Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"You numbskulls… I dare you to make another jab at the Apple Familia!"

I took a step forward and approached the dumbasses with aggressive momentum now that Aniki had confirmed it was fine to not hold back. The distance between us was enough for the hammer resting on my shoulder to easily crash on them.

"B-Brat, do you know who you’re talking to? We're members of Gold Rat, the No. 2 mutual aid society in this Royal Capital eastern region. Get ready for your sorry asses in the Apple Familia to be whooped—"

I shifted my gaze to Punchable Face B who pushed on with his threat and swung the hammer down. Another cloud of dust fluttered in the air.

The whatever-his-name-B fell on his butt with a pale face as the ground beneath his feet turned into a pile of fine debris. Whats-his-face-A looked at what happened with an astonished expression and unsheathed something like a knife from his waist as his teeth clattered against each other.

"Finally decided to pull it out, eh...?"

I said with a mocking tone. Violence was quite tolerated in this world to some extent. But that was limited to bare-handed squabbles.

It's normal for everyone in the city to carry a weapon on themselves, even if they were dangerous, but taking them out at every squabble was of course putting public order into jeopardy.

The crime of doing that for no reason whatsoever would result in an arrest by the Knight Order or other officers. And if they dared to wound others with the weapon on purpose, the offense would be enough to convict them as criminal slaves and send them off to the mines.

But before anything could happen, the site supervisor, someone from the client's construction company, rushed toward us in a panicked state, even though he had turned a blind eye to the previous antics of these dumbasses.

"What the hell are you guys doing!? I’ll report this to your societies!"

I put the hammer in my hand down to assure the antsy supervisor and said.

"Please fret not, Supervisor-san. Our esteemed seniors were eager to teach us the way to handle a hammer, so everything is measured. I know you’re worried about an accident occurring due to the construction equipment, so I have put it down.

Though, I’ll have you excuse us from here. I need to teach these two dumbasses why they shouldn't pull their personal weapons out on site as a fellow explorer. It would be distasteful if they think we’re some rags they can wipe with at any time, after all... These two idiots seem to only understand the language of violence, it seems."

"But you're just a rookie though..."

Aniki seemed to have said something but I was already closing in on the two dumbasses with a threatening aura so I didn't hear him clearly.

"Enough, I know you were working hard despite their harassment! But it would be impossible for me to give a proper evaluation if their injuries caused work to slow down!"

Ah, I didn't expect him to throw such a curveball… It would be a problem if he gave a lower evaluation. However, I had already made up my mind to not back down without teaching them a lesson the moment Aniki was injured.

My mind was as calm as it could be, but a part of me was so infuriated that even I was surprised. Maybe, I was just that worried about the clumsy but considerate Aniki.

"Trifling matter, I’ll just work the share of three people afterward. And fret not, I’m not going to stoop to their level and seriously injure them. But I believe they are due for some good thrashing until not even their mama would be able to recognize them!"

I took another step toward the dumbasses. Now, if only these two made a move first, my self-defense would be perfectly justified. Unfortunately, things didn't proceed as I expected.

The two turned their backs to us and fled from the spot with their tails tucked between their legs while shouting and screaming. What a letdown, they didn't even have the guts to face a 12-year-old unarmed kid... And it was just getting to the good part too.

◆◆◆

Afterward, I did the work of three people as promised while handing the watering job to the injured Aniki.

In the beginning, the site foreman had a mortified expression, mumbling 'Not again, we're going to be late again...'. But that expression immediately did a 180 by the time we were about to go back.

"I'm genuinely impressed by your stamina, Ren-kun. That was the equivalent of the workload for almost five people, seriously."

"Fer real. In these 40 years since I started operating magic machinery, I’ve never met someone who could force me to work harder than ye. Color me impressed, brat!... It would’ve been over if you let them dig on you, that’s what we thought. We weren’t going to say anything no matter how earnestly you worked if you let those lazy bums lead you around... But what a spectacle you’ve shown us. Tahahaha! Truly spectacular!"

Another person from the client's side — an old man past his prime — also praised us while draping a towel over his head. He was in charge of the demolition with the heavy machinery all this time.

I was fairly outperforming the pace of Gramps by clearing away the rubble before he could build more. The sight of me using that time to idly chat with Aniki or that foreman while performing mana compression seemed to have raised the fighting spirit in Gramps and that ended up with us working at a far quicker pace...

"We’ll officially inform your society that you're the sole victim in this matter, lest they come to find fault with you. Also, the site evaluation for you two for today is A!"

Aniki's eyes widened upon hearing that.

"Are you sure!? Doesn't A mean an additional reward? I haven't even done anything after halfway except sprinkling water, unlike Ren."

Hearing that, the site supervisor grinned.

"Come now, we don't have to pay to the bunch from the Gold Rat, and we have twice the progress than we anticipated. You’ve done enough even before getting injured so accept it. Of course, Ren-kun is getting additional rewards as well. With this, the request is fulfilled. Do come to help us out again, alright?"

The site supervisor said that and then handed us a signed paper with something like a barcode printed on it.

" "Thank you very much." "

◆◆◆

At the time of return, we were given one of the scrap materials seemingly made of iron and looked quite expensive. According to the magnanimous supervisor, taking a piece of material seemed to be a custom here. Hmm, so the items rolling around in the 'Apple House's’ garden came from here?

Well, the material might not sell for that much but we both were excited and chose the heaviest-looking item we could carry.

"It seems like I still underestimated your endurance, Ren-kun. Ahaha!," Supervisor laughed, seeing us choosing one of the heaviest materials.

The Apple House seemed to be in some sort of financial trouble, so it would be great if presenting this would return some of the favor I owed them.

At the east branch, Aniki received 200 rea, while I surprisingly received 400 rea. In the contract, it was 150 rea for one day, so that was more than double the amount. I guess supervisor-san has given us the share of those dumbasses as well.

We had just received the pay in high spirits when the receptionist dropped another piece of news on us.

"Congratulations! You’ve now been promoted to F-rank with today's request!"

Woah, F-ran— wait, what!?

Aniki was already nearing the promotion, so that was understandable. But why in the world was I being promoted at my first quest?

"Excuse me, maybe you made some sort of mistake. Unlike Aniki, it was my first quest today..."

"My? I didn’t know that. Perhaps, there is some sort of mistake. Just a minute, I’m going to confirm it!"

The receptionist big sister immediately disappeared into the back, and returned after around two minutes, her face full of smiles.

"Congratulations! I’ve confirmed with my superiors and there's no error! You’ve certainly fulfilled the requirement for promotion! I assumed your work must have truly left them impressed to receive such an evaluation right after your first quest. You know, I’ve been working as a receptionist for quite a long time and I have never seen something like this before. Truly."

"Holy amazing, Ren! I also have never heard of anyone getting promoted after their first quest!"

Aniki chimed in.

...Well, so be it. According to the rules of the Explorer Association, there were no requests that couldn’t be accepted even if they were F-rank.

I was also quite pleased with that and accepted the supervisor’s favor without any further questions.