Hazama Town

Hazama town of Haru Empire. It was one of the numerous cities and towns of the Empire which scattered near the border of the Purin Kingdom.

Hazama town, surrounded by forest, was surrounded by simple fences for its defense. There were also gatekeepers, standing by at the entrance gate, who monitored the going and coming people. However, it was by no means a town with a large traffic through its gate. With guild members as the majority of said traffic. Hunters and merchants were rarely seen passing by around these parts. The people there were all acquainted with each other, so they could directly pass by the gate. It was as though the gatekeepers were stationed there solely to prevent monsters from entering the town.

In the midst of this all, a suspicious person could be seen drawing closer to the entrance gate. As expected even the gatekeepers, who hadn’t moved up until now, reacted to this person’s appearance. They promptly called out to the man who was suspiciously creeping over toward the entrance gate.

「Alright, you over there. Do you have a minute? You’re new to this town, aren’t you? Alright, now say yes you are. Well then, do you mind if I inspect you for a bit? You don’t, do you? Even if you do, I’d still do it, though.」

「….」

The suspicious man, Tanaka, automatically froze in place speechless. It was because he was being spoken to so out of the blue in such a casual manner by the gatekeeper who didn’t seem like a gatekeeper at all. Not to mention the fact that the gatekeeper continued to speak without even waiting for his response. Tanaka’s mind lapsed for a moment which led him to fail to respond to the man, but soon enough he managed to somehow reboot and readjust himself. He then plastered a crisp look on his face, the least he could do to retaliate against the man’s surprise attack.

「Ah, yes. No, I don’t mind, what should I do?」

「Let’s see… Wait a minute here, alright?」

Said the gatekeeper before disappearing into a cabin-like building by the entrance gate. He then reappeared again soon after, along with a stack of documents in hands. While scrutinizing the documents one by one, the gatekeeper spoke to Tanaka.

「Oh, these are wanted posters of criminals. Inspecting all of the criminals is a pain… I mean, impossible, but this is the least I have to do.」

「… that sounds quite lax to me.」

Said Tanaka honestly, but inside he was musing that perhaps there were places with more stringent inspection out there. He’d been very cautious about it, but now that all he’d received was such a light inspection, he found it anticlimactic.「Well, to begin with, there aren’t that many criminals around these parts. And even if you get to do something here, I only need to come and arrest you, after all. Leaving that aside, care to tell me your business in visiting this town?」

Still inspecting the wanted posters, the gatekeeper spoke to Tanaka.

「I’m thinking about registering with the guild, and then impose myself on the town for a while, while I’m at it.」

「Oh, you’re going to register with the guild, huh. I suppose there’s no problem, then.」

While he seemed to be an easygoing person, the gatekeeper might actually be surprisingly serious in doing his job as he continued to inspect the posters until the last one. When he finished inspecting them all, he tidied up the posters and spoke to Tanaka again. 「Welcome to Hazama town. I’m the gatekeeper Antoninus VIII, everyone here calls me Hachi. Nice to meet you.」

「Somehow, didn’t they choose the strange part as your nickname?! Or rather, that name is too good for a gatekeeper, isn’t it? But still, why the VIII?」

Tanaka involuntarily retorted, but he then pulled himself together and politely continued on with the conversation.

「… Ah, this is the name of the eldest son in my family, so it’s been passed down for generations. When I once asked my father about it, he said that he only followed the customs and didn’t know the reason himself.」

「… How should I put it, what a lazy family you’ve got there! Oh, I’m sorry for the delay, my name is Tanaka. I’ve been traveling all around the world up until now, but recently I’ve been thinking that it may be about time to settle down somewhere.」

While he did think that there was still more to retort about, Tanaka decided to briefly introduce himself first. By the way, that was the most believable excuse he’d managed to come up with after racking his brain on his way toward this town.

「I see, but well, for now just stop with that polite tone of yours. If you’re going to be staying in this town, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other a lot from now on, after all. Let’s get along well.」 「Yeah, got it.」

He didn’t seem to be concerned with Tanaka’s excuse in the slightest. Rather, he seemed to be more concerned with Tanaka’s manner of speaking, as he kindly mentioned it to him. As far as Tanaka was concerned, that was good and all as he also found it more comfortable to speak casually.

「Oh, by the way, that one over there is my partner, Trajan IX. Everyone calls him Kuma.」「There comes an even lazier family!」

Hachi introduced the other person who was still standing by the gate, the huge gatekeeper. Faced with another generational name, Tanaka couldn’t help but retort in a flurry.

「… Nah, his family is a prestigious martial arts family that has been in existence for generations. That’s where their tradition to pass down the name originated from, or so I heard.」

「I’m sorry!」 While resenting Hachi for misleading him inside, Tanaka made a turnaround in attitude. Tanaka bent at the right angle at the waist and delivered his well-trained, signature beautiful earnest apology. This was the reflection of how much of a cowardly person he was.

In spite of his towering body, Kuma-san simply raised one hand and smiled. Tanaka was relieved to see that the man seemed to be a surprisingly mild-mannered person. Without being aware of Tanaka’s inner feeling even a little bit, Hachi spoke to him yet again.

「But still, Tanaka, huh… I’m envious of you. You have one of the most popular and common name in the Empire, after all.」

「Really? That’s news to me…..」

Tanaka was surprised to be envied by him, finding it unexpected.

「Well, agriculture is a thing in the Empire, you see? So of course the name of a vegetable will be very popular here.」

「Vegetables?! Tanaka is actually a vegetable, huh?! … Well, whatever. Anyway, can you tell me the direction to the guild?」

Continuously giving retorts one after another, Tanaka began to feel exhausted from talking with Hachi. Thus, he proceeded to ask for the direction to the guild and end the conversation quickly. 「Oh, it’s that huge building over there.」

Replied Hachi, pointing at a huge building a little further down the street. Tanaka was surprised at the sight of the building, as it was way larger than he expected.

「Oh, it’s surprisingly huge. Please take care of me from now on, and see you later.」

「Okay, later then.」

Tanaka bid farewell to Hachi and Kuma-san. He then strode toward the guild with high hopes for things to get more otherworld-ish.

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