LV999 Villager Vol 1 Chapter 3.06

It’s Fine For You To Become What Ya Wanna Be

Part 6\nThey were several kilometers to the west of Balman, in the middle of an empty plain. Beneath the clear and starry night sky, two humans and two demons were sitting around an open fire. It was the first friendly meeting between humans and demons.

Nevertheless, although they were en route to the Demon King’s Castle, they had felt a necessity to set some rules, since they would be spending time together for a while.

Even with Menou’s circumstances, Kagami and Alice concluded that his actions were bad this time, since the carriage he had plundered for their own convenience was something Kagami hadn’t given the okay for beforehand.

“First, we must never do harm to humans. Conversely, even if they do harm to us, we must endure it. If, by any chance, that happens, only we can shield you. At the very least, I want you to follow this rule until I confirm the Demon King’s true intentions.”

“Muu…I understand. Sorry. Thanks to my own selfishness, I’ve put Kagami-dono into a dangerous position.”

“It’s fine as long as you understand it. If you sincerely apologize when we return to Balman and compensate them for the carriage, they will probably forgive you. As for the Hero’s party…well, it will work out somehow.”

As Kagami said this, Alice poured some tea, which had been heated by the fire, into the mug she was holding.

When Menou saw that she wasn’t really worried about this, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, regaining his composure.

“For now, although we have to go to Atros Island in order to reach the Demon King’s Castle, rather than continuing on our current route, wouldn’t it be fine to go to the Freedom City Salumeria first?”

Takako spread out a map as she asked that.

The only land route that could be taken to cross over to the solitary island, Atros, went through a checkpoint that was to the northeast of Atros Island. There was no way to go to Atros Island without passing through the coastal city, Fort Freedom City Salumeria.

Since the people who normally traveled to Atros Island were those who were aiming for the Monster Drops exclusive to Atros Island or those that were merely curious, usually only a few were invited.

Although the reason why so few humans were invited could be said to be due to the average Level of the Monsters being abnormally high, even if they went, they would need to take the land route through the Fort Freedom City Salumeria.

“Salumeria is that city that is surrounded with that big wall, right?”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me, Alice came from Atros Island, right? Was it by ship?”

“Yeah. Although it was a slight detour, we passed by without having to go through Salumeria, thanks to the ship being carried by everyone in the village. We weren’t attacked by Monsters.”

Alice smiled as she said that.

Neighboring Atros Island was the Fort Freedom City Salumeria, which had developed on the mainland of the Hexal Doria Kingdom. It acted as a barrier against the Monsters that were spawned by the giant amount of magic power released from the Demon King’s Castle. It was a city made so that those Monsters wouldn’t reach the mainland.

The city had an outer wall built around it that was 40 meters high, which protected against ordinary monsters, who could only stop in front of it.

Even if they could destroy the wall and go through it, the many skilled Adventurers who were staying in the Fort Freedom City wouldn’t allow it. The Monsters dropped raw materials for repairing goods and weapons that allowed people to attack at all times, and since manpower and food were required, it was a place that gathered the most merchants and Adventurers. It was also the most dangerous place in the whole country, due to the attacks by the highest level Monsters and beings like the Demon King.

Yet, the Demon King’s Castle and Salumeria stood together. Those who went to attack the Demon King’s Castle, without having enough power to defeat the Demon King, thought that it was useless to attack it and continued to lose, so the Demon King had never shown any desire to march on Salumeria at all.

“Menou, that reminds me, since you attacked Balman, has Salumeria been attacked too?”

“Of course. The goal of our declaration was the same with Balman. They seemed to be dumbfounded, but a full scale march will surely begin before long. If that happens…the first one to be targeted will be…”

“Salumeria…?”

Kagami sighed as he said that.

It was enough for it to be called a Fort City. Although he didn’t think that it would fall so easily, it was clear that he had to hurry or the situation would become irreversible. Kagami ended up being worried on what to do and glanced at Alice with an anxious look before directing his gaze at the Kenta-Uros.

The Kenta-Uros, who were standing beside the carriage and devouring vegetables as if it were a pastry snack, looked back at him with disgust.

“What to do. I’d like to seriously request the favor of not riding them on the trip.”

Kagami said that with a serious look. Although he understood that they needed to hurry, he was caught in the dilemma of not wanting to ride them, no matter what.

“Seriously, Kagami-chan’s an idiot~ A real idiot~ What will you do if you don’t think about the consequences. Even though we will be heading to the Demon King’s Castle from here. Just how much distance do you think there is?”

Takako muttered back to Kagami as if she were pitying him.

“That’s right, Kagami-dono! We have to head towards Demon King-sama as quickly as possible and confirm his true intentions! We have to get information on his actions that are different from the ideals that Alice-sama speaks of! It’s just as Takako-dono said! It’s foolish to throw away our means of travel!”

Alice disagreed with what Menou said as she watched over the three with a slightly worried look. At least, she didn’t want to ride on the Kenta-Uros if possible.

“But aren’t those guys dangerous? I don’t know what’s dangerous anymore. It’ll be really annoying to suddenly be betrayed and attacked.”

Menou and Alice tilted their heads, as if doubtful of his words.

“There’s no need to worry about if we can control them. I have confidence that we can.”

Takako replied back to Kagami with a ‘Fufun’ as she smiled.

“U-Um…Kagami-san, what do you mean by being betrayed?”

Alice timidly asked, since it was only natural for her to be worried. Kagami gazed at the Kenta-Uros and asked, “Now, how many points is this Demon Uncle?”

“Five points. Although he is a Demon, he isn’t a match for us. I feel some elegance from that Demon girl…20 points. The large human man over there is easily…two points.”

As if the Kenta-Uros looked down on each of them, he sniffed, and after looking at the party he moistened his tongue and began to point at them one by one as he assessed them.

“The Kenta-Uros have an assessment of 100 points to -100 points. If their assessment of you becomes -100, you will be treated like an ordinary Monster and will get attacked.”

Kagami said that as if it were completely natural, and Menou, without thinking, raised his voice with a “Hah!?”

Kenta-Uros were persistent Monsters. Although they were special Monsters that had the same intelligence as humans and Demons, they would be careful not to attack sensible humans, in order to get merits for themselves. If it was decided that there were downsides greater than the merit of them ‘getting whipped’, the Kenta-Uros would attack you.

It was only at this time that their M-side would disappear, and because they would suddenly betray and attack you, it was extremely dangerous. To make matters worse, they had a high Level of 64 for a Monster. If one wanted to deal with Kenta-Uros, a routine whipping was necessary.

“However, when their assessment is in the plus, they leave it as it is. Since they take out their trump card and increase their minus points two-fold without blurting out so much as a ‘double up’, if you let your guard down, it will become really low.”

“Wow…”

Alice muttered back as she made a sour face at the truth that Kagami eagerly revealed. Although Alice, at least, heard that their trump card would be pulled out from somewhere, Kagami tried not to talk about that and remained expressionless.

“By the way, how many points am I at right now?”

“-50.”

“Waaaaaah…!”

Before he knew it, the minus mark he received became a ‘double up’ and, unable to withstand the humiliation, Kagami unintentionally raised his voice, as if he was a frog that ribbited with regret.

“By the way, what happens when their assessment becomes +100, Kagami-san?”

“They will let you ride them.”

“Throw them away.”

Alice admitted defeat with a blank look and no doubt could be seen at all. However, their current situation was that they had to hurry along, and since they would enter Salumeria, they needed to hide Menou. They had the carriage and a Blue Devil’s horn, so they would continue to use the Kenta-Uros. Kagami would, to the best of his ability, avoid allowing his figure to be seen by them.

By the way, Takako was the driver.\n