The least unexpected chapter at the even less unexpected timing. Got really busy all of a sudden so only have had time to finish the last few paragraphs on this and start 149. Just figured I"d post this up since the latter half of it should already seem familiar and a moment I totally forgot about. 149, SS27 1-3, 206+ on Sat.u.r.day.
Year 7444, Month 8, Day 4
Close to half a month has pa.s.sed since Miduchi departed Erurehei. Yesterday she finally pa.s.sed through Viscount Mongoto"s territory and entered Count Faruergaz"s territory. After entering the Count"s territory the state of the roads underwent a complete change as they were more maintained and better. The mountain pa.s.s she pa.s.sed through yesterday afternoon should have been the border between territories.
After Miduchi left Erurehei the first place she stopped at Remeru village in Viscount Mongoto"s territory she wasn"t able to buy a horse. That was fine since she didn"t think she"d be able to buy a horse in the small Remeru village. However, while she just intended to take a slight detour on the way to the capital of the Viscount"s territory Rigettsu but even there only old pack horses and donkeys were for sale. She had no intention of seeking the luxury of a young and fearless war horse but if possible she wanted a horse that was under 10 years old. Since it couldn"t be helped she ended up having to travel to Count Faruergaz"s territory on foot.
Different from the poor Viscount Mongoto"s territory, Count Faruergaz"s territory is a completely normal high ranking n.o.ble"s territory so Miduchi thought that if she goes to the capital Robamorusu then she should be able to buy any number of young horses.
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Year 7444, Month 8, Day 8
Miduchi arrived at the capital of Count Faruergaz"s territory, Robamorusu just past noon on this day. It"s just a bit larger in scale than the dungeon town Baldukk that she was staying in until two months prior, it"s a large town with a population of 50,000. The town is split into roughly six sections with the river flowing from the East to the West and just the same around 1 Km North parallel from the river is Mina road and then Rap.i.s.shu road which runs from the Northwest to the Southwest. Miduchi came walking along the Mina road from the East to the West.
There was a mix of houses and fields between the road and the river and on the other side of the river to the South is almost entirely fields. In the North there"s a lot of housing. There"s some houses in the fields to the South as well but judging from the construction of the buildings and their location they"re problem housing for serfs. With the summer sun blazing down on her, there was a waterfall of sweat between Miduchi"s back and her rucksack as she"s already soaking. She could see a well a bit head so after drinking some water there and resting for a bit she"ll start heading towards the center section of Robamorusu. Ever since she ate breakfast she"s only had water to drink so she"s considerably hungry. Either way she wanted to have a proper meal in the restaurant of a large town.
After finishing her short break Miduchi started walking towards the center block of Robamorusu. A dark elf carrying a large rucksack with a bow, quiver, and sword doesn"t seem like anything other than a peddler. It"s unusual for them to be alone but it"s not as if there are no peddlers who travel alone not limited to just dark elves. There"s always a constant number of poor novice merchants who can"t afford to hire adventurers as escorts.
Along the way she ended up encountering what she believed to be knight group members on patrol.
"Excuse me, there"s something I"d like to ask but"
Miduchi called out to the knight group member while still wearing her hood for blocking the sun. It seems they noticed.
"I want to buy a horse but could you please refer me to a place somewhere?"
"Oh~ a dark elf huh? What is it, did your business go well and you make a nice profit? Do you not need a carriage?"
It was a group of two male and female knight group members and the male replied.
"Yeah, a carriage is still..Just as you can see a saddle bag is plenty for my luggage.."
"You, if you"re peddling then you might already know but the knight group only just returned from a campaign last month. Since there"s also replacing horses that were crushed, right now, the price of horses is increasing."
The woman puts her hand at her waist while saying. She already knew that half of the knight group had gone on the campaign. Previously, when she was heading towards Baldukk and returning to Erurehei she heard both times. But, I see.
So they"ve returned.
"Well it"s fine even if it"s a bit expensive. As long as it"s not outside the realm of common sense."
"Then, there"s a place called "Rokeshu Harness Store" up ahead. If you go there they might be selling horses. Just in case it is the primary merchant the knight group uses so you should be able to trust them."
After Miduchi heard the detailed location of "Rokeshu Harness Store" she politely thanked them and split ways. It didn"t seem like she could endure her hunger. According to her stomach and she needed food before a horse. She entered a random restaurant and ordered some sobagaki, then immediately got to kneading it in her bowl. Some deep grey soba flour that wasn"t very good quality came out with the husks still attached so she started mixing it with the boiling water and in no time at all it"s viscosity increases as it reached the point of eating. She added a bit of salt and olive oil and gulped it down. She really wanted some bonito stock for the soba soup but this isn"t half bad once you get used to it.
A story from long in the past, when she was still Shiina Junko, when she went to drink at night at a soba shop near the company she remembers the man who would eat some sobagaki as a side to j.a.panese sake. I wonder if he"s still eating sobagaki together with sake now?
After her stomach was full she started towards "Rokeshu Harness Store" without drinking any tea. She tried negotiating with the owner of the Harness shop to sell her a horse but both of the horses they had already had been sold. However two days later they were supposed to get a young four year old horse that could be sold. She handed over 1 gold coin as a deposit and said she would come again two days later before resting in an inn this day.
She carefully wiped her body in an inn that costs 2,000 Z (20 copper coins) per night and since she still had time before dinner she laid down a bit and was easily dragged into the world of sleep. She opened her eyes close to the middle of the night. In terror she checked to make sure there was no abnormalities in her luggage or stomach band. Since she had made sure to just properly close things up the only thing stolen was time.
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Year 7444, Month 8, Day 9
Since she hadn"t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon she ended up eating a considerable amount of food from the morning. Though she"s a woman, she"s still trained as a warrior, and Miduchi consumes more calories than the average man. Of course, she can endure a simple diet as well but there"s no need to push herself right now. She put vinegar, olive oil, dressing made from pepper, and the truffle powder she had over a bowl of raw vegetables with lettuce as the base before eating it. She also sprinkled the truffle power some rye bread after dipping it in olive oil before eating it deliciously.
(Huh? If I think about it other than the fact that there"s no matsutake isn"t Lail Kingdom considerably luxurious?)
And she started thinking about it at this point. Adding to that if the perfect method of artificially cultivating shimeji, kurokawatake, or amitake were brought to j.a.pan they"d make a fortune. After all Lail Kingdom"s mushroom cultivation techniques have completely surpa.s.sed modern day j.a.pan. They"re often more delicious than the natural product.
Miduchi(Well since truffle powder is already something I"m used to I"ll save it and give it to him I guess) thought and put the cork back on the bottle of powder.
After leaving the restaurant Miduchi went on an after meal walk. It seems the knight group is training at the edge of town. Since she has nothing to do today, she decided to kill some time by checking the abilities of the knights on the surface while wandering around.
She wandered around the town of Robamorusu before arriving in front of the knight group training area before 9 am. The squires who are still young are swinging their wooden swords wholeheartedly after receiving the signal from the knight teaching them. She remembered her own education training process days for becoming a warrior.
(This is some lukewarm training~)
They"ve properly only just become squires. While observing Miduchi got the impression that the squires were all in their mid teens or just about adults, the same age as herself. Miduchi sat on the embankment while dazing out as she watched the training but in less than 20 minutes she got bored of it and decided (there"s nothing to gain), so she stood up and started wandering the town of Robamorusu again.
A galette made almost like a crepe made from soba flour had some vegetables and ham between it as it was being sold so she ate two of them for lunch, then after returning to her inn she started maintenance on her two swords. The short sword she"s used for many years is starting to reach it"s limit. It"s a weapon she chose simply because it was cheaper than a long sword. Since she"s comfortable with it she intends to continue using while it can still be used. However, just as expected from one made from cast iron it"s endurance is low. She"s undergone live combat with it countless times so it wouldn"t be strange for there to be some fine cracks that can"t be seen in it.
She carefully checks if there"s any distortion while touching the edge of the blade. It had a reasonably sharp cutting edge when she first bought it but after being sharpened countless times it"s gotten shorter and now that the low quality cast iron that makes up the core has started to show through it"s cutting edge is getting dull. It"s already at it"s limit. It might be best to sell it while it still can be sold.
In comparison, the scimitar granted by her majesty Lilus should have existed since several hundred years ago but the blade still gives of a suspicious light as if it was completely new. The blade is dyed black and just the edge of the blade has the silver metal showing.
【Blade Shadow Scimitar Of: Raidyuroufusutira】
The beautiful scimitar crowned with the name of their race also has a dangerous sounding second name. If she digs through the knowledge of Shiina Junko and it"s not something that"s suitable for a mere dark elf herself to be using. The grip she holds in her right hand fits so comfortably almost as if it"s connected has a length of around 15 cm. From the end of the grip up until around the middle finger there"s a knuckle guard growing out with a refined curve to it. The guard isn"t very large but it"s plenty large enough to endure locking swords and was made durable.
Up until she arrived at Robamorusu she ended up cutting down a {Mountain Wolf} that seemed to have strayed from it"s pack with this scimitar but the blade pa.s.sed through so well she felt almost no resistance at all, in just a single attack she split the spine of the {Mountain Wolf} and was dumbfounded over it"s overwhelming cutting edge.
After that, since she split the bone she quickly tried checking the blade but after confirming that there wasn"t a single bend or crack in the blade she was dumbfounded once again. However, if it"s this then no matter what kind of opponent comes out there"s no need to fear. Lightly, just for the sentiment she wiped the blade with a cloth with a bit of oil on it before returning it to the black scabbard without ornaments.
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Year 7444, Month 8, Day 10
After finishing breakfast Miduchi started on her way to "Rokeshu Harness Store". There"s no way the horse would arrive this early in the morning but she didn"t have anything else to do. She decided to wait in the store front looking at harnesses until it arrives. Since she doesn"t know what size the horse will be she decided to pick after it comes.
After telling the owner that she would wait they didn"t just pleasantly permit her but even offered some tea. Certainly since she"s not just buying a horse but a full set of harnesses so she"s good customer. You could say this treatment is only obvious.
While she was looking at the saddle made from leather, the stirrup made from metal parts, and the various belts noon arrived in no time at all. When the owner called out to her she went and got some lunch and by the time she returned the horse had arrived. It was a chestnut horse with gentle looking eyes. Miduchi approached it from the front and even after stretching out her hand to it"s neck it wasn"t afraid.
(Yeah, there"s no problem if it"s this one)
The price of the horse was 7,200,000 Z, including the full set of harnesses it was 8,000,000 Z. It already had horseshoes on before it arrived here. She received some spare horseshoes and put them in the new saddle bag before moving all of her luggage over from her rucksack as well. She paid the remaining price of 7 gold coins to the owner and got on the horse with an accustomed method.
After being seen off by the owner she advances down the road. She watches the training of the knight group as she pa.s.sed by the training grounds. Today it"s not just the squires training but combined training with the knights.
As expected she hadn"t learned combat while riding on horseback so she might be able to gain something today.
I see now, in order to open up both hands you control the reins with your neck huh? The knights were showing of splendid riding techniques as they wield their lance and kite shields riding around. All of them have helmets on so she couldn"t tell their faces but since some of them have tails she could tell just the non-humans apart.
..I wonder if that pure black tail is a Tiger-man? Since there"s no stripes I can"t really tell but that shape should be a Tiger-man. Since they"re not on a horse they must be either a squire or a low ranking knight. Among the infantry just he seems to have quite the high level of skill.
He"s good at using the shield.
While straddling her horse Miduchi watched the training for just a bit but in the end it"s just knights from a remote region. Partway through the knight with good movements got on horseback as well but while his movements were somewhat good the rough parts still stand out. After all it seems that the main knights who were on horseback from the start have more skill. It seems he wanted to make use of the large size of his body and long reach to fight with the sword but since he"s on horseback she thought he should just use the spear. It might be the case that he can"t use the lance though.
It seems it would be best to hurry ahead. Tonight, she wanted to reach the next village before the night.
While heading Northwest along Rep.i.s.shu road Miduchi caresses the neck of the horse hat has just become her favorite horse.
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Year 7444, Month 8, Day 28
Today was once again an extremely hot day. Miduchi thought it might be best to stop by his company in the capital and his older sister in the knight group just in case but she realized it"s only been about three months since then. And since thought that it would be best to go and greet them together with him she just steadily aimed straight for Baldukk.
Close to that evening Miduchi finally arrived in the town of Baldukk and she started on her horse towards the "Boil Manor" she had heard about. According to her Unique Ability, Unit Organization he"s been in the dungeon since several days ago. There"s a lot of farmers who tend to the fields surrounding the craters and artisans along the road.
She avoids them while continuing on her horse and finally arrived at her destination. There was signs of water sprinkled in front of "Boil Manor". Since he"s in the dungeon I don"t know when he"ll return. For the time being I should take a room. No, if I stay in the same room then there"s no need to take one. While worrying about something weird (it would be faster to just directly ask) and thinking it over once again she connected her horse out front before "Welcome~~!!" telling the young apprentice at the front the name of the man who should be staying there.
"Kawa, I"ve heard that a person named Alan Greed is lodging here. I want to meet him."
She already knew he wasn"t around but Miduchi thought saying that seemed less unnatural. Also, she had intended to ask politely but it seems it came off wrong to the brat who was the same age or just a bit younger.
"..Really again..Certainly that person is a customer of ours. Though if you"re trying to join his party you should give up. Really, every single day, they all keep coming to try and join...It"s all people wishing to join the {Slaughterers}. That person rejects everyone with a glance. Since he"s a first-rate adventurer. If you aren"t a customer, then, leave already."
I see now, so that was the case. After understanding the young apprentices att.i.tude Miduchi took the plate out of her pocket and showed it to him before opening her mouth again.
"This plate is something I received from him. Also, I"m an acquaintance of his, his wife. Would you please show me to his room?"
(Is it a bit too forward I wonder? But, one day it will become like that, so it should be fine right.)
After hearing Miduchi"s words as she turned red the brat broke into laughter and started holding his stomach as he laughed.
"Ha!? That"s a new pattern. Hey~ dark elf sis. What did you say just now? What did you say? I heard you"re his wife though. Don"t say such easily exposed lies! Show some proof, here, {status open}..Are you an idiot? You said a lie that was exposed in two seconds. In the first place there"s no way a dirty plate like that would belong to that person!"
"We just haven"t done the naming ceremony yet. And if you"re going to say I"m not a customer then..that"s fine. I"ll take a different room. Please take care of my horse as well. How much is it?"
Miduchi replied a bit irritated.
"What are you saying you idiot? There"s no way we"d let someone like you stay here. If someone suspicious like you stays over, Greed-sama will get angry at us!!"
"Wha, rejected me a room is it..Is that fine with you? You"ll end up getting told off later. Even if you end up fired I won"t pay any mind to it!"
"Ha!! Iddiio~! Let alone Greed-sama, I was asked this of all the members of {Slaughterers}. Refuse strange people that is! Even last week they were grateful to me for turning away some idiot. You could even say I"m a member of the {Slaughterers}. Get going already!"
Because of how rudely it was said Miduchi was about to get angry but she managed to calm down and speak. It was because she felt that he returned to the surface with her Unique Ability, Unit Organization.
"If you"re going to say that far, then fine. I"ll wait here."
"Che..You"re an annoyance. Now, you"re in the way. Leave already."
In her head she was thinking, (I"ll tell on you!) while she moved a bit of distance away from "Boil Manor". She can still tell the boy is glaring at her from the entrance but she wasn"t bothered of it.
(Come to think of it, I"m hungry~)
After taking the reins of beloved horse, it might have just been her imagination but her horse seemed to be making an expression of hunger as well.
Miduchi counted the piles of horse p.o.o.p on the ground while just waiting for his return.
.................
For a short while, Miduchi maintained the blank in her consciousness after casting some cold water over her horse to cool it down and then she noticed a group talking at the entrance. He"s already right in front of her. The ones she can hear might be his allies. With expectations in her chest just as she was about to look at their faces she her a loud woman"s laughing voice echo around.
"Eeeh!! Wife~!?! Ahahahaha!! Did you hear that!?"
"Really, you"re laughing too much. But, that"s certainly a new method."
"Al didn"t mention a single thing about being or getting married after all. How pointless. Come on let"s go."
It"s a male and female dwarf and a human woman.
"Just a minute, is it that person?"
"Yeah, that"s right, Ralpha-sama. It"s that woman. Just because she"s slightly pretty she intended to enter using seduction. Even though there"s no way Greed-san would be caught by seduction..she"s been there for a while without leaving. She"s really obstinate."
"Shall I say a word to her?"
"No way, she"s nothing to trouble Akdam-sama over. She even forged some kind of dirty and strange plate, that dark elf."
"A Dyurou you say? Why didn"t you say that first!"
After Miduchi looked at the three glancing over here after hearing the brats story she took off her hood. Though it was evening, there was still some sun remaining. She had heard the story from him but among those three the female dwarf and human should be reincarnated people.
When all three of them saw Miduchi"s face from the side in the setting sun their expressions went stiff.
"What is it, so you"re still just standing over there. If you don"t leave soon then Larry will chase you off."
"What"s going on? Everyone over there.."
"Hey Ralpha, since you said you wanted to take a shower..first. That was faster than I thought."
It was the face that Miduchi had continued thinking about these past three months, no, Shiina Junko had for over eight years.
Since it couldn"t be seen from the back light the expression was definitely smiling.
"Dear!"
She let go of the reins and ran off
""Dear~!?""
In the twilight of the town of Baldukk several voices rang out in disarray.