CH 87

Here we are, in the adventurer guild. The mood seems different than the last time I visited it.

I’m guessing it’s Mia’s first time here, because she keeps looking around like she’s curious. You’re drawing attention to yourself, Miss Mia. It’s bad enough that a guy like me walked in with three girls, two of them being slaves.

In a way, it’s impressive that she’s drawing more attention than a beast person.

“Have you ever registered with the adventurer guild, Sera?”

“No.”

“Then walk up to the reception desk and register.”

“Aren’t you going to register, master?”

“No, I don’t need to. I’m registered with the merchant guild.”

I guess she’s calling me master for some reason. Maybe it’s because that’s what Hikari calls me. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to call me by my name.

I listen in on people talking while Sera registers, and grab Mia by the hand because I’m scared that she’ll run off somewhere.

To summarize what the adventurers here are talking about, it seems the number of monsters is decreasing. At first I ask myself if that isn’t a good thing, but then I hear people complaining about going out to do hunting quests and not finding their targets no matter how much they look, among other issues. And apparently this has been happening a lot.

“Master, I’m done registering.”

She still feels distant when she talks, like there’s a wall between us.

“I think there are errand quests, so let’s accept one and do it while we walk around town.”

This will be the one quest she has to do to fulfill her minimum obligations. I don’t know when we’ll be able to do them, so we might as well take care of that now that we have the time.

The three girls look at the quests, mostly Mia. She looks very interested, but Hikari and Sera look like they don’t really care.

In the end, we go with a quest picked by Mia, about a delivery from the church on the east side to an orphanage. Apparently they put out a quest because they’re busy with preparations for the advent festival.

Sera takes it up to the counter, and then we leave.

We walk around while talking about this city, but I get the feeling that it’s mostly about eating. I expected this from Hikari, but you too Mia…

The quest is completed with no issues. Sera stands in front, but I still figured people in the church might recognize Mia, but no one does.

We have lunch before we go back to the guild to report the completion of the quest. Sera eats as much as you would expect from someone her age. I tell her she doesn’t need to hold back, but she doesn’t ask for seconds or anything. But it doesn’t look like she really wants more, so it’s fine.

Then we stop by the sweets shop, because Hikari and Mia keep asking for it. They’re getting too used to this luxury. Hikari says it’s for Sera’s sake, but is it just her strategy to have something tasty?

A certain someone’s eyes start shining when she hears about that shop, before she quickly puts on a calm front. But I can see that tail wagging.

She’s an adult, so I won’t point that out. She might actually refrain from eating anything out of stubbornness if I do, and then Hikari and Mia won’t have anything either.

Did she have the opportunity to eat sweets even though she was a slave for such a long time? Or does she just remember eating them before she was a slave? I have a lot of questions about her, but I don’t feel like I can ask.

With one more person here, the bill is even higher than the last time we were here. Of course, I don’t forget to bring something back with us for the others.

I feel like I spent all the money I had saved up in one day… I’ll have to start working hard again tomorrow.

But having less money means not needing to save it in the card. That makes me wonder, what happens to the money in the card if I’m expelled by the guild?

We finish eating, report to the adventurer guild, and head straight back to the mansion. Now I have nothing left to do but sleep! I thought, but I actually have something to do.

I hand over the sweets we brought back, and after resting for a bit, it’s time for mock battles. I need to know how strong Sera is.

Hikari wants to participate too, and Mia, Yuri, and Loux will be watching. But did they really need to bring a whole tea set with them?

The result, is that Sera’s fighting style is splendid. She attacks with both power and speed, and fights without any real form.

She puts emphasis on attack, and defends either by crossing the wooden swords or dodging. Mostly by using her speed to dodge.

I fight while being careful about her movements, but in the end, she overwhelms me with raw power. I haven’t lost like that in a while.

Hikari on the other hand uses her speed to anticipate every move and push back Sera.

“That’s a splendid fighting style, but how did you come to fight like that?”

“Monsters don’t have fighting styles or anything. If they attack they get the advantage, so I got used to beating them first, I guess.”

Ooh, she actually just answered me directly.

That makes sense. The way she fights doesn’t feel like it’s suited to fight people. It’s good that she attacks with no wasted movements, but it’s bad that her attacks are too direct, and she doesn’t use feints or anything. There are many different kinds of monsters, but I feel like very few put thought into strategy when they attack, the way people do. At least that’s the case for the monsters I’ve fought.

Well, humanoid monsters like orcs tend to put a bit of thought into their attacks.

After the mock battles are over, I cast purification magic. This is just a stop-gap measure, because we might as well use the bath too, since we’re in the mansion. That’s kind of a luxury too.

Sera resists that idea at first, but Hikari, Yuri, and Mia drag her to the bath.

“I heard she was a slave, but she seems like a nice, honest girl.”

“She is less prickly towards other girls. And I feel as though she is confused about her sense of distance.”

“Fufu, nicely spotted.”

“…We are going to be living together, so I have to keep an eye on those things.”

“Why do you talk that way to me? You know you can speak to me the same way you speak to my daughters?”

Is he making fun of me or something? In a way, he’s the most elusive person in this house.

After we eat, I have nothing in particular to do.

I’m leaving Sera’s education mostly to Loux. With Hikari, I’m worried about all sorts of things, with Mia I’m worried about common knowledge, Yuri might not have a strong enough voice, but Loux will most likely be fine.

The others attend Loux’s lecture too. I feel like I could need it too, but it’s way too late for that…

Now that I’m alone, I get to work on a few things. First, the fifth generation I’ve been working on. The rapid-fire has been improved, but I’m mostly working on durability. But making it more durable also makes it heavier and bulkier, so it doesn’t go very well. In the end, I mix in other ore instead.

Next, bullets. I use Effect Attachment to make not just regular bullets, but bullets with attributes, magic, and all sorts of things. The problem is that I won’t know what they’re like until I fire them, so I’m going to have to go outside the city and give it a shot.

I’m also working on a silencer. Leila was pretty surprised by the sound of the gunshots, especially since we were in a cave and it echoed.

And finally, the number one item I’m trying to make today.

I take out twenty orc magic stones and synthesize them with Alchemy. I got a lot of them as a transportation fee.

I start infusing it with magic energy, and one, then two mana potions become empty. I would recover if I rested, but I want to keep going.

After checking to see if my MP is full, I attach a barrier effect to the magic stone.

I can’t control it. It feels like magic energy is being sucked out of me, and I can’t even cut off the flow for some reason. I don’t take my eyes off the magic stone, and just wait and trust that it will work.

Just as I’m thinking that I’m about to run out of MP, my vision is covered by the bright shine of the magic stone. After shining for a bit longer, it finally settles, and I hold in my hand the magic stone that changed from red to blue.

“W-what was that?”

That voice surprises me, and when I turn around I see Mia.