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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Guinness the Dragonewt
A combat-focused adventurer residing in Tillasden, Guinness was considered by other adventurers to be a high-risk individual, ranked at the highest danger level.
Known as the biggest lunatic in the area, she possessed a formidable temper, prone to smashing things first and asking questions later if something displeased her.
As a Dragonewt, a non-human Ain race, she possessed inherently superior physical abilities compared to other races.
Her biggest problem, however, was the extremely pronounced unapproachable nature inherent to Dragonewts.
According to an adventurer who had seen other Dragonewts, Guinness was simply exceptionally difficult.
Perhaps there was some hidden anecdote that contributed to her warped personality.
She first made a name for herself when she arrived in Tillasden by single-handedly wiping out the thugs who controlled the back alleys.
There was one word that should never be uttered in her presence.
It was one of her nicknames, and while she surprisingly didn’t react much to being called various other names like dragon, lizard, or crazy bitch, this one word would send her into a frenzy.
That nickname was…
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“You son of a bitch, I’ll kill you!”
“Try it, lizard woman!”
With a whooshing sound, Guinness’s fist shot towards Mr. Wolf.
It wasn’t a bare fist, but one clad in a gauntlet.
A punch from Guinness, a Dragonewt, seemed powerful enough to send an ordinary person straight to their maker.
You could just listen to the sound of the wind accompanying that fist.
Getting hit by that would definitely not be a pretty death.
However, her fist, unfortunately, only cut through the air.
The target of her punch had dodged with nimble movements.
Mr. Wolf, who had climbed up a tree in the blink of an eye, chuckled as he looked down at Guinness fuming below.
The expression on his face was a clear sneer.
“Slow, lizard woman. You’re slow as molasses. You think you can catch a fly with those fists?”
“You…”
“Hey, leader human. Looks like lizard woman is just going to be dead weight. How about we just leave her behind? I recommend not bringing baggage on an already dangerous mission.”
Ridicule.
And provocation.
Mr. Wolf, perched on a tree branch, taunted Guinness as if watching a dog chasing a chicken.
He was ostensibly speaking to Wagner, but his words were clearly intended to provoke Guinness.
A thick vein bulged prominently on Guinness’s forehead.
“You’re dead.”
The terrifying look she directed at Mr. Wolf clearly stated that she would not let this son of a bitch go unpunished.
“Hmph.”
Guinness pulled her fist back and took a small breath.
And then, she thrust her drawn-back fist towards the tree trunk…
BAM!
“….”
‘Holy shit.’
I muttered to myself as I watched the wood fragments scatter in the air with the gust of wind.
A tree, thick enough that an adult would struggle to wrap their arms around it, had been shattered into pieces with a single punch.
Not a wooden plank.
The tree itself.
I couldn’t help but feel dizzy at the insane sight of a perfectly healthy tree being one-punched.
What was even more absurd was that Mr. Wolf had already climbed onto another tree, avoiding the falling debris of the shattered tree.
“Get back here, you son of a bitch!”
“Hahaha!”
Staring blankly at the two as they continued their chase deeper into the forest, I looked up at the sky and prayed silently.
“God, please…”
This was worse than I thought…
Somehow, we managed to form a five-person party, and under Wagner’s leadership, we decided to test our synergy.
We went outside the city and practiced on the wild dogs in the Tillasden Forest, and the results were more disastrous than we had imagined.
It wasn’t that we couldn’t hunt the wild dogs.
Each individual’s skills were so exceptional that we took them down instantly… the problem was that it was obvious at a glance that the five of us weren’t working together.
It was almost as if everyone was working independently.
It wasn’t a party anymore, just five people gathered in one place.
It was bad.
Thinking that, I glanced to the side and saw Wagner staring seriously in the direction of the forest where the two had run off.
As the de facto leader of this party, Wagner must have been the most troubled.
‘Is this really going to be okay, Wagner…?’
Even I, who always tried to stay positive, was starting to have doubts.
Unable to voice my concerns, I swallowed them down and let out a small sigh.
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There were two main reasons why this party wasn’t working well together.
The first was that only two of the five members, Wagner and I, were proficient in party work.
Wagner, having been a party leader for a long time, went without saying, and although it had been a year since I left the party, I could still adapt without difficulty thanks to the experience I had gained.
However, Mr. Kundt, Mr. Wolf, and Guinness were primarily solo adventurers.
They didn’t understand the concept of coordinating with teammates, and they lacked basic common sense when it came to party work.
They would stray from formation, target enemies that other teammates should have been handling, ignore Wagner’s orders, and so on.
It was a headache-inducing sight.
And their personalities were incredibly strong.
Fights would break out at the drop of a hat.
Of course, these fights were almost always between Guinness and Mr. Wolf…
Guinness, who would explode at the slightest provocation.
Mr. Wolf, who would taunt and tease the enraged Guinness with amusement.
Wagner tried to mediate between the two but lacked effective methods.
Mr. Kundt would sit and polish his hammer, seemingly oblivious to the chaos unfolding around him.
This fantastic harmony had continued until now.
Of course, I tried to intervene, but realistically, there was nothing I could do when even Wagner couldn’t control them.
I wasn’t the mediating type either.
Watching Guinness and Mr. Wolf causing another ruckus, I half-heartedly plopped down next to the rock where Mr. Kundt was sitting.
Even with the commotion happening right next to the marketplace, Mr. Kundt was quietly polishing his hammer.
Was it incredible concentration, or incredible indifference…?
Staring blankly at the sky, I spoke to Mr. Kundt.
“You seem to cherish your hammer a lot.”
“…”
Swish, swish.
Without replying, Kundt continued polishing his hammer with a cloth.
When the cloth became slightly dirty, he took out a new one from his bag and started again.
When the hammer, stained with wild dog blood, was somewhat clean, he raised it to the sky and examined it in the sunlight. He seemed satisfied.
“This fellow needs to be in top condition to protect me… ”
“I’ve heard that your weapon maintenance is famous among other blacksmiths. You have a remarkable affection for your weapons.”
“It’s no different from a parent caring for their child. Just as a parent washes their child clean, I keep this fellow clean and sharp…”
Mr. Kundt, usually taciturn and rarely initiating conversations, became somewhat talkative when the topic turned to weapons.
I decided to take a cue from him and took out my sword and whetstone.
Swish, swish.
Swish, swish.
The only sounds were the two of us silently maintaining our weapons.
Oh.
Doing this actually made the chaos around us seem to fade away.
Was this why Mr. Kundt could maintain his focus?
The sound of the blade being sharpened on the whetstone drowned out Guinness’s shouting and Mr. Wolf’s laughter.
At the same time, peace descended upon my heart.
“Is your face full of worry because of those two?”
“Well, yes. Their skills aside, with such poor teamwork, I doubt we can properly carry out the mission…”
“Then I’d say that’s a needless worry…”
“A needless worry?”
“The only one who can control those two is Wagner. In all of Tillasden. That means it’s pointless for you or me to worry about it…”
That… was true.
The only one who could control Guinness and Wolf, even to the extent of bringing them here, was Wagner.
The problem was that Wagner couldn’t control them right now.
As Mr. Kundt said, even if he or I racked our brains and tried to appease them, we couldn’t do what Wagner couldn’t.
I see.
Was that why Mr. Kundt was so calm?
“I don’t think Wagner gathered us expecting us to work well together in the first place…”
“May I ask what you mean?”
“Exactly that. Their discord and lack of coordination were already within Wagner’s calculations…”
“Oh.”
“Wagner is a very capable leader… He’s experienced in forming parties. I believe Wagner is maintaining this party because he judges that we can still carry out the mission even with our lack of synergy…”
Indeed, if Wagner truly thought this chaotic situation was beyond his control, we would have returned to Tillasden long ago.
He would suffer some dishonor for not meeting expectations, but Wagner wasn’t the type to care about that.
But we were still here.
That meant Wagner still saw potential in this party.
“Hearing your words puts my mind at ease. You’re truly reliable.”
“You flatter me… I feel reassured thanks to you as well.”
Thanks to me?
I hadn’t done anything special…
As I tilted my head in confusion, Mr. Kundt, noticing my reaction, let out a hearty laugh.
I didn’t know what the laugh meant, but I could see the trust in his eyes as he looked at Wagner.
“Actually, I was the first one to meet Wagner after his party was annihilated…”
“Is that so?”
“Wagner looked very distressed and tormented. But strangely, the more we talked, the more I felt like he had a glimmer of hope…”
“Did he think that gathering these five would solve the problem?”
“Well, I doubt he thought that far ahead… But he said this to me that day…”
Mr. Kundt’s gaze, which had been fixed on Wagner, shifted towards me.
Just like when he looked at Wagner, his gaze held trust when he looked at me.
Even though this was the first time we had a proper conversation.
“He said he needed to hear from Iyer first…”
“Huh?”
“Wagner has immense trust in you… Perhaps the reason he’s maintaining this party is because you’re here…”
So Wagner said that, huh.
He did come looking for me almost immediately.
It felt good to know that he still had that much faith in me, even though it had been a year since I left the party.
“And I believe Wolf Who Chases the Wind also acknowledges you…”
“Mr. Wolf too?”
“I have no proof… It’s just a feeling…”
“A feeling…”
“This party might not be in as bad a shape as you think…”
Hmm.
Simply put, Mr. Kundt had some faith in the party based on his “trust in Wagner” and his “trust in me, whom Wagner trusted.”
Moreover, he thought Mr. Wolf acknowledged me, although I didn’t know what basis he had for that.
From that perspective, the only problem with this party was the bad blood between Guinness and Mr. Wolf.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all…
Thinking that way made me feel a little more at ease.
The swish, swish sound of the blade being sharpened made the atmosphere even more tranquil.
Feeling reassured, I turned to the side with a smile.
“Die, you son of a bitch!”
“You’re slow.”
Guinness was destroying everything in sight, and Mr. Wolf, with agility that belied his size, was effortlessly dodging her attacks.
I returned my head to its original position, my smile gone.
Let’s just ignore them for now.
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[man im hella tired but kundt seems like a cool guy]
