Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 

I put the part-time job aside for the moment. My first priority was to accomplish the original purpose of visiting the village.

Ragner had promised to show me a good opportunity, and the place he took me to was a building on the outskirts of the village.

Its exterior was badly worn, making it look ancient, but there were signs that it had been regularly maintained. The building had a fairly spacious open yard beside it. On one side, crude scarecrows made of straw and wood stood at regular intervals.

“Hyah!”

The open yard was filled with spirited shouts and clear, cheerful laughter.

Children around Theon’s age had gathered there, swinging wooden swords at the scarecrows.

I soon began to understand why Ragner had wanted to introduce me to this place.

I said I needed beginner adventurers, and he brought me here…

The place we’d arrived at was a training ground for novice adventurers.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, I glanced at Ragner. Then a question suddenly occurred to me.

We only met for the first time today, so why is he being so nice to me?

I could understand him keeping the secret about me and the dungeon, but he’d also shown me around the village and bought me a meal. And now he’d even brought me to this training ground.

It was too much kindness to show someone he’d only just met, so I couldn’t help wondering why.

However, since I was the one receiving his help, asking him outright felt awkward. I was still trying to figure out how to phrase the question when…

“Woof! Woof!”

From somewhere nearby came the sharp, shrill barking characteristic of small dogs.

“A puppy?”

“Chacha!”

Theon immediately dashed toward the puppy, running furiously in our direction and wrapping his arms around it in a tight hug.

“My goodness. I was wondering why Chacha suddenly took off running. So his owner had arrived.”

Someone following the puppy let out a breathy chuckle.

It was a middle-aged woman with skin deeply tanned by the sun and a sturdy build for her age. If not for the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, it would have been difficult to guess how old she was.

“Thank you for looking after Chacha.”

So Ragner and Theon were the puppy’s owners.

“No need to thank me. If we didn’t have this little fellow, Theon probably wouldn’t stick around the training ground either.”

The puppy quickly wriggled free of Theon’s embrace, then rolled onto its back at Ragner’s feet, exposing its belly.

“Whimper, whimper.”

My gaze naturally followed the puppy’s movements. At that moment, I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

Fluffy brown fur. Big, round, black eyes.

“A poodle…”

If Chihuahua had been my nickname after I became an adult, then back in my school days, my nickname had been Poodle. All because of my naturally curly hair.

When I went to university in another region, I thought I’d finally be saying goodbye to my dog-related nickname. But after a rumor spread that my friends and I had beaten up and caught a flasher who’d secretly sneaked into our dormitory using our textbooks, I’d acquired a new nickname: Chihuahua, following in Poodle’s footsteps.

At least that nickname was a little less unfair. My friends who’d helped me catch the guy had gotten nicknames too.

Doberman, Bulldog, and Shepherd… And yet I was the only Chihuahua.

Anyway, Poodle was the nickname I hated second-most, right after Chihuahua.

So why was there a dog that looked like a poodle here…?!

A deeply ominous thought occurred to me. I turned my gaze back to Ragner.

He was kneeling on the ground, stroking the playful puppy with a look so adoring that his eyes practically dripped honey.

No way… No way…

Without realizing it, I grabbed the ends of my curly hair and tugged at them.

This sort of thing had happened to me far too many times already.

‘Why do you keep patting my head?’

‘Oh, sorry. You remind me of Choco from back home, so I did it without thinking.’

No way. Was Ragner being so nice to me because I resembled his beloved pet dog?!

“Hmm? Come to think of it, Big Sis, your name sounds similar to our Chacha’s.”

“They’re not similar at all!”

There was an enormous difference between Choi and Chacha. What kind of dog-brained nonsense was that?!

So that was it. That was why. His kindness really did have a reason behind it.

Two conflicting thoughts were now locked in fierce battle inside my head.

Should I be happy that resembling a pet dog had earned me the kindness of a stranger, or should I be offended at being treated like a dog?

I agonized over it for a while before finally making my decision.

Pride could be preserved in an instant, but the benefits of maintaining a good relationship with Ragner were considerable.

I, Gong Choi, would not be discouraged by a mere trial like this. If it was for my own benefit, I was perfectly willing to…!

“Woooow… What a cute puppy! Helloooo.”

I crouched down and beckoned to it.

The puppy, which had been lying on its back beneath Ragner’s hand and shamelessly basking in the attention, looked at me with the whites of its eyes showing.

Our gazes met, and a silent standoff ensued.

Although I’d spent half my life being called by a dog breed rather than my actual name, the truth was that I didn’t know much about dogs. I’d never owned one, and I wasn’t particularly fond of them either.

So the only thing I knew about dogs was that, like wolves, they had a hierarchy.

And if you lost your place in that hierarchy, you’d spend the rest of your life being treated as inferior to a dog!

The puppy gently pushed Ragner’s hand away and rose to its feet with a solemn air. Sniffing the air, it slowly approached me, then began circling around me as I crouched down, its tail wagging gently.

Up close, it did look like a breed similar to a poodle, but I was just beginning to think that its appearance was somewhat different despite having similar fur when…

Just as the puppy seemed to have finished inspecting me and was about to place its front paws on my leg, Brownie suddenly popped out of my hair.

“How long are you going to keep doing this!? I’m curious about that ‘good opportunity’!”

The sudden interruption caught me off guard. My body tilted backward, and I toppled over, landing hard on my butt while still crouching.

“Ow!”

As luck would have it, it looked as though I’d been knocked over by the puppy’s paw.

And then I saw it. That look of contempt for the weak.

The puppy that had knocked me down immediately spread its front legs wide and struck a triumphant pose.

“……”

Then, as if dismissing me as unworthy of its attention, it abruptly turned its head and returned to its owner.

I could feel it instinctively. At that very moment, I had lost the battle for dominance against a tiny puppy no bigger than my head.

“That little runt…”

“By the way, who is this young lady?”

“Ah!”

I’d been so distracted by the puppy that I’d momentarily forgotten why I was here.

A towering elderly woman was looking down at me with curious eyes.

“H-hello.”

I hurriedly got to my feet and greeted her.

“She’s an old friend I traveled with in the past.”

Ragner once again brought up my fake identity, which by now all the villagers would know, and introduced me.

“Ah, I see. It’s been a while since one of Ragner’s old companions came to visit. My name is Ruadis, and I’m in charge of training the beginners here.”

“I’m Choi.”

“Chihuahua.”

Brownie butted in, so I grabbed her and forcibly stuffed her back into my hair. I had a feeling you’d be much more helpful if you stayed quiet for once.

“I’m… Choi.”

“But what brings you here?”

Ragner answered politely.

“I wanted to introduce the two of you to each other.”

“Me? And this young lady?”

Ruadis looked at me with a puzzled expression.

He’d just said that and left it at that. Did he expect me to take it from here on my own?

If I were socially clueless, I probably would have just stood there dumbly at that point. But after years of being worked to the bone at a shitty company, I’d been unwillingly forced to develop a keen sense for reading the room.

With a smile on my face, I asked cautiously,

“Would it be all right if I looked around the training ground?”

“Hmm… That shouldn’t be a problem. Theon, stop playing around and get back to your spot. You’ll have to train extra hard to make up for the time you’ve spent playing.”

“Buuut… I wasn’t playing.”

Theon hurriedly grabbed his wooden sword and dashed into the training ground. Judging by how readily he obeyed, Ruadis must have been a pretty intimidating instructor.

“What about you, Ragner?”

“I’d like to take a look around too. It’s been a while.”

“You don’t need to do that. If you have time to spare, go check the students’ posture instead.”

“…Understood.”

I felt just a little guilty that Ragner had come here only to get saddled with extra work.

He smiled at me and told me that Ruadis was someone I could trust before following Theon.

Why did he go out of his way to tell me that?

“Do you want to look around the training ground because you’re interested in becoming an instructor? You look like a spirit mage.”

We began walking slowly in the opposite direction from the one Ragner had taken.

“Huh? No. I’m not skilled enough for that. I was just…”

This was a training ground for beginner adventurers, right?

“I was curious about how hard novice adventurers train.”

Our dungeon’s potential future customers.

“They train hard. They all dream of becoming heroes, after all.”

“Heroes?”

“Like Ragner. Leaving behind great achievements as an adventurer and making a name for oneself. Isn’t that the path every adventurer dreams of taking?”

My mouth fell open.

Ragner… was a hero? Wasn’t that a problem…?

Heroes and Demon Kings were traditionally portrayed as mortal enemies, so as someone who was on the Demon King’s side, I was…

A sudden chill ran down my entire body. I’d thought he was simply a powerful adventurer. It had never even crossed my mind that he might be a hero!

His very existence made him the natural enemy of our lazy, irresponsible Demon King.

Wasn’t I effectively colluding with the enemy right now?!

“Though these days, the bar for becoming a hero has gotten so low that just about anyone gets called one.”

“I-I see…?”

I was secretly relieved. In that case, maybe Ragner was just a slightly powerful adventurer after all…

“Surely, you’d have to defeat a Demon King, or at the very least take down one of the Demon King’s closest subordinates, to be called a hero? By that standard, Ragner is a true hero.”

Damn it.