Chapter 66: Home at Last, After a Long While

I gave a light wave, and Mintz and Scott came over with surprised looks on their faces. Behind them, I could see Steve and the others as well.

“You seem to be making quite a bit of money.” 

“Oh? You’re wearing better clothes than when you were driven out of town. But you’re back pretty early.”

“I came to secretly check on things. Has the noble said anything?”

“He apparently came to the guild a few times, but the sub-master flatly refused, saying they couldn’t comply with such vague demands. After that, when they complained that Leon ran off and the guild’s income dropped because you lot started talking nonsense, they stopped coming altogether. Seems the wealthy folks in town are still grumbling because they can’t get Chikki-Chikki Birds or Runner Birds.”

“So, can Gale use magic now?”

“He can manage somehow, but compared to your magic, it’s like night and day. You came back at just the right time—could you give him a bit of guidance?”

“He can use magic despite having only 64 mana, but still… as an adventurer, it’ll probably take him another year before he reaches Bronze.”

“It’s been the promised six months, so I was worried. I won’t show my face at the guild and will head straight home. I’ll wait for you outside the gate tomorrow morning.”

I told Steve and the others, who were fidgeting behind them, that I’d explain everything tomorrow, and then we parted ways.

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When I got home, no one was there. It seemed Mom was on the late shift, so I headed to the Apothecaries’ Guild where my sister worked.

Inside the Apothecaries’ Guild, beyond the glass window, a guy who looked like an apprentice was washing equipment that resembled beakers and flasks.
As for my sister… she wasn’t in sight—maybe she was in the back.

She was twenty-four when I left home at sixteen, so that meant she’d already been working at the Apothecaries’ Guild for ten years. If she was a veteran by now, maybe she was lounging arrogantly in the back of the shop.

Come to think of it, I’d forgotten to restock my potions, so I might as well buy some while I was here.

“Welco—me.”

“Could I get one lower-grade mid potion and two upper-grade mid potions?”

“For you, sir?”

“I don’t think there’s any other customer here. The lower-grade mid is 60,000 dara, and the upper-grade mid is 180,000 dara each, right?”

“Ah—y-yes, that’s right.”

I placed four gold coins and two silver coins on the counter, and he hurriedly fetched the potions from the shelves in the back.

“That’ll be 420,000 dara. Please confirm. And could you tell Belinda-san that Leon is here?”

“Belinda-san… you mean Belinda the apothecary?”

“Yes. Please tell her Leon is here.”

“And what would your business be?”

“I’m her younger brother, here to see my sister. Do you need any more explanation than that?”

People had always said we looked alike, but maybe my face doesn’t resemble hers that much after all.

Maybe my tone was a bit too sharp, because he rushed off into the back in a panic.

A short while later, my sister came running out in her slippers, making a pattering sound. Her first words were, “You’re late telling me you were coming.”

“I should’ve sent you a package not long ago.”

“At least tell us where you are. Mom’s been worried too.”

“I went home, but it looked like she was on the late shift, so I came here.”

“I’ll give you the key, so go back home first. I’ll be done soon too.”

As she handed me the key, she thanked me for the beautiful fabric, but seriously—stop patting my head.

“Hey, Sis, I’m almost nineteen, you know.”

“And you’re still my cute little brother. I wonder if you’ve grown any taller.”

“That’s basically the same as saying I’m still short.”

Laughing, she pushed me out of the shop. Am I always going to be treated like a kid?

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Back in my long-unvisited home, I relaxed with a sense of relief. Before long, my sister arrived as well.

She bustled about putting away her things and started preparing dinner.

“Huh? I thought you were living at the guild, Sis.”

“I’ve been recognized as a full-fledged apothecary, and after you left home, Mom and Dad got lonely, so I moved back.”

“Mom and Dad… does that mean Dad was lonely too?”

“When Mom gets lonely, Dad does too.”

Yeah, yeah—at his age and still head over heels for Mom.

“Since you’re recognized as an apothecary, are you going to go independent?”

“I’d like to someday, but as thanks for my training period, I have to stay affiliated with the guild for another three years before I can go independent. And I’ll need quite a lot of money too.”

That makes sense. You’d need a house, a shop, a workshop to make potions, and a good amount of operating capital.

“So how much do they pay you?”

“Right now, 400,000 dara. In another three years, I’ll probably be earning around 500,000 to 600,000 dara.”

“Five to six hundred thousand, huh. Skills really do pay well.”

“By the way, I heard you paid 420,000 dara for potions?”

“They’re necessary for emergencies.”

“And those gifts you sent earlier—and those clothes you’re wearing—those look pretty expensive too.”

“I’m grateful to Lady Felicienne for granting me wind magic.”

“You used to make good money with Chikki-Chikki Birds and Runner Birds even when you were still in town. I was granted water magic and the compounding skill, which really helped me stand on my own.”

I could sense Mom and Dad approaching outside the door.

“Looks like they’re back.”

“Eh…?”

Oops—I’d been using presence detection unconsciously.

With a cheerful “I’m home,” Mom opened the door and froze when she saw my face.

“Leon—are you doing well?”

“I’m home, Dad. I came back to show my face without telling the guild.”

“I heard you were safe, but you even went as far as the royal capital. You’ve been sending so much money—are you really okay?”

“About that—here.”

I took out two baskets I’d failed to buy before from my magic pouch and handed them to Mom and my sister.
They were stuffed to the brim with sweets and tea leaves, so they were a bit heavy.

My sister’s eyes lit up when she saw the mountain of sweets—scary.

“Dad, you have an account with the Merchants’ Guild, right?”

“Of course. Why?”

“Use this for the household.”

When I handed over a leather pouch filled with gold coins, my parents froze.

“You haven’t been doing anything illegal, have you?!”
“Leon… what is this?”
“What on earth did you do to earn this much?!”

“Mom, do you know how much a single Chikki-Chikki Bird sells for when delivered to a hotel?”

“I heard it’s about 50,000 or maybe 60,000 dara.”

I figured they wouldn’t believe me just from an explanation, so I took out the appraisal sheets I’d stuffed into my magic pouch and showed them.

“Look at this. These are appraisal forms used when selling game—the price is determined here. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to sell to the guild. If you’re satisfied, you accept it and get paid at the settlement counter. This one’s already been settled—you can see the guild’s signature at the bottom, right?”

What I handed over was an appraisal sheet that listed only a small number of particularly dangerous beasts.

• Chikki-Chikki Birds: 13 × 65,000 = 845,000 dara
• Runner Birds: 15 × 38,000 = 570,000 dara
• Green Birds: 9 × 26,000 = 234,000 dara
• Red Chickens: 12 × 22,000 = 264,000 dara
• Orcs: 3 × 83,000 = 249,000 dara
• Big Elk: 1 head, 38,000 dara
• Horn Boar (medium): 1 head, 53,000 dara
• Brown Sheep: 1 head, 56,000 dara
• Prairie Sheep: 2 × 61,000 = 122,000 dara
• Killer Dogs: 6 × 18,000 = 108,000 dara
• Black Wolves: 8 × 31,000 = 248,000 dara

Total: 2,787,000 dara

At the bottom was the signature indicating payment completed by the Adele Adventurers’ Guild.

The three of them leaned in to stare at the appraisal sheet and froze yet again, so I next placed an appraisal sheet from the Carcas Adventurers’ Guild and pointed to the grand total of 3,516,000 dara.

As I listened to sounds that were somewhere between sighs and groans from the three of them, I laid down one more sheet.

I pointed to the date column and the total of 3,030,000 dara on the Cassandre Adventurers’ Guild appraisal sheet.

“Leon… these dates are on consecutive days…”

“I sold what I’d been stockpiling in a Rank 5 magic bag. If you dump too much in one place, the prices tend to drop.”

To finish things off, I quietly brought out the appraisal sheet from the Kreis Adventurers’ Guild.

Total: 8,058,000 dara.

This time they froze completely, and it looked like they wouldn’t be recovering anytime soon, so I went to turn down the fire before the pot boiled over.

Once they seemed a bit calmer, I explained.

“The things I sold in Kreis were my usual game, but you see this one here—Battle Hawks. They’re apparently rare, and the guild bought them for an average of 750,000 dara per bird. There were seven of them, so that’s 5,250,000 dara. Without those, it would’ve only been 2,808,000 dara.”

“But Leon, more than that—what is this?! Red Bears, High Orcs, Forest Wolves, Rush Wolves… they’re all dangerous beasts!”

“So you’ve been doing things that dangerous?”

“Leon, you promised you wouldn’t do anything risky, didn’t you?”

At my sister’s icy tone, a chill ran down my spine.

“It’s true I hunt beasts too, but I’m not doing anything dangerous. With my stamina, even fighting dogs would be rough.”

“Well, with your physical strength, full-on beast hunting does seem impossible.”

“The reason I became a proper adventurer is because I can use magic and keep myself safe.”

“And how exactly does your wind magic keep you safe?”

“You probably won’t understand unless you go outside the city, but I’ll show you two small things—just keep it between us. The first is something to protect myself. I call it a shelter.”

As I said that, I created a balloon about fifty centimeters in diameter.

Since they couldn’t see it, I had them touch it, and I explained that it could withstand an armored buffalo’s charge and even magic attacks—but they didn’t look like they really understood.

“The other is a whirlwind. This is what I use to hunt beasts and birds.”

Saying that, I set a wine bottle on the table and spun it around using a small whirlwind about thirty centimeters tall.

“When I do this, animals get dizzy and stagger around, unable to move. Then I just give them a quick stab with my short spear.”

My father nodded thoughtfully, murmuring “I see, I see,” his eyes glued to the spinning bottle.