by Hiro Ainana
Rei was the only one left, looking at me with a serious expression.
“Are you really going to stay on the island?”
Now that we’d tied up some loose ends and finished our sightseeing in Lalakie, it was time for us to leave the island.
“I am. A half-ghost cannot function in a place like Labyrinth City, where the miasma is thick. And highly populated places tend to be rife with miasma, as well.”
“”
We were standing in front of Rei’s home, saying our good-byes.
I didn’t want to leave the two of them on this uninhabited island, but their decision was firm.
After Rei told me that day that she was going to stay on the island, all of us tried our hardest to change her mind, but even Arisa’s ardent speeches and Nana’s tearful displays weren’t enough to convince her.
Wanting to at least be of some help to them, I built them some things, like a house with a Holytree Stone engine and water and sewage systems and a planting field cultivated by living dolls.
“All right. I have the Return spell, so I’ll say hello whenever I’m on my way to visit Bolenan Forest.”
“Yes, I look forward to all of you coming to visit.”
“
Rei and Yuuneia each laid a kiss on my cheek.
“Larva—no, Rei. I will come back to see you, I declare.”
“Thank you for looking after me so kindly, Nana.”
Nana and Rei hugged each other tightly.
“From Aaze.”
Mia handed Rei a Silent Bell of Bolenan Aaze had given her.
Ownership of one indicated that you were under the protection of the elves, so fairy races and people who admired the elves would treat the holder kindly.
“Thank you, Mia.”
Rei reached out and accepted the bell, then wrapped her arm around Mia and pulled her into the hug with Nana. Since she had such small arms in this form, she could barely reach halfway around either of them, but it would probably be rude to point that out.
Of course, Yuuneia said her good-byes with the other girls as well.
Then, finally…
“Thank you, Arisa. It’s thanks to you that I’m able to be here smiling with everyone now.”
“Hee-hee, you’re making me bluuush.”
Arisa wasn’t used to being complimented, so she lamely brushed off Rei’s kind words.
“Arisa, answer her properly, won’t you?”
“Lulu… Oh, all right.”
With prompting from Lulu, Arisa corrected her posture.
“Rei! All I did was give you a little push, my dear. You’re here because of your own strength and determination! You should be proud of yourself. No need to thank me for anything more than that!”
Arisa’s rather manly declaration brought tears to Rei’s eyes as she gave us the highest Lalakie thanks.
They both seemed a little embarrassed that Arisa had called Rei “my dear,” but I decided not to tease them about it.
With that, we left Rei and Yuuneia’s island of Lalakie behind and turned our course toward the sugar route and Labyrinth City.
However, we were making a few stops along the way.
“Liquor Marquis Pendragon! You won’t believe it! The Box came back! Nanashi the Hero returned it to us, just as you said!”
I stopped by the royal castle of Lalagi to say hello and was greeted by the king himself, who was practically jumping for joy.
I’d disguised myself as Nanashi the Hero to bring the Box back to them right after we sank Lalakie.
He’d looked about ready to die when it was stolen, after all.
“I’m glad to hear that. Congratulations.”
“You said something to Sir Nanashi for us, didn’t you, Liquor Marquis Pendragon?”
“No, I didn’t do—”
“Always so modest! We shall have a three-day, three-night banquet to celebrate your peerage ceremony! Minister! Buy up all the liquor in the castle town! We’ll give it out to the people for free during the course of the banquet!”
The ministers in the castle all gleefully rushed around to prepare.
Normally, the minister of finance would be there to keep things in check, but in this case, he joined in on the merriment, checking around with his subordinates to see if they could find some extra leeway in the budget. I was a little concerned about this kingdom’s future.
I went back to the inn to tell the others that we’d be staying for five days or so and to have them prepare to move into the room in the castle we’d been given for the course of our stay.
“Master, that groping bastard says he wants to show you something.”
“All right. I’ll go check it out.”
While the others were getting ready to move, I went to the little shop they were renting to develop the new company.
“Sir Pendragon! I heard all about it! Why in the world didn’t you tell us that you were a liquor marquis?!”
Rayleigh Ashinen, the marquis’s son, came to greet me with a huge smile.
Behind him was a man with dark bags under his eyes and a young boy. These two were in charge of drawing up the trading business plan for the SS Cloud.
“Marquis, this is the business plan we’ve come up with. Please take a look.”
“Certainly.”
Ooh. It was a lot more thorough and easy to understand than I’d expected.
There were many places where numbers had been crossed out and rewritten. They explained that the original numbers were the old calculations, while the new numbers took into account the tax exemptions from my Liquor Marquis title.
Impressively enough, this business plan would keep them in the black even with the old numbers.
In the latter case, however, having only one ship was proving to be something of a bottleneck. If they had two or three more ships, they would probably be able to keep up a more stable trade.
So, in the interest of clearing out my Storage a little as well, I made them an offer…
“Yes, I can most certainly invest in this. I’m planning on having two more ships brought to the harbor within the next day or two—would you like to use them for the company?”
“M-more ships?”
“Yes, I found some medium-size merchant ships being sold for a bargain on my journey, so I purchased a few. I thought I would sell them in Lalagi, but judging by these plans, it might be best to use them here instead.”
“Y-yes, please do! We’ll have a revised plan in the next few days.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
I stood up to leave, but Rayleigh stopped me.
He wanted to ask if I minded that they weren’t using my name in the company title.
“No, that’s perfectly fine. You will need to fly my flag to indicate that your ships belong to a liquor marquis, but I believe you should choose the company name for yourselves.”
I wanted to remain as a shareholder, not the owner.
“All right. Then we’ll use Dragonpen Trading Company as the name. It might sound a bit too similar to the Ganika Marquisate’s Dragonwrit Trading Company, but that makes it easy to understand that both companies have had your help, right, Sir Pendragon?”
Rayleigh looked pleased with himself, so I said it was an excellent name and agreed.
I could tell that the other names he had in mind would all use my name directly, so I figured this choice was the easiest.
Since they were rewriting the plan anyway, I offered an additional amount of money if they would collect rare products and ingredients from the southern islands.
The other two men’s faces were a fascinating mixture of excitement over the new developments and despair over the additional work.
Then, after my liquor marquis peerage ceremony and a nightmarish three-day, three-night drinking party…
“Sir Pendragon, your tolerance for liquor is so remarkable that
it will be spoken of in our kingdom for generations. In commemoration of your defeat of a hundred drunkards, I present you with this medallion. It is sure to serve you well in any nation or city within the sugar route.”
“Thank you very much, Your Highness.”
“May your journey be safe, and may you encounter many more marvelous liquors.”
After this very Lalagian exchange with the king, we departed from the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi.
Our journey went fairly smoothly from there: We visited various small nations and port cities and towns, sampling their local delicacies, and while we occasionally got caught up in little incidents and uproars, we all made it safely back into Shiga Kingdom territory.
We passed the Ganika Marquisate on the route, entered a port in the neighboring Ukeu County, and crossed the mountains to reach the port of Kiriku County on the other side of the peninsula.
This was a very large peninsula, so many travelers used this shortcut to pass through.
When we reached Ukeu County, we switched to a normal small ship, and I put the flying ship away in Storage.
Both Ukeu County and Kiriku County were small, rustic counties that centered around the fishing industry.
Despite being so similar, or perhaps because of it, their respective rulers didn’t get along, but that didn’t matter much to us, since we were just passing through.
“Master, what ship are we going to take from here?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”
Most sailors didn’t like to let women aboard, but there were some exceptions.
I set foot in a certain shop some distance away from the rest of the port.
“Hello there.”
“If yer looking for a brothel, try the red-light district on the other side of the harbor. If yer lost, just head right along the beach that way and ye’ll be back in the center.”
The good-looking female captain barely glanced up as she waved us back toward the door.
“No, I was hoping you could carry eight passengers to the trade city Tartumina.”
“Ye can’t be serious— Ah, I see. That includes those little ladies over there, does it? Well, all right, then. Yer all welcome aboard the SS She-Devil!”
Thus, we became passengers on the woman’s galley ship traveling toward Tartumina.
“Look alive, ye scurvy dogs!”
“““Aye-aye, Cap’n!”””
True to its name, the crew members of the SS She-Devil were all women.
Many of them were young ladies wearing nothing but a chest wrap on their upper bodies, so it was hard to know where to look.
The passenger seats were right across from the rowers’ seats, so I couldn’t really turn away.
“Yer welcome to look as much as ye like, if ye like what ye see!”
“S’long as ye pay us back with some tasty ale once we get to the harbor!”
“I’d prefer rum—the cheap stuff’s fine with me!”
“I’ll happily treat you to all the ale and rum you’d like.”
The rowers laughed heartily, and I smiled in return.
Drinking seemed to motivate them as much as any sailor; their rowing became a little faster than before.
“Tartumina’s in sight now, mister. This harbor’s terrible crowded-like, so d’you mind if we take a detour to the next one?”
“Of course—whatever you think is best.”
Sure enough, since this was the heart of foreign trade in the Shiga Kingdom, there were big trade ships from all over in the harbor, with countless smaller ships moving haphazardly among them.
When we arrived at the next harbor, it was still far livelier than any we’d seen on the sugar route or even in Sutoandell.
“Hey, mister! You better join us later!”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to come by as soon as we get to an inn.”
Once we’d laid anchor, I rented an entire bar for the She-Devil crew to drink and eat as much as they desired.
Meanwhile, we headed to an inn that should accept demi-humans, according to the tip we’d received at the harbor chamber of commerce.
The people there were a bit gruff at first, but they changed their tune quickly when I showed them the medallion the king of Lalagi had given me.
“I can’t believe the Lalagi red silk and the Ishrallie Heaven’s Teardrops sell for so much here.”
“No kidding. The red silk sold for seven times the original price, and the Heaven’s Teardrops were more like thirty times.”
As Arisa and I chatted excitedly about our deals, we arrived at the inn, so I filled out the paperwork for our room and went back to the bar, where the lady sailors were waiting.
I left the rest of my group at the inn; I’d paid for a full course of the inn’s famous Ohmi beef for each of them.
Taking a shortcut through a sketchy part of town, I wound up near an arena.
“Viceroy! If your wife finds out that you’re going to the arena this late at night, you’ll be in big trouble!”
“Fool! When else can I enjoy time with those gorgeous young men except when Laytell is in Kiriku County?”
This lascivious conversation was between an extremely rich, noble-looking middle-aged man and an elderly butler. Four handsome young knights were flanking them in shining silver armor.
Two sentinels were guarding the path this group was attempting to walk down, one of whom stepped forward to address them.
“I’m terribly sorry, good sirs. This way lies a corrupt street used by the lowly commoners. A noble such as yourself should take care not to—”
“How dare you block my path, man?!”
The sentinel lowered his head, being almost unnaturally polite as he attempted to tell the noble in a roundabout way that only certain people were allowed down this street, but the noble refused to listen, striking the guard with his staff and attempting to force his way through.
Enraged, the other guard stepped forward to bluntly defend his comrade.
“Hey, noble! This is the path to the gladiator slaves’ waiting room. If you want to watch the fight, use the front entrance!”
“What an impolite cur. Put him in his place!”
The four knights drew their swords and slashed at the two guards, who were armed only with clubs.
Seriously?!
Blood flew everywhere, and the two guards hit the ground in an instant.
Come to think of it, in this kingdom, being rude to an upper-class noble often meant becoming a slave or even being killed on the spot. This sure made me miss democracy.
“Finish them off,” the noble said coldly, then walked down the path with his butler and two of his knights.
The remaining two knights raised their swords above the fallen guards, so I decided to interfere.
“Excuse me, Sir Knights. Have these two committed some offense?”
If I let them kill these guys right in front of me, I’d definitely have nightmares later.
“Are you a friend of these mannerless curs?”
“Yes, and I must apologize for their insolence and boorish ways. Here, perhaps this will make up for your troubles.”
I slipped the knights two small pouches of gold coins.
“Hmph. Very well.”
Judging by the weight that there was gold inside, the knights nodded satisfactorily and went after their master.
I made each of the guards drink a recovery potion. Arena staff members came over to see about the commotion, so I left them to take care of the rest.
“Are these all the demonic potions you’ve got?”
“I’ve got plenty more corpse potions.”
“We’re good on those for now. How much can you have ready for next month?”
“That’s up to you, Mister Daman.”
“Don’t get smart with me, plunderer.”
Now people were trading illegal drugs? This Tartumina place seemed pretty rough around the edges.
“If we pilfer too much, Sokell will catch on to us, so le
t’s keep the extra side jobs to a minimum.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on some secret-sounding information from delinquent-sounding men, but I wasn’t too interested, so I just wrote down the men’s names and the nature of their offenses and delivered them in a letter to the guard’s post.
Better to leave arresting criminals to the professionals.
That evening, I ended up drinking with the sensual lady sailors until morning.
It felt a bit like a witches’ gathering, but they were pretty soft in various ways, so that was all right with me.
“Ryyyye?”
“And Effie, sir!”
A few days later, I used the Return spell to go back to Bolenan Forest and retrieve our horses and carriage, much to the delight of Tama and Pochi.
Liza and Nana seemed happy to ride on a runosaur again, too.
We could have used my DIY airship to take a shortcut to Labyrinth City, but we decided to enjoy the trip in our horse-drawn carriage instead.
Besides, I wanted to test out the electric bicycle–like contraption I’d attached to the new magic carriage.
The journey wound up being fairly relaxed, without too many monster or bandit encounters.
Along the way, we stopped at the crossroads city Kelton, which was a major land-based trading point situated between the trade city Tartumina, the royal capital, and Labyrinth City Celivera. There was an incredible variety of both goods and people there.
Next we came to Furusawa, a small city halfway between Kelton and Celivera; after that, there were less and less villages, until we eventually started passing through a wasteland.
The intervals between the villages along the road grew ever larger, and it was clear that the land was far more barren out here.
“Labyrinth City is just beyond those mountains, right?”
Arisa, sitting next to Lulu in the coachman’s stand, opened the hatch to talk to me.
“That’s right. We’re almost there.”
Finally, the carriage crossed over the mountains, and the wide basin containing Labyrinth City Celivera came into sight.
The part of the basin closest to us was covered in cactus-like plants called “veria,” dotting a wasteland that was basically a desert.
Far in the distance in Labyrinth City was a hill that contained the entrance to the labyrinth; the basin beyond that, leading up to the mountains on the other side, was populated with all kinds of plant monsters.
