Chapter 99 - Chapter 98: Meeting with the Marquis
The third day of the third week of the Month of Fire.
Summer should be ending soon, yet hot days continue one after another.
However, inside the forest, sunlight is blocked, making it quite cool.
"Phew, I'm back."
Mika landed in the forest and took a breath.
He had just returned by flying after completing a simple beast extermination quest at a village slightly away until just now.
Mika has been truly busy lately.
On weekdays, he goes out every day after school to explore "curse-type" areas in the capital.
And if the cause of the curse is found, he performs the exorcism on the Day of the Sun.
But often, the cause was not found during the weekdays.
In such cases, he accepts beast extermination quests on the Day of the Sun.
Most of them are against small beasts, but since they are C-rank quests, the rewards are so-so.
Considering that a single "curse-type" request pays four gold coins or more, most beast extermination quests have rewards below that.
If he only considered earnings, he should focus solely on "curse-types," but the monsters appearing there are almost all "Wraiths."
To be honest, it's not fun.
So, he earns money with "curse-types."
He has somehow settled into a routine of spending the remaining Days of the Sun on beast extermination quests.
Originally, he started "curse-types" intending to acquire new "Relics," but recently he no longer really needed to kill time.
He goes out looking for the cause of curses on weekdays, so when he returns, he is quite tired.
He also needs to maintain his armor frequently, so he actually feels like he wants to relax at night.
Even so, if he completes two "curse-type" requests a month and spends the remaining Days of the Sun on beast extermination, his monthly earnings exceed one gold coin.
He earns one million Rats every month.
Since he has almost monopolized the "curse-types" that other adventurers find difficult to touch, his earnings have become outrageous.
He even increased the remittance sent to his family once every two months to 100,000 Rats, yet the money keeps increasing.
Honestly, he can't stop grinning, but Mika does have concerns.
"If things go as they are, at the earliest next month, or at the latest the month after, I'll seem to exceed six million Rats."
That's right.
Mika needed that huge sum of six million Rats.
Actually, he won't need it for about five and a half years, but he must save six million Rats or more before the remaining amount is left in his hands.
"Even if it's to avoid military service... it still hurts too much."
He wants to complain that they are definitely ripping him off, but saying it won't change anything.
If they say it's just the system, he has no choice but to follow it.
And then, there is another concern.
"But, being able to earn at this pace is only for now..."
He walks steadily toward the forest exit, lost in thought.
The "curse-type" requests Mika is currently accepting are narrowed down by one condition.
That is the distance from the Academy.
On weekdays, he can only move from after the Academy ends until the dormitory curfew.
Roughly speaking, he only narrows it down to those where he can secure about two and a half hours for travel and exploration.
Flying across the capital isn't a big problem, but he obviously can't use it in the city.
So, he is forced to run.
He can run at full speed in the wilderness where no people are, but he cannot run at such speed within the capital where many people come and go.
Therefore, the locations of requests he can accept are limited.
And soon, requests near the Academy will run out.
If that happens, he will need to expand the range a bit more, forcing him to increase travel time and decrease exploration time.
There is a high possibility he won't be able to earn at the same pace as before.
"Well, this much is already earning too much."
Even if the pace drops a little, or even if it drops to half, it would still be equivalent to the earnings of a general C-rank adventurer.
"...I've become quite demanding."
He involuntarily smiles bitterly.
In the past, he earned one to two ten thousand Rats a week.
If he earned 100,000 Rats a month, he felt like he wanted to praise himself, saying, "I worked hard this month."
"Mika-kun~."
As Mika was reminiscing about the past, a voice came from behind.
Turning around, a girl with fluffy platinum blonde hair was waving at Mika.
"Hello, Kistil-san."
"Hello, Mika-kun. Did you come to play in the forest again?"
Kistil carried a satchel on her shoulder and hurried over to Mika.
The girl whom Mika had once been seen landing in the forest by.
Thinking she couldn't leave a small child alone, she held his hand and walked him back to District 3.
Mika, thinking, "It's just a one-time thing anyway," followed without saying anything special, but in reality, they met frequently afterwards.
And every time they met, she would say, "Let's go home together with Big Sister," and take his hand.
Finally, it became difficult to let this misunderstanding continue, so he introduced himself.
"Oh? You're a boy?"
She said that in a fluffy tone that didn't seem surprised at all.
"And, ten years old? You were bigger than my younger brother."
She widened her eyes like that, but in the end, Kistil's attitude didn't change.
"Big Sister is going home too. Let's go together."
Overwhelmed by Kistil's fluffy "Big Sister Aura," Mika had no choice but to comply.
Kistil walked alongside Mika.
"Oh my?"
She muttered that and put her satchel on the ground.
Then she crushed some grass that was inside with both hands.
"Don't move."
Kistil squatted beside Mika and asked him to raise his right elbow slightly.
There was a wound on the outside of his elbow, and a little blood was coming out.
"Ah... no, it's fine."
"Here, don't move."
He was told "Shoo," and Mika had his will to resist completely taken away.
(I feel like I was told "Shoo" for the first time in my life... Does it have that much destructive power?)
Honestly, this could be healed immediately with [Heal] or healing magic.
But he couldn't dismiss Kistil's behavior of crushing the medicinal herb without hesitation to treat Mika's wound, not minding getting her hands dirty, so he decided to behave quietly.
Kistil applied the herb to the wound and wiped her own hands with a slightly dirty cloth from her satchel.
Then she tied Mika's wound with a clean cloth that wasn't dirty yet.
"Okay, it's fine now."
"Um... thank you."
"It's fine."
Kistil smiled softly.
(She really is used to handling younger children.)
She seems to have a younger brother, so she must have treated wounds many times like this.
"But, I'm sorry. About your important goods..."
"Hehe, you don't need to worry about that."
Saying that, Kistil stood up and took Mika's hand.
"Come on, let's go home."
Kistil smiled at Mika and began to walk.
Kistil comes to this forest to gather herbs and such.
He once asked if she was registered as an adventurer, but it seems she is not registered.
"I take them to a nearby pharmacy and sell them there."
Although these are gathering items listed on the Adventurer Guild's fixed-fee quests, Kistil seems to sell them directly to the pharmacy.
The reason the Guild buys gathering items with fixed-fee quests, after all, is of course to sell them.
In the case of a pharmacy, the pharmacy purchases materials for medicines like herbs from the Guild.
Of course, they don't only purchase from the Guild, but as a pharmacy, they purchase a certain amount of consolidated quantity and items with guaranteed quality from the Guild.
However, when purchasing from the Guild, of course, an intermediate margin is added.
The Guild also holds inventory, and buying, storing, and selling require this much effort just by simple consideration.
Naturally, they will add some markup to the buy price and wholesale it.
Pharmacies want to purchase as cheaply as possible, but buying from individuals is troublesome.
More importantly, if something strange is mixed in, they will suffer a huge loss, and if they mistakenly use it, it becomes a trust issue.
Therefore, it was normal to purchase items from the Guild that guarantee quality.
"It's a shop of my grandmother's friend. At that place, they buy it a little higher than the Guild."
Normally, even if you bring items directly, they are often underpriced because they see you as easy to exploit.
Underpricing isn't necessarily a foolish business, but it is done considering a certain risk.
Items brought in suddenly might be mixed with poor quality goods.
If there were no quality issues, why wouldn't you bring them to the Guild? That is the logic.
So, pharmacies that dislike bearing such risks and don't handle purchases from individuals at all exist.
However, it seems there are pharmacies that will buy at the regular price if there is a personal connection and they know the person collects good quality items properly.
Higher than the Guild's buy price, but lower than the Guild's wholesale price.
Kistil's family doesn't seem very wealthy.
They make a living with her sick mother's piecework and Kistil's herb gathering.
Kistil is twelve years old, two years older than Mika.
She has one younger brother, who seems to be one year younger than Mika.
(It's a family structure just like the Noisheim household.)
Amalia wasn't sickly, but Loretta and she worked together to support the household.
Having a younger brother is the same as the Noisheim household.
It seems the grandmother who was a friend of the pharmacy passed away about a year ago.
And, one difference.
It seems her father is quite lazy.
His earnings disappear into alcohol money, he rarely comes home, and when he does come home occasionally, he touches the meager money Kistil and her mother saved.
Considering her age, Kistil seems to have suffered quite a lot.
(I want to help her, but it's someone else's family...)
Unfortunate circumstances are everywhere in the world.
Having a family and living while encouraging and supporting each other is already better.
Mika's family wasn't wealthy either, but Amalia and Loretta supported each other.
Mika was a burden due to his age, but now he is sending remittances little by little.
If Kistil's family's younger brother starts working, their life will improve little by little.
He can only hope for that to happen.
■■■■■■
The next week, the third day of the fourth week of the Month of Fire.
Mika sat on a luxurious sofa, stiff as a board.
Not only the furniture like tables, but the paintings hung on the walls and the vases and jars placed around must be worth a considerable amount.
Teacups with tea brewed are placed before his eyes, but he is too scared to even touch them.
In the corner of the room, two maids in maid outfits stand.
I believe they were called parlor maids.
Due to the incident with the "Curse of the All-Work Maid," Trys gave him a lecture, and Mika has become quite knowledgeable about maids.
(...Haa... I can't calm down.)
It is no wonder.
This is the reception room of the Marquis Leventein's villa.
Moreover, it was a different room from the reception room he had previously visited for questioning, clearly a VIP reception room.
The previous room was luxurious, but this one is even more outrageous.
Just thinking that he will have a meeting with that Marquis in this room makes Mika's heart race.
Previously, Cleiria told him, "My father wants to meet you when he comes to the capital."
So, it seems he arrived recently, and when Cleiria asked, "When is convenient?", he answered, "Anytime is fine," and the schedule was set immediately.
That's fine, but he doesn't understand why he was led to such a room.
(Probably, this is also psychological shaking...)
There is no other reason to treat him this well.
If Mika were an envoy from some country, he would be worried whether he is truly welcomed or thought to be incompetent.
There is a certain military strategy book that says, "If the envoy of the negotiating country is competent, give nothing and send them back. If incompetent, give greatly and treat them with hospitality."
By giving nothing to the competent and giving great merit to the incompetent, the incompetent will rise in rank.
If that happens, the country steered by the incompetent will destroy itself.
In reality, it probably isn't that simple, but the point is understood.
Now, what meaning is hidden in this disproportionate hospitality for Mika?
Knock, knock.
While Mika was thinking such things, the door was knocked.
First, the escort knight entered the room, followed by Marquis Leventein leading the escort knight.
Mika stood up from the sofa to welcome the Marquis.
The Marquis plopped down on the sofa in front of Mika, and immediately the parlor maid brewed tea.
Mika was also invited to sit, and after confirming the parlor maid was brewing tea for him, the others were dismissed.
After confirming the door was closed, he opened his mouth.
"It's been a while, Mika Noisheim-kun."
Still the same deep features, a scary face with deep wrinkles.
His low voice also resonated as if suppressing anger.
Perhaps because he experienced the battle with Agu Bear?
Now, a trivial thought involuntarily surfaced: "Which is scarier, this Marquis or Agu Bear?"
"It has been a long time."
Mika bowed his head lightly, and the Marquis stopped him with a light hand gesture.
"It seems I caused you trouble regarding Virone."
"No..."
Mika didn't know the reason for being summoned, so he watched the situation and prepared himself mentally.
What exactly would he be told?
Marquis Leventein took a sip of tea and looked at Mika with sharp eyes.
"Why did you plead for Virone's life?"
He felt anger in that voice and shuddered.
But the Marquis's voice sounding angry is the default state.
Even if he said that the crime and punishment were not balanced, the Marquis would not be satisfied.
That was merely Mika's personal opinion.
And originally, the verdict was beheading, but he accepted Mika's opinion and made a ruling.
Mika has an obligation to satisfy the Marquis to some extent.
"As I wrote in the letter. It seemed she had a strong bond with Lady Cleiria. If she learns how to use her life, I think she will surely be of help to Lady Cleiria."
There are surely many who would sacrifice their lives for the people of the Leventein family.
But few are bound by bonds.
Those who can be a spiritual support cannot be found or made easily.
"Is it only for the future of Cleiria?"
"Yes."
"Fumu..."
The Marquis crossed his arms and deepened the wrinkles between his eyebrows, pondering.
It seems he is not quite satisfied yet.
"Well, it's fine. More importantly, have you heard that Virone's labor service is for six months?"
"Yes. Lady Cleiria told me immediately after returning from Sarbengeal."
"I see. But, that will be extended."
"Eh?"
Why?
Did Virone do something?
"That was the plan from the beginning. First, extend it for three months with an appropriate reason. Then, extend it for another three months. In total, one year of labor service."
He doesn't think, "Why go out of his way to do that..."
This is likely part of tempering Virone's heart.
Give hope, then take it away. Give hope again, then take it away.
For the Marquis, it doesn't matter if the sentence is five years or ten years.
But...
"One year, is it?"
"Yes, that's right. Unless she goes berserk at this level."
If Virone goes berserk at such an injustice, there is no need to keep her alive.
But, since he only allowed her to be beheaded, he probably thinks he will just work her to death with labor service.
"If the bond with Lady Cleiria is real, she will surely endure, even if she has to drink mud water and bite stones."
"I hope so. If she gives up at this level, there is no meaning in keeping her alive."
In the army, there are examples of training that seems like mere malice, forcing soldiers to obey unreasonable orders.
Ultimately, the most unreasonable order, "Come back dead," might be given.
Depending on the battle situation, one must give orders knowing they will die, and if they don't obey, the whole army falls into crisis.
And that could lead to the destruction of the country.
Mean