Gossip: A Certain Adventurer’s Reflection

“Hahhh...”

“What’s wrong, Vincent? Sighing like that.”

“Nothing, just thinking about how I wanted to eat good food again.”

“Yeah, yeah. I was thinking the same thing. That I want to eat Mukohda’s cooking again.”

“I thought you’d agree, Rita. His food really is way too good.”

The other members nodded in agreement at Vincent’s deeply serious comment. Honestly, I agree. I think back on the escort mission we took just recently. It was a mission that would be hard to forget for us, Iron Will, in many ways.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The man they were introduced to at the Adventurer’s guild was a man with a flat face, unlike what you’d usually see in the area. He was of medium build, and I understood just from sizing him up why we would be hired to escort this man on his travels. He seemed completely unconnected from the concept of strength.

The man introduced himself as Mukohda. He said that he wanted to cross the border to the next country, and we ourselves were just talking about how untrustworthy this country had become, so we planned to leave soon ourselves. Thus, we decided to accept the request even though the reward of 8 gold was a little low.

The road to the neighboring country was relatively safe, but the deciding factor was the fact that he would take care of all of our meals. The price of meals wasn’t actually something to take lightly: with five members, it could cost quite a bit. Normally, meals on the road consisted of such fare as jerky or hard bread, stuff which was definitely not tasty, but one had to eat it to be able to exert their power as an adventurer. I completely expected that the food he would prepare would be no different... but the food ended up being on a whole other level of deliciousness.

The food Mukohda prepared was the equal of any famous restaurant in a big city: the soft bread, made from a special recipe from Mukohda’s homeland; the ham, which was salted just right; the juicy sausages; and the warm soup with lots of fillings... It turned out to be an excellent feast that no one would have expected during travel. We were overjoyed to realize that taking this request was the right choice.

Of course it was. After all, we were able to eat tastier food than if we were in town!

The only monsters that came out during our travels were small fries like goblins and gray wolves, and even the red boar we encountered wasn’t that much trouble to us. Normally, if an adventurer hunted a monster while traveling, they only took the expensive materials like the hide or fangs, ate what they could of the meat which would otherwise spoil or be damaged if taken, and left the rest.

However, Mukohda had an Item Box, so we were able to take the meat too. The meat that Mukohda cooked and flavored with something from his homeland was, again, a masterpiece. It was so delicious, I would go so far as to say it was the best thing I’d eaten in my entire life. I would have never thought it would be the reason for what happened next.

Lured in by the delicious smell of Mukohda’s food, a Fenrir, a legendary magic beast, appeared. Even though, as a legendary magic beast, nobody alive had ever seen one, we instantly knew that it was a Fenrir — and we understood that we could not oppose this absolute pillar of strength.

I was really panicked then. I felt like I was already dead — It was the first time I felt that cornered since I had become an adventurer. It wasn’t surprising: we were facing the legendary Fenrir, something that was said to have destroyed entire countries, a force that mere humans could never hope to stand against.

However, the Fenrir did not attack us at all. Instead, it looked at the food Mukohda cooked and said, “Give me some, too.” There was no way for us to oppose the Fenrir, so we told Mukohda to do as it said. And once it ate Mukohda’s food, the Fenrir said something unbelievable: “I shall form a contract with you.”

At first, I thought I misheard — I had never heard of a legendary Fenrir becoming a human’s familiar. Not to mention, the last time anyone had supposedly seen one was 300 years ago. Leaving aside the long-lived elves, we were probably the first and only people alive in the present who had ever seen a Fenrir.

And he formed a contract with that Fenrir, which most people never even get to see... Not only that, but the Fenrir was the one that requested it! Given the impossibility of refusing the Fenrir, Mukohda ended up forming a contract with him. And so Mukohda named the legendary Fenrir, “Fel.” We witnessed that oddly historic moment.

Just, the reason the Fenrir formed a contract was...

“““““To think that the legendary beast was lured into a contract by food...”””””

The thoughts of us five were in unison at that moment. Mukohda, exasperated at that fact, stopped being so nervous and approached Fel normally, but there’s no way any of us could have been as sanguine in his shoes.

Mukohda didn’t really understand, but when someone got a familiar as powerful as a Fenrir, not just nobles, but entire countries would take notice. It was a rule that they would try to take in and keep the strong under them. When we made our worries known, Fel’s answer was, “If they lay a hand on us, they might as well perish.”

That put cold sweat onto my back, because Fel was clearly capable of making that happen. Hearing that, I could only pray that the nobles or countries didn’t do anything stupid.

Without even minding that, Mukohda just told Fel, who had a voracious appetite, “If you want meat, hunt it yourself.” When we heard that, we could only stare open-mouthed and dumbfounded. I give my respect to Mukohda, who could tell a Fenrir, a legendary beast, to go get his own food.

I thought, it might not just be that he was lured in by food, but that, inexplicably, he might have perceived that quality in Mukohda already and formed a contract for that reason. Fel would probably never form a contract with those that would only think to use him, like nobles or countries. It didn’t seem like Mukohda intended to use Fel’s power one bit. Rather, there probably wasn’t even a temptation to use his power.

To Mukohda, the real problem was how much Fel ate, after all. Hahaha...

And the prey Fel hunted after Mukohda told him to go get his own meat was none other than a rockbird. How could I not be shocked? Rockbirds were B-rank monsters, the kind of opponent that we as a party would not be assured victory against even if we gave it our all. The last time we fought a rockbird, not only was everyone covered in wounds, but Vincent even broke his right leg.

Mukohda tried to give us all the materials (other than the meat) from such a huge catch just because we butchered it. He said it was payment for the butchering and the red boar meat, but it was too much for what we did. But Mukohda insisted, so we reluctantly agreed to take it in spite of that. To hunt a rockbird in such a short time... We were vividly reminded that all the legends about Fenrirs were true.

Thinking of that, the grilled rockbird was delicious. That sweet and spicy and salty sauce was one in a million! This is bad... thinking about Mukohda’s food is gonna make me drool.

Getting into Veenen was also a piece of work. Of course, even the fort realized that Fel was the legendary Fenrir, and all the guards were already outside waiting for us. We got them to understand that Mukohda and Fel were contracted, so we were eventually able to enter, though. Well, either way, if Fel got serious the fort and its guards would be about as tough as air, and the country itself would be in danger, too. They understood that — Fel listened to what Mukohda said because of their contract, and between opposing them and stirring the hornet’s nest, or letting them into the country, they would probably choose the latter. Those two were immediately accosted by a messenger as soon as we got to Falliéres, but Fel sent him packing.

I think it’ll be busy around Mukohda from now on, but it’ll all probably be solved by Fel. Thinking like this, those two, one human and one animal, might make a good pair.

“A～hh I wonder if Mukohda’ll open up a restaurant somewhere for us?” While I was basking in the recollection of that adventure, Vincent went and said that.

“Ahh, I’m hoping for that too. And we can immediately go there and eat.” Rita, a bundle of appetite, agreed.

“I think so too, and I’m not really that particular about my food.” Even Franka was of the same opinion.

“Truly.” And the quiet Ramon.

Honestly, I’m with them. But, more than that...

“It’d be nice if we could meet again...” Everyone nodded in agreement.

The flat-faced man that didn’t look strong at all but was great at cooking, and Fel, the legendary magic beast that was lured into a contract by food.

I hope that we can meet those two again.

Chapter 4: This And That About Magic And Worldly Affairs

Entering the town of Rautel was a chore, not just because Fel was around, but there was a huge line outside the gates to get in already. And then there was a scream when we lined up, too. It was a lot of effort to explain to everyone, “He’s my familiar, he’s fine!” As we got closer to the gates, we found, as expected, soldiers in full plate armor stopping us with pointed spears.

“STOP!!”

“Fel, stop for him.” When Fel stopped, a soldier drew closer with his spear at the ready.

“Familiar?”

“Yes. He’s my familiar. Please confirm my Adventurer’s guild card.” I handed my guild card over to the soldier.

“Certainly, it says you have a familiar. Is that a great wolf?”

“Yes.”

“It’s amazing that you were able to tame an A-rank monster.”

“Thanks. I think I just got lucky.”

“I think it’ll be fine since he’s your familiar and tame enough you can ride him, but be aware that if something happens, you’ll be the one punished as his master. If there is damage to the city, depending on the extent, you could be sentenced to death or be forced into slavery. Be plenty careful of how your familiar acts.”

“I understand.” I sighed in relief as he let me through. They really drove the point home, but they also let me in relatively easily. But still, death or slavery... What the heck? That’s super scary!

Or rather, there really were slaves here. There’s no concept of human rights here in this other world. Other worlds are scary!

First, I had to secure a place to sleep. Ah, it would have been faster if I asked the soldier at the gates.

When I went back and asked him for an inn where I could stay with my familiar, he recommended the “Elmira Inn.” To get there, I had to go straight down the road from the gates and turn the 3rd corner. Following his directions, I headed over.

There really were a lot of people around, as expected of the biggest city after the capital. There weren’t many of them, but I did see, here and there, beastmen with animal ears and tails. Almost all of them had collars on, so they might have been slaves.

As Fel and I passed by, they were startled for an instant, but didn’t raise a fuss. I did hear a whisper of, “Oh, a familiar...” So, maybe there were quite a few adventurers around a town this size with familiars in tow like me.

Reaching the Elmira Inn, I found that the price for a night’s stay with accommodations for a familiar was 8 silver. Leaving Fel in the shed for animals, I left in search of a bookstore that I heard about at the inn.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Entering the bookstore, I found the inside buried in old-fashioned books. I wandered around looking for anything resembling a map, but found nothing.

In seeming consolation for my efforts, I found an interesting-looking book instead. It was titled, ‘Beginner-level Magic for Dummies.’ I think I might want this. I’ve somehow managed to learn Fireball on my own, but learning other magic too will only increase my options for self-defense... I heard that books are expensive, but I wonder how much this will cost?

“Excuse me, how much for this book?”

The owner glanced at me and said, “7 gold.” Woah, expensive. 7 whole gold? Never mind! I was told I could find a library in this town anyway, so let’s just look at magic-related books there instead. It’s only the map I was aiming for that I’d buy even if it was pricey.

Speaking of which, when I asked about a map, he told me, “There’s no way a mere bookstore would have one.” Apparently, only the imperial castle or higher ups in the military would ordinarily have a map.

Ahh, I see. So maps fall under the category of military secrets; of course I wouldn’t be able to get one, in that case. I tried brainstorming a solution to the map problem while I walked back to the inn. I didn’t really need a detailed map. As long as I have a general world map that tells me roughly which country is where, I’ll be happy.

I could probably hear about each country’s situation from bars where adventurers gather. Ah, I might be able to hear from adventurers which country borders which. Adventurers travel all over the place for their jobs, after all.

If that was the case, would there be an old map in the library somewhere? Even an old one was fine. If I could just figure out the general shape of the continent, and ask adventurers for information so I can fill in the spaces myself, I should be able to make a map of roughly what I need.

Right, let’s do that. I’ll head over to the library tomorrow and try to find an old map — ah, and some magic books, too.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Okay, today I plan to hole up in the library the whole time.

When I told Fel that, he complained heavily about it (mostly about his meals), so I cooked a lot of meat for him in the morning and left him a ton of the sweet breads he seemed to like to hold him over. Well, he should be fine.

There was an inn close to the library, too. Yesterday, I bought a college-ruled notepad for memos and a ballpoint pen. Now then, to the library.

............

.........

......

Let’s start from the results.

There were no maps. Even though I paid 2 gold to get in...*sigh.*

I spent quite a while looking through this and that, but there was nothing approaching a map in any book. I spent quite a while searching, but I finally gave up hope of finding one and moved over to looking for magic books instead. At least on that side, I learned a lot even though I only had a little time left over by then.

What I learned was that everyone had magic power, but if you didn’t know how to use it (this is referring to what I did with circulating magic power around my body, I think), then you couldn’t activate any magic. The reason why only a certain number of people became mages even though everyone could use magic is because they either couldn’t feel the magic in their own bodies, or, even if they could feel it, they couldn’t control it (circulate it around their body) well enough.

The basics of magic were Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. There were also special elements like Ice, Lightning, Healing, Sacred, and Holy, as well as race-specific types such as Plant and Darkness magic. Everyone had an affinity with a basic element (Fire, Water, Wind, or Earth), and as long as one knew how to control their magic, any of these basic elements were relatively easy to learn.

However, the special elements like Ice and Lightning didn’t even manifest themselves unless one already knew how to use all the basic elements. In the first place, mages that could use all four basic elements were low in number, so those who could use Ice and Lightning as well were extremely few and far between.

As for Healing magic, one needed to have the affinity for it and have taken classes from the church for a certain amount of time before becoming able to use it.

Sacred magic was even more special, and only certain jobs like Heroes, Holy Women, and Holy Knights could learn it. Apparently, it had spells like Light Arrow, which shot spears of holy light and had high attack power, and the ultra-effective purifying light, Holy Light.

As for Holy magic: it was written that Holy magic was rather more legendary than special. First off, one couldn’t obtain it unless one had a blessing from a god. It was extremely rare to get a blessing in and of itself, so it wasn’t well documented what specific kinds of magic pertained to Holy magic in the first place. However, in stories, it was said to have wiped out vast armies of monsters in a single blow, or even to have destroyed entire countries.

As for the racial magics Plant and Darkness, just as the name implied, they were unusable unless one was of a certain race: Plant magic for the elves, and Darkness magic for the demonfolk.

I stayed hidden, writing notes on what I learned of magic — at least until the librarian caught me. I didn’t find the maps I was looking for, but I learned quite a bit about magic, so I guess it’s okay.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“I’m home.” When I came back to the inn and greeted Fel, I found him sulking.

“You are late.” All the food I left him in the morning had disappeared without a trace.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Hmph. You were so late in returning, I was going crazy with hunger.”

“I’ll cook now, so cheer up. I’ll even go heavy on the meat.”

“I want food from your world.”

*Sigh*... that? But if he eats too much of the food from my world, he’ll start overflowing with energy... Still though, I was late. It should be fine if I give him a little.

I used my skill to buy some yakitori and tonkatsu. Of course, I kept the amount on the lower side. That said, it’s lower by Fel’s standards.

I took the yakitori off the skewers and put them on a plate, and the tonkatsu on a different plate.

“This will be it for now for food from my world. I’ll cook the rest now, so wait.”

Fel started murmuring about the amount being small and stuff, but I ignored him and started cooking the meat. The flavoring was the usual steak sauces as well as yakiniku sauce. When I piled the meat on a plate and put it in front of Fel, he chomped down on it greedily.

There was someplace I wanted to go after this as well, so I didn’t want him bothering me. Even though I didn’t find any maps in the library, I still wanted to at least ask the adventurers about the states of all the different countries.

Huh? Now that I think about it... I looked at Fel while he was eating and remembered something: the magic I learned about in the library. I heard about Holy magic, and if I remember correctly, Fel was also able to use Holy magic. I appraised Fel:

【Name】 Fel

【Age】 1014

【Race】 Fenrir

【Level】 906

【HP】 9843

【MP】 9481

【Attack】 9036

【Defense】 9765

【Agility】 9684

【Skills】 Wind magic, Fire magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Holy magic, Barrier magic, Rending Claws, Body Reinforcement, Physical attack resistance, Magic attack resistance, MP Efficiency, Appraisal

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir

Holy magic... As I thought, he had it. Well, it did say one wouldn’t be able to use it if they didn’t have a god’s blessing, so thinking about it the other way around, it wasn’t unusual for him to have it because he had the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir’s blessing. Fel really was a legendary magic beast, wasn’t he? I couldn’t really think of him that way normally, though.

Hm? Wait, the book said stuff about wiping out armies of monsters in one blow or destroying entire countries, but I feel like recently I heard something about destroying an entire country...

“*Burp* Yes, that was good.” Fel said, looking mighty satisfied now that his belly was full.

Fel, Fel, Fel... ah.

IT WAS YOUーーーー?!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I once again left Fel at the inn and found my way to a random bar in the town, in order to get information out of the adventurers here.

This town was large, so thinking that there would be adventurers at any bar I went into, I just arbitrarily picked one. Apparently I hit the jackpot, though. It seemed this place was a favorite of adventurers, and there were a lot of them gathered here. I had my eyes on four adventurers that were probably in a party together, and approached them.

“Excuse me, I’d like to ask you something, do you have time?” I promptly flagged down an employee and ordered all four of them ale.

“Hahahh, I see you know what you’re doing.” The brawny skinhead that looked like the leader of the group slapped my shoulder and led me to an empty seat. “So — what do you want to ask?”

“I’m acting as something of a peddler while I travel around, but it hasn’t been that long since I’ve started. That’s why I was hoping to hear stories about different countries and their situations from adventurers who are chock-full of experience.”

“Oh, is that all? If that’s the case, you asked the right people.”

When the leader said that, a beastman (is he a tiger?), who was just as brawny as the leader, nodded and said, “It’s true, we’ve traveled to a lot of places... Oi, what do you think you’re lookin’ at?” When I was caught gawking at the tiger(?) beastman, he turned on me threateningly.

“Are ya stupid or somethin’? There aren’t exactly a lot of beastmen who aren’t slaves walking around in this place.” When he was told that by the other members, the beastman relented, nodding in understanding.

“I see. It’s true that if you think of a beastman in this place, you’d think of a slave. Even so, this country is one of the better ones.” At the beastman’s words, everyone else nodded in agreement, starting with the leader.

Apparently, in countries like the Geisler Empire or the Holy Kingdom of Rubanov, or even the Kingdom of Solace, which was regarded as a vassal state of Rubanov, treatment of races other than humans (such as elves, dwarves, and beastmen) was particularly cruel.

The Geisler empire was a hard-in-the-paint military dictatorship, and anybody who didn’t obey the emperor only had death to look forward to. Beastmen, elves, and dwarves were all treated basically like livestock with no hesitation.

The Holy Kingdom of Rubanov was a religious country that preached human supremacy, where all the believers of the Rubanov church decried nonbelievers as heretics, and proclaimed their destined death and destruction. As such, races which believed in their own gods such as elves, dwarves, and beastmen were all branded as heretics and were the victims of casually-committed atrocities. And it’s said that treatment in the kingdom of Solace, a vassal state of Rubanov, was much the same.

Any elves, dwarves or beastmen becoming slaves in these three countries had nothing but tragedy awaiting them. Compared to that, slaves in Veenen were given wages, even though they were small, and were guaranteed a minimum amount of livelihood, so it was a good sight better.

“What about the kingdom of Reijseger? I’ve passed through there, but I feel like I didn’t see any beastmen at all...”

“Ahhh, that place, too...”

Just like Rubanov, Reijseger believed in human supremacy, and so from the start did not allow entry to elves, dwarves, and beastmen. However, the current king was rushing recklessly in his desire to expand his territory, and was constantly fighting something. It seemed to be an open secret that there were elves, dwarves, and beastmen being press-ganged to fight in those wars that shouldn’t have been there. It was also famously rumored that Reijseger nobles liked to keep elf, dwarf, and beastman women as sex slaves.

......This world... it’s not kind.

The Kingdom of Marveil, which bordered Reijseger, was the home country of these four adventurers, and they said that it was a good country that does not discriminate between races, so it was safe to live there without worry. The only problem was, they weren’t blessed with good neighbors, and had to constantly be on watch for those that would steal their territory. To their north was demonfolk territory; to their south lay the Geisler Empire; and to their east, Reijseger and Rubanov.

In truth, there had been several border skirmishes between Marveil and Reijseger recently, and with both sides’ armies glaring at each other from across the border, it was rumored that war was just a matter of time. Now that I think about it, I’d already heard that Reijseger and Marveil were close to war at Kiels. Apparently, these four adventurers saw that their country was close to war and decided to cut and run.

“If we had family in the country, we wouldn’t have done that, but all four of us are orphans, you see.” I was told that all of them were raised in the same orphanage and just became an adventurer party like that.

It seemed that the Adventurer’s guild had told countries not to stop C-rank adventurers and above from moving between countries, and because said countries couldn’t afford to upset a gigantic organization like the Adventurer’s guild, they had to grudgingly accept.

“We had to pass through Reijseger to get here, but their stares when they saw me were disgusting.” The beastman member said that as if he were spitting something out.

Hmmm, from what I’ve heard... is this world okay? I feel like I’ve come to a whale of a world, here.

Continuing our conversation, next up was the country to Reijseger’s east, the Kingdom of Clarsen. This country had always had a certain kind of history to it, but right now it seemed there was strife within the royal family, and it was tearing the country apart.

Next was the space from the south to the central area of the continent, but apparently it was occupied by a large amount of small countries with various names. The area was ruled and fought over by various warlords, and it seemed not even adventurers went that way too often.

“But weren’t there a couple of countries that allied together near the coast five or six years ago? What were they called?”

“The Quine Republic.”

“Right, right. There was a Quine Republic, but they are on the verge of splitting, it’s said.” Right, let’s not go there.

After that, it was the Kingdoms of Erman and Leonhardt to the east of the continent.

Neither kingdom discriminated between races and were comparatively free countries. And, apparently, both their armies were super strong, so there wasn’t much worry of them getting invaded. Not to mention, the two kingdoms were allied and their internal political landscape was stable.

“We’re currently heading for Leonhardt ourselves. We’ll go to Erman eventually as well.” Apparently, there were a lot of dungeons in both countries, so being an adventurer in either one was a pretty tasty prospect.

There it is: dungeons. As I thought, they existed. I’m a little interested, but I’ll probably never enter one. After all, it’s gotta be safety first. Life is important. But, hearing about all this from the adventurers, I’ve figured out my destination. It’s gotta be either of the Kingdoms of Erman or Leonhardt. They’re both stable, so either way, it doesn’t matter which one I go to. The problem is whether Fel would understand the route if I tried to explain it to him. This is the exact situation where a map would be great.

“If only I had a map...”

“Hm? What, you want a map?” The leader seemed to have heard me muttering to myself.

“Eh, ahh, yeah. It doesn’t have to be too detailed, but I was thinking it would really help if I had one.” When I said that, the four adventurers looked at each other, and then started whispering.

“Hey, to tell you the truth, we have a map.” What, really?

“There was a senior adventurer that treated us kindly, and he gave it to us when he retired.” Ohhhh, that’s great. I’m jealous. I want a map, too.

“Of course, it isn’t detailed like a higher-up in the military would have, and only just shows which country is where...” Yeah yeah, it’s not like I really need anything that detailed. It’s fine with me, as long as I know where countries are in relation to each other.

“So here’s the thing... if you want it, we can give it to you.”

W-Wait, really?!

“We’ve already memorized this map, you see. We’ll get by even without it. So what do you say to 1 gold for it?” 1 gold? Hmmmm... I want a map, but 1 gold is a lot... I do understand that paper is expensive, though. 1 gold... that really makes it hard to make a decision.

“Is it alright if I see it?” I asked. It should be easier to decide after I see it.

“Sure.” The leader took a folded-up map from his pocket. “Here it is.”

I unfurled the map and took a look. Yeah, this really is rough. But I’ll be able to understand the positions of countries with this. I wanted it, but the price made me hesitate.

“I’m telling you this now, but this is pretty valuable.” I knew that; the bookstore didn’t have it, and there weren’t any in the library, either.

“But since you’ve treated us like this, I’ll make it a little cheaper. How about 8 silver?”

8 silver? I do want a map, and paper is expensive. Hrmmm... Okay, let’s buy it. It’s better to have one, and at 8 silver it’s cheap enough that I can internalize it as an expense. “I’ll take it for 8 silver.”

“Great, it’s a deal.” I handed 8 silver over to the leader and pocketed the map.

“Now then, we have to be up early tomorrow, so we’ll be going back now.”

“Sure. Thanks for telling me all that stuff. For the map, too.”

“No problem. Later.” Saying that, the four of them left the bar.

Whoo! I got a map. The bookstore didn’t have one, and I went to the library thinking that if I had an old map, I could just renew it by asking adventurers, but in the end the library didn’t have one either. I was already thinking of giving up on a map, but to think I would get one here — I lucked out!

*Pff...*

*Snicker...*

...What? There’s a bunch of people that look like adventurers glancing at me and laughing.

“Pft... Hey, you guys shouldn’t laugh.” One of the adventurers said to the others. You’re saying that while you’re laughing...

“Uhhh, did I do something?” Is it okay if I get mad? I said that to the man while still sulking a little from being laughed at.

The man replied, “Sorry, sorry,” while not looking sorry at all. “Earlier, you know, we were listening in on your conversation. You were tricked.”

Huh? What’s he saying? ‘Tricked?’ What does he mean?

“You bought a map from them, didn’t you?” I did, but what of it?

“The Adventurer’s guild sells those.”

...What? Nonono, w-wait a minute. The Adventurer’s guild... sells... maps?

......Whaaaaaaaaaaa?

“I’ve got one too. See?”

The map he showed me after saying that was exactly the same as the one I just bought from the adventurers for 8 silver. While I was at a loss for words, staring numbly at the map, the man dropped another bomb.

“By the way, that map, it’s 1 silver at the Adventurer’s guild.”

1... silver... 1 silver into 8 silverーー?!?! GAAHHHHHH I WAS TRICKEDーーー!!!

“They sure fleeced you, turning 1 silver into 8! Gahahahaha!” The rest of the adventurers in the bar joined in on his laughter.

Dammit, this isn’t funny. It’s actually making me want to cry.

“This map is something the Adventurer’s guild makes themselves by talking to adventurers. So it’s set at a price where we can easily buy it even though it’s made of paper.”

“He’s right. Well, there’s also adventurers that don’t buy one and get around with their own memory, but most people buy the map. And they fill in the topographical details of places and villages they’ve been in themselves, like, ‘here’s a lake,’ or even what monsters appear in an area. At any rate, they write down extra details on the map and make it their own.”

“There’re also adventurers that stay in one country, so they make a copy of just the one country and write more detailed maps of that place, too. Naturally, such maps are an adventurer’s treasure, so they wouldn’t go around showing it to other people so easily.”

“Now that I think about it, I think the Merchant’s guild also sells a similar map.”

“Well, both adventurers and merchants travel around a lot.” The adventurers that were laughing each chimed in with their own piece.

So not only the Adventurer’s guild, but even the Merchant’s guild sells these maps... The owner of the bookstore didn’t say a word about that, though. The bookstore is also a part of the Merchant’s guild, but since it’s a bookstore it doesn’t seem like the owner would have to travel across countries or even different towns, so he might have just not known about it. At any rate, to all of these adventurers who’re laughing, please tell me this sort of thing beforehandー.

““““““That’s because you’re in the wrong for being tricked!””””””

...They were all quite correct.

Grrrnnnnn, I hate it but they’re right. Something of this level definitely wouldn’t count as a crime in this world. I guess I have no choice but to give up and chalk this up as a learning experience.

I want to cry...