Search for the Summoned Hero.
Let’s check Takuto’s equipment here. His main weapon is a sword, but he learned how to use throwing knives after coming to this world, so he also has them in his equipment. He was used to wearing traditional Japanese clothing, so he was still in a hakama, but he was wearing shoes from this world. Originally, he wore straw sandals, but they quickly broke. Takuto practices practical ancient swordsmanship, so normally, a nameless sword would have broken, but this sword, blessed by the Goddess, was practically a holy sword, so there was no issue.
He also wore steel gauntlets. They were lightweight to avoid slowing him down but provided sufficient defense. Apart from that, he didn’t wear any other armor. His appearance might make him look like a swordsman in training.
As for his tools, he received a spatial ability to store them from the Goddess. At first glance, it may seem like he was not carrying anything, but items like magic bags were common in this world, so no one questioned it. Magic bags are incredibly expensive, but it’s not surprising for a B-rank adventurer to have one.
After about an hour’s walk from the town of Miinya, he arrived at a place called the Celtic Forest. There are often monsters present here, making it a good hunting ground. Takuto concealed his presence, climbed up a tree, and lept from branch to branch in search of prey. It was not the movement of a samurai. This was also possible because of Takuto’s background, so anyone who knows him wouldn’t find it strange.
After about 10 minutes, he found his prey. There seemed to be a Goblin of at least the General rank, leading about 30 Goblins, all of whom were armed with weapons and armor. When it comes to groups of intelligent monsters, Goblins and Orcs do make their own weapons, but they are mostly stolen from adventurers or citizens. This group also had lower-ranking Goblins carrying blunted swords and axes. The General had a battleaxe and wore a full plate metal armor.
“Well, these should fetch a good price.”
Normally, these would be enemies to flee from, but for Takuto, they were nothing more than minor adversaries. Takuto circled around behind them and, without hesitation, sprinted forward, beheading the Goblin General before the other Goblins could react. In the moment before the General’s eyes widened in shock, Takuto beheaded eight Goblins in his path, together with the General. They all died instantly.
“Gyaaah!! Aaarghhhh.”
The remaining Goblins, thrown into disarray by the death of their leader, swarmed Takuto. It seemed like their primal instinct was to devour him, as rational beings would have fled. However, there was no way they could win, considering that Takuto had just killed their leader.
In the end, he killed them all without wasting a single unnecessary movement. He dodged their attacks with minimal effort and swiftly impaled them in the head with his sword. The sword was an exceptional weapon, capable of handling all forms of combat, whether cutting or thrusting. Takuto showcased its true prowess by beheading and stabbing his way through the Goblins, leaving none standing.
While swords were generally excellent weapons, they were also fragile and lost their sharpness after cutting through a few opponents, making prolonged combat challenging. However, Takuto’s sword didn’t suffer from dulling or damage, even when covered in blood and grime, allowing him to continue thrusting and cutting without difficulty. As a result, the Goblins stood no chance. Even as the last Goblin collapsed into a pool of blood, Takuto remained composed, not even breaking a sweat. In fact, he had the composure to remain vigilant of his surroundings.
“I don’t have time for this… I wish the Goddess would do something more for me.”
Takuto complained to the Goddess, who was not here. He looked bored, but he was actually anxious.
He was quite directionally challenged and would surely get lost without a map, and he didn’t even know where to go to reunite with his childhood friend. His anxiety only grew worse.
“That’s when I come in handy.”
Someone popped out of Takuto’s hakama chest.
She was Rien. She was one of the survivors of the fairies, which was said to have been destroyed. The fairies were hunted down for their rarity, and only a few who were protected by the Goddess or those who lived quietly in places where humans could not enter survived.
She was Takuto’s guide. He soon realized that he had no exploration ability at all when he came to this world. He camped in the forest for a week after leaving the Imperial Capital and finally reached a nearby town, where he was told that it was only a two-day walk from the Imperial Capital. He wondered whether he should give up.
“Don’t come out without permission. If you get sold again, I won’t help you, alright?”
“That’s not a problem for me, because I have a Knight who will protect me.”
Rien, who had shoulder-length blonde hair, emerald eyes, a white dress, and thin green wings on her back, flew around Takuto in circles.
The fairies were called the descendants of half spirits and humans, but as a result of being greatly influenced by the spirits, their bodies were quite small. And they were very free-spirited.
Spirits originally existed for a purpose, but they were fundamentally lazy, and not a single one of them remembered their purpose. Therefore, fairies were also free-spirited. Even though only reporting a sighting of a fairy could yield 4,000 Platinum coins, Takuto sighed involuntarily at his companion, who had no intention of hiding. She was so defenseless that he begged her to hide in his chest for an hour until she finally agreed, but he couldn’t relax because she would come out as soon as he let his guard down.
“So? Did you get a reaction? From that… proxy thing.”
“Yes, I did. But it was a little while ago. The sign is getting old. It came from the north.”
“Let’s follow it right away. There’s a high chance she had already moved by then. And it’s useless if you only know the direction and not the distance.”
Rien was also a little useful. She could sense the reaction of the thing that protected his childhood friend. Apparently, the proxy was something like an artificial spirit made by his childhood friend, and the fairies, which were comparable to the spirit, could detect it.
Takuto could detect spirits instantly, but he was hated by them for some reason. He was even spat at by a spirit when he was asking the Goddess for a favor.
“What are you saying!! Rien might look like this, but Rien is one of the most excellent individuals among the fairies who live with the Goddess, you know? You are extremely rude.”
Rien hit Takuto’s head with a pat-pat, but Takuto naturally received no damage at all.
“I can’t help it. I’ll use this reward for the information dealer. It’s annoying to be ripped off all the time.”
This time’s reward would be 1 Gold coin after selling the Goblins, equipment included. It’s more than enough for a day’s earnings, but considering the information fee, he wouldn’t be able to buy much good information.
The Empire had information regulations that made a certain communist zone pale in comparison, and because of that, information dealers were treated worse than bandits. They were seasoned information dealers, but only those who could call themselves first-class could do business within this country. They sold information without regard for their own safety, so of course they were ridiculously expensive.
“Don’t say that, Rien wants to eat sweets. Rien hates black bread. Sweets with honey or sugar would be nice.”
“Unfortunately, there is no shop in the town of Minya that sells such things. Occasionally, peddlers seem to sell them, but the Empire… or rather, the Church approves of ‘honorable’ poverty. Well, the reality is that they monopolize all the wealth.”
It is said that most of the Ancient China’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was monopolized by the ruling class, but this Empire is not much different. Rather, it is not a rare story in this world where civilization repeatedly rise and fall, and those who live normally in this kind of world are resigned to the fact that it is natural.
“Let’s get going to a better country. There must be a dream country full of sweets somewhere.”
Rien, who spoke with a sniffle, seemed to have already given up on finding his childhood friend. Takuto must be a surprisingly patient man.