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Another week had passed since we came back to Stollar. We were resting all that time, so the fatigue from the long expedition was completely gone by now. For everyone aside from me, that is. I wasn’t feeling well that day, and was lying on my face on the cafeteria table looking weary.

Michelle, Finia, and Cloud were out on a long ride outside to care for the horses. If we kept them locked in the stalls for too long the stress could accumulate and even lower their physical strength. So due to that, we needed to frequently take them out on long rides.

Finia seemed to have wanted to care for me instead, but three horses needed three people to ride. There were only four of us, so she had to swallow her tears and do it.

“What, have a period?”
“Shut up!”

Gadius bluntly stated the truth while carrying water to me. All the men in the cafeteria reacted to that word. That made me put off so I wished he’d stop.

“I can’t take part in horse riding in this state.”
“Yes, even horses would hate to see you groan on their back.”
“So I left it to those three with that in mind.”
“But given your condition, it looks like the new work would be impossible to take.”
“You found us a new job?”

We used this one week as a holiday, but it was about time to get back to adventuring.

If I was feeling good, I would’ve also felt that way now. It wasn’t money that interested me, but rather, accomplishing something with the four of us was giving me a great sense of joy.

“What kind of work is it?”
“Gathering Fire Phosphorite. Though the gathering itself is intended for beginners.”
“Ah, that stuff.”

Fire Phosphorite. They were stones that looked like hardened red sand, and they were quite brittle like their appearance suggested. And they also flamed up at the slightest heat.

In other words, they broke on impact and the broken parts rubbed at each other and created frictional heat, lighting them up. You may think you could just dampen them, but they melted instantly when coming into contact with water, even changing the water’s properties.

It was no problem if there was a lot of water, but if it was around a barrel’s worth, a fist-sized rock would turn it into burnable water, so they had a bad affinity.

These Fire Phosphorites were used as catalysts for magic and were somewhat in demand. Gathering them wasn’t difficult in itself, but the transportation was unreasonably difficult.

If you entrusted it to beginners with shallow knowledge, they would almost certainly ignite them and lose their lives through the explosion.

“I suppose we could do something about it if Finia casts the Fire Extinction spell.”
“Their flammable nature still remains even after mixing with water, so they are really risky goods. You people should be fine, yes?”
“Well, we have Finia, and we also have a carriage.”

The Fire Extinction spell might sound like a water attribute spell, but it was actually a fire attribute one. Letina was more suited for it rather than Finia, but she could use it too. Though the burden on her would increase.

“There are high risks if we fail…”
“I don’t think you would make that kind of blunder.”
“Well, I am a veteran.”
“So I take you will you accept it?”
“You’re really pushy with it. Is it that urgent?”
“More like, it is something I can not refuse. They even gave me the commission fee, so I wish to leave it to someone I trust.”

The degree of difficulty itself wasn’t a problem for this work. There was the problem of transportation, but it should also be fine as long as we’re careful. We might have other opportunities for similar commissions from now on, so it was better to get Michelle and Cloud accustomed to them.

“Fine then. We’ll prepare once they are back. So, is the gathering spot nearby?”
“Right, it is about three days’ worth of journey on horseback from here. You will cross the kingdom border a little, but Count Tarkashire’s domain in the north has a volcano.”
“Tarkashire… That’s a nostalgic name.”

It was the count that plotted the assassination of Elliot, the king of the United Alliance of the North. The person concerned had already been caught and executed. His family has also been judged and they had already made exit from the main stage.

There was a different noble managing that region now.

“That might be a name you’re involved with, but now it is the domain of an unrelated noble. Do not go overboard there, you hear?”
“What about that successor’s reputation?”
“Neither good nor bad, I suppose. Or rather, given how bad his predecessor had been, it is on the good side. They seemed to have even lowered the taxes.”
“That sounds nice. Did they lower the tolls too?”
“They did, by around thirty percent. That was just how much the previous lord was exploiting them.”

There was some sort of a checkpoint to enter the domain. You needed to pay a toll to pass there. This was the main source of income in towns with a lot of traffic, so they tended to become high.

Count Tarkashire had set them pretty high too because he had trade going on with Raum. If that was lowered, we wandering Adventurers could only be thankful.

“Since you are accepting it, let me give you this in advance. It’s the official pass. If you have this, you will be exempted from the tolls.”
“You are well prepared.”
“There were no other Adventurers who would accept it.”

We have reached the fourth rank, and could be said to have first-class skills. We were both among the top Adventurers here and also one of the few that had carriages. There were probably very few who could accept large transportation work like this other than us. Much less those whom he could trust.

“Well, alright. I can just sleep in the carriage on the way, so it’s just perfect.”

My condition was still bad. I couldn’t act like a scout so it worried me a little, but Michelle and Cloud had grown remarkably.

As long as they keep guarding the carriage, my turn should not come unless something extreme happens. If so, it wouldn’t be so bad to enjoy the outward journey as if it was a pleasure trip.

“We’re back! Hey, hey, listen. Cloud had—”

Just as my talk with Gadius was finished, Michelle and others returned boisterously. It appeared that Cloud had done something during the ride again. It seemed like I might need to give him some punishment before we departed.