Kujonin

Kujonin
Author: Hanakuroko
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The next morning Teyl woke me around the time the sky began to lighten.
When I opened my eyes, Teyl"s face was right at my ear, so it was a bit horror-like.
If she does things normally she"s a pretty middle-aged lady, but up close it"s scary.
"Good morning. Naoki-sama."
"M,morning. Teyl."
I got up slowly, combing out my bed hair with my fingers.
Teyl is full on staring at my lower region.
It"s morning after all; so thinking I hurriedly put on my coverall and rush to the toilet.

Bringing along the sleepily yawning Ayl, we depart from the city and head east on the road.
Despite it being early in the morning, many traders" wagons pa.s.sed us.
It"s dangerous so we"re walking alongside the road in the weeds.
A trader going in the same direction proposed, "I"ll let you ride, so if monsters come out, won"t you be their opponents?"
I thought of it like getting a lift from a ship and decided to get on.
A number of monsters came out, but Ayl defeated all of them.
As for me, I just pointed with my finger the direction they"re coming from while using Search Skill.
"My master doesn"t want to work, isn"t it?"
Teyl said of me, who was sleeping on the transport.
"Teyl. That"s wrong. Naoki is relinquishing the experience to me."
Ayl said as she defeated a monster and climbed onto the wagon.
"Is that how it is?"
Teyl asked.
"Nope. It"s just a pain to do."
I said as I yawned.
"See, he"s just being lazy."
"It"s fine. If Naoki fights the monsters, then they"d be defeated before I even came."
Looks like Ayl"s figured out the confusion bell.
"Is that how it is?"
"I can"t do that right now, you know. The fierhorse is pulling the wagon, after all."
A fierhorse is a horse-like monster that has a good affinity with humans and they"re raised all over.
The confusion bell is a bell that confuses monsters that hear it"s sound, so if I ring it now the fierhorse would also go into confusion.

I"m bored on the back of the wagon.
The scenery is only alternating between forest and gra.s.sland, so it pretty much doesn"t change.
From time to time there"s a hill.
Placed on the wagon are bags of wheat in large quant.i.ties, as well as defensive gear like the kind adventurers used bundled up.
There isn"t anything to do, so I might as well make writing implements.
Going off to defeat monsters, following Ayl along, I pick up a number of twigs and return.
Since the trader can"t see the monster, after it died it goes into the item bag.
I intend it to be our food later.
Whittling the twigs, I make pen nibs.
I immediately finished it, but as I thought, metal ones seem like they"d be easier to write with.
For now, I make the pen shaft.
I"ll make magic water, that"s magic stone powder dissolved in water, as the ink, and it will be suitable for when drawing magic circles; with this, I can draw even detailed, tiny magic circles.
With this it looks like I"ll be able to draw magic circles on even small things.
The pen nib is weak so I can"t avoid have to draw slowly, but I bet if I get a metal pen nib I can draw more quickly.

With the situation like this now, rather than wooden planks and monster leather, I"ve come to want paper.
There are books, so there should also be paper being made.
"Do you know where paper is being made?"
I tried asking Ayl.
"There"s no way I"d know something like that, right?"
""That so?"
"I have heard that paper is imported from a country across the ocean."
The old man trader driving the wagon told me.
As expected there"s a need to cross the ocean.

While taking our lunch break, wagons gathered one by one.
Seems like everyone"s taking their midday break.
The traders are going to exchange information to an extent, so while bringing their lunches, consultation and small talk and the like broke out.
As for us, since we don"t need to partic.i.p.ate in that, Teyl cooked and Ayl went into the forest to dismantle the monsters she defeated.
I also drew the induction heater magic circle on the ground, and after I explained it to Teyl, went to help Ayl dismantle.
When we came back from the forest, field boar meat and forabbit soup was served up.
For the traders it seems like this kind of meal is a luxury, so they were envious.
It"s just salted for flavour, but it"s all delicious.
"It tastes great."
"Thank you very much."
Teyl is openly pleased.
"If more spices are available, then would the variations increase?"
When I asked,
"Spices, is it? I don"t use expensive things much, but I think if I taste it I should be able to manage."
Teyl replied.
I came to want pepper and other spices.
After satisfying the needs for living, things to satisfy desire come out.
Finishing our meal, in the middle of cleaning up, when they saw that I cleaned the pot and tableware with Cleanup and incinerated the bones with a magic circle, there were invitations from traders, saying, "Do you want to ride on our wagon?", but it"s a pain so I refused them all.
"It seems that wyverns come out in the mountain pa.s.s up ahead, so everyone"s being cautious. Can you guys fight a wyvern?"
"Aa, no problem."
Ayl replied.
"I see, I"m relieved."
A wyvern is a flying lizard, so its arms are its wings.
That kind of species, Ayl told me, is a monster that adventurers defeat when they"re going up to B Rank.

"It"s been a while since I"ve done one on one combat with a wyvern."
Ayl is getting excited.
I drew magic circles on mine and Teyl"s walking stick with the pen; it seems that it"s easy to use.
"Naoki-sama, is there anything I can do?"
Teyl asked.
There isn"t anything to do on the wagon, and you get tired of the outside scenery after seeing it for an hour.
I take out the flower, tallow, and ashes; let"s make soap.
I show her the way to do it once to teach her.
"I will try!"
Teyl is eager.
"If you feel bad, it"s fine to stop midway. It"s important not to overwork yourself."
"Understood."
Teyl shifted her attention to the work.
When the sun began to go down, with rusk and honey we had a snack.
When I gave the driving trader a portion, he was surprised and delighted.
When we had eaten our snack, about when several tens of minutes had pa.s.sed, a monster came out in front of us.
I was being cautious with Search Skill so I knew right away when it was coming, but the monster"s speed was faster than I expected it to be.
Furthermore, that expected monster came from the sky.
"It"s a wyvern!"
Ayl"s voice echoed.
The wagon stopped moving forward.
"Ayl, it"s not just 1!"
A flock of wyverns has come.
In total, 8 of them.
To protect the wagon, I drew a magic circle in the air.
Ayl has already run out ahead.
I also jumped off the back of the wagon, drawing a magic circle on the ground with my walking stick.
The spears of light that sprang from the magic circle flew through the air.
Those spears of light attacked the wyvern flock, tearing their wings.
Ayl downed 3 of the wyverns who fell by slashing their necks.
The wyverns who didn"t have their wings torn fled by flying away.
The traders" wagon didn"t suffer any damage, nor were there any injured people.

""""Ooooo-!""""
The traders who had been watching attentively raised a cheer.
Ayl was applauded.
Ayl drew close to me with a stern face.
"I"d like to dismantle it, but this knife can"t cut wyvern meat. Even though it"s good meat and hide."
Ayl quickly switches to thinking about dismantling.
"Lend it to me a bit."
I took the knife from Ayl and drew magic circles on the grip and blade.
I tried raising the durability and sharpness.
"Try putting a little magic power into it while cutting. If you don"t have enough magic power, there are magic restoratives."
So saying I pa.s.sed the knife back to Ayl.
Ayl drew close to the wyvern corpses, placed her knife along the reptiles" scales, and even though there was a loud snap, the knife cut.
"With this I"ll manage!"
"Dismantling it is all well and good, but taking it with us will be difficult. Since I can"t use the item bag here."
I said as I pointed at the traders.
"It"s fine. Everyone will definitely cooperate for the sake of the wyvern meat."
So saying, Ayl headed over to the traders.
"Today we"ve got wyvern meat on the menu for dinner! Sorry, but make s.p.a.ce on the wagons!"
When she yelled that,
"Obviously!"
"Awesome- today"s going to be a feast!"
"Our wagon only has salt and defense gear, so we can make as much s.p.a.ce as you need!"
The traders said one after another.
Ayl grinned and began dismantling the wyverns in the middle of the road.
As for the blood and viscera flowing out of the wyverns, I evaporated them with magic circles.
The hide is hard, so since it seems to be good material to make weapons and armor from, the traders began to bid for the peeled off hide on the side.
Ayl and I can"t use the item bag anyway so we can"t take it with us, so we sold it to the traders for as much as they can manage.
The meat was wrapped in cloth, and when I drew a preservation magic circle on it, the traders said, "Are you a genius?!"

I think the nu trawler was getting confused by the multiple numbers in the t.i.tle, so we’re going to see if just calling chaps “Kujonin x” will work for auto updating on nu>