Drink a recovery type potion and your wounds will heal. Missing physical strength will also recover to some degree. If you drink a lot, the woman in the painting will appear in front of your eyes and let you sleep with her.

Any woman I want? — Well it was a nice dream.

Pus.h.i.+ng aside the bedding and jumping out of bed, Shouji, with heavy and muddied eyes, pushed his bangs aside.

Maybe because of the hard bed his back was hurting. Having looked around what he was met with was an unfamiliar room. There was little furniture and the clothing sh.e.l.ls and makeup stand were packed with stuffed animals, it was a room that smelled of little girls.

His reawakening memory let him know that he had indulged in a young girl alchemist, for a whole night he had drowned himself in her slender body.

It was faint, but the smell of medicine permeated the room. The alchemy school graduation certificate was proudly visible. When he placed his hand on the sheets at his side, the girls body heat was just barely perceptible.

Last night's liaison was projected in his mind. After being done in the bath, he had decided to do a perfect potion as well, and his reasoning had gone out the window. He had then pa.s.sed out from fatigue.

Having intended to be the one in control, losing control of himself was simply stupid. But Percibell was so lovely and charming. If she was given a few more years she would become a distinctly beautiful woman.

Her build was slight, but the feeling of embracing her was excellent.

More than anything, her tongue had tasted of the perfect potion and had thus spread a bit of the kick to him. It had a taste even beyond refined goat's milk.

It was a mild taste that could easily become a habit.

Without a doubt it was of the finest quality.

Her skills as an alchemist were definitely without equal.

He had felt it so much more than any other high he had ever had.

"Good morning!"

A voice of vitality sounded out.

the door suddenly opened. the shape of Percibell in an ap.r.o.n appeared holding a tray.

Soft bread and a soup boiled with some sort vegetable released white steam.

She diligently placed a plate on the table and sat down on the side of the bed.

Puzzled, she pointed her finger towards her eyes.

"Onii-san, your eyes aren't that red."

"Because I didn't take that much. When I get high the blood vessels in my eyes tear."

"Excessive intake of potions is dangerous, you know?"

"I have been given the fate of drinking potions from G.o.d. I received 'Divine' revelation when I was fifteen."

"Is that for real? That's the oracle from a priest, isn't it… Things like a mutation in your attributes or a magical const.i.tution?"

"For me the effect of drugs is beyond the level of regular humans. If you give me more potions I will become that much stronger."

It wasn't just that, but it was an adequate explanation. His head felt faint, probably because of a lack of sleep.

"Eeh? If you drank a hundred power potions what would happen?"

"There's no way I could drink a hundred."

The average potion was 50 milligrams.

If you drank too much of the strengthening type potions that increased the abilities of body, you would need to drink recovery potions to handle the backlash. The more you overdid it the more damage you would suffer, and the damage had to be dealt with through recovery.

Shouji had never challenged his own limit in this regard.

If he partic.i.p.ated in a battle of extermination he would glug down potions like from a large sake cup, but against weaklings there was no need to increase his strength that much.

More than anything quality won over quant.i.ty.

Downing perfect potions would probably give him an undying body in battle, but even if he did not, he still had the power to off just about anybody.

As if hating the silence, Percibell started an endless stream of idle talk.

About the fresh vegetables at the greengrocer being cheap.

About buying eggs from the chicken dealer who had carried the chickens on a pole over his shoulders.

About the s.h.i.+ning experiment that she wanted utensils from the show window.

Releasing sounds of 'Un' and 'Aha' he accompanied her pointless talking.

As he drew closer, he noticed the sweet smell of the young girl.

A sugary fragrance similar to boiled peaches.

As he placed his hand on her lower back an unwilling sound was released, but she made no efforts to escape. He felt no flab at her sides, her body's fat seemed to all be properly presented on her chest.

"Onii-san…"

She gave off a fleeting sensation. A thrilling feeling of corruption rose in his heart.

The dark l.u.s.t uplifted him.

He placed his hand on her back. His mouth covered hers with force. He roughly opened her legs, tore off the troublesome underwear, and without a whiff of foreplay he drove his standing member in. The chain of events happened in a scant moment. He was similar to a starving beast.

"Somehow… during s.e.x… everything else disappears."

Percibell, who had been pushed down on the bed, muttered vancantly. With feelings of corruption, Shouji acted entirely for the resolution of his desires.

"Onii-san, should I help with the moving?"

"No, it's fine."

The food, which had gone cold, had been devoured by the voracious glutton.

Covered in sweat from the finished act, Percibell had asked of Shouji, who had begun moving.

The make a business of the perfect potion wouldn't be possible if he just waited around.

Putting his s.h.i.+rt back on, Shouji decided to start working.

To start off he stuffed the perfect potions into a wooden box filled with straw. Straw had insulating properties so if he also put in a cooling stone, there should be no problem with keeping the wares cooled.

It would have been fine to store them here, but this house was too far off in the west.

It was possible that they would be taken by the creditors.

Work on the floor level did not take long.

Straw was present as fuel, so there was no need to go get any.

In prosperous homes a magic stone that released heat was used, but this place did not have anything of any real marketable value.

As fuel, low quality, strange smelling peat was used here.

Would the regulation of temperature during potion production be possible in these conditions? Would this little amount apparatus not be insufficient? Compared to Percibell’s regular setup this place was worse in every regard.

There was no choice but to bet on her skills.

"Onii-san."

Shouji’s thought process was interrupted.

Wearing only cheap white underwear under a short-sleeved s.h.i.+rt, Percibell showed her face.

She was sloppily grinning 'Eh he he'.

"What is it?"

"Chu~"

She was stretching on tiptoes with her eyes closed and lips turned up. There was a difference in ground level between the corridor and the rest of the room, so their difference in height was exacerbated.

As time pa.s.sed Percibell started tapping her lips with her fingers.

Apparently she thought Shouji did not realize what she wanted.

Driven by a sense of lethargy that he could not put words on, Shouji let his fist fall down from above Percibell's head.

It made a 'gon' sound.

"Higuu! W, why did you strike me…"

"Disciplining."

"Ouuu… Are, are you perhaps treating me like a cat or dog?"

Unknowing what kind of thing Percibell, whose head was in her hands, would usually take a liking to, Shouji ignored her.

He had no intentions of a.s.sociating with a girl in love as he had never before had romantic feelings for anyone.

And surely would not in the future.

Coming and going during the moving process, Shouji thought about how to deal with the problem at hand.

If he could, he would want to deal with the potion business' harmful influence, namely Percibell's debt. But since she had scattered her debts all over the place, that did not seem feasible. He decided to, for the time being, keep an eye on that young woman.

No wait. Debt collecting from Percibell was a request from the underground guild.

If he followed that thread then he should be able to shave away some of the problem.

"Failing a commissioned quest, huh…"

The number of times he has had to report a failure to the underground guild's commisioner is few. Those who purposely caused losses to the guild were subject to punishment.

If that fell on him it would mean bloodshed, usually that would not bother him at all, but from now on he had a business to manage. Since he had decided to make money in this territory it was not worth it to cause trouble.

For now, he would stay bound to the guild.

Thinking he had to get going if for nothing else than posing an excuse, he became gloomy.

Thoughts of bothersomeness were at the front of his mind, but he decided to go.

Having more places where he could make a living was never a bad thing, and he did have acquaintance-level comrades there.

It could also become a place for market expansion.

Even he who lived a rootless existence was able to discern that much.

He had in the past murdered an official of the guild who had found fault with him for ignoring a quest. And yet he was still allowed members.h.i.+p, it was a broad-minded comfortable place.

The underground guild, placed in Errorknife Town's eastern part, was a meer ten meters past the palace guard office, below the weapon chamber of commerce's stairs.

An ironic place, but the guild also paid proper taxes. It was a wonder of the world in that sense.

Tallow-burning lamps adorned only the entrance. They were modeled after a falcon that lived in the desert, embedded in their eyes were gems that were made to glow.

Opening the door after descending the stairs, Shouji smiled towards the reception desk.

The seated, stiff-faced receptionist turned her eyes in his direction.

The features of the woman, who had her hair tied in a ponytail, seemed to have complete left-right symmetry. That in itself made her more or less beautiful, but her whitish eyes seemed utterly emotionless.

Slender-bodied and with her tie tied precisely her duty was to listen to reports.

"I'm coming to report, but I was unable to retrieve the entrusted debt. The map confused me, the place had nothing of marketable value and before I made it there the Watts Brothers office had already gotten there. I figured they had the precedence and decided that I wanted nothing to do with any trouble over the matter. Therefore I retreated."

From the booth behind the reception desk came the sound of laughter.

Shouji could only see the silhouettes of several people sharing drinks. From the darkness he could see a single sake cup. The contents were illicitly distilled spirits not approved by the government office.

His throat did a swallow in antic.i.p.ation, but he had not yet made any money so drinking expensive alcohol was not a good idea.

"We've received a request from those Watts Brothers to look for missing people. What do you say, will you take it, Quik-san?"

"I'd love to be of a.s.sistance, where do I sign?"

Shouji, who was called by his pet name, pa.s.sed his eyes over the numerous papers on the receptionist's desk.

Taking the feathered pen from a small pedestal he made the pen tip wander around.

"We've heard from the other side that when they investigated the debtor's location, the 'Jumping Fire' had been there."

"Jumping… What is that?"

Having made a face of curiosity, Shouji asked of the receptionist.

"It's you, Quik-san. It's the nickname you received when you dealt with a Magma Salamander even while it had turned your entire body into a human torch."

He did happen to know about that particular 10 meter long beast.

It had descended to a human village from the Myurun mountain range's caldera. It came to seek food and was a very inquisitive individual.

It was a gourmet that preyed upon humans by bathing them in fire and eating them. It was the type of monster he liked.

Against the formidable foe the garrison were reluctant to spend their own lives, so the normal adventurers had gone to the underground guild for people who, for money, would become their meats.h.i.+eld.

He had simply answered that request.

"Whenever I hear news of demonic beasts my heart hurts. For the sake of the people I always have the resolve to throw down my life."

"Indeed, if you hadn't raped the daughter of the sage in the subjugation party during the night, it would have been a veritable heroic tale."

From the miniscule amount of disgust in her speach, Shouji showed the expression of a deeply wounded young man.

"She was the one who tempted me. She even discriminated against me with disgracing terms such as 'Laritta Savage'. Doing that was about the same as saying 'I want to get hurt'."

"Quik-san. We are informally an unlawful guild, but towards the requests we accept we must be sincere. Even if it means that you, who attempts to get into fights with everyone you meet, will be fated to end up removed from the register of names tomorrow.#

The underground guild's sign had 'relief aid' engraved in small letters.

It was the place that people who n.o.body wanted to have anything to do with could post requests. The guild would not turn them away even if it was unlawful.

No matter how small the request was, or how dark the backstory of the request was.

Doing the work for the requester. For the sake of duty and empathy.

Well, that was the front face of the guild. This pose was required for the guild to be able to fool the eyes of society.

"Regardless your past matters, accepting a new request right after you just failed another isn't so easily done. Even if you are the 'Street Corner Yuusha'."

She was blaming him of purposely not completing the request when he should have been able to.

Shouji wondered whether he should ravish this impertinent woman and throw a rope around her neck and hang her up. His rage had turned his heart cold, and that was making him hesitate. Should he do it promptly or not?

He could do it. He could do it but, he decided to let her get a bit more carried away before he would act. That way it would definitely feel way better.

Picking a fight with the underground guild at this phase would influence a large variation of businesses.

Contrary to the guild's surface reputation, it had plenty of a.s.sa.s.sins who were several times more ruthless.

As expected, for Shouji who was about to start a business, this was not an opponent he could start a dispute with.

"That won't happen. I am not seeking another request at the moment."

Shouji cleanly denied her a.s.sertions.

"Since I have every intention of completing my current task… Ms. Ferett? Eh, Feraett? Could I intimately call you Fii? I see. No way, huh? Fine, G.o.dd.a.m.nit."

Translator note:

I'll leave it to the readers to decide how Shouji's t.i.tle should be presented. The j.a.panese text reads: 街角の勇者 (Machikado no Yuusha/Yuusha of the Street Corner/Street Corner Yuusha), with the furigana: ストリート・ブレイバー (sutoriito bureibaa/Street Braver). So, do you like "Street Corner Yuusha" or "Street Braver"? I don't think this series has enough readers to warrant a poll, so just post a comment, and I'll see which way the wind blows.

Also let me know if you are having a hard time following what character is speaking. I try my best to make it easy to follow, but if it is needed I will add the character’s name in parenthesis at the end of every piece of dialogue.