IGTL Chapter 76

Chapter 76 – You Damn Hangers-On, I’ll Show You AAAA’s True Power ①

“Miss Waitress, another twenty-four servings of Peroperosaurus TKG, please.”

“Yes! Twenty-four more servings of Peroperosaurus TKG! Right away!”

After transferring from the advanced dungeon “Desert Cradle” to the Royal Capital, I was now treating the Elementals to “Peroperosaurus TKG (Tamago Kake Gohan – rice with raw egg)” at the tavern attached to the Adventurers’ Guild.

The waitress was as energetic as ever.

When I ordered another 24 servings, the Elementals, who were currently devouring Peroperosaurus TKG, sparkled with excitement. Literally.

The Elementals had voracious appetites.

Perhaps because they had evolved into higher spirits, they would not be satisfied unless they ate dozens of times more than before.

Maybe because I had been ordering Peroperosaurus TKG at the tavern every time the Elementals distinguished themselves lately, the staff had begun accommodating even absurd orders like this one.

I took a small sip of ale while watching the enormous pile of plates accumulating at the edge of the table out of the corner of my eye. Then several adventurers stopped in front of the table where the Elementals and I were seated.

“Hey. We meet again.”

“Hmm?”

When I turned toward the voice, Root, the vice leader of the Transfer Group, was standing there.

Behind Root were the hangers-on who had abandoned “AAAA” and fled in defeat from the advanced dungeon “Desert Cradle.” For some reason, they looked completely battered.

What the hell had happened to them?

“…Oh. It’s you guys. What do you want?”

For the time being, I decided to hear them out.

Then the hangers-on pointed at my ale and raised their voices.

“You! What kind of attitude is that toward Root!?”

“Stop drinking your ale first!”

“You’re being disrespectful to Root!”

“Huh?”

What was wrong with these hangers-on?

This was a tavern.

What was wrong with drinking ale in a tavern? Were their brains boiling?

Besides, Root was the one who had approached me without asking.

It was not as though I had wanted to speak with him.

“What are you talking about? This is a tavern. What’s wrong with drinking ale here? You’re the ones acting all high and mighty. What exactly have you misunderstood? You’re the ones being rude, idiots.”

Perhaps because the ale had loosened my tongue, I ended up saying more than necessary.

Still, I did not regret it. These guys were pointlessly arrogant and, frankly, an eyesore. Just talking to them made my ale taste worse.

To show that the conversation was over, I took another sip.

That made the hangers-on snap.

“D-Don’t screw with us, asshole!”

“You’re the one acting high and mighty!”

“Apologize to Root, you piece of trash!”

What awful things to say. More importantly, I had not insulted Root.

The people I had mainly insulted were the three of you, Root’s hangers-on.

“Hey, now. Apologize to Root? Don’t be ridiculous. I said all that to the three hangers-on trailing behind Root. Are your heads okay? Were you not listening? Or are you genuinely stupid? Do you only have brains the size of a goldfish’s? Actually, what happened to you guys? You look like wrecks. Did one of the trash mobs in the advanced dungeon ‘Desert Cradle,’ an Antlion, beat you up? You find idiots everywhere, don’t you? The kind who charge ahead without even understanding the words appropriate level and get themselves destroyed. You guys would not happen to be that kind of idiot, would you?”

As I kindly expressed concern for them while drinking my ale, essentially asking whether their heads were okay since they had gotten injured by trash mobs, the hangers-on began trembling with rage.

Just as the hangers-on were about to explode, Root stepped between us.

“Now, now. Calm down. We did not come here to fight with you…”

“R-Root! But…!”

“…Perhaps bringing you three here was a mistake. For now, could you stay quiet? This conversation is not moving forward at all.”

When Root said that, the hangers-on fell silent.

“So, what the hell do you want? I’m busy drinking. Keep it brief.”

Once the argument with the hangers-on had settled down, I said that, and Root looked troubled.

“Hmm. I suppose it cannot be helped. Then I’ll keep this brief… Kakeru, do you know an adventurer named ‘AAAA’?”

Of course I did.

“‘AAAA’? What about him?”

“Yes. Apparently, these three asked the adventurer named ‘AAAA’ to serve as their shield, but a slight problem has arisen…”

“A problem?”

What was it?

What had “AAAA” done to those hangers-on?

Well, if it was something that caused trouble for the Transfer Group, he could do whatever he liked…

Root spoke with a grave expression.

“Yes. The adventurer named ‘AAAA’ filed an incident report with the Adventurers’ Guild, claiming that these three abandoned him in the advanced dungeon ‘Desert Cradle’ and fled.”

The instant I heard that, I sprayed ale all over the hangers-on.

Of course, I had not done it deliberately.

Poor things. They were now soaked in the ale I had spewed from my mouth.

Coughing violently, I continued listening.

“Th-That’s hilarious… I mean, what terrible misfortune. But it really happened, so what can you do? I was there too…”

This sounded entertaining, so I would gladly testify on “AAAA’s” behalf.

While I was thinking that, the hangers-on approached me with furious expressions.

“Th-That’s not true! We were only making a tactical retreat…!”

“We intended to go back and save him!”

“It’s just that he was already gone when we returned…”

“Oh, you went back to save him, huh…?”

Wow. Amazing…

At the time, “AAAA” had only been a little over level 50…

He had survived because he was equipped with the cursed equipment “Wrath of the Naming God,” but if I had not been there, “AAAA” probably would have died.

There was no doubt about that.

After all, the appropriate level for the advanced dungeon “Desert Cradle” was level 150…

“Right, right. A tactical retreat. It was a tactical retreat. I watched you guys at the scene, so I understand, you know? You used ‘AAAA’ as a meat shield, then thought, ‘If even this guy isn’t taking damage, maybe we can handle it too,’ acted all tough against a trash mob, and made a tactical retreat, right? Yeah, I totally get it! Sacrificing ‘AAAA’ to a trash mob was not running away. It was a tactical retreat! That’s what you mean, right? You even said, ‘He isn’t worth more than our lives.’ Your self-esteem is so absurdly high that it’s actually disturbing!”

After I mocked them relentlessly, the hangers-on grabbed me by the collar.

“Y-You bastard… You’ve got some nerve…”

“Saying whatever the hell you want…”

“We can take you on right now if you want!?”

I instructed the Elementals not to burn off these guys’ crotches, then grabbed the hand of the hanger-on clutching my collar.

“…Fine by me. Want to do this? With everything you have at stake…”

When I said that and twisted his hand, the hangers-on raised their voices.

“O-Owowowow!? F-Fine! After everything you’ve said, we’re not letting this go!”

“We’ll take you on!”

“Don’t underestimate us!”

“Y-You three! Stop this! We came here to ask him to mediate between us and ‘AAAA’…”

I interrupted Root as he tried to stop them and smiled.

“…Fine. Since you went to all this trouble, I’ll mediate for you.”

Mediation meant entrusting everything to the judgment of a neutral third party.

It absolutely did not mean peacefully settling the dispute.

I opened the menu bar and summoned “AAAA” using the mail function.

Not even several dozen seconds later, “AAAA” appeared.

“U-Um, Kakeru. What exactly is going on here?”

“These guys had the nerve to ask me to mediate between you and them… Since they went to all this trouble, I figured I might as well step in.”

When I said that, “AAAA” openly looked displeased.

“Huh? But this is a problem between me and these people…”

“‘AAAA’… Regardless of how it was done, who was it that saved you again?”

When I glared at him with everything I had, “AAAA” looked frightened.

No, it was not as though I wanted to threaten “AAAA.”

I whispered quietly into his ear.

“…You might be misunderstanding something, so let me make this clear. I’m not trying to threaten you. I simply want to humiliate the Transfer Group in public!”

“B-But I could never do something like that…”

“What are you saying, you wimp!? You’re level one hundred fifty! Take a good look at those guys! They’re level seventy at best… They’re no match for you! Reporting them to the Adventurers’ Guild is fine, but beating the hell out of them legally would feel much better!”

After I persuaded him, “AAAA” wore an expression that seemed to say, Wait, those guys are only around that level?

“Huh? Kakeru… Are you giving me a chance to beat those guys up legally?”

It seemed my persuasion had finally motivated “AAAA.”

“Of course. Let’s watch their frustrated faces together. It’s fine, it’s fine. I was entrusted with the mediation, so I will not let them complain! Whether we lose or win, you do not have to withdraw your report to the Adventurers’ Guild. Either way, their reputation will fall, and through your report to the Adventurers’ Guild, you can inflict social punishment on the three people who abandoned you. Doesn’t that sound perfect?”

“Y-Yeah! I understand, Kakeru!”

“I’m glad you understand. All right, let’s go!”

I slapped “AAAA” repeatedly on the back and smiled.

“Now then, you hangers-on. Let’s hear your demand.”

Of course, I was only going to hear it. Once I had heard it, I fully intended to crush it.

“Obviously, we demand that he withdraw the incident report he submitted to the Adventurers’ Guild!”

“Very well. I have certainly heard your demand. I never said I would grant it. If you lose, the Transfer Group will leave the Adventurers’ Guild in this country. Is that acceptable?”

“Yeah! There’s no way we’ll lose! We’ll do it under those conditions!”

“Oh… What admirable resolve…”

That decisiveness was commendable, even from an enemy.

“Then let’s settle this immediately in the underground arena attached to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

At that point, Root, the Transfer Group’s vice leader, interrupted.

W-Wait a moment! When you said, ‘If you lose, you will leave the Adventurers’ Guild in this country,’ you did not include Transfer Group members other than those three, did you!? You did not, right!?”

“Tch…!”

He noticed…

I had casually tried to expel every member of the Transfer Group from this country, but he was annoyingly perceptive.

“Of course not. You’re overthinking it. Naturally, this only applies to those three! Right, ‘AAAA’?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. That’s right?”

It was not what I had wanted, but there was no helping it.

For now, I would settle for having these three permanently removed from this country.

I wrapped an arm around “AAAA’s” shoulders and gave them a deep smile.