Record of Wortenia War: Volume 1

by Ryota Hori

  “I see. So if you can’t do something, you can team up with those who can.”

  Ryoma’s answer made the young man’s expression soften. He looked like a teacher who had just heard his student give the answer they wanted to hear.

  “Heheheh. You’re honest and smart. Keep on working hard.”

  “I will. Thank you very much.”

  The boy smiled and made to leave, but suddenly paused, as if remembering something.

  “Oh! Yes. About the Crimson Moon Brigade we mentioned in the conversation there. They’ve recently been attacking people on the road between Melpheren and Alue, and the villages along that road. You should be careful if you’re heading in that direction.”

  Bandits on the road to Alue... Ryoma thought, staring at the clerk’s back as he left.

  The road to Alue. That was one of the towns along the road to the eastern border, and Ryoma’s next destination.

  “This is no good, sonny! It’d be cheaper to just buy a new one.”

  Ryoma went to the blacksmith he’d heard of at the guild to have his weapon sharpened, but the old man there simply said that after examining the sword.

  “Is it completely useless?”

  “Yeah.” The shopkeeper scoffed. “How the hell were you using it to make it this blunt? The blade’s completely rounded. It’s pretty much a glorified stick.”

  Well, shit... Never thought I’d wear it out in just one day...

  Ryoma was certainly more used to using blades than the average person, but he didn’t have any experience with using one to cut through flesh so many times in one day.

  “Uh, well... I used it for hunting...”

  “It’s completely stained with blood and rounded out. How many days have you gone without getting it serviced to get it this bad, anyway?”

  “All day today. I only just bought it yesterday, and it was new...”

  As Ryoma spoke, disbelief played over the blacksmith’s face.

  “Don’tcha be pulling my leg, look at the state it’s in! It ain’t gonna end up like this if you kill just ten or twenty critters. You’d need to kill a hundred or so...”

  But the old man realized as he looked at Ryoma’s face.

  “You... ain’t joking, are ya?”

  “No.” Ryoma shook his head.

  “Aaah. Well, hate to break it to you, but I don’t have a sword better than this one on sale.” The blacksmith sighed, sending a glance at Ryoma’s expression. “I use casting to forge, see. Are you still fine with that?”

  He’d seen the difference in quality between the swords he made and Ryoma’s own sword. But Ryoma knew this much from the moment he first set foot in the store.

  “Yeah, a cast sword is fine. Preferably a convenient one... That said, could you sharpen these as well?” Ryoma said, presenting his bloodied chakrams.

  “What in tarnation? These things are weapons?”

  He’d probably never seen chakrams before. He picked them up curiously.

  “You can see blades along the rims there.”

  “Well, these don’t look as bad as the sword...” He said, holding them up against the light to inspect their condition. “When do you want them ready?”

  “By tomorrow morning, if you could.”

  “Well, assuming it’d take me an hour to do each one, I’ll probably be done before noon. I’ll take the job if you’re all right with that.”

  Before noon, huh? I guess I’ll just spend some time at the inn and stop by the guild on the way here...

  “All right. What’s your cost?” Ryoma said, reaching into the bag on his waist which served as a wallet.

  “Let’s see... If you’re gonna be buying a sword too, it’d be about four silvers in total.”

  That amount wasn’t a problem for Ryoma, given he’d earned a lot more than four silver coins when adding in all the materials he exchanged.

  It’s a cast-forged sword, so it’s cheaper than the sword I bought at the capital... I figured I’d need to buy replacement weapons soon enough, but it could have been a problem if they were all that expensive...

  The quality of one’s equipment could be a matter of life and death, so it was only natural to pursue reliable equipment. But if that high quality resulted in it being hard to replace, that could cause trouble.

  “All right. I’ll be back tomorrow, around ten in the morning.” Ryoma said, and left after paying.

  Right, now to get some grub...

  Rubbing his empty stomach, Ryoma disappeared into the streets of Melpheren.

  The third day since Ryoma was summoned to this other world dawned. It was nearly noon, and Ryoma was traveling alone down the road to Alue.

  That morning, Ryoma had had a late breakfast before visiting the blacksmith to pick up his sharpened weapons.

  Bandits, huh. Hope I don’t run into any of them...

  The memory of what he’d seen when he stopped by the guild to accept requests flashed in his mind.

  “Hurry, hurry, hurry! All those who are confident in their skill, do take this request!”

  The boy manning the reception desk yesterday stood in front of the notice board with a middle-aged man called Girts; the two of them were calling out to people. Pushing his way through the crowd, Ryoma managed to get to the board, reading the paper patch plastered to it.

  Isn’t this the request the guy from yesterday failed? Weren’t they called the Crimson Moon Brigade or something?

  The reward written on the notice was one gold coin per person. It was quite the lavish reward. Owing to the sum being much higher than normal compensation, Girts was surrounded by a crowd.

  As he crossed through the crowd on his way to the guild’s entrance, Ryoma heard the men talking.

  “Didja hear that, lads?! A gold coin for everyone involved! With eight of us, we can walk away with eight golds. Plus all the treasure and whatnot on the mooks we kill!”

  “Dang... The guild’s going all out with this one.”

  “They ain’t got no choice. Golaes screwed it up... Guild’s gotta keep up appearances, y’know?”

  “What?! Rock Wrecker Golaes failed this one?”

  “Yeah. Apparently he offed some other group of bandits.”

  “Oh, so he went to kill them without investigating. That’s dumb... Well, whaddya expect from that rock-brained lunkhead? I mean, he’s strong and all, but there’s nothing inside that skull of his.”

  “Hey now. If he hears you say that, he’ll wring your head off.”

  “Whoops... Me and my big mouth...”

  The men standing around were all adventurers and mercenaries, it seemed. No shortage of malicious insults were being whispered all around.

  Golaes must be feeling terrible right now. He didn’t look like such a bad guy, either...

  With heartless insults being whispered all around him, Ryoma headed inside the guild.

  “I’m terribly sorry, but all the delivery requests between Melpheren and Alue are currently on hold.” The girl at the reception said, bowing her head deeply. “There are some urgent deliveries, but they’re all rank C and above, so I’m afraid you can’t take them, Mr. Mikoshiba.”

  “Is it because of those bandits?”

  He’d assumed this might happen, so he spoke to the apologetic reception girl with a smile.

  “Yes. This failure greatly damaged the guild’s dignity... And the governor’s guards are being forced in on us, too... Ah! My apologies. Please forget I said that.”

  Getting carried away with answering his question, she accidentally let slip some internal affairs of the guild. Placing her hand on her mouth, she looked up at Ryoma with a questioning look.

  So the governor’s got quite a bit of influence around here, does he... Hardly surprising.

  Even a massive organization like the Guild, with a network spread out across the continent, had to be considerate of the nobles. Ryoma nodded with satisfaction, having gotten a glimpse into the inner workings of things.

  “Oh, no, I didn�
��t hear a thing. That said, is there any work I can take on with my rank right now?”

  While there was no pressing need to take on more work, he wanted to gain as much experience as he could, since it would benefit him down the line.

  “Well, I think the only work you could take on right now are just rank F and E hunting requests.” She said apologetically, folding the documents in her hands.

  “F Rank missions don’t give me points toward raising my rank, but offer twice the pay, right?”

  “Yes, exactly. Those beasts would overpopulate if someone doesn’t periodically hunt them down. People at higher ranks wouldn’t take the requests without some kind of bonus, and those in low ranks are limited in how many they can hunt down. The guild can’t really afford to throw money around too much, but it’s something of a public service.” She had something of a resigned smile as she spoke.

  She was evidently displeased that the guild had to take losses over this. She may have understood this was necessary, but she didn’t quite consent to it personally.

  “Is there a deadline for these requests?”

  “Hunting requests under rank B typically don’t have time limits.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. So there’s no loss in accepting all the hunting requests you can under rank B.”

  “I’ll take all the rank E hunting requests, then.” Ryoma said after pausing to consider her words.

  Since they have no restrictions or time limits, I should take these requests whenever possible... Best to earn money whenever I can.

  “Very well. I’ll refer you to this, then.”

  The receptionist handed him a book.

  “What’s this?”

  “A glossary of monsters you’ll have to hunt at rank E requests, how much they pay, and their habitats. There are a total of twenty hunting requests you can take at rank E. Explaining them all verbally would take too long, so for rank E and above, we produce glossaries and hand them out when people first take hunting requests. Be sure to read it thoroughly.” She said with her biggest smile of the day, as Ryoma flinched at the sheer girth of the tome she had given him.

  “Haah... Fine.” Ryoma was clearly exasperated.

  Having almost screwed up once before, he didn’t have any option but to read through it.

  “I’ve recorded the requests on your card, so the formalities are taken care of. Good luck.”

  I’ll just skim through it and try to get the gist of what I need to know...

  Placing the book in his sack, Ryoma left the guild.

  It happened two hours after Ryoma left Melpheren. The highway led into a dense forest. The road was wide enough for three carriages to drive through side by side, but as he looked toward the forest, the trees seemed to be growing thickly. They blocked off the sunlight, making the area rather dim. Also, perhaps because of the threat of bandits, there was no one walking along the highway.

  Ryoma Mikoshiba was the sole person walking down this road right now.

  Man, I’ve got a bad feeling about this...

  A highway enclosed by thick foliage. The ideal place for soldiers to lie in ambush, and equally ideal for bandits to attack.

  It’ll be fine... Right? I mean, it’s the middle of the day...

  But Ryoma’s attempt to convince himself crumbled like a sandcastle at the sound of a girl’s screech, sharp enough to rip through silk.

  “Kyaaaaa!”

  “Shut up! You gonna be quiet or not?!”

  “No! Let me go!”

  “I said, pipe down already!”

  It was just as the road took a sharp turn to the right. Ryoma quietly snuck toward where the voice came from. Rushing over to a large tree near the turn, Ryoma hid behind it and observed what was going on.

  He saw a carriage that seemed to have been attacked, and several men who had two girls grabbed by their hair. He could also hear the vulgar conversation going on between the men.

  “Heheheh, huge haul today. But hey, is it just me, or is none of that good stuff rolling our way these days?”

  “You got that right. We stocked up really good at that village yesterday, too.”

  “The women were pretty decent, for the sticks, at least. Not like we got a round with them, but still...”

  “Well, what’re ya gonna do. If we’re gonna sell them, the used goods are gonna get us less than new ones.”

  “I’m tired of doing middle aged hags, man. I’d kill for something young like those ones, see?” One of the men pointed at the girls and laughed with a smirk.

  “Ahahaha! Can’t argue with that!”

  “Hey, hands off the merchandise!” One of the others said as a man grabbed the blond girl by her arms. “The boss’ll have your heads for this!”

  “Aww, c’mon. Look at how good they are and tell me you don’t want a piece of that.” Another man said, pinning the silver-haired girl’s arms behind her back.

  “He’s got a point. ’Sides, the stuff in this cart hits our quota for the month and then some.” The man rummaging through the carriage’s contents came out, looking around at his companions.

  That prompted them to raise their voices in agreement. The men’s restraint was completely broken by the girls’ beauty.

  “If you dare lay a hand on us, we’ll bite our own tongues off!” The silver-haired girl called out valiantly, apparently losing her patience after hearing what the men said.

  “Ha!” The men’s smiles didn’t waver in the slightest. “We know you slaves can’t off yourselves or resist, so long as you have that collar on!”

  The girls went pale. They didn’t expect bandits to know about that. Just like the man said, the power of that collar restricted the girls’ actions, as slaves weren’t allowed to commit suicide or resist.

  “But just to be on the safe side... Hey, someone stuff a cloth in their mouths!”

  “Stop! Leave us alone!”

  The two desperately tried to shake off the men, but were no match for them in terms of raw strength.

  “Hey! We don’t have to tell you what we’ll do to the other woman if you don’t start acting like a good girl, do we?”

  The sight of a sword being thrust in the direction of the other girl prompted the silver-haired girl to cease her fervent struggling.

  “But man, your master’s a real cold blooded bastard, isn’t he? The moment we attacked, he just took off with his bodyguards.” The man who threatened the silver-haired girl taunted the two.

  “Can’t blame him, can you, Gates? Getting away from the Crimson Moon Brigade alive takes luck.”

  “You ain’t wrong!” The man called Gates burst out into a fit of laughter.

  “Whoa, check it out, there’s 500 golds in here!” The man who had gone inside the canopy to scavenge for goods called out.

  “Whoa, I can’t believe it. He’s right...”

  “Are these seriously all gold coins...?”

  Aside from assorted outfits and jewelry, there was also a chest full of mostly gold coins. It seemed the men didn’t expect their haul to be that good, as they gradually started cheering.

  “So! Got quite a pull here, I’d say. So that means we can do whatever we want to these girls, right?” One of the men said, his voice dripping with lust.

  As if pulled in by his words, the other men spoke up in agreement.

  “Yeah, I think so, too. We got so much money and jewels, no one’s gonna complain if we bring some damaged goods too, right?”

  The sight of the small mountain of gold in the chest had erased all traces of restraint from their heads.

  “But what if the boss finds out...” One man among them said cautiously with a concerned expression.

  They seem to have feared their boss quite a bit. But Gates simply regarded that man with a warped smile.

  “That ain’t a problem. We’ll just off the whores once we’re done with ’em. How can he get mad at us if he doesn’t even know they were part of the loot?”

  Those words made the one ma
n that seemed to be hesitant about raping the girls smile in obscene expectation.

  One, two, five... There’s seven of them... All right, how do I take care of these guys...?

  The conflict was raging inside Ryoma’s heart. The men were standing in a small clearing some ten meters away from the large tree, and their outfits weren’t radically different from what the mercenaries and adventurers he saw around town wore. They were clad in armor and had weapons in hand.

  But their expressions were that of cruel predators. The kind that would rape, harm, steal from and hurt others, filled with confidence and haughty pride in their own strength. That faith hung over their faces like a shadow.

  Those are faces only a mother could love...

  In sixteen years of life, Ryoma had never seen anyone make the sort of disgusting, animalistically lustful expression they were making.

  What now? Should I save the girls? It probably wouldn’t be wise to get involved in any needless trouble, though...

  Ryoma was torn between his desire to save them and the desire to abandon them in the name of self-preservation.

  I might not run into any further trouble if I do save these girls now, but then again, there’s a chance that I might... And I’m definitely gonna have to certainly kill all seven of these guys if I do... If even one of them got away, he’d call for backup. Could I really manage that? If I attack from this distance and they use the girls as meat shields, then I’d really be out of luck...

  A reason to save them. A reason to abandon them. His own safety. His sense of justice. His pursuers from the Empire. Many factors crossed his mind, as he listened to Gates’s vulgar ramblings.

  He wants to rape them, and then kill them...

  Those words filled Ryoma’s mind with wrath and the urge to kill.

  Man, why am I even thinking about this so much? Do I really want to leave chuds like these alive?