The Heavy Smoker and the Reaper of the Wheat Fields (11)

"Good work."

I was about to head back carrying the Bonodeer King's severed head when Hotulusil appeared out of nowhere and spoke. I quickly hid the blood-soaked scythe behind me. If he asked for it back, I'd be fucked.

"Yes. Have the rest of them been cleaned up?"

"The Bonodeer you killed was the boss. Once they realized their leader was dead, they scattered and fled in every direction. It's a common habit among wild animals."

Liulri? What a bunch of disloyal pricks. Then again, people aren't much different. Hotulusil hadn't lifted a finger until the very end and only popped out now. Maybe this bastard was fundamentally a prick too. Did he save all his damn magic just to boil it down into soup when it suited him?

The prick looked down at the fallen boss Bonodeer and said,

"It's been quite a while since Bonodeers actually launched a proper raid. Strange incidents keep happening one after another lately. The heavenly signs must be disturbed."

"I see."

I had zero interest in talk about heavenly signs or whatever. Otherworld fortune-telling was even less reliable than a winter weather forecast from Gangwon Province. Low accuracy and plenty of vague, cloud-chasing expressions.

I waited for the right moment before bringing up what I actually wanted to say.

"Mr. Hotulusil? I'm truly sorry after receiving so much kindness from you, but it looks like I'll need to head back tomorrow."

"Hmm. Are you injured?"

"I'm fine. It's just that I'm worried about my companion."

Between Franc's uterine spasm incident and the fact that my thesis was now roughly wrapped up, I wanted to visit the temple. This paper had been finished faster than any other in my entire life. Field master's students who struggled to attach proper evidence always ended up writing papers based on pure brain fiction anyway. The university would review it and decide whether to release it to the academic world.

"Understood."

Hotulusil gave permission surprisingly easily. Honestly, I'd expected him to throw a fit and demand to know why I was leaving. As I felt a flicker of surprise, he continued.

"I'll stamp the request as completed by tomorrow morning. I'll also note that you killed the Bonodeer leader and suppressed the problem ahead of schedule."

"Wait, seriously?"

The client himself was going to write a personal note saying he was satisfied with the results. That would definitely be a huge help for my promotion.

"Sweat and blood must be rewarded. The elves of Tatarnia never forget a favor or a grudge."

"Hehe. Thank you."

With a single sentence Hotulusil had swung from prick to decent guy in my head. The proverb sounded rather bloody, but since it worked in my favor I let it slide.

"I'll give you time to rest. Clean the blood off and come find me again."

Hotulusil spoke indifferently.

"I have something to give you."

I did as instructed and roughly cleaned my filthy armor and weapons with well water. When Franc saw my blood-stained sword, she pulled out her maintenance tools.

"Nord. Hotulusil called for you, right? Leave the weapon maintenance to me and go on ahead."

"Ah, thanks."

I felt a little guilty about relying on Franc again, but I accepted the offer. Blood had splattered into the gaps of my arm guards, and cleaning that would take forever. If I kept ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him waiting too long, he might not write anything good on the request form, so I hurried.

Tatata— I headed to the cabin where Hotulusil had told me to meet him at a quick pace. It was a surprisingly cozy space for the owner of a slave farm.

"You've arrived."

When I stepped inside, Hotulusil was waiting for me, straw hat still perched on his head even indoors. He tapped the ashes from his pipe and said,

"Take this. It's a personal reward from me."

What he held out was a scroll. Unlike the one I'd bought from old man Gentric on the first evening, this was made of noticeably high-quality paper.

"Excuse me, but may I ask what it is?"

"It's the acquisition method for Summon Cloud."

"...You're giving me a magic tome?"

What immediately came to mind was the spell Hotulusil had used before—calling clouds into the sky and making it rain. The mana requirement would probably be too high for me to copy right away, but a scroll that let me learn that magic? Shit, wasn't this expensive?

As I awkwardly fiddled with the rolled-up paper, Hotulusil rose from his chair.

"It's not a grand spell. You can buy it at the Mage Guild if you pay the fee. However, it's very useful for farm work."

"Farm work?"

"You can create rain clouds with it. Magic is ultimately a matter of combining and modifying formulas."

Hotulusil pointed at the scroll.

"Adding Water Creation to Summon Cloud produces a rain cloud. Combining it with Sleep creates a Sleeping Cloud. This kind of formula fusion is the foundation of magic. Once you understand the principle, it's not difficult."

"I heard combining magic was supposed to be hard, though."

Saying it wasn't difficult was complete bullshit. One reason advanced magic was considered high difficulty wasn't just the inclusion of runes in textbooks and formulas—it was exactly this. Low-level magic was basically arithmetic, but high-level magic demanded serious calculation ability and memorization.

"That's true for incantation-based spells. But simple magic activated through short chants is easy to combine. You'll see once you try."

"Uhh... I understand for now. But why are you giving this to me? Are you telling me to use it for farming?"

"Yes. I hope you'll try growing even a small garden. You've already learned Water Creation from your companion, haven't you? If you try it, get interested in farming, and feel like it, come to our farm."

It was basically a scouting offer. But I was more bothered by what his words implied than the offer itself.

"Wait a second. Don't tell me you've been secretly listening to our conversations?"

I'd learned Water Creation on the first night. Had this gay bastard been lurking around our tent since the very first night, targeting me?

When I openly showed my disgust, Hotulusil—rarely—frowned slightly.

"Foolish talk. It was coincidence. Elves from Tatarnia can pick up sounds from a thousand li away."

Shit, is that even possible? He's not a desert rabbit. Was he bullshitting?

My face must have shown disbelief, because the straw-hat elf added a few more words.

"Just as you, who came from Mongolia, have good eyesight, I can easily hear disturbances around this cabin. I simply overheard the conversations you had with your companions."

Another new place name. He'd never once said the word Kitai, yet random country names I'd never heard of rolled off his tongue. Maybe information about Kitai reached the Britannia sphere late? They'd treated it like a new continent, so perhaps they weren't interested in that cultural sphere and kept using old names. Like how the etymology of Korea came from "Goryeo."

But more importantly, I wasn't from there. Stop with the misconceptions.

"Farming gives meaning to life. Perhaps because we are both people of the wilderness, I felt like recommending it to you."

As Hotulusil spoke, he took off his straw hat.

......Fuck?

Under the sunlight pouring in, the sight of his crown made me clench my stomach and desperately control ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my facial muscles.

——This straw-hat prick had no hair on the top of his head.

Despite the flowing blonde hair, a five-centimeter radius around his crown gleamed with shiny white scalp like a fucking half-shaved head.

No, shit—so that's why he wore the hat all the time.

Who the hell told you to get a Brazilian wax on your skull?

The half-shaved-head bastard, completely unaware of my desperate effort to keep a straight face, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠indifferently gazed at the wheat fields outside.

"We elves of Tatarnia who chose to live in the wilderness... perhaps we secretly miss the vegetation of our homeland."

"I... see."

No you don't. What you're missing isn't the vegetation—it's the hair follicles on your scalp.

"Well, never mind. Go take care of your business. The corpses scattered across the fields should be mostly cleaned up by now."

The elf from Talmonia put his straw hat back on and spoke. I nodded silently with an expressionless face and fled outside.

That damn blonde center-part sinkhole bald bastard. Why the hell would you drop a serious line and then pull a hair-loss coming-out like that? I nearly died trying to hold in my laughter.

Let me say it again: the species called elves were impossible to understand.

We returned to Sargadis on the fifth day. We went straight to the guild without taking any detours and received our reward.

"Here is twenty coppers for four days of work."

Ching-ching-ching— Twenty coppers went into our pockets. Both Franc and I filled our wallets until they felt satisfyingly heavy. If metal currency in this world had one advantage, it was that the weight gave a much stronger psychological sense of satisfaction than paper bills when you carried a lot of money. Though twenty coppers for four days of work wasn't exactly a great daily wage.

"Additionally, Lady Aitrinen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Lord Nord, the two of you have now met the qualification requirements to take the Bronze promotion test thanks to the success of this request."

"Promotion!"

Franc reacted immediately to the female receptionist whose name I didn't know. I wasn't particularly surprised since I'd been secretly hoping for this, but I was still happy.

"Both me and Nord met the requirements at the same time?"

Franc asked with sparkling eyes. My girlfriend was the type who felt a subtle sense of romance in these little things.

"In terms of total performance, Lady Aitrinen scored slightly higher. However, Lord Nord's achievement in killing the Bonodeer leader during this request was evaluated highly. Thanks to that, both of you reached the required performance threshold."

"Wow! Nord, did you hear that?! They recognized the Bonodeer you killed as proper performance!"

Franc bounced with joy at the receptionist's words. I held back my laughter and nodded.

"I heard. We got lucky. Looks like we can take the Bronze Class promotion test together."

"Ah, that's right!"

Franc clasped her hands together, so happy she didn't know what to do with herself. This girl was seriously cute. I wanted to pull her into a tight hug but held back because of the surrounding eyes.

Anyway, while I acted calm on the outside, I was secretly overjoyed. Do you know when people feel the happiest and most joyful? It's when someone right beside you is just as happy as you are in a situation where anyone would agree you should be happy. It was exactly like when I got my university acceptance email and told my parents.

As I shared the joy with Franc, the receptionist spoke again.

"Before that, would you like to take a Pressure Stone test?"

"Yes. Let's do it."

The Pressure Stone. A rock that changed color according to the force applied to it. It hadn't even been a full month since I first gripped one after arriving in Sargadis, yet here I was already qualifying for the next rank.

With mixed feelings, I took the black stone.

Crunch—

I gripped it hard while focusing on the mana inside my body. After a moment I opened my palm, and the stone had turned blue.

"Oh."

So the presence or absence of mana really made a big difference. Last time it had been indigo.

"This is...?"

The receptionist, who had been flipping through documents, saw the stone's color and paused to choose her words. She didn't seem hugely shocked, but her expression was troubled.

"...Lord Nord. Last time it was indigo, correct?"

"Yes, it was."

"It's only been a little over two weeks and it's already changed to the next color? Have you experienced a mana awakening recently?"

"That's right. I obtained one by chance."

I'd gotten it through Beast Regression. There were many mysteries, but since there were no side effects, it was one of the benefits.

"I-I see. Your growth rate is remarkable."

"Thank you. Is there some kind of problem?"

At my question, the receptionist glanced around before speaking quietly.

"Blue and above represents upper Bronze level. Your previous test was indigo, which is the requirement for Bronze promotion, so that's why this came up. I was simply surprised by how fast you're progressing."

"Ah, I see."

So they judged rank by the stone's color too. I'd figured as much. They even smeared dye on adventurer plates. But my bare body was already at upper Bronze level. Come to think of it, even without Beast Regression I'd sliced the King Walking-Bonodeer's neck clean off, so my normal physical ability must be pretty high.

"Can I try too?"

"Hm? Ah, of course."

Franc, now interested, gripped the Pressure Stone.

Squeeze—

The result was blue—noticeably brighter than mine.

"Ah! It's brighter than last time!"

Even Franc herself looked delighted by the surprising result. Wait, 'than last time'?

"Franc, you were already blue before?"

"That's right! It was almost indigo last time, but now it's completely blue. Hehe. Does that mean I've gotten a little stronger while traveling with Nord?"

It was the same cute, lovely smile as always, but my pride took a subtle hit. No matter how different our base racial stats were, if I was weaker than my girlfriend, the name of otherworld last-man-standing Nord would weep.

"Ah, receptionist. By the way, what exactly is this promotion test?"

So I took the Pressure Stone from Franc and changed the subject. I asked a perfectly normal question while moving my hand below the reception counter where she couldn't see.

Beast Regression ON.

Franc noticed what I was doing and giggled. Crunch— I squeezed hard, then released the magic and opened my hand.

Just how strong was my grip while using Beast Regression?

Thump thump thump!

Ta-da! Yellow! The color of the Yellow-Monkey race.