Reports that the Hero, Ruti, had defeated the second of the four
heavenly kings—Gandor of the Wind—and captured the sky palace
over which he claimed dominion had made it all the way to Zoltan.
Gandor boasted countless wyverns at his command and wielded an
aerial battle strength said to have been the strongest in the world. It
was thought that a minimum of five times the number of the villain's
own forces were required just to contend with his army. Even the
demon lord's army would be on their back foot with the setback of
Gandor's defeat.
"Ruti's really giving it her all."
On the Zoltan frontier, the menace of the demon lord's army was still
like something happening in a far-off world. The people of Zoltan
cheered the victories that the continent's united forces won, but
rather than a sense of the menace receding, it was more like a
festive sort of celebration.
A chime brought my thoughts back to the world around me. It was
the bell on the door.
"Welcome… Oh, Gonz and Tanta?"
"Yeah, we came by to play. I see it's as empty as ever in here."
"Don't start in on it."
It was rainy outside. Carpentry jobs were put on hold during such
weather. With the temperature during the day breaking ninety-eight
degrees, almost all of Zoltan was generally pretty laid-back this time
of year.
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Adventurers didn't really want to work much in this sort of heat,
especially when a downpour could start so suddenly. There were
many who saved up during the winter and spring and took a break
during the summer. But goblins and other creatures that pillaged and
plundered didn't take a break. Summer heat did little to cull
monsters that attacked people, either, so higher-ranked adventurers
with a sense of responsibility, like Albert, were constantly running
around dealing with them. I'd been busy gathering stuff for my shop,
so I hadn't done much work as an adventurer as of late. My more
pressing concern was what to do about the lack of customers coming
to my shop.
"It's only been half a month since you opened, and you've already
had some decent sales, haven't you?"
"Thanks to some introductions from Dr. Newman. I'm wholesaling
medicinal herbs to the other clinics, too, but…"
"'But if normal customers don't come,' right? Well, this time of year,
everyone's just lazing around their house, so they probably can't
work up the energy to walk all the way down to the apothecary."
"After I went through the trouble of stocking up on the medicine for
summer colds…"
Medicines had an expiration date. After a few months, I would have
to get rid of all the stuff I had prepared and all the herbs I had
gathered, too. Before, the Adventurers Guild would only pay less
than a fifth of the medicine's retail price, but at least they would buy
all of it and take it off my hands. Compared to that, I was sitting here
anxiously waiting for anything at all.
"Well, you'll get more customers as time goes on," Gonz said with a
hearty laugh, but this was hardly the time for joking. "Speaking of,
have you eaten anything, Red?"
"No, I haven't yet."
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"All right, let's go get some food."
"Nah, I'm trying to cut back on eating out. I've been making my own
meals here."
"Huh? You can cook, Big Bro?" asked Gonz's nephew.
"I sure can. You can't be an adventurer if you can't cook."
After all, food is essential. On a painful and harsh journey, food might
often be the only highlight. For me personally, bad food was so
painful that I put a few points into my Cooking skill, even though I
knew it wouldn't be of any use at all from a combat perspective.
At first, Ares was vehemently against it, but Ruti and the others gave
the cooking high marks, and after a few days, Ares stopped
complaining. In fact, he even started shamelessly asking for seconds.
Meals were some of the few times when my comrades relied on me,
even though I held them back in nearly everything else.
"Ohhh, you don't say."
"Well, obviously I can't win against someone with an actual Chef's
blessing, but it's pretty decent for an amateur. Want to give it a try?"
"Really?!"
"Sure, just wait a bit."
The shop had also become my new home. The floor plan included
the storefront and storage area, as well as a bedroom, kitchen,
washroom, living room, and a work area for preparing medicines.
There was also a modest yard out back for growing my own herbs.
Thinking back on it, it was actually pretty big. Was what I paid for the
lumber and materials really enough to cover it all? Gonz might have
gone a bit overboard for me.
I opened the shelf in the storage room where I kept my food and
thought a bit about what to make.
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"Potato salad, bacon and eggs, and tomato soup. Something along
those lines?"
Putting the food into a basket, I headed to the kitchen.
"Here you go; order up." I set the food on the table in my living
room.
"Ohhh, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this looks pretty good,"
Gonz said.
"I'm not a cook, so all I can make is basic home-style food."
I may have set the bar a bit too high. I was just trying to say it was
pretty good for an amateur, not that I had some particularly great
skills when it came to cooking… Well, it was too late to change
anything now.
"All right, don't mind if I do."
There was chilled water with a bit of lemon floating in it to drink. I
had also prepared some herbal tea for after the meal. The lemon and
herbs were both things I had picked up while gathering medicinal
herbs, one of the little perks of the job.
Tanta took the bacon and eggs, Gonz, the potato salad, and they
both grabbed a spoon and took a bite.
"How is it?"
"…Wait, really…?"
Gonz and Tanta both froze.
"Wh-what? Do you not like the taste?"
"No…this is seriously delicious."
"This is amazing, Big Bro! This is even better than Mom's cooking!"
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The two of them stopped talking and quietly dug in to their plates. I
relaxed a bit and started in on the soup. Yep, it was pretty delicious,
if I did say so myself. Once they'd finished, the two sipped at their
herbal tea with satisfied looks.
"But why was it so delicious? The food itself wasn't anything that
special."
"Hmm? Yeah, maybe because the seasoning was good?"
"The seasoning?"
There was a lot more growing on the mountain than just herbs for
making medicines and antidotes. From the base to around halfway to
the peak, the mountain's temperature went from a tropical climate
to a temperate one. As you got nearer to the peak, it became
subarctic. There were classic, well-known spices like mustard, garlic,
cinnamon, and nutmeg that all grew in abundance on a single
mountain. Even some lesser-known plants grew fairly plentifully. So
if you just used the seasonings the mountain provided when
preparing the food, it would taste good…probably.
"Huh, I never would have figured you'd know so much about
cooking."
"You can only do really simple cooking on the road, so I don't know
anything when it comes to elaborate dishes and special ingredients,
though."
"That's more than enough. With food this good, you could open your
own restaurant."
"You're not getting more than the tea, no matter how much you
flatter me."
"The tea's delicious, too."
The herbs for the tea were also ones I'd collected on the mountain.
My guess was that the wood elves who had lived in Zoltan in the past
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had selectively bred them, and then, over time, the plants they had
bred came to grow wild on the mountain. On this continent, there
were a lot of fruits, vegetables, and domesticated animals that had
been bred from wild species by the wood elves over a very long
period.
The country of the wood elves had been destroyed in the great war
with the demon lord long ago. Their blood now survived only in the
veins of half-elves mixed with human lineages. Half-elves like Gonz
and Tanta were descendants of those wood elves.
But even if the wood elves themselves hadn't survived, the
knowledge of natural science they had built had been passed on to
humans. What I knew of medicinal herbs and medicine, I learned
from a wood elf book.
A bell chimed from the storefront.
"A customer? I'll be right back. Make yourselves at home."
"All right."
A customer coming in from the rain was rare. I hurried to the front of
the store.
"Welco—"
A young woman in an odd outfit had entered. She was wearing a fulllength black robe with a hood, and she was covering her mouth with
a blue bandanna that was wrapped around her neck. The flowing
hair peeking out from her hood was golden. The hilts of two large,
curved swords—shotels—with griffon feather ornamentation were
visible at her waist.
Every resident of Zoltan knew this girl. She was the other B-rank
adventurer, though her true strength far exceeded Albert's. She
always worked solo, never teaming up with anyone else, and despite
that, she still rated equivalent to a B-rank party. With her abilities
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and a proper party, she'd easily make A rank. Possibly even higher.
Her name was Rizlet, though everyone around these parts called her
Rit. Apparently, she'd chosen not to use the name Rizlet here in
Zoltan, choosing specifically to go by a pseudonym.
Rit lowered her hood when she saw me. Her sky-blue eyes were fixed
on me.
"…So you really are here, Gideon."
My expression tensed. So she's finally come.
Her real name was Rizlet of Loggervia. The second princess of the
Duchy of Loggervia. For a short time, she had been part of my old
party, one of our comrades. She was also known by the second name
of Rit the hero. That was the name registered with the Adventurers
Guild in Loggervia, and it was also the one she used in Zoltan.
I had Gonz and Tanta leave. They were surprised to see the strongest
adventurer in Zoltan and were pretty suspicious about what sort of
connection we had, but they accepted it when I explained that she
had come by for a consultation about some curatives.
Once they'd left, the two of us sat across from each other at the
living room table. Steaming cups of tea rested in front of us,
untouched.
"Um, I… Well, here, I'm called Red."
"Yes, it seems like that's what you've been going by."
In Loggervia, despite being the second princess, Rizlet would often
sneak out of the castle and fight in the colosseum under the name
Rit. She even took part in battles against the demon lord's army as a
mercenary. We met her during our journey. The first time we met,
she'd made a point of her hostility toward us. Later, we saved her
from some trouble she'd gotten into. Afterward, we escaped a siege
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and adventured together to call for reinforcements. It seemed like
she was often pretty back and forth on whether to join our party at
that point. In the end, we went our separate ways. She had stayed
behind to help tend to the wounds the battles had left on her nation.
It always felt like, if we'd said slightly different things at the time, she
would have joined Ruti's party.
"I was a little too conspicuous, and voices from certain corners
started calling for me to succeed Father and become queen over my
younger brother, the crown prince. Before it devolved into a family
feud, I ran away to the frontier to play around a bit until things
settled down."
She and Albert took care of the highest difficulty quests in Zoltan.
While Albert tended to prioritize jobs from influential people and
avoid ones he felt weren't worth his time, Rit took the initiative on
the most difficult quests, making her more popular among the
general public.
But that made sense. Given her reasons for coming to Zoltan, being
an adventurer was basically just a hobby. She took the more difficult
quests because they were more interesting. The girl had plenty of
funds available because of her family, so money wasn't an issue…
"Which reminds me, the name Red… Rit. Red. They have a similar
sort of ring to them."
"Yeah, about that… The truth is, I couldn't really think of a name, so I
sort of based it off yours." I glanced at Rit's red clothes.
When I was thinking up an alias to use as an adventurer, the image of
the adventurer who had left the strongest impression on me in the
past—Rit—was what came to mind. That was also part of why I
ended up choosing the name Red. That part was embarrassing,
though, so I wasn't going to say it out loud.
"…Hmm, so you were using me as a reference."
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"Sorry I ended up with a name that could so easily get mixed up with
yours. I can't really change it at this point, but I hope you can forgive
me."
"…I'm happy about it!"
"Huh?"
Rit lifted the bandanna around her neck, covering her mouth as she
grinned. Oh yeah, that reminds me, even when we first met, she had
this strange habit of covering her mouth whenever she smiled. It
always made me suspect she was from some upper-class family. Not
that I would have ever guessed she was a princess, though.
"Because you remembered me."
"Well, yeah. Even if it was just for a short while, we were comrades!
There's no way I wouldn't remember you."
On top of that, something as unprecedented as a militarily inclined
princess would obviously leave an impression.
"Comrades… That you would still call me that…" Rit glanced down a
bit and fell silent.
Right. When we'd parted ways back then, Rit had said we were the
first party she could call true comrades. The first group she'd teamed
up with had left Rit behind and run away when faced with a
scissorhands demon, a powerful monster. At the time, we were also
after that creature, and we ran into her and worked together to
defeat it. After that, you'd think Rit's attitude would have lightened
up a bit…but it didn't. She got easily embarrassed and ended up
unnecessarily butting heads with us even more to hide it.
Ruti found it annoying, but I enjoyed talking with Rit when she kept
getting into it with us like a cute little puppy, so I kept her company
fairly often.
"So, Gide—no, it's Red here, right…? What are you doing here?"
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"About that…"
I honestly would've rather not explained that I was kicked out of the
party because I was useless…but there was no way she would accept
any other explanation. Plus, I needed to make sure she didn't tell
anyone about me.
I guess there was no helping it.
"It's a bit embarrassing…" I steeled my resolve and told her the story.
"What the hell?!"
After I finished, Rit snapped for some reason. "After you fought
together for so long?! That's crazy!"
"Even so, it's not like there wasn't some logic to what Ares said. It
was certainly true that I was a hindrance."
"There's no way that was true! You were the one always paying
attention on how to keep the party moving smoothly!"
That was true. Since I recognized my lacking battle strength, I did pay
attention to various other things in order to be helpful in areas
outside combat. The cooking was part of that, as was monitoring the
condition of the rest of the party, gathering information about new
towns, acquiring whatever consumables we needed, managing the
finances, negotiating with various influential people who wanted a
meeting with the Hero…
"See? You were working superhard!"
"When you actually list it all, yeah, I suppose so."
Rit still didn't seem willing to accept reality. In fact, she looked about
ready to explode.
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"You don't need to get so angry. I probably would have ended up
getting defeated somewhere down the line because I couldn't keep
up with the flow of battle. In fact, it's probably just as well that I
retired to Zoltan and started my apothecary before that happened."
"Wait, with you doing all of that for them, are they really going to be
okay without you now?"
"I'm sure they're fine. Apparently, they even defeated the heavenly
king of wind not too long ago."
Or at least, that was the news that made it out here. But this far
away from the front lines, reports went through lots of people and
were basically just hearsay on arrival. Them actually defeating
Gandor was almost certainly true, but all the specifics had likely been
exaggerated.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit worried, but…
"Even if I worry, there's not much I can do now that I've left. Ruti was
always traveling with me, so I'm sure she can make it work
somehow."
I couldn't deny that part of the reason I was saying that was to try to
convince myself. But I wasn't in Ruti's party anymore. As her older
brother, there wasn't anything more I could do for my precious little
sister.
"That's enough of this topic. Whatever points we might make, it's
not like Ares is here to listen to them," I said, trying to placate Rit.
"Ugh… I guess so," she responded, still clearly not ready to accept
what I already had. I happened to glance down and noticed the cups
I had placed on the table.
"The tea got cold. I'll make a bit more."
"It's fine. You don't have to do that for me."
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"It's not every day we get to meet back up again. I want you to be
able to have some proper tea, not like before where I had to throw
together whatever was available."
In the past, when I was making something, it was because we were
camping out in the wild or stationed on the front lines. All I managed
back then was whatever could be thrown together from the supplies
we carried or what could be gathered on the road. It was never
anything made under optimal conditions.
Things were different now, though. I had my pick of the plants
growing on the mountain. I could find tea leaves as good as anything
sold in the markets and use naturally clean water instead of water
that had been purified using magic. The purified stuff always had a
sort of inorganic flavor to it.
I quickly took the cups, cutting Rit off, and headed to the kitchen to
make some more tea.
I raised the temperature on the pot of water sitting over the flames
until finally it started to steam. My personal theory was that the
temperature right before it started to boil was best suited for the tea
leaves I had. I watched the pot closely, careful not to miss it, waiting
as the water quietly swirled.
Suddenly, I recalled making hot milk for Ruti when we were both still
children. We didn't have sugar, but I added some honey that I'd
gathered from the forest and had her drink it. Ruti always hated
drinking milk, but she'd looked shocked when she tasted it with
honey, then glanced at me before drinking half of it in one gulp.
Once she realized that only half was left, she started sipping at it bit
by bit. She'd sighed happily when it was all gone.
Having been born with the blessing of the Hero, Ruti always seemed
to have a farsighted point of view, but I still remembered how cute
she was drinking milk like a normal child.
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"There we go."
I took the pot off the flames and added the tea leaves. A nice
fragrance started filling the air, and I nodded to myself a little.
"It's delicious…"
Rit let out a satisfied exhale. It was entirely different from the ones
Ruti made when she was a kid, but it still gave me a small amount of
secret satisfaction.
"Back then, I was shocked that the Hero's party was eating such
delicious food while out camping, but with proper ingredients, this
might even be better than the tea in the royal court."
"That's a bit much, even for flattery. My Cooking skill is just level
one. I've got some ability compensation from my level, I'm sure, but I
can't beat a proper chef."
"Still…" Rit lifted the cup to her lips and took another sip. "…Maybe
it's so delicious because you made it just for me." The girl whispered
the last part softly, her cheeks flushing a bit as she smiled.
Rit had never been that honest back when we first met.
The first time I met Rit was in her homeland, the Duchy of Loggervia,
in a town called Alomar, near the southern border. We had come to
the duchy because we'd received reports that they were struggling
to deal with the demon lord's army's offensive there. Loggervia was
in an important location strategically, which meant if they fell,
several neighboring countries would be toppled as well. It needed to
be protected no matter what.
At the time, the party consisted of Ruti the Hero, Ares the Sage,
Danan the Martial Artist, Theodora the Crusader, and me, the Guide.
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The five of us were at a tavern eating as we mulled over information
we had managed to gather around town. It was around when Ares
was talking about a reported sighting of an orc spy from the demon
lord's army.
"Hey, missy, let's share a drink."
We heard the catcall of a rough voice. Glancing at the counter, I saw
a woman wearing a black hooded robe and a hunchbacked man with
a dangerous leer in his eyes calling to her. His cheeks were extremely
hollowed out, and his skin looked deathly pale. A lead club wrapped
in several layers of leather hung at his waist. It was a weapon called a
sap, designed to knock out an opponent without killing them. It was
often used by slave hunters, a trade I had cracked down on more
than a few times when I was still a knight. I'd never carried a good
impression of those who used such weapons, and my tenure as a
knight did nothing to change that view.
"Hey, don't ignore me. Name's Dir. I'm actually a pretty well-known
mercenary in Sunland, you know. You've heard of Dir before, right?
You haven't? Whatever. Let's just have a drink. Come on." He peeked
at her face beneath the hood.
"Whew, aren't you a cutie," he said with a whistle.
You could find guys like him in any town you went to. Ruti and I
stood up, about to move in to stop him, but…
"Owwwwwwww?!"
The robed woman grabbed the hand he had put on her shoulder and
twisted it upward, knocking the ruffian back as she stood up.
"Wh-what are you doing?!"
She lowered her hood. Her blond hair fluttered gently, and her clearblue eyes shone with a strong will. A small, indomitable smile
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crossed her lips as she looked down at the man who had been
knocked on his ass.
"Y-you!"
He started to rise, his right hand forming a sign in order to activate a
spell.
"A Fireball?"
A fire magic spell that caused an explosive blaze. It was not
something to be using inside a building, even in a fit of anger. I
hurried to try to stop him, but before he could activate his spell, the
girl in the black cloak drew a sword with an arched blade—a shotel—
decorated with griffon feathers and held it to his neck.
"You picked the wrong person to hit on."
"S-sorry! Pardon me!"
Seemingly sobering up, the man's face grew a shade of alabaster as
he trembled and ran away.
I guess we didn't need to worry about it.
Relived, Ruti and I started to go back to our seats, but the robed
woman turned her determined gaze toward us.
"Did you think I needed your help?"
"We were worried over nothing, it seems," I said with a forced smile.
She stuck her finger to point at Ruti instead of me, though.
"That's right! We don't need the Hero here. We can take care of the
demon lord's army ourselves in Loggervia!" proclaimed the girl with
a self-satisfied grin. That was the first time I met Rit—Rizlet.
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With her chest all puffed up, Rit explained that the royal guard of
Loggervia was well trained and that the people living up in the
mountains provided the country with a wealth of lumber. With that
lumber to burn for fuel, the government could forge high-quality
weapons and armor to provide to even the lowest-level soldiers, so
there was no way the Duchy of Loggervia would lose to the demon
lord's army. Having said her piece, the girl made a prompt exit.
"It seems like she was just waiting for us to come here."
Well-connected informants should've already heard news that the
Hero was on her way to Loggervia. If we were going stay someplace,
then Alomar was the logical choice, and if we wanted to gather
information, then that would be the center of the town. Which
would mean this tavern was the best spot. The girl had likely thought
along the same lines and guessed right.
"…" Ruti looked dissatisfied, and I smiled at her when I saw her
expression.
"It's been a while since we got that sort of a reception. Don't forget
how hard you worked before we left the capital, before anyone
believed you were the Hero."
"I know." Ruti still seemed annoyed as we returned to the table.
"I give up! I give!"
He was the last of eleven thugs. Holding his swollen face, the man
cast aside the club he was using as a weapon.
"Sheesh."
The thugs had been paid one payril each by the man who'd been
shown up by the girl in the bar. Apparently, they were planning to lie
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in wait to attack the black-robed young woman. I happened to catch
word of it while gathering my own intel, so I decided to take care of
them myself.
"A-are you with her?"
"No. I haven't even had a proper conversation with her. I just saw
her in the tavern. Even if I didn't help out, though, I doubt she'd have
had any trouble with you."
"Is she really that strong?"
"I only caught a glance, so I can't say for sure. Do you know any
black-robed, blond-haired shotel users?"
"Wh—? Isn't that Rit the hero?" The thugs started muttering among
themselves. Some of them even seemed relieved that I had stopped
them.
"Rit the hero? Is she famous?"
"You're not from around here, are you? Of course she is! In
Loggervia, Rit's crazy famous. She's the strongest A-rank
adventurer… Screw a measly silver; I wouldn't take the job even if
you offered a thousand."
"Her party is A rank, but word is she's the one doing all the work."
"She's even the champ in the arena here. She can't be beat when she
goes up against a humanoid opponent—a real league of her own."
It's not as if they were acquaintances or anything, but the thugs
seemed almost proud of this so-called Rit the hero. That much was
clear from their tone.
"I see. Well, in that case, I guess you've got no more intention of
trying to do anything to her."
"Of course not. Even if we tried, we'd be the ones who'd end up
getting hurt."
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They didn't seem to be lying. They'd already been generally roughed
up, and it wasn't as if they had even done anything yet.
"Got it; then you can go now."
I waved my hand, and they happily said their thanks and made
themselves scarce. They started sharing their stories about Rit's feats
with one another as they dragged themselves away, battered and
bruised. I almost laughed to myself over their childlike reaction.
The next day, one of the thugs I had beaten up told me that the guy
from the tavern had thought they were still going ahead with the
plan. He'd ambushed Rit by himself and got beaten half to death
before being run out of town. The thug seemed veritably happy as he
told me the story.
"Man… Rit the hero is crazy awesome, isn't she?"
He sounded almost proud of her.
Several days later, Rit showed up at the lodge where we were
staying. She didn't do anything, though, just ordered some food and
sat there eating quietly. Seemed like she was in a bad mood.
From time to time, she would glare at me and mumble, as if about to
say something, but in the end, she left without a word.
"Back then, you were really standoffish. No matter how many times
we fought together, you were always complaining about something."
"B-but what about that time we were investigating that mountain
village? I was more honest about how I felt then."
"Huh?" Thinking back, I tilted my head. That was honest?
It was when our party and Rit's party were sort of competing—
investigating a disturbance in a village up in the mountains. It was a
small settlement of lumberjacks, and the firewood they provided was
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used to fuel the workshops of Loggervia. The reason the duchy was
known as a military powerhouse was because of the excellent
weapons and armor those workshops produced. The gear was then
provided to even the lowest-ranking soldiers.
A sudden disruption in that fuel supply line occurred, and the
adventurers and knights who had been sent to investigate didn't
return. That was how we ended up looking into it. That was also
where Rit's party intervened, with her saying that they would take
care of it themselves.
"So no progress today, either?" The black-robed girl—Rit—called out
to me.
I was sitting on a log in the village's small plaza, snacking on some
dried fruits and cookies.
"A late, lonely lunch for three days straight, huh?" Rit observed with
a smirk.
It was three in the afternoon, definitely late for lunch. She sat down
on a log opposite me.
"For being the Hero's party, you guys aren't so hot when it comes to
gathering information, huh?"
"It is what it is."
It was certainly true that Ruti was not particularly great at intel.
When it came to that task in particular, there were plenty of other
blessings better suited for the job. For example, Rit's Spirit Scout
blessing had useful skills for tracking footprints or finding even the
most minimal traces of something's presence. Compared to her, our
group was far more focused on combat abilities. When it came to
scouting, we made do with Ares's and Theodora's magic and my
experience as a knight to get by, but it was not an area in which we
specialized.
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Our goal was to fight the demon lord's army. Slipping into the
enemy's camp alone and defeating their commander was a daily sort
of feat for us.
"Ha-ha. Our investigation is making pretty good progress," Rit said
proudly.
"Uh-huh."
"Do you want to know?"
"Yeah, you mind telling me?"
"All right, if you ask nicely and say 'Please, Miss Rit, could you please
tell a fool like me?' Then I'll tell you."
"Please, Miss Rit, could you please tell a fool such as me?" I asked
immediately.
"Huh?" Her smirk disappeared when she heard that.
"My pride's a cheap price to pay for being able to save Loggervia. I'd
gladly say it as many times as you want."
"Wh-what—? That wasn't what I meant… Sorry."
"Oh?"
This time, it was my turn to grin. Rit's face turned red as she glared at
me.
"What's with that look all of a sudden?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just surprised you were actually able to honestly
apologize."
"Y-you! Fine, I won't tell you, then!"
"I'm sorry. So what have you managed to learn?"
She seemed to have gotten annoyed, looking away from me and
holding back for a bit before finally heaving an unnatural sigh.
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"I guess it can't be helped," she said, starting to share details.
"I had a look around the vicinity of the village, and there were
footprints coming and going with a high frequency recently in the
north."
"The north, huh? There was a lodge out there for logging, if I recall."
"But right now, the logging is going on in the northeast. I even went
to check to be sure."
"And you've got the other two in your party watching things there at
the moment, right?"
"You knew that?"
"Even if I'm not a great investigator, I can at least perceive the basic
movements of people."
"Hmph. So do you know why I have the two of them waiting there?"
"Because even though the supply of lumber going out has stalled,
logging is still happening."
"What's with that 'I already know everything' face? You're no fun at
all." Rit glared at me, looking a little disappointed.
"I'll take that as a compliment. So have you figured out where the
lumber is disappearing to?"
"We've only been watching for three days. It hasn't been long
enough to say yet."
"Were there no traces of the timbers being carried elsewhere?" Rit's
face clouded over at the question.
"That's… I still haven't found any."
"So magic, then."
"Probably."
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There was no way something as big as felled trees could be carried
away without leaving traces that someone as good as Rit could find.
Which meant it was safe to say the culprit was using magic to float
them through the air, or perhaps shrink them small enough to fit in a
bag, or transport them via some kind of portal.
"Why do you think the villagers have said nothing about it?" Rit
asked.
"Hostages, probably. There are too few older people and children in
town. I saw toys and empty cradles and stuff like that in many of the
houses."
Noticing that no one was around, I had checked out the homes in the
village over the past three days. I couldn't find anyone hiding but was
left with the impression that the current population didn't match
what one might expect given the homes. The children and elders had
been kidnapped, and the rest of the townsfolk had been frightened
into obedience in exchange for the safe return of their loved ones.
The rest of my comrades were spread out searching for the location
of the captives, and I was in charge of checking out the village
myself, which is why I was here eating lunch alone.
"Which means it's a group organized enough to manage hostages,"
Rit concluded.
"That would mean it's not a local group of thieves or goblins," I
responded.
"Not a surprise."
To confirm that we had reached the same conclusion, we both said it
at the same time:
""The demon lord's army.""
Exactly as expected. No surprise there, either. But if the demon lord's
army was involved, then the mastermind would be powerful.
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"Hey, Rit, maybe we should work together on this one."
"Huh? Me, work with you? Quit dreaming!" she shouted as she stood
up and pointed her finger at me. "We can beat the likes of the
demon lord's army, no problem, even without you guys lending a
hand. They've already attacked twice before, and we sent them
packing both times. Loggervia doesn't need some outsider hero!"
"But the groups that attacked before weren't the main forces. Those
were orc units. There will be soldier demon tercios and a
detachment of Gandor of the Wind's wyvern knights, too. The
commander is an Asura demon, the same race as Taraxon, the
Demon Lord."
"What of it?" Rit just sniffed disdainfully. "From the day it was
formed, the Duchy of Loggervia has never lost territory. Not when
the goblin king, Mulgarga, went on a rampage fifty years ago and not
during the Lightning Dragon War seventy years ago, either. Loggervia
has never lost. This time won't be any different. We'll fight. We'll
win. That's all there is to it."
"But fifty years ago, your great uncle asked for help from Central.
Loggervia's pride isn't so petty as to fail to do the things necessary to
increase the chance of victory, right?"
Rit was at a loss for words. Her eyes trembled for a brief moment.
"Why do you know about our history?"
"How could we ask someone to fight with us without knowing
anything about them? Your ancestor was truly an outstanding hero.
There weren't many countries able to make it through that goblin
mess unscathed."
Rit's cheeks flushed. She covered her mouth with the bandanna
around her neck. But her expression soon took a serious bent, and
she looked at me with a gaze backed by an iron will.
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"It looks like you've at least done a little bit of homework… But no.
I'm going to resolve this myself. If I do, Father won't have to do
something like give command of part of the royal guard to the Hero."
"…I see."
So that was why Rit was so adamant. Rit's master was named Gaius,
the head of the royal guard. Rit respected him greatly. Rit's father,
the ruler of Loggervia, had proposed shifting a portion of Gaius's
command to us. That was something that Rit could not accept. She'd
always possessed a sort of independent streak to sneak out of the
castle on her own, and she was trying to prove that Loggervia could
fight on its own, that they didn't need help from the Hero.
But from our perspective, command of an actual force, particularly
the Loggervia army's strongest royal guard—even if it was just a
small part of it—would be a big deal. More than a few times in the
past, we had been left wishing and wondering what could have been
if we had the strength of such a force at our command.
Both Rit and my own party had our own reasons for trying to resolve
the circumstances afflicting this village.
"In that case, I guess there's nothing to be done," I said.
No matter what I said, Rit wasn't going to back down here. All we
could do was just let her get to know us better in the course of
resolving this and during the fight with the demon lord's army to
come.
"Do you have any guesses about where in the north they're hiding?"
I asked as I spread out a map. Rit sighed and then sat down next to
me and peered at the large chart. I handed her the bag of the
cookies I was eating and a pouch of water.
"What?"
"You're on limited rations, too, right?"
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The reason I was eating preserved food that I had brought with me,
despite staying in a village, was because I was on guard against being
poisoned. With hostages having been taken, there was no telling
what the villagers might do. We were staying in the village chief's
house but had found dehydrated poison hemlock in the kitchen,
though he'd assured us it was just for exterminating rats.
Even if we chose to overlook the fact that they were trying to poison
us, and even if they were doing it on orders, that didn't change that
they'd attempted the deed. And Rit was Rizlet, the royal princess of
Loggervia. Regardless of coercion, the mere attempt would be
grounds for a death sentence. So both Rit's party and ours had
turned down the food offered to us from the first day on, choosing
to get by on our own rations. From what I could see, her party was
only eating salted meat and pickled vegetables. It was definitely the
kind of thing you would get sick of after a few days.
"If it tastes bad, I'm going to be angry," she said as she took a hardbaked cookie and bit into it.
"Mm…"
"How was it?" I didn't miss that she broke into a smile for a split
second.
"I-it was okay."
Seeing her struggle to keep up appearances, I couldn't help but grin.
Rit was indignant, but that didn't stop her from reaching out to grab
another.
"Where do they sell these? They aren't Loggervian."
"Yeah, I made them."
"Huh? You did? The cookies?" Rit looked back and forth between my
face and the food, in shock. "Why?"
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"It gets old eating salt-preserved rations every day. A little bit of
cooking is a fundamental requirement for a long journey."
Biting into the second cookie, Rit contemplated what I'd said for a
moment.
"Yeah, you're right about that." She nodded in agreement.
"See? I can be honest," Rit insisted, pointing out that last bit.
"Really?" Laughing along at the memory, I couldn't help expressing
my firm disbelief that Rit had really been honest there.
The girl ended up joining in the laughter, maybe from recalling how
she had been back then.
"Do you remember what you said after we finally found the
scissorhands demon hiding at the base in the north and fought it
together?"
"…No…"
"I believe it was, and I quote: 'Not too shabby…but don't get the
wrong idea. I've only very slightly revised my opinion of you! Just a
little, so don't get full of yourself!'"
Rit buried her face in her hands and lay across the table.
"Uggggh, I was just trying to do my best in a lot of different ways
back then, okay?" Apparently, dredging up that memory of the
standoffishness she fell back on to hide her embarrassment was
mortifying because even her ears turned red.
The point where she really did become honest had been during the
decisive battle with the commander of the demon lord's forces in
Loggervia. The confrontation with the Asura demon, Shisandan. The
outcome of that battle was not exactly a happy one, though…
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Rit and the Loggervian adventurers were supposed to be attacking
the rear of the enemy's camp.
The camp was that of the approaching contingent of the demon
lord's army. The force was under the command of Shisandan, a fiend
from the same tribe as Taraxon, the Demon Lord. Shisandan was a
six-armed Asura demon.
Shisandan's invasion consisted of not just orcs but heavy infantry
demons and wyvern knights. Such a force was powerful enough that
even the elite soldiers of Loggervia could not hope to challenge
them. Several of the duchy's fortresses, villages, and settlements had
already been taken. The country was on its way to downfall. If they
couldn't win the coming fight, there would be no future for
Loggervia.
The head of the royal guard, Gaius, the man who had taught Rit
swordsmanship, had taken his forces to act as a diversion.
Meanwhile, Rit, who had been sneaking out of the castle and making
a name for herself as an adventurer, returned to the castle that was
on the verge of falling. With her, we worked to defend it.
Using the fame she had gained as Rit the hero, she successfully
rallied the troops to her, and they were able to hold the western
gate that had nearly fallen. Despite such accomplishments, most of
the knights had rejected the blond girl's proposed plan to launch a
sneak attack, deeming it too dangerous.
Only one person, Gaius, supported her plan and swore to deploy his
own troops to draw attention away from her movements.
Unfortunately, the truth was that the actual Gaius had already been
killed. Shisandan had used magic to assume his appearance. The
royal guard were elite forces, but with their commander being the
enemy in disguise, they were caught off guard by the demon lord's
troops and hastily massacred.
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Rit had intended to spring a sneak attack where the enemy least
expected one, from behind. Instead, her force was met by a fully
prepared enemy and in a position where they were sure to be wiped
out.
"Where's Gaius…? What did you do to Master?!"
"I ate him, since I needed his memories, 'my favorite student,'"
Shisandan had said in the voice of the princess's beloved teacher.
Rit roared and leaped at the fiend, but she was quickly overwhelmed
by the countless demons and pushed down to the ground.
"I'd wager that if I took your form, the hero hailed by all the people
of this land, it would be even easier to capture this country. What do
you think?" Shisandan, still wearing Gaius's face, spoke with a
sinister joy.
Rit found herself in tears. A person she'd truly held dear was dead,
and now countless more would suffer because of her failure.
At that point, there was a whistling sound of something cutting
through the air. The next instant, my sword was sticking out of
Shisandan's shoulder.
"Wait, Gideon! You're too early!"
I could hear Ares complaining. It would've been another twenty
seconds before my comrades finished reaching their positions
surrounding the enemy. Because I was the fastest of the group, I had
gone ahead to check on the situation by myself. Unable to sit by and
watch, I had leaped into the fray before everyone else had time to
prepare.
For the next few moments, things were chaos. I knew the monstrous
forces of the demon lord would try to protect Shisandan. Without
the party's help, slaying the fiend was going to be difficult, but…
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"There's no way I'm abandoning Rit! She's one of us!" I shouted as I
cut down the demons restraining her.
My sword had been the trusted sword of a ghost knight who
protected an underground tomb. It was a treasured weapon said to
call forth lightning when it was swung. The unsheathed blade of
Thunderwaker flashed in the evening sun, and the demons recoiled
in fear, like children cowering at silver lightning crackling through the
sky.
We'd pursued Rit after discovering the truth about Gaius at the last
second.
"Gideon…"
"Don't cry, Rit! If you're one of us, then face the enemy with your
swords drawn, not tears!"
"R-right!" Rit wiped away her tears with a muddy sleeve and
replaced her frightful look with a warrior's resolve. The girl picked up
her blade that had fallen to the ground.
"Ruti and the others won't take more than a minute to break
through from the outside. Until then, we have to stop the Asura
demon and keep him from escaping. Can you do that?"
"I can!"
"Then let's do it!"
We charged at Shisandan, whose false human face wore a confused
expression.
"The Hero?!" Shisandan shouted, seeing Ruti running toward us.
My sister hadn't reached us yet, but the mere presence of the Hero's
martial prowess was enough to dull Shisandan's blade. Rit and I
fought back-to-back, bellowing battle cries at the countless demons
charging at us from every direction as we swung our swords.
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When you meet a close friend for the first time in a long while, the
day seems to fly by. The rain had stopped long before we ever took
notice, and the sun was getting pretty close to the horizon. Soon it
would be time for the sky to turn red and the town to be shrouded in
the dark of evening. But even so, we sat at the table, reminiscing
about old times.
There was finally a moment when we both were silent. At that point,
Rit's eyes wavered briefly before she finally spoke.
"Hey, Red."
"What, Rit?"
The young woman was looking straight into my eyes.
"Can I work here, too?"
"Huh?" I couldn't stop the dumbfounded exclamation. I definitely
hadn't expected that.
"Red & Rit's Apothecary has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"W-wait a minute. You're one of only two B-rank adventurers in
Zoltan."
"I'll retire."
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Did she hear what she was saying? Wanting to work at a shop with
no customers from noon till night?
"As you can see, I only just opened up shop, and it isn't exactly
thriving. I don't really have the cash flow to hire staff."
"But when you go out to gather more medicinal herbs, who will
watch the store for you? Isn't it a waste to close up shop while
you're away?"
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"Ugh. Well, that's true, but I mean, what customers?"
"That's because you only just started. You'll get more in time. Why
don't you show me around?" Unwilling to wait for an answer, Rit
stood up and walked around.
"Hmm?"
"One counter and a display case on either side. Uh-huh. Pretty
straightforward."
"Because I only have the standard sorts of herbs and medicines on
display. The ones with more limited quantities or that need special
handling or storage are kept in the storehouse, or else are growing in
the backyard."
"There's plenty of room to work here. With this much space, you
could have an assistant helping."
"I don't have any plans to hire anyone for a while, but we'd probably
work pretty well together."
"And then a kitchen, a washroom, a bedroom, and the living room
we were chatting in before. You've got yourself a nice little store."
"I know, right?"
Rit started nodding as she mumbled something to herself. Listening
closer, it sounded like some kind of calculation.
"Considering Zoltan's economic situation and your skill, you're
looking at probably around one hundred and eighty payril a month
after expenses, maintenance, and taxes."
"What?! …That's all?"
I could earn around a hundred just gathering herbs for two days and
selling it to the Adventurers Guild, but doing the same thing for my
own shop was only going to net me 180 a month?
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"Really? I'm doing the gathering myself, so I don't have to pay for
raw materials."
"Medicinal herbs aren't the sort of thing that have particularly high
consumption rates. Unlike the guild, which wholesales to
apothecaries, you're selling to customers and doctors. It will take
time for you to sell out what you gather. You could probably get by
with just one excursion a month."
"Gngh."
That was all I could sell? But medicinal herbs could be used in so
many ways.
"First of all, you may have forgotten, since you became a knight so
early and then were part of the Hero's party, but an average person's
expenses are only around thirty payril a month."
"Yeah, I knew that, but…"
"A normal apothecary making one hundred and fifty payril a month
would be thriving. That hundred and eighty is based on the
assumption that the people nearby get to know you and that you'll
be able to actually grow your business."
The herbs that the Adventurers Guild bought from me were sold to
apothecaries and traveling merchants at a higher price. I had thought
I could make more money selling them directly myself, but thinking it
through again, the reason the Adventurers Guild could always sell at
any time was because of how good their market connections were.
Even if an independent shop had a stockpile of medicine, it would
take time to unload it all. I had been thinking that I could just make
things work if I could sell what I'd gathered and made myself in my
own shop, though that might have been a bit naive.
"But yeah, thirty payril is enough to live on."
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Like Rit said, I had become a knight at a young age and had a pretty
solid series of promotions all the way up to second-in-command of
the Bahamut Knights. Back then, my living expenses were around
three thousand payril a month. It was a lifestyle along the lines of an
aristocrat. The place I lived was a residence on the grounds of the
palace, and I even had a maid to help take care of everyday
necessities.
When I was traveling with Ruti, we got tens of thousands of payril
from the spoils of fighting the demon lord's army and recovering
treasure from dungeons, and we traded that for expensive miracle
potions and weapons made from rare ores. I was pretty numb to
how much normal people had to spend.
"Huh… Anyway, you're pretty knowledgeable on the subject."
"I was still a princess, you know, even if I ended up like this. I studied
a lot of things back at the palace. And when I went out, I worked at
several different stores as a bodyguard. I would usually make small
talk with the owner about how their business ran." The girl puffed
out her chest a bit as she bragged. It reminded me of how she had
acted when we first met. The thought brought an unconscious smile
to my face.
"Also, it would probably be good if you had a medicine or something
that no one else had… But since you don't have an Herbalist blessing,
finding a recipe is…"
"I've probably got something unique to fit the bill there, if that's
what you're wondering."
"Eh? You do?"
Actually, developing recipes for medicine had nothing to do with
skills. Recipes were just a simple question of knowledge. Skills didn't
get into the mix except at the actual preparation stage. Even if you
found a useful recipe, if you didn't have the skill to mix it, you
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wouldn't actually be able to complete the medicine. So realistically, it
was standard for people without an Alchemist or Herbalist blessing
to develop a new recipe.
Since I never had any innate skills, I was always groping around for
anything I could do. During the journey with my old party, I had the
opportunity to learn from documents and the knowledge of both the
past and the modern era. Even stuff left by wood elves and the
ancient elves who were destroyed in antiquity. In terms of pure
knowledge regarding preparation, I doubt I'd lose to an actual
alchemist. Though it would be a pain to explain it all if I ever brought
that up to anyone, so I never bothered.
"If I recall, they're in storage."
Rit and I headed over to the storage room.
"These two are original medicines of mine that I can make in Zoltan."
I pulled out an ashen-gray potion in a cheap-looking bottle and a pill
small enough to fit on the tip of my pinkie.
"What do they do?"
"This one is called the multiplying potion."
"M-multiplying potion?"
"Yeah. If you take a preexisting magic potion and dilute it down to
one-fifth using this, you can make five of the original."
Magic potions did not have the effect of medicinal herbs. They were
potions made by sealing away magic. White berries were often used
as catalysts for magic potions. The white berries themselves didn't
have a special effect on human bodies, but by using the liquid
extracted from them and various other things depending on the
magic you wanted to bottle, it was possible to seal it away.
By drinking the magic potion, the magic would activate, and you
would achieve the same result as if the magic had been cast.
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However, the magic potion had to be consumed in order to have any
effect, so generally speaking, healing and support magics were the
ones usually made into potions. Attack magics could be made into
potions, but they wouldn't do anything unless you could somehow
get your target to drink them.
But magic potions were extremely expensive. A cure potion based on
level-1 recovery magic that could be found in any town cost fifty
payril, so it was used as an emergency medicine for normal people
and the lowest-level mercenaries, just for when they were in danger
of dying. For C-rank and higher adventurers, they might gulp it down
as they took on a powerful enemy.
"The ingredients for the multiplying potion cost about five payril. If I
was going to put it on the market, then…I guess I'd probably go for
around four times that, so twenty payril. If you think of it as being
able to make four copies of a seven-hundred-and-fifty-payril Extra
Cure potion, then…I think it will probably find a market…um…but…"
Rit turned over the contents of the potion bottle in her hand.
What was the problem? I thought it was pretty revolutionary. And
when we were traveling, we used it to increase the number of Extra
Cure and Magic Power potions we had. Even Ares didn't have any
complaints.
"…You can't sell this."
"Really? …What's wrong with it?" My shoulders slumped. I really had
some confidence in that one. I couldn't believe Rit didn't think it was
good enough.
"What's wrong?! If you sold this, it would totally depress the market
for magic potions! It would effectively cut the cost of every potion by
eighty percent!"
"B-but I figured it would be okay, since it can only create more of an
already existing potion. You'd still need the original first."
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"The very existence of this potion would be a huge problem… If you
sold this, the Adventurers Guild, the Mages Guild, the holy church,
and probably even the Thieves Guild would come after you."
I started to laugh, but it looked like Rit wasn't joking.
"This is just potions we're talking about, right? Not some magic item
that costs more than ten thousand payril."
"Those magic items are custom made one-offs. The majority of sales,
the thing that drives actual economic activity, is the relatively cheap
potions that everyone can use." Rit was staring at me with a troubled
look, but after a second, her eyes softened.
"Pu-ha-ha…ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Suddenly, the blond girl burst out
laughing and started slapping my back. I was dumbfounded, with no
clue at all what was happening.
"Sorry, I just got this feeling of super-relief."
"Relief?"
"I had this image of you as this amazing person. Always coolheaded,
able to do all sorts of things, able to keep calm even when charging
at the demon lord's army in the midst of a fearsome battle… And
even when I thought everything was hopeless, you appeared like a
flash of lightning to save me… You always seemed so untouchable."
"I'm not that great."
"No, Red, you really are that great. If you actually took all the steps
and went through the right process and released this out into the
world, lots of people would be saved, and it would help a lot in the
fight with the demon lord's army. But what I didn't realize until just
now was that there are also things you don't know—and things you
don't notice."
I wasn't sure what was so funny about it, but she was practically in
tears. I would never have guessed she thought so highly of me. By
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the time I met her, I was already starting to fall behind the rest of the
party in battle strength. Ares and Danan had gotten really mad at me
for running ahead when I saved her from Shisandan.
"So is the illusion broken?"
"Nothing like that. It just made me think that I wanted to be with you
a little more," Rit said as she stopped laughing and lifted her
bandanna with a finger, covering her mouth as she glanced away.
Her ears turned a pinkish-red shade.
"Um, yeah, it seems like I'd probably have trouble running this place
by myself." I looked away from her, too, struggling to get the words
out as I rubbed the back of my head.
Yeah, I should have just acknowledged it. I didn't dislike her
affection. In fact, I was surprised by how happy it made me. I was
sure it was because Rit was one of my comrades from back when I
was known as Gideon. That she would still acknowledge me even
though I had been declared a hindrance and pushed out of the
Hero's party… It let me think that maybe the journey I had struggled
so desperately to keep up on, where I had been nothing more than
baggage, hadn't been entirely for nothing.
"I can't promise much for pay…and you don't have to work here all
the time. Just come by when you feel like it… But I'd like it if you'd
help me out."
"Sure! You don't have to add the bit about when I have free time,
though, since I'll always be with you!" This time, Rit didn't hide her
mouth with the bandanna, instead smiling broadly.
Excited, I started to head back to the living room, but there was still
one medicine I hadn't explained.
"Ah, um, this pill is something I made after coming to Zoltan."
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"Don't tell me it has the same effect as an Extra Cure potion or
something crazy like that."
"That's impossible. It's a new kind of anesthetic."
"Anesthetic?"
"The effect isn't any different from the one currently used, but it is
less likely to cause dependence."
The current anesthesia used for surgical procedures was very
addictive, so there were a lot of people who became dependent on it
and even overdosed well after they actually needed the drug.
Medical treatment without anesthesia was so painful, though, that
even adventurers struggled to endure it. There was also the
possibility of going into shock and dying from the pain and loss of
blood. So despite the risks, anesthesia was still indispensable.
"The less addictive, the better, right? It was a medicine I found in the
journal of an adventurer who traveled across the dark continent, but
the ingredients all grow here in Zoltan, too. They might have been
brought over and cultivated by wood elves. Either way, though, it's a
new anesthetic. Normal people won't need it, but doctors and
adventurers might be interested. What do you think?"
"Yeah, that should probably be fine. It will likely be a nice source of
income… But you should get approval from the Zoltan council first."
"The council?"
"Even if it is less addictive, it is still an anesthetic. I'm sure some
people will start wondering whether it could be used as a narcotic.
Getting approval first means you won't get an order to stop selling it
later."
"That makes sense."
"There's no telling how a new drug like that will sell. If the demand
for anesthetic usage in town comes to us, that would be a pretty
Page | 96
good source of income. If that happens, though, we might not be
able to keep up with demand."
"All it needs is the common skill Elementary Preparation. We can
produce even more if we take on another employee."
Rit froze when I said that.
"Right, you're so amazing that I forgot about it for a second, but this
only takes Elementary Preparation to make."
Pretty much all effective anesthetics required the skill Intermediate
Preparation. In that sense, this medicine suited me well. However…
"The medicine itself is great, but it might be a problem that someone
without a relevant blessing can make it…"
"R-really?"
"No one in town knows about your blessing, right? As long as we sell
this in normal amounts, we can probably just pass it off as you
having a blessing that has access to Intermediate Preparation."
"Hmm, an Herbalist with the advanced skill Preparation Analysis
might be able to reverse engineer the recipe by analyzing the
medicine, though," I added.
"You really have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to blessings.
Normally, no one would know the innate advanced skills for a
random uncommon blessing."
Knowing someone's blessing meant knowing the tricks they might
have up their sleeve. With a few notable exceptions, it was the same
for monsters, too. There were plenty of race-specific blessings, but
for the most part, monsters had the same blessings as humans. In
the monster realm, Warrior, Barbarian, Thief, Sorcerer, and Adept
were particularly common, so if you knew as much as you could
about those five, then you could generally anticipate how the enemy
would fight.
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Particularly in my case, since I didn't have any skills of my own to rely
on, I used that knowledge to fill in the gaps. For example, I realized
early on that Rit's blessing was Spirit Scout. A blessing with access to
spirit magic as a hidden trump card. When it got harder for me to
contribute in battle, there was a period where I would charge in first
in order to get a grasp of the opponent's abilities, so I could tell the
rest of the party ways of dealing with them.
But that only lasted until we started facing more and more Asura
demons, the race that formed the bulk of the demon lord's army.
They were the exception rather than the rule. Asura demons were
the one and only beings in the world that lacked Divine Blessings.
Even animals had them, but not Asura demons. Some referred to the
fiends as God's failed creations. However, in exchange for not having
blessings, it was said that Asura demons could fuse together to gain
new abilities. I can't say whether that part was true, but it was true
that Asura demons had a system of skills that was a mystery to me.
"There shouldn't be any herbalists in Zoltan with access to advanced
skills. So as long as you limit the sales to Zoltan, you should be fine. If
we only produce as much as you can make by yourself, then there
shouldn't be much getting into the hands of traveling merchants,
either."
"Good. Then if any customers ask, I can say that I have a blessing
with access to Intermediate Preparation."
"Please do. It might risk raising questions about why you haven't
stocked any medicine that requires Intermediate Preparation,
though. So only mention it if someone asks."
"I'm not going to go out of my way to tell a lie."
Truth was always preferable to the alternative. If you didn't lie, then
you never had to worry about being caught. "Silence is golden," as
the Ancient Hero supposedly said.
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"The Ancient Hero, huh?" Rit said, moved.
The story of the Hero of old who fought the demon lord back when
wood elves ruled the continent was treated almost as a fairy tale.
Lots of people doubted the veracity of it, but with the appearance of
Ruti, a modern-day Hero, the existence of the Hero Divine Blessing
had been proven, so scholars were reevaluating their stances on the
Ancient Hero, too.
Currently, archeologists and bards were apparently investigating
ancient town records and murals in cities long abandoned, searching
for records and stories of the Ancient Hero.
"It's got nothing to do with me now, though."
Right, I reminded myself. I wasn't involved in that stuff anymore.
Apparently, we were talking for a while in the storage room. By the
time we realized it, the sun had almost set, and the red sky was
about to give way to darkness.
"Want to have something to eat?"
"Yes, please!"
That much excitement was enough to make the cook in me happy, so
I decided to put a little extra effort into the meal. I headed to the
kitchen, considering what to make.
"I haven't had a chance to go shopping yet, though. If I'm throwing
something together with what I've got, then…"
Chicken leg cut into chunks and boiled in water with grated ginger.
Once the chicken was soft, I added two halves of a potato and a
boiled egg. Once the potato got soft, I added some pasta, salt, and
herbs for seasoning… It was done before I knew it.
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Southern-style pasta soup. During my travels, throwing out the water
that had been used to boil pasta was a waste, so I ended up making a
lot of pasta soups. This was a recipe I'd picked up during those
experiences. I hoped Rit would like it. A twinge of nervousness
gripped me as I brought out our bowls.
"It's delicious!"
"I'm glad you like it."
Rit was sitting at the table with her bandanna, usually around her
neck, set aside as she deliciously chowed down on my cooking. It
really was great having someone enjoy your cooking.
"And I'll get to have your cooking every day now."
"Hmm? I guess so."
Apparently, she was planning on coming by to eat every day. Well,
preparing food for friends was one of the small pleasures in life for
me; I was fine with it.
"When do you normally eat in the morning?"
"Hmm? Ah, usually around half past seven or so?"
"In that case, I'm going to have to actually make a point of getting up
a bit early. Working as an adventurer, I always end up staying in bed
when I don't have anything going on. I'll have to do my best to fix
that!"
Evidently, she also intended to come by for breakfast, too. Was she
planning to eat all three meals here? I couldn't really afford to pay
her that much, so covering some of the salary with food was
probably fair.
Starting tomorrow, meals were likely going to get very interesting.
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"Oh yeah. I'll cover the cost, but we should get a proper bath made,
too."
"A bath? I mean I'd be glad to have one, but you don't have to go
that far for me."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm going to be using it, too, after all."
…She apparently intended to bathe here, too… Wait…
"There's only the one single bed. We're going to have to buy another
one tomorrow."
"Yeah. H-huh?"
"I'll bring whatever personal stuff I need over, but I can just leave the
furniture in my old place."
It seemed an awful lot for a job. It's almost like she was…
"Ha-ha, it's almost like you want to live in my house."
"Ha-ha, I mean, yeah, obviously, since I'm moving in."
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
Wait a minute. When did this turn into her moving into my house?
The building was decently sized since it also had my store, but the
living area itself wasn't that big.
"I said it before, didn't I? I'm going to quit being an adventurer and
work here."
"Oh yeah, you did sa—? Wait, what? How does that lead to moving
in here?"
"Since I'm quitting adventuring and working here, it would be more
convenient if I was also living here, right?"
"I—I see. I guess that makes sense… If you say so."
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"I do say so."
"Okay."
"Okay"? Well, to sum up it basically meant that Rit was going to be
living with me from then on.
"…Uh…huh? Wait a minute, wait a minute. Isn't that kind of bad?"
"Why?"
"I mean, if we're living together, then, like…"
"What's the problem? We slept in the same tent before, right?
There'll be even more space between us now than there was then."
"But that's just because when you're camping out, there are only so
many tents. We just naturally ended up having to share a tent."
"Isn't it the same? We're comrades, aren't we?"
"Mn? Uh? I mean, yeah, we are."
"Then it's fine for us to sleep together in the same room."
"Really?"
"Really."
Was it, though?
"All right, I'm going to go clean up, so I'll be using the washroom."
"S-sure. Do you have a change of clothes?"
"I always just throw stuff into my item box."
"I mean, that helps, but should you really just be doing that?"
"There's a comfy little yard here, so if there's some time, I can just
hang my clothes out to dry in the sun."
"Hmm, then do you want some help with that?"
"It's fine, it's fine… But if you don't mind…?"
"Sure."
…Wait, were we going to sleep in the same room?
There was only one bed, but still…