Chapter 33. Forest Shelter III
Episode 33.
Forest Shelter III
I opened my eyes.
At the same time, I habitually checked the state of my body first.
"......."
As I groped at my body, I felt the rough texture of bandages.
As expected, the treatment had been completed without issue.
It wasn't as if they'd poured expensive medicine like potions into me, but for emergency care, it was excellent.
"Hoo."
Only after letting out a sigh did I check my surroundings.
It was a narrow but cozy space.
In the cave-like place, a blanket patched together from cloth and a pillow with stuffing poking out lay about, and a mysterious ore stuck to the wall faintly lit the interior.
'......Was that definitely a <Moonstone>?'
An ore that emits light on its own.
Just hearing about it, it sounds quite expensive, but actually, it isn't.
First, the light is too faint, and even then it only glows when certain conditions are met.
Since <FoS> is also a setting with developed magical engineering, most people use light bulbs instead of those.
Throb.
When I reflexively sat up, my eyeballs throbbed.
Still, maybe because I'd gotten some sleep?
My vision seemed to have recovered a little compared to right before I collapsed.
'Looks like it wasn't at a serious level after all.'
Along with a sense of relief, I slowly crawled out of the cave.
It was a dark, cozy underground space. The walls were lined at regular intervals with countless holes, like a rabbit warren.
So I had been inside one of those holes.
'......Looking at it this way, it kind of looks like a capsule hotel.'
First, I also checked on Kria and Seigrena, who were sleeping in other rooms.
Neither of them appeared to be in any danger.
"150,000 seed."
At that moment, a drowsy voice burrowed into my ear.
When I turned my head, I saw a place set up like a front desk beneath the faint Moonstone.......
And a woman resting her chin on her hand caught my eye.
"......."
She wasn't human.
Rabbit ears were sticking up proudly on top of her head.
"What're you looking at? I said 150,000 seed. And just so you know, no haggling."
Tap, tap. She tapped the table and urged me again.
I looked at the word above this woman's head.
[Pashu, 'Haarim']
For reference, Pashu here is not a name but a species designation.
A race generally classified as beastfolk in fantasy...... that's what Pashu are in <FoS>.
I'd heard it was a foreign word meaning 'beast,' though I wasn't sure about that part.
What I needed to know was that the Pashu were the managers of this hidden map...... <Forest Shelter>.
'But damn, that's expensive.'
150,000 seed wasn't exactly pocket change.
As I stood there silently, Haarim's eyes sharpened.
"What? Don't tell me you have no money?"
"......I have it."
Contrary to my inner thoughts, I took out the money without a word.
Because not following the <Manager>'s instructions in the shelter was practically suicide.
These people classified everyone in the world into only two categories.
'Guests. And problem customers.'
And once you were judged a nuisance even once, you could never use the shelter again.
I knew better than anyone how great a risk that was when exploring the forest.
"Before we settle up, I'd like you to appraise the market value of the SEED first."
"Yeah, yeah. Got it, surface-dweller."
Haarim, who had answered indifferently, tilted her head.
"But how'd you know we appraise market value here? Have you been to the shelter before?"
"No."
"Right? You didn't come here with guest qualifications, but by the forest's guidance. Hmm......"
Haarim scanned the guest list for a moment, then shrugged with an annoyed look.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter."
The woman took my pouch, reached into her clothing and pulled out a monocle, put it on with a snap, and dumped the SEED from the pouch onto the table.
"Sniff sniff....... Are these seeds from the habitat area?"
"Yeah."
"Hm. They're fresh, but their vitality is on the weak side, so they're worth a little less."
Haarim, who had been muttering to herself, meticulously sorted the SEED despite her annoyed tone, then spoke.
"Let's see. At this amount, in surface currency...... 795,700 seed. Add 150,000 seed for lodging, plus emergency treatment and the medicine used, and that's another 115,000 seed."
"......Let's settle up right away. And I also have things I want to buy separately."
"What?"
"If you have <Wild Violet Nettle Potion> and <Sunrise Potion>, give me one bottle of each."
"Hm. An additional 200,000 seed."
......Really makes me want to curse.
Of course, it was roughly the amount I'd expected, but actually taking it out of my pouch made my stomach churn.
Half the SEED I'd painstakingly saved was about to vanish in an instant.
'It can't be helped.'
It wasn't a pointless expense.
Besides, I hadn't spent all my money.
The Red SEED that dropped from defeating the <Black Tree> was obviously top-grade at a glance. I planned to exchange it after reaching the Royal Capital.
"Anything else you need?"
"Three servings of food."
"An additional 30,000 seed. All together, that's a total of 495,000 seed......."
Suddenly frowning, Haarim grumbled.
"......Damn. This is awkward. Hey, guest. Can't you just make it an even 500,000? Is there anything else you want to buy?"
"No."
"Tch."
Haarim irritably scratched her head.
"Why does it come out to 495,000, not 480,000 or 470,000? So annoying."
Did she eat something weird? Why was she suddenly acting like this?
'Does she have some kind of obsession with numbers?'
Maybe she was the type who felt uncomfortable unless the numbers came out just right.
"Or do you just want to pay 500,000?"
Swallowing the words "Are you crazy?", I let out a sanitized version.
"As if."
It's best to maintain as friendly a relationship as possible with the shelter manager.
Because this is a place I'll have to visit many times in the future.
'There are also items you can only get at the shelter.'
The shelter's sale items increase in number each time you visit.
Meaning that what I, as a first-time visitor, could buy was extremely limited.
Although the prices were generally high, items that you couldn't obtain in the Royal Capital no matter how much money you had would occasionally appear.
'It's better than a wandering merchant, but still at least twice as expensive as in the Royal Capital.'
I looked at Haarim, who was still agonizing, and spoke.
"Sorry, but I have nothing else to buy. If it really bothers you, just give me a discount yourself."
I knew there was no chance she'd go for it, but I blurted it out anyway.
"A discount....... Hmm, should I? Then just give me 400,000 seed."
......Did I mishear?
A discount. At the very least, it was a word I'd never heard in the shelter.
The Pashu would rip you off if they could, but they weren't the type to give discounts.
"Why. You don't want it?"
"......It's not that, but are you okay with that?"
"What's there not to be okay with? Here, your change, the <Wild Violet Nettle Potion>, and the <Sunrise Potion>."
The woman who had said absolutely no haggling just a few minutes ago swiftly finished the calculation and held out the pouch and two potion bottles.
Judging by the amount of SEED in my hand, it didn't look like she'd pulled anything.
'What's this all of a sudden?'
Did she have some other motive?
Or.......
As thoughts raced through my mind, something suddenly clicked.
[Most Beast-Types will now feel a sense of affinity toward you.]
And I looked at this woman's ears again.
A rabbit isn't exactly a wild beast, but if you had to classify a Pashu, they're beasts that live in the forest...... that is, Magical Beasts.
'Could she be affected by that?'
That was the only possibility I could think of.
"If you have no more orders, I'm going to go prepare the food. It'll take about 30 minutes."
"Okay. Ah. By any chance, how long has it been since I arrived at the shelter?"
"22 hours and 26 minutes."
So I'd been sprawled out sleeping for almost a full day.
Well, I had been that tired.
'Then the time remaining until checkout is about an hour and a half.'
I could stay about one more day if I paid more, but since there were three people, I'd have to pay another 150,000 seed.
If I was lucky, I might be able to bargain like before, but even considering that, it was too expensive.
'A decent inn in the Royal Capital costs only 3,000 or 4,000 seed a night.'
Even a rough calculation put the price at over ten times the market rate.
Of course, from the mid-game onward, it becomes a place you'd want to stay even if you had to pay 1.5 million seed instead of 150,000, but that was still a distant story.
First, I returned to the cave, then woke Kria, who had been sleeping like the dead.
"Kria. Wake up."
"Ugh......."
Kria barely opened her eyes.
Her eyes looked twice as drowsy as usual, and the dark circles beneath them about three times darker.
"Drink this."
"What is it......?"
"Something good for your body. You'll feel a bit better after drinking it."
Kria drank it without complaint.
For a moment, I wondered if drinking it on an empty stomach was a bad idea, but every second counted in her condition. There was no time to leisurely stuff food into her stomach first.
'Hoo....... I hope she doesn't get a mana-disorder-related Trait, at least.'
Anyway, since a day had already passed, the odds were now fifty-fifty.
I checked Kria's status window.
Name: Kria(?)
Level: 22
Class: Spiritist(?)
Trust with Target: 58
Stress: 54
Stats
Strength: 5
Agility: 8
Endurance: 6
Magic Power: 21
Talents
Body: F-
Mind: B
Art: D
Intuition: B+
Skills
<Spirit Summoning>, <Corpse Revival>
Traits
<Insomnia>, <Soul Perception>, <Paranoia>, <Poisonous Aura>, <Spell Rampage>
▶ Kria is keeping a special secret. You can confirm it once your trust with the target rises.
First of all, trust had exceeded 50.
The last time I checked, it had been around 20, so I could tell that our relationship had progressed a lot through fighting a life-or-death battle together.
Stress was 54.
Considering what she'd been through, it was lower than I expected. This girl really was mentally tough in some strange ways.
'Her stats went up mainly in Magic Power.'
Since her class before Necromancer had also been Spiritist, it was the growth direction I'd expected.
Of course, even considering that, the amount her Magic Power had risen was unusual, and I could see the reason why.
The newly unlocked Talent stats told me why.
'Mind is B and Intuition is B+?'
As I'd predicted last time, Kria was a typical late-bloomer type companion.
They're difficult to raise because their early stats are poor, but their growth takes off in the mid-game, and by the late game their stats far surpass those of other NPCs.
Of course, I hadn't expected her to have two B-grade Talents from the very beginning.
'Looking at potential alone, she's above most A-grade companions.'
The problem was that raising her from here on would be just as demanding.
I checked Kria's fully unlocked Traits one by one.
'......What's with all these double-edged sword Traits?'
<Soul Perception>, <Paranoia>, <Poisonous Aura>, even <Insomnia>.......
It was a complete set of Traits perfectly suited to developing mental illness.
If this girl's Mind Talent had been even a little lower, she would have broken down long ago.
And on top of that.
'In the end, she got the <Spell Rampage> Trait.'
It stung, but I could deal with this by stopping at the Magic Tower after returning to the Royal Capital.
Even though it would cost a fair amount of money, it was better than <Mana Manipulation Disorder>, whose solution doesn't become available until the late game.
And finally.......
▶ Kria is keeping a special secret. You can confirm it once your trust with the target rises.
It seemed my trust was still insufficient to confirm this <special secret>.
Well, that was only natural, since the question marks after her name and class hadn't disappeared either.
"You have about an hour, so get some rest."
After seeing Kria, whose complexion had improved considerably, nod her head, I returned to my own cave.
Gulp.
And I immediately took the <Sunrise Potion>, preventing <Blindness> from spreading from a debuff into a Trait.
I had almost gotten the <One-Eyed> Trait. Of course, it would take some time before it returned to its original state.
'......Now then.'
Shall I resolve the piled-up questions?
[Summon the Magical Beast, 'Ember Lizard'?]
Because I still had a mountain of things to ask this one.