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Today, part one
In the blink of an eye, word of the duel had spread... or rather, the Duke had spread it. Apparently,
"It's much better to let as many people know as possible before crushing him — that way, there's no room for weaseling out."
Those were his words. As expected of a duke — he may look easygoing, but he's plenty cunning underneath.
Thanks to that, the city had taken on the atmosphere of a festival. After all, it was as if a rookie adventurer had picked a fight with a noble. And the duel had the official backing of both the Guild and the Duke. For the citizens, it was a fun bit of entertainment that had popped up out of nowhere. All across the city, bets were being placed among the townspeople.
The Guild appeared to be acting as the bookie as well.
According to the Guild's odds, the current spread was 3.5 to 1 for me and 1.2 to 1 for the baronet. People who knew me were betting on me, but most ordinary citizens were betting on the baronet, since there was no way a noble would lose to a newbie. Lily and the old man even came over to thank me, saying they'd be able to make easy money.
By the way, Flute was frustrated because, as the bookie, she wasn't allowed to place a bet herself.
Since the opportunity was there, I decided to bet on myself.
"Hello, Flute. Would it be all right if I placed a bet too?"
"Oh, Tenma. That's fine, as long as you're not betting against yourself."
At that moment, the citizens nearby made remarks like "There's an idiot" and "Lucky, the odds just went up."
The adventurers who knew me and had already bet on me were desperately trying not to laugh.
"How much would you like to wager?"
Flute asked, pulling out a betting slip,
"One million Gold, please."
When I produced a single platinum coin, the crowd murmured. After that, two types of cries erupted — the jubilant cheers of those who had bet on the baronet, and the jeers of the adventurers who had bet on me.
From those who had bet on the baronet came laughter and taunts — "He's a genuine idiot," and "What a nice guy, going out of his way to fatten up our winnings."
As for the adventurers who had bet on me, I was showered with crude remarks like "Read the room, you moron" and "Don't you dare lower the odds, you idiot."
"Yes, your bet has been accepted. Please be careful not to lose this."
Flute-san was the only one functioning normally. By the time I took the betting slip and left the guild, the jeering continued without pause.
Afterward, I heard that some of the townspeople who caught wind of my story switched their bets to me, but even more people had begun placing large additional wagers on the baronet, so in the end, my odds settled at 3.6 to 1 and the baronet's at 1.1 to 1.
The duel was set for around noon tomorrow, and the baronet was supposed to arrive by this evening. I decided to head back to the inn to tend to my weapons. But along the way, I felt eyes on me. And not just one or two pairs.
At first, I figured people were staring because of the duel, but something about those gazes didn't feel right. I changed course and went to visit Primera at the Knight Order.
"What seems to be the matter, Tenma-san?"
As soon as I finished checking in at the reception, Primera came right over. When I explained the situation, she immediately sent her subordinates out through the back entrance to scout the surrounding area. Before long, they returned in plain clothes and reported that four unfamiliar men with the look of adventurers had been spotted lurking in the alleyways.
"I can't say for certain whether they're surveillance or intend to do you harm, but nine times out of ten, they're the baronet's people."
That was her conclusion. I agreed. Or rather, I couldn't think of any other explanation.
After thinking it over for a moment,
"Primera-san. Would it be possible for me to stay at the Knight Order headquarters tonight? Of course, I'll pay for it."
I made the proposal. Hearing this, Primera said she wasn't able to make that decision on her own and left for about ten minutes to "ask the other captains as well."
When Primera returned, she said,
"The other captains have given their approval as well. However, the condition for payment is that you help organize the armory."
She wore an apologetic expression. Not quite understanding what that face meant, I was led to the armory — and then I understood.
"Well, this is... quite something..."
Piled in front of me was a mountain of old weapons and armor, all heaped together in complete disarray.
"I'm so sorry! One of the captains heard that you can control Golems in large numbers, and suggested that someone like you wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt, so it was approved."
Primera apologized profusely. But something like this was hardly a big deal, so I agreed to it.
"It's a great help! We just kept putting broken and outdated things in here, and before we knew it, it turned into this, and it's become impossible to manage,"
she said,
so I asked,
"Which squad is in charge of this place?"
She averted her eyes and replied in a small voice,
"...It's the Fourth Squad."
"That's your jurisdiction, isn't it!"
That was the moment I understood why this job had been dumped on me.
"I'm so sorry! None of my squad members are any good at this kind of thing..."
She kept bowing over and over.
"Ahh... well, I was the one who took it on, so I don't really mind... But just to be on the safe side, could you assign a few people to me under the guise of supervision?"
I asked, partly for security purposes.
"Leave it to me! I'll have some of the people who aren't busy help out as well!"
That's what she thought I meant.
And among the five people who gathered,
"Then, Tenma-san, shall we get started!"
For some reason, Primera—the one who was supposed to be the squad captain—was among them.
"Aren't you supposed to be doing your captain's work?!"
When I said that, Primera replied,
"I'm done for today!"
And she answered cheerfully.
I thought, *Is that really okay?* but headed outside anyway, summoned fifty small Golems, and set them to work.
First, I had the Golems carry the contents outside. While doing so, I had them sort the weapons and armor by type as they set them down.
As for the inventory, the weapons included roughly three hundred swords in total—some broken or chipped—along with one hundred and fifty spears, one hundred bows, four hundred arrows, and one hundred other weapons.
For armor, there were about eighty shields, forty chest pieces, ten full suits of armor, and thirty sets of miscellaneous armor.
On top of that, I had them carry the shelves and other fixtures outside as well.
It took about an hour to finish bringing everything out, so I had the Golems separate the items into those that were merely chipped or rusted and those that were completely broken. Meanwhile, I started cleaning the inside of the warehouse.
First, I generated a thick fog inside the warehouse to dampen everything, then washed it all down with water magic.
After using wind magic to sweep the dirty water outside, I used earth magic to patch and seal up the cracked and damaged parts of the warehouse interior.
All that remained was drying the inside with wind magic.
This, too, took about an hour to finish.
Outside, the Golems and the knights were working together on the sorting.
"I'm done with the cleaning!"
"Huh?! Already?!"
Primera looked shocked. After all, the warehouse had been so cluttered you couldn't even see the walls, let alone think about cleaning them. And not only that, it had been repaired as well.
"Tenma. Won't you join the knight order?"
"I'll pass."
At my immediate shutdown, Primera's shoulders slumped. Barely glancing at her, I joined the sorting work.
"What about the items that can't be restored?"
"Oh, right—those are going to be handed over to the blacksmiths and the like."
Primera said so, but among the items she herself was sorting, even ones that seemed repairable were marked for disposal. When I pointed that out,
"Huh?! This can be fixed?!"
she exclaimed in surprise, gripping a spear whose tip was broken but replaceable.
I took the spear as a test, found another of the same type with an intact tip, and swapped it out. Primera and the other knights stared at the repaired spear in astonishment. Seeing their reaction,
"Hey, Primera."
"Yes? What is it, Tenma?"
I pointed at the knights who were still gawking at the spear and said to Primera,
"Are those knights from good families?"
At my words,
"Yes. My unit has an unusually high number of people from noble backgrounds,"
she said. I wondered if the Fourth Unit was actually a dumping ground, but Primera herself, while a bit scatterbrained, was by no means incompetent and seemed to have reasonable skill. Besides, among those I had seen so far, there were a few who looked like they had decent ability.
(So it's not a completely useless unit — more like a gathering of sheltered kids with her as their babysitter, huh.)
That was my conclusion.
"How about this sword?"
One knight brought over a sword with a chipped tip and a slight bend.
"If you take it to a blacksmith, they can fix this."
"What about this one?"
"This one has an irreplaceable tip, so it's fine to scrap it."
They kept bringing items to me one after another. So I gave the knights a quick lesson on how to assess spears and bows, and then focused on sorting the swords myself.
The sword sorting took about two hours, but the knights still hadn't finished. When I went to help them, Primera...
"Let's take a short break, Tenma."
Since she said that, we all decided to take a break.
During the break, I sensed multiple presences. When I traced the source of them, four knights were standing there. The knights who made eye contact with me showed a surprised expression before approaching. Primera noticed the footsteps and quickly stood up to salute. The knights who had been resting alongside her did the same.
"Ah, sorry for interrupting your break."
Of the four, the eldest male gestured with his hand to wave off the salute and told them to relax. According to my Appraisal,
Name... Alan van Dörtres
Age... 45
Race... Human
Title... Baron, Grand Captain of the Gunjou City Knights Order
That was the result. The knights behind him were,
Name... Santos Knight
Age... 35
Race... Human
Title... Captain of the First Division of the Gunjou City Knights Order, Honorary Baronet
Name... Simon Cairo
Age... 28
Race... Human
Title... Captain of the Second Division of the Gunjou City Knights Order, Honorary Baronet
Name... Aida Rice
Age... 27
Race... Human
Title... Captain of the Third Division of the Gunjou City Knights Order, Honorary Baronet
And just like that, the top brass of the Knights Order had all assembled.
"Everyone's here together — what's going on?"
Primera asked, sounding a bit tense.
"Nothing major. You looked like you were having a rough time, so we just came to check on you. No need to be nervous."
"That's what the boss says, but the truth is he just couldn't sit still once he heard you were with a man."
"Keep running your mouth like that and you'll regret it later. Don't go saying things you shouldn't, I'm warning you."
"Besides, we all heard the guy everyone's been whispering about in this city was here, so we came to see for ourselves."
Alan, Santos, Simon, and Ida answered in turn. Even as they spoke, none of them took their eyes off me.
"So you're Tenma, the one everyone's been talking about... You're young."
Alan was a heavily built man, bald, with his mustache and beard joined into one continuous strip.
"Truly. You'd never guess this one's the fellow who wiped out the entire Banza gang."
Santos was a big man — he had to be over two meters tall.
"People can be deceptive, it seems. He noticed our presence without any difficulty, after all."
Simon was of average build and height, with a gentle-looking face.
"I asked some contacts at the Guild about his history, and if what they said is true, we might not stand a chance unless we all ganged up on him."
Ida was a woman taller than Simon, with short hair and a tanned complexion.
"Is that true?!"
The others looked quite shaken to hear that, and Alan was the one who blurted out the question almost involuntarily.
"Yes, it's true. Everyone knows I don't make that kind of joke."
"I know, but... isn't that going a bit far?"
Simon asked, but Ida shook her head.
"He took down two Ogres shortly after arriving in this city. When he was thirteen."
She said, but Santos replied,
"That's impressive, but we're still stronger."
"It's not just that. There have been eyewitnesses of him single-handedly wiping out groups of B-rank or higher Monsters, and he apparently sold the materials to the Guild. And besides..."
She glanced at me for a moment,
"A while back, I tried releasing my killing intent at him."
she made this bombshell announcement. The knights were absolutely stunned.
I was pretty surprised too, but that sort of thing happened frequently back when I first came to this city, so I couldn't even tell which instance she was talking about.
"So what happened?"
When Santos asked, Ida smiled faintly.
"I thought he was going to kill me. By the time I came to my senses, I had fled all the way back to my room at the Knights' headquarters. I even locked the door and hid behind my desk."
She said she was sorry about that back then, but I didn't even remember it myself, so I told her not to worry about it.
"If Ida says that much... we might actually need to gang up on him to stand a chance..."
Alan muttered with his arms crossed. Then,
"Tenma, why not join the Knights?"
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to decline."
I refused without a moment's hesitation. Primera
"Commander, I tried to recruit them earlier, but got flat-out rejected."
"Oh... is that so."
Alan made a disappointed face. Primera, on the other hand, seemed rather pleased — she now had a comrade who had been
rejected
the same way. Having a fellow reject clearly made her happy.
"Commander, we should head back soon. Any longer and we'll just be in the way."
Simon advised Alan, who nodded. "You're right," he said, and was about to leave, but —
"Alan, sir. Was assigning the Fourth Squad to warehouse duty actually meant to teach them about the weapons?"
I rushed over and asked in a low voice.
"That's exactly it. Among those of noble birth, there are many who have talent but lack common sense. So I have them do as much menial work as possible to drill it into them."
"Keep this between us," he said, and this time Alan finally departed.
"Alright, let's get back to it."
At my command, the knights resumed their work. About twenty off-duty knights had come to help earlier, so those who had already been trained in sorting could teach the newcomers.
That said, when it came to the newer types of weapons and armor, I had to be the one to explain.
By the time three hours had passed, all the sorting was finished. It must have already been dinner time. Primera then guided me to the room where I'd be staying for the night. I also had dinner in the dining hall, but honestly, it was considerably inferior to what Manpokutei served.
Upon returning to the room, the first thing I did was feed Shiromaru and the others.
I took out dried meat and cooked rice from the bag and placed it into the Dimension Bag. Shiromaru latched onto it as if to say "I've been waiting for this."
After that, I polished and maintained my weapons. Once that was done, I slipped under the futon.
Tonight, I decided to turn in early to prepare for tomorrow.
—————— At a certain mansion ——————
In the dimly lit room, a single man knelt before his employer. Several other figures stood around them.
"I'm sorry. I was unable to prevent it."
The one who had reported to the employer was a man dressed as an adventurer. Yet the way he walked — keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible — made those around him think of him less as an adventurer and more as a spy or assassin.
"That brat hid inside the Knights' Headquarters."
At those words, the room stirred. The employer seated before the man — Regil —
"The Knights have taken in that brat?!"
he roared at the top of his lungs, but the man —
"That seems unlikely. I believe the brat noticed someone else who had been following him. As evidence, right after the brat entered headquarters, a single plainclothes knight came out through the back and began searching the surrounding area."
He most likely evacuated as a precaution, the man continued.
"I see. Then that's fine. You'll work again tomorrow. Good work."
"Yes, sir!"
As the man left the room, Regil dismissed the others as well. Then, gazing down at the oath document —
"I'll make that damn brat realize what it means to have me as an enemy."
So saying, he let out an ugly laugh.
Primera is the captain of the Fourth Division, so I found it strange that no other squads were being deployed. I decided to send out only the captain.
Captains who serve for several years receive the rank of honorary title.
Only the Supreme Commander is of noble birth (second son or below), and due to that influence, the position carries a standard peerage. Primera still holds a place in the Duke's household, so she has not received an honorary title.