The Village
As I walked the road asking Charles all sorts of things about this world, the village eventually came into view.
"We arrived a bit earlier than expected. Since we're back early, I'll show you around the village as well. I'll also introduce you to places where you can get the things you said you needed at good prices."
Charles made a very good offer. The only problem was that we had no money. But that was fine. At this distance, carrying hunted animals back to the village didn't look like it would be any real trouble.
"Would it be all right if we did a bit of hunting nearby before entering the village?"
I asked Charles for permission first.
"I don't mind, but... the village is so close, I'm not sure there will be any beasts around. Why the sudden hunting, though...?"
"Ah. Nothing special... I was thinking of selling some game to raise a bit of travel money..."
Having to indirectly confess that we had no money was a little embarrassing.
"Ah~ I see."
Having gotten his leave, I headed into the forest with Selena. Just as Charles had said, beasts were scarce, and we had to scour the woods for quite a while.
Some time later, when we returned to the road with a few rabbits and several birds about the size of chickens, Charles greeted us from where he sat on a nearby rock, tearing into some bread.
"Wow! You caught quite a lot."
We entered the village with Charles, who marveled at the game filling both our hands.
"I'd be grateful if you could show us somewhere to sell these first."
"Ah. Right. Let's head to the butcher's, then."
Charles led us to the butcher's shop, exchanging greetings with the villagers we occasionally met along the way.
At the butcher's we arrived at, a man who looked every bit the butcher—though I probably shouldn't have thought that—was dressing meat.
"Hello, Uncle Hansen."
The man called Hansen glanced at Charles, then opened his mouth while continuing his work.
"What is it, weed boy."
"Uncle, they're not weeds, they're medicinal herbs. Anyway, these people want to sell some rabbits and birds."
I held up a rabbit to match Charles's words. Hansen glanced at our appearance and the rabbits, then pushed aside the meat he'd been working on and spoke.
"Set 'em down."
Selena and I laid the birds and rabbits in the space Hansen had cleared. He picked them up one by one, examining them carefully, then said:
"Looking at the wounds, doesn't seem like blades... the pelts... ice, maybe... Hey. You lot mages?"
Perhaps from experience dismantling so many animals, Hansen had deduced our hunting method from the wounds alone and asked. Since there was nothing to hide, I pointed at Selena and answered.
"She's the mage."
Hansen glanced at Selena, who was wearing rags that barely deserved to be called clothes, then pointed at the traces left on the animal carcasses and spoke.
"Don't know what magic you specialize in, but if you're gonna make money hunting, when you hunt with magic you'd best use wind-type as much as possible. Birds, however you catch 'em is fine, but for things like rabbits where the pelt's worth money, hunting with ice, fire, or lightning magic drops the value of the hide. These rabbits here, the wounds are small so the damage to the pelts isn't too bad, but the hide around the wounds is spoiled."
Hansen seemed to take us for mage hunters, launching into advice about which magic to use and then rambling on at length about hunting precautions. It had only been a quick hunt because we needed travel money, but with Hansen explaining so earnestly for our benefit, I couldn't bring myself to cut him off and listened to the end.
When he finally finished his advice, Hansen began pricing the game we'd brought.
"Eleven rabbits for 66 silver, eight birds for 8 silver."
I took the pouch Hansen handed over. The pouch holding 74 silver was fairly heavy. But most of these silver coins were already earmarked for travel gear, so I decided to just hold out a little longer and left the butcher's behind.
Having disposed of the game, we first sought out the general store. We needed backpacks for our luggage. It would have been nice if there were something like the magical storage spaces you see in games and novels, but when I mentioned it to Selena, she just told me to wake up—that kind of magic was something only high-ranking mages specializing in creation magic could barely manage.
Smacking my lips with regret, I stepped into the general store. As befitting a small village, the selection wasn't particularly large. Most of it also looked handmade within the village. As Selena and I browsed for backpacks we could use, someone emerged from the back.
"What can I help you with?"
"Ah. Sora! These people need backpacks, sleeping bags, and cooking tools."
Seeing the person speaking in a half-asleep voice, Charles brightened and listed the items we needed. Sora blinked a few times, spotted Charles, yawned once, and opened her mouth.
"Yaaawn~ What. It's Charles. What do you need again?"
Looking at the unmotivated, lethargic clerk—Sora—I did wonder whether I could trust her, but there was no alternative.
Charles looked at Sora like that, sighed once, then told her the items I'd said we needed and started searching with her.
After rummaging for a while, the two laid out the items in front of me.
"The backpacks are like this—you can use this strap to tie a sleeping bag on top, and it works for extra luggage too. There are small pouches here, here, and here, so you can store cooking tools or potions—things that are small and used often—separately. This is a small pot, and this is a pan. You can use them as bowls or plates too. These are roasting skewers, and the forks are here."
The unmotivated look from moments ago vanished as if it had been a lie, and Sora began explaining the features of each item one by one.
"And this is the sleeping bag... honestly, there's almost no demand for sleeping bags in our village, so we only have one in stock... it's a bit large, so it should be fine even if both of you get in..."
When Sora, who'd been explaining so enthusiastically, reached the sleeping bag and started speaking timidly with excuses mixed in, Charles beside her spoke up in her defense, gauging my reaction.
"Sora's right. Looking earlier, you two seemed pretty close—shouldn't it be fine? It's plenty big enough for two people to share."
For a moment I found their relationship a bit suspicious, but I had no intention of digging into the private lives of people whose acquaintance would clearly be short-lived. Glancing at Selena, who had her head bowed and was fidgeting with her fingers after hearing talk of being close and sharing a bag, I chuckled and said:
"Yes. It's enough."
In truth, the sleeping bag was just something I was buying in case we ended up camping like yesterday, and I planned to seek out villages whenever possible, so it wasn't a big issue.
"Ah. Thank you. And I'm sorry."
I waved off Sora's thanks and apology.
"It's fine. We'll take them. How much?"
"Ah! Thank you. So two backpacks for 10 silver, the sleeping bag 5 silver, and the cookware... I'll do it all for 3 silver."
After paying, I fiddled with the lightened silver pouch, then thought of a map.
"Ah. And a map, please."
"Ah. Just a moment."
Sora, who'd been looking at Charles with a peculiar expression, answered my request and headed somewhere. A short while later she returned, fluttering a sheet of paper.
"Here you go."
"Ah. Thanks."
I smiled, took the map, and unfolded it—then blinked several times.
So. Um... this is a map?
Centered on Coen Village in the middle of the map, beyond the forest to the right was Heran Village, and beyond the forest above was Tran Village. Below and to the left, there were no villages—just empty space. This was not the map I had wanted.
Even if it wasn't a map with contour lines and every road marked... even if it wasn't a world map... at least the provincial level... no, at least a few cities should be on it! How else am I supposed to know where the nearest city is!
Unable to shout my true thoughts aloud, I stood trembling as I stared at the map, when Selena—who'd been keeping her head down after hearing about sharing a sleeping bag—quietly approached and said:
"Master. What's wrong?"
I showed Selena the map I was holding.
"The map is..."
Selena took the map I held out, scanned it, and tilted her head.
"Why? It's a normal map. Shows the area around here. Since it's a small village, they probably don't have maps bound into books."
Books? What was she talking about books for?
"Books?"
"Obviously a map book collecting maps like these bound together."
When I asked with an incredulous look, Selena answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then tilted her head and muttered while looking at the map.
"By the way, where even is this? Is it so small a village that I don't know it? I remember every city-level place on the continent..."
Well, this is a different continent...
Still not accepting that this was another continent, Selena's unconscious remark made me throw a little mental jab. I recalled from my very early childhood—the distant past—that there had always been a blue book in my father's car.
The title of that book was... National Road Atlas...? Wait, she's right. Maps come in books.
I'd never opened that book, but I could remember that book-form maps existed. I looked at the single sheet of paper Selena was staring at intently.
So things like that get collected into a map...
Thinking that even if I bought a map book, it would be pretty hard to read, I sighed, paid an additional 2 silver for the map, and left the general store with Selena.
Charles, who had followed us out, took the lead toward the clothing store.
The reason we stopped at the clothing store was, of course, to buy clothes for Selena.
The quality and level of the goods were similar to the general store—nothing particularly pretty—but it was better than the rags Selena was wearing.
From among the various clothes, we picked out a relatively neat 3-silver robe and a few sets of undergarments, then left the clothing store.
The clothes and undergarments didn't look particularly good no matter how I looked at them, but Selena was delighted that they were new. As I led her out of the clothing store, the sun was already sinking low on the horizon.