Chapter 20
I couldn't really be blamed for not being able to look Mimino-san and Non-san straight in the eye when they came to the "men's room" the next morning, could I? Ignoring my embarrassment completely, Mimino-san...
"Hey, Reiji-kun! Try this out, y'know!"
As she said that, she grabbed my face and firmly turned it toward her.
Ah, this woman... She had untied her hair when she took her bath yesterday, but she'd braided all of it neatly again. How long must that take? And her skin had really been so smooth, too...
"Reiji-kun?"
"Nothing! What is this!?"
I had no time to sit around reminiscing! I mean, I remember it strangely clearly. Was it really that stimulating...? (The answer is YES.)
Mimino-san was holding a small jar. When I pulled out the cork, a smell like concentrated boiled grass wafted out.
"Ugh. What the hell is that? Don't bring weird crap out first thing in the morning."
"Shut up. It takes time, so if you've got a problem, get out of the room, y'know."
"Tch."
Raikira-san left the room while muttering, but I knew what was inside that jar—or, more precisely, 【All Creation】 had told me.
"Could it be hair dye...?"
"That's right! If you apply it to your hair, it won't be black anymore. Um... what do you think? Want to try it?"
She might think of my black hair as a symbol of who I am. Given that she'd gone to the trouble of braiding her own long, complicated hairstyle, she must care quite a bit about hair.
But in Japan, dyeing your hair was perfectly normal. I had actually wanted to try it, but then again, would that fit the kind of character I was? So if I could dye my hair here, then by all means...
"I'll do it!"
"Whoa. T-today, Reiji-kun seems unusually energetic, y'know...?"
"Mimino-san made it, didn't you? I'll definitely do it. Um, I have no attachment to black hair at all."
"Oh, really~? That's good, y'know."
Mimino-san hugged me tightly and patted my head affectionately. I wished she'd stop doing that in front of other people. I couldn't say that, though. There was also the question of whether it would be okay when no one else was around, but I'd think about that when the time came...
Thirty minutes later.
"—Whoa, it dyed beautifully, y'know~."
"D-does it look weird?"
"Not at all! It'll match mine, y'know!"
I was blonde. The hair was gold, with orange still remaining in the inner strands, making it brighter than Mimino-san's amber-colored hair. But when she called it "matching," I found myself wanting to say, "Yeah, we're matching!" Mimino-san's charm was terrifying.
Incidentally, this hair dye apparently required acidic water to manufacture. That was why it couldn't be made with 【Convenient Magic】, which generated fresh water; apparently, they had made it here, where acidic hot springs welled up.
"Hm. Not bad at all. With only your eyes remaining black, it doesn't stand out much."
"It gives you a very cheerful air."
Dantes and his daughter were both pleased with it.
When we left the inn, Raikira-san, who had been chewing grass on a bench outside, gave me a startled look for a moment. Then he sniffed and said, "You smell like medicinal herbs," before adding, "...Well, I guess it ain't bad." Couldn't this guy hold a conversation without prefacing it with an insult?
And so we walked through the capital of Duke Achenbach's territory.
There were already plenty of people passing one another along the morning streets.
The territory of Duke Achenbach lay in the northern part of the continent, so snow came down heavily during winter. Come to think of it, snow had fallen from the open sky into the Great Cavern at the mine's entrance, too. We went underground so quickly, and the temperature was comfortable once we were inside, so I hadn't paid much attention to it.
"The roofs are like that because of all the snow."
Dantes-san explained.
The roofs of the houses sloped sharply in one direction. It seemed to be a way of keeping snow from piling up.
Most of the stone houses were square, but some were shaped like cylinders, which made them fun to look at.
Buildings with shops had signs hanging beneath their eaves.
If it was an animal sign, that meant meat; scissors meant clothing; a jar meant... a jar?
"What does that jar sign mean?"
"Ah, that's an apothecary."
"Only proper shops registered with the Apothecary Guild are allowed to put up signs. I'm a registered member myself, so I'm allowed to open a shop, too."
Mimino-san said this with a little "ahem," puffing out her slight chest.
...I'd like to take a look inside.
"Huh? Hmm... well, all right."
Inside the apothecary, a refreshing, mint-like scent wafted through the air. Several jars sat on the shelves, each with a price tag and product name: "Wound Medicine," "Dewormer," "Heartburn Remedy," "Constipation Relief"... There were all sorts of things, and most cost one silver coin—roughly a thousand yen.
"You can't see what's inside."
Earthenware jars naturally didn't let light through. Come to think of it, I had hardly seen any glass products in this world. There were a few houses with what appeared to be glass windows, but for the most part, windows were wooden, and either open or closed.
"If you'd like to see inside, go ahead."
A kind-looking elderly woman behind the counter gave me permission. I took her up on it, popping open jar after jar and checking inside. Some had sweet, cloying smells, while others smelled so awful they nearly made my nose fall off.
(Raw materials, raw materials...)
I checked them one by one with 【All Creation】. Some were downright fraudulent medicines that didn't actually produce the effects advertised by their names.
"A virility drug."
...Thinking of the poor men who bought this in desperate hope left me feeling miserable. It wasn't a virility drug at all, but a mildly toxic drug that would only give them a little diarrhea...
In the end, I left the apothecary without finding what I was looking for.
"Man, that took forever. What were you doing in there for so long?"
Raikira-san, who disliked the smell, had waited outside. We regrouped and set out again for the Adventurer's Guild.
"What was it you wanted, Reiji-kun?"
"Ah, um... I was wondering if there was anything that could erase this tattoo."
"Ah~."
Mimino-san nodded as though she understood, but that had been a lie. Well, not a complete lie—I had thought about my tattoo a little, too. Thanks to my continued use of Yomogi-modoki, the tattoo's pattern seemed to have grown faint... or so it seemed.
What I was actually looking for was medicine effective against petrification—or rather, the ingredients for it.
According to 【All Creation】, gathering three ingredients would somehow be enough to cure it. Not through Healing Magic or Mystic Magic or anything like that.
"Mimino-san, do you know which apothecary has the best selection?"
"They're all stocked with the same things."
"—Huh?"
"As long as they're registered with the Apothecary Guild, they can only sell things the guild has approved, y'know~."
"Ah... I see..."
Since it was essentially a form of licensing, I supposed it couldn't be helped.
Buyers probably wanted to purchase things with clearly established effects, too... though this one didn't boost virility...
"...Reiji-kun, there are places elsewhere that sell materials for making medicine. Interested?"
"! I am!"
Mimino-san made the suggestion while I was lost in thought, and I immediately jumped at it.
She told me that we'd have free time after finishing the sale of our materials at the Adventurer's Guild, so we could go then.
Once that was decided, it was time for the Adventurer's Guild.
A staple of fantasy games and isekai-reincarnation novels: the Adventurer's Guild.
"Hm. The street's noisy..."
We bought sandwiches from a street stall in lieu of breakfast and asked for directions to the Adventurer's Guild. The inn was room-only—despite having a hot spring!—so it didn't provide breakfast.
The ham sandwich tasted wonderful to a growing boy like me, though I could have done without the overly sweet, jam-like spread. I was walking along, absorbed in eating it, when Dantes-san held up a hand to stop us.
The street was about as wide as a two-lane road, and we were about to enter a main avenue more than twice that width. It was bustling with activity.
"Those are domain soldiers, aren't they? Are they heading out?"
"Yes. Something's happened."
Raikira-san and Dantes-san, both a head taller than the other pedestrians, commented on the state of the main avenue.
"There are a great many of them. Easily more than a hundred... We probably can't cross the street, so we'll take a back road."
"What do you suppose happened, y'know?"
"Who knows? Maybe they found a gigantic bandit hideout, or there was a skirmish at the border... or perhaps..."
——A giant monster had appeared.
"!"
Those words jolted me.
The silhouette of the huge bird I'd seen at night after escaping the mine. If something had happened at the mine...?
There were as many as eight places in the world where Talent Gems could be mined.
Conversely, that meant that almost all the Talent Gems circulating throughout the world could only be obtained in those places. If one of them were lost, it would be a catastrophe.
(If it was only a revolt by the mining slaves, they could simply bring in new slaves or accept more adventurers... right? But mobilizing this many domain soldiers means that "bird" really is...)