by Hiro Ainana
“Sparklyyy?!”
At Tama’s exclamation, I looked up at the mountain and saw there was indeed something reflecting light about halfway up. With the help of my “Telescopic Sight” skill, I detected what looked like the tip of a spear. Quickly, I checked my map.
“Someone’s coming to greet us.”
“Mm?”
“That’s Red H— I mean, Mize and his friends.”
The map showed Red Helmet and no fewer than thirty other ratmen. I guessed it was a unit searching for survivors.
I spoke to Zeze, who was serving as the ratmen’s representative, then used a smoke signal to make contact with the group.
“Brinsiss and Zatew. Thank yew.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I delivered the ratmen to Red Helmet, who’d come to greet us.
As usual, his expression was uncannily aloof in a distinctly human way, despite his rat features.
Red Helmet’s comrades were riding a monster that resembled a six-legged boar. They all held the title Beastmaster, so they probably trained monsters.
They also had a number of short, stocky deer called “dulldeer” to serve as beasts of burden. These were apparently bred specifically for transporting things in the mountains. Since the donkeys I’d bought would be unnecessary, I decided to sell them in town.
“Kyuze! You’re alive!”
“Vice Captain Poro protected me.”
There was another surviving ratman warrior in Red Helmet’s group—likely the one I’d assumed had left no remains.
I wonder why he didn’t show up when I searched the map that afternoon.
Maybe the map’s search was limited to the territory I was currently in.
But, no, I’d seen Red Helmet’s dot on my radar when he was outside this area, so maybe that was just the default search range.
As these considerations distracted me from the ratmen’s happy reunion, Red Helmet came to talk to me.
“Zatew, zir.”
“Oh, I can understand gray-ratman language. You don’t need to speak Shigan.”
“You are certainly knowledgeable. I’d like to offer this bell to you. It was entrusted to me, but the great elves made it. It doesn’t have any special effect, but it’s proof that its owner has earned the trust of elves or fairies or the like. Since you have gained Misanaria’s trust, it seems fitting that you should have it, Sir Satou.”
It seemed like such an important object that I refused to take it at first, but he would hear nothing of it, insisting that it was also thanks for rescuing his comrades from the humanfolk peacefully.
Red Helmet had planned to track them down even if he had to fight the Shiga Kingdom, so we’d unintentionally prevented a regional conflict.
After a lengthy back and forth, I ended up being forced to accept the Elvish bell. Its official name was the “Silent Bell of Bolenan,” and according to Red Helmet, it was made from the branches of a World Tree.
Mia accepted the bell from Red Helmet and attached it to my girdle. With no ball inside the bell, it didn’t ring. Maybe it was like identification papers for elves.
> Title Acquired: Friend of the Ratmen
We decided to drop by the town of Kainona again to sell the donkeys and wagon.
The trip to and from the border had taken a while, so by the time we arrived back in Kainona, it was already nearly evening.
Other than the completion of the study cards and the resultant praise from everyone, there were no events of note on the journey.
I asked Arisa and the others to get us a room at the inn we’d stayed in the day before and headed alone to the shop where I’d bought the wagon and donkeys.
Luckily, I made it to the store before closing and convinced them to buy everything back at about 80 percent of the original price.
Like the food we’d had there that morning, our dinner at the inn wasn’t very good, but the fried mutton wasn’t so bad. A bit heavy on the salt, perhaps, but it didn’t reek or anything, so I gave it passing marks.
In the middle of the night, I secretly slipped out of the inn by myself and visited the red-light district.
Unfortunately, since the town’s population was fairly low, the red-light district was quite small. There were about ten stalls serving food or drink and just two bars.
But no shops where I could enjoy myself with a pretty lady, by the look of things.
The ladies of the night roaming around the stalls in search of customers were all either too young or too far past their prime, so I ignored them.
Of the two bars, I entered the one with the relatively classy-looking clientele. The other bar was full of shady characters making a racket inside.
Luckily, there was a healthy distance between the two establishments.
I sat down at an empty table, and a woman with nice features and a shapely chest came to take my order. The way she carried herself was somewhat unnatural, but it emphasized her cleavage perfectly.
“What would you like to drink, young merchant?”
“Do you have mead? If not, I’m open to suggestions.”
“We unfortunately don’t have mead, but perhaps I can interest you in some Kainona sheep’s milk liquor?”
Evidently, this was the town’s specialty. They say these things only ever taste good to the locals, but I think taking in the local cuisine is part of the fun of traveling.
I ordered a glass of the sheep’s milk liquor and a dish of mutton and bean stew. The waitress’s face was way too close to mine. Don’t tickle other people’s cheeks with your blond hair, please.
My order arrived before long, so I tried a sip of the sheep’s milk liquor, and—gross. The raw, sour taste was even worse than I’d expected. The moment it entered my mouth, the animal stench pierced my sinuses, and I choked immediately.
Not even the koumiss I tried a while back was this sour…
Maybe that drink had been made with a Japanese person’s taste in mind, though. In the end, I wound up ordering an easy-to-drink Shigan beer instead.
The stew, on the other hand, had a mild, lightly salted taste. The fat from the mutton mixed deliciously with the generous portion of beans. I would’ve preferred more meat, but it was perfect for an accompaniment to my drink.
“Hey! There’s not enough salt in this! Don’t be stingy with the seasonings, man!”
“Keep it down, drunkard! You think I’m gonna dole out the salt at a price like that?!”
“What an old cheapskate. I hope that witch boils you in a cauldron and eats you!”
“Why, you—”
…I overheard a quarrel between a patron and the shopkeeper.
So it wasn’t an intentionally sophisticated flavor, huh? Well, it was tasty either way.
Drinking by myself was lonely, anyway. I bought a round of drinks for the locals and joined in on their rumors and gossip.
> Title Acquired: Moneybags
Each time I made another order, the waitress would “accidentally” press her chest up against my back as she brought it over. What a great place. Maybe I’d splurge on coppers for the tip instead of pennies.
Most of the gossip revolved around the goings-on in Kainona, but other topics included the starfall, a new colony of ant monsters near town, and the increase in damage from wolves in the neighboring Kuhanou County.
Also, though it seemed more fable than rumor, I heard tell of a witch who supposedly lived in a forest in Kuhanou County. According to the others, she gave medicine to good people but snatched up whoever recklessly harmed the forest and boiled them in a cauldron.
They might as well have rounded out the fantasy with details like “lives in a house made of candy” for good measure.
Now, then. I’d enjoyed myself thoroughly, so I stood up to leave. The waitress, who at some point had started drinking next to me, took me by the arm and led me to the second floor of the tavern.
The other customers whistled and jeered at us, and I finally realized the tavern doubled as a love hotel. I supposed wai
tresses doubling as prostitutes was a time-honored tradition in any world.
…I tipped the waitress generously and received service that was very devoted indeed.
The next morning, I placed a few silvers on her bedside table and left her sleeping contentedly. It was my thanks for an eventful night.
I changed clothes and asked a charmer who’d come to the tavern for business to wash me thoroughly. Hopefully this would erase the scents of perfume, woman, and various other traces.
In spite of my precautions, I still got the adulterous-husband treatment when I returned to the inn.
Mia and Arisa were the only ones who were angry; Tama and Pochi had no idea what was going on, and Liza and Nana didn’t seem to see any problem with it. Lulu’s expression was inscrutable, but she showed no signs of sadness or anger.
“Impure.”
“Honestly! You have so many girls here! Why must you go out and have affairs?!”
As a guardian, I would think laying a hand on any of my wards would be a much worse offense than any so-called affairs. I’d appreciate it if they’d overlook me getting my kicks elsewhere every once in a while.
And thus, the morning of our fourth day since leaving Seiryuu City began with a cute little domestic uproar.
For a change of pace, we wandered around the morning market awhile before leaving.
I didn’t see much in the way of new goods, but at least we were able to buy an assortment of ingredients. We bought half a sheep at a butcher’s shop, too, so a meal of mutton and vegetables seemed like a good dinner for that night.
We passed through the gates of Kainona just behind the villagers who’d closed up early at the morning market.
The slope down to the main road from the gate was flanked by steep hills on both sides, making visibility poor until we reached the road. Since there were no traffic signals, either, I imagined there were a lot of accidents.
The farmer and his wife in front of us had some trouble slowing their cart on the slope and zipped right into the intersection with the main road. They almost collided with a horse, which reared back and came to a sudden stop.
“You’re blocking the road, fools! Clear the way!”
The man on horseback hurled abuse at the couple when they blocked his path. The husband, who’d been pulling the cart, dropped to the ground as if the horse had kicked him, and his wife kneeled next to him, apologizing to the mounted man.
Behind us, a few gatekeepers came up to investigate.
Seeing this, the man hastened to steer his horse around the cart. At that moment, our eyes met unexpectedly, and for that instant, his gaze filled with hatred.
Hey now, I don’t think I was glaring at you, so what’s that all about? I don’t even know you.
But the moment quickly passed, and the man took off down the main road before the gatekeepers arrived.
“Master, was that not the man from before?”
“Who?”
Apparently, Liza remembered this person.
“He was the official who tried to take our flying ant cores back in Seiryuu City.”
“Oh, that small-time crook?”
So that was the accountant from the duke’s army who had tried to rob us of the girls’ hard-earned spoils.
I didn’t remember his name, but I guess some part of my mind registered him as a “small-time crook” because the small scale of his crime was impressive.
Checking his status on the map, I discovered his affiliation had changed to None.
Maybe the duke’s army found out about his embezzlement or something and fired him?
I didn’t care that much, so I shook off the memory of the man and drove our carriage forward.
The farmer had been injured when the horse kicked him—his status had changed to Bone Fracture. When I examined the details, I saw the injury was to his clavicle. His HP gauge was holding steady, so there probably wasn’t any long-term damage.
The gatekeepers finished their interrogation and went back to their posts. Because the situation was being treated as an accident, they wouldn’t chase down the man responsible.
The farmer’s wife lifted him into the cart and then tried to pull it with her slender arms, but I stopped her and offered one of the lower-grade recovery potions I’d bought in Seiryuu City.
Both the husband and wife refused to accept it, but I insisted that he drink it anyway, and he recovered. I guess even low-grade stamina recovery potions could heal a simple bone fracture. I placidly accepted the couple’s overzealous thanks, and we moved on.
After we’d been on the move for a while, Arisa voiced a complaint.
“If you give away magic potions to strangers, there’ll be no end to it!”
“Don’t worry. I just wanted to know whether a low-grade stamina potion could fix a bone fracture.”
That’s right. Helping them was just incidental. It definitely wasn’t because the desperate struggle of the farmer’s wife had gotten to me.
“I suppose I’ll go along with that explanation.”
Arisa shrugged with a “You can’t fool me” expression on her face.
I’m telling you, it was secondary!
I wanted to try something, so I had Liza take over as coachman.
Behind the driver’s seat, I waded through the group as they sang anime theme songs with Mia’s lute and sat in the back to watch the sky. This had become my go-to spot for contemplating things like spell development.
Opening the map, I began my investigation.
First, I checked and saw Hit-and-Run hadn’t been added to the crimes for the crook’s bounty.
Searching through the map, I investigated the categories of bounties. There seemed to be only six: Theft, Assault, Murder, Sexual Assault, Arson, and Treason.
Huh? The earlier incident aside, why didn’t I get the bounty Assault when I punched and incapacitated some thugs back in Seiryuu City?
“What’s the matter? You look perplexed.”
Arisa, who’d snuck up close to me, peered at me with concern.
“Oh, I was just thinking about Yamato stones’ bounty column.”
“In that case, you should just ask me! Your precious Arisa knows everything!”
Arisa puffed out her flat chest in a strange pose of pride. Please stop before Pochi and Tama start copying you.
“First of all, there are seven types of bounties.”
“Not six?”
“Nope! Theft, Assault, Murder, Sexual Assault, Arson, and Treason are the most common, but there’s also one called Infidelity.”
Infidelity? In the back of my mind, I remembered the corrupt priest shouting, “You infidels!” and spraying spit everywhere.
“You only get that one by doing things like going against the teachings of the deity you were baptized under, betraying or showing contempt for that god, stuff like that. I’ve never actually seen it myself.”
So if you haven’t been baptized, you can’t get the Infidelity bounty?
Curious, I posed the question to Arisa.
“Most likely. You can’t violate the conditions of an agreement if you never made one in the first place. Once you’re baptized, you receive the blessings of a god, so most people get baptized sometime between the age of seven, when they start an apprenticeship, and adulthood.”
Right, since gods in this world existed close by, religion had practical benefits.
“And when there are epidemics, people who’ve been baptized are given priority. The only people who don’t get baptized are usually either too poor to give offerings or nobles and direct descendants of royalty.”
“I understand the first example, but why not royals?”
I would think in a world with real divine rights and blessings, statesmen would be the first to take the initiative and get baptized.
“When kings and dukes take their positions, they have to make a contract with the City Core. They can’t do that if they’ve been baptized. People like viceroys who are in official positions only lo
ok after the City Core as agents of the king, so they can still be baptized.”
“Wait, Arisa. I can’t process all this information at once.”
I stopped Arisa’s verbal torrent for a moment.
“What is a ‘City Core’? Is it like a Labyrinth Core?”
“Oh, yes, sorry. And this conversation is off the record, by the way. City Cores are located underneath the castle, but only royalty and their direct descendants know about them. I only heard about this when I snuck into my big brother’s lessons as the crown prince… Our heads would roll if anyone found out what we know. Be careful.”
Arisa winked and stuck out her tongue. She seemed to be maintaining that expression to get me to rebuke her, but I ignored it and asked for more information.
“All right, I won’t tell anyone. So can you give me more details about these City Cores?”
“Okeydokey. I told you that dukes and kings make contracts with them, right? Well, once they do that, they gain the ability to manipulate the power source beneath the city.”
So there were sources beneath cities, too? Come to think of it, when I was talking to Nadi about Mia’s treatment, she’d mentioned a mana source inside Seiryuu City’s castle.
“They can use it for Ritual Magic like defending the city from monsters or enriching the surrounding soil. Since the range of the magic is so wide, people tend to think it’s pretty ineffective, but Ritual Magic can adjust the climate of the whole territory, relieve water shortages, and increase productivity. If the range is more focused, they say it can even defend against attacks from intermediate and greater hell demons.”
Pretty impressive.
“Arisa, if the City Core is that important, doesn’t that mean that cities and towns can only exist near mana sources?”
“That’s right. Sources big enough for a whole town or city are quite rare. Most of them are small sources like spirit reservoirs and monster reservoirs.”
According to Arisa, a spirit reservoir was a place with such abundant magical power that rare plants and animals lived there and flowers bloomed out of season, among other things.
Monster reservoirs, as the name implied, were places where monsters settled. When I scanned Trazayuya’s documents for more information, I learned that normal animals transformed into monsters when they breathed in the miasma of a monster reservoir.
