#012. The Adventurers are Too Kind (1)

#012. The Adventurers are Too Kind (1)

Some time after the commotion with the boy-monster.

Theresa’s party faced a new problem.

“Even the gathering materials are drying up.”

“We pretty much swept through this area, didn’t we? From now on, the requests we can take around here will either be low-value or the most difficult ones.”

“Let’s sweep up the last of the difficult requests and then try challenging a 4th-tier quest.”

“Even for you, Theresa, wouldn’t 4th-tier be too much? It’s too dangerous for the children. It’s hard enough for me to protect them both, and the Guild won’t even permit it.”

At Gorgo’s objection, Mother glanced down at Anna and me.

The danger she would face.

The Guild’s resistance.

What mattered more was the danger we would face.

Faced with a maternal love so fierce it was hard to meet her eyes, I stubbornly suppressed the urge to look away.

Knowing that would only make Theresa, who wanted to be a mother, even sadder.

“In the first place, aren’t we still earning a fairly comfortable living, even with the reduced income?”

“It’s not enough. We can’t just keep sleeping in inns. We need a safe house to leave the kids.”

“Ah… so that’s what you were thinking. Indeed, a third-class request wouldn’t be enough, and it would take quite a while. From the beginning, the requests we were snapping up were long-unresolved or high-difficulty even within their class.”

Teresa’s constant desire for higher requests, her impatience… it was all for her children.

Maybe it wasn’t her who needed rehabilitating, but the wicked mind-control mage.

Today, the altar forged from my inner guilt grew another level in my heart.

* * *

“You lot. Got a moment?”

Adventurers called out to our party as we were about to leave after settling our accounts at the guild.

A tall, beautiful woman with blood-red hair and a balanced physique.

The lancer, Russ, was considered quite strong among third-class adventurers.

“Hmph. So that’s Teresa? She’s even more infuriatingly handsome than the rumors say.”

“Quiet, Cain. The leader’s talking.”

“Tch. If a woman’s that petty, she’ll never get a boyfriend, ya know?”

“Cain. Atchu. Both of you, quiet.”

Cain, a mage carrying a wand, was almost feminine, masculine in this world’s standards enough to make one want to punch him.

Atchu, a seemingly serious female fighter in a hooded, figure-hugging short-sleeved shirt.

The trio – who looked to be on par with, or even stronger than, the bounty hunter party we’d captured before – took a stance, setting a tense atmosphere as they stood opposite us.

“What’s your business?”

“Stop raiding our piggy bank.”

“Piggy bank?”

Mom furrowed her brow at the nonsensical words.

The lancer, Russ, pointed to the request board filled with long-unresolved missions.

“Those are requests everyone else has been leaving alone. Don’t just sweep them up and complete them as you please.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Third-class requests can be done with enough effort, but they don’t pay well. The reward only increases when monsters grow properly and increase in number, or when they create victims.”

Mom finally understood what Russ was getting at.

“Hey, can you honestly say you won’t need anyone’s help while working at the guild in the future? The hunters divide areas moderately, sharing the rest areas. You will give all of that up?”

“….”

“Besides, the guild occasionally hosts joint missions. Giving up good positions, sharing supplies, exchanging information, making things easier for each other. You’re going to give all of that up?”

“…….”

“You have kids, too. You should go along to get along.”

Adventurers aren’t always on the guild’s side.

Sometimes they neglect requests, hoping for a rank upgrade or a bigger reward, or they put pressure on others as a group to make it harder to complete them easily.

From the guild’s perspective, it’s hard to punish those adventurers easily.

When manpower is short, even one adventurer is valuable.

If they accept other jobs while only citing safety concerns or a lack of profitability for specific requests, there’s really no way to deal with it.

‘There were guys like that in games, too.’

In my case?

Mind control.

I’d either mind-control them or just push through with already brainwashed or loyal adventurers.

In that case, utter chaos naturally breaks loose.

Rivalry between adventurer factions.

Highly likely to be accompanied by bloodshed.

Without brainwashing, things rarely resolve easily.

The rewards and achievements are tempting, but there’s also the option to give up and proceed with a smooth game.

Newbies, in truth, all need to do that.

But those clueless fools touch Pandora’s Box, things the industry forbids or powder kegs, and utterly fail.

“Are you finished saying what you wanted to say?”

“Yes. Your answer?”

“Go to hell.”

Mother chose a path that wouldn’t unravel easily.

The same hands, endlessly merciless against monsters, rested on my and Anna’s heads.

“I am a mother who cherishes her children more than anyone. I won’t leave anything around this village that could be a danger to my darlings. No collusion, no negotiation, no compromise.”

“Foolish. Your kids will be in even more danger because of what you’ve done.”

“Stay out of sight outside the village. Unless you want your heads blown off.”

“……”

“No, we came to threaten them, so why is he yelling? Rus, show them a lesson!”

Mother’s fierce energy made Rus scoff as he turned away.

“No need. Teresa’s party’s enemy is the entire 3rd-tier of adventurers.”

Rus walked away, followed by the mage, Kane, sticking out his tongue and taunting, and the fighter, Achu, cracking his knuckles and threatening.

Gorgoh, who had been steadfastly guarding us with his axe against the threats from the Lees party, belatedly wore a crying face.

“What do we do now? We’ve turned all the adventurers in the village into enemies!”

“Hmph. Don’t make such a fuss. Other adventurers? We don’t need the help of those sorts of guys.”

Mother believed in her own abilities.

Honestly, she inspires confidence.

After quitting drinking, working, and taking care of her health.

Mother’s body grew stronger day by day.

As if she were regaining her past strength.

The concept of a barrier to advancing realms simply didn’t exist.

Wall of enlightenment, whatever it was, she broke through it all and got stronger.

If she’s this strong alone, she doesn’t need the help of a group.

“This is also part of their education.”

Mother and Gorgoh looked down at me.

I won’t do anything shameful in front of my child.

Gorgoh had no way to oppose that kind of confidence either.

“If that’s the reason, then I will also follow Teresa-nim’s will. I suppose I need to prepare myself firmly for next time.”

While resting in the village, the gazes of the adventurers passing by all turned cold.

Tension filled the party.

No one knew when and where a conflict with other adventurers might arise.

This flow… is not good.

Even if Mother doesn’t know, Gorgo could get hurt again.

Maybe even die.

A party of three, even with just three gathering, makes nine.

With that kind of numbers, Mother is in danger too.

‘If I’m going to act, it has to be today.’

Deep night, when everyone was asleep.

I soundlessly rose from the bed and left the inn room.

Destination: outside the village.

I’d learned about the hole in the fence marking the village boundary through an in-game event.

*Shkk shkk.*

Just as I was about to crawl through the hole, I nearly screamed.

*Thwack.*

Someone’s hand had seized my ankle.

Who is it?

Why now, of all times?

No, was this the moment they were waiting for?

Fear washed over me.

Can mind control work without eye contact?

How far will it reach?

What’s their objective?

In this world, a man treats a woman like in the original world.

How does my situation look?

A girl trying to cross the village fence in the dead of night.

Always protected by her strong father, but now alone.

An child attracting attention, and potentially being targeted, within the adventurer’s guild.

And now, with only her upper body past the fence, her ankle held fast.

“!!”

The moment another hand grabbed my butt, the fear doubled.

Anything will do.

I need to cast mind control, now.

Just as a hand was pulling at my pants, ready to cast mind control, *whoosh* my body came through inside the fence.

With dirt filling my mouth, I missed my chance to cast the spell.

Frantically wriggling, I tried desperately to buy time, but a hand, calloused from adventurer training, clamped firmly over my mouth.

“Shhh.”

The one who’d pulled me out and covered my mouth spoke in a low voice, cautiously, from the inky blackness.

“Can you be quiet?”

The voice was not unfamiliar.

I nodded carefully.

We walked towards the fence with torchlight, in the shadowy darkness.

Only then, under the torchlight, did the identity of the one who’d pulled me out become clear.

He wasn’t some pervert, trying to molest a young boy under cover of night, with Mother gone.

“Where do you think you’re going, this late?”

It was Gorgo, having discovered me sneaking from the inn and followed out of concern.

I truly panicked at the thought of being defenseless against a threat to Theresa’s safety.

“I’m your guardian. As long as Madam Theresa trusts me, I can’t stand by and watch you do something dangerous, whatever it might be.”

“Mister Gorgo.”

“Take my hand and let’s go back. Lie down in bed, and sleep again. There’s nothing for you to do. Theresa and I can handle any danger. Perhaps you were threatened – told to sneak out at night, alone, or the adventurers would hurt your mother…”

Gorgo was making one mistake.

“It’s not adventurers.”

The one I was going to meet was, rather, an enemy of adventurers.

The encounter with the boy-monster had sparked a new possibility within me.

A possibility fundamentally impossible within the game.

A possibility clouded with uncertainty, precisely because this was not the game.

A new possibility, free from the player’s fixed preconceptions.

“I was on my way to meet a monster.”

To see if monsters could be mind-controlled.

That was the possibility I hoped to confirm, as I surreptitiously tried to slip out of the village under cover of darkness.