༺ River Styx Flows Indifferently (2) ༻
“This much writing is difficult for a Barbaroy to understand, isn’t it?”
Less than half a day after borrowing the book, the librarian summoned me to the library again.
I was more worried about the possibility of damaging the book rather than the difficulty of understanding it. I decided not to say that, however.
“No, I’m not having any issue with reading it.”
I could only relax after the skinny librarian was done with his examination of the book. Damn, why did borrowing a book have to be such a hassle?
“If you’re going to return it so soon, it’s better to just read it here next time. We have desks and chairs over there.”
“I will.”
Not like I knew if I’d ever see this librarian again. Anyway, I just left the library after giving him a brief reply.
The afternoon was a little cloudy, though the sun was still visible. I’d better finish what I have to do today before evening comes.
I have to change or mend my pitted clothes.
Most of all, it would be a good idea to buy some armor if I can afford it.
I was unexpectedly subjected to a goblin attack on my first quest and had to endure the frequent throbbing pain of injuries.
It’s evident that it’s only going to get worse in the future and that my body is going to have to endure even harsher things in order to gain money and raise my adventurer rank.
An adventurer’s work is as dangerous as jobs in the mining industry back in the modern world.[1]
Jumping on the field without any plans was akin to wishing for death. That’s why armor will be highly beneficial to protect my body.
Actually, most adventurers, including Elfriede and her party, paid great attention to their armor. So, I have to be just as cautious about it.
The knowledge I gathered during my slave life seemed to be somehow useful after all…
I remember walking past an armor shop while looking for the library, so that’s where I decided to go.
“Welcome.”
I was greeted courteously the moment I entered the shop.
I could see multiple breastplates and helmets made of bones, iron, and wooden planks hung all around the store. The smell of iron and oil was horrible, but tolerable to some extent.
“What are you looking for?”
A man of half my height, who was sitting on a chair, clicked his tongue after seeing me. His eyes, however, weren’t directed to me but a breastplate with a lustrous sheen that he was polishing.
Unlike Plato, who looked like a cucumber, he had a firm shape and rich beard. He looked more like a potato or a sweet potato or a boulder.
A Dwarf. That’s amazing.
“What’cha looking at? First time seeing a dwarf, eh? You probably didn’t come here to see me, big guy. What brings you here?”
There were many shops that traded weapons and armor, but those held by dwarves could be said to be the ones with the best price-to-quality ratio. Anyway, I answered this dwarf that I presumed to be the shopkeeper.
“I’m looking for armor my size.”
“I guess so. Not surprising you came here then. You’re so big though. I don’t think I have anything that will fit you. Guess I’ll have to take a custom order.”
“Custom order?”
“The price depends on the material, but you’re massive. I think it’ll cost around 20 silver coins? There are cheaper versions, but I don’t think you can wear them.”
20 silvers? I don’t have this much money.
Obviously, this was also kind of cheap. Temple knights and high-ranking adventurers that were above the silver rank poured many times this amount into a piece of equipment belonging to an armor set.
I had no choice but to compromise and buy a pair of wrist guards and gaiters to protect my shin.
“Oh, you’re lucky I got a big-sized one. It seems to fit just right. I couldn’t sell it to anyone since it was so large and heavy. I’ll give you a discount since it’s in stock.”
“Oh, a discount, nice. I also really like the shine of this black armor. It looks like the shell of a horned insect.”
The black wrist guards were long enough to protect the zone between my wrists and my elbow.
And since the gaiters had a slight protrusion near the knee, they could protect my joints without impeding my movements.
The band-shaped fixture, however, felt a little tight and was way heavier than it looked. It was a little difficult to move around in it.
It looks like these items were the only ones that both fit my size and the size of my money pouch.
“It’s made out of the shell of giant aracrabs and oiled olive wood boards, very sturdy. It’s so hard to break even if you try to. There are no downsides other than it being a little heavy.”
The giant aracrab, a monster we often fought when I was Elfriede’s slave. I still don’t understand how combining bark and wooden boards would cost 5 silver coins though.
“The wrist guard is a little tight. Can anything be done about that?”
“It’s from the tendon of a horned crocodile. It will probably stretch out enough to be comfortable if you bear with it for some time. It’s pretty expensive, you know.”
“Hmmm…”
“Still, if you resolved yourself to buy something, you might as well buy the expensive one. The cheap ones break easily, not to mention they get damaged so often, meaning maintenance costs will be very high. You don’t even need to clean it, since a savage like you wouldn’t care anyway.”
It sounded more like it was truly harder to do than him just being lazy. In any case, it looked like quite the expensive defensive gear.
From what this dwarf is telling me, buying a sturdy one was better than using a cheap one and ending up obliged to keep replacing, and fixing it over and over again.
I didn’t understand a lot of his words and was hesitant to trust the slimy tongue of this dwarf trader. What he said did make some sense, but it sounded a little too vague for my liking.
I wasn’t the kind to be easily influenced by others.
“I don’t think anyone has better gear than this among iron-grade adventurers. You won’t regret it. I can also repair them twice for free, so you can come back if it breaks down.”
I still somehow felt sullen at the idea of spending so much money. Let’s just consider this as investing for better gains in the future.
I’m going to reach the silver rank, take a bank loan, and set up a health center here. I can finally relax and comfortably make money then.
I had a blessing that not many people had, but having to roll on the ground was just too hard.
And just like that, half of my money was gone. I only had 6 silvers and about 50 coppers left, which would make around 650 coppers.
Three meals a day would cost me around 15 coppers. A bed would cost me 10 coppers. So my daily spending would be at around 25 coppers. 650 coppers will last for around 25 days, maybe a little more if I skip breakfast.
It was just the right amount of money for my living expenses, but that wasn’t a lot. In this world, unexpected events were common…
“Hey, you punk! I’ve finally found you. You savage bastard. Did you think you were going to get away with it?”
Fuck my life!
****
I was walking the streets while happily wearing the armor I had just bought when it suddenly happened. I heard a rough man’s voice loudly calling out to me from behind.
“Bro, that’s him! That’s him! That black-haired giant! It’s that bastard, no doubt about it!”
Black hair?
I was the only one with black hair around here. Because of that, I always had to deal with truck loads of annoying people.
Still, the reaction of this guy was a little worrying. This didn’t look like a simple quarrel. Do they know me?
There were three people.
Everyone looked threatening and rough, to the point they were somewhat hard to describe.
Judging by the scars on their face and the shoulder guards they were wearing, they should be mercenaries. Each of them was also armed with an ax and a longsword, giving them a menacing appearance.
Clink—
I could see the iron identity band symbolizing an iron rank in the adventurer guild around their necks, meaning they were iron-ranked adventurers like me.
“You bastard, I couldn’t find you anywhere, so you were prowling around here!”
The bald man with M-shaped hair, who seemed to be the leader of the group, growled at me.
His face was so unique that seeing it once was enough to not forget it in a lifetime. I, unfortunately, couldn’t remember knowing anyone with that face.
“Look at this bastard, trying to play it off as if he doesn’t know. Are you ignoring us? Huh?”
“Brother Utter, we need to teach him a lesson.”
Why are you guys acting as if you know me?
Did I quarrel with them yesterday when I was drunk? Maybe the fight was part of the memories I had forgotten? That’s the best theory I could think of right now.
Although they were one head shorter than me, they were armed.
Also, them being three didn’t raise the prospects of me winning the fight if the situation got physical.
“Son of a bitch, did you think you could get away with what you did? Huh? Speak up if you have a mouth, you punk!”
I didn’t like the way they kept swearing at me, so I decided to ask them why they were after me. Maybe this problem could be avoided this way.
“What happened? Do you know me?”
“You bastard, you think we won’t do anything if you play dumb? If you don’t know, I’ll tell you so you can remember it. Guys, take him to that dark alley over there.”
“Yeah.”
“Bring this bastard along!”
So, even iron-ranked adventurers seemed to have a kind of hierarchy?
Anyway, the two men, at the bald guy’s instruction, came to my left and right and tried grabbing my arms. Damn, nothing good will come out of me getting dragged to a dark place like this.
I began to vigorously swing my restrained arms while resisting the pain.
“Why is this bastard so tough!?”
“Hey, stay still, you punk! I’m trying to talk to you but you won’t let me.”
Schwing— Schwing—
It looks like they gave up on simply using their bare hands and pulled out their longsword and ax from their waists.
I couldn’t help but start getting nervous before the might of blades.
“You bastard!”
The man with the ax swung it towards me with all his might.
This is, without a doubt, an act of manslaughter.
This bastard is trying to kill people on the streets in broad daylight and no one is batting an eye. No matter how fucked up this world is, it can’t be that bad, right?
As I avoided the attack and looked around, I noticed that people were exchanging glances and then curiously looking at the scene.
“Wh-What?”
“Are they fighting?”
“It looks like it’s gonna be fun.”
No one seemed to want to be involved.
It might get troublesome if we get involved, so let’s just lightly watch from afar. That was their trail of thought from the looks of it.
This is the Gaia continent.
A continent where chaos and disorder were an everyday occurrence!
“This shit!”
I had no choice but to continuously step backward to avoid the ax and the blade that were flying toward me. This task being very taxing, I was bound to leave a gap eventually at their constant pincer attack.
“Send my regards to Pluto!”
The ax-wielder noticed such a gap and took advantage of it. His ax was raised high and was crashing down towards me.
I could see the rusty blade slowly approaching me. My life was flashing before my eyes.
Damn, am I really going to die without even knowing why? It was with such a feeling of injustice that I desperately raised my arm. I’d rather have an arm cut than end up with a decapitated head.
Clink— Clank—
It was then.
“Uh, w-what?”
The ax that I thought was just going to sever my forearm bounced back, and the assailant stumbled backward.
It was only then that I remembered the existence of the brace on my arm. I already was unfamiliar with wearing it, and the additional stress of the situation just made me forget about it.
Anyway, it was definitely worth 5 silvers if it was this sturdy. But it’s dented now! Fuck, I just bought it!
“These bastards!”
Ruining something I had just bought? I wasn’t magnanimous enough to forgive this.
I felt a sudden rush of anger, and by the time I returned to my senses, my already clenched fist was right in front of the stumbling man’s face.
Pow—
“Guaaah—”
It was a fist strong enough to crush his lower jaw.
The weight of my fist increased because of the wrist guard I was wearing. Anyway, I was much more surprised by how fast the punch was.
“Aaarghhh-!”
“Skar! Skar! Damn it, you savage bastard. Slapping Miss Daphne wasn’t enough for you, you even broke Skar’s chin!”
“What, Daphne?”
“Don’t act dumb with us, you savage! You slapped Daphne. That’s unacceptable! We, who watch Daphne from afar, will exert the appropriate punishment on you!”
Watching Daphne from afar? What’s with this contrived way of saying you guys are stalkers?
Stalkers.
Akin to the night before an exam, the cogs in my mind began to furiously spin as I thought of that word.
Didn’t Daphne say that she was suffering from delusions of someone following her?
Maybe it wasn’t just her mind playing tricks on her and she was actually being followed for real.
What if some people were really chasing Daphne and spying on her, making her feel watched?
Wouldn’t it be fair for me to return the slap I received and the humiliation I felt because of the misunderstanding of that day?
“Because of you punks, I… it’s fortunate that we met. Stalking is punished by the death penalty, you punks!“
[1] 3D Industry – People engage in jobs such as environmental sanitation workers, miners, metallurgy, and scientists working in radioactive environments. Basically, jobs that are hazardous. We localized Hassan comparing his adventurer work with a job in the mining industry.
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I’m too lazy for this right now lmao. I hope you guys liked the chapter.
