payment."

"Ah, yes..."

"Keep the change."

"OK...?"

I dropped a silver on the counter as payment. As I got up, I said something like, "The drinks were delicious, so I'll stake my life on this fight."

(Oh yeah, that was so dandy.)

At that, Yuna-chan just stared at me, dumbfounded. I headed outside without minding her reaction.

Outside the bar, panic was spreading, with villagers running left and right.

(If it's like this, even the team at the inn should notice.)

(I'll get going then...)

I decided to head straight east.

The orcs were bigger than I imagined, about 3 meters tall.

(They're wearing some animal pelts and using wooden clubs, so they obviously have some intelligence, too. But unlike that goblin, they don't seem like I could have a conversation with them.)

The group of orcs was rampaging around one end of the village. It looked like there were about 15 of them. Some men came running at them, and they were all struck down in two or three hits. On the ground, it looked like some women were being raped on the spot.

"...they're big."

The scene looked like a picture of Buddhist hell. Women's cries echoed in my ears.

(With this many, the men of the village probably don't have a chance.)

If I'd been sober, I probably would have stayed away and just watched.

"Hooooooooo!"

A group of orcs started running towards me with a loud war cry.

I'd been told that they eat humans.

(Damn, here they come.)

(Maybe I can attack with that fire magic.)

passive:

   magic recovery: Lv.Max

   magic efficiency: Lv.Max

   language skill: Lv.1

active:

   recovery magic: Lv.Max

   fire magic: Lv.1

remaining skill points: 0

(Shit, here I go...)

"Come on! My strongest magic!"

I put one fist forward and shouted. As I did, some kind of magic formation appeared at my feet. It glowed red, and had geometric figures inside a circle.

(Whoa, cool.)

As I was thinking that, light came off my arm from my hand to my elbow, and a fireball appeared in front of my hand, growing to 40 cm while pulsing like a beating heart and spitting out sparks.

It seemed like it would be a pretty effective attack.

"Go, damn it! Fireball!"

It fired.

I'd focused on the fireball with a mental image of a compressed ball of flame shooting like a pistol bullet.

And it worked.

As I'd imagined, it hit the orc at a speed too high to follow with my eyes. "Zudonnn." It exploded on impact, and the upper half of the orc was completely destroyed. For a moment, the surroundings lit up with reflected red light from the explosion.

Having lost half its body like that, the rest of the orc fell down where it was standing and didn't move.

(Ah, it's that feeling again, I must have gained a level.)

name: Tanaka

gender: male

race: human

level: 5

job: nothing in particular

/

/

(My "LUC" stat doesn't seem to go up much. Is that basically the same as being unlucky?)

(Ah, if my level went up, I should have gained skill points. With this many enemies, it's probably bad if my only means of attacking is Lv.1.)

passive:

   magic recovery: Lv.Max

   magic efficiency: Lv.Max

    language skill: Lv.1

active:

   recovery magic: Lv.Max

   fire magic: Lv.1

remaining skill points: 2

(Good, it went up.)

passive:

   magic recovery: Lv.Max

   magic efficiency: Lv.Max

    language skill: Lv.1

active:

   recovery magic: Lv.Max

   fire magic: Lv.3

remaining skill points: 0

(OK, that should do.)

As I was thinking that, I heard several roars.

"Hooooooo!" "Woooooo!" "Gwooooooo!"

All of the orcs were focused on me. They started running towards me.

"......"

I checked the status of a random sample of them.

name:

gender: male

race: orc

level: 13

job:

/

/

name:

gender: male

race: orc

level: 13

job:

/

/

name:

gender: male

race: orc

level: 13

job:

/

/

Their stats seemed to be about the same. They all seemed stronger than that guy who'd thrown stuff at me in that tavern.

(Why is their HP so high? Because they're big?)

"Hah, small fry!"

I tried to imagine a swarm of fireballs.

One fireball wasn't enough. I'd be KO'd in one hit by the next orc. Even so, I felt confident, thanks to the alcohol.

"The hell I'm gonna die a virgin in my 30s!"

Instead of a single fireball, 12 or 13 popped into existence around my arm. I could only manage one before, but now I'd raised the skill level.

They grew in size, up to about 1 meter each, spitting out spurts of flame like coronal ejections from the sun.

(Wow, Lv.3 is impressive. Rather than "fireball" it's more like "meteor storm". But I'm not going to complain as long as it works. The important thing is the killing power. I've played enough games to know that the best defense for a mage is a good offense.)

"HOOOOOOO!!"

An orc was within a few meters of me when I fired them.

I fired them, and they hit the orcs almost instantly and exploded. "ZUDONZUDONZUDONNN!" I could feel the ground shake slightly.

The fireballs exploded like cannonballs as they hit the orcs, with even more power than the first one. Blood and orc flesh flew through the air and splattered on the ground.

"Ugh, gross..."

I got some on my new armor, too. Some piece of an orc had hit my leather armor, and looked like it left a permanent stain.

When the smoke and steam cleared, it looked like the orcs had been wiped out. None of the orcs were moving. Most of their bodies had been destroyed, and what was left looked like big lumps of some unknown meat.

"...is it over?"

(Good job, me.)

I finally lowered my arm.

"No, it's not over."

Some after-care still remained. Or rather, that was the main thing I was there for.

I headed towards some injured women lying on the ground.

(Maybe I'll get some side benefits after this...)

As I was walking over, I heard a huge roar.

"HOOOOOOOOOOOo!!"

From the forest bordering the village, a single orc appeared. It was a different color from the other orcs, with grey skin, and it was bigger, almost 5 meters tall. Its head was above the shorter trees.

(It definitely seems like a boss monster.)

"....."

I stared at it for a while, but it didn't move.

(I should check its status.)

name: Gale

gender: male

race: high orc

level: 56

job: leader

/

/

(This guy is dangerous! What the hell is this "Gale" guy? Even if he's a boss, that status has to be a mistake! If his stats are an order of magnitude higher than the orcs I fought, what does that mean?)

"It's a high, a high orc..."

The villagers behind me seemed to be going crazy.

"Why is there a high orc here?"

"Run! You can't fight that!"

"We have to abandon the village!"

"A horse, a fast horse!"

"We need to contact the knights!"

"Aaaaaaaugh!"

The villagers were panicking. I was starting to panic, too.

(How well does magic even work on this guy?)

Then, I heard some familiar voices from behind me.

"Tanaka!"

White Rain had arrived.

"Ah, you came."

I was focused on the orc, so I only gave them a glance. They came running towards me, but stopped when they saw the giant orc, their faces full of surprise and fear.

"High, high orc??"

Allen was muttering to himself.

"...why is it in a place like this?"

"That, that's a high orc? They're that big?"

They were completely terrified.

I was scared, too. Everyone was.

If fighting that was the job of adventurers, it was a big job. After all, it was apparently an enemy that called for dispatching a division of professional knights from the country's army.

I exchanged a few words with the playboy behind me.

"Tanaka, what, what's the situation?"

"There's only one left. Let's work hard, everyone."

(I'm not jealous, I shouldn't be jealous, I'm definitely jealous. Of course I'm jealous.)

(I want a 3-player game too, damn it.)

"Um, but..."

The blonde tsundere next to him was worried about Allen's safety.

(Ah, I want someone to worry about me like that too...)

I got jealous all over again.

"Tanaka, we should retreat! This is impossible with just us!"

"No, but, there are some unconscious people over there."

I gestured with my chin towards some young women on the ground. They'd been handled violently by the orcs, and there were also some people with limbs bending the wrong way lying on the ground. I couldn't just run away under those circumstances.

"Even so! We have to call the knight corps!"

People kept talking about the knight corps.

"So, Tanaka, you need to retreat!"

But the enemy wasn't going to wait for that.

"HOOOOOOooo!"

The orc boss howled and started running towards us. Its speed was much greater than the other orcs, and it accelerated towards us faster than a motorcycle. There was no way I could escape by running away, and that only left one option.

"Well, shit."

I created a fireball.

"Tanaka!"

"Hey...you..."

I heard the voices of White Rain's members behind me.

I ignored them and focused. Tens of fireballs appeared around my right arm as I concentrated, floating in the air and growing.

"Hah! Burn!"

I launched the fireballs.

(I was so cool there!)

They hit the orc and exploded.

"ZUDONZUDONZUdonn"

The explosions could definitely be heard from miles away.

(I want to cover my ears, but that would ruin my cool pose.)

I was standing with my right fist extended forwards and my left hand in my pocket, looking cool.

picture by

I couldn't see anything through the dust and smoke.

(Alcohol is dangerous. I wouldn't have done this if I was sober...)

"HOOOOOOOOOoooo!"

A howl came from inside the haze.

(It's still alive? I hope that's the sound of it dying, but...)

A second after that, it came, its huge body piercing through the edge of the smoke and dust. It charged at me, reaching out its huge fist that was big enough to grab my torso. I tried to think of a way to escape or dodge, but my mind went blank.

I just stared at it.

(Yeah, that's why magicians need a certain-kill attack.)

(Ah, I'm going to die.)

I just closed my eyes.

"......."

But the impact never came.

As I opened my eyes again, the wounded high orc fell to its knees and elbows, and a second later collapsed face-down onto the ground with a thud.

I'd just barely survived.

"....hah, easy."

My heart was beating loudly and my armpits were completely wet.

I slowly lowered the arm that I'd been holding out.

The nearby villagers started cheering.

(They're cheering. They're cheering for me! Because of what I did!)

It was the first time in my life that something like that had happened. The first time I'd felt that way.

It was a good feeling.

(Yes! I'm the greatest!)

"Tanaka!"

The members of White Rain rushed over.

"Ah, sorry about that, I went ahead and finished things by myself."

(Acting alone is bad for a team, after all.)

"No, that, that's fine..."

"Or rather...you can use attack magic too..."

"Well, compared to my recovery magic it's low-level, though."

I still didn't know what number "Max" was equivalent to.

"...I, I see."

That reminded me about the injured people lying on the ground. I turned and headed that way.

"Ta, Tanaka?"

"I remembered something I needed to do."

"Ah..."

I hurried over to the victims. Checking their status, it seemed that the having 0 HP meant they were dead, while anything more than that meant that they were alive. Some of them had things like STDs or poisoning listed, which got cured at the same time.

(Recovery magic is good, but this status window is amazing too.)

Shortly after I'd finished healing the injured people, the village chief called for us.

I was led to a reception room, 16 square meters, with chairs and a table. There was some sort of tea in cups on the table. I took one, and it had a good smell.

The members of White Rain were there with me. Allen was next to me, with Ester next to him and Sophie next to Ester.

The village chief was on the other side of the table. He looked about 45 years old. He had an average build, and short light-brown hair with a little bit of grey.

"Really, thank you very much."

The first thing he did was bow to us, almost touching the desk with his head.

"Thanks to you, there were only a few casualties."

"That's good to hear."

"You really saved us."

"Ah, that's what the contract was for."

"But we never thought that a high orc would appear..."

"Unexpected things can always happen. They managed to do a lot of damage, and I'm sorry about that."

Apparently 13 people had died. In a village this size, that was a significant loss.

"No no no, there was certainly damage, but with that many orcs, they would have destroyed the village through here if you haven't come."

I was still worried that they were going to try to claim reparations for damage the orcs had done. I hadn't even read the request or contract; Allen had handled that.

"No, Tanaka, we're the ones who should apologize."

"You must be tired. You can rest here at my house tonight."

"Ah, yes. But we already got rooms at an inn..."

"The rooms here are a bit bigger than the inn's, so we can bring your luggage over here instead."

"Um, Allen, what do you want to do?"

"Er, ah, yes. That's fine, right?"

"In that case, thanks for your hospitality."

"You must all be hungry after that. Dinner should be ready soon, and we've pulled out all the stops for today's meal."

"Ah, really? Thank you."

(Nice, it sounds like I can get a high-grade meal tonight.)

After that short meeting, a number of villagers gathered in the chief's home to say thanks.

"Thank you."

"Thank you very much."

That went on for a while. It was the first time I'd gotten that kind of treatment.

I was too tired to really appreciate the food. After eating, I went straight to my room to sleep. The room setup was the same, with me and Allen in one room and Ester and Sophie in the other. Even if the village chief had a relatively nice house, it wasn't large enough for everyone to have an individual room.

(I could have had the inn room to myself, then...but that would be rude...)

(I think it's been over 10 years since I shared a room with somebody. The last time I did that was probably when I stayed in a friend's room in college.)

I started feeling a bit nostalgic.

"I'm really sorry about that, Tanaka."

"No, no, everything was fine in the end, so don't worry about it."

"But we were..."

"No, no..."

(Maybe I should ask him to lend me Ester and Sophie for a night as an apology.)

(Once I get the payment from this job, I'm definitely going to find a brothel.)

"Tanaka, I think you should have the entire reward from this request."

"You don't have to go that far. There were various expenses you payed for, after all."

"Don't worry about it. We can afford that kind of thing."

"In that case, I'll gratefully accept. Sadly, I could use the money right now."

I was sitting on one bed, and across from me, Allen, Ester, and Sophie were sitting on the other.

(I'd rather have two people on each side, though.)

Ester: "You, what was that magic?"

She was looking at me indignantly.

Tanaka: "...wasn't it basically a fireball?"

Ester: "I've never heard of that!"

I'd answered honestly, and she suddenly yelled at me. Loudly.

"Ah, sorry about that."

"Your recovery magic too, there's no way that's rank E!"

(Wow, she can be really loud.)

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

"Hey, you, are you making fun of me here?!"

"Ester, he has his own circumstances. Getting recklessly involved in someone else's personal life is a bad idea. You have a thing or two like that yourself, don't you?"

"But, but..."

"Sorry, Tanaka. She's strong-willed, but she's a good girl at heart, so don't think too badly of her."

"No, no, I'm sorry about misleading you."

Ester looked like she was going to jump at me. With a bitter smile, Allen grabbed her arm at what seemed like the last moment.

"Allen!"

"Well, calm down a little bit, Ester. We were saved by Tanaka too. You understand that, right?"

"But he, he tricked me!"

"Ester, he's an adventurer, the same as us. And we just met him yesterday."

"That's...ummm..."

Ester was grumbling.

Unusually, Sophie said something.

"I have one question. Where did you study magic?"

"Ah, yeah, that's right..."

(I hadn't thought about that. I'll just have to make up something...)

Her slightly scrunched-up face as she asked was cute, but now that I knew her relationship to Allen, her stock value had fallen in my view.

"I prayed to god, and became able to do that."

(Yeah, that's kind of true.)

"...god, you said? Specifically, what's the name of this god?"

(Did that god mention something like a name? Not that I remember...)

"No, I don't really know..."

"You were praying to a god you don't know the name of?"

"Ehh, well, various things happened."

"...I see..."

I was starting to feel like Allen had the best personality out of the group. Despite being a playboy.

I was still jealous.

"Well then, it's gotten late, so we should get some sleep."

"That's true."

The next day, we headed back to the town, having finished the job.

The village chief's son was in the carriage with us, to report the damage to the town and the appearance of a high orc to some government official. He was in his mid-20s, and apparently he would become the village chief himself before too long.

"Gatan goton." Once again, the bumpy ride was making my butt hurt.

"Yeah, adventurers really are amazing. The best fighters in our village together could only handle one or two orcs, but you burnt a whole group of them in an instant."

He was really excited as he talked to us.

The death of 10-some people in the fight did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm. We'd been riding for an hour, but he showed no signs of stopping. Getting stared at by a young guy with stars in his eyes like that made me uncomfortable.

"No, well, I just barely managed. I thought I was going to die there."

I remembered that huge orc's fist almost reaching my face.

"Thank you so much. We should have investigated better and told the guild about the size of the group and the possibility of a high orc being there."

"Ah, you're welcome."

"My daughter was actually there, so...really...thank you very much..."

"Ah..."

(I see, that's why he's so enthusiastic.)

The trip back was uneventful. We stopped at the same place again for lunch, and ate together with the driver.

We arrived back at the town when the sun was starting to set.

After returning the carriage, our group of 5 people went to the adventurer's guild.

"OK, I understand the situation."

With the village chief's representative and White Rain's members working together, explaining what happened went smoother than I expected.

I'd been worried about how a chump like me claiming I defeated a strong monster like a high orc would go, but that wasn't a problem. Having four eyewitnesses made things a lot more credible to the macho bald guy at the counter.

"The village's request underestimating the orcs was foolish, but I have to apologize for how the guild handled this situation. A high orc appearing...that's the kind of blunder that might happen once a decade."

"I see."

"In this case, the guild will give you an additional reward payment. But I need to consult with some other people at the guild, so, I apologize, but can you come back tomorrow to get that? We'll give you the original reward at the same time."

Allen: "Then, please give all of it to Tanaka."

"Eh, that too?"

(They should probably get some kind of reward just for being there.)

"We were there, but we really just watched. Or rather, we couldn't have defeated a high orc ourselves, so you saved our lives too..."

"You don't want to confirm the amount first?"

"...and so, please give all of it to Tanaka."

(He's a generous guy. It's also interesting how the two girls have zero interest in the money.)

"Well, if you say so, then that's fine."

(Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Ester seems rich, so I shouldn't worry about it.)