Now, about the 'Torture' skill. Once upon a time, while I was walking by myself in the mountains, some bandits came out, and tried to kidnap me. They probably thought I’d be easy pickings since I look eleven on the outside… Although I’m actually already twelve.
Anyway, I managed to beat them up, and one of the bandits let slip that they were planning to kidnap me. From that I deduced that they had already kidnapped some other children.
So I went ahead and asked them where their hideout was, but they wouldn’t talk. Because of that, I had no choice but to hurt them while using healing magic until I managed to make them T-A-L-K. It was then that I learned the ‘Torture’ skill.
I headed to the hideout of the bandits afterwards, and after a bit of work, I learned ‘Assassination’. I went back to Gimuru, and I asked Fei-san and Li Ling-san about it, and apparently, the ‘Assassination’ skill is something that can be learned after having learned ‘Covert Arts’, ‘Hidden Weapons’, ‘Short Sword Arts’, ‘Fundoujutsu’, and ‘Throwing Arts’.
But I already had those skills since way before, so why didn’t it activate? Apparently I was missing the last piece of the puzzle, experience in assassinating a human. Of course, not just once or twice too.
I’ve dealt with magical beasts plenty of times, but I’ve never had much experience with human opponents. But all that changed when I started travelling, and started beating up lots of bandits.
And then during that time when I had to save the children, well it was important, so I let the slimes go wild outside the bandits’ hideout, while I had the earth slimes dig a tunnel under the ground with earth magic. Then I sneaked through that tunnel, and rescued the kids. After which, I bumped into the bandit boss by chance, so I captured him, and got rid of his followers. That’s probably the reason why I acquired this skill.
Li Ling-san and Fei-san congratulated me after I finished telling my story. “Now, the boss is finally a first rate assassin,” they said. Apparently, getting experience as an assassin is proof of being a first rate assassin, and is something worth celebrating.
As for the kids I saved, they were taken in by the nearest village. The bandit boss fessed up where they were selling the children, so I spared his life, and handed him over to the guards of a big town along with the information. A few days later, I heard that the guards managed to also catch the illegal slave merchant that was buying the slaves.
Next is the ‘Cursed Song’ skill. The ‘Cursed Song’ is the resulting skill from the synthetization of musical performance (instrument) and singing, brought about by dark magic and ‘Chantless Casting’. When I saw the nightmare rimel bird, Einz, attack mentally with its cries, I thought to try singing a gloomy song from my previous life while casting ‘Depression’, a powerful magic that causes fear and anxiety, without chanting.
The bandits who heard my song were all affected. ‘Depression’ was originally supposed to be a target spell, unable to hit more than one target at the same time, yet somehow it affected everyone.
So I investigated a bit, and I found out that I had lost the skills ‘musical performance (instrument)’ and ‘singing’, and had gained the skill ‘Cursed Song’.
Next is ‘The Power of Life or Death’ skill. I have no idea why its name is so exaggerated, I just held back. That’s all really. I just captured some bandits alive to get information from, and then during my free time, I went to the church in Gimuru and trained with the kids, and then all of the sudden I learned this skill.
“I’m happy to see that I’ve learned a new skill, so of course I’m not mad. But couldn’t it have been worded in a more peaceful manner?” [Ryouma]
There are a lot of things to think about, but I’ve definitely learned a lot within this past year. Don’t misunderstand though, training wasn’t the only thing I’ve done.
Just a few days ago, our branch stores increased by three. If you include the one in Renauph, there are now four branch stores. Karla-san left the three stores under the care of Caulkins-san, Tony-san, and Robelia-san.
I talked to Karla-san about them, and surprisingly, it turned out that Caulkins-san was actually the best when it came to handling money. We were worried about him because we heard that he once lost all of his money, but from the looks of things, that failure has actually turned him for the better. And now, he’s not only good at management, but also really devoted when it comes to handling money.
Now, as for the last store, I left it to a man I was introduced to by Serge-san. His name is Falzen. I’ve met him several times before, but most likely because of his travels, his skin’s tanned. And despite being Serge-san’s age, he looks much older. He used to be a peddler, but because of his wounds he couldn’t continue, and so he dropped by Serge’s for help.
As a slave magic practitioner, he had his slave demons pull his cart as he would travel to dangerous regions crawling with magical beasts with his group to sell his goods. But as bad luck would have it, his group was attacked by a herd of magical beasts. Then immediately after, they were attacked by a group of bandits. Falzen-san and his slave demons were greatly fatigued from the ceaseless fighting, yet somehow someway they managed to repel the bandits. At the last moment, however, one of the bandits nocked an arrow as revenge, and poor Falzen took an arrow to the knee.
Reminds me of a certain guard, I thought. But I guess stuff like that is common occurrence in this world. And even the man himself said that he’s lucky just to keep his life.
With a long history of trade and slave magic under his belt, Falzen-san is no doubt one of the best employees I could ask for.
Also, since he went out of business, a part of his guards that escorted his group also went out of business. And just like him, they dropped by the town in search of a new job. When I heard that, I quickly went out to look for them. And after much discussion, I was able to hire them too.
During their series of unfortunate mishaps, the merchant group that Falzen-san traveled with, suffered a considerable amount of casualty, leading to a reduction in the carts within the group. With the number of people and carts to be escorted, reduced. The group decided to let go of some of the guards.
I assigned half of the newly employed guards to Falzen-san’s shop. The other half I sent over to Caulkins-san. When I later got back to the Gimuru, I contacted the different branches to see how they were doing. And fortunately, they were all doing well.
After that’s just various stuff. In general, when I’m in Gimuru, I’m resting. When I’m out, I’m either working or training. During my travels I would focus in my training, and when I’m in Gimuru, I would hang around the town, and talk with the people. I would also spend my days researching as my hobby.
As a result, I started to take requests from Gimuru less and less… But some time later, I realized that amongst the adventurers that I would meet in the town, there are some who would refer to me as “Cleaner.” Moreover, they’ve been increasing.
After I asked about it, it turned out that it was the nickname of a peculiar adventurer with abilities that put him above the rest. News of such an aspiring newcomer has even made its way to the nearby towns.
They got the name cleaner from that time when I cleaned the latrine pits. From that time when I cleaned up all those ruffians when I opened my store. From my recent actions when I would frequently deal with the bandits on the road, arresting them, and handing them to the guards. And from the fact that whenever I would hunt monsters, the only thing that would be left are the trophies (as evidence that I finished the mission) and the parts that can sell. But for everything else, nothing. Not even the bones would remain.
I was a bit embarrassed when I first heard it, but lately, I’ve gotten used to it. Well, like this, I feel like I can continue with my training smoothly. The slimes are doing great too. Yeah, let’s keep going like this from now on.
... Alright, now let’s speed up our pace so we can get to Teressa faster!