Sloth (1)
Two hundred and sixty thousand marcas. Another massive sum had just landed in my lap. It felt like my sense of money was going numb. How could this much cash come so easily? If I pulled this off four or five more times, I could probably live the rest of my life without lifting a finger. But unfortunately, that wasn't an option. Not with my pathetic 13th-grade magic talent. Somehow, I had to increase my mana capacity. There had to be a way. So I would try. And that would cost a fortune.
For now, though, I had no clear method. So I'd invest in mana regen first. Even if it was just support magic, I needed to be able to cast it multiple times. That would widen my options, wouldn't it?
Still, I was torn. Should I hunt one or two more Grade 6 magic beasts to earn some extra money first? Or should I raise my regen right away? Going back to the capital was too far. Besides, the Imperial Magicians were there. I didn't want to run into them again. So I'd have to head somewhere else.
That left Luise. The City of Magicians. Located about two days from the capital, Luise was home to the Magic Academy. Thanks to that, it had just as many magic supply shops as the capital, along with everything else related to magic. It was closer than the capital, and I wouldn't know anyone there.
The only problem was that it still wasn't exactly close. After thinking it over for a bit, I decided to hunt once or twice more before heading out. I could still hunt right now anyway. If I used Haste, I wouldn't even need to camp overnight.
"Ar."
When I returned to our lodging and called her name, Ar, who had been lying down lazily, scrambled upright in a hurry.
"You can stay lying down. You don't have to get up."
She glanced at me, then slowly flopped back down. What was she doing? Did she really want to lie down that badly? Was this sloth?
"You're not feeling sick or anything, right? No pain? Nothing making it hard to move?"
Ar nodded. Well, of course. She hadn't been injured.
"Then tomorrow we'll head into the mountains again using Haste and take down another Grade 6. We'll come straight back after. Let's get two more."
She nodded again. Ar didn't seem to care either way. Anyone else seeing this would probably be speechless. Here I was, talking about hunting those notoriously difficult Grade 6 magic beasts as casually as if I were saying I'd go catch some fish from the stream.
Suddenly, I thought of Ines Arkelyn. The Knight of the Blue Sky. That noblewoman who had made me such an attractive offer. Looking back now, refusing her had been the right call. At the time, five hundred marcas a day had seemed incredibly tempting. And she'd even promised a hundred thousand per magic beast.
But now? It didn't seem like much at all. I could finally understand why she'd made the offer. If even I thought this kind of money was nothing special, a noble like her must have seen it as even less.
Anyway, I spent the rest of that day resting comfortably. If we were heading out at dawn, I needed to sleep now. I went to bed early.
Ar didn't seem particularly bothered anymore about sharing a room with me. There was probably still some discomfort, but it looked like something she could tolerate. She'd even gotten used to the bathroom situation.
I'd fallen asleep quickly, but in the middle of the night I heard a splashing sound. I tried to ignore it, but it kept bothering me. So I dragged my sleepy body up and headed toward the bathroom.
"What are you doing?"
Ar jumped in surprise and quickly hid whatever she was holding behind her back. Ah. What was it? Was it underwear or something? That would be pretty awkward. But when I glanced over, it wasn't. She was fully dressed, and what she held was my handkerchief. The one I'd given her to wipe off magic beast blood. I'd forgotten about it after handing it over.
"What? You're washing the handkerchief? At this hour?"
She avoided my eyes. I didn't get it. Why was she acting like this?
"That won't come clean with just water. Magic beast blood is pretty nasty stuff. Hmm. Ugh, I'm so sleepy. Look here. See this? If you open it, there's powder inside. Rub it in while you wash. It'll get most of it out. It won't be perfectly clean, though. Try it, and if it doesn't work, just leave it. I'll give you a new one."
Only then did Ar stare at me directly. But her expression was a little stiff. Almost like she was displeased. Why? I had no idea.
"Hmm. I'm going back to sleep. You should sleep soon too. Tomorrow... actually, it'll be pretty soon. We have to head out early."
With that, I returned to bed. A little while later, the splashing sound started again. Had she really taken a liking to that handkerchief? Sigh. Whatever. I needed to sleep.
And so another day began. Just like yesterday. I carried Ar while casting Haste and ran hard toward the mountains. I set her down a little farther than yesterday, then headed deeper into the forest. Several Grade 5 beasts died at the hands of Ar, who was strengthened by Strength, and their horns went into my bag.
As I went farther in, I took a slightly different path from yesterday. Since the Vaily had died yesterday, its territory probably hadn't been claimed by another beast yet. So I veered off a bit and soon found another one.
A Grade 6 magic beast, Zaken. It looked similar to a fox, but it had six legs and was about the size of an adult man. For some reason, Ar became unusually fierce the moment she saw it. Maybe because it resembled a fox. It was interesting to see her show such clear disgust.
Ar looked at me. I nodded. She immediately shot forward, and I cast Berserker on her.
The berserk Ar rampaged far more violently than when she'd fought the Roller or the Vaily. Thanks to that, the hunt ended in an instant. Her claws pierced straight through the Zaken's throat. The beast couldn't even close its eyes properly before it died.
Even after I released Berserker, Ar still seemed worked up. She glared at the corpse, breathing hard, then pulled out the handkerchief from her pocket and wiped off the blood. But the handkerchief was pure white. What?
Had she really stayed up until dawn washing it? Amazing. It couldn't have been easy to get it that clean. Next time I had laundry to do, I'd have to ask Ar for her secret. How had she made it so white?
I stored the Zaken's corpse and adjusted my bag properly. When I spread my arms toward Ar, she let out a small sigh before obediently stepping into my embrace. She seemed to be getting used to this too. Well, the first time is always the hardest. That's how it usually goes. The second time is easier. The second leads to the third, and before long it becomes familiar.
We returned to the village and went to the Nertin Trading Company to sell the Zaken's corpse. One hundred and ninety thousand marcas. According to the appraiser, they'd paid top price because the pelt was in perfect condition. Making money really was easy. At this rate, even if the company tried to scam me, I could probably just laugh it off.
Thanks to that, dinner was luxurious. Ar seemed momentarily stunned by dishes she'd never seen before, but she soon dug in with gusto. Good. She wasn't picky at all. For her small frame, Ar ate an incredible amount. Must be because she was a beastperson.
Now that I was carrying around four hundred and fifty thousand marcas, sleeping at night suddenly felt a little scary. It probably wouldn't happen, but large sums of money tended to attract unwelcome visitors. And I was an especially easy target.
"Ar. There might be people targeting us. We don't need to stand night watch, but we shouldn't let our guard down completely."
That might have been a mistake. When I woke at dawn, Ar's already red eyes were even redder from lack of sleep.
"Ugh."
I wanted to say something, but it felt wrong to scold her when she looked like that. She'd probably stayed up out of worry. I'd better speak kindly.
So today, we took a break from hunting. Missing one day wouldn't mean someone would steal our spot. Instead, we changed lodgings. We moved to the best inn in Hapim. A place where unpleasant incidents were unlikely to occur.
"I should've done this from the start. Let's sleep here from now on."
We spent the entire day resting. We ate delicious food and lounged around all day. Ar, exhausted from staying up all night, slept the whole time. Even when I rustled around beside her, her ears didn't even twitch.
So I moved a little closer and looked at her. If you ignored the ears and tail, she looked exactly like a human girl. There were many different kinds of beastpeople, but Ar didn't seem all that different from humans. Still, her hands changed during battle. Did other parts change too? Would her face change as well?
As I was staring, Ar's ears suddenly perked up and her eyes opened.
"Hngyaa!?"
She let out a strange sound and leaped up, nearly as high as my height.
"You scared me!"
I said that in surprise too, but Ar seemed even more startled. She pressed a hand to her chest as if trying to calm her pounding heart. Then she narrowed her eyes at me. It was the face of someone demanding to know what I had been trying to do.
"I was just looking. That's all."
But Ar's expression didn't soften. She continued to stare at me suspiciously. That made me feel a little wronged. Why was I getting treated like this?
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? It's not wrong for me to look at you, is it?"
Her gaze remained unchanged. So I decided on some petty revenge. I went to my bed, lay down, and said while looking at her,
"Ar. Come over here."
Her eyes widened like a startled rabbit. She looked dazed.
"What are you doing? If you don't come quickly, it might count as disobeying an order and cause pain. So come here."
She flinched and touched her neck once before eventually getting up and approaching me hesitantly.
"Lie down here."
Her eyes grew even wider. The expression clearly asked what I meant.
"Lie down. You're sleeping here tonight."
Ar swallowed hard. But I had no intention of doing anything to her. I was just messing with her. Looking reluctant, she climbed onto the bed. So I grabbed her arm and yanked her toward me.
"Eek!?"
Ar ended up in my arms and made another strange sound. Might as well. This was better than being awkward about it.
"When we use Haste to travel, it's pretty much the same as this anyway. So just stay like this. I'm going to sleep."
I pretended to fall asleep while holding her. I could feel Ar's body heat and softness through her clothes. In truth, it was completely different from when we traveled with Haste. We were in a bed now. So I could feel every slight tremble of her body clearly.
I didn't know. As long as I didn't do anything, it should be fine. So I continued pretending to sleep. And at some point, I actually fell asleep. After all, I'd barely slept the night before, staying on high alert.