Thanks for the chapter, Silas. I still have to wonder how you got the raws from Bookwalker--I've heard that their DRM is currently undefeated...or is that just for certain digital offerings?
Well that was a bullshit way to change is job....
I agree: he was felled by a diseased roach. ("Felled," indeed: the loss of Jobless is a MASSIVE one--the magnitude of such a loss is something I don't think Ichinojou quite comprehends, as his current lifestyle would likely fall apart without it.) What really gets me is that Ichinojou, because of this retarded insistence on nonlethality JP mangaka have for their male MCs--even to the point of refusing to draw blood, let that roach live. The situation exhibits three reasons the usual implicit Japanese moralizing over lethal combat is flagrantly stupid:
1) That bandit group explicitly announced their intent to kill Ichinojou's group if they did not comply with their demands--and they left no part of their intent to guesswork.
2)That bandit group acted on their intent to kill.
The third takes the cake:
3) Ichinojou has already maimed someone for attempting to intimidate him and Haru, in chapter 8.
So, instead of meeting foolish lethal aggression with a justified lethal response, he lovetaps the cursed spearman with the katana's hilt and then deals
clothing damage to him. Did Ichinojou think that would be enough to get someone committed to killing him for profit to change his ways? Maybe--that seems to be the reasoning of many mangaka. What's also their reasoning is that a sword is just an ornament to make a character look cool--and is
not inherently a killing weapon. More than a few stories were dragged into mediocrity by this pantywaisted perspective.
That said, perhaps it was done to enable Ichinojou's current predicament. Still dumb--Ichinojou, or someone else, could have lost more than just a job or cargo by letting a murderous bandit live for moral grandstanding. By spanking a killer then turning one's back to him and saying, "Reflect on your actions~!" one invites a backstabbing. Why
shouldn't it happen?