Chapter 103
Chapter 103
After helping put the furniture that Velsa and the others bought in the captain’s quarters, it soon became evening .
When I took my employees along to the government office, we just happened to meet Riddle-san bringing along his escorts
“My apologies . I didn’t give you a place to meet up at . ”
“Oh no, I also didn’t ask about it . But meeting up like this is also fine, right?”
“That’s true . Oi . ”
Riddle-san called out to on of his escorts .
“It’s the gemstones and magic books . And also, it would be good for you to have our emblem as well . Whaat, it’s nothing that will hinder you; it might come to be unexpectedly useful some time . ”
Riddle-san showed me a somewhat large cloth with a black eagle pattern drawn on it . It looks like it could be a flag .
Ayl received the gemstones and magic books, putting them in the item bag .
“Then, I will receive it . ”
I personally received the emblem from Riddle-san and put it in my item bag .
During negotiations or if we’re attacked by pirates, showing the emblem might give us a discount or make them pull back .
“It’s a farewell party, but Margaret-san and Langley are also coming . ”
Langley is the Adventurer’s Guild’s Guild Master .
“Is that so?”
“The assembly spot is this way . ”
So saying, Riddle-san took the lead and started walking .
Behind Riddle-san is me, and behind me are my employees, and behind them are the escorts coming along .
Climbing Floura’s hill, we came to the artisan’s street, a place with furniture shops, forges, shoe shops, and stonework shops and the like are lined up .
Riddle-san went into one of the forges as if he knew the owner, had a conversation with the shopkeeper, and went further in . When I was at a loss as for what to do, Riddle-san called, “This way . ” It seems the escorts will be watching out in front of the shop .
He told us, “This way,” but I’m confused over whether we were going to a farewell party or not; even so, I headed in the direction of Riddle-san’s voice .
There were stairs that lead to the basement, and when we went down it, there was a small bar .
There was a counter, and the wall on the bartender’s side had bottles of liquor lined up . The dim light of the magic stone lamps gives a mature air to it . There’s also a very pleasant smell . It’s probably incense; a pot the size of a palm has smoke coming from it .
“Just what is…”
“It’s a place of restoration for artisans . The bars outside are noisy and you can’t talk about work, right? Here, you can drink quietly . ”
Riddle-san explained .
“Is this something like a secret club?”
“Umu . It’s something like the Artisan’s Guild’s hidden room . ”
“And we can come to a place like this?”
Honestly speaking, the furnishings look expensive, and I can’t deny feeling out of place .
“Since Naoki-dono and company are all something like extermination artisans . Now come, a private room has been prepared .
Riddle-san opened a door further into the bar . The room isn’t big, but it’s big enough for about 10 people to drink in .
“Ah, so you’ve come . Everyone come in, and go ahead and sit . You were quite early, ne . ”
Margaret-san, who had come earlier, said .
Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, my employees and I look around all over .
The walls are made of stone, in a way where the seams are inconspicuous . The technique of an artisan .
I can hear the faint sound of water flowing . When I look with the Search Skill, I realized that a river is flowing beyond the wall .
“There’s a river flowing beyond the wall . An underground river . Almost all of Floura’s wells get water from this river . ”
Riddle-san told me, who was surprised .
When everyone took their seats, bottles of fruit wine were brought in . When I saw the wait-staff coming in, it was the blackmsmith youth that came in for an interview at lunch . In the forge at noon and working here at night is pretty tough . It feels like it would be awkward, so let’s pretend I didn’t notice .
“ “ “ “ Cheers!” “ “ “
We started before the Adventurer’s Guild’s Langley had come .
Ayl and I said we were holding back from alcohol and had them prepare cups of tea . When I drew ice magic circles on the bottoms of the cups and made iced tea, everyone said they wanted me to draw it on their cups . I only drew it on with magic power, so the effect will disappear after 2 or 3 hours, probably .
“Delicious! It really is more delicious when chilled!”
Margaret-san was tapping her cheek in delight .
And from then, dishes were brought out one after another . Any and all of them look delicious .
“The stonemason’s wife was a former chef, so it’s certainly delicious . ”
Riddle-san said .
“That Bartender-san is the stonemason?”
“That’s right . The ones who made this place are also the stonemason and his colleagues . You can say that he’s the Artisan’s Guild’s shadow leader . ”
My previous world also had a secret society formed of a mason organization, but this sort of thing might come easily for the occupation . With a single stone out of place, the castle will crumble, or something .
“As I thought, the food here has a different flavor . ”
Margaret-san said as she was eating something that was similar to carpaccio .
“Do you come here often?”
Velsa, sitting across from Margaret-san, asked .
“It’s not that often, but I do come here . I have to discuss the width of the tollroads with the artisans, as well . ”
It must be a hassle to think about the standardization of carriages .
“Ah, that’s right . It’s about the topic of the hero from this morning . ”
Margaret-san brought a book out and began talking .
“This is an adventurer’s journal, and this Varginia continent and the eastern archipelago are in it, and the continent if you go even further east also seems to be in here . There’s a dense forest on that continent, and it’s written that there’s a country underneath the forest’s cliff where the hero is . ”
“Nn . It’s quite a bit further from the archipelago . ”
Hearing what Margaret-san said, Riddle-san agreed with her .
Looks like it’s quite the journey .
“I wonder if our ship will be alright?”
I tried asking Riddle-san about the source of my unease .
“I’d wager there’d be no problem . ”
“It’s just that I feel like having only 5 people manning it is a bit too much . ”
“What!? 5 people! You don’t have any other sailors?”
“Yeah . That’s right . It’s fine that we have Seth, who understands how to steer a boat, but I was thinking if it wouldn’t be better to have someone who can read sea charts and someone who can read a compass . ”
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“You don’t have a navigator!? How are you intending to sail?”
At Riddle-san’s words I looked at Seth, and,
“Well, you’re heading east as long as you can see land on your left, right?”
Seth explained .
That’s certainly true .
“I was thinking, at worst, I can use the Search Skill to see and give orders to avoid reefs and the like . ”
“But if you go too far south, you won’t be able to tell what direction you’re going . The southern sea is called the Demon Sea . There’s cases where your boat will suddenly change its bearing . ”
That’s the Space Spirit’s fault, isn’t it? It seems that the Space Spirit has erected a wall around this planet’s equator, splitting the northern hemisphere from the southern hemisphere, as God and Demon God had explained .
And so, we won’t go south . But it’s not like it isn’t scary .
“Don’t stray from the coast as much as possible . ”
“Yes, that’s my intention . Also, I was thinking that if we’re going to the continent that far east, it would be fine to follow a merchant ship . ”
Our captain is super-optimistically relying on others .
“Honestly, I don’t know if it’s thanks to the Steering Skill rising, but I don’t think another ship could throw us off their trail . ”
That’s somehow plausible .
“But what do you intend to do about the sails? If you don’t properly unfurl the sails, the speed will … I see . That’s right . ”
Seems like Riddle-san realized something midway through speaking .
“That’s right . About the task of furling and unfurling the sails, our people have the physical abilities able to leap from mast to mast . We also have President’s magic circles . ”
I wonder if Seth is taking a bold approach to ships .
“I see, so 5 people will be able to handle it somehow . ”
“Yes, and if the sea is too rough, I intend to weather it out at the nearest port without pushing our luck . ”
“It’s quite the reckless plan, but you’ve thought it out, na . ”
Riddle-san seems to admire Seth’s opinions . ”
“Entering this company, it’s only natural that absurd things got mixed in and became ordinary . ”
Seth said as he bit down on some meat on the bone .
“Captain . Can we get there so easily?”
I asked Seth at the end .
“As long as the President’s here, we’ll get there somehow, right? Like, at worse, you can make the boat fly through the sky . ”
Our newbies have become able to say some really unreasonable things .
“Good grief, who are you taking after?”
“I’ve been thinking frantically since I’ve been entrusted with the boat, but Ayl-san and Velssan said just thinking about it is useless . And then I realized, that’s right, our company’s people aren’t normal . ”
Seth laughed at my concern like he wasn’t involved in them while drinking fruit wine .
Anyway, I wonder if things will be alright if we go in the 3o’clock direction on the compass .
“Even so, it would be better to be a bit cautious when passing by the archipelago . ”
Riddle-san said .
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“Is there something there?”
“The eastern archipelago is, well . A very free country is crowded in there . But with great freedom comes great dangers . ”
Margaret-san told us .
“And that’s why I gave you my emblem . ”
“Ah, I’ll also give you my emblem to have . ”
Receiving Riddle-san’s words, Margaret-san took out a folded cloth from her bag and handed it to me . When I unfolded it to look at it, there was a white shield with a guardian dog, a griffon, and a laurel leaf in it drawn there .
‘It might just be for my peace of mind, but I think it will be somewhat effective to those who do recognize it . ”
“Thank you very much . ”
I carefully folded the emblem and put it away in the item bag .
At just this time, Langley appeared .
“Sorry . I’m late . ”
“It’s fine . We started without you, after all . ”
We raised another toast .
“My apologies . Our employees have surely caused you some trouble, I’m sure . ”
I said as I poured Langley a cup of fruit wine .
“Oh no … nn, well . ”
Langley can’t deny it . There was the newbies’ training, and the aid from the locusthopper time . And Ayl ravaged the training grounds yesterday .
“Well, see . I registered the Komuro Company as a party; is that okay?”
Did Langley run all the way here? He asked that while wiping sweat off his brow .
“I don’t really mind . ”
“And so . There aren’t any more adventurers who want to fight you lot thanks to your [Sword King] lady rampaging yesterday, but now there are people appearing who say they want to join you . It takes a lot of time just refusing them . ”
“I see . I’m sorry about that . ”
“Oh no, that’s my job . And, so? Do you have any intentions of taking newcomers?”
“Adventurers are only strong, right?”
“Well, basically . ”
“If they’re the same level as those guys from yesterday, it would be impossible for them . ”
Ayl, listening by the side, broke in .
Langley looked down with a, “As I thought,” and nodded several times .
“Frankly, I think I wouldn’t be able to keep up with all of you even in my heyday . That should have been conveyed to all of the Adventurer’s Guilds on this Varginia continent, but beware that you’ll get a lot of solicitation when you go to the Adventurer’s Guilds on this continent . ”
“Solicitations?”
“Yeah, they should attempt to retain all of somehow . As long as you don’t forget your goal of going east, it should be fine . ”
Langley looked at me as if he was saying, “I’m counting on you . ”
The balance between the Adventurer’s Guilds could be broken if we stay at any one place for a long time .
“It was also difficult while all of you were away from Flora, you know . ”
Langley began to complain . It seems like there were inquiries being made about us from all sorts of places .
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“You were made famous with the locusthopper extermination, na . ”
Riddle-san said with a laugh .
The place became rowdy bit by bit, and around when I was beginning to think whether or not Ayl and I should drink a little more fruit wine, Riddle-san filled my cup with fruit wine and began to talk . Ayl and Seth were talking with Langley, and Velsa and Merumo were talking with Margaret-san .
“Naoki-kun . Actually, I have a serious request . ”
“What is it?”
“I want you to look for my half-sibling of a different mother . ”
Come to think of it, thanks to Riddle-san’s father being an amorous person, he has siblings of all sorts of different races .
“Of course, it’s fine if it’s just in your spare time in the midst of your journeys . He seems to be in a beastman country far to the north, and when my father was young, it seems he had become wounded and gone there to be healed . It’s country that has far more advanced medicine than our country, and it’s said that his arm, that had be torn up and eaten by a shark, was returned to normal . ”
If that’s true, that’s one hell of a medical technique . Even taking recovery potions, as expected, wouldn’t cure a missing arm .
“Well, I also don’t really believe it, but Father fell in love with a beastman in that country . It appears that he had a child, he said . With Father, in regards to his relations with women, it’s probably not a lie…”
“I understand . If we find your sibling, we’ll contact Margaret-san with the communication bag . Are there any special traits?”
“I don’t really know, but it seems that he’s older than me, and he looks a lot like me . My father often said, ‘You look a lot like Shawn . ’”
“I see; then I’ll try asking around for a beastman named Shawn . ”
“Sorry for asking it of you, but it’s a big help . ”
“But how enviable . Riddle-san’s father seems to have been pretty popular . ”
“There’s a limit to being popular, you know . ”
Riddle-san made a bitter smile .
“Oh yeah! Naoki, how was that? Floura’s brothels . ”
Velsa, in a seat far away from me, suddenly asked .
“How was it, there wasn’t! In the first place, what are you saying, in a place like this?”
“Isn’t it interesting?! Actually, Naoki said something like that when we were on the ship before we came to this town!”
Velsa, drunk, began to speak loudly . I also drained my cup of fruit wine and began telling my own embarrassing stories .
Our last night in Floura became a night where I revealed all my frustrations and shame .
Was it thanks to my sweat and tears? I didn’t get drunk enough to lose my memories that night .
The next morning, we left the town of Floura while being seen off by the people we’re indebted to .
Riddle-san’s younger brother, Jerry, the townspeople, Margaret-san and Granny, the governmenta office’s employees, the Adventurer’s Guild’s Langley and adventurers we knew well . Even though it was early in the morning, the prostitutes from the brothels were also there .
“Captain Seth~!”
It seems like Seth has become the prostitutes’ idol at some point .
Maybe I’ll also become muscular .
“What’s wrong, Naoki, are you crying?”
Ayl asked .
“Who’d cry!?”
While waving my hand, I wiped the sweat off my cheeks .