Candidate Site Visit (2)
The next day, we left Shinana Village and headed to the candidate site.
Here too, it was mostly covered in grass, and the Great Forest was visible in the distance. It seemed that today, we would be splitting up again.
Atre, Brother Gerald, Ripka, and I followed Raul into the forest.
The knights accompanying us were the same four from the dungeon: Meyer, Wilson, Hamilton, and Kamuela.
This area was mostly untouched, so no one knew what might be here.
Well, since we’d always encountered horned rabbits or cocottes between the fort and the square, it made sense that they hadn’t been able to reach this far.
The first monster we encountered in the forest was an F-rank beast called a “Goosh,” which resembled a sheep.
Its wool was much harder than it looked, and it had spiral-shaped horns. The meat tasted similar to lamb, and the spiral horns could be used as arrowheads, but the wool was useless. Also, its charging power was strong enough to send a person flying.
Raul punched the Goosh in the face with his bare hands, and once it collapsed to the ground, he smoothly beheaded it with a sword that had chips all over the blade.
Raul carried a magic bag given to him by the noble beastkin lady. Since he was also gathering food for his group, he had priority in the hunts. We could observe his fighting style this way too.
As we proceeded deeper, all we found were more Gooshes and Black Wolves.
The E-rank Black Wolves had jet-black fur—while not as prized as Silver Wolves, their pelts were still popular. However, the meat was inedible. It could be processed into something like dog food and used as livestock feed.
Encountering a Black Wolf in the dense forest during the day when there was still a faint trace of sunlight was fine, but at night, when all you could see were their glowing eyes, it was quite eerie—I’d rather avoid that.
When Raul heard that the pelts and meat of Black Wolves could be sold, he began hunting them carefully.
Instead of beheading them with a sword, he broke their necks with his bare hands—probably to keep blood off the fur. His strength was incredible.
Just as we were talking about heading back, we ran into three orcs.
Raul, Brother Gerald, and Hamilton defeated them with their swords. Since Raul was with us, we refrained from using magic. So I just observed.
We decided to camp here overnight, then stop by Shinana Village tomorrow and stay there for a night to rest the horses.
When we arrived at Shinana Village, Canal and the Golden Wings had come.
I met Canal’s father, Nat Bogartz, for the first time and greeted him.
“My son is always in your care. Thank you very much for being friends with Canal despite the difference in status, and also for helping Shinana Village.” He said, bowing his head.
“I also enjoy it—Canal was the first person my age I could really connect with.”
When I asked Canal, he said they came to deliver seasonings and other requested goods to Shinana Village as part of their monthly visit.
“Mr. Nat, do you have any leftover seasonings or other stock? Also, do you buy Black Wolf pelts?”
“I brought extra, so yes, I have them. As for pelts, I can buy them, but since we don’t charge a commission, you might get a better price if you take them directly to the Adventurers’ Guild.”
I called Saphid and Raul over and introduced them to Mr. Nat.
He was surprised, but Mr. Nat, being a merchant, introduced himself without issue.
“Mr. Nat is a merchant who visits Shinana Village once a month. He has seasoning stock and such. While you could get more money by selling directly to the guild, why not sell the Black Wolf pelts to him here and use the money to buy the goods you want now?” I suggested.
We went with Mr. Nat to look at his wares.
“Reinhardt, who are they?” Canal asked, so I explained that they were beastkin considering moving to this territory.
The next day, we left Shinana Village, but Saphid’s group returned to the domain capital with Mr. Nat and the others.
Apparently, they asked Mr. Nat if he would be willing to sell seasonings and other goods to them monthly if they lived near Shinana Village.
Mr. Nat said he could sell, but going to a new village would be difficult due to security concerns.
So they asked if he would come if they provided escort. Mr. Nat responded that if they could provide round-trip security from the domain capital via Shinana Village to the new village, he’d consider it—but he couldn’t offer a high escort fee.
Right now, the Golden Wings were handling the monthly escort, but it seemed they were doing it for much less than the standard rate for a B-rank adventurer group. Mr. Nat had been thinking that he couldn’t keep relying on them forever.
The Golden Wings were aiming for A-rank, so ongoing escort duty would likely become a burden.
So I suggested that, at least until the beastkin people got used to things, Mr. Nat could accompany them to the Adventurers’ Guild and help with shopping.
If shopping was too difficult, he could do the buying, and they could use the funds from converting materials at the guild.
Saphid’s group said they wanted to accompany Mr. Nat and the others to see if they could handle escort duty.
Also, it seemed there was a delivery of straw paper from Shinana Village, so they were coming to the estate with Mr. Nat.
Since Saphid’s group didn’t have identification for entering the domain capital, knights would be on standby at the gate.
Because we’d be returning quickly, Father would notify the guards ahead of time.
“Father, why did you recommend the area next to Shinana Village?”
“Considering the beastkin’s combat ability, I thought land near the forest would suit them. Shinana Village was a coincidence. Whether they choose to live cooperatively with us humans, or just maintain minimum contact, is up to them.”
We received a report that Saphid’s group had returned safely.
Tomorrow, the knights will accompany them to the Adventurers’ Guild for adventurer registration and monster material selling.
The day after that, we’ll head to the World Tree.
What do you think about this chapter?
