One week after leaving the Temple of the Creator God.
After leaving Deus and inside the temple, I was moving to a nearby human town, as a first step before heading to my destination, the country.
The reason why I left Deus behind was simply because I didn’t have enough space for him to ride on the back of Momiji.
There is no need for all of us to move together as long we can move through the door to the Temple of the Creator.
Therefore, Momiji and I are essential, all that was left was for the giant cavalry mode to carry me on her back.
Besides, it’s far away.
According to the app, it would take more than a month to get to the country where the situation is unstable, and it’s even further away than where the Galhart territory was originally located.
It was also a bit of a hassle to get there from the elven village.
So the first thing we looked at was a country on the path, a place where a new human hero was said to be born in this era.
Of course, the source of this information was the app logs.
I’m not sure if this is a new thing, but there is a clear difference between “hero” and [Hero] in this world, although the words are similar.
The term “hero” in its broadest sense naturally includes great men and heroes, but in its narrowest sense it refers to the species from which the human race evolved.
It’s kind of like how Elf evolved to High Elf.
On the other hand, [Hero] refers to the occupations distributed to humans by the world system, and sometimes the heroes of the human race are [Hero], and sometimes the orphans of the slums are [Hero].
There is only one so-called High Rangking Occupations in the world, and it is passed on to the next generation, so it can be interpreted that there is always one somewhere.
In this regard, there are many cases where [Hero] of the human race do not exist, so in terms of rarity, they are actually more rare than “heroes”.
In addition to being rare, their combat power is on par with, or perhaps better than Mizzet, who is awakening as a “hero”.
Unfortunately, even though Mizzet is a hero in terms of her abilities, but she hasn’t evolved into a species yet due to a lack of triggers.
This is something to look forward to in the future.
“What are you looking at me like?”
“No, I just thought that Midget should be able to evolve into a species by now.”
I’m not sure if my words upset her or not, but she puffed up her cheeks and turned his face away.
She probably felt frustrated by the fact that she could not seem to reach something.
“What’s the big deal about humans evolving at every turn? I’ve already gained two tails, you know?”
Momiji proudly holds her tail in her hands, but it’s not the right thing to do, since this thing evolves on its own as long as it eats, sleeps and plays.
In the case of this NEET youkai, it would be more accurate to say that she is growing rather than evolving.
Well, let’s leave heroes and such aside for the time being.
I’d like to start gathering some information for a neighboring country where the situation is unstable, and if I had the chance, I’d like to get some information on heroes, but in this world right now, there’s not much we can do as unemployed people with no fixed address.
And so we moved on, chattering about such things as we entered the town and made our way to the adventurer’s guild, which still exists as it did a thousand years ago.
At any rate, you can’t move around without proof of your identity first.
This time, I had no choice but to sell the medicinal herbs I had gathered in the area to earn the toll.
In these human cities, there are usually vendors operating outside the city walls who open stalls, so it’s not impossible to get some cash through them.
It’s really not an occupation I chose for herbs, but it’s nice that I chose to be an alchemist to learn how to appraise them in the past.
I’ve gathered a certain amount of bundles just by continuing to appraise the grassy areas along the way.
“Woah! This is amazing, young master. Every single one of these bundles is a medicinal herb. When an amateur takes on a guild’s commission for a few pennies, about half of them end up as mere weeds, though. So, young master, you’re a clever man, aren’t you? For now, let’s say this bundle is worth three silver coins in total.”
“Thanks you.”
When I spoke to the vendor who had opened the stall, he started to talk very fast.
Well, three silver coins is enough to pay for the passage of four people, but he’s a really energetic merchant.
I wanted to tell him that it was your sales talk that was so good.
I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t even negotiate with him, which seemed to be his way of doing things. And what tugged at his heartstrings, the old vendor seemed even more enthused and started talking again.
“But still, young master. At this time of age, you’re gathering herbs without even going through the adventurer’s guild, and you’ve got a slave beastman and a knight girl in your service. Oh, oh. That is not fortuitous. So you’re a nobleman in disguise, a skilled warrior in a guise, aren’t you? I’ve been doing peddling as a hobby for quite a while now. I have my own store in this town, you see? I’m a successful merchant, despite my appearance.”
“I see. ……. Well, then, I’ll take this.”
Just as I was about to walk away from what seemed to be a continuation of the stinky sales talk, the vendor who had set up store came around at an unbelievable speed.
Damn, he’s so agile for such an obese figure!
I’ll admit that I was caught off guard, but the options for action are beyond my expectations, this old man.
“Aaah, there’s no need to hurry, young master…… No, time is money, but I have important business with you here. If my eyes and intuition are correct, you are now interested in the heroes of this town, aren’t you? It is also gathering information at the same time as it is making its way to the neighboring country. How about ……? Doesn’t it hit the spot?”
Whoa!
This old man is amazing!
The way he snapped his glasses at the end of the sentence was strangely accurate and well thought out.
Of course, this is just one of my goals in this town, not the big problem I’m facing right now, but I’m impressed with your thinking.
You are indeed a self-proclaimed successful merchant.
But now that I know that, what is this old man going to offer me?
That’s the question.
“Yes, yes. I know, I know. Now that you’ve come this far, the rest is my proposal …… By the way, this is who I am.”
“Oh?”
When I said that, the old peddler took out a certificate with a fine seal from his bag and showed it to me.
The certificate read, “Royal Merchant: Rand Ygrin,” and a note that said, “Handling Products: War.”
Oh, I see.
If it’s a royal merchant, then he’s probably a big merchant with direct ties to the royal family.
The old man, a fake peddler or a big merchant who saw through our abilities, approached us as a card to play against a neighboring country where the situation was unstable and war could start at any time.
Now I understand why he was surprisingly agile. Perhaps this old man himself is quite a warrior despite his appearance.
I was caught in a nasty situation.
But this was also an opportunity, I thought at the time.
