∗ ∗ ∗
“You’re really sure about this?” Kuzan brooded in the coach as it rattled along the path to the old village of Asyl.
Merikur replied, “We’re not being dishonest, so who cares? Right, guild leader?”
She directed this last part toward the coach’s driver, the only other person present.
“Right. Mr. Tag-Along, you don’t have any relevant skills, right? But with someone as talented as Miss Merikur along, we can get by just fine. Me and the little miss will focus on building the smithy, and you’ll do what we instruct. You can do simple manual labor, can’t you?”
The person saying this was not just a coach driver—he was the leader of the Midrogue blacksmith’s guild, a dwarf man named Kaus Dieff. It was unusual to find a dwarf blacksmith in such a remote place. Supposedly he, his wife, and their children were the only dwarves in Midrogue. That was why he’d been very happy to see Merikur come by.
Kuzan didn’t know the specifics, but there were quite a few processing techniques that only dwarf blacksmiths could do, and Merikur knew all of them. Merikur had claimed to only get in through preferential treatment, but this fact clearly indicated otherwise.
Kuzan wondered why Merikur was still under the wrong impression. Kaus later explained that Merikur’s father was an influential figure in Oraculum’s blacksmith guilds, so she’d had people fussing over her all her life. She’d gotten it into her head that her connections mattered more to others than her talents.
Afterward, a series of events had occurred that led to her nearly getting captured by slave traders. Given her circumstances, they were probably worried sick about her back in Oraculum. She hadn’t had any contact with her father in Oraculum so far, so he must have been concerned about her welfare. I guess I’ll have to tell her to write a letter home later, Kuzan thought.
Considering all this, Kuzan responded to Kaus. “Certainly, I can do that. But are you really sure this is okay? It seemed like there were a lot of other blacksmiths who wanted to go to the frontier town.”
There had been more than a few people in the tavern who’d been having a lively discussion on the subject. Despite this, Kuzan, who had no tradesman skills whatsoever, had been permitted to accompany Merikur as her associate. He couldn’t help but feel ashamed that he’d unfairly stolen someone else’s opportunity.
“It’s fine. Besides, all of those guys just want to cotton up to the council. The ones who don’t care about that are too busy with their own work right now to apply. Out of the whole bunch, Merikur, with her abilities plus her tag-along, was the right fit for the job.”
“I appreciate you saying that. I suppose there’s no point in stressing about it any further. Um, if you don’t mind switching to a lighter subject, I’d like to ask more about Asyl.”
“Oh right, you didn’t get to hear much. All right, ask away.”
“Regarding the frontier town’s mayor...”
“Ah, Noah? He’s an interesting guy. He gets along well with Miss Katarina, and not only that, he brings in good materials pretty often.”
“Really? But I heard he was relatively young.”
“The thing is, he’s practically a kid. Says he’s fourteen. But the beastmen he’s got along with him are competent. Plus they perfectly handle the materials they get from hunting monsters around the outskirts of the frontier town. They know exactly how to hit the vitals with one strike. They’re a notch or two higher in quality than the stuff the adventurer’s guild delivers every day. They’re the only ones I give a bonus to.”
“They’re that good?” Hearing this, Kuzan started to doubt that this was the Noah he knew. To start with, Noah had never been a very proficient fighter. His other skills were nothing special either. The one thing he had going for him was his charisma that drew attention. He had an air about him that raised curious expectations. That was all.
But the frontier town’s Noah sounded like he himself had a fair amount of prowess in battle. For better or worse, beastmen were susceptible to power dynamics and therefore rarely served anyone who was weaker than themselves. Of course, they would obey authority or the children of their master and such, but neither situation applied here. Noah’s own strength was the deciding factor. In short, Noah had to be more powerful than the beastmen.
Kuzan couldn’t come up with an explanation of why this would be. Well, I’ll find out once I meet him. Maybe I shouldn’t waste time stewing over it. Kuzan proceeded to ask an assortment of questions, but nothing made him feel certain that this Noah was the Noah.
After a while...
“Oh, we’re almost at Asyl. It’s still under development and doesn’t have a new name yet. You two will be living there for a while. Are you ready for this?”
“Yeah, no problem. Right, Kuzan?”
“Yes. I’m used to camping out. I think I’ll get along fine in this frontier town.”
“Sounds promising. All right, let’s head on in.”
And so the coach carried on toward the improvised entrance of the town.