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Taking advantage of Chytis Philip’s kindness, I decided to postpone our hasty departure.

After all, this is a long journey that will take several months, so I want to avoid taking any unnecessary risks.

That said…

“We protest against the Alchemists’ Guild! They’re shielding the half-beast who masterminded this incident and promoting that dubious practice of alchemy—”

Given the current situation, we couldn’t stay here much longer.

Sighing at the voices of the demonstrators coming from outside, we were quietly making preparations for our journey.

■■■■■

Half a month has passed since the commotion, and the demonstrators’ claims have begun to flip-flop.

At first, they pointed out the Alchemists’ Guild’s shortcomings; next, backed by the Church, they began criticizing the lord; and now they’re claiming that the mastermind behind the commotion is a half-beast child who has infiltrated the town… in other words, us.

They claim the Alchemists’ Guild is shielding the half-beast ringleaders, and that the lord has lost his mind after being bewitched by demons. It’s a ridiculous theory, but if we carelessly refute it, they’ll change the subject, launch personal attacks, and use the power of numbers to manipulate public opinion and silence me.

For some reason, one of the alchemists from the West—who had been treating me more gently since the incident—accidentally spoke up against them… but man, it was brutal.

They brought up a woman who supposedly lost her husband in the incident to him, spread all sorts of lies about him, and he ended up having to stay holed up for several days. In short, he was made a public example.

Scholars simply can’t win if they go head-to-head with agitators like this. That’s because objective facts, truths, and evidence mean almost nothing in the face of a wave of emotion.

Moreover, they have the Luminism Church—the largest religion in the West—backing them. Power is a formidable thing; it can even make such absurd theories seem plausible.

People who don’t harbor much prejudice against beastfolk to begin with—or who know us personally—don’t buy into that absurd line of reasoning. I mean, how could a young child from a marginalized group possibly incite an entire town and mobilize dozens of trained foreigners to become the ringleader of a riot?

You’d think it would be obvious if you just stopped to think about it, but many of the townspeople seemed to believe it naively.

Those buying into it were mainly local residents—or, to be more specific, devout followers of the God of Light.

However, the foreign merchants and travelers who were merely caught up in the situation were watching it all with a very cynical eye.

Incidentally, Filia, who had been busily transporting materials inside the clinic at the time, was also being watched. Combined with testimony that she had been helping the Alchemists’ Guild make medicine, she seemed to be viewed quite favorably.

“…I hate this town.”

Sufi, who had gone out for training, let out a sigh of frustration the moment she returned.

“Again?”
“Again!”

Sufi, her face making a pout that perfectly matched the sound effect, barked.

“I was just walking down the street! And they called a soldier on me, again!”
“Ugh.”

Naturally, the lord explained everything properly to the public, omitting the problematic parts.

He explained that this recent commotion was an act of aggression by Bayer targeting the town, and that the serpent monster that destroyed the town was also sent by Bayer. If he mentioned that the Church’s shadow faction was involved, it would lead to outright public hostility, so there was no choice but to leave that out.

After all, excluding merchants and travelers, over 80% of this town’s residents are followers of the God of Light.

So, while he’s strongly insisting that the Kingdom of Bayer is to blame, there’s no way the other side would just accept that without a fight.

“Misfortune started happening after we began seeing half-beasts in town. The goblin incident happened after the half-beasts arrived, didn’t it? That’s proof.”
“They’re spies from the Eastern Kingdom, and they’re launching attacks on the Kingdom of Roud.”

Such claims were taking hold of the public, and because of that, some people have started calling soldiers every time they see a beastfolk. I do think the enforcement is sloppy, but in an environment where this kind of thing is allowed to pass, it’s no wonder things get messy.

By the way, the guards in this town are a subordinate unit of the Knight Order; it seems Langbert pulled some strings, so they aren’t hostile.

The guards show up after getting the report, bring Sufi and the others along, and then ‘release’ them either at the orphanage or the Alchemists’ Guild… basically, it’s just like rescuing lost children.

“Why do Alice and those alchemist uncles seem so unfazed…?”

Sufi, who’s been forced to face the worst of human nature head-on, glares at me with teary eyes. I know it’s tough to deal with them directly, and I feel bad for making her take on such an unpleasant role.

But…

“When it gets this bad, it’s actually starting to get funny.”

It’s a headache for the higher-ups, and it’s certainly no laughing matter.

“It just makes me realize that humans don’t really think about anything as much as I thought they did.”
“…?”

When they rampage this wildly, it almost starts to look like a comedy sketch.

In fact, the number of demonstrators has shrunk since the beginning. After all, many people have become disillusioned with the growing absurd demands and are pulling back. People who neither deny the cause nor actively support it are starting to appear here and there, which is probably making the public even more anxious.

At the same time, voices have begun to question the church’s decision to refuse medical care to the injured at the start of the uproar. In this city, the influence of the Luminism Church is relatively weak compared to other Western nations, and as a result, there are few people who blindly follow it in matters that don’t directly affect their own interests.

They probably wanted to divert attention away from the suspicion surrounding the church, but they went a bit too far. By resting on their authority, they ended up undermining their own credibility.

To those in the know, the Church’s true motives are transparent: they want to discredit the Alchemists’ Guild and, if possible, capture the beastfolk children—us.

Fearing that those clerics might make some strange moves, Chytis Philip gave the order, and the staff agreed to fully cooperate with our travel preparations.

At first, the stance was that we could stay as long as we wanted, but the current situation is very concerning. So long their objective (us) is within reach, it is human nature to try to reach for it.

Besides, we only stopped in Forligen to prepare for our journey ahead in the first place. Since staying here has become a risk in itself, we decided it would be best to leave as soon as possible.

With a smile, Chytis Philip said, “Everyone has their own way of relying on adults,” and made various arrangements for us. He even offered to let us take out an interest-free loan with no repayment deadline, but I felt it wasn’t good to owe others too much, so I declined and just asked him to assign me some work instead.

Thanks to that, our travel preparations are moving along quickly.

“Can you hold on just a little longer?”
“Mm…”

Sufi, looking a bit sulky, came up behind me and hugged me tightly. If that’s what it takes to calm her down, I’ll let her do as she pleases.

“We’ve got all the supplies we need now, so we can leave anytime.”
“Yeah.”

Dried bread, jerky, and water. Rope, fuel, blankets, and cold-weather gear.

The staff member helped us get everything we needed. It’s all packed away and stored inside Apartment 404.

As for medical supplies, once the treatment of the injured had settled down, Chytis George provided us with what we needed.

I couldn’t quite afford a full set of potion-making equipment, but I was able to get some easy-to-use flasks and a workbench at a bargain price. I can make all the basic potions myself as long as I have the ingredients.

Right now, I’m consulting with the well-traveled Chytis Khaleed, and having him pick up the few missing items here and there.

I considered hiring an escort, but since we don’t have a carriage, the budget wouldn’t stretch for a long journey all the way to Panadia.

The road from Panadia Port to Forligen is frequently traveled by people, and it seems the Panadia side is putting a lot of effort into security.

As long as we carefully avoid the grassland areas, the rocky terrain, and the few unexplored regions along the way, the danger isn’t that great, so I decided to go without an escort.

As long as Sufi and Noche are with us, any monsters we encounter along the way won’t be a problem.

Above all, I have the “Amazing Pocket” and the “404 Apartment” as my trump cards.

I have a significant advantage when it comes to storage and lodging. Since we aren’t venturing into any danger zones, I was assured that this would be more than enough.

All that’s left is to go around and say goodbye to the people who’ve helped me.

“Is the Sister feeling better now?”
“Yeah, she’s training with Nick and the others.”

It seems the Sister had already recovered by the time I was able to move again, and she’d been helping Sufi and the others with their training to get her body back in shape.

Her eyes sparkled as she told me that even with seven of them—including Nick and the other four—they couldn’t hold a candle to her.

Sufi looks like she’s having fun giving it her all while trying out different approaches, and I’m glad she had such a good encounter.

“What about our departure?”
“I told her. She said she wants to talk to Alice before we leave town.”
“Hmm.”

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper, calm conversation with the Sister.

I nodded and looked outside through the wide-open window of the room. It was as if the bloody uproar had never happened—a calm, clear sky stretched out before me.

Despite the problems, our departure was approaching relatively smoothly.