My Glasses

Chapter 174 – Glasses boy’s gets heartbroken at the sad news

After parting with Lisse, I arrived a little early at the plaza where the hunting competition would start.

It was located in a corner of the craftsmen’s district.

Last time I saw it, it was a very empty, open area, but because of today’s event, the place was quite packed.

There were stalls serving food and alcohol.

People singing and dancing to light music.

And drunken people fighting with one another, creating quite the commotion. It was as if they wanted to show that this was what a festival was all about.

Honestly, it was a bit hard to not be overwhelmed by this. There were people and fuss as far as my eyes could see… Is this just because I’m in Krozheit? Or is this the norm for festivals of large cities?

I had only experienced the modest festivals and banquets of my hometown, the village of Albat, so this was my first time seeing a festival of such a large scale and with such abnormal level of excitement.

Of course, I absolutely do not want to mix in with this crowd, so let’s move away from all this commotion, so that I can take a proper look at the situation.

Especially because I’m curious about the nearby armed people who are probably participating on the competition too.

Though I’m also curious about the people openly making bets.

In any case, similarly to me, the armed people seem to be staying a bit away from the commotion.

And unsurprisingly, since they’re all about to go hunt Demon Beasts, none of them is drinking alcohol… Or at least, I couldn’t see any doing it.

They all seemed to be shying away from the stalls that served alcohol, in fact.

As for the team sizes, they varied a bit, but most seemed to be planning on participating with groups of four to five people.

The largest group I saw was of about ten people, who are probably planning on hunting a pretty big target.

As for the smallest team… That seems to be me. I might even be the only person participating by myself.

But well, there were also the people making bets… Near them, there should be some shady people exchanging information for money.

I’m kinda curious about what they have to say, so let’s move to a place where I can overhear them.

******

When I casually moved to a position that seemed to be just right, I saw someone just ahead of me.

She was a therianthrope girl, and she was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. She was grinning quite a bit, and her ears were twitching a lot.

I think she might be a tiger therianthrope.

Perhaps she was a fairly curious one, because her green-tinted golden eyes moved around quite a bit.

Also, she had a short, golden, tiger-like hair with a black pattern on it. It was quite flashy at first glance.

And her tail, which hanged down like an ornament, was probably real.

We were probably about the same age, but I can’t say for sure because I haven’t seen many therianthropes before.

She may be older than I thought, or perhaps surprisingly young.

Although… Isn’t she too small for a tiger therianthrope?

My master once told me that tiger therianthropes were usually as bigger as him, or even bigger… And considering he was almost as big as a bear, that means they should be really big.

However, this girl was a bit smaller than me.

Is she still on her growth phase perchance?

… Well, I suppose that doesn’t really matter.

More importantly, she probably has the same goal as me.

She must be gathering information by overhearing the nearby voices, as her ears are moving quite a bit.

So, I wonder if it’s fine if I interrupt her for a bit.

“Please excuse me.” I said as I slowly moved to her side.

“Nyaha? Who are you?” She asked.

“Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter.” I replied.

If she is gathering information, then there is a high chance of her participating on the hunting competition too. In this case, I would rather not leak anything to her.

After all, she is strong.

Her ‘number’ was already on the single digits before she noticed me, but now that she has recognized my presence, the number went down to 1.

She is not an opponent that I can beat even with a surprise attack.

The therianthrope girl seemed to have realized that my goal was the same as hers, because she did not say anything else and her ears started twitching again… Her ear movements make it a bit too obvious that she is listening to others’ conversation, but I guess that’s not a problem.

In fact, I should start paying attention to what others are saying too.

“Marl and Zidane have teamed up! They’ll surely be the winners!” One person said.

“The best hunter of this city, Gin the Swordsman, will participate! He’ll surely win!” Another person said.

“Breaking news! Breaking news! The assassins of the brothel district, Rupture Seviarow and Tyran the Destroyer are going to participate!” A third person said.

“More breaking news! Beckenberg’s bodyguards, the Tiger Cub Justice Brothers, are joining the fray!” A fourth person said.

Mmm… I think I should be wary of the people whose names were brought up here.

I don’t know how useful this information will be without knowing their faces, but I’ll remember it just in case.

Marl, Zidane, and Gin the Swordsman.

I already know lady Seviarow and Tyran, but I don’t know much about their capabilities.

Still, those two are probably pretty strong.

After all, they’re the main people who solve issues in the brothel district. This is not the kind of job that weak people can handle.

Beckenberg’s bodyguards too. I may not have seen them do anything while they stood behind Beckenberg with cold expressions, and they may not have much motivation to work, but they should be quite strong.

After all, Beckenberg is not incompetent enough to keep useless people next to him.

“What about Horse Killer Chace? The talented young man that suddenly appeared!?

“People like Zidane and Gin may be strong, but they don’t have a chance against the man who killed that queen!” One person exclaimed.

Well, that was a name that was very familiar to me.

Coming to think of it, it was because of Chace that this whole giant hunting festival started.

I would like to say that this was quite the hassle, but… My opinion of this event has recently changed.

Because the knife made from a fang of the Obsidian Wolf was even more amazing than I had imagined.

If it wasn’t for this hunting festival, I would have probably bought a makeshift knife and put off getting that fang processed for a long while, as it would be way too expensive for me.

Not to mention the happy surprise of old man Tatsunami’s gift, which made my knife have a self-regenerating property.

This could only be done here, in Krozheit. Other blacksmiths wouldn’t be able to replicate that.

That huge unexpected benefit really took me off guard, and it made me very well aware of how absurd it was for me to get this knife for free.

I really didn’t think that I would get this kind of amazing back when I first entered Krozheit.

So, even if this situation was just a huge coincidence, I’m still a bit grateful to Chace. I can even forgive him for telling old man Tatsunami about me without permission.

“Hey, hey.” The therianthrope girl suddenly said.

“… What?” I asked.

She had a very big smile on her face right now, for some reason.

“Chace, that’s my friend.” She stated with a huge amount of pride in her voice.

… For a moment, I couldn’t believe the words I had just heard.

But then, it all made sense. It’s only logical that this girl is this strong.

Because she too is an assassin trainee.

She probably met Chace at the Tower of Bryne, and they seem to be getting along well.

I considered saying, ‘what a coincidence, he is my friend too’, but I decided to say nothing instead.

*****

At that moment, I thought that I would continue to gather information for a while.

But then, terrible news arrived like a gust of wind, making everyone buzz around in complete bewilderment.

“It’s bad! That evil kid, Zett, came to the reception! He is going to participate in the festival!” A person exclaimed.

Eh…? That’s not a lie, is it…?

… Should I just run away?

… I guess that’s no good, is it?

Even if I gave up on old lady Adyll’s letter, I still want to make up to old man Tatsunami after he made me such an excellent knife.

… But why did Zett have to show up here…? I really don’t want to see him again…