~3rd Person Perspective~
“Phew~ The liquor tastes good today too!” (Nick)
Today again, Nick was enjoying a delicious drink at the counter of the tavern attached to the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Just keep it that way. Your pacing is too fast.” (Tavern Master)
“I’m just enjoying myself!” (Nick)
In response to the master’s nagging, he just ordered another drink.
In the winter, adventurers with a reasonably stable income have two choices of activities. One is to find a place where they can work in winter and do winter work. The other is to give up winter work and nourish their mood with the things they have accumulated in the fall. It is difficult to say which is right, but adventurers who are reasonably young and aiming for the top will tend to choose the one that gives more accomplishments.
The problem lies with adventurers who have reached a certain age.
They begin to see their own abilities and limits, and no matter how hard they try, they are no longer given the Goddess’ Blessings, and everything becomes stagnant. If that happens, they won’t be able to aim for the top even if they try very hard, so they’ll only choose a stable job that won’t have them work too hard. In the winter, they are even less inclined to work hard, and they spend their days in a relaxed manner.
People sometimes associate it with “old age,” but that is also a way of life for adventurers, but such adventurers also have an important role to play.
“Hey! Mr. Nick. Have you been drinking since morning today?” (Adventurer)
“You’re noisy, kid. Top adventurers don’t work in winter.” (Nick)
“Haha! Same as always! …Actually, I’ve been having a bit of a problem lately…” (Adventurer)
“Oh? Well… then it’s about the west side of town…” (Adventurer)
They advise young adventurers.
It’s not anyone’s decision, but it’s part of their role.
Young adventurers listen to their stories and grow. As times go on, and the intangible things such as information and experience are passed on.
“Danger!” (Adventurer)
A young adventurer shouted as he burst into the Adventurers’ Guild.
Seeing that this was not normal, Nick got up from his seat, walked over to the young man, and listened.
“What happened? Was there a fight?” (Nick)
“Worse than that! There is a battle going on at the gate!” (Adventurer)
The adventurers around him rustled at those words, and tension rose in the air around them.
Nick’s expression clouded a little.
In some cases, the whole town may be severely damaged. In a situation like this, no matter what they do, they must quickly assess the situation and quickly decide on their next course of action.
If it is a situation that can be dealt with, it is better to deal with it as soon as possible, and in the worst case, fleeing the town is an option. If they make a wrong decision or make it too late, they will not survive in this world.
“A monster? Or some army?” (Nick)
“Not monsters! They’re nobles? They’re fighting with the townspeople!” (Adventurer)
“What?” (Nick)
Nick couldn’t grasp the situation at all.
Nobles sometimes cause trouble. However, it rarely develops into a major uproar. Fighting with nobles just leads to trouble, and at some stage the trouble will end without getting too big. However, this time it seems that a “battle” is occurring. It’s a situation that makes no sense at all.
“How big is it?” (Nick)
“It wasn’t just a few people! There were definitely more than a hundred people!” (Adventurer)
Nick looked at the reception desk of the Adventurers’ Guild to see if he could know if this much larger scale than he had imagined.
“Is the guild master here?” (Nick)
“He hasn’t been back since last night.” (Receptionist)
“Where is he?” (Nick)
“That’s what we can’t figure out…” (Receptionist)
Without a guild master, decisions that would affect the entire adventuring community cannot be made.
But time will not be waiting for them.
The only way to get around the situation is to assess the situation on their own.
“I’ll take a look.” (Nick)
With these words, Nick leaves the Adventurers’ Guild.
The sound of commotion could be heard in the distance.
People are going about their daily lives, and no chaos has yet broken out. However, perhaps sensing something unusual in the bustle they could hear in the distance, more people than usual were gathering on the main street.
As he was about to head toward the gate, thinking to head toward the center of the problem for now, a group of people who seemed to be the source of the problem appeared from the gate.
Men dressed in fine breastplates and swords came running down the road, sometimes caught in the snow, accompanied by children of noble families.
“Get out of the way! You’re in the way!” (Guard)
“Make way!” (Guard)
They were shouting and waving their swords to keep people from approaching them in the direction they were going.
Nick felt disbelief at the unusual degree of caution.
At that time–
“Ah……” (Child)
A child running from the alley ran out onto the main street, probably to watch the commotion.
And, of all people, in front of a nobleman’s escort.
“I told you to move away!” (Guard)
The guard, noticing this, raised his sword and tried to swing it down.
“No!” (Nick)
Nick is astonished.
No matter how privileged the noble was, he would never have suddenly slashed at a child. But it was about to happen right in front of his eyes.
At that moment, various emotions swirled in Nick’s mind, and images of the collapsed village of Cotte replayed in his head. Then he glanced back to the words he had heard from an adventurer.
At that moment, Nick’s body moved on its own accord, approaching his opponent with a godlike speed he had never felt before, emitting a thunderous sound as he drew his sword at lightning speed to catch his escort’s sword.
“Your opponent is a child! Is there someone who would suddenly try to cut him down?” (Nick)
“Shut up! Are you trying to disobey me?” (Noble)
His sword creaking. Surprised voices all around.
Nick was not sure what to do now, even though he had saved them before they could think about it.
Moreover, just in time, out of the corner of my eye, he saw soldiers running from the direction of the royal castle.
Nick clicks his tongue in his head and tries to think of a way out, but he can’t come up with an answer.
“What’s the fuss!” (Nick)
“We are the bodyguards of His Highness the Crown Prince! As you can see, His Highness is being attacked by a mob! Suppress the mob immediately!” (Guard)
“What!?” (Nick)
Nick was about to lose his head over the worst of the worst situations, but unfortunately his hands were occupied, and he couldn’t hold his head.
“The Crown Prince… everything is ending, huh?” (Nick)
After muttering this, he told the fallen child to “run away, immediately,” and then made up his mind to do so. He then leaped aside the swords of the guards with force.
The first time he drew his sword against the crown prince’s group, his life was over.
“Seriously… I wonder when the country became like this?” (Nick)
He readied his sword while grumbling.
The country had looked bad over the years, but never this bad.
Looking back, he felt like things have gotten even worse since Aluppo’s dungeon disappeared. However, Nick, who is only an adventurer, does not understand the detailed causality.
Soldiers are positioned around Nick, and the townspeople, noticing the anomaly, flee.
“Ah… I wonder what that was. I’m sure it was ‘something about a peach…” (Nick)
I try to remember the words that popped into my head at that moment earlier.
The words were heard from a young adventurer who often spoke at the adventurers’ guild.
He is a young but strangely calm boy who has a lot of strange and deep knowledge, and contrary to what he is used to, he has taught me a lot. It was “Three years for peaches and chestnuts, eight years for persimmons.”
Nick could not fully recall the phrase, but he could recall its meaning.
“I remember that it takes a certain amount of time for everything to come to fruition, or something like that.” (Nick)
Nick was strangely calm in this desperate situation.
Maybe everything is already broken.
“If it takes time to achieve something, then if you don’t start early, things will never change, right?” (Nick)
“What are you saying that makes no sense!” (Guard)
He parries the sword of the attacking soldier and kicks him away. He blocked the next soldier’s sword, deflected it, and kicked it away again.
“Are you going to resist?” (Guard)
“If I don’t resist, I’ll be killed.” (Nick)
Even though he did not know it, he was guilty of death when he pointed his sword at the crown prince. He will still lose if he doesn’t resist.
But he was outnumbered. He doesn’t know what else would happened if he resists. It was still a hopeless situation.
As he was doing so, he heard the sound of a sword being drawn behind Nick.
“As expected… It’s just like Mr. Nick to fight with the country to save an unknown child.” (Adventurer)
“That’s right.” (Adventurer)
“You’re just a good guy, aren’t you?” (Adventurer)
The adventurers who had been inside the Adventurers’ Guild earlier took out their weapons and stood side by side with Nick.
“Hey… you guys, it’s a fight you can’t win!” (Nick)
“Well, you have always taken care of me.” (Adventurer)
“I don’t mind entrusting my life to you.” (Adventurer)
“I can’t stand what’s happening in this country lately either. I don’t have any regrets!” (Adventurer)
Adventurers came out of the Adventurers’ Guild in droves.
Old Man Bourdain also came out with a bottle of wine in his hand.
“Hey, you peasants! Do you think adventurers get off scot-free for defying their country?!” (Guard)
The captain of the garrison shouted, pointing his sword at Nick.
Nick shouted in response.
“You massacred the village of Cotte, and now you want to kill the people here too! I’m sick and tired of this!” (Nick)
The adventurers who knew what was going on nodded their heads in agreement, while the general public, who did not yet know the details of the situation, looked surprised.
“A massacre…” (Commoner)
“I also heard that Cotte Village is already in ruins.” (Commoner)
“As expected, they—” (Commoner)
Various emotions spread among the people.
The feelings were varied, but they were certainly not positive toward the country.
Then a voice rose up from among the people.
“I know it! The crown prince there took a bribe from the Radin Trading Company so that they wouldn’t have to buy the ore! That’s why the mines shut down, and that’s why we lost our jobs!” (Commoner)
The people’s hearts were shaken by these words that came out of nowhere.
Residents of this town know that the reason for the bad economy is the shutdown of the mines. It was a big problem and a big deal, but for ordinary people who did not know the details of the situation, it was like a natural disaster, and they had no choice but to resign themselves to it. But what would they think if the source of the problem was right in front of them, and it was done to line his own pockets?
“The Crown Prince accepted a bribe…” (Commoner)
“You shut down the mine to receive bribes?” (Commoner)
“And isn’t it that bastards fault we had our taxes raised?” (Commoner)
Needless to say, all the hostility in the place poured down on the crown prince.
The residents of the city, who until then had been mere bystanders, were also enveloped in an atmosphere as if they were about to attack him at any moment.
“Ugh. I don’t know! I don’t know! Guards! Do something quickly!” (Ira)
The Crown Prince shouted, and the captain of the garrison hurriedly rearranged his formation, but the situation was completely reversed.
“All units, suppress!” (Guard)
Then the next battle began.
T/N: Saint/Queen Elena? Well… The beginning of the end of Zantz’s royals and nobles, and the Great Church has begun.