Chapter 31: Dogora

At the herb shop, I heard about the day Rodan was seriously injured. I learned about Rodan and Gerda’s friendship. I think I’ll just keep this to myself.

(Is that a weapons shop next door?)

I left the herb shop and entered the weapons shop next door.

“Excuse me.”

“…”

Apparently, the shopkeeper is the kind who doesn’t answer. In the back of the shop, there is a shopkeeper with a face I’ve seen before.

(Huh? Isn’t he the father of the child who recieved the Axe Wielder talent?)

 He was the father of the child who got the [Axe Wielder] talent. He was sitting at the same table as me at the banquet. He is the owner of the weapons shop. I folded my arms as a boy in rags and came in. He seems to have noticed that the boy who came in was me. He was staring at me.

He didn’t kick me out, so I continue to browse the shop.

(I thought it was a weapons shop, but it’s a hardware shop. They have pots and knives as well.)

 They must be doing a lot more than just weapons. Even a convenience shop in the village sells vegetables and other things.

(I’m not in a hurry, but I’d like to graduate from wooden swords.)

The reason I went into the shop this time was to upgrade my weapon for defeating Albaheron. The wooden sword sometimes breaks. I do have a spare wooden sword with me just in case, but I can’t get to it in time during battle, so when it does, I hold Albaheron by the neck with my bare arm and beat him up.

“How much is this dagger for?”

“It’s 50 Silver coins.”

He answered bluntly.

Almost everyone in the village knows that my father is Rodan.

And the owner of the weapons shop knew that Rodan was the leader of the serfs. Since the early days of the settlement, he has been cultivating the village and defeating the boars. Along with Gerda, he is one of the leaders of the serfs, and has a certain presence in the village. The fact that 70% of the village’s population is made up of serfs shows how large their presence is.

Normally, if a six-year-old boy in ragged clothes asks you for the price of a weapon, you would not think of him as anything other than a kid. He answered my question, partly maybe due to Rodan’s influence.

(I see, 50 Silver coins for the cheapest-looking dagger, or the equivalent of 10 kg of Albaheron meat.)

“By the way, how much would an iron rod the size of this wooden sword cost?”, Allen asked the shop owner by showing him his wooden sword.

“Well, about 20 Silver coins.”

I usually move around with a wooden sword in my waistband.

(That’s quite a price.)

Even a non-bladed iron rod costs the equivalent value as for the meat from two Albaherons.

If I could, I’d buy one to improve my equipment, but it’s not good to improve weapons for the sake of self-gratification. I want to use the Albaheron meat as efficiently as possible.

I gave up and left the weapons shop.

(Now, let’s buy some firewood and go home. I’m almost done with my market research.)

I went to the same firewood shop which I had visited two days ago, “Oh, you are the boy from that time. Firewood again today?”, the shop owner asked.

“Yes, please trade me for this meat.”

He seemed to have made quite a good impression of me. I exchanged 1 kg of meat for 60 kilograms of firewood (four days worth) and strapped it to my bag.

The owner of the firewood shop said to me, “You’re amazing after all,” and I left the shop, carrying firewood that is several times my weight. It was just before 10:00 in the morning, and I was being watched by a huge crowd of people.

As I continue on my way, I see a familiar potato-faced boy named Dogora ahead of me.

“Oh, he’s really here! What are you doing here? Kurokami!”

The kid probably heard it from his father, the owner of the weapon shop.

“Hmm? I’m just here to buy firewood.”

I said, and tried to walk past Dogora who was standing in my way. He was trying to do something, but I decided to pay him no mind.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

It seems that he did not like my attitude. He slapped me across the chest. I took a few steps back to balance the firewood I had in my bag.

“Huh? What are you doing?”

“I’m not going to let you go here. You’ll only get through here when you become my henchman”

It was Dogora, who wanted Allen to be his henchman. He seemed to be convinced of his victory and could not stop grinning at Allen’s unresisting attitude.

Hearing this, Allen kept his face expressionless and put his bag on the side of the road so as not to disturb the street.

In his previous life, when he was Kenichi, he was a gamer. When he played online games such as MMO, he was often rumored to be a “netgeezer” on internet forums, even though he was a company employee.

The title of “Netto-game Abolitionist” is given only to those who have devoted their lives to the game. Company employees usually don’t get it.

The way to play the game then was simple. In order to get stronger, you have to level up, make your equipment stronger, and defeat stronger enemies. You don’t run a blacksmith shop or collect items that don’t make you stronger. I also ignore all the seasonal events that I don’t understand.

Naturally, I’m not interested in fighting against other people. Even if I did, I would not gain any experience and hence would not get any stronger. Kenichi’s opponents were monsters and demonic beasts. In this regard, Dogora was not an opponent.

However, if one becomes famous enough to be exposed on the Internet, he/she will be subject to a celebrity tax.

When he was out hunting, he would sometimes get attacked by player killers, players who make a living out of attacking other players. They will attack you for fun or to strip you out of your equipment.

In such cases, I’ve defeated anyone who got in the way of my hunting, whether they were a junior high school student, a housewife, or a nekama. To be honest, since it’s an online game, you don’t know the gender or age of your opponent. I’ve always had equipment to prevent player killers, and I’ve taken them down without fail. (TN: Google said obsessive fan. Don’t know what to say.) 

“So, are you going to be one?”

Dogora, standing there watched me unload my bag.

“Of course not.”

I then pulled out my wooden sword from my waistband. I grasped it with both hands and raised the tip of the sword to chest height.

“What?”

Dogora was unarmed. He didn’t expect me to pull out my wooden sword.

“What’s wrong? Come at me.”

“It’s not fair!”

“Do you say the same thing on the battlefield? I’m a knight with a sword.”

After three years of playing knight with Kurena, the knightly tone had become my second nature. It comes naturally to me. All thanks to Kurena.

“I’m not sure what to say.”

“I’ll wait for you, so bring whatever weapon you have. I’m a knight with a sword, Dogora.”

“What? Don’t you dare!”

Dogora runs away at great speed. And then he comes back with the same speed. In his hands, he holds something large.

It may have been from the weapons shop, but he ran and brought out a large round stick that looked like a piece of scrap wood.

Dogora held it up, saying, “Hmmm.”

“What’s the matter, aren’t you coming?

“Uoooooo!”

Perhaps provoked and enraged, the knightly battle with Dogora began. Dogora wielded a round stick with all his might. I took it carefully with my wooden sword.

A lot of people were watching this knightly game between Allen and Dogora, but they were not intefering.

I started without thinking. As you can imagine, it’s not a game, so I won’t make it a bloody affair. As I was thinking about how to end it, I continued to receive Dogora’s round stick.

“What’s wrong? Scared?”

Dogora provoked Allen, who was only receiving the blow. Then, with a little more force, he adjusted his wooden sword to Dogora’s round stick.

It was December, and the hunting of Albaheron was over. The farm work was almost done, and he no longer needed strength. Rodan was also recovering.

Therefore, he changed many of his summons from F-rank beasts to F-rank Grass. The reason for this was to increase his mana and skill experience. But he was still more powerful than Dogora, and several times more powerful than most adults.

“Gah!”

Dogora was blown away with his stick.

“Do you still want to continue?”

“Gu!”

I hit Dogora with small amount of my strength and he fell down to the ground.

Apparently, he did. He was out of breath. He does not try to stand up while glaring at Allen.

“Hey, Dogora, the Axe Wielder.”

“What?”

“I’ll be back shopping in two days’ time.”

“What?”

After Dogora didn’t get up, Allen started to walking on his way home.