h.e.l.lo (*・ω・)ﾉ

If you haven’t seen my post a few days ago, I moved to a new website. I’m not sure what to do with the other one so I’ll just leave it as is for now. Oh, and please let me know if you encounter any problems with the site since I don’t really know what I’m doing.

Anyway, this is the last chapter of this arc~ Only 25 (28 actually, including another R18 chapter) more to go before our MC gets blackmailed into becoming a demon lord.

P.S. I know I just launched the site and all but I will not be posting a chapter next week. I’ll be taking a break and sorting some personal stuff out.

Chapter 25: That time when I went to town for work

The end of the year festival had ended and it’s almost time for spring to come.

「Starting tomorrow, the school would be reopening once again」

Sensei announced that at the village square. Because of that, I decided to go to school.

We were told that we could graduate as early as two to three years but since I was exempted from mandatory attendance last year, I probably won’t be having any particular problems regarding that. I was thinking about that as I walked to our meeting place but Suzuran didn’t come as usual so I had to go and wake her up.

By the way, these skills increased during winter.
【Craftsmans.h.i.+p: 2】【Recovery Magic: 2】【Physical Augmentation: 2】

Craftsmans.h.i.+p’s level went up while I was creating gla.s.s beads and Physical Augmentation during my muscle training. I made a mistake and burned my hand while melting gla.s.s so when I used Recovery Magic at that time, its level increased. I’m not really sure why it went up though since there weren’t a lot of situations where I could use it.

A little after we arrived at school, the headmaster and the rest of the teachers entered out cla.s.sroom.

「Ahemー Since we have deemed that everyone has enough knowledge and ability that you won’t have any particular problems surviving, it would be alright for us to say that you will be joining the ranks of the adults starting tomorrow. Congratulations to everyone for graduating.
Did you do as I asked before we entered our winter break to ask your parents where you will work? If you haven’t then you should have that discussion with them and decide beforehand」

After saying that, all of them left the cla.s.sroom.
Oi oi, wasn’t that really simple for a graduation ceremony? I wasn’t asked to have that discussion you know? Suzuran-san? Why didn’t you properly inform me of that?

When I asked afterwards, 「hn?」 she just ended the conversation with that. Isn’t that a bit harsh?

I asked the three idiots who remained in cla.s.s and they told me that they were going to remain in the village. Their partners seem to be doing the same as well.
Huh? Does this mean I’m the only one who wants to go to town?

「So what will you guys do here in the village?」
「Ha? It has been decided that I’m going to work at the distillery warehouse you know? I was just doing odd jobs at first but got hired permanently because it seems like the headmaster is planning to increase the number of stills」
「I would be part of the patrols and defense in the area near the forest. Since my eyesight’s good, they’ve been planning to let me man the watchtower」
「My nose is good so I will be patrolling near the highwayー」

Oi oi, has everyone already made their decision? Am I the only one without a concrete plan? Someone who’s supposed to be almost forty inside is unemployed? Nononono, haven’t I already decided that I’m going to town to study skills that I’m lacking?
I would only be unemployed if my parents are against it.

「Because of how Suzuran is, I wasn’t able to discuss with my parents what I’ll do after graduation… I want to go to town but if my parents don’t approve of it I’d become unemployed」

Would ‘freeter‘ be a better word to use in this world?

「You’ll be fiine~ Even if they don’t let you go to town, because of the village’s growth, you’ll probably be given a job by the village chief’s side」
「Right. You can do anything that’s why you it probably won’t get to the point where you won’t have anything to do」
「Yeah, since Caam’s really clever」

Guys, why did you just tell me that while keeping eye contact like usual? This old man would get shy if you say something like that, you know?

For the time being, I tried speaking to my parents about that at dinner.

「You know, I just graduated but I won’t be working in the village. I’m going to town since I want to learn various things there」

When I said that,

「It’s your life. Do what you want, it doesn’t matter to me which plains you die. It’s just that if you do, Suzuran-chan would be sad, You should at least send letters periodically or come and show your face once in a while. I mean, it’s just a half a day walk right?」
「Wouldn’t it be fine as long as you get Suzuran-chan’s consent?」

This is a conversation about me so why do they keep on inserting Suzuran’s name in there? Well, it’s probably fine since we’ve already talked about during the harvest festival together with the dragonkin girls.
I was thinking of that while being overly optimistic.

「Meet once every 30 days」

So she wants us to meet once a month. I guess that should be expected since we really enjoyed ourselves a few times inside the unoccupied houses after the harvest festival.

「Okay, I will come back once every 30 days」

With that, my trip to town has been finalized.

「Well then, I’m off」
「Take care of your self」
「Your coming back once every thirty days, right?」

I placed my remodeled rucksack on my back while the machete and crowbar are at my waist. After placing the shovel I was holding over my shoulder, I began my departure.

Why are they treating this lightly even though I’m about to go work in town. Well, the town is only half a day away so it’s probably that.

The village chief was saying stuff like

「If Caam-kun isn’t here, what would we do about the village!」

Because of that, Wurst had to hold him down as I left for the highway.
It seems like the village chief’s already depending too much on me. After saying goodbye, I headed for town.

I already got the foundations down to an extent and I also have an understanding of how to build facilities so all that’s left is to improve it. I’m not really sure how long I’ll be staying in town but it should be at least three years. Since I would be working at that time, three years might just feel like three months or three weeks or even three days.

It was really peaceful along the way and the fields and ca.n.a.l that the village chief forcibly increased were still by the side of the road.
When we went to town two years ago, you could no longer see fields after leaving the village. If you think about it, magic sure is amazing.

I originally wanted to take a short break every hour but I increased my pace so that I can reach the gazebo at the halfway point since it’s almost noon anyway. For my lunch, Suzuran woke up unusually early in order to make me a bento that’s why I’m a bit excited.

To my surprise, I found a karaage bento when I opened it. Everything inside was light brown. It was just a few pieces of karaage and white bread though. You should have put vegetables in it too you know…… Moreover, the white bread wasn’t even sliced so there was nothing but light brown stuff in it.

I was able to reach Aegirine town somehow without even encountering a single wildlife or monster. In front of the town’s gate, there were people lining up so I went to the end of it to do the same. If I remember correctly, I’ll need to pay 5 large copper to enter the town.

「Next!」

I was called while I was thinking about that so I stepped forward.

「I’m Caam from Beryl Village. I have already entered this town two years ago」
「Ahー wait for a bit」

For some reason, he started checking on a few stacks of papers. Do they put all of the papers from neighboring villages together like that, I wonder.

「Ah, there it is. It doesn’t look like there are any discrepancies. Did you get a bit taller? What is the purpose of your stay?」
「I’m here for work. Once every thirty days, I’ll be going back to my village」
「Is that so? I’m sorry about this but you’ll have to pay 5 large copper each time you do that. Would that be okay?」
「Yeah. I don’t mind」
「Anyway, please report here once you found a place to settled down」
「Well, for the mean time, I’ll be staying at the inn that the Beryl village’s students used last time」

I pointed at the place as I said that.

「Ah, that place?」

He wrote something on the papers again after that.

「Go along now. Don’t cause any problems, okay?」

After replying, I headed towards the inn. There, a well-built oba-chan said,

「Welcome. Ara, are you from Beryl Village? I remembered you because of the color of your skin」
「Thanks for that time. This time, I came because I’m going to be working in this town. I’ll be troubling you for the time being while I’m searching for an apartment」
「Then, I’ll give you a discount if you stay for ten days」
「Hmー I want finish searching in less than ten days so, how much would it be just for a day?」
「A single room without meals is 3 large copper but if you’ll stay for ten days then it’ll just 2 large copper per night. Wouldn’t it be alright you just go for the ten-day contract for now and just change it to the one day contract if you manage to find one before the sixth day?」
「I guess that’s fine. I’ll go with that」

I left my luggage in my room and immediately went out to search for an apartment. For the time being, I tried asking guards who were by the guideposts on the main street.

「Excuse me. I just wanted to ask where I can find apartments in this town」
「Hm? Are you looking for those at the lower cla.s.s or middle cla.s.s districts? You don’t want those in the high-cla.s.s district, right?」
「Well, as a reference, please teach me the location of both the low and middle cla.s.s ones」
「In that case then the low-cla.s.s district is around the gate in the direction where the sun rises. As for middle cla.s.s, if you’re facing the direction where the sun rises, it’s the gate to the right of that」

So they’re by the east and south gates. Since the lower cla.s.s district is at the east, does that mean the high-cla.s.s district is at the west side?

「Thank you very much」
「By the way, it would be 5 silver for a thirty-day stay at the middle-cla.s.s apartments while it would be around 2 or 3 silver for the cheap ones」

After saying my thanks, I headed for a lower cla.s.s since I thought that would be enough for someone like me.

After walking for a bit, I found a few notable places and decided to have a meal before returning to the inn. The place was the restaurant where Suzuran relentlessly ate karaage.

「Welcome. Ahー, you were the one with the little missy who has a large appet.i.te」
「h.e.l.lo. Thank you for what you did during that time」

She led me to a vacant seat.

「I remembered you because of your skin color. You’re not together with that little missy this time?」

I feel like she just remembered me because I was with Suzuran.

「I was the only one who came here from the village to work」
「I see. So, want to eat karaage?」
「No since that girl made me a karaage bento for lunch. I’ll have the daily special.」
「That’s too bad. Today’s special is karaage, you know?」
「……well, just give me anything I can eat for 1 large copper coin」
「Sure thing」

The oba-chan smiled and headed towards the kitchen.

I returned to the inn after that. Nothing particularly interesting happened so I immediately went to sleep.

That day, I had a karaage filled nightmare…