CH 19

Meeting a Companion

However…they had not notified Powarso that they were leaving…

As I had wondered about this, I grabbed the belongings they had on their horses and emptied them on the ground.

…There were no request sheets? So they hadn’t been out here on a quest. And they were traveling quite light as well. And I doubted it was some D-Rank fixed quest. Why had they been going down this road?

Hmm. Could it be…that I had been targeted?

The east gate guard flashed in my mind.

“Well, it’s too late now.”

Had I been adventuring normally in Powarso, maybe I would have heard people talking near the bar about how there were ‘recent bandit attacks near the east road, but no one can find the bandits.’ And then they would say to me with annoyance, ‘you’re making a lot for a G-Ranker.’ And in the forest I would say, ‘so you’re the culprits!’…

“Well, it’s too late.”

Their equipment was decent enough. They were D-rank, after all. The one-handed sword looked better than the one I was using. That being said, I was attached to mine. So I would keep this one as a spare.

The spear also looked good, but I felt that it would stick out too much, and so I left it in the forest. One of these days, someone might see a goblin with a strangely impressive spear.

I was honestly jealous of the greaves, but would rather have something made properly by a craftsman.

…I really was acting like a thief and a murderer.

But there was nothing pretty about survival.

And so my acquisitions were:

Magic ignition tool

Magic light tool

2 rings

1 bracelet

12 gold, 7 great silver, 8 silver, 2 great bronze, 6 bronze

Some preserved food

Anything that could be traced back to them and items that couldn’t be eaten by slimes were buried in the ground.

You were obligated to make a report and return the Adventurers plate if someone died, but they too went into the dirt.

I put on the potion belt and attached the potions. Then I threw the rest into my backpack.

Now, there were the two horses.

While they had calmed down considerably, they were still a little agitated. I petted them gently. The one that would still not quiet down, I untied and released. I hoped that it would be able to survive in a forest of monsters…

As for the other, I gave it some magic water in a bowl and it drank it immediately. It seemed like we could get along. The horse was dark brown and rather cute.

When I put my belongings on it, held the reins and got on the saddle, it remained calm. I learned how to ride horses in Ruyana village.

In any case, I now have a traveling companion!

I left the forest and returned to the main road on my trotting horse. It was about midday now, but I had completely lost my appetite.

As there was a lake on the way, I stopped in order to rest. Watching the horse drink and eat grass did much to lighten my gloomy mood.

I washed off the blood and checked myself in a mirror. The mirror was made of bronze, and had to be polished regularly in order to stay clear.

I had to eat something.

Watching the horse made me feel that way again, and so I chewed into some bread.

We continued along the road after that until a village came into view. The sun was starting to descend in the sky, and I was unlikely to reach the next village today. And so I would have to stay here tonight.

I got off of the horse and led it by the bridle as we approached the gate.

“Hello.”

I raised a hand and then stopped.

“Ah. Are you staying for the night then?”

These road-side villages were quick to understand.

“I’d be grateful for an inn and horse stable.”

“Then you’ll want to go to the Hiyuyu inn in the center of the village.”

“Thank you.”

I thanked him and went inside. So they don’t check your Adventurers plate?

When I entered the village, I saw that there was a row of houses that were parallel with the road. It was a lot like a post town. There were even two to three stores. One of them had something that interested me.

‘4 bronze per bundle of medicinal herbs. Set of 50 bundles. Popular with Adventurers.’

…Huh. The guild bought them for 5 bronze. So Adventurers could only make 50 bronze off of 50 bundles, but that also meant they could finish 1 request with it. The villagers could sell herbs without going all of the way to the town, and would earn money if Adventurers stayed at the inn. It was then likely that the villagers here were gathering all of the herbs in the area.

I didn’t think that it was cheating for Adventurers to do that. It took one day to reach this place, so that was two days for a round trip. It wouldn’t be worth it unless you were also on some monster extermination quest.

The Adventurers could work efficiently, and increase their earnings a little. And the villagers could have the monsters in the area hunted without paying any fees. It was a win-win situation.

At the guild, they had said that ‘your rank is about your ability to complete quests.’ Was gathering information about such things included in that ability?

The inn was right nearby. ‘Hiyuyu’ was the name of a flower, if I wasn’t wrong. I tied the horse up at the front and went to the front desk.

“I’d like to stay for one night and put my horse in the stable.”

“It’s 2 silver for a night. 3 if you want breakfast and dinner. The stable will cost another silver.”

“I’ll have the meals and the stable.”

“You can take the horse to the stable in the back. Your room is number 16.”

I paid the 4 silver. In spite of the name, the innkeeper was a very tall old man.

Then I took my horse to the stable in the back and asked them to take care of it.

“What is its name?”

I was asked. But I hadn’t named it.

“What is your name?”

I tried asking the horse, but it didn’t answer.

Hmm. What should I do? Was it male or female?

I checked and it was female.

“Alright, from today, your name is Emma.”

Like the ema votive picture, not the maid.

I went to my room, took off my gear and changed into indoor clothes. I washed my clothes and hung them to dry. Though, I wasn’t sure if they would be completely dry by tomorrow. As I wiped the grime off my armor and sharpened my sword, I heard a knock on the door.

“Dinner is ready!”

It was a girl’s voice.

But when I went down to the dining hall, there was hardly anyone there.

“I’m number sixteen.”

I said, and then waited at an empty table until the food was brought to me. It was meat, vegetables, soup and bread. The amount and taste was average.

Still, there was something wonderful about the mundane.

I returned to my room and opened the window in order to get some fresh air and think.

If water magic was the gathering of moisture from the air, would my clothes dry faster if I did it close to them? In other words, I could be a human dehumidifier.

“Water.”

The cup was filled up to the brim. But when I touched my laundry, it didn’t feel like it had dried.

My guess was that it only took moisture from the air. I poured the water into the basin and this time I imagined that I was gathering the moisture from the area that included the clothes.

“Water.”

This time, there was less water in the cup. And when I touched the clothes, nothing had changed.

I see. In other words…

‘You can only gather moisture from the air.’

‘You cannot gather moisture from a substance.’

‘Imprecise visualization means less effective magic.’

…That was it.

Still, the laundry would dry faster if the air around it was dry.

And so I made as much water as my MP would allow, and then used the water to wash my body before throwing it out. Then I returned and started my usual magic energy manipulation training and…huh?

While it wasn’t any softer, it felt somehow lighter in movement! It was usually very hard work to get it to move slowly, but today, it was moving round and round. As if it had become less sticky.

I then checked my status, but my magic manipulation was still at Lv1. Hmm. What did it mean? The only thing that was different today was that I had 1 MP left. Was that the reason? I will test it tomorrow, both before and after MP depletion.

But when I closed my eyes, the scene of the day’s brutal killing flashed in my mind.

And so…

“Earth.”

I crawled under my covers and used the last of my MP in order to fall into blissful unconsciousness.