It's the day after my legendary escape from the Guild.
And guess what?
I've learned my lesson.
Yes, really. I, Satou Kazuma have evolved.
No more walking into the Guild like a clueless amateur.
No more slapping rare loot on the table while looking suspicious. And definitely no more revealing that I'm working solo without a Familia.
So this time, I go straight to the customer. Consider it a service from me.
Craftsmen, blacksmiths, alchemists.
Weird old ladies who live in alleyway forges. You know, the types who care more about shiny materials than legal paperwork.
"Whoa... this is a real Jack Bird's Golden Egg!."
The old lady examined it with a greedy glint in her eye.
I nodded sagely. "Still fresh. No scratches. I would give you a big discount for this."
"Of course you should. The only reason you came here is because you can't sell this in the guild, right? You ain't fooling me, kid."
Shit! She knows how to negotiate.
After bargaining, I sell my golden egg 800.000 valis for each one.
She gave me a hefty pouch of valis. I gave her a wave and disappeared.
No names. No questions. No problems.
It worked.
It kept working.
For precaution, I make sure to change my name for each client.
Mitsurugi Kyouya, Vanir, General Dust, Masked Man, and the list go on...
For a few glorious days, I lived the dream.
In the morning, I'd sneak into the dungeon wearing my Vanir mask, pick up a few glittery items, cast {Lurk} when things got hairy, then return to town and sell the loot directly.
No tax. No Guild registration. No debt.
I even started eating real meat again.
Ahh… if only the world would let me stay happy.
Shit! That's a flag.
And it really is.
One day, a cute little girl approached me near the market stalls.
She looked innocent enough. Tiny. Brown hair. Big eyes. Baggy cloak. Probably sold newspapers or flowers or something tragic like that.
"Excuse me, mister," she said, looking up at me with watery eyes. "I heard you're good at... getting things from the dungeon?"
"…Who's asking?"
"My master... I mean, my boss… is a famous appraiser! She could give you way more money for your items than these greedy smiths."
"...Oh?"
Wow, how kind. Totally trustworthy. No suspicious vibes at all!
Yeah, cute little girl is always innocent. That's the rule.
I followed her...
Like a total idiot.
Turns out, this "little girl" was Liliruca Arde.
Turns out, she knew exactly who I was.
Turns out, the Guild had put out a quiet request to "capture the unidentified masked criminal suspected of unlicensed dungeon activity."
Unlicensed dungeon activity?! Excuse me! It's called freelancing!
Just because you can't tax me, now you treat me like a criminal?! What a nice world!
By the time I realized it was a trap, it was already too late.
I turned a corner and found myself boxed in.
From the front: a red-eyed white-haired pretty boy with an awkward aura.To the left: a tall dude with red armor and a big sword.And on the right: a cool-looking samurai girl with a quiet intensity.
The white haired pretty boy in front of me stepped forward.
"Sir, we don't want to hurt you. Please surrender. The Guild only wants to talk."
Not gonna lie, he has that 'protagonist and knight of justice' aura around him. Even more than that Katsuragi-guy.
I glanced around.
Could I use {Lurk} and escape? Probably.
Should I? Yes.
Did I?
...
"...Lily tricked me," I muttered, voice low.
The mask twitched slightly.Just a little pulse of irritation.
A whisper in the back of my mind:
"Oho, a dramatic confrontation! My, how exciting!"
Ugh. The Vanir mask again. Pretty sure it was cursed.
Still… I felt it.
A little heat.
A little annoyance.
They think I'm weak.
Fine.
Let's have some fun.
"You talk like a knight of justice, but all you do is just tricked me into the trap, and ganging up on me. And you seriously think I will trust that you won't hurt me?"
Bell looked troubled. "I- I'm really sorry about this. I swear that I don' want to hurt you."
Somehow, I could see that he is a genuine person.
But who cares? The fact is his companion trapped me.
"At least could you tell me your name?"
"Bell. Bell Cranel from Hestia Familia. And you, sir?"
"Mitsurugi Kyouya."
"Bell." The raid haired man from the side shouting. "Forget about convincing him, just beat and bring him to guild."
I chuckle. "Nice idea. I was thinking the same."
"I didn't want to do this," I said, cracking my knuckles, "but I'm not handing over my hard-earned loot to a bunch of babysitters."
Bell blinked. "Wait, what?"
I pulled up my sleeves.
"Let me show you why I beat the Demon King."
Technically true-ish.
The Battle Begins
Bell lunged forward, swift and fast—
"{Bind}!"
A magic rope materialized, snaring his legs. He tripped, rolled, and faceplanted.
"Bell!"
The red-haired man charged in, swinging a massive blade.
I snapped my fingers. "{Flash}."
A bright light exploded from my palm. He staggered, cursed, and missed by a mile.
"{Steal}!"
His sword vanished from his hands and appeared in mine.
"...Whoa. This is heavy."
I dropped it immediately. The flat of the heavy sword hit the head of red haired man, making him faint.
It's not my fault, right? My arms just aren't built for heavy swords.
The cool-looking samurai girl run towards me.
When I said samurai, I really mean it. She does use katana. It makes me wonder if some japanese really came here.
"Are you perhaps Japanese?" I ask her as I dodge her sword swing.
"Japanese? I don't know what you are talking about, I came from Far East."
"Wow, what a surprise! Yet another fantasy world where the so-called 'Eastern Nation' is just Japan in cosplay. Because obviously the entire East is just samurais, shrine maidens, and rice fields, right? Why bother researching the rest of Asia when you can slap on a katana and call it culture?"
The samurai girl raised her eyebrows clearly can't understand what I said.
Anyway, I cast {sleep} on her.
She fell in instant.
Bell recovered. He looked mad now. Does he thinks I knocked out the samurai girl?
"Let her go!" Bell said.
"Sure."
I don't even hold her in the first place.
"{Firebolt}!"
He fired shot after shot, rapid-fire.
I zigzagged, ducked behind crates.
"{Firebolt}!"
"{Create Water}"
As fire and water collided, a great plume of steam surged upward, wrapping the world in a swirling curtain of heat and haze. The air trembled, and vision dissolved into a wavering blur.
Using it to my advantage I slipped behind Bell.
"Surprise!" I said as grabbing his neck.
"Uwah?!"
"{Drain Touch}."
Bell collapsed.
I stood over him.
The red haired man already wake up, but he still touching his head in pain.
The Samurai girl is still sleeping.
...I won?
Holy crap.
I beat three of them.
Wait, does that make me... overpowered?
No, no. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. They were tired. Caught off guard. Distractions. Bad lighting.
Still…
I turned back to Lily, who had been hiding behind a barrel the whole time.
"You."
"Eep—!" She backed fall on her butt. Looking really scared.
I have to admit that Vanir mask is indeed scary.
Yes, let's shift the blame to this cursed mask.
It will be really bad for my mental health if some little girl said they are afraid of me.
"Nice try." I flick her head lightly.
Then, I vanished.
"{Lurk}."
And just like that, I disappeared again.
Back into the alleyways.Back into the shadows.Back to my natural state: misunderstood, unfairly hunted, and mildly irritated.
This world...
Why is this world start feels like my previous world?