"It's time to leave."
I want to go to the next city before the sun sets.
"Cat, dog, put the dishes you used in this bag."
"Yes~"
"Yes, nanodesu."
The lizardkin is called Lizard, the dogkin child is called Dog, and the catgirl is called Cat.
I know it's no good to be picky about people's names, but I was curious, so I asked them while I was on the way to next town.
"--Our names? This name was given to us by our previous master, Usr-sama."
It seems that the other slaves were also named like the Bearkin as Bear, the Snake Head Tribe mother and son as Snake and snake-kid, and the Rakin as Rat.
I felt a little sympathy for their master's lack of sense of naming before them.
'Didn't you have names before you became slaves?'
It should indeed be a better name than Lizard or something.
'I do, but Dog and Cat were picked up and enslaved as babies, so ...
The skalenkin girl lowers her eyes.
'Could you please name us?'
I was asked to do so, but I am not confident in my naming sense.
Incidentally, Lizard had a long name with a mixture of abrasive sounds, and it is difficult to pronounce as it is.
How about you take the first two syllables and call yourself Liza?
Yes, thank you.
Liza, the skalekin girl, bowed her head in satisfaction.
The cat person and the dog person's child looked at me with expectant eyes.
I can't just say "Tama" or "Pochi" like a pet.
I wondered if they had mistaken my muttering for naming.
Pochi!
Tama!"
Hearing this, the two danced around with big smiles on their faces.
When they are so pleased, it's hard to say those are not their names.
Geez.
Before I knew it, Pochi, Tama, and Liza were in the name field on the AR display next to the three of them.
How does this work?
Is the system listening to our conversation? ...
It's a mysterious world.
I had no choice but to use it as a temporary name.
"Master, I can see it. "
Liza points to what appears to be the top of a watchtower over the hill.
While we were chatting, we seemed to have arrived at the next town, Sebiro.
We are in the next town, Sebiro.
"Are those refugees, perhaps?"
Outside the magnificent outer wall that protects the city of Sebiro, people gathered around several tents and campfires, forming what looked like a small settlement.
"Yes, probably. They cannot pay the city tax, so they spend the night outside."
Liza answered to my murmur.
How much is the city tax?
"I don't know for sure, but I think it was one large copper coin for a commoner and several copper coins for a slave."
I don't really know the value of a large copper coin or a copper coin, but it doesn't seem to be that expensive.
We were last in line in front of the outer wall.
"Next!"
It wasn't a very long line, so my turn came quickly.
"Hey? Are you from another country? You have a very small baggage."
The gatekeeper gave me a quizzical look.
It might be a kanja from another country. Let me see your luggage and ID.
--Kanja?
Oh, you mean "interloper," as in spy.
"Is this all right?"
I show the gatekeeper my luggage and the note that Dame Marientail gave me.
"It is a rare permit for a military officer. It says that you are a benefactor who has contributed to the count's territory. But what did you do?"
Did you write something like that? I hadn't read that far.
I think it was that that I gave away the 'dragon scales' to the Count's territory.
I see, so you are a wanderer who travels around the boundary of the "Dragon Valley" in search of the scales. The skalekin is a guard and the dog and cat kids are the decoys in case they are discovered by the wyverns.
One of the gatekeepers said something out of the ordinary with a knowing look on his face.
Pochi and Tama are scared, so please stop making such rude jokes.
"There is nothing wrong with your luggage. You can go after paying the city tax."
We pay the city entry tax of one large copper coin and three copper coins, and go through the gate.
"... Master."
As I crossed the square in front of the gate, Liza called me in a firm voice,
"What's wrong?"
"If we encounter a wyvern, I will act as the decoy. Therefore pleas spare these two."
Pochi and Tama hugged Liza from both sides as she said this with a serious face.
Apparently, these girls had taken the gatekeeper's rude remark seriously.
"Don't worry, no one will use you as bait. I'm not a daredevil, and I don't enjoy going to dangerous places in the first place."
"I understand. I believe in you, master."
When I made my excuse, Liza replied, but the stiffness on the faces of the three of them did not go away.
Well, I guess they will know better from my future behavior.
If that doesn't work, we'll just have to find a trading company or person who can take charge of these girls.
For now, let's buy and gather the things we need for the trip.
WeI headed to the market that a passerby told me about.
The marketplace is full of people dressed in traveling clothes mixed in with those who seem to be citizens.
"The prices have gotten much higher."
Liza muttered to herself as I was buying cheese and dried meat.
"Is that so?"
"I used to accompany my previous master on his shopping trips as a luggage carrier, but I think the prices were about half of what they are now."
Although the budget is plentiful, it is frustrating to be treated like a fool.
So I tried to negotiate with the shopkeeper to lower the price, but he told me the reason for the steep rise in the price.
"I'm telling you, I'm not the one driving up the price. There are many times more people coming to buy than usual, and the wholesalers are reluctant to sell."
Apparently, the prices of food and other necessities for the travel have gone up.
It's a very unpleasant situation for us, but fortunately we have plenty of funds thanks to "Dragon Scales".
I will not hesitate to buy what we need so that we will not be in trouble during the trip.
"I'm totally in trouble."
"If prices go up like this, we'll dry up."
Similar conversations were going on at a nearby stall.
The locals looked at me like I was a nuisance, and I felt a little uncomfortable.
We bought our supplies early and looked for a place to stay for the night.
◇
"Master, raw vegetables are heavy and should be kept to a minimum ...""
"I agree. I'll only keep them for a couple of days."
When I was buying Chinese cabbage-like and spinach-like vegetables, I was told not to do so by Liza.
I don't care about the weight since I have storage, but since I'm not talking about that, I'll follow Liza's advice and only use a small amount
With the stored food included, there should be enough for ten days in all.
With three days' worth of regular food and a week's worth of preserved food, we should be able to make it to the next town, even if there is trouble on the way in and out of the next town.
For preserves, we buy mostly hard-baked bread, non-sweet cookies, pickles, dried vegetables, dried meats, cheese, and dried figs.
At Liza's suggestion, I also buy some wheat and barley.
Unfortunately, no rice was sold.
I heard that it is produced in the southern territory where hot water is available, so I hope to get some soon.
"Master, it's a pickpocket."
Liza warned me and saved me from having my wallet snatched just in time.
"Thank you, Liza."
Even though gold coins and jewelry are in storage, if my change purse gets stolen, I have to go to the money changer and break it down into coins before shopping, which is a hassle.
Still, it's not safe.
I've seen many fights and snatch-and-grabs on the street, and this is the third time I've been the victim of an attempted pickpocket. Also I've seen men with bad looks coming from the back alleys to price-gouge passersby.
"Oh, it's meat! It's meat!
Pochi doesn't seem to care about such a bad neighborhood.
Looks like ham and sausage.
When I asked about the price, I was a little hesitant to pay.
It was five to seven times more expensive than dried meat.
Well, I'll buy it. I bought a block of ham and several sausages for each person.
Oh, it's a clothing store.
It was a second-hand clothing store, but there were no troussers, just a bunch of clothes randomly piled up on a table.
"Liza, pick out clothes for the three of you. Two outfits each. If you have underwear, pick out some underwear as well."
"Clothes for us?"
When I said this while choosing a cloak and clothes for myself, Liza made a strange look. Pochi and Tama also looked at her.
"Yes, but what's the problem?"
'Lots of problems! Don't let those filthy beasts touch my clothes! If they touch my clothes, you'll have to buy them!"
I asked Liza, but it was the stall owner who answered me in a hoarse voice.
I was so surprised that I almost did a double-take, perhaps because I'm used to the polite service of Japanese clothing stores.
"I'll show it to the three of you and you can select which to buy."
I was so tired of dealing with these people in a quarrelsome manner, that I simply let it pass and turned the conversation to Liza.
"You don't have to go out of your way to buy it, we have some clothes for you, but…"
"It's torn, so you need a change of clothes, right?"
The stall owner says something like, ``Hmm, a beastman's own fur or a cloak is enough,'' but I can't bear to listen to him, so I completely tune him out.
It is very rare to hear such blatantly discriminatory remarks in Japan.
If there was another store, I would have gone there, but I had no choice because I had not seen any other stores until this point.
"Can I fit in at this time?"
"Yes, I think so! You have to adjust your body to it."
"Uiiiii~!"
We were careful not to touch the children as we matched the garments and bought them.
Pochi likes yellow and Tama likes pink.
'If you buy a needle and thread, I will adjust them for you."
Liza looks like a warrior, but she is surprisingly feminine.
I also need to make a tail hole, so I'll buy a pair of sewing scissors later.
After shopping at the thrift store, I went to another store that sold cloaks and bought cloaks for the four of us.
I bought a robe, which was sold at the same place. The stall owner tilted his head and asked, "Do you have anything like this? but she sold it to me without any complains.
According to the AR display, this robe seemed to be a kind of magic tool made of a material I had never heard of called Yuriha fiber. The magical and physical defense values are very high. It does not seem to have any strange special effects.
It was a good deal for such a highly functional item for only a few silver coins. Perhaps the stall owner didn't have any appraisal skills.
It seems that my good luck in the Valley of the Dragon was also manifested here.
"Too bad about the shoes."
"We have strong soles too, so don't worry about it."
At the shoe store, the beast girls were refused to have their shoes fitted, so we couldn't buy them.
Mast~, that~?"
Tama pointed to a corner of the general store.
Sandals. I can wear those if they're roughly the right size."
I buys sandals for the beast girls that tie with a string. They were reasonably priced at one copper coin each.
We also bought backpacks, sacks, and shovels. They need them for digging latrine.
I asked, "What's that? Vegetables, or perhaps medicinal herbs?"
"Not even close. It's an insect repellent. If you put it in a fire and smoke it, it won't attract bugs.
I also bought some insect repellent that I saw at the grocery store.
I also bought a tinderbox with a spark for lighting the fire.
"It smells good." Pochi sniffed the air.
Is it sweet potatoes?
"Can you tell which direction the smell is coming from?"
"Yes, nanodesu! Leave it to Pochi, desu!"
"Me too!"
Pochi and Tama were about to run away, but Liza quickly grabbed them and stopped them.
"Thank you, Liza. You two, there are so many people here, you'll get lost if you run."
"I'm sorry, nanodesu."
"Sorry~."
The two who were scolded hung their heads with frightened faces.
I didn't mean to scold them so hard, but I guess they were more scared than I thought.
"It's great that you were able to reflect."
I said and gently patted them on the head.
They flinched for a moment when my hand touched them, but they soon relaxed and let me pet them meekly.
"Those skewers of sweet potatoes. How many do you think you can eat?"
Three small potatoes were on a big skewer.
One skewer costs two small coins.
A small coin is a lower currency than a copper coin.
"Pochi can eat as many as she given,nanodesu!"
"I too can eat as many as there are!"
"Master, we can each eat one."
Liza interrupted Porgy and Tama's childish answer and said something reserved.
Then let's have one each.
If there are too many, we can have more later, and if there are not enough, we can buy more.
I handed out the potato skewers I had gotten in exchange for the copper coins to the three of them.
--What's that?
Pochi and Tama looked at the skewers in their hands and drooled.
But none of them touched the skewers.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to eat it?"
"Can I eat , nanodesu?"
"Of course you can. Make sure to chew your food well."
"Yes, nanodesu."
Yes, yes!
I told them that they should start eating the sweet potato skewers.
As was the case in the abandoned village earlier, it seems to be the custom not to eat without permission.
As I watched the children chomping down on the skewers, I grabbed one as well.
It's a dry potato, and to be honest, it's not very tasty.
Pochi and Tama seemed to like it, and while I ate one potato, they ate all three potatoes on the skewer.
Liza was still in the middle of eating, so I gave the remaining two potatoes on my skewer to Tama and Pochi, who seemed to have not eaten enough.
"Do you two like potatoes?"
"Yes, nanodesu."
"They taste better than grass."
That's a strange comparison.
Which do you like better, dried meat or this?
"Meat! Meat!"
"Meat?"
They both answered immediately. You like meat that much, huh?
Even Liza, who was in the middle of munching on a potato skewer, locked her gaze on me.
Yes, this girl seems to like meat, too.
Then let's have meat for dinner tonight," I said.
When I said that, the three of them cheered and agreed.
It was a kinda cute when I saw Liza's eyes go down in embarrassment as she realized how happy she was with a smile on her face. I'm scared that I might discover some unexpected sexual fetishes.
◇ ◇
While I was enjoying shopping like this, I came across a main street that connects the east and west sides of the city.
Well, even though it is a main street, it is only wide enough for horse-drawn carriages to pass each other.
Is collars the new fashion?
The people pulling the carts were usually wearing collars. I searched and found that they were slaves. Strangely, not all slaves wear collars, and the reason is unknown.
Perhaps it was because we were in the middle of town, but the carriages were slowing down to the speed of a person walking at a fast pace.
A carriage passes right in front of me. It was carrying about four female slaves.
My eyes were glued to one of them. She is a girl with dark hair, dark eyes, and a Japanese-like face in the style of Yamato Nadeshiko, although her face is worn out from the long journey. While the majority of the girls had Scandinavian faces, this might have been the first time I had seen an Asian girl.
The girl kept her eyes downcast, so we didn't meet her eyes or anything dramatic happened, but I did meet the orthodox Nordic girl next to her, who had loose, light purple hair.
For some reason, that little girl looks at me with a terribly surprised face.
No, I'm troubled when she looks at me so earnestly and seriously ... Sorry, I don't have the Lolita attribute.
Maybe it's because I've been looking at the little girl for so long that her name and level pop up next to her.
Alisa. Level 10...so high level for a little girl.
More information pops up.
She is 11 years old.
Titles: "Exiled Witch," "Mad Princess."
Skills: unknown
The carriage disappears from view toward the west street at this point.
It's a title that seems to blatantly call for trouble.
... No, no, no, I'm not going near it, okay?
I'll never go near it!
Author Notes:
*Same as the regular version, Satou ignores Arisa. Will he be able to escape from Arisa's clutches in the IF version?