Mabbo, Fairy, Emelitan, Schwarz13
Enjoy~
17. Megane-kun, Goes to Joseph's Shop.
By the time we reached the royal capital, it was somewhere before evening.
The redbear's fur, meat, and the like are brought to the warehouse where the Adventurer's Guild disassembles and gives out rewards for large beasts. As there aren't many people from the Guild here, I also went there and unloaded our baggage before heading out again.
Since it'll take time to turn it into money, I'll have Laila deliver it to the lodge where I stay. The pretext is 「If you're not being useful, then at least do this」. Apparently, she doesn't want to one-sidedly owe me a favor as an adventurer. Honestly, it's just as I wished, so I'll leave it to her.
I parted with Laila in the warehouse, then headed to Hunter's Guild to show my face. It's something about「I want you to report in if you hunted a large game」 they told me, so I'm here to do that.
「I see. So you have enough ability to hunt a redbear.」
In the ever small and inactive Hunter's Guild, the unspirited receptionist said that with an unspirited voice, but…
「Not me, but it's the adventurer who accompanied me who did her best. I was only a decoy.」
I denied it immediately. It's the truth that Laila did her best, it's also not a lie that I was a decoy. 「Just tell them that if they asked what happened」 , thus I also had arranged Laila to tell the same story beforehand. I'm not an adventurer. There's no benefit to me even if my name is widely known.
In addition—
「Thank you for the report. I'll buy it as information on animals territory. The reward is only small change, however」
After I receive the reward that was really only a small change, I left the Hunter's Guild behind.
—In addition, that receptionist, as I expected, is not your ordinary person.
Once I concentrated my awareness, the digit above her head was 「3」.
Even though she was sloven, careless, resting her chin on her hand, having a listless spirit, and roughly speaking did not put up any vigilance or anything. Despite all that, the 「Megane」 indicated that she was by no means an opponent I can win against. Precisely, taking those digits into account alone, she's someone who's far stronger than Lorobel.
Though I feel like she's vaguely like 「I'm full of openings but not really」, but who is she really… Nay, not my business. No matter who she is, I have no intention of getting closer to her. It is just that the girl is not really interested in me. She gave me the vibes that I'm judged as someone who can be 「used」. If possible, I'd like to return to Albat village without getting to know her too much.
……A bad premonition struck me from the moment I thought of it. Let's pray that the premonition won't realize.
The day after I hunted the redbear. I didn't go hunting today, I spent the entire morning sightseeing the royal capital. There are many places I haven't visited.
One reason for it may because I have enough money to spend, but most of all, it is to avoid to make the 「Megane Hunter」 becoming more famous than it already is. Up until now, I haven't the slightest intention to get famous, but I decided to not go to the hunting ground as to be more careful from doing anything too conspicuous.
I cannot leave the royal capital due to the order of 20 pairs of 「Megane」 from the castle. In addition, there's also my Sister, Horun, who has yet to come back. Since I can't leave anyway, I can't afford to be weirdly standing out.
「—My, Megane-kun. You're here again? This Joseph is H~A~P~P~Y~☆ 」
「Joseph's Shop」, a specialty shop for archery and projectiles, was still as empty as ever. The drag queen uncle, Joseph, is shaving wood to make arrows with a bored look on his face.
Well, after I made my appearance, he becomes so delightful though.
「I'm only here to borrow the practice ground.」
Not being conspicuous means being restricted. Meanwhile, I decided to go sightseeing and practice my archery.
「It's okay~ shoot as much as you want~. It's okay to shoot out at my heart too while you're at it, you know~ Ah, maybe actually you have shot it already? Just kidding☆」
The brawny, muscular middle-aged man Joseph—the person with thick makeup who introduced himself with「Call me Jo~ Se~ Phi~ Ne~☆」 and coerced me to call him that in our first meeting, his default body manner when he's talking to me is wriggling.
There really are many kinds of people in the big city. I don't know how to handle him, so I ignored him though. If I let it get into my head, I possibly won't be returning here again.
It's just, even though Joseph is kind of like that, despite his thick makeup, his merchandises are still of top quality. Especially when he showed the best bow in the store, that one was really amazing. And though I have yet to know much about the type of bows, I could tell it was not something to scoff at in a glance.
It's a beautiful pure white bow, not made from your ordinary trees. Instead, it's a bow made of dragons' bone and harnesses a special magic effect. The price seems to be as high as I could earn within my entire lifetime. Although he didn't tell me the details, it might be more expensive than I could even imagine.
「Honestly, you're too kyute to be that filthy Bekt's disciple~☆ Cyute enough that I want to gobble you up~☆」
Furthermore, Joseph is acquainted with Shishou as both parties are connected with bows-handling. Though they don't seem too chummy with each other. Despite having thick makeup, this drag queen certainly is knowledgeable on bows and is remarkably skilled. I didn't mention a thing about Shishou. It was Joseph who saw my bow and recognized it as Shishou's made goods.
I can't understand it, but apparently, the creators' habit shows in the bows they make. Maybe I'll understand how to recognize it if I handle more bows in the future.
—Yet, despite wriggling his body this much, the digits above Joseph is 「41」.
It means that this Ossan is quite strong. In any normal case, the numbers should've been in my advantage namely by「Commencing Suprise Attack」, so if they're not around 90s then the surprise attack itself holds no meaning. And I think I'll certainly lose if the surprise attack fails.
Ordinary people out there are mostly showing 90s, so I think my judgment isn't too far off.
「Ahn, no need for your money~! For realsies~! Just have dinner with me, you won't need to worry about money, I'll give you pocket money even~! You're already an adult, right? I'll bring you to a shop where you can drink~!」 I paid the fee because I'm determined not to own a debt towards such a drag queen like Joseph, before heading to the backyard where the practice ground is.
For some reason, Joseph tagged along. Just like always. I really hope that you would return to the shop. While you're at it, I hope you go and fix that makeup too.
At the end of the course's long and narrow space, there's a scarecrow target that stood erected. In this space, one can practice up until middle-distance shoot.
Since the wooden arrows start to fly just as I want them to, from today I'll practice using steel arrows. They weigh more than wooden ones, so the trajectory falls quickly. If I'm aiming for distant prey, I have to shoot a little higher. I have no choice but to let my body remember it. Putting animals aside, I must use steel arrows when facing Magical Beasts to do damage through. As a hunter, I want to be able to guarantee a hit at middle distance.
「Young people these days don't use bows~ Thanks to that the shop is lonely~.」
Using bows or not aside, I have a feeling that the shop is desolated because there's this drag queen. Giving no mind towards Joseph who's murmuring beside me, I continue my training. Just as always.
Thanks for the comment~ We'll keep using Meat Patty and Big Green Onion in the future.
Also, since the new semester is starting for me, we're going to post less fast than the current pace. I can't guarantee you anything, but I'll do my best to finish at least one chapter in three days.
Well then.