The Slave and The Pack

I woke up with the sound of the bell. I felt like I had been living a very healthy life since I came to this world. I woke up at 6am and went to bed a little after sunset. Or maybe I started living like an old man.

I planned to visit the blacksmith's store tomorrow, so I decided to look for herbs today. The amount of money I had at present only gave me 2 more days of accommodation. So I couldn't relax too much, or I wouldn't have a place to sleep.

But, before that, I had to grab something to eat first.

Just like yesterday, I went to the restaurant and showed them my key.

「Welcome! 」

The owner's energy was as high as ever…It would have been nice if I came here on a day where my energy was high too…Well, I woke up thanks to the owner. This energy was so overwhelming that dissipated my drowsiness with its awakening power! The owner gave me the menu forcefully like yesterday.

「Which meal will you choose today!? 」

So much pressure! I didn't want this fella to talk with me right now. However, the meals here were good, and so were the prices.

「I want the Orc set meal, please. 」

I said that while presenting two bronze coins. The Orc set meal was 80 Tael. This meal also had a straightforward name. Well, it was better than having a weird name that I wouldn't understand.

In my world, I heard people say "Millerighe alla Panna con i broccoli" in a menu at an Italian restaurant. I didn't know what it was obviously. In fact, I only knew that the dish had broccoli in it. While in this dish, the main ingredient was Orc. I knew that orcs were humanoid beings. Well, not pretty humanoid beings. They were actually monsters. I wondered if the orcs of this world were monsters too.

「Ohh! 」

A waiter brought the dish. It was grilled meat with bread on the side. It was the same bread as yesterday.

Since I came to this restaurant, I would say upon seeing the dish "it came already", "fast", "it came", "the food really came this fast". I wondered how they cook this fast. The difference between Earth and this otherworldly world was too much.

After being a little too flabbergasted, I silently ate the meal. Since I left Planet Earth, I heard nobody say "Itadakisamu"*. Perhaps, it was only a habit of my world. Anyway, I ate by myself, so it was pointless to worry about that for now…

It was delicious again. Compared to the Gargon meat, the Orc meat was lighter but the amount was larger. That explained the difference in 10 Tael.

When I finished eating, I thought about buying a lunch box for today's lunch, but I remembered the existence of the item box and decided to buy a large amount to have as reserve.

「I would like to buy about 10 sandwiches for lunch. Is that okay? 」

「For the item box, I see! I didn't prepare that much for today, so is tomorrow okay for you!? If you truly want them right now, I can still make them but it will take some time, so what do you prefer!?」

「Then I'd like 10 sandwiches for tomorrow, and one for today. I'll pay them all now.」

I offered a silver coin after saying those words.

「Okay! Leave it to me! 」

I received 1 piece of bread and 45 bronze coins. I put them in the item box, and I left the restaurant.

Today, I was going straight to the forest to collect medicinal herbs instead of going to the Guild first.

The town in the morning felt different from the one in the evening. Various stores were preparing to open. I didn't find any special type of store. There were restaurants, groceries, butchers, clothing stores, among others. I didn't see anything unusual in the groceries, but there were many monster meats in the butcher shops. Did they purchase directly from the Guild? On the other hand, I couldn't find any ordinary meat. Green Wolf, Orc, Gargon, Goblins, among other monster meats.

Eh, they ate goblins too!? Well, like orcs, goblins were humanoid beings, but I always thought that goblins were kind of filthy…Maybe they were different from the ones I saw in games on Planet Earth. Goblin meat was the cheapest, and it was about 20% cheaper than Green Wolf meat. Orc and Gargon were nearly double the price of Green Wolf. The rank of request was also high. The supply was probably low.

I had the burnt corpse of a Green Wolf in the item box. But, was it edible? I did not feel like eating it, but I did not feel like selling it either, so I left it alone for the time being. To be honest, I would be grateful if the day to eat it would never come.

The clothing stores were not so different from Japan. The only difference in the clothes themselves was that they sewed the clothes manually instead of using a sewing machine.

However, many of the clothes on sale were used clothes, and it seemed they made new clothes by order. Mysteriously, no matter what you used in this world, the clothes wouldn't get dirty no matter what. If the clothes got muddy, it seemed that one could easily clean it just by soaking it in water. For this reason, many people just wore one piece of clothing all the time, and the reuse of used clothing was quite popular.

However, the torn cloth or damaged fiber didn't seem to be repaired automatically. In addition, if some clothes were used for a long time, they would become worn-out or frayed to some extent. It seemed that the clothing stores bought these clothes and repaired them somehow. And then, they were sold as cheaper secondhand clothes or used as materials such as luggage bags.

The capacity of my item box right now was far from being full (I hardly used it). However, if the initial MP and capacity were related in a way, then the capacity of my Item Box would be extremely large. If that was the case, then I wouldn't need any luggage bag.

While walking, I casually appraised the store assistant of a large butcher shop, and discovered a new fact.

—

Name: Minier

Age / Race / Gender: 15 / Human (slave) / Female

Level: 5

HP: 27/27

MP: 8/8

STR: 7

INT: 4

AGI: 7

DEX: 8

Skills: Life Magic

—

A slave, huh. When I appraised the passers-by in the previous evening, I didn't see any slaves even though I appraised a considerable number of people. The status did not seem to be so bad, and she didn't wear a collar. At first glance, she didn't look like a slave.

But, was there a slave system in this world? Well, I did not intend to buy slaves, nor did I have the money to buy them. In fact, I didn't how much the slaves would cost, but the storekeepers of small stores were ordinary people. So they were probably not that cheap. It was a human after all, so it had maintenance costs. It may be cheaper to feed a dog and let it work 24/7, but if you used human slaves, of course one wouldn't do that. In the medium to long term, slaves may get sick and it could cost more.

I was walking while thinking about that. But, when I got to the gate, I stopped thinking about it, tightened my mind, and went outside. I was much earlier today than yesterday, so I expected good results by the end of the day.

Yesterday, I walked around too much at first before collecting several medicinal herbs (Zunana grass). But today I wanted to collect them in a short run. I shall aim for 400!

I took a short run to the place where the ▼ mark of the Zunana grass was. I bent down quickly; picked the Zunana grass from the root, and then I stored the Zunana grass in the item box. I stood up immediately and started running again. It only took me 3 seconds this time!

I used my agility to collect several Zunana grass. I didn't take a break, except for eating lunch at noon. I continued to collect medicinal herbs without showing a tired appearance. I was very focused on collecting medicinal herbs.

I finally noticed the dim light of the sky. It seemed that the sun went down and it got a little dark. I went to the depths of the forest to pick the medicinal herbs. It could be dangerous at dark, so I decided to hurry back home.

The forest at dusk was quite creepy, unlike during daytime. The trees made the surroundings darker and the visibility became quite poor. I felt as if a monster was about to pop out from a strange place. I didn't want to stay long. Or rather, I wanted to go home before it got darker.

I equipped myself with the shield to be just in case. Then I hurried up and started running along the smooth slope. I kept running, but I didn't feel tired at all. Maybe the Material Arts Qualities skill was the reason for this long stamina.

However, a pack of green dogs jumped out of nowhere while I was running and attacked me!

「Grrrrrrrrrr… Grrrrrrrrrr… Grrrrrrrrrr… 」

I saw five of them. I wondered whether it was because of the night, or because of the large pack, but one of them jumped at me immediately unlike the last time I encountered a green dog. However, since my AGI leveled up, I dodged this attack without a problem.

I imagined a fireball flying toward the center of the five animals. The fireball was not so powerful when it hit them, but it exerted a high firepower against the green dogs due to it burning their fur.

Two of them seemed to have succeeded in dodging, but the other three suffered burns on their front and back legs, respectively. However, the flames spread all over the body on one of those three and it killed it.

Four green dogs left.

「Guah! 」

Two of them jumped at the same time. I managed to dodge one of them and the other I blocked with the shield. I moved pretty well, most probably because of my Material Arts Qualities.

When I defended myself, I tried to create another firing ball against one of the nearby green dogs. Fortunately, the green dog that bit my shield and the green dog that just jumped moments ago became red dogs. Well, red wolves, I mean.

*victory sound*

Only two animals left. I wanted their meat, so I tried to beat them with a rock spear. It seemed that my level had risen up again.

It took me about 0.5 seconds to shoot a rock spear at the green dog in front of me. I managed to hit it well this time. The other green dog surrounded me at the left side… What? He was not there. Where did it go?

While thinking so, I felt a big impact on my left arm. Fortunately, the green dog seemed to have crashed into the shield.

I lost my balance, but I quickly reestablished myself and threw another rock spear into the green dog. The rock spear hit the green dog's neck and it stopped moving.

It was dangerous. I was lucky enough to defend myself with the shield, but otherwise, I would have been injured. The green dogs moved monotonously, but their STR was reasonably high. My life could be in danger depending on the bite. The town was still far away. If I were to become a solo adventurer, then I would have to do something about group ambushes. I had to prepare myself mentally and physically from now on.

I threw the green dogs together into the item box and ran again toward the town. I ran for about 30 minutes. Soon, I started to see the outer wall of the town. This moment reassured me. I felt I was finally back home.

「Guah. 」

「What!? A wolf!? Why is a wolf out here!? 」

Suddenly, a green dog jumped at me. The green dog passed behind me and landed on the ground because I was running. But I was surprised and shouted aloud.

Fortunately, it was a single green dog, so I immediately attacked it with a rock spear. I killed the Green Wolf straightaway. There was no mercy.

I put the corpse in the item box and returned to the town. I ran while being cautious of my surroundings. I didn't want to get caught off guard again.

Apparently, I had to think about enemies all the time while I was out of town.

I showed my ID and went through the gate. I could finally relax now. I managed to return safely somehow.

For the time being, I decided to sell the Zunana grass and the green dogs in the Guild. It would be nice if I could sell the scorched green dogs as well, but it was probably impossible.

「Hello, Sally-san. I would like to sell my Zunana grass. 」

「Hello, Kaede-san. Did you bring a lot of Zunana grass today? 」

Sally responded with a smile as usual when I entered the Guild. Did she not rest at all?

「Yeah. It was dark on my way home because I was concentrated in harvesting the Zunana grass. It got late before I knew it. And a pack of Green Wolves attacked me in the forest.」

「Eh, are you okay!? Do you have any injuries!? 」

She worried a lot about sole adventurer like me. She was a good person.

「I'm okay. It was a pack of 5 animals, but I managed to kill them with fire magic and earth magic. The rest is all thanks to this shield.」

I showed her the shield I bought at Dveragh's shop. The green dogs attacked me several times, and I shielded myself several times too. However, there was no scratch on the iron shield.

「Ah, that shield, don't tell me it is Dve…No, it's nothing. That's a good shield.」

I knew it. It really looked like a good shield. A great reaction from her. Perhaps, only those who worked in the Guild knew about Dveragh-san's blacksmith store.

「Yes, but I still need a little more firepower to deal with multiple enemies at once. It takes me time to shoot.」

「No, actually, you battled them on your own and that's amazing! It's rare for someone in the G-rank or F-rank to have this successful outcome. In the first place, a wizard needs a long wand to invoke magical firepower and have another comrade to do the recovery magic. I've never seen anyone without a wand deal with a pack of monsters with a shield alone. How did you fight honestly?」

Apparently, being a solo wizard was strange. Did wizards belong to adventurer's groups? However, even if I looked for a new party member, I wouldn't know if that person could be trusted or not. Moreover, because of my talent, there was a high possibility that one could backstab me with other adventurers.

I was still at level 3, but I had already a higher status than most of the adventurers I've seen here. There weren't many high-ranked adventurers in this town, and I did not see any requests for B-rank or higher. Even so, it seemed that it was common for other adventurers to collaborate with other parties in this town. Maybe I should put the party thing on hold until I changed my mind.

「Ah well…I dodged and repelled the monsters with the shield, and then, I used fireballs and rock spears to kill them.」

「That's not normal. In the first place, when you use magic, you have to concentrate on your consciousness for at least 3 seconds. It is impossible to use a shield to repel a monster while activating magic simultaneously.」

Ah, come to think of it, Dveragh-san also said that.