| Author: Ash | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 3882 characters |
| Translator: Musubii | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1855 words |
The carriage swayed back and forth under the glowing sun. The ride was pleasant. Hello, everyone. This is Ren. With glasses. Do the glasses make me look smarter?
Due to the water deal, I was able to hitch a ride on the carriage to my destination. I made it sound like I was engaging in something shady, but all I did was share some water with them.
The carriage I was riding was a large, covered wagon. There were two horses pulling it. There was also various amounts of goods in the luggage area.
The merchant and a young boy were riding coach. After conversing for a while, I learned that the merchant’s name was Nicole and he was 29 years old. He was married and has a child. Apparently, he also has a shop in Harula.
The young boy’s name was Lloyd and he was 13 years old. Apparently, he’s a child who lives within their neighborhood.
And the little girl sitting in the front with me was called Elsa. She’s Nicole’s daughter and was 7 years old. It seems usually Nicole’s son would come instead, but this time Elsa forcefully decided to come with her father. Perhaps, she’s a bit of a tomboy?
Finally, the two escorts sitting in the back near the luggage. I believe their names were Kimble and Ziggy. I think they’re in their late twenties. To be honest, I’m not really interested in them.
Also Norn and Bell were slightly away from us. If they came too close the horses would panic.
I was currently acting as Elsa’s conversing partner in the shaking carriage.
“And there’s more! So my brother—”
This child sure talks a lot. Isn’t she afraid she might bite her tongue by accident?
If that happened she might be easier to deal with. As these random thoughts passed through my mind, I continued listening absentmindedly.
This girl…. Although Elsa had forced her way onto this trip, since Nicole and Lloyd were both busy, the two couldn’t attend to her. And the two escorts weren’t good conversation partners either since they were rather vulgar, so she had been fairly bored during the trip.
It seems Elsa was happy that she was able to ride with someone of a similar age, and the amount of fervor she talked with gradually increased.
Even now, she was still talking.
Nicole was smiling wryly while watching his daughter. Lloyd? It felt like he was fully concentrated on steering the carriage.
And the two escorts have been scowling the entire time due to Elsa’s continuous talking. These two gave off a bad feeling.
“Sheesh! Big sis, are you listening to me!?”
It’s alright, I’m properly paying attention. I was holding a piece of wrought iron in my hand while listening. It was still difficult to change the wrought iron into tamahagane. But with a bit more effort, I should be able to make a short sword using this.
After a while, we decided to take a short break around noon.
We were at another campground, the area was spacious and was fairly leveled. A small forest could be seen a bit further away.
Nicole went to check the surroundings. It seems they were planning on eating here, that aside, Elsa had also asked me for a favor. Picking flowers.
Ah, I’ve done that before too, so I understand.
I moved towards the forest with Elsa who had an appreciative look on her face. Norn and Bell also followed behind us. They were acting as guards.
After coming to a place where the carriage was no longer in view, I urged Elsa to finish her business. Eh? Aren’t we going together? No, no, no, we should be going separately! Or rather, I actually didn’t need to go, so I won’t be going here. To be more specific, I could use magic, so I didn’t have to go.
There were various dangers during travels, and there would be gaps during times of doing that. There was Norn, but the amount of danger should be reduced as much as possible.
The magic I was using for these matters was the Life Magic [Cleaning]. I managed to pick up on some tricks on how to use it. I came up with these ideas during a certain time. But the details of these certain times are a secret. Eh? Please tell you? Umm…..it was during my daily routine, I didn’t have time to go to the bathroom so…….I got a little creative.
That aside, my Detection has been reacting to one of the escorts since a while ago. What was this person doing, following along? No, never mind, I won’t ask. I already knew. But it should be alright since Norn’s presence was intimidating him and keeping him away from here.
After a bit, Elsa came back. But she had tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“I accidentally…….”
“Ah-……”
It seems she got a bit on her clothes. Or rather, upon closer inspection it was actually quite a big stain……it was rather pitiful, so I used Cleaning on her clothes. The stained area of her clothes flashed for a moment and then vanished without a trace.
“Amazing! What did you do!?”
Since it would be troublesome if she made a ruckus about it, I asked her to keep it a secret.
When we finally returned to the carriage, the perverted escort had already came back. For the time being, I gave him a light glare.
The meal preparation was proceeding along without any troubles, but before long one of the escorts began complaining.
“Again with the rations and porridge! How about making something that’s actually fulfilling! I can’t get any strength from this!”
That’s right! We’re here to protect you all from anything dangerous! And in order to do that, we need to be able to eat as much as we like!”
“I understand that, but in the first place, the terms in our contract……”
Nicole tried refuting them by bringing up the term and conditions he had listed in the contract, but the two escorts wouldn’t listen at all. These two were bad in various ways. Now I get the feeling the water issue from before was likely their fault.
But at this rate nothing would be solved. I suppose it can’t be helped……
“Would you like me to help out with that? You’re letting me ride your carriage, so even relying on you for food would be pushing it a bit.”
“Huh? No, that’s-”
“Ohh! That’s a good idea!”
“Do you have any good food on you? If you give us something strange, I won’t go easy on you!”
I wasn’t asking for the opinion of you two.
“That’s…it looks like I got you involved somehow……I apologize for this.”
“Not at all, like I just said, I feel bad relying on you for everything.”
After exchanging a few words with the apologetic Nicole, I took out two pieces of horned rabbit meat from Storage and handed them over.
“An item box!?”
Ah, I messed up.
It looks like I managed to fool them about where I took the food out from, but there was a strange atmosphere around me. Everyone was staring wide-eyed at me.
Nicole seems to be wondering what to say, and he had a very complex expression on his face. Elsa and Lloyd were looking at me with a look of admiration in their eyes. Both escorts were talking quietly about something.
Please keep this a secret.
After finishing our meal, I noticed Elsa had disappeared off to somewhere. The two escorts were lazing around engaging in idle chat. You two do your jobs!
This was pathetic, but as I was getting up to go look for her, Elsa came walking from out of the forest. Norn was next to her. As expected of Norn, she really is a goddess!
“Elsa-chan, where were you? It’s dangerous going off alone like that.” (Nicole)
“It’s okay! Because I was with doggy here!” (Elsa)
……Norn looked slightly depressed after being called a dog. I’ll comfort her later.
“Elsa! Regardless, you shouldn’t go off alone! There are monsters lurking around in this area!” (Nicole)
“Uu…..I’m sorry. But I managed to find these!” (Elsa)
There were several medical herbs in Elsa’s hand. Apparently, she found them while she was going to the bathroom. Upon closer inspection, there was even some rare herbs used for pain relief.
“These are the ones father taught me about before!” (Elsa)
“Elsa…..I see, thank you.” (Nicole)
She must have been trying her best for her father. She was smiling brightly. But…..
“Elsa-chan, can I see them for a bit? This and this. These two are poisonous so they can’t be used.” (Ren)
“Eh?” (Elsa)
“But the rest are fine. Nicely done, Elsa-chan.” (Ren)
There were poisonous grass mixed in, so I made sure to get rid of them. That would’ve been dangerous.
“How were you able to tell? These should be difficult to tell apart and it even looks the same as the ones I saw from before……” (Nicole)
Right, of course. It can even be difficult for people who specialize in this area to distinguish between types. However, it’s easy for me since I could use Appraisal.
“Could it be? Do you possibly……have the Appraisal skill?” (Nicole)
“Umm, well, yes.” (Ren)
“Item box and even Appraisal…..you’re…..” (Nicole)
“Ah, Appraisal is different. It’s because of these.” (Ren)
I knew the glasses would come in handy. Now, I can just use these glasses as an excuse.
“You can use a LV2 Appraisal skill due to these glasses……but it requires mana to use, to be able to get something so valuable….” (Nicole)
“I just happen to acquire them by chance.” (Ren)
“Is it alright if I try them on?” (Nicole)
“Sure, I don’t mind.” (Ren)
If I let him test them out for himself, he should no longer think that I have the Appraisal skill. Thus, I willingly loaned them out.
“Ohh, this is……this is the Appraisal skill…..” (Nicole)
“Father, me too! Me too!” (Elsa)
Elsa and Lloyd also wanted to try them, so I lent the glasses to them. Even if the glasses were handled somewhat roughly, they wouldn’t break since the frames were made of titanium.
After the three of them were finished trying the glasses on, they were given back to me and I re-equipped them. And done!
“Magnificent! I didn’t think I would be able to experience something like this! Thank you very much for letting me test on something so valuable.” (Nicole)
“Don’t mind it, it wasn’t anything special.” (Ren)
Nicole who didn’t have the Appraisal skill was very grateful towards me for letting him try the glasses on. I felt a little bad for lying to him. Sorry…
But I was a bit anxious of the two rowdy escorts who were now quietly staring at us. It looked like the two of them were thinking about something bad. At least, I think that’s what they’re thinking.
I hope nothing actually happens, but I suppose we’ll see.1
