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There was a bit of hassle to it, but I safely managed to join Shunait.
Standing out can’t be avoided with the backing and battle prowess of Rakura and Wolfe. In that case, it should be my role to investigate from below.
“Well, I have some confidence in my talking skills, so you could say it went according to plan.”
“What part of that was according to plan? Just when I thought you finally got permission after trying to persuade them, it got even more hectic when you couldn’t imbue your mana on the guild card.” (Ilias)
That’s right. My application finally went through and I got to the step where my guild card could be issued, but once it came to the step of imbuing mana on the guild card, it ended up in a negotiation once again because a certain someone doesn’t have any mana.
In the end, I was issued a guild card as a special exception while throwing away the merit of confirming my identity.
Being unable to prove my identity means that I won’t be able to get the trust of others depending on the place, but such confirmations are normally done only on high ranked adventurers. It is not something that low ranked adventurers have to worry about.
“I expected this would happen after hearing about the guild system. I would rather you praise me for being able to skip that step and managing to register. What’s left now is to finish requests and, after gaining their trust, we begin our information gathering. Everything is going smoothly.”
“Smoothly, huh. This is?” (Ilias)
“Shut up. If you have the time to look at me with a blank stare, help me out here!”
And so, we are currently gathering medicinal plants in the mountains.
I changed the shadow of Kutou into gloves, equipped it, and had it mold scissors in one hand.
I feel like I could get eczema or something like that from poison if I were to touch the weed with my bare hands. Such small details are important.
“My work is to protect you. If I were to concentrate on gathering medicinal plants, I would be neglecting my job.” (Ilias)
“How inflexible. You should learn from the others.”
“This is a request you accepted. Can’t really say I admire you trying to get the help of others.” (Ilias)
“She is totally right! Why am I being made to do this?!”
I don’t know since when she was listening, but Blue showed up from the thicket and joined in on the conversation.
Gold, Purple, and Dyuvuleori are also carrying small boxes respectively as they continue gathering medicinal plants.
I could only think of them when thinking about people that looked like they were free in Taizu.
Gold and Purple readily consented, but Blue was reluctant.
And so I stirred her up by saying ‘Even though Ekdoik is doing his best here, you…’ and had her accept.
As for Dyuvuleori, he glared at me and said ‘You are making My Lord do such menial work’, but the person herself was beaming with motivation, so things wrapped up without issues.
“Isn’t that fine? This is far more healthy than cooping yourself up in the villa, you know?” (Purple)
“How many centuries has it been since I have gathered medicinal plants? I feel like I am back to my childhood. I have gathered everything that looks like a medicinal plant.” (Gold)
“Ooh, thanks. Now then, give them to me for a bit.”
We moved to a slightly open space and spread out the plants.
And then, I bring out a single book from the shadow of Kutou and flip the pages.
This is the illustrated reference book of medicinal plants in this world. This world lacks printing techniques, so the illustrations are done by hand. It is a bit hard to tell them apart, but the detailed defining traits are written down, so even someone with untrained eyes can tell them apart.
“Oh, found it. Uhm…this also. Now then, classify them here and gather the pertaining medicinal plants.”
“Wasn’t it only one type of medicinal plant the request was asking for?” (Gold)
“Yeah. The ones here are medicinal plants I personally want to gather.”
“They look like medicinal plants that are not that effective though… Aah, so that’s how it is.” (Ilias)
“That’s right. This is for my personal use. The reason why I divided them is because they are medicinal plants that you can get some effects from regardless of mana.”
The medical treatment of this world is normally done with magic as well as using medicinal plants that affect your mana to increase your recovery rate.
As someone who can’t be affected by mana, I need medicinal plants for children-use since it works with the premise that their mana isn’t stable yet.
Children can increase their immunity to a certain degree with mana, so they are mostly used by babies and toddlers, so these medicinal plants don’t circulate that much.
I would feel bad having the physician everyone relies on provide me some of the medicine that they have low inventory on at times when needed, and I would have to buy them from merchants at relatively high prices.
“It is rough not having mana, huh? Even though you could solve that by becoming a demon?” (Purple)
“Considering the matter with the guild card, I am beginning to feel like I wouldn’t be able to become a demon.”
“Want to try?” (Purple)
“I will refrain.”
If it is after grueling resolve, becoming a demon is an option, but I wouldn’t be able to act cool for eternity if I were to become a demon just because I wanted to try and see whether I could.
“Too bad. Then, Dyuvuleori, can you gather these medicinal plants?” (Purple)
“Yes, My Lord. I will gather them swiftly so there’s no need to trouble your hands on it.” (Dyuvuleori)
“It would be troubling if you were to just collect them all. These medicinal plants use their leaves, so please pluck a few of their leaves from each one.”
“I see. That way is more effective in long spans of time. It is the same logic as food being gone if you were to exterminate all the human race.” (Dyuvuleori)
“I don’t want to agree to such a dangerous comparison, oi.”
“I have already remembered the scent. Well then, I am heading off.” (Dyuvuleori)
Dyuvuleori said this and melted into the shadows.
What a diligent guy he is. His eagerness to work is the same as Ekdoik.
“Speaking of which, the nose of Dyuvuleori can sniff out many things. It has a lot of utility.”
“Right. I think Dyuvuleori’s nose is more precise than dogs and pigs?” (Purple)
“Phrasing, phrasing. As for the medicinal plants gathered, despite all said, the one who got the most variety was Blue. Growing in a remote land was not just for show.”
“Just how many centuries back do you think that was? Well, it is true that my skills are better than a sheltered princess and a common villager though.” (Blue)
“Oh, is that a provocation? But Dyuvuleori is going to pick up from here, so the gap is going to be filled up soon.” (Purple)
“Do that with your own strength!” (Blue)
“I was the one who created Dyuvuleori and put him to work though?” (Purple)
It has gotten noisy again. Dyuvuleori is working hard here, so it wouldn’t be good to play around too much here.
“Let’s resume. But Purple, it would be better for you to stop being proud of things in that fashion.”
“Oh, why?” (Purple)
“With that logic, Gold would be leagues beyond everyone here.”
“Nfufu, true. If this one wanted to, I could just open the national treasury of Gahne, and buy it all up after all.” (Gold)
“I vehemently refuse such means. It would be one thing if it were private funds, but I don’t want to be an accomplice in the use of the citizens’ tax.”
If this were to cause the prices of the children’s medicine shoot up drastically in all countries and tragedies were to happen because of this, I wouldn’t be able to hold my head high.
Also, it is not like I plan to get sick so often. Just enough for myself is fine.
“What are ya saying? Yer a necessary talent for this one, no, for Gahne, Ser. Opening the coffers of the country for the sake of that is a veritable necessary expense, ya know?” (Gold)
“Am I Dakki?”
“Dakki? I have not heard of that before.” (Gold)
“It is a famous woman that remains in the history of my world. She was called a courtesan beauty, and the ruler of that time put so much into her that the country went down.”
“Hohoh, ya often bring up pretty fitting stories.” (Gold)
“By the way, there’s also versions stating she was a fox disguising herself.”
“Oh, if it is a beauty and a fox, then that’s this one. But I am the ruler here. In other words, there’s no issue.” (Gold)
What’s with that extreme logic? If Dakki were a ruler, she would simply be a tyrant.
Oops, no good, no good. We chit-chatted too much.
We finish the talk there and resume our work.
There’s a lot of things that can serve as medicine aside from medicinal plants. We shouldn’t waste these opportunities and go efficiently.
“It should be around the time when Ekdoik and the others have joined the guilds and are gathering information. Wolfe will be fine, but I am a bit worried about Rakura.”
“I understand how you feel, but Rakura can do it when she puts her mind to it. There’s no need to be worried.” (Ilias)
“You can trust in others now.”
“Muh, Rakura is already not just some other person. I know full well about her prodigious talent, so of course I would trust her.” (Ilias)
“Prodigy, huh…”
“That’s a weird tone you got there. Rakura and Ekdoik’s skills are without doubt within the realm of prodigies.” (Ilias)
“I am not saying they don’t have talent. Their strength is one they have obtained after proportional pay. I don’t feel too good about just wrapping it up with talent.”
Ekdoik spent most of his life in a harsh world.
Rakura polished herself in lonesome with no one understanding her.
Their talents bloomed because of such circumstances. There’s other emotions welling up aside from jealousy.
“That might be true, but…” (Ilias)
“You also gave up your social life to accumulate effort. You wouldn’t feel good about wrapping it up with just talent, right?”
“…Yeah. I won’t deny that I have been given talent by my parents, but I would definitely want others to see my effort in raising it. I was tactless there.” (Ilias)
“Well, there’s no doubt they are in the realm of prodigies after all. But it is not wrong to evaluate their efforts too.”
The two of them are currently in a position where they are valued highly by their surroundings. That’s good.
In that case, it is the role of the people in their surroundings to provide them opportunities to make the best out of their budding talent instead of burying them.
“By the way, is your technique also a talent?” (Ilias)
“Mine is something I learned from experience. If you asked me whether I have a talent…I would say it is my nature.”
“Nature, huh… That sounds hard to correct.” (Ilias)
“I don’t want that and it would be hard. The nature of people doesn’t change easily. That said, you have changed a lot, Ilias.”
“Me?” (Ilias)
“Even though you tried to slice down Gold in an instant at Gahne after she called herself a Demon Lord, your relationship has gone as far as allowing her to stay at your house, right? Tell the you at that time about this, I am sure she would make a nice face.”
The working hand of Ilias stopped.
When I peeked at her face, she was making a face as if thinking about something complicated. That’s not like her.
“…About that, I still haven’t come to terms with it that well yet.” (Ilias)
“It is something like a haze inside your heart, right?”
“Yeah. It is hard to put in words.” (Ilias)
“Then, want me to analyze it?”
“Analyze… Don’t use that.” (Ilias)
“No need to, no need to. Just how long do you think we have been together for? I can tell pretty much anything about you, you know?”
“Sounds as if I am simple.” (Ilias)
“If you were complicated, I would have used Comprehension on you when I first met you. I am not such a saint that I would cooperate with someone that I don’t know whether they would be an enemy or ally.”
“Hngh… Fine, then let’s hear about it.” (Ilias)
Now then, putting the haze of Ilias’s heart into words, huh.
The heart of humans doesn’t change easily. In that case, what the heart of Ilias is shouldering are the remaining feelings of the time before she changed.
“I will give you the clear answer first. This is about the Green Demon Lord.”
“…Green Demon Lord.” (Ilias)
“You lost your parents due to monsters, and were raised and influenced by Maya-san who is an Archbishop of the Yugura Church, so you had a preconception that Demon Lords are absolute evils. But after learning about the lives of Gold, Purple, and Blue, you ended up understanding that they were humans and demi-humans who lived normally in this world before. They had their lives led astray by Yugura, and because of their way too excessive power, far surpassing what a human can have, they became enemies of humanity. That’s why you can trust them though.”
“…Right.” (Ilias)
“But at the same time as you realized that the Demon Lords are all humane and can’t hate them, the emotions that you held in the past became a lump. You can’t bring out an answer as to what to do the next time you meet the Green Demon Lord.”
“…”
“The Green Demon Lord that created the Taizu Nether which gave birth to the monsters that attacked Taizu. There’s no doubt they are the killer of your parents. There’s no issue if they become our enemies. You have your personal reason to fight them, so you can take sword without hesitation. But I have joined hands with most of the Demon Lords I have made contact with. In the case I also join hands with the Green Demon Lord, the feelings of the Ilias that hates her parents’ killer and the knight Ilias that protects me won’t be able to coexist.”
“…Right now I am…the knight that protects you.” (Ilias)
“Right now. But what has become your foundation is your hate towards the killer of your parents and the desire to protect the nation from that threat. There’s no way you would be able to cut that off. That’s why there’s a haze in your heart.”
Ilias lowers her head and falls silent.
This feeling must have been born since the moment she learned that I would become a 3rd Faction.
Ilias idolized her father and became a knight, so if I were to join hands with the Green Demon Lord who was the reason for the loss of her father…
Well, this is not the time to bring out that answer. Let’s wrap it up here.
“Want to analyze more? If I analyze more than this, I will end up bringing out the answer too, you know?”
“No…this is enough… Having someone else analyze you calmly doesn’t feel that good.” (Ilias)
“People are happy to be understood, but only the parts that they want to be understood on. There’s personal differences though.”
“…I see. Then what are the things that I would think I would be happy being understood on?” (Ilias)
“You are worrying like this. It is because you are trying that much for my sake to the point you would place your past self on a scale. Thanks.”
“…That response is sly.” (Ilias)
“What. You still don’t understand that I am a sly person?”
“Right. You are indeed a sly person.” (Ilias)
Ilias will be worrying endlessly until that time comes.
But I am sure she will be able to bring out an answer at the end. I understand that she is that kind of person.
It is because I know she can do that that I can stay by the side of Ilias.
But if I were to tell her that, it would be spoiling her on the level of Rakura, so I won’t. It is also embarrassing.
“Now then, this should be enough for these medicinal plants. It is about time we regroup with the others.”
“Yeah. By the way, what is it that you would be happy about getting understood in?” (Ilias)
“Let’s see… I would like to sleep tightly without anyone smacking me awake.”
“Even if I understand that, granting this depends on you.” (Ilias)
“How strict. Something else would be…I would like to live safely.”
“That? Most people who know you already know that, you know?” (Ilias)
“I wonder about that. It is unexpectedly hard to achieve, you know?”
“What do you mean by that?” (Ilias)
I didn’t answer the last question and began moving.
For this one, even I would find it hard to put into words. I don’t have a clear image of it even now after all.
◇◇
“Muuh, why is it a no-na no da?!”
“Because Onii-san has told us to refrain from things that look dangerous!”
Nii-chan is always the one telling us what to research here.
That’s super fresh and interesting for Nora, too-na no da.
But Nii-chan has been busy lately and has not shown up much. All research decisions here are currently left to Ruko-sama.
Most of the things that Nii-chan asked us to do have been done, so I wanted to research a new spell myself, and yet, Ruko-sama told me no-na no da.
But Nora is training in order to become a great Sage just like master. I won’t be able to achieve that just by following the back of Nii-chan-no da.
“You don’t properly understand the logic of this spell-no da!” (Nora)
“It is true that I don’t understand it in detail, but Onii-san told me ‘Stop Nora when you feel it is dangerous’. And I get a bad feeling about this, so no!” (Ruko)
“That’s tyrannic-na no da!” (Nora)
“I am fine with being a tyrant! I am being left with this place when Onii-san is not present, so I will use my authority as the one in charge! If you want to research it no matter what, please do so after consulting with Onii-san once he comes back!” (Ruko)
“It is better for it to have progressed to a certain degree before Nii-chan says it is okay-no da!” (Nora)
“No, this isn’t something that should be moved forward with a personal decision! It is something that must be progressed for the first time after someone who can judge things correctly is present!” (Ruko)
Ruko-sama didn’t speak out at first, and yet, she has become noisy about every single thing Nora tries to do after Nii-chan got busy.
She doesn’t have the innovative mind of Nii-chan, and doesn’t have the sense of Ekdo-niichan, and yet, she just acts all high-and-mighty.
She just gets angry and doesn’t help out at all in the training of Nora.
“Muuh…!” (Nora)
“Geez! Onii-san is currently in Taizu, so I will tell him to show up. Don’t try to do any experimenting on your own until then, okay?!” (Ruko)
“…”
“Where’s your answer?!” (Ruko)
“…I get it-no da!” (Nora)
“Alright. Now then, I will lock the place, so we are exiting the room.” (Ruko)
We exited the research lab and Ruko-sama locked the door.
And then, she brought Nora to Mix-sama’s room just like that.
She was watching Nora the whole time until I got into the bed-no da.
“I will also ask Marito-sama so that Onii-san can come as soon as possible, so please endure until then, okay?” (Ruko)
“…”
I don’t want to look at the face of Ruko-sama who doesn’t listen to me-no da. I wrap myself up in the blanket and don’t move-no da.
“…Well then, Nora-chan, good night.” (Ruko)
Ruko-sama said this and left.
…Alright, it is time-na no da.
I exited the room and headed to the research lab stealthily-no da.
There’s a lot of people moving around in this castle even at night, so I would get found immediately-no da.
I used the invisibility magic Ekdo-niichan taught me and headed to the research lab in a way that doesn’t make noise-no da.
“Fuuh, arrived-no da.” (Nora)
The lock to this room is special, and it can only be opened with the key that has the mana of Ruko-sama imbued in it.
But that’s only for the door-no da. There’s no issues if I just go through the walls-no da.
For Nora, turning a wall into sand and restoring it is easy-no da.
I actually wanted to be able to do a variety of things in Mix-sama’s room, but I can’t do proper research without the documents written by Nii-chan-no da.
Even if I tried to bring them out, all of them have magic cast on them, so if I were to do so, Ruko-sama would know, so I am progressing the research stealthily like this.
The inside of the research lab is dark, but I endure with just the light of a candle and swiftly resume the research-no da.
“Let’s see, it should be in this drawer… There it is-na no da!” (Nora)
Going by the talk of Nii-chan, if I were to use this and that theory…hmm, it is a bit different-no da.
I write down the number of formulas in the extra parchment… This goes like this, and for this one…
If this can be made a reality, it will become amazing-no da. I am sure Nii-chan and Ekdo-niichan will acknowledge Nora even more.
I am sure Ruko-sama will also rethink it-no da.
Alright, with this… I will try to construct it.
[Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. End the connection at once and please erase the corresponding memories.]
Hm? There’s a strange voice resonating? Is someone talking outside-no da?
Detection magic… There’s no one around-no da.
Muuh, even though I weaved it, I have to do it again-na no da.
[Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. End the connection at once and please erase the corresponding memories.]
Again-na no da!
It is as if the voice is echoing directly in my head-na no da. But I have never heard this voice before-no da.
I heard this voice when I weaved this spell-no da. Some sort of added effect?
Oh well, I will ignore the voice this time around-no da.
[Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. End the connection at once and please erase the corresponding memories.]
Ignore-na no da. Ignore.
[Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. Warning: this goes beyond the amount of information a person from this world should know. End the connection at once and please erase the corresponding memories.]
Yup, it is going well-na no da!
Next, I do this…
[End of warning. Access to forbidden knowledge from a resident of this world has been confirmed. Target has been judged as a dangerous element to the world. Requesting the startup of an inhibitor.]
The words changed-no da. But I can finish it in just a bit-na no da!
Just a bit…
“Hey there, Small Sage-chan. You are doing quite the bad thing so late at night.”
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