Chapter 22 – First friends, a flag?

This chapter is the edited version of another translation

Please notice that this chapter has NOT been re-translated but only edited in order to improve the readability

This chapter was merely moved to this blog as the original blog has been inactive for quite a while.

By no rights do I claims ownership of the translation.

◆◇◆◇◆

Let me explain the course of events briefly.

I was an employee of a second-class trading company in Japan and, for some unknown reason, I became the eighth son of a poor noble in the west of another world.

I had talent in magic so I trained in it. I worked hard at studying while avoiding anyone's attention, and I went hunting to improve my eating habits.

My magic gradually improved, and from my master, who had died and became an undead monster called a talking dead for the purpose of mentoring a successor, I learned magic. I inherited all of the magic and legacy from my Master who was originally a human and the magician retainer of a great noble.

In order to prevent an unnecessary succession fight from happening, I didn't mind being called a useless son who does not even help his family, and I succeed in obtaining my freedom.

First of all, for exploring the Savage Lands that boast a tremendous breadth, I used flight and teleport magic that I had learned before hand. I secured the materials and assets that could last me for the many years to come.

Incidentally, it was hard to learn brewing magic to make miso and soy sauces.

Actually, it is a secret as to why this magic is the one that I struggled most with.

One of the village's headman in the territory wanted to make me the next lord. The territory is really small but it could have brought social upheaval like in a history drama if given the right attention.

Of course, it would be a pain in the ass so I refused him politely.

Since I may be invited into some more social upheaval if I were to remain at home, I entered the adventurer prep school located in another town at the age of 12.

Up to this point, the time has flown and about six years and several months have passed.

Since I do many things my own way, I feel like the time flies too fast.

The season now is early in April.

I didn't feel odd about the months since it is exactly the same as in my previous life. The calendar in this world is more or less the same as Japan's.

12 months in one year. The only difference is that every month has 31 days which means that 372 days would make one year.

Length is measured in millimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers.

Weight is measured in grams, kilograms and tons.

Time also measured in seconds, minutes and hours.

Days of the week are from Monday to Sunday where Sunday is basically treated as a day off.

It said that the believers of God go to the church on this day.

For the God they believe in, the God who created this world, giving it a name other than God in itself is outrageous.

A one-god belief. It seems no other Gods exist, at least in this Lingaia continent.

Depending on the region, there is a subtle difference in doctrine as it is associated with the local primitive religion. There are actually some sects that have a long history of being on bad terms with each other, it is a story that can be heard anywhere.

And when it comes to the countryside with rural areas like mine, instead of having no idea about rest days, farmers work every day and go hunting and gathering in their spare time. This is their idea of taking a day off.

They have many holidays when it was the leisure season for farmers, but our village had a lot of work in cultivation and flood control, earning it a bad reputation.

Back on subject, I entered the adventurer prep school in Breitburg without a problem, and also made friends immediately after classes began. In the afternoon a few days later, I decided to start a part-time job because I started getting used to prep school.

I don't need to do such a thing but I don't want others to know about my assets situation too much, and anyway, I won't go into monster domains until I am 15 years old.

I decided to hunt as a part-time job to hone my skills in battle.

I go together with Erwin von Arnim or Erw who is the first friend that I have made in this world that is my age.

"Sigh—, we've finally arrived." (Erwin)

"Not like we have any choice. The nearby hunting places were already taken by others." (Wendelin)

Erw and I arrived at the grasslands that the office in the prep school had told us was a about one hour away by foot.

Breitburg was a big town that boasts a population of over two hundred thousand. As such, it needs an enormous amount of food because of that.

There are a lot of grains and vegetables from farm villages in the vicinity.

As for fish, unfortunately, since it is a hundred kilometers away from the sea, it is mainly river fish preserved with salt or dried fish.

Though the cost of salt is slightly higher it seems to be cheaper here compared to other inland cities because it was brought here in large quantities.

Sugar can also be obtained a little cheaper since it was a southern specialty.

And about meat, the amount is hardly enough as the stock in the city was taken from the area of farm villages.

Cultivation of farmland is constantly being carried out to raise grain production, but is just in proportion to the population that has increased. Production of meat that could be used can not catch up with the amount of grain being produced.

Therefore, the existence of adventurers becomes important.

Speaking of adventurers who hunt monsters by entering the domain inhabited by monsters, some of them only want to get the precious materials or meat which means that not all of them are strong enough to hunt the monsters.

Many of them went to secure meat for people to eat in remote places like this by hunting outside of monster domains.

There are professional hunters for the countryside in rural areas, farmers hunting in their spare time, and villagers sometimes go out hunting together to get the necessary meat.

It was a common knowledge for hunters in urban areas to join the adventurer guilds to go hunting.

Adventurer guilds also serve as the hunter's guild.

So rather than a part-time job for the students in adventurer prep school, this hunting could be called an important job to some people which could determine their prospects.

Wild animals are not as strong as monsters, but adventurers still die every so often from being attacked by a bear or wolf. It still dangerous when one is careless.

One must not go unprepared when hunting.

"Everybody hastily went to the nearby hunting ground." (Erwin)

"Probably because far places are more dangerous." (Wendelin)

Dangerous animals such as wolves were often found in secluded places like this.

And we are just students now so we need to think about tomorrow's classes. As such, most of the part-time jobs are for hunting grounds that were close to the town.

"But you know, isn't the competition too intense?" (Erwin)

"Currently a lot of guys who can't hunt also go out." (Wendelin)

With the hunting grounds that are close to town, naturally the number of prey hunted is less given that they are hunted more frequently.

Since professional adventurers are also in there, many students that are still lacking in experience could not get any results.

This is the so-called "Baptism to the rookie".

Those who could not get any results in hunting give up and change their part-time job to being a salesperson or luggage carrier.

"There would be fewer adventurers this far from town. Right, Wend?" (Erwin)

"Be quiet…" (Wend)

When I told Erwin to be quiet, I investigated the area by invoking magic detection continuously.

"Detection magic? That's convenient to use." (Erwin)

"It's a convenient magic for hunting. Got it…" (Wendelin)

When look in the direction where I had sensed something, I saw a scene of large wild boar digging at the root of a tree on the ground.

It must be looking for yams.

"So big." (Erwin)

"Yeah." (Wendelin)

It would a waste to only stare and make more noise, so Erw and I decided to notch our arrows and aimed out bows at it.

Erw gained his scholarship for the prep school with his sword technique, but due to him hunting since he was small, he was also adept at handling the bow.

His skills should be better than mine since I corrected the trajectory of my arrows with magic.

He had to hunt by risking his life to sell prey for several years, and he got some parts of it for travel expenses or living costs in Breitburg.

"I'll give a boost to the arrows." (Wendelin)

"Okay." (Erwin)

Erw and I shoot an arrow at the same time.

Then two arrows deeply pierced the ass and back of the wild boar.

"This boost thing is handy." (Erwin)

The arrow was reinforced with a boost of wind magic, increasing the flying distance and raising the penetration power of the arrow, allowing it to pierce deeply into the target.

Even a big animal would be in critical condition after just one blow when stuck nicely at its vital point.

It didn't take much damage this time however as the prey had stuck its head into a hole.

"Will it get surprised and escape?" (Erwin)

"Too bad, it got mad." (Wendelin)

I am not sure as I never went hunting in my previous life, but there are many ferocious wild animals that live in this world.

I believe it would be common sense for it to run away when hit by an arrow, but it runs amok for some reason and it tries to get revenge on us who harmed it.

The wild boar, despite the damage, counter-attacks by rushing with intent to inflict serious injuries. An adventurer could die at worst, and some people have become victims in the past year according to a prep school instructor's story.

"It is rushing at us." (Erwin)

"That's rather convenient, though." (Wendelin)

Erw and me shoot the next arrow without panicking.

The arrows are also enhanced with a boost, and both of them pierce the wild boar's head as it rushes towards us.

The wild boar stops moving and topples over while making a tremendous sound.

"Is it dead?" (Erwin)

Erw carefully approached the wild boar. He checked if it was already dead by stabbing it with his sword.

"Lucky. But Wend is also good with the bow." (Erwin)

"That is a result of practice." (Wendelin)

It was complicated to aim at first so I tampered with the trajectory mostly with magic, but my aim as of late is more accurate.

But my skill is still inferior to Erw, as his arrows were stuck right in the middle of the wild boar's head.

"It is easy since Wend can use magic. Please store it." (Erwin)

"Got it." (Wendelin)

I put the wild board that had died in the magic bag right away.

When keeping it in a magic bag, the meat quality does not deteriorate since it is preserved in the same state as when it was put into the magic bag.

It is more efficient to deal with the entire catch after it has been gathered up later so I just store it in the bag.

Even so, the bag I had put the catch in now is something I just made.

It is something I created to practice making magic tools. I also had considered always using a magic bag as the corpse of wild boar would drip blood. I am glad that I made it beforehand.

This new bag can only be used by magicians because I still can't make a general-purpose item for commoners.

And I made it simple, so the weakness is that the carrying capacity of only about one house. It was pretty much only useful as a bag for keeping catch.

"There is plenty of small prey scattered around within one kilometer from our current position." (Wendelin)

"Oh, jackpot. Let's compete to see who can hunt more." (Erwin)

"Loser's gonna treat dinner." (Wendelin)

"Agreed." (Erwin)

I and Erw split up and begin to chase our own prey.

We met up two hours later, and we announced our results at once.

"I got six rabbits." (Erwin)

"That's amazing." (Wendelin)

"Thankfully I narrow it down to just rabbits." (Erwin)

Erw is really good at archery after all.

"I got two rabbits and three guinea fowls. Okay, my loss." (Wendelin)

"I win in numbers. But you're really good for hunting that many guinea fowl." (Erwin)

No matter how good one is in archery, guinea fowls are sensitive to a person's presence so there are many cases where it runs away before it enters the bows range.

This is the reason why hunters say it is troublesome.

I could catch it quite easily because I can change the range and trajectory of my arrows with magic.

"We just bet in numbers, so it's Erw's win. What do you want to eat?" (Wendelin)

"I'll decide after we return to town. What's wrong?" (Erwin)

"500 meters in the east, close to the town. There a reaction of two humans with twelve wolves…" (Wendelin)

"Isn't that bad?" (Erwin)

"Yeah." (Wendelin)

The situation was that a pack of wolves that came to hunt have surrounded the two people.

The wolves that form a group pose a threat to humans, either solo or in a group.

In fact, a lot of people die being attacked by wolves every year.

"Want to save them?" (Erwin)

"It's in our way back, and I'd feel guilty if they die." (Wendelin)

"But will we be on time?" (Erwin)

"No other way. It's an emergency measure." (Wendelin)

I quickly chant magic for strengthening my body and speed up. I went to the scene with frightening speed while carrying Erw.

◆◇◆◇◆

"Bastard! At least explain to me what kind of magic you used!" (Erwin)

"We don't have much time. Let's go." (Wendelin)

I traveled about 500 meters in just ten seconds while carrying Erw. I then confirmed the scene without paying any attention to Erwin's complaints.

In there, two students from the same prep school as us were surrounded by wolves.

One has a spear, and the other is quite unusual as both hands are equipped with gloves which look like they are for Kempo.

In this western fantasy world Kempo is actually widespread as a popular martial art.

It is referred to as the foundation of battlefield martial arts developed to fight bare-handed when one loses weapons on the battlefield. Many schools had been built to teach this martial art.

But its popularity has mostly declined by now.

One could not compete with a ferocious wild animal or monsters bare-handed after all.

Some schools specified it as part of the mandatory training menu for guards who maintain the security in urban areas, so it still remains.

Next is the magic combat style that is widespread among some of the most famous adventurers in the world.

Magic combat style is literally a martial art fought by changing magic power into fighting spirit.

Of course, it can't be used when a person's magic power is insufficient to use it.

It is deemed as strong since it needs magic power of at least between beginner's class and intermediate.

It just that the family member that set up the school can't be guaranteed to be born with magic, so the purpose of such family members is to teach the training style or the technique style to others. This has become common practice in society.

And because this method of fighting uses magic, other spells are not usable while using it.

Needing a minimum magic power below intermediate, and only a few can learn the magic, it was recognized by society as a kind of magic learned by a subtle person.

Nevertheless, since one can fight for a long time with less magic power when the efficiency in consumption of magic power goes up because of training, the adventurer job is in fact also a job for a lot of people to leave their name in history.

"Hey, don't they look familiar?" (Erwin)

"They do." (Wendelin)

And what's more.

The two people who are surrounded by wolves are our classmates who are in the same scholarship class in prep school.

The one wielding a spear is the same age as us, with fiery red hair to waist length, gathered up casually behind.

A beautiful girl with slender figure, Ina Susanne Hildbrun.

Her family seems to run a dojo that teaches spearmanship to soldiers in the local area of Breitburg.

Her name had a noble touch to it, but in fact her parents are not formally nobles.

They were retainers of Margrave Breithilde of Breitburg that have been appointed as teachers to teach soldiers the skills of using spears.

The formal nobles are only the families who are appointed by the kingdom.

So when compared with Margrave Breithilde, it is a noble family with a knight rank like my parents' family.

If a vassal or blood relative that had a high rank becomes a great noble, they would have much more income than my house, but they are just retainers so not exactly a noble.

They would be treated as a noble only in the territory of the noble they served, so they were treated as half-nobles.

In recent years, there are more people such as commoners that don't know much about the difference.

If one does not know about it, no one would be bothered so there is no problem whatsoever.

And it was a common tragicomedy for the child of a retainer to be unable to take over the house.

This Ina Susanne Hildbrun introduced herself as the third daughter.

She would be married to someone, though it is usually not possible for the retainer's third daughter to be married into a branch of their house. Since that's the case, then she can make her way up as an adventurer.

Actually, there were many women who became adventurers are were in a similar situation.

There is a slim chance for a woman to be in the army even if she had the strength, so it was natural to aim at becoming an adventurer.

The other is also twelve years old like us, but she looks like she is ten years old with her petite body.

Still, since she obtained a scholarship using her magic combat style, she must be a pretty girl with considerable prowess.

She had a poker face with short-cut light blue hair. She looks really pretty, and her name is Luise Jorlande Orphelia Orwin.

My memory might be more amazing than I thought for remembering this.

But there are many names for nobles that are uselessly long and bothersome, myself included.

Her parents' family also teaches a magic combat style to soldiers in Breitburg. I heard that her parents are retainers of Margrave Breithilde.

She is also the third daughter like Ina. I remembered that her goal was to be a successful adventurer when she introduced herself.

Admittedly, there is a significant proportion of such people mixed into the scholarship class of prep school.

Of course, there also many commoners as well.

There's a saying that it isn't an easy occupation even for a noble, and it was proof that life is hard in this world.

No matter how many children a noble has, even if everyone was to be appointed as a noble, and no matter how much a kingdom for a budget and territory they had, it will not suffice.

So the offspring that leaves a house becomes a commoner.

These days such cases were increasing even for the imperial family. It was common knowledge that you're not necessarily promised a peaceful life despite being born in the royal families.

If you ask why I had the time do some explanation, I actually had the time to do it.

In that interval, the dropped Erwin, that I had carried, continuously shoots arrows. They pierced the heads of two wolves in quick succession and robbed them of their lives, and the remaining ten dogs were all silenced with the elaborate use of magic.

Starting by isolating the two women from the wolves with earth wall magic, then the wolves were killed at once by a barrage of non-attribute magic arrows.

"My effort is meaningless! I mean, Wend! You don't need the bow if you have that magic!" (Erwin)

"Of course I need it. I can save magic power using a bow and arrow." (Wendelin)

When I get rid of the earth wall that had surrounded the two woman while answering Erw, there was the sight of two people who did not hide their look of surprise.

"Ahem, are you guys okay?" (Wendelin)

"We are okay but…You are definitely Wendelin of the same class as us, right? The eighth son of the nearby Baumeister household." (Girl)

Can I really be friends with the two beautiful girls of the same class that I helped by chance?

Rather, it was me who feels like I spoke with women of the same age for the first time in six years.