by Hiro Ainana
Arisa responded cheerfully, so I left her to look after Ine and took the beastfolk girls with me to chase down and capture the men.
“Liza, Pochi, Tama, catch the guys who went that way.”
“Understood!”
“I’ll do my best, sir!”
“Me toooo!”
Pochi and Tama weaved through the crowd hot on the heels of the men shoving onlookers out of the way.
“Gotcha, sir!”
“Justiiice!”
Tama and Pochi pulled the men to the ground, and Liza pinned them with her foot.
After I confirmed this with a sideways glance, I slipped in front of the remaining men and struck them with the side of my hand without even turning around, knocking them out.
We brought our captives to the vice captain of the gatekeepers.
“Thank you for your assistance.”
“I was just helping out my friend’s daughter here.”
The guards helped me pull the logs from the wrecked carts away from the carriage.
“Ahhh… Ab, Seb… I’m sorry. It must have hurt. I’m sorryyy…”
Clinging to the two unmoving living armors with crushed torsos, Ine started sobbing again.
First, we had to assess the situation.
“Inenimaana, stop cryi—”
“You really think saying it like that will help a child stop crying?!” Arisa interrupted me harshly.
“I-I’m not—hic—a ch-child… Wehh…”
What with all the sobs and hiccups, Ine’s denial wasn’t very convincing.
“Inenimaana, try to settle down first. At the very least, we have to determine how many potions are intact and if the carriage can still move.”
“O-okay… I’ll have Gab and Rob take down the box so I can check.”
Her voice was still choked with tears, but Ine stopped crying and instructed the remaining living armors to gently lower to the ground the box that had contained the potion vials.
Working together to count, we learned that of the 300 vials, about 180 of them had broken and spilled their contents.
Pretending to check the broken vials, I snuck some of the intact vial bases and remaining potion in the box into Storage under the Witch folder. I recovered about forty of them.
Under the carriage, a nest of weeds had sprung up—probably the result of the 140 or so potions soaking into the ground there.
Despite its broken sides, the carriage could still move without a problem, so we decided to bring it to the city hall, where someone was waiting for the delivery. We could at least give them the intact potions and arrange for the rest to arrive at a later date.
I accompanied Ine to the city hall. I wasn’t heartless enough to make a kid I knew fend for herself.
Honestly, even if I’d never met her before, I doubted I could’ve left well enough alone in the face of such a desperate expression.
“Arisa, you come, too. I have some tasks for everyone else…”
I took Arisa to the city hall for her negotiating skills and asked the others to take care of a few errands to prepare to deal with the worst-case scenario.
“…I see. However, a pact is a pact. I’m afraid you’ll still have to deliver three hundred magic potions by sunset tonight.”
“But…”
In a room in the city hall, the viceroy’s silver-haired aide responded coldly to Ine’s explanation.
Incidentally, though the aide was sitting in a chair at his office desk, we had to stand while we explained the situation.
Knowing Arisa would have some choice words for the man’s cruel remarks, I clamped a hand over her mouth from behind.
While we’d been permitted to stand in the room as Ine’s attendants, we were forbidden to speak.
I had some thoughts on the aide’s response myself, but there was a strong sense of déjà vu about him.
Besides, I was concerned about another individual in the room with us.
Standing at an angle behind the aide with a derisive smirk was none other than our petty crook.
Why is this guy here?
Though he’d been wearing a threadbare civil official’s uniform last time I saw him, now he was sporting fancy aristocratic clothes. It didn’t suit him at all—more like a costume or something.
“Now, I’m very busy. If that is all, I’ll ask you to take your leave.”
Ine’s small shoulders trembled at the aide’s chilly voice. Arisa elbowed me in the side, prompting me to give the witch’s apprentice a hand.
Right. As an adult, I should probably step in here.
“If I could speak with you for a moment, please…”
“Silence, commoner! Attendants are to keep their mouths shut!”
I spoke up to request permission from the aide, but it was the crook who butted in to try to shut me down.
Ine flinched at the man’s shout. Arisa narrowed her eyes as if she wanted to say something, but I stopped her with a hand.
With guys like these, we’d already lost when we stepped into their court.
Back in my own world, the violent atmosphere might have frightened me. But here, where a bloodthirsty lizardman had threatened my life and I’d fought to the death with a greater hell demon, these guys were about as threatening to me as a yapping dog on a leash.
I ignored the crook and stared levelly at the aide, waiting for his answer.
> Title Acquired: Proud Dog-Tamer
> Title Acquired: Coolheaded Negotiator
A few new lines in my log promptly reflected my thoughts.
The aide raised a hand to silence the small-time crook, then jerked his chin my way to allow me to finish.
“One hundred and eighty of the potions were damaged in the incident—that’s more than half the batch. If we can acquire the other hundred and forty potions by some other means, would you accept the delivery as completed?”
In other words, I was gunning for permission to buy the rest of the potions somewhere in the city.
“That is unacceptable.”
After a moment of thought, the viceroy denied my proposal in an icy voice.
“This pact is between the count of Kuhanou and the witch of the Forest of Illusions. We can only accept the potions if they’ve been made by the witch herself.”
When I’d asked the old witch about the pact, she’d explained she had to send specially made potions, but I didn’t think that meant she needed to make them all herself. In fact, the potions listed Ine as their maker.
It was almost as if these guys wanted this delivery to fail so the pact would be broken…
…Wait, maybe it’s more than “almost” like that.
The aide brushed his long silvery hair behind his ear. It seemed to be a habit of his. Light from the window reflected off the silver strands.
That was lovely and all, but he was still a guy, so it did nothing for me. His long hair made him look like a character out of a classic manga for girls.
However, something about the movement rang a bell somewhere in my mind.
…Huh?
Between that and the smirk on the criminal’s face, I sensed I was on the verge of remembering something.
There was something familiar about the aide’s icy voice, too. Where in the world had I heard it before?
…Now I remember! These two are the former nobles I saw in the tavern!
In which case, that conversation was a lot more than just idle bragging. Were these guys planning to steal the old witch’s mana source and build a new city there?
I didn’t know if that was even possible, but for now it was probably best to assume that was their plan.
Similar things had happened back in my world, but I didn’t want to see it occur here.
And so I decided to use some of my skills, like “Fabrication” and “Negotiation,” to cross-examine the aide about the clause he’d seemingly added to the pact. “Judgment” skill, I’m counting on you, too!
“I do not believe there was any such provision in the pact. Would
you happen to know who added that clause, sir?”
“Why should a commoner like you know anything about the contents of the pact?”
“Madam Witch and I have worked together on occasion.”
In a heavy voice, like a crack forming in a glacier, the aide countered my question with one of his own.
Frankly, if you were going to ask that, you probably should’ve done it when I first came into the room as an attendant.
The aide stared at me in an attempt to read my true intentions, so I relied on the help of my “Poker Face” skill to fend him off.
Maintaining a bland smile, I activated “Coercion” for just a fraction of a second, causing the aide to recoil. A line of cold sweat trickled down his handsome face.
“…Very well. As long as the potions are of the same level as the witch’s, we will accept them.”
At this, Ine raised her drooping head a little.
But there was a small problem with the phrasing he’d used.
“Good sir, if I may, does this mean you will accept only goods of the same quality, or higher as well?”
“…Higher? Do you intend to empty your savings to purchase potions of higher than intermediate quality?”
I responded with only a sweet smile.
Unlike low-grade potions, intermediate potions were very limited in distribution. Even if we bought up every one available in Sedum City, we’d be lucky to get 20 percent of what we needed.
And the aide was sure to know this as well.
“Hmph. If you think you can gather enough, be my guest. I’ll accept any potions of equal or greater efficacy.”
Scowling, the aide tried to dismiss us.
But I wasn’t done yet.
I placed two sheets of paper on his desk and smoothly wrote out the conditions we’d agreed upon. This was an easy task, since I’d planned what to write in my networking tab’s memo field as we previously spoke.
Before long, I’d drawn up two copies of the document. Thanks to my “Penmanship” skill, the writing was so neat that I could barely believe I’d written it.
“I’ve recorded our agreement in writing. If you have no complaints, I would like you to stamp them with your seal of approval, if you please.”
Just as with an agreement between companies, I wasn’t about to accept a verbal contract. If it wasn’t recorded in writing, whoever had the most powerful position could easily win out after endless debate over what was or wasn’t said.
In this case, when the other party clearly didn’t want the agreement to be fulfilled, a contract was especially important.
“…In writing, you say?”
“Are you saying you can’t trust the words of a noble, commoner?!”
The small-time crook piped up again, but I ignored him.
Ultimately, my business here was with the aide.
“Sir, I understand you are quite busy. I am concerned that you may be otherwise engaged at the time of delivery, and if there is some miscommunication, an official may not be able to receive it. Now, I’m sure it’s far from your purpose for the appointed time to pass, thus breaking the pact. Correct?”
The aide was obviously intent on getting the pact broken, but in his position, there was no way he could confirm that.
With a pained look on his handsome features, the aide signed and sealed both documents, then placed them side by side to add tally seals.
I didn’t have a seal of my own, so I used Ine’s instead. Apparently, the old witch had given it to her. Once this mess is done with, I should probably make one for myself.
“I assume this will do. You may leave now.”
Stone-faced, the aide made sure to drive us away for good this time.
On our way out, I heard the crook exclaim, “Even if you can make the potions, good luck finding any vials to put them in!” Shortly after, the aide harshly told him off for saying too much.
…So that was the reason he’d been going on ahead of me and stocking up on vials. Doesn’t he have anything better to do?
With a livid Arisa and teary-eyed Ine, the three of us exited the city hall.
“All right, one hundred and eighty potions it is. The vials might pose a problem, but there’s plenty of time before sunset, so I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
“Weh? W-we’re going to make them?”
Ine chewed her lip. Behind her, Arisa had drawn a portrait of the aide in the dirt and was stomping on it vigorously.
The apprentice witch looked troubled at the prospect, but unfortunately, we didn’t have much of a choice.
After all, on top of the shortage of potions in the city, the available ones weren’t good enough to substitute for the witch’s high-quality brew.
“That’s right. I do have a hundred vials, although I’m not sure what to do about the other eighty.”
“But I’m sure there’s something we can do, right?”
“Yeah. Everyone else is running around the city searching for them even as we speak.”
Arisa looked to me with trust. It was a stark contrast with Ine’s palpable anxiety.
“Argh! So what if you have vials?! There’re only three chimes or so until sunset, you know! Those potions took a whole night to make in the cauldron. And the prep work before that took my mistress and me a whole month… There’s just no way!”
Ine gazed up at me in teary-eyed frustration, ready to start crying again at any second.
“It’s all right. Our master is a great cheater, so I’m sure he can take care of things.”
…I appreciate the show of faith, but could you find a better way to phrase that, please?
At that moment, Lulu returned with Tama and Pochi in tow.
“Master, we’ve finished checking.”
“Thanks. Any luck?”
“Well…”
The results Lulu reported were anything but favorable.
I’d sent them to find out if we could speed up the process of firing the vials—maybe bake another hundred while we were at it—but they couldn’t even take the first set out of the kiln until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
Next, Mia and Liza arrived from the market.
“Satou.”
“We have returned, Master.”
The baskets they carried were loaded with herbs and a vegetable that looked like spinach.
These were ingredients for magic potions. They’d been able to get only ten bundles of the main ingredient, blue mugwort, but they had nearly three times the amount of the other ingredients we’d need. I could just use the leftovers to make potions for our own use at a later date.
Lastly, Nana returned from the company.
“Delivering twenty-five vials for stamina recovery potions and twelve lesser-grade stamina recovery potions purchased from the company, I report.”
I checked the vials Nana had brought me. I’d had her buy the lesser-grade potions so that we could use the vials.
Since the witch’s magic potion was basically an improved version of the lesser-grade stamina recovery potions, the same vials would work. My “Analyze” skill told me the vials had a shorter shelf life than the ones from the old witch, but in this case, that shouldn’t be a problem.
If only we could use the vials from the pottery studio, we’d just need forty more, but there’s no use dwelling on that.
“I guess we really need to figure something out for the vials, huh?” I mumbled.
“Aaargh! Why don’t you get it?! It’s not the stupid bottles that’re the problem! Even if you had all the ingredients and vials in the world, it’d still be impossible!” Ine shrieked, on the verge of hysteria.
No, maybe not the verge. She was already distraught.
“Why is it impossible?”
“’Cos… ’Cos…”
In an attempt to calm her, I met Ine’s gaze and addressed her. Unable to properly form the words, Ine just kept stammering, “’Cos.”
To be honest, we should have started immediately, but I still had no
clue what to do about the vials.
I tried using the map to search the city for vials and stamina recovery potions, but even if we gathered every single one, we’d still be short over half of what we needed.
Most likely, the viceroy had requisitioned all of them before leaving to fight the kobolds in the silver mines.
There was a large number of vials in what appeared to be a noble’s mansion, but that was almost definitely the collection of the aide and his crooked sidekick. Borrowing from there would be a last resort.
“’Cos we… We don’t have enough magic. If we were near the mana source, we’d be able to recover it easily, but it won’t work here.”
“We’ll just have to drink potions for that as we go, then.”
I had plenty of completed MP recovery potions, not to mention materials to make even more.
“Blech… B-but they’re so bitter…”
Unable to stand her whining any longer, the puffbird, which had been sitting motionlessly on her head like a hat, screeched its strange “pou-kwee!” and pecked at her forehead.
“Ow, ow, owww!”
Ine shrieked in pain, but my kids were thrilled.
“Whoa! It’s not just a hat?”
“Master, permission to care for this spherical creature, I request.”
Arisa’s and Nana’s reactions caught my attention in particular. Of course, I dismissed Nana’s request.
This hair ball is the witch’s familiar, right? … I wonder…
“Inenimaana, is it possible to speak to your teacher through this little thing?”
“Um… y-yeah, you can… Why, are you gonna tell on me ’cos I failed?”
It was a childlike reaction, but since the Forest of Illusions’s fate was on the line, I figured it was important to contact the old witch to report the situation and obtain her guidance.
“That’s not it at all. I’d just like to ask her a few things.”
“… Yeah, okay. C’mere, Pou.”
So the puffbird was named after the weird sound it made, huh?
“ Call Yobidashi!”
Ine used a short spell, and the puffbird’s demeanor changed. It still made the same weird “pou-kwee” sound, but somehow with a deeply intellectual air.
“The mistress can hear you now. She can’t talk back, though.”