The Town of Mikhan (2)

  I treated the adventurer who’d mistakenly made a move against Wataru a drink at the guild’s bar.

  Getting back on topic after that though, we did more things in the adventurer guild.

  “Ah, now’s a good chance for us to look to see if there’s s delivery commission for the next town we’re heading to. We’ll accept just before we leave day after tomorrow.”


  “Huh? Why wait?”


  “Because we’d have to worry about the commission’s luggage otherwise. Besides, it’s not like we really need to take a commission if some other person takes it.”


  Oh, guess he’s right.

  Wondering what sort of commissions there were available, I went over to check the bulletin board. All of the good commissions were taken from the morning’s rush, but I figured I could still get the gist of what kind of commissions there generally were by the leftovers.

  … Hmm, tons of subjugation commissions. There weren’t many gathering commissions and almost all were for D-Rank and higher. What’s with the rest of the commissions, the ones for E-Rank and below, all being for in-town?

  “Tsuia usually has lots of medicinal herb gathering commissions for beginners, but since most of the surrounding area is used for farming, they’d all need to send people into the woods. Because of that, there are a good number of C-Rank and higher adventurers who have a good bit of experience here.”


  Wataru then went on to explain that rookies tended to either head to Tsuia for commissions or make due by fulfilling the in-town commissions here. There used to be another village nearby, but once Tsuia opened its lands for development, virtually everyone moved to Tsuia when it began to develop so quickly.

  Just then, the female receptionist came over to us holding a commission ticket.

  “U-Um, Wataru-sama? There is this commission I would absolutely love to use this opportunity for you to accept…”


  “Oh, what’s up? It’s fine with me if I can get it done in around a day, but… hmm, a subjugation commission? It looks easy enough. Kehma-san, want to give it a go with me?”


  “Can’t. I’ve got a bed with my name on it. It’s been calling for me, already told it sure. You should bring someone that wants to.”


  As an aside, I saw that the subjugation was for an elk bear when I took a peek at it. It’s basically a bear with elk horns on its head. The one for this commission was a lot bigger than usual and some C-Rank party had already failed to take it out or something. The reward was one gold coin.

  … Just go alone dude. Take Shikina if you really want.

  “Well, yeah. Gotta go, can’t keep my bed waiting—what inn do you recommend though?”


  “There’s one near here called [The Ripe Fruit Lodge]. That one should be good—oh, I’ll accept the commission. I’ll bring my co-participants later.”


  “O-Okay! Thank you!”


  Sent off by the receptionist bowing toward us, we exited the guild.

  We immediately joined back up with Rokuko and the others after leaving the guild.

  “Took you la while. Oh, want a veggie roll? We have some skewers too, lamb ones.”


  “… Sure. Don’t wander around too much, okay? It’s our first time here, we don’t know the area.”


  “Ichika and Roppu’s here, it’s fine. It’s not their first time here either.”


  Well, I guess everyone in Team Bacchus are well-versed in the area, plus Ichika was even a C-Rank adventurer before she became a slave.

  “I’ll be heading out to subjugate an elk bear, any of you want to come? Kehma-san passed, though.”


  “I’ll have te pass, gotta drink m’self sober.”


  “I’ll pass too, since I’ll be going with Gozoh. Wataru, you should join us when you’re done.”


  “I will go! I may not have beat that orc, but I should be good against a bear!”


  The only person form Team Bacchus heading out was Wataru, but Shikina wanted to go as well.

  “I’d like to look around town a little more. Kehma, want to come with me?”


  “Nope, the inn’s calling to me. I’ll be taking Meat, so bring Ichika with you.”


  “Aww…”


  With that, no one from our party would participate—


  “In that case, Meat, I’ll be Kehma’s pillow, so you go help out with the elk bear.”


  “… Goshujin-sama.”


  “Oh… Meat, you can go if you want to. It’s a good chance, so make sure to get a feel for the hero’s strength.”


  “Okay. I will, then.”


  “Guess I’ma just help the coachman with gettin’ provisions.”


  With that, our party decided to do things.

  Guess Meat wanted to go out for a hunt, judging by her tail wagging back and forth. But then her tail sank when she looked back to me.

  It’s okay, I’m not mad… go for it.

  “Looks like I’m Kehma’s pillow then!”


  “… Err, umm, it’s alright, you don’t need to. Rokuko, you said you wanted to go around town with Ichika and the others, right?”


  “Oh, well… I was just saying that as an excuse to go on a date with you, I don’t actually want to look around that much. So, umm, c-can I…?”


  Rokuko’s face was beat red as she spoke.

  … … …


  Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’d die the moment I stepped into the capital.

  “Hey, Wataru. What’re you grinning for?”


  “Oh? Nothing~. I just thought that I should tell Haku-sama about this.”


  “Do you want me to die!?”


  “It’s alright. You won’t die, you’ll just have more stuff to deal with.”


  I guess if it’s just ordinary work, it’s okay….? I really don’t want to do have to deal with something that tends to try separating my head from my body.

  “Huh? Kehma, ye and Rokuko weren’t married yet? I thought ye would’ve tied the knot ages ago?”


  “Like you’re in a place to talk, Gozoh? What about you and Roppu, huh? Oi.”


  “Oh, aye, how can I put it? The timing’s gotta be right. Yeh.”


  “Turning into B-Ranks would be great timing. Want to go with a Beddhism ceremony?”


  Gozoh tried to poke fun at me, so I did the same.

  “Kehma, what does a Beddhism ceremony entail? We’ll need to prepare, right?”


  “… I’ll think about it.”


  With a grand self-detonation.

  Rokuko really did come to my room on the next morning, so I got a bit worried. Nothing came of the pillow thing though, thankfully.

  I mean, I said OK since she just asked [Can I stay in your room?] without mentioning anything about being my hug pillow.

  She probably won’t do anything weird in my room while I sleep… (faraway look)

  *

  Now then, after catching up on sleep and a bit extra for the trip by sleeping the whole day, it was finally time for us to leave Mikhan.

  I didn’t really get enough sleep to be honest, but I was able to use my futon I brought and Meat as my hug pillow after she got back from hunting the elk bear, so I did at least manage to recover a little bit thanks to it being so much closer to my usual sleeping accommodations.

  By the way, the dinner we had on the second day was a giant bear hot pot. Man did that fresh bear meat have a wild flavor to it!

  “Oh yeah, is it alright that we didn’t greet Mikhan’s lord?”


  “I don’t really know the lord here, so it doesn’t matter much.”


  According to him, since we used the aristocrat entrance and reported our arrival to the guild, they were definitely informed. Since they didn’t approach us themselves, we didn’t need to bother.

  He also said that there were times that you should greet go to greet them yourself even if you weren’t summoned for if you were a lower rank. We were using the Tsuia family’s crest currently, so we didn’t need to. Well, to sum it up, aristocrats are troublesome.

  “Alright then, everyone ready? Anything you all forget? It’ll be three days until we reach the next town. We’re using a safe route this time, and Kehma-san, it even has inns on the way.”


  “Oh, it’s alright even if there aren’t… huh? Wait, did you just say this time?”


  “Ah—coachman, let’s head out.”


  “Hey, Wataru. Hey. Are you saying there was a route from Tsuia where we wouldn’t have had to sleep outside?”


  As a result of me saying that, I found out that the more commonly used route was much more safe than the direct route, the one that went along the side of [Hell Forest], the forest I’d been staring at off to the right side the entire time. It would’ve made the trip take more than twice as long, but still…


  I knew monsters that’d need a C-Rank group of adventurers to defeat appearing along that route was strange!