Chapter 10: Meals and Provisions

"Boss's food tastes better," an ikemen with long, black hair bound in a ponytail said. This ikeman was Judo who was earnestly trying to flatter me while chewing on meat.

"Yeah! I think so too!" Carla, Judo's sister, who had long black hair covering half of her face, agreed with her brother.

Yeah… the restaurant employees keep sending scary glares my way thanks to this compare and contrast session.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do," I said.

"What does that mean?" Satella prodded.

"It means when you go to a new place, it's wise to follow their customs and methods," I explained. "So right now just enjoy your food."

Satella beamed. "Sure!"

"Okay," Carla said.

While eating, Satella soon rested her head on my shoulder and fell asleep.

"We should head to Tote tomorrow, or, at the latest, two days from now," I said, waking her up.

"Yessir!" they cheered in unison.

I smiled wryly before turning to face them directly. "I've lent you 100 gold, worth a million copper. I won't take interest, but, let's see, try to return it all by the time I leave Millard." They hung their head, but for what it's worth they did nod in affirmation. It looked like their grim faces were trying to tell me something.

"What?" I asked. "If you have something to say I'll listen."

"Grey-sama, are you really going to leave your family?" Satella asked, nervously fidgeting her hands.

"Yeah. As you know, even though I'm a Millard, I'm an outsider. If I stayed I'd just be worked by my shitty stepmother and those under her control for the rest of my life. I wouldn't do that even if I died."

"B-but—" I cut Carla's words off with a wave of my hand.

"It's a done deal. I have no intention of going back on my word."

They heaved a deep sigh as if their world were ending. This is why I'm bad with children.

"Don't worry though. Until then, I intend to teach you all everything you'd need to survive. After that is up to you. However, I want you to promise me something."

"Promise?" Carla asked.

"It's fine if you regret it. I don't even mind if you fail. But always act with pride in yourself."

"Okay," they nodded.

I smiled at them before returning to the soup in front of me.

"Ah–you're right, this soup is too bland" I commented to nobody in particular.

◇◆◇◆◇◆

The following day, I traded with Giresse to obtain 50 gold. After that, he led me to a large storehouse along the main street.

"Grey-san, Our Llamo co. has gathered everything you asked for. Please wait a moment while we bring out 500 sacks of rye," Ikose courteously said as he rubbed his chin.

"I thought I ordered 400 sacks?" I said.

"Indeed. The extra 100 sacks represent our gratitude."

"Well, 100 is just too—"

It's not that I want to reject his gratitude, but I'm already buying them for half the market price at 2000 copper a sack.

"You've created a future for us merchants, so you could think of this as our investment as well," Ikose cut me off. "Please take it."

So it's about the clock huh… it would be quite rude to decline now.

"Thank you very much."

"It's our pleasure," Ikose bowed. "We await your next visit."

I began storing the 500 sacks of rye into my item box while thanking them and then departed from Llamo co. with Giresse.

Next up is a means of recovery.

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★[Middle Heal]

Ingredients: 20 Rank G+ magic stones, 100g of Fish Mint, a tuft of Ajitalis, 5 heal stones.

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Ajitalis is a drop from a Carnivore Flower that lives in the bottomless swamp in the 『Ancient Forest』. The Carnivore Flower is a monster with G+ average stats with mouths that snap at you for petals. Moreover, the petals are poisonous, although I think they're actually quite valuable.

Next are Fish Mint and heal stones.

Fish Mint is a medicinal plant that can be found in large quantities all around the marketplace, so I obtained it very easily.

While I was buying that, I also acquired some honey, although it was a bit pricey. Honey can be used for its natural antibiotic properties. Of course, it isn't as potent as an actual antibiotic, but it should be a little different.

The problem lay with the healing stones. You needed to offer quite a lot in order to get your hands on one since the Church monopolizes them. Worse, they forbade its resale, so without any other option left, I'm currently visiting the church.

"Could I please get around 10 heal stones?" I asked a middle-aged priest. He stared all over me before heaving a sigh. I've got a bad feeling about this priest.

"Heal stones are a grace from God, not a children's toy," the priest said. "Please come back with your parents."

So it came to this. In short, I need to come back with my parents and a lot of money. Satella began to pout at his statement that was almost like one used when chasing out a dog, and the Judo siblings flared up.

Please keep calm everyone. If you lose your temper here I won't be able to buy anything.

"My father told me to bring this," I said as I opened my bag. "Would this change your mind at all?"

His eyes widened as his displeasure vanished into a smile.

"Please wait a moment," the priest said as he quickly disappeared into another room.

Heal stones were relatively cheap, as they came in large quantities from the mines and its sales were overseen by the church. At market price, I'd say they were about 1000 copper a piece. I had taken out 10 gold, worth 100,000 copper, about 10 times the market price that the 10 heal stones I asked for would normally go for. It's no wonder that his attitude changed so fast.

Needless to say, the reason I overpaid so much was definitely not because of my religious credence. It's just I knew that if I were needlessly stingy with this priest then it would come back to bite me.

While I was in deep thought, he jogged back and handed me a cloth bag.

"May God bless this devout believer," he thanked(?) me before handing me the heal stones.

After leaving the church, I began to head back to the inn, when my eyes stopped on a pink woman far away who was desperately trying to get inside her carriage. I felt a strange nostalgia, so I gazed at the person behind her, but–

"What? These are…" I muttered as I noticed a liquid flowing down my cheeks. "Tears?"

I'm probably tired. Intense emotions inexplicably clawed at my throat as my face warped, when,

"Grey-sama?" Satella anxiously peered at me.

"I'm fine."

That's right, it's just my imagination. As I kept telling myself that, I returned to the inn.

And like that, I acquired my first recovery magic–[Middle Heal].

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Spell Name: [Middle Heal] Explanation: Recovery magic with an average effect Chant: O holy power, become the light of salvation Rank: High Proficiency: 0/100%

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It's high rank magic. For some reason, the introductory book I bought from Giresse had no mention of recovery magic.

It should be quite potent as it's a high rank spell. Even though it doesn't completely heal a wound, I'll see how it fares once I master it.