Chapter 6: Trap

「Now then, let’s go. Shall we?」 The woman said that with a smile.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t asked her for her name.

「Yes, please treat me well. My name is Redius.」

「Redius-kun, huh. I’m Bene, that big guy over there is Domos, and the thin one is…」

「I’m Kalk, please look after me too.」

「Yes, please look after me as well.」

Uwaa, somehow, this sort of thing is pretty good. Even if it’s only temporary, it seems like I’ve made some friends. It’s my first request, I was a little nervous, but I’m excited now.

Then, I had Bene and Kalk teach me about being an adventurer. The amount of medicinal plants that you need to pick and how much you need to leave behind. They taught him how to decide when to leave, kill prey, and various other things.

Since I only had the knowledge I learned from books, learning from another person's stories was refres.h.i.+ng to me. I don’t know if Domos-san is normally the silent type, but he’s been silently looking at the surroundings with caution for awhile now. When he’s looking around like that…

「I’ve found one.」

Domos-san pointed his bow at something. When I looked where he was pointing, there was a pair of white ears poking out of the brush. Is it possible that’s….? (TL Note: Yes…yes it is….)

「Ara, a white rabbit. That’s a good sign isn’t it? Redius-kun, let’s go.」

Bene-san moved toward the white rabbit, slowly but surely. The others were slowly advancing while not making a sound. I tried to emulate them, but when I move, my shoes rustle the gra.s.s. This is hard….

「Fufu, I’ll show you how it's done this time Redius-kun. Watch me, ok?」

The three of them began to surround and move in on the white rabbit. Alright, I’ll take you up on your offer and observe you this time.

The white rabbit lifted it's head while it was eating gra.s.s, and look around restlessly because it might have noticed their presence.

「Die!」

Bene-san moved in quickly to cut the white rabbit's throat. Oohh! Before I knew it, we’ve already defeated one. If it was me, it would have noticed me rather quickly and ran away.

「Alright, it’s done. Here you go Redius-kun.」

After they killed it, they drained it's blood, and Bene-san handed the white rabbit's carca.s.s to me.

「Eh? The one who defeated it was Bene-san though, wasn’t it?」

「We’re fine. Even if we hunt a single white rabbit, it’s only 1 copper coin anyways. Our target is a wolf, and it's worth 1 small silver coin each. So, it’s fine.」

She said that while smiling at me.

「Ah, but, I guess it’ll be heavy if you carry it now, so just have Domos carry it. Domos, please.」

「Ah.」

「Sorry to have you help me for everything.」

「Fufu, it’s alright. Adventurer’s should help each other out after all.」

They’re truly good people. It’s almost like people avoiding my black hair has been a lie I can’t just rely on these people forever, I have to help them in some way.

「Is there anything I can do then? I’ll help you with anything!」

「Haha, in that case….we’ll have you help us out with our hunt.」

When I said that, Kalk-san replied from behind me. Hunting a wolf huh, I wonder if there’s anything I can do. Alright!

「I understand, I’ll do my best!」

While I tried to motivate myself, everyone around me began to chuckle to themselves. W-what?

「When that time comes, please.」

Bene-san walked away after that. Everyone else followed behind her. Alright, I’ll try my best to help, even if it’s just a little bit.

「We’ve travelled in pretty deep huh.」

An hour after I followed Bene-san, we came across white rabbits and some goblins too. Goblins are something that I've never before, but Bene-san and her group took care of most of them.

Each goblin was about as tall as me; they were 130 centimeters, hairless, and wearing loincloths.

They were wielding clubs, but Bene-san’s group quickly and easily took care of them.

It was my turn when a white rabbit appeared, but I wasn’t very skillful at erasing the sound of my own footsteps, so it noticed me half-way through.

As a result, it tried to run, but Kalk-san managed to kill it, so it couldn't get away. I really thought that I’d be able to take care of something like this, but it didn’t go too well.

I kept following Bene-san’s group until we reached the center of the forest. The tree’s in this area grew so well that sunlight couldn’t pa.s.s through their thick leaves to reach us.

It was quite scary being in such a gloomy forest, but having Bene-san’s group around somewhat put me at ease. I probably wouldn’t have made it this far on my own.

「This area should be good, yeah?」

「Yeah」

「I’m also ready」

While I was thinking about such things, Bene-san’s group suddenly stopped walking. Is this where the wolves appear?

「Alright Redius-kun, there’s something I want you to do.」

Bene-san said that while turning toward me. Right, let’s do whatever I can to help.

「Yes! What should I do?」

「About that……」

Bene-san approached me and……

(ED: No! Run man!)

Zupa!

「Eh?」

The moment she swung her right hand, I lost the vision from my left eye. Gradually, I could feel some kind of heat rising.

Hot! hot! hot! hot! hot!

What is this?! I started to quickly feel pain attack the left side of my face. When I pressed my hand against my throbbing face, I felt something muddy.

「Ahhhhhhhhh!」

I screamed out in pain and collapsed to the ground on my behind. Why’s there blood on my face! How!? Why!? The questions swirled around in my mind, but the answer didn’t come.

「Ah? I swung the short sword with the intention to slice your face, but only the left side was cut, huh. Don’t tell me this brat tried to dodge it?」

「Kuku, didn’t your skills get rusty because you’ve been relying on your charm to lure in men? 」

「Shut up Domos. You, shut up too.」

Bene-san kicked me in the belly and sent me flying. I wasn’t prepared, so I was blown backward, and crashed into a tree.

「Gaha!」

The shock made me cough up all the air in my lungs, but I couldn’t even notice it because of the intense pain on my face. My mind finally caught up with the situation. I now understood that Bene-san slashed me.

「Guu… Wh… Why… are you doing this?」

I asked, enduring the pain caused by moving my mouth. In response to my question, Bene-san had a surprised look on her face.

「Fufu, you seem to view us as helpful senpai from the guild. Too bad though. We’re bad people who target newbies. We either sell greenhorns like you to slave traders or use you as bait to lure in monsters. 'What’s wrong, boy?', My acting was good, right?」

「You were magnificently tricked, boy.」

「There are a lot of reckless newbies who die really early, so the guild won’t really investigate your death you see. Even if you’re the child of a n.o.ble. Well, the guild has recently begun to provide training to such silly kids to decrease the amount of deaths, but…」

……I see. So, I was tricked.

「Besides, who would actually approach a disgusting kid with black hair like you? Even though I’m talking to you in a forest where n.o.body can see, I can’t stop getting gooseb.u.mps, that’s how disgusted I am right now.」

……Right. It’s always been like this, hasn’t it? I’ve always been ignored, despised, and attacked because of my hair color. Back home; only my mom, sister, and Mia would talk to me despite my hair color.

Even then, I should've known that a person who would talk to me without minding my hair color didn’t exist. Yet, I immediately trusted these people when they’d only shown me their kindness just once. I was too foolish……

「Furthermore, you’re well dressed even though your hair is black. We targeted you thinking that you’re a sheltered kid from somewhere. That sword too….」

I got startled at Bene-s, no, at Bene’s words.

「That’s true. I’ve seen black hair people a few times, but usually, they’re either being traded as slaves and are dying, or they're living in the back alleys and are dying, that’s why…」

「Maa, that doesn’t matter. Now, if you hand over all the money you have, and that sword too, we’ll at least leave you with your life.」

「If you can safely leave this forest that is.」 Said Bene-san, while the rest started laughing.

But… 「……No」

「Ah? What did you say?」

I got up, ignoring the pain in my eye. Then, I drew the sword that was hanging on my waist. The hilt was wet with blood, but more importantly…

「Are you saying you wanna go at it?」

「He’s looking down on us, huh.」

Their expressions that were previously laughing, changed. They released such an amount of killing intent that even an amateur like me could recognize it. It was so scary that my body started shaking, but…

「I’ll never hand over this sword.」

Never, at least not the sword my mom left me.

「Shut up! Domos.」

「Mm」

But, I didn’t have the strength I needed to protect it…..

Following Bene’s orders, Domos wielded the axe that was hanging from his hip, then he swung it at me. I somehow managed to deflect it with my sword, but it was immediately knocked away.

「Gaha!」 I was cut diagonally.

An endless amount of blood started to flow out, and I couldn’t move my body anymore, so I fell forward. My body had a cold, yet hot sensation going through me right now.

「Ah? It was shallower than I thought. Why?」

「See, it’s strange isn’t it? He probably can’t move anymore because of that though, so let’s take what we wan.」

「That’s true.」

Domos felt around my body and took away my coin purse that had a gold coin inside. S***, I want to move my body, but it just won’t budge.

「Ooh! This kid had a gold coin on him. I’ll be able to drink a lot of sake with this.」

「It was exactly as I thought, huh. Well then, the sword too.」

Bene bent down and grabbed the sword near me. But, just this…..

「Tch, this kid won’t let go. Let go!」

Bene got angry over the fact that I wouldn’t let go, so she stomped on my right arm over and over again. Normally, I would be in so much pain that I would scream, but, at this point in time, the feeling of pain started to fade.

Then, 「He finally let go. Jeez, stop wasting my time.」

She kicked me in the stomach, but, even compared than that, having my sword stolen hurts more. S***, S***, S***. If only I was stronger. I never thought I’d be as frustrated as I was today. d.a.m.n it…….

「Now, let’s quickly kill this kid and leave.」

「That’s true, with the smell of blood being this thick…..d.a.m.n, we were too slow, huh.」

「We’re leaving this area quickly! If we’re surrounded by wolves, it’ll be really hard to get away.」

「Ah, if we use this kid as bait, we’ll be able to escape. Let’s get out of here, now!」

Bene-san and them left after that At the same time, from the forest, I could hear a ma.s.sive amount of footsteps and growling. ….Wolves, huh. Will I be killed by being eaten by wolves? I’m sorry mom, I wasn’t able to keep my promise. Elder sister, Mia, I’m also sorry. I even promised to meet with them again.

While the consciousness inside of me faded, regret whirled inside of me.