By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 2

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7183-6900-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 343 Seiten

Reihe: By the Grace of the Gods

Enjoying a slow and leisurely life with slimes, the second volume of the easygoing otherworldly fantasy is here! Ryoma is a boy reborn from another world, who finds himself traveling with a kind duke family. After registering with the Adventurer's Guild and successfully finishing his first major job, he accompanies the duke's daughter Eliaria in her combat training, while learning new magics along the way! With a variety of slimes under his wing, Ryoma enjoys his second chance at life while encountering many kind people in this otherworldly fantasy story!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Roy

Weitere Mitwirkende

Ririnra

Z., Mana

Leseproben

Chapter 2 Episode 1: An Afternoon Off

The next day.

I opened my eyes to see the sun’s rays shining into the room.

“Good morning, Master Ryoma.”

“Sebas, what time is it?”

“Just before noon. You must have been exhausted, since you rested for quite a long time. Would you like to eat?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I have to go to the guild. I’ll eat once I’m back.”

“As you wish, then.”

I got myself ready quickly and headed for the guild. There was no time left... I guess I had only one option here.

“”

I set up a concealment barrier around my body to hide myself, then activated the neutral magic Physical Enhancement. Magic energy wrapped around my body, allowing me to leap up to the roof of a nearby building with my enhanced physical ability. Then I ran along the rooftops as a shortcut. I would use the space magic Teleport whenever I ran out of places to step, allowing me to run towards the guild in pretty much a straight line.

“Excuse me.”

I burst into the guild in a fluster, and was led to a room where everyone else was already gathered.

“You’re finally here, Ryoma. That makes everyone.”

“Sorry for the wait.”

“You’re just in time. Don’t worry about it. Now, it’s time to talk rewards!”

The allocation of rewards was conducted, and I received the original reward for the cleaning job of 3 medium silver coins as well as 30 small gold coins. Everyone else each received 10 small gold coins.

“Hey, hold on, this is rather generous.”

“Ain’t it, though? We’ll take what we’re given, but you do know we were just on lookout duty, right?”

“Isn’t the reward a little too high? I understand there was a risk of contracting the epidemic, but seeing as we didn’t do anything directly with it, just half of this should be appropriate.”

“Nope, that amount is correct. And the reason for that is... Ryoma.”

“Yes?”

“According to you, the epidemic in that pit toilet was the Idake virus, right?”

“Yes. I verified it with Appraisal, so there’s no mistaking it.”

“In which case, I’ve received information that it was a fairly severe situation. I know an old lady who’s familiar with this stuff... She said its mortality rate was relatively low for an epidemic, but it spreads easily and has awful after-effects that leave survivors without mobility, rendering them as good as dead. That’s why the reward is this high. Even if the mortality rate is low, the elderly and children would be still susceptible to death, and those who survive wouldn’t be able to work anymore.”

Everyone broke out into a cold sweat at those words. It really was awful... Depending on the severity of the after-effects, being unable to work meant being unable to make a living. That would have been fatal in this world, where insurance and government protection didn’t exist. In the end, people would die of starvation.

“Thank goodness it was stopped early, nya...”

“In a way, it’s more terrifying than an epidemic with a high mortality rate...”

“At least if you died, that would be the end of it. But if surviving meant living in hell, then...”

“The public office has received a good scolding over this incident, and several people, including the head, have been arrested. Those that remained were making a clamor about how to go about cleaning the communal toilet pits in the future.”

“You can’t leave them to the guys from the slums?”

“Unfortunately not. The head of the public office was fired for withholding pay over this incident, but they no longer trust that they’ll be paid the correct amount. And most of the guys from the slums have found new work already. Unlike other towns, we’re close to the mines so there’s no lack of employment if you’re willing to get your hands dirty doing labor. If they can get money elsewhere, they’re not going to bother with the work cleaning the toilet pits. The fault was with the public office this time, so it’s not like they’re in a position to make demands about quitting working for them. They’ve basically given up on hiring from the slums.”

“So what will you do? It was lucky that Ryoma noticed it this time, but we can’t go through this every time.”

“That’s true... Actually, it was forced upon the guild yesterday — they said they’d pay us to deal with it. I guess I have no choice but to make those who regularly fail at jobs or break contracts to do so as a penalty...”

“We’ll entrust that to you. I’m sure you’ll come up with a solution.”

“Easy for you to say...”

“It’s okay, I’ll keep accepting the requests while I’m in town, so please use that time to think of a plan.”

“That would be great.”

“Nya? Did you come from another town, Ryoma?”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t had the chance to tell everyone yet since I was immediately on the job.

I explained the series of events that led me to Gimul Town.

“Living alone in the forest at eight years old? How reckless...”

“Will you return to the Forest of Gana?”

“I’m not sure... I’m very fond of the house in the forest I inhabited for three years... But I may end up living in the forest around here instead.”

“No, if you want to live nearby you should stay in town. Why would you go out of your way to live in the forest?”

“I can make a house from magic and hunt for food. It actually makes for a pretty comfortable life, you know? I don’t need any money either.”

“Ryoma, I believe thou may still be too young to discard the world like that.”

“That’s true... I did realize that too, faintly.”

“Well, think carefully about it so you don’t end up having regrets. We’ll be grateful to have you around, but there’s no need to stay in this town longer than you’re comfortable with. You should live freely, the way you want to. At any rate, the guys involved in the embezzlement this time had their assets seized on top of being fired, and those subordinates who didn’t speak up had their pay deducted. That leaves more money to put into the town’s maintenance fees. In the worst case, we can use the money to hire help as needed. Now, I’ve handed you your rewards and said my piece. There’s one last message I have to pass on. The day after tomorrow, a large request will be coming in. There’s a mine that’s closing this year, but it’s pretty much been abandoned since last year. Many monsters have nested inside the mine. They’re all small fry, but the area is large so we’re recruiting a number of adventurers. I hope you’ll all participate with enthusiasm. That’s all, dismissed!”

With the meeting over, everyone went their own ways and I returned to the inn.

The young miss and her family were waiting for me at the inn. Apparently they were waiting so we could all have lunch together. I thanked them and took my seat, when the young miss started talking to me.

“Ryoma, would you like to train together?”

“Why so suddenly?”

“I’m going to start practicing magic from today. That’s why I thought it would be nice for you to join, too.”

“Actually, the trip we’re on right now is also meant to be practical experience for Elia.”

According to them, the Jamil ducal family had a custom of sending their children on a journey once they reached a certain age, sometimes letting them become an adventurer if they so wished.

“Going on a journey to widen your views and knowledge is a good thing. However, there are many things required to do that, like having the strength to protect oneself. We could have just sent escorts with her, but that would have been restrictive. With no hard work put into it, there would only be half as much to gain. That is why our goal is to give Elia the strength to protect herself.”

“Even if she didn’t go on that journey, there would still be times where she may need to participate in exterminations of monsters and bandits in our domain.”

Reinbach and Reinhart explained, surprising me a little.

“Even the young miss?”

“The participation of a noble in an extermination increases the scale, you know? And it isn’t limited to Elia. We have to show the public that we’re protecting our domain, and we also raise morale this way. That’s why she needs strength to an extent.”

I see. And gender differences didn’t matter when it came to magic, either.

“That’s why I’ll be attending school in the capital beginning this year, studying and learning magic. Which is why I wanted to gain some experience before that.”

“I see, so that’s why you came here.”

“That’s right. I was training from morning until just earlier, and I’ll be continuing in the afternoon. Would you like to participate in that training too, Ryoma?”

...Yeah, it sounded like a good...