《Not Sure, Another World Reincarnation》 Chapter 1: Not Sure, But It Looks Like I Got Reincarnated in Another World Chapter 1: Not Sure, But It Looks Like I Got Reincarnated in Another World ..The sky is blue. Upon awakening, I saw a blue sky. I sat up and nced around my surroundings. I was currently inside of a carriage that seems to have overturned. The door was overhead and open. Multiple bodiesid strewn about me. They were all dead. My body was covered in scratches and several cuts. My body also hurt all around. I am Ren I dont have a family name. Im a ten year old orphan girl. But..I was also Yuuki Renjuro, the third son of a family of goldsmiths. Yep, it seems I was reincarnated. Furthermore, it appears I was reincarnated in a different world. From what I remember, I think I was some sort of engineer and developer, and also some researcher. I worked for arge corporation and I think I was part of what the general public would consider the upper ss. I was single, even though I was past my mid-thirties. I also had so-called otaku interests and frequented the red light districts to fulfill my sexual desires. So I think I was enjoying the bachelor life. I think my death was due to an experiment of a prototype of some sort of new technology. I was caught in the aftermath of the detonation of the bomb. So it was most likely an instant death. Although the prototype had reached the stage where it could be used, it appears it was still a mistake to observe through a ss in the room next door. If I had been observing through a camera in a different room like I usually would, this probably wouldnt have happened. Following safety protocols is important. If I recall, someone had said we should observe up close since it was a momentous event. However, since no one disagreed, it could be said that everyone was of the mad scientist part. I dont really get it. Anyways, I used to live in a world called Earth, but I died in an ident, was reincarnated in this world, and regained my memories of my previous life. My name is Ren now. As I mentioned earlier, Im an orphan who doesnt have a family name. My current name was somewhat simr to the one I had in my previous life, which made me feel slightly better. Most likely, since I recalled my memories as an adult in my previous life, my current thoughts were being influenced by itbut it appears there werent any problems so far, so I will put this matter aside for now. Instead, I should prioritize understanding my current situation. I was currently underneath an incredibly tall cliff. My body was currently covered in wounds. So how did this happen? This world is in a medieval-like era, things like skills exist, there is also magic, demons and such, its simr to games where there are dragons flying in the skies. It was that kind of world. A ssic, temte fantasy world. In this world, children would also receive something called temporary baptism at the age of five. In viges located in more rural areas, people would go to a nearbyrge town and receive it at a church, but you be able to see your status after receiving this temporary baptism. Yes, thats right. This world could be seen as some sort of game. Its unbelievable! I dont really understand why its like that, but thats just how it is. As a researcher, I would like to figure out how the concept works someday. Although, I said I could view my status, its not like a window just appears before my eyes, but rather an image just appears inside my mind. Well, enough of that. It was said that if a child receives a temporary baptism, the child would gain ess to the innate skills they were born with. It seems that the innate skills wouldnt manifest properly until the temporary baptism was received. After receiving the temporary baptism, one would obtain their skills and their full benefits. Well, I dont have those sort of skills. Furthermore, in this world, once a child reaches ten,, they would receive whats called a true baptism. This would also be performed at the churches, but it was rare for someone to acquire new skills when undergoing the true baptism. But I did. However, the skill I gained at that time was problematic. I had obtained the skill Appraisal. This skill was literally a skill that examines the details of various things. Objectively, I believe this skill was considered a very useful skill for merchants and such. Also the orphanage I was in was privately-owned and not state operated, and the investor was a rather wealthy merchant. And since I was an orphan that lived in that orphanage, naturally I was captured. Rather, the orphanage I lived in was a ce that operated for the sake of acquiring children like me. Furthermore, the wealthy merchant who invested in the ce, was someone with various bad rumors and a lustful personality. My future was pitch ck. If I remained confined, I would most certainly be a ve, or perhaps something even worse. No matter how I thought, I could only imagine a horrible experience. But I was just a single, underweight orphan who was indebted to the merchant that funded the orphanage. I had no way to change the current situation, and in a few days, I was transferred into a carriage that was headed off towards the town where the lustful merchant was in. In order to get to the small town where the orphanage was located to therge town where the merchant was, it was necessary to travel through steep mountains and forests, or through a route that took a big detour, but the merchant was stingy, or just knew how to cut down on expenses, and had me transported through the mountain route. Which was a mistake as bandits ended up appearing. Moreover, it seems the carriage driver was some sort of idiot, as he attempted to rush through a gap he saw within the bandits formation thinking he could escape. Likewise, the bandits were apparently also idiots, as they shot arrows at the horse, and the horse ended up steering the entire carriage off the edge of a cliff. And now we arrive in the present. My feethurt.. I looked around inside the carriage. There were people who I had been traveling with for the past several days. Everyone was drenched in blood and their necks twisted in the wrong direction. .I have a habit of curling up and hiding my head in between my knees and under my arms whenever I was in pain or scared. But thanks to that, I managed to avoid breaking my neck as the carriage fell down. Although, I suffered numerous injuries as a result. Why did I have such a habit? The reason was simple. I was often bullied by the boys at the orphanage. The reason was simply because I was tall. I was big, an annoyance, an eyesore and such, which led to me being bullied. But in the end, I was strangely saved because of that. I managed to crawl out of the overturned carriage, but it seems I twisted my leg as it had been hurting since some time ago. My body was also covered in bruises and I was unable to calm down. Now then, what should I do? Next Index Like Loading... ~~ Choose Your Novel ~~ Demon Sword Maiden Dragon Princess Cheat Receptionist Subus'' Life Hero''s Daughter Pupil of the Wiseman Reborn as a Transcendent Hero''s Redo Hero King Loli Elf Blue Sky Subscribing to Patreon may result in faster updates. For more info, please refer to this: link. Chapter 2: For the time being, I decided to run away Chapter 2: For the time being, I decided to run away Although it was nice to be out of the carriage I had no ns regarding the future course of action, so I decided to reconfirm my current situation. I had plungedpletely down a cliff. I couldnt remain here. But even if I moved away from here, the problem of where to go remains. I looked up the cliff. Climbing up the cliff was impossible. I looked to the left of the cliff towards the south. If I were to head in this direction I would arrive in the town where the merchant is. So the original destination. Of course, I would be instantly captured if I went there. To the right would be northwards. If I head there I would return back to the town with the orphanage. I would be sent out again if I were to go back. But if I remained here the bandits mighte. Furthermore, I didnt know which direction they woulde from, its possible they might even try scaling down the cliff. ..What to do? I dont want to be captured. Ive seen the merchant several times before in the past. He was a fat, middle-aged man with a toad-like appearance. Was he nning to do that with me? Now that I remembered the memories of my previous life when I was a man, it would seem my thoughts are closer to that of a male. As such, I felt absolutely disgusted at the idea of him doing that to me. No way. Absolutely, never, ever! I will not do that! The past me was the typical male. Sometimes I would browse such stuff on the, or read about it in books, but if I actually had to have something like that done to me then I would rather die! But still I would prefer it if I didnt die. I still want to live. In that case, I had to escape and get away from here..so I looked behind me. To the east, a forest. The forest was quiterge and dense and was said to house various monsters. Naturally, that meant there were also numerous dangerous monsters inside the forest. And the area I was in was located towards the center. It wasnt somewhere an injured, ten-year old girl should go. Nevertheless, if I didnt want to be captured I would have to move. And if I managed to sessfully escape, I would be free. Then I could live however I liked. Butthere wasnt much time left. The bandits mighte down soon, or a monster might evene after smelling the scent of blood from the dead bodies. I had to make a decision now. However, even in my previous life when I was working as a researcher; fieldwork wasnt really my strong point. I had to take a lot of breaks since I wasnt particrly athletic. Anyways, first I needed to salvage any usable tools. I nced over at the overturned carriage and the luggage strewn everywhere. There were also torn pieces of rope scattered about, I would have to gather what I could from here. I went towards one of the scattered luggage, but I stopped upon noticing the blood on it. I nced towards the side and a body was next to it. It was most likely someone who had fallen out of the carriage when it went over the cliff. The neck was twisted in an abnormal direction and there was an expression of immense pain on the face. The corpse was a familiar sight. At the orphanage, during the winters many of the younger children would die. It wasnt anything to be sad about, they were just unlucky. In this world thats just how death is. I brushed aside the ethics and morals of my previous life. I shouldnt worry about it. I couldnt stop here. I had to survive. Death was amon urrence in this world. While traveling, there was the possibility of being attacked by bandits or criminals. You had to defend your own life with your own power. And eventually you might have to kill someone. You had to be prepared. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then reopened them and looked towards the body. ..I felt calmer this time around. For now, I decided to just gather all the things that I could use. Cloth, knives, rations, water canteens, some coins, and etc. Would this be enough for the time being? Maybe I should look around a bit morebut there wasnt much time left. It was unfortunate but I had to leave before the sunpletely sets. It was time to depart. It hurts.. I forgot. Right, my body was covered in injuries. Regardless, I still had to move. It was painful.but I slowly pushed on ahead. After a while, I stopped and leaned on the base of a tree. My consciousness was beginning to fade. My body screamed in pain. The sudden emergence of my previous lifes memories shed and muddled together with my current lifes memories. Who am I now? Who was I before? I was entrenched in these sort of thoughts. But in the end, all I coulde up with was that I was myself. Even so, I still wondered; what kind of person was I before? What was I called before? What was I like? I didnt know. Absolutely nothing, nothing came to mind, I couldnt remember at all In the end, I decided to just focus on walking and not think about it. ..After walking for about two hours or so, the sun had set. And it became difficult to proceed any further. I gave a deep sigh and sat down. Should I stop for today? Or should I try continuing on a bit more? No, this was my limit. I could feel the excruciating pain spread throughout my body. If I didnt treat the wounds soon it would be dangerous. Wait a minute, I can use [First Aid]..right? Due to the sudden emergence of my previous lifes memories I had forgotten, but Ren could use a bit of magic. One of them was life magic. Life magic was an attribute-less magic geared towards everyday usage, and could be learned even if a persons aptitude for magic was low. For example, it could be used to produce a small amount of water, start a fire, light the way, etc. Although the same results could be achieved with tools, it was a simple, yet convenient branch of magic that made daily life easier. Among the various usages, [First Aid] is a recovery-type magic that could be used to stop light bleeding and alleviate some pain. Its also said that one of the most difficult spells in life magic is [Clean], which removes dirt from the body and clothing. Naturally, I couldnt use it. I could only use the spells [First Aid] and [Light]. But why did I suddenly remember these things? No, never mind. These are my memories, theres nothing wrong with that. I quickly shook my head to clear my thoughts. First Aid. ..Ah, the pain had be somewhat more bearable. I felt like the spell was more effective than how I remembered. With this, the pain had lessened to the point where I would be able to sleep. But if a monsteres along while I am sleeping, I would likely die. Perhaps, it would be better to sleep on one of trees? But, well, due to the injuries on my body that would probably be impossible. For today, I decided to make camp at the trunk of an enormous tree. It was good that I salvaged some cloth. But if a monster were to appear at this time In the end, I didnt sleep very well due to my anxiety and lingering pain. Chapter 3: I want to eat rice balls Chapter 3: I want to eat rice balls I kept on walking for about five days. I ran out of water and food two days ago. Hungry Growl~~~ I was starving. ..My feet hurt. My sprained ankle was worsening and really painful. I tried using [First Aid] already, but it didnt help. I slowly ate the herbs I had gathered as I continued on. It was bitter. My throat waspletely dry. It became difficult to swallow and I started coughing. I wished I had water. I started gathering wild nts around two days ago. Although I had some knowledge of edible wild nts, it was still difficult to differentiate between the various types of nts. But it was then that I thought: wait, maybe its possible to identify them with [Appraisal]? The end results were I was correct. I became able to distinguish between the wild nts, such as what were edible, what could be used for wounds, and what could be used as ingredients for potions. But there was a problem. If the wild nts werent cooked they would taste very bitter, which made them difficult to eat. But even so, I still ate them. The next problem was water. Due to my thirst, I had a hard time swallowing the nts. Although [Appraisal] had allowed me to gather a supply of edible nts and herbs, it was still difficult to eat the nts. But I still continued forth slowly like a zombie, until I finally copsed unable to walk any further. Water.. Water I want water Water ..Water. Water!! I need water! My throat! If this continued on I would soon dehydrate and die. It was at that moment as I was thinking these thoughts. Ssh! ..Eh? Droplets of waternded on the ground right in front of me. When I raised my head the grass in front of me was wet. I looked up, but there was nothing there. Water! I reached my hands out towards the glistening grass and water fell down again. Luckily, a bit of water managed to umte in my palms and I quickly brought it towards my mouth. I didnt understand it, but somehow when I asked for water, it would fall. I didnt understand what was happening, but I didnt care. I hastily grabbed the leather water canteen on my waist and refilled it. After it was full, I quickly gulped down the water. Refreshed. I had continually drunk the water until my thirst was quenched. But Im hungry It seems at some point, I dropped the bag containing all my edible nts and herbs somewhere. I didnt have any energy left to go searching for it. ..I want to eat rice balls. When I said I wanted water, water had suddenly appeared. So I started thinking stupid thoughts like maybe the same would happen here to escape from reality. ..Huh? But it really did appear. A rice ball. What? Was I hallucinating? What was going on? .Rice ball. But when I repeated the word again, another rice ball suddenly appeared in my other hand. There were rice balls in both my hands. I squeezed my hands a bit to confirm, but the rice balls were definitely there. Food.. At that point, I just stopped caring about how they had appeared. And started eating unrelentingly. Yes, these were definitely rice balls. Just in salted rice balls. No seaweed, no other ingredients. But it was delicious. I didnt understand it, but tears began to uncontrobly spill forth from my eyes. After I finished eating the rice balls, Iid down and gazed up towards the sky. My stomach was filled and I had calmed down a bit. I felt full..so those definitely werent hallucinations. But how did the rice balls appear? Rather, to begin with, I dont recall having ever seen rice during my ten years in this world. Did someone perhaps give the rice balls to me? But looking around there was no sign of anyone nearby. The rice balls had just magically appeared. So magic? Right, magic exists in this world. Therefore, it was magic that made the rice balls appeared. It would make sense then.no, wait, would it? A spell that could produce rice balls? Ive never heard of such a thing. Even so, it was a fact that rice balls had appeared. In that case, lets confirm it. Status When I said those words, my status menu appeared in front of me.
Ren10 Year old
Race:Celestialupation:Orphan
HP:20/50MP:30/50
STR:3VIT:3
DEX:5AGI:3
INT:500MGC:300
CHA:12LUK:4
Skills:
Creation Magic LV1 Storage LV- Life Magic LV5 Appraisal LV3 Resistance: Hunger LV1 Resistance: Fatigue LV1 Resistance: Pain LV1 Magic Attribute Aptitude: All Attributes
Yep, it was strange in various ways. Chapter 4: It Seems Im Actually Quite Amazing Chapter 4: It Seems I''m Actually Quite Amazing Well then, my status menu was full of surprises. Ill start in order from the top. Name: Ren Nothing wrong here. Next. Race: Celestial What is this? I am suppose to be from the human race. Arent Celestials an amazing race granted various knowledge by the gods? Why am I one? Wait, ah.is it because I was reincarnated as a Celestial? Is it because of my past knowledge? .Well, there wasnt much I could go off of now so I should move on. Next, upation. Orphan. This counts as an upation? Nothing wrong with my age either. Next, status. There wasnt any changes in HP and MP. My STR was as low as ever and my VIT was non-existent. No changes in DEX. AGI was also the same. But my INT was now 500. I assume this is due to my previous lifes memories. But my MGC is 300? Is it because I became a Celestial? By the way, MGC is simply magic attack power. The higher a persons MGC is, the easier it is to learn spells and the stronger the magic attack. MP? Would MP be mana power? Even so, if I remember correctly, both my INT and MGC should have been 4. But now they were 500 and 300, respectively. The two were way too high! But my LUK hasnt changed. If anything, I would have liked this to have gone up.. Also my CHA was 12 from the beginning. I know this ising from myself, but I have a well-developed face with nice features. My eyes are a bit sharp. Was my expression perhaps a bit stoic? Since I was just 10 years old, I havent developed breasts yet, but I still grew rather quickly and I was much taller than the other malnourished orphans. I believe I am around 143cm. Maybe, 140cm..? No, no, at least 142..never mind, theres no need to give myself a little boost. Theres nothing wrong with being 140cm. Absolutely, nothing wrong. Although if I could choose, I would prefer it if I could grow up to be a tall and slender beauty. And strong too. Well, enough of that. Now then, thest one, skills. It would seem they somehow increased. Originally, I only had the skills [Appraisal] and [Life Magic]. Both were also LV1 and LV2, respectively. Also, my magic attribute aptitude was only light. If I didnt question it too much, then it was likely due to recalling my previous memories. Otherwise, nothing else really came to mind. I think it most likely has to do with being reincarnated as a Celestial. Celestials have high magic aptitude. I felt like I had heard something like that before in the past. So in the end, I had reincarnated as a celestial and regained my memories. Which then led to my status changing. As for my skills increasing. Ive heard that Celestials have numerous rare skills, so that was most likely the reason for my skills increasing. I wasnt exactly sure if this was the correct reason. Regardless, it did meant that I now had more means at my disposal for survival. But in order to properly use them, I had to figure out what the effects of each were. First [Creation Magic]. I feel like various things could happen with this one. So Ill skip over this for now. Next, [Storage]. This should be an advancement of the skill [Item Box]. Speaking from name recognition alone, its supposedly a rather famous skill. The skill [Item Box] was used to store various items into a mysterious space. Along with [Appraisal], the two skills were considered very useful to merchants. It was also useful among adventurers and highly sought after as it could be used to store food and supplies. As the skill level increases, the amount that could be stored would increase and the deterioration speed of the stored items would also be reduced. Furthermore, just being able to acquire the skill is already immensely difficult, but leveling it up was practically impossible. On the other hand, [Storage] was a cheat skill with unlimited storage and unaffected by time. If that merchant were to ever find out about my sudden increase of skills, I would definitely be hunted down and restrained. How horrible Next up [Life Magic]. My Life Magic was initially LV2 but was now LV5. Maybe, this is the reason why I was able to produce water earlier? Initially, I wasnt able to summon forth water. But since I had leveled up. Probably, because I needed it, I ended up acquiring the ability to produce water. Perhaps, it was something like that? ..Water. Ssh. After concentrating and invoking the spell, I was able to make water appear. I also tried testing out other types of life magic. The end results were I became capable of using [Ignite], [Water], [Dry], and [Clean]. [Ignite] is a spell that creates a small me at the fingertips, which was useful for starting fires. It was convenient to use when raining since using a flintstone would be difficult. The spell [Dry] could be used to dry clothes or hair after washing them. But out of all of them, I was most pleased with the spell [Clean]. Although its because I am currently a girl, it was also due to my past life as a researcher, such as duringb experiments I was particrly concerned with hygiene. So the spell [Clean] was very appreciated. Appraisal. It was already LV3. The skill is supposed to be fairly difficult to level up, but it likely leveled up because I was using it to identify various things. Essentially, the more you use this skill, the higher the level. And I was constantly using it for the past few days. The skill also appears to be able to offer more details on what was appraised depending on the level. Since its convenient, I would like to keep on leveling it. Magic Attribute Aptitude: All Attributes. This would mean that I became capable of using all attributes of magic but..without having ever read a spellbook, or having other magicians to teach me, there was little meaning to this.magic was apparently quite difficult to learn. Isnt this just a waste as it is now? No, never mind. I was just in a bad state a moment ago..adaptability is quite scary. ..Now then, thest one. Creation Magic. The rice balls were probably created using this. Rice ball,e forth. ..It really did appear. With this I wont starve anymore, yay! No, no, no, wait, this is weird! When I think about it, this is definitely weird! How is it possible to produce a rice ball from nothing..what about thew of conservation of mass? Lets check my status for now. I see, my MP has decreased by 10. One rice ball equals 10 MP. Would this be considered good or bad MP cost..my MP recovers at a rate of 3 MP per hour. With this, are my food problems now solved? Ah, wait, there is still the issue of nutritional bnce. Then I should try making other types of food. But I only had 15 MP remaining. I couldnt afford to test it out. Well..for now, I guess I will camp here today, and continue experimenting tomorrow? Chapter 5: The Storage Skill Seems to be a Cheat Chapter 5: The Storage Skill Seems to be a Cheat Several dayster. Ive verified the limits of the skills to what I could use at the moment. I havent moved from this spot. While traveling from the ident site, I didnte across any monsters or wild animals, so I think my vignce is beginning to fade. Ill reflect on this and take appropriate measurester. Anyways, I managed to find out more information regarding [Creation Magic]. First, how to use it. When used, a circle of light would appear in the area I specified. Naturally, the circle of light was a magic formation. Truly, fantasy-like. In order to use it, materials had to be ced within the magic formation, or the skill could be activated using no materials. However, not everything could be made. So its most likely dependent on the users MP and level. If I also had knowledge about what was being created, the MP consumption could be reduced. But, if the object being created wasplicated, the amount of MP used would increase. Next, if I was using materials that were used in the object being created, the amount of MP consumed would be significantly reduced. I noticed this when I tried creating salves for treating my wounds. Furthermore, if I used tools that were necessary for the process of making them, the amount of MP consumed would again be reduced. I noticed that when Ipletely prep the materials with a knife beforehand it would also reduce the MP consumption, aspared to when I didnt prep the materials or only partial prep them. Although theparisons were made based on the current equipment I had on hand, if I had better equipment its possible the MP consumption would be further reduced. I also tried making a sword for self-defense, but I didnt have enough MP. My current MP was only 50. So I couldnt make the de very long. Also the salve I created wasnt very effective for my injuries, so I used some potion ingredients I gathered to create the so called [potion]. Which was super effective. Although the materials needed for creating the potion werent that different from the salve, the effects werepletely different. Aside from that, I only vaguely knew about the materials needed for making potions, and I didnt know the process to create them. Even so, I guess my skill assisted me in creating them despite my vague knowledge. Because I somehow ended up creating one. As a researcher and scientist I am rather skeptical of the process, but as of now Ill just ept it since its helpful and leave the pondering for ater date. Well, my expertise was in rocks and minerals so I didnt really know much about creating medicines. After that, I tried creating various types of potions. Ones for recovery, antidotes, ability enhancements, and such. Also as a countermeasure for monsters, I made monster-repents. But I wasnt able to create high quality items since my skill level was still low. All the items I created were low quality items. However, it seems the more I create the more my skill improves, my MP consumption gradually decreases, and I am able to create low quality recovery potions. And if I were to use the lower quality potions as a base, I could then create a better quality potion. But when I tried making higher level ones I wasnt able to due to my skill level not being high enough. Im disappointed. But then I realized I had gained a new skill called Compound. It would seem if I leveled this I would be able to create higher grade items. And with that my source of ie for when I reach a town was somehow established. All my injuries were also healed during my experimentations with potion making. My maximum MP even increased to 60 during the process. The MP increase might not seem like a huge difference, but to me 10MP equals one rice ball. Which is a huge difference. I tried making a seaweed-wrapped rice ball but I nearly copsed. When I checked my status I had consumed 30MP. Quite cruel I also made some clothing using the cloth I had obtained from the carriage. Even if I made too much there would be no problems since I could just put them into my unlimited [Storage]. And I could always sell them if necessary. [Creation Magic] was just too convenient. Although, the MP consumption rate was a bit bad and what I could create was limited. As long as I properly utilized the creation process it was still manageable. Next, my [Appraisal] also leveled up. It was currently LV4. Appraisal is supposed to be difficult to level up, but it didnt really seem so here. I feel as if it has been leveling up nonstop. I wasnt exactly sure why, but I assume its likely a racial trait. Celestials appear to be quite amazing. And as I kept creating water using life magic I ended up also gaining water attribute magic. Self-teaching yourself magic is supposed to be very difficult too. Nevertheless, since its convenient I wontin, I also managed to create hot water after some experimenting. Which just makes life even easier. Magic is way too convenient! The attacks and such are all too fantasy-like..well, no, because of that there are drawbacks. Such as when creating potions, I had to be really specific with the process since only the potion itself would appear. As such, I had to make a container for the potion first. Initially, I tried creating ss containers, but it ended up consuming too much MP, so I went with an unzed bottle made of soil instead. I was a little disheartened after realizing I shouldve first made a container to begin with. By the way, I ended up acquiring earth magic after trying to create a container using soil. So, next would be the problem of self-defense. First, weapons. Since I didnt have any armor I could only strengthen my weapon. Since I could improve potions into higher level ones, I thought that it would also be possible to do the same with my knife. Which turns out I was right. It was immediately confirmed after I used [Appraisal]. The low quality iron knife had be higher quality steel knife. However, it ended up costing me 50 MP, so I becamepletely exhausted and unable to do anything more for the day. Just changing the carbon distribution of a small knife ended up consuming this much MP. How much would it be for strengthening a sword? How about creating weapons from scratch? It seems I still have a long way to go. Anyways, since I am finished with self-defense, lets move on to the next matter. Next up, would be to move to a water source. I am thinking about living in this forest. So a change of ns. What are my reasons for choosing to live here? There are several reasons, but first, would be due to my [Creation Magic] skill. It had greatly increase my chances of survival. I would have no problems with food. Out of clothing, food, and shelter, two were already satisfied. And once I master water magic, I could create a bath. Next, would be what might happen if I went to the towns. If I were to be discovered I might be sent back to the merchant. Currently, about two weeks have passed since the ident. It would be nearly impossible to get out of this forest with a childs feet, but if I did manage to get out I would be ced into custody. Once under custody, my identity would be examined and I would probably be sent back to the merchant. Thus, I shouldnt try to leave the forest immediately. Fortunately, I have the necessary skills to create a habitable environment. What am I saying? Its simple. I could use the surrounding trees as wood and build a small hut. And then using my skills, I could slowly rebuild and improve the hut. Hooray for creation magic! All hail, creation magic! Putting aside the MP consumption rate. I just need some time. Sniffle After establishing my new goal I head east in search of a water source. I proceed along while being mindful of my surroundings. The herbs and wild nts that enter my sight disappear. A mysterious phenomenon. Nope. It is my doing. All of them have been ced into [Storage]. At first, I was gathering herbs and wild nts that I saw by hand and cing them into [Storage]. But now I am just directly cing them into storage. After finding it troublesome, I began looking at the nts and wishing they would just automatically go into [Storage]. And at that moment. The nts vanished right in front of me. In a panic, I quickly checked [Storage] and there it was. I was stunned. All my hard work from before..no, I should think positively. Now the extra work would be reduced. After that, I just started using [Appraisal] without much thought. I used it on just about everything in my field of sight without really caring. Then, I stored any herbs I found right into [Storage]. After a while, I was basically doing subconsciously. As a scientist and researcher in my past life, being able to multitask and process several different thoughts were necessary skills to have. So being able to do this was naturally easy. Doesnt this create stress on the mind? That depends. These sort of multi-tasking skills are often used inboratory settings, so it can be convenient in those cases. Anyways, I digress. The only problem would be that I should take care not to identally store something in my surroundings when I go into a town. I had to be careful. But still make proper use of abilities that can be used. Although, that doesnt mean it isnt convenient. Yep, convenient is still convenient. Later that night, when I checked my status, my appraisal had be LV5. .Yep, this is what happens when you use it like that. Right Chapter 6: Bathing is the Epitome of Culture Chapter 6: Bathing is the Epitome of Culture In my search for a water source I have relocated to a nearby river, and it has been two months since then. The carriage ident was likely around March, so spring should be about over and making way for summer. I was currently living in a small hut near the river. No, even this was a lot better. Truly. I was d that the current season was warm. Initially, I was going for a pit-house like structure. Something like a tent.with the wood aligned in a cone shape and the roof covered in straw.but,ter that night it was blown away by a strong wind. I cried. After repeatedly trying to rebuild it and failing, I started to think about alternatives. And I decided to make MP recovery potions to forcefully recover MP and strengthen the structure of the hut. And now it had be a hut that couldnt be blown down by the wind. One month had passed at that point. I dont want to think about those dreadful days.. The next goal was to improve my diet. Ah, but the strengthening of the hut was focused on the walls. So the leaking was quite dreadful whenever it rained. Eh? Ah, yes, back to the topic. Right, I was trying to improve my diet. First, I decided to check my surroundings for any dangerous animals or easy prey. There wasnt any dangerous animals nearby, but there also wasnt any easy prey. But I found several trees that produce edible berries and some edible mushrooms. I also confirmed that there werent any dangerous monsters nearby. Thinking back, I was quite surprised as it was during that time I had obtained the skills [Alert] and [Detection]. Alert was a skill that reacted to danger or ambushes. In other words, it could be said as improved intuition. Detection was a skill that could sense things in the surrounding area. Apparently, when detection bes higher leveled it will be able to identify race or threat level. However, the meals werent always stable or bnced. So, I took nutritional supplements along with rice balls to fill my stomach. Yes, it was easy to create..and thanks to that I didnt have to worry about the nutrient bnce anymore. Sorry I lied. I wanted to eat delicious foods. Ahhhh! I miss the satisfying days in Japan.. As such, I had tried creating an actual meal full of seasoning, but due to the amount of MP cost it couldnt be done. So I tried creating just salt itself, but in exchange for therge MP cost the amount of salt created was too little. As for spices, there were peppers and herbs growing naturally within the area. And since I lived by myself in my previous life I had to learn how to cook, so I was able to manage with the ingredients. No, a delicious meal is important, so it cant be helped. That aside, once I manage to secure proper clothing, food, shelter and ensure the safety of the area, I think I will try improving the living environment. Yes, which means a bath. Hm? Shouldnt I try improving the house first? No, of course the bathes first! Bathing in the river is cold! And I dont want to be led astray by [Clean]. As for fatigue, I have that covered thanks to the recovery potion. My current bathing area was created by digging up a part of the riverbed using earth magic. Then arge amount of stones were ced to separate it from the river and the water was reced with hot water. But during rainy days, or when the season bes winter, I wont be able to use it. As such, I was gathering stone and wood for today. But the current problem was that the amount of MP I had for reinforcing the building materials was too little. Furthermore, there was also quite a lot of things that needed to be reinforced. My maximum MP was now 70. It increased a bit, but I still want more. .I think I need to go at this another way. Theres a limit to how many MP recovery potions I can use. In the first ce, making MP recovery potions cost a lot. After experimenting, I realized it was more efficient to forcefully recover MP with the potions and finish everything at once. However, the problem was that there was a limit to the amount that could be made. If somehow, I could create a potion that can increase my maximum MP.. I had acquired a skill that could create potions that would temporarily increase my status. So I thought about making a potion that would temporarily boost my MP limit. After considering it, I decided to go with it. Since I could be considered a mad scientist type, the verification of the idea is more important than safety. Its something that couldnt really be helped. The results were I could make it. However, the production rate of the MP boosting potion wasughable. I could onlyugh. All the potion ingredients and herbs I collected had disappeared. Ahhhhh!!! Afterwards, I had to spend a week to gather enough materials to make MP recovery potions to recover my increased mana pool. It took three days to prepare. And the results of working hard every day while taking the potions. I was taking a bath inside my house right now. Collecting that many materials just toplete this was really depressing, but right now I dont want to think of unhappy things. I dont want to think about it. I repeated it because its important. The bathing room was nice, the epitome of culture. As a result of my hard work and effort, I was able to create a room consisting of two meter walls in the corner of my house. The house had two floors. Upon entrance, the kitchen was in view. Then the bathing room and restroom were located towards the back. The guestroom and storage room were located on the first floor. While my bedroom and a study was located on the second floor. There was also a basement. I had built quite an amazing ce. But the furniture would need to be added on a different date. I waspletely satisfied. Building the drainage system was quite difficult, but I did my utmost with earth magic. I n on transforming the waste to fertilizer using [Creation Magic], so the drainage system was an umtive type. But in the bigger towns or the capital city it appears there are sewer systems. Well, magic is still useful regardless. While thinking these thoughts, I proceeded to create soap using the nt ingredients to wash my body. Ah, I could sell something like this too, right? Shampoo would also be good too. Hmm.my ambitions rises! But at the same time, I dont have any ns on leaving the forest right now! On a side note, these are all created using [Creation Magic]. It costs quite a lot of MP, but I suppose it couldnt be helped. It was a necessary expense. As I stared down at my crotch area while washing my body, I felt aplex-sort of feeling. I didnt exactly feel confused and such, but there was still a sense ofplexity mixed with naturalness. I felt calmer than I had been in the previous few months, but even so my memories from my previous life still had quite an effect on me. As such, my way of thought and values were still quite simr to that of when I was Japanese. I still had some consciousness as a man remaining, at least it was to the extent where I found having a male partner revolting. No, never mind, its better not to overthink it. I might be overwhelmed by all the thoughts. Lets just leave these sort of thoughts for another time. Regardless of everything else, there was no doubt that my previous lifes knowledge was quite useful. It would have a huge role in improving my life from here on out. I would make proper use of what could be used. I lightly pondered over these matters as I immersed myself in the bathtub. A future course of action was also important. Although I needed to start nning ahead for the future. I havent really thought about it since the ident, other than wanting to be free. When I left the orphanage, I only felt despair. My future was dark and I was trapped. But now I was free. Free to do anything I wanted. And free to live however I wanted. Stillwhat should I do? To be honest, I didnt have any goals or purpose for life in this world. I just simply lived to live. But I didnt want to spend the rest of my life like that. Then what about the past me? I think I had quite the arrogant personality. I would always prioritize myself first. As such, if there were things I didnt want to do, I would simply avoid it, or avoid it as much as possible. And I would pursue anything that interested me. So in other words, I didnt like dealing with troublesome matters. Thus, I would avoid circumstances in which I had to deal with troublesome people or situations. But I didnt hate the me who had that sort of personality. Due to my meticulous personality, I was alone and had to learn how to cook for myself. As a result, I was quite skilled at cooking. And thanks to that, I wasnt troubled now. Anyways, I became side-tracked. Well, if I couldnt decide what I would like to do based on my current self, I would instead decide on how to proceed based on my past self. We are essentially the same person. I dislike being forced to do anything. I dislike troublesome matters. As such, I would escape if it came down to it. So this would be the basic future course of action. And for the time being, I would live here. I n on leaving this forest, eventually. But, until then, I would continue living here. I would continue on living peacefully until something happens. Yes, I will go with this n. However, I will still continue leveling my skills. Since the skills would be a necessary countermeasure if anything were to happen. Plus, there were also various things I would like to make. Such as things I had nned to make or had failed at making in my previous life. Since there was magic in this world, I could probably make them here. I essentially still dont have a goal or purpose for existing in this world? I suppose I should explore the world a bit once I be able to. Exploring the world? Hmm, sounds interesting, no, I am interested. I only knew about the town where the orphanage was located, so I basically knew nothing else. My knowledge regarding themon sense of the world was likely stillcking. Since the inte didnt exist in this world, there wasnt any convenient, world-wide information sharingwork. Then, once I leave the forest, should I investigate these sort of things first? After deciding all these things, I exited the bath. Ah, I was able to enjoy a nice bath, but now that I think about it, wasnt I still an orphan? These sort of thoughts drifted through my mind as I slept on a soft bed. The bed was also made using my previous lifes knowledge and [Creation Magic]. Cheats sure are terrible. Chapter 7: I Want to Eat Meat Chapter 7: I Want to Eat Meat Its been three months since the expansion of the house. Almost half a year has passed since the carriage ident. My hair has grown quite a bit, and it was now long enough to reach my shoulders. The bangs were annoying though. It was summer now in this world. But the surroundings were quiet. My lifestyle was now stable, so next was the matter of clothing. Until recently, I was wearing the same clothes I had made when I was experimenting with my skills a few months ago. Since I had been wearing it for several months now, the fabric had be worn out, so I decided to make new clothes. What type of cloth did I use? Well, no, I used wood. Or rather, I used the cellulose extracted from the woodno, never mind, forget about the details. Its difficult to exin. Anyways, I managed to make them with [Creation Magic]. While I was making clothes, I obtained the skill [Apparel] and became able to make somewhat borate designs. If I leveled this skill, would I be able to make moreplex embroideries? Right now, I was nting vegetables in the garden. I used to have an indoor garden at my parents house, but since I couldnt recall all the steps, I decided to nt easier to grow ones. What about the seeds? [Creation Magic] took care of that.1 Plus, the MP consumption was very low. But a fully grown nt would cost a lot of MP. I first started off with radishes, then expanded to cherry tomatoes, mitsuba, spinach, green beans, okra, shiso,2 and such. Ive already harvested the fast growing vegetables multiple times. And they were absolutely delicious! After three months Ive be familiarized with the process, and was now considering starting new projects. Earth magic sure is convenient. I also left fertilizers and pesticides to [Creation Magic]. If I ignore the MP cost, magic was quite an all-rounder. No, I will ignore it. Its very useful. I also obtained fire and light attribute magic. Although the light was just used to light the house and the fire was just used for cooking purposes. No matter, there wasnt any harm in obtaining them. I also went to investigate the site of the carriage ident once in the past three months. All the luggage I hadnt taken was gone. Its likely the bandits took them afterwards. The bodies were all rotten and smelled awful. Although I couldve been discovered by the bandits, I decided to bury everything. Though the time was short, they were my travel partners. More than anything, the ethics of my past self were aching. I left the broken carriage alone for the time being. Due to the recent troubles I had more to think about. I want to eat meat. Thats right, meat. Protein. Didnt I have supplements to make up for the nutritional bnce? Thats unrted! Meat is meat! But using [Creation Magic] to make it would cost too much. I knew how to cook. Since in my previous life, I lived alone and so I had to learn to cook for myself. If I have the ingredients, then cooking with [Creation Magic] would also cost less. So in other words, Im saying that I need to hunt in order to get meat. Unfortunately, I was a bitcking. My only weapon was a knife. The sharpness had been enhanced with [Creativity Magic], but even so the range is still too short. If I were to go against a wild boar or something, I would be dead with one hit. Rather, I dont even think this body is physically capable of hunting. Should I set up traps? No, Im not too familiar with how to build them. Even so, with magic I should be able to somehow manage, but then theres the problem of where to set the traps up. I was unfamiliar with how to look for animal trails. As such, I could only search and attack. I would prefer to use a long-range weapon. So I head towards an open area. First up, a bow. I made one on the spot. The structure was simple. Since I used [Creation Magic] to make it, it should be fairly urate. I tried pulling on it andI found out I couldnt. I was too weak. Next up, a crossbow. I should be able to figure out the structure. But unfortunately, not enough MP! It would seem the structure was still tooplex. My max MP was only 80 at the moment. Then, some kind of projectile weapon. But I would need one that was capable of taking downrge animals. If it was a small animal, I could just use a sling which I could make immediately with a cloth of the right length. Its sometimes easy to forget, but I was living in a dangerous forest. Its a ce where dangerous monsters and animals would appear if it werent for the monster-repents. A long-range weapon that could prate the thick hide of an animal. A gun? I understood the basic structure. I also shot one before. Well, in my previous life. But the structure is probably still tooplex. In the first ce, I couldnt even make a crossbow. It might be possible to make the crossbow if I didnt have to make the part that pulls the string. But then it wouldnt work. Should I try making them separately then assemble it? Lets try it out. Unfortunately, I couldnt make the drawstringponent. I give up. Is there any other way? I ced my hand on my chin and began stroking it as I thought. It was a habit of my previous self. But the stubble..my beard.wasnt there. Im a girl now, so of course I dont have a beard! Lets just focus and think again. Hmm, in my previous life..there was an anime I saw before. A king with golden armor that was able to summon forth flying swords.3 Ah, but to begin with, how would you make the swords fly forwards after summoning them? Perhaps propel them forward with kic energy Kic energy? Maybe thats it. I knew those hobbies of mine woulde in handy. Lets test it out with [Creation Magic] But creating the weaponsright, it would cost too much. I did have a lot of leftover stones in storage from the time I was expanding my house. Next up, kic energy. It would be some form of intangible energy. I tried forming it and sent a stone flying forward. The MP cost was low. But it felt like the speed was a bit slow, so lets try increasing the power. In order for it to prate the skin of an animalit would have to be 200mph? If I remember correctly, the speed of a bullet from a handgun would be around 400mph? And a rifle should be about double, I think some guns can even go above 1400mph. Its probably better not to overdo it. Even if I managed to hit it, I wouldnt be able to eat if the prey explodes. For now, lets just start with 200mph and 400mph. It flew without any problems at 200mph. The MP cost was small, at a mere 1MP. 400mph cost 5MP. Now like a rifle, lets try 800mph. It cost 20MP. How painful Is this alright? Can I get meat now? After finishing preparations, I decided to go hunting tomorrow. Chapter 8: I Was Dying Chapter 8: I Was Dying Now then, today was a fine day. The weather was great for hunting. The preparations wereplete. I was in light clothing, but it was slightly thick to provide better defence. I was also wearing light shoes with rubber soles, which were above the standards of this world. I wasnt carrying any luggage. Rather, it would be pointless since I have [Storage]. I locked my house. Alright, lets go! I activated my skills after travelling a bit away from home. I used the skills [Alert] and [Detection]. I obtained both of these skills about three months ago. Both were already LV4. How? Simple. Like [Appraisal] I used it almost constantly. Also, like how I used [Appraisal] I would multi-task while using it. As of now, I could split my thoughts into four ways. The first was for thinking. Thinking took about 60-70% of my thought process. The remaining 30% was divided three ways. The second was for [Appraisal] and [Storage]. The third was for [Alert] and [Detection]. The fourth wasnt being used so far. I would like to have another useful skill to fill it with. And my current status was like this:
Ren10 Year old
Race:Celestialupation:Orphan; Forest Dweller
HP:55/55MP:80/80
STR:3VIT:3
DEX:5AGI:3
INT:500MGC:300
CHA:14LUK:3
Skills:
Creation Magic LV2 Magic: Light LV 2 Magic: Fire LV3 Magic: Water LV4 Magic: Earth LV3 Compound LV3 cksmith LV1 Metalwork LV2 Woodwork LV3 Apparel LV3 Storage LV- Life Magic LV7 Appraisal LV7 Alert LV4 Detection LV4 Cooking LV4 Farming LV3 Harvesting LV4 Resistance: Hunger LV1 Resistance: Fatigue LV1 Resistance: Pain LV3 Magic Attribute Aptitude: All Attributes
I became a forest dweller. Uwah~ And the upation! Orphan! Im still an orphan!? It would appear that the number of upations will either increase or decrease depending if certain conditions are met. Water Magic? It leveled up since I used water magic for baths everyday. And farming. Was it because I used to have an indoor garden? But during my time at the orphanage, I also tried..no, never mind, forget about it.. The reason why CHA went up was because my diet had improved and my malnourished appearance had disappeared. I also felt like my chest has grown recently. My heightthere wasnt any change. No, never mind. I was still growing. Yes, lets take a positive stance! Nothing! Theres absolutely nothing! I had been walking for about an hour, but nothing had appeared. Detection hadnt picked up anything. Even when it did detect something, whenever I got closer it would move away. Did the animals perhaps sense me? Maybe, I should walk more lightly? At this rate, I wouldnt find anything. At least give me a rabbit, or bird, or something Another hour had passed. During this time I had been controlling my breaths and treaded lightly. And thanks to that I had obtained another skill. Stealth. If I recall, stealth should be an advancement of the skill [Light Steps]. So this was the result of continuously using it. There. I found a horned rabbit. And theres two! Now I had to catch them. Plus both were big. The horned rabbit had a single horn on its head. It was also amon food source. I held my breath and hid myself. Fortunately, the direction of the wind wasnt resistant. I took out a stone and aimed towards the horned rabbit. ..And shoot! The stone tore through the air andnded with a st. A direct hit! Hurry, the second shot! Another direct hit! Yes! Meat! Ill be feasting tonight! No, enough of that. Was it the stone? Or rather the way Iunched it? The speed was somehow different. Since I couldnt drain the blood now, I ced it into [Storage] for the time being. It was very helpful since it kept the meat from spoiling. Ill figure out how to skin itter. For now, lets head home with the spoils! As I prepared to head back I saw it. A huge wild boar. No, it was seriously huge. And very close. Eh, whats is this? No wait, calm down! Now is not the time to be panicking! For now, just slowly back up and avoid agitating it, back up, just back up..ah, my back was against a tree. The wild boar didnt look like it was going to leave and it was giving me a dreadful stare. A really dreadful stare. And here ites! I barely managed to dodge the wild boars charge. The wild boars tusk mmed into the tree, but it appeared unfazed. What is with this unreasonable situation! Ah, its charging again! I hurriedlyunched a stone at it, but it missed. Iunched several more stones at the iing wild boar, however only a few met its target while the rest missedpletely. Wait! Wait a second! It wasnt this hard against the horned rabbits! Whats going on? Is because Im moving? Thats it. Its like sniping, I had time to prepare and concentrate but nahhh!? This time I really did dodge at thest second. But I couldnt keep it up any longer. My feet were bing tired. I was scared. It really was difficult to hit the target while it was moving. The wild boar rushed forward again. I prepared to dodge it. But my legs were trembling too much and the boar managed to clip me on the side. The impact sent me flying, but luckily, I managed to avoid colliding into a tree. .Lucky? How? At this rate, I will die. I was in pain. I coughed and blood came forth. Were my organs damaged? The situation really was getting worse. The wild boar turned towards me and began preparing to charge again. I dont want to die yet. I was finally able to live freelysomething, was there something else I could do? The wild boar was even further than before. And I couldnt move. If I didnt move I would end up just like the rabbits. This wasnt the time to lose hope. The wild boar was fine even when it rammed into a tree. I have to prate its head somehow. I would need the same strength as a rifle. I didnt hesitate and shot with all my strength. The stone ripped through the air with a tremendous force. A gaping hole appeared in the wild boars head and it copsed. Did I beat it? I defeated it! But my side was in pain. Most likely several ribs were broken. I wonder if Im going to die like thismy conscious was bing hazyno, wait, wait, I have potions! I need to hurry up and drink it before I die! Hurry, drink Thus, that was how my first hunting experience wentno, wait a minute!? If I just looked at the results, this is a win! Chapter 9: Eating Meat Chapter 9: Eating Meat The meat sure was a strong opponent. No, Im not joking. I nearly died out there, but in order to eat meat I would have to venture out again. Naturally, I was scared as I wasnt fearless. I managed to think of something this time, but I should rethink my attack methods. To begin with, when I tried attacking the wild boar while moving, nearly all my stones missed. I couldntunch them while moving. Which means, I would have tounch them beforehandthat aside I should process the meat first. I was currently standing in the garden. I immediately returned home after that. I was scared on my way back so I had used double the amount of monster repents. But due to that, I was able to make it back safely. I was still scared and I had to figure out a countermeasure for next time, but for now, I want to eat meat. And in order to do that, I have to process the meat. I took out the freshly-killed horned rabbit. Now..thiswhat do I do? I dont know how to dismantle it. Nows the time for the handy [Creation Magic] to appear! Lets turn this horned rabbit carcass into edible meat. But unfortunately, not enough MP! But I have a knife. So was the cost of the action still too much? Lets check the status. 20 MP remaining. It decreased a lot. I might be able to use [Creative Magic] to dismantle it tomorrow after resting for the night. But I want to eat it now! I looked through my status for anything else I could use. Appraisal, Alert, Detection, Stealth, and Farming. None of them were useable. Maybe Life Magic? It didnt seem like it could be used, but I tried using it anyways. But nothing happened. Right, of course~ My cooking skill was a bit under-leveled so it probably also wouldnt work. Now that I think about it, when I was taking a bath, didnt I just directly take the shampoo itself right out of [Storage]? If so, then perhaps I could also just take a certain part of the animal out I activated [Storage] while concentrating on removing only the fur of a horned rabbit. And I was able to do that. Ehh? Whats with this? No wait, isnt [Storage] way too convenient like this? Despite the various negatives of this world, there were also numerous positives I was grateful for. For starters, no blood was spilled. This was the positive. But when I took it out a puddle of blood also appeared at the designated area. This was the negative. Next, I separated the organs and the edible portions of the meat. Fats. Bones. The brain could be used as a tanning substitute for the hides, I would do itter with [Creation Magic]. And with that, the processing was finished. After finishing with processing the second one, I looked towards the puddle of blood. It might be easier to process it if I dont have to take it out. Andit turned out I could do that. I activated storage and found out I was able to specify what I wanted while the item was still inside. This sure was some cheat. The processing of the wild boar was alsopleted in a few seconds in a strange sense. Still, why do I feel so mentally exhausted then? That night, I made horned rabbit stew. I created spices and add them in as I cooked. I also made cooking utensils such as pots. What material did I use for the pot? I collected iron sand from the river using [Storage]. Although it took a bit of time. As for the cooking knife I just used my knife after sterilizing it with [Clean]. The stew I made was very delicious. This was the first meat I had in six months. At the orphanage, I was able to eat meat about once a month. After I finished eating the meat, I had a nice and fulfilling sleep. Furthermore, I was happy since I didnt waste the blood because I was able to remove the salt from it. I also didnt waste the bone and used it as a base for the broth and the remainder as fertilizer. The next day. I was working on improving my attack methods. I realized after yesterdays incident. It was difficult tounch stones when there is movement. Even if I managed to sessfullyunch them it would be due to luck. But it would be bad if it ended up missing. Now then, guns have barrels, which help guide the direction of the bullet forward at a certain speed. So, I suppose I would need something to act as a barrel. But thenes the question of: What would I use? Do I have to make it on the spot every time? Or should I prepare something beforehand? What about the firepower? Unlike pots or pans, using just iron only would cause problems. Furthermore, adjusting the carbon content and gathering enough iron to make a barrel would be difficult. It took about a week to collect enough iron sand to make a pot. And about two weeks for a frying pan. But I managed to obtain the skills [Metalwork] and [cksmith] in the meantime. So perhaps something else..no wait, do I actually have to use something physically? The kic energy I used tounch the stones wasnt tangible. Then, if I used the air, maybe Right, lets test it out. Thus I tried several experiments. And the results. I could make a substitute for the barrel using the air, but it would now cost more MP tounch stones. For now, I decided to go with the name Air Barrel. Next, I tried creating a rifling inside the air barrel to improve the overall power. The rifling turned out to be fairly easy to make and so the pration and speed increased. But since the amount of friction increased, the stones that wereunched were smaller. Furthermore, the MP cost doubled. The pration strength increased, but since the bullet was smaller, the damage would decrease. I should probably keep this in mind while using it. I would prefer metal bullets insteadwould throwing knives also work? I wonder if I should try making them myself or just buy some from a town. Well, for now, I will just have to proceed without the rifling. I also practiced shooting while moving. Im not really athletic, but in the meantime, I practiced while moving through the forest. The results were good. And I managed to gain the skill [Snipe]. Which would make it easier to get meat. And so I immediately went hunting. The results? It was likest times struggle never happened. I managed to easily down a stag. It was a bit hard to ept. Chapter 10: Actually, it seems Im Quite Erotic Chapter 10: Actually, it seems I''m Quite Erotic It has been two months since my first hunt. The season has turned to autumn. The problems with food, clothing, and shelter have all been taken care of, so nowI have free time! Well, half-truth, I was still trying to increase my skill level by continually using them. As a result, I managed to gain wind attribute magic. It seems that the air barrel I created tounch stones was ssified as a wind attribute magic. But my [Creation Magic] skill still hasnt gone up from LV2, even though all my other skills have leveled up. It seems that I would need quite a bit of experience in order to breakthrough. And it was very difficult to work hard when I wasnt able to tell if the results of my training were having an effect. As such, Ive only been giving half an effort. And I spent the rest of my time in a daze. To begin with, even if I tried to continue training my concentration wouldnt hold. Im bored I rolled around on the bed. Yep, fluffy. On a side note, I made this bed myself. I made it right after finishing the expansion of my house. As for why the bed is sofortable? Its because the mattress was made with pocket coils. When I consider this worlds technology level, I believe it would be an invention at the level of a technology revolution. I made something quite amazing! Thus, I was rolling around on it. Ow. I suddenly felt pain as my clothes brushed against me. Hm, where? My nipple? It seems my breasts have grown again recently, they were clearlyrger than they were during the time of the carriage ident. These are obviously not the appropriate size for a ten year old. Hmm, even just a bit of movement makes them hurt, if I dont think up of a proper countermeasure it could cause problems in daily life. I gently rubbed my breast as I began thinking. *Rub *Rub *Rub Yep, quite soft. *Rub *Rub *Rub *Rub *Rub *Rub Nnn ..A weird sound came out. At this point rather than just touching them, arent I actually..massaging them? No, I apologize, Ill be honest. I was caressing them. But even as I thought this, my hands wouldnt stop. I never really thought about it before, but this body was female, and my thoughts were closer to that of a male. I was really curious. If you were a male and suddenly your gender changed, wouldnt you be curious too? And now that it actually happened Ill do it then!? Im definitely doing it then!? Nnnaaahh! Im sorry, I cant stand it any longer. I slowly reached down towards my lower abdomen It has been around three days and I was still inside my room. Im sorry for being so perverted. But I cant help it! Its just amazing! It feltpletely different! This..thisI just cant help myself! Two more days passed by. As expected, I went overboardbut right, Ive satisfied myself to my hearts content. What do I mean? Dont make me say, its embarrassing. Anyways, I felt hungry. I took a potion out from [Storage] and tried to make do with just that, but as expected that wasnt going to work. Lets make some food. I went towards the kitchen in only my underwear, but since people nevere this deep into the forest, it was fine. Still, why was this happening to begin with? If I recall, it started hurting because my clothes brushed against it? Then should I make some underwear for the top too? I finished cooking and ate while thinking. Andter in the afternoon. For now, I followed my adult-like desires and made underwear fitting my taste. A ckcebo with garter belts and stockings. There were also several other sets in white, red, and various other colors. I tried one on as a test. Eh? How do I put it on? Will the shape be disfigured if I dont wear it properly? Ah, I see, now I know how to wear it. Hmm, I think its a bit different than how it was in my previous world. Which is why I had to confirm by wearing it! Ah, I sure have a nice figure! Last I saw myself in front of this mirror was two days ago. It took around two months to get the mirror to this current state. I first had to make arge ss te and then adjust each day for around six weeks until it could reflect my image. After about another two weeks of final adjustments until it reached around earth level rity, I applied silver ting on the backside. It really did take a lot of effort.in particr the silver ting.. Now, my opinions on the underwear. ..This kind of underwear on a ten year old just kind of feels wrong. But I will still wear it! No, but what if someone sees it? Thats fine since its just me, itspletely alright! That aside, since I was able to make underwear with suchplex designs, doesnt that mean my [Creation Magic] might have leveled up? Lets confirm my status!
Ren10 Year old
Race:Celestialupation:Orphan; Forest Dweller
HP:55/55MP:100/100
STR:3VIT:3
DEX:6AGI:4
INT:500MGC:300
CHA:17LUK:4
Skills:
Creation Magic LV3 Snipe LV2 Magic: Light LV3 Magic: Fire LV3 Magic: Water LV5 Magic: Wind LV3 Magic: Earth LV4 Compound LV4 cksmith LV2 Metalwork LV2 Leatherwork LV3 Woodwork LV4 Apparel LV4 Storage LV- Life Magic LV7 Appraisal LV8 Alert LV5 Detection LV5 Stealth LV3 Cooking LV5 Farming LV4 Resistance: Hunger LV3 Resistance: Fatigue LV3 Resistance: Pain LV3 Lewdness LV5 Big Breasts LV1 Magic Attribute Aptitude: All Attributes
Ohh! It really has leveled up! LV3! And my MP has finally reached 100! Lets see my other statushmm, AGI increased by 1, and CHA has somehow increased a lot? What happened? For the past few days, I havent really been doing anything that would increase my charm right? Eh? Lewdness? LV5? Huh? Aaaahhhhhhh!? Lewd.at age 10hahhh. ..I dont want to think about anything anymore. Lets just go to sleep. Chapter 11: Its Not Like Im Lonely! Chapter 11: It''s Not Like I''m Lonely! Hello, this is Ren. What a horrible incidentit seems I cant just pretend to ignore it. Right, Im sorry. In truth..a few days after that incident, I think my period came? It was my first menstruation. The shock wasquite terrible. Anyhow, I was now all of a sudden LV5. And how should I put this? My body felt very sluggish due to the symptoms from menstruation. And I wasnt able to move around for a while. Ah, I did use the knowledge from my previous life and made painkillers with [Creation Magic] so I could move around now. But it took a while before that idea came to mind. No, I couldnt help it, I was upset. Anyways, I could now move due to the painkillers, but even so, I didnt have the energy to move around. And so Ive just beenying on the bed all day long. As such, I was considering to strive towards living a wholesome life. Therefore, lets start over, Im Ren, its a pleasure to meet you. Eh? My tone is different from before. Ah Its because of that. My thoughts were bing more feminine. Most likely due to what I had done to cause the whole LV5 incident, or because of the menstruation. I believe that is the cause, so Im assuming that the state of my mind is being affected by the body. For now, I epted the circumstances since my body was female. The base of my current personality was the umtion of ten years of life in this world. But, regardless, I wasnt able to just erase the values and memories of my middle-aged male self from the previous world. My masculine thoughts woulde out every now and then. Anyways, the female body sure wasplicated. Rather, isnt this all because of the skill!? Therefore, its not my fault! Also, my nighttime routines ended up increasing. As such, I would lock the bedroom during those times to prevent any sounds from leaking. At this rate, my days of reaching LV6 is probably not too far away. But that aside. To be honest, there was also nothing else to do. And I didnt want to go outside hunting since I wasnt feeling well. So instead, I was just sunbathing in the garden. Now, this is wholesome! Eh? Im not really striving to live wholesomely? Ahh But living peacefully would still be considered wholesome, its true okay? ..Hmm, Detection was reacting to something. What is it? A wolf? But it doesnt seem to be moving much.its a bit strange that its staying still. To begin with, what was a monster doing so close to be within my Detection range? Hm, theres no point in thinking about it here, lets go see whats up. Alright, lets prepare! But I only ended up grabbing a straw hat. And a sickle too! .No, never mind, lets leave the sickle behind. That would be a bit too much Anyways, I arrived at the crime scene. Although, it wasnt really a crime scene. Now lets see, two wolves? What are they doing hereah, its an injured mother wolf and her child. Ah I see, I ced monster repents around this area, so the two wolves probably came here because they knew monster wouldnt appear here. Hmm, what should I do now..I could just leave them alone, or kill them for their fur. Since its my freedom to choose what I want to do. .Then, should I help them? Hah, it seems Im being influenced by the ethics of my past world..I would probably just leave them otherwise. But how can I help them? It would be easier if I could use healing magic, but my only recovery methods are potions. Would they drink it? Wild animals usually wouldnt drink what a human gives them. The wolf growled menacingly as I approached. Of course. Are you scared? Grrrrrr. Yep, knew it. But I was still a bit shocked. Well, its fine, the potion should be effective even if I just pour it on the affected area. So I guess I could just pour it from over here. Right, lets just do that. Ahh, it was barking quite a bit as I sshed the potion over them. But it would seem the potion worked. The wolf child suddenly sprung up towards me excitedly. Its body was quite warm. It seems the wolf pup now understands that I was trying to help them. But wouldnt sshing stuff on animals usually be considered abuse? As I was thinking random thoughts, I watched on as the wounds on the mother wolf gradually healed. The growling mother wolf immediately became quiet. After the woundspletely healed, it rose and stared at me. Ah, does she understand that I healed her? The mother wolf continued staring at me for a bit, then turned around and left with its child. As expected, its not like she would thank me, too bad. Well, I did ssh stuff on them so Or thats what I initially thought. But the wolves were now sleeping in my garden. So how did this happen? Well, a few days ago, I went hunting because I was feeling a lot better. The wolves ended up following me for some reason. So I shared some of my spoils with them. Afterward, every time I went hunting, I would share what I caught with them and they became aware that I would feed them. I guess I would be lying if I said I wasnt feeling lonely living in this forest by myself. So, to be honest, I was very happy. I also decided to give them names. The mother wolf with grayish-silver fur is Norn. And the silvery-white wolf pup is Bell. Am I basing the name off something? Ahh, wellyeah. It wouldve been great if there had been three wolves. I couldve used the word that came after. But with this, I would be free of my loner life. Eh? But they dont know how to talk? This and that are two different matters. Besides Im able to fluff their fur! Chapter 12: Norn, an Incident Chapter 12: Norn, an Incident I am now living with a dog! But I actually like cats! Well, actually theyre wolves not dogs. How nice, now life wont be as lonely. That aside, it was around mid-October and the winter season was drawing near. It was cold. Gardening was getting difficult, so I had harvested all the vegetables and had stopped for the uing winter. I was now preparing for winter and increasing my hunting frequency. Time to secure meat! But in the worst case I could manage with Creation Magic. Hm? Is the way Im speaking reverting back to normal? Yep, it is. Ive grown tired of it. I ran into a group of orcs several days ago, it was a group of ten orcs. Hm? Did I think I was about to die? No, it was just beyond what I had expected I guess? I hadnt detected the Orc group with Detection. Instead, Norn, the mother wolf that I befriended had warned me of them. And so I was able to snipe them from a distance. As such, I was able to obtain a lot of pork or rather orc meat. Orc meat is edible and often used as a source of meat. Plus, it tastes just like pork. But, orc meat is expensive so I never had a chance of eating it at the orphanage. Moving on, there was Norn. I thought she was a bit too smart, so after annihting the orc group I had used Appraisal on her.
Norn50 Years old
Race:Fenrirupation:Monster; Rens Friend
HP:450/450MP:80/80
STR:18VIT:15
DEX:15AGI:30
INT:15MGC:15
CHA:15LUK:10
Skills:
Magic: Water LV3 Magic: Wind LV3 Magic: Ice LV3 Magic: Electic LV3 Alert LV6 Detection LV7 Stealth LV7 Magic Attribute Aptitude: Water Wind Ice Electic
A Fenrir was a super rare monster from legends, so I was quite thankful. They were about slightlyrger than a normal wolf, and Norn was about 2m when we first met. ording to legends, Fenrirs could also speak, but it seems Norn would still be considered young so she didnt know how to talk yet. But she seems to understand what I am saying, so Im looking forward to the day where we can talk. Furthermore, as a Fenrir grows older it will be ssified as a divine beast instead of a monster. However, it apparently can take up to hundreds or even thousands of years for that to happen. Which is a shame. Norns skill levels were also higher than mine. However, she was still somehow injured, I think she mightve been ambushed or something. But still for something to be able to bypass a LV7 Alert skill and injure her, there was probably something really strong living in this forest. It might not even be safe here too, so I should consider relocating somewhere else. Hmm. Oh right, moving on to Bell.
Bell1 Years old
Race:Fenrirupation:Monster; Norns Daughter
HP:20/20MP:5/5
STR:5VIT:5
DEX:5AGI:15
INT:8MGC:8
CHA:8LUK:5
Skills:
Alert LV1 Detection LV1 Stealth LV1 Magic Attribute Aptitude: Water Wind Ice Electic
Bell was still a child, but some of her status were still higher than mine. Like STR for example. Its not like Im jealous or anything! So lets just fluff her up a bit! Anyways, with these sort of feeling we finished up hunting and returned home. Today was a big sess thanks to Norn. It was sunny outside and the weather was perfect for hunting. Recently, there were many days where the weather was bad, which made it difficult to hunt. As for todays spoils, we managed to catch tworge birds and two orcs. I was quite happy. Norn and Bell also didnt eat as much as I had initially expected. The two were Fenrirs, and big, so I had thought they would eat a lot. But, unexpectedly the two consume just an average amount of meat. That being said, Norn and Bell basically procure their own food to eat. What should I do for tonight? Should I fry the orc meat? Or should I try broiling the bird meat? Hm, but the soy sauce seems to be running low, and its about time to restock the other spices. There was still quite a lot I needed to do. Since a lot of fat could be taken from the orc meat, I could go with a simple stir-fry method. But since I didnt have any bread crumbs, deep-frying would be a no go. I also found out something after testing it. It seems that orc fat doesnt sit well with me. If I eat too much, it would go right to my stomach. Fried foods were devastating in more than one way. As such, I was looking for nts that could be used for their oils, but I havent found anything like that yet. How annoying As I was brooding over my own thoughts, Bell came bounding over to my feet. It sure was peaceful. On a side note, this world has soy sauce and miso. And the universalnguage was Japanese. What was with this reincarnation setting? ! Norn? As I walked leisurely thinking about the dinner menu, Norn suddenly reacted to something. Then she started running, so I gave chase. A reaction soon appeared within my Detection range. 3 goblins. And 1 human.1 An attack? Should I save them? Yep, lets save them. I decided to use a Status Boost Potion. It was a low grade one and would boost my AGI. The effect was a +2 status boost. I activated Storage and directly injected it into my veins. This method would save me the trouble of having to actually drink it and was more effective in smaller doses. But the effect time would be shorter. Plus, it would cause more stress on the body. As such, my body would probably feel sore tomorrow, but for now I concentrated and picked up speed. I soon saw them. A group of three goblins. It seems they havent noticed me yet. The leftmost goblin raised its sword. There was a human figure in front of it, so I started preparing ammunition. Norn, take the farthest one out, please! Woof! I aimed at the head of the leftmost goblin. Iunched forward a stone I made with earth magic. The stone met its target and the goblins head exploded. The goblin towards the front noticed, but Norn jumped over it and snapped down on the neck of the goblin behind it. The goblin in front followed Norns movements and turned around. I elerated further and jumped up, delivering a kick to the goblin that bared its back to me. A dull, unpleasant feeling was transmitted to my feet. I then made a gracefulnding on the ground, which I felt was quite admirable considering my athleticism. When I looked up feeling satisfied with myself, the goblin was being crushed by Norn, she gave a squeeze and it convulsed, before going limp. .Is it already over? After confirming the death of the goblins, I pulled up the hood on my cloak. Since it had be cold recently, I made a leather cloak using the hide of the prey I had hunted. I had pulled up my hood just in case. The effects of the potion had worn off. The durationsted about 30 secondswas it possible to have settled the matter sooner? On a side note, what I did was boost myself, it wasnt doping. I had an image that what I did would be bad if I considered it doping. But these were just personal feelings. Oh right, is the person being attacked alright? I nced over to confirm. .A woman, no a child? Well, no, Im also a child. But she was smaller than me. It looks like she is around 7-8 years old? Ah, it looks like Bell has finally caught up. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? A-Ahh.. Hm? Why is she looking behind me? What As I look back, I saw Norn nosily devouring the group of goblins. Ahh, this is a bit!? I wish she wouldnt eat it right now I was momentarily stunned, but then I heard something fall over in front of me. When I looked back at the child, she had fainted. .Its not like she was going to eat you. Chapter 13: Mother Appears to be Sick Chapter 13: Mother Appears to be Sick Hmm..what should I do? I looked at the lost child who had fainted. I couldnt just leave her like this, so I decided to carry the child back home on my back. Somehow, I have a feeling this would be troublesome.. I also ced the goblin corpses into Storage. If I left the bodies unattended it would attract other monsters so I couldnt leave them there. Monsters have magic stones inside their bodies. If I took them out it might be possible to use the goblins as fertilizer. Goblins werent edible no matter how you cooked them. I could also sell the magic stones for money. Ive returned back home. For the time being, Iid the child down on the sofa in the living room and started a fire in the firece. On a side note, the sofa was also a non-standard product of this world and had pocket coils. I will spare no effort in improving my living conditions! Anyhow, I started preparing a drink for the girl in case she woke up. But I kept my cloak and hood on. I think its better to keep my face hidden just in case. For starters, I was trying to avoid being discovered, hence why I was living hidden in the forest. I began boiling hot water and added herbal tea with honey. It might be better to provide something sweeter, but its difficult to get luxury items in the forest. I wished I had milk too. But it was impossible to raise livestock. Mm..n Oh, it seems shes awake. Youre awake? How are you feeling? She wasnt injured from what I saw after taking her home, but I asked just to make sure. I had some medical knowledge, but since Im not a doctor I wasnt too sure. Where is here? Where am I? She ignored my question! I feel sad. This is my house. You were attacked by goblins. Do you remember? Goblins! Ah, looks like she remembers. Her body was trembling all over. Its alright now. There arent anymore goblins. There was also a wolf..wolf! ..Will it eat me? It wont eat you. If youre talking about that wolf, its currently sleeping outside. Do you want to see? No. Hmm, what should I do about her? For the time being, I gave her a cup of tea. But she wouldnt drink it. Its not poisoned. How rude. When I drank my portion, the girl looked at me with a scared expression on her face. Anyways, what were you doing in that sort of ce? Isnt the deeper parts of the forest dangerous since there are various monsters about? ..My mom.shes sick. And so she began talking about her situation. So it seems her mother had an illness. Her family was poor, but they usually always had enough money to buy medicine. This year, however, an epidemic had spread throughout the vige, so many people had to buy medicine which caused the supply to run out. As such, it seems she hade to the deeper parts of the forest to search for medical herbs. Judging from the description of the symptoms, the epidemic appears to be simr to the flu. Speaking of flu medicines, if I recall the brands were Tamiflu, Relenza, and Inavir? I also remember being given antibiotics when I went to the hospital. If this continues on, my mom will die Ah, she started crying. I couldnt stand it. I was not nning to do anything about it. But as someone who was once Japanese, ignoring this would be difficult. Furthermore, it seems some people in her vige have even died from the illness. Judging from what I heard its most likely that more than 48 hours have passed since the onset. Her mother had been sick in bed for a few days now, and the girl said she had been walking for about half a day. Although more than 48 hours have passed since the onset, in an underdeveloped world like this, taking flu medicine should cure the person rather quickly..but the question is what type of medicine should I give her. Tamiflu and Relenza need to be taken multiple times. Furthermore, with medicine that needs to be taken multiple times, she might even stop taking it midway. For Inavir it only needs to be taken once. So I will go with this one. Since this medicine was in powder form it would need to be inhaled through the nose, but she might try eating it instead. Well, thats not my problem. Anyways, I will use Creation Magic! But it costs more than I expect. Hmm, 100? Expensive! That aside, would she even understand if I tell her the medicine needs to inhaledshould I just say it needs to be drunk? Have your mother drink this. What is it? Medicine for the illness. After drinking this, make sure to have a good meal and sleep well, then she should be cured. Probably. Medicine? Is it a medical herb? Its not a medical herb, but it is medicine. Is big sister a witch? Huh? Why is she calling me a witch!? Is it because Im living in the back of the forest and made a suspicious medicine!? Speaking of which, Im still wearing my hood! This is a witch no matter how you look at it! Im not a witch. I just live here. Really? ButI dont have any money for the medicine I dont need any money. But stay here for tonight since its alreadyte. As such, it was decided the girl would stay here for the night. I wasnt mean enough to throw her out in the middle of the night. She was a bit scared to eat during dinner, but after taking a bite, she ate it all at a tremendous speed. I had used various seasonings for this meal. The seasonings were made with my own hands. As expected, magic also has limitations. Afterward, I took the girl to sleep in the guest room on the first floor. She had quite a surprised expression when she saw the bed I created. And I watched the situation with a satisfied expression on my face. The next morning, I kicked her out immediately after breakfast. Well, I actually just had her return home. She looked back multiple times and waved goodbye to me. Hurry on and go back now. In addition to medicine, I also gave her some potions in ce of energy drinks. Her mother likely didnt have much energy if shes been in bed for this long, so drinking the potion would help her recover quickly. After a while, the girl disappeared from view so I lowered my hood. Ah~, I feel refreshed. Oh, thats right, I forgot to ask for her name. Well, whatever, I also didnt give her my name. Chapter 14: Uninvited Guests Chapter 14: Uninvited Guests A few days have passed since I helped the girl in the forest. I was outside hunting for food today. Of course, I was also with Norn and Bell. It was only a few days until November, so it wouldnt be strange if it started snowing soon. Soon, I would no longer be able to go out looking for supplies and food, it seems like hunting and gathering were about to reach their limits. I think my food stockpile might make it in time, or at least I hope it will. Even so, its great that Im able to keep the food supplies fresh. All thanks to the almighty Storage. But winter Winter. I guess I have no choice but to withdraw for the winter. It will be difficult with nothing entertaining to do. Entertainment my daily routine? No, no, definitely not. As expected, doing that throughout the entire winter would be impossible! Stay strong me! Im not some monkey! I am just your average, healthy person! Super healthy! That aside, I think that girl said it took about half a day to get from the vige to here. It seems I went deeper into the forest than I thought. Apparently, the vige was built inside of the forest, and it seems you would need to travel for about another half a day to get out of the forest. If this means I might run into more people from now, it could be troublesome. Should I move my base? Perhaps further upstream? But if its along the river, I still might run into people even with the greater distance. I finished hunting a bear today with various thoughts lingering in my mind. I was quite pleased with the big catch. Furthermore, I also found numerous rare herbs. There were some types of herbs that could only be found during the winter, so it might be possible to collect them when winter arrives. I headed back home in a good mood and humming a slight tune due to the better than expected harvest, but there were unexpected guests when I arrived. The girl from the other day and two adults. A male and female. Are they her parents? Theyre kind of young. Siblings? I hurriedly pulled on my hood. Ah, its big sis witch! I said Im not a witch! She sure has bad hearing! Hey, is that little thing? Yep, thats right! Big sis witch! Like I said. Yikes, the siblings have really suspicious looks on their faces. Im not a witch. Im just a normal girl. I am normal. And Im not little! Are you a witch. Im not a witch. I already told her that. Is that right? But she said she got medicine from a witch. I gave her the medicine, but Im not a witch. Is that so. Yes. The male was talking to me. He was much taller than me. He looked around 16 to 17 years old. In this world, one would be considered an adult at the age of 15, so he would be an adult. He would be able to drink. How enviable. The female next to him was staring at me. She looked about the same age as the male. Naturally, shes also taller than me. But its fine, Im still growing. My breast have already grown this big after all! You live in a ce like this? Well, yes. You live alone? Yes. What is with this ce..no to begin with, what is a house like this doing in a ce like this? Um, youve been asking quite a lot of questions, do I have to answer them all? Oh, no, that is..you dont have to. Somehow it ended up as an interrogation, he seems to be a bit interested in me. But it was still irritating. Its my freedom to live wherever I want. I was willing to pay taxes if I was told to. But thats only to the territory lords or whoever holds the rights for such things. As such, there wasnt any need toply with all his interrogative behavior right now. Everyone has their own reasons. Initially, since the little girl was here I was nning on inviting them inside, but Ive changed my mind. I feel bad for the child, but for now just talking outside would have to suffice. I ced a hand on my chest, feeling d that I had locked the door before leaving. From how things look, they might have tried going in without permission. Neil! Whats with your attitude! Did you forget about why we came here? Oh, my bad. But its just that shes living alone in a ce like this. Everyone has their own reasons! Hurry up and apologize! Oh, uhthat, sorry. Its alright. Good, at least the female has somemon sense. But still, why are they here? I have a feeling this might be troublesome..I want to escape. Uh, well, Im Neil..and Im her, Cocos older brother. Coco? Huh? Im talking about Coco. Didnt you help her? She was attacked by goblins. Ah, yes. So shes called Coco. Right, I forgot to ask for her namest time. So that child, her name is Coco. You didnt know? She told me you let her stay overnight. I forgot to ask for her name. O-Oh, okay. Uwah, he had a veryplicated expression his face. But even if you look at me like that, I cant help that I forgot. I havent talked to anyone for nearly a year. I pulled my hood further down as I thought about that. Uh, anyways..we came today because, well, we wanted to say thanks. The medicine you gave us cured my mother of her illness. It was very effective. Everyone had already given up. Thats why, uh, for saving her. Thanks. Is that sothats great then. So it was effective. Thats good. It was possible that it might have been another disease simr to the flu. This was a different world. So it wouldnt be strange if it was a disease that didnt exist on Earth. But looks like it worked, so that really was good news. So, uh, that.medicine! That medicine, that is, do you have anymore of it? There are several others in the vige who are seriously sick so.could you, uh, save them too, please! Uwah, I knew it would be something troublesome! Um, please! Hes saying other people, but his lover is also sick. Ah, I am his older sister, Collie! Nice to meet you! My younger brothers lover, that child is also sickthats why, please! Can you share some of that medicine with us? That is, unfortunately, I dont have anymore of that medicine left. It takes a lot of work to make that medicineso, your lover, right? Even if I were to prepare one, I wouldnt be able to make it immediately. Also, even if I did prepare medicine for that person, I would be troubled if she were to tell other people about itter on. Right, it would be difficult to help. The three of them hade carrying nothing but some light baggage. So in order words, they wanted it for free. Even if I was Japanese in my previous life, I wasnt that kind-hearted. Im just a hypocrite. A person who only works when he feels like it. To begin with, that medicine costs 100MP to make. I could only make one each day. And for today, I only had about half of my MP left after hunting and gathering. So even if I were to agree to help, they would have to wait until tomorrow. In that case, where were they nning to sleep? What about food? Were they nning on relying on me? I didnt have any obligation to do any of that. Therefore, I refuse. Its impossible. I would like to refrain. As such, I didnt tell them how long it would take to make the medicine. Furthermore, I didnt have a good impression of him. I had made the medicine for the girl called Coco and not for him. So theres no reason to make it for him. Dont say that! Please! I shook my head. Theres the issue with time, but I also dont have enough materials. Its impossible to give it to you immediately today, or tomorrow either. What do you need for the materials!? If you have it, can you make it!? I thought he would give up, but it seems he hasnt given up yet. Its gradually bing more and more troublesome. I couldnt go inside my house unless I unlock it. But they would try toe inside if I unlock it. I wish they would just leave already. Whats with you! Im already asking you like this already! Neil tried to grab me. Ah, but if he did that. Grrr! Norn came forth from behind me and threatened Neil. Thank you, Norn. U-Uh. Like I said earlier, I cant do anything about it no matter how much you plead with me. Please return home. The three people finally left after being threatened by Norn. Coco was looking sadly over at me, but I couldnt do anything about it. Today, I went to bed early without doing my daily routine.1 Chapter 15: Hypocrisy over Righteousness? Chapter 15: Hypocrisy over Righteousness? Three days after the assault from the three siblings. I was hiding in a forest near the vige. Neil hade alone the next day. I didnt meet him. But he came again the next day. Again alone. I ignored him. But I couldnt leave my house. So it was very inconvenient. As such, my mood wasnt too great and I couldnt do my daily routine. Thus, in order to regain my peaceful days, I gave up and decided to make the medicine. But I have no intention of giving it to Neil. I dislike him. So I decided I would give it to Coco instead. And so I was currently on the lookout wondering when Coco would appear. Yep, I look like a really suspicious person. So its great that I have the Stealth skill. Once I find her Ill report back. Lets tighten my hood and secure the perimeter! Anyways, the vige sure was quiet. There were very few people walking about. I wonder how their life looks like. It really is empty. And Coco still hasnt shown up yet. Even after waiting for a while no one had passed by. Why? Probably because of that. Everyone was likely still in bed. Most likely they couldnt leave home because they were too sick. Of course! Im being stupid ..But as I was about to give up and head home, I saw a face that I recognized. First viger discovered! Its Collie. That child was difficult to deal with. Shes quite vigorous. The type of person who pushes others to listen to their story. Its probably not possible to have a conversation with her. Or at least not a proper one. And so I decided to tail behind her without talking to her. After following her for a bit, Collie entered a house. It looked like she had gone out to draw water. So now I just have to wait for Coco toe out. Alright,e on, Coco! Big-sis witch? Oh, I found her. Or rather she found me! She was able to evade my eyes! Whats wrong? What is big-sis witch doing here? Um..Im not a witch, okay? Ah..um, Im sorry. Its alright, just be more careful from now on. ..I hope shell stop calling me witch after this. Um, sowhy is big-sis w-, doing here? She just said witch again. Or she almost did. Right, I brought this. I managed to gather enough materials. But only enough for this one time. Ehis it really okay!? Isnt this supposed to be very rare? Sorry, but not so loud. Could you please speak more quietly? Ah, Im sorrybut is it really okay? Yes..but I would be happy if you could tell him not toe anymore. To be honest, its bing annoying. Ah..that is, um, Im sorry. Probably. He was probably standing outside my house at this moment too. Okay, then can I rely on you to pass on the message? Yes! I hope with this my peaceful days will return. If he continues toe bother me then I will move. Ive already decided upon that. Well then, I will be returning home. Okay, um, thank you! Its fine. Ah, can I ask you for one more thing? There are various materials for this medicine that cant be obtained during this season. So this really is thest one. So even if you want more, it really is impossible to make it anymore. If other people ask you, could you tell them that? Yes, I understand. I will make sure to tell everyone. You dont have to go out of your way to tell everyone you know? Right, then see you? Okay, bye-bye! Now then, lets go home. I dont want to do anything else for today. But as expected, when I arrived back home, he was standing outside. So I went out gathering until the evening before returning home. Several dayster. KNOCK KNOCK! There was the sound of someone pounding on the door. Who is it so early in the morning! Im sleepy..let me sleep.. KNOCK KNOCK!KNOCK KNOCK! KNOCK KNOCK! Shut up! I cant sleep! I got out of bed and went down to the living room. When I was about to open the door, I noticed that I was still in my sleepwear and activated Storage to instantly change my clothes. Its great since I could save myself the trouble of having to change my clothes one by one. Storage sure was convenient. After changing clothes, I unlocked the door and opened it. Ah! Its bright outside! Ah. Ugh, its Neil. Why did hee so early in the morning? Usually, he woulde around noon. Uhh, that, um .Whats with his reaction. Its different from usual. Whats with him? Ah, that uhh Ah. Im not hiding my face! I hurriedly mmed the door shut. I activated storage and equipped my cloak. Then I pulled on the hood before opening the door again. Good morning. Oh, uh, good morning. That sure was close. I barely managed to avoid catastrophe. Or at least, I hope I did. What are you doing here so early in the morning? Didnt you get the message? No, I heard it. But I just really wanted to say thanks. Thats why I left home around the time everyone was still sleeping toe here. Hah, is that so. Then I ept your gratitude, please return home. Wait! I just really wanted to thank you! I heard from my sister about how the medicine couldnt be made anymore. Even going out of your way to bring something so valuable.. Yes, I understand. Then I ept your gratitude, please return home. Wait! Wait! This isnt much of a repayment, but I brought some vegetables! To be truthful, theyre part of our stock for winter, but I wanted to do this much at least. Is that so, then thank you very much. I will ept it. Now then, I ept your gratitude, please return home. Why do you keep trying to make me leave!? Because for some reason you keep on trying to enter my house. Do you really not understand? Why a girl is living in such a remote location by herself? Its because I just want to live quietly. Do you understand? I made that medicine because you kept on being persistent and annoying, so I had no choice but to make it in order to get you to stop. Thats Neil lowered his head. But that was the truth. I just wanted to be left alone. If you understand, then please return home. And donte back anymore. I will ept the vegetables. Thank you very much. No, its fine..then, Ill Yes, goodbye. Neil then went back home. As such, my peaceful days have finally returned. I decided to go back to bed. Winter was slowly approaching. Chapter 16: Life of Withdrawal and Afterwards Chapter 16: Life of Withdrawal and Afterwards It soon reached December. There havent been any troublesome visitors since then. It also started snowing. I sometimes go out gathering on days where it doesnt snow, but most of the time I just stay indoors. At home, I usually just spend time making potions or iron. I had arge supply of iron sand since I had collected it at the river before winter started. If I could turn it into wrought iron then it would make a great weapon material, but it would take quite a bit of time to do. But I didnt need to rush to finish it during winter so I could take my time. I still havent made a longsword yet. But I did make many knives. And a kitchen knife. Its necessary for cooking! After umting enough wrought iron, I tried to make a katana again but I fainted. I nned to make the de length around that of a short sword..but neither my skill level or MP were high enough. The requirements were likely high since an advance level of cksmithing was needed. Since Ive been staying indoors, as expected, wellthe amount of time spent on the daily routine has increased. And, well, thats why I think I really will reach LV6 soon Its also why Ive been making more potions too. Its not like it matters anyways! Im not bothering anyone! That aside, I go to sleep once the moon appears. The symptoms from this body were quite severeeven with the painkillers I still didnt want to move about Although it was winter Norn and Bell still lived outside. They sometimes slept inside the house, but most of the time they basically lived outside. Both of them were strong, but I still couldnt help but worry a bit. January. The concept of celebrating the New Year also exists in this world. Inrger towns, it seems there were even ces where festivals would be held. It wasnt like that in the town with the orphanage I was in, but the church would give out food. Ive also heard that some rural viges even celebrate by themselves. I wonder if Cocos vige also celebrates New Years? Not that I would go regardless. About two weeks into January, it started snowing heavily. The house becamepletely buried. In order to prevent the house from being crushed, I had to use Storage and ce the surrounding snow into it instead of shoveling it. Normally, if you were trapped in a snowstorm like this you would probably be worried. But it doesnt matter to me! Since I can finally make swords now! After a few days, I finally managed to finish making a sword. My skill level also increased. Creation Magic had be LV4. It was long..but this length would only be considered a dagger. Since the length of the de was only about 40cm, it would still be considered quite a bit shorter than the average short sword. But since I was still a child, this length made it easier to use. I didnt have enough arm strength. I had used wrought iron, then changed the carbonpound to adjust the strength and durability, a high quality item. I used Appraisal to check the description.
Made from wrought iron. High Quality.
No surprises here. I was about to test swing the sword around, but then decided against it. It would be dangerous to test it out indoors. But I didnt want to go outside. I dislike the cold. As a celebration forpleting the sword, I spent more time doing my daily routine as a reward for myself. .But when I looked at my status the next day, it had reached LV6. God is dead! Forsaken! February. There was a lot of snow in February this year. Usually, it wouldnt snow this much in February. Its also my birth month. I would now be 11 years old this month. But in reality, its not actually my birth month. Im not really sure when my real birthday is. February was the month I was abandoned at the orphanage. So that month ended up bing my birth month. Furthermore, at that time I looked about 1 years old, so it was decided that I would be 1 years old. And that was basically it. My name was taken from the words that were embroidered on the clothes I was wearing at that time. Or rather from portion that could be read. Anyways, my chest has grown bigger again. Why is this happening As for my height? It hasnt changed at all! Why is this happening!? I properly eat food! Why!? March. The snow had melted so I was outside. I decided to go on a stroll to gather some springtime wild nts. There were also numerous hungry beast about. Snipe, snipe, snipe. I went out looking for wild nts, but ended up with a lot of meat instead. Im not really sure what happened. I also tested out my sword. .But it seems Ick talent. I couldnt move very well with the sword. I didnt have any problems with thinking about what to do, but executing the actions were a different story. If I enhanced my status with boost potions, I might be able to manage somehow if I suddenly needed to fight close range. But some other measures might also be necessary. Norn and Bells statuses have also improved. The stats all rose fairly evenly. The amount of skills also increased. How reliable. As it was getting warmer, I began spending the days outside hunting and gathering like before. But one day, I suddenly had a visitor. I pulled on my hood and went to open the door. You are? Are you the witch? This again! No. Arent you the one who made the various medicines for Parker? Whos Parker? After listening for a bit, it seems Parker is the father of Coco and Neil. And it seems he was referring to the medicine I made for Coco a while back ago. So in other words, the potion and energy drink I gave her. At that time, I gave Coco three potions. However, Cocos mother only drank one bottle and sold the remaining two potions to a merchant. And it also sold for a high price. But even though the potion was bought at a high price, its effect and worth was still greater than the price it was bought at. And so when Viger A had heard this, the middle-aged man in front of me, came here to get some. You gave Coco some before for free. Then give me some also. I dont have anymore of that medicine. I ran out of materials. Hey now, dont lie. You still have some right? Hurry up and hand them over! Norn handled that matter amazingly. After that, more middle aged men woulde every few days. Sometimes more than one at once. And oftentimes in several groups. There were even peopleing from different viges. There were some people who said they would pay, but I still refused them. But due to all the troublesome visitors, I recently havent been outside hunting or gathering. Even more troublesome, it seems the lord who governs this area has even heard rumors about me. It seems he was even preparing soldiers to summon me. A person from one of the other viges nearby told me this. Thats really important information, thanks! But I still wont sell any potions. It appears Ive stayed here for as long as possible. And so I decided to leave the forest.1 Side Story 17: The Story of a Girl in a Certain Village Side Story 17: The Story of a Girl in a Certain Vige There was currently a disease spreading throughout the vige I live in. It was a disease that cause intense fevers, body pain, and coughing. My mom has this disease and was now sick in bed. Her body was burning hot. The neighboring aunts and uncles, and even the older sisters who once yed with me had all died because of this disease. Would mom be alright? We have enough money to buy medicine, but since everyone was buying it, the medicine soon ran out and could no longer be bought. A while after the disease had spread about, my older brother and older sister who had left for the towns to be adventurers finally returned. The older sister who lived next door that had went with them also returned. But it seems she also caught the disease and became bedridden. My brother and sister had some medicine leftover, but they werent really effective. If this continued on will everyone end up dying? I didnt want that to happen, so I decided to go into the forest to search for medical herbs. Ive heard that there have been fewer monster in the deeper regions of the foresttely. Thats why I should be fine going alone. I went through the forest by following the river next to the vige. The medical herbs were located fairly deep within the forest. I finally reached the inner depths of the forest. But my feet really hurts. ording to what Ive heard from the hunter uncle there should be medical herbs growing around this area, so I left the riverside and headed into the forest. After walking for a bit, I found medical herbs growing within an area. The medical herbs had the same appearance as the ones I got with my dad from before, so these should be the right ones. I worked hard to gather the medical herbs. I managed to gather a lot. This should be about enough, with these mom will be alright. I was happy and I let the tension escape from my body. But at that moment, I heard a nasty cry from behind. I turned around and I saw goblins. Three of them. I tried escaping, but my legs were trembling and I couldnt move. Is this where I would die? The goblin standing in front of me raised the sword in its hand. No I didnt want to die. Tears starteding out from my eyes. As these thoughts shed through my mind, I heard a loud noise and suddenly the head of a goblin disappeared. Immediate after that, arge wolf appeared and jumped towards the leftmost goblin in the back. As the goblin next to it followed the wolfs movement and turned its head around, a person suddenly leapt forward andnded a kick onto the goblins head. The goblin whose head was kicked seems to have died. Am I saved? The person who kicked the goblin was wearing a hood and looked back towards me. Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? A-Ahh.. I tried to say something, but then I saw the wolf devouring the goblins behind the persons back. Was it going to eat me too? When I thought that, I became so scared that my vision began darkening, then my mind went nk and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was inside of a house. I nced around, it appears to be a very nice house. A lot nicer than my house. But where was I? Youre awake? How are you feeling? A voice called out to me. It was the person from before. Where is here? Where am I? This is my house. You were attacked by goblins. Do you remember? Goblins! I suddenly remembered what had transpired before. I was attacked by goblins. My body began to tremble. But I was saved right? But what about the wolf? Its alright now. There arent anymore goblins. There was also a wolf..wolf! ..Will it eat me? It wont eat you. If youre talking about that wolf, its currently sleeping outside. Do you want to see? No. Although I was told it was alright I still felt uneasy. Above all, arge wolf like that was scary no matter what. As I fell into silence, the person wearing the hood brought over a drink and gave it to me. It looked like some sort of brewed beverage and it was very warm. But was it alright for me to drink it? When I was at a loss of what to do, the hooded person took a sip from her own cup that had the same liquid. It seems like its safe to drink. I decided to also drink. When I took a sip, I could taste honey and a sweet vor spread throughout my mouth. Delicious I felt a sensation of relief swept through my body, and then the person started speaking to me. Anyways, what were you doing in that sort of ce? Isnt the deeper parts of the forest dangerous since there are various monsters about? This person didnt seem like a bad person. So was it perhaps alright to talk about my situation? ..My mom.shes sick. As I exined the situation, the hooded person became lost in thought. She stayed like that for a while, then took something out of her pocket and began exining it to me. Although it was in a strange looking container, it looked like some sort of medicine. Have your mother drink this. What is it? Medicine for the illness. After drinking this, make sure to have a good meal and sleep well, then she should be cured. It was a bit different looking than the medicine I knew about, I made a mental note to remember it just in case. Medicine? Is it a medical herb? Its not a medical herb, but it is medicine. Is big sister a witch? Huh? She lived alone in the deep forest by herself and she could make medicine like this, I could only think of her as a witch. And she had been wearing a hood this entire time. So she even looks like a witch. No matter how I looked, I could only see a witch. Im not a witch. I just live here. Really? ButI dont have any money for the medicine I dont need any money. But stay here for tonight since its alreadyte. She said shes not a witch, but shes definitely lying. But this person was a good witch. The dinner that night consisted of food I had never seen before, but it was surprisingly delicious when I took a bite, and before long I ate enough to fill my stomach. Big-sis witch watched me with a smile on her face. The bed in the room where I was allowed to sleep in was very fluffy and surprisinglyfortable, I ended up falling asleep immediately. The next morning big-sis witch gave me another medicine when I was about to return home. It was inside a bottle, a drinkable type. After getting sick, the body would be weakened, but apparently this was a medicine that could rejuvenate the body. I knew it, this person was a good witch. With this mom would definitely get better. I was happy and quickly ran back to the vige. But at that time, I didnt know what was toe because of the medicine I received. Chapter 18: Since it Has Become Dangerous, I Will Run Away Chapter 18: Since it Has Be Dangerous, I Will Run Away Well now, since Ive already decided on it, I should start making preparations to escape at night. But to be honest, I didnt need to make any preparations. All my belongings were basically just stored in Storage. There was actually onest thing, but that can be left forst. It was currently evening. The groups of people have also returned to their viges. It seems there wasnt anyone hiding about, and Detection wasnt picking up anything. I braided my hair to prevent it from getting in the way and changed into clothes that were easier to move in. I also changed from my skirt into trousers. The hem of the skirt was long and it would be troublesome if I got injured because of it. At home, I usually wear culottes or skirt pants, but those werent suitable for walking in the mountains. The top was also made of durable fabric. I put on a leather breastte and strapped my short sword to my waist. And the final touch, I wore my cloak with the hood up. Perfect. Norn was curled up in front of the firece, but had now risen and was looking at me. ..What should I do? It would be very reassuring if Norn and Bell were toe with me. Norn was silently looking at me. Norn, I have decided to leave this forest. So what will you do, Norn? Will the two of you remain in this forest? Orwill you twoe with me? Woof! It seems the two woulde with me. I was happy, or rather, very happy. Also, this wasnt a conclusion I came up with for my own convenience. When the level of Life Magic went up, I became able to understand what Norn was saying. But Bell was still too young so her words werent too clear, I couldnt understand it very well. Its not like Im being desperate or anything, okay? Well since everything was settled, I should head out immediately. After waking up the sleeping Bell, we headed outside the house. I had lived in this house for quite a long time. I thought back on the days spent here. I have to leave this forest. But I still didnt want to leave this house behind. So I ced the house into Storage. All that was left was the drainage. Eh? You thought I was going to leave the house behind?1 Or burn it? Thats just stupid. I worked hard to build this house so Im not going to do any of that. In the first ce, Storage has an unlimited storage capacity, so I should be able to store any item regardless of the size. Furthermore, when I expanded the house I also built a stone wall around it. So the entire house was within the boundaries of the stone wall. As such, if I stored the entire stone wall there shouldnt be any problems. I would even be able to bring along the garden. A transportable house along with a garden. How wonderful. I didnt want people going into my bedroom, so I never nned on leaving the house behind. Its been a while, but I again realized just how cheat-like the Storage skill was. The sun was already setting and it was getting darker outside. Lets take advantage of the dark night and escape now! .After walking for about five hours, I decided to take a short break. To be honest, I actually didnt have to take a break. Sleepiness, stamina, fatigue recovery. I have potions for all of them. But I didnt want to overdo it. Norn and I were both alright, but Bell was still a child andcked stamina. Also, I would be troubled if I used potions and became misled about the extent of my own limits. I was currently traveling eastward. If I remember correctly, in this direction beyond all the viges there should be a town called Har. Ive heard that its fairly safe town and has a guild. The vige where Coco lives in was towards the southeast, so if I head this far I shouldnt encounter any of them again. On a side note, the baron who governs this area lives in a town called Neizan, towards the south of the forest. The toad-faced merchant was also there. So I will never go there. I watched Bell while eating a light meal, she appeared to be rather energetic so she probably thought we were on an outing or hunting at night. But were actually pulling off a night escape, alright? Since Norn told me she would be on the lookout, I took a nap for about an hour before continuing on. In terms of distance, I believe we should exit the forest around tomorrow afternoon? We traveled through the forest without any problems, but I did kill a few orcs and goblins by sniping them along the way. I examined our surroundings. It seems there werent any pursuers following us. Nothing on the front, the back, the right, and the left! Everyone was alright, Im also alright! All clear! Lets exit the forest and start heading towards the roads! I thought about the future while walking on the grasnd alongside Norn and Bell. There werent many people who knew what I look like. To be precise, there should only be two. One of them was Neil. He was able to see my face due to my own carelessness. I wished he would forget about it, but that wasnt going to happen. The other person was Coco. Since shes shorter than me, she was always looking up at me. So my face should have been almostpletely visible even with my hood on. But if I go to Har, there shouldnt be any problems. Both of them were living in a vige in the forest. There were also the children who I lived with in the orphanage before.2 But it has been over a year, so my hair has grown and be longer. Furthermore, I think my face has changed quite a lot since I was now healthier and less skinnier due to eating a bnced diet. As such, they shouldnt be able to recognize me on first sight. Or at least I think so. The toad-faced merchant has only seen me from a distance a few times, so I should also be alright there. When I think about it like this, arent I better off than I thought? Yes, as long as I be careful everything, it will be alright! After walking for about two days, I finally reached the roads. Chapter 19: Water Deal (The Taste of Helping Others) Chapter 19: Water Deal (The Taste of Helping Others) I finally arrived at the roads, but which way should I go from here? The road continues from north to south. Har was supposed to be towards the east, so I wasnt sure which way I was suppose to go. Both directions led to a fork in the path, so if I just chose a way and ended up being wrong I would have toe back. What should I do? I looked around and saw a small forest on the left. There was some space between the road and the forest, so it seems the clearing could be used as a simple campground. It was a bit of a gamble, but perhaps I should stop here for today? Maybe someone would pass by. If someone did pass by, then I could ask them for directions. Alright, lets go with that. As such, I moved towards the clearing. I checked around for any people, but it seems there wasnt anyone around. I didnt have the courage to sleep in a ce that waspletely visible from the road, so I decided to make camp after going into the forest. I had a lot of firewood in Storage. So preparing a campfire was easy. I also installed a simple self-made tent. I wasnt about to do anything conspicuous like bring my house out here. Having peace was the best. I took out a small pot and bowl and began meal preparations. I had a lot of orc meat, so I decided to use it to make soup. While I was preparing the meal, arge carriage came by and stopped in the clearing. A few men came out from inside the carriage and briefly looked over the area before starting to set up camp. What should I do, should I call out to them? I was still wearing my cloak and my hood was still on. How would they react to a suspicious looking person who kept their face hidden with a hood? If it were meI wouldnt be so sure. I nced behind me, Norn was currently eating together with Bell. My eyes met Norns eyes. It seems she was telling me not be worried. If it came down to it, Norn would be there. But it would be troublesome if things were to proceed that way, so I decided to wait and observe for a bit. Its not because Im bad at interacting with people, or anything. Thus I decided to ignore them for now and continue with meal preparations. But before that, lets put on a small disguise. And done! Fake sses! I had made these sses using Creation Magic during thest few days of travel. While I call them fake sses, in truth they werent actually just sses. If you wear these sses, you also be able to use the Appraisal skill! But the effect was only equivalent to LV2. In addition, it would cost 10 MP for each use. So it wasnt really usable. But I made these so I could deceive others about my Appraisal skill, thus it wasnt a problem. Rather, I purposely set the MP cost to be that high. My Appraisal Skill was currently LV9, so it would be bad if other people found out. Also, when you wear sses, the impression of how other people perceive your facepletely changes. As such, it would be perfect for a disguise, I had made them with that in mind. After I finished making the sses, I also obtained the skills [Magic Conferment] and [Skill Conferment]. I kept track of the time. And I resumed cooking after putting on the sses. After a while the small pot begins to boil. And a good smell wafts forth. Yep, looks delicious. Hello, it looks like youre also taking a break here. Theyre here! Ah, yes. He appears to be a merchant, perhaps somewhere in his twenties? I also saw several people preparing food towards the back. One, twoso a total of four people? Are you alone? No, Im with others. When he noticed Norn behind me, he became a little surprised. Norn was much bigger than the average wolf. Hm, a wolf? Excuse me, but are you a tamer? Well, yes. That was a lie. Shes actually my friend. Tamers are adventurers who tame monsters or demons and use them to fight battles. Ive heard before that there were some tamers who use dogs or wolves, so it wouldnt be suspicious even if I said yes. Its rather big, is it perhaps a great wolf? Well, its simr. I tried glossing it over by being ambiguous. Apologies, shes actually a Fenrir. The two monsters werepletely different from each other. Greater wolves were higher-ss species within demonized wolves. Demonized wolves were bigger than normal wolves, and Greater Wolves were evenrger. Since Norn was also quiterge it was possible to mislead him. On a side note, the smaller ones are called wild wolf or lesser wolf. I see, I saw a young girl all alone by herself, so I was wondering if everything was alright..but it looks like I was just worrying too much. Not at all, I appreciate the concern. Are you perhaps a merchant? Yes, Im on my way back from Oneill. And Im currently heading towards Har. Har! That saves me the trouble of asking! I was actually troubled on how to bring that up. I see, Oneill, huh. I wonder if everyone was doing alright? Oneill is the town with the orphanage I grew up in. Where is little miss from? Ah, Im from a vige located in the forest. Obviously, I couldnt tell him the truth so I made up something. Ive been lying non-stop since a while ago, it was a bit unpleasant. Father, the food is ready! A little girl called out to the man. Good, theres a child with them. Then theres a total of five people. That aside, I also get the feeling that the two escorts have been looking towards my direction since a while ago. Ah, is that so? In that case, Ill take my leave little miss. Alright, see you then. The merchant began heading back towards the carriage. After I finished eating my meal I immediately went to bed. During the middle of the night, I had this sensation that I was being observed, but nothing happened. Well, even if something were to happen, Norn would solve it without any problems. My daily routine? As if Ill do that in the middle of traveling! Eh? Would I be alright? I can endure it! I woke up the next morning to the sound of loud voices. Ughh, I want to sleep for a bit longer As I listened, I heard the voices of the merchant and his escorts yelling at each other. It seems theyre arguing about something. Did something happen? Ah, little miss. After asking about the situation, it seems they might run out of water. Apparently, the merchant had stored the usual amount of water he used for traveling. But the adventurers he would usually ask for escort werent avable this time around, so he had temporarily hired some other adventurers. However, the two adventurers who were hired this time drank more water than expected, thus there was a possibility they might run out of water before reaching a campsite where they would be able to replenish their supplies. When he informed the escorts about the situation, it seems they got angry and me him for not properly preparing. Well, to be frank, from what I heard both sides had faults. I didnt really want to get involved in this troublesome matter.but there was also a little girl with them. Would you like me to share my water supplies with you? Eh? Is it really alright? That isit doesnt seem like you are carrying much supplies with you.. Right, thats what it looks like. I was only carrying a medium-sized leather bag on me. Although, this bag was actually just a dummy bag with a nket rolled up inside. All my possessions were stored in Storage. Ah, I can use water magic. That isbut you look rather young, are you sure youll be alright with sharing with us? He had a surprised expression on his face. The amount of water needed for a person traveling alone and five people waspletely different. Naturally, water created using water magic would consume MP. Thus, it wouldnt be possible to produce that amount of water without sufficient MP. I was wearing a cloak with a hood, but I was still very short. As such, it probably appeared like I was a child. He probably though I didnt have enough mana to produce enough water for five people. Yes, Ill be alright. Water magic is also my speciality. My water magic was currently LV6. And so he was grateful that I shared water with them and thanked me by giving me 10 silver coins. Furthermore, after finding out that we were heading to the same destination, he even offered to take me there with them. Thus, I helped them and was helped in return. Lucky! However, the looks the escorts were giving me made me feel anxious.1 Chapter 20: Sorry, but These Are My Glasses Chapter 20: Sorry, but These Are My sses The carriage swayed back and forth under the glowing sun. The ride was pleasant. Hello, everyone. This is Ren. With sses. Do the sses make me look smarter? Due to the water deal, I was able to hitch a ride on the carriage to my destination. I made it sound like I was engaging in something shady, but all I did was share some water with them. The carriage I was riding was arge, covered wagon. There were two horses pulling it. There was also various amounts of goods in the luggage area. The merchant and a young boy were riding coach. After conversing for a while, I learned that the merchants name was Nicole and he was 29 years old. He was married and has a child. Apparently, he also has a shop in Har. The young boys name was Lloyd and he was 13 years old. Apparently, hes a child who lives within their neighborhood. And the little girl sitting in the front with me was called Elsa. Shes Nicoles daughter and was 7 years old. It seems usually Nicoles son woulde instead, but this time Elsa forcefully decided toe with her father. Perhaps, shes a bit of a tomboy? Finally, the two escorts sitting in the back near the luggage. I believe their names were Kimble and Ziggy. I think theyre in theirte twenties. To be honest, Im not really interested in them. Also Norn and Bell were slightly away from us. If they came too close the horses would panic. I was currently acting as Elsas conversing partner in the shaking carriage. And theres more! So my brother This child sure talks a lot. Isnt she afraid she might bite her tongue by ident? If that happened she might be easier to deal with. As these random thoughts passed through my mind, I continued listening absentmindedly. This girl. Although Elsa had forced her way onto this trip, since Nicole and Lloyd were both busy, the two couldnt attend to her. And the two escorts werent good conversation partners either since they were rather vulgar, so she had been fairly bored during the trip. It seems Elsa was happy that she was able to ride with someone of a simr age, and the amount of fervor she talked with gradually increased. Even now, she was still talking. Nicole was smiling wryly while watching his daughter. Lloyd? It felt like he was fully concentrated on steering the carriage. And the two escorts have been scowling the entire time due to Elsas continuous talking. These two gave off a bad feeling. Sheesh! Big sis, are you listening to me!? Its alright, Im properly paying attention. I was holding a piece of wrought iron in my hand while listening. It was still difficult to change the wrought iron into tamahagane. But with a bit more effort, I should be able to make a short sword using this. After a while, we decided to take a short break around noon. We were at another campground, the area was spacious and was fairly leveled. A small forest could be seen a bit further away. Nicole went to check the surroundings. It seems they were nning on eating here, that aside, Elsa had also asked me for a favor. Picking flowers. Ah, Ive done that before too, so I understand. I moved towards the forest with Elsa who had an appreciative look on her face. Norn and Bell also followed behind us. They were acting as guards. Aftering to a ce where the carriage was no longer in view, I urged Elsa to finish her business. Eh? Arent we going together? No, no, no, we should be going separately! Or rather, I actually didnt need to go, so I wont be going here. To be more specific, I could use magic, so I didnt have to go. There were various dangers during travels, and there would be gaps during times of doing that. There was Norn, but the amount of danger should be reduced as much as possible. The magic I was using for these matters was the Life Magic [Cleaning]. I managed to pick up on some tricks on how to use it. I came up with these ideas during a certain time. But the details of these certain times are a secret. Eh? Please tell you? Umm..it was during my daily routine, I didnt have time to go to the bathroom so.I got a little creative. That aside, my Detection has been reacting to one of the escorts since a while ago. What was this person doing, following along? No, never mind, I wont ask. I already knew. But it should be alright since Norns presence was intimidating him and keeping him away from here. After a bit, Elsa came back. But she had tears in her eyes. Whats wrong? I identally. Ah- It seems she got a bit on her clothes. Or rather, upon closer inspection it was actually quite a big stainit was rather pitiful, so I used Cleaning on her clothes. The stained area of her clothes shed for a moment and then vanished without a trace. Amazing! What did you do!? Since it would be troublesome if she made a ruckus about it, I asked her to keep it a secret. When we finally returned to the carriage, the perverted escort had already came back. For the time being, I gave him a light re. The meal preparation was proceeding along without any troubles, but before long one of the escorts beganining. Again with the rations and porridge! How about making something thats actually fulfilling! I cant get any strength from this! Thats right! Were here to protect you all from anything dangerous! And in order to do that, we need to be able to eat as much as we like! I understand that, but in the first ce, the terms in our contract Nicole tried refuting them by bringing up the term and conditions he had listed in the contract, but the two escorts wouldnt listen at all. These two were bad in various ways. Now I get the feeling the water issue from before was likely their fault. But at this rate nothing would be solved. I suppose it cant be helped Would you like me to help out with that? Youre letting me ride your carriage, so even relying on you for food would be pushing it a bit. Huh? No, thats- Ohh! Thats a good idea! Do you have any good food on you? If you give us something strange, I wont go easy on you! I wasnt asking for the opinion of you two. Thatsit looks like I got you involved somehowI apologize for this. Not at all, like I just said, I feel bad relying on you for everything. After exchanging a few words with the apologetic Nicole, I took out two pieces of horned rabbit meat from Storage and handed them over. An item box!? Ah, I messed up. It looks like I managed to fool them about where I took the food out from, but there was a strange atmosphere around me. Everyone was staring wide-eyed at me. Nicole seems to be wondering what to say, and he had a veryplex expression on his face. Elsa and Lloyd were looking at me with a look of admiration in their eyes. Both escorts were talking quietly about something. Please keep this a secret. After finishing our meal, I noticed Elsa had disappeared off to somewhere. The two escorts werezing around engaging in idle chat. You two do your jobs! This was pathetic, but as I was getting up to go look for her, Elsa came walking from out of the forest. Norn was next to her. As expected of Norn, she really is a goddess! Elsa-chan, where were you? Its dangerous going off alone like that. (Nicole) Its okay! Because I was with doggy here! (Elsa) Norn looked slightly depressed after being called a dog. Illfort herter. Elsa! Regardless, you shouldnt go off alone! There are monsters lurking around in this area! (Nicole) Uu..Im sorry. But I managed to find these! (Elsa) There were several medical herbs in Elsas hand. Apparently, she found them while she was going to the bathroom. Upon closer inspection, there was even some rare herbs used for pain relief. These are the ones father taught me about before! (Elsa) Elsa..I see, thank you. (Nicole) She must have been trying her best for her father. She was smiling brightly. But.. Elsa-chan, can I see them for a bit? This and this. These two are poisonous so they cant be used. (Ren) Eh? (Elsa) But the rest are fine. Nicely done, Elsa-chan. (Ren) There were poisonous grass mixed in, so I made sure to get rid of them. That wouldve been dangerous. How were you able to tell? These should be difficult to tell apart and it even looks the same as the ones I saw from before (Nicole) Right, of course. It can even be difficult for people who specialize in this area to distinguish between types. However, its easy for me since I could use Appraisal. Could it be? Do you possiblyhave the Appraisal skill? (Nicole) Umm, well, yes. (Ren) Item box and even Appraisal..youre.. (Nicole) Ah, Appraisal is different. Its because of these. (Ren) I knew the sses woulde in handy. Now, I can just use these sses as an excuse. You can use a LV2 Appraisal skill due to these ssesbut it requires mana to use, to be able to get something so valuable. (Nicole) I just happen to acquire them by chance. (Ren) Is it alright if I try them on? (Nicole) Sure, I dont mind. (Ren) If I let him test them out for himself, he should no longer think that I have the Appraisal skill. Thus, I willingly loaned them out. Ohh, this isthis is the Appraisal skill.. (Nicole) Father, me too! Me too! (Elsa) Elsa and Lloyd also wanted to try them, so I lent the sses to them. Even if the sses were handled somewhat roughly, they wouldnt break since the frames were made of titanium. After the three of them were finished trying the sses on, they were given back to me and I re-equipped them. And done! Magnificent! I didnt think I would be able to experience something like this! Thank you very much for letting me test on something so valuable. (Nicole) Dont mind it, it wasnt anything special. (Ren) Nicole who didnt have the Appraisal skill was very grateful towards me for letting him try the sses on. I felt a little bad for lying to him. Sorry But I was a bit anxious of the two rowdy escorts who were now quietly staring at us. It looked like the two of them were thinking about something bad. At least, I think thats what theyre thinking. I hope nothing actually happens, but I suppose well see.1 Chapter 21: A Young Girl Being Surprised by Another Young Girl Chapter 21: A Young Girl Being Surprised by Another Young Girl I was also in the swaying carriage today and talking with Elsa. Two days have passed since I started riding with them, but she was still as talkative as ever. Im honestly impressed. Speaking of which, Elsa idently revealed that I could use the Cleaning skill. Although, the Cleaning skill was difficult to learn, there were still quite a few people who could use it, so it turned out alright. But it seemed that the two escorts had be more interested in me after finding out that I had additionally skills, and the two were currently staring at me. I wonder what the two were expecting of me. But I want them to stop. The two of them were looking towards my chest. I could also hear bits and pieces of the two escorts conversation, If we could get our hands on those skills, our life would be much easier. and We could force her. and some other rowdy and dangerous sounding things.I would never ever form a party with these two people. After reaching the city I didnt want to be involved with them anymore. Since their conversation interested me, I decided to take a look at their statuses. I recall hearing before at the orphanage that acquiring skills was quite difficult. But I had acquire the skills rather quickly during my time living in the forest. So I didnt really know the exact standard for how quick people could learn skills, so I thought I could use them as references. There was only a limited number of ways to see the statuses of other people in this world. I remember someone telling me that it would be impossible to use skills to peek on other peoples status unless the skill level was really high. The Appraisal skill could check other peoples statuses when it reached LV5. Since my Appraisal skill was LV9, it just barely made it. Hm? Barely? That aside, lets just check the status of these two~
Kimble31 Years old
Race:Humanupation:Rank D Adventurer
HP:250/250MP:12/12
STR:12VIT:13
DEX:4AGI:5
INT:4MGC:4
CHA:3LUK:5
Skills:
Thrash LV1
Ziggy30 Years old
Race:Humanupation:Rank D Adventurer
HP:300/300MP:10/10
STR:13(+4)VIT:14
DEX:3AGI:4
INT:4MGC:4
CHA:3LUK:4
Skills:
Brute Strength LV2 (STR+4)
Eh, whats this? How weak. Eh? Was that all? Their statuses were rather, what to say. I suppose it was to be expected, or rather within my expectations. Although, in a head-on fight I would likely lose. But their skill levels are low! I think the two have likely been adventurers for a while now considering their ages. Is this really it? Adventurers, huh No, wait a minute! Maybe, these two are just exceptions! Otherwise, the fact that I was able to reach LV5 so easily would be a bit of a shock. Lets just not worry about it! I was a bit uneasy, so I snuck a look at Nicoles status just in case.
Nicole39 Years old
Race:Humanupation:Merchant
HP:180/180MP:50/50
STR:9(+2)VIT:11
DEX:10AGI:7
INT:15MGC:8
CHA:9LUK:9
Skills:
Life Magic LV3 Connoisseur LV4 Haggle LV3 Negotiation LV5 Survival LV2 Brute Strength LV1 (STR+2) Resistance: Hunger LV1 Resistance: Fatigue LV1
Hmm? Isnt Nicole actually stronger? Whats up with that? Somehow, it only became more confusing. Lets just stop with the spying for now. It was considered rude to peek on the statuses of other people. And while I was doing that, we arrived at todays campground. Although I was riding with them as thanks for sharing water with them, as expected there wasnt any need for me to do anything. So I started preparing lunch. Afterst timespliments, I was ced on meal duty. Everyone else was caring for the horses or setting up camp. As such, I could handle this much. I prepared the ingredients and ced them into boiling water, I added various vegetables and orc meat. Finally, I adjusted the taste. Yep, this should do. It was a rather crude dish that I prepared haphazardly, but it seemed everyone still liked it. I consider what I did as cutting corners a bit, but to everyone else it appeared that I put in a great deal of effort. Well, my cooking skill was LV7 after all The pot I used belonged to Nicole. Since I only had a small pot. Everyone was quite surprised when I took out the orc meat to use as ingredients, but they were really pleased. The orc meat came courtesy of Norns hard efforts. I didnt want to fight something so troublesome. Wow, todays meal is also delicious! Father! Its so good! Yes, your right. Its really delicious. Elsa was currently in high-spirits. Even though I had cut corners with cooking the food. Although I wouldnt say that out loud. Lloyd also followed up as I was feelingplicated. No, it really is very delicious, Ren. Youre a really great cook, do you mind teaching me next time? Eh? That would be a bit troublesome. As the meal progressed on in such a manner, Elsa then said something unnecessary. Big sis, why are you wearing a hood all the time? Its a waste on someone as pretty as you! Ugh! Stop with the unnecessaryments! Elsa, like Coco, was shorter than me so she could see my face even if wore my hood. And Elsa? Didnt you consider that I might have various reasons for hiding my face? Furthermore, what do you mean by pretty? Oh? Elsa, is the young miss really that pretty? Yep! Shes really, really pretty! And shes also very cute! But she keeps on hiding underneath the hood! So its a huge waste! No, wait a minute, that cant be true, right? Huh, is that right little girl? In that case, how about you take off your hood and show us your face. Now the two escorts were even joining in. The two were looking this way with creepy smiles and perverted expressions on their faces. And they kept staring at my chest. Im a child! You perverts! No, that would be.. As I was trying to diffuse the situation by offering up an excuse, Elsa suddenly ran behind me. Eii~ Ah. She had took my hood off. Aaaahhhhhhhhh! Thats Nicole, whats up with you? Llyod was also staring at me with a blush on his face. Hey, wait, really now. Haah! Die you two idiots. The two of them were looking towards my chest. Die. But this reaction. It wasnt what I imagined. Wow! Youre really pretty! Wow! Elsa was being noisy. But even with all that was being said, no one was denying it. Is it possible that I really am a beauty? It could be possible that wasnt the case, but judging by these reactions, I guess I really am pretty? ..Wait a minute. Wouldnt this also bring about problems in various ways? After that thought crossed my mind, I quickly pulled my hood back on. Ah-! Why are you hiding yourself!? Wait, whats with this! Im feeling all sorts of gazes on me! The looks on the two escorts were particr dangerous. It felt like they were looking me over. Somehow, their gazes also had this icky-sort of feel to them. .Like the two were thinking of something perverted Disgusting! I felt a tremendous sense of revulsion wash over me. I was a middle-aged man on the inside, what sort of straight middle-aged man would like hot gazes from muscr rough looking men? What kind of torture is this? Completely impossible. It was impossible in various ways. As someone who was once a man, it was impossible to ept something like that. It was impossible for me to live as a woman. But Ive heard before in the past that its easy to recognize these sort of gazes. I guess it turned out to be true.. ..And the meal ended with that sort of subtle atmosphere. Hey, little girl. Would you like to join us when this escort job is finished? As I was cleaning up after the meal, Kimble suddenly called out to me. Even if you are a tamer, a girl being all alone by herself is still dangerous. If you join up with us, well be able to help you out in various ways. Thats right, even if we look like this, we are C rank adventurers. .Various ways, huh. It might have been a bit more persuasive if he wasnt staring at my chest. Rather, a C rank? Really? With those stats? I appreciate the offer, but I will have to decline. Hey now,e on, dont be like that. No, I would only be a burden if I were to join you two. Both of you mostly take on subjugation and escort quests, right? But Im still only eleven years old, so I wont be able to take on subjugation quests. Huh!? Eleven! It seems everyone was quite surprised. A person can register to join a guild upon reaching the age of ten. It was the same for the Adventurers Guild. But unlike other guilds, adventurers would often have to take on life-threatening requests. In particr, subjugation quests were literally just fights against demons and monsters. A such, the Adventurers Guild had a rule that stated that subjugation quests could only be epted be those over 13 years old in order to reduce the death rate of neers and beginners. And those under 13 years old could only ept quests that werent rted to monster subjugation. The quests were usually rted to misceneous work within the towns or gathering herbs, but there were also various other types of work. The reward wasnt too great, but in return there wasnt much danger either. Anyhow, I was still eleven. As such, I wasnt able to ept subjugation quests. It was also forbidden to bring along adventurers under the age of 13 for subjugation quests. In the worst case scenario, you could even be expelled from the guild for breaking that rule. Therefore, I declined them for that reason. Or rather, that was what it was on the front. In truth, I just didnt want to join up with these guys. The two would likely do something horrible to me! Just like in those certain types of books! Anyways, thats how it is, please find someone else. I somehow managed to slip out of that situation. After that, I decided to head off to bed for today. I went to sleep in my own tent. But for some reason, Elsa also came along. Well, with a child here, those two should be less likely to try anything, so I was fine with it. The next morning, the group was getting ready to depart. I was still feeling a bit sleepy. As I attempted to stifle a yawn, someone looked my way and whispered under their breath. Eleven years old, huh. Shut up! Chapter 22: Im a (Former) Japanese That Cant Say No Chapter 22: I''m a (Former) Japanese That Can''t Say No The next morning. The awkward atmosphere fromst night was gone. At least, on the surface. Elsa was still talkative as always, Lloyd nced over with a blush on his face before turning away, and the two escorts appeared to be deep in conversation about something sinister. Everyone, please follow Nicoles example. But as I thought that. 11 years oldsomehowwith my son It seems like he was muttering something ominous. Nicole, even you? For starters, I have no ns on bing a merchant. I might run into the toad-faced man. Although there were various worrisome issues, it seems that we will arrive in Har in about two days. I would finally be free from the current situation. As I was wishing we would arrive soon, I continue acting as Elsas conversation partner while thinking absentmindedly. But as expected, something happened. Troublesome matters It wasnt something rted to the escorts, but instead monsters attacked. Six orcs to be precise. I started hoping they hade in peace, but obviously that was just wishful thinking. But fear not! We have two veteran adventurers escorting us! Since I have been feeding them quite a bit of food for a while, I would like you two to work hard now! Show me the power of those who work as adventurers for a living. Otherwise, I might have to reduce the amount of meat I was giving them. If I was calcting benefits and loss. What!? What are orcs doing here!? And theres six of them!? Hey, Ziggy! This is impossible! Lets hurry up and escape! What? Just wait a moment, what are you two talking about? Isnt your job to work hard here to allow everyone to escape? I was confused by their remarks. Hey, old man! As such, well be escaping first! What are you talking about! Stop messing around! Were not messing around! Why should everyone have to die? Itll be the same no matter what! Thats right, old man! Thats why, you should buy us some time until we can get away! The two of them immediately drew their weapons and shed Nicoles legs after saying so. I was still processing what was happening right in front of me. My mind had frozen up due to the various things happening. As I stood there stunned, Ziggy approached me and tried grabbing my arm, but Bell drove him away. Norn was busy trying to intimidate the orcs and keep them at bay. Hey Ziggy! What are you doing!? This brat might be worth using! Just those sses alone might be worth something. Our livese first! Hurry up! Tch! Whatever! .Those two were beyond saving. Maybe, I should just kill them right now. That sort of thought briefly passed through my mind, but there were various other matters that took priority. As such, I was able to remain cool. I turned my attention away from the two escorts who were running away and went towards Nicole. Elsa was clinging on to him and crying. It was bad since she was also shaking him. Both of his legs were cut. I looked over the injuries. Although the cuts were quite deep, they didnt reach the veins. Something at this level should be curable with a low-potion. I took out a potion and poured it over the wounds and they immediately healed. Nicole-san who had just been in pain, now had a surprised expression on his face, but he quickly recovered and thanked me. Im sorry, to heal me with something so precious. I dont think I can help you much in this sort of situationIm sorry for getting you involved in something like this, but I will try to buy you some time to escape. So please, during that time, can you please take Elsa and run away together? Lloyd had a club in his hand and was staring at us. He was definitely brave. Elsa was crying and shouting that she wanted everyone to leave together. That was natural. Please, Elsa. Sorry, but I refuse. Eh.? I stood up silently and walked forth in front of the three people. I nced around at the orcs heading toward us. A total of six. With one of them in the back. And the five in front being kept at a distance by Norns intimidation. The one in the back was being kept busy by Bell who was darting around its feet. I couldnt stand a crying child. Norn, please buy me some time. Woof! Norn ran forth at once. Lets start with the one in the back. I took out a stone, aimed, then fired. The head of the orc which Bell was keeping back, exploded. When I turned towards Norn, one of the orcs she was dealing with had its head trapped in a ball of water. So there was such a way of using it. That orc became unable to move. Norn leapt high up in the air and swiped her front paws. Another orcs head flew off. What is with this. Shes so cool. Ill have her teach me that techniqueter. There were now three remaining. I aimed towards all of them and shot. All targets were met with the sound of heads exploding. For thest orc that was drowning, Norn had pressed it down as she cut its throat. She wanted to show Bell how to do it. The entire fightsted about 30 seconds. Even with orcs, we could fight them easily as long as we maintained a distance. Or at least until Norns MP runs out. Its over. When I looked back towards Nicole and the rest, they were all standing there with their mouths agape and in shock. In the end, after everyone calmed down, we decided to stop traveling for today and set up camp. Well, that was natural. We almost died. As such, we set up camp a short distances away. I also ended up keeping all the orcs that were defeated. Well, even though I took all the spoilsI still ended up using them for dinner that night. After all, theyre freshly caught! Both Nicole and Lloyd hadplicated expressions on their faces. Since these were the monsters that nearly killed them. Elsa? She was enjoying the meal right alongside me! She was quite delighted. I made pork steak with a Japanese-style seasoning. I used soy sauce, but if I had oyster sauce I couldve made it more delicious. Nicole had also provided garlic and chopped cabbage. The ingredients were actually meant to be sold, but he wanted to express his thanks to me for saving their lives. I never knew soy sauce could taste like thissimply delicious. Miso and soy sauce existed in this world, but apparently there werent many recipes that used them. Usually, orc steak would just be simply seasoned using salt only. Sometimes, a bit of additional spices might also be added As such, when Nicole ate the orc steak I cooked for today, he was honestly quite surprised. The person in charge of this world should work harder! As for Elsa? She was mad at me when she realized that I had been cutting corners when I had cooked for the past few days. But she became so absorbed in eating that she quieted down. After the meal, we discussed how we should handle the matter about the escorts who had ran away. Rather than just abandoning their duties, the two of them had injured their client before running away. This was already beyond the level of a simple contract vition. As such, when we reach the city, Nicole ns on heading straight to the guild and appealing. The two would likely end up being expelled from the guild and have their assets confiscated aspensation. As such, they would most likely end up bing ves. Since the two had ended up going that far. As such, Nicole wanted me to go along with him to the guild to testify as a witness. Since it wasnt anything too difficult, I didnt mind going. Besides, I also wanted to register with the guild. Since the escorts werent here anymore, the space inside the wagon was vacant so we decided to sleep in there for today. But Elsa was very against it. My tent had a cheat mat spread underneath it, so the difference was like heaven and earth, so I guess it couldnt be helped. Since Elsa was being noisy, I decided to bring out the mat only. But even so, Elsa? My chest isnt a pillow, okay? We headed off early the next morning. It seems that we were camping at a ce very near Har, so Nicole wanted to hurry back to the town so he could report the two escorts. Since I was just sitting in the carriage, I had no problems with that. Elsa acted as my conversation partner again and the town came into view by afternoon. Thus, we finally reached Har. Chapter 23: No Mercy! Chapter 23: No Mercy! Although there were various problems, we finally arrived at the town of Har. It was nice that we were able to arrive before sunset. Har was arge town surrounded by walls. For the time being, I was nning to live here. But I havent decided on how long. We werent able to immediately enter the town. In this world. there were various restrictions for entering a town. First, you need a citizen card in order to enter a town. I believe there was some other official name for the card, but I wasnt sure what it was called. The family register system in this world was surprisingly well managed. As soon as a person was born, a birth report would be submitted to the government office and the newborns magic pattern would be registered. After the registration waspleted, a citizen card would be issued. The name, date of birth, and birthce of the owner was written on this card, and the owners magic pattern would also be registered on the card. As such, this made it impossible to use another persons card. Even counterfeit cards would be discovered immediately. So when a person enters a town, they would need to present this card and it would be held over a special magic tool. At the same time, the owner would also hold their hand over another magic tool. The magic tools would confirm the persons identity and any criminal records. The magic technology was quite amazing. Additionally, if a person had a criminal record, they wouldnt be able to enter the town if the crime was very serious. It seems that I didnt have this card with me when I was abandoned at the orphanage. Furthermore, somehow my magic pattern had never been registered before. As such, I really didnt know where I was born. But I did currently have the card which was issued to me after I was taken in by the orphanage. The annoying system was put in ce as a means to stabilize tax revenues, and some great person in the past also decided it would work as crime prevention system too. But towns and viges that didnt have the crime prevention system in ce were also actually quite safe. Since bandits would only be able to use the money they stole from travelers in ces where the crime prevention system wascking, these sort of ces were generally safe from attacks. The world wasplicated in various ways That aside! After clearing the admission check I would finally be able to enter the townit shouldve been easy, but as expected we were stopped. The reason was simple. Norn and Bell. I wasnt an adventurer, so I couldnt enter the town as a tamer. Essentially, the guards were afraid that I couldnt keep Norn under control and there could be danger. Furthermore, I also didnt want to take off my hood. I didnt have any criminal record, so it wasnt like it mattered anyways. As I was wondering over what to do, Nicole spoke up and defended me. He said the wolves were obedient to me and were very mature. I agree, these two were very smart. Speaking of which, we were close enough now that Im allowed to fluff their fur! Super cute! But I had to pay a fee to bring Norn and Bell into the town. 2 silver coins for each of them. Since I wasnt an adventurer. Quite strict, right? Since this was the case, I should register as an adventurer as quick as possible. Otherwise, it would be troublesome in many ways. Thus, we were finally able to enter the town, but we headed straight towards the guild. Since I had a promise to keep with Nicole. And because I wanted to register as an adventurer. We continued on through the town in the carriage. Norn and Bell were now riding with us. After traveling a bit of distance from the gate, we arrived at the Adventurers Guild. It seemed conveniency had been taken into ount for the guilds location. Likewise, the Merchants Guild was located near the center of the town. While talking, I walked into the guild alongside Nicole. But upon entering we gathered quite a bit of attention. Whats that? Theres a huge wolf with them. An adventurer from a different town? Is she escorting the merchant? A tamer? But isnt she rather small? Ah, so its because of Norn and me. If I hade alone, I wonder if it would have proceeded down the cliche path, I followed Nicole to one of the receptionist windows while deep in thought. Apparently, we could use any of the receptionist windows to state our business unless it was for transaction rted matters. There were two receptionist windows for conducting transactions located at the end of the reception area. And depending on the time of the day, it could get very crowded. Lets be careful. While I was looking around the guild, Nicole reported the incident and was now waiting for a response. The receptionist was checking through the records behind the window. This was considered a serious crime for adventurers that worked for the guild. In a case like this, it was possible the two might be trying to make a run for a different town. After a while, a man called the guild master came out. He was a strict-looking middle-aged man. And judging from his appearance, he looked like a muscle-head. But if hes the head of an organization, then I assume contrary to his appearance, he probably isnt actually a muscle-head? Afterwards, we followed the man and began exining what had happened to him. But I basically remained silent during the talks. Although, I was one of the involved members, I wasnt the client and I was just here as a witness. Technically speaking, I was actually a victim, but Ill just leave that aside for now. While listening to the conversation, the topic turned to me acting as the witness. Hmm, alright, I understand the situation now. I have no doubts regarding your testimonies. Those two people have numerous past issues regarding their behaviors. Buteven if you tell me that this little miss managed to defeat six orcs on her ownif you had said her wolves had defeated them, I would have believed it more. Right, of course~ I currently had my hood down and was showing my face. I can read the atmosphere after all. We are currently in an office with no other people around, and we were speaking with a person in a high position. As such, it was fine. Elsa had returned home with Lloyd in the carriage. So the only ones here were the guild master, one guild staff member, Nicole, and me. Would you like me to take out the defeated orcs? You have the item box skill? Do you perhaps have all six of them with you? No, I have a magic storage item with me. Magic storage items. They were magic items such as the item bag or magic bag. Like the name implies, bags and such that had the Item Box effect on them were called as such. Furthermore, there were quite a lot of people who had them. However, these sort of items didnt haverge storage capacities. Nicole had noticed that I didnt want to stand out too much, so he had rmended this idea. That I pretend I had a magic storage item with me. Thats quite arge storage capacity. I seeIll confirm itter then. If possible, it would be helpful if you could sell them to the guild. Understood. It seems I was sessful in deceiving him. After we finished this exchange, another staff member entered the room and reported to the guild master. It seems the two escorts have been caught. We were told we could meet with them, but Nicole decided on just having the guild handle them. Even if we met them it would just be unpleasant as theyll likely just shout bad things at us. In that case, not meeting with them would make things easier. After finishing up with the report, I was taken to the warehouse to confirm and sell the orcs. Nicole also came along with me. Naturally, when I left the room, I put my hood on again. I felt more at ease that way. We arrived at the warehouse and I ced the orcs in the designated area. All six. There really is sixbut what happened? Their heads are all gone. And these ones all have really clean cuts on their necksMiss, what did you do to them..? Thats a secret. Well, I guess you have a point. Adventurers shouldnt reveal their hand so easily. But strong people who can defeat orc are most weed. I have expectations for you. Ah, about that. Whats wrong? Im actually not an adventurer. Huh? Thats why, I would like to register as an adventurer. No, no, no, wait a minute. Youre not an adventurer, but you can still do all this? Im confused. Well. even if you say thatah, right, Im also only eleven, so I cant take on subjugation quests. So itll be a bit troublesome if you have too high of expectations for me. What!? Everyone was surprised when I said I was eleven. To be honest, it kinda hurts. How old did I look? Did I perhaps look really old? Chapter 24: Again? Really, Again? Chapter 24: Again? Really, Again? For now, I understand. Usually, the purchase price would be lowered, but if you register immediately, we will buy the materials at the specified amount. It seems that ordinary people can also bring in materials to sell, but it would be purchased at slightly cheaper prices. But this time, if I registered immediately, the materials would be bought at the adventurers price. Otherwise, it would cause inconveniences to adventurers who were registered with the guild. I didnt really care about how much money I would receive, so I was fine with any amount. ..That aside, everyone wasnt convinced about my age until I showed them my citizen card. When I asked if I looked older, I was told that they thought I was around 15-16 years old but just really short, but they kept staring at a certain part of my body as they said this. The thickness is because of my chest armor! Rather, this height is way too short for a 15-16 year old. No, wait, nows not the time for this! I received the money for the materials and headed back towards the receptionist area. The guild master returned to his office. On a side note, I received 2 small gold coins for each orc. So a total of 12 small gold coins. I became rich in an instant. I would like to register as an adventurer. Huh? Ah, what? Register? She looked at me, looked towards Norn and Bell, and then back at me. The female guild staff member looked confused. Right, she probably thought I was already registered. Yes, register. Ah, yes. Registration then. It seems she finally managed to process the information. I gave her my citizen card for confirmation, and registered my magic power using the guild magic tool. Furthermore, Norn and Bell were also registered as my familiars. This would eliminate the hassle I would meet when entering and exiting towns. The registration for the Adventurers Guild was free. Since this area was dependent on the guild. I was then issued a guild card. And with that the registration process was over. Umm, youre only eleven years old? Again! Again with this! And would you please stop staring at that part!? I am eleven. Im sorry, but could you remove your hood? Do I have to take it off? If possible Understood. I gave up and took off my hood. The female staff member stared silently at my face. Rather, she was staring too much. And the adventurers looking over here started raising their voices. Um, are you done yet? Ah! Yes! Im done. Yes, youre eleven years old. I have finished confirming. In the back I heard stuff like, Eleven? Wait, really!? But I probably just misheard. Ill just go with that. The female staff member was also red for some reason. Afterwards, the guild rules were exined to me. Such as the adventurer ranks. How to rank up. Information about material purchase. The criteria for requests being considered a sess or failure. Age limit for subjugation requests. Punishment for problematic behaviors or criminal activities. And so on. I already knew most of the things she was exining, so I stopped listening after a bit. Basically, it seems there wont be any problems as long as I used somemon sense. Also, the guild apparently also has a resource room. Which contained information and pictures about various monsters and nts. Apparently, there were even some material books regarding skills. Even upon learning a skill, you wouldnt immediately know the information about it. As such, if you didnt test out the skill first, you typically wouldnt know the effect. The material books in the resource room werepiled from reports made by past adventurers. Information such as the effects of certain skills and the condition for acquiring them were all noted. As for me, I could find out the details of skills by using the Appraisal skill, but I dont know about the conditions required for acquiring certain skills. So the resource room would be quite useful to me. Maybe I should go see it when I have time? Apparently, there also werent many people that used the resource room. It would appear that they were muscle heads. The adventurers that is. After the exnation was over, I was finally given my guild card. Starting from today, I was now also a Rank F Adventurer. After finishing the registration, I exited the guild with Nicole who was waiting for me. The cliche newbie bullying also didnt happen, which I was d about. Well, I was with such a big wolf after all. Everyone probably didnt want to get bitten. Nicole, thank you for going out of your way to wait for me. Not at all, to begin with, I was the one who had asked you to testify for me, so just this much is nothing. By the way, what were you nning on doing after this? Ah, thats right, do you know of anywhere I could stay at? Somewhere, where Norn and Bell would be allowed, and if possible a ce that has a bath and good food too. That is, you are my lifesaver! Pleasee over to my house! I politely declined Nicoles offer to live at his house and had him direct me to a ce I could stay. If I stayed at Nicoles house I would be introduced to Nicoles son and have to deal with Elsa, so it would be troublesome in various ways. As such, I had firmly declined. I wanted to live freely. I arrived at the inn that Nicole directed me to. It seemed quite expensive. One small gold coin for a night and meals. The meals were served in the morning and evening, but the price was the same regardless of whether you eat or not. When I arrived at this town, I didnt have much money on me, but after selling the orcs I had enough money. So I had a bit of leeway. Im not just saying that. I was charged an extra fee of 5 silver coins for Norn and Bell. The inn had a stable that could be used by monster familiars. With this, I should immediately start working hard starting tomorrow. After being guided to my room and resting for a while, I went to the dining room and had dinner. The dinner consisted of bread, sausages, a sd, and soup. The portion was a bit too much. I think the soup had rabbit meat inside? It also contained a lot of vegetables and there was some seasoning used, so it was quite delicious. I would have to thank Nicole for rmending this inn to me. Afterwards, I took a bath. The bathing area was shared, but it was quite wide and the tub was also veryrge. I was able to soak myself in a bath for the first time in about a week. As expected, it was different than using the Clean skill to clean myself. It felt really good. The other female customers were giving me weird looks, but I ignored them. When I used shampoo and body soap, the stares directed at me became much stronger, but I continued to ignore them. After I finished taking a bath, I dried my hair and immediately went to sleep in my room. Since I was a bit tired, I ended up sleeping a bit past the morning. Chapter 25: First Request Chapter 25: First Request I overslept a bit due to my fatigue from traveling, but I got up after a while. After I finished changing clothes, I headed towards the dining room. Naturally, I had my hood on. The breakfast looked the same as yesterdays dinner, with bread, sd, and soup, but there was boiled eggs this time. This was the first time I saw an egg. Apparently, eggs were considered high-ss food. But with eggs, the portion of the food was less thanst evening. Although upon closer inspection, the soups ingredients were different than yesterdays soup, and it seemed to be very well-made. This was good. I decided to continue staying here. I paid for three additional days before leaving the inn, I was then given a wooden tag as proof that I was a consecutive customer. The wooden tag also had a number on it. I ended up arriving at the guild quite early considering I overslept, or at least, I think so. Since this will be a memorable first job, lets do our best! Well, it is necessary. This world doesnt have the Labor Standards Act or insurance avable if you fall on hard times. Norn and Bell followed me into the building. Multiple eyes gathered on me, but I ignored them. I looked towards the bulletin board where the request forms were posted, the crowd surrounding it was quite amazing. But that was fine with me since I didnt need to use it. I was taking on the always avable gathering herbs request. There were various types of herbs. For example, there were types of herbs for wounds, or types used for making medicines. There were also types of herbs used to make antidotes, or types used as pain relievers. Various types of potions could be made depending on what materials are used. Naturally, potions werent made from a single type of herb. There were countless types of herbs and gathering all the various herbs was quite difficult. As such, I headed straight for the receptionist window without going to the bulletin board. I would like to take on the request for gathering herbs. Ah, yes.gathering herbs is it? Yes, gathering herbs. The guild staff listened while ncing back between me and Norn. It was a different person than the one I registered with yesterday. Um, what about subjugation? Im still only eleven years old so I cant ept those. Eh.? Thats right, Im with such a big wolf, but Im only eleven years old. As such, its impossible for me to take on subjugation requests. I was now used to this sort of reaction. The gathering herbs request, please. Ah, yes. She confirmed my eptance of the request. Now time to leave. I wanted to avoid being drawn into anything troublesome. As such, I decided to immediately head out before any strange guy called out to me. I presented my guild card and was able to exit through the gate without any problems this time. I nced around the surrounding area for a while. It seems there were also other children gathering herbs within the area. Numerous children were about on their knees looking for something. It was quite crowded, so I probably wouldnt be able to gather much around here.but upon closer inspection, there seems to be arge forest towards the south. In that case, lets go look over there. I walked around for about 40 minutes inside the forest. But since my Detection skill wasnt high enough level it wasnt responding to any herbs. However Norn, do you know where the herbs I gathered back when we were living inside the forest would be at? Woof. It seems Norn knew. Norn had a higher leveled Detection skill than mine. After following Norn for about 40 minutes, we arrived at a location filled with herbs. I gave a quick look around, but it seemed there hadnt been any people here before. And about 70-80% of the herbs growing within the area were ced into Storage as I looked around. I had gathered quite a bit. But it still wasnt enough. I asked Norn for another ce and she led me to it. We went to a total of four different ces, besides collecting herbs, I also gathered various other nts and wild spices that could be used for cooking. There were also a few types I hadnt seen before when I was living inside the forest. With this, I would be able to increase what I could cook. Next, I collected a lot of vines that were growing around the trees within the area and made them into strings. After that, I divided the various herbs I collected by type, and then bundled them together by tens. However, I was actually just doing it through Storage. Done with one bundle of ten, then another, and another. I repeated the process countless times throughout the forest. To be honest, it was quite boring. It didnt really take too long since I had already sorted them by type. But I had gathered too much. I thought about bundling more than ten together. But when I checked inside Storage, I suddenly realized something. For starters, I had collected quite a bit of herbs in each spot as I traveled throughout the forest, butbine them all together and it became even worse. It would be bad if I sold this much all at once. Right, lets go at this a different way. I should just split it all up across several days. I could handle it if I split the work up. Although, to begin with, I didnt have much else to do. Anyways, for now, Ill just sell them in small quantities. While thinking over such matters, I looked up and realized that it was already noon. And now that I noticed, I was starting to get hungry. Should I make something to eat? Ahh, speaking of which, what about Norn and Bell. when I looked back towards them, the two of them were doing something rather unexpected. An orc, a goblin, and is that a wolf? And some kind of reallyrge bird. Also, is thatperhaps an ogre? It was the first time I saw one. Furthermore, there was even a horned rabbit, all of the monsters were piled up together forming arge mountain of dead corpses. Well, a mountain was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was still quite terrible. And the two of them were devouring a goblin next to the pile of monsters. Eh, what should I do about this? It seems the two of them were practicing hunting. The two of them had eaten the goblin, but left the other monsters as souvenirs for me because they looked delicious. To be honest, I was grateful for that, but wouldnt this be bad if I tried to sell them at the guild? Im not allowed to subjugate monsters, so this islets just ce them in Storage for now. That way, the monsters wouldnt rot. As such, I pretended like nothing happened and proceeded out of the forest merrily. I think its just past noon? Lets leave the troublesome matter for a future date. Its a bitte, but lets just have lunch right here. I made a show of reaching into my bag and took out a tent and small frying pan out from Storage. Thanks to Norn and Bell, I had a freshly-caught horned rabbit, so I used it to make a pot-au-feu style soup. I also added in some vegetables that Nicole gave me. But I was missing potatoes. I wished I had potatoes. If I had something like tomatoes, I could make something like minestrone, but since I didnt have any, there wasnt much I could do. I should go check out the marketter. After a while, the soup was finished cooking. I secretly made a rice ball inside my cloak and then ate it with the soup. As expected, a Japanese person needs their rice. I didnt really like eating bread too much. It wasnt like I dislike bread, just that I probably like it better as a side. As I ate my meal thinking about such stuff, I noticed that some nearby adventurers were staring at me. The adventurers appeared to be taking a break, and they were looking over at me enviously as they ate unappetizing-looking rations. Even if you look at me like that, Im not giving any to you. Its my lunch after all. After I finished eating, I tidied up and put away my tent. I could use the Storage skill in public by pretending I was using a magic storage item. Theres no way I wouldnt be using something so convenient. A peaceful life was important, but afortable life was also just as important. The dummy bag I was using was one that you wear on your shoulders. Nicole had given it to me free of charge. Nicole also taught me how to use magic storage items. Even if the bag looked small, as long as the storage capacity wasrge enough, evenrge items could be stored and taken out of it. In that sort of case, you would takerge items in and out of the bag by cing one hand into the bag, and keeping the other hand in the direction you wanted to ce the item. Apparently, Nicole knew how to use them because he had several smaller capacity ones. After lunch, I followed the road back to town. It was still too early to get back? Nope, it should be rather crowded during the evenings, and Im bad with crowds. When I arrived at the gate, unlike yesterday, I was able to pass through easily. Since Norn and Bells magic powers have already been registered. As I walked down the streets towards the Adventurers Guild, I started thinking about how much of the herbs I collected today should be sold. It would be bad if I ended up selling too much. However, life would be difficult if I also sold too little. The inn I was staying at provided three meals, so that alone was already quite expensive. I also wanted to eat out sometimes, or make my own food, so there was a lot to consider. Chapter 26: Its Because I Tried Being Discrete Chapter 26: It''s Because I Tried Being Discrete Soon, I arrived at the guild. Since it was still early in the evening, there werent any lines for the material purchasing windows. Now I just need to figure out how much I should sell. There was a list of purchasing prices for herbs on the wall, so I decided to take a look at the list. The universalnguage used in this world was Japanese. The characters were the exact same. The person in charge of reincarnations sure did choose aplexnguage to use as the universalnguage..well, it does help me though. Originally, I couldnt read the characters. But as a result of regaining the memories of my previous life, my knowledge of thenguage became equivalent or perhaps even higher than nobles. So I suppose I should consider it fortunate? Well, enough of that. From a quick nce, it seems that I would earn a lot of money if I sold everything I collected today. So in other words, it would cause quite a stir if I sold that much. After some consideration, I decided to sell at least the equivalent of 5 small gold coins. But when I went to the window and started taking out the herbs from my bag one after another, theplexion of the guild staff and the adventurers around me changed. W-Wait a minute. Miss, dont tell me you still have more? Well, this is about half. Only half? That was actually a lie. Actually, the current amount I had out wouldnt even be equivalent to 1/100th of everything I had. Plus, I also had other nts that I gathered too. But I wasnt nning on selling them. Is there something wrong? No, not at all. Theres absolutely nothing wrong. If theres nothing wrong then good. As such, I continued on with taking the rest out. Wasnt I trying not to stand out? At worst, I would just be forced to leave the inn. Plus, I wanted to buy a lot of things. I wanted to buy throwing knives for long range attacks. I was a bit uneasy with just using stones, so I thought it would be better to be prepared. I also wanted various cooking ingredients. I could make numerous things with flour. Such as noodles. I wanted to eat udon. And if I had buckwheat flour, I could make soba and galette. Thus, my dream grows! Although, it would be a bit out of hand if it grew into a delusion. The total amount I received was 10 small gold coins and one gold coin. The people around me were pale, but I ignored them. Miss, did you find an untouched area or something? Its a secret. I actually already took everything in the area. It was a bit early, but I decided to head back to the inn for today. I quickly left the guild before I could get entangled in anything strange. I used my Detection skill and found several people trying to tail me, but I used Stealth to escape and manage to safely arrive back at the inn. I presented the wooden tag I received this morning when I paid for additional days, which showed proof that I was a consecutive customer, and then returned back to my room. Yesterday, I had taken a bath after dinner, so the bath was really crowded. If I used shampoo, I would stand out again, so I should go to the bath first today. Therefore, lets go to the bath now! I noticed it in the dressing room yesterday, but most of the other female customers wore drawers. Some had leggings, or something like spatsand the top was wrapped in cloth, or a camisole. If it was an adventurer-like person, they wore something akin to a sports bra, but even so.it wasnt sexy enough. Essentially, I mean that the type of underwear I was wearing stood out a lot. No one else was wearing anything simr to it. Rather, did garter belts even exist in this world? No, wait, although this is a fairly high-ss inn, the people staying here are ordinary people. So a noble! If its a noble, they would surely have it!1 As such, I enjoyed a nice, slow bath today while thinking about trivial matters. After ying around with Creation Magic in my room for a while, I went down to the dining room once it was dinnertime. Naturally, I had my hood on. So I looked really suspicious. I wonder whats for dinner tonight? Todays dinner was bread, sausages, a sd, and soup. Isnt this the same as yesterday?! Are they cking off?! No, wait, the soup is different from before. Its delicious looking and all. But I wanted something different I thought for a bit while looking at the food in front of me and an idea struck me. I called the waitress and asked her to bring me a knife. Um, can I ask what you need it for? Well, just wanted to try something. I sliced the bread vertically, then slightly opened it and stuffed the sd inside. Finally, I added the sausage inside and was finished. A simple hotdog. Although, I wished I had ketchup and mustard. But I didnt unfortunately. The waitress who was watching me had a surprised expression on her face. After a while, she regained herself and ran into the kitchen. What was she so surprised about? Well, whatever. I ignored what just happened and resumed eating. Yep, its quite easy to eat. I drank the soup while eating and was soon finished with the meal. Thank you for the meal. A person who appeared to be the cook came out of the kitchen as I was leaving and stared at me. No, really what is it? Anyways, lets just go to bed for today. But lets check something before that. I gave a slight knock on the bedroom walls. Hmm, it seems a bit thin? Hm? What am I doing? My daily routine of course. I was checking the walls for that. But the inns walls were a bit too thin. I guess it cant he helped, Ill have to refrain. Haahhh.. I woke up on time next morning. Although, I wasnt really sure of the exact time. Should I make a watchter? While thinking about such things, I prepared myself and headed towards the dining room. Breakfast~ Breakfast~ Time to eat breakfast~ .Todays breakfast was a hotdog. Why.? Well, I guess its alright for breakfast since itll be easy to eat. But I just ate this yesterday no, never mind. With expectations for dinner tonight, I head off towards the guild. I was a bit hot since I was walking at a rapid pace, some neers might take the second day off after finishing a request, but I was nning on going to the forest to gather more herbs. In the long term, continuing to live at the inn would be too expensive. As such, I might have to consider renting a house. Eh? What about the house I already have? Well, it would stand out a lot if I just rented an empty plot ofnd and the next day a house suddenly appears. Should I gradually build it instead? Well, no matter, its still too early to talk about that now. As such, I have to work hard today too. Although, Im only just gathering herbs. Chapter 27: Victory! Chapter 27: Victory! I arrived at the guild and epted the gathering request for today. And then immediately left. I quickly made to exit the town. I was starting a bit earlier today than yesterday. After exiting through the gate, I gave a brief nce around for a while, there were children about gathering herbs just like yesterday. But it seemed the results werent too great. However, if they ventured too far from the town, there would be monsters, so it couldnt be helped. I decided to head into the deeper parts of the forest for today. The southern part of the forest I explored yesterday had produced great results. Rather, the deeper parts were actually a ce where intermediate and even some advanced level adventurers went to gather and hunt. Anyways, lets begin the search inside the forest. But I will be doing the searching myself for today. To be honest, I still had quite a lot left to sell. So for today, I thought I would try to gain some experience for my skill instead. Although, I was constantly using it anyways, so there probably wouldnt be too much of a difference. That aside, what should I do about the adventurers who have been following me? Apparently, after witnessing yesterdays material sales, these adventurers thought that by following me they would be able to cash in on the untouched areas. But I was nning on staying in the more shallow areas of the forest today, so I guess I wouldnt be able to meet their expectations? To begin with, if I was looking for an untouched area, I wouldve shaken them off and escaped. Hence, I was doing the searching myself today. My Detection skill didnt pick up on anything, but due to my life in the forest for about a year, I was somehow able to tell where they grew. As such, due to my experience, I was able to find adequate spots to gather herbs in several areas. But the adventurers who followed me would also appear each time to gather all the herbs. There were a total of seven people, so about two parties? I think most of them were over 13 years old, butthey didnt look too well-mannered, so it would be meaningless to say anything. I was a bit troubled, but as I thought about moving to a different location I noticed a familiar looking nt. Hm, is this amon camellia? Somon camellia exists in this world. No, wait a minute! Isnt this strange! The nts are totally blooming out of season! I thought this when I was living in the forest, but isnt the vegetation in this world clearly off!? I get the feeling that it definitely goes against Earths seasons. But I suppose its fine, right? Its probably due to aw unique in this world, or something along those lines.right, so it shouldnt really matter. However, Im somehow feeling a bit nostalgic from looking at the nts? But then I suddenly realized where that nostalgia was originating from. Common camellia, which means I can get oil? Or rather, vegetable oil. With vegetable oil, couldnt I make the fried foods that I wasnt able to make using the orcrd? Ah, I could make dressings too! I could also reduce the cost needed to make soap and shampoo! I must collect this! Thus, I started crazily gathering all themon camellia. I was gathering it with a single-minded drive. And gathering with the intention to take everything within the area. When I stopped gathering herbs and suddenly started gathering the seed pods of themon camellia, the adventurers who followed me became confused. It was a nt that wasnt listed on the guilds herb purchasing list. As such, even if I was gathering them, everyone was doubtful of whether they could even be sold. But I didnt care about that. I wasnt trying to sell them in the first ce. I just want the vegetable oil. Rather, I wanted to use the vegetable oil. There was bread so I could make bread crumbs. I also found eggs. And I have orc meat. Which means I can make tonkatsu! But theres no rice? Alright, then bread! I can make cutlet sandwiches! This is a great find! Soon, I finished gathering all the seed pods of themon camellia within the area. No, I didnt really mean that, did you really think I would eradicate everything? I actually left some of the seed pods alone. Now, I just need to extract the oil. Fry the seed pods and boil it.well, I know the general procedure, so Ill just save the exnation. Since I would need to use fire, I exited the forest and took out a tent, then started taking out the necessary tools such as a frying pan and arge pot. After that I started extracting oil repeatedly. That said, I actually only did about half the work. Since I already had all the necessary tools, I could just make the vegetable oil using Creation Magic without consuming too much MP. The adventurers who followed me watched me do all this for a while, but eventually returned back into the forest. And I continued extracting oil without stopping. During the process, I stopped to make and eat lunch, but otherwise I was just extracting oil the entire time. There were some people passing by who stopped to look, but they all left almost immediately. It seems I managed to finish extracting everything. Ill use the leftovers as fertilizerter. I nced up at the sky, it looked about 2 to 3 in the afternoon? If I head back now, I think I should be able to make it before evening. As such, I prepared to head back. I nced back towards the tent to put it away, but there was a pile of dead monsters like before. Norn, would it be possible for you to be a bit more modest? And please stop gnawing at the goblin pretending like you dont know anything. It was also in such an obvious ce where anyone could see. For the time being, I decided to pretend I didnt see anything and stored everything. I saw nothing, okay? After pretending nothing had happened, I returned back to town and headed towards the guild. It didnt look like anyone was following me, so I decided to hurry on back and sell my materials. As such, I gave the same amount of herbs as yesterday. The guild staffsplexion was as bad as yesterday too, but I ignored it. The adventurers waiting in line also started making a fuss, but I ignored them too. What happened to trying not to stand out? I need money for living expenses, so I guess it cant be helped? And now, I have something more important in mind. Thus, I escaped back to the inn. There were a few people who tried following me like yesterday, but I managed to shake them off. To be frank, even with all my efforts, I think the inn Im living at will be leaked soon. But it was still better than doing nothing. I arrived at the inn and showed my wooden tag. I also paid lodging for several more days. For the time being, I was nning to continue staying here. Hence, I decided to pay in advance. With this, even if I ran out of money, I wouldnt be forced out of the inn. One less thing to worry about. Now then, lets take a bathter. I wanted to try cooking with the vegetable oil I just got. As such, I went to ask the waitress girl if I could borrow the kitchen. She was a young girl with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She also looked a bit familiar to me. I think she was the waitress girl who brought me the knife yesterday? She asked me to wait a minute and then went inside the kitchen, after a while, she came back and gave me the OK. Thanks. I also asked her if I could have some bread, flour, and a few eggs. The bread was free but the eggs cost one silver coin. Expensive! I wonder if theyre raising chickens. As such, I decided to ask for two eggs for now. I headed inside the kitchen. There was only a single cook inside. He had a sort of arrogant atmosphere around him, but it would seem he was the chef here. As such, I gave him a slight bow, but he merely snorted at me. Well, I thought he was fine with it. Since he had agreed to lend me the kitchen. The waitress girl was watching me with a curious expression on her face. While the cook watched on from a distance away, but I ignored him because of his previous attitude. Thus, I started making tonkatsu. I took off my cloak so that it wouldnt get in the way while I was frying. I was a bit anxious about the surrounding gazes, but I gave up and ignored them. I took out my usual kitchen knife and a small pan then used the cleaning skill on it. Next, I took out a piece of orc meat and started cutting them into appropriate sizes. I sliced along the tendons of the meat. Afterwards, I began applying salt and pepper on the meat to season it, then applied flour, and removed any excess pieces. I began mixing the eggs and started preparing the bread crumbs. Then, I added a bit of vegetable oil to the pan and started the fire. When the temperature of the vegetable oil was heated up enough, I started adding breadcrumbs to the meat that I had dipped in the eggs, then I began frying them. The trick was to fry by heating the oil to a low temperature. I allowed the mes to heat the meat up to a certain extent before flipping it over, then I brought it up and let the meat sit for a bit. After letting it sit for a while, I fried the meat again until it reached a deep gold color. By doing this, the outeryer would be crisp while the meat would be tender. I fried two pieces for the time being. After finishing, I cut open the bread that was given to me and filled it with chopped cabbage. I had cut it into smaller pieces so that it would be easier to eat, so it became a total of six pieces. It would have been better if I had some Worcester sauce, but it should hopefully still be fine since I also added seasoning to it. The waitress girl, the cook, and several other people were staring at me with really surprised looks, but I ignored them.1 After cleaning up, I put my cloak back on, pulled up the hood, then gave a bow to express my thanks. And then left the kitchen with my food in hand before anyone could say anything. The cook was staring at me with quite an expression on his face, but Ipletely ignored him. I sat down with my freshly-made cutlet sandwich and started eating. Yep, its still delicious even without Worcester sauce due to the seasoning. Rather, the taste of the meat was amplified. The cabbage was good too. I was fully satisfied. I finished a portion of the sandwiches in no time. But as I was about to reach out for another piece, I noticed that the waitress girl was standing next to me. What? Ah, umthat. Her line of sight was fixed on the te. Ah, I see, so shes curious about the taste. Hmm, she was quite polite with me, in that case I guess a bit would be fine? Would you like to have some? Is it really okay!? She looked like she really wanted to eat some. So I silently gestured for her to have some. The waitress girl epted a piece and brought it to her mouth with trembling hands. She started chewing and swallowed. Wowwhat is this. A blissful expression crossed her face. Hmm, I see. Its been a while since Ive made one, but I would say I still did quite well. I continued on with my meal while watching the waitress girl slowly savor the food. After the waitress girl finished eating everything, she stared off into empty space with a dreamy expression on her face. It looked like she was reminiscing over the taste? When I also finished eating the rest of the cutlet sandwiches, the waitress girl finally returned to herself. When she saw that the te was already empty she looked a bit sad, but then she immediately turned to me. That was really delicious! This is the first time Ive ever eaten a dish like this! No, it was a bit crudely made. That..that is, to actually ask the customer something like this, I She was blushing while looking at me. She didnt mean something weird right? No, never mind. Girls are most weed. But I apologize to the guys. It would seem she was a bit embarrassed and wanted to thank me for my kindness. Yep, even in such a violent world like this, this girl is a good kid. I like her. If I ever want to borrow the kitchen again, at that time, Ill be in your care. Ahyes! Definitely! Haah, her reactions were so cute. She looked about 15 year old? Lets ask for her name next time. Chapter 28: Recently, Eating Oily Foods Has Been Giving Me Stomach Aches Chapter 28: Recently, Eating Oily Foods Has Been Giving Me Stomach Aches Day 3 of my adventurer life! Im changing my schedule for today and taking a break from work to explore the town and go shopping. I would like to buy some flour. And perhaps some weapons too. As such, I must fulfill my stomach first. I wonder whats for breakfast today? .Its a hot dog again. Well, the soup is still good, but..its somehow disappointing. As I was leaving the inn, I saw a familiar-looking ponytail girl, so I gave her a slight wave. I still havent heard her name yet. First up, a weapons shop. Right now, I was walking around with Norn and Bell in search of a weapons shop. But in the first ce, it would be foolish to search by myself since I wasnt familiar with the town. It might be smarter to go to the guild and ask the receptionist for information. In that case, lets go to the guild then. I arrived at the guild and looked around for an open window. Excuse me. Yes..oh? Will you be gathering today too? Ah, no. I just wanted to ask if you knew of any good weapons shops around here? I thought it would be better to go to one rmended by the guild rather than idently going to a weird one. I see, that might actually be better. Well, I would rmend these weapons shops then I was given two ces. One shop specializes in leather armor and such. The other dealt with custom made weapons and such. But I wanted to get disposable throwing knives so thetter would be the one I would be going to. As for armor, I already made one myself with detailed specifications that include things like a design that wasnt too tight around my chest and would hinder my movements, thus I think it isnt necessary. Ah, but I would like some clothes too. Since I did get reborn as a cute girl, I wanted to dress up a bit. Although, I have no ns on showing it to anyone. Hmmwait, couldnt I just get some materials and make my own clothes? Right, lets go with that. Thus, I arrived at the weapon shop while thinking such thoughts. For cksmiths, I have this weird impression that they would be tough-looking middle-aged men, but the shopkeeper was just a normal, friendly looking person. But he was a bit muscr. I was immediately shown to the knives. Using thinner knives would mean less damage, so I guess I should go with something thats wide and thick? Using something like that should be able to hinder movement better, but would it also cause too much bleeding? After looking around for a bit, I finally found a suitable throwing knives. It cost one silver coin each. Which was a bit expensive. But I bought a hundred of them for the time being. So a total of one small gold coin. I bought too much? Well, being safe was important. But I would need to strengthen the knivester. I was also given ten extra knives for buying them in bulk. I ced all the knives into Storage while pretending to put them into my bag. Afterwards, I was also shown a selection of short swords. I checked them with my Appraisal skill, but frankly my own short sword was much better. These were probably mass produced through casting. The cksmith also showed me what he called a masterpiece, butthe distribution of the carbon content wasnt uniform. I guess I should go take a look at a different weapon shop? But in the end, I decided to just go to a clothing store without checking out another weapon shop. In this world, the clothes being sold were basically just used clothes. You could tell the clothes were old from just a nce. And there wasnt anything cute either. Ill just make the clothes myself. After asking the store employee about the location, I switched to a store that sold cloth. And I bought various different types of cloth. Which cost a total of about 5 silver coins. The store employee was fairly surprised. I was even given a send off after leaving the store. Im a bit hesitant about whether I shoulde back or not. Anyways, with this, the matters regarding weapons and clothes are all solved. So next up, food. But where should I go to eat? I was a bit unsure. Its not really something I can go to the guild to ask about. I nced up at the sky, it looked like it was about noon. In that case, lets just head back to the inn and eat. Thus, I returned back to the inn. I decided to have lunch at the inn. The menu was saute rabbit meat. And a light soup with bread. I wished there was rice instead, Im getting tired of eating bread. As I was eating, I heard a voiceing from the kitchen. Like I said, this ispletely different! What I ate was much more crunchier and tender! What I ate was overflowing with vor.. I made it just like you told me to! This should be as delicious as it gets! But you say you ate something even more delicious than this!? Then how about you stop acting so stubborn and just ask for the recipe! You want me to bow my head to such a little child! Right, Im not really sure whats going on, but it seemsplicated. Ill just continue eating then. After I finished eating, I asked one of the waiters for the location of the market and headed there. Oh, it looks quite busy here. How nice. After looking around for a while, I found a ce selling potatoes! I used Appraisal on the potatoes, freshness, check, recently-harvested, also check. I bought all of them at once. Potato sd, french fries. Its hard to give up on these types of foods. Now, if I just had butter tooyep. After exploring around a bit more, Ive found tomatoes! But there wasnt anywhere selling cheese. Oh, but I found butter! I wonder if milk is being sold somewhere. But I didnt feel like buying the flour because it had other things mixed into it. If it was just some millets inside then it would at least be edible, but sand and stoneswere they trying to kill people? I could probably separate them by using Storage, but I didnt really feel like doing so. At the very least, I would like to find something a bit better. But in a world like this Im not exactly sure if there would be anything better? But fortunately Hurray, I found something that could be eaten! I would like this please! Yes, thank you very mu-..huh, arent you- Huh, Nicole? It was Nicole. After talking for a bit, it seems that he usually conducts business at his store near themercial district. The reason he was here was because he wanted to sharpen his savviness. Apparently, even after setting up his store, he would stille here to sell things out of habit from his earlier years. I could understand that, it was important not to forget your roots. Like how I had ran away for freedom. But this flour, huh. There are otherohh, I see, your sses. Right, something like that. By the way When I asked Nicole if he knew anything about rice, he told me that he would sometimes carry it. But he didnt have any in stock right now. As such he gave me the location of his store and agreed to sell me some next time. But, rice.. Its not really a popr ingredient..oh, right, youre actually a pretty good cook. Do you perhaps have a recipe that uses rice? Yes, rather, I have many recipes. I actually really like rice. I see, recipes that use rice Nicole has begun calcting potential profits. If I stayed here any longer I might be introduced to his son and be involved in various other troublesome things, thus, I decided to retreat. Afterwards, I bought various other different things. I also bought a bit of salt. Which ended up costing a total of one small gold coin. I already blew through two small gold coins todayto be honest, it sort of hurts. As such, I will do my best tomorrow. I arrived back at the inn a little early, but I decided to take a bath. After that, I began the process of strengthening the throwing knives. As expected, 110 was quite a lot. But I managed to finish strengthening all of them. However, as a result, I had almost no MP left. I headed towards the dining hall feeling a bit light-headed just in time for dinner. I was disappointed in the morning, so Im expecting something delicious this time! .And a cutlet sandwich was brought out. Eh.whats this? It wasnt an exact copy of the cutlet sandwich I made, but instead an imitation. I could tell just by looking at it that it was something quiteplex. First, the bread. It waspletely drenched in oil. The chopped cabbage too. My appetite was almost gone at this point. The taste was quite dreadful. Ughh, my clothes were getting dirty too. The meat inside also had too much salt on it so it was quite salty. And the meat was hard too. I tried eating a bit more. It was also full of tendons. This was quite horrible. I want to leave. I could also hear voicesing from the kitchen. I told you so! Did you see the face she was making!? But even so, the other customers were praising it! Thats not the issue here! I understand that he was trying to copy what I made, I really dobut this is just terrible. I washed it down with the soup and somehow managed to finish it all. But it was so oily that it made my stomach ache. I nced around my surroundings, and the other customers werevishing the food with praise. Probably, because it was a dish that didnt exist in this world. But even so, this was a different matter. Ugh, I need to rest my stomach. Um, excuse me It was the waitress girl with the blonde ponytail. Our cook just wanted to make it no matter whathe had asked me to help him since I was watching you cook from the side, but it ended up bing somethingpletely different. ording to her exnation, it seems that the cook had an interest in imitating dishes he has never seen before. He had seen how I made it, and the ponytail waitress had also been watching from the side. He had believed he shouldve been able to make the dish since he had been a cook for so long. But when he actually tried making it, he ended with apletely different thing. Although the ponytail waitress had eaten the dish before, the cook didnt really listen to the advice she offered. And in the end, he pushed to have what he made served as tonights dinner. Additionally Also hes been telling other customers that its a dish he came up with by himself, so I really am sorry. Recipes that have never been seen before are of great value. Apparently, the cook wanted the honor of having invented the dish, but even so, really? Even more so, he had named the dish shredded orc meat with fried bread. The name was quite terrible. Its fine, rather its essentially apletely different dish. So it isnt something to fret over. You ate it before so it should be obvious, right? Yes, that is true Afterwards, I talked for a bit with the ponytail waitress before heading back to my room. Additionally, the ponytail girls name was Lily. Apparently, she also wasnt from this town, and had followed her older sister when she came to this town for work reasons. She was referred to this inn for work also because of her sister. After being healed by the ponytail girl, I went right to sleep. But I had stomach aches during the night and had to go to the bathroom numerous times. Chapter 29: A Person from the Land of Udon (Just Joking) Chapter 29: A Person from the Land of Udon (Just Joking) Good morning. My stomach still feels a bit off. Ren here. Eh? Isnt going to the bathroom actually unnecessary for me? Well, I guess if I really wanted to then that would be the case. But if I didnt use it, wouldnt I lose the ability to use those muscles? As such, just to be safe, it should be alright to go. Yep. But, even so after I finished, I would still use the Cleaning skill to wash myself. Since I like being clean. Anyways, I guess I should eat before heading off to work. Todays breakfast was the usual bread, sd, and soup. But Im fine with that. After getting some bread for lunch, I waved goodbye to the ponytail girlto Lily as I left the inn. I went straight to the guild. And immediately to the receptionist window. The person at the window today was the receptionistdy who handled my guild registration. She had curly blonde hair in a bob cut fashion. And she emitted a really feminine feeling. To be frank, she was totally my type. I was feeling a bit turned on at the moment. Ah, will you be gathering today? Yes, please. Ah, is that so? If youre just gathering herbs, you actually dont have toe take the request at the counter each time. You can just go out and go to the purchasing counters when you return. Eh? I was given an exnation. It seems that it wasnt necessary toe to the window to ept the always avable gathering requests. So it turned out I was just wasting time. Which was quite embarrassing. But I really like the image of how hard youre working. Please do your best? Yes, Ill do my best. Rather, Im brimming with vigor right now! Thus, I headed into the forest today. There were numerous people following me today too. But unlike thest time, there were more children who looked under 13 years old. It looked like there were 4 people who were above 13, theyre probably in a party? And then there were six other kids. I didnt really want to engage with them, so I just ignored them and gathered by myself. But I still had quite a lot left in my stockpile. Like a few days ago, I gathered in multiple different areas at a moderate pace. I nced over at a boy nearby, he was gathering ordinary grass instead of herbs. I guess it cant be helped. Those arent herbs. Eh? Its simr, but the nts next to it are the herbs. What you just gathered are a different type of nt. T-Thanks. I didnt give a reply back since I had just helped on a whim. Yep. I looked around me, and it looked like all the children who were under 13 were younger than me. Although I was only ten, there was still one main difference between us, they werent getting enough nutrients.but even so, I wasnt nning on feeding them. Afterwards, I continued gathering more herbs for a while. Should I have lunch soon? Im getting hungry. Lets leave the forest then. And have some lunch. I exited the forest and prepared the tent. Then I began preparing the food. The children who were following me looked confused. Its not like I have to be mindful of them since theyre just following me. Im not the leader of their group or anything. So I will just leave them be. Even so, there was one child who was persistent and called out to me. It was the child that I warned earlier. U-Um, are you not going to gather anymore? Ill consider whether I should continue or notter in the afternoon. Because right nows the time for lunch. Besides, its not like were gathering together, and were not friends either. Isnt it fine for you all to just do whatever you want? I was being a bit cold, but it couldnt be helped. I was just speaking the truth. They were all just following me of their own will, so it would be troublesome if they were to think I was part of their group just because of that. Even earlier when I warned him, I did that on a whim and nothing more. I redirected my attention and continued on with preparing my meal. Thanks to Norn, there was still a lot of horned rabbit meat left, so I was nning on using it to make a garlic roast. I just bought the garlic yesterday. But Im going to skip over the details of the cooking process. I ate the meal with bread and was soon full. Thank you for the meal. The children I was eating the food around were sneaking looks at me. But, right, unfortunately, I didnt feel like gathering anymore. Im nning on continuing to cook here for today. Why? Because I wanted to eat udon. I finally managed to obtain flour, so it would be useless if I didnt use it! Therefore, udon! But even so, I didnt have any kelp or bonito to make the broth for the noodles. So I was nning to make a chicken-based broth using salt as the main seasoning. I had plenty of chicken bones to use as stock after all. Well, technically not chicken, but some sort of bird? Right, Im not exactly sure, but its definitely some type of huge bird. I refocused my attention and poured water into a pot I brought out. I boiled the water once to remove any bacteria. I was using storage to do all this. I chopped a leek into smaller sizes and then dropped them into the water along with some garlic and ginger. When it began boiling, I brought the heat down to low. After that, I just kept an eye on it as it cooked on low heat. In the meantime, I began to knead the udon noodles. Since its troublesome to exin the step-by-step process, Im just going to skip over the boring stuff. And since the leftover soup is good, Ill just filter it and be finished with this for now. Ill leave adjusting the taste forter. Next, I stretched out the udon dough that wasid out, dusted flour on it, and cut them. With that, all the ingredients were nowplete. I guess I should finish the rest up back at the inn? It was gettingte by the time I realized. The children who followed me had all left already. I got up and began preparing to clean up and head back, but when I looked back there was another pile of monster corpses. Norn.. After being paid 10 small gold coins at the guild, I returned back to the inn. Udon! Udon! UDON! Lilly, please lend me the kitchen. Yes, dly! I appreciate the enthusiasm, Lily. But is it alright not to ask the cook for permission first? I took off my cloak and began preparing todays meal. But since the ingredients were already prepared beforehand, I just have to finish cooking it. I took out two pots. And two bowls. Then the ingredients. I added water to one of the pots and began boiling it, and added the leftover soup to the other pot. I started the fire. And began chopping all the ingredients. Cabbages, carrots, and a good amount of chicken. I then ced them into the soup and began lightly boiling them. I also added salt and soy sauce to adjust the taste. When the hot water began boiling, I added the udon noodles. After the udon noodles finished cooking, I drained the water and ced it into a bowl. Then I added an appropriate amount of soup and ingredients. And with that everything wasplete. Now lets just hurry up and clean the used cooking utensils! I called Lily and we moved into the dining room. And I gestured for her to eat too. Slurp! Yep, delicious. Udon is delicious! And no, Im not a person from the udon prefecture. Lily had also started eating and waspletely silent. Ah, by the way, Im eating with chopsticks and Lilly is using a fork. But it didnt look like she was having any difficulties eating. Though, as expected, it wouldnt be something befitting for the nobles. Soon, both of us finished eating our meals. But Im sorry, I guess? Theres actually still more left. And I added more to our bowls. Ohhhhh! Lily, your face is all flushed up. How cute. After Lily finished downing the entire second bowl, she waspletely out. I-I.anymor-. Udon noodles were quite something. What will happen to this child if I give her kelp or bonito? Never mind, I will take responsibility at that time, yes lets do that. The customers around me were screaming stuff into the kitchen, but I ignored them. Ipleted the preparation process outside, so I was basically already done when I cooked inside the kitchen. As such, imitating what I made isnt possible. I left the beet-red Lily to another waitress and went to take a bath before immediate going to bed. I wonder what I should make next time? Chapter 30: Troubling Matters Chapter 30: Troubling Matters Morning. Its morning. Lets eat and go to work. I headed into the dining room for breakfast. It was the usual meal. I nced around at my surroundings while I was eating, the other customers were looking at me as if they wanted to say something, and the cook was ring at me from the kitchen, but I splendidly ignored them. After finishing my meal, I headed out of the inn and gave a slight wave to Lily since she was staring at me with lovestruck-like face. Now then, lets go to the guild, or rather, lets just head out of town. The receptionistdy told me yesterday that I could just go directly to gather the herbs. When I exited the town, some of the children gathering in the surroundings noticed me and approached me. But I didnt really have anything to say to them. I walked towards the southern parts of the forest with Norn. And behind meisnt it more than yesterday? Hmm, about 15 people? Thats fine, just do whatever you want then. But Im not going to help if they get attacked by monsters. I arrived in front of the forest. I was nning on going a bit deeper than yesterday. There wasnt much left here because of my excessive gathering from yesterday. I was already used to walking around in the mountains due to living in the forest for over a year, though I stillcked stamina. As I started moving forward, the people following me began to get further and further away. I gave a quick nce backwards and saw the boy who spoke to me yesterday leading the group. His face turned red when he met my eyes. Hmm, I get the feeling he looks about 11-12 years old? And the girl behind him looks about 10. The boy began speaking. It would appear the girl is his friend, maybe sister? It looked like she was falling behind, so I stopped walking and waited for them to catch up. Since I felt like it. But it wont happen again. The children who realized that I was waiting for them began to quicken their pace. After repeating this two times, I finally found a small area filled with herbs. Lets gather here for today. But since it was troublesome to gather everything by myself, I used Storage to thin the area out, but to the extent where it wouldnt be noticeable at first nce. I think I took about half of everything in the area? My stockpile has increased again. I guess Ill slow down a bitter. When I crouched down and began gathering, the children following me split up and also began gathering. About 30 minutester, the boy from before came near me and began to talk. Um, thank you for before. It was just a whim. Even so, I still want to say thanks. That girl, you see, Yui, is actually my little sister, and shes kinda slowso she mightve gotten lost if you didnt wait for her. I think its better to move your hands than your mouth. Eh, ah, okay. Ill do my best. Thank you very much. Why was he thanking me? Never mind, theres no point in overthinking it. It would be bad if my feelings changed too much. If something happens, I might consider helping. But Im not going to help with anything troublesome. I kept gathering herbs until it reached noon. Im hungry. Lets just eat here for today since its too troublesome otherwise. I thought that and stood up, but there were three dead orcs on the ground. Bad Norn! There are children watching! I quietly stored everything. Nothing happened here. I didnt see anything. Anyways, theres still some leftover udon from yesterday. It was still edible since I had kept it inside storage the entire time. How convenient. As such, I was able to prepare a bowl of udon in no time. The children were confused when I suddenly started eating. But the children who were following me yesterday managed to recover immediately and also started preparing food. After about 30 minutes, everyone seems to have finished eating, but for some reason they were all sneaking weird nces at me. What is it? Um It was that boy again. Do you need something? What are you going to do now? Are you going to another ce and do what you did yesterday, or are you heading back? Im going to continue gather for today. Okaythat helps a lot, thank you very much. After hearing my ns, he hurried back to the other children to ry the news. Everyone looked really happy. Its just because I feel like it, so dont overthink it. Ill abandon them if I need to. .I really mean it. Afterwards, I continued on gathering for about another two hours before deciding to go back. I wanted to avoid the busy evening hours, so I decided to head back early. If I leave now I should reach the town by around 4. But some of the children looked dissatisfied. They were able to gather 5 times the usual amount, but it looked like they wanted to gather some more. Sure, just do whatever you want then. Im not their leader or an escort. I ignored the boy who I was talking to earlier and began walking. The children who noticed me leaving began frantically following me. But I could still hear someining as we walked through the forest so I began to quicken my pace. I, Ren, wont be easy on opponents even if theyre children! When I got back to town, I went straight to the guild to sell my materials. I received 10 small gold coins for today. And I still have a lot left in my stockpile. Should I head back early and make something for tonight? What should I make? But as I was thinking about dinner, the boy approached me. Ah, um, sorry about what happened on the way back. Its not like its your fault, right? No, I was the one who brought them along I listened to his story for a bit. The boys name was Shin. And he was 12 years old. Apparently, he had been following me since my second day. On the second day, he was surprised when he ended up earning almost twice as much as usual. Furthermore, yesterday he also ended up earning double the amount he had earned when gathering in the morning. So today he had brought along a few friends and his sister. His sister was unfamiliar with the process, so he was worried since we had headed deeper into the forest today, and one of his friends was the oneining on the way back.so in other words, he hade to apologize in ce of his friend, who had misunderstood his position as someone who was just picking up another persons leftovers. Thats why, um I dont really care if you bring them along tomorrow or even after. Theyre even free to say whatever they want like today too. Rather, isnt it fine if you all just continue gathering without me? It doesnt have anything to do with me anyways. Thatsum, Im sorry. Dont be, youre free to do whatever you want. Dont mind me. I wont bring him along tomorrow. .Do whatever you want. Afterwards, I left and went straight back to the inn. The two of them were most likely orphans. But unlike me who lived in an orphanage, those two were likely street orphans. They probably had to struggle to survive. I was also the same before, even now Im still doing my all. As such, I was being lenient on them. But it would be annoying if they were to start demanding things out of me. I might have been a bit harsh, but it was necessary, to begin with, Im not even their friend or anything. It would be bad if they misunderstood. .Its annoying to get too involved. If it bes too troublesome, I might have to switch to a different gathering spot. If I recall, there should be a river towards the northeastso maybe somewhere over there? I arrived back at the inn. Lets make something delicious to calm my anxious heart. Today, Norn brought me an orc, so I guess Ill cook it with ginger? I went to ask Lily for permission to use the kitchen, but the cook interrupted me. Hey, you. Its annoying that you keep using my kitchen so often. But Im not saying you cant use it. If you pay the appropriate price I wouldnt mind letting you continue to use it. So starting from today, you are to give me your cooking recipes instead of money. Please excuse me then, I didnt know I was being such a bother. I wont ask again in that case. I apologize. Alright, I wont ask you to lend me anything then. I dont want to get involved in an argument. Eh? Price? I think he said something, but I guess I mustve misheard. Hey, wait, thats not it. Instead just No, since its troubling you, theres no need to force yourself. Please excuse me. I headed straight up to my room. Lily looked stunned. Im sorry, I wont be able to cook for you anymore Afterwards, I immersed myself in thought while taking a bath. From now on, I guess if I want to make something to eat, I would need to borrow a kitchen somewhere else, or think of something else. Hmm, but the reason Im borrowing the kitchen in the first ce is because of the fire? So in other words, I need a stove. In that case, I need something in substitution for a stove. If I had a portable gas stove, I could even make things when Im outside gathering. It would be nice if I could find some sort of magic tool like that, but if I were to make itI would need magic stones to make such a magic tool. I didnt know how to make one, but Ill just have to push forth using [Creation Magic]. I have magic stones, but would they be enough? .Magic stones were special stones that contained magic powers and were found within the bodies of monsters or demons. These stones were also the reason why monsters were monsters, plus theyre also the weak points of monsters. But there were also various ways to use them. As such, in monster subjugation, people usually wouldnt aim for the magic stone just because it was a weak point, unless the monster was too strong. So to make something like a gas stove, I would need a fire attribute magic stone, right? It would be expensive to obtain one, but having one would be handy. But I only had ones from the goblins or orcs I defeated. The low-level monster magic stones were not very high quality and were also quite small, so to be frank, I had mixed feelings about having them in hand But in the end, I decided to just make one myself after dinner since I didnt want to go around looking for one. I think the results werent too bad. I didnt go through too many magic stones. Since I had the skill [Magic Conferment]1, assigning attributes to magic stones was quite easy. However, the process itself took some trials, so I ended up falling asleep after using too much mana. Chapter 31: I Fed the Lily Sisters Chapter 31: I Fed the Lily Sisters Good morning everyone! I will do my best today too~ I went down to the dining hall and Lily brought me my meal. From a slight nce, I could tell that the cook was ring at me from the kitchen. Im sorry about yesterday. No, dont worry about it. I listened to her exnation. It was because of the udon I made two days ago, when the other customers saw me and Lily eating it, they started asking the cook for it. And the cook had even proimed I made that. But no matter what the other customers said, he wasnt able to bring it out. Apparently, after I had gone up to my room, the other customers had started severely denouncing him. They started saying things like the udon was something that I had created, and that probably even the previous orc meat dish was also actually mine. As such, the cook who had his pride severely hurt, said all that stuff yesterday to try to get a new recipe. Well, its not like getting praises from a bad copy of my dish is anything to be..never mind, it doesnt really matter. Hah, I see. Im angry at him too, thanks to him, I wont be able to get a share of what you make anymore Ah, as expected, shes mad about that. Dont worry, I thought about other ways to cook. I will still share some with Lily. Eh!? Really!? Yep, but be a bit more quiet. S-Sorry. Well, it wont be as soon as tomorrow, but soon in the near future. Okay! Ill wait! Arent her expectations a bit too high? Dont raise the hurdle that much! Afterwards, we talked for a bit more before I left the inn. As expected, sugar was expensive. As I headed towards the gate, I looked towards Norn who was walking beside me, she looked like she was in a good mood. Apparently, Bells hunting skills have improved quite a lot in the past few days. In that case, I guess I should overlook their behaviors while Im gathering? I passed in front of the guild on the way, and I saw the receptionistdy who handled my guild registration sweeping the entrance, so I gave her a greeting. Good morning. Good morning, will you be gathering herbs today? Yes, umm. I didnt know her name. .? .Ah, my name is Salena. I see, Salena. So her names Salena. I will remember that. Speaking of which, you seem to be getting along with my little sister. Little sister? Shes a waitress at an inn. I believe it is the inn youre staying at? Ah, do you mean Lily? Yes, Im referring to Lily. It appears you allowed her to eat something very delicious, shes been talking non-stop about it everyday. Ah, so she was annoying her sister about the foods I fed her. Sorry about that. But Lily and Salena.so Yuri Shimai?Lily Sisters">1 Apparently, it was something about a dish shes never seen before? Well, would you like to have some? Eh, do you really mean it!? I still have some udon remaining. I wanted to get along with Lily, and maintaining good rtions with guild staff would be beneficial. Above all, she was my favorite type, so I would like to increase my favorability with her. As such, I was taken to the back of the guild, to one of the rooms the guild staff used. Apparently, Salena already ate breakfast, but if its just udon, she should be able to eat it if I gave her a smaller portion. Thus, I brought out a bowl of udon. T-This is Please enjoy. I also decided to join her and eat some. Slurp! Yep, delicious. Oh my.. She had the same expression as Lily. The two are definitely sisters. We finished eating in no time. Thank you for the meal, it was very delicious. This is the first time Ive eaten something like this. No, it was nothing special. The guild master came in while we were talking with each other. Oh? Whats this smell? It smells really goodwhat were you eating? Ah, good morning. As Salena gave a greeting, I also bowed. What did you eat? Huh, little miss? Ah, great timing. I have something I need to talk about. .What is it about? Its not something bad, right? No, you dont need to be so worried about it. Im not going to eat you or anything. Alright. Hmm, now then, where should I begin.its a bit troublesome so Ill keep it short. Little miss, why dont you sell your monster materials? ..Eh? Huh? Did he find out? Thats right, Im not that easy to fool. I know little miss has been hunting a lot of monsters. Or to be urate, little miss familiars have. There have been quite a few people whove seen your wolves gathering monster corpses while you were gathering herbs. Ah..that, umm, Im sorry. Dont be, Im not angry. Adventurers under 13 years old arent allowed to ept subjugation requests, but theyre allowed to fight back if theyre attacked. Plus, in the case of Missy, I heard that your familiars were just attacking the monsters that were aiming for you while you were gathering herbs. Thats why yourepletely fine, dont worry about it. That isis it really alright? Yep, dont worry. For Missy, it would be justified as self-defense since you were attacked by monsters. Theres absolutely no problem. So the mountain of corpses from before were the results from protecting me. I need to apologize to Nornter. Rather, the issue is more about how youre storing the materials. Why dont you just sell them? Eh? Uh, you know, just sell them normally? But I didnt ept any subjugation requests, so can I? Why not? The materials that you got after being attacked would be wasted otherwise. I see. Thats right, orc meat is considered a luxury item for themon people. Even those in the lower ss eat it asionally. But the town still has difficulties keeping up with the supply and demand. So it would be a waste to let the material you have go bad. Umm, Im sorry? No, like I said, Im not angry. Judging from how you reacted, it seems you didnt sell the materials because you didnt know you could. Um, right. In that case, if you sell them, it will be alright. Is that so. Then Im fine with selling them. Oh, thats right. What? I also have an ogre, is that fine too? An ogre!? Oh, was that perhaps too much? Wait a moment, you have ogres too!? How many!? Eh? Eh? Eh? Apparently, ogres were considered fairly dangerous monsters that could only be defeated by Rank D and above adventurers. And an ogre had appeared. Furthermore, if there were a herd of ogres, several parties of Rank C adventurers would need to be assembled. As such, ogre appearances would be quite bad news. Anyways, I quickly exined that I only had one. Just oneit might be nothing, but it still isnt something that should be ignored. For now, the forest area in the south will need to be ced off-limits while we send out an investigation team. It seems to be more serious than I thought. Somehow, Im sorry about that. No, Missy didnt do anything wrong. Rather, you definitely reduced the amount of casualties by defeating it. Although its been several days since you defeated it, and there havent been any signs of movement from a herd. It will still take at least several days toplete the investigation. Im fine as long as theres no punishment. However What? To think that Missys familiars are strong enough to beat an ogre, when I think about it..theres a lot to process. Ugh, why do I have this bad feeling?2 Chapter 32: When You Go to the River, You Have to Go Fishing! Chapter 32: When You Go to the River, You Have to Go Fishing! There wasnt any lecturing from the guild master, and after a small warning, I moved towards the warehouse to sell my monster materials. I decided to sell all the edible meat since holding on to them was too cumbersome. But I did keep some of the skins. On a side note, it seems ogre meat isnt edible. Thus, I took everything out. And everyone around me looked shocked. All of these were due to the grace of my goddess, Norn. Norn is seriously a goddess. I really love her. And Im not taking any objections to that. To have this muchand theres no signs of damage.? Ah, so you noticed. But I turned away and feigned ignorance. After taking a cue from my behavior, nothing more was said afterwards. The total from the sale was 20 gold coins. Yep, it was quite a great amount. The guild master was also very happy for some reason. Im not sure why, but congrattions, I guess? Also, I decided not to sell the ogres magic stone. Since it seems there were various uses to it. Anyways, since the sale of the monster materials was concluded, it was now time to go to work. Various things happened, but it was still early in the morning. The southern forest area was already ced off-limits. The guild master sure worked fast. As such, I had to go look for a different area. But the bulletin board already had a crowd around it. And I didnt have the energy to rush in. While I was thinking about just heading out since it was too troublesome, Salena approached me and whispered a secret to me. Apparently, there were rare herbs growing near the river flowing in the northeast. She said it was thanks for the udon. I should feed her more often. And if I increased her favorability more, eventually.! I thanked her before leaving the guild and then headed out of town. After exiting town, I nced around for some people. I could just go directly to the river, but for now A few children approached me as I was ncing around. Shin, Yui, and their friends. I didnt give a greeting or say anything. Since Im not their friend. Lets see, five boys, three girls, so eight in total? Alter confirming that everyone had gathered around, I gave a nod and headed off. The target would be the river. Uh, are we not going to the forest? Where are we going? Shin, go ask her. It seems they were questioning where I was going, but if they didnt like it, theyre free to go home. Today would be my first time going there. As I continued on forward, Shin moved forth to talk to me. Um, where are you going for today? The river. The river? Are you not going to the forest? The southern forest area is off-limits. Off-limits? It seems ogres have appeared there. Ogres!? The children began panicking. Even if youre all scared, the ce were going to isnt the forest, its the river. I continued on ahead while ignoring the noises. After walking for about an hour, I arrived at the river. I looked around and there were a few people about. Should I look for herbs near the riverside? There was an open field towards the downstream of the river and a forest towards the upstream. I see, a forest. I walked for about another 30 minutes. Im now in the front of the forest. Although I went towards the forest, Im nning on gathering near the river. I walked straight inside the forest while following alongside the river. Hmm, I thought there would be more to gather alongside the river, but the vegetation was essentially the same. I think around here should be far enough. And so I began collecting the herbs growing alongside the river. As I was doing so, I also looked closely at the bottom of the river. Yep, those are definitely rare herbs. But Im not getting in since I would get wet. But this would be where Storagees in. Alright, done. After gathering for about an hour, I was starting to get bored. Lets do something else! Hmm. River, a river? Speaking of rivers, there should be fish, right? Yes, fish! Thus, I decided to go catch some fish. I did a quick check using Detection and it looked like there were fish akin to chars in the river. The water looked quite clear around here. I wonder how it would look further upstream? I might even be able to catch a rainbow trout if I head further downstream. Downstreamso the sea? I want to eat some sea fish. Ah, this wont do, lets focus on the current target. The chars. Now, how should I catch them? By fishing? But I didnt have any fishing gear with me. I could always try physically catching the fish, or something else. The children also caught fish like that. How about a fish trap? I think I could make that work. I wish I had some bamboo, but since I didnt have any, I took out some wood from Storage and made them into a cage. Since I had the materials, the consumption was low. Next, I need to block the flow of the river, or narrow it down, solets use earth magic to do that. Then I ced the finished cage into the narrowed end. Good, the water is flowing through. Now all I need to do is drive the fish towards it. The children were confused due to not knowing what I was doing. But I continued working without paying any heed to them. Hmm, in order to drive the fish..as expected, I need to take off my clothes. I suppose it cant be helped. I removed my cloak and took off my highced boots. Fortunately, I was wearing culottes today. But since I was also wearing garters and stockings, I also had to remove those too. Thus, I took them all off. And now I was barefooted. The water felt really cold. When I entered the river and started sshing about, the children became even more confused. Also the boys immediately turned red and looked away. Yui called out to me at that point. Um! What are you doing? Dont worry about it, Im just gathering. Having said that, everyone still had their attention on me. But no one joined me. After a while, I went to confirm the trap. Theres about 16? A bit disappointing. But this should be enough for today. I removed the and dispelled the barrier I made using earth magic. After getting out of the river, I used Dry to dry my feet and slightly wet clothes, and then put on my stockings, boots, and cloak. Then I took out the tent, and prepared the stove that I madest night and several other cooking utensils. I would remodel the stove when I have time. To make the firepower stronger. Speaking of which, I ended up learning a skill called Create Magic Tool after making this stove. I honestly have too many skills. There were various skills I wanted to level, but I didnt have enough time to level them all. But that aside. Hmm, cooking chars, I wonder what I should do? Grilling them with salt sounds nice. Foil-roasting them with butter also sounds nice. Frying them would also work. Ah, maybe I could I also smoke them. Alright, let s do all of them. I already bought salt a few days ago. I removed the slime and started dealing with the gills and internal organs. Then I started making everything in order; Grilling with salt. I made sure to properly cover them in salt. Foil-roasting with butter. I managed to obtain a small amount of butter the other day. I made the foil myself. I had to use some MP, but it was necessary. Frying. I used vegetable oil to do that. As for smoking, I made smoked fish which could be used as sides or for sds. I ced all the finished products into Storage. Thus, Ipleted all four methods. And by the time I realized, it was already noon. Good, I could eat them now while everything was still freshly-madebut the stares from the children was painful. I didnt have enough to share with everyone, and as expected, I ce myself first. After a quick meal with bread and orc meat that I had ced in storage beforehand, I decided to head back for today. The children who followed me this time didnt raise anyints since Shin had made sure they wouldnt. Good, my peace of mind was kept. Ah, and Norn was still a goddess. Several orcs and goblins have been added to my collection. I returned back to town and finished my transactions with the guild. The herbs in the riverbed were rare and sold at high prices. The profit I earned from them alone was a total of 5 small gold coins. And I sold some from my stockpile and earned another 10 small gold coins on top of that. When I returned to the inn, I saw Lily and we talked for a bit. She was surprised upon hearing that I went to the river and caught fish for today. Since I already cooked them, I invited her to eat them with meter, which made her really happy. The cook who was listening to us also turned red with fury. I came back really early today, so I still had a lot of time left before dinner. Thats right, I still have to make clothes from the cloth I bought. As such, I worked hard to make clothes for a while. Im a girl with the mind of a man, yep. I also made a new cloak while I was at it. Until now, I was just wearing a cloak that ced emphasis on practically! So I made a new water-resistant cloak and decorated it with embroideries on the hem and other areas. Besides, the tanned hide cloak I was using was also quite heavy.I also added the effect of Stealth to draw less attention to myself. I was able to add skills that I learned using Skill Grant. However, since the level was dependent on the granted skill, the effect that could be applied was only up to LV2. Afterwards, I took a bath and had dinner. Although, I had numerous kinds, I chose to bring out the foil-roasted chars. The scent of butter was explosive. The other customers also started yelling into the kitchen, but thats not my problem. Several of them also tried talking to me, but Ipletely ignored them. Ah, Lily had a wonderful beet-red face on her today too. How cute. Chapter 33: In The End, I Was Swayed Chapter 33: In The End, I Was Swayed A few dayster. Today, I was once again with the children gathering herbs near the river. But I was actually looking for things that could be eaten in the surroundings. Over the past few days, the first edible thing I found was chili peppers. Along with the vegetable oil, I could now make chili oil. And I also found raw peppers. Spices were quite expensiveI also found several other kinds of spices. I was hoping to make curry someday. But I still havent found any turmeric yet. I also managed to find leeks. Which was good for stir-fry vegetables and miso soup. Incidentally, there wasmon camellia within the area, so I was able to obtain more vegetable oil. But whats with the vegetation in this world? It was somehow strange in various ways. It might be interesting to look into it a little more. Anyways, since Ive mostly explored this area, I would like to move a little more upstream for today. As such, I was gathering a bit deeper in the forest than usual. After walking for a while, I found a tree that had some fruit. This scent.the Japanese plum? Or some kind of plum? Well, never mind the specifics. A scan from Appraisal showed that the plums were edible. The plums also looked ripe and ready for consumption. So I decided to have some right away. I brought one to my mouth. Yep, sweet and sour. Delicious. I noticed that the children were watching me from a little further away, so I beckoned for them toe closer. They ran forth with their faces shining. Everyone began eating with delighted expressions on their faces. In this world, sweets werent something that could be easily obtained. Formoners, and even more so for orphans. I also stored some for myself. As I looked around for other things, the children asked me if they could take some home. Well, isnt it fine to just do what you want? Ah, but if they pick too much the plums might go bad, so pick in moderation, I guess? While the children were taking their share, I explored the surroundings a bit more. Well Oh, thats yam? Tororo rice! Okay, lets dig. And so I dug them up. Or rather, I did it in one go using earth magic. Magic sure was convenient. Shin noticed I was doing something again and approached me. Can you eat this too? Hmm, there are various ways to eat them, such as mashing them, steaming them, or baking them, and such. Can we also take some? Do what you want. Ah, but if you dont dig them up carefully, it will break halfway, so be careful. And it also takes a while, so be patient. Thank you very much, I will do my best. Well, it really is pretty difficult. Now then, lets start gathering a bit more seriously. Thus, I started gathering herbs. But I quickly lost interest and ended up catching fish instead. Teehee~ Later in the afternoon, I gathered for a bit longer before heading back. I decided to head back earlier than usual. I informed the children that we were heading back, Shin and several others who were digging up the yams looked really tired. But everyone was smiling. Todays gathering resulted in a feast with plums and yams. Oh? Theres sweating from my eyes. I received my payment from the guild. Apparently, the guild also bought yams too, so Shin was agonizing over whether to eat or sell them. Me? Im fine since I gathered them for the sole purpose of eating to begin with. The children agonized over it for a while, but before everyone left they gave a slight bow to me. I returned back to the inn and shared the plums with Lily. Apparently, she hadnt eaten something sweet in a long time, so she was quite happy. Afterwards, I ate dinner, took a bath, and went to bed like usual. I refrained from cooking for myself this time. Because the cook was ring at me with quite a dreadful face, to be honest, it was rather annoying. The next day, I went to the forest located towards the upstream of the river. The restriction to the southern forest area hasnt been lifted yet. But since I could catch fish, maybe I should continue over here? I was gathering while talking to Yui for today. Yes, I ended up bing swayed by them. I heard various things about them. Shin and Yui were originally the children of merchants, but their parents failed in their business along with various other things. In the end, both of their parents ended up passing away. As such, the two of them ended up on the streets. It was hard to listen at this point. After that, they managed to rent a runned-down house with the small amount of money they had left, and were able to live a meager lifestyle by registering as adventurers. But over time, it became harder to pay the rent, so they ended up sharing the house with friends and paying the rent together. My heart was in pain for some reason. But I was d that I listened to their story. And, yesterday was the first time in a while since weve been able to eat our fill! We were also able to give the fruits to the children who werent able toe with us, so Im really grateful to big sis! Thatsgood. And wet stuff wasing out from my eyes. But, even if we bring back more fruits with us back home, itll still run out soon.thats why we have to do our best and gather herbs, so that we can buy flour! Flour was fairly expensive. Even if it was diluted flour. You could gathering edible nts and vegetables while gathering herbs. But in order to have a full stomach, grains would also be necessary. What about potatoes? Eh? Arent potatoes cheaper? Itll also fill your stomach too. Arent potatoes poisonous? Itll be difficult to consume them. Ahso in this world, the recognition was still at that level. No wonder people were giving me weird looks when I was buying them. The poison is just in the eyes, everything else is fine. Eh? Really? Hmm, it might be better to just show her. It was also noon already. I took out a pan, poured hot water and lit the fire. Since the hot water was already at a very high temperature, it started boiling immediately. Then I took out some potatoes. There were some with buds growing out of them from when I bought them all, so I decided to teach through showing. The poison is located in the eyes. And in the parts where the color changes and bes green. After cutting those away, itll be alright. Scrape the eyes off like this, and cut deeply into these sections. Yui was watching me silently. The easiest way to cook them is to boil them. You can also boil them with salt. Im going to add salt for this one. You can check if theyre finishing cooking by poking it with a stick like this. See? I gave it to her to do. I always try to teach things as soon as possible. People dont do things unless you perform it, tell them how to do it, get them to do it, and praise them. This was once said by Isoroku. And it was exactly so. This one is still a bit hard. But this one I was able to pierce through it. In that case, let it boil for a bit longer. After a while, the potatoes finished cooking, so I dumped the hot water and waited for them to cool down. Obviously, I would be burned if I were to pick them up immediately. I had boiled a total of 18 potatoes. There were 9 people, including me and the children, so there was a total of two per person. Each person gets two. Eh? Um, is it okay for us to eat them? Can you eat all this by yourself then? Um, thank you very much. Eating the potatoes after getting rid of the eyes. This would probably be the best way to prove that the potatoes were safe. Ah, thats- Nom-nom-nom. Yep, delicious. After watching me finish eating something that was supposed to be poisonous, everyone began eating cautiously. Delicious For some reason, everyone was in tears. After we finished eating, we continued gathering herbs. With potatoes being safe to eat, everyone can now eat enough to satisfy their stomachthank you very much. Shin and Yui expressed their gratitude to me on our way back. Chapter 34: Troubling Matters Have Followed Me Chapter 34: Troubling Matters Have Followed Me About two weeks have passed since the children started eating potatoes. During that period, I gave Lily potato sd to eat, had to stay in bed due to menstruation, went to buy rice from Nicole, and got on first-name standards with Shin and Yui. The restriction to the southern forest area still hasnt been lifted yet. But I think it might be better to continue gathering herbs in the forest located towards the upstream of the river. However, recently other adventurers have begun to follow us.most likely because the children were earning a lot more and looked a lot healthier. The guild staff were also beginning to believe that I was leading the children, so I was feeling a bit troubled. If the children were to cause any trouble, I might end up having to take responsibility for them.I might have toe up with something at this rate. With that in mind, I was currently waiting at the guild receptionist window. The children were next to me and guarding me from all sides. Eh? Why were we lining up today? Well, we came back a littlete today soI knew I should have rounded everyone up earlier. It was difficult to refrain from catching too many fish. Yep. Hah..I want to head home already. While I was thinking, Im also listening in on the conversations of those around me, I was able to find a lot of useful information by doing this. As expected, if I wanted information, staying behind at the guild and listening around would be best. But when I have to weigh it against avoiding trouble, as expected, I couldnt do that. Even now, there were numerous people ncing this way. And it wasnt just me being over-conscious. The gazes were quite intense. Oh, hey! Its been a while! What have you been up totely? Gilliam, its been a while. Well, I have been out for a bit doing escort work. Escort? Werent you gone for quite a while though? Oh, we went to the capital, and after that, we went to a vige near the southern sea to buy salt beforeing back here. Haha, I see. That does take a long time. ..A vige near the southern sea. I would like to get my hands on some sea fish. And I could get salt too.I heard something good. Yeah, the pay was pretty good, but sitting in carriage for that long was still exhausting. Hey now, what are you talking about! You epted this job because you said you wanted to do it! Even though, Tess, Beck, and I all said we didnt want to! Well, no, thats certainly true. Why are youining about it now! Not manly at all! Even before you.. I get it, I get it. Youre all the same as usual, I see. Hmm, looks like theyre getting an earful. Seems rough. Ah, you still havent heard, right? Hm? What happened? Ah, a neer appeared. A really amazing one? Yeah. She earns a lot of gold coins every day just by gathering herbs. What!? Just from herbs? And every day too!? Yeah. And shes a hot one too. Wow~so is everyone trying to recruit her? No, no one has spoken to her yet. Huh? Why? That person, the neer, shes a tamer. She has two wolves, but it seems they might actually be greater wolves. And theyre huge too. Thanks to those wolves always being around her, everyone has only been watching her from afar. Big wolves.? Yeah. Also, have you heard about how ess to the southern forest area is restricted right now? Ah, yes. Because an ogre appeared, right? Right, that ogre was apparently taken down by that neers wolves. Seriously? Does the guild not have information regtion? I demand privacy protection! The ogre w-.huh? But didnt you just said that she earns money through gathering herbs only? Yeah, that neer, she doesnt take on subjugation requests. Or rather, she cant do them. Huh? Why? Because shes only eleven year old. What!? Apparently, she also usually avoids the busy hours. Such as during this hour she-.huh? Oh? Would you look at that, thats a rare sight. Look, shes actually over there right now. That one? The tiny one? Stop talking about me. And Im not tiny! Thus, that was how my sales went. Since I was tired I decided to head back earlybut when I walked forth, a person was standing in front of me. And we ended up looking at each other. This person is? The face lookshuh? Somehow, its familiar.. Ah, youre.the forest witc- no I mean. Hmm, if I recall.Neil? Wait, Niel! Neil!? Why Neil!? I was stunned. And I was at a loss for words. Eh? What is he doing here? Huh? Is he an adventurer? Eh? Eh? Just what is going on? You.after that, I heard that you suddenly disappeared in spring..I was worried. But what are you doing here? That is. What? Is she an acquaintance of yours? Ah, yes. Before- No. ..Eh? No. Im not his acquaintance. What are you talking about!? You and I- We only talked a little bit before and nothing more, were also not friends either. In the first ce, I didnt even live in the same vige as you. I only happened to get a little involved with you at that time. As such, I am not your acquaintance. If I were to be a bit more lenient, I guess I recognize your face a tiny bit? So I know your face only, thats about more closer to what our rtionship is. O-Okay. As expected, he didnt forget what I look like. All my thoughts stopped for a moment in that situation. It was fairly easy to stop all my divided thoughts at the same time. Anyways, oveing the current situation would be my top priority. There were a lot of people around us. If he started shouting that we were acquainted with each other in such a ce, strange misconceptions might be born. Therefore, I have to deny what he says. I have to firmly deny what he says. Anyways, Im in a hurry, so excuse me. Hey, wait! Im not done talking to you yet. Norn intimidate him! As expected, shes my goddess. I dont have anything I want to talk to you about. Excuse me. Escape! Hurry up and run! Seriously! Why is this happening!? Side Story 35: A Certain Adventurers Story Side Story 35: A Certain Adventurer''s Story My name is Neil. Im an adventurer. I left my vige at the age of 13 and registered with the adventurers guild in Har towards the east of the vige. At that time, my sister Collie and her best friend Tess came together with me. Somehow, they were worried about leaving me alone. I told them not to treat me like a child, but theypletely ignored me. Sure, when I first started out, I was tricked and ended up losing all my money, but at that time there wasnt anysting damage, so it wasnt a big deal. Well, it was also true that I wasnt good at talking, or good with negotiating, and that Collie had saved me multiple times when it came to those situations. However, there were also many times when arguments would arise because of her. And during those times, Tess wasnt all that helpful either.I knew I shouldve gone at it alone, I thought of these numerous times. During my two years as an adventurer, I took on many jobs and traveled to the eastern capital city several times. I also met Beck during those times and we ended up forming a party together. Beck was two years older than me and was already a C-rank adventurer when I first met him. At that time when we first met, I was still just an E-rank so I wasnt really a great match for him, but strangely enough we somehow managed to click and we ended up forming a party. And now he was one of my closest friends. And so I continued working hard, and just recently I was promoted to D rank. The D rank me was different from before. I was no longer someone who would be a burden to Beck. I had gone back to the vige once inmemoration of the rank-up. I wanted to report the news to my father and mother, and to show them how much Ive grown. I invited Beck toe with me, but he said he would stay and wait for me back in town, since he didnt want to intrude upon my visit back home. I was a bit disappointed but it couldnt be helped. During the past two years, Tess also became my lover. So my return back home was also to officially announce this. But when I came back, the vige was in a terrible state. There was a disease spreading around. And many people seemed to have died from it. Furthermore, my mother had also fallen ill. She had been bedridden for days. My older brother who was nning to take over as the head of the household was also sick, and my father was in a very exhausted state. Due to the situation being like that, it wasnt the ce to introduce Tess. Rather, Tess has also been contracted by the illness and this is no longer the time for that. The medicine in the vige was out of stock, so to begin with, it was impossible to buy anymore. I only had a few recovery potions on hand, but I couldnt afford not to use them. I gave Tess one to drink, and I gave what I had left to my mother and older brother. But it wasnt very effective. Although it was my first time back to the vige in a while, due to everyone being sick, I didnt really know what I came back for. Due to our care, my big brother was starting to recover, but Tess condition wasnt improving at all and my mothers conditions appeared to be worsening. Then one day, my little sister disappeared. Some of the vigers told us that they saw her going into the forest, but everyone was too exhausted to go looking for her, and we werent able to go too deep into the forest. During the past half a year so so, monsters stopped appearing in the deeper parts of the forest. Someone said that she might have thought it would be safe to go looking for medicinal herbs by herself due to that. But even so, she was still only a six-year old child. She wouldnt be able to survive by herself out there. Or so I thought, but she came back the next day. Moreover, she had some medicine for some reason. Something I have never seen before, and other things that looked like potions. Furthermore, she apparently met a witch living deep in the forest. Wait, a witchI couldnt let my mother drink such a suspicious thing. But my dad waspletely worn out, and my mothers condition kept getting worse, nothing else would save her at this point. I was against it, but there was nothing else I could do. But when I had her take the medicine, her fever fell on the next day and she got better on the day after. What in the world. The potion was amazing. Although she was cured, my mother had been bedridden for days so she shouldnt have much strength. But upon drinking the potion, she had recovered enough to start doing housework. Was this perhaps an intermediate grade potion!? Normally, how many gold coins would it cost to buy something like this? And the witch was able to just give something like this away? How!? No, never mind, that medicine was able to cure the disease. In that case, it could also cure Tess. I asked my little sister Coco where she met the witch and we headed to that location the next day. But when we arrived at the witchs house, it looked like she wasnt home. Coco who was the guide and my older sister, Collie, had also came together with me. Collie had forced her way intoing along, saying that she had toe since we were getting medicine for her best friend. But I think that she was more interested in the witch. Collie was just that sort of person. Since she might be home in a bit, I decided to wait in front of her house. But I also decided to take a look around her house while waiting since I was free. There was a house with a courtyard and a stone wall surrounding them. Moreover, it was a two-story building. There were also traces of garden within the courtyard. What was being grown there? I could tell the house was quite something just from ncing at it from outside. Coco said that the inside was very beautiful, and that the bed in the room she slept in was heavenly. Perhaps, the witch was someone super amazing? I hope she will share the medicine with us. I was a bit worried. Coco did say that she was a very kind witch. But even so, I was still worried. After waiting for a while, Coco suddenly raised her voice. Ah, its big sis witch! Unlike what I had imagined, the witch was very small. And big sis? So shes young? I thought for sure she would be an old hag. Hey, its that little thing? Yep, thats right! Big sis witch! Apparently, it was without a doubt this small thing. Are you a witch. Im not a witch. I already told her that. Is that right? But she said she got medicine from a witch. I gave her the medicine, but Im not a witch. Is that so. Yes. It seems that she wasnt a witch, but she was the person who gave Coco the medicine. And judging from her voice, she was fairly young. She was definitely younger than me. No, wait a minute? Maybe, shes just on the short side? She had huge breasts. Rather, her breasts were very prominent. And bigger than both Collie and Tess. No, no, this isnt what I was here for. The medicine. But to suddenly just ask for it. Would it be better to make conversation first? You live in a ce like this? Well, yes. You live alone? Yes. What is with this ce..no to begin with, what is a house like this doing in a ce like this? Um, youve been asking quite a lot of questions, do I have to answer them all? Oh, no, that is..you dont have to. .The conversation seems to have gone in a bad direction. Basically, I wasnt good with this sort of thing. Up until now, Collie had been the one to lead talks, now we have Beck leading talks since he was good with negotiations. Ahh, I messed up. It was like this every time. Neil! Whats with your attitude! Did you forget about why we came here? Oh, my bad. But its just that shes living alone in a ce like this. Everyone has their own reasons! Hurry up and apologize! Oh, uhthat, sorry. Its alright. As expected, this was how it ended up. I just wasnt as good at talking like Collie. But for the most part, Collie would also be the one to start arguments. Rather, I could only remember asions of having to clean up after her. Never mind, this isnt the time for this. I have to bring up the medicine. Uh, well, Im Neil and Im her, Cocos older brother. Coco? Huh? Im talking about Coco. Didnt you help her? She was attacked by goblins. Ah, yes. So that child, her name is Coco. You didnt know? She told me you let her stay overnight. I forgot to ask for her name. O-Oh, okay. She had helped Coco when she was attacked by goblins, and she even gave out medicine for free, but she forgot to ask for Cocos name. Uh, anyways..we came today because, well, we wanted to say thanks. The medicine you gave us cured my mother of her illness. It was very effective. Everyone had already given up. Thats why, uh, for saving her. Thanks. Is that sothats great then. .She sounded like she was actually relieved. Maybe, this witch really was a good witch. In that case, she might be willing to hand out the medicine. So, uh, that.medicine! That medicine, that is, do you have anymore of it? There are several others in the vige who are seriously sick so.could you, uh, save them too, please! Um, please! Hes saying other people, but his lover is also sick. Ah, I am his older sister, Collie! Nice to meet you! My younger brothers lover, that child is also sickthats why, please! Can you share some of that medicine with us? Collie also added to what I was saying. That is, unfortunately, I dont have anymore of that medicine left. It takes a lot of work to make that medicineso, your lover, right? Even if I were to prepare one, I wouldnt be able to make it immediately. Also, even if I did prepare medicine for that person, I would be troubled if she were to tell other people about itter on. I understood what she was saying, but I couldnt give up that easily. Dont say that! Please! The witch shook her head. Theres the issue with time, but I also dont have enough materials. Its impossible to give it to you immediately today, or tomorrow either. What do you need for the materials!? If you have it, can you make it!? If she didnt have the ingredients, I will collect them. I really need this medicine! But the witch kept shaking her head despite my pleas. Whats with you! Im already asking you like this already! Grrr! U-Uh. In a fit of rage, I tried grabbing the witchs shoulder, but I was intimidated by a big wolf that was behind her. Speaking of which, Coco did mention that there was a wolf. How did I not sense it? Was it some sort of skill? Something this size, was it perhaps a Greater Wolf? It would be bad if it got angrybut what should I do? Like I said earlier, I cant do anything about it no matter how much you plead with me. Please return home. The witch entered the house while I was still confused. The door was also locked. When I looked up at the sky, the sun was already beginning to set. Coco was also here, so it would be bad to continue staying here. I would have to return home for today, but I would be back tomorrow. After that, I went back to the witchs house every day. But I was unable to meet her at all. I knew I was troubling her, but there wasnt anything else I could rely on expect the witchs medicine. When I came home without seeing the witch again that day, Coco brought me medicine. Apparently, the witch came and gave it to her during the day. Along with an outrageous message. Thatsdid she really say that? Yep, she said you were annoying so donte back again. The medicine was in exchange for that. Oh. It seems I was being a nuisance.but with this, Tess would be saved. I took the medicine and went to Tess to give her the medicine immediately. The effect of the medicine was tremendous, and like with my mother, she was able to fully recover after two days. Tess was quite surprised. What is this medicine.I also dabble a bit inpounding, but the amount of skill level necessary to make this kind of medicine is. She started rambling on about something, but this was always the case when it came to something magic-rted. The day after Tess made her full recovery, I headed to the witchs house early in the morning. I wanted to thank her. She said to nevere back again, but I really wanted to say thanks. I arrived at the witchs house and started knocking on her door. But she didnte out. I continued knocking. And then kept on knocking. After knocking for a while, I heard the sound of a lock and the door opened. Ah. There was a goddess before me. After that, immediately after returning to the vige, I started preparing to return to Har. I couldnt afford to stay here any longer. There were still a lot of people in the vige who havent recovered from the disease, but there was nothing I could do even if I remained here, and it would be bad if me or Collie also caught the disease. Beck was also still waiting. And it would be winter soon. That night a feast was held for us. When asked my mother how she had obtained the money for this, she said that she sold the remaining potions that the witch had given Coco to a merchant who was passing through the vige. She was overjoyed that she was able to sell it for a considerable price. But I was surprised upon hearing the purchase price. It was obviously bought at a high discount from what it was actually worth. Considering the effect, there was no doubt that it was above intermediate grade. It should be worth several gold coins in that case. But I couldnt bring myself to say anything when I saw how happy my parents were. Collie also had aplicated expression on her face. After returning to Har, we continued to take on subjugation requests. There were always goblins appearing. Because there wasnt much food in the winter, sometimes the goblins woulde close to the town. During the winter, I just helped get rid of goblins, but at the beginning of the new year, there was a period of heavy snowfall so I wasnt able to do much. So I was relieved that I had saved my money like Beck told me to. Since I wasnt able to leave the inn and had time to spare, I talked to Beck about the witch. Beck was quite interested and listened to my story. After winter was over, the snow melted and spring arrived, I was able to reunite with a childhood friend from the vige who came to purchase things. Apparently, it was decided to keep reserves of medicine at the vige. I tried inviting the childhood friend of mine to join up with me as an adventurer. He had the strength and courage, so I thought it would be encouraging if he were to join me, but he refused since he wanted to settle down in the vige. Although, I had gone back to the vigest fall, we werent able to talk much at that time, so we talked about various things. Although we hadnt seen each other in a long time, there was no shortage of topics, but then we suddenly arrived at the topic about the witch in the forest. Apparently, it seems that several vigers went to seek medicine from her in the spring. Naturally, they seemed to have been driven away by the wolves, but they still went many times without giving up. Soon after that, even people from nearby viges came. The cause was due to the potions that my parents sold to the merchant. It seems the merchant who bought the remaining potions had revealed the effectiveness of the potions. Moreover, one of the potions was given to the lord of a town to the south and it was said that he had tried to send soldiers to capture the witch. The day after hearing this news, the witch suddenly disappeared. Even her house vanished. In the ce where the witchs house was, there were only traces of a drainage system that seemed to have been built, but nothing more. The fact that even her house disappeared meant that she was definitely a witch. My childhood friend began grumbling about, but I remained silent. Because of our family, the witch disappeared from the forest. A dreadful sense of regret emerged, but there was nothing that could be done about it.1 A few dayster, I decided to ept a long-term escort request. Although, I was getting ustomed to the work I was doing, I was growing weary of it, so I wanted to change the mood. But I never thought that I would reunite with the witch in the forest upon returning back from the escort mission. Chapter 36: Disgusting Chapter 36: Disgusting When I left the inn in the morning, there was Neil. Leave me alone already. Oh, you finally came out. I didnt reply back. Ignored. Uh, I just wanted to talk for a bit alright? Ignored. Hey, dont ignore me! Sorry, but Im in a hurry. I pass him without another word. Norn also ignored him. Neils friends were also with him, but they were left speechless by my splendid ignoring. That said, he continued persistently following me and obnoxiously proiming his existence. He kept saying that it was his fault that I had to leave the forest, so it was only natural that he would take care of me from here, and that if I had any trouble, he would do anything to help. Although it was apparently useless to tell him to leave me alone. Which didnt really make any sense. Understood. Currently, there is only one thing thats troubling me, please solve it then. Sure! What is it!? Ill do whatever I can! Really? Definitely! Then, right now, Im currently being troubled by a strange man who is following me. Please do something about it. He froze up. It seems he finally understood how much of a nuisance he was being. It finally became quiet, so I left them and exited town. After all the children gathered, we headed towards the river in the northeast. But when I nced behind, they were still following me. Whats with him? How creepy.. I arrived at the forest towards the rivers upstream. I moved towards where the plums were growing and started gathering herbs. The children also split up and began gathering plums and edible nts. Ill leave fishing forterno, never mind. There were weirdos among us. I didnt want them to see the various things we did. While everyone was gathering, an orc appeared, but Norn took it down. After taking a look at the orc, I believe it was Collie? She suddenly said something strange. We came with her as escorts, right? Then that orc should be equally divided with us, right? Eh? Then that means we can eat meat today, yay! No, that isnt the case.. Why? Were protecting her, right? No, no, that obviously isnt the case, you know? I wasnt nning on dividing it with them. Rather, what did they mean by escorts? No one even asked them to do that. So theyre trying to steal other peoples prey by proiming that they were acting as escorts..how low. A t-out denial would be the proper course of action. Lets report this to the guild master when we return. So.does that mean were not going to be earning anything today? Yeah, then should we also gather some herbs? Right, lets do that. Really? So now theyre nning to steal the gathering spot of low rankers. The man who had been refuting them since a while ago had a really troubled expression on his face. So I guess this person must be the one withmon sense, must be rough. Neil? He had just been silently looking at me since a while ago. Disgusting. It was now noon, so I took my tent out and started preparing lunch. Recently, Ive also started making portions for the children. However, the children also provided half of the cooking ingredients. Although I had to cook and season the other half of the cooking ingredients, I didnt really mind at this point. What should I make for today? Oh right, there was the orc that Norn just defeated. The ingredients provided by the children were potatoes. And some kind of edible nt that they gathered earlier. Hmm, then I guess I will go with stir-fry vegetables? Lets finish it off with some salt and pepper and a small amount of mustard for a bit of spice. I made quite a lot for me and the children. The children were glowing with anticipation. They have been thoroughly tamed due to recent feeding, apologies. .That aside, why were they trying to join in for the food? Theres none for any of you all. For some reason, Collie became angry. Hey! Were escorting you! So what do you mean we dont get any? No one asked you to do that, you all just decided to follow us. Besides, these children worked hard to gather the ingredients needed to make the food. Following us without permission, and taking our food on top of that.do Rank D adventurers operate like that? Thats. Her face became red and she was at a loss for words. The person withmon sense from before pulled Collie aside and exasperatedly started exining. After a while, it seems she was convinced but still didnt like it, and she sulked while eating her preserved foods. And Neil was still just looking at me. Hes seriously disgusting. We continued gathering after finishing lunch. Then I rounded everyone up and went back earlier than usual. Hey, I just wanted to ask something really quick, why are you all heading back so soon? I think theres still quite a bit of time left. It was themon sense person. Well, I didnt really have a particrly bad impression of him. I dont want to go back during the guilds busy hours. And if it gets toote, it might be dangerous for the children. Ah, I see He gave a nod as he nced around at the children. Well, the main reason was because of the guilds busy hours. But its not because Im shy, okay? For real. Afterward, self-introductions were unterally given on the way back. Themon sense persons name was Beck. And he was 17 years old. He appears to be the only C rank in his party. He didnt look like a bad person and he even hadmon sense, so it was a mystery why he would be in that sort of party. The girl talking with Collie was Tess. She was Neils lover. Ahh, this child was the one the medicine was forbut from what I saw today, I get the impression that she was just following Collie around. After that, there was Collie and Neil. Collie was more brazen than I expected. That really surprised me! And Neil was just utterly disgusting. It seems that all of them aside from Beck just reached D rank duringst years fall, and at that time they had returned home and ended up meeting me. But frankly, I didnt really care about their circumstances. Rather, listening to them talk about their story was just in annoying After returning to the guild and finishing sales, since Salena was there, I reported to her about Neil and his partys actions. She said she wouldter report it to the guild master. And that they would probably be issued a warning not to repeat those actions again in the future. Now I could work without distractions tomorrow. I was fully satisfied. Chapter 37: A Tactical Retreat? Nope, Im Just Running Away Chapter 37: A Tactical Retreat? Nope, I''m Just Running Away Peace returned after I reported the stalking actions. Is what I would like to say. But like usual, the cook was ring at me, and Neil continued to annoy me. No, I guess the cook was alright? His attitude was bad, but he still properly cooked food for me. Thus, the problem was Neil. After I reported him to the guild master, it seems he was lectured, but despite that he was still following me. He ambushed me in front of the inn, tried following me to the gathering site (as expected his friends stopped him), and he even tried inviting me to dinner after Ipleted my sales at the guild. Rather, inviting me to dinner didnt really make sense. Dont you already have a lover? Invite her instead. Thanks to him, Tess was giving me harsh looks. Why? I didnt do anything wrong. Collie was as brazen as usual. She was acting like the two of us were friends rather than acquaintances. And she also said stuff like: please share some of your herbs with us, or I heard youre good at cooking, make me some, and such. Which didnt really make any sense. I pity Beck who had to keep these three people in check. But please continue working hard for my sake. I spent a week dealing with things like that, but I had reached my limit. Alright, lets run away. Or to be more precise, I guess I would be taking a brief refuge? Rather, I was interested about the seaside vige located towards the southeast that I heard in my eavesdropping. As such, I decided to go there. I guess I should inform Lily first? In the morning, I decided to inform Lily before going to work. Lily, I will be leaving the inn tomorrow. Can I get a refund for the days Ive prepaid for? Eh!? What do you mean!? Did I do something to upset you? Or did the cook do something again!? No, no, that wasnt the case at all. And so I began exining. That there was a disgusting stalker following me, and that I wanted to go to the sea for quite a while now, so I was just going to take a quick look. And that I was nning to return after that. I was also worried about the children. The misunderstanding was resolved after my exnation, and I was told that there would be no problems with the refund. Apparently, there was also no cancetion fee, which made me a bit happy. I briefly scanned my surroundings after leaving the inn. That person wasnt here. There was no reaction from Detection. Good. I hurriedly exited the town. After exiting the gate I look around for the children. But they all gathered immediately before I had to search around. And so we headed towards the forest near the river. The restrictions for the south forest had been lifted. But the forest near the river was much more abundant, so I ended up continuing to gather there. And if I were to go to the south forest, I would end up meeting Neil and the others..as it seems they were mainly hunting around there, and thus that was the case. We arrived at the usual gathering spot and start gathering. Now then, when should I tell them? I decided to tell them a bitter, so I broke the news at noon, but everyone was a lot more calmer than I expected. Rather, the reaction was more along the lines of it couldnt be helped. I knew that the time woulde someday, so it cant be helped. We will buy our own weapons to defend ourselves with, and we will do our best. We cant keep on relying on you. From now on, we will gather in the shallower parts of the forest, that way we can escape more easily. .Everyone was being quite positive. For some reason, I felt happy. Good, do your best. On the way back that day, I gave two recovery potions to Shin and Yui. It wasnt meant as a farewell. I just thought it could be used in ce of an insurance if something were to happen. Even if these children were to get seriously injured, they wouldnt have enough money to see a doctor. I couldnt take care of them forever, but I also couldnt abandon them at this point. I knew I was just being a hypocrite. I told them that they could also sell it, but judging from the expressions on the two, they probably wouldnt do it. Lily was crying when I returned to the inn after I finished my sales at the guild. Stuff about being lonely, food, and etc. I might have fed her a bit too much. Ill reflect on that. The next day I woke up a little earlier than usual and left the inn. I ate some bread for breakfast, then said goodbye to Lily. I wonder if she will be alright? Before leaving town, I went to the guild. For starters, I should drop by and say goodbye. If I could get an escort job that went towards my destination, then I could also earn money while I was at it. But escort requests could only be epted by D rank or higher. Or to be more urate, it was rmended to be D rank or higher, but I decided to give up since I was still only F rank. The morning in the guild was like usual. The bulletin board was crowded and the counters were also crowded. Salena..I found her. Salena. Oh, Ren? What brings you here today? I was thinking about heading south. Eh? Are you leaving this town? Well, yes. But Im nning to return here afterwards. Although I dont really know when that will be. Is that so.ah, can you wait for a bit? Itll be over quickly, so would it be possible for you to lend me your guild card? Yes? Ren, youre being promoted to E rank, so I just need to process that. Eh? Promoted? Isnt it too soon? Ren has made numerous contributions, so the decision was made yesterday. It would seem I was beingmended on the stable andrge supply of herbs I was bringing in, including rare ones, the sale of orc meat, for helping low-ranking child adventurers, and for eliminating an ogre. But still, it has only been a month since I became an adventurer, so isnt it still too soon? Those under thirteen years old would usually have their adventurer rank kept the same. So I was supposed to wait two more years before being able to rank up. Alright, I have finished. Here is your new card. Thank you very much. Not at all. Then take care. Yes. Since Lily was acting up when I was leaving, I thought Salena might also be the same, but she was quite easy. Well, it would be difficult to start crying when there were so many people around. After finishing my goodbyes, I exited through the gate. When I gave a brief nce around, the children were a bit further away in the distance. Upon noticing me, the children started waving towards me. I gave a slight wave back before continuing on my way. After seeing that, the children also began moving towards the gathering spot. Good, do your best. Now then, for the time being, it would be just Norn and Bell again, so just us three. Norn said that Bells hunting skills have improved a lot, so I guess I could look forward to that? And with that sort of feeling, I headed for the sea. Chapter 38: Making Detours Is Common in RPGs, Right? Chapter 38: Making Detours Is Common in RPGs, Right? Hello everyone, this is Ren. I have currently withdrawn into a rather nice forest. Eh? The vige in the south? Wasnt I aiming for the sea? Well, thats right. I was traveling south from Har. But on the way, I ran into a nice and cozy-looking forest. And the depths of the forest couldnt be seen from the road. So, remember now? Daily routine. Yep, my daily routine. My daily routine that I havent done since arriving in Har. Although in that case, I suppose it wouldnt be considered a daily routine anymore? But in the first ce, the reason why I couldnt do my daily routine was because there were too many people around me, so safety wasnt guaranteed. And once I arrive at the vige in the south, it would be the same again. So I thought that I should do some now while I could, and also include the ones from before which I couldnt do while I was at itso yeah, I just didnt want to move. Hahaha. No, no. It wasnt like I was just hiding in the forest doing nothing, okay? I was also gathering various things and making golems inside the forest. There were many oak trees inside this forest and I even found some sugar maples when I looked around a bit. In other words, I could now obtain maple syrup. Its sugar. Sugar! Anyways, thats why I had withdrawn into the forest. Hm? Couldnt I make lots of sweets with this too? Ahh, thats right. My Life Magic has finally reached LV10. Along with that, I also learned more magic skills. A skill called Contraception. The effect was literally what the word means. But there were also some secondary effects, there was an effect that suppressed menstruation and another effect which prevented . I would often have monthly symptoms severe enough which would prevent me from sleeping, so this was actually very helpful. On a side note, you could also receive a blessing that would give the same effect if you went to a church and paid for it. But it seems it was essential for those types of businesses. Eh? What about the golems? Ahh right, the golems. Right, right. Right, so I came up with the idea during my daily routineso yeah. It took a bit of experimenting to make it. I tried making a wooden golem at first, but then I made a y golem. So one from the tree and one from the earth. At first, I didnt know how to make using Creation Magic. So I went with something that seemed simple because otherwise it would be too hard to make. Next was data collection. I experimented quite a bit. For starters, golems need magic stones to operate and their behaviors would be dependent upon the instructions inscribed upon them, I believe? And so when I checked the mana flow of the golem I made, various things happened. As such, I ended up gaining the skills Mana Sense and Mana Control. Mana Sense was literally a skill that allowed me to perceive magic power. So it would essentially just be a mana-based Detection skill, I guess? So then Mana Control would be better suited for controlling magic? And inscribing magic circuits on magic stones, I suppose? Additionally, the MP consumption appears to have been reduced a bit, and the drawbacks from Creation Magic have also improved a bit. It was a minor thing, but it was very helpful. I tried various things, but it was difficult to make it performplex or flexible actions. For example, if you made it repeat a certain action, it would only just repeat that exact action. As such, there wasnt any variations to the movements, and so there wasnt really anyway to y with it..since it could only do such simple movements, it didnt really feel too good, which also made me wonder if it could even be used in fights. Eh? What? Did I say something? Maybe, you just misheard?1 The next thing I tested was my own ability to control it. The results were I was able to make it move however I wanted. But it consumed a lot of mana. It seems the golem was able to bend and move even without joint structures due to magic allowing those areas to bend. As such,plex movements that require joint movement would result in increased MP consumption. Thus, I tried experimenting by making a joint and the consumption level decreased. After that, I decided to leave the controlling aspects to another part of my mind. And the results were that I could move it ording to my intentions without focusing too much on it. It felt like it was actually just moving around on its own. But it was still just me even if I did leave it to another part of my mind. But with this, it could now be used in fights. Thus, my range of tactics was expanded. So in order to coordinate better.I suppose I would need to build something that could perform moreplex actions than a normal golem? .So an automaton? Or something simr? It has to humanoid-shaped with all the jointsno wait, so I would need to make an internal skeletal structure that could imitate the human body? In that case, I would need to understand the structure of the human body. But just that wouldnt be enough. This world also has magic. Just using physical strength alone wasnt enough. So first, I would need more magic knowledge. Next would be the skills. And then the materials necessary to make it in the first ce. So it was still a long way off. And since I was doing various things rted to golems, I ended up gaining three new skills called: Golem Generation, Golem Control and Automata Creation. I really didnt have enough time to level all of them up. What a headache. Three weeks have passed since I left Har. And I didnt regret doing so, since I did manage to obtain a lot of sugar. Now if I had eggs.I could make tamagoyaki. After the slight break, I started traveling towards the vige near the sea again.and I also ended up helping a merchant again. He was being attacked by goblins and I sniped all of them. So he was very thankful towards me. Since he almost died in that situation. As such, I was once again given a ride to the vige. Which was actually really helpful. As for the merchant who I saved. Apparently his name was Roberto, and he had just recently started as a merchant. He was currently 18 years old. He was also from the vige I was heading towards and he was just returning from selling salt to Har. When I was just thinking that the salt trade seemed a bit perilous, I received an exnation that the main financial source of the noble who governed this area was salt. Apparently, conducting business within the territory would result in lower profit margin than conducting business in other territories or something. He also added bitterly that traveling long distances on carriage was also more expensive. Must be tough. And like that, I spent two days rocking around in the carriage before arriving at the designated southern vige. Inn? Ah, right about the inn. I didnt need to go looking for one. Because Robertos home was an inn. Furthermore, there was one inn in the vige here. So I didnt really have any other options. The walls were also thin. Damn it. ording to what I heard on the way to the vige, there was apparently a branch office of the Adventurers Guild in the vige where I could ept requests. But the guild couldnt purchase any expensive materials. So I honestly had mixed-feelings. But since my goal wasnt really to make money, I was fine with just selling herbs from my stockpile. My main goal would be to purchase seafood and obtain salt. If I used Creation Magic near the sea, I should be able to obtain salt immediately. And I had a lot of money to purchase seafood with. I should ask about the location of the marketter. But as I was eating at the inn pondering over such matterswait, was this miso soup? And its even made with proper dashi stock! Ah, wait, dashi!? Kombu? Bonito kes! .Now there was even more things to look for. Chapter 39: Ahh, I Cant Stand it! Ill Buy it! Chapter 39: Ahh, I Can''t Stand it! I''ll Buy it! I stayed at the inn and started taking action the next day. But first of all, I need to gather more information. Oh, Norn and Bell were outside the vige. As expected, there wasnt any ce they could stay at. Um, excuse me. This is miso soup, isnt it? Hmm? Do you know about miso soup? Well, yes. So I wanted to get the kelp needed to make this soup stock. Hey now, so you even know about that too? When I listened to the exnation, it would seem that the recipe used for making the soup wasnt something that was spread outside of the vige. But it seems they could sell it to someone if they already knew about it. It wasnt like I could just say that I knew about it because I was reincarnated, I could only say that I was something of a local cuisine enthusiast. So a local gourmet? Or something along those lines Anyways, in the end the dried kelp and bonito were sold to me. And I was given directions to the market. Which I was grateful for. Hmm, maybe I should teach him a recipe that could be used with those ingredients as thanks? Nabe? But something too difficult would be problematicspeaking of which, the miso soup from earlier had tofu in it. Then how about yudofu? Um. Huh? Whats wrong? Nothing, I just wanted to express my thanks. Apparently, the recipe for yudofu didnt exist, so he was quite happy. Although, I only said that after making a kombu dashi stock, you could also boil tofu in it. I also decided to teach him how to make a ponzu-esque sauce using soy sauce, dried bonito kes, and vinegar that could be used as a dipping sauce for the tofu. Afterwards, I went to the market that I was given directions for. Apparently, merchants would purchase ingredients from here, but merchants who couldnt use water magic or possess ice-type magic tools wouldnt buy much because the ingredients wouldntst too long. Although, none of that mattered to me. However, because of that, there was little value in catching a lot of fish. As such, the amount of fish caught was quite small and usually only enough for vige consumption. So I suppose it was something that couldnt really be helped. Looking around, there were several fishermen sitting alongside each other with tubs and buckets filled with water. When I took a peek, there were various kinds of fish inside. There were even fishes that looked like flounders, seabreams, and mackerels. Thus, I decided to just buy everything for now. Excuse me, please give me all of this. What? All!? Yes, all. No, I can sell all of them if you really want them all, but are you sure? Wont they go bad? Dont worry about it. Please give me everything. O-Okay. After that, I went to the next person and bought everything, then to the next and next. But there werent any bonito or tuna. I want to eat sashimi. Katsuo no tataki would be nice too. I also still have quite a bit of yams left. I managed to find a lot of them growing in the forest near the river. I was about to move to the next person.but I was called out from behind before I could. Hey, you. Are you still nning to buy more? Eh? Yes, I still want more. In that case, you should have someone go catch a bunch for you. Youll be able to save more time and effort that way. It seems if I tell someone beforehand that I would buy all of their stock, they would go out and catch a lot of fish for me. That was useful information. I will buy them. I will buy everything. So I just have to negotiate with a fisherman about buying all their stock, lets see who should I choose? When I was deciding who to choose, a bunch of fishermen gathered around me and started promoting themselves. But as expected, I didnt need that many. Well, then Ill like to ask you since you were kind enough to tell me this info. In the end, I decided to go with the safe choice of asking the person who had informed me. He was reluctant at first, but left immediately when I gave him a small gold coin in advance. Well, I guess who wouldnt be hesitant of a request from a suspicious person who was hiding their face under a hood, right? Next up would be buying kombu and dried bonito kes. I was taught where by the inn I was staying at, so I was able to purchase them without any problems. But I bought a lot since it was difficult toe across them. I didnt know when I would be able toe here again. Thus, I had to do this. It had nothing to do with greed. The merchants face stiffened a bit but I ignored it. After that, I went to admire the beach. No, I didnt say I wasnt doing anything, okay? I was using Creation Magic to make salt. A lot of it. I also managed to catch some bitterns. Since soybeans were regrly sold, I suppose I should be able to make tofu by myself now? Having self-sufficiency was good. After lunch, I continued on absentmindedly at the same spot in the afternoon. And as expected, it was starting to look suspicious, so I decided to explore along the coast at the edge of the vige. The area was quite rocky, so you would get injured if you fell. Dangerous. However, when I looked closely, there was nori seaweeds growing, so I pulled them out and stored them. For starters, I didnt take all of them, okay? But now I could make nori seaweed sheets with this! Rice balls with seaweed! Ah, I could make makizushi rolls too, nori rolls would also be niceperhaps I could even make seafood rolls? Slurp! I thought about the various things I could make. But many of the ingredients I needed only existed here. In that case, it would be better to have a lot in stock just in case, right? After picking up the fish I had requested for in the evening, I returned back to the inn and enjoyed the seafood. I never thought I would be able to eat sashimi! And he was able to catch salmon and shrimp too. Amazing. I should immediately ask him to catch more tomorrow. The next day, I went to ask the fisherman from yesterday for more fish. In addition, I managed to find shellfish when purchasing various things at the market. It seems that they would sometimes be found during dives. I must have this! And so, I bought all of it and asked for more to be harvested. As such, all the women in the vige disappeared. Apparently, everyone went out to gather them. Ah, would I be able to afford all of them? I was a bit worried, so I went to sell some herbs to the guild, but the staff was overjoyed for some reason. It seems that there werent enough of these herbs in stock since the vige was located in a rural area. However, there was apparently a limit to the amount that could be bought in one day, so the staff was a bit depressed. As such, I was able to purchase all the shrimp and shellfish. 1 Chapter 40: Everything in Moderation Chapter 40: Everything in Moderation Several days have passed since Ive started collecting various things. As I was making salt in the rocky area during the afternoon, the vige became somewhat nosier. What happened? When I returned to the vige, I heard that arge ox-type monster appeared on the road leading to the fief capital. Several people have already been injured. Most of the adventurers in the vige were acting as escorts for merchants. The remaining few were just people from the vige, and at best they were at a level where they would barely be able to defeat a goblin. Thus, among those adventurers, the skilled adventurers who could fight monsters were just ones from the group that were escorting the merchants. As for me? I couldnt ept subjugation requests, so I couldnt do anything. But beefI want to eat it. As I was thinking these unsuited thoughts, several carriages came back. They had all been attacked by the rumored ox monster. ording to what everyone was saying, the identity of the ox monster was a Mad Bull. Essentially it was just an ox that was a monster and veryrge, so it was easy to recognize. But it was considered a very high level monster. However, it seems that a veryrge one had appeared this time, one that was twice the size of a regr one. But regardless it was still just one. The case was quite unusual, as cattle-based monsters often traveled in herds. Wonder if I could beat it? I havent tried using the throwing knives in battle yet, so I feel like testing them out. After a while, I noticed that Roberto was among the merchants who had returned. He noticed me and walked over. Hah, Im exhausted. My carriage was almost destroyed just now. Are you alright? Well, another merchant had to abandon his carriage in order to escape, so all his luggage was destroyed. Thats kind ofpitiful. Agreed. No, it isnt really aughing matter. He gave a wry smile in response. Speaking of which, arent you going to the subjugation? It seems several others have already gone. Im only 11 years old, so I cant ept subjugation requests. Is that right. He looked a bit surprised, but it seems he didnt want to say anything extra. However, his gaze was around my chest armor, so he lost some points. But what would happen then. Something wrong? Well, I mean arent all the people going just people from this vige then? They wont be able to defeat an opponent like that. I was thinking that you would be able to defeat it by using that strange attack of yours. Well, thats probably true. But I would be punished if I defeat it for the purpose of subjugation. Should I do it secretly? But with all the fuss, it would be impossible. I would be found out instantly. Unless I was fighting in self-defense, it would be bad if I were to go defeat it. It would have been an emergency like when I helped you. You said you had business in the vige, right? Are you finished? If so, what do you n on doing now? If youre heading towards the fief capital, you could get attacked on the way. Im sorry, but I still have some business left. And then I n on returning to Har. Then it would be quite difficult Sorry, but may I interrupt for a bit? As the two of us were discussing, we heard a voice from behind. And as such, I was on a carriage right now. Naturally, I was also with Norn and Bell. The person who had called out to us was a staff member of the Adventurers Guild. The guild staff overheard us discussing various things on the premise that I could beat the ox monster. And apparently, the guild staff had thought of a loophole so that I could join the fight. Which was unfortunate.. But here was the proposed n. First, I would receive an escort request from Roberto. Escort requests were rmended for D rank or higher. However, it was a rmendation and not a restriction. Next, Roberto would leave the vige and head towards the fief capital. On the way, we would defeat the ox monster, then notice that we left something behind at the vige and return. Upon returning to the vige, Roberto would then notice an error in the contract and cancel the escort request. Rather than a loophole, the guild staff member said it was more like twisting the rules. Which made me wonder if it really was alright. Although I had alreadye this far, I was still debating whether or not I should just leave the subjugation to someone else. I had the feeling that a lot of my mistakes came about in this sort of fashion. I didnt want to stand out I rode along inside the carriage feeling a bit anxious, and before long I saw the ox monster in the distance. Isnt that kind ofrge from this distance, or was it just me? But since I was already involved in this troublesome matter I should finish the job quickly, lets hurry up and defeat it. I focused my sight on it and tried sniping it from where I was, I saw the adventurers who had left the vige earlier scattered about. Hmm, theyre in the way. I might hit them instead. While I was thinking over what to do, the scattered adventurers suddenly started running over here. A strategic retreat? Hey, you all retreating? Roberto!? Yeah, its impossible! We cant beat it! Were thinking that we could at least lead it away from the roads Well, I guess it would be too much for people who can barely even fight goblins. Dont say that! Rather, what are you doing here? Your carriage will get destroyed, you know? Ah, I think she might be able to do something about this, so I brought her over. Wait, her!? You mean that tiny thing!? Impossible! Im not little. Ah, Norn became angry. Calm down~Calm down~ Roberto and the adventurers were busy talking with each other while I was calming Norn down, but I want to go back already so lets just end this. I got out of the carriage and started walking forth. Norn, can you guide it over here so I can snipe it easily? Woof. Norn ran forth at a tremendous speed, and dashed between the ox monsters feet causing it to slow down. Nice one. I watched on for a bit and then it starteding towards me. Aim knife. 400 speed. And fire. *Zip *Thud Hm? I think it stopped for a moment, but it looks like its still heading over here? Maybe the skulls too thick and the knife didnt go through? But it shouldve had the same pration strength as a handgunah, maybe because its a knife? Wish it wouldve been an orc instead. I suppose it cant be helped. Aim knife. 800 speed. And fire. *Zip *Thud *St I heard some terrible noises, and the ox monsters head blew in half and it copsed. Huh? Did I overdo it a bit? Well, whatever. Hmm, maybe I should try it at 600 speed? Its over. I nced back, and everyone was frozen solid. I knew I overdid it. Chapter 41: So That Thing Was Always There Chapter 41: So That Thing Was Always There After transforming the ox monster into a dreadful state, I returned back to the vige and a banquet was held. Stop! Leave me alone! Unfortunately, my wishes werent heard and I was caught up in the banquet. They kept insisting that there would be nothing to talk about if the person with the leading role wasnt there. But I was sure that they wouldve been fine, regardless. Well, the food was good. The adventurers from the vige kept shooting nces at me, but I ignored them with all my might. If Norn wasnt there, I probably would have been surrounded already. Shes definitely my goddess. I really love her. Roberto and the adventurers were telling the vigers of how the ox monster was defeated. But every time the cheers rose, gazes would concentrate upon me so I couldnt really rx. At least let me enjoy the food in peace. I managed to escape back to the inn when the opportunity presented itself, and after a while, a guild staff brought over a letter. The contents were regarding what had happened this time, and when I return back to Har, I was suppose to show it to the guild master. It seems it was written so that I wouldnt get punished. So I was really thankful for that. Anyways, the next day I decided to return to Har. Since it had be quite ufortable due to yesterdays incident. After I finished buying the remainder seafood at the market in the morning, I decided to sneak out of the vige. Viger A spotted me on the way, but I ignored the attempts of conversation and promptly ran away. However, after I exited the vige and had been walking for a while, Roberto caught up to me and gave me a ride on his carriage. There was a fork on the road to Har which led to the fief capital, so it seems he wanted to take me up to there as thanks for yesterday. Well, it made things easier so I was grateful for that After parting with Roberto at the fork, I slowly continued on foot to Har. I think I should arrive in 3-4 days on foot? As expected, spending three weeks inside the forest when the trip only took about three day was a bit much. But it couldnt be helped. Yep, it couldnt be helped. I had to do my daily routine. Thus, I continued on like that and I finally saw the southern forest of Halura to my left. I felt nostalgic. I was out for more than a month after all. As I was thinking over how long it has been since I wasst here, two adventurer-looking people came scrambling out of the forest a little ahead. They looked rather flustered, and distressed? But before I could give it any more thought, an ogre came crashing through the trees. Eh, an ogre? Why? Isnt this quite bad? Should I help them? Ahh, but this wouldnt be an emergency situation like helping merchants or ordinary people, it would be considered stealing the prey of other adventurers. Since its not something I should interfere with, should I just ignore it? I didnt want to attract attention for no reason, so I guess I should go with ignoring? But as I was making up my mind, my eyes met with an adventurer that had fallen to the ground. H-Help! Roger. Aim knife, activate rifling barrel, 400 speed. And fire. Itnded right on the head. And prated handle-deep. But it didnt fall. Huh? Was it not strong enough? The ogre stopped and slowly looked over, then our eyes met. But just as I was thinking this was bad, the ogre suddenly copsed. I was a little surprised that I managed to beat it. When I was fighting the ox monster the other day, I forgot and just used 800 speed without activating rifling barrel. So I thought I would test it out now. I thought I had failed, but I guess using 400 speed was okay? Rather, with a knife that size prating the head, it would be impossible to stay alive anyways. I walked towards the people I had just saved. You all alright? Y-Yeah, you saved us. Um, can I keep this ogre? Yeah, no problem. I wasnt able to do anything. Hey, but we also fought it too, right? Dont we also get our share too? If thats what you think, you can try to negotiate for it. Im not going toin. She just saved us. So Im not going to ask for something so shameless. .Well, I guess you have a point. Im also fine then, take my share too. Hmmm, if you can rub it, its fine to divide it separately Well, lets get it if you can get everything. After storing away the ogre I started questioning them. What was an ogre doing in such a ce? Huh? Oh, you dont know? About a week ago there were sightings of ogres. Then, soon after, several casualties urred. But no one died. Thats why a guild-ordered subjugation party was formed. ording to the scouting done beforehand, there was only about 20 ogres, so two C rank parties and five D rank parties were formed. There might have been a few injuries, but thebat force shouldve been more than enough. It was supposed to be fairly manageable. Right, thats how it should have been. But when we actually entered the forest, it wasnt just a group of ogres. It was a group led by an ogre lord. Ogre lord. So aside from ogres, the group was being led by a ruler ss so their strength would have jumped quite a bit. Like how the goblin king was for goblins and ogre lord was for ogres. Or like any other higher-ranking individual that would correspond to the type. It seems that a group with such advancedmanding individuals is given a support effect by their skills to the subordinate individuals, and each ability value is corrected. Grrrr.. Hm? I wasnt sure why, but Norn had been acting up since a while ago. Whats wrong? So what happened? .We were fine for a while when we entered the forest. We only encountered one or two ogres, so we could beat them normally when we surrounded them. But after defeating about five of them. We encountered a group led by the lord. And we were overwhelmed. The C ranks fought hard but the D ranks were quickly scattered and had to escape. Us too. The rest are probably still fighting in the woods. Theyre surrounded so they likely cant escape. I seebut where did the ogre lord suddenly appear from? Apparently, it came from the forest towards the west. Some viges along the way have been attacked. From the forest towards the west.. wait, the forest towards the west? So the forest where I was living in? There was such an opponent in that foresthm? I feel like Ive thought the same thing before in the past. And for some reason Norn seems agitated, something was off. Ah, maybe. Norn, when we first met, werent you injured? Was it perhaps because of? Grrrrrr! Bingo, looks like I was right. The thing that injured Norn at that time was probably the ogre lord that was in the forest right now. Upon hearing that, I now feel like getting revenge for Norn Chapter 42: Showdown! Ogre Lord! ……From a Long Distance Chapter 42: Showdown! Ogre Lord! ¡­¡­From a Long Distance Hello, this is Ren. I am now sneaking through the forest. After that, the adventurers I had saved asked me for help. However, I declined them because of the age restriction and since I wasnt originally a member of the subjugation party. The adventurers who I helped left the forest and went to the designated emergency meeting ce, and after seeing them off, I snuck into the forest. I wanted to get revenge for Norn since she was always taking care of me. But I didnt want to attract any attention. That and I didnt have the ability or weapons necessary to challenge the ogre lord at close range. The only way I could fight it would be to snipe it from a long range. So after thinking it over for a while, I gave Norn a letter and was nowying in wait with Bell. Hmm, I could see an ogre-like group and adventurer-like group fighting in the distance, but I couldnt see them very clearly even if I squintedwait, didnt I have a skill that could enhance my vision or something? I just need to use mana or-ah, there we go. I could see now. I checked my status. Skill: Hawks Eye. It was a skill that would enhance vision through using mana or stamina. Since I did learn the skill, it was only natural to use it. I had Norn deliver the letter to the guild master. It seems that the guild master was apanying the subjugation group. As his muscr appearance would show, he was originally a B rank adventurer. And the contents of the letter were:
  1. A share of the defeated ogre materials
  2. Exemption from penalties for viting age restriction
  3. Do not reveal that I defeated the enemies
  4. Defend me from anything bad that would ur as a result of defeating the enemies If you agree with the above terms, please notify Norn. As soon as I hear Norns howl, I will start sniping them.
Something like that. Well, if I sent out Norn who was always following me, people would probably still figure out that I was involved. But as long as I dont show myself, nothing could be said, right? I could see what was happening with my enhanced vision. Somehow there were also people that looked familiar among themah, them, it was Neil and his group. Ugh. Just as I was thinking that, I saw Norn jumping into the struggling subjugation party surrounded by ogres. Norn handed the letter that she was holding to the guild master, and the guild master started reading ityep, that was quite the expression he had on. After thinking for a while, he told Norn something. It seems he agreed, because soon after, Norns howl resounded. Alright, time to attack. However, it was impossible to immediately aim for the ogre lord. Because there were numerous ogres surrounding it. A meat shield? The total was..16. I would have to reduce some of their numbers. Prepare a knife, activate the rifling barrel, speed.I think 600 speed should work? Aim and fire. It met its mark and the target fell. Alright, next. Next, I tried three shots at once. All of themnded. The ogre lordlooks like itll still be difficult to hit it? Lets reduce their numbers a bit more. What was the subjugation party doing? Everyone was shocked and standing still. Isnt that dangerous? Guess it cant be helped, lets reduce their numbers some more. Exploding sounds! Hmm, looks like the ogres are fortifying their defense around the ogre lord. Lets continue reducing the numbers then. More exploding sounds! An opening formed, At that moment, Norn jumped towards the ogre lord. So far, just as nned, I guess? Now I just need to snipe the ogre lord through the opening I made. The timing would be.now! But it ended up hitting the arm, the knife was stuck fairly deep into its arm. Ah, it didnt work. It seems like it was surprised for a moment, but its movement didnt change. And it managed to avoid Norns attack. It also started guarding against my snipe attacks, so I wasnt able to continue sniping it. I only have 90 MP left. So I couldnt afford to use too many attacks. I would have to ensure that it would stop moving on the next attack. Then where should I aim? If Im going for mobility, then the knees? In that case, lets make sure theres no regrets. Activate rifling barrel, 800 speed. The MP cost was 40. I increased the speed a bit more. 1000 speed. The MP cost was 70. If I shot this, I wouldnt be able to continue fighting today. Nevertheless, I decided to shoot it. I enhanced my eyesight to the limit. Aimand fire. The ogre lords knee burst opened and it knelt on the spot. Norn leapt forth without missing the opportunity and shed her front legs. The de of wind sliced through the ogre lords neck. .We won. After waiting for a bit while observing the situation, I headed towards the guild master at an appropriate time. The other adventurers were scattered about cleaning up the remaining six ogres. Hello. Oh, hello. Are you alright? Thanks to your helpIm fine. But to think that both you and your familiar have the power to defeat ogres.that was quite surprising. I was able to fight because I hid from a distance. If I fought them directly, I would be killed in a matter of seconds. No, each person has their own way of fighting. No one wouldin about your fighting style. Above all, the power and uracy themselves are more than praiseworthy. Is that so.ah, you are willing to keep to those conditions, right? Yeah, dont worry. For two C rank parties, the promising D ranks, and even myself to survive when we were just about to die, those conditions are more than eptable. Theres absolutely no problem. Really? YeahHar is currently short on manpower. Most of the talented folks are either in the royal capital or fief capital, so it takes some time to recruit more people. Okay. You dont seem very interestednever mind. Anyways, a share of the materials and exemption from penalties are all fine, but whats the point of concealing your identity? Dont you want fame? Um, I just dont want to stand out. I dont get itno, I can understand that you dont like getting involved in troublesome matters. Then, I believe the next is? Theres a limit to what I can do, but Ill do as much as I can. Thank you very much. No, you dont have to thank me. So how do you want me to handle the share of the materials? Do you want to give them to me here and just receive the money for them? Ah, thats right. Lets go with that then, please. Alright. Oh, and I need to transport the ogre lord and all the surrounding corpses to the guild, can you help me? As expected, it will be difficult for the subjugation party to transport all of these. Ah, I would like to retreat before the people who went to clean upe back. Right, youre trying to keep everything a secretthen is it possible for you to just transport them to the emergency meeting ce? There are other people here, right? Doing that is a bit I see.never mind, I understand. Sorry for asking something unreasonable. Sorry for not helping. Dont be, its time-consuming, but that doesnt mean we cant do it. Anyways, I guess it would be better for you to leave the area then? Thats right. Then Im heading back to Har first. Right, see youter then. Yep. And so the confirmation wasplete. Now time to escape from the forest with Norn! Ah, but I should recover the knives from the ogres before that. Evidence was important. I was d that I could help everyone without having to worry about the consequences. Chapter 43: Somehow, It Seems the Situation Has Changed? Chapter 43: Somehow, It Seems the Situation Has Changed? After defeating the ogre lord and talking to the guild master, I returned back to the road where I helped the adventurers earlier and resumed northward towards Har. But I was walking unsteadily since I had used too much MP. Lets take a break for a bit Along the way, I saw an area that appeared to be the emergency gathering ce for the subjugation party in the distance. The two adventurers I helped earlier were likely amongst them. That aside, there were quite a lot of people gathered. Were there also many injuries? It seems the group noticed me and started waving towards me. I gave a slight bow and passed by. I basically just wanted to avoid any troublesome run-ins. After a while, I managed to arrive at a ce where I could see the gates leading into Har. I could also see children gathering herbs in the surroundings. Yep, but I couldnt take it anymore. I sat down and took a break. To be frank, I didnt really have much stamina to begin with. As I sat beside the road, drinking water and resting, carriages carrying people rted to the ogre subjugation party and guild officials passed by numerous times. They were probably manpower recruited to transport the ogre corpses. Ahh, it must be rough for everyone. As I was watching, the guild master came riding along in a carriage. What are you doing here? I was taking a break because I got tired. I dont really have that much stamina. Arent you pretty close to the town already? Yes. I see. Youre almost there, do your best. I will do my best. He had a reallyplicated expression on his face, but I ignored it. I was still just an E rank and I was also still just a child. So wasnt this just natural? As I sat there, a party of probably C ranks passed by in front of me and started pointing andughing at me. I could hear some outrageous things being said. Yep, thats right Im weak. But this weakling was also the one that saved you all. But I didnt say anything since it would be troublesome. Besides, I was an adult on the inside. As such, I would overlook them and move on. Rather, did they really not notice anything when they saw Norn beside me? Were they really that shortsighted? Well, I guess there were just low-level C ranks. What disappointing C Ranks! A bitter, the two adventurers I helped earlier also came along. What are you doing here? Im resting because Im tired. I dont really have that much stamina. Is that so. The two of them also hadplicated expressions. I didnt really get what they all wanted from me. Ah, right. We wanted to express our gratitude to you again. Thank you for saving us. Dont mention it. Thats rightuh, youre nning on staying in Har for a while again, right? If you need anything or if theres something you dont understand, tell us. As long as its within our power, we will help you. Yeah, if its within our capabilities, well definitely help. Were not saying you have to or anything, so just keeping it in mind is alright. Alright, then at that time, I will rely on you two. Yep, these two gave off a good vibe. Unlike a certain somebody. W-Whats with that! Itspletely different than with me! Ugh, that certain somebody was there. Why was he always showing up like this? Ill help you too! Please say anything! No, its fine. Why! I already received your gratitude with the vegetables you gave me, and me leaving the forest had nothing to do with you. I was nning to leave the forest, so the only difference was just a matter of sooner orter. Even so..but. Neil! Why do you care so much about that child! Tess Come on! Were leaving now! Yeah.. Neil was dragged away by Tess. For my sake, please keep a strong grip on his leash, okay? After watching the scene unfold, Collie gave a slight wave towards me before chasing after the two. Hm? Wheres themon sense person, Beck? Was he perhaps doing something else? Well, whatever. I was starting to feel better so I decided to enter the town. But when I entered the town, there was quite a ruckus going on. Which wasnt surprising, since the group of ogres actually had an ogre lord leading them, even more so since they were all still defeated. But most of the adventurers who took part in the subjugation party hadplicated expressions on their faces. Well, it wasnt like they were the ones who defeated the ogre lord, and I was also the one who eliminated half the herd but despite that, there were still some people among them who stood about looking proud. Which was quite something in itself, I was honestly amazed. But I was fine as long as I got my share and my peace was preserved. And so, while the uproar continued, I headed towards an inn. It was the luxury inn that I stayed at before. I was tired of dealing with the cook, but there wasnt any other ce where Norn and Bell could also stay. Soon I arrived at the inn. Um, I would like to sta-. Why cant I stay here! I came all the way from the royal capital to stay here! Im sorry, but were full right now. Damn it I came here because I wanted to try the rumored dish. The man who had been yelling left the inn while muttering. Eh, what? Ah, Ren! Lily. You finally came back! You told me that you were going to a vige in the south, but you didnte back even after a month, I was so worried that something might have happened Various things came up.and did something happen here? It looks like you have quite a lot of customers here. Yes, thats right. Thatits the dish that Ren made before where the cook made a failed imitation of. It seems that rumors of it have spread to the fief capital and even the royal capital.a lot of peoplee to Har just to eat it. .Just to eat that? I couldnt really understand why. I would never want to eat that again. It would destroy my stomach. Yes, thats sort of what I also think. But thanks to it, business is booming! That person is also very happy because of it. Thats good and all.but that makes things a bit troublesome for me. I cant stay here if its full, right? And there arent any other inns which would allow Norn and Bell to stay too. Ah! Eh? Lily suddenly raised her voice and stepped closer to me to whisper something. About that, its actually fine. ? Um, the owner of this inn actually kept the room you were using before open for you. Eh? Since its thanks to you that business is great right now, when I told him that you were nning oning back again, he had the room kept open in hopes that you would stay again once you returned. That is, Im grateful for that, but is it alright? The customer from before Its fine! Since its the managements decision! Was it really alright? But since I was being allowed to stay at the inn, I had noints. Afterpleting the sign-in procedures, I was guided to my room by Lily. Since I was nning on staying for a while this time, I paid in full all at once. Ah, Ren. I have a break afterwards for dinner.would you perhaps like to eat together? Sure, Im fine with that. Thank you very much! Yep, that was a great smile. Her reaction was as cute as ever. I entered my room and took a break. There was still some time until dinner, but I didnt have any MP left to practice with Creation Magic, so I decided to take a nap. As expected, I was really tired today.. Side Story 44:A Guild Masters Story Side Story 44:A Guild Master''s Story My name is Warzel. Im the guild master of the Adventurers Guild in Har. To be more urate, I was forced into the position by my old friends. The town was located in a decent area. It was located roughly in between the territory of Count Mubarro and the territory of Baron Nathan. As such, it was rtively important in regards to trade. In addition, there were also rich gathering sites located on both the north and south of the town. But its negative point was also the location. Everyone who wanted to sell merchandise or earn money would usually go to the fief capital. The guilds were the same. The talented folks would also go there. If you traveled a bit further, you would reach the royal capital. To be frank, no one else wanted to be the guild master of this town due to ack of manpower. As such, I was forced to take on the troublesome job. I just wanted to go back to the royal capital and live in retirement. But I had no choice but to work, I tried negotiating with several people to transfer over from the guild of the royal capital and fief capital, but there still wasnt enough people. As such, I had to make various adjustments. And so, Har continued on being a ce thatcked talented people. Until that one day. I was busy with annoying paperwork that day, but a staff member suddenly rushed into my office. It seems that some adventurers did something. When I listened to the story, it was apparently Ziggy and Kimble. Those idiots! I knew they would cause some serious trouble one day! Those two guys have been troublemakers since way back then. A few years ago, they had tried swindling neers and even the kids who were under thirteen of their money, those two were trulyplete trash. Those two had absolutely no skill and horrible attitudes to boot, to be frank, there were numerous times where I felt like pummeling them. Anyways, I got side-tracked. And so, I listened to the details of the story. Fortunately, the victims appeared to be in good health and managed to return back to the town, they even came to report on the matter themselves. Moreover, there was a credible third-party witness who had been apanying them. With this, those two wouldnt be able to escape. When I thought that I would be able to get rid of those two idiots, to be honest, I felt refreshed. The merchant and hispanion were brought into the office, and I was immediately surprised by hispanion. So tiny. A child? Judging from the height, I think she would be around 12-13 years old? No, wait, the growth of that was quite swell though. She was a bit short but I guess she would be around 14-15? But what was with that wolf? A familiar? Judging from the size, a Greater Wolf? But the fur waspletely different. She might be a dangerous fellow. I would have to question them a bit more then. When I heard their story, the crimemitted was a seriously grave one. Those two would be sent to the mines to work as ves. It was inevitable. However, when I listened even further, I was told that it was apparently the littless that defeated the orcs. If it was the wolf familiar that did it, I could understand, but this little girl? I was surprised once again when she removed her hood during the conversation. She was still quite young, but she had a beautiful face. It would be considered more as cute right now, but when she grows up shell be an astounding beauty. Furthermore, she exuded a strange sort of charm. Just who was she? After listening to their exnation of the events, I was then told that they even brought the defeated orcs. They said it was inside a magic storage bag, but it was most likely actually a high level Item Box or Storage skill. During the purchase transaction, the orcs that were brought out were in perfect condition. Even though it had only been a day, there shouldve been some decay. Although I looked like this now, I was still a former B rank so I could instantly tell. She had been against taking her hood off and she had tried to hide her storage skill, it was probably because she thought her face or skill would cause her to get involved in something. As such, she was trying to make every action as inconspicuous as possible. Although it was useless. But the more we talked, the more surprised I got. Even though she had familiars and was able to easily defeat orcs, she imed that she wasnt an adventurer yet. Furthermore, despite having those looks, chest size, and sex appeal, she said she was still only 11 years old? Youve got to be kidding me? But the surprises didnt end that day and continued on the next day. She had gone gathering, but managed to bring back a ridiculous amount of herbs. And there were a lot of rare ones too. Somehow, she also defeated numerous monsters too even though she shouldve only been gathering. But she didnt even try to sell them. In addition, she even defeated an ogre. I had to make her sell everything. However, to be even capable of defeating an ogre, I knew it, that wolf was definitely not a Greater Wolf.well, it was actually obvious even before this. But I wasnt going to point it out, regardless. After a while, I noticed that she began taking orphans along with her to gather herbs. As such, the recent amount of herbs being delivered to the guild ended up increasing drastically. As a result, the amount of healing potions also increased, which led to a decrease in the amount of adventurer casualties. It was all good news. With this, she could even take on subjugation requestsbut she was still only eleven years old. I was pleased with all the good things she had brought since she came here, but then one day she disappeared. Apparently, she had gone to a vige in the south. She had said that she would be back soon, but it was still painful to see the decrease in herbs being delivered to the guild. If she was traveling from Har to the vige in the south, she should be back in about 1-2 weeks. That was what I thought, but she never came back. Just what was that girl doing! At that time, sightings of a herd of ogres came in. Apparently, the one that the littless defeated was a scout from a distant ce. The damage started as soon as the sighting was received, I was also able to discern where the ogres came from. It seems it came from arge forest in the west. Some of the viges between the forest and Har seemed to have suffered damages. If the ogres were left alone, it would be dangerous. I decided to form a subjugation party immediately, I contacted the fief capital and a C rank party was sent over. There were C rank parties in Har, but only one was avable at the moment. ording to the sighting information, there were about 20 ogres in the herd. But with enough people, we should be able to manage. I also gathered some promising D ranks and immediately went to subjugate the ogres. Naturally, I went too. But there were several unexpected elements. First, the herd of ogres wasnt just a simple herd, but a herd led by amander-type monster. If it was just a high-ranking monster, it would still be manageable, but it was a ruler-ss ogre lord. The herds fighting ability was drastically increased. Naturally, the D rank members of the subjugation party were easily scattered. It was just me and the ogre lord, I could perhaps manage it, but it was too much when having to deal with the herd and protecting the subjugation party. Just as I was thinking that we would be annihted, a familiar big wolf suddenly appeared in front of me with a letter. I ordered the C ranks to hold the enemies back for a while and read the letter, but the contents of the letter were absurd, I was perplexed. Could that girl really defeat the ogre lord? However, if the subjugation party and I were to be wiped out, Har with its shortage of talent would fall. I gave a nod to the wolf and prayed to the heavens. But it ended almost instantaneously. I could onlyugh. The surrounding ogres began to fall and the wolf started attacking the escort-less ogre lord, but suddenly the ogre lords foot and head got blown off. I had no clue what happened. After the ogre lord was defeated, I let the members of the subjugation party clean up the remaining ogres and spoke with the littless for a bit.but to be honest, I wasnt quite sure what she was thinking. I could tell that she didnt want to stand out, but even so In the end, I couldnt really understand that girl. But it was probably better to not and try to understand her. Afterward, as I was heading back to the town, I was once again perplexed upon seeing the littless sitting on the roadside resting. Chapter 45: Delicious Food Is the Devils Work. Chapter 45: Delicious Food Is the Devil''s Work. Good evening, this is Ren. I woke up from my nap at dinnertime without oversleeping. Although I only slept for a bit, I felt a lot more refreshed. Plus Im hungry! Lets move to the dining hall then~ Ah, right lets put the hood back on. But when I arrived at the dining hall and looked around, it was full. Very full. Ah, but there was one vacant seat. It looks like Lily saved a seat for me. She was waving with a big smile on her face, how cute. I walked up to Lily and gave a slight bow. Good evening, Lily. Good evening, Ren. Good evening! Eh, who? Ah, this child is Arisa. She also works here and her break time is the same as mine. So, I also invited her to join us.was it perhaps troublesome? No, Im fine with that. Especially since Lily invited her. Ah, yes. There wont be any problems. She is a good child. Okay. Hey, what are you two whispering about? No, were not talking about anything. Thats right, Arisa. Ehh I suppose she seems like an obedient child? The girl had light ck twin-tails. Her height was quite short and her chest was moderate. I guess she looked like the cute type? She also had a slow manner of speech and looked quite spirited. Anyways, should we start eating now? Um, what are we having for today? Ah- This inn usually prepared about two or three types of dishes, and customers would choose and eat what they liked. Although, it was basically just different types of soups, and slightly different sds, and such. Since theres been an increase of customers due to the recipes that you made, the stuff being made is. Ahh So there was only that. What to say. That oil-drenched orc meat and.what was it called again? Well, never mind. In any case, it was troublesome that there was only that. I ended up being forced to go to the restroom multiple times during the night because of that. I didnt want to deal with that again. Um, is there anything else? There is one other thing. That one was also made by Ren. Huh? What would that be? It couldnt possibly be the udon. So theres something else? But I dont remember making anything else? But you did? Dont you remember? Its the Sausage in Between Bread? Sausage in betw-.oh hotdogs. So its called a hot dog? Yes. Apparently, hot dogs didnt exist in this world. There were sandwiches that had stuff like ham and such in between sliced bread. But the concept of just cutting open bread and stuffing things inside didnt really exist. But with things like sandwiches in existence, you would think that someone wouldve alsoe up with something like that. Ill go get it. Ill go with you too! So they left to go get it and soon returned back. They also brought one for me. Thanks. This is good, but since its so simple to make, it seems several other ces have also started making it. Since its just sandwiching things inside~. Ahbut this isnt actually itspleted state. Eh!? Really!? Yes, its supposed to also have this and this. After adding these two sauces then its done. I began exining while taking out the mustard and ketchup from Storage. Ipleted these two when I was in the vige in the south. Ketchup can basically be made using tomatoes and a few other seasonings, but for mustard, there are numerous other ingredients that made it more difficult to make. Since there wasnt any apple vinegar, I was thinking about using wine vinegar as a recement, but my timing was bad. When I went to buy it, there wasnt any vinegar left in stock. As for the tumeric.I bought it from a peddler in the south vige who was about to give up on selling it since he couldnt find anyone who wanted to buy it. Since I already knew that many spices and herbs were apparently treated as medicinal herbs, I had suggested to him that it would be better to visit stores and merchants who sold medicine. Like thisand were done. Ohh. So this is the true form. They were overreacting a bit. Please enjoy it then? I-In that case. Here I go. I also started eating, nom nom. Yep, thisbination of saltiness and umami was the best. Or, actually, there were other great tasting things too. I looked over at the other two and they had an expression of bliss on their faces. The two of them were gushing from the taste. To be honest, that kind of expression probably isnt really appropriate for a young girl in public. What is this Woah In this world, there werent that many seasonings or sauces. So it couldnt be helped that it was like this. Or perhaps it just didnt exist inmoner cuisine, but it might exist in noble cuisine? Hmm, I would like to try eating it. Would you like some more? Yes, please! Me too! Hahaha, so you two really did want more. For me, I was full after eating one and having some soup and sd. But those two ended up eating three times as much as me. The gazes around me were also so painful that I hurriedly put away the ketchup and mustard. Some people looked like they wanted to steal it. Haaaaa. Fwaaaa. The two of them were still entrenched in bliss, and sure enough, the surrounding people were trying to talk to me, so I quickly made my escape. Well then, Ill be heading back to my room. Fwaa.. Good night. Ah, wait a minute It looks like a person nearby called out to me, but I pretended not to notice. Im sorry for the trouble. Bye-bye. Afterward, I went to bed after taking a bath. I wonder if there will be an uproar tomorrow? I was very sleepy but I still couldnt help worrying about it. Good night~ Chapter 46: The Ogres Are Troublesome Even After Their Deaths Chapter 46: The Ogres Are Troublesome Even After Their Deaths Morning! But since I knew that going to the dining hall for breakfast would definitely be troublesome, I decided not to go. I went right to sleep yesterday, but I still gave some thought to countermeasures. As such, I was eating breakfast in my room. There werent any problems since I had stuff inside of Storage. Although it was a bit wasteful since the lodging expense included food. But I guess it couldnt be helped. I avoided the morning hours and escaped from the inn. Of course, together with Norn and Bell. First off, I had to settle the matters regarding the ogres from yesterday, so I still had to go to the guild. Thus I went to the Adventurers Guild. I needed to discuss the matters with the guild master. For now, I went to the counter, but? It felt like there were more people than usual. Hey, you. I was called out when I lined up. A rather dandy looking male adventurer and hispanions? Hmm, it feels like Ive seen them somewhere before.? Ah, theyre the ones who wereughing at me yesterday on the way back to town. Hey, did you hear me! Um, what is it? Somehow I had a bad feeling.. That wolfI knew it, so you were the one who did those things yesterday? So yesterdays ogres were defeated by you!? What should I do? Guild master, what are you doing? You didnt fulfill your promise at all. Should I just pretend not to know anything for now? Norn was the one who beheaded the ogre lord, so it technically wasnt me who defeated it, right? Lets go with that. No. Hey, stop lying! At tim- What are you doing! The guild master has appeared~ Hurry up and do something~ Im asking what you are doing. I wanted to ask her about yesterday. You signed an agreement, you are not supposed to ask questions about what happened. You will be breaking the agreement if you ask about it. Do you know what happens if you break the agreement? Should I contact those in the fief capital and royal capital? Do you know what that means? Thats Then this conversation ends here. Do not ask any more questions. Also, dont go around saying anything extra, understand? If anythinges up, youll be facing the consequences, did I make myself clear? Alright. Ohh, it seems he was doing better than I thought. Perhaps the current adventurer was just an idiot. Hey,ss. It looks like the idiot caused you some trouble. No, it was nothing. Right here isnt appropriate,e with me. And so I was taken to the back office. We sat down on the sofa with the table between us and the guild master gave several sighs. Im sorry. No matter how much I hammer down on them, there will always be an idiot. I sort of understand. Rest assured, this might sound a bit unconvincing, but it was only his group that was causing trouble. Theyre a party from the fief capital.. And regarding Neil, Ill punish him if he does anything careless. Ah- Anything regarding Neil was his own problem, so I didnt really care. Well, those who operate here should basically be alright. I gave them a light warning, but even without that they wouldnt be doing anything to mess with you. Did you do something? Lass, do you know how many of them were helped by what you did? What? Lass, do you know how much herbs you bring in every time? Do you know how many potions can be made from them? And who do you think will be the ones mainly using them? Um, adventurers? Thats right, adventurers. In other words, in a roundabout way youre helping them through that. Um, is that really so? Yeah. So the people from here wont say anything. So it was like that, I wasnt aware. Now then, you came here to get the money, right? Ive already prepared it. Here you go. Thanks. When I received the leather bag, it was heavy. How much was in it? The total is 500 gold coins. Huh? It would be more, but Since a subjugation party was formed for the job, we also have to distribute it to the people who participatedand so it ended up being reduced, sorry. Eh? No, wait, this is reduced? Originally, an ogre lord alone would be worth at least 2000. And there were also 10 ogres besides that? So this is less than even half that amount. Okay To be honest, I wasnt too thrilled to hear that. But I wasnt supposed to participate in subjugations in the first ce. So when I considered that, I should be grateful for what I got. Well, to begin with, Im not even allowed to participate in subjugations, so I dont really mind. Im grateful that I even received some. I really dont understand you,ss. But if youre saying that you dont mind, that helps me. Dont worry about itah, thats right. Hm? Whats wrong? Actually I handed over the letter from the vige in the south to exin the situation. If I didnt handle this matter properly, it may be a problemter on. Mad bullso you want to sell it? Well, actuallyI want to eat it. Ahh..I understand, I understand how you feel. Sorry. No, its fine. Then what about the other materials? Due to various reasons, thats also a bit Thats unfortunate. After that, I finished up the discussions and was free, so I decided to get some lunch. As I was exiting from the office with the guild master, I saw some familiar faces. Lily and Salena. Hmm? Lily? What are you doing here? Ah, Ren! Um, since it was lunchtime, I thought I would eat with my older sister, so I came here to invite her. I see. It would probably still be troublesome to return to the inn right nowperhaps I could try inviting both of them to join me? In that case, would you two like to join me? I could provide the food. Is that alright!? Definitely! Please do! She instantly took the bait. Of course its alright! Lilys blushing face is just too cute! Im happy that youre inviting me too, but are you sure its alright? Yes, its alright. Salenas blushing face was also really alluring, so I would actually be quite disappointed if she didnt join us. Ah, right. Um, then would the guild master also like to join us? Oh? Me!? Is that okay? Yes, of course. The guild master had a tired expression since a while ago, so I felt a bit sorry for himso something of this level for all the work he was doing was quite cheap. Chapter 47: Do Not Give Up on Your Ambitions Chapter 47: Do Not Give Up on Your Ambitions Hello, its Ren. And so Im currently having lunch with everyone in an office inside the guild. Obviously, I wasnt wearing my hood, and as expected Lily and Salena were staring quite intensely at me, I was a bit troubled. But the guild master looked like he didnt care that much? There were some other guild staff around us, but I wouldnt be able to continue with the meal if I kept worrying about it, so I stopped paying attention to it. Now then! Todays lunch is my treat! Or rather I actually made it! Anyway, lets just quickly introduce the menu already~ First up, the soup. It was shrimp soup. I created a rich broth through cooking the shrimp head and shells. Afterward, I also adjusted the taste. But this isnt the only thing I prepared, I have more. Shrimp Chili. This was a bit hard to make. I made potato starch for the coating, but I didnt have any broad bean chili paste.since I didnt have enough ingredients to make it, I ended up having to make the broad bean chili paste using Creation Magic. But since I found chili oil in the northeastern forest near the river, I somehow managed toplete it during my spare time. I also made ketchup and vinegar, and then finished preparing the scallions and other ingredients, but in my own opinion it was still a bit crude. I still needed to fine-tune the vor. The main dish was steamed rice. In this world, the cooking method for rice was basically just to boil it or fry it, which was quitecking to me. As such, I made a y pot and steamed the rice. The result was quite amazing. I added the chopsticks, and done! But when I finished taking the dishes out, everyone only stared silently. No one moved. Um, help yourselves? Thatthis..what is this? Its a dish using shrimp. Shrimp, you mean that gritty and smelly thing? Ahh, did they perhaps not remove the digestive tract of the shrimp? Hm? Was this worlds shrimp cuisine only at that level? Ah, its only like that if you dont properly prepare it. Prepare? Hmm, there werent a lot of recipes for seafood, so perhaps they dont know how to prepare it? The other types of dishes were fine and the dishes from the vige in the south were all fine, so I guess this was just a problem limited to the ind areas. Um, basically Im saying its alright. Please try eating it. I see, in that case. Lily reached out with her fork. The other two are watching her with bated breath. So theyre using someone younger than them as a poison-tester, how devious. She brought a shrimp to her mouth and began eating it. .But just as I thought she was finished, she froze and her shoulders started trembling. Then she swallowed. What is this! After Lily shouted that, she began eating ferociously. This! This dish! Its the first time Ive ever! Sheesh! The other two became stunned after seeing her reaction, but then the two returned to themselves and also began eating. What is this? This is the first time Ive eaten something so delicious. Even the first-ss restaurants in the royal capital donte close. And this soup. Its incredibly richso this is the taste of shrimp? When I ate it before, it had a grainy and bad smell to it so I didnt really like it. But this rich vor goes well with the rice. I can eat a lot of rice with just this soup alone. So this is a shrimp dish? This is dangerous. I cant stop my hands. This spicy aftertaste, its justwait Lily! Youre eating too much of it! Hahahaha. Theres still plenty more, so eat up? In the end, the three of them stuffed themselves until their stomachs were bulging. Looks like they finished all the rice I preparedperhaps theyre eating a bit too much? I cant go on anymore I also cant eat anymore. Ive eaten too muchcant move. But I wasnt finished yet. Then I guess you wont be able to eat this. !? I took out some fruit jelly. There were pieces of fruit inside. I thought over it quite a bit. I managed to get sugar from the maple syrup, but I didnt have any milk or eggs. Though I do have some butter. In this world, there were soybeans so things like tofu existed in the vige in the south. They could also produce soymilk, but that was about it, the quality of the soymilk wasnt suited for baking sweets and would produce something quite horribleI found this out after some experimenting at the vige, but during that time I had managed to find some Gelidiaceae that washed up onshore. And so I collected and processed it. What is this. Its transparent and prettylike a jewel. And it has a nice scent too. I made grape jelly this time. I also mixed in a bit of red wine which was why it had a nice scent. So I guess it would be more oriented towards adults? The vor was adjusted using fruit juice and sugar, but the sweetness was kept at a moderate level. I experimented quite a lot with it. Eh? Werent grapes supposed to be out of season? Not at all, since I picked themst fall. When I was living in the forest, I found them growing, so I collected and stored them. Although it shouldve been a wild species, the grapes were sweet and big as if they were domesticated. As expected, the vegetation in this world was rather strange. But since everyone appears to be full, I guess its impossible to eat. No, no, Ill eat it! Please let me eat it! I would also like to eat it! Since sweets are an entirely different matter! I want to eat it too! The dish we just ate was ridiculously delicious! I just cant imagine what this will taste like! Um, in that case, help yourselves? But since this was the first time theyve seen something like this, all three of them brought the spoon to their mouths rather gingerly. They began chewing and then swallowed. Fwah. Delicious. Its sweet, but not too sweet. And the bnce between the sweetness and grape vor is absolutely superb. And the fragrance that spreads throughout my mouththis is quite astounding Lily ate wordlessly, while Salena was inplete bliss. The guild master ate whilementating like some gourmet food critic. Yep, its myplete victory. Although that was just my own opinion. Chapter 48: I Really Want Eggs and Milk Chapter 48: I Really Want Eggs and Milk Lunch is now over. The three of them were unlikely to be moving about anytime soon. So I decided to leave them alone since their responses were rather slow. Since it was already past noon, I didnt have any motivation to go gathering. That aside, I did manage to obtain a lot of skills during my travels to and from the vige in the south. I could see the effects of the skills by opening my status and using Appraisal, but I still didnt understand how I had obtained those skills. As such, I went to the guild reference room to investigate a little. And I conducted various tests. First up were Golem Generation, Golem Control, and Automata Creation. But I was still stuck on how to create the automata dolls, so I was a bit troubled. Although, I think I know the reason. It was probably due to myck of prerequisite skills. To begin with, Automata Creation was an upgraded variant of Golem Generation, and it seems that Golem Generation was from Alchemy if I traced its source. On a side note, the Compounding skill that I used to make potions was also from Alchemy. But as for Alchemy, I dont really remember how I obtained that skill. Hmm..this was troubling. I think it might have been from using Creation Magic, so I believe it was something like gaining skills that were simr to each other. However, because of that, it led to me not having enough prerequisite skills. Creation Magic had both its pros and cons. The MP consumption was high. For now, I guess I should just ce the Alchemy rted stuff on hold. Next up would be the Muscle Control skill. This was an upgraded version of the Muscle Enhancement skill. Muscle Enhancement was a skill that prevented loss of strength when being incapacitated due to injury or illness, it also made one less likely to get sick. As for the upgraded version Muscle Control, it seems that the boosts are further enhanced. It was also said that it was easier to obtain skills that were rted to the body. In other words, I guess it would be skills rted to physical movement? Something like that? I checked the skill effects using Appraisal, so I already more or less knew beforehand, but I just wanted to confirm it. The skills were obtained through physical training, so it would be easier to obtain them if a person did physical training and the skills would also improve through more physical training. However, I learned it during my daily routinenever mind, Im not going to say anything more And there was one more. [Power Increase: Mana] It was a skill that I obtained after defeating the ogre lord. It was a powerful skill that would increase STR/VIT/AGI when used. However, it would continue to consume MP when using the skill which made it also bad at the same time. After some experimenting, the results were. I didnt know how I had obtained this skill. If I had to guess, it was likely from my skill which allowed me to improve my vision through using mana. Additionally, aside from my Power Increase skill that used mana, there seems to also be a type that increases power using fighting spirit. You could learn both, but there werent many adventurers who have done that. Additionally, fighting spirit was essential for warriors that used sword skills like shing attacks, or wide area damaging attacks. It was essentially like warrior versions of magic attacks that would appear in manga. Magic would consume MP, but fighting spirit would consume HP. Additionally, if either too much HP or MP was used and it reached 0, you would die. As such, there were the issues of managing the consumption rate, but it seems there were skills that helped with this. There were different skills for both mana and fighting spirit, but the materials didnt list what the names were. Hmm. In the end, I still didnt find out much about Muscle Control and Muscle Enhancement, and I left the reference room with a slightlyplicated mood. It was still earlier in the day. What should I do next? I suppose I could go to Nicoles shop to restock on the rice that was just consumed. Hello. Well now, if it isnt Ren, hello indeed. Are you here for more rice? Yes, please. Whenever I went to Nicoles shop, I would always buy rice, so that became themon reaction upon seeing me. Or rather, I only go when I need to buy rice. Ah, please give me flour today too. Flour is it? Lloyd, some flour please. When I traveled to the vige in the south, I used up all my flour, so I needed to restock on it. I bought both inrge bulk. Normally, one would feel suspicious regarding the storage of everything, but this was Nicole. He already knew various things about me so he didnt question it. Speaking of which, I didnt see you recently, did you travel somewhere? Yes, I went to a vige in the south. I see, the southern vige, if you had told me we could have gone together. But that would prevent me from moving as I please. As such, I hadnt said anything to Nicole and just headed out. I could make a lot of money if I carried sea fish, but unfortunately I cant use water magic. At this distance, I think you should be able to transport a bit? I can transport a bit in the winter, but not during the summer. But in winter its also difficult to transport them if it snows. Ah, I see. As expected, it seems it was quite difficult toe across sea fish in the ind towns. I sometimes saw salted fish at the market, but it doesnt really taste as good. Regardless, there were only preserved fishI also knew how to make dried fish, but I didnt have any obligation to teach anyone. Rather, I had the feeling it would just cause another kind of uproar. Hm? Is this buckwheat flour? As I was looking through the products while talking casually, I noticed a fragrant scent that seemed familiar. This was definitely buckwheat flour, right? So you know about it? Yes, this is buckwheat flour. You can knead it using water, bake it, and then eat it. Can I have some of this too? Of course, is this much enough? Yes. Buckwheat flour! I can eat soba with this! I could make galette tooah, thats right. Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you something. What is it? Where can I buy eggs and milk? Eggs and milk? Yes, I would like to use them for cooking Thats right, eggs and milk. Without these, the range of what could be made waspletely different. For both cooking and making sweets. I seethe eggs sold in this town are procured from a vige located between here and the fief capital. They also raise chicken there. The vige is around the northeastern side of the river. However, the only way to buy eggs in this town is to buy them directly from themercial guild. But its impossible to purchase from the guild unless youre registered as a merchant, so it will be a bit difficult for Ren to purchase them from the guild..I could buy them from the guild and sell it, but theres a minimum price set for selling eggs, so I wouldnt be able to sell them for very cheap. After listening to the details a bit more, it seems the consumption of eggs in this town was basically dominated by the nobles, some merchants, and a very small portion of the more wealthymoners. I guess it also would asionally be stocked at the inn I was staying at when there was surplus? Additionally, the minimum price for the eggs was also set so the market for it wasnt disturbed. As such, since there were several viges raising chickens around the royal capital, the vige between this town and the fief capital would usually just sell their eggs to the fief capital. Hmm. Is it possible to go to the vige and buy from them directly? Yes, depending on how you negotiate with them, I think so. However, it may be a bit difficult without registering as a merchant at the guild. Hmm, but I might still be able to buy some, right? Next would be milk, but unfortunately it is impossible. Impossible? First, the only ce that has them are viges around the the royal capital, but the cattle raised there are formercial use only. Next, there would be the problem of transportation time. If you tried transporting it from the royal capital to here, it would be spoiled during the trip. Right, of course~ Somehow, I already knew it would be like that. Im not sure if youre willing to use a substitute instead, but what about goat milk? Goat milk. I drank it before in my previous life. But to be frank, the taste was quite strong, so I would rather not use it. I cant use goat milk as I dont really like the taste. Ahh, there are some people like that. But even so, it would be difficult to procure it from the viges near the capitaloh, wait. Do you have an idea? Yes, if I recall theres a vige that also raises cattle just north of here..they would sometimese here to sell their products when it exceeded their viges consumption level. Towards the north. Should I go check it out? Um, do you mind if I ask you for the exact location? I dont mind if youre the one asking, Ren. Lets see, it was For merchants, their procurement sources were an important secret, so I was surprised that I was told. As such, lets hurry up and escape before I get asked something weird as payment. Thank you very much, I suppose Ill go check it out. Ah, then should Ie with you? No, I dont mean Im going right now. Im not sure when Ill be going since I still have a lot of other matters to attend to.thats why- Ive already stored everything Ive bought! Hurry up and escape! Now that I know the location of the vige, the next trip will be there. When should I go? I probably already have enough money. Thanks to the great ogre lord. Ah, but before that, I guess I should show my face to the children first? Chapter 49: Making Various Things and Reflecting on Feeding Chapter 49: Making Various Things and Reflecting on Feeding I guess Ill show my face to the children when I go gathering for herbs tomorrow? In that case, lets just head back to the inn early today. There were also various things I wanted to make. When I returned back to the inn, Arisa came out to greet me. Normally, it would be Lily, where was she? She was visiting Salena during lunch so perhaps she had a break for today? But when I asked Arisa, it seems that she didnt have a break today and was supposed to be working. Apparently, she had gone out for lunch in the afternoon and upon returning she was acting rather sluggish. Im sorry, that would be my fault. It seemed that Arisa knew something had happened, or rather that it was rted to me.she was staring at with a light gaze, but I pretended not to notice and escaped to my room. I entered my room and took a break. I generally took a bath really early orte, but right now was still too early. And it still wasnt time for dinner yet. But going to the dining hall too early would also bring various troubles. Should I just goter than usual for today? Right, lets go with that. In that case, I had a lot of time. As such, I decided to spend the time making things. Since I had rice now, I decided to make sake and mirin first. Both of them were necessary for cooking. I had also used sake for the chili shrimp. Marinating shrimp inside it would also give it a tender taste. I took out the remaining koji I had made using the rice from before. I started the sake making process, but the smell started to make me dizzy. However, I was careful not to let the smell spread throughout the room since the smell was quite strong. Sake huhI want to drink it. I really want to drink it. Because I loved drinking in my previous life! I loved it! I said it twice because its important. In this world, you were an adult once you reached 15. You were allowed to drink from that age, but I am only 11 years old right now, so it would be a bit too much to start drinking. As such, I would be patient, really patient. Even though I was a minor, it wasnt like I would get in trouble for drinking. That said, if a child just started chugging alcohol, it would still be something that would be frowned upon. Although I did buy wine since I used it for cooking, I also made sake and even beer so that I could drink it in the future. I also soldmon hop as stomach medicine to the apothecary. I also n to make whiskey and brandy in the future. But that was still a long way off. Uhh, I want to drink..but I will be patient. But since I was in the middle of preparing food with it, I have no choice but to taste it. Ahhhh! Now that I was re-energized, what should I do next? Udon? Ah, since I have buckwheat flour I could make soba then. So next would be noodles. I started kneading them. Speaking of noodles, I want to eat pasta. After I finished making long pasta, I made several kinds of short pasta. But since the sauces would have a strong smell, I didnt make them inside the inn. Speaking of strong smells, I should test out making curry. I had a lot of spices, so I should be able to make it but it will definitely be hard. However, the bnce in this world sure was strange. Even though there were soy sauce and miso, there werent many recipes for using them, and the cooking techniques were also skewed in various ways. No, it might be possible that these were all due to the influences of other reincarnators, maybe some kind of chef reincarnated in this world before? Considering that and the various matters regarding the cook at the inn, I suppose I shouldnt let anyone eat the curry. Consomm was also a highly acimed Western dish, but I dont recall the inn ever serving it. But since it was a high-ss dish, I highly doubt I would have a chance to eat it here anyways. I gave Lily and Salena a lot of food without thinking too much about it, and I taught the children various things too, but when I think calmly there could be various issues in doing so. It would seem I mightve been too careless. I would have to be a bit more careful from now on. I was more mentally mature than my physical age due to my memories of my previous life. But as expected, there was still a difference between my previous selfs memories and the consciousness of my current body, this was something I realized at times. With all theseplex thoughts in mind, I actually stopped cooking for a bit. While I continued preparing the ingredients and focusing on seasonings that didnt have strong smells, it became just a bit past dinner time. Hmm, I guess it should be okay to go eat now? There shouldnt be much people left since the rush hour shouldve already passed But just as I was thinking this, there was a knock on my door. Who could that be? When I opened the door, Arisa was standing there. She had a tray in her hands with food on top of it. Apparently, she came to check up on me because I didnte down to the dining hall. I invited her to join me since it was boring to eat alone and because she had gone out of her way toe to my room. I thought you didnte down because you were sleeping~ Ah, I just thought there might be a fuss downstairs. I see, it was something like that~ In fact, there were quite a few people waiting for Ren. It was the correct choice not toe down~ Apparently, they were still waiting for me down in the dining hall. I probably wouldnt be able to eat in peace in this inns dining hall anymore. It should be fine if Lily and I are there, so dont worry~. I was d to hear that. I gave her some jelly as thanks. She was overjoyed and said she would enjoy it after returning to her room. Yep, cute. Ah, I just decided to be more careful from now on, but I. After that, I took a bath and went to bed. Additionally, I was using my own bed. I had reced the other bed with my own before going to sleep. Or rather than calling it a bed, it was more like a berth. And a berth was hard. The first day I stayed at this inn I managed to fall asleep since I was tired, but on the second day my back was sore and I couldnt sleep well. I probably shouldnt get too ustomed to luxury The bed I was using wasnt the one from my bedroom in my house, but instead the one from the guest room. The one in my bedroom was king size and didnt fit in this room. The room I was in was single-sized. I wonder why I chose to make something so bigwell, it wasfortable though. It has been a while but I guess I will go gather herbs tomorrow? And so I fell asleep while thinking of such matters. Chapter 50: Right, Lets Make a Carriage Chapter 50: Right, Let''s Make a Carriage Its morning~ so time to get up! Lily and Arisa were both working today, so I went to the dining hall and ate breakfast. The menu was a hot dog. With sauce. It seems the cook immediately tried making it. Nom, nom, nom. Yep, this waspletely different. It wasnt wrong, but what is this? Its not spicy. Its like Worcestershirebut something differentIm not too sure what it is. Anyways, I ate in peace for today. In other words, whenever a person tried calling out to me, it seems that the two of them would stop them and drive them away. After finishing the meal, I left the inn with Norn and headed towards the gates. I was going to see the children today. As I came up to the gates with that in mind, a sudden thought urred to me. Right, lets make that. And so I observed that for a bit before heading out of town. Hmm, just looking at it from the outside wasnt enough. It was something like this, or thisI wonder if theres a skill that would allow me to understand the internal structure. As I was observing things by projecting mana through my eyes, I ended up gaining a new skill. The skill was called Analyze. Apparently, it seems to be an upgraded version of Appraisal. It seems another troublesome thing appearedbut Im going to use it since this was the skill I needed. Its fine as long as no one finds out! I resumed heading out of town after finding out what I wanted to know using my new skill. I exited the town and began looking around for the children. But they werent there. Usually when they notice me, they would juste over by themselves, hmm. Ah, didnt they say that they would be gathering in the shallow areas of the forest? Did they already go into the forest? And so I started moving towards the forest but someone called out to me. Big sis Ren! Youre back! Yui, how are you doing? Good! Thanks to big sis. Its Yui. It appears her cheeks were more plump than before. She seems to be eating properly. Shin was following behind her. The other children were also rushing over here. Im back. Ill be staying for a bit for now. Are you nning on going somewhere again afterwards? Yes, Im thinking of traveling to a nearby vige since theres something I want there, but its not right away. Is that so Everyone was a bit disappointed, but it couldnt be helped. Are you all going to gather herbs now? Can I go with you all? Of course! Everyone was smiling brightly. Yep, everyone looks energetic. I also smiled and we began moving right away. When we arrived in the forest, we decided to head deeper to where we were gathering before. As expected, there wasnt much to gather in the shallower areas. But the gathering spot we headed to was more sparse than before, so we wouldnt get as much if we gathered here. So in the end, I decided to move a little further than the previous gathering pot. It was for my own convenience. Because there was something I wanted to do. When we arrived, the children began gathering. I called Norn over and asked her to be more vignt than usual, and told her she could attack first instead of defending. I took the children into the depths of the forest for my own convenience, so I prioritized the safety of the children first. Now I didnt have to worry. I took out my tent and began working. I was working on making a carriage. I was also going to make the horse to pull it. Golem horse. In other words, I was going to make a carriage that would be pulled by a golem horse.1 There was a reason why I wanted to make something like this. And that was due to my stamina. The memory of me running out of energy on my way back to town after defeating the ogre lord was still fresh. I didnt have enough stamina.2 Hence, the carriage. I had the opportunity to ride a carriage several times already. The carriages of Nicole and Roberto. Riding on carriages was rxing. I could travel without walking. However, a person was necessary to steer the horse. But that was where the golem came in. I could already make golems that could perform simple functions. It just had to travel on the roads and watch out for oing vehicles. If it was just that much, the golem could handle it. Above all, I didnt have to control the horse at all. It would be safe for me to just nap on the carriage. Additionally, since I didnt need to feed it, I only had to worry about repairs and maintenance. But the golem would be controlled using mana. If I also had to use mana to bend the joint areas then it would consume even more mana. But it would be fine as long as I made the joint structures. As such, I just had to add the joints. Which was why I was observing at the gate earlier. There was a lot of traffic during the morning hours at the gate. Especially for the gate where carriages entered. Thus, I had closely observed the horses, or rather, I analyzed them. How the skeletal structure and muscles worked. And the basic structure of the carriage. The Analyze skill I had learned was quite useful. As such, I had immediately gone to work. I was making a golem with an endoskeleton structure this time around. It would also serve as practice for the automata that I n to make in the future. The control system would use a mana stone as the power core and operating source. I should be able to manage it using Mana Sense and Mana Control, but Creation Magic would be doing most of the work. I wouldplete this one way or another. The children were silent as if they were used to me doing weird stuff. I was a bit sad, it was aplicated feeling. I was thinking about using titanium to make the frame and using either wood or unzed y for the exterior. I didnt want it to be too heavy. But I also want enough horsepower so that it could travel on rough roads. And so I used two ogre mana stones for the control system. I also decided to add in the mana stone from the powerful Mad Bull. I worked while drinking MP recovery potions. And soon it was lunchtime. Hmm, Im at a good pace so I want to continue working on the golem. Should I just make something simple, pasta? Right, lets go with that. I decided to go with the short pasta fusilli I made yesterday along with meat sauce. I still have tomatoes leftover from when I was making ketchup. And I immediately began making minced meat. I also used the bay leaf growing nearby. I boiled some hot water and ced the tomatoes inside to boil before transferring them into a bowl to crush. I took out some celery and began chopping it along with some onions and carrots before frying them in a pan. After cooking them for a while, I also dumped in the minced meat. I stirred everything for a while longer, and when the color changed, I added some salt and pepper and a bit of wine. Then lightly stirred everything for a bit longer. After that I let everything simmer. Then I moved to the pot and added a pinch of salt. And started boiling the fusilli. Afterwards, I transferred an appropriate amount of the boiled fusilli water into the sauce inside the pan. Then I added some bay leaf and let it cook for a while before tasting it. Hmm, about right. If I had either Worcestershire sauce or oyster sauce, I would be able to get a bit more vor. But aside from that, it was ready to be mixed with the boiled fusilli. I ended up making quite a lot. I called the children over to eat immediately. The children scarfed down the food wordlessly. But they were chewing properly. After finishing with lunch, I continued working on the golem. After the children finished eating the pasta, their eyes seemed a bit sleepy but everyone continued on gathering. Did I feed them a bit too much? In the afternoon, the golem wasplete. In the end, I somehow managed to make it. At first nce, it looks like a normal horse. This was due to the various adjustments I made appearance-wise. But upon closer inspection, you would notice several strange areas. But itll probably be alright. Now time to test it out. Hmm, it seems to work fine. I tested various functions, such as issuing orders while another basic order was being executed. There also werent any problems during the light test-run. I guess the golem horse would bepleted for now? Afterwards, I guess I just need to have it try pulling the carriage? I checked my status, and the skill level of Automata Creation, Golem Generation, and Golem Control had all increased a bit. I could probably level them up a bit more, but it would likely be difficult since Ick some prerequisite skills. I would like to have some more alchemy skills. How would I go about learning them? What should I do? As I nced back while thinking of such matters, the children were all looking at me with wide eyes. I guess theyre all surprised? Without saying anything, I silently stored the golem horse into Storage and told everyone to prepare to return back to town. I wouldnt ept any questions. Um, big sis Ren, what-.. Its a secret. Yui had various questions, but I kept silent. Anyways, I guess Ill make the carriage tomorrow? Previous Next Index
  1. Silva: Ah Ren is going to destroymon sense again.
  2. Silva: Ride on Norn, just ride on Norn god dammit. Just what are you thinking? Making a carriage out of all things Is this what they meant by there is a fine line between a genius and an idiot?
Like Loading... ~~ Choose Your Novel ~~ Demon Sword Maiden Dragon Princess Cheat Receptionist Subus'' Life Hero''s Daughter Pupil of the Wiseman Reborn as a Transcendent Hero''s Redo Hero King Loli Elf Blue Sky Subscribing to Patreon may result in faster updates. For more info, please refer to this: link. Chapter 51: Since Im Meticulous Chapter 51: Since I''m Meticulous The second day of carriage making. But it was actually easier than yesterday. Since I knew the basic structure of a carriage. Now I just needed to figure out how to keep the carriage from shaking too much. To be honest, the shaking from the carriages I had ridden before were quite dreadful. The roads werent always smooth, and there were times where I would doze off only to be jostled by a sudden bump and nearly bite my tongue. There were also various times where I bumped my head. As such, I wanted to make a carriage that wouldnt shake around. A suspension system would be necessary. I tried testing various things out to see what would be best for ensuring the carriage ride was smooth. And before I realized, it was already evening. Oh, right. What about the designs? In the end, it took about a week to finish the designs. Yeah, I know. I really do know, hahaha. Its because I was rather meticulous in my previous life so.it couldnt be helped. However, while I wasing up with the designs, I also made some lightweight materials such as duralumin and titanium, so the carriage ended up being much lighter than I initially nned. I would have to rece the frame parts of the golem horseter. The metal ores were apparently from deep within the ground. The deepyers of the ground were rich with ores. Which would exin the high MP cost when I created them. And so the design ns werepleted and I began to make the carriage. I would need Creation Magic to make the parts just like with the golem, but this time I decided to take it slow and not use recovery potions. Since it had taken me quite a while toplete the design ns, I guess there really isnt a need to rush anymore? Thus, I worked slowly without rushing myself for about another week. And finally, the carriage waspleted. Ah, even when I was working on the carriage, I still sold the herbs from Storage. It was helpful to the guild in various ways and I still have a huge stockpile left. Anyways, moving on. Thepleted carriage was a box-shaped carriage. With an emphasis on safety andfort. Well, it would make sense for me to sleep inside the carriage when camping, right? To begin with, all my luggage was inside of Storage. The carriage was designed so that you would enter from behind the coach seat. Through a door. There was also a small space behind the seats where luggage could be stored. The door to enter inside the carriage was on the left side when facing frontward. I also made a space to store luggage in the back of the carriage and also made a door for it. Additionally, all the doors have locks. The inside was furnished with a sofa which faced forward. Naturally, it was soft and had pocket coils. Since it was a foldable type, it could also be pulled out and made into a bed. I think around four people should be able to sleep on it if they tried? There was a foldable table attached to the wall. I also added holsters to hold drinks. There were even windows on the front and right side. What about the wheels? What else would I use besides rubber? An inner tube? Of course! To be honest, I overdid it a little. But I didnt regret it. Theres no helping it if its all for living afortable life. But since I went a little crazy, it might be difficult to pull the carriage using one golem horse. I might have to give up and make another golem horse. But considering the weight of the carriage, it might still be manageable with one horse. The frame looked rather light. As such, I first tried test-running it with one horse. And from there I made modifications as necessary. There was no shaking even inside a forest that had no paved roads. I had made something quite amazing. Although, I would have to sit in the coach seat when I use it on the roads. But the golem horse was slightly underpowered. As expected, it would be difficult like this, so I gave up and decided to make a second one. Tomorrow. As such, I ended up making a second golem horse the next day. But I took it easy unlike thest one where I rushed toplete it in a single day. I also remodeled the first one too. I knew where the stress was applied due to the few trial runs, so I reinforced those areas. As I was making various modifications to the golems, the children happily reported that they managed to kill a horned rabbit. Horned rabbits wererge rabbits with horns and were the most essible form of meat to themon household. And for adventurers, it was one of the few monsters that wasnt restricted by the subjugation age limit. In the first ce, even ordinary people could defeat horned rabbits as long as they were careful, so it was unlikely that subjugation requests for them would be made. But leaving them be would result in them growing more and more. Apparently, they were as fertile as goblins. And they were pests that would destroy fields. Thus for those reasons, the subjugation age limit was removed. Adventurers under the age of 13 were often orphans. Naturally, food wasnt guaranteed. Or they were children from normal families and were working as adventurers as a part-time job, some might have even be adventurers to learn self-defense skills. In these cases, the children would often hunt to add more food to the dining table. But even if the horned rabbits were weak, they were still monsters. Even an adult would be gouged through the stomach if they werent careful. As such, I warned the children not to hunt too aggressively. I didnt want them to die. Since the children also prioritized their own safety, they usually didnt hunt for horned rabbits. But due to the recent increase in their ie, they became able to buy weapons and armor. As such, since everyone had equipment now, and quite possibly also due to their improved diet allowing them to move better. They started hunting horned rabbits. I was happy to see their growth. But I was also scared of them getting injured. So after praising them, I also made sure to tell them not to overdo it. I didnt want them to push on even after knowing it would be dangerous. And so several days passed on like that. The second golem horse waspleted and the carriage was also finallypleted. It took longer than expected, but now I could finally go shopping~ Previous Next Index Like Loading... ~~ Choose Your Novel ~~ Demon Sword Maiden Dragon Princess Cheat Receptionist Subus'' Life Hero''s Daughter Pupil of the Wiseman Reborn as a Transcendent Hero''s Redo Hero King Loli Elf Blue Sky Subscribing to Patreon may result in faster updates. For more info, please refer to this: link. Chapter 52: My Plans Have Not Been Decided Yet Chapter 52: My ns Have Not Been Decided Yet Now that the carriage wasplete, I began preparations to leave the inn. As such, I finished the sales at the guild and returned back to the inn to look for Lily. I could just tell the receptionist, but since I was most familiar with Lily I decided to tell her. Now just where.found her. Lily. Ah, Ren. Wee back. Thanks. Um, Lily. Im actually thinking about leaving the inn tomorrow morning. Hmm, are you perhaps going somewhere again? Yes. Where are you going? A vige up north, its a vige just beyond the river in the west. Im thinking of buying milk and eggs from there. I see, so is it perhaps..for cooking reasons? Yes, its for cooking reasons. Oh, she got all silent. Was she surprised? Um, Lily? Ren, Im actually nning on taking an extended vacation and returning home for a while. My parents live in the royal capital, soif you want, would you like to go to the royal capital with me? Eh? You can just buy milk and eggs at the royal capital, and youll be able to buy a lot more than in the areas near Har. How about it? .The royal capital. The royal capital. I was nning to go someday, butI would be able to buy a lot of eggs and milk if I went? In that case, it was earlier than nned but I guess I could go to the royal capital. Its a very attractive proposal, Id like to go with you if it doesnt trouble you but. Um, is there something wrong? I would like to confirm some things first. Is that okay? Sure, no problem. Alright.first of all, am I the only one going with Lily? Since youre going back home, I assume Salena ising along with us? Um, Arisa would also being along with us. Big sis had work suddenly pop upum, something about an ogre lord? Shes got her hands full dealing with the aftermath. Initially, we were discussing postponing the return home, but. So youre going back with Arisa, not Salena? Yes, Arisa is also from the royal capital. Shes actually a childhood friend, and we came here together. ..I see. Then, only us three girls would be going? I think that would be a bit dangerous. Ah, its alright. Even if we look like this, both Arisa and I are D rank adventurers! Im quite strong, you know? By the way, Arisa knows how to use a sword. Also, we have a trump card we can use to protect ourselves, so itll be okay! A trump card? Yes! But its a secret. I see.also are we perhaps traveling by foot? No, Im nning on renting a carriage. Hmm, after conducting a light check there didnt seem to be any problems. But the carriage.alright then. Understood. Please let me join you then. Really!? Im so happy! Oh, but regarding the carriage, you dont have to rent one since I have one. Is that so? Then can I leave it to you? Sure, Ill take care of it. So when are we going? Well, what about the morning after tomorrow? Alright, thats fine. Ah, then could you please process the cancetion of my remaining nights at the inn the day after tomorrow? Sure thing! Hmm, this sure was a rapid change of ns, right? Afterwards, I took a bath and ate dinner as usual before going to bed. The next day, I went to the market in the morning and bought some extra potatoes and vegetables just in case I needed them. After that, I went back to the inn and began preparing the dishes. Its best to be prepared beforehand so you dont have to worry! Even if I made too much, it wouldnt go bad! All thanks to the almighty Storage! And soon the day of departure arrived. All three of us had breakfast at the inn, and waited for my check-out procedure before heading out together. And before we left the town, we went to the guild to give our greetings to Salena. Salena asked me to take care of her sister and bowed many times to me. Ill dly ept! And so we exited the town without any trouble. I already informed the children on the day the carriage waspleted, so there were no problems regarding that. Um? We exited the town, but is that alright? The carriage Its fine, I prepared it. But itll stand out a little over here, so lets walk a bit further away. Huh? Stand out? Um, so we just have to walk a bit further then? Lily, itll be impossible to walk all the way to the royal capital from here~ I-Itll be fine! Ren said so too! Thats why, Im sure itll be.yeah. I can hear both of you, you know? We exited from the gate and began walking. Norn and Bell were to my left and right. And the sunshine felt nice. After walking for a bit, I found a nice and cozy looking forest area. I guess here then? Alright, Ill take out the carriage now. Eh? Take out? I ignored their confusion and proceeded to take out the carriage from Storage. After directing the circle of light to an area on the ground, a carriage appeared there. The circle acted as a range specification and would appear whenever I took outrge or many items at once from Storage. Incidentally, if there were anyrge obstacles in the specified range, I wouldnt be able to take them out. That was what happened when I tried taking out my house before. The carriage that appeared had two horses attached to it. In addition, there was even a coachman sitting on it. Yes, the coachman was also a golem. Excuse me. Well, since I would be traveling by myself, I would need it so I could rx inside? And so I made a dummy. Incidentally, I realized that it would be easier to leave the controlling of the three golems to another part of my mind. Somehow, I was even able to maintain control of the golems even while I was asleep. But since I didnt understand why, I couldnt exin how I did that either. I also did a bit of fine-tuning with the appearance of the carriage to disguise it. There werent any decorations on the exterior like the carriages used by nobles, and it was a practical one-sided design that emphasized sturdiness. I also deliberately added dirt and wind-wear to it too. The underside of the carriage, like the suspension, was covered so that it couldnt be seen from the outside. The other absorber mechanisms underneath were also covered and couldnt be seen. The wheels were also disguised to look like ordinary wood. The golem horses have also been improved to make them look more realistic. I guess their round eyes would be considered cute? The coachman had a good-looking face and was a handsome youth type. The straw hat also looked great on it. I guess I did quite a perfect job on them? Yes, definitely. When I looked back at the other two, they werepletely frozen. Right, they would be like that. Its a carriage. Ah, yes. Its a carriage~ Well then, lets get on. No, no, no, wait, wait! Wait a minute! Im sorry, but I dont understand! Eh? Whats going on? A carriage? The storage skill? No, no, its too big! Its way too big! And the horses! Why even horses!? And a coachman? A coachman!? Im scared! Woah, Lilys words were a mess. Arisa was looking to the distance with a nk look in her eyes. She hadpletely given up on thinking about it. I made it. No, no, no, no, made it? Eh? Made? This? Ren did? Yes. The horse. Its a golem. The coachman. Its a golem. Why golems? Well, you need to feed and find a resting ce for a real horse, so I guess it would be costly and more difficult to keep? But if I use golems, I could just put them away so it wouldnt be a bother. And I can fix them if they break. The coachman. Its because I usually travel alone, so I would need it so I can rx inside the carriage? I even went through all the effort to make a box-carriage. As such, I made a dummy. Where should I even start from.. Want to talk about it over a nice meal? ..Ill do that, please. Lily seems to have also given up. It was my victory. Chapter 53: I Wont be Holding Back, Okay? Chapter 53: I Won''t be Holding Back, Okay? Now that I won, we immediately set off. Please ce any luggage that you wont be immediately using in the back. Ill be opening it up now. Ah, okay. Understood. Theres even space for luggage~ Both of them were holding bags in both hands. In addition, Lily was carrying a staff and Arisa had a slender-looking sword. The two of them ced everything but their weapons inside the storage space. Well, if they didnt have their weapons, they wouldnt be able to fight when they had to. I also had a sword on me. Although I never use it. Alright, lets get inside the carriage then. .Right, in that case Pardon the intrusion~ Why were they all excited? There was nothing special inside. At least, from my viewpoint. They opened the door and nced inside. And became bbergasted. It was improper to have your mouths gaping like that. What is this. Its a carriage. Or rather, theres nothing wrong with it, so hurry up and get on. Um .Ill get on first then, so hurry up and get on. O-Okay. Excuse me then. Theres nothing scary you know.. Since the two of them were hesitant in getting on, I decided to enter first. There were two seats inside. The seat in the back could fit two or three people. There was also a single-person seat on the right side which faced towards it. And there was a door on the left side which led to the coachmans seat. I sat on the back seat and beckoned towards the two of them. The two people anxiously got on. Lily sat next to me and Arisa sat in front of me. As soon as they sat in their chairs, both of them shouted in surprise. What is this!? This chair!? Its so fluffy.what is this~ I did my best. No, no, I dont understand what you mean by that, Ren. Well, it was just a normal, advanced product. But it was important to me. Should we set off then? Ah, right. Please do. Alright, then. ? .. .Um. What? Why havent we started moving yet? Eh? Were already moving though? Eh? Eh? Lily, were already moving~ Look out the window~ Huh? Really? Eh, but I didnt feel anythingit felt like it wasnt even moving at all. Lily, its probably just because this carriage is weird~ Sheesh, I dont even know what to say anymore I did my best. Enough of that already. How mean. Or rather, what about the driver!? The golem is handling it. Didnt you say it was a dummy? I did say it was a dummy, but I didnt say it couldnt drive the carriage? .Enough already. Ahh, Lily had a nk expression on her face. Afterwards, the two epted it and said nothing more. If anyone were able to travel thisfortably, they wouldntin. Additionally, I had my hood down since I was inside the carriage. I pulled out the folding table from the wall and ced cups into the holders attached to the wall, then poured the drink into the cups for everyone. Yep, the orange juice was a sess. 100% fruit juice would be a bit difficult to drink, so I diluted it with water to make it easier to drink. Of course, I also added ice to make it colder and taste better. I acquired ice magic when I had used Creation Magic to turn water into ice. I handed everyone their cups. Lily was on the door side, but there werent any problems since the cup holders were attached to the wall. Additionally, the cup had a lid so it wouldnt spill even if there was shaking. Drinking from a cup inside of a carriageand it is designed to prevent spilling too, such a simple thing If you wanted to drink something inside a carriage, it would usually be water inside of a smelly waterskin. Hahaha. So I guess this would also be my win? That aside, this is really delicious Its the first time I drank something like this~ The orange juice was getting favorable reviews. Even though it was diluted with water. On a side note, Norn and Bell were to the right and left of the golem in the coach seat. The two of them were acting as lookouts. She was seriously a goddess. Ah, thats right, I dont know the directions..which way should we head? Itll be fine as long as you head east along the road. Along the way well have to spend the night in the territory of Mubarro, then well head north along the roads to the royal capital. Understood. Then well just continue on like this. It was easier to get there than I thought. We progressed smoothly despite several rest breaks on the way, and arrived at the camping grounds before long. We would be camping here tonight. So were camping here tonight. Right. Well then, lets start preparing the meal. Um, are you making it Ren? Yes. What about the ingredients Ive prepared some beforehand. The money.. Its fine as long as you appreciate the foodter. Sorry about that. Dont mind it. My goal was to tame them. But dont worry! Just seeing their cute faces will be enough to satisfy this old man! *Slurping up drool Well, enough with the jokes, so what should I make for today? Although, I would actually just be cooking since I had already prepared various ingredients. Hm, dumplings? Lets go with dumplings. Since I already prepared a lot beforehand, I just had to cook them. I also wanted to eat rice. I brought out a stove and immediately began cooking. I already had cooked rice inside of Storage. How much would I need to cook? Three people, so 30? No, those two would definitely be eating a lot. Lets go with 60. It might be a bit too much, but I was fine with leftovers. Thus, I continued cooking. And then cooked even more. As soon as I finished cooking them, I would ce them inside of Storage so that it didnt cool down. This way, I could just take them out right before we started eating and they would be all nice and fresh. The two of them were staring beside me with their stomachs growling. I heard the stomachs of the two, but I gave them a hard look when I saw sudden movement. The cooking smell was probably unbearable. I took out a folding table and chairs and then lined up the finished dishes. Rice, dumplings, and dumpling sauce made with soy sauce, chili oil, and vinegar. I also brought out the chicken soup I had made beforehand. It would be easier to eat with soup. The two stared at the dishes lined up in front of them. Whats wrong? Um, please enjoy? When I called out to them, they began eating. With tremendous momentum. Ah, I see. They werent sure if they could begin eating But if I left them alone even my portion would be gone. The two of them ate and ate. Eventually, all 60 dumplings were gone. Werent the two of them eating a bit too much? Didnt they know they would get fat like this? Additionally, I didnt prepare any dessert. The two of them were looking at me hungrily, but I pretended not to notice. Uhh, Im so full.I cant move~ We havent even set up the tents yet. We also have to boil some water to wipe our body with. Ah, right there was that too. But there was no need to. Clean. I used Clean on the two of them. Their bodies glowed dimly for a few seconds. When the light faded, the bodies of the two were now clean and dirt-less. It would have been better to take a bath, but during the trip this was absolutely necessary. Since I wasnt nning on taking out my house. You can use Clean too!? Basically. Lily, Im not even surprised anymore. Rather, I want to thank you instead~ Thank you very much~ Dont mention it, youre wee. Uuh, in that case, I have to do my best to set up the tent. Ah, no need to do that. I opened the door to the carriage, then lowered the chairs and pulled them out thus creating a simple bed. We can just sleep here. It might be a bit cramped with three people, but I think that itll still be fairlyfortable. .Um, then the night watch. Norn will handle it. Thisit shouldnt have been like this. Lily, what were you expecting it to be like? Thank you very much for everything~ Not at all. Apparently, Arisa has given up on even thinking about it. Well, it was convenient this way, so isnt it alright? Additionally, it seems Lily was initially nning on disying her expertise with long-distance traveling and had wanted to give me various lessons to show off her experience. Well, I actually already traveled by myself all the way to the vige in the south, right? Chapter 54: From the Window of the Carriage Chapter 54: From the Window of the Carriage Trip to the royal capital, the morning of the second day. It was sunny outside. The weather was good today. I got out of the carriage and lightly stretched my body. Then I washed my face and brushed my teeth. That said, it was all done in one go with Clean. I wanted tob my hair, but since I wasnt the only one at the camping grounds, I had to refrain. I didnt want to take off my hood, so I decided to leave it forter when the carriage was moving. My appearance wasnt something to brag about right now since it was rather messy. I wanted to cry a bit. Speaking of which, the gazes were quite intense when we had dinnerst night. It might have been due to the smell of the dumplings, but since it was for the sake of delicious food I couldnt help myself. I was ying with Bell while thinking of such matters, but I suppose I should prepare breakfast before the other two wake up. I didnt want to eat anything heavy in the morning, so I decided to make a risotto using chicken soup. Chicken thighs, mushrooms, onions, butter and a bit of white wine. I wanted to add cheese to top it off, but since I didnt have any, there was no helping it. I finished it off by seasoning it with salt and pepper. The other two woke up due to the alluring smell of chicken. Good morning. G-ood mor-ning~. Good mor-, fwaa -ning. Looks like the two of them were still sleepy. I gave them their toiletries and the two began grooming themselves behind the carriage. But they also snuck nces over here as they did so. It wasnt like the food was going to disappear or anything, I also wasnt nning on starting without them so they didnt have to worry about it. On a side note,rge camping grounds like this one were maintained by the country, so there were usually wells. Therefore, depending on the camping grounds, it might be easier to draw water for washing or preparing food. However, it was quite expensive to build a camping ground and also to dig a well, so not every camping ground had a well. After the two finished grooming themselves, we began eating breakfast. The two of them were quietly scarfing their food down as usual. However, they had rather amazing smiles. But how about we talk a bit more? To be frank, I was feeling kinda lonely. To be able to eat such delicious food right in the morningIm so happy, Is it even possible to have such afortable trip? But Ill dly participate in it if it exists. Having delicious food is the best~ Just when I thought the two of them were about to start talking, they immediately went back to eating.somehow, I felt bad. After breakfast, we prepared for departure. We folded the chairs and the table together and got the carriage ready. Ren said it was just a simple bed, but it was the first time I slept in something sofortable. I know. I dont feel like sleeping in my own bed anymore after I get back home~. Since we were sleeping all cramped up together, I would have liked to sleep a bit morefortably, but it seems it was different for them. But I kept quiet. Since it was my carriage. We headed out after finishing preparations. The horses began pulling the carriage forward. Arisa had said that the horses didnt look like horses used for pulling things, but instead looked like fairly high-ss warhorses. As such, we attracted a lot of attention due to that. That was strange, it shouldve been. I thought that the power of the golems were a bit weak, but that was apparently by my own standards. By this worlds standards it seemed the horses were even better than cavalry horses. But for the sake of afortable trip, it couldnt be helped. We chatted like that and also took a few restroom breaks along the way. Ah, Ren. I have a question I wanted to ask. What is it? Ren hasnt gotten off the carriage when we stop for restroom breaks, right? Yesterday you also stayed inside the carriage until we reached the camping grounds during the eveningand you didnt seem to have gone then either, right? Um.are you alright? I didnt go to the restroom because I had used Clean on myself, but this usage method was an original of mine. Yesterday, I had checked my surroundings at the camping grounds, but I didnt see anyone using it in the same way. Judging from that, it would probably be better to keep this hidden for now just in case. As such, I didnt give a response back. And I decided to just smile quietly instead. It was better not to say anything in this case. Um I smiled back. Thats I kept on smiling. Lily, I understand now. So that really was true~ Eh? Did you figure out something? When we were still living at the royal capital, do you remember how there was a neighborhood boy who would always say ridiculous things? Eh? Which one? I think there were various ones like that. The one that said: A truly beautiful girl never goes to the restroom. Oh, that one? Yep. And here we have actual proof. In other words, that really was true~ Ehh!? No, but something so stupid. But theres one actually in front of us right now~ Thats your reasoning!? But I kept on smiling. ..No, no, since its Ren, Im guessing its probably through some other insane method. I think so too. But as long as we dont know how shes doing it, we cant deny that possibility~ Ah! But when you were living at the inn, didnt you use the restroom before!? That was probably just a front~ After acquiring the Muscle Control skill, I didnt have to worry about muscle weakness, so I stopped using the restroom at the inn. Both of them became silent. It seems the two of them have given up on thinking about it. I guess that was for the best? I kept on smiling. We stop to make camp to eatter on that day. The two of them also seemed to have be ustomed to the food I cooked, and were now spending more time talking instead of just eating. Additionally, we were eating udon. The previous one was chicken soup-based, but this time I tried doing it Kansai-style using a kelp stock. But I think I could get used to this light vor. The soup I had before was really good, but this ones a different one. I think I understand the vor of the noodles better with this he wheat vor is really delicious. Its not fair that Lily ate this before. You should apologize to me~ Eh? Why!? The taste of udon was a deep concept.I guess I should try bonito for the next one. Ah, but I also want to eat soba too. Since I went through the effort of making it and all. We continued on riding the carriage with that sort of feeling, and we arrived at a vige the next day. This was the vige that raised chickens that Nicole had told me about. I didnt really have anything to do here, but I suppose I could check it out? I would like to buy some eggs if I could. As such, I was sitting in the coachman seat and observing the vige. Before I entered the vige, I had hidden the golem driver and moved here. If you looked closely at it, you would be able to tell that it was a golem. And if we were to stay at an inn, we wouldnt be able to disguise the number of people. I didnt want to attract attention. Additionally, Lily and Arisa were checking to see if there were any inns avable. Which I was grateful for. I looked around with Bell lying down next to me on her back. It seems theres people gathered in the square? Are they doing something? A festival? I would like to go check it out, but I cant move until the other two return Ah, there were people walking from the za. I decided to listen in on what they were saying. Um, the square looks rather lively, is there something going on? Hm? Are you possibly a traveler? The noises are probably because of the merchants participating in the cooking contest. Cooking contest? The merchants? Yeah. A little while ago, various things happened, so the amount of eggs avable for sale will be decreasing. And so the vige chief, who is in charge of selling the eggs in the vige, decided to have the merchants make egg dishes to decide who the eggs get sold to. He was saying stuff like: Im not selling eggs to those who dont know about eggs! and such. Ah, I see It might seem ridiculous, but we understand what the vige chief is getting at. If were going to sell them, its better to sell them to people who know about them. Cooking.hmm. Um, so then you cant participate unless youre a merchant? Huh? Are you nning on participating? Well, I dont think there was a decision like that, so it should be fine. I see.ah, and you said that participants have to cook using eggs, but is it alright if eggs arent the main ingredient? No, its okay if you use something other than eggs. But it might be difficult if its not something thatplements the eggs. Or are you perhaps showing off a new dish? I see, then I have some room to work off of. In that case, lets go check it out. 1 Chapter 55: Even If the Opponent is a Villager, I Wont Show Mercy! Chapter 55: Even If the Opponent is a Viger, I Won''t Show Mercy! And so I was going to participate in a cooking contest so that I could buy eggs. After the vigers who had informed me of the contest left, I checked my surroundings. No one around, right? I stored my carriage. Then I went towards the square along with Norn and Bell. Eggs! Eggs! When I arrived at the za, it was filled with people. In the middle of the square, there were five simple stoves lined side by side, and on the opposite side was a table and chair. And there was a stubborn looking person sitting in the chair. The person had some gray hair settling in, but his physique still looked quite solid. I guess that person would be the vige chief? It seems that some people had already started cooking at their stoves. What kind of dish were they making? As I watched the situation, one person stepped forth. The person enthusiastically brought a te over to the vige chief. What is this! Do you think this will be enough to convince me! But the person was met with great rage. Additionally, the dish that he brought forth was scrambled eggs. What to say.. Despite that, the vige chief still brought a bite to his mouth. Yep, it looked like there was perhaps a bit too much seasoning All you did was cook it! And theres too much salt on it! Rejected! Leave! Just cooking that..just what was he thinking. Then the next person went up. There were fried eggs on the te. Are you making fun of me! All you did was put salt on it! I was already thinking this with the previous person. But at least cook some ham or bacon and serve it with some chopped cabbage. Next was a boiled egg. Ah, sheesh.. The results were terrible. I couldnt bear to watch anymore. Are there anymore people who wish to take on the challenge!? It was honestly quite difficult to go out in this sort of atmosphere. Never mind, lets just go. Im not a merchant, so will that be alright? Huh!? What are you going on about!? If you want eggs, just participate! It doesnt matter if youre a merchant or not! He was a very lively old man. But that was fine, I didnt dislike that. Then Ill join. Hey, wait a minute. Take that hood off before that. Cant I just join like this? What kind of person hides their face when in a contest! If you dont take it off, you wont be allowed to participate! .Understood. There was no helping it, so I gave up. I removed my hood. Eh? I didnt give up on participating? Wasnt I trying not to attract attention? Eggs are more important right now! Itll be fine! Im wearing my sses! When I lowered my hood, the surroundings became momentarily quiet. But then it started to get loud immediately. The sses were useless! But ignore, just ignore it! Hm, but whats this? Somehow, Norn also seems a bit unhappy? Eh? Did she also not like standing out? No, but the eggs? The eggs! If I can buy them, well be able to eat egg dishes! Okay? After taking care of Norns mood, I headed to the stove. There was a cooking stand and various cooking utensils. Eggs dont have to be the main ingredient, right? I dont care. However, that doesnt mean you can just use it! It has to be used toplement the eggs! Understood. I took out a bottle from Storage from under my cloak and ced it on the cooking stand. This bottle contained the other main ingredients. At first I was thinking of making omurice. But due to what happened at the inn, I didnt want it to follow the same troublesome pattern of my cooking method being copied. Hey! What is that!? Onions. Onions? That ck-looking thing? Yes. And it wasnt ck, it was a yellowish-brown color. Additionally, I was nning on making onion soup this time. I would be using onions and eggs. It was better to use simpler ingredients for this sort of thing. I ced hot water inside of a pot and began heating it. Since the water was already very hot, it started boiling really soon. I scooped some of the yellowish-brown substance from the bottle with a spoon and ced it into the pot. The identity of the yellowish-brown substance was fried onions. The recipe was very simple. I just had to add oil to a frying pan and fry sliced onions over low heat without burning them until the color turned yellowish-brown. However, the cooking process took about an hour. It took a bit of time, but this was the only way to cook it. But this would also allow for a surprisingly delicious soup to be made. And I only had to melt the substance in hot water. In short, this allowed me to make instant onion soup. But I also added some changes this time around. I added a bit of salt and pepper to adjust the taste, add freshly sliced onions to change the texture. Then I cooked them over low heat so that the crunchiness wouldnt disappear. When the onion was finished cooking, I turned off the heat and poured a beaten egg into it, then I closed the lid and let the egg cook from the residual heat. Since the eggs wouldnt be fluffy if I had kept the fire on. After a while, I removed the lid and began stirring slowly. Yep, all fluffy. Finished. I took the soup dish to the vige chief. That was quick. Yes. So you also added in that ck-looking thing? Will this be alright? You dont have to force yourself to eat it, or you can just reject it. If youre worried, I can eat it first to show you. No, I saw you taste it earlier, so I know its alright. And this smell.I cant help but try it out. Ill eat it! Right, the smell was quite intense. It had spread around the square and everyone was looking over here with a hungry-looking face. After giving a brief nce to his surroundings, the vige chief brought a spoon to his mouth and then froze. But he started moving immediately and brought a second spoon to his mouth. And then a third. What is this. Yes, just what could this be~ Its frightfully good. Its my first time eating something like this. This rich taste.this is an onion? The taste of onions. But this is the first time Ive eaten one with such strong vors. And the eggs. This egg is very nice. Its fluffy, but not overwhelmingly so, and also makes the soup even more delicious.these are my eggs. The gourmet report was positive but was this a pass or fail? Did I pass? You passed, I have noints! Yahoo! Ren! What are you doing!? As I was celebrating, Lily and Arisa ran through the crowd and came up to me. Lily. Everyones looking at you, sheesh! Ahh, you have to hide your face Lily pulled on my hood. Ah, I totally forgot. Um, if I made a dish and it passed, I would be able to buy eggs That doesnt mean you have to show your face in this ce!! I thought you didnt want to stand out, Ren? Arent your danger senses a bit weak? And its also a delicious dish that even we havent eaten yet. Um, Im sorry? I dont ept it! The relentless Lily was also cute. I wanted to kiss her. Lily, isnt this person not reflecting at all~? T-Theres no such thing. Chapter 56: The Straw Millionaire? Chapter 56: The Straw Millionaire? The vige chief called out to me as I was ying around with Lily. Hey, are you done yet? Ah, yes. Sorry, but Lily was just too cute. You were the only one who passed this time. So I would like to finish the transaction immediately, is that alright? Sure, Im fine with that. Then this way. Come. It seems he was leading me to where the eggs were stored. Lily and the others also follow along. By the way, the soup Ah, that? Youre free to have the remainder thats left in the pot. Thanks. And those ck onions you used to make it, is it possible to have some of those too? I apologize, but Im not saying that you have to give away the recipe for it. I can also pay you too! .Sorry. I felt bad. But it was really troublesome to make them. The process itself was simple, but it took time. Since it also required constant heat, the fuel cost would be quite high in this world. I had a magic stove so I could replenish it using mana, but it still took really long to make. Due to the above, I decided to decline. Although, I guess I didnt really list the reasons. Eh? Wouldnt it have been easier to use Creation Magic? Well, it just wouldnt feel right if I didnt actually make it Nuu, so its no goodthats unfortunate. It was unfortunate, but there was no helping it. Since it was troublesome. Um, Renthen. Next time, okay? Yes! Lily had be a rather disappointing child. I fed her too much! That aside, how were the inns? We couldnt find any. What? Or rather, there werent any inns to begin with. Eh, then where are the merchants who came to buy the eggs living? I think it was an area around the road leading to the vige? It seems that the entire area is being used as a camp, and the merchants are sleeping in their carriages over there. Probably so they could keep watch over their cargo. I see. Rather, we had to search for you since when we returned from searching for inns, you and the carriage disappeared, you know? Hahaha. Sorry? We arrived at the egg storage ce shortly after. An underground entrance? Just beyond this. Is thisperhaps a freezer? Thats right. This is the best way to store food for as long as possible. To be frank, I was surprised. I thought it would be a medieval storage method where the eggs would be kept at room temperature, but it was actually properly stored. Well, no, there were still modern foreign countries that were still like that. Japan was just an exception. As we went down the stairs, I could feel the surrounding temperature gradually decrease. But for some reason? Its not very cold~? You think so too, Arisa? So both Lily and Arisa also feel that way? Apparently, I wasnt the only one who felt that way. It was currently June. But it was still unlikely that the amount of snow gathered in the freezer would melt so quickly. So what happened? So you noticed. In truth,st month, there was a person who tried stealing the eggshe was caught, but he left the door open when he ran away. It was left open for a while until someone noticed and quite a bit of snow had melted by then. Just remembering makes me angry! What to say. In the end, that incident led to the problems regarding the egg storage and forced the vige to have less eggs to sell. Well, I could only say they were unlucky, but that would be a bit too. Weve arrived. The eggs are stored behind this door. You can buy as much as you like. Eh, as much as I like? To be honest, you can buy all of it if you can. It would reduce the amount that we could sell in the future. But it would be better to earn as much as possible now. Since it would be bad if the remaining eggs couldnt be sold. I see, so thats why We entered through the door while talking. There were numerous eggs beyond the door. It seemed like quite a lot, but considering the future, the current amount was probably actually only a little. In that case, can I choose the ones I want? I dont care. I used Appraisal to select the eggs. The selection criteria were eggs that were freshlyid and not infected with Salmone. After Appraisal reached level 10, I became able to view this kind of information. It was very convenient. I went through and picked out the eggs I wanted. About 30% of the eggs were infected. I didnt know if that was considered a lot or a little, but it wasnt a problem since I wasnt buying them. .You, is it possible you can tell which ones will hurt your stomach if eaten? I didnt respond back. It was better not to say anything. I finished my screening. I ended up taking about half of the eggs. So about 500? It might seem like a lot, but since I was using them for cooking reasons, even this amount would disappear soon. I would be able to make sweets soon. I wanted ten times this amount. Youre buying that much? Never mind, that helps us. Yes, theres various things I want to make. Eggs were expensive in this world. When I was at the inn, it cost 1 silver coin each. So about 1000 yen, or a bit more? After confirming the total with the vige chief, the purchase price was 5 small silver coins each. I bought 500. So about 250,000 yen. So 2 gold coins and 5 small gold coins. Expensive! Then this is the total price. Yes, thats right. Anyways, with this Ive caught the eggs! I could now make various things! Thank you, vige chief! Hmm, if I sell some favors here, perhaps hell let me buy them next time too? Um, this isnt much of thanks for selling the eggs, but here. Huh? I took out a lot of snow from Storage. During the time, when my house was buried in snow due to the snowstorms in January and February, I used it to gather and store all the snow covering my house. At that time, it was bemusing to see all the snow instantly disappear and I had used it to gather all the snow around my house. As such, there was arge amount of snow from that time inside Storage. To be honest, the amount I just took out wasnt even 10% of it. ..Eh? With this much, it should be enough tost until winter? Wait a moment. What just happened? Huh? What? The vige chief was confused. Please dont worry about it. I still have plenty left over. Hah, its too bothersome to even think about it. Its better not to overthink it. Because this person is quite abnormal. Lily, isnt that a bit cruel? Rightwhat is in front of me right now is more important than trying to understand something I cant figure out. Then..is it really alright to give out this much snow? To be clear, doesnt this cost more now than the 500 eggs youre buying from this vige? I dont mind. Like I said before, I still have plenty more left. I see..thank you. To be honest, youve saved us. You are the benefactor of this vige! I will return this money. I cant ept any of this money from you. Rather, just returning the money isnt even enough I wasnt exactly sure what just happened, but did I just get all the eggs for free? Was that really alright? I did feel a bit bad. As such. Dont worry about it. Ah, and have this too. This isbut earlier you said that you couldnt give this out. That was earlier. Thank you. Truly, thank you. I had given him the bottle containing the ingredient I used for the onion soup. But I wasnt going to teach him how to make it, nor was I going to show how I had specifically made the earlier dish. I was reluctant to give it out a while ago, but in truth, I actually had four more bottles of the same thing left. I had made too many of them at once. However, it still took time to make it, which was why I was initially reluctant. But if I sell some favors here, I should be able to buy eggs the next time Ie, so I guess it wasnt a waste? Chapter 57: This Isnt a Different World Reincarnation Story About Cooking, Probably Chapter 57: This Isn''t a Different World Reincarnation Story About Cooking, Probably1 After buying the eggs, we ended up camping outside the vige for today. We didnt move to the designated camping area because there wasnt really enough time. The vige chief had said we could stay at his house, but I declined. Or rather, Lily and Arisa were being selfish and saying they prefer the bed inside the carriagepersonally, I think it would have been better to sleep inside of a house than a small carriage. I just needed to change it into a bed. Anyways, since it had gotten ratherte, I decided to prepare a meal. I managed to get eggs today, so I was going to make an assortment of things. Such as a Katsudon for instance. I think the two were familiar with tonkatsu since they both worked at the inn at Har. But this one was going to be even better. First, I began frying the cutlet. Ssssh No way, is it that meat dish!? The original of that one dish that only Lily has ever eaten! Unfortunately, no, I was making katsudon for today. I began picking up the pace. I prepared the frying pan again while letting the other cutlet rest. I didnt have any special cooking utensils, and since it was troublesome, I decided to make all three at once. I spread the sliced onions and add seasoning. It was quite hot. After cooking them, I turned off the fire and let them sit. In the meantime, I began cutting the cutlets and ced them back into the frying pan. I cracked a few eggs onto some mitsuba parsley. I was going for a soft-boiled egg. I filled the bowls with rice and served everything else on top of it. Yep, it smelled amazing. My stomach was growling. I served it alongside the onion soup I made earlier during noon. Since the other two were very persistent about wanting to try itI wanted to make miso soup. If there had also been some pickled vegetables on the side it would have been perfect, but it couldnt be helped since I didnt have any. But I would like to make it next time. After I arranged the prepared dishes on the table, the two looked at the dishes with widened eyes. What? This oneisnt the one that was sandwiched between breads? Anything is fine, it smells really good~ I cant stand it! Can we eat already~? I dont mind. Then please enjoy. Lets eat! Both of them scooped up a bite of the katsudon using a spoon. I was using chopsticks. Fwahdelicious! This is amazing~! The meat, the eggs! It goes great with rice too! I cant stop eating! Lily ate something so delicious before, unfair! I demand an apology! The one I ate before was just meat sandwiched inside of bread, this is also my first time eating this!? So it doesnt count! The two of you sure were energetic~ Nom nom! Yep, delicious. This soup is also very delicious! I can see why the vige chief praised it so much! The katsudon had onions and eggs, and although the onion soup also had the same ingredients it wasnt badthe vor was stronger like this. However, on the flip side, if you preferred something more refreshing after eating a vorful katsudon, then miso soup would be better. Both of them were finished eating in no time. They were staring at me hungrily, but I didnt give them any since it was mine. There were also no seconds. The leftovers all went to Norn and Bell. Well, Norn was a bit unhappy during noonno, its not like Im trying to appease her! Ah, but theres still more, so please eat up! Please feel better too! Anyways, moving on. Rather, Lily and Arisa sure ate a lot, I think? I think the two eat about 1.5x as much as me? Werent they perhaps eating a bit too much these past few days? You two will really get fat, you know? After I told them so, the two of them became a bit flustered. But this was your own fault, you know? So dont me me? It was really delicious! Satif-hic-satisfied~ It was nothing. But I think I understand now. What? Ren is big since she always eats such delicious food. Big? To be honest, even I began to realizetely that I was a bit on the short side. hahaha.haaa. Ah, I see~ Arisa was looking at me and nodding. To be exact, a certain part of me. Ah, so that was what she meant. If I continue to eat Rens cooking like this, then someday I will also be! Lily had her hands on her chest and was muttering something. No, I think that the growth of that certain area has something to do with genes. There were just some things in the world that couldnt be achieved through hard work. Incidentally, I didnt really care for it being this bigrather, I would prefer some growth in my height over my chest. It seemed like what I was thinking appeared on my face, as Lilys expression turned grim upon seeing me. ..You wouldnt understand the feelings of those who dont have them! As someone whos swinging around those gigantic things! Hiyaaaaaah!? Lily flew into a rage and violently grabbed my breasts. Wait, stop! This was really bad! This! Something like this! Lily began squeezing down on my breasts. Like I said, if you do that! N-ha-..! N-No, stop..nnnn! I just let out a weird voice! Lily immediately stopped and instantly moved away from me. Saved. I-I-Im so sorry! Haahano, its fine. Are you alright.. I was embarrassed that I let out such a weird voice in front of other people. This body was very sensitive, so please dont do that. Additionally, it wasnt due to the daily routine. It was like that from the very beginning. Please dont do that again. Im really sorry. I wont do it again. But, thats, Ren? What is it? Well, you might get mad at this, but if you re at me with a blushing face like that, its going to have the opposite effectIm starting to have strange feelings, so please stop. !? I quickly pulled on my hood. Eh, what kind of face did I have on!? I nced at them from under my hood and through my hands, both of them were bright red and hadplicated expressions on their faces. When our eyes met, they turned away from me and looked off into the distances. UwahI also have to sleep together with these two afterwards..? I feel like Im in danger.or rather, we were several days into the trip, so we were bing used to sleeping together. But if someone were to roll over into my chest tonight under the guise of sleeping, I might actually get attacked in that situation. As for me, I would rather not be attacked by either of them. But my worries were for nothing, as fortunately I wasnt attacked inside of the carriage and I managed to wake up safely. However, everyone looked like they werent able to sleep very well. Additionally, when I checked my status somehow while everyone was sleeping, I had gained a strange skill. A skill called Enticement. Just what was this? I checked the details using Appraisal.. Enticement:
A skill that attracts the surrounding people, regardless of the skill holders will. Age and gender doesnt matter. Scales based on the skill holders CHA + (Level x 10). Those with this skill will be able to seduce others and is immune to being seduced. Therefore, mental resistance LV10 is granted.
..Another troublesome thing has appeared! Ive done it now! Isnt this really bad!? Why!? Chapter 58: We Finally Arrived at the Fief Capital Chapter 58: We Finally Arrived at the Fief Capital Hello everyone. This is the naughty little girl, Ren, who has once again gained another skill. To be honest, I really want to cry. Lets just start over. Despite some troubles at the chicken vige, the trip was peaceful and the fief capital walls came into view in the distance. However, it seems that it would still take half a day to reach it, so we would be reaching the fief capital tomorrow morning. The walls of the fief were quiterge Apparently, my face showed what I was thinking and I was told the walls of the royal capital were evenrger. It definitely was another world. Incidentally, there were roadside inns along the way. But since we were traveling rather quickly on carriage, we didnt really find the need to use any of the inns. But I was a bit interested in the food the roadside vige inns would provide. Weve finally managed toe this far, butusually, there would be about two or three times where we would get attacked by monsters. Isnt it strange that nothing has appeared so far~? Ren, did you perhaps do something? Isnt having peace the best? I gave a smile to mislead them. Yes, I was using the monster repellent to avoid them. Unless it was a pack of orcs, no monsters would draw near. Additionally, Norn also learned a new skill and it seems to be quite effective too. A skill called Intimidation. It was a skill that prevented weaker opponents froming close. We were currently at one of the camping grounds. If we kept going, we probably would have reached the fief capital by night. But at that time, it would be very difficult to get an inn, so we decided to spend the night here instead. It wasnt like we were in a hurry. I made a simple dinner for tonight. It was troublesome to make something extravagant every time. The other two didnt seem to have noticed myck of effort and were the same as usual. To be honest, their appearances were quite improper. Ah, Ren. Once we reach the fief capital, what kind of inn do you want to stay at? Hmm, one with a bath where you can rx in, and itll also be great if its a ce where Norn and Bell can stay. After that, I have nothing else to say as long as theres good food. There are several inns that have stables for familiars and a bath, buta ce where the food will be good enough to satisfy Ren is.. Lily, its impossible. There is no such inn~ Um, an inn at the level of the one in Har is fine, okay? Eh What was with their reactions? It was like I was some sort of food connoisseur. Making something yourself and eating somewhere are two different matters. And eating various things will allow me to learn too. Hmm. In that case, then either that inn or that inn Lily, why are you worrying about that? Were just staying at the fief capital for a night, so we can just eat out~ Remember, theres that restaurant in the fief capital. Ah, that restaurant? I ate there when I was traveling to Har, and it was really good! Okay, lets go there then! Um, so were going out to eat? Yes! Youve been taking care of everything so far, so this will be our treat! Arisa is fine with that too, right? Im fine with that~ Their treat. The best form of free food. What kind of restaurant is it? The restaurant is said to be the best in the fief capital, and the chef there is also known to be the Earls favorite. Apparently, the chef did magnificently at a banquet hosted by the Earl. Oh, so he catered for the territory lord! Im getting excited! The Earl of this territory is famous for their military background. They made great achievements in the war with the eastern country about ten years ago. I see. However, there are rumors that the territory is managed in a bit of a strange way- Eh. Is that a good thing? But I heard that the Earl is loved by his subordinates, and that his subordinates have excellent territorial management skills. Thats right. The Earl had a banquet where various surrounding territory lords were invited, the chef was asked to cater it and the food was highly praised~ And ever since then, the chef has been known to be the Earls favorite. I see. Um, but a restaurant that famous is bound to be expensive.. Its fine! Even if I look like this, I still earn quite a bit of money. Aside from that, the restaurant has several different course options~ A high-ss course option is impossible for me, but anything in the mid-ss will be fine. Lily, lets at least go for the high-ss options.. Ugh! Um, dont push yourself. Itll be fine! Then lets go for the upper-ss options! If we split it we can somehow manage. Hm, she didnt really need to force herself.. Umm, then Ill take you up on that offer. Yes! Please indulge yourself! To be honest, since Ren was the one who prepared the carriage and even the meals, the travel expenses have been minimal. So please dont worry about the cost. Yes, I understand. I look forward to the restaurant. I felt a bit bad, but I decided to take their word for it since they were both saying it was alright. Anyways, a high-ss restaurant~ I wonder what the high-ss restaurants in this world were like? Since it was geared towards nobles, I guess the food was something simr to noble cuisine? This is bad, Im getting quite excited. Ah, thats right, will we be alright with the dress code? I mean, the hood is.. Oh right, speaking of which, Ren doesnt like attracting too much attention. But itll be alright. Both wealthy and ordinary people eat at the restaurant, so there is an area for ordinary people. High-level adventurers also frequent the ce quite a bit, so it should be fine even with your cloak on. But if its the back area for the nobles then it would likely be impossible. I see, thats good to know. But I think keeping on the hood will make her stand out in an entirely different way~ Thats true, but dont you think Rens actual face stands out more? Thats also true~ Sorry, I guess? After we finished our ns at the fief capital, we went to bed soon after. We would be heading out early tomorrow morning. Reason? It was simply because we wouldnt be able to use the carriage once we got closer to the fief capital. To be exact, we just decided not to use it. My carriage horses were golems, so it could cause problems if we stayed at an inn and had to put them in stables, thats why it was better not to use it. And due to safety reasons, we proceeded with this route. Additionally, the fees were apparently higher if you entered the city by carriage, so it was cheaper to enter by foot. The next day, we left early in the morning as nned, I stored my carriage halfway and we proceeded on foot. We walked for quite a while on the road between wheat fields, and we were able to reach the fief capital by noon. Norn and Bell caused some surprises, but we were able to enter the city without any problems. Chapter 59: Various Exploring Chapter 59: Various Exploring After arriving at the fief capital and finding an inn, we dropped off Norn and Bell, then decided to go explore around the market since we had time until night. What about the guild? It felt like something troublesome might happen so I decided to pass on it. In the first ce, I didnt have time to work, and even if I did, I could only gather herbs. So in the meantime, we explored the various stalls and stores. There were many things that I didnt see before in Har. Rather, everything seemed a bit cheaper? I could see eggs being sold here and there, but the price was a bit cheaper than what I heard in Har. Wait, isnt it usually supposed to be expensive? I should ask someone for rification. As such, I asked Lily. Ah, thats because theres more people. More people? Um, how do I exin this Hmm? Ah, so supply and demand? Is it because there were many consumers, which led to the supply being increased, and as a result the supply became stable, which in turn led to demand dropping and thus the price also decreasing? .Right. You just summarized it quite nicely. Well, there were various reasons. So going by that theory, does that mean things at the royal capital are even cheaper? It depends on the item and perhaps some other stuffbut for example, buying high quality wheat here would be cheaper than buying it at the royal capital. But if you wanted to buy some simr low quality item, then the royal capital would be cheaper. The rest would depend, things that are harder to get in rural areas are more expensive, but would be cheaper at the royal capital. Consumables and food are usually cheaper in the production areas, so it would be more expensive in ces that are farther away. But luxury items are expensive no matter the ce, and the price will be more expensive depending on the quality. I see. .Incidentally, it seems that eggs in the royal capital cost about one fifth of the price of eggs in Har. Since the number and scale of chicken farms were quite different. The regions consumption is low and it also takes time to deliver them. Aah, so the cost of delivery is also included in the price? Thats right. Considering that, I think that in general the prices of the royal capital are more expensive. The rent is nothing to scoff at either. I see, so in that case, I suppose it would be better to live in the fief capital rather than the royal capital? What about sea fish that are difficult to distribute? Even salted fish bes more expensive the farther it is from the sea. If its fresh fish, then the price will increase even more drastically. Theres also no way to distribute them unless you use magic to preserve them, but that method is still quite difficult unless youre from the upper-ss nobility or royal family. I see. In other words, therge amount of seafood in my Storage would be worth quite a lot. Although, I didnt n on selling them. If I introduced food drying or sun drying, then the distribution method would probably change quite a bit. But I wasnt nning on teaching anyone that since I would likely get dragged into troublesome matters. I was fine since I could just make it for myself to eat. And so for that, it would be better to just look around here and buy at the royal capital instead. .I see, so how is the basic price determined? If the price of the royal capital is used as the standard, it would lead to prices in rural areas being overpriced, which would lead to various dissatisfactionso when ites to price, purchasing, and distribution, do themerce guilds handle it? I dont think the guild has the authority to actpletely alone, so do they talk to those in the royal family who are in charge of administration to some extent? Um, that area is a bit too much for me.. That was to be expected. Sorry, I was just a bit interested. Hmm, is there something thats cheaper to buy here than at the royal capital? Since I was in the fief capital, I wanted to see if there was something unique I could buy here. Lets see, I suppose the rice here. The countrys rice production is done in the east, and it is distributed towards the royal capital from here. Lets go buy some. Lets go buy a lot. I prefer rice more than bread, Im Japanese after all! I could make a stockpile of rice and use it to make rice dishes like takikomi gohan. I have to buy it here! I thought you would say that I took along Lily and Arisa who had a knowing look on their faces and went out looking for rice! I looked around using Appraisal and found it. A lot of people were around arge pile containing a mixture of old rice. I understood their feelings. But I ignored it and kept on walking. Huh? Ren, isnt there some right there? Those are no good. The lower half is old rice. Eh The pile over there also contains a two-third mixture of old rice. So basically over half of the pile. Really? Youre free to believe me or not. Please dont look at me with such amazement. This was all due to my LV10 Appraisal skill and Analysis skill. Incidentally, the merchants who I pointed out were quietly looking away. No, I wasnt really condemning them. Just that I wasnt going to buy from them. But just because I wasnt getting involved, it didnt mean I wasnt going to stir up everyones conscience a bit. I looked around for a bit and bought lots of rice that didnt have any mixtures. The big catch was the discovery of glutinous rice. Naturally I bought a lot. Now I could make rice cakes and rice crackers! Red beans and soybeans were normally avable and I already purchased some, so I could also make bean paste. I could even make daifuku and dango too. Ahh, rice with red beans*drool After I finished buying various ingredients, we also went to the clothing store and weapon store. But to be honest, both were dissatisfying. I didnt like the design of the clothes. Or rather, the clothes were too tight around my chest. As expected, it was better to make my own clothes. So I decided to buy some fabric once we reach the royal capital. Apparently, the royal capital had arge variety of fabrics. When it came to weapons, none of the weapons were better quality than my own sword. There were some high quality ones, but even then So the level at the fief capital was only this? Then what about the royal capital? In the end, I decided to keep making my own weapons, I would be able to raise my cksmith level too. I wonder if I could rent a forge somewhere Since the time was about right, we decided to head back to the inn and get ready to go to the restaurant. Although Lily and Arisa werent wearing formal clothes, the design of the clothes they had on were good. And the two even straightened their hair, so they were quite cute. As for me? Even if I dressed myself, I would be wearing a cloak over it anywaysbut for the record I did dress up. The top was a loose fitting with a sweater-like design. Although it was long-sleeved, I was careful about the material so it didnt feel stuffy or hot. The bottom was a corset skirt. The skirt length was below the knees and the skirt was also red. At first nce it looked like a regr skirt, but it was actually a double structure skirt with culottes-like pants on the inside. In other words, a skirt-pants. Well, I would be quite troubled if my panties were somehow seen, right? For starters, I was an adventurer, so defense was important. I had my hair in a loose braid as usual. But I tied a white ribbon on the end for today. In the end, I think it turned out pretty cute! Lily and Arisa had on richdy-like dresses I guess? It wasnt an excessivelyvish dress, but it still brought out the feeling of a rich and properdy. It was quite adorable. You look cute Ren. Somehow, theres a really strange allurement~ Thank you very much. But you two are also cute, you know? We headed to the restaurant while joking around like that. Now show me, the menu of a high-ss restaurant! Chapter 60: Food Fight Chapter 60: Food Fight And so we have arrived at the restaurant.1 The time was a bit early for dinner. It should be around six now? With this we should be able to avoid some of the crowds. I see, it seems the two took this into consideration. Lily and Arisa sure were good kids. Additionally, Norn and Bell were house-sitting. Sorry.it wasnt much of an apology, but I left them some Mad Bull meat for dinner. I grilled it using the yakiniku sauce I made myself. It goes without saying that Lily and Arisa were staring quite intensely at me. We traveled from the inn to the restaurant on foot, but since it was quite close, we arrived in less than five minutes. When we entered inside, Lily got us a waiting room and we waited for a while. Meanwhile, Lily was giving various orders to the waiter. I guess shell be handling the orders? Well, that was fine with me since I was the one being treated. It was my first time in this kind of ce, so I wasnt really familiar with things too. After a while, we were led into arge hall. The tables werent evenly spaced apart, but they were spaced some distance apart. I guess there werent any private rooms since this area was for ordinary people? But it still looked quite high ss despite being an area for ordinary people. Apparently, each area had different course meal selections. Incidentally, the area for nobles was further back, and were private rooms. Lily told me all this while we were moving, I see. We were guided to a table and a situation urred where I had tried to pull the seat and sit down when the waiter was supposed to do it for me. And it seems there were issues with me keeping my cloak on. I thought I was allowed to keep my cloak on? When I asked, I was told that it used to be the case, but the rule had been revised due to recent issues with the appearance of some adventurers. What should I even say here. There was no way we were going to return without eating after havinge this far. So I gave up and took off my cloak. Im sorry.for something like this to happen.. Its fine, dont worry about it. I felt apologetic towards Lily who felt that the incident was her fault. So really please dont mind it, okay? When I gave up and took off my cloak and gave it to the waiter, the eyes of the people in the surrounding seats immediately gathered on me and I became a bit restless. The waiters eyes were also wide with surprise. Mumumu. But since we were already here, I have no choice but to ignore it, so just ignore everything! After I rposed myself, we chatted for a bit and the food was finally brought out. I feel excited! All the dishes were ced onto the table at once. It didnt seem like it was course-style. Lily exined that even though this area was used by people with more wealth, most of the people were stillmoners and thus didnt know formal dining etiquette. As such, some people wouldin or be confused when the food was brought out course-style. To begin with, when ites to ordinary people who have money, it would usually be top adventurers or something simr. Which would make it difficult to enforce formal dining etiquette. But it might be different if the person was a big merchant who was associated with nobles, so.I wonder how that would work out? When I asked Lily about it, she said those types of people would usually book a private room. I see, understood. Anyways, time for the dishes then. The contents were sd, soup, and something like fried chicken. There was bread ced inside a basket, and from the looks, white bread? It was the first time I saw white bread since regaining my memories. Apparently, the main meat dishes would be brought outter. Lastly, there was also dessert too. But I wonder if I would be able to eat the dessert after eating everything else? The portion of everything was quiterge so I felt quiteplicated. I was worried about various things, but I started eating regardless. There were several utensils lined up on the table, since they didnt look any different from the ones in my previous life, I assumed it would be fine if I used them in corresponding order. Rather, it was due to the variousints from the past that the current situation came to be. As expected, it felt weird to have all the food on the table alongside various utensils. When I casually nced at the tables around me, I saw that there were many people who were using only a single utensil to sample various dishes. When I slightly tilted my head in confusion, the waiter told me it was fine if I didnt follow the formal dining etiquette. That said however, I was still curious about what the various utensils were used for. I didnt know about it, but I still wanted to find out. It also wasnt easy for me to let go of things I was curious about, so I would like it if he would teach me. Furthermore, it was also a hit on my self-esteem. Even if I didnt understand the formal dining etiquettes, I still would like to act elegantly since the utensils were all lined up! Well, anyway, its just that when people go out for luxurious dining once every year or so for things like anniversaries and suchI understood how they felt. The feeling of ss was definitely important, you see~ Moving on. Everything was on the table, but I suppose I should eat everything in the order of a course meal? As such, I took a sip of water and began with the sd that acted as the appetizer. It was lettuce-like vegetables with sauce drizzled on it. I stabbed at it with a fork, put it in my mouth and started chewing. Yep, it was lettuce alright. Hmm, this sauce was kind of a bit like gravy? I would guess the base used something like beef broth? The amount of oil appeared to have been carefully adjusted to make it easier to eat, though it was still a bit heavy as an appetizer. It still tasted quite nice. That aside, the main meat dish was supposed to be brought outter, right? Although, I suppose that would go against its meaning? Since red wine was supposedly being used to adjust the vor, I guess it would be something like steak simmered in wine? When I checked with the waiter about the main meat dish, he was surprised that I knew. After I followed with an exnation on sd dressing, I was met with a look of disbelief. Huh? Knowing this is normal though? Eh? Not knowing is whats actually normal? Even if you tell me that I finished off the sd, and the soup was next. Chock full of ingredients too. However, its clearness showed how thoroughly the scum had been removed. I took in a spoonful. Mhm, quite like consomm. It wasnt really a true consomm, but these ingredients wouldnt have made that possible anyway. Using a spoon to eat all these ingredients did feel rather inconvenient though. Well, it was good regardless. Ren, it seems you quite like it. You can tell? Yes, you look really happy. It seems that my cheeks had unconsciously loosened. Which was a bit embarrassing. But eating good food was a wonderful thing, so it couldnt be helped. Thus, I told them that. Right. Eating good food is a wonderful thing. Fufu. The people around us are also captured by Rens expression, you know? Everyone was looking at me? Lets just concentrate on eating the food. Nom, nom, nom. But Im surprised. So Ren knows about formal dining etiquette. Youre even better than mewhere did you learn it from? Its a secret. I learned it from my past life. But I didnt say anything, it wasnt like I could tell them that it was because I used to apany my superiors out for luxurious dining. As such, I ended up learning formal dining etiquette. Engineers and researchers didnt just have to deal with development and research. There were various other difficult matters, such as negotiations and handling development expenses. But it was obvious Lily wouldnt see it as such. Regardless of my past life, I was an adventurer now, so most people would think that Ick basic education. Plus I was only eleven. But even so, I had almost perfect formal dining etiquette, so it could be considered strange. However, since I couldnt give a clear answer, I merely tilted my head and smiled back in response. It felt like I have done this a lot recently. Lily, look, its because its Ren. .Right. Huh? Why did it feel like I was being perceived rather negatively? Anyways, I finished with the soup so I reached for the bread and took a bite. Yep, nice and soft. Naturally, it was harder than bread using natural yeast, but the bread I had eaten until now were basically just ck bread, so I havent had soft bread for quite a while. Or rather, this would be my first time ever in this world? I began thinking back upon it some more. Ahh, but speaking of natural yeast, it might be a good idea to use it for making my own bread next time. Rather, it was disappointing that I didnt think of this before. Next up was the possibly fried chicken. I used a fork to eat it. .Yep, this was definitely fried chicken. So this world did have actual fried food. The frying skill of the chef was not bad, the chicken was very juicy. Unfortunately, the texture of the outer skin made it obvious it hadnt been fried twice. And the taste of the meat. It was just seasoned with salt and pepper without marinating in any sauce. It was still delicious, but this area still needed improvingwhich was regrettable. Additionally, there wasnt enough pepper on it. Spices were considered expensive productsnot that it didnt taste good. But personally I was dissatisfied, so I wanted to try making my own version next time. But wasnt it a bit strange that it was just continuous meat dishes? Well, I do understand that it was difficult to transport fish ind, but The continuous meat dishes are a bit heavy Well, there were various things. Was fish supposed to be the original dish? Thats right, wait, how did you know!? Well, theres various reasons, I guess? But was it supposed to be something like river fish? The nobles are given priority for therger river fishes for their course meals. It seems that there are even times when a lot would be bought from here. If you want to eat it, you might be able to find it at one of the restaurants formoners, but. .But the taste wouldnt be something to look forward to. Additionally, monsters would sometimes appear, so fishing peacefully in the river was also quite difficult. As such, it would seem that merchants would usually hire escorts to handle them, and capturerge quantities of fish to sell to restaurants. Thus, it seems that river fish were generally also rather expensive. So if I wanted to eat fish, I would have to work hard and catch it myself. Aside from pests, there were also monsters in this world, so when taking life into consideration. Well, I actually have a lot of river fish inside Storage. The main meat dish was brought out while we were talking. And it was wine-simmered beef as expected. It was quick to make after all, so that only seemed correct, or at least a reasonable guess. But quick to make didnt mean sloppy; the scum had been properly removed and the expert crafting of the dish was easy to see. The meat was so soft it practically melted. Mmmm this was good. My face was turning droopy, it was just that good. Mmm! Ren, your expression, please be a bit more discrete. Oops, the surrounding people! But its just so delicious, I just cant endure it! After finishing the steak, the dessert was finally brought out. This..hotcakes? There was even butter and honey on top. Yep, definitely hotcakes. Did they use baking soda to make it more fluffier? Ah- ..with baking soda I could make various dishes..I should go look for some next time so I can make them. Ah, this would be the first time Ive ever eaten a sweet in this worldaside from my own. Ah~ But its so good~ And so we finished eating everything. I waspletely full. I feel heavy! I ate too much! As expected, the portions are toorge! Its a bit hard to move. It was delicious, but dont you think it was a bit much? Oh, thats because there are many top-level adventurers whoe here. I see, I get what youre saying. Adventurers relied on their bodies, plus the food served here was very good. Top-level adventurers also made a lot of money, so they could often enjoy luxury. As I stroked my stomach on the way back to the inn, I began thinking that it would be bad if I didnt exercise a bit. But I gave a shudder upon realizing that I wouldnt be able to get any exercising done since I would be riding inside of a carriage tomorrow. Ah, I see. Then Ill do my best once I arrive at the royal capital. 2 Chapter 61: My Heart-Pounding First Time Chapter 61: My Heart-Pounding First Time Afternoon of the third day after leaving the fief capital enroute to the royal capital. The weather was nice enough to make you want to nap, but there were several corpses strewn around in front of me. The reason was because bandits had attacked us and we had fought back. Yes, I killed a person for the first time. I had been preparing myself to do so since a long time ago and that time had eventually arrived. But I still end up thinking various things and whether I dirtied my hands. It wasnt something I needed to particrly agonize over. Or rather, I wasnt even feeling anything about itit was more something along the lines of it just couldnt be helped? But that was the reason why it was so jarring. When I saw the corpses of the people who were riding in the carriage with me during the cliff ident, I had just regained my previous lifes memories so it was quite hard on me because of my past Japanese ethics. But now I was a bit overwhelmed since I didnt even feel anything after killing themhm, I should cool down a bit. Umm, so I guess I just graduated from being a killer virgin? No, Im a girl now, so I guess it would be I lost my killer virginity? Ahh, it was my first time! Wait, no, no, Im still feeling overwhelmed. Lets take some deep breaths. Hm, I did regain my previous lifes memories, but the foundation was based on themon sense I had acquired after living in this world for 10 years. As such, I could only think of it as natural to kill the bandits when they attacked us. I guess it would be normal if I thought of it that way? Additionally, I hate being forced into doing something that I didnt want to do, so I suppose I also didnt feel anything about killing someone who attacked and might have even killed me, so something like that? Hm, I dont even understand myself sometimes. The current world I was in was one where I had to defend myself in order to live, so I guess being objective would be better than excessively agonizing over it? Mmm, I tried looking at it in different ways, but it still felt weird So I thought back to the situation where we were attacked by bandits. It happened after we had been on the road for a while, and the bandits had ambushed us from the forest on both sides of the road. A log was on the road and blocking the way. When we got off the carriage to deal with it, bandits appeared from the bushes on the left and right. There were six of them. Additionally, my Detection revealed that there was also a person lying in wait on both the left and right side of the forest trees near the road. They were probably archers? The bandits had told us to leave our money, and carriage, and then upon realizing we were women, said they would take us too. Yep, cliche bandits. Of course we resisted, but it was rather one-sided. First, Lily had used her trump card she mentioned before which turned out to be a Barrier Magic that formed around the carriage. With this, the carriage couldnt be damaged, and we were also safe inside the barrier. Next, Norn and Bell jumped out and knocked aside the bandits surrounding the carriage, and dashed into the forest to eliminate the backups. Arisa jumped out of the barrier and shed at a bandit who had been caught off guard by Norn and Bell, and Lily shot offensive magic from within the barrier. I was told to step back so I backed down. Yep, I was being treated like a child. Well, I am a child though. And so, the one-sided development continued, Arisa brought down one person and Lily scattered the bandits with her magic, then Arisa faced off against someone who appeared to be the bandit leader. I then noticed Bandit A sneaking up behind Arisa to attack her from behind, so I had immediately fired a knife at his head. The bandit leader was surprised by the scene and Arisa took the opening to sh his neck, thus killing him. At this point, there were only two people left, and those two had tried to escape due to the disadvantage they were in. But Lily took one of them out using her magic, and I eliminated the other by shooting a knife to the back of his head. Hmm, since my attacks had been indirect attacks instead of direct attacks, the actual realization might have just not set in yet. Hmm But the mental stresshuh? Was it perhaps due to my Mental Resistance. Ren, whats wrong? Ah, well, Its actually the first time Ive killed a person, so Is that sobut its better not to overthink it, okay? These people are criminals. If we didnt fight back we wouldve been killed. Thats right~ Its only natural to defend yourself~ Ah, no. I was just thinking it didnt affect me as much as I had expectedis that normal? I see, I guess that would be shocking. I was like that my first time too. I guess for me I just didnt have time to worry about it~? But I didnt really mind it ever since then~ I see. I suppose I should check my skillster. Then Norn and Bell came back from the forest. While dragging the corpses. By the way, what should we do about the bodies? If we take them to the town hall, the officials will handle it, but loading them onto the carriage is rather. Right To be honest, there was some resistance to cing them inside of Storage too. I think itll be fine if we just leave them on the side of the road. Since theyre criminals, theres nothing wrong with leaving them out to dry. Wont the bodies be rotten and start to smell? If we tell the gatekeeper when we get to a nearby town, they wille handle it so it should be fine. If theres a reward, well get itter on. I see, lets do that. As such, we piled the bodies to the side of the road. Or rather, Norn handled it. I also recovered my knives. I stored the log that was blocking the road inside of Storage. I could use it as firewood so I kept it. But what kind of attack did Ren do anyways? For the knife to be stuck this deeply into the head Um, its a secret? Rather, I thought Lilys barrier was much more amazing. Barrier magic seemed quite useful. But if it was some sort of rare skill, it would be a bit difficult for me to use it. However, I still observed it during the fight to grasp the magic structure. Due to the Analyze skill, I was able to figure out the magic structure, so I could probably do itbut Ill leave it forter. I guess its one of Lilys few good points~? Arisa, Ill get mad! Eh~? Not at all, Lilys offensive magic was amazing too. Right, her offensive magic was also amazing. I didnt know any offensive magic, so I would like to learn it somehow. Huh? Ren cant use offensive magic? I cannot. I was thinking of looking for a spell book when we get to the royal capital. Ah, in that case, I could teach you if you want? Um, is that okay? I dont mind at all! Please tell me if theres anything else you would like to learn! Well, I would like to learn about non-attribute, dark, and lightning type magic So non-attribute, dark, and lightning, I got it! I can use non-attribute and dark type magic, but I cant use lightning type. However, we can use a spell book for that. I learned magic alongside my sister so I can definitely teach you! Oh, it seems that I would be able to learn all the attributes with this. Oh, right. Ah, do you also know about alchemy? Im sorry, but Im unfamiliar with alchemythe Alchemy skill can only be obtained if someone teaches you it. I was told that it would be good to know, but I didnt have the time. I see, I didnt know about that. So theres things even Ren doesnt know about~? Thats only natural. Theres a lot of things I dont know about. I can tell by just looking. Thats right~ Somehow, that felt rather mean. But I guess Ill postpone alchemy for now~ However, I would like to learn more about it somehow, so I can create an automata. Shouldnt we get moving soon~? Having a conversation while standing next to a pile of dead bodies is kinda weird, right~? Right. Lets do that then. I actually forgot we were standing next to the corpses. Teehee~ Chapter 62: Various Unexpected Things Chapter 62: Various Unexpected Things After my shocking first time, we continued traveling on the road for about a day, and then in about another 1-2 dayster, we arrived at the royal capital. It would usually take about a week to travel from the fief capital to the royal capital, but we had my superior carriage and golem horses. So we arrived rather quickly. But we were still taking our time traveling since we werent in a hurry. Also I found out it was because of my mental resistance skill that I wasnt distraught by my first time. It seems it was able to significantly reduce negative emotions and mental stress. Since mine was level 10, it probablypletely shut everything out. I couldnt decide if that was good or bad. We were currently having a lunch break. We parked the carriage off the road, and took out a table and chairs for a rxing meal. The menu was egg sandwich. It was a dish of lightly-cooked scrambled eggs inside a sandwich. It was seasoned with only salt and pepper. I gave them a bit before, but it was still too early for them to eat mayonnaise frequently. The bread was soft and was made using natural yeast. The two of them were eating with surprised expressions. Fufufu, is it good? Theres plenty more! Eat up! Incidentally, I baked this loaf of bread early this morning using earthenware I made using earth magic. Ren, how many more recipes do you have? This is my first time eating bread like this! Rather, is this really bread~!? Its my first time having this kind of bread~! Ufufu, Ive robbed both Lily and Arisa of their first time1.. Or, rather, please spread egg sandwiches more, past reincarnated folks. It wasnt even that difficult to make. I still have many more recipes. The bread I made was just one of them. Is it that soft and good? Its very good~ truly a bliss~ Ren, why dont you be a chef? Bing a chef is a bitsince I only cook for fun. .This is for fun? This isnt the level of just for fun~. What to say? Well, my Cooking skill is already LV10. Ah, right. Lily, is there an inn you would rmend at the royal capital? I would like one with a bath and where Norn and Bell can stay. Huh? Youre going to stay at an inn? Eh? Well, yeah. I was going to invite you to stay with me at my parents home! Please live at my house!2 Ehh? As expected, thats a bit too much. No, no, youve been taking care of me in various ways, and youve also given me so many delicious foods, so I should be the one saying thanks! And Ive also promised to teach you magic! There are even spell books at my parents house, so itll also save us time too! So please doe!3 Woah, shes pushing rather hard for itbut, hmm. Umm, then, Ill take you up on your offer? Yes! Please indulge yourself! Well, its true that I fed them a lot, so I guess Ill intrude for a while? Lily, youre being a bit sly, you know~? The fast one wins, right Arisa?4 Muu. Why are you twopeting for me? Speaking of which, does Ren have any ns when we arrive at the royal capital? After buying ingredients and such? RightIm basically just going to be looking for ingredients, and Lily is going to be teaching me about magic-rted things so Im okay there too. After that Lily was going to be teaching me about magic, so I didnt have to search for a spell book. I was grateful that my expenses would be reduced. Speaking of magic, Lily could use Barrier Magic. In fact, after trying various things, I found out I could also use it. After checking my status, my skills did end up increasing, so I was currently in the middle of leveling them up. As for Alchemy, there basically wasnt a spell book for it, and Lily said that it could only be learned if someone taught you it. Scrolls for skills like Compound and Create Magic Tool were sold at the Alchemist guild, but the scrolls were only sold to people who possessed the Alchemy skill. But even with the skill, if the person wasnt part of the guild, it would still be difficult to obtain them. As such, I was postponing Alchemy again due to those circumstances. What a shame. So that would mean I just have the cksmith skill left to train .Is there a ce where I could rent a smithy? A smithy? Yes, I want to practice my cksmith skill. Eh? You have a cksmith skill? So you can make swords? Well, yes. I made the ones Im currently using. Theres something I want to try making, so I would like to improve my cksmith skill. Thats why I was wondering if there is a ce like that. If thats the case, I might be able to introduce you to a ce~ Arisa? Ah, right. Arisas family Arisas family? Is there something about it? My family has been a family of swordsmen for generations~ And theres a cksmiths ce that weve always favored, so if I ask the master there, maybe it would work~ I see. So how long do you need to rent it? I think you will need some money to rent it, is that okay~? I think I should have enough money. If its not enough, I will do my best to gather herbs and earn more. If Im renting it, I want to borrow it for at least six months. Six months!? For now, I would like to make LV10 the target skill level. I felt like it would take about six months to focus and train it up to that point. If I couldnt get that far in six months, I would just have to lower my head and ask to extend the period. Um, is it okay to ask for that? Leave it to me! Youll be giving me more delicious things to eat after all, right~?5 Is she implying that I should feed her more? So what kind of sword do you want to make? A mana sword? An attribute sword? You mentioned alchemy before so perhaps a magic sword? Mana sword? Attribute sword? What are those? Arisa listed a few but I was confused so she exined. Mana sword. A sword with no attribute effects, but it was stronger and more durable than ordinary swords. In addition, since mana was infused, it was effective against spirits and the undead. It was also highly versatile because it wasnt geared towards any element. Attribute sword. A sword with various attribute effects. Because it specialized in different attributes, the overall strengths and weaknesses would depend on the attribute. A powerful mana sword and attribute sword could even be used in conjunction to release mana to temporarily boost attack power and effect. The mana expended by the sword would recover with time, but the recovery rate varied. And magic sword. A sword that had attribute effects and skill effects. The typical skills ced on it would be skills like Increase Attack and Increase Defense. There were even rare skills such as Increase Luck. In addition, if the sword had a special skill effect but no attribute effect, it would still be ssified as a magic sword. Furthermore, depending on the weapon, there were even special weapon-specific techniques. I suppose this would be appealing to chuunibyou? As such, it seems that alchemy was usually required to create magic swords. Alchemy again! And the goal of a swordsman would be to get the most powerful magic sword too. Hmm. If you get a magic sword, you can also call yourself a magic swordsman~! Theres various things wrong about that. Right~ The rest would be holy sword and cursed sword~? Ohh, so theres even that sort of thing? Holy sword. A powerful sword with sacred powers bestowed by god. It had the holy attribute, and also possessed very powerful special abilities. The holy attribute was the dominant attribute over all the other attributes except for non-attribute. As such, it was a powerful weapon just due to it being a holy sword. Just as the name implied, with the attribute effect and various special skills, it was capable of performing rather outrageous feats. It was said that old master cksmiths of the past were capable of creating holy swords. Cursed sword. Apparently, it was an evil sword bestowed by the Dark God. Aside from having the dark attribute, the specs were basically the same as the Holy Sword. However, the holy sword and the cursed sword were naturally weak to each other, so the higher ranking weapon would win if the two were to pit against each other. Lastly, the divine sword. The existence of it only came up in legends and it seems that the exact details of it were unknown. Something along the lines of being able to cut through anything? But, I wonder. I wasnt too sure about the divine sword, but if people in the past were able to make holy swords and cursed swords, then I could probably also make them using Creation Magic. When I consider that, I felt very grateful to Arisa. Yep, but for now, lets just do our best with a magic sword first. Chapter 63: Arrival at the Royal Capital Chapter 63: Arrival at the Royal Capital We finally arrived at the royal capital. Well, actually we were still outside the walls. There was a long line at the gate, and it had been about an hour after we got in line. We had traveled along a road between wheat fields and over a small hill, then came to a ce where the royal capital could be seen from afar. But what I saw was a heavily fortified city with the royal castle at its center. What surprised me first was the wall. But what surprised me even more than its size was the number. There were severalyers of walls built around the royal castle which was perched on the summit of a small mountain. Apparently, the areas were divided by social ss. The first wall surrounded the royal castle, and the next created a zone where upper-ss nobles and people rted to the royal family lived. The zone was referred to as the first division. Another wall then surrounded it and was called the second wall. Entrance wasnt allowed without proper identification or a letter of introduction. This section wasposed of lower-ss nobles, wealthymoners, and luxurious shops for nobles. The second division. Lilys parents house was located there. Various guilds were also located there. At ater date, I would check out the Adventurers Guild a bit, but there were many people there who looked strong so I was honestly a bit scared at that time. Everyone looked quite scary. The outer third wall surrounding the wealthier sections was themoner section. The third division. It was thergest area. The stores located there were reasonably priced and essible to everyone. There werent any particr restrictions on passing through the wall that separated themoner section from the wealthy section. The guild was also located in the wealthy section, so it was only natural. Additionally, there were branch offices of various guilds in themoner section. There werent many adventurers who lived in the wealthy section, and since it took time to travel to the guild, numerous branch offices were built in themoner section. The outermost wall was the wall that separated themoner section from the outside. People who couldnt live within the walls apparently lived around the outside of the wall. Essentially the slums. But it was probably better having it outside than inside the wall since inspections would be less severe. The ss difference was clear, and it was something an orphan adventurer could understand a bit. The medieval world was tough. I couldnt help but wonder how the walls were even built. But since there was magic in this world, the construction process was likely a lot easierpared to the medieval ages back on Earth. Although, it probably still took quite a bit of effort. Additionally, the name of the royal capital was Ascalon. Havent I heard this name somewhere before? Oh, right. The name of this country was called Georgius Kingdom. Apparently, it was founded by some dragon killing hero. .That person is definitely a reincarnator, right? But it was from a long time ago so its not like Im going to see him anyways, so it should be fine? Lily was exining all this to me as we waited in line to kill some time, but even so, the line was still very slow. Additionally, we were now on foot. I stored the carriage away when we got to the hill overlooking the royal capital, and we walked from there. Well, even then, us three girls walking along still attracted some attention. Moreover, there are wolves following us, two of them no less. One of them was veryrge so it was inevitable we stood out. Even after we lined up, the surrounding gaze gathered on us and it was strangely quiet, I was already getting quite fed up. It was almost time for lunch and I was getting hungry. Furthermore, I was also tired of standing. Is it always this crowded? Yes, the south gate is the main gate so it always looks like this. Since there is a market on the west side, some merchants go through there, but it seems that in the end it still doesnt change much~ The east side also has a crafting district, so some merchants also go there to buy weapons, but the situation is the same. And the north gate is for nobles only~ I think it would be better to expand the gate size and increase the number of lines for inspections.from what I could see, the gate has about two or three lines? It looks like were in the third line at the gate? One is for the general public, one is for merchants, and the other is for adventurers. Since it takes longer for merchants to get their cargo checked~ The line for the general public also takes very long since it has the most people. The line for adventurers is only a simple check if youre just going out for a request anding back, so it can be done rtively quick~ But if you went out for something other than guild work, you will be transferred to the line for the general public, the one that takes the longest So in the end, everyone except adventurers who lived in the royal capital would be waiting a long time. Since the nobles have a dedicated gate on the north side, its also easy for them to enter. I see, how enviable. But there were also various troublesome things in regards to being a noble. Its the privilege of those who have power, but since they also have various responsibilities, its not really possible to not give them preferential treatment. .So Ren understands the nobles side too. People usually justin without actually thinking more about it~ Rather than understanding them, it was closer to me just feeling that it was a troublesome position. As we were idly chatting, it was finally our turn, but. What is with that big wolf? A familiar? Yours? A small child like you having a big wolf like that as a familiar? Is this a joke? Woah, this person is annoying~ You could find out immediately if you just confirm it with the magic tool~ So hurry up and check already~ In the end, I passed the inspection but I was exhausted by the time I entered through the gate. I get that person is just doing his job and all but~ He always says stuff like that, to be honest he is kinda Eh, Always? To everyone? Yes. Is he that careful about his job? A workaholic? No, he might actually just be a S. Im hungry, do you want to just head straight to my house? Sure, Im fine with looking around tomorrow instead. I didnt really mind what the n was so in the end we went straight to Lilys house. But Huge. The house was huge. The garden was also very wide. What? Oh right, I forgot to mention. Lilys family were quasi-barons.1 Ah, so shes not a noble? The quasi-baron rank was hereditary, but the rank itself was still consideredmoner-level. But I think it would be the highest rank among themoner ss? I was told that their ancestors were awarded the rank for their sess in the war, and the family has also been court mages for the castle for generations. Apparently, the rank wasnt hereditary, it was awarded due to the generations of loyal service the family provided. The family brought in a lot of ie too, and werent like most other useless andzy barons. I heard this from the maid at ater date. But the house really was quiterge. Additionally, Arisas family were also quasi-barons and her house was right next to Lilys. It seems that their ancestors had fought hard alongside each other in the war, and since then the two families have been in good rtions with each other. Hence why the two were such good friends. As for the reason why the daughters of quasi-barons were working as waitresses at an inn located in a small town, it seems the two were looking for future employment opportunities. Both Lily and Arisa already had male sessors to their house, so the two of them would have to leave the house in the future to look for jobs or marriage partners. Lilys older sister, Salena, already found a job at the Adventurers Guild, and she was apparently also a candidate for an executive position at the royal capital guild. But it seems she was sent out to Halura since there wasnt enough personnel. Apparently, Lily ended up tagging along so she could gain more social experience, and Arisa also took advantage of the opportunity. Incidentally, Lilys family was being seeded by her younger brother and Arisas family was being seeded by her older brother. Both of them were also attending schools exclusive to nobles. The two of them were also living at the dormitories at their schools. Eh? So only nobles could attend? It seems that there wasnt anything aboutmoners being able to attend if they had enough money. But since the two brothers were from families of quasi-barons and would be striving towards their own noble ranks, the school had allowed them to attend as long as tuition was paid. But since Lily and Arisa were females, they werent allowed to attend and instead private tutors were hired for them. Anyways, moving on. We parted with Arisa at the front gate and Lily and I went inside therge house. Oh, my, my, my! Lily hase home with such a lovely bride! What should we do? Should we celebrate tonight?2 Mother, Ren and I arent like that! Calm down! Ren? So your name is Ren? What a cute little name! Can I call you Ren too? Is it okay? Then Ren, I hope you will remain with Lily for a very long time! Mother, youre troubling our guest. Please calm down. Oh? Am I? Is that so? What should I do? This slightly airheaded person was the mother of Lily, she appeared to be in herte 20s and her name was Miriam. As you could see, she was quite the airhead and a very straightforward person. But I like herfor some reason. However, I was rather troubled and didnt know how to respond back. Im sorry Im sorry Im sorry! Im so sorry about my mother! Ah, right. I guess I shouldnt worry about it too much? Lily, when will the ceremony be held!3 Sorry, but never mind, please do something about this. Chapter 64: Royal Capital Life Chapter 64: Royal Capital Life It has been a week since I arrived at the royal capital. Eh? Arent I skipping over a bit too much? Not at all, dont worry about it. I was currently being taken care of at Lilys home. There were free, delicious meals every day. But Lily, please stop looking at me with such resentful eyes. I wasnt going to make my own meals if I didnt have to. For the first three days after arriving at the royal capital, I explored around buying ingredients as originally nned. I had checked both the wealthy section and themoner section. I managed to get a hold of various things so I was rather happy. I was surprised that sesame was also being sold. I bought a lot of fabrics and yarn. As such, I made some silk underwear which felt quite nice. The underwear was very smooth andfortable. It made me want to wear them everyday. Additionally, Lilys mother has been making us join her for tea every day ever since we arrived at the house. It was difficult to get hungry after drinking that much tea. It seems that after I treated her to some orange tart, she ended up liking me even more. I heard her telling Lily things like Dont let her escape! or Just make her yours already! Were both the same gender, did she understand that point? But in truth, same-gender rtions were actually quite tolerated in this world. If you were rich or a noble, as long as an heir was properly made, it could just be considered as part of your taste. If you were amoner the surrounding people would usually just ignore it. Apparently, adventurers would sometimes also swing that way to appease increased ?????? due to often experiencing life-threatening situations. Stuff like men doing things to each other deep inside a dungeon and such. They wouldnt have taken baths either and would be all sweaty. As expected, females are much more lovely! But marrying someone of the same gender isnt allowed. Although it was tolerated, same-gender marriages wouldnt be legally recognized. As such, I would like it if Lilys mother could ease up a littleLilys eyes have been getting scary recently. But if you really want to, the old man inside me would be d to ept, okay? Really, okay? That was a lie. I was being absurd. I was quite scared when facing her that one time after we ate. So sorry. It cant be helped! Because I was originally in withdrawal mode! So I need more time to decidelets at least get to the point where I would befortable with holding hands. So lets start with holding hands first! On the fourth day, I began taking magic lessons from Lily. Lilys lessons were easy to understand, and I ended up learning attribute magic quite easily. Now I know all the attributes. Afterwards, I just need to level them up. However, I didnt really understand the basics of the attributes that I already knew, so I relearned about them in order to expand my knowledge. Additionally, it seems attribute aptitude wouldnt usually be known and it didnt appear in a persons status. But I guess it appeared for me in my status due to the effects of Appraisal. In the end, since I had learned everything so quickly, Lily didnt have anything more to teach me, so she also taught me about various other magic-rted topics. Aside from attributes, there were other ssification of magic based on their effects. Starting from the least difficult, it would begin with the basics. Conjuring and control. Such as conjuring attribute effects on the palm, in front, or around yourself. Fire for fire attribute. Water for water attribute, and so on. However, a high level of skill was needed to create fire of extreme temperatures, or produce both hot and cold water. Next was Arrow. It was an offensive magic that shot magic arrows. Like its name suggests, it would shoot something simr to an arrow or bolt. Although its power was low, the range wasrge, and it was one of the basics of offensive magic. After that was Ball. Such as the iconic fireball, etc. Because of its structure, it would burst apart after hitting a target and cause damage to the surroundings. So it would be effective in dense areas. The range depended on the skill level. Then the Shield. A defensive magic. For fire attributes, it would create a shield of fire in front of the user. Naturally, the fire would be weak against water. Attribute-type shields werent really efficient due to the effectiveness being highly dependent on the difference in mana. Therefore, it was basically just used to defend against magic of the same attribute. So to be frank, its usefulness wasplicated. Followed by the Spear. A short-range, but powerful offensive magic. By adjusting the output, it was even possible to change it into a mid-range and medium-powered Flying Spear. In other words, the range and power of offensive magic was basically inversely proportional. The only way to increase the power of long range attacks would be to increase the amount of mana or MP being used, or toe up with a new technique. Thest was Wall. It would create things like firewall and such. It was both a defensive magic and an offensive magic. But it could only be conjured around the user, and a high level of skill would be needed to conjure it further away. Additionally, mages would often create magic and original spells based on their own preferences, either through adding onto the basics or starting from scratch. I see. Incidentally, the Magic Conferment skill that granted temporary effects to equipment was developed from Shield through abination of non-attribute magic. It could be applied to defensive equipment, but it was generally applied to magic swords. The buff/debuff system that raised and lowered a users status was considered a non-attribute magic, and required natural talent to use. Likewise, it was the same for recovery magic, barrier magic, and several other special magic. As such, I was able to use barrier magic by copying Lily, but I wasnt able to learn recovery magic. Well, I guess I could still use potions to recover? Its not like Im trying to act tough or anything! From the results, I had no talent in the offensive field. So having buffs and debuffs on a magic sword would be useless. But I could use the basic Shield and Wall. But Wall was only barely an offensive magic.so lets keep that in mind. I guess even my talent in magic is a bit peculiar? Celestials arent all powerful1 , hahaha, I could feel watering out from my eyes Since I couldnt do anything even if Iined, I tried thinking of various ways to use them. Both idea and usage were important. For example, such as trapping an opponent using Earth Wall and then conjuring up extremely-high temperature fire to burn them, or conjuring up boiling water of 100 degrees Celsius and above to boil them. Both of them would be quite effective in dealing damage. But using fire would burn and cause the material of the monster to be unobtainable. So only boiling water would be practical? Aside from boiling, it would also drown them. However, it would take some time. Ahh, and the meat would get burned too. Hmm. Ren youre learning way too quickly! How are you learning so quickly!? Ufufu, you can praise me more, you know? Well, in this case, the standard would be to train more on the basics The basics? The basics referred to the basics of controlling mana, and what that meant was to be familiar with managing mana. As for controlling mana, the first thing to learn would be Mana Sense. It was a skill to perceive the flow of mana. After learning that, the next step would be Mana Control. It was a skill that literally allowed the user to control their mana. Originally, it would be the standard to learn attribute magic after learning those. So I actually learned my skills in a weird order. However, I was able to learn everything up to that point, but afterwards the difficulty began to increase. Mana Cirction. This was a skill that circted mana throughout the body and refined it, thus raising the quality of the mana and increasing magic power. Additionally, it would slightly reduce MP consumption and increase MP recovery speed. Upon learning the skill, it would even improve the horrible MP consumption rate of my Power Increase: Mana. So I have to learn it! By improving mastery of Mana Cirction and increasing the skill level, the skills Decreased Mana Consumption and Increased Mana Recovery would eventually be acquired. Yep, these are all the skills I need. I definitely want them! I would even be able to manage the horrible consumption rate of Creation Magic! As such, I learned everything. Once again, I ended up realizing the cheat racial characteristics of Celestials. It was quite terrible. Even Lily was staring off nkly. So easily, to learn it so easilyeven I had to study really hardthis is.. Right, Im sorry. Chapter 65: First Team Up Chapter 65: First Team Up The day after Lily became crestfallen during the magic lessons, I was told that we were going to try out a small adventurers request in the royal capital. It feels like this is the first time Im partyingno, no! Im not a loner! Im just a solo yer! And so we came to the adventurers guild, but there were many people. There were also numerous receptionist windows. As expected, Har was definitely a rural town in the countryside. When I nced around the ce, I also saw several demi-humans I hadnt seen in Har. There were also some dwarves, but there didnt seem to be any elves. Ah, but it would be rude if I stared too much so I should be careful. Ah, theres even someone with cat ears, how cute. I see, so in this world, demi-humans like beastmen, elves, or dwarves were considered normal? I want to learn more about them. I was in my cloak as usual. Of course, I was also wearing my sses. Well, I was with Lily and Arisa so I dont think Ill be caught up in anything. Norn and Bell were also here. Eh? Isnt it hot since its still June? Its all good, I have an air-conditioning magic tool I made using magic stones inside my cloak, so the temperature is kept just right. Hooray for the Magic Conferment and Magic Tool Creation skill. By the way, what kind of request are we getting? I was under 13 years old and an E rank, while Lily and Alisa were over 13 years old and D ranks, so I could only ept requests that were suitable for low ranks. In other words, subjugating was impossible since I could only gather herbs or take on misceneous tasks. So it would be rather boring for them. Its alright. There is a loophole for our situation. Yep. In some cases, there are gathering requests aside from the permanent one, such as a request to gather a specific rare herb~ Is that so? Yes, In the case of a gathering request that is too difficult to go alone, such as ones growing in the depths of a forest, Ren can still take on the request if there is a higher ranking adventurer apanying you. Like when were partying up. If its a herb that is difficult to gather and preserve, some adventurers might even hire escorts that have specialized gathering skills. So basically with this method, even if a lower rank was in a party, a gathering request with a high reward could still be received. Such a request would naturally lead to encounters with monsters. But the receptionist would usually overlook it unless it was too difficult for the party. So would this be considered practical use or abuse..hmm, the dark side of the guild? Itll be fine, Ill protect Ren even if a monsteres out~ Who was it that was helped by Ren during the bandit attack? Besides I was also the one protecting Ren using my barrier magic! Why are you twopeting for me? I dont really understand whyI mean, I have Norn and Bell protecting me, so Im fine? We went to the bulletin board where the requests were posted while bickering like that. The surrounding eyes were very painful so would the two of you quiet down a bit? Hmm, this one should be good, right Arisa? Yes~ there arent any dangerous monsters in the forest there, so I guess itll do~? We also went there before so it should be alright~? Then well go with this one? Ren, is that alright? If you two are fine with it so am I. Im not familiar with this area anyways. The two experienced people were saying it would be fine, so there shouldnt be any problems unless there were any irregrities. Norn and Bell would also be with us, and the two werent the type to just care about themselves in the event of an emergency. As such, we epted the request to gather a rare herb growing a bit back in the forest. Apparently, it was used as a strong pain reliever for medical use, and the demand for it was quite high. However, it was difficult to find because it grew in the depths of the forest, and because it grew in darker areas. Searching around in darker areas could lead to being ambushed by monsters, so the request wasnt very popr. But since we have two people to watch the surroundings, and with my expertise in gathering herbs, the request would be fairly easy. We could gather a lot and make some easy money this way. Eh? What about self-prudence? Well, I want to show these two my positive points, right? So I should do my best instead, right? And so we arrived at the forest that spread out to the east of the royal capital. In this forest, the shallower areas were for beginners, and the deeper areas were for experts, so there was a wide array of demand for beginners and experts. Incidentally, there were more subjugating requests on the west side. The forest over here was small, so there were only goblins and lesser wolves, hence why it was for beginners. It seems that higher ranking adventurers would usually go to theke up north or deeper forest areas further north. We traveled through the forest talking about such things while keeping watch on the surroundings. But both Norn and I have the Alert skill, so Arisa, theres no need for you to patrol that much. Well, Im not going to say anything to lower her motivation. Additionally, I wasnt using any monster repents. I had other people with me, and it was good to get some hands-on experience sometimes. As we explored around, we also saw some adventurers along the way. Some of them looked about 15 years old, and some looked around my age. We also didnt see any monsters, so the shallower areas did make sense for beginners. But after going further in, the lower-ranking adventurers began to disappear. My Alert skill also began picking up monster reactions towards the way back. There were some goblins and lesser wolves, but there were also some orc detected further in. There are two orcs towards the northeast about 1km away. What should we do? 1km away? .I didnt sense them at all~ I think it might be better to go around them since it would be troublesome. Orc..I want to eat meat~ Arisa, lets think calmly for a bit. But its meat~? Then, lets go defeat them? No. Ren, dont spoil Arisa. Eh~ spoil me~ No. Boo~ Boo~. Lily is stingy. Ill get mad, okay? Well, theck of tension is one thing but we continued on exploring in that sort of manner and reached a small spring in the back of the forest. Apparently, the herbs we were looking for tend to grow around this spring, it was considered a secret farming spot. It seems that adventurers who didnt know about this secret spot would have to wander around to look for the herbs, so it would turn into a rtively tiring request for adventurers who didnt know about this ce. As such, it was said to be a troublesome and unpopr request for those sort of adventurers. I see, so thats why they chose this request. I checked around using Appraisal and Detection and there were numerous herbs in the surroundings. There were even some areas that werepletely untouched and gave off a tremendous reaction. I instantly stored all of them. Even if all the herbs disappeared, it wouldnt matter since no one knew about them. Kahahaha. Aftermitting my horrible deed, we went around searching for the herbs to gather. Lily was preparing a camp and erecting a barrier. By the time we return back to the royal capital after we finish gathering, it would be around midnight, so we decided to camp here today. Arisa was watching the surroundings. Since I had the Alert skill, it wasnt something she really had to do. But it seemed that Arisa was also trying to gain the Alert skill. She was a frontliner, so having the Alert skill would be beneficial for her. Incidentally, Norn and Bell went hunting. I gave them permission since there was nothing for them to do. The two ran further into the forest, so they might end up hunting something ridiculousplease hold back a little? And so we continued on gathering herbs. Chapter 66: Norn is Really Amazing Chapter 66: Norn is Really Amazing We continued on gathering herbs until it was near the evening. We managed to gather quite a bit. I dont think its enough. Lily, give it up. Ourmon sense doesnt apply to Ren. Their evaluation of me was terrible as usual. Be nicer! But, yes. I had been gathering quite relentlessly until now. It would be troublesome toe again, right? And it would make sense to want enough to make a reasonable ie even after dividing it up between three people, right? ording to the contents of the request, we should have enough for about 5 gold coins per person, so were all good already! But not to worry! I can still keep on using Appraisal. Norn and Bell have also returned. I was relieved since they werent holding anything, but then they dropped monster corpses out from empty space. Huh~?1 .Somehow, they can now use the Item Box skill. And so they ended up filling it to the limit of their storage capacity. Right, where should I startrather, whats this huge bird? Isnt this even bigger than me? Eh? Cockatrice? And there are even eggs too? Cockatrice was a B rank monster. So in order to defeat it, you would need a skilled party of C ranks or higher? .Im probably also the same, but Norn is quite terrible. Lily and Arisa had both frozen up too. For now, l decided to ce the huge bird inside of Storage. I could eat the meat and eggs to destroy the evidence. As for the other materials, I guess I will either sell them or use them for something I managed to get Lily and Arisa back to senses, and we began preparing camp and food. Or rather, I decided to use my house.2 We have be quite close friends, so I believe the two would keep quiet about it even if I showed them. Above all, I had taken a liking to them, so I felt it was inevitable that I would tell them anyway. And the result of taking out my house? What is this~? I dont understand whats happening. Its my house. I did my best. Ah, okay. I see. You can act more surprised, you know? As with the case of the carriage, they were scared and didnt want to enter. So I had to enter the house first and invited them in, before they finally entered. Ah, take off your shoes and put them on the shelf. Please wear these slippers inside. I instructed them to put their shoes on the shoe rack, then pointed to some slippers and instructed them to wear them. For the record, those slippers are made by me. I was a Japanese person on the inside, so I felt restless when wearing shoes indoors. I would like to make an eastern-style room with tatami, but I havent been able to do so since I couldnt find anymon rush.https://.tnnursery/soft-rush-grass-for-sale/">3 It was likely growing somewhere near a water source. Amazing. Did you make this? Both of them were looking around the living and dining room. There were a table and chairs in the center. A sofa was ced near the back wall, the kitchen and stove were on the left side facing the entrance, and there was even a furnace. Ah, I have to rece the AC magic tool inside the furnace soon. For now, please sleep in this room for tonight. There are two beds. Where will Ren be sleeping? My room is on the second floor, so I will be sleeping there. I opened a door to a room to the right of the living room and led them inside. The room had two beds and a small table and chairs. There were hangers on the wall, so I taught them how to hang their jacket and cloak on them. We returned back to the living room, and the two were exhausted by the time I showed them the bath and toilet in the back. I dont hold back when it involves living afortable life. The toilet in this house was a Western-style toilet. In this world, the eastern style were the general ones, so I had to teach them how to use it. The toilet seat had a cover so it wouldnt be cold during the winter, which earned approvals from the other two. I had no ns to show them the second floor. Theres no point in showing them my bedroom! But for some reason they insist on seeing it! Oh right, Lily, sorry. Huh? Whats wrong? You even prepared a camp and Please dont worry about it! This house is way morefortable! Lily had set up a tent for everyone by herself when we were making preparations for camp. I apologized to her since she went through all that effort for naught. It was something I had to do. How about I go a bit all out today with dinner as an apology? I would like to make oyakodon with the freshly caught cockatrice. The ingredients were perfect since there were also cockatrice eggs. I was nning on making a typical oyakodon without any changes. I poured broth and sliced onions into a frying pan and began cooking. The broth was made using bonito and kelp. I obtained both of them from the southern vige. Next, I dumped the bite-sized chicken pieces..or I guess cockatrice pieces? Well, theyre both meat anyway. I dumped all the meat into the pan and cooked them. Finally, I added a beaten egg, covered it and cooked it until it was half-cooked. Ah, and I did properly adjust the heat for each process, okay? I then served it with rice in a bowl with mitsuba on top and garnished it with nappa cabbage and yuzu pickles. Simple and in. I brought Norn and Bell their portions first, before preparing the others. Then I called the other two over. Its ready~ Coming~ Arisa, thats bad manners! But Lily also looks really loose. Alright now, dont fight. Enjoy then~. Thanks for the meal! And so we began eating immediately. I was using chopsticks, the other two were using forks and spoons. They could both use chopsticks, but they werent really good at it. I took a bite of the meat, but wow, what is this.its really delicious. The fat on it had an amazing taste. The chicken was soft and juicy. The eggs were also easy to eat, despite their rich vor. I couldnt stop my chopsticks. And so Ive finished eating in no time! Cockatrices sure are dangerous. Magical. I must have more of them. I should ask Norn for helpter. To be able to get something so delicious, Norn sure is really amazing. As expected, shes my goddess! 4 Chapter 67: Soap Play Chapter 67: Soap y Welp, Im full. I would like to try making various chicken dishes using this meat. Hmm. While thinking about other ways to use the chicken, I told the other two who had bloated stomachs that they could go take a bath. But for some reason, I was also dragged along. My bathroom had a big bathtub so it could fit three people at once, but for some reason the breathing of the other two became rough. The chattering and looks in their eyes are a bit scaryis it possible to not join them? No? Anyways, we were currently undressing. Due to the size of the bathroom, the dressing room was a bit small. Although, I just used Storage and undressed instantly. Ren, your ***** are big. Is that so? Lilys are small~ Arisa, please shut up for a bit. t is justiceno, never mind. Because it would be sudden to just getpletely naked instantly, I only removed my clothes and was still in my underwear. Yes, its adult underwear as usual. Apparently, the effect was overwhelming as the eyes of the other two became scary. That underwear is amazing.Ive never seen such a design before. Where did you buy it? I made it myself. Apparently, the shape doesnt sag if I use this kind of design structure, so this lets me maintain my physique. I wasnt exactly sure of the details since it was just something I heard from a prostitute in my previous life. I used to be an old man in hister thirties, but now I was an eleven-year-old girl with an ever-growing chest. The effect was far from felt. .I kinda want one. No, Lily, we dont have that kind of sex appeal~ The two were talking about something, but I ignored them and got naked before heading inside the bathroom. First- I had to wash my body first because there were people other than myself, but because the bathtub took up so much space, the washing area was small. As such, I decided to rece the bathwater when it became dirty and had the other two get in the bathtub first. In other words, they were going to watch me wash my bodybut nothing I could do about that. Both the shampoo and body soap were the dispenser container-type. The container was made of wood and ss instead of stic. There obviously wasnt a shower, so I had to create hot water using water magic to wash away the soap. I n on installing a shower soon. Using some sort of magic tool. And so I began washing my head. Scrub scrub scrub. That liquid, is it soap? Thats a lot of bubbles? I saw the secret to Rens glossy hair~! Yep, correct. So soap in this world didnt create as much foam. Or rather, it doesnt seem to be in gel form and was in solid form instead. I saw the solid soap for the first time at Lilys house, but the quality wasplex when I washed my hair with it, it lost its glossiness and became dull. Although there was a balm that I could apply to make my hair glossy, I passed on it since it would likely make my hair sticky. But it wasnt a problem because I had also made a conditioner. Treatment? Since it was troublesome to make, I passed on it. Everything in moderation. After washing my hair, I fixed it in ce with a hair clip. Next, I washed my body. Scrub scrub scrub. Its a different soap than the one you used to wash your hair. I saw the secret to Rens soft skin~! Yes, yes, thats right. I didnt mind them watching, but I would like them to be quieter. When I finished washing my body, I switched with the other two. The two were washing together, so I reced the hot water and got inside, then watched the two start applying soap. It was a sight to behold. Well, they watched me too, right? Would they get angry if I touch them? Hmm, should I hold back then? Wait, theyre already washing it off? Ah, I missed my chance!? Dang it! Eh? Arent I being a bit cowardly? Im capable of touching them under the right circumstances! How rude! This will make my hair glossy! This will make me soft~! ..Youre only using it for today though? Isnt it pointless if you dont use it continuously? I carefully observed the naked bodies of the two and engraved it into my mind. Lilys back wasrger, but Arisas chest was bigger. I think Lilys buttocks are also a bit bigger? But Arisa has thicker arms and legs. Since shes a swordsman. Lily seemed to be the slender and lean type. And Arisa appeared to be the sexy, sporty type. Both were irresistible. Lets advance on them tonight!1 Additionally, both of them had long hair. But Lily, who usually kept her hair in a ponytail, had longer hair. It went all the way down past her shoulder des. Arisa had twin tails and her hair was long enough to hang over her shoulders.2 Me? Mine are around my waist. My bangs were also very long. Kitaro style.3 Whenever I took a bath, my hair would usually be heavy with water. I could have just cut it, but somehow it ended up bing this long. Mainly because I felt cutting it was troublesome. The two of them finished washing their bodies, and the three of us were sitting together in the bathtub with our knees side by side. I had made the bathtub big enough so that I could stretch my legs and rx..but its a different story when entering with other people. Soloing is the best way to do anything~ But Im not a loner, Im just a solo yer. Even though we came to the depths of the forest to gather herbs, we were able to eat delicious food~ And even though were camping, were currently rxing in a bath. And afterward, well even be able to sleep nice andfortably~ Were currently in the middle of a request, right? Were deep in the forest, right? Isnt it alright? Isnt it tiring to be worrying about it the entire time? They were in a bath and looked exhausted, how about you two just stop worrying about it? Whose fault do you think this is!? Whose? 4 Chapter 68: It Isnt Finished Until You Return Home, Right? Chapter 68: It Isn''t Finished Until You Return Home, Right? The next morning, I awoke feeling very refreshed. I felt refreshed in various ways. Yesterday, everyone went to bed immediately after getting out of the bath. The other two instantly fell asleep due to eating their fill and the rxing bath. Me? I had towell do that.1 I did my daily routine for the first time in about a month. But as expected, I couldnt really enjoy it because there were other people in the house. Well, it was fine since all the rooms were soundproof. The door also has a lock, Im rather prepared, right? As such, I was in great shape right now. Lets do our best for today! Although, Im actually just heading back. Ren, youre in a good mood. Somehow, your skins all shiny. We also feel rather energetic, but somehow, it feels different for Ren~? The reason these two felt energetic was probably because of yesterdays food. Me? I guess it would be due to various other things. I used cockatrice meat and eggs for dinner yesterday, so I guess that would be the reason? I believe cockatrice eggs are really nutritious or something? Cockatrice eggs!? Thats a high-ss ingredient! Eh, yesterday? So it was what we ate?! Wouldnt you usually sell it?! How much would it even. Even if you say that~ It would be quite problematic if an E rank like me were to bring a monster of that level in, and isnt it normal to want to try out such a high-ss ingredient? It was really delicious after all. No, I get that, I really do understand, but. It really was delicious, but its a bit scary when you consider how expensive yesterdays food was, right~? But it was already eaten, so there was nothing that could be done now that it was gone. As such, we should do our best for what we ate! But were just going back Lets do our best~ In truth, there were still 5 eggs left. So most of the eggs are still hereand the eggs are really big too. I would have to use a pot just to beat the eggs Cockatrice? Theres actually another one besides the first. Rather, even if minus what we ate yesterday, most of the first one still remained. I wonder what I should make with it? Herb chicken would be nice The cockatrice bones would be good for chicken soup? And then, the internal organs Ah, not good, not good, Im drooling. Oh, right. Aside from food, I could make a feather quilt using the feathers. Lets do that. And so we prepared to head back. After finishing preparations, we exited the house. I was so surprised that I forgot, but the level of Rens Storage skill must be quite high. When you think about it, a house of this size, and then theres the carriage and horses too, right? Plus, theres also the cockatrice from yesterday inside, when you consider the storage size, wouldnt the skill be about level 10~? During the trip, I had told the other two about my storage skill. Rather, it was already out of the bag when I took out my carriage. Arisa, lets definitely keep this a secret. Right~. Even though I didnt tell them to keep it a secret, they decided to do so themselves! What good kids! Come here, let me give you all a hug. Fueeh. Ufufu. Lily, you have a gross look on your face~ Arisa, its because- .I didnt expect this reaction. Oh, maybe these two are quite suited for each other? Hm~..I see~ Even back then, Lily was always like that, and Arisa was also the sameI see! After that, we set off from the forest as if nothing had happened. We encountered three orcs along the way, but Lily and Arisa defeated them easily. Theres exactly three, enough for each of us. I didnt do anything though? Its fine~ Then Ill gratefully ept it. Meat stock replenished. Speaking of which, Arisa was the one that noticed the orcs approaching..? Arisa, you noticed the orcsing, did you perhaps learn Alert? Thats right~ When I checked my status, I saw that I learned it. Nice going, Arisa! Yep, and I also learned Detection. Two at once!? Thats amazing, Arisa! Thanks~ But isnt Lilys magic somehow stronger too? Is that so? Hmmhuh? Whats wrong~? Somehowseveral of my skills leveled up Even if you look at me like that..No, I really dont know how, so please stop. Um, even if you look at me like that, I didnt do anything? ..You really didnt do anything? Anything~? I really didnt do anything! After that, we returned back to the royal capital without any incidents and went straight to the Adventurers Guild in the second division. It was just in the afternoon, so I thought that there wouldnt be that many people, but there were a lot of people as usual. The capital is really different huh..ah, cat ears. Beastfolk are cute. Ren, please stop escaping reality. Were really being stared at~ Well, all I did was take out the gathered herbs, right? Ah, I did properly pretend to take it out from my bag, okay? Just that the amount was. Ren, are you even aware of what youre doing? Im sorry Incidentally, we didnt take out the orcs. Although the price for orc materials was known to be high. The three of us decided to take them home to eat. If you dont want to stand out, please be a little more responsible.2 Ipletely agree~ Sorry. No, but we just finished a rather tiring request, right? Wouldnt it be better to make as much money as possible? Isnt that the case? Youre not reflecting, are you? Sorry, Ill reflect on it. Sorry. But the angry Lily is also rather cute. Ren? No, Im really sorry.3 Chapter 69: Scene of Alleged Bribery Chapter 69: Scene of Alleged Bribery The next day after returning from the forest, Arisa took me to the artisan district. We were going to see the cksmith who she had promised to introduce me to before. Additionally, Lily also came with us. The atmosphere over here is different than the marketce and the main district. Right..I donte to this part of the eastern sector too often so Lily, even when youe to the eastern sector, you only visit the magic-rted shops~ There were various different kinds of craftsmen in the eastern sector, which is considered the artisan district, but basically craftsmen of simr fields were concentrated here. cksmithing, leatherwork, magic tools, weaving, clothing, and so on. The cksmiths workshop was also located here, the sound of striking iron could be heard, but other than that, the atmosphere was surprisingly quiet. The cksmiths workshop were going to is a ce where one of the most skilled masters in the royal capital is located~ But theyre not on good terms with the master of the workshop from across the street, right? They used to work at the same workshop, and I heard that they were on good terms then~ The workshop where they originally worked no longer exists, so do you mean the original branch? Something like that~ By the way, it seems that the workshop opposite of them is leaning towards the magic field recently~ But the ce were heading now is purely focused on improving their cksmithing skills, right? I guess everyones fighting simr battlesIm also interested in my Magic Conferment skill, but right now I just want to focus on leveling my cksmithing skill, so Im d theyre just focusing on that area. And were here~ Ohh~ Somehow, it just feels like a good store. The ss show window even showcases various swords and armor, and I can see the inside of the store too. Although the swords being showcased dont look very practical, are they just meant for decoration or for ceremonies? They do look nice though. But the de itself is different, it looks like it was forged to be able to withstand actual battle. I can tell due to Appraisal. Then lets go in~ Hello~ With a ring, we opened the door and entered the store. There was a counter just after entering the store, and a young male store attendant was sitting on a chair. The counter could be entered from the side, and a hallway that appeared to lead to the back could be seen. Are these noisesing from their hammer sounds? Theres a lot of swords on disy too. The room is filled with the smell of iron and oil, this is definitely a cksmith! This feeling. Ah, Miss Hamilton and the young miss. How may I help you today? Is the master in? I have a request~ The master is in the back. Ill call him, so please have a seat and wait a moment. The young male shop attendant went into the back hallway, so we sat down and waited. I think hell probably note out right away~ Ren, there sure are a lot of swords, right? It is a cksmiths workshop, after all~ I didnt want to just sit around wait, I also wanted to see the swords on disy to pass the time. Can I go look at the swords on disy? Sure~ Then dont mind if I do. With my hood down, I picked up a sword that was leaning against a sword stand by the wall and pulled it out of its sheath. Hmm. I looked at the sword next to it, then the sword next to that, and so on. These are made through striking, right? That is forging, not casting. Yes, all the mass-produced products in this workshop are hand-forged~ Arisa, is that profitable for them? Theres a surprising high demand for mass-produced products with good quality~ Is that so? It is so~ This ce is pretty good. After using Appraisal and Analyze, the overall feeling I got isnt too bad. All the swords Ive checked so far inside the shop are quite good. If these are all hand-forged, then isnt the master here the old-fashioned craftsmen type who are very particr about their work? Theyre good. You can tell~? Ive never seen a store with mass-produced items of this quality. The same goes for the des, and the way the steel itself is made is also great. Although its somewhat rough, considering the metallurgy advancement and the equipment made from the worlds development level, I think its quite an aplishment. Ohh, youre quite small and yet youre acting like you know a lot. Ah, master~ Oh, Arisa is here. I havent seen you here muchtely? I went to Har and was working as a waitress~ Whats with that? Im 14, so I have to find a job~ And so a waitress, are you doing your job properly? So this person is the master? Looks about 45 years old? Hes only a bit taller than me. His muscles were really developed and tough-looking. He had dark, red hair and also some gray hair in a short-trim hairstyle. His face looked sunburnt and tan, his beard was also cleanly shaven, and his eyes looked stern. Dwarfprobably not, maybe. It looks like hes on good terms with Arisa, but that aside Lily, you and Arisa are 14 years old? Huh? I didnt tell you? My birthday is next month, but were both 14 this year. I thought Lily was at least 15 since youre pretty mature. Eh, do I look that old? No, I said mature, right? Rather, next month is your birthday? I wonder if theres something I could give as a gift? Hmm? So, what kind of request did you want? Is it something ridiculous again? No~ Its not ridiculous~? My friend wants to borrow a smithy, so I was wondering if she could borrow one? That is ridiculous. What workshop would just loan out their smithy out of the blue and for free? Rather, is that friend perhaps the tiny one over there? Thats right~ Hey now, thess over there! Do you understand what youre asking for? cksmithing isnt a yground, you know? Rather, can you even use a hammer with that body? Yes, I understand. Ill probably be alright with the hammer too. Probablyrather, how long are you nning on renting it for? From the looks of it, its not just for one or two days, right? Do you have enough money? I would like to rent it for half a year if possible. I think I should have enough money. If I dont have enough, I can go make some more money. ..Hah. Hey Arisa, thess is saying this, but is she really alright? Hmm, I guess the money aspect will be fine~? She even said shell earn more too, so itll be alright~? Besides, I dont think shes the kind of person who will say something if she cant do it~? Thats quite the statementhmmhey,ss. I dont know what you want to make, but I cant loan a smithy out to someone who just has money and no skill. Do you have something that you made yourself? If its something I made, I guess the shortsword thats hanging off my waist? Should I also show a throwing knife? Although its just an improved version of the one I bought before. I removed my short sword from my belt and handed it over. This sword. And this one too. Hmm, then shall I take a look? The master pulled out the short sword and looked over the de. After looking over it for a while, his expression grew more and more serious. Something wrong with it? Do you mind if I? A small iron rod? The master took out a rod with a spherical shape on the end and showed it to me. Ahh, it must be something that allows him to find out what the material is through tapping it or by sound. Go ahead. He began tapping the de of the short sword and then frowned. The knife was also examined the same way. Did you make these,ss? Yes. Hmm..what kind of forging method is thisno, this is.hmm. Ah~ Im guessing that tamahagane made from iron sand is probably different from the regr wrought iron forging method used here. And since its made using magic, the quality is uniform, and it looks like an unknown forging method. Would you like to take a look at this too? I pretended to take something out of my bag, and took out one of the tamahagane ingots from Storage and gave it to the master. Are you sure? I dont mind. He had a contemtive expression as he tapped it. .Did you forge this too,ss? The material seems to be iron but..theres something a bit different about it The material is made from iron sand. I collected it at a river, and smelted it afterward. But with magic. Iron sand, iron sandif I recall there were forging methods that used that in the past. I seeso this is..but this mixture is Mixture? The carbon mixture? Hmm, alright. If you can make something like this, your skills should be fine. I will lend you a smithy. Is it really alright? Yeah, itll be good motivation for the young fellows. There are several spare smithies avable, so you can use one of them. Thank you very much! Yes! Ive captured a smithy! Normally, you wouldnt just lend out a smithy to a random someone, so in that case. This isnt much of a thank you, but if you would like, you can have this. I presented the ingot I took out earlier. If this could make him feel grateful to me, it would make various things easier. .Are you sure? Isnt this some kind of trade-secret? I dont mind. Youre even letting a stranger borrow one of your smithies too. He looks very skilled, so he might be able to reproduce it if he has an actual one. But I dont think its going to cause a drastic technical skill increase, so itll probably be fine? .Alright, Ill gratefully ept it. But, rightyou said you wanted to rent it for at least half a year. Then 1 small gold coin for each day will be enough. Ill also pay for the fuel expenses. Is it really alright? I was already grateful that he even allowed a stranger to borrow the ce, and it was also considerably cheaper than expected too. In truth, I was prepared for it to be more expensive, but instead, theyre even covering fuel expenses, its quite an unbelievable bargain. Its fine. This single ingot will teach me a lot of things. It will take some time to examine it, but if I can recreate it, our workshops skill will be even better. Even I can tell how much this will benefit us in the long runsopared to that, this much is cheap. Ah- right.I forgot about that. Nuu. Thats right.ss, where are you nning on staying? Im thinking of staying at an inn. As expected, I cant keep relying on Lily and her family even after she goes back to Har. Well, Lilys mother did say she didnt mind, but it felt like I might be involved in her affairs, so I had declined. In that case, we have a few extra rooms for our live-ins, so you can use one of them. We also prepare meals if you need it. And we have separate baths for men and women, so there shouldnt be any problems. Ah, thats- No need to be reserved! Then its settled! So when will you be starting? Today? Tomorrow? Huh~ Hes being quite pushy. Do I even have the option to decline? Mumumu. Well, then I will ept your offer of the room. As for when Ill be moving inhow about tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow then! Ill make sure the room is cleaned up nicely, so dont worry about that!1 I guess its good that I have less to worry about? Theres even a ce for Norn and Bell to sleep, so thats a relief. Afterward, we left the workshop and went back to Lilys parents house. Lily and Arisa were returning to Har by carriage tomorrow, so I cooked dinner as a treat and invited Arisa as thanks for taking care of me up to now. This is also to serve as a birthday present for Lily. But it wasnt anything fancy, just fried rice with egg, chili shrimp, onion soup, and fresh sd with dressing. Which were all dishes I cooked for Lily and Arisa during the carriage trip to the royal capital. Since I was a bit self-conscious about serving new dishes. However, Lilys parents were so impressed that they had to be restrained. How about you just be our child? How about it!? How about it!? No, no, please give me a break. Chapter 70: Blacksmith Training Start Chapter 70: cksmith Training Start The next day, I left the house with Lily and Arisa around noon, I was going by carriage and I thought the two were seeing me off, but We will go with Ren. If were going by carriage, we can just ride it back to the second divisionter, right~? No, theres no need to go out of your way to drop me off. No good! For Ren to be walking all alone, thats definitely a no! Norn and Bell will also be with me. Thats still not enough! No, youre just being really overprotective. Since it didnt look like a refusal was possible, I gave up and we headed to the cksmiths workshop together. Well then, well be going in now, are you ready? Dont do anything weird, okay~? Be prudent, okay~? Im fine, so lets just go in already~ After exchanging such words, I was finally able to enter the workshop. As expected, I shouldnt have let theme along! Im not a child! Or no, Im only physically 11 years old! Hello~ Ah, youre finally here! I was worried whether you would make it! Ehh, like I said Im not a child.rather, youre the workshops master, so please dont wait on me. Um, have you been perhaps waiting since this morning? I have been waiting since this morning! Rather, lets head to the back already! I was taken again upon arrival. Is it perhaps going to be like this the entire day? We went along a passageway towards the back. There were a number of rooms along the way, and I was given an exnation of what each room was for. A room for leatherwork for making sheaths or sword belts, a room for sharpening des, a smithy exclusive to the master smith, several smithies used by other craftsmen, and some spare smithies. It seems that I would be renting one of these spare smithies. And the fire was already lit too. Too quick! I wont have enough fuel left. There was also storage for steel, storage for finished products, storage for coke fuels, and suchwell, essentially a lot of rooms. After passing by various rooms, we reached a courtyard, and across it was a building that appeared to be the main building. Apparently, there was an employee dormitory connected to the building. Additionally, the bath was also in the main building. It seems that the first floor of the main building was a dining room, and when we were guided there, there were several people already inside. I was introduced to everyone who was currently here, but Ill skip over that part for now. Incidentally, I had my hood down during introductions, so the reactions were like usual. After the introductions, I was guided to the room I would use. It was a room in the middle of the hallway on the second floor of the dormitory. I was given the key and I went inside, the room appeared to be about 6 tatami mats-wide. There was a bed and closet provided, but I would be recing the bedter. I couldnt sleep on a hard mattress. Since I have Storage I guess I wont be using the closet? Norn and Bell apparently had to sleep in the courtyard. It seems we wouldnt be able to sleep together. How mean. I changed into a pair of pants and easy-to-move clothes inside the room, then headed back to the shop building across the courtyard. I was guided to the smithy I would be renting. This is the smithy you will be renting. The fuel coke is already loaded inside. If you run out, you can speak to the people who are free. Ill waive the cost of steel materials. Um, why go so far? Incidentally, the master smith was the one who guided me here. To be frank, it was quite humbling when someone in that position did that. Even if I was liked, it still seemed a bit too much. Gahaha! Actually, I briefly checked the ingot I got yesterday, but I didnt know how to make it! The world is definitely big! It seems it was natural to treat me who knew of smelting methods even he didnt know like this. Yep, I dont really understand the world of craftsmen. Heres the key. Lock the door when youre forging or doing something. There might be some idiots with prying eyes. Appreciate the hospitality~ Additionally, even if the door was closed, there was proper venttion, so there wouldnt be any issues with suffocating due tock of oxygen. Yep, thats good. After exining several other things, the master smith left the room. Well then, lets try making something right away. I took out a set of cksmith tools from Storage and began preparations. I made these myself after observing while I was in the capital. Incidentally, I was troubled since I didnt know what I needed, so I had made it using Creation Magic under the loose specifications of a set of cksmith tools. Needless to say, I was a bit light-headed after consuming too much MP. I probably wouldnt have been able to pull it off if Lily hadnt taught me all the various magic lessons and skills. I seriously love you, Lily! However, the cksmith tools were naturally heavy. It was quite impossible to lift with my status alone. But that was where Power Increase came in. Since I also learned Mana Cirction, my consumption level has decreased sharply and Im able to continuously use it. As such, I was able to swing around the heavy hammer. Incidentally, I didnt know the procedure for cksmithing, but when I dropped the ingot into the furnace something strange happened. I somehow immediately knew what to do. Is this a skill correction? Different world fantasies sure are amazing. Sorry to all the modern craftsmen! However, it was very convenient for me, so I decided to forge a sword for now. And three hourster. Hm, I guess its something like this? I finished making a sword. I had used Creation Magic for certain critical steps, thus shortening the time, the speed was naturally abnormal from a regr standpoint. To be able to create a sword in three hours, thats definitely abnormal butCreation Magic allowed me to skip several processes in regards to cooling. I still had to strike it several times to gain experience, but there were still areas that were unclear to me. But I suppose I will just observe for now and do my utmost to strike it as fast as I can? Anyways, I feel like the experience points for my cksmithing skill has increased, so its probably best to continue forging. As I was thinking about various things, I looked over the finished de. The de wasnt sharpened and the hilt wasnt done yet, but from what I could gather from Appraisal, it seems to be of the highest quality? Well, I could always just melt it down and reforge it. But there was still plenty of steel left, so there wasnt a need to melt and reforge it. I took out a new piece of steel and started forging the next sword. ng!ng!ng! Hmm, it looks pretty good. I forged several more swords after that. Everything was of the highest quality. Since my cksmithing skill was only LV 3, I shouldnt be able to make a sword of the highest quality, but because I was also using Creation Magic, I became capable of making it. But making something good will also give me more skill experience, so its a great help for leveling up~ When I checked my status, my cksmithing level had gone up by one and was now LV 4. Celestials sure are cheats. However, considering the level of the other skills that I have been leveling so far, the experience required will increase greatly starting from hereso I will need to train a lot more.lets work hard. That said, its toote today, so lets stop here. Its around 7 oclock at night now? Speaking of which, I didnt even eat lunch. I did properly hydrate myself though. But Im very sweaty..my underwear is showing through my clothes. I was quite erotic. For now, I cleaned up the work area and stored all the swords I made inside Storage. Afterward, I took out a bath towel, and hung it over my shoulders to cover my chest. Then I locked up and left the smithy. When I returned back to the main building, I was taken to the bathroom by thendy. Apparently, I was a bad influence on the young male craftsmen and other apprentices. Bad influence! Me, a bad influence! I was defeated and ended up taking a bath. Later, I changed clothes and went back to the dining room. The others seemed to have finished their meals and gone back to their own rooms or went back to work. The only ones left were thendy, a female leatherworker, and a young male apprentice. As I was eating dinner while talking to the female leatherworker, the apprentice kept staring at me. What? Why are you staring at me so much? When I looked back and gave a slight bow, his face turned red and he turned away. Whats with him? So shes the kid huh, Im not even allowed to forge a sword yet. Shes younger than me, yet shes upying an entire smithy by herself. I was angry at first and thought some mistake was made, but shes a customer and rented the smithy, huh. Still shes just a kid, this makes no sense. Hah, I see. So theres some weird resentment going on. I didnt want to get involved with his brooding. Dont worry about it, hes just shy since you looked back, right? Dont mind it. Is that so. Yep? Rather, your chest is big, isnt it? How did they get so big at your age? Right, I would like to know too. I much rather be taller. Really. Chapter 71: Second Day Chapter 71: Second Day The second day of cksmith training. The day started early at the Arnold workshop. Ah, Arnold is the name of the master of the ce. It was easy to remember since the workshops name was the same. Which was a good thing. But that aside. When I woke up in the morning and finished dressing, I left the room and locked it. Then I headed towards the dining hall. The rental contract covered the food expenses, so I decided to take them up on the offer. I could just cook myself, but as expected secluding myself on the first day is a bit that, right? Besides, Im also curious about the menu options for meals in such arge household. Well, that was actually the main reason. When I arrived at the dining hall, it looked like the food was still being prepared. Thendy and the maid appeared to be quite busy. Since Im free, should I help? Good morning, Ill help you. Good morning! Sorry about that, but thanks for the help. Good, it doesnt look like theyre against it. What a relief. It feels like I forced myself in and I know Im also being given quite a bit of preferential treatment, so its not unreasonable for them to think badly about me. It might look like Im just trying to butter up to them, but still theres nothing bad about acting nice. Besides, I cant be kicked out since I rented a smithy. Lets aim for production cheats! I looked over the other two as I helped prepare the meals. Thendy appeared to be in her mid-thirties? She looked a lot younger than the master, she also gave off the feeling of an energetic mother. She was moving briskly about with quite the energy, so she fitted quite nicely with the image of arge household. The maid looked like she was in herte-teens? Well, my judgement for ages wasnt the best, so it wasnt really that reliable Apparently, the maid lived around the area. Breakfast was a mountain of bread, grilled orc meat, a pile of sd, and vegetable soup. Meat right in the morningand a mountain of bread. I get that this was a field that relied on stamina, but still isnt this quite heavy in the morning? Thats a lot to eat right in the morning. Thats because the state of the body is the most important! If youre tired, you wont be able to do anything! That is true. But couldnt it also be too fulfilling and make you unable to move as well? But youre quite handy, we finished earlier that usual! Im an adventurer and I cook for myself. I see! An adventurer! But is it alright with you being so small? After preparing the meals, the master appeared and chatted for a while until the other craftsmen arrived. Oh,ss, youre up early. Its Ren. Good morning. I see, so its Ren. Good morning. Hm? They dont remember my name? I introduced myself before, right? The other craftsmen also gathered around. There was the master, a chief cksmith, three cksmiths who were skillful enough to be allowed to work independently, three cksmiths who were skillful enough to act as assistants, two apprentices who were just allowed to start with the hammer, two shopkeepers, and two leatherworkers who made sheaths and sword belts. A total of 16 people, including thendy and the maid. These were the people who worked at this workshop. The meal started after some more brief introductions. But it was a bit scary due to the rush. Well, it was fine since I couldnt eat that much, but everyone sure had a great appetite right off in the morning. But please stop looking over at me. Its making me restless. Somehow, todays food tastes better than yesterdays? Oh, I was thinking the same thing. This child here helped us out today! Shes really handy, and she also helped out with the seasoning. Shes quite amazing! Please stop propping me up so much, all the stares are making me restless. I gave a slight bow and forced augh. I think the ability of brushing through things would be considered a positive of Japanese people. When the meal was over, everyone headed off to work. I was thinking of helping out thendy and the maid with the cleaning, but thendy told me I should head out to the smithy, so I decided to do that instead. I was told that I didnt have to be hesitant since I paid for it. That was true, but since its still the first day, isnt it a bit? But since I was told to, I guess Ill begin earning experience right from the morning? I unlocked the rented smithy using the key and went inside, then I locked the door, started the fire in the furnace and began. While waiting for the temperature of the furnace to rise, I took out a sword I forged yesterday and started adding the finishing touches. Sharpen the de, make the sheath, and ce it inside. Yep, this is a sword. The finished product was a standard sword, this one was a short sword, but it was still a bit too long for me to use. When I make a sword for myself, I would need to shorten the de a bit more. Although, I dont think I would be using it that much. Incidentally, a long sword was actually a sword with a long de that was meant to be used on horseback. But I wasnt nning on testing that. That aside, it seems the temperature of the furnace had risen while I was working, so I started forging a sword. Whew~ I was currently taking a break in the courtyard. I had been forging swords all morning, so I naturally became tired of it. There were numerous trees in the courtyard, and there was also a bench for resting within the vicinity. In the corner of the courtyard, there was even a well where water could be drawn for cooling swords or for cooking. Just now, a craftsman had been drawing water from there. He had looked over at me with a strange look, but he hadnt called out to me. Well, not that I care about being talked to.. Norn and Bell were taking a nap in the shade of the trees. Hm, its quiet. As I was mulling things over while drinking water with ice I created using magic, the master and several cksmiths walked over to me. Oh,ss. Taking a break? Its Ren. Im taking a break. Right, it was Ren. Ah, thats right. Youve been forging since yesterday, so I guess you should be about finished with your first piece soon? Ive forged a few des so far. But only one of them has beenpleted up to the sheath. Thats pretty fast. Hey wait, you only just started working yesterday and today, dont lie! Hey, Ed. Stop it. But big bro! The other party is a customer. Keep that in mind. Hahthis stupid son of minesorry about that,ss. Do you mind showing me the finished sword? I dont mind. Here. I gave the finished sword to the master. I didnt take it out from Storage. I wanted to test it out so I had brought it outside with me. Well, it was nice that it could hang off my waist, but I was depressed that my arms were too short to draw the sword. As expected, if I made one for myself, I would need to make the de shorter. This is really good. She forged it yesterday and finished it this morning. Thats quite something. This..it cant be true.. It would be troublesome to be used of lying. Or rather, it would be troublesome if Im asked to show them how I forged. Since I use magic. But these two are brothers? The master also called him a stupid son, so hes the masters son? The younger brother was really ring at me, so I would like him to stop. The older brother looked as if he was interested in me, his looks appeared to be more observant? I heard you hammering away non-stop earlier, but how much did you make so far? Um, only the de, but two. I think I make about one every two hours? But the des arentpletely finished yet. I need to practice more. Huh? Two? No, no, thats way too quick. Youre lying! Thats impossible! Even if you say that~ Rather, I guess it would take more time without magic. I have them in the process of cooling at the smithy, do you want to see them? To be honest, it was annoying to be used of lying. I see, please show me. Hey, you lot, were going! As such, a lot of people ended up going to the smithy I was using. I unlocked the door and went inside, then walked over to a rack used for cooling. Here. Oh..these look good too.. ..This is amazing. Lies..this cant be true Do you understand now with this? If you have the time toin, you should practice with your hammer a little more instead, fool. It would be nice if they gave up and epted the truth, wouldnt it? The craftsmen were all looking at the swords on the racks, but it was about time for lunch so shouldnt we be heading to the dining room? I was getting hungry. After lunch, everyone took a break until it was time to work in the afternoon. Some people were resting in the dining hall, while others were taking a nap in the courtyard. I was currently with two other people, and was talking with one of them, a young female leatherworker called Delia. This person really liked talking. Additionally, the other person was a sturdy-looking old man. I havent seen him talking before so he was likely the silent type. Wow, Ren is amazing! To be able to forge like that at such a young age. What kind of training have you done? Um, its a secret? Ahaha, I see, that makes sense! Incidentally, Delia was the one who spoke to mest night. Furthermore, the apprentice boy who was staring at me was now looking at me differently and with eyes of respect. Yep, I just cant calm down, please stop! By the way, when you were resting in the courtyard earlier, it looked like there was something inside the cup you were drinking from, what was that? It was ice. I can use ice magic. Ice magic!? Huh? The other people were also reacting? Wait, you can use ice magic!? How much can you use!? Can you still use it!? Um, please calm down. It was unexpected that thendy also reacted. Speaking of which, isnt ice attribute magic considered a rare skill? After that, I ended up making enough ice to fill an entire tub. Well, it was July starting from today. Additionally, this year was also unusually hot, and it had been quite hot sincest month..so its not like I didnt understand. But with this sort of atmosphere, why do I have the feeling that I will still be making ice even after tomorrow? Ill pay you, so please do it again tomorrow! Okay? Okay!? Seriously. Well, its fine since Im getting paid. Chapter 72: Life at the Blacksmiths Workshop Chapter 72: Life at the cksmith''s Workshop It was the second day and I had been forging all afternoon. I was nowpleting three every two hours instead of just one. It feels like Ive been able to forge faster as my skill level goes up. But I have to forge a lot to reach LV5 right now. Since then, I would wake up in the morning and help prepare breakfast. I would forge swords during the day, eat dinner at night, take a bath and then sleep. ..Oh right, when I took baths, my skin would hurt due to the heat from the furnace and sparks, so I also made a skincare potion. That said, it was basically a recovery potion. But due to that, my skin was still soft. Far from having any scars, my skin was pure white and wless. Im in the cksmith trade with this, it feels like a lie Afterward, I continued on with forging, and whenever I ran out of materials, I would ask the master for more steel and such. I would also go out every week to gather herbs and ingredients, and to take Norn and Bell out to exercise. While doing such a thing, my Harvesting skill finally became LV10. Hmm, but what to sayit feels like my DEX is only getting higher due to the skill level increasing.never mind, theres nothing bad about it increasing. Additionally, my knife throwing attacks and multi-tasking ability became skills. Sword Control Magic and Multi-task. The former would allow me to shoot knives more urately than before. I was grateful that the MP consumption was also reduced. Thetter would allow the use of multiple skills at the same time, and also enhance the effects when using abination of skills. And when using other types of magic at the same time, I guess? Incidentally, both were LV3. Not that Im thinking it would be great if both were just a bit higher. Mumumu. And with that in mind, I woke up in the morning. After I finished preparing and went to the dining room, I found thendy grumbling. Whats wrong? Did something happen? Hm? Ah, the little miss. Actually Apparently, the bakery that she usually asked for the bread in the morning ran out of flour due to a supplier problem. As such, she couldnt procure the nned number of bread. In other words, they were worried about what to cook for breakfast to make up for the amount that was missing due to the deliveries. Those fellows eat quite a lot right from the morning. This workshop was veryrge, but even so, everyone also ate a lot, so every meal wasrge regardless. Hmm,ck of bread would also mean ack of carbs. When I looked at the stove, I could see the usualrge amount of vegetable soup in tworge pots. And likewise the meat. Meat right in the morning. Hmm? Can I change this soup a bit? Hm? I dont mind, but what are you going to do? Im thinking of adding something to make up for theck of bread. Huh? Then Ill leave it to you. As I looked over the other ingredients, I found a lot of tomatoes that were bought for the sd, so I decided to use them. I boiled the tomatoes in hot water and peeled the skin. But since it took time and was troublesome, I asked the maid to help peel them. There was a considerable amount since it was for tworge pots. Next, I kneaded the flour with water to make bite-sized t dumplings. Even with thendy helping, there was still a lot to make. If I steamed and crushed some potatoes before kneading them together, it would make them even more delicious, but this time I didnt do so since there was no time. The tomatoes were all peeled by the time the dumplings were finished, so I began mixing them into the pot. Then I added a few peppers for a subtle taste. Thendy and the maid had a horrified look on their faces when the pot turned bright red, but I ignored them. cing the potatoes right in would cause them to break apart if they werent boiled beforehand, but since I only kneaded it with wheat this time, I ced them right in. The color would be a bit off, but it couldnt be helped. I didnt have time so I would just have to deal with it. Afterward, I briefly skimmed the fat off. Once the dumplings finished cooking, I did a quick taste test. Perhaps I should sprinkle some dried parsley? Sujebi-style minestrone..or minestrone-style sujebi? Well, either way is fine. Hmm, I guess it would be something like this? Its really red. Ive never seen tomatoes in a soup before Hmm, I guess the recipe for minestrone doesnt exist? Did I perhaps do something bad? Mumumuu. But since I already made it, it didnt matter anymore. I would just have to push forward. Besides, the master has been helping me in various ways too. I offered a small dish to the two of them. Please have a taste~ This isgood. This is the first time Ive had something like this, but its really good.. So you used tomatoes for the soupshould I also try testing various things out? Please make sure to actually research recipes. Soon after, everyone gathered in the dining room to eat. Landy, there isnt enough bread. Im sorry, something came up today. So we prepared something else instead. What is thisits really red. This child made todays soup. Its really good, so why dont you give it a try? No, something this red, I dont want it. Is that so? Then you dont have to eat it. I will eat that portion. It would be such a waste not to eat something so delicious. .Is it that good? What? Its toote now, okay? Theres none left for you! Woah, what is this, its so good! Youre right, its really goodafter the first taste, I just cant stop myself! Hmm, looks like its getting good reviews~ Soon, the pot was emptied instantaneously due to the repeated refills. The second son was staring at me usingly because he had refused to eat it due to how it looked. But isnt that his own fault? ming other people isnt good~ About two weekster, my cksmithing skill level increased to 5. A few days after that, I was asked by the master to forge a sword while being observed by the other craftsmen. Which made me really nervous. But in return, I was told I would be given a sizeable amount of mithril ingots. So I epted. It would be something like this. Too fast. I dont get it. For the time being, I was forging without using Creation Magic, so it was taking longer than usual. Nevertheless, I was still able to forge a sword at a reasonable speed even without magic, due to the rise in my skill level. After this, should I also try aiming for LV10 Metalworking? Do all you guys understand now? Age doesnt mean anything, so instead ofining, you should be working on improving your skills. I know hes trying to motivate the apprentices so I cant reallyin, and I am borrowing a smithy at his shop.but your son is still ring at me a lot. Please give me a break. But with that Ive obtained the mithril ingots. If I raised my skill level a little more, I could start forging my own sword. But the goal was still a long way off. Two more weeks had passed and it was now August. As expected, I was beginning to get tired of the repetitive endless cycle of forging swords. Well, I was also forging spears, axes, and many other things, but I was still bing tired of making weapons in general. As such, I was going to make something other than a sword. I was going all out in making convenient items. I first made a noodle making machine, or a pasta machine. It was the type that could make long pasta by turning the handle around. Since it was troublesome to make pasta using Creation Magic. What about using my hands? I didnt want to since it would be troublesome. By recing the mouthpiece, it could also cut out various unique shapes for short pasta. Next, I made a pocket watch. But the parts were soplex that I ended up scraping the entire thing, so I wound up just wasting time. Although the pocket watch wasted time, I made various kinds of cooking utensils afterward. Like a slicer or peeler. Simple but convenient. I also made numerous other things. Then I made various kitchen knives. When would I actually use these Hmm, what else should I make? It feels like Ive made everything already but In addition to cooking utensils, I also made various other items like nail clippers and other daily necessities. For now, I guess this should be about enough? Due to making numerous intricate items, I saw that my DEX went up when I checked my status. STR and VIT hadnt gone up at all. Well, its alright. It didnt matter since I had physical strengthening skills. Dont mind it, dont mind it. While making various things, I also continued forging swords at regr intervals. Eh? Isnt this going against what I said earlier? Worrying about the details is good and all, but youll go bald if you worry about it too much, you know? As I continued on with making various things, one day, during a break before lunch, thendy startedining again. Did something happen? Hm? No, just what should I make for today? Again. Thendy is a good cook, so I look forward to eating her food, but she often agonizes like this. Well, Im not really sure if its that often. But I guess people dont really think about the troubles of the cook when they eat the same food every day? They would generally justin. Its hard toe up with a menu each day, truly. Hmm.since she does take care of me quite often every day How about I make something for today? You will? Hmmdo you know of something that would make those gluttonous children happy? Probably, itll be alright. Its time for the cooking utensils I made to shine! Eh? Shouldnt I be keeping the recipes a secret? Well, the master was giving me various huge concessions.so isnt it alright to show them one or two? As such, I decided to use the pasta machine I made the other day. This time I would be making spaghetti with meat sauce. Tomato sd has been appearing on the table a lottely, and there seems to be a lot of tomatoes left, so I guess Ill put them to use? Theres also always plenty of pork, or rather orc meat, but theres nothing wrong with using it as an ingredient. First, I asked the maid to make minced meat. That being said, I didnt n on having her do the heavybor of mincing it using a kitchen knife. I also made a mincer recently, the type that would just have to be turned. I left the work of repeatedly kneading the noodle dough to thendy. Me? I used the pasta machine to make noodles using the dough kneaded by thendy. Then I boiled arge amount of hot water for all the portions. Since I would need it to boil all the noodles. As I waited for that to finish, I began making the meat sauce. Since I had to make a lot, I also taught the other two the recipe for making it. Both of them were watching me with shining eyes when I told them that it would also be great on sd and could be used in other ways. I guess the two of them will begin testing its various uses soon? After making arge amount of meat sauce, I began boiling the noodles. But it took a lot of time to boil such an absurd amount. After it finished boiling, the noodles were served on a te with sauce drizzled over it. Along with a sd of fresh vegetables. I also made the dressing for it, but I kept that recipe a secret. Since it was lonesome without soup, I took out some onion soup as well. I kept that recipe a secret too. Ah, but I didnt put any eggs in the onion soup, okay? Since eggs were somewhat considered a high-ss good. Hm, I guess this should be good enough. Its my first time trying a dish like this. Laddy, this soup is really delicious. By the way, how would you eat this? You would use a fork for this dish Apparently, long pasta dishes dont exist around here, so Im going to have to teach them how to eat it. Meanwhile, everyone arrived at the dining hall and started eating. Everyone ate quickly without any words. A lot of people also asked for more. Soon, everyone became stuffed and bloated. ..Its really good. What is this. This child made todays meal. All of it. This is my first time eating this kind of food, but its really good. The soup is also very rich and good! Rather, the sauce on the sd? What is that? It feels like the sd is even better because of that. At the end of the meal, everyone began discussing about the food, so we werent able to clean up. Hey, you all! Say thank you before you start talking about it! Normally, the little miss shouldnt be doing this! Thanks for the food! Ah, it was nothing special? Or rather, being that grateful is kind of intimidating, so please tone it down a bit? The usually irritable second son was even bowing deeply to me. Delicious food sure is amazing. After that confusion, thendy called out to me before I headed off for afternoon work. That machine that can make noodles and the one that cuts the meat, do you mind if we provide financing for it? The food was well-received for the amount of work I put inalthough I did cut some corners, I also have numerous other dishes aside from this one, so it should be fine? Umm, that depends on the price negotiation, I guess? After that, I was taken to themerce guild, registered in the guild, submitted a design n, and granted a patent. Yep, thats right. With this, I guess I will earn money every now and then? So a sess? .Huh? Chapter 73: That Person Now Chapter 73: That Person Now Hello, this is Ren, Ive been training in cksmithing and for some reason I decided to register with themerce guild. It seems that the pasta machine and mincer that I used earlier was considered quite revolutionary, thus the revenue from the patents were quite profitable. ording to what I heard at themerce guild when I went to register the patents. The recipe didnt exist in this country, but long pasta dishes did exist in the central continent. But the tools that are used to make the noodles for the pasta dishes soundplicatedits somewhat like making tokoroten in how you have to forcefully push it in and then pull it out. Compared to that, the pasta machine I made was like a ground-breaking invention since it allowed for noodles to be made easily! Was it something like that? On the other hand, the mincer was considered amazing because it was a smaller version. Although mincers did exist, there were apparently no hamburgers in this country. Which I didnt really understand. The staff also said that there wasnt a recipe that required the usage method for it in the central continent. I think in this country, meatballs are made using leftover scraps? So the mincer wouldnt sell here either. While long pasta dishes didnt exist in this country, it seems to exist in a trade city in the west. Hm, I want to go there at least once. I want to try all the various foods there. That aside, I was able to make these since I knew about the structure due to my previous life. Im not the one who invented them, yet Im earning some ie from them..somehow I feel bad in various ways Oh, right. I guess this would be considered a knowledge cheat. The protagonists in the otherworld genre usually have quite the knowledgebase. I guess I would have to get used to it too? But still, I know this world is still in various stages of development, but to think there would be a patent system and such. This world really is over the top, I dont even know where to beginmenting. Incidentally, themerce guilds have a high registration fee. The cost would depend on the business being started, but it would be about 1 to 5 gold coins. Depending on the case, it could even go up to 10 gold coins. Apparently, it was because the cost would be used aspensation to cover any losses that might ur if the initial business failed. In my case, I had to pay 5 gold coins. Considering that, the adventurers guild which didnt charge a registration fee was quite generous. Also regarding my case, since I registered for a patent for the design, a fee would be charged each time the device was manufactured. Themerce guild was an international organization that spanned across multiple countries, so even if it was manufactured in another country, I would still earn money. Themerce guild also received a portion of the fee. As such, it seems that the fee would be properly collected in the surrounding areas in order to protect the guilds interests. In addition, as a result of listening to various exnations at themerce guild, it seems that this country was more rural and was quite backward. When I came here to get the patent for the tools, the process was quite exhausting. Furthermore, the ie from the patent fee would be processed by the guild and automatically transferred. Registering with themerce guild would allow me to open an ount with them, thus all the fees would be transferred to that ount. Apparently, the ount could be essed from other guilds too since the various guilds had business dealing with each other, so money could still be withdrawn even if it was apletely different guild. So in my case, I could ess it even at the adventurers guild. Unlike the adventurers guild, it seems that themerce guild required an annual membership fee, but if you allowed it to be withdrawn from your ount, you wouldnt have toe to pay for it and it would be automatically deducted. But the investigation process was quite long when I was registering for the patent, so I guess its quite nice that I dont have toe to pay fees? Seriously, the eyes of the surrounding merchants are scary. I wasnt expecting them to recognize me as the person who made tonkatsu back in Har and the one at the poultry farming vige. There were even suspicions about me being the rumored witch of the forest, scary! But I managed to mislead them into thinking that the matters regarding the witch of the forest was just something that happened close to me. And so, I didnt want toe to themerce guild anymore because of that. Or rather, I was worried about running into the toad-faced merchant if I frequented themerce guild too much. He wouldnt send pursers after me, right? Depending on the case, I might have to consider running away, but I had already rented a smithy, so it would be really annoying to do so. For now, I guess Ill just wait and seebut Ill prepare so that Im able to escape anytime. Ive been doing a lot of things based upon the surrounding mood, so I have to be a little more careful.I dont want to stand out. No, for real. Additionally, the rank of themerce guild increases when revenue and taxes paid to themerce guild and to the country generated from a guild members business exceeds a specific amount for a year. For me, since it would be automatically deducted from the ie from the patent fee, it seems it was alright to leave it alone. Well, it seems that sometimes I would have to visit to update my rank and such..but if possible, I dont really want toe back Despite such troubles, I still had time to forge swords and such afterward. Later that day, I took a break before noon and went outside the workshop for a bit. There was a door behind the main building that led outside of the perimeter walls of the workshop. Exiting from there would then lead to a back alley. The other end of the back alley was fenced and the open sky could be seen beyond. In other words, there was a hignd ahead, or a cliff so to say. When I ced my hands on the fence and looked down, I could see the roofs of the houses below. If I fell from here, I would get seriously injured, the difference in elevation was quiterge so I had to be careful not to fall. However, since there was a solid fence around here, it seems that if someone fell from here, it would be considered their own fault, and the person who fell would probably go down as aughingstock. Apparently, there also wouldnt be anypensation from the country even if someone fell from here. As such, lets be careful. But being here is like standing on top of a hill, the wind feels very nice. Should I take a break near the fence? There were benches set up at regr intervals, and it seems people would sit and rest here despite it being an alley. Even though it was located in such a ce, it didnt mean there werent any people, so I was naturally wearing my cloak. Norn was also next to me. And the wind really did feel nice. It might be a good idea to take a break here from now on. Fwah~ Woah, I let out a weird voice. Um, you came out from there, are you perhaps an apprentice of the workshop? Huh!? Did my weird voice get heard!? No way, how embarrassing! Ah, what? No, thats not it. Huh? Is that so? But you came out from there Well, Im being taken care of in various ways there, but Im just renting a space there. Oh, I see..if thats the case, then I guess it wont be possible The person looked disappointed and depressed. It wasnt like I did anything wrong, but for some reason, I felt guilty. And the person was giving off quite a depressing atmosphere. Hmm Um..is there something troubling you? This is something that should never be asked. Its a g. I know this will bring something troublesome. But I asked since I was Japanese. And above all, the person is a child.. Eh? Is there anything thats troubling you? Oh, nohow should I put this? That is, Im still just a newbie adventurer. The adventurers guild and craftsmen guild operated on a mutual assistance contract system. The contract was that new adventurers and new craftsmen would help each other to improve their own skills. For example, new adventurers might not have enough money for equipment. Good equipment would cost a bit of money. Furthermore, equipment would be considered consumables. Likewise, it would be simr for apprentice cksmiths. The person would be a new cksmith who only just recently began forging. As such, they wouldnt be able to afford materials. They also wouldnt be allowed to use the smithies whenever they pleased. And even if they made something, there wasnt a method to test its actual performance or usability. But the mutual assistance contract would allow such new adventurers and craftsmen to make up for each others needs. Adventurers could get necessary weapons and armor at low prices or for free. And craftsmen would be able to test the performance of the products they made. Adventurers could also provide the materials craftsmen would need at low prices or for free, and thus obtain new weapons, armor, and more experience. Craftsmen would also be able to experience working with new materials, and through learning about the performance and usability of their products, make improvements, and thus improve their own skills. As a result, they would be able to make up for each othersck of money, gain experience, and improve together. Hence the mutual assistance contract. However, there were also disadvantages. The abilities of new adventurers were limited. Sudden death was inevitable. Naturally, they wouldnt be in possession of many skills either. Thus, gathering the required materials wasnt easy. The same applied to new craftsmen, since they were only mere apprentices. The performance and reliability of the products created werent well-established. Sometimes, they could even suddenly break during a battle. Therefore, there was a use in the mutual assistance contract that both parties would not be held responsible for the life and death of the other. Even if you died, it would be your own fault. There were also uses regarding thepanions of dead adventurers. In the case that a fellow adventurer died due to equipment failure, taking action upon the craftsmen who signed the mutual assistance contract wasnt allowed. Naturally, breaking the agreement would result in penalties. However, if too many fatal idents urred, the penalties would be applied to the craftsmen. Thus, signing a mutual assistance contract would mean agreeing to these trade-offs. Apparently, the girl in front of me had been wandering around the cksmith district every day, looking for someone to sign the mutual assistance contract with. The rapid manner the girl spoke in, how she would keep rambling on, and yet still be able to convey her meaning. ..She hasnt changed. Shes just like before. She had light blonde hair, and the length was at the point where the hair could be neatly tied into a single, small bun. But before, she used to have long hair. Her skin was darker than I remembered. I guess she became tanner? But her sharp blue eyes were the same as before, a look full of willpower. Right, I know this girl. And so, considering the burden on the children who left the orphanage together with me, I thought it would be best to look for someone to sign a mutual assistance contract? But how would I find someone like that to begin with? Haa, how troubling. It seems that after bing 11 years old, she left the orphanage with some other children of the same age to be adventurers. Originally, the orphanage we were from would allow us to stay until we reached 15 years old. But she and the others had chosen to leave the orphanage to make space for children younger than them. I thought it would be manageable, but I wasnt able to tell herbs apart from each other. And with good armor, Im able to fight against goblins and lesser wolves, but my weapon didnt hold up at all. She had a worn-out looking dagger on her waist. Although it was sheathed, the various tears all over it made it was obvious how much hardships she had been through. Her hands were also quite worn-out. All the children in the orphanage had somewhat rough-looking hands, but their hands were still in much better shape than her hands. I understand I brought this upon myself, but I still think that with a mutual assistance contract, itll be alright! And if it goes well, I might even be able to ask for weapons for the other children. perhaps? She hasnt changed at all. Shes just like in the past. She was always looking after everyone and taking the extra burden upon herself. You havent changed at all, Tri. Eh? She looked at me with widened eyes. The look in her eyes was the same as back at the orphanage, and for some reason, it felt relieving. Chapter 74: I Actually Dont Mind Helping Out, Rather I Like It Chapter 74: I Actually Don''t Mind Helping Out, Rather I Like It The girl looked at me with a surprised expression on her face. Huh? Did I tell you my name? Huh? You didnt tell me your name. Right? Then, how? Tri looked very confused and flustered. Just like back then at the orphanage. She was always worrying and taking on the burden by herself. It feels nostalgic. I gingerly lowered my hood and the girl stared at my face. Does she understand now? She understands, right? Um, what? .huh? Eh? But huh? No way? One more push, then? I took off my sses and called out to her. Its been a while, Tri. ..Ren? Yes. .Lies, Ren isRen is supposed to Im right here. Lies Its not a lie. Uaaaaaa! Tri hugged me. She was hugging me really tightly. To be honest, it was painful. You were supposed to have fallen off of a cliff and died, you were supposed to be dead. Im not dead. But, because, soI Its alright. Im here now. Uaaaaaaaaa! She was crying. The girl who was always resolute in front of everyone was now clinging to me. I heard that you died, so, so-! Yes, Im alive. Im not dead. So its alright. She continued on incoherently, and I continued on reassuring her that I was alright as I stroked the back of her tearful, clinging body. Ren, Ren, Rennn. Yes. Uuuuu. I kept stroking her back until she stopped crying and calmed down. Uu- Tri looked embarrassed and had her hands on both cheeks. Cute. To be frank, I want to hug her. But wait? Was Tri always the cute character type? Huh~? Did you calm down? Yes, Im alright. Ive calmed down. She seems to have finally regained herposure and was now staring at my face as if she were inspecting me. Uh, Im the real deal, okay? .Youre really Ren? Its not a lie? Its not a lie. I really am Ren. She continued on checking by poking and pulling my cheeks. I-It-huurtss. Ah, sorry. It felt a bit painful. But this kind of exchange felt nostalgic. That unnecessarily formal speech and the simr face, it is you, Ren! And the plumpness of your cheeks are also the same! Eh, what is with that confirmation method. Incidentally, my formal speech is a habit from my previous life. Basically, I would speak formally to everyone except my rtives. Somehow, I didnt lose that habit even after being reincarnated and not having any memories. Rather, the look of my face Did my face change that much? Itspletely different! It was already cute before, but now itspletely different! Rather than just cute now, its super cute! Its outrageously cute! Huh, that much? Being told that I changed that much by someone who knew me in the past makes me realize just how much Ive changed. Right, but Ill still continue hiding my face. That way is better. But youre alivereally. Well, yes. But there were various troubles. As expected, I couldnt speak about the skills, so I exined everything while omitting various things. I went with the story that after falling off the cliff, I somehow managed to survive, and then barely managed to live on through eating bark and drinking muddy water. As for Norn, I brushed through it by saying that I was able to obtain her through a chance encounter during that time. Ugh.lying to my first friend in this world, and also my closest and one of my only friends at the orphanageit makes me want to die of self-loathing. Uuuuuuu!! I see, youve been through a lot. Well, basically. So youre helping out with cksmithing there now? Well, theres various reasons. There was just too much to exin. And I didnt want to. But you are doing something there right now. Right, its at the extent that I dont have to worry about living expenses. I see-. After that, we enjoyed talking about various things for a while. But the topic of the conversations were mostly about life after bing an adventurer. Incidentally, I was also given info about the toad-faced merchant who funded the orphanage. In the past, there have been several girls who have also learned a rare skill like me. Likewise, there have been times where they were also attacked by bandits while traveling and went missing. However, there hadnt been any searches conducted during those times, and this time I was treated like I had died. Which means I didnt have to worry about pursuers anymore. And naturally Tri would never give me away! Or so I was told. But Ill be careful just in case. She said she and several girls were currently staying at a cheap inn near the outskirts of the city, and they had rented arge room since there were a lot of them. In the end, I just cant tell herbs apart. Even when I ask the older adventurers, they only say that its something thats very difficult to learn. I also cant take on any subjugation requests, and even if I try to defeat monsters by iming it as self-defense, its hard to do so with a shabby weapon. Tri, didnt you listen to the exnation given when you registered with the guild? Eh? I did? Or rather, what about it? The resource room, did you use it? Whats that? .So you didnt listen to the exnation. Eh? What do you mean? I exined about the Adventurers Guild resource room. About how it was free to use, and how there was information and pictures of herbs, and how there was even information regarding the ecology of monsters and how to counter them. There was also information on the requirements for learning skills, which was helpful for those who wanted to obtain skills. Incidentally, Ive already confirmed that the guild in the royal capital also has a reference room. But there werent any branch locations, so it was only in the royal capital guild headquarters which was located in the second division where the wealthy ss lived. No way~ if there was such a ce, you should have told me about it first. Well, thats why I asked about the exnation to begin with. Tri, youll be able to get information you need now and forter in the future if you go there. From there on, itll be up to your own efforts. I see, thank you! As expected, Ren is amazing! Thats not true. No, no, youre just being modest. .By the way, Cain is actually also here with us. You dont want to meet, right? I dont want to meet. Absolutely not. Cain was someone who used to bully me back at the orphanage. He was really persistent with the bullying too. To be clear, hes currently the person I dislike the most in this world. Cain was the leader of the kids in that town, and it was because of him that the children of the orphanage wouldnt be bullied by those with parents. Looking back, Cain was the only one who bullied me in the orphanage, which probably kept back the other potential bullies. Now that Ive regained my memories as an adult from my previous life, I could understand the reasoning. But before from a childs perspective, it just seemed like he was bullying me to keep me down, or because I was annoying, and such. Its easy to understand from an old mans point of view, but it still wasnt something that could be excused. Essentially, Cains bullying was a bit too excessive. I had been chased and forced to tears countless times. A few of the more developed girls, including myself, had their food taken away and were told that we were too big to need it. There were countless nights where we would be unable to sleep due to hunger. In truth, he was actually giving the meals he took from me to the younger children. But that and my hunger are two different matters. Its not like I wanted to be taller. And even though I was taller, I was still skinny under the clothes. It was to the point where my ribs were showing through my body, and my limbs were so bony that it would make you want to look away! I suppose he was just trying to protect everyone else and perhaps look out for the younger children. But that didnt mean the remaining few of us should be left to starve. If he had exined his reasoning to us, and asked us to split our meals and been nice about it, it might have convinced us. But instead he just ate his own meals regrly, and when he took mine, he didnt even bother to exin he was sharing it with the younger children. Plus, he was bullying me relentlessly too. It was possible that my excessive dislike for men might actually be due to mild trauma from Cains bullying, rather than it being a correction from being an old man in my previous life. Thus, after taking those into ount, I couldnt forgive him. Even if he apologized, I still wont ever forgive him. I dont even want to see his face. Arent I supposed to be a mature adult on the inside? That doesnt matter. Grudges rted to food are dreadful. Im able to eat my fill now, but thats that. Im being narrow-minded? Say whatever you like. Its hard even for older adults to overlook and forgive that easily. In other words, what Im trying to say is, I hate him! And thats basically it. Ahhhhhhhh, Im getting more and more angry now that I remember! That a-hole! Ill never forgive you! Never! Please dont ever bring him here. I dont even want to see his face. Seriously, he should just die already. I thought as much~ I understand, Ill do that. *Gurrrr..urghhhh As we were talking, Tris stomach suddenly grumbled. Sorry. Dont worry about it, how about we eat? I essed Storage, but I pretended I was taking out food from my bag. Egg sandwiches and orange juice. And some apples. Here, this is for Tri. Wait, I cant ept that! Its fine. I forcefully gave them to her. But I wont take it back even if you refuse. Ill just leave it out here. .Alright, Ill ept it. Thanks for the meal. Yes. When she took a bite, her eyes became wide, then after the second bite, she began wolfing the food down. Since she had finished the portion I gave her so quickly, I took another one out of my bag and gave it to her. Here. She was a bit hesitant, so I pressed it onto her. I was going to force her to eat. To be honest, she was too skinny. It was painful to look at her since she was so skinny. It seemed my intentions were conveyed to her, so she took it and finished it instantly. I handed her more. And she ate. I gave another. And she ate. When I looked at Tris face, she was crying a little. I wasnt sure why she was crying, but that didnt stop her hands from continuing to eat. Thanks for the food. I ate a bit too much, so as expected, Im feeling stuffed. It was nothing. Did Ren make this? Its very good. And youre able to buy eggs too.youre really working hard. Yes, Im doing my best. Right, Im working hard. Mainly on various hobbies. Heres some for the other children. Please have them eat them. I handed her some extra sandwiches. I didnt just give her egg sandwiches, but several other kinds like ham sandwiches and the likes. ThisI cant ept all these Its fine. ..But Cain is also there? Then thats just how it is. Cain being there was unrted to the hunger of Tri and the other children. Tri was my first and closest friend in this world. Or at least, thats how it was for me. She was well-liked by everyone, so I might not be viewed the same in her eyes, but that was a separate matter. Alright, Ill ept them. Pleasee back whenever youre free. Ill give you more at that time too. .Okay. Did my feelings reach her? Im not too sure. And also, take this. I took the sword on my waist and held it out to her. This is a sword I made. I want Tri to use it. No, I cant take anymore after everything youve already done. I wont take no. It doesnt matter how Tri feels. Tris arms were preupied with the sandwiches, so I was able to do whatever I wanted. I removed the dagger on Tris waist and strapped on my sword. I couldnt stand the idea of the girl I considered to be my closest friend, being put in danger due to poor equipment. It was simply my own selfishness. The asional pushy side of you hasnt changed. Of course. Im me. We exchanged those words with each and for some reason beganughing. Pleasee again. Theres so much more I want to talk about. Yeah, I also have a lot to talk about, so Ill definitely be back. After promising to meet again we separated, and I continued on forging swords in the afternoon. Chapter 75: Plan to Strengthen the Fledgling Adventurer Chapter 75: n to Strengthen the Fledgling Adventurer Ren! Whats up with that sword, isnt it a bit strange!? Three days after our reunion, Tri was now yelling at me. Or to be more precise, she was waiting for me at the back entrance, and got angry at me when I showed up. Im not really sure why. Ah, and the food was delicious! Everyone was so happy! Thank you! Youre wee. So was there something wrong with the sword? Did it perhaps break by any chance? Thats strange. Its supposed to be made so that it wouldnt break easily. Ah, its not like it broke or anything like that. Hmm? Then, whats wrong? .So it seems three days ago, after we had lunch and separated, she had gone to the guilds resource room. Like I said, there were many things there that she had wanted to know. That being said, Tri couldnt read many characters. So she had pleaded with the librarian and asked them to teach her. Apparently, herpanions also had a great time that night with the sandwiches I made or something like that. That stupid Cain was also eating too. ????! And the next day, she had gone to the forest on the east side to gather herbs in order to test out what she had learned in the resource room. There were a total of eight people who left the orphanage with her, including Tri and Cain, so the expenses for food and rent was quite high. And so, like usual she had gone with them and divided into two groups, one to learn more about gathering herbs and the other to earn money. Since she had just learned it yesterday at the resource room, as expected, she wasnt entirely confident in herself. And as usual, they split up and Tri decided to join the gathering group. But judging from the results, Tri was sessful. Up until then, the earnings from the herb gathering group werent too great, and even with adding in earnings from misceneous requests, the total would at most equal to around a silver coin. In most cases, the earnings from gathering herbs would be about 7 small silver coins, but the earnings for that day was 5 silver coins. Apparently, it was the highest amount ever. Incidentally, the mary unit in this world is called gil. Going from the bottom, the coins begin with small copper coin, copper coin, small silver coin, silver coin, small gold coin, and gold coin. In terms of gil, a small copper coin would equal 1 gil. A copper coin would equal 10 gil. And the mary value continues to increase by 10x beyond that. Theres also currency under 1 gil, but Ill spare you the details. Going from my senses, 1 gil feels about equal to 1-10 yen. The range is kind ofrge? Well, theres also various elements like price fluctuations, time period, and such. Anyways, moving on. Therge room at the inn where Tri and the others were staying cost seven coppers a night, per person. For eight people, that would be five small silver coins and six copper coins in total. Adding in food expenses, it was just barely safe. And on that day alone, they had made more than seven times the usual amount of money. So naturally, everyone was in an uproar. Apparently, Tri had misled everyone and given the exnation that she had been informed by a kind cksmith. She also exined that the food from the previous day was also given by the same person. Naturally, the next day, Tri went out again with the gathering group. But apparently, half of the other group that would normally go out to ept misceneous requests within the city, decided to go to the guilds resource room to study. So with half of eight people remaining splitting into two groups, theres only two people per group? Yep, knowledge is a weapon, so its important to study. But here was the problem. The day before that, Tris group of four, which included Cain, got ambushed inside the forest by goblins when they were gathering herbs. When a goblin attacked her, Tri had quickly drawn her sword and managed to block it, then countered by shing back. But despite managing to counter, she was still an amateur at using the sword. And it seems she had swung towards the sword that the goblin was holding. Initially, she had thought she had failed and that she would damage the sword that she had received. But instead, the sword Tri had swung managed to cut through the sword that the goblin was holding and split the goblin cleanly into two. When Cain saw that, he had made a huge deal out of it. That being said, she couldnt talk about me and didnt want to. She had managed to mislead everyone, but after returning to the inn, Cain had wanted Tris sword and been persistent about it. Incidentally, the earnings from the goblins and the herbs gathered by four people on that day resulted in a small gold coin. Ah, and on a side note, apparently the rusty, broken sword that the goblin had is now hanging from Cains waist. Lame!! Um, congrattions? Thanks! No, thats not it! Whats with that sword? Is it really made by Ren!? Its definitely a sword I forged. The sword I gave to Tri three days ago was a new sword I forged for myself after my cksmithing skill reached LV5. So its definitely a sword I made. Incidentally, theres a simr sword hanging on my waist right now, which I forged two days ago. Umm.as expected, one for Cain wouldbe. I will never make one for Cain. But if its for the other children, I might consider it. Right~ I refuse to give Cain a sword even if my life were on the line. He could just earn enough to buy one for himself. To be honest, this sword is too much for the current me to handle It doesnt matter. Please keep it to protect yourself, Tri. I had a feeling youd say that.okay, Ill keep it. Good. Ah, and also can I ask you for something? What is it? Ive made leather armor for Tri, and I need to adjust it to fit you. .I suppose I dont have a choice anyways? YES! Of course. Yep, this is also for the sake of my mental peace. And so I began adjusting the size of the leather armor. We sat on a bench in the back alley as I made the adjustments. Although I said it was armor, isnt it actually more of a leather breastte than leather armor? However, Ive also prepared arm and knee guards, so including the breastte, I guess it is actually aplete set of leather armor? With this, most of the vital points of the body should be covered. For now, Ive made it so that you can adjust the size up to a certain extent with the belt, so it should be usable for a while even if you grow up and your body bes bigger. But if you feel that the size doesnt fit anymore, dont force yourself to use it and get a new one. Otherwise, youll get injured. Okay, I understand. But this is amazing, it fits so well but its still easy to move in. The one from before was very difficult to move in, but how did you get my sizes? Ive grown quite a bit in the past year or so. I checked her sizes using Analyze the day we met, but .Right, you have grown a lot. When we were back at the orphanage, I was taller, but now Tri was taller. And her entire frame was slender and slim. Or rather, it was actually slender and skinny. Actually, Ren didnt seem to have grown taller at all? Ah, but your chest Right, I havent even grown a millimeter taller! God dammit! What am I even supposed to do with this ridiculously big chest!? Wait, dont stare at my chest! Stop it! Please dont stare at my chest so much. Ah, sorry. To be honest, theyre a nuisance. Rather, Tris rapid growth is more surprising to me. A nuisance Even if you look at me like that, a nuisance is a nuisance. My chest gets in the way and Im forced to keep my movements tight, and they also get in the way when I swing the hammer during forging, and when I use a sword. It hurts when I run, and if I say something like this to people who dont have them, they might get angry, even though it would just actually be a pain if they did. Also, my shoulders get sore. It was the same with the sword, but I get the feeling that this leather armor will also be amazingI wonder if my equipment is too strong and itll cause me to be unable to gain actual experience? It could be a problem when considering the future, but I still want Tri to be properly equipped. But its still better to use good equipment, since she should be able to learn how to properly use them. If you say so Well, okay, thats fine then, but when I get back and Cain sees this armor, hes going to make a fuss again. Just ignore him. Thats harsh! Fine, just tell him you saved up some money and buy it. Tri, you were able to meet me because you walked around on your own two feet looking for a mutual assistance contract partner. If Cain also wants his own sword and other equipment, he should get it for himself. Thats true. In fact, he always mocked me whenever I went out to the eastern district and called it pointless. That a-hole, is he still as foul-mouthed and stupid as ever? Laughing at my best friends efforts, unforgivable. But for now, Im prioritizing Tris diet. I should add more meat. Theres so much meat, I cant eat it all Nope. Everything must be eaten. Chapter 76: Me too! I want to do it too! Chapter 76: Me too! I want to do it too! Hello everyone, how are you guys doing? Im Ren, and Im forging swords every day. I had a feeling that my skill experience was increasing day after day. Im sure the level of my cksmithing skill would rise to level six soon. With such a hunch, I started pondering a lot of things. Soon after I reached level six, I was nning on making a magic sword. Ah, I want to go to the adventurer guilds reference room and do a little research on magic swords As I made my ns for the future, I was having a lunch break with Tri as usual. Recently, Tri came here at noon every two or three days and talked about various things regarding the recent situation. It seemed like on the days she came here, all of her party members went to the reference room in the morning to examine the materials and went to collect herbs in the afternoon. On the other days, they collected herbs from the morning. Unlike before, they didnt ept the requests to do odd jobs in the town and went to collect the herbs together I feel bad for asking the librarian in the reference room every time we came Right. Since all of the members at Tris party came from the same orphanage, they couldnt read well. Thats why they had to ask the librarian to read the text of the books every time. However, not only that they came with arge number of people, they had to keep asking for help. For a good-natured girl like Tri, she must be feeling bad for bothering other people continuously. Then should I teach you reading and writing? Eh? Ren, you can read and write!? Yeah. I roughly learned it in the past year. Or perhaps I should say that my ability in reading and writing became equal to royalties after I regained the memories of my previous life. As expected from the higher education of modern Japan. Leave the kanji to me~! Its all easy~! Im sorry to keep troubling you, Ren. Can you teach me? No problem, please leave it to me. Nheless, it would be extremely difficult to use paper for studying. In this world, nt paper was amon item, so everyone could buy papers without trouble. There was even toilet paper. Therefore, it was easy to find the papers normally used for writing documents. However, the paper quality was rtively delicate. If I had to say it frankly, it was simr to the straw paper used for writing calligraphy. After all, those papers were mostly used by themoners. Still, those papers were much more expensive than the ones used in the bathroom. It was hard for me to tell an adventurer who used to be an orphan to buy a lot of papers to study. Then, she had no choice but to buy the te chalkboard and te pencil or something like that, but although her ie had increased, the te chalkboard was considerably expensive. I also felt kind of awkward to have her buy it on her own, how should I say this hmm. Ah, maybe I should just make something appropriate with the materials I have? Yeah, lets do that. Please wait for a while, I said to Tri and returned to the courtyard from the back door of the workshop. There were some trees growing on the courtyard. I went to the shadow of a tree and took out the materials from my [Storage] and did a simple [Creation Magic]. I made two small ckboards and a few chalks. It should be fine to substitute the ckboard eraser with an adequate old rag. The ckboard was rtively easy to make since I only need to paint the coating of the ckboard with suitable paints. Id like to fix the appearance as well, so I should finish this by putting a wooden frame around the edges. I made the chalks from stones. For now, I tried writing something as a trial. Yup, it was a normal ckboard. I returned to Tri and handed her everything. Lets study with this. What is this? Paper is expensive, so I tried to prepare something that can be used many times. You use it like this. I used the chalk to write some random characters and wiped them with a rag to erase them. Eh, what is this? Amazing. Isnt this too handy? The text disappears once you graze them. Its not suited to keep a memo. I think the usability in that type of case is delicate. Even so, I believe this has a lot of uses. There were many ways to use this ckboard, such as leaving a message in a room. Lets leave that aside and study for now. Both of us have ns after this, so we cant take too much time. Ah, right! Then, please take care of me, teacher! She called me a teacher!? Huh? It feels like Im being relied on a lot, and somehow my heart skips a beat. Ren? Its nothing. Lets get started. After that, our pleasant chat during lunch every three days changed to study time. That being said, Tri didnt take long to learn reading and writing. Probably, it passed in a blink of an eye since she desired to improve herself and she also had a good memory. In our third meeting, she could read the basics normally. She still had a slightly hard time reading katakana, but she wouldnt have a problem once she focused on studying the kanji formon useter on. Tri is a fast learner. No, my life depends on this after all. Not to mention, studying is more interesting than I thought. Hmm. I guess now that she said that, studying is one kind of pleasure for poor people. Anyway. Tri, theres someone who has been watching us for a while What? Where? Shes hiding over there. Huh? Over there? Eh, that girl! Ah, so its really her acquaintance? Rather, I also knew her. Hey, Rico! What are you doing here!? I already told you that you cante along! Eh, but Tri has been under her care, right? The director also told us to properly give our thanks when we received a favor. Besides, Tri has been smiling a lot these days. Im curious! Like I said, she has her own circumstances as well Ricorice1, known as Rico. She was one year younger than us. Long ago, she always followed behind Tri and me here and there with small, quick steps. I guess shes like someone who we consider as our younger sister? Thats the person who lets us eat meals, right? Then I have to say thank you! Ah! Hey, wait! Rico! Oh, she came here. Nice to meet you! Thank you for always taking care of Tri! The meal on the other day was delicious! Thank you very much Eh? No way Ren? Rico was shorter than me, just like the little girls I had acquaintanced with so far. Thats why she could clearly see my face even when I was wearing a hood. Its been a while, Rico. Youre still full of energy, eh? No way!! Ren!? Eh, youre alive Ehhh!? Yes, Im alive. Unfair! Tri is unfair! How can you meet up with Ren alone! UNFAIR! Ah I know shell act like this Rico clung to Tri and hit her t chest. Well, she was still a lively and noisy kid as usual. If you meet Ren, then let me know! If the others know that both of you dont say anything to them, theyll definitely get angry too, you know!? Ah, well, youre right, but if we tell everyone, Cain will find out, right? Oh I see, so its Cain Cain is an idiot after all. Yeah, hes an idiot, isnt he? Both of their view towards Cain might seem awful, but that was also how all of the girls in the orphanage looked at him. By the way, the little kids were also included. His brain was good, but he wasnt using it enough. He couldnt read the mood, and he couldnt adjust to it as well. Not to mention, he imposed his self-righteous justice to everyone. But he had some kind of charisma that attracted people. Thats why he was popr within the boys. He was also well-known within the girls, but well, not for a good reason. Since he bullied me, some of us even considerably hated him. But well, whats even more irritating was that guy had a pretty good face. Something like a handsome naughty boy? Because of that, he was rather popr with the town girls. I absolutely loathed him, though. I wished he would die. With that, if that idiot Cain became aware of me, he would definitely do something that wasnt interesting for me. Maybe like forcing me to join the party or make them armors. On top of that, I probably had to use my own materials. Cain was just that unreasonable. But that was also his quality. Ren says that she doesnt want to meet Cain, so Rico, can you help us? Okay. It cant be helped since Cain is an idiot. He tormented Ren too much, yet he didnt think he would get hated. What an idiot. Hes too stupid, isnt he~? I hope he can just die. As expected from Ren! You sure are unsparing! Hahaha. Ill get shy if youpliment me too much!2 By the way, what are you guys doing just now? I taught Tri to read and write. Eh? Did Ren teach Tri? So Tri suddenly could read books these days because Ren taught her!? This is unfair! Hey Rico, stop it Unfair! Its unfair that only Tri can learn! Unfair!! Ah, this was her usual pattern. Me too! I want to do it too! I will do it! Ren, teach me too! Rico, Ren has her own circumstances, so dont say something that unreasonable Unfair! Me too!! I want to do it too!! As I thought, her usual I want to do it too! has begun. But even if she might look like a wilful spoiled child, her intentions were actually different. Rico might look like this, but she was a reliable kid. Her I want to do it too means that she also wanted to do it because she wanted to help everyone. It wasnt like she wilfully said that because her friends left her out. Actually, she wouldnt say anything selfish even if the others left her out while ying. She would obey the order of things and concede to other kids. Because she was such a kid, Tri and I pampered her a lot. Rico, I will get angry if you keep being selfish, okay? But~ I dont mind. Rico, lets study together. Can I!? Hey, Ren! Its okay, Tri. You know that Rico only wants to help, right? Thats right, but if I think about Rens burden, I Teaching one or two people wont be that different. Tri! Ren also said that, so its good right? Right? Uhh~ But? Its okay. Its really no problem. Uh Then it cant be helped. But were not here to y, so do it properly, okay? Yes! I understand! Then, Teacher Ren, please take care of me! Teacher Ren!? She called me with such a cute nickname! Is she an angel!? Okay, leave it to me! Since it already came to this, I will do my best! Hmph! Chapter 77: If your hand cant reach the itchy spot, just use a backscratcher Chapter 77: If your hand can''t reach the itchy spot, just use a backscratcher Two lessons had passed since the number of members for the lunch break and study session increased by one. I prepared the same small ckboard and chalks with what I gave to Tri for Rico. Rather, I pretended to go and take it from my storage even though I made a new one and handed it over to her. With that, I began to teach her, but To be honest, I was making light of Ricos motivation. She was a very fast learner. I could even say that she was faster than Tri. In our third study session, she had already caught up with Tris progress. Since I taught Rico after teaching Tri first, I could see how fast Rico learned the basics. Rico is a very fast learner. Youre even faster than Tri. Really? Ehehe, did you hear that? Im better than Tri! Dont get carried away! Tri is being violent~! You guys shouldnt quarrel. Lets get along well, okay? Both of you have learned the basic kanji. It should be okay for you to start learning difficult kanji. Since Tri already learned katakana, I think it should be okay for Rico to ask Tri if theres something you dont understand. They have learned up to this point, so the rest was up to their determination. Good luck, both of you!1 I can read the books in the reference room now, right! Hmm, but Im still not very good with the difficult kanji I can only ask the librarian for the kanji I dont understand. Its not like youre asking them to read the whole text like before, so dont worry too much. Is that so? Yes. Now then. Since the study time was over, how about having our lunch? Todays menu was rice balls. It wasnt the type where the ingredients were in the middle, but seasoned rice balls. These rice balls had a mixture of minced vegetables and chicken meat in the rice. The other dish was pork miso soup. But since the meat wasnt pork but orc meat, so orc soup? For some reason, it suddenly sounded indecent. Hmm, lets just go with pork miso soup. Lets eat. Yay! Thank you! While handing the rice ball and miso soup to both of them, I also prepared Norn and Bells share. They were curling up on my feet. Eat lots, yeah? What I learned from feeding them a lot of dishes recently was that Norn seemed to like miso and meals with soy sauce. Therefore, todays lunch hit right on the mark. Norns tail was swinging around. Bell basically ate everything. Even so, she didnt like bitter food. I think Norn was getting bigger these days, but it was probably because I fed her a lot of things I felt like I could even ride her back now.2 You even prepared our meals even after you taught us how to read and write. Is this really okay? I dont mind. Plus, its more delicious to eat together. Thats right~ Its more delicious to eat together~! Rico, you Hah, okay then. Thanks, Ren. Ill gratefully eat it! Yes, eat up. Todays meal is delicious too~ This is rice? Was rice always this delicious? When we ate it in the orphanage, wasnt it hard and unappetizing? Theres a trick in cooking it. Once you get used to it, you can cook it deliciously. Hee Rice is cheaper than wheat, right? Since its this delicious, should we buy rice and cook it on our own? Its also cheaper to eat potatoes nowadays. Ah, right. Surprisingly, potatoes were normally eaten in the royal capital. Since a few years ago, a policy had rmended eating potatoes to raise food self-sufficiency rate. They taught how to store it and where the poisonous parts were. Even so, it seemed like it wasnt spread until Har? It would take some time before they managed to spread the knowledge in the entire kingdom. By the way, this policy seemed to be His Majesty the Kings directmand. Plus, it seemed like selling dishes using potatoes with sprouts for personal gains could be considered as going against the King. In the worst case, they might be sentenced to the death penalty for treason? To think that selling potatoes with sprouts would kill you I guess if they didnt do it that way, the guys who only thought about themselves wouldnt be obedient, but getting a death penalty because of potatoes it was kind of terrible. Oh? Speaking of which, Lily cried when she ate my potato sd before, right? When the potatoes started to spread in the royal capital, she mustve lived here Did something happen to her? Maybe she was poisoned before? The inn were staying in doesnt serve food and the venttion in the room is terrible Since our party has arge number of people, I think we should rent a house in the future. The monthly rent is quite reasonable, so isnt it fine to do that after saving up some money? Right At least men and women have separate rooms. If we have a kitchen, we can cook our own meals too. Ill try to look for a house with that kind of arrangement. Well, I think you should rent it before winter. Please tell me when youre going to rent a house. Ill teach you how to cook rice. Thank you! Cain is stupid, so he bought his equipment first even though we cant take subjugation tasks. Hes really an idiot, isnt he? Yeah, hes really stupid. He shouldve thought that his body will grow bigger by the time hes thirteen years old, right? Does he understand how expensive it will cost us to buy new armors? Why is he that stupid? He probably only wants to look good. Maybe he thought its cool to wear armor and hang a sword on his waist. Ah, thats definitely the reason. After all, Cain is too much of a fool~ Usually people will think of their living environment first too. We can only collect herbs and do odd jobs right now, so a knife or a dagger should be enough as a weapon, right? Besides, if a goblin appears, we can do nothing but run away. But he made a scene when Tri defeated a goblin the other day, right? Thats why hes so noisy, asking for a weapon~ Lets ignore him. In the end, we came to the conclusion that Cain was stupid. However, I felt a bitplicated to get excited while talking about that fool, so lets change the topic. Ah, right. Rico, pleasee over here first. Nn? What? I made a dagger for you. For armor I think its still a bit too early for you, so have this leather cloak. Eh, is this okay!? Hey, Ren! You shouldnt spoil her too much! Im sure its the same for Tri, but I hate it if Rico gets hurt. Even if you said that Both of you have no right to refuse. Muu. Yay! I also got Rens equipment! The dagger was brand new, but I tried to modify the cloak I used in the beginning. I also applied [Concealment] Level 2 there, so it should be hard for the monsters to attack her, I think? Eh? Wasnt it dangerous in a different sense if I gave her equipment with that kind of skill, you say? That might be the case, but if I didnt do this much, I felt like this kid would somehow rashly jump into danger. Hmm, after that is Do both of you still have some time today? Eh? Yeah, were still free for around an hour. Then Ill teach you a little magic. Pleasee here. Magic!? We can use magic like Ren? Amazing! Muu, I dont know where Rens evolution will stop. Yeah, lets teach them magic. With this, they dont need to pay for anything. And if they can learn it, even the small Rico can be very helpful. Well, yeah, kind of. For today, lets start by learning [Mana Sense] as the preparation for learning magic. We cant just immediately use it? Thats the case for talented people. We ordinary people have to do it steadily. Even though I said so, Im actually a talented person. Sorry for lying~ Both of you, please take my hand, close your eyes, and focus. Im pouring my magic to you, so try to sense it, okay? I learned how to do it from Lilys magic course, so I should immediately put it into practice! Even if both of them couldnt learn it today, well, it seemed like they would be able to learn it before long if they practiced steadily. For now, lets patiently keep at it. Hmm? Ahh, I feel something kind of warm? I think? Oh, that went well? Should I keep going? Then lets take one step further. Hold both of your hands together and lets make a circle together. Ill pour my magic to Tri and return it back through Rico. Please sense the flow. By the way, this was a practicing method I did all the time to train up to the three stages of perception, operation, and cirction. When I did it alone, I circted my magic power within my body. Having done that, I eventually learned [Mana Cirction]. Ah, something seems to be flowing? How about Rico? Do you understand? Yeah, I feel like I understand it somehow? Okay, then well go to the next stage. Lets go steadily. Okay, now release both of your hands and try to sense the magic power within your own body. Hmm I feel like I can sense it, but I also cant? Ah, I think I get it! Oh? Seems like Rico was more talented? Lets check both of your statuses then! Tri Yeah, she learned [Mana Sense]. But the level was zero. For the time being, she had picked up on how to start. Rico was eh? Both of you have learned it, eh. I feel a bit bad, but I checked your statuses for a moment. Eh? Ah, are you using [Appraisal]? Yes. Please take a look at your status. What happened? Rico is a bit Ah! A lot of things are increasing! What? A lot? Um, Rico has talent in rare magic skill Ehhh? Seriously!? Wait, I only learned level zero of [Mana Sense], though!? Rico learned level two of [Mana Sense] and level zero of [Mana Control]. In addition, she has a skill called [Magic Effect Amplification] In order to increase the power and effect of magic, one should raise the skill level or increase the amount of MP used for the magic, but [Magic Effect Amplification] seemed to be a skill that increased the effect by inputting less MP on it. [Appraisal] sure was convenient since I could see the effect of the skill I saw for the first time. like that. Its a skill with that kind of effect. Im amazing!? Maybe I have a talent for magic!? Right, I think you have a talent. However, it will depend on the attribute magic you are suited for and the nature of your magic. There is a possibility that it can be a waste of talent, so its a bit hard to judge. Hey, Rens [Appraisal] cant tell that too? Uh I could know both of that by using [Appraisal] and [Analyze]. Do you want to know? I want to! Please tell me! Hmm Since I was going to teach them magic in the future, it would be worthwhile to know it early, right? Maybe? Oh well, [Analyze]! Ohh. Its very hard for me to say this, but your attribute aptitude is only for non-attribute. Ren, is that good? Or bad? Its better than nothing. However, since Rico cant use other attribute magic, she might be unable to use it depending on the situation, and the firepower falls behind. But since non-attribute can be used in all circumstances, it has an extremely all-purpose nature. Plus, since its easy to derive from non-attribute magic to other unique magic, she may be able to learn those as well if she does her best. From the non-attribute magic, there were various other derivations such as [Recovery Magic], [Barrier Magic], [Magic Sword], [Magic Enhancement], and [Magic Weakening]. Well, its useless if the user had no aptitude for each of them, and people without aptitude for non-attribute could learn it as well. Even so, having an aptitude for non-attribute made it easier to learn. But you have talent, Rico! Even now, your magic power is higher than Tri! And even if your firepower is inferior, you can supplement it with [Magic Effect Amplification! Rather, your firepower will be high, you know!? I mean, Rico had been casting her eyes down and slightly trembled for a while, okay!? What should I do now!? By the way, what is my aptitude? All of the basic four attributes. Ahhh, Ricos trembling had increased in intensity!? Hey, Ren!? Wait, is it my fault!? Wasnt it Tri who asked me that!? So cruel! No, no, thats not what important now! I have to do something about Rico! Um, Rico. You dont have to worry too much. These things depend on how you use them, and there are many ways to utilize them. Right, you can consult with me! So, uhh, what should I say here? Oh no, Im at my wits end. What should I do? I didnt hate little girls, but I wasnt good at dealing with situations like this. I would be flustered like this. As Tri and I panicked, Rico suddenly raised her head. Thank you, Ren! Im amazing! With this, I can help everyone! Eh, Rico, youre not sad? Sad? Why? Er, you didnt feel anything when you heard about Tris aptitude? Ah, Im happy that we have the same duties, you know? If I have the same aptitude with Tri, my role wont be that important in the party, right? Also, Ren said that my non-attribute is versatile, I can use it at any time, right? Then I can be useful at any time. Isnt that great? Yes, thats right. Originally, I couldnt use magic, so its already amazing that you told me I could use it! Ren, thank you! I love you! I honestly took Rico too lightly. I didnt expect that she would be this reliable. Tri also looked surprised. Probably, she had a simr impression to me. Rico is thinking over it well. I can see you have been working hard. Thats right! Since Im short, I keep pulling everyones legs. But now I can be useful for everyone! Thats why, please teach me more about magic! Please, Teacher Ren! Since she already said it like that, I had to give it my all! Ill pamper her properly! Ill make sure she wont be able to cry orugh! I understand. First off, both of you cant practice without me. If Im not watching, you wont be able to deal with it. Eh~? We cant~? You cant. Once your magic power goes out of control, it will be fatal if youre careless. Okay, Ill endure it. Tri, please look out on Rico as well. I know, Ren. This kid will do something rash before long. If you break your promise, I wont teach you magic again. So heed my warning. Eh!? As I thought, she was nning to do it secretly, eh. Jesus. Ill say this as a warning. Ill know if youre secretly training, okay? I understand I wont do it Why did she reply to me like shes saying, Tsk, so noisy. I wont listen to you, Shes making me really anxious. By the way, Tri only had an aptitude for arrows and shields nature. She was really downhearted, but she shouldntpare herself to Rico who was obviously talented. Plus, Im envious of Tri since I couldnt use attack magic, okay? Chapter 78: Laughing is offensive by nature Chapter 78: Laughing is offensive by nature To be honest, I was making light of Ricos talent. So this was the real genius, huh? A naturally genius girl was really different from a fake product like me. After teaching her two times since then, the level of her [Mana Sense] and [Mana Control] went up in no time. Furthermore, she had sessfully learned non-attribute magic. Plus it had risen to level three in no time. Wasnt she growing faster than me? By the way, her growth rate was insane since she spent as much time practicing it during the magic lesson after the literature and arithmetic ss. A genius brimming with motivation was really amazing. In addition, Tri had shifted to a slower direction. Yeah, its pointless topare herself to Rico. Do it in moderation; slow and steady is the best option~ Now lets return to the main subject. I didnt want to neglect my training because I had been teaching and taking care of other people recently. In a day or two, I train my smithing with all of my might. I wanted to reach level six of [cksmith] soon, really. Thats why I focused on making swords and took my established break in the courtyard just before noon. Oh, Tri and Rico werenting today. In fact, more often than not, I spent most of my timezing around in the courtyard more than chatting and teaching. By the way, I was chatting with the leatherworker, Delia, today. While drinking shaved ice with salt and lemon juice. The salt was important! It was summer after all. Ahh. Its still hot. Well, its August. Right Master and the others have to stay confined in the smithy, so its probably hell for them Ah, thats the same for Ren. I can make ice on my own, so I think my situation is a little better. Ah, youre right. As so, we idly chatted, but then it seemed like the younger son came here from the smithy. Ah, calling him the younger son gave off a bad feeling, isnt it? Tsk. Ohh, he immediately clicked his tongue after he noticed me. He really gave off a bad feeling. Hey, Ed! Stop it already, cant you!? Hah!? It doesnt have anything to do with Delia, right? Theres no way it has nothing to do with me! Oh my, Delia seemed to be on my side. Great, do it more~ You dont seem to understand, but because of your attitude, the neighbors workshop had been saying a lot of things about our master, you know? I heard that the neighbors workshop had been treating me as a young yet skillful customer. Actually, rather than a customer, I paid them to use the smithy, but they wouldnt know unless the craftsmen or the master talked about it. And then, not only that the master praised my skill, but the craftsmen here also did that and it raised their motivation to improve. Yet in the midst of it, the regr tradesmen and neighbors saw that only the masters son took an unreasonable attitude towards me. As a result of that, a few people started saying that the mastercked leadership qualities since the master became a craftsman in his own ce and couldnt even discipline and lead his own son. Even master has scolded you many times. Are you actually stupid? But thats my own actions. Im telling you that the others wont perceive it that way! Youre really stupid! How about dying now? Ohh, telling him to die is a bit too much well, I strongly agree with her, though! Ill say this as well, but if you keep acting like this, I will tell the master to drive you out. Also, thats the consensus of everybodys opinion. Naturally, thendy and Al also have the same opinion. What!? Big brother and Madam too? Thats the proof that your attitude has gone too far. Its this guys fault! Oh my, now he was ring at me. Okay, thats no good. Youre already hopeless. Ill go to the masters ce now. W-wait! I wont wait~ No, wait! I I know what youre saying! But I cant ept something I cant understand! But at least you dont have to act like that! You stupid! Ah Seems like theres no way to deal with him anymore. But from what hes saying, he had a reason for acting like that, huh? I didnt think I was responsible, but hm. Even if he understood, he was not convinced. Even if he saw the difference in our ability, he didnt sense it. Thats why his heart became heavy at once. Er, Ed Edward? What was his name again? He shouldve introduced himself, but I couldnt remember the names of annoying guys. What? Please bring your hammer ande to my smithy. I will forge the sword from now on, so pay attention to me. Hah!? Why would I do that Noisy, shut up. Just listen to me and bring your hammer fast. Could he stop making me irritated? Because of that, I carelessly roughen my manner of speaking with a smile~ He became silent and went to get his hammer. Do that from the beginning, really. Ren, youre scary when youre angry. Is that so?1 I only grinned sinceughing would be offensive by nature. With that, I returned to the smithy I rented. Well now, its Sparta. Ill be Spartan. Lets go without holding anything back~ The sword well forge from now on is the same one as this. Please take it and have a look. I held out the finished sword that I set against the wall. Just take it already. Hurry, hurry! Why am I doing this Dont grumble like that, how irritating Listen to me and be quick! Right, we will forge the same sword now. It has to be exactly the same. I understand that even if you dont say it again and again. I said it because you definitely didnt understand. Then well start. Yeah After saying that, I started forging the sword, but this guy was useless, he really didnt understand at all! Why are you using your hammer first there! What? The finished product has that length, so I have to stretch it here, right!? If you make that part too thin now, itll be even thinner when you hammer it after that and the strength will decrease. You cant even tell that much? What!? The sword has a low quality because youre forging it carelessly and tried to varnish over the mistake on the way. Are you forging it after thinking about the process until it reaches the final form? Thats Your hands are stopping! What are you doing!? ! As a result of our exchange, apletely rubbish sword waspleted. For some reason, there was a slender one-handed sword with a long de in front of us. He should be making a broad sword, but before us was a one-handed straight sword with a slightly wider de, though. Its mysterious, isnt it? Do you know why this happened? I told you to make the same thing as that sword, right? Its different from that, but isnt this one pretty good? Right, thats if we think of this as a slender sword. But the sword you tried to make this time is not this. Its that sword. Then this is a failure. Poor work. Garbage. You dont have to say that much. I saw the sword you forged before, but I thought the person who forged it was skillful. Skillful? Why did he look a little happy? Was he stupid? Ill say this first, but its not apliment. Its the opposite. The opposite? Yes, the opposite. The master also said it. This wont sell. It seems like you also made the sword differently from the one you originally tried to make, just like this time. He sure was silent. But thats good. In the middle of forging, you irresponsibly hammered the metal and hammered it, again and again, to fix it after that just like what you did before. Am I wrong? If you dont reflect on why you failed or what went wrong before forging a sword, your technique will never improve. Well, I guess he also had a talent and skill to fix it into something in its own way. The people who had talent but didnt polish it should just die. I was jealous, ????! But well, I did this because I was in the teacher mode these days! Usually, I would just insincerely cajole and break their heart until the end! But this time, I even taught him practical skills properly. Im kind, you see? After that, as a result of my endless unpleasant talk, Edwards eyes looked dead as a fish. It seemed like his heart also broke in the end. I guess I overdid it. Lets reflect on that~ And because I spent too much time in teaching him, I ate my lunch alone because I was a littlete. Damn, Edward! ???? you! Eh? Youre wondering why I wasnt having lunch with Ed? That guy was sitting on a bench in a courtyard and muttered something for a long time, so he didnt eat at all. I didnt know what happened to him after that. After eating myte lunch, I trained my cksmithing again until night. Hmm, I felt like my speed in forging increased again Well, it wasnt a problem, so its fine, isnt it? Aside from that, I missed my daily routine. I had to think about some countermeasures I went to bed and dozed off while thinking about various things. Good night Fwahh And the next day, I went to the dining room while stifling a yawn Good morning, teacher! Ah!? Teacher!? Who is that!? Rather, who said that? Teacher, I have snapped out of it! Just how stupid I have been! From now on, I will hone my skills and aim to be a great cksmith like you, teacher! Ah, yes. Ahh, er D-do your best? Eh? Who is this? Edward? Seriously? After that, I didnt really understand but Edward had ayed his emotions and corrected his conduct. Even so, he kept following me, making my mood extremely sour during breakfast. Master thoughtlessly hit my back to thank me and gave another mithril ingot as a token of gratitude. Even the older brother wanted to forge swords with me but I rejected him I didnt get it, but it was a tiring day. After all, doing things on a whim was no good. I had to keep doing as usual to have peaceful days. However, I didnt think the improvement of Edwards attitude was bad. Well, the direction of my annoyance had changed, but it was better than making me angry, right? Hmm? On that night, when Iid down in my bed while feeling mentally tired, I checked my status and noticed that the [cksmith] had reached level seven. Apparently, I had umted enough experience points? However, the experience to go to level seven wasnt the same with the experience required to be level six. In this case, it was probably the experience of teaching people, I guess? This was probably what called an unexpected lucky break. But with this, I could finally make a magic sword. Oh, I also wanted to make katana. It was a novel weapon. I learned the sword-drawing techniques during my junior high school days because of my severe chuuni at that time. If I could make use of it, my untrained meleebat abilities might be a little better. With that in mind, Edwards case might not have been so bad. Then the next day. Good morning, teacher! I took it all back. This was really annoying. Chapter 79: Ever had time fly on a wiki binge? Chapter 79: Ever had time fly on a wiki binge?1Today, I went straight to the Adventurers Guild from the morning after shooting the troublesome Edward a side nce. Naturally, Norn and Bell followed me to make up for my escorts. They hadnt been doing anything other than securing foodtely, so I wanted to do something to make up for that. Hmm. Well, I was going to the Adventurers Guild, but my purpose today was the reference room. I wanted to find out about the magic sword. Even if they didnt give detailed materials, it would be nice to have some information. Since I was walking slowly to the guild while thinking of some random things, heres the summary of Edwards situation for the past two days! I personally didnt really care, though Whenparing Arnolds sons the eldest son Alphonse with the second son Edward Ed was more talented. For the record, Alphonse was expected to be the sessor, but Arnold was also training Ed whileplimenting his second son who had the potential to grow more. However, Ed had grown into a braggart and became arrogant once they took their eyes off him for a while. Not to mention, he developed bad habits that I had pointed out before. Then what made it worse was that Ed was in his rebellion age. He opposed everything that the master said to him. He still rebelled even after taking so many punches, really a hardcore idiot! Alphonse was someone who trained his foundation in a stoic and cool manner. He didnt have any rebellious age, so the master thought that parenting was something this simple Bewildered by Ed who actedpletely different from the eldest son, the master was lost and didnt know what he should do anymore. Still, as Delia pointed out to Ed, they might have to expel Ed. The reason was how he caused a bad reputation and how they couldnt tolerate him at all. And right at that moment, I smashed Ed up. By the way, some of the bad reputations seemed to be about how the master and the son of the workshop across the street had a bad rtionship. Everyone knew his bad habits around the time he entered his rebellion period, so the majority of the reaction was, His personality is even worse now, huh? Just how far would you make it worse, Edward I didnt see it, but after I smashed his pride, Edward was dejected and unable to ept the reality. But he renewed himself in the next morning and became as obedient as a child! The master was worried that he might have to disown his biological son like that, so he thanked me a lot. However, I didnt really like how he expressed his attitude by pping my back. It was really painful. But well, I received another mithril after that, so whatever But I believe master should work a little harder on raising his children. Seriously. Once I reached the end of my thought, I noticed that I had arrived in the guild! I immediately came after having my breakfast, so it was really crowded ah, this was the peak time in the morning! I forgot that everyone in the workshop started their day from early in the morning. I also ate breakfast quickly. Thats why I came at the most crowded time, I guess? I made a little blunder here As I entered the lobby from the entrance, quite a few people were looking at me with a surprised face. I know, Norn was really big. Both of them had been getting bigger recently. It might be because I fed them with various dishes these days, right? Bell had grown to the mature size, and Norn was bigger than me. Maybe like arge tiger? Around three-meter? I could even get on her now. Yeah, she was big Norn, youre surprising everyone. What is that? Greater Wolf? No, its too big. Then do you have any guess? Nah, dont ask me. That little girl is that wolfs tamer? Hmm, their gaze was painful. Lets quickly escape to the reference room. I pulled my hood to hide my face even more and head straight to the stairs. The reference room in this guild was located on the second floor. Although it was open to the public and took no charge, two librarians were stationed there considering how they stored precious documents. The reference room in Haruna was smaller than this, and they only had one librarian. Just as expected from the guild in the royal capital. There were probably a lot of workers working in this building. Oh, little girl. Are you a beginner adventurer? Looking for data about medicinal nts? One of the librarians called me out. He was a grandpa. By the way, the other librarian was a youngdy. Her face was well, normal? No, Im searching for other data. I see What kind of data? Do you have information about magic weapons? Like mana sword or magic sword. Oh my, youre already interested in magic sword even though youre still a beginner? Well, its good to be interested in various things. Err, where is it again Er, I dont think Im a beginner, though But only one year had passed since I became an adventurer, so I was still a beginner, maybe? But I was already in E rank Well, whatever. Hmm, the documents about magic sword and magic armor are at the back of that shelf. But since this is an adventurers guild, Im sure you wont find detailed documents about that. You should go to cksmith guild or alchemist guild for that. Thank you very much. Its better than nothing at all, so it really helps. Yeah, its better to know something than nothing. I moved to the back row at the very end of the room. Norn also followed me behind. The floor was creaking. Is this really okay? Uhh, there were books with titles that seemed authentic two or three books? For the time being, I took everything and moved further to the end of the bookrest. By the way, the bookrest was designed so that multiple people could read books side by side rather than separating it for one persons use. Just by looking at the nting table, I could easily see that it had a simple structure. The tables were designed like this probably because this reference room had parchment book and nt paper, so it would be easier to read them this way. Well, I didnt mind as long as I could read what I want. Now lets return to the main subject. Thus, I read it at once. Hmm I see. Next. Umm oh. Okay, next. Hmmmm Okay, I get it. If I had to be honest, the contents of the first and second books werent that different. The first book was about the famous magic sword and holy sword. The content was mostly about the holy sword, the title of magic swords, the owner for generations, and the current whereabouts. Other than that, it also talked about the ability bestowed by using it? There were pieces of information about the examination of the sword using a high-level appraisal skill in the past and predictions about the ability the user would get based on the people who had seen the sword up close. The second book was about the user of holy sword and magic sword who had be famous in the past. I didnt think this was useful at all. There was a lot more content covered in the first book. The third book was the exemry book, or perhaps I should say, this talked about theparative skills bestowed by using the sword. This was what I was looking for. Yup, this is what I wanted to know. The bestowed skills were the same as what humans could learn. It was notated in ten levels. The magic attribute was also the same. Themonly bestowed skills were strengthening the equipment itself, such as [Attack Enhancement], [Endurance Enhancement], and [Weight Reduction]. For skills that strengthened the owners stats, there were [Physical Strength Enhancement], [Agility Enhancement], [Magic Power Enhancement], and so forth. For skills that strengthened the users skills, there were [Attribute Enhancement], [Attribute Resistance], and so forth. Other than that was increasing the offensive ability towards a specific monster, and they entered the [Special Effect] group. The rare ones were [Fortune], [Build Enhancement], etc. It seemed like there were other weapons that enhanced the effectiveness by intentionally giving demerit skill. Well, thats it. The reason why I wanted to know this was that I wouldnt be able to forcibly make magic sword with my [Creation Magic] skill unless I knew what kind of skill it could bestow upon the user. But well, I could do something with this, I guess? By the way, there were basically two ways to obtain magic sword and mana sword. Should I have other people make it for me or find it myself? If I chose the former, there were two types of upations that could make magic sword; cksmith or alchemist. If I went with cksmith route, I had to ask the cksmith master who had inherited the secrets and techniques taught for generations to make it. However, their main upation was a cksmith, so the skills they could bestow wouldnt be that high. But excluding the bestowed skill, the performance of the skill itself was basically high. It would depend on the skill of the cksmith. But in the first ce, cksmiths who could make magic sword and mana sword should have a high level of cksmithing skill. If I went with alchemist route, they could make an ordinary sword be magic sword by applying the bestowed skill to the sword that had been prepared. In this case, the higher the alchemists skill level, the stronger the bestowed skill. Even so, it was usually the alchemist who get recognized even if the sword was forged by a great cksmith. Therefore, cksmith master generally wouldnt make a sword that an alchemist could easily work onter. By the way, if the swordsman secretly had alchemist apply the bestowed skillter, the cksmith master wouldnt make swords for that swordsman anymore once they knew about it. And also, it was really hard to persuade them to make a sword, to begin with The other option was finding it. I could pick it up in the dungeon. It seemed like a dungeon was a training ground prepared by God. There were various types of dungeons, but themon characteristics were appearance of special monsters, treasure chests respawning at fixed intervals, and magic circles that raise your status or give you rare skills. The special monsters I mentioned here didnt mean that it would only appear in the dungeon, but it was special because the corpse would disappear into fog once you defeated it, leaving no remains. By the way, it would drop items. What is this, a game? So picking up a magic sword means obtaining it from the treasure chest in these dungeons. There were a certain number of treasure chests on each level, and they would randomly reappear somewhere on the same level after being collected. The reappearance cycle differed for each dungeon. By the way, the dungeon was called the training ground prepared by God because of an oracle in the past. In fact, it was difficult to deny this due to the dungeons third characteristic with magic circles that raise your status or give you rare skills. Being able to learn skills one didnt have an aptitude for with this magic circle made going to the dungeon worth it for an ordinary person with no talent. Other than that, they could also get disposable magic items such as the skill scrolls from the treasure box be that as it may, you could only get powerful skills and armors by delving into the deeper level. Ah, I strayed from the subject. However, the magic sword that could be obtained in the dungeon also had its drawbacks. Because the bestowed skill wasnt always useful. For example, [Weight Reduction] attached in a dagger wasnt very helpful. [Weight Reduction] only had an effect on users. The original weight still applied to the attack itself. With high level [Weight Reduction], it was possible to swing a crazily heavy mace with one hand. For that reason, it was more useful to have this skill in heavy equipment. Such as two-handed sword, two-handed axe, long spear, and mace. In addition, sometimes weapons had resistance-type skills. And conversely, sometimes armor had attack-type skills. By the way, one of the most disappointing weapons was known as Holy Sword: Inferior Two-handed Iron Sword. The holy sword was a fairly powerful weapon, but this disappointing holy sword was an ordinary two-handed sword with the lowest quality. Besides, there was nothing attached other than [Holy Attribute level 1]. Even if it didnt have [Attack Enhancement], it would still be useful if it had [Endurance Enhancement], but this sword didnt even have that. This sword was known as a useless possession and didnt have other functions other than wearing it for prestige and for ceremonies Also, this was stored as a national treasure in some countrys treasury. How heartrending. Hmm, there was a lot to consider here, huhAs I deeply pondered so, someone called me out. Eh? Ren? Tri? Speaking of which, they had been visiting the reference room oftentely, right?2 Chapter 80: I dont really hate boss parade or boss rush Chapter 80: I don''t really hate boss parade or boss rush I never thought I would encounter Tri when I came to the reference room to do research! That being said, she had been telling me that she came to study here a lot these days, so I shouldve expected this. What are you doing here? Theres something I want to know, so Im doing some research. What is it? Magic sword? Yeah, I guess you can say that? No way, are you going to make it? Yeah. Well, I guess I want to try making it? Oh, please dont look at me like youre seeing some weird creature. Well, its Ren, so I guess I shouldve expected that Huh? Somehow, I felt like she said something awful about me? But if I thought about it normally, making a magic sword at this age was just abnormal. Hmm. Well, lets change the topic for now. Tri, are you studying as usual? Yeah. I can read letters now. I also taught the other girls and those stupid guys whoe with me, but I cant teach them well like Ren Its hard to teach people. Youll have to get used to that. Yeah, I only have to do my best. So what are you studying today? To be honest, we basically study herbs all the time. If we know the various kinds, it will be useful once we happen to find one. I also want to learn to make a salve with herbs. But theposition? Um, I cant really find how to make it here. [Dispensing] skill, eh. I found some first-aid treatments using herbs. When I tried it, I was surprised that it worked better than I expected. With this, maybe we can save up some money when something happened, right? I see. [Dispensing] skill was the skill used by pharmacists to make medicines. [Formtion] was the skill used by an alchemist to make potions and magic drugs. [Formtion] used MP, so even if it seemed simr, it was a little different. But I believe its difficult to get the prescription to make medicine without bing a member of Medic Guild. Yeah. But I think the situations will be quite different just by being able to give first-aid treatment. Its good to have many choices at a critical moment. I know, right? Ah, speaking of which, I found out that I learned a lot of skills after we parted the day before yesterday! My [Mana Sense] has be LV2, and I just learned [Mana Control] LV1! Ohh. I also learned attribute magic! Fire, water, wind, and earth! Plus, the water attribute is already LV1 from the beginning. But everything else is zero Thats amazing! Thanks! I tried to see if I could produce water at once! But it was pretty tiring. Its the same for everyone whos not used to it. You only have to practice. Right. Oh, I can produce water now, so I dont have to go and fetch water when I wipe my body at the inn! I can also make hot water when the level goes up, right? Then we dont have to pay to use hot water, plus Im sure there are other uses. With this, we can save up! I have to do my best to save money! You worked hard, Tri. I will do my best. After all, youre also working hard to reach this point, Ren. I cant lose! Did I work hard? No, Im working hard, but I felt a strange sense of guilt since shes praising me this much. Ah, here she is. Tri, how to read this character? Oh, Maricle. When I was chatting with Tri, someone came. Rather, its someone I knew. Umm, so its this character ah, who is this? Err, no, this person is uh No way, are you Ren? Yes. That boy was Maricle. He was one of the boys who stayed in the same orphanage as us. Of course, he was Cains friend. Rather, he was a boy withmon-sense who always warned Cain not to do something stupid along with Tri. By the way, he was one year older than me, so he was 12 years old now? His face looked honest and a bit dull He looked like he wasnt good at arguing. But actually, that wasnt the case at all. He was also tall, one head higher than me. As I thought, youre still alive, huh? Somehow, I have that feeling. Is that so? Yeah. Since Tri and Ricorice are acting strange recently, Ive been wondering if youre alive. But I never thought that youre really alive and having a rendezvous here, though. What did he mean with rendezvous, geez. I talked to him normally since he was the only boy who had a friendship with me. Maricle was kind. He helped anyone who was in trouble. Thats why Tri and I admired him so much when we were still very young. I was grateful to him. He was the only boy who helped me when I was bullied by Cain. The other boys? Some of them were only looking at a distance because they were scared of Cain, and some others were following Cain andughed at me when I cried. I absolutely wouldnt forgive them. I went off tangent again. Well, because of that, both of us were friends. So the reason why Tri and Ricorice can read and write is all Rens doing? Could he stop saying it like I did some bad things? Its more convenient if they can read and write, isnt it? I guess so. I can read a little after both of them taught me. The other three are well, you can guess it. Theyre still the same? I hope they can learn a little more seriously. By the way, the other three he mentioned were the boys out of all of the eight members excluding Maricle. Judging from Maricles manner of speaking, the other girls are studying seriously. Cain is quick to learn as usual. Then he became nonchnt in the middle of the study. Other than him, Boman is a little understandable, but Ryuu is particrly bad. Boman and Ryuu were boys that followed Cain. Boman was a boy with a medium build, but he had strong power. He was at the same age as me. He would take initiative for physical works. Other than that, he basically skipped everything. Ryuu was Cains number one brother. He was one year younger than me. By the way, he was even worse than Cain. In a silly sense, he was the masterpiece that kept the name of the King of Idiot in the orphanage. I hated this guy so much. Additionally, Cain, Boman, and Ryuu were called as the three fools. They are still the three fools even after one year has passed, eh? Im sorry. Maricle had the role to watch those three idiots. You could also say that they forced him to this role because he was gentle. What a hard-working man. Really pitiful. Suddenly, someone was hugging me from behind. Oh, who was it? Ren. Kuro? Ren, Ren. Alive. Ren, alive. This little kid who couldnt speak well was Kuro. She was a beastfolk girl from the ck cat family. She was one year younger than me. Considering her race, her hair color is the same as my ck hair, but she had bobbed hair. Her eye color was golden, so she looked really simr to me except for our eye color. Thanks to that, people often saw us as sisters when we were together. Tri, you havent told her? I cant find the right timing Sorry, Kuro. Is okay. Ren, here, is good. Have you been well? Yeah. Healthy. I stroked her head. Ahh, this was really healing. If Rico was like my sister, Kuro was like my pet. They really soothed my heart. Hey, why are you guys gathering here Ren!? Arle, youre noisy. You have to be quiet here. Sorry eh, thats not important now, right!? Ren is alive!? Yes, well. More people came! This girl with pink hair was Arle. Shes like my hero? When I was being bullied by Cain, she was a violent girl who ran out of nowhere and gave Cain a dropkick. Incidentally, she was a tsundere. Every time I thanked her for helping me, she announced her temte reply, I-its not like Im doing this for Ren! Dont get me wrong! Ah, unbelievable hair and eye colors were normal in this world. Eh, wait!? My acquaintances kepting one after another, but Cain wouldnt appear after this, right!? Its okay, Ren. Cain didnte today. As if reading my thoughts, Maricle told me that. These four people were the only ones who came to the reference room this morning. It seemed like four people were studying separately in the morning and afternoon after I told them about the reference room. But recently, Tri and Rico came to study with each respective group in the morning and the afternoon since they were the only ones who had been able to read and write. Each of their members was decided by rock-paper-scissors, and today Rico had to take care of the three fools, leaving her teary-eyed. Those three people would never study seriously By the way, they were collecting herbs now until two oclock in the afternoon. So its about time for Cain and his friends toe. If you dont want to see him, you should run away, Ren. Ehh? We finally met, but youre going home already? Arle said. Ren, no! Kuro What should I do? I dont want to see those idiots, but these two people I just met after a long time didnt look like they wanted to let me go. Arle was grabbing my cloak and wouldnt release me, and Kuro still clung on me. Hmm I had a good idea. Is it okay if you guys dont meet the four of them? We usually pass each other, so we dont really have to meet each other first Then how about going out to collect some herbs together? All five of us? Including Ren? Yes. Im sure we have many things we want to say to each other too Yes! Lets do that! We can do that, right? Tri! Maricle! Arle was eager, and Kuro was clinging to me even tighter. Tri looked bitter. Ren, are you okay with it? To be frank, I think I would meet Cain one day if I kept staying in touch with them. Even so, that doesnt mean I wanted to neglect all of them. Its me who proposed it. Since we would meet sooner orter, I should be prepared to meet Cain. But for the time being, I wanted to cherish this opportunity since I could meet these three people. Can I, Tri? I looked at Tris face. Haa, it cant be helped. Since we have decided, lets move quickly! Arle, Kuro, release Ren already! Quick, quick! Are you sure, Tri? It cant be helped! You have to make sure not to tell the three fools about Ren! Ill do my best. Still, I wanted Maricle to say yes there, okay? Chapter 81: Eat the meat! Focus on the meat! Chapter 81: Eat the meat! Focus on the meat! With that, we left the guild and moved on the main street. The people were looking at me, startled. Norn was standing out too much! I thought it was a figurine with fur, but it was actually the magic beast you tamed. Maricle had been interested in Norn since we were talking in the reference room. Arle was frightened and took a little distance from Norn. Kuro was running around, trying to touch Bell. I think I would have died without these guys. Lets go with that story. To be honest, I didnt think I would die. But without them, I think I would have to face unthinkable hardships. I really loved Norn. So be more fluffy, my goddess. On our way moving together with Norn, we stopped by a stall to buy skewered meat. This seemed to be our lunch. Other than that was a hard brown bread. I couldnt help looking them in speechlessness. Noticing my gaze, they exined to me. I was always hungry until around half a month ago, but now our ie has increased and we can eat as much as we want! Last time, we only can eat this damned hard bread. But now we can buy one or two more dishes every meal. Its all thanks to you teaching a lot of things to Tri. Im grateful. Youre already smart when you were still in the orphanage, but I think its strange that Ren is this amazing! Its only been a little over a year, yet youve learned so much. What did you do? Arle, arent you too cruel? But well, I did a lot of things. Yeah, a lot. But there were many things I couldnt exin. I just answered her with my best vague smile. After that, we went outside the gate while chatting. Then we started munching on our lunch as we walked. We have bad manners, you say? No, we were trying to save time, you see. The reason they didnt eat when we were moving around the town was because they didnt want to bump into someone and drop it By the way, I had been wondering this since before. Lets just ask. Maricle carried a wooden board on his back. Why a wooden board? Ah, this was a substitute of shield. Oh a wooden shield. But I could see a handle attached to the board. Was that a broken door te? It seemed like it would break if he took a slightly stronger blow. Even if it looks like this, Ive been able to escape from the goblins thanks to this. My body is the biggest from the whole party, so Im thinking of bing a tanker in the future. For the time being, everyone had discussed and decided their future role in the party. Hmm. By the way, Maricle, who had the best physique, initially thought of using a two-handed sword or a heavy weapon, but since all of the three fools wanted to use a sword, he decided to be in charge of the defense. To be fair, the tanker should be someone with tough body. Under the current n, the vanguard would be reinforced by the boys. Maricle would defend with a shield. Boman would use two-handed sword. Ryuu and Cain would use one-handed sword and a small shield. Also, Cain would also be themander of the vanguard. The girls would be in the rear guard, but their weapons were still undecided. Since throwing weapons were consumable items, the cost would be high, making it hard. The candidate for searching enemy would either be Tri who was skillful in everything or Kuro from the agile ck cat race. Since Rico had learned magic, Arle and Kuro had been really troubled about what they could. Even so, it had been decided that Tri would be themander of the rear guard no matter what. We talked about a lot of things while eating the bread and skewers, but it looked dangerous even just by watching them. Kuro was about to fall down even now. Can you give me a minute? Hm? Ren? I asked them to lend me the brown bread and cut it sideways with a knife, dividing it into two pieces. Next, I took the skewers and removed the meat from the skewer and put it between the bread to make a sandwich. I also add some vegetables I had with me. Since the meat already had sauce from when they bought it, it should be okay if I didnt add anything else, right? A pseudo simple hamburger was ready to serve. Okay, please have a bite. This should be easier to eat now. Be careful not to drop the meat. Ren! Amazing! Delicious! Ohh, what a nice smile. Im healed~ Hey, Ren! Its unfair that youre only doing that for Kuro! Do it for me too! Sorry, can I ask you to do that for me too? I also did Arle and Maricles share. When I did Tris share at the end, she gave me a bitter smile. I dont know if youe up with an idea as usual or are just very attentive towards us. This is just my nature. Tri and Maricle are also very attentive, right? Even if you said that I chatted while eating the sandwich. I also tried the meat sandwich. Oh, this is delicious! Maybe we should ask the stall owner to put the meat between the bread next time. The skewers might fall down along the way if we walk around the town after all! If they asked the stall owner to do that, that stall would probably start selling this kind of food, though. Well, I didnt really care But I should tell them just in case. Hmmm, so theyll make a business out of this? This is too hard! Arle wanted to save money after she stopped bing an adventurer in the future and try to use it as a fund to start a business. She realized that she couldnt be an adventurer forever. Still, the foods Tri brought before was Rens food, right? It was delicious. Delicious. Thank you, Ren. Kuro, dont hug me when you havent done eating. You have to eat properly, okay? Ren helped us so we can eat meat once in a while like this, but we have to do our best if we want to eat more. After all, those three fools are noisy. Right! I want to eat more meat! Tri turned away her face in guilt. Ah yes, sometimes I fed Tri my dishes. Sorry about that. But meat, huh Youre not hunting horned rabbits, are you? Yeah, we dont hunt them. We dont have weapons and armors. If we can stabilize and start hunting, we will be able to provide meat by ourselves. But when we were in the orphanage, the uncles working in the farm always got injured every year and died once in a while, right? So we n not to overdo it, even though Ryuu and Boman are very persistent. They are really stupid, what a troublemaker. They should learn from Rico and Kuro! Since they had small kids in their party, they were taking safety measures. Ryuu said something like, This is why I dont want to bring these small kids along with us! It seemed like he didnt have the self-awareness that he was one of the small kids. Really the king of idiot. Hm, okay. I came up with an idea. This might be troublesome, but all the people here were important to me, so lets eat meat together. However, the three fools were excluded, I should make sure to make Ricos portionter. We arrived at the area I had decided in the forest. First, I had to prepare. Lets have everyone collect herbs until I finished the preparation. I took out my usual tent. W-what!? I felt bad for making them speechless because I suddenly took out my tent, but I still had more things, you know. All four of you, please gather here. I will give you a dagger. Eh? Is that the same one as Ricos sharp dagger? Cain and his team have been coveting it Wait, Ren, are you the one who made that!? Since everyone only had tattered knife, I gave them the dagger for collecting herbs. Also, I gave them grindstone. Ah? Me too? Tri should take this too. Youre collecting herbs with that sword, right? Thats Yeah. It should be hard to collect herbs with that sword. But I was the one who confiscated her knife when I forced her to take the sword before, though. This dagger is a gift for everyone. I wont give this to the three fools. If they say something, please just tell them that you all received the daggers from a kind adventurer. Ren is still harsh on those three people. Those three fools werent my friends or anything at all! I thought of doing something to do, so you all should collect the herbs. Ill call you when I finished preparing. Norn, Bell, knock all of the monsters around here and keep everyone safe, okay? Woof! Woof~! All good. Now I should start working. This time, I would make two shields and several spears. I had to make sure that everyone could safely hunt for rabbits. Whats important was that the weapons should be easy to maintain and the kids could make it themselves in the future. It would be even better if the manufacturing method was simple. First, the spear. The material was the horn of the horned rabbits and solid timber. I had arge quantity of both materials in my [Storage]. I chose rabbit horns because it was easy to secure materials if they wanted to make it themselves. The target of their hunting was horned rabbit, so the more they hunted it, the more materials they would collect. Basically, since this was a consumable item, they could make a new one when it broke. Above all, the rabbit horns were hard and durable. These horns were also used as a chess piece. Just perfect to be a disposable weapon. By the way, some of my chopsticks were also made from this. I made some tools simr to pin vice with the horn to drill a holeter on. Once I scrapped the sturdy timber into a cylinder shape so it could be easily gripped, I made a rope hole at the tip. After also making a hole on the base of the horn, I tightly tied a sturdy rope through both of the holes. I raised my strength using [Body Enhancement] and firmly tie it to make sure it wouldnt loosen. I tried shaking it around lightly and stabbed it on a tree. Yeah, it felt sturdy. Looking at the length, this was simr to a short spear, I guess? It would be hard to use if they were too long anyway. Since the tip were horns, they could only use this to stab. Even so, it should be okay as long as they aimed for the vitals or attacked with arge number of people. Around the time when I made the third one, Maricle was looking over my shoulder with great interest. What happened to collecting herbs, hm? But he came at the right time. Taking this opportunity, lets teach Maricle how to make this for the future. Theyre unexpectedly easy to make. Do you remember how to make it? Then try making one. Me? Youll have to make this on your own in the future. You should be able to get the materials from now on. Maricle, you can dismantle horned rabbit, right? Ah, so thats what you mean. Leave it to me. It seems like he understood my idea. I handed over my tools for drilling. You dont have to return the tools to me. Just take it. Is it okay? You cant make the spear without it. Right, I understand. Thank you. Maricle wouldnt refrain in this kind of thing, so it was great that we didnt have to make this unnecessarily long. Like this? Tryparing it with the one I made. If you think theres no problem, then it should be fine. Seems like this is okay. Maricle tried to check the usability by swinging it around and stabbing a tree with it. Feeling like it was okay, Maricle nodded several times. Make sure to use sturdy, hard, and tough timber. If you are stingy on the materials, it can easily break and you may die. Okay. Next was the shield. Lets make two shields including the spare. I called it a spare, but its annoying to do this, but it would be more efficient to hunt with two teams. Someone from the three fools had to use this. They irritated me, but I would resign myself here. I had to make sure the girls wouldnt get hungry. I prepared several suitable wooden boards, cut them into rectangles, and connected them with a string to make a shield with severalyers of woods. I pasted orcs tanned leather on the surface and made sure it wouldnt loosen. Next, I stacked three moreyers to strengthen it even more. On the back, I attached a belt and handle to make it easier to carry this around. With that, the shield waspleted. Maricles eyes widened when Ipleted the shield in no time. Both of my [Woodworker] and [Leather Processing] were LV8, so of course I would do it quick. Maybe its something like this Try putting it on. For me? Why are you making two? The other one is a spare. Well, I wontin if someone uses it. Sorry It seemed like Maricle could tell what I was thinking. Anyway, Maricle equipped the shield and moved his arm around. How is it? This is amazing. Its not light, but also not too heavy. I can sense it just by looking at you making it, but this is pretty sturdy, right? I intend to make them sturdy, but wooden shields and leather shields are consumable items. If they break, dont force yourself to use it and buy proper shield at the store next time. Okay. What are you going to do next? Well, I saved some time since everyone had gathered before I called them, but I felt a bitplicated. All of us will hunt rabbits from now own. Now you will be able to secure meat by yourself. Meat! Meat~! Arle and Kuros eyes were scary Maricle will be our defense. You will stop the horned rabbits charge. But dont just stop the blow, but try parrying the rabbit or even push them with the shield Shield bash and charge, right So other than securing our meat, I should also learn how to handle the shield? Its really helpful that youre quick to learn. Since youre going to be the tanker in the future, you should learn how to handle it now. Rather than getting used with a heavy metal shields weight and learn how to handle it at the same timeter on, itll be easier to learn how to handle it now and get used to the weight in the future. You already think that far Sorry. Once Maricle stopped the rabbits or make a chance to safely attack, the other three have the role of stabbing and killing them with this spear. Please discuss the turn of attacking and your positions first. The tip of this spear is a rabbit horn? I chose this to make it easier for you guys to prepare the weapons to secure meat on your own in the future. Ren Tri and Arle stared at me with wet eyes. They didnt have to worry about it that much, okay? Chapter 82: When youre young, eat more meat Chapter 82: When you''re young, eat more meat I was watching them hunting horned rabbits from the side, but since this was their first time I probably shouldve expected this? Anyway, the first rabbit was a disaster. Maricle still couldnt use the shield well, and the three girls found it hard to find the timing to stab the rabbit with the spear. They managed to defeat it, but the rabbit was full of holes. The corpse was cruelly stabbed to death. They only had to get used to this. There are so many holes. The taste wont really change when you eat it. Thats right After killing the first rabbit, I hung it near my tent outside the forest to drain the blood from the meat. I dug a hole right under it so the blood would drip there. I would put the internal organs into that hole once I dismantled the rabbit, then bury it. Other monsters and wild animals would gather if I drained the blood or dismantled it in the forest, so we should do it like this even if it was troublesome. I could just do it quickly, but they were all still amateurs. This would be a good lesson for them. Once I drain the blood and dismantle the first rabbit, we went to the forest again to look for the second one. By the way, I gifted them a leather bag to store the dismantled materials. I put the skin, meat, and horns in separate bags. For now, I put the leather bag in my tent. By the way, I got the bones. I wonder if we should eat dashi after this. They got more used in using their weapons when battling with the second rabbit. Maricle struck the rabbit to the ground while warding it off and made a gap for the girls to attack. The three girls stabbed their spears at that chance and won. They sure got used to this fast. I finished dismantling the second animal quickly, and they hunted the third, fourth, and fifth animals smoothly. Their eyes were sparkling as they saw the bulging bag full of meat. Hm. By the way, the reason they managed to hunt a lot of rabbits continuously was that Norn and Bell scared the rabbits out of their hiding ce. As expected from Norn. Eh? What did I do? I was collecting herbs while everyone else was working hard. After this, I was nning to grill and eat the meat, so I needed this to teach them simple cooking methods. I wasnt idle at all. Buying seasoning was expensive after all. In the first ce, it would be wrong to expect me to have meleebat capabilities. In my past life, I used to have pretty good reflexes, though I wonder why did I be like this. When they were hunting the sixth rabbit, they started to aim for the vitals as soon as possible. They could sell the skin, so of course, it would be better to make sure there were fewer holes in the skin. Maricle finally learned how to do a shield bash on the seventh rabbit. Before the rabbit could fall on the ground after being knocked on the tree trunk, the girls stabbed it with their spears and pinned it onto the tree until it stopped breathing. By the way, the horned rabbit was rtivelyrge. It was around forty centimeters from head to tail, so even one rabbit could give a lot of meat. I mean, it was still August now. Even if they caught this many, it would be rotten immediately if they left it at room temperature Lets think about this problem a little. This is the eight rabbit, right? Wow! A lot of meat! What should we do now? Continue hunting!? Hmm, the three people other than Tri who I had been feeding were energetic, but they should stop here. Stop. Well end this here today. Eh!? But we can still go! If you hunt too much, the meat will get rotten. Ahhh, thats right!? I think selling it is also a good idea, but there are some things you have to consider. However, you all did a great job today. Really!? Yes. So lets stop here and eat right now. Aged meat was more delicious, but thinking every single detail was troublesome, so lets eat freshly caught meat. One rabbit should be enough to fill two peoples stomachs I should use three rabbits for now. Tri, Arle, Kuro, please help me. Maricle, please shave the wood and make skewers. I understand. Well work hard! Leave it to me. I made a simple furnace with earth magic, collected dry woods, and started the fire. In addition, I made a cooking table with earth magic and cleaned the surface with [Washing]. I gave kitchen knives to the three girls and have them cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Since I was nning to grill the meat with herbs, I chopped the herbs I collected. Then I pour the cut meat, chopped herbs, and salt into the pan and mix it thoroughly and evenly. So this nt can be used for cooking? It canst for a long time once dried, so you should collect themter. Hmm, they would need these ingredients if they were going to cook their own food in the future. I wanted to give them 2kg of salt, but it would be too heavy and troublesome I should give them when we returned to the town, I guess. My storage used ton as a unit, so I could even give them 100kg. After all, storage skill was convenient. Couldnt I somehow make a magic bag for everyone Ah, I had to continue cooking. After leaving the mixture for a while, I stabbed the meat with the skewer and grilled it. Everyone ate the meat in order, starting from the grilled ones. What is this, delicious! Ren, delish! This is delicious The three people who werent ustomed to eating too much meat could only say that it was delicious. Tri and I smiled bitterly and started eating. Hmm, Rens food is really delicious. But what should we do, Rico wont be happy Should I make a little more for you to bring hometer? But it will get cold, right? Well have meat for a while, so I want to let her eat it when its freshly made. Arle made an unexpected proposal when we were thinking about Rico. Then we can just make it in the inn, right? We have a furnace in the shared backyard in our current inn. Theres nothing like that in the previous inn, though. Eh, really? I never noticed. Yeah. It seems like we can use the firewood for a cheap price because theyre using cheap scrap woods. We can bring back the meat for four people and make it there. Huh? You guys changed your inn? Ah, Ren. I havent told you? We changed to a nice inn the other day. At the inn where they stayed before, they slept together in a huddle. That was to prevent other adventurers from getting in and steal their belongings. They also gathered inrge number for safety and prevent crime. After all, orphans who just came from the countryside easily got duped. Arle also added that thats the reason they were together with Cain. If they didnt have to, they wouldnt include the three fools. Still, the room they rented didnt have any lock. If they left their belongings and went out, it might be stolen by the inns people. Therefore, they moved to an inn closer to the center of the town rather than the outer walls, which also served as crime prevention. They chose their current inn after gathering information from the senior adventurers and the beginner adventurers in the same age they were acquainted with, only moving once they were sure that the inn was credible. There was an additional charge for the meal on the ground floor which served as a bar and dining room. They could eat there or in their room. Arle said that they could also cook their own meals using the furnace in the shared backyard. If they wanted to wipe their body, they needed to draw the water by themselves from the well in the backyard, and there was a charge for hot water. It seemed like Tri rented two rooms for four people and separated the boys and girls. You guys are raising the grade straight away, I see. No, the inn is cheaper than I expected. We can lock our room and we dont have to worry about our things getting stolen like before. Then its a relief, I guess? To be honest, I was a little worried about how they would keep the shields and weapons I made today. I had a bad habit of acting without thinking I couldnt fix it all. Then its better to cook it at the inn. Did you remember how to make it? I did! Can I also sell this when I open a store one day? By the way, Arle had always loved cooking. Right, Ill give this knife for Arle. As well as this pot and frying pan. Really!? The knife and pot were the ones I used earlier. I pretended to take out the frying pan from my bag even though I took it from my [Storage]. Lets make Arle be the partys cook. Its the best choice to let the motivated child do what they wanted. Please take care of it, okay? Thank you, Ren! Arle hugged me tightly. Hohoho, Arles dere side finally appeared now!? I didnt hate the previous Tsundere Arle, but I also wanted to see affectionate Arle! Setting aside my ulterior motive, a pot and frying pan should broaden her cooking range a little, right? Well then, lets go home after collecting the herbs, okay? Ah, is there any other herbs that can be used for cooking other than the previous one? There is. This one, and this one Ohhhh! After cleaning up my tent, I decided to go back to the town after collecting the herbs for a reasonable amount of time while telling her about edible herbs. Ah, I also get rid of the furnace properly. Chapter 83: The Unlucky General Orc Chapter 83: The Unlucky General Orc So you can rent a house now? Ive been doing a lot of research, but I think its better to make a little more ie and stabilize the situation first. Our ie will decrease during the winter, so it will be hard if we dont save up to a certain number. Right, the firewood also costs money. Ah! Firewood! I forgot about that Hmm, I will have to review more things or it will be bad. Their current lodging fee is 5 small silver coins per person. Two rooms overnight will cost one silver coin. The rent is twice more than the previous inn. I dont know if its expensive or cheap, but I think its overwhelmingly cheap considering the safety and facility. We were chatting in the queue of the guild purchase counter. We were supposed to go home early, but the crowd in the big city sure was different. I usually returned before the evening because Norn would finish hunting and secure her meal by then. At that time, the guild was empty Dear me, returning at this time would make us stand out because of Norn. On the contrary, thanks to Norn, no one would make an unnecessary pass towards us. Norn was really the best. By the way, I was only selling herbs this time. I had sneakily moved the prey that Norn caught this time to my [Storage], and I had no n of selling them. Tri would sell four rabbit horns and herbs. They would bring all the meat home this time. They were nning on making dinner for 8 people. That being said, four people who ate meat earlier would eat less and four people who hadnt eaten meat would eat more. They should just ignore the three fools share, but Tri was still too soft on other people. I had an idea for the skin, so they didnt sell it. If my idea didnt work well, they could sell half of it. They could practice with the remaining half, I guess? What will you do with the skin? Ill ask the counter to introduce a shop that tans the skin. And if theres a ce that processes meat into preserved food, we can visit that ce at well. Tanning animal skin? But I can just do it myself, right? Maricle, can you do it? No, I cant. But I can use those skins for practicing, right? Youre right. You wont be able to get [Leather Processing] skill without practice, but can you learn it now and collect more until winter? Until winter? Why? You guys are nning to rent a house before winter. Have you thought about how to protect yourself against the cold in the winter? I see, were going to use this as a nket. But there is a lot of time until winter. Considering the handling charge, it will be better to make it on my own, right? Its good if you can make it yourselfter on, but I think its better to ask someone to do it now, given the time. Tanned skins sell better, and you have to save more money from now on. So if you sell it near winter, the price will be higher. I see So we can sell it at a high priceter on, huh? Also, if you know the shop that can process it, you can have them make a leather cloak. With leather cloak, you can use it to keep out of cold, and its nice to wear it when you have to encamp at night even if its no longer winter. Certainly. Considering the future, it will be less wasteful to prepare them now. But as Maricle said, its okay to tan the skin yourself. I think its a good idea to bring one home and practice with that. I dont know how to do it. Hmmm, to be honest, I also dont know much except that hell need to use the brain /mammals/deer-tan-own-hide1.htm">1 If I remember correctly, isnt there another way? With sap or tree sap? Hmm, I dont really know. When I search this kind of thing on the inte in my past life, I remember that theres a method of using brains in the upper links In my case, [Creation Magic] is enough I try to imagine [Leather Processing] skill while thinking about how to tan animal skin with brains. While focusing my consciousness on the skill, I can figure out how to do it. By doing this, I can somehow know what I should do when Im stuck. I discovered this trick when I was staying alone in the forest. Ah hmm, I understand. However, this knowledge might be valuable, so I whispered it to Maricle and Tri with a small voice. You have to use the rabbits brain. First While omitting the small details, I roughly exined how they should do it. First, scrape off the fats on the back of the peeled skin and wash it then smear the brain before leaving it for a while. Then scrape it again, wring it until its half dry, then stretch it and dry it. Or something like that. The brain was used as a tanning substance, so they could also use any other tanning substance if they found one. Ah, maybe I should try making another tanning substance However, it was too troublesome. I rather pay some money to make people do it for me. [Creation Magic] was really convenient. It sure takes a lot of time. Right Yes. Thats why I think you should try with one sheet for practicing. I see. And we better ask a shop to make the most of it, right? That option is more certain. Kuro and Arle, who couldnt join the conversation much, started to mess around. Stop it, dont pull my cloak! Ren, bored. Hey Ren, dont just talk to Tri and Maricle. Do something for us! What? What could I do at this ce where there were so many people? Ren, sing a song. Hey, Kuro, dont force Ren to do something strange! We are talking about something important Hmph! Its unfair that only Tri gets to talk to Ren! Hmm, Kuro wont let me go if this keeps going on It cant be helped. Then Ill sing the Unlucky General Orc song for you. Ren, are you sure? Im sure she wont let me go if we keep this up. Well, thats true Sorry. Its for the cute Kuro, so I dont mind. Now then, lets sing a song. Thats it. The lyric was, misfortune hippopotamus something Ruuru ruururu ruururuuruuruu Rururuuru ruururu ruuru ruu Yeah, I couldnt remember it well and made it up at the third line, but its okay, right? At the same time, I tried to incorporate various morals in the song, such as the nail that sticks out gets hammered in, destruction of evidence is important, and karma is real. Ill omit the lyrics since I might get copyrighted. Honestly, those guys seem like they wille to collect the money, its a little scary. The other adventurers around me had aplicated look and drew away from me, but its not my fault. Ren Youre still making such a terrible song Dont praise me that much, Ill get embarrassed. Yeah, thats right. Even when I had no memory of my previous life, I used to sing these questionable songs in the orphanage. I didnt reflect on it at all. But Kuro and Arle were happy, so theres no problem! With that, the purchase waspleted without any trouble. No, I could say that there was a bit of trouble The counter told me that themercial guild had contacted them and ask me to go there since I had ranked up. Anyway, we asked at the purchasing counter about the leather tanning shop affiliated with the guild. After they told us, we brought the rabbit fur there and asked them to process it. The fee was paid in advance. By the way, meat processing would also be done here, so they could bring it all together in the future. It saved a lot of trouble. As I said I would while grilling the meat earlier, I pressed around 5 kg of salt to Maricle. It looked really heavy. Eh? The amount increased? Details, details. In the end, you took care of us so much. I will return your favor someday. Dont worry about it so much. You helped me a lot when we were in the orphanage. Plus we are friends. Thats no, youre right. Then allow me to help you when youre ever in trouble in the future. Is that good? Yes, thank you. Ah, by the way, dont think that you can fight goblin with that horn spear. Its impossible to do that? It is. Youll die. Please make sure to tell the fools about that. Itll be a problem if they resent me because of that. Alright. Now then, we should part now for today. Ren, youre going? Its not like we wont meet again. We are staying in the same town, so we will meet again soon. Uu Kuro, dont bother Ren so much! See you. If we chatted too much, it would be hard to leave, so I decided to leave first. Haa I would like to take Kuro with me if possible. I wanted to glomp her fluffy cat ears all night long. But I should be patient. Ah, how about taking a peek at the workshop on the other side of the road? It seemed that they sell magic swords, so it might be helpful, I guess? Themercial guild was troublesome, so Im going to pass today. Chapter 84: The Story of a Certain Orphan Chapter 84: The Story of a Certain Orphan I am Tri, an orphan. My best friend was sold yesterday. To be honest, saying that she was sold wasnt correct. A certain merchant subsidized the operating funds for this orphanage, and this orphanage was operated with the intent to sell off children with good skills. My best friend, who was taken yesterday, had a skill that would be useful for the merchant. As a result, she was taken to the merchants ce. There were some children who were taken in the past. The older sisters who took very good care of us and the older brothers who were very helpful None of them came back. At that time, I unexpectedly met an older brother who left the orphanage because he couldnt learn any useful skill by the time he was 13 years old and became an adventurer. That older brother was 18 years old at that time. One day, he happened to meet a child of the same age who was taken to the merchant from the orphanage. The story I heard from him at that time was tragic. All of the children who were taken were bound by very magic and contract magic and they were treated like ves. Boys would be given the minimum necessities of life and got assaulted on a daily basis to vent the other workers stress. Girls would be treated as a ything. Even so, in order not to lose the childrens useful skills, they prevented them from dying. Because that boy told the older brother about his cruel situation, he was severely punished in front of him. That older brother couldnt bear to see it and immediately ran away. Does my best friend have to suffer that? Falling into despair, my eyes turned dark. The other children who were listening to him became sad. The atmosphere of the orphanage immediately darkened. It was obviously illegal to force the children to be a ve. Right after we heard the story, we directly appealed to the director. But it was useless. It seemed like the director knew how the merchant treated the children who had already been taken. He had reported this matter to the administration a lot of times and tried to make them do something about this. But the investor merchant always managed to get away from punishment. No matter how many times the director had bowed his head and begged the merchant to stop this, nothing has changed. On the contrary, the merchant would cut back his funds on the orphanage when he found out about the directors reporting him, making the children in the orphanage had to eat less than usual. I recalled that there were times when the amount of their food lessened. I was convinced that this was the reason. After that, we stopped doing anything. There were many small children here. I shouldnt involve them. Ren was a mysterious child. Even though she was in the same age as me, her tone was polite and calm. Sometimes, she surprised everyone by doing some crazy things. When we went to the forest to search for something to eat, she picked up more edible wild nts than anyone else. But coincidently, she was surprisingly weak andcked physical strength. She always had a nk face. When I thought that she was walking right behind me, she would suddenly put her finger on her chin while muttering something and scratched her head. After that, she would stand still for a while before doing something strange again. She also said a lot of mean things. She didnt go easy on the boys who made a mess by doing stupid things. Her polite tone made the damage even greater. On the other hand, she was very caring and the younger children liked her very much. Although she didnt seem to be aware, the number of children who wanted to get pampered by Ren was extremely high. Rens highpetitive rate wasnt only limited to the small children, she was also being targeted by almost all the boys in the orphanage. But Ren despised rough boys the most and didnt want to deal with them at all. And speaking about thepetitive rate, she was also targeted by the children outside the orphanage as well. The boys wanted to be closer to her and the girls wanted to be her friends, which was kind of bizarre. It was Cain, the boss of the children in the orphanage, who protected Ren. Cain kicked all of the guys who tried to do something towards Ren. Thanks to that, he also became the boss of the children in the town. I believed that Ren also trusted Cain. At least in the beginning. Yes, Cain and Ren were actually close friends when they were very young. It changed when Cain started to think of Ren as a girl. To hide his embarrassment, he started to act coldly towards her, but he gradually raised his hand to Ren and even started using violence until she cried. By the time I noticed something was strange, it was already toote. Cain constantly made Ren cry and Ren extremely disliked Cain. I warned Cain a lot of times, but nothing improved. If there was only one salvation, it would have been how Cain immediately stopped the other boys with brute force when they tried to bully Ren. Eventually, Cains bullying on Ren escted to the point that Cain took away Rens meals. He gave her meals to the younger children, but I couldnt bear to see how Ren cried because she was hungry. Maricle, Rens close friends, and I would share our meals with her. As those days went on, Ren started looking at Cain as if she was looking at stones in the roadside or insect corpse. However, while relentlessly bullying Ren this much, Cain still thought that Ren liked him for some reason. He even nned to take Ren with him out of town to be an adventurer and get married by the time he was 13 years old. I didnt understand his mind at all. The girls hated him because he was really stupid at those parts but when he did something while using his head, everyone was surprised how he could do amazing things calmly. Yet when he didnt think of anything, he was so stupid that I felt annoyed watching him. That was Cain. There were times when I thought it would be good if he could behave himself since he was handsome, but since he wouldnt fix himself no matter how many times I scolded him, I had already given up. A few days after Ren was taken and the atmosphere of the orphanage turned gloomy, everyone became even sadder. It seemed like Rens carriage was attacked by bandits and they fell off a cliff. As far as the soldiers who went to the bottom of the cliff had confirmed, there was no survivor. The corpses had been eaten by the demons and ended up in a horrible state. Even if someone was alive, going into the forest under the cliff was too dangerous since there were many brutal monsters and beasts inside. The soldiers gave up and returned back. The merchant who funded this orphanage was weirdly stingy regarding this matter. He always used the route crossing the mountain to transport the children. That route was the shortcut, but it was dangerous because bandits might appear there. Taking a safe route means detouring the forest and tripled the cost of the travel. It seemed like he really hated the cost. The same thing happened several times in the past. A child taken from here died on the way because of an ident. Since the situation didnt improve at all, that merchant probably saw the worth of our life as the same as the travel cost. But I never expected that Ren would face the same end Then the atmosphere of the orphanage became even gloomier and heavier. Ren was too dull to notice this, but she was idolized by everyone. I was so sad that Ren died, but after thinking about it, it might have been better for her to die rather than being treated as a ything. Considering the story I heard from the older brother who came back before, I couldnt say that staying alive in that hell was better. Whileforting the gloomy children with that thought, I noticed that Cain was thinking about something. A few days after that, Cain called me out to discuss something. Cain told me that he would take around a year to prepare and leave this orphanage to go to the royal capital and be an adventurer. It seemed that he thought about a lot of things after Rens incident. The members Cain would take along were Boman and Ryuu, who were always acting stupid with Cain, and Maricle. Four people in total. Will youe with us as well? Plus, it wont be good if those three stay like that, right? It seemed like he already saw through who I would bring along if I decided to go with him. Those three were Ricorice, Kuro, and Arle. Other than me, they were all especially close to Ren. After hearing the news of Rens death, they were so sad that I couldnt even bear to see them. I tried to cheer them up, but I was at a loss since I didnt have any idea how to do it. But this might be a good opportunity, If the environment changed, something might change. They might recover once we moved. Yeah, Im going. Ill take those three with me. I think those kids wouldnt refuse. Then its decided. Then the next day, we had started preparing. The four boys began practising how to fight by swinging woods while doing small chores and saving coins. Like Cain, we trained our physical fitness and studied herbs while doing some chores. Yeah. Ricorice and the others chose toe along. It seemed like they wanted to change their environment, just as I thought. March, around a year after the news of Rens death. Already prepared, we left the orphanage and set out to the royal capital. After arriving in the royal capital, we had continuous hardships. Every day, we were struggling to feed ourselves. Ricorice and the others were busy working every day that they didnt have time to be sad. While all of us were working hard together like this, we would have a reunion with our best friend who we thought was dead. But thats another story. Chapter 85: Plain Yet Relatively Important Training – First Part Chapter 85: in Yet Rtively Important Training ¨C First Part1Good morning everyone, this is Ren. Yeah, its been a while since I introduced myself like this. Yesterday, I went to peep at the smithing workshop across the road, but they chased me away at the front door. ???? you! They told me that since I rented a room at Arnolds workshop, I somehow became a spy? Not to mention, they wouldnt listen to me and immediately kick me out from their ce. Moreover, they threw salt at me at the end. In the midst of my rage, I was weirdly impressed that there was such a culture in this world. However, I checked the sword that was disyed in the show window using [Appraisal] and [Analysis]. It was [Non-attribute magic LV 1]. The sword itself was good quality. It was a lot shabbier than I expected? But maybe they didnt use the best sword to decorate the shop front? It would be bad if it was stolen. Then I guess they could make one or two levels higher than that? Hmm. I wont go to themercial guild yet. Im scared. I have to prepare myself to go inside. Yeah. Thats why today I would finally make a mana sword. But before that, I had to recover my stamina. Since I was hungry, I would make breakfast today! When I exined that I wanted to be energized in my cksmith training today, they easily lent me the kitchen. With that, lets get cooking! Today I will make a pork bowl. Not a beef bowl. Raised cows were basically for nobles, so ordinary people couldnt buy them. Beef monster meat was usually a high-ss item. Therefore, Im using a pig as a substitute. So Im making an orc bowl. First, I cooked arge amount of rice. Rice was stocked in the kitchen. It seemed like rice wasnt very popr with the workers because they didnt know how to cook it deliciously. Im using my y pot. I made a lot of them, so using one wouldnt be a problem. While watching the temperature and the y pot, I cooked the meat on the top at the same time. I asked thendy to chop arge amount of onion. She was watching how I made it from my side, but it would be impossible to reproduce the taste since I was using dashi and mirin. But she could make something simr, maybe. Plus, pork bowl was very popr. Now that I had filled my stomach, I should start experimenting with making a mana sword. Experiment! Experiment! Its a fun experiment time! Yahoo! That being said, lets review the typical magic sword making as a start. Only some cksmiths or alchemists could make a magic sword and mana sword. As a cksmith, I wouldnt be able to make it since I didnt inherit a secret technique. Thinking that way, did the alchemist seem to have lower skill acquisition thresholds? I used my brain a little to think about how to make mana sword as a cksmith master. Probably, they threw in magic stone or a part of a demon when they smelt the ore? Or maybe they toss ingot when they forge the sword? I guess its something like that. Perhaps the secret was the mix ratio, what kind of material to use, and so on? For an alchemist, maybe it was the derivative of [Magic Tool Making] skill? I did it myself when I made a stove before, but I had to fill in a lot of things like the outline of the magic power circuits I think. These things should be written in alchemys grimoire. I tried to make it, but I couldnt do either of them. So I forcefully made a magic sword with [Creation Magic]. The material was the sword that I forge on my own and my own magic power. But it would be bad if I failed, so I tried with a throwing dagger first. I had more than 100, and even if I failed, it would be alright. I guess. Okay, here I go! Yup, its done. I seeded in adding [Non-attribute Magic LV1]. Next, I would try the second one with the skill called [Magic Bestowal]. Apparently, this was a particrly unique skill. In my status, they were in the same line as [Creation Magic]. The unique skill was a rare and powerful skill that a few people or even one person had acquired in the past. My [Creation Magic] was a unique skill no matter how I think about it. Since they were in the same row, [Magic Bestowal] and [Multitasking] were probably also unique skills. Then the skill that I could pass on with this [Magic Bestowal] skill and [Skill Bestowal] skill was limited to the skill I have, and the level of the skill I could bestow was up to the level of these skills. I had my non-attribute magic in LV8, but I could only bestow it to LV3. Because of that, using these skills with [Creation Skill] should increase the skill experience together. That being said, here I go again! Yeah, this one is also good. [Non-attribute Magic LV3]. I repaired the first one to make it into LV3. After this, I repeated the same thing until there were more simr skills. Ah, I learned [Mana Sword Creation] skill on my tenth try. It was faster than I expected, so I was a bit disappointed. By the way, the level was already on LV3. Perhaps it was linked to [Magic Bestowal]? It would be easier to raise the level now, so Ill take it Next, I repeated the same thing with various attribute magics. For the time being, lets start with [Fire Attribute Magic LV3] After the tenth try, I got the [Attribute Sword Making]. This was also LV3. As I thought, they were all linked? Usually, they would be different, though It might be because of [Magic Bestowal]? Would having a higherpatibility skill affect the lowerpatibility skill? Well, its easier to raise the level anyway, so Im fine with it. By the way, since I could now make mana swords and attribute swords, lets try to raise the level of these two skills first. I had 110 throwing daggers and forged 213 swords since I came to this workshop. Lets bestow all-attribute magic to all of them. It took a lot of time as expected. It was almost noon. I took MP recovery potion many times along the way. However, thanks to them, my skill level for [Magic Bestowal], [Mana Sword Creation], and [Attribute Sword Creation] had all reached 5. Yeah, theyre raising really fast. In addition, there was an unexpected event. The level of my attribute magics had also risen. The darkness and lightning attributes, which had a low level, increased by 3 LV, and all others were increased by 2 LV. Finally, the non-attribute and water attribute became LV10! And then, the [Magic Sword Creation] skill leveled up Well, multiple attribute swords were considered as magic swords. So maybe thats the reason. But this was also LV3 in the beginning. Was this linked to [Skill Grant]? Anyway, now I would be able to bestow ability skills instead of attribute-based ones. But before that, Ill have my lunch. Im hungry. And my MP is too low. Lets drink some potions. Gulp gulp. After I ate my lunch, I resumed my work. But before that, I reattached all of the LV3 All-Attribute Swords I made to LV5. It was important to raise the level! But in the midst of it my [Mana Sword Creation] became LV6 and I had to redo the whole thing! But well, it was all good. Next was [Skill Bestowal]. Before that, I should drink MP recovery potion and recover my MP into the full gauge. I didnt know what would happen after all if I run out of MP. By the way, what I did was the same test as the mana sword in the morning. For now, I forcefully attached the skill using [Creation Magic]. What I got was [Attack Enhancement LV1]. Just to make sure, Ill start with the throwing dagger. That being said, here I go! Hmm, its done? Somewhat? Somehow, I feel like the MP consumption was high. But I could make a magic sword. It was fairly easy I was a bit disappointed again. But I was worried about therge amount of MP consumed. As an experiment, I tried using [Creation Magic], [Skill Bestowal], and [Magic Sword Creation] together. Right, I decreased the MP consumption considerably. Next, lets attach [Endurance Enhancement]. Its a convenient skill since it would make the weapon hard to break and reduce the maintenance work Yup, I attached it without any problems. With this, I probably could add other skills I saw in the book. For now, should I gain experience by attaching [Attack Enhancement] and [Endurance Enhancement] to all weapons? Although I drank a lot of MP recovery potions along the way, I finished the work without problems. Thanks to that, Im hungry. In the midst of it, [Magic Sword Creation] went up to 4 and I had to start over, but with this, the power of my sword projection attack with [Sword Control Magic] has improved! For some reason, the level of [cksmith] also raised by one to LV8. So [Magic Sword Creation] can be ssified as a smithing experience in the broad sense of making a sword? No, Im grateful, but I felt somewhat wrong. Well, since I could make magic sword and mana sword without any problems, next was the holy sword and the cursed sword? No, I felt like I could do this, but well, lets try it for now. Here I go! Oh, this was no good. Impossible. I felt dizzy. What, just what was missing? Ahh, this was a guess, but maybe my sword creation skill level wasnt enough? Somehow, I felt like there would be a requirement to increase all the sword creation skills to LV10 Its scary since I might not necessarily be wrong. However, when I saw my status, I had [Holy Sword Creation] at LV0. Did I learn the foundation? I wonder about that Once I checked the [Holy Sword Creation] skill in [Appraisal], it seemed that I could make cursed sword using [Holy Sword Creation] skill. What does that mean? Now lets return to the main subject. Well, what should I do next? Should I raise the level of my [cksmith] for the time being? I wouldnt be able to gain the experience to raise the level of [Magic Sword Creation] unless I have the sword as a material. I had to ask the master to give me ore again. After that, I would practice cksmithing again Eh? I havent used my mithril? Right, I also have that, huh Well, maybe I should try using them soon? Oh, its already night. Lets have dinner. Thendy asked me to teach her how to cook rice and meat after dinner if possible, so I decided to teach her in the future. Eating heavy meals for breakfast made my stomach ufortable, so it would be helpful if they could use rice. Rice was a lot cheaper than wheat too Chapter 86: Plain Yet Relatively Important Training – Second Part Chapter 86: in Yet Rtively Important Training ¨C Second Part Okay, today was the second day of my serious training. But then, I was only going to make swords used as the materials for making magic swords. With that, the days of my in training began! Since Id already talked to the master, I received a lot of extra steel. But first of all, I had to turn all of this into a smelt ingot. That being said, my [Metalwork] was already at LV10, and my [cksmith]s level was also quite high. Processing them using [Creation Magic] wouldnt consume much of my MP. Well, even if the consumption was actually a little heavy, my MP had increased dramatically yesterday. Probably, it was because I kept using it continuously to make a magic sword yesterday. All of a sudden, it went from 650 to 950. The increase was a bit abrupt, wasnt it? But then, I could handle the strain of using too many MP now, so first, I converted all of the steel materials in this room into ingots. Here I go! Right, it was pretty easy. Since all sorts of magic-rted skills had improved in level, that should be the reason, I guess? After that, I stored everything in [Storage] and moved to the usual cksmith workshop I rented. Then I immediately forged the swords. Keep smithing and smithing. Thanks to my various skill level-ups, my speed on forging the swords were extremely fast. Taking one hour to finish a sword was too insane. Unbelievable. Well, I dont really mind, though Yeah, I just thought that this started to be a production cheat, you know? But once it actually happened, I felt somewhat strange I kept forging from eight in the morning until eleven in the noon, nning to finish three swords for the time being. After that, it took me one hour to wrap up everything. Twelve oclock, it was already lunchtime I took a look at the swords I finished using [Appraisal], but their quality wasnt the highest quality, but excellent sword. What a shocking development. The heck is that!? Excellent sword shouldnt be something one could easily make, right!? [cksmith] LV8 was that amazing!? No, too crazy! To think that I could forge excellent swords without any difficulty now it would be dangerous if someone found out, wouldnt it!? I shouldnt show this to the master even if he asked me to show the sword I forged Since I had given attributes to all of my previous forged swords, I couldnt show those to him too. This is bad what should I do? By the way, after surpassing excellent sword, the quality would turn into supreme sword. That was the highest rank of sword quality. If I could forge that, I had no choice but to escape from this ce. Huh? By running away, it probably meant that my cksmith training was over, right? With such a thing in my mind, it was already afternoon. During lunch, I desperately tried not to behave in a strange way. Somehow, Im already tired Now then, I couldnt just stop forging swords. The level of [Magic Sword Creation] and so on went up at a stretch yesterday. But since I managed to do that considering how I had a lot of swords as the materials, I couldnt do anything else without going on the straight path from here. Hmm, but I was already bored with this. Even though I could see my goal properly, I had been doing the same thing for almost two months now. Maybe I should do something different for a while? Look, how about making a katana? I had challenged myself to make it, but it all ended up in failure. But now, I had a lot of cksmithing skills. It should be okay. With that being said, I put an ingot in the furnace! And activated the [Creation Magic] skill as nned! The cksmithing started! How should I forge a katana!? Ah, I feel like I get it somehow? After that, I let my body move as it wishes, not resisting the skill correction And now, I finished forging a katana. But only the de. Oh dear, it was surprisingly manageable. This was my firstmemorable katana, so lets finish this as it was. Katana had variousponents, but the handle was made out of wood wrapped in silk. But to curb my boredom, maybe I should y a bit with this? How about making it all metal? I could use steel to make the handle and knitted steel thread as the handle wrapper I didnt know how to make them, but just go with [Creation Magic] at times like this! Okay, I made it. This had happened many times, but I still felt somewhat guilty Oh well, its all good. And with that, I tried to make everything from the ornaments to the scabbard with metal. Yeah, even I thought that it was kind of stupid. But for now, lets check it with [Appraisal]. The name was Unsigned Katana. The quality was good quality. Since this was my first time, I guess this result was only as expected. By the way, the length of the de was the average size of a sword. Eh? I wouldnt be able to draw the sword? No way. Since the de was curved unlike the straight sword, I should be able to draw it by twisting my body at the waist and matching it with my movement. I should be able to draw it, right? Hmm, based on my knowledge and experience in my previous life, I believe I can do that? Lets try itter. So, before making the second one, I checked my status first. Hmm I acquired [Katana Smith] skill LV1 and [Steel Thread Creation] skill LV2. After that, there was [Katana Maker]. Hmm, so the skill to make a katana was different It would be difficult to raise the level. Well, I had no choice but to do my best. Oh well, now that I have checked my status, lets try to forge a katana like this in the afternoon. Apparently, I would also get experience for [cksmith] skill even if I forge a katana? Whew. Im back, and its five in the evening now. Ipleted a total of four katanas, including my first one. I properly made everything until the end. Right after I finished my fourth one, my [Katana Smith] was LV2 and [Steel Thread Creation] was Lv4. The steel thread skill easily went up, but it seemed like it would take a long time to level up the katana skill However, I was very tired. Probably because I made something unfamiliar. It was a bit early, but I would wrap it up here today. Well, I was doing this as a hobby, not as a job. Im not going to overdo it. With that, I took a break in the usual familiar courtyard. There was still some time before dinner, so Id like to try to see if I could pull out the katana I had forged with great pains. But normal adults or people with big bodies should be able to draw it, okay? Whats important was whether I could do it or not. I pulled myself together, bent my knees to get into the posture. Then I took a step, twisted my body at my waist, and used my whole body to pull out the katana Oh, I did it. Great. Im amazing. I returned the katana into the scabbard as it was. By the way, doing it like this was too dull, so I tried to do iai1 by relying on my memory of my past life. Shuu! Hyuu! Ching. I smoothly drew the katana at a high speed, repositioned my posture, cut down the air, and maneuvered to return the katana to its scabbard. Oh, I was really cool just now. Fufufu. Thud. Sounds like something dropped? Apparently, the master and everyone else was watching me when I was pleased with myself. No way, how embarrassing! H-hourai sword? Is that a hourai sword? Hourai? Whats that? Eh? No, this is a katana. Katana is a hourai sword, though? I see. Miss, I already know that you have a good skill, but No wonder. I heard that Hourai cksmith is skillful, but I didnt expect you to be descended from there Master seemed to have been convinced with something on his own. His sons also fixed their gazes on the katana in my hand Hey? Can you hear me? What do you mean with Hourai? Hey Ed, can you tell your teacher? Umm, what is Hourai? Eh? Teacher, you forged a Hourai sword even though youre not from Hourai? No, I dont understand you. So what is hourai? Just tell me already. Hourai is Hourai seemed to be an ind country with a unique culture in the east. To put it simply, the country had a Japanese-style culture that you could find easily in fantasy stories. I probably shouldve expected this kind of country in this world. By the way, Hourai wasnt going in national istion, but they traded with this continent by importing and exporting in a small amount. It seemed that the goods that were imported from Hourai were traded at high prices as work of art. Among them, the katana was called the Hourai Sword. Since it was an excellent weapon, people traded it at a very high price. Even if a katana with a bad quality would still cost hundreds of gold coins. Depending on the quality, it could even reach a thousand gold coins By the way, there were no cksmiths on this continent who could forge katana. It seemed like Hourai regted the outflow of their skilled craftsman. That means, my existence was too questionable! I was a person who shouldnt be here! No wayyyyy!? Many unpleasant things would happen if I didnt shut their mouth here! First, I need to make necessary arrangements with master who has been mumbling alone since before! Umm, master Please keep the fact that I can forge this katana as a secret Hm? Ahh, I know. Dont worry. It will only bring troubles after all Hey, you all! Talking about this is banned! Definitely make sure that no one outside will know! Right, it should be safe now I think? No, Im a little worried, so lets force one katana on master. In this kind of time, I should bribe him to shut up! (Physical) muzzling! Master, I will give you this, so please make sure to keep it a secret! Really! You understand, right!? Ah, okay No, is this really okay? Yes! So please dont speak of this matter to anyone! Got it. Leave it to me! Is it safe now? But if the information still leaks, I should run away. Lets do so.2 3 Chapter 87: Plain Yet Relatively Important Training – Third Part Chapter 87: in Yet Rtively Important Training ¨C Third Part Cheers! Im going to do cksmithing energetically today! Yes, this is Ren. Really, I got a bit of trouble yesterday, making me a bit panicked. But I also bribed the master, so things should somehow go well! Well, theres nothing I could do about this anyway Since it hase to this, I want to have a strong backing. However, getting incorporated into strange power sounds like it would only bring many troublesome things. Hmm. I wonder if theres no favorable person in authority Huh, thinking about it too much would change nothing! Rather than that, I should raise my level now! So, I nned to train my cksmith after heartily eating my breakfast. But before that, I have to report this. My new skills had increased. [Concealment] and [Disguise] skills. With these skills, I could hide, mislead, and trick other people. [Concealment] was a skill that allowed me to hide evidence, erase various traces, and hide any specific thing when my status was being assessed. [Disguise] was a skill that allowed me to cover up various things, such as changing the status value of an item into another value. Both were the skills I always wanted, but they were both very difficult to acquire. Please note that even though it sounded simr, their effects were slightly different. Each of them had various uses. Fufufu. The reason why I acquired them was probably that I bribed the master and acted innocent during dinner yesterday Other than that, I had been hiding my face and sneaking around on a regr basis, so I felt like they finally bore fruit? No, really When I had dinner yesterday and breakfast this morning, I was bothered by the gaze around me For the time being, I hid most of my skill fields, covered up some skills to make them seem to have low levels, and disguised my status by changing the value of my MP, MGC, INT, and CHA into low numbers. By the way, it seemed that the master was gazing and examining the katana I forced on him all night. Thats why he was half asleep during breakfast. Wasnt he working too hard? Ah. I also acquired [Swordsmanship: Art of Sword Drawing], meaning that my melee attack skills had increased. Did I learn it after doing that in the courtyard yesterday? Well, I learned it a little in my previous life, so saying that I remembered how to do it was closer, I guess? However, I would immediately tumble the moment I try to tussle, so basically, I could only do it as an interceptor Seriously, couldnt I do something to this unathletic body!? Rather, just give me [Swordsmanship: Katana] skill! But well, I couldnt use katana since it was too conspicuous I dont have any reason to stand out like a sore thumb anyway. Eh? Saying that now was toote? Im taking care of myself for the time being, okay! But lets practise it too. Its safest to have all of my skills at a high level. Now then, letspose myself and do cksmithing already. When I walked towards the cksmith workshop with a slight gloom, the master stopped me. Hey, Miss. Ive thought about this repeatedly, but theres something I dont understand Can I ask you this? Ah, Im not going to make you tell me how to make it, so rest assured. Haa. Sure. Thanks. So why did you make the handle of this katana with metal? Well, I think that the metal thread on the handle is honestly amazing, but it will kill the impact of the de, right? Your hands will also get numb after swinging it several times, wont it? Eh? Ah!? No good, I was too careless! Now that he said it, thats right!? Wood and silk were chosen for the handle to make sure the users wrist wouldnt get damaged due to the impact! Maybe I was stupid!? I yed too much! Ahh, ahh, what should I do? What kind of excuse should I make? I couldnt just tell him that I made it like this because I was ying around without thinking anything, right? First of all, I had to make sure that my face didnt look upset! Ah, right. I had to cover up my facial expression and mood using the [Concealment] and [Disguise] I just learned! With full power!! Ahh, I made it for fun Its not for an actual fight. On top of that, I tried to lie while tilting my head. Well, its true that I yed too much and caused that error, so it was half-truth? Ah I see So you were testing various techniques you have learned. Ohh, did I fool him? But if I think about it calmly, I definitely sounded very disappointing, right Even I realized that I was ying too much. I had to seriously reflect on this. The lesson I learned this time was, Dont y with weapons! But having fun was important, so I was still going to y! I understand why youre doing this, but if possible, can you fix this to a proper one? Ah, but if you dont want your technique to be stolen, I will give up Ah I see now. Sure, sure. I dont mind. Its not a big deal. I guess I can try? So I remade the proper one in around fifteen minutes and returned the katana to the master. For some reason, he left with great joy. Hmm, I had this feeling for a while, but the master might be a cksmith fanatic? Well, I dont really care. Haa I was already tired, but ah, the levels of my [Concealment] and [Disguise] had risen, ahaha haa. No, no. Lets start over. What should I do today? Hmm Right, maybe I should try making armor instead of weapons? Attack power was important, but defense power was also important. In the first ce, I was untrained. What should I make then? I was powerless, so metal armor might be too much Ah, but if I applied [Weight Reduction] Ah, but if someone like me equipped a full te mail and walked leisurely, I would stand out. Leather breastte would be too troublesome, so clothes? For clothes, I had to strengthen it first, but maybe I shouldnt expect much from fabric. Ah, I got an idea. Now that I acquired [Steel Thread Creation] skill, why not knit a metal thread into a cloth? That being said, clothes made of steel would be heavy Should I make it with mithril, which is lighter than iron? Once I applied [Weight Reduction], it would be perfect. For the coloring I probably could figure out something using [Creation Magic]. With that feeling, I tried to make mithril underwear. With the usual design. The texture was quite silky? And I didnt get any allergic reaction to metal I was worried about. Fantasy metal was amazing! By the way, since I enchanted various things in it, the defense power was also high. For underwear. And for some reason, I got additional [CHA+5]. The heck does that mean. By the way, the garter belt and stockings were a set, so now I didnt have to worry about injuring my legs. Yeah, I realized that I was doing something stupid. Ah, lets make long gloves that reached above my elbows so that I wouldnt hurt my arms. It could also protect me from the cold. With the same flow, I made several sets of spare underwear and a certain number of clothes. Mithril mesh! And my important hooded cloak! Including the spares, I made three of each kind. For my cloak, I applied [Stealth] as usual, but this time I also added [Concealment]. With this, I should be able to act more inconspicuously than ever before, right? By the way, once I added [All Attributes] to my clothes and underwear, I got a temperature control function as a bonus. And somehow, the cloth became breathable. Ahh, [All Attributes] sure was convenient After that, I decided to apply [Concealment] and [Disguise] instead of [Appraisal] to my fake sses. I hope this would suppress my [Magic Attribute] skill and reduce troubles rted to the origin of my face I pray that it will be effective I also made elbow protectors and knees protectors. I adjusted them to be thinner and lighter to make sure that my movement wouldnt be obstructed. The original defense power and durability would reduce due to me emphasizing on the lightness and ease of movement, but I couldpensate it with various additions. Then I cut and stick leather on the surface of thepleted protector to disguise it as leather equipment with the same design as the equipment I had been using so far. Then I tried to patch a thin te to serve as breastte and shoulder pads so I could raise my defense. Yeah, I didnt look that different from usual. But my defense power had improved all at once. Hm hm. Finally, after making this and that, my [Apparel] skill had be LV10. At the same time, [Steel Thread Making] also went up to LV6. Wasnt this too fast? However, thanks to the various things I made, my mithril had decreased considerably With the remaining mithril ingot, I could only make 4 to 5 swords. Since it had alreadye to this, I should forge my own sword with mithril. Lets do this. But lets not make katana. The short sword was enough. I didnt want to stand out. As usual, I should make the de sword and apply various skills. However, as a precaution, I also made a katana to intercept my opponent using iai. I could equip it in a second with [Storage]. But I also prayed I wouldnt get a chance to use it. Hmm, I think Ive prepared all of the equipment. And its noon soon. Tri wasing today, right? Alright, lets go to the back alley soon. Chapter 88: Here he comes Chapter 88: Here hees Today, I met Tri on the back alley. Together with Rico. And as usual, we had a good chat over meals. Eh, study? Ah, I just finished teaching them a while ago. The lesson was simple calctions. As long as they could do addition and subtraction, they shouldve covered the basics. Todays food is delicious too! Rico, please restrain yourself a little more Haa. By the way, todays meal was grilled rice balls. Personally, this was my favorite. Be it freshly made or cooled, it still tasted delicious. Other than that was a vegetable soup I made from soup broth using horned rabbit bones. It was also pretty good. Hmm. If she doesnt eat well, she wont grow up, you know? Yeah! Isnt that right, Tri? You guys Haa. Well, Id been eating a lot, but I was this short. Eh? My current height? Maybe around 139 cm. I could see my height using [Analysis] skill. Eh? I told you that I was 140 cm a little over a year ago? Shut up, it was my wishful thinking! Leave me alone! Actually, I had grown by around 1 cm since that ident. But then, 138cm should have been the average height of a ten years old girl in modern Japan, and I was also considered the tallest one in the orphanage But maybe that could also mean that the kids in the orphanagecked nutrition? By the way, what happened after you guys went home that day? Ohh, that. Its awesome. The three fools made a fuss when they saw the weapon. Then they were overjoyed after seeing the meat and became noisy. The people at the inn were very angry at them. After that, they found out that Tri and the others had eaten earlier, so they became even noisier. Even I wouldnt get angry over such a trivial matter! Rico, I already apologized to you, right? Youre persistent. Im not angry, though. Rico was an understanding child, so she wouldnt fret over this kind of thing. Im sure they were just bantering right? Dont fight, okay? And then, Ryuu showed us how idiotic he was by swinging his spear in the room. He almost hit Arle, so all of the girls beat the shit out of him. Its better if he died. Ren, killing him will be a bit too extreme, wont it And the next day, we go out and practise rabbit hunting. Since we have enough money, we decided to make sure everyone is used to the spear. I see. That sounds good. But after getting used to it to some extent, we n to continue collecting herbs. Its not like we can always catch a lot of rabbits after all. I mean, we could only catch four rabbits even after hunting until evening on the first day. So we didnt want to rely on hunting too much. We caught a lot of rabbits when Ren was with us, but your wolves must have helped a lot, right? Yes, these kids are clever. After that, the three foolsined about asking the store to process the rabbits fur and meat. Just as Ren expected. They are idiots after all. It was clear that they never thought ahead. If the amount of meat they could secure increased, it would be possible to reduce the cost of food in winter by storing it in preparation for winter. Yet all they wanted to do was to eat as much as they could. Really stupid. Howe they didnt know that food prices would go up in the winter Especially Cain. He went on errands when we were in the orphanage. But I exined the reason, Cain was convinced and exined it to the other two fools. Thats about it? Like what Ren instructed, I told him a kind adventurer gave us daggers and taught us how to make a spear. He was also convinced of that. Cain and Ryuu fought for the shield, but in the end, they calmed down after agreeing that the shield was reserved for Maricle. We are practising on how to use the weapons, so Cain is using the shield temporarily sorry. Its okay. Im giving up there. Yeah, I already knew this would happen. But I didnt expect that Cain would only use it temporarily. I thought he would make it his own and use it as he liked. Since he could still understand once Tri exined things to him, it seemed like he still had some brain cells left. Ahh, Ryuu and Boman also said some stupid things. They wanted to find goblins and fight them with the horn spears. To worsen the situation, Cain agreed with their idea even though he only had his previous broken and rusty sword Well, Maricle got angry and hit all of them, so they finally shut up now. They are really stupid. They even made that kind Maricle angry Since Ren gave us some advice, Maricle persistently exined and made sure they understood in the beginning, but they got too carried away after hunting the horned rabbits. They should just die. I mean, those three idiots shouldve gone to find a goblin and got killed by their foolishness. Leaving that aside, I think you can make more progress in hunting by using a bow, but its going to be quite difficult. Bow Ren, you could make one? Yes, well but the arrows are consumable items. I think I can make it easily. A bow with high uracy. I also have so many wood materials Ah, the one I made when I was in the forest is in my [Storage], right? I was too powerless at that time and I couldnt pull it, but now I probably can, right? Youre right Hey, Rico. Arle told us that she wanted to use a bow, right? Yup~ But since arrows cost money, its hard to fulfil her wish. Im not going to help you forever, so its best to discuss this matter with everyone and find a way. Ren Ren Oh, did the atmosphere be a little heavy? But I only said the truth. Well, if there were only Tri and the girls, Im okay with making a party together. But I dont want to be together with the fools. Ah, but Maricle is very wee. The girlscked defense and endurance, so it would be helpful with Maricle joining them. After all, he has a good personality. By the way, Tri and Rico implied that they were inviting me to their party several times. But I pretended not to notice. Since we have finished our meals, lets practise magic from now on. Right. Yeah I have to change the topic and do something with this atmosphere. Thats why, lets practise magic. That being said, its just [Magic Cirction] practise. But I think both of them have gotten used to it? Hmm. I think you two have gotten familiar with magic. Rico has fairly stabilized as well. It should be okay for both of you to practise alone from now on. After getting a little more ustomed, you can teach Arle and others. Really!? Are you serious, Ren? However, make sure you wont overdo it or push yourself too hard. Okay! Tri, lets do it tonight right away Tri! Ricorice! So youre here! Ugh. Oh no Ah he finally came? Haa Cain, what are you doing here? I overheard Maricle and Arles conversation. You all met Ren without telling me, right? Why do we have to report everything to Cain? Do you think were stupid? Haa? Oi Ricorice, Ren and I are Cain and Ren are what? Nothing is going on between you two, right? Ren hates you a lot, so how about noticing that already? Ren hates me? What are you talking about? Ohh, he really didnt understand. This guys head was still broken as usual. Why did things be like this, really Well, I dont care about that. Ren is that hooded girl, right? Ren! Its me Cain! Why dont youe to see me if youre alive? Dont make me worry so much He didnt listen to people as usual. Not to mention, he kept getting the wrong idea, how disgusting. Why dont you reply? But its a relief. I missed you Its amazing how he could enter his own world. Ugh. Anyway, he extended his hand to me, but what did he want to do? Could he please not touch me? Of course I avoided him and escaped to Tris back. Why are you avoiding me? Show me your face. No way. Please dont touch me, youre disgusting. Ha? What are you saying? Would he mind noting near me? Dont approach me. You make me sick. Oi, what are you saying!? Juste here already! Kyaa, Im afraid Help me (Monotone) Gwargh!! What!? Norn, who was curled up behind the bench, barked at Cain before he could reach me. She slowly got up and stepped in between me and Cain. Wahh, thanks Norn! As expected from my goddess! Bark at that viin and chase him away! Bell was still curled up without any worry, though. Grrr A wolf beast!? How can such a big monster appear here!? Ren,e here! Its dangerous! Do you think Im stupid? For me, youre the dangerous one. Haa Hey, Cain. That wolf is Rens follower. Shes not dangerous at all. Right now, shes just trying to protect her master. Rens follower Wait, what is it protecting Ren from? Theres nothing dangerous here is there? Well, theres someone who tried to grab Ren even though she clearly hates him. Theres nothing strange, isnt there? Haa? Hate Shes just shy, right? No, Ren clearly hates you. She doesnt even want to look at your face. Rather, why do you think Ren likes you after you bullied her so much? Eh? No, but when we were children Do you remember Bob, who is two years older than us? He was really violent with you. You hate him, right? Yeah, I remember. I definitely wont forgive him! He may look like hes bullying you, but he was rough with you because he wanted to leave the orphanage to you after hes gone. You know that, right? Yeah. He told me that before. But that doesnt matter! Even if he has a reason, he overdid it! Right, I also think that he overdid it. Then whats the difference between what you did with Ren and what Bob did to you? Eh? At least, Bob has a reason to harass. What about you? You dont have any reason, right? Should you do all of that just to hide your embarrassment? I have told you many times when we were still in the orphanage that she would hate you if you kept bullying her, right? Do you understand what youve done so much to Ren? You bullied her and made her cry. I dont understand where you get the idea that she likes you. Eh I did that? Ah, no But, thats Oh, did he finally reflect on his actions? And it seemed like he understood what he had done. His expression turned from confusion to shock. Flustered, he shifted his eyes to me. Disgusting, dont look at me. You said that we didnt tell you about Ren, but the reason was that Ren told us she didnt want to see your face. Do you have anyints? Thats But she taught you many things and helped us, right? If she didnt want to see my face, then why did she do that? I wanted to help my friends Tri, Maricle, and Rico, who I consider as my younger sister. You just happened to be in the same party as them. Meaning, you and your team are just a bonus. In the first ce, I wouldnt even get involved with you if Tri and my friends arent with you. Wha Ren, you! Ah, did he get angry? You! Eh? Did he want to grab me? Norn, please chase him away! I found you!!! Cain, die!!!!! Bam! Ugh!? Before Norn could kick him off, Arle, who was running very vigorously, kicked Cain and sent him flying. After flying away for around two meters, Cain twitched. Tsk, hes still alive? What a persistent guy. Also, Cain was going to hit me just now, right? His head is really broken. Norn, who lost her chance to shine, had her jaws drop. Norn, something like this will happen sometimes. Haa, Im refreshed. Ren, did Ie in time? Yeah, that was dangerous. We just talked a little bit. Mumumu. Haa, uhh, did Ie in time? Oh, Maricle also appeared. Unfortunately, yourete, Maricle. Sorry, Ren. It seems like Cain heard us when Maricle and I were chatting Its a matter of time. Dont worry about it. Sorry. Maricle, Arle, lets leave it at that. Im sorry Ren, were going home now. Cain just fainted by Arles jumping kick, so Maricle will carry him on his back. Is that okay? Yeah, its okay! It looks like he finally understood what he had done, so this is a good opportunity to scold Cain once we return! Ill make sure he wont look for you on his own! Maricle, please help out too, okay!? I understand. We have bothered you, Ren. Its fine. Ill leave that matter to you guys, then. Yes, leave it to us! I will kick him around too! In the end, everything felt like a mess, but it was settled for now. Everyone went home after apologizing. Since he did something ridiculous, please make sure to beat the shit out of him, okay? Chapter 89: Catching a glimpse of knowledge cheats scariness Chapter 89: Catching a glimpse of knowledge cheat''s scariness After Cains intrusion, I continued my cksmith training for a couple of days. This time, I forged many katanas. But I also had to forge ordinary swords. Katanas werent suitable for shooting with [Sword Control Magic]. By the way, Im currently chatting with Triera today. Not only Rico, but Maricle also came. It seemed like Rico came to report what had happened after they scolded Cain. Arle stayed in the inn to watch Cain. She wanted toe along, but she was still worried that Cain would do something stupid once no one was watching him. I can understand their sentiment. Ahh, it was really hard after we returned home I never expected that he was that persistent. Eh, that much? After Cain woke up the day before yesterday, he immediately tried to leave the room and wanted to look for me. Noticing that, Arle gave him a taste of her deadly jump kick again and made him stop moving. There, Maricle restrained his movement, and Cain was finally obedient. Before Cain woke up and could do anything strange again, everyone who supported team Ren unanimously agreed that they couldnt let him free, so they tied him in the chair and preached him until night. By the way, when did I have a team? After he calmed down, it was time for dinner, so they untied him, had a meal, and went to bed. By the way, Ryuu and Boman wereining all the time because they couldnt eat meat, considering how they didnt hunt for rabbits on that day. The next day, Maricle noticed that Cain tried to get out of the room early in the morning, so he restrained him again. After interrogating him, Cain wanted to go and see me. His obsession is disgusting. And after using the whole morning to preach him again, Cain finally gave up, even if he did so reluctantly. In the afternoon and the next day, they went hunting rabbits and collecting herbs as usual. By the way, Cain was uncannily obedient and looked like he was thinking about something How can I say this? From your story, he sounds really unpleasant. I dont understand him at all. To be honest, I also dont get him. Hes still tolerable when he doesnt think about you, but now, even I feel a bit disgusted I had already given up on him when we were still in the orphanage, but if this keeps going on, he will trouble you again. I did my best to scold him Its tiring Im sorry for causing trouble. No, no! Were the ones who always annoy you! Yes, its all Cains fault! The heck is Ren is going to be my wife!? Ren is going to be my wife! Eh, Im going to be Ricos wife? This is the first time I heard this, though? Aside from Ricos joke, I have a request for you Is that okay? A request? Yeah. Ive been discussing this with Maricle for a long time, but can you teach all of us how to read and write? Rico and I arent very skilled in teaching other people I hope you can teach us how to read and write, and if possible, how to calcte. I can buy daily necessities using a small sum of money without trouble, but if were going to continue working as adventurers, we might have to buy expensive equipment all at once. I also discussed with Triera that it would be dangerous if we dont notice that we are getting tricked. We dont have much, but we will properly pay you. I dont mind. You dont have to pay me No, well pay. To be honest, you wont gain anything out of this. I want you to teach all of us including Cain and Ryuu. I see. So thats what they mean. Actually, we have received too much from Ren. We have to be reasonable here. You probably dont mind, but we feel bad. So we want to make a request by paying you a remuneration. Its unreasonable for us to ask you to teach someone you dont want to see Hmm Haa, I understand. Really!? Thank you, Ren! Certainly, I didnt want to see the three fools, and I didnt want to hear what Cain wanted to say, but it would help Triera a lot if they could properly read and write. Ah, I felt like I got washed away by their pace Well, since Im helping my friends, I guess its fine. Sorry, Ren. Thanks for your help Actually, its Cains suggestion to pay you. Eh? Like what Triera said, we had been thinking about asking you to teach all of us to read and write from a long time ago, but we know that making you teach Cain and his team is too much I discussed this matter with Triera yesterday, but it turns out Cain was eavesdropping us. I think he decided to use his brain for once because he wants to see your face even though hes prohibited to Requesting you to teach us with a payment surely makes sense, so its hard to deny his idea. It seems like Cain also wants to learn reading and writing properly like Triera and Rico This will burden you, but we have to ask for your help. I see. He thought of this idea to make a time when he could meet me by involving everyone and encouraged them with his sound argument. How can I say this if hes smart enough to think of that, why cant he act normal? What an idiot. Ah I feel gloomy when I think about how Im going to meet with those idiots. But I already told them Im going to do it, so it cant be helped. Ah Well, I already said that Im doing it, so I wont go back on what I said. Hmm, right Then the ss is once every three days, from 9 A.M. to 12 P.M. Lets set up ten-sessions for now. How about five copper coins a person per day for the tuition fee? Was it too cheap? But everyone needed to survive. Now that they dedicated the whole morning to study, their ie would decrease even if they collected herbs in the afternoon. Now that they were also hunting horned rabbits, they would gain even less Other than that, I set the price this low because they were my friends But maybe it was a bit too cheap? But if the price was too high, they wouldnt be able to save up for the winter. Im thankful for that, but isnt that a little too cheap? Just consider it as friends price. Also, you told me that your current ie is depending on how much you collected herbs, right? I remember that you guys get around one small gold coin per day. Yeah, youre right. The lodging fee is one silver coin per day, and food expenses for eight people are one or two copper coins, right? Currently, you are also hunting horned rabbits, so your ie has decreased further. I think tanning rabbit skin costs around eight to ten small silver coins per piece. And if your clothes and various daily necessities are insufficient, you will have to buy them again. I want everyone to save money, and I feel awkward to request a high fee Perhaps taking a few silver coins or one small gold coin was eptable for teaching other people. But asking them to pay that much was a bit you know? Were really sorry. Once you start hunting rabbits, you will be able to get meat. Until then, your food expenses will increase, so everyone should work hard for now. Where will we study? If Im teaching a lot of people in this back alley, the guards will get angry. Lets see ah, theres a big tree right in front of the forest where we went to collect herbs before, right? How about studying at the foot of that tree? Outside the town? Isnt that dangerous? Its okay. Norn and Bell my followers are with me. I see Thats certainly safe. I will prepare the teaching materials. I had to make more of the small ckboards I used to teach Tri and Rico, and also a big ckboard, I guess? Maybe I shouldnt use [Storage] when carrying them around Since I was going to teach them constantly, I had to take them out often, I dont want them figuring out my trick. So I should take some measures to make it inconspicuous for now? Hmm, how about making something like a cart and carrying them with that? I should be able to load the big ckboard as long as I cut it up into three parts. We keep troubling you. Sorry. No, no. But I wont take any responsibility if they arent motivated and dont learn anything, so please understand that. Ryuu and Boman, right I know, dont worry about that. If theyin, I will hit them. Thank you. Then lets start tomorrow. I understand. But the food Ren makes is delicious. Now I understand why Tri and Rico are always in good spirits. Maricle red at Tri and Rico Both of them looked away. It wasnt my fault, right? No, its my fault. In fact, we actually talked while eating meals. By the way, the dish we had was the pork bowl that everyone in the workshop loved. Maricle was eating so fast, so I gave him extra servings. After that, I watched Tri and Ricos magic training. Maricle also gave it a try for a while, but his progress wasnt very good. Rico said that she would patiently teach him, so I decided to leave it to her. Teaching other people would help her understand it herself, so it should be beneficial for Rico. After that, we decided to split up. Now, its afternoon. I already ate and I wanted to continue my cksmithing training, but Id like to make the cart I was thinking of. It should be easy to carry and store if I made the structure foldable. I have [Storage], though. Hmm, I probably shouldnt make rubber ropes with hooks for fixing the luggage since theres no rubber in this world yet. I didnt want to stand out But well, I could make it with [Creation Magic]. Hmm Should I make a chain or a hole in a leather belt to attach a hook on the carrying frame? After that, lets make it possible to remove the belt so it could be used as a knapsack. Make it so I could pull the cart normally until we went to the forest, and carried it on my back once we entered the forest. Once I decided the specifications, I created it in a blink of an eye. I tried making around five units, including the spares. Should I give one to Tri? For now, lets use it in the courtyard. In preparation for tomorrow, I made the ckboards, loaded them into the carry cart, tied them with the belt, and tried walking around the courtyard while pulling it around Yeah, its pretty good. Since I designed the wheelsrger, it should be okay for a slightly rough road. The axles were also thicker, so it was pretty firm. But if I didnt care about the firmness, I could just make this from wood. Since it looked convenient to carry various materials, the master and thendy wanted the carry cart as well. So I went to the Commercial Guild for a patent. Once again, I drew the design on the spot and submitted it. Since I had the real item with me this time, they asked me to submit it as a reference sample. Wait, I didnt have to submit a sample, right? At least please pay me the material cost back. Other than that, I had been ignoring the call from the Commercial Guild since I didnt want toe here, but since I was already here, I decided to tidy up all of my business here. Was it a rank up? Its troublesome, so lets deal with them now! I went to the counter and it turns out my rank in the Commercial Guild was C rank. Eh? Already? Wasnt that too fast? Wasnt this too strange? It seemed like the amount of the patent usage fee made in foreign countries was earth staggering. There wasnt much domestic production, but some empires in the western and central part of the continent had union with the headquarters for each guild? And they made a lot of the products When I looked at the deposit, one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million, ten million, a a hundred million? Ohhh!? Eh, what is this? For the time being, I decided to take all the money and head home. There were a lot of gold, silver, and copper coins, as well as some smaller changes. I wouldnt have to worry abouting back every time I wanted to get some money and I can easily carry it with me as long as I use [Storage] At least I wont have to worry about money for a while, yay! Anyway, I wonder if its okay to cash out the total amount of the deposit in that Commercial Guild? What a scary guild No, wait! Eh!? Arent there too many digits!? Chapter 90: Messy scene of attending school Chapter 90: Messy scene of attending school Yes, good morning everyone. This is Teacher Ren~ The ss starts today. That being said, Im still eating my breakfast at seven in the morning. I dont have to hurry, do I? Glomp glomp. Aside from that, I was surprised with the savings I earned yesterday. It was a bit too much. However, since the process of rank up and withdrawal of the deposit was carried out in a private room, I didnt have to worry about leaking my personal information Hopefully? The Commercial Guild seemed to protect the privacy of others. But I wasnt really sure how much I could trust them That being said, the carry cart I brought there should be able to make a considerable amount of sales. Thats what the staff in charge at that time said to me. Adventurers could use it to carry their prey when they managed to catch a lot. Merchants could use a big carry cart to transport their goods. This invention was better than the previous pasta machine and meat chopper, so I should get a lot more patent fees. Umm, Im kind of scared, though? They even asked me persistently if I have more ideas. I wouldnt tell them, please stop that! Im crying, okay! I drew several variants of the blueprints, such as arge carry cart and wheelbarrow. Please be satisfied with that. Yesterday, after returning from the Commercial Guild, I asked my master to sell me his mithril. I asked him if he had stocks on any fantasy-ish metal other than mithril, but he told me that metal materials above mithril were so rare that he had never seen them before. There was metal with lower quality than mithril and higher quality than iron, which was called magic iron or magic steel. Even so, that material was iron produced from a mine in and with high magic power. A subcategory of iron with a high affinity for magic power. Refined magic iron was called magic steel. Using that was more convenient since the cksmith didnt have to do various initial preparations when forging a magic sword. Not to mention, forging an ordinary sword using this extraordinary material would automatically make a low-ranking magic sword. After that was a metal called Blue Silver Steel which was also known as blue metal. This material was a bitplicated. Its magic resistance and magic effect would increase by alloying it with other metals. Due to these characteristics, most people wouldnt use it on its own. By alloying it with mithril or the likes, it could also be used in bulk with mithril even if just a little. Thats why this was mostly used to make armor or protective essories. If we wanted to emphasize the magic defense and effect, armor made of mithril alloyed with blue metal had a higher effect than the one made of pure mithril. Also, the nobles liked to wear essories made of this materialbined with precious metals, such as gold and silver. Next was Mithril. People also called this Spirits Silver, a whitish and shiny metal. Not only that this metal had a very high affinity with magic, but it was also harder and lighter than iron. When someone wanted to try making a magic sword for the first time, mithril would be rmended more often than not. The output was a lot less than iron, but most of the time people could obtain this thanks to the frequent distribution. Adamantite was rarer than mithril. It was ck magic steel. From what the master has told me, its a ck metal with faint dark green color. It was harder than mithril but heavier than iron. Its magic affinity was around the same as magic iron. Using adamantine to forge a magic sword was a little difficult. It seemed like the master also hadnt used it that much. By the way, the powerful magic swords found in the dungeon were often said to be made of Adamantite. Thest item was the ssic Orichalcum. Revered as Gods steel, it was very expensive. It was the best material to make armor since it was as light as mithril with higher magic affinity, and was harder than Adamantite. However, it was extremely rare. The average Orichalcum vein would only hold around a fingertip worth of material. There were a very few legendary holy swords made by Orichalcum. I wanted to try using one someday It seemed like there were other various metals, but those were the ones most typically used. I see Leaving that aside. If I took too much time here, I might end upte. It was also a bit too early, but lets leave now. I departed while taking Norn and Bell with me. I moved in the main street while pulling the carry cart around. Yeah, not only Norn, but the cart also stood out now. The number of adventurers passing around the area in front of the branch office of the guild increased, and at the same time, the gaze aimed at my cart also increased. Maybe this was a little bad? But I couldnt do anything aftering this far, so what should I do? Ugh! But since no one dares to call me out thanks to Norn, I was also lucky? Troubles filling my mind, I walked until I found Tri and the others nearby the gate! Lets meet up with them. Tri. Ah, Ren? Whats wrong? Youre early. No, I just thought it will be nice to go out early But if youre saying that, Tri is also here early, right? Well, I made an unreasonable request to you, so I wondered if it would be better for us to arrive first Its useless, though. Its not useless. Thanks to you, I was saved. No, its not. I was a bit ufortable with everyone staring at me Ah, Rens followers stand out, right? Yes, but well Their focus wasnt only on Norn, I think. Well, Im not going to rify everything. By the way, only the girls were with Tri. The other four boys woulde hereter. It seemed like they woulde after buying everyones bread. Ah, Kuro looked sleepy. Rather, she was half-asleep, wasnt she? Rico was pulling her hand, but was this okay? Good morning, Ren! What are you pulling? Good morning, Arle. This is what were going to use for studying today. Hee By the way, Ren is pulling a stand? It looks amazing! Isnt it convenient? Yeah. I think its convenient when there are a lot of things I have to carry when harvesting or hunting. Once I answered her casually, the atmosphere around me changed. The adventurers looked at us with eyes full of surprise. I also heard, I see, or If we have that, we can take the orcs back with us. Ugh, I did it now! Im sorry, but Im a bit worried about the way theyre looking at me. Lets go quickly. Ah, yeah. Got it. They seemed to have read between my lines. Thankfully. I was finally released from their stares once we got out of the gate. Or so I believed, but a stranger suddenly greeted me. He was short, bearded, muscr, and holding arge and rough axe a dwarf? Ah, sorry for interrupting you, youngdy. Id like to ask something. Where did you buy that? Can you tell me if possible? Umm? Ahh, well, I just thought that it looks convenient to carry items around. The magic bag is too expensive and I cant afford to buy it. But this thing looks possible to make, and its convenient since I can carry things around easily. I want to have it Can you tell me? I see, so thats what you mean. Imissioned a ce and made this myself. You can go to themercial guild to see the blueprints. The way I said that could be interpreted in a lot of ways, so he probably didnt think I personally drew the blueprint I think. This is already patented? Its amazing that you noticed this practical item. Its important for an adventurer to be tactful, so do your best, youngdy! Ill also take a look on my way home! No. Please do your best too. Oh, I managed to deceive him? It seemed like the conversation ended without anything troublesome. The dwarf-like man who called me out left and several other adventurers who gathered around this ce looked like they were listening to us. Yeah, its better if they didnt approach me. Please do your best. Ren, it looks like you can make friends no matter where you go. Thats not true. I was nervous even now. You dont look like that at all, you know? No, really. Im scared of strangers. Just like that, we arrived at our destination after walking in groups for a while. It was the foot of arge tree. It waste August, and the sunlight was still strong. The shade of this tree should make the air cooler, right? Now then, lets start preparing for now. I created chairs and desks ording to the number of people using earth magic. Next, I made a teaching table and a stand for the ckboard. I unpacked and assembled the ckboard, put the mini ckboard, chalk, and rag on each desk. With this, everything was done. All we had to do was to wait for Maricle and the three fools toe. I wouldnt forgive them for beingte on the first day, okay? Its not the time to start the lesson yet though. But then, they didnt really know what time it was now, right? Hmm. Tri, Ill give you this, so please make sure you wont bete. Eh? This is a clock!? I cant ept such an expensive item! I personally made this, so its not particrly expensive. But since youre going to be ufortable even if I tell you its okay Just pay for the material. Its three small silver coins. What I took out was the pocket watch I made before, with the same design as the one hanging around my waist right now. By the way, it was incorporated with a triple-axis tourbillon. Ah, I also attached a chain on it. I made around ten in a batch, so giving one or two of them didnt really matter. But now that she said it, pocket watches were luxury items. Probably, the price of this item at a store would be a couple of small gold coins. The broken ones would even cost three small coins. Three small silver coins No, that is still quite tough for us. You can pay it once you have settled. Uhhh! I will definitely pay you! Wait for me, okay!? Yes. How nice. Its unfair that only Tri got it. Arle, if you want it, I will sell it at the same price. I made a lot, so you can take it. Is that okay!? Ah, you dont have to give it to me now! Ill save up the money, so just wait! Are you fine with that? Yeah. Since Tri has it, it wont hurt if I dont have it. Arle also started to think about various things. Was it because everyone was supporting each other? Thats cute, now that shes no longer acting aloof, shes pretty clingy. Uu, I also want it Uhmm. Me too. Kuro, lets do our best to save money! Work hard! Rico and Kuro too Did they want three more clocks? What a greedy team! No, I was just joking, I just wanted to try saying that for once. Well, work hard, everyone~ Chapter 91: Teacher Rens Honey Lesson Chapter 91: Teacher Ren''s Honey Lesson Lets see. After I finished the preparations and chatted with the girls for a while, it looked like the idiots had arrived. They were walking towards us while talking about various things. Hey, Cain. Should we really do this? Its better if you can read and write, right? You cant even read the request form. Ehh? But Tri can read, right? So its fine, isnt it? Of course its not. This is an extreme example, but what if all of us die and only you survive? Theres no way it will happen! Hey, Boman. You also agree with me, right? I dont really care. Can you say that the possibility is definitely zero? Not to mention, its not like were always going to be in the same party, okay? We had to punish you because you were tricked and received the wrong change when you went to buy supplies alone. If you study properly, something like that wont happen again. Thats if Tri and that shrimp came with me, there wouldnt be any problem! Youre going to make them follow you everywhere just because you dont want to learn? Do you know that even Ricorice can do more than you now? What!? How can I be more useless than that shrimp! Ricorice can read, write, calcte, and even use magic now. As far as what Tri heard from Ren, Ricorice has a talent in magic. You can neither read, write, nor use magic. Youre even the weakest among us physically, right? And its not like youll lose anything if you learn how to read and write. Tsk Got it, I just have to do it, right? So troublesome. Hey, I kinda lost my motivation already. Can I go home now? No? Ryuu, the king of idiots, hadnt changed at all. How baffling Boman also still had thatzy face. Be more motivated. Cain, youre slow! Sorry. But were notte, right? Its polite toe earlier than the person who were indebted to! Ren came with us, you know? Eh, really? Ahh. Well, but Cain and the other boys came earlier than the expected time, so its fine. Sorry, Ren. Have we kept you waiting? Good morning, Maricle. I didnt wait that long, dont worry. Ah, good morning. But you came before us, right? Sorry. I heard that you went to buy bread for everyone. You have a proper reason, so theres no problem. Hey, dwarf. Can you really teach us? You seriously can read and write now? Ryuu interrupted when Maricle talked to me. Just who was he calling a dwarf, this idiot. Hes even shorter than me, how annoying! Norn, can you bite him a little? You fool! Whack! Ugh! Ohh, the burst of Maricles iron first! Do you understand your position!? Stop it already! Oww I got it! Sorry, dwarf! Can I just go home? For real? Dont open your mouth anymore! Bang! Ugg!? Surprisingly, Cain smacked him as well. As I got a little surprised at the unexpected development, Maricle and Cain started to beat Ryuu up. I didnt really have any reason to stop them, so let them hit him until they were satisfied. Its about time, so lets start the lesson. Tri, were starting soon Ah, wait, Ren! Umm Ah, Cain What? To be honest, I didnt want to talk to him more than I should. Rather than making a sound to reply to him, I turned back and stared at him with scornful eyes. Umm, when we were in the orphanage, I Ah Err Why was he stuttering so much? Okay, this was a waste of time. Lets start the ss immediately. Tri, Im starting the ss now, so please sit down. Okay! Hey, you all have to sit down too! Cain, quick! You idiots, just sit down already! Since they already got to their seats, I started the ss. By the way, I was wearing my hood during the ss. There were quite a few adventurers looking at us from a distance. Well, Arle, Kuro, and Maricle had the motivation to learn, so their progress was quick. I didnt want to say this, but Cain was also quick to learn. Boman was normal? No, its hard to say what is normal. He was neither overly good nor bad? What was unexpected was Ryuu. He was surprisingly serious while studying, even if he was groaning the entire time. asionally, he would scratch his head and throw a tantrum, but after that, he would take a deep breath and go back to his study. Somehow, even if he wasining, he was more motivated than I expected. If he could stop freaking out and making noise, it would be a lot better. After I taught the basics of reading and writing for around an hour, Ryuu and Boman had reached their limits, so I decided to take a short break. Arle and Kuro also started to lose their concentration. Lets take a break for around fifteen minutes. Fwahh Hmm, seems like everyone was pretty exhausted? It cant be helped, Ill give them some juice. I took out some cups, poured orange juice, and gave it to everyone. Drink this and take a break. Give me back your cup when youre done drinking. Yay! Delicious! What is this? Its so delicious, isnt it!? Hmm, they looked like they liked it a lot? But I wouldnt do this service every time, okay. Its just a first bonus gift. Cain looked like he wanted to speak to me, but I ignored him. By the way, while I was teaching the kids, Norn and Bell were moving around to guard us. Thanks to them, no one came to bother us unnecessarily. Some people were looking at us from a distance, but they were a bit too far to snoop at the ckboard and listen to the lesson. They also wonte to approach us. As expected from Norn, shes the best. Hey, dont you have extra? If you do, give me more! I dont have anything to share with you! I dont. You dont? How stingy. Should I kill this little shit? Eh, theres no more? I want to drink more There are extra servings for Rico and Kuro. Okay, here you go. Really!? Hooray! Fufufu, theyre so cute! Oi, wait! You just said that you dont have any more left, right!? Whats with that! I dont have anything for you. Oi, dont joke with Whack! A deadly blow from Maricle! It was super effective! Ryuu was in agony! Shut up. Hmm. As expected from Maricle. Hes truly reliable. Now then, lets do the second half of the battle since they had regained their motivation. But should I continue teaching them reading and writing or switch to calction? Hmm Everyone, how do you want to continue the study? Would you like to learn reading and writing? If youre fed up with that, we can also learn calction. In this kind of case, lets decide with the majority vote. Hmm, Im okay with reading and writing, I guess? Its getting a bit boring for me, so Id like to try the calction. Im fine with learning the same thing. I mean, I can switch my focus to another topic pretty easily too. Im fine with anything. Hmm, Arle, Rico, Kuro, and Ryuu voted for reading and writing. Maricle and Cain voted for calction. Tri and Boman were fine with either of them. Therefore, lets go with the majority vote. Then well continue reading and writing. There was some booing, but Ipletely ignored it. Besides, the idiot Ryuu was doing his best. Its not a bad idea to adjust with the fool here. The second half of the battle ended without any problems. Ryuu was doing his best even if he keptining. Its annoying when he opens his mouth. When I was cleaning up, two girls approached us. One was big and one was small. Their faces were simr, so they were probably sisters? As I wondered why they woulde here, it turned out that they seem to know Tri and started a conversation with her. Umm, Tri? What are you doing in this kind of ce? Ah, Sheryl and Melty. Well Their names were Sheryl and Melty. Both of them were pink-haired beastfolks with white cat ears and tail. Sheryl had long hair and Melty had a short haircut. As I predicted, they were really sisters. So youre studying reading, writing, and calction Tri, is it that girl who taught you? I remember you talking about her before. Yes, shes my best friend. Umm, can she also teach us? Eh? Thats, er Um, Ren? ording to Tris exnation, Sheryl seemed to be a good person who had been helping Tri since she came to the royal capital. Sheryl was thirteen years old and her sister Melty was ten years old. Sheryl also came from an orphanage, and she moved to the capital with her sister. Thanks to Sheryls attentiveness, Tri could distinguish herbs to some extent. And even if their previous lodging was very cheap and narrow, they could sleep under a roof with her help. You could even say that Sheryl was Tri and her whole partys benefactor. After that, they would collect herbs together when they met each other. But recently, Tri and the whole partys knowledge about herbs had suddenly increased together with their ie, and they even changed their inn. Surprised at how Tri teams had suddenly be richer, Sheryl asked the reason, then she knew about me and the reference room. But Sheryl, who didnt know how to read and write even after going to the reference room, seemed to be in trouble. She couldnt read what was written even though she had the information right in front of her. She had a younger sister, so she was troubled since she wanted to increase her ie. And then, she suddenly had a chance to study in front of her. Hmmm. Ren, right? I beg you, please teach us how to read and write! Just like this! She asked while bowing down that low I didnt know her, but she also came from an orphanage like us Hmm. Umm, Ren, can I also request this? I know that Ren doesnt like talking to strangers, and this will be a burden for you, but Sheryl has really helped us a lot, so I want to help her! Sorry! Please help them! Hmm. Haa. Since shes Tris benefactor, it cant be helped. Haa I understand. Fine, I will teach you. Really!? Seriously!? Thank you very much!! However, Im doing this study group just for teaching Tris party. Once they have learned to some extent, Im going to stop teaching them. No matter if youre still in the middle of learning. If you understand that and still want to join, then sure. Also, the tuition fee is five copper coins per person per lesson. Okay, thats fine! Thank you very much, Ill do my best! Hmm, Im getting caught up with their pace again Am I that easy This is no good. Please ask Tri for the other details. I understand. Tri, please teach me lots! Well, something slightly troublesome happened. But after that, we ate our own lunch before breaking up. Rico and Maricle looked at me wistfully, but I ignored them. Probably feeling guilty for pushing Sheryl and Melty into me, Tri acted awkwardly. Since I had said that I would do it, she didnt have to worry about that. I decided this on my own anyway. Chapter 92: Teacher Rens Extracurricular Class Chapter 92: Teacher Ren''s Extracurricr ss Munyaa! Its Ren. By the way, Im currently teaching Tri and the other kids for the third time. Eh? What about the second time? It ended without any problems! Like the first time, Cain was stuttering and Ryuu was irritating! Really Well, Ryuu was really giving it his all once the ss started, but he acted up before and after ss, and also during the break Cain was, well he always looked like he wanted to say something. I wasnt sure of what he was trying to say, but just say it already! I even waited for him, okay! I showed clemency to him, so dont stutter so much! Is he a chicken!? Whatever. Anyway, today was the third time I taught them. We were in the second half of the third ss, in the midst of studying calction. I started teaching them calction from the second half of the second ss. Even I got tired of teaching them the same thing repeatedly. So from now on, I would teach them reading and writing in the first half and calction in the second half. What about the break time between the lesson, you ask? I didnt do anything. I only let them rest. Juice? Of course, I wouldnt give it to them. The juice in the first ss was a special service. Ryuu, shut up! The reason I didnt give it anymore was because of your behavior! Understand that already! This became a bit troublesome. I had to seriously reflect on thister on. With that, the second half of the ss was over. But everyones ability in the calction was quite delicate They could still count one digit and two digits, but they started to have a hard time around three digits. If they already struggled with addition and subtraction, then what about multiplication and division Ah, but Rico could solve the questions really quickly, and Tri was also quite good. Hmm. It would work out, I guess? Anyway, wasnt Rico a bit too smart? Ah, maybe its because I taught Tri and Rico multiplicative division first. The progress of each person was different. Ah, right. I made something for Arle and Kuro. I wanted to give the item to them, so I rounded up the second half a little early. Arle, Kuro. Can youe with me for a while? Hmm? What is it? Ren? Ill give this to you. Ta-dah! A slingshot! People also called this slings. Pull a stone like this, and it would fly! I tried making this for fun during my breaks in cksmithing. What is this? A String? Its tied here and there Um? Please take a look. I collected some stones of suitable size and aimed at a tree with a considerable distance from our position. Sproing, pssh! Bam! Lets do another shot. Pull it like this, and pew! Bam! And a third shot to finish up. Pew, pew, pew! Bang! Yup, all of the stones hit the same ce. I hadnt practiced a lot, but this must be thanks to my [Snipe] skill. Skill correction was amazing~ The power gradually increased with each throw, so the trunk of the tree was lightly gouged on my third shot. They should be able to understand how powerful this slingshot could be. And thats how you use it. Huh? No reaction? Ah, everyone looked shocked. Even Ryuu, who wasining to Cain and Boman until a while ago, gaped as he stared at us. He already had a stupid face, but now that he made that kind of expression, he looked even more stupid. Eh What is that All of them hit the same ce? Did you aim that? The tree is gouged. If it hits my head, wont it be dangerous? Hmm, Sheryl and Maricle were also surprised. My prank was sessful? Well, I looked around a bit and found a horned rabbit in the grassy ce of the forest some distance away from us. It looked quite big. Aiming for it, I shot once. The stone flew with a wind sound, and hit the rabbit with a nasty sound. Seems like I killed him in one shot? Ah, Bell, could you bring that here? Its like this. Before, Tri told me that Arle wanted to use a bow and arrow, but thats going to be hard since arrows were a consumable item. After giving that matter a little thought, I came up with this idea. Using this, they could easily practice and replenish the ammunition by picking up some random stones. Unlike the bow, they could use this with one hand. Once they learned [Snipe] skill, their practice wouldnt go into waste even if they converted to bow and arrow in the future. Plus, they shouldnt look down on its power. If they could shoot the horned rabbit properly, they could defeat it easily just like what I did just now. After I exined that to them, everyone became awfully excited. Ehhh!? Whats with that power!? Eh, youre giving this to me!? Ren, amazing! A mere stone can kill a horned rabbit!? Wow! Hey, dwarf. Make one for me too! No way, you fool. Learn how to speak already. Also, I made this for Arle and Kuro. I already gave Tri a sword and leather armor, plus I gave a cloak to Rico. I even taught them magic. Thats why I wanted to give them something as well. Sheryl looked really shocked, but Well, even if Im going to mass-produce this, I would do it one day, okay? Its troublesome, and Im prioritizing my cksmith training right now. I hung the slingshot on Arle and Kuros waist. With this, it looked like a decorative string, right? If you hang it this way, it wont stand out and it wont get in your way. Ohh! Amazing! Ren, thanks! Ohh, a hug from Arle! Good, praise me more! Both of them immediately started practicing shooting the stones, ignoring their meals. Everyone else watched excitedly. They couldnt hit anything at all, but they had to work hard for that! Ah, what should I do with this rabbit? its too small to share with everyone. Hmm? Ah, Norn was secretly catching some rabbits. She handed me ten rabbits at once. Hey, you werent guarding the surroundings? Eh? You watched Bell catching these rabbits while guarding? Youre pretty dexterous, arent you? What? You could catch even more if youre on your own? Ah, right. I understand Eh? You already drained the blood from the meat1? Ah, okay. Thank you very much. Hmm, well. Since Im going to cook anyway, lets give everyone skewers of horned rabbit meat. Ill make the same herb-vored grilled meat as before. Thats why, Maricle. Please dismantle the rabbits. Are you okay with sharing this? Its troublesome to think about every little thing. Lets just eat together with everyone. Sometimes, even I had some moments when I didnt want to think about anything and just wanted to escape Ah? I dont really understand, but okay. Thanks. Ill keep the fur, though. Im only offering the meat, okay? Ah, should I make soup stock as well? I called Arle while making a simple sr cooker. I should teach her a simple recipe. Is it okay for me to learn this recipe? Its not that hard. Once you cook it, you can make something simr on your own. They didnt have to buy the ingredients as well. All of the seasonings were herbs or spices that naturally grew in the forest. I also used wild grasses and wild vegetables I picked out around here. Basically, the ingredient cost was free. Even I hunted the meat on my own. I used fire magic for the stove fire. Its a hassle to pick up firewood, so Im using this as a substitute for now. I put the ingredients of this soup in the meat that had been dismantled first, then skewered it. I gave the task of grilling the meat to the three girls other than Arle. They had done this before, so they should know how to do it. Maricle continued to dismantle the rabbits. The other boys were waiting as they drooled. What a useless bunch, learn from Sheryl who was setting up the dishes! After a while, I finished cooking it! Since this was the meat of ten rabbits, each person should eat one rabbit. This should make them full, right? As for the tableware, I used the wooden tes in my [Storage] since I had a lot of them stocked. I had prepared in case something like this would happen! Im mostly doing things solo, though. Its delicious! What is this? This skewer is more delicious than what Arle makes! Chomp, chomp, chomp! Melty, make sure you eat until youre full! Ren, this is really delicious! I like this! Yes, yes. Eat a lot, okay? By the way, they ate the bread they bought on their own beforeing here. After soaking it in the soup, it would soften and be delicious. Only eating meat and soup would ruin their stomach, grain is important! And of course, the three idiots kept asking for second servings and tried to eat everything. But I stopped them. Sheryl looked like she really wanted more, so I decided to give the remaining skewers to her as a souvenir. She wanted to let her sister eat a lot, right? I know that feeling. All of the soup waspletely gone. After all, the three fools ate a lot. Cain said something like, Rens handmade cooking!, how disgusting. You let me study with them and gave me such a souvenir How should I thank you? Dont worry. Im just doing it on a whim. No, I never knew that the wild grass you used in that dish is edible Thank you so much for teaching me so many other things other than reading and writing! Ah, sure. You didnt have to worry too much, really. So please let me touch your ears and tail! I want to stroke those fluffy things! I was thinking about such a wicked thing, but I used [Concealment] to keep a straight face! Since we already finished eating, its time to disband. By the way, I properly erased the desk and teachers desk we used for studying and eating every time, okay? Tri and the others would collect herbs and hunt rabbits after this. The three fools were motivated since they wanted to eat a lot of meat at night. Sheryl and her sister were going to return to the town and study in the reference room. She told me that it would be dangerous to enter the forest with the smell of my souvenir, the grilled meat. She might attract a goblin or dangerous beasts. And I was going to the depths of the forest. I already told the master that I would leave for a while. This time, I nned to go to a more remote ce than the spot for collecting herbs I went with Lily before. Youre asking me what am I going to do? Well, theres something I want to do. You understand, right? You dont? Its my daily routine2. I called it a daily routine, but I hadnt done it for more than two months! My n was to put out my house in the forest, stay there for two nights, ande back to teach them the day after tomorrow! Well, I could endure not doing it, but A lot of things happened these days, so I wanted to relieve some stress Chapter 93: A Relaxing Me-Time After a Long While Chapter 93: A Rxing Me-Time After a Long While Uhh, daily routine, daily routine. Im Ren, who currently wants to do my daily routine and (the rest is omitted) Thats why, I came to the depths of the forest, but Looking at my surroundings using [Detection] skill, there were surprisingly some people here. Since I came this farst time, the number of people was unexpected. But after concentrating a bit more, I could also sense many orcs? Autumn was nearing, so it should be their breeding season, I think? Thats why so many people entered the forest to reduce the orcs. If so, then I had to go deeper. But it was already past noon, so I had to hurry or else the sun would set. Hmm? I nced at Norn and Bell who were running side by side. Speaking of which, they had grown bigger now I felt like I could even ride them now. It should be okay if I ride Norn, right? Hey, Norn Can you let me ride you? Eh, whats with that Eh response? She even had aplicated face. I couldnt? Please! She reluctantly put her body lower. So its okay for me to ride her, right? Ill ride you, okay? Now then, I tried riding on Norn. Wah, such a great fur! I really want to cuddle her Eh? I should hold you tighter? Wont your fur get pulled off? Its okay? Then like this? Tighter? Well then, Ill hug you tighter! Norn slowly rose up Hey, too high! Shes higher than I expected! I rode a horse in my previous life before, but I felt like Norn was higher than a horse!? Dont run so suddenly!! Fast, too fast!! Hey, slow down a little more!? Im scared! Huh? We have arrived? I was too afraid of the speed that I clung to her without looking at the scenery around us at all I thought I would wet my pants Its okay, I didnt pee. But for the time being, I cleaned myself with [Washing]. No, Im just doing it on a whim. Looking around, we were in a swamp? Pond? No, the water was clearer than I expected, so a spring? Small birds were drinking the water, so I felt like I could drink this At first nce, the water didnt seem like it was flowing from anywhere? Well then, er I couldnt sense anyone even after using [Detection]. There were a lot of monsters here, but it should be okay once I applied monster repellent. Maybe I should set up a barrier just in case? I spread the barrier around the area of this fountain and sprinkled it with monster repellent. Oh, the monsters around here were escaping Its a little interesting. Since I had spread the barrier and my safety measures had beenpleted, Norn and Bell went hunting. However, they could use [Detection] to confirm that I was doing well. Amazing. I looked around again. Hmm, it looked like they were a prettyrge amount of herbs growing in this area. For the time being, I used [Storage] to collect around 70% of them to make sure I wouldnt eradicate it. Theres nothing bad in collecting this kind of thing as much as I can. And since I could put it in [Storage], it wouldnt hurt to have it around. [Storage] sure was convenient. While collecting herbs and observing the surroundings of the spring, I found a strange weed growing on the waterside. This is rusheshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juncus_effusus">1? After using [Appraisal] to check it, it turned out I wasnt wrong! Ohhh, I finally found it! I could make tatami mats with this! Woohoo! I collected it immediately and used [Creation Magic]! But before that, where should I make a Japanese-style room in my house? Looking at the floor n, maybe I should make it in the room where I originally nned to make a study? It was connected to my bedroom by a door Ah, but that room was narrow. I should rebuild it first. Thats why I took out my house. For reconstructing it First, I erged the stone wall which I used as the base of the house. I didnt want to make it too big, so its around 1.5 timesrger vertically. Then, I expanded the living room and the kitchen on the first floor. I also set up an oven in the kitchen. In the living room, I put in a magic tool with the function of air conditioning, even if it looked like a firece. At first, its a real one, but it became more like a dining kitchen. For the bathroom, I erged the bathtub, washroom, and dressing room. I also installed magic tools that worked as a shower and a water heater. As I increased the size of the toilet a bit, I increased the number of toilets, making a total of two. In addition, I also installed a magic flush toilet. It pumped the water from the ground, though. There was still some room since I expanded the whole floor, so I renovated the small room I originally nned for the warehouse together with the extra space into two guest rooms. Turns out I still had some space, so I made three. At the end of the kitchen, I made a stairway to the basement, turning the entire basement into a storage room. I also wanted to make a cksmith workshop in the basement, but its not necessary to put all the equipment together, so I decided to create the cksmith workshop in a cabin separately in the future. The garden also had berger, so maybe I should make it there? Ah, but I didnt want it to burn my house, so I should make the cabin separately so I could carry it around. Since the floor n on the first floor became wider, the second floor naturally became wider as well. I used the extra space to expand the small room I originally nned for study and remodeled it into a Japanese-style room. I also made another toilet in the second room. I wouldnt use it, though. I also installed an air-conditioner in the Japanese-style room and my bedroom and tried to heat the floor of the entire house. I hate the cold. After that well, I think thats all. The second floor was basically my personal space, so I didnt create a guest room. When ites to it, I could put my current second floor to the third floor and add another second floor? However, I had no ns to let people stay here for now. Im not lonely, Im just doing things solo. Once I finished preparing the increased number of guest rooms andying the tatami mats in the renovated Japanese-style room, it was already evening. Lets make the cksmith workshop cabin tomorrow. Its alreadyte. That being said, I didnt really have anything to do in this awkward amount of time. Its a bit too early to cook dinner. No, I could just eat my dinner early. After thinking about how the amount of time I had would increase after dinner, the idea didnt sound bad. Rather, its good. Thats why I ate a little earlier than usual and went to my bedroom! Electricity self-generation!! Herees the crimson king! Skip to the morning! For the details Im not telling! The morning sun was too dazzling. So I slept until noon. Zzz. After I woke up, I took a bath. Now, I was eating my brunch. My hair was unkempt. What should I do after eating this? By the way, what happened to Norn and Bell? Ah, they were curled up in the garden. There were spurts of blood on their body, what a shocking sight Lets use [Washing] on themter. When I was looking around the property, I found a huge beehive. Will I discover some Honey? And so I spread out some insect repents to disperse the working bees and collect the honey with [Storage]. Just as I have expected when looking thoroughly, I also found some Royal Jelly. Even though Im saying it to myself, it sounded like the act of a Demon! There were catfishes in the spring, but no eels. I wanted to eat broiled eels But since there was lotus growing there, I could eat lotus root. I wanted to eat Chikuzennihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikuzenni">2. After that, when I explored the surrounding area, I found konnyaku potatoeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac">3 and some other root vegetables. With these ingredients, I could eat konnyaku. Then I could improve the breed of the vegetables using [Creation Magic] Fufufu. I also wanted bamboo. I wanted to eat bamboo shoots. Once hanging around for a while, I went home and tried to build the cksmith workshop cabin. For the shape of the furnace, I made it with reference to the one in the workshop andpleted it immediately! I did a lot of things, but I still had a lot of time left. Ahh, what should I do? By the way, I got a lot of ingredients, but there were many dishes that I havent cooked yet. So lets try to prepare various dishes. Should I make consomm But it would take time. Ill just make itter. I finished making some dishes at the end. I had [Storage], so I could always eat it fresh. Why didnt I make everything to the end, you say? Well, once I got the ingredients that I didnt have right now, the dishes might be more delicious. For that reason, there were quite a few ingredients I preserved. Besides cooking, I also made various sweets. I made malt sugar from barley and then made starch syrup and candies. I tried making various vors using fruit juice. Other than that were pretzels and crackers. The pretzel didnt look like a round ring, but a stick. I focused on how to make it easy to eat4. There were also jelly, pudding, and baked sweets. Yesterday, I installed an oven in the kitchen. Maybe I should make a sponge cake? But it would take a lot of time, so lets make itter on. Cookies weremon in this world, so it should be okay for me to let Tri and the others eat them. Rice crackers and ararehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arare_%28food%29">5 might be no good? Well, I made them all for my own, so it should be okay for me to eat it secretly, right? Ahh, making ice cream also sounds interesting, but Ill pass for now. Then, after that Ah, Im finally alone for the first time in a long time, and Im currently deep in the forest. So lets make that. Yes, curry! So I mixed spices and made some vored curry powder. Hmm, its probably like this? Then, I made curry roux using curry powder. For now medium spicy should be good enough? Personally, I like meat, so lets go with chicken curry. With that, I finished making a curry inside a stockpot! Lets immediately try it! Ah, Norn? Eh? Do you want to eat this? Sure. Im okay with that, but Can you eat this? I put onions inside, and I feel like it will be bad for her health, but Since she said that she wants to eat it, Ill prepare Norn and Bells share. After that, I dig in6. Hmm, its curry Delicious. It had been a long time since I ate curry, so I took another serving. My stomach is bulging. But I dont think I should easily let people in this world eat curry. I never heard people talking about this dish before, and it would destroy the food culture. Ramen is also no good. I could always make ramen if I wanted to eat it, though. Even so, I havent made it yet since it took time to prepare the soup. While thinking about such things as I ate the curry, the stockpot was emptied by Norn and Bell! How unexpected. Howe Eh? Do you want to eat more? No, eating too much is not good for you, plus the scent is bad. The living creatures around us would definitely grow berserk. But since Norn rarely acted selfishly like this, its okay to indulge her sometimes, right? After deciding so, I made another curry in three stock pots so we can eat itter. Chicken, pork, and beef curry. No, were not eating it now! Next time! Later! Seems like Norn and Bell really liked the curry. Cute But thanks to them, the stock of my spices had decreased, so lets do some massive shoppingter on. Then I will prepare more curry! I just got a lot of money after all! Since they always helped me, I could at least do this much for them. While I was preparing the new curry, I became too full. Its a bit early, but I decided to seclude myself in my room for the day. Hehehe, I wont let you sleep today, okay? Ah, but I had to wake up early tomorrow, so Ill go to bed at the appropriate time. Insert extreme lewding here7 Good morning, this is Ren. I discovered various thingsst night. Filled with intellectual curiosity, I greeted the truly fresh morning. Ahh Im refreshed. I never expected that I could use that part as well I see now.8 Eh? Im a bitch? But Im still new in this thing, okay? Im not a bitch or a pervert. Lets return to the main subject. Norn and Bell went huntingst night, and they had caught a lot of ingredients. Adding up the amount they caught the day before yesterday Yeah, I wouldnt have to worry about meat for a while. They caught a lot of orcs, various bird-type monsters, and two cockatrices. There were also some eggs and some rare cow-type monsters. And snakes? Since snake tasted a lot like bird should I fry them? Then could I eat lizardman? Eh? Thats what Norn and Bell ate? And the skin could be used for armor? Norn sure knows well about this. Then whats this big, ck creature? Ah, its a lizard warrior? Hee But then, even if they were lizardmen, there were more than a dozen humanoid corpses. The image was a bit too gory. I regained my mind and kept them in [Storage]. Lets hide everything, okay? I suddenly thought of this, but as long as someone had a storage skill, they could easilymit aplete crime, right? By the way, one couldnt shoplift and steal using storage skill. It would be impossible to keep something without having the ownership. There were various other conditions too, but I didnt know much about it. It seemed like God properly did something to prevent people from going on a shoplifting frenzy. Also, storing living creatures was basically impossible. But there were also some exceptions? Now that I have received the meat from Norn, lets get ready to go home soon. That being said, I just had to store my house. But should I use Norn super express again to return back? Im a bit traumatized, though Eh? You can adjust the speed a bit? Really? But just a little? Can you adjust in moderation? I wont make it in time if I dont hurry? Youre right. Well then, please. No, wait wait wait wait, youre too fast fast fast fast fast fast faaaaaaaaasssstttttt!!! Ren has acquired the [Riding] skill!9 10 Chapter 94: Idol of Cooking, Teacher Ren Chapter 94: Idol of Cooking, Teacher Ren I used the Norn super express service on my way back from my overnight stay full of freedom, but in the end, Norn ran with the same speed as when we went to the forest. I thought I was going to die. While riding her, I thought of a good idea of putting up a protective wall using wind magic. As a result, the ride became extremelyfortable. Thanks to that, I didnt wet myself. Ah, sorry, I was lying. I also didnt pee before. Seriously. With that, I could movefortably starting in the middle of our way back, and I even made it in time for the lesson. I really didnt pee, believe me. By the way, it seemed like Norn was teasing me a bit before. Please give me some ck Also, I was supposed to teach them tomorrow. Originally, I was nning to stay in the forest three nights instead of two. But Everyone in Arnolds workshop opposed me going on an expedition for too long. Since I was doing things solo, I had the experience of going out for nights, and Norn and Bell were also with me, I told them that I would be fine. Yet they firmly opposed that, telling me that a child going out alone was dangerous After persuading them somehow, they finally gave me permission to stay outside for two nights I had to do my best to lengthen the number of nights. But if they were okay with two nights, three nights wouldnt be that different, right? Leaving that aside. Well, things like that happened, but before Tri and the others came here, I washed myself with [Washing], prepared the desks, and repaired various things before starting the ss. I also controlled my facial expression using my skills, so there shouldnt be any problem. I look fine, right? No, I didnt wet my pants, okay? This would be the fourth time I taught them, but Ryuus foolishness made me feel a bitplicated. He was motivated, but he didnt make any results. What a waste of time. Its clear that Bomancked motivation as usual. And of course, he didnt get any good results with that attitude. In that sense, he was worse than Ryuu. Maricle and Cain were both motivated and did well. Although Cain was a bit you know His good foundation was highlighted at this kind of time. His progress was outstanding. Well, he was still stuttering so much, though. Just speak properly already, or Ill stop waiting for you, okay? I still have a lot of grudges, even until now. I felt like he was going to ask me topromise. But if that happened, I would justpletely deny him and end it like that. What a bastard. Maricle was excellent as usual. Since he knew the importance of the basics, he focuses on those points. He didnt seem to hate the basic exercises, probably since he was very patient. I made him apply the basics to some extent, but I felt like he would be able to give good results even if I left him to study alone. Among the female members, Rico was the one who stood out. She was outstandingly excellent. Be it reading, writing, or calction, she did everything well. She could probably write letters using super polite speech without any problems. For calctions, I tried teaching her fractional numbers even though it didnt go well. Even so, she was smart enough to remember forms and solve questions. I would like to teach her more, but she wouldnt be able to make a living as a mathematician unless she was a noble Tri was pretty ordinary, or maybe somewhat excellent? That being said, she was talented. She should be able to study on her own even if I stop teaching her. Eventually, she should be able to give great results. Arle was normal. She could do addition and subtraction without problems. Maybe I should teach her multiplication and division soon? Kuro was a little inferior to Arle. However, she wasnt that bad. With that kind of feeling, todays lesson was over and I was in the midst of cleaning up The students were preparing their meals before collecting herbs in the afternoon. As I was thinking about how I wanted to go back early and do some cksmithing Hey, dwa no, Ren. Youre not cooking anything today? Ryuu? He was going to call me dwarf just now, right? I really wanted to punch his smiling face. But he didnt say it and rephrased his words, so Ill forgive him this time. Im not. I was just doing it on a whimst time. I see. Then is it okay if we pay you to cook something? Were also paying you for helping our study after all. Huh? What was he talking about? W-what? Dont look at me like that. D-did I do something? I couldnt believe it. I never expected Ryuu toe up with such a decent proposal. Reflexively, I took down my hood, took off my sses, and stared at Ryuus face. Huh? His face gradually turned red. What happened? Oh, the other kids eyes were focusing on me. What is it? Tri, Teacher Ren is very cute, isnt she? Ah, yeah. Keep it a secret, okay? Eh? Why? Well, its a bit hard to exin Ah, my face I put on my sses and put on my hood as if nothing had happened. Yeah, nothing happened. Cain was sending me a disgusting gaze, but nothing happened at all. Also, Sheryl also called me Teacher Ren? Just call me Ren, please. Ryuu, youre having a fever? If youre feeling sick, you need to rest properly, you know? Haa? What are you saying? Im not sick at all. Eh? But theres no way you can think of something as good as that. I wonder if you hit your head or something You!? With how much everyone has been scolding me, Im bound to start thinking a little right?! What? That Ryuu is using his brain? Right, that might be true. Ugh! I cant get angry here, take a deep breath, deep breath Fuu Then, how about it? Oh, hes really growing up? Hmm? Well, I had to deal with him properly, yeah? Im good with that suggestion. Really!? Yay! Sweet! Oh my, everyone around me also started to be excited. But I havent finished, okay? Yes, Im fine with cooking, but what about the ingredients? Eh? Ingredients? Yes, the ingredients. Without them, I cant make anything, right? Yes, there were no ingredients. I dont think youre that greedy, but youre not telling me to collect the ingredients like before, right? Its normal for you to bring me the ingredients, isnt it? Yup. Ryuus suggestion was, well pay, so cook us something. Not sell us your cooking. If I didnt have the ingredients, I wouldnt be able to cook, right? Im such a mean and nasty guy! Bwahahaha! No, its just that there were people around us As the number of lessons increased, more and more people were looking at us from a distance. I didnt like that. Umm, the ingredients are As I thought, Ryuu was troubled. Everyone else hurriedly checked if they had anything with them. Did they want to eat my cooking that much? Well, I had been pretending to take out various bags by pretending that my bag was a magic bag, but everyone other than the four girls and Maricle hadnt seen me take out a tent, so I didnt think they would carry ingredients with them Also, Maricle had seen me taking a lot of food from my bag, but he was probably too confused to notice it? Ah, only Tri and Rico were looking at me with a troubled face. Well, I had been feeding them many times until now, so it would be strange if they didnt notice. That being said, hmm it cant be helped. Out of respect to Ryuus growth, lets sell him something appropriate? But what should I give? I had to take out the pot if I wanted to give them soup. Its a bitplicated. Even if I took out the empty pot, they might start to question whats inside my bag? How about meat? Should I give them grilled meat? Fried meats didnt seem like a good idea, and hamburger was I didnt know if its good or not. A lot of other borate things were no good Hmm? Hmm ah, how about pasta? In the end, I had to make it from now on, but its quite simple. If you have no ingredients, Ill use what I have with me right now. Is that okay? Eh? Where do you keep the materials? In this bag. No way, that is a magic bag? Seriously? Yes. Thats how I got away with this situation. Even if this bag was stolen, it was empty anyway, so it wouldnt really trouble me. Ah, but if the robber found out that I had storage skill, it would be troublesome. Anyway, I started preparing to cook. As usual, I made a stove using earth magic, took out the pot, poured hot water, and started a fire. I also minced the meat while waiting for the water to boil. Yeah, its troublesome, so Im making meat sauce. They could also eat meat this way. Im fine with making peperoncino and other pasta dishes, but I just thought using meat was a good idea. Now then, lets make it. And now its done. Meat sauce spaghetti. Each te had a pretty big serving. Everyone ate a lot, so this was a little service. One person has to pay three small copper coins. No second servings. Ah, everyone bought it. Im fine with that, though. What is this This smells really good! Delicious! Ren, its delicious! Chomp chomp chomp! Hmm, this situation was pretty simr to what happened before ah, I have to eat it too. Haa It was delicious. Hey Ren, I cant ask for more? In the first ce, I didnt make any more than that. You still have the bread you bought, right? Please eat that. Uh, damn it It was so delicious, I want to eat it again! I feel like theyre going to make me cook again next time. Hmm. maybe I should prepare first next time? Leaving aside the three fools, I want to feed Tri and my friends. Sheryl and her sister are cute as well. After the meal was over, everyone disbanded. Tri and the others divided into two teams, one to hunt horned rabbits and another one to collect herbs. The Sheryl sisters went to collect herbs. By the way, the Sheryl sisters ie had increased, so they moved to the same inn as Tri. Also, Cain was still stuttering. Just get over it already. I walked back to the workshop. As I pulled the cart, I recalled the days when I was on my way home from the Comiket. I was young back then Fufu, I also participated in a circle. After returning to the workshop, I practiced cksmithing after resting for a few days. The road to LV9 was so far Ill do my best. Chapter 95: A Trouble After a Long While? Chapter 95: A Trouble After a Long While? The fifth ss. Previously, we had ss one day earlier since I went on an expedition, so this time I dyed it one day so that I could match the intervals between each ss. I wouldnt have to deal with this if everyone in the workshop didnt oppose me hmph. Eh? I didnt have to worry about that and just do the lesson yesterday? But then my training time would decrease. Thats no good, I should prioritize myself until the end. I wasnt some kind of saint after all. Leaving that aside, I was teaching them right now, but for some reason the number of my students increased. How did this happen? Well, Maricle bought his benefactor here It seemed like his benefactor had taught him how to make the wooden shield he had. His name was Gim. An avant-garde warrior who was a dwarf and used an axe. Actually, he was the person who asked me about the carry cart before. Dwarf Axe user Gim Cursed ind? Ugh! Anything more than this would be no good! Gim was a considerably veteran adventurer, but it seemed like he couldnt read, write, or calcte properly because he couldnt find the time to do so. He found out that the novice he had helped before was currently getting taught by the tactful-looking kid who he talked to before. Using this chance, he bowed to Maricle, saying that this must be fate. Its amazing how he could bow his head properly when asking someones help even if he had a higher status than me Since Maricle also bowed to me, I couldnt help but teach him. But to be honest, this was too troublesome. For the time being, I gave him the same conditions as Sheryl to make sure there wouldnt be any trouble. By the way, its not only Gim that joined us, but his three party members as well. They made a total of four people. I epted them since this was Maricles request, but I didnt want to increase my students any more than this. I made sure to emphasize that to everyone. Even if they knelt and begged, I wouldnt take any more students. Teacher, is my answer correct? Which one? Yes, its fine. Its correct. Well done. T-teacher Im embarrassed. I patted Gims head and praised him. My principle was to support my students using praises. Even if he was an old man, that wouldnt change, okay? This ss was full of good kids and I wouldnt bully them! Excluding the three idiots. Eh? Im bullying them? This is discrimination? No, this is a distinction. Anyway. Hey, Ren. Is this okay? Right, I think its right, isnt it? Cain was annoying. Dont look at me with such a wistful look. Ah I regretted that I identally showed my face to Ryuu Since that, his hot gaze had been very disgusting. Probably thinking that my attitude towards him had softened seeing that I responded to Ryuu properly, Cain had been trying to get closer to me. Even so, he was extremely annoying. Before using that brain, start to think more reasonably! He probably misunderstood something for his own convenience again, but things dont work that well in the real world. However, I personally didnt want to get involved with him, so leaving him alone like this would make it easier to cut off my ties with him as it is. Well, I dont care about Cain from the beginning anyway. So, after the ss was over, its time to withdraw today, but for some reason, I had to cook again. After hearing that I would cook after they prepared the ingredients and paid me, he went to the forest and caught some orcs. It didnt even take five minutes. As expected from a C-rank veteran. But he could only read the request form to some extent He became worried since he knew the importance of being able to read and write, but thats because most adventurerscked education. It couldnt be helped, I guess But why was he so eager to hunt orcs? Eh? Did Mariclepliment my handmade cooking? Ahh, I see Its a hassle to think too much about this Lets just give up and eat. But what should I do about this orc meat grill them? Everyone had bread. But considering the color and nutritional bnce, I wanted to add some vegetables. Even so, it would take a long time to pick wild grass and so on In the midst of my worry, Gim took out some dried vegetables. It looks like cabbages? I could also use this, so I decided to boil it. Using ginger and seasonings, Im nning to make ginger grilled pork. Once it was sandwiched between the pieces of bread, it would look like a ginger grilled pork sandwich. Hmm Lets call it pork ginger? Or orc ginger because its orc meat? ? Huh? It doesnt sound off? Hmmm??? Nah, it doesnt matter. Lets make it quick. I chopped the boiled vegetables, grilled the meat, and finished preparing the ingredients. Then I sliced everyones bread thinly. Since the bread was fairlyrge, I could cut it into six pieces per bread by slicing it thinly, and each person could eat three pieces. Theres a lot of bread, so lets make a lot of it! Sandwiching the meat and vegetables, I made ginger grilled sandwich~ Deliciousss!!! What is this? Its the first time I eat something this delicious!? Orc meat is actually this delicious!? Chomp chomp chomp chomp! Soy sauce The recipe used soy sauce Well, its good that they looked like they liked it a lot. But soon, it turned into a battlefield-like disaster. It seems like Im going to teach and cook here, rinse and repeat I should probably limit grilling meats to 2-3 times, right? Well, whatever. Lets eat my own share. Chomp chomp. Ahh, I want bread. Lets bake it next time. After we finished eating, I collected the fee. I was going to go home after this, but everyone else seemed like they were going to collect some herbs. Gim collected a lot of orc meat, but he had to share it with his children. He also told me that his children had to eat properly! What a good person Different from me who is a hypocrite! Hes a cool adult! Anyway, Gim was close to a veteran adventurer when he was a novice, so he wanted to do the same thing with beginners. Hes really a cool adult. I cant follow his steps. After that, Gim started to provide ingredients every day at noon. But only eating orc meat limited the recipe and seasonings I could use, and I wasnt able to make many dishes. I could make anything, though But whatever. I could just make something appropriate. Well, I had been teaching them like that several times, but a strange person approached us during the break time of our 8th lesson. Yeah, I knew that trouble wasing. Are you the rumored saint that teaches adventurers reading and writing? What? Whats that? Whos a saint? No, Im not. Anyway, who is this guy? Youre not? But you are teaching reading, writing, and calction here, right? I do teach them reading and writing, but in the first ce, who are you? Sorry for my rudeness. Im the staff of the adventurer guild. I heard that there are some free sses here for adventurers who cant read and write. By the way, how often do you teach here? Haa, youre from the guild I watched their study once every three days. Once every three days I see. So two days in between are free, right? Then Ill bring some people in the two days between, so can you teach them how to read and write? Ha? Why should I do that? I refuse. I heard that you teach reading and writing with no charge, and even offer them food here, though? I teach reading and writing, but its not free. For the food, they pay me for that and also prepare the ingredients. I just cook. But I heard you are a saint who does things as a charity for free No, I understand. Then Ill make the people who I brought to pay the tuition fee, so please. I refuse. With how he said that, he wanted to make me teach people free of charge? Only paying tuition is not enough? Youre too greedy to be called a saint But sure, I will pay you from the guild separately. I dont need it. I dont remember calling myself a saint, okay? Whats with the whole saint thing in the first ce? Im not such a good guy, and I dont have the spiritual mind to volunteer doing service work. In the first ce, why do I have to do that? Haa It cant be helped, so Ill exin. The guild is concerned with the low quality of the adventurers. Itsmon for troubles to happen since they cant read, write, or calcte. Even if they have no learning, as long as they get some education, they will act a little better, right? This will reduce the bad reputation of the adventurers. There are many other merits, but Im sure you wont understand even if I exin it to you. We want to provide basic education for all adventurers. However, the current guildcked manpower in order to achieve that Then I heard rumors about you, so I would like to ask you to do that. Hespletely looking down on me since he thinks Im a kid, right? Rather, whats with this guy? Why does he think his position is higher than me? Did hee for a fight? So Im teaching them for the guild? Yes. You will get rewards, so you dont have any problems with this, right? No, I have a lot of problems. I didnt agree at all. In the first ce, why am I supposed to do it even though its mainly for the guild? Theres no merit for me. What does he mean? I see, so its like that I understand. Then you ept my proposal, right? I refuse. May I ask for the reason? Theres no single reason for me to ept that. I dont get any benefit from this, and I dont have any time to teach people. Hmm But you teach them once every three days, right? Then you should have two free days, right? No. I have ns. Thats right. I wont have time for cksmithing. Then you can teach the people I brought with them. I refuse. Im not that skilled to be able to teach so many people at once. To say it simply, its troublesome. Also, I dont want to do it because you annoy me. To be honest, I can do it since I have [Multitask]. This is a problem for the adventurers as a whole. Its not when you can decide things selfishly. If its really a problem, then the guild should be able to do something, right? You told me that Im selfish, but why should I do that in the first ce, even though Im just an adventurer? Youre obviously just pushing your responsibility off onto someone else. Isnt that the guilds negligence? Be careful of what youre saying. You better not make me too angry. Im not saying anything wrong, though? Do you understand what it means to start a fight with the guild? Do you know what actions we will take to deal with this matter? What now? I dont get him. Speaking of which, some people like this exist from time to time, right? A guy that starts to talk things and starts to pressure other people strangely while looking down at them, but then they start to subtly alter the topics and points to make the opponent look bad. Hes kind of a scammer, isnt he? Youre threatening me? I dont have any intention to start a fight, and Im saying something normal. In the first ce, even the guild cant force a low ranking adventurer to do things they want. I see. I will report all of your remarks to the Guild Master. You will be punished ordingly, but its toote to apologizeter. You can do as you wish? I really dont get him. So hes really a scammer? I suppose its going to be convenient for me to let him report on me Maybe they will revoke my adventurer qualification? Ah, Im so annoyed, and on the contrary, I dont care anymore Okay, lets stop dealing with people decently. For me, I dont care about this guy anymore. Im also registered in themercial guild now, so I wont be troubled when identifying myself now even if Im not an adventurer. Its fine for him to do as he likes. I mean, what did this persone here for? Did hee to start a fight? There were various benefits to teaching adventurers to read, write, and calcte, and I know that they want to educate everyone, but why did hee to order me and condemn me? Isnt he stupid? So hes going to punish me? Whatever. Oi, wait a minute. Oh my, Gim? Who are you? Im Gim, a C-rank adventurer. C-rank, huh? So? Ive been listening to you for a while, but what youre saying is weird, isnt it? Why does Teacher have to take care of those other guys? Theres nothing wrong with what she said, right? Haa This is why people with no learning are so insufferable This is for the benefit of all adventurers. A child cant be selfish for this matter. Its more strange since this is all of the adventurers problem. Thats what the guild should do. As Teacher has said, you cant force one adventurer to do this. So you talk to me like this, eh Fine, my effort is in vain. Just remember your words today. Hey, wait. Dont end the conversation as you like. You said that youre going to report this to Gilmouth, right? Ill be there as well. Haa? Why do you have to be there? You dont have the right to do that. No, I will be present whether I have the right or not. Your reasoning just now is obviously strange. I have to make sure that such a strange man wont spout lies to Gilmouth. Dont kid with me! What right do you Oi, what are you doing there! Ah, another person appeared again. Trouble keepsing one after another Who is it this time? Guild Master Why are you here? Thats my line. Ricardo, why are you here? No, thats umm Ah, what the hell is this? I cant continue the lesson this way, okay? Chapter 96: Part 1 – Mister Trouble, The Way Home is Over There Chapter 96: Part 1 ¨C Mister Trouble, The Way Home is Over There Ill ask you again, Ricardo why are you here? Thats A fight between the two men began to unfold right in front of me! Just what on earth do you want me to do? All I wanted to do was continue the ss. Please fight somewhere else. Gim, Ill continue the lesson, so please take your seat. Huh? No, Teacher Are you starting the ss in this situation? We havent resolved this matter yet, right? Teacher, youre also involved here, you know? I wasnt involved anymore, though? I said most of what I wanted to say, and that guy ended up saying something that sounded like he was threatening me. For me, the conversation ended at that point. Whats left depends on the attitude of the other party. Then, another person suddenly appeared and started arguing with the rude guy, so this had nothing to do with me, okay? What should I do with these people? They suddenly appeared and started quarreling, didnt they? No, no. Teacher, that reaction is too strange! Even if you said that Ricardo, this youngdy is the rumored saint? Thats yes, youre correct. Wrong! When did I be a saint! I want them to stop this annoying rumor! She looks furious What did you do? Er Gilmouth, Ill exin! Oh, Gim. Sorry, but please do that. P-please wait a moment! Thats, I! No, youll just twist the story around to make it sound like you were the one who was right. Are you saying that Im lying? Yeah. Youve made false testimony before. But Gim wouldnt do that. Looking at how both of you have acted up to now, I know that Gim can at least be trusted. Thanks, Gilmouth. You see Hmm, they started talking as they pleased. I want to continue the lesson, though Judging from the flow of their conversation, the old man who just appeared seemed to be the guild master. I was kind of angry with the person who proimed himself as part of the guild staff, but since I started the fight, you could say that had something to do with me. But I dont think I can exin it well. After all, I didnt know the mans circumstances. Since Gim said that he could exin it, it would save me the trouble. Lets rely on him for this matter. Then, Gim exined in detail about the behavior and attitude of the rude self-proimed guild staff person. As soon as Gilmouth understood the story, his face turned sullen. He red at the man. Ricardo, I told you that I would manage this matter, right? Why did you do things as you like? Thats Theres no need for you, Master, to take part in this small matter I said that this is a delicate matter that will affect the guilds future. Since were the one asking for help, we cant afford to make any mistakes here. But shes a child. Master doesnt need to It doesnt matter what her age is. Were asking for her help, so of course we have to be polite! You cant even understand that!? From what I heard, you have been acting quite rude to her, right? Being oppressive and overbearing You even used the guilds name as you liked and threatened her. Its that child whos being rude! She didnt say anything wrong! Youre the one whos in the wrong here! Just what the hell were you thinking!? Ah, how can I say this Were these guys treating like I wasnt here? No, theyre focusing on how the self-proimed guild staff person was acting impertinent or something like that. Couldnt they do this kind of thing elsewhere I also have a schedule, okay? Um, can I say something? Ohh, Miss. Were very sorry. What is it? If youre going to quarrel, can you do it in another ce? I want to continue the lesson, so please take your y elsewhere. Yeah, I was getting paid to watch them studying. Please dont disturb us. y!? Watch your mouth brat! Ricardo! Youre the one who should watch your mouth! Ohh, he got angry. But Im also angry, okay? Im sorry, Miss. We have disturbed you Well take this somewhere else, so please pardon us. No, as long as you dont disturb us, I dont really care. Yeah, then well take our leave Gim, Im sorry bute with us. Ricardo, follow me! Sorry, Teacher. Im going for a while. Yes. Im sorry for the trouble. Hmm, this probably meant that I should feel indebted to Gim? Well, since he had to deal with that kind of person, I guess its fine. I also could trust him. Anyway, the problematic people were now discussing it at a distance. By the way, there were around three people with Gilmouth. They looked like his escorts. And two of them were cautious against whats his name again? Ricardo? One was standing watch to make sure he wouldnt run away. But even if he did run away, Im sure Norn would take care of him. Well, whatever. I resumed the lesson. This was the second half, so they were learning calction now. Haa this had be quite troublesome. Then the ss was over. The people from the guild told me that they wanted to have some of my time to discuss something with me, so I had to ept it. With this situation, I didnt cook today. All of the students didnt like it, but its not my fault. Please say that to the guild people. After I told them something like that, everyone protested with the man who seemed to be the Guild Master. Is this my fault? Im sorry, we can postpone our talk. Id like them to have their meal first. Ehhh, I dont mind, though? We dont have the materials either. Teacher, Ill bring the materials immediately, so wait a moment! Oh, ah Gim rushed out without giving me time to stop him. He was really fast. I had the idea that dwarves would be slow, but whats with that? Maybe it was because of his skills? Then, he brought the usual orc without taking more than five minutes. He could get some chicken meat, right but he would have to capture several of them. Compared to that, the cost to amount ratio of orc was way too good. Hmm. By the way, the number of orcs increased from the beginning of autumn. Autumn seemed to be their breeding season. But they would also increase in early spring. And goblins continued to increase all year round. I strayed from the subject. Anyway, Gim, even if you brought the orc you hunted all of a sudden, it took time to drain the blood. Every time he did that, I had to wait to start cooking Its best to hunt orc during the break, but Gim wouldnt be able to rest if he did that It cant be helped, so every time I waited for the blood to be drained, I would prepare the stove and some other things. Lets finish this quickly and listen to their story so I can go home. Everything was tiresome today, so I made pork steak for everyone. I minced and sauted the garlic, grilled the meat, and seasoned it with soy sauce. To bring out the vor, I added a small amount of pepper with the garlic. Its a bit spicy. Then I grilled it. Everyone ate very quickly, so I had no choice but to grill the meat. Thanks to that, I had to put off my meal. What a sad life Drawn to the delicious smell, the guild people were looking at us eagerly. What? Do you want it? Too bad. These were for these hungry children. After I finished being a meat-grilling machine, ate my meal, and cleaned up, it was finally time to talk. Well, I already heard most of it The guild indeed wanted to improve the quality of the adventurers. In fact, disputes between adventurers regrly happened which caused many neers to die. Even the ones with promising futures. Novice adventurers who were young children couldnt earn money because they couldnt distinguish the herbs. They often died of hunger. Thats why the guild wanted to improve the situation by opening a beginners course including simplebat training and a regr course to teach literacy and calctions. The guilds of the big countries in the central continent did that kind of training as well The guilds in this country couldnt afford to do that due to theck of human resources. They also didnt know how to do it. You might think that they could just ask the branch of another countrys guild, but that would put them in debt to that country and lower their position diplomatically. They would be in a position where they had to listen to that guild branch executives. It would be the same if they contacted the Guild Headquarters in the Commercial Alliance. Even if they could at least lower their head, they had to consider the aftermath. Chapter 96: Part 2 – Mister Trouble, The Way Home is Over There Chapter 96: Part 2 ¨C Mister Trouble, The Way Home is Over There It was at that time the guild staff heard about me. ording to the rumors, I taught novices and young adventurers how to read and write and how to calcte for free. I also gave them free meals. When they checked whether such a strange person existed, they found out that the rumor was true. Because of the exaggerated rumors, people started calling me a saint. I want them to give me a break. Just who is a saint? However, from the guilds point of view, I was exactly what they needed. But that didnt mean they could just force me. So, the guild master told the staff to collect information on me and strictly ordered them to refrain from doing anything rash since he would handle this matter alone. I wanted to tell them that I didnt care about any of their exnations. Its all their own problem anyway. By the way, the source of the rumors was Gims friend. They got excited at a bar and started talking about me. However, unlike the widespread rumors, it seemed like they only said that, She teaches literacy and calction for a small fee so cheap that you can even say that its free, the food she cooks is incredibly delicious. But before they noticed it, the story got exaggerated to a crazy amount. And for some reason, people started treating me as a saint who did stuff for free. Regarding Gims friends, you could say that they repaid my kindness with ingratitude, but hmm Ill tolerate them this time. Its bad that they were speaking nonsense at the bar, but this cancels my debt to Gim just now. I see, I understand the situation. But I refuse. So its still a no Is it because of the way Ricardo acted? Theres that too, but I feel like if I ept this, it will prove that Im a saint. I hate that. Its certainly possible, but with our current circumstances, we cant afford to back out now. How about this? Well raise your adventurer rank with a special rule and provide you a reward from the guild? Ill pass. If I receive such special treatment, other adventurers may reject or bully me. Thats I suppose youre right. Most people will feel jealous In the first ce, if you dont have anyone to teach the adventurers, how about increasing your staff? You cant ask for a public contribution? Its not that easy Its not like we can side with the country and the aristocrats. The Adventurers Guild is a neutral international guild. If we ask for a public contribution, themoners will also apply. If it was the child of a merchant, itd be fine, but if it were amoner, we have to teach them literacy and calction or they wont be much of a use. What about that person earlier? Can he read, write, and calcte? Hes I guess he can, but not very good at it. Ill just say it here, but hes the third son of a noble family who cant be the heir or marry into another family. In the end, his parents asked us to hire him so we did, albeit unwillingly. As I thought, that self-proimed guild staff person was the stupid son of the noble family who took care of Gilmouth when he was young. The parents told him that he didnt have to give him special treatment and that they didnt care if he was punished for causing problems. Apparently hes done something like this before so this time hell be given a severe punishment. The son of a noble family received education for literacy, calction, and administrative skills. That alone would make them an immediate asset to the team. Not to mention that the men learn martial arts such as swordsmanship. I might be able to rely on them if there was a fight, but Whats the problem? Even if their family has lost their rank, the family still has some influence on the children. Meaning, they are mostly cocky. When hiring staff, any guild will bind the personnel with contract magic, but that wont prevent them from leaking information. Also, its normal for family members to request their children to enter the guild forcefully. Rather, it happens a lot. Thats why most of the guild staff are idiots. Still, it didnt mean that all of them were idiots, right When I asked him about that, he told me that the good children below the second son would usually find a job and leave the house. Half of them became adventures and even though they may have mastered swordsmanship, they had no experience in actual battle, so they often died. And the leftovers that couldnt find a job would get pushed to be guild staff by their parents how can I say this hmm. By the way, is it okay for you to tell a child like me about the internal conditions of the guild? No, I usually cant. But Im asking a request to you, so I cant persuade you if I dont show my sincerity, right? I even n on persuading you with tears if needed. Hes nning on crying!? Well, I indeed hesitated a bit after hearing the whole story No, I wont ept it. But, hmmm Why dont you make a public appeal to a noble family? But what if they have a trashy personality? Please give up on it a little. With how things currently are, itd be better for you to hire those who have garbage attitudes than idiots. What do you mean? Determine your recruitment criteria. After taking in the applications, make the applicants take an exam. Since the guild wanted someone with literacy and calction ability, they had to screen the candidates first. The test consisted of calction and essay questions. Calction questions would be changed with new ones regrly. If it was the same each time, past exam questions might leak from sessful applicants and rejected applicants. For the essay questions, give examples of customerints and quarrels that happened in the past and ask the applicants to answer how they would respond to them. In a sense, there was no correct answer. After the written exam, they would have an interview. Even if the score of the writing just barely made it, they could be epted in some cases. If they had a good personality, a little training would make them useful. And the influence of their family would be somewhat suppressed. Maybe. Also, the top employees of each department and the executives would participate as the examiner. The skills and personalities required for each department often differed. I see. An interview, huh But if they have a noble education, dont you think they can keep up appearances? Yes, everyone with a noble education should be able to do it to a certain extent. But the Guild Master, the top staff of each department, and the executives should be able to see through them. Even if you said that Youre right, we have to do that much. But what if theres someone who managed to fool all of us? If they can fool you and everyone else there or do something close to that, thats also a type of talent. Id think theyd be suitable to be negotiators or clerks. I havent thought that far. But what should we do if we were tricked? To judge that, you can give a trial period to the candidates. The minimum is around three months. Its also good to send them to various departments during their probation. After that period has passed, you should have gotten an idea of whether to officially hire them or not, and then ce them in their respective departments. If you find any problems during the probation, just dont hire them. I see. There are still some problems, but thats where I have to do my best. Even so youve given me a good idea, Miss. Thats probably thanks to my experience and knowledge from my previous life. Well, I just gave him an idea irresponsibly so there should be many holes here and there, but please fix that by yourself. To be honest, this had nothing to do with me anyway. In that way, you can increase the staff. And if you can afford it, you can hold a workshop on your own. If one of the staff has mastered regr martial arts, they can teach it. The initial investment is necessary, so dont be stingy. Once the adventurers grow, the guild will be able to recover. After that, it will only be advantageous for you. Amazing! Can I use your idea!? Sure, Im just suggesting something to you, so feel free to use it. But I believe that there are various holes, so feel free to make changes where you think necessary. Yeah, I know! We cant immediately teach the adventurers, but this gives me a lot of insight! Right, I will add this as Miss contribution. When you reach the appropriate age, you can immediately rank up. Thats hmm, I guess it wont hurt to ept that. Ill take it for now. After talking for a while, the Guild Master went home with a big smile. The self-proimed guild staff person was taken by the escorts who restrained him. In the middle of our discussion, he tried cutting in, so the guards beat him up. He deserved it! His face became something dreadful when we parted ways, but he reaps what he sows. By the way, they woulde to tell me what his punishment was after it was officially decided. I guess they could punish him for as long as they wanted assuming it didnt affect me. Anyway, all of the students were watching me talking with the Guild Master. Probably because I gave suggestions to the Guild Master without reservation, they were looking at me like they saw something strange. Hmm, I feel like I screwed up a bit? Chapter 97: Its Finally Over Chapter 97: It''s Finally Over Gmorning! Im holding a Fenrir in my hands right now~! Nah, its a lie. Norn and Bell were too heavy. Anyway, Im Ren. What happened with the staff of the guild the other day was very troublesome, right? A few days after that, they told me how they would punish that man called Ricardo. They would transfer that guy elsewhere. Its almost the same as a demotion. Since there would be arge-scale subjugation this winter, he would follow the royal capitals Guild Submaster, who would go to the base of a big subjugation point andmand it, to do chores and work hard. Also, the staff would continue to receive severe treatment even after they passed the subjugation craze period Praise Buddha. By the way, they told me to keep this a secret since this subjugation was still confidential. Why would I even talk about it? I also heard a little about the reformation of the guild. The guild in this country had a reliable maintenance system, and they had a strong tendency to maintain the status quo even if it was utterly worthless. Nearly half of the current executives were such conservatives. By the way, Gilmouth and his faction were reformists. Although they wanted to reduce the mortality rate of the neers and tried various things, they couldnt do much because theycked human resources. They were unable to operate well because Gilmouth had been negotiating with the headquarters, the foreign countrys guild, this countrys nobles, and the other guilds staff, something like that. No, even if you tell me that, I dont understand, but it sounds quite pressing though1 It seemed that they were moving forward at a fantastic pace after they could finally reform with leadership. Once the reformists increased their control, they had been dealing with the current conservatives and severely punished the corrupt staff Just dont involve me, okay? Anyway, changing the way they operate so much would cause a lot of problems, so I advised them not to be too impatient to change it. Besides, I more or less taught them about theyout of the ssroom, but it might be possible for them to hire someone who went to an aristocratic school. Using that as a reference should be a good idea. Regarding the teaching method, they wouldnt be able to teach unless they had someone in charge of that, so Ill pass. Its too much of a hassle. Other than that, there was also something not worth worrying about: the poprization of the carry carts had increased the number of materials brought into the guild, and the profits likewise increased woooow, isnt that amazing? (monotone) Anyway, today was the day of my cksmith training. I was in the middle of my break time. I didnt have any appointments with Tri and the others today. Since it was alreadyte September, there were days when the wind was cold now and then, but since I was cksmithing, I felt so hot and sweaty. Today, I decided to go to the side street to get exposed to the wind. Fuu, its cool. Yaaawn~ Yeah, theres no one here. Its okay for me to make a weird voice. Its not crowded at this time~ U-um! Fwah!? Gah!? Theres a person!? Ah, yes. What is it? I tried to reply, hiding my shock using [Concealment] and [Disguise]. Dont talk to me so suddenly! I was surprised! Ah, Norn, its fine, okay? You shouldnt bite him, understand? U-um! I I! I-Im working in that workshop, um! B-b-before, uhh! Hmm, he looked like he was going to blow a fuse soon. How about calming down a little? Yes, take a deep breath. In, out, okay? Okay, it seems like he has calmed down. So whats the issue? This kid seemed to be an apprentice cksmith working in the neighboring workshop. He was around thirteen to fifteen years old. Anyway, the reason he called me was he asked me if we could y together at the harvest festival next week. Ahh, so its already that time, huh The harvest festival took around three to five days, starting from the end of September to the beginning of October. It was to celebrate this years harvest, not forgetting to make it especially festive as a prayer for a good harvest next year. It wasnt celebratedrge-scale in the city2 I used to live in, but they would make several food stalls and distribute foods at the church. Since we orphans didnt have money, we went to get a portion of the food distribution. After that, we stole a nce at the street performers from a distance. How nostalgic And naturally, the harvest festival would be apletely different thing in the royal capital. And this boy wanted to invite me to go to the harvest festival together. Hmm? Thats right Maybe I should talk about this to Tri and the others? After all, we had a ss tomorrow. Thats why, yeah. Im sorry. The boy walked back to his workshop, very downhearted. As I nced at him, I was excited with the expectations of the harvest festival. Fufufu, Im such a wicked woman! Ah, several apprentices and shop boys were looking at me from a distance. Perhaps they had the same purpose as the boy? No way, lets run away. And so I immediately took refuge in the workshop. But if they were aiming at me, that means they could see my face, right? When did they see it? Maybe when I was chatting with Tri and the others? Hmm? Anyway, its thest day of ss! Lets wrap this up and go home! I dont want to do this anymore since it was too troublesome! The ss has ended. Eh? Did I skip over too many things? Even if you said that In the end, Ryuu didnt have good results. But since he was working hard, he might manage somehow. After this, Maricle would do something about this! Boman, whocked motivation, was more or less the same as Ryuu or a little better? Id been thinking about this since I was in the orphanage, but I never thought hisck of motivation and procrastination tendencies were aughing matter. But at least he didnt cause inconveniences to those around him Ill leave him to Maricle too. Or Cain, I dont care. The others were excellent. I was somewhat worried about Arle and Kuro, but they did pretty well. And the others who received the benefit from being my friends benefactor were forced to cram everything. Sheryl was around the same level as Arle. I wasnt very sure about her sister, Melty, but she reached the passing mark. Gim was able to read to some extent, so I didnt think he would face any particr problems. That was about what I expected from him. He startedte, but he studied seriously. The rest were his colleagues. They were better than Ryuu but worse than Arle. One of them could read, write, and calcte well, so that person should do their best to teach their friends after this. Anyway, the fool, Ryuu, asked me if I would treat them since this was thest day, and the others who joined him started to make noise Hey, why should I do something special because its thest day? Its too much of a problem. I tried to dodge this as usual, but Maricle suddenly ambushed! He liked the pork bowl I made for him before, so he wanted to eat it again. Maricle was usually silent and didnt get involved, so everyone became excited. I would reject the request from the three idiots, but since this was Maricles, I gave up and made it. But since there was a material cost for rice, I made the price higher than usual. I thought it would end like that, but they kept asking for a second serving. Just how were they able to maintain such slender bodies? Since we already went this far, I decided to give them a little more service. So I made candies as dessert. I made them when I went to the depths of the forest to relieve my stress3. By the way, the vors were honey and orange. I made a lot of other vors, but they could only have these two, okay? And dont ask for another one! As I nced at everyone who became speechless because of the candy, I tried to suggest going to the harvest festival together to Tri, but she invited me first. Muu! So we were thinking the same thing? So what do you think? Wont you go with me? Bending a little while staring at me with hopeful eyes Tri, when did you learn such an advanced skill!? I have to go now since she already made such a face! No, I wont refuse her from the beginning too. Of course I will go. By the way, what about the other kids? Arle and Kuro are going to go with Sheryl and the others. What about Rico? Of course, Im going with you! Together with Ren! Aww, cute The fools were watching us, but I ignored them! Dont look at us! After that, I returned to the workshop and practiced cksmithing as usual. Err, did I make around 160 swords this month? Would it be possible to make a magic sword and gain experience for that soon? Well, leaving that aside, I probably should make new clothes for my outing tomorrow. I had to kill the virgins4 But Im still putting on the cloak on the top. And cover my face with the hood. But this is this, and that is that! Since I didnt get a lot of chances to dress up, I had to be prim and preen! And thats how I would have a date with Tri and the others next week. Yay!5 Chapter 98: If Youre Going to Call Me, Do it at the Back of the School Building or the Rooftop! Chapter 98: If You''re Going to Call Me, Do it at the Back of the School Building or the Rooftop! A few days after the open-air ssroom, I spent my day forging swords and meticulously making clothes before I went to bed at night. By the way, I made a cherry boy /articles/best-virgin-killer-sweater Lilith: Jesus">1 I mean, a corset skirt2 before, but now I tried to make it more fashionable by attachingces on it. I also made the blouse frilly. Since Im on it anyway, how about making some clothes for my everyday wear? Although its not a corset skirt, bodice kind of clothes weremon in this world. Wearing that kind of outfit shouldnt have made me look that out of ce. As for the magic sword, I decided that I should umte a little more material and then work on it all at once. With that, I was still steadily forging regr swords. After this, should I try to make a spear? After a few days passed, Tri called me out early in the morning. Or rather, she took me out. The harvest festival hasnt started yet, so whats the matter? Norn and Bell leisurely followed us from behind Seeing their behavior, it shouldnt be something dangerous. For the destination, she brought me to the end of a typical district. We arrived in a detached house. But theres a guard station nearby, so the security shouldnt be that bad. Wow, whats with this abandoned building? It didnt look like a ce humans could live Eh? This ce was the house Tri and the others rented? Seriously? Ah Yeah, so thats it Ehh Why did you rent such a house? After I asked her the reason, I was finally convinced. The rent was cheap. The building was so shabby that I even mistook it as an abandoned building, but the location wasnt bad. The market and the branch office of the Adventurer Guild wasnt too far away from here. Although this location was closer to the edge of the town, the third district was a reasonably nice ce. The building was worn-out, but they could repair it as they pleased. And even after they finished repairing it, the rent remained unchanged3. You could say that the house was rented at a low price on the assumption that they would repair the house. I see, the terms didnt look that bad, if they could fix it. It seemed that the reason Tri called me was to show me this house they finally managed to rent. They started renting it in thetter half of my sses. They finally finished cleaning the house and immediately moved in yesterday. Well, since they had a base now, I understand why she would be happy. But is the pir of this house safe? Kuro was waiting alone in front of the house and guided me in with Tri. Rico and Arle went shopping for food. Anyway, lets enter the house. How should I put it, the front door was already dangerous. It looked like they would fall off any time soon. Is this okay I pulled myself together and entered the house again. Norn and Bell waited at the front door. To be honest, I think the floor would break if it had to support Norns weight. Anyway, as soon as I entered, I was greeted with the living room. Theres also a kitchen. I was anxious about therge hole in the wall. It looked like someone would be able to go in and out from that hole easily There were two small rooms at the back of the living room. There was no door on either side, probably because the doors had fallen off. One of the rooms would be their warehouse. The other one was their bathroom? However, it only had a drain hole. There was no bathtub at all. They used this space to wipe their body with hot water. Hmm They guided me to a small room under the stairs, but This ce was the toilet? It looked like a Japanese-style urinal. Fortunately, they covered the urinal with a lid, so it didnt smell that much. But since this room didnt have a door as well, the living room was a little smelly. Oh, there were traces of a door being installed here Mmm. I looked around the living room without much thought, noticing two pirs that seemed to be the central pir of this building. I checked them with [Analysis]. They didnt look like they would crumble, so it should be okay? The stairs by the wall led to the second floor, but several nks of the stairs had been missing. Tri exined that they had taken off the broken nks. Stepping on a crumbling one would be dangerous, so they made a good decision. There were two rooms on the second floor. Both were considerably wide. They used those rooms as the bedrooms, separating the boys and the girls. Since they didnt have any beds, a few tattered sheets were folded in the corner of the room in the girls room. The sheets in the boys room were rolled up and scattered. Maricles should be the only one whose sheets were folded. And they also had a balcony. But they couldnt use it because it didnt have a foothold. Its nice that the rent was cheap, but repairing all of this would cost a lot of money. Youre right, dont you think its a bargain in the long run? The rent is still going to be cheap even after we repaired it. Hmm I agree, but Do you n to fix it all on your own? Yeah, thats the n. Itll be expensive if we hire a carpenter, right? Looking at them only made me feel anxious. If they didnt fix the big hole in the wall or the front door as fast as they could, someone would steal their things Anyway, the boys werent here. Did they go to buy woods or something? After checking, it turns out they went to buy some boards. For the time being, they wanted to do something with the front door and the holes in the wall. Yeah, I couldnt take this anymore. Too terrible. Thats why, heres Rens renovation service! Complete with her dramatic makeover 4! I pushed Tri and Kuro outside the house and told them to wait there, then I returned to the house alone. It would be dangerous for them to stay here while I remodeled this ce. First, lets do something to the hole in the wall. I used earth magic to change the outer wall into a stone wall and strengthen it. I also filled the hole in the wall. However, they would feel cold in the winter if the inner wall was also made of stone, so I covered it in wood. Next was the kitchen haa, it looked pretty good? Since the firece and stove were somewhat broken, I reinforced it with earth magic. Then I strengthen the central pirs with stone. I upgraded the toilet, changing it to a Western-style one. Toilet seat made of stone would be too cold in the winter, so I used wood5. Its a pity that they didnt have flushing. I also attached a door and an internal lock. I couldnt let them bump into someone taking a piss by ident. Next was the bathroom. I installed a door and changed the floor texture to a rough one so that they wouldnt slip here. Then I installed a bathtub made of stone, or maybe close to marble? I also made a wooden plug to close the hole in the bathtub. Since it would be difficult to boil and carry arge amount of hot water, I took out the magic tool that produced hot water from my [Storage] and installed it. Its good that I made a few of it as a spare. The tool was quiterge. Around 1m x 60cm x 60cm, not suitable for carrying it around. But it would be quite expensive if they wanted to buy it. Moreover, themercially avable products were a few timesrger than those I made. I worked hard on downsizing it. I installed it next to the bathtub. Since it had a faucet, they could easily have hot water by twisting it toward the tub. However, they had to supply magic power to use it. Rico and Tri had to do their best here. In the space in front of the bathroom, I created a small room separated by a wall to be a dressing room. I installed an internal lock at the door of that room. I definitely wouldnt allow any lucky perverts here. The warehouse Lets hang cloth and divide it. They also stored their foods here Well, they should be more than capable of deciding the penalties for stealing or something like that. Next was the stairs. Having no handrail was dangerous, so I attached the handrail first. Then I reinstalled the foothold board before moving to the second floor. After renovating all the floorboards of the hallway on the second floor, I went to the boys room. Ill just do it randomly here. Fix the floorboard, fix the wallboard, and done. Door, you ask? Those guys didnt need such a luxurious thing. They could buy cloth on their own and hang them. The windows were also the original worn-out wooden windows. Maricle ended up having to suffer as well, but he would definitely forgive me! And after that was the most important room; the girls room. I renovated the wall and floor nicely and installed a heat-insting material inside the walls. By the way, its cellulose fiber. I was going to use ss for the window, but the ss was known as a luxury item. I stopped myself and made themon wooden window. The original one was broken, so I made a new one. Next, I set up two bunk beds. Unfortunately, I didnt install my quality mattress. I used themon thick sheets. In addition, I prepared several extra sheets as their quilts. And pillows. It was wood covered with cloth, but it should be better than nothing. I also wanted to install the air conditioning magic tool, but I managed to stop myself. I never heard of something like it being used in this world, so lets not be careless here. Atst, I installed a door. I firmly attached the hinge to the wall and installed an inner lock. I also made four keys to open it from the outside. These were for the girls. Ill give this to Triter. When I finished renovating the girls room, I went to the balcony. I made a foothold using a board and attached a handrail. They could dry theirundry and sheets here. It took me around forty minutes to renovate everything. Id remodeled my house many times, so I was already used to this. Since I had finished the second floor, lets do the front door now. I need to make a lock here, so I call Tri. Do you have the key to the front door? What? Eh? Ah, yeah. I have it. Please lend it to me. I borrowed the key and made the front door. I also improved the keys and duplicated it. Tri told me that they only got one. If they lost it, they had to go to thendlord. The duplicated key could be their spare. Ill give them to Tri and Maricle. Hmm, lets go with this for now. There were still a lot of ces I wanted to add, but lets have Tri and the others do the rest. Ill stop here for now Tri, this is the key. These four are the keys to the girls room, so please give it to everyer. What? Eh? Just what happened here? Hmm? Did I overdo it? Tri looked speechless after she saw me renovate the house in a twinkle before her eyes. Kuros eyes also widened and she didnt move for a while. This is my congrattory gift for your moving. No no no! This is strange! Too strange! But if youre going to repair the house, will you be able to make it for your winter preparations? Thats Firewood was usually expensive And I didnt think they wouldnt have enough money to stockpile food to survive winter. Their group had a lot of members. I remember that its tough when I was in the orphanage. Especially the drafts in the winter Ah, really! Ill stop thinking! I dont really get it, but I know that Ren is amazing! Thank you, really! Hmm, I couldnt allow Tri and the girls to suffer. I was too giving? I was spoiling them? Thats fine, though. Whats wrong with being partial to the kids I like? But well, I feel a little ufortable with the three fools receiving the leftovers. I exined the tools to Tri. She was surprised to hear that they could take a bath every day as long as they had magic power. Its easy to supply magic power if they have [Magic Processing] skill, so they should think of this as a practice and do their best. I also told her that they could sell the water heaters magic tool if they decided to move. The price would be considerably lower, but I guess they had to give that up. Maybe the merchants would buy it at a very low price. The world was really not kind Our room has a lock too. As expected from Ren, youre really frank. Im really delighted with yourpliment. Bwahahaha, you can praise me more! Im someone who will grow after gettingpliments! Eh? Shes not praising me? There, I heard the noise of something dropped outside the house. What is this.!!!??? Ah, Arle had returned home? Chapter 99: Continue Apologizing in Hell! Chapter 99: Continue Apologizing in Hell! A magnificent fighting scene was currently unfolding right in front of me. How did this happen? Originally, after Arle and Rico went back home after I finished renovating their house, they praised me to a great extent. Ecstatic, I got conceited. But a short time after that, the boys came back. At first, the boys group was surprised at the dramatic changes. They were also speechless with how only their rooms remained shabby. Not to mention, Cain kept sending me a weird gaze Im sure he was having another delusion convenient for him, but the problem was not Cain. Its Boman. Boman suddenly said, Lets do a food stall. It was so unexpected that my mind went nk for a while, but heres the summary of the groups interaction after that. Actually, Boman wanted to do business for a long time. In recent years, there had been a food stall sales contest at the harvest festival in the royal capital. The contest was started to poprize the potatoes, meaning the stalls had to use potatoes in their dishes. The higher the ce one won in the contest, the more money they would get. There were chances that they might be able to find a job at a famous store. Boman had proposed to take part in the contest to everyone before. However, Tri suddenly got tied into a leasing contract for this house at that time, increasing their expenses. They persuaded him that they couldnt afford it, so he gave up. Since Tri and the others initially thought that they wouldnt be able to have enough money for their winter preparations no matter how hard they worked, Boman knew that he couldnt be selfish here and drew back. But when he went home today, he found out that the renovation that shouldve taken them a considerable sum of money had been resolved. Meaning, they didnt have to worry about the renovation costs that wouldve been incurred from now on. Thats why Boman decided to join the contest. But Maricle had a different opinion. Even though they no longer had to pay the renovation cost, they still had to think of their expenses for the winter. Its better to have savings in case of an emergency. Without thinking, the idiotic Cain said that he wanted to support his close friends dreams. He didnt use his head as usual. What a fool. Was he dreaming when he was awake? Follow Ryuus example, wont you? By the way, Ryuu was unusually silent. Tri and Maricle kept persuading Boman and Cain kept defending Boman. But personally, I only had one thing I wanted to know. Boman, you say that you want to do business, but youre not good at calction, right? How are you nning to do that? Yeah, Boman was cking off in the open-air sses and studied irresponsibly. In the end, I wasnt very sure about his calction skills. After I pointed that out, Boman made a ridiculous excuse which made Arle angry Eh? I can just leave that to Arle, right? Arle also said she wanted to do business, plus shes more skilled in calctions than me. Hah!? I refuse! Why do I have to do that!? Eh? But you said you want to do business in the cooking industry, so we can do it together, right? I said that, but that has nothing to do with you! Rather, I absolutely dont want to work with you! I refuse! Then who is going to do business with you? You dont have a suitable partner, do you? It doesnt concern you at all. And its not like I want to do it right at this second. Either way, working with you is definitely out of question. Do you hate working with me that much? Of course I hate it! Youre a guy whos only thinking about how you can ck off. Id have to do all the work by myself! To be honest, Im sure you will ck off again! This is my dream. Theres no way I will ck off! You said that, yet youre already cking off! When did I do that!? When Ren was teaching us, you didnt take it seriously! If you wanted to do business in the future, you shouldve known that reading, writing, and calction are all important! And yet, you didnt study properly. I dont think someone like you can do anything seriously! Thats I didnt think this opportunity woulde so soon. When I said I wanted to open some stalls, everyone opposed it, right? And whats with that? Even if you cant open the stall right now, there are chances that you can do it someday. I want to start such a business in the future, so I did my best to study for my dream! Why didnt you do that? Its pretty clear already, right? Uh Since everyone opposed it, I thought I could just studyter Later? So youre opposing me because you cant calcte right now? You suggested it and yet youre not good at calction, so dont talk about it! Dont force what you cant do on others! Im not forcing you to do it! We can share the roles, right!? Sharing the roles? Hee Then who will cook? Im the one whos skilled at cooking, right? So Ill cook too? Since I do both cooking and billing, what are you doing? Shop assistant? But after you call the customers and take the order, I have to cook the dish and do the bill? I cant cook after touching money, okay? Arent you being unreasonable here!? Ugh Since were going to sell food, what are we going to make anyway? For potatoes, I only know how to boil them and sprinkle them with salt. You suggested it, so of course, you have something in mind, right? We have Ren, havent we? Shes really good at cooking, so she shouldve known the recipe for delicious potatoes. You want to rely on others for the recipes!? Stop it already! You idiot! Arle became even angrier. But Im sure anyone would flip out if they had to deal with this guy. A human who never made an effort and left all of the tasks to others Its not fair since Arle had worked so hard I want to open my own store in the future. So I studied hard and I did my best while cooking. Im in charge of cooking in this party, but I tried to help as much as I can even if thats not my role. I want to research recipes and I want to gain more experience. But what about you? You say you want to do this and that, and yet you ask for others help for literally everything. Have you ever made anything exquisite when youre in charge of cooking? You havent, right? Its always the skewered meat Ren taught us. And yet you want to open a food stall? You can just ask Ren for the recipe? Dont behave like a spoilt child! When I was still teaching them, Arle asked me a lot of tips and recipes every time we were on break. As a hardworking person, she couldnt ept anything Boman said. I Ive decided! I will never help you with anything involving food stalls! I also wont teach you the recipes, so think for yourself if you want to join the contest! You also cant make Ren teach you! I wont tell him. Hes not even my friend. In the first ce, Boman said that he could just ask me for the recipe Of course, I wouldnt teach him, right? Why should I do that? Hes not even my friend. Naturally, I refuse. Eh? What? Huh? Why were Arle and Boman so surprised? Boman and I arent friends, right? Not friends, you say Hmm, I didnt understand why he was that baffled. In the first ce, Boman why did you think I would give you the recipe? Thats If your friends are in trouble, you will naturally help them, right? You have done so much for us too, havent you? I see. So youre saying that its natural that I should help my friends if theyre in trouble. Thats definitely right. If Tri and the other are in trouble, I will help them without questions. In fact, I pushed a lot of things on to Tri, Arle, Maricle, and Kuro. I like pampering them. Then Im right? Yes. Thats why I wont help Boman. You didnt help me when I was in trouble. We arent friends. It wasnt like I was being friends with Tri and the others because I was that calcting, though. Tri and Arle had be my friends before I noticed it, plus Rico and Kuro were cute. Maricle was the one who had protected me from the beginning, I guess? But what about Boman? When were you in trouble? Anytime after Cain bullied me. You never helped me. You were standing next to Cain, just looking at me. T-thats Yeah, thats right. This guy just stood still next to Cain. He didnt look like he felt anything when he watched me cry. Just remembering that made me angry. Ohh, his face turned pale at once. Hmm, lets do the final attack. You didnt help me when I was in trouble, but you think I would help you when you are in trouble? Of course I wont, youre the worst. But Ryuu whoughed while pointing at me is even worse. Eh Ryuusplexion also changed. You could say that I dragged him in or he got hit with a stray bullet, but this was a perfect chance to speak my mind clearly. But you agreed with Ryuus proposal before, right? Oh, the cooking proposal? That was because Ryuu had grown beyond my imagination. At that time, I said something that would make him angry on purpose. But Ryuu didnt get angry and listened to me properly. Thats why I decided to interact with him, but that doesnt mean that Ryuu is my friend. T-Then what about Cain? Hmm? Ryuu, youre wondering what I think about Cain, who actually bullied me,pared to you whoughed at me when I cried? Then Ill tell you. I dont even think he exists. I want him to stop breathing right at this moment. Eh Hes obsessed with bullying me, so of course hes not my friend, right? By the way, Boman, you said that I have done much for you all, right? But Im not doing it for you fools. I did it for Tri and my friends. The three of you just got the leftovers. In the first ce, I wouldnt even think of involving myself if they didnt join the team. The three fools hung their heads in shame like they were in a memorial service. Ahh, I felt a little gratified after spitting out the resentment I had pent up for many years I hope my words would make them a little mature. Since these guys had received a lot of favors which were the extra bonus of my gifts to Tri and the others, they had probably misunderstood Anyway, even if I said all of that, I wouldnt stop spoiling Tri and my friends! I! Ren, Im soIf you want to apologize, stop it. I dont need it anymore.1ry Eh? I dont need your apology. Its toote for you to apologize now. W-why? Why, you ask? I think I already gave you a lot of chances to do that in the open-air ss, right? In the end, you didnt say anything. Its already toote. I dont need an apology anymore. I have no intention to ept it. If so, how can you forgive me? Forgive you? Its already toote for that. His time to apologize had ended. Cain sure didnt have enough awareness and cognizance. If he still wanted to apologize, then he had to demonstrate it with his behavior and attitude from now on. But I wouldnt say it. After Cain finally understood the situation, the three fools looked even grimmer. Even so, I had one thing I would like to mention. Ryuu, listen. What is it? Yeah, I had something to say to Ryuu. Ryuu. The people around you look at your daily conduct more than you think. When you have something, and when you want to do something. Whether you lend them a hand, or whether you try to do something for them. Thats the standard of the judgment of your daily conduct. You saw that just now, right? Yes. Ryuu nodded. About how Boman was yelled by Arle. About how Cain was rejected by me. Ryuu saw it all. Do you remember what I said to Boman just now? Youughed at me when I was bullied and crying. Thats Um, Im sorry Yes. But Im not angry about that right now. Boman talked about this before, but I noticed this when you came up with the suggestion for cooking. At that time, I deliberately said something hurtful to make you angry. I was testing you. But you didnt get angry. Why? I said it at that time, but everyone had told me a lot of things, so I thought I should think about it a little Im still doing foolish things, though Thats great. Boman and Cain havent changed, but you have. You worked hard to change. Since youre aware of your mistakes, you may be a little clever than I thought. Even so, what youre doing is not foolish at all. You can change. In the open-air ssroom, Ryuu actually never made a ruckus during the ss. And he stopped saying thoughtless words after the cooking proposal. He could act a little imprudent sometimes, though. He went for it and renewed his attitude I guess I wanted to cheer him a bit. Well, it might be his starting point was too low that made him look like he had grown so much Im sure Ryuu can change more. Please do your best. I I, I will do my best! Yeah, do your best. Wait, dont you think I looked like I had a condescending attitude by looking down on him like this!? Even though I had thoroughly done whatever I please every day! Ahahaha! Haa I loathe myself sometimes. Anyway, thats how it was. With Ryuu looking downward and crying, I turned around and spoke to Arle. Arle, Ill teach you a recipe, so please be prepared. Heh? Eh, right now? With this flow, youre suddenly saying that!? That is that, and this is this. You said you bought rice, right? Ill teach you how to cook it. Ahh~ Im grateful for that, but were doing it in this atmosphere? Arle nced at Cain and the other fools. She looked worried. She didnt have to mind them, okay? Just leave them alone. You can just lock them in the room, right? Especially Cain. He had been making various facial expressions since I talked to Ryuu, his gloominess got on my nerves so much. I want to teach you a lot more things. If we dont hurry, well run out of time. A lot!? We dont have enough time Uh~ Ah, then you can stay overnight tonight! Our room also has a lock anyway! Okay? Eh, stay overnight? That sounds like a girls night2, doesnt it!? Id love to! I was too simple, I ended up immediately agreeing without giving it much thought. Anyway, Im going to stay overnight here today! Yay! Chapter 100: You Deceived Me, Huuuuuuhhhhh!!! Chapter 100: You Deceived Me, Huuuuuuhhhhh!!! Let me see. I was going to stay overnight here today, but first of all, lets have lunch. Yeah, its still before noon. Since I just taught Arle how to cook rice, our lunch would be rice. I would also prepare two side dishes. Originally, they nned to clean up the house and purchase missing items, so they bought pieces of bread home to eat it immediately. But now they could eat bread at night. Anyway, lets start by polishing the rice first. I think the reason why rice was unpopr in this country was mostly that they didnt polish it. They also didnt know how to cook it. Without polishing it, the taste and texture would be affected But then, the nutritional value for unpolished rice would be higher. Thats why I prepared a few mortars and wooden pestles to do that. I had some of these in my [Storage]. I made it in bulks when I taught thendy how to cook rice. I could just polish the rice using a ss bottle? I wouldnt do something so troublesome. I prioritized the time efficiency when smashing the grain of rice. The group who would polish the rice was the girl with free time, Maricle, and Ryuu. Cain and Boman didnt look like they would be useful since they were being too depressed. I didnt want them to bother me, so I pushed them into their room. What should I make for the side dish? Since we just talked about it, how about making something from potatoes? Who cares if they just had a dispute over the food stall! What harassment! No, I admit I wanted to harass him, but thats not the main reason I wanted to cook it. I taught this recipe to Arle, not to Boman. If Boman wanted to know the recipe, he had no choice but to help Arle. If he really wanted to open the stall, he should help her out He should be aware of his mistakes and do something on his own to achieve his dreams. I realized that I was being a bit too generous on him, but I didnt care since half of my intention was to harass him. Maybe I should use the potatoes for dinner too. As I pondered so, a visitor came. It was Gim. Apparently, he came to give Tri and the others some orc meats to celebrate their move. Hmm, meat For the ingredients, we had potatoes, some vegetables, plus onions and carrots. There were some bacon and ham, but I guess we should go with raw meat first? By the way, this ham and bacon had been processed at the pelt processing shop introduced to them by Gim. Its great that they checked it out. Anyhow, what should I make? Ah How about meat and potato stew? Since we were cooking rice, that dish would be perfect. This dish didnt suit the stalls, but who cares. Even if someone forced themselves to do it, the preparations would be troublesome. Its unlikely that the public would be excited with stalls selling stews. Yeah, lets just go with this. I wanted to have soup too, but using too many ingredients would be troublesome. This should be enough. I wanted to use seasonings like dashi and mirin, but I only used soy sauce as the basic voring. After all, those seasonings were hard to obtain. Personally, I wasnt satisfied with the taste. But the sweetness of the onion and carrot and the taste of the meat was making the stew delicious, so its okay. By the way, I didnt put shirataki. I think its only me who could make it anyway. With Arles help, the preparation of the meat and potatoes took almost no time. Still in the pot, I pull it off the heat. This step was important to make sure the broth was absorbed into the meat giving it that extra vor. Just reheat it again a few minutes before eating. Next was the rice. Since arge number of people polished it earnestly, the amount of rice was not bad. But then, I nned to cook rice for the dinner, so the rice polishing hell would continue soon. Good luck! They could use the rice-bran that came out after rice polishing as their detergent when washing, or as a body soap when taking a bath. By the way, I didnt teach them how to make a fermented rice bran bed since it was too troublesome. Well, I admit that it was delicious and nutritious. Rice bran had many other uses, but cramming too much unnecessary information into their heads was not worth it. Ill only teach them this for now. Anyway, time to cook the rice. I should cook two servings for each No, lets make three servings each just in case. I wouldnt forget how they continuously kept asking for another serving when I cooked pork rice bowl before I wonder if the stew would be enough? Oh well. If we ran out of it, I could just make rice balls. Gim would join our lunch since Maricle asked him to stay here, so how about ten portions including me? I didnt think we have enough space in the living room Hmm, just have Cain and Boman eat in their room. They were too gloomy anyway. And lunch waspleted. As I thought the meat had absorbed the taste of the stew, making it delicious. But I wasnt satisfied with it. Also, everyone kept asking for second servings. The disastrous hell happened again In the afternoon, we went out to purchase necessities. Gim took out Cain and Boman with him. Since Gim was knowledgeable, he told them various stories, which motivated the boys. The girls wondered if they should buy some spare clothes or something like that, but clothes were expensive, even secondhand ones. I decided to give them some of the linen clothes I bought at Har. Well, my current clothes were made of silk or mithril, so I didnt wear linen anymore Thats why I gave them some of the clothes I made back then. Tri refused me again, but I ignored her. The fools had to buy their own clothes! We returned when it was already evening. There was no chitter-chatter event with the girls We only talked about daily necessities when we were shopping. It was a delicate topic. They got a little excited when I brought out the clothes once we returned, but the atmosphere became somewhatplicated when I sized them. Hmm. We would take a bath after having dinner. Myst hope was at the bathing time For now, lets prepare the dinner at once. The staple food for dinner was bread. The side dish was bacon and potato galette. After a brief exnation, I cooked the thinly chopped potatoes and bacon, then baked the surface until it hardened. You didnt need to use oil since the bacon oil woulde out. No, I knew it wouldnt be enough If possible, use a small amount of oil in the beginning. But with the poor household, you could say that they either didnt want to use it or couldnt use it The girls could add cheese to make it taste even better, but I only exined that to them. I didnt actually add any cheese. I also cooked rice. This was for tomorrows breakfast. I would make the cooked rice into soy sauce-grilled rice balls. I also made some soup. It would taste better if I let it sit overnight. Basically, spices and vorings were expensive, so they only had a few types of seasonings that I could use right now. Therefore, the only way to improve the taste was by pre-cooking it and leave it for hours to mix the taste well. The ingredients for the soup were minced orc meat mixed with finely chopped vegetables to make meatballs. Everyone worked together to make the minced meats. They got angry when I took out the meat chopper after all of their hard work, but they should learn how to make it when they had no tools. I cooked the meatballs on the frying pan and added half of the ready to serve ones to the vegetable soup. I wonder if you could call this meatball pot-au-feu? The other half was for tomorrow morning. They should heat it before eating to enjoy the difference in texture. The girls had taken a bite even before I cooked it, so the portion had decreased a little. Since the meatball tasted delicious to eat raw1, it might be good to let everyone choose how they wanted to eat it. Cain and Boman were still in their room during dinner. I could hear Boman talking about something from the second floor. Its most likely about how he could sell the potato galette in the stall No way, you wouldnt be able to sell such oily food, okay! Papers were sold at a reasonable price in this world, and they could use it as the wrapping paper. Even so, it wouldnt be worth it when thinking about profitability. And its easy to have a rough idea on how to make something simr just by looking at the appearance, so many people would copy it immediately. In that sense, it wasnt suited for sale. If he wanted to open some stalls, he could make fried potatoes, but it would be hard to prepare arge amount of oil. Thats why fried foods were generally treated as high-ss foods. Fried potatoes as a fine dish what a strange world! I had seen fried potatoes sold at stalls several times since I came to the royal capital, but the color of the oil was ck. That looked really dangerous. I would have a stomach ache if I ate that Forget that. Its the long-awaited bath after dinner! However, I had to teach them how to use the bath. Thats why I worked the bath alone as all the girls entered the bath one by one. I taught them how to use the water heater and how to wash their body using rice bran. For the rice bran, I already made a rice-bran bag before dinner. They could scrub their body with it. But they shouldnt do it too roughly, so I had to teach them to be gentle. By the way, the rice bran could also be used as a hair conditioner. The girls were happy since their hair became glossy. However, the rice bran couldnt remove dirt. They had to wash their hair with a lot of soap and then rinse it with the rice bran. Soap was expensive, so the girls could wash their hair once in a few days and rinse it with rice bran every day. Well, I used shampoo and conditioner every day, so what? The bathtub could fit two people if they held their knees and glued with each other. Thats why I had two of the girls entered each time to make it more efficient to clean and remove the dirt. So there were three people in the bathroom, including myself. Too narrow. First, I put Tri in the bathtub and have her soak in the boiled water for a while. After that, Rico came into the bathroom and enter in the bathtub. I washed Tris hair and body while Rico was soaking in the water. And when I was done, I had Tri enter the bathtub again for a while. When her body got a little warm, Tri finished her bath. She got out of the bathroom and called Arle next. When Arle came in, I asked Rico to get out of the bathtub We repeated the same process several times. I had to change the hot water in the bathtub frequently. Yeah, its full of dirt Uh. By the way, I was inwardly delighted when feeling the squishy skin when washing the first girl I got bored midway of the second girl. When all of the girls had washed their hair, my hands were wrinkled I felt like I was washing vegetables even though I was giving a bath to the girls. Yeah, I enjoyed it a lot more when I took a bath with Lily She was as old as me, and her chest was t, which was exactly my type. If I think about it, I could see her very thoroughly until a year ago In the end, this was a disappointing bath experience. Damn it. The boys? I only verbally exined it to Maricle and Ryuu. So what? Now its time to sleep with everyone! Were going to have a lot of fun gossiping! Huh? But we had shared a room with the girls when I was in the orphanage, so nothing really changed from that time? No, no. It should be a little different! I pulled myself together and moved to the girls room. Since there were only two bunk beds, I would sleep on the floor. But before I could spread out a mat on the floor the girls started a fiercepetition to sleep with me! It was only rock-paper-scissors, though. By the way, the winner was Kuro. Apparently its only me who had noticed this, but Kuro was waiting to see the other girls move before doing anything. Using her great dynamic vision and reaction speed, she made sure no one would notice a thing I only noticed it because I had [Hawk Eyes]. Kuro, what a scary child! After that, we talked about various things. For example, they couldnt meet Kuros big brother even aftering to the royal capital. Kuros older brother was a lot older than her. He left the orphanage to be an adventurer many years ago. In the beginning, he sent her letters once in a while, but he stopped doing that in thest few years. His name was Raven. He was a ck cat, but his name was Raven and his sisters name was Kuro, so I didnt think their parents have a good naming sense. By the way, Raven was a chuunibyou. That being said, one of Ravens eyes was actually a magical eye, so it wasnt that painful to watch him not really. He looked really pathetic Other than that, Tri said that she wanted to send some money to the orphanage. She wanted to buy the right of management of the orphanage if possible, but thats not realistic. However, even if she knew that she couldnt do it with her current situation, she was studying whether she could do something to make it achievable And then, we talked about everyones future dreams. Arle wanted to be sessful in the cuisine industry. She wanted to make a restaurant or something like that. Kuro said that she hadnt really thought of it, but she wanted to follow me when she had be a little bit more skillful How cute! Rico wanted to improve her magic, but she also wanted to stay with Tri or me. For the time being, her goal was to train her magic and make herself known as an adventurer. Tri seemed to be at a loss. She had some thoughts about her future, but its still hard for her to say it. Hmm, everyone was thinking a lot Me? I had three things I wanted to make, so my current primary goal was to make them. It would be impossible to make any of them without trial and error, learning various skills, and above all, preparing tons of materials. For now, I would focus on raising my skill level and collect the materials. Part of that was buying arge amount of mithril from the master. Im not in a hurry, so its okay to do it slowly. As we talked about such things, before we knew it, everyone fell asleep. They had been busy from the morning So they were tired Uhh. Chapter 101: Drink the Morning Herb Tea Chapter 101: Drink the Morning Herb Tea Umm Its morning? Hm? The ceiling was close? What an unfamiliar ceiling Where is this? Oh, someone was hugging me Kuro? Ah, right. I stayed at Tris housest night. The ceiling was close because I was sleeping on the bunk bed Haa. As usual, Im not good with mornings. I woke up early because of my habit, but I became absent-minded because my blood pressure was low. Thats why I was dazed for a while. Hmmm My head has be much clearer. Lets check my current situation. Kuro was sleeping while hugging me, burying her face in my . The time was I always woke up at five to six oclock in the workshop, so it should be around that time. I didnt have to wake up this early, so what should I do Lets just peel Kuro off me and change my clothes first. I carefully peeled Kuro off me, making sure I wouldnt wake her up. Then I changed my clothes using [Storage], used [Wash] to cleanse and brush my teeth, took out a mirror, andbed my hair. Then, as usual, I braided my hair loosely and wore my sses. I didnt wear my cloak. By the way, I didnt wear my cloak when I was here yesterday. Thanks to that, someones gaze towards a part of my body was painful. Disgusting. Now that Id finished changing my clothes hmm, should I prepare breakfast? Then lets wake Arle up She wouldnt wake up. Speaking of which, Arle had always been very hard to wake up in the morning Even more than me. Haa It cant be helped. Ill do it by myself. Once I left the room, I could see the inside of the boys room. They were wrapped in nkets, curled up on the floor sleeping. They could at least spread out a cloth or nket on the floor other than the mattress or sheets Well, I dont really care. I went down to the first floor, lit a fire in the furnace, and left it for a while until the fire becamerge. Then, I heat the pot of soup I madest night. After that, I took out a kettle from my [Storage], added herbs, and heated it. The rice balls and meatballs were cold, so steam it? The rice balls would be delicious even when they were cold. Maybe I should keep it that way to teach them how it tasted. I put the meatballs in the frying pan. I covered it with a lid and put the fire on low heat. It would burn if I leave it alone, so I timely tilted the frying pan and rolled the meatballs until its done. When I was preparing the meals like that, I heard a footstep of someoneing down from the second floor. Who? Oh, Ryuu? How surprising. Huh? Ren? Good morning, Ryuu. Ah, yeah Err, good morning? What are you doing? Preparing breakfast. Umm, what about Arle? Shes still sleeping. Shes not a morning person. Ah, youre right My hands didnt stop even when I was having an idle talk with Ryuu. There werent many things to do, though. Umm Dont just stand there. How about washing your face first? Eh? Face? You can use the hot water in the bathroom, you know? Ah, yeah Thetitude of this country seemed to be ways toward the north. Recently, the weather had gotten colder even in the morning. Its good that I could use hot water anytime. Another person came down while Ryuu went to wash his face in the bathroom. Ahh, youre really here as I thought Sorry, Ren. I cant wake up in the morning Dont worry, Arle. Please wash your face first. Huh? Arle, you already woke up? Ryuu? Arent you waking up a bit too early? I always wake up at this time. Is that so? Then Ill wash my face too. Yeah, do that. Its so convenient that we can use hot water from the morning! Eh? Is it that good? Yeah, think about it. Washing our face in the winter using cold water is too much, right? Itll wake anyone up, though. Oh! I see, youre right! I get it, its like your heart stopped for a moment, right? I guess installing the hot-water heater was the correct choice. After Arle went to wash her face with a spring in her footsteps, Ryuu stared at me preparing the breakfast. What? I couldnt calm down if you stared at me that much, though? Hes bothering me, Ill chase him out. Ryuu, why dont you practice swinging this if youre free? I took out the wooden sword that I made when I practiced how to fight before and handed it to Ryuu. I felt restless if he kept watching me cooking. Im not good at socializing. Thats why he should practice swinging that in the balcony. By the way, I might have used this wooden sword once to develop the [Storage]. Well, it ended as a crushing failure. Eh? Can I use this? Im giving that to Ryuu, so use it as you like. Got it, then Im going for a while. Um, thank you! I was only getting rid of him because he was bothering me, yet he thanked me with joy while going away how can I say this? Its embarrassing. Huh? Where did Ryuu go? He went to the veranda. He was bothering me, so I chased him away by giving him a wooden sword and telling him to practice swinging. Speaking of which, Norn and Bell were sleeping on the balcony, right No, it should be okay. Maybe. Hmm I dont know if I should call you kind or stern. Im not kind. Tsundere? Im not being affectionate. How unexpected. Im not that easy, okay? Lets not talk about that anymore. Is there anything I can do to help? Nothing in particr, but pleasee over here. I will exin what Im doing. Okay~ I exined to Arle about this and that. For now, it wasnt thatplicated. Anyway, lets start cooking rice for lunch. Umm. Then I can choose the way I cook the food in this frying pan as I like? Yes. Its delicious if you eat it like this or if you put it in the soup. The texture will be different, so I want you guys to enjoy those things. So there are differences in texture I never thought of that. The aroma will also change a lot. Food wasnt something you could enjoy with just the taste. Learning to think like that would be advantageous for Arle in the future. Now that I finished my exnation, I poured the herb tea into a cup and gave it to Arle. This is delicious What do you put inside? Its Since this was a good opportunity, I decided to teach her some of the wild nts that could be used to make herbal tea. Tea was a luxury item, making it expensive to buy. But being able to make it on your own would be very convenient. Its interesting to try various blends. Hee, that sounds fun Its amazing that it has various effects. Blending herb tea would take forever to master, so dont overdo it, okay? Ryuu returned when we were talking. Looking at his condition, I dont think Norn and Bell bit him. Huh? What are you drinking? What a glutton Well, its fine, though? Rather than that You reek of sweat. Please go take a bath. Eh, wait Yeah, he smelled of sweat. So I forced him into the bathroom. That being said, it seems like Ryuu had been working hard. However, just how effective was his practice? I had been learning the art of quick draw for a while in my past life, so I actually knew the basics of swordy. However, my knowledge was for katana, so I think the usability was slightlyplicated. And I couldnt decide whether to teach a technique of another world. I could watch over his practice, but I didnt want to make time to do that Yeah, Ill do it when I feel like it. As I think about such things, more people came down. It seems like they woke up because of the sound Ryuu made during practice. Ryuu took a bath without locking the door, so the ones who wanted to wash their face ended up having to ogle his naked body. He was still stupid as usual We had breakfast when everyone had gathered. Apparently, todays breakfast was a lot earlier than their usual one. Oh well, time to eat! Everyone got the four meatballs I made yesterday. Two of them were already in the soup, so they could decide how they wanted to eat the other two. Everyone decided to put one into the soup and ate the other one as it was. Meanwhile, Cain and Boman were quiet. They were ncing at me, though. After the meal, we had a rxing time drinking herbal tea. Not really, Arle and Tri made grilled rice balls for lunch. Yeah, use the rice I cooked in the morning, okay? I already gave the wooden lunch boxes I made to them, so they should pack the rice balls in and bring it with them. I also gave them a carry cart, so they could just load it there! Everyone was beingzy while drinking their tea with a smile, but Kuro was especially in a good mood. Noticing that, Maricle asked Kuro the reason Kuro, you seem to be in a good mood. What happened? Hmm? Because Rens boobs felt good? The atmosphere in that ce froze in an instant. And their eyes focused on me. Stop that! Dont look at me like that! Rather, stop staring at that specific body parts! For some reason, Rico was muttering that it was unfair, but I pretended that I didnt hear it. Well, we had that kind of trouble. After that, I went back to the workshop. Everyone else went to the guild since they were going to hunt horned rabbits and collect herbs as usual. I spent my days cksmithing as usual until the harvest festival. Today was finally the harvest festival! Im going to have a date, you know? Chapter 102: Harvest Festival, First Day Chapter 102: Harvest Festival, First Day Yes, yes. Good morning. Today was the day of the harvest festival. The long-awaited date with Tri and Rico. Soon, we would meet up in the alley next to the workshop. At first, I was nning to pick them up, but they stopped me because there would be too many people. I told them that I would be fine with Norn and Bell following me, but they said that Norn and Bell would be the reason for their troubles Thanks to that, they called Norn as my caretaker And she was sulking a lot Im sorry Im sorry So, Bell would follow me today. Even so, she waspletely exhausted thanks to Norns strict training until the day before yesterday. Im sorry During the harvest festival, the workshop was closed and the craftsmen would go and have fun. In other words, everyone had gone to the festival. The only ones left were the master, thendy, and me. I would leave when Tri and Rico picked me up, so only the two of them would stay here. Seems like married couple needs to have their private time or something like that I see. After a while, they came to pick me up, so we decided to leave. Yay! Both of you, good morning. Good morning, Ren. Ren, morning~ Hmm, Tri and Rico were wearing the clothes I gave to them the other day. How cute. You two look cute. Thank you! Ren, youre still going to wear that outfit today? You didnt dress up? I wanted to, but I feel like it would bring trouble, and itll be bothersome. However, Rico wasnt convinced. It couldnt be helped I decided to take off my cloak and wore a muffler to hide my mouth. However, it would get exposed when I ate something! Well, I had no choice but to keep using [Concealment] and [Disguise] Lets attach it to the muffler too. Now that my preparations were done, we set out on the main street. Naturally, we had to hold hands! I got caught between them in the middle, but Tri, why were you embarrassed!? You made me shy too, okay! Or should we hold hands like a couple!? Anyway, there were many food stalls on the main street from today onwards. Lets have a food tour first. However, the foods in the stalls were mostly skewers that could easily be eaten when walking around. I bought some without much thought and shared it with both of the girls. Naturally, I also gave some to Bell. They should eat a lot. Hmm, I couldnt find any fried foods. I thought someone would sell croquettes, but maybe no one knew the recipes? Ah, I found french fries. But the color of the oil was still amazing, so I ignored it. But Tri and Rico ate it. Are you alright? Eh? Yeah, Im fine Do you want to have a bite? No, Ill pass. My stomach hurt when I ate deep-fried foods when I was in Har before Since the harvest festival had just begun, I should avoid dangerous foods. For potato-rted foods, some stalls were selling french fries and stir-fried foods. They let the customers lend their tes. Its different from the modern times where stalls could use disposable containers For fried potatoes, they could try making hashed brown potatoes or fried rolled mashed potatoes It had nothing to do with me, though. By the way, the harvest festival in the royal capital would be held for five days. On the first day, which was today, there would be a swordsmanshippetition. Onlymoners could participate. However, the majority of them were legit adventurers. They would use a dull sword as their weapon. On the second day, there would be beauty contests and exhibitions of traditional performing arts. The third day was a break. There were no big events. But royalty held a festival and rituals on the shores of theke on the north, so most people would go there and do various things. Therefore, themoners would use that day to recharge and prepare for the remaining two days. The fourth day was filled with events for nobles, such as the aristocrats martial artspetitions. There were swordsmanship, horsemanship, jousting, archery, and even horseback archery. On the fifth day, which was the final day, there were all kinds of martial artspetitions. A chaotic festival where anyone could participate, including nobles, knights,moners, and adventurers. Naturally, this tournament was the most exciting one. The winner would be knighted as the prize, so adventurers aimed for that to gain sess in life. I didnt know the details about the peerage, but knight peerage was something amazing, I guess? I didnt think so, though. That means, there would be a swordsmanshippetition today. It should be about time for the matches to begin. Im pretty full, so how about taking a look at the swordsmanshippetition? I dont mind, but is it fun to watch? Hmm, to be honest, its a bitplicated for me. But Cain and Maricle are participating. Eh, seriously? They lend weapons to the participants on the first-daypetition. Ah, I see Tris party didnt have any decent weapons, so they were thankful that the staff lent them the weapon for the first days tournament. But Im okay with watching Maricle. But I dont really care about Cain I know, right? Well, lets just go and watch Maricle. We have nothing else to do anyway. Yeah, were watching them because we have free time. We might sound harsh. But this is Cain, so you shouldve expected that. With that kind of feeling, we arrived at the venue while badmouthing Cain. All of the martial arts tournaments took ce in the arena in the second block. We checked the results of the boys in the tournament table near the entrance of the venue Ah, both of them had won the first match. Maricle was pretty good! But he was still a kid, so he would probably lose at the next match. But well, Ill cheer him on. We managed to push our way through the crowd and reach the audience seats. Yeah I couldnt see the front at all. Bell, who was at my feet, also looked like she was having a hard time. After I managed to reach the front row using my fighting spirit and will-power, it was right after the match ended. Taking a closer look, I found Maricle. Seems like he had won? But he was breathing heavily, so the next match might be impossible for him. Once I picked up the conversation of my surroundings, it seems like Maricle borrowed not only a sword but also a shield. Considering his age, he handled the shield pretty well. It should be the result of him hunting the rabbit day after day. Lets reward him with a pork bowlter. When I was thinking about such a thing, the next match started. Coincidentally, it was Cains match. But his opponent was strangely familiar Neil? Whys Neil here!? A stalker!? No, no, he didnte this far to chase me, right? I want to believe that. The match started. not waiting for me to get over my confusion. Neil clearly was strong even in the eyes of an amateur. And Cains movement exposed that he was a novice. However, he had a surprisingly fast reaction here and there. He fought hard against Neil, but he was reasonably defeated. Tri and Rico felt bitter with how Cain lost after putting up a good fight, but I was more surprised that Neil was stronger than I had imagined. The Neil I knew up until now was, a little you know untrained. He was supposed to be a farmer, but his swordsmanship was solid. Its like he was using the systematic orthodox technique. Where did he learn that? Hmm? Its a hassle to deal with him. I had to be careful not to get involved with him. Yeah. Huh? Why were Cain and Neil giving praise to each other? They looked like they found a kindred spirit in each other? Hey hey, can you two not hang out, please? Especially since I couldnt handle any of them. I really didnt want to encounter him when I went to y at Tris house, okay!? Then after we watched Maricle get defeated in the next match, we left the venue. Tri and Rico noticed myplicated expression, so I ended up exining about Neil. They promised that they would sternly tell Cain not to invite anyone to their house. That sounds nice No, I should also make various arrangements before I went out to y with them. After having fun at the swordsmanship tournament, we resumed our culinary tour. But we became full midway, so we had to stop. I couldnt handle eating any more meat. We sat on a bench in the square and rested while we digested the foods. My mouth felt lonely, so I pretended to take out pretzels and juice I made earlier from my bag and munched it. Tri and Rico looked like they wanted it too, so I let them eat some. Our surroundings were looking at us and I heard them saying, Where do they sell that? Go ask them, but thats definitely my imagination. No one asked because Bell was intimidating, but I felt ufortable. It was still early, but we had to change the schedule. Lets breakup here today. That being said, they sent me to the workshop. They were too worried, werent they? It was still the first day of the harvest festival, so we didnt have to rush things, right? Come now, Im going to have fun on the second day! Chapter 103: Harvest Festival, Day 2 Chapter 103: Harvest Festival, Day 2 Its the second day of the harvest festival, you know? We met up at around the same time as yesterday. Then we walked around the main street. How could I say this? I felt like doing the same thing two days in a row made this a bit too dull. By the way, we were nning to look around since there was a musicpetition. I felt like there would be a lot of gs in the beauty contest, so I definitely had to avoid it. There were many exhibitions on the second day. Naturally, there were many venues here and there. Additionally, I could see many street performances around the venue. I guess they were aiming at therge number of people who couldnt enter the venue. Also, many stalls sold foods that you could eat while sightseeing. Because of that, the road became narrow and it was a mess Yeah, someone bumped on us and dirtied the clothes with the broth of their food. Ah, no. Its not my clothes, but Tris. I felt bad leaving her like that, so we moved to the toilet at one of the corners of the venue to change her clothes but it was very crowded. Since there were mirrors in the toilet, most of the people inside were using it to do their makeup and change their clothes in the toilet stall They were probably the participants of the beauty contest. Apparently, the preparation room participants could use had turned into a big battlefield. Thats why the participants for the preliminary contest couldnt use the facility. Actually, we were going to go to the venue for the performing contest next to this one, but it looked really crowded so we went here. This is the worst. Ren, its okay. Its very crowded here. At this point, were only going to bother other people. No. Girls have to be clean. Thats right, Tri! I wouldnt allow her to walk around with the front part of her coat sticky with meat soup. But the toilet was too crowded and there were no empty stalls to change her clothes I proposed to clean the dirt using [Wash], but they rejected it because it would make us stand out. I think our surroundings think that we are participating in the contest too. They look bothered. Eh? Why did it be like that? The gaze of the women around us was very sharp, so I had that kind of feeling Most likely, I was right. No, its not only my fault. I think Tri and Rico were also the cause of this. Look, I renovated their house, right? That time, I made them take a bath, remember? I taught them how to use rice bran to make them look even prettier. Thanks to that, both of them had shiny hair and good skinplexion. In the first ce, only wealthy people could take a bath every day. Most of themoners would boil hot water and wipe their body with that. It would be even more difficult if you were an adventurer since you wouldnt earn much. Thats why, Tri and Ricos hair and skin couldnt bepared with the women around us. Looking at them standing side by side would make those women look dull I think if we told them that we werent participants in this situation, they wouldnt believe us at all. Hahaha Haa. Since we had no other choice, Rico and I forcibly made space by linking our arms. Tri finally managed to change her clothes. After that, we had a hard time going out I knew that they were trying to decrease their rivals, but they were honestly scary. In the end, someone who looked like the steeringmittee of the contest barged in and released us from that mess. But then, another problem surfaced. Themittee had an eye on us, and they insisted on encouraging us to participate in the contest Especially me. No, no! Im not joining it! Then, I received an unexpected ambush. Yeah, its Rico. What a shame Ren, were already here anyway. Why dont you join? Hey, Rico! Ren already said that she doesnt want to. Dont force her! But Ren would definitely win if she participates! Tri, you also think so, right!? Tri understood my personality, so she tried to warn her. Even so, it didnt have any effect Rather, themittee insisted, even more, to make me participate in the contest after hearing Ricos words. I started to feel irritated. Uhh No matter how much I asked Rico to stop, she still wouldnt listen to me. I didnt want to stand out, and joining a contest was too troublesome. I almost forgot about it, but I still had a problem with the merchant with a frog face Moreover, Rico was beingpletely selfish this time. She didnt act like this often, so its not like I didnt want to listen to her. Even so, no matter how much I considered her as my younger sister and pampered her, thats still a bit too much When I was just about to open my mouth to scold her and make her give up, Huh? What are you guys doing there? Eh, Ryuu? What about you? Im with Boman and his friends to watch the beauty contest, but I got lost. So what are you doing here? Looks like youre arguing here For some reason, Ryuu happened to pass by in very good timing and meddled in. How could I say this, I knew that the probability of meeting an acquaintance at this kind of scene was high, but I never expected it to happen today. I lost the timing to speak and ended up keeping my silence, but the conversation continued. Ryuu had listened to the story from Tri, but Somehow, Ryuu started to preach to Rico after knowing the situation. Wait, whats with this situation? Hey, brat! Youre being too selfish, you know! Think about the inconvenience youre causing for Ren! Why does Ryuu have to tell me that!? It has nothing to do with Ryuu! You Even if she pampers you a lot, you shouldnt act too wilful, right? Ren has given you a lot of things, but this matter ispletely different, right? Hmph! Its not only me who received many things from her! Tri also received it, but why did you all have to scold me alone!? Tri has always restrained herself. And from what I heard from Maricle, she never said anything selfish to her, you know? Dont get ahead of yourself because Ren is nice to you. Ren doesnt like it too, so stop forcing it. Shut up! In the first ce, its mostly Ryuu who keeps bothering Ren! Ohh, thats right! Thats why I can say this! Im reflecting on that, and I wont do that kind of thing again for the second time! How about you? Youre nning to act so wilful and end up making Ren hate you like how she hates us? If you dont, then stop acting like that. Thats Unlike me, you have done well until now. Try to cool down your head. Dont be mistaken because Ren has always taken good care of you. Shes scary when she gets angry, okay? ..Im sorry. You shouldnt say that to me, though? Ren, Im sorry. Eh, I was surprised by how Ryuu had considerably matured. Hes really Ryuu? For real? Ah, I had to answer Rico for now. Ah, but I had to make her reflect a bit more. I realized that I had pampered her a bit too much. So this was also my fault Anyway, I didnt say anything to her and only pat her head. Then I thanked Ryuu. Ryuu, thank you very much. It helps that you scold her for me. I dont really like being angry Because it was tiring Well, different from when we were in the orphanage, Rico was the youngest now She was always patient back then, so I got ahead of myself and wanted to do this and that to make her happy. Dont worry bout that. Shes my party member too. Its not like I can just leave it alone. Hmm, Ryuus growth was really amazing. He had worked hard, eh~ So for now, the case was closed. I didnt want to participate. But since we already came to this point, how about having Tri and Rico join? Just like what you heard, this girl wont participate! What a shame Ryuu exined the situation to themittee, but Hmm I cant do it, but how about Tri and Rico giving it a try? You can think of this as an experience. Eh? Us? No way! Ill pass. Tri, why dont you try? No way! Especially if Im alone! I dont want to! Then, what if Ryuu participates with Tri? What!? Im a man, okay!? Its okay. Ill do something about it. Hmm, Ryuus face was actually pretty well-proportioned Right, I should be able to pull out something with the power of makeup! This is too absurd Then, as a token of gratitude for scolding Rico in my stead, I will give you a one-handed sword if you participate. How does that sound? Uh One-handed sword The one that you could use in realbat. With longer des than Tris? I think that will be better for Ryuus physique, but I will make it ording to your wish. Uh~ Ah, I get it! Okay, Ill participate! Its all ording to my n! Themittee who heard our conversation became eager for some reason. They even gave us permission for using the special changing room. This person was probably okay with anyone as long as they made the contest interesting, right? I feel like they tried to make me participate because it would make an uproar during the contest Well, this should be interesting too. I cant walk outside anymore. Ryuu, cheer up. You can get a sword with this, you know? A few hours after that, Tri was consoling Ryuu who became extremely depressed. Well, I was really surprised with the result! Yeah, Ill just tell you how it ended. For some reason, Ryuu won first ce in the ten-years-old-below category. I was a bit disgusted because he won by a wide margin of the votes. I designed Ryuus female clothing, but I didnt have much experience in makeup Thats why I used [Disguise], [Concealment], and [Multi-task] to calcte and apply his makeup from every angle. As a result, he became an absolutely beautiful girl. Originally, his skin was already shiny because he used rice-bran soap like Tri and the girls. Once he put on the wig, he already became apletely different person. Plus his body hadnt developed yet, so no one would notice that he was a boy once he wore female clothing1. And when the contest started, Ryuu caught everyones attention! By the way, Tri decided to be Ryuus attendant and didnt participate in the contest. Even if Ryuus voice hadnt changed, someone would definitely find out his gender if he spoke. Thats why Ryuu curled himself up on the stage, squirming without saying anything. Even so, people mistook him as an unsociable beautiful girl who was being shy. He ended up receiving very high praise. And then, Ryuu suddenly ended up winning. What an interesting result. When I was grinning alone with the unexpected victory, Boman was running towards us at a very fast pace. Since he was a guy who liked conserving his energy, its really unusual seeing him like that. Just what had happened? Tri, who is that girl from before!? Where did she go!? Eh, what? What happened? Tell me where did she go! Where can I meet her!? Huuuh? No way, did this be something troublesome? After listening to his exnation, it really was something unexpected. Apparently, Boman fell in love at the sight of Ryuu crossdressing2. He was watching the contest from the audience seat, then he thought Ryuu was very lovely or something like that Sorry, it was a bit disgusting. Boman was acting really different from usual, too weird. Boman kept giving praise to the mysterious beautiful girl, and Ryuus face paled. He looked so ghastly pale like he would copse anytime soon Its okay, he wouldnt find out Maybe. In the end, Tri told him that she made acquaintance with that girl by chance, so she didnt know her name. Tri also said that the girl joined thepetition because she wanted to cure her shyness, deceiving Boman with ame excuse. After heating that, Boman ran away to look for that beautiful girl. Im sleeping in the same room with him. Will I be okay? I feel like my body is in danger3 Its okay, he wont notice anything. But if youre still worried, how about putting a partitioning screen inside the room? Ill do that If anything happens, you can just stab him with your sword. Ah, sword Hmm, to ensure your safety, should I give it to you after the harvest festival? Yeah, thatll help me calm down. Thanks, Ren. No, no. Ryuus situation has be serious, so Ill keep my promise and make sure to protect you. Sorry, please dont talk about that anymore Ah, okay. After that, we went for a culinary tour with Tri and the others to pull ourselves together and went to see the music contest. The music contest How could I say it? Its normal? It wasnt like I never thought listening to music or going to shows werent interesting at all in my previous life, but I didnt want to do anything that would make me stand out in a bad way. Such a troublesome thing happened. But then, the second day was tolerable. Chapter 104: Harvest Festival, Day 3 Chapter 104: Harvest Festival, Day 3 Alright, its the third day of the harvest festival. Nevertheless, I wouldnt go out today. I had walked around a lot yesterday and the day before that. Plus, I was worried about Tris teams wallet. That being said, I was nning to spend my time leisurely in the workshop. Im also thinking about preparing a dish that would take a bit of time. There were times when I was struck with those thoughts. Um, sorry I know that Im bothering you Its just a bit hard to stay with them Er Well, Im also one of the causes. Dont worry about it. Yeah, its Ryuu he even came to the workshop, you know? He told me he wanted to hide for a while or something like that But I didnt really mind since I knew the reason. The cause was probably what happened yesterday. Boman, who had been feeling depressed before the harvest festival, kept grumbling and muttered, I will definitely find her, Shes destined to be mine, I will be a sessful merchant and bring her home. As thedy in question, Ryuu was naturally scared with Boman to some extent Yeah. In such a situation, I let him into the workshop and pass his time here today. Its not like I dont understand his feelings. Im also one of the reasons why that happened Hmm, I never expected that this kind of mess might happen. I have to be careful from now on. But well, since it already came to this, should I just work on the requested sword that I nned to work on after the harvest festival ended? I almost finished the preparation for my dish anyway. By the way, I was making roasted pork fillet using orc meat. Rice bowl with roasted pork fillet sounds delicious, right~ Added with chopped cabbages and plenty of broth Gulp. After that, I could add a bit of extra seasoning. Since I cooked it at the courtyard, the aroma naturally spread when I was boiling the broth. The workers who were resting in the workshop today were ncing here, making me a bit ufortable. But we couldnt eat immediately, okay? After weakening the fire, we need to leave it for a while so the meat would absorb the vor. Its still morning, but I asked Ryuu what kind of sword he wanted. Im nning to work on it right after lunch. By the way, I had asked permission to use the cksmith workshop. Even if the workshop was technically closed, the young workers and apprentices were here to practice. Let me see, the length was the average sword used by an adult man, huh? Ryuu was pretty ipetent, so he should use the light one. Then I should decrease the length of the de to make a thin sword First, I took out a few swords as a sample and had him try swinging them. I think this one is the best The des length is perfect. The width of the de is also very nice. Isnt it heavy? I think you should choose a lighter one. Ahh, I will train myself on that part. Im slender, right? If I dont get any taller than this, then my weight will remain on the lighter side. Thats why I have to choose a weapon heavier than me. I heard its to increase the uh, power? I see. If the weapon was heavy, then its weight would also increase the power of his shing attack. Seems like he properly investigated this matter, eh. Even so, I think think that forcing himself to use a sword that didnt suit his physique would burden him a lot. Hmm, maybe I should give him a short sword as a bonus? After thinking about a lot of things, its finally time to have lunch. Lets have a meal now. Maybe I should let Ryuu eat some of it since he was already here. Without dy, I made a rice bowl with the roasted pork filled I cooked just now. As I expected, the vor hadnt perfectly seeped into the meat by a few hours Hmm. Delicious! What is this? So delicious!? If we leave it until tomorrow, it will be even more delicious. Really!? The meat is thicker than your previous rice bowl. I prefer this one! Previous rice bowl? Was he talking about the pork rice bowl? I liked both of them since they were easy to eat. No matter what was the food, I couldnt decide on which one was superior. I dont really like vegetables, but this is really delicious! I can eat as many vegetables as possible if it tastes like this! Thats because I poured broth in it. Plus, the deliciousness of the vegetables would increase several times if you eat it with meat. I also really liked vegetables. Ah, maybe I should make various side dishes, like sd. The people in the workshop were watching me from a distance, but they didnt look like they would approach us if I didnt call them. They were probably feeling reserved because I was with my acquaintance. But they looked like they really wanted to eat this Lets pretend I didnt notice them. After we finished our lunch, I decided to work on the sword at once. It would be troublesome if Ryuu stood outside alone, so he also came into the cksmith workshop. Even so, I couldnt concentrate if he talked, so I instructed him to stay silent. No, even if I said that, I wouldnt be able to calm down if he stared at me like that Forget it, focus! I forged a heavy sword at once, then continued with forging another sword with a shorter de for Ryuus sub-weapon. After Im done, I forged the parts other than the de, and Im done. Hmm, it took around two hours. Even I think that my speed was pretty crazy~ I dried my sweat and clothes with [Dry]. Then I washed the dirt with [Wash] and took a rest. Whats left is just leaving it to cool down. I will assemble it after tomorrow. I dont really understand, but arent you too fast? So itll be done after tomorrow, huh No, I had to make some fine adjustments for Ryuu after assembling it, so it wouldnt just be done after that But its not a big deal, so whatever. How are you going to pick it upter? There are still two days of harvest festival left. Im alsopletely fine with picking it upter than that. Rushing something like this is pointless! Hmm, Ryuu really had grown up I didnt hate kids who worked hard. Anyway, I didnt n to go out tomorrow, so I would just finish it as fast as I can. After that I still had enough reserve materials to fix the leather armor, right? Yep. Ryuu, please sit over there. Eh? Here? Yes. After I had Ryuu sit down, I pretended to take out some items from the bag on the corner of the room and took out various leather armor materials from my [Storage]. Then I adjusted the size with Ryuus body and assembled it. I had done this a lot of times, so I was done in a few minutes. Well, you see our chest size was really different Wait Ren, is this okay? Its just a small service from me. Yeah, Ryuus chastity would be in danger every night from now on. After I told him to do his best to run away, Ryuu had a veryplicated face. But since I already warned him, I wouldnt be responsible if something really happened. I assembled it quickly, did some fine adjustment here and there, and done. How is it? Are there any ces where its hard to move? No, its okay. This is amazing. Is this the same as Tris? After I made Tris armor, my skill level had increased considerably. Ryuus should be stronger than hers. But I wouldnt tell that to him. Since your body is still not ready forbat, I think leather armor is better for you. Leather armor or breastte were light metal armors. And since you are entering your growth period, you should wear clothes made of leather or coat. But then, Ryuu was too slender even at his current age. There were chances that he wouldnt grow any bigger like what he said. Topensate that, its up to him to do his best and gain some muscles. Even so, he had grown to be as tall as me in this one month! Damn it! I want to be at least 150cm tall Haa. Ah Okay, got it. Thank you, Ren! Its nothing. By the way, Im nning to finish the sword tomorrow, so what do you think? Im thinking of handing it to you at noon. Eh, youre not going out tomorrow? I dont really understand the charm of watching the match between nobles I was a bit curious about the archery contests and horsemanship, though. Horseback archery too. But with the level of my [Snipe], I felt like I could handle it easily. Ah, but my [Riding] level was still low, right? I had to increase it To make sure I would be able to run away in emergency times. Is that so? Then Ah, then can I pick it up before evening? I want to take a look around. I dont mind. Its important to watch strong peoples movement to be strong, so please do your best. Ohh, Gim also told me the same thing! We have to watch them as we properly think about why they move like that. I dont really get it, but I also feel like I somewhat understand what he wants to say. Ren also said that, so it should be something really important, right? I want to be stronger, so I will give it my all. Ohh, he used to be such a mischievous stupid brat that wouldnt listen to others, and he had be this well just in a few days I wanted to tell the remaining two fools to follow Ryuus steps. Eh? I myself couldnt be prudent at all even after a long time had passed, so I didnt deserve to say that? That was that this was this! Besides, I intended to choose my friends and the situations where I meddled in My n just didnt work really well Now then, I equipped the dagger to the waist of Ryuus leather armor. Now its all done. Ryuu looked like he wanted to say something, but I ignored him. He should just ept my goodwill without saying anything. N-no, its not like I was embarrassed or anything! (monotone voice) Yeah, thats disgusting. It didnt suit my character at all. After that, its time for Ryuu to go home. His steps were light, probably because he was happy with me giving him a dagger. In the dining hall, everyone in the workshop looked like they wanted to say something. Rather, they stared at me with a wistful look, but I ignored them. Im sure that they would gulp down all of the roasted pork fillets I made if I took it out here. As an exchange, I took out the potato rice cake I made with the roasted pork fillet as a dessert. I also made a lot of other things, but for now, each people could only take three pieces, okay? I also want to have my share. I knew how to make this because my parents in my previous life used to live in Tohoku. Since this was quite filling, I could eat it as my meal when I was busy. When I told them that this was made of potato, everyone became really curious about the recipes. I felt like I already taught them too many recipes, so I pretended not to notice what they want. Thendy also seemed to feel bad, so she didnt mention it again. Sorry. After that, I took a bath and went to sleep. Hmm, today was a mess I had a feeling that tomorrow would be messy too since I nned to spend it without much thinking Ugh. Chapter 105: Harvest Festival, Day 4 – Day 5 Chapter 105: Harvest Festival, Day 4 ¨C Day 5 Ah, its the fourth day of the harvest festival. But then, I didnt have any ns to go outside. I was thinking of preparing the consomm souphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consomm%C3%A9">1 and finishing Ryuus sword. Anyhow, making consomm would definitely take the whole day, so I prepared myself. I wanted to have a portion too, so I made arge amount of it in the stockpot in one go. Ill do my best I got permission to use the courtyard, so I made it there. I kept skimming the scum from the broth until noon. Yeah, how could I say this its tiring. I made a lot of other things at the same time, but the consomm was too troublesome. I guess it couldnt be helped since I could use it in various dishes After lunch, I continued making the consomm. I looked for a spare time to assemble Ryuus sword, then focused on the consomm again while waiting for Ryuu. Im sick of it Ugh, could I just use my magic? But I already reached this far. My obstinacy wanted me to do it until the end Ughhh. I started at 6 oclock in the morning, and it had been roughly ten hours since then. Ryuu woulde at 5 oclock, so I stored all of my pots into my [Storage], cleaned my cookware, and finished everything for now. Even after spending so much time, what I made wasnt consomm yet, but bouillon. I still had to continue making it tomorrow I feel like crying. I should use magic to cool it down It smells good. Are you making something again? Ah, yes But its not done yet. Really? When did you start? From this morning. I started right after I woke up. And you still havent finished it after such a long time. Cooking sure is something, huh. Making something delicious takes effort and time. I decided to shorten it using magic in the end, though. Enough of that. Its time to make some fine adjustments to Ryuus sword. I told him to try swinging it several times, then I adjusted the leather strap that winded in the grip. I also adjusted the smaller short sword which would be his sub-weapon. Hmm, I guess this should be okay? Hey. Why there are two swords? Having you use a sword that doesnt suit your body wont be good for you, so this is a service from me to make sure you wont hurt yourself. Can I really receive it? Please ept my kindness obediently. Its unusual for me to do this, okay? Umm Thank you? Youre wee. Ryuu tilted his head and said, Is it unusual? but I decided I couldnt hear it. Ryuu tied the long sword on his back and hung the short sword on his waist. For the sword on his back, the sword might break if the rope that tied the mouth of the sword sheath got unfastened, so I made sure to tell him not to make a strange movement when drawing the sword. And for when he returned the sword to the scabbard he had to do his best for that, okay? I feel like I have turned into a great swordsman If were talking about your appearance, then youre certainly a swordsman. Yeah, but its still just the appearance! The rest will depend on me! I will give it my all! Ohh, go for it. Since its alreadyte, Ryuu ran back home after receiving his swords. From what I heard the other day, Cain looked like he really wanted to cry when he saw the swords Ryuu brought home. He also looked like he wanted to say something when he saw Ryuu wearing the leather armor the other day, but he didnt say anything. If he hadmon sense, of course, he wouldnt say anything. At least he could discern that he shouldnt be that shameless After Ryuu went home, everyone asked me what I was making in the courtyard during the dinner, so I answered them, A soup that takes so much of my time like an idiot. I also told them I hadnt finished it, and I felt relieved that no one told me that they wanted to eat it. I was already troubled enough when they started talking about it. After eating my dinner and taking a bath, I slept earlier than usual. Thats how the fourth day of the harvest festival ended for me. The fifth day of the harvest festival. I didnt have any ns to go outside today. Its troublesome. Its not like I wasnt curious about the martial artspetition today, but I wasnt that interested too. Rather, its more important to make consomm right now. I thought I would be able to finish the consomm soup by using my whole morning so I could have a taste as fast as possible. But for some reason, all of the girls came to pick me up. They invited me to watch the main match of the martialpetition with them. Hmm. You didnt go anywhere yesterday and the day before that, right? Its the harvest festival, yet you secluded yourself until thest day! I know what you are saying, but Its okay! The doggy wille with you, right? Were also with you, so we will protect you no matter what happens! Who are they calling doggy Ah, its clear that Bell was sad. In the end, I lost to their strong pushing and went to watch the martial artspetition. How troublesome We went to the venue in a big hurry and managed to secure the front row with our fighting spirit and will-power. By the way, the boys went to another line to watch the match from another spot. Maybe they were taking me into consideration? Well, I was really grateful for that, I hadnt eaten lunch too. I brought my bag, so it wouldnt be a problem to take out foods from my [Storage]. But taking out rice bowl here would be too much Hmm, anyway, lets eat something that wouldnt take up any space like a rice ball. The people around me were watching the match, full of excitement. Meanwhile, I ate in silence. Soy sauce grilled rice ball, potato rice cake, roasted pork fillet skewers, and half-boiled egg. Delicious. When I poured the consomm soup I just finished this morning into a mug and sipped it slowly, I noticed that my surroundings became quiet. What? Looking around, I found out that the spectators were staring at me. Ren It smells really good Even if you said that Im hungry. It cant be helped, right? But the gazes around me were really painful, so I reluctantly drank all of the consomm soup in one gulp and focused to watch the match. What a shame I wanted to savor it slowly. Ah, isnt that the guy who defeated Cain on the first day of the swordsmanshippetition? Tri said, munching the pretzel I gave to her since she told me she wanted to have something in her mouth. I raised my head and looked at the match area. Neil was there. He participated in the first day and the fifth day, what a healthy guy. I didnt care about him, though. His opponent was oh? He was Neils friend, umm Beck, right? A hard-working guy withmon sense. He had to fight hisrade in a tournament What an unlucky bunch. When the match started, it was clear that the fight was a one-sided one. Beck was too strong. Whats with that? Hes not aughing joke. But after looking closely, their swordsmanship and the way they fight were pretty simr. Maybe Neils swordsmanship teacher was Beck? They were in the same party, plus theres no way Neil, with the background of a farmer, would have a connection with someone who could teach him proper swordsmanship. There were possibilities that they were both students of the same teacher, but Becks ability was already on another level from Neils. Hmm, since Cain and Neil seemed to have a mutual understanding, maybe Beck could teach Ryuu as well it might be a bit too difficult. The winner is Vector! As I pondered about many things, the match had been settled. As I thought, the difference in their ability was too much Wait, Vector? Not Beck? What does that mean? Somewhat curious, I secretly peeked on his status using [Appraisal] Yeah, his name was Beck. But, hmm I felt weird. Why? Hmm, how about using [Analyze], not [Appraisal]? Here we go! Oh, his name was really Vector. Eh Huh? Ah, eh? No, wait youre lying Eh, seriously? Uwahh, no way!? What a disastrous news! Why did someone like hime to this ce Rather, why did he be an adventurer!? No, thats not it! I didnt see anything! I didnt look at anything and I didnt know anything! I didnt see anything, okay? After that, I continued watching the match,pletely stressed out. The overall victor was Beck no, Sir Vector. Yeah, he even won one-sidedly in the finals of the tournament. He was too crazily strong. There were no other events that interest me after the martial arts tournament ended, so I decided to immediately return to the workshop and take a rest. After knowing that information, theres no way I could have a culinary tour calmly! And just like that, my harvest festival ended up in a mess. So hes a member of the royal family, how unexpected2 Chapter 106: Master! A Flag Appears From the Sky! Chapter 106: Master! A g Appears From the Sky! Right. The harvest festival was over, and my life returned peacefully as usual. Actually, that was a lie. Hahaha. Uh, its really peaceful, though. Now that the open-air ss was over, I didnt have any particr business with Tri and the others, not to mention the Autumns dropped temperatures and frequent rainfall, and the troublesome nature of going outside, so I didnt continue going to their house and instead spent my days forging swords and training my other skills as I secluded myself. Also, you see. On thest day of the harvest festival, I found out about something that I didnt want to know Being able to live peacefully was a blessing, for real. Leaving that aside, the adventurer Vector rang a bell in my mind. I tried digging up my memories, and I realized I had heard about him before. Red-haired Vector. If I remember right, he was an adventurer who gained poprity at a stretch three years ago. A swordsman with dark red hair and eyes. Yeah, that was the same as Becks appearance. I think he was fifteen years old at that time. With how their age was also the same, they most likely were the same person. This country was located a middling distance from the northernmost reaches of the continent, where it frequently snowed during the winter months, with the mountain snowfall undoubtedly increased by the mere presence of powerful ice monsters and demon beasts that appeared from time to time. If you didnt know, people call those unique monsters the masters of winter. If no one vanquished them they would go into hiding once winter ended to build up their power for the next years. While I was still living in the orphanage three to five years ago, one such beast was spotted nearby. Im certain that it was the master of winter whose death poprized the adventurer Vector I remember it well as the three fools made a stir about the subjugation at the time. When I was living in the orphanage, thest winter didnt snow much, so he shouldve defeated it in the previous year. But when I secluded in the forest the next year, the snowfall increased. Maybe another monster appeared again. Well, it turns out that the promising adventurer had royal blood I kind of want to ask him what would happen if he died. Actually no, I didnt want to know the answer. By the way, most royalties had bright red or light brown hair and eye color. I hadnt heard any gossip about royalties with dark red features recently, so that man was probably using the [Disguise] skill. Probably just like how he cheated his name in his status. I learned a lot more from the information I peeped, but I wanted to forget it. Lets not talk about it anymore. Dont think too badly of me, please. I also learned many things about [Analysis] skill after realizing that I could see another persons status with that skill. I was wondering if [Analysis] was only the level-up version of [Appraisal] that let me see the detailed information of an item, but it turns out I could see through [Concealment] and [Disguise] with it. I needed the [Detection] skill to see through [Concealment] and [Disguise], but apparently [Analysis] included that function as well Thinking that it was weird, I tried using [Analysis] on the skill itself. And I found out that it was a top-level skill of [Appraisal] that covered multiple [Appraisal] system skills. [Appraisal] system skill? As far as I knew, the order should be: [Judgement], [Detection], [Appraisal], and [Analysis] Yup, I dont get it. Maybe there are more skills that I dont know. Just by seeing the skills name, I could get a gist of the orders or maybe not. Ah, but [Detection] and [Appraisal] were two high-level skills of a simr level, right? But now that I had learned [Analysis], I didnt need [Detection] anymore. Then again, the effect seemed to multiple if I had various skills with the same function? If so, theres no loss in learning it. But Im not sure how to learn low-level skills Should I go to the guilds reference room next time? Thats how I devoted myself to my cksmith training while thinking about my skills not very seriously. Until that afternoon came. On that day, I wrapped up my work in the morning a little earlier than usual and moved to the dining room. But there was no one there, other than thendy and staff working there. As I wondered if I should take my time and wait until everyone gathered, thendy started serving the meal and asked me to call everyone, so I willingly agreed. I ate delicious foods every day thanks to her, so I could at least do this. Thats why I went around each workshop and called everyone one by one, but I couldnt find Master and the apprentice kid. How strange. Oh, thats right, the apprentice kid should be in charge of customer service, so he should be at the front desk. Without any dy, I went there to find him. And he was here as expected. Ah, Ren. Whats wrong? I came to call you since its time to eat lunch Do you know wheres Master? Master is currently talking to the customers. Im not sure if theyre discussing business or consulting something else The apprentice kid pointed to the corner with a chair and table for business negotiations. When my gaze moved there, I saw Master. I see, he was undoubtedly talking to customers. It seems like the apprentice kid doubled as a server and standby staff. Hmm, what should I do? Hmm, the customers were two men Eh? Fgwh. Ah, uh. It was Vector. And Neil. Seriously What was this? A g? I raised a g, right? My face was wholly exposed too. This is the worst Its my mistake for hesitating whether to escape or not. The moment Neil noticed me and saw my face, he became petrified. He spotted me. I shouldve run when I had the chance Neil? Whats wrong? Eh? Ah, no Vector noticed Neils unusual behavior and called him out. Master caught a glimpse of me and called out. Hm? Oh, Miss. What happened? Ah, no. I came to call you since its time for lunch Im sorry for disturbing you. Ahh Sorry, Im still busy right now. Yes Yeah, this was very awkward. Neil? Anything bothered you? Ah? Uh, yeah. Thats um. Is there something wrong with that girl? Shes charming, isnt she Huh? I feel like Ive seen her before? Neil whispered something to Vector, who just noticed me. After a while, Vectors expression when looking at me turned into one full of astonishment Ugh, this is the worst. Hey, Vector. That girl is my important customer. Dont mess around her. Eh? No, no. Its nothing like that, Vector said with a shadyugh. I could only see him trying to hide his intention Now that I learned the truth I didnt want to know, this person became awfully shady. Also, he looked like a dishonest man. Haa Lets return to our topic. Ill say this clearly; I cant take this request. Please give up. Cant you at least try it? Even if you said that Thanks to Master forcefully returning to the business talk, they somehow lost their focus on me. But I feel like they would make trouble? Anyway, Master said that he couldnt take their request. Just what kind of request was that? Arnold, you were the one who forged the sword Im currently using Im not implying that this sword is of bad quality, in fact, there are hardly any cksmiths in this country who can forge this kind of sword. Even so, Im not confident enough with this sword for this particr subjugation request. I heard that already. But like I said, its hard to make anything more amazing than that sword. Its not an exaggeration to say that its my greatest work when I made it. If you want a genuine sword, Im confident I can forge something better with my current skill. But you want a better mana sword. Thats The attributes I can bestow to a sword is just a small bonus. I dont mind forging the sword, but you should ask someone else to bestow it. I dont know any alchemists who can bestow skills to weapons above this level. How about the guy across the street? Hes better than me at forging mana swords. Thats No, youre right. If we look at the bestowed skill level, hes more skilled than you, Arnold. However, the quality of the sword is not enough. I also heard that youre not close to each other after quarreling when you be independent. Its impossible to make you cooperate with him to forge me a sword, right? Impossible. Leaving me aside, I dont think hell agree. Hmm. From what I heard, Vector wanted a mana sword. But Master couldnt forge something with the level he wanted Ah! By the way, Vector said he asked Master to develop his sword too before. So Master forged a mana sword! I didnt know! Well, it should be some secret, so its normal he didnt tell me. Maybe its the sword on the table? [Appraisal] Er, it looked like a one-handed sword with slightly longer des, the best quality mithril sword. It was bestowed with [Fire Attribute Lv 2] Hmm? If so, I dont mind a mana sword with the same bestowal. Can you forge me a new one? But that wont be any different from that sword. Even if I made a good one, itd be hard to pair it with the same degree of bestowal, you know? Youre right, but I still want to be prepared as much as possible. And I prepared the materials for this time. The previous sword is made of Mithril, you know? Do you have anything better than that? Yes. I have prepared Adamantite. Adamantite!? Yes I cant find Orichalcum. I know that But Adamantite, huh You wont make an excuse that you never handled it before, right? Ive dealt with it several times before. But its not a material suitable for bestowing skills It may be difficult for me to grant something simr to the previous sword. Uh But I dont have anyone else to ask! Can you please give it a try? Adamantite! I was about to scream, but I managed to swallow it. I want to touch rare materials, how envious Master, ept it. Itll be super nice if you could show me the materials. If you could let me touch it, I would leap in joy! When that happens, I can feed you something delicious as a token of gratitude, you know? As I was having such a thought, my eyes met with Masters. What is it? I responded by tilting my head. After looking at me, Master thought of something for a while. Then he approached me and talked to me. Hey, Miss. Wont you forge a mana sword for them? Huh? Chapter 107: Part 1 – Will it be Easy or Not? No, Its Not Easy… I Think Chapter 107: Part 1 ¨C Will it be Easy or Not? No, It''s Not Easy¡­ I Think No way. Ill be troubled if you suddenly ask me that kind of thing. Ah How should I answer I definitely shouldnt say I can make it. How about I can make a rubbish one? But Im still going to be troubled if he tells me to give it a try. Or I can just go with I cant make it, right? No, wait. Masters line of sight turned from puzzlement to conviction. My pause when thinking for an answer was the same as saying that I could make it I made a mistake. Ahh, it couldnt be helped. Its not like I cant make it. But itll be hard for me to meet your expectations. If Im going to fool him, I should say something like this. So you can make it, huh No, I was just asking you to make sure. It turns out youre capable of it Then, hmm Hey, Master!? You were tricking me!? Wasnt that a bit too awful!? No, I was also a fool for falling into his trap! Nah, I was a real fool for forgetting to just deny on the spot I nced at Vector. He had a surprised look. Of course, he would have that expression. Its unthinkable that a kid like me could forge a mana sword. Can you forge a mana sword? How skillful are you? As I said earlier, I wont be able to meet your expectations. So I refuse. Ah, um Right, I should exin the situation before making a request. Actually Hey, no one asked that, though? Plus Master was lost in thought after hearing my answer. Looking at his condition, he was probably convinced that I was lying. However, I had no intention of taking this request. Even if they exined their circumstances to me, that wouldnt change. This was an opportunity to deal with rare materials, considering the trouble that may ur after getting involved with a royal family member. Only trouble will await me if I ept it. If I showed my ability to forge a mana sword to royalty, he might want to monopolize me. Even if that didnt happen, dozens of troubles woulde once he knew that I could make a mana sword amazing enough to be used for defeating a Master of Winter. I tly refused all of that. I didnt have to rush to take the opportunity to handle rare materials since I would have many in the future. I think I have enough money to buy it. Boss, could you please not say anything unnecessarily at times like this too! I red at him, but he averted his eyes guiltily. The heck! Actually, the current Master of Winter is the same monster I chased off three years ago. I managed to wound himst time, but I couldnt deal a finishing blow. But it didnt show up again next year. Everyone concluded that it died somewhere. Then it appearedst year. It probably didnt show up the previous year because it saved up the energy to heal its wounds Half of the people who went to subjugate the Master of Winter when it appearedst year were crushed. Most of the survivors were injured and suffered after-effects. Hmm. How can I say this? It sounds pretty bad. But even if he told me that, this was not my problem. In the first ce, this was high-ranking adventures and knights duty to get rid of such dangerous creatures. And the adventurers should have expected that they would get injured when they chose this upation. Well, you might say that I should cooperate to maintain the peace of my homnd, but I paid taxes for this kind of situation. Thinking about it, I paid a lot of taxes from the ie of my patent fees. However, telling me to lend them a hand after knowing that I would give myself troubles by doing that was a bit too much. Am I heartless? Hey, hey. Im not a saint. My peace is my top priority. With the experience, I got from the fight three years ago and the information I received from those who survivedst year, I have a rough estimation of its strength this year. I start to bring supplies to the guild in a nearby town surrounded by walls. Im also building a front line base at the farm town that got destroyedst year. Even so, Im worried about the equipment of the personnel that will fight the monster directly. The Knights Order will also participate in this subjugation, but its the norm for adventures to prepare their weapons. Im not bragging about it, but I was the one who injured that monster before. Then they will ce me on the front line to fight directly with it. If possible, I want to prepare as much as I can. I see. This was therge-scale subjugation that the guild messenger told me before, right? Andst years heavy snowfall that forced me to seclude myself in the forest was the Master of Winters work. Since some vigers in the front line got destroyed by the monster, there should be some other viges that fell into ruin But that wasnt enough to convince me to forge him a sword. Im sorry, but I will most likely not live up to your expectations. I feel somewhat apologetic, but Im not moved at all. I also understand that Im heartless, but Im also betting on my life here. I have been making many blunders until now, so I dont want to step on such a clearndmine. Perhaps Master also sensed my unwillingness after I red at him before. He didnt say anything, his face awkward. Master, youre not a bad person at all, but youre kind of stupid Well, I shouldnt say anything here since I was also stupid. Can you please give it a try? Hey, why did he sound like he was sure I could forge a sword that satisfied his needs? Im telling you its impossible! Even if you know Im lying, read the air! I shook my head. And Im only renting a room here, so Im not this cksmiths craftsman. Since I forcefully asked Master to let me use the smithy, I couldnt just be ungrateful by using his kindness to gain profit. Thats Yes, being grateful was important. Even if I actually paid to make him let me use the smithy, I didnt have to say it. I didnt intend to forge a sword to sell it in the first ce. Its just for my use. No, you dont have to worry about that. Master said something unnecessary, so I red at him to shut him up. In the first ce, why are you going that far? Youre just an adventurer, arent you? You should leave such a dangerous thing to the adventures with rank A or above and the knights, right? I cant abandon people who are suffering now that I know it. I want to help if I can. Is that strange? No, I know what you mean. If there was a person in trouble right in front of you, you would think that it would be nice to help them, right? But I wouldnt go so far out of my way to help people. Its fine if I only had to help kids falling right in front of me, but I couldnt bet my life and safety on strangers. The story would be different if they were my rtives and friends. Given its expected ability this year, the Master of Winter might even do something to the town walls constructed by the headquarters. If we couldnt defeat it this year, the townspeople might die from the cold in towns within its influence. I wanted to defeat it to prevent that. There was an orphanage in that town, and it wouldnt be strange for the orphans to die with how the town couldnt amodate outfits for cold weather to everyone I dont want anyone to die. Orphanage? Then in the first ce, why didnt they make a base in the royal capital? The Master of Winter appeared in the northwestern mountains of the royal capital, right? The Master of Winter appeared in the northwestern mountains until three years ago, so shouldnt you be making the base in the royal capital? The Master of Winter appeared in the same ce every time. Therefore, building the subjugation base was rtively easy. Even if it would take some time to defeat the monster, it would only appear once a year. And since the Master of Winter this time was the same monster as thest time, its residence should be located in the northwest side of the royal capital again. No. Last year, it appeared in the mountainous area to the west side of its previous location. Its near the north mountain of ONeill. The scout told me that there are signs that it will appear there again this year. Wait a minute, ONeill? Did he say ONeill? Did he say that there was an orphanage there? Then, the town called ONeill was the same ONeill where I used to live? Chapter 107: Part 2 – Will it be Easy or Not? No, Its Not Easy… I Think Chapter 107: Part 2 ¨C Will it be Easy or Not? No, It''s Not Easy¡­ I Think My sisters and brothers still lived there. The director who took care of us well was already old. When I still lived there, the coldness of the winter was already hard for us. Would the orphans die from the cold? I couldnt let that happen. Im sorry, I changed my mind. I will ept your request. Really!? No matter what, I couldnt abandon someone acting as my parent and my siblings. I wasnt that cruel. Yes. But I have some requirements. Requirements? Yes. I heard that there arent many cksmiths who can forge mana swords. I believe forging a sword this time could lead to various troubles And I have no backing. I have no measures to protect myself from trouble. Then, do you want a backing? No, its the contrary. I still have things I want to do. I dont want to have a backing for that reason carelessly Itll trouble me if they take advantage of me and lock me in. I need to be free. So youre saying that you dont want anyone to find out that youre the one who forged the sword? Yes. I want to make sure that information wont leak out so that I dont get into trouble. I see I understand. Then I will swear by my name that I will guarantee your safety. I shall arrange for security around you and make sure no information will leak. So please forge the mana sword for me. Hes swearing by his royal name, huh. However, I had to pretend that I didnt know Vector was a royal family. What should I do? For now, should I make a suspicious face as the reaction? Miss, since he said that hes swearing by his name, you dont have to worry about anything else. I can guarantee he will keep his promise. Oh? Master could guarantee it? Ah. In other words, Master knew Vectors origin. Ah, Im sorry, Master. I said that its ungrateful to start a business using your kindness, but I epted his request Do you mind if I use the smithy? Hmm? Sure. As I said earlier, dont worry about it. The Master of Winter is a serious matter. Its a sword needed to fight that monster, so use the smithy to your hearts content. I should be polite by at least asking for his permission first. That being said, Master was unusually very generous as always. Thank you. Then, um Beck? ? Ah, sorry! Did I introduce myself with that name before? Can you call me Vector from now on? Beck? What the heck is that? Youre Vector, arent you? Yeah After the subjugation three years ago, everyone around me became noisy, and I changed my base. At that time, I used a false name. Did you get annoyed because your surroundings turned noisy? Kind of So that was the reason. But then, that was the price for his fame. He should endure it. Ah, it would be a problem if people found out about him being a royal family member, huh? Maybe he also considered that. Err, Vector? What kind of sword do you want? Huh? What level of skill can you grant? Please leave that for the time being. Can you tell me the perfect sword you want? Yeah, I would use that as a reference and adjusted adequately. But I also nned to forge it while taking care of myself not to overdo it. Thats yes, I understand. For the time being, I want a minimum of [Fire Attribute] level 3-4. Hmm, its good that he understood me and read the air. How understanding. Besides, looking at his response up until now, he was more honest than I thought. Im sorry forbeling you as a shady man No, I still feel like he was somewhat shady. To be honest, Im confident that I can defeat the Master of Winter using this sword if we wont fight in the winters snowy mountains. But since I will fight it in the ce that strengthens its attributes, I want the sword to have at least that many levels. If possible, level 5, 6, or more is the ideal. But it wont be easy to obtain a sword with that level of bestowal even in the dungeon. Other than that? Other than that, huh As I said before, the material I will bring is Adamantite. I want the sword to be a bastard sword. I used a one-handed sword three years ago because Icked strength, but Ive improved my strength. Presently, my main weapon is a bastard sword. I guess itll be better to use the weapon Im used to. I can use both one-handed and two-handed swords. Then you wont be frequently using the mana sword? Ill use it depending on the situation. But I tend to use the bastard sword more. Are you using a shield? Im using a buckler so I can turn around easily. Hmmm? Then, should I make you a shield too? Is it okay!? If theres enough material. Ill do something about that, so Id appreciate your help! How do you want me to make the shield? The shield I want it to be versatile, so go with no attribute? Itll be hard to use attribute shields Okay, okay. His armor is too troublesome to make, so Ill leave it like that. By the way, what kind of monster is the Master of Winter? Oh, I didnt say that yet, huh? Hes a frost smander. This was a rare demon beast. Frost smander was a smander subspecies and was a massive lizard-like monster with ice attribute, not fire. Although it looked like a giant lizard, it was a powerful demon beast belonging to the sub-dragon species, a lower-rank dragon species. There were other dragon species, such as Wyvern. Sub-dragon species and dragon species had differences, but thergest difference was their intelligence. Dragon species clearly understood humannguage and used powerful magic. They also used breath. Some of the sub-dragon species didnt use breath. The power of their magic would depend on the race. By the way, there was a fire spirit called smander as well, so people often confused both of them together. Sub-dragon species, huh How do you n to defeat it? Even if its from the sub-dragon species, a dragon is still a dragon. Im nning to go with the basic n on how to exterminate a dragon. You mean, youre going to aim for its belly? Dragons scales were hard, so attacking them head-on wouldnt hurt them. Themon practice was to attack their stomach, which was covered with a rtively soft membrane instead of their hard scale. But for flying dragons, people usually tried to cut down their wings first. Fortunately, the battleground is the snowy mountain. I will go under the snow and approach it. Thats why Im preparing various equipment for that. Since he had prepared that much, meddling it too much would be unnecessary Then Ill make his sword and shield. Also we have to decide on the payment. Im going to pay you 5,000 coins, is that enough? Ohh a great price! But he asked me to forge using his material, so paying me 5,000 coins was I dont know the market price! What should I do!? Oh, about that Vector, if you have excess Adamantite, can you give her that instead? I think Miss will prefer it rather than money. Since its you, you should be able to prepare it without fail, right? Well, I can try Then lets go with that. Miss, youre also fine with that, right? Yes. As expected from Master. He understood me well. And as expected from a royal family member, Vector could easily collect rare materials like Adamantite! Then Ill pay with Adamantite. But since youre going to make me a shield as well I could only give you the amount enough to make two one-handed swords Are you okay with that? No problem. Thats great Ill also pay you 5,000 gold coins. No need I want you to receive it. After all, you also made a shield for me. Ahh hes right. Then Ill ept it. I understand. Then lets go with that. Okay. Ill bring the materials in the afternoon, so Ill leave the rest to you. Hiiih, the royalty is bowing to me!? No, I dont know that! I have to pretend I dont know that! Yes. After that, our discussion ended. Vector and Neil left. Neil looked at me enviously, but I dont care. After finishing my lunch, which was a littlete, Vector came again with the materials. He also showed me the sword he was using now. I also checked how he used it, just in case. When I finished the sword, I only had to tell Master, and he woulde to pick it up. Well, thats how I decided to make a mana sword No, lets go with a magic sword! Do I have to watch myself? I will! But I cant afford to make mistakes here! The lives of everyone in the orphanage are at stake here! But, haa Things were getting troublesome When ites to the worst case, lets just run away. Chapter 108: Part 1 – The First Forging Request Chapter 108: Part 1 ¨C The First Forging Request Okaaay, were skipping to the next day~ Lets forge the sword immediately~ Wah, what a pain. Huh? No, no, Ill do it properly. The lives of everyone in the orphanage were at stake here. Plus, this was my first forging request where I could receive money. I didnt want to do it, though. Ah, theres no use inining. Lets do it at once. However, working on it with no preparations would be asking for a problem, right? Lets raise my skill level first. I should gain experience by turning the 320 material swords that I made and umted from around the time I started the open-air ssroom at once. Lets gradually change the potion in my one hand to magic swords. Drink potion when my MP ran out! Gulp! Hoo! Yup, it took me three days toplete, but thanks to that, my magic sword creation, bestowal skills, and other attribute magic skills had all been upgraded. Alright, this should be enough for preparation. Now then, Im going to try out a unique deadly technique, which would be the characteristic of the magic sword I made this time. I had decided on the shape and the skillposition of the sword for the time being. Since I knew the opponent, I would adjust to a specific structure to bring out the effectiveness. Ugh, I was thinking of secretly taking part in the subjugation to support them; you know? Maybe I could ride Norn and snipe the monster from a great distance. However, I would need to use a high-level fire attribute sword to defeat it, right? And I couldnt think of any way to retrieve the swordster on. Since there was no way to hide the evidence and the risk of getting found out was too high, it wouldnt make sense for me to go. Could I collect it with my [Storage]? The recoverable distance was up to around 50m in a visible state. It was impossible to recover the swords if I shot it from an extremely long distance. My [Storage] could go up to around 200m for equipment and belongings, but in this case, it would be impossible if I couldnt see it. Therefore, long-range support attacks were impossible. In the first ce, the Knights Order would participate in this subjugation, so they would get angry if someone like me wandered around there. Even if I did things while hiding my skills, there should be scouts with the Knights Order. They would find me out. Its also impossible for me to take part directly. First, I had no decent meleebat ability. I was still rank E, and I was restricted by age limit to take subjugation requests. For the reasons above, I couldnt do anything, be it directly or indirectly. In that case, I had no choice but to strengthen the requested product. So after adding various attributes and strengthening the weapon even further, the only thing left was to attach a particr skill for the weapon. The special skill bestowed to a specific weapon was called [Weapon Skill]. This skill allowed the user to use special abilities and special moves unique to the weapon. The skills were usually powerful, asionally attached to a legendary holy sword or a famous magic sword. Even if the weapons performance was not good, it might have a useful [Weapon Skill]. This was the first time I bestowed such a skill, so first, I forced it through using [Creation Magic]. If I could somehow grasp the feeling, it should be possible to use it along with [Magic Sword Creation]. It would be nice if it worked. Since the opponent this time had an ice attribute, I wanted a skill that makes a fire pir from the de. Thats why I immediately made a prototype with a random sword Hmm, its done. I did it, but the firepower was weak. From there, I continued experimenting while trying out different things. Hmm I unexpectedly couldnt bestow a skill with high offensive firepower. Maybe my skill level was insufficient? I tried a lot of things repeatedly. But with my current skill level, it would be unreasonable to attach one single fire attribute to all of my material swords Then, I had no choice but to go with various characteristics. Hmm, Ill try ying with the skillposition a little Well, I think its safe to imagine thatpounding the fire attribute with the wind attribute and using it to boost firepower should work I shouldnt only go with a single attribute. Lets go with fire attribute level 6 and wind attribute level 3. As a bonus, Ill also put light attribute level 1 And now the [Weapon skill]? No, Im also controlling myself, okay? I could attach attributes up to level 8 directly, you know? However, I still had some anxiety even after going this far, so lets go with [Attack Enhancement]. The material was Adamantite, making the weapon heavy, so Ill also add [Weight Reduction]. Plus [Durability Enhancement]. These three were all in level 3 No, lets make the [Durability Enhancement] level 5. Its scary if the sword broke during battle. For the skillposition to the sword, lets go with something like this. Next was the shield structure Hmm. I didnt overthink about it and went with [Non-attribute LV5], [Defense Enhancement LV3], [Durability Enhancement LV5], and [Weight Reduction LV3]. Hmmm, I wanted to stop controlling myself I wanted to make everything to my current limit level No, remember to watch myself. I shouldnt stop taking care of myself. Well, I had decided on theposition, and I finished practicing bestowing skills. Next was practicing how to handle the new material. I received extra as the payment in advance, so I used it to practice. For the time being, I start with a one-handed sword Ah, this definitely feels strange. Like this is unusually hard? How can I say this Regardless, lets work hard until I get used to it. When I finished melting it down, I struck it again and again. Along the way, I added the rest of the materials and made a bastard sword, a two-handed sword, a spear tip, and an ax to practice a lot of things. Hmm, I got used to the hardness. I feel like this is easier to handle once I get used to it. Now that I had learned about how to handle adamantite, I finally started forging the sword. It took me three days just to practice, so lets wrap it up now. Here I go! Anyway, here was the result. Unnamed Magic Sword Made of Adamantite; Supreme Sword1; Magic Sword [Fire Attribute LV6], [Wind Attribute LV3], [Light Attribute LV1], [Attack Enhancement LV3], [Durability Enhancement LV5], [Weight Reduction LV3], [Weapon Skill: me Dragon]. Reckless Made of Adamantite; Magic Shield [Non-attribute LV5], [Barrier Magic LV3], [Defense Enhancement LV5], [Durability Enhancement LV5], [Weight Reduction LV3]. Hidden Cloak [Hiding LV3], [Camouge LV3], [Disguise LV3]. Hmm I tried to control myself, but I couldnt deny that the result was a bit of an overkill. However, I would still be anxious if I didnt do this much. By the way, it took me two days to create everything. I didnt name the sword because I couldnt think of a good name. I mean, I didnt have any confidence in my naming sense since my previous life I didnt know if the sword itself was lucky or not, but I identally made a powerful sword. I named the weapon skill since the tornado boosted the firepower. It was initially a range attack skill, but the user could stab the sword into the opponent and burn its body from the inside! By the way, activating [Weapon Skill] would use the mana in the sword, or the HP or MP of the user. Chapter 108: Part 2 – The First Forging Request Chapter 108: Part 2 ¨C The First Forging Request Although it depended on the strength of the skill, using [me Dragon] once would make the swords mana almost empty. The fuel efficiency was low, as it took more than a month to recover. If the user activated it by consuming their MP, they might faint on the spot. Its good if Vector could defeat it in one shot. But if he couldnt, he would most certainly die. Thats why I tried a little gimmick. I attached two cylindrical objects around the size of a 350ml can around the sword guards backside. This was like a magic battery. By consuming the MP contained in this battery, the user could activate the skill. One battery could activate the skill once. In other words, two batteries, MP of the sword, and MP of the user make it possible to fire the skill up to four times. I wanted to believe that Vector could defeat the monster by using the skill four times. By the way, it took more than a month to fill up the MP in the battery, so I didnt rmend overusing it. In the first ce, the firepower was pretty crazy. Please choose the situations when using it. Battery spare? No, this was a magic stone material from my pocket I used two Cockatrice magic stones to make one battery, so I didnt make any more than this. I had many other things I wanted to make after all Ah, a heavenly being used the word battery and charge when they exined the battery concept in the past, so those words weremonly used in this world. By the way, I just added [Barrier Magic] to the shield. After checking the weapon skill of the sword with [Analysis], I found out that the firepower was so strong that it would cause various problems, so I attached it for self-defense. To kill that dragon, Vector would have to crawl under its belly, stab it with the sword, and burn its body with [me Dragon]. But then, the user of the sword might get fried together because their distance was too close. In the first ce, [me Dragon] was for medium and long-distance attacks I couldnt adjust it well no matter how much I tried. Therefore, the shield was a measure against self-destruction. I could just add the fire attribute to the shield to void it, but I prioritize my clients wish. And shields with non-attributes have versatility. However, because this shield was used for such a stupid operation, I called this Reckless shield. Even I think itspletely ironic. The cloak was a bonus. I thought it would be easier to move by hiding his items. Hear me out. Im also restraining myself after all of this, okay? I didnt just add all attributes to the weapon and shield, and I could go up to LV8. I could also add other skills than attributes up to LV6. Im suppressing myself a lot. By the way, I learned [Magic Effect Amplification] and [Magic Power Compression] after trying out various things this time. To exin it briefly, both of the skills improved the power of the magic. Hmm Both of my MGC and MP had increased considerably. I feel like Im growing further from humanity Leaving that aside, lets hand it to him immediately and finish my duty. After I decided so, I acted immediately! I contacted Master and had him call Vector. I heard that you hadpleted it, but is it true? With the specifications I asked for, arent you a bit too fast? Umm I did my best? Oh no, I forgot that my production speed was too fast! However, it took me six days to practice and two days to make, a total of eight days to make everything. I remember that I only need a day to make the sword. But I definitely couldnt tell him that. Alright, I tilted my head and showed him my usual innocent face! I dont know anything! Im just a child! Is that so? Um, since you worked hard I guess its possible? Er, can you show me the sword? Yes, yes. Dont worry about the details. Yes. Here you go. Upon receiving the sword, Vector immediately pulled it from the sheath and began to look at the de. Then the more he looked at it, the more startled he became. I Ive never seen such an amazing sword like this This fits my hand so perfectly Did you really make this? Yes. Its pretty difficult, but I managed to finish it. And this is the shield. Then I gave him the shield. He also widened his eyes in surprise at the sight of it. Ill give this cloak as a bonus. Regarding each ability I disclosed the performance so he could make use of it. I made various adjustments to match the tactics Id heard, so I also exined that. I didnt want to lie here. I told him everything without hiding anything. He was so surprised with the magic swords MP battery that his eyes popped out as expected. You told me that the subjugation is around the beginning of December, so I made it quickly to make sure you can have a longer period to learn how to use it. I want you to try using the [Weapon Skill], and the magic power of the battery will take more than a month to recharge. Thats great, but But its amazing that I can use such a powerful skill multiple times I see, its a magic tool that fills magic power. Its not that strange now that I think of it But I dont expect you to make it into something practical Im incredibly pleased to hear yourpliment. But well Are these okay for the products you requested? Yes, it exceeds my imagination. Its so wonderful that I have to revise my strategy in a lot of ces! Then, as you promised I know, Ill deal with that. I think youre bothered with Neil, but dont worry about him. Ill talk with my other colleagues too. Ahh, he understood my point. That helps. And actually, there have been some slightly suspicious people around the workshop these days. When I checked their identity secretly with [Analysis], they were actually scouts of Vectors royal escort. Its thanks to Norn that I happened to notice it, so it seemed like they were many excellent people. The skills they possessed were also great. But since he arranged guards around my surroundings even if I hadntpleted the sword, it should be alright to trust him, right? No, but, hmm I should make some preparations to escape too. By the way, why dont you give this sword a name? If possible, Id love it if you can. Ehhh? Im not confident in making a name! Do it yourself, cant you!? Ahhh, what should I do? Oh, since this is a burning sword Um, errr Fire, mes Fire? me? ze? Ah This is a coined word, but Then, lets go with [zer] Not a sports jacket! But ze + r! zer Sounds good. Great, he gave me a satisfied handsome smile! But Im not happy at all! It doesnt matter to me at all! Instead, the embarrassing name reminded me of my chuunibyou ck history in the past! My heart hurts! Someone, help me! A few dayster, a massive pir of fire appeared on the in near the capital. Ah, Vector tried the weapon skill. A few more dayster, the Adventurers Guild was full of rumors about Vectors sword. By the way, they believed that he made a contract with Master Arnold, who luckily got a powerful magic sword from the dungeon. They deceived the public about the swords performance too. Great. After all, itll be too troublesome if I get exposed. I hope my life can stay peaceful like this Haa. Chapter 109: Eh? You Already Expected This? Shut Up! Part 1 Chapter 109: Eh? You Already Expected This? Shut Up! Part 1 After forging a sword for Vector, I spent my days as usual, purchasing a sizeable amount of steel through master and forged numerous material swords for a few weeks. Arge-scale subjugation request for the Master of Winter was issued shortly after the beginning of November. The conditions for the participants had been decided, but I already knew I wouldnt qualify for it from the beginning. Honestly, I didnt really care about the details, so lets skip it. However, I became increasingly uneasy when that kind of information circted. Would the sword I forge be able to defeat that monster? But then, its not like Vector was fighting alone. He was with many other adventures and Knights Order, so they should be able to manage it somehow, but What if they couldnt defeat it? What was their n for the town residents evacuation? I collected various information only to find out that ONeill residents didnt really have any evacuation ns. Some people voluntarily evacuated to other towns to live with their rtives and acquaintances, but the administration didnt take any measures. Even if the evacuation rmendation was issued after the subjugation failed, wasnt it too unreasonable to make the orphans run in the middle of winter? Not to mention, with how the Master of Winter influenced the weather and caused heavy snow? What are they thinking? However, I realized that most people didnt have anyone to rely on, and they also had their daily lives. It would be difficult to move to another ce while spending money to prepare for winter. Considering all the things I said, I guess the way they responded to this problem wasnt wrong. Its appropriate? The orphans didnt have any ce to escape Ahhh, what should I do After gathering enough information, I ended up getting more and more worried. I couldnt even do my cksmith training for a few days because of that. Then, Tri and the girl members came to visit me. Ren, lets go with us! Huh? What do you mean? I dont understand. Once I heard the story, Tri and the others heard about the subjugation of the Master of Winter, so they went back once to see the situation of the orphanage. And if the subjugation was unsessful, they would escape with everyone. I see, I could do that! The ones who wanted to invite me were Rico, Arle, and Kuro. And the ones who opposed were Tri, Maricle, Ryuu, and Cain. As always, Boman didnt have any opinion. The reason they opposed was, of course, to prevent me from being exposed to the investor merchant. ording to Tri, everyone in the orphanage wouldnt reveal anything about me. Even so, there were possibilities that the townspeople might spot me and make rumors. Sounds like I was popr I didnt notice that at all. Even if I hide my face, I would look suspicious since I came with Tris team. The children in the town might talk to their parents about me. That merchant also had a small branch in ONeill, so the staff there might know about me from the townspeoples small talk Hmm, they were right. But after I heard that they went to help them evacuate in an emergency, I had decided that I would go. I was so worried that I couldnt do anything else, plus I couldnt just send them away. Itll be fine as long as I dont enter the town. Thats why I went with them. Are you sure? They might find you out, Ren. Its fine, Tri. I have my ns too. There was a deep forest some distance away from ONeill town, so I could ce my house there and camp there. Thats no longer camping? Hey, Im going to sleep outside the city, so its still camping, right? That being said, I wouldnt tell Tri about my n now. Since Tris preparations were almost finished, they left the royal capital the next day. Master and the people in the workshop made a sour face, but they didnt oppose me when I told them I was worried about the city where I grew up and the safety of my former teacher. After preparing a lot of things, all of us gathered in front of the west gate. Then we started our journey on foot for a while. Tri and her team told me they deposited the key with thendlord for the time being. They also paid the rent in advance and asked them to maintain the house. They brought their food with them and left the firewood and daily necessities. Other than that, they brought only the minimum amount of winter clothes and camp equipment such as nkets and fur. Thats why the boys carriedrge luggage. It was now the middle of November, and the snow had fallen. To be honest, walking on foot from here to there was normally like asking to die. However, materials such as foodstuffs were now being transported to ONeill, so the snow on the road was t, making the journey better than usual. But some ces were still messed up and muddy, so I wouldnt advise anyone to do this. Well, I wouldnt walk on that kind of road. I had no physical strength. Even now, I was riding on Norn. Thats why I searched if there was a forest some distance from the road after an hours walk from the royal capital. Yup, I nned to put out my carriage. Ren, are you looking for something? When I stopped to look around, Arle called me out. Im wondering if theres a forest with an obscure view. Ah, you want to go to the toilet? I guess its cold. Youre wrong! Thats not it! Even if I lightly denied it, she didnt believe me. I gave up trying to persuade her. But all the other girls said that they would like to take a toilet break, so everyone found a suitable forest. How troublesome. Just do your business around there. Boman, youre an idiot! You shouldnt say something like that now! Youre hopeless! Ryuu ridiculed me How painful. Its cold, and I want to sleep. Boman he was still useless. And it impressed me that Ryuu said such a gentlemanly thing. But I think it would have been better for him to keep his voice down so we couldnt hear him. After around fifteen minutes, we finally found a nice forest. All the girls went to the shadow of the bushes and the boys waited for us on the highway. Seems like they also wanted to go to the toilet too, but they prioritized the girls. Boys could endure it better than girls, right? Hang in there! While the girls other than me finished their business in order, I took out my carriage from my [Storage]. By the way, I made various improvements to enhance the performance when I was in the workshop. And when I took it out, everyone was surprised. W-what is this!? A carriage. Where does this carriagee from wait, is that a horse!? Its a golem. Everyone, are you done? Its cold, so quickly get on. Wait, wait, wait!? Its a pain to exin, so I tried to push them in and return to the highway immediately, but their rejection was so intense that I had no choice but to sit on the coachmans seat alone And the boys who saw the carriage had the same reaction as Tri and the girls. Im tired of that reaction, so lets just move now? Since making an exnation was too troublesome, I hurried them to just get inside already. In the end, I somehow made them ride the carriage. By the way, only girls were in the carriage. The boys could walk! 1 Chapter 109: Eh? You Already Expected This? Shut Up! Part 2 Chapter 109: Eh? You Already Expected This? Shut Up! Part 2 That said, however, I stored therge luggage they were carrying in the storage space of the carriage. After all, I wasnt that cruel. There were three seats inside the carriage and two coachman seats since I didnt use golems as the charioteer. Bellid curled up in the rear space of the coachmans seat, and Norn reserved her seat on the roof. I didnt have to worry about the seating. I, the owner, would always sit inside. The remaining four ces were taken over by the girls. In addition, I slightly increased the size of the carriage andfort during the improvement, so we didnt have to be cramped inside. Now that the boys didnt have to carry the luggage, they wore twoyers of nkets and fur cloaks to protect them from the cold. It would be nice if I had enough carriage but I didnt have it, so it couldnt be helped. By the way, the boys didntin at all since they knew I was indulgent with the girls. They had grown up, huh! But since they couldnt ride the carriage, I would serve hot drinks during breaks. Do your best! Marching in the snow was very exhausting, so we frequently took breaks. The speed of the carriage matched the walking boys, so not that fast. Im not that much of a demon to make them run in the snow, okay. The horse carriage moved to the side of the highway and stopped. We set up a simple awning tent beside the carriage to avoid the snow and took a break. I also took out folding tables and chairs and served tea and snacks to the boys. Wah! Its warm~ Its too cold My hands and feet hurt Even if they wore boots and thick gloves to protect themselves from the cold, it was still hard. They could only tolerate moving in this snowfall since theres no helping it. Maricle and Cain sipped the cup of tea in silence. Ryuu and Boman, who could stillin, looked like they were still energetic? But they should not waste their physical energy uselessly. For real. Still, I couldfortably sit inside the carriage thanks to the small heating magic tool I made on my own. The back of the upants seat was exposed to the warm air, so its not that unbearable. Hmm, how about letting the boys sit in the coachmans seat by rotation? Ren wont like it if they sit inside, so Ill give up on that. Tri and the girls will be the one who suffer from the cold, so if you dont mind, Im fine with that. Huh? I thought you would oppose it. Youre fine with this? This cold weather isnt a joke anymore I dont want anyone to die in front of me. Thats also true. But then, Ren is more refreshed after scolding them before, so you stop being harsh on them now, right? Haa. I can never win against Tri. Well, youre right. Lets take care of them a little more. Ryuu is also growing up. I felt like I was a bit too indulgent, but I was tired from caring too much. I decided to just rx myself. However, with my personality, now I also frequently speak harsher to them. I mean, I felt that I didnt care about those two people anymore. Do whatever you want, I dont care. After the quick break, Ryuu was delighted to hear that I epted Tris suggestion. I guess its hard for them too. Now that the walking group was swapped from time to time, our movement speed increased. We got more distance than I expected. That being said, it would take us a week to reach ONeill. Hm But I had no map, so I didnt really know The sun began to set as we moved with a few breaks. We arrived at the campsite at the perfect timing, so we took a rest here today. They were surprised when I told them they could sleep in the carriage. By the way, Tri and the others didnt have a decent tent, so they nned to sleep around a bonfire. Hey, theyll die, though!? Five people could sleep in the carriage, but the remaining four people had to sleep outside. I didnt expect them not to have a decent tent They showed me the tent they brought just in case, but I didnt think they should call this a tent I wouldnt be able to get a restful sleep knowing that they might freeze to death in the morning, so I improvised the two folding tents and let the boys use them. The size of one tent was big enough to let two people lie down. This should be enough for the four boys. They thanked me so much and told me they would buy the tents from meter, so I transferred the ownership to them. Tri and the girls told me they would prepare the food in turns, but I didnt yield. I felt guilty if I was lying snug and warm in the carriage alone Then the girls asked for my help, so I epted it. The boys told us they would also help, but having too many people would only hinder the work. In the end, we divided the role by sending them to pick up the firewood. To be honest, I only need a girl to help me, so I arrange the free members appropriately. But then, I only had to use earth magic to make a stove Its simple to set up the preparations. We made a barrier in the open front part of the coachmans seat with a tanned leather sheet. Just like during the quick break, we set up the awning tent on the left side of the carriage to protect us from the snow. We also made the stone structure for a bonfire in front of it, and the other tent beyond it. The cooking stove was set up to the bonfire. The horses were golems, so theres no need to take care of them from the snow. Other carriages sure had it though We prepared the meals swiftly and finished it quickly. I wanted to take a bath, but it would be impossible to do that here. I gave up and used [Cleaning] just as when I traveled with Lily. It would be bad if they had a cold, and I didnt want anyone to smell, so I cleansed the boys as well. They should thank me for my mercy! [Cleaning] isnt just a maniption skill? Its a bit too effective that I find it super weird Ah, I also wondered about that. But it was probably because my magic power was high and I had prior knowledge of hygiene. Magic mostly relied on the imaginary skill of the user, so a modern Japanese man like me who was knowledgeable and had a lot of imaginations could expect a considerably high effect. This is the magic power of a heavenly being! You could think of it like that! But, I wanted to wipe my body with hot water. Thats probably because I was Japanese, right? Norn and Bell would guard us at night, so I went to bed early without having to be on guard. We could start moving faster if we woke up early, so everyone also slept with no objection. I improvised by making a hot water bottle and having the boys in the tent hold it. At first, I was nning to heat stones with the bonfire and wrap it in a cloth so they could hold it, but I changed it to a hot water bottle since something that could stay warm for a long time would be better They didnt go as far as telling me they wanted this. Ah, yes, yes. Ill sell itter, so calm down! There were more than a dozen other carriages in the campsite, but if there was a suspicious person, Norn would bite them. Knowing that, I could sleep well. Anyway, good night Zzz. Chapter 110: Im Currying Favor? No, This is a Bribe Part 1 Chapter 110: I''m Currying Favor? No, This is a Bribe Part 1 Its morning. Hmmm So sleepy And Im the first one to wake up again. Hey, it would be impossible for these guys to go on an outing and camp, right? Wont they die? I guess they could make do with their utmost effort Huh? When I calmed down and thought about it, they only had that one wracked tent. If I didnt apany them, would they die? Wah, I did well for apanying them! For real! It would be dangerous for those children not thinking far ahead like this, so I had to scold themter. Leaving that aside, I left the carriage and got ready. Well, all I did was a simple [Washing]. By the way, I guarded myself with a hood outside the carriage all the time. I also had a muffler to protect my mouth. With my long bangs and sses, my guard was as impregnable as an iron wall. Ah, right. I couldnt just use my cloak in this cold weather, so I improvised it into an overcoatst night. It had twoyers, and I could put my arms out. Its something like an inverse cape. If I wore a standard cloak on this snowy day, my clothes would get wet when I raised my hand I hadnt noticed it at all. I was too stupid You see, I usually secluded myself in the rainy days after all But I didnt have any reason to go out on a rainy day, so it couldnt be helped. I scanned my surroundings lightly, slightly depressed because of my stupidity. The snowfall had decreased a lot in the middle of the night, but the snow had piled considerably. Now that I think of it, it was hard to open the carriage door. For the time being, I stored the snow around the carriage and the tents surrounding the bonfire into my [Storage], so we could move out here easilyter. Hmm, the tents were almost piled up with snow. They didnt die from the cold, right? But they wore clothes resistant to cold Anyway, if they were alive, they woulde out once they woke up. For the time being, I set a fire on the bonfire and boiled water in the kettle. I boiled not only one, but three kettles. Since we had nine people, the water would immediately disappear if they asked for the second servings of tea. The horses were also buried Lets do something about the surrounding snow while waiting until the water boiled. However, there were some carriages withrge tents in the distance. I could also see many caravans other than us, so there were actually many people here. It wouldnt be strange if they already woke up. Instead of using [Storage], I used fire magic and wind magic to generate hot water and melt the snow. In the meantime, I gave Norn and Bell their breakfast. Todays meal was a chunk of cooked orc meat. Telling them to hunt in the snow was harsh, you know? They wanted to go, but they put up with me since I wanted them to guard us. Ryuu woke up when I hadpletely melted the snow around the carriage. This guy sure woke up early in the morning, huh. Well, its good. Maybe hes suited to guard the night. Oh, good morning, Ren. Good morning. Youre early as usual. Yeah. I practiced swinging the wooden sword I received from you before breakfast, so Ipletely got used to getting up early. But what should I do today I think you shouldnt practice today. Your sweat will cool your body, making you catch a cold. Hmm, you got a point It cant be helped. Ill give that up during the trip. I started to slowly prepare the breakfast while having small talk and making the fire in the bonfire bigger. Ryuu also got dressed as he chatted with me I nced at Ryuu, noticing the short sword on his waist. Youre equipping your sword? Wheres the other one? Were outdoors now, so we should be vignt, right? Maybe this is meaningless since there are Rens familiars. Bringing the longer one everywhere will hinder my movement, so Im putting it with my luggage. But I bring it to the tent when its time to camp. Oh, he had been thinking a lot Good boy. Ah, are you preparing breakfast? Do you have enough wood? Should I bring some for you? The firewoods collected yesterday are still enough, so its okay. More than that, please help me cook this. Eh? Me? Are you fine with me? Everyone is preparing the meals right? Please think of helping me as a way to gain experience. Uhh I understand. Ill do my best. Do you have anything you want to eat? Eh? Anything I want to eat? Yes. You can also tell me if theres anything you want to try. Can I? Really!? Yes. Eh, then what should I choose Im fine with whatever you cooked before, um Ah, but Id love to try the ones you talked about too. Hm, there were too many choices I became troubled. It would take time, so lets make something adequately. For the time being, they had to eat a lot so they could keep their physical strength in this cold weather I know, lets make the meatball soup I made some time ago. Ryuu, please make minced meat with this. Oh? Okay Are you making that soup? Yes. That was delicious Ryuu minced the meat, chopped the vegetables, and heated the pot with a grin. Hmm, I could cook rice, but Ryuu, do you guys bring any bread? Hmm? We bring some hard-baked bread. Then lets go with that. Im also eating bread. Whats left was the side dish Have you decided on what you want to eat? Ummmmmmm There are too many things I want to eat, and there are many foods I dont know how to describe Then, how about the meat sandwich that I made when I watched your study before? Ah! Sure! That was fantastic! Then lets go with that! Yup. I took out my frying pan and prepared this and that. Ryuu, who had nothing to do, brought the bread for everyones share and sliced them I could see that he put a lot of effort into focusing since there wasnt a hint of clumsiness from him. I rolled the thinly sliced meat and soaked it in the ginger sauce, then I fried the meatballs and added them to the soup. Whats left was simmering them. When I was going to grill another batch of meat, Tri and Maricle woke up at the same time. Good morning, both of you. Huh? Its not just Ren, but Ryuu? Ryuu, are you helping her? Oh, morning. Ill do it when I have to, you know! Did you do it properly? Im worried Arent you too heartless, Maricle!? Im the one who did the seasoning, so its fine. I asked Ryuu to help me do the preparations The way he handled the de is better than I expected. Uu I never thought you would praise Ryuu No way, I have to work harder. Tri is also heartless Ohh, Ryuus eyes be teary. But he did a lot of stupid things in the past, so he should have expected this reaction, okay? As we continued making breakfast, all the girls woke up. We then finished preparing the meal. Maricle kicked Cain and Boman who were still sleeping, and its now breakfast time. Everyone looked satisfied since they could eat a lot in the morning. By the way, while I was preparing the meal, the people from the caravans around us woke up and started organizing a lot of things. A few of them nced at us with eyes full of envy. Its probably because of the smell. I understand. After finishing the meal, I distributed the tea and started scolding them. I preached on how they looked down on the situation and poorly prepared for the journey for over thirty minutes. Everyone was looking down at the ground with teary eyes, but that wasnt enough. I mean, they were all almost dead, okay? Did they really understand? When were back home, please bow your head to Gim and ask him to teach you how to camp. You should practice how to keep watch during the night, too. In the first ce, we are going on a long trip in winter. You Hey, hey. Miss, thats enough! I think they all already understand. Who? An uncle with a beard? He looks like an escort of a caravan. I dont think its enough. No way, you have been scolding them for around an hour, you know? They all have teary eyes now, so you dont have to do it that much, right? Youre right. Then Ill stop here. Did you all understand? Well reflect on it Im sorry Sorry Hmm, did they really understand? Hahaha! Her scolding was harsh, but all I heard from her was the truth, understand? Its rare to find someone who will worry about you that much, so you kids have to thank her, okay? Yes, we understand Chapter 110: Im Currying Favor? No, This is a Bribe Part 2 Chapter 110: I''m Currying Favor? No, This is a Bribe Part 2 Hmm. Judging from their facial expression, they seem to reflect on it properly? But I didnt think I would get absorbed in scolding them that even strangers noticed us Looking around, the caravan people had already finished their meal and prepared for departure. It would be bad if we didnt start preparing soon. Thank you very much for calling us out. If you didnt, were going to be toote to prepare. Nah, dont worry about it. We have to help each other in this situation. Oh? This uncle was a good uncle, huh? Lets return the favor to these kinds of people. Its not much, but please have this. I took out the small parcel from the bag and handed it to him. Whats this? Candies. They are sweet. You can eat it on your journey, so please have some. Ohh, are you sure? I really can have this? Yes. I know this is too much, but please take care of these kids if you see them in trouble Hahaha, got it. Leave it to me. Its nothing much! I didnt know if this was effective, but theres no loss in making connections. It would depend on Tri for how they used it. Just like that, we cut our conversation and prepared to move in a hurry. That being said, it didnt take long. We finished preparing and started moving. By the way, everyone would ride the carriage starting today. Moving at yesterdays speed was too slow. We were too rxed yesterday. The carriage and the horse had berger after I remodeled it during my royal capital stay. If we squeezed in, the carriage could amodate five people inside and four people in the coachmans seat. It was narrow, though. The width of the seat inside the carriage allowed three people to sit sideways, so we could still manage. As for the coachmans seat, one person had to sit in the backspace while hugging their knees, but it should be bearable? I guess they might be worried because they had to share a seat with Bell. If she got angry she would bite them, but they had to put up with it. The girls sat inside, and the boys sat outside. There was no change. I didnt let themin. Everybody got on the carriage, and we increased the speed, starting to move at around the same speed as the surrounding carriages. Well, we could go a few times faster if we wanted to, but I wouldnt do it. Its much safer to go along with multiple caravans than move alone. Above all, thieves wouldnt attack a big group of caravans. Only goblins and hungry wolves would appear once in a while. Even though our safety was guaranteed, we took a quick break often, just like yesterday. Its not just us, but also the surrounding caravans. The road was covered with snow and mud, giving a heavy burden on the horses. Now that we went on the same route as them, we inadvertently secured our safety without paying for escort fees. But to be honest, being a parasite like this was awkward. Thats why I gave out tea every time we took a short break. Since I could generate a sizable amount of hot water with water magic, I could provide it quickly since I didnt have to trouble myself by boiling water or starting a fire. Snacks? Giving out food was a little too much They were supposed to pay for it themselves, okay? Thanks to my steady bribery, thergest caravan merchant leader told me he would somewhat overlook our imprudence. Thats good. Seeing my advances, Tri seemed to understand the importance of softening the heart of other people. They helped me with the tea. But they had to choose between the situation and thepany, right? On the way, around a dozen hungry flock of goblins attacked us, but the caravans escorts scattered the crowd. From there on, Maricle with a shield and Ryuu with swords guarded our carriage. Cain and Boman were the coachmen, so they waited without getting off. No, they were just pretending. After all, Im the one controlling the horse golems. The girls didnt get off. They didnt have any decent weapons other than Tris short sword. However, I got down to guard as well. Or rather, I asked Norn to intercept the goblins and Bell to protect the carriage. More than half of the goblins were kicked around by Norn alone. It shocked the escorts of the merchants and caravans to see her feat. As expected from my Goddess. After that, the itinerary proceeded smoothly, and we arrived at the next campsite. Since each caravan had prepared night camps and meals, we started preparing as well. It was basically the same as yesterday, even the arrangement of the tent. And I prepared the meal. Hmm What should I make today I decided to make soup, but its troublesome to make side dishes. How about soup with various ingredients and bread or rice balls? Hmm Soup with pork and vegetables should be okay, right? Ill add a lot of vegetables. Ah, maybe I could make flour dumplings boiled in soup. Since its simple and had meat, they wouldntin, would they? Thats why I prepared two saucepans. Our surroundings were staring at us, but I ignored it. I kneaded the flour to make the dough, let it cool down, and chopped many ingredients, then I put it into the saucepan swiftly. Since it was troublesome, I sloppily removed the scums. When the ingredients had boiled to a certain extent, I cut the dough into a suitable size and steamed it. Well, maybe I made too much? But these kids eat a lot. They would eat everything, even if they had to overeat a little. Maybe. That looks delicious, but were just eating this much? Ryuu asked, but he didnt sound unhappy. More like he just asked out of curiosity? This soup is using a lot of ingredients, so itll make you full. The white thing in the soup is the staple food. I made a lot so you guys can ask for second servings. Seriously? We can eat everything!? Rather, Ill be troubled if you dont. Wahh, yay! I made them in two full saucepans Could these people eat them all? The size of the bowl was not too big. I feel like we would still have leftovers even if they asked for second servings When I was thinking, the bearded uncle who approached us this morning called me out. Hey, Miss Can you share that with me a little? It smells good and looks delicious Im curious about the taste. Ah, but Im not asking it for free. Well, if its only a bowl, then sure Thank you! Um, how about I pay you one copper coin? Thats a bit too much. Ill take five small copper coins. No way. Thats too cheap. Ill pay you eight small copper coins. Why did he raise the price instead But arguing about something like this was too troublesome. I responded while handing him a bowl. Okay, then here you go. Yay! Then Ill eat it now mmgh!? After having a bite, he started eating with astonishing speed. To be honest, his eyes were a little scary. Whats this!? This is the first time I ate such a delicious dish! Haa, thanks Hmm, did he like it? Well, I got some money, so I didnt mind. But he couldnt ask for second servings, okay? Excuse me, can I also have a bowl? I will pay you. Haa, I dont mind My, the caravan leader merchant too? Well, Im okay with it in this situation, my image would improve and I had no loss. Oh, its been a long time since Im acquainted with this guy, but its rare for him to eat that deliciously hmm!? This is delicious Is that so? Thank you very much. But this is camp food, so I was cutting corners in the preparations This is you cutting corners? Hmm, yet you could make such a delicious dish He was looking at the saucepan with a thoughtful face, but I wouldnt sell it to all the caravans, okay? These kids ate a lot, so I could only hand over the leftovers. After I told him so, he said he wanted to buy the leftovers. Did he like it that much? But if hes fine with that, then sure. Eventually, around of one saucepan remained. I gave the soup to them. The price was he increased the price considerably. Tri and the kids who ate until theyre full were happy. The caravan over there who ate the flour dumplings in pork soup also highly praised my dish. Some other caravans that went on the same route with us were looking at us with envy. Hey, stop looking at me with those eyes. Its not like I like you because I bribe you with tea. So I ignored them. I wasnt sure about this, but thergest caravan merchant leader seemed to have the most influence. As long as he treated us favorably, there shouldnt be any problem. Norn was enough to be our escort, anyway. And so, the second day passed like that. Chapter 111: Proper Distance is Important Part 1 Chapter 111: Proper Distance is Important Part 1 Good morning. Im Ren. Ah, Im exhausted Really, my blood pressure was low Thats how it is, but waking up every morning was hard. It makes me feel down But I regained my spirit and woke up! I quickly got up and neatly dressed myself Okay, Im awake. I might feel better if I sleep for a few more hours, but I chose not to do that since it would be bad if I ruined the rhythm of my life. Now then, I boiled hot water while clearing the snow away and prepared for breakfast appropriately like the day before. I hunted a few horned rabbits when I removed the snow, so I used them to make bone soup broth and made rabbit meat pot-au-feu. Together with many vegetables. For the staple food, they could eat their own bread. Tri and the others bought a fair amount of hard bread, so we should eat them before they be spoiled By the way, I hunted the rabbits using a sling. Several people woke up early in the morning, so I had to watch myself and not use [Sword Magic]. But then, using a magic sword would blow off the rabbit, and I wouldnt be able to get its meat anymore. I could just use a sword I hadnt bestowed yet? I didnt think there would be much difference, though. As I was preparing for breakfast, Ryuu woke up early as usual. We had small talks while drinking tea. However, today the leader of the caravan woke up early and joined us, so I also served him the tea. Haa This tea is delicious It makes me wonder about the blend ratio I didnt know how to respond if he said that. Do your own research, please. Anyway, why did hee here? Its more productive to wake up his friends and prepare various things, right? I gazed at him full of suspicion, and he turned away from me awkwardly. What the heck? Im tired of dealing with this experienced merchant, so I left him alone and continued with my breakfast preparation. Hmm, lets go with this its a hassle to make borate items every morning, so I did it appropriately. This dish looks delicious too. Even if you said such a thing, I wouldnt sell our breakfast this time, okay? I had so many ingredients in my [Storage] that I could even open a store, but the more I took them out, the more unnatural the amount would be. Naturally, I wouldnt want to stand out for nothing. This time, I used the rabbit I just caught, but it didnt mean I could buy it conveniently every time Its a bit troubling that they got interested in my cooking. Anyway, I finished the preparations while brilliantly ignoring him, waking up all the sleeping members to have a meal. By the way, Arle, who couldnt get up early in the morning, continued to regret not being able to help with cooking. Arles blood pressure was worse than mine I tried to wake her up in the morning, but it had no effect. When we finished our meal, we prepared to move immediately and continued our journey, still trailing the other caravans. And today, early in the morning, a flock of stray hungry wolves attacked us. Since there were few of them, the escorts easily defeated them alone. The wolfs fur could be sold, but the meat was so nasty that they buried it randomly. It would be nice if a beast or a monster that could be eaten appeared. While taking a few breaks along the way, we had lunch. Hmm, what should I make Everyones eyes were glittering with expectations, but there were too many things I couldnt make in this situation. If I feel like it, I could even make a full course meal here. But lets not do that Personally, I wanted to eat sea fish. I had lots of it in my [Storage]. I ate them little by little secretly, but they didnt decrease at all since I only ate alone It didnt really matter since it would not rot, though. I also had river fish, but hmm No, its too troublesome. Lets make something else. I made a pork bone porridge using the orc bone soup I preparedst time. I put in some vegetables and some meat. I made it in a sizable amount, so theres no way this wouldnt be enough. When I took out the saucepan filled with soup, I hid behind the carriage and sneaked it out to make sure I wouldnt stand out, but the scent caught everyones attention. I guess this scent was amazing. But I ignored them. And the undernourished kids ate quickly. Ah, but theres a few more left. What should I do Give it to Norn? Um excuse me. If you have any leftovers, can you give it to us? When I was going to give the remaining porridge to Norn and Bell, the leader of the merchant came again. Ah oh well, whatever. There are about five portions left. Are you fine with that? Yes, thats fine! The soup I had yesterday was very delicious, and Im starving after smelling this dish Thank you very much! Therefore, I moved the porridge into the pot brought by the merchant. When I washed my saucepan, I heard a cheer from them Maybe I shouldnt sell it to them? But its leftovers As I prepared for our departure, the leader came over again. Yes, yes. What is it? Actually, I have a request for you. Could you make our caravans meal starting tonight? Of course I will pay the bill. We will also bring all the ingredients. I dont mind if you cook your friends share. We will also prepare the ingredients for that. What do you think? Ehh Thats troublesome Did they like it that much? And delicious meals directly rted to morale? Ahh, I could understand that. Hmm, what should I do? With our current situation, I couldnt even take my ingredients. It would be appreciated if we could use their ingredients. I only had to be careful, so they didnt find out about the ingredients, but Since they were escorting a parasite like us, refusing this request would spark a lot of problems. Hmm Hm Are you worried about your friends? Please rest assured, we will protect you properly! And we wont take any fee for that! Mmm Even if he could force me to cook for him, he didnt mention about us being parasites and even offered a bonus of a free escort fee! Maybe he also tried to curry favor like what I did? If possible, I wanted him to raise the offer, but I should know when to stop. I mean, it was great that we could get escorts and free ingredients just by cooking for them! And Im not great at negotiations, anyway. Okay, then Ill ept that By the way, all I have to do is cook for your caravan personnel and my friends, right? Yes, go with that. Dont worry about those people. Chapter 111: Proper Distance is Important Part 2 Chapter 111: Proper Distance is Important Part 2 Yeah, apart from this guys caravan, which was very nice to us, there were also two other caravans. By the way, both of them didnt like my tea bribes yesterday. So I didnt give them any tea during todays break. Naturally, Im not that stupid. Theres no doubt that some people were ring at us, but I was already under the protection of this leader. Theres no problem. This person would handle the troublesome negotiations with them, so I should ept his request. Also, he would lend me several people to help in the preparation. I asked if Arle and the other kids could help me, and he agreed. It would take too much time to prepare lots of food, so it would be troublesome if he didnt approve of that. With 10 carriages, this persons caravan had over 30 personnel. I didnt n to work myself to death. Actually, now that I have [Cooking] LV10, I could easily do it if I feel like it. But its a hassle Thats why I was temporarily hired as a cook. After that, we continued to move, arriving at todays campsite with no problem. Starting from today, I left the night camp preparation to everyone else, so I prepared the meal immediately. We had one freshly caught orc, so I wanted to make something from it. This orc was a stray monster that attacked us when we arrived at the campsite. By the way, the goods in this caravan were food. They brought a sizable amount of wheat or something like that. They told me I could use them as much as I like, so I didnt restrain myself. That being said, I had to make food for around 40 people including us What should I make? I found something familiar when I looked inside the cargo. It was a pasta machine. Hmm, lets just make pasta. Pasta was filling, and I was already tired of thinking too much, so I went with this. After that, lets go with vegetable soup? I asked the caravans person in charge of cooking to make the soup. Its a pain to make borate foods, so lets go with my specialty meat sauce. I asked those who had nothing to do to make arge amount of minced meat, then I made the sauce. Fortunately, they had dried tomatoes, so I could make do with this. Next, I kneaded a sizable amount of wheat to make the dough, made noodles using the machine, boiled it, thenpleted. I made the portion for each person slightly bigger, so they couldnt ask for the second serving. If thats not enough, please eat your own hard bread, okay? The dinner ended with great sess. Many people unreasonably begged for another te. No way, everyone got a big serving of pasta before The leader scolded them, saying that they couldnt eat too much of the product, and they finally became quiet. The next morning, I made another dumpling soup using the boiled orc bone soup from yesterday as the base. If I wanted to make something that filled the stomach and warmed the body, my options were limited. Plus, the ingredients and the recipes I could use were restricted. Its annoying. We had to hurry during the day, so I made the lunch appropriately and tried cooking Peperoncino at night. As usual, I left the soup to someone else. At first, many people were dissatisfied that I only added bacon in my cooking. But after eating a bite, they all shoveled it into their mouth silently. Fufu. The next day, we were attacked by three orcs in the afternoon. However, the escorts were experienced and skillful. We had twelve escorts with us, so they beat the orcs easily after cooperating with each other. Lets make these orc meats into todays supper What should I make? The leader told me we would arrive at ONeill tomorrow afternoon, so this was thest supper Hmm. Maybe I should make a nourishing dish? Should I go with that? I collected the hard bread from the caravan and grated it to make bread crumbs. Then I cut out the meat from the orc and beat it to soften it. I taught the procedure to other people so I could leave this to them. I added some seasoning to the meat and let it rest for a while, then I fried the orc fat to make arge amount of oil. They gave me permission to use some eggs, even if those were high-ss items, so I used the eggs and the breadcrumbs to dress the meat. When I finished preparing lots of meat, I fried it in turns. Yes, this was a pork cutlet. For now, I kept frying the meat. I cooked the meat of the three orcs, so everyone could have another serving. I had secured my portion, so theres no need to worry. It seems like the remaining portion would be sold. The stomach would hurt if they only ate meat, so I didnt forget to prepare shredded cabbage. They could eat it as much as they wanted, be it sandwiching it between bread or directly. Some tough guys insisted on only eating the meat, but it would be painful when they wake up tomorrow But I didnt really feel like taking care of them that much. I wouldnt take responsibility. Lets leave them alone. Is this the specialty food of Hars inn? But what I ate there wasnt so tender. The taste and the texture are also different What I ate back then was greasy. The taste was more how should I say this Oh, oh! Why are you making such a hard face! You shouldnt eat this delicious food while using your head! Stop thinking so much and just eat it! Hmm. From the leaders mutterings I heard, it seemed like he had eaten this at Har? Fortunately, thanks to the bearded uncle who was the leaders escort, he concentrated on eating without making any strange guesses I guess I should be thankful that he didnt misunderstand me? But if he asked me anything, I would y innocent. The next day proceeded smoothly, and we could see ONeills town wall from afar before noon. When we were approaching the branch road going south, I parted with them here. Are you sure? ONeill is just right there. If youre tired, we can take a short break here? No, I have my circumstances The leader of the caravan was worried about me, but I refused him. I couldnt enter the city. Haa. I guess each person has their own situation. It cant be helped I understand, well part here. Dont worry about your friends since Ill send them to ONeill. Then Ill leave them under your care. Anyway, I received the payment for cooking and left. I crept to the south with my carriage, and when I couldnt see them anymore, I took a rest for a while. From there, I returned to the branch road on foot, entering the forest northeast of ONeill. I nned to take my house out there when I reached the depths of the forest. I already told Tri and the others that I would camp there. And they woulde to tell me about the town every two days, so this was perfect. Now that my arrangements wereplete, I should also prepare myself for the worst Chapter 112: Suspicious Person is Suspicious No Matter What Chapter 112: Suspicious Person is Suspicious No Matter What Anyway, I returned to the depths of the forest. I went pretty far so it should be okay, but I watched my surroundings to guard myself against the monsters. Yeah, no one could see me from outside! Im finally relieved. Therefore, first I had to level the ground so I could put my house. I stored the snow in the entire area and pulled out the trees in the way. Normally, I would store the herbs that grew with the trees, but finding wild herbs in this season was just impossible. Next, I used earth magic to even out the entire area and took out my house. Finally, I sprinkled a sizable amount of demon repellent toplete the work. Hmm, maybe I could make something that automatically repelled the demons? Like thentern that wards off spirits. If possible, I wanted to make something that I could use again and again. It would be easier for me to install them at equal intervals Ah, maybe it would be safer if I also installed barrier magic? Hmm, lets make themter. Ah, I should stop thinking and enter the house already. I felt nothing since my equipment protected me from all attributes, but Norn and Bell should be cold. Huh? They were born to be resistant to cold, so its fine? I see, its like that In the end, Norn and Bell didnt enter the house. They slept in the garden space. They also told me they needed nothing since they would hunt their own meal I was thinking of making curry in this rare opportunity. Turns out they didnt want it? Hm? Before I could mention the curry, they already ran together, so I missed the chance to tell them. Its kind of awkward. But I didnt feel like eating curry alone, so lets eat something else tonight Since I was tired from traveling long distances, I went to bed early today without doing my daily routine after meals. I should just do todays portion tomorrow! Fuhehe! The next day, I had nothing special to do. I made the repellentntern that I came up with yesterday. And Ipleted it in the morning. Hmm, its thanks to my high skill level, but I wanted to do research or experiment that would take more time No, this is more convenient, so its fine! But I was not satisfied with this! In the afternoon, I set up thepletedntern to repel monsters and went around to explore the surrounding area. By the way, I also installed thisntern in the four corners of my stone fence. My safety came first! Two years ago, I secretly came to this forest several times to collect food. Even so, I never went this deep before. The adventurers in the town mainly tried to subdue goblins and stray orcs. Even low-ranking adventurers who were collecting herbs wouldnt go deep into the forest. Why did I know something like this? Well, most of the orphans could only be adventures, so its natural for me to gather information, isnt it? Older orphans who left the orphanage earlier also gave us the information they had collected. You could say that I heard about the adventurers situation thanks to them? By the way, the standard course of an orphan was to register as an adventure while earning small coins by collecting herbs while they were still living in the orphanage. And when they were around twelve to fourteen years old, they would leave the town and aim for the royal capital. When I was ten years old, I was also nning to register as an adventurer and save money to leave the orphanage. But I was fortunate enough to learn [Appraisal] at that age. You guys know it, right? Me entering the getting sold to a merchant course. Um, I said that they sold me. But actually, they told me to sign an employment contract to have an apprenticeship. That time, I thought I would work to repay that frog-faced merchant who was also an investor for the orphanage. But then, I overheard from the employees or the apprentices of the branch office that they would force me to use contract magic and very magic, living like a ve. At that point of life, I fell into despair, thinking my life had ended well, now I have turned into this kind of person. Life sure was unexpected. However, the wording of the contract was will work for years, instead of will work for years from AM to PM They didnt write the working hours But it also had a result I realized that I regained the memory of my previous life after that. Really, I hate that. Thats why I couldnt let them find out about me. I was supposed to be dead. If they caught me now, I would have to make a lot of effort to get out of this country and somehow deal with that contract. Because of that, I had always been careful of any pursuer and staying away from the problematic merchants. Although I had gained the ability to fight to some extent in the past two years, physically eliminating someone else would make me a criminal. That was myst resort. I always thought I should just escape if anything happened. But there were limits in escaping. Bing a criminal and running away from the country would make me hesitate too. Lets get back on point. I continued to explore my surroundings, my moodplicated. Norn and Bell were naturally going with me. They asionally ran out and returned with prey. Sometimes, I felt like someone was watching me. But then, Norn and Bell were running around hunting, so the wild animals might be wary of me. As I made good progress, I felt a sign of a person approaching I had caught them with [Detection] a while ago, but it seems like they noticed me. Maybe they were a hunter? Did theye to talk so they could preventpeting for prey? I stopped and waited for a while. Then the bushed moved, and arge figure of a man slowly appeared. I couldnt see how he looked since he was wearing a cloak, but he was huge. Even if he didnt reach two meters, he was 180cm or more. And he had a long stick wrapped in cloth in his hand. Maybe it was a long spear or something like that? Lets do [Appraisal] on it Oh no, it had resistance. I was going to use [Analysis] instead, but he already took a step forward. I warily took a step back, and Norn and Bell came out in front of me, starting to intimidate him with a growl. Ohh, I look suspicious like this, right? No need to be that wary. I thought he was a man from his physique, but he had a croaky voice. Sounds like he was pretty old. Not losing my guard, I was on my toes. He then lowered his hood to expose his face. The mans hair was pure white and long, reaching his back. Since his hair was white, maybe he was sixty to seventy years old? No, his stern face looked a little younger maybe he made himself look youthful? Nah, hes an old man. He even had a beard that reached his chest. I could see a glimpse of his ck armor from his cloak. The decorations were borate, like they were infused with some kind of magic power. His back was straight and his posture was good, plus his arms and legs had solid muscles. Right I look like a hunter, dont I? So rest assured. A hunter? As if theres any hunter like you! If I have to describe you, you look like a veteran soldier, you know! Theres no old hunter who will show signs of abnormality like him! Huh? Maybe Im in great trouble now? Im here to hunt for todays food, but I cant find any Sorry, but can you please share anything I can eat? When I was cooperating with Norn to prepare our escape, but he said something stupid again. Hey, youre a hunter, right? Why did you be a monk suddenly? Are you a participant in the winter subjugation? No, Im a hunter. Im a hunter. Hes really Responding to this kind of guy properly would make me look like a fool, though? He didnt seem like he would tell me the truth no matter how many times I asked him I couldnt feel any hint of malice from his gaze, so lets just trust him for now. Norn and Bell were with me. In the worst case, I should be able to run away as long as I resisted him with all of my might. Haa, I understand. A hunter, huh? A poor hunter who cant even catch his prey at that age. Yeah, Im an ipetent hunter. So please share your food with me. Right, I want something unusual and delicious! What a cheeky grandpa. Okay. My house is over there, so please follow me. He would know my house anyway, so lets stop resisting futilely. But I had no intention to let him enter my house. Once we arrived, I went inside by myself. That grandpa waited outside. Then, I took out some dishes I had prepared from [Storage]. He told me he wanted something unusual, so I gave him oyakodon, miso soup, and pickled vegetables. I added fruit jelly as the dessert. He wouldnt expect me to act so suspicious anyway, so I would curry favor with him. If that didnt work, I would deliver a hail of blows and magic swords to him. Its ready. Ohh! Thanks! I took out a table and chairs in the garden and had a meal there. Yeah, I also ate. I didnt take off my hood, though. Oh, this is delicious! I know, right? But grandpa, stop talking when eating. In the end, that grandpa asked for another serving three times. Where did the food end up? And after the meal, I served warm barley tea, taking a rest. Wah, thank you so much for the delicious food! I know, Ill give you this to thank you. After saying so, that grandpa took out something wrapped in cloth. What was this? This is the wing of a dragon. I killed it a long time ago. Eh. I want to give you the scales, but I didnt bring any with me right now Forgive me with this. What? A dragon? He killed it? Eh, this grandpa was a dragon yer? Ehhh!? It seems like your cloak is made of mithril, Miss. If you use this, the defense will be better. You can also make a breastte with that. Eh, I cant receive this! I only gave you a meal, this is too much! Hey hey, this grandpa was really an idiot, wasnt he!? Giving me dragon material to thank me for the meal Maybe he was crazy!? Hahaha. Just take it. Itll be useful for something Now then, since Im already full, Ill leave now. Well meet again if fate allows it. See you. He immediately left after saying that Leaving the wrapping cloth on the table. Ehhhh, whats with that grandpa!? What the hell just happened!? Its too strange! And well meet again if fate allows it? He said he wasnt taking part in the subjugation, but he should join it! If he could kill a dragon, then participate, please! Why did a dragon yer not participate in this subjugation!? I was so confused about my encounter with the suspicious grandpa that I became so annoyed. In the end, I went to bed early that day. I really dont get him at all! Chapter 113: Withdrawal in the Forest (Third Time) Part 1 Chapter 113: Withdrawal in the Forest (Third Time) Part 1 And now its the next day. I was a little refreshed after sleeping for a long time. After all, releasing umted stress with hobbies was the best, right? Eh? Whats my hobby? I enjoy making things as I like, eating delicious food, sleeping a lot, and doing my daily routine. This time I slept a lot. Well, it would be nice if I could do my daily routine. Its been a long while too. But you know? I cant get excited when I was irritated, plus I want to concentrate without thinking about unnecessary things dont make me say it. Its embarrassing. Leaving aside the details, Tris team wille today. So I cant be too leisurely either. Lets prepare food to kill time today. Im tired of forging swords. Hm? Yesterdays that? Ah, the dragons al I tried to [Appraise] it a little while ago, but the level was too crazy that I didnt even know what to do with it. I would only waste it with my current skill. So for the time being, I pass. I mean, thats the al of an Elder Dragon. Elder, you know? Dragon would get stronger as they got older, right? Elder was the highest peak in growth. From the bottom, the order was: dragte, lesser, major, greater, and elder. Do you know how many hundred years it takes to be an elder? I couldnt even count it anymore. Yeah. To tell you the truth, Im not confident in handling this outrageous material. At the very least, I had a feeling that I shouldnt treat it as something simr to the low-ranked sub-dragon species. Thats why I stored it in my [Storage] for a while. I need to practice how to use Adamantite for three days to finally master it; you know. Its impossible for me to make something with no preparation! Please give me some time to study it! Seriously! Anyway, while I was cooking food and sweets, the noon passed. Then Tris team came over. By the way, the members who came were Tri, Arle, and Ryuu. Next time, a different team of three people woulde. Thebination was one boy and two girls. However, Cain and Boman werent included. The reason? I didnt want to let them enter my house. You understand, right? Didnt you say youre going to camp in the depths of the forest? Yes. Im sleeping in the forest, so its camping, right? Just forget about it Were talking about Ren here Huh? Why? By the way, Tris team got lost in the middle of the forest, so I asked Norn to pick them up. Then, I received the information Tri and the others collected in the town. They were looking at me with a distant look. The subjugation teams main unit and Knights Order had already left the town and moved to the base in the frontline. Only a few reserve adventurers and Knights Order stayed in the town right now. Scouts regrly brought information back from the frontline to the town, and part of them would be publicized. The reason was that the townspeople could judge whether they should evacuate. Besides Tris team, some orphans that used to live in the orphanage also returned to see the situation. They were also nning to support the orphans if they had to evacuate in an emergency. Hmm. Seems like we all had the same intention. The people who came back to the orphanage were all adventurers. They brought a lot of food, just like Tris team. How could I say this Listening to this made my eyes somewhat teary. Among the members who came back, there was Bob who bullied Cain before. Cain had a hrious look serves him right. And they only told me about my survival to the orphanages director. They couldnt be sure that any of the staff had connections with that merchant, and they couldnt deny the possibility that the little kids might unconsciously leak it out. Everyone who gathered at the orphanage was sleeping in the vacant room of the institution, which didnt charge a lodging fee. However, everyone forcefully handed the director some money to some extent. Listening to that, I couldnt help but smile. Everyone really thought of the same thing, eh. And then, all of those people went to the nearby hunting grounds during the day to collect herbs and edible wild nts that could be harvested in the winter, and hunt goblins to earn money so they could give it to the director Everyone was a nice kid. I will also prepare various thingster, so please take it back. Sure, but are you sure about this? Yes. But it would be bad if I gave them too many things without controlling myself. Lets do it moderately. Presently, there were over forty orphans in the orphanage and more than twenty children had returned, so the institution wouldnt have enough funds to feed everyone. They got by with the foodstuffs everyone brought with them and the edibles they collected on the first day, but they might have to think about some n if they were going to stay for a long time in this town There were also possibilities that they woulde this far to collect herbs and find out about my house, so I might have to move further into the forest sometimes. As I listened to their stories, I noticed the sun had set. It should be dangerous for them to go home now, so I told Tri and the others to stay overnight. To be honest, I had that intention since the beginning. This is an order, okay? You shouldnt refuse. The town of ONeill was far from this forest, and my house location was deep in this forest. It would take quite a while to reach this ce. The proof was that Tris team arrived at my house in the afternoon, even after Norn picked them up. And they would have to go through the pitch-ck forest, walking for a considerably long time, even after leaving the demon repellentntern barrier I set up. Moving in a dark forest naturally increased the risk of being attacked by demons. I had no intention of letting them do such a dangerous thing. Therefore, I forced them to say. By the way, no one objected. Which was not a surprise for me. Thats why I was making dinner too. Even so, I wouldnt cook seafood dishes now. I made cream stew. On this cold day, this dish was perfect! Well, beef stew was also okay, though I just wanted to eat this. Plus, I got plenty of milk in my [Storage]. What is this? What is this! What is this!? This is so delicious Ren No, theres nothing I can say anymore Those were Arle, Ryuu, and Tris reaction in order. Seems like they liked it, huh? That being said, I also think its delicious. The thigh meat of cockatrice was delicious! Ah, it would be nice to have gratin in a dish that used cream sauce, huh Lets make it in the future. Chapter 113: Withdrawal in the Forest (Third Time) Part 2 Chapter 113: Withdrawal in the Forest (Third Time) Part 2 Im d you like it. You can ask for more, you know? Ahh, yes. Please But how on earth do you find this dish No, were talking about Ren after all Just what kind of person am I in Tris mind? I dont want to hear it, though. The bread was a bread roll, baked using natural yeast to make it fluffy. The butter also tasted delicious. This bread alone is already something high-ss, right? How did you even make this Arle muttered in the middle, her mouth never stopped chewing. Ryuu ate silently from the second bite. That being said, he properly tasted the vor, even if he moved quickly. And thirty minutester, the three kids reached their limit. Yes, yes. Everyone, take a bath and go to bed early, okay? I threw all of them into the bath in order. Me? I was thendlord, so I took the bath first. The people waiting in line had a small chat over a cup of tea with me. However, our main topic was about the orphanage. After chatting a lot, I found out that the orphanage still had enough food at the moment, but they couldnt offer enough bedding with the number of people who had returned home. I guess I should have prioritized that more than food. Hmm I want to give food to the orphanage, but Everyone else is bringing food with them, and they are also collecting food for the orphanage Right. I have many extra furs, so please bring some of them back tomorrow. Many extra furs? But thatll help a lot. Thanks. Youre wee? To be honest, I had a lot of extra lesser wolfs fur. Many stupid monsters didnt understand the gap between us, even if I was with Norn. I only attacked the ones who started a fight with me, but they kept increasing I also had too many goblin corpses. I couldnt eat both of them even if I boiled or baked it, so their corpses umted in my [Storage]. Its troublesome to burn them and bury them every time It would be nice if I could use it for something is there any good way to use it? Should I use them as fertilizer? Ah, I should also make some hot water bottles. I already gave Tris groups share, but I would like to prepare some for the little kids in the orphanage and the director But if Tri brought too many, everyone would suspect where she got it. Hmm, this is hard After everyone finished taking a bath, I guided them to the guest rooms. The number of guest rooms on the first floor was exactly three since I extended it the other day, so each of them could have a room. But this seemed to be the first time the three of them stayed in a private room. They looked very restless. I told them they could use the toilet freely, and if they were hungry in the middle of the night, they could eat as much as they like. I prepared a basket full of bread on the table of the living room. After that, I told them they couldnt enter the second floor since it was my private space. But then, all the rooms on the second floor except the toilet were locked. The next day, everyone except me woke up before noon. Apparently, they were so nervous about their first luxurious single room that they couldnt fall asleep. But when they finally got sleepy, the bed was sofortable that they didnt wake until this time. Well you guys had a nice sleep, right? Then its fine, isnt it? As for me, I woke up early as usual, ate breakfast, and made additional barriernterns to repel demons, killing time. By the way, I didnt do my daily routinest night. Even though the soundproofing was perfect, I couldnt mentally get into it, knowing that Tri and the others were staying in the same house as me1. After finishing my early lunch and Tris teamste breakfast, I gave them various souvenirs. Just in case, I asked Norn to send them back until the end of the forest. They wille again tomorrow, right? Hmm. Maybe I should ask them toe every three days instead of two But I received the update of the information faster this way. How troubling. After Tris team returned, I made weapons. But I didnt use my smithy. The reason was it would be bad if anyone identified the location of my house because of the smoke. Then what did I do? Thats easy, I made it using [Creation Magic]. Its not impossible as long as I paid the cost of the forging with my MP. It was a heavy burden on my MP, but it was much easier than before thanks to my high skill levels. Other than that, I could create it normally with no particr problem. By the way, I made arge throwing dagger this time. The bestowal were [Non-attribute], [Fire Attribute], [Attack Enhancement], [Endurance Enhancement], and one [Weapon Skill]. The [Weapon Skill] this time was Final Strike. It was a self-destruction skill thatpressed and released the hidden magic power all at once and crushed the weapon that served as a container to generate a powerful magic explosion. Once used, the dagger would naturally shatter. And because of its nature, the [Weapon Skill] power increased along with the number and the level of the bestowed skills. The idea came from this: Since I couldnt collect the weapon after throwing the magic sword, I should eliminate the need to collect it, right? However, doing this with arge amount of all attribute magic swords stored in my [Storage] would be too powerful and dangerous, so I tried to reduce the firepower so it wouldnt destroy the surroundings, and I ended up making this Burst Dagger. Well, I would make some magic swords too. Just in case. But it would be better not to use this kind of thing. Even so, I couldnt be too careful, right? For the time being, after I made around ten of them, it was exactly evening. Lets have dinner. While eating my meal, I used [Detection] to scan the area near the outer edge of the forest. There, I could see some reactions, flickering from time to time. They should be the escorts Vector arranged for me. In fact, they were trying hard to chase me in the snow while the carriage was smoking. Thank you for your hard work. For the time being, I pretended that I didnt notice them. Since they were originally hidden escorts, I couldnt give them any refreshments too. To be honest, I felt a bit apologetic. But thats their job. They should put up with it and work hard. Please stay with me for a while, okay? Now then, I finally could do my daily routine today after a long time. Having said that, three people from Tris team were going toe here, so I couldnt take my time too much. Lets do it moderately. Would I be satisfied with doing it moderately? I did a lot of my other hobbies today, so its fine! Then, Im going to my room already! Good night! Chapter 114: Dont You Think Bad Premonition Usually Hit the Mark? Part 1 Chapter 114: Don''t You Think Bad Premonition Usually Hit the Mark? Part 1 In the morning of the next day, I built thentern to repel demons together with [Barrier Magic]. Thinking that Barrier Tower was a good idea, I added them as well. I had installed eightnterns in the four corners of my houses stone tower and my house. But I might install it more extensively, so lets prepare just in case. I had to prepare for everything! By the way, the repellentntern looked like antern, but it was possible to actually light it. I dont use it now, but its useful to have light in the forest. While doing this and that, the lunch was over and Maricles team came. Todays members were Maricle, Rico, and Kuro. By the way, Norn didnt pick them up. Somehow, Kuro led them here without trouble beastfolk was amazing. Leaving that aside, hmm the previous members had weapons with them, but this time the members were a bitplicated? Thats what I thought, but they caught two horned rabbits on the way. One was by Ricos non-attribute magic arrow. Kuro chased the other one and killed it on her own. Anyway, some members who returned to the orphanage were doing D-rank subjugation requests, while others were having a practice match with each other to get used to real battle. Surprisingly, Kuro was undefeated. At first, her D-rank brother was going easy on her, but even when he fought seriously in the middle, Kuro still won What a scary cat beastfolk. Also, it seemed like her battle style was the assassin type. She moved to the opponents blind spot with high speed and attacked their limbs and critical points. After making a sizable gap, she stabbed a dagger on their nape. My, this girl was scary. However, Kuros fighting style wellplemented her physical ability as a beastfolk. Because her weapon was a dagger, her fighting style was too different to teach to Cain and the boys, so she couldnt help much. In the end, the D-rank older brothers and sisters would train Cains team. In addition, Maricles ability more than equally matched with those older brothers. He mastered the shield skillfully, and his win rate was close to 50%. Maricle sure was working hard. Ryuu, who had a small body, had trained his foundation. However, he had fought by taking advantage of his speed and pushed in with force. He could be a good opponent in a short match. However, hisck of stamina was noticeable in a long match. Cain was overjoyed when he received an old short sword. And somehow, he was talented, so he steadily grew stronger. Even if its only been a few days, he had made amazing progress. Boman was his single blow attack was powerful. But he was uselesspared to the others. For the girls, Tri used a spear. The D-ranked older sister lent her a short spear and taught her a lot of things. She also steadily improved. In fact, since Tri was tomand the girls in the rearguard, she was more suited with medium-range weapons like short spear rather than short-range weapons like short swords. Also, Tri was the best in using a spear when hunting horned rabbits. Seems like she was talented in using spears. Arle was throwing stones alone. It couldnt be helped And Rico also trained her magic. She could now use the magic arrow to shoot her target. By the way, even if I called it magic arrow, its not like she had to call it this this arrow or something like that. She could call it this this bolt or that that missile as well. Basically, the caster could activate the skill with any name. Whats important was that they liked it. In other words, this was a loose setting where I could give a magic skill a very cringy name. Rico seemed to name it Magic Arrow. Thats eptable. Cain said he got a sword, but what about everyone else? Maricle, you got nothing? No, its just Cain. I dont think other guys can afford to give all of us weapons either. They should prepare a spare weapon too, right? That makes sense The information I received this time was not particrly rming. They told me that the caravan people who apanied us to ONeill would return to the royal capital the next day. The leader of the caravan who was nice to us didnt speak about me to anyone else. Tri met him by chance on the merchants way back to his inn. He told her he wouldnt say anything unnecessary that would put me at a disadvantage since my situation seemed to beplicated. The other caravan guys who were with us didnt know about me, so they did nothing strange and nned to go home with him. Im relieved, I guess? Other than that was the reserve adventurers who stayed in the town doubled up, considering how the controlled demons would rampage after the Master of the Winter got defeated. I didnt know how many demons followed the Master of the Winters order, but usually, demons which were released under the influence of their leader would grow crazy and attack the nearby town. Apart from the main force that would fight the Master of the Winter, the rear unit to counter the surrounding demons was moving to the front line base. But if the Master of Winter this time had more demon followers than expected, ONeills surroundings might be full of demons. And the reserve unit in the town was prepared to deal with such cases In the worst case, the adventurers under thirteen years old in the town might also be mobilized. Thats why the members who returned to the orphanage and Cains team were preparing themselves for the emergency case. Hmm, its like a strange g had risen Vector, please do your best. For real. After hearing such a story, there was no particr topic to talk about anymore. In the end, we went back to talk about Tris team training and equipment. Since Cain got a sword this time, only Boman and Maricle had no weapons. No, Maricle had a dagger with him, but using that as his main weapon made me feel slightly uneasy. Arle? Arle wanted to be an archer. For the time being, she should keep throwing the stones to learn the [Sniper] skill. However, Tri seemed to aim for spear-user Hmm, maybe I should prepare equipment for Maricle too. I wouldnt make anything for Boman and Cain. Boman was how should I say this? He could just use a club, right? He had strength, and he didnt need any skill. Huh? That might work. When I told Maricle about that, he muttered, Thats usible Maybe he would make it for Boman once he returned. Leaving that aside, I first tried to make orc leather armor for Kuro. I gave her a dagger before, but I added two more than her spare weapon. However, these daggers could be used for actualbat. I also made a sling for her. Considering her fighting style and race characteristics I heard from them, she was more suited to be a scout or a ranger, and sometimes an assassin? Assassin What if I assassinate that merchant No, thats myst resort. The worst ending I could think of was bing a criminal and fleeing to another country. But then, Icked the skills to do that. Just in case, I should train a lot now Next was Rico. Rico was nning to proceed as a mage, so theres no need to tamper her equipment with unnecessary things. She had the cloak I gave her before. Adding a leather breastte would be heavy for her. Therefore, leather gloves and shoes should be enough. I also gave a sling to Rico so she could attack at a long distance when her magic power ran out. If Rico had to use a dagger, then the party was in danger ofplete annihtion. I had to prevent that from happening. Thest was Maricle. Chapter 114: Dont You Think Bad Premonition Usually Hit the Mark? Part 2 Chapter 114: Don''t You Think Bad Premonition Usually Hit the Mark? Part 2 First, I should give him the orc leather armor I promised before. However, I sew metal tes on some parts to strengthen the defense. I prepared a one-handed sword with the highest quality as his weapon. However, I didnt bestow anything. The specifications were almost the same as Ryuus sword. If he wanted to buy this, it would cost dozens of small gold coins, right? Or maybe a few gold coins? No, lets stop thinking. Next was a shield. I made a round shield with steel, wood, and leather. It would be too heavy for him to lift arge shield. For the time being, the front part was made entirely of metal, so it wouldnt break easily. When he grew up, he could buy a newrge shieldpletely made of metal. I didnt bestow this as well. The leather shield in front of me was for lets give it to Ryuu and Cain. Its better than wasting it, anyway. Hey, are you sure about this? Ill be sad if you die. Die Thats Well, I understand. But well pay you. You can pay me when you seed in the world. Ill work hard. I will work hard to pay you back too! Ren, I will do my best. Um, do your best, guys. Ah, when they return to the orphanage with updated equipment, everyone else would question it, right? I should think of some excuses now. Hmm, how about saying that a kind merchant in the royal capital came to see them during his business and lent them equipment because he was worried? Tri had amazing interpersonalmunication ability, so it wasnt impossible yeah, lets go with this. I told Maricle about that, and he nodded in agreement. He said he would tell Triter. Now that the excuse was done I already gave Ryuu equipment before. Whats left was Tris spear. I couldnt make it if she wasnt here, could I? I could also make both short and long spears first, though Oh, and I need to update her armor as well. While thinking about such things, its time to eat dinner. Yup, they naturally would stay overnight here. After listening to Tris teams storiesst time, all three of them wanted to eat stew. So I make cream stew tonight. They liked it a lot since they kept asking for another serving. Hehe! And then, they took a bath and went to the bed. Their reaction was the same as Tris teams. As for the room allocation, I had Maricle stay in the room Ryuu used before, and let the two girls choose But Rico and Kuro shared a room. I guess no one liked sleeping alone By the way, all the guest rooms had twin beds, so theres no problem in that area. The next morning, the three of them didnt wake until noon. Just as I expected. After lunch, everyone went home, and I had free time again. What should I do? Well, I wanted to try making a lot of things. At night, I did my daily routine a little early and went to bed early. Just like that, I spent my day with such a feeling. What was unusual among the things I did during my free time was my research on disguise. I mean, I might have to go near the town if something really happened, you know? In the worst case, I had to enter the town. Even though I tightly guarded my face with a hood and muffler, I couldnt rest assured. But I didnt want to cut my hair. Then, I thought I should change my hair color. Vector also did it, right? Then I should be able to do it too! Then, as the result of trying various things, its impossible to disguise with the [Camouge] skill alone. Apparently, he also changed the color using the light attribute magic. I tried ying with different hair colors. The one I liked the most was silver hair. I often saw protagonists in reincarnation stories with that hair color, and I feel like it would suit me well. I also tried changing the color of my eyes, but it kept consuming my MP for some reason. The amount wasnt much, though. However, it would be troublesome to maintain this color change for a long time After changing the hair once, I could maintain it without consuming my MP. Just whats wrong here? By the way, I could change the color of other peoples hair, so I tried to y with Norn and Bell. It was fun! I couldnt help butugh when they had golden fur. It really hurts my eyes. Other than that, I made more burst daggers and replenished various consumables. I had a fulfilling day, except that I couldnt do my daily routine. And something suddenly happened one afternoon, around ten days after I started staying in this forest. I already had a strange feeling from the morning on that day. The forest was strangely quiet. I spent the day wondering why it felt off, and when the lunch was over and I was going to wash Norns tes, Norn suddenly raised her head and stared at something. Norn? She didnt move at all, only looking at a space No, her gaze indicated that something abnormal had urred. When I asked Norn, it looked like something terrible had happened. The town of ONeill was being attacked by a flock of demons. My [Detection] caught nothing, but Norn learned several upper detection skills. Therefore, she noticed the abnormal situation. In case the worst thing happened, I should move near the town just in case. I hurriedly stored my house and recovered my barrier tower. Its my fault that I wasnt good at exercising and didnt train myself. Even though my body had been corrected with my skills, I stillcked physical strength and immediately lost my breath. My AGI should be high, but my legs didnt move well, which was frustrating. When I finally passed through the forest and looked toward the city, I saw a group of people fighting a flock of wolf-type demon beasts. They were Tris team! I rushed out and asked Norn to rescue them. By the time I reached them, Norn and Bell had finished the demon beasts. Everyone was panting, but they didnt seem to be injured. However, there were only the girls here. During my confusion, Tri came to me, using the spear I gave to her as a cane to steady herself. Ren, what a relief Since you came here, you know that something happened, right? Wheres everyone else? I nodded and asked Tri about the situation. As I had expected, a stampede happened. ording to the scout who returned to the town in a hurry, the Master of Winter had more subordinates than their predictions. The units in the front line were trying to return here, but a powerful monster that could be called the adjutant of the Master of Winter appeared. It led a part of the group and moved to the town. Thats why they need more time to destroy the remaining monsters on the front line. As a result, not only the citys reserve force but also adventurers under the age of thirteen years old had to fight. The time-consuming defense battle will need to hold out until the front line unit return. Under such circumstances, Tris team thought my powerful familiars Norn and Bell could win against these demons, so they tried to inform me. However, they were attacked by the demons during their move. As they prepared for their annihtion because of the difference in their strength, I rushed in timely. That sounds bad Lets hurry. Ah, but is it okay!? I have various ns. Yes, I had prepared some measures. And I couldnt abandon everyone in this situation. Helping everyone was my decision. Lets think about the restter on. Norn, let me ride you! We have to hurry! I hopped onto Norn and hurried to the city. I feel bad for Tri, but I had to go first. Ill go first. Tri, follow me from behind! Norn, Bell, lets go! Chapter 115: Actually, I Think This is the First Time I Participated in Actual Battle Part 1 Chapter 115: Actually, I Think This is the First Time I Participated in Actual Battle Part 1 I used [Hawks Eyes] while grasping on Norns back to enhance my eyesight. Thanks to that, I could see the area around the castle from a distance. The eastern gate where we were heading was closed. I could see a few people nearby. They seemed to be soldiers ording to Tri and the girls; the monsters attacked the north side. Then I should turn right from here I instructed Norn to change the direction and head to the north gate. With Norns speed, we should arrive in less than ten minutes. Lets disguise myself for now. I used [Camouge] Skill that I tried a few days ago to change the color of my hair and eyes into silver. Next, I changed the color of Norn and Bells furs. Both of their furs turned ck now. When it came to ck wolf demon beasts, ck Demon Wolf was known to be extremely vicious. Theres also the famous Devil Wolf King, who was believed to have destroyed a country a long time ago. Fenrir, on the other hand, had silver fur. The color was suitable to use as a camouge though they could be mistaken as hostile and got attacked. However, I felt apologetic to make them disguise themselves into something simr to the incarnation of evil. Its only for a while, so be patient, okay? But for some reason, Norn and Bell were in a good mood. Why? I was silver and Norn and Bell were ck. They seemed to be happy that our color was the opposite of the usual one. Hmm. Its fine as long as they didnt mind. Turns out they were so happy about such a trivial thing How lovely. After a few minutes passed when riding on Norn, I could finally see the north gate. Apparently, the battle had started. There were many adventurers and knights fighting with arge flock of demons. A few adventurer-looking people were fighting against several white wolf demons straight in front of us. They were at a disadvantage since the demons surrounded them. Should I help them for now? I summoned multiple hammer-shaped stone gravel with earth magic, making it float midair around me. Then I shot it. I did this aerial attack using [Sword Magic]. Even if its called [Sword Magic], it didnt mean that I could only use it for swords. This could be applied widely. In the first ce, I learned this skill after shooting a stone, so this was reasonable. Rather, it would be strange if I couldnt use it like this. By the way, I used stone gravel so I wouldnt stand out. Making swords fly would only give me bad publicity. But then, I had no other way to attack. I couldnt use any offensive magic. However, throwing stone gravel like this would make everyone who saw me think I was using earth arrow magic. However, I was worried about the attack power since I was just throwing stones. Therefore, I made the shape of the stone gravel into a hammer, increasing the speed and the power even further by spinning it. Well, I nned to use the burst dagger in case of emergency, though. The moment all the stones shot at high speed hit the head of the wolf demons, I made them explode. My sniper skill was LV7, so its impossible for me to miss the target at this range. It confused the adventurers when the head of the demons suddenly blew in front of them. But when they noticed me, they made a fuss. A ck wolf demon!? And its so big! No way, ck Magic Wolf? Fuck, we have to fight it too? As expected, they mistook Norn and Bell as the enemys reinforcement. However, this was within my n. I slowed Norns speed down and approached them. Wait, someone is riding it? Maybe theyre our ally? After they finally noticed me, their alertness dropped tentatively. Are you alright? Yeah, somehow are you on our side? Thats my intention. I was asked to help by an acquaintance. I see. Were saved But youre amazing. Since you have these beasts following you, your rank should be high, right? Well, yeah Hey. You said you were asked to help by an acquaintance, but who is it? Are you still going to help us after this? Um Ah, what should I do From this conversation, they seemed to misunderstand me as a high-ranking adventurer. Giving out Tris name would be unreasonable Okay, lets say that Vector asked me to help. He also used disguise skill, so he should realize that I disguised myself just like him. Lets believe that he would have guessed the situation and adjusted the story with mine. Vector asked me. Vector!? The Red Hair!? That bastard! He didnt tell us he has a backup n! Hmm. It would be nice if I could get in touch with Vector. Could I do that Its probably impossible. This made me worry. Can you tell me whats the current situation? Oh, sorry. Its ording to what I heard, the situation was worse than I expected. First, the opponents boss was the White Fang. It was arge wolf demon with a strong ice attribute. If youre asking how strong it was, White Fang was strong enough to be the Lord of Winter when it got older. At first, that demon brought a lot of Ice Wolves to this town. An Ice Wolf was a wolf demon that also had an ice attribute. It was originally not a very strong monster, but it became a few times tougher during winter. And dealing with it would be even harder with the White Fangmanding them. And then, another demonized beasts appeared while the adventurers and the knights were struggling with the pack of wolves that attacked in cooperation. They were mainly boars and deers. Of course, they were since they turned into demons with ice magic. They guessed that the reason the demonized beasts had an ice attribute was probably because of the Frost Smander. To make things worse, besides the wolvesing together, the number of opponents with the ability to break through due to the rush had increased. Having too much on their te, the adventurers didnt expect bear demons to appear. Just like that, the adventurers and the knights got pushed gradually. Although no one suffered serious injuries and casualties yet, many people were injured. The current situation was so severe that they barely maintained the front line, with the adventurers exchanging ces right after getting medical treatment. The two men I saved seemed to have separated from the line of defense that held back the demons heading to the gates other than north. I think we can manage this once the team that went to subjugate the Lord of Winteres back, but Im not sure if we can earn enough time for that But with your familiars, this might be possible! Can you help us? I will do my best. I came here for that, so I nned to do something about this. I only had to earn enough time, so it should be possible, right? When I tried to move to the front line while still riding Norn, the adventurers I helped came with me. They were thoughtful, wanting to make sure that the people in the front line wouldnt mistake me as an enemy like before. I was thankful for that, but I didnt like how my speed slowed down. But not having to bother with troublesome interaction was definitely better. I head to the front line, adjusting my speed with the adventurers. I destroyed all the demons that attacked us on the way with stone gravel. I also stored the corpses. Depending on the situation, I might escape in the middle of the battle. And even if they defended the town, I didnt intend to stay until the end. However, I also wanted some ie since I participated in the battle. Thats why I collected the corpses I killed. Even so, there was a problem with my [Storage]s recoverable distance, so leakage might ur. As I did such a thing, I could gradually see the line of defense. There were some simple barriers made of wood But most of the demons already broke into the barrier. For the time being, I sped up and dash into the front line. Ill head there first! Thanks! Chapter 115: Actually, I Think This is the First Time I Participated in Actual Battle Part 2 Chapter 115: Actually, I Think This is the First Time I Participated in Actual Battle Part 2 Letting them enter like this would be bad, so I wanted to push the flock of demons back, or decrease their number. Lets just go there and rampage. First, I should start from the most jammed ce. I snipe the heads of the bears who were rampaging with pebbles, blowing them off. Next was the wild boars and deers that broke through the barrier. I didnt hesitate to keep shooting, running straight from east to west. Of course, Norn and Bell also didnt stay quiet. Norn, who was carrying me, couldnt jump to the demons, so she used lightning magic to pinpoint the demons. Using wind magic in this dense area might break the adventurers into pieces, so she thoughtfully didnt use it. On the contrary, Bell went on a rampage. She jumped from a demon to another one, biting their throat and decapitating them using wind magic When did this child be this strong? Watching Norn and Bells matchlessness made me feel a bitplicated, but actually, I was quite scared. I knew I would be safe since I was riding on Norn, but I was afraid that the demons would jump right onto me. Its okay since Norn would avoid them, but In general, I was only sniping the opponents from a long distance in all the battles I had participated so far. When the enemies approached me, either Norn and Bell would guard me. Thats why this was the first time I dashed into a lot of enemies this time Even if I had [Mental Tolerance] skill, something scary was still scary. As I wondered how many times I had to experience these things to get used to the battlefield, I grew depressed instead. When I thought about such things, I could hear the adventurers behind me shouting. Apparently, they were telling their friends I was on their side. After I went straight to the battlefield, the number of demons started to slightly decrease. Maybe they were retreating to make a new n? However, they also seemed to be at a loss, unsure about what to do. Knowing that the adventurers should rebuild their defense line, I ran into the center of the battlefield again andpletely separated the demons and the defense line. I ran around in the same way as before, prioritizing to kill the bears. Looking back, it seemed that I sessfully separated the demons and the defense line. Now then, the situation finally returned to the starting point. I got off Norn here and stood on alert. That being said, I sniped the small fries with my long-range attack. Instead, I asked Norn and Bell to run straight into the flock of demons again and rampage, defeating the boss, White Fang. Would I be fine without Norn and Bell next to me? Its okay, Im using barrier magic to ovee anything! It was level 4, so it should be able to handle most things, but I also dealt with the enemies, making sure they couldnt approach me. In the first ce, the prerequisite for victory in this defense battle was to earn time until the subjugation force returned. I should be able to handle this until then. Around thirty minutes after separating with Norn and bing a fixed artillery, Tri and the others rushed to me from behind. Haa, haa! Ren, are you okay!? Im fine. Everyone was running out of breath. Apparently, they ran all the way here. They couldnt even start a conversation, so I gave them time to calm their breathing first. Fuu Anyway, what happened here? I started a rampage to bring down the enemies. After that, the adventurers also decreased. They were probably rebuilding the defense power. Once they were done, I think we could handle this. From what I saw in a distance, Norn asionally used wide area offensive magic to st the demons at once. Thanks to that, we were putting up a good fight. However, the number of demons kept increasing again and again, so we probably hadnt grasped the bnce. After sniping without a break, I felt exhausted. It would be nice if Norn beat the White Fang early on But it seemed like too many demons surrounded the boss, making it very hard to approach. Was there any way to break through? Should I give up and shoot the burst daggers? Around the time when things became troublesome and my thoughts started heading to the slightly dangerous area, the adventurers I helped before approached me. Ohh, you seem to be doing well Your familiars are amazing! Were saved thanks to you! Is that so? I didnt try to humor them and immediately asked about the situation on the battlefield. It seemed like we were in the lead for now. However, even if we pushed the demons back, they had injured many people, so it was difficult. Hmmm I understand. Please take this. It would be easier to push them back at once rather than to y endurance battle. Thats why I took out a sizable amount of recovery potion in my [Storage], stuffed it in a leather bag, and handed it over. Three hundred should be enough in the meantime. These are potions? And this many!? Are you sure about this!? Were in a special situation. However, I almost didnt lose anything except for the effort of making the potions. I could make them again after this, and I could also collect herbs easily. In the first ce, considering the stock in my [Storage], the amount I just handed over wasnt very significantpared to my stock. So I didnt mind. Everything is mid-rank. Are they enough? Mid-rank!? Are you serious!? It is not only more than enough, but we can even push the demons back at once! Ohh. Then please immediately go back and do something, okay? I wasnt ustomed to this kind of situation, so I waspletely exhausted. I wanted to go home soon. While watching the adventures run back, my hands didnt stop sniping. For the time being, Tri and the other girls were guarding my surroundings, but I didnt n to let them fight too closely with them. In the first ce, everyone entered my barrier, so theres no danger. Maybe. Ren, are you sure about giving them so many potions? Its fine. I have more. Tri hummed in amazement. Rico and Arle looked at my sniping seriously. Kuro was watching the surroundings. Once the recovery of the injured people and reorganization of the defense formation were done, everyone attacked at once. From what I observed with [Hawks Eyes], they were trying to focus on attacking White Fang. As I supported them with my sniping and watched the situation, I could see Norn and Bell jumping high. They were probably attacking the White Fang. Shortly thereafter, there was a cheer. Apparently, Norn decapitated White Fangs neck. I could hear someone shouting that over there. It was easy after the demons boss had been defeated. The phase turned into a sweeping battle. Since the demons had lost their leader, they were at a loss of what to do. I had been prioritizing the bears, which were the most dangerous. We should be able to win unless theres anything extremeing up. Instead of earning some time, we defeated them. But no one would mind, right? When the victory mood drifted, some guards made a racket around the north gate. The adventurers and other guards who listened to them grew perplexed Did something happen? What should I do? Should I ask them? Hmm. When I was wondering if I should go over there to listen, the adventurer I helped before ran to me at a quick pace and told me. Apparently, the boss of the demons that went to the town wasnt White Fang. The messenger who had copsed woken up and conveyed the urate information. So the real boss wasnt White Fang At that time, I could hear a rumble of the earth from a distance. It was far but not really that far. That sound resonated with a certain rhythm like the tempo of a person walking. The source of the sound came from the forest. I looked closely at the forest, only to see a gigantic tree. The tree looked like it was gradually approaching us no, it definitely was. That was not a tree. That was Giant. What appeared was a giant with a size many timesrger than me, stepping down the surrounding trees. Chapter 116: Why Did This Happen! Part 1 Chapter 116: Why Did This Happen! Part 1 What kind of joke is this? Giants. They were in the same rank as the sub-dragon species. No, even more dangerous if we were unlucky. However, they originally lived in the mountains and rarely appeared in remote areas. The giant that just appeared looked like it was ten meters tall I didnt feel like I could win even if I fought properly. Did I do something wrong? Just what kind of punishment game is this? While I was escaping from reality for a moment, the giant walked through the forest. And numerous goblins and orcs also emerged from the forest, following suit. Not only do we have to face a giant, but also many goblins and orcs. Immediately after thinking we had won the disadvantageous defense battle, the reinforcement of the enemy drastically increased. Rather, those were the main forces, right? Apparently, the adventurers of the defense force were also stunned by the situation. They were allpletely frozen, looking up at the giant. Not caring about everyones attention on the battlefield, the giant raised its arms and a chunk of ice appeared between his hands. It gradually grew bigger, eventually big enough to be carried by the giant. Then the giant swung it full force and threw it. As it roared, the huge ice block hit the town wall. After it reached the target and shattered, a huge crack appeared in the wall which should have been sturdy enough. Everyone in the field, including the defense force, came back to their senses right after the ice blocks crashed. Everyone started to run around while raising a mor and shooting arrows at the giant it didnt seem very effective, but they couldnt just stand still doing nothing. I also had to do something but first. TrieLa, take everyone back to the town. Its dangerous here. Thats I see. Okay, I understand! Everyone, follow me! Wait, Tri! Are you leaving Ren like this!? Well get in the way if we stay here! ! Okay, Ill go. I feel bad for Rico, but I couldnt say anything since its just as Tri said. Theres no way I could protect everyone while fighting against something like that. Rather, how could I deal with that monster? This is no longer an impossible game, but a fucking troll game. Shortly after Tri and the girls ran towards the gate, the giant threw another block of ice. No matter how sturdy the walls were, they wouldnt be able to withstand that attack forever. I also wasnt stupid enough to silently watch that happening. I shot dozens of stone gravel into the huge ice blocks to destroy it. The way I shot it continuously was like a Gatling gun, but it wasnt very effective since it mostly only scraped the surface of the ice block a little. In the end, the second ice block also hit the wall. The cracks became even bigger and the upper part of the wall slightly copsed. The wall wouldnt be able to take the third crash I didnt have time to think about what to do. The giant already made the third ice block. The defense force wasnt stupid enough to allow the third attack. They went to attack the giant in a crowd, but the goblins, the orcs, and the remaining ice wolves blocked them, causing them unable to approach the giant. As the defense force gathered, not knowing how to handle the situation, the ice block increased in size and was released from the giants hands. Isnt this a bit too overkill? Could that giant stop already? I threw my burst daggers without hesitation, activating final strike. The sound of the explosion was louder than when the ice block hit the wall, shattering the block into pieces. I used this since shooting a ton of stone gravel wouldnt work no matter what, but the destructive power was beyond my imagination! It also surprised me! When I was getting scared of the destructive power, even if I used it myself, my surroundings became dark. What? Looking up, the giant was about to raise its arm and throw his fist down. Ah, Im dead. The melody of a Scottish folk song ran in my head, and I closed my eyes in front of the approaching giant fist. I could hear a roaring sound as that fistnded on me. This was an unfortunate ending But its good that it didnt hurt. Perhaps because I was crushed by such an enormous fist, I immediately turned t, not having time to feel any pain. Its good that it didnt hurt, but I felt unfortunate that my corpse became a brutally pressed flower. Even though I was reborn, it was a short life As I looked back on my life; I felt a cold wind hitting my face. I fearfully opened my eyes, only to see the scenery flowing at high speed. Huh? Norn? When I turned my head to check the situation, Norn was sprinting while biting on my cor seems like Norn jumped in and rescued me at thest moment. After I got over my admiration toward Norn, I felt the cold wind hitting my face, and my body trembled in fear. No no no no no no! Impossible, no way! No way! I will die! Its impossible to fight against that monster! My body kept shivering, and I felt like peeing, my teeth chattering. After running for a while, Norn suddenly stopped and dropped me on the ground. I crouched on that spot, held my knees, and curled up with a tremble. Staying like that for a while made me calm down at an unnatural speed Oh, this was [Mental Tolerance], right? Its convenient, but also tasteless I could even afford to think about such a silly thing. I stood up and took a deep breath Yeah, Ive calmed down. Im sorry, Norn, Im fine now And thank you for saving me. Woof. Norn licked my cheeks. Maybe she wasforting me? Im sorry for making a mistake, Norn. But Hmm, life-threatening battle did not suit my personality I thought Id wet myself. Fortunately, I didnt pee just now. But doing a battle at a close distance was impossible for me. As a loser, shooting the opponent from afar suited me more Now that I had regained my calm, and I felt a little better, I checked my surroundings again. I could see the giant at a reasonable distance. At the feet of the giant were the adventurers hm? Is that Bell? Bell was trying to hinder its movement Hmm, they didnt seem to make any effective damage just by attacking its feet. Rather, Bells offensive magic was better than any of theirs. Since they were attacking from below, why didnt they aim at its vital points? Like its rod or balls1? Lets stop thinking about useless things and participate too! I didnt want Bell to be injured. I got on Norn and returned to the front line! Then, while moving toward the battlefield, I observed the giant using various skills. Looking at how the giant used magic with an ice attribute, this giant wasnt just a giant, but a Frost Giant. It could manifest a huge chunk of ice to deal considerable damage on the walls, so it had high offensive power, was good at ice magic, and had high intelligence. Also, the giant was d in ice magic power to increase its defense power [Analysis] sure was convenient. Chapter 116: Why Did This Happen! Part 2 Chapter 116: Why Did This Happen! Part 2 Now that I knew that its defense was thick, the previous stone gravels most likely only removed its defense. Then I should make rock-sized bullets Wait, I felt like the giant kept looking at me from a while ago. Maybe it was wary of me? Or maybe it recognized me as a threat because of my anti-aircraft interception earlier? Wow, dont think of attacking me, seriously Although I was fed up, I approached the giant and immediately started attacking by shooting one meter-sized rock bullets. If the one I used before was stone bullet, now it has been upgraded into rock canon. From its appearance, it only looked like a ball magic. But this canon wouldnt explode, though. Shoot, shoot, shoot, while moving in an arc clockwise. However, I couldnt see much effect. Seems like the concentration of its magic barrier was increasing, and I couldnt break its defense after the first shoot Then lets try increasing the bullet speed. The bullet which had increased in speed, sessfully broke through the magic barrier andnded, injuring the giants arm. But that made the giant angry since it rampaged. Staying nearby the giant was dangerous, so the adventurers also took a distance and switched to long-range attacks. Naturally, I also followed suit and continued sniping at a farther distance. However, the giant wasnt a fool either. It aimed at me and threw a hail of fist-sized ice blocks to hinder me. Apparently, he was nowpletely focused on me. Thanks to Norn, who brilliantly avoided with zig-zag movements, I didnt suffer a single scratch, but I also couldnt do any significant damage. Norns violent movement caused my hood to open, my silver hair dancing with the wind. What should I do? Should I use the burst dagger? I could do significant damage with that, but When thinking about my next move while shooting mindlessly, I felt a strong magic power from the giant. I turned my gaze to the giant in a hurry, only to see a tornado of ice and snow around the giant, sweeping its surroundings. The heck is that!? The tornado around the giant didnt show any signs of disappearing, covering the giant. When I tried to shoot rocks to check the situation, they were blown away. I didnt think I could break through that unless I shoot something bigger However; I didnt think I could shoot huge rocks efficiently. Then I had no choice but to break through using burst daggers However, I felt like it would get repelled if I throw it from a long distance. If possible, lets get closer As I thought about the distance to throw the dagger while continuing to shoot the rocks, which was not very effective, I saw the giant raising both hands behind the tornado. Ah, this is bad. From what I could see, it was aiming to attack the walls again. Those cracked walls wouldnt be able to withstand the next attack. I shot the dagger again into the ice block released from the giants hand and exploded it. The giant, who was disturbed again, grew angry and threw ice gravels at me. I should finish this off now, huh? I drank MP healing potion to recover my MP and MP recovery potion to improve my ability in continuousbat. Next, I took out ten burst daggers from [Storage] and let it float in the air. Finally, I raised my concentration with [Mental Tolerance] skill. As a result, my pounding heart calmed down. After renewing my thoughts, I looked at the giant and took a deep breath. Okay, time to fight! Norn ran toward the giant while avoiding the ice gravel, stepping left and right. Bell destroyed all the ice gravel that asionally came to me. Just like that, Norn ran through, aiming for the giant. We finally got closer to a considerable distance, but first I had to neutralize the defense of that tornado. [Fire Wall]! I infused an enormous amount of magic power to generate a huge wall of fire. I increased the power using [Magic Effect Amplification] and surrounded it to the giant, instantly melting the tornado of ice and snow. I felt dizzy after using too much magic power. I overdid it a little. As I clenched my teeth and endured it, the MP recovery potions effect gradually recovered my MP, making me feel better. I shook my head lightly and raised my gaze, looking at the rampaging giant in mes. Since the sudden development confused it, my n worked well. I moved to a blind spot while the giant was distracted. After moving counterclockwise behind the giant, I could see a gap in its back. I threw the burst dagger there. The dagger hit the giants back, exploded and sted it but it didnt seem to be fatal. Its flesh popped open and I could see its muscle tissue and ribs, but the giant wasnt dead. Apparently, it had magic power circting inside its body to protect its torso. If I shoot a few more shots, I might be able to destroy its heart. However, the giant wasnt stupid. Theres no way it would expose its back repeatedly. I should find its weak points I used [Magic Sensing] to search for ces where its defense was the weakest. The magic power in its limbs were weak. Its head had thicker magic power than its torso okay, lets go with this. Norn increased her speed, and I looked around the giant, looking for a chance. The giant also turned around on its spot, trying to keep me in its sight. Of course, the [Fire Wall] was still active and well. The giant plunged its feet into the mes, losing its bnce after turning around three times. Having its legs burning, it jumped a little, giving me many chances to attack. I could aim as much as I wanted. First, in order topletely reduce its mobility, I shot a dagger at the back of its right knee and made it explode, making the giant lose everything below its knee. The giant, who lost a leg, copsed on the spot and began screaming in extreme pain, crawling on all fours. The rest was easy. I should just shoot three burst daggers into that wide open mouth. The giants head exploded with a loud sting sound, leaving only a huge headless corpse behind. After a brief silence, there was a big cheer behind my back. Oh, its over Im tired. Impletely exhausted. I dont want to move at all. I want to take a bath early and sleep. When I checked the surroundings while riding on Norn, there were still many demons around me. But I didnt want to move anymore, so lets leave the rest to them. Ah What should I do with this giant? I could make a lot of things using it as a material, and the A-rank demon magic stone would be very useful for creating a sword. At least I wanted the magic stone When I was wondering if I should negotiate before the Lord of Winters subjugation team returned so I could get it, I heard an even louder cheer. And after I raised my face ugh. Seriously!? The subjugation team was back! Oh no, I had to run away! I didnt think I could find Vector from that crowd of people to rearrange the story. Ahh, the giants magic stone Ahhhhh! Damn it! Theres no choice but to give up! I gave up a lot of things and left the battlefield like a rabbit. Then I escaped to the forest! Fuck! Even though I suffered that much! Ahhhhhh! Magic stone! My magic stoneeeeee!!!1 Chapter 117: Side Story – A Story of a Certain Adventurer Part 1 Chapter 117: Side Story ¨C A Story of a Certain Adventurer Part 1 Hey, Im Vector. An ordinary adventurer you can find everywhere. Eh? Dont like it? Im not lying at all Ah, you knew? I see. Hmm! Yes, I am Vector Georgius Ostrat. Formerly the second prince of the Kingdom of Georgius, presently the Duke of Ostrat. Sorry, can I stop now? I dont like talking about this. What did I want to say again? Oh, Ill talk about my life as an adventurer. As you can see, being an adventurer is a way for me to hide my identity from the world. I have various circumstances Well, its not thatplicated. When it came to royalty and the older prince, I frequently experienced many cases where my life was targeted because of the right to seed to the throne. To put it simply, most people didnt like me and just wanted me to quickly be a subject of the state. Since I received the royal education, I understood my obligations and responsibilities, and I intended to fulfill them. Even so, I was a little tired of the political conflict or the plotting In the first ce; I had no interest in the throne, so I gave it up. When I was twelve years old, I hid my identity and started working as an adventurer. When I reached adulthood at fifteen years old, I served the kingdom, receiving the Duke title. However, I never thought I would end up fighting the Lord of Winter right after that Some nobles didnt take sides to the political affairs and got along with everyone, abandoning the right of inheritance of their family and seeded using their own ability. I wanted to be someone like that, and it went better than I expected. However, I couldntpletely abscond the right to seed to the throne, and thats something I was still worried about. Territory management? I had no particr problem there. I had them ceded a fertilend from the territory under the direct control of the royal family, and my aides were excellent My partner originally grew up with me as my foster brother. I could trust him with things like this. He looked like he was going to die due to ack of manpower, though. Eh? How could I afford to be an adventurer with no aim in my life? No, my main purpose was to scout human resources to solve thebor shortage. I had to find a reliable partner since they were going to be my subordinate hired in my territory, right? Plus, I could help themoners who were in trouble by bing an adventurer, killing two birds with one stone And I wasnt enjoying my valuable freedom to the fullest, okay? But I couldnt say I didnt appreciate it. I frequently went back to the territory to watch the situation, so its okay. My partner was excellent, and I kept increasing the talented people, so I could be free for the next few years no. Im going to be an adventurer. Its not like I was ying around, okay? Besides, I also caught a few merchants who were doing dishonest business secretly And also several corrupt reeves Speaking of which, when I returned to the royal castle the other day, Sir Eisenstein, who I met after a long time, called me an as or something like that. What does that mean? Maybe I should ask him when I meet him next time. I was currently working with a few colleagues. Most of them were younger than me, but I had good chemistry with one of them Hmm, maybe it was a few years ago? I didnt like how my name became popr after the Lord of Winters subjugation. That only made my surroundings noisy. The story started when I met them, when I was working in the territory of Mubarro, away from the royal capital. He was called Neil, a young adventurer who got along with me. A lot of things happened, so I worked together with him. At first, I talked with Neil to decide on the policy, but I became the leader before I knew it. When I realized that, I could onlyugh bitterly. That being said, I wasnt always working with them. Actually, I also joined several other parties. My original purpose was to gather human resources, so I had to meet many people. But well, I mainly worked with Neil and his team. Anyway, let me introduce them for now. First, Neil. He wanted to be a swordsman. I taught him the regr style of swordsmanship, but he was good. Even if he only trained for a little over a year, he could think for himself and work hard. If he keeps going like this, he most likely would be quite strong. Next was Collie. She was Neils sister how could I say this? She was handy, willing to do anything, but she didnt excel in anything. She became the scout for now, but Id like her to use a spear to switch with the middle guard to bnce the team. I just hope she could stop looking at me amorously like that. Thest one was Tess. Tess was Neils lover. An alchemist who came to their vige a long time ago taught her a little, so she could make up a prescription, even if not much. Thanks to that, the party could reduce the cost of recovery medicine a bit. She was also interested in magic after learning alchemy, so I taught her magic asionally when I have time. They were all farmers, but they were better than I expected. Especially Neil. If he keeps improving like this, I might leave one of the units to him. Thetter two were it would depend on their future growth. Ah, actually, besides these three, I had two more members a few months ago. One was Irvine. He was an archer, an excellent rearguard who could also be a scout. He used to be the third son of a noble of lower status The other was Gilliam. He was a warrior equipped with arge shield, a tanker? But thanks to him, the battle became stable. I had invited these two to be my subordinates. They were happy to ept my offer. After that, I talked to Neil a bit, but he seemed to be worried about various things. Well, we still had time left, so he could take his time to consider it. Ah, and I was also interested in a kid. I heard about her from Neil before. She was a witch who lived in the forest nearby Neils home vige, who was also an excellent alchemist. She could even make a medicine to cure a highly lethal epidemic in just a day. I was only thinking of meeting her if I had a chance. But a few monthster, after I met her, I wanted to rope her in. She took care of the orphans in the town who were working as adventurers, improved their life, defeated an orc alone, and collected a sizable amount of herbs every time I heard she also introduced a dish no one had ever seen before at the inn. Irvine and Gilliam also said she had helped them before. They took a request to subdue a group of ogres. But when they went to fulfill it, a lord actuallymanded the group, putting the subjugation team into a difficult position. They were almost dead after being chased by a ferocious orc. She was the one who helped them. However, there was one problem in recruiting her. It was her rtionship with Neil. Apparently, Neil had offended her when she was going home. Neil also had a hard time adapting to the situation, so he bothered her a lot. Well, Neil didnt seem to be aware of it, but he clearly favored her. I think thats why his attitude toward her had changed. The girl in question was called Ren I heard a lot of stories and talked to her a bit, but she seemed to have a very troublesome personality. Its better to gradually deepen the rtionship than to force it. With that in mind, I pretended to meet her by chance and greeted her whenever we met, but she vanished from the town during my gradual approach. Chapter 117: Side Story – A Story of a Certain Adventurer Part 2 Chapter 117: Side Story ¨C A Story of a Certain Adventurer Part 2 Neil was a little depressed, but his messenger didnt manage to collect any information regarding her, which made him even more disappointed. From the fragment of information I heard from the guild staff, I guessed that she was heading to the royal capital. Royal capital, huh I was thinking about going to subjugate the Lord of Winter soon, so this is perfect. I didnt intend to follow her around to recruit her, but at least I wanted to be her acquaintance. However, it wasnt until a few monthster that I finally arrived at the royal capital. No, Im not ying around, okay? I had a lot of things to do I went to see the territorys situation and recruited other people. Besides, I had to show my face here and there after arriving at the royal capital to prepare the equipment for subjugation I had responsibilities too. Then a few days after arriving at the royal capital. I went to the castle and talked to Father His Majesty about the material of the magic sword for the Lord of Winters subjugation. After that, everyone took a breather and enjoy the festival. After having a lot of fun, I also took part in the martial artspetition on thest day. During that match, I felt like someone was trying to look into my status, but it wasnt strange that everyone would try to get information of their opponent in this kind of tournament. In the first ce, I hid my identity using [Camouge] skill and magic equipment, so its unlikely that someone would reveal my real identity. However, during my match with Neil, I could sense an unpleasant sign of someone seeing through my [Camouge], but maybe it was my imagination? Well, I was worried about that, but the unexpected reunion after that made me forget about this matter. A few days after the harvest festival was over, I visited the cksmith who forged the attribute sword I used to defeat the previous Lord of Winter and asked him to forge a new sword. There, I met that girl again. I didnt notice her at first since she always wore a hood before. But I finally realized it when Neil, who had a strange face, told me. I knew that her face was beautiful from what I could see from the hood, but I didnt expect her to be this pretty But that wasnt the only thing that surprised me. She said she could forge a magic sword that was stronger than Arnolds. Not an attribute sword, but a magic sword? This child could forge that? Arnold was an excellent cksmith, and only one or two people in the royal capital couldpete with him. No, even within the kingdom and the neighboring countries. From what I could infer within the conversation, he talked like that girl was better than himself But shes a bit too young, isnt she? After that, I listened to their conversation. Looking at Arnold and her attitude, it seems like she could really forge a magic sword. At first, I was skeptical, but Arnold already said that it would be difficult for him to forge something better than the previous one. I asked her, who was originally reluctant and only giving me a half-hearted answer I didnt expect her to really make a magic sword better than this one I couldnt even imagine a magic sword with [Weapon Skill]; you know? I tried activating the skill in the ins around the royal capital, and I couldnt stopughing after seeing the crazy firepower with my own eyes. The magic shield she made with the set was ridiculous, and the cloak she gave to me as a bonus was also amazing I heard about this from Neilter on, but seems like I was grinning all the time that day. I had to be more careful. Anyway, I realized that I had to get close to her no matter what. It would be horrifying to think a cksmith who could forge this kind of sword might go to another country. Besides, she seemed to be able to make a lot of other things, so I made sure to give her escorts as I promised. After that, I talked to His Majesty about this matter. Since I was the one who found her first, I could negotiate with her first. And even if I failed, His Majesty would negotiate with her. Well, even if I sessfully recruited her, the result would eventually return to the country. His Majesty would benefit from it, so he wouldnt be that concerned. Well, after that, while receiving the report from the escorts, I continued to prepare for the subjugation of the Lord of Winter. D-rank Neil and the others joined the subjugation main unit and got ced in logistical support units. Irvine and Gilliam had just risen to C-rank, but we had to deal with the Lord of Winters followers, so they also prepared their weapons and armor. Neil consulted to me that he wanted the sword that the girl forged, but he gave up obediently after I told him it would be hard considering her personality. But then, Neils sword was also personally made by Arnold, okay? He was honestly getting a gem unworthy of his current skill. After that, when the subjugation battle began, there were a series of troubles and things didnt go as nned. To defeat the Lord of Winter, I eventually used up the [Weapon Skill] four times. Since I had run out of magic power, I couldnt take part in the pursuit of the giant and its minions who were heading toward the town. I was also injured in the battle with the Lord of Winter and the Frost Smander, so I returned to the town while being supported by mypanions. However, my status and skills had increased dramatically by defeating the Lord of Winter, who was far stronger than I expected. It might be troublesome again if this unexpected growth was to be known. I had to be careful when going around in the castle from now on. But after that, I was confused because people started thanking me for something I didnt do. Somehow, a powerful mage with two ck wolves had defeated the Frost Giant alone. Also, the mage said I was the one who arranged for her to guard the town. The mage rode the wolf, running around the battlefield with her beautiful silver hair dancing in the wind. She annihted the hordes of demons, prevented the attack of the Frost Giant many times, and eventually defeated it. Then she left dashingly. Long hair, two wolves. Her mouth was hidden with a muffler. The color of her hair and her wolfs fur were different, but it was probably her. She could do a lot of things, so I wasnt surprised if she could conceal herself with [Disguise] skill like I did. I knew that she would take part, but I didnt expect her to help directly. Now I had a debt to her, making it hard to recruit her. But then, she could tame Fenrir, forge a magic sword which could match the national treasures, excel in alchemy, and cook amazing dishes Now you told me she was also an excellent magician. Isnt that a bit too much? As I wondered what her real identity was, I decided that I had to negotiate and seize the giant magic stone as a reward to her. Apparently, I was grinning again. Neil nudged my arm with his elbow. Hmm, Im really interested in that kid. I unconsciously smiled when thinking about her antics. How should I hand over the magic stone once I receive it? If I gave it to her directly, she probably wouldnt take it. She probably wouldnt admit that she saved the town. Then If I remember right, she got along with a novice adventurer party. Those kids also came to this town, so lets have them give the stone to her Now then, I might be a little busy from now on, eh?1 Chapter 118: Hey, Just Do It Already! Chapter 118: Hey, Just Do It Already! Hello, this is Ren. Currently, I was too frustrated that I wanted to bite a handkerchief. I defeated the giant, but I ran away to avoid everyones attention. Then I took out my house in the previous spot and sulked in bed. I should filch the magic stone Damn it. However, I collected all the corpses of the small fries I defeated, so I had a decent quality of magic stones, furs, meats, and many more. Lets give up on the giants magic stone. Ill put up with it. How disappointing. When I was feeling down, it turns out Norn collected the corpse of White Fang, the middle boss! Although the quality was lower than that of Frost Giant, I got the whole first-grade material. What good news! I couldnt stop myself from jumping for joy! But I was immediately out of breath. I thought about this when I went to the battlefield yesterday, but I had to do something about thisck of physical strength and chronk of exercise. Or else it would bete once I needed it. But Ill do it once it gets warmer, okay? I couldnt do any exercise outside in this cold weather! Its okay, Ill definitely do something in early spring. Believe in me. Anyway, its already one night after my first actual battle, and I was already bored of sulking on my bed. Lets eat something! To celebrate it, Ill make curry! Lets fry tonkatsu to make katsu curry. Norn and Bell, do you want to eat it too? You want arge serving? Got it, eat a lot, yeah? You can also ask for another serving! I want to eat pudding for dessert By the way, both of them were standard dishes in reincarnation stories, right? Hmm, I didnt want to make an uproar, so I should think about the timing if I want to eat it outside. After the meal, I changed the location of my house. I did a lot of shy things, so I did this just in case And then, time to reflect on what happened yesterday. One person reflection meeting. Im not lonely! Im doing things solo! Uh, but since I was a tamer, I wasnt exactly alone? Lets not think too much about it, Im getting sad First, lets calm down and look at the problematic part during yesterdays battle. I had to steady my safety more. In the first ce, I could only attack at a long distance, and I was useless at closebat. Going to the front line to get hit by such arge monster would immediately kill me. Lets think about how to defend myself. That means, I should raise the level of [Barrier Magic]. As the level went up, not only the strength of the physical defense, but the things that I could repel would increase. This was important. However, I felt like riding on Norn while having mobilebat was effective. Avoiding was important! After that, lets increase my means of attack. I couldnt use offensive magic because I wasnt suited for it, and heavy bombing with a magic swords [Final Strike] was too overkill. In the first ce, I would stand out too much. Hmm I know. Lets increase the number of magic swords with [Weapon Skill]. I could substitute offensive magic with [Weapon Skill]. That being said, it would be difficult without the appropriate materials. I realized that when I was making zer. So first, I should collect the materials. It wouldnt be too different from what I had done so far. Since I originally wasnt that good at fighting, so lets not fight. Yes, thats pretty much it. In the first ce, my skillposition was mostly producing items, and I could only do long-range attacks using mybat skills. However, I couldnt avoid that battle, so I had to make sure something like this wouldnt happen again from now on. Yep. In conclusion, I decided that I would raise [Barrier Magic] level for the time being. I didnt think I would fight another giant anytime soon, but I really didnt want to be crushed and die. The next day. I wanted to go back to the royal capital quickly, but I couldnt do it unless I joined Tris team. The towns situation hadnt settled yet, so they probably wouldnte here in a couple of days. Should I do something to kill time? For now, I could try to devise a magic sword design If I wanted high firepower, I had Burst Dagger with me, so lets think of something else. If I wanted to have an effective means against a big opponent like that giant, then I should stop their movement, right? I surely broke its leg to make it easier to aim at its key point, the head. I was lucky that it couldnt move after I crushed its leg. Then, how to restrain it so I could easily aim? Make it fall down Tie it up and sew it on the ground? Hmm, entwining ivy or something like that over its body and restrain it on the ground? Ah Which attribute would be the best if I wanted to do that? If it was flexible, the monster might tear it off. If it was too solid, the monster might crush it with brute force. Hmm, it should multiply so it wouldnt matter if the monster resisted Then ice vines? Oh, that sounds interesting. Now that I came up with an idea, lets make the prototype! I had White Fangs magic stone with an ice attribute, so lets use that for now. However, using everything was wasteful, so Ill just attach it to the handle of the sword. I used a suitable magic sword as the base and reduced the existing attribute on the sword. And I did the rest without thinking much about it. Yeah, its done. Even I knew that I was crazy fast. That being said, I already had the base sword, and I was lucky to have a reasonably high quality magic stone this time. Thanks to that, I managed to bestow [Weapon Skill] in one try. The skill I bestowed this time was [Ice Bind], the ability to create ice ivy within a specified range and restrain the enemy. Even if the ivy was destroyed, it would keep regenerating, and the target could be locked on. It was easy to use since it didnt use much MP. This might be handy when I had to escape from a battle. Other than that, I tried to bestow other things such as ice attribute and durability enhancement at a slightly higher level than zer. Oh, what should I do with its name? Hmm Ivy restraint, bind, ice? Ivy, vine Combined with the skill name, how about Ice Vine? I felt like there was a dish or a wine with that name Hmm; I didnt like it Ice, cold, white? Hmm. Lets put the name on hold. Its too troublesome and I could just leave it unsigned But it would trouble me if someone asked about it Hm? But just saying that it was unsigned should be fine, right? The next day. As I was fed up with myck of naming sense as usual, Tri, Kuro, and Maricle came early in the morning. They got lost again because I changed the location of my house. Naturally, I had Norn pick them up again. Ren How deep are you hiding Ren, its hard to find your house. It couldnt be helped! You cant me me, Im not wrong! Whats happening in the town? From what Tri and the others told me, the town was still noisy. Just as I expected. And most of the members of the subjugation team and knights would remain in the town until the end of the winter and work hard to exterminate the remaining demons. The adventurers who took part in the defense battle got a share of the materials as a reward, even if they were low rank or under thirteen years old. The amount was ridiculous, so it delighted everyone who returned to the orphanage. Everyone donated some money from that reward to the orphanage. How could I say this um. When I told them, I would give them something as wellter, they scolded me, telling me I already did too much. If I gave more things, they would be suspicious. Oh well. And besides the information, Tri brought me a reward for the subjugation. But what she gave me was truly unexpected It was the magic stone of the giant I had defeated. Eh, seriously? Turns out when they were walking around the town at noon yesterday, a tall handsome adventurer called them and asked them to give this to me. When they asked, that handsome adventurer was Vector. He negotiated with the subjugation team and the knights to give this as my share and seized the magic stone. Vector said he heard Tri and the girls brought me to the town, so he wanted them to give this to me He also wanted them to convey, Thanks for your help. I owe you one. No, its scary, so just forget it. But Ill take the magic stone. Alright, lets pretend I understood nothing the next time I met him. Im sure he already knew it was me, but I shouldnt admit it. After talking about other things and having lunch, Trilra and the others returned to the town. We promised to meet up the day after tomorrow and return to the royal capital, so well meet at that time. Now then, what should I do if I meet Vector The knights who took part in the subjugation would return to the royal capital around spring. Would he return with them? Or return early like me? No, no. He was one of the strongest in the subjugation team, so he would stay, right? But I unexpectedly received the giants magic stone. How should I use it? Hmm, I gave up on this once, so lets use it to improve the magic sword I mentioned earlier. Yeah, lets do that. Its wasteful? Its fine! I should use it all at once at times like this! Time to remodel the sword! And itspleted. I also improved the spare into a two-handedrge sword. This magic sword came with two [Weapon Skill]! What a bargain! The new skill was [Ice Giant]. As the name suggested, it was a skill to create ice golems. Its MP consumption was high. Thats why I attached one of the same magic batteries as zer. And maybe because I was using the giants magic stone, the sword also had [Giant Special Attack]. Hmm, the sword had turned into something crazy But theres no use thinking about it too much. Ill use it with no reservation! I wouldnt have it on my waist all the time, so its fine! No need to care about the details! Oh, by the way, the name troubled me, right? Hmm, well Giant, Ice Giant Frost Giant? The country where the Norse mythological frost giant lived was Jtunheimr, yeah? Jtun means frost giant Then, the sword that created frost giants and ice ivy Jozhnwein1? Even though this was a powerful magic sword, I gave it a terrible name That night, I went into despair at my naming sense as usual, then I sulked on the bed again. I wanted toe up with a more decent name Hmm, maybe its not good because I tried to make itplex? How about making it more simple? I felt like it would still end up bing overlyplicated, though. I couldnt trust my naming sense the most. The next day, I felt tired being depressed, so I worked hard all day to distract myself. Tri and the team promised not toe until tomorrow noon, and today I was free for the entire day! Its been a while since I could work to my hearts content! Hahaha! The next day, I got tired because I worked too hard, and I fell asleep until Tri and the others came. I went to get ready in a panic, but theres no need to talk about that. Chapter 119: A Flag? Theres Nothing Like That! Part 1 Chapter 119: A g? There''s Nothing Like That! Part 1 Hello. Im Ren, in the carriage on my way home. How could I say this? Because I overslept, Tri and the others had to wait for me to take a bath and watch me eat alone. We departed in an awkward atmosphere Everyones gaze was hurting I tried my best to ignore it. In addition, the boys were waiting outside the forest because of various reasons. The carriage travel on the way back was the same as when we came, with the guys in the coachmans seat and the girls in the carriage. They didnt have to walk on the snowy road, so its still better, right? The guys got a hangover and became groggy. This was the situation I mentioned earlier. They had a headache, so they didnt want to move. Everyone wanted to let loose to celebrate the subjugation of the Lord of Winter and the sizable amount of subjugation reward, so they had a drinking party at the orphanage. Cain and his gang got ahead of themselves. They drank alcohol and made a ruckus, but they got sick after drinking too much. Serves them right. I loved alcohol, but I endured myself because I was an adult. They were really stupid. But Im jealous. Drinking was allowed from the age of adulthood, fifteen years old. But even if a minor drank it, it was not strictly regted. The winter in this country was quite cold, so even children were allowed to drink a little so they could raise their body temperature. Even though it was actually counterproductive, though. Perhaps because of such customs or bad habits, drinking alcohol during seasons other than winter was often overlooked during festivals. That being said, drinking like a fool would be frowned upon by others, so this was a matter of personal sensibility. But well, while I understood that they couldnt resist in that circumstance, I wouldnt go out of my way to take care of them since they did this to themselves. Thanks to the various suspensions, my carriage wasfortable to ride. Still, it shook asionally on this rough road. And every time that happened, the boys groaned, raising a voice of agony. It was somewhat annoying. Ill say this first. If they vomited and dirtied the carriage, Ill kill them. Tri and the girls didnt drink at all, so they were looking at those idiots coldly. By the way, it was Bob who rmended Cain and the boys to drink alcohol. Bob, what are you doing I hope that this would make Cain and the boys learn that drinking too much was extremely stupid and would increase unnecessary expenses. Tri, good luck. Rather, I was surprised that Maricle also drank with them. But then, I guess he would be thrilled that the Lord of Winter was sessfully subdued In addition, everyone who drank was scolded by the orphanages director while they were having a hangover, and ended up in agony Really, what were they doing? During the lunch break, the boys seemed to have gotten better. Tri and the girls were in charge of the meal on the way back, and I couldnt interfere. I had overdone it on our way to the town, so they wanted to do things on their own to experience various things. Thanks to that, they scolded me when I tried to help. They served soup and bread during the day. The soup should work well for a hangover. Good job, Arle. During lunch break, several of the carriages following behind us finally caught up. However, they were then surprised that we were the ones ahead of them. Ah, I understood why. Somewhat. To go on a snowy road, there was a diamond-shaped device on the front of the carriage to push through the snow. I attached this device to the long handle that connected to the horse, but I improved its performance, turning it into a magic tool. With multiple attributes, the device could push through the snow quickly. In addition, it could also pave the ground and tten it. This made it easier for the horse to move forward, and the wheels of the carriage could be moved without being caught by mud or ruts. The carriage that followed us would have it easier too. The carriages of the caravans in the first half switched the leading carriages every thirty minutes to one hour since it would burden the horse to push through the snow for a long time. By the way, lets just say that my carriage always stayed in the middle during the first half. Well, to be honest, I think they were surprised that children like us drove the leading carriage. I didnt want to cause trouble, so we should immediately move once we finished our meal. Oh, by the way, we passed by some carriages from the royal capital to ONeill. There was quite a lot of traffic. There were knights and quite a few adventurers left in ONeill, so transporting that amount of food wouldnt be a foolish move. After that, our journey went smoothly. We camped at a suitable campsite tonight. I didnt really care since only unpleasant faces would wee us if we entered a vige. Arle was in charge of cooking, and the boys went to collect firewood. After I made the furnace with earth magic, I had nothing else to do. Oh, maybe I should build a simple stable with a roof to cover the horse. I didnt make this at the beginning, though. You see, my horses were golems. I didnt have to put up big tents for them. But since we started going on the same route with the caravans, I had been making it every time. Seems like golem horses had never existed before I used magic to build stables so we wouldnt stand out, but we stood out for different reasons Yes, we ended up standing out, huh. I had nothing special to do, so I stared at the bonfire, dazed. Cain approached me for some reason. Hey, Ren. Can I talk to you for a while? No. I had nothing to say to you. He didnt say any word on our way to ONeill. What happened to him now? Ill make this short. Cant you hear me out? Cant. I didnt have time to spend with you. Youre annoying, so could you disappear now? Tri and Maricle talked to me once I ignored him. Sorry, Ren. Can you listen to Cain for a moment? Ill stay with you, so can you listen to him? But I dont like this either. They asked me very apologetically. Well, since they begged me, I could give a bit of my time to this guy Tri looked unwilling, so it should be Cains selfishness and self-righteousness. What a waste of time. Chapter 119: A Flag? Theres Nothing Like That! Part 2 Chapter 119: A g? There''s Nothing Like That! Part 2 It couldnt be helped. I moved to the shadow of the carriage and listened to Cain. So what? Well, I decided to do my best to save money. His point was, he saw me supporting the orphanage with various things via Tri, so he also wanted to do that. I supported them by giving them furs, hot water bottles, and money to buy food. Seeing those supplies, Cain thought he could use the money and the supplies he earned from being an adventurer to support the orphanage. Well thats nice. But as long as he was in a party, he knew that the money they earned wasnt something he could use alone, right? And now Thats why I thought Id do my best to earn money and do various things for the orphanage. Haa. Is that so? Then? Eh? I mean, I will do my best from now on. And? Eh? And Um Even if I knew that, I had nothing to say but So what? Just do whatever you want. Er Ill do my best to save money, then I will buy the management rights of the orphanage I see. Well, why dont you do as you wish? I didnt think they would sell it, though. Theres no benefit to the merchant. To be honest, I already had enough money to buy the management rights. However, its a different story whether I could buy it even if I had the money. Cain was stupid at this kind of thing Well, in my case, I was also tied in the contract, making it even harder. I think Cain could save enough money pretty quickly. But Cains mistake was not realizing that saving money and buying management right from the merchant were two different things. Also, saying this matter to me first was even worse. He should just save the money silently and say that after buying it. So youll do your best to support the orphanage, save money, and buy the management rights. Then? Eh? Um, well Maybe its that. He wanted to show that he had done his best, so he wanted me to ept his apology. But why would he say it first before doing anything? Oath sounds good in the ears, but I could only see it as him putting up appearances. Especially for Cain. It was the same when we were still in the orphanage. He used to say what he was nning, do it, seed, and get praised. After knowing his personality, I couldnt even bother to care. No, uh Thats it Haa. You can just do as you wish, right? No need to tell me. I sighed loudly. He probably wanted me to cheer him, but I honestly didnt care. Actually, I was also thinking about purchasing the management right. In that case, I had to find a credible broker to mediate this negotiation, but finding a credible partner was a problem. The next thing I was thinking about was working as an adventurer, raising my rank, increasing my credibility, and then reporting the merchant to the royal capital station. The station at ONeill would cover this affair up, and so would the merchants base. So I should say it directly in the royal capital. However, this method was difficult without earning trust. Normally, no matter what a low-ranking adventurer said, they would be brushed off. So I had to be a high-ranking adventurer and gain credibility. And thest choice was making connections with influential people. Actually, I was doing this right now. To simply put it, I had to make connections with anyone more powerful than that merchant and have them pass judgment to the merchant. In my case, it was Vector. At first, he was that annoying flys colleague. However, when he hid his identity and requested a sword from the cksmith, I thought I could use him by earning his favor, so I helped him a lot. Even if each of them were small favors, he wouldnt be able to let them pass once it ovepped many times. I gave him a shield and cloak when I forged the magic sword, and I shouldve earned his favor in the Frost Giants case. If I continued to curry favor with him, I might have him get rid of the merchant soon. However, I realized that he also wanted to make connections with me. When he gave me the Frost Giants magic stone, I knew that it would be hard to deal with him. That I just want to say that Is that so. After I said that, Cain dropped his shoulders and walked towards the bonfire, somewhat depressed. Ren, cant you speak gentler to him? Maricle said with a frown. But I didnt care about Cains feelings. To be honest, it doesnt matter. I also thought a lot about the orphanage. If Cain wants to do it, no one is stopping him, right? What are you nning, Ren? Tri also joined in. Hmm I exined the main points of what I was thinking about. Ren also did a lot of things But then Cains efforts will be fruitless, huh. Dont tell him anything unnecessary. I didnt want to be disturbed, and I didnt like it if he told me he wanted to do his best with me, so I warned them first. Isnt it better to do it together? Im saying this because I dont want to do this together. If we do, hell immediately get ahead of himself. In the first ce, I didnt want to be with Cain. When I said that, Maricle was silent. He couldnt argue with me after looking back at Cains past actions. Well, I think we can let him do whatever he wants. But theres also the management of party assets, so be strict about that. Cain said he wants to do it, so he should use his personal assets. You must discuss this with him. If they werent strict about this, Im sure that idiot would mess with the party assets. Maricle and Tri had aplicated face and turned silent once they heard that. They also realized that it was possible. They both intended to pay for the orphanages support from their personal assets. Ah, if I remember right, Tri told me he also wanted to send money to the orphanage, right? That means these two people had been thinking about this matter for a long time, and Cain mixed in there with an enthusiastic face. Probably. After that, we finished dinner and went to bed. We moved early on the next day. I had to go back to the royal capital early and continue my cksmithing training. Chapter 120: Kuro, A Scary Child! Part 1 Chapter 120: Kuro, A Scary Child! Part 1 Today, we were still in the carriage on our way home. I usually thought that not doing anything was nice, but it was actually very ufortable. It didnt matter that I took care of them on our way to ONeill. Let me cook! Ah, I want to go home quickly. Nn. I want to quickly go home. Rico and Kuro said that. I also wanted to quickly go home and do cksmithing. I wanted to reach level 10 of my cksmithing skill this winter. Hmm, I also wanted to raise other things I used [Barrier Magic] to raise the level even now. By the way, I also used it during camping. Thanks to that, I could feel that the level was about to rise. After all, steady efforts were the best shortcut. I didnt see it, but Ren was amazing, right? Huh? Eh? What? What is she talking about? The defense battles. Maricle and the others fought inside the wall without evacuating, so they saw Ren fighting the giant. When we got back to the orphanage, they were shouting excitedly about Rens amazing feat! Ah, I hit them right away to make sure they wouldnt say Rens name, so dont worry. Ahh Now that she said it, I told Tri and the girls to evacuate inside the wall, but I didnt know what happened to Maricle and the boys at that time. Somehow, you used amazing me magic I dont really understand, but it exploded once it reached the ice block What kind of magic did you use? The stones were blown by [Arrow] magic, right? The me is [Wall] magic. I call it [Fire Wall]. The way I shoot the stones is like [Arrow] magic. The explosion is a secret. Ah, is it your trump card? Something that will be bad if other people know it! Er You dont have to say it if its hard for you to tell us. Many adventures also keep a trump card from their friends. I also think its better to do so. Umm, Im sorry Hmm, I think its okay to tell them about the Burst Dagger. But teaching them how to forge a magic sword would be impossible. However, I also didnt know how to teach them how to make a dagger I had no choice but to keep silent about this. Im sorry Its okay. Im sorry for asking something hard to say. Umm, can I ask about the me magic? Sure. I didnt use any unique skill for that, so theres no problem. I heard that the me magic Ren used produced a fire wall so big that it left the giant nowhere to run, but how did you do that? Because your skill level was high? The skill level also ys a part there, but I also use it with [Magic Effect Amplification]. Eh!? That skill could do such a great thing!? If I raise the level, will I be able to do the same thing? Oh, Rico who listened silently with interest until now took the bait. But how should I answer this? In my case, my fire magic level was 10, and my MP was high Its hard to say that ordinary humans could do the same even if they had talent. Hmm I wonder? You need to have a high skill level, and itll be hard without a lot of magic power. Besides, I poured over a thousand MP into that me Wall. Normal people wouldnt be able to pull that out. I see. In other words, I have to work hard, right? Ill do my best! O-oh. Rico was a very positive child who knew what she should do. I didnt know if her effort would bear fruit, but nothing would change without effort. Good luck, Rico! Oh, and Maricle said that Rens hair changed, but did you do that too? I didnt notice it since you were wearing a hood when you were with us. Well, I used magic and skill for that. Disguise or something like that. Eh, you can do that!? Ahh, the big ck wolves at that time are Rens wolves? Yeah. Well, we arrived at todays camp while talking about magic-rted things like that. And after preparing the furnace, I had spare time again. Everyone was preparing various things happily, and I was the only outcast how sad. With nothing to do, I looked around the campsite absentmindedly. There were carriages and caravans beside us. All the carriages went from the royal capital to ONeill, and on the contrary, we were the only carriage who went from ONeill to the royal capital. I want to go back to the royal capital soon Thanks to the snow removal tools, my carriage paved a road, so its easier to follow us. In the beginning, some people asked about the device when we were camping. But it was too troublesome, so I responded to them appropriately. Well, merchants would be able to move more easily during the winter if they had the device. And their ie would increase if they could peddle in the winter. But I wasnt sure about the market price of magic tools like this, so I didnt sell it this time. If I feel like it, I might register a patentter, but I had no intention of doing so for now. I wasnt in trouble with money and it was troublesome. Could I even patent a magic tool in amercial guild? Hmm? I looked at everyones camp preparation dazedly. I saw Boman helping with the meal preparation. In fact, Boman had been helping all the meal preparation on the way home. Looking at how he asked a lot of things and did this and that while being scolded by Arle, it seemed like he hadnt given up on the stalls. To be honest, it was a bit unexpected. Arle didnt teach Boman any recipes I taught her. She told me she would teach him when she could trust Boman to some extent, making sure he wouldnt tell others too. Hmm, Boman was Cains follower, and I could see him getting ahead of himself once he got praised. He would definitely talk about anything easily. They became proud just from a little praise. But it seems like they kinda changed now? In addition, Ryuu, the one who improved the most, seemed to understand the importance of information. I often saw him observing various things. Knowledge and information were important. There were many things that one couldnt know just by asking. So that attitude wasnt wrong. He asked us about what he didnt understand, and he started thinking about whether he said something unnecessary. This was how the idiot kind had changed Maricle told me that everyone was also surprised when they returned to the orphanage. At dinner, Maricle suddenly yelled at Cain. What are you thinking!? Eh? But thats definitely easier, right? Maricle continued swearing for a while. From what I heard, Cain was thinking about doing something stupid again. Apparently, while discussing the purchase of the orphanages management rights, Cain intended to negotiate my employment contract directly with the merchant. Seriously Why did he think I was sneaking around? I couldnt deal with him, for real Chapter 120: Kuro, A Scary Child! Part 2 Chapter 120: Kuro, A Scary Child! Part 2 After that, Tri and Arle also start scolding him strictly. They exined to him why they didnt talk about me in the orphanage and why I didnt enter the town before. As for me? I nced at him with disgusted eyes, said a word of sarcasm, then ignored him, keeping him out of my sight. I see. I didnt expect you to sell me to buy the management rights. When I said that, Cain finally understood the consequences of what he was trying to do. He turned pale and tried to follow me, but Maricle yelled at him, causing him to sit upright on the ground. He was scolded until its time to sleep. Ah, I used barrier and wind magic to inste the sound so the surrounding people wouldnte near or eavesdrop on us. I have improved! My [Barrier Magic] became LV5 after defeating the giant. Oh, Ren Um, I The next morning, Cain tried to talk to me, but Ipletely ignored him. Dont approach me. After that, Cain was alone at breakfast. Maricle ignored him, Boman was preupied with various things, and Ryuu was looking at Cain with cold eyes like how I looked at himst night. After we finished breakfast and cleaned up the camp, the carriage started moving at high-speeds today. If we went at this pace, we should be able to reach the royal capital in the evening. While the carriage was moving, the boys in the coachmans seat discussed, organized, and shared information about what was good and what was bad. Listening to that, Cains shoulders were getting narrower. Hes stupid, so it cant be helped. Some trouble urred when I parked the carriage at noon to prepare a light meal. A monster appeared. It was a stray, hungry orc. I didnt use monster repellent when traveling with the carriage. I didnt encounter many monsters during winter. And even if I did, they oftene in small numbers. On the off chance there were many, I could still handle it, and they were mostly weak because of hunger. Sometimes they turned ferocious too, but it wouldnt matter as long as I was careful. Bell had be strong recently, so this was the perfect chance for Bell to gain experience. I had Norn to defend me, and I set a barrier. Theres nothing wrong with my n. But I didnt intend to interfere here. Tri and the others would have to do their best. They were well equipped and received guidance from the older adventurers at the orphanage. And since they all gainedbat experience in the defense battle, I wanted to see how far they could go on their own. Hmm, well Anyway, I watched them. Norn also waited with me. I would help them in case of emergency, but they should do their best. The orc began to act hostile and rushed to them vigorously. But Maricle got in its way. Maricle used his shield well, blocking itpletely. Thats amazing, considering the notable difference in their body size. While Maricle was holding down the orc, Ryuu and Boman deployed from left and right. Maricle added the damage by bashing the orc with his shield, making it stagger. They aimed to take away its arms and legs, taking away its attack power and mobility. Bomans weapon was arge club. He really took my joke seriously and made it himself. However, he didnt need to learnplicated techniques like a sword. As long as he could hit the opponent, he could do a lot of damage, so he liked it a lot. Maybe he could use a mace or an axe? It would be more tactical to have a striking weapon than have everyone equipping a sword. Cain took a step back and gave instructions to the three boys, asionally approaching and striking the orc. His timing and aim were urate, which annoyed me. Tri was one step further than Cain. Her weapon was a short spear, so she aimed at the joints of the orcs arm or the throat, stabbing it then moving away. Good, do it more. Arle used a sling to shoot stones when the orc raised its arms to attack, distracting it from attacking. Her hit rate was quite high, probably because she was practicing. Her timing of shooting was also urate. Rico was in charge of the final blow. She nned to stop it from movingpletely, then destroyed its head with a magic arrow. And Kuro. She lowered her posture and ran around the orcs feet at a ridiculous speed, shing its legs and shaving its mobility. Her evasion power was also tremendous, avoiding friendly fire easily. None of the orcs attacks hit her. To be honest, Kuro alone was enough, right? Kuro mostly took the orcs mobility away all by herself. And when it couldnt use its arms anymore, Rico fired a magic arrow, blowing the upper half of the orcs head off and ending the battle. The result was they defeated it with no danger. It delighted everyone that they could defend themselves when they were attacked while collecting herbs. They seemed to be confident in the result. However, they were still worried about the actual battle, so they would make time to practice every day. Cain was the most pleased with this result, followed by Maricle. Both of them would be thirteen years old next year, so they could take subjugation requests from the beginning of the year. The rules of the Adventurers Guild were pretty vague here. They could earn more ie by taking subjugation requests, so everyones expressions were bright. But safety was the most important, so Maricle said they would do their best while making sure not to get injured. I hope he could properly suppress those idiots. I didnt care if Cain got injured or died, but Tri would be burdened if he increased the expenses. If he didnt take care of himself, he would trouble everyone, so Ill warn him a bit. A tsundere? No, Im not. Stop that, for real. When I warned him, everyone had aplicated face. It seemed like I looked like I was seriously unwilling to speak to him. After collecting the orc and having lunch, we continued moving. We entered the royal capital in the evening as scheduled. Naturally, the carriage stopped at a hidden ce and we entered the town on foot. During winter, the number of pedestrians decreased, so we could enter faster than usual. I was staying at Tris house today. It took a lot of time to move around thisrge royal capital. And the gate of the inner wall would be closed after the evening, restricting my movement. Tris house was in the third district, and Arnolds workshop, which was actually a luxury store, was in the second district. The guards would let me in once I exined the situation, but it would be troublesome. So I took Tris offer this time. On the way, we took the key from thendlords house and finally returned home after a few weeks. The house was slightly dusty, and everyone was disheartened to clean up first. But that was too troublesome for me. Cleaning was a one-shot solution. I cleaned the boys room as well, just this time. They also took care of my dinner, and we took a bath in order after the meal and went to bed quickly. Everyone was tired. Its a little early, but good night. Ahh, I would be back in the cksmith and finally continue my training Zzz. Chapter 121: Ahh, Troublesome… Chapter 121: Ahh, Troublesome¡­ The next morning, I woke up after having trouble sleeping well. The cause was obvious. Yes, its Kuro. Like thest time I stayed here, a battle to sleep with me broke out again. And of course, Kuro easily won. She cheated at rock-paper-scissors using her super high speed. It would be impossible for ordinary humans to win against her, wouldnt it? Even with my [Hawks Eyes] skill, I could only barely see it. It would be impossible to immediately change the hand signs since the physical body couldnt keep up with ones reaction speed. It was even harder for Tri and the girls. They would still lose, no matter how much they struggled unless they trained a lot. Dont you think the capability difference between races is a bit too extreme? Aside from that, the reason I was so sleepy was that Kuro clung firmly to me in my chest as she slept. Yes, I became her body pillow. Looking down, Kuros face waspletely buried in my chest. Howe she didnt have any trouble breathing with that posture? However, Kuro was a cat beastfolk, so she didnt like cold weather. Even when we were still in the orphanage, she sometimes sneaked into Tris or my nket in the winter. Its not like I didnt expect this at all But this is a different matter altogether. If she wont let me go, I wont be able to get up! After that, Kuro didnt release me until she woke up. What about the meal preparations, you ask? Arle prepared it. That being said, everyone woke upte, so we had a prettyte breakfast. Well, they should be tired with all that happened recently, so it couldnt be helped. After the meal, they decide to go to the guild branch office to sell the orc they hunted on our way home. But I was going back to the workshop without apanying them there. By the way, I stored the corpse of the orc and brought it to this house. Eh? How would Tri and the others bring the orc to the guild after I went back? You see I gave them a carry cart before, so they could use that to carry it. Well, the orc was actually so big that it stuck out of the cart. Everyone had to hold the orcs limbs and push the cart so it wouldnt fall down. If I helped these kids solve all of their problems, they wouldnt be able to achieve anything at all. I wouldnt just spoil them all the time, okay? Maybe. When I returned to the workshop from Tris house, everyone in the workshop greeted me. Hey, I couldnt move if you surround me like that And Master pped my back powerfully. It hurts, so stop! For real! It hurts! Stop! When I went to my room and checked my back in my room at night, I had a huge handprint there. That made me cry. I got rid of it after drinking an advanced healing potion1. But if I couldnt make it disappear, I seriously wouldnt be able to wear anything stylish my entire life. I nearly lost my chance to be a wife. Well, I didnt intend to be one, though. And I finally resumed my cksmith training, starting the next day! Anyway, I started it immediately, but When I was about to have a meal during the lunch break, Ed came out of the forge used to practice and called me out. Teacher! I have a request! Eh, I dont want to hear it. Seems like my thoughts came out to my face before I could reply to him. Not to mention, I most likely had an awfully unpleasant expression. When Ed saw that, he desperately exined a lot of things while bowing his head, looking like he would cry soon No, I didnt tell him to talk about the situation, and I didnt want to know. He sure didnt listen to me, huh? Hmm, Ed said that most craftsmen, not just cksmiths, had less work in the winter. So most of them had a lot of free time in the workce during the winter and used that chance to train and learn. Other than that, this seemed to be the training period for young craftsmen. They would make various items and work hard byparing with each other to raise their skills. And there was an event organized by the guild to show the works made by those young craftsmen early in the New Year. Ed, who got a p of reality from me and mend his ways, was forging a sword to exhibit it for the show Yet no matter how many times he tried, he couldnt forge a satisfactory sword. Swallowed by indignation and impatience of not doing well, he went into a slump. At that time, he remembered how I broke his pride and thought I could give him advice, directions, or something like that, just like that time. I didnte back no matter how long he waited, so he was really nervous. But thats not my problem at all, right? To summarize it, you want me to watch next to you? Yes! If you chimed in like before, the sword wont be my work, and I definitely dont want to bother you, Teacher. Im not asking for advice! Thats why, just watching next to me is enough! Please! Eh He said he didnt want to bother me, but I would have to use my training time to watch him, right? That alone was a waste of time. Ed desperately begged me while bowing again and again since my reaction wasnt good, but I honestly only wanted to resume my cksmithing training. For the time being, its prettyte, so why dont we have a meal first? Ah, yes! Im sorry, lets do that! I will miss my meal if this keeps going on, so lets listen to him after lunch. Even though Ed said that, he kept begging me even when we were eating. At least let me eat my meal in peace! Now that you did that, my motivation to help you only decreased more and more! I could feel my frown getting deeper as Ed repeated his words. Ed talked even more because he was nervous about my response. And I became even more displeased. What a vicious circle. Stop that, just let me eat first. Others who saw my reaction realized my bad mood and silenced Ed. Thanks to that, I finally could eat in peace. Although I was frustrated, I finished my meal. And Ed opened his mouth immediately. Just stop it already! But since I was an adult, lets think about it with a cool head. After getting straightened by me, Ed began to work by himself seriously and greatly improved his skill in cksmithing. Its understandable that he wanted to try joining an event after raising his skill. I could understand his feelings, but I wanted to raise my cksmithing skill to level ten this winter. To be frank, I refuse to help him. Also, I was very annoyed that he didnt let me eat in peace, so my evaluation of him reached the negative. Thats why I refuse. But when I tried to voice my refusal, Master mixed in. Hey, Ed. Stop it already. Youre being too persistent. Look, Miss doesnt like it too. Father I understand your feelings, but youre being too forceful. You dont even consider if shes free. To be clear, that method will only backfire if youre doing that to her. Eh? Ed paled again. He finally calmed down after Master advised him and nced at me in nervousness. Uu I didnt mean to annoy you I didnt answer him. I was really frustrated back then. How can I say this? When I eat, I dont want anyone to bother me My happiness is my utmost priority. If you disturb me, then you be my enemy. Haa Forgive him, Miss. This guy is still a brat. But as his father, I want to help him too. Im sure he annoyed you a lot, but can I ask for your help? If you ept, I will thank you in some way. So please. Ugh, I couldnt refuse if Master bowed his head! Stop it, for real Hmm. Sigh. Master had helped me a lot I guess it couldnt be helped. Haaa I understand. Ill ept your request. But Ill only watch him. I heaved a big sigh. I really didnt want to do it. I know, lets pretend to watch him and do some other work on the side. Maybe I should make more burst daggers. Really!? Thank you, Miss! Im Ren. Right, youre Ren! Hey, Ed! Thank her too, idiot! Ah. Thank you very much, Teacher! I wouldnt show much enthusiasm since I didnt want to do it. But since I already epted, I would supervise him properly. Master said that he would thank me, so I expect to get something good. I didnt want to do this, though. When I was thinking about such a thing, I felt a gaze on me. Looking at the source, I saw an apprentice boy staring at me as if he wanted to say something. Hmm? Oh, maybe its that? He wanted me to watch him too. I guess the practice forge Ed used was supposed to be a room with multiple small furnaces. The other apprentice boys should have been working with him. Then Ah. Whatever. Theres not much difference between watching one person or two people. And they were apprentices, so adding a few more people wouldnt be a big burden. Lets sell a favor to Master a bit more. How about I watch that kid too? I wont give any advice, though. What? Miss, are you sure!? Adding a few more people wont be that different. I guess Im fine with it Then, please! I was thinking of watching him as usual, but I received some annoying orders I wont make it in time if Al and the other veterans dont assist me, so I have been worried about this matter. I will watch them as soon as I finish my job, so please watch over them until then! Oh, I got his favor more than I expected? And the effect was unexpectedly good. But annoying orders, huh? Being in the off-season of winter didnt mean that they wouldnt receive any order. Rather, they took troublesome orders because they had too much free time? Its probably theplicated or boring jobs that they usually refused because it took too much time Well, its not like Im the one who has to do it. I dont care. I dont feel like epting any cksmith request anymore too. Whatever. So, uh I had to watch over the stupid Ed, two apprentice boys, and one beginner. Four people Its troublesome, but I only had to watch over them. It should be fine, right? Ill give them advice if I feel like it. Maybe. Well, thats how I decided to give my energy to supervise them, albeit irresponsibly. Ah, its really troublesome. Chapter 122: Supervising, Sometimes Worshipping Part 1 Chapter 122: Supervising, Sometimes Worshipping Part 1 The sounds of striking irons echoed in the cksmith. Several small furnaces were lined up by the wall of the long rectangr room. Young cksmiths were swinging their mallets down in front of each of them. I was watching them without doing anything. Anyway, I was spending my energy to supervise these chicks. But I was freer than I expected. From the day after I epted the task to supervise Ed and other apprentices, I started watching them work every three days, but I didnt have much to do. Ah, I did it once every three days since I naturally had to train. I could give them advice, you say? But talking too much when they were working would break their concentration, so thats a bit But then, only looking at them was pretty boring. How troublesome. However, I wasnt just looking at them. When I was bothered by something, I would tell them properly. Ah, that apprentice over there is? Hey, youre hitting it a bit too much. You must forge itter on to bnce the shape, so its okay to make it a little thicker now. Ah, yes! Thank you very much! Well, its something like this. Teacher, what should I do about this? Please do as you like. Yes. Ed also called me out, but I cut him downpletely. My reply depressed Ed, but I could only answer him like this. Dont get me wrong. Its not like I was bullying him. I was giving him supplementary lessons; you know? Plus, I was watching him. Telling him exactly what he should do would be bad, too. Youre the only one who knows the image of the sword you want to make. Even if theres only a little progress, theres no choice but to forge as many swords as possible to get closer to your perfect image. Ah Yes! Ill do my best! I was responding to Ed and the apprentices differently, but well they had differences in the level of their cksmithing skills. I wasnt just discriminating against Ed because I didnt like him. The two apprentice boys were around the same age as me, but they literally just started swinging their mallets and didnt have enough skills yet. So theres no way they could forge the sword they want. What they were forging right now was a dagger. For the time being, their products met the standards of this workshop. Master instructed them to practically touch what the veteran of this workshop forged as a sample. Then they had to make the same thing. Well, it would be hard for them to make something with this kind of quality during this winter, but they might put up something at the show if they worked hard. Thats why the two apprentices were fully motivated. Theres also a novice boy I was currently entrusted to assist, who was a couple years older than me. He was practicing to forge a sample sword in the workshop. A sample sword was the sword used for the basis when receiving forging requests in workshops and schools. Based on that, the cksmith would change the weight, the length, the bnce of the center of gravity as the customer ordered. I also made it before, but I didnt have many chances to use it. Apprentices were basically in charge of cksmithing-rted chores. They carried the steel materials or prepared the coke1 for the furnace. The shop boys did chores that werent rted to cksmithing. They were also in charge of watching the store. Novices often assisted the actual cksmithing work, such as wiping sweat, preparing drinks, preparing water to cool the sword that had been hardened for tempering, and a lot more things. Anyway, quenching was lets omit it for now. Forging a sword sure wasplicated. After a novice could forge a sample sword, they would be treated as an independent person at this workshop. Thats when they started forging a few swords. Then theres Ed. Ed could forge the sample sword in the workshop with no problem, so he was treated as an independent man. However, Master told me he couldnt ept forging requests since he had a strange habit. Originally, the cksmiths in this workshop could start making weapons for forging requests after they became a veteran that had gained some experience. But Ed was Masters son. He also had talent, so he could ept the request in advance. And he also had the skill to make a proper weapon when he officially became an independent man. But well he got ahead of himself because of the difference in treatment with his brother and got a strange habit Of course Master wouldnt let him work anymore. His older brother Al started taking forging requests two years after bing an independent man. After I mercilessly straightened Ed, he devoted himself to train more seriously than before. I could see that Master hoped that Ed would get a good result at the New Years show. I also heard that Master Arnold wanted to outwit the person in charge of the other workshop diagonally opposite ours. He had a bad rtionship with them, and the other workshops Masters heir would also present their work in the showter on, so Wait, shouldnt Master watch Ed on his own? I thought so, but it seems like he couldnt refuse the request he was working on right now since it came from a fairly influential person. Master gave me a vague exnation, but since this probably involved Vector, it might be rted to the royal family. That being said, Ed and the son of the workshop diagonally opposite ours were not on good terms. In addition, Al also didnt get along with them. Al told me that if he had free time topete with them, he would do it to defeat them, or something like that? For me, I think Al was more correct as a craftsman. No, Master Arnold had the same idea as Al, but he was poking his head at every asion, and Al naturally got pretty upset about it. I can rte to him a lot. Ah, I strayed from the subject. Honestly, I had nothing to teach Ed. In the first ce, there was the orthodox way to forge weapons, so teaching how I did it might make him stray from the teaching in this workshop. Even if he might eventually work on his own, I believe he should still follow the way of this workshop until it happens. I feel bad for Ed, but I basically only looked at him. I wouldnt touch anything unless he did something that would make an awful result. Chapter 122: Supervising, Sometimes Worshipping Part 2 Chapter 122: Supervising, Sometimes Worshipping Part 2 On the other hand, the apprentices hadnt even mastered the basics yet, so I literally could only teach them the foundation. But I didnt interfere much. I think its better to let them work hard while facing problems so they could think for themselves. But if theres anything they didnt understand or if they had questions, I would answer it properly. I also praised them if they did well. After all, Im the type of person who improved with praises. For the novice Honestly, I had nothing else to do but to watch him. All he did was just forging the same sample sword repeatedly. But that didnt mean I was ditching him. He should be able to forge something else too for a change, right? Then I could monitor him properly. When I tried rmending that to him, he forged a different sword he had in his mind. Then his precision when he forged a sample sword after that increased at once. I guess he learned something when he made that sword. Later, I secretly checked his skill with [Appraisal]. His [cksmith] level remained the same, but his [Metalworking] level had risen. That means his understanding of handling metal had deepened, I guess? Hmm. Eh? I was supervising them better than I thought, even if I was unmotivated? Well, I already took the task, so I would do it properly, okay? Motivation and job were two different things altogether! With that feeling, I spent the end of the year supervising them every two days. On thest day of this year, I secretly stayed upte to make and eat soba, celebrating the New Years Eve. Ah This is it. Japanese custom! I couldnt find buckwheat flour since I stayed deep in the forestst year. But since the memory of my previous life had returned, I would like to get a hold of it soon. By the way, I didnt invite anyone to the workshop. Sorry. And the workshop didnt operate on the first day of New Year, so I spent that entire day sleeping. First shrine visit? This world also had the custom to go to the church and pray for the first time to celebrate the year, but I didnt go since I wasnt that religious. In the first ce, I didnt have any ns to go. Yeah, thats the n, but Tri and the others came on the second day of New Year and forcibly took me away. Its cold, and its going to snow, so could they leave me alone? No? Seems like they wouldnt let me go, so I gave up and followed them. Ah, dont worry since Norn and Bell were also with me. And as usual, the way I behaved to boys and girls were different. By the way, the state religion of this country was the God of Wind, making our destination the temple of the God of Wind Not really. Were going to a church in another ce. Most people also prayed in the square in front of the temple during New Year, but I wanted to try praying in the church. The chapel of the church was surprisingly empty, as everyone else went to the temple. Nobles used the chapel of the temple, somoners couldnt enter it. Fucking privilege! After praying in the churchs chapel, we received the vegetable soup prepared in the square in front of the church. We ate them before going home and talked about what we were doing these days. Tri and the others earned small money by doing chores in the town. They were mainly scraping snow. They used a lot of preserved food on our way home from ONeill, so they were worried that the winter food they had prepared might not be enough. Yet in reality, they had considerable savings thanks to the sale of the orc. That being said, buying food in the middle of winter was expensive. The profit from the sale of the orc was enough for them to spend this winter with no problems, but having more money wouldnt hurt. Thats why they were devoting their time to earn some pocket money. Also, Tri and Rico trained their magic skills by practicing magic circtions. Only both of them could supply magic power to the hot water supply magic tool, so they seemed to have it rough. Since I advised them to take a bath every day to avoid hygiene problems, they had been trying to follow my words to their utmost effort. Being careless about hygiene during winter was especially bad. They would easily catch a cold, plus the recovery would take longer than usual. Its better to keep the environment clean so they wouldnt catch a cold in the first ce. Getting sick would cost them a lot of money. Regarding the water heater, I thought I might have to teach magic to the boys. But they apparently had done a lot of things. Tri and Rico also had the intention to teach them. However, Cain and Maricle were nning to take goblins subjugation requests starting from the beginning of the year, so all the boys had been practicing in the mornings and evenings every day. Hmm, I didnt know if this was good or bad. Hunting one goblin would generate more ie than a days chores done by eight people. This was better in terms of ie. However, only Cain and Maricle could take subjugation requests. Its scary to think about how they might get injured. And it would cost money, too. However, Maricle had mastered the shield. His skill was exceptional considering his age. Thanks to the equipment I made for him, its unlikely that he would get any fatal injuries. In that case, the problem was Cain. But even if his equipment was inferior, Cain was a genius when ites to using his body. Tri told me he was getting stronger at an amazing speed in his daily practice. Also, he sometimes went to the inn where Neil was staying and trained there Since Neil had returned to the capital, that means Vector also had returned as well Did the demon cleaning-up operation go well? Oh well. It didnt concern the orphanage, so I didnt care. Thats that. But did Vector also get involved with Cain and the others? Well, its up to him to decide if he wanted to take these kids to his team I didnt want them to get involved with him too much, but they would get more opportunities by sticking with Vector. Hmm No, no. Cain, Maricle, and Tri were the ones who decided on the party. Maricle and Tri would definitely not agree if they didnt think it was safe. Cain also was able to think a bit after receiving Maricles preaching on our way home right? Kuro was wrapped in a nket and curled up in the bed since she disliked the cold. She also put a board on the bathtub and rolled up on top of it. Is she a cat!? Well, she is. Arle studied cooking when she had time. Boman joined her after he finished practicing. That being said, he didnt waste any food materials, so there was no problem. Should I go look next time? How about me, you ask? I didnt really have anything to say I hadnt stepped out of the workshop until today, and I didnt really have to tell them about supervising the apprentices, right? We talked about those things and dispersed before noon. Hmm, lets go home quickly and eat something The stock offered by the soup kitchen wasnt enough at all. There were no food stalls during New Year holidays, so I couldnt take a tour of eating too. In the midst of the light snow, I returned to the workshop in quick steps. Chapter 123: The Shows Result! Part 1 Chapter 123: The Show''s Result! Part 1 Around the end of the first week in January, the chicks I had been supervising finished all of their best works. The result was well; it wasnt bad? Im not sure, though. I mean, all of them were inferior by the standards of what I could make So I shouldpare them with the ones sold at the workshop, right? From that point of view, the knives forged by the two apprentices were just barely enough. It wouldnt sell in this workshop, but they were pretty good considering that apprentices made them. Master also gave them permission to exhibit it for the show. It should be fine. The novice could now forge a sample sword of eptable quality for sale. However, it didnt mean he could maintain that quality every time, so he should keep giving his efforts like this to improve. He received permission to forge a few other swords. From now on, he should be able to gain a lot of experience. Then, theres Ed he forged a high quality sword. High quality was pretty high in the ranking of weapon quality. Eds cksmithing skill went up to level 5 under my supervision. Even so, normal people with [cksmith] level 5 normally wouldnt be able to forge high quality swords. This is why talented guys are so annoying! The rank of weapon quality for swords was poor, lowest quality, low quality, normal, good quality, high quality, highest quality, excellent sword, and supreme sword. Eds sword was the fourth rank from the top. In addition, you could say that a cksmith who could forge a sword of the top two ranks was exceptional. If we took those two top ranks out, his sword was rank two. Ugh, this is why talented guys are so!! Eh? I forged a named sword in around half a year? No, its thanks to the racial traits of a Celestial whose skill levels grow fast, you know? Its my ability, so this is quite different. Well, you could say that its unfair how I had it easy with that kind of cheat ability, so I couldnt really brag about it, you know? But hey, I still need to put some effort to actually achieve something, and I was nning to take it seriously, okay? Uh Whatever. Theres no need to humble myself too much. Anyway, a few days after all of thempleted their creation, the day of the show arrived. I didnt have any reason to go, but Master, Ed, and the others invited me to, so I reluctantly went to see it. Well, I had been watching Ed and the apprentices for some time. Of course, I was a bit curious about the result. No, um To be honest, I was pretty curious. Its very hard to say this, but in thetter half of my supervising task, I neglected my own training to watch them I guess I got too excited? Ah this must be how it felt to get affected by others fervor You see, I watched them working on the weapon very seriously. Theres no way I could ignore that, okay? And I honestly gave them advice when they asked for it My first impression of Ed was the worst, but I think his current personality was honest. He was annoying when he got a little too persistent, but acting cold when he sincerely looked up to me was a bit too much, you know? Ahhh, seriously! Its fine, right!? Its not like Im bad-tempered all the time! By the way, the venue of the show was the arena. The reason they held it in that ce was that the exhibited items were basically weapons. There would be a test cut topare the quality too. Also, not only cksmiths but knights, adventurers, and merchants also came to see the show, and they wouldnt fit unless they held the event in a wide venue. A merchant would want to find their future supplier, and an adventurer would want to have dibs on a cksmith who forged a good weapon. They all need each other in their life. And because of that, cksmith apprentices might get manipted by merchants who promised them financial support to be independent. They might also get tied up in mutual aid contracts with little understanding of what they signed. Apparently, that happened a lot. The world sure was harsh, huh However, unless a normal person had [Appraisal] skill, its hard for them to know which weapon was better. And even if they had that skill, its fun to watch cksmith show their skill with their own eyes. That made this event pretty popr. But master cksmiths, veteran adventurers, and merchants with sharp eyes could easily tell that. Yes, its as you imagined. In other words, cksmiths who had poor rtionships with each other would quarrel here, trying to show that they were better. And whats used to prevent that was the test cut. However, the sword might break during the test cut. But anyhow, its the creation of young novice and apprentices. All of them had a lot of holes to improve. Therefore, they had to ept the fact that their weapon might break when participating in the test cut. By the way, all the craftsmen of Arnolds workshop participated in the test cut. Everyone was very confident I heard that they had some pride to work at the popr Master Arnolds workshop. Even if they didnt do well, they could stillpete with the neighboring countries. Ah, right. At first, the heir of the workshop diagonally opposite to ours was reluctant to participate in the test cut. However, someone told him that no one would respect a cksmith who said that he was the best yet wouldnt participate in the test cut, so he unwillingly joined. Is he stupid? Other than that, I found out they served snacks at the venue. There were also eating spaces near the corner of the venue. However, its more like a bonus. I couldnt even consider it as snacks. I went to peek, and yeah, I dont have to force myself to eat it. After checking the snacks, I wandered around the venue. But I wasnt alone. Kuro went together with me. Apparently, Kuro wasnt much help when they were scraping snow. Her movements were sluggish since she wasnt good at cold. Cat beastfolk werent the strongest among all beastfolks, so she was weak with hardbor. Besides, Kuro was younger and smaller than me. And it was difficult to bring Norn in this venue since she was big, so having Kuro apany me was very helpful. Well, Bell came with us, though. Either way, I was grateful for having thicker defense. As was expected from the ce, I couldnt wear a hood all the time. Others would treat me as a suspicious person. However, hiding the lower half of my face with a muffler should be fine, so I could manage somehow By the way, there were recently more and more situations where Norn couldnt apany me like this, and Norn hadnt been very happy with it. Yeah, lets treat her with curry next time. I was looking around the venue while having Kuro stick to me. I saw Vector, Neil, and Gim. I asked Gim why he was here, and he apparently got hired to do the try cut. Chapter 123: The Shows Result! Part 2 Chapter 123: The Show''s Result! Part 2 No matter how sharp or dull a sword was, having a poor swordsman or warrior try it would make it hard to get good results. Thats why the event organizer requested the help of adventures who had used different weapons to try it out. I see. In addition, Vector was looking at me with a meaningful smile, but I ignored him. I nned to act dumb about the magic stone! So please, dont get close to me! Later on, I met Maricle and Ryuu when I was running away from Vector. Apparently, all the boys wereing. Huh? What happened to the goblin hunting and snow scraping? They told me they werent skipping since they had a good reason. In fact, visitors could buy the weapons exhibited at the show. Moreover, the price was a little cheaper than the market price. Thats why the boys were aiming to buy Cain and Bomans weapons at a cheaper price, if possible. And they wanted to get closer to the cksmith who forged the weapon and purchase weapons and armor from the cksmiths workshop. Oh, so they were thinking about that. Ideally, they wanted to make a mutual aid contract, but Mutual aid contracts posed a significant risk to the cksmith, so I think its going to be difficult. But the boys also had the same thought, so they would only try if there was a chance. By the way, these were Cains ideas. He used to make a fool of Tri who went to workshops and aimed for mutual aid contracts a long time ago, but now he Okay, lets just say that he had grown up. Its my bad habit to think of the worst of him. I have to fix it a little. Anyway, I met my acquaintances and had a light talk like that. And before I knew it, the test cut started. It began with short des such as knives and daggers, gradually moving to long des and heavy axes and spears. The knives and daggers were used to sh and stab a tanned leather skin. The target of the short sword was also the same tanned leather skin. When the adventurers finished testing the short des, a lot of orc corpses were brought into the venue. Apparently, they would be used as the next level of the test cutpetition. The corpses of these orcs were hunted during the autumn breeding season, and they were frozen and preserved to be used as the test cuts target for spears, axes, one-handed swords, and two-handed swords. An orcs corpse minced into pieces Its a pretty gory image The test cut went smoothly. Some spear des were broken or chipped. Thankfully, none of the axes got smashed by its own weight. After that, the next one was the one-handed sword, which most neer cksmiths exhibited. Several listings were high since there were many one-handed sword users, which also made the price higher. The next most exhibited item was a two-handed sword. I feel like the spear was more convenient but I could see why a sword was more popr. The swords test cut was swinging it vertically to the vicle of the orc. And they tested the sharpness by checking how many ribs were cut off from the vicle. Its one orc per two swords. The number of orc ribs was fifteen to sixteen bones. Orc bone boasted a thickness and hardnessmensurate with its enormous body. Thanks to that, many swords were broken. In other words, many young cksmiths ended up crying. Im sorry for your loss. Vector did all the test cuts for one-handed swords. They especially asked him since he was currently in a high position among the swordsmen in the royal capital. Not only swordsmanship, but overall strength was also important for an adventurer So its hard to simply call a swordsman strong. Oh well, Im a rearguard, not a vanguard, so I dont really get it. Anyway, the swords test cut went smoothly. Eds and the other workshops heir also finished their test cut. And Vector looked exhausted towards the end. I knew it. So the result of Eds sword was the de didnt break, and the sword got stuck after cutting twelve ribs. This was the best result among all one-handed swords exhibited this time. How could I say this I felt proud and a little teary. But thats a secret, understand? In addition, the sword of the other workshops heir only cut up to the sixth rib. Its really too bad, but everyone expected it. The sword he forged was an attribute sword with fire element. That workshop made a profit by selling mana swords and attribute swords. Now that the heir of that workshop had this kind of result, their reputation might sink down dramatically The uncles who seemed to have a prominent position in cksmith Guild said that. Ed, the son of Master Arnold whose workshop was regarded as their rival, had gotten an excellent result. That would only burn their reputation even further. Besides, Eds sword was a normal one with nothing bestowed to it That workshops heir sure was pitiful. But I was really proud of myself for guiding him. After the one-handed swords test cut was finished, we moved on to the two-handed swords test cut. Another person did it, not Vector. I could see that his arms definitely hurt. After theypleted the test cuts, they traded the swords and other weapons. By this time, adventurers, swordsmen, and knights who came to watch the show had dispersed. Only the merchants remained. Many people surrounded Master Arnold thanks to his sons result this time. Of course, many people surrounded Ed too. They will probably get a lot of orders this year Do your best. Since they looked busy, I decided to go back a little earlier. I felt like I would get involved in troublesome things if I stayed there When I talked to Ed, who came back in the evening, my bad premonition was right. Master Arnold showed off the sword I gave to him before. Give me a break Katana, or Hourai sword, was very rare since they were traded at very high prices. For that reason, only a few people used it, and no swordsmen in the exhibition had enough skill to use it. Thats why they didnt do a test cut for the katana, but everyone was excited. Master told other people that he got the katana from his connections, just like Vectors magic sword. Anyway, everyone hoped that Master Arnolds skill would improve since now that he got a hold of a Katana, he could examine it. To be honest, I think Master only wanted to brag about getting a rare Hourai sword. Hmm Well, he lied about the source, so its barely safe? Barely out? Which one is it? ording to various other stories I heard from Ed, many teens of the same age surrounded him, curious about his sudden skill improvement. And Ed answered all of their questions by thanking me Hey, seriously, give me a break. Ah Maybe I shouldnt have gone to the show. But I supervised Eds sword, and Master would also boast my Katana no matter what, so it wouldnt matter whether I go or not. Ugh Chapter 124: I See, But It Doesnt Concern Me Part 1 Chapter 124: I See, But It Doesn''t Concern Me Part 1 The next morning, Arnold who returned with Alphonse called me to exin about yesterdays matter. To put it simply, the reason he brought out the katana was to divert everyones attention away from me. Since I started staying at this workshop, he told the merchants who often visited the workshop I was a young but skillful cksmith. But no one would believe a child like me was skillful. ording to Master, No one believes me unless they see you working with their own eyes. I was grateful for that, but also not Oh well. I didnt want to stand out, so its fine? Later on, I asked him to keep the fact that I could forge a sword secret, so Master thought he should hide my existence or lie better. By this time, he had strictly ordered everyone in the workshop not to talk about my cksmithing skill to any outsiders. The merchants didnt believe that I had skills, so he changed the story. He told them that theres another cksmith who was currently staying in his workshop. That person was bad-tempered, so they rarely showed their face. Unlike when they heard about me, they easily believed that story. Muu. However, that changed their perception of me to a newly hired live-in apprentice maid even though he said nothing about me. Thats the reason the kids in other workshops invited me to the harvest festival. After that, my surroundings perception of me changed steadily. By the end of the harvest festival, I had turned into an apprentice maid. Since I disclosed various recipes to thendy, many recipes got shared from her, and I heard that I was quite popr with the neighborhood housewives Vectors request to create a magic sword improved Masters opinion towards me at once. When we talked about that matter, Master had a strainedugh and told me he didnt expect that theres a cksmith who was far more skillful than him. I told him this resulted from training here, but he didnt believe me at all. Muumuu. However, theres no doubt that a lot of bad things would happen if my ability was revealed1. Master who thought so consulted with Vector, who promised not to leak my information. He then took various measurements. As a result, they said that Master got the magic sword forged for Vector through his connections. In addition, Master really had connections to get magic swords and rare weapons, so the cksmith Guild believed him easily. In fact, Master used his connections to get two new katanas before the harvest festival. Making technical analysis using a single sword wouldnt be possible. Even if he spent a lot of money on the two new swords, it wasnt for naught. That sounds just like what Master, a metalsmith addict, would say. And there were traces of some people trying to find the source, probably because Vectors magic swords had an exceptional performance. Although Vector had some escorts guard me, Master was still uneasy with that alone. He then made another n here. He heard about the escorts directly from Vector. However, I hadnt heard about the escorts from him, so I pretended that I just knew it for the first time. After all, I noticed them on my own. For that reason, Master wanted to divert the attention from me to him by raising an exciting topic when people were gathering around him. In fact, the show originally wasnt only a ce for neers and young cksmiths to exhibit their works, but also a ce for masters to show off their skills. However, the masters had a tacit understanding not to bring their weapons since it ended up with a fight almost every time What are you doing, Master? Anyway, Master Arnold already told them he wanted to announce a new weapon, and the guild executives agreed to it wholeheartedly. That was only to be expected. Everyone was interested in Masters new weapon. After all, he was also famous in neighboring countries Master sure was amazing. He made various preparations like this, bringing three katanas to the show as a reference and several swords he forged. As I said earlier, two of the katanas were obtained through his connections. They came from a dungeon of the famous Labyrinth City in the neighboring country. He had disciples who settled in Labyrinth City, and it was possible to get magic weapons through that connection. To be honest, I was surprised to learn that they could get Hourai swords other than purchasing it via imported products. There were several adventurers in Labyrinth City who had acquired Swordsmanship: Katana skill with their own power, and those people would buy up all the katanas found in the dungeon. Thats why its not popr outside the city I wondered how many katanas those people had wasted until they learned that skill. Its scary imagining the amount of money they spent. Anyway, lets move on to the new sword Masterpleted. Masters new sword was a curved sword. A curved sword was called Shamshir, Talwar, or Falchion. Depending on the item, its de might curve even more. The curved sword forged by Master had a thick de, emphasizing its strength. He couldnt forge a de as thin as a katana, so this n might hurt his pride. But he saw the curve of the katana and wondered if he could apply it to something else. Thats where it all started. Master wasnt very convinced, but all the curved swords he brought to the show could be used in actual battles, so many merchants offered business talks on the spot. He received suggestions to lengthen the de and increase the weight to make an excellent curved sword used when riding horses. Masters eyes were shining when he told me that. He most likely would try making a prototype after this. Master could forge a sword that could be used in actual battle in just a few months. He was amazing. Well, that means Master wasnt boasting about the katana, but he did it withpletely different intentions The reason he didnt tell me in advance was that Ed was in good shape when I supervised him the entire time, so he didnt want to bother me. And Ed did forge a high quality sword, causing me to be unable to refute him. After Ed finished his sword, Master was busy with a lot of things before the show and didnt have enough free time to talk to me Nah, the result was okay, so dont worry about it. Chapter 124: I See, But It Doesnt Concern Me Part 2 Chapter 124: I See, But It Doesn''t Concern Me Part 2 Master apologized for showing off the katana I gave to him as a bribe, but I already gave it to him, and I didnt mind as long as he didnt tell anyone I forged that katana. That being said, I misunderstood Master, thinking that he wanted to brag about the katana! Its because I only heard a part of the story from Edst night, but! Im really sorry! Master was a metalsmith addict, okay? I could imagine him honestly getting proud of holding a rare weapon, you know? It cant be helped that I misunderstood him. No, Im honestly apologetic. Im really sorry. In addition, he told others that the imaginary mysterious cksmith left in New Year. The teacher Ed boasted about was also this mysterious cksmith, so Ed was making sure not to call me Teacher outside the workshop. Well, I rarely went outside, so this doesnt concern me that much. Ed also said he would try not to talk outside the workshop as much as possible. You really should be careful, kay? As a thank you for supervising Ed, Master introduced me to his disciple who lived in Labyrinth City. If I had any problems when I went there, I shouldnt hesitate to rely on him. Thanks! He returned the full fee I had paid for using the smithy until now. Also, I could stay here as long as I like I should pay for the steel I used, but I didnt have to worry about the furnace cost. Really? Are you serious!? Huh? Wait, Im indebted to Master now, arent I? Anyway, a lot of my anxiety had been dispelled by Master and I finished supervising the apprentices, so I would like to seriously train my cksmithing! First, I checked my status. Seeing my [cksmithing] skill getting stuck in LV8 for a long time made me sick. And I vented that resentment by cksmithing. I mean, I want to level it up already Oh? Wait, its LV9 now? Why? Ah, maybe its because I guided Ed? Or maybe Ed, who received my guidance, got a good result? I feel like its something like that But with this; I broke through another wall! All I had to do now was forge swords with all my might! Ah, leaving that aside, I became twelve years old in February. Happy birthday to me. I secretly ate curry and cake in my room. Its delicious. The cake was a rare cheesecake. A sponge cake sounds cheap, you know? Eh? Why didnt I invite Tri and the others to celebrate it? But we never celebrated birthdays since we were in the orphanage. On the first day of every month, we gathered and celebrated the children whose birthday was in that month. Just that. Its because we were poor. After my lonely celebration, I measured my height. It grew one centimeter, and I finally reached 140 cm! I had never been so happy You understand, right? I could make tform shoes, but being tall sure was nice Eh? You didnt understand a kids feelings? Should I kill you? As I sulked, Tri and the others came and took me away. They told me they wanted to celebrate my birthday. For real? Um, well it would be a lie to say that I wasnt happy. I was thrilled. I got ahead of myself and made a cheesecake; you know! I felt a bitplicated when I celebrated my birthday and prepared my own cake, but that was that, this was this! It was still fun! They didnt give me any presents, but Arle and the girls gave me treats with their utmost effort I cried a little. The meal also served as a thank you for all the things I had done since we reunited. After the boys congratted me, they became silent at the corner of the room. However, they could eat the treats and there was a cake, so everyone was smiling from beginning to end. Ah, of course theres no alcohol. We were minors. The boys drank too much back in the orphanage, so the girls banned them from drinking. Cain and Boman looked dissatisfied, but Maricle obediently reflected. Ryuu also thought that liquor was dangerous. Ryuus growth was really extreme Also, I didnt expect that Maricle also liked liquor Thats great! It might be interesting to give him some liquor in the next few years. Lets drink together! I dont know about Cain and Boman. They could buy liquor themselves. I continued my cksmith training after my birthday. I had nothing to do, and I wanted to raise the level quickly and do something else. It would be nice if I could raise it to LV10 this winter, but I wasnt confident if I could make it in time. Speaking of which, I stayed in the forestst year, eh What did I do back then? Hmm If I remember right, I tried to make a sword, right? I was doing the same thing now. I didnt grow at all! No, no. I was growing taller, and my ***** were getting bigger. This was an improvement. Its okay, I shouldnt get panicked yet. What did I do after that? Ah, I did my daily routine almost every day, huh? I didnt have much to do, so I had a lot of free time I havent done my daily routine recently, huh? Eh? Its a daily routine, so I should do it every day? Rather, its strange that I hadnt done it recently? Ah, yeah. Youre right. Ah Yeah, lets go far away again in the spring. By that time, my cksmith skill might have reached the maximum. It should be fine to leave the royal capital and go somewhere else, right? Maybe I should show up in Har? Its been a while since Ist saw Lily and Arisa, and I also want to meet Yui and Shin. Well, for that reason, I had to reach [cksmithing] skill LV10 first. After that, I concentrated on forging swords more than ever, and by the time the snow melted in March, my cksmithing skill level had finally reached 10. Atst, Id reached it! I fulfilled my dream! But I also mass-produced magic swords using the material swords I forged, so I gained more experience after reaching the goal. Anyway, I could finally do things other than forging swords Im already tired of doing this. For the time being, I guess I settled it all here, so lets go out for a while and change my mood. Hohoho! Chapter 125: W-What Are You Doing, You Scumbag! Part 1 Chapter 125: W-What Are You Doing, You Scumbag! Part 1 Its Ren, who finally reached [cksmithing] skill LV10. That being said, there were still other high-ranking cksmithing skills. My mana sword, attribute sword creation skill was LV9. I think I should be able to reach LV10 if I did my best, but my magic sword creation skill was still in LV7, so it would take a lot more time. My katana creation skill was also LV7. Holy sword creation was still LV0. In the first ce, how should I make a holy sword? I waspletely lost. I didnt hate researching, but I was basically only groping my way. But, hmm At first, I thought I could force my way using [Creation Magic] again. But I felt like its impossible. I wonder why? But now that I achieved my minimum goal, I could finally move on to the next action. That being said, I had no particr goal. Well, I left the workshop for the time being. Continuing cksmithing like this was too much for me Honestly, I had gotten sick of it. I was thinking of renting a suitable inn or house after leaving the workshop Thats why I tried collecting information on inns that looked good. Since I had money, staying for a long time in an inn wouldnt burden my wallet! Uh, I cashed out my money in the Commercial Guild against week; you know? My deposit had turned into something unthinkable Cart-rted items had boosted in sales sincest fall, including the blueprints I submittedst fall. So the amount of materials brought back by adventurers using carts had increased. Distribution, economy, and so on had improved dramatically. As the number of whole orcs being taken back had increased, the amount ofrd distribution was increasing, and the price of oil and soap was getting cheaper. My knowledge cheat had unexpectedly contributed to the economy. Maybe I made a mistake? Well, thats why the patent royalties had be ridiculous. I didnt even have to work anymore I should probably seclude myself deep in the forest somewhere soon. Mymercial rank was raised to Rank A, which was almost the highest rank, and I would receive a lot of preferential treatments when opening a store or purchasing items inrge quantities. That being said, I wasnt nning to open a store. I wasnt good at serving customers. And when I told Master that I would leave the workshop, he strongly opposed it. Um, I was originally an adventurer, okay? I persuaded him in various ways and convinced him. He told me I could focus on cksmithing work, but I couldnt do it. Besides, I had a feeling that staying here any longer would result in me being forced to take cksmithing requests. One reason I left the workshop was that the number of escorts Vector provided for me had decreased. At first, there were around three to five escorts, with at least two or three when exchanging shifts. But after the winter show, the number gradually decreased. Now there was only one. Did Masters effort work? But the fact that he decreased the number of escorts means that my safety had been secured to some extent. I think leaving the workshop should be fine now. Well, I made various preparations, and its finally the day to leave the workshop! I dont like being gloomy, so I immediately left. Hahaha. For the time being, I considered leaving the royal capital immediately, staying in the depths of a nearby forest for a while, and try various production skills other than cksmithing. Then I also wanted to do my daily routine since its been a long while. After Im done with that, I would return to the royal capital and look for a base while staying at an inn or something And then I would go with the flow? Yeah, I still lived my life sloppily. I had some things I wanted to make as a tentative goal, but I didnt have enough skills to make them But I wasnt in a hurry. Lets be patient. I should say goodbye to Tri and the others before leaving the royal capital. Thats why I went to their house, but its empty. Hmm. I guess they already left during this time, huh? What a shame. My mood worsened, but I regained my mind and moved out of the royal capital as nned. And I met Sheryl and her sister when I left the gate. Oh, its been a while. Since we went in the same way, I followed her until we reached the forest. We talked about many things along the way. I made a sling for Sheryl when I was still teaching her in the open-air ss. Thanks to that, she was very grateful since she could secure meat and always have a full stomach. Now that her ie had increased, she was gradually preparing equipment. In addition, Sheryl seemed to specialize in closebat with bare hands. She looked like a gentle beauty, yet she was so scary! So Melty was the one who used the sling Good luck. Hmm, then maybe I should join Sheryls party Yeah, lets put that option in my future ns. Sheryl as the vanguard, Melty as a scout, and me as rearguard. Its pretty well bnced, isnt it? There were also Norn and Bell. Our annihtion power was pretty high. Thinking about that, I looked at Norn who walked next to me. She was huge. Maybe the same or slightlyrger than an adult tiger or lion? She was around 3m long She was reliable, but its hard doing things together with her in a city. Most people would get scared when I walked with Norn since she was too big And she stood out a lot. Her dignity had increased, and she couldnt mask her atmosphere anymore. Most people would see her as Greater Wolf. And when they appraised her, she would turn out to be a spirit beast, not demon beast. Would Fenrir continue to rise and be a god beast? I reached the forest after walking with Sheryl and her sister leisurely! So I said goodbye here and proceed alone from now on. Well, Norn and Bell were with me, though. Just likest time, I moved deep into the forest. I wasnt in a hurry, so I collected the herbs I found along the way. Norn and Bell went into a different direction from me. Rather, they went hunting just like when I secluded myselfst time, with me still in the end of Norns [Detection] range. The escort person immediately left after we entered the forest. I guess this means I was safe. Now that I could act alone with no problems, I had to thank Master! Its just spring, so there were a lot of herbs that grew during the winter. I should be able to make many things with these herbs Right, I used a lot of intermediate potions during the subjugation of the Lord of Winter, right? Lets replenish them when I have some free time. Chapter 125: W-What Are You Doing, You Scumbag! Part 2 Chapter 125: W-What Are You Doing, You Scumbag! Part 2 Theres a depiction of sexual assault in this chapter. Please be warned. When I was walking happily while collecting herbs, I felt somewhat dizzy Is it because of myck of exercise? For the time being, lets drink the fatigue recovery potion. But the symptom got worse after a while. I couldnt stop getting dizzy. I felt sick and my head was dull. My legs eventually became weak, and I finally fell on the spot. What is this? Whats going on? I couldnt think straight. I tried my best to use [Detection] despite my aching head, but there was no reaction from Norn within the range I didnt understand, but I could sense something was wrong. I wondered what to do, but I couldnt gather my mind What happened? Then I lost all my strength and finally fell down on my face. I could move around, but I didnt think I could stand up I knew that the situation was bad, but I couldnt think of any countermeasures. This is bad. This is really bad. Amid my panic, several men appeared. Oh, shes ere. The poison is working properly, huh. She aint react to it immediately, I thought we gotta defective product. I know, eh Whys she so surprised? Hahn? Prolly got a [Detection] skill n such. Ahh, s so. I was so surprised that I couldnt make a voice. No, even if I screamed, my voice wouldnte out properly in my current state. But theres no use worrying over that now. These men suddenly appeared even though my [Detection] caught nothing. What does that mean? Why? I was confused, and the men were saying something with a sneaky smile. Should we exin it to her? Whats the point? Its troublesome. Lets just kidnap her quickly. We cant do that, can we? Look, she doesnt understand anything. You just want to make fun of her, right? So you get it? I want to scare her Well, you heard that, kiddo. Are you surprised when we suddenly appear? Ill tell you why you didnt notice us. Kiddo, you have [Detection] skill, right? And youre surprised that we are here even though it didnt detect us, right? Ah, uu I couldnt make a voice. I couldnt move my legs and fingertips anymore. Even though my head remained dizzy, I could hear the mens voices clearly. You made a mistake, kiddo. [Detection] is a beginners skill. There are many ways to hide from it. If you rely too much on that, youll end up like this, ya know? You learned something, right? Be careful from now on, kay? Hey, hey. I dont know what you are thinking, but what the hell are you talking about now? Stupid, Im saying it on purpose! Look, shes shivering. Thats cute, aint it? Right, Ill tell you this too. Kiddo, you cant think straight, right? Thats poison. It has been in the air for a while after you entered the forest. You cant move your limbs well, right? Thats also poison. And you cant use magic since the poison also interrupts your magic maniption. You cant resist. Give up already. Poison? Cant use magic? Cant do anything? W-what? What should I do? Wha Ah, Norn. I have Norn. They would definitelye. I managed to raise my head to look around. When the man noticed my movement, he continued with a grin. Oh. By the way, its useless to expect a wolf toe here. Its easy to fool a wolf or a dog. We have a poison to fool their nose. By the way, I also used the poison that made them unable to move like you, kiddo. They wont help you. Howe you dont realize that in this situation? Thats Hey, hey. She doesnt move anymore. Youre threatening her too much, yknow? Hehehe, this is good. Now, look at her face distorted in despair Wow, this is One guy reached out and stripped my hood, exposing my face. No, stop. My limbs didnt move properly and I couldnt resist. Hey, wha Whoa whoa whoa! This girl is too beautiful! Ah? What are you guys saying? No matter how beautiful she is, shes still a brat. You got hard on her? Ohh, she gets a pass from me. Mine will easily erect if shes that beautiful. I heard an unpleasant conversation. Their line of sight was disgusting. No, dont look at me. No, no, no! Anyway, isnt she still a brat? We got the right person, didnt we? This makes no sense. Who cares bout that! The order is just to bring this girl, so do as they say. Its not our fault if we got the wrong person! Yeah, youre right. Hey, what are you doing? Ah? Isnt that clear? One man kicked me with his leg and rolled me on my back. The dogs poison is still working, right? Then we can have some fun here. Hey, hey. That doesnt mean we have a lot of time. Huh? You too!? This guy is fast, so we can switch quickly, right? Can we go for one round? Tsk, cant be helped You said that, but youre clearly excited. Well, this girls face makes me ***** Isnt she too erotic? Ah, I know, right? Come on, lets do it quickly. We can get back to work once were refreshed. The men held my limbs and tried to pin me. No, no no no no no no, no! N-no Thats useless. Itll be better if you give up quickly, you know? Then the man who pressed against me tried to strip off my clothes, reaching out to my cor No! Stop! No!!! No, no No My tongue didnt move well. Give up. Ahhhhhhhhhh! No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no! Its impossible. When I was about to give up, the wind blew and the mans neck was cut off. His head disappeared. I heard anding sound from a distance, then the headless corpse that was pressing against me was kicked and blown away. Blood spewed from the cross-section of the neck. Are you okay!? Who? It sounds familiar Vector? Ren, are you okay!? And I heard a voice from the direction of thending sound. Arisa? Ari sa? Yes, Im Arisa! Lily, youre slow! Hurry! Theres also Lily? Someone was hugging me This is Lily? Are you okay!? Did they do anything terrible to you!? Ah, good. We made it in time! Leave this to me, Ill chase them! Wait! Ill go too! I could feel the sign of two people running in a hurry Am I saved? Chapter 126: I Want to Bury Myself if Theres a Hole Chapter 126: I Want to Bury Myself if There''s a Hole I was currently secluding myself, bing the highly acimed NEET. Its impossible, you know! Definitely impossible! I was so scared that I couldnt walk outside! Yeah, this is not a joke. Its been around a week since I got attacked by those mysterious thugs in the forest that day. A terrible thing almost happened to me Yeah, I wouldnt step out of this room after all of that. By the way, this was Lilys house. Seriously, this was already light trauma. Normal people would start having androphobia. Just looking at the butler made me tremble. Whats with this chicken, you ask? No, its me! What happened to my mental tolerance skill! Its fucking useless! I guess this matter had exceeded the permissible limit. So LV10 wasntpletely resistant to anything? Its seriously no use. They saved me before those men could do anything to me, but experiencing a crisis of chastity had nothing to do with being men or women, okay? Shocking thing was still shocking. Ugh. I knew my mind was too weak. I was so gloomy. I didnt want to breathe. Its hard to be alive Norns fur was the only thing thatforted me. I had been sticking beside her the entire time. But only Bell apanied me when I went to the toilet. In the daytime, I was burying myself in Norns belly as she curled up near the edge of the room. I just stared at the ceiling. At night, I was so scared that I couldnt sleep. In the end, Lily apanied me until I fell asleep. Thats why the dark circles under my eyes were deep. Recently, I forced myself to sleep using a sleep potion. Ah Well, thats why I had been depressed, but I couldnt admit it. Anyway, lets talk about what happened after I was rescued. Vector came a few days ago and told me about them hmm, where should I start? For the time being, lets start from why Lily and Arisa came together with Vector. No, maybe earlier than that? Hmm. Well, Ill start from why I got attacked. To put it simply, it was because of our poor contact. The main problem was I didnt share information with Vector. I originally had escorts as a reward for meeting the various conditions Vector presented at the cksmithing request. But he didnt tell me about the escorts. Naturally, he didnt tell me any information about the total escorts and how they moved to protect me. For the time being, Master told me about it at the beginning of the year, but I still knew little about them. So there were various misunderstandings starting there. I thought Vector reduced the number of escorts because my security had been ensured, but that wasnt the case. Thanks to Masters efforts, the people who were sniffing about me had mostly disappeared. But there were a few groups left. By the way, they were friends of those who attacked me. The client was a weapon merchant with a bad reputation. And the number of escorts was decreasing since they were involved in the investigation. Moreover, it was under Vectorsmand. I misunderstood and thought that I was safe. And after going out, the execution team found an opportunity and tried to kidnap me When I heard all of that, I wanted to say that this was all Vectors fault. His debts increased now, huh! By the way, it was a coincidence that Lily and Arisa came to rescue me with Vector. They didnt have any particr connection with him before. And Gim, Tri, Cain, and the others actually came to rescue me too, but I lost my consciousness immediately after Lily rescued me. I didnt know that they got involved until I heard about itter. And the story becameplicated because of various coincidences Hmm, lets start with Lily and Arisa first. After we broke up in the royal capital, they returned to Har, eventually stopped working, and became a full-time adventurer. And after discussing this and that, they invited me to join their team. In the spring of the New Year, when the snow melted, they returned to the royal capital with a carriage. However, I just left the workshop when they arrived at the royal capital and searched for me. It was bad timing. But to surprise me, they decided to chase after me in the forest, which they thought should be my destination. And they met Gim and Tri on the way, who were talking about something. Actually, Lily and Arisa were acquaintances with Gim. Gim was the one who taught them the spot to collect herbs. And they learned a lot of things from him when they were just starting out people sure were connected in unexpected times, huh. I went off track, huh. Seeing that the acquaintance they met after a long time seemed panicked, Lily and Arisa talked to him to know what happened. And when they listened to the story, they knew that a rookie adventurer who helped him before was being followed by bad guys. And after listening to the details, they found out that the rookie adventurer was me. They were surprised that everyone, including Tri and the children, knew me, but they could sense that something bad was happening. And as they discussed whether to follow me, Vector who ran at full speed appeared. Vector told me that thest escort who I thought had left and disappeared shortly after I entered the forest actually rushed to call him. The escort realized that he couldnt deal with all the people who were following me with him alone. Now that they knew the situation from Vector, everyone ran around in the woods looking for me with all their might and made it in time. Well, its something like that. But I heard it from someone else and didnt actually see and hear it, so I wasnt very sure. By the way, the men who attacked me had been known to have bad behavior for a long time. They belonged to a criminal guild in the royal capital, regarded as a problematic group. They had been involved in various crimes in the past, but no one could catch them because its hard to find their lead. But their activities had be more and more recently, causing them to make a slight mistake. They tried to do a stupid thing with me when they were kidnapping me instead of moving quickly. That means they got ahead of themselves because of their pride. I also heard that they were shrewd poison users, but lets omit that. Anyway, they were also involved in using multiple poisons to make Norn and I incapacitated without noticing anything. Apparently, various dangerous poisons and other amazing techniques were shared in the criminal guild. Criminal guild sure was amazing. Too scary! By the way, some of those men died in the forest. The rest were arrested and died during interrogation. It seemed like they were bound with a lot of restrictions on magic, so they died after spitting out various information. Ah. By the way, the order of arrival for the people who helped me was Vector, Arisa, Lily, Gim, Kuro, and everyone else. Kuro was still a child, but wasnt she a bit too fast? And Tri, Cain, and everyone else arrived at the same time. After that having the poison derail her sense of smell and other things, Norn got angry and minced one perpetrator. Norn thank you? However, Bell who was together with Norn was a little injured, so that man probably resisted a little. After mincing the criminal into cuts of meats, Norn arrived by my side. She was so angry that no one could calm her down Lily and Arisa, whom I once traveled with together, struggled to calm her down along with Tri and the other kids. They then returned to the city. In addition, Norn carried me on her back the entire time. Its more like Norn started rampaging when someone else tried to carry me Huh? Im being loved by Norn? After that, in order to ensure my safety in the royal capital, I hid in Lilys house since I had stayed there before. Anyhow, Vector told me all of that as he prostrated himself. I didnt care if the royal family was prostrating to me. Its all his fault, anyway. That being said, he now owed me big time Should I use that as my shield to ask about the orphanage? No, Im still a bit anxious. Its more like a bad premonition This all feels like a one-man show, you know? After all, he already noticed the perpetrators from the start. Its like I became his decoy Yeah, lets stop it for now. This all screamed suspiciously. I couldnt believe him. Impossible. My distrust of men because of this incident was probably one reason I couldnt believe Vector, but I wasnt confident that I could make the right decision in my current mental state. So I asked Vector to go home without saying anything special. Ah, the merchant who was the mastermind also had been caught and sentenced to death. His business also crashed in a go. I didnt really care, though. Later, the criminal guild got exposed. Right now, Vector was busy getting rid of the remnants. But then, there were still many other criminal guilds. I felt sick living in the royal capital. After that, I was buried in Norns belly in the daytime, living my life being gloomy and all. I didnt like this kind of me. However, my [Mental Tolerance] skill seemed to gradually work after a week. I became a little mentally better, so I decided I shouldnt stay like this and came to think of how to cure this. Yes, I decided to ask Lily to have a date. To be more specific, I had her hold my hand all the time. I wanted to make fun memories with the people around me, overwriting the unpleasant ones. If this went well, I should be better! My [Mental Tolerance] was also a great help! I was being too optimistic? I had to take that so-what attitude, or else I would continue bing a hikikomori all day. Thats not good. Besides, I couldnt make Lily take care of me in her house all the time Well, doing that should improve my mood, even if it didnt heal mepletely. A date you mean going out? I dont mind, but are you sure you will be fine? As long as you hold my hand, I think I can manage? Hm I guess you cant stay like this all the time I understand, lets have a date! I asked Lily about it when we slept together at night. I was d she understood me. Yay! Im having a date with a cute girl! No, Im faking my courage, okay? I need to stay excited Chapter 127: Yay, Its a Date!… Eh, Is This a Date? Part 1 Chapter 127: Yay, It''s a Date!¡­ Eh, Is This a Date? Part 1 Anyway, Im going to have a date. Nah, its a lie. Uh, I wasnt lying, but I asked her to go on a date. Its actually more like rehabilitation. Its important to monitor my condition in case the poison was something extremely harmful, butpared to my current situation where I couldnt get out of the room, that kind of thing had a low priority for me. Thats why I had to deal with this. Not being able to get out of the room because of severe depression would mess my life1 And so I went on a date; or more like forcefully trying to go outside when I was still motivated. On the first day, I went to the corridor and walked a little, but that was it. When I saw the butler walking from another end of the corridor, I couldnt move my legs. I had the mentality of a bean curd I could go to the stairs on the second day, but I returned to the room after seeing a person down there. And I finally reached the entrance hall on the third day! Can I go home already? Please? Anyhow, it took me four days to get out of the mansion. Once I was outside, I should be able to manage somehow or not. Seeing a person walking outside the gate made mepletely lose my courage. I know I should do better since this concerns me. Wait, am I the one whos putting effort into this? Im not sure On the fifth day, I could finally get out of the gate. After that, I dragged my feet toward the area with stalls lined up. Lily was holding my hands. I tried my best to get close to the street, but my feet gave way at that moment Arisa, who was watching the situation from a distance, came when I couldnt move and held my other hand. She told me she woulde with me. How could I say this? Hearing that made me loosen up I could finally move my legs. I feel bad for Lily, but Ill have to disturb your date. Sorry. I dont really mind? What about you, Ren? I still feel uneasy I can finally move my legs after having you two hold my hands. Itll be encouraging if youe with me, and Im grateful for it. Then Ill bother you. You wont be able to be lovey-dovey now, though~ Whats with that? I told you I dont mind! Lily puffed her cheeks and turned away Lily definitely minds, right? Ah, but Lilys sulking expression was nostalgic. How cute Anyway, since I coulde out to a ce full of people now, lets try walking around and have some fun! Thats how I went window shopping. You could also say we were browsing around the stalls. But I had nothing I wanted to buy, and my original purpose was rehabilitation What happened afterwards wasnt so sweet. You see Everyone knew that girls took a long time when shopping. You know where this is going, right? I thought I should be fine since I was presently a girl, but I was too nave. Yes, this was impossible for me. But since I was an adult man2, I wouldntsh out to them. One hour passed in a blink of an eye. Right now, I had passed through my frustration and reached enlightenment. This made me feel like a bodhisattva! However, I also had fun looking around and chatting together with them. At first, I was afraid of other peoples gazes, but I was surprised at how quickly I started not to mind. Mental tolerance skills are too effective! I thought so. But you know I feel like I was just getting numb towards the pain in my heart rather than recovering from my PTSD? If I continue to rely on this skill, I had an unpleasant premonition that I would lose my humanity3 Huh? Maybe this was a backfiring skill? Lets stop thinking too much about it. If I go further than this, I could sense myself falling in deep trouble. I had a premonition that I realized something I shouldnt, but lets not touch on this anymore. For the time being, it helped me right now. Thats the story of me noticing a somewhat strange thing, then turning my eyes away from it as I continue browsing around the stalls. But hmm I think the essories around here would suit Lily, but I didnt like the design. Rather, I felt like it would be better if I made it on my own after I got home. In that case, it was also possible to bestow various things as self-defense. Alright, lets do that. Ill make something to thank her for today. After that, we kept walking around without buying anything. As we were snacking until lunchtime. We bought light meals and ate a little, but we werent full at all. Thats why we bought various meals from random food stalls in the square and sat side by side for lunch. Thats what happened, but how could I say this why were they selling hot dogs here? I heard a merchant who saw it trending in Har imitated it. You can also find it being sold in other towns. Seriously? But it was easy to make, so it made sense that anyone could imitate it right away. I guess it couldnt be helped. I mean, I wouldnt get into any trouble even if it got spread around like this. Its not like I was doing hotdog business. I noticed when looking around that the sauces differ, depending on the store that sells them. I could see why they did that, though. Other than changing the sandwiched sausage, not much could be improvised. By the way, the hotdog sauce I was eating right now was like a barbecue sauce, but it also tasted a bit different Its not like it didnt fit, but it didnt suit my tongue at all. Though its not like I couldnt eat it. After getting our stomach full, we moved a little and watched the theater. It was quite expensive, but Lily and Arisa paid for it as well. Hey, I could pay for my share, okay? But when I tried to do that, they forcefully decided that the bill would be on them. Damn it, Ill definitely thank them for this! Just remember it! After such an exchange, the performance began. I forgot the title of it, but the content was rted to the founding of this country. It talked about how this country was originally built by a hero of a dragon yer, but the details regarding it were a bit I could see they dramatized it in various ways. Chapter 127: Yay, Its a Date!… Eh, Is This a Date? Part 2 Chapter 127: Yay, It''s a Date!¡­ Eh, Is This a Date? Part 2 Hundred of years ago. In the beginning, there were several small countries around here, but a ck dragon settled in the mountains to the east of here and rampaged, destroying some of those countries. And a warrior whoter became the first king appeared among the troubled survivors, together with a hero who apanied him on the trip. Isnt it usually the opposite? Its not a hero with a warrior as hispanion? Huh, I probably shouldnt think much about it. Anyway, they challenged the ck dragon to save the people. After discussing many things with the survivors, they went to the northernke since they heard a legend of a God living there to ask for the Gods help. They overcame a number of hardships along the way and arrived at theke safely. There, they met the God of the Wind, received a holy weapon, and used it to defeat the ck dragon. After defeating the ck dragon, the people begged the warrior to be their king, and the hero continued his journey to save the people. It ended with a happy ending. Hmm, I wanted toment on a lot of things Could I? No? But, hey; it was a story about the royal family. Criticizing it would be bad, right? But I found out several things after listening to that story. Theke north of the royal capital was treated as a sacred ce for the royal family because of its founding. And the people of this country believed in the God of the Wind. It made sense. The king and the hero received the holy spear and the holy sword from the God of the Wind, respectively. The spear waster named after the first king, Dragon Spear Georgius, and the holy sword was called Ascaron. The first king named the royal capital after the name of the heros sword to pay homage to hisrade and friend. Also, the name of the first king became the surname of the royal family. The royalty surprisingly did as they like, huh? By the way, the spear was presently in the royal familys possession as a national treasure. Also, they made an armor using the scales of the ck dragon they defeated. It also became a national treasure. Huh? Spear and ck armor? I feel like I saw it somewhere before? Hmm It wouldnt be anything important if I couldnt remember it. Whatever. What piqued my interest more was the whereabouts of the hero and the holy sword. Especially the holy sword. Apparently, it still existed somewhere I wanted to see the real deal. My [Holy Sword Creation] skill hadnt improved at all, so it might be helpful. Well, that concluded the story about the founding of this country. Eh? Howe I didnt know about the country I lived in? Hey, its not like a person of a nation had to know something that happened a long time ago. Not all the Japanese knew about The Chronicles of Japan or The Record of Ancient Matters, okay? Do you think they could exin it to foreigners? Impossible, right? Its the same for me. After watching the theater, we hung out until dinner. We had nothing else to do. Buy the groceries, you say? Hey, I was on a long-awaited date. Doing that was a bit Looking at equipment was also a no for the same reason. In the first ce, I could make some myself. However, three of us were making a living by bing an adventurer. Its expected that our conversation got nted toward that when we didnt have any other topic left. But thanks to that, we agreed that I would form a party with Lily and Arisa to work together. Ah, yeah. I got invited. Lily and Arisa came back to invite me, so I epted their goodwill. Plus, since I was scared to do things solo after getting attacked the other day, having them with me would help a lot. To be honest, I also thought about how I should bring up this subject, so having them invite me was a blessing. After that, it became hard to kill time until the reservation, so we went to the restaurant earlier. No way, window shopping for several hours was impossible for me. Definitely. Even though we went to the restaurant earlier than the reservation time, we were weed warmly and they served us tea until our seats got empty. As expected from a first-ss expensive restaurant. And when its time for us to eat in the private room, we enjoyed chatting about a lot of things. And the meals of the leading restaurant in the royal capital were very delicious. That being said, it wasnt that different ifpared to the territorys restaurant we went to before. This would offend them a bit, but I feel like they could improve this more. It was really a shame. Well, I probably felt that way since I had my previous life memory and stuff like that, though. Itste at night after we finished the meal, so we stayed overnight. No. We went home to Lilys house. As expected, I couldnt muster enough courage to propose having minors stay in a hotel. It was a shame. Eh? What am I saying after having a terrible experience just someday before? Hey, thats the reason I want to be healed by cute girls. You wouldnt understand. Even so, I would sleep with Lily in the guest room I borrowed. By the way, Arisa would join us today. I had beauties in both my hands. Oh, and I got a present from them before I went to bed. Hairpins? Yes. We saw your bangs sometimes getting in a way when youre cooking We guessed youre keeping your bangs long since you want to hide your face, but you dont have to be so vignt from now on since were going to work together! I see. Lily was cute. Seeing her say such a thing with an embarrassed face was lovely. And cute. Theres no doubt that she was making me fall in love with her. Leaving that joke aside, I got a total of six hairpins, including the spares. The design was simple and there was no pattern. It was made of magic steel with silver ting on the surface. And when I took a closer look, these hairpins had [Advanced Magic Power Recovery] bestowed. Even if its only LV1. This has [Advanced Magic Power Recovery] bestowed, right? How could you find out!? You just saw it a bit, right!? Lily, this is Ren, so no need to be so surprised It wont be strange if she has [Appraisal]~ They still talked like I was a big bad guy, huh? Yes. I have [Appraisal], and it helps me a lot. By the way, they got their acquaintance to bestow this onto the item. Maybe Lilys aunt had a connection with someone of that profession? Hmm, I want her to introduce me to an alchemist I want to learn [Alchemy] skills. Ah, I had to thank them as well. Maybe I should make some equipment with high usability essories would be better, wouldnt it? Hmm. But Arisa said she wanted a magic sword before Id like to include that as an option. But anyway, Ill make something as I look at the time. I went into bed with such a thought, but I couldnt fall asleep, so I thought about it. I couldnt afford to use my brain when I was depressed, but now that I had cooled my head, I realized there were many things I had to consider. Actually, I also thought about various things during the rehabilitation date, okay. Thats how I roughly decided on various reflections, countermeasures, and future ns. Lets work on the details tomorrow. Hmm, I had so many things to reflect on, and that made me depressed in a different sense Chapter 128: A One-Man Reflection and Setting Out on a Journey Part 1 Chapter 128: A One-Man Reflection and Setting Out on a Journey Part 1 The next day, Lily and Arisa had already gone to work. Humans wouldnt be able to eat unless they work! To be honest, I didnt think they needed to work that hard since we were still staying in Lilys parents house, but they didnt seem to agree. How diligent. I was presently taking a small walk in the garden after breakfast. Once I checked whether I could get out of the house with no problems, I returned to the room I borrowed. Yeah, theres no problem. With this, I could escape my bad seclusion. And I nned to have a one-man reflection meeting to solve my biggest problems. First, I sat cross-legged on the bed. I should fold my arms as well. Frowning sounds good as well. I might look serious that way. Right, lets stop joking now. I have to think seriously. First, lets look back at the incident of me being attacked by thugsst time. To say it bluntly, I didnt have enough sense of crisis. I believed I could do anything, so I wasnt being vignt at all. I said that it was all Vectors fault when I was depressed, but I also had to hold myself responsible, or else it would be bad for me in the future. Well, Im not saying that I brought this on myself. Of course, Vector also has a part in it. But I should have contacted Vector to ask about the escorts after hearing it from Master. This waspletely my mistake. But my biggest problem was mycking sense of crisis and vignce. The cause was my pride. I knew it. After regaining the memory of my previous life, I thought I was doing things while putting my safety as my top priority. That way I avoided problems until now. That probably led to me being conceited without me realizing it, and I was steadily getting more and more careless when doing something. It might be because I had avoided many problems even with my wed method, or because I never confronted a problem on my own that led me to fall into a dangerous situation. However, I avoided the worst situation this time, and I was very grateful that I still reflected on it. Lets think of it as a merit of injury I would make sure nothing like this should happen the second time, and I was truly lucky. My LUK was rotten, but I had people saving me on perfect timing. By the way, I just confirmed that I finally had a LUK of 1! Damn it! Lets pull myself together. Now then, the main premise was to be cautious about my future actions and not to forget this matter. Plus, I shouldnt act alone. As for the former, I would like to believe that I would do better after experiencing such a dangerous situation. As for thetter, I would act with either Norn or Bell in the open air for the time being. This was essential until I found a way to protect myself, which I was currently thinking of. Regarding my activities in the town, I would form a party with Lily and Arisa, so my safety should be more secure than before. However, I should still bring Bell with me. Norn was too big and we would get unwarranted attention I nced at Norn as I apologized. Im really sorry. I would use a basic carriage to move on outdoor roads. I should literally use it all the time, even when entering or exiting the town. Lets not be stingy on the entrance tax. Safety was more important. As for the coachman, I could use golems outside the town, but I would have to ask Arisa and Lily when moving in the town. Lets give up on the horse golems. If possible, Id like to have some reliablepanions How about sounding Tri and the others out about this matter? But they also had it hard for them, and they just started getting better these days Hmm, lets not bother them. And I had to check with Lily and Arisa about increasing ourpanions, so Ill talk about thister. Now lets decide on what to do once I leave the royal capital. To be honest, I was still scared of ces with many people. So I wanted to leave the royal capital and spent some time in the countryside around Har. Those were my ns for now. I still had many things I had to decide and be careful about, but lets leave it at here for now. Next was one of the various measures; the poison. Regarding this, the problem was actually getting solved at present. When I looked at my status the day after the incident, I noticed that my poison resistance skill had increased to LV1. Then I became an insomniac and started using sleep potions when its time to sleep, you know? My body apparently counted it as poison And the skill was now LV3. Drinking potions my body found harmful while making sure I wouldnt hurt myself would raise the level naturally. So from now on, I should take poisons while aiming for LV10. Even I realized that it sounded crazy. By the way, liquor was considered poisonous. I liked liquor, but not being able to feel drunk was a bit But hey, I could drink as much as I wanted, right? But Hmm. Apparently, I could consciously weaken the skill effect, so lets adjust it when needed. My second countermeasure was avoiding danger. My goal was to acquire and strengthen higher-level skills that could alert me and help me detect things. But, I already had new skills for this. I found out when I checked my status the next day, along with the poison resistance. The new alert skills were [Danger Detection], [Danger Avoidance], both of which were LV1. The detection skills were LV1 [Sign Detection] and LV1 [Sign Block] which was better than [Stealth]. Yeah, you could say that the parts I wanted to improve were improving. Oh, and I got [Stealth Move], which was the lower-version of [Stealth]. I probably got it as a bonus. It was already LV10 from the start. Since my [Stealth] was already LV10, its not strange that the lower skills I learnedter on got adjusted appropriately. Anyway, I acquired all the skills I wanted, so all I had to do was raise the level. Yeah, thats easy. By the way, [Danger Detection] was a skill that would pop up immediately when it sensed danger. [Danger Avoidance] made my body move on its own to avoid danger. I felt like I might get taken in the wrong direction and only bring me to another trouble with this skill Lets be a bit more careful. Maybe you could say that [Sign Detection] was a form of [Detection] that specialized in detecting the signs of living creatures? And as a specialized skill, it was very effective. [Sign Block] had the same effect as its name. I could use this when sniping in hidden ces. With this, the number of my auxiliary skills increased. Actually, theres one big problem The LV of my [Seduction] skill had increased to 2. When those thugs saw my face, they were tempted to do unspeakable things to me, and that made me gain experience points For the time being, I should always wear my sses bestowed with [Disguise] and [Concealment] I hope this will help. Ah, lets add [Sign Block] too, just in case. Oh right, [Disguise] and [Concealment] had increased by one level each to LV7. I noted this as well. The third countermeasure was strengthening mybat power. This was important. First, I should strengthen Norn and Bell. Or I should say strengthening my taming skills. That being said, spending time with them so far made me learn [Familiar Synchronization] and [Familiar Strengthening]. [Familiar Synchronization] was a skill that literally let me synchronize with the five senses of my familiar and borrow their sight and hearing. This was going to be extremely convenient if I needed information from the familiar who went out for reconnaissance. [Familiar Strengthening] was a powerful skill that raised all status of the familiars who served me. It was LV1 now, so the rate of increase was 10%. Norn and Bell had high status from the beginning, so having a 10% increase would be pretty brutal. After that, I [Analyze] the residual poison that had adhered to my clothes, only to find out I learned an unsettling skill. [Poison Preparation]. This was a dangerous skill to increase the effect of the poison I created. To be honest, I didnt know how to use it But I could also weaken the effect of the poison, so lets use it to raise the level of my poison resistance. Chapter 128: A One-Man Reflection and Setting Out on a Journey Part 2 Chapter 128: A One-Man Reflection and Setting Out on a Journey Part 2 Right, it surprised me that my skills increased at once, but another thing that surprised me was the sudden increase in my magic status. Originally, my maximum MP was 2100, which was over ten times that of Lilys. But now it was 3600. The 1500 sudden increase surprised me. My MGC also increased by 200, bing 910 now. It would reach four digits soon Hmm, the reason my skills had increased was probably because I got out of a crisis, but I really didnt understand the reason for my MP and MGC improvement. When I got through hard times before, I experienced having my skills increasing and my levels going up at once But what about this? Uhh I should keep it in the corner of my mind and examine itter. My fourth countermeasure was strengthening my equipment. This was the most important point. I gave up on strengthening my closebat capability. I realized that I didnt have any motor nerves or fighting sense. So I should make equipment to supplement that area. In short, armor. That should also be armor I could handle. But as you could see, I was petite and powerless. This was what I thought, but I think my growth wouldnt change much from now on, and I was about to give up hoping for a growth spurt. Yeah, I gave up on increasing my height. Physically, its impossible to use heavy armor. Even if I bestowed [Weight Reduction] on the armor, having it hinder my movement would be meaningless. I was agile, so I didnt really like having armor restricting me. That didnt mean I didnt have armor! I moved up my schedule and made what I originally nned to! I want a golem armor I could ride. That was also called a humanoid mobile weapon, or a robot. Yeah, that was the second thing I had always wanted to make since a long time ago. The first thing I wanted to make was an borate, self-supporting android. I think I should be able to make it once I raised my [Automata Creation] skill level. By the way, I also had the third thing I wanted to make. But that was still a secret. Eh? Why did I want to make a robot? Thats because its rted to my work in my previous life. I diverted humanoid robots to weapons. But I wouldnt go into details. Want to know more? No way, its annoying. I was reborn and became a different person, so whats the point? I would use the knowledge since it was convenient, though. So I wanted to make advanced golem armor Actually, I was nning to make it after having more skills and materials Since Norn and Bell were my escorts during outdoor activities, having a golem doing all the work might stunt their growth, so I was troubled by that. Lets decide the details of the specifications one by one. And these were what I had decided so far. After reflecting on various things and devising countermeasures, I should take several days to prepare. I would be mainly buying food and various materials. And withdraw money in the Commercial Guild? Yeah, the amount of my money there had increased again I also wanted to go to Arnolds workshop to say goodbye to them and had Master take me to a wholesaler so I could buy a lot of steel materials. When it came to making golem armor, it wouldnt matter how much steel I had! At the very least, I wanted to make the entire boarding area with mithril. People might get surprised at me buying as many mithril as I could, but it couldnt be helped. Huh? I said I would make sure not to stand out? But hey, this was a kind of investment too, you know. Maybe. That was how I got busy with various preparations until the day of departure that came in no time. On that day I mean, I had already gone out of the gate, but many people were seeing us off. Tri and the others came even though I had said my goodbyes to them several days ago, together with Sheryl and her sister. Other than that was Gim and his party member By the way, no one in the workshop came. Of course, they were busy with their work after all. After saying my goodbyes to those people again, thest person appeared. It was Vector. For him to take time toe here doesnt he have too much free time? Do your job properly. Still, I didnt talk with Vectors party members. I wasnt close with them. Its a hassle to get entangled with Neil, and I wouldnt want to get dragged into trouble too, not currying up to them. Dont you think its unnecessary to leave the royal capital? No, I thought I wanted to switch the environment for once. I see Now that you say that, its possible for adventurers like us to work elsewhere for a while, huh? Yes Im sorry for leaving abruptly after receiving a lot of help from Vector. I had reflected on myself, so I decided that I had to deal with Vector to some extent. It was troublesome, though. But I was also at fault here, so it couldnt be helped. No, about that incident, I didnt contact you beforehand, so its my fault Im sorry for that I think the biggest reason is that I didnt have enough sense of crisis, so please dont apologize so much. I guess hearing that makes me feel a bit better. I couldnt erase my habits when I grew up as an orphan. I have to change too. Now then, lets feel him around here. Are you an orphan? Yes, well Orphans have it hard too. They have to worry about life and so on. I guess so Yes Orphanages are pretty simr, but mine is privately run. How can I say this We have an investor, so we need to follow their intention Orphanages owned by the state may be different, though. Following the intention of the investor? Did something happen? Who knows? I concealed it with a smile. He might find something if he suspected my words and investigated it. Even if he solved the problem, I didnt ask for it, so I didnt have any debt to him. Nah, I wasnt being sly, okay? He was also indebted to me, so having this to call it even would save me a lot. I said little since Tri and the others were here. I wasnt confident that Vector could solve this matter just because I asked him properly too. I just thought it would be nice if he could investigate it. Who knows, maybe I would get lucky to get some information when I meet him again one day? Vector was pondering for a while after listening to my meaningful words, but he soon returned to his usual handsome smile. It was the usual shady-looking smile. Ren, lets go soon. Ah, yes. Lily called me out at the right time, so I bowed at them lightly for thest time, got into the carriage, and departed. Its sunny today, a good day for departure. What would happen in the future, I wonder? 1 Chapter 129: In the End, Im Someone who Likes to Stop By Here and There Part 1 Chapter 129: In the End, I''m Someone who Likes to Stop By Here and There Part 1 Good day! This is Ren. Its been around ten days since we left the royal capital, but we hadnt arrived in the next town yet. We were currently staying at a random campsite for a few days. If I remember right, it would take another four days to go to Mubarro from here. Its actually not that far away. Hey, we werent rushing at all, so lets go slowly! Unlike when we came to the royal capital, I movedzily at the same speed as the caravans of other merchants. As for our movement speed itself, I went together with a group of caravans when going to ONeill in the winter before, so I got this. Theres no problem. Then if youre asking what we were doing in this kind of ce, then I can answer that we were preparing many things Well, you could say that we were training. Myself included. Our original n was to stay in a vige on the way and take on requests when needed, but there were quite a lot of merchantsing and going to the viges near the royal capital. With many adventurers, too. Even if we had many things to prepare, I didnt enjoy being seen by so many people. Hearing that, Arisa came up with the crazy idea of staying in a random campsite for a while And the thoughtless me also agreed with it, so we decided on the majority vote and put it into practice. That being said, spending many days in a campsite on arge hillside road would make us stand out. Instead of actually using the campsite, we were camping a little deeper in the forest near the campsite. Specifically, I stored the trees into my [Storage] to make a small vacant lot. Then I used earth magic to make a simple house next to the carriage. It was a simple one, so I didnt put too much thought when making it. We used the simple bed in the carriage as it was. The golem horse didnt need this, but I made some kind of tent to cover them. That could also serve as an excuse when someone saw us. The floor n was a living room with a corridor to the carriage instead of the bedroom. The toilet was at the left end of the corridor. The doorway to the stable was right next to the toilet. There were tables and chairs for meals in the living room, and benches to rx at the corner of the room. Also, you could also go to the kitchen and the bathroom from the living room. Since I could go out directly from the living room this way, I also made an entrance door just to be safe. Its quicker if I took out my house, but having a house of that size suddenly appear would cause a ruckus. Thats why we settled down like this. Eh? It still stands out? Well, youre right But renting a house in a vige and doing my preparations there would make me stand out even more, so I had no other choice than doing this I guess I also choose this after considering myfort as well. I said we were preparing a lot of things, but it was mostly mastering our party cooperation and making new equipment. First, the party cooperation. This was actually the biggest problem To be honest, the difference in fighting ability between Lily and Arisa with Norn and I was too different. Lets look at Lily and Arisa first. The cooperation between them was perfect. Arisas strong forte waspeting with speed, but she was also skilled with swordsmanship, so her blows werent light at all. She could easily decapitate an orcs fat neck. Behind her, Lily secured her safety with barrier magic and supported Arisa with attack magic and auxiliary magic. Both of them seemed to be the cautious type of adventurers, prioritizing their safety above all. Their policy was not to overdo it. Thats great. Then, lets go to Norn, Bell, and I. I waspletely a rearguard1. What I usually did was put Norn and Bell in the vanguard and make a long-range attack after taking a distance behind them. Its possible to carry out mobilebat by riding on Norn just like when I was fighting the giant, but I would only do it when it was an emergency. To tell you the truth, participating in a battle was too much for me, so I didnt really want to do it. Well, our fighting styles were basically the same, but our annihtion power was different. We once tried to show each other our battle against random monsters, but if we fought together, the monsters would be annihted by Norn, Bell, and me. Lily and Arisa wouldnt get any experience out of it. We decided that Arisa and Bell would be the vanguard. Lily was in the rearguard. Further back was me as a backup and Norn as my escort. Since thats how it went, Lily, Norn, and Bell trained cooperating with each other. The reason I didnt train? That was because of my low self-defense ability. Norn became my escort to make up for that, but I didnt want to be in danger during training. Thats why I was absent. I made an excuse that Norn had to move around to follow up during the training, which would leave me having no defense. The truth was, Norn hated putting me in danger. Norns overprotection had increased since that incident What the heck happened to Norns title, it changed to Rens Guardian. I was happy and thankful, but also felt a bitplicated. Also, there were a few other reasons First, we were at a party, but also not. I think calling us a n was more suitable. n was arge-scale party where multiple parties gathered2. A typical adventurers party usuallyprised four to six people on average, up to eight at most. However, therger the number of people, the more different the field of expertise would be. The advantage was we could adapt to various situations. Having over ten people move together would make thingsplicated, the operation would change. Usually, ns like that would group teams ording to the request, and some members could take a rest when the n was taking a request they werent good at. Well, there were cases where a party with around six to eight people had to work separately ording to the request, but with many people, it would be better to register as a n than bing one party. That way, the guild would have it easier in managing various difficult special requests,rge subjugation, mediation of such jobs, and more. Thats what Lily heard from her older sister, who was a guild staff. Lily also learned a trick from Salena. That bing a n might be a method to deceive our rank and age difference during registration. In our case, the rank difference between Lily and I mattered little, but my age was less than thirteen years old. Thats why we couldnt take subjugation requests if I joined a party. However, we werent forming a party of three people, but a n with three people; me as a solo, Lily and Arisa as a pair. That way, they could take subjugation requests. Apparently, when some parties have differences in rank between the members or unable to take requests because of age restrictions, they will take this method. Its not verymon, though. Chapter 129: In the End, Im Someone who Likes to Stop By Here and There Part 2 Chapter 129: In the End, I''m Someone who Likes to Stop By Here and There Part 2 However, the guild wasnt stupid. The assessment for n registration for a small number of people withrge age differences and rank differences would be harder, or so I heard Eh? Did we manage to register our n? Of course we did. What? I have a high contribution to the guild; you know? That made the guilds evaluation of me quite high, so we didnt meet any problems. I always did my work seriously, okay Then, what was it again? Ah, why did we act separately? As I just exined, we were at a separate party for convenience, but my other reason was to renew their equipment. I also wanted to make a present to thank them. Theres too much gap between the level of Lilys party equipment and mine. But she gave me hairpins when I got into my rehab, remember? Thats why I wanted to make equipment for the two of them as a thank-you gift. And what I had created was these. First, Lilys ring. I bestowed [All Attribute Strengthening LV5], [Magic Power Consumption Reduction LV 5], [Magic Power Recovery Promotion LV5], [Magic Power Operation LV5], and [Magic Effect Amplification LV3]. Lily had her own cane, and she seemed to like it, so I chose an essory for her. The name is Hmm, how about [Amplification Ring] or Magic Ring? Next was Mithril Robe. It used the same Mithril fabric as my clothes. A magical robe you put on your clothes. I bestowed [All Attributes LV5], [Defense Strengthening LV5], [Durability Strengthening LV5], and [Weight Reduction LV5]. The level of the bestowal was slightly lower than my equipment. I watched myself. And then Arisas sword. It was a one-handed sword made of Mithril. I bestowed [Wind Attribute LV5] [Non-Attribute LV5] [Attack Enhancement LV5] [Durability Enhancement LV5] [Muscle Enhancement LV5] [Agility Enhancement LV5] [Weapon skill: eleration]. While increasing Arisas strengths, I tried to make up for her weakness. [Muscle Enhancement] and [Attack Enhancement] made up for her light blow, while [Agility Enhancement] and [Wind Attribute] raised her speed. Since a single attribute swordcked versatility, I chose [Non-attribute]. The weapon skill was a technique that elerates all actions, elerate attack power, and elerate thinking speed. It was a strange abnormal technique that could strengthen anything depending on what the user made it be. Well, it would be hard for her to master it, but Arisa should do her best! Eh? The name of the sword? The name is thinking about it was too bothersome, so Ill leave it to Arisa! And thest one was the gauntlets. Or maybe something simr to that? Arisa told me she would rather have both of her hands free so she could flexibly move. Thats why I thought gauntlets would be better than a shield she had to grip all the time. Apparently, Arisa could maneuver herself depending on the equipment she had in her hands. She could punch using a gauntlet, stabbing the enemy within a gap and parrying using a dagger, and naturally ward off an attack using a shield. In addition, Arisa also had a dual-wielding skill, so she used her swords in parallel like that before. That would make her have more equipment. However, Arisa told me with a friendly smile that shed rather have gauntlets than a shield since increasing the weight of her equipment more than this would be a problem. And she learned how to fight by experiencing the real battlefield over and over again a long time ago scary. Anyway, she made such an order, so I made a Mithril gauntlet for her left hand. I tried to cover her upper arm and attach a slightlyrger te armor to the forearm side so she could use it as a small shield. Choosing a safer way, I bestowed [Non-attribute LV5] [Attack Strengthening LV5] [Defense Strengthening LV5] and [Durability Strengthening LV5]. A gauntlet in the right hand was unnecessary for now. I decided to create it when she needed it. Hmm, a gauntlet with [Attack Strengthening], huh It might be interesting. Nn? As a bonus, I also bestowed [Non-attribute LV3] to the narrow-ded sword she originally used. It was made of magic steel, so I could finish it soon. Lily was watching us with a distant look when I handed over this equipment, but there should be no problem. Arisa was joyful and said, Im finally a magic swordsman! I think Lily should be happy too! With that kind of feeling, I renewed their equipment. And practical training was essential for mastering the equipment. It took me a long time to make them or that was my excuse to stay in my room for around a week. I actuallypleted everything in two days. What was I doing the rest of the time? Of course its my daily routine. Dont make me say it, its embarrassing. Well I think there shouldnt be any problem? Perhaps I didnt notice myself making a mistake, but I didnt think there was anything in particr. That being said, I made a bluff that I had a habit to seclude myself when concentrating on making items. That way, no one would bother me. We were going to be working together from now on, so it would be hard for me to make time to do my daily routine. So it couldnt be helped. Eh? Could I do it even if I wasnt at my house? Well, it wasnt that simple. This time, I built a separate work hut for making things. I also set up a bed and told them I would sleep there. Then I dug an underground passage from the work hut, created arge space deep inside the ground, and took out my house there. Even if someone called me during my work, I could say I didnt reply because I was too focused. My preparations were perfect. Hahaha1! Ah, by the way, we took turns in the meal duty since all of us had the [Cooking] skill. That was Lilys suggestion since she didnt want to burden me alone. In fact, most of therge luggage was carried in my [Storage]. Considering the division of roles of all the members, its undeniable that my burden was quiterge. However, Arisa was a little dissatisfied. Arisas [Cooking] skill was LV2, so she didnt want to bepared since her skill was the lowest among us three? By the way, Lily was LV4, the level enough to open a restaurant. Mine was LV10. I had to live quietly to make it inconspicuous! There are also problems with my recipes; how annoying Well, thats why there wasnt much problem with food, even if I secluded myself for a while. In addition, I temporarily stored the ingredients and other battle loots they got in their training in Norns [Item Box]. When I came out of my room, I moved them to my [Storage]. Besides, as long as they freeze raw meat with ice magic before storing it in Norns [Item Box], it would stay good for a long time. That being said, most of the monsters that appeared in the area we secluded ourselves in were goblins and kobolds. Orcs appeared seldomly, but we didnt have to worry too much about it. Anyway, I updated their equipment as they trained, so now was my equipments turn. Hmm, golem armor do this and that oh, this is bad. Its getting more and more interesting. Chapter 130: I Finished the Equipment, so Its Time to Head Out!… Just Kidding Part 1 Chapter 130: I Finished the Equipment, so It''s Time to Head Out!¡­ Just Kidding Part 1 The long-awaited golem armor (temporary) had beenpleted! Well, I couldnt deny that I got too excited on the way and I did some things without much thinking, which ended pretty badly. But thats fine! I reflected on it and regret nothing! And this was the finished golem armor with a total length of around 2.5 meters. The name was, hmm Magic Armor? It was armor, and I made it using magic. That made sense, right? By the way, it looked like a capsule with limbs on it. It looked like a certain legendary samurai called Kageki. Meaning, there was no head. The capsule part, which was the trunk part, was the cockpit; the front would open up, and thats how I get in and out. By the way, there were four legs, and they were big and rough. I tried to make it two, but it kept falling down and couldnt get up when I used it to walk in the woods As a result of prioritizing stable walking on rough roads, this happened. However, caterpir tracks were attached to the ankles, so roller dashing was possible in open ces. Caterpir was the romance! There are two arms. However, adding them was also quite difficult. I attached a foldable sub-arm around the legs for delicate work. The instation location was a bit strange, but I didnt have any other suitable location. I had a good reason for making it 2.5 meters in total length; this way, I could use it in closed or narrow ces. You see, I want to go to the dungeon someday. I also adjusted it since I had a small build. I nned to make arger Magic Armor in the future, but this was also a kind of prototype. First, I focused on small size and practicality; Ill remodel itter, anyway. And I also wanted to collect operational data, so this might be rtively appropriate. The boarding area was quite small, so resting there wouldnt be very good. The drivers seat was cushioned, so its veryfortable to sit in. Long marches might affect my back, I wouldntpromise on these things. I attached a belt to the drivers seat and fixed it around the waist, which meant I had to remove my cloak when boarding. The drivers seat was equipped with headgear and a built-in visor, which synchronized with a mono-eye-like object on the front. The headgear visor could also be flipped up. It would be nice to have a big monitor around me, but my skill was stillcking Its always painful to realize how I didnt have basic [Alchemy] skills. I will omit the details of the technical, structural, and systematic parts, but the area around this seat was the most important part of the magic armor. There was a synchronization mechanism around this seat with the Magic Armor itself. Specifically, [Golem Control] and [Golem Synchronization]. The control stick and foot pedal were mostly decorative. I could move the Magic Armor as an auxiliary, but the main control was synchronized control by skill. If the pilot didnt have the skill, the cockpit area itself was a kind of magic tool, so its possible to move it without any problems. However, the synergistic effect of the pilot who possessed the skill enabled more advanced maneuvering. Its power depended on the pilots magic power, supplied directly from the seat. However, the fuel efficiency was extremely poor, so only I could move it now. I also had to improve this part. Well, other than me, an otherworldly man with great magic power should be able to operate it. But I had to prepare for emergencies, so I installed arge magic battery on the back of the Magic Armor that was removable. I could synthesize arge number of magic stones that I had umted so far using [Creation Magic] to make high-quality magic stones, so I tried to make the battery. I could also use it as auxiliary power, so it gave some flexibility in terms of operation. I armed the golem with arge shield and halberd. Therge shield had a pile bunker, which could steady the unit by hitting it against the ground. Of course, its possible to attack the enemy with it. A flexible weapon was important! I chose a halbert to emphasize reach and versatility. The other reason was because I liked it that way. I even wondered whether I should use a drill at the tip. I really wanted to add a drill, so I made a separate drillnce. I could rece it in an instant using my [Storage], so it might be interesting to try making various other weapons in my spare time. The entirety of the body is made out of mithril, including both the boarding part and the cockpit. I focused on defense. The important thing was that it also functioned as a shelter. Thebat power was only a bonus. For the same reason, I made the limbs using magic steel. It would be damaged and breakdown easily, so I should make it easy to rece. In addition, I could rece the limbs in an instant using [Storage]. [Storage] was seriously too broken. By the way, while adding various things to it increased the benefits, its still considered armor. Moreover, I could also exercise my magic. As for the moving sound, its possible to silence it by making use of the wind. It wouldnt make a noticeable noise now. Depending on thebination, I could do various interesting things, so I should research this matterter on. You see, I want to do optical camouge too However, its not like the golem armor has no drawbacks. By performing fighter maneuver with all my might, all my MP would run out in around five minutes, including the battery. I would even faint. Chapter 130: I Finished the Equipment, so Its Time to Head Out!… Just Kidding Part 2 Chapter 130: I Finished the Equipment, so It''s Time to Head Out!¡­ Just Kidding Part 2 Yeah, I should be careful when operating Magic Armor By the way, the energy-saving mode with the battery allowed around five hours of usage, but that basically meant I would mostly operate it as my shelter. When I showed it to Lily and Arisa, Lily looked at me with a distant look as usual. I couldnt figure out why. Arisa, on the other hand, was overjoyed. Once my defense became rock solid, she could concentrate on attacking. She told me she didnt like to think much during battles. Hey, please use your head properly Then, I tried a battle test against Arisa and Norn. But I found an unexpected advantage here. I could use the Magic Armor for face-to-face battles! In the first ce, I believe the remote control of the golem was important. The delusional power of modern Japanese otaku was infinite, I also watched robot animes before! For all these reasons, my meleebat power when using Magic Armor wasparable to Arisa and Norn. By using magic and [Sword Magic] together, I could literally overpower them. The next day, everyone confirmed our formation again. I would move in Magic Armor with Norn as my escort, so my protection was perfect. When the vanguard team was in trouble, Norn could help them. The efficiency increased at once. Lilymented that she would have nothing to do, but I would have it worse, so please be patient. Once all the preparations werepleted, we moved on the next day. However, I spent too much time creating Magic Armor and only had three days to do my daily routine Its not like I was addicted, though. I didnt hate it, but you could say it was my hobby. Other than that, I also had other hobbies, such as making things, cooking, and eating delicious food. I also like to sleep. Doing any of them would release my stress. That means I only did what I wanted to do. How stress-free! Amazing! After I regained my mind, we were about to leave the house early morning the next day when we saw an armed group approaching us. Did something bad happen!? I thought so, but apparently, the group was a unit of guards led by knights. Why did knightse to this ce? That puzzled me, but the cause was the house I made. This forest was owned by the state. I cut the trees, made a square, built a house, and settled in without permission. Naturally, that got us into a problem. Oh no, I made a mistake! Would we get caught like this? I was scared, but they told us they didnte to catch us. They could overlook this matter and even gave us money. The development and maintenance of campsites were the countrys duty, but everything costs money. Spending money to develop the infrastructure was also important in turning the wheel of the economy, but there were many things to consider when making decisions about development ns and scale. It made things difficult to operate. With such circumstances, they could overlook my mistake on the condition that the house I built would be managed by the country, and I made two more simr houses. The knight looked inside the house, and they were surprised that there was a bath. By the way, I connected the drainage ditch to the forest. However, I dug an additional well in the kitchen for ease of use, and they were delighted when they found out about it. The country would prepare the pump to be installed in the wellter. Also, the carriages were usually pulled together and parked in a parallel, but I added a garage where the carriages could be stored together. And I created two additional houses with the same floor n. The knights who received bonuses looked thrilled, and I received an extra reward. Through talking to the Adventurers Guild, they would transfer the reward to my guild card, so I didnt need to return to the royal capital. Thats good. I wondered if they had ulterior motives, but the knights had a gentle-looking face and a hapless aura, so I didnt think I needed to be so cautious. Plus, they were muttering about being in trouble with how their captain was being unreasonable. Yeah, epting this request shouldnt be bad, right? I only made a road wide enough for one carriage to pass from the highway to the open space in the forest, so wepleted the expansion work so two carriages would fit. Later, they told me the original campsite along the highway would be expanded to connect to this ce. The usage rate of campsites was high since the monsters in this forest was perfect if someone wanted to train here. So it would be nice to use the amodation facilities I built as training camps for novice knights and adventurers I see I stayed there for almost two weeks, but I didnt meet any other adventurers so I didnt notice that. When I told Lily about this, she told me she hade across many people in the forest. Why didnt she say that during dinner? Please share the information properly That might be a problem in the future, so we decided on a new policy to discuss various things firmly in the future. By the time all these things were over, it was already past noon. We had no choice but to stay here for another night and shift our departure the next day. I said that our schedule wasnt clear, but oh well. This was a leisure trip after all, wasnt it? Chapter 131: Lazing Around in the Next Base Part 1 Chapter 131: Lazing Around in the Next Base Part 1 Now then, we departed from the campsite and stayed in a vige for around three days, but nothing happened at all so we decided to move to the next vige. Hmm, how could I say this this happened often in viges pretty far from big cities, but they made light of adventurers, or even disdained them In this kind of rural area, adventurers were considered to be the bottom profession the third son or younger children did once they got expelled from their own house. That made the adventurers who happened to stop by to be looked down upon unreasonably. Honestly, they shouldnt act like that to the adventurers who took a request to exterminate goblins in this vige. If the adventurers didnt get rid of the goblins, they would die, okay? Dont they understand that? But they didnt seem to notice. As a result, the adventurers who took the requestpleted their task while feeling ufortable. Then they reported how they got tested after returning to the city where the guild branch was based, causing no one to ept the request from this vige anymore once the news spread. Apparently, the vige we stopped was that kind of vige. After all, this kind of vige often beat the reward down after the adventurer fulfilled the request. And what made us ufortable was that they mistook us to be adventurers who took their request for some reason and unreasonably told us to defeat the goblins. They even called us useless. When they knew we werent taking their request, they scolded us for not helping them, and that we wouldnt make any money without taking their request. Depending on the flow, I might feel like taking the subjugation request, but I was very discouraged Well, we decided to move out without staying for even an hour, though our initial n was half a day, And the damage caused by the goblins in this vige was quite bad The vige wouldnt be able to handle it if this kept going on and had to break up. I wanted to tell them that, but they should realize it on their own. I didnt care about whats going to happen to them. However, having people hating adventurers didnt only happen in these viges, but also in big cities. Even so, that wasnt very frequent. Yet these people did ept heroes and heroic adventurers they heard in saga and bard songs. Why? Didnt they think those heroic beings could be the ones standing in front of them? To be fair, I wasnt some kind of hero, though. That was a terrible vige We wont stop by that kind of ce often. Dont worry. Those terrible ces arent that many~ Hmm Lets go somewhere a little bigger next time. Youre right. And for a few days, we rushed past several viges and stayed in a ce that was more like a small town than a vige. There were no walls protecting it, but the fences were stronger than in most viges. There were also empty moats, inns, and cksmiths,plete with Adventurers Guilds branch. By the way, you normally wouldnt find guild branches or branch offices in a vige. Sometimes it happened to be there, but they were the minority. After arriving in the town, we first looked for an inn. There were three inns in this town, one of which had a cafeteria and bar and the second floor was an inn. That would make it noisy at night. One of the remaining two inns was cheap and thest one was the most solid, so we decided on thest one. By the way, the fee was also the highest. But then, we could only park our carriages in thest ce or the inn with a bar, so we basically had no choice. After booking the inn, we immediately took a walk. By the way, Norn had to guard our room. Sorry. This ce seemed to be a small town with a lot of peopleing and going along the roads around here, and I saw quite a few travelers, merchants, and adventurers. Hmm, the townspeople were doing pretty well, so it might be a good idea to make a base as an adventurer here for a while. There were many ces to have a meal in the town, such as a bar and dining room with inn service, or other restaurants that serve a light meal. Other than that was stalls that sell vegetables and junk-food-looking meals managed by uncles, aunts, boys, and young men. As we were purchasing items from an open stall aunt who sells vegetables, we asked her about a delicious restaurant here. Just as I expected, she told us that restaurants with inns usually didnt serve delicious food. Adventurers who stayed for a long time usually chose cheap inns or inns with taverns, and that caused problems such as noise and fights Its unfortunate, but lets not go there. And the most delicious restaurant here was a dining room. We probably would go there often, then. If I could rent the inns kitchen, I could also cook for myself. But I didnt want to make trouble again how annoying. After having ate lunch at the delicious dining room we heard about, we decided to take a peek at the Adventurers Guild and walk around on foot. The restaurant is pretty good. Is that so? Im used to Rens cooking, so I dont think its that delicious. Me too~ Nah, I think it was delicious since the soup has a lot of vegetables, you see? Thats nutritious and good for the body. Ah~ That makes sense. Muu. Arisa, you traitor! The main sauteed horned rabbit meat was quite nd, but the bread was surprisingly white! It was soft and easy to eat, so it got nice points for the girls. Well, its still inferior to my own yeast. But that thing would be prettyplicated for adventurers Munching ck bread gave its own kind of satisfaction, but you wouldnt be able to eat white bread regrly, especially during an expedition. If anything, I think people went to that dining room to celebrate something or have a little luxurious dining out. Did they have visitorsing in? Was it profitable doing that kind of business? Chapter 131: Lazing Around in the Next Base Part 2 Chapter 131: Lazing Around in the Next Base Part 2 We arrived at the Adventurers Guild while having an idle talk. In addition, this ce also established a bar attached to the guilds building. Why is this kind of dual-purpose bars popr here? But this town had no specialized bar, so maybe a lot of people demanded it? But that would make it harder to take requests in the guild, so I feltplicated. It would be better to open a new bar if people wanted to have fun Ahh, but that would help to take measures against people who came to make trouble. Other adventurers mighte to help. Plus the staff seemed like they could handle a lot of things too. Oh well. Its not like I had any n to start a business here. When we entered the guild building with Bell, there were people drinking alcohol in the daytime. I could also see a party that seems to have returned early, and a party distributing rewards to their members. Their line of sight gathered at us for a moment and immediately dispersed. This could be a normal reaction when seeing someone unfamiliaring in, I guess? Im nervous, you say? I dont mind. Im used to impolite gazes. Lets regain my mind and look at the bulletin board filled with request forms. This is. Yeah. Its already past noon after all. Only a few requests left, such as several goblin subjugations, one kobold subjugation, and a few specific herbs collection Hmm, boring. The challenging one was subjugating the demons found in the spring deep in the forests. In the first ce, what should I do in subjugation requests? We were a n, not a party. As long as we acted together while collecting herbs, there shouldnt be any problem. But What are we going to do? How about reconfirming it tomorrow morning~? Its already prettyte now. Hmm, But with this lineup, I think its going to be pretty much the same when wee back tomorrow morning. Maybe the varieties are wolf, orc, bear, or something like that? We can go for orcs, but Arisa, you once said skinning bear fur was hard, right? We actually epted it before, but my magic wasnt very effective. We only managed to finish it in the nick of time. Ah, were going to be fine~ It should be easy with this sword~ Ahhh, right. Arisa has Rens sword And I also have a ring, so werepletely different from that time Hmm. I see. Since the equipment I gave them was superior, the range of the subjugation requests we could take would expand But I would like to operate Magic Armor in actual battle. If my age limit wouldnt restrict me anymore, should I take the subjugation requests? Hmm Then how about wee back here immediately tomorrow morning? I think thats fine. But we wont have much free time if we do that What should we do then? I dont really mind with anything~ Arisa had stopped thinking recently Well, thats fine. Then, rather than taking a request, why dont we walk around the outskirts of the town? We can also collect things that look good. Ahh, thats a good idea. Okay, lets go right away! Arisa No, its fine! Its really fine! But hey, can you be a bit more! We then moved to the entrance of the town. When we told the gatekeepers at the entrance that we wanted to check the surrounding terrain for future requests, they willingly let us leave. We moved counterclockwise once we went out of the town. The other side was filled with fields, and that would make it impossible to look for herbs. I think they should put water in this empty moat Hmm, but whenbined with the high fence, the defense power was high, I guess? Mumumu. This side didnt particrly cut through the forest, and the forest looked quite deep Thats why people requested to exterminate the monsters that had settled down here. Going in for a while, I could see the nostalgic trees that I often saw deep inside a forest Wait, isnt this a bamboo! I had to confirm this! Lily and the others dashed after me who suddenly started running. But that was bamboo! A bamboo! Bamboo shoots! Theres no doubt. Its bamboo. I used [Appraisal] on it, and I found out that it was moso bamboo. Bamboo shoots were delicious. I didnt hate square bamboo, but they probably didnt grow together What a shame. I had to find them separately. However, I never thought I would find bamboo in this ce! This alone made our trip to this town worth it! Yay! I collected it immediately. I stored the entire ground in [Storage], together with the rhizomes. I managed to secure a lot of stocks, so Im satisfied. But I had to pick up bamboo shoots early in the morning, so I didnt collect that now. Its April now, the season for bamboo shoots. I would definitely pick them up! Absolutely! We finally caught up What are you doing? I found what I was looking for. What are you doing with this scooped ground? I collected a little bit of the soil. By the way, lets also look for ces where bamboo shots were likely to grow. It didnt really matter now, though. Are you still looking for something? Yeah. Delicious foods are growing, so I want toe to pick it up early tomorrow morning. Early morning? You cant pick it up now? It tastes bad unless I pick it up in the morning. I see. Then I have to do my best too. Delicious food I will also help~ Oh? They would help me? They probably did it for the delicious food, but I gotbor help! After that, once we finished dinner and returned to the inn, I found some things when I asked the inn staff about bamboo. First of all, the bamboo was nted by a swordsman who came from Hourai a long time ago. And no one used the bamboo to craft items or make products. They didnt eat the bamboo shoots as well. What a waste But I didnt want to stand out, so I didnt disclose any information or cook any bamboo rted dish. But I had a little idea when it came to cooking. Lets check it tomorrow. Its a little early, but lets go to bed now. I had to get up early to pick up bamboo shoots and then go to take requests. How busy! Chapter 132: Working for Delicious Food is More Important than Anything Else…! Chapter 132: Working for Delicious Food is More Important than Anything Else¡­! The next morning, I woke up when the sky was still dim. You could say that I got up very early. Why? Of course, its to dig the bamboo shoots. Lily and Arisa yeah, they were sleeping. I tried to call them, but they didnt seem like they would wake up any time soon. Forcing them to get up would be troublesome, so I probably should just go alone. Well, Norn and Bell wereing with me, though. And if things get rough, I had this freshly made magic armor with me. I changed my clothes quickly using [Storage], making sure I wouldnt wake the girls up. With my cloak and my muffler, I finished turning into a suspicious person! Ah, my sses too! When I got out of the room and went down to the first floor, the inns staff sitting at the counter was already awake. They must be keeping watch throughout the night. I slightly bowed to them and left the inn, heading to the back of the building. After picking Norn and Bell, I went straight to the entrance of the town. Well, its actually just a gate. But there was a guardhouse nearby, and the gate could be closed. In a sense, what I said was right. The gatekeeper was surprised since it was still too early in the morning, but they let me pass through without giving me any particr problem. And so, I moved to the bamboo grove while straddling Norn at high speed. I had to dig bamboo shoots as fast as I could! We ended up arriving at the bamboo grove in such a short time! I also knew I was being too hasty since it had only been less than thirty minutes since I woke up, but I had to prioritize delicious food over anything else. Anyway, I used [Detection] around the ce where I found the bamboo shots yesterday. Yep, they were here. Bamboo grew fast, so it was fine to pick a lot of it Under my selfish and unreasonable logic, I collected around 90% of everything edible in my storage. My appetite had the right to decide! Now then, lets dig the bamboo with my own hands See, I used [Storage] to collect most of the bamboo shoots to secure my stock. Even so, I would do the actualbor properly, okay? This was my first time digging bamboo shoots in this world, plus having experience in everything wouldnt hurt. Having decided so, I took out my self-made hoe. Umm Ah, its here. I swung the hoe, then huft! Got one! Okay, lets continue! Eh that one? Sure, here we go. Lily and Arisa came running when I had dug around five. Hey, both of you werete, you know? Ren, why didnt you wake us up!? So heartless Ehh, I woke you up, though? Even if its only once. I tried to. But you two wouldnt wake up, so I gave up. Digging bamboo shoots was a game against the time. Uu, if you say that Lily. Rather than that, we need to know how to dig it. Ah, right! Ren! Please tell us what we should do! Well, I told them that this was a game against time Plus both of them were motivated, so I pulled myself together and taught them how to find and dig up bamboo shoots, then I handed them a hoe. Work hard~ Hmm, now that they were digging the bamboo shoots, I should prepare breakfast. The first thing I made was bamboo shoot sashimi. Our bamboo shoots were fresh, so we could afford to eat them like this. It didnt take much to make too. First, I boiled the water. Then I took out one freshly picked bamboo shoot and peeled it. Next, I sliced the soft edible part thinly. These slices could be eaten as it was. Even so, eating everything like this would cause some of it to turn bitter, so I only served some of it and soaked the rest in the water for around five minutes to make it easy to eat. And thats it. Thats the only part that could be eaten like this. Later, I would remove the lye and use the rest to make another dish. But I had no time to do that now. In the first ce, its impossible to cook in a ce like this. I also had to prepare wasabi soy sauce. Wasabi grew in the upper stream of the forest river where I secluded myself after that ident, so making it wouldnt be a problem. Just scrape it off. Then make the soy sauce. After that Hmm, should I make vinegared miso? Mix vinegar, miso, and mustard at a 1:1:1 ratio, and its done. And then Lets finish here for now. Making too many things at once was troublesome anyway. Then, I prepared the staple food. Umm, since we had bamboo shoots as the ingredient, lets go with Japanese food. I already had cooked rice in my [Storage], so I took them out and made rice balls with it. I grilled them using a, applied soy sauce and soup stock, then grilled it again. For the soup hmm, miso soup should be enough. The ingredients were self-made tofu and green onions. Mmm Bamboo shoot sashimi wouldnt be enough as the main dish, so lets cook some rolled eggs. Yeah, well that should be it. When I turned back to call Lily and Arisa, they were already waiting for me. Hey, could you at least call me if you were done? Huh, I guess its not a big deal. I spotted some bamboo shoots at their feet. One, two, three six? I stored them all in [Storage]. Good work, everyone. Lets have breakfast now. Yay! Food! Wahh, they look delicious! And thats how we immediately took a piece of the bamboo shoot sashimi, dipped it in the wasabi soy sauce, and ate it. Munch, munch It had a good smell. I also liked the texture. Whats with this texture So satisfying The taste is light, but the smell is nice. This is miso sauce? I modified it a bit. Hmmm! Thebination fits well! Oh, it seemed like they liked it a lot. Now then, would you like to have a taste of the side dish for the rice balls? Is this an omelet? Lily! Youre wrong! This is somethingpletely different, okay!? What is this! Amazing! Delicious! Eh, Arisa? Does it taste that good? Wow! I like this! I like it so much! Oh Speaking of which, this should be their first time eating a rolled egg, huh? I know its delicious, but I didnt expect this kind of reaction Eh!? What is this! This is not an omelet!? Eh, its delicious!? This rice is delicious too! I never thought rice could taste this good I feel like my world has expanded! Hmm, the soy sauce-grilled rice balls were also popr. I personally find the taste quite different, though What went wrong? The variety? If only I could see the rice fields where the rice was cultivated I wanted to know the difference. After all, Im Japanese. Rolled egg, rice ball, and bamboo shoot sashimi plus miso soup in between. Naturally, they also liked the miso soup. We finished eating in no time. Yep, happy smiles during meals and satisfied faces. I wanted to see this! Being this happy early in the morning This is bad Umm, it affected them a bit too much, huh? I probably should refrain from serving Japanese food Anyway,e back to your senses quickly, okay? In the end, we took a break until both of them recovered themself, waiting until our stomach had digested the food. It was already quitete when we headed to the guild. Muu. We returned to the town at once and went straight to the adventurers guild. I took Norn and Bell inside and went to the bulletin board but it was more crowded than our expectation. I didnt think we could get to the front of the bulletin board. How many adventurers were staying in this town? Werent they a little too many? Mumumu, waiting like this would be pointless. How about making Norn push through? .Its not like we want to ept difficult requests, so lets wait until its less crowded. Okay Well, thats how it went. Both Lily and Arisa already reached D rank, but I was still E rank. There was no point in overdoing it. We watched the adventurers taking the request form, looking surprised at Norn and Bell when they turned back to bring the form to the reception desk, and fearfully went out after epting the request. After thirty minutes, the bulletin board was finally vacant. It wasnt that different from when we came in yesterday afternoon. What should we do now? Anyhow, this is the first time Im taking a request, so lets start from the basics. How about exterminating goblins? Sure. Im okay with anything. Arisa no, this is fine. Please stay that way. And this was my first subjugation request. We started from the basics, going for goblins. I actually had participated in many subjugations secretly from time to time, but this was the first time I took the request through the guild properly. Then we went outside the town again. Time to work. But then, there werent that many details on what we had to do specifically since this seemed to be a permanent goblin extermination request. In conclusion, we should just defeat a lot of them. Thankfully, the spotted locations were disclosed to the public, so we proceed to the depths of the forest following that information. We kept moving for around an hour before we took a short break. Well, I was riding Norn so I wasnt tired at all. Please dont say this was unfair. This was the privilege of a tamer with a rideable familiar. We should be encountering them soon. Ren, whats your n? Right Ill take out my armor now. Are you using that? I n to. I want to operate it in actual battle and collect data to improve it. Hmm Ren will have an impregnable defense with that, but Lily, were probably the only ones around here. Well be fine. Yeah, thats right. I couldnt find other adventurers with Norns [Detection] and my [Sign Detection]. I could sense that there were only monsters all around so there was no risk of getting witnessed. Rather, it would be more dangerous for me if I didnt equip the armor soon. Arisa knew that after looking at my attitude without needing me to say anything. She was really amazing. I nodded once to Lily, who nced at me. Lily should understand this. I understand. Then, Ren should get on that armor Right, Norn is the best at scoutingpared to all of us, right? Lets have her lead us to the goblins. Whats the n once we encounter the enemy? Norn will retreat, switching her position with Bell. The vanguards are Arisa and Bell like our training. I will support the vanguards behind them. Basically, Im buffing them while watching the situation, attacking if theres a chance. Ren and Norn are our back up, going forward asst resort. I dont think Ren will have to fight since were only going against goblin, but we cant be sure. Its not impossible to encounter a herd of them and get overwhelmed. Sounds good. Then lets go with that. Arisa, any opinion? Nope. Lily is in charge of the strategy nning, so leaving it to her should be fine. I see. This was the reason Arisa stopped thinking, huh. But it was amazing that Arisa could move ording to the strategy Lily made. Rather, there were times where she needed to think during battle, so lets not force her more than necessary Arisa will tell us if shes bothered with something, so please dont make that kind of face I think I should also give opinions in the future. Can you please? Theres a limit to how much I can see, so Somehow, I have a feeling that Ill be in charge of the strategy nning soon Well, Im fine with it, though? Chapter 133: A Simple Task of Crushing Goblins After Eating Bamboo Shoots Part 1 Chapter 133: A Simple Task of Crushing Goblins After Eating Bamboo Shoots Part 1 We were currently in a battle against the highly acimed goblins right now. After a short break, I boarded into the magic armor and we proceeded into the forest, keeping our guard. After thirty minutes, we encountered a flock of goblins and decided to fight them immediately. Even so, I was just standing behind them while riding the magic armor. It was just as we originally nned, but still Hmm, I had nothing to do Well, in some cases, I would have to support them by shooting stone bullets when needed. But hey, wasnt I unnecessary here? I mean Arisa was amazing. I think Lilys [Strengthening Magic] also yed a part here, but she was very fast. Even if I was watching from behind, she was honestly so fast that I couldnt be sure what she was doing Just in case, I improved my eyesight with [Hawks Eyes]. In the first ce, her movement was strange. She ran around like a free bird that I almost thought she was flying, decapitating the goblins swiftly. Watching that was pretty amusing. Just like that, shepletely annihted ten goblins in less than five minutes after our encounter. Lily, Arisa, are you always this strong? Your movement is a bit more humanly during the training Ah, thats How can I exin this Yeah. To be clear, their movement was impossible for a human. A year ago, they were more skilled than most people. Considering their age, I could say that they were quite the expert before, but still not that absurd Its not me thats amazing. Its thanks to the sword Ren gave me. My sword? Yeah. This swords skill is [eleration], right? Thats really cool! Ahh, now that she said that, I granted a pretty crazy skill in that sword, huh? Rather, Arisa could move like that after mastering the sword? Seriously? I didnt find that skill very efficient at first, though. When I asked for the details, she told me that she activated the skill momentarily on a part of her body during a key point of a movement. And she used [eleration] to maintain her posture in the air to make that flying movements possible Im sorry, I dont understand what shes saying. Im d we have time to train before. Thanks to that, Ive been able to use it like this Oh, dangerous. Arisa disappeared from my eyes in the middle of the conversation. She literally disappeared. And I heard a metallic sound behind me the next moment. Looking back, I saw Arisa swinging a sword. After a pause, an arrow fell down a little further away from us, and Bell jumped into the grasnd. Enemys reinforcement. Maybe those goblins have a skill to hide themselves. Fits their character; how cheeky. I feel bad making Bell do everything, so Ill go look for them for a bit. Eh, a surprise attack? Did I get too absorbed in talking? I should reflect. No matter how perfect my defense was with this magic armor, I might get used to acting less alert thanks to the sense of security. That would lead to bad things happening when I wasnt in this armor. I had to be careful. Wait, thats not important now. What was that!? Even if she was fast, wasnt that a bit too much!? But then, it made sense. I made that sword, but I never thought it would be so crazy. Did I make a mistake? ording to what I heard after this, the moment Arisa heard the movement of the wind changing, she elerated her thinking and dynamic visual acuity, at the same time elerating her running motion, then she shed at once while drawing her sword. I didnt get it. She told me that I could do that kind of thing, but I was more scared of Arisa, who could use the swords abilities so quickly more than the swords performance itself1. Arisa, are you making that move with Lilys buff applied? Yeah. I think Ren should be able to see me without the buff. You have [Hawks Eyes], right? I have it Its LV8 now, you know? Not being able to see your movement is a bit abnormal already. In the first ce, even if Arisa moved at visible speed, it was an overkill when battling against goblins, wasnt it? Lily, dont you think were unneeded here? Lily silently averted her eyes. Reply me, Lily! Its over~ So fast! Shes already done dealing with the hiding goblins!? There were only five goblins over there. Lets go to the next ce~ While saying so, Arisa swung her sword to brush off the blood. And that movement was barely visible What the heck is this? Arisa scares me. Lets not make her angry It was troublesome to deal with the defeated goblins on the spot, so I put all of the corpses in my [Storage] and sorted the magic stones. Apparently, the confirmation of the subjugationpletion was by submitting the magic stone to the guilds receptionist and passing it through a special magic tool, so it was essential to collect their magic stone. Due to such circumstances, it wasnt rmended to defeat monsters by destroying the magic stones. They could be used in many things too. By the way, it seemed that the magic stone that had been submitted was processed when it passed through the magic tool. If someone used the same magic stones to resubmit it, the tool would be able to know that it had been checked before. So submitting repeatedly wouldnt be possible. I see We encountered the next goblin as I thought of such things. This time, it was a flock of twenty goblins. Arent the goblins a little too many in this forest? Oh well. Lets get rid of them quickly. Hmm, I think Arisa can do this alone. Chapter 133: A Simple Task of Crushing Goblins After Eating Bamboo Shoots Part 2 Chapter 133: A Simple Task of Crushing Goblins After Eating Bamboo Shoots Part 2 I was free enough that I could even talk to myself in the cockpit. Arisa was unmatched; she didnt need my support. And Bell also did her best. After all, she was protecting Arisa behind her. And Lily? She attacked the goblin who managed to leave Arisas sight with magic water. Lilys magic also had amazing power and precision Was that the effect of the ring I gave her? Maybe I also overdid myself in that ring? Well, its better than having both of them injured. Just let this slide, the safety of my teammate is more important. In addition, Norn was so bored that she went somewhere. No, the truth was, she just went to watch the surrounding area in case there were powerful monsters. However, she could only find goblins and kobolds around this forest on the south side of the town. On the east side, there were beasts such as wolves, wild boars, deers, and beast-like monsters such as orcs. Why did I know that? Because the Adventurers Guild had a map of the surrounding monsters and sightings. The staff gave us the past information when we asked, so we used that to predict the monsters current habitat and our next destination until we got used to this area. ng! Oh? What? In the midst of my thought, I heard the sound of hitting metal. When I moved the frame and lowered my view, a goblin was hitting the leg of the magic armor with a club. Then, another metallic sound echoed, different from this one. Seems like another goblin threw stones from distance. Hmm, I seriously became less alert. I need to get a hold of myself. Anyway, two goblins, huh? Okay, lets personally deal with them! That said, we were currently in the middle of the forest. Although I could move around using the magic armor, swinging a long halberd would be quite tricky with the surrounding trees. Well, I could still swing it around if I didnt care about the trees, but I didnt want to cut them down as I like. When it came to that, my next means of attack was hitting them with my shield. What about Stone Bullet, you ask? Dont you want to try many other things? I rarely had this kind of chance anyway. The goblin continued to attack me, but it didnt affect me at all They literally left no scratch on me. My bestowal sure was wless! Ah, yeah. Ill start attacking them now. The goblins were alert and stepped back a bit when I moved the frame a little to attack. Yeah, perfect. I took a step and mmed the shield vigorously. BAM!!! I feel like I heard a pretty distasteful crushing sound. But Im in the middle of a battle right now, so lets check itter! I rushed towards another goblin and bashed it with the same strength. THWACK! BAM!! A very dull sound and the sound of something being crushed When I checked, something got stuck to the tree and popped, and a mysterious piece of meat stuck to the shield. Ah Did I overdo it? Turns out my attack power was too much Ren, youre overdoing it. Uu I cant eat for a while Arisa approached me in astonishment. Lily, who followed behind, looked a little pale. Yeah, sorry. I guess I should practice controlling my strength. The magic stone shattered to pieces. We wouldnt be able to use them to confirm our subjugation. How wasteful By the way, the reward for subduing one goblin was five to ten bronze coins. Was it many, or few? Kind ofplicated. Following that, after several discussions, I also participated in closebats several times to practice adjusting the power of my magic armor. Even so, I couldnt control it well every time The quality of the material drops. Doing it this way would be bad for our appetite as well. By the time I made another twenty minced meat, Lily had be ustomed to it. When we decided to stop a little early and returned back in the afternoon, she waspletely calm. Strong! By the way, we finished lunch with portable food. Boiling something in the forest would be a bit No, its not impossible, but remembering the mass-produced minced meat made me lose my appetite Even after making a party with Lily and Arisa, I still round up early and go home. We might get attacked by monsters once the sky got dark, so this would be safer. thats my excuse, but I actually just dont want to deal with anything troublesome. We could spend our timefortably in this forest by taking out my house, but we couldnt be sure when and who would see us. After the incident where I got attacked during my stay in the royal capital, I kept my own safety in mind. There was no loss of being too careful anyway. Once we went back to town, reported our subjugation in the Adventurers Guild, and waited for the settlement, I felt like we were gathering a little attention? Ah, even if we were only taking goblin subjugation, bringing in fifty magic stones at once was strange. Actually, we killed around thirty more, but yeah. Im sorry, I couldnt get used to my own strength Now that we have finished our work today, lets move to the Commercial Guild. I was wondering if we could rent a home. How could I say this There werent many ces where we could eat delicious food? Eating at that slightly expensive restaurant all the time made me feel bad, so we decided to cook for ourselves. Yeah, its not me who would make it every time. We take turns properly. And thats how we rented this run-down house. The floor n was quite wide. It had a number of rooms too. Apparently, this used to be a house resided by wealthy people. But then, the house became vacant with no people living in it, then it decayed over time. Nobody rented it because the rent was high. However, we managed to rent it for five bronze coins a day after negotiating! With the perk that we could modify the interior as we like! As long as we stayed on consecutive nights, the rent wouldnt get more expensive either! We also made various other contracts on favorable terms. In other words, I could do whatever I want! You see, I remodeled Tris house before, right? At that time, I had a lot of ideas, so I wanted to make theme true now Gehehe. The reason why there was no price increase on consecutive nights was to prevent the guild staff from raising the price after the renovation. I made sure to detail them in a written contract. Now then, lets renovate it so that we can have a good rest starting tonight. Chapter 134: A Lazy Morning. In Other Words, the Usual Morning. Part 1 Chapter 134: A Lazy Morning. In Other Words, the Usual Morning. Part 1 Well, for that reason, here was the rough refurbishment for the time being. I n to renovate only the interior while leaving the exterior as a rag house. I mean, having a run-down house suddenly turning into a beautiful one in less than half a day would only bring trouble. We would stand out in a bad way. Thats most of the reason. After that, I had some ideas too. We were fortunate that we were able to rent it at a fairly low rent thanks to the ridiculously discounted price. Plus, this house had a garden as well. Thanks to that, I could put the carriage and horses there. For the carriage, I made something like a simple tent, install it in the garden, and park them there. Horses would be in the way, so I put them in my [Storage]. I also remade the fence that separated the garden. Although the appearance of the main building remained the same, having the wind blowing in would be bad for us, so I made sure to remodel the wall inside. I also made a living room where we could have meals, with a kitchen, storeroom, toilet, and bath in the back. The toilets water source was drawn from well, but its not like we would stay here for a long time, so we had to makepromises here. I could livefortably with my magic anyway, so I wouldnt use it. Fortunately, I could make a private bedroom for each of us. But I wouldnt do my daily routines here. While saying that, each room was soundproof and had a key. I made it like that so Lily and Arisa could have their private time as well. I reused the bed that I had in my guest room. We should have a good nights sleep with this. By the time we finished it in around an hour, it was already past 5 PM. We started preparing meals as soon as possible. Since I had to take care of the bamboo shoots with no lye, todays meal was left to Lily and Arisa. I couldnt cook all the time, okay? After dinner, we took a bath. Lily approached me with a smile when we took a break. Ren, I have something to say. Please sit there for a moment. Lily? Please sit down. Um Sit straight on the floor. Yes. I couldnt defy her pressure. She asked me to sit on the floor Well, this house had simr specifications as mine, so we took off our shoes inside. Sitting there wouldnt be a problem too, but she was angry, wasnt she? I was a bit scared. I followed her order and sat down, deciding that it would be safer to do as she said here. Uh? Ren, I didnt say anything since we had no time in the morning, but we have decided on many things when we organized the party, right? Ren, you said this at that time. That we shouldnt do anything dangerous, and not act alone. And yet, why did you go to collect bamboo shoots alone? I admit were also at fault for not waking up, but thats a different story, isnt it? Yes, Im sorry. In the first ce, Rens sense of crisis is too weak. Listen, okay? In the first ce Eh, I got scolded? I know I was a bit too much, but she didnt need to get so angry Ah, Im sorry. Its nothing. This is bad. Lily is very angry. With this pace, I would get scolded for over an hour. Its true that I was wrong here, but sitting on the floor for a long time would be too painful! Are you listening to me! Im sorry. When I started to get tired of listening, something heavy was ced on my head. What is this? Peeking back, it was Norn. Or to be precise, Norns front leg. Then she began to put her weight on it and gradually pushed my upper body forward. Hey, heavy! What!? Eh? Why!? Eh? She scolded me because she was worried about me, so I should listen properly? No, Im listening Heavy! Youll crush me! Ill vomit! I waved my hand and tried to resist, but there was no effect. Ugugu, Ill copse! And somehow Norn signaled to Lily to continue the scolding! Stop! I still had some HP, but I almost died! In the end, Norn curled up and fell asleep on the spot with her front legs still on the top of me after the scolding ended, and I was forced to spend all night in a forced dogeza position. The next morning, Norn finally moved away before Lily and Arisa woke up, and I was released from that ufortable position But my legs I-I couldnt stand up. In this case, I recovered my energy with a potion. Yeah, I can stand now. But Lily was scary yesterday After that, Arisa told me that I shouldnt go beyond a certain line and anger her. Tell me that sooner However, it was just as Norn said. She was worried about me, so I was a little happy. Even I realized that I was being too naive. I thought about it overnight, and I came to the conclusion that my alertness had be even weaker because I felt more secure thanks to this party. And I was relying too much on the armors security when we were hunting goblins in the forest. In other words, this was all my feelings fault. I was being too lenient I thought about how to deal with this as well. And I decided to use [Multitasking], always using [Danger Detection], [Danger Avoidance], and [Sign Detection]. I used to apply lower skills and I didnt use higher skills since I didnt think I need to be so on guard all the time. But this case left me wide open, so lets use the harder one. Eh? Could I do multitasking all the time? Its actually super easy, though. Before it became a skill, I used to divide my thinking into a hundred sections, but after it became [Multitasking] skill, the sections increased all at once every time it leveled up. Since it was LV6 now, 6 more 100s were added in addition to the original 100. So that was 700 in total. Usable all the time. Too crazy. By the way, that meant there were seven sections of 100 different thoughts, not 700 in total. It seemed to be simr but slightly different. Then I divided them and used them as before, indulging in various thoughts while living normally. But thats probably why I got so careless at times No, Im going to train from now on!! Hm? Why dont I use various skills all the time then? Hey, see Using it to its maximum potential would make me go crazy, okay? Anyway, Ill improve! I swear! Chapter 134: A Lazy Morning. In Other Words, the Usual Morning. Part 2 Chapter 134: A Lazy Morning. In Other Words, the Usual Morning. Part 2 Both of them woke up when I was preparing rice. Good morning! By the way, training with Arisa before breakfast had be our new daily routine! Yes, from the day we set up a party, we started to get up every morning to train our body! I said every day, but actually, we couldnt really do it every day due to various circumstances such as being sleepy. But leaving everything to Norn would make our body go dull, so Arisa and Lily did their best to move around. What about me, you ask? I did it when I feel like it. Anyhow, lets start the training! First of all, stretching! Even though I recovered my body with potions, I moved my body to easen my body thats forced to sit down all night. After that, time to do a simted battle against Arisa! And I lose easily! Damn Arisa didnt use any weapon, but I couldnt win even if I used a wooden sword Was it even possible to win against her!? Hmm, I think youre getting better. But its still no good. Im sorry No need to worry about it too much since youre improving. But at this rate, its still a long way for Ren to learn physical strengthening skills. I dont think that I can learn it. I wont deny that, but knowing how to move your body will help a lot. Thats right. Yeah, the main reason I started this training in the first ce was to improve my overly inflexible body. I had been doing muscle training on my own until now, but I didnt have any strength at all. My limit was doing five push-ups if I forced myself. Do I have abs? Dont ask! I didnt feel tired thanks to the potion, but I was so weak that it started to worry me for real. So I decided to ask Arisa, a professional swordsman, to teach me! Arisa seemed to know a lot anyway. It would be good if I could learn physical strengthening skills, so we started to train early in the morning. By the way, physical strengthening skills are skills that strengthen stats such as [Strength] and [Endurance]. Arisa also learned the skill to strengthen agility which was called [Swiftness]. I also learned [Body Enhancement] before, but I couldnt level it up at all. I only used it when I was cksmithing. When I asked her about that, she told me that it was difficult to raise the level of that skill. Rather, I should use it when defeating strong enemies so the level would increase. I see, so I had to gain experience that way? Thats impossible for me. Furthermore, she told me I shouldnt rely too much on [Body Enhancement] since it would hinder my original status growth. What!? So thats the cause! Even so, Ren. You sometimes suddenly get confused on how to control your body, dont you? Ohh, I got too absorbed in thinking. If you panicked, your center of gravity would tilt. Am I right? Its probably the influence of my previous lifes memory. The center of gravity between men and women was different, so I became confused once they gotbined. Yeah, I came up with this idea once I started training with Arisa and she pointed that out to me. I unconsciously got influenced by my previous lifes memory in the midst of my panic, shifting my center of gravity and causing my movement to be strange. There were times it happened in normal times, so this was quite serious. However, I showed signs of improvement since I started training with Arisa, so I would continue to rehabilitate! After training, I cleaned my body in the bath and had breakfast. I made galette today. The ingredients were bacon and eggs. Mushrooms on cheese. I just baked it, so its ready to serve once we get out of the bath. The soup was consomme-based vegetable soup. The rest was sd. This was served with mayonnaise. Its also a blessed morning today This is delicious! What is this? Delicious! Its a galette. Galette!? Is it always this gorgeous!? I heard that the galettes here were made by wrapping ham in a buckwheat dough. I had never eaten that kind of thing at the orphanage Ham was a luxury item for me at that time. Rather, I would be happy if I could eat meat once a month. Now then, we already ate a lot, and I had prepared lunch boxes. Lets go to work now! Ren, what are you going to do today? How about fighting goblins for a couple of days until I got used to this? Whats your n after you get used to it? Hmm. Why are you asking me that? Who is the leader of this party? Lily is in charge when talking to the guilds receptionist, so isnt it Lily? Im more of a backup and doing chores. Well, leaving that aside Arisa, what about you? Me? Hmm How about trying to look for their nest after that? Its one of themissions, so we should make a lot of money with that. Goblin nest Hmm. Then, how about attacking the nest once we hunt goblins for a few more days? Got it. Then lets go with that. Okay! Lets go! Arisa, youre too easy-going Well, its fine. Even so, goblin nest, huh Sounds troublesome. But we dont have to fight it head-on, right? Chapter 135: Hello, Mister Goblin! Die!! Part 1 Chapter 135: Hello, Mister Goblin! Die!! Part 1 It was a sunny afternoon, a perfect day to have a pic. Thats why we decided to have a lunch box outdoors. Todays lunch was meat rice balls and potato sd. No soup, only water. It couldnt be helped, okay. This menu was the result of me getting tired of those grilled rice balls. I wanted to eat meat. As for potato sd, I couldnt use other potato recipes unless Lily had ovee her weakness, so this was also unavoidable. Lily was shaking a little, but she ate them normally. She didnt dislike the taste as well, she just didnt like the idea of eating one. Arisa was eating with a very nice smile. She was grinning all the time! By the way, I used bamboo for the lunch box. It was like cutting them into half and stuffing the rice balls inside. Then I put the other part together and tie it with string. I also made a water bottle from bamboo. But then, I had to dispose of them after using them several times. Anyway, todays weather was really nice The food was delicious! Eh? What happened to the goblins? We did our best to kill them in the morning. Theres no forgiveness to the goblins, exterminate them with no mercy! My magic armor also crushed them so many times that it was now dyed red with blood. But thanks to my effort, I could adjust the strength pretty well now. We managed to get fifty goblin magic stones as the result. I hadnt shattered any today! You can praise me, you know? Ah, theres no problem since I washed off the blood in the magic armor using water magic and applying [Washing] after that. I also stored all the goblin corpses in [Storage]. I wonder if they would be useful one day. Well, I could only think of using them as fertilizer Lets hold them for the time being. Todays lunch box is delicious! I thought it was a chunk of meat at first, but I like this! Uu, the rice ball is definitely delicious, but the potato sd It tastes good, but~ Arisa wasnt picky on food, so she could try out many dishes. Lilys situation wasplicated, but she tried her best to eat potatoes after I told her there were many dishes I couldnt make if she didnt ovee her dislike. Do your best, Lily! I want to eat croquette soon! Ah, as I thought, Lilys dislike of potatoes was caused by having unpleasant memories of them. But I wouldnt tolerate that! Oh, right. Ren, I have decided on the name of the sword. Have you? Yeah! Ohh, she finally decided on the name? She had been thinking about it for days after all Well, its actually because I got toozy in naming it, so I imposed the duty on Arisa. Then, how will you call it? I feel like I can fly when using that sword, so I named it Feather! Hoo. In other words, that sword was Arisas wing to fly? Yeah, sounds good. I think its nice. Then its decided! Ill be under your care, Feather! Since she named it herself, she felt attached to it. Im d I made it for her since she was this happy. Seeing her reaction made it worth the trouble. Now that we had finished eating, we had to decide what to do in the afternoon. We got rid of the goblins pretty well in the morning. Yeah, I got used to it thanks to you What should we do in the afternoon? Im fine with anything~ Yeah, Arisa really didnt have any opinion. But I really didnt know what to do Hmm You dont have to think that hard, right? Ren got used to the magic armor faster than expected, so its fine to rush into the nest in the afternoon. Right~? Thats certainly true, but The question was, could we reach the goblins narrow nest? For now, how about going there to take a look? Thats right Then well do that. If it looks impossible, well retreat. Okay, then lets go! Well, time for the goblin killing tour! We found a cave after walking for around forty minutes. It was actually a real goblin nest. I could confirm it using Norns and my [Sign Detection], and I had no doubt in Norn and Bells nose. We found it. What now? We started a secret meeting in the midst of the grasnd. We need to know how deep the cave is. And we dont know if the goblins kidnapped someone inside. Yeah, that was the biggest problem. Goblins asionally kidnap people. That said, they didnt do it to crossbreed or something like that, but they kept humans alive as their food. Its still kind of dark, though. There was basically no cross-mating of monsters and races. But on rare asions, mutants with special abilities that allow cross-mating might appear. Hmm, at least we should decide what to do next after making sure whether there was anyone inside or not Norn, cant you sense them? My [Sign Detection] is Lv2, but Norns is LV7. She should be able to pick up something, right? Eh? She thinks theres none, but it smells so bad she cant make sure of it? She cant focus? Ah, Im sorry. However, guessing in this grasnd wouldnt do anything. And I had a little idea, so lets try it. Ill take a look. Are you sure? I have Norn with me. Please support me if something goes wrong. So Norn,e with me! Be my guard! While looking at the surrounding, I moved from the grasnd and sneaked closer to the nest By the way, I wasnt wearing the magic armor now. Riding that would make me stand out. As I approached the nest, I leaned on a rock next to the nest and peeked into it Wah, so stinky! It smells awful! I see, Norn will definitely hate this smell Ah, but I have something to do now. I put my fingers on the rock, touching the wall of the nest [Analysis]. Wow. I didnt expect this to work. Yeah. How should I say this What I was doing earlier was analyzing Goblins Nest. It was something I thought of randomly, but I didnt expect it to work. Chapter 135: Hello, Mister Goblin! Die!! Part 2 Chapter 135: Hello, Mister Goblin! Die!! Part 2 Dont you think [Analysis] was too overpowered? Thanks to it, I could know everything about this goblins nest, be it the structure to the number of goblins inside. This was a bit too much. Anyhow, I should use it again in the future since it makes my work easier. Yeah, Im having a little headache over something unrted, but I knew everything I wanted to know. Lets return to the girls. How was it? It smells bad. Is that so? Then what should we do? I have an idea, so lets give that a try. If that works well, we can avoid fighting there. Actually, I had thought about this from this morning. Sure, butwhat should we do if someone is kidnapped? Oh, no need to worry about that. There are only goblins inside. I also know the structures of the nest. Huh? Umm, I have a skill that lets me do that. Its pretty convenient. Ahh, you already have that skill before, but you just came up with a way to apply it now. And when you tried it, it worked? Yeah! Arisa is sharp! That happens sometimes, right? I dont really get it, but I see. Lets try Rens strategy. Can you exin it to us? Dont look like youre having a headache! This is just an idea, okay! I think its faster if we go have a look. How about that? Wont it be dangerous? Ill be in armor this time, so its fine. I understand. Then lets go. I got on the magic armor and started to move. A huge figure approached the nest Lily was following behind the shield, and Arisa was clinging to the right arm. The halberd would be a hindrance, so I kept it in the [Storage]. When we reached the nest, I erected a wall with earth magic, covering around of the entrance. This was to prevent them from escaping. Then I poured magic water into the nest. However, my n wasnt to suffocate them. I had a lot of MP, but filling the nest with water would waste a considerable amount of it. I could hear the cry of goblins from the nest. Apparently, they were surprised, starting to panic about the water that suddenly flowed in. Now then, after pouring water up to my knees and the goblins waist, the next step was to freeze the water using ice magic. This would reduce my MP consumption ifpared to making ice from nothing. Arge amount of water froze, making a popping noise. Ghee!? Gwagh!! Ohh, the cry turned into a scream. Fuhahaha! You should die! I had been using ice magic for thirty minutes. All the water in the nest should have frozen, but I hadnt stopped using ice magic yet. I continued for a while until all the goblins inside froze to death. Im not using it at full power, but slowly and surely. In the meantime, the response of the goblins when using [Sign Detection] had decreased. An hour had passed since I started using ice magic. The cry has stopped. It should be fine to stop now, right? Ren, isnt this a bit too much? Rather, this method kind of disgusts me1 Eh!? But this is easier than rushing into the nest, right!? In any case, I decided to crush the y wall that was blocking the entrance and started rushing into the nest. Ahh, I did a little mistake here. Since the ground was covered with thick ice, I could barely enter with the magic armor now that the height to the ceiling got narrowed. But I didnt care and forcefully entered. While holding the girls with the magic armors arms, I went into the nest Oh, the weight of the armor cracked the ice under my feet. It wasnt that bad from what I expected. On the way into the cave, I moved the goblin corpses we found in [Storage]. The lower half of their body got buried in ice, but I could store them without having to dig them up. Easy, easy! All of them look desperate before their death I dont want to die like this. Arisa murmured, pointing at the goblins that got stuck in a strange pose. She looked disgusted. I agree, whats with this meaningless pose? I also dont want to die like this. Everything is too one-sided Its easier for us, but it makes me a little ufortable. Right? Same Ah, this is the 25th one, isnt it? Yes. Ah, theres a hall ahead. We should find the leading hobgoblin and its five followers. Ren has been right up until now so I dont doubt her, but it makes me wonder how far Rens convenience will go. I have stopped thinking about it since a long while ago. Ill also do that~ Their evaluation of me was going down! Hey! I made it easier for us, so isnt it fine2!? Eh? The hobgoblin is still alive. Ah I guess hobgoblin had a strong vitality thanks to its species. And it was a lot bigger than a normal goblin. But the size was around the same as me, so I could easily beat it since its knees were buried in ice. It looked weakened, quivering and groaning with no voice. Its time to deal the final blow then! Arisa was fast! She shed its neck with a single blow! Done! She looked super motivated. Maybe its because she didnt have the opportunity to show her ability today? Well, its fine. Hmm, its followers were all dead. Then lets store everything and withdraw! By the way, will we get a reward for cleaning up the nest? Yes. However, it will take some time since the guild will need to confirm the nest after our report. We dont have to go to pick them up since they will transfer it to our guild card. I see. The guild sure has it rough. But How will they react when they see this frozen cave I didnt think of that. Oops, teehee Anyways, the girls told me that I shouldnt use this method often when cleaning up monsters nests since the corpse recovery and guild confirmation would take twice as long thanks to the extreme coldness. I didnt notice since the inside of my magic armor was fully equipped with an air conditioner. Well, lets think of another way next time. Chapter 136: Sometimes We Fail. Thats What It Means to Be Human. Part 1 Chapter 136: Sometimes We Fail. That''s What It Means to Be Human. Part 1 The afternoon the next day, we also went on a goblin ughter tour. Well, were currently looking for a nice ce to eat lunch. I wished we could secure a ce with a better view, but its pretty hard Ah, I found a camellia! Moreover, its bearing fruit! Yay for the oil! Wait, that shouldnt be my reaction! Really whats with this world? Why were the camellias blooming in this season!? Stop it already! Um, Ren Whats wrong? Ah, no This tree is just bugging me. Lily called me out since I looked very tired, so I decided to exin it. Obviously, this nt was bearing fruit when it was out of season. And its not the first time I found this kind of thing. Ah, I see thats because this is where magic power umtes. Magic power? ording to Lily, ces where vegetations grow unnaturally had stronger magic power than othernds. You would usually find it in the depths of forests and ins. The growth of a cluster of nts was boosted in ces called the Magic Power Pool. In addition, its possible to build a castle in that kind of ce and use a magic circle to create a barrier. Castles in major cities such as the royal capitals and territories around the world mostly got built in such ces. I see. Well, the question that had been guing my mind had been unexpectedly answered. While listening to Lilysmentary, I didnt forget to collect the camellia fruits. Camellia oil was a luxury item in this era! By the way, I finished the collection while riding on the magic armor. I installed a sub-arm to work on this kind of detailedbor, so I had to utilize it. You have been collecting the fruits from these nts for a while. Can you use them for something? We can get good quality oil from this fruit. Huh? We can get oil. ..Eh, really!? Really. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!??? Yeah, seriously. Rather, why were you so surprised? Right, vegetable oil was a super-luxury product that was produced in small quantities for the aristocrats. Whats more, which nt you could get from was a secret. Wait, did I make a mistake again? Um keep this as a secret? Of course I cant talk about it!! If I do, they will catch me!! Ah, right Im sorry. By the way, getting caught didnt mean we were caught by doing bad things, but we would get taken in by the aristocrats interested in unique things. Yeah, that would be bad. I couldnt forgive myself now. We unanimously agreed that we would zip our mouth regarding this matter. Lily and Arisa also helped me collect the camellia fruits, so we finished in a short time. Should I make the oil after returning to town? Well, I could do it in one shot by using [Creation Magic], so theres no hassle. After that, we decided to eat lunch while collecting camellia fruits. The menu was teriyaki chicken burger. We ate it as we worked so we wouldnt waste time. The food is delicious, but time is important. Yeah~ I used to eat while walking before. Compared to that, I can still eat slowly, so its fine. Hmm, both of them were strong-minded. Ah, thats it. If nts would get enhanced and their growth would get boosted in ce with umted magic power, that means I could do the same thing by pouring magic power artificially. Hmm, lets try it next time when I had time. That sounds interesting. And now we finished eating lunch and collecting camellia fruits! We defeated quite a bit stray goblins in the morning. Our n was to crush their nest again in the afternoon. The girls didnt have any objection, so we started moving to search for a nearby goblin nest with Norns detection skill. In less than thirty minutes, we found a cave that might be one. Now, what should we do? Ill start by examining the structure of the nest like yesterday. Right Lets think about our next action depending on the result. Im fine with anything. As usual, we had a discussion in the grasnd near the nest. And Arisa was the same as usual. My view of her started to be cuter and cuter. Hmm, Lily and Arisa, which one should I Hey, maybe I could have both? Ah, this is not the time to think about that now. First of all, I had to [Analyze] the nest. I started moving after getting off the magic armor. Norn didnt escort me this time, and I went alone. Hey, they were always being overprotective of me, you know? Im also an adventurer. I had to gain experience little by little. But for the time being, Norn was on stand by in case something went wrong. How overprotective! Are you my mom! That doesnt sound bad, though Mom, huh Ah, not that! I should check the goblin nest now! Im really easily distracted I regained my focus and did [Analysis] after sticking to the entrance of the cave. Okay, done. Then I sneaked back to everyone. How was it? For the time being, those goblins havent caught anyone. There are fewer goblins ifpared to yesterdays nest, but the leader is a spellcaster. Furthermore, there are another two spellcasters among its followers. This is hard. I agree. Lily muttered, her faceplicated. Even if our opponents were goblins, facing a magic user would be hard in a frontal attack. Yes, that was if we went with a frontal attack. Haa Then, what should we do? Chapter 136: Sometimes We Fail. Thats What It Means to Be Human. Part 2 Chapter 136: Sometimes We Fail. That''s What It Means to Be Human. Part 2 Haa Then, what should we do? As soon as Lily sighed, her expression turned tired and she asked me so. Eh, Im a little hurt by that reaction, though? Well, its kinda expected if we look back on my actions so far We wont go with yesterdays method since its cold. Lets go with a different method today. Even if there are other ways than that, it will be nasty, wont it? Why did you immediately decide that its going to be nasty? Todays method was actually quite good. I want to move my body more~ Do you want to go head-on against multiple spellcasters? That sounds bad when you say that, but the three of us can win, yeah? That might be the case. But I dont want both of you to get hurt. If you say so. Ill put up with it then. Yeah, please dont be rash. By the way, we started moving after discussing! Just like yesterday, I used the magic armor to hold them in my arms, approaching the entrance of the cave. ording to Norns [Detection], there were no monsters around. But goblins mighte out of the cave, so we were cautious. Once we reached the entrance, I covered two-thirds of the entrance again as I did yesterday. And this was where things were going to be different. Todays nest was barely enough to fit the magic armor. If I froze it like how I did yesterday, it would be impossible for me to enter. Moreover, it slopes gently downward as we go deeper. So I would use [Multitasking]1 to use two-attribute magic at the same time. While making water with water magic and pouring it into the cave, I shoot a high-voltage current to the water with lighting magic. Pouring too much water would be troublesome when we enter the cave to collect the corpse, I keep the amount moderate while adjusting so that the entire floor of the cave got wet. Giiii!? Gwahhhhh!!?? GWAH AGWAH AGHH!!!!? Ohh, I could hear the screaming faster with this method. Ren, this is a bit too much. Its worse than yesterdays Hahaha! Say anything you want! The goblin nest capture operationced with torture continued for around 30 minutes. I cut the magic once I couldnt hear screams anymore. Next, we rushed into the nest to collect the corpse. But It stinks! So smelly! It stinks so much Yeah, it smells really bad. Very much so. The already stinky goblin nest became even worse with the burnt smell of the goblin corpse that burned to death alive with a high voltage current! I definitely didnt want to go into the nest still smelly! How could I erase this smell! No, Im inside the magic armor so it didnt affect me, but what about the others? Ah, Norn already went far away before I knew it. Im sorry! Im sorry! Ahhh! No way, this operation was a failure! But I definitely dont want to go in, but we have to. Right. In the worst case, I could just go alone I did this myself, so I would do my best Lily, what if you use that? That? What do you mean? Did something happen? Its wind magic quirks. Applying the wind attribute of the Magic Sword to the clothes will create a pocket of air around our body. Then we can block this stench, right? Ah! Thats right! Arisa, youre a genius! Oh, theres such a method!? When we tried it immediately, we seeded in blocking the odor as Arisa said! Arisa, amazing! Youre great! Ive been thinking about this for a long time, but Arisa actually used her head a lot even if she acted like she wasnt, you know? Or is this her true ability? Which is it? With Arisas wit, we took measures against the odors and finally rushed into the cave. Well, we were greeted by brutally charred corpses. I collected all of them in [Storage]. Ummm Yeah, the magic stones were safe. Its good that I managed to adjust my magic properly. As we proceeded through the cave, we also found the corpse of the spellcasters. Even so, the second one was still alive, just barely. Hup! Arisa attack! And the goblin was dead! It didnt struggle. How boring. Put up with that, Arisa. I know~ Yeah Sorry about that? Aspensation Ill cook delicious food? The innermost part of the cave was still a hall, which seemed to be where the leader resided. Same as in the previous room, one spellcaster was still barely hanging on to life. Hah! sh its neck! And the goblin was dead! Does being a spellcaster mean that their magic resistance is also high? I think so. But Ren also restrained your power, right? Yes. I dont want the magic stones to break If you dont restrain it, I think itll die. Even if its a spellcaster, its still a goblin after all. Are you sure about that? Im sure about that. I see. But this strategy is a failure. Yeah Im sorry Ren, but Id like you to not do this in the future when were in a small closed-in-ce. I understand. But dont you think this will be quite effective when dealing with lizardmen in swamps? Ah, that might be true! No, forget that. We will have to step on the water too, so we might get hurt from the electric shock. Oh Then Ill have to think of a way to deal with that. Is that any? There must be, right? Then we returned to the town as we had a light chat. The next day, we heard that the guilds investigative team who went to the cave had a hard time with the smell. Just as expected. Chapter 137: Side Story – A Story of a Novice Adventurer Part 1 Chapter 137: Side Story ¨C A Story of a Novice Adventurer Part 1 Im Tri, a novice adventurer and a former orphan1. It was only recently that I left the orphanage to be an adventurer. In that sense, I was still less aware that I had be an adventurer. Besides, I hadnt done any adventurer-like yet, and I hadnt fought any tough monsters. But if I fight one, I would definitely die. Speaking of which, you could say that our journey to the royal capital was an adventure, right? But we just moved in a carriage, so I couldnt say that I was proud of my adventure. Well, leaving that aside. Today, I was reunited with my best friend, who left the orphanage to get sold as a ve. I thought she died in an ident, so I was so shocked I cried a lot. When I think about it now, it was very embarrassing. My best friend, Ren, clung to me and patted my back tofort me until I stopped crying. Its like she wasforting a child. Uu, so embarrassing. Im d she looks healthy. I remembered how my best friend seemed to be doing well, causing my cheeks to rx. She became so cute Yeah, she was so cute. And she became so amazing. Like her *****. And other things. Ah, but I was surprised that I was taller. The sandwich was delicious. I got everyones share, but will this be enough? And what should I do with this sword? Cain will be noisy again. I muttered while stroking the handle of the sword that Ren made. Aside from the sandwiches for everyone, this sword would most likely cause various problems. Mainly because Cain would want it. Cain didnt really think highly about my craftsmanship tour. He insisted that we should earn more money by doing chores. But I know that Cain wanted to be a sword fighter and was trying to save money so he could buy a sword quickly. And Cain was pretty selfish. Once he saw this sword, he would definitely make a noise. Well, I wont give it to him. Considering Rens character and feelings, I absolutely wouldnt give it to Cain. Theres no use worrying about it, so lets go to the reference room she directed me to. Cain would want the sword, but I couldnt give this up. No matter how much he asked, I would just refuse. Rather, it would be far more productive to do a lot of research on the library Ren told me rather than wasting my time thinking of such trivial things. I never went to the headquarters of the royal capital adventurers guild. But Ren said that anyone could use the facility, so I decided to try it out, thinking that we might learn something out of this. Umm, this is the reference room? Thats why I came to the reference room of the Royal Capital Adventurers Guild. Yeah, there were so many books. In the first ce, I couldnt read that much. However, Ren said that these books also included the picture of medical herbs, so it would be helpful just to have a look at it But there were more books than I expected. I was at a loss as to where to start. What should I do? Miss, whats wrong? Are you looking for something? When I was wondering what to do, I was approached by an old man who seemed to be managing this library. I told him that I wanted to find the books rted to medicinal herbs, but I didnt know where they were since there were so many books. He then took me to the shelf with the books I was looking for. And as I thought, this old man was working as a librarian in this reference room. He said that he would help me if I had trouble in the library, so I decided to take his offer and have him help me a lot. Its better to ovee my embarrassment forcking knowledge. I didnt hide the fact that I couldnt read the letters that well and asked the librarian to read the unreadable characters. I think that a child who can ask properly like you can survive longer and seed than pretending to know what you dont understand. It will be difficult, but please do your best. T-thank you very much! Its embarrassing to ask what I didnt understand, but its even more embarrassing to pretend I know something and leave it as it was. I had no hesitation in asking other people who knew what I didnt. Since it would help me in the future, theres no need to be hesitant. Actually, thats what Ren told me when we were in the orphanage. When I was researching the herbs that could be collected around the royal capital, I found many things. Depending on the herb, the medicinal effect would change In short, each herb had different parts that were needed. It might be the leaf, the root, or the pe petals. Then, of course, the quality of the material would be affected by how we collected various herbs. If the roots were important, we need to dig them out carefully. If we need the leaves, we need to make sure they wouldnt tear. The herbs we collected so far were cut into pieces. That should exin why the prices were different. We need to use proper tools to collect it and store it carefully What weve done so far ispletely wrong To be honest, that saddened me. I thought it would be better to take as many herbs as I could. However, the price of the herbs would be higher if we collected them properly. The price could be two or three times higher. I didnt know what to feel when I realized that. Furthermore, it might be ten times more expensive depending on the type of herbs Ah We could buy things we wanted if we knew this faster Oh no, Im really going to cry. But its only been around two months since we came to the royal capital. We could still get it back. Rather, lets think positively here. That said, I couldnt be sure until I actually used the knowledge I gained today. By the time I left the reference room, the sun had already begun to set. In the end, I didnt do any chore today. However, I got sandwiches from Ren, a sword, and knowledge of herbs I got equipment and benefits for the long run in just a day. Chapter 137: Side Story – A Story of a Novice Adventurer Part 2 Chapter 137: Side Story ¨C A Story of a Novice Adventurer Part 2 As I walked while thinking about such things, I arrived at the cheap inn where we stayed. Therge room in the cheap inn we lived in was a room for eight people. We negotiated with the owner so that we could use one room for our party. Since we wouldnt be in the same room with other adventurers, the risk of having our belongings and money get stolen wasnt that high. However, the door of our room wasnt locked. So we always have to carry money and valuables with us in the daytime. Its possible to change to a safer inn once our ie increases, but its still too hard for now. Im back. Oh! Tri, wee back! Look, I earned so much today! Rico ran to me when I entered the room. Ricorice She was a girl younger than me. With a bright smile, she reported that todays herb collection ie was a little higher thanst time. You did your best, Rico. Many things happened today, Im so tired. Is that so? Eh, the thing on your waist Yeah, this is my ie today. Wow, amazing! Rico, shut up! Oi, Ryuu. Stop that. Cain. But shes Ryuu was also younger than me like Rico. But hes Hes pretty stupid; a bootlicker sticking to Cain. Stop it already. Wee back, Tri. You didnte to do chores today. What happened? If we dont earn enough, we will get kicked from this cheap inn, so Eh, that thing on your waist Ah, yeah. I have many things to do today so I couldnt do it. Im sorry. But I got this sword and brought todays food. I also gained some other things Really!? Seriously!? Tri, that sword is real!? Yeah, and Tri, please! Please give me that sword! How could I say this? His reaction was just as I expected so far. Its making my blood boil. Hey, Cain You always mock my craftsmanship tour, but now youre saying that after I get this sword? Are you making a fool of me? No, I didnt mean that But I really want a sword! So please! I beg you! Haa No way! Are you stupid? Earn it yourself, as I did! Steadily! That But I have many things to do Ah, this guy is really! Idiot! Cain, youre an idiot! Everyone is busy! And yet Tri did her best to get the sword, so the idiot Cain should also get it on his own! Stupid Cain! Oh, Rico got angry. But yeah Cains argument was just in weird. He wouldnt realize that, though. Hey, kid! Whats with that attitude! Shut up, idiot Ryuu! Ryuu is the most useless among us, no need to sound so haughty! Stupid! Idiot King! What!? This damned kid!! Hey, stop! If youre too noisy! Maricle, who had been quiet until then, tried to intervene to stop Rico and Ryuus argument, but Bang! These fucking kids, so noisy! Do you want to die!? With the loud noise of wall bang, a swearing voice came from the next room. Were sorry! This inn is cheap and the walls were very thin. So if we made a little noise, everyone could hear it all. And being too loud would result in that. Watch out, both of you. The walls are thin here. Sorry, Maricle My bad. Rico and Ryuu obediently apologized, but Cain turned his head away, looking guilty. I No, sorry. Im also too loud. Thats fine. And about Tris sword, what you said is too strange. If you have the sword, then the party leader can be selfish and have anything he wants. That makes no sense. Yes, Im sorry. You shouldnt apologize to me. Tri, sorry. Maricle always had to bear all of this. I think he had a tough personality. Thats also a good thing, though. As long as you understand. Unfortunately, this sword doesnt mean I made a mutual aid contract, so dont get me wrong. Is that so? Yeah. I was lucky enough to meet a kind cksmith and he gave this to me. I got this meal from him too. But apart from that, he taught me something very useful. Im not going to tell Cain about Ren. Ren wouldnt want that either, and I dont want to tell Cain who was bullying Ren. Cain was good at taking care of the young children at the orphanage, but I wasnt going to forgive him for bullying Ren. I understand the reason for Cains sudden change in attitude towards Ren after the orphanages owner exined it to me, but I wasnt convinced. Even if he was hiding his embarrassment, I could only think of him as a perverted stupid kid. Then, what about my share None. Forget about Cains selfishness. Whats more useful than that? Ill exin as we eat. Cain didnt care about the swords matter anymore after he got told off by Maricle. Though he seemed a little saddened, I honestly didnt care. Wow!? What is this! Its really delicious! What What is this white sauce? Delicious! Rens sandwich was super delicious. Everyone praised it a lot. Its a bit funny to see Arle who was the same age as me and was interested in cooking eating with a confused face while cocking her head. But when I saw Cain eating vigorously, I got a mixed feeling. But I couldnt voice that out, so I exined about the reference room that Ren taught me. In other words, we can get various information for free if we go there. Yeah. I took a peek today and read a few books, but that alone gave me a lot of information about herbs. I think we need more information now. If Tri says so, then Im sure we should take advantage of it. But Maricle, we cant read a lot of letters. Besides, we have to make money to stay at this inn. If we dont work, are we staying in that re reference room? But maintaining the status quo wont solve anything, right? Thats right then what should we do? We need money, and if we dont earn money, we wont be able to stay here. For the time being, I think we can keep collecting the herbs for a while. Tri can go to that ce alone. She said she learned a lot just by having a light look, so lets think again depending on her result. I see Its bad if we dont make any money. Then lets go with that. Tri, youre fine with that? Yeah. Then lets sleep now. Make sure the electricity fee wont be too high. Yeah. Kids, were sleeping now. Kay! Tri, lets sleep together~. We decided on that for now, but I wonder what would happen Oh well. Lets sleep today. It all depends on tomorrows results. Chapter 138: Side Story, About a Novice Adventurer Part 1 Chapter 138: Side Story, About a Novice Adventurer Part 1 The next morning, we bought hard-baked bread and skewered meat for lunch, then we divided the members into odd jobs group and herbs collecting group before moving. I n to stick with collecting herbs for a while starting today. The members of todays herbs collecting group were me, Kuro, Maricle, and Boman. Cain sometimes did strange things if he was left alone, so we had to make sure he was with someone who could stop him. I, Maricle, and Arle could stop Cain from being reckless. Arle would kick him with full power without any hesitation, so Cain couldnt deal with Arle very well. Cain would usuallye with Maricle or me. Even so, Maricle was the one who gave the idea yesterday, so he was with me today. Besides, one of todays members, Boman, had a terrible habit of cking off. Thats why he had to be with Cain or Maricle. Thest one, Kuro, was a ck cat beastfolk. Her hair and eyes were ck, often mistaken as Rens little sister when she was with her. Now that I thought of it, thats actually a little strange since Ren didnt have cat ears or a tail. Well, both of them often followed their pace. That might be why their aura could seem somewhat simr. Then, as we moved, the gate came into view. There was already a long queue of adventurers and merchants at the gate. It should take some time before we could get out. Ive been thinking about this since forever. Do you think theres anything we can do with this long waiting time every morning? It just shows how so many people are in the royal capital. Be it adventurer or merchant. Uu, Tri, Im sleepy. Please bear with it. Tri, Im sleepy too Even Boman Both of you, get ahold of yourself! Really, these two would try to sleep at every chance they had! Oh, kids. Are you going to collect herbs too today? Ah, Gim. Good morning! This person was a dwarf warrior, Gim. Even if he was a dwarf, he could move very fast. A veteran Rank-C adventurer and a kind person who helped us in the Adventurers Guild on the first day we arrived in the royal capital. Gim introduced us to the inn we were staying at right now, even taking our ie into consideration. The reason everyone in our party could stay together in one room was thanks to Gims help. Even after that, he kept lending us a helping hand. Im really grateful towards him. How is it? Are you getting better in recognizing the herbs? No, thats still a long way off. But Ive learned a lot from someone, so we might be able to make a little more ie than usual. Oh, thats good to hear! Im also not very familiar with herbs, so I cant teach you anything about that! By the way, whats with Tris waist sword? I remember you said that youre looking for someone to form a mutual aid contract with you, have you found them? Ah this is different. Many things happened Hmm? Well, I guess many things happen in life. Anyway, can you show me that sword for a while? Ah, sure. I dont mind. I handed Gim the sword with the scabbard. We were indebted to Gim and I believed he was someone I could trust. Im not worried about him stealing it. Hoo this is a pretty good weapon. Is that so? I knew it. Whats with that reaction? This is your sword, isnt it? You didnt know? No, I dont really know how to look at a sword, so As I thought, this was a good sword even in Gims eyes. Ren said she made it on her own. If thats true, then shes Ive always thought she was a weird one. Hmm Well, you can learn it gradually. More than that, do you know how to use it? You cant just swing it around randomly, okay? Im sorry, I actually have no idea about that too The four boys had been swinging sticks around since they were in the orphanage. After Ren disappeared, they nned to engage in real battle and sparred with each other for real, but I was clueless about that. And this was what Gim told to me. Ah I shouldve expected it, my bad. You arent aiming to be a swordfighter, so you should have no idea how to use a sword. Then, hmm do you cook? You cant cut vegetables and meat just by cing the knife on them, right? You have to move the de like this to slice it properly. Its the same as this. If you just swing the de randomly, you might as well just use bare fists to hit your enemy with full power. I see You might have heard people sparring with sword by shing their weapon, but doing it all the time will chip the de immediately. The worst case is that it will break. As long as your sword isnt a legendary item, you wont be able to use it forever. Since your current one is this good, you should take care of it properly, okay? There are actually more things you need to consider, but we wont have time to teach you everything No, thank you very much. I dont know anything at all, so you are very helpful. Its impossible for me to learn proper swordsmanship too Well, the orthodox knights swordsmanship is powerful, but its hard for themoners to learn. The capitals swordsmanship training center also costs money. It cant be helped that adventurers way of handling swords is different, but I wish theres something I can do Apparently, Gim had taken care of novice adventurers like us in the past. He also said that a significant number of them died. I often heard that many novice adventurers died without knowing how to fight, so someone like Gim who took good care of people would have a lot to consider. Ah, we should be able to get outside soon. You guys should work hard too! Yes! Thank you very much! The atmosphere became a little strange midway, but we parted from Gim and headed out, walking to the forest where we always collect herbs. I think Gim cares a bit too much. But thanks to him, we learn a lot of things. Beginners like us are still alive because someone like him exists. Youre right. We have many kids with us. Theres also Boman. I hope Boman can be a little more motivated. At least hes still working if hes motivated enough. It will be nice if he can see our situation in the long run. Chapter 138: Side Story, About a Novice Adventurer Part 2 Chapter 138: Side Story, About a Novice Adventurer Part 2 I know that Maricle was always smacking Bomans ass and had him do many things. Not only that, but he also stopped Cains recklessness and Ryus idiocy Maricle, you also care a bit too much yourself. You cant really talk about Gim like that, can you? This is just my nature. Leave me alone. Well, thats fine. Tri is the same. You stop Arle from overworking herself, curb Ricos motivation, and carry Kuro around. Ah I know youre worried about them and Im grateful for your hard work, but were the same. So dont tell me off so much. I know, Ill be careful. Sorry, okay? Hmm, did I say too much? But he wouldnt fix that part of him if I didnt go that far. As I pondered how I should warn him about this, Maricle turned his face from me and muttered. Im aware of it. Im trying to fix it. Do your best. I will. As we walked while talking about such things, we arrived at the forest. Lets see, time to do our best in collecting herbs! We looked for herbs around our usual spot without taking any break. This area was the shallow part of the forest, but we found quite a lot of medicinal herbs. Thats why its a rtively popr spot for beginners like us. And for some reason, I heard its easy to grow and cultivate herbs here. I dont really get it, though. Tri, I found it! Ohh, good job Kuro! Well done! Kuro was good at finding herbs and nuts. Seems like many dog and cat beastfolk were like her. For that reason, Kuro often joined the herb collecting group. What should we do with this? Umm, if I remember right, we should do this Maricle asked me so as he looked at what I was doing. In the book I read yesterday, this herbs leaves should be the important part, so For this herb, we should cut the leaves carefully like this so that they wont break or crush, then we wrap them in a cloth like this I think. Hmm Can we stack multipleyers when wrapping the leaves in cloth? We dont have that many clothes with us, so separating each of them will be hard. Hmm, it might get crushed if we pile them up too much, but as long as we keep the amount normal it should be fine, or thats what I think I see Got it. For now, well cut it carefully so it doesnt get crushed. This herb grows a lot here so its easier to find even for me. Ill look for it over there with Boman. Tri, look for other herbs with Kuro. Hey Boman, were moving! Oh Be more motivated. Nn Hes a lost cause. Whatever, well do our best here. Boman is an idiot. Dont be that harsh, Kuro. Nyuu. I know what youre saying, still Ah, this one can be sold with a high price am I right? But we can only sell it very cheaply all the time. Youre right, Kuro. Hmm, I think its the root? And the stem part is important. Ah, it has no fruit or flower, but I remember reading that the fruit and flower can be used for something else? Oh no, I cant remember! Lets carefully dig up the roots for now. Kuro dug up the ground with a knife that was still in the scabbard. Right, thats smart. If any part was important, we should just bring the whole thing back. Uu, Im being yed by the knowledge I had just learned I had to get a hold of myself! As I fought with my inner dilemma, Kuro finished digging out the herbs. Sorry Kuro, thank you. Nnyu. Then what should we do with this? I think we can wrap this with a cloth. It should be better to keep the cloth moist. Water over there. Eh, over there? What happened? Theres a smell of water. Then Kuro trotted in that direction. Wait! Kuro! But when Kuro stopped not far away, she plunged her head into the bush. Kuro!? Theres water. Tri, here. Kuro beckoned with her head stuck in the bush, so I also peeked into it and moved to the back There was spring water. Its small, but as Kuro said, there was water. Youre kidding me Kuro, youre amazing! Im, amazing! Kuro, who already moved away from the bush, said proudly with leaves on her head. Seriously, Kuro was really amazing in times like this. To be honest, I think shes the only one who could survive if left alone among us. After brushing the leaves off Kuros head and praising her with head pats, Kuro squinted her eyesfortably. She looked just like when Ren patted her head in the shade of a tree when we were still in the orphanage I want to let her meet Ren soon. Our herb collecting continued smoothly even after that. At noon, we met up with Maricles team at once and gobbled the hard bread and skewered meat. I wanted to earn a lot and eat more of these skewers Thats why I had to work harder. After lunch, we split up again and continued to collect herbs until evening. Yeah, we collected a lot. But Maricles team wasnt that lucky this time. There are times like this. Sorry. No need to sweat it! Its less than usual, but if we can sell it at a higher price, everyone will know that the reference room is useful! Youre right. Maricles expression told me that he didnt think it would go that well, but I feel like its not a bad thing to think positively. Because the mood would worsen if I couldnt be positive. To be honest, I didnt think they would sell at a very high price. After all, I could only do what the librarian read for me in the reference room. So the price wouldnt change that much. But my expectations were betrayed in a good way. The purchase price was 5 silver coins altogether!? Um, it was 4, 5 7 times more than usual!? Eh, ehhh? Ehhhhhh!? You must be kidding me!!!!???? Chapter 139: It Doesnt Matter that My LUK Value is 1! Part 1 Chapter 139: It Doesn''t Matter that My LUK Value is 1! Part 1 We carefully proceed while watching our surroundings. I kept my [Detection], [Sign Detection], [Danger Detection] skills activated all the time. However, I still didnt lower my guard when checking around with my own eyes. Seems like theres nothing here. Yeah But lets keep our alert. Right. Oh Currently, we were walking inside the forest. Its been around two weeks since we continued our work in this current town. As a result of crushing the nearby goblin nests around the town during the first ten days, the town was safe but we also lost the source of our earnings. After discussions between the three people on what to do in that situation, we decided that we would take several days to have a round trip a little farther from our usual spots. I swear its not because the other adventurers eyes were so painful since we caused their earnings to decrease. Definitely not. No, I didnt get ahead of myself this time! Lily and Arisa also lost their control because we earned arge ie after crushing goblin nests! Anyway, for that reason, we decided to pay the rent of a house one week in advance and went deep into the forest. By the way, we werent using my home. We nned to camp with a simple hut made of earth magic and a tent. You see, I thought we should gain experience in camping inside a forest In the first ce, only I could use earth magic to make a simple hut among us. So for that reason, they might have a lot of trouble if they never experienced camping in a tent. We also put a lot of thoughts into this, okay. Thats why we had been moving in this forest for around two days now. Looking back at my surroundings, Norn and Bell were a little ahead of us as guards. Looking up, the sky was still blue, spreading between the trees. The sun was already moving to the west side of the horizon Hmm, lets not overdo it. There was a small stream a little farther, so should we camp here? What should we do? Are we camping here today? Thats right What do you think, Arisa? Im fine with anything. I knew she would say that! In the end, we decided to camp here since moving in the dark would be very dangerous. Next to the two people building the tents, I used earth magic to build a simple hut. A cloth was hung at the entrance so no one could see the inside. I also made a stove which could also be a bonfire. As for the arrangement, Lily and Arisas tents were facing each other from the entrance of the simple hut to the left and right. Bonfires were in the midst of it. After that, I put out my bed inside the simple hut. Yes, a bed. Could this be called camp even, you say? Hey, the problem was those two girls wouldnt be able to camp if they got separated from me, but I had my skills. After that, I built a private toilet a little farther away. I dug a hole with earth magic and made walls on all sides to surround the hole, with the top of it open. I also hung a cloth at the entrance here. With this distance, we could still see it from the camping ce. Wouldnt it smell, you ask? I sprinkled sand I made with earth magic and piled it up next to the hole. I didnt make a toilet bowl since it was a bit troublesome. The two girls finished setting up the tents, then they went to pick up firewood. Norn, Bell, and I stayed there to guard the area. After the incident in the royal capital, the girls didnt allow me to move alone anymore Its still a no even if Norn and Bell were with me. It seems like me picking bamboo shoots also yed a role here. Its fine for me to y around a bit, isnt it! When I was deep in my thoughts, Norn was staring at me with cold eyes, so I pretended to be calm by clearing my throat. By the way, Bell was currently patrolling by circling around the area. For the time being, I also had an excuse to stay here. It just happened to be my turn to guard the camp today Well, Im sure they wont let me pick up firewood anyway. When it was my turn, Norn would go pick them up and stored them in the [Item Box] Everyone was too overprotective. By the way, should I prepare dinner as they pick up the firewood? We caught two horned rabbits on our way today, so I used that meat to make soup and skewered meat. Theres also hard-baked bread. I aged the meat using [Creation Magic] since I didnt want to eat hard meat. Then I took out my magic stove and started cooking. The girls returned when I almost finished cooking. I used the firewood they brought to lit the bonfire. The pot was warm by the time the fire became stronger and stable, so we started eating dinner while grilling skewers on the bonfire. Everyone could take second servings of the soup in the pot as much as they like. Most of them would be eaten by Arisa anyway. Lily was surprisingly reserved. She said she would get sleepy if she ate too much, and that might affect her when it was her turn for night patrol. Maybe Arisa was trained for that? Me? I went to sleep since I had Norn and Bell with me Yeah, I feel a bit apologetic. Well, thats the advantage of a tamer. My feelings were different matters altogether. I also had Barrier Tower installed, so its pretty safe already. The next morning, Norn raised her head in alert while we were preparing breakfast. Enemy attack? With [Detection], [Sign Detection], and [Danger Detection], I confirmed that there were intruders. People were being chased? Did they get attacked? The ones chasing them were 15 goblins! Enemy!? Where!? After confirming that, Arisa jumped out of the tent. She already had her sword ready, her dagger on the other hand. Fully equipped, she ran towards the direction Norn was looking at. Norn ran to chase her, and after she overtook her, she continued to take the lead. Follow Norn! Norn, go! By the time I finished calling them out, Arisa was no longer visible. Immediately after that was a rattling noise in Lilys tent, and Lily finally came out. We got attacked!? Where are the enemies!? Arisa already ran there. Together with Norn. Should I go there too? Or will Bell follow them? Lets have Bell go. We should wait here. Bell, please. Woof! Okay. But Ill look around here for the time being. Ren, please continue the food preparation while being alert using your detection skills. Eh, can I cook now? Im grateful since I had nothing to do, but wont I look like Im not nervous at all Ah, Bell has already left. When Norn left me like this, Bell would stay by my side in silence after what happened in the forest of the royal capital. But when I gave her instructions, she would take action quickly. Maybe Norn was still worried about me, but she also wanted to test whether I could wait here properly? Im happy for her overprotection, but I also feel a bitplicated. Chapter 139: It Doesnt Matter that My LUK Value is 1! Part 2 Chapter 139: It Doesn''t Matter that My LUK Value is 1! Part 2 Around an hour, Arisa and the others came back. Lily was also with them, together with a woman. Seems like they joined Lily midway. Apparently, the woman was chased by a goblin, and they talked a bit on their way back, but since theres a teammate (me) in the base, they decided to listen to the details after joining with me. But, before that Theres a stream over there, so please cleanse yourself first. Ill also treat your injuries. Yeah, shes kinda smelly, you know? From what Arisa picked up, she was trapped in a goblin nest before. Maybe she was panicking a bit since her friends also got caught? But its better to prepare well than to move in a hurry. And she should be hungry. But since she got caught and became dirty and smelly, eating food in that state was a bit Since she was injured, I was a bit worried about her taking a bath, but Lily had applied [Recovery Magic] on their way back so she should be able to move around properly. She cleaned herself and came back, then I used [Drying] to dry her instantly and treated her injuries. Well, she only had to drink a bottle of middle-ss recovery potion and shes all healed. What is this effect Is this a middle-ss potion? Not advanced? What about the payment Hmm, I dont n to rip someone off in this situation, so she doesnt have to worry, okay? I have a bad personality, but I wont go that far. The womans name seemed to be Nell. Her main job was a mage, but she could do close quarters battles, a quasi-magic warrior. From her appearance, she seemed to be 17-18 years old? Older? Or younger? I still couldnt guess the age of a woman. Her party had a total of four people, one male and three female, and they went there to investigate the goblins. Did they get a survey request recently because the number of goblin nests subdued in our current location was unusually high? Eh, so its because of us? No, we just crushed the nests we happened to stumble upon. Its not like we were aiming to crush all goblin nests Well, we might have been aiming for that in the middle. Now that I think of it, there were so many goblin nests, right? So when we were investigating, we were attacked by arge group of goblins and got caught We continued the conversation as we ate rice. By the way, I had them change into beautiful clothes. It seems like Lily lent her clothes. Back to the topic. So they suddenly received a surprise attack during the investigation, and although they managed to regain their momentum and intercept them, they were gradually pushed and caught. However, the goblins were unusually in order, thats why they assumed that they might be battling with a group with amander. So when they actually got caught and carried to the nest, they were surprised at the overwhelming number of the group. And as they expected, there was amander leading them. It had arge physique and looked quite old. They saw themander with their own eyes. Actually, they were restrained and forced to meet it After that, everyone was pushed into one of the rooms, and while being given food from time to time, they were looking for a chance to escape while being beaten by the patrolling goblins. And she managed to escape yesterday noon. Although the goblins took their equipment, she had a spare wand hidden, so she used it to escape using her [Illusion] skill. [Illusion] was a rare skill No, I think I can do something simr using light, water, and wind magic together Yeah, lets practice it next time and try to acquire the [Illusion] skill if possible. Ah, the topic derailed. Even after escaping, she managed to move away while making full use of [Illusion], but she noticed that the goblins were chasing her and ran desperately, and Arisa, Norn, and Bell helped her at that time. Arisa sure was amazing, huh? Norn and Bell became her support this time. Their nests are about half a day from here. No, I dont think itll take that long to be honest. Its an abandoned mine, so the map is prettyplicated But the problem above all is the numbers. I think there are at least 300 goblins there, or even more. Complete with an elder Lordmanding them. Over 300, with a Lord That means Theyre a Legion, huh. Legion was arge group of monsters and beasts of the same race, led by a monarchicmander called Lord. The numbers depended on the type of the monster, but they would be certified as a Legion once it exceeded 100. Most of the time, they were led by the elder Lord and higher-ranking Warlords. Since themander was chosen after they had grouped together for a long time, the cooperation of Legion was high, and themander could also correct their subordinates well. That means, the nests we had crushed until now are the branches of that Legion. But then, a flock of this size must be nning to attack some town, you know? If were talking about a town near here Its the town were currently staying at, huh. A flock of monstersrge enough to be called Legion often attacks people on arge scale. It could be a vige, a town, or even a walled city or a fortified city. When such a big incident urs, The Knights trained to subdue Legion would appear, but they usually arrived after a lot of lives had been taken Could we do some kind of surprise attack now? Above all, we had no time. If we didnt hurry, that town might be destroyed. I didnt know what that Legions n was, but they kidnapped humans there. If the goblins that chased this woman didnte back after a while, they would definitely notice something and move up the schedule to start the invasion immediately. We had no time to ry the news and call for further help. Wait a minute, the nest you had crushed Are you that amazing female adventurer party that has been crushing the nests of goblins around? Goblin yers? Wait, what is Goblin yers!? Its true that we were crushing the goblins nest, but I never heard of that nickname before!! We did crush goblins nests around here, but what is Goblin yers? Eh? Thats your party, right? With that town as their base, a group of three young women adventurers with two wolves has been crushing goblin nests these days. Theyre Goblin yers. They gave us a nickname without our permission. We should have named our party as fast as we could. Dont look at us with that pitiful look. I feel like crying. Chapter 140: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 1-1) Chapter 140: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 1-1) The atmosphere made me feel somewhat hard to breathe, but lets get back to the topic. Lily, if we go back and ask for help, then wait for the forces to gather and subdue the Legion well be toote at that time, wont we? Well, it takes two days toe here from the town, and we will still need a whole day even if we hurry back. Asking a nearby town for support and waiting until theye Logically, Legion will do the first move without waiting for us and destroy the town before we can ask for help. If Ren rides Norn to a nearby town Hmm, I dont think we can endure until the support arrives Nell proposed. How about weing them in town and having a defensive battle? Thats impossible. I dont think the number of adventurers working in that town willst for three days against a Legion of at least 300 goblins. I see. Right, I dont have my equipment either From the discussion, we realized we were in a deadlock more than we expected. Then we should subdue the Legion with our current strength. Moreover, as soon as possible. Rather, right at this moment. We have no choice but to subdue it. And we have to hurry up. So ites to that Were going to do a surprise attack and approach them from the back door just like how we did it before, right? I dont think theres any other way to win. Theres too much difference between our numbers. Its impossible to attack them head-on. Its just as I thought W-wait a minute! Are you saying that we alone will subdue the Legion from now on!? Even if we only have 4 people with us even after including me!? Even if you include your servant beasts, we only have 6 people with us, you know? Dont be reckless, lets think of a more realistic way! Hmm, its true thats the normal reaction, but Well, we should be able to ovee it somehow, right? Maybe. What do you mean with maybe Were going to our death with this difference in strength, arent we!? This is suicide! Well, even if we go back to town, well lose anyway. Lets try it for the time being Yeah, we wont know unless we go for it Arent you guys a bit too reckless!? I think we couldnt afford to be too careful now, but were honestly pretty reckless Actually, we still have to prepare, so itll still take some time. And now we came near the abandoned mine where the goblin Legion settled down! Wait, even if I said near, its actually pretty far away. We couldnt see the area around the nest from here, and they also wouldnt notice us in this distance. However, we already defeated around ten goblins patrolling around here. So we were currently hiding in the shade of a tree and had a strategy meeting. How is it, Ren? There are five entrances, each with two guards. I cant find any other guards nearby. Hmm, they were surprisingly a few? That means most of them were inside the nest This would be easy, but its still troublesome. Eh? I said that the nest was far enough that we couldnt see it? Well, about that. I had a scout fly there. It was a Drone, flying scouting golem. When I made the magic armor, I also made it to scout my surroundings, so this is perfect! Structurally, the golem flew with the help of rotor and wind magic. By eliminating the rotating sound of the rotor with mind magic and painted the entire aircraft in sky blue, no one would notice it at first nce. And I stuck something simr to a camera to the drone. With [Golem Sync] skill, I could see the field of view of the camera as an image in my brain. There were two fields of view and I might get motion sickness if I didnt get used to it, but I could make do with it without any problems thanks to the effect of [Multitasking]. The only problem was that the fuel didntst long. The drone couldnt be operated for a long time. The filled MP ran out in around thirty minutes. Im doing too much? Yeah, Lily was shocked when I put the golem out. Arisa stopped thinking just as usual. Nell looked at me as if she was seeing something strange. She didnt say anything, though. Now, lets subdue the Goblin Legion next. But first There were 20 goblins patrolling the area. Lets have Norn and Bell deal with them Norn, can I leave this to you? They nodded silently and ran away without any question I couldnt even hear the sound of them stepping on the grass. How scary. Anyway, with this, the preparation was done. Then, well work on the strategy before Norn and Belle back. Yes But what were doing is the same as usual, right? Well, thats right We have a new person here, so I think we should exin it to her. I see That makes sense Somehow, I feel tired when I talk to Arisa Umm, just like during nest capture, we have to weaken all the goblins inside, then rush in and manually give them the final blow. They wont attack us back since they cant even move at that time, but please prepare yourself since itll take a long time. Especially since were subduing Legion this time, the number reaching three digits. Wait, weaken? What do you mean? Is there a way to weaken all the goblins in the nest!? Nell raised her voice there. Ah, please quiet down your voice. Although I insted the sound with wind magic, were still pretty near nest And to answer your question. Regarding the effect, the sess rate of this n is 100% from all the nest subjugation we have done so far. I see. Thats why youre called Goblin yers. Amazing. Please stop calling us that. For real. Oh, Im sorry. I really want her to stop! I mean, Goblin yers isnt a nickname for a party full of girls! But where should we actually go? All our previous methods of weakening the enemies work, but its not like it ends without any other problems, right? Yeah. Until now, we made use of fire, water, ice, and thunder, but they end up being too cold, too smelly, or in unfavorable. Above all, they have hostages inside, so Im thinking how we can make sure not to hurt them. Ren, I only have bad feelings Its okay, Im very confident this time! The only problems are dealing the final blow and collecting the corpse! Itll take so long! Thats not okay at all, then No need to worry whether well get tired or not. I have prepared fatigue recovery potions here. There are ten per person! Please tell me when you run out, Ill provide more! Hey, my measures are perfect! Im amazing, Lily! So no need to look at me with those eyes, okay? Meanwhile, Norn and Bell came back. Norn collected the corpse in the [Item Box]. Nice! Now, lets go capture the Goblin Legions Nest. First, we should defeat the guards at the entrances to the abandoned mine. This must be done in an instant with perfect timing so that the goblins inside wouldnt get alert. I asked Nell to wait here for now, and Lily, Arisa, Norn, Bell, and I headed to each of the five entrances, killing the guards at the same time. I gave Lily and Arisa a pocket watch to match the timing. We might use it for something else in the future, so I had them keep it with them for now. I instructed the timing to Norn and Bell with [Synchronization]. After eliminating the guards, I had Norn hurriedly block the three entrances other than the one I was in charge of. I usually did this on my own with earth magic, but I asked Norn to do it with ice magic this time. I was worried about Bells stamina so she was resting for now. And the remaining one would be handled by Lily. Norn could block the entrances without any problems, and I handed Lily MP recovery potion before this, so she should be fine. With the help of the ring I made for her before, she could somehow block it. Chapter 140: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 1-2) Chapter 140: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 1-2) Next, I used [Analysis] to find out the structure of the abandoned mine and the number of goblins inside, in the same way as we do when we subdue a nest. Oh, theyre really inside. The number of the small fries goblin is 470. Aside from that are 35 spellcasters and 35 hobgoblins. There are 2 higher-ranking goblin generals, and 1 goblin lord. Moreover, the lord is a warlord specializing inbatmand. The worst enemy I can think of in this situation. But no matter what, I have to do something about this. 543 in total. It was almost twice as we expected. How did they secure their food The structure of the abandoned mine was moreplicated than I expected. It didnt look like something dug up unnned, but more like some tunnels leading to a small room. The deepest one had thergest room, and that was the Goblin Lord room. I could also sense some kind of treasure there. There were two rooms where the hostages were captured. Around five people inside each room. No, thats wrong. One room had five survivors, but the other room had 2 survivors and 3 corpses I felt sick. No, calm down. Calm down, calm down Oh, why can I calm down this easily? I feel even worse now. No, thats not it. I shouldnt make a mistake now. Now then, I had the information already. All I had to do was weaken the enemy as usual. I took out the advanced sleep potion. It was a super-powerful version of what I used when I became insomniac after that attempted assault. I opened the lid, vaporized the contents using [Creation Magic], and blew it into the cave using wind magic. With this, all the goblins inside could be put into a deep sleep. By the way, this method of poisoning someone with wind magic was probably the same as what those criminals did when they tried to assault me before. When I looked back on the situation at that time, those guys came from leeward. I was careful about the direction of the wind at that time, yet they said they poisoned me from the windward side. Yet that contradicted the wind direction. This method was the result of various considerations and trials. It worked well when I tried it, so they probably did this to me. For me, it was a bad memory, but I wouldnt hesitate to use it if its useful. Yes, Im recovering from that incident. Im a strong girl! I could confirm the effect of the sleep potion bybining [Analysis], [Detection], and [Sign Detection]. I could see the goblins condition changing! All I had to do was pour gas endlessly until all the goblins inside were asleep. Wahh, too easy! When I was doing that, Lily and the others, together with Nell, joined me. Arisa, I. have a feeling Ren is doing something unusual again. Its okay Lily, thats normal! Yeah, she does that all the time Haa I feel like theyre saying something bad about me! Just what are you doing? Its a secret, but I put all the goblins inside to sleep. All? Yes, all. All Nell, dont try to understand what shes doing. Oh So shes someone like that I got it She understood! She understood me! Now were going to give a final blow to the sleeping goblins together, right? I dont have any weapons Ah, right. Then Ill lend you something. If so, Ill lend you this. Please use it. Lily, Arisa, you should take this too. I took out three swords from [Storage], pretending to take them out of the bag. Theres Nell with us, so I have to be careful just in case. Huh? I understand if you give this to Lily, but why me too? You dont want to dirty Feather just to stab on some sleeping goblins, right? Ah Makes sense. And that sword wouldnt lose its sharpness, so no need to worry about the blood. Yes, these three swords were magic swords imbued with water magic. Its not an attribute sword. Specifically, it had [Water Attribute LV2] [Wind Attribute LV1] [Ice Attribute LV1] [Attack Enhancement LV2] [Durability Enhancement LV5], and a weapon skill [Passing Shower] that was activated all the time. The effect of [Passing Shower] was that the de was always moist, preventing blood to reduce its sharpness. Killing goblins when we were subduing a goblin nest was always a pain, so I made this for exclusive use. I made 4 swords including the spares, so this was helpful. Also, cover your mouth with this cloth. And this was thest one. Scarf with [Poison Resistant LV5]. By covering our mouth with this, it weakened the effect of sleeping gas so we could move around inside the abandoned mine. Actually, it would already work just by tying it somewhere on the body, but covering the mouth would be more effective. Eh? Norn and Bell? Its fine! They already have [Poison Resistance]! Or rather, I bestowed the skill to them using the [Skill Grant] skill! Well, when I was making the magic armor, I thought that I could do something so Norn and Bell could resist poison and made an anti-poison scarf simr to this mask, but Norn and Bell didnt want to wear it. They disliked it so much I kind of exploded Even though Im doing this for them! Then I used [Skill Grant] to Norn and Bell in the middle of that heat. They obtained [Poison Resistance] without any problems. I was stunned. So when it said, give your own skills to any target, I could also do it to living beings!? As expected of a unique skill. [Creation Magic] was just out of the world so I always forgot, but both [Skill Grant] and [Magic Grant] had the same rarity as [Creation Magic]. Maybe I got the effect without noticing it Yeah, this is the second thing that would be bad if someone found out! However, this skill was certainly very useful, so I copied all my magic control skills to Norn and Bell for now. It would be bad if Bell wasntpatible with some skills, so I granted her low level skills. Norn immediately got used to them. My Goddess sure was amazing. By the way, its impossible to copy unique skills like [Creation Magic]. I couldnt copy [Storage] as well. But [Item Box] worked. In other words, [Storage] was [Item Box] that evolved in some way? Then could I mass-produce whats inside the [Item Box]? Isnt this skill too dangerous? Alright, lets keep this a secret from Lily and the others! Definitely! I firmly vowed that day Ah, I got distracted again. What is this sword Magic sword? Oops, this is bad. I have to warn Nell as well. How I get them is a secret. I see I understand. By the way, could you give this to me? Can you pay for it? I cant. Ahh! Theyre here! I dont n to sell them. Anyhow, all the goblins inside this mine had already fallen asleep. Well, lets subdue this Goblin Legion! Chapter 141: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 2-1) Chapter 141: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 2-1) Ugh, ugh! Arisa, youre noisy! Im bored!!!!! Shut up and finish them up! Im bored!!!!!!!!!! Hey, it doesnt mean these goblins will never wake up, so lets stay quiet, okay? I dont think Im supposed to say that since you helped me, though. Look, were being scolded, okay!? Stupid Arisa! Wah, they sure were energetic. We were currently inside the abandoned mine, but Arisa started to getzy after an hour. And we just finished two branches after all of that How many hours will it take to finish this? Ah, by the way, I ced golems at the entrance to pour sleep gas periodically so that the goblins wouldnt wake up. Small fries wont wake up even if we make a little noise. Maybe. Even so, this sword is really amazing Even if I cut so many necks it doesnt lose its sharpness at all, I really want it I dont have money, though. Hehe. Its a magic sword I made pretty casually, but I also took time to consider the performance. Well, I wont sell it. Look, Arisa. Its a crossroads. Where should we go, left or right? Ren, what do you think? Were going to arge room no matter which way we go. There are roughly 20 to 30 goblins each. Then Ill go right. Bell, lets go together! Then Ill head left. Nell, do you mind going with me? I dont mind, but what about her? Ren will wait here with Norn. Please be careful. Understood. Hmm, I want to move ahead. I wont but You see, they scolded me for picking the bamboo shoots, so even I have learned a lot. Ah, but I also dont want to just sit here not doing anything, so lets put a barrier tower here. I should turn on the lights too. Yeah, it got brighter. Now that the barrier was activated, the goblins wouldnt be able to escape. For the time being, I went through the passage we had passed as I tied magterns around the wall at regr intervals. When I look back, the road is illuminated. Theres something like this, you know! I mass-produced it! A magicalntern! Everyone hadnte back yet. Hmm, would killing the goblins be faster if we saved the hostages first? Alright, lets make a magic spear with [Passing Shower]. Short spear should be easier to handle in an abandoned mine. Everyone came back when I finished making two magic spears. Perfect timing. Were back. There were two hobs and a general! We encountered some shaman-like goblins there. Im back so bright! What is this!? Ah, these will light the road, right? Wee back. Yes, its just as you said. Ah, Lily and Arisa had seen it several times so they were used to it, but this should be the first time for Nell. Rather, its normal that shes surprised that the road suddenly became brighter since so much lighting was installed once she came back after a while. Your magic bag fits a lot of items. Yes. And you even have three of them Just where did you obtain that Sorry, its nothing. Im thankful shes not snooping. Well, in this situation, shell be at a disadvantage if she pisses us and gets abandoned. Ahh, the three more magic bags were my own magic bags that Lily, Arisa, and Nell had with them right now. You see, were collecting goblins corpses now. Having Norn, Bell and I do that alone would be too hard, so I lent them what I had prepared before. I have [Storage] so Im fine, but itll be different for them I think Im fine with giving them to Lily and the others, but Im also conflicted. By the way, I already gave [Item Box] to Bell. Rather, I experimented with Bell and found that [Item Box] could be copied Well, there were various differences between [Storage] and [Item Box]. Basically, their capacity and their preservation were different. [Storage] had unlimited capacity, and there was no timepse of stored items. Furthermore, there was no limit to the size of an item. The capacity of [Item Box] increased depending on the skill level, and the timepse slowed down as the level increased. However, even after reaching master level, 10, the time inside the box didntpletely stop, and there was a limit to the size of an item. Furthermore, [Item Box]s user had to touch the object to store them. For [Storage], its possible to store them by imagining it visually. The distance increased slightly as I got used to it. In my case, I could store anything up to around 50m radii. If its my own item, I could go up to around 200m with some effort. By the way, neither [Storage] nor [Item Box[ could contain other peoples belongings. However, its still a mystery how they judged the ownerships. Well, there were still some other performance differences, but I dont have time to doparative experiments. While thinking about that, we walked ahead. As I hungnterns on the aisle, we proceeded through the mine shaft. And if we encountered branches and crossroads on the way, I would stay like before and the other four people would split up to clean up, and so on. The goblin massacre went smoothly as I made spare magic swords and magic spears to kill time as I waited in between. Its very convenient that we know the internal structure in advance. Just what kind of skill you have? Wah, Nell was once again interested in my abilities! I warned her many times already We were her lifesaver, and we could save the lives of her friends, so I wish she understood we would just walk away and ignore her. Nell, you already know the answer, right? I know. Youre my benefactor. Oh, Arisa threatened her with a nice smile. Good job! Oh, there are hostages if we go right. Around five people? Five people!? Then my friends should be there! Lets hurry up! Dont rush! We need to be careful! Ah, right. Be careful Chapter 141: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 2-2) Chapter 141: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 2-2) Hmm, Arisa was doing a very good job keeping Nell in check. My impression towards her was someone who never used her brain all the time, but she was really reliable in these small details. I like that side of her. But if possible, I hope she can use her head a little more. Along the way, we stabbed the necks of the sleeping goblins and proceeded along the road until we saw a door at the dead end. I nced at Nell while stabbing two sleeping goblins on the left and right side of the door. Oh! Im familiar with this door! Theres no doubt theyre here! So we hit bingo. There are no goblins inside, but lets be vignt. I know! Nell slowly opened the door. She was probably careful of traps. That said, I knew there were no traps. I could also check if there were traps with [Analysis]. My skills were really cheating. Even if I go to the dungeon in the future, capturing it would be too easy Everyone, are you safe!? Wee to help! Uh, the hostages were asleep, so we had to wake them up. For now, we decided to wake up the hostages first. Ah, but would they fall asleep again when we took them outside? Is this fine? One person woke up when I was thinking about that. ..Nell? You came? You are pretty fast Yes, Im lucky I got helped by these people Lets talk about thatter and go outside first. Yes! Ill lend you a hand, can you stand up? Sorry Nell lent her shoulders to the man who woke up. The four women remained asleep Lily and I will carry them out. Arisa carried a woman who seemed to be Nellspanion while saying so. Lily also lends her shoulders to raise their body up. Apparently, both of them had returned their consciousness though they couldnt move yet. Hmm, the remaining one was a woman and a boy. From their clothes, they should be vigers? Should I ask Norn and Bell to carry them? I am well, powerless Once we went out with the hostages, we looked after their condition. Norn and Bell left us to check if the goblins who were on the lookout had returned. Those kids are so attentive. Im really grateful. Love. Now then. I made a simple rest area using earth magic. Simple hut with a simple sleeper inside. Then Iid them down, had them drink water and eat portable food slowly. Since the hygiene wasnt good, Nell used [Cleanse] for everyone before I could do it. Hmm, Nell could use [Cleanse] Shes good. Moreover, the effect was high. She cleaned them well. Be it dirt, dirt on clothes, and filth. Maybe she experimented with many things like me? I also did a lot of research before. As a result, defining what to specify as stains made it possible to remove them well. If I didnt specify the area properly, I could only make it look like its clean when its actually not. There were other areas where the range of effect depended on my imagination. The rest was the amount of MP used. I came up with various other applications, so I allocated them to [Multitasking]. Specifically, I made sure my body always kept clean. Even if I sweat, it bes clean immediately. Theres also hair growth treatment and many other things. Its really convenient. I recently noticed that this skill could also nullify poison Although it was one of the basic [Life Magic], the versatility made meugh a little. When I was thinking about that, Lily and Arisa muttered with a hint of surprise. The effect is close to Rens Maybe theres a trick Ah, well. Its rare. Someone who can use [Cleanse] effectively. In the meantime, wepleted treating the hostages, and they were finally ready to talk. Sorry. You saved us Im d everyone is safe! From there, its time to check the situation and share information. Even so, Im just watching. Its mostly Nell talking and Lily supporting her. Well, Lily is actually registered as the master of the party. We kind of forced her to be one since being one was annoying, though. Seriously, I also wanted someone to stop me from ying around. Her preaching when I went to pick bamboo shoots was also a responsibility and duty as a party leader. Well, Lily, who was doing her best with a serious face, was cute. It made me feel rxed. Eh? I should be more serious? Im always serious, okay? I see, you are the infamous Goblin Ah? I identally showed that side of me. Oops. Cough. Thats just a name people gave to us without our permission. Please stop that. Im really sorry Its fine as long as youre careful. Yes, be careful about that. I understand. So about participating in subduing the Legion, or more like cleaning up and dealing the final bow to goblins can we help? We dont need a share of the reward. Please let us help. I dont mind are you sure? Yes. Or else I wont settle down. I see What do you think, Ren? Sure But what are you going to do since you have no weapons? Ah. Ah. Shall I lend you one? Can we please? Theyre not very firm. Well, I made magic spears to lend just in case, so its fine Chapter 142: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 3-1) Chapter 142: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 3-1) We continue subduing the Legion when Nells friends we saved could move to some extent. By the way, the vige girl and the boy we rescued together were children who lived in the nearby vige. The goblins attacked a ce where kids y alone, and they kidnapped several of them who werete to escape. The other children who were kidnapped together were probably in another room. But there were some hostages in the other room who were already dead Will we be fine? The two women who were Nells friends would protect these children, and the only one man would help us finish off the goblins. Thats why I lent him a spear and he started stabbing some necks here and there How can I say this This is just like farm work. Thats right The sharpness of this weapon is so great that I dont really feel like Im killing goblins. Theyre sleeping quite deeply, theres no sign of them waking up at all But were not affected and can hunt them like this so one-sidedly Well, Im sure we dont feel sleepy thanks to this scarf. Please stop ncing at me. Im your lifesaver, so dont try to use me, okay? Rad, dont do that, okay? I know, I wont return a favor with spite Rather, you should be more careful, you know? You wont stop once youre interested in something. I know that. But thats why I try not to do anything stupid I wont be a foolish person whos driven by greed and throws away my good luck that gives me a chance to make a connection with such wonderful people. Thats right Ah. I think youve heard us, so no need to worry about that. Ohh, he found out I was eavesdropping. Well, of course he would. We were moving together right now. But this spear is amazing I decapitated so many goblins already, but the sharpness wont drop at all. This sword too Im pleased to hear thosepliments! Yeah, even I think its a pretty great weapon. My values were quite different, though. By the way, there was a good reason why I lent the weapons I made. Its mainly for efficiency issues. You see, the goblins we ughtered so far also had their own weapons, right? Thats why it might be better to use them and throw them away before stabbing another goblin, right? But thats too ineffective. In the first ce, goblins couldnt take care of their weapons properly, so the sharpness of their weapons was the worst. ughtering them with such a blunt weapon would take more time. Besides, doing it so slowly might wake the goblins up since they felt pain. Thats where the magic sword and spear with [Pouring Shower] made by mee into y. With these, we could slice the goblins necks without any pain. Moreover, we wouldnt feel that tired since its easy to cut their neck, and goblins would die without having any chance to wake up. They couldnt even speak out. What about the blood, you ask? Well, thats the only drawback. Cant do anything about that. Honestly I really want it. We can buy it, right? But the money We were caught this time and our weapons were stolen. We would have to buy new equipment once we return back, so our savings are quite tight Rather, we almost have none left, yeah? Yes Hmm, you shouldve noticed this, but it cost money to recover from a quest failure. Ownership of equipment stolen by monsters was transferred to other adventurers who rescued them. In this case, after this subjugation was over, their belongings that had been stolen by the goblins would be ours. Of course they had the right to request, buy, or negotiate with us. But its up to us to ept it. We could sell it without giving them back and used them as a fund, or we could let them buy it. By the way, they helped us do all these work, but we took the offer from them and they said they would take no rewards, it wouldnt affect the negotiation. In the first ce, I lent the weapons to them, so we didnt have any favors towards them. But in fact, I had been secretly discussing it with Lily and Arisa. If we got their equipment back, we would give them back. I told them not to talk about my abilities and belongings and warned them many times, but I also n to buy their favor. Their personality was quite strong, so the effect should be high. To be honest, we werent in trouble with equipment and we had plenty of money, Even so, its not a bad idea to help good adventurers and make connections with them. Its easy to forget this, but we were still novice adventurers who just started. Its not good to have a bad reputation. Its toote? Ah, right But unlike the first time I stood out badly when I was solo, I have a party now. So its different. Lily and Arisa were also known as skillful adventurers among the beginners too. Somehow, after starting as adventurers in the royal capital, they quickly reached D rank? When they worked as waitresses in Har, I never heard their names, so I didnt know they were that amazing. In fact, when I asked Nell and her friends about them, they had heard about Lily and Arisa before. Their ability was much higher than what I had imagined. Nell also saw Arisas ability when she helped her from the goblins, so she thought we would forcefully use our power to fight the Legion before. However, she knew that Arisa was capable enough to be the real deal. So she thought that the fame of Goblin yers was also due to their ability. The fame of Goblin yers? Shes badmouthing us? However, when she followed us, what happened exceeded all her imaginations. The weapon I lent to her was a magic sword with ridiculous performance. She was also surprised that we had multiple magic bags withrge capacity. Moreover, its from the small little girl who was younger than Lily. Dont call me small! Just what are the Goblin yers? She started wondering so. The heck was that. Their hot gaze was glued to me like that. Both magic swords and magic bags were convenient for adventures, but I wont sell them. Anyway, we were nning to return their equipment. We wouldnt tell them until we finished off the Legion so they wouldnt get ahead of themselves. While asking such questions, the ughtering continued, and we arrived at the second hostage room. I had Lily, Nell, and her friend Rad to check inside. Arisa went to the front of the aisle to kill off some goblins. Im sure shes currently chopping them up. This is terrible. Were toote Yes, the three hostages inside this room had already died. And getting caught by goblins also means bing their food. In other words, the victims were already bitten, body tattered. This was deep inside the abandoned mine, close to the Lords room. Those who had already died might be a treat to the Lord Its good we can still see their face I want to return them to where they lived Thats right At least I want to return them to their homnd and bury them properly. Everyone had the same feelings, and we politely carried the victims outside. I provided the cloth to wrap the body. There is arge amount of cloth left in the [Storage], so there is no problem. The two surviving boys were a little confused, but they calmed down after a while once we brought them outside the room and took care of them. These two were acquaintances with the kids we saved earlier. They all lived in the same vige. Of the three victims, two were from the same vige, but the other seems to be unknown. However, we might know something from the leftovers stolen by the goblins, so I decided to put this person on hold. By the time we finished, a long time had passed and the sun had already begun to set. Its already dark Should we continue? Right Ren, what should we do? Chapter 142: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 3-2) Chapter 142: Goblin Legion Strategy Battle (part 3-2) Even if you ask me that Lily is the leader, okay? Why not ask Arisa? Ah, asking her would be useless, though. What about Nell? Ah, theyre following us. I see Then lets take a break and have a meal. We had rescued all the hostages, so we took a break there. It would be better to replenish our energy here. Everyone should be tired. Are you sure? Wont the goblins wake up? Its fine. Is this fine Yeah, its okay. The golem still pouring the sleeping gas, and Im increasing the gas concentration just in case. By the way, when I was treating the hostages, Norn and Bell went around to patrol, and there were no enemies around us. I made a rest area with earth magic and quickly prepared for the camp and started cooking. I make a lot of soup since it is easy to digest, nourishing, and fills my stomach. Add vegetables and orc meat to make it taste like miso. I wish I had some bread, but Lily stopped me because it wouldnt be good to provide too much bread. Guess we should adjust our image as well. Lily had be a judge that stops me from being too excessive. Im grateful. Ren, are you thinking of something strange? Not really? I feel that Lily is a little mean these days After filling our stomachs, we drank hot barley tea and took a break topletely digest the nutrition. There were some people who were eating a lot, but I dont mind. As long as the full stomach didnt affect their work, there is no problem. What if it does? Well Ill have them endure with it. The work resumed and we went beyond the branch near the second hostage room. On the way, we finally arrived at the innermostrge room. Ive been watching the road so far, but it seems no one rxed their guard due to taking a meal break. Is this thest one We finally arrived here. It was long Im tired of goblins Killing goblins can be this painful This is thest step, so lets do our best! Those words were said by members other than me. Isnt it good enough that we didnt have to risk our lives? Well, stopining already. Lets do this well. Right Ren, we wont rush in and deal with the Lord, right? Of course. Eh!? Is that so!? I thought we would rush in and fight normally I thought so too We did that until now, but we cant be too reckless. Why would I do that! We had no injury so far, but I dont intend to start here. I gently put my hand on the wall next to the door and [Analyze] the inside of the room. Goblin Lord. One warlord, one general, two spellcasters, two hob, and ten normal goblins. Not just a Lord, but also a warlord Can we beat them? But more than that, you can get that much detailed information with a skill You have great ability What kind of skill was it? Can I learn it Nells team was whispering that, but I ignored them. This was a serious problem. ..The Lord is awake. Its pretending to be asleep. Thats Thats bad If we rush into the room, theyll surround us and force us into a fight. Were at a disadvantage here. The quality of our equipment is superior, but I dont think we can win that easily. Well get hurt So let me think for a moment. I have a bad feeling. Lily, shut up. I dont want any of you to get injured. Sorry. Why does she sound happy? Theyre my friends, so of course Im worried, okay? Or is it some other emotions? Like, girls love? No, lets not ponder over it. Im a little scared of Lily since our distance was so close recently Wait a little longer, Im not ready yet. Thats not right. Im talking seriously right now! First Ill immobilize all of them, then Lily should shoot a fireball into the room with all her might. At the same time, Ill shoot magic at the entrance and put a barrier to prevent the st froming into the aisle. When the st subsides, Arisa rushes in and decapitates the warlord. Maybe Fireball alone will not kill the Lord. Oh, Lily. Just in case, please cast wind magic on Arisa as a measure against me heat. Understood. Finally my time to shine! Norn and Bell would wait just in case. If Arisa failed, they would support her. Can we help? We have nothing to do. Sorry, but I afraid no. it might ruin our cooperation. I see. I understand that reason. But I can participate in the fight just in case. Okay Lets get started. Lily used [Magic Sword] to cast wind magic on Arisa and was ready to go. I took out a sword from [Storage] via the bag. The bastard sword was the ice magic sword that had been improved; I seeded in downsizing it. Jozuhnwein. Its kind of my ck history since Im bad at giving names, but its performance is great, so theres no way I wont use it. Above all, it is one of the magic sword series that I made as a substitute for magic in such a situation! By the way, the [Pouring Shower] weapon series is also a member of this magical alternative ssification. I held out the Jozuhnwein with both hands and thrust it against the ground, putting in arge amount of magical power. What is that sword Theres an overwhelming amount of magic from it!? I can hear Nells muttering but I ignored her, pouring my magic power into it. Eventually, when the de was full of magical power, the power hidden in the sword is released! Tie it up, Jouzuhnwein! [Ice Bind]! At the same time as the weapon skill is activated, ice runs on the ground from where the sword was thrust. It goes under the door as it is and entered the room. Eventually, I heard some sounds from inside the room without dy. Ugh!? Wargh!? Ahh!? From the echo of the goblins voice, it sounded as if they are rampaging to release the restraint caused by the ice vines. [Ice Bind] is a weapon skill that entangles and restrains the whole body the more you scratch your feet. If you do not resist the restraint, you will not be able to move as it is, and if you continue to resist, you will not be able to take any other action during that time. Lily, now! Yes! Ill go with full power! Fireball! Lily, who was preparing magic in the same way when I put magic into my sword, unleashes the magic. Powered up by the effect of the magic ring I made for her, it broke through the door with a tremendous amount of heat and was shot into the room. At the moment when thepressed fireballpletely disappears into the room, I use [Barrier Magic] to cover the entrance. I was worried for a moment, so I made a wall around the room with barrier magic. It is reinforced so that its okay if the wall copses due to the power of Lilys fireball. The next moment, a roaring sound echoed and the soil fell from the ceiling. Gugaaaaaaaaaaaaa! The goblins screamed. Kyah!? Wah, is this okay!? Arisa! Yes! Nell and his friends are surprised, but I ignore them and give the following instructions. At the same time as my voice was heard, Arisa rushes into the room at a bullet-like speed. I released the barrier at the right timing so that Arisa does not collide. The rush was sessful. But the next moment, the goblins screamed three times. Ughhhii! Oh! Guhh! Gu Gubu! Buhh However, the voice stopped abruptly. Did they avoid the first hit? Or did she sessfully decapitate them? Hwoaa! Hmm, just what is this rxed atmosphere Chapter 143: Subjugation is Subjugation until We Finish Cleaning Up Chapter 143: Subjugation is Subjugation until We Finish Cleaning Up Although Arisaunched her attack, hot air is still flowing out of the room. With Lilys full power Fireball, the amount of heat inside the room was considerably hot. We have to prepare before we enter the room, so I asked Lily to cast the wind magic on everyone and decided to enter the room. When I entered the room, Arisa was in the middle of beating the goblins who had been baked. It seems that General and Hob are still alive. But they were almost dead. Its almost a matter of time before they died. By the way, with this, well have killed all the goblins. It would be nice if the subjugation of the Legion is over with this, but we still have a lot of preparations for the small cleanup. Its time to search for this Lords room and check the hidden room further back. After collecting the corpses other than the Lord, we check the corpse of the Lord. A big burnt sword is swung nearby. Was it stolen from an adventurer who had been defeated so far? It looks like it was a good one well, its charred. My sword It bes like this Rad muttered with tears. Oops, so its his. Well, we managed to get it back. Rad was even more depressed when he saw me taking it away in front of him. Yeah Ill give it backter, so endure it. Then the Lords corpse was also recovered. Yeah, we obtained a pretty high-quality magic stone because it was an old Warlord. Is it possible to make various things with this? Oh, by the way, I use magic stones and other materials in various ways, so instead of taking all of them, I end up distributing various rewards to Lily and Arisa. When I organized the party, we decided on this first. The rest is a hidden room over there. I point to the wreckage of the throne-like thing that the Lord probably used before. That throne? Behind it? Yes. It seems that they have umted quite a lot of treasures. At the same time, Norn knocked the wreckage of the throne with his front legs and uncovered the entrance to the hidden room. The road leading inside was wide as it was, so I went to the back with Lily and Arisa, and arrived at the hidden room. Its pretty wide. Yeah. Hmm, its really wide. And a decent amount of treasure trove. Treasure? No, its a little dirty, so its hard to call them that. However, it seems that there are some weapons and armor, and there is a considerable amount of money. I will collect everything for the time being. Well, Ren. Please. Yeah, if we all look around one by one, no matter how much time we have, there will be no end, so first collect it in my [Storage]. Then write the list on paperter. However, there may be important or expensive items, so if there are such items, we will report them upon discovery. Well, until now there was no such thing. But this time There was one thing I was a little worried about What is it? This. I took out a wooden board. It was toorge to be called a wooden tag, and it had some marks engraved on it. There is onerge circle-like mark, and several small marks, some of which are crushed with something like a cross. There are some other characteristic marks. What is this? Just a guess, but I think the location of the other nests is written here. Eh!? Wait a minute, this is goblins, right? Yes, its goblins, but they were led by an old Lord. Maybe the big mark here is the location of this nest, and this characteristic mark here is the town were based in. This I think the nest that we crushed has a cross around it. Then, all the marks around here are nests, and the other marks are viges If there is a location of this abandoned mine and a town, I remember that the ce marked with a cross is almost the same as the position of the nest we crushed. But then I think that the other marks are viges and other nests. Thats But youre right about the positions We should ask Nell and others now, right? Thats right. Ren, is that okay? Yes, I dont mind. If my expectation is correct, there are still many nests left. Its okay if were wrong, but theres no mistake. Just in case, we should listen to the opinions of other people. We got out of the hidden room and asked Nell and her friends for their opinions. Seriously But if thats the case, the viges around here would be in a pretty bad situation if we didnt deal with it quickly Fortunately, there is no longer a Lord who canmand such a number of nest, right? If you hurry back to the town and make an urgent request, wont we make it in time? That may be the case but there are some children who were caught? Even if you hurry back to town with those weak children, there is a limit to the speed of movement. Thats right Hmmm, talking in this stinky room as it is wont do. Isnt it better to go out once? I proposed that and decided to go out and discuss it. And when I listen to the opinions of the children, they were sure that the signs indicated the viges. It seems that one of the marks oveps with one of the viges in which they live. This is bad what should we do? I dont know! Everyone at Nells party was slightly panicking. My bad expectations were right, and I was slightly depressed. This is really bad. What are we going to do, Ren? Chapter 143: Subjugation is Subjugation until We Finish Cleaning Up Part 2 Chapter 143: Subjugation is Subjugation until We Finish Cleaning Up Part 2 Ah. Why dont I ride Norn and rush back to town to report? Our party has a track record of getting rid of goblins, and I can bring the Lord and lots of other corpses, which should do as proof. I think that the guild can also help out Is that the only thing we can do I dont feel well making Ren go alone We cant help it now. Do you have any good ideas? For now Im going to get on my familiar and go back to the town first and ask for help in a hurry. While exining the situation to the guild and calling for help from the surrounding area, Ill have some people head here. If Lily and the others bring these children ande back to the town at a reasonable speed, we should be able to meet midway. I see, that would save time. Rather, thats the best option we have right now? The problem is that we dont have our equipment. As for your equipment, we will return your belongings that were stolen. We arent in trouble with our equipment anyway. Is it okay? Yes. Instead, Ill ask you to not talk about us. Dont you trust me yet No, you dont know us enough to trust us, so you cant help it So youll return our equipment and were in your favor, right? Yes. How honest but I understand. Ill never talk about your abilities, so please return our equipment. Is this a deal? After that, we can only believe them. I return their equipment from the loot collected earlier. By the way, the swords, spears, magic bags that were rented have already been collected. The same goes for the barrier tower and magtern installed in the abandoned mine. I thought Id fix Rads burnt sword, but I left it as it was. There is no need to show any more abilities. Then I jumped on Norn and took the bullet train back to town. I didnt wet myself! After that, when I returned to the town and reported, within an hour, the preceding team departed for the abandoned mine that had be the nest of the Legion. Other than that, I immediately used a magic tool for emergency contact to request help from a nearby guild, and I sold arge amount of goblin magic stones to use that magic tool. Guild staff are busy making requests to the Knights. What about me? I went back to our rented house and waited. I also submitted the wooden board, and the guild knew the location of the abandoned mine, so I didnt need to guide them. Lily and the others came back after I waited in the rented house for about two days, but the guild seemed to be busy after that, so we decided to take a break from work for a while without receiving any particr request. In addition to Legion subjugation, we got paid for the Lord and General, so we have a lot of money now. Its okay to rest for a while financially. Three more dayster, the town was full of adventurers. It seems that a special request was made to remove the goblin nest. We were asked by a guild person to ept a special request, but we refrained from doing so. I have no intention of establishing the fame of Goblin yers anymore. Yes, thats our urgent issue. Its the party name! Eh? What are you guys saying when everyone is all struggling to get rid of goblins? No, its not a cleanup, its post-processing, right? Its a guild job, right? At first, I was thinking of helping a little. But I got tired after Legion subjugation, and Im sick of looking at those nests I dont want to stand out anymore, and above all, Lily stopped me. In this situation, receiving other requests seems to stand out in a slightly different sense Yeah, so I didnt have to do anything else, and we were talking about deciding on the party name. Oh, but to be exact, its not the party name but the n name. Thats why, heres the 1st Party Name Decision Meeting! So what about the n name? Hmm, any ideas? I dont mind anything. Yeah, Arisa doesnt change. But lets think about something. We are only girls, and I think it would be nice to have something like Valkyrie in it. Lily, shes more girly than I expected. Valkyrie, huh? Oh, thats good! Its cool! But are you sure about this? Why? We are still young, but This name is still good since were in our twenties, but what about when we reach our thirties? Eh? Its a little isnt it cringy? Lets stop Valkyrie! Think of something else! Is there anything else!? Ren! Me!? I dont have a naming sense. Is that okay? We wont know if you dont propose anything! Then Azrael? ? What is that? Angel who tells death Grim Reaper. No, weve ughtered goblins and so on, and we killed many creatures on our way I like it! I think its cool! Oh, Arisa was good with everything! But understanding my cringy naming sense was not good! You cant say that, Arisa! I definitely dont want that name! Eh, then what are we going to do? Something, something else After that, there were only bloody and strangely girly things, and I couldnte up with a good idea, and Lily was in tears. Something something Anything is fine, right? No! People are going to call us by this name, okay? But Nopromise! Absolutely! Hmm Shes stubborn Hmmm, I have to think about something seriously. Hmmm, hmm Ren, Lily, Arisa Ren, Renjuro, Lotus? Lily, Yuri Arisa, Arisa I think there was such a variety of tulips? How about Garden? Eh? No, all our names are derived from flowers Is that so? Yeah. Lily is a lily and my name was another way to read lotus. What am I? I think there was an Arisa in the tulip variety. Huh Garden. Sounds good, lets go with Garden! I just said it without thinking, but its really good!? However, before I could stop them, Lily jumped out and registered the n name as it was. Eh, for real!?1 Chapter 144: I’m Sick of Exterminating Goblins (part 1) Chapter 144: I¡¯m Sick of Exterminating Goblins (part 1) Now then, were settled on the n name, so it was time to start over on a fresh page! Or well, not exactly, but it was still a milestone. But yeah How should I put it, its like theres nothing to do? No, well, I guess I shouldnt worry about it and just ept some quests as usual, but the guild in this town was still caught up in the Goblin hunting craze. Our party was in a bit of a dilemma that we really ought not to ept any Goblin quests to avoid any more unpleasant nicknames like the Goblin yers and such. That being said, its been three days since weve taken a break, so Im starting to feel a bit restless already. I think its about time we take on some requests What do you think? Yes, with a situation like this ongoing, our leader would have something to say. Yes, it would feel a bit unsettling if we dont take some work soon Im fine either way! Right, Arisa, you stay quiet. Were having a serious talk here. But no Goblins, right? Yes! No Goblins! We went through the trouble of registering the n name, so it would be troublesome if a nickname like that sticks! Im tired of Goblins too. I dont wanna see one for a while. I know, right? Actually, its pretty rare for even Arisa to dislike something. Hmm what would be our choices, then? I turned my face to Lily, but she had a troubled expression, saying she had no ideas despite bringing it up herself. As for Arisa, well it was the usual Arisa. For the time being, should we go and check if there are any interesting quests? That would be for the better. No good ideas areing to my mind. Since we couldnt think of anything, this would be the next natural action. You could call it going at it haphazardly. But well, I guess this unorganized state really described us well And so, Adventurers Guilds quest board, here we are! Its iffy as usual. Indeed. We repeated a simr conversation as earlier. I mean there was no helping it since the board was filled with nothing but the usual iffy quests. As we stood at a loss in front of the unchanged quest board contents, we heard whispers from around. Hey, its them Are they the rumored Are you telling me those three brats were Dont be deceived by their appearances. Were talking about magicians here. Appearance and age doesnt matter Tsk, its pissing me off Dont be like that. We profited thanks to them Oh boy, looks like weve attracted more attention than I expected! Can I just go back? Lily, should we take a Goblin quest? Anything but that! Im also opposed! Yup, saw thating Hmm, since itse to this, lets just take a random quest and just get out of here. Yeah, lets do that. In that case, is there any interesting quest Oh yeah, I remember one of them caught my eye before, didnt it? Lets see Oh, its still here. I reached out to the quest that was pinned a bit high up and tore it off. Ren? Lily, lets go with this. Huh, this? Yeah. Uhh Subjugate the monster at the spring inside the forest? Subjugate therge magic beast that has settled near the spring where the town harvests specialty cuisine ingredients? Are you serious? There are no other interesting quests. Plus, doesnt it sound fun? I dont see whats fun here Lily, I wanna do it too. Even you, Arisa? But listen, Arisa, if its arge monster, we dont know if your sword can cut it, you know? Are you sure? Huuh? If my sword cant work, Ren will surely do something about it. And if its arge one, Ren has that thing, dont we? That thing? By that you mean that armor? Yeah, that one. Ren, could it be the reason you chose this quest is that you wanted to test its performance? I stayed silent with my usual smile. A bright smile. Well, actually, testing the magic armors performance was only half of the reason. The other half was half that the quest actually sounded fun, and half my interest in the specialty cuisine1. Sigh Lilys gaze suddenly turned distant, but soon enough, she folded her arms and started considering it seriously. Well, its true that we should check that things performance a bit more Plus a battle with arge magic beast I do want to see how effective my magic and Arisas sword would be against it She seemed to be contemting things quite seriously while mumbling to herself. If we fail to defeat it in the worst case, we still have Norn, and Rens armor, and we should be able to damage it there are a lot of adventurers in the town now, so we could rush back and ask for aid, I suppose Alright. Lets ept this quest. Huh, she was more thorough with risk management than I expected. Ren, you can just leave decisions like this to Lily! Ack, my shock seemed to have shown up on my face. I seemed to have worried Arisa, she spoke up. But still, I didnt expect her to give it such a deep thought. I mean, she had only just turned 15 (adult). Hmm, yeah, Im really no match for Lily. Seriously. At any rate, weve epted the quest, so we should just register it at the counter and head out. So yeah, to the counter we go! Oh, its you you finally came! Youre here for the Goblin extermination, right? There are so many of them that were really troubled. It is a great help2
  1. Silva: Of course, its all about food for you~
  2. Silva: Lol, even the receptionists are expecting them to pick Goblin extermination quests.
Chapter 144: I’m Sick of Exterminating Goblins (part 2) Chapter 144: I¡¯m Sick of Exterminating Goblins (part 2) Come again? No, look, we arent doing any Goblins, okay? No, we are here for this quest! Before I managed to respond, Lily pushed out the quest paper with a super nice smile! Huh? This quest? Yes! Not Goblins? Not Goblins! Damn thats quite the pressure there Lilys smile is too scary Please register this quest. Errr Alright, so this quest then Ohh, the guilds staff gave in first. Ah, this quest It would really help us, but are you sure? It is arge magic beast If we judge it to be too much, we will turn back. I see Alright then. Oh yes, the spring location. There is a narrow path northeast of the town and you will reach it if you follow that road. The specialty cuisine of this town uses small turtle magic beasts that can be caught in that spring, and this quest entails dealing with arge turtle magic beast that has settled there, or more urately, grew abnormallyrge. Huh, so the specialty cuisine was turtle-based? But since theyre settled in the spring, they should be freshwater turtles, right? I remember those smelling really muddy But well, this is a world filled with magic, so maybe freshwater turtles taste different too. I mean, they are called magic beasts to begin with. You say abnormallyrge howrge are we talking about? It was reported to us that it was over five meters. A turtle thats over five meters long?! Isnt that bigger than average cars?! And a lot at that Wait, hold on, isnt that toorge?! Hmm so at least five meters, and potentially bigger Ren, what do we do? For now, lets just do what we were nning to do. Ah, excuse me for interrupting, but people are troubled with its subjugation because it doesnt want toe out of the spring, so one has to start nning from how to drag it out Ah So this is the reason why this quest was left for so long Makes sense now. It appears that therge magic beast is the boss of the springs turtle-type magic beasts, and whenever people go fishing, it rampages, destroyings and traps, leaving fishermen without work, which also troubles this town. And yet, in normal times, it doesnte out of the spring no matter what you do, thus the adventurers so far have been failing the quest as they literally cannoty a hand on it Feeling handcuffed against a turtle really puts humans on the spot huh? I guess I shouldnt be cracking jokes now. So ites out to rampage during fishing, right? Has no one tried to do something during it? Of course, they did. But it was far too violent and put adventurers in unrecoverable states, biting off their arms and crushing their legs, making them retire one after another Furthermore, after so many attempts it has destroyed far too manys and traps, and any more than that would hinder the fishing once it is reopened. In other words, we cant lure it with fishing. Still, unrecoverable state, you say Oh, Lilys put on a pensive look! That face is saying shes gonna give up on this quest, after all! Ah! But at first, it was witnessed on the shore acting docile! ording to the adventurers who attacked it at the time, it seems that it didnt counterattack and just slowly walked back into the spring! However theycked enough offensive power to deal with it. Lacked offensive power, huh The staff member talked on and on to distract Lily. Were there so few willing to take the quest that she had to resort to that? Yes, they said they couldnt deal a single scratch to its shell. Other adventurers also attempted aiming at that timing afterward, but it eventually stoppeding up Uhh So basically, it rampages when its protecting its friends, but it otherwise remains docile in normal times? And, I dont know if its to bask in the sun or whatever, but it sometimeses up to the shore, so we could maybe manage if we aim at that timing. Wait, she said they couldnt deal a scratch to its shell, but why didnt they aim for its neck or legs? Whats going on Oh, right, its supposed to berge, so theres a chance its limbs are hard too, huh? Hmm. And so, the city is quite troubled about this. We would be extremely grateful if you ept this quest. However, this quest has been stagnating for months already, so I hesitate to rmend it to adventurers with big prospects like you How to put this It turned out that this quest was quite a bit more difficult than I expected. But hmm Well, it seems were epting it, so thats that? Lily, lets check it out for now. Right, lets do what we can. Well start with scouting. So youre epting it, after all Well, lets do this. If you judge it to be impossible when you go and take a look, I will pretend that you have not epted the quest officially. The Adventurers Guild wouldnt wish to needlessly lower the quest sess rate of promising adventurers. Oh, are you sure? Yes, it wont be a problem. People have been constantly failing this quest, so it would normally be difficult for young adventurers like you toplete it. You could think of it as part of the experience. Ohh, this staff member turned out to be a better person than I thought. But she seems like the type who just overworks herself and finds no sess in life. Putting that aside, would you be willing to also ept a special Goblin extermination quest too? No! I take back what I said. Shes tougher than I thought. Chapter 145: Decisive Battle – VS Large-sized Magic Beast! Just Kidding (part 1) Chapter 145: Decisive Battle ¨C VS Large-sized Magic Beast! Just Kidding (part 1) So, here we are at the spring where thatrge-sized magic beast supposedly settled down. Well, not exactly settled, but rather grew abnormally huge. Anyhow, our goal was to get rid of it, whether by exterminating it or some other way. Speaking of this spring, I was picturing something smaller when they said spring. But its actually pretty darn big. You could almost call it a littleke. But yeah, at any rate, this waterside, or beach, whatever you wanna call it, was a pretty vast sandy beach. Theyve probably cleared it out to make it easy to use since the opposite bank is all overgrown with trees. Anyway, looking around you could see fragments of broken trees and the wreckage of traps ands that got trashed Just by looking at this state, it was clear that the magic beast definitely had a wild time. Wow this looks pretty dicey. Yeah So, Ren, what do we do? Huh? Im the oneing up with the n? Lily, dont you have any ideas? I cant think of anything in particr. Plus, youre the one who suggested taking this job in the first ce, Ren. I thought you would have some n? Well, its not like that, but yeah, I guess. Hmm First, Id like to know what this big magic beast is like, but I heard its learned from past failed attempts and hardly everes out of the spring For now, maybe we should check out regr, I mean, regr-sized turtle monsters? Based on that, we can estimate how big therger one might be. So, Id like to try and catch at least one regr-sized turtle. But looking around, it seems there are none in sight. Too bad. Hmm They say the big one goes wild when you try to fish or uses, but what if we tried catching one through fishing? Alright, lets give it a shot. So, a little further to the right, there was a slightly steep but not too high cliff-like spot, so I decided to try fishing from there. I dug up some earthworms from the ground for bait Do turtles even eat earthworms? Well, its not your average turtle; its a magic beast, so lets just hope for the best. Ren, are you sure about this? What if the big one shows up? If that happens, we run for it, full speed. Ren, youre way too carefree. Hey, wait a minute! Arisa, youre thest person who can tell me that, okay?! After this exchange, I cast my fishing line, and in just a few minutes, I felt a tug on the rod! Oh, it was pulling pretty strongly, or maybe not so strongly? Either way, it felt like I could reel it in without much trouble, so I went ahead and did just that. Fish! Actually, does Fish! work when its about fishing turtles? Shouldnt it be Turtle!? Well, whatever. Now, lets check the turtle I caught. It was about 30-40 cm in size. Its mouth seemed slightly pointed I guess? I heard that it was a freshwater turtle, and since they had mentioned using it for cooking, I had a suspicion but doesnt this thing look quite a bit like a softshell turtle? I mean, the shell felt quite hard, and its ws on the feet were pretty sharp, so in that sense, it was simr but possibly a different species. Then again, this world was different, and above all, this turtle was a magic beast. Hmm, this is intriguing. How else was it different I wonder? My natural curiosity had kicked in, and I decided to observe it further. Hmm, it was like and turtle, but not quite the same. It was really interesting. You know, my intellectual curiosity had been a bit like that. It was fully apparent even during tasks, but once I got curious about something I couldnt stop. If something caught my attention, I researched it thoroughly! Im a man who has even dismantled a pasta machine once. Or rather, In my past life, I was a man, and in this life, Im a woman. But thanks to that Im not troubled with money and my intellectual curiosity hasnt been so bad! White I was at it, I decided to try using [Appraisal] and [Analyze] on the turtle. It seemed to be edible and mild in vor but exceptionally tasty. Well, well, is that so? As I flipped the turtle around and examined it from various angles, I felt a tugging on my sleeve. Huh? Annoying! I swatted my arm away but then, my sleeve was tugged again. I swatted it. It tugged again. I swatted it. It tugged. I swatted Ugh, persistent! What is it!? Im in the middle of something, dont bother me! Reluctantly, I turned around, and there were Lily and Arisa, pointing towards the spring and making strange jerky movements. R-Ren, that that, thats That thing over there poking out a bit there Huh? That? Over there? Poking out? What? When I took a closer look in the direction they were pointing, I noticed that there was now some sort of small ind-like object on the waters surface And also, something was growing on the waters surface ahead of it? Wait, could it be!? I activated my [Hawk Eye] to enhance my vision and looked closely at the mysterious object A face? No, a head? Actually wait, thats a turtles head!? Its huge! Wait, really huge!? And its gradually getting closer to us!? Huh? What? What should we do? What should I do? Aaahhhhhhh, what should I do, what should I do!? Wait, could it be that this turtle I was holding in my hand was the cause of this?! Would returning it to the spring solve this?! Okay, Ill do it! I quickly tossed the turtle I had in my hand into the spring! Body Enhancement! Yaaah! Ssh! Did it stop moving? No, its still looking at us, and I have no idea what will happen. I didnt let my guard down and slowly began to step back, tugging on the edges of Lily and Arisas clothing to prompt them to move as well, slowly slowly Oh, its gone. After taking about five minutes to carefully, cautiously, and slowly retreat, therge turtles head gradually sank. That was close Its gone, right? Yeah. I thought it might work since there was nothing at first, but it didnt, huh? Yeah. Are you reflecting on it? I kinda do, but if we dont take action, we wont learn anything, so I think it was inevitable, you know? And in terms of results, it wasnt a failure, right? Sigh Yeah, youre right! So, what next?! Whyre you upset!? Isnt this what being an adventurer is all about!? Lily, it turned out alright, didnt it? I know that! Geez! So whats the next move? Next? That would be Should we try fishing it out? Youre going to fish it? That thing? Yes. Well, this seems to be the only option. Huh? Shouldnt we just fish for small turtles like before to lure it out, you say? No, no, that giant monster rampages to protect itspanions, right? And it had such a reaction to that small turtle from earlier. No way, its definitely going to go berserk. Oh, Lily is looking distant again. At this point, just do as you please. I will. Chapter 145: Decisive Battle – VS Large-sized Magic Beast! Just Kidding (part 2) Chapter 145: Decisive Battle ¨C VS Large-sized Magic Beast! Just Kidding (part 2) So, I¡¯vepleted all the preparations! Take a look at this, it¡¯s the magic armor armed with special equipment! In its hand was arge-sized fishing rod, made of magic steel! It was naturally enhanced for durability and such. The reel had a built-in motor for automatic winding! The fishing line was made of magic steel wire, handwoven using the [Steel Thread Creation] skill! It¡¯s also reinforced for durability! I¡¯ve switched out the legponents for a special type with arge caterpir track to ensure it wouldn¡¯t lose strength when reeling in. And to help with the heavy lifting, I¡¯ve added two additional high-capacity batteries to its back! As a bonus, I¡¯ve wrapped steel wire around the torso of the magic armor to get Norn to assist me! ¡­Yeah, I might have gone a bit overboard with this. Well, at first, I did consider making a rod out of bamboo or something, but when I reverse-engineered it based on the size of the head I saw earlier, the magic beast was probably around 6 meters or so. With a size like that, bamboo wouldn¡¯t cut it for reeling it in. Plus, the magic armor required quite a bit of power, and if it turned into a pulling contest, it might break. I had to consider durability and various factors, and this was the result. And even with the magic armor, it was still iffy whether I could reel it in, so I added the wire for Norn to help us out. By the way, I quicklypleted the equipment while hiding it from Lily and the others in that shady spot over there. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s give it a try.¡± ¡°Do your thing.¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± ¡­It seemed like the two of them just stopped thinking altogether. I feel kinda bad. Now, let¡¯s focus and get back to turtle fishing. For bait¡­ I might as well use some of the tons of Goblins I have in [Storage]. They¡¯re not edible for humans, but among magic beasts, they might be considered a delicacy, probably. So, let¡¯s cast it right away! Hyup! Ssh! ¡­That was a loud ssh. Is this really okay? ¡­Well, whatever, let¡¯s not worry about it and wait for it to bite. ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ Oh, it¡¯s here! It¡¯s biting! Time to reel! Wait¡­ the reel is not turning at all! No, at first, I was able to reel it in properly, but then it suddenly stopped¡­ Aaah, it¡¯s pulling hard! Am I going to lose? If I keep going like this, it might pull me in!? Alright, activate the caterpir track, move! If I can just up in one gooo¡­! Screeeeeeeeeeech! Screech, screech, screech, screech!!! It started well, but then it became a deadlock, and slowly but surely, I was being dragged in¡­! Aaah, Norn! Nooorrn! Help! Heeelp!!!! ¡­ ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ Afterward, with Norn¡¯s help, I managed to slowly pull it up, and when the front half of therge turtle monster emerged onnd, Arisa attempted to decapitate it but only managed to inflict minor wounds. Norntched onto its neck to prevent it from retracting, and my magic armor quickly switched to a Halberd, striking the neck multiple times until it sessfully severed its head. We somehow secured the victory. ¡°¡­We somehow beat it, huh?¡± ¡°Rather than beating it, it¡¯s more like¡­ we fished it maybe¡­?¡± ¡°We sessfully eliminated it, so it¡¯s a victory!¡± ¡°¡­Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± Hey, Arisa? Can you stop sulking just because you couldn¡¯t contribute much? ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t do anything¡­¡± See, even the one who couldn¡¯t contribute even more than you is sulking now! Geez! As Iforted the sulking Lily, the presence of several people andmotion approached from the direction of the town. Oh no!! Did the sound of the caterpir treads on the modified magic armor reach all the way to the town!? That¡¯s bad! I hastily stored the magic armor in [Storage] and used earth magic to quickly even out the disturbed ground, erasing any evidence of the incident. With some effort, we managed to conceal the situation from the people who had rushed to the scene. Phew, that was close. You might wonder why I needed to hide it. Well, it¡¯s not like I want to draw attention to myself, so there¡¯s no need to show off to everyone, right? As long as I confirm the extermination at the guild, there shouldn¡¯t be any issues. By the way, the people who arrived were a few staff members from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and a group of adventurers. It turned out they were a party led by Rad and Nell, the adventurers I saved during the Goblin Legion incident. They had coincidentally returned to the guild to discuss something with the guild staff when they heard that a party was heading out to deal with therge magic beast, which turned out to be us. They offered to assist the guild staff as a way to repay their debt of gratitude or something like that. I didn¡¯t dislike people who are honorable like that, but it does make things a bitplicated. Not that I feel guilty, but I do have a lot of secrets¡­ ¡°With all said, it¡¯s quite impressive that you managed to defeat such arge magic beast¡­¡± ¡°It was tough, but we made it, somehow.¡± ¡°¡­Looking around, it doesn¡¯t seem like you used anyrge-scale magic or anything, so how exactly did you¡­? Oh, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m prying for an answer, so you don¡¯t have to tell me. In fact, please don¡¯t. It¡¯s just idle curiosity. Besides, adventurers should keep their trump cards hidden.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Yeah, I never intended to spill the details from the beginning. The guild staff members behind Rad¡¯s group looked awfully interested in the details, but I¡¯m pretending not to notice. ¡­I guess they probably wanted to gather information on what kind of skills I have, which could make it easier to rmend stagnating quests and such. Lily mentioned something like that before. Knowing about unique skills could apparently lead to troublesome quest rmendations or peculiar nominated quests. The guild¡¯s regtions stipted that only adventurers with at least a C-rank were eligible for nominated quests. However, if you had unique skills, you could asionally receive special exceptions and be personally requested for a job. By the way, declining a nominated request didn¡¯t affect your questpletion rate, but it could impact your internal evaluation by the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Hmm¡­ I¡¯m not sure if I want to deal with all that hassle. Maybe I¡¯m fine just staying as a D-rank adventurer forever? It didn¡¯t seem like being a D rank had any particr disadvantages. Okay, I¡¯m technically still an E-rank. To advance to C-rank or higher, you need to umte achievements and then take a promotion exam. It¡¯s not just aboutbat skills; they assess various aspects like other skills and your personality. However, simr to my earlier thoughts, some adventurers choose not to take the promotion exam even if they have the skills because they want to avoid being nominated for jobs. So, while contemting these matters, I wasforting Lily, who was still a bit sulky, and attempting to escape the reality of dealing with the corpse of therge magic beast. I failed¡­ Maybe I should have just stored it along with the magic armor¡­ ¡­Seriously, what do I do with this thing?1 Chapter 146: Mr. Trouble, There’s No Seat For You Here! (part 1) Chapter 146: Mr. Trouble, There¡¯s No Seat For You Here! (part 1) Hmm, if only these people werent here, I could quickly use [Storage] to stash it away, but what should I do? As I pondered how to deal with the corpse of therge magic beast we defeated, someone else from the town arrived, yet again. Guild Master! What was the source of that noise earlier? ?! Oh! This is incredible! Mayor, I told you not toe here until its confirmed safe, didnt I? Why are you here? Well, I couldnt help but be curious about what happened. Its not about curiosity. What if something had gone wrong? Well, in the end, everything seems to be fine, right? Please dont just rely on hindsight. Besides,ing here alone Enough with that, Guild Master! Anyway, I cant believe you managed to defeat this monster! Fantastic! Was it you who did it? Oh, so that staff member was the Guild Master of this towns Adventurers Guild, and despite being told it might be dangerous, the towns mayor decided toe here anyway, and he rushed to Rads group instead. The situation was full ofedic details, but I felt like this was another troublesome individual. This is incredible! You must be incredibly skilled adventurers! Could you please tell me your names? No, we arent Mayor, they didnt defeat the magic beast. Hmm? Then who did? There doesnt seem to be anyone else around here who could have done it It was those girls over there. Those girls? ???? Oh, the mayors face is a mix of confusion. I can understand his feelings, though. Guild Master, dont say nonsense. Its impossible that these young girls, who are barely of age, could have defeated such a monster. Please stop making unfunny jokes. Its not a joke, Mayor. These girls epted the request a few hours ago, and no other adventurers havee to this spring except them. You can confirm it with the gatekeeper. Those gentlemen over there are just apanying us as our escorts. Are you really saying that these girls? Excuse me, but were you really the ones who defeated it? Just how did you? Oh boy, this is gettingplicated. What should I do? Um, were the ones who defeated it. As for the method we used, its a bit personal Hmm As I was pondering what to do, Lily stepped forward and handled the situation. Truly, shes a great leader, especially in times like this. Well, never mind. The important thing is that the magic beast has been defeated. This means we can resume fishing! Luckily, the town is currently overflowing with adventurers, and selling dishes made from this magic beast will help the towns finances. We need to hurry back to town and gather people! Dealing with a monster this ridiculously huge is going to take a lot of effort just to dismantle it! Wait a minute Something doesnt sound right. Is he saying what I think hes saying? Mayor, please wait! Before I could speak up, the Guild Master stopped the Mayor. Wait? Whats the matter, Guild Master? I need to hurry and gather people No, why do you intend to use the materials from this beast without permission? Huh? What are you talking about? Why would I use them without permission? What are you saying? What Im saying is what you just said. Mayor, please understand. The quest you issued was for the subjugation or elimination of this beast, not for collecting materials. Any materials generated from subjugation quests belong entirely to the adventurers. Therefore, all rights to the materials from this magic beast belong to these girls, and if you use these materials without their consent, it would be theft. What? Howe?! Why would it be? I exined everything when you came to make the request. If anyone ignored the exnation, it was you, Mayor. Ohh He went and said everything I wanted to say and some more! No, wait Let me change the quest contents then. After it has beenpleted? Such a convenient quest change wont be epted. That would be a breach of contract. This is ridiculous! I cant just ept this so suddenly! Its not sudden, and its us who are inconvenienced. This is fundamentally about the rights of adventurers. Besides, if unreasonable quests like this go through, in the future, adventurers wont take on high-difficulty quests like this one. Moreover, I feel its deeply unfair to these young individuals who achieved so much at their age. If you absolutely need it, you should negotiate for a purchase or something. But, you see the towns finances are also in dire straits Thats the towns problem and has nothing to do with them. But No, Ive got it! How do you n to transport such a massive amount of materials? You cant possibly carry a significant portion, right? In that case, most of it will just rot! We should find a way to make effective use of it, dont you think!? Do you agree!? I mean, we were left out by the Guild Masters sudden offensive here, so suddenlying at us with that question is a bit In the first ce, why are you assuming well provide everything for free? There are various negotiation tactics, like trying to buy it at a reasonable price even if its not the full amount, right? I understand that youre in a tough spot, but this is a bit much But the truth is, I can actually transport it easily with my [Storage] skill. The biggest problem is that if I do that, it might reveal that I have the [Storage] skill, and thats a matter of life and death for me. Ugh! Seriously! This is why I wanted to quickly store it in [Storage] and discreetly report it to the guild! While I was pondering how to handle this, the Guild Master and the Mayor continued to argue fervently. Alright, this is my chance to have a secret discussion! Lily, what should we do? Even if you ask me How is it in reality? It will fit, right? Well, yeah but You dont want your skill to be revealed, right? If possible Yeah Hey, can I interject for a moment? As we whispered among ourselves, Rad interrupted the discussion between the Guild Master and the Mayor. Chapter 146: Mr. Trouble, There’s No Seat For You Here! (part 2) Chapter 146: Mr. Trouble, There¡¯s No Seat For You Here! (part 2) Rad? Whats the matter? Its essentially a question of whether we can transport the materials, right? Whats the matter? Cant unrted people stay out of this!? No, Im also an adventurer, and I was talking about the rights of adventurers, so its not like I have nothing to do with it. Now listen! Wait a moment, Mayor! Rad, do you have something to add? No, there shouldnt be any problem for them, right? Its maybe because the Guild Master seems to have forgotten due to agitation, but you see that girl over there used something to transport Goblins, right? Something? Oh, I see! It has a capacityrge enough to hold all of those Goblins. In fact, I think it could hold much more than this giant turtle. Right, I remember now! Why did I forget such an important detail! Oh? The conversation seems to be progressing on its own, but I think its heading in a favorable direction? Wait, are you gonna leave us out again?! Something? What is that something? Hey, what have you been talking about? Whats this something and how does it rte to Goblins? Well, Mayor! We just realized that there was no issue here! These girls have a high-capacity magic bag that can hold all of the materials from that magic beast! Huh? Oh what a relief! It looks like everythings settled now! Ah, right, right! I forgot about the magic bag! Well, technically, its not that high-capacity, but I just made it look like it was. To exin in more detail, after we defeated the Legion and went to call for reinforcements in the town, we collected all the borrowed magic bags and pretended to transfer their contents into my magic bag (more urately, a bag made to look like it) while secretly moving them into [Storage]. I totally forgot about it! Great move, Rad! W-wait a minute! That wont do! No matter how many times you say that, it wont change the situation. As I mentioned earlier, its us who are facing difficulties with your unreasonable demands. Umm And why arent you considering a regr negotiation? Even if it cant be a lump sum, there are countless ways to make a deal, including installment payments. Yet, from the beginning, youve been trying to get them to give it away for free. I mentioned this before, but as a member of the Adventurers Guild, I absolutely cannot ept that. But And frankly, are you looking down on them just because theyre young? Regardless of their age, these girls are skilled adventurers. Skilled enough to defeat a massive monster like that. I cant fathom why you would needlessly underestimate such capable adventurers. Furthermore, arent they supposed to be the towns benefactors? And not just once but twice with this subjugation, all within this short span of time. Twice? Yes, they havent wanted it to be publicized, but these three girls standing here are the ones who wiped out the Goblin Legion. What!? Rad here and his group are skilled adventurers, but even they were captured by such arge-scale Legion. Mayor, remember how you turned pale and then celebrated when you heard about the Legions defeat? This is! Oh my, what have I! I didnt know, but Ive acted so ungrateful! Im so sorry, you three! It is as you say! Forgive me for my foolish words! Wow, hes prostrating! Wait, please stop! Afterward, we returned to the town and had some discussions at the guild. In the end, the Mayor agreed to purchase a portion of the magic beast materials to tide things over. He bought about 10 kilograms of it, and he was nning to use it to prepare food for sale for today and tomorrow in a hurry. He also said something about doing a fishing rush for turtles today and tomorrow. Good luck there. During the parting, he kept bowing his head profusely. It seemed like he felt really bad for going too far in his actions and attitude, thinking too much about the town. He kept apologizing and bowing over and over. Well, I guess hes not a bad person, probably. I wouldnt say hes an exceptionally good person either. In fact, had I been in the Mayor position No, never mind, I wouldve just paid in installments. Trust and reputation are important. But, you know Ive been thinking this for a while, but people in rtively high positions are, often kinda stingy, arent they? Like, he changed his attitude fast this time around, but No, I mean, Ive seen a lot of good people too, but still, arent they being too self-centered when ites to profits? Looking at it that way, the Guild Master here, who protected the guilds interests and adventurers rights while also listening to adventurers opinions, seemed like a pretty capable person, huh? I wonder why someone like him was in such a remote town. After the discussion, we received the reward and returned to our rented house. After resting for a while, a pleasant smell wafted in. Intrigued by the scent, I returned to the town square, where several stalls had appeared that werent there earlier. I peered at the stalls and it seemed like they were grilling skewered meat. Wait, so the towns specialty, turtle meat, is served on skewers?! Hmm, grilling turtle meat on skewers As I observed for a while, it seemed like they were marinating the meat in sauce before grilling it. There were several types of sauce, and they also had salt-grilled turtle meat. Since I was already here, I decided to buy some and try it. Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good. Hmm, it reminded me more of a softshell turtle than a normal one. It didnt smell and had umami, but the meat itself was quite light in taste. Maybe thats why they used sauces? I was really curious about how it would taste given its appearance, but its surprisingly delicious. I quite like it too! munch munch. Arisa please dont walk around holding two of them It seemed like Lily and Arisa were enjoying it as well. They bought several skewers from different stalls topare the vors. The sauces all seemed to be soy sauce-based, which was somewhat unusual in this country. Personally, I think I prefer the simplicity of just salt. And, I guess you could say as expected, it had simr effects to softshell turtle meat, and after eating a few skewers, I felt a warming sensation in my body Listen, Im not getting turned on, okay? But hmm Maybe its because I ate something somewhat resembling a softshell turtle, I started feeling like making a softshell turtle hotpot Okay, lets hurry back home and make it! Chapter 147: It Seems You Had Fun Last Night (part 1) Chapter 147: It Seems You Had Fun Last Night (part 1) So, yeah, the softshell turtle hot pot was delicious! Huh? Did I skip too much? Well Let me fill you in. First, I started with the ssic turtle blood orange juice cocktail. Lily and Arisa had wine cocktails. Then, we had some sashimi, like the meat from the legs and liver. The hot pot was made by putting effort into shaving off parts of the shell and extracting broth from other areas. It was massive! Finally, we finished with some porridge. I guess it was a fairly typical way to enjoy a softshell turtle hot pot? Im not entirely sure. I made quite a bit, and all of us had seconds, so we ended up with very full bellies. Burp! After eating, we lounged around in the living room. Our stomachs were full, and we were all feeling warm and cozy, so none of us wanted to move. But I had to muster some energy and head to the bath before bedtime. Its been a tiring day with a big catch, after all. Even after I came back from the bath, Lily and Arisa were still in the living room, looking somewhat drowsy. Both of you, Take a bath and go to bed already. You must be tired after today. Hmm? Oh, youre right. We should go to the bath. I-I think Ill pass on the bath today Im a bit tired In that case, you can take it tomorrow morning. Y-Yeah, Ill do that. Arisa headed off to the bath at her own pace, but Lily seemed a bit restless and went back to her room. ??? She was acting a little strange Well, never mind, its time for me to get some rest Tomorrow, I need to start looking for our next quest early in the morning. Or so were my ns at first. After returning to my room, I started thinking about what I could make from the materials of that huge turtle magic beast we defeated. I came up with various ideas, like creating a tonic from its blood. So, I ended up making a new daily potion! Its effects were much stronger than the previous ones! I had to use diluted ones depending on the situation. Its guaranteed to lead to something crazy otherwise! Oh, by the way, I havent used it, dont get me wrong. I have a rule not to do my daily routine outside my home. In the end, I didnt fall asleep until the middle of the night. But, in the morning, I woke up on time. Habits are scary things. Suppressing a yawn and rubbing my sleepy eyes, I went to the living room. Nobody was there, as usual. However, even after waiting for a while, nobody seemed to be waking up. Lily was in charge of making breakfast today, but maybe she overslept? Should I call out to her and wake her up? I approached Lilys room, and I could sense someone inside. It seemed like she was moving around, but she didnte out. Weird. I decided to knock on the door. Knock, knock. Lily? Are you up? Crack! Thud!.Rustle. ??? Huh? Whats she up to? Click, ck. I heard the lock being turned, and Lily peeked half of her face from the slightly open door. There was a distinct smell emanating from her room. Wait, is this? W-Whats the matter!? Oh, well You didnt wake up despite it being morning so Huh!? Morning?! No way, its morning already!? Ah Yeah, I got the picture. Considering you mentioned being tiredst night, how about we take today as a day off? Oh, yes! Im so sorry! No need to apologize. Yesterday was quite an adventure. Well then, take your time Yes, goodnight Thud. The door closed. And silence. Behind the door, there was movement again, rather vigorous movement, to be precise. Oh boy I went to check on Arisas room next, and it seemed like she was also in there, no signs of rest, still actively doing something. Hmm Well, it was a softshell turtle hotpot after all, so its no wonder theyre feeling energetic, right? Plus, both of them probably werent used to such stimting substances And considering it was a magic beast, not just an ordinary softshell turtle, and one that had grown sorge, I guess the effects are stronger than regr hotpot. Probably. Come to think of it, I sensed that they were awake all night, but it wasnt just my imagination, it seems. But going at it all night until morning, thats quite something Hmm? Why am I fine with eating something so hazardous, you ask? I can endure it just fine, you know? Im not even enduring it, actually. Im just perfectly fine. I have my special potion and all, so I guess my body is used to these things? Who knows. Whats with this guilt Im feeling? I decided not to disturb Arisa and left a note slipped under her door saying, Were taking today off. Then, I moved on. Lets make breakfast, something easy for them both to eat. Hmm considering hydration, maybe a soup? Throw in some meat and make it like a pot-au-feu. And for the bread, just put it in a basket and cover it with a cloth. That should do it. After finishing the meal, I returned to my room. Now, what should I do today since I suddenly have some free time? Hmm should I continue making something, or maybe take a short nap since Im a bit sleep-deprived? The lingering sense from the direction of their rooms is making me rather unsettled. This wont do, Ill get into a weird mood if I stay here! Alright, time to go out! With that decision in mind, I locked the front door and headed out. I dont want to disturb their fun, so no visitors allowed, you hear? I also closed the gate leading to the fence surrounding the garden. Yeah, it should look like no ones home. Good, good. I briefly considered leaving Norn behind as a guard dog, but she refused. Mom, youre too overprotective! Im not a child anymore! Just kidding. Thinking about such nonsense, I casually checked out the street stalls. Ive been staying in this town for quite a while, so the townsfolk were no longer surprised to see Norn. The only ones still surprised were the new adventurers who arrived in town because of the demand created by the Goblin Legion. Oh, theres the baby turtle magic beast. Oh, theyve already caught and are selling them. The Mayor is really quick to respond. I should buy them all up. Yesterdays turtle soup was delicious. The vendor, a young man, looked surprised as I went on a buying spree. But I dont care. Oh, theyre selling them over there too. Lets buy those too. And like that, I went on a shopping spree. Yep, now I can have turtle hotpot whenever I want. Using therge magic beast as a material for various things is something I want to do, so I feel like its a waste to use it all as food but its so delicious Im really in a dilemma. Now that Ive thoroughly plundered the market, what should I do next? I dont really feel like taking on a quest by myself, and I might get scolded for that. Well then, maybe Ill just take a leisurely stroll around the towns surroundings. So, I ventured outside the towns fence. Norn looked a bit uncertain, but I wont be going too far, so it should be fine, right? Now, which way should I go? Oh, I remember the southern part of town being where the fields are, right? I havent been there yet, so lets take a peek. After a short walk, I found an open area that was entirely covered in fields. Well, fields in the sense that about half of them looked like they had just sprouted. There were farmer-looking people who seemed puzzled and were looking this way, but I ignored them and continued my exploration. Hmm, are there any unusual crops here? By the way, Im using [Appraisal], so I can identify crops even in their sprout state. Chapter 147: It Seems You Had Fun Last Night (2) Chapter 147: It Seems You Had Fun Last Night (2) It was already May, so they seemed to be nting various summer vegetables. I walked a bit further and found a field with sprouts that looked familiar Huh? Hmmm? Huh? Seriously? Ah I see, thats how it is No, yeah. What I found was rice. Rice in a field, not a paddy field, but in a regr field und rice. The rice circting in this country, even though it was a short-grain variety, had a somewhat weird taste, and this was probably the reason. Und rice, unlike paddy rice, tended to suffer from insufficient water during its growth stage, making the seed part that is used for consumption harder and less ptable. Its kind of strange to have solved a long-standing question in such an unexpected way, huh? But Im not exactly thrilled. But und rice, huh Well, managing paddy fields is a real hassle, after all After making the discovery about und rice, it was already around noon, so I decided to head back to town. I thought about grabbing something to eat from a stall; cooking seemed like too much trouble. I wondered if there was anything delicious avable. While browsing the stalls, someone called out to me. Oh, its Ren? Huh? Nell? Meeting in a ce like this was unusual, and it had only been a day since west met. Whats up? Are you taking the day off from work today? Ah, well Thats more like what I was going to say, or how should I put it Huh? What does she mean? Well, can youe with me for a moment? Theres something I want to talk about Um, its about the room in that inn over there, the one were renting She pointed to the inn where we had stayed when we first came to this town. But what does she want to talk about? Hmm Could it be rted to buying the magic sword? Im not sure about selling it, though Um, its not lunchtime yet. Would you like to eat something first? Oh, sorry! I wasnt considerate But if thats the case, can I treat you to something? Lets go over there! I was led along as if being dragged, and we ended up at the high-ss restaurant where we had lunch on the day we arrived in town. Could this be some form of hospitality? We eventually discussed what she wanted to talk about while having a meal. As expected, it was about buying the magic sword. Apparently, Rad really wanted the magic sword I had loaned out. He thought that since I already had several of the same sword, he might be able to persuade me to part with one if he gathered enough money and begged for it. From then on, they took on special quests to exterminate Goblins and earned a substantial amount of money. The party members agreed that having a stronger weapon for Rad would improve their overallbat capabilities, so they worked hard together. Recovering almost all of the equipment that had been stolen by Goblins was also significant. It allowed them to bounce back from their quest failure without a significant financial burden. They managed to gather 2,000 gold coins,bining Rads personal savings with a portion of the partys shared assets. However, simply bowing and begging wouldnt guarantee that I would sell the sword to them, and building up trust and credibility would also take time. So, what they came up with was to use a Contract Sorcery1 to make a formal contract. To briefly exin, in broad terms, magic referred to using only ones own magic power for casting spells, while sorcery epassed a wide range of practices that involved using a catalyst. However, the distinction here was quite fuzzy. For instance, ritual magic that required a catalyst or high-level spells was sometimes referred to as sorcery, and disposable magic scrolls were not typically called sorcery. Its a bit nebulous in that sense. Among these, Contract Sorcery involved imbuing a nk magic scroll with specially processed magic power and inscribing it ording to predefined formats. This allowed the effects written in the contract to be enforced on the contract participants. Naturally, these scrolls used for contract sorcery were quite expensive. They must have worked really hard to save up for it. In the case of viting a contract made with contract sorcery, the person in breach may temporarily lose their voice, be immobile, or be prevented from taking actions contrary to the terms. Even attempting to go against the contract may cause excruciating pain throughout the body, and in the worst-case scenario, it could lead to death. In other words, youre saying you will use the contract sorcery to swear that you wont disclose my information? Yes. I understand that building trust gradually is the best approach, but time is of the essence If youd like, we can even include a use stating that we wont be hostile toward you. Ah, well, including that use might be a good idea to ensure we dont end up identally hostile to each other without realizing it. Yeah, I did receive help from Rad yesterday, and well, maybe its okay to sell it. Understood, that sounds fine. I will let go of it. Are you sure?! Really?! Thank you so much!! With that, we headed to the inn where Nell and her party were staying to finalize the contract. Rad, who had been feeling down in his room, became ecstatic when he heard that I was willing to sell the sword. He rushed off to find the other members of his party. His emotions are quite intense! The contract we agreed upon had the following terms:
  1. You shall not disclose my (Rens) information, directly or indirectly.
  2. Unless unavoidable circumstances arise, such as being deceived or unknowingly bing hostile, you shall not be hostile toward me (Ren).
  3. All members of Rads party shall strictly adhere to the above terms.
With all members of Rads party and me signing and sealing the contract with blood, it was officially established. And this contract scroll will be in my possession from now on. Ohh! Finally, this sword is in my hands! With this, I can be a Swordmaster! Thank you! Thank you so much! Well never forget this favor! If you ever face any trouble or need an extra hand, please dont hesitate to ask. Im sure we can be of help! Hmm, theyre expressing their gratitude so intensely that its making me feel a bit ufortable Just to rify, not only Rad and Nell but also the other members of their party were incredibly thankful. Some were shaking my hand vigorously while others had tears in their eyes. In the midst of it all, Rad was literally crying. After things calmed down a bit, Rad mentioned that his savings had taken a huge hit due to the purchase of the magic sword. He was determined to go Goblin hunting tomorrow to replenish the funds, and hed need to make up for the withdrawal from the partys assets as well. So, it looked like hed be quite busy in the near future. By the way, it turned out Rads party was actually a harem party. All the members were in romantic rtionships with him. Their party funds were also savings to ount for their future Someone should just tear his thing off. And once again, they asked me to name the sword, which put me in quite a bind. Asking me to name things, huh? Dont regret itter! So I gave it the name Evercut. Just to rify, its not a kitchen knife, its a magic sword. I did consider names like Solid sh, but I was concerned about copyright issues, you know?2 Evercut, huh It has a unique ring to it, but its not bad at all. Seriously?!
  1. The word for used here is instead of . Normally they are both tranted as magic but since its specifically differentiating them, Im going to use Sorcery instead.
  2. Evercut is a Japanese kitchen knife brand. Solid sh is a magic sword from a fantasy franchise called Record of Lodoss War. Ren slightly altered both terms in a way thats indistinguishable in trantion.
Chapter 148: Anywhere XXXXXX (1) Chapter 148: Anywhere XXXXXX (1) Trantors Note: The title is a Doraemon Anywhere Door reference as you might have guessed, but based on the number of letters censored in Japanese, the censored word isnt door but masturbation, so basically, Anywhere Shlick
Err, I handed the magic sword over to Rad and returned home, and currently, I was in the middle of a lecture. No no, Im the one giving it, not receiving it. Now, let me exin how this all happened. When I got back home, it was getting close to evening, and in the living room, I found something quite unexpected. What was it, you ask? Well, it was all the breakfast I had made in the morning,pletely untouched. I mean, I could kind of understand what happened. You know, I couldnt really criticize them too much, considering my own track record. But this it was a bit much, you know? So, I knocked on their door and got them out of their beds with quite the lecture. Well, youre both at that age, and being adventurers, I get that youre backed up in various ways. I understand that sometimes you need to let off steam, and its natural for things to get a bit carried away. But not eating your meals? Thats a bit much, dont you think? Im sorry Sorry At the very least, please remember to stay hydrated. Dehydration can be quite dangerous. Yes Were really sorry I mean, seriously, what am I lecturing them about? This time, our ns for the day were canceled suddenly, but from now on, lets make sure to set aside some recovery time after activities. Yes Lets do that But seriously, why am I the one giving this lecture? I cant act all high and mighty about this topic, can I? Well, I did use potions to supplement my nutrition, and I was careful about the timing to not inconvenience others, but when I find myself in a situation where I can reflect on my past actions, even I realize I need to be more cautious in the future. How did this even happen? By the way, during my lecture, the two of them had this oddly contrasting appearance: their skin was unusually radiant and glossy, yet they seemed oddly fatigued and worn out. After the lecture, they prepared dinner, somewhat like a punishment, I guess? Well, since there was still the soup and bread I made, it didnt take too long. After dinner, we discussed our future ns. As a result, the overprotectiveness towards me was lifted. Well, to be honest, it was a proposal from the two of them who felt guilty for not being able to manage themselves and causing trouble for their party members. They felt they had no right to criticize me in their current state. But there were valid reasons for this decision. We decided that we needed to gain morebat experience, especially Arisa and me. They argued that if I kept being overprotected without gaining experience, I wouldnt develop the necessary caution and coping skills. Currently, we were in a party together, and we judged that some level of danger was inevitable to gain experience. Besides, I always had Norn or Bell, or both, with me, so not allowing me to move independently more than necessary was far too silly. As for Arisa, she wanted to be stronger. It turns out she secretly dreamt of bing a skilled swordsman. She didnt want to miss opportunities to fight opponents stronger than her, like during the recent battle with the Goblin Lord. She wanted to gain extremebat experience to be stronger, but at that time, she apparently held back because of Rads party. I see now. I I want to be a Swordmaster, Swordmasters, the pinnacle of swordsmen, often mentioned in heroic tales. I wasnt very knowledgeable about this, but ording to Arisa, it referred to the thirteen swordsmen, considered the pinnacle, that were present throughout history. At the top was the Sword God, followed by the Sword Emperor and Sword King, each held by one person. Beneath them, there could be up to ten Sword Saints. To be a Sword Saint, you need to gain recognition from one of the top three or defeat another Sword Saint. Bing a Sword King or Sword Emperor also worked on a simr system of recing the previous holder. However, Sword Saints werent always a constant ten in number; there were fluctuations due to various reasons like recements or deaths. These elite swordsmen were recognized by a sword-shaped birthmark somewhere on their body. Most of the time, its on their hand, palm, or somewhere visible. Apparently, this birthmark just showed up on their bodies once they earned their title. Creepy, right? And as for the desire to be a Swordmaster, it seems that most warriors who wield swords have that aspiration to some degree. Arisa mentioned that shes not particrly unique in having such aspirations; its apparently just not something people usually shout about or proudly dere, as it can be a bit embarrassing. I can kinda understand that sentiment. And so, the policy shifted towards less overprotectiveness towards me and, in turn, I decided to be less overprotective towards the two of them. However, I would still employ my tactics when the situation or the opponent called for it. Effective strategies should always be utilized, after all! Chapter 148: Anywhere XXXXXX (2) Chapter 148: Anywhere XXXXXX (2) Then came the next day. Today, the n was to finally head to the guild and pick up some work! Or so I thought, but instead, it turned into another day of rest, considering the condition of the two Yesterday, they had been in quite a feverish state throughout the night and until well past noon, so I decided to let them rest properly today. I did make them drink my trustworthy and proven homemade potions, so I believe they should be fine. So, here I am, with another day of free time on my hands. Well, theres not much to do, to be honest. Hmm watching the two of them getting all excited yesterday made me feel like doing it too Nah, I wont, though. You see, I have this policy of only doing that in the private room of my own house. But still I wonder if theres a way to have that homey feeling without taking out my home? Maybe I could swap the room in my current rented house with my actual home room Nah, the room sizes dont match. My homes room is quite spacious. Then maybe I could somehow teleport to my room from anywhere? Like, maybe keeping my home inside the [storage] and being able to go inside while it was still stored. Hmmm It seems like Id need to create some kind of phenomenon that distorts time and space for this to work. In the first ce, generally, you cant put living creatures into the [Storage] or [Item Box], huh? Wait a minute, though. Maybe that limitation was just for the [Item Box]? Maybe [Storage] could work after all? And now that I think about it, the small turtle magic beasts I bought yesterday were inside [Storage] while still alive Lets try taking one turtle out of the [Storage] and see if I can put it into my Magic Bag Nope, it wont go in. [Storage] does seem to be more versatile and high-performance. Now, can I putrger living creatures inside it? How about a person? However, conducting experiments on humans raises too many ethical issues, so Ill try with some random monster instead. I snuck out of the house and rode Norn to the depths of the forest. I found a random Goblin and tried to put it into [Storage] It wont go in. Hmm? Whats the difference here? Is it a matter of intelligence? Yeah, that seems to be it. Back home, I continued my investigation. I didnt want to involve other people, so I tried to put myself into [Storage], or rather, I attempted to see if it was possible Well, not all the way, just a test to see if it was feasible, okay? And the result? It felt like it might work but also like it might not. Hmm it seems like I might be able to do it if certain conditions are met. Alright, time to rely on my brute force approach. While chugging MP recovery potions, I used [Creation Magic], and bam! I made this magical door. It was just the frame and door, but opening it connected it directly to the same shape and size door of my house that was inside the storage. I actually managed to do it, though I nearly drained all my magical power and died. After some experimentation, it appeared that only I could enter my home within [Storage] through this door. I had Norn and Bell try it, but they just passed through it. And I couldnt exit my home within [Storage] either; the outside beyond the window was pitch ck. Even more strangely, while I was inside [Storage,] time seemed to pass in a specific areaor rather, just for me. Things left in my home didnt seem to experience the passage of time. For example, a warm drink I had left there remained warm the entire time. Its creepy. But conveniently, clocks still seem to work. I have no idea how this all fits together. Also, while I was inside [Storage], time appeared to pass normally outside. It could potentially be used as an emergency shelter, but only I can use it. However, something about this feels off Its almost too convenient for me. Its starting to seem suspicious Well, Im definitely going to use it! I mean, its been almost a month since Ive done my daily routine! Well, its not really daily if I havent been doing it, right? Its practically a daily routine scam! But the timing might be tricky, huh? I made those potions from materials that made those two act that way, and Im afraid Ill end up in a simr state Wait, why am I assuming I have to use that? I dont have to use it at all! Alright, no potions! So, as I was doing all that, it quickly became evening. Time flies when youre having fun After cleaning up my little project, I stepped out of my room to find the two of them in the midst of cooking. It was Arisas turn today, but Lily was helping because she had some free time. I sat in the living room and watched them cook while waiting for dinner to be ready. These two have been going at it from the night before yesterday until yesterday afternoon, huh? I wonder just what No, I better not imagine strange things. Itll put me in a weird mood. After dinner, we discussed our ns for tomorrow. It was nothingplicated, just going to the guild, looking for some suitable quests, and taking them on. But if there werent any promising quests other than Goblin extermination, we decided to go ahead with that. The day before yesterday didnt yield anything good either, and its not like new and rare quests appeared so often After our discussion, we each took turns taking a bath and then headed back to our rooms to sleep. Well, for me, I was going to use the magic door I made today right away! Its been about a month, and I cant wait any longer! So, yeah, Ill be back! Chapter 149: AIEEEEEEE?! (1) Chapter 149: AIEEEEEEE?! (1) Good morning. Its Ren, and its currently the morning of my first daily routine after almost a month. Im an early riser today as well. Its been a while since Ive done this routine, but I decided to keep it moderate. After all, I couldnt afford to keep at it for hours when I had work the next day. And now, as long as I can secure some time, I can return to my own room at home anytime, anywhere without going on long trips. Its like, the sense of pressure disappeared; I didnt feel pressed to finish what I still had backed up in one go I was like, I guess I can call it a day here? I guess you could say that I felt a sense of security that I could do the daily routine as the words implied daily, just like during my shut-in days. Anyway, my daily routine situation is not important! Lets refocus and prepare breakfast oh, I cant. As a punishment for what they did the day before yesterday, those two will be responsible for breakfast for a while. Once breakfast and various preparations like that are done, well head to the guild and take on a suitable quest for work! Yes, there has been another change in direction, and we will finally ept the goblin extermination job that we disliked so much! Or not. Well you see, its pouring rain today. So, todays work is already done. I still need to check with the other two, though. Its like a massive letdown. As I gazed out the window with mixed feelings, the other two also woke up, prepared breakfast, and we had a meal. After that, we had a little discussion, and we decided to take a break from work for about four days, starting today. Why did we decide to take such a long break? Well, it seems that this rain is going tost for 2-3 days. How do I know that? Well, its actually information from Norn. I dont know why, but Norn seems to have an intuition for things like this. It could be her wild instincts or a specific trait of the Fenrir race, but the reason is a mystery. Actually, even when I was holed up in the forest, Norn used to inform me when it was going to rain or when there would be a prolonged rainy period. During such times, I couldnt go outside, so there wasnt much to do except stay in my room. Hahaha. By the way, ording to Lily, even in weather like this, there are quite a few adventurers who take on extermination quests and go out. Some do it because they are struggling for food, while others do it deliberately to avoid being detected by monsters. There are also a few individuals among mage types who specialize in water and ice magic, and they are ssified as entric for going out on rainy days. However, in reality, they are said to be incredibly strong when fighting in the rain, so that approach seems to have its merits. Leaving that aside Since I suddenly have no work, Ill lock myself in my room and focus on crafting! Or so will be my excuse to get back to my daily routine. Even though I took it easyst night, it turned out like this in the end! I can be quite relentless with myself! But hey, I want to try out the various new equipment (if you know what I mean) Ive made, you know? Thanks to practicing cksmithing and experimenting with the [Magic Sword Crafting] skill, Ive be able to create various equipment (if you know what I mean) bybining [Creation Magic] and [Skill Granting]. So, I made a lot of them! About a month ago well, its been more than a month already about a month and a bit ago, I was busy making things like magic armor and equipment for the girls, so I didnt really get a chance to try them out! Plus, my intellectual curiosity is whispering to me, Research various things, so I cant help it, right? So, Im off to work on that again! Since I already established some achievements during my previous development session, Lily and Arisa didnt doubt my excuses and were being deceived. Oh, by the way, Im fine with my own food; I can manage it myself. But make sure the two of you eat properly, okay? Why am I saying this? Well its because after hearing that Im going to lock myself up to craft, both of them went back to their rooms with somewhat awkward expressions. Are they gonna go at it again? Amazing! And so, four dayster, it was morning again, and I was up early as usual. By the way, the rain stopped on the third night. And the reason we waited for an additional day was that we didnt want to enter the rain-soaked forest. We decided to give it at least one more day, though a single day might not make much of a difference. Well, from the start, we had nned for a four-day break. Now, today, breakfast preparation was still the responsibility of the other two, and I didnt have much to do, so I decided to let Norn and Bell have their meal first. When I went to their ce, they had already finished eating so I instead yed with Bell to pass the time. Sorry, that was a lie. Actually, this was part of my training with Norn. Sometimes, when the timing for training with Arisa doesnt align, I engage in exercises like this. Its just a simple thing of avoiding Bell as she jumps at me, but its surprisingly tough. Its not just ying around; its serious training in terms of movement. However, I do have work afterward, so I make sure to bnce things properly, or rather, they help me with that. After spending some time on this, I returned to the living room, and the other two were already awake and finishing up with breakfast preparations. We had a briefing session for the day while having breakfast. You two, its goblin extermination from today. Goblin extermination, eh Goblin extermination, huh The first thing I brought up was the topic of goblin extermination! My preemptive strike had the effect of drastically lowering their enthusiasm! It was quite effective! But isnt it a bit too much to worry about it so much? I think the heat around the topic shouldve settled down by now, right? I casually persuaded them in that direction and, after finishing breakfast and taking care of various preparations, and locking the house, we headed to the guild! As expected, or rather, as I anticipated, there were no substantial quests other than goblin extermination, so we smoothly epted it. As an additional unsurprising twist, when we entered the guild, there was no particr attention drawn to us, and we received the quest just like any other adventurers. People may gossip, but in reality, everyone cares more about their own meals. After epting the quest, we set off towards the depths of the forest. However, its not a distance that would take more than a day to return; its within a days travel. Ah, it feels like its been a while since we entered the forest. Lily, its not just a feeling, it has actually been a while, hasnt it? Well, thats true Anyway, if were doing it, we should do it properly! Yeah, well be decapitating plenty of them! Oh, wow, Arisa, thats quite a strong murderous intent right from the start So, even though it had been a while since our goblin extermination, the results wereckluster. Two on the way there, and none on the way back! And here I finally got in the mood for goblin extermination this is disappointing! Hmm, we defeated the Legion, and a few dayster, a special quest came in, and its been over ten days since then. Perhaps theyve already pretty much cleared out this area thats within a days distance. Yeah, it might be something like that What should we do, Arisa? At this rate, it might be a bit tricky unless we go further out. Going further out, huh? That does sound a bit tricky. What do you think, Ren? Well maybe we should continue epting the same quest for a few more days and see how it goes. If were still in the same situation after that, it might be time to consider moving to a different town. I see considering relocation does make sense. Chapter 149: AIEEEEEEE?! (2) Chapter 149: AIEEEEEEE?! (2) While discussing such matters and returning to the guild, we went to the counter, and once again, the guild master was there to assist us. Huh, is the guild master here always free? Im not free, you know? Apparently not. Did he sense what I was thinking from my expression? He should just stay quiet since I didnt even ask. By the way, during the currency exchange, I got some information through casual conversation. As I expected, goblins were not often seen within a days travel range anymore. Currently, preparations were underway to clear out severalrge-scale nests at distances that take 2-3 days or even more to reach. They were also in the process of creating ry points for that purpose. I mean, besides the Legion, there were severalrge nests like that? Everyone must be really busy. The guild master seemed to want me to participate in clearing out the nests, but I gracefully ignored him and made my escape from the guild. Ren, youre not thinking of epting that, are you? Huh? No, Im not. Its just too much trouble. Im against it too! Traveling is such a hassle! Arisa, youre truly myrade! Or so I thought, but the real reason for her objection was that she didnt want to expose me to the public eye. Even if she told me to behave myself, she was sure I would mess something up. Hey now, I do behave myself in crowded ces, you know? I tried to argue, but they said that building a makeshift camp with earth magic by myself was not normal. Apparently, such makeshift camps, created with earth magic, are usually built by several people. There are some who can do it alone, but they are a minority. I mean, even if its a minority, if there are people who can do it, isnt it fine not to worry so much? I was thinking that, but they seemed to have realized my thoughts and both of them gave me sharp looks, so I decided to stay quiet. While discussing such matters and making our way back home, we heard somemotioning from the direction slightly away from the town center. I wonder whats going on? Shall we go check it out? Lets go! The three of us looked at each other and thought for a moment, but since we didnt have a clear idea, we decided to head toward the source of themotion. Hmm it sounds like theyre saying things like Nice! or Close! or Do more! As we turned behind what looked like a warehouse-like building a little further ahead, there was a crowd of people. Judging from themotion, it seemed like someone was having a fight, and everyone was watching it? I peered through the gaps between the onlookers and saw people with weapons vigorously sparring on the other side. Wait, a deadly fight in the middle of town!? I thought that at first, but it didnt seem to be the case. Upon closer inspection, their weapons were sheathed swords or wooden sticks, so it appeared they were taking precautions not to cause fatal injuries. Also, it wasnt just two people fighting; there were several pairs engaged in one-on-onebat. When I nced around the area, it seemed like all the onlookers were adventurers? Huh? What on earth are they doing? While I was pondering this, Lily approached one of the onlookers and started asking questions. Um, what are they doing here? Huh? Oh, this is, like a mock duel and a betting game using it. It originally started when idiots who didnt get along began to fight, and the people watching found it interesting and started cing bets. Huh are they really doing something like this with so many rough-and-tumble adventurers? As I was thinking that, the man Lily approached seemed quite talkative and exined various things even though she didnt ask. While it may have had a questionable start with a bunch of dubious characters, it seems that now its focused on training for the younger ones and sparring between skilled individuals. Killing each other is strictly forbidden. Additionally, the bets involve things like buying a round of drinks during that nights drinking session or contributing to a big te of snacks that everyone shared. It was much more wholesome than I had expected. In fact, the guild has intervened to some extent and put some order to it. It seems they used this as sort of an outlet of stress to prevent unexpected trouble due to the sudden gathering of arge number of adventurers, ording to this man. There were still some folks who seemed like they might cause trouble, but a few responsible adventurers seemed to take care of them, physically if necessary. Its strange how most of them looked rough and tough, but they were actually quite organized Well, in that case, Im not opposed to watching. As for the betting I guess we dont have to participate, right? While thinking about that, I looked to my side and saw that Arisa was already observing intently. Following her gaze, I saw that one of the participants was none other than Rad. Oh Rad seems quite strong. His movements were pretty fast, he seemed quite powerful, and on top of that, the way he moved was oddly skilled. It seemed like he would put up a good fight against Arisa without using [eleration] Arisa, what do you think? Without [eleration], if things go well, it might be an even match No, I think Id have clearly lost. What!? Is Rad really that strong!? Without Feather, I still have a long way to go. Really? Arisa, even without [eleration], I lose sight of you quite easily Even when you arent using it, I cant really keep up with your movements Lily, youre a mage, so I dont think you should worry too much about that. [Hawks Eye], which Ren has, is a good skill, but its essentially a basic skill that enhances various aspects of vision, so it might be a bitcking just by itself. If you want to enhance your dynamic vision, [Insight] is essential, I think. Also, without thebat instinct of a warrior, it might be difficult to track movements visually, dont you think? Oh, I want [Hawks Eye] too. Arisa, you talk a lot, huh? Even while chatting, her eyes were constantly following Rads movements. By the way, Ive been thinking this for a while, but Arisa, your knowledge in these matters is amazing, and youre quite intelligent, huh? Are you not ying a ditzy character, by any chance? Well, it doesnt matter either way, and I have no intention of changing how I interact with her. Anyway, it didnt seem like Id gain much by watching Rads movements, so maybe I should check out other matches. I started looking at the other people fighting, and there was someone who looked familiar Wait, isnt that Ryuu!? Why is Ryuu here!? Crash! And just as I was surprised by Ryuus presence, I was suddenly body-mmed from behind and knocked down. Ugh! An ambush!? What happened to Norn!? I struggled to escape, but my arms were restrained, and I couldnt break free. Hey, whats going on!? What are Lily and Arisa doing!? Please help me quickly! As I wriggled and struggled, I heard a familiar voice. Ren, found you. Wait, is this Kuro!? Chapter 150: Looks Like a Complicated Situation (1) Chapter 150: Looks Like a Complicated Situation (1) I was a little surprised to unexpectedly run into Kuro in a ce like this, but since we couldnt really talk here, I asked her to step aside for a moment. Kuro seemed quite dissatisfied but reluctantly moved away. Ugh. Um, long time no see? Or rather, why are you here, Kuro? Im going with you. Huh? Huh? I cant quite grasp what shes saying. Im going with Ren. So I came. Just as I thought she was saying something iprehensible, Kuro clung to me again. She didnt hug over my arms this time but oh, what should I do? Well, um What about everyone else? Arent they with you? I asked whether she came alone or with others, but there was no response. Instead, Kuro just buried her face in my stomach and kept rubbing. How do I handle this? I looked over at Lily and Arisa, who were nearby, as if seeking help, but they both seemed equally puzzled. Well, I cant me them. Wait, Kuro and Ren? Whoa, seriously, you guys are here thats incredible. As I was feeling a bit lost, Ryuu approached us, perhaps after the mock duel had ended. Thank goodness! Please help me out! Its been a while, Ryuu. But why are you here? And could you please do something about this situation? Oh, yeah. Hey, Kuro, let go of Ren for a moment. Its causing a scene. Okay? Ugh. No ughs now, okay? Come on, lets move a bit that way. Ren, and, uh, are yourpanions over there fine with I mean, is it alright with you? Huh? Oh, yes, its fine. Sorry, and thank you Kuro, shall we go? Um, Ren too. Mgh. No mghs either. Come on, Ren wont disappear or anything. No, but seriously, Ryuu is amazing. He easily calmed Kuro down and then gently detached her from me, leading the conversation in a different direction Right? Its Ryuu were talking about, isnt it? We moved away from the crowded area, though not too far. Hopefully, we can have a moreposed conversation here. So its nice to see you again? Yeah, its been a while. You seem well, Ren. Oh, thank you? Um, so why are you two here? Well a few things happened, but right now, were working as supporters at Gims ce. He took on a special goblin hunting quest, and thats why we came together. A supporter, in a nutshell, refers to the jack-of-all-trades in an adventurer party or n. Their main roles include tasks like carrying supplies, setting up camps, keeping watch during overnight stays in the wilderness, managing the base during expeditions, and providing various forms of logistical support. Its a crucial and honorable role, particrly inrger ns or parties where theyre often hired. Some adventurers even specialize in being supporters, and the more capable they are, the more in demand they be among renowned ns and parties. However, there are persistent issues in this profession, such as some adventurers with poor behavior or misunderstandings mistreating supporters or exploiting them for cheapbor. Some ns or parties also hire young, inexperienced adventurers who cannot undertake quests or hunts yet. They opt for this approach either to cut costs, as hiring dedicated supporter adventurers can be expensive, or because experienced adventurers with a nurturing attitude help mentor neers. Its also an opportunity for novice adventurers to gain practical experience in a live setting, making it a surprisingly popr job. Wondering why Im so knowledgeable about this? Well, before I recalled my memories from my past life, I had nned to focus on gathering and support activities as my main role in adventurer activities after leaving the orphanage. So, I did quite a bit of research back then. Oh, thats good to hear. Yeah! It was quite enlightening, and Im really grateful I mean, thats not it. Um? Kuro mentioned that shes going with me Whats that all about? Oh you already heard about that? Uh, its a bit of a long story, and discussing it here is not quite well Indeed, discussing a lengthy story in a ce like this isnt practical. Lily, Arisa, uh Its alright. It seems like aplex matter, so we can continue the conversation at your home. Thank you. In that case, Ryuu, we have a ce were staying at, so lets continue the conversation there or is this time suitable? Should we wait for another time if its going to take long? Oh, can you wait for a moment? Gim is over there; Ill go exin it to him. Ryuu said this and ran off without waiting for a response. I must say, Ryuus growth is impressive. Youth is truly something else. As for Kuro, shes been clinging to me and rubbing her head against me this whole time. Hmm, quite a contrast. After that, I headed home with Ryuu, who had returned soon enough. On the way, I stopped him from buying dinner from a food stall and persuaded him to have a meal at home. Meanwhile, Kuro continued clinging to my clothes, making it slightly ufortable to walk, to say the least. Upon returning home, we took baths, changed, and then resumed our conversation in the living room. By the way, both Kuro and Ryuu also took baths, Kuro with me and Ryuu by himself. Lily and Arisa were busy preparing dinner. They seemed to have considerately left us alone. However, there werent any substantial barriers separating the kitchen from the living room, so their efforts were somewhat in vain. Now, where should I start? Ryuu, you can start from wherever you think is best. Well for now, lets begin from the time when Ren disappeared from the capital city. It also rtes to the story of me working as a supporter for Gim. Chapter 150: Looks Like a Complicated Situation (2) Chapter 150: Looks Like a Complicated Situation (2) With that introduction, Ryu started exining what had happened since I disappeared from the capital. About a month and a half ago, a few days after I had left the capital city, Cain expressed his desire to recruit a new party member. Upon further discussion, it turned out that the new member was a female adventurer from a different towns orphanage who had faced various hardships. She was a year older than Cain and had escaped from being sold by the orphanages director. Cain, who sympathized with her plight which was simr to mine, wanted to help her somehow. Our orphanage director would never sell children, okay? He did everything he could to protect us! There was nothing he could do about my situation at that time. At first, most of the party members were against the idea. However, from what I heard, the new recruit didnt seem like a bad person, and they started sympathizing with her after remembering about me. So, they decided to consider it positively. However, there was some resistance to having aplete stranger move into the house right away. They decided to take a more cautious approach and apany her on gathering quests and other activities to get to know her better. As they worked together on quests, it became apparent that she was a hardworking and earnest individual, and everyone began to develop a favorable impression of her. About a week into working together, when they had a bit more savings and wanted to take a break from work, they decided to go out and enjoy the town. Although they said everyone, it wasnt necessarily all of them together; they split up to hang out with those they were close to or went alone. So, Ryuu was wandering around the town by himself, shopping, when he heard a familiar voice. He looked around, and there was a face he recognized in the alley leading to a side street. It was the female adventurer whom Cain wanted to recruit and who had been recently apanying the party on their adventures. Ryuu thought it might be nice to strike up a conversation since he was getting a bit tired of wandering alone, and they werentplete strangers. But It felt like she was talking to an acquaintance, so I hesitated to approach her directly. But then, I overheard their conversation I thought it was pretty bad of me at first, but However, the content of their conversation was the problem. In fact, it was a major problem. It seemed that the woman in question had ns to take over the house that served as Tri and the others base. After moving in together, she intended to use a group of tough thugs from her circle to take over the house. Ryuu was apparently about to shout at her in anger, but she was apanied by a rough-looking man. He felt that getting emotional and confronting them at that moment wouldnt lead to anything good, so he bit his tongue, hurried home, and kept quiet about it. Later, when everyone was back home, Ryuu secretly called Maricle and Tri to discuss the daytime incident. He didnt invite Cain because he was afraid it mightplicate matters even further. Ryuus growth is truly impressive. Maricle and Tri believed Ryuus ount. Given Ryuus recent growth and his earnest demeanor, they couldnt imagine him making up such a pointless lie. They also mentioned consulting Gim and, with his intervention, managed to handle the situation by apanying the woman on quests, then trailing her after the quests were finished and catching her in the act, ultimately resolving the issue without incident. They only reported everything to Cain after everything was settled. When Cain heard the story, he didnt get angry but sat down in a stunned silence for a while. Eventually, he returned to his room. The next morning, at breakfast, Cain knelt down and apologized to the entire party. Afterward, he seemed a bit down, but he earnestly continued with gathering quests and goblin extermination. But a weekter, Cain suddenly announced that he was leaving the party. Ive been trying my best as the leader, but due to my own naivety, Ive only caused trouble for everyone. If that results in getting myrades harmed, then Id rather my foolishness damages only me Thats what he said. It was a decision he had reached after much internal turmoil, and he didnt yield to any attempts at persuasion. Maricle, in particr, tried his best to convince him, but he didnt listen at all. Whats even more surprising is what happened next. Boman expressed his intention to follow Cain. He said, Ive realized that when Im with everyone, I tend to indulge in my ownziness and dependence. So, I want to take a good look at myself. Obviously, it seemed like trouble was brewing with just the two of them, and Maricle also decided to go with them. However, Cain firmly rejected this idea. He argued that it was unsafe for only the girls to remain, and they needed someone capable of handling physical tasks. This was a reasonable point, so Maricle fell silent. Ryuu, on the other hand, made eye contact with Cain but couldnt immediately bring himself to say that he wanted to go with them. There was an exchange that went something like this: I, I want to You stay. Go! I want to go too! No, you stay. Im entrusting Tri and the others to you. Kh, Okay. And then, Cains group left the house on the same day. Three dayster, when Ryuu was about to return home after finishing a gathering quest, he was stopped by Cain. At that time, they had split up to buy essential supplies for the household, and Ryuu was alone. I heard it at that time, but Cain had already decided to join another party as a supporter on the day we discussed his departure. He said he had been making various arrangements for a while. Originally, the n was for Tri, Maricle, and everyone else to be supporters for that party after negotiating with the other side. However, after the attempted takeover incident, Cain changed his ns. Surprisingly, he had convinced Gim to let the others work as supporters in his party after he left. He said it would also serve as a backup because things might get dangerous with fewer men after we left. In fact, it seemed that Cain had also grown considerably. However, the price he paid for it was quite significant. Chapter 151: Looks Like a New Comrade’s Joining Us? (1) Chapter 151: Looks Like a New Comrade¡¯s Joining Us? (1) Ryuus story still hadnt ended. The day after Ryuu talked to Cain, It seems he went to Gims ce to discuss things and they started their supporter work for his party two dayster. Since it would be too crowded if everyone went together and would result in inefficiencies, they decided to go in groups of three. Thebinations settled on were (Maricle + Arle + Kuro or Lyco), and (Tri + Ryuu + Kuro or Lyco). There was always one male among them, a leader, and Kuro or Lyco filled thest slot. However, they didnt go on immediate expeditions or anything. They mostly did day trips and, even when they ventured far, they would return from 2 to 3 days up to 4 to 5 days, covering a rtively short distance. So, Kuros story happened after Cain left. It seems that a while after Cain arranged for them to work in Gims party as supporters, Ryuu happened to discover Kuro trying to sneak out of the house. To be precise, she stumbled upon Kuro while she was attempting to leave the house and go somewhere else. Something about Kuros behavior made me suspicious I thought something was off, so I called out to her, and she was really startled. No matter how many times he asked her what she was doing or where she was going, Kuro seemed nervous and fidgety, not able to calm down. So, after pressing her with a firmer tone, she eventually confessed with her ears lowered. She said, Im going to Ren. I just remembered, previously when I asked Tri and the others about what they wanted to do in the future, Kuro said she wanted to go with me. Kuro had apparently been seriously consideringing with me for a long time. But leaving Tri and the others shes been with for so long was also a difficult decision. Besides, no one in this group wanted to leave. The cat beastkin, as a species, were generally individualistic, but they still tended to form groups for survival. Unless there was a good reason, they didnt easily leave their group. So, Kuro couldnt bring herself to express her desire to leave the party and had been enduring it. Kuro also understood her role within this group and was well aware of the impact her departure would have. However, that changed when Cain left the group. He didnt listen to persuasion and even took part of the group with him. It was at this point that Kuro decided that if she wanted to leave the group as well, it wouldnt be a big problem. Nevertheless, while she liked me, she also had a fondness for Tri and the others; perhaps she liked them the most after me. Kuro didnt want to express her feelings, fearing tears and anger from them, so she decided to slip away quietly. Well, she did leave a note, at least, it seems. When Ryuu heard Kuros story, he apparently felt a mix of exasperation and anger. However, he realized that scolding Kuro here, who already seemed quite disheartened, might not be the best course of action. So, he decided to console her while trying to persuade her. I understand Kuros feelings. However, silently leaving is not the right way. You should talk to everyone and express your feelings properly. Ill help you persuade everyone too, so lets go back for now. It seems he said something like that. Ryuu helped me a lot bying along. Is that so Thats good, Kuro. Ryuu, you worked hard too. Well, its about myrade, so its only natural, right? Ryuu turned slightly embarrassed. Hmm, it seems like Ryuu has grown into a different personpared to before. Being young is truly amazing. After returning home, the two of them conveyed Kuros feelings, persuaded everyone, and obtained their understanding before getting approval to leave the party. By the way, Lyco, who was expected to be the most stubborn, didnt actually resist or make a fuss. Instead, she showed understanding of Kuros feelings and even gave her support. I also want toe along, but the current me would only be a hindrance, she apparently said. And then added, Please stay by Rens side for my part too. Come on now, Im not a kid, you know? Afterward, they once again consulted with Gim, and it seems it was quite a hassle, obtaining his permission that Kuro would generally apany them on expeditions and that, depending on the circumstances, she might leave them during one such expedition. As they continued their activities, Gim received a special request for goblin extermination this time. After Gim inquired at the guild and such, there was even talk that I might be in the town where this quest came from. So when we came here, Ren was really here. Gim is seriously amazing! Thats how its connected to Kuro going with me. I see. Oh, just so you know, if its too much trouble, its totally fine! You have your own circumstances, Ren, and if it doesnt work out, Kuro will understand and try again some other time. You know, Gim mentioned something about age-rted issues affecting the range of avable quest types, so Ohh, so they even discussed that stuff. I understand the situation. Personally, I dont mind Kuro joining the party. However, Im not the leader of our group, so I cant make that decision on my own As I nced sideways toward the kitchen area, I noticed Lily looking down with her arms crossed, seemingly deep in thought. Oh, our eyes met. Chapter 151: Looks Like a New Comrade’s Joining Us? (2) Chapter 151: Looks Like a New Comrade¡¯s Joining Us? (2) Why is she looking at me without saying anything? Next, she looked at Kuro and pondered for a moment, and after that, she turned her gaze toward Arisa. Ill leave it to you. Really? Well, then Okay. Whats up with that quick exchange and understanding? Love? Is this love? Oh, excuse me, you have an inseparable rtionship, huh. You dont have to re at me like that. Ahem. So, lets refocus Um, Miss Kuro, was it? Or Kuro? Either is fine. Alright then, Kuro. What can you do? What are your specialties? Hmm? Ah Im sorry; Ill answer in her ce. Is that okay? Its fine. So, lets discuss this over here for a moment Ryuu was taken to the kitchen. Actually, Kuro Isnt it a bit strange that you cant exin about yourself? And why are you still clinging to me? Kuro,e here. Mgh. No mghs. Its about yourself, you know? Come on, quickly! Ren wont disappear. Ugh fine Oh, Kuro went too. By the way, Ryuu manages to handle Kuro, who can be difficult with her moody nature, quite well. Its hard for even me to handle Kuro that skillfully Is this also Ryuus growth? Or something else? As the three-way discussion or interview-like conversation between Lily, Ryuu, and Kuro continued in the kitchen, Arisa brought dinner. Bread, potato sd, grilled orc meat! Plus, vegetable soup. Yeah, it looks delicious. After serving the food, Arisa sat down at one of the empty seats. Arisa, what was that exchange with Lily earlier? About leaving it to her? Oh, it means Im fine with either option, and I leave all the decisions to Lily. I see. Between us, Lily has always been in charge of thinking about difficult things, so I trust her with the rest. Are you okay with that, Arisa? Its totally fine. But just to rify, I haventpletely stopped thinking about it, you know? Is that so? That pause in your speech felt a bit painful. But yeah, as far as my thoughts go, Im okay with including her in our group. Is that so? Yeah, there are several reasons. First, having someone trustworthy by Rens side is one reason. Then, simply put, if we have more people, we can do more things. And, that child is a cat beastkin, and based on the equipment and all, she seems like a scout, right? So, having more allies who can handle scouting enemies and such is a big plus. Oh, I see. Shes really thought this through more than I imagined, and her observational skills are quite sharp Well, I did realize this from our time working together, but when its articted like this, it feels more real, you know? And I heard cat and dog beastkin, especially cat beastkin, are on a different level as scouts when ites to concealing their presence. There are a few other reasons, but these three are the major ones. Hmm, that surprised expression also hurts me a bit By the way, I think Lily is thinking about the same things. So, I believe that consultation was mainly to confirm Kuros abilities and intentions. I see Thats right. Oh, looks like its over now. Oh, Lily and the others came back. Huh? You havent eaten yet? Eh? Arent we all eating together? We could have started eating first, but it wouldnt feel quite right if it was just the two of us. Oh, right. Then lets continue while we eat. Sounds good. Lets do that! So, we decided to continue our conversation while having our meal. To cut to the chase, Lily was in favor of Kuro joining. Her main reasons were almost the same as Arisas. Currently, Norn and Bell handle the scouting roles, but the issue is that I was the only one who could understand their words. This limited the flexibility in assigning roles. However, with Kuro joining, it meant we could exchange information without relying on me. I see. She was also considering splitting into two teams for activities. Currently, with just the three of us, Im the only one below the legal age limit, and some people give us strange looks when were involved in hunting missions. Also, for Arisa to gain morebat experience, it might be better for them to operate as a duo in certain situations. Well, there were other various reasons, but Ill omit them. So, does this mean Kuro is officially joining? Yes, it does. Come on, Kuro. Ren, lets get along! Um, lets get along? And just like that, we have a new member. Yay! Thats great, Kuro. Do your best not to cause trouble! I will! Ryuu, thanks for everything! Sure! Hehe. Ryuu blushed for being thanked so directly. What a heartwarming moment. With Kuros addition, we can now split into two teams for activities. In terms of our nsposition, it will generally be me and Arisa, and Ren and Kuro. Additionally, depending on the situation, Norn and Bell can also operate separately, significantly expanding our operational flexibility. I see, that makes sense Lily really gave it a lot of thought. In that case, well need toe up with squad names or party names for each group within the n. Oh, there it is. Names cool and cute names Ah, Lily has fallen into that trap again! Chapter – 152 – Lily…! What a Troublesome Girl…! (1) Chapter ¨C 152 ¨C Lily¡­! What a Troublesome Girl¡­! (1) Well then, lets put the party names matter aside for now. What should we do from here? Well, Im about to head back. What about you, Kuro? Do you have stuff at our ce? Should Ie to bring it first thing in the morning? Ill go get it now. Thats not a good idea. If you go get it now, youll be going back alone, right? I honestly think you will be fine, but theres always a slight chance something will go wrong, so its a no. Mgh Dont mgh me. Some things are just not allowed. Uhhh, is Ryuu Kuros mother or something? In that case, how about all of us go get the luggage together? That way, even though its just us girls, well have four people going back. Also, it might be a good idea to greet Gim. And from what I heard earlier, the one whose with you this time is Tri, right? Id like to see her face again after such a long time Hmm Well, I cant quite agree with that. Not because I think Ren and the others are weak or anything, but separate from that, I still think its not a good idea for just girls to walk on the night roads. Also, its one thing to meet her, but I dont think she wille to see you. You know her personality, right? She was arguing with Gim that she was here for work and unless it was a coincidental meeting, she wouldnt make time to meet you. He said it was okay if she made some time, but shes too diligent for her own good. Ah It seems like every time we meet, Ryuu bes even more of a gentleman. Is he handsome? Lily and Arisa, even though hes younger than them, seem a bit shy around him. As for Tri, well, shes as steady as ever. I feel a bit lonely, but thats just how Tri is. If shes noting from her side, theres no problem with going to meet her myself. You dont have to force yourself toe for a greeting either. Regarding Kuros situation this time, Gim told us that its not like Ren tried to recruit her actively, so he said there was no need for you toe. Oh, really? In that case, hmm? No, even then, well still go and say hi. We know Gim, and even in the previous incident with Ren, we received various help from him. Instead of leaving the possibility of being rude here, its better to put in a little effort now. Even if we werent acquainted, just by your words its clear that hes a kind and good-hearted person, and if thats the case, its not a bad idea to make a connection using this opportunity. Huh, seriouslyI mean, is that how it is? Pfft. Whats that for? Dontugh. Im sorry Pfft. Yeah, I mean, Gim told me that first impressions are important so Ive been trying to improve the way I speak and tone, but its not easy Its tough, you know, this kind of thing. I see, he seemed to be minding how he talked for a while now, and it looked like Gim had advised him on it. Thats true, it may be challenging, but its not wasted effort, so keep trying. Yeah. Ah right, I really should head back soon. Its pitch dark outside. By the way, where are you staying now? Yeah, I never really thought about it before, but even though there arent that many inns in this town, there has been a significant increase in the number of adventurers since the special goblin extermination quests. I was wondering where theyre all staying. Huh? Oh So, the inns in this town got fully booked by the ones who arrived early, and the ones who cameter are camping outside the town. Eh? Outside the town? Didnt you know that, Ren? The people who came to deal with the goblins set up tents and stuff on the open area across the town and the highway. That whole area has be like a makeshift lodging ce. Is that so? Ren, you really dont seem to have any interest in things that dont directly concern you, do you? Arisa, its not so much ack of interest as it is indifference, dont you think? .No such thing. Yeah, thats not the case okay? Probably in theory. Okay, lets stop. Next topic please! Well, still, wouldnt gathering such arge number of people like that lead to territorial disputes or something? Oh, its surprisingly okay on that front. Theyve set up stakes at regr intervals and tied ropes between them to partition the space. Each space is quite spacious, so you can even start a fire and cook there. Plus, there are a few people who like to be in charge, so if any disputes arise, they step in to resolve them. I see How about baths? Ah, theyve apparently created amunal bath behind the guild. When people return to town, theyre encouraged to take a bath to wash off the dirt before returning to their lodging. And it seems like theyve separated it into male and female sections. Oh, its quite organized in various ways. That guildmaster seems like quite a capable person. As we were chatting like that, it got really dark outside, so Ryuu hurriedly ran back home. It was decided that we would pick up Kuros belongings from Ryuu and Gims base first thing in the morning. By the way, when Ryuu mentioned earlier that Tri wonte to see us, its because shes responsible for maintaining the tents and such at their lodging site. After the study meeting, a new female member joined Gims party, and she seemed to be mainly apanying that person. Gim seems to be considerate in many ways Hes really a kind and responsible person. By the way, for tonight, Kuro ended up sharing my bed. She clung to my belly until she fell asleep, but when I woke up in the morning, she was curled up at my feet. Hmm, shes a cat Daily routine? Well, under these circumstances, I really cant do it, okay? Chapter 152: Lily…! What a Troublesome Girl…! (2) Chapter 152: Lily¡­! What a Troublesome Girl¡­! (2) The next morning, with Kuro as my guide, we made our way to Gim and the others tent. While getting Kuros belongings, we also chatted with Gim a bit which also served as a means for Lily and Arisa to greet him. But unfortunately, we couldnt meet Tri. She was apparently out buying bread for breakfast in the town, and we just missed each other. There was no helping it, so I asked Ryuu to convey my regards and headed back home I felt pretty sad. After returning home, we had a light breakfast and prepared for the day, heading out of town. It was time for Goblin hunting, doubling as training to coordinate with Kuro. Although, considering yesterdays results, I didnt expect to encounter too many today. Now, we have a new member, Kuro, joining our n, but we wont be taking on high-risk quests right away. To handle such quests, we first need to conduct practical field training and develop some level of coordination. Okaay. Okay. Woof! Garf! Uugh! .Right, good responses. So, lets start right away. Although, among us, Norn and Bell are the only ones who can perform scouting-type actions. So, for now, Id like these two to apany you and have you remember how they act Got it. And when youe back, youll report to us, Kuro. Since you seem to have difficulty exining verbally, well continue this training until you get used to reporting. Ugh Got it. Kuro really seemed bad at it Her expression looked quite subtle. But its not that she wasnt motivated; She seemed to be genuinely trying, so I think itll be okay. Reports shouldnt just be like there were enemies. You should convey various details urately, such as the type and number of opponents, what weapons they had, their demeanor, and whether there might be more enemies behind them Please understand that this is a crucial role. Crucial! Got it, Lil! Oh, it seems like the responsibility of having an important role has stimted even more motivation in her. That being said, she calls her Lily Lil, huh Its almost like a casual nickname. Is it okay to call her that? Hmm, she doesnt seem to mind at all. By the way, it seems like she calls Arisa as is. Should I also address the two of them casually? Well, um Maybe Ill wait for the right moment to decide? So anyway, lets go! The results on the first day were quite impressive: 2 Goblins, 3 wild boars, and 15 horned rabbits. As for Kuros way of reporting well, I guess she improved somewhat? Strangely, Kuro seems to understand what Norn and Bell want to convey to her to some extent. Is it some kind of magical animal power? I dont quite understand the logic, but its convenient, so thats good! As for Kuros enhancements, we had various discussions, including consulting with Arisa, and we decided to maintain the current status. Its been found, based on what happened with Bell, that elerated development through [Skill Granting] isnt ideal. Also, ording to Arisa, while Kuro has established a certainbat style, shes far from mastering itpletely. The same applied to her equipment; Kuros body was still pre-adolescent, and she was expected to grow further. ording to Arisa, providing her with overly powerful weapons at this stage wouldnt be a good idea, considering her future growth. However, to ensure her safety, I crafted a Protection Ring for added defense. This magic item constantly generated a protective magical membrane on the surface of her body. With this equipped, even if she were to be caught off guard, it should prevent immediate death. I sternly warned her not to overestimate the defensive effect of this and recklessly charge into danger. In fact, I scolded her quite severely for doing something reckless immediately after handing it over. Kuro, youre quite a handful After returning to town, we went straight home without visiting the guild. Well, turning in a mere two Goblins wouldnt make much of a difference The wild boars and horned rabbits were for personal consumption. Once we arrived home, I worked on making a room for Kuro. We had some spare rooms, so finding a ce wasnt an issue. However, Kuro didnt want to sleep alone, so for now, she settled on sleeping with me. Well, shell get used to it eventually, probably. While I was busy making Kuros room, Lily and Arisa prepared dinner. By the time the room was ready, dinner was also served. After the meal, we entered the bath in turns, and finally, after that! So, Id like to hold the second n name determination meeting. Lily, this time its about the party names. Its fine, its all the same! Anyway, its about names! Huh why is she so worked up? Isnt this a bit unreasonable? So, here we go! Ren! Do you have any suggestions? And it had to start with me! Is she doing this on purpose? Well, then, for our party with Kuro, lets go with ck Lotus. ck Lotus, is it? By the way, is there any significance or inspiration behind that? Its just our names. Kuro (ck) and Ren (Lotus). I see, sounds good! Alright, next Oh, Lily, pleasee up with your party name yourselves please. Huh? No, its not huh. Ive said it many times; I dont trust my naming sense, so dont expect that from me. Um um Ah! Arisa! Dont you have anything!? Nothing. What do you mean nothing?! There must be something! Anything! Theres nothing. Arisaaaaaa! Dont give me that crying expression. I really cant think of anything. Do something about it! Then, how about the one that got rejectedst time, Azrael Not a chaaaance! Geez, Lily, youre so demanding. Its not being demanding! I want something cute! Grim themes are a no-go! Absolutely not! Once again, Lily seemed like she was about to cry Well, cant be helped. Liliales, Liliaceae, Lilium. Huh? Liliales, Liliaceae, Lilium. Please pick one you like from these. Is that okay? I cant see the end of this convo, so Um, by the way, do they have any particr meanings? They are based on names Lily and Arisa. Theyre names from nt taxonomy or something. Liliales, Liliaceae, Lilium. By the way, in Arisas case, thest part would change to Tulip1. Oh that sounds really nice! But, which one should I choose? Hmm! Im fine with whichever one Lily likes. Arisa seemed to be getting tired and dismissive At this rate, it would take forever to decide, so theres no other choice. Since it might take a long time if we leave it up to Lily, lets go with Liliales. It has a simr sound to Lily and Arisa, and it kind of fits. Huh? Yes, its decided! Lily, our party name is Liliales! Huh? Huh? All right, with the party name settled, lets go to sleep! Good night, everyone! Huh? Huh? Huh? Arisa forcefully wrapped things up! But its better to go along with it rather than getting caught up with Lily! Gotta ride the big wave! With that settled, I rushed to my room! Come on, Kuro, hurry up! Goodnight!
  1. Arisa is the name of Tulip species or sth.
Chapter 153: About How Cats Are Very Whimsical Creatures (1) Chapter 153: About How Cats Are Very Whimsical Creatures (1) After naming each party, we continued to receive constant extermination quests starting from the next day that also served as training for Kuro. While we were generally only going within a days distance, we asionally encountered other monsters such as lower-ranked wolf and boar types, and even Kobolds, not just Goblins. So, we were gaining experience at a reasonable pace. After finishing the extermination and returning to the town, depending on how many materials we had umted, we sometimes went to the guild to exchange them for money or didnt bother. Afterward, instead of immediately returning home, we went to a fighting space on the outskirts of town where we reunited with Kuro and Ryuu, and had a match against suitable adventurers. Well, when I say match, its actually just Arisa and Kuro who fight. Lily and I were originally magic-user types in the rear guard position, so we werent suitable for these matches and mainly just watched. asionally, every few days, instead of watching, I left Arisa and Kuro there and went to bulk shop for ingredients and stuff with Lily. Well, to be honest, my [Storage] is filled to the brim with ingredients, so yeah. With the current party size, its enough tost for about half a year to a year, give or take. Huh? Too much? Well, you see, during the times of crop failure, it can get really serious if theres a shortage of food. There were two years of crop failure when I was in the orphanage, and I seriously thought I might starve to death This isnt modern-day Japan with abundance, you know. In any case, today I was watching the match between the two of them. And right now, Im watching Kuro. Kuros opponent today was a male adventurer, around 13 to 14 years old, a swordsman. Due to the age and gender differences, there were differences in physique and strength, and if you think about it normally, Kuro was at a distinct disadvantage but, how should I put it, yeah. Actually seeing them fight, Kuro dominated with speed and agility. Firstly, the opponents attacks hardly evernded. The boy wielded a somewhat shorter bastard sword, or perhaps a slightly longer longsword, with both hands He attacked with big swings, small swings, or feints, but Kuro effortlessly dodged them all. It felt like Kuro could predict his every move. On the other hand, when Kuro attacked head-on, she targeted the opponents hands, neck, and while maneuvering into the opponents blind spots, she struck with precision at areas not covered by armor or joints, steadily wearing down her opponent. Kuros weapon was kept sheathed to avoid causing excessive injuries to the opponent. Theyve wrapped cloth around it with a rope, but you could still hear pretty painful sounds. Yeah, theres no way Kuro was losing due to the difference in strength. Kuro was kind of visually deceiving in that sense. Kuros strong strikes. Theyre delivered by flexing almost all of Kuros muscles like springs. Arisa has been teaching Kuro that since joining the n. And those strikesnded urately on joints and vital points. In game terms, it would be like a Critical Hit! Almost all of Kuros attacksnded like that. I guess its a bit hard to understand, huh Wow, thats insane No, no, that cat girl should ease up a bit The opponent isnt that the one from Robs ce that was the talk of the town a few times? Rob praised them for being pretty strong, right? That should be the one Hey, do you know who that girl is? Hmm, I dont know Wait a sec. I think I saw her at Gims ce, maybe Thud! Did she just block that like that? Damn, that little ones something else Crash! Wow, and then she did that from there Seriously, thats too much Hmm, the voices of the surrounding old-time adventurers were really painful to the ears. By the way, regarding the conversation of the old-timers about Kuros battle, heres what happened: the boy tried to use his size and strength advantage to forcefully throw Kuro and then tried to deliver a full-power blow. However, Kuro countered by striking the boys fingers holding the hilt with a powerful blow, forcing him to release his weapon. Then, from close range, Kuro used her entire body to thrust into the boys sr plexus, securing the victory. The sound of the first strike, heard in the midst of the old-timers conversation, was when Kuro struck the fingers. The second strike sound was from the thrust to the sr plexus. The opponent copsed after receiving such merciless attacks. I hope the boys fingers arent broken or anything, right? Judging by the way hes clutching his stomach, it seems he hasnt lost consciousness, but Is he really okay? Oh, some of the old-timers are approaching him. Hey, kid, are you okay? Let me take a look Oof, this is bad, a couple of your fingers are broken. Damn, girl, youve done it now. There is gonna be a fine. Dont you know youre not supposed to cause such serious injuries? Right hand, from the middle finger to the pinky, left hand, from the index finger to the ring finger Fortunately, the joints seem to be fine. Hey, show us your stomach Wow, its bruised badly here too. Are your internal organs okay? Girl, you should have gone a bit easier. Kuro, looking disheartened by the scolding from the old-timers, returned to our side. Hmm, theres an old-timer apanying Kuro. Ren, I won Yes, congrattions. But you went a bit too far. Ugh Im sorry Lets be more careful next time. Yeah Wow, Kuro looks really down. Its understandable since some strangers scolded her and gathered around her. But it seems Kuro wasnt very good at holding back Its like a yful cat suddenly biting hard. I should probably let Arisa know about this and include it in her training. Oh, can I ask you something? Are you here as this girlspanion? Ah, the old-timer who came with Kuro just approached me. Yes. Its a bit awkward to say this, but that catdy over there went a bit too far, and she needs to pay a fine and medical expenses for this. Are you okay with that? Yes, of course. How much is the fine? Its five small gold coins Can you really afford it? Yes, its fine Here you go. Oh, indeed. And about the medical expenses Ah, about that, can I pay with physical potions? Potion payment, huh You can do that, but if it turns out that it doesnt fully heal him, youll still have to pay for the remaining medical expenses, so I wouldnt rmend it too much. I see, so thats how it is. Well, lets give it a try for now. In that case, lets start by having him drink the potion, and judge based on the result If youre saying that much, I dont mind But I wont be responsible no matter what happens. Well, if it doesnt work, then so be it. Its my own intermediate-level potion, and even if it doesnt work, its not like itll hurt my wallet or anything. Chapter 153: About How Cats Are Very Whimsical Creatures (2) Chapter 153: About How Cats Are Very Whimsical Creatures (2) So, after letting him drink the potion, he waspletely healed. Hey, hey, hespletely healed. Isnt this an advanced potion? Girl, are you sure it was okay to use this? Wasnt it meant as a backup for emergencies? No, no, its fine, really. Is that so Well, then its fine. But uhh, what a waste He mumbled something and walked away. Hmm, what should I do next? Kuro, are you going to continue? Nuh-uh, Im done today. I see Well, shall we go watch Arisa then? Yes. Lets go and find Arisa. First, over there Ah, there she is. Wow, theyre really going at it. Arisa was skillfully using the gauntlet on her left arm to block and deflect her opponents attacks. Shes not just using it as a shield; shes also using it to strike back. Looking at it this way, her fighting style was quite rough and intense. Oh? Come to think of it, the sword shes using isnt Feather but the other one shes been using for a while. Why is that? Huh? Looking closely, her opponent was Rad. I see, Arisa mentioned him before, but he does seem quite strong. From what I can tell, he relied more on skill than brute strength. asionally, he used his elbows or feet when in closebat, and he even threw in headbutts. Hmm, I cant help but feel that his fighting style is somewhat simr to Arisas. Even though Im focused on watching, there are times when I lose track of Arisas movements Hmm, judging by the reactions of the surrounding adventurers, it seems that some can see her clearly while others, like me, cant. People of a certain age seem to have a better grasp of it, and among the younger ones, only a few, maybe? I see. Oh, it seems Arisa is starting to be pushed back. Shes narrowly avoiding attacks and deflecting them with her sword and gauntlet, but it looks like she might be pushed to her limits Oh no! Crash! Thud! Huh? Oh? Ohhh? Arisa had her sword at Rads neck as he kneeled did she win? Uh, lets see, I think Arisas sword was deflected along with her right arm, and her sword flew out of her hand then, Rad swung his sword to the left, probably nning to follow through with a diagonal cut but Arisa used the momentum from her deflected sword to step in with her left foot and, like,pactly twisted her body, delivering a short uppercut to Rads chin, or at least thats how it seemed And then, she pointed Feather that was on her waist at Rad, who had fallen to his knees. Well, I say pointed, but she didnt actually draw it. Its wrapped in cloth for safety. Phew So I lost. That was really close. I never expected such a powerful strike at such close range Ive been defeated Ugh. You better not try to stand up yet. Despite the intense battle just moments ago, these two were having a pretty casual conversation. After picking up her deflected sword, Arisa offered a hand to Rad, lent him her shoulder, and then walked over to where I was. Hmm, Rad, could it be that were from the same martial school? Huh? I did think our fighting styles were simr Same martial school? Yeah, my family is the Hamilton. I see Well, in that case, we could say were from the same martial school, but strictly speaking, were not. What do you mean? My sword technique was taught to me by an acquaintance from a long time ago. That person was probably a disciple from your school. I vaguely remember the name of the school being Ham-something. Who was that person? Hes called Gabras. He imed to be the fourth son of a minor noble. Hmm, I dont quite remember them Is that so? Yeah. Well, besides my family, there are others who can use our sword techniques, so its possible they learned it from someone else. I cant say for sure. I see My knees are acting up again. He never taught me that technique you used. Well, its sort of like a little secret technique. Plus, its not that big of a deal, and if you really wanted to, you could imitate it, so its not that impressive. Can you teach it to me then? Nah, no way! Practice it yourself! Well, thats a shame. Oh well, Ill have to try various things. You do that. Well, there are quite a few things I couldment on, but, yeah, lets not go there. I dont want to stir up any unnecessary trouble. Oh, Ren, is Kuro done yet? Yes, were already finished. Is Kuro going to do more? Not today. I see, then lets head back. And so, thats how it went. During the day, Kuro had scout training, and after returning to town, Arisa and her engaged in mockbat in the arena, making it a fulfilling day for the two of them. Kuros scout skills and reporting abilities had also improved quite a bit over the nearly one week of training. This makes it a good time to consider moving on to the next town, perhaps? As for me and Lily, well, we havent really improved in anything specific. However, because Arisa and Kuro have been busy with their mock battles, Lily and I have taken on the responsibility of preparing dinner. It would have been nice if this helped improve Lilys cooking skill, but she already had Cooking at Level 4! In all honesty, shes already at a professional level! Me? Ive already maxed it out. What if it bes a strange tradition that mages in this n have to be good at cooking? That could be a problem Though I say that, Ive actually been conducting various experiments on my own. No, its not part of my daily routine; its more of a serious endeavor. Thanks to all the Goblin nests weve been clearing out, weve gathered arge number of Goblin corpses and magic stones, so Ive been thinking about ways to put them to good use in various ways. Oh, Ill provide more details on thatter. Right, even though Kuro used to stick to me like glue, it seems like shes suddenly be more independent and now sleeps alone in her room. In fact, even during our normal daytime activities, she doesnt cling to me as much anymore. She used to be like a pet cat that bes overly clingy once its owner returns home. Well, its a bit lonely, but if I look at it from the perspective of Kuros growth, its probably a good thing, I guess. And having some alone time is quite appreciated! Unrestricted free time! Wonderful! Huh? What am I going to do with my free time? Hahaha, dont ask, its embarrassing. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!