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The Rising of Tanaka – 59 Part 2

Pasifista

　It was irresistibly vexing for her. It was at this moment that she decided to take on this job as a way to let off steam. The disappearance of the demon tribes that had been frequently occurring recently. Her job this time was to capture them. It was already common knowledge that all the disappearing demons had fled eastward, next to the Empire. It was supposed to be a simple job where  all she had to do was to wait for them near the entrance, and wield her power should the need come.

　However, just as she was about to catch her prey, an intruder appeared. It was the A ranker of the guild, Curryman. And now that a monster that surpassed even him had appeared, it was understandable that she wanted to curse her own bad luck.

「Geez… Just how unlucky can I get? I can’t believe I’d fail on such a simple job.」

「That’s not necessarily the case. Because you are able to meet this man, me, after all.」

　It was a wonder where such confidence of his came from. The smug look on his face was incomparably irritating.

「But it’s a pity. I can’t let you guys capture me. I may have obtained it not in the manner that I desired, but the title of the strongest monster tamer isn’t something that cheap.」

　A black shadow traversed the sky above. Its true identity was Nawasuki’s pet of a wyvern. Its appearance was akin to that of a bipedal dragon, but it was smaller and could fly much faster than a normal dragon.

　Jumping onto the nose diving wyvern, she quickly departed the scene.

「Whoo! What a tomboy.」

　Tanaka saw her off with an ideal ‘whoo’. It was unmistakably a comedian’s ‘whoo’.

　Nevertheless, for Tanaka who could freely fly, even if he departed now, chasing after her was by no means impossible. If anything, there was no way for Tanaka to be unable to intercept the nose diving wyvern, so it was a wonder as to why he didn’t do so.

「With this I should have raised the flag now. I’ll save conquering her for later… Right now is undoubtedly the moment to fetch the erofu!」

　Unexpectedly, each one of his actions was actually a calculated one. Despite his bottomless greed, deep down he was completely calm and collected. Such meticulousness in fulfilling his seemingly impossible ambition of getting his hands on everything by raising the bare minimum flag and taking advantage of the time interval to make them all his without fail one by one. Truly a way of thinking that could only be accomplished by a man who had overcome thousands upon thousands of video games.

「It looks like it’s over-degozaru.」

「A wyvern seems to have appeared, but are you okay?」

　Curryman instantly took up a battle stance against Suke-san and Kaku-san, who showed up from the thicket.

「Ah, it’s alright. They’re my comrades.」

「Your comrades, huh. It startled me. But still…, you guys sure are awesome.」

　As someone with excellent discerning eyes, Curryman could perceive the presence of a powerful being not only from Tanaka, but also from his comrades.

「Nevertheless, what in the world is going on?」

「I’m also similarly someone who jumped to meddle in, but most likely—」

　Curryman answered Tanaka’s question. The disappearance of the demon tribes that had been becoming a problem in the Purin Kingdom recently. Moreover, combined with the matter relating to the emergence of the Demon Lord, it seemed that the Purin Kingdom had finally been forced to make a move. However, as the kingdom, which had no more reserve force to spare due to the reorganization of the military, could only dispatch a limited number of soldiers to seal the border, they had no choice but to ask for help from the guild to deal with the disappearance of the demon tribes.

「Well, surely it’s not something that has anything to do with me, but as expected I couldn’t simply overlook it upon seeing them being attacked right in front of my eyes.」

　Seemingly embarrassed, Curryman averted his eyes. Perhaps perceiving this latent tsundere talent of his. Kaku-san’s eyes were quietly burning with flames of fighting spirit. It was a wonder as to why these men competed against each other over something with no demand like this.

「But still, I can’t seem to see the ero… ahem, forest tribe in question, though?」

「Ah, they’ve got quite a timid personality, after all. Hey! It’s safe now, so come on out!」

　Kaku-san called out toward the thicket where the Forest tribe were hiding. After a while, seemingly to have finally made up their minds, the Forest tribe showed up one after another.

「What… the…?」

　Regardless of them being children or elderly, men or women, they all had above two meters tall bodies overflowing with seemingly bursting muscles.

「You finally showed yourselves. Geez…, you all look powerful, but you are such a timid bunch as usual. But still… as usual, quite nice muscles you’ve got there.」

「Oh, you’re a spirit, aren’t you? I never thought I’d meet you in a place like this–.」

　In the blink of an eye, the area around team Tanaka was overflowing with muscles.

　Curryman floated an embarrassed smile at the words of gratitude from the forest tribe. As though their muscles resonated to each other, Kaku-san instantly became popular. And then, Suke-san was fascinated by that majestic figure of his. Among the unceasing smile of everyone assembled there, there was a man who wobbled away by his lonesome.

　Tanaka-san then collapsed to his knees. He cursed his own stupidity for having splendidly fallen into another trap, despite how wary he had been of the world’s malice.

「I knew it…, I should have known it….」

　Tanaka leaked such tragic protagonist-like words. However, the way that figure of his invited nothing but laughter was a testament that he was a man loved by the god of laughter. What a truly sad fate.

　Tanaka recalled a certain summer day. The tragic day where, believing that paradise existed on the sandy beach in summer, he headed for the battlefield by his lonesome.

　The angels frolicking on the beach didn’t even spare a glance at Tanaka, and disappeared somewhere with muscle nice guys. As he desolately departed the beach by himself, the man realized. The sad reality that he was no match against muscles.

「Even I…, If only I could’ve seen the ‘Good grief, it’s so easy’ advertisements, even I!」

　In spite of such a trivial soliloquy of his, everyone was delighted that they had managed to overcome the danger safely.