CH 46

“Master, food?”

Is that what you have to say when you see wolves with their blood drained?

“They wandered this way last night, so I kept them. My stock of wolf meat is running low anyway.”

“Meat is important. But it doesn’t smell. Strange.”

“I used wind magic to blow the smell away.”

“Magic is useful. I wish I could use it.”

“Do you want to stop by a church to check?”

“…I don’t think that will work.”

She whispers, sounding disappointed. Did something happen?

“Hikari, their blood has been drained, so can you take them apart?”

“Leave it to me. You handle the cooking.”

So she takes them apart and I cook?

I think to myself I might as well make something a little more elaborate, but I can’t with the few ingredients I have. The most I can do to make it fancier is to just have more individual pieces.

What if I use skewers to cook meat and vegetables like in a barbecue? Instead of salt and pepper, I can use my special sauce too. It’s still a work in progress, but Hikari seems to like it. Although I think it’s still far from tasting how I want.

“Master, I’m done.”

Hikari has done a great job taking them apart. If it was me, I would still be working on the first one.

I cast Purification Magic on her to clean her, and assort and store everything in the Item Box.

We have bread, soup and skewers, and start eating. Hikari really enjoys that sauce, and the way she nibbles on the skewers as she eats is adorable.

We eat without rushing, and when we’re done, I check Map. Are the wolves in the forest? Actually, I’m more interested in the merchant caravans, that still haven’t moved. You’d think they would have left by now.

“Master, there is something up ahead.”

It’s the caravans. But they look different than before, with the wagons’ canopies in tatters. Some are undamaged, but most aren’t.

I look around, and see some wounded people too. They could be healed very quickly with a potion, but are they reluctant to use them because of cost cutting? Some people there seem to have the priest job, so can’t they use healing magic?

“Sorry, do you have a moment?”

As we’re walking by the road without stopping, one of the merchants comes over and talks to us.

“What?”

My voice is kind of low. I’m a little stressed because they tried to mess with us, and then we had to walk at a slower pace. My tone has turned into an annoyed one without me even realizing it.

The merchant is startled, before continuing anyway.

“Do you have any potions left? Can you sell them?”

The adventurers and merchants near here all focus on this voice.

“There’s so many people here. Can’t you get them yourselves?”

In a way, potions are like essential items when it comes to traveling. Adventurers should have them, and even merchants should carry them just in case.

“About that…”

A sour expression forms on the merchant’s face. I think he’s remembering his anger the more we talk, and his temples are twitching. I can see a really big blood vessel too, to the point where I’m actually worried that it might pop at any moment.

It all happened because of last night’s wolf attack. It caused damage because adventurers that were supposed to be keeping watch were late to deal with it (due to negligence). They drove back the enemy while treating the wounded, but couldn’t finish off the wolves (because they drank too much and weren’t fighting as well as they should). As the battle dragged on, more people got hurt, and the wolves that snuck by them attacked merchants and wagons. Apparently this resulted in them running out of potions.

Now they’re waiting for the adventurers that can use healing magic to recover their MP, and for the wagons to be repaired. Thankfully, no one died.

“I understand that you’re in trouble, but you have some nerve to come ask me, you know that?”

Hikari strongly nods.

I’m sure this merchant knows how some of those adventures treated us.

“I concede to that, but can you sell us some potions if you have them?”

The merchant bows. He’s assuming I have them. If I say I don’t, they probably won’t believe me. They might even ask to look inside my bag.

“I see. One potion is one gold coin, and one mana potion in five gold coins. If you’re all right with that, I’ll sell them.”

“The hell are those prices? Are you screwing with us?”

Screams one of the adventurers. It’s also one of the adventurers that was messing with us yesterday.

“So?”

I ignore him and ask the merchant.

The merchant seems to be struggling to decide, and I don’t get an answer.

“I said what the…”

The moment the adventurer opens his mouth again, Hikari silently moves.

“Kill?”

She gets behind the adventurer and points a knife at his back.

Her monotone voice echoes in this place that fell completely silent.

I look that way, and turn back to the merchant.

Before the merchant can speak, I do.

“One potion is two gold coins, and one mana potion is ten gold coins. I’ll sell them for that.”

They’re speechless, but I don’t have to feel pity for people that tried to pull cheap tricks on us.

“Did you think I’d comply if you threatened me? Hurry up and decide if you want to pay or not. I don’t take cards.”

“…”

“I take it your silence means no. Then we’ll get going…”

“…W-wait. That adventurer has nothing to do with me.”

“How we feel about that is on us. We have no way of knowing if that’s true anyway. Did you think you could get us to back down by threatening us?”

“A-all right. We’ll buy them at those prices.”

I sell five potions and five mana potions. They gathered money from everyone, and I got sixty gold coins.

“And I’m going to report this to the guild as soon as I get there.”

I take one last look at the adventurers that went over to us to complain, and leave with Hikari.

Her step looks light for some reason.