Side Quest: Following The Alleyway Lizard

“Friend-dono, Ojou-sama told me over and over to tell you that she wants you to rely on her whenever you are in trouble, so whenever you are troubled, please come to the Dragon Embassy.”

As Tooyama descended from the driver’s seat, Bernal’s somehow gentle voice fell upon him.

They had arrived at his destination.

“No, no, you’ve helped me with everything. Please give my regards to Drako—no, to the Hoarding Dragon-dono.”

He bowed toward the driver’s seat.

While he was at it, he thanked the huge horse that had pulled the carriage and stroked its neck. The flesh and hide of the horse, its life, came through in his palm.

“Buhihin.”

The black horse trembled its body in satisfaction. Tooyama hoped it was saying, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll carry you again sometime.”

“Hoho, well, well. My beloved horse, Buenos, rarely lets a human he has just met touch his mane… Friend-dono, I do not think there is much need to worry if it is you. However, the adventure city is vast. There are many kinds of humans, so please, never let your guard down.”

“Yes, understood. Bernal-san. Then I’ll go. I’ll come visit again, so please take care of me then.”

“Hoho, may the protection of the angels and our dragon be with you.”

Bernal, on the driver’s seat, placed his index finger against his forehead and bowed his head. Was that a social courtesy in this world?

“Yes, and may the Force be with you too, Bernal-san.”

Then I should do it too, Tooyama decided, using the coolest social courtesy he knew.

May the Force be with you.

“Force?”

“Oops, sorry. Somehow, when you said that line and I’m wearing this robe, I felt like I had to say it. Well then, I’ll be off.”

Kapo, kapo. Buenos’s huge hooves rang against the stone pavement.

The carriage slowly began moving through the plaza.

“Yes, I pray for your safety. Well then.”

Tooyama watched the carriage for a while, then looked around once more.

“Amazing. This really is fantasy.”

There was a scene from another world. No, Tooyama Naruhito was definitely standing in the middle of an otherworld fantasy scene.

“Madam, madam! How about our vegetables for tonight’s dinner? Fresh gaimo and tometo stocked this morning from a farm near the city!! Oh, we have apols too. How about one?”

“Hmm, this apol has a nice color, but seven copper coins is expensive.”

Many stalls spread across the plaza.

“Adventurer over there! Need iron armor? It’s a special item we got directly from the workshop.”

“Whoa, is this real? It even has a seal on it…”

“Yes, yes, yes, right now this can be yours for nine silver coins. And right now, look, I’ll even throw in a poncho made from plains horn boar fur! If you’re not buying, I’ll go find another adventurer!”

“Wait, wait, wait! Damn it, nine silver coins… If I use the party’s shared savings… Old man, can I go discuss it for a bit?!”

“Everyone passing by, come gather and look! What I am introducing to you today is this elixir made from the organs of a swamp orc. Apply this once to a wound, and it will heal completely in one shot, enough to make magic formulas and skills turn pale!”

Suspicious stalls and energetic merchants. Armed people browsed stalls without buying, and housewives shopped.

A melting pot.

Looking at that plaza bustling with all kinds of people, Tooyama clearly understood what Bernal had meant when he said this city was an important location of the Empire.

“This place is incredibly lively… It’s like during a festival on Babel Island. Crap, I’m getting excited. This is right after the tutorial ends in an open-world game, the most fun part.”

According to the conventions of otaku knowledge, from here on, it was free action.

He could do anything. Whether he advanced the main quest, focused on earning money, or explored every corner of the world, everything was free.

No, life itself had been the same from the start.

People tended to forget because of work, family, responsibilities, and other things, but originally, people were free. They could go anywhere and become anything.

“…Well, I did whatever I wanted in the previous place too. Here too, I’ll just follow my desires.”

Avoiding the crowd, he headed toward the center of the plaza lined with countless stalls.

There was a fountain. An artificial fountain enclosed by a frame, centered around a statue that looked like a winged goddess.

“Now then, there’s a mountain of things to think about, but first, let’s keep it simple.”

He sat on a wooden bench placed near the fountain and murmured quietly.

In this situation, Tooyama was once again overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information.

Another world, dragons, life and death, countries, language, currency, etc…

But he deliberately stopped thinking about those things for the moment.

“First is Lazaar. I’ll look for him. Shitty arrow, wake up.”

Just as the words said, a message floated into the world amid the otherworldly crowd.

An arrow indicated the path he should take, a place that looked like an exit from the plaza.

“I can’t trust this arrow either, but well, this is the only clue I have.”

He had thought it might not appear because he had crushed it underfoot at Drako’s place earlier, but apparently it was fine. Tooyama stood up and was about to follow the arrow.

“Oops.”

“Ah, I-I’m sorry…”

Thud.

He bumped into someone. Perhaps because he had been lost in thought, he had not noticed the person approaching.

It was a boy wearing a worn hunting cap. He bowed his head and quickly left the spot.

Well, it was not something to worry about one by one. Oddly enough, the path indicated by the arrow and the direction the boy was leaving were the same—

“Huh? Pickpocket?”

The moment Tooyama let out a foolish voice at the suddenly flowing message, the boy in the hunting cap he had bumped into flinched and turned back toward him.

“……………”

Tooyama casually checked his chest. The thing that should have been there. In other words, the allowance Drako had given him was gone.

“……………!”

His eyes met the boy who had turned back, and the boy immediately broke into a run.

“Ahh, okay, okay, I see, I see. People tell you to be careful when you travel overseas and stuff, huh… Hey, wait!! Shitty brat!!! Stop right there!!”

His expression switched into that of a demon. His fierce face, already like a Tibetan fox, became dreadful to behold with the panic and anger from encountering a pickpocket.

“Damn it, he noticed!”

They ran. Through the streets, weaving between passing people.

“What do you mean, he noticed, shitty brat!! Stop! Come on, if you stop now, I’ll forgive you with just finger bones!”

The distance was close.

Tooyama was faster, but the boy was agile.

He slipped through the crowd as if swimming through it.

“Tch, so he was an adventurer. I messed up.”

The pickpocket boy, who still seemed to have quite a bit of room to spare, spat that out while checking behind him.

“You bastard!! That timid act earlier was acting?! I won’t forgive you!! I’ll snap all the bones in your legs!”

Tooyama’s head was already boiling. Having his things stolen was one of the triggers that easily flipped this man’s insanity switch.

The boy slipped into an alley.

Tooyama also stopped suddenly, nearly falling over, but kicked off the stone pavement and entered the alley.

“This is a problem… He’s faster than I thought. Rida will get mad, but I guess it can’t be helped.”

A straight line.

The boy lightly leapt over a cart placed there, as if jumping over a vaulting box.

“Take this!”

Tooyama kicked the cart away with his momentum and chased after the boy.

“Whoa, he looks dangerous if he catches me.”

“Hihihihihi, what’s wrong?! Shitty brat, your pace is dropping!! If your final push is the issue, maybe you lack guts!”

Stamina and speed. Running was not only the work of the Self-Defense Forces. For explorers as well, what spoke loudest at the very end was basic stamina.

Though he was second-rate, Tooyama took pride in having sincerely faced training.

An alley.

The boy climbed over various boxes and piles of garbage like an acrobat. Tooyama advanced with a dangerous expression, knocking them away or kicking them aside.

“You’re troublesome… Well, fine.”

The distance gradually shrank.

With astonishing finishing speed, Tooyama finally closed the distance to within reach.

I’ll beat you to a pulp, petty thief.

“Come here, I’ve got—”

He was about to place his hand on the scruff of the boy’s neck—

“Skill Set.”

He definitely heard it.

Amid the excitement mixed with adrenaline and intoxication, it was a beautiful voice unique to boyhood, a clear voice before the voice changed.

“Acro Speed.”

Whoosh. It happened in an instant.

The moment his fingertips brushed the boy’s hunting cap.

“Eh, a skill? For real?”

The boy vanished.

Tooyama’s hand swung through empty air.

“Sorry, traveler-san—no, adventurer-san. The little ones are hungry.”

Tooyama looked up toward where the voice came from. Yes, upward. The voice fell from above.

In an instant, the boy had jumped above the alley, all the way to the roof of a building.

Onto a roof that seemed to be about eight meters high.

The boy then ran and leapt across the roofs, disappearing from sight in no time.

“Huh?! Onto the roof?! Damn it!! Officer! …Right, there aren’t any. I don’t want to stand out too much either. Arrow!!”

Ping.

Just as expected. Even though the pickpocket’s figure could not be seen, the arrow was properly bouncing beyond the roof.

“Hihihihihi, shitty brat. I’ll make you understand what happens to living things that touch an explorer’s possessions.”

Tooyama did not notice. The direction the boy had fled, and the place he had originally been heading, the slums, were the same.

With the robe he had received from the dragon fluttering, Tooyama put strength into his exploration boots and advanced through the streets of another world.

It was after noon, and the sun had begun to tilt slightly, but the day had only just begun.

…………

……

…

Phew, that was close.

That traveler, no, maybe adventurer.

He was pretty capable. Even without skills, it had been a long time since I nearly got caught after pickpocketing someone.

“There’s quite a bit in here… Looks like I can buy skewers of scrap meat for everyone.”

I took the results of my work from my chest and checked the weight of the leather pouch.

After running across several roofs, the place I reached was our place.

The slums. The dark, stinking place where I was born and where I would probably die.

Any decent person, any Imperial citizen with even a little common sense, would not go near the slums of the adventure city.

It was a place where there was nothing anyone living decently would want, yet it was full of people trying to take something from those who were living decently.

I did not know my parents’ faces.

They were probably an adventurer and a woman from the pleasure district or something. Rida, Niko, my companions, and the other little ones were the same, so I was probably the same too.

“This hat gets stuffy. I hate it.”

Apparently, the color of my hair was rare here.

Whenever I pickpocketed, I dressed like this. It was different from Rida and Niko. I wish mine had been brown or gold too…

At the corner of the slum plaza, I sat down and fanned my face with the hat.

My meeting with Rida was in the evening. Should I go do one more job before then?

“…No, maybe I should stop. That guy might still be searching around outside the slums.”

It had been a long time since cold sweat had run down my spine.

What would have happened if I had been caught? When I bumped into him to pickpocket him, I understood.

He was like a boulder. Like a wall.

I had done the same job against adventurers many times before, but the structure of his body was completely different.

“He must eat good stuff…”

It was fine, was it not? That guy was probably an adventurer. A blessed person who could fight and earn money himself.

Then, it should not be bad for people like us to receive a little of the leftovers from someone so blessed.

I kept circling excuses in my head, not knowing who they were meant for.

“Ohh? What’s this? Ain’t that Rida’s black-haired bastard?”

“It really is. What happened to Rida? You’re always clinging to him like pakmi dung. Did he finally abandon you?”

“Gyahaha, black hair and brown eyes are creepy. That Rida bastard sure has weird tastes, really.”

That was why I did not notice them approaching. It seemed escaping from that adventurer had taken more nerves than I had expected.

“It’s nothing. Rida and I are just acting separately. I won’t cause you guys any trouble.”

Casually, I put the results of my work, the leather pouch full of copper coins and something shiny, into my chest.

Please, please, be as stupid and blind as usual.

They were an older group. Orphans like us each had our own groups.

Among those, they were one of the nastier ones. I had even heard rumors that they sometimes received work from the Crows.

“Hmm? You just hid something, didn’t you? Hey, show it to us.”

Damn it, this was the worst. These guys were the kind who casually stole food and stolen money from orphans weaker than themselves.

Rida was not here. I probably could not dodge them like usual.

My skill was no good either. Using that once a day was my limit. I looked around the plaza. The adult vagrants were either grinning or quietly looking away.

“…I said it’s nothing. I’m busy.”

“Now, now, now, wait up, black hair.”

My shoulder was grabbed. It was completely different from the strength I had felt from that adventurer, but it was still certainly stronger than me. The shoulder being grabbed creaked.

“…What?”

“Hey, you guys, this place here was my place, wasn’t it?”

The gap-toothed, stupid-looking face grinned.

“Huh?”

“Oh, yeah, Ru. This is your rental sitting spot. Since yesterday, right?”

“Right, right. Sitting here, standing here, waiting for someone here, you can’t just do that without permission. It’s business, see? Right, black hair? You wouldn’t like it either, would you? Doing a job and not getting any money from it.”

The same worthless guys around him began laughing in the same way. They were only laughing, but I could not laugh.

This was bad. This feeling.

“What? What are you trying to say?”

Had my voice cracked?

Bad. Bad, bad, bad. These guys, don’t tell me—

“Hah? You’re dumb, aren’t you? It’s a fee, a fee. You were sitting in this place, weren’t you? So pay the fee.”

The guys around him began laughing loudly.

Trash. This was not a joke. These guys had seen it. They had realized what I hid was money.

“…I don’t have money. I’m sorry I didn’t know. I apolo—gh?!”

I was punched in the stomach. I could not breathe.

“Your mumbling is annoying, brat!! You’re hiding something in your chest, aren’t you?! You—”

Without thinking, I collapsed face down on the spot. If I did not curl my stomach, it felt like everything inside would spill out.

“Ohh, Ru snapped. Black hair, I think you should hurry up and hand over what you’ve got.”

“Oh, what’s with this guy? His face is like a girl’s. Hihihi, hey, what should we do?”

“Stop it. That’s your bad taste. I prefer real women.”

“Then should I enjoy him by myself? Hey, come here, you!”

“Hii, no! You, don’t touch me!”

He must have become angry because I struggled.

The man’s face instantly turned grim.

“You, stop struggling!! Hey! I’ll enjoy your money and you!”

“Bueh?! N-no. This is what I earned… Food for my companions… Bugeh.”

I was kicked. My face, my teeth, hurt.

The inside of my mouth felt gritty.

“Kekekeke, what do you mean, earned?! Don’t act all high and mighty. Come on, hurry up and hand it over!”

“Geboh!! Gueh?!”

Again, the stomach. I was kicked.

Because I had eaten nothing, only stomach acid came out.

My head filled with pain and fear. I tried to crawl away from the spot, but my back was stepped on, and I could not move.

“Oh, found it, found it. It’s pretty heavy!! Hyuu!! Today’s gonna be fun!”

My clothes were searched. It was taken.

My money.

“Sudden income get! Maybe we can even hook up with women at a tavern.”

“Idiot, who’d dare touch women from the slums? It’s not quite enough for the pleasure district, but it’s plenty for booze, hey! …Hm, what’s this? There’s something other than copper coins in here.”

“Oh? What’s this? It’s shiny… Gold…? H-hey, Ru, isn’t this an adventurer badge?”

When one of them was counting the contents of the leather pouch, he took out something other than copper coins.

A necklace?

“Idiot, no way it’s his. A gold adventurer badge is the color of Tower-Class Adventurers, you know? No way a shabby black-haired bastard like this could pickpocket a Tower-Class Adventurer. It’s probably fake. Let’s pawn it and add it to the booze money.”

“W-wait… That’s for the little ones…”

Those guys tried to leave while laughing. Wait, don’t screw with me.

Without that money, I could not buy food.

The little ones were about to go three days without eating anything. That alone could not happen.

“Hah? You’re still conscious? …What do we do? Kill him?”

“Nah, if we kill him, Rida’ll be annoying. Let’s kick him a few more times and break some bones.”

“Ah, let’s do that. But before that, can I still play with this guy a little?”

“Keep it short. Well, I guess there’s no need to worry about that.”

“Shut up.”

A chill ran down my spine.

This was bad. Seriously bad.

“Gh, damn, it.”

“Honestly, making things hard for us. Well, learn your lesson and hand over the money honestly next time. Work hard and devote yourself to pickpocketing again! We’ll come take it again! Right?”

“Where should we break after we’re done? The leg?”

“Nah, if it’s the leg, he might die, so the arm’s fine. The arm.”

“All right, let’s do it.”

“Stop, stop it, stop, damn it, give it back, give it back! That’s my, my money!! Stop, don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!”

I screamed. By then, the fact that it was money I had pickpocketed had already disappeared from my head.

“Gyahahahaha, idiot, it’s money you pickpocketed! Well, now it’s mine. The weak get everything taken by the strong. That’s the rule here. I’ll take it as tuition.”

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! My, my money!! The little ones are waiting, and it’s my money!!”

Give it back, give it back, please give it back.

Why? Why is it always us?

“Money, money, money, you’re noisy!! I told you! This is my money now!! Come here! Don’t worry, you’ll start having fun soon too. If I like it, hihihi, I might even make you my pet.”

One of them raised his foot to kick me again.

One licked his dirty lips with his tongue.

My body reflexively curled up from the pain and other fear.

“Hih?!”

Strangely, the impact I expected did not come.

Timidly, I opened my eyes.

Three older orphans.

Behind them stood a person.

A man wearing a fine robe.

He was smiling. Even though he was smiling, his face was so scary to me that I could hardly stand it.

“Hah? What are yo—”

“No, that’s my money.”

“Huh? Hebura?!”

A person went flying.

One of the orphans, the one who had kicked me mercilessly, crashed into the wall with his face caved in.

He slid down from the wall and did not move.

“Ah, eh?”

“That is my moneyyyyyyyyy!!”

“Gebara?!”

As if he had suddenly gone insane, the robed man shouted, slipped under the feet of another one, lifted him as if he were carrying a sack of wheat, and threw him.

He slammed into the wall again, and that one also did not move.

So people could fly away that easily.

Ignoring the pain in my body from being kicked over and over, I thought that absentmindedly.

Ahh, this was death. Sorry, Rida, Niko.

I gave up on everything and closed my eyes. I only prayed that the man’s anger would not turn toward my companions.