Chapter 5: Guild

Translator: Haruchin

I bought a map and pored over it while deciding where to go.

There’s the royal capital, the largest place here. Next would be the harbor city and the city with mines. There’s also the borderland city, which they said was great if you wanted to make money or become stronger since it’s beside the forests where monsters live.

Maybe I could try that borderland city of Canum; they did say it’s good. I got my ID with me, but apparently, registering to the Adventurer’s Guild would save a lot of trouble when entering and exiting the towns temporarily. Ah, but long-term stay isn’t possible if there’s no ongoing guild summons, though.

There’s no end to summons in places where monsters keep on popping up, so a lot of adventurers flock to Canum, naturally.

Alright, Canum then. I【 Teleport 】 to the nearby forest, then I entered the city gates after presenting my ID and paying the corresponding fee. Riche was at home house-sitting.

I didn’t expect it to be quite small for a city. Well, it’s still acknowledged as one, just look at those city walls and gates. Only proper cities can have those.

Other cities required simple documents, but that’s not the case here. Inspection was lax — maybe they wanted to bring in as many adventurers and merchants as possible. They don’t really care whether the people were bad guys or not. As long as they could defeat the monsters, anything goes.

I strolled around the city while shopping, trying to compare what I saw with what I already know. It’s relatively the same, just that the actual feeling wasn’t quite there.

Take these clothes for example. They do look mainstream, but too eye-catching since everything’s brand new. Well, my features are probably a headturner, too. I immediately went to a second-hand shop. I found a clean-looking robe perfect for hiding my face, so bought it right away. I also asked where I can find bags that can be used for wheat flour while at it. They should be brand new since it’s for food.

I aimlessly wandered around after that, and bought some tableware and farming tools on the way. There’s a grapevine climbing the wall at the shop and it had such pretty leaves growing on it, so I gave a tip and asked for a branch. My garden had been left as is so I could plant anything I want later on.

Canum is a diverse city. There are adventurers and the merchants are selling stuff to them. There are peddlers too — they bought merchandise to sell to other cities. Plenty of farmers came too, attracted by the prospect of owning land. The threat of the monsters is too huge in this place, so the land you cultivate will be all yours.

The houses within the city walls were narrow while the buildings rose like skyscrapers. It’s so …jumbled ー at least, that’s how it looked to me. Compared to that, the scene of sprawling wheat fields outside the city walls was refreshing. Well, there’s also that possibility of that being ruined all at once if a monster suddenly came out of the forest at the opposite side, though.

Alright, let’s leave shopping for sheets and linen later on. I’ll do that at the royal capital, since I don’t like the ones sold here. They’re too stiff, though that’s the norm here, I guess. Next stop will be an ordinary sword and armour, huh?

The things I saw while walking around were similar to what I’ve heard. Stuff was expensive, labor was cheap, or should I say humans themselves didn’t have much value.

Human trafficking was also done depending on the place, and the scary thing about it was that slaves were also sold in exchange for food. Harvest was unstable since it depended on whether the crops were damaged by the weather or by monsters.

Thank goodness my house’s somewhere peaceful. No need to worry about harvesting crops. What a blessing ー ah, no, I chose it that way, so it’s only natural, huh. Human trafficking was also forbidden in this country.

Monsters were animals that were possessed by evil spirits. Divine beasts, on the other hand, were possessed by normal spirits. Those who gained the ability to speak the human language were known as deities or evil gods.

Well, in short, that ‘goodness’ and ‘evil’ depended on whether it was convenient for humans, or not.

Alright, where’s the store that handles weapons? I tried asking the aunty who gave me the branch. Dunno if the tip did it’s charm, or maybe it’s because of this face, but she suddenly grabbed some guys nearby and started asking them. After that, she pointed me to three popular shops – a weapon store, a leather armory and a metal armory.

She also taught me where the blacksmith was, but I had to pass on that. I already had a sword, so I couldn’t care less for another one if it’ll just be the same length and weight.

I went to the weapon store and chose a sword that’s easy to wield single handedly or with both hands. It’s thick and the blade was sharp, the kind they frequently use in fantasy movies, although this one’s longer, I think. Tried brandishing a few pieces using one hand, then with both, before deciding on this one immediately after.

Balance’s great, and it’s easy to swing around. Well, that’s reason enough, though it’s actually useless for me to worry about these things since I had never even touched a sword aside from『Zanzenken 』, right?

There were huge swords that could be used to deal a blow using their weight, too. There was a blade hanging behind the counter, and it’s made from some kind of metal that I’ve never seen before. Tried peeking with 『 Appraisal 』 while listening to the explanation of the storekeeper. Didn’t think it was suitable for me, though.

I got the sword, some maintenance tools and a sword belt, plus two knives.

Next stop, leather armory. Aunty said metal armors could get deadly hot. I imagined it to be something like frying an egg sunny-side up on top of a car hood……Leather’s the only option, then.

I planned to buy a breastplate at first, but it’s difficult to move around wearing that, so I bought leather clothes with high defense power instead, though it was a bit more pricey.
They’re made from the hide of a goat monster, I was told.

They had all sorts of leather goods, so I also purchased boots, gloves, a bag-like sack, and a belt bag; also got a belt that could hold a knife, plus leather maintenance tools.

The leather sack was cylindrical and its top was tied with a belt, so it’s quite spacious when opened. I could put the rabbits or wild boars inside it when I go hunting. The inner part was slippery so the animal blood could be washed off cleanly. I got【 Storage 】 but it’s not a common ability, so best not to use it to avoid suspicion.

I bought some potions, bleach, sake for disinfection, and my provision’s complete.

『 Potions 』 were available too, the kind often seen in games used for healing wounds, but the price was outrageously steep – maybe because few people could make it, or the ingredients could cost an arm and leg.

Anyway, let’s settle with【 Appraisal 】for now. Could make something like that with 【 Appraisal 】 later on when I encountered those ingredients.

I could go to the guild just like this, but let’s do it tomorrow. I already bought an apron, and it’s wheat grinding day.

I wanted to taste the food in this world, but not willing to risk upsetting my stomach, so I would do some research first. It’d be nice to walk around eating street food, so I checked the street stalls in Canum with 【 Appraisal 】 ー high probability of getting Clostridium botulinum from this sausage, huh… There’s 【 Heal 】 but I’d rather not do it.
They might get suspicious if I kept on going in and out of the town, so I got a room in an inn, instead, then【 Teleport 】from there.

I planted the grapevine near the brace that was supporting the shelf outside the living room. When I pinched some of the【 Growth Powder 】 and sprinkled it, roots appeared in a blink of an eye, the vines stretched on, sprouting some leaves. It was not yet the season for it, but I managed to create a beautiful grapevine trellis.

Had my lunch first, then it’s wheat-grinding time, just as planned. I threshed the wheat, then put it inside the funnel-like thing on top of the millstone, which then slowly pulverized it into powder.

There was a spare that had a different number of grooves, but I used the one already installed for the meantime. It seemed that you could change it to grind based on your preference ー be it fine or coarse.

The powder fell through the funnel into the bags I placed underground. Since it didn’t seem like it would overflow soon, I decided to leave the grinding to the water wheel and take a stroll in the woods.

Plenty of rubber trees and evergreen oaks grew in the mountain forest, but some wild Japanese chestnuts, apples, pears and even apricots were also scattered here and there.

I tried【 Appraisal 】 again ー acorns can be eaten by pigs, mushrooms are likely to grow under this tree, surrounding branches must be removed to let the sunlight inー food related stuff like that really came out very detailed.

The wet forest floor was a carpet of brown, blanketed with dead leaves and the burrs of last year’s chestnuts. Crimson plums clustered together. There were also peaches, but they’re flatter compared to the peaches in Japan.
I tasted a plum ー it was sour, probably suitable for jam. The peaches were sweet and really tasty, so I also got the good ones and put them in the【 Storage 】.

The peripheral area around the house was gently sloping, but it was still quite the incline, so the top and bottom had different air temperatures. It’s still warmer than the island, though.

I was finally done grinding the wheat, and harvested quite a lot of varieties, too.

For dinner, I sprinkled plenty of Gorgonzola cheese on handmade pappardelle. The cheese stuck pretty well to the broad pasta. It would harden once cooled, so I hurriedly gobbled it up. Nostalgia hit me while eating those flat peaches at noon, and it made me crave for the ones from Japan, so I had more peaches for dessert.

Maybe I could sample some wine? Not yet 20, though. I wonder what age is considered legal to drink here.
I had a bit of regret for not being able to go to Uni, but because my life became unexpectedly secure, and all my necessities were provided, I was truly happy. I should enjoy this solo free life to the fullest for now. Do whatever I want to do, ignore things I don’t want to do.

Nobody could possibly hurt me here, but just in case, I still closed the iron grills that had been installed for the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I took a bath, then went to bed. The pillows and blankets were better than those in the inn. Riche looked up at me.

「 Do you feel a bit better now? That’s good. 」

He almost never moved from his basket, and his eyes still remained closed, but the tear stains around his eyes were gone.

I gently stroked him on the head as I sank into sleep.