Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 3

Monster Attack 

Satou here. When I visited my parents back home, I saw signs that said BEWARE OF BEARS, but luckily, I never encountered any. Seeing one from a car is one thing, but I would never want to meet one face-to-face. 

“Master, the sky looks a bit ominous. It might start raining while we’re crossing the mountains.” 

We’d just passed over the county border in the mountains when Lulu gave a report from the driver’s seat. 

She was right. Without my noticing, dark clouds had gathered above us. It was nearly lunchtime, but we’d likely have to eat in the carriage. 

I took a waterproof cloak out of the Garage Bag and put it on. The girls would probably be fine inside the carriage, but I gave everyone their rain gear anyway and told them to wear it. 

“Lulu, I’ll take over.” 

“Yes, sir. The road is narrow here, so please stay close to the side of the mountain if possible.” 

“All right.” 

I took the reins from Lulu. 

The road certainly had narrowed since we’d entered the mountains, and now there was barely enough room for two carriages to pass each other. Perhaps out of consideration, the slope of the road was very gentle. Still, due to the path’s numerous twist and turns, visibility far ahead was poor. 

Farther into the mountains, I could see four horses and a carriage rushing around. Of course, “rushing” for a horse-drawn carriage was still slower than the average motorbike, but I wondered if something had happened. 

I selected Search Entire Map from my magic menu and gathered information about Kuhanou County. 

There were three people on horseback following the carriage—I’d guessed they were robbers at first, but they were escorts. The carriage was indeed under attack, though, by nearly thirty red points on the radar. I couldn’t see them from here, but once I selected one dot, I discovered that it was a pack of wolves. 

I caught a glimpse of one of the mounted guards fighting off the wolves with a short bow. 

The escort captain was around Liza’s level. The other two were level 6 or 7—about the same strength as an average soldier, I’d say. The wolves were only levels 3 to 5, so as long as they didn’t overtake and surround the carriage, the riders would probably be fine. 

Nevertheless, we were well on our way to a head-on collision with the fleeing carriage, which prompted me to check the map for a place to escape. 

Over the next ridge was an apparent rest area with a hut where we could get out of the way, so I spurred the coach toward it. 

“Dooogs?” 

“Lots of them, sir!” 

Clad in their rain gear, Pochi and Tama clambered up to the front to report that they’d spotted the pack through the trees. 

“Those are wolves. They’re chasing a carriage.” 

I corrected the two of them, then conveyed the situation to the rest of the group inside once they’d finished changing clothes. 

“Wolves after a carriage? Why, that sounds to me like a flag for saving a princess or a noble!” 

Arisa sounded thrilled about what she believed was a scripted encounter, but I told her not to be ridiculous. Besides, I’d already cleared both a princess rescue mission and a noble rescue mission. 

As if some god of fate had heard this joke and taken offense, a giant wolf the size of a cart itself attacked the mounted escorts. I must have blinked or glanced away for a second, because I could have sworn it teleported in front of the horseman. 

The cavalry captain defended himself against the giant beast’s attack, but three more wolves of the same size leaped at him. Unable to defend against the pack, he quickly fell. The other two horsemen saw this, dropped their bows, and tried to flee. A sensible decision. 

I wanted to help them, but a short bow wouldn’t reach from this distance. The Magic Gun was out, too, since it had about the same range. 

But a spear or a throwing stone might reach. 

I stopped our carriage and threw a rock at one of the huge wolves. Ignoring air resistance and gravitational acceleration, the missile rocketed at subsonic speed and smashed through the giant wolf’s head. 

I got ready for a second shot, but just as suddenly as they’d appeared, the other giant wolves vanished on the spot. The dots on my radar suggested they were going after the horse-drawn carriage. 

I investigated the details of the giant wolves on the map. They were rocket wolves, monsters with levels in the late teens, with the Unique Skills “Jet Propulsion” and “Kin Control.” 

…So they were the same species as the pup that Tama had caught before. 

“We’ll ambush the wolves in the open area coming up. Get ready for battle, everyone.” 

A chorus of confirmations sounded in reply. Even the horses answered with snorts full of fighting spirit. 

“Do your best, Rye, sir!” 

“You toooo, Effie!” 

Pochi and Tama encouraged the horses before readying their bucklers and short swords. Rye was the horse on the right, and Effie was the horse on the left. Needless to say, the inspiration for their names came from their respective sides of the carriage. 

“Lulu, drive for me, please. I’m going to go on ahead to the plaza.” 

Lulu hurried into the coachman’s stand to take the reins from me, and I broke into a run down the road alone. Of course, I couldn’t sprint at full force or I’d wreck the road, so I limited myself to the speed of an average car. 

As I ran, I checked on the map. 

In that short period of time, the remaining two escorts had become the rocket wolves’ prey, men and horses alike. 

But the escorts had bought time, and the carriage was still safe. The archers riding in the back were hard at work keeping the pursuing wolves at bay. 

The smaller ones were just ordinary brown wolves. The rocket wolves’ Kin Control ability was probably controlling them. 

I arrived at the plaza. It was bigger than I’d thought. There were trees along the side of the valley to shield from the wind and enough space for three or so horse-drawn carriages to park. A bit higher up on the mountainside was a little log cabin. 

The first drops of rain finally fell from the heavy clouds. 

I looked farther up the mountainside, past the flat area with the hut. I should be able to snipe the wolves on the mountain pass from there. 

Moving quickly, I took a short bow and some arrows out of Storage. 

…Crap, I only have ten arrows. 

Clicking my tongue, I kept my eyes on the brown wolves and the carriage as they slid in and out of sight, sniping one and then another. I aimed for their vitals, so most of my shots were one-hit kills. 

> Title Acquired: Bow Expert 

The rapid-fire rate of the bow was even faster than that of the Magic Gun. 

I caught sight of one of the rocket wolves and disposed of it. My last arrow wasn’t enough to take it out, so I pulled out my Magic Gun from Storage for the finishing shot. 

Since the power of the short bow depended on how strongly the bowstring was pulled, the level of the user had little effect. 

After this, I defeated a few more brown wolves with the Magic Gun, but the road took a wide curve along the side of another mountain, making me lose sight of them. 

Below me, the carriage with the rest of my group arrived, and I went down to join them. 

“I got rid of about half the wolves. There are two more of the giant ones—those are called rocket wolves. They’re really strong, so we’ll take them out one at a time together.” 

Even the beastfolk girls would have difficulty beating those monsters one-on-one without injury. 

I had Lulu hide inside the hut and tied the horses to a tree obscured in the shadows behind it. 

Arisa was rolling up her sleeves and pinwheeling her arms in the air, but I had to have a quiet word with her and burst her bubble. 

“Arisa. Don’t use your Unique Skills.” 

“What? Master, could it be that you’ve finally fallen for the amazing Arisa and all of her—” 

“That’s an order.” 

“Fiiine.” 

Arisa dropped to her hands and knees in a dramatic display of disappointment. I felt bad, but I wanted to heed the advice Zen had given me on the verge of his death. I had to make sure we didn’t carelessly use Unique Skills like Arisa’s One-Shot Cannon move. 

Under the shadow of the mountain, the carriage came into view on the hill, about a hundred feet away. 

White steam rose from the horse’s rain-soaked body. 

“The carriaaage!” 

“All right, time to attack.” 

At Tama’s report, I gave the go-ahead to start the battle. 

Mia’s bow and arrow, Pochi’s and Tama’s stones, and Nana’s Magic Arrows all descended upon the wolves pursuing the carriage. Since Arisa’s Psychic Magic could potentially affect the carriage, we didn’t use it here. 

I fired at the wolves, too, with one Magic Gun in each hand. 

“Whoa, dual-wielded guns? Now, that’s hot! Ahh, I wish digital cameras existed in this world!” 

I paid no attention to Arisa’s comments and took out one brown wolf after another. 

As the workhorse reached the top of the hill and started down, I caught a good look at the carriage. Below the torn-up canopy, I saw a rocket wolf just seconds away from eating the coachman. There was no sign of the guards who had been in the back. 

“Monsters! You have to run!” 

The coachman spotted us and screamed out. He must not have heard the rocket wolf breathing down his neck because he didn’t look back at all. 

The rocket wolf triumphantly opened its mouth above the coachman’s head. 

That’s as far as you go. 

I turned the Magic Gun to its highest setting and blew off its head. With a fountain of blood, the giant wolf tumbled off the vehicle. 

Now the carriage was passing through the plaza. 

“Arisa!” 

In response to my call, Arisa sent her Shock Wave spell into the crowd of wolves chasing the carriage, catching all of them head-on. 

The regular wolves stumbled and fell, bleeding from the eyes and ears. At least half of them were dead. 

I wanted the beastfolk girls to take out the rest of the weaker animals, but there were two more rocket wolves to take care of first. 

At that moment, a point of light appeared on my radar, coming straight toward us from the summit of the mountain. 

I tried to find it but didn’t see anything. 

It seemed to be after the other carriage, not us. I went out into the road, peering after the fleeing cart. 

A giant creature descended from the sky and landed on top of the carriage, demolishing the damaged top carrier. 

It was a dragon-like beast with three snakelike heads and two wings: a hydra. 

It was level 39, which seemed appropriate for a monster roughly the size of a single-family house. That’s on par with the Undead King Zen. 

Trying to save the coachman, I aimed my gun at the hydra. 

“Master, behind you!” 

I heard Arisa cry out behind me. My “Sense Danger” skill reacted at the same time. 

A red point was hurtling toward me on the radar—a rocket wolf. 

“Shield Tate!” 

Before I could turn my head, Nana’s magic shield halted the rocket wolf’s charge. 

It didn’t fully stop the momentum, though, as the wolf pushed the transparent shield toward me. I stored the Magic Gun away and stopped the shield with my newly freed hand. 

Alas, the coachman’s dot had already disappeared from the radar. 

In a burst of rage, I kicked the shield and the wolf into the air. 

My attack shattered the spell into shards of light and smashed the jaw of the rocket wolf behind it. The blow took almost 90 percent of its health, and its HP gauge was rapidly decreasing. 

Pochi and Tama rushed up and slashed the tendons of its hind legs, and Liza’s spear pierced through its flank right into its heart. 

Finally, Nana’s Foundation Magic created three Magic Arrows that ran through the wolf’s head, finishing it off. 

Leaving the last remnants of the wolf pack to Liza and the others, I turned back toward the hydra. It was carrying the horse in its mouth in a leisurely escape to the other side of the mountain. 

I knew attacking the hydra now wouldn’t change anyone’s fate, but I could at least take revenge for them. The thing was already out of range of the Magic Gun, so I took a short spear out of Storage, aimed at the hydra, and hurled it with all my might. 

The spear broke the speed of sound as it flew and skewered all three of the hydra’s heads. 

My weapon had pierced right through the first two heads and put a decent dent in the third, but that wasn’t enough to defeat it. Losing height rapidly, the hydra disappeared behind the mountain. 

My Fire Shot spell probably would have finished it off, but considering the forest fires that might result, it was too dangerous. I really needed some user-friendly long-range magic, like Freeze Bullet or Magic Arrow. 

Just to be safe, I marked the hydra on my map. 

I considered indicating all the strong monsters in the county, but a search quickly revealed that there were too many. 

The dots for monsters and hell demons on the radar were white unless they were hostile, the same color as people and animals, so I changed the default color for them to yellow. 

While I did, I noticed that unlike Seiryuu County, this territory contained several blank areas. Most likely, Count Kuhanou didn’t control these areas. 

The majority was near the southern border of the Muno Barony, but the blank space south of the nearby town of Noukee sat right near our location. 

Hopefully it was just an undeveloped or autonomous region, but if it was a den of dangerous beasts like the hydra, I’d rather find that out as soon as possible. 

Once we locate an inn in the town tonight and everyone’s safely settled in, I’ll have to sneak out and investigate. They’ll think I’ve been out in the red-light district again, but ensuring our safety is the most important thing. 

By the time the battle was over, the sky had opened into a torrential downpour. 

I felt guilty about leaving the bodies to get soaked in the rain, but landslides were a risk now, so we all evacuated into the mountain hut. 

Because everyone was cold and soaked from the rain, I asked Liza to prepare lunch to warm us up. 

Arisa and Nana had gained one level each in the battle. Nana hadn’t acquired any skills, and Arisa seemed to be saving up her points. 

Nana had used too much Practical Magic in combat and was low on MP. I gave her a magic recovery potion I’d bought in Seiryuu City. 

Once we’d boiled some water, Lulu brewed tea, and the refreshing herbal flavor helped to clear my head. 

I hadn’t thought of it before, but it had just occurred to me that if anyone crashed because of the wrecked carriage and the rocket-wolf corpses, it’d be on my conscience. 

I opened the map and searched for other possible carriages on the road. Even the closest vehicle wouldn’t pass through here for at least another three hours. 

…Oh? There was a survivor in the middle of the mountain pass. Two of them, in fact. They still had about half their stamina left, but their status read Unconscious. 

I told Arisa and the others that I was going to check on the carriage for a moment and stepped out into the rain alone. 

After I’d collected the bodies of the fallen guards and wolves strewn over the road, I headed toward the two survivors. 

They must have fallen off the carriage when it took a sharp turn on the pass and survived by landing on a ledge jutting out from the cliff. 

I tied a rope to a sturdy-looking tree protruding from the mountainside and used it to climb down. I certainly could have hopped to the ledge as usual, but I thought it was best to take care, since I had to bring two people back up with me. 

It was hard to tell what they looked like, since they were covered in mud, but according to the AR display, they were a boy and girl in their mid-teens. Surprisingly enough, despite being only high-school-age kids, they were husband and wife. Well, I guess that’s not too strange, since they’re adults by the standards of this world. 

Because the boy had a broken leg, I did some emergency first aid and applied a splint. Then I secured both of them to the lifeline and jumped back up a hundred feet or so to the road above with one person under each arm. 

…I guess the rope wasn’t really necessary after all. 

At any rate, their lives didn’t seem to be in danger, so I laid them under a tree to rest out of the rain for a moment, collected and stored the bodies of the escort captain and his horse, and carried the two survivors back to the log cabin. 

I placed the corpses under a large tree and covered them with a cloth. Since the horse was too large to enshrine under the tree, I laid it nearby under a waterproof cloth instead. 

“I found survivors. Mia, please use recovery magic on them.” 

“Mm.” 

Mia nodded, and I left the two in her care and headed back outside. I wanted to recover the body of the coachman. 

“Master, I’ve left Lulu and Nana in charge of the cooking. Please, allow me to accompany you.” 

Liza had followed behind me in her rain gear, so I decided to bring her along. Pochi and Tama wanted to come, too, but since the body would likely be a gruesome sight, I ordered them to stay behind. 

Liza and I stepped into the road. 

“I suppose this is to be expected, since that enormous demi-dragon landed here…,” Liza murmured in a trembling voice. 

Following her line of sight, I saw the wreckage of the horse-drawn carriage. Where the coachman’s stand had once been now lay the corpse of a man, crushed from the waist up. He must have already been dead by the time I tried to save them. 

I collected the articles of the deceased and checked the man’s ID papers. He had been a merchant from Kuhanou City. Most of the cargo had been demolished, so I pushed it and the wreck of the carriage into a thicket on the side of the road so it wouldn’t block traffic. 

After the rain let up, Arisa used her Psychic Magic spell Wake Up to rouse the two survivors. I broke the news that they were the only ones left and led them to the tree where I had laid the bodies to rest. They exclaimed: 

“Big bro…” 

“Brother!” 

The beastfolk girls, who had been retrieving the cores from the corpses of the rocket wolves in the plaza, approached the pair with sympathy. 

Lulu, who was draining the blood from the brown wolves nearby, looked worried as well. I couldn’t read Nana’s expression as she worked next to Lulu, but since she was watching the survivors as well, she probably felt the same way. 

The boy settled down first, so I spoke with him a little. 

The coachman had been the girl’s brother, and the three of them were doing business together. They’d hired a group of competent escorts when they heard the border was infested with wolves, but none of them had known monsters like rocket wolves would attack, too. 

He bitterly kicked the head of the rocket wolf in the square, and I took him with me to retrieve the cargo that had been scattered on the road. It would probably help take his thoughts off it for a while. 

I called Arisa and Mia over to tend to the girl. 

The boy and I inspected the cargo they’d discarded to lighten the carriage. Pochi and Tama tagged along, too. 

Most of their cargo had been woodworking products and pottery. The pottery was cushioned with something like sawdust, so at least half of it was intact. There were all sorts of wooden goods, like spear handles, arrow shafts, and a variety of furniture. 

“We’ll heeelp!” 

“Sir!” 

Tama and Pochi insisted that they’d carry the load, and by the time we reached the escort captain’s body, most of the goods had been recovered. 

“What should we do with the bodies?” 

“I think it’d be best to bury them behind the mountain hut. I’m terribly sorry to have you help us so much, but do you think you could lend me a hand?” 

I’d expected him to ask us to take them to the nearest town, but according to the boy, most people just left bodies on the side of the road as is, and even devoutly religious people made only a prayer or offering. 

Even if there were surviving relatives, like in this case, they could rarely afford a burial. 

I readily agreed to his request, and we dug some graves behind the hut. 

It would normally be difficult to dig holes to bury four people, but between my absurdly high STR stat and the help of the beastfolk girls, we were done in no time. 

While the two survivors said their last good-byes, I buried the horses in a corner of the plaza. Liza asked whether we should butcher them down for food, but that didn’t seem right to me. 

I gave the Garage Bag to Pochi and Tama to collect the corpses of the brown wolves, then went to help Liza take apart the rocket wolves. 

They were too big to fit into the bag, which was probably why she’d asked. 

Since Lulu and Nana had finished bleeding out the brown wolves and joined us, the only role left to me was tying the rope onto the branches of a large tree to string up the rocket-wolf corpses. 

After placing a small cask full of water near Liza and the others, I watched over their work quietly. I had expected them to take only the fur, but they collected the meat as well. 

“U-um, Ms. Liza? Can you really eat monster meat?” 

“We’ll discard the organs, as they could be dangerous, but from the color of the meat, I believe it should be safe to eat.” 

Liza answered Lulu’s question confidently. 

It certainly did look like beef in color, but I wasn’t sure if one should really base one’s decision on that alone. 

I analyzed one of the pieces of meat and discovered they were indeed edible and free of poison. 

Arisa and Mia, who had been accompanying the boy and girl, called me over from behind the log cabin. 

“Have you finished your good-byes?” 

“Yes… My elder brother would surely scold me if I kept crying forever.” 

Wiping the last tears from her reddened eyes, the girl gave me a resolute smile. After speaking with her for a moment, the boy and I shoveled soil over the bodies. 

I carved the names on the identification papers of the deceased into a suitably sized stone to serve as a grave marker. 

After we left the mountain hut, we reached the nearest town in Kuhanou County, Noukee, in the evening. 

The boy reported the incident to the gatekeeper at the mountain pass. I came along to fill in the details. 

“So a wolf pack led by rocket wolves appeared on the road in our county? They usually stay farther west…” 

…Maybe the hydra chased the pack into the area? 

With that thought in mind, I told the gatekeeper about the hydra. 

“A hydra, you say? Not just rocket wolves?” 

“I saw the smashed carriage, too. The only other way it could’ve been crushed like that is if a giant rock fell on it or something.” 

The guard seemed unconvinced, so the boy supplemented the testimony. Still, the guard clearly found it hard to believe that a hydra had appeared on a populated road. 

“Are you sure it wasn’t crushed by falling rocks, then?” 

“If you have any doubts, I would invite you to inspect the remains for yourself. I’m certain there were other witnesses, so perhaps you could ask some neighboring farmers or hunters?” 

It wasn’t a big deal if he didn’t believe us about the hydra. I chose not to push the story too much. 

However, the comment ended up making it more believable, so he took us to a government office to meet with someone called the “assistant secretary.” 

“Allow me to summarize. You saw a pack of brown wolves and rocket wolves chasing some merchants, the wolves killed the merchants’ escorts in battle, and while you were fighting the wolves, a hydra suddenly appeared, killed the coachman, and flew away with the horse. Is that correct?” 

I nodded, confirming the assistant secretary’s description. The only other people present were the boy and a few official-looking men. Everyone else was waiting beside our carriage outside the government office. 

“Then I will now question you about the details of your story in chronological order. Regardless of whether it is true or not, I expect you to simply answer yes.” 

With that, he began a careful review. 

“Assistant Secretary Hatess inquires: The merchants’ escorts were killed during the battle with the wolves, correct?” 

“Yes.” 

“Assistant Secretary Hatess inquires: A hydra killed the merchant, correct?” 

“Yes.” 

“Assistant Secretary Hatess inquires: You yourselves caused no harm to the merchants, correct?” 

“Yes.” 

“Assistant Secretary Hatess inquires: The hydra fled into the mountains, correct?” 

“Yes.” 

He seemed to be casually interrogating me, too, but I paid it no mind and answered. 

Since the first guard had the Eye of Judgment gift, he should already have known we didn’t kill the merchant. 

“This person is telling the truth.” 

“Sir!” Flustered, one of the officials hurried into another room. He was going to the constable, the person to which the lord had entrusted the governance of the town. 

“The constable will use a magic tool to get in touch with the count right away. I’m sure he will dispatch the army to take care of the hydra in no time.” 

The secretary gave a confident smile. 

The boy and I were called into the constable’s office, and once again we had to explain the situation with the hydra and the rocket wolves. 

Apparently, the rocket wolves had been controlling the brown wolves as decoys for hunting in the mountains, and the duke’s army had been struggling to deal with them. The baron who was serving as the constable praised us, albeit condescendingly. 

After that, we moved to the office of the constable’s aide to discuss our reward for the information about the hydra and the defeat of the rocket wolves. 

The town seemed to have a small budget, and I sensed they were reluctant to give up cash, so I tried asking for a letter of introduction to an inn for the night in place of goods or money. The instant I told them that a pecuniary reward wouldn’t be necessary, the slender aide gleefully set about writing with a brush and ink. 

I guess that despite being a titled lesser noble, he had a pretty tough life. 

After that, the boy went to report the deaths of the peddler and the guards. 

In the meantime, I sold two of the cores from the rocket wolves at the teller window in the government office. The value was much higher here—almost three times the amount in Seiryuu City. 

Once our errands in the office were over, I took the kids to a company where one of their acquaintances worked. 

As a reward from the boy, he told me to take whatever I wanted from the goods they had in stock. 

I had no shortage of money, but it would be rude not to accept his thanks, so I chose some arrow shafts and spear handles. 

I’d have been a bit worried about the boy’s future if I left it at that, though. I subtly convinced him to mention which of their products were hardest to unload in this town and bought some at a slightly higher price. 

Arisa chided me for being soft, but since we didn’t have to pay for shipping, I figured we’d be able to break even by selling them somewhere else. 

The boy and girl thanked us repeatedly as we said our farewells, and we headed for the inn that the people in the government office had told us was the best in town. 

Since this was a pretty small town, we reached the inn quickly. I tried to get a room or two so everyone could rest, but we were informed that demi-humans weren’t allowed inside. 

I probably could’ve gotten Arisa to use the ability she’d demonstrated in Kainona again, but that wouldn’t be necessary here; I handed the owner our letter of introduction from the government office. 

The letter’s effect was immediate, and we got two four-person rooms, as requested. 

After the owner politely folded it and handed it back to me, I tucked it into my breast pocket. It served no further purpose now, but I wasn’t about to throw away a letter from nobility. 

We determined our room assignments by rock-paper-scissors, and I ended up sharing a room with Nana, Lulu, and Liza. 

At first, I was worried that this would be a trial, but then I realized it was a moot point. That’s right, I was planning on investigating the blank area tonight. 

It was nearly evening, but since we planned to leave early the next morning, I gave everyone shopping assignments. 

Arisa and Nana would find the pepper and other spices. The others would restock the feed and the casket of water. 

With Liza as my escort, I went to visit the only alchemy and magic shop in town. To avoid any trouble, I had Liza wear a hooded overcoat. 

When we arrived at the shop, a man with a hood over his eyes burst out and nearly slammed the door right into me, but Liza quickly reached out and stopped it. 

The door collided with the man’s face instead, and he protested in an imperious tone. 

“Watch it! Who do you think you’re dealing with?! I am—” 

“Sorry. Are you injured at all?” 

Personally, I thought the situation was his fault to begin with, but I decided to be the bigger man and apologize. You’ll have to forgive me if my heart wasn’t really in it. 

The man, his face obscured under his hood, noticed something and snapped his mouth shut before climbing into the carriage that was waiting nearby. 

When his servant slowly emerged from the shop laden with a good deal of baggage, the man in the hood shouted at him. 

“We’re going to the next shop! Come quickly, you stupid slave!” 

The carriage took off before the slave could board it. Without a word of complaint, the slave shouldered the jingling bag and trailed after the carriage. 

“Let’s go, Liza.” 

I beckoned my companion, who was watching the departing carriage, and we entered the shop. 

“Welcome. If you’re looking for male enhancement tonics, we have pills but not potions.” 

The saleswoman, wearing what looked like strange magic eyeglasses, leaped to conclusions before I said a word. Do I look like that much of a lech to you? 

I relied on my “Poker Face” skill to keep my displeasure from showing. 

“Hello. I would like to buy some elixir for potion making. Do you have any in stock?” 

“For stamina recovery potions, we can sell you three packages’ worth. They’re one silver coin each. There’s a bit of a core shortage right now, so don’t expect a discount. If you don’t like it, feel free to go.” 

With three packages between her fingers, the saleswoman went about her supercilious sales pitch. They were small paper packets, like the kind for powdered medicine in a hospital. 

They cost almost three times as much as the ones in the Seiryuu City alchemy shop, but my “Estimation” skill told me this was close to the actual market value, so she wasn’t overcharging me. 

I don’t know why, but if they’re short on cores, I bet the stabilizer is cheaper. 

I’d sold the rocket-wolf cores at the public office earlier, but I still had plenty of cores from the Cradle. All I needed was the stabilizer to make as much elixir as I’d like. 

“Do you have stabilizer, then?” 

“Yes, we have plenty of that. If you have cores of your own, in fact, I wonder if you could help us out a bit.” 

What an abrupt move. Suddenly asking me to sell cores? 

Actually, I suppose, since I had asked for the stabilizer to make elixir, it naturally followed that I would have the other main ingredient. 

Still, wasn’t there a rule that cores acquired in a territory must be sold to a gatekeeper or public official of that region? 

“I’m afraid I’ve just sold my cores at the public office.” 

“Oh, come, now. If you’re an alchemist, surely you kept one or two on the sly?” 

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but no.” 

I sympathized with the plight of being short on ingredients, but this would still be breaking the law. Since my own safety was the top priority, I declined the transaction. 

“Well, if you know anyone who’s got cores, send them our way, would you? We’ll buy them no matter how sketchy the seller.” 

“I’ll talk to my acquaintances.” 

Hmm. This seems like taking advantage of her weakness, but I wonder if she’d sell me Magic Scrolls in exchange for cores? 

“I do have a friend who wants to get some Magic Scrolls…” 

“If they can bring me at least this weight in red cores, grade three or above, I could certainly think about it.” 

So cores had different grades? Out of curiosity, I had the saleswoman explain them to me. She showed me a color chart; I compared it to the cores that I had in Storage through the menu. I found cores that matched each color in the chart and used them as samples to make folders for each grade. 

While I checked the samples, the saleswoman disappeared into the back of the store and returned with a twenty-pound bag. 

The bag floated along lightly behind her, so typically magical that it almost looked like a trick instead. 

“Is that magic?” 

“It’s just Floating Board. You’ve really never seen something so common?” 

Despite her claim, she seemed proud of herself. I did remember seeing a spell like that in a beginner’s guide to Practical Magic. 

I checked the stabilizer she’d brought over. The AR display called it Stabilizer/Ugi Leaf Powder. The market price was five gold coins. 

“This is ugi leaf powder, correct?” 

“Indeed. You have a sharp eye. It’s a rare product around these parts, but we received a large quantity from a merchant in exchange for some potions a while ago. Luckily, it hasn’t gone bad yet.” 

“How much might you be willing to sell?” 

“We just stocked up on Yarma grass for stabilizer, so I’d even be willing to part with all of it. If you buy the whole lot, it’ll be two gold coins.” 

I was tempted to ask her for the newer stock instead, but since she was offering it at less than half the market price, I didn’t mind taking her up on the clearance sale. In fact, since the quality shouldn’t deteriorate while it was in Storage, this was a great bargain for me. 

I purchased the whole bag, plus some other potion-making materials and things that could be troublesome to get ahold of myself. 

Once I’d paid and was ready to leave the store, I realized I’d forgotten something. 

“How much would it be to purchase some vials for potions?” 

“Sorry. Someone just bought up our whole stock right before you came. He had a requisition warrant with the seal of the viceroy of Sedum City, so I couldn’t refuse.” 

Why would someone forcibly collect a bunch of vials? Was the viceroy mass-producing potions or something? 

Incidentally, a viceroy was in a position similar to a constable, in charge of governing the city. 

Grumbling about it here wouldn’t do me any good. I decided to visit a pottery workshop to stock up instead. But thanks to the same man, they were sold out. 

They made vials for alchemy only once a month there and asked me to wait until the next month. Since they had to mix the stabilizer into the base, they couldn’t make them at the same time as other products. 

I did just buy a large supply of stabilizer, so if the next town or city didn’t have any, either, I could try making the vials myself. Luckily enough, the scrap of paper I got from Hoze contained detailed instructions on the pottery process. I’d be able to figure it out. 

Returning to the inn, I received a proud report from Arisa that she’d acquired the pepper. 

Not only that, but they’d also obtained mustard and cayenne powder, garlic and leek oil, a few varieties of pickled cabbage, and what looked like pickled daikon radish. 

They’d also stocked up on raw daikons and various cooking and pickling ingredients for them, so we’d be able to expand the range of our vegetarian dishes. 

We had dinner brought to our rooms. It was better than the food in the Kainona inn, but I thought we could have gotten something tastier from a food cart. 

I put the kids to bed early that night and stepped out into the town. All I told Liza and the others was that I was going out. 

She and Nana wanted to come as my escorts, but since it would be faster to move on my own in this case, I told them to stay behind. 

Right, wasn’t there something else I had to do before my investigation? 

“I heard you’re in need of cores.” 

I entered the alchemy shop and approached the saleswoman. 

I’d wound cloth around my face and put on a tattered cloak with a hood over my eyes. I looked like such a suspicious character that even I would’ve reported me. 

“Certainly, as long as they’re grade three and up.” 

However, the saleswoman might have seen through my disguise, as she responded quite casually. 

I took the cores out of my pocket and laid them on the counter. Since I’d gotten them from crimson needle bees, most of them were on the small side. The ones from the labyrinth were all at least grade 7, and the ones from the Cradle were only grades 1 or 2, so I didn’t have a lot of options. 

“Listen, I know cores are pretty stable before they’re turned into powder, but I still wouldn’t carry them around in my pocket like that if I were you. What if they sucked up some magic and exploded while you were using a spell?” 

Whoa, they explode? I guess the first magic tool I’d made exploded when I overloaded it, too. 

I thanked her for her advice and laid out a total of twenty cores. 

She placed the cores on something that looked like a small Transmutation Tablet and inspected them, taking some notes, probably estimating the price of the cores. 

“Don’t you have anything a little higher quality? Ideally, I’d like some red grade fives or higher for use in middle-grade potions. Even a few would be fine.” 

“How about this?” 

I put on the table the cores from the shadow stalkers I’d defeated while rescuing Red Helmet. Though they were also rather small, they were grade 6. 

“N-now, this is a quality stone.” 

While the saleswoman appraised them, I asked her about the Magic Scrolls. 

“Shopkeeper, I was told you would be able to provide me with Magic Scrolls in exchange for these cores…” 

“Choose from any of these.” 

She showed me three Scrolls: Shield, Sonar, and Signal. There were Scrolls like Magic Arrow and Short Stun in the back. 

“Don’t you have any others?” 

“We do, but I’d prefer not to sell Scrolls to a total stranger that have the potential to cause serious injury. What about this? A traveling explorer sold it to us.” 

The salesperson produced a Scroll called Gust. It was stronger than the Everyday Magic spell Breeze but not enough to knock someone over. The Wind Magic spell’s original purpose was to aid in the sailing of ships. 

I was curious what kind of eccentric person had made it, so I inquired. According to the seller, it had been unearthed in a labyrinth. 

Honestly, they all seemed a bit underwhelming, but since I didn’t want to pass up a rare opportunity, I asked if I could buy all of them. They ranged in price from four to six silver coins, so it was a total value of nineteen silver coins for the four. 

The average value of the crimson needle bee cores was one silver coin, while the shadow stalkers’ were worth six—both almost three times the market price, inflated like the elixirs’. 

I received the rest of my reimbursement in cash. I’d really hoped to buy some intermediate spell books or magic tools, but they didn’t have anything I wanted, and I gave up. 

After leaving the alchemy shop, I leaped over the outer wall of the town and zipped alone along the main road at the speed of a car. 

Of course, it would’ve been a pain if anyone discovered my identity, so I blanked out my name field and wore a hooded black cloak over my eyes. 

Within a half hour, I reached the point in the road closest to my destination and walked into the forest. Between my “Night Vision” and “Off-Road Running” skills, it was no different from an afternoon stroll. 

Occasionally dodging the small nocturnal animals darting out from within the bushes and hopping over a small mountain stream from time to time, I made my way deeper into the woods. 

About halfway to my destination, I stopped for a moment. 

I had no idea what might be waiting for me in the blank area. It would probably be best to be as prepared as possible. 

I picked a random spot to use my Scrolls and learned the spells Shield, Sonar, Signal, and Gust. I also gained the skills “Practical Magic” and “Wind Magic.” 

This “Practical Magic” skill was different from the “Practical Magic: Other World” skill I’d gotten when I first used Meteor Shower. I wondered if it was actually an all-inclusive skill like “Analyze.” 

Even when I selected Shield from the magic menu and used it, it was no different from the one Nana made with Foundation Magic. I’d have to compare and contrast them some other time. 

Next, I selected Sonar from the magic menu. Information regarding the distribution of every living creature in a four-hundred-foot radius zapped into my mind. That would take some getting used to. 

On top of that, its effect range was smaller than my radar, and the wild animals in range scattered as if they’d sensed that I’d detected them. I guess it was like active sonar, then. Probably best to just stow it away. 

Next, I tried using Signal, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem usable on its own. Its original purpose was for communication between sorcerers, so it might be fun to see if I could combine it with a magic tool to make a simple communication device. 

Finally, I tried out Gust. A gale at the level of a wind tunnel swept through and knocked over a few slim trees, but it was still nothing compared to Fire Shot. Clearly, its destructive capacity wasn’t meant to be as high as spells intended for combat. With the destruction of my magic field test complete, I returned to my original purpose. 

I’d gained several more skills on my way to the blank area: “Zoology,” “Tracking,” “Presence Perception,” “Tiptoe,” “Concealment,” and “Invisibility.” 

It had probably happened when I snuck up on one of the small animals along my way so I could try touching its fluffy fur. 

I also received the titles Forest Seeker and Unseen Pursuer. I wasn’t so fond of the latter, since it made me sound like a stalker. 

The moment I entered the empty area of the map, a feeling like vertigo washed over me. 

The discomfort vanished almost immediately, but when I checked the log, I saw the line Disorienting Charm magic resisted. I didn’t acquire any new resistance skills. 

There weren’t any magic users nearby. I quickly selected Search Entire Map from the menu to fill in the blanks. 

This place was called the “Forest of Illusions.” It appeared to be a pretty normal forest to me, so I wasn’t sure how it lived up to that name. 

The only people in the area were two female humanfolk in a far-off tower. One was a witch, and the other was her apprentice. Other than that, there were some magical creatures called “constructors” and other cryptids. Of course, there were plenty of ordinary animals as well. 

As I stared absentmindedly at the place where I’d gotten dizzy a moment ago, an AR display appeared that read Disorienting Charm Barrier. It was probably there to peacefully turn away intruders. 

Apparently, news of my passage through the structure had reached the witch’s tower, because her apprentice was now heading my way. 

I had already finished my business here, but I figured I’d better apologize for trespassing. 

If they didn’t know who had intruded on their territory or why, it’d cause them undue concern, right? 

Now, the welcoming party should be here any moment. 

“… ? Toss Stone Sekijun!” 

The witch’s apprentice, a little girl in a robe, hid behind some nearby trees and used a magic spell. 

Three stone spears sprouted from the ground at my feet like stalagmites. The attack surrounded me from all sides, but the intention seemed to be to trap me, not to stab me with them. 

I didn’t move from the spot, letting the stones encircle me—until one of them misfired and shot right toward my heart, so I kicked it lightly in the center and broke it. 

> Skill Acquired: “Earth Magic” 

> Skill Acquired: “Earth Resistance” 

Maybe they weren’t as sturdy as they looked. 

Even if one had hit my body, chances were good it would’ve hurt only slightly, without even wounding me. 

“Feh, to think someone would break one of my stones with a kick…how absurd.” 

The witch’s apprentice muttered tearfully. She was a timid-looking kid around Arisa’s age. Curly red hair poked out from under her hood. 

She was riding a steel panther about three feet tall and was protected by four servants called “living armors.” The panther, a constructor, appeared to be the same kind of synthetic creature. 

“Nnngh… Get ’im, guys!” 

Half crying, the witch’s apprentice shouted ambiguous directions at the living armor. 

Two of them stayed back to protect the girl with round shields and two-handed hatchets, while the other two came after me. 

Okay, what do I do now? 

I hadn’t expected such a hostile reception with no questions asked. 

Well, it was my own fault for trespassing on grounds that were so off-limits that they’d put up a barrier to protect it. I wasn’t sure if they’d forgive me, but the least I could do was graciously apologize. 

“I sincerely regret the clumsy misstep that led me to trespass on your territory. I’m sorry.” 

Taking care not to break the living armors attacking me with hatchets, I tossed them into the darkness of the forest. 

As I did so, more of the Toss Stone stalagmite spears attacked me, but I shattered them easily with my hand. They weren’t particularly dangerous. 

“Awaaa, my magic isn’t workiiing. Mistreeess!” 

Panicked, the little girl began casting a long spell. 

Judging by the first phrase, it was probably Earth Magic. Probably because I’d been reading spell books so frequently, I’d gained an understanding of most spells lately. 

The fact that I still couldn’t use magic freely unless I mastered the chanting, despite all my hard work, was downright unfair. 

All right, enough complaining. I have to get this girl to calm down already. 

“Now, could you please stop attacking me for a moment? It’s dangerous. If you really have to punish me, I’ll let you hit me once, all right?” 

I stooped down to her eye level to speak to her, but she wouldn’t listen to me at all. 

Since the spell she was casting was called Mud Wave, I was probably about to get covered in muck. 

I would have accepted it as punishment for trespassing, but the person who appeared above the girl stopped her for me. 

With a loud thud, a single shadow dropped from overhead. 

A giant bird called an “elder sparrow” landed on the girl as if to crush her. 

“Geh!” The witch’s apprentice shrieked from underneath the bird’s soft belly, but as far as I could tell from the AR display, she was unharmed for now. 

On top of the elder sparrow sat an old woman in a robe with the same design as the little girl’s. She reminded me of the sort of kindly old lady you’d see sitting on a porch in the countryside, but she was still the witch of this forest. 

The woman slid down one of the sparrow’s wings and landed on the ground, then walked over to me—and dropped to her hands and knees before me. 

…Huh? Can someone explain this situation to me, please? 

“I am most honored to meet you. I am but a humble witch who watches over the mana source of this Forest of Illusions. I offer my deepest apologies for my foolish apprentice and her terribly rude behavior toward an emissary of Bolenan. I beg of you, please look kindly upon these old bones and forgive our grave transgression.” 

…So this is a source, too? Wait, more importantly, what was that about an “emissary of Bolenan”? I wonder if it has to do with Mia’s clan— Ahh, maybe it’s the bell I got from Red Helmet. The “Silent Bell of Bolenan” was a status symbol made by the elves, I think. Well, maybe it’ll help me resolve this misunderstanding. 

“Madam Witch, please stand up. I’m the one who entered your territory without a word of greeting. If anyone should apologize, it’s me.” 

The witch still didn’t move from her prostrate position, so I put my hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up. 

Although, since there were no phones there, I wasn’t sure how one would contact somebody before visiting them anyway. 

“What generous words, Emissary—” 

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I am protecting an elf of the Bolenan clan, but I’m by no means an official emissary.” 

“Still, to attack a personage who holds the Silent Bell is akin to waging war on the village of Bolenan itself!” 

Sort of like shooting a diplomat, I guess? 

“At any rate, would you please stand up? It pains me to see a woman groveling on the ground. Please, for my sake if nothing else.” 

I finally got the old witch off the ground, and I repeated my apology as we reached an understanding at last. 

As for my reason for entering the Forest of Illusions, I told her that I’d wanted to greet the keeper of the mana source. My “Fabrication” skill might have been a factor, but she believed me without any problems. 

If anything, I wasn’t sure if she believed that I wasn’t an emissary… 

I climbed aboard the elder sparrow with the witch, and we flew to her tower. 

The bird’s soft back was so comfortable that I almost wished I could ride longer. It landed on the roof with the quiet finesse of an expert, too. 

I glanced at my log once we got off the elder sparrow, but I hadn’t obtained a “Riding” skill. 

Eventually, I’d love to train a bunch of flying mounts and go on a journey through the sky with everyone. 

“Lord Satou, over here, if you please.” 

I followed the old witch and the light on the tip of her staff down the stairs from the tower’s roof. The spiral staircase descended along the wall without a railing. It had a distinctly handmade feeling, so much so that I worried the steps would collapse beneath my feet. 

The top floor seemed to be a warehouse. Plants hanging to dry lined the shelves, while the room itself contained well-organized boxes, baskets, and various unfamiliar tools. Either the witch or her disciple was very tidy. 

We passed the floor where the witch and her apprentice slept, and she invited me into a room that was like a cross between a parlor and a laboratory. 

A little ball of fur greeted us with a strange cry that sounded like, “Pou-kwee!” It resembled a large cotton ball, but according to the AR it was the witch’s familiar, a type of cryptid called a “puffbird.” 

In the corner of the room was a witch’s most iconic item: a cauldron, set over a fire, with strange green liquid bubbling inside. 

The AR display labeled it a Witch’s Cauldron. A very straightforward name. 

Still, she’d left the fire burning when she went out to meet me? Now I really felt like I’d wronged them. 

“I’m in the midst of brewing potions at the moment, so please forgive me if the place smells of herbs.” 

“Not at all. I have an interest in alchemy myself, so I don’t mind.” 

I guess she’d noticed me staring at the cauldron and taken it the wrong way. 

“Still, Madam Witch, don’t you use a Transmutation Tablet?” 

“That cauldron is a kind of Transmutation Tablet itself, you see. It’s a Magic Item that imbues the potion with the abundant mana from the source to dramatically increase its efficacy.” 

It turned out that the tower itself was a mana-focusing facility. Since cities have City Cores, maybe towers have cores, too? I couldn’t bring myself to ask such an impolite question, so instead we formally introduced ourselves. 

I checked the detailed information in the AR display next to her. Despite being humanfolk, the woman was older than even the elf girl Mia, at an age of 217 years old. 

Do witches just live longer, or is it because she controls the source? 

The woman was level 37, which seemed relatively low for her old age. She used Water Magic and Practical Magic. She also had a very witchlike assortment of skills, including “Meditation,” “Transmutation,” “Formulation,” and “Magic-Tool Crafting.” 

Her title was Witch of the Forest of Illusions, which would’ve been all well and good if it weren’t also her name. 

Curious, I asked the witch about her actual name while we chatted, and she told me she had cast it off when she inherited the source. 

So part of the ritual for inheriting a mana source required you to throw away your individual name. I hadn’t known there even was a ritual involved in inheriting sources. 

When I gained control of the Valley of Dragons source, I’d done no such ritual, so maybe massacring the dragons with Meteor Shower had been the equivalent? 

I also wondered whether I hadn’t been able to take over the source of the Cradle of Trazayuya because one person couldn’t control multiple sources, or if Mia had gained it instead because of her Cradle Master title. 

For some reason, nothing like Source Controller appeared in my titles or notes, so I had no way of confirming this. 

I probably just hadn’t noticed that I’d gained control over the Valley of Dragons source because I hadn’t checked my log after using Meteor Shower. 

After we’d discussed mana sources, I asked the old witch to show me her finished potions. When I analyzed them, every one came up as High Quality. 

“These are beautifully made. Do potions become more effective depending on the amount of magic or mana put into them?” I asked as I handed the potions back to her. 

“In theory, yes. However, after a certain point, any excess mana will simply seep back out, so there isn’t much reason, normally. If you use it immediately, it’ll be more effective, but in terms of MP efficiency, recovery magic is more practical.” 

I see—that’s why that wasn’t mentioned in my alchemy textbooks. 

After that, the witch and I discussed alchemy for a while. It was mostly just the old woman lecturing me, but it still ended up being an insightful conversation. 

I heard clattering from downstairs. 

Just as my radar had indicated, the witch’s apprentice was back. Her steel guardians must have been slower than the panther, as they were still trailing through the woods. 

The apprentice rushed up the stairs and burst into the room with great force. 

This girl needs to chill out. 

“Inenimaana, before you barge into a room—” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mistress! Umm… I-I’m very sorry about earlier!” 

Imitating her teacher, the girl dropped to the floor. 

The puffbird flapped across the room and hopped onto the apprentice’s head, puffing out its round body. Apparently, this was its home position. 

“It’s my own fault for carelessly trespassing on your territory. If I accept your apology, will you please stand?” 

It seemed a haughty way to put it, but acting in a way she expected was the only way to get through to her. 

What a mouthful of a name, though. Doesn’t she have a nickname, like Ine or something? 

“How is the potion coming?” 

The old witch spoke up, and Ine hurried over to stir the contents of the large cauldron. Since she was the same height as the cauldron, the stirring rod looked like an oar in her hands. 

“It’s coming along well, Mistress. This means we’ll be able to fulfill our end of the pact again this time.” 

“Yes, indeed. Can I count on you to watch the fire tonight?” 

“Yup! Just leave it to me!” 

This seemed like a sign she would doze off and fail somehow, but it was rude to make fun of other people, so I ignored it and kept my mouth shut. 

The word pact jumped out at me, prompting me to ask about it. 

I was just curious. I had no intention to push the subject if they didn’t want to talk about it, but the old witch had no problem giving me a simple answer. 

“It’s a pact we have with Count Kuhanou. In exchange for their keeping outlaws and hunters out of our forest, we deliver them three hundred special potions twice a year.” 

Three hundred? Collecting all those ingredients seems like a hassle, but I guess with a cauldron this big they could make them all in one go. 

Though the old witch had put it nicely, it sounded like a tax to ensure the autonomy of this forest. 

Hordes of kobolds had apparently been attacking silver mines in the county in the past few years, so there was extra pressure to hold up their end of the bargain. 

Certainly, with that much fast-acting medicine, it was hard to imagine the army incurring casualties even against a large monster pack. 

Maybe the shortage of cores in the town of Noukee and that official buying up vials for potions were connected to the witch’s potion making? 

Well, based on the state of affairs in the county, I had no intention of interfering. 

The old witch and I resumed our discussion of alchemy that had been interrupted by her apprentice’s return. 

The witch explained that she made her own transmutation gear, including the cauldron, and taught me some useful knowledge about magic tools in addition to the alchemy lecture. 

Since she’d so generously taught me all those designs and recipes, I’d have to collect more materials and try some new concoction. 

Though she asked for no compensation for the information, the old witch did have one request. 

When I informed her that I was journeying toward the old capital, she asked me to deliver a letter to one of her acquaintances along the way. 

The person in question lived in a forest some distance from the main road, but I didn’t mind, so I agreed anyway. 

To my surprise, she told me that the recipient of the letter was a forest giant. 

If this were a game, this definitely would’ve been a “Deliver the letter to the giants’ village” quest. 

Since I’d be helping out both the old witch and her friend the giant, and I’d get to see a giant village on top of that, this seemed like a win-win situation to me. 

And with not only giants but unicorns living in the forest, too, I was looking forward to the trip. 

Now, I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, so I decided to head home. Liza and the others were probably worried about me, anyway. 

Closing the heavy wooden door behind me, I left the tower. 

The old witch had offered to carry me back on the elder sparrow, but it was cruel to make an elderly person fly out at night in early winter, so I politely declined. 

Coming to see me off, the old witch cast a spell that created a path of faint glowing lights on the ground. 

The magic, more advanced than it looked, took about 10 percent of the witch’s MP. 

However, her MP recovered at an amazing rate—at about half the speed of my insanely quick recovery. Mia’s and Arisa’s recovery rates were incredibly slow compared to mine, but this was much faster than that. 

This was probably another benefit of the mana source. 

Of course, since our base MP amounts were different, comparing recovery rates by percentage wasn’t necessarily very accurate, but it worked well enough as a rough estimate. 

Banishing these irrelevant thoughts from my mind, I bade my farewells to the old witch and left the tower behind. 

This path of light would take me back out of the territory. 

When I’d first come to this forest, I’d thought it failed to live up to its name, but I was wrong. 

Lilies of the valley flickering like fireflies, butterflies glowing a faint green, grasshoppers as transparent as glass… The forest was full of fantastic creatures. 

Not all of them were beautiful, either. When butterflies fluttered across my path with all-too-realistic human faces on their wings, I didn’t know whether to laugh or shudder. 

In a small meadow among the trees, fairies called “fauns” danced about happily while beating on drums. 

I bet if I took the younger girls here, they’d join right in. 

I saw fewer and fewer of these spectacles as I drew closer to the Disorienting Charm Barrier. 

I was a little sad to leave, but I’d seen more than enough to satisfy me. 

On the way back home, I brought down a wild boar that I found lurking along the path. A souvenir for Liza and the others. 

When I returned to the inn, Arisa, near hysterical with worry, gave me a tongue-lashing. 

The gist of her tirade was that it was too dangerous in the forest at night for me to wander off on my own. When did I tell her that I’d gone outside the city? 

She dodged the question when I asked what she was doing in this room instead of her own, but given her rather short nightgown, she was probably trying to sneak into my bed again. 

I probably could’ve gone on the offensive by pointing this out, but since Arisa’s tearful lecture was kind of adorable, I simply embraced her and apologized without making excuses. 

I’ll have to show her sometime that I can get around in the dark without any problems so she won’t worry like this anymore. 

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of a creaking bed. 

I could hear someone else’s breathing. Was Arisa trying to harass me first thing in the morning again? That girl never learned. 

Dimly irritated, I opened my eyes. 

“……Master…please…I entreat.” 

An unexpectedly sexy voice woke me up in a heartbeat. 

Nana was directly on top of me, her hair loose. She was expressionless as usual, but her face was flushed suggestively. 

She peered down at me from all fours, so I had a generous view of her cleavage through the wide neckline of her shirt. I was sorely tempted to bounce them from below with the palm of my hand. 

I hadn’t caught everything she’d said, probably because I’d turned off my “Keen Hearing” skill the night before so I wouldn’t have to listen to the snoring of the old man next door. 

“Master, hurry.” 

“…Sure.” 

Bewitched by the feverish heat in Nana’s voice, I nodded involuntarily. 

Nana sat up straight, and just like that, she ripped her shirt up and off. Pulled along with the shirt, her round breasts jumped triumphantly into the freedom of the morning air. 

After one beautiful moment, her long blond hair quickly covered the view as it briskly chased down after them. 

In a trance, my hand moved instinctively toward Nana’s chest. 

“Good morniiing! Your beloved Arisa is here tooOOOOOOO?! What is this?!” 

Arisa’s shrieking brought me to my senses. Looking around, I saw that Liza and Lulu weren’t in the room. They had probably woken up and gone to prepare for our departure already. 

Now, what to do with this hand that’s just floating in the air here? 

…Should I just squeeze them anyway? 

Still half-asleep, I reached toward Nana. 

“Arisa uses Impenetrable Barrier!” 

Arisa made a wild leap toward me, so I automatically caught her in my arms. 

Nana stared at Arisa and me, mystified. 

“Master? Please hurry up with the calibration of my foundation instrument, I request.” 

“Huh? You’re not doing anything dirty?” At Nana’s words, the fury drained from Arisa’s face. 

Yeah, let’s go with that. 

“OF COURSE WE’RE NOT.” 

“Really? There’s something fishy about this…” 

“NOT IN THE LEAST.” 

Arisa glared at me accusingly, but I fended her off with the help of my “Poker Face” skill. 

Then we listened to Nana’s explanation. 

As it turned out, the faulty MP recovery Nana had complained of the day before had become a major issue, so she had asked me to help her adjust it. 

“Don’t you have the ‘Magic Manipulation’ skill?” 

“Since my foundation instruments are not functioning correctly, I cannot perform the procedure at present, I report.” 

“All right. I have ‘Magic Manipulation,’ too. I’ll try it. What do I have to do?” 

“Place your hand close to my heart and allow magic to flow through it. I will alert you to any required adjustments as necessary, I declare.” 

Nana let her arms fall to her sides, offering up her exposed body. 

Nearby, Arisa let out a low growl. 

Sorry, but this is in the name of medical treatment. Yep, I have no choice. 

I reached for her chest triumphantly, but just before I could make contact, Mia stopped me with a word. 

“Back.” 

“That’s right! If it just needs to be near the heart, there’s no reason you can’t do it through her back instead! Great thinking, Mia!” 

“Mm, anytime.” 

Mia had poked her head in from the entrance of the room, and now she trotted inside and hopped onto my knee. 

“Mia’s proposal is accepted. There will be no effect on the efficiency of the adjustment if it is performed through the back, I guarantee.” 

Nana stood, turned away from me, and sat back down. 

Her white modern-style underwear was stunning, but I could feel Arisa and Mia glowering at me and started the process without staring. 

Nana gathered up her hair and moved it over her shoulder to the front of her body. The wispy hairs at the nape of her neck and the smooth line of her back were painfully attractive. Never underestimate the sexiness of shoulder blades. If I let my guard down for a second, I was afraid I would lose control. 

At this point, I was sorely tempted to run a finger along her spine, but I focused all my willpower on resisting that urge. 

I put both hands on her back and let magic flow from my left hand to my right. 

I faintly sensed my magic stream getting caught on something. Adjusting the strength of the flow slightly, I tried to clean its path. 

This “foundation instrument calibration” seemed to be going well… 

“Mnn… Ah… Master, a little more gently, please… Aaah…” 

…Uh, Nana? Could you stop with the sexy moaning, please? I’m afraid my lower body is going to react. 

“Mrrrr. Lewd.” 

“Grrrr… It’s definitely, absolutely my turn next time!” 

Mia’s sulking notwithstanding, I worried Arisa was about to burst into bitter tears, so when Liza came to wake me, I asked her to take them to breakfast. 

The adjustment was done in about ten minutes. Possibly overstimulated, Nana collapsed facedown onto the bed after we were finished and remained that way for a while. 

Her expression in profile seemed happy enough, so I let her be until it was time to leave. 

Our sixth afternoon since leaving Seiryuu City passed with a slight air of satisfaction. 

We left the Kuhanou County town of Noukee and set up camp around late afternoon in a meadow near a little brook. 

In order to ward off trouble, I’d chosen a shady place around the trees that would be difficult to spot from the main road. 

I’d chosen to camp here so that we could butcher the beasts we’d collected the day before. 

Even if they wouldn’t lose any freshness in Storage, they still had to be processed before we could use them for cooking. 

With the camp preparations finished, the beastfolk went about the main task of stripping the bodies. Lulu and Nana also helped with preparations for processing the meat afterward. 

Mia and Arisa disliked the smell of blood, so I sent them downstream to look for wild grass and herbs. 

Now, there was a lot to do this time. I should really help out, too. 

I summoned my resolve and joined Liza and the others as they took care of the wolves by the riverbank. 

“Is something the matter, Master?” 

Liza placed the wolf head she’d just removed onto a nearby stone and turned to me. 

—I made eye contact with the freshly severed head. 

My motivation was draining with tremendous speed. 

“Oh, no, I just happened to bring down a wild boar on my walk last night. Could you disassemble it, too?” 

My mouth moved on its own, quickly changing the subject. 

I used the Garage Bag to reach into Storage and take out the small boar. 

Liza admired it and said, “You never fail to impress, Master.” 

“Boar meeeat?” 

“It looks delicious, sir!” 

Pochi and Tama accepted my offering and placed it on a large stone under Liza’s instruction. 

“I’ll leave the rest to you.” 

“Yes, please look forward to tonight’s dinner.” 

Liza put a hand to her chest excitedly, so I told her I trusted she’d do a great job and ventured a little ways downstream. 

“Ah, Master! We’ve got a big catch!” 

“Satou.” 

Arisa showed me a basket full of fish. She’d used Psychic Magic on the river to catch them. 

The basket Mia held as she played the reed pipe contained a plethora of nuts, berries, and mushrooms. I’d have to analyze the mushrooms later. 

…That’s right, even if I can’t deal with beast corpses, I should be able to handle fish, at least. 

I returned to the campsite with the two to process the fish that Arisa had caught. Of course, I had Liza show us how to do it first. 

To begin, I grasped the slippery body of the fish and removed the scales. The way the scales stuck to my hands was kind of gross, but I managed it anyway and inexpertly chopped the head off with a kitchen knife. 

Next, I removed the pectoral fin and slit the belly open, removed the intestines, and tossed them away into the river just as Liza had. I did my best to throw out the memory of the slippery, squirmy guts along with them. 

I had to take a break after I dropped the slime into the clean water of the creek. 

After that, the rest was easy. My “Disassembly” and “Cooking” skills took over to fillet the fish into three pieces. 

We took care of the rest of the fish in the same way. 

As I cleared my head of thoughts and mechanically performed the motions, I gained the skill “Serenity.” If samurai existed in this world, I bet they’d be pissed at me for attaining that so easily. 

I also gained the rather strange title of Demolition Worker. I have to say, that sounds more like it has to do with knocking down buildings than cooking. 

“Excuse me, Master. I’m impressed with your remarkable finesse. But what are we going to do with all of these?” 

…Yeah, I didn’t think that far ahead. 

My silence spoke volumes to Arisa, who shook her head in a long-suffering manner. 

I racked my brain to come up with a use for the fish. 

“We could fry them… Oh, but we have no oil.” 

“Or breadcrumbs and eggs.” 

We didn’t have nearly enough oil to make any fried food. We had plenty of fatty meat, but it’d be a pain to make oil from it. I’d have to buy enough for frying when we reached the next town. 

Suddenly, I looked to Liza and the others as they dismantled the brown wolves. 

With all the meat and entrails they were producing, there was no way we’d use it all up for tonight’s dinner. If we cooked fifteen fish on top of that, nobody would be able to finish. 

“All right, let’s dry them, then.” 

“Yes, considering what’s happening over there, that’s probably for the best.” 

Looking at the mountain of meat piling up next to Liza and company, Arisa wearily trudged toward the river to join Mia in gathering shiny pebbles on the bank. 

Arisa was a former Japanese person and previously a princess, so I imagined she was as uncomfortable as I was about disassembling game. 

I watched her out of the corner of my eye, then laid out the filleted fish on a wooden tray and salted them generously. 

All that’s left after that is for the sun to dry out all the moisture, and they’ll be done… I think. 

“Master, if you are drying fish, it is necessary to immerse them in salt water first so that the salt will soak into the inside of the body.” 

I’d started to line up the salted fillets in the sun, but Liza stopped me. 

She explained that the proper procedure involved soaking the fish in a salty brine for thirty minutes or so, then rinsing them with water, and finally, drying them in a sunny place with good ventilation. 

I followed the steps according to Liza’s explanation. Thanks to the support of my “Cooking” skill, I had a general idea of how much salt was necessary. I could tell when it had been long enough without checking the clock, too, driving home the power of the skill system. 

I washed the fillets and laid them out side by side on a large plate. 

Now I just had to make sure bugs wouldn’t get them. 

I called out to Arisa down near the riverbank. 

“Arisa! Sorry, but could you help out with Insect Repellent?” 

“Okeydokey.” 

Arisa’s Insect Repellent spell was an original spell designed by yours truly. I’d come up with it after seeing her use the Psychic Magic spell Anxiety Field to drive away pests. 

This particular magic made insects wary. I’d made one for small animals, too, but Tama was so sensitive to nearby critters that she couldn’t calm down, so we’d discarded that one. 

The intent of the spell was to ensure that we could sleep comfortably at night during a campout. Just one use would last until the next morning. 

Now, time for the main event. 

Having cleared the fish-handling mission, I was a new man. 

All right, time to disassemble some wolves… 

“…Liza?” 

“Yes, what can I do for you?” 

I was a little nonplussed at Liza’s fixation on the collection of severed heads. “Oh, I was simply wondering if we would be able to cook these somehow, since there are so many…” 

We could probably use the tongue and brain tissue and whatever else, but I kept that to myself. I definitely wasn’t ready to watch someone take apart a severed head. 

“I can ask for you next time we visit a butcher shop in town.” 

“Yes, please do!” 

Liza’s expression was bright with anticipation, which was a little surreal given the wolf head in her hands. 

I carefully avoided meeting its eyes this time and assisted with the rest of the disassembly. 

These were slimy in a different way than the fish, but I didn’t want to look bad in front of everyone, so I kept my cool. The trick was to avoid eye contact with the corpse when I cut off its head. 

Along the way, I tried the Demolition Worker title that I’d gotten earlier, but it didn’t make a difference as far as I could tell. What exactly does it mean, then? 

With all the butchering we were doing, the smell was becoming awfully potent. 

I caught sight of Mia and Arisa, still searching for pretty stones on the riverbank, and called the elf over. I asked her to wash us clean with magic. 

But one round wasn’t enough to eliminate the obstinate smell completely. 

“Sorry, Mia, but can you drink an MP recovery potion and try again?” 

“Nuh-uh.” 

Mia refused, making an X over her mouth with her fingers. 

“Bitter.” 

Are MP recovery potions really that gross? 

“It’s true. No one wants to drink them except in an emergency. Why don’t you wash up normally with hot water? I’ll even wash your back for you, Master.” 

“Mrrrr. Lewd.” 

Thanks to Arisa’s careless remark, Mia downed a magic recovery potion in one gulp and used the spell on me again. Her face was screwed up in disgust, so I gave her some of the thorn licorice to cleanse her palate. 

Since I’d cleaned off first, I sat in the shade of the carriage building magic tools. 

I had been in charge of the kettle for a while, but though I had bathed with the beastfolk girls before in the castle guesthouse, I felt I should leave once Nana and Lulu started getting undressed. 

Clearly, women in this world didn’t have much shyness or modesty when it came to nudity. 

Memories of the pearl-white skin of the woman at the Gatefront Inn in Seiryuu City drifted to the forefront of my mind, and I shook my head rapidly to clear it of impure thoughts. The last thing I need is for my libido to act up here. 

Shutting down any carnal desires with sheer willpower, I decided to go back to work on Magic Items. 

This time I was gunning for a water heater. The circuit for converting magical power into heat, similar to a Tinder Rod, was relatively simple, so I thought I could tackle it. 

Last time, I’d drawn my circuit on a wooden board, but this time I was working with a heater. I figured it’d be better to use something nonflammable. 

I opened up Storage in search of a base with good heat resistance and thermal conductivity. 

I had a few candidates in mind and settled on some spare pots. One was a thick, probably fireproof iron saucepan, and the other was a copper pot of about the same size. 

I drew the heating circuit with circuit solution on the bottom of the pot. 

When I passed magic through it, the circuit glowed bright red with intense heat. In the end, the temperature was too high for the copper pot and melted a hole in the bottom. The iron one was fine, but the circuit itself melted a little. 

The temperature was too high to use with a kettle, so I adjusted the circuit to lower the temperature to around that of a bonfire. 

I poured some water into the pot and carefully charged it with a tiny trickle of magic. The circuit glowed red-hot, and tiny bubbles rose from the bottom of the pot. Before long, the bubbles frothed as the water began to boil. 

So in a single pot, one MP was enough to increase the temperature by thirty degrees. Considering that Fire Shot used only ten points per shot, this didn’t seem very efficient. 

According to the magic tool textbook, iron tended to diffuse magical power, so that was probably to blame. 

Still, I could boil water in less than a minute—that wasn’t half-bad. If I tried to heat it any faster with this simple circuit, it would probably melt. 

Because of where I’d placed the circle in the pot, it was totally uncovered, so this tool wouldn’t be good for cooking. You could easily scrape the circuit with a ladle while stirring and break it. Plus, food might get into the crevices of the circuit, making it hard to clean. 

For now, I’ll just use this as an electric kettle. 

Fresh and flushed from the bath, Lulu and Nana went about preparing dinner under Liza’s guidance. 

Once they’d set out the tableware, the younger kids had nothing else to do, so they were left to their own devices. Pochi and Tama joined Mia in collecting pebbles on the riverbank, and Arisa plopped onto a rug with a spell book. 

I looked at the meat that was piled up for dinner. 

The fully butchered brown wolves added up to nearly nine hundred pounds of meat alone. Aside from what we were eating tonight, we’d buried the rest of the innards. 

There was a small mountain of sliced hearts and livers on top of a platter. The dark-red color wasn’t exactly appetizing. 

In that case, I preferred the color of the rocket-wolf meat from the day before. 

Right, since I have the “Cooking” skill and everything now, maybe I should try it on that meat. 

“Liza, I want to try the rocket-wolf meat from yesterday. Could you teach me how to cook it?” 

“If you like, I would be happy to cook it for you.” 

Liza offered to take care of everything for me, but because I wanted to see the effects of my “Cooking” skill, I insisted that I wanted to do it on my own. 

First came the preparations. The rocket-wolf meat was red with very little fat, like foreign beef. I sliced off a small piece of the meat, notched the sinews with a kitchen knife under Liza’s direction, and seasoned it with salt and pepper. 

Next, I dropped some fat into a heated pan and coated it in the oil, then fried up some garlic slices and slid them onto small plates. I quickly grilled the meat, listening to the sizzling oil. A little worried about food poisoning, I cooked them well-done. 

What’s with this insanely delicious smell? 

I flipped the meat once it was nicely seared. Now I just had to wait until it was finished. It seemed to take a long time, maybe because it was monster meat, but going by the senses imparted on me by my “Cooking” skill, everything else about it worked just the same as normal meat. 

“Wh-what in the world is that appetizing smell?!” 

Setting aside her spell book, Arisa rushed over and peered at my frying pan. 

Pochi and Tama had abandoned their pebble collecting and appeared behind Arisa with drool on their lips. For some reason, even Mia and Nana, despite being on vegetarian and liquid diets respectively, showed some interest. 

“What do you mean? I’m just cooking the rocket-wolf meat from yesterday so I can taste it.” 

“My, my—is that all you’re making? That doesn’t look like nearly enough for everyone.” 

Well, yeah. This was just so I could taste it and make sure it didn’t do anything weird. Then I would let someone else try a bit and see if we were unaffected through the next day. 

Once I explained, a chorus of volunteers responded. 

“I’ll do it! I shall become the ultimate sacrifice!” 

“Tama toooo!” 

“I wanna be the sacrifice and eat meat, sir!” 

“No, this is too dangerous to leave to the children. Allow me to be the subject of the experiment instead.” 

“Master, I belong to you. Any duty that is yours is mine as well. Thus, I am the most appropriate subject for an experiment, I advise.” 

“Mrrrr. Meat?” 

So everyone wants to eat it? Aside from Mia, anyway, who’d only been charmed by the smell and lost interest once she learned it was meat. 

…Nana, you need to stick with your liquid diet for a little longer. 

“We’ll decide with rock-paper-scissors. Nana, you’re still not supposed to eat solid foods, so you can’t do it.” 

“Master! Please reconsider!” 

“Nope.” 

Nana did her best to convey shock and mortification with her expressionless face, but I dispassionately shot her down. 

I felt vaguely guilty, but I could hardly subject the person with the weakest stomach to this experiment. 

“Hooray! I win!” 

Lulu hopped up and down triumphantly, her fists in the air. I had never seen such straightforward joy from her before. 

Watching affectionately as Lulu realized what she was doing with instant embarrassment, I sliced the finished meat into two pieces. Then I tossed one into my mouth. 

…What the—? 

The meat was more delicious than any I’d ever tasted… No, I guess of all the meat I’d ever had, the fillet of Ohmi beef that the company president had once treated me to was probably a bit better. 

But still, why was this steak so delicious?! 

The simple seasoning of salt and pepper had drawn out the original flavor of the meat itself. 

Despite being so well-done, it seemed to melt in my mouth with a single bite. There wasn’t much in the way of juices, but the savory liquid flowed directly over my tongue. The melted fat from the pan only added to the flavor. 

I definitely hadn’t expected it to be this delicious. And the garlic that I’d added gave the taste even better depth. 

As the gamy taste, so different from beef, overwhelmed me with enjoyment, the small piece of meat disappeared down my throat. 

The scent of garlic in my nose and the aftertaste on my tongue made me long for a second bite. 

But, remembering my goal, I forced myself to stay strong. 

I checked my log to be sure, but I saw no strange status resistances or anything. As my “Analyze” skill had suggested, the meat didn’t seem to be dangerous. 

“It’s delicious. All right, Lulu, you eat it, too.” 

I picked up the other piece with chopsticks and held it out to Lulu. Holding her hair back with one hand, Lulu opened her little mouth wide and bit down on the piece of meat. I was surprised she hadn’t hesitated a little more, like her usual shy self. 

Delicious food really was bewitching. 

Lulu rapidly cycled through several expressions before settling on a blissful smile. 

“Ahh… Master, the person who marries you and gets to eat this sort of food every day will be very lucky…” 

Lulu let out a suggestive sigh and mumbled as if her appetite itself had possessed her. 

“That’s right! Lulu, I’m sure you can get Master to fall for your good looks! How about it, Master? If you marry Lulu, you’ll get a bonus Arisa for free! Just imagine, having two beautiful sisters to have a th—” 

Arisa’s sentence was heading down a dangerous road, so I interrupted it with a Forehead Flick Mk II. (The Mk II part doesn’t mean anything.) 

Usually, Lulu would respond to any kind of praise with a flood of negativity, but enraptured as she was with the steak, she paid no attention to Arisa at all. 

Checking my log, I saw that I had gained the new titles Meat Master Chef and Sorcerer of the Dining Table. 

When I closed the log, my eyes fell on the dish covered in oil from the meat, so I washed it in a nearby pail. Oil stains could be very stubborn, after all. 

“Aah!” 

“My hopes and dweams are gone, sir…” 

All I’d done was wash the steak dish, but it evoked a scream from Tama and a wail of despair from Pochi. 

…Did they want to lick the juices off the dish? 

Liza didn’t say anything, but she didn’t react as the pot boiled over, either. 

…All right, all right. I guess I have to make some for everyone. 

In the end, everyone but Mia ate some of the rocket-wolf steak. 

At first, I had planned to make Nana hold off, but when she called upon the mysterious legendary technique known as the “jiggle-jiggle,” I had no choice but to give in. 

Not wanting to accept the reality of the legend, Arisa and Mia protested in some way or other, but I was too deep in my own bliss to remember very clearly. 

Everyone was still hungry after the small steak pieces, but I didn’t want them to eat a lot and get a stomachache, so I offered them the cooked hearts and livers from the brown wolves instead. 

Compared to the rocket-wolf steak, the brown wolf meat was a bit of an acquired taste, but it was still delicious in its own way. 

I guess a maxed-out “Cooking” skill could probably make even low-quality ingredients taste good. 

I should note that I made a vegetable and mushroom stir-fry for Mia, since she was left out of the meat dishes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a very extensive cooking repertoire. 

“Ahh, to think we’ll be able to eat such delicious food every day from now on…” 

“Not really. I’m only going to do it when the mood strikes me.” 

I liked good food as much as anyone, but it was impossible to make something like that every day. I’d definitely get tired of it. Plus, I’d feel bad, since Liza had been teaching Lulu and Nana to cook. 

However, I did enjoy meals made with a maxed-out “Cooking” skill, myself, so I figured I’d take on cooking duty once in a while from now on. 

“Aww, reallyyy…?” 

“Mrrrr…” 

“Master, please reconsider!” 

Dominated by their appetites, Arisa, Mia, and Nana all protested. 

The beastfolk girls and Lulu seemed disappointed, too, but they refrained from joining in on the protest. 

Right…I guess they’re mindful of their status as slaves. 

As in the fable of the north wind and the sun, the modesty of the beastfolk girls affected me more than the complaints of the others, so I gave in and said I would lend a hand with lunch once a day. 

In the blink of an eye, the mountain of hearts and livers had totally disappeared. 

Guess I should make some stomach medicine next.