Ch.30The Disgustingly Huge Snowball Launched by an NPC (2)

“…so. Ponia will never be destroyed by something like this Monster Parade. Understand?”

“Oh… yes. I understand now that a smart person has explained it twice.”

“Ira understood earlier!”

“That’s right. My little sister is very kind and smart, isn’t she?”

Ragni naturally reaches out and strokes Ira’s head, causing Ira to squint her eyes and smile broadly with pleasure.

“Yes! My brother said I was smart!”

“Haha. That’s true. But your brother seems a bit dumber than I thought. What should we do?”

“It doesn’t matter! I’ll take care of him!!”

“Hmm. You like your brother that much?”

“Yes! Ragni aj…”

“Just Ragni.”

“Ah. Yes! Ragni, do you want to live with my brother too?”

“My, you’re including me? Well, that would be nice.”

A scene just like a family.

Right beside them, Gor watches the three people. Jack is grinning broadly, not minding being called stupid as long as Ira is happy.

And Rey, watching all this. Right now, she…

‘…This atmosphere completely leaves me out of the picture, doesn’t it?’

She was feeling an immense sense of crisis.

The group was riding a carriage heading to the Empire’s border region.

Ragni had joined this group just over a week ago, but Ira was already following her more closely than Rey, who had been with her for almost a year.

How on earth…?

“Huh? What? Oh, right. Go ahead.”

“W-what?! Jack, is something wrong?!”

“Hmm? Oh, no. Gor said he spotted monsters nearby, so I told him to go take care of them.”

“Ah! T-then I should…!!”

“No. If only Gor goes, we don’t need to stop the carriage, but if you go too, we’d have to stop.”

“Ugh…!!”

Gor quickly jumps off the carriage and runs into the forest.

Rey, staring blankly at his figure, grows increasingly anxious. She couldn’t even properly see his movements just now.

“…Hmm.”

“W-what is it?!”

“Nothing, just… Ah. Hey, Jack.”

“Yes. What is it?”

Ragni, who had hummed as if she understood something, ignored Rey and immediately moved to sit next to Jack.

Unlike when Rey or Gor tried to get close to him, Jack simply accepted her presence. Moreover, Ira didn’t try to stop her from getting close either.

Rey felt her heart beating faster at the sight.

“Nothing. There’s just something I’ve been curious about for a while. How exactly do you communicate with that golem? Didn’t you say you can’t use magic?”

“Ah. Gor does that. It’s like… he sends some kind of… feeling? Like this is happening, that is happening.”

“Hmm? That’s interesting. How did you tame him in the first place? Don’t tamers usually have at least some magical power?”

“I got a skill related to that. It’s a skill that allows me to tame just that one regardless of magical power.”

“Wow. Isn’t that better than my skill?”

“No, I think being intelligent is 100 times better.”

“…Could it be that you lost intelligence in exchange for that skill?”

“Haha. That’s a bit harsh.”

“Hehehe. But doesn’t it sound like it might be true?”

The distance between the two was strangely close, unlike when she had been talking with Jack earlier.

Unlike his irritated reactions when talking to her, Jack seemed comfortable conversing with Ragni.

Rey couldn’t understand where this difference came from.

And skills? That was something like an urban legend that even she hadn’t obtained yet.

Rey grew more anxious seeing Ragni discover in just one week what she hadn’t learned in a year—that Gor was controlled by something of that nature.

And then.

“…It’s a challenge. Ragni, let’s see which of us is more helpful to the group!!”

At the Empire’s last border town.

Rey shouted this before boarding the merchant carriage bound for Aigram.

*

…What in the world is this?

“What are you talking about, Rey-Rey?”

“R-Rey just once! Me and the prin…!! I-I mean! Ragni! I’m saying let’s compete to see who’s more helpful to our group!!”

I mean, why, why is this happening? This woman.

At the merchant carriage ticket office.

The fare to Aigram is 20,000 kan per person. In my case, Gor is classified as luggage. 35,000 kan.

Our group consists of four people and one creature.

That means we need to prepare almost 100,000 kan.

When it was just me and Ira, the taxi… I mean carriage fare to Aigram was only 200,000 kan, but now it’s jumped significantly, which is quite painful. But honestly, lately I’ve been thinking this isn’t so bad.

Yes, that’s definitely what I thought, but.

[…100,000 kan. How much are we short right now?]

[Hmm? We have about 70,000 kan on hand, so we’re short 30,000 kan. Why?]

After hearing that we’re a little short on the carriage fare, Rey suddenly says that. What’s going on?

Hey, Gor.

(!)[Skill: Can’t Stand Injustice. Currently activated. (Target: Forester Jack.)]

Gor shows me his status window after just seeing my look, and I become even more confused.

Why is she acting like this? The skill is activated on me, and Ragni hasn’t done anything wrong.

While I’m pondering this alone.

“Hmm. Alright. But what kind of competition are you suggesting?”

“Of course that’s…!!”

“You’re not suggesting a physical contest with me, are you? You’re clearly a swordswoman. I’m a fragile ordinary slave. You know I wouldn’t stand a chance in a direct fight, right?”

“Ah…!!”

What is she really doing? She’s already sweating profusely after just a few words from Ragni. What kind of competition did she want…

“Ah, well. Since the carriage leaves in two days, I was thinking whoever hunts monsters and earns the remaining carriage fare by then would be the winner…”

“…No. That doesn’t make sense. It’s impossible for me to hunt monsters in the first place. And even if I could, if both of us collect the missing 30,000 kan, what kind of competition would that be?”

“Ah…!!”

When Ragni responds to Rey’s answer with bewilderment, Rey turns pale and starts floundering, going “hawawa” in panic.

Sigh.

“Forget it. What competition? If there’s something bothering you, we can just talk it out…”

“N-no, we can’t!!”

“Huh?”

I stare at Rey in genuine bewilderment as she cries out in desperation.

What’s wrong with her? Is she actually glitching?

“…Rey. Stop being stubborn, if you want something, we can wait until Aigr…”

“No. I agree with her. I think we should have a competition.”

“…Ragni? Why are you also…?”

What is wrong with these women?! Ignoring my bewildered reaction, the two look at each other and begin to speak.

“Since Ragni is smart, please suggest a fair competition!”

“Alright. But since it’s a competition, we should wager something, right? You decide the stakes.”

“G-good!! Then, what kind of competition…”

“The money-making one you mentioned earlier. That works.”

“…Eh?”

When Ragni speaks plainly, both Rey and I are dumbfounded. Wait, monster hunting?

You can’t even activate skills, how are you going to hunt…

“No, I mean let’s earn money. Don’t count the total. We need travel expenses anyway, right? Since Gor has been going out alone to earn money from magic stones for our food and other necessities, it would help if we each earned money in our own way from here on. Don’t you think?”

“Y-yes. That’s right! That’s what I was thinking too!!”

No, that’s not what you were thinking.

Rey nods vigorously, saying “mm-hmm” and agreeing with Ragni’s words, though anyone can tell she’s lying.

Haah. What is this situation…

“Then, we’ll need to split up the group.”

“What? Split up the group? Why suddenly…”

“Well, are we going to earn money while all sticking together? Rey can go out hunting, but I’m going to earn money inside the town. Then Rey would have to go alone, is that okay? Or will you attach Gor to her side and break the fairness?”

“W-well…”

“T-that’s right. If Gor stays by my side, I could rampage more. That would definitely be unfair.”

“The opposite is also true. If you go out alone, and I stay here with the rest of the group, would you believe that I earned money by myself?”

“T-that’s…!!”

A matter of trust. This is truly a difficult problem.

If it were a competition between me and Rey, or me and Ragni, it might be different, but those two haven’t really become friends during this slightly more than a week.

And in a situation where they need to compete for some reason I don’t understand, they naturally can’t easily trust each other.

So in the end.

“Let’s each pick our team members. My side, and your side.”

“…F-fine. Then, who goes first…”

“I decided the competition, so you pick first.”

“Eh…?!”

Our group has an odd number of members. Telling her to pick first means she should take two people.

What is Ragni thinking, making such a big concession?

And I still don’t understand what this competition is for, but I could only stand there bewildered as the situation escalated on its own.

*

“Well, that settles it.”

“…Something seems off about this.”

“Brother! Take care! Don’t get hurt! Bring skewers when you come back!!”

[Have a safe trip.]

Ira, how is your brother supposed to buy skewers when he’s going outside the town…?

And why are there two of us and three of them when you picked first?

Is this also part of that princess’s strategy? Is this really the difference in intelligence? It’s baffling.

“…You really are smart.”

“…No, it’s just that you and I are stupid.”

“Uugh…”

Rey’s shoulders slumped at my cutting remark. Well, can’t be helped.

Rey proudly chose me first.

Yes, I understand what that choice meant.

Seeing that, Ragni actually sighed quietly. However.

[I’ll pick Ira. Come here, Ira.]

[Okay!]

[…Wait a minute. This means…]

[Gor is left. Will you two take him?]

[…Gor. Protect Ira and Ragni.]

[Yes. Leave it to me.]

“N-no way. I didn’t realize picking Ira was the joker move.”

“…I only realized it after Ragni called for Ira. You and I should never gamble. We’d lose 100 times out of 100. We’d even lose the deed to our house.”

If Rey had picked Ira first, Gor or I would have had to go with Rey’s side.

Yes. Rey was going to hunt monsters to earn money, and there was no way we could send Ira and Rey out as a pair.

Moreover, Ira is only level 2.

I would have gone with Ira no matter what, and by evening, regardless of whether Rey was alone or not, Gor and I would have returned to town with Ira.

Wait? Thinking about it this way, wouldn’t Ira be better off with Ragni anyway?

So from the beginning, those three were definitely going to be together?!

“…I’m sorry. Jack probably wanted to be with Ira.”

“…No. It’s fine.”

Let’s not say it.

She might not be more foolish than me, but right now she’s too dejected to notice.

This team division inevitably meant Ragni, who was staying in town, would have three people. If I told her that fact, Rey would be even more disheartened.

I headed outside the town, giving appropriate responses to Rey, whose shoulders had slumped in dejection.