Chapter 197: The warrior meets again with the fakers

My footsteps towards the pose felt heavy.

As soon as I thought I had rejoined one of the girls, she slipped away in front of me.
I would have loved to at least exchange a couple of words.

—I at least hope they got the message Frau sent them about their quest.
If they’re willing to come back to us, I should assume we’ll hear back from them soon.

—I understand… Still, we could inform Marianne and the rest.

—Marianne might have a better grasp of what’s going on.

I called Chupimi to record the message.
And although I didn’t understand the explanation of how Chupimi seemed to know where Marianne and the others were, having recorded my message, he took off as fast as he could.

—What do you idiots think you’ve been doing under the name of the Manyu Brigade?!

—Ple… Please forgive us.

After those shouts, my gaze fell on two people who were subduing four people in the middle of the street.
Because of that, they were attracting a lot of attention, I immediately had the feeling that if I got involved I might be in trouble.

—Or do those adventurers look a lot like the four who pretended to be us?

—Certainly, those people look very familiar to me.

The four pale, trembling faces I observed were certainly familiar.
Since I had a previously close experience with them, it was difficult for me to forget about them.

—I think I recognize those two as well, although their faces are very vague in my memory.

—Really?

I think I’ve run into them before, but that wasn’t important now, I just wanted to confront the fake Manyu Brigade and ask them a couple of questions.

It’s very fortuitous that I found them again, and this time I’m going to make them talk, even if I have to do it by force.

—Hey you guys! We meet again.

—Huh?! It’s you again?!

The fake Toru holds me by the chest while staring at me with a rather worried expression.

The other two people who were confronting the fake Manyu Brigade also turned their eyes towards me.

—Who are you? If you interfere, you will get hurt.

—I don’t want any trouble, I just want to talk to these guys.

—So, you are also victims of these swindlers? I feel sorry for you, but we found them first, so we’ll decide what to do with them.

—This isn’t a situation in which a few shoddy adventurers interfere, get the hell out of here.

—You don’t have to treat them like that, they’re victims too.

—Uggh…

—Don’t show weakness to strangers for a simple scolding.

For some reason, some tears began to well up in the woman’s eyes.
The young man who seemed to be her companion was trying to reassure her in the face of such scolding.

—Listen! These guys were also using our party’s name.
You aren’t the only ones affected.

—Eeeh?

Fake Toru’s expression changed radically as soon as he heard those words.

—Are you serious? Are you really saying you’re the leader of the Manyu Brigade?

—Let’s be clear about this, it’s you who’s impersonating us.
We’ve started using that name since we started our activities as adventurers, it’s you who’s stealing our identity!

—Oi oi, are you making fun of me by saying that our group is a sham? I am the real Second Mayu Brigade.
If it’s a fight you want, I’ll give you one.

Second? You mean you’re not impersonating us?

At the young man’s words, he and I stared at each other, Kaede and Frau were also tense, staring at their partner.

—Nambala-san is fed up with more fake groups popping up one after another.
And if that wasn’t enough, now there are you guys who….
Wait… A girl from the white fox tribe, a fairy, and you, a silly-looking man with a big sword on his back….
Couldn’t it be that they are…?!

—The Manyu Brigade is unmistakably a party created by the master.
It is very unfortunate that anyone would dare to say that we are liars.
I will lodge a strong protest against the person in charge.

—Frau, Kaede and the Lord have helped so many people during our adventures that you fakes wouldn’t even come close to us.
And what’s with those outfits you’re wearing? Are you a party or a church choir? Although… I must admit they look kind of cool…

Frau, how dare you praise your enemy? Those people are impersonating us.
I don’t think it’s right that they get to think that the fake ones are cooler than the real ones.

The fake Toru was still holding on to my shirt with a forced smile, but the expression on his face implied that there was more to it, so he turns to me.

—You’re a rude bastard.
You pose as Commander Toru, and now you seek to enter our party to destroy us from within.
Nambala, we must finish him off.

—Shut up.
We don’t have time for this.
The sub-commanders tasked me to search for you, and then go to Big Gear for information on Commander Toru and then… Wait a minute…

The young man’s eyes searched me from head to toe again.

The fake Toru lets go of me and starts to look at me from head to toe as well while shaking my body from side to side.

—Nambala-san, maybe this person is…

—Yes, Takigi… These could be the people we were looking for.

The attitude of both boys changed drastically as they took notice of me as the real Toru.

Suddenly, when fake Toru turns to look at his companions, he notices that they were trying to escape on tiptoe.

—[Paralyze]

—Gyaaa

Takigi idles the four men with just his gaze.

That was amazing… Does it mean that this person also has a demonic eye?

—I guess you guys can understand that we can’t let them get away.
The deputy commander gave me explicit orders to capture them.

—The party is now in a state of shock and awe, and the people who have betrayed the group and committed fraud in the name of the Second Manyu Brigade will be punished accordingly.
Takigi, tie them up while they’re paralyzed.

—Why do I have to do it? Nambala-san should also do a chore or two from time to time.

—Do what your Senpai says without complaining.

—Well…

After those words, Takigi proceeded to tie up the fake Manyu Brigade.

***********************

The fake Manyu Brigade was handed over to the guards by the two men.
The charges were for impersonation and fraud.

In addition, the foursome were also beaten to a pulp and were so swollen that their original faces were unrecognizable.

I don’t doubt that it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but since it seems to be one of their former colleagues, the sensible thing to do was not to get involved.

And since they wanted to apologize to us for the way they treated us, they both invited us to lunch.

—I’m so sorry! I can’t believe you’re the real Commander Toru! Please, I beg you to turn a blind eye to our behavior!

—It’s okay, I’m not even angry.

—You are just as the sub-commander said, you look manly and wise.
Plus your two companions are intelligent and adorable.
As you know, I am Takigi, and this man is Nambala-san, may you not be overwhelmed by his majestic and virtuous aura.

—I… I see…

It’s quite inevitable that your anger will dissipate when someone refers to you that way.
There was also a feast on the table in front of us, and the desire to continue listening to his stories and filling my stomach with this delicious food was increasing.

—Just to confirm once again, you are, without a doubt, the Toru-san of the Manyu Brigade, right?

—No need to use that rare honorific on me.
Here’s my adventurer’s card.

He hands the card to Takigi.
He looks at it and passes it to Nambala, who is standing next to him.

—Both your name and the name of the party match.
However, this is not enough, it could be a forgery.

—We were both in Big Gear before we came here.
So I did some research and found out that the real Commander Toru was given the newly created title of “Manyu”.

—You mean this?

I handed the bracelet to Takigi.
They both rolled their eyes at the sight of it.

—Nambala-san, this is real, right? I’ve never seen the real thing, but it doesn’t look fake.

—This is too expensive for an accessory… But we can’t risk disappointing the sub-commander.
She sent us on faith to find Commander Toru.

Since we are with these guys they keep mentioning a sub-commander, my curiosity to know who she was was already more than me.

As if Kaede read my thoughts, she opened her mouth after spending all this time in silence.

—I’m sorry for the question I’m going to ask you now, but who is this sub-commander you speak of?

—Ney-san

—You are under Ney-san’s orders?! Master!

Hearing Ney’s name was a relief.
I wasn’t wrong in thinking that if I followed the fake Manyu Brigade I was going to end up finding out something.

I’m glad to hear that two of our friends are safe.

—I knew Ney would find a way to take care of herself.
After all, she is my childhood friend.

—No one should know they’re childhood friends….
It’s definitely Commander Toru.

—We have succeeded.
Now we just have to get them to the base to be with the deputy and vice commander.
I really wasn’t sure when we were going to be able to complete this mission, but we did it!

—Calm down, Takigi.
If you show a disrespectful appearance in front of Commander Toru, the Vice Commander’s educational policy will be questioned.
If you don’t shut up now, I’ll punch you in the face and feed you to the pigs.

—Nambala-san should have more control over his foul mouth.

Tras esa respuesta, Takigi recibió un golpe en la cabeza por parte de Nambala.

And sure enough, he burst into tears.
But Nambala immediately tried to calm him down.
They don’t seem to be bad people… Just a bit strange.

I suddenly felt uncomfortable about Frau’s continued silence.

Normally she would be trying to get attention, so I looked over to where she was, and saw her opening her big mouth and chewing on a piece of meat.

—Hey, Frau! That’s mine!

—Too late!