Kujonin

Author: Hanabokuro

—

The next morning I woke up groggily around dawn, made my preparations, and left the inn.

Stifling a yawn as well, Merumo also exited the inn. Her bedhead stood up like a tornado.

"Your hairstyle's pretty cool."

When I complimented her, Merumo touched her own hair.

"Darnit~. I forgot to comb out my hair before I went to bed~."

She said as she fixed her hair.

When we went to the church Alfred-san and the others should have stayed the night at, a carriage was stopped in front of it.

Savoy was already awake and making the preparations.

"Good morning."

"Good morning. You're quite early."

"Yes, I thought we shouldn't be late, at least."

Not being late is a habit from my previous world.

Savoy brought the feehorse over, and while Merumo and I brushed it, I drew a wind magic circle on its legs.

Savoy wound a belt around the feehorse and stopped it.

"I'll pull it on the way, so please tether it behind the carriage."

"Naoki-dono is going to pull it?"

"That will probably be faster."

I wound the belt around my arm and pulled the carriage a bit to show him.

Savoy was so surprised his eyes were about to pop out, but he nodded.

"Savoy-san, please show me the way we're going."

"Understood. I will call Alfred-sama now, and we'll be off."

Savoy hurried into the church and brought Alfred-san. Behind him, the HillLake Kingdom Investigater, Guile, came along in a hurry.

The two entered the carriage, and Savoy sat in the coachman's seat.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes, everything's fine."

Savoy responded.

"Merumo, do your best to keep up."

"Yessir."

I pulled the carriage according to Savoy's instructions.

If I run full out the carriage will shake, so I keep it to a light jog.

Even so, the feehorse tethered in the back began to fall behind.

Merumo also seems to be having it tough while following behind, so we took a number of breaks in between.

Even though I overtook carriage after carriage, startling traveling merchants and travelers and the like, I ran at a fairly good speed. I don't want to stand out, but when I figured I wouldn't come this way a second time, I didn't really care so much about attracting attention.

They said it would take two days to arrive at HillLake's capital, Nokking Hill, but we arrived around noon.

The castle town was flouris.h.i.+ng, and there were a lot of people. The streets were overflowing with people, but there's never been a guy who pulls a carriage before, so they naturally gave way.

When I had gone all the way up to the large gray castle, the guards stopped us wanting to know who we were; at that time Guile called out from inside the carriage so we avoided further troubles.

When the carriage door opened, Alfred-san and Guile frantically seized a chair, their arms trembling.

I wrote a letter saying, "A curse will befall you if you make the ca.n.a.ls," put it into an envelope with some earticks, and sealed it.

I handed it to Guile and had him take it to the King's room.

"Even if you use the s.p.a.ce between the door and the floor to get it in, it will be fine."

When I said so, Guile consented and headed to the castle.

I headed to Nokking Hill's Merchant's Guild.

There's no particular need for me to pull the carriage anymore, so Savoy attached the feehorse to the harness.

"We will be going to the Merchant's Guild."

"Understood. We will make arrangements at an inn."

Alfred-san replied as he went outside and rotated his shoulders.

I went into town and headed towards the Merchant's Guild while asking people and guards where it was.

Even though the Merchant's Guild was crowded with people, everyone properly stayed in line and we arrived at the counter inside.

"Can I have you post a job advertis.e.m.e.nt poster?"

I showed my Merchant's Guild card and asked the old lady employee.

"What kind of job is it?"

"Extermination."

"Extermination?"

"Yes, it's a trade where we exterminate the bug monsters and masmascarl inside houses."

"Heeh~, how novel! Go ahead, write it out on this paper and stick it to the board next to the stairs, please."

So saying, the granny employee gave me a spare piece of paper.

I received the paper and wrote, "Taking extermination jobs. If you want to exterminate earticks, bugroaches, or masmascarl, leave it to us!" and stuck it to the board.

The rumors of two dragons appearing around the northern border was the hot topic within the Merchant's Guild.

Those two are probably at Margaret's house in Floura.

"President, are we done?"

"Yeah. Pretty much. Now we just wait for a request to come from the castle. Want to eat lunch?"

"That sounds good."

Merumo and I went outside and looked for a place to eat.

While we walked, a number of adventurers invited me with, "Won't you come defeat the dragons with us?"

Looks like they want to add me, a guy with the power to pull a carriage, to their battle forces.

It's obvious that would be the case, but I refuse flat out. Particularly persistent adventurers followed us all the way to the restaurant, but Merumo struck them and knocked them down. After that, there weren't many people calling out to us.

The restaurant was one with a lot of guards in it. My reasoning was that a shop with a lot of locals coming to it can't be too bad.

I requested the meat of a deer monster, greendeer, with bread and vegetable soup.

For us who had set out so early in the morning, it was breakfast and lunch.

"When we finish our business in Nokking Hill, are we returning to Floura?"

"That's the intention. Ah, do you also want to visit your hometown, Merumo?"

"No, I said I wouldn't return for five years."

"I see. Are you guys still keeping in contact?"

"Yes, I sent them the bonus from before, too."

That's filial piety for you. I came to another world, so I can't do that. And anyway, in my previous world, I think I contacted my parents about once every few years.

I wonder how they're doing now. I feel like I should have honored my parents before I lost my familial connections. I also can't remember their faces well. When we return to Gnomefield, I'm going to tell Ayl and Velsa to honor their parents as best as they can. I don't know about Ayl, but it seems like Velsa's are alive.

"I'll teach you magic circles later, and you can make a communication bag."

"Eh? That embroidered, troublesome looking bag?"

"That's right. If you send a communication bag to your hometown, you can contact them whenever, right?"

"I don't really want to contact them much, though."

"Haa~ good grief, this is why youngsters are -. There will come a time when you want to honor your parents but they're gone … well, that's fine."

My superior at work in my previous world also said the exact same thing. That superior probably felt the same way I do now.

Even if you tell them, they won't understand if they've never experienced it. I was the same way.

"A letter is just right for your purposes, na. But a communication bag is useful, so it's better for you to learn how to make it."

"Sue, I guess."

I'll push the communication bags for Margaret-san to Merumo.

"President! Didn't you just have a nasty look on your face?"

"No, not at all. Do you want some wine?"

After that, I covered it up by getting Merumo a little tipsy and then we left.

When we looked for the inn the carriage I had pulled was stopped in front of, I spotted Savoy-san at its side.

He guided us inside, told us to take it easy, and handed us the key.

Entering the room, I taught Merumo how to make the communication bags, and just when I stopped Merumo as she was taming the bugroaches, officials from the Merchant's Guild arrived.

They said a request for extermination had come from the castle.

It took until dusk, but it seems like the earticks properly did their job.

"That was faster than expected, huh?"

"Fufufu, it's because my eartick-chans are excellent."

Merumo puffed out her chest.

"Is Alfred-san there?"

When I left the room, I called out to Savoy.

"Are you already going to the castle?"

"Yeah, the request came."

"Understood. I'll make the preparations, so please wait a moment."

After waiting for a while, the sleepy Alfred came out.

We left so early in the morning, it seems he was taking a nap.

The castle is close, so without using the carriage, we walked towards it.

I only realized it now, but there are a lot of guards in Nokking Hill. The cotton sells well, so the military power was raised up, I suppose. There's already no cotton fields, so I wonder what these people will do.

"They most likely have reserves, so they'll probably be fine for a while. The Central Government could also take them. There will be a ton of work to do once the toll roads are completed, after all."

When I voiced my thoughts, Alfred responded.

When we arrived at the castle, we were guided to the front of the King's room immediately. Alfried-san is an official of the Central Government so he was going to guided to a different room, but he said, "I have to meet the King anyway," so he came with us.

"King-sama! Please open up!"

Guile was pounding on the room's door.

"Ah, Naoki-dono!"

"h.e.l.lo. Did the King raise a fuss about itchiness?"

"Yes. He seems to be writhing around, and just now there have been the sounds of something falling."

Merumo smiled. She had given the earticks orders to attack the person who opened the envelope.

"Then, can that be opened?"

I asked as I pointed at the door.

"Currently the guards are rus.h.i.+ng to bring the keys, so if you would wait a bit."

"Ah, no nee-d."

When I said so, I drew the unlocking magic circle while hiding it with my body, and the door opened.

It took the smoke-type insecticide out from the item bag, had it begin smoking, and tossed it inside.

It doesn't have much insecticidal strength, it's just smokey, but the effect works.

I shut the door, and after a while a man that seems to be the King came flying out of the room, his face and arms covered in red spots.

"Cough cough! Fire! Guile! My room is on fire!"

"There's no fire."

So saying, Guile took the King by the hand led him to a different room.

"Then I'll leave the after care to you guys."

I said to Alfred-san.

"Umu. I'll leave this here to you."

Alfred-san and Savoy followed the King.

Merumo and I entered the King's room, opened the window, and let the smoke outside.

Merumo tipped a jar over and called the earticks, and they entered the jar.

The earticks finished their job without even a scratch. Merumo put bread crusts into the jar as a their reward.

Lastly I used Cleanup on the room, and our job was done.

The guards with the key were standing in front of the door.

"This is an ointment type of recovery medicine. Please pa.s.s it to the King. I believe it will also be effective for itches."

I took the recovery ointment out of the item bag and handed it to the dumbfounded guards.

When I'd pa.s.sed by the Royal Guards, entering the pa.s.sageway, I remembered the matter about remuneration.

"Um- … the extermination fee is 3 silver coins, and the ointment fee is 1 gold coin…"

"Please wait a moment."

The guard ran further into the castle and returned right away.

"We will bring it tot he inn, so please wait for it at the inn."

"Roger. Thank you for your work."

"Th,thank you for your work as well."

Merumo and I headed towards the exit and left the castle immediately.

Leaving the castle, I went directly to the Merchant's Guild and took the job advertis.e.m.e.nt off the board.

"Oh, are you already done with that?"

The old lady employee ask.

"Yes, I earned enough at the castle."

"I see, I see. Our guild also had a request, though."

Just as the granny said, I can see masmascarl making nests in the attack rooms with the Search Skill.

"How about 3 copper coins for every creature? Merchant's price."

"Is that alright? Hold on, I need to ask my superior."

The granny went into the interior.

After that, I officially took a request from Nokking Hill's Merchant's Guild and went to exterminate masmascarl. Although it was work done in pa.s.sing, I did it properly and exterminated 48 masmascarl."

"Alright. That's 14 silver coins and 4 copper coins."

"Thanks for the business."

I received more unexpected income than I expected.

We returned to the inn, and while we were eating dinner in the dining hall, Savoy returned.

"Here is the remuneration."

"Ah, thank you very much. How were things?"

I received the remuneration from Savoy and asked.

"The matter with the ca.n.a.l was accepted, but it seems difficult for him to accept that the plantation was destroyed, so the discussions are not proceeding smoothly."

"Is that so?"

"In the end, Alfred-sama will argue him down. Ah, thank you for the recovery ointment. It was very effective."

"Ah, that's good."

"How long will Naoki-dono and company stay here?"

"We'll return to Gnomefield tomorrow morning. Please inform Alfred-san and Guile-san."

"Understood."

So saying, Savoy returned to the castle.

After Merumo and I ate our fill of a Nokking Hill dinner, we returned to our room.

In the room the two of us made two communication bags, then retired.

Before we slept, Merumo spoke up.

"Tomorrow, I wonder if the windmill will be done when we reach Gnomefield?"

"It might be…"

"Cynthisan, I wonder if she'll enter our company?"

"I wonder…"

I got some unexpected income, so I intended to go to Nokking Hill's brothels, but Merumo's question attack continued late into the night, and I succ.u.mbed to my sleepiness first.