NOVEL NEXT Chapter 37: (1)
Seeing Through Even The First Attack, That Is The Essence of Karate
Wasteland spread out in the western part of the Purin Kingdom. As far as the eye could see, the land was bare and red, exposed to the wind. Even in such a wasteland, there were those who lived strongly. And then, the law of survival of the fittest was more prominent in that place than anywhere else in the world. In such a harsh world, the one seated at the top of the food-chain was demonic beast Rabid Fang. The special traits of this beast were their disproportionately huge fangs. Also, that they worked in a pack. Even if they were up against a monster that was individually stronger than them, they’d madly attack in a group and triumph over it. Because of their belligerent habits, they turned into the most dangerous monsters in this region.
These mighty rabid fangs were now building up a mountain of corpses in a certain corner of the wasteland. In the center of the swarms of the rabid fang, there was a man who looked like a raging tornado. He wafted around and mass-produced corpses of rabid fang one after another with the twin swords in his hands. His raging power was enough to make him be mistaken for the real monster instead. Above all, his face was colored with anger that made those who saw him tremble.
「Damn it! That bastard! Just what was the deal?! I am a man who’s capable of laying waste rabid fangs, monsters that were said to be the strongest in the region, you know?!」
To vent his blazing anger, the man slaughtered one rabid fang after another. Several hours later, what left there were countless corpses of Rabid Dog as well as the man whose rage hadn’t subsided.
「… Tch! So irritating….」
The man spat out these few words before leaving the area along with his still blazing rage. The location he was headed for was the town he was currently using as his base of operation. He was heading toward Haburunayo town, a town that had developed into a stopover point for those who were heading toward the western part of Purin Kingdom.
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「It’s not just in this town, the military hoards all the talented people, you see. So those working at the guild are those of the leftover E rankers.」
「Hou, I didn’t know there was such a circumstance. In that case, what would they do if there were an incident that couldn’t be handled by E rankers?」
The place was a certain tavern in the post town of Haburunayo. It was crowded with traders, who stopped by the town, and local guild members. In the midst of all this, there was a man who was chatting with the tavern old man — our protagonist, Tanaka.
「Let’s see… I guess we could only hope that there’s a wandering high ranker nearby…. Well, when push comes to shove, we’d have to rely on the military, though.」
「Hmmm….」
As usual, Tanaka entered the town alone to collect information. In order to overcome his powerlessness with his unparalleled wisdom, he devoted himself to information gathering as usual.
With his legs crossed in a cool posture, Tanaka attentively listened to the tavern old man. The way he occasionally quenched his thirst with a glass of milk was a calculated move to ensure that he was ready in case he were spoken to by a beauty at any given moment. As expected, he was a man who exerted more power than usual when he was in the tavern.
「Well, there’s no need to worry about such a thing now, though. After all, right now in this town–.」
At this very moment, as the old man was about to give him important information. His words were interrupted by the sounds of the violently opened doors. And then, the peculiar clamors that had been drifting around the tavern promptly subsided. No, it might be more accurate to say that they were swallowed up by the air exuded by the man who had violently opened the door. The man, completely unconcerned about the peculiar atmosphere, walked haughtily toward the counter.
「Old man, give me the strongest one.」
「Aiyo.」
He crudely seated himself on the seat and ordered a strong drink. From the irritated look on his face, it was obvious that he was trying to use the power of alcohol to forget about his unpleasant experience.
Under normal circumstances, no one would have approached this man, as the saying went, let the sleeping dog lie. However, this was a tavern. It could be said to be inevitable that disturbances would occur in such a place where people with numbed senses were assembled. A drunkard who failed to read the room moved to approach the man.
「Hey! Making good money? Thanks to you guys, the damage caused by monsters has greatly decreased. As expected of the great master Currypan.」
Holding a glass of booze, he spoke cheerfully. For sure, he wasn’t doing that out of ill intention. However, he had splendidly stepped on a landmine.
「Don’t you dare to mention that name in front of me….」
The man, who was already in a bad mood, immediately glared at the drunkard.
「My name is Curryman!」
Curryman said to the drunkard, filled with bloodlust.
「Hii!」
It was the kind of bloodlust that no normal person could ever withstand. Of course, it wasn’t something an E-ranker could unleash.
Here was the information that was about to be said by the tavern old man earlier. Currently, there were several powerful people staying in this town by chance. This man was one of them. He was an A ranker who was known as Curryman the Twin Swords.
The bloodlust unleashed by an A ranker who was the pinnacle of humanity. It proved to be more than enough intimidation to sober up those who were drunk. However, Curryman didn’t stop there. In his current mood that couldn’t get any worse, he grabbed the drunkard roughly by the lapels and was about to vent out the anger welling up within him through his fist.
「You’d better stop there.」
There was a man who stopped him. It was Tanaka, who had switched into hard-boiled mode as he was at the tavern.
Just a while ago, he had obtained information that everyone in this town was of E rank. And then, based on his various experiences up until now, he was confident that he could deal with those of E rank. Thus, Tanaka boldly intervened with the situation.