34th
Hassan, a local from the swamp
034 ? Swamp Local Hassan #1
The women surrounding Luna were all armed with swords, shields, and shiny armor.
Unlike street thugs or Iron Tier punks, these weapons are well-groomed and have some form of form.
The larger the area of copper, iron, or any other metal plate used in armor, the more expensive it becomes.
Judging by the clinking armor they wear, like Roman soldiers, these women appear to be among the more lucrative among adventurers.
Wearing good armor means making a lot of money, and making a lot of money completes the simple formula of being a great adventurer.
And most great adventurers are ruthless killing machines without a conscience or heart, whether they kill people, beasts, or monsters.
“Hey, Luna. You know best what kind of people we are. You’ve been helped a lot, too.”
“That’s true, but… I never asked you guys for help. You guys did whatever you wanted-.”
“Look at this cheeky thing? Is that why you’re going to cut us off now? You’ve been avoiding us lately. Now you can make a living, right?”
They surround Luna and speak to her in quiet tones.
From a distance, it looks like a social gathering place for women, but up close, Luna’s trembling figure looks quite pitiful.
I thought I had seen this scene somewhere, and it turned out to be exactly like the scene in an old documentary where a gazelle was trapped between lionesses.
“Even if you are not one of the twelve gods, you have sworn a vow of chastity to the goddess. You meet the conditions to join our group of sword maidens. What would a soft girl like you do alone?”
“I have a fixed party now.”
“Fixed party? You haven’t tasted the bitter taste yet. Hey, hey, hold on! I took everything you had!”
What the hell, what kind of pseudo-religious recommendation is that? When I look around at the people around me, they just glance here and there, each going their own way as if they don’t want to get involved in troublesome matters.
If Luna hadn’t been my acquaintance, I would have just passed by. It wouldn’t have been right to get into a fight and get stabbed in the stomach.
If I get involved with those vicious women, won’t it just result in one more casualty? Shit, they’re all bronze tier. It’s so scary.
“What is this? Why are you hiding it so tightly?”
“That, that won’t do! My leap of thought! Give it back!”
“Throw it away, throw it away. Why on earth are you carrying around something like this?”
“no-!”
Luna finally bursts into tears. It makes me angry because her appearance reminds me of myself being persecuted by Elfriede and her followers.
So in the end, I couldn’t make a rational decision and just moved my body as my anger grew.
“Hey, shit. Why are you throwing that precious thing away? If you’re going to throw it away, give it to me, you bitches.”
“What, what is this giant bastard? Shit, I thought it was a troll.”
I snatched the bamboo water bottle from the dumbfounded woman. After uncorking it, I drank it in one gulp without even tasting or appreciating any other smell.
“Fuck, f*ck, this kid is crazy!”
“Tongue, is that the kid with the broken tongue?”
The women were very excited by my powerful appearance.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I was so scared that I was able to drink the elixir in my own way.
It just tastes like a strong tea with spices? Compared to the weird juices my dad used to give me, this is drinkable like cola.
No, it tastes more like Dezawa milk tea than cola. Seriously, what is Dezawa? How on earth did you achieve this mysterious taste?
“It’s more drinkable than I thought.”
Deering-.
『Temporarily increases stamina by 1.』
What is this? Is it doping? Anyway, there is something more important than this right now.
“Hotsan!”
Luna looks up at me with tearful eyes. Is this exactly the expression she’ll make when she finds the rope in the pit?
However, unlike Luna, who was spreading hope, the expressions of the women surrounding me and Luna only became more and more crumpled.
“Hassan? Oh, this is the Samaritan who has been making a lot of noise lately. He looks very sturdy.”
“This guy is Luna’s trusted confidant, right? Then, if I just get this kid, he’ll join the Sword Maidens?”
Slurp, slurp-.
The sight of you and me pulling out swords from our sheaths is extremely sinister.
We were in a similar crisis not too long ago.
At that time, there were three Iron-rank adventurers, and I was able to deal with them sufficiently.
But this time, seven.
I have to fight seven armed bronze tier female warriors at once. Damn, this is my grave.
But I have no intention of just taking it. That’s why I too hold the two swords in each hand at my waist and shout loudly.
“Fuck, the first kid to attack me is definitely killed!”
Even I thought it was a very loud voice. Thanks to that, the noisy empty space in front of the guild was instantly enveloped in silence and stillness.
But the silence didn’t last long.
“Look at his fighting spirit. He’s cool.”
“What should I do when you say something like that? Rene? Do you want to go first?”
“Are you giving in to me? Thank you.”
“Hey, I said I’d kill the first kid to attack! I warned you!”
Despite my earnest warnings, the guys don’t even flinch and instead rejoice. I clench my teeth as I realize once again that there are only assholes in this world.
Should I attack first before I get hit like this? Or should I run away? While thinking about that, my back was drenched in sweat.
“stop-.”
A group of women parted ways and someone appeared to mediate the situation. It was a rather tall woman.
The first thing I saw was her dark brown hair, fluttering in the wind – and her copper-colored skin, healthily tanned by the sun.
Her lips are pursed shut as if she is indifferent, and her chin is stubborn for a woman. Nevertheless, her brown eyes, burning like fire, are fierce.
Is she a Samaritan? No, she is not. Samaritans have skin similar to that of the yellow race like mine. This woman is strictly of South American descent.
What kind of armor is that thin? All it has is a bronze shield protecting the chest, wrists, and ankles.
Isn’t it dangerous to have your stomach and thighs exposed like that? Is there any purpose to those clothes as defensive equipment?
As I was thinking about that, I saw the metal around the woman’s neck sparkle. And I personally learned that it wasn’t just a cliché to say that my mind went blank.
Crunch-.
Shit, a Silver Tier adventurer? That’s the same rank as the dangerous fire witch Elfriede. That’s a veteran among veterans.
There is more to the difference between me, an Iron Tier, and a Silver Tier adventurer than just a trainee soldier and a special forces sergeant.
Anyway, I’m completely dead now!
“Hey, Hippolyte.”
“… It’s not something you should be involved in. We’ll take care of it.”
Even the Bronze Tier female warriors who looked so strong and scary suddenly started to cry like puppies in front of the Silver Tier horde lord who suddenly appeared.
Thud, thud.
However, the female adventurer of the Silver Tier approached me straight ahead without even sparing a glance at them.
This pressure I feel despite her body being a head smaller than mine. It is indeed that of a strong woman, reminiscent of Elfriede or the witch Nemea.
And when you look closely, you can see that she has a ton of lean muscle and scars here and there for a woman, giving off a very dangerous feeling of being somewhere between a woman and a warrior.
I should say that this is the first time in this world that I have seen a woman with the name Warrior so fittingly. Anyway, the Silver Tier Warrior spoke to me.
“Samaritan. Bravery and courage are different things. But, he’s the most interesting man I’ve seen in a while.”
The voice bursting out of her lips was full of what could be called passion, but when you look at her face up close, you could say that she was quite pretty. That made me feel even more nervous.
“Are you the Samaritan who killed a lion with his bare hands and slaughtered a hundred goblins with his bare hands?”
“That, that-. That’s my story, but I guess I should say it’s not my story. That thing…”
I’m going to kill that little brat. I’m going to smash his nose wide with a rock and kill him.
“Indeed, you are a strong man. You smell like my father. The smell of seething struggle and savagery. The smell of a lion clutching and roaring. You must be loved by the gods.”
The woman took a deep breath and exhaled. As soon as she exhaled, she continued speaking in a booming voice.
“I am Hippolyte, daughter of Mars, the great god of strife. What is your name?”
“I am Hassan from Samaria….”
“Hassan of Samaria. I, Hippolyta, will watch over you.”
*
In the face of a raging storm, all a small wildflower can do is sway back and forth in the wind.
That’s exactly what I was like right now.
I was tossed around by the wind and waves of the world, and when the wind finally stopped, I felt like I had been blown so far away that I couldn’t even remember where I was.
My legs were so weak that I couldn’t do anything else but sit on the bench and rest for a while until I came to my senses.
“You’re done.”
To be stamped out by a Silver Tier adventurer. Shit, this is serious enough that I might have to move cities.
“I’m sorry, Hassan. It was because of me that you got targeted by the Sword Maidens.”
Luna kept apologizing to me while I was like that. For a moment, I almost got mad at this guy, but when I thought about it calmly, it was the virgin group that was the problem, and Luna didn’t do anything wrong.
Since I am Hassan, a 21st century educated person, not Hassan the Samaritan, I need to clearly distinguish who I should be angry at.
“I thought you knew each other. What kind of people do they do?”
“The Sword Maidens? They’re very dangerous guys. They’re like a fixed party mainly made up of girls from the Amazon Islands.”
Amazons, is that some kind of other-worldly women’s group?
This place is fucking hell, with women who are already strong in combat legally running around with swords and shields.
“Hey, why are you associated with those guys?”
“I also received some help from them when I first came to this city. But I felt like it wasn’t a good fit for me, so I left.”
“ah-.”
“Hippolyte, the leader, is a truly fearsome woman. She would kill people with her bare hands. There are even rumors that she is the real daughter of Mars…”
“Are you saying that you are the daughter of God?”
I have met a few guys who claim to be children of God.
My closest memory is of an adventurer with an M-shaped bald head and an iron tier whose name I can’t even remember.
People of this world, either because they have received grace or because they want to exaggerate their own awesomeness and greatness, like to emphasize that they are the son or daughter of God so-and-so.
Of course, I know very well that most of it is just empty boasts.
It would be different if the opponent were a veteran adventurer of Silver Tier level.
“You’re done.”
“Well, that was cool earlier, Hassan. Drinking all that bitter water without stopping. Even I can’t do that… Most people dilute it in water before drinking it.”
“Oh, that. I just drank something worth 6 silver.” What a shame.
Maybe because of that, my body starts to feel energized again.
More than that, the blood rushing to my middle leg reminds me of the time when I jokingly swallowed an aphrodisiac that my friends had secretly brought me during my school lunch period.
I’m going to sit on the bench until it subsides, but I don’t see any signs of it, damn it. Should I put my hands in my pockets and get up?
“By the way, Hassan, you cut your hair again. It smells a little strange too-.”
Luna sniffed my scent. For a moment, I thought I might be caught for what happened yesterday, so I pushed her face away with my palm.
“Hey, what do you smell!”
“It’s okay, I like the smell of Hassan. The smell of everything being boiled and squeezed. This is exactly the smell of Ideophee’s hometown.”
“You like my smell? Don’t go around saying things like that. Men easily misunderstand.”
“But Hassan is the most refined man I’ve ever seen.”
Should I be happy that I am trusted like this as a man, or should I be sad that I lack the majesty of a man?
More than that, I’m a little afraid of how Luna’s innocent expression will change if she finds out about the things I did with the witch the day before. More than that, I wonder if she even knows about all that.
“Hey, I’m just asking out of curiosity.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know how babies are born?”
“… .”
Luna didn’t answer, but instead blushed bright red and hesitated. Of course, that alone was enough of an answer.
I mentally raised Luna’s IQ by one more level.
[Work Review] Veras!! Crecsent!!!! Thank you so much for the sponsorship coupon..!!
Also, to those who gave me coupons for manuscript fees for a novel that hasn’t even reached 100 episodes yet, thank you so much!
