By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 10

Chapter 3 Episode 10: To Lenaf

It was three days to Lenaf by carriage, with stops at four small villages. I heard the city wasn’t as big as Gimul, but still reasonably large. The journey would normally take three days at the quickest, but thanks to my teleportation magic and energy meditation, I expected the travel time to be greatly reduced. I would generally train by using the Warp spell to move all throughout my travels, but I decided I should have some amount of magical energy leftover, so I enhanced myself with energy meditation and ran the remaining distance. I could recover my magical energy in the meantime, allowing me to move at a pace no normal person could ever emulate. I considered taking it slow and fighting monsters along the way, but the monsters in the area were so weak that I wouldn’t even need magic or energy meditation for them.

For these past two months of traveling anywhere that I could return home from within a day, I already knew as much. But somewhat powerful monsters had supposedly appeared around Lenaf as of late, so if I hurried, maybe I could fight those. Glissela also asked me to deliver something to Pioro. I planned to say hello to him anyway, so I accepted the request and figured it should be taken care of sooner than later, hence using my physical and magical energy to move as fast as possible. I passed through the forest and crossed the plains, reaching the fourth of the villages between Gimul and Lenaf by the time the sun began to set. It seemed like a good place to stop for the day, so I walked to the side of the road and activated my Dimension Home, then began to prepare dinner with items inside it.

I bought a few portable foods from a store in Gimul before I departed, out of curiosity. I wanted to see what on-the-go food from this world tasted like. I started with a thin, rectangular board that reminded me of a cookie. It was nice and crunchy, but tasted like flour. It wasn’t especially good, but it wasn’t that bad either. I drank a glass of water I produced with water magic, then ate a yellow block that was shaped like a die. It was hard, but not so much as to be unchewable. It was like a cracker, but the thickness made it especially tough to bite through. Next, there was some dried meat. It was extremely salty, and only became more so the more I bit into it. I tasted nothing but salt. Ultimately I gave up on eating it because it seemed unhealthy.

Finally, there was some green bread that also seemed hard. Apparently, it had hardened in the time I had been traveling. It was solid as a rock, but the lady at the store said not to soak it in any fluid. That would give it an unpalatable flavor and waste it completely, according to her. I tried giving it a bite, only to be met with pain. I couldn’t even sink my teeth into it, so I was left no choice but to enhance my jaw with energy meditation.

When I tried again, I managed to bite the bread, but it had no flavor. Or so I thought at first, but then the terrible taste set in and I began to cough. I frantically gulped down a glass of water, but it wasn’t enough and I ended up drinking an entire second glass. It tasted something like grass, or maybe some sort of medicinal herb. It seemed like a mix of a few things, so it was hard to tell. It mixed with my saliva as I bit into it, though, and the grassy smell and bitter, tart, pungent flavor spread through my mouth. It was just vile. The dried meat that I got from Hughes was decent enough, but aside from that, I shouldn’t have just bought these snacks out of curiosity. Maybe I would try the other ones a second time, but not the green stuff. I chomped on a piece of fruit to cleanse my palette. Thankfully I had kept that in my Item Box.

The shocking flavor made me lose my appetite, so I had only that one piece of fruit for dinner, then slept in my Dimension Home. I would have to be careful of my surroundings when I got back out, but it was nice to not need a tent.

■ ■ ■

I was safe throughout the night, then began to travel the same way the next morning. By that afternoon, I could see the walls around Lenaf in the distance. My first order of business when I entered the city was to visit Pioro’s store. I took the time to enter my Dimension Home and wash off the sweat and grime from the journey. Once my cleaner slime bath was finished, I left my Dimension Home and headed to the city gate. Much like in Gimul, I just had to show my guild card to pass.

I asked the man at the gate for the location of the Saionji Company as well, and he said to walk straight onward past the east gate I entered through until I hit a dead end, then turn right. I thanked him and followed his directions through the wide streets until I saw a building with tall, sturdy walls. Many people were carrying luggage in and out of it. I didn’t know what this building was for, but this was the dead end.

I walked right for a while and found a sign that said ‘Saionji Company.’ It was on a corner with a butcher, general store, fish market, dried and preserved foods store, spice shop, and more, all of which had signs for the Saionji Company. There was even a deli, though it was on the smaller side. I didn’t know where to go, so I decided to enter the spice shop and ask them. I picked the spice shop because I didn’t have an appointment anywhere and it had the fewest customers, so I would be getting in the way the least. The high price of spices was likely the reason they were so empty. There wasn’t even a single customer, conveniently.

I was welcomed when I entered the spice shop, but I didn’t see who welcomed me. I turned to look where the voice came from and saw a young girl behind a counter. She was probably around the same age as me and Elia. She had long, blonde hair, white skin, and what appeared to be fox ears. I didn’t know if it was because she’d been working, but her hair was somewhat disheveled. She tried to pat it down as she came out from behind the counter.

“What do you need today?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not a customer. I have a delivery for Mr. Pioro Saionji from the merchant’s guild in Gimul.”

“What, for Dad? Thanks.”

“Excuse me, but are you Pioro’s daughter?”

“You know my dad?”

“Yes, we met some time ago.”

“Really? Sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Pioro Saionji’s daughter, Miyabi Saionji. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ryoma Takebayashi. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”

“Ryoma? I think I’ve heard that name before. Anyway, come on back here.”

Miyabi guided me through a hallway behind the spice shop until we came to a reception room. Shortly after she left, she came back with Pioro.

“Ryoma, it’s been two months! What, you came to Lenaf?”

“It’s nice to see you again, Pioro. I only just got to town. I’m here to open a new branch store.”

“In this city? Then I can take you to the local merchant’s guild.”

“Before that, I have something for you.”

I took a parcel out of my Item Box and handed it to Pioro.

“Huh, what’s this?”

“I couldn’t tell you what’s inside.”

“Yeah?”

Pioro opened the parcel. It contained a letter which Pioro read. He nodded and put the letter away.

“Ryoma, sounds like you’ve been through a lot lately.”

“Was it about me?”

“Just a bit about you at the end. Gli says to give you a hand, but I would’ve done that anyway.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, nothing at all. Let me introduce you to my daughter. She’s a year older than you, but you should get along swell.”

Now that the topic of discussion turned to her, Miyabi spoke up.

“Dad, c’mon. My name’s Miyabi, you should tell people my name when you’re introducing me. I even told him that much already.”

“Oh really? What’s the problem? Miyabi was also the name of the daughter of the founder of the Saionji Company. I named you after our ancestor.”

“Nobody was talking about that, Dad! Why are you bringing it up?!”

“Did that ancestor have some great accomplishment?” I asked, wondering what comedy routine he was trying to ape.

“Not that I’ve heard. She was just a pretty face to draw customers, then she got married, and she passed away peacefully with her family around her at the end of her life.”

“I see. So you want her to live a happy life like her ancestor?”

“No, no. Miyabi’s father was the founder, you see, and Miyabi’s father is me. I’m hoping that gives me the same luck as the founder!”

“You named her Miyabi for yourself?!” I couldn’t help but shout. “Uh, sorry I raised my voice.”

“No problem. That was a fine response, really. My daughter won’t even respond to my joking around lately, so that’s just what I needed.”

That reminded me of a boss I had who would joke around all the time when we were busy with work. Sometimes I would respond because he wasted more time if I didn’t, but I generally tried to ignore him, and that made him extremely upset. But I didn’t want to think about my old life too much, so I pushed that aside and went with Pioro to the merchant’s guild. He led me to the tall building I passed on the way to the Saionji Company. This was my second time seeing it, but its size was no less impressive. The walls could almost be compared to that of a fortress. I followed Pioro inside, where it looked like a castle.

“What do you think of this merchant’s guild? Incredible, huh?” Pioro asked me in the reception room.

“I’d say so. It looked like a fortress from the outside.”

“Makes sense, since there used to be one here.”

“There was?”

“You bet. There was a war a long time ago where this was the location of an army’s base. This city was built around the remains of that fortress, which was also used as the basis for this building when it was constructed.”

“I see.”

“There’s one other reason the building was made like this. Take a look out that window,” Pioro said and pointed outside, though the window was made of beautiful glass and hard to see through.

“Wow, I’ve never seen so many big monsters.”

Outside the window, there were many monsters. There were bird monsters ranging from medium to large, and even dragons that I assumed were wyverns. Some had saddles as if they were horses, and people rode on their backs. This never felt more like a fantasy world.

“All these monsters are here just to transport goods and people.”

“All of them?!”

“Flying monsters make it possible to transport goods that spoil quickly, and in large numbers. But we need a place for the monsters to land and unload the goods, among other things. A fortress happened to be a good example to follow for a building that would have all these facilities.”

“I see.”

“And the one who came up with this idea for using these monsters to transport goods, the one who oversaw the construction of this city, and the one who invented and named this ‘airport’ was the founder of the Saionji Company? Pretty smart guy, eh?”

Obviously I knew that he didn’t come up with the name, but I couldn’t say that. If someone else from Earth ever happened to come to my store, they might point out that nothing I came up with was original either. Pioro and Miyabi’s accents and behavior retained traces of someone from Kansai, so I had to imagine that the founder was from Japan.

“An airport? Port towns are sure full of interesting things.”

“Right? You get it!” Pioro said and jovially patted me on the back, then a woman who worked for the guild came to the reception room and we began to discuss business. I was the first to bring up that I wanted to buy a store. The woman was a bit surprised, but I went through the procedures smoothly enough. Pioro checked out the store in advance, so the guild was able to hand it over quickly. After that, we went to my newly purchased store to take a look inside.

It was a two-story building. The first floor had a storage room and space for doing business, while the second floor had a reception room and an office. The house that the previous owner lived in was also attached to the back, and that came with my purchase. Aside from the living room and other shared spaces, there were five empty rooms that could be used as lodging. I couldn’t give every employee their own room, but two or three people to a room was apparently normal, so it would probably be fine.

“Any problems?” Pioro asked.

“No. This looks like it should be usable as soon as I make the shelves and furniture. Contacting my people in Gimul will take three days at least, and I’ll be able to make arrangements for my employees to come in five days at the latest,” I said as I took a limour bird out of my Dimension Home so I could send a message. “Are you ready, Drei?”

I named this limour bird Drei, meaning ‘three’ in German. Elia sent me a letter saying she named her limour birds, so I decided to do the same. I also named my slimes back when I first started getting them, but I had so many that at some point I couldn’t keep track of them all. The effects of the taming contracts made it possible for me to tell them apart anyway, so it had been a long time since I felt the need to name my monsters. My nightmare bird was named Eins, meaning ‘one,’ and the other four were named Zwei, Vier, Fünf, and Sechs, meaning ‘two,’ ‘four,’ ‘five,’ and ‘six.’ Elia said she named hers after music terminology.

“Golly, you really made contracts with limour birds, huh?” Pioro said as he observed Drei. I took writing tools out of my Item Box to write a letter in the meantime. When I previously linked my senses to the limour bird’s and let it fly off, the way the scenery rushed by brought to mind memories of riding the bullet train. Assuming this was the same speed, Drei was going at somewhere from two-hundred to three-hundred kilometers per hour. It would be fast enough flying normally, but it used wind magic to create gusts that dramatically raised its speed. Limour birds could travel a three-day distance by carriage like it was nothing. Even if it had to take some detours on the way, it would be able to reach Gimul before the day ended. It was fast, that was for sure.

I put the finished letter in a tube and attached it to the Drei with a red cloth with a metal clasp. Now it would be allowed into the city on its own. I went outside and asked Drei to deliver the letter, to which he responded with a melodious cry and flew high into the sky. He hovered around near the clouds for a bit, then accelerated into the distance.

“That takes care of that.”

“Now you just wait for a response?”

“Right.”

“You already have an inn reserved, Ryoma?”

“Oh, no, I forgot.”

“Perfect, you can stay at my place until this business is taken care of.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Feel free.”

“Then I’ll be happy to.”

Thus, I ended up staying at Pioro’s house.