Mister’s covered wagon was moving at full speed below us . Dust clouds rose in the air as the horse’s hooves kicked the dirt . It was like watching a race . They were driving the horses so fast that I began to worry about them as I descended . When I was level with the driver’s seat, I called out to him .

“h.e.l.lo there . You can slow down now . ”

“Huh!? Ah, Mister Asagi!?”

He looked at me twice with an expression of shock . Then he slowed down and eventually stopped . The wagon behind us followed suit .

“Um, is everything alright then?”

“Yeah . There’s no problem at all . ”

“But you were just fighting the giant…”

I appear to be quite lucky . Mister muttered with a laugh . Well, I don’t care to sound conceited, but it was probably quite rare to have two high-ranking Adventurers go on an escort quest . But I always thought of these kinds of surprising encounters as what made traveling so wonderful .  

“Phew…Well, I think we might be a little ahead of schedule, thanks to that run . But now it’s probably necessary to have the horses rest . ”

“I see no problem there . I know… We should camp by that tall tree over there . ”

“Understood . ”

We obeyed his suggestion and slowly walked over to the large tree . It was huge . But what kind of tree was it?

The conversation naturally moved towards the fight as we walked .

“I had heard the rumors about you, Mister Asagi . They say that when you use your skill to wrap wind around your legs, you battle faster than the eye can see . ”

“I’m definitely visible . But yeah, that’s pretty much it . ”

Notoriety and tall tales had spread far and wide . They say that where there is smoke there is fire . Well, there was a lot of smoke .

“So how did you kill that monstrous giant?”

“Uh, it’s a trade secret . ”

The last thing I needed was to hear overblown rumors about Niflheim .  

“Haha . The trump card of Silvergreen, is it? How terrifying! Most terrifying!”

“Asagi is the type that does everything that they can . The G.o.dspeed skill and the sword . And magic . With those three, a giant is little more than a baby . ”

Daniela said boastfully . I found it quite embarra.s.sing when she did this and hoped she wouldn’t take it any further .

Ultimately, Daniela continued her tales as we made our way to the great tree . I had retreated to the rear wagon so no one had to look at my painfully embarra.s.sed expressions . But I poked my head out upon hearing Mister and Daniela’s voices . The conversation seemed to have changed .

“What is it?”

“Asagi . Someone has beaten us there . ”

“Really?”

Part as practice, I jumped out and landed on top of Mister’s wagon and looked to the foot of the tree . I could see now that a large merchant caravan had surrounded it and set up camp .

There were about five to six wagons and carriages . Tents had been pitched and a bonfire was burning .

There was nothing we could do about it . The horses were tired . We would have to get them to share the spot . We talked about it with Mister and decided to stop to the side of them for now . Then Mister got out of the driver’s seat and talked with a man who appeared to be a guard .

“Excuse me, but who is the boss of this merchant caravan?”

“In the big tent over there . ”

“Thank you . ”

I suppose he acted as an intermediary as well as a guard . We apologized to the others around us as we pa.s.sed them and made our way to the tent .

It was right under the big tree, by the roots . It was the size of a small hunting lodge . It reminded me of the kind of tents that nomads used . When I looked towards the entrance, I saw a man and a woman who was looking at us with their hands on their swords . They were very serious about their jobs . I thought with amus.e.m.e.nt while raising my hands to show we were not in any way hostile .

“Sorry for the sudden intrusion . But we have a request to make to your boss . Can you help us?”

“…Wait here . ”

The man muttered as he glanced at the woman next to him before entering the tent . The woman now took a step to the side to block the entrance . They really did take their job seriously .

We had to wait for quite a while after that . No amounts of ‘this sure is a large company…’ could make the woman take any notice of us . Mister started to become restless . Hey, boss . You’re making us look bad .

It was when I started to scan the rest of the site out of boredom, that the man came out .

“You may come in, but you will leave your weapons here . ”

“I understand . ”

Harsh security . Was this person so important? I wondered as I took out the Cocytus Lance and the demon armor sword . Those and the As.h.i.+kirimaru . I handed them over rather roughly too . It was revenge for being ignored . The woman clicked her tongue . Scary .

Daniela, on the other hand, declared she had no intention of handing over her weapons and said she would stay by the door . Well, they were very important to her . My weapons were also important, but someone had to go . I left the hollow bag with Daniela and Mister left two knives . Then we both entered the tent .

It was warm inside and very comfortable . However, there was a ridiculously strong smell of incense that overrode any sense of comfort almost immediately . There was also a lot of extravagant decorations that helped make my opinion of the interior drop like a rock .

To the far back, there sat a fat merchant on a chair that was somehow much too large for him .  

“So? Who are you people?”

“I own a store called Mister’s Antiques . As you are in this place that we had planned to camp for the night, I came to see if you would allow us to stay here with you . ”

“There is no more s.p.a.ce . You must go elsewhere . ”

“…”

Alright, I get his type . Yes, yes . I knew it well .

“Oh, do not speak so soon . I beg of you . ”

“I already gave you my answer . Do not make me angry . ”

“We had to escape at full speed due to a monster . Our horses are exhausted . ”

“I don’t care . It has nothing to do with me . ”

There didn’t seem to be much hope here . Ugh, this was annoying . I suppose I could lay down some bait…

“Is that so… You know, we weren’t asking you to make room for us for free . ”

“Hmmm…? What do you have?”

“Well, I was thinking about the materials obtained from the monster we just killed . It was a weak old thing and probably not worth much . In any case, sorry to trouble you . We will go and find some other place . Excuse me . ”

“Hmph… Then hurry up and go . You are an eye-sore . ”

As we moved towards the entrance, I muttered to Mister .

“Mister . Do you think the horses will be revitalized if I feed the Grendel to them?”

“Uh, no… Well, I don’t know about such things…”

“Wait!”

I smirked . He was biting .

“Yes?”

I turned around with an expression of pure bewilderment .

“What did you just say?”

“Huh? I said that we’ll go and search for a different place . ”

“After that!”

“Uhh…”

I tilted my head innocently .

“d.a.m.n you . You said Grendel!!”

“Did I indeed?”

“You did!!”

“Perhaps you are right . ”

“Are you trying to make a fool of me?!”

“Even if I did say it, what does that have to do with you? We must go and find a place to camp . Please excuse us . ”

“Tsk…!”

I could see that the fat merchant was now thinking desperately of a way to keep us from leaving . But I could see it . Yes . That leather bag that was practically bursting at the seams . Yes, I saw him glance at it .

“You can camp here! And as for this Grendel…”

“Eh? Just give you the monster after everything we’ve been through? Don’t make me laugh . We happen to take our jobs very seriously here!”

I roughened my voice as if to suggest I was horribly offended . It was times like these that I was glad about my experience in customer service . It was practically acting lessons .

“Tsk…then…”

“Then?”

“I…I…”

Was it anger or humiliation? His hands shook as he grabbed the leather bag and offered it to me .

“And what would that be?”

“Gold…! Now give me the Grendel! Of course, you may also camp here!”

“Huh… Mister . He is offering us money . By the way, how much is this Grendel thing worth?”

Mister was aware of the price of something so valuable, and he looked quite smug as he said it .

“One hundred pieces of gold and eighty of silver . ”

“There you go . And how much is in that bag?”

“Ggg…”

The merchant opened the bag slowly . It contained nothing but silver coins .

“This is clearly a waste of time . Let’s go . ”

“Wwait…wait!”

“What now?”

The merchant seemed rather desperate for the Grendel . He pulled out yet another leather bag from behind his chair .

“This one is gold…check it . ”

“Why don’t we . Mister . ”

Mister opened the bag over a table and counted the contents . Yes, it was gold . There seemed to be about two hundred . That wasn’t enough .

“The Grendel has no large wounds and was frozen in an instant, meaning it’s very fresh . Just one of its arms might cost two hundred and fifty pieces of gold . This will not do . ”

“F-fine… I will add another bag!”

“Of gold?”

“Gold!!”

The merchant was acting quite self-destructive now . Mister and I looked inside the bag . It had about the same amount as the previous one .

“Sold!”

“Tsk…I better make it back…!”

“Well, that’s really up to you, isn’t it? Well, the whole thing is there, so use it wisely . Oh, and thank you for the s.p.a.ce . ”

The merchant suddenly looked very tired as he shook his head . But merchants tended to be tough, and he quickly regained his composure and started to make calculations .

I left the tent along with the two merchants, took the bag from Daniela and pulled out the Grendel . I ignored the gasps of the spectators and infused it with ice magic . According to Jack of all Trades, Master of None, it would not melt for at least two days . Then I gave it the merchant and accepted the two bags .

The merchant immediately had the Grendel put inside of his wagon . He also ordered his men to make s.p.a.ce for us to camp . That’s when we all looked at each other and smiled in triumph .