192

Seeing the rising smoke with my own eyes, I slowly stood up.

I returned north a little early, and while spending my time exploring the surroundings and training, the appointed day arrived in no time at all.

It was unfortunate that I had nothing I could really call results, but it was good that I had made at least a little progress in both magic and switching into Assault Mode.

I had been training with magic not too far from the river, waiting for the right moment, and around the time the sun reached directly overhead, I spotted the signal smoke, but if I hurried too much, it would look like I had been eagerly waiting, so I figured it would be fine to go after hunting something to match lunchtime.

And of course, only when I was thinking that did I secure a deer with absurd ease.

Why could it not always be like this?

I snapped off a thick branch and adjusted it to a suitable size, then hung the prey I had cut the throat of from it to drain the blood as I headed for the river.

Holding it with my free hand so blood would not get on the backpack on my back, I trudged through the forest.

After walking for an hour while taking care not to jostle the ingredients I was carrying and my luggage, the river came into view, and among the group I could see beyond it, I spotted Gust.

The moment I emerged from the forest, one of them pointed at me and shouted something.

He was probably saying something like, “He’s here.”

I came out of the forest and crossed the river without changing the pace of my walk.

Even in the slightly deeper parts, it only came up to about my knees, so I set my luggage down once and washed my hands.

Then I immediately began butchering the deer.

“Ah, so the trade is after the meal, then?”

At Gust’s question, I gave a single “Gaa.”

He made a troubled face as if to say, “That doesn’t tell me anything,” but I ignored him and continued butchering.

As if showing off how skilled I was, I swiftly cut the meat into portions and threw the unnecessary parts into the river as fish feed.

Once that was done, I washed my hands again and prepared the iron plate.

I built a hearth and started a fire, and while the iron plate heated up, I cut the meat into nicely sized pieces.

While the men who seemed to be guards wore expressions of “Uh…” and obvious confusion, there was one person alone who showed no reaction.

A woman with her face hidden under a hood and wearing a robe—but from the little bit of red hair visible and the size of the chest bulging beneath it, I could guess who she was.

(What are you even doing here, Boobs Lady?)

Even if I say so myself, I thought we had ended our farewell on a fairly good note.

Had she been lured here by money?

Or was she here because she had drowned herself in alcohol?

Or had she simply been forced to listen to some unreasonable demand from the guild?

I did not know the reason, but since she was hiding herself under a robe, there was no doubt that she did not want to be here.

In that case, the merciful thing to do was pretend I had not noticed.

Gust looked displeased at me quietly grilling meat, but this was by now almost becoming a sort of ritual experienced by humans who encountered the monster called Argos.

I sincerely hoped all the first-timers would enjoy it.

And then the preparations were complete.

Meat, check. Salt, check. Iron plate, check!

A wild meal overflowing with manly spirit, as if vegetables were unnecessary!

I carried over a suitable rock and sat down, picked up a piece of grilled meat with the tongs, and took a bite—salt level, check!

After pouring water into a cup and gulping it down in one go, I quietly let out a deep breath.

“Well then, shall we talk?”

I leaned forward over the iron plate and addressed Gust.

Gust wore a wry smile, while Boob… the woman in the robe was somehow trembling.

As for the guards, every last one of them looked bewildered, unable to figure out what they were supposed to do.

“Ah, want some?” I asked, as if just remembering, while pointing at the thinly sliced meat.

As though resigned, Gust nodded, had one of his guards bring over a suitable rock, and sat on it.

“First of all, I want to ask—were you able to obtain the weapon I seek?”

Gust got straight to the point at once.

There was no magical reaction even though he was speaking openly, but he was probably blocking sound again this time as well.

I answered Gust’s question with a nod.

I stopped Gust, who leaned forward, with my hand, then carried another piece of grilled meat to my mouth.

“Before that, tell me what you can offer on your side.”

This time, even if sound was not leaking, we could still be seen, so I refrained from writing.

Since it was also lunchtime, I intended to handle everything except the parts I was uncertain about verbally.

A piece of meat that was just right for a human to eat had finished grilling, so I recommended it, and Gust stabbed it with a short dagger he had taken out and ate it.

Thinking, That way of eating is an option too, I found myself having a strangely irrelevant thought while Gust began explaining the goods he could offer.

“First is this. It is called the ‘Bracelet of Fortitude,’ and it grants the wearer’s…”

He was still in the middle of his explanation, but I held up a finger and compared it to the bracelet.

He had probably thought it would be fine as long as it became a ring, but no matter how I looked at it, the size was wrong.

Certainly, I was large, and it was not unreasonable to think that if it were made into a ring it might work.

But my body weight was biased toward my upper body, and my hands were huge.

I could easily grab something the size of a human torso with one hand.

So what I was trying to say was… that size was too small for me.

Without even needing to explain the ability, Gust put the Bracelet of Fortitude back into his large pack.

It was disappointing, since from the name alone it seemed like it might have been a candidate.

“I will gather together the wearable items and show them to you at the end.”

Saying that, the next thing Gust took out was a bell about the size of a human fist.

“Argos. I have heard that you came over to this side in order to improve your living environment.”

Naturally, it had been properly reported, and the merchant Gust had been able to learn that.

There was no way such information would be made public, so either he had obtained it from a limited circle or through some other means.

Thinking it was probably the latter, I listened to his explanation.

“This is called the ‘Bell of Summoning,’ and it draws nearby animals toward you.”

In other words, it was a magic item that could drastically reduce the time spent hunting.

The moment something rather plainly useful appeared, I found myself placing a hand on my chin and grunting in thought.

Apparently this was the route after all, and Gust too crossed his arms and grunted.

Come to think of it, his initial image of me had been “an intelligent monster that likes combat.”

This was probably still lingering, but Gust continued his explanation of the magic item.

To summarize simply, it “draws animals within a range determined by the user’s magic power.”

Since my own magic power was poor, it became questionable how effective it would actually be if I used it.

(Or rather, is he assuming I can manipulate magic in the first place?)

As for that question, he said he had bought information that a certain mage had been keeping secret.

I turned my gaze toward the woman in the robe, but at that exact moment she was looking in a different direction, and from the size of the bust seen from the side, I became convinced that she really was the person I had thought.

“So that is a pretty stingy way of making money,” I thought, coming to understand how harsh the hunter industry was, but since the next product had come out, I turned my attention there.

“Next is this, the ‘Page of Recollection.’”

What Gust held in his hand was a single neatly folded sheet of paper.

What could a completely ordinary-looking single sheet of paper possibly do?

That was what I had thought, but according to his explanation, when you opened it, it could project the scenery at that moment onto the paper.

In other words, it was a camera without a lens.

I was shocked by the fact that one could take photographs through magic.

Needless to say, all sorts of things I had given up on flashed through my mind, and if I had this, it would surely make a fine souvenir for Klaze-kun, who could be called a fellow erotica-book comrade, and for Dame Oppai as well.

He had really brought out something troublesome, and I raised my evaluation of Gust by another notch.

But that in turn made me tilt my head over what the Republic, which lacked this sort of technology, had even been doing.

Just as Gust, seeing my reaction, went to take out the next item, I stopped him and asked for details.

Even though I had been won over by little more than “that looks kind of interesting,” he properly explained the details to me.

“When a scene is recorded by opening it like this, that image disappears when it is closed. It takes about two days before it can be used again, but so long as it is not damaged, it should be usable any number of times.”

Reusable—what a marvelous magic item, I applauded inwardly.

It would have been better if it could store the recorded scene, but apparently it did not have such a function.

Since that was a problem that could be solved by preparing multiple sheets, that was probably simply the intended use of such an item.

Now then, as for the next item… this time Gust threw a breaking ball.

“Next is this scroll. It contains explosive magic within it.”

It was a one-use consumable, but apparently it was a scroll sealed with a powerful spell at the level of contraband.

I could not help but smile bitterly at an item that absolutely could not be shown if he were not blocking sound.

Unfortunately, however, I was not troubled by my offensive power at the moment, so I urged him on to the next one.

Gust put the scroll back into his pack and considered which item to show next.

Either way, I intended to have him show me everything, so I did not care about the order, but this was probably simply because he was a merchant.

Now then, what was the thing he most wanted to sell me at the highest price?

Judging by the size of his pack, he still seemed to have plenty of goods left.

Perhaps because items had already appeared that I actually wanted, I waited with anticipation for the next magic item he would take out.