By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 7

Chapter 3 Episode 7: A Walk at Night

We talked about slimes late into the night. As I walked home in the dark, I noticed three people behind me. Nobody was ever around here at this time of night. They maintained some distance from me, but followed along at a consistent speed. Their intentions were obvious, but it didn’t seem like they were amateurs. Assuming they were a team, they knew how to coordinate. I wouldn’t be able to turn back and flee in the other direction without defeating one of them. The path ahead looked empty, but maybe they were prepared to ambush me somewhere. If I continued onward, I would reach the northern gate. City guards would be there, so if I was going to be attacked, it would have to happen before I got there. In that case, I needed to figure this out before I arrived at the gate. I turned right at the next corner, hurried to the following corner, and turned right again, where I heard some voices.

“Did he find out?”

“It didn’t look like it.”

“Wait, around that corner!”

“Uh oh.”

When one of the men shouted, I heard the sound of rough footsteps coming ever closer. I rushed to escape.

“This way!”

I tried to lose them, but they kept up the pursuit. Somehow they always knew my location. Everyone in the area was after me. There were no buildings tall enough that they could have seen me from anywhere in the region, either. I could only think of one place to go.

■ ■ ■

“Hey, where’s the kid?”

“He keeps running. Now he went and hid. Has to be around here somewhere.”

“I’m guessing he knows he’s being followed, then.”

“We would’ve caught him by now if he didn’t. It’ll be a hell of a task finding him here.”

“What a pain in the ass.”

Northeast Gimul wasn’t much better than a slum, and it would be hard to call it beautiful. Junk blocked the roads, and cloths acting as awnings lined the streets. The dark of night and my small size made it harder for them to track me here. They had met up with allies who were waiting to ambush me.

“Thankfully nobody’s around to see us. We’ve got him outnumbered, just scour every—Agh!”

“Take cover! Someone’s firing arrows!”

“Teleport.”

“Tch! Over there?!”

“Wait, over here too?!”

“Does he have allies?!”

“Teleport.”

By teleporting between the obstacles in the road and firing arrows coated in fast-acting paralytic drugs from my medicine slimes, I got the situation under control in no time.

“Damn, poison arrows?”

“You won’t be able to move for a while. That poison’s pretty powerful.”

“You little brat!”

“What’ve you done?!”

“What do you mean, what have I done? What were you trying to do? What’s your goal?” I asked and pointed my spear at one of the men.

“Hah, don’t expect this to be the last of it. Maybe if you hand over your limour birds and all the money you’ve made, we’ll consider—Yeowch! Hot! Stop it!”

“Why do you think you can talk down to me?” I asked after I launched a fireball from the spear. It didn’t hit him, but the air from the blast was hot enough.

Suddenly, something flew at me, but I knocked it out of the air by reflex. It was a monster that looked like an ordinary owl, but darker in color. It was called a regret owl. Their talons contained poison that oversensitized the nervous system. By digging their sharp talons into the flesh of their enemies, they inflicted wounds that delivered severe pain. They were also nocturnal, so silently hunting for prey in the darkness was their specialty. Their feet and talons were used as materials for medicine, so I could identify this monster right away. But they didn’t live in this ecosystem, so it had to be a familiar. These men must have tried to draw my attention so it could catch me off guard.

“What?! How’d you do that?!”

“I don’t know, I just hit it. I was paying attention to the sky, so I saw it coming.”

The strike broke its wing. The man looked at it lying on the ground and screamed. They must have had some way to see me if they could pursue me so closely, so I suspected there was a familiar somewhere. I didn’t know exactly what it would be, though. Considering that it was dark in color and flew high in the sky, of course I couldn’t find it anywhere.

“Hm, there they are.”

“You there! Don’t move!”

“Guards?!”

“Why are they here so late?!”

“Hey, Ryoma! You all right?!”

“Guildmaster? Why are you here?” I asked. I sent a limour bird to the guards while I was on the run, but that didn’t explain why Worgan was here.

“I knew you’d be fine. I saw these guards following a limour bird on my way home, you see,” he explained. Presumably he knew it belonged to me and decided to tag along.

“Sorry I worried you.”

“I wasn’t that worried, to be honest.”

“Excuse me, but I’d appreciate it if you could explain what’s going on here,” a guard said. After that, I went to the guard station to answer questions.

■ ■ ■

The guard I spoke to was stuffy, but surprisingly upbeat. After telling me not to get myself in trouble again, I thanked him, then left and headed to my store the next morning. I was up late last night to begin with, then there was the attack and the interrogation, and the guard wouldn’t let me go home to the mine by myself afterward. I was forced to sleep at the station instead. Not in a cell, thankfully, but a proper room. When they had to hold someone who committed no crimes, they used this ordinary room, apparently. It had a perfectly fine bed as well.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Boss. You’re certainly early today.”

“Did something happen?”

I arrived at the store and found Carla and Lilyn in the break room. I explained what happened last night, and when I got to the part about the attack, Carla interrupted.

“Boss, I expect that this incident is connected to the others. I’ll go get the other employees. One moment, please,” she said, then left the room. A few minutes later, all the employees gathered in the break room.

“Um, so what are we talking about?”

“We’re not getting fired, are we?”

“Don’t worry, everyone. Go on, Boss.”

When I described the events of last night again, the tension in the room increased.

“That’s about it,” I concluded. “As you can see, I made it out unharmed, but I suggest that you all go out during daylight hours when the streets are busy. Fay, Lilyn, you might end up with more guard work to do.” Fay and Lilyn nodded to express they understood, so I continued. “In the future, I think we’ll need more guards. When I met with the guildmaster of the adventurer’s guild, he said he had a scheduled meeting with the other guildmasters at the merchant’s guild, and that they would let me join in and consult with them. I’ll be going to the merchant’s guild at noon. I’d like either Carla or Carme to attend me, if you don’t mind.”

“Then I will,” Carla offered. “Carme, you may look after the store.”

“Understood,” Carme said.

“Lastly, I have something to tell you, Chelma.”

“What is it?”

“The guildmaster said he’d like if I brought something we can have for lunch, so I’d like to use the kitchen, if that’s all right with you.”

“That would help me out too. We can cook it together and use some of it for lunch at the store today.”

“That’s all from me, then. I’ll relay the results of the meeting later. If any of you notice something, even the smallest thing, don’t hesitate to report it to me. I think things might start to get hectic again, but thanks for sticking with me!”

As everyone else busily prepared to open the store, Chelma and I got cooking.

■ ■ ■

“Come in.”

“Excuse me.”

Unlike any previous occasion that I went to the merchant’s guild, I was asked to wait in a separate room for a while, then led to an entirely different room from normal. There was a big, long table at which the guildmasters sat. Carla and I were prompted to sit in the chairs in front of us.

“Now then, I think you know why you were called here today. But first, food!”

“Worgan, seriously?”

“What’s the problem? The meeting’s over. This is a personal gathering. Besides, we can talk while we eat.”

I took the food out of my Item Box and passed it out.

“Guildmaster.”

“Call me by my name here. There’s more than one guildmaster in the room, it’ll get confusing.”

“Worgan, then. Here’s some sausage soup and bread.”

“Oh! Looks good.”

“My chef put a lot of work into it. And for you, Glissela, I have this. Taylor, you can have this.”

“Oh, I get a hamburger?” Glissela said. “This is like a feast. It seems quite soft, too.”

“I got bread with raisins in it, and something crisp like pie crust. These both seem like they’d go well with tea.”

Glissela had bad teeth, so she got something soft. Taylor was a light eater, so he got something that could work as teacakes. These were all at Worgan’s request, so I hoped they were acceptable.

“Hm, this bread doesn’t smell like seeds.”

“Neither does mine.”

“I made this bread from yeast.”

They were referring to a type of seed that functioned the same as yeast. It was sold on store shelves as Bread Seeds. To use them, you just had to split the seeds open and add their contents to the dough. The simplicity of using and storing these seeds made them the most common method of baking bread. The bread I baked today, however, used natural yeast, as it was called. Yeast itself was just cultivated from a fungus that happened to be ideal for fermentation, though, much like the seeds came naturally from plants. In any case, this type of yeast was produced by adding water to raisins, grains, and the like, and letting it naturally ferment.

“I have more time and money than ever before, and access to more ingredients than I did in the forest, so I can cook things I wouldn’t have been able to in the past.”

The yeast took about a week to make, and it had to be stirred once a day during that time. My work hours were inconsistent and I could be away from home for days at a time back on Earth, so much like making charcoal, this was something I always longed to try in the past. Now it was easy for me to go to town and get all the tools and ingredients I needed. My business made more than enough for everything, even factoring in our emergency funds and the paychecks for my employees, and as the boss, I had the privilege of leaving home on time every day. I had no reason not to dabble in making yeast now. I also bought materials for researching the effects and composition of my drugs with reagents. My life was changing slowly but surely. Unlike on Earth, my days consisted of more than commuting to the office, working, and commuting back home again.

“What are you smiling about? For having just been attacked yesterday, you’re awfully jolly.”

“I’m happy for unrelated reasons.”

“Yeesh.”

“Judging by this, though, there doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

“What problem would there have been?” I asked.

“They want to know what you were thinking walking home by yourself at night without help. I told them there was nothing to worry about.”

“Maybe you can say that now, Worgan. We weren’t there to see Ryoma.”

“We could have offered assistance, but if he doesn’t want it, that would be unnecessarily intrusive.”

“Anyway, these two were freaked out about what happened to you last night. They were worried you might even close up shop.”

“Well, with all the danger afoot, I at least want to know you feel about it, Ryoma.”

“I thought you’d at least be somewhat distressed.”

“I’ve come this far with the help of a lot of people. It would be awfully selfish of me to give up after being attacked. Besides, I have employees to look after. If I closed up shop, some of them would end up on the streets. Anyway, what I’m here to discuss is what I should do next,” I explained.

“Fine, fine.” Glissela said with an astounded smile. “Then let’s get to the point. Ryoma, bolster your defenses and stay put for a little while longer. Then we can take care of this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that in due time, there won’t be any more attackers.”

“Ever since the criticism against us began to spread around, we started our own independent investigation. We’ve discovered who spread the rumors and instigated the crimes, but unfortunately, we lost track of them yesterday. We’ve expanded our search radius, but first we received information that you had been attacked.”

“Also, the guys who attacked you last night only just arrived in town two days ago. Someone told them about your cash and limour birds. I suspect that it was the same person we had our eyes on.”

“Are we sure?”

“It’s highly likely. The person who spread the rumors and ran away knows how we’re connected. If they target you, they probably think that we can’t send too many people to pursue them, since we need some folks around to protect you.”

“When the duke’s family asks you to look after someone, you have to put the utmost effort into it. You never know what might happen.”

“So you think they had me attacked so it’d be easier for them to get away?”

“That’s how it seems to us, but the suspect has disappeared without a trace. I don’t expect them to come back, and if they do, they would try to do so as discreetly as possible. Maybe they’re in no position to try that, but in any case, we’re not going to give up the chase that easily. You’re no ordinary kid, Ryoma, and I think you’re more than capable of defending yourself. We want you to do everything you can to protect yourself and your store on your own. We’ll take care of the culprit.”

“We already formed a search party out of Welanna’s party, Miya, Jeff, and Leipin the space magic-user. They’re on the culprit’s tail.”

“But the culprit knows their way around those roads, so there’s no guarantee we’ll catch them. Anyway, Ryoma, you’ve been silent for a while. Are you all right?” Glissela asked. I thought about it for a bit.

“My first priority is to do everything I can to defend my store, I suppose.”

“Don’t worry too much, I didn’t say I wouldn’t help at all. I talked to Gordon and Sher about it. They’re not fit for a search party, but they do have some talent, and they’re well-regarded in town. They should be ideal for guarding the store. Jeff also suggested a guy he trusts. He’s not with the guild, though, so I can’t vouch for him.”

That meant I at least had Fay, Lilyn, and those two adventurers. I didn’t know the person Jeff recommended, but I couldn’t imagine he would suggest someone weak. It would have to be put on hold for now, but expanding our store security to some extent was a good idea.

“Carla, assuming we’re also working with the city guards, what do you think about hiring them?” I asked.

“We don’t know how many men we’re up against, so it’s hard to say what we need. Considering the size of the store, though, that should be enough. But won’t you need bodyguards for going out, Boss?”

That wouldn’t be necessary. Bodyguards would be more disadvantageous than not, if anything. In the event that I was unable to defeat an opponent, my best option would be to flee, but if someone else were present, it would complicate matters. I wouldn’t be able to bring them along with space magic, but it would be hard to leave them behind too. If I was going to consider leaving them behind, it would have been better to either fight by myself or run away in the first place.

“I assume we’re up against humans?”

“They may be able to use familiars, but generally humans, yes.”

“Then I’ll be better off on my own,” I said. Earth didn’t have monsters, so all of my combat skills were meant for human opponents. I was most used to fighting my own kind. “I used to train all the time with my grandfather, so I’m best against humans or humanoid monsters.”

“You also seem to have a decent track record with that so far.”

“Worgan assures us that you can fight.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got a better eye for combat talent than you two.”

We went on to discuss specific defense plans and what should be done following an attack. Lastly, Taylor handed me two documents.

“’This recognizes that Ryoma has the talent to handle slimes and limour birds.’ What is this?”

“That one’s proof that I think you can use familiars perfectly well. This one is a pledge stating that while your store uses monsters, its transactions are under the jurisdiction of the merchant’s guild.”

Guild cards already existed to use as proof, so these documents were apparently seldom produced. But they did have Taylor’s signature, so maybe they would come in handy at some point. I wondered if Taylor might blame himself for getting me wrapped up in this incident.