And now, the main story of Chapter 2 begins.
When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the familiar ceiling of the usual inn. The room was still dim, and it seemed the sun had only just risen outside.
As I sat up, tears traced down my cheeks and fell away.
I roughly wiped my cheeks with the sleeve of my pajamas. It was a dream I'd been having ever since that day, three years ago.
After having that dream, I still felt my mood sinking low.
I stretched my body upward with a jerk, as if trying to shake off that feeling, and took a deep breath. Once, twice, three times...
"Alright! Today's an important day — might as well go wash my face."
After changing into my training clothes, I left the room.
As I descended the stairs beside my room, I greeted a man who had just come out of the kitchen attached to the dining hall.
"Morning, old man."
"Oh, you're up early, Tenma. Good morning to you."
This man is Dozul, the owner of the inn "Manpukutei" where I've been staying. He used to be a veteran adventurer but retired ten years ago when he got married.
True to his name, he's a burly man, but he's always happy to offer advice to newcomers, which is why he's well-loved by many adventurers in this city.
After parting ways with Namitarou, I spent about a year wandering from town to village, and I've been making this place my regular lodging ever since I arrived in "Gunjou City" two years ago.
Gunjou City is located in the "Duchy of Sanga," which lies beyond several small fiefs to the west of the Housest Margraviate.
"Food's gonna take a little longer."
"That's fine. I'll go work up a bit of a sweat in the yard first."
The old man said "Got it" and headed back into the kitchen.
Manpukutei has the reception and dining hall on the first floor along with the kitchen, shared rooms on the second floor, and private rooms on the third and fourth floors. The old man's house is right next door. It's a popular inn — one night with two meals costs 500G for a private room and 300G for a shared room, both below the average rate, and the food is excellent. By day it functions as a restaurant, and by night it's known for serving good drinks as well.
I headed out into the yard and walked to the well to draw water and wash my face. Then I opened the Dimension Bag, woke up Shiromaru and Slarin who were sleeping inside, and brought them out.
"Good morning, Slarin. Shiromaru."
"Woof!"
As if answering my greeting, Shiromaru barked and Slarin shivered, shaking their whole body.
I placed dried meat and vegetable scraps along with water in front of the two of them as a substitute for breakfast.
Once they started eating, I pulled out a hard wooden stick about one meter long and three centimeters in diameter from my Magic Bag and began lightly training with it. I ran through a routine of overhead swings, thrusts as if wielding a spear, sweeping strikes, and deflecting motions.
After about an hour of training, my stomach growled demanding a meal, so I put the stick away, drew water from the well, and washed off the sweat.
I headed back to my room, changed clothes again, and then made my way to the dining hall. Shiromaru and the others were waiting in the yard.
Seeing that I had come for my meal, the inn's female staff brought out the dishes.
"Today's breakfast is vegetable soup, bacon, cheese, a fried egg, and white bread. Make sure you eat every last bite!"
She lined everything up in front of me. The woman's name was Kanna — despite her slender frame, she was a powerful, big-sisterly type of proprietress.
"Thanks for the food."
I pressed my palms together, then tore the bread open on the side and stuffed the bacon, cheese, and fried egg inside before taking a big bite.
"That's quite the hearty way to eat."
Maybe because there were few people today, the old man came over to where I was sitting.
"You were up early today — what's the occasion?"
He asked as he sat down in the chair across from me.
"Yeah, from today I can finally do my full registration with the guild, so I was thinking of heading over there a little early."
I gave him my answer.
In this world, most guilds require you to be at least fifteen years old to register, and anyone younger cannot sign up. However, there is something called a provisional registration that allows those under fifteen to still sell materials and the like.
Provisional registration was easy to set up — all you had to do was pay the 500 G registration fee, and you could register at any guild. The catch was that you'd be treated as the lowest rank, with none of the perks: no accepting quests, no loans, no access to information, and so on.
That said, once registered, even ordinary people and children could sell materials, so the number of provisional registrants was quite large.
That was why I'd gone ahead and gotten my provisional registration done three years ago, at the first town I'd visited.
"Man, it really feels like I'm doing this all over again, huh?"
"I feel the same way, but full registration is way more convenient."
There was no rule saying you couldn't hunt Monsters with a provisional license, so after registering I'd fallen into a comfortable rhythm — whenever my money started running low, I'd go out and hunt a bunch of Monsters, sell the materials, and live off the proceeds for a while. I kept repeating that cycle until I'd actually become fairly well-known.
That did land me in trouble a time or two, though.
"Thanks for the meal."
I finished off the remaining soup and clasped my hands together. I stood up from the table and was about to head outside when—
"Planning to go pick up a quest today?"
the old man asked. If something good comes up, I replied, and headed out to the yard.
"Slarin, Shiromaru — sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go to the guild."
With that, I set off toward the guild.
The streets were bustling with people, but hardly anyone so much as blinked at Shiromaru.
Every now and then someone who looked like they'd just arrived in town would stare in surprise, but once they spotted the red tag threaded onto the red cord around Shiromaru's neck, they'd calm right down.
The red cord and red tag around a tamed creature's neck were proof of being Tamed, issued by the town guard and required by law. You could actually be fined for not having your companion wear one.
In Slarin's case, they'd given me a special red cloth instead, which I'd absorbed just beneath the surface of my body.
After about ten minutes we arrived at the Adventurers' Guild. Shiromaru and the others couldn't go inside, so they waited in a corner out front.
The moment I stepped through the door, several pairs of eyes turned my way.
"Tenma!"
I was called out to by three women near the reception desk.
"Good morning, Lily, Nellie, Millie."
The three women whose names I'd called trotted over, their ears twitching and their tails swaying back and forth.
They were beastkin of the cat tribe — triplet sisters and fellow adventurers. Together they had formed a C-rank party called the "Wildcat Princesses," and they themselves were C-rank.
Ranks ran from F to SS, and excluding the provisional F-rank, an adventurer's class was divided into seven tiers. C-rank was roughly considered the mark of a fully fledged adventurer.
Party rank was determined by the average rank of the top three members.
"Tenma, you're here to do your full registration, right?"
"Let's take on a quest together!"
"Why not just join our party?"
They fired off questions in rapid succession — Lily, Nellie, then Millie, in that order. Their coordination was impressive, as expected of sisters who were always in sync.
"Yeah, that's right, Lily."
"If something good comes up, sure, Nellie."
"You know I always turn that down, Millie."
I answered each one in turn. I had first met these three around the time I'd arrived in this city.
The catalyst had been when I ventured a little ways outside the city to gather materials and happened upon them being attacked by a pair of Ogres. I stepped in to help, and they ended up getting attached to me. They were supposed to be two years older than me, though...
When I casually asked about that, they said it was because I, an F-rank, had instantly killed B-rank Ogres, and the shock of that had left a lasting impression. Since then, whenever they spotted me, they came running over.
At my words, Lily smiled warmly, Nellie went off to look for quests, and Millie started grumbling away. All three shared a similar base personality but had enough little differences here and there that conversations with them were never boring.
"Well anyway, I'm gonna go finish my full registration real quick."
With that, I slipped away from the spot in a hurry. The stares from the other male adventurers were starting to sting.
All three had well-proportioned faces and, while a bit lacking in the chest department, they had toned figures that more than qualified them as beautiful girls. On top of that, they almost always moved as a trio, which made them stand out even more. Thanks to all that, they were quite popular with the men.
As for me, I'm 165 centimeters tall with a lean, muscular build. According to the three girls, my face is a bit boyish but well-featured with good potential, my black hair and dark eyes are rare and eye-catching, and my hair is soft and smells nice, apparently.
Because of that, they always try to stick close to sniff my hair, and every time they do, I catch murderous gazes from their fans.
After shaking the three of them off, I made my way to the reception counter and explained my business.
"Here you go — these are the forms for full registration. Please fill them out. The registration fee is 1,000 G."
I was handed three sheets of paper and asked if I needed someone to write them for me. I said I could manage on my own and began filling in the required information.
Name, age, whether I can use magic, type and name of my Familiars, criminal record — I wrote it all across two of the sheets. The remaining one was a list of rules. In short:
1. In principle, you can only accept quests up to one rank above your own. Take quests that match your ability.
2. Disputes between adventurers and quests taken outside the Guild are at your own risk.
3. Failed or fraudulent quests will result in penalties such as fines. However, exceptions exist.
4. Do not cause trouble for the Guild.
5. Listen to the Guild Master or the Guild Master's deputy.
6. For anything else you don't understand, consult the Guild staff.
That was the gist of it.
I handed the completed forms to the receptionist. After a brief wait, a staff member came from the back with a card. I paid the registration fee and received the card.
"Please verify the contents of your Guild card. We cannot make changes even if you report an error later. Also, reissuing a card costs 3,000 G, so please be careful."
I checked the card as instructed, and everything was correct except for one thing.
"Excuse me, but my rank is listed as D."
I pointed to what should have been E and asked about it. Then:
"There's no issue. You, Tenma, have hunted Monsters of C Rank or higher multiple times even when you were F Rank, so it was decided that there was no need to start from the beginner rank."
That was what I was told — definitely a lucky break. Normally, to raise your rank, you had to complete at least ten quests and pass the Guild's promotion exam. And E Rank basically only got you cheap, low-paying jobs. I figured I might as well take advantage of the Guild's goodwill.
"Thank you!"
As I bowed my head, I was warned not to misunderstand that the promotion exam would proceed as usual.
As I put away my card and stepped away from the counter, Lily and the others arrived.
"You're done, Tenma?"
They asked in unison. I told the three I was finished and showed them my guild card.
"You're starting at D Rank, huh? As expected~"
"Let's go accept a quest with us right away!"
"Form a party, a party!"
As they were about to drag me to the bulletin board where quest sheets were posted, three men blocked our path.
"Lily-chan, forget about a newbie like him, join up with us~"
"That's what I'm saying, we're definitely stronger than some guy like him, so you'll be safe, Nelly-chan."
"Exactly, exactly. It's dangerous if you force yourselves to babysit a rookie, Milly-chan."
They spoke to us with smiles full of ulterior motives. Or rather, they were being incredibly rude right in front of me.
"We decline!"
The three of them refused in perfect unison, then took my hand and tried to walk past.
"Just wait a second! You really should reconsider!"
"It's safer to party with people of the same rank!"
"And besides, we're pretty strong."
Even after being rejected, the three men kept stubbornly pushing their invitation, and in the end, they started badmouthing me.
Useless brat, a scumbag trying to leech off them and take it easy, a lowlife, etc. – they said whatever they wanted, completely unaware that Lily and the others' eyes were gradually filling with fury.
The fact that they didn't know me probably meant they were newcomers to this city. The people around us watched the men with sympathetic eyes.
When the men's relentless invitations became too much to bear, the three finally spoke up.
"Annoying! We already said no, so just give it up already!"
"Even if there were ten or twenty of you, Tenma is stronger than all of you, so we don't need you!"
"Tenma smells nice, but you all reek! Go away!"
One of them was a bit off-message, but I'd let that slide. The men flushed red and trembled at the girls' words. Laughter rippled through the crowd.
"Let's go, Tenma."
Lily grabbed my hand and started to walk, but at that moment, one of the men shouted at her.
"Don't screw with me! You think we're jokes?!"
The man lunged at Lily, and that's when my secret technique exploded into action.
"Secret Technique: Groin Crusher!"
Caught off guard, the man crumpled from a single kick. The men watching from the sidelines went pale and instinctively squeezed their legs together.
"A-Are you okay?!"
"You dirty little bastard!"
The remaining two men glared at me while tending to their groaning companion. Just then, about a dozen men pushed their way between me and the trio, surrounding them. On closer look, they were the guys from the girls' unofficial fan club.
The fan club members spoke to the troublemakers in low voices. The men who'd been harassing us began to tremble slightly.
I caught fragments of what they were saying — stuff like "You've got some nerve trying to mess with those girls," "the fan club's code of conduct," and "that guy is off-limits." The occasional burst of killing intent or words that sounded like curses were directed at me.
When Lily and the others thanked the fan club members, their tough expressions melted into lovey-dovey smiles. Honestly, it was creepy.
We watched the men leave, then headed for the bulletin board.
"Nelly, find anything good?"
I asked Nelly, who had gone to check on the quest board earlier.
"There were a few. What do you think about this one?"
And with that, Nelly held out a quest notice to us.
"C-Rank: Dash Boar Subjugation"... At night, several dash boars appear in a village's fields, causing damage to crops. Request: subjugate them. Reward... 5,000 G plus the bodies of the subjugated dash boars.
That's what it read. The dash boar is a pig-type Monster that can reach up to about 1.5 meters in length. Its rank is D-. Its primary attack method is charging, and if it hits you head-on, it can cost you your life.
However, its fur and tusks serve as materials for weapons and armor, and its meat is rich in flavor with very little going to waste.
"Sounds good, doesn't it? We've hunted dash boars loads of times."
"If Tenma's okay with it, I'm in."
"Me too~!"
After my words, Lily and Milly chimed in as well, and Nelly promptly took the quest notice to the reception desk.
When Nelly came back, she said with a smile, "I registered Tenma as the leader, so you're in charge!"
Since the village where the quest was located was a few hours' walk from the city, we decided to prepare now and set out tomorrow before noon.
With our plan in place, we headed into town to purchase the supplies and equipment we were short on.
"Let's see... potions, magic potions, antidote, paralysis cure, and disinfectant, right? Then water canteens and portable rations... I think that covers it?"
Milly asked, counting off on her fingers as she checked.
"Also, things like rope and hand towels would come in handy."
When I told her that, she dashed off toward the general goods shop, saying, "Then I've gotta go buy them!"
In my case, since I had all sorts of things packed into my Magic Bag, I figured there probably wasn't anything I was missing.
Speaking of the Magic Bag, I had recently improved it and managed to expand its capacity considerably.
As of now, 10
t
Up to about that much fits in easily now. By the way, I also managed to expand the Dimension Bag... but it's essentially become Shiromaru and the others' home, so if I try to stuff anything in there, they get mad.
Speaking of whom, Shiromaru and the others are currently resting inside the bag.
Once I'd bought everything I needed, I decided to grab some lunch. I went around buying food from the various stalls set up nearby.
I had skewered pork and other meats, steamed buns, chilled fruit, and even pastries for dessert. The three of them seemed to have finally had their fill, looking a bit rough.
After sending the three back to the inn where they were staying, I was on my way back to Manpukutei when—
"Hey, hold it right there."
I was surrounded by the same three guys who'd been pestering me at the guild. Annoyed, I ignored them, slipped right through their circle, and kept walking.
"Hey, stop right there, you little brat!"
They surrounded me again. With a sigh, I said—
"What the hell do you guys want? Honestly, you're really getting on my nerves. If you've got something to say, just say it already."
When I asked that, the men flew into a rage and started screaming something.
They were spouting things like "Don't act tough," "Shut up and follow us," and "Don't get cocky, kid," but I could barely make it out (or rather, I wasn't really listening).
With no other choice, I followed the men as they headed into a back alley. After walking for a while, they stopped in a deserted spot.
"You little punk, you've got some nerve pulling that stunt earlier."
"Pulling that kind of crap on us."
"You know what's coming for you, right?"
They laughed in their vulgar voices, so—
"I'm not into guys... so I'll be on my way."
I raised my hand in a quick wave and turned to head back the way I'd come. But they'd already cut off my escape.
"Cut the crap, will you?"
"You're getting awfully big for your britches."
"So pull out whatever you've got and take your beating like a man!"
They kept shouting, and those three kept spouting things like how they'd take their turns having fun with us on the bed instead—words that could only have come from maggots crawling through their brains. That finally got under my skin.
"Hey. What did you just say, you pieces of trash?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them. The men went blank for a second.
"Huh? What'd you just say?"
they shot back, so I asked them once more.
"What did you just say with those rotten mouths of yours? That's what I asked, you lowlifes."
Maybe they finally caught on, because the men started getting angry and came charging at us.
"Don't think a rookie punk can take us on!"
"Nobody gives a damn if one newbie bites it!"
"Just die quietly and get it over with!"
All three came at me at once. I dodged in and sent the one directly in front of me flying with a punch, then pressed the attack.
He was already unconscious from the first hit, but I didn't hold back—I kicked him in the stomach, then shattered the bone in one of his knees. He was screaming and writhing around, so I stomped on his face to shut him up.
When I turned around, the other two were already trying to bolt. I activated my body-strengthening and overtook them in an instant.
As I passed one of them, I kicked out at his knee and shattered it too, then followed up with a punch aimed at his face. He crumpled to the ground, but I left him for now.
I sprinted past the man who had gotten a little further ahead and planted myself right in his path.
"Where do you think you're going, leaving your buddies behind?"
I flashed him a grin as I asked.
The man had gone weak in the knees and was begging for his life. Liquid was leaking from his crotch.
I ignored the man's words and kicked him square in the jaw. With a sickening crunch, his jaw shattered. Dragging the wailing man along, I headed back toward the first man I'd half-killed, making sure to pick up the one whose leg I'd broken on the way.
I lined the three of them up on the ground and casually cast healing magic on them while their bones were still shattered. Once the bones had knitted together enough, I stopped, then splashed them with water magic to wake them up.
The three of them were terrified, but I couldn't care less—
"—and with a smile on my face, I asked: 'So, remind me again — what did you say you were going to do to my companions?'"
All three of them trembled the entire time, never stopping the flow from their crotches.
As of the next day, no one in the city ever saw those three men again... or so I heard.
After finishing my little chat with those lowlifes, I made it back to the Manpukutei without incident.
The Old Man did catch wind of what I'd been up to, but all he said was, "Take it easy, will you?"
While I was at it, I told the Old Man about my plans starting tomorrow. He was kind enough to say that, as long as he wasn't busy over the next few days, he'd keep the room I was currently using available for me.
I headed back to my room, but it was still early, so I did some training in the yard, worked up a sweat, then went to a nearby bathhouse to soak leisurely in the tub.
By the time I got back, it was dinner time and the dining hall was packed. I had no choice but to eat in my room, which meant the hassle of carrying the dishes back to the hall afterward — but Shiromaru and the others were happy to be eating with me, so I felt a twinge of guilt.
After eating, it was a bit early, but I decided to turn in and get ready for tomorrow.
A part of me hoped I wouldn't have a dream like this morning's, while another part wished that, even if only in a dream, I could see my mother and father again.
Heroine candidates have finally appeared. Three of them at once — will Tenma be building a harem from here on out?
Whether there will be more heroines beyond these three remains to be seen.