Magic Warrior Chapter 77

Rest Day

The next morning.

Since they were still asleep, I opened the curtains a little and decided to spread out a map and an illustrated book on the table by the window to look up the monsters in the area.

"Good morning, Mina-sama. Claire-sama is still unusually asleep."

Clare didn't get up easily, perhaps because she was more tired than she thought.

Having lived in a town away from the village for the first time, would it be tiring to keep walking around from place to place at the request of others?

I tend to forget that she doesn't have the same high base stats as me or Rilfana because she rarely complains or acts selfishly. I should reflect on this.

And I don't want to overwork her, so maybe she could take a few days off.

It's been almost a week since we've been staying at the inn, so the paid accommodation will be up. We should probably decide whether to renew it or find a new place to stay.

"I'll leave it to you, Mina-sama, but I think it would be best to rent Reda-sama's house."

"Better than other houses?"

"Yes, I can trust Reda-sama, and since Claire-sama is a minor, I think renting a house would put you in a position similar to that of a guardian. And considering the rent, the room and garden are both incredibly spacious, so I think it would be easy to try out your production skills."

I see, so it's a pretty generous offer considering all that. Maybe she even took that into account when she made the offer.

"Oh no, I overslept!"

Suddenly, Clare sprang up.

"Good morning, Claire-sama. You're off today."

"Oh, that's right! Good morning, Rilfana-chan, Sis."

"Good morning. I'll tell you the details later, but Rilfana and I were talking about renting Reda-san's house after all."

"Hmm? Are we going to live in that big house?"

"If you don't mind, Clare. I just woke up, so let's have some breakfast first, and then we'll go to the request report."

"Yes!"

Clare still seemed a little groggy.

After washing her face and changing out of her nightclothes, she headed to the restaurant for breakfast.

Since I'm not going out of town today, I'll just wear my everyday clothes and hang my sword from my waist. I don't get the chance to wear my everyday clothes very often, so I have to take advantage of these kinds of occasions.

Clare was also wearing clothes she had bought in the town before. It didn't seem necessary in Gardia Town, but just in case, she had been given a dagger for self-defense, so she was wearing that.

Rilfana is wearing a maid outfit, so it doesn't look like she's changed, but it appears that she's wearing an unmodified maid outfit that she bought a few days ago. As she's been wearing it for nearly six months, the color of her usual maid outfit has faded due to sun exposure. I could tell at once that she was wearing something different.

◇

I took the materials to Fire Ant first, as I was responsible for accepting purchases for the guild.

Even though I left the inn slowly, it seemed to be still early in the morning so it's still empty.

The person in charge of accepting purchases was the older brother from the other day.

"Hey, you're here pretty early today."

"I was thinking of just reporting in and taking the day off."

"I see. At first, you don't know how to take care of yourself, so you should take more days off."

"For the request to 'defeat Fire Ants', please buy the remainder."

"Sure thing! You've really been hunting a lot... I'm starting to wonder whether you're really a beginner or not."

For some reason, I feel like the guy here is more useful as a kind of adventurer's wisdom bag than as a request-receiving place.

When I put down all the materials I had gathered along with my guild card, the guy was surprised.

"All these are fire ants? Some of them are broken, but that's okay, they still have their uses."

It appears that the crustaceans don't have to be whole. I wonder if I can get formic acid from them somehow? 

Maybe I should have brought some of the ones I smashed with Explosion.

"Did you find an ant nest? We can buy the fragments of the nest too."

"Even the nest?"

"Didn't you know? Sometimes ant nests are filled with honey that the ants have saved up. The amount you get depends on your luck, but it's difficult to get, so I think it sells surprisingly well for a D-Rank material."

Hmm, I didn't even know that was in the encyclopedia. I'll go and pick some off next time.

"Fire Ants are worth more when bought by request, so I've calculated two Fire Ants as a request. That's a total of 4 large silver coins and 3 small silver coins."

The lodging alone is a little less than three nights. It should be enough for a day's earnings.

I didn't pay much attention to it, but Fire Ant's request reward was 1 large silver coin and 3 small silver coins. Since it was for two Fire Ants, it was double that, so the Huge Ant alone was 1 large silver coin and 7 small silver coins. It appears that they are buying them at a reasonable price, probably because it is within the scope of D Rank requests.

If the rewards and the amount I get for selling materials continue to increase at this rate, I should be able to lead a stable life once I'm able to take on C Rank requests.

"Recently, there's been a shortage of ant materials, so I've had to raise the prices a little. ...OK, please accept the reward for the request at the reception desk."

"Thank you."

"It's my job!"

I guess that if I keep getting the same materials, the price will drop. This isn't a game, so there's no way it's a fixed price.

I thanked him and went to the reception desk to report that I had completed the request, just as I had done the last time. Including the delivery, I received 48 small silver coins.

If I can accumulate enough points from collecting requests and completing requests, I should be able to move up to C Rank. The number of points required for promotion is not publicly available, so I don't know for sure, but I've heard people in the guild talking about it being about a month if things go smoothly.

If that's true, I'd guess it would be about 10 times the average difficulty D Rank request. If you're SeveChro, that's about right for the beginning.

I cashed in three large silver coins after having all the proceeds from the sale of materials and the rewards for requests put into my card.

"I'll give you one large silver coin each this time."

"Is that okay?"

"If it keeps up like this, we'll probably end up in the black, so you can spend it as you like."

"Thanks, Sis."

"It's money that Clare worked hard to earn."

She was smiling as she looked at the money Clare had received.

It's a humbler job than the spider one, but I guess she has a stronger impression that she earned the money herself this time.

It's still in the red for accommodation and food expenses.

However, I realized that if I concentrated on D-Rank requests, I would probably be able to make a profit, and I think that giving them a little bit of money to spend as they please would motivate them.

"It's almost lunchtime, so after that I was thinking we could do whatever we wanted, is that okay?"

"What, big sister, do you want to do?"

"I don't have anything in particular, but I thought I might want to do something alone once in a while."

"Hmm... then maybe I'll go to the library?"

She didn't seem to have anything in particular she wanted to do, but the library would be perfect for her as she could read a book without worrying about the time or her surroundings.

After lunch.

"I want you to be back at the inn by the time the 2 o'clock bell rings. I'm going to do a bit of shopping and then go back to my room to read when the 1 o'clock bell rings."

"Okay. The library closes at a certain time, so I'll be back by then."

"I understand. I'll go to the church and then do some shopping."

This is the first time we've gone our separate ways outside the village.

I hadn't really looked properly at the shops on North Street, so I thought I'd go for a little walk, so I went with Clare to the roundabout and parted ways.

If I were the main character in a novel, I would probably use the time I had while my friends were away to save the town. But I really was going shopping.

I wandered around the shops on North Street and bought a loupe for appraising items at a store for adventurers.

I didn't forget it, I just thought it might be time to use it.

After that, I went out on the West Street and bought the second volume of the novel I bought at the bookstore I had stopped by earlier, on Rilfana's recommendation.

I had been reading it during my spare time in winter, but the ending left me wanting more.

The story is a classic tale of a self-made man, but I think it depicts the life of an adventurer quite realistically.

Come to think of it, I sometimes get looked at when I'm walking around by myself. But I can't call out to them, so am I that much of a country bumpkin...? 

Even though I've gotten used to it, it doesn't mean I don't mind. I decide to go back to the inn and continue reading.

On the way, I stopped at a general store to restock on pencils and paper.

"I'm back!"

As I was reading my book, Rilfana returned before the 2 o'clock bell rang. After praying at the church, she had apparently stopped by the bookshop and her usual clothes shop. It seems she bought a book on sewing.

It was a little after the 2 o'clock bell, so I looked out the window to see if Clare was coming home soon, and I saw her walking with someone. The person with her was Steve, the boy I had talked to, the other day.

It looked like he had come to drop Clare off, and he turned back in front of the inn, with Clare waving to him.

"I'm home, Sis. Thanks to your recommendation, I can now get into the library for free. Also, I met Steve while I was looking for a book."

"Welcome back."

"She said she's been able to make a lot of money by being able to tell medicinal herbs apart. She seems to be reading books on swordsmanship and practicing too. She asked me to give her regards to you and Rilfana-chan."

It appears that Steve is also studying hard as you advised.

After finishing dinner at the inn, they discuss whether to rent a room at Reda-san's house.

Clare also said it would be better to stay at a friend's house, so they decided to go and talk to Reda-san tomorrow.