The Man Picked Up by the Gods - Volume 1 Chapter 17
~Side Ryouma~
When I opened my eyes the sun was already high.
Ah~…… I slept well. It’s been a while since I last worked that hard….. Hmm… the sun’s already high……
…………………The sun is high? ………… Not good!
“Good morning, Ryouma-sama.”
“Sebasu-san, what’s the time right now?”
“It’s already almost lunch. As expected Ryouma-sama must have been really tired. It’s good that Ryouma-sama seemed to have had a good night’s rest, will you be having your meal now?”
“Thank you but I have to go to the guild now so I’ll have it when I come back.”
“Alright.”
I quickly get myself readied and head towards the guild. This is bad, there’s no more time. I guess I’ll have to do it.
I put up a Barrier of Concealment around me and, wrapping my magic around me to strengthen my body, I activate the neutral magic, Body Strengthening.
Using my strengthened body, I run up to the roof of the nearest building, and ran on top of the roof. I then activate the short distance movement space magic, teleport, and then run straight for the guild. Like this, I somehow managed to make it by noon.
“Excuse me”
Everyone was already gathered when I got to the room.
“You came, Ryouma. With this, everyone’s gathered.”
“Sorry for making you wait”
“You managed to make it just in time, so don’t mind it. Then, let’s get started. Your payment for this job!
I got 3 medium silver coins from the previous latrine pit job I took. The one I got today was 30 small gold coins. As for the others, they all got 10 small gold coins each.
“Hey, hey, old man, aren’t you being unusually generous?”
“Seriously. You gave it, so we’ll accept it but you do know that all we did was look out, right?”Asked Jeff-san and Wereanna-san because of the unusually high amount. Even the veteran dwarf adventurer, Gordon, asked
“Isn’t the pay too high? Even if you say that we were near a place from where an infectious disease might spread, it’s not like we actually did anything directly. Just half of this would be fine, no?’
The guild master just shook his head though, and said
“Nah, that amount is undoubtedly correct. The reason for that is…… Ryouma”
“Yes?”
“You said it, right? That the name of the infectious disease in the latrine pit was the Idake Disease, right?”
“Yes, I had confirmed it with, Identify, therefore it is definitely correct.
“Apparently that disease is quite problematic. You see, I asked some trashy old hag I know about the details regarding that, and as it turns out it has a pretty low death rate. Only, it spreads fast, and it leaves its survivors unable to move their limbs. But since, being unable to move also means being unable to work, in the end it’s pretty much the same as dying.
And so, the reward for this time’s job is because of that. Although it doesn’t have a high death rate, the old ones and kids have a high chance of dying and as for those that do survive, including adults, they’ll all end up unable to work. So I’m paying you that much after taking that into consideration.”
When the guild master finished explaining, everyone broke out into a cold sweat.
Looks like it was really dangerous…… Although it’s also because of the after effects, but not being able to work is just too much of a hit since you won’t be able to make a living. In a world without insurance or a country that will offer relief for its citizens, it’s a lethal strike. In the end, if one were to catch that disease, it could lead to only one conclusion, starvation.
“It’s good that we were able to stop it ahead of time, nya……”
“In a sense you could say that it’s scarier than a disease with a high death rate”
“If you catch it and die, you pass on. But if you manage to survive, then in its own way, you get to enter hell.”
As the direction of the conversation moved, the Guild Master mentioned this
“This time the public office seemed to have taken quite a scolding. As for what’s going to happen to the janitorial position of the latrine pits… right now, it’s quite a mess”
Wereanna-san gave him a questioning look and asked
“You mean, they’re not giving it back to the people of the slum?”
“Unfortunately, that’s impossible. Even if you tell them that the top executive responsible for giving out low wages has been fired and that you’ll be paying the former amount, it doesn’t really seem like they’re willing to believe it. And also, apparently, they were given a new job, and also from their point of view…
Other towns aside, since this town here is near a mine. There are a lot of jobs here that people don’t like to do, physical labor, dirty labor… those kinds of stuff. But because there those kind of jobs are numerous, the people of the slum are able to find new work. So it’s not like there’s any particular reason to make a fuss over the job of cleaning the latrine pits…
And first of all, the one at fault was the public office. They also can’t tell them to stop their job and come work for them again so from the looks of things they just gave up on trying to employ the slum”
“Then, what’s going to happen? This time we got lucky that Ryouma noticed it but it will be bad if this happens again.”
“That’s right, putting it bluntly, it’s because we’d be paid that the guild was able to push it on to us. But from now here on out, the guild we’ll probably have to force the people that have a lot of failed missions or those that broken the rules to take on the job.”
“That kind of thing, just leave it to them, they’ll figure something out.”
“Don’t say it so casually…”
“Please do calm down, I’ll also take requests while I’m in the town, so please think of something during that time.”
“Thanks.”
“Nya? Does Ryouma live in a different town somewhere?”
“Acutally, I don’t live in a town but in a forest.”
“Forest?”
“Do you know the forest of Gana? From here it will take around 1 week to get there…”
“If I’m correct it’s the one close to the town of Gaunago, right?”
“That’s right. I live deep inside that forest.”
“In the forest? Why in a place like that?”
“It’s because I’m an orphan. Unfortunately, though, my grandparents that picked me up passed away, and the village we lived in was particularly cruel to outsiders, so in the end I had no choice but to leave the village. Fortunately, my grandparents were adventurers and had given me the knowledge and skill I would need to survive. Thanks to that, I was able to live by myself in the forest. I did live in the forest for 3 years, so I wonder if it’s because of that, that I’m starting to find it more comfortable to live in the forest rather than in a place with people.”
“3 years!?’
“Wait a moment. Ryouma-kun, how old are you?”
“11 years old.”
“So you’ve been living by yourself in the forest since you were 8 years old?”
“You’re crazy…”
“Then, how come you’re in a village like this?”
“Well I had been wondering if it was really ok to continue that lifestyle since my grandparents did tell me to go to a different village. At some point though, I ended up meeting some people who were going here, and so I decided to go with them to see what a town inhabited by people is like”
“Are you going back?”
“Well, I am worried and I also have some attachment to that house I made that I lived in for 3 years. Alternatively, I might also be able to find a place to live in deep in the forest around here.”
“Um, how about no? Go live in the town. Why do you have to go all the way to the forest to live?”
“Well the house is made by magic, and food is dealt with, by simply hunting, like this it’s quite the carefree lifestyle, you know? Oh, money also isn’t needed.”
“Ryouma, this one thinks that you being a hermit at that age is too early.”
“That’s true…… I can vaguely feel it.”
“Well just think hard enough about it to have no regrets. I’d be grateful if you stayed here, but it’s better if you choose to live here without being burdened. Just go live the way you want.
For the mean time the properties of the people who were embezzling money were confiscated, and the people who worked with them had their salaries cut. All those funds retrieved will be used as finances for the town so for the mean time there will be money. So at the very least the town will have money to hire people to handle things.
……Anyway with this I’ve given you guys what I needed to give you. And also, there’s one last thing I need to let you guys know. A few days from now, a request will be posted regarding the subjugation of the monsters taking nest inside the mine. Practically speaking, that mine has been abandoned years ago but it’s only this year that it will be officially declared as abandoned. There are several kinds of magical beasts taking nest inside that mine. Their mostly just a bunch of small beasts but the scope is wide so they want to hire adventurers for the job. Take those jobs and kick their asses. Dismissed!”
Like that we were dismissed and we each went our own ways. I went back to the lodging where Elia and the rest were waiting for me. From the looks of things, they wanted us to eat lunch together and so they had waited for me. I give my thanks, take my seat, and have lunch with them. At which point Elia said this
“Ryouma-san, let’s have special training!”
“What’s the matter all of the sudden?”
… I feel like we’d also had a similar conversation in the past…
“I’ll be having special training from today onwards so I wanted to know if Ryouma-san might want to join too.”
“The truth is, this trip is not only just a trip, but also for the sake of serving as Elia’s battle practice.”
“My household does not discriminate between men and women and makes its members go on a journey for the sake of practicing magic and slave magic. Depending on how good one is, they can also become an adventurer.”
“Going on a trip, widening one’s kn