Merchant Escort Quest #4
Merchant Escort Quest #4
"Why do you need a basin?"
"I plan to fill it with water. Then I'll put the glass jars of jam inside and keep cycling the water. Using my magic, of course."
"Aha-!"
Rebecca, who had been listening beside me, clapped her hands as if she'd finally caught on. The middle-aged merchant, having assessed the situation, seemed to have grasped it as well. His expression brightened despite his soaked trousers.
I fell into thought for a moment, staring at the glass jar the merchant held.
'If I have to manipulate the water with magic too, I don't think I can last the full four days. If I'm just creating water, I should be able to manage.'
That little stunt I'd just pulled—filling a glass jar with a droplet of water—was simply a test of my own limits. Could I really sustain both water creation and water manipulation at the same time over a long stretch? After the trick, I realized I'd been forcing it. But sticking to only one type of magic seemed doable, albeit with difficulty, for the four days.
"Wait here a moment. I'll go and fetch something useful."
A short while later, the middle-aged merchant returned with a large earthenware jar. He'd ordered his men to retrieve a piece of merchandise stored in the luggage wagon. He thrust the jar, roughly the size of a traditional Korean crock, in front of me.
"Will this do? Must I fetch a basin? If it's absolutely necessary, I can send a man to a nearby village..."
"A jar will work just fine. It holds water, after all. Let's do some quick prep work first. Seal the glass jars so water can't seep in. Once that's done, I'll put them all into the jar."
"Understood!"
The merchant company's soldiers quickly found cloth scraps and wrapped the twenty glass jars tightly. Each jar was about the size of a water bottle, so fitting the whole lot into the large jar posed no problem at all.
I conjured water over the jar, now packed solid with glass containers.
"Water."
A soccer-ball-sized volume of water cascaded into the jar, again and again. Forming hand seals about eight times was enough to fill it completely. It wasn't a particularly time-consuming task, surprisingly.
And so, a mana-powered, water-cooled cooler was born!
An otherworld-style water-cooled cooler, manually operated by magically squeezing the water out with my own hands.
Its performance was more than sufficient to refrigerate food.
Afterward, the middle-aged merchant and I had a brief discussion about this preservation method.
"It's hot out, so the water will turn lukewarm over time. Surely the water you've created won't stay cold forever?"
"No, it won't. The water will need to be replaced every few hours. How often would you say is ideal?"
It was better to borrow the wisdom of an elder in these matters than decide on my own. If I recklessly set a timeframe on my end and caused an accident, that'd be trouble. I figured the merchant, not me, should bear the responsibility if anything went wrong.
"Wait a moment."
The middle-aged merchant dipped his hand into the jar to check the water's temperature, then gauged the ambient air. Though the morning air was still cool, the scorching sun would beat down by the afternoon. To keep the jam fresh, the water replacement schedule had to be set precisely.
After careful deliberation, the middle-aged merchant made his decision.
"Three hours...! Let's make it three hours. You can replace the jar's water every three hours. From now on, you'll be excused from guard duty and will only be responsible for preserving the jam. This means you're free to stay put in the wagon for the entire journey to the trade city."
"Hmm-."
So I wouldn't have to walk from today onwards?
I'd be exempt from this god-awful march, and only me?
Exempt!
A pleasant resonance swelled in my chest.
'Exempt'—the very word I'd desperately wanted to hear back in my final months as a senior conscript.
Back then, the unit was so short on manpower they dragged me into every conceivable training exercise.
This paunchy merchant's way better than any officer.
"Whoa, that incubus gets to ride in the wagon?"
"He's a mage. I guess that kind of treatment's expected."
"But even the Sister is walking, isn't she?"
"Right now, that incubus is more useful than the Sister."
I could hear the envious voices of the other adventurers around me.
A smirk almost slipped out at their words, but I barely managed to suppress it.
I still had business to settle with the merchant as an adventurer.
"You're getting your goods delivered safely thanks to me. Don't I get a bonus?"
"Would I ever forget a thing like that? If we succeed in safely delivering the jam to the city in four days, I'll give you an additional 3 Silver."
I fell silent at the merchant's words.
Perhaps misunderstanding my reaction, the middle-aged merchant began to bumble in a flustered voice.
"D-did you need more money? I'm sorry, but this amount is the limit of what I can offer. Didn't I already tack on an extra twenty percent to your base pay compared to the others when I hired you? That sum was factored in precisely for situations requiring magic..."
"Wait, are you serious? You're giving me 3 whole Silver?"
"W-well, yes..."
"Let's do it! I'll work hard! You're a generous man!"
I clenched my fist in irrepressible joy.
The reason I'd shut my mouth was pure shock at the sum of 3 Silver.
3 Silver was equivalent to half the total pay I was set to receive.
Just for sitting idle and spouting water like a Squirtle, I'd pocket 3 Silver.
A fortune I couldn't even have imagined back when I was a muggle unable to use magic.
"Squirt, squirt!"
"What does that mean? Are you accepting my proposal?"
"Of course, sir."
Honorifics slipped naturally from my mouth.
The middle-aged merchant flinched and staggered back at my sudden sucking up.
Well, anyone would be startled if a Gold-Tanned Incubus suddenly started wagging his tail like a happy dog.
"Very well. Then quickly climb into the luggage wagon at the back. I'll have my men move the water jar onto it. Please take good care of the jam stored inside."
"On my way~."
Fearing the terms might change, I scrambled frantically into the wagon's cargo hold. Soon, the merchant company's soldiers placed the water jar inside. The discussions had cost us time, so it was now time to get moving immediately. The middle-aged merchant's commanding voice boomed from outside.
"Let's move out! The problem's been solved. Though we never found the bastard who damaged the artifact. If any of you spot that son of a bitch, report it to me! I'll give a 1 Silver reward!"
The merchant had even placed a bounty on finding the culprit who'd damaged the artifact.
Soon, the rumbling of wheels sounded and the wagon lurched forward. I knew the march had resumed by the way I peeked open the ventilation flap. Of course, I could just sit comfortably on the cargo hold's floor and relax.
Shoop-!
A moment later, someone abruptly thrust their head through the ventilation flap.
It was Rebecca.
Rebecca poked just her head between the thick canvas.
The thought that she was actually scurrying along on foot beside the moving wagon made me feel a bit sorry for her.
Wouldn't she trip over a rock doing that?
"Must be nice, Luke."
Rebecca looked at me sitting on the floor with a genuinely envious expression.
"3 Silver, and you get to ride the wagon all by yourself. I guess mages really are prized wherever they go. Unlike a dime-a-dozen swordswoman like me..."
"Then hurry up and learn Sword Aura. Once you can cut through anything, won't swordswomen get treated well too?"
"You think so? I could do so much more if I could just use Sword Aura. Show off a flashy quick-draw to clients. Use superhuman strength to move boulders."
Lift boulders with superhuman strength?
Imagining her sweating buckets as she heaved a giant rock, I couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
Unless they had a hidden machine in this other world, that seemed impossible.
The moment the corner of my mouth twitched upward, Rebecca pouted.
"Hey, are you laughing at me? I'm being serious here and you're laughing?"
"Wushur, that opponent's Malfurion..."
"I could lift and throw someone your size, you know?"
Rebecca reached her hand through the flap, trying to grab my leg.
I slyly scooted backward, evading her attack.
Maintaining a distance just out of her reach, I saw Rebecca looked thoroughly annoyed.
Teasing her any further might make her genuinely angry.
I decided now was the time to recite a banishing spell to shoo her away.
"Then just work hard on your mana charging."
"...What?"
"If you want Sword Aura, just do more mana charging, right? Develop your erogenous zones to increase how efficiently you gain mana. First, master the art of self-pleasure. Or how about we go a round tonight? You seem pretty motivated, after all."
"What do you mean 'go a round,' you idiot-!"
With a flustered look, Rebecca yanked her face out of the wagon's ventilation flap.
The banishing spell of a sexual nature proved exceptionally effective on a virgin!
After that, I just sat still and guarded the water jar.
As promised, replacing the water every three hours was the sole extent of my duty. Naturally, I relied on the merchant company's men to dispose of the warmed-up water. Using mana to manipulate the water might have left me unable to conjure fresh cold water when needed.
"Hey there, horned mage sir. Do I just dump the water from the jar onto the ground?"
"Yes, please discard it carefully. We can't risk accidentally cracking the glass jars."
Approximately every three hours, someone would come by and help empty the water. Maintaining this otherworld-style water-cooled cooler required more manpower than I'd thought. Of course, Rebecca and Ethan were among those who visited.
'I won't be able to get a full night's sleep. Better sneak in a few naps this afternoon.'
There was one drawback to keeping the jam fresh: I couldn't sleep for long stretches. Since the water needed changing every three hours, if I conked out all night, the mission would instantly fail. The early summer heat in this region was relentless even at night.
I took the opportunity to nap whenever it wasn't time to refill the water. Lying down flat in the wagon and closing my eyes was nothing short of sweet relaxation.
"Still, this beats marching."
The people walking outside had night watch duty anyway. It's not like anyone else was getting a full night's sleep, either. And obviously, I, tasked with guarding the jam, was cleanly exempt from night watch.
"Water."
A day later, I was sure of it.
I was fully capable of keeping the jar filled for four days straight.
The work of conjuring water at two-hour intervals was manageable. I'm not just saying it's doable—it genuinely was. The repeated rest periods helped greatly in keeping my head clear.
Not that I didn't get dizzy after casting spells in rapid succession.
Maybe it was because I closed my eyes for a bit after each refill? I never once felt dizzy during the journey. I realized sleep was surprisingly effective for recovering from dizziness.
It was the third day since the caravan had left Yoen-su.
Throughout that time, I had ceaselessly refilled the jar with cold water. A merchant company man had even unwrapped one of the sealed jam jars midway through to check on it. It had no freshness issues, so I continued riding comfortably in the wagon.
"Sweet as honey~."
Today, as usual, I refilled the water and sprawled out flat on the floor.
With no one watching anyway, I was now in a perfectly languid state. Though Rebecca occasionally popped in to chat, being a party member, she seemed to understand my situation.
"Heheh. Heheh. Heheh."
I was rolling around on the wagon floor as if it were a bed.
That's when, in a corner of the floor, I spotted a single strand of hair.
It was a long strand of blonde hair.
'What's this?'
I picked up the hair with my fingers.
A blonde hair rolling around in the wagon wasn't strange in and of itself. After all, I was blonde myself. But the moment I saw its length, I realized it couldn't be mine. I keep my hair cropped short—there was no way I'd shed a long strand like this.
Hair dropped by someone else.
That was suspicious.
Hardly anyone else ever came inside the wagon. Even when emptying the water, I always lifted the jar myself and handed it out, so nobody had set foot inside the wagon the entire time.
Yet here was a strand of hair.
A blonde strand that wasn't mine.
A moment later, a memory from a few days ago surfaced in my mind.
The incident where someone had opened the wagon's canvas cover, damaging the artifact.
Rebecca and I had once discussed the culprit's possible motives. I think the conversation started when we were complaining about not being able to get a cool breeze.
- Why would anyone open the canvas cover? What could they possibly gain from damaging the caravan's goods? Because of that, we just lost our chance to catch a cool breeze.
- They probably just wanted to cool off their sweat in the middle of the night. They were airing themselves out and forgot to close the canvas. It's most plausible that they caused an accident by being careless.
- You think so...?
One of the twenty or so travelers had opened the wagon's canvas.
Probably an accident committed while trying to cool off sweat. If my guess was correct, I had thought traces of the culprit might remain inside the wagon. That is, if the culprit had done more than just catch a breeze and actually stuck their body inside.
I stared intently at the long blonde hair in my hand.
It might have been a pure coincidence, but...
Among the people on this caravan escort quest, there were only two blondes.
Me, the Gold-Tanned Incubus, and the blonde nun.
Excluding myself, only one person remained.
The blonde nun I'd met on the day of departure.
The heal-slut bitch who'd ignored my greeting and thrown a tantrum.
"No way...?"
The strand of hair I now held bore the same brilliant golden sheen as that nun's hair.
My instincts as a Gold-Tanned Incubus whispered to me.
I might have just stumbled upon that blonde nun's weakness.