Chapter 83

Three days later.

From the morning, I whistled while looking at the busy clearing in front of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“Just by looking, there must be over 200… Are all these field adventurers?”

“Yes. They’ve all either taken field quests or are heading out to hunt in the field. Most are waiting for carriages or carts.”

“…It’s pretty packed for this early in the morning.”

Kate and I talked like that as we walked toward a group of about ten people gathered on one side of the clearing. These were adventurers who had accepted the quest for Cops Village.

‘Nine? I thought it was seven… Did she recruit two more already? She must really care about this quest.’

Kate introduced us to the group.

“These two just joined us at the end. This is Sword God, a Mana User, and Shia, a Beast Tamer.”

They looked at me and Shia, who was perched on my shoulder, with half-lidded eyes.

One human male said in a tone that clearly showed displeasure.

“I wasn’t aware that there’d be additional members…”

Without even flinching, the young female of the dragonkin replied.

“I’m telling you now. Do you have a problem with that? Should I remove you from the quest?”

“Ah, no… I just…”

The man shrank back at her cold words. It was a scene that clearly showed Kate’s high standing among adventurers.

Then, a burly orc with scars all over his body asked in a slow, rough tone.

“…Rank. Where?”

“They’re both apprentices.”

Hearing this, the others’ expressions fell again. The orc spoke on their behalf, showing his displeasure.

“Apprentices? Weak. Just dead weight.”

“No, they’ve only registered recently, but I guarantee their skills.”

“Even… that one, the male, and the human girl on his shoulder?”

“Of course.”

“….”

“Don’t believe me?”

“…Kate. Strong. Kate guarantees. I believe.”

“Good. Looks like everyone’s satisfied. Then, once the requested carriage arrives, please board and depart immediately. As always, I, Kate, will pray to the Dragon God Kartes for the success of your quests and your safe return.”

Before turning away, Kate slipped her arm around mine and gave me a showy wink.

“Please take care of the quest, Sword God. There’s some ‘trash’ in the party, but even they are necessary for things to run smoothly.”

“Why am I being asked to take care of that? I’ll just do my part. Tell them to look after themselves. More importantly, Shia, get down now.”

I pushed her away, trying to ignore her soft, fluffy touch.

This girl… now that we’ve gotten closer, she’s being openly clingy.

Well, it’s not that I mind her being clingy… The problem is that this girl—whatever she said about being a queen wasn’t a lie—turns out to be way more popular than I imagined. Almost like an idol.

It made my chest tighten a bit.

“Ah… you like it, don’t you.”

“Ah, I said don’t do that.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with sticking close to someone handsome and capable? I plan to rise even higher, so I can’t afford to let someone like you slip away, Sword God.”

“That’s your business… don’t you see all your fans glaring at me?”

Ah… pitiful creatures. All of you are males, yet you glare at me like I’m some mortal enemy of your parents.

Someone, put away that sword before you actually try stabbing me.

“Well, that’s the fate of a super beauty like me. Those guys do this all the time. I don’t care about it.”

‘Super beauty’… what does that even mean?

“I said I care. I care, so back off. Or you’ll get cut. Got it?”

Anyway, after all that back and forth… the 11 party members finally boarded the carriage that had just arrived and set off toward Cops.

Bobbing along to the carriage’s rattling, I felt the weight of countless stares around me.
The hostility in the men’s eyes was almost palpable, like it could scrape off my skin.

How uncomfortable. That dragonkin girl really has no sense sometimes…

I ignored them and focused on the one male—no, the one male beast—whose malice was the darkest.

‘So he’s the hero, huh? …Interesting-looking, the more I look.’

Anthrobeasts.

A race not native to Kion; rarely found among the otherworlders.

You might ask how they differ from beastmen, but as the name suggests: beastmen are humans with animal traits, whereas anthrobeasts are animals with human traits, brought from another world.

For example, the Canine Beastmen among the beastmen have dog ears and tails, and a slight fur along the spine, but otherwise are mostly human.

But that Human-Dog hero? He’s just… a dog.

Bipedal, intelligent, and capable of human speech, yes—but otherwise, a literal dog.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, the Human-Dog hero whipped his head toward me.

“What… what are you looking at, you, you, you bastard?”

Because of his jaw structure, the words came out in a garbled form of the Baran Empire language.

Thanks to my high-performance Northern Continent language pack, I understood him perfectly—but anyone else would have struggled to make sense of it.

Still… hearing human words come out of an actual dog’s mouth is surreal. I knew it was possible, but seeing it in person is… unsettling.

“Y-you, y-you, open eyes. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll beat y-you. Argh! Spit!!”

For a moment, I considered knocking out every one of those yellow teeth—but instead, I let out a frustrated laugh and turned my head.

After all, this is the first hero from another world I’ve seen in person. There are still things I want to check before I just take him down.

I remembered what Kate had said about this dog hero:

“That Human-Dog otherworlder… a loser? A thug?”

“No, if I were to describe him precisely… ‘useful trash’ is the most accurate term.”

.
.
.

“That ‘Pruuk’ otherworlder comes from a world called ‘Metran.’”

“He came to this world about 25 years ago. That was when I was in my third year at the guild.”

“…Wait. Stop. 25 years ago? So Kate, you’ve been working here for 28 years?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Excuse me, but your age…”

“Me? I’m 101 years old.”

“…Elder.”

At my words, she scowled sharply. A look of genuine displeasure.

“Ah! What do you mean! Don’t you know it’s a huge offense to joke like that with a long-lived race? Use the converted age! The converted age!”

“Ah, right. Converted age. Let’s see… for dragonkin, you divide by four, right?”

For reference, about a third of the intelligent beings living in Kion are long-lived races.

Elves, with an average lifespan approaching 400 years.

Dragonkin and dwarves, around 300 years.

Beastmen, about 250 years.

By contrast, humans, who live only 70–80 years on average, and orcs, barely reaching 50, are classified as short-lived races.

Thus, in the Northern Continent—where multiple races coexist—the standard for converted age is usually based on humans (though orcs are numerous, wild orcs aren’t counted as fully sentient). Elves divide by 5, dragonkin and dwarves by 4, and beastmen by 3.

Of course, this system exists mainly to provide flexibility in inter-racial relations. It’s not applied rigidly—context, place, and situation dictate adjustments.

“101 divided by 4… That’s roughly twenty-five, right?”

“Twenty-four.”

“Huh? But….”

“Twenty-four. Still strong twenty-four.”

I flinched at her indomitable spirit and took a small step back, nodding.

“…Ah, got it. Twenty-four.”

Only then did Kate’s frown soften back into her usual smiling expression.

“So… where were we?”

“That the anthrobeast named Pruuk is useful trash, and that he came to Kion 25 years ago.”

“Ah, right. Anyway, that otherworlder….”

Summarizing her explanation:

Pruuk: 48 years old, Inukan.

Origin: Metran, otherworlder (Hero).

Affiliated organization: Vasetu Cult, serving the beastmen deity Sushin.

Came to Kion 25 years ago.

Awakened his combat mana shortly after arriving.

Active as an adventurer for 25 years.

Currently an upper level mana-user.

“Wait.”

I cut her off again.

“Yes?”

“You’re saying he’s been awakened for over twenty years and he’s still just a mana user?”

“Yes.”

“I thought Heroes—no, otherworlders—were all talent monsters…”

“That’s true. In fact, it didn’t even take Pruuk five years to reach mana-user rank.”

“Then what did he do for the remaining twenty years?”

“He played around.”

“…Huh?”

“He got complacent. The moment he earned a silver rank and felt he could live comfortably, he stopped trying.”

“He’s also incredibly cowardly, so he never went deep into labyrinths. At most, he poked around the surface layers of labyrinths meant for brass or bronze ranks, purely to make money.”

“He did go deeper into the inner layers once in a while, but that was probably only when the church forced an otherworlder-specific quest on him, and even then, he went grudgingly.”

“Ah….”

“He’s lazy, cowardly, jealous, and has low self-esteem… but at the same time, his need for validation and desire to show off are strong.”

“So in the end, what Pruuk chose was to party up with low-rank adventurers, then act all superior while ‘helping’ them with surface-layer labyrinths or low-star quests. Playing the seasoned veteran.”

“And yes, that’s exactly why he joined this quest too.”

“Hm….”

“But from the perspective of poor, low-level adventurers with no backing, it’s not actually that bad.”

“If they put up with his tantrums, endure a bit of power harassment, and hype him up properly, he happily flexes his strength against monsters for them.”

“Doesn’t the guild already have a guardian system for low-level adventurers?”

“That costs money. It’s cheaper than hiring mercenaries, sure, but it’s still not cheap. This, on the other hand, is completely free.”

“I see… so that’s why he’s ‘useful.’ But at that level, calling him ‘trash’ feels a bit harsh….”

“He is trash.”

“When he runs low on money, he sometimes wanders around backwater villages acting as a back-alley fixer… and from what I’ve heard, he’s done plenty of nasty things along the way.”

“They’re just rumors, but given his usual behavior, there’s a high chance they’re true.”

“Ah….”

“He’ll probably try to throw his weight around with you too if he thinks you’re an easy mark.”

“If he really gets on your nerves, just drag him somewhere secluded and stomp him until he’s half-dead. He’s the type who’s ingrained with ‘strong to the weak, weak to the strong,’ so he won’t even whimper.”

“…Speaking from experience?”

At my question, the dragonkin woman smiled with her eyes.

“You’re sharp. He got handsy once, so I picked a day and beat him like a dog on the peak of summer heat. After that, he couldn’t even look me in the eye.”

“I see.”

“If he’s a beast, he should stick to beasts. But no, his aesthetic sense is closer to humans… tch.”

“Oof….”

I let out a small laugh at her vicious, casual contempt for the beastmen race.

Honestly, if the various racial gods hadn’t mediated relationships through their churches and doctrines, the races probably wouldn’t be coexisting this peacefully.

More likely, they’d have kept tearing at each other until the world ended.

Rejecting what’s different is practically an instinct for intelligent beings.

She leaned closer and whispered into my ear.

“If something happens, it’s fine to just bury him somewhere along the way (figuratively—or not). I’ll take care of the aftermath.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”