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- Yukika Minamino
Isekai Rebuilding Project: Volume 2 Page 3
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Nothing, of course. I was just cleaning up the mess my brother-in-law, the hero, had made.
5.
“We hermits have no interest in worldly riches or fame. Those we happily give to Your Majesty and Mister Milon.”
I showed him a smile. The merchant would get the money, and the king would get the fame. Good. It had to be this way. My only job here was to try and correct the course of history in this world distorted by the hero, as much as I could.
“Sir Eiji... Master Hermit!”
Jumping off of the couch, King Reinhart fell to his knees.
What’s happening? Where is this going?
As I stood there, dumbfounded...
“We thought that your intentions were to destroy this country! That the strange ailment was caused by the wrath of the Hermits!”
He shouted out his confession.
What? You thought I was some angry Daimajin or something?
“We planned to summon you to my castle to kill you!”
Yeah, I know. Because you already did.
“But you didn’t answer my call. Nor did the Hermit Beans help my soldiers. I thought that I had enraged the Hermits.”
“Your Majesty. Please stand up. An intention is not a crime.”
I stood from my seat and helped King Reinhart to his feet. Anyone could have a passing thought of wanting to kill someone in a moment of anger. I’m sure that many fantasize about how to do it when they do. But as long as that thought isn’t acted on, it isn’t a crime.
“And there’s no need to apologize for something that hasn’t happened.”
“Sir Eiji...”
“So, please, save them. They are your people.”
I gave him another smile to break the tension. He was trying his best... to be the best ruler he could be. That’s why he couldn’t keep me, who could threaten the king’s power and the entire nation, alive. That’s all it came down to.
“I have bestowed you with the wisdom of the Hermits. You must put in the work from here.”
With that, I looked upon the people of this land. It was time to leave. Even though King Reinhart seemed moved now, he would soon loathe my existence. That’s how the cookie crumbles. Sharing hardships comes easy for humans, but sharing fame or wealth? Not so much. We are envious creatures by nature.
“Tia and I will be on our way out of the country soon.”
This was something I had discussed with Tiamat before. If we were to save the world, we couldn’t remain in the Kingdom of Azur forever.
“Sir Eiji?!” Mister Milon squealed.
Right. I hadn’t told him anything.
“Sorry, Milon. We can’t stay in one place for too long. I wish we could.”
Tiamat came in for the rescue. That’s my partner, all right. Her excuse was bogus though.
“But it’s our mistake to surprise you with this on such short notice. Not exactly as a token of apology, but we will leave you with one more piece of wisdom.”
And so, Tiamat began explaining how to make bran pickles. Smooth. Since she had kept that information until now, we wouldn’t have to taste-test the pickles. Good job.
According to her explanation, it would take about twenty days to build the setup required and another twenty for the vegetables to pickle. We were off the hook.
“Of course, we’re not leaving tomorrow or anything. We do have to pack for the journey,” I said, concealing my internal smirk of sly victory.
All joking aside though, no good would have come from us staying in Lishua any longer. If we wanted to succeed as a ruler or merchant, we would have been much better off with a set base of operations, but we were neither. I just figured it would take us a few days to prepare all of our equipment and supplies for the journey. Naturally we would need some money in our pockets, too. No one can travel with an empty wallet.
“Now, now. Don’t you think the government of Azur and Milon’s business would help us with that?”
Tiamat cackled, as she always did.
Time flew by, and the morning of our departure arrived. As Tiamat had said, the government, Mister Milon, and even the Adventurers’ Guild gladly contributed. They gave us warm clothes, sling packs, and even a donkey to carry our things. I was beginning to feel bad at how much they had gifted us.
While their support was heartfelt, thankfully so were their goodbyes. The prime example, by the way, was Syfer. He insisted on following us, demanding to know why we were abandoning him, and even started saying nonsense like he’ll fix whatever it was about him that we didn’t like. In the end, he was bawling.
Tiamat and I had a hard time choosing our expressions at this. I did feel grateful for his offer and couldn’t brush him off, knowing that he admired us this much. A part of me didn’t want to leave either.
Still, Syfer was an adventurer based in Lishua. He had family here. He had to protect his younger brothers and sisters with his own hands and feed them meals he put on the table. We could not allow him to accompany us. Besides, there was much work to do and many responsibilities that fell to those left behind.
The project to save Azur from beriberi had only just begun. With the variety of new products, Mister Milon’s business would rapidly expand. In the process he could very well clash heads with the royal government. While Mister Milon himself was a kind man, others may wish him harm.
“So, Syfer. I want you to protect Mister Milon and Miss Millia.”
“...I will, Sir Eiji. With my life.”
With that, the young A-rank adventurers of Syfer’s party agreed to guard Mister Milon’s business. From now on, the business and the Adventurers’ Guild would fight the outbreak of beriberi hand in hand. Alongside the Azur government too, of course. My job here, for the time being, had concluded.
“Are you ready?”
After a rather violent bang at the door, a large man entered... Who was he? He was about thirty centimeters taller than me, and his muscles were built like armor. His skin was tanned dark, and his long hair was a spectacular silver. My impression was that he was a seasoned warrior. But, for real, who was he?
“It’s me, dude. Baze.”
“Huh?!”
The Fenrir of Azur Hallow? Wait. This was no time for a mafia game. Mister Baze, as I recalled, didn’t exactly look like a human.
“Transformation magic. He’s rather conspicuous in his Fenrir form. I taught him the spell over the past few days.”
“It transformed his diction too...”
I thought Baze had a rather archaic tone to how he spoke, like a male version of Tiamat.
“It did not. You simply hear him differently because your impression of him has changed.”
Okay. I was pretty easily convinced. While the difference may have been more subtle in, say, English, the variety of speech patterns in Japanese made the transformation more jarring to me.
“Is Hieronymus also...?”
“Indeed. Incredibly perceptive as ever, Lord Eiji.”
A handsome gentleman popped his head out from behind the hunk of muscle. He wore a cool cavalier hat and a stylish cape with a rapier strapped to his belt. Under his slit black eyes he even had a fancy mustache. He looked annoyingly good.
“Perceptive... I just saw it coming...”
I gave my partner a look.
“Hm. There’s no sense in I alone retaining my form. I will also transform.”
With a poof, Tiamat’s appearance changed. Not into that of my fiancée as I remembered her to be on Earth, but into a beautiful young woman with silver hair and blue eyes, and with a glamorous body as well. She would have fit right in with Hollywood actresses.
Why did she choose that form? Why couldn’t she have looked Japanese? It seemed really off-kilter for me to be the only one looking like the average Japanese person.
“Lost in my eyes?”
“I’m lost for words.”
I was already exhausted, early in the morning. With a large sigh, I extended my right hand.
“Well, in any case... Bring it
in.”
“Hm.”
“I got your back, bro.”
“I shall aid you with all of my might.”
Tiamat, Baze, and Hieronymus each put their hand on top of mine.
6.
Mister Milon and Millia were the only ones who came to the city gates to see us off. Our departure was very lacking in fanfare, but that couldn’t be helped. Everyone had their own lives, and they couldn’t be expected to hang around people who were on their way out.
“Sir Eiji, I wish you safe travels.”
“Take care, Mister Milon. And you, Miss Millia.”
We shook hands. Behind me stood Tiamat looking like a busty mage, the bulky Baze holding the donkey’s rein, and Hieronymus the light-footed warrior with the cool hat. Of course, Mister Milon was surprised upon first seeing their new forms, but the ‘we transformed to be less conspicuous’ explanation sufficed. He was cool with that. Good.
“Please give the others my regards,” I said as I let go of his hand and headed toward the city gates. They were about to open for the day.
With a slight creek, the gate slowly opened.
“You can give them your regards yourself.”
Mister Milon laughed. In the next instant, a booming noise echoed in the city’s gate plaza. A sea of people were standing on either side of the travel road. There was Syfer and his team, and Mister Garish and his wife. All of the other people we had made acquaintances with in the city were there too, forming a long, long line.
“Why are...?”
“We already had quite a large gathering before dawn. Since it would inhibit commerce and traffic, we opened the gates earlier than usual,” a guard explained as he approached me.
I recognized him, too. He was the guard that received us when we first arrived in Lishua.
“Opened? The gate was closed until a second ago.”
“Oh, you know. It was a little surprise.”
“You definitely took quite the liberty.” I laughed.
If I didn’t laugh, I couldn’t have helped but express how I felt in another manner entirely.
“A little payback. For the heartless people who saved our city, trying to leave without giving us a chance to thank them.”
The guard patted my back. The four of us began walking through the roaring cheers, heading for Noura in the distant east.
“That felt like a finale.”
After we walked for a while, and as Lishua was beginning to fade into the horizon behind us, Tiamat made this little comment while sniffing her nose. I understood how she felt. I couldn’t handle surprises like that very well. I didn’t know how many times I nearly blurted out, “Change of plans, we’re staying.”
“It was not an eternal farewell. With luck, we should see them again,” said Hieronymus. Not without emotion. This one had the brim of his hat pulled down, hiding his face; he was holding back tears. I understood.
Baze, by the way, was bawling with a deep howl, not caring who saw him. The donkey he was pulling seemed very annoyed, though. Apparently a cat and a wolf expressed their emotions quite differently.
“I mean... Tia and I had to go, but there was no reason you two couldn’t have stayed. Lord Baze, Lord Hieronymus?”
It wasn’t like they were on the job to save the world. No one would blame them for following any path they pleased.
“Shut your mouth right now, my man!”
Baze slapped my back with his open hand. Ow! My spine was going to snap!
“We share a destiny now! You couldn’t get rid of us if you tried!”
Bam. Bam.
Please stop. You’re going to kill me.
Probably sensing my mortal danger, Hieronymus came in between us.
“Lord Eiji. We are precisely on the path we’ve chosen. We would be left for fools if you should leave us now.”
A slight smile was on his handsome face, and his silky locks flowed with it.
“Y-You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry I mentioned it.”
I apologized, out of breath. My back ached. Tiamat approached me and rubbed my back.
“Y-You do too much for me. If only...”
“Papa. You promised not to mention Mama.”
That’s some stupid gag we’ve concocted.
“Speaking of, Papa. I sense an unruly presence ahead. Have you noticed?”
“How am I supposed to notice that? And stop calling me Papa.”
“Bandits, perhaps?”
Apparently she couldn’t discern how many there were, their strength, or what weapons they carried. I mean, she would have been some superhuman if she could tell that much from sensing their presence. Of course, no one else in my party was an ordinary human either. It felt like this was where the wild things were.
“I shall scout them out.”
“Nah, leave it to me. It’s been a while since I got some exercise.”
Baze volunteered himself over Hieronymus and handed me the donkey reins.
“I don’t worry about you, Lord Baze, but be careful.”
“You betcha.”
He kicked off the ground and accelerated to amazing speeds. He shrank into the distance as I watched. His leg strength was incredible.
“Then why don’t we leisurely try to catch up?” Tiamat said, completely relaxed. She showed no sign of concern for Baze jumping the gun.
“Let’s.”
To be fair, I felt no concern either. Honestly, if he couldn’t handle the situation, there was nothing I could contribute beyond waltzing over there. If anything I’d only get in the way. We three carried on down the travel road without changing our pace.
After a little bit, Baze returned.
“A caravan was getting attacked ten kilometers down. Probably bandits.”
Ten kilometers? Not fifteen minutes had passed since he had left us. He ran the roundtrip of twenty kilometers in that time?
“No?”
Baze crooked his head. It wasn’t cute when a huge, towering man did it.
“Five minutes to get there, five minutes to get back. Two minutes to beat up the bandits, and about three minutes to get away from the merchants trying to thank me.”
You beat them up, did you?
It couldn’t be helped that the combat itself was the shortest part of his little expedition, since he was really a Fenrir. A team of A-rank adventurers had faced him down, ready to die. There was no way any bandits were going to best him.
“Wait, get away from?”
That’s the part I was more concerned about. He didn’t beat up the merchants too, did he?
“They started yammering about thanking me, or traveling together, or wanting to know my name. I told them our boss man decides that stuff and came running.”
Oof. That meant the caravan was waiting for us up ahead. We were barely out of the city, and now we’re in another mess.
“Hmm. Should we change course?” Tiamat mumbled, seeming to share my sentiment. They had transformed into humans to avoid attention. We didn’t exactly want to star in a parade.
“You have had a change of heart, Lord Baze. Perhaps you should have left the humans to squabble amongst themselves.”
Hieronymus grinned. He was teasing the Fenrir, who now completely sympathized with humans after being close to Mister Milon and the adventurers. Hieronymus was in the same boat, though. He had been adored by the spellcasters in town, and many women had shed tears at his departure. Not that I was jealous or anything!
“Go off the travel road you mean, Tia?”
“Mm-hm. We keep going and we’ll bump into that caravan. That’ll be a whole mess.”
“If we do that, though, we may not reach the inn in time.”
We weren’t in a modern nation where numerous roads crisscrossed each other. There were only a few routes suited for human travel. Once we were off the travel road, our map was practically useless, too. If we were to go around and get lost, we wouldn’t be able to laugh it off. Most importantly, though, I didn’t want to sleep on
the ground anymore. You have to experience it to know how hard it is.
“No, let’s keep going and accept our fate. Even if we go around, we’ll probably see them in the next town.”
“True. If they decide to wait for us there, there would be no point in altering our route.” Tiamat shrugged.
7.
Generally, people in this time period travel on foot. Even in Japan, that was the mainstream mode of transportation until the Meiji era. Naturally there was only so much distance one could cover in a day, which was about thirty kilometers. And about thirty kilometers out of Lishua, there were inns. A natural development.
Based on city locations, inns and restaurants spring up where travelers typically came to rest. As those establishments grow, they form towns. Where people gathered, so did money. On the flip side, towns and villages at an awkward location or too far off the travel road only decline. People only walk past those places, after all.
The same goes for modern-day Japan, too. Even with public transport and automobiles, it’s difficult for a countryside village in an inconvenient location to not fade away. Even in my home province of Hokkaido, 147 of the 188 towns and villages are endangered.
“Humans act the same in any world, it seems,” Tiamat said, as we walked down the travel road.
“Yeah.” I shrugged.
Across time and space, the nature of humanity never changes.
“Why reference Legend of the Galactic Heroes now? That’s from the anime version, isn’t it?”
“Well, I like it, so I reference it.”
“Humans envy and hate others while craving love. Humans want results without putting in any effort. Humans want to escape their routine, but hesitate to step outside the box. Humans can’t stand someone working hard to achieve something. Humans can’t help but be jealous of the success of others. That’s human nature.”
Do you think they’re helpless? Tiamat added. I don’t. Humans are creatures of emotion. Jealousy, envy, hatred... If we lose these things we are no longer human, but mere robots.
“Now, it seems we’ve caught up to our people in waiting in the meantime of our philosophical discussion of human nature,” Hieronymus brought to our attention.