Chapter 10: To the capital

　Takaya, accompanying the three adventurers Meirir, Dike, and Roar, returned to the city he had left yesterday, Aria (or so he was told by Meirir).

　It seems the city where the three of them are based is about three days away from here on a horse-drawn carriage with regular rides. By the way, it’s the exact opposite direction from where Akito and the other former classmates are aiming for.

“Hey Takaya, what’s the matter? You’ve been down since a while ago … are you still feeling sick?” (Meirir)

“No, that’s not the case, but …”

　The place where the four people are waiting for a regular ride is a relatively busy place in the city of Aria. There are stalls, stores, and small shops that sell weapons and armor, and many people visit the street depending on the time of day.

　Meanwhile, Takaya was hiding in the shadows of the three and looking around while looking suspicious.

　The reason is, yes, the exchange at the brothel yesterday evening.

　Takaya was worried about seeing those women again.

“What’s wrong, you keep looking at the back alleys … oh”

　Dike, who noticed the intention of Takaya’s mysterious action, quietly whispered so that Meirir wouldn’t notice.

“Don’t take care of it in the shops around here. They can’t speak the common language, so you can’t convey subtle orders, and the hygiene in the store is bad.”

“You sound like you’ve experienced it.”

“Of course. There are stores like this all over the world, you know.　As an adventurer, it is only natural that you should always aim for the top. By the way, these shopkeepers only have very erotic bodies. ……”

　The carriage arrived at the boarding platform at just the right time as Takaya slipped into a daze, wondering what “top” meant.

　If we talked any further, Meirir’s contemptuous gaze would keep worsening at mach speed.

“Four people to board up to Bay Road. The fare is …”

“Oh, Roar-san, please wait a moment.”

　As Roar was fumbling with his wallet to pay the driver, Takaya hurriedly broke in.

　In this trip, Takaya is being treated as a customer, but it felt strange to leave everything to them. He still had a lot of money left for the trip, including uncashed magic stones, so he thought he could do this much.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Even if we board the carriage, it doesn’t cost much cause it’s a shared carriage, and above all, we just have to charge our employer later.”

“Yeah but it’s still bad, isn’t it?”

　As they were arguing about whether to pay or not, a magic stone suddenly rolled down from Takaya’s bag of coins.

　It was the clearest one and radiated a red light, Roar’s line of sight was nailed to that one point.

“Hey Takaya — this is …”

“Ah, yes. It’s a magic stone that I removed from the heart of a demon beast I handled a while ago.

“Takaya !!”

　Roar, who suddenly changed his tone, grabbed Takaya’s shoulder.

　Perhaps he was too excited, the power put in his hand was so strong that Takaya groaned unintentionally.

“! I’m sorry. I got too excited.”

“No … but what’s the matter? It’s certainly expensive, but it’s not so rare … I was able to collect it quite often while I dismantled.”

“Quite often!??”

　Roar’s eyes are opened further in astonishment.

　　From their reactions, it seemed that the magic stones he had been casually collecting, and Takaya who had been collecting them as a matter of course, were quite valuable to the locals.

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