Merry Christmas, here’s a Mitsuha chapter and a Hatsuyuki Santa from
「What, how crude!」
Beatrice-chan is furious!
「If it was such an interesting party, why didn"t you take me along!」
No, you can"t before your debutant…
「Delicious cooking! Sweets!」
Sorry…
「Finally, what about my debutante! Mitsuha, take responsibility and make it so amazing that it wouldn"t lose to anyone else’s!」
Afterwards, as a result of negotiating with Beatrice-chan, it was decided that there is going to be an Electrical Parade and fireworks at Beatrice’s debutant. I"ll bet everything on her forgetting this within the next 2 years.
And then it was interrogation time after dinner.
What is that dish? What about that picture? Where did the weird stuff in your store come from?
Right~.
And, excuses time.
There were from my friends back home who were worried whether I was living in dest.i.tution within a foreign country, they personally shipped it while keeping it a secret from their superiors. I decided to sell the extras because there"s too much and I couldn"t use them all. It seems my friends are dispatching small high-speed ships one after another… The items seem to be secretly carried in from the sh.o.r.e at night, yes.
…This is painful. I wonder if there are inconsistencies from everything I have said so far. Well, I did say『To protect them I mixed in some lies. Even if there are some contradictions, please let it go』.(身バレ防止に若干のフェイクを入れています。)
Y, you"re not going to poke too deep into it. As expected of Earl-sama. Such a considerate person.
What"s with 『it"s Mitsuha anyway』. Ah, no nothing, sorry.
Then, we had a stupid chat after talking about everything that happened until now. Artificial golem soldiers? What is that? Oh, something I said? I don"t know anything about that. Salt? You are quite persistent about this, Earl-sama. Eh, your territory faces the ocean, is that so. I"ll look it up online next time.
Eh, Alexis-sama, Mitsuha over Adelaide-chan, what, are you crazy, you"re younger than, (cough, cough). Hey, why are you two casually supporting him, Earl-sama and Iris-sama. Ah, now Theodore-sama and Beatrice-sama enter the conversion.
It"s already late so stay over? Yes, I was already expecting that. Then, I"ll drink a bunch of wine, (goes out like a light).
The next day, I came home early after eating breakfast. No, because I have to open the store. This serious me won"t skip without a reason.
The weather worsens, the clouds gradually expands, and finally, there are "pot, pot" sounds and raindrops. it slowly starts really raining.
Huh, this is the first time it rained in this world. Is this little rainfall okay? Well, I don’t know if it rained while I was in j.a.pan.
Customers aren"t going to come like this, it doesn"t seem there are umbrellas…wait, of course, I only need to sell that. Yeah, I"ll think about it.
Chiri rin, Chiri rin
Ohh!
A customer drops by on a rainy day!(まさかの雨の中の来客！)
「Sorry, let us take shelter from the rain for a moment」
Ah, is that so. But it"s fine, I don"t dislike polite people after all. She"s a beautiful woman.
4 people in all, wait, are these!
「A, adventurers!」
「「「「Ha?」」」」
There were 4 men and women who came in to escape the rain.
A black-haired man with a solid body seemingly in the latter half of his 20s armed with a large sword. A thin blond hair man around his 20s holding a spear. A red hair woman around her 20s with a slightly shorter sword. These are people who cried out earlier. And a silver hair 15~16-year-old girl. A bow at the back, a dagger on the hip. Un, bigger than Beatrice, about around Adelaide"s I guess. Catching a glimpse of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, I feel like we could get along for some reason.
Un, these members, and with that equipment, what else but adventurers would they be!!!
「Naturally, we"re mercenaries」
Of course~.
The 4 didn"t have much desire to shop but they looked around out of courtesy for the time being. Maybe because the things they found around were unexpected, they seem to be having a lot of fun and are making a ruckus. Among them, the oldest man is with the knives, the other man is with the cooking utensils, the red hair woman with the fancy goods and the silver hair girl with utility goods, each was caught in their preference"s corner.
「How cute…」
The redhead woman picks up cute things one after another with greedy eyes. It’s not that expensive, well, I guess it"s hard for peacetime mercenaries to easily buy it.
The pa.s.sing shower shows no sign of weakening.
Mitsuha calls out to them after boiling some water and preparing sweets and tea.
「Would you like some tea while you"re here?」
「Eh, no, we have no money…」
A prompt reply from the redhead woman!
「No, it’s on the house. No customers will come in this rain and besides, I"ll be bored if I keep manning the counter by myself. If I can have someone to talk to…」
「Then I"ll be happy to」
「Ah, hey…」
The older man smiled wryly at the woman"s willingness.
In the end, everyone took Mitsuha"s offer and sat down on the seats next to the kitchen table.
The 4 of them are mercenaries hailing from the same village, the 27-year-old black-haired man seems to be called Sven, the 22-year-old blond man is Zepp, the 21-year-old redhead woman is Grit and the 16-year-old silver-haired girl is Ilse. By the way, the girl was not a magician. Too bad.
It feels uncomfortable that Ilse as a 16-year-old girl is a mercenary, but that is just prejudice. If people can"t eat in the village than anyone would become mercenaries or thieves. Besides, Grit might be 21 now but it seems he was already a mercenary when he was 16.
Recently there is little war and rural disputes, little demand for mercenaries, and no small number of people job-changing into thieves. And among them, these 4 people seem to be really serious with their ch.o.r.es, gathering, hunting and so on. However, it seems that they have few earnings, rather than luxuries it"s a situation where one day they can"t pay to replace their damaged weapons.
「So that why I can"t buy them even if I want, sorry though」
While looking sorry Grit takes a mouthful of sweets. j.a.panese manjuu is sweet and tasty, and it fills the stomach. Ilse chews with stuffed cheeks as well. The men also couldn"t overcome temptation and reach out to the manjuu one after another without holding back.
「No need to hold back. As I said before, I really was bored… May I ask you to share some stories?」
「If your fine with stories, then any number of them!」
Mitsuha heard various stories from the 4 people. Collection and hunting, a guild that introduces work, struggles of travel and unexpected enjoyment, future goals…
（That"s it!）
Mitsuha smelled the scent of money.
「Um, the mercenary guild mentioned earlier will accept anyone"s request right?」
「Oh, as long as it"s not illegal or unless it goes against the guild rules. Of course, an introduction fee will be taken」
Sven answered while a manjuu was in his mouth.
「A nominated request like what you talked about earlier right?」
「Ah」
「Then, can you guys accept a nominated request from me?」
「「「「Ehhh~?」」」」
Mitsuha"s request was: them having her accompany them the next time the 4 goes out to gather or hunt, as in to escort and support Mitsuha during that time. Things useful for those in their line of work, I would like to find something that will likely help and put it in stock, to study that I have to see it for myself.
After listening to Mitsuha"s explanation, the 4 thinks.
Despite being a child, Mitsuha is a fine merchant. They appreciate that such a person thinks of people such as themselves. It makes them happy to think about it. They"ll go to a forest not far from the capital so there"s little danger. There is nothing wrong with escorting Mitsuha. There"s little influence on their usual earnings. At most it will be carrying Mitsuha"s luggage, it may come to also carrying a tired Mitsuha depending on what happens, but it"s a small girl, there"s not much weight.
And above all, a request fee will definitely be received. Gathering and hunting depend on occasional luck, sometimes they won"t go well, but request fees are entrusted to the guild beforehand, and can be received reliably. There are few elements that will break the contract. If it happens, it"ll be when the party is annihilated after a thieves attack. And if there is a thief that will attack a poor merchant with fighting forces I would like to see such a rare face. (そして貧乏で戦闘力がある傭兵を襲うような賊がいたら顔を拝んでみたいものである。)
Almost no demerits, reliable income, and a nominated request is a mark of a party"s dependability, it will raise our trustworthiness in the guild. Furthermore, if we build a connection with this shop then we might get another nominated request, more delicious tea cakes…
There"s no room for choice. The 4 noded while looking at each other.
「「「「We"ll take it!」」」」
The next departure was scheduled to be in 2 days and the rain lighted up so Mitsuha promptly closed the shop and headed to the mercenary guild with the 4 people.
Now that I think about it we haven"t talked about the request fee, well it"s fine even if it"s cheap, so the leader Sven thought, after 2 days and 3 nights he was surprised to see that Mitsuha had paid a gold coin for that request.
Luck may be coming our way……
The next day, Mitsuha prepares for the 3 days and 2 nights trip after closing the shop. Aside from the necessities, she consulted 『What if this happens?』with them and packed her backpack. She struggled to make it so she could manage to carry it on her own.
Light but bulky and difficult to carry things, small but heavy things. No matter what, food and water are heavy. Although base camp seems close to a stream, it doesn"t seem likely that 1 liter of water will be enough for all the way there.
I probably can"t teleport and return in the middle of the journey. Because it"s an escort type of mission, it feels likely that they"ll watch over me at night. They won"t risk needless danger.
And so the day of departure came. Unlike usual Mitsuha wakes up early, had a large breakfast, and teleported home to wash her hands afterward. Un, during a trip…
On the trip it seems we"ll have 2 meals per day, She was told to eat well before we depart on the first day. The next meal is not until supper. Well, Mitsuha already planned to eat something appropriate.
Anyway, meals become luggage and take a lot of time to prepare so eating becomes a huge burden on a trip. If it"s a trip for gathering/hunting like this one then we can eat locally procured items if edible plants and small animals can be found, but if it can be sold then if possible I would want to take it home to sell. Even if I have to endure hunger, it"s income. We will bring the bare minimum food. Also, if we find something that won"t sell for much then lucky, else drink some dry food with water.
She was told they will prepare Mitsuha"s food but she declined. No, that"s where I want to test things. They look anxious, but it"s fine, retort is great.
Also, a knife and dagger, huh.
Ah, I gave up on short swords. It was heavy and no good like I thought. So, daggers. A dagger is a shorter short sword when putting it literally, but it’s something completely different from a short sword.
In the first place, what the infantry has gets called a short sword, and what the cavalry has is a longsword, the actual length is irrelevant. Things like a super long short sword and a short longsword naturally exist. In conclusion, the short sword was a normal sword wielded by an adult male solder, it was never something short.
What I need is one that is half the size of a normal sword, in other words, it"s a dagger. Like the one Ilse-chan has. One that is overall 50 centimeters with a blade around 35 centimeters in length.
When I said that, the captain said「I thought so. Looks like you thought something was misunderstood」with an annoying no need to say anything expression. If you knew then some something earlier!
The knife is for work. Like dismantling prey, it’s the standard. No, I"m not doing it. Well, maybe lightly touch on the subject. Of course, I"ll also use it as a weapon if it comes to that.
The difference between a dagger and a knife is complicated right? Like that『Orchalc.u.m Dagger』, by length is a knife right? The shape is sword-ish though. But then『Orchalc.u.m Knife』 doesn"t sound cool. Un, well, it"s the feeling, the feeling!
And other equipment, also equipping guns and more, it"s finally time to depart!