9 more Bagel chapters left... So seriously tempted to rename him Bagel. I wonder what the name is even intended to be  Bagel, Begul, or even Baker?

Next chapter probably tomorrow night or Friday morning. A bunch of really longer chapters the size of 2 or 3 chapters in one coming up soon so will take a bit longer until the weekend. If feel like it might do another short side story out of order.

Year 7442, Month 4, Day 15

After returning to my room while preciously holding the gift from older brother I touch the light magic tool and turn it on. I quickly organize all of the luggage on

the bed that I purchased today, take off my shoes and lay down on the bed. There's no where on the walls where the plaster is peeling and there's a board on the roof

as well so putting aside the retro feel it's an extremely comfortable hotel. It's worth the cost of 50 copper coins per night. Though I say that it's limited to just

what I know about Orth so far.

While enjoying the luxury of having a hotel room all to myself I think about the two I just met today. One is male and says he's a failed adventurer. Judging on the

reaction when I mentioned the name Begulu he might have some sort of connection to him. No, I don't know that for sure. However, it seems they knew a reasonable

amount about Begulu. Whether or not Begulu knows about him or not I still can't decide.

The other one is a female and she says she was born and raised in the restaurant and bar of this town and just like that started working there. It seems that she

knew about Begulu as well but how much she knows about him or what their relations.h.i.+p is I can't determine just the same as the guy. However, both of them refused

getting involved with anything related to Begulu. And it was a refusal that seemed to be based in fear. Was Begulu someone who is that feared in this area?

7 years and a bit ago or rather 8 years ago is fine, I killed a person for the first time. The spy adventurer that came to receive information from Myun. If I

remember correctly he said, "Boss Begulu". A man who's the same age as my father using the term "Boss" allows me to imagine what Begulu would be like.

1. His age should be at least in his late 20s (I think most likely much older)

2. Gender is male.

3. He's normally in Keel.

4. He doesn't normally appear on the surface and only when there's a job related to spying does he directly appear where the subordinates are and give orders based

on the content.

Going off of this info I thought he would be a man in his 30-40s, maybe even 50s, that normally has an honest business or front that he wears a mask or using illegal

methods he's integrated into the underworld of Keel. To the point where I was thinking that Begulu could even be a fake name he uses only for jobs. Since he's acting

as the manager of spies I made mental image of him as being a vigilant and prudent person who is very crafting in how he conducts himself. That's why at first I

thought the reaction of those two was a bit unexpected.

I couldn't imagine at all that Begulu is boldly showing himself on a normal basis and is the leader of an organization of hoodlums. That's why thinking it was

impossible on purpose and tried asking about it but both them knew about the existence of the man named Begulu and furthermore say he's famous among the lower social

caste in Keel. It could be possible there's two Begulus and the manager of the spies is using the name of the famous one in order to avoid attention.

Since the famous Begulu seems to be feared by everyone I'm sure he stands out quite a bit and has garnered quite a bit of attention. If he was captured or some kind

of investigation was performed I'm sure that information would travel around quickly. There's a high probability the information that he's being investigated for

being a spy could even start to spread. It's even possible that could be a safety method for the real Begulu to protect himself.

In that case it's hard to lay a hand on the famous one. In other words after all it's probably better to follow the connection starting from the contact agent that

was temporarily hired by that construction company. Honestly speaking, I was resolved to talk to that contact from the start so I already had returning to Doritt in

my calculations. Since it's about 100 km one-way to Dorrit, putting aside a normal horse, I'm sure the war horse older brother used has a lot more stamina and

endurance and has been trained so it should take around 1.5 to 2 days I guess. I'll stay at the inn for the time it's been paid for then depart after that. Eh? Even

if I depart tomorrow I'll just end up overtaking father and the others.

It's not like it's tremendously urgent as well, it should be fine if I don't hurry that much.

The next morning after waking up before sunrise I put on my protectors and leave the inn to go running. It's also because I want to quickly get used to my

protectors and boots that I made a big larger than my size, it's best to keep my stamina in as top shape as possible as well.

As the sun rises I'm satisfied with my training after running for a total of 2 hours. It seems I'm being looked at as strange for running with my protectors on but

it can't be helped worrying about the looks of strangers. It seems that the morning sun has already risen and since I haven't eaten breakfast at the usual time I'm

hungry. Returning to Bins Manor to take my protectors off is a pain so I'll go to eat breakfast just like this.

I head to Binsil's restaurant while cooling down. Since I'm wearing my protectors today I probably seem imposing but it can't be helped. I call Mary and along with

ordering a breakfast set I bring her to a table outside saying I want to talk for a bit.

"What...is with that outfit? How amazing. You're almost like a knight."

"Yeah, it's protectors I made with rubber. It's like armor. More importantly, there was something I wanted to confirm so let me talk for a bit."

"I don't really mind though. What is it?"

I guess it's because my protectors is unusual she's touching the shoulder and forearm guards checking the texture. Please do, with that sort of feeling I take off

the forearm and place it in front of her.

"What's your age? I'm 59 years old this year. Honestly speaking, I'm a bit envious of Kuro and your relations.h.i.+p. After talking to you guys yesterday I knew it but

you two aren't bad people... No, I think I was able to confirm that you haven't been completely taken in by the common sense of the lower caste of Orth or rather of

a large city like Keel. I felt like there was still a portion that was j.a.panese that remained and I almost felt like crying several times."

"I'm 53 years old. Right, we were happy we met another j.a.panese as well. You said you're envious of us but we both are envious of you as well. Unlike you we haven't

been able to make any sort of influence on Orth. Particularly me, I never thought of trying to make something that everyone would find convenient to use... Though,

both Kuro and I feel like we've been giving it our somewhat best. But, we didn't succeed like you. Kuro is acting like he doesn't care but even like that it seems he

put a considerable amount of effort into things in his village way back. Everything failed though it seems. And then when he first came to this city he started to go

down the wrong path. Now he's working his hardest though."

She continues talking while tampering with my new forearm guard.

"Yeah, we're both a considerable age. Also, in regards to rubber I think I just had good luck though...'I'm going to talk in j.a.panese from here on out. I'm going to

ask you outright but would you tell me anything you know about Begulu? Honestly speaking, I can't believe the stuff I heard from Kuro yesterday. Ah, no, I don't

think that Kuro was lying but the impression I got from him about Begulu was far too different from how I imagined.'"

"Why do you want to know about Begulu? I think it's better if you don't get involved with him. He's the leader of the gangs around here."

After raising her eyes from the forearm guard she stares at me while asking. Since I'm scooping up oatmeal with the spoon if you stare at me that much it's

difficult to eat.

"My benefactor is troubled by that Begulu guy. After gathering information from various places I found out that Begulu seems to be giving information to the Kingdom

of Devas. In other words, something like a spy. It's not like I particularly have any great attachment to the Kingdom of Rombert so that doesn't matter at all.

However, all of the circ.u.mstances surrounding that and the conjectures I made based on information I had gathered until now was completely unexpected for the type of

person Begulu is that I heard from you two. At first when I asked I tried to make a bluff to get more information but since he was far too typical of a villain that

it was unexpected. And rather than you two not wanting to get involved it sounded more like you're afraid of him. But, I can't overlook the fact that he's troubling

my benefactor."

"Can't overlook, huh? Then what do you want to do about it?"

"I want to erase the cause of my benefactors trouble without letting anyone know that I did it."

I return the spoon to the oatmeal while saying it.

"You don't mean like you want to chastise or beat him up right?"

"If I could erase the trouble with that then that would be fine as well. However, it's easy to imagine that things won't go as simple as that."

Mary returns to looking at the forearm guard again while saying.

"I don't mind telling you. But, I probably can't tell you anything more than just rumors that are around the street. It's not like I'm particularly hiding it I just

don't know anymore than that. If you're fine with that then I'll tell you, but honestly speaking, I don't think you could manage to do anything about Begulu. He has

a lot of allies, or rather subordinates, and if you mess with him in a bad way you'll end up in a bad situation. You might be killed. Even if you say they're failed

adventurers it's certain that they're strong. Supposedly he's defeated several orks all on his own and I think he originally had enough ability to make it on the

low end as an adventurer."

I can't say anything since I don't know how strong orks are.

"I see, how strong of a monster are orks? Since they aren't in the area around Bakkudo I've never fought them so I don't know. About as strong as a Horned Bear?"

"Eh? There's no way they'd be as strong as a Horned Bear. I don't know because it's not like I've ever fought against monsters either but. If you say Horned Bear

it's the strongest monster around this area it seems. It's impossible for a normal adventurer to defeat it and usually the knight group all goes or several of the

top cla.s.s adventurers in Keel go to defeat it. What are you saying? I'm amazed you could say you're going to become an adventurer like that.. Putting aside Horned

Bears it seems that Orks are about the same strength as Hobgoblins. Since they move around in groups of families it seems if you don't have the strength of an

adventurer the best you can do is drive them away. It seems they don't come out around Keel though. If you're saying things like that then it's 10 years too early

for you to take on Begulu. I won't say anything bad so forget about him."

"What the, just that much huh. Then the subordinates are weaker than that right? As long as I don't take a surprise attack, no, if I can surprise attack them then it

seems like there's no problem. I'm not trying to brag but I don't feel like I would lose at all one on one. Or rather, it seems I was deceived by the term failed

adventurer. I thought adventurers were way stronger. My parents are ex-adventurers but after all they were considerably strong ones."

Mary looks at me like she's looking at an idiot and opens her mouth.

"You, saying lies that will quickly be exposed, are you making fun of me? Even if you can see Status or use magic in Orth it's reality. Even if you don't lie to put

on airs I won't make fun of you so talk about things honestly."

I wasn't putting on airs though... there's no point in trying to insist on it here. In the first place, let alone other people you normally can't even tell your own

level, abilities, and HP after all. You can only confirm the level of your Special Skills of just yourself.

"No, sorry, sorry. I thought if I didn't say that much you wouldn't tell me about Begulu. Really, I'm sorry. I apologize. Just like this."

After saying that I put both of my hands on the table and lower my head.

"Wouldn't it have been fine if you had asked with that att.i.tude from the beginning? It's not like I've said I wouldn't tell you after all."

After saying that she fixed her posture.

"It seems that Begulu was an adventurer that drifted along from somewhere in the past. He was doing reasonably well in Keel at first but discord happened with the

group he was always working together with. And thanks to that he ended up leaving the group it seems but as expected he couldn't do any decent jobs by himself so he

ended up falling to the end. However, his skill is true and since he's strong he quickly was able to become the leader of the other failed adventurers wandering

around this area. After that he started doing whatever bad stuff he wanted. Putting it simply."

"Why are they ignoring someone like that? Does the Marquis and Knight Group not capture Begulu? They're doing things like the police right?"

"The same reason as the Yakuza in j.a.pan. They suck up to the knights that are in charge of these areas and give them bribes. I've heard that they occasionally offer

up some subordinates at sacrifices as well. It doesn't seem like anyone has directly seen them committing crimes like robbery or murder and they haven't left any

evidence as well. Putting aside bribes, I think the knight group can't arrest him because there's probably no evidence."

I see now. It seems he isn't a complete idiot. Though it's still strange that a small-time villain like this would be the manager of spies after all. As expected I

feel like he's different from the Begulu that I'm searching for. But, it's still too soon to decide for sure. Mary continues to say as I'm nodding to myself.

"In any case, if you defy him you'll be unable to properly do business and Kuro used to be together with Begulu but it was difficult for him to leave the group... It

was really difficult..That's about all that I know."

I'm sure that Mary knows what kind of treatment he received when he left Begulu's organization. She's grasping her fist while looking down.

"I see, I won't ask what kind of things happened. That would be better to ask Kuro about. I still haven't confirmed it so I can't say for sure but I'm praying that

villain Begulu isn't the Begulu I'm searching for."

"Listen to the rest from Kuro. I think he'll return tomorrow night and he'll definitely come to this restaurant when he returns. I think it'll be past 5 pm in the

afternoon."

I scoop up the oatmeal that's cooled down considerably and say thanks for taking up her time, then returned to Bins Manor. I take off my protectors go to the well

near the stable behind the inn and pretend to start pouring water on myself while using Shower to refresh myself and return to the room.

It's still the morning after all and it seems that Kuro won't return until tomorrow night. I wonder what I should do.

I'm heading towards the knight group to confirm if there's any jobs for adventurers. After confirming if there's any jobs in the shed near the gate and currently

there were no jobs. I try asking the servant or official in charge of the reception desk how the job system works. Fundamentally the jobs that the Webdos knight

group receives are the leftovers from the government office it seems. In the Marquis territory if you want to request a job of adventurers then you fundamentally

request the job at the government office it seems. Among those it seems that the majority of them are subjugation type jobs but the jobs that seem difficult end up

being turned over to the knight group. It seems that they post the jobs in the knight group for 2-3 weeks but if there's no adventurers who take the job then instead

the knight group finishes it.

I see, in the case of subjugation, if you think that you don't have enough skill to take care of it then most people won't accept it. Although, just because of that

doesn't mean they can ignore the problem so after it exceeds the limit the knight group takes care of it huh.

Then it seems likely that there's a variety of jobs if I go to the government office instead. I say thanks for teaching me and head towards the government office.

I didn't know where I could confirm the jobs at the government office so I grabbed someone that seemed to be a staff member and asked them. And it was good that they

kindly showed me the way but it seems that they always disclose jobs in the afternoon. It seems that all of the jobs are disclosed on a large board with the job

details. Since they're writing the details on the board in the morning they might only do reception for it in the afternoon. It doesn't matter though.

There's a number written on the board for each job and if you tell that number to the official standing near the board then you can accept that job. On that occasion

your Status is checked and your name is recorded. Simultaneously you're issued a note and you take that note with you to meet the one who posted the job it seems.

The compensation is paid directly from the one who requested the job when the job is completed, and there's cases where a certain portion of it is paid in advanced,

it varies heavily on the situation but you always return here when you complete the job and return the note you received at the start. It seems that only after

you've done that is the job treated as completely done. It seems that they're imposing taxes on the one who requests the job based on if the note is returned and the

job is completed.

If the note never returns then the job is seen as incomplete and the reputation of the adventurer who accepted it gets worse. Also, since the government office is

unable to take taxes from the one who requested the job they don't want to offer jobs to people like that, seems to be the case. If you return the note without

completing the job then it'll definitely be exposed when they request the taxes so the result is the same.

Just like this they are weeded out and I'm sure the ones known as failed adventurers occur. I see now. Incidentally, that income tax is applied to the adventurer as

well. They become like someone running their own business it seems. That's double taxation. In the first place the one who requests the job is paying a special tax,

I was about to rage over the clear case of double taxation.

Nevertheless, it seems that taxes are only taken on commoners. As long as the adventurer that is a n.o.ble isn't the family head them self or own any territory then

they aren't charged any income tax. Since they're paying a 60% tax on the head of the household. Free People pay a per head tax to the territory that they're

registered in so they don't pay income tax as adventurers as well. Since slaves can't maintain their lifestyles all on their own in the first place, slaves can't

take jobs on their own, and since their owner is seen as the one paying the tax just the same as others they don't pay taxes. It probably ends up coming down to them

taking the job along with their owner.

Since it seemed like commoners had quite the disadvantage there I tried asking about it but it seems that the moment a commoner leaves their household they're seen

as a household all on their own and thus have an income tax of 10%. It's not 60% because they don't own any land and it's not agriculture, it's taxed as business it

seems. I guess it's fine about the special privilege of n.o.bles. It's easy to imagine just from the fact that they're n.o.bles that there are some special privileges

and since I'm the one receiving the benefit from it, I have no complaints at all. Free Peoples are only allowed to act freely within the territory and they're

paying a per head tax so it's not like they're paying no tax at all so this is fine as well. And unlike commoners and n.o.bles they aren't allowed to own land in

different territories so it seems they can't do farm work.

The reason why only commoner adventurers have an income tax is because of slaves. The amount of per head tax that commoners and n.o.bles pay per slave is 1-2 silver

coins a year so it's an amount that can be ignored. However, when it comes to Free People this isn't the case. Free People aren't prohibited from owning slaves but

when a Free Person owns a slave of all things the per head tax is the same as the Free Person, 1 gold coin per year. That's why regardless of whether they're an

adventurer or not it's probably fine to think that there's no Free People who own slaves.

Unless there's some reason why a certain number of people is specified for a job for adventurers it doesn't matter how many people you accept it with. If you take it

alone then you can monopolize the reward and if there's two people then you can split it evenly or based on skill or how much work was done. However, what about

commoners and n.o.bles that own slaves? If there's a difficult job that definitely can't be achieved alone then they can accept it using slave power. Obviously they

can monopolize the reward.

If I were to use one example then let's say there's a job to guard a caravan. The condition for accepting it is 6 people and each one gets a reward of 10 silver

coins. If it's a normal Free Person adventurer then they have to gather 6 people and the reward will be 10 silver coins per person. In comparison if the slave

adventurer that has 5 people is a commoner then they can take all 60 of those and then pay a 10% tax of 6 leaving them with 54 silver coins. As long as they can buy

equipment and food for their slaves enough to maintain their stamina then you could say it's considerably tasty. Even food as long as you don't make it luxurious you

can get it considerably cheap so as long as you can do something about the initial investment of buying slaves and their equipment then you could say there's few

problems.

I didn't hear all of the details but the adventurer who returned back to Bakkudo, Desdan might have brought back several slaves with him when he returned. Ah, the

reason why father gave me a lot of money might have had the meaning of buying slaves huh? But, wait a minute. If I remember correctly I thought my parents were

adventurers with just the two of them. I haven't heard that there were slaves with them.

Since I was able to confirm the posting place there's no other choice than to kill some time until the afternoon.

I guess I'll randomly wander around as I walk around Keel. I think it's probably still around 10 am so I have plenty of time. Come to think of it, it might not be

half bad to try visiting the store that was listed on the memo from older brother. But it's a pain to return to Bins Manor so I'll put it off for today.