The Merchant Nation (1)
We returned to our reserved room after washing up. Veronica and I had just finished cleaning ourselves when the rest of the party arrived.
“We’re back~☆! Senior! Here’s the cake!”
After waiting a moment, our wives came back as well. I nodded at the meaningful looks they gave me. I always felt indebted to their thoughtfulness.
“Oh, of course there’s one for you too, sis~? It felt wrong to eat it all by ourselves!”
Larilura grinned brightly as she handed a cake to Veronica as well.
“A confection of the human race. My thanks. Let us go together next time.”
Perhaps feeling a pang of conscience, Veronica accepted it graciously—while firmly grasping Larilura’s hand. Larilura, who knew about her curse, widened her eyes in genuine surprise.
“Huh? Sis, what about your curse?”
“It has improved somewhat. Thanks to Master, of course.”
Veronica averted her eyes, looking embarrassed. I was in the middle of unwrapping my cake when I flinched.
‘What the fuck, you damn horse girl. Why are you so honest all of a sudden?’
Honesty was fine, but if she hadn’t blushed like that, I could have lied and said I’d taken some magical measure. Since Seidr was technically a form of magic, I had even prepared a mental victory speech like “It’s not a lie~” But now that she’d confessed everything outright, what was I supposed to do?
“…………Hwoeh?”
And after seeing Veronica’s embarrassed reaction, Larilura—who had reached the truth—let out a strange noise.
—Creak. Creak.
Larilura’s head rotated ninety degrees to face me. That vacant stare… how should I put it? It looked exactly like a child who had just realized Santa Claus wasn’t real. The guilt hit maximum levels. As someone who had predicted this exact outcome, I stared off in a random direction and savored my strawberry chiffon cake.
“This place makes some damn good cake.”
The cookies sold at this cake shop would make perfect gifts for Tirsi and the others. Specialty cookies from Nidavellir, the homeland of the dwarves! They’d be the perfect souvenir for a business trip. Yeah, gifts like these were the best—easy on the recipient and easy on the giver. With that thought, I brought another bite of cake to my mouth. Heh heh. It really was delicious. Today’s cake, that is.
The next day.
Our three-person party—me, Franc, and Larilura—climbed the mountain near Hremar together with our client, Hela.
“Dana. Wanna come with us? It’s not that tough of a job.”
“I’m not even an adventurer. It’d be weird if I tagged along on a request. Besides… yawn. I’m short on sleep because of my thesis… You said there wouldn’t be any danger, right? Just take it easy and come back.”
“Got it. I’ll pick up some caterpillars as a gift on the way back.”
“Caterpillars? Those fuzzy things do look like your unshaven face.”
“With that kind of logic I’d have to get turned on by clumps of dog hair.”
“Where the hell is there a purple-haired mutt, you idiot?”
It seemed Dana was suffering from a headache because she was writing her thesis to prove that her business trip hadn’t just been an excuse to play around. After all, it was a trip funded by the academic budget. Veronica also decided to stay behind at the inn to help Dana with her thesis while recovering from the aftereffects of our first night together.
‘Well, even without a full party it shouldn’t be dangerous.’
This was just a simple gathering request, and three people at the real-bone level were on the job. If we still ended up in danger, then Nidavellir simply wasn’t a place fit for human habitation.
“The native habitat of the Worr Grass is just a little further ahead.”
Hela, riding on Larilura’s marionette, spoke in that manner. Franc was staying vigilant, but it was much safer for Ringling to stay inside Number 3.5’s embrace.
“Already? That was faster than I expected!”
Larilura, who had been thoroughly sulking last night before finally calming down, was now happily riding atop Ringling Number 3.5. She seemed to have recovered after only two or three hours. The main reason was that with Veronica’s curse alleviated, even the virgin Larilura found it easier to have physical contact with her in animal form. In a way, Veronica had atoned with her body. That sounded kinda lewd, now that I thought about it.
Anyway, the breeze was pleasant and the atmosphere felt like we were on a picnic. Perhaps because of the marionette’s appearance, not a single wild beast showed itself.
—Thud. Thud.
Ringling’s steps were energetic and powerful. Its fuel efficiency and output had improved considerably compared to before. Nice. You’re a real man now, kid. I hereby bestow upon you Machoism Level 5.
—Twitch.
It was then. Franc, who had been sensing the surroundings through the rune on her ring, blinked with a puzzled expression.
“Nord? Some small animal is heading this way.”
“……A small animal? What kind?”
If it were just a passing creature, she wouldn’t have bothered mentioning it. Franc frowned and focused harder.
“Hmm…… I’m not entirely sure, but── a bear cub?”
A bear cub? I tilted my head at those words. Right then—
—Rustle!
A small bear really did burst out of the bushes.
“It really is one.”
How the hell could she identify the species just from the sound? I think those damn dwarf bastards should hand over their “Forest Resident” title straight to our Franc.
“Eek!!”
Anyway, the bear cub that appeared ran toward Ringling, only to freeze in terror at the sight of its shark-like teeth. Larilura, the marionette’s owner, sparkled with excitement.
“Aaaah──?! It’s a bear cub! So cute♡!”
“Hold on, idiot. You can’t just touch wild animals like that.”
I stopped Larilura as she tried to approach the cub in a daze.
“Wild animals, especially babies, need to be handled carefully. There’s a good chance an agitated mother is nearby, and if it picks up a human scent it might get abandoned by its parents.”
“Ah, um…… I’m sorry……”
Larilura shrank back like she was reflecting on her mistake. Maybe it was because I’d hastily mentioned the possibility of being abandoned by its parents. I comforted her, telling her it was fine, then approached the bear cub. Before speaking, I cleared my throat. It had been a while since I last spoke in animal language.
“Pioaaa? (What’s wrong?)”
“Ppyauo. Ouaauuu…… (Mom. She disappeared…….)”
The cub didn’t seem surprised that a human was using its language—probably because it didn’t know much about the world yet. On the other hand, Hela looked fascinated by the strange noises I was making. I set the explanation aside for now and asked another question.
“Ouaauuu? (Disappeared?)”
“Ppuui worrrrr, ouaauuu…… (It was taken away by humans…….)”
The cub cried sorrowfully. Even someone who didn’t understand animal speech could probably tell how sad it was. To lose its mother overnight. Even for an animal, that was naturally heartbreaking. Had it mistaken Ringling’s footsteps for its mother? It seemed the only large bipedal animal on this mountain was bears.
“Ppyaau worrrrr? (Where was it taken?)”
“Ppieee……”
The cub turned its head to indicate a direction. Hey, I asked the question, but how am I supposed to understand that?
‘Hmm.’
I tilted my head, then used magic to erase my scent before picking up the cub. It must have been starving; it didn’t resist at all.
“Ah! Senior! You told me not to touch it earlier!”
Larilura sounded jealous as she watched me hold the cub. Well, baby bears really are cute. That’s why they’re used as mascots so often.
“I can just erase my scent with magic. More importantly, put this little guy inside Ringling. If the mother shows up, we can subdue her and return it.”
“Okaay~.”
I gave the cub some jerky and placed it inside the compartment on Ringling’s belly. We’d return it when we encountered the mother. That’s what I thought, but we didn’t even have to search. The mother bear was right there at the native habitat of the Worr Grass we had reached.
“WORRRRRRR──!!!”
And it was rampaging through the bushes, completely tearing up the field, with a strange glowing ring around its neck.
“……Holy shit.”
I clicked my tongue at the sight of the brown leaves that were supposed to be Worr Grass completely wiped out. The others looked equally stunned.
“W-what is all this!”
Hela in particular was speechless at the sight of the once-secret patch of grass now turned into a muddy mess.
Huh. Who the hell are these guys?
The suspicious bastards controlling the mother bear spoke to us as we stood there in shock. I counted them with my eyes. Fifteen. All of them wore masks, hiding their identities. Still, they didn’t give off the impression of being particularly strong. My intuition had rarely been wrong. These punks were probably only a little better than neighborhood thugs. A few of them might know how to use a bit of mana?
After making that assessment, I frowned at the voice of the man who had spoken. ‘……I’ve heard that voice somewhere before.’ And recently, too. Who was it? There hadn’t been many people in Germania I’d had contact with. The most memorable one was that guy Zoid or Jade or whatever his name was, but it probably wasn’t him. Their builds were completely different.
Aww, you saw something you shouldn’t have. How tragic. What a shame.
—Crack.
The thug boss cracked his knuckles as he blabbered on. The others stopped controlling the bear and turned toward us. I narrowed my eyes. The ring around the mother bear’s neck appeared to be magic designed to control animals—or rather, to drive them into a frenzy.
‘They deliberately made a wild animal destroy a natural dye field?’
This reeked of something shady. The kind of damp, uniquely human malice I really didn’t want to get involved with.
Heh heh. Too bad for you. You’ll regret interfering with our business while lying in a temple bed. We’ll at least break your leg bones──
No. Kill them all.
The man wearing a mask and turban cut off the thugs’ words. What the fuck? I was slightly surprised on the inside. Not at the order to kill. In a world where even petty bandits treated murder like a joke, there was no reason to be shocked by mere instigation of murder.
‘But these bastards are just thugs.’
The biggest difference between thugs and true bandits was whether they committed heinous crimes. When caught by the authorities, bandits and murderers got a red line drawn across their necks instead of a criminal record. Thugs might extort money and commit violence, but they avoided or feared real serious crimes. From that perspective, these guys were definitely thugs. If they were bandits accustomed to murder, the moment they saw us they would have drawn their weapons and at least loaded a sexual harassment shot toward Franc and Larilura. Just like that pirate captain bastard Ursula had probably already handed over to the guards by now.
“Huh? D-do we really have to kill them?”
Apparently I wasn’t the only one flustered. One of the masked thugs stuttered. Was the turbaned, masked man their boss? Or perhaps the client.
“Don’t worry about cleanup. There’s a cliff right behind them. Kill them and toss the bodies over. No one will care.”
The turbaned man spoke with a bored gesture of his chin.
“They’re the kind of lowlifes who can’t even afford dye and have to harvest it themselves. They probably don’t have any real status. Do you think the lord’s soldiers, busy with the festival, will bother looking for missing persons?”
‘……Well fuck me. What a load of bullshit.’
I muttered to myself as I watched. I could tell by the vibe. That turban bastard was a cut above the other thugs. ‘Or should I say a cut below?’ He gave off the feeling of trash who had leveled up in this underworld by sacrificing morality and humanity. A fucking bastard accustomed to violence and bloodshed.
“U-understood! Get ready!”
—Clang!
What was funny was that even though the thugs hesitated at his command, they still drew their weapons. It was rare to see bastards who so blatantly ignored law and mutual respect act like obedient dogs with their tails between their legs. They were the type who mistakenly thought of themselves as free spirits outside the bounds of secular society! The people they watched their behavior around were the upper echelons of the small back alleys or criminal organizations they belonged to. After all, grunts and thugs could never become the core of an organization—they were just disposable bullet sponges.
‘I'm not particularly interested in who’s backing these guys, but……’
In a country with poor public order and a city with even worse security, there were probably plenty of idiots living at the bottom. I wasn’t free enough to care about other people’s business.
‘Still, I can at least ask a few questions.’
With that thought, I raised my hand.
—Whirl.
I unfolded a mandala of runes in my palm. Aiming at the men who were cautiously trying to surround us, I combined magic with the mandala. The rune of ᚦ (Thurs) turned white.