Chapter 18: 2

Chapter 2 – A Boring Boat Trip, a Piece of Advice, and the Southern City

 

Morning, huh…? The hut boat is so comfortable. Feeling refreshed, I decided to have a meal and get going.

Just as I thought it would be another leisurely river cruise, the scenery started to change. Rough rocks were peeking out of the water. The river became narrower, and the current gradually became faster. I felt like I was in danger.

In a panic, I tied a rope to my body, secured it firmly to the boat, and tied my weapon to it. As long as I don’t get thrown overboard, I should be fine. It would be dangerous if I hit my head or something, so I should cover myself with a blanket.

…It’s creepy. I think I know how a pachinko ball feels. When it hits the rock, it doesn’t make an impact, but the boat swaying up and down hits the rock and changes direction. The boat keeps turning like a leaf, undulating up and down, and my semicircular canals are severely damaged.

After vomiting many times and producing nothing but gastric juice, I finally passed through the rapid current zone. There were no waterfalls, but I experienced many one-meter drops. I heard that the plan to maintain this river had been abandoned several times, but I was convinced it was steep enough.

When I finally got the boat to shore and settled down, the boat and my blanket were covered in vomit. The boat can be cleaned with just my thought, but not the blanket. I tie a rope to the blanket and throw it into the river. This will clean it up.

I use my daily life magic to produce water and rinse my mouth out. After settling in, I didn’t have the energy to do anything, just drifted along until it got dark. After dark, I parked the boat on the shore, summoned a hut boat, and went to sleep.

 

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I woke up to the sound of my stomach. I felt so hungry. Come to think of it, I threw up to the limit yesterday and went to sleep without eating anything. It is natural to be hungry. It’s going to be another boat trip today, and if I have to vomit and there’s nothing to vomit about, it’s going to be even more painful, so let’s just eat properly.

After a good breakfast, I took a short rest before getting on the boat for a leisurely ride down the river.

“Ah, I thought the first day was going to be boring, but going down the river in a leisurely way is great. Yesterday was hell, though…”

Leisurely down the river and walking through the shallows, the third day passed without incident.

On the fourth day, I continued my leisurely river cruise, and when it got dark, I pulled the boat in close to the shore and looked for a place where I could be inconspicuous.

“Gyahahahaha!”

I heard laughter. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a light. …What should I do? Should I go check on them unnoticed or go back to the river and continue…?

The laughter was kind of vulgar. I guess the right thing to do would be to get in the boat and continue, but it could be bandits, and I should at least check them out. If it was bandits, I should stay awake and get as far away from them as possible down the river.

I cautiously approach the light and peek out between the trees to see what’s going on; there are about 20 men sitting around a fire, drinking. They are bandits, right? A group of bearded, bad-looking men. It’s possible they could be adventurers, which is sad for me as a fellow adventurer. …Okay, let’s not sleep today and go down the river. I quietly get back on the river and get on the boat.

After going down the river for a while, I found a bonfire. Is it one of those bandits? I check the situation while holding my breath. I see some girls. Ah… what should I do? There is a possibility that they are female bandits, but if I leave them alone and those girls get hurt badly, I will have a hard time waking up from sleep.

I’ll just give them some advice from the boat. I slowly pull the boat toward the bonfire and call out.

“Good evening.”

I called out to them, and they instantly pointed their weapons at me… They look so strong; what’s the need to warn them then?

“Who!”

“Ah, in case you’re wondering, I’m an adventurer. I won’t come any closer, so I’d appreciate it if you guys wouldn’t come any closer either.”

“What’s your business? If you make even the slightest suspicious move, I will cut you down.”

…They are definitely stronger than me, aren’t they? I don’t think they need any advice.　But how about just saying “nothing” and leaving in this situation? …It can’t be helped. I’ll just tell them what I’m going to tell them and get the hell out of here.

“Well, I thought I should give you a piece of advice. There are about 20 bad men drinking upstream in the woods, so you might want to leave while you still can.”

“Ara, that’s good information. Can you tell me more about them?”

Why is information about bandits good information? I’m kind of scared…

“I can only tell you that it took me about 20 minutes to get here by boat from the bad men’s place and that they were sitting around a fire while drinking.”

“Marina, can I ask you to scout them?”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait here until Marina gets back from her scouting.”

Why would I do that?　

“There are some bad men nearby, and I don’t want to get involved, so I’m going to stay away from them all night by boat. I don’t want to get involved by staying here.”

“I’m glad you said that and I appreciate the advice, but there’s a chance you’re one of them and are trying to trap us. I’m sorry if I’m wrong, but you’ll have to stay with us until the scouting is over.”

How unreasonable of them; I might as well just ignore them and run away, but if I ran away, they would come after me, saying that I was one of the bandits! That would be a disaster.

“Hah, I understand. I’m aware that I’m suspicious, so I’ll wait.”

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Well, I know I am very suspicious. I didn’t think they would listen to my advice, but I’m afraid that these guys are not the prey, but those bad guys are the prey.

“I’m sorry; why are you here?”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t trust you, and I don’t want to pry into each other’s affairs. I’m just calling out to you because it would be bad for my sleep if I walked by and something happened to you.”

“Okay, fine.”

I can’t see them clearly by the campfire, but they are all incredibly beautiful. They are wearing adventurer-like equipment, but is it possible for a party of beautiful adventurers to exist in real life? I thought they only existed in fantasies in stories… Come to think of it, I fell into a story-like world, didn’t I? If so, it may be possible.

I’d like to be friends with them, but… I feel that with such a beautiful adventurer’s party, just getting to know them would get you into trouble. I’m just a small fry, except in situations where I can use the ship summoning. Let’s move on without getting involved.

Oh, it looks like the scout has returned…

“You were right.”

“If that’s all right, I guess I’ll be going now.”

“Wait, I’d like you to accept our gratitude.”

Gratitude, huh…? I’m kind of afraid to approach them. Let’s just decline.

“No, it seems like you guys would be fine with or without my advice. It would be awkward to accept gratitude and go on ahead quickly, so don’t worry about it.”

“I understand. Then, if we meet somewhere down the road, let me buy you a drink.”

“Okay, I’ll look forward to it. Well, I’ll see you later.”

I headed down the river, slightly regretting that I had given up a chance to make friends with a party of beautiful adventurers.

After five hours of dawdling down the river, the river merged with a large river. This is the river that connects the royal capital and the southern city. There will be more people, so when it gets light, I should get off the boat and walk along the road.

…The sky is starting to turn white, so it’s time to get off the boat. It’s a wooden rowboat, so it seems safe to stay on it, but I’m afraid of being on a boat and not knowing the rules of this area.

I pull the boat to the shore and walk along the road. After a while, many boats come and go. I checked the boats moving in the river one by one as I walked along.

Hmm, no boats other than wooden boats are running at the moment. Self-propelled boats are sometimes running, so wooden motorboats might not be so conspicuous.

A little after noon, I finally arrived at the southern city. I would go to the adventurer’s guild and ask for a place to stay, then rest for the day. I was tired from all the walking.

I showed my guild card at the gate and entered the city. …It’s a bustling town, isn’t it? Oh, they are selling grilled fish at a stall; let’s buy one and ask where the guild is.

When I order some grilled fish and ask where the guild is, the guy at the stall is very kind and tells me where the guild is located. After all, you have to be nice to your customers, don’t you? While eating the grilled fish, I headed for the guild I had been told about. I wonder if the receptionists at the adventurer’s guild here are full of beautiful women, too. I was a little nervous.

When I entered the adventurer’s guild, there were not many people there. It seems that even in the southern city, there are not many people around this time of the day. Well, that’s a good thing because it’s harder to get tangled up with people that way. I went to an empty counter and asked a beautiful human lady to introduce me to an inn where I could have a good meal. I would have liked to talk with her a little longer, but I was too tired for today, so I’ll try next time.

“Let’s see, here it is, the Black-tailed Gulls Inn. Hello, do you have a room available?”

“Are you alone? Rooms are available, 50 coppers per night with breakfast and hot water. If you stay ten days or more, I will give you a discount of 5 coppers per night.”

“Then I’ll take ten nights, so it will be four silver coins and 50 copper coins, right?”

“Aiyo, sure. The room will be on the second floor to the right.”

“Yes.”

The room has a view of the sea and is beautiful. It’s a little expensive, but it’s a satisfactory place to stay. If the food is good on top of that, it might be perfect. But the question is whether or not I will be able to make enough money to continue to stay at this kind of inn.

My remaining balance is three gold coins, 59 silver coins, and 35 copper coins. It may run out soon, depending on how much I buy a ship and how much I get paid for my work. For now, I’ve paid for ten days of lodging. In the meantime, let’s do as much research as I can and make a plan. The first thing to do is…

 

Find out what jobs are available at the adventurer’s guild.

Go to the guild’s reference room.

Find out what kind of ships are docked at the port.

Go to the merchant guild and find out about membership requirements and trade.

Find out the value of self-propelled ships.

 

Is this the best I can think of right now? I’m too tired to think straight, so I’m going to take a good rest today.

 

Balance: 3 gold coins, 59 silver coins, 35 copper coins

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