So many names...So many names!! This chapter was a bit longer than I thought it would take. 150 is like 75% done and 148/149 are pretty short.. so 2-4 hours? I don"t even know anymore. Today sometime, not counting midnight.
Year 7444, Month 6, Day 20
After being released from the administrative office which also acts as the a.s.sembly of elders, Miduchi moved to the warrior building along with each of the head warriors. It"s because she still hadn"t given an official report on the completion of her mission this time. The group was engulfed in a strange atmosphere, no one said a single word as they maintained the silence while moving. In front of the warrior building rank 1 warrior Kurozakku was taking the saddle bag and harness off of Miduchi"s horse and waiting with that luggage until Miduchi and the others returned.
Miduchi offered her thanks to Kurozakku when receiving her luggage and started on her way inside of the warrior building where Zageruforu rank 1 head warrior has his domain in order to report the completion of her job.
"..And that"s the shape it ended up so I ended up finishing off the target Mittorigu.Rokisu including all of the subordinates he was leading inside of the dungeon. There were no witnesses as far as I confirmed. The surrounding people believe they were defeated by monsters while exploring the dungeon, and I believe it was accepted in that sort of natural shape. Taking into consideration the possibility of their corpses being discovered I didn"t gather their magic stones but I definitely confirmed their deaths. I also disguised their injuries to appear as if they were attacked by monsters."
"..I see. Thanks for your work. It"s fine for you to return home today and get some rest. Since you have to appear at the royal palace tonight after all.."
Rank 1 head warrior Zageruforu replied while wiping the corner of his eye after receiving Miduchi"s report.
A deep fatigue could be heard in his voice.
"And also, umm.."
Miduchi faltered with her words.
"Hn? What is it?"
"That is, during my mission I inevitably defeated monsters inside of the dungeon. When I had leeway in time I gathered the magic stones so I have the magic stones with me. Also, separate from the mission there"s a magic stone I obtained privately but this is..."
"How many are there?"
"All of the small ones I obtained during my mission I merged together so there"s a total of two."
Hearing that Zageruforu waved his hand while declaring.
"Yeah, just the same as usual whatever magic stones you obtain during the mission belong to you. Feel free to use them or bring them to the place of the rank 3 and sell them, dispose of them however you please. I"m always saying it right? There"s no need to honestly report things every time."
Hearing Zageruforu"s comments Miduchi suddenly made a cheerful face,
"Right. Excuse me, thank you very much."
and said that while lowering her head to Zageruforu.
"Ah, and then if possible submit a report doc.u.ment by the end of the month."
"Yes."
Miduchi turned around and left the warrior building. Of course she returned her harness to the stable hand and switched all of her belongings into a sack.
....................
She returns to her home that she was away from for a short four month. There"s a strange nostalgia.
"I"m home."
She rolls up the cloth that acts a door to the entrance while calling out but there was no reply. There"s no lights on inside of the house and it"s darker than outside where the street light is. She doesn"t know if her older brother is in good condition today but he seems to be out. In order to exercise his legs that have started to go numb, when there"s open hands among her uncles family they often take him out for a walk.
Since their parents pa.s.sed away their family was just her older brother, the two of them so now their current house is only 1 ken(6 ft)(On the occasion their parents died their great grandparents moved into the house of their uncle and aunt. Of the remaining siblings until her older brother reached adulthood he was under their care as well). In terms of area it"s about 15 square meters. In Miduchi"s opinion it feels a bit wider than 8 tatami mats maybe? just that sort of feeling. Even then this is a reasonably s.p.a.cious room they were allocated for two people to live in because Miduchi is a part of the rank 1 warrior cla.s.s. On the contrary if you exclude the roof and the difference in buildings which even the walls are made of wood material then it"s plenty to call first-cla.s.s.
1/4th of the house has dirt floor and the remaining portion is a single tile wood floor about 30 cm off the ground. The cooking is down at the stove magic tool kitchen over the dirt floor. Further in the room there"s a pair of thin futon folded up and an entire wall is covered in plain shelves where clothing, tableware, and various tools are stored, other than that there"s just one small chest of drawers and a small table.
Fu~ and Miduchi lets out a sigh of relief before taking off her armor and filling a tub on the dirt floor with hot water she takes off her dirty clothes and starts to wipe down her body of sweat and dust before putting on some clean clothes. Since there"s also a problem with drainage in Lail Kingdom, even if it"s inside their own house they aren"t permitted to take a shower whenever they please. Unless you go to the so-called public baths, let alone a shower, you can"t even wash the dirt off of food such as mushrooms. The only time she can appear in a place like that and expose her unsightly skin color to take a shower is late at night when there"s few people, unless she"s concealing herself from public notice Miduchi couldn"t do it. While her girl power has fallen to it"s limits, Miduchi still takes into consideration other people"s sentiments.
After Miduchi got a bit refreshed she walked to the public drain area which was about 3 minutes away with the tub and threw away the dirty water before heading to the selling place. The sell placing is run by expert employees (they"re government workers as well though) and starting with the edible mushrooms produced in the country, luxury import goods like salt and pepper, various food items like edible meat, cooking utensils, clothes, and the magic stones for lighting or other daily necessities are sold there. Incidentally they don"t purchase magic stones. There she bought some hiratake bikurujii and maitake kofurujii, as well as a bit of luxury to celebrate the completion of her mission the stomach meat of pork and put those in the tub, she washed off the dirt of the mushrooms before wiping them dry and throwing the water into the public drain and then returned to her house.
It should be about the time her older brother returns from exercising. In that case, she went to the shared well and put some water into a pot before finely slicing the dried meat and other preserved foods and putting them inside, making some stock, and boiling the mushrooms and thinly sliced pork. It"s a pork and mushroom pot. She"d really like to add some burdock or lightly cut carrots as well but those sorts of vegetables are considerably expensive so she can"t bring herself to buy them.
When the pot started to boil she stopped the flame of the stove and turned off the lights in the house before taking a nap. She pulls out the light futon and covers herself in an equally thin blanket and since there was still the fatigue from the practice match today, fell asleep quickly.
.....................
Suddenly she opens her eyes and her older brother had already returned home and was turning on the flame for the mushroom pot.
"I"m home."
"Ya~ welcome home. So you prepared a pot. I"ll finish warming it up soon so shall we eat together?"
Her older brother G.o.du~guru smiled with his thin body. Since G.o.du~guru has had a weak body since his childhood he never took the warrior cultivation course and up until 7 years old had the duty of cultivating edible mushrooms. Since he would frequently have dizzy spells, irregular heartbeat, and shortness of breath he was allowed some leeway in breaks and harvesting which doesn"t require that much strength was primarily his duty. Unfortunately, these past few years his legs have started to go numb and when it"s particularly bad he can"t even stand up alone so currently he"s even been exempt from his servicing mission. In order to cover his living expenses he"s provided with 240,000 Z a year. His laundry is taken care of by his aunt.
"Yeah."
Miduchi replied while climbing out of the futon and smiled while preparing the rice bowl and chopsticks on the small dining table. They placed the pot holder on the dining table and after that placed the heated pot over there so they can easily access the food. Furthermore, in Lail Kingdom it"s only obvious to use chopsticks as tableware.
"Umm you know, older brother.."
While G.o.du~guru was looking at the state of the pot with his back towards her, Miduchi started talking to him. What to talk about?
"Yeah?"
"After we finish dinner tonight I need to go out again. I think I"ll return tomorrow afternoon or evening."
She only talked about the general outline. Since her older brother has a weak body just the same as Miduchi up until there was no expectation for marriage. The head of the Chizumagurol family has already long since been transferred to their uncle. It"s not that she particularly promised to marry that man but she felt a bit guilty towards her older brother.
"I see, it"s difficult right."
G.o.du~guru who"s five years older than Miduchi let out a heave as he carried the pot that was brought to a boil again to the dining table. If her older brother has decided he can do it on his own then there"s no need to offer a hand. However, since he"s holding a hot pot in the worst case she"ll move quickly to help him and if he burns himself she"ll have to use magic to heal him. Miduchi was anxiously watching over her older brother but while G.o.du~guru staggered a bit, he was safely able to place the pot on the dining table without dropping it.
This is the first the two siblings were able to eat across from each other at the dining table since the end of March when Miduchi left for the independent mission this time.
"Look, here some more meat. Your body is your capital after all, you need more nutrients."
G.o.du~guru said that while serving some pork into Miduchi"s rice bowl but Miduchi wanted her older brother to eat the meat.
"Older brother should be the one eating it. Since a while ago you"ve only eaten bikurujii."
"Hn? That"s not the case. I"m properly eating."
It"s pleasant but somehow the scene of the Chizumagurol dinner table has an unbearable feel to it.
After eating G.o.du~guru took some medicine and while saying "I guess I"m a bit tired." while laying down and closed his eyes satisfied.
After confirming that Miduchi put on her armor once again and equipped her short sword before leaving the house. After walking for about 5 minutes she arrived at her uncles house and it was just as they were finishing their meal. Her aunt was cleaning up the tableware.
"Uncle, aunt. I returned today. Thank you very much for always looking after my older brother."
"Ya~ welcome back. Since it seemed like Gocchi was in good condition today we brought him on a slightly long walk."
Miduchi"s uncle Bedushu replied to her. It seems her uncle brought G.o.du~guru on a walk.
"Miducchan, so you prepared dinner. It"s a big help."
Her aunt Hamyuri smiled while replying.
"No, rather than that, I"m very sorry I can"t offer much in thanks. During the mission this time I was able to obtain some magic stones so I"ll sell them later."
"Is that so, but it"s fine if you don"t do anything unreasonable."
"No, that"s not the case.."
She exchanged greetings appropriately and patted the heads of her 5 and 6 year old cousins who were badgering her to play while Miduchi lowered her head to her aunt.
"What the~ Just as I was wondering who it was, so it was Miduchi? You"re the same dirty color as usual. That"s why you can"t get married."
The one speaking abusively to her is her oldest male cousin that just turned 12 years old this year Baduson. He"s in his last year of the warrior training course and if he"s able to spend it without any large mistakes then putting aside rank 2 he should be able to make it as a rank 3 warrior.
"Hey! Baddu! What kind of language are you using towards your older sister! Apologize!"
Being scolded by his father, her uncle, Baddu ran into the back with a sullen look.
"It"s fine, uncle. It"s true that I"m a dirty color after all..Well then, I need to go out again after this so please excuse me. Again tomorrow I"ll properly stop by for greetings."
Miduchi said that before leaving her uncle"s house.
.....................
When Miduchi arrived at the royal palace she apologized to the elders who were already waiting for being late and asked what she should do.
"..Umm, what would it be best for me to do?"
"It"s her majesty"s order. There"s nothing other than going to her majesty"s bedroom right."
The one who replied to her was elder Zoriddo who"s in charge of expanding the tunnels. He"s a man of small height for a dark elf and is only around 150 cm.
"Weapons are unnecessary for entering the royal palace. I"ll hold on to it for you."
Elder Fantodu received the short sword along with the sword band from Miduchi.
"It"s normally prohibited to enter the royal palace so we can"t accompany you inside. Once you enter there should be a large door in the front. Even further inside is the audience room but; since this time it"s to her bedroom after all. Open the door on the right and continue down the hall. Along the way there should be several doors but once you reach a stairwell descend it and go to the bas.e.m.e.nt. I don"t know the details beyond that but there should be a door with the name of the room written on a plate. The {room of sleep} should be the bedroom."
Only two people are allowed to step foot into the royal palace of Lail Kingdom and those are maids who"s primary jobs are cleaning. Even when it comes to the elders they"re not permitted to enter at their own convenience. The maids have already finished their service work for today and have returned home.
"I understand. By the way"
"Hn?"
"During my mission this time I privately obtained a magic stone so I"d like to sell it but..Of course, I"ve already received permission from head warrior Zageruforu to sell my own private property."
"Yeah, then I"ll take custody of..What!?"
After receiving the leather bag from Miduchi the elder Zagurocchi who"s in charge of public relations unintentionally raised her voice at the weight. Just from looking it didn"t seem to be that large of an amount. She expected it to be at best 30-40 of them.
"This is..quite amazing. It"s considerably heavy. Is it fine to open it and take a look?"
Elder Zagurocchi has already exceeded 30 years old but is famous for being a beauty. Of course there"s her beautiful white hair but her sharp and uniform proportions wouldn"t let you believe that she"s given birth to three children. Her beautiful facial features without a single scar are above the rest of the dark elves who have quite a few beauties. Even though she has that sort of appearance the fact that she made an expression of surprise without trying to cover it was because it weighed just that much.
After hearing Miduchi"s reply, Zagurocchi opened the mouth of the leather bag and looked inside before being lost for words and freezing in place. While all the other elders watched on with strange expressions, the words she finally managed to squeeze out were, "Beautiful..", just those very common words.
While holding the leather bag in her left hand she stuck her trembling right hand into the bag and what she pulled out at first was a grey magic stone with a diameter that wasn"t even 2 cm. Since the color is somewhat light it"s got a reasonable value but if it"s just that much, the rank 3 warriors who are out on patrol around Erurehei for several days can make one if they merge their magic stones.
She placed that in her left hand that was holding the leather bag and then once again stuck her right hand into the leather bag. Just from a glance it seems like another 30 or so magic stones of the same size she just pulled out could be inside. If you think about that then it"s certainly true that a fortune could be inside of that leather bag. However, everyone"s eyes went wide seeing the gem that Zagurocchi pulled out next.
While it may be small even they who stand at the top of a single country have never seen such a large, white magic stone. You could say it"s regrettable that there"s just a few dark stripes running through it but even if you ignore that you can tell the amount of mana packed into it. Most likely a consider number of magic stones were merged inside and the magic stone that was the base was quite something with how large it was as well. If it"s that size then even if the color is pitch black, the amount of mana inside is low then it would be of a reasonable value as a mother stone for merging others so there"s no doubt about that.
""Wha!!?""
""This is!?""
""It"s huge..""
""Beautiful..""
While each of the elders were making remarks of wonder, hearing that Miduchi felt a bit embarra.s.sed.
"{Status Open}..Hi!! In..Individual.."
Fantodu supported Zagurocchi as she was about to fall over and took the magic stone from her right hand while using {Status Open} on it to check the status.
【Magic Stone(Death=Tyrant.Kin)】
"Death=Tyrant.Kin..This sort of, even though it"s this size and color it"s an individual magic stone!?"
"Impossible! Hand it over! {Status Open}!.."
"Me too..{Status Open}~!"
"{Status Open}..Certainly!"
After Webundo was the last one to check the status of the magic stone he looked between the magic stone in his hand and the status window floating in front of him and while still unable to hide his surprise he questioned Miduchi.
"Rank 1 warrior Chizumagurol. What in the world is this magic stone..."
Being questioned by the elder, Miduchi stood upright and opened her mouth.
"Ha, after finishing my mission this time, when I was going to leave the dungeon I let my guard down and ended up falling into a pitfall trap. I believe that the pitfall, most likely lead to the lowest floor of the dungeon. There I encountered another adventurer who had gotten caught in the trap and the two of us cooperated to somehow escape. It"s something that we obtained when we defeated a monster that appeared to be something like a gatekeeper from the lowest floor to the upper floors. Though I say that, it was largely thanks to the power of that adventurer that we were able to defeat that monster and I was close to just an addition though.."
"What! So you were inside of the dungeon your mission huh...But, there"s one thing that doesn"t make sense to me. The reason why that adventurer would give something worth as much as this to you. Did you kill that adventurer and steal it?"
"No. Since I wasn"t able to contribute much in defeating that monster I tried to restrain myself but certainly that magic stone is something I received from him. Since I have a sick older brother, when he found out that I needed money for medicine he handed it over to me."
"That"s absurd! As if there"s such a softhearted person!"
The one who joined the conversation between Miduchi and Webundo was elder Zorebahiru who"s in charge of medicines. Miduchi was of the exact same feelings. In what world is there a person as softhearted as that? I"m sure even if it was that man if it wasn"t me then he wouldn"t have handed it over. Miduchi prepared her resolve before facing him and opening her mouth. I"m sorry, your majesty, no, madam, I"m borrowing your name.
"It"s all to the wishes of her majesty Lilus. I"m sure that her majesty did something. When that male adventurer offered it to me, I certainly felt the presence of her majesty."
A lie on this level should be fine. After all it"s not incorrect to say Miduchi has a large favor with her majesty the Queen.
""What!""
""..I see, her majesty did..""
""So that"s why they were able to defeat a monster with this sort of magic stone...""
""I see now..""
""That"s why her majesty to Chizumagurol..""
It"s probably an effect of the 3D image that was projected a while ago said things that seemed to view Miduchi in a special light but the elders didn"t doubt Miduchi"s words at all. Miduchi alone thought (they"re too easy), but this is probably not something unreasonable.
"However, if it comes to a magic stone of this level, it won"t be so easily.."
Webundo looked at the magic stone in his hand in a daze while he whispered.
"It"s a quality that I"d like to make into a national treasure."
"It"s outrageous to use that."
"Selling it to another country is absurd."
While the elders one after another continued commenting while looking at the magic stone, Miduchi(Wun, that person said that I could easily sell it directly to the country but it"s not easy to sell at all) was troubled. I wonder if I should negotiate.
"Umm..In regards to that magic stone but would selling it be difficult?"
She tried questioning nervously.
"That"s only obvious right!? This sort of magic stone..Furthermore since it"s individual it must have been a greatly powerful monster right. I"ve heard that the Kingdom of Devas has the magic stone of the Green Dragon 【Berugofurokuti】 that one had it"s nest in the Dirt Plains in their treasury as a national treasure. I haven"t seen the actual thing so it"s just my imagination but isn"t this something that rivals that?"
"That might be the case."
"It"s appropriate to make into a national treasure for our country."
"However, it"s magnificent."
I see. So this is the critical moment. It"s the time for me to show off my negotiation skills trained by that person.
"I"m troubled. That magic stone is something that.I.personally.was.given. but if I can"t get the kingdom to buy it then..The medicine cost will.."
While hanging her head she made fleeting glances at the elders and they were looking over here with expressions of surprise, confusion, and anger.
"And then, there"s also her majesty"s intentions as well.."
And then, awe and shame was included in their expressions as well. Putting aside awe, the one who was making an expression of shame is the elder who was making an expression of anger until just a moment ago. They must have been trying to think of some reason or other to confiscate it from Miduchi.
"However you know, rank 1 warrior Chizumagurol. It"s something of this level, we can"t purchase it that easily...If we were to pay that much cash all at once then it would have an effect on stocking up from here on out.."
Obviously on Orth it"s fundamental paying in cash with a smile. Miduchi fully knew something like that as well. When it comes to expensive goods like equipment there"s some trades where half the amount is paid in advance as well.
"I don"t particularly have any concern over that magic stone itself. It"s a greedy way of putting it but I thought that if it would just help out in taking care of my older brother"s medicine and living expenses then that would be plenty. Of course, since at great pains I managed to.privately.obtain. such a splendid magic stone, I also would like to present it to the country. But.."
That magic stone is something that man and I obtained while risking our lives with just the two of us. If I"m going to sell it then I want to get even just a bit higher of a price for it.
"Fumu. Well then the country will look after the trouble of your older brother"s treatment from here on out. How about that?"
Elder Merurikkusu who"s in charge of human resources and the health of the citizens proposed. There"s no way an elder like he would have a grasp of every person like G.o.du~guru and his illness or the cost of his medicine. However, this is the settlement point that Miduchi already a.s.sumed in the first place. The compensation for completion of the mission this time..normally 1% of the reward for the job is paid to those who complete it. This time was a special a.s.sa.s.sination mission and it should have been 150,000,000 Z, since Miduchi completed it alone she should receive the entire amount of 1,5000,000 Z..since she had already received it the amount is just 1,000,000 Z but there"s also the magic stones she obtained in the dungeon.
"..I appreciate such a grateful proposal...However, I believe I will be given a new mission by her majesty tonight. My older brother"s living expenses are also necessary during that time."
Honestly, it"s probably impossible up to here. Those who are receiving payments for living expenses even in this small Lail Kingdom including her older brother is just five people. Even more so Miduchi is a rank 1 warrior cla.s.s who has a high salary. If they don"t know the cost of the medicine then with just that it would be strange for them not to think she"s living a considerably prosperous lifestyle. Even when thinking with common sense it"s difficult to imagine that someone of the rank 1 warrior cla.s.s has almost no savings.
Miduchi who"s in her third year as a member of the rank 1 warrior cla.s.s receives 510,000 Z a month in wages. If they were to live thrifty then with just that they could live for one year. If you add the bonus for completing a mission to that then it"s just around the point where it reaches 7,700,000 Z in annual income. Even this is largely in thanks to rank 1 head warrior Zageruforu pitying Miduchi and pushing the profitable missions around to her. Even with the 240,000 Z a year living expense money her older brother receives they"re barely able to somehow live a normal lifestyle.
"Mwu, as expected we can"t go that far..However, it"s disappointing."
I guess this is it. If the cost of medicine just floats then our lifestyle will quickly become much easier. She should be able to offer plenty of thanks to her uncle and aunt for the burden she"s put on them as well. It"s for that reason that used such a way of talking that even after leaving the country she"ll still be on a mission.
"No, I shouldn"t hope for too much. I appreciate just being able to entrust the treatment of my older brother. I present that magic stone here and now. Merurikkusu-sama. My older brother, please take good care of my older brother."
Miduchi lowered her head very deeply. Starting with Webundo, Fantodu and Yoretto remembered hearing Zageruforu"s words about her diligently working for the medicine costs but since Merurikkusu didn"t seem to remember they thought to just ignore it.
Made from wood and cut stone..The extremely extravagant building for Lail Kingdom..
Each of the ten elders watched Miduchi"s appearance from behind as she stepped foot into the royal palace with a different expression.