Chapter 63: Neel Village

Two days after leaving Alessa…

We have arrived at Neel Village, halfway between Alessa and Darth. We made it in half a day even though it normally takes four days by horse. We got here so fast thanks to Urushi’s fast legs and my ability to get through swamps and over cliffs with Telekinetic Air Ride.

If we get another familiar like Urushi we could travel really far in no time at all by riding them in tandem, don’t you think? Thinking so, I tried another summoning, but…

It was no good. Why, why did the summoning list get all grayed out and unusable…

I could not find out much about that in the guild library, but I think my “Vessel” is simply insufficient.

Summoners refer to the upper limit for contracts as “Vessel”, and the familiar’s strength as “Capacity”.

Vessel is as it sounds, while Capacity has a water-like image. A powerful familiar has a greater Capacity, and they can only be summoned as long as the summoner has the Vessel to support that Capacity. And, when the summoner’s Vessel is filled up by the Capacity of the summoned familiars it is impossible to make further contracts.

Urushi is a unique individual of a Threat Level C monster. It’s not really strange at all for his Capacity alone to fill up my Vessel.

『For the time being, we don’t have a choice other than to keep burdening Urushi huh?』

「On!」

You don’t need Telepathy to understand this. You’re saying you’re going to do your best, huh. I am happy to have such a praiseworthy pet.

『In the meantime, could you get smaller Urushi?』

「Ou…」

Well, despite that, I do not intend to pamper you.

「Gate is over there」

The village is surrounded with a wooden wall, it seems you have to enter through the gate.

When Fran presented her guild card to the guard at the gate he was quite surprised but we were able to enter without problem.

『It’s a tranquil village, ne』

Uncles with scythes giving of a farm-like aura, aunts doing laundry, it’s almost like a painting.

「Countryside」

「On」

『As you say』

We’ll be staying here for the night. The questions is whether there is even an inn here.

『By the way, is there an adventurer’s guild here you think?』

It might not even be 100 people living in this village. Would there really be a branch in such a small village?

As I thought so, there it was! Well, at least there is the sign hanging there. But no matter how you look at it, it’s just a normal house. Furthermore, it’s even smaller than the other houses.

「Hello」

「Oh, welcome?」

Even the inside is really a private house. It’s like someone just smacked a counter at the entrance to some old house.

「Girl, this might seem like a café or a tool store, but it’s actually a branch of the adventurer’s guild ya’know?」

「Know」

「Haa? Ehm, well, what do you want?」

Well, it’s not that we really want anything. We just saw the guild signboard and entered on a whim.

But, to be honest…

『Fran, let’s sell the material』

We picked up the materials from the monsters we beat while going here. It’s just from threat level G and F, but it will at least cover todays lodging.

「Want to sell this」

We took out the materials from the Storage, making the receptionist uncle’s eyes open wide in surprise.

「Where did you get this?」

「Defeated」

「You did, girl?」

「Nn」

「Eh?」

Yupp, he has a doubting expression on his face. Maa, it can’t be helped really.

『Fran, the guild card』

「This」

「Girl, you’re an adventurer? Eh? Rank D? Haha, ain’t this well done～」

Treating it as a fake huh? Seems like he thinks it is just a child’s mischief.

「Still, it’s really well made. Can’t tell the difference」

The uncle holds the card over the crystal functioning as a guild card authitentication device. It seems like he’s going to check if it’s real or not. And, he gives off a startled shout.

「Hoho, it’s real? A real D rank adventurer?」

「Nn. Real」

「How surprising!」

From what he tells us, it seems like Alessa sends a few adventurers to Neel village on a half-year basis. He’s been stationed in this village for 3 months so he didn’t know about Fran.

However, he had heard that an amazing newcomer had appeared in Alessa from merchants travelling to Darth.

「Say, it was a black cat beastman girl, who’s terrifyingly strong, and so beautiful it makes the guild master cry? The so called Magic Sword Girl. I’d heard that you were no weaker than C rank」

The first half is good; Strong and Cute. To make the guild master cry… Well, that rumor doesn’t harm Fran. The problem is the nickname! Even here it’s Magic Sword Girl! What the hell is up with that!?!?

『Fran, you’re being called Magic Sword Girl you know!』

I have ot correct it!!

「Magic Sword Girl?」

「Ou, that’s you right, Girlie」

『It’s widespread after all!』

If I do not correct it here, it will spread even further.

「Nn. Cool」

『Eh? No way?』

「I’m a Magic Sword Girl」

I’m apealing with a broken heart. Does she like it?

「I knew it」

『Fran! Wait a minute! Something like Magic Sword Girl? Is that OK to be called?』

「?? It’s good. Cute and cool」

『U, Urushi, what do you think?』

「On!」

Aaaa… He’s positive about it. Am I alone in this? What about the uncle there?

「How nice. I hope I’ll be able to pile up enough achievements to get a title some day～」

I have no comrades here!!

Are? Is my sensibility wierd? Is Magic Sword Girl a cool nickname? Seems like it’s seen as a good nickname…

Maa, if Fran likes it, it can’t be helped but…

「Oops, got lost in the story there. We don’t buy that here」

「Is not a branch?」

「Even if you call it a branch, it’s mainly here to contact Alessa」

Is that so? It certainly doesn’t look like there’s any money in a place like this. Probably, it’s just doing simple monster extermination and such.

「However, we do buy medicinal herbs and such. Since it’s used in the village. How about it? If you have any I’ll buy them」

Medicinal herbs huh? We collect stuff when we have the time, though a lot of it is poisonous grass. Even Urushi does search for it, but he too finds mostly poisonous grass. Is it because he is good at poison magic?

We don’t know its exact effect, but the seemingly dangerous poisonous grass has been piling up in the Storage.

「Poisonous grass?」

「Well, it depends. Some are used for pesticides or for producing anesthesia. Here’s a list of all different herb we’re buying」

There’s about 20 kinds listed, but we don’t have much of the ones on the list. The only one we have a reasonable amount of is Ghost Grass. I have no idea how to use it, but Urushi found a sizeable colony so we have a fair amount.

「Here」

「Oh, Ghost Grass. And it’s a lot!!」

Even this amount is just one third of what we have in Storage.

「Used for?」

「This? It works as a catalysy for Ghost Magic, and if you process it with alchemy you can make undead purifying potions」

Hohou, that’s some good information. When we get to the next city, should we bring it to an alchemist? No, it would be interesting to try it out ourselves too right?

「Then, in total that’ll be 7000 gorudo. Well, this guy can’t be found easily around here so we’ll be saving this」

Oh? is that so? We found a colony near the village quite easily…

「Actually, this area seems to have many areas where magical power has stagnated, and undead will spawn there. There are a lot more undead than normal monsters. Well, it’s mostly Lesser Zombies and Lesser Skeletons, so it’d not that dangerous」

（Teacher, what to do?）

『Is it the place of the colony?』

（Nn. Tell?）

Un, it’s fine to tell him. I don’t want to monopolize it and I don’t know if we’ll come by this area anytime soon. There is no reason to keep it a secret.

「Found a colony nearby」

「Hee?」

「This child did」

「That’s amazing. I’ve heard that some pharmacists train dogs to find medicinal herbs. Has that dog been trained to do so?」

「Have no done, but his nose is good」

「On!」

「hey, will you sell information about this colony? If we have such a place we can harvest it periodically」

「Intended to」

「I’m grateful!」

We decided to show him to the colony. At first, we were told to mark the location on a map, but we really don’t know the geography of the neighborhood at all. Actually, since I was carried around while we traveled I don’t really remember much about the exact locations. We’ll have to depend on Urushi’s nose here.

Payment would depend on the size of the colony, but it would be at least 50000 gorudo.

「I’m a rank E adventurer, name’s Argen. Nice to meet you!」

「Nn」