Chapter 6: Drain Cleaning and the Great Swordsman

Author: 十一屋　翠 (Juuichiya Sui)

 

Now then, what request should I do today?

Just kidding, I’ve already decided what job I’ll be doing today.

“Excuse me, I’d like to take this request.”

I tore the piece of paper with the request written on it and went over to the receptionist lady Elma-san.

“Good morning Rex-san.
So today you want to do this request… wait, eeeh?”

Elma-san greeted me with her usual beaming smile, then froze.

“Um, are you going to be taking this one?”

Elma-san was looking at me with eyes that said “Why though?”

“I mean, jobs for newbie adventurers are Goblin extermination, herb-gathering, and…”

I continued with a smile on my face.

“…drain-cleaning, right?”

Drain-cleaning was one of the most hated jobs for adventurers.

Waterways, drain, and sewers were usually cleaned with water magic.

But, there were some small bits that they couldn’t clean with water magic where dirt and rubbish would pile up, and those places were cleaned by adventurers at the request of the town.

Or rather, since it paid almost no money and stank to high heaven no one would accept it, it functioned almost exclusively as a punishment job for adventurers who had caused trouble.

And I had taken such a request.

“You’re a D-Rank adventurer, so you don’t need to stoop so low as to take this request…”

But I understand what Elma-san’s trying to say.

She was trying to say that since I had raised my rank after much effort, it would be fine if I accepted better jobs to do.

But I didn’t become an adventurer to make money.

Well, I do need living expenses, but my point still stands.

The important thing is to be able to freely go on adventures.

That’s the main reason I became an adventurer.

So, I want to try accepting all sorts of requests.

Among those jobs are also unpleasant ones that adventurers from stories disliked, but I also want to experience those.

So, I took the request to clean drains.

*sigh* “All right then.
I have noted you accepting the request to clean drains.
Fortunately, you’re not pressed for money currently.”

That’s right, and I’m grateful that there’s some padding in my wallet thanks to the Evil Boars.

And I’ll be getting the payments for the Dragon and the rest of the Evil Boars later too.

“Then, see you later, I’m going on an adventure.”

“Oh, big brother, you’re also going on an adventure!?”

I thought I heard a familiar voice…

“Well if it isn’t Jairo-kun of Team Dragon Slayers.”

“…Sorry, could you please not call us for that?”

“Huh? You stopped using that name?”

But it was cool.

“No, um, I just felt it reminded me of how little I know…”

“Eh? Until just recently, you were saying ‘I’ll become an adventurer and win the world! And to do that, we have to be able to defeat even a Dragon! So our team name is Dragon Slayers!’ weren’t you?”

The magician-san from Jairo-kun’s team said, putting him in a headlock.

The monk and thief, having arrived a bit later, greeted me with a nod each, and I responded in turn.

“Gyaaaa! Stop! Don’t speak of that time anymoreeeeeee!”

“We’re the ones who found it embarrassing! Everyone grinned every single time they heard your embarrassing team name.”

“Ugyaaaaaaaaa!”

They really seem close.

“S-so then bro, what request did you accept today?”

Oops, we really went off on a tangent there.

“I’m doing drain cleaning today.”

“As expected of big… brother… eh?”

Jairo-kun’s eyes, which were sparkling until just a moment ago, opened as wide as they would go and became just as round.

“Drain… cleaning?”

“Yep, drain cleaning.”

“You mean that?”

“Yep, that.”

“The one that checks all the boxes of stinking, being dirty, and paying next to nothing?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Whyyyyyyyyyy!?”

I got shouted at.

“Big brother why!? Why are you going to do something like drain cleaning!?”

Jairo-kun held his head, unable to understand why.

“Excuse me but, to be honest we don’t really comprehend it either, but you must have some reason?”

Asked the monk-san standing behind Jairo-kun.

“Oh, sorry.
I’m kind of late in introducing myself.
I’m Norb, and, as you can see, I’m a monk.
Well, I say monk, but I’m still short of even being an apprentice really.
Also, thank you very much for saving me the other day.”

“I’m Rex.
No no, I just did the obvious thing.
How’s your injury been since then? It doesn’t hurt anywhere, does it?”

I had used remote healing magic on him, so there was no way I could’ve seen any minute injuries he may have had, so I was a little worried.

“Oh that! Thanks to your healing magic it healed beautifully! To be able to use such high-grade healing magic, you really must be a person of deep faith!”

“Ahaha, quite so, quite so.”

Monks believed that people with stronger belief in god could use more powerful healing magic.

But the truth was that healing magic was just like any other magic, and could be explained with theories and laws.

But, I wouldn’t say so to them.

In my before-previous life, when I told a high-ranking bishop about it, I was told ‘That’s blasphemous thinking! There is no way we humans can comprehend this holy power bestowed upon us by god!’ and was terribly glared at in churches afterwards.

So, in order to avoid unnecessary conflict by saying too much, I kept the details of healing magic stored away in my mind.

“That’s right, we really should introduce ourselves too now.
I’m Mina, a magician, and she’s our thief, Meguri.
Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you.”

So, Mina-san and Meguri-san?

And it seems like Meguri-san is a person of few words.

She greeted me and then stayed silent.

“Nice to meet you, Mina-san and Meguri-san.”

“Now then, back to our earlier conversation.”

“Thatssssss rightttttt biggggg brotherrrrrrr, why are you doing something like drain cleaning!?”

Norb-san and Jairo-kun returned the topic of conversation to the drain cleaning.

Well, I guess it’s okay to tell them.

“Well, it’s not really all that huge of a reason though.
Do you all know the story of Raigard, the Great Swordsman?”

“Of course I know it!”

“Yeah, my parents told me it when I was a kid.”

“My grandad told me about it, so yes.”

“I know it.”

The Great Swordsman Raigard: it was the name of a great adventurer who was once active, and, as his title would suggest, he was a master of the sword.

“Raigard is called the Great Swordsman nowadays, but initially he was an egotistical snob who caused trouble because of his talent.”

“Yes yes, if you speak of Raigard, that’s where the story starts.”

Jairo-kun and co.
nodded along.

“Then, finally having had enough, the guild master ordered Raigard to a year of drain cleaning.
He was told that if he didn’t do it, his earnings as an adventurer would be withheld.”

That’s just how selfishly Raigard had acted.

He was very different from me, who tried to do good for the people around me.

“So, Raigard unwillingly began cleaning drains, and he got close to getting violent with the people laughing at the sight of him toiling away at that miserable job many times.
But, being an adventurer being the only way he knew how to live, he desperately endured it all and continued cleaning the drains.”

And, the sight of him doing so resonated with the people around him.

“One day, the people began thanking the silently toiling Raigard for cleaning the drains.
‘Many thanks for the hard work again today.’ Noticing that, Raigard grew ashamed of his actions until then, and changed his attitude.
That is the first story about him, called the Great Swordsman Raigard’s Setback.”

It was one of those moral stories everyone heard when they were a child.

Many people preferred the stories of Raigard’s adventures because this story was quite plain, but I had always really liked this story.

“I see! You’re learning from Raigard and doing mental training! As expected of you!”

Nono, if anything, I just want to experience first-hand the work Raigard also experienced back then.

“Are you also going to be doing a job now?”

“I want to say yes, but our job is actually during the night!”

“At night?”

That’s unusual, adventurers usually work during the daytime when most monsters aren’t active.

“Lately, there have been rumours going around about a creepy wail that can be heard throughout the town at night.”

Explained Mina-san.

“So the town’s residents made a request at the guild.
They want us to explain what’s causing it.”

I see, so that’s why the job’s at night.

“But well, it’s just, you know, patrolling.
But since it’s at night, we get paid a bit more.”

Hee, so you get paid more at night.

There really are all sorts of jobs adventurers do.

“Say, bro, could we go see where you will be working?”

Jairo-kun made a strange proposal.

“Eh? But it’s just your ordinary drain cleaning?”

“Yeah, I know that, but you’re the one doing the job, so maybe there’ll be a hint in there for us on how to get stronger.”

A hint on how to get stronger.

I highly doubt there’ll be anything there, let alone hints like that.

“I mean, fine, but it really won’t be interesting?”

“Merci big bro! Let’s go everyone!”

“Eh? Us too?”

Mina-san made a troubled face.

“Well, making Jairo-kun go alone wouldn’t be very nice.
Also, I’m also a little interested in what Rex-san working will look like.
Right, Meguri-san?”

Norb-san asked Meguri-san.

“We have to work at night, so as long as it doesn’t drag on too long.”

“Alright, we’ll be following you then, big brother!”

Seriously, it won’t be worth watching at all.

◆ ◆

“Then, I’ll start from here.”

Having arrived at a waterway not far from the guild, I inspected it from above.

The flushing out of the waterways with water magic found it hard to reach here, and it was apparently a place where sludge accumulated rapidly.

Indeed, when compared with other spots, you could see way more black sludge under the water.

“Aha, I can finally see big brother cleaning drains!”

“Seriously, it’s nothing big.”

“Oho, drain cleaning.
Quite a splendid attitude for a youngster.
Do your best, young man.”

A passer-by cheered me on as I was about to begin working.

“Yes, I’ll do my best!”

The people of this town are even nice to the adventurers doing such work.

Mhm, I do kinda somehow feel like Raigard myself now.

“Then, I’ll get started!”

“Wait, bro, what happened to the drain-cleaning tools?”

“Eh? I won’t be using them though?”

“Huh!? Then how will you clean the drains!?”

Jairo-kun tilted his head in confusion.

Mina-san and the other two behind him did the same.

“I do this: Full Clean Purification!!”

Holding out my right hand over the waterway, I cast wide-area purification magic.

As I did so, the black sludge disappeared away, and the drain and even the water in it began shining brightly.

“Uwaaaaaaaa!? W-what the hell!?”

Jairo-kun screamed behind me.

Whoops, I should’ve explained properly first, then done it.

Well, there’s no use crying over spilled milk.

The waterway glowing from the purification magic gradually stopped doing so, and seemed to have changed into a sparkling clean waterway without even a speck of dirt in it.

“W-what was that!?”

Jairo-kun and the others were round-eyed in surprise.

“It’s wide-area purification magic.
With this magic, all the sludge and any other dirt in the waterways will be cleaned.”

“Wide-area purification magic!? What the heck’s that!?”

Said Norb-san as I mentioned it being magic.

“Huh? You don’t know? It’s magic used to clean large cities and the like though.”

“I d-don’t know about such magic! Also, that light was the light of purification, so it’s holy-attribute magic, right!?”

“Mhm, yeah.”

In my before-previous life, it had been easy to clean things with holy-attribute magic.

And by the way, while the nobles and townspeople had been happy about it, the people from the church had made disapproving faces.

“T-to be able to use such amazing magic…”

Ummmm, Norb-san? This really isn’t that grand of a magic spell.

“So I’ll be going around the town cleaning all the sludge like this.”

““““…””””

Hmm? They seem to be slow in reacting?

“Big brother, umm, correct me if I’m wrong, but… this is not how Raigard’s story went?”

“““Mhm, yeah.”””

Huh? Did I do something strange?

“Oooookay, anyway.
I’ll be going to clean the next spot.”

“Anyway!?”

“This one… he’s strong.”

I feel like they’re just saying whatever they want at this point, but eh, anyway.

I’ll be cleaning this spot now.

“Full Clean Purification!!”

The waterways were covered in the light of purification again.

It was at that moment.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

“What!?”

We were all surprised by a frightful scream that suddenly echoed out all of a sudden.

“Over there! In the drain!!”

Meguri-san pointed at a spot in the drain.

Where she was pointing at, in the midst of the drain glowing from the purification magic, there was a wriggling, black shadow.

“It’s a Dark Blob!?”

“Big brother, what’s a Dark Blob!?”

“They’re amorphous monsters of the darkness attribute.
Because they look just like sludge or dirt, many soldiers have been greatly injured from surprise attacks from the water from them when going through swamps and not paying enough attention.”

“Quick, we have to exterminate it!”

Norb-san readied his mace and turned towards the Dark Blob.

“It’s fine.”

“Eh?”

I didn’t even need to answer Norb-san’s question as the Dark Blob shrank and shrank.

“The monster’s shrinking.”

“I’m purifying the Dark Blob with Full Clean Purification.
This magic can easily deal with weak monsters.”

Dark Blobs’ surprise attacks were scary, but if they were fought head-on, they weren’t such scary monsters at all.

“Eeeh!?”

And, while I was telling them that, the Dark Blob shrank and shrank, then finally disappeared.

Only the purified and nice and clean waterway remained.

“You defeated it.”

Mina-san was stunned, her mouth hanging wide open.

“More importantly, a monster having been inside the town is the bigger problem.”

As expected of a Thief, Meguri-san hadn’t let her guard down yet.

Normally, since there were guards and adventurers in towns, monsters were unable to get in.

“It must’ve come in during the night by accident via the waterways, and hidden as sludge during the daytime.”

This sort of thing happened occasionally in towns with drain systems.

In my previous life, there had even been an incident where monsters had attacked a town through its waterways.

Thank goodness I was able to exterminate this Dark Blob before it attacked anyone.

“Ah, maybe the wailing heard at night was this monster?”

Said Mina-san, clapping her hands together, then pointing at where the Dark Blob had been.

“That’s most likely the case.”

Dark Blobs let out creepy sounds that sound like wailing.

I’m sure Mina-san’s guess was correct.

“A-as expected of you, big brother! You even solved our request!! You’re awesome!!”

Jairo-kun praised me simple-mindedly.

This is kinda embarrassing.

“But, won’t we have failed the request then? We didn’t do anything, after all.”

““““Ah.””””

At the short, but nonetheless fatal statement Meguri-san had put into words, the air around us froze in a split second.

“S-sorry.”

I-it wasn’t on purposeeeeeee.

◆ ◆

My name is John.

I am the butler of Viscount Grimoa, who governs this town as well as the surrounding lands.

I had served his predecessor as well, so it was no exaggeration to say I knew all the ins and outs of the job.

No actually, that really is an overstatement.

Today, I am going to the adventurers’ guild in the stead of Viscount Grimoa, who is headed to the royal capital for an auction.

The reason for this is to meet the adventurer who turned down Viscount Grimoa’s invitation to dinner the other day.

To punish him? No no, I won’t do anything as foolish as to antagonize someone powerful enough to defeat a Dragon.

I just want to get to know him a little better so he might become friends with my lord.

To counter the atmosphere of unrest that has settled down here recently.

According to the adventurers’ guild, he had some reason for refusing the invitation to dinner, but for adventurers, there’s no reason not to think of getting ahead in life.

So, if I, who personally reports to the Viscount, were to approach him, even the adventurer in question should change his mind.

Then, we would gain an adventurer capable of killing a Dragon, and the adventurer would gain Viscount Grimoa as a backer.

We can build a useful relationship for both sides.

And if he were to refuse it?

That’s right, there’s the possibility of him being hostile, in which case we’ll also have to take the corresponding measures.

I hope that won’t be the case.

As I was thinking so, a youngster standing next to a waterway raised his voice.

“I’ll start here then.”

He was young, and had seemingly only just become an adventurer.

Fufu, now doesn’t that put a smile on my face.

I was also like that once, overflowing with dreams and aspirations.

“Aha, I can finally see big brother cleaning drains!”

“Seriously, it’s nothing big.”

It seems he chose to clean the drains; with that attitude and behaviour, he wouldn’t cause trouble and be made to do it.

Voluntarily choosing such a dirty job to make the town cleaner is not something anyone can do.

I was so touched by the sight of the young man, I called out to him.

“Oho, drain cleaning.
Quite a splendid attitude for a youngster.
Do your best, young man.”

“Yes, I’ll do my best!”

The innocent youngster cheerfully replied.

It seems there are also pleasant youngsters in our territory.

This is also the result of Viscount Grimoa’s human virtue.

“Uwaaaa!”

Hm? They are getting rather loud back there, aren’t they?

And for some reason it now feels dazzling and a bit divine here.

Hmmm, I’m sure the freshness of today’s youth will improve the atmosphere of the town.

And I feel like I’ll find the adventurer in question soon as well.

I am John, the skilled butler who works for Viscount Grimoa.