Kamasse’s Debate
* * *
The crowded lobby of the Adventurer’s Guild Yoshanka branch office was further disrupted by additional intruders!
They were the town’s business owners!
Forming a circle around , they struck intimidating poses with folded arms and nacing gazes!
Even the adventure-hardened adventurers involuntarily shrank back from their overwhelming presence.
Currently, the lobby interior had shaped into , Emi, standing at the center (along with the inadvertently involved Kamasse).
Surrounded by the circle of business owners.
Further ringed by the onlooking adventurers in the outer layer.
An extrely high-density crowd, yes.
“W-Wait wait wait…..the stall owner old man, and the innkeeper lady? What’s the aning of suddenly barging in like this?”
Interrupted while delivering his spirited declaration, Kamasse appeared bewildered.
He shot an accusatory look as if to say “Did you do sothing!?”, but unfortunately, I had no idea what prompted this!
I simply tilted my head in response.
“Hmph, our business isn’t with you, but rather that cursed child beside you.”
Stepping forward was……ah, the stall owner old man I had driven to tears with my repeating side-steps!
“Ah, that’s Baccarou, owner of the Togūdo Skewer stall!”
“What!? The head of the Yoshanka Trade Association!”
“Eh!? The legendary ‘Togūdo Skewer Artisan’!?”
The surrounding adventurers began whispering among themselves.
Eh, that old man was actually such a renowned yakitori chef?
“I heard he has a bad drinking habit.”
“Rumor is he’s been divorced three tis.”
“Saw him puking on the street the other day.”
Having good hearing can be troubleso too, huh?
“Ahem!”
The stall owner cleared his throat, silencing the adventurers.
“Ah— my apologies for the rude interruption, adventurer folks!”
Then the old man raised his voice to proclaim loudly:
“Currently, Yoshanka town is experiencing unprecedented prosperity the likes of which I’ve never witnessed since my childhood days here! While I’m glad adventurers like yourselves have adopted this as one of your bases, contributing to this boom, allow as a resident to express my gratitude!”
“Well I’ll be.”
“Ah shucks, no need for that.”
“What’s a kokeki? Can’t eat that?”
Responding as they pleased to the old man’s abrupt speech, one idiot among the surrounding adventurers displayed a concerning lack of comprehension.
“We townspeople wish to seize this prosperity as an opportunity to revitalize Yoshanka after years of declining population! Each business is devising various strategies – renovating storefronts, exploring new ventures, all sorts of new undertakings! This will make Yoshanka a more convenient town, ideal for residing adventurers as well! Drawing even more people, Yoshanka’s developnt will surge onward! A wonderful future awaits!”
“I’ll be.”
“Now that you ntion it, saw so expansion construction going on here and there.”
“What’s a Yoshanka? Can’t eat that?”
The stall owner’s oratory skills proved unexpectedly adept, inadvertently captivating the adventurers’ attention!
That one particular idiot, however, seed hopelessly dense.
“However!”
With a bellowing shout, the old man instantly silenced the stirring crowd, then declared:
“There is an existence hindering Yoshanka’s prosperity! That would be you, cursed child!!”
Pointing forcefully at , he drew everyone’s gaze squarely toward .
Eh?
?
What’s this about being blad?
Why am I being blad?
“It is well known that ‘cursed children spread misfortune wherever they go’!”
“You, a devil, ca to defile this town! Begone, devil!”
The rotund innkeeper lady and the elderly woman who had pelted with salt stepped forward, further accusing .
The others joined in too, hurling their own invectives at from all sides.
…………………….
Ah, I see.
This is that usual thing, huh.
Discrimination against black hair and black eyes, against cursed children.
They hurl insults.
Foul-mouthed insults, no matter what.
Because I’m a cursed child.
Anything goes when insulting a cursed child, so they let it all out.
Summarizing their intent cos down to a single statent:
“Cursed child, get out of this town at once.”
…………………….
Sigh.
Well, it’s not like this is an unfamiliar experience for .
I was ostracized (or was it the opposite?) from my garbage village too upon birth.
During my wandering period before eting my master, I wasn’t even allowed into villages or towns at all.
But it had been a while, so—
This kind of thing.
Haha.
It’s a bit shocking.
Yes.
Nostalgic, isn’t it?
A sad sort of nostalgia……
Taking advantage of my silence, the business owners continued hurling baseless insults at .
Claiming I must be living through thievery with no common sense.
That I’m an unclean breeding ground for disease.
My very presence spoils the town’s scenery.
I bring misfortune wherever I go.
Why, I wonder every ti.
Just why is this world so harsh?
Is being born with black hair and black eyes really that terrible a sin?
Why must I keep being condemned like this?
Why?
Why?
Why?
Honestly—
I could feel it starting to leak out.
Killing intent.
Ah, no no.
I have to endure……
…………Extra-sama?
……You’re raging.
Extra-sama, you’re calmly raging.
And there was yet another person enraged on my behalf within this space.
“You lot! Ever since earlier, you’ve been running your mouths spouting all sorts of nonsense!”
Stepping forward protectively in front of with a flushed face, Kamasse fired back at the crowd.
“This girl saved Yoshanka town! The one who defeated the Togūdo Commander was her! And your response is to drive her out for having black hair and eyes!? You ungrateful shaless Yoshanka residents!”
“What did you say!?”
“What’s this brat blabbering about!?”
Kamasse didn’t back down an inch from the confrontational adults surrounding him, arguing for my sake.
“And you know what!? Leaving aside whether she’s a cursed child or not, you’re trying to drive a single person out of town! Do you have any legal grounds for that!? Is there so law stating cursed children can’t remain in town!? Hey, guard, what about it!?”
“……There is no such law.”
“Then your claims are unlawful and unjustified! For adults to act as you are is no different from the bullying of street urchins!! Am I wrong? Well!?”
“……Gh!”
……Kamasse is truly amazing.
Intelligent and articulate.
Despite this sudden predicant, he swiftly turned the tables against them all through sheer rhetoric.
“However, I saw that cursed child scaling the outer walls to leave town rather than using the main gate!”
The young guard tried to counter.
……Ah, that was the one who had tossed out of town in the middle of the night after finding sleeping in the park.
So he must have witnessed dashing out to rescue Kamasse by climbing over the walls.
“……So what? Is there so rule against scaling walls?”
Kamasse briefly hesitated.
……Well, the fact was I had entered and exited town by climbing over rather than using the main gate.
Since I had carried Kamasse in the sa way earlier, he was aware of this too.
“There’s no such rule! But that’s simply because no one ever conceived of soone entering and exiting town by scaling walls!”
“If there’s no rule against it……”
“Even without a rule, it’s unacceptable! Do you understand what we guards are tasked with at the main gate in the first place? Screening to prevent any criminals from entering! That cursed child hasn’t undergone any such screening process! No, she’s intentionally avoiding it! Why is that? It’s because she’s a criminal!”
This was growing troubleso.
The tide seed to be turning unfavorably.
Wait.
Calm down, Extra-sama.
“Sure does seem suspicious, avoiding the main gate like that.”
“If they had nothing to hide, they wouldn’t go through the effort of climbing the outer walls.”
“Could she be dealing illegal drugs or sothing?”
The bystander adventurers began murmuring restlessly, indulging in baseless speculation.
“In any case, we’re taking that cursed child into custody! After interrogation at the station, it’s either imprisonnt or exile! Out of the way, young adventurer!”
The young guard declared as such while trying to shove Kamasse aside.
“Imprisonnt or exile,” huh.
It seed the possibility of being exonerated didn’t even cross his mind.
He likely intended to fabricate so cri to justify expelling from town regardless.
As for Kamasse—
Even after being pushed, he didn’t budge an inch.
Bracing himself by activating 【Body Strengthening】, he stood his ground firmly.
“You brat……!”
Knocked back by Kamasse, the guard began directing his hostility toward him as well.
By now, not just the business owners but even the surrounding adventurers viewed as a nace to be expelled.
Such was the prevailing atmosphere.
And yet.
Still, Kamasse persisted.
“……Unless your actions are legally grounded, you’re the one engaging in unlawful conduct, guard.”
“What did you say, brat……”
“And the Adventurer’s Guild has the ‘Adventurer Rules’!”
……Hm?
“These rules don’t just bind adventurers, but are also ant to shield us from unjust national authorities like this! As an international organization, the Adventurer’s Guild is obligated by these rules to protect adventurers! It’s a fact agreed upon by every nation where the guild operates! Isn’t that right, receptionist!?”
Oh no.
Kamasse, that’s not good.
“What!? The Adventurer’s Guild is siding with this cursed child!? Well, receptionist!! What do you have to say!?”
“Eh, ehhh—!?”
Suddenly addressed after rely observing from the sidelines, the flustered receptionist woman fumbled for a response.
The depraved receptionist who had been exploiting for dicinal herbs.
“W-Well, um, y’see……!”
Looking around anxiously over the counter, the depraved receptionist surveyed her surroundings.
The business owners and guards were already my adversaries to begin with.
The adventurers harbored no particular goodwill toward a cursed child like either.
Under such circumstances, her eventual conclusion was set in stone.
Or rather—
There was a fatal flaw in Kamasse’s argunt.
Ordinarily, barring that flaw, the depraved receptionist would have been obligated to defend without hesitation as an Adventurer’s Guild employee.
But instead:
“Err, y’see! As the Yoshanka branch, our stance is that we wish to contribute to this town’s developnt, which is why we’ve been allowing you to undertake jobs here all this ti, y’see!”
“The guild would abandon adventurers!?”
Kamasse roared back.
By reframing it as the guild “abandoning adventurers” rather than specifically, he shifted the point of contention.
But Kamasse, that won’t work.
“Oh—no no! We would never abandon ‘you adventurers’!”
“Then!!”
“But we absolutely won’t be shielding that cursed child either!”
“Wha—!?”
“Because—!!”
Pausing to inhale deeply, the depraved receptionist shrilly declared the fact:
“That cursed child isn’t an adventurer!!!”
“……………………Huh?”
Kamasse froze, blankly dumbfounded.
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