Chapter 12
Mabbo, Fairy, Planes
Enjoy~
12 Megane Kun, Corresponding with the Visitors
Since I was hunting at night, I returned to the capital in the wee hours of the morning the following day, after successfully hunting the Ankuru Bird.
I stopped by the Hunter"s guild, but they were unable to process payment due to the early hour of my visit. Either way, I have successfully pa.s.sed over the goods. Afterwards, I slept. When I woke later on, it was already well into the morning.
I then washed myself in the bathtub that was prepared for me, and ate breakfast at a nearby shop. Then came the usual, waiting at the inn for orders. I had planned on going hunting today as well, but before doing so, I wanted to go to the Hunter"s guild and Joseph"s shop.
I plan to confirm the delivery of the spoils from last night, as well as the payment for them. At Joseph"s shop, I need to buy some more arrows. Even having 「Magical Megane」, it only makes it easier to aim at prey. It doesn"t supplement my skill with the bow in any way. I still need to handle the bow and arrows myself.
And this bow, I"m not yet used to it.
Also, hunting in the dark, not used to it.
Hunting small birds.
These minor inconveniences piled up, and as a result, I wasted 5 arrows with nothing to show.
Although outsiders might not understand, my Master has a rule that 「Since the arrows have become your baggage, the number of arrows must match the number of animals you aim to catch.」
When a hunter is hiding and moving around, the main cause of alerting the prey is usually the sound of the bow hitting some object or their baggage b.u.mping into something. To that end, if I were to hunt the usual animals or birds, I would carry only 15 arrows, no more nor less. It"s not about hunting monsters, nor having a predetermined number of prey to hunt for money. It"s just about the nature of hunting.
In addition, it restrains myself from going out too deep into the forest. If one loses arrows, there is no other way, but to stop hunting.
And today, I have lost 5 arrows.
To be frank, this is at the level where I would be beaten by Master. I plan to not tell anyone about the incident last night. Today, I am preparing to hunt later in the evening, but then, a messenger from the castle arrived.
「――Eil of Albat Village, come and receive your royal orders」
Today, they came.
It was some time between Morning and Noon.
The people who turned up in front of my room are the group of mister soldiers that accompanied me in the carriage. Perhaps, it"s due to the small room I"m in, they seem intent on not stepping into the room.
「Yes, I understand. Should we go?」
I had prepared to leave beforehand.
Honestly, it"s not like I care what some geezer reclining on the throne has to say to me, but I won"t do something like publicly resisting the authority, so let"s just go with it. I mean, I haven"t seen what a King looks like. I"m even curious if he really exists or not.
「No, you don"t need to come along」
Eh? Come again? Is that really okay?
「The order is to 『Hand over 23 pairs of Megane』. Produce those 『Megane』as fast as possible. In addition, you can treat this as an item request mission with remuneration. That"s all.」
… ah, okay.
「In other words, they"re commissioning them, right.」
「Call it an offering. It"s a Royal Decree.」
Even if they say that, since they request such an odd number of them to be made, I can"t be wrong. Most likely, they counted the number of big shots who wanted my Megane, and the total came to 23 pairs. Since the contents of order is like that, they probably judged that I don"t need to be at the castle.
You can go home, just leave your 「Megane」 here.
Something like that.
Well, how do I say it…
I"ll probably decline even if they tell me to serve to the Castle.
It"s a matter of my feelings. After bringing me to the Royal Capital using the King"s authority then they tell me to go home since I"m not needed. I can only imagine I"ll carry out the order of some geezer whose face I don"t even know without putting any effort into it.
…Thinking about it won"t get me anywhere, though.
「With the capacity of my Magic Power, I can only make two pairs of 『Megane』 a day. So, preparing 23 pairs of them will take a considerable amount of time.」
「What, is that true?」
In the meantime, it would be a waste of magical power if I don"t do anything with it. I"ll make an extra pair each day and keep it stashed as a reserve. Even so, it"ll still be far from fulfilling the amount ordered.
「For the time being, I"ll hand over as many as I have on hand right now. The rest will come later.」
「 … Understood. Well then, we"ll come to visit in five days, so be prepared. Also, I"ll pay the rent for the next five days. Oh, and this is for your food expenses.」
「Ah, thanks.」
I received a modest sum of money, which was by no means sufficient, in exchange for handing over three pairs of 『Megane』. Afterwards, the soldiers withdrew.
「Yo. I"m here.」
Immediately after the soldiers left, another guest came crashing in.
「The exit is over there.」
「What"s with you? Why"s that the first thing to comes out of your mouth?」
It"s a member of the famous Adventurer"s team 『Black Swan of Dawn』 based in the Royal Capital, Laila the redheaded girl.
How strange.
It"s not like we"re friends. We can barely call each other acquaintances, our relationship status is just two people who often see each other"s face. I don"t get why she bothers to be concerned with me.
「I came to invite you on an adventure, you know.」
「The exit is over there.」
「What"s with you!? Hear me out!」
I desperately defend my room from being intruded upon, but Laila is strong. She pushes me aside and briskly steps into the already cramped room, as if to say she doesn"t care for my opinion. So this is the strength of an adventurer"s presence, or so they say. Wait, can I call the soldiers for her trespa.s.sing? Will they take her away?
「I heard the rumor. You"ve been hunting recently, haven"t you?」
「Rather than that, wanna grab some lunch? Soup Pasta with green onion and radish is what I recommend.」
「Your response to the conversation is weird from beginning to end! In the first place, that dish is this kingdom"s specialty so I"ve eaten it! …Ah, hold on! Don"t tell me you try to avoid the bill and dine-and-dash!?」
U~n… despite her brain power being a bit lacking, her intuition is sharp.
Laila, with her bullheaded intrusion, is already seated on my bed. I"m afraid of what could happen in a closed room with just two of us, so I leave the door open. If she starts to suggest something like that I"ll shout to the people in the lodgings to call the soldiers. I"ll indict her while playing the victim.
「If you really want me to go home ASAP, why don"t you stop grumbling and hear me out? It"ll be faster that way.」
Before that, we should talk about the lack of reasons to a.s.sociate with each other… But, since I"m dealing with someone who just forcefully stepped into my room heedlessly, hearing her is indeed a faster to deal with her.
「It can"t be helped… what was it? An adventure? I"m not an adventurer so I won"t go.」
Just after I give up and respond, Laila smiles delightfully. I"m not delighted at all, though.
「I know that, you know. You joined the Hunter"s guild, didn"t you? Rather, I didn"t know Hunter"s guild existed. First time I"d heard of it.」
Before I could even inquire why she was so familiar with my situation, Leila just continued to blabber about it all on her own.
Simply, it"s because there were eyewitnesses. Eyes that witnessed me going to the hunting spot every day, and the eyes that witnessed the game I brought back. Come to think of it, while I indeed didn"t see anyone in the forest, I crossed paths with some adventurers along the way there. The eyewitnesses could be them.
It"s especially unusual to see an 「Adventurer with Megane」 in the Royal Capital, so it seems I became something of a rumor around the neighborhood of Adventurers.
Something like: he"s a remarkable hunter who goes into the forest before evening and comes back with spoils in hand.
Something like: I can"t believe he hunted so much in such a short time.
Far from being remarkable. It"s all due to the 「Megane」.
So, each of the eyewitnesses" reports were rounded up, then they arrived at the fact that 「There is a Megane wearing hunter going in and out the Hunter guild」 — which then they connected it to me.
「You can focus on your game with composure. In other words, you have some good skills with the bow. I think you have what it takes to be an adventurer.」
「Precisely but I have no intention to become one, so I joined the Hunter guild.」
「I thought so. Despite not knowing you well, I doubted four-eyes would ever do anything in a group…」
If you understand that, then the talk is over.
「The exit is over there.」
「The conversation isn"t over yet.」
It"s completely over for me, though…