Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Unfair 

We slept that night at an inn near the castle and went back to the castle gates the next morning. We were taken to the throne room, where Trash was waiting for us. Itsuki was there as well. He seemed to be grumbling something about how he hadn’t really lost the duel. 

“At this rate we’ll never be able to abolish slavery here,” he mumbled. 

But from what Father had told me, it was his full intention to get rid of slavery as soon as he could. Itsuki’s point was that so long as a hero had slaves, abolishing slavery would be difficult. And for that reason, Itsuki glared at Father as if Father were his mortal enemy. And Ren was staring at Itsuki in turn with an unpleasant expression. 

But it was too late for them to steal anything else from Father, I say! Even with a large group of castle guards surrounding Keel, Sakura, Yuki, and Kou, if push came to shove, we’d have no trouble defeating Trash and Itsuki. I nearly burst into laughter. 

Still, I noticed that Father seemed to be proceeding cautiously. I remembered him mentioning last night before going to bed that although he lost his temper and ended up winning, it might have made things easier in the long run to lose on purpose since, if the course of events deviated too far from the first go-around, we might end up in a tough spot. 

We had a month and a half until the next wave of destruction. That was when Father’s name was finally cleared in the first go-around. So to get there, we’d have to continue to pretend like we were staying in Melromarc for the next six weeks. 

Trash looked over the four of us from his throne and cast Father and me a glance as if to say we were rubbish. 

“Now I will be giving out some funds to help you prepare for the next wave of destruction,” Trash said. 

One of his attendants brought out pouches of coins. I could tell that they were all of different sizes, but even the smallest should have about 500 silver coins. 

Father had warned me last night that because of the incident yesterday, Melromarc might try to start something new. But if they did, that would just further accelerate Ren’s suspicion, as he had already observed plenty of unfairness toward Father. In fact, it seemed like Ren had already broken off from Melromarc entirely. 

“Dispense the funds,” Trash said, and the attendant passed the bags out. I glanced inside, and as expected, there were around 500 silver coins. Father’s pouch was about the same size as mine. 

So what to do with this new money? 

Based on how far along we were in the timeline . . . it was the perfect time to find Filo-tan, I say! 

Oh yes! I know for a fact that Father first purchased Filo-tan around this time. In the previous round as well, this was when I had bought up all the filolial eggs from the monster trainer. But Filo-tan hadn’t been among them. 

Just what had Father told me about the time he got Filo-tan? 

All I could remember was him saying that he bought her from the monster trainer. The specifics were unclear. 

Maybe it was actually the monster trainer who had told me that, not Father. I couldn’t exactly remember. Either way, I knew that the timing was right. 

Since we were still caught in a situation where we couldn’t trust anyone, I had to consult with Father first. 

“To begin, Sir Itsuki,” Trash said. “Your noble deeds have been felt across the realm. You’ve taken on difficult missions and fought hard for the benefit of our nation. As a result, we’ve awarded you 7,600 silver coins.” 

Father’s jaw dropped. 7,600? That’s 76 gold coins! It was the amount I had received from Melromarc in the first go-around, plus more. I guess this time around Trash gave even less to the rest of us. 

Itsuki raised the enormous pouch of jangling coins and showed it to us. “This is the reward for following the path of justice,” he said. 

Itsuki seriously irritated me. No, you were simply following the path that Trash and the Crimson Swine laid out for you, you fool! 

“Next to Sir Ren, for fulfilling the mission and fighting the wave of destruction, we’ve awarded you 3,800 silver coins.” 

“Half of what Itsuki got?” I muttered. 

That was the same as what Ren got in the first go-around. Since he had no reason to be mistrustful of Trash and the Crimson Swine, he had taken it without complaint. But now, he undoubtedly felt that it was unfair that he had gotten less than Itsuki. He didn’t outwardly make a fuss about it, even though the rumors spreading around Melromarc were all focused on the deeds of the Sword Hero and the enigmatic bird saint. 

Ren’s companions could tell that Ren was angry and didn’t even try to say anything to him. 

“Next up is Sir Motoyasu. Since you didn’t achieve anything of particular note, we’ve awarded you 500 silver coins.” 

Much, much less than Itsuki and Ren. I supposed that from Trash’s perspective, I was as good as Father’s accomplice, so he was doing everything he could to slow me down. Unfortunately, Father is way ahead of you, Trash! 

I felt a slight urge to kill him and be done with it, but patience is a virtue, I say. Only another month and a half, and we’ll be done with it. 

I saw the Crimson Swine sitting next to the king with a pleasant smile on her face. What a revolting sight. 

Last up was Father. 

“Hmm, we would’ve appreciated a bit more effort from the Shield Hero,” Trash said. “We’ve also subtracted the cost of healing Sir Itsuki. That was 200 silver coins.” 

So Father was only getting 300 coins? I supposed they added that portion to Itsuki’s reward. They really had no shame. 

“The cost of healing was 200 coins?” Ren asked, glaring at Trash. “You mean the result of forcing them into a duel? And Naofumi did just fine in the wave of destruction.” 

I could tell that Ren was pretty much fed up with Melromarc at this point. 

Ren turned to Father. “It sounds like they’re mad that you haven’t done any jobs for the guild yet,” Ren said. “You heard of it?” 

Father glanced at me. It’s not like Trash would’ve given Father the chance to do a job if he had wanted to. But what was the best response here? I didn’t want to send Ren out of control. It wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario like that, if we answered wrong here. If Ren did snap, he would still trust us just fine, but his relationship with Itsuki would be totally severed. 

I sensed that we were losing our last chance to keep Ren calm and on track per the events of the first go-around. 

“You see, we met with the guild, but they didn’t offer us any work,” I said. 

“Gotcha,” Ren said. “Well, it is Melromarc, so I honestly shouldn’t be surprised.” 

It would be hard to lie to Ren in this position. We would risk all of our hard work going to waste if we told a lie and got caught. And we couldn’t just say that we hadn’t heard of the guild either. This whole scenario was a gamble from the beginning. 

I wasn’t sure what he would do next, but I had to keep in mind that Ren staying alive was also crucial to our success. We knew from the last go-around that Itsuki was prone to falling in line with Melromarc. Which meant we had to protect Ren as well. 

If Ren were to flee, I figured he would go to Zeltoble. But would Melromarc go after him? He hadn’t done anything beyond simply be suspicious yet, so I think they would let him move freely. He hadn’t totally turned on Melromarc. But it was certainly a possibility that they could go after him like they had done with Father, making him an enemy of the state. 

As I had done with Itsuki last time around, it was worth considering killing off Ren’s companions. 

When I thought back on the last three months, it was clear that the Church of the Three Heroes had been hiding a lot of their suspicious activities. I decided that I could simply sit back and watch their plans backfire and see how Ren reacted to the news that the princess was helping Itsuki from behind the scenes. And in the meantime, Trash would still want to drive us away. 

Which means that, ultimately, not too much would be different from the first go-around. 

Ren turned to Trash and pointed at him. “You should be giving a minimum . . . No, you should be treating the heroes equally.” 

Trash crossed his arms. “Hmph. It seems like the guild may have let their personal feelings toward the Shield Hero interfere with their treatment of him. On their behalf, I apologize.” 

He may have said the words, but I didn’t sense an ounce of sincerity there. Trash simply wanted to see Father lose and suffer, and there was nothing else we could do about it. 

“So the guild believes the nonsense rumors about Naofumi and wouldn’t give him a job, and you punish him for it?” Ren asked. 

“For the inconvenience, I shall increase the Shield Hero’s reward by 300 silver coins,” Trash said. “I would suggest simply taking it.” 

So Father got an extra pouch of money. I could tell by Trash’s body language that he was reluctant to hand it over, and by the Crimson Swine’s obviously manufactured smile. 

Like Ren, I, Motoyasu Kitamura, was tired of this farcical charade! It was all I could do to hold in my vomit. 

“That concludes our little gathering today,” Trash said. “Until we meet again, I hope that you continue to make a great impact on our nation!” 

Oho? This time, he didn’t say that Father’s reward was consolation money for him to leave the country. I supposed that Trash understood that if he went ahead with that, Ren would give him a hard time about it. 

Which meant that we had to do something to make Itsuki start to mistrust Melromarc. It seemed impossible at this point. 

Regardless, we had to do something. 

And with that, we left Melromarc castle. 

“Hey, get out of the way! Move it!” 

“I’m sorry—but wait, just a moment—” 

Ren appeared to be on his way over to us when one of his companions had gotten in the way. Father noticed it and quickly started to walk over to meet Ren. 

“Hey, Ren,” Father said. 

“Naofumi,” Ren said. “I was trying to talk to you, but this idiot keeps getting in my way.” 

The companion had followed Ren over and finally backed down. 

Judging from the last go-around, I knew it would be pretty risky to start a conversation in the middle of the street here. 

“If you want to talk, may I suggest going to someplace quieter?” I interrupted. “Away from your companions?” 

“Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s go somewhere else. You all, go wait for me at the pub,” he said to his companions. 

“B-but, Sir Ren! Wait . . .” 

Trembling, the companion who got in the way still didn’t leave. Ren let out a deep sigh. 

“What is it already? Something that you have to tell me about? Well, I’ve got to tell something to the other heroes here. If I told them right in front of everyone, we wouldn’t get very far, would we?” 

It seemed like a single adventurer wouldn’t be enough to slow Ren down. 

“If you insist on following me everywhere I go, I’ll dismiss you,” Ren said. 

“B-but, Sir Ren! Don’t do that to us!” 

Reluctantly, Ren’s companions went away. Ren was prone to assertive action from time to time, after all. 

“I can explain everything,” I said. 

“Please do, Motoyasu.” 

“At once, Father!” I declared. I gestured to Yuki, Kou, and Sakura to come over and I whispered to them. 

“Make sure that no one is hiding nearby to overhear us,” I said. “If someone is, give me a cue.” 

“At once,” Yuki said. 

“So like hide-and-seek!” Kou said. 

“Let’s go and take a look,” Sakura said. 

Filolials had an excellent ability to detect hidden people and objects. It didn’t mean that it was completely impossible to hide in their presence, but if someone were detected hiding, all I needed to do was find them myself with a spell and eliminate them. 

So we took Ren into a back-alley to continue our conversation. This alley seemed like it would work just fine. 

I lowered my voice so no one could hear me and chanted a fire spell: “Liberation Fireflash!” 

It was the same spell I had used back when we were in the mole village, which revealed the presence of anyone hiding nearby. The spell depended on how skillfully hidden the people were, so if anyone had sloppily hidden themselves, the spell would set them on fire instantly. 

“This is better,” I announced. “So, Ren, what can we do for you?” 

Ren cleared his throat. “Just based on everything that happened up until now, it’s all too obvious that there’s something up with this country. The blatant discrimination I saw against the Shield Hero made me want to ask you guys about it.” 

“Sure,” Father said and glanced at me. 

Ren appeared to be confident that Melromarc was a bad actor. So it was about time to tell him a few things. 

“Well, it seems that in Melromarc the Shield Hero is actually the antithesis of their religion,” Father explained. “But if they officially do anything against me, the other countries in the region will get mad at them. So behind the scenes, they’re making up crimes that I committed to give them an excuse to try to assassinate me. At least, that’s what we’ve come to think.” 

Ren nodded several times. “That definitely seems to fit with everything we’ve seen so far.” 

If you thought about everything that happened objectively, it would be hard to doubt Father’s conclusion. 

“And the whole rape thing is just another one of their accusations?” Ren asked. 

“Yep,” Father said. “I didn’t do anything to Myne. And while some of the people on my team are technically slaves, I’m definitely not forcing them to fight. Given the circumstances, I had no choice but to buy companions as slaves.” 

“That’s right!” Keel interjected. “Big Bro hasn’t forced me into anything I didn’t want to do!” 

“Got it,” Ren said. “So why don’t you just leave Melromarc?” 

“Well . . .” Father trailed off. 

I wasn’t confident that Ren would believe us. The whole time loop thing. About how if we went to Siltvelt, Melromarc would eventually declare war on them. That the heroes would end up fighting all sorts of pointless wars. It was a lot to ask someone to believe. 

“It’s complicated,” Father responded. “I want to try to change Melromarc from the inside. That’s why I’m sticking to peddling for now.” 

It was the best response we had, and it wasn’t a lie either. No one in the universe could come up with on-the-spot answers like Father, I say! 

“It sounds like a pretty annoying way to go about things to me,” Ren commented. 

He wasn’t wrong about that. Every step of the way had been annoying. 

When I thought about what Trash and the Crimson Swine had done, it was all I could do to repress my rage. And Itsuki had become nearly as bad! Thinking about how Father had defeated him brought a smile to my lips. 

“Wait! Look!” At that moment, fire from Liberation Fireflash blazed up behind us. Had Melromarc sent an assassin already? 

“What’s wrong?” Ren said. “There are all sorts of random fights in alleyways like this.” 

“I suppose you’re right.” Ren didn’t appear to even remotely realize that someone had been secretly approaching us. 

“Look, I’m going to have to pass on getting involved in these ridiculous power struggles,” he continued. “I’m going to take a guild job and get out of here and go to Zeltoble.” 

“I understand,” I said. “I think that we should be able to resolve things in Melromarc pretty soon, so why don’t you meet back up with us here then later?” 

“Maybe. Do you know when?” 

Ugh. I didn’t want to have to explain things in detail. 

Since Ren tended to be a contrarian person, I wondered whether he would end up going to Faubrey instead of Zeltoble if I told him that he definitely should not go to Faubrey. But Zeltoble wasn’t bad either in terms of a place for Ren to wait while we took care of things. 

“I’m not exactly sure,” I admitted. “From what I’ve heard, when Trash’s power reaches a precarious state, there could be a regime change. If that ends up happening, do you think you would come back here so we could work together?” 

“It’s certainly not a bad idea,” Ren said, nodding. “In Zeltoble, I’ll probably hear rumors about what happens over here anyway, so I can just pay attention to those and respond on the fly.” 

I supposed that trying to cooperate too much with Ren was ultimately pointless. 

Ren looked at Father. “And nice job beating Itsuki. How’d you pull it off?” 

“About that,” Father said, “I was meaning to tell you, Ren. There are a lot of different power-up methods for our weapons. What I did for the fight was use one of those methods.” And Father went on to teach Ren about the power-up method he had used. But it was a waste of time. Ren was too confident in his own knowledge of the game, and Father’s wisdom went in one ear and out the other. 

“The system isn’t really that complicated,” Ren said. “You just fought harder.” 

Ren kind of tried the power-up methods. But since he didn’t really believe they existed, they wouldn’t work for him. 

“It’s not that I think you’re lying to me,” Ren went on. “I guess they just work for your weapon but not mine. Just like each of us came from different worlds, the games we played were different too, and that affects the way our weapons work.” 

Ren nodded as if that settled things. Well, in that case, I couldn’t expect Ren to get much stronger than he was now. 

“I can’t implement them with my weapons, and you were just stronger according to your level,” Ren continued. “I guess that’s pretty much how the system works. All right, you two, stick together.” 

“Well, that’s not quite . . .” Father tried to cut in, but Ren steamrolled over him. 

“I have no idea why you would bother trying to change this country from the inside, but I’m sure you can do it.” Ren nodded. “See ya later.” 

As noncommittal as ever, Ren waved and went running off. 

I supposed it was pretty difficult to comprehend the strength of the Shield Hero. It sounded like as soon as Ren finished his guild jobs, he planned to leave Melromarc. Melromarc certainly wouldn’t let Father leave, but maybe Ren would be able to get out without an issue. It felt a little bit dangerous to me, but even though he had expressed his doubts about Melromarc, I suspected that they would still let him do what he wanted. But if they went after Ren’s life as well, maybe he would come back to us for protection. 

At this point, Ren was strong enough that the average soldier or adventurer wouldn’t pose him any danger. Enemies that could use ritual magic were another story, but those enemies would almost certainly go after Father before Ren. 

Without a doubt, sooner or later Melromarc would pretend that Father had captured the second princess and attack the heroes and try to deal with Ren then. But we still had plenty of time until that happened.