The next day.
After quickly getting ready, Miyabi-san visited my room.
“Good morning, Ryouma-han.” [Miyabi]
“Good morning, Miyabi-san.” [Ryouma]
“I thought I’d wake you up, but it looks like you’re the early type. Anyway, breakfast is ready, so if you can eat, you should have some first.” [Miyabi]
“Thank you.” [Ryouma]
I ate at the same dining room last night. Everyone here eats at such a fast pace. But then again, so do I.
“I’ll leave the rest to you, Miyabi.” [Pioro]
“I’ll do my best!” [Miyabi]
“Good luck!” [Pioro]
What are they talking about?
“Ryouma-han, where are you going today? Ryouma-han, you haven’t gotten used to this town yet, right? In That case, I’ll be your guide.” [Miyabi]
“I’m grateful, but what about your work?” [Ryouma]
“Don’t mind. Don’t mind. The president’s daughter is still just 12 years old. It’s normal for me not to be working. Tending to the store is just practice for the future.” [Miyabi]
I guess that does make sense.
“Although there is a certain 11 year old kid with a store who’s even about to open a branch store. I wonder if that boy is an exception.”
Well, since she’s going to be showing me around, I should put off the adventurer work and just make furniture today.
“Alright. In that case, I want to make some furniture today. Can you show me to a store I can buy wood from?” [Ryouma]
“Just leave it to me. I’ll be sure to bring you to a good store.” [Miyabi]
As she said that, she puffed out her chest and went outside. I followed her, but as soon as we got out, the rimel bird I’d sent out yesterday, Drei, returned.
“Oh.” [Ryouma]
“What’s— Kyaa!?” [Miyabi]
Drei perched himself atop my shoulders. He flew right between me and Miyabi, so it couldn’t be helped that Miyabi was startled and ended up jumping aside. Oh, her tail is moving a lot! …I feel like I’ve once heard that the foxes in my otherworld don’t show their emotions much through their tail, but I wonder if that’s not the case for the fox tribe here.
But then again, it’s only now that she’s moving her tail a lot, so it might just be how she reacts when surprised. Like a spinal reflex of sort.
Anyways, I should apologize for startling her.
“Sorry for startling you. This one here is my familiar.” [Ryouma]
“Familiar? So, that’s what it was. I don’t believe I’ve seen such a beautiful monster before, though.” [Miyabi]
“It’s called a rimel bird. I had it bring a letter to my store at Gimuru.” [Ryouma]
While explaining I took out the letter inside the pipe attached to Drei’s leg. It was the response from Gimuru. Apparently, Drei reached them yesterday before closing time.
Everyone will be departing early morning today for Renauph. They should arrive in 3 days. Just as planned.
I passed that info onto Miyabi-san too, and we started walking again.
After buying some wood at the store, I stored the wood in my Dimension Home, then we went our way to my store.
I chose the storeroom as my workplace. The acid slimes began making components, while the sticky slimes and I put them together and reinforced them with sticky liquid and nails. Gradually, we produced chairs, desks, and shelves.
Miyabi-san just quietly observed while we worked. I thought she didn’t have much free time, but she’s really just watching.
Eventually, though, she asked me a question.
“Ryouma-han, what are these critters?” [Miyabi]
“You mean the slimes?” [Ryouma]
“No, no, no, no, no. That’s definitely wrong. Definitely. There’s no way slimes like these could exist! Why in the world are slimes making furniture!?” [Miyabi]
“They can make them if you teach them. They can even learn martial arts and weapon arts.” [Ryouma]
“Seriously!?” [Miyabi]
“Seriously.” [Ryouma]
I made a rod with Polish Wheel, then I handed it to a sticky slime and ordered it to show Miyabi its moves.
“…It’s using a staff!” [Miyabi]
“See?” [Ryouma]
“Were slimes always so dexterous?” [Miyabi]
“At first, they were just normal slimes, but after a lot training, they became like this.” [Ryouma]
“I see… I had no idea they could turn out like this.” [Miyabi]
“Most people don’t. Everyone who’s seen them for the first time were shocked.” [Ryouma]
“Why don’t you publicize this? It’ll be a huge discovery, won’t it?” [Miyabi]
“I wonder…. People don’t seem very fond of slimes, and I don’t plan on announcing it just yet.”
That would be a waste, after all. As I muttered that to myself, Miyabi-san watched the slimes again.
After that a few seconds of silence lingered, then Miyabi-san asked me this.
“…Ryouma-han, what are you doing next year?” [Miyabi]
“What do you mean?” [Ryouma]
“You’re eleven now, right? Are you going to the academy next year? After all, you’ll be turning twelve. Your store seems to be making a lot, so you can probably afford it. Are you going?” [Miyabi]
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School, huh…
“I don’t really feel like it. Right now, I just want to train and adventure as I please. And from what I’ve heard, the social aspect of the academy is rather troublesome, so there’s not a lot of opportunities to actually study.” [Ryouma]
As I said that, Miyabi-san sighed deeply.
“Haa~ So you knew.” [Miyabi]
“You know about it too?” [Ryouma]
“Of course. I’ll be going to the academy starting this year, so I’ve already gathered intel about it. Dad also taught me all sorts of stuff regarding it.” [Miyabi]
“I see… So, why did you bring this up all of the sudden?” [Ryouma]
“Well, you seem to have a good personality, so I was thinking school would be easier if there was someone I knew. People there are probably stiff when it comes to relationships, but more than that, I’m good at magic. If I went to the academy and stood out, it wouldn’t end with just some weird noble following me around.” [Miyabi]
“If it’s that bad, why go?” [Ryouma]
“I’m going to be a merchant, so I need to make connections. The academy makes it a policy not to differentiate between nobles and commoners, so it’s much easier to get close to nobles there than elsewhere. So, I was thinking it would be nice to have someone I could talk to without having to be so tense. Moreover, you’re really good at magic, so it would put me at ease if you were going to school too.” [Miyabi]
She’s quite determined despite only being a child… Merchants sure are scary. Though it seems it’s not really that strange for students to enroll with this goal in mind. Still, is she really that good at magic that other people would become envious of her?
“Are you good at magic?” [Ryouma]
“Just enough to use an intermediate fire spell, but that’s already enough to put you ahead in school.” [Miyabi]
When I asked more about it, apparently, most students can only use beginner magic upon enrollment. And there are even students who will be learning magic for the first time. If those are her peers, then being able to use an intermediate spell is more than enough to put her ahead of others.
Speaking of which, although the fox tribe people are beast people too, I hear they have unusually greater mana than the others. I feel like I’ve talked about this with someone at the guild, but maybe that’s why Miyabi is good at magic.
This country doesn’t discriminate against other races, so it doesn’t matter even if one is a half. If someone tries to discriminate against someone in this country, they’ll only end up being shunned. Apparently, there was quite a bit of discrimination in the past, but an otherworlder who came before me set things right. There’s still some envy left when it comes to the advantages that races have over each other, though.
“I see.” [Ryouma]
“Well, it can’t be helped if you’re not going. I’m not gonna try and force you. It’s not like I was expecting anything in the first place. It’s just that if you were going to school, I was planning to help you stay away from weird nobles and introduce some good ones to you.” [Miyabi]
She was thinking of supporting me? What a determined child. Doesn’t seem like a bad person too. She seems to have her work cut out for her, though. Still, I wish her the best.
As I encouraged her internally, I continued working. I got her help on the simpler stuff too, and like that, we managed to complete the furniture and tools.
After completing the furniture, I told Miyabi-san that I would be going to the adventurers guild, then go back to the store.
“Ryouma-han, there are no jobs in town for adventurers right now. At most, there will probably only be herb collection jobs or jobs that require one to hunt small animals.” [Miyabi]
“Really? In Gimuru I heard that a strong monster appeared in this town.” [Ryouma]
Has it been hunted already?
“Ah~ You heard about that? It’s because of that that only E Rank and above can pass the north right now.” [Miyabi]
“Is the monster than strong?” [Ryouma]
“No. A D Rank part would be more than enough, but unfortunately, there are no such adventurers in this town.” [Miyabi]
Because of the presence of the dragon guild in this town, large monsters like the wyverns frequently fly its sky, scaring the nearby monsters, so there’s usually not a whole lot of monsters that could be found nearby.
As a result, the higher ranked adventurers don’t have any prey left to hunt, so they end up going elsewhere. It’s only natural for a person to leave town if he can’t make any money.
The guards just patrol the gates and the streets, so the area the monster is lurking isn’t under their jurisdiction. Without any adventurers to turn to, times like this are quite problematic. Anyway, that’s why people aren’t allowed to go to the northern part of town unless they’re E Rank or above. Fortunately, the requirement isn’t above D Rank.
“So as long as one is E Rank, he can go, right?” [Ryouma]
“That’s right. The guild will also request some lumber and herbs that can be gotten from the northern woods… Oh, right. You’re an E Ranker, right? I won’t tell you not to go, but do be careful. You have make sure to run away if the monster finds you.” [Miyabi]
I thanked Miyabi-san and headed to the guild. It’s hard for a non-adventurer woman to approach the adventurers guild, so I didn’t take Miyabi up on her offer to show me the way.
I went to the reception desk as soon as I got to the guild and gathered some information. May source was the male clerk tending to the reception. He was the sort of guy who just did his job without much care, so when I showed him my E Rank guild card, he didn’t say anything and just brought me the available jobs for the north. I got some intel regarding the monster that appeared in the north too, and as it turns out, it’s apparently a monster known as Smash Boar.
The smash boar is a monster with short but sharp fangs. Its body is big and durable. Its skin is tough, so its hard to hurt it without sufficient strength.
After confirming the above details, I was sure that I had the right monster in mind. Only D Rank and above could accept the subjugation job for it, so I just took a herb collection job and went back to Pioro-san’s store.
Along the way, I thought back to the letter I got when I first got to this world.
The grandparents the gods used to give me a credible background are actually real people. Gayn and the others went out of their way to summon their souls and even got their permission to use their names for my sake.
The place my grandparents lived at is a place called Cormi Village, located within the Great Shurus Forest.
The Great Forest of Shurus is a treasure trove of medicinal ingredients and many precious stones could be found within the caves that dotted it. Many villages were founded in it in hopes of gathering these precious resources. Cormi Village was one such village.
But the Great Forest of Shurus was den to many monsters, and was renowned within the kingdom as a dangerous region. Even its shallowest areas are fraught with D Rank monsters and greater. To make things worse, the adventurers that died seeking precious resources continue to lurk the forest as zombies, skeletons, ghost, or some other type of undead.
The road to Cormi Village was fraught with danger on a level far beyond that of Renauph. It’s not a place one should tamper with mindlessly. But not only did I receive permission to use their name, they even gave me ownership of their belongings. They didn’t have a successor, they just hid their stuff, so they told me they would like me to be inherit those things along with their will.
It’s just something they’re hoping for, so it’s not really something I have to do, but in order to get their things, I would have to go get them myself. As such, Gayn advised me to go practice with a monster that moves similarly to those in the forest first before going. One such monster I could use is the smash boar.
It actually wasn’t impossible for me to reach the village as soon as I got to this world if I relied on my ki and my martial arts, but there wasn’t any guarantee that I would be able to come back alive. As such, I just stayed in Gana Forest. And before I knew it, because of my hobbies, three years had already passed.
I’ve left the forest now, so I might as well go. There are strong monsters in the treasure trove of resources. They’ll make for good training. And besides, although it’s just in name, they’re still my grandparents, so I’d like to fulfill their request.
I’ll have to make some preparations to go the Great Shurus Forest.
I went back to Pioro-san’s store while thinking that to myself. I had supper at the store too.
When I told them that during mealtime that I would be going to the north tomorrow, Pioro-san asked me, “Won’t you please get rid of that smash boar?”
in the next moment, Miyabi-san rammed [1] into Pioro-san and Kurana-san chided him with a terrifying smile.
To me the smash boar is a training tool of sort, but to Pioro-san, it’s an obstruction to trade and something that could be good merchandise. Apparently, the smash boar’s meat is soft, odorless, and delicious.
If I do hunt one, I should bring it here. I might not have accepted a job, but it can’t be helped if I were to accidentally meet it and end up killing it. After all, no one would just stand and watch himself get killed, so there’s no way I can hold back if I do come across it.
I’m sure no one will complain if I get rid of it after accidentally coming across it, right?
…Huh? D-Did I always have this sort of personality? C-Could have I degenerated after fighting so many thugs? [2]
No. I have to be careful.
[1] – Not sure if literal.
[2] – You know what they say about fighting pigs and becoming a pig yourself.