I Want to Live a Normal Life

Chapter 2: Borderlands of the Hartelia Kingdom

Episode 1: Lordship of Obraine, Borderland of the Hartelia Kingdom

“…It’s done.”

“Oh, you’ve finished already? You’re as quick as ever. I owe you one.”

“No, no, it’s my pleasure.”

“Alright, I’ll be counting on you again.”

It’s been half a year since I escaped from the Artelia Kingdom. I’ve been working as an adventurer in the capital city, Ortya, of the Obraine borderland of the Hartelia Kingdom. Yeah, I never thought I’d stay in Hartelia for this long. I was planning to escape to the Almira Principality as soon as possible. Yeah, the Almira Principality. I finally got to know the name recently. Well, that’s beside the point.

When I came to Hartelia, my first priority was to kill Gargaine, but a problem arose.

“Where is Gargaine?”

Yeah, there was no such person as Gargaine, the borderland lord. The one ruling the border territory was Lux Obraine, the borderland lord. Who the heck is that?

I hurriedly checked the list of nobles at the Adventurer’s Guild, but there was not even a hint of Gargaine. The guild keeps a list of nobles for anyone to see to avoid troubles with them. It seems like if your rank goes up, you might receive requests from nobles, so you should at least know their names and territories. It was unexpected to find no name on that list.

So, the possibilities are either he’s another reincarnator like me, or he’s not Gargaine yet.

The former doesn’t quite feel right… I’ve had this feeling before, but what is it? It’s kind of unsettling. It’s not like someone is manipulating my thoughts, so I’m not thinking about it right now, but I want to figure it out eventually.

Anyway, putting that aside for now, if he’s not a reincarnator, the remaining possibility is that he’s not Gargaine yet. It seems like noble names hardly change, but they might change their names to something appropriate when they’re ennobled. Or there’s a possibility of being ennobled in the future. It’s unlikely for a commoner to suddenly become a borderland lord, but what about a son of a powerful noble? I have no idea about the situation with those nobles.

Well, I gave up on quickly killing Gargaine. There’s nothing I can do if he’s not here. So, I thought about going to Almira, but isn’t Gargaine going to pop up soon? Why not wait for that? That’s what I decided.

Also, surprisingly, I’m quite comfortable in this town. If it weren’t for the original story, I might even be fine staying in this town forever. The town is lively, and there are plenty of shops. I’ve made some acquaintances too. It’s also a big deal that Mine-kun is enjoying his current life.

“This is it, please.”

“Yes. This is a request for repairing the city walls. The client’s signature is here, so the request is completed. Here’s your reward.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Oh, Mine-san, if you complete requests for subjugation, you can be promoted…”

“Ah, subjugation requests are a bit…”

“I understand. Please let us know whenever you’re interested.”

“Okay.”

I had the usual exchange with the receptionist at the Adventurer’s Guild and received the reward.

Since coming to this town, I’ve learned that there are quite a lot of jobs for repairing houses, city walls, and roads. Thanks to that, I was able to make ends meet for the few months until adulthood.

“It’s been quiet around here lately.”

Even after becoming an adventurer, I’ve been doing mostly town-related jobs, which led to some adventurers gossiping about me behind my back. Well, compared to the sarcasm from some marquis’ household, it’s nothing. I guess they didn’t find it amusing that I was doing leisure requests in a safe place. After all, adventurers are supposed to go into the forest and hunt monsters, right?

But, there are plenty of requests in Ortya. As I mentioned earlier, there are jobs like civil engineering, as well as cleaning and finding lost items. Some people make a profession out of it, but in a town with nearly a hundred thousand people like Ortya, there are inevitably times when there aren’t enough hands to go around.

That’s when the newly minted adventurers, or adventurers without fighting abilities, come in. It seems that in this territory, they’re keen on protecting and nurturing such adventurers at the lord’s behest. Well, if someone doesn’t do it, it becomes the job of the lord’s soldiers.

So, no one here directly picked a fight with me. Or rather, the guild wouldn’t allow it. Even so, in terms of civil engineering adventurers in Ortya, I’m one of the top earners. That’s probably why they weren’t pleased.

By the way, I don’t intend to accept any subjugation requests. I mean, subjugation proofs are things like goblin ears or wolf fangs, right? It’s a common trope in isekai stories, but seriously, why do I have to do something like those barbarians? It’s way too gruesome. Makes me want to puke.

Well, anyway, both Mine-kun and I quite like this town. There’s a lively atmosphere in the town, and it feels like living a normal life.

“I can’t believe this will become that Gargaine territory.”

The original Gargaine territory was in a terrible state. There were few people around, and the residents looked exhausted and lifeless. I can’t believe that Ortya will become like that in five years or so.

And then there’s Lord Obraine. There was no such person in the original story. It’s possible that he simply didn’t appear, but from what I’ve heard, he seems to be quite capable and skilled. Would someone like that not appear?

Surely, something will happen to the borderland lord in a few years. And Gargaine must be involved in it.

“Yeah, Gargaine is definitely a piece of crap.”