Chapter 18: Tailing
After the Sub-Master relayed something or other, he bowed to the pale-faced Guild Master, left the room, and we parted ways with the Sub-Master and his group outside the Guild.
“Well, I think you’ll be okay, but don’t die. We’ll be at the Helbens Hotel on Jairon Street, so let us know if you run into trouble.”
“The act is over, so we should be parting ways here, right?”
“Of course. But you can’t exactly drag anyone you capture after being attacked into the Zandra Guild, can you? It’s probably best not to hand them over to the city guards either.”
“We’re getting out of town once we’re done shopping. We’ll be camping outside the city, so you might as well pray they come attack us.”
“Even for someone with divine protection, I’ve never met anyone with guts like yours.”
“On that point, I’m grateful to the Tamer God Tina-sama for sending the bees. We’ll leave town after shopping, but please leave through the North Gate in two days.”
“Got it. Don’t die.”
How kind of him.
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“You called?”
“There were two kids among that group earlier, right?”
“Yes, sir. Heard they’re total newbies.”
“The short one’s apparently a Tamer who uses bees.”
“Bees… sir?”
“That’s right, dozens of Killer Bees. Those brats were the ones who interfered before we could grab the ransom. Also, it seems one of the guys who failed to kidnap those kids said something concerning.”
“You don’t think… about us?”
“I was asked to investigate the ones who disappeared and those who were close to them.”
“Does that mean they haven’t realized it’s us?”
“I don’t know. Have the bodies or belongings of the disappeared ones been found?”
“We found some corpses that had been partially eaten in a few places, but there were no belongings or anything that could be a clue. Could they have been attacked by someone else?”
“The ones who disappeared must be connected to those brats from earlier, so they might have hidden their belongings somewhere. Stripping loot from the dead isn’t unheard of for Adventurers… Also, the Sub-Master from Holm has brought a large number of Adventurers with him.”
“If they did strip the belongings and hide them, that would be bad for us.”
“I have people tailing the brats.”
“Then I’ll silence them.”
“Yes. Once they’re outside the city, use two groups, including skilled archers, separate from the ones tailing them.”
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“Do you notice it?”
“Kind of. Since we left the Guild and parted with the Sub-Master and his group, right?”
“There’s no killing intent, but it feels kind of… clingy.”
“Huh. I just feel like someone’s watching me. I’ll ask Bee-chan.”
I’ve often felt like I was still being watched even after breaking eye contact, but this feeling is stronger than that.
《Bee-chan No. 1, is anyone following us?》
《Behind Master, while walking?》
《Yeah, is anyone watching us?》
《There are lots of others like Master, so I can’t tell. Should I try stinging the ones nearby?》
《No, don’t do that. You can’t attack unless we’re attacked first, okay? And if you do sting, only the legs, up to five times.》
“There are too many people, so it seems Bee-chan and the others can’t tell. For now, let’s get clothes, boots, and weapons.”
“Shinya-san, you don’t need a weapon, do you?”
“What are you talking about? Against Beasts, Bee-chan and the others can probably only drive them off at best.”
“Well, it’s true their poison stingers probably can’t reach through thick fur.”
“Right. So while Bee-chan and the others are buzzing around their faces and distracting them, I’ll stab them from behind with a spear. The Camping Barrier only seems to last three days with a goblin magic stone, so I want an Orc magic stone. And a camping bed too.”
“Ah, I want boots and a camping bed too.”
“We have about 260,000 Dala from the guys we stripped, so let’s use that.”
“With that many people, 260,000 Dala seems pretty low, doesn’t it?”
“Well, there were a lot of Magic Pouches we couldn’t open, so we have that to look forward to later. For now, let’s go to the Commerce Guild and deposit the money.”
“This is my first time going to the Commerce Guild.”
“Mine too. It should be fine if we do as the lady told us.”
“Even if it’s in a Magic Pouch, carrying 100 Gold Coins around is careless, after all.”
The Commerce Guild was a stately four-story stone building on Marant Street, with guards standing watch, just as expected.
“You two, this is the Commerce Guild. What’s your business?”
“We came to deposit money.”
Saying that, I pulled a handful of Gold Coins from my Magic Pouch and showed them. He looked dubious for a moment, but seeing the coins were real, he opened the door.
I thanked him and went inside, only to be immediately asked again, “May I help you?”
Seeing two scruffy kids, their attitude was so blatant it was almost funny.
“I’d like to make an exchange and deposit about 8,000,000 Dala.”
“That is…”
“Could you show me to the deposit counter?”
I asked with a bright smile.
I wasn’t asking for money, just depositing it, so they couldn’t complain.
Since I’d made it past the entrance, they knew I wasn’t penniless, so they reluctantly guided me to one of the counters.
I placed the bag of Gold Coins before the professionally smiling lady, asked to exchange 10 coins for Silver Coins, put another 10 in the Magic Pouch at my waist, and said I wanted to deposit the rest.
She was startled when a grimy kid pulled Gold Coins out of a leather bag, but her business smile remained frozen as I stated my request for exchange and deposit.
I could guess what she was thinking, but it seemed the situation was so unexpected she couldn’t switch her expression.
I showed my Adventurers Guild card and asked if I could use it. “You can also make a Commerce Guild card,” she kindly offered, so I followed her advice and had one made.
According to light novel info, having this should let me enter the Commerce Guild without issue from now on.
After a 2% exchange fee was deducted, 98 Silver Coins were put into the bag I’d taken the Gold Coins from.
Looking over at Fran, she seemed to be following my lead, nervously asking to exchange 10 Gold Coins, putting 10 Gold Coins in her Magic Pouch, and depositing the rest.
Once we finished depositing the money, I had her come along with my shopping.
We went to the purveyor’s shop next to the Adventurers Guild, where I bought a simple camping bed, a shortbow, 20 arrows, and 20 practice arrows.
The shortbow was 220,000 Dala, 20 arrows were 32,000 Dala, and 20 practice arrows were 24,000 Dala.
The simple bed was 46,000 Dala, and the boots were 65,000 Dala.
A set of adventurer’s clothes, top and bottom, was 87,000 Dala.
The total came to 474,000 Dala, which I paid with 4 Gold Coins, 7 Silver Coins, and 4 Copper Coins.
The shop owner was beaming and friendly, but as I was thinking I’d forgotten something, Fran came over, also carrying a simple bed and boots.
“Shinya-san, aren’t you buying a Short Spear?” she asked, reminding me.
“You kids seem to be doing well for yourselves.”
“Yeah, we earned plenty from a big job in Holm. Gotta buy things when you can, right? I want a Short Spear too, could you show me some?”
“We keep weapons in the back. Also, if you’re going to practice archery, you’ll hurt your fingers without a shooting glove.”
Saying that, he brought out a three-fingered glove, apparently for supporting the string when nocking an arrow. He gave it to me as a freebie since I’d bought so much.
While Fran was paying, I went to the back of the shop. There were shelves of long swords and short swords, various knives, and poles of different lengths standing upright.
The Short Spears looked pretty much the same as the one I already had. As I was pondering, the owner came over and asked what was wrong.
I took the Short Spear out of my Magic Pouch, showed it to him, and explained I wanted something with a longer, sharper spearhead.
“You have a Rank 2?”
“This is a 3. I got it for turning in a bandit’s belongings as evidence.”
“What, you’ve been fighting bandits?!”
“It just happened that way. Can I ask for owner registration later?”
“For Rank 3, it’ll be 6 Silver Coins.”
“Eh… Isn’t that expensive?”
“Except for Rank 1, double the rank is the going rate. What’ll you do?”
“I’ll ask later. More importantly, what about the Short Spear?”
“To match your preference, we’ll have to combine a spearhead and a shaft.”
Saying that, he pointed to where spearheads were lined up row after row.
There were familiar double-edged ones, cross-spears, ones with sickles attached, various types and lengths, and even something like a straight sword in one corner.
I felt like I’d wandered into a prop room for a historical drama, but then I realized there must be many Japanese people forcibly Summoned, and a shiver ran down my spine.
That rotten bastard Amadeus would probably Summon guys who like to fight, claiming they have Fighting Spirit or something.
I chose a single-edged blade about 50cm long, picked a shaft about my height, and had them assembled, but the Short Spear came out to 320,000 Dala.
It’s a huge expense, but now I shouldn’t need to buy anything for a while, and since I’ll be getting 10 Gold Coins each from that stingy Count-sama and the Holm Guild, I won’t be in the red.
After stuffing everything into the Rank 3 Magic Pouch and leaving the shop, we headed straight for the North Gate.
“There were about three people inside the shop, think they were after us?”
“They came in after us and were looking around, but they kept glancing our way, so there’s no doubt. There was someone on the corner opposite the shop, too.”
“So about four people, huh? It was totally obvious since they never took their eyes off us. They probably don’t expect us to leave town right after finishing our shopping, so I guess there won’t be a mage ambush.”
“You bought a bow, but are you able to use it?”
“Nah, it’s pathetic to rely solely on Bee-chan, so I’m thinking I’ll practice so I can at least take down things like Wolves or Orcs. While Bee-chan is attacking their nose or eyes, I plan to get close and sink an arrow into them.”
“So you’re still relying on Bee-chan in the end?”
“Fran, even if I started practicing swinging a sword around right now, how many years do you think it would take for me to get any good at it?”
She looked exasperated when I said that while puffing my chest out, but hey, I’ll get around to practicing with a short sword eventually.