Ch.3The Red-Haired Girl from the Slums (2)

The robber, startled by the sudden rush of people, immediately began to flee.

But he didn’t get far.

The slum was like a maze of incredibly complex alleyways.

On top of that, people emerged from shacks and tents along the way, tripping him and striking his head with empty bottles.

No matter how strong the robber was or that he carried a club, there was no way he could withstand this.

As the robber staggered from being hit from all directions, Mirella dashed forward like lightning.

Naturally energetic and athletic, Mirella instantly ran over and picked up the large club the robber had dropped.

“Yaaaaaaaaah!!!”

When Mirella struck the robber’s back with the club using all her strength, he fell forward.

How can a girl be so strong?

“Hmph. That was nothing.”

As people cheered, Mirella proudly showed off.

“Please spare me!”

The robber knelt down, blood streaming from his head.

“Please spare me! I was wrong!”

“Tie him up!”

People rushed over in droves, tightly binding the robber and gagging his mouth.

“Potion brother! Are you okay?!”

Mirella ran over and frantically checked my body.

“I’m fine. But you were in real danger. How could you rush in like that?”

“But if it wasn’t for me, your head would have been smashed by that person’s club.”

Mirella swung the club in her hand back and forth.

It was quite large, but surprisingly, Mirella handled it as lightly as a tree branch.

How is this possible? Was Mirella always this strong?

She was always more physically fit and stronger than others her age, but…

At that moment, I recalled something.

Could that be “Vint’s Opener”?

It’s the wooden club favored by the named mob Robber Vint who resides in Mestopin’s Junkyard not far from the village.

It’s a rare item that slightly increases strength and stamina, and has a chance to obtain more gold from opponents.

Since it’s beginner-exclusive, it has low strength requirements compared to its performance, making it quite useful in the early game.

Nothing special so far, but the real feature is different.

It has infinite durability. In other words, it never breaks.

So that guy tied up over there must be the named robber Vint.

He probably heard rumors about me distributing Healing Potions everywhere and came to see if there was anything worth stealing.

Even a named mob couldn’t withstand the damage over time from dozens of people in these complex alleyways.

Well, how strong could a mob positioned on a beginner’s route really be?

“What should we do with him?”

“Let’s kill him!”

When someone asked, excited people shouted wildly.

“He must not be killed.”

Sir Hostante spoke sternly, leaning on his staff.

Sir Hostante is a retired Imperial Knight who was once renowned.

After retiring due to injury, he was scammed out of his retirement money and eventually drifted here.

True to his Imperial Knight background, Sir Hostante has a good character and excellent leadership, earning him respect from the slum dwellers.

Because of this, people calmed their excitement at Sir Hostante’s words and stepped back.

“Jack. I think it would be right to send this man to the guards for legal judgment.”

“I agree.”

“Someone go call the guards!”

Our Starting Village does have guards.

However, they’re not like the large forces of dozens of uniformed men in other typical cities.

They’re just five young men who wear swords at their waists but otherwise dress like ordinary people.

So when you see them patrolling the streets, they look more like local gangsters than guards.

Soon the guards came and took Robber Vint away.

With a few extra punches and kicks thrown in for good measure.

After Vint was taken away, I expressed my gratitude to the gathered slum dwellers.

“Thank you all. You saved my life. If it weren’t for you, I’d be a corpse lying on the street by now.”

“It’s nothing, Jack. Compared to all you’ve done for us, this is nothing.”

“Hey, Jack. Did you think we’d ignore you when you’re in trouble?”

“Potion brother is the hope of us beggars!”

“Mirella! I told you not to use the word beggar!”

Looking at the smiling people around me, I thought.

How strange.

I never did volunteer work in my previous life.

I didn’t think doing such things would change the world.

If the world could change by me doing a little something, it would have changed ten times over.

But it really did change.

When I first possessed this body, these people were broken by the weight of life and poverty.

Now they’re saving me from danger and smiling brightly.

The free distribution I started because I was troubled with disposing of waste potions.

Whatever my intentions were, I’m quite pleased with the results.

“Since we’re at it, shouldn’t we make that thing?”

Mirella said, swinging Vint’s Opener around.

“That, that thing? Not the guards, but where people in the village protect the village themselves, what’s that called?”

“You mean a vigilante corps?”

“Yes, vigilante corps! Since we don’t have guards. After today, I see it’s not that hard.”

People laughed boisterously.

“Let’s call it the Potion Knights. Vigilante corps sounds too weak, so let’s go with something stronger like knights.”

Sir Hostante, the retired Imperial Knight who lost all his retirement money to fraud, smiled bitterly.

Knights, really? How ridiculous.

Well, they’ll probably play knights for a day or two and then quit.

But this incident made me realize something clearly.

A weak NPC like me needs to live in a place where security is guaranteed.

Otherwise, I might get robbed and murdered in the middle of the street like today.

To do that, I need to make this village as safe as any other city.

I should think about this.

* * * * *

The Lake Ruberon water dragon finally defeated! Once again, the mysterious girl disappears!

I smiled slightly when I heard the rumors from adventurers visiting the shop.

Good job, Alreina. You’re doing very well.

Keep going like that.

Next is Alkeidon’s Gold Mine.

She needs to sweep through the monsters there and raid the innermost nest to get an epic item.

Without that, the next journey will be difficult.

If this were my previous life, I’d exchange contact information and give real-time instructions via smartphone, but that’s not possible.

I can only hope Alreina makes good use of the strategy guide I gave her.

I happily drank my coffee, went downstairs, and opened the shop door.

“Salute!”

I was startled by the sudden shout.

A few children were standing in front of the shop, awkwardly saluting.

“What, what is this?”

“Knights First Squad! Front road of the shop, um… road, road…”

The child who was trying to speak boldly stammered and scratched his head.

“Road cleaning report.”

Another child next to him whispered.

“Ah! Reporting the completion of cleaning the road in front of the shop!”

“Road cleaning?”

Now I noticed that the front of the shop was very clean.

It’s spring, and energetic cats always leave droppings and pollen flies around, so I used to sweep every morning.

Could these children have cleaned it?

More importantly, Knights First Squad?

“Who are you? What are you doing?”

“Eh! Performing the kni… kni…”

“Noble.”

“Performing the noble duty of the knights!”

Completely confused, I looked around and was shocked.

I could see many people cleaning everywhere.

People from the slum whom I recognized.

What on earth are they doing so early in the morning?

“Alright, squads that have finished cleaning, come report! I’ll give you your next mission!”

In the middle of it all, Mirella was shouting in a clear voice, wielding Vint’s Opener like a baton.

What has that girl started now?

A little distance away, former Imperial Knight Sir Hostante was shaking his head with a smile that said “can’t be helped.”

I approached him, greeted him, and asked.

“Sir Hostante. What is all this?”

“Mirella has finally established the Potion Knights.”

“What?”

“She says she found her calling after beating up that robber. She’s been organizing people since early morning, saying we need to protect our village ourselves.”

“What?”

“I’m the knight commander, and Mirella appointed herself as deputy commander.”

What’s with the deputy commander? How did this organization become so structured?

It seems this strange knights establishment had the former Imperial Knight Sir Hostante participating as an advisor.

“I see. They’ll probably stop after a few days.”

“That might not be the case.”

Sir Hostante pointed his staff at the people in the street.

“Surprisingly, many people are serious about this. After living helplessly for so long, they’ve changed since working together to catch that robber.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, Jack. If you had seen how people responded when Mirella proposed that we protect our slum ourselves, you wouldn’t take it lightly. The idea of taking responsibility for our slum with our own hands moved people’s hearts. Until now, the slum dwellers have lived helplessly, crushed by the weight of life.”

“I see…”

“But yesterday, catching that robber opened their eyes. We need to protect and develop our slum ourselves. Mirella decisively ignited that feeling.”

“Right… So what exactly does this Potion Knights do?”

“Currently, environmental cleanup of the slum. It’s been so dirty because no one has cared about it.”

“Hmm, yes. That’s true, but…”

This doesn’t seem like it will end as a children’s game after a day or two.

Am I the only one who has a feeling this will grow into something bigger?