WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Scum of the Brave

Chapter 27

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A hot spring business aimed at Braves.

It was a rotten idea that felt almost insane. In other words, a hot spring for professional killers. If not for the situation, I would not even want to approach it.

But here, apparently, that business existed without feeling out of place at all.

Inside the strangely neat building, quite a few mercenaries were wandering around.

It seemed this business really was making money. For example, the bald man who had shot a rifle at me earlier was already opening a can of beer by the time we stepped into the entrance hall.

"You're Yashiro the Reaper, right?"

The bald bastard leaned back on a cheap sofa set in the entrance and made a gesture like he was toasting me.

"I've heard about you. They say you killed Gleaming Serpent. You really do have some skill. Come over here, murder expert. You can play cards, right? How about Medallions?"

"Who do you think you're talking to? I'll crush you, amateur."

I raised my middle finger and walked past him.

"Hey, hey, get along."

Maruta looked troubled.

"He's a good guy, in his own way. His skill is, well, not bad. He already paid for his crimes in the normal world too."

"What good guy?"

There was no need to hold back against someone who had tried to shoot me. When I spat that out, laughter rose around us. Apparently, they were members of the same mercenary unit. That said, they were definitely just a collection of killers.

"Let me duel that bald bastard. I'll beat him to pieces at Medallions."

"Fine, fine. Later."

Maruta raised one hand and headed toward the bald bastard. He probably intended to get a beer from him. That did not look like something an employee should do.

I should hurry and finish the errand I did not want to do.

When I stepped through the large door in the back of the entrance, the space beyond barely retained traces of a church. Chairs were lined up, and at the far end were something like an altar and stained glass. The weak remaining light of sunset pierced the stained glass and lit the floor.

And in front of it stood one man in priestly robes.

This was Priest.

"Welcome, Yashiro-san."

The man who turned around smiled with excessive cheer and looked at me, at us, through eyes as thin as threads. In particular, he looked at the three girls behind me with deep interest.

"I am honored that you are accompanied by such beautiful young ladies. The road must have been difficult. But you can rest easy now. This is the house of God, a place of rest, a blessed hot spring!"

While speaking with a creepy level of smooth articulation, Priest spread both hands. Maybe he was trying to create a sense of safety.

"Now, please relax! Shall I take your luggage? As you can see, I serve God. I swear I will never steal or resell anything!"

"Master."

Jogamine whispered quietly. Her face was badly twisted. E3 was probably still working.

"I may indeed be a beautiful young lady, but I accidentally read this person's mind just now, and now I have a terrible headache. I feel sick. Master. Please nurse me."

"Who would do that? Protect yourself. This is Priest."

I declared it loudly enough for Priest himself to hear.

"Basically ignore what he says. It will make you stupid."

"Oh my, Yashiro-san! How harsh."

Even after hearing my words, Priest kept his absurdly peaceful smile. Then he rattled off his next line with astonishingly good articulation.

"However, you all seem tired. Why not rest quickly in your room? No, no! Of course, I will not charge you. Please leave the room assignment to me!"

"Hey."

"Naturally, a young man and women of marriageable age should not share a room, yes? In other words, I will prepare a private room for Yashiro-san, and for those three young ladies, I will prepare a special, yes, very special room!"

"Cut it out."

"Do not worry. I serve God, so there is nothing suspicious about me at all. It is a fine room. Our hot spring offers wonderful services that women will enjoy..."

"I will pay."

"Hyah!"

The strange scream came from Priest. I scattered my precious travel funds on the floor. Forty thousand yen in total. At that instant, Priest showed a nimble reaction.

"I retract my previous statement! Please follow Lord Yashiro's will!"

He leapt and picked up the money before it could fall to the floor. This was one of Priest's hopeless habits. He jumped at immediate profit, and everything afterward truly stopped mattering.

"The cheapest room is fine. One room for four people."

"Eh! Wait, wait, wait!"

At that moment, Sara grabbed my arm with tremendous force. When I turned around, she seemed terribly shaken, and I could see her pupils were open.

"Th, that's seriously bad, isn't it...? I mean, there are problems. Various problems. Or if you don't see any problem at all, that's also, well..."

As she spoke, her pupils gradually returned to normal. Proof that the effects of E3 still remained. In the end, Sara shook her head broadly and quickly.

"No, that's not it. What am I saying?"

"Calm down. Of course a private room would be easier for me too. I can't even call a call girl."

"Hey! Sensei, you bastard."

"Instructor."

"Master."

Sara growled, and Indo glared at me with eyes like a mad dog. Jogamine even placed her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Joking. Like there would be a call girl in a place like this."

"That's not the problem."

"That is not the problem."

"I will cut that call girl down."

"Fine, my bad. That is not the problem. Be that as it may, you should basically ignore what Priest says. Do not trust him at all."

I gave accurate advice. Behind me, Jogamine nodded broadly.

"Want me to tell you how many counts of sexual assault and murder this guy has been suspected of? And most of them are not just suspicions. Try using a room he guides you to, and I won't know what happens to you."

"Oh my, Yashiro-san, that is terrible."

Even at this point, Priest smiled cheerfully and used a tone like he was scolding me.

"There were only sad misunderstandings. See, I am wearing priestly robes, proof that I serve God and proof of trust. Please do not concern yourselves with the past!"

"See? You don't even know where to start correcting his excuses."

"Wh, what the hell is that?"

Sara was clearly overwhelmed and glanced at the madly smiling Priest.

"Is this place okay?"

"It is not. Even if I am okay, if something happens to you..."

Or rather, especially if something happened to Sara.

"I will meet a miserable end. Sorry, but we share a room."

"I agree."

The fastest to raise her hand was, as expected, Jogamine.

"We should absolutely share a room. However, Sara, Indo, if you insist, what about this arrangement? I share a room with Master, and we guard the room beside yours."

"What meaning does that have? It makes no sense at all. Whatever."

Sara seemed to give up too, and in the end she glared hard at me.

"I'm telling you, if anything..."

"Indo, let's go. You take the rear. That bastard Priest sometimes has a habit of jumping at people who show him their backs. Be careful."

"Understood."

"Hey, listen to me! Indo, don't silently agree! There should be a little more, you know, between men and women... or what? Am I the only one who sees a problem here?"

"Oh my. A young lady with a pure heart, rare these days."

That bastard Priest, using a gentle tone and nothing else, reached toward Sara.

"How about it? Our hot spring has a special service offered only to those with pure hearts. Please come to that guest room over there..."

"Shut up!"

Sara barked.

Apparently, she was already practicing the rule. Basically ignore what Priest says.

The room we entered after choosing at random was shockingly similar to an ordinary inn room.

There were even two rooms and a balcony. Since I had imagined the worst case would be sleeping all together in a place like a mountain hut, this was better luck than expected.

However, it was a lodging facility run by that bastard Priest.

There was no such thing as being too careful.

I thoroughly checked that there were no surveillance cameras, poison-gas sprayers, hidden doors, or similar devices in the room. For good measure, I also prepared a flare loaded with riot-control CN gas within reach.

"Good."

After finishing that round of work, I sat in front of the simple table. Like sitting in Zen meditation, I straightened my back and sat formally.

"Then I will perform important work for a while. You people relax however you like. But exploring the inn is forbidden."

"Come on. We're not children."

Sara gave a wry smile, then immediately turned around.

"Hey, Aki."

"Wait. No. You imagined it."

Jogamine, who had nearly stood up, sat back on the cushion.

"I was not trying to explore the inside of the inn at all. Right, Yukine?"

"Yeah. Aki is occasionally right."

"What do you mean, occasionally? To begin with, Yukine..."

Indo also sat back down in the corner of the room. A small argument began. Were these people children? Still, I reconsidered. They were basically playing around. Thanks to that, I could concentrate on my work.

Preparation for tonight's decisive battle.

From inside my coat, I pulled out a deck of cards and lined them up on the table. Each was a matchless general of my army, and the elite units they commanded. Thanks to the cards recovered from Ishino the Musician's garage, our forces had been greatly reinforced.

All that remained was to test their training against a suitable practice opponent. Beating down Maruta or that bald rifle-shooting bastard would be the quickest.

"What are you doing?"

Before I knew it, Indo was looking at my army from the side. While she was at it, she tried to climb onto my lap as I sat formally. Every one of this girl's movements was animal-like.

"Cards?"

"I am reviewing my army for tonight's decisive battle. Don't get in the way. Move."

"That's right, Yukine. Master is correct! Move. I had not thought of that. I will sit there."

"You're in the way too!"

I grabbed Jogamine's wrist as she tried to pull Indo away and swap places, twisted it up, and rolled her over. Jogamine screamed like a duck being run over by a car.

"Master, this is far too cruel."

"Of course it is. I am serious! This is not play!"

I stood with my legs planted wide and declared:

"Listen, next month, King Rob will come to Japan for a signing event. That is exactly why I must be a warrior worthy of receiving his signature! To do that, I need to fairly and squarely crush Joe and Ed, against whom I currently have a losing record."

Jogamine and Indo listened to my heartfelt explanation with complicated faces. More precisely, they looked dissatisfied. But I had no time to care.

"Therefore, I cannot lose tonight's decisive battle. I am currently building a powerful army that will not let rabble like Maruta or those mercenaries near me. Do not interrupt!"

"Well, I mean, that's fine."

Looking at the army lined up on the table, Sara tilted her head a little.

"Sensei's units honestly rely too much on rush. You don't have any powerful cards at all. That's why you lose in a straight grind."

"In war, speed is prized over perfection. It was still too early for you."

"What is that? I beat you last time."

"Victory depends on luck! If my Mountain Infantry had destroyed your logistics a little faster, I would have won!"

"That's why I'm saying that speed..."

"Wait, wait, wait. Please wait! Master too!"

The one who shouted and cut in was Jogamine. She took a guardian-dog stance like she was about to pounce and glared at us.

"Sara, when did you start playing games with Master so amicably? What did you give him? Alcohol? Money?"

"It's not exactly amicable. Sensei kept pestering me to be his practice opponent, so I had no choice."

"What! Look into my eyes and say 'no choice' again!"

"Instructor."

After looking back and forth between Jogamine and Sara, Indo pointed at the cards on the table.

"How do you play this?"

"Huh? Interested?"

"A little."

"Indo, can you even learn game rules?"

"It's fine. Teach me."

"Tch. Liar, Yukine."

Sara immediately clicked her tongue and cut in.

"You forget every formula I teach you one after another."

"That's not true. If I look at my notebook, I remember."

"That doesn't count as remembering! It makes me feel like I'm doing something really pointless."

"Master, leaving these two comedians aside, please guide me in the rules of this game as well."

Before I knew it, Jogamine was sitting formally in front of me.

"I will inherit all of Master's strategy."

Her overly serious face inspired tremendous anxiety. I looked back at Sara.

"Sara, does this one have a good memory? How many bits does her brain have?"

"I don't want to admit it, but if it's just memorization subjects, Aki's grades are better than mine."

Clearly not wanting to admit it, Sara rested her cheek in one hand and looked down at the army I had lined up.

"Once application gets involved, she's catastrophic, though. Math and stuff."

"I get it. She is the type who is too serious and tries to apply everything directly to formulas."

"Ah, haha. Hearing that from Master is embarrassing. It is true that I am too honest a type."

"You..."

Just as I was about to insult Jogamine mildly, there was a knock at the entrance.

Do not move, I told the three with my eyes.

While I was at it, I reached for the bastard sword beside me. My left hand held the tear-gas flare. If it was Priest, he was stupid enough to resort to force, or rather something like home-invasion robbery.

He had once tried to hit Joe from behind while Joe was drinking at Ed's bar and steal his wallet.

That man was the least trustworthy companion.

"Hey, Yashiro."

Fortunately, this time it was not him.

"Are you relaxing? I mean, that's enough, right?"

Maruta's dirty face peeked in through the doorway. He wore a grimy, grinning smile.

"Continuation of what we talked about outside. How about it? You young ladies too."

Maruta gave a thumbs-up. He was probably trying to look as refreshing as he possibly could. It was something he often did when trying to act cool in front of young women.

"The sun has set, so we are going to hike to a Dark Lord's castle and kill a Dark Lord. Want to come with us? It will be fun. We even have outing snacks."

The three besides me silently exchanged looks. They did not seem to understand the situation.

On the other hand, I thought, so that is how it is. First, I needed to stand as advantageously as possible against Maruta.

"I am not following."

I gripped the hilt of the bastard sword with one hand.

"I am expensive. Explain properly."

"A nest, Yashiro. According to my investigation, and I have some pull with the mercenaries around here, there is a lair for the Nephilim that wiped out Northern Beacon. Of course there would be, right? Those things are not born from the fork of a tree. They should have a nest somewhere."

Indo reacted strongly to those words. She stood and reached behind her waist. Two knives hung there.

"Instructor. What is this person?"

"You ask that now? Same trade. Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, if I remember right. A swordsman from a fairly famous school, technically, but after various things, he became homeless. Well, that can wait. A nest? You know the place?"

"I don't know what else to call it. Anyway, the Nephilim, those monsters. You already know about them, right, Yashiro? I looked into where they come from."

"Not just eyewitness accounts."

"Well, yeah. I listened to a few things from the Dark Lords around here."

He said listened, but that was not quite it.

Only people like me and Joe knew this, but Maruta's Ether Perception could dive into the other person's memories. Apparently, it was a lot like diving into the sea. That was why he was called the Unlicensed.

"So my conclusion is this. Lord Morning Star Veil, who rose up in the last decade or so. His castle apparently became the monster den. We can't exactly ignore that, can we?"

"Maruta, you..."

I hesitated over what to say next.

But at times like this, there was no avoiding it.

"Honestly, when it comes to this kind of thing, you're so good at it that you make me and Joe look stupid."

"Not at all."

Maruta smiled somewhat servilely.

"Yashiro, getting all the way here on your own before I made my move is impressive too. I was planning to go back to Tokyo all relaxed and report to you guys. So close."

Maruta sounded genuinely frustrated.

In the end, I, Maruta, and probably Joe were the same. We did reckless things because we wanted to be praised and recognized by our own circle. The honor we needed was neither more nor less than that.

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