Chapter of Bottled Love: Idle Gossip

An hour or two later, we finally finished up collecting all the mana crystals and unearthing all that Crystal Flower powder. The end result wasn’t as horrific as we feared, though. Only around seventy crates total contained the powder. Which was significantly less than the somewhat three-hundred... four-hundred crates in the warehouse. Nonetheless, it was a substantial amount.

“Good work, Yumi.”

“Nn… We did it.”

As he was praising me, Korwen threw a glance around the now rather empty warehouse. All the empty crates had been taken apart and piled up in a corner. The powder crates had been filled  to the brim now, leaving us with around half of those as well. The warehouse was really… empty.

“Mm, I guess, despite the trouble that came with it, we got a pretty good deal out of it in the end,” commented Korwen.

We got a lot of mana crystals out of this so it certainly was good. But...

“What’s going to happen to those drugs, Captain?”

“Well, Ruben has his men coming to pick the contraband up and transport it. No idea what they’re going to do with it, though. They probably don’t know either.”

Having such an amount of drugs appearing was likely hard for them as well, wasn’t it?

“Well, it won’t really concern us anymore once they collected that stuff. Leave that to the people who know what to do with this.”

“Nn…”

Right, this wasn’t our territory. Well, it’d be different if they hired us to do something about this. Only then should it concern us. But outside of that, we only happened to find it, hand it to the authorities and that was it.

“Haaa…”

With that said, it wasn’t easy not to be concerned. In an attempt to divert my thoughts, I posed a question to Korwen.

“So, Captain, what will we do now?”

“Wait for Ruben’s men to come, then bring back those mana orbs of yours.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. After that, you go back to your break. And don’t thoughtlessly use up those mana crystals again.”

“I’ll try not to.”

Not like I could even if I wanted to…

We had put all the mana orbs in a separate crate. It was far from full. Frankly, not even half of it was. But a single mana orb alone contained a huge amount of mana. Or at least, what I perceived to be a lot.

“Ahh, there are Ruben’s men. I’ll be back in a moment and then we can go home.”

“Nn.”

Korwen moved to the entrance, welcoming the dozen or more soldiers coming in. Ruben had returned with that man from the Traders’ Guild at some point, so he wasn’t here anymore.

After watching them for a few seconds, I turned away and walked up to Karen and Ria, who were discussing something nearby.

“Sis.”

“Mm? Ah, Yumi. Where’s Mr Captain?”

“Greeting the soldiers. After that, we’ll go home.”

“Already?”

“Nn.”

Karen raised her eyebrows in surprise as she threw a glance towards Korwen and the soldiers.

“So, how about you?”

I looked at Karen and then at Ria in turn, wondering what they had been discussing.

“We’re also done. Miss Ria, thank you for listening.”

“Mm… It’s fine… If that’s… what you want… then I’ll… teach you…”

“... Thank you.”

“Nn?”

Ria was going to teach her? Was this…

“Sis, is this about wanting to become a proper magician?”

“... It is.”

So that’s what they were discussing.

“Miss Ria agreed to teach me a little more seriously. I already asked Mr Captain and he allowed me to use some of our work time for it.”

“Ohhh… Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Well…”

Karen furrowed her brows for some reason, seemingly not quite content.

“I’ll have to leave you alone during that time… I can’t help but worry…”

“... I’m not a little child.”

“You might as well be. Also, did you already forget what happened with Yumelia?”

“Ugh… I didn’t…”

Because nobody was around, Yumelia had managed to approach and attack me… There was no way I could have forgotten that.

“But Sis, the captain arranged someone to escort me around, right? There’s always someone in front of our wagon now, for example.”

“That’s true but…”

“You should do what you want to. And I’m sure the captain got that covered already. Otherwise, he wouldn’t allow it.”

“Mm… When did you get so good at arguing?”

Was that a complaint?

“Haaa… I know, of course… And I’ll do it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t worry, does it?”

“It doesn’t. Just, there’s not much to worry about.”

“Mmm…”

She still didn’t look like she was satisfied with it.

“I’ll try not to worry too much…”

“Hahaha… Guess that’s better than nothing.”

Our emotions didn’t always agree with our head, after all. Sometimes you couldn’t help but worry. But Korwen knew what he was doing. So if he said it was fine, it was likely fine.

“Hey, Yumi.”

“Nn?”

“You… You know some stuff about the Silver Moon metal, right?”

“Huh? You mean about steel?”

“That’s what it was called in your place?”

“Nn.”

Mix iron with carbon and you got steel, to say it slightly simplified. I wasn’t a metalworker or anything so that was the most you could expect from me.

“I don’t really know much about it, to be honest… I know what it consists of and that it was frequently used in my old wo— old place as well. But that’s already about it.”

Nearly stumbled my worlds there. We were in public and Ria was also listening… Should be a bit more careful.

“I see…”

“Why are you asking?”

“Because Miss Ria mentioned that… because I’m a manakin, it might be difficult or even impossible for me to use magic attributes outside of my nature. And that there were exactly many good applications for Silver Moon magic outside of, well, creating it.”

“Ohh…”

Speaking of which, didn’t Lily tell me that before as well? Since my main attribute is Lust, followed by the Life and Soul attributes, it would be next to impossible for me to use magic outside of those areas. I had tried to conjure a fire before and it certainly didn’t work at all.

“Nn… If I recall it right, it was Silver Moon, Iron and Diamond... or rather, carbon, I guess.”

“That… You told me about that before… You said diamonds and coal are the same.”

“Yes, they’re made of the same parts, just arranged differently.”

“Mm… It’s a little hard to imagine.”

“Well… that’s true...”

Without an illustration of some kind, it probably didn’t really make much sense. With that said, while I knew that they were ‘arranged differently,’ I didn’t remember the specifics. It was superficial knowledge I remembered from my old world… You couldn’t expect me to remember all of that perfectly. Alas, unexpected help came from the side.

“Yumi… Is that… the same… things that the… magic craftsmen… learn about?” asked Ria.

“Mm? Oh, now that you mention it, Elina did say something to that effect. I think they should be the same.”

“I see… That is… curious… Arranged… Mm… What did you… call it? … Carbon?”

“Nn. It’s called carbon.”

“Mmm…”

Ria closed her eyes and was lost in thought. Karen didn’t really know about it but it seems that Ria had at least some knowledge… Was it just me or was the spread of knowledge really skewed? Although, guess that wasn’t too surprising in a world without widespread education…

“I think… We might have… some materials… in the… Academy… that could… help… with imagery...”

“Oh?”

“Really?”

Now, that was a bit of a surprise.

“If you… want to… we could visit… tomorrow…”

“Well, we’re free anyway. Sis?”

“I’m okay with that as well.”

“Mm… Then it’s… decided...”

Part of me wondered if it would be so easy to look up those materials but on the other hand, I had heard that Ria was quite known in the Academy, so it would probably work out fine.

“But that still doesn’t solve the problem that I don’t really know what kind of magic would be possible…”

“That’s… true.”

But what could you even do with steel in that sense? Outside of… making it.

“Nn… Ria, is it possible to control materials with magic? Like what you did when we fought the roper.”

The memory of Ria slaughtering the roper had been firmly embedded in my memory. That wasn’t something I could forget so easily.

“It’s not… impossible… But it is… very difficult… The further apart… The more mana… And the consumption… grows… exponentially… It’s barely… feasible… What I used… was a special… concoction… to alleviate… that problem...”

So that wasn’t an option…

“But… you could create… projectiles… and launch them… I guess…”

“Oh?”

Then it wasn’t completely impossible?

“That sounds like it could work… But is there magic like that?” muttered Karen.

“There is…”

“Oh…”

Karen’s eyes widened in surprise at her acknowledgement. Wasn’t that a good thing?

“Silver Moon… is not… the most… flexible… but it… can still be… quite powerful… if applied… correctly…”

“Really? I always thought it was only used to create that metal...”

“Really… I even… heard that… there are tribes… in the Beyond… that make use… of it… as combat… magic…”

“The Beyond…”

Unfortunately, that was a little far away to ask them… but if they could use it for combat, then there was nothing against Karen being able to as well… Although, she might need to get creative…

“Nn… What about Iron magic and Diamond magic?

“Iron magic… suffers the same… problem… As for… Diamond magic… It is… effectively useless… Although… If what you… said is true… There might be… applications… but that’s… something for… future discussions…”

Effectively useless, huh… Well, people didn’t usually have a diamond at hand…

“This is troublesome, huh…”

“It is. But I won’t give up just because of that. Although, I admit I can understand now why these attributes aren’t… well-liked in Aldreigh… Haaa...”

“Nn? I thought you made that part up?”

Didn’t she make that up as a reason when she told me why she got exiled from Aldreigh? Before I knew about her nature...

“Huh? Ah, no… It’s not quite that bad but it wasn’t exactly wrong that people look down on those…”

“Ohhh…”

Well now… Maybe that actually did add to the reason they had thrown her out, huh…

“Anyway! Enough about that. Let’s talk about something else.”

Karen frowned, wanting to change the topic. Probably not the most welcome topic for her.

“Ahaha… Well…”

But what… Oh, there was one thing I wanted to know.

“You know, I’ve been wondering, but Silver Moon magic is named after a tale, right?”

“Yes, it is. Why?”

“Well, I was wondering why nothing else I heard so far was named after one…”

They called Diamond magic as, well, Diamond magic. Iron magic as Iron magic. Lust magic as Lust magic. And so on. Only Silver Moon stuck out like a sore thumb.

“I think there are some others named after tales… Like the Crimson Sea magic.”

“The what magic?”

“Crimson Sea magic.”

“... What does it do?”

“... It controls blood.”

Now, that’s not the name I expected for it…

“How the hell did it end up named like that?”

“There’s a tale of a great demonkin hero. He fought for the rights of the demonkin, against the beastkin. It says that he slaughtered so many enemies, the nation drowned in a sea of crimson of blood, wiping it off the world for eternity.”

“That’s quite a bloody tale.”

Pun not intended.

“And then there’s the Witch’s Dream magic, which is said to give happiness to any affected by it.”

“Happiness?”

“Yes. Success in life, in your occupation, in love. It’s said to give you what you need to become happy.”

Now, that one was pretty obscure… That sounded a little like a fairy tale…

“Mm… That… is just… a legend… Karen… that magic… does not… exist…”

Figured.

“... Eh?”

Karen’s eyes went wide, her mouth gaping open as she stared at Ria.

“It… doesn’t?”

“It doesn’t…”

“Really?”

“Really…”

Apparently, this was a bigger shock for Karen than I had expected… She actually believed that? Well, magic could do plenty of inexplicable things so maybe it wasn’t too far off…

“I see… It doesn’t…”

She looked down to the ground, genuinely disappointed.

“Mm… Also… Yumi… I think… the confusion… comes partly… from the magicians… mixing names…”

“Huh? Mixing names?”

“Miss Ria?”

“Mm… Aldreigh… used to… name magic… according to… tales… and myths… Others… followed… In the past… at least… Then… Aldreigh… Lafria… and other… countries… their magicians… decided… to use... unique names… and replace… the names… based on tales… Because… countries… had different tales… and different names… Sometimes… even in… the same country… the tales… differed…”

Ria smiled wryly as she continued her explanation.

“The Blackened Weight… became Iron magic… The Mortal Star… Diamond magic… The Spirits’ Tears… Soul magic… The Gift of Life… simply Life magic… and the Witch’s Heart… Lust magic… All those names… are based... on tales… and myths… But as… an example… while Iron magic… was called... Blackened Weight magic… in Lafria… they called it… The Executioner’s Penance… in Krohmea… Although… the tale… it stems from… is the… same...”

“That really makes me wonder what kind of tale could produce those names…”

Those two names didn’t exactly sound like they had much in common, after all.

“... It is… a tale… about a man… working as… an executioner… One day… his work… forced him... to kill... his beloved… She was… used as… a scapegoat... The true… perpetrator… laughed… at his misery… as he swung… his axe... Then… the grieving man… murdered… the people… responsible… Finally...  as penance… he shackled… his arms… and legs… with heavy… blood-stained iron… and then… threw himself… into the Grand… Spirit Lake… hoping to… join his beloved… on the… other side… It is... a well-known… tale… There are… performances… of it… once in… a while...”

Okay, now I felt bad for asking…

“That’s a really dark tale to take inspiration from…”

“Many tales… are tragic… Many… of them...”

But still… to take inspiration from this…

“Anyway… Most names… for magic… have strayed… from their… original names… The common… populace… doesn’t know… about the… difference… But… for some… it wasn’t… possible to… make people… adapt… a new name… Silver Moon magic… is one… of the most… well-known… especially… among craftsmen… Asking them… to use... a new name… would be… like asking… an ogre… for a handshake…”

“So, it’s not like there isn’t an actual name for Silver Moon magic… It just wasn’t accepted and the old one stuck?”

“Yes…”

Ria tilted her head, staring at me.

“Yumi… Did you… use… the word… steel… without… knowing?”

“... Huh? What?”

What did she mean?

“Steel… is the… name… they tried… to use…”

“... Seriously?”

“Yes…”

Huh? But… wasn’t ‘steel’ a word from my old world? Or did unintentionally use the words of this language even in this case?

“I… I guess I did…”

“Mmm… Well… Anyway… Did that… answer your… question?”

“Ah, yes. It did. Thank you, Ria.”

“Mm… If you… are interested… in the tales… We could… check the… library… tomorrow… The Academy… should have… collected most… of the tales…”

“Nn… I’ll think about it.”

“Do that…”

Finally, I knew why Silver Moon magic had kept that out-of-place name… Unfortunately though, now I had even more questions than before...

Why the heck did I know a word in this language that didn’t even take hold among most people? But then again, I have no idea how I can speak their language in the first place… Or did that monster maybe mention anything about it? Ugh… I don’t think she did...

At that moment, Korwen returned and shouted that it was time to get back. The other mercenaries lifted the crate with the mana orbs, prompting us to get a move on as well. I had to shelve these thoughts for now, it seemed. We moved out of the warehouse, leaving Ruben’s men to deal with the rest of the aftermath.

---

The return to the camp was pretty uneventful, as well as what came after. We stowed away the crate with the mana orbs in our wagon and then were left alone with our free time. Because we were technically having a break for a few days…

With that said, there wasn’t much we could do outside of killing time. Lily and Rina were still busy guarding El and Nel, and so was Fenna of course. Greyward and his men were busy as well, not that I knew with what. Wanda was nowhere to be found either. The only ones not busy right now were the ones who had returned since we all got freed from work for a few days. With the sole exception of Korwen, who had to slave away without pause.

“And that’s why you bother me?”

“Yes.”

“You know, I’m technically busy with cooking dinner.”

“We’ll watch without getting in your way.”

“You’re in the way just by watching…”

The woman—Helma—cast a slightly annoyed gaze at us, then muttered a “Can’t be helped.” and returned to preparing for dinner.

“Haaa… I’m jealous that you two get to have a break… I don’t even remember when the last time was we got a day off.”

“You never get a break?”

“Who makes dinner if we take a break? The men? Have you seen Merim’s cooking?”

“I haven’t… Is it bad?”

“Hardly qualified as cooking.”

Maybe he should fix that… Even I could cook well enough that I could help out. Although, I was absolutely no match for these women when it came to preparing dinner for hundreds of hungry men. There was a lot of effort and work involved in this.

“Well, on the other hand, we shift around our responsibilities so that nobody gets overworked… It got a little harder after Marga and her circle of cackling crows left.”

“... Who is Marga?”

“... That dumb woman with her even dumber son who was kicked out by Korwen.”

“Oh, her.”

I had already forgotten about her… Not that it bothered me. For once, this wasn’t someone I wanted to remember.

“But wasn’t only she and her son kicked out, Miss Helma?”

“That’s right. But a few others left as well. Also, stop with the ‘Miss’ if you could. It feels so distant. And it’d be ‘Mrs’ anyway for me. I may not look like it and it’s easy to forget, but I am married!”

“Ahh… I’ll try…”

“Good, good!”

Helma regarded us with a short smile before continuing to cook.

“Back to the topic, after they left, we had to assign everyone to a little more work. It’s not too noticeable but if you take a good look…”

“I see…”

“Ah, but it’s not all bad. The atmosphere has become so much better now! Think about it, if Marga saw us happily chatting like this, she’d definitely butt in, telling us to go back to work. Behaving like she was the queen herself. Without doing any decent work, too. Then, Mrs Korwen would show up and refute her. Oh, you can be glad you didn’t have to see those arguments… That’s all in the past now.”

“Huh… I knew it was bad but…”

“It really was. I bet with you, if this had gone on for another half a year, blood would have flown. And in no small quantity.”

Scary…

“Thank the Spirits she is gone now. You wouldn’t happen to know what has become of her, do you?”

“No, we don’t.”

“Nn, we don’t.”

“Too bad. Too bad…”

Helma swung her knife with gusto, cutting up the meat in front of her, shoving it into a big pot, then cutting more meat and throwing it in as well. Her movements were fluid and well-practised, not slowing down even as she talked with us.

“So, I guess, overall it got, like, a little better. We got a bit more work to do but work in itself got a lot more comfortable. Everyone’s pretty happy about it.“

“Korwen will be happy to hear that.”

“Oh, you can tell him if you want to. It was a good decision to kick them out. I mean… Even her husband… Well… former husband now… He’s also doing better.”

“Her husband?”

“Yes.”

Helma nodded vigorously before continuing.

“It seems that he actually had an affair with one of the younger girls. And that didn’t start just recently. Now that Marga’s gone, they decided to make it official and get together. I haven’t seen that man so happy in my entire life.”

“Wow…”

He didn’t leave together with that woman, huh…

“Oh, and before you ask. He actually offered his son to stay here. He wanted to plead to Korwen so that he could at least help his son get back on track. Alas, not only Marga, even his own son refused. And they weren’t exactly micing their words, from what I heard. But on the sunny side, he’s, like, completely free now. Wish my own father could get his butt moving, too.”

“Sounds like he had quite the ordeal.”

“Right? But I’m happy for him that it’s now over and he can live a better life.”

Overall, it seemed that it really had been a good decision… The fate of Marga and her son was up in the air but that wasn’t anything for us to bother about anymore. They clearly didn’t even want the help, if what Helma told us was true.

“Hm, hm, hmmm… And there.”

Humming a little, Helma finished up cutting all the meat.

“Oh, that reminds me…”

“Nn?”

“That elven girl that I saw walking around with you… What’s her name…”

“You mean the Elder?”

“The… Elder? That’s an odd name.”

“It’s more her title than her name… She doesn’t remember her actual name anymore apparently...”

Which did suggest that it had been either a really long time since she last used it… or that she didn’t want to be associated with that name anymore.

“A title… Then, she’s actually really old?”

“... That’s not a nice way of putting it but I guess so.”

“I see! Elves are amazing, aren’t they? I would have thought she was in her teens at most. And she’s cute, too.”

She did look young, yes… But not all of the elves did… Just like with everyone else, some were blessed with looks while some weren’t… And the Elder definitely belonged to the ones that were blessed.

“So, what did you want to know about the Elder?”

“Mh, I saw her with the High Priest yesterday. They seemed to get along well…”

“Ahh… She was offering to show him around the camp. Or rather, the High Priest requested her to. It seems they knew each other before already.”

“Ohh?”

For the first time, Helma’s hands stopped as she turned around to us.

“Maybe some unsuccessful romance? Or a budding one?”

“... Helma, do you like romance stories?”

“As much as the next person.”

“Haaa…”

“So?”

“Even if you ask me, I don’t know. You should ask the Elder herself.”

Also, I didn’t really want to stick my nose into it. It was her privacy.

“How unfortunate. Might as well ask her when I get the chance.”

I’m sorry, Miss Elder, we couldn’t stop her.

Well, she’d know how to deal with that.

“Is it really that interesting, though?”

“Sure is! And there’s not really much else that’s interesting. It’s not like we run around town hunting villains, criminals and monsters like you do. Not like I’d want to. Haaa… And Merim isn’t around either.”

She let out a sigh for some reason.

“If he was, I could mess around with him…”

“... Please don’t bother him too much.”

“Then he shouldn’t skip out work.”

Point taken.

“I know he’s doing important work but I do feel a little lonely. Haaa...”

Another sigh escaped her.

“Well, they should come back soon,” offered Karen as consolation.

“I know. But ‘soon’ is not ‘now.’ I mean, I know it won’t be long anymore. Haaa...”

And now she was the one who was all lovesick. This was probably something Merim wouldn’t ever get to see, would he?

“And done!”

“Nn?”

“Now, Yumi, Karen. I’m sorry but I have to shoo you away. I need to concentrate on this.”

Helma patted the pot next to her which was containing our dinner.

“I see. Well, was nice talking with you.”

“Same! Come back anytime. Well, I’ll see Yumi when she’s back at cooking duty but you can come by as well, Karen.”

“I will.”

“Great! Until then.”

She lifted the pot up and carried it away, over to where the others were already busy with cooking and preparing.

“So, what now, Yumi?”

“Good question… Nn, dinner is soon and Merim and the group should come back by then as well… Guess we could wait for them?”

They were bringing back the roper corpse after all. Now that we had a decent rest and all, I really wanted to see that thing once more.

“They’ll surely be happy to have you waiting for them, Yumi.”

“Jealous?”

“A little.”

“I see. But you know, I’ll always be waiting for you to be at my side.”

“I do wonder how you can say lines like that without going red.”

“Only because I’m saying them to you.”

Anyone else was impossible.

“Haaa… Come, let’s go.”

“Nn.”

She grasped my hand and we made our way to the edge of the camp, in the direction of the village.

Rinne

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