Next chapter SS25 in 4-8 hours, reasonably long one. It"s plot related so I suggest reading it when it comes out. 163 should be 4-8 hours after that. Also, I had to look up the kidney disease thing supposedly related to some myth.
Year 7444, Month 12, Day 13
Our exploration of the 7th floor is proceeding smoothly. It"s so smooth that it"s starting to seem frightening. We were able to gain a considerable number of magic stones from ogres this time and have gotten quite used to combat against them as well so if there"s a small number even without me they can defeat them. As long as it"s not a monster room, it seems they can manage the 7th floor plenty without me. Though as expected since the number of times we"ve entered the monster rooms on the 6th and 7th floors(though we"ve only seen one one the 7th floor) can"t be called a lot in the first place it"s still too frightening if I"m not accompanying them starting from the 6th floor.
It should be about a good time. The next day after we returned from the dungeon, I brought along a few allies and came to "Slave Store, Ronslail".
"Ronslail-san, have you still not obtained a slave that can use the shield?"
"Ah, Greed-sama, I"m very sorry. When it comes to a slave that can use the shield there really is only those who become prisoners from wars. Recently, they haven"t appeared on the market...I"m truly very sorry that I"ve not been able to be of a.s.sistance to you..."
The madam said that and lowered her head. How troubling. Ah, come to think of it I heard from my parents that there"s a dispatch of troops early next year. If a war prisoner comes along from there then they should arrive around early summer of next year. I have no intention of getting impatient but if possible while everyone is still young, I want to let them experience various things when their heads are still soft.
But, well I guess it"s fine. In the two and a half years since we came to Baldukk I think we"ve pa.s.sed through everything a bit too smoothly. Of course, we"ve experienced some considerable dangers a couple of days as well but in the end I"m sure it"s because luck is on our side that were able to make it this far without losing anyone. After leaving Ronslail"s store all of us entered a restaurant and after taking a table in the corner we ordered some tea and started talking.
The members here right now other than me is Miduchi and the irrit-ouple. If Zenom were to be included in there and it"s the members we often gather in while spending our days off recently. Today Zenom is together with Ralpha and Gwine as they went to buy clothes in the capital. It seems that Ralpha is going to use him to help choose. Even though I say choose it"s just the cloth though. Since it will take some time to finish I"m sure she intends it to be a Christmas present or something. That"s why I"m grateful we can talk in j.a.panese today.
Ah, the clothing shops on Orth have places with pre-made clothes hanging up as well but when it comes to high quality goods after all they"re tailor made. Though it"s uncommon for commoners to buy tailored clothes. You could say that since we have quite a few clothes we"re living quite wealthy lifestyles. That"s why I know in most cases when you order some clothes from a tailor they"re usually done in about two weeks. There"s not a wide variety of cloth and most of the clothes you can have tailored is things like Kimonos from j.a.pan. There"s not much need to have them fit to the body like a suit.
Well, as expected we reincarnated people still have a bit of resistance to wearing a tailor made kimono as casual clothing. Hanging clothes like yukata"s are often worn as casual clothing but after all western style clothes are more common. Sandals, pants, and a shirt that doesn"t open from the front that you wear by putting over your head. Excluding the sandals those are the types of clothes that line up with yukatas as being common. Women are fine in either pants or skirts. Though since we never know when we"ll get dragged into a disturbance no one really wears skirts.
"..and with that sort of feel. That"s why a regiment often points to one type of the largest units of soldiers. Normally, at something or other station place there will be over one regiment there is what it means. A stationing place put easier is something like a base. However, since there"s no naval ports or air ports, the old j.a.panese world of army base might be the most appropriate. I don"t know about foreign countries but the American army doesn"t use something or other base for their army stations but rather camp something or other right?"
Recently during our days off I"ve been using my spare time to teach them some basic military training. Since we"ve still only just started it"s really just the basics. Ralpha and Gwine joined at first as well but they start falling asleep and can"t remember it when I test them so they"ve already given up. It might be fine to teach Zulu and the others as well but one day I thought it would be good for Toris and Bel to gain experience commanding so I"ll leave the slaves to them later. Since it"s an important job for a commander to raise other commanders.
"..That"s right. Normally there"s a variety of different types of soldiers and they call these branches of the army but those gather together to make an army. When they gather these branches together and reach a point where they can deal with combat in any situation they call that group a division. A brigade is below that. A regiment is one more step below that. I don"t know much at all about the wars from the era before the warring states era in the past. The only branches I know are cavalry, infantry, and archers. Though among the infantry there were spears-men and such as well. However, Orth has feel like it"s even further in the past. If it was j.a.pan then maybe about Kamakura? Ah, I guess it"s better than that, I see. You sure are knowledgeable."
Unexpectedly Miduchi had a bit of knowledge about soldiers in the past. In some meanings she might be the most superior one in the {Slaughterers}. She knew a bunch of things about monsters that we didn"t know as well.
"..Which~ is why, putting aside the rough tactics and large strategies most of the tactics I learned aren"t really all that useful on Orth I"m sure. Since the weapons are too different. Ah, Toris, that"s exactly right. It would come somewhat in handy if both sides had guns, explosives, and airplanes. Though if we"re the only ones with them then I"m sure it would be somewhat useful as well but in that case using power to overwhelm is fine. This is the ideal. In the case where both sides only have bows as the projectile weapons then the tactics I learned aren"t all that useful. Since normally tactics are devised by the characteristics and properties of equipment after all."
The tactics I learned are used during combat between armies where both sides have modern day equipment. Putting it frankly, when they"re wearing plate-mail and equipped with a spear it"s pretty useless. The speed of advance is too different and I"m not really familiar with the types of terrains horses can pa.s.s through, it doesn"t seem like a large scale urban combat would occur, and since there"s no aid from tanks or airplanes after all. Of course it might be possible to apply them in some places but since the condition for them is the existence of firearms with high precision I"m sure there"s not much room to apply them.
"..It"s a weird way of putting it but if they have the same type of equipment that the members of the SDF have and equal numbers I"m sure anyone could win against the armies of this world. However, that is under the a.s.sumption that they know how to make use of that equipment. They might even be able to win under the commander of an elementary schooler from j.a.pan. But, in the case where they don"t have any knowledge, even if the greatest general from this world commands then they might end up losing to an army commanded by the worst general in this world.
If you don"t know that you need to pull the trigger to fire a gun when it"s all you"ve got and it"s nothing better than a club. Even if you do know, if you don"t know things like how to reload the ammo, the valid range, and how much damage it can do then you probably can"t use it any different than a bow. And since fighting your enemy directly and cutting them down with a sword is seen as an honor, they might see fighting from a distance as cowardly as well."
I was taught about the tactics of wars on Orth a bit by brother and in order to gain even more information about it I sent Kuro and Mary into the knight group have them learning there. Since they have the common knowledge a j.a.panese person should know as well, they should be able to calmly a.n.a.lyze the differences between modern day wars as well. Though I also feel like I"m holding my expectations a bit too high for them as well.
"Hn? Guns huh, guns are still a bit difficult."
If I were to try and make them I"m pretty sure I can. The type that is a lot better than a matchlock even. But, as expected it won"t go that easily. There"s no hope in regards to something like ma.s.s production. Even when it comes to bullets if you don"t make enough there"s no meaning and gunpowder is necessary as well. Of course I"m still researching them though.
I think it will be once I start to make use of {Trans.m.u.te.Rock.To.Mud}. Since it seems you can take out the metals that you"re sorting in any "form" you like. Let alone things like coils and springs, it should be even possible to make the small metal parts detonators use. I know the structure of simple guns but when it comes to the shapes of the small parts of a type-64 rifle then there"s no way I could remember them. The type of bolt action gun that was used in a past world war by infantry should be plenty. It doesn"t matter if it"s a clip or a box, anything is fine but if I can make it function with a magazine then I"d have nothing more to say. Though regardless of what it is there"s nothing I can do about it at the current point.
Although, if it"s the types of small arms that I"m supposing, if I can just prepare over 50 of them and plenty of ammunition, along with rifleman who have been trained, and then if they have a few other small handheld individual firearms, then even if it"s 5,000 people lead by the first knight group I think we could probably win while making use of just small scale magic. At the very least it should be possible to corner them into retreat before we take any large damage. Ah, I guess they call that winning.
In any case, these last few months, I"ve been using several hours on our days off to teach these guys the details of things I know that seem like they would be useful...There"s no guarantee that I"ll always be able to be on their side after all.
.................
That night, we intended to wait until Zenom and the others returned before having dinner but they never came back. Since Zenom is using Miduchi"s horse and Ralpha and Gwine are using my horse, even if they just let it walk a bit and take breaks along the way it only takes 2-3 hours one-way. As expected when the time pa.s.sed 7 pm it was pretty much pitch black outside. Miduchi and I were a bit worried but the three slaves and Annoy-ouple said "Ralpha and them aren"t children and Zenom is with them. Even if we don"t worry too much I"m sure they"ll suddenly appear tomorrow. I"m sure Ralpha just drank too much and they couldn"t control her so they"ll stay in the capital tonight right?" and didn"t seem very worried.
If it"s said like that then it certainly seems true. It seems but even if she"s like Ralpha is usually pretty careful about staying safe. Though she"s always drinking it"s never reached the level of drunkenness where she can"t ride a horse. She should also know that the capital is different from Baldukk where everyone knows the faces and names of the {Slaughterers} as well but...Well, certainly if Zenom is with them then there should be nothing worry about.
We ate dinner at a public restaurant called "Rasurun" which is famous for it"s chicken pies and even though everyone started late today since the usual heavy drinkers aren"t around we ended up finishing things early and returned to our inn. After returning to the inn, just in case I tried confirming it but Zenom and the others still hadn"t returned.
I returned to my room and when I was writing some stuff on the desk Miduchi came to my room.
"Hey, I"m a bit worried though.."
"It"s just as Toris said, Zenom"s there, I"m sure they"re fine. Wait just a minute, let me finish writing this."
After I replied Miduchi made some tea and is sitting in a chair.
"Did, you already take a shower? That was fast."
"No, not yet. Since I was a bit worried..I thought we might end up going out."
"Hn? I, don"t reallylikedoingitwithoutshowering."
No, it"s not to the point of hating it though. It"s manners to get rid of the sweat right.
"Really~ What are you saying! Aren"t you worried? Two young girls still haven"t returned you know?"
"That"s why I said, since Zenom is there it"s fine. In worst case there"s always my company as well, even if they end up completely broke there"s place they have to stay. In the first place, you said going out after this, but we have no method of transportation? Even if we were to go to Rombertia right after this about the only places I can think to check are my company and a brothel managed by one of Zenom"s acquaintances? There"s no method of finding them."
When I said that and Miduchi seems to have accepted it.
"N, I guess that"s true..Then, I"ll go take a shower."
She said that and left the room. Now then, I guess I"ll go to a shower after I finish writing this as well. Ah, what I was writing just now is a letter to Bakuddo, or rather, it"s more like an instruction doc.u.ment for production. Doc.u.ments regarding my predictions of the demand in the capital from here on out. I wrote out the situation in the capital as much as possible as well. To the level that we won"t get in the way of Webdos Companies business that is. I think if mother who should probably be remaining in the village sees it then she should be able to make the appropriate decisions.
I"m sure someone will come near the end of this month but if I write out the instructions on a letter before hand then I"m sure they"ll be able to make preparations easier in the village then just by word of mouth. In the first place, even when they come near the end of the year I"m sure father or older brother won"t be accompanying them. It"s just my prediction but at the very least sister-in-law Shani will come together with the squires for the deliveries and then after packing the carriages full of supplies they"ll head straight to the battlefield like that. They"ll only make it back to the village by early summer of next year or so.
I finish my writing and drank the rest of the tea Miduchi left.
It was lukewarm.
Thinking I"ll go and take a shower, just as I stood up from my chair Miduchi returned.
"Ah, sorry about that~ I"ll go and take a shower really quick."
"N, it"s fine. But, this inn, while the shower room itself is convenient, since there"s only one on the first floor it"s inconvenient you can"t come out in just a bath towel."
That can"t be helped right.
"Besides, I don"t dislike your sweat."
"What are you saying, are you a pervert?"
"I"m fine as a pervert as well. Since it"s only in front of you."
I see. If you"re fine with that then that"s fine.
.................
Year 7444, Month 12, Day 14
The next morning, I woke up before dawn together with Miduchi and while showering I also washed my face. In addition I finished off brushing my teeth and after returning to the room I grabbed the knit trash can on the side of the bed and took it to the small incineration furnace in the back of the inn to get rid of. Since most guests don"t have much trash or even if they did it wouldn"t be much at all so the brat of the inn gets rid of it when he cleans the room, but I mean, these past few months, some types of trash that I somehow don"t want the brat to see have occurred. When I arrived at the place to throw trash away and there under the slowly brightening sky Bel was holding a trash can with a troubled expression.
Somehow it"s difficult to look at each others face right? I didn"t want to run into anyone either.
However, it can"t be helped since we"ve met.
It would be strange not to greet each other as well.
"Morning."
"Ah, Good morning.."
Her face turned red from the embarra.s.sment.
Right.
After we greeted each other I was looking in a different direction.
Since Bel moved away from the front of the incineration furnace I approached to throw stuff away as well. Since the lid of the incineration furnace is cast metal it"s considerably heavy. After opening the lid I tried not to look inside while flipping over my trash can.
"..Four!"
It was seen. There"s no tissues and paper is a luxury item. It"s unthinkable to wrap them up before throwing them away.
"..More than."
"ha ha.."
Ah, really, pardon me from this. I can"t do anything but make an embarra.s.sed bitter smile.
"Miduchi-san, I"m envious.."
"ha ha.."
I see.
"Before it was even more.."
"..ha ha.."
"..We can"t afford to lose."
I"m sorry for your loss.
Toris, I won"t forget about you~
You were a good customer.
You should have been able to even beat that King in count in a single night.
Even if you return to being a good customer again starting tonight I"m pleased as well..don"t die from kidney failure.
While still holding the trash cans we separated at the second floor. Bel and Toris are on the third floor after all.
Just as Miduchi and I were leaving the inn to do our morning run, Zulu and Angela came along and Toris and Bel had already finished their preparations. Toris was looking at me with a bad expression. Like I could care less about being criticized over something like that. Say your complaints directly to your woman.
Zenom and the others still hadn"t returned by noon. It"s just a mere 10 Km. Furthermore the road connection Rombertia and Baldukk is maintained well and safe. Even if you include moving through the town that only adds another 2-3 Km but I"m sure it"s a distance that even the slow walkers Gwine and Zenom can cover in 3 hours.
While eating lunch together with Miduchi, as expected I"ve started to get worried. Without drinking any tea we finished our meal and returned on the way to our inn, we ended up running into Giberuti who was looking for seasonings so I called out to him and ordered him to call Zulu and Angela to our inn, and then we returned. It was confirmed that the annoy-ouple isn"t eating lunch outside when they ordered something like a bento for two when we were all eating breakfast together. Even without worrying about it I"m sure we"ll find them stuck together in their room so it"s fine to ignore them.
After telling Miduchi who was making a displeased expression to go and call them from their room on the fourth floor, I returned to my room and I changed into my armor and put the protectors on. I put my sword into it"s scabbard and that on my hip before descending to the lobby. I told Miduchi to put her leather armor on and come after properly equipping herself as well.
"Since I heard you called and.."
Zulu was waiting in the lobby. It seems Angela still hasn"t come.
"Yeah, Zenom and the others still haven"t returned. We"re going to the capital after this. What"s your plans for today?"
"There"s no problem."
Zulu replied while still looking down. Don"t lie. Didn"t you just say last week that you match your days off with that Laios sister.
"Eh? Is that?"
"Yes."
Hmph.
"I see, then sorry but come with us to the capital after this."
"I understand."
Angela and Giberuti came running in after that. They must have noticed my appearance and serious expression, they kneeled in front of me like Zulu.
"Ah, Angela, sorry about today. Are your plans open for today?"
"There"s no problem."
"So both of you no plans...Though that"s fine you know..you come together with Zulu and us to the capital."
"I understand."
"Also, Giberuti, sorry but you keep an eye on things here. Stay here for today. If no one comes back by night then it"s fine if you return to your inn and sleep."
"I understand..so you won"t ask me if I have any plans for the day I see."
This fellow sure does say jokes to lighten the mood at just the right times.
"Che..Shut~up. Since you"re always buying new seasonings with your own money I was thinking of giving you a raise next year but I"ll stop?"
I said that while laughing as well but I took some silver coins from my pocket and handed them to Giberuti while saying, "It"s no good today but use some money on yourself sometimes." It was just as Miduchi came down the stairs. Just as I told her she"s wearing her leather armor and a robe that goes down to her waist.
"I think that Toris-san and Bel will come soon as well."
In a few minutes Toris and Bel came down as well. I told them that we"re going to meet Zenom and the others since they still haven"t returned and to go put their equipment on and then waited for a bit longer. I told Zulu and Angela to just go get their swords and returned them to their inn. When Toris came back down he wasn"t wearing his leather armor modified into banded-mail. It might just be my imagination but his facial color doesn"t look very good but his expression is lively and his eyes had a radiance. In comparison Bel looked a bit unsatisfied. Wring Toris out later to make up for this.
In another 20 minutes there"s a pa.s.senger carriage that goes to the capital. I don"t know if we can ride it with six people but if we can"t then we"ll leave behind Zulu and Angela.