Chapter 19: CH 19

First Request Part 1

Translators: Frostfire10, fba90130 and Henet

The days of an adventurer starts off early in the morning. No, it would not be weird to say that the humans of this world all got up early.

People used to start their day with the rising sun and prepared for bed with the setting sun. This was simply due to the fact that, unlike in modern times,  an economical source of lighting was unavailable. Creating a flame capable of serving as a continuous light source required a considerable amount of resources. The basic lantern consumed large quantities of oil as fuel. So much so that households without a certain level of wealth would find it difficult to use on a daily basis.  

Because of the aforementioned reasons, basically when it became dark, they could not do anything, and so it became a rest time.

Then what about the inn where Momon was staying? If you considered the fact that the first floor was a bar, it should open until late, right?

It was true that it opened until late.

However, when compared to a current day bar, the hours were quite few. On average it will operate until 8pm. Afterwards the shop will be closed, but it was not strange for excited adventurers to throw a few punches at each other.

If they wanted to get rowdier then they would head to a different bar.

However, this was not how the rooms of the adventurers were at all.

Momon was staying in the cheapest inn available, the adventurers there did not have a lot of money. There were also quite a lot of adventurers that could not pick jobs they liked. According to the rules, they were the first to wake up and head towards their given jobs—-Especially physical labour. And for that reason no one wanted to make noise, even if there were they would go to a different bar.

A return from the deep darkness.

Momon’s consciousness floated up and crystallized in an instant. At the same instant, a wet sigh escaped his lips.

The Great One, the last of the 41 supreme beings, who in his mercy, remained in this world. The highest existence and the central figure of the 41 supreme beings.

Seeing the great one, even if it was only through a dream, gave Momon heartfelt joy.

Having received his orders, Momon pulled himself from the dream with the greatest of reluctance. No matter how pleasant it was, one couldn’t stay in a dream forever.

In any case, Momon was already blessed with joy. Joy which one could not obtain from any dream. Just the fact of having received a direct order from the Great One caused great happiness to spring forth from his heart and filled his entire body  to the bursting point with bliss.

Thus, to fail a direct order is unacceptable. Any failure  would be an insult akin to smearing the Great One’s face with dirt. Of course, knowing the Great One, in his great mercy, would probably just move on to the next operation without punishing anyone. It is Momon himself who would rather die than fail his master.  

Even so, Momon would not kill himself to atone for any failure. That was not his decision to make.

Momon—-Naberal Gamma’s body belonged to the Supreme Beings, even her mind and spirit.

Momon’s sharp senses completed his awakening as he became aware of his surroundings. The sound of his breath and beating heart, both of which had faded in the background during his slumber, leapt back into his awareness.

Now, what should I do? Momon thought.

He had an appointment with the Guild at 6, but it was still too early in the morning. Momon peeked through barely opened eyelids at the windows. There was no sign of sunlight hitting the shutters. He could sneak out unnoticed into the darkness but Momon was pretending to be a villager who had just taken up adventuring. Such a person walking confidently in the dark might attract unnecessary attention. In any case, what would his room-mates think if he suddenly disappeared from the room without anybody noticing?        

If so, then doing it when everyone woke up would not be a problem. Afterall, she could think of no merits to rushing it.

Leaving a sufficient amount of time, when Momon opened his eyes, most of the adventurers had changed and were preparing to leave. Naturally, he had simply closed his eyes.

Momon maintained a sharp situational awareness even though his growth was focused on his mage level.

“Did you need something?”

Momon called out slowly to the  somewhat ill-equipped female adventurer. Momon had already confirmed the identity of this stuttering woman who was trying to communicate with him.    

“A, um, about that.”

The one stuttering was the woman from yesterday.

Her attitude had changed so much from yesterday, she seemed like an entirely different person altogether. Momon kept quiet and waited for her to continue.

“Um, the medicine you gave me……”

Momon nodded, and even moved his neck to tell her to continue.

“I do not know much about the potion, but if it is possible could I please purchase one?” She frantically waved her hands and continued. “How much do you have in stock? I have heard about the price of a regular potion, but I have the money to purchase one. If that potion is stronger than that……I think……”

Her confidence seemed to get weaker and weaker as she continued.  

“I am currently working  as a city guard and may face mercenaries-turned-bandits as part of my work. And I think your medicine would come in handy.”

The woman continued with her head hung low in an ingratiating manner.

Even as Momon maintained an expressionless mask on the outside, inwardly he was getting more and more exasperated by the current turn of events.

Momon had a highly sensitive sense of smell.

Because of this, he had found the pungent odour of the healing herbs the woman had been using hard to take. While he could have put up with the odour, but Momon was grimly certain that he would have sacrificed his sense of smell in doing so. Fearing a future where he had to face  opponents with a crippled sense of smell, Momon had given the woman his potion in a desperate attempt to get away.       

Now this mistake had come back to haunt him.

The price of being ignorant of the ways of this world had started to show. Momon was becoming worried about his ability to successfully carry out his master’s orders, but there was no point in crying over spilt milk.

Then what should be done?

Due to the fact that the price of a potion is unknown, a suitable price cannot be given. Underselling should be cautioned against, depending on the situation people might become curious.

Then if he tried to reject just how should he?

Plan A : Refuse by claiming that the potion given yesterday was his last one.  However, giving someone your last potion just to get away from a smell seemed like a ridiculous reason no one would ordinarily give. Plan B: Refuse by claiming that he had only one potion left. For the same reason as Plan A, this would seem strange.

In that case, why not give the potion as a way of buying favor? After all, the objective was to  gather information on adventurers. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have the woman indebted to him. And if she wanted more in the future, she may prove to be useful—-

“……I do not mind.”

“R, really!”

The woman’s face lit up in an instant. She must have been quite worried about her work as a city guard.

“From your experience with the healing properties of the potion, you are, of course, aware of how precious this potion is, are you not?”

The woman nodded repeatedly.  She did not appear to be aware as to the actual qualities of the potion, just that she was impressed by its effectiveness.

“But, this time I will specially hand it over for free. Even though it is the last of the two bottles I have.”

Said Momon as he reached into the Infinity Haversack cleverly hidden in his leather bag and retrieved a potion of the type he handed over yesterday. One out of 10 such minor healing potions.

“No, no, it would not be right to get this for nothing. I can pay up to a certain amount.”

Hurriedly, the woman plucked out a small satchel from her front. The faint metallic clink of a modest number of coins could be heard.

Momon was not hard up for money.

The arms and armor Ains captured from the Empire were enchanted and they fetched a high price. Momon received a portion of the proceeds as mission funds and was reasonably well off. That being said, for the simple villager that Momon was playing, showing off such wealth would certainly attract suspicion and so was limited in the amount he could spend at one time.    

Momon weighed the pros and cons of accepting/not accepting the offer of payment rationally. Of course, the merits of being owed a favor as well as the utility of using the potions as bait won out.

“No, that’s fine. Take it as a token of my goodwill.”

“Thanks!”

Momon avoided the woman’s attempt to shake his hand and stood up. His illusion had its limits and if she touched him, she might notice something was amiss. Momon did not think that the woman would be able to understand just what was wrong, but it was better to be safe than to be sorry.

“I’ve to go.”

“Ah, then my thanks.”

As  Momon watched the woman carefully slip the potion into a sturdy leather pochette, he asked.

“I am called Momon, and your name is?”

“♪~”

She tap-danced down the steps of the inn. The steps groaned and squeaked like it was about to break as it always had but, today they sounded like music from the heavens.

Struggling in vain to keep a straight face, the woman reached the bottom of the stairs with a goofy grin. A number of adventurers were quietly having their breakfast in the common room. Interrupted from their porridge, they stared at the source of the intrusion, There was a pitying expression on their faces, one that was usually directed at the village idiot.

But she really couldn’t give a damn on what they thought.

No, in fact, she was in such good spirits, she mistook the looks of pity for admiration.

“♪~”

Humming a tune, she slouched at an empty spot at the bar, her body lightly dancing in time with the strange rhythms inside her head. The woman was in a world of her own, entirely oblivious to the looks directed at her.

“You’re in a good mood.”

The Innkeeper’s deep voice and the slam of a wooden bowl filled with porridge, hitting the counter-top broke the woman’s daze and successfully forced her back into reality.   

“Itadakima~su”

With a quick node of thanks to the Innkeeper, she lifted the wooden spoon buried in the white porridge and smoothly poured the contents into her mouth.  

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“Hahii!”

At that moment, the woman felt a burning sensation spread all over her mouth. That was, of course,  the natural outcome if one stuffed hot porridge into one’s mouth without cooling it first.

Swallowing not being an option, she pursed her lips, frantically attempting to suck in cool air. It didn’t work. Tears welled up in her eyes as she huffed and puffed desperately, her mouth continuing to burn.

“Here.”

He placed a wooden cup on the counter, and she frantically picked it up, and drank it in one gulp.

“Ha~”

“Calm down a little.”

“Hahi, master. Sorry.”

“What the heck happened, you’re out of it? Is the current job that good? Baniara”

“No, that is~”

Baniara’s face broke into a proud smile like a child who was given a particularly awesome toy. Seeing that Baniara was about to break into a some long winded brag, the Innkeeper turned away abruptly. He brought out some chopped meat from the kitchen and tossed it into Baniara’s porridge.  

“Go on, eat up. Here’s some  leftovers – on the house.”

The Innkeeper started clearing up the tables, ignoring the accusatory gazes directed at him from the adventurers in the room for this blatant act of favoritism. Having lost a person to brag to, Baniara stirred her porridge disinterestedly, blowing into the still-steaming porridge.      

Having finished breakfast, one by one the adventurers left the room. Baniara wasn’t a slow eater. It was just that on top of a late start, the Innkeeper had given Baniara a double portion of porridge.   

A double portion of porridge was a lot to swallow, but Baniara was a warrior first and a woman second. Baniara attacked her porridge quietly in the common room, eventually draining the contents of the wooden container.

“Fufu…”

There was a satisfied expression on her face as she patted her stomach. It seemed a little silly as  she didn’t have a pot-belly to pat due her active lifestyle, but she did it subconsciously anyway.

“……Now you were talking earlier about the reason for your high spirits? ”

“Eh?”

A momentary tinge of confusion seeped into Baniara’s face as the Innkeeper addressed her from out-of-the-blue. Having understood what the Innkeeper meant, she calmed down and laughed. The Innkeeper started to clear away Baniara’s empty wooden bowl.   

A more perceptive person might have discerned the reason for the timing of the Innkeeper’s question. A full stomach tended to lower one’s ability to think.

“Didn’t I say it yesterday? I got a potion from the guy sharing a room with me.”

“Ah, you did.”

Surprised by the request to appraise the potion from out-of-the-blue, the Innkeeper could recall that incident quite clearly.  

“Today, I asked, and got one.”

It didn’t really seem like something to be worth being so happy about. Maybe she got a good deal on that potion? Convinced that that was the case, the Innkeeper’s interest waned considerably. However, since he was the one that started the conversation, he felt compelled to keep it going.

“Hmp. How much?”

“About that~”

She had a broad grin. The owner smiled at the scene which he saw earlier.

“I got it for free.”

“Hou, a gradual recovery-type potion is quite expensive. I can’t believe it……What?”

Baniara had a weird face as she asked a question.

“No, the one I got immediately healed me?”

“Immediately? Impossible.”

The Innkeeper muttered under his breath, convinced that Baniara was mistaken.

Potions that had a healing effect were generally categorised into three groups. The first type was simply increasing the body’s natural healing. This was used with recovery magic or emergency treatment, it did not have much of an effect alone. It was cheap, costing between two to three silver. Its main ingredients were herbs.

The second one was the type that gradually healed the drinker. It requires several minutes for the effect to be seen. Although the recovery effect is low but it still cost at least 15 gold pieces. Its ingredients is a mix of both herb and magic. It is not an item that could be afforded by new adventurers. However, it could not be denied that the potion will vastly improve the adventurers’ odds of survival.

The last type of potion is one that produced instantaneous healing effects. This was quite expensive as it was made with a high leveled magic caster using alchemy, even one with the weakest effect would cost no less than 30 gold pieces.

Yesterday, the price he had told her about was for the gradual healing potion as he felt that a newcomer does not require such an expensive item. But the situation is far different from what he thought.

But she was saying that that was not the case.

“Impossible.”

Again, the Innkeeper found himself denying the truth of Baniara’s words. She has to be mistaken. Where in the world would you find someone who could be bullied into giving up potions worth 30 gold pieces? There was simply no way.

Maybe someone who didn’t know the value of the potions?

The Innkeeper recalled the man who had noiselessly descended the steps to the common room earlier. It was roughly around the time Baniara was doing valiant battle with her double portion of porridge. Waving away the offer of breakfast with one hand, he slipped out of the Inn like a ghost.

A trickle of cold sweat ran down his back.

“That guy…”

He did not even know about mantles, and he said he was an ex-villager from the sticks. I wonder if that was the truth. Rationally speaking, was it even possible to descend those squeaky steps without a sound? It had been noisy in the common room earlier and the sound of the steps might have been drowned out. But…

The image from yesterday of a country bumpkin had totally been wiped out. Replaced by the image of an ethereal ghost.

“Are you alright?”

Baniara expression looked mystified. It was a stupid looking expression. And not just because she was ignorant of the value of an instant-heal potion.

Hey. If what you got was an Instant Heal potion, did you realize you couldn’t get one for anything less than 30 gold pieces?

“……” What are you saying? The look of mystification cleared as Baniara’s mind comprehended what the Innkeeper was saying and was replaced by a look of stunned surprise. “OEEEEE!”

The Innkeeper winced at the loud exclamation of surprise, his brows furrowing.

“UE! Why? Wait!”

“Well you know that the cost of an item jumps significantly if it is enchanted right?”

“Well yeah, of course. But can two of those potions really buy a set of full platemail?”

The full-body armor <Full Platemail> is famous for being the armor with the best defensive capabilities that one can commonly purchase from the market. There are no warriors who do not admire it. Whatever your rank, wearing a suit sets you apart from other adventurers.

Baniara’s head slumped as she realized just how valuable the potion she had so casually drunk really was.

“Well that’s just based on an estimate. You realize that the actual value also varies based on the amount of health recovered? If we take a relatively high ranking adventurer’s wounds as a basis, an Instant Heal potion that can heal wounds which would normally take over a month to heal would cost around 30 gold pieces. A potion that can bring someone from the brink of death to full health would probably fetch 270 gold pieces. Above that would be about 480 pieces. I’m pretty sure potions worth 480 pieces aren’t common in the market. It would have to be custom ordered and it would take 1 month to make. But of course weaker adventurers would only need potions worth 30 gold pieces to have the same effect.”

Open-mouthed with surprise from hearing about how valuable the potion could potentially be, Baniara now felt more confident about the value of the potion.

“Are you going to sell it?”

“No way!”

Baniara, her face set, secured the pochette at her side.

“If you want to assess the healing strength of the potion, you can get it done at the adventurer’s guild for 3 silver pieces. You should do it.”

“I understand”

“Well, I’ve never heard of an Instant Heal potion worth anything less than 30 gold pieces.”

The two of them let out an unconscious sigh.

“To think that it could be worth so much…”

“Well that’s because those potions are really incredible. If you lost an arm and were in great pain, even the cheapest one would kill the pain immediately and  your lost limb would start growing in front of you.”

Subconsciously, the Innkeeper rubbed one of the scars on his face

“Hah.”　

“Well, whatever you think of it, keep it safe. It’s quite literally a life-saver.”

The bar area remained silent. Having made up her mind, Baniara broke the silence.

“Hey, who do you think the guy is?”

“I’ll like to know too.”

Once again the pair let  out a sigh that spread out over the empty bar.

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