Volume 1 - CH 2

About thirty monsters were surrounding the carriage and three people holding swords and a wand were protecting it and trying to keep the monsters at bay.

I was talking to the horse, not sure if it understood me but with a single「Hee hein 」, it picked up speed towards the pack of monsters.

–Such incredible speed.

「Stop! 」

My yelling did not slow it down, the horse charged into the monsters, sending them flying with a kick as it went. The monsters’ size is smaller than an average person, they are two-legged creatures and wear only crude waistcoats, and wield makeshift clubs in one hand. Calling these monsters goblins would be correct.

The goblins were landing about ten meters away as if hit by a truck and rendered motionless.

I was still on the horse’s back as it ran around kicking the goblins into the air. I thought my neck was going to snap.

It was a few minutes later that it stopped.

I could barely raise my head–

–Bodies of goblins brutally hit by the horse were lying still on the ground.

The ones that were flung off and trampled by it were already dead with splattered blood around.

In shock, I looked at the people who were guarding the carriage and they looked back at me. I managed to hold back the sick feeling surging in my stomach.

How was the horse? The only word it said after all this was「Burr 」.

I dismounted from this unusual horse breed and gave my neck a rub on the back and called out to the bewildered people.

One was a swordsman with red hair wearing leather armour. Another was brown-haired and was also wearing leather armour and carrying a sword and shield. The other was a woman with green hair wearing a robe and carrying a wand. All three looked to be about twenty years old.

「I’m sorry. But this guy refused to listen to me… 」

The three were breathing heavily from what had just transpired and pointed their swords and wand at me in caution.

I raised my hands to let them know that I was unarmed and they let their guard down and lowered their weapons with some expression of relief.

The red-haired swordsman of the trio was the one to step forward.

「I’m sorry to point my sword at you. Thanks to you, we are saved….. Even so, it’s surprising to see a person riding an Obsidian Battle-horse….. 」

I was hesitant to respond and the horse began to bite the back of my head.

「Ha-ha it looks very fond of you. So who are you…? Uh, I’m sorry, I should have given you a proper greeting first, I’m Krada, the warrior behind me is Mirga, and the one with the wand is Nina 」

The two people bowed their heads at their respective introductions. I also introduced myself.

「I am… Touya. I’m a bit lost… I’ve been searching for a city and found you guys getting attacked and I felt like… well… 」

「Lost!? In such a place, it’s the middle of nowhere… And how can an Obsidian Battlehorse be so friendly towards people? 」

It was difficult explaining that I had been unconscious and that when I woke up, I found myself in the meadow and the Obsidian Battlehorse next to me. I further told them that my memories from before that were hazy.

I nodded at his suggestion, seeing how it will be good to have company with me in this half a day journey to the city.

「Hunt-san, the monsters have been taken care of. Everything is okay now 」

The brown-haired Mirga called out to the person in the carriage, and the door opened and the person appeared in haste.

「Oh that’s a relief. Even if there were just goblins, there were too many of them. I couldn’t stop shaking in the carriage! So… who is he? 」

He seemed concerned about me having an Obsidian Battlehorse, which was clearly larger in size than the two horses pulling the carriage.

Krada began to explain what had happened, and when I offered to accompany him, Hunt replied that there was no problem at all. Moreover, since the monster eradication size was of this level, he even promised to offer me a reward.

When we finished introducing ourselves to each other, Krada asked me a question, as we were about to leave for the city.

「Touya, don’t you want to get subjugation proof? 」

「Subjugation proof? I am not really an adventurer, so I don’t know how… 」

Krada explained it to me since I did not understand.

「If it’s a goblin, you take the right ear. The monsters of this class do not possess magic stones 」

I didn’t even have a knife with me, and Krada sighed and decided to cut out subjugation proof for me instead.

「Well, we could have managed somehow, but with this number we could have been seriously wounded. Let us do this much 」

Nina was standing guard as Krada and Mirga cut the goblins’ right ears with knives and put them in a bag, which after they were done was given to me.

「This is your yield. Take it to the Adventurer’s Guild and cash it. If we don’t make it to the city before nightfall we will have to spend the night outside of the gate, so let’s get going 」

「Yes, thank you very much 」

Krada and Nina returned to their seats at the front of the carriage, Mirga sat at the back of the carriage on the luggage compartment to keep a watchful eye on the rear.

I called out to the Obsidian Battlehorse to give me a ride. It looked at me, responded to my words by bending its legs and lowering its body to the height of which I could easily climb on.

「I think it’s better if I gave it a name, that way it’ll be easy to call… It’s pitch black… What about Kokuyou? Is that alright with you? 」

To that question, the Obsidian Battle-horse, Kokuyou happily let out a「Bururu 」.

We then proceeded to the city.

We reached the city before nightfall. The city was surrounded by a stone wall about four meters high.

They said we first need to check in at the gate to enter the city.

「You are not a registered adventurer… are you? Do you even have your citizenship papers? If you don’t, it’ll cost you ten thousand gils to enter the city, do you have it? 」

I pulled out gold, silver, and copper coins from the Dimensional Storage out of my pocket, and asked Krada if they were acceptable.

「Hey! Don’t show me your gold that easily! Single silver coin is enough to get into the city. If you walk around showing off your gold like that you could get attacked 」

Krada’s response made my shoulders stiffen, he also looked uneasy.

One by one people went through the gate, and our turn came.

「Next! 」

The three of them and Hunt issued their documents and I told the guard that I had none.

The gatekeeper looked surprised at me for having an Obsidian Battlehorse but explained to me.

「If you have no paperwork… It’ll cost you a silver coin this time. If you register with the Adventurer’s Guild you can enter the city for free. It doesn’t matter if it’s a commercial guild. Based on your appearance, you are an adventurer right? And since you have an Obsidian Battle-horse with you, you should register it as a familiar at the guild 」

「I was planning to register with the guild. But what is the familiar registration…? 」

「You don’t even know that? Well, when you register at the guild, they should be able to explain it to you 」

「Okay, thank you 」

I paid a silver coin to the guard and went through the gate.

Krada’s group were to accompany Hunt to the Chamber of Commerce at once, and I asked them where the guild was first.

「I’ll be heading to the guild, see you later 」

The three of them and Hunt bid me farewell and drove off through the city in the carriage.

When the carriage was out of sight, I began to also walk with Kokuyou into the city.