Chapter 34 - 34: Journey on the Carriage (2/2)
”What… You're looking at me as if I said something crazy.”
If you see Motoyasu, kick him. I see nothing wrong here.
Seriously, I'll get nowhere if I have to micromanage each one of them so much.
”Alright then, we're off to peddle our goods. I'll be hiding myself in the carriage. Raphtalia, whenever we hit a village or a town, try to sell what we've got.
”Okay… I will.”
Outside of Ryuuto village, I still have a pretty bad reputation. So if I were to come out and try to negotiate, things might go awry and I won't be able to sell a thing.
That's why I've appointed Raphtalia with the task of selling and haggling our wares.
She has a fairly attractive appearance and is not particularly shy either. She might be pretty well suited to jobs handling clients.
”Well, let's head out.”
Our preparations complete, we load up the carriage with our baggage and have Firo draw us.
”Ah, Hero-sama”
”Hm? What is it?”
Within the mass of villagers seeing us off, a man stepped forward in front me and was dressed several notches above everyone else.
”I am the lord who is in charge of the area in which Ryuuto village resides. Shield Hero-sama, I thank you for everything you have done.”
”Don't worry about it. This was just a nice place for me to set up a base.
”…Please, take this.”
The lord says that as he hands me a sheet of parchment.
”This is?”
”As you'll be selling goods, I'm sure this will be useful. It's a Commerce Amnesty.”
”A Commerce Amnesty?”
”Yes. In this country, if you sell goods, at each and every village or town you visit you must pay a fixed amount to that region's lord.”
… Is that so. Well, if I just flaunt my authority as a hero then… Nah, since I have such a shitty reputation, that'll probably just backfire.
”But that's when you can present this Commerce Amnesty with my stamp on it. If you have this then you'll be exempt from paying the region's lord. I hope you will find this useful.”
”Uhmm… Is it really ok?”
”Yes. I won't be able to face my people if I don't present to Hero-sama proper remuneration for the services he has done.”
Now that I think about it, this is the agricultural sector of the Merlot Mark region. It's a place that gets quite a bit of traffic, so the lord of the region must have the same degree of influence and dignity to match its affluence.
It must've been brought to his attention by the villagers that I minimized the possible damage that could've occurred to Ryuuto village during the wave. With my bad reputation spread about, the king would scorn [any nobles] that would ȧssist me. So for his villagers he'll force himself to bear such humiliation… But instead what faced me was a cheerful smile.
”… I give this to you out of concern that your poor reputation may detriment your future business.”
He's giving it to me with purely good intentions. Then I can respond with honest gratitude.
”Thank you. I'll make use of it.”
”May you have a safe journey.”
”…Yeah, I'll be off.”
”If there's anything we can do you aid you Hero-sama, please allow us to help.”
”If you guys can just live long and prosper, that'll be plenty.”
”Of course!”
And with that our journey as a jack-of-all-trades doing odd jobs began.
At first we began with selling medicine.
We didn't have much, but we were able to sell it below the market price.
Our main items were remedies and nutritional supplements. These specifically I was able to make in higher level quality and we were able to sell it for a fairly high price.
And whenever we stopped by a village I would buy the medicinal herbs that I knew about and synthesize them into medicine on the road.
Firo was quite fast, so most of the time we made it to the next village within a day, but on some occasions we have to camp out.
When that happens we stop the carriage, set up a campfire and have dinner.
”Master! The space next to Firo is open! Let's sleep together!”
Pat, pat, in her Demon Form Firo signals to me to sit beside her.
”It's way too stuffy being next to you…”
It seems Firo really wants to sleep next to me. At an inn, I've ordered Firo to never change to her Demon form, so when we camp outside like this she indulges herself a bit more.
Well, if we're camping outside there's no one around so there won't be any trouble. I guess it's fine to let her off the hook a bit every now and then…
”Firo, you really do like Naofumi-sama don't you.”
”Yup! I won't lose to you Raphtalia onee-chan.”
”How did you end up with that!”
Whenever Raphtalia and Firo argue, it's in some fine line where I can't tell whether they're on good terms or bad terms.
Firo is still a kid, so she can throw a tantrum at just about anything.
Oh wait, Raphtalia is also actually a kid herself isn't she. So mentally they're about the same age.
”Yes, yes. Hurry up and sleep you two. I'll wake you up when it's time to switch- .”
”Ahh- you're treating Firo like a kid again-!”
”That's right! Please stop treating me like a child!”
”Oh that's right-! Raphtalia and Firo are both grown ups aren't they-!”
”You don't think so at all!”
”Yeah! Master you're so meeean!”
And with silly conversations like that, our days of peddling continue.