Chapter 13: Moran Trading Company
So, what she was seriously thinking about was the incantation, huh?
She placed the arrow imbued with magical power against her knee, pulled with all her might, and snapped it. This time, it broke with a sharp pakiiin sound.
Judging from the sound, it seems to have become considerably harder, and Fran-san looks satisfied too.
“One more time. This time, try imbuing it with magical power while wishing for it to become twice as hard.”
Since doing as I was told yielded results, this time she obediently nodded, made an arrow, and immediately began the incantation to imbue it with magical power.
After repeating the same incantation twice, she placed it against her knee again and applied force, but it didn’t break.
It bent slightly, but even with Fran-san’s full strength, it didn’t break.
“To think something like this was possible… I never knew.”
“I forgot to ask, but how much Magical Power do you have, Fran-san?”
“At the time of the bestowal, I was told I had 76 Magical Power. It’s written on my Adventurer Card too.”
“So, how many more times can you use magic?”
Asked by me, she started counting on her fingers and replied, “Usually, I’m on the verge of running out of magical power after 15 or 16 uses, so maybe 7 or 8 more times?”
If that’s the case, I thought we could have her build a larger Shelter and reinforce it, so I had her build a shelter about 2.5m x 3m on a leveled patch of ground.
I stopped her from trying to reinforce the completed structure and had her create a door about 1m high and 50cm wide, and then do a little more work on it.
On the opposite side of the door, I had her make a cut with a knife, fashioning it to look just like an entrance, and then reinforce it from the back.
“Is it okay not to make it hard?”
“We’ll do that later. Let’s go call the other two.”
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“Are you saying we should wait for you inside here?”
“It’s impossible for an old woman with bad legs and a child to walk any further through this forest. We’ll prepare a place to sleep and food, so you’ll just have to wait until we call for someone from Holm to pick you up.”
“You will definitely come back, won’t you!”
“We’re Adventurers. We want a reward for saving you, after all.”
“I will speak to my master about that and arrange for you to be satisfied.”
I had Fran-san reinforce the Shelter and the door three times. It took two days to prepare the sleeping arrangements and secure food.
Actually, I relied on Bee-chan and the others for food procurement, and they secured four Horned Rabbits and large chickens called Red Chickens.
I left the butchering to Fran-san, and as expected from someone who used to accompany hunts in her village, she’s quite skilled.
On the day of departure, I put the meat into the young lady’s magic bag and asked her to hang thin strips of raw meat on the perch.
She looked puzzled, so I called Bee-chan and the others from a different hole than the smoke vent and told her it was their meal.
Well, her eyes went wide with surprise, but since they would protect this place until we returned, I reminded her to hang the strips of meat if the bees came in. I also made a place for Koo-chan underground and asked her to hang a thumb-sized piece of meat there as well.
Leaving Bee-chans number 31 to 50 to guard the old woman and the girl, we would be going with 30 Bee-chans.
After they closed the door and bolted it from the inside, I had Fran-san lightly cover it with Earth Magic so that the door wouldn’t be visible from the outside.
I took the paper with the Moran Trading Company’s address and Hanna-baasan’s identification, while Fran-san checked Mina-chan’s toy and the paper with the address, and then we departed.
Without these, they probably wouldn’t believe us even if we reached the Moran Trading Company, so we decided to carry separate items.
Hanna-baasan coldly told us that it would be fine as long as one of us arrived, even if the other fell, which made me feel a little awkward.
Even with Bee-chan and the others as escorts, I left navigating the forest and determining the direction to Fran-san.
I’d lose all sense of direction, so I just followed her completely.
The fact that Fran-san called out to me back then, and that I helped her afterwards, has been a great help.
There’s a lot I’m learning from her, like knowledge of Medicinal Herbs, how to extract magic stones from goblins, and how to butcher prey.
Thanks to her, managing to secure 13 goblin magic stones is a big deal. I want to get Orc magic stones eventually, but that’ll have to wait until Fran-san’s magic improves.
Bee-chan and the others told me it’s difficult for them to defeat hairy beasts.
However, as a way to drive them off, I taught them to aim for exposed noses, eyes, and ears, so they’ve been quite helpful in chasing them away.
On the fifth day, Fran-san said we should be able to see the town of Emden soon, so we moved east until we could see the highway.
When we reached the highway, we couldn’t see a town to the north or south, but when we asked a farmer on a passing cart for the direction to Emden, he silently pointed south.
It seemed we had passed it, so we thanked him and headed back into the forest.
This time, we headed north without straying too far from the highway, but near human settlements, we encountered things other than beasts, which was troublesome.
“Where are you from?” “Do you both have Magic Pouches?” “What are you doing in a place like this?” We were pestered with such prying questions.
Some of them, the types who look like they’re hiding something while carrying a pack, even started following us, so I asked Bee-chan to sting them two or three times.
“Killer Bees are really convenient, aren’t they? I really understand why you gathered Bee-chan’s companions, Shinya-san.”
Being extra cautious, we walked along the grasslands beside the highway until the town of Holm was in sight, so it took us 6 days.
Thanks to that, when I checked my skills: [Shinya, Human, 18 years old. Tamer, Ability 1, Amadeus’s Blessing, Tina’s Blessing, Life Magic, Magical Power 10/10, Search: Beginner-High, Presence Detection: Beginner-High, Stealth: Beginner-High, Tree Climbing, Poison Nullification, Killer Bee Domination]
[Poison Spider, 5-1, Compound Eyes, Tree Climbing, 9]
[Killer Bee, 50-13, Compound Eyes, Poison Nullification, 10]
Search, Presence Detection, and Stealth have become Beginner-High.
What the heck is “Beginner-High”? Koo-chan’s number, who isn’t even with us, also kept decreasing and became 9, and Bee-chan’s became 10.
Along the way, we encountered Killer Bees other than Bee-chan’s swarm, so I tried calling out to them, and they obediently came over. I then asked them to hunt a Horned Rabbit.
To my surprise, they called their companions, other than Bee-chan’s group, hunted a Horned Rabbit, and presented it to me.
As thanks, I offered them finely chopped pieces of the butchered meat, but I asked Fran-san to do the butchering.
It was quite a sight to see Fran-san fearfully butchering the Horned Rabbit while dozens of unfamiliar Killer Bees swarmed around it. I didn’t forget to ask them not to attack her because she’s my friend.
Through this series of events, I don’t know if it’s a request or a command, but my intentions get through. Since I haven’t Tamed them, I can’t converse with them like I do with Bee-chan and the others, but I found out that simple communication is possible.
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Upon safely entering the town of Holm, we went straight to the market. After having a proper meal for the first time in a while, we asked for directions to Lafolle Street and headed for the Moran Trading Company.
Lafolle Street was lined with luxury residences and large stores. No wonder Hanna-baasan had said so haughtily, “Don’t you know of the Moran Trading Company, which supplies various crafts and artworks even to the royal family?”
The Moran Trading Company we were looking for was a large store with a sign that read “Purveyor to the Royal Family, Arts and Crafts,” and there were even guards standing at the main entrance.
Two grimy Adventurers like us… from the moment we entered this street, the stares from those around us were painful.
When we went around to the back of the building, wasn’t there a back gate?
“You brats, this isn’t a place for the likes of you! Get lost!”
Good grief, it looks like it’s going to be a hassle just to state our business.
“Excuse me. We’ve brought a message from Mina-ojousama’s wet nurse, Hanna-san, for the master…”
“What did you just say! Why do you know that! Don’t move from there! Don’t run!”
“Like I said, a message from Hanna-san for the master…”
At the guard’s shout, armed men rushed out from inside the mansion.
“You! Behave yourselves! If you try to run, we’ll cut you down!”
《Master, shall I sting them?》
《No! Like I said earlier, don’t come down unless I call you. Got it!》
《Okay~》
“Hey, are you listening! What did you do to the young lady!”
“Um~, if I were a thief, do you think I’d just waltz into a place like this?”
“Then, who are you!”
“Like I said, we’ve been entrusted with a message for the master of the Moran Trading Company from Mina-ojousama’s wet nurse, Hanna-san. Instead of making a fuss, please give this to the master.”
Saying that, I held out Hanna-baasan’s identification.
Seeing it, did their excitement finally subside? After confirming the identification, he hurriedly rushed into the mansion.
Even then, he didn’t forget to shout, “Don’t let those two escape!”
We’ve come all this way to see the master, there’s no way we’d run.
He’s a guy I have trouble distinguishing whether he’s loyal to his job or just an idiot.
The man who had rushed into the mansion came rushing back out again and bellowed, “Bring those two here!”
We were dragged into the mansion by the men surrounding us, pushed into a place like a waiting room, and made to stand before a man wearing clothes resembling a frock coat.
“Where did you get this?”
“I received it directly from her. Are you perhaps willing to listen now?”
“Watch your mouth! Depending on how this goes, you might not leave this mansion in one piece, and be prepared to become a crime slave for life!”
“So saving Ojou-chan and Hanna Baa-san makes me a crime slave? You received a letter demanding a ransom for Mina Ojou-chan, didn’t you? You don’t need to pay that.”
“You saved Ojou-sama? …What do you mean! Speak!”
“The result is, I saved Ojou-chan and Hanna Baa-san, and we escaped from the bandits’ den.”
“Saved them and escaped? Then where are they!”
“They’re hiding in the forest between Zandra and Emden. They’re waiting for someone to pick them up, so let me meet your master.”
“You’re not lying, are you! If this is some tall tale…”
“You’re persistent, aren’t you. Don’t you want to save Ojou-chan? It took us 11 days to get here. If you don’t go pick them up soon, they’ll run out of food.”
“Wait here. I will inform the Master.”