Dear readers, Refulgent here, if you're reading this on an aggregator site, this chapter may contain errors or broken reference links. Please visit FourSlimes dot com to read the properly edited version and show the translator your support.

Chapter 2 – 5 (part 1)

Venting of Anger

When I exited the carriage in front of the gate, the familiar face of the gatekeeper from before was there.

“I know that it's not time for the gates to open yet, but do we really have to wait?”

“No matter how badly the adventurer's guild is expecting their new recruits back, I can't bend the rules.” He said, his words at odds with his smiling expression.

“Oh, I know. But the village where we quested yesterday was attacked by a band of 100 thieves.”

I gave him a simple explanation, and the gatekeeper called over a friend. They quickly sent out messengers to various places, calling for relevant people.

“I'm sorry but to verify what you've told us we'll need both proof and someone who was a witness.”

“That's fine. I'll leave it to you to also inform the adventurer's guild.”

I gave him my request and he replied that someone was already on their way.

I went back to the carriage and told Lilly and her sisters that Sernsan would have to be a witness. We decided that Banza and the captured thieves would probably be good enough for proof.

Sernsan had a relative who was living in the city, and she informed the gatekeeper.

About 10 minutes later, the second in command of the adventurer's guild came running in at super high speed.

She was a woman with a small stature and a young looking face, named Flute.

“Is everyone alright?!”

She tried to make sure everyone was safe while terribly out of breath. Apparently, the guild had only been aware that we had been attacked by the thieves, so they were worried.

Afterward the gatekeeper pressed us to inform him of the details.

“I had thought it was strange. Since it was Tenma, I had thought that thieves of all things would be no reason to return late, but…”

He said with a bitter smile. He had a weirdly high opinion of us.

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

We explained a quick version of events to Flute, making sure to mention the food cellar and the weapons, the women who had been enslaved, and Banza and his thieves.

It turns out that we had the rights to the food supplies, gems and the weapons. If the proper owners were discovered however, we would have to exchange them for an equivalent amount of money.

The ladies would have to undergo an investigation (to verify their ident.i.ties, and make sure none are lying etc.), and once finished, if there were no problems along the way, they should be released. If that's the case, since I couldn't claim owners.h.i.+p any longer, the guild or town would give some amount of reward money. If any of them were unable to be released, it seems I would still have the rights to them.

Finally regarding the thieves, there would be money awarded for their arrest. On top of that, the ones taken prisoner will be sold off as slaves themselves, and I would receive half of their sale price.

It was quite a nice sum of money, Flute said with a chuckle.

Just then, the slave merchants and examiners (people who knew inspection magic) both arrived, along with around 15 soldiers and 5 knights.

“The adventurer who captured the thieves will stand before me immediately!”

One of the knights yelled, in a rather oppressive tone of voice. Paying it no mind, I answered,

“I'm the leader of the party that captured the thieves. I am Tenma.”

I introduced myself and the knights reacted with a condescending att.i.tude immediately.

“Don't lie to us! Giving a false report is a serious crime! Tell us the truth!”

“I have no reason to lie. We're the ones who captured them.”

“Quit s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around! Even for us it was impossible to catch Banza, the man sprawled out over there! There's no way he could be caught by a brat and little girls like you!”

All save one knight started to yell, all with the same condescending manner as the first. I was slowly getting angry.

“Since this brat and little girls were able to capture him without much trouble, you guys must be really incompetent then, right?” I said.

The knights' faces turned red, but I didn't stop.

“I will not hand the thieves over to you. I will take them to another city, where I can explain the situation properly, and they can look after it. Sorry for wasting your time with this pointless visit. Please, do return to your duties.”

I replied, turning the condescending att.i.tude back on them.

“Quit s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around! You got a deathwish, kid?!”

“If Banza had trouble killing me, then what chance do you have?”

When I turned around and provoked the knight, they drew their sword on me… but suddenly,

“Stop it! What a disgrace, you should be ashamed to call yourself a knight!”

One knight, who had been silent until now, spoke up. From the high pitch of their voice, it seemed like a woman.

“Ah, the captain of the knights is here?”

I said, and noticed all of the knights, the woman included, looking quite shaken.

“You knew? I wasn't trying to hide it.”

“Yeah, I could tell right away. You were the only one who was different.”

I only had half a hunch, but interrupted, with a burp, anyways.

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

“You had the right of it, my subordinate was rude. But, you also didn't have to recklessly provoke them.”

“It was less than they did to me.” I replied condescendingly.

“Well, you're not wrong. However, putting them aside, I'm also curious about something. Was it really just the four of you who took down the entire band of thieves, or…”

…'what the heck happened', she seemed to ask.

“Well, I don't know if this will be proof enough, but let me know you my strength.”

I said, and the knights went on guard.

“Ah, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you or anything.”

I said, and took out the golem's cores from the bag. I tossed them to a place where n.o.body was standing and summoned the golems. There were 10 large, 30 medium and 30 small sized golems. There were still more I could have brought out, but this was fine for now. I then let one more thing out from the bag, s.h.i.+romaru.

The knights had seen the golems and were stunned, but when they saw s.h.i.+romaru they became panicked.

“This is my strength. By the way, s.h.i.+romaru… I mean, this wolf has the same strength as an A rank monster.”

The moment they heard s.h.i.+romaru's rank, one of the knights unsheathed their sword. Probably by reflex, s.h.i.+romaru sensed their hostility and lunged toward them… or he would have, if I hadn't grabbed him by the tail and pulled him back.

“KYAN!” s.h.i.+romaru cried.

I shot the knight a disapproving look. All the knights save for the captain, had fallen down and were unable to stand up out of fear.

If an A ranked wolf monster, not even 3 meters away from you suddenly lunged toward you, it's understandable that even knights (inexperienced ones at that) wouldn't stand there unflinchingly.

“Y-you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Just now, that was an openly hostile action, you know that right?!” Shouted the knight who was still on the floor.

“Don't misunderstand the situation. It was you earlier who unsheathed your sword. Inside the city, at that. It was a legitimate defensive action!”

Reacting to my anger, s.h.i.+romaru also let out a growl. It felt like s.h.i.+romaru was saying ‘I agree but, I could let him go whenever I want', like he was a small-time thug, but I ignored him.

“Stop it, both of you! It's making it hard to trust you, so please call your wolf back.”

It felt closer to an order than a request, but I co-operated and returned s.h.i.+romaru to the bag, then withdrew the golems as well.

The knights who saw s.h.i.+romaru enter the bag were all left with their mouths hanging open, awestruck.

Hi, Refulgent, your translator here, if you like my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or constructive feedback at Four slimes . com I'd love to hear from you directly~