Chapter 112: A Noble at the Guild
Ren was walking through the forest, treading on grass wet with morning dew.
It was a little earlier than usual.
He had been oddly unsettled the night before. Perhaps it was because he had moved rooms.
“…Shall I do some hunting, then.”
He muttered it to nobody in particular. In the shallow layer of the forest the morning air was chilly.
Birdsong rang out, and the light coming down between the trees wavered.
After a while the undergrowth shook.
He readied an arrow by reflex. What sprang out was a moss rabbit.
Ren loosed the arrow calmly.
It struck it in the neck. The moss rabbit rolled over.
“Yes!”
He put it into the “small box” to drain the blood. He had brought the moss rabbit down without using the “small box” shield. That made him glad. A smile came to the corners of Ren’s mouth.
He went on through the forest and brought down two bird-type magical beasts along the way. The purple feathers were a rather subdued colour, but they looked as though they would do as material for quill pens.
He slipped through a gap in a big fallen tree, and going on, he caught sight of the hunting hut standing quietly deep in the forest.
Ren’s mood lifted a little. Coming here settled him somehow. The faintly secret feeling of it, the way it braced him, was good too.
He went up in front of the hut and looked round.
He checked the Simple Barrier he had set up so that it enclosed the hut. It was the cubic Simple Barrier he had made the day before, when he had tried adding the “small box” to the magic tool and starting it up.
“It’s still there.”
A smile came to him without his meaning it. He had thought it might vanish overnight, but it was still holding.
Nearby, on the other hand, the Simple Barrier made by merely laying magic stones out had gone, and the magic stones lay scattered about, their light lost.
“So the magic tool does last longer after all…”
He muttered it and opened the door of the hut. It creaked.
But it was cleaner than before. There was far less dust about.
That was the result of his cleaning.
When he opened the wooden window the morning sun came in and lit the inside of the hut.
He deployed a small box on the inside of that window.
If the Simple Barrier deployed outside the hut was working, magical beasts might not get in even with the window open, but it was a precaution.
He looked round the room.
An old desk. A chair. The open space of the floor.
“If I do ‘Floor Refresh’ a bit more, and if I had a blanket…”
Thinking that he might end up staying over, he repeated “Floor Refresh” several times.
There was the workshop at the Adventurers’ Guild. There was this hut too.
Even if he left the house, he might manage.
The thought crossed his mind.
If he left the house, that might be the end of it with his family. He might have to give up going to the Academy.
He still couldn’t make up his mind.
Ren let out a long breath, shut the window and left the hut behind.
He came out of the forest and headed for the village. By the time he had passed through the gate and was making for the Adventurers’ Guild, the morning sun had grown strong.
Ren set foot inside the guild and stopped.
Near the middle of the hall stood a large man he didn’t recognise. He was tall. Broad in the shoulder as well.
Even over his leather armour it was clear that his body was trained. An adventurer, or a knight, perhaps. Not so young that you would call him young, and with the weight about him of a veteran adventurer.
The man was talking to Mikaila across the counter.
Ren walked along by the wall, somehow trying not to be noticed. Just then, for an instant, his eyes met Mikaila’s.
But Mikaila turned her gaze straight back and smiled as though nothing had happened.
Ren quickened his step. And then the conversation reached his ears.
“Can’t you do something about it?”
the man said.
“I want to take feathers from a blue bird-type magical beast home as a gift.”
Mikaila answered.
“Within tomorrow is rather more than I can promise you.”
“I’ll pay well.”
“Why not go and hunt them yourself?”
“I’ve business to see to. I can’t spare the time.”
Ren nearly came to a halt.
(Azure feathers…)
Azure feathers made him think of the Azure Wind Swift. He had hunted some only a short while ago.
(I’ve got some… but…)
That was his thought. But he pressed his lips together in a tight line.
(These are for the char-core quill pens…)
Wavering a little, Ren went on towards the back passage.
He turned into the corridor that led to the workshop. There, someone walking the other way stopped.
“Well now.”
It was Eugene. Ren looked up brightly and smiled.
“Good morning, Ren-kun.”
“Good morning.”
“Are you going to the workshop?”
“Yes.”
When Ren answered, Eugene smiled and nodded.
Ren’s eyes flicked towards the hall.
“Um… There’s someone over in the hall saying he wants azure feathers…”
“Ah… They seem to have become somewhat popular lately.”
“Is that so…”
Ren’s eyes wandered about, and Eugene bent to look into his face.
“Is something the matter?”
“I’ve got some, but…”
“You have?”
Ren took out the Azure Wind Swifts, wrapped in thick cloth, from inside his hemp sack and showed him. He wrapped each bird separately in cloth so that the feathers wouldn’t be soiled.
“Azure feathers, yes. Azure Wind Swift…”
“Mm. But I was going to make quill pens with them…”
“I see… Quite so. …Anyone who wants them in a hurry will pay well on the request fee. If it were a matter of one or two, would you be willing to sell?”
“One or two, then…”
“Good. In that case, shall I go and tell the buying counter? It’s safer not to draw attention.”
“Safer?”
“The other party is a noble, you see. If he found out you had a whole bird’s worth of feathers, it might become complicated.”
“A noble?”
At the word “noble”, Ren froze for a moment.
(Could it be… a guest for the celebration…?)