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nCh. 54: Confusion after Being Surrounded

nThe next day, Loren went with Lapis to their client, Volf Adventurer Training School.

nThe retaliation from last night’s adventurers ended as a worry, so he was able to spend the night at the inn peacefully, getting more than enough sleep and rest.

nThis was the first time he’d ever seen a school and entered school grounds.

nHe knew that it was a place to educate children with knowledge, culture, and experience, but Loren had been taken care of by a mercenary group ever since he remembered, so he had never gone to school before.

nMost mercenaries had never gone to schools before, and many of them couldn’t do calculations, and couldn’t read or write either.

nIn Loren’s case, he learned how to calculate, as well as read and write, from his group’s clerk because it would be inconvenient when dealing with job contracts, so he could do so at a general level.

n“From what you’ve told me, it seemed like it was a very capable group.”

nLapis sounded very impressed as they pa.s.sed through the school’s gates.

n“I’ve never heard of a mercenary group that made sure to educate their members like that.”

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n“You sure? It was the norm for us. Of course, there were some who didn’t want to since we were a bunch that became mercenaries, but almost everyone could read and could at least write their names.”

n“That’s quite absurd, you know? If you go to a nearby village and ask the residents to write their names, most of them can’t do it.”

n“Well, villagers don’t sign contracts.”

n“That’s not exactly the problem…”

nEnvironments where children could get proper education wasn’t common.

nLapis knew that in some nations, only people high cla.s.ses could do so.

nBut hearing that a mere mercenary group would give such education to the whole organization, Lapis thought that it was more abnormal than special.

n“Either the leader was an outstanding person, or he was just crazy…”

n“Hey Lapis. What do you think that is?”

nLoren’s weirdly tired voice pulled Lapis, who was muttering to herself while immersed in her thoughts, to reality, and she looked towards where Loren was pointing.

nShrill voices sounded from a crowd at the end of her sight.

nA thick wall of young girls was surrounding something.

nLoren and Lapis couldn’t see from outside what was in the middle, but the voltage of the cheering and screaming from the girls were almost at their peak, so it seemed like there was something incredible in there.

n“This is a school, right?”

n“It should be. It might be break time or study hall or something.”

nLapis knew that if it was cla.s.s time, there was no reason for such a crowd form, but it was currently still early morning, and was hard to think that it was already break time.

nThen she scanned the area, thinking that it would be a good time for teachers to come and break it up, and confirmed that there were a few of them in the area. But for some reason all of them had resigned looks on their faces and were watching the girls from afar, and none of them went over to them.

n“What’s going on?”

n“Don’t know. In any case, it’s got nothing to do with us.”

nAs Loren said that, immediately losing interest since the crowd just caught his eye and no more, there was movement within the crowd.

nLapis sensed that whatever was in the middle started to try to break through but seeing that the shrills increased in volume every time that the thing pushed through the crowd, whatever that was being surrounded was something that gave them joy just by touching them.

n“Something’s coming out.”

n“Is that some sort of egg?”

nAs soon as Loren said that, a red headed man dressed in something that looked like a suit toned in navy blue managed to break free from the crowd and showed himself.

nThe man’s face, which looked a few years younger than Loren’s, was familiar to both Loren and Lapis, but because of where he came out of, they couldn’t help but stare at him with confused gazes.

n“Good thing you guys are here. You’re on your way to talk about the job, right? Let me go with you.”

n“Klaus? I won’t ask you why you’re here because I know you’re taking the same job, but what were you doing?”

nThe man who looked quite tired from getting through the crowd was none other than Klaus, who was dressed up slightly.

nBehind him were a countless number of girls staring at Klaus’ back with gazes of envy and adoration, but Klaus paid no attention and started talking to Loren.

n“Well, I told you this is my alma mater, right? I kind of dressed since this is the first time I’ve been here in a while…but I got surrounded by the students.”

n“Those students are still waiting behind you.”

n“Ah, this is troubling. Hey girls, you still have cla.s.ses, right? I need to go to the princ.i.p.al to talk about a job.”

n“Are you going to be an inspector for the dungeon exploration exam!?”

nThey could see the crowd getting excited when one of the girls asked Klaus.

nAfter stopping the girls, who were starting to move to surround him again, with his hand, Klaus answered the girl’s question with a troubled smile.

n“Yeah. I’m here to take the job as an adventurer.”

n“Klaus for this year’s exam!?”

nAs the rustling got louder, Klaus backed off slowly as the girls tried to close their gap and told them in a smooth voice, as if trying to appease them.

n“I guess so…I need to go talk with the princ.i.p.al about that. So…w-wait, Loren! Why are you trying to leave me behind!?”

nLoren and Lapis, who didn’t want to deal with it, were walking away, but turned back, annoyed, when Klaus called out.

nWhile the hostile gazes of the girls turned towards Loren, Klaus hurriedly ran over to Loren and for some reason gave him a resentful look.

n“We’ve accepted the same job. You can go with me, you know?”

n“You’re busy, right? We could’ve gone and taken care of it while you deal with your cute juniors…Where are the usual three at?”

n“I told them I’m going to come to the school to get the job explanation, but they told me to go alone…The three of them graduated here as well, but for some reason they don’t like coming here with me.”

nLoren wasn’t surprised, as he glanced at the girls behind Klaus, who were still looking at him with hostility.

nIt seemed that Klaus was very popular among the students, and it wasn’t surprising that any girls that were with Klaus would be met with hostility.

nLoren could understand why Ange and the other girls didn’t want to come, since they would have to deal with a horde of girls that were giving even him harsh looks, even though he was the same gender as Klaus.

n“I’m a graduate so I can show you around. So please let me go with you. I can’t escape even if I tried.”

nHe said to Loren in a small voice, but since it was so small, he had to get closer to Loren to say it.

nIt was a troublesome case for Loren, but when he thought about it, a portion of the students were attending the school because they were talented, but many of them were from a high cla.s.s.

nHe didn’t know what kind of repercussions he could face later if he treated them harshly, and if Klaus was thinking the same thing, he could understand why Klaus wasn’t being so hard on them. Understanding Klaus’ predicament, Loren decided that leaving him here was pitiful.

n“Can’t be helped, I guess…Alright, let’s go.”

nWhen he grabbed Klaus’ shoulder and pulled him towards the direction they were going, the girls that surrounded Klaus cried out at the slight rough treatment.

n“What are you doing to Klaus!”

n“Don’t touch Klaus with those dirty hands of yours!”

n“Where are you taking him? We’re not done talking with him!”

nKlaus went pale at the things they yelled at Loren.

nTo Klaus, who knew what kind of person Loren was, knew that insulting him was a very dangerous thing to do.

nIt wasn’t surprising that he went pale because he was the cause of those insults.

nHe panicked and tried to stop the girls, but before he could do so, Loren stepped forward facing the girls, who went silent for a moment at the atmosphere that Loren was radiating, and said in voice that wasn’t loud, but could still be heard clearly.

n“Shut up. You want to get messed up?”

nIt wasn’t as if he had his hand on the great sword on his back.

nBut the girls went pale all at once when they heard Loren’s voice, filled with killing intent.

nNot only that, the girls that were closer to Loren started foaming at the mouth and dropped unconscious.

nOn top of that, regardless of whether they were conscious or not, students who wet their pants or skirts started popping up, thus becoming even more chaotic.

nWhile screams, wails, and howls flew around, Loren was shocked at the situation that he had caused.

nHe thought they would shrink away at the most at his coercion, and didn’t expect them to foam and faint, or even incontinence.

n“Aren’t they a bit too fragile?”

n“No, that made my own blood run cold too.”

nAs Klaus said that with a pale face, Lapis, who was standing near them, stared at Loren with intrigued face.

nHer expression looked more like one of suspicion after witnessing something mysterious, rather than being surprised at Loren’s coercion.

nAs Loren wondered if she felt something, Shayna popped out from the side and giggled.

n‘I think mixing a bit of a No Life King’s vibe with Onii-san’s killing intent was the problem.’

nWhen Loren sighed at what she’d done, Shayna flew around in his sight, as if she couldn’t hold back her anger.

n‘They called Onii-san’s hand dirty, you know!?’

nShayna said angrily how it was unforgivable, and Loren wasn’t sure how to respond.

nHe did feel a slight happiness that she had gotten angry for him, but the resulting chaotic situation seemed a bit too much.

nWhen he told Shayna that he was happy, but to tone it down next time, although she looked like she wasn’t satisfied, she nodded and blinked out his sight.

n“I felt an odd presence just now.”

nLapis told him, still staring in Loren’s direction.

nAlthough Shayna only used a slight amount of her power for a fraction of a second, Lapis had felt it, so Loren, astonished at her senses, played dumb.

n“I didn’t feel anything.”

n“Really? Was I imagining it…no, maybe Loren is just a very scary person? Scary enough to make such a horrible scene?”

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n“The students here are probably too fragile. I’ve been in battle and I’ve come back from battlefield, remember? It must have been too much for kids that haven’t experienced real battle.”

nAs Loren decided to go with that explanation, Lapis, although she looked like she wasn’t convinced, couldn’t think of any other explanation, so she stopped investigating.

n“Is that so? Anyways, let’s get back to work.”

n“You’re going to the princ.i.p.al’s office, right? I’ll take you there, follow me.”

nAs Klaus took the lead, Loren and Lapis started talking in low voices.

n“Didn’t his att.i.tude become way to good compared to the first time we met him?”

n“Maybe he holds everything inside. He’s waiting to stab us from behind when our guards are down.”

n“I’d prefer if you said I reformed, but…whatever…”

nSince Klaus, who was a graduate, was guiding them, there was no worry about them getting lost in school grounds.

nWith Klaus, whose shoulders drooped but didn’t stop leading them, in the lead, Loren and Lapis left the havoc behind them.

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