Chapter 72

In the end, Carini loaded onto the ships three times the usual amount of processed magic stones. Astonishingly, all paid in a lump sum in imperial gold coins.

Seeing that, it made sense that multiple ships and soldiers were needed just to protect those gold coins.

Cole, on the other hand, was clearly surprised that there had been this much magic stone stock, which showed that he had underestimated the workshop’s production capacity.

And then, after Carini boarded the ship in high spirits and his superior’s watchful eye was lifted ever so slightly from him—

Cole grabbed his clothes and said in a low voice,

“Process the magic stones with all haste. And… next time, even if men sent by Lord Carini come, do not hand everything over.”

It sounded like the bitter complaint of a sore loser, painfully squeezed out.

He did not ask what Cole intended to do with magic stones hidden from his superior’s eyes, nor did he give him a cold look. He merely bowed his head and answered that he would do as ordered.

As long as Carini was watching, Cole would have no choice but to mend his ways, so it was fine to let him say what he wanted.

“Cast off!”

A sailor raised his voice, and the Bax Company fleet left the harbor.

The fact that they bore no hostility whatsoever was clear not only from the fact that they had properly brought the gold coins to purchase the magic stones, but also because they had brought trade goods that had been delayed during the commotion.

All sorts of things that had been in short supply would now be supplied to the market, and for a while they would be able to breathe easier.

As for the dragon meat and the like, it had been far too unexpected, so they said they would return first and then immediately arrange the gold coins.

The deputy manager of the Bax Company might have been something like a church priest, in the sense that he was keenly alert to profit, but therefore trustworthy.

When they told him of their plan to visit during the church event in the provincial capital, he said they would be welcomed and that he very much hoped they would visit the company, and he also said that he wanted to properly introduce Iiria, who had in a sense regained her lordly authority, to the people of the company.

He had not been thinking about Iiria traveling, but perhaps the time had finally come to make it known to the outside world that she was the rightful lord of Jirenu Territory.

Behind Carini, Cole had kept his expression tightly suppressed, likely because he disliked having things arranged over his head.

His honeymoon period was over.

A major concern had disappeared, the company warehouse was overflowing with goods, the treasury with gold coins, and ever since the dragon subjugation, it felt as though he could finally breathe easy from the bottom of his heart.

Iiria too had finished dealing with the round of petitions and tax matters, and was now indulging in a lazy nap in the courtyard.

Meanwhile, he was in a room with Kururu overlooking the courtyard where Iiria was sleeping.

“See? Like this.”

“It functions well enough.”

A red flame flickered above Kururu’s palm.

The synthetic magic stone kept its output suppressed and slowly turned to ash, like those solid fuel tablets served with inn dinners.

“The trouble is, it is a little difficult to use it up completely. Watch.”

Having apprenticed herself to Gerario and learned how to use magic from him, Kururu had become able to control magic with considerable freedom.

Just as the magical flame seemed to increase in output, it suddenly winked out.

What remained on Kururu’s palm was a synthetic magic stone whose shape had collapsed.

“With this material, the magic circle cannot maintain its form halfway through. If you use it for a single all-out burst, you can consume it entirely, but then you only get one chance to counterattack.”

Kururu crushed the powerless synthetic magic stone in her palm.

What they had been testing was a synthetic magic stone made from a new material.

At first, they had used glue made by boiling animal tendons and hide, a primitive adhesive called nikawa, to produce synthetic magic stones, but making that glue took effort.

So they had experimented with various materials and somehow found something that seemed promising, but it still felt like there was plenty of room for improvement.

Trial and error took time and labor.

They ought to hire people, but trust was the obstacle.

“Well, there is still some concern left, but it is better than having nothing.”

“Yes.”

Kururu tossed the crushed synthetic magic stone of the new material over to him and wiped her hands.

“So, after this, it was shopping, right?”

For the trip to the provincial capital, Roran, there were various things they would need to buy.

“That is right. I hear that on the ship, food and drink have to be brought at one’s own expense, so we need to arrange that, and besides, I have also received strict orders separately from Iiria-san.”

“Strict orders?”

“To get new clothes.”

Kururu made a deeply displeased face.

She had probably remembered being treated like a toy and having everyone say cute, cute during the whole frills uproar.

“I do not need clothes…”

“You do. We also have to go greet the Bax Company. Are you planning to stand beside Iiria-san dressed shabbily?”

“You can go give the greetings by yourself.”

She turned away and said that like a child.

“Then are you fine with people thinking Iiria-sama is a pitiful lord who does not even have a single attendant with her?”

“Ugh…”

Kururu groaned, then let her shoulders slump in resignation.

They could gather most things from the company’s stock, but for self-defense daggers and the like they had to visit a blacksmith’s workshop. Perhaps because she had been studying under Gerario, Kururu, who had been filled with all sorts of dangerous knowledge, looked genuinely delighted as she tried combinations of daggers and sheaths.

If left alone, she looked like she might stay there until sunset, so he half-drove her onward to the tailor’s workshop.

“Well, well.”

The tailor, who had made a fortune through exclusive sales of frills, treated them like honored guests.

Perhaps because dressing up embarrassed her, Kururu was in a bad mood for a while, but in the end she really was a girl. Once she got used to it, she started making requests herself, and by the end she was enjoying the outfit fitting.

It was only a rough temporary fitting, and not on the level of what Iiria wore at the town festival, but the clothes Kururu put on had clearly more fabric than her usual uniform and a soft, fluffy silhouette, and she was unmistakably a beautiful girl in them.

Kururu looked over the sample clothes in the tailor’s workshop and nodded in satisfaction.

“With this, even some accessories should stand out less.”

But Kururu’s smile was meaningful, a sly grin.

Together with the self-defense daggers and such, Kururu and he had placed an order with the blacksmith for special accessories.

The craftsmen who took commissions for ornament work had wondered why anyone would order such things, but only a limited few knew the secret.

It would be best if there were never any need to use them, but caution was still necessary.

“Then shoes. The temporary finish should probably be ready by now, so we have to check how they fit.”

“Ah, I had forgotten. Still, I do not know how Iiria-sama manages to wear shoes with heels that high. They seem frightening, like you could twist your ankle.”

“Please get used to it. It is important.”

“I hope you twist your ankle in the same shoes.”

He merely shrugged at Kururu’s playful bite.

In the provincial capital, larger than Jirenu Territory, they would surely see an even more rigidly class-based world than this one.

When he had worked at Nodon’s company, he had thought that since he was in another world, he might as well do some sightseeing, but now, when he thought about the provincial capital of Roran, he felt somewhat heavy-hearted.

“Hehe.”

But when a small laugh from Kururu brought him back from his thoughts, Kururu, walking down the town’s main street, said casually,

“This is fun.”

It was true that this was preparation for work, but even so, being able to stroll through town shopping at leisure might really have been something they had never had before.

Especially for Kururu.

Now, because she was the attendant of Iiria, whose authority was at last being restored, even if she walked through town with her beast ears and tail visible, people no longer looked at her coldly.

But surely that had not been the case in the life she had lived until now.

He had been able to clear away at least some of the thick black clouds hanging over Kururu and Iiria’s heads.

Seeing Kururu’s cheerful smile, he was able to think that that alone made coming to this world worthwhile.

“Iiria-sama should have come too.”

“In Roran, we do not know whether she will have time for naps, so let us have her sleep plenty now.”

Cats were supposed to be the ones who slept most of the day, and yet Iiria and Kururu were often strangely mismatched.

That said, if it came to that, he could not count how many times he, an older man, had been on the receiving end of dashing lines from Kururu, a younger girl.

When it came to being mismatched, he was in no position to criticize others.

“Yorinobu, did you do this often in your previous world?”

“?”

When he looked at Kururu, unsure what she meant, Kururu averted her gaze slightly and said,

“Shopping.”

“Ah, no… I did not go shopping all that much.”

Kururu’s ears stood straight up.

“I was mostly on the net.”

Then one of those ears drooped limply.

“Net?”

“Ah…”

When he explained the concept of online shopping, Kururu wore an unhappy look for a moment and then said that it sounded like magic.

As an active magician, perhaps she felt as though she had somehow lost that contest.

“Well, that puts me a little at ease.”

“At ease?”

He asked back, but perhaps Kururu had not heard him, because instead of answering she looked over at him.

“We came all the way to the market. We are eating before we go back, right?”

Kururu was smiling brightly.

Seeing that smile, he thought with a wry smile of his own that it was not only Kururu and the others whose black clouds had partly cleared.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

After all, in his previous world, he had never once had a girl invite him to a meal looking this happy.

“We are going to Roran soon, so we cannot waste too much money.”

“Oh, come on. If we mention Iiria-sama’s name, anyone and everyone will offer us food.”

Kururu grinned mischievously and pulled his hand, and only then did he realize that he was naturally holding hands with her.

It felt just like being back in his school days.

Of course, his real school days had been gray, but that was beside the point.

And so he spent that afternoon enjoying himself together with Kururu.