Tatsumi, after accepting the herb collecting request from the [Elven Resthouse], returned home with Calcedonia temporarily.
A hard leather armor, a round shield, and a one handed sword.
They were pretty high-grade equipment, as Calcedonia wished they could help Tatsumi in times of danger, even if just a little, whilst he’s on a monster hunter mission.
Tatsumi also equipped other things such as a knapsack, a small pouch, a water canteen, a knife and a machete. After finishing he had Calcedonia double check just in case.
“Yeah, I get it. By the way, are you going to stay home?”
“Is that so. Well, I don’t think it would be that much of a problem if I transfer while carrying just Calcey but… the food you make is delicious so I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Calcedonia blushed with a happy smile after she was praised by Tatsumi.
“Then, I’ll be off.”
The distance between their lips closed until it became a kiss.
Tatsumi was walking on the highway going through the town of Levantes.
Tatsumi, who judged that to be the case kept on walking on the snow shoveled highway.
Tatsumi noticed that he was being tailed by a number of people.
I see. They probably want to investigate just how I was able to find the herbs in such a short amount of time.
When it becomes cold the amount of herbs that grow becomes less no matter what, and even if they do grow they grow under the piled up snow. So it takes great effort and time to find them.
Of course, there were people who collected the herbs before the snow fell and preserved them but there were many herbs which would lose their medicinal property if not fresh so, in those cases, there was no choice but to leave the collection as a request.
The monster hunters who were tailing Tatsumi right now probably wanted to figure out how Tatsumi would do it, and then imitate him to make a killing in this season where the herbs’ prices had skyrocketed.
Tatsumi was wearing a fur jacket to combat the cold, but underneath he was storing up his mana.
But that doesn’t mean they woul
d be able to imitate Tatsumi’s transfers even if they wanted to, and Tatsumi had no obligation to go along with their pace.
Maybe they had no intention of hiding their presence from the start, they were following Tatsumi matching his pace a few long steps behind him.
After reaching the gate, Tatsumi released all his stored up mana at once.
Recently, there’s been a new monster hunter, a young one who’s been frequenting the [Elven Resthouse].
But the fact that this newbie was more intimate with the master of [Elven Resthouse] rubbed some of the regular customers here in the wrong way.
But of course, they were all aware that the master was a widow, and she still had lingering feelings towards her late husband.
She had always treated the relationship as [The master of a bar and her customers]. No one could ever break this barrier. She treated them sometimes with kindness, sometimes with harshness.
And obviously, when she became all intimate with that newbie the people who literally worshiped her didn’t feel too good.
“Hmm, let’s see… Well, he’s someone from the same country as my husband so, I guess I feel some closeness with him… And besides, if I had a child… If I gave birth to my husband’s child then that child might’ve grown up to be like him. Thinking that, I just can’t leave him alone…”
Seems like she had no sensual love for that lad. Understanding that, the devotees heaved a sigh in relief.
Furthermore, this newcomer always had a beauty by his side.
And seeing him talk with the bar master while having a beauty like that in his arms, it was like adding fuel to the already burning fire. And after they learned that the beauty was the fabled <
The master of the [Elven Resthouse] deeply hates fights between the regulars. If someone did surprise attack the newcomer in the bar and the master heard of it, she would definitely ban the assailants from entering the bar for life.
Certainly, he looks inexperienced. But he definitely wasn’t an average amateur. If one attacked him, he would definitely counter-attack hard.
The < But still, among the master’s adherents, there was a bunch that didn’t find her relationship with the newcomer amusing.
“…… That guy, taking a herb gather mission in this season… ain’t he just a fool?”
“In this season? How?”
“I bet the <
“Then…how?”
“Hey… How about following that guy and finding out how he did it? If we can somehow imitate that, then in this season, we could make a killing right?”
After deciding that they will tail the newcomer, they started to discuss the method.
If it’s herb gathering, then the location should be near the forest in the south. Of course, he would exit from the south gate.
And just like they thought, they saw the newcomer equipping his gear and carelessly walking down the road leading to the south gate.
“What? We could just openly follow him from here. Trying to mimic other’s techniques isn’t always a bad thing. And we monster hunters are people who live by copying other people’s’ skills right?”
After confirming that he left the south gate, they also followed suit.
They thought that after passing through the gate, the newcomer would stick to the road as much as possible and head to the forest. But when they noticed the figure of the newcomer was nowhere to be seen, they opened their eyes wide in surprise.
“There’s no mistake that he passed through the gate!! Maybe he’s hiding somewhere near here!?”
Looking at the direction one of them pointed at, they could certainly see the silhouette of the said newcomer.
“And, I don’t see any trails of him walking on the snow… He would at least have to part the snow here if he wanted to walk that far, but where’s the trail…?”
Saying that, as they once again looked at the newcomer, his figure was indeed getting smaller by the second.
In the end, all they could do was to stand there stock still and watch the back of the newcomer get further and further away. Tatsumi, who arrived near the forest using the usual <
But he was able to patiently repeat the same task over and over again, finally managing to collect the amount Eru told him to.
“… A job well done. Now all I got to do is to return to the bar and pass them to miss Eru.”
At the entrance of the forest, Tatsumi took a little rest while he sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, exposed to the wind and snow.
He used the aria of <
Recently, Calcedonia taught Tatsumi a number of handy spells that could help him greatly in everyday life.
Tatsumi who had no aptitude for the
On the way, he passed by a number of Monster hunters who were in dire distress trying to cross the snow-covered plains and used his <
After he opened the door to enter, he saw Eru with a troubled expression.
Eru glanced towards the back. Tatsumi followed her gaze and saw a bizarrely dressed man standing there.
He was standing there without any openings. Even though he was wearing a fur overcoat, you could easily tell he had a forged body underneath.
His black hair and black eyes were of no surprise to Tatsumi, but it was Tatsumi’s first time seeing someone with ashen brown skin, 4 eyes, and 4 arms.
“Yes. He said he recently left the Shade village. If it’s okay with you, can you form a duo with him for now? Of course, if you end up thinking he is incompatible with you then you can dissolve the partnership anytime you wish.”
“I said the same thing to him just now, that Tatsumi is a novice Monster hunter.”
The glint in his four eyes was sharp, as he looked at Tatsumi with an appraising gaze.
That shade, after stopping in front of Tatsumi, rudely started to observe him.
“… So you are the Tatsumi boy the mistress told me about? Humph, you look more capable than I thought~”
The Shade youth than skillfully closed just one of his four open eyes at Tatsumi, who was currently dumbfounded at his unexpected tone of speaking.
The first demi-human shade Tatsumi ever met. And also his first monster hunting teammate candidate. (*ED note: The “onee” 「オネエ」 here that this is referring to is not “big sister”「姉」 but an effeminate man. Picture someone like O.D. from Gatchaman Crowds or Alice from Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan. I couldn’t come up with a similar word in English that didn’t come across as a slur, so if you have any ideas, let us know.)
A fool who would attack even while knowing all this, certainly there wasn’t one among the regulars of the [Elven Resthouse].
A shade with four eyes and arms, with an appearance of a handsome onee*.