Chapter 25: The Story as a Peddler Saw It

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/26/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

I’m a nobody merchant who peddles.
This time too I’d sold iron goods in town, stocked wheat and cloth, and was heading back to the capital with my companions.

It had been a decent profit, so we were chatting about having a drink when we got back, when one of us looked behind and shouted.
Goblin Lord, he said.

Ah, a legion. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I could see a terrible dust cloud and an especially huge boss.
Apparently they were after us.

I thought we were done.
A legion led by a Goblin Lord is fast on its feet.
Even if you run the horses on a wagon all-out, they’ll catch you in less than an hour.

We were still running for it, hanging on a scrap of hope, when it happened.
Something sakura-pink came flying from the sky.
When I understood what it was, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Not a bird, not a monster. A person.
A girl with black hair shining sakura-pink was flying through the sky.

Then one of my companions started making a fuss that it was the one there’d been rumors about in the capital lately.
That adventurer is short but good, and the ogre that hit the market the other day, that one took it down alone, they said.
Look, I honestly thought it was a tall tale.
An ogre is the kind of monster the knight order takes down all-out.
Taking one down alone is too much even for a story that’s been padded.

But what do you think that one did?
After a glance our way, they charged the Goblin Lord trailing pale-crimson mana-light.
Seeing that, we ran the horses for the capital with everything we had.

I felt bad. I felt sorry, too.
I apologized in my heart as much as I wanted to the girl who’d become bait alone.
But we didn’t want to die either. We’ve got wives and children.
Ah, we abandoned a girl and ran, to save our own skins.

The moment we hit the capital we went straight to the gate guard.
A goblin legion’s heading this way. Send soldiers now, we said.
The gate guard ran for the castle in a panic.
The adventurers around went for the guild at once too.

The guild moved fast.
Ten minutes after an adventurer who’d heard us ran, a huge number of adventurers were gathered at the city gate.
The girl who’d been bait is apparently popular at the Adventurer’s Guild.
Everyone had faces ready to die, shouting they were going to save the miss.

Amazing, right. Those people always live next to death.
We sell goods like our lives depend on it too, but we can’t match them.
And then, they were about to jump out without waiting for the knight order because there was no time, when it happened.

Something black and pale crimson came down.
You already know, right?
That’s right. The miss who’d been bait came back.
She’s alive. She somehow got away, I thought.
We all ran up, and she was dropping her shoulders, looking pretty tired.

I was surprised she wasn’t hurt, though.
There was blood on her clothes, but it was all spray.
But there was something even more surprising.
The miss went up to the Adventurer’s Guild’s master and said this.

I subjugated the goblin legion, but is the Lord’s proof part the canine, is that all right.

Ah, we couldn’t believe our ears either.
In the time it took us to get back to the capital, she’d taken down that many goblins and a higher-species Goblin Lord.
But when we were shown a leather pouch stuffed with a mass of canines and one especially large canine, we had no choice but to accept it.
The next instant, she was grabbed by the back of the collar by the guildmaster and hauled off to the guild.

The way the people around made a fuss was already terrible.
They were happy like children, linking arms and going to a tavern.
We laughed like idiots too, and raised hell in the tavern with the adventurers.

I found out then, that miss has an epithet.
“Night-Sakura Fantasy,” apparently.
Long black hair like a Hero, and pale-crimson mana-light, right?
I think Night-Sakura Fantasy is an epithet that fits perfectly.

I don’t really get “trigger-happy,” but thanks to the miss there weren’t even injuries, let alone dead, and everyone’s happy, that’s for sure.
Hahaha, I can’t forget the blank faces of the knight-order lot who showed up late.

Oh right, I said she got grabbed by the collar and dangled, and apparently that’s a famous act at the Adventurer’s Guild.
If you give the miss food then, luck comes your way, they say.
Next time I go to say thanks, I think I’ll bring food too.

◆ Viewpoint: Ouka ◆

“You… you stand out too much no matter how you slice it. The vice-captain, who knows the circumstances, was smiling wryly.”

Currently I’m being lectured while grabbed by the collar.
Look, yeah. How do I put it.
This time I think I overdid it too.
I really did mean to buy time at first.
Then while I was fighting I kind of forgot, or something.

“…I’m reflecting. I’m sorry.”

Anyway, I apologized.
It seems I made the adventurers worry too; I’ll apologize later.

“That so. But well, it’s a fact that thanks to you we smashed a goblin legion with no one hurt. Everyone’s grateful.”
“Uuh… don’t pile on…”

Right now that kindness hurts.

“Ouka, good work. Want some pumpkin pie?”
“…I’ll eat.”