Chapter 134

MILE CHAPTER 134: LISTENING

ED: Lowe

「Uhm, from what you mentioned earlier .

You guys are hunters from the guild, who received the (protecting) guard request from the shopkeeper, right?」(Mile)

「Yes, that’s right . We saw a request posted late in the morning, it was a short term request for escort during business negotiations . The request said:

“The counterparty is a group of four hunters .

In case, the negotiation ends of failure, they might get violent . The client wish to hire some hunters as guard escorts to protect him and to intimidate the perpetrators .

The hunter group is just 4 brand new hunter girls that the client has never met before and only talked to them yesterday . ”

And as soon as I read it, we agreed to take that request .

We thought we would earn enough to have meal and drink」(Hunter Leader)

A male hunter who seemed to be the leader of this group, answered Mile while scratching his head .

「Well, but right now, you already understand the situation, right?

This person tried to take away spices from us, made a false accusation to obtain the trade route from us, and also tried to make you do the criminal act .

With this quantity of spices, it’s in contradiction to his previous testimony .

And, if he had really thought that we were bandits, normally, he wouldn’t have hired hunters to buy back the goods, but he would have reported to the guards or the guild .

He hired hunters, and made a false testimony, only to make us speak where we had gotten these spices .

You can testify to the Hunter Guild and the guards about all of these, right?」(Mile)

「Yes, of course . Otherwise, it will be troublesome for us to get request failure or crime conduct repercussions .

On the contrary, we have a favor that we want to ask you for .

I would like you to testify that we weren’t at fault or didn’t do any illegal activities . We were just being deceived!」(Hunter Leader)

Mile agreed with it, and the hunters had a relieved face .

「And, about the shopkeeper …」(Mile)

The shopkeeper became pale .

「You knew that the spices weren’t stolen ones but still tried to frame us to rob them .

Even though you weren’t the owner of the stolen spices in the first place .

And, you also tried deceiving the escort hunters by the request via the guild and made them commit transgression .

Is there anything you would like to say before we hand you over to the guards via the guild?」 (Mile)

When Mile turned the table, the shopkeeper became desperate .

「Eh, I don’t think that it was anything bad! It’s just a little …」(Shopkeeper)

「Oh, so you don’t feel bad?

You didn’t think that you did any bad things at all?

Or for you, such an act is just normal (average) so you don’t need to worry about your conscience?」(Mile)

Not only Rena and other girls but also the hunters stared at shopkeeper as if they looked at garbage .

「… No, no, that’s not what I mean … this is …」(Shopkeeper)

「Because you thought that “there is nothing wrong”, you were allowed to commit crimes that harm other people?

With this, if things went south, you would cause a lot of violence …」(Mile)

After she said that, Mile turned to the hunter leader and asked .

「In addition, he tried to make hunters fight each other with this request, didn’t he?

How would the guild solve this problem?」(Mile)

「… This is a malicious, hostile act towards the guild, that is rarely seen .

Not only the guild will reject all of his requests, but will also hand him over to the guards as a criminal .

If things went bad, we might have fought with you, young ladies, and there would be a few casualties .

This crime will get heavy punished」(Hunter Leader)

Listening to the conversation between Mile and hunter leader, the shopkeeper wasn’t only pale but also shivering and trembling . As Mile saw that, she thought that she should have asked one more time .

「So, why have you done this?」(Mile)

As he heard Mile’s question, the shopkeeper responded desperately while trembling .

「About this, I have only wanted spices! Not just temporary solution but a long-term one .

If I can continue to buy spices cheaply, I will be able to offer cheap dishes using plenty of cheap spices …

That spices’ quality isn’t good, but those spices still have intense pungent taste .

If I can afford them cheaply, I can mix them with ordinary pepper to fix the lack of flavor and scent or try adding other ingredients to adjust them somehow!

As long as I can have the spices cheaply on a regular basis, townsfolk who weren’t rich enough to buy my dishes until now, would be able to afford to buy my hot dishes at any time …

You girls are traveling hunters, aren’t you?

If this town really had such 4 prominent young hunter girls, I should have known already . And you are going to leave this town soon, aren’t you?

So, at least the route! I just wanted to know how to get them …」(Shopkeeper)

The shopkeeper put both hands on the floor, desperately said that .

Mile was a bit troubled .

This shopkeeper was slightly arrogant from the get-go .

But he was a client, so it’s normal to think that his position was above Mile’s group that were only young girls

And he also thought about food and customers, he seemed to be honest in some way .

If the girls had not received this request .

If they had brought only 『average』quantity of 『average quality spices』, this shopkeeper might have bought it like normal and kept working as usual .

[… Wasn’t it because we had brought too many spices that caused him go astray and made his life more complicated . ]

When Mile thought so, she felt like she couldn’t let it as it was .

「Well, what are you gonna do if we fought back the hunters?」(Mile)

As he heard Mile’s question, the shopkeeper replied with an empty face .

「Well, I thought that there wouldn’t be a fight because you girls would surrender easily .

After that if you girls kept insisting on not being thieves then I would ask you to tell me where had you procured the spices from to prove your innocence .

And I was going to listen to your excuses」(Shopkeeper)

「Did you intend to hand us to the guards to torture and execute us with a false accusation?」(Mile)

As he heard Mile said that, the shopkeeper was surprised and raised his voice .

「No, I did not mean to do that!

It would be enough if I knew the suppielier .

After I heard about it, I would give everyone the payment, I would say『Sorry, I mis-understood』and end everything!」(Shopkeeper)

The shopkeeper replied so, and Mile kept asking .

「What if we didn’t talk about the supplier?」(Mile)

「…Huh?」(Shopkeeper)

「As I said, if we didn’t talk about our suppliers, what would you do at that time?

Were you going to hand us over to the guards as bandits, or would you torture us to get it?」(Mile)

After he heard that, the shopkeeper said with bland look .

「… I didn’t think about that」(Shopkeeper)

「「「「Huh?」」」」(Red Oath)

「I didn’t think that far …」(Shopkeeper)

Apparently, this shopkeeper is kind of stupid person .

「Well, there was no such possibility anyway」(Mile)

「「「「「「Huh?」」」」」」(Hunter + Shopkeeper)

The shop owner and the hunters’ voice overlapped .

「If we really confronted the hunters, we would beat them up and hand them over to the guards via guild, saying we were attacked by robbers」 (Mile)

As the hunters heard that, they laughed lightly with Mile’s words, like a funny joke .

Mile felt a little angry .

She asked all those things just because she wanted to know the shopkeeper’s intentions .

After she heard everything, she said『Well, there was no such possibility anyway』as she didn’t mind it that much .

But the hunters took her words as if she had said a joke .

「Rena-san, Pauline-san!」(Mile)

「Flame Explosion!」(Rena)

「Ice Needle!」(Pauline)

With Mile’s signal, Rena and Pauline created a flock of small fireballs and ice needles overhead by casting magic with the spell’s name only

「「「「「Huh!? Non-chant magics!」」」」」(Hunters)

All the hunters were surprised .

Meanwhile, Mile took out a copper coin from the item box and threw it with a flick toward Maevis .

「Maevis-san!」(Mile)

「Oh!」(Maevis)

At that moment, Maevis swung her sword, slashed the coin and cought it with her other hand .

Yes, this was the technique that Mile had done in the past, 『Copper slash』

In the town where Mile registered as hunter before .

The hunters in that town who witnessed Mile’s technique named it『Copper slash』 .

Maevis heard about it from Laura, the receptionist at the guild, and asked Mile about it . Maevis leant that trick .

However, although it was a trick, it wasn’t something anyone can imitate it even if they were tought .

Maevis can perform this technique easier than others because she used the sword that Mile had made .

「「「「「Huh……」」」」」(Hunters)

The hunters who saw 2 fragments of the copper coin in Maevis palm, opened their eyes with astonishment .

They looked back at the flame bullets and ice needles floating above . Rena and Pauline kept increasing their numbers .

「「「「「You aren’t finishing the spell! still?」」」」」 (Hunters)

Knowing the power of the『Red oath』

The hunters became pale as they imagined fighting『Red oath』 .

「But, It was a surprise that everyone of you girls is still so young …

And you already had such an amazing swordsman, 2 magicians that were as strong as B rank .

You are still very young, are you the brain of the party?」(Hunter leader)

Mile heard the leader asking, shook her head .

「No, the party’s brain is Pauline-san, …

I’m just like a baby if compared to her intelligence

I’m both swordsman and magician」(Mile)

Rena told the hunters from the side .

「Mile is the strongest among us, in both sword and magic」(Rena)

「「「「「Huh……」」」」」(Hunters)

…Scary . These young girls are so scary!

the 5 hunters thought so .