Chapter 39 - The Town Guard Banquet
"Now then, for the further development of our Nakanohara Town, and to Captain Hans, who brilliantly won three consecutive victories in the traditional Town Guard Gamble and earned the honor of being today's sponsor, and to everyone's health and future success... Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
It has finally begun. The Town Guard banquet, famous for becoming a riot.
The location is the Town Guard meeting room. Large platters of food are lined up on each table, beer barrels are piled high at the counter, and the owner of the Bird's Head Tavern, Owen-san, along with his employees, are lined up in perfect preparation for the heavy drinkers' refills.
The three of us from the Class of 175 sat at a table with Hans-san, a female soldier from the Guard named Bridget-san, and Paul-san.
"How did it come to this..."
I couldn't help but mutter while toasting.Yesterday, we achieved a result of twenty-one rats in our extermination. We accomplished the dream of exceeding twenty, but this isn't exactly a celebration for that.
In short, it's Beatrix's scheme.
Beatrix, who is always on good terms with the town's older men, picks up insider information from various shops.Since she had been getting chicken carcasses for rat bait and eating dinner at the Bird's Head Tavern, she's become quite close not only with the owner Owen-san and his wife but also with the employees. She apparently hears all sorts of shop talk through casual conversation. The information she obtained that way was about the catering for a banquet being planned at the Bird's Head Tavern.
Normally, within the scope of my limited life experience, banquets are held at taverns.Of course, wealthy people who have private chefs would hold banquets in large mansions, but ordinary people living in small houses can't do that. At most, it's a small-scale house party. Even wedding reception parties are done by renting out a shop.
That in itself is fine, but there's a fatal problem: drunks.Drinking, making noise, getting rowdy, vomiting, fighting, breaking things—the more people there are, the more difficult it apparently becomes. It's said that the majority of the Town Guard's night duties consist of mediating fights.Owen-san was also one of the tavern owners who had been scratching his head, wondering if something could be done about it.
The one who spotted an opportunity there was the shrewd Beatrix. As a solution, she proposed that if they could take orders for catered banquet food to be brought to a large venue, the shop wouldn't suffer damage and the profit would be large. It was nothing more than a reproduction of the orphanage visit.
At first, she apparently considered a standing party in the park or the vigilante assembly hall, but the Town Guard meeting room is much the same. Since the first barracks are close by, they can just toss anyone who passes out drunk into them, and there's no worry about furniture being broken. Since food and alcohol are prepared according to the amount paid in advance, there are no disputes over payment. Since no additional charges occur, Hans-san won't go into the red.
In exchange for acting as a bridge between Owen-san and Hans-san, whose interests aligned, Beatrix made our free participation a condition. The Guard also agreed, thinking that the Bird's Head Tavern would be good since they are known for their volume relative to the price, not to mention the taste. In short, they probably just wanted to drink to their heart's content.
Furthermore, if this banquet goes well, the Bird's Head Tavern will gain a reputation for having handled even a Town Guard banquet successfully. The Guard would gain a good precedent for dealing with drunks, and a reduction in the burden during future night patrols could be expected.And so, we are participating in the toast.
"You guys have it easy. I have to do this one more time."
Hans-san was grumbling.With the Kingdom's garrison currently absent, it's the Town Guard's duty to mobilize in case of an emergency. Only half of the forty-one people who lost the bet are participating this time as the first round, and the other half will have a banquet on a different day as the second round.
Hans-san, who is paying the money, naturally has to participate in both. Moreover, as the acting captain, he can't afford to get drunk. While everyone around him is making a racket, he can only sip his drink slowly.It's a wise measure, as the acting captain and the entire Guard would be useless if they all got drunk and something happened.Still, perhaps because he can drink for free, he seems to be in a good mood.
Paul-san, who had moved on to his third glass, was talking to Hans-san, who was slowly sipping his first. They seemed to be talking about how it didn't feel like the number of spiders had increased around here.
I was listening to Beatrix and Bridget-san talking about various things, but since this conversation seemed more useful, I poked my head in and forced my way into the discussion.
"Did something happen with the spiders?"
I didn't know the context, so I asked Paul-san for now.
"No, nothing. It's just that I hear spiders have been increasing lately..."
"Was it toward the east?"
I'm sure Hans-san said that.
"To be precise, the northeastern part of the Nakanohara Basin."
Speaking of the northeastern part of Nakanohara, it's close to the forest where the remnants of the Demon Lord's army officers are holed up. Is there some connection?
"Angus apparently received a request to investigate whether any spider monsters have appeared."
Angus-san received the request directly because of his connection to helping Adolf-san during the Revenant incident.
"And yet, no investigation request came to us. Don't you think that's regrettable?"
Paul-san's eyes were glazed.
Eh? What is this? I'm not to blame, right? Did I stick my nose into the wrong place?
"There's no point in saying that now. You have to do monster extermination with the Class of 175. That's the contract, isn't it?"
I nodded my head vigorously at Hans-san's helpful words.
"I know that. There's an order to things."
"An order?"
I tilted my head along with Hans-san.
"That's right. First, the Mayor should make the request to us. We receive it and politely decline. That is the proper order of things."
This is tedious. He's just a drunk.
Hans-san sighed in front of Paul-san, who had spoken indignantly.
"If they know you're going to decline anyway, no one's going to make the request."
That's exactly right. It's a complete waste of time.
"What are you saying? There's a hierarchy among hunters. It's true I took a long break from hunting. But you see, they used to say 'Paul of Magic' and 'Angus of the Bow.' Among the hunters of Nakanohara, my rank was higher."
Heh, that's impressive. Paul-san was the top hunter around here.
"Ho-ho. By the way, how does the rest of it go?"
At Hans-san's words, Paul-san awkwardly looked away.
"If I recall, it was 'McGuire of Slings,' 'McBurn of Spears,' and then, uh... 'Who-of-the-Hand-Axe'? I'm pretty sure those are just self-proclaimed titles the heads of hunters in each district use, and everyone puts their own name first. At hunter gatherings, you're supposed to be called in order of age."
Wait, what?
When I looked at Paul-san, he was pretending not to notice and ordering a fourth glass.
"In any case! Since I am still the head of the hunters living in Nakanohara Town, it wouldn't be strange for me to be contacted first, would it? Generally speaking, the hierarchy of hunters is..."
What an annoying thing this old man is saying... Besides, an investigation request for monsters that may or may not exist isn't in the contract, so just stay quiet.
While Hans-san and I were holding our heads in our hands, fed up with the drunk who had started a lecture, an even more troublesome person joined in.
"What's wrong? What are you talking about?"
It was Beatrix.As for Bridget-san, she had started a drinking contest with Beowulf at the next table. Beowulf isn't the type of girl to do such a thing, but she probably can't go against her senior's orders. She was drinking—or rather, being made to drink—amidst the cheers of the onlookers.
Ignoring the clamor, Paul-san poured out his grievances.
"I see. That's terrible, isn't it?"
After hearing the whole story, Beatrix was, of all things, sympathizing.
"Right? Right? As expected, mages are quick to understand."
Uh, in the first place, the one who bypassed Paul-san and took the talk to Angus-san was the mage Adolf-san, though. Hey, are you listening?
"But it's too early to be discouraged."
This is bad. Beatrix is thinking of something.
"It's true that investigation wasn't in our contract. But you see, what comes after that is within the scope of the contract."
It's no use. I have nothing but a bad feeling about this.
"What do you mean?"
Seeing Paul-san's puzzled face, the wicked mage smirked.
"Let's just leave the boring investigation to Angus-san, and we can take on the extermination and take them down in style."
Hans-san shrugged his shoulders grandly with his hands spread.
"If spiders are found, a request for mobilization will be sent to the Guard anyway, right? If that happens, we can just follow along and exterminate them according to the contract."
"I see. There's that way! Being top-tier means being the one to do the exterminating, after all."
Gaining momentum, Paul-san downed the half-full beer in one go and ordered a fifth glass. He was in high spirits, toasting with Beatrix.
"Um... how strong are the spiders?"
When I timidly asked Hans-san, the answer came back: "D-rank."
D-rank... so they're stronger than bears. Hahaha... I wonder if I'll make it back alive...