I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 78

[Alfred POV]

My name is Alfred. Right now, I’m just a simple traveling merchant.

I’ve got a mysterious instinct, and when it kicks in, I always make a profit.

It’s never been wrong so far, and thanks to it, in just a few years I got myself a wagon and people at the guild have started expecting great things from me.

“Hey, did you hear? A medium-scale bandit group showed up in Legos Village, over in Badia’s territory.”

While I was eating with a guild colleague in the town of Spada and exchanging information, he started talking about bandits.

“Ah, that was around two months ago, wasn’t it? That story’s old news by now.”

“Yeah, that’s true, but see, there’s been absolutely no info after that. No sightings elsewhere, no word of them being taken down. You know anything?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. Even if people avoided them, if the bandits were on the move, we should’ve seen some kind of info.”

“So even you don’t know, Al? Then I guess it’s best not to get close yet. No need to risk losing everything. Alright, I’m off.”

“Yeah, see you.”

(A pioneer village, huh――… Ah… Should I go? Even though it doesn’t seem profitable at all, my intuition’s flaring up, saying I’ll definitely make money.)

“Guess I’ve got no choice but to go. If I can’t believe in this anymore, I’m just a plain old merchant.”

What can I sell in that so-called pioneer village? If I remember right, it’s colder and higher in elevation than here. Then――――

I stocked up on a few seeds, like a root vegetable called “potato?” said to be strong against the cold, and seeds of something called “tomato” that’s supposedly grown in highlands.

The “?” and the “said to be” are there because this region is all flatland, so they aren’t grown here, just produced in small amounts to preserve the seeds.

Just so you know, I couldn’t buy any food. But that’s expected. After all, villages are built around cities to supply them with food. No matter how many dungeons are nearby, the city can’t feed more than it can handle.

After that, comes the question: what if I encounter bandits――――

I haven’t hired any guards. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that I didn’t hire any adventurers to act as guards. If there are more than ten bandits, I’d need the same number or more of adventurers. Hiring that many would cost 2 or 3 silver coins a day, that’s just bleeding money.

Besides, my intuition’s telling me that not hiring anyone is the right call.

I’ve set it so the horse can be easily detached from the wagon—if push comes to shove, I’ll ditch the cargo and run.

–

And so, after a three-day journey, I arrived just outside of Legos Village.

“Phew, didn’t run into any bandits… Just as I thought, my intuition’s sharp.”

I made my way along a path so narrow the wagon could barely pass, and after coming through the forest――――

There stood a grand castle wall and a bronze gate. In front of the gate were two handsome men wearing bronze armor, and on top of the wall, two beautiful women were standing watch.

(Crap… Seriously bad… That bandit info was fake.)

First off, a pioneer village wouldn’t normally have a wall like this. The fact that it does means this place is not normal.

In other words, someone with the power to build a wall like this is backing this village.

Most likely, that person spread the rumor to keep people away from this village.

Second, even if there really were bandits, there’s no way they could get over this wall.

Looking through the open gate, I could see the wall’s depth—3 meters… no, over 4 meters thick. Breaking through that, dodging soldiers, and climbing it, there’s no way mere bandits could manage that.

Thirdly, the equipment the soldiers are wearing makes the whole thing look even more impossible.

The strength of metal weapons goes in order of quality: dungeon-made iron > dungeon-made bronze > regular iron. I heard from a blacksmith that although regular iron and dungeon-made iron are supposedly the same, regular iron contains more impurities, making it more brittle.

In other words, this means they have intermediate-level adventurers who’ve reached the 25th floor of the dungeon and can defeat bronze golems. There’s no way someone like that would lose to poorly-equipped bandits.

(If this is happening in Badia territory, Lord Badia’s definitely involved. And if they’ve got bronze gear, they’ve been into Spada’s dungeon. Which means… could Lord Spada be in on it too? The worst case would be if Lord Badia is colluding with the Empire and receiving supplies as support. That would mean I’m dead for sure.)

The soldiers have already seen me. Even if I run now, I’ll get caught while passing through Badia territory. And even if I do escape, it’s obvious they’ll frame me for something in the city of Spada and have me arrested. At this point, I have no choice but to keep going.

There are three conditions for me to win.

① To return alive: if I can’t accomplish this, it’s a loss.

② Sell my name to the one behind all this: with this level of secrecy, if I can prove I’m useful, it’ll definitely lead to profit.

③ Avoid taking a loss on this deal. if I pull that off, it’ll be a complete victory.

(Here we go, the ultimate gamble!! I’m breaking through and climbing to the top!!!)

I put on a gentle expression and stepped forward in front of the soldiers.

“I am Alfred, a traveling merchant――――”

Chapter length 2124 characters.