“I want to go check out the elf kingdom.”
The residents of Renya’s household had been enjoying a nice cup of Frau’s tea in the guest room when he made that announcement out of the blue. Everyone stared at him.
People here commonly drank a type of tea known as dark tea, which produced a black liquid that smelled just as bad as it tasted. Frau, instead, had served them something of much higher quality — black tea. In fact, black tea was considered the very best of teas. It was trailed by the green and yellow teas, which were of medium quality. Renya thought that green tea tasted more than good enough, but it was Frau’s personal policy to use only the best that she could find, so she stubbornly continued to serve them black tea. There was one time when Renya had muttered under his breath something along the lines of “if we had spare cash lying around, I’d rather use it to pay off the loan,” to which Frau simply shrugged before declaring that regular repayments had already begun.
Apparently, Renya Manastone Industries (CEO: Frau) had been on a roll lately thanks to his mana allowing them to constantly produce manastones, the sales of which were providing them with a steady source of income. Buying a property on a loan and then having that property pay its loan back seemed like a rather unusual situation that Renya wasn’t sure if he was okay with. Frau, however, pointed out that since their income relied on resources that ultimately came from Renya’s mana, it could be said that they were his indirect earnings. There was nothing wrong with him working to pay off his own loan.
Back in the guest room, Renya’s abrupt comment almost caused Shion to spew out a mouthful of black tea. She managed to set her cup down on the table and, after confirming that all liquids would remain in their appropriate orifices, stared at him.
“Pretty sudden, huh?”
“I’ll admit it’s sudden, but I mean… Now that we can actually go, don’t you want to take a look? I’ve never seen an elf before.”
“In terms of creatures that are interesting to look at, I would put them pretty close to the bottom of the list…” murmured Rona as she brought her cup to her mouth with both hands.
“Are they really that boring?”
“Yes. First of all, you would be lucky to catch a glimpse of them behind their egos.” Rona lowered her cup and began rattling off descriptions, putting up a finger for each one. “They have pretty faces, but in a weird, unearthly way, and you can’t tell what gender they are. Their body shapes are similarly vague. In other words, the males are small, and the females are flat. Or so I have heard.”
“Whoa, whoa! What do you mean, ‘small’ and ‘flat’?”
“You know exactly what I mean. But, well, I haven’t seen them for myself, so I suppose I can’t say for certain. Their long lifespans give them plenty of time to work with, which might explain why many of them have laid-back personalities. Conversely, they’re also extremely fussy, and if you rub one of them the wrong way, they can hold a grudge for years. Such a pain. Also, they love nature, so they have little interest in arts and crafts, and they build their structures around trees and branches that already exist.”
“Issues of subjectivity aside… you sure know a lot, don’t you?”
“Why, thank you. Flattery will get you everywhere with me, you know?” Rona grinned, much to chagrin of Shion, who fixed her with a glare. The look in her glowering friend’s eyes seemed to say, “Even I know that much.”
“But what made you want to go to the elf kingdom so suddenly?”
“I’m sick and tired of the guild watching over me. They’ve been breathing down my neck ever since that incident.”
After the death of over two dozen parties in a forest near the city, Renya had a creeping feeling that the guild had been keeping a much closer eye on him. He had always known that suspicious figures would wander around the vicinity of his house from time to time, but recently, he felt like he had been spotting them with increasing frequency. Fortunately, none of them had gone so far as to step inside the house. That fact offered him some relief. It was then that, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Frau gazing intently at him.
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. But, if everyone goes to the elf kingdom, will Frau be home alone?”
The fairy’s sad expression gave him pause. While she could go outside by bonding herself to him, he had no idea if she could get through the transfer gate.
“I mean, if you can go through the gate, then I’ll take you along,” he said, making a mental note to ask Azu about it later.
“If you’re going, then we’ll go with you. We’re paying for our own usage fees, though, right?” asked Shion.
Renya nodded before adding, “If Frau lets us use the manastones she made, though, I suspect we’ll be able to go for much cheaper. There’s also that discount that Azu promised to get us.”
“That’s true, but… are we just going for sightseeing?” asked Rona with a perplexed frown.
The concept of “travel” as Renya understood it — excursions that cost a significant amount of money per trip — was not commonplace in this world. Nobles or wealthy business owners were the only kinds of people who might do so on occasion. While merchants certainly went from place to place to sell their wares, the vast majority of townsfolk went from womb to grave in the same city. This did not apply to adventurers, of course, but neither were they townsfolk.
“Is there something wrong with sightseeing?”
“Well, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with it, but…”
Rona’s frown lingered, but Renya was determined to see this through. Traveling for work was not traveling, and he had had enough of the former. He was in the mood for some sightseeing. And some hot springs, to be honest. He wondered if the elf kingdom had hot springs.
“All right. Now that’s decided, let me go find Azu. I’ll ask him about how to use the gate and book a trip along the way.”
“Shion and I will start packing then. We’ll start with the weapons.”
“Huh? We are?” asked Shion, her expression profoundly blank. “Why do we need weapons to go sightseeing?”
Two fist-shaped hammers slammed down onto her head. If only they could knock the stupid out of her.
“Each transfer can handle a maximum weight of 150 kilograms. You can send two people together if you want, so long as you’re under the limit. I promised I’d get you a discount on the price, so here it is. Assuming you’re bringing your own manastones, you’ll only be paying the usage fee, which comes to one silver per head. If you’re going to the elf kingdom, they need to be informed of your arrival. Also, the gate destination needs to be adjusted. All in all, it’ll probably take two days. Any questions?”
Upon being asked about the transfer gate, Azu’s response was swift and concise. They were in a teacher’s office, and the mage had his elbows on his desk. His fingers were folded.
Renya grunted. Azu’s answer was certainly right on the dot. Almost… too on the dot. Renya squinted at the mage, trying to figure out how he went about reading people’s minds.
“What?” Azu raised an eyebrow.
“Why’d you assume we’re bringing our own manastones?”
“The one over there…” said Azu as he pointed at the short figure beside Renya. “Frau, was it?”
Renya had brought the fairy with him while Shion and Rona stayed home to do the packing.
“The market has seen a large influx of manastones,” Azu continued, “and they all came from a fairy. It hasn’t caused the price to plummet yet, but even the school is starting to pay attention. Just so you know, people are asking questions. About where all these manastones are coming from.”
“Tch… Nosy bastards.”
“Tha— Huh? Uhh, Frau? Excuse me?”
“Frau said nothing. Also, Frau is a good girl and talks with the merchants about it, so everything is a-okay.”
Renya felt like he’d just heard something terribly unnerving, but a glance at Frau revealed nothing but her beaming smile. Had it been Shion or Rona, their eyes probably would have darted away, but Frau looked at him straight on. This fairy had some nerve. It was actually kind of impressive.
Frau had actually asked Rona and Azu to introduce her to a few merchants, possibly because she wanted to set up some kind of shop in the house using the old storefront space. Those merchants served as an entry point for her, allowing her to move her manastones into market. The details of her operations, however, were a mystery to Renya.
“Frau knows to keep things nice and modest. Too many eyes is a big no-no, so Frau has been selling at a slow trickle to avoid attention… But the school moved a little bit faster than Frau thought…” said the fairy as she ground her teeth.