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About the bodyguard that will be assigned to me on the days off of Ilias which I requested of Marito, we have decided on Cara-jii as the tentative prospect. 

He has his main job, so his limit will be once or twice a week, but that’s plenty enough.

“And so, counting on you today.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” 

“For some reason, I just can’t accept it. Why are you so happy when it is Cara-jii?” 

Cara-jii showed up a little after breakfast. 

And so, today is the day off of Ilias. It has been a while since I have seen her in casual clothes. 

“Fuafuafua! Can you stop getting that happy in front of Ilias? My waist is gonna suffer again at this rate.” (Cara)

“I won’t do something like that anymore. I will try to throw all my pent up resentments on him since I don’t like his attitude.” (Ilias)

“Can’t even get happy when meeting someone. That’s quite the close-minded knight we have here.” 

Ilias is apparently going to be heading out with Saira later. They will be meeting at the plaza at noon, but I feel like Saira is already at the plaza.

Judging from the happiness she showed when invited yesterday… Let’s go there.

“But lad, I heard that you have a day off today, too. Do you plan to lounge about in the house?” (Cara)

“No, I have recently been stretching my hand to parchment and pen when I am in the house, so I was thinking about walking around the city for a bit. Also heading to the place of Ban-san, I guess.” 

“What, you won’t go on an adventure?” (Cara)

“No, when I do something that’s not the same as usual, something tends to happen.” 

“Right… Make sure to live a long life, okay?” (Cara)

The seasoned knight is getting worried about the otherworlder that looks short lived. Well, it is true that there are dangers everywhere around me though.

And so, Rakura, Wolfe, and Ilias will be going out today too. 

It is important to increase the interpersonal relationships of Ilias, but that goes for Wolfe too. But Wolfe is also around the same age as Saira. Considering the mental age, Nora would also work fine. 

As for Rakura…if left alone, she would sulk and I don’t know what she would pull. 

She said she would come with us at first, but when I said I would go to Ban-san’s place, she must have instinctively remembered a certain someone, she politely refused.

“Shishou, have a safe trip~!” (Wolfe)

“You have fun too.” 

First the plaza. There’s no way Saira would be waiting there already… She wasn’t.

That’s a relief. There’s no person who would be waiting there several hours before the stipulated time.

“Ah, Onii-san. Good morning!” 

…There is. I stumbled upon Saira just then.

She is clearly all styled up.

“…Don’t tell me you are going to be waiting from now on? They are taking it easy with some tea after breakfast, you know?” 

“W-What may you be talking about? I-I simply had a little business over here~.” (Saira)

“I won’t criticize you, but if you are going to be waiting in the plaza, you might as well just show up at the house. It is several times better to just chat with them.” 

“B-But waiting at the meeting point is also pretty fun.” (Saira)

“…At least prepare something to kill time.” 

“I’m fine there. I always bring my tools to make small stuff!” (Saira)

Saira went ‘tadah!’ and took out embroidery tools. Didn’t she come here to do some shopping?

“Fuafuafua, what an energetic girl.” (Cara)

“Ah, Cara-jiisan, good morning to you too!” (Saira)

She called him Lord Domitorkofucon, but with his wife working at Dog’s Bone and him becoming a regular at their store now, it seems they have gotten pretty close.

“I leave Ilias in your hands. She excels in the sword, but she lacks a lot as a girl after all.” 

“Yes!” (Saira)

I bid farewell to the energetic Saira and head to the company of Ban-san.

It is the usual flow of events where I tell the receptionist, head to the guest room, and Ban-san shows up.

“Ooh, Caragyugujesta-sama is with you today? But in your armor?” (Ban)

“Ilias is taking a break, you see. I am the bodyguard of this lad today.” (Cara)

“Well, well, you have become quite the important person in this short span of time. You are a fearsome one.” (Ban)

“When Ban-san from the same adventurer party as the Holy Fist Gradona says that, I still only hear it as sarcasm.” 

“What?! Where did you hear that?!” (Ban)

I explained to him how I had Gradona train Wolfe at Gahne. Of course, omitting the details about the Gold Demon Lord. 

Someone saw the talent of Wolfe, and coupled with the matter of Pashuro, we got introduced to Gradona. 

“Hohoh, that Holy Fist Gradona to Wolfe… How fearsome.” (Cara)

“It really does sound scary when you say it, Cara-jii.” 

“Umu, it brings me shivers thinking about the power dynamic turning.” (Cara)

“Hahaha… That said, you were an impressive guy too, huh, Ban-san.” 

“I was the weakest and was in charge of scouting. Also, I was always demanded money for booze by Gradona every single time.” (Ban)

“About that…he is coming…to Taizu.” 

“What…?” (Ban)

Ban-san changed from a face brimming with friendliness to one of shock. I see, so that’s their relationship.

The strength of Gradona is certain, but when it comes to his personality and his qualities as a human, they are on the low side. There’s no way he would be able to reform Pashuro.

It is entirely possible that he will use the place of Ban-san for his lodging. 

“I have heard good info there. The chances are high that he will settle down at my place. I will arrange an exclusive barn—a place to sleep at once.” (Ban)

I heard barn just now. I heard that Ban-san of all people is going to make a guest sleep in a barn.

Is he really a past friend of his? They must be in a pretty close relationship.

“By the way, how’s the investigation of the geological features?” 

“Ekdoik-sama is progressing steadily on that matter. He brings back samples one after the other and it helps out greatly. And…look here.” (Ban)

He said that and spread out a small cloth. There’s small white grains in the center.

They have somewhat warped shapes, kinda coarse, but…could this probably be…

“Salt…?” 

“Ekdoik-sama dug deep down a cave and found an underground lake. There was saltiness to that water, and the result after bringing a sample of that back and boiling it down… It is as you see!” (Ban)

Oooh, what a thing to do, Ekdoik.

It is true that his chains could turn into a drill too.

Isn’t he the most cheat character when it comes to versatility?

…Adding him to the magic research team might be an option here.

“But because it is so deep in, it would take time to open up a path so people can retrieve it. Also, the salt you obtain is really little compared to seawater. However, the taste is peculiar compared to that of salt, so you can differentiate it. We might be able to treat this as a more refined product than the one from the sea.” (Ban)

It is still a bit lacking when it comes to spreading it around, huh… Even if we were to make a large scale production line, we would be putting the cart before the horse if we were to end up drying the underground lake. 

“Right, I think that direction is good. In that case, we might have to elevate the transportation techniques for our next plan to reduce the price of the salt. I heard the horses of Taizu are more outstanding than other countries after all.” 

The horses of the knights have received special training. If we used such horses, we could transport goods fast and with a large load. It might be possible to develop a carriage that’s like a truck.

We have created a research team that fits the bill. I feel like I am using them for personal reasons, but I should be forgiven if the country flourishes from this. 

“I am looking forward to that. Right, right, there’s also a number of rare ores. It is at the mountain-side, but Ekdoik-sama has been reporting news to me one after the other.” (Ban)

“Seriously? Isn’t he way too outstanding?” 

“Yeah… Who in the world is that adventurer? It is pretty rare to find someone who I lost in scouting skills to, you know? The person in question barely speaks about himself.” (Ban)

It is hard to say that he has been raised to be an anti-human weapon by a Great Devil. Saying he is an ardent fan of Rakura Salf would be of benefit to no one. 

“A skilled adventurer that learned the techniques of the devils in the Mejis Nether. He caused troubles too because he was a bit too away from society, but his reins are properly held, so don’t worry.” 

“Oh… No wonder he used techniques unlike those of humans…” (Ban)

My shoulder was patted by Cara-jii.

“Hey, isn’t that the wanted criminal that went wild on the Harvest Festival.” (Cara) 

“Geh!” 

“…Such a deliberate reaction… If I remember correctly, he kidnapped someone… He was the one who kidnapped you.” (Cara)

“Oh… No wonder he had those wild eyes…” (Ban)

“I am impressed that you still decided to join hands with Ekdoik despite feeling that much of his fishiness.” 

“Well, he calls you ‘comrade’ and he is a really passionate person…” (Ban)

“And so, Cara-jii, he is a guy who only brings benefits to Taizu now, so keep it a secret… Marito does know about this already.” 

“If His Majesty allows it, I wouldn’t go out of my way to do anything. But more importantly, how about undoing his wanted criminal status?” (Cara)

“Aah.” 

Now that he mentions it… The mastermind was Raheight and the kidnapper Pashuro is dead. The battle junkie Girista is currently recovering and wandering around.

It is not like Ekdoik has done that many crimes.

In the eyes of Marito, he is one of the culprits that kidnapped his friend and exposed him to danger, but he understands his importance.

There’s worth consulting with him. 

“I will try consulting with Marito next time. It is true that it would make things faster if he could walk in the city without worries.” 

“Damn right. I may not find it hard to walk in the shadows, but moving in this country where there’s perceptive knights is a pain, you know?” 

“Uooh. You were here, Ekdoik?” 

Ekdoik was at some point in time leaning on the wall by the side of the door. He is most likely making that pose because he thinks it looks cool.

Cara-jii stretched his hand towards his spear, but after most likely noticing that there’s no hostility, he returned to a calm mood.

“So you are Ekdoik, huh. I feel sinister mana, but there’s barely any poisonous nature to it.” (Cara)

“Obviously. Don’t put me in the same vein as lunatics that attack anyone without reason. I only kill the ones I have decided to kill. I have no intention of devaluing the skills I have polished for the sake of that.” (Ekdoik)

“That’s not something a guy who is digging caves should say, right?” 

“I don’t mind rocks. I just have to think of it as training.” (Ekdoik)

“Anything goes depending on how you say it.” 

“So, what’s with this knight here? He is licking me all over with his gaze…” (Ekdoik)

“Caragyugujesta Domitorkofucon; a knight of the same Ragudo Division as Ilias. He is not hostile towards you.” 

“Hooh, that God Spear, huh. I have heard rumors about that.” (Ekdoik)

Seriously? So even an adventurer in the underground of Mejis knows about him?

It is known that he threw a helmet and dropped a wyvern, huh. 

I would like to hear the rumors of the knights of this country from a stranger at least once.

I am curious about the ‘Fracture’ anecdote of Boru-jii.

“Right, since you are back, what happened to Gradona?” 

“Aah, if it is about him…I dropped him in the middle of the way. I got pissed off at him, you see.” (Ekdoik)

“I see, so you dropped him, huh.” 

A free fall from super high altitude. Well, Gradona should be alive.

We would have heard about it if he died.

“He asked about the location of the black wolfkin village. He said  he wanted to see the fighting style of Wolfe’s tribe, so he will most likely come here after checking that place out.” (Ekdoik)

“Is that okay? Gradona sympathized with the treatment of Wolfe, you know.” 

“I agree with that. But even I know that killing them all won’t bring good effects on Wolfe.There’s no way he wouldn’t know either.” (Ekdoik)

These guys only look like they don’t get along…

There should be at least one or two from Taizu staying there with the possession spell casted on them. 

Problems caused from the language barrier shouldn’t happen. The fear of problems being caused by other sources is still present though.

“Ah right, by the way, Ban-san here is a past party member of Gradona.” 

“What?! You…! Must have had it rough!” (Ekdoik)

“So you get me!” (Ban)

“What’s this charade?” 

The two hold hands tightly. Speaking of which, they don’t know each other well. 

People can get along when the things they like match, but they form a tighter union when the things they dislike match.

They might unexpectedly become a good pair.

“How much did I talk about? Aah, from the part about Ekdoik finding a number of rare ores.” (Ban)

“Yeah, I expanded the cave a bit to make it to my liking, and a number of things caught my attention.” (Ekdoik)

“It might be a good idea to check your dwelling at least once.” (Ban)

He might have even created an underground empire already. How fearsome. 

With how he phrases things, he might even state: ‘I am the new Demon Lord!’.

“I simply came here to report that I have returned to Taizu. If you’ve got no other business, I am leaving.” (Ekdoik)

“That was a pretty dutiful reason. Have you spread the talk about Rakura getting a medal of honor?” 

“Of course. She is currently trending within the rumors of the adventurers. Just imagining her pained face when she sees that her current standing is slowly evaporating is just beyond amusing!” (Ekdoik)

He is making a villainous smile beaming with joy, but what he is doing is just spreading rumors, you know… I don’t know if he is impressive here or not.

“The people you know are all weirdos, lad.” (Cara)

“What did you say?! No, I can’t deny that.” (Ekdoik)

“Why?” 

“Even if a person with common sense like me is added to the equation, I can’t deny the weirdness of your surroundings, comrade.” (Ekdoik)

“You are being called a weirdo here.” 

“What?! Oi, God Spear, don’t misunderstand. I may be a proactive guy within this guy’s acquaintances, but I am within the extremely proper ones. Don’t put me in the same category as Holy Fist Gradona and Rakura Salf!” (Ekdoik)

That’s actually true. When he is not involved with Rakura, he is actually a really competent guy.

He understands instructions, shows results, and even when thrown about by the quirky people and useless bums, he would still hang out with them. He also has no qualms about putting his life on the line… Aah, he is indeed an impressive guy.

“Muuh, it hurts when you point that one out.” (Cara)

“It shouldn’t hurt anywhere. Please be troubled that this includes people like Marito and Ilias.” 

“No, even I know about the wackiness of Gradona. He even had a death match against Lord Ragudo.” (Cara)

Right, he is the rival of a famous knight and superior of Cara-jii in this country.

It goes without saying that there’s no one who would try to challenge Lord Ragudo. He is publicly known as the strongest person in Taizu.

Gradona stands by the side of such a prominent figure, and at the side there’s Rakura.

Will he also end up like that in the end? 

“For now, I will try to make it so that you can move freely in the capital, Ekdoik. Even if we employ a workforce for mining and transportation, we will be needing guards for them. It would be troubling if we couldn’t employ knights for that.” 

“That’s great and all, but there’s no real need to push yourself. I am fine with living silently in a cave and hearing about the fame of Rakura Salf.” (Ekdoik)

“Let’s increase the amount of things to strive for in life, okay? If you offer your whole life to Rakura, it only sounds as if you love Rakura so much you can’t help it.” 

“That would be troubling.” (Ekdoik)

Uwa, that was a super serious face.

Judging from that, he doesn’t have a single shred of love towards her.

She is beautiful and has good proportions… Her personality ruins it though.

“Comrade, that would be troubling. You’ve got anything?” (Ekdoik)

“You got troubled twice there. Just increase the amount of things you want to do in your own fashion.” 

“What I want to do… As of present, I want to help out in completing Wolfe.” (Ekdoik)

“You have a breeder mentality. Maybe you would be pretty good at looking after animals?” 

“Animals? They always come to my cave, but they are only a pain. Damn bastards that get conceited just because I don’t eat meat. They only serve as warmth when I am sleeping.” (Ekdoik)

Doesn’t that mean they have gotten super attached to you? I am a bit jealous here, you know?

In the eyes of the animals, being raised by a devil may feel like he is a child of the wild?

He uses chains as if they were whips, so he feels like a beast tamer. Wolfe has gotten attached to him more than your average people. 

“Wait, you don’t eat meat? I put dried meat in your supplies though. Would it be better to exclude it?” 

“Yeah, please increase the amount of fruits. I threw it to the beasts because it was in the way, and they ended up coming to me wanting more. I can’t even use them as throwing weapons.” (Ekdoik)

“That’s called feeding them. That’s why animals approach you.” 

“Impossible… Even though devils find it shameful to not be able to hunt their own food… Do they not have pride?!” (Ekdoik)

“None.” 

Hmm, devils are prideful beings, huh.

Well, Ekdoik is moving desperately like this because his parent bear has been killed though…

After that, I had fruits and miscellaneous goods prepared, and had Ekdoik take them when he was leaving.

And so, Ekdoik left while making a strange pose. 

It is not like everything is good if the end goes well though.

I feel like he would get along with Marito. Let’s do the negotiations quickly.

“How to say this… He was an idiot.” (Cara)

“Don’t say that. He is a really good guy at heart…but an idiot.” 

And then, we chatted with Ban-san for a while and left. 

We wandered around the city afterwards and enjoyed my day off. 

Ilias would normally complain, but Cara-jii has fun together with me. It really makes it easy for me. 

Since I’ve got the chance here, I would like to go to places where I wouldn’t be able to go with Ilias.

“And so, we are here! At the public bath!” 

“What, bathing?” (Cara)

This world has public baths. 

Bathing at your own house is difficult, and the normal thing to do is bathe in cold water or soak a towel in heated up water and wipe your body. 

Drawing water from a well and boiling it is too much of a hassle. 

It is not like there’s bathtubs like in Japan that you can heat up with firewood.

Readying a bathtub big enough to stretch out your legs is obviously also a lot of work.

But there are houses where bathtubs are set.

The house of Ilias is one. She can make water and fire with magic, so she can prepare hot water for the bathtub pretty fast. 

However, the ones who have learned such basic spells are of high social standing, moreover, people like knights and stewards. 

It is convenient, so basic magic is a foundation in the survival skills of knights, and one of the necessary skills of maids. 

For the common populace that wants to stretch their legs in a bathtub, a public bath like this one is an absolute necessity. 

Taizu relies on underground water, so it is somewhat of a luxury, but you can manage somehow with magic and magic stones for the water and fire. 

Because of this, most of the people that manage public baths have learned magic. They would bring out water with magic and warm it up with magic.

In order to retain the warmth, they use magic stones with the trait of absorbing heat and generating it.

They apparently leave them to absorb the sunlight at daylight, and when it hits evening, they would throw it onto the water to help retain the warmth. 

They don’t regularly change the water, so I worry about the sanitary front, but they apparently also use magic for this in working hours to get rid of the accumulated filth.

By the way, a certain modern era person has provided extra knowledge to them. 

I will actively put effort in the bettering of my surroundings, yup. 

But just when it had become practical and I was about to enjoy it, Ilias became my bodyguard.

Thanks to that, I haven’t been able to go to this public bath even once. 

“Man, I couldn’t come to places like this since Ilias became my bodyguard.” 

“Makes sense. Entering while still in armor would be beyond embarrassing.” (Cara)

By the way, there’s no mixed bathing. The teachings of the Yugura Church are similar to that of christianity, and they preach the relationship between men and women, so that has permeated into society. 

Yugura is apparently a person from around 100 years ago after all. It wasn’t the era of mixed bathing.

The fact that he went out of his way to leave it as a teaching to control it probably means that this world was predominantly mixed bathing in the past. 

Let’s just be grateful on that front. I could enjoy it if it is mixed bathing by default, but I don’t have the confidence I would be able to hold down my lust. 

I enter and pay the fee. It is a rate that’s similar to the modern era, but it is comparatively high for the people of this world.

This is most likely used only once every week by the regular people.

There are people who take this as a hobby, increasing the average use.

This place must be the same in that, even if you have a bath at home, you still prefer the bathhouse. 

I take off my clothes at the changing room and head to the bath.

“Even so, this part really feels fresh.” 

It is obviously not a hot spring that has tiles laid down. 

It is made of stone and the lighting is on the dark side. It is as if I have suddenly entered a sauna. 

I pick up a wooden chair first and wash my body after sitting at the side of the bathtub. 

It is etiquette in Japan, but is close to a rule in this world.

The reason being that bathing is culturally ingrained in Japan, so you can wrap things up mostly with just bathing, but it is more alien for this world. Most people who come here are pretty dirty. 

They may be cleaning themselves regularly with magic, but it is not really sanitary. 

There are scrubs readied here, but I am naturally going to be using my own.

It was only at first that I felt like I wanted shampoo and conditioner, but if it is just the smell, you can wash it off with hot water, and I can just use perfume and oils after the bath.

Actually, this is something I feel every time when I come to a public bath in this world, but…every single person here has a good body. 

It is not that I have those inclinations, but they are all toned up to a degree where I would get jealous about them.

There are fat people when you go all the way up to nobles, but manual labor is the main occupation of commoners.

There’s no cars, so they travel by foot every day. 

Most of the food they eat are simple things you can get on the mountain. Of course they wouldn’t get fat. 

By the way, the ones that stand out from that are the knights. They have a body that you can tell by sight alone that they are knights.

Cara-jii is short, but he is like a muscle daruma. I would believe he can kill a bear with his bare hands.

“What’s up, staring at the body of someone.” (Cara)

“I was just thinking you have really trained it a lot.” 

“And you look so frail. It would be easy for you to disguise yourself as a woman.” (Cara)

I am not happy to hear that. In the first place, the skeleton would still make it hard for me to pull that off. 

I think I have gotten a bit of muscle since coming to this world and I have less excess flesh. 

That said, it is not like I have abs or my muscles are asserting their presence through my skin though.

It is a standard physique, but in this world, I would be seen as a bean-sprout. 

The muscles on the arm of Ilias must be impressive. I feel like my heart would break from that, so let’s not witness them.

I finish washing my body and enter the warm water. The bathtub is pretty spacious. Understandably so as it is a place that allows many people to come in. 

The bathtub in the house of Ilias is big enough to stretch your legs, but you can only stretch your arms outside the water. A bathhouse really is nice.

“Oh, isn’t the one there my friend?” 

“…Why are you here, Marito?” 

I couldn’t see the state of the bathtub because of the steam, but once I entered, my view was now below the steam. 

The one there is a handsome man dripping with water, the king of Taizu, Marito Taizu.

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