Chapter 4 TRG Vol. 1 Chapter 1 Part 2

Chapter 1 (The Inside Story)

The more I saw of him, the creepier the kid was.

“I want to be an adventurer.”

Not many people come to this town saying that. It’s lively enough, I suppose, but it’s still the frontier. The only people who show up here are either stragglers who couldn’t make it as knights in the Capital, or men who’ve retired from the knighthood and returned to their hometowns. Or rather, the guild doesn’t accept anyone else.

“You’re not wanted. Get lost.”

It’s been ten years since I became the Guild Master of this town. This was the first time an overconfident brat like this had shown up.

“Isn’t this the place you go to become an adventurer?”

Black hair, black eyes—nothing unusual about him for this area. Just a kid with a forgettable, generic face. Looked to be just over ten, maybe. I’d tried to be somewhat gentle, but I’d still used a voice that should have been intimidating. And yet, the kid didn’t flinch. He just pushed back.

Too bad for him. The days when the guild accepted anyone who walked through the door are long gone. The only place that still operates like that is probably the front line, way up north.

“A kid, becoming an adventurer all by himself? Don’t be an idiot. We don’t have any jobs to spare for some brat we know nothing about.”

Monsters rarely appear in a frontier region like this. These guys hanging around the tavern call themselves adventurers, but most of their work isn’t monster-slaying. It’s road maintenance, patrols, and culling wild beasts.

That’s why what’s required of an adventurer isn’t strength, it’s trust.

We can’t give jobs to anyone we don’t believe will see it through. Road patrols are unsupervised. We can’t just hand that work over to some punk who might just take the money and run. That’s why, to become an adventurer, a background check is the first priority. You have to be a native of this town, have a referral from someone who can take responsibility if you screw up, or pay a set deposit as a guarantee. That’s just how it is now.

“I see… so I need money…”

When I told him that, the kid—whether he understood or not—simply turned on his heel and left the guild.

“That’s rare. A kid like that, wanting to be an adventurer.”

After he left, an old-timer adventurer came up to the counter. He was an old acquaintance, a man I’d poached from the Royal Knights in the Capital when I first took this post, just as he was hitting retirement.

“Even though this is just a dead-end frontier town with nothing to do but fix roads and kill beasts,” he said.

“And that’s how it should be,” I sighed. “If monsters started popping up here like they do on the front line, a place like ours, with barely a handful of mages, couldn’t cope.”

To fight monsters, you can never have enough mages. But mages never settle down on the frontier. Our guild is so run-down, the only one we have is an old geezer who could drop dead at any moment. In a place like this, even a monster appearing once or twice a year forces us to mobilize every skilled adventurer in the guild just to deal with it.

“But did you see his hands? That kid… he might just be the real deal.”

Being an ex-knight, he knew what to look for. I’d noticed, too. That kid’s hands… they were the hands of a man who had done nothing but swing a sword. I just never thought I’d see hands like that on a kid his age.

“He’s still just a kid. What’s he going to do as an adventurer? Probably just ran away from his village to make a name for himself. He’d be better off going home.”

Hearing that, my friend just muttered, “If you say so,” and walked away.

And just as he left, I saw the kid who was supposed to have gone, walking right back in. The other adventurers didn’t even bother to hide their exasperated looks. “He’s back again,” they muttered. All except for my old friend.

“…You don’t give up, do you.”

“I didn’t come here with so little resolve that I’d give up over something like this.”

Ignoring the fed-up looks from me and everyone else, the kid made his declaration.

“I get that I can’t become an adventurer. But you can at least buy monster materials if I hunt them, can’t you?”

The kid was citing an ancient, moldy old rule. Who put him up to this? Or did he just think of it? It was a nasty old custom from back when monsters were rampant and the guild was short on both quality and quantity of adventurers. Back then, we’d buy materials no matter how they were obtained. It was a way to get intel on the situation, even from people who couldn’t kill monsters themselves but could get close to the corpses. The kid was citing a rule from a time when the guild was desperate.

“Monster materials? …If you bring ’em in, I guess we can buy ’em. But the price will be way lower than what we give our registered adventurers. It’s not gonna be worth your while, kid.”

Maybe the guild in the capital has updated its rules, but out here on the frontier, nobody’s bothered to change the old, moldy ones. So, a rule’s a rule. If this kid brings in monster materials, I have to buy them.

“I see… got it. That’s all I needed to hear.”

The kid nodded at my words and left. For a kid his age, he was unsettlingly calm.

After that, the kid started showing his face at the guild every so often. As the face of the guild, I had to deal with him whether I liked it or not.

“Are there any monster-slaying quests posted?”

Every time he showed up, it was the same question. As if monsters just popped up in this backwater all the time.

“Huh? You still haven’t given up? No, we don’t have anything like that. At least, not for you.”

Even if one did, I wouldn’t give it to him. I’m not the kind of scumbag who sends a kid to his death. If this kid was going to die, it would be after me and everyone else in this guild was already dead.

“I see. Got it.”

The kid would just nod and leave. According to the townspeople, he was making pocket money doing odd jobs. Our adventurers are always busy with patrols out to the nearby villages, so their hands are full. The locals either have to buy stuff from adventurers on their way back or pay a high price to hire one who’s free. That’s just how it is here. But this kid was doing those jobs for pennies. He was filling in the gaps we couldn’t cover. Surprisingly, his reputation among the guild’s adventurers wasn’t bad.

“Hey, why don’t you just let him register? Stop being so mean about the deposit.”

It was my old friend again. He leaned on the counter, rubbing the scar on his cheek—one he always bragged he got from a monster’s claw back in his knight days.

“I hear he’s been sleeping in the forest. Even if there aren’t monsters, for a kid to survive alone in the woods at night for this long… that’s something. He takes all those cheap jobs from the townspeople without a single complaint and gets them done. Isn’t that trust, right there?”

“Don’t be an idiot.”

I dismissed his words. Even if the kid had the skills, the place he should be recommending him to is the Royal Knights, not us. …Assuming, of course, a kid that age could really have that kind of skill.

The kid’s face was so familiar now, it was just part of the routine. But today was different. He placed something he was holding onto the counter and looked up at me with those same, unreadable eyes.

“I hunted a monster.”

On the counter was a twisted horn, dark and caked in what looked like dried blood. It shouldn’t have been able to move, but its unnatural shape sent a cold sweat down my back.

“…This is a monster horn, all right. It’s not a fake.”

I’d seen one a long time ago, before I came here. A monster slain by the Captain of the Royal Knights. It had a similar horn. Monsters born from absorbing miasma all grow them. They say it’s the organ that gathers the miasma. There was a rumor a nobleman ground one up and drank it, thinking it was an elixir of immortality… he supposedly died screaming. In any case, it was worth money.

“Kid. Where did you find this?”

I picked it up, watching him with a sharp eye. If a monster appeared, did he just happen to stumble on the corpse? If so, that means there are likely more monsters out there. Monsters? Here?

“Deep in the forest. There was a ‘spawn point’ for monsters. If you’re interested, old man, I can show you.”

“…A ‘spawn point,’ huh.”

I muttered as I stored the horn behind the counter. The scholars in the capital say monsters are just animals that are transformed when they touch pools of miasma from the earth’s ley lines. If what this kid says is true, I need to recall the adventurers on patrol.

I pulled a few silver coins from my pouch and laid them on the counter.

“This is your cut. No complaints. You should be grateful we’re buying from a non-adventurer at all. And one more thing… I’m not just some ‘old guy.’ I’m the Guild Master who runs this place.”

If monsters were really out there, and if this kid really killed one… there’s no way he’d accept the amount I offered. No one who barely survived killing a monster would be satisfied with just a few silver coins for its remains.

But to my surprise, the kid just quietly took the money and, with that same blank expression, tucked it away.

“I need my sword maintained. Is there a blacksmith?”

“A blacksmith…? Yeah, there’s one behind the guild.”

He took the silver without argument, then asked something I completely unexpected. Sword maintenance. Of course, adventurers need to care for their weapons. I gave him directions, and he left. Did he really go to the blacksmith? I caught my old friend’s eye across the room. He just shrugged, then went to round up the adventurers at the other tables.

“Monsters… spawning in a frontier town like this?”

If it was true, I’d have to suspend the highway patrol jobs and increase local security. I’d also need to send a request to the local lord for a mage dispatch. But first, I had to confirm if the kid was telling the truth.

After that, the kid started coming by once or twice a month, bringing in monster materials just as he had. For this sleepy town, that was an abnormal frequency. And yet… it was hard to feel a sense of crisis. Why? Because every time I sent my own adventurers into the forest to investigate, they came back having seen nothing. No one could find anything… except for the materials this kid brought in.

Even my old friend…

“Found nothing,” he’d said with a shrug. “I went as deep into the forest as I could without risking not coming back, but… nothing.”

Because of this, I had a hard time explaining the situation to the envoy the lord sent after my report.

“So, you have monster materials, but no sightings of actual monsters?”

I was sitting across from a thin, nervous-looking man in the guild’s back room.

“Are you certain he isn’t just… scavenging corpses he happens to find?”

The envoy was clearly annoyed. I had to take a deep breath to choke down my irritation.

“We’re talking monster horns. One might be a coincidence. But two? Three? You can’t just call that luck.”

“But your own adventurers have no sightings. It’s not impossible to think it was just a miracle of coincidence, three times over.”

I barely stopped myself from yelling that three monsters dying of coincidence would be the real crisis. Calling a mage costs money. The only skilled mages are either with the Royal Knights or are researchers. Getting one of them out to the frontier requires either an obscene amount of gold or a high-level connection.

“This town already has a mage. For now, you will have to make do and observe the situation.”

That old fossil? He could die just walking out of town! …But, I understood the envoy’s position. If I weren’t in the middle of it, I’d be skeptical too. No one would believe that kid was actually hunting monsters.

In the end, the man said he would convey the situation to the lord, but made no promises about sending a mage, and left. I get it. He was doing what he could. But it felt infuriatingly slow.

“I brought more materials today.”

Completely oblivious to my worries, the kid showed up again, stone-faced, with more materials.

“Where in the hell are you ‘finding’ all this? …If you’re going to keep doing this, I might… consider that deposit.”

He was still a creepy, unknown kid. But if monsters were really appearing, and this kid had the ability to at least find the corpses and get back alive, that was reason enough to pull him into the guild. I’d still have to make him pay the deposit—as a formality for the lord—but I figured he could afford it by now.

“I’m not worthy yet.”

His reply floored me. Considering how eager he was when he first arrived, I’d expected him to jump at the offer.

“Not worthy…? Kid, you’ve got to be…”

I felt the strength drain out of me. Was he saying that he felt his ‘corpse scavenging’ was a long way from his ideal of an adventurer?

“I know it sounds weird, but it would help me out if you could just keep this quiet.”

He even bowed. I had no idea what was going on in his head, but he clearly had his reasons. But… this kid had a better grasp of that forest than any of my current adventurers. Even if I couldn’t leash him to the guild, I couldn’t just leave him to his own devices.

I filled a pouch with more coins than usual—the proper buy-rate for his materials—and dropped it on the counter. The kid just stared at it, then at me.

“It’s more than usual.”

“You’re sleeping in the woods, aren’t you? I’m giving you a little extra. Get a room. And sleep properly.”

Adventurer or not, he was helping this town. He deserved to be compensated for it. The kid stared at the pouch for a moment, then quietly tucked it away and started to leave, just like always.

“And from now on, if you’re bringing in materials, just bring the whole carcass,” I called out to his back. “It’ll cost you a small butchering fee, but I’ll make sure it’s done right. You’ll make more money than you do with that sloppy carving you’ve been doing. Your technique is atrocious.”

If I could just examine the corpses he was finding, I might be able to figure out what the hell was going on. And maybe it would finally be enough to get those thick-skulled bureaucrats to listen.

“…Got it. I’ll do that.”

The kid stopped, said just that, and left. Such an un-cute kid. A ‘scavenger’ adventurer… To think there was still someone out there who believed in the storybook image of an adventurer so much that he’d call himself unworthy. I was almost impressed.

It wasn’t long before I realized I had completely misunderstood the meaning of his words.

Lately, a heavy atmosphere had settled over the guild. The cause, needless to say, was that kid.

Ever since I told him to bring in the whole carcass, he’d started doing it. And the frequency was increasing. It was a slow creep, but it was undeniable, and it sent a chill down the spine of every guild employee, including me.

“No monster tracks in the shallow parts of the forest, but I saw plenty of beasts. All of them seemed… agitated.”

Hearing that report from my old friend, I gritted my teeth. Why hadn’t I tied that damn envoy down and made him stay?

“If this is the prelude to a full-blown outbreak, we can’t afford to sit around.”

My friend, who usually seemed so lax and unserious, was dead-serious. That’s how cornered we were.

“I’m sending a messenger to the capital. We have to get a mage here, no matter what.”

The corpses the kid brought in had no magic wounds on them. They were all covered in… slashes. Were monsters fighting each other? Or… unthinkable… was the kid killing them himself? No, that’s stupid. Why would someone who could kill a monster solo say he’s ‘not worthy’ of being an adventurer? Killing a monster with a sword alone… that’s a feat straight out of a fairy tale.

“You’re bringing in more monsters lately. Know anything about it?”

I asked him this one day when he brought in another one. The sad truth was, this newcomer kid knew that forest better than anyone. He was the only one who could go that deep with just a sword. He was our only source of information.

“I dunno. Maybe it’s their breeding season?”

He said it without a trace of interest, already counting his money. He’d gotten bigger, with a faint shadow on his chin. He was starting to have an air about him that didn’t match his age. Maybe that’s why his gruff attitude didn’t bother me as much as it used to. I’d gone from thinking he was an annoying brat to just… accepting that this was who he was.

“Breeding season… I’ve never heard of monsters having one of those…”

The monsters he was bringing in were animals corrupted by miasma. If they were increasing, it meant miasma was pooling in the area. Were they fighting over territory?

“I don’t know about that, but this is bad.”

I’d already sent a guild member to the capital with a letter and the monster materials. My adventurers still weren’t seeing anything in the shallow parts of the forest. But the depths were a different story. And this kid was going in and coming out with proof. With proof, I could get a mage from the capital.

“But when…?”

It would take months just to get to the capital and explain the situation. Then months for a fast horse to get to the Royal Capital. And months for a reply to get back. We could be looking at a full year.

“…Gods, if there are monsters out there, please… let that kid be the real deal.”

If he couldn’t actually kill those monsters single-handedly, this town was finished.

I spent the night stewing in my anxiety, then went to the counter to wait, trying to suppress the dread. Would he come today?

He did.

And he looked… different.

“What… is all this…?”

He dumped an enormous pile of horns, claws, and fangs onto my desk. But more shocking than that was the kid himself. He was covered in his own blood. This wasn’t the usual ‘covered in dirt’ look. This was the look of a man who had just walked out of a desperate, bloody battle.

“There were too many bodies. I couldn’t bring them back whole.”

His words made my blood run cold.

“This… all this… you…?”

…did this? I couldn’t get the words out. If he was just scavenging, why was he covered in injuries?

The kid just nodded.

I lunged over the counter and grabbed his shoulders.

“How many more were there?! Did you see any others?!”

If this many monsters charged the town, we were done for. An old mage and a few washed-up knights wouldn’t be enough.

“……!”

The kid’s face twisted in pain. Dammit. I’d grabbed him right on his injuries. But this was an emergency.

“Sorry. But this is… this is a huge amount. The guild needs to know the situation.”

Whether there were survivors or not, I had to wake my old friend up from his patrol-leave and get him out there to investigate.

“I killed all of them.”

But in total contrast to my panic, the kid just… said it. Casually. As if it were nothing.

“A-all of them? You killed all of them?”

“Probably. At least, all the ones I found.”

“Nothing attacked me while I was carving these off,” he said, holding out his hand. It took me a second to realize.

“I… I see… Right. The money… for all this…”

I thought I must be dreaming, but the overpowering stench of blood coming off the kid was proof that this was real. I filled a pouch and put it on the counter.

“Here. Your cut. Also… where in the forest did you kill all these? I need details. I’m sending some of my adventurers to investigate the area.”

This time, as he reached for the pouch, I grabbed his hand—gently, but firmly. I couldn’t ignore this anymore. If more appeared, this would become a matter for the Royal Knights. The kid said he was tired, but when I offered him more money, he started talking.

“Follow the river east. You’ll probably find the bodies still lying around.”

I followed his directions, taking my old friend, the fossil-mage, and a few of my most trusted adventurers deep into the forest.

“First time I’ve been this deep,” my old friend muttered, marking the trees as we went. “That kid… he comes all the way out here?”

“Your desk job hasn’t made you soft, has it?” he teased.

“Shut up. And stay alert. If anything happens, defensive formation around the mage.”

Just as I snapped back at him, the adventurer on point raised his hand. Halt.

“Smell that? Blood. A lot of it.”

I pinched my nose to clear it, took a few breaths, and then inhaled deeply. Even without the tracker’s sharp senses, I could smell it. The faint, coppery tang.

“It’s just ahead.”

We moved slowly, matching the tracker’s pace, slipping between the trees. With every step, the stench grew stronger. And then, the trees thinned, and we stepped into a clearing.

The sight that met our eyes was unbelievable.

“What… what is this…?” the tracker whispered. He was speaking for all of us.

“Monster corpses… so many of them…”

More than ten monster bodies were littered on the ground. Every one of them had its horn cut off, and their bodies were covered in… slashes.

“These wounds… they’re not from claws or fangs. They’re from a sword.”

My old friend knelt, examining a corpse. Then he looked up and pointed deeper into the clearing.

“And look. At that big one.”

There, further in, was a monster easily one or two sizes larger than a Rat-Beast. It looked like a bear, but not one from around here. It, too, had its throat torn open and was soaked in blood.

“It’s the same with all of them,” my friend continued his analysis. “Struck in a vital point. And not just once. Looks like they were hit in the same weak spot, over and over and over.”

The tracker and the mage, hearing this, also began to examine the bodies.

“A sword… he killed them with a sword? Not with magic, like me…?” the old mage trembled.

“It’s not impossible,” my old friend said, calmly scanning the perimeter while the old mage freaked out. “There are freaks like that on the front line. In the Knights, too. More importantly… it really does seem like the monster presence is gone.”

The tracker was also moving from corpse to corpse, confirming they were all dead.

“So, Guild Master. What now?”

“What can we do…?”

I knew what he was getting at.

“That kid… he’s the real deal.”

“After seeing this, I can’t deny it. But it doesn’t change anything. He said he wouldn’t become an adventurer. That he’s ‘not worthy.'”

I shrugged, saying I had no idea why someone who could do this would think he wasn’t worthy. My old friend stroked his chin, thinking.

“‘Not worthy,’ eh… I don’t think he meant he wasn’t worthy of being an adventurer.”

“Huh?”

“We didn’t grasp the situation until this many had already spawned. We were patrolling, sure. But if that kid hadn’t been cleaning them up, their numbers would have swelled, they would have charged the town, and it would have been game over.”

His words were a knife in the gut for a guild master responsible for defending this town. But I couldn’t deny it. I’d been suspicious of the corpses, but I never dreamed this many were out there.

“When the kid said ‘not worthy,’ he didn’t mean himself. It was the other way around.”

“You mean… this town wasn’t worthy of him?”

As I said it, the tracker, who had been listening, stiffened. It was an insult to the guild he belonged to.

“It just means you were right all along,” my old friend said. “The place for him… is the Royal Knights.”

“…I don’t know why he’s still here, but we have to do what we can.”

So, that cheeky brat who came in demanding to be an adventurer… turned out to be someone truly blessed by the god of the sword? It was a story too perfect for a fairy tale.

I sighed, looking out over the field of dead monsters.

It looked like I’d be sending another fast horse to the capital.