Chapter 3: Emerald Inn

Bet read by n1ch, Shigiya, Solitary heart and 8kagi.

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-Grünes Bergdorf-

(Early in the morning)

Chirp

Chirp

The morning birds chirped as the little village of Grünes Bergdorf, or more accurately known as; Green Mountain Village. From Archer's week of stay in this quiet little place, he successfully managed to gather some information.

First of all, the land of Eostia was divided into two parts. The part was the northern region, controlled by the Dark Queen of the Jagged Crown, Olga Discordia. A dark elf who has waged war for countless years against her only opponent, Celestine Lucross, who is part of the Seven Princess Knights alliance as well as its leader. The people in this world hailed her as the 'Goddess Reborn', they worshipped her as their local and sole deity. She even had a whole church made in her name which just like in the middle ages had an enormous amount of influence around the seven kingdoms.

There was Thorn, the seat of the Church and Celestine's main base. Ansur, a highly militarised kingdom led by one of the Princess Knights, Claudia. Rad, managed by a priestess named Kaguya, Feoh, Ur, Geofu, and finally Ken; the Kingdom he resided in currently.

With a bit more digging, it wasn't hard for him to find out the name of the Princess in charge of this area, Maia. Also, famously known as the Queen of mercenaries.

Another thing he discovered, 'Demons exist in abundance in this world.'

This was bad, very bad. Archer had witnessed countless worlds lost to the destruction caused by these creatures if no actions had been taken against them. Especially the ogres and Orcs of this world, to his horror, he discovered that instead of destroying and killing humans; they raped the women instead.

Archer was no stranger to this subject. During his time helping people in all around the world, he had come across victims of such an act. Here it was worse, it was not only the demons who were the perpetrator… rather it was the humans. Very rarely if ever were demons tied to such acts, they preferred killing or devouring their victims.

'How does this relate to Vault and his existence being a major danger to this world?' From his research, only the Dark Queen had the power to control such a vast army of demons. "Unless they are planning to form an alliance. But that can't be it, as Alaya hasn't tasked me to kill Olga alongside Vault. If they were allied then she should have also been my target."

Something fishy was going on here, and Archer didn't like it one bit.

He had done his research on both sides, and just like usual, didn't plan to form any sort of alliance or team-up. He was perfectly capable of completing this mission on his own, even while being a human once again. Not to mention, after going through so many betrayals and backstabbing in the past, had Archer long stopped trusting the 'good' ones; for they were no better than the actual enemy.

Knock

Knock

"A-Archer-san, yo-your breakfast is ready!" The voice of the former innkeeper's daughter called out from the other side. Alice was her name, she was a girl who just reached adult age and had to run the entire place by herself as her parents died just recently from an unknown illness.

"I'm awake, is the kitchen free?" Grabbing his armor and clothes, Archer began changing out of his night clothes. "I'll help you out with the morning services."

"Ah! Yo-you don't need to do such a thing, Archer-san! As a gu-guest of the Emerald Inn, it is my duty to accommodate you!" Alice insisted. In Archer's opinion, the girl may be a shy person, but she carried her responsibilities very seriously.

To be honest, he didn't only do this because he enjoyed cooking and wanted to indulge a bit in his hobbies, since he wasn't in any sort of hurry. The bowman was also doing this to have the owner indebted to him and give him the room for free.

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Well, he never denied being a pragmatic kind of guy.

After getting ready, he opened the door to his room, surprising the girl on the other side.

"Kya!" Alice was surprised by the door opening. "G-Good morning, Archer-san!" She said with a deep bow, making him smirk a bit. Alice was a young redhead girl with long curly hair and freckles on her cheeks. Her clothes were appropriate for the middle ages time period, a grey loose-fitting robe with some patchwork done here and there, while the clothes did an admiral job in holding her large breasts.

"Good morning, Alice." The inn was already bustling with loads of people, from the village guards, mercenaries, and adventures. No matter how he looked at it, it was impossible for a single person to manage the entire Inn by themselves. "I'm going to prepare some of the orders, you manage the counter and take a rest. It's only the beginning of the day, and you're already sweating like a pig."

His words seemed to have angered the little girl, as she pouted, looking as threatening as a newborn puppy. "Th-That's a mean thing to say to a woman!"

"Yeah, well, I never said I was a lady's man… or even a gentleman for that matter. Oh, and a woman? Where? I don't see any." This earned him a kick to the leg by Alice.

Messing around with her was fun.

"Wait! You're dodging the subject, a guest shouldn't cook for free!"

"Ah, I got found out, whatever will I do? Poor me." Archer said as he made his downstairs, tracing an apron out of the girl's view and putting it on.

"Archer-san!" The young girl ran after a smirking Archer who was already downing a white apron. Alice wondered where he got it from before chasing after Archer.

{Break}

He was a strange man.

The first day he showed up with his distinctive looks, she almost mistook him for a dark elf and nearly fainted from fear. But when he took off his hood, she was captivated by his looks and especially his steel-grey eyes.

At first, he came and asked for a room and then for a meal. At that time her parents had already left everything I'm her hand, so it was the first time she was cooking for a stranger. Alice remembered her mother's lesson and tried to prepare the best dish she could… suffering some finger cuts and burns.

She remembered being a nervous wreck when she saw him taste her food and was waiting for him to shout out how bad the food was; he just kept eating without saying a word.

Then more guests started to show up, so she had to man the counter, take orders and cook at the same time!

Safe to say that it was nothing less of a disaster.

"Where is my beer!?"

"This meat is fucking raw!"

"Oi, you haven't taken our orders for an hour, brat!"

Things had started to get even rowdier with some customers even asking for a refund, some of them didn't even pay, and we're taking advantage of the situation.

She was about to break down crying, the only thoughts in her head being how she failed her parents.

Until…

Schzzzz

The sound of meat sizzling on a pan came to be heard by everyone.

"Eh?" The sound came from the kitchen!

Soon a mouth-watering fragrance escaped from the kitchen, everyone was so taken aback by the smell that no one made a sound and just attentively started at the kitchen's door where they heard the footsteps of someone approaching.

The door opened, and the smell intensified, making some even start salivating. Even Alice was drooling, as she hadn't gotten a proper meal since her parents died—making her cook her own food… which ended up burnt most of the time.

"Grilled boar meat with wild mushrooms and green peppercorn sauce and a side of herbs infused rice."

Gulps

The customer that Alice just served came out from the kitchen with many plates of the dish he just described. The cloak which concealed most of his features was gone and he was now vested with a white apron she didn't remember owning. Just looking at the plate made Alice think that she witnessed a piece of art! 'And what is a green peppercorn sauce!?' Did her kitchen even have those ingredients?

"I will only serve those who return to their table." The moment those words left his mouth, a true pandemonium erupted in the hall as every single person jumped to the nearest table available.

"Hey, that's my seat!?"

"I don't see your name on it! Go away!"

"You want to be punched in the face!?"

The scent attracted more people in the inn, with people from nearby stores and even the stationed guards coming over. And soon, there wasn't even a single chair left.

So people started bringing their own.

A father and son duo in particular were quite vocal of their plans. "Quick, Luca, go back to the house and bring me my chair!" The chubby father ordered.

"What about me!? You can't just expect me to do everything for you and in the end reap all of the rewards! What kind of shitty dad are you?" The boy sneared as he quickly left the Inn. "I'll be getting a chair for myself!"

"Listen to your father, boy!" The man shouted while chasing after his son.

Even Alice, the owner of the Inn, joined the chaos.

"Aren't you the owner? Why are you stealing my seat!?" One of the customers screamed in disbelief. He only turned his attention for a second before he fell to his butt as someone dared to steal his chair while he was still sitting on it!

"I'm sorrryyyyy!" Her body just acted on its own! She even shocked herself from the surprising feat of strength she displayed just now, like the guy was massive and she still somehow took his seat away effortlessly.

'Forgive me mom and dad, I have disrespected the customer!'

Yet she still refused to move from her seat. The man didn't have the heart to further scream at the diminutive girl… so he went to assault another random guy.

…

Archer wasn't expecting this…

Meanwhile, he stood there dumbfounded. 'What… just happened?' That was all he could think when he saw literal adults fight over chairs and tables like kids! This was just a regular dish he prepared in mass quantity in a hurry! The inn didn't have access to all the spices he would have liked to use–aside from green peppercorn–so he only used salt and pepper mostly.

Some of the adventurers who sneered at him for his looks and threw insults at him were now looking at him like he was their god or something.

"They better not curse me with divinity in my legend." The last thing he wanted was to be one day summoned as a servant with a skill in cooking! He wasn't against it, but it would be very weird!

The meal Alice prepared for him was bland and burned, he didn't care, as it was better than some of the things he ate while out in the field when he was still alive. His past self would even give out everything he had to the unfortunate kids on the streets, ending up spending days without food.

'Don't tell me, that is the standard level of cuisine in this world?' If so, then Archer for the first time grew to pity the people here. 'Alaya was right, this world is doomed; in more ways than one.'

{Break}

Suffice to say that from that point on, he decided that he would give a helping hand to the girl until she learned to handle things for herself.

Which might take a while as he was in the kitchen showing her the different steps.

"Alice, that's sugar… not salt."

"Ah! I-I'm sorry!"

Yeah, she really needed help.

"Alright, continue following my instructions and always taste everything, even the spices." He told her as he carried out a few dishes for the customers. With how crowded this place was getting, Archer was confident that Alice would be set for a while, she just needed to learn to cook.

"Ah! Archer-sama, good morning!" A few of the customers greeted him as he brought their plates. This one was a regular even before he came here, according to Alice.

Archer squinted for a second, trying to remember the man's name.

"Good Morning… Jint?"

"Oho! You remembered! I honestly thought that you had forgotten me."

Well, he kinda did for a second there.

"How are things going with your son?" Archer asked, trying to spark a conversation. He remembered their past conversation being about the blacksmith's kid, so he brought it back again.

This was the method he used to acquire information from around the world. Unlike his last world, there weren't any computers or internet here.

He first tried scouring for books on the culture of the land he was currently in, Eostia. In such a small village came from the local church and nowhere else, some of the residents didn't even know how to read! Archer should have honestly expected this from a middle-aged world setting.

And to say he was disappointed would be an understatement,

Inconsistencies after inconsistencies, the information on each book was heavily edited and skewed beyond anything he had seen before. If he had to summarise everything, then most contents of the books would be that Celestine Lucross was the one responsible for everything that led humans to build kingdoms and thrive so much. The only information about the Northern region was that about the Dark Queen with her demonic hoard and nothing else. There was no past history of any kind, not even on how all of this never-ending war started in the first place!

It stated nothing about the history before her arrival, no mention of any kind. "They rewrote everything and erased the past." He didn't immediately blame the church, as there were many factors in this world he had to take into consideration.

What he did find different in this world is since the 'Goddess Reborn', their god, the one who protected her with divinity was a woman, then that made this world's view on women different from Earth's. Basically, it was a complete matriarchy, with individuals of high status being mostly women.

Case and point, the Seven Princess Knights.

Now, this didn't bother Archer in the least. As a former Counter Guardian, he was sent to many points in Earth's timeline, encountering many kinds of civilizations and communities with the women having the power. This information only made him rethink how he may approach some things in the future.

"Heh, at least I didn't have my gender changed." He joked, thinking about how absurd a female version of himself would look like."But the gender inequality is indeed taken to the extreme in some areas…" Education was only allowed to women, with a few exceptions of course; those being rich sons of nobles. Most men could only become footsoldiers and have to face innumerable challenges to rank up any higher. "That is why the number of mercenaries is higher in this world." What was worse, men didn't get any justice here, or they were merely given the illusion of having any. In most cases, the men weren't even given any chances to defend themselves before being executed, even if they were innocent.

Archer wondered if this was the case everywhere until he learned of the location where the book was written in. "Feoh… so this is how the men are treated there." He couldn't generalise this behaviour in all of Eostia, since different kingdoms have different cultures. His point was further proven when he remembered how the men and women in this village were treated equally. 'The village mayor is a male.'

So Feoh was most likely the outlier here.

Again, Archer didn't think too much about it, he would just have to avoid high-ranking women in the future from there. Like, what were the chances for him to encounter one out of the blue like that?

"..."

'Oh yeah, my E-rank luck…'

Anyways, he stopped studying the books from the church and instead opted to just talk information out from the patrons that visit the inn. It was effective and efficient. And it just so happened that Jint was his main informant. He was the local blacksmith who regularly frequented the inn for years. He was one of the few people who actually cared about Alice and came to regularly check up on her after her parents died. Furthermore, he also had a son named Jeroff, who traveled to Feoh, so that he could become a soldier and try climbing the clearly rigged system.

"Haaaa, Archer-sama, times are tough for this old man. My muscles still look like they could choke a bull to death, but my age is catching up to me. Jeroff was always there to give me a hand, but with him being gone for a year now, my back hasn't been holding up so well." He talked and ate in between, devouring his meal in seconds.

Archer just let him talk, the man had a habit to blabber on for hours.

"Oh and about Jeroff… sigh" His previous cheerful smile was completely gone and was replaced with a saddened one. "Things haven't been going very smoothly with him. The higher-ups have really been bashing on the boy lately. Especially the Knights, according to the boy, soldiers like him aren't even treated humanely and are considered as a waste of space. He doesn't even get enough money to live by, I have to send him some every month just so he can put food on the table."

"..."

We both sat silently, Archer knew how the father was feeling. He wanted to help out his son, but was helpless to do anything more than send money. "He left the army."

That didn't surprise the bowman for a bit. Jeroff must have certainly realized the truth of how he wouldn't amount to anything, no matter how hard he tried to climb the ladder. The upper rank was a tightly sealed door guarded by an extremely corrupt and biased system. Not to mention, he wasn't paid enough for his service to even live by, so staying would have only been for those who are desperate or idiotic… or both.

"Where is he now?"

Jint's face turned even more somber but his eyes burned with anger as he muttered his following words with extreme distaste and vitriol. "He joined the fucking Kuroinu mercenary group."

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"Oh."

Should he offer his condolences right now? His goal of eradicating the Kuroinu was still his second priority, with killing Vault being the main one. So it was most likely that Jeroff would die by his hand if he stayed.

"Yes, oh. I tried convincing him to not join that group of bandits, but he never replied!" Jint slammed his fist on the table which Archer secretly reinfOrced so that the man wouldn't cause any damage to Alice's property. "That ungrateful son of mine! Has he forgotten what those bands of criminals did to his sister!?"

"You have a daughter?" That surprised Archer as he never heard him speak of her.

"Had, Archer-sama… had." Archer waited for him to continue, seeing the old man's fire dim. "Years ago, I had a daughter in her adulthood, Jenna. Back then, Jeroff was still a little child running around the village without his underwear. One day, while Jenna was outside gathering some wood to burn, she was kidnapped by an Orc"

An Orc so close by? That was worrying, even if this was a village, the lands were heavily guarded against all demon threats, killed on sight. So for one to travel so far undetected and for it to be an Orc on top of it… it made him suspicious.

"I can guess from here that you called the Kuroinu for aid, right?"

"Nay, I first begged the local knights, who–of course–ignored my plight, not believing that a single Orc had come so near without an army in sight, just to kidnap a girl. It was then that I contacted the Kuroinu group."

His fists clenched.

"Those motherfuckers asked for an arm and a leg for the amount they demanded, a sum that no commonwealth person would ever be able to afford. So I gave them all of my wares for free, from the swords, shield, and even armor, just so I can see my sweet little Jenna again."

By this point, Archer had noticed–through his enhanced senses–Alice sneakily eavesdropping on the conversation from behind the kitchen door. Not just her, but the other patrons as well. Some were already familiar with the story and their mood fell as well.

"They set off the next morning and didn't return for days. I… I was getting desperate each day, I couldn't sleep and always had my eyes on the front gates, waiting to see their returning shadows. And one day, they came back…" He saw some tears streaming down old man Jint's face, the memory was a painting one indeed. "They returned drinking once more, laughing while getting shit-faced drunk. I ran up to them, asking where my little girl was, hoping that they had dropped her at a healer or something. But they just laughed and mocked me, saying that Jenna was long dead, stating that the Orc had raped and eaten her entirely."

Some people had gathered around the table, some patting Jint's back in comfort. "I didn't believe them. I knew something was off… so I went to search for her myself."

"Did you find anything?" Archer asked.

"Oh I did, I had indeed found something alright!" He once again banged the table with great fOrce. "Maybe it was through Goddess' mercy, but I found the corpse of the Orc, who had died long ago. And near it was the campsite of those bastards… and in the middle… was the naked body of my daughter. They… they… " Jint didn't have the strength to continue on any further.

He didn't have to finish his sentence, Archer had already guessed what had happened to the girl. 'Those bastards raped and killed her.' if he hadn't read the books earlier then Archer would have asked why didn't Jint report them to the Knights? Simple.

Because no one would believe him, as the group worked under the authority of the 'Goddess Reborn' herself and the leader of the group is known as a hero. So anyone slandering their name or accusing them of anything would be persecuted immediately, as their words were nothing short of heresy. And the Kuroinu group knew of that and were taking advantage of it. 'I'm beginning to realise their danger to the world.'

Alice whimpering came from behind and Archer went over to calm her down.

Danger to the world or not, there is one thing Archer knew… it's that the Kuroinu would be dealt with, just like every other of his targets in the past.

Swiftly and without mercy.

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The next 3 chapters are already available on my p@treon at /NimtheWriter. (More will be available soon after)