Volume 5 - CH 1.08

With every delivery that we were running, the thing that remained a constant was the number of Rabbit Meats that we were supposed to be carrying in our Item Boxes, and the exact amount of all the other things that we would be carrying, which was probably supposed to be a method implemented to prevent us Adventurers from Quratar form pilfering any of the supplies, which I would not be doing either way, because I definitely know better than to risk my whole life and reputation getting absolutely ruined over a piece of Rabbit meat or a blanket or whatever the hell else the packages with supplies were containing. To that note, the Knights from the Knight Order always tended to stay grouped together, which was probably their way of keeping tabs on everyone else, which might have offended me if the circumstances were any different, but since they were not doing any kind of identity checks at all because of the emergency that this situation was, this was the next best thing that they could be doing in order to ensure that none of the hired Adventurers would be trying to do anything funny while they would think that no one is currently looking at them.

And just like that, after doing what seemed to be like around ten runs of going back and forth between the castle and the villages, there was finally a moment where I could catch my breath and rest, and you can be damn sure that I was going to use that chance to the fullest, because while this job was not at all as tiring as I thought it was going to be in a purely physical sense, there was another issue which I was anticipating, and sure enough, as I was sitting on a chair resting, I could feel the effects of having my MP drop to the dangerously low levels slowly kick in, but honestly, that kind of thing was to be expected. After all, it has now been around twenty times where I had to cast 「Warp」while we were leaving for another village and on our way back from those villages because that is how everyone else was doing it so I had no choice but to follow their example and do exactly what they were doing to keep myself under everyone’s radar. The last thing I want right now is to be continuously asked the question of how is it that I can create a portal that can last long enough for a trip back and forth between the destination and the castle while having suspicions and quite possibly accusations thrown my way. That is the price of trying to act as everyone else even though you are different than them.

While I was leaning back on the chair, waiting for my lost and expended MP to gradually go back to the level that would guarantee that depressing thoughts are not going to live in my head rent free, I was looking at the members of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy who were all walking past me without paying any kind of actual attention to me. I thought that there was not going to be that many of them among the ranks of the Knights, but apparently I was mistaken in thinking that, as there was surprisingly quite a lot of them, and I was able to determine that because of the signature features of the Elven race: long pointy ears and noble-looking facial features that were making me want to describe even the Elven men not as handsome, but beautiful instead.

I mean really, you would think that the trope of both sexes of the elves being beautiful is just that, nothing but another one of the tropes brought about by the authors of the modern fantasy novels to emphasize just how different they are from us regular humans, but the more I was looking at the Elven Knights who participated in this operation together with us, the more I was realizing that this trope is actually as real as it could be, and I even caught myself thinking that it is not fair for guys to be so beautiful just because they were lucky enough to be born as Elves and that all good-looking guys should just blow themselves up and die so that we the average and not-so average looking guys could also get a chance at scoring ourselves some game, but I guess that this is never going to happen and I feel bummed just thinking about it, so I think it is high time to focus my mind on something infinitely more pleasing for the eyes, mainly: the Elven girls. And oh my God was there a ton of eye candy to be looking at here. It is a good thing that Explorer is currently set as my First Job, because let me tell you, if I was still having Sex Maniac set as the First Job after doing it with Roxanne and Sherry, then I definitely might have done something that would get me thrown behind bars and have my Intelligence Card be thoroughly checked.

There was this one Elven chick that really, and I mean really caught my eye, because she was not even a ten out of ten beauty, she was like fifteen or twenty out of ten. Her face looked beautifully vigorous and filled with youthful energy and her figure was slender, but at the same time she had an appropriate amount of curves in all the places where they were needed. Out of curiosity I used 「Identify」on her, and it revealed that this girl was apparently fifty eight years old, while physically she looked like she was barely even in her twenties! Man, having the ability to check how old people around you really are is quite a powerful ability, if I do say so myself. Now it also made me fantasize about what Roxanne is going to look like when she is going to be fifty eight years old herself. Is she going to look more like Human women of similar age, or is she going to be closer to the Elven women, looking as young and beautiful as she is now when she is sixteen years old?

While I was sitting in my chair with my head firmly in the realm of fantasies about this Elven cutie, the door of the entrance to the hall where I was currently resting have opened, and somebody walked right in. Could it be a patrol? I used 「Identify」to see who exactly was is….. and I almost fell of my chair upon discovering that the person who just walked in was not a member of some ordinary patrol, but someone much, much more important

Brocken North Braun Anhalt

Sex: Male, Age: thirty five years old

Job: Paladin Lv.14

Equipment: Orichalcum Sword, Sacrificial Misanga

Oh my goodness, it is the Duke of Hartz himself. His Job is a Paladin. And he has Orichalcum Sword as a weapon. He was wearing a hooded cloak, so it was pretty hard to see his face, and instead of doing anything in particular, he was just roaming around seemingly without a purpose. Now, I know that since the entire castle belongs to him then he can pretty much do whatever he wants and go wherever he wants without the need to ask anyone for permission, but since he is the biggest of big cheeses here in Bode, then should he not technically have some of the guards or Knights accompany him as his escort? So how come that I am not seeing anyone like that with him right now? Is it exactly because he is the lord of this castle, so he is that confident that no harm is going to come to him in here and that is why he is roaming the halls alone? Well, he probably came here to perform an inspection, but if that is the case, then is it really okay for me to be leaning on my chair this sloppily in front of him? Yeah, since hie is the big shot here and I am just a lowly “Adventurer”, then it might be pretty bad. I do not know the exact etiquette of this world and its ins and outs, but if it is indeed the case that I am doing something extremely disrespectful right now, the I have to fix it immediately, so I hurried the hell up and bowed down to him as he was passing me by. Phew, talk about a close call. That was scary just now, almost too scary if I am to be honest. What would I have done if I was thrown into the dungeon for how rude I acted towards him just now? Yeah, I do not even want to think about it.

「Oh, so you managed to recognize me even though I was trying to be incognito? I commend your sharp senses, Sir Adventurer.」