Ch.20Changed World’s NPCs (4)

The date with my little sister was a success.

A skewer, a pretty accessory, Ira’s smile and…

“Why do I have to deal with this trash when things were ending so well?”

“W-wait!! My a-arm!! My arm is breaking!! Let go!! Aaaagh!!!”

I was holding Ira’s hand as we walked, since she said she wanted to walk, when a persistent man targeted the space between us. When I deliberately let go of Ira’s hand for a moment, just as I suspected, he reached for her necklace.

If he had yanked it off, it would have surely left a serious wound on Ira’s neck, right? So…

-Crack.

“Aaaaargh!!!”

“Huh? What’s wrong? Why are you screaming, mister? You asked me to let go, so I did.”

Even the people around us seem to think the man is overreacting; I only hear the sounds of them clicking their tongues in disapproval.

That’s right, I did let him go. I just pulled his arm a bit forcefully while stepping on his shoulder before releasing him.

Of course, I don’t know how many people saw what I did, but I simply let go of his arm as he requested.

And not long after…

“Hmm. Confirmed as a habitual pickpocket. Thanks.”

“So he was a repeat offender. I had no idea.”

“Here’s your reward.”

“Thank you.”

“We should be the ones thanking you. Have a good trip.”

“Yes. Take care, everyone.”

The security patrol came running when they heard the commotion, and after I testified that he was a pickpocket targeting my sister’s necklace, they immediately checked his criminal record and identity before giving me a bounty. 8,000 kan—not bad.

“Ira, I caught him.”

“Hehe. He got caught!”

Of course, before dislocating the man’s shoulder, I had Ira play hide-and-seek, and I picked up my adorable sister who had been cutely covering her eyes by herself.

Seriously. What was he thinking, potentially hurting the neck of such an adorable child? Doesn’t he have any sense? I really wanted to rip his throat out, but I held back.

I returned to the inn with Ira, and there…

“Nnnnngh!!!”

[……]

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, Jack! Isn’t this golem too strong?! It’s not budging at all!!”

I found NPC Ray arm wrestling with Gor. Sigh, am I really going on a raid with this person in two days? Is she really going to be okay?

“Hmm? Ira seems to have bought a lot of accessories? Jack is wearing quite a few too.”

“I need to start collecting things. I’ll get armor later too.”

“Huh? What do you mean by collecting?”

“What else? Growth and protection accessories.”

“…What? Protection… what?”

“Huh?”

She tilts her head in confusion at what I just said.

What’s going on? She’s wearing rings and bracelets too. Aren’t those stat growth items?

“What? These? I’m just wearing things I had at home.”

“…Oh, I see.”

Judging by her reaction, it seems people in this world might not know about rings or accessories that increase their stats.

This could be quite important information.

“Are those rings and bracelets enchanted with some kind of magic?”

“What do you think?”

“Hmm… I don’t feel anything from them.”

“You know how to use magic too?”

“No. But I could always sense something from magic swords or the orbs that mages use just by looking at them.”

“But you don’t feel anything from these accessories, right?”

“That’s right.”

Hmm. That’s good to know. After the raid, if I’m lucky, I might be able to easily acquire various items.

I told Ray that I would be participating in the raid two days later.

“Then, in the meantime, Ira will…”

“Obviously stay at the inn and watch the house.”

“Yes! I’ll watch the house!”

“Will you be okay by yourself?”

“Yes. Big brother promised to come back quickly and buy me skewers!”

“…How sweet! You’re so kind!!”

Ray spread her arms and approached Ira, but the little girl who had been answering confidently just moments ago quickly ran behind Gor to hide. Heh, my sister’s guard is hard to break through.

“Sniff. I wish Ira would start calling me big sister soon!!”

“No! Old lady is old lady!”

“Ira, what about Gor?”

“Gor is an old lady too! Gor old lady!!”

[I’m not. Please tell her I’m not an old lady.]

I smiled contentedly watching my proud little sister toying with a woman and a golem. After we arrive in Aigram, I should think about leveling up Ira too. I’m not comfortable leaving her alone at the inn indefinitely.

Even with today’s pickpocket incident, the man was so weak that if Ira had been level 20, she could have broken his arm by herself.

The sight of a small girl breaking a grown man’s arm would certainly be bizarre, but I hate seeing my sister get hurt or injured even more.

The status window grumbles at me, and Gor blocks Ray while representing Ira’s refusal. Watching this heartwarming scene, I felt a simple happiness.

*

“What is this nonsense!! Lost again?! Now you’re telling me they were completely wiped out?!!”

“Your Majesty. Please calm yourself.”

“Do I look like I can calm down?!! The army I sent to reclaim territory was completely annihilated! Annihilated! ANNIHILATED!! The royal knights I dispatched to recover our lands were defeated with only a third returning, and you expect me to calm down in this situation?!!”

“…Your Majesty. Public sentiment and the eyes of neighboring countries are already unfavorable. Even if we have to cede territory to the Empire, we need their support to drive back the Monster Parade.”

“Are you, are you!! Suggesting we hand over this 500-year-old land to the Empire?!!”

The Monster Parade that began at Mount Ponia. Far from decreasing in number, the captured or killed humans became breeding grounds, gradually increasing the monsters’ numbers, and their strength exceeded what they had anticipated.

While they spread rumors to foreigners and citizens that defense lines were being established and the situation was stabilizing, the reality was that every offensive beyond the walls ended in defeat. Honestly, without the large fortresses, even holding out would have been impossible.

Even then, three had already fallen.

“Damn it!! Denpura! Didn’t Baron Denpura say this was caused by a forest keeper’s negligence?!! How could one person’s negligence cause all this?! That forest keeper! Where is this Jack fellow now?!!”

“…Forest Keeper Jack has already left the country according to our intelligence. He’s said to have obtained an international adventurer’s ID.”

“W-what?! We issued a warrant for his arrest, so how did that happen?!!”

“…Your Majesty. I regret to inform you, but there is information that must be conveyed.”

“What is it! What else could possibly be so regrettable?!!”

The king’s close aides and vassals all tensed when the chancellor began to speak.

Delivering the information gathered during the investigation of this incident to the king was an extremely difficult task.

Because…

“After that forest keeper obtained international adventurer status, he became a Gold-rank adventurer that same day, and… when he arrived at a certain village, there are testimonies confirming he shouted that his weekly wage had been 800 kan.”

“…What did you say?”

The moment this information was revealed, the person deserving death was no longer the commoner forest keeper Jack, but the nobleman Baron Bagzak Denpura. Moreover…

“And to verify the truth of this testimony, we investigated the compensation of forest keepers in other areas… more than half of them receive less than 10,000 kan weekly. These are veterans among veterans, all over twenty years of age, and they were unaware that those responsible for their pay were embezzling funds.”

“…What, what does this mean?”

Forest keepers are more important personnel than adventurers or security forces. There might be lands without villages, but there are no villages without mountains.

People live alongside nature, and without someone to protect the mountains, it’s only natural for humans to be overwhelmed and killed by the power of nature and monsters.

That’s why security forces protect villages and cities, while forest keepers guard the mountains, serving as walls protecting the outskirts of human settlements.

At least, that’s what the king believed, which is why he maintained the forest keeper system while providing them with substantial compensation. But…

“…Many commoner forest keepers are illiterate, and the nobles have been exploiting this to embezzle their compensation. Furthermore, in the case of Forest Keeper Jack, who became a forest keeper at age 12 after his father died and raised his sister alone for three years, if he was accused of causing trouble because his pay was insufficient…”

“He must have somehow noticed that his compensation made no sense and acted accordingly. That’s our assessment. In fact, multiple testimonies indicate that during his journey to the border city, he was kind to most people he met and appeared happy with his sister.”

“…Then, the cause of this disaster is…”

“…We believe it stems from the mistreatment by the residents of Poria territory and Baron Bagzak Denpura’s tyranny.”

The king stopped even his breathing and quietly stared at the chancellor who had spoken.

Not long after…

-Thud!

“Bring them. All the nobles who embezzled the forest keepers’ money. Drag them all before me.”

“Your Majesty. I understand your anger, but what’s important now is uniting the nobles to stop the Monster Parade…”

“Chancellor. I am not merely angry. I won’t say it twice. Bring them all before me.”

The chancellor broke into a cold sweat seeing the king expressing a sticky killing intent and anger completely different from when he had raged upon hearing the report of annihilation.

King Grend Ponia XIII. He is neither a wise ruler nor a tyrant.

If he had been a wise ruler, he would have noticed such issues with the forest keepers earlier. But he is certainly not a tyrant either.

Forest keepers are one of the pillars supporting the people’s lives. Those who exploited their lack of education as a weakness to steal from them.

He is not a man ignorant of justice enough to let such people go unpunished. Moreover…

“…From now on, I will personally go to the front lines. Tell those nobles they are being summoned by my direct command to send troops, and also gather the forest keepers they exploited at the front. I will personally apologize to them and ask for their help in saving the country from this crisis.”

“……”

“Your answer is.”

The chancellor was taken aback.

If it were just one or two people, that would be one thing, but if nearly half were engaged in such behavior, wouldn’t executing all these nobles leave the country crippled in the future? But such calculations were quickly settled.

“I will obey your command.”

The issue wasn’t whether the country would be crippled in the future, but that the country was about to disappear right now.

It wasn’t a difficult decision to decide which side of the scale to put the money on.

The snowball set in motion by a single forest keeper began rolling much larger than he had anticipated.