Chapter 8
Welcome to Greenhill.
There was one piece of good news, and one that was somewhat regrettable.
The good news was that the two gunshots I'd fired at the edge of the village after leaving the forest hadn't thrown the village into the kind of uproar I'd been dreading.
No residents came bursting out in their nightclothes, and none of the livestock—cattle, pigs, horses, chickens—panicked and started bleating and squawking over it.
The regrettable news, however, was that Greenhill wasn't exactly dead quiet either. Because of those two shots, every guard patrolling the village entrance had gathered at the gate, and lights were burning in the windows of several houses where people had apparently woken up.
The guards were in full plate armor, unlike their usual daytime kit. A few of them had even come out with loaded crossbows resting on their halberds—weapons they normally never bothered to bring out.
"Halt! Who goes there!"
Erina and I stopped the horses. Then I switched on my flashlight and swept it around in slow circles.
Honestly, they already knew who I was.
My store sells flashlights at two silver pieces apiece. Batteries run extra—ten copper for a pack of two. In this backwater village, that's a steep price, the equivalent of two or three nights' lodging at the inn. So the number of people in this village carrying one of these marvelous, convenient portable lights is small—and I'm one of them.
And they already knew I'd be coming back from Stonefield in the middle of the night because of the auction.
"That light... is that you, Mr. Merchant?"
"It is."
As our horses drew closer, one of the assembled guards stepped forward.
Nielson, captain of the guard. His face was one I knew well—I sometimes bought meals for the guards, and with a village this small and sparsely populated, everyone knew everyone.
"Good evening, Nielson. Working late, I see."
"Master Luciel. Did you happen to hear anything on your way in? Any strange sounds?"
"Sounds?"
"A tremendous boom echoed out of the forest, twice. Some say it was a wild beast, but to my ear it sounded more like a thunderclap. There are those who claim the forest lit up for an instant, too. It came from the very direction you've just arrived from."
A moment of choice.
Should I admit I was the source of the sound and explain that I'd used a strange new weapon called a gun against a bandit ambush? Or would it be better to play dumb, as if nothing had happened?
The answer had been settled from the start. Playing dumb is several times more profitable.
Frankly, if I were going to come clean, the archer would have buried that man in the forest back then instead of leaving him there.
But a flat denial would only breed suspicion. Looking around now, I could see lights on in window after window—everyone had been woken, even if they hadn't come out. The noise had been that loud. If I claimed I'd heard nothing after coming from the forest, it would seem strange. I'd have to spin this carefully.
What story could their heads actually accept?
"Really? Ah—yes, yes, now that you mention it, I did! Something like an explosion—"
"You did? Did you see anything?!"
"It was lightning. Actual lightning."
"Actual... lightning?!"
"Storm clouds had piled up over the forest. It's been raining on and off, so lightning struck a few times, though it seems to have cleared up by now."
"Is that so... Well, the weather has been awfully fickle lately."
In that instant, I felt Erina's questioning gaze on my back. She'd caught on immediately—that I was hiding the fact that I owned some kind of tool that worked magic.
Erina, surely you're not about to say something strange here?
Luciel, this town's general merchant who sells 'marvelous and convenient things,' is welcomed by young and old alike. But a general merchant in possession of 'an unknown weapon capable of killing a man in a single shot'? Even I couldn't just let that stand.
Who would dare shop at the store of a man carrying something that could end you with one pull? Word would spread, sales would suffer. In the worst case, I could be run out of town. No—more like lucky to avoid a cell in the jail.
And besides, that wouldn't exactly qualify as 'general goods' anyway.
"By the way... you said you were caught in the rain, yet neither your clothes nor your horses are wet at all."
!
"Naturally we sheltered in the forest until the rain passed, changed clothes, and dried the horses. Can't have ourselves catching cold, after all."
"So that's why you're so late. Hard road, indeed."
The guard captain seemed inclined to let it go. Less out of genuine conviction than a desire to square the situation away somehow, stand down the alert, and get his men out of their armor and into their beds. You could see the exhaustion etched on the soldiers' faces. Some of them weren't even on duty tonight—they must have been jolted out of sleep and come running without a clue what was happening.
"...And you have a guest with you tonight."
"Ah."
Once the lightning talk died down, every eye naturally settled on Erina. Strangers almost never came to a place this unremarkable—and certainly not at this hour of the night.
"A traveler. I met her in Stonefield. The hour grew late, so I'm helping her find lodging here."
"Is that so? How far are you traveling?"
Seriously, what is this, airport immigration? Why is everyone so full of questions tonight?
Erina had pulled her hood up to hide the pointed ears poking through her hair, concealing her elven blood—but her beauty was harder to hide. Any man living in a backwater like this, where the only women were dung-smeared, cow-dung-stinking creatures with sagging chests from nursing too many children, couldn't help but stare at a woman like her.
"It's gotten very late, and we're both tired, so if you'll excuse—"
"It's her first time here. If she doesn't mind, might we escort her to our village inn?"
"She'll be staying at my store—we have a spare room."
"A treasured guest who's finally come to Greenhill deserves better than that! If I put in a good word with our innkeeper, she could stay the night at half price."
What a pointless gesture. One look at Nielson's eyes told me he'd already tumbled head over heels for Erina's beauty. And not just him—the guards behind him had, at some point, stopped being able to take their eyes off her face.
"Excuse me, Captain Nielson."
I reached into my coat and pulled out one more milk chocolate bar—the same square, flat bar I'd given the auctioneer. The bandits' rough handling had shattered it into pieces inside the wrapper, but there was nothing wrong with eating it. This was the last one I had. The bar-style chocolate was out of stock at the store. I'd need to order more.
"You're working the night shift—here, have this."
"Whoa! This—?!"
Nielson's pupils dilated instantly, and the soldiers' faces lit up. Apparently none of them had ever bothered to memorize its name, but they crowded around their captain, oohing and ahhing—ah, this one, this is delicious, so sweet, remember?
I'd handed out chocolate to the guards once before. Small, individually wrapped cheap ones printed with English letters—not bars like this. Two pieces per man, and that was it. Honestly, I could have given more, but I worried it would send these boys around the bend.
Ever since then, they'd all started using honorifics with me.
Soldiers, across every era, every world, every dimension, are weak to sweets.
"Such a treasure! Thank you, as always!"
"No, the thanks are mine."
"Bandit gangs have been growing bolder around here lately! We're keeping the watch rigorous, day and night, so you can rest easy and focus on your business here in Greenhill!"
"I'm grateful, as ever. Now, I'm exhausted—would it be all right if we went in?"
"Ah—yes, yes, of course! Take care, Master Luciel! And you as well, traveler—may your journey be a pleasant one!"
In that moment, faced with an overwhelming mass of sugar, the guards seem to have forgotten Erina's beauty entirely; they swarmed around their captain like pigeons after crumbs. In the gap they left, Erina and I turned our horses toward my store.
"Whoa, this one's huge. Didn't know they came this big."
"Captain, you'll share a piece with each of us, won't you?"
"There's plenty for everyone. Just divide it properly."
"Ah! You made me lose focus and dropped crumbs all over the ground!"
"Sorry. I didn't see it had broken inside."
"Pick it up! Quick!"
"Dropped food's mine to eat, then."
"No, don't eat it—pick it up! Unbelievable."
Leaving the young men fussing over a chunk of chocolate behind us, we rode on in silence for a while, and at the far end of the street lined with merchant shops, my store finally emerged from the darkness—a two-story building of timber and stone with a green roof.
When a house this utterly ordinary appeared, Erina tilted her head in confusion.
"You really run a general store out of this place?"
"What, were you expecting a magic shop?"
Erina's face flashed with surprise. Judging by her expression, she'd just convinced herself I really could read minds.
"You're hiding the fact that you're a mage... because of how people would look at you. The prejudice."
"......"
"People fear magic, you see... In the country I came from, every mage and witch was rounded up and burned at the stake."
She meant the Republic of Abella—the defeated nation.
Erina was right: in this other world, there are two ways people accept magic. Either they revere it, treat mages as scholars or honored guests, and actively exploit the convenience and fearsome power it offers—or they fear the unknown force, treat mages like monsters, and do literal 'witch-hunting.'
And the Kingdom of Helion... for now, still leaned toward the former. Mages had been instrumental in winning the war.
Of course, once the war ended completely and a long peace set in, rendering them useless—well, it wouldn't be impossible for mages here to be cast aside like used tools as well.
"Come in."
"Welcome back, sir. You're later than usual."
The moment I stepped inside, warmth wrapped around my body. I'd instructed my one and only employee to spare no electricity when it came to heating the store.
If it's cold, crank the electric heater. Simple as that.
"Th-that... that's—!"
Erina, following me inside, froze mid-step the moment she laid eyes on the goat.
This reaction, at least, I had expected.
Greengote was a goblin—impossible to miss at a glance, with his vivid emerald-green skin, ears each over a handspan long, and a small, slight frame barely topping one meter. And on top of that, this goblin was dressed in a tailored black butler's suit with a bowtie, and spoke with pronunciation more precise and cultivated than a human's. That would startle anyone seeing him for the first time.
"Ah, we have a guest this evening."
Greengote looked up at Erina, adjusted the spectacles perched on the end of his long hooked nose, and spoke. He was utterly unruffled, as though this were the most natural reaction in the world, going about everything with his usual composure.
"Well... yes. Let's call her a guest, for now."
While keeping a careful watch on Erina—lest she bolt or attack Greengote—I had to explain, slowly and several times over, that he could speak the human tongue, that he possessed an intellect equal to any person's, and that he worked as my servant in this store.
Fortunately, Erina had been through so much in a single day that it didn't take her long to calm down. She'd narrowly escaped being sold to humans at a slave auction to live out her days as a pleasure slave, and escaped being taken by bandits to live out her days selling her body as a whore. She'd apparently decided herself that one goblin who spoke and acted like a person hardly warranted a fuss after all that.
"I can roughly guess what happened, but I won't pry. Shall I prepare meals for you both?"
"I'll fend for myself. Just set something for Erina. And if there's any decent women's clothing among the stock, give her one."
"For Miss Erina. Women's clothing. Understood."
"Erina, eat well and sleep well. I'm too worn out tonight to—"
"What? You're going to sleep? Just like this? Then I...?"
"Mm. The important things can wait until morning. I'm heading to my room to rest."
"W-wait, just a moment, master—no, Mr. Luciel?!"
So tired.
The moment I set foot back in my own home, the tension drained out of me and a crushing wave of drowsiness rolled in. I climbed straight up to the second floor where my room was.
It had been a long day. My plan: wash up quickly, heat up something simple, and go straight to bed.
Or maybe I wouldn't even eat—maybe I'd just collapse where I stood.
Erina, well...
No idea. I'd left her to Greengote. He'd sort something out.