Chapter 49: The Adventurer’s Ordeal
I took out two Medium Bottles from my Magic Pouch, placed them in front of the Madam, and set an empty bottle beside them.
She seemed surprised by the beautiful golden color, free of impurities because it had been strained through cloth.
“I don’t know the exact volume, so please measure it using the empty bottle. You can transfer the payment to the Commerce Guild.”
“Thank you. Sugar is essential for entertaining in the Royal Capital, you see.”
I happened to glance at Mina-san, and she was feeding Mii-chan her own milk. A maid was just placing a replacement milk for Mina-san, but she didn’t look very happy.
“Mina-san, do you dislike milk?”
When I asked, she looked at the milk and replied discontentedly, “It’s not tasty.”
I asked the maid for a sip, took a small amount, and tasted it. The flavor was rich, but a grassy smell hit my nose.
Adding Honey to the milk probably wouldn’t get rid of the grassy smell, so to add a floral aroma and sweetness, I tried adding Flower Nectar to the leftover milk.
After shaking it lightly to mix, I took a sip. A faint grassy smell remained, but the floral aroma and light sweetness made it easy to drink.
I got half a cup of milk from the maid, added Flower Nectar, and tasted it with a spoon.
“Try drinking this. It’s sweet and smells nice.”
With a skeptical look, she took the cup, sniffed it, and said, “It smells like flowers,” before taking a sip.
The floral aroma and sweetness won her over; she drank it all in one go and held out her cup for a refill.
“What is that?”
“It’s Flower Nectar. It’s collected by pulling large flowers from their stems. Haven’t you ever picked flowers and sucked the sweet nectar when you were little?”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it. And you have so much of it?”
She asked, looking at what I had in my hand.
It was a kettle I bought for tea, but I’d bought a new one with a narrow spout specifically for Flower Nectar and was using that.
It seemed to hold about as much as a plastic bottle, so she appeared interested.
“Shinya, more.”
She finished her refill of milk and, letting out a small burp, held out her cup.
“You’ve had too much. Next time, okay?”
“May I have a little taste?”
I poured a few spoonfuls into a teacup and handed it to the maid.
The Madam took the cup from the maid, sniffed its aroma, and tasted the nectar on the spoon.
She was surprised by the light sweetness and aroma, different from Honey, but her eyes were fixed, and it was a bit scary.
“Could I possibly have you part with this?”
“No, I can’t. It’s something I collected for myself, and if it became widely known, it would likely cause trouble.”
While we were talking, that damn old man picked up the cup, checked the aroma, and tasted it.
“If this were presented to the royal family…”
“It’s because people like this would start making a fuss, you see.”
As I replied while glaring at the damn old man, the Madam also looked at her father and frowned.
“Besides, this is originally meant for adding fragrance. You add Honey to tea for sweetness, then add a few drops of this to enjoy the aroma. I only used Flower Nectar to get rid of the grassy smell in the milk, but if you use it like that, it’ll be gone in no time.”
I boldly told her something that was half-truth and half-lie.
If I said I had more, she’d pester me for it, and the damn old man might even demand I hand it over.
“How much effort do you think it takes to collect this much Flower Nectar?”
Even with Honeybees of that size, one bee collects less than 10 drops. It’s a precious item that can only be gathered with not just hundreds, but thousands of Honeybees.
My business was done, and I tried to take my leave, but Mina-san wouldn’t let go of Mii-chan, so it took three whole days before we could say goodbye.
The reward for the former Guild Master, the Magic Bag he had, and its contents were processed through the magistrate, so the Madam promised to take responsibility for receiving them and handing them over to me.
At that time, she told me that Mina-san would be moving to their residence at their shop in the Royal Capital before entering the nobles’ academy, so she wouldn’t be at their house in Holm, Territory of Elzart anymore. She gave me their address in the Royal Capital and a card.
It was something she gave to friends without noble titles; if I showed it to the staff at the mansion or shop, they could contact the Madam, and she assured me I wouldn’t be treated rudely like before.
Finally, she said that if I were to sell Honey, she would buy it at the market price anytime, so I should come to her. That’s when I understood the meaning of the card.
I see, so she wanted me to become a stable supplier of Honey. Selling a large amount to the Adventurers Guild seemed like it could be troublesome, so I figured securing a reliable buyer might be a good idea.
I’d probably end up going to the Royal Capital eventually, and I planned to go to Mama’s place to get Flower Nectar in the spring, so this would be a matter for after that.
For now, once the reward of 500 Gold Coins—50,000,000 Dahla—was transferred, making magically enchanted clothes was the priority.
If I had been hit by that Fireball back then, I would have suffered severe burns or, worse, ended up in the afterlife, so I wanted to get them quickly.
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After leaving the town of Kantas and heading towards Zandra, I veered off the main road into the grasslands, met up with Hoo-chan and the others, and walked at a leisurely pace.
When we got closer to Zandra, Hoo-chan said he smelled blood.
Figuring the smell must be coming from upwind, I headed in that direction, and he told me he could hear human voices and Goblin cries.
It must have been 4 or 5 minutes since he mentioned the smell of blood. I wondered if they were newbies, taking so long with mere Goblins, and my interest was piqued.
After a while, I started to hear it too, but the jeering voices gave me an unpleasant feeling.
Using trees and bushes for cover, I crept towards the voices and saw about 10 Adventurers forming a circle, preventing Goblins in a hollow from getting out.
“Hey, put your back into it and hit ’em harder!”
“If you lose, you’ll pay for it!”
“If you don’t want to get eaten yourself, show some grit!”
The jeering men and the Goblins were in the way, so I couldn’t see clearly, but they were surrounding someone fighting Goblins and were roaring with laughter.
I stealthily approached from behind, but no one was keeping watch on their surroundings.
It was four Goblins versus two young people. Three Goblins and two people were down.
The Goblins couldn’t escape outside, but they weren’t being attacked by the circle, so it was a fight where they were being forced to attack the ones inside the ring.
And one person was tied up and lying on the ground.
I didn’t like this.
《Hoo-chan and the others, kill the ones standing! Don’t kill the ones fighting the Goblins. Mii-chan, kill the Goblins!》
《Yes, Master.》
I struck the man next to the tied-up person with my Short Spear, and at the same time, a shriek of “Gyaaa!” went up, but I paid it no mind.
“Wh-what the?”
“Damn it, it’s a wolf!”
“Uwooh!”
“Don’t just stand there…”
“Uwaaaah!”
It became chaotic, but they couldn’t react in time to the attack of two Forest Wolves.
In the meantime, Mii-chan slashed the Goblin’s leg, and as it fell, she clawed its face.
I ignored the two who were still standing and checked the condition of the two who were down.
One had no pulse, so a Potion was unnecessary. The other was bleeding from the forehead and leg, and their arm was broken, but they were alive.
A lesser medium-grade Potion should be fine, I thought, as I sprinkled it on the head and leg wounds and had them drink the rest.
The two still standing didn’t understand what had happened and were just dazed, so I left them and looked towards Hoo-chan and the others. Four men were clumped together, swinging their swords.
《Mii-chan, slash their legs. Hoo-chan and the others, don’t let them escape.》
“Uwoooah, damn it, my leg!”
“Eh?”
“What is this thing?”
In an instant, their legs were slashed, and all four fell, writhing, but they wouldn’t let go of their swords, so I snapped their arms.
《Keep an eye on them so they don’t escape.》
After giving orders to Mii-chan and Hoo-chan, I went to the two dazed individuals.
They were bleeding, but the wounds were superficial; it seemed they were at their physical limit.
I finished off the Goblin, gave them some water to calm them down, and then asked what had happened.
“While we were searching for Medicinal Herbs, our leader and the archer were hit by arrows and fell. Another person who tried to help them was also shot in the back with an arrow, and then these men appeared and attacked us.”
“We drew our swords too, but we were outnumbered. On top of that, Anri was captured, and we couldn’t do anything. We were tied up and brought here. Then, those guys found a group of Goblins, chased them into this hollow, threw sticks at us, and told us to fight.”
So the one tied up and lying on the ground was a woman.
If they didn’t kill their captives immediately but enjoyed tormenting them to death, they probably weren’t slave hunters, but either way, they were nothing but scumbags.
I gave the two of them a mid-beginner grade Potion and left them to take care of the seriously injured one and the woman lying on the ground.
I looked around at the men being bitten to death by Hoo-chan and the others. They looked like ordinary Adventurers, but I guess they weren’t ordinary after all.
When I turned back, Hoo-chan and the others were near the woman lying on the ground, so the two survivors were having trouble getting close to her.
“They’re my tamed beasts, so it’s alright.”
《Hoo-chan and the others, come over here.》
As Hoo-chan and the others slowly started walking towards me, the two of them backed away.
Even if they’re called tamed beasts, I suppose seeing the massive bodies of Forest Wolves up close is scary, but they won’t bite, you know.
I had the heavily injured man and the bound, weakened woman sit down, then ordered the two relatively healthy ones to gather the belongings of the men we had defeated.
They were hesitating in front of the four whose limbs I’d injured, so I took over and searched their bodies.
I confiscated their weapons and tossed them aside, then gathered one leather bag and three Magic Pouches together.
Including the belongings of the dead ones, that made five leather bags and six Magic Pouches.
The four who were still alive were bleeding from their legs, so I tied them with rope and at least stopped the bleeding.
“There’s no need for self-introductions, right? I’ll have you remove the user registration from your Magic Pouches.”
“I know your face. I thought you were just some fool with a cat-girl, but you even have Forest Wolves under your command?”
“Hey, let me drink a Potion.”
“We were just playing around a bit, why’d you make the Forest Wolves attack us?”
“Yeah, that’s right! We were just giving them a trial to improve their skills as Adventurers!”