To Deprive a Deprived Person

"No~. I've had enough"

Taran, a wolfman walking along the field road, blurted out. Looking around, the same people who had finished today's farm work were returning home, chatting with their friends.

"What?"

Narmo, the tiger man, asks, not really interested. If he doesn't ask now, he will have to listen to Taran's ramblings on and on. This Narmo, unlike the others, was not on foot. He was straddling the fire-breathing lizard that Yuu had given him as a reward for finding the vein. When Taran stroked its head, the fire-breathing lizard flicked its tongue in a pleasant manner.

"That's that"

"I don't know that"

"Skeleton Knight"

"It cant be called Skeleton Knight. Is it a regular one? Or rusty? Maybe copper? Isn't it black even if you make a mistake?"

"Idiot! Of course it's a normal one! You know what I'm talking about!!"

Narmo laughs cheerfully as if he was caught. Taran returns to the story with dissatisfaction, 「Good grief......」.

"That's why I'm going back to the story of the Skeleton Knight, but I don't think it's been tampered with until now"

"Ah, that. You've been beaten to a pulp, haven't you?"

"You couldn't do a thing about it!"

"That's right, isn't it? I didn't expect an undead to use 『Combat』"

Narmo and his friends were able to challenge the skeleton knight in interpersonal training and won, but Yuu, who was watching it, said, 「Would you like to try it without a handicap?」 Then it is a word of misery. Those who have accumulated victory in the battle with the Skeleton Knight will continue to lose. Only some of the beastmen, the deprived people, the fallen demons and the demons were different. Even with no restraint, they would win even against skeleton knights and even higher-ranked rust-colored and copper-colored skeleton knights.

"The baptism of a C-rank adventurer seems to be the first battle with a rank 5 monster. Apart from Nina and others, I thought I was stronger than a C-rank adventurer because I could beat the skeleton knight of rank 6"

"Even if you say rank 6, it seems that the skeleton knight is barely there? It's a pinch even if it's the same rank. Besides, the strength varies depending on the human type, large size and race"

"I know! You're talking proudly about what the King is selling!"

"Wahahaa. I understand"

"Tsk. You're making fun of me"

"Don't be so angry. Let's go to Grandma Mori"

"Oh. All right!"

Grandma Mori is the owner of the candy store. Taran loves the kinako (soybean flour) sticks sold at this candy store. As they walked along the road, Taran was chatting and laughing, but there was something that bothered him. Narmo's appearance seemed to have improved compared to before. He felt like he was flickering his bracelets and rings, as he would show them to himself.

"Ah?"

"That's why I'm talking about Kantan being awesome"

Taran, who had been distracted by Narmo's appearance, listened to most of what Narmo had to say in a daze.

"Ah, Kantan. You're talking about a map, right?"

"What else could it be?"

"Well, it's true that Kantan's map is amazing. I didn't know that a group battle in the woods could be so different with and without a map"

"You know what? Do you know that the merchants of the human race bowed to Kantan and asked him to sell them the map?"

"Haa!? What's that?"

"That's how much it's worth. Maybe you and this younger brother are amazing too?"

"Stop"

Whenever someone talks about his younger brother, Taran instantly becomes grumpy. That's probably true. Although his younger brother is a beastman, he can't hunt or even farm at all――no, not that he can't, but that he doesn't want to. He is a strange man who spends his days gazing at the sky. If it weren't for the Nameless Kingdom, he would probably be dead by now from lack of food.

"Well, listen. I carry merchants on my magic ship, right? That's why I talk to the merchants a lot. The merchants told me that the king had asked them to buy some strange books and tools. And it seems that your younger brother has something to do with it"

Taran recalled that recently his younger brother had been going out with strange tools and spending all his time at home reading books. He had never been able to read, but he had bowed down to the people who called him teacher and asked them to teach him, and before he knew it, he could read.

"So?"

As if he was becoming interested in Narmo's story, Taran urged him to continue.

"The king asked the merchants for books on weather, climate, stars in the sky and tools to study them"

"What is he going to do with all that stuff?"

"I don't know, either. I don't know, but he paid a lot of money to buy it from the merchants and then had it rebuilt by a bunch of deprived people and demons because they said it was inaccurate. The king must be thinking of something amazing. You see, there was that weird demon child who couldn't do anything but draw on the ground with tree branches, right? The king bought the kid a brush and a lot of other materials to color the paper and now he's a really good painter"

Taran was secretly excited to find out that his younger brother had a unique talent that no one else could understand. Taran had always been concerned about his younger brother, who was often mistreated not only by the beastmen around him, but even by his own family. He was afraid that if he didn't change his mind, his younger brother would die a horrible death.

"What did the king say?"

Taran asked bluntly, but in truth he was very curious.

"He said something about mackerel painting......and something about syndrome"

"What does it have to do with fish?"

"I don't know. If you're curious, you should ask the king. What do you think of this?"

He must have wanted to brag all the time. When Taran didn't ask, Narmo lost his patience and showed him the precious metal he was wearing.

"What's the use of wearing such a thing when you're working on a farm?"

"What's the point? This was given to me by the king as a reward for finding the coal mine"

"Haaaaa!? What the hell is that! You just got a lizard for finding a vein the other day!"

"It's not a lizard. It a fire-breathing lizard"

When Narmo says so, he strokes the head of the fire-breathing lizard.

"And I invited you to do it? It's impossible because I hunt deer in the forest, isn't it you who refused?"

"Guu......"

Remembering that moment, Taran snorted.

"Don't get carried away. I'll find the labyrinth the king is looking for someday!"

"Hee. Look at this more than that?"

Narmo lightly tapped his shoulder pads with both hands. For some reason, his shoulder pads had something like a metal handle.

"Hmm. What's that weird shoulder rest?"

"That? This one"

Narmo grinned meaningfully and whistled with his finger. Then, a giant bird descends on Narmo's shoulders with a cry of excitement from the sky.

"Nuwaaaaaaa!? What the heck is that!!"

"Wahahahahaaa! What do you think? You must be surprised! This is the main reward, the Wind Eagle!!"

The Wind Eagle's wingspan is about three meters. If you put both wings and body together, it will exceed 6 meters.

"Well, look at it"

When Narmo whistles twice, Wind Eagle jumps into the sky while holding Narmo's shoulder rest.

"Ua~Ua~!!?"

"How's that? All right!"

Narmo, looking down at Taran from the sky, smiles with pride.

"I like......I like....... I want to fly too"

-----------------------------------------------------

Currently in the Nameless Kingdom, sweets――sweets can only be bought at Grandma Mori, who is entrusted with the candy store by Yuu. Inevitably, the children of the Nameless Kingdom gather at Grandma Mori's shop.

"Ah, it's Narmo and Taran"

"Really. What are you doing here?"

"What do you do?"

Children who noticed Narmo and others gathered in a strange way. By the way, Narmo's servant, Wind Eagle, flutters in the sky comfortably and the fire-breathing lizard is surrounded by children and patted. Sometimes it sticks its tongue and small fire out of its mouth and the children shout with delight.

"Forget Narmo, you're talking about me, aren't you, Taran?"

"What's that? It's strange~"

"Taran is Taran"

"Ah, shut up shut up! Hey, go away, go away!"

When Taran threatened, the children ran away happily as if they were spiders.

"What are you doing?"

"Just in case"

Narmo asked curiously, his nose twitching. He was relieved after checking the surrounding smells for a while. Taran stood in line with the children to buy candy. He would not make the same mistake. Taran was a careful man.

"Is this good?"

"Ah?"

A wolfman boy in front of Taran showed him the badge on his chest.

"It's silver, isn't it? Why would a kid like you have it?"

"Hehe~. You can get it for 50 stamps"

It was a desperate measure. The fact that Inpika had collected a hundred stamps and had gone to Yuu's castle to play had spread quickly to the children. She told them all about her dreamy experience there. The children began to work harder than ever to help, thinking that they would be the next to go. Yuu was also a busy man. He can't take care of all the children. So he came up with the idea of silver accessories that could be exchanged for fifty stamps. The boys were given a series of animals to choose from, while the girls were given a series of flowers to choose from. This became a big hit among the children.

"Mine is a wolf from the animal series"

The shape of the batch was a very realistic wolf face that was not intended for children.

(Guu....... How cool is that)

"And look at this"

The wolfman boy removed the badge from his clothes and showed Taran the back. There was a number 0 engraved on it.

"Only the first one will be made by the king and the next ones will be made by a group of adults. That's why these are rare"

"Mine is a flower series"

"I'm a bear"

"I'm asking for Ryu.

I'm a bear!" "I'm asking for Ryu!" Despite the children's excitement, Taran couldn't help but be envious.

"Can I get one of those stamps if I accumulate them?

"""No"""

"Why not?"

"The help stamp is only for children"

"Yeah. Adults are no good"

"What's that! Even adults can save help stamps and stuff! Ah, the king is really sweet to kids!"

Even though the kids said no, he couldn't give up. Taran murmured as if he was unfaithful.

"Fine?"

The wolfman boy shows his badge to Taran again. The wolf's batch, made of glittering silver, was dazzling to Taran's eyes. As time goes by, the silver batch will probably dull and become a better shade. Just thinking about it makes Taran want the batch so badly.

"I like....... Damn"

"You....... Don't be jealous of the kids"

Narmo is disappointed and looks at Taran.

"Even if you say that, I want what I want. The king is too sweet with the kids"

"What are you talking about!"

The owner of the store, a beastly old woman named Mori, appeared from the back of the candy store. There are small children swarming around her like insects.

"Don't be jealous of the children, eat some of this"

"I'll have a soybean flour stick. ......What's this?"

"It's a bracken-starch dumpling. The king asked me to give it to all the kids to taste and see what they think"

"Is this really edible? It looks like it's plumping up like slime. Oh! It's covered with soybean flour!!"

At first glance, Taran was wary of the slime-like appearance, but when he saw that it was covered with his favorite soybean flour, he became excited and snorted wildly.

"Shut up and eat it!!"

Aunt Mori hits Taran's head, who complains about it. Taran throws a bracken-starch dumpling into his mouth with the toothpick.

"N, nn......cool, chewy, sweet......this is quite......no no, this is delicious! Grandma Mori, this is delicious!!"

Seeing that Taran was eating the bracken-starch dumpling with relish, Narmo also started to eat it. Narmo was surprised by the unusual texture, but before he knew it, they had both finished the bracken-starch dumpling in no time.

"Grandma Mori, give me more of this!"

"I told you it was a tasting"

"I'll pay for it"

"No, you can't. I have to feed them to the other children"

"What....... I want to eat my fill. I want a full meal. I wish the king would make more. He's stingy that way"

"I'm sorry for being stingy"

Taran, who was licking the soybean flour around his mouth, hardened. Slowly......he turned to the tatami room in the back of the candy store with awkward movements as if his body had become a stone statue and Yuu was sitting there.

"K......King!? Why!? I didn't smell....... Ah, wasn't it? He, Hehee. No, this is......? That's right, Narmo?"

Taran asks Narmo for help, but――

"He was saying bad things about the king!"

――Narmo relentlessly chose to be on Yuu´s side rather than friendship.

"Narmo, you're the only one who's dirty!"

Taran cursed Narmo for turning him over with a quick movement, but he lacked his usual energy.

"You can't say bad things like that!"

"That's right! Even if Odono-sama forgives you, I won't!"

They must have been eating bracken-starch dumplings beside Yuu. Inpika and Namari with a lot of soybean flour around their mouths stand up and get angry.

"Ah! Inpika, by the way, it's your work! You've erased the scent of the king!"

Inpika has a unique skill called 『Deodorant Power』 that allows you to freely eliminate the odors of yourself and your surroundings.

"It's not my fault"

"Wait a minute!!"

"Bee! I'll be back"

The chase between Inpika and Taran begins. The children, who had been laughing at them, soon joined in the chase.

"Wait!"

Namari couldn't take it anymore and started to chase after Taran. Yuu and Grandma Mori sighed loudly at Taran, who was on the same level as the children.