Becoming an Adventurer

In the world I used to live in, there was a luxury ingredient known as the truffle. It was so rare and expensive that people called it the diamond of the earth.

Because truffles grow underground, they're nearly impossible to locate with the naked eye, so a special method was used to harvest them: well-trained dogs and pigs, known as truffle dogs — or truffle hogs.

From Philstone, owner of the Koubel Refinery, I had confirmed the market prices of nearly every potion ingredient that grew in the soil around here. I went through the medicinal herbs in his boxes one by one, picked out a few with particularly high prices, and had Meruru memorize them.

"Meruru, what are we looking for?"

"Freya's Blessing, Asla Root, and Troll Mucus Mushroom, so it is!"

Out in a forest near Kubel, I had Meruru review the herbs we'd confirmed at the refinery.

"Asla Root?"

"Meat skewers!"

"Troll Mucus Mushroom?"

"Deluxe Steak Set!"

"And lastly, Freya's Blessing?"

"A daily meat party, so it is!"

"That's my girl!"

I patted the head of Meruru, who had answered so splendidly. Her memory wasn't particularly good, so to burn the herbs we needed into her mind, I converted their value into food she could remember. It had the added benefit of firing up a glutton like Meruru for the gathering work.

Our targets were three herbs Philstone had shown us at the Koubel Refinery — the ones with exceptionally high prices. Asla Root went for five silver apiece. Troll Mucus Mushroom fetched thirty to seventy silver depending on quality. And lastly, the herb named after a goddess — Freya's Blessing — commanded a staggering ten to fifteen gold each.

Of course, Freya's Blessing was as rare as it was expensive, so the odds of actually finding one were practically nil. Still, since we were putting Meruru's special talent to work anyway, I figured we might as well aim for a jackpot. Even if we never found Freya's Blessing, locating the other two would still make for a decent living.

"Go get 'em, Meruru!"

I pointed at the forest and shouted. In that moment, I became Meruru's trainer.

Alright. Let's see how much you can find. Meruru, I'm counting on you!

I'd heard it from elderly folks who enjoyed hiking. Once the mountains and forests start to darken, you need to get out immediately. Inside a forest, darkness falls in an instant, so lingering around at a leisurely pace was dangerous.

Today was just about seeing what Meruru was capable of, so we pulled out a little early. If we went too far and the sun went down, the chances of running into monsters would go up.

Back at the gates of Kubel, I checked what Meruru had brought in. Eight Asla Roots. No Troll Mucus Mushrooms, and no Freya's Blessing. At the unit price Philstone had given us — five silver each — that came to forty silver earned.

For a first showing, it honestly wasn't bad. Meruru still wasn't fully used to the work, either. Even after thirty silver for an inn room, we'd have ten silver left — enough for two meat skewers. It was far more stable than wandering around looking for work we might or might not even find.

The quantity wasn't much, but on the way back we stopped by the Koubel Refinery and sold the day's Asla Roots on the spot. Philstone carefully inspected the roots we'd brought, brushed off the dirt, gave them a sniff, and handed over the money without a word. The moment those forty silver coins actually landed in my hands, it finally sank in: this was real money.

Maybe we could actually pull this off. The dream of becoming an adventurer, which had felt so distant, suddenly seemed close enough to touch.

"Meruru is hungry, so it is."

The moment we stepped out of the refinery, Meruru told me this with a slightly weary look.

Of course! I'll buy you all the delicious food you want! We'll eat our fill, then go dig up even more — even more expensive herbs!

"You worked hard today, so let's eat whatever you want!"

"Really, so it is?! Meruru can eat whatever she really wants, so it is?!"

"As long as it's under twenty silver."

"Even if you say that, Meruru doesn't know what to order, so it is."

Meruru looked up at me, her pickled-radish eyebrows twitching. The way she looked just then, she seemed like a walking lucky charm, and I found her unbearably cute.

"Go get 'em, Meruru!"

"Meruru is going, so it is!"

The forest near Kubel. Today, too, I brought Meruru here, pointing here and there with my finger as I sent her off to search for herbs.

It had been a week since we'd made selling herbs our livelihood, and Meruru was now fully accustomed to the work. The number of herbs she brought back had climbed considerably. Most of what we gathered was still the cheapest stuff — five-silver Asla Roots — but even so, the income was substantial. A few days ago we'd gotten lucky and dug up a Troll Mucus Mushroom, and the money was steadily piling up.

While Meruru diligently searched the forest for herbs, Narration poured criticism into my mind.

"Fair enough. We can't rely on this income forever."

I didn't take Narration's criticism at face value. I treated it as a warning. In truth, it was fair to say that more than ninety percent of our earning power belonged to Meruru. Still, as long as I didn't forget my original goal — earning the money to become an adventurer — I figured there wasn't a problem.

Besides, it wasn't as if I was contributing nothing. Meruru was somewhat lacking when it came to social communication. Selling the herbs, renting inn rooms, ordering meals — I handled all of that. Compared to what she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did for me, they were utterly ordinary, trivial tasks. But she was relying on me, all the same. I didn't know how things would turn out down the line, but for now, Meruru and I were in a mutually cooperative, mutually satisfying relationship.

"Yunoa! Deluxe Steak Set! Meruru found it, so it is!"

Meruru waved at me with a bright, sunny smile. Deluxe Steak Set — that meant Troll Mucus Mushroom. A precious herb that could fetch as much as seventy silver at top quality. Because I'd taught her the herbs by comparing them to food, Meruru called every last one of them by its food name.

"Oh, it really is. And it looks like it's in great condition."

"No matter how tightly they hide, if Meruru catches them, she finds them all, so it is!"

"Good job. Good job."

I patted the head of Meruru, who stood with her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. In the past week, the money we'd gathered this way already amounted to eight gold. I never imagined we'd get this close, this fast, to the ten gold I'd set as my target for becoming an adventurer. We'd been renting a proper inn room every night, sleeping well, eating our fill without going hungry — and we'd still saved this much.

Back in the old days, I never understood the old folks who went up into the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs and wild ginseng. This stuff is surprisingly addictive.

"Mmm..."

"Hm? Meruru, what's wrong?"

Meruru wasn't looking for the next herb. She just stood there, her pickled-radish eyebrows furrowed, so I asked.

"There's nothing left around here anymore, so it is."

"Already cleaned this place out, huh."

That was the thing. There was one problem with this herb-gathering work. Once you dug up an herb, you couldn't harvest from the same spot again. If this were a game, the spots would respawn after you'd slept a night or so. If only. The herbs near Kubel had already been picked clean by our wandering, and the supply had run dry. Switching targets to other herbs wasn't an option — the prices were too low to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make a living.

"Hrm."

I thought it over. Quitting the herb business now would leave us frustratingly short. Until now, we'd kept our work as close to Kubel as possible, afraid of running into monsters if we went too deep into the forest. But by restricting our radius like that, the gathering resources had dried up faster than I'd expected. It might be a little dangerous, but there was only one choice left.

"Meruru, want to try going a little farther in? There should still be plenty left to harvest that way."

Just a little. If we went just a little deeper into the forest, there would still be herbs we hadn't gathered yet. If things felt even a little dangerous, we could always run. With that in mind, I took Meruru and headed deeper into the forest.

"Waaaaaah! There's so many, so it is! There's a ton of them, so it iiiis!"

Meruru, bursting with enthusiasm, crashed through the undergrowth in every direction, shouting. Wherever her hands touched, Asla Roots came up two at a time. Troll Mucus Mushrooms, which we'd been lucky to find even one of in a day, we'd already dug up two of. We'd only gone a little deeper into the forest, and already there was this much to gather. At this rate, today's haul alone would be more than enough to buy adventurer gear.

"Shh — Meruru, don't shout so loud. We don't know what might come out."

I gave a light warning to the overexcited Meruru. This was the first time we'd come this deep into the forest, so I kept ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my guard up, watching for anything dangerous. If a monster showed up, I planned to run without even looking back.

"Yunoa! Yunoa!"

Then Meruru called me in a voice even more excited than before.

"Meruru, I told you to keep it down a little."

"A daily meat party, so it is!"

What are you talking about all of a sudden — are you hungry?

The thought crossed my mind for a second. Then I realized what Meruru meant, and my eyes flew wide open.

A daily meat party. In other words: Freya's Blessing. The herb we'd never found even one of — the one with that insane price of ten to fifteen gold apiece.

"What?! Really? It's here?"

"It's here, so it is! Meruru can feel a daily meat party, so it iiiis!"

Meruru went scampering off and plunged into a thick patch of undergrowth.

"Hey! Wait! Slow down!"

I chased after the overexcited Meruru a beat too late. And a moment later, I was met with a strange sight.

"Mmph—!"

Meruru had buried her face in an enormous blue blob of jelly.