We borrowed a room for small parties on the second floor, so we could hear from Hearan.
Sister Bell was worried something might happen to me, so she is with us as well.
Nothing would happen, since Shinki is here, but oh well.
And so, we introduce ourselves again.
[Sorry for earlier. I'm Hearan Duto, and I'm this town's accountant.]
Accountant!?
Did we have such a role?
Government accountants were a thing in the other world, but I didn't know what their job entailed. Maybe collecting receipts or settling accounts?
[I'm Nefertima, daughter of Dalerant Osphe. Going shtraight to the point, I'd like to ashw you a few questions about what you were shaying before1.]
[...But, I'm not sure if my lady can understand...]
Gosh! Being a child is really annoying!
[I have enough knowledge for my father to add me to the inshpecthion team.]
I know it is crazy to think a five year old can understand the dense conversations of adults, but...
Brother is wise. Sister is intelligent, and I am a tomboy. That's how the talks about the three Osphe siblings go in the social circles.
Well, it is not wrong, so I can't say much. But it is funny that I'm the only one with a different kind of adjective!
[...I understand. Do you know about the recent surge in damage caused by monsters?]
[Yes. I believe my father is in charge of investigating this, under His Majesty's order.]
Hearan sighed and started talking with a grave tone.
[It is true that there has been a series of events of damage caused by monsters here in Parses. However, the number of events isn't much higher compared to previous years. There were some injuries, but the mayor exaggerated them and falsely reported that there were deaths. As a result, we received five gold coins from the lord as consolation money2.]
Whether five gold coins is a lot or not depends on how many people were reported as dead... But if it all went into someone's pockets, it is a lot.
[Didn't you ask for support from the Knight's Order?]
Generally speaking, this kind of monster extermination is part of the Knight's Order's duty.
Most of the monster extermination requests sent to the Adventurer's Guild are those that occur in private properties or that involve too many monsters for the Order to deal with alone.
Well, in some places, the guild is employed to reduce the burden on the knights. I've heard that there are always requests for monster hunting, especially those with strong breeding capabilities.
[If the Knight's Order had arrived in time, the mayor wouldn't be able to do something so foolish.]
As soon as the goblins were spotted, the order was immediately contacted for support. But, for some reason, the knights were unable to come. In the meantime, one of the townspeople who encountered the goblin was injured.
That was when the mayor had an idea! "If we pretend he's dead, we'll get compensated for the knights' mistake!". The way of thinking of a shallow person, at its finest!
That's how Hearan described it.
[He is also inflating the maintenance costs of roads, and a few other things.]
Uwa... How do I say this... he is not even at the level of a villain. He is just shallow. So disappointing.
[Does mister mayor keep any record of those things?]
[Yes, he does. I've seen him happily writing record books.]
Happily... Shouldn't you put those in a place where other people can see then!?
I'd like to meet this shallow disappointment of a mayor!
[If the books exist, we should bring them to Otou-sama right away!]
[I couldn't wish for more, but... I'm sure the mayor keeps the books hidden.]
That makes sense. He is afraid of being discovered, so he takes care of the records by himself. Maybe hiding it using magic or magic tools. Or storing it in a secret safe, or a place that can't be detected by magic...
Well, there are witnesses, so I'll just let papa handle this one.
[If you are sure mister mayor is doing something wrong, I imagine you can swear by your true name in front of otou-sama?]
[Of course!]
Then no problem!
Leaving that aside, there is still a thing bothering me.
[Do you know why the Knight's Order didn't come?]
As I mentioned, the knight's Order is tasked with keeping the public order. Because of that, 8 to 12 units are stationed in each territory.
I'd like to know what type of situation arrived to prevent them from coming.
[The largest city in Parses, Lenis, is located just west of here. The main road, Manoa, runs through the city, so the place is the base for distribution to and from the Myuga territory. But it seems the damage and looting caused by Kobolds is terrible there.]
The Manoa Road is the biggest road that crosses the Osphe territory. The road is always maintained by magic and is safe, so many people use it to get to and from the Myuga and Wise territories.
But, what about the officials in charge? Are they neglecting their duties?
[I've heard the city of Lenis was in danger at one point because of the large number of Kobolds and because their movements seemed organized. So, most of the knights in the area were deployed to deal with them...]
Yes. Here it is!!
If their movements seem organized, then it means there is a leader. And it might be an unusual child like Shinki! Aren't things already being set up to include kobolds into the plan?
It may sound cheesy, but "welcome doggie"3!
[...My lord, calm down a bit.]
Hum. It is impolite to read other people's minds, you know?
[Eh? Shinki, do you have the ability to know what I'm thinking?]
[No, I don't. But you were muttering something about "werecamedogi".]
Wow, that's embarrassing!!
I was so excited I was saying it out loud...
[...Please forget about that.]
Erase it from your memory!
But Lenis, huh?... There are no plans to stop there, but I'll ask my brother once he joins us. If I tell papa first, he'll probably refuse immediately, since it is dangerous.
If that's the case, I'll leave the mayor to papa. We also need to look for goblins and let them know they can leave this area.
Hmm... Should we force them?
[Then, Hearan-san, come with me to meet Otou-sama.]
And then, lowering my voice to a whisper, I ask Shinki.
[Shinki, I hope you can find the goblins in the area and persuade them.]
Thanks to wind spirits, Shinki can hear even the smallest voice.
It is possible he is hearing the conversation between papa and the others... It's beyond the level of good hearing.
[Persuade?]
[Yes. To get them under you.]
Either under Shinki's, or maybe under Suzuko's command.
It should take 2 or 3 days for a group to reach Suzuko and the other goblins' place from here.It is possible that they will be attacked by other monsters and wiped out before they get there, though.
Well, I doubt this type of explanation will get through the goblins though.
[I understand.]
I'm throwing it to Shinki, but I think it is better than having humans go there. Well, if it doesn't work, I can go myself.
So, shall we look for papa?
We parted ways with Shinki in front of the Adventurer's Guild, and for some reason, sister Bell led us to the mayor's house.
Oops, I should call Nox before I forget.
I attached the communication cylinder, one of the seven tools she got from Restin, to Nox, and asked her to carry the letter to Papa like a carrier pigeon.
It would be a waste of time if we missed each other or if he isn't at the mayor's house.
[Will Shinki-san be fine, handling the goblins by himself? Even if they are just goblins, it is still dangerous...]
I told sister Bell and Hearan that Shinki would be exterminating the goblins.
It is sweet of you to worry, but Shinki has been ludicrous strong, even when he was a hobgoblin.
And since they are from the same species, it will be fine. But I can't say that, so I'll just play pretend.
[You don't need to worry, because Shinki is as strong as Otou-sama!]
I don't know which one is actually stronger!
I would say papa is stronger, if I had to guess.
[Is the current mayor the mayor for a long time by now?]
[Yes. In Cass, the position of mayor passes from parent to child. The current mayor has been in office for about 15 years.]
Hmmm... So it's a hereditary system.
Sister Bell was born in this town, right?
[Do you know for how long this has been going on?]
[About five years, I guess.]
Five years... So, he has been working seriously for ten years. Either he got tired of doing his work, or someone gave him some type of "guidance"... I'm sure it's the latter. That means there is an accomplice.
[Didn't Hearan come to Cass three years ago?]
Hearan gives a positive response to sister Bell's question.
[How did you know it has been 5 years?]
[I checked the past records. It seems my predecessor did not take his job seriously.]
How sloppy was he, if you noticed it right away... This makes me question the suitability of your predecessor.
While we were having this conversation, we came to a relatively nice house.
Nox is on the roof, so there's no doubt that papa is here.
If it is like this, there is no need for strategy! I will just tell papa about it in front of him!
[If we don't find the secret records, he will escape...]
[But there should be something fishy in the official records as well, right?]
Honestly, the only people who can best papa in an argument is either mama or His Majesty. He is probably the second best at it, in the entire country.
If he doesn't get this mayor in a heartbeat, he will shame the title of Prime Minister.
I'll tell mama, if he can't do it.
I headed to the house entrance in high spirits, only to be greeted by papa standing in an imposing instance... It is the papin from the cave, again!
[Nefertima, if you have an excuse, let's hear it.]
Translator’s Notes:
1. Nema doesn't use much baby language here. Instead, the author transforms kanji from hard words into hiragana and adds pauses beteween the syllables, to indicate she is talking slowly and carefully in order to not mess up. It is hard to reproduce this in English without being very annoying, so, I add a few baby words here and there and left the rest as normal dialog.
2. Translated as "Emergency Funds" in the previous chapter.
3. She speaks in English here. Hence "cheesy".
Thank you for the good chapter!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. Thanks for reading.
DeleteIs there any problems with chapter continuation?
ReplyDeleteI was on crunch time at work, so, I couldn't translate anything. You should have a continuation this weekend, hopefully.
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