Chapter 22
"Tch, what the hell was that guy's problem?"
We came around to the back of the guild building. This area served as a warehouse, where they apparently weighed and appraised materials. We were selling the Charcoal Wolf pelts, along with the rare medicinal herbs Mimino-san and I had gathered.
In the end, I wasn't able to register as an adventurer.
"Heh, you ran into the deputy guildmaster, did you, beastman? That sure is bad luck."
The person who took the pelts was a young man missing his left arm.
"Was that guy the deputy guildmaster? He was downright unpleasant."
"The deputy guildmaster hates anyone who isn't human, you see... Oh, these were skinned beautifully."
The young man examined the Charcoal Wolf pelts, clearly impressed.
"Of course they are. I took them down proper, and old man Dantes did a fine job preparing them."
"Hmm. I wish all the materials people turned in were this good. I'd put them at five silver coins apiece. Six of them makes thirty silver coins."
"Hey, come on! Five silver coins for pelts this good? No way!"
"Charcoal Wolves aren't popular. They're the most hated creatures in the forest, after all... I'm already giving you a premium price. If you don't believe me, go check the market."
"Urgh..."
"That price is fine. We'll take five silver coins each."
Dantes-san came over from the side, and the price was settled.
After taking the time to skin them, prepare the pelts, and transport them all the way here, five silver coins... At about five thousand yen, that really was cheap.
"For us, it was just something we did along the way."
"But still..."
"You just need to hunt something that sells for more. Like a Hamadara Bird."
"What!?"
A Hamadara Bird? That was the thing Raikira-san had gone into the forest to "bring back," only to return empty-handed.
"Ooh, a Hamadara Bird would fetch at least a large silver coin! Bring one next time, beastman."
"What!? A large silver coin!?"
"...Well, try harder next time, Raikira."
Dantes-san patted Raikira-san on the shoulder. Incidentally, a large silver coin was worth about ten thousand yen.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Where are the medicinal herbs?"
A man with a little mustache came over. Apparently, he was the one who appraised herbs.
"Goodness, that's quite a quantity. Hmm, Thorn Green Grass, used in wound medicine... And this is Crescent Moon Grass, used as a dewormer. And this one is...?"
"It's the root of a herb that helps the liver function."
The herb I had gathered myself was one 【All Creation】 had told me about.
Its leaves had jagged edges, and its stem was dotted with red spots. It looked vaguely poisonous, but its root was thick. I demonstrated how to wash the root thoroughly, chop it up, and draw out its essence in hot water to make liver medicine—and when he said, "If it's nontoxic, try drinking it," I did. The yellow liquid was bitter and tasted awful.
"Hmm, so this is it...?"
"I don't know it either, but I suppose it must have been used as medicine in Reiji-kun's homeland."
"Even a Halfling apothecary doesn't know it?"
It seemed that Mimino-san—or rather, halflings—were a race famous for being apothecaries. When she showed him her Apothecary Guild registration certificate, the mustached man changed his attitude quite blatantly.
But this time, that worked against us. If Mimino-san didn't know about it, he seemed to think my knowledge was dubious at best.
"I'm afraid we can't buy it."
"Ehh..."
I'd expected that, but Mimino-san had warned me, too, saying, "They might not buy it, you know."
Still, it was disappointing. I'd gone to the trouble of boiling water and making the medicine.
"Its effects aren't sufficiently reliable. And, for that matter, what exactly is a liver?"
That was what he was hung up on?
"Well... simply put, it's effective against hangovers."
"What did you say!?"
He latched onto it immediately.
"For hangovers... I see..."
He was really giving it a lot of thought.
"...Hey, go around back and bring that deadweight here."
"Sure."
The mustached man sent the young man handling the pelts around back, and after a while the young man returned with an unshaven man whose feet were wobbling beneath him.
"This guy's an Adventurer's Guild employee because he's the deputy guildmaster's nephew, but as you can see, he's completely useless."
"Wheee~"
"He's a lightweight, but he drinks every night..."
He was the very picture of a deadbeat.
"Let's have him drink this medicinal brew. If it works, I can't sell it to the Apothecary Guild, but I'll buy it personally—to get this deadweight working."
"Uh, right..."
And just like that, an experiment on a human subject began.
The useless guy protested, "Ughhh, it's awful~~," but everyone ignored him and forced the brew down him anyway. The way they treated the poor deadweight...
By the time we'd finished selling our goods, Non-san was just coming out of the guild building, too.
"The pelts didn't fetch much, but Mimino's herbs sold for a good price as usual."
Dantes-san reported this to Non-san.
That's right: all the many herbs Mimino-san had gathered were purchased, and because of their good quality, they sold for four small gold coins—about two hundred thousand yen. Herbs fetched high prices because even a small amount could produce a large quantity of medicine, and gathering them was dangerous—for instance, hungry wolves might be lurking in the forest.
"You can't cultivate medicinal herbs, after all."
Mimino-san explained. Naturally, people had researched cultivating medicinal herbs, but apparently they hadn't had any good results so far. I checked with 【All Creation】, too, and it seemed they needed a certain concentration of magic power in both the air and the soil...? I had no idea what "magic power concentration" even meant, but it was probably similar to the magic power that came out of Mimino-san's body when she used magic, so there must be magic power in the air and soil, too. I think.
"How did it go on your end, Non?"
"Yes. I had them write one for us."
There was a reason Non-san had stayed behind at the guild by herself. Duke Achenbach's domain lay on the federation's border and was connected to its neighboring country, the Kingdom of the Knights of Light. To cross the border, an Adventurer's Guild registration card alone wasn't enough; we needed a letter of recommendation from the guild.
"He really wrote it for you? Was it that deputy guildmaster?"
"Heh heh heh. I carefully informed him that writing it would be in his best interest, and he was kind enough to oblige."
"..."
Non-san was smiling, but not with her eyes. The phrase "carefully informed" practically demanded the reading "threatened," but I decided not to say anything unnecessary. I kept my mouth shut. She looked the gentlest of all and was a nun, yet Non-san was by far the scariest...
"Then Non and I will go shopping. Mimino, you're going to the market with Reiji, right?" "Yeah."
"Oh, really?"
"We're going to look at herbs, right?"
"Ah."
So there were herbs at the market that the Apothecary Guild didn't carry.
"I'm going!"
"All right—Reiji, come here a second."
Dantes-san called me over, put an arm around my shoulders, and whispered to me.
Then he pressed a small leather pouch into my hands.
"Here's some pocket money. Take it."
"Huh!? B-but—"
"There's something you want, isn't there?"
"Ah..."
He must have meant what we'd talked about last night. I gratefully accepted it.
"Good. Then don't let Reiji out of your sight, Mimino."
"I know, I know."
"What are you going to do, Raikira?"
"..."
"Raikira?"
"Hmm? Oh, right... I'll go back to the inn and take a nap or something."
"It's still morning."
"Don't sweat the small stuff. See ya."
Raikira-san waved his hand and went back. ...Was something off about him? Nothing had seemed wrong until just a moment ago, and ever since we'd met up with Non-san, he'd done nothing but stare down the main street...
"Reiji-kun, let's go."
"Ah, yes!"
Mimino-san led me toward the market.