3-10 S-Rank

That very day, in the Guildmaster’s office at the Royal Capital Adventurers’ Guild, I received my gleaming S-rank adventurer card.

It had a rainbow-tinged sheen. It wasn’t made of some magical metal, but of a special alchemical material.

Apparently it was something that couldn’t be produced anywhere except Alba, this city of magitech and sorcery.

Armon had prepared this special adventurer ID in advance—something he probably almost never issued—because he believed in me.

What a stylish thing to do.

It made my chest burn with emotion.

And yeah—I answered that trust properly.

“So what will you do from here?”

“As planned. First, I’ll start the street stall. If that makes those debt collectors give up and stop messing with Eri’s family, great. If they lay a hand on them anyway, I’ll crush them. Either way, it’s true Eri’s family is in debt. I want them to pay it off quickly and get their life back on track.”

“Hm. By the way, would you be willing to supply high-grade potions regularly?”

“Huh. That’d help, but… wasn’t it a bad idea to put those out on the market?”

I said it with exaggerated wide eyes, like I was acting on purpose.

“No—at this point, it’ll be fine. The nobles you spread your dealings across will benefit more if you remain alive and well. There’s a strong chance they’ll side with you if it comes to it. And after how loudly you performed in the A-rank exam… There won’t be many idiots left who’d try to come at you openly now.”

As expected of the Guildmaster—he’d been thinking it through.

So that was why he’d given me advice that let me use my magic to the fullest.

Thanks to my finals opponent, that advice had paid off to the maximum.

Once again, I gave silent thanks to that great mage.

Alright then—I’d gladly accept.

From here on out, you could never have too much money.

It let you do all kinds of things.

“Yeah. Let’s do it. Thanks.”

Saying that, I immediately produced two hundred high-grade Heal Potions and handed them over.

I decided to leave the money from the deal deposited with the Guild.

“And you’re still holding two dragons, right?

There’s a buyer who wants to take them—what will you do?”

“Ask Antonio first. I’ve been holding onto his dragon this whole time. Mine—I want to keep for now.”

“That’s fine, but… what are you even going to use something like that for?”

“If you line them up with a big boom, it’s extremely effective for intimidating idiots. I got a taste for it with that chimera.”

I said it with a bit of a smug face.

I still had the real big cleanup ahead of me.

And those ‘copy dragons’ I’d mass-produced…

Yeah, it’d obviously be bad if I ever pulled those out.

They’d just ask where I hunted them, and I’d be screwed.

Still, for the time being, I wouldn’t be short on dragon steaks.

Personally, I preferred the wagyu sirloin and flat iron I’d brought from Japan.

I should’ve brought Chateaubriand into the other world.

That stuff was incredible over charcoal.

Maybe I’d develop a “monster Chateaubriand” next?

“Well, if that’s what you want, fine.”

“Alright, I’m heading out. I’ll be in Adros for a while.”

“Understood.”

After discussing things with Eri and the others, we decided the first stall would sell donuts and churros.

I wondered if it was okay for kids to handle hot oil, but Erin insisted, passionately, that it would absolutely be a hit.

Well, if she was that adamant, we’d try it.

It really was massively popular back on Earth.

Just in case, I gave Eri a whole bunch of ultra-powerful potions in preparation for burns.

I’d already built all the stall equipment perfectly whenever I had spare time.

I loved this kind of slow, self-paced, nitty-gritty work.

I even made the star-shaped nozzle for churros, and the cream donuts were complete.

We’d made custard cream using ingredients from this world.

Eri made it from the recipe, though.

Thanks to that, Erin was in absolute ecstasy.

Now even if I vanished someday, she could still eat cream puffs until she burst.

Since we were only just starting the stall business, I also arranged a separate C-rank team as extra security.

I told them to report immediately if they noticed anything suspicious.

The next day, we set up the stall in the plaza in front of the dungeon and started selling.

The stall had magic stones fitted with a Lightweight enchantment, so with a single switch, even a child like Eri could pull it around easily.

People watched from a distance, curious about the new stall.

Then I raised banners.

I took materials that had been used as the base of a bungalow, processed them with the Item Box, and made a concrete banner stand.

You know the kind convenience stores and drugstores line up in rows—that thing.

Vertical flags, written in the local script with “donuts” and “churros.”

Then we handed out samples to the gathered crowd.

Paul and Marie helped with the distribution.

We’d even prepared outfits for this day.

You two looked pretty cute in them.

Eri and Lisa-san were handling the prep.

If we ran short on ingredients, we could pull stock out of the Item Box.

If I was around, I could copy supplies, so we’d never run out of product.

But someday I wouldn’t be able to help forever.

Baking soda was the one problem.

How did people even make that normally on Earth?

It should be manufacturable with alchemy tools in this world too, since it was made chemically and wasn’t that complex a substance.

But right now I only understood it as “I copy what I brought,” so I didn’t really know.

I’d brought a big bag of baking soda because it was super useful for camping.

Even if I looked up how to make it online, being told to produce it from scratch—without relying on Item Box abilities—was a headache.

If we had baking soda, we could make baking powder using this world’s ingredients.

For now, I was supplying everything myself.

Even the baking powder—I had some components made by breaking down Earth food items.

The samples got an excellent reaction.

A lot of people bought on the spot.

Based on ingredient and labor costs in this world—and thinking ahead—we priced each item at two copper coins.

We had to pay taxes too.

For a stall, the Commercial Guild charged a daily location fee of two large copper coins.

Pay that, and you’d get a business permit under the magistrate’s name.

A stall was a tiny business, and tracking sales was a pain.

The location fee was flat, but if sales were low, ingredient costs and fuel costs could still leave you in the red.

“Hey! Who said you could do business here?!”

A tough-looking guy suddenly barked at us out of nowhere.

“The magistrate did.”

Because it was literally true, so what could I do?

“The hell you say—don’t screw with me! All the stalls around here answer to me. Pay your protection fee! Five large copper coins a day!”

Oh?

Now that was interesting.

Smiling brightly, I walked up to him, clamped an Iron Claw onto him faster than the eye could follow, and hurled him into a spot with no people around.

Then I dropped a dragon’s head with a heavy thunk right in front of him.

I added a second dragon’s head, too.

“Eeeek—!”

Pinned between the bloody heads of massive beasts that appeared out of nowhere, he went limp at the knees.

Pathetic.

That was what you got when you only ever threw your weight around against weak people.

“That dragon was rude, so I disciplined it. Do you need discipline too?”

For good measure, I placed a chimera head on the other side—blood-stained, with a resentful-looking face.

“Hiiiii—!”

He shrieked again and ran for his life.

These heads really were useful!

I couldn’t bear to sell them.

I’d have them keep working for me.

Ideally, I wanted new ones too.

Maybe I’d go down into the northern labyrinth as well.

The townsfolk watching had been shocked at first, but when they saw him collapse like that, they burst into laughter.

“Nice one, brother! So you’re the famous Dragonslayer, huh? They say you’re S-rank!”

I smiled and flashed my distinctive, sparkling S-rank card.

“Come on, Alphonse-san. If our employer does the work himself, we won’t have anything to do.”

Laughing, the security adventurer I’d hired said that.

“Numbers are power. They won’t give up that easily. I’m counting on you a little longer.”

It was such an outrageous attraction that Eri’s stall sold like crazy from day one.

After that, it stayed packed day after day.

Since other adventurers were also on guard, we finally deployed Eri-in at the stall too.

She was surprisingly handy and could handle all kinds of tasks.

She was fairly pretty and had charm, so even the male customers didn’t complain.

If only she weren’t so damn obsessed with food…

We didn’t see those guys again.

They were probably watching for an opening.

At this rate, it wouldn’t get resolved.

We’d have to crush them at the source.

It’d be a problem if they showed up when I wasn’t around.

Day 63 in the other world.

After ten days of business, Eri and the others had saved up a good amount of money.

It was about time.

I suddenly visited the magistrate’s estate in Adros.

“Hello. I am Alphonse, an S-rank adventurer. I’m not a noble, but I have the equivalent status of a count. I’d like to request an audience with the magistrate.”

I used my specialty—my syrupy, catlike coaxing voice that I only used at times like this.

I met the magistrate and asked him to calculate a reduction in interest for Eri’s family.

Normally he wouldn’t do something like that, but between the authority of S-rank, the prestige of Solo Dragonslayer W, and the name recognition of the hero who saved the popular prince, he agreed.

According to the magistrate, those people had already been a major problem for a long time.

“They were so ruthlessly predatory that I watched them with a face like I’d bitten down on bitter wormwood. They’re tied to criminal nobles in the royal capital, so it hasn’t been easy to act. This matter is a godsend for us.”

Then, together with the magistrate and his armed retainers, we stormed the debt collectors who’d been tormenting Eri and arrested every last one of them.

If they resisted, that was my turn.

I didn’t even need to draw a sword, much less one with sloppy technique.

I didn’t even need magic.

But I did let dungeon monsters do some work for me.

“It’s a parade of heads, heads, heads. Look, look, look—this isn’t something you get to see every day! Be grateful and worship it!”

Saying that, I pinned them under the heads.

With ultra-enhanced strength, swinging around the bloody heads of huge high-rank monsters I’d killed myself, I became a symbol of terror to the scum of this area.

And the legend of Alphonse the Head-Hunter was told for a long time.

After all, I came from a city descended from Japan’s greatest head-hunting bands who rampaged through the Warring States era, so the nickname wasn’t exactly wrong.

I took the opportunity to go wild and let loose to my heart’s content.

It felt unbelievably refreshing—like finally clearing a week’s worth of piled-up laundry.

Most importantly, it was one of those rare cases where even Guildmaster Armon—usually so nagging—had given me permission to go off.

I didn’t have to hold back for anyone.

Using my skills, I seized evidence documents like contracts and promissory notes.

And also memoranda signed with nobles.

With my MAP Search, no one could escape.

I searched again and again, changing keywords.

I searched until I’d exhausted everything.

And I dragged it all into the light.

We seized all the money they’d hoarded illegally, recalculated the interest, subtracted the overpaid amount from principal, and distributed the rest among the victims.

Not everyone got everything back, but—well—“Isn’t it nice if money comes back to you?” So they’d have to accept it.

Because the profiteering had been so extreme, every victim’s full principal repayment was officially recognized.

The magistrate looked like a man whose decades-long constipation had finally cleared.

Apparently corrupt nobles had been meddling directly and bypassing him, so the magistrate himself hadn’t benefited at all.

He was probably thinking, “Serves those rotten nobles right.”

All I meant to do was get the overpayment recalculated…

So how did it turn into this?

According to the magistrate:

“If you’re going to do it, you must do it thoroughly like this, or you’ll be the one in danger. I’m not a noble. Alphonse-san, you’re my only hope!”

As the instigator who started all this, I got a little perk—Eri’s family’s numbers were calculated first.

They got back a total of thirty silver coins, and the family looked delighted.

To prevent the evidence from being buried midway, I sent it straight to His Majesty the King through Ruba-jii-san.

The predatory nobles’ crimes were exposed in detail, with evidence, in clear numeric accusations.

The kingdom could no longer avoid acting.

After all, the official magistrate of Adros—using me as his shield—had presented proof to the King himself through Ruba-jii-san, who served the Third Prince.

No one was getting away with excuses.

Three viscount houses and ten baron houses vanished from this land forever.

Their lords were apparently executed.

A shock like never before tore through the noble society of the Albatross Kingdom.

Most count-rank and higher nobles welcomed it.

They called it a natural measure—those who’d demanded lives beyond their station had stained the honor of the kingdom’s nobility.

The viscounts and below trembled, resigned that they might be next.

Of course, even among the lower nobility, there were plenty who valued austerity, so it wasn’t that all lesser nobles were the same.

But those who’d done evil in Adros and happened to escape this purge were terrified.

They withdrew quietly from Adros so as not to leave evidence behind.

They wouldn’t be finding another underground business this profitable anytime soon.

Rotten nobles—serves you right.

My ill reputation thundered across this kingdom’s noble society like a peal of lightning.

They called me the “dragon-slaying noble-killer.”

Well now—exactly as I’d hoped.

But that didn’t mean the poor people of Adros were saved.

The problems weren’t all gone.

Some might suffer now that their stopgap options were cut off.

But if people ended up far poorer than they’d been before taking loans—like Eri’s family had—then that was unacceptable too.

After thinking it over, I discussed with the magistrate the idea of “creating work, if there’s something we can generate.”

The response wasn’t bad.

Nothing concrete yet, but having the top administrator be positive wasn’t a bad thing at all.

And this world had the power of the “internet.”

If I pulled some ideas from Earth, we should be able to make something work.

For now, for this beloved other world that accepted a lawless foreigner like me—

I wanted to try doing something I could.