CHAPTER 6: Labyrinth of Thoughts

01

“Good morning, Mariela.”

Awakened by Sieg, Mariela opened her eyes.

“Would you like…some tea?”

When she got up, Sieg sat down on the edge of the bed and offered tea.

He’d gently woken her and offered her tea in bed. A soft smile lingered on his face.

What’s going on here? It’s like we’re…

Mariela rubbed at her eyes, took the cup from him, and tilted her head to the side.

“Are we playing ‘queen-and-her-butler’ today?”

The corners of Sieg’s mouth twitched upward. Oblivious, Mariela blew on her tea and took a sip. Sieg wasn’t discouraged and continued talking.

“Is it good?”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll make it…every day.”

“Mm, I appreciate it, but you don’t have to.” She turned down his offer gently.

“Drinking it together…makes it taste better,” he replied, and Mariela looked up. For some reason, he averted his gaze. She had a feeling his face was slightly red.

Mariela knew she’d overslept, but it was about two hours later than her usual. Sieg hadn’t had breakfast yet, either, so they went down to the restaurant together.

“Good mooorning! Breakfast is uni-corn soup today. It’s my favorite!”

It was Emily the poster girl. Mariela tied her hair for her again, then gave her one of the wrapped cookies she’d made.

“Wow, a cookie!”

Emily tried to restrain herself, but hey, she was a ten-year-old kid. As soon as she opened the wrapping, her face lit up. Overjoyed, she gleefully stuffed it into her mouth at once.

“It’s sooo good!”

“It’s full of nutrients and energy, so it’s best to eat them when you’re tired,” Mariela explained, then grabbed the young hand that was reaching for a second cookie.

Emily pouted. Her outstretched hand wavered for a moment before firmly tying the bundle back up.

“Daddy’s having a tough time. He’s real tired. So I’m gonna give these to him.” She summoned the strength to resist her desire for more cookies and give them to her father instead. Her self-control was written all over her face.

Awwww, Emily! You’re such a good giiiirl!

Mariela couldn’t stand it.

“Your dad’s share is over here, so it’s fine for you to eat these,” she said, and she handed Emily one more bundle.

Emily’s face lit up as bright as the sun. It was a beautiful sight.

“I’m gonna go give these to Daddy! Thank you, Mari!”

Beaming from ear to ear, Emily took the bundle of cookies in both hands and ran off.

Mariela had wanted to see her reaction, so she’d secretly held back the owner’s share on purpose. Mari was a meanie.

Amber and the other ladies were still asleep, so Mariela decided to give them their cookies when she came back later. She needed to make medicine for them, too. And there were some ingredients she wanted; since sahuagin had been on the menu last night, she figured she’d find what she was looking for.

After breakfast, she and Sieg headed for Ghark’s herb shop. For once, Ghark was inside the building today.

“Mr. Ghark, I made these from the creeper seeds you gave me yesterday. I thought I’d share them with you.”

“Y’really don’t learn, do ye…?”

Ghark stared at Mariela in exasperation. She pretended not to care and pressed him further. “Come on, eat one. I dunno if it’ll work on your bruise, but I think it’ll restore your strength.”

After Ghark chewed one of the cookies carefully, savoring it, he checked himself over, then went to the rear of the shop and brought back some kind of magical tool. He put Mariela’s cookies on it and examined them.

“Um, you’re supposed to eat those.”

“So ye kneaded magical power into this to enhance the effect of the creeper seeds? Yer not plannin’ on sellin’ these, I hope.”

Mariela’s pout withered under a single glare from Ghark.

So mean. Here I was tryin’ to be nice.

When she explained she was giving them out as thanks for people helping her, he checked who the recipients were going to be.

“Well, in that case, I s’pose it’s fine. Listen, don’t sell these. Otherwise you’d end up makin’ ’em till your magic reserves ran dry. Good grief, yer more of a handful than ye look, missy. Tch, have some self-restraint.”

“If these are no good, then what kinda medicine should I sell?” Mariela asked despondently.

“What’re ye plannin’ to make…? Listen, if ye make any medicine, bring it to me before sellin’ it. I’ll test it for ye. ’Ey, sonny, make sure to bring ’er. No exceptions!”

“Understood.” Sieg nodded meekly. At the very least, Mariela was grateful Ghark would check things for her before she sold them. She was a novice at medicine-making. Deciding to think of it in a positive light, she nodded in assent.

“Oh, right. Mr. Ghark, I wondered if you might sell something like ghost clams or snapping clams?”

“Didya even hear what I just said…?”

Ghark looked as if he was at his wit’s end, and Mariela reassured him, “I’m not gonna sell them, so don’t worry! Really, it’s fine!” The old man’s gaze was sharp. It looked as if his fist could come crashing down at any moment.

“Y’can get those kinds o’ monster-based ingredients at the wholesale market next to the Adventurers Guild.”

“D’you think I could get lynus wheat there, too? I’d also like to get some genea cream and salve tins.”

“Finally, a good question. They deal with most materials that’re obtained around ’ere, so they should have lynus wheat, too. And then, genea cream and salve tins? If ye just want a small amount, the Merchants Guild shop sells those. The Seele Company makes ’em, so if ye want a lot, ye’ll need to go there. Tell ’em I sent ye, and they’ll letcha have some.”

Ghark was very helpful with all sorts of things.

“Thank you, Mr. Ghark! Next time I come, I’ll bring medicine!” Mariela exclaimed while waving to him.

“Go to the library in the Merchants Guild and study before ye come back!” Ghark called back as he shooed her away with a wave of his hand. Mariela didn’t miss how he picked up a cookie in his other hand and nonchalantly tossed it into his mouth.

Mariela and Sieg headed to the wholesale market Ghark told them about.

The Adventurers Guild was right outside the northeastern gateway in the wall surrounding the Labyrinth, and the wholesale market stood next to it facing the Labyrinth.

Adventurers would bring materials obtained in the Labyrinth to the Adventurers Guild or specialist shops. The wholesale market specialized in foodstuff ingredients, so they bought and butchered what the adventurers brought in; some items were also cured or processed before being sold.

Anything from vegetable and grain products from the Labyrinth City to meats from the animals hunted in the surrounding forest could be found in this market, making it something like the kitchen of the city.

Within the huge outer wall of the market, small- and medium-size shops crowded together. There were shops offering monster meat and seafood, regional meats, processed food like sausages and ham, dried goods, grains and vegetables, dairy products, and a variety of other ingredients.

It was around the time when adventurers were exploring in the Labyrinth, and the market was bustling with townspeople who’d come to buy ingredients. Some of the stalls sold cooked food, sending delicious aromas wafting through the air.

“Whoaaa, this is incredible!”

“Today’s special is cockatrice! Take a gander at this leg meat! It’s nice and tender just like yours, young lady! Look at the grease dripping down this skewer!”

“Aaapples, freshly picked aaapples! Delivered straaaight from the second level of the Labyrinth! And here we have pineapples, one slice for just two copper coins.”

“Bargains aplenty! Today we’re having a special on ground orc and minotaur meat!”

“How ’bout a freshly roasted orc sausage? The skin’s crisp and bursting with flavor. We got hot dogs, too!”

Mariela enjoyed walking around listening to the vendors hawking their products. Her hands full of sliced pineapple, skewered meat, and a bundle of hot dogs, she made no attempt to mind her manners as she ate while strolling around the marketplace.

It took a very long time for them to finally reach their destination, a dried-goods dealer. Seafood must have been their specialty, as the shelves were packed with seaweed, scallops, and enough tiny sun-dried fish for an entire meal. She didn’t see any big game like sahuagin, however. Though it would’ve worried her even if she did.

“Welcome. What can I do ya for?”

“Do you have any ghost clams or snapping clams?”

“Got snapping clams right here. They make a good soup base. How many you want?”

Sun-dried scallops the size of fists were stacked in a draining basket. Since there was no ocean in the Fell Forest, this was the first time Mariela had seen them.

One of these will let me do about ten practice runs.

This was the first time she’d handled this item, and therefore she didn’t yet know its extraction method. After viewing information on handling a new material in her Library, Mariela had to either completely memorize it or forget it with Reset before she could view another one. Just by looking at this new material, it didn’t seem as if its method would be very time-consuming. A hundred extractions would probably be all she needed to master the technique. She bought ten of the scallops for two silver coins.

Afterward, she went to a granary located all the way at the back of the market near the northern street. She asked if they had any lynus wheat.

“Lynus wheat’s been selling real well this year. Sorry, but this is all I’ve got in stock. Next month’s harvest should bring in more, so hold tight till then.”

Lynus wheat was grown in the wetlands near the sandbanks of a river flowing through the grain-producing region of the Labyrinth City. It was highly nutritious and a good food for the sick. There were several other similar products, such as sap from old sugar maple trees; stumps called tuber roots that produced a sticky substance when rubbed; and genea cream, though that wasn’t usually used for food.

Not only was lynus wheat high in nutrients, it was delicious, too. In other words, it was chock-full of Drops of Life, a blessing from Mother Earth that flowed through ley lines. All living things had trace amounts of it inside them; not just plants, animals, and humans but even monsters, too. The composition of each type of medicinal herb was different, with some containing a large amount of Drops of Life; the lynus wheat and genea cream Mariela was looking for were two such examples.

“Was there an epidemic?”

The shop had only about four pounds of lynus wheat in stock. It was enough for Mariela’s purposes, but perhaps some kind of disaster had caused the supply to run low.

“Nah, the Aguinas family bought it all up.”

Now there was a name Mariela wasn’t expecting to hear. Two hundred years ago, the Aguinases were the top alchemists in the Kingdom of Endalsia. Now they controlled the distribution of potions in the Labyrinth City. Although they were a family of alchemists, she still wondered if a large number of people had fallen ill.

The granary worker didn’t seem to know the details, so Mariela bought the four pounds of lynus wheat and left.

“Mariela, it’s time.”

She’d only just bought the scallops and wheat, but it was already time for lunch. They had arranged to meet with a carpenter about two hours from then. It wasn’t like her to take her sweet time wandering around.

“Sieg, what are you going to do for lunch?”

“I’m going to…eat at the house.”

Every time Mariela had bought some food that she ate on the spot, she’d bought some for Sieg as well. She thought he was going to eat it right then and there, but it turned out he’d stored it in the rucksack. There weren’t any strange people in the market, but he was acting as her bodyguard just in case.

Sieg’s got good manners. He doesn’t stuff his face while he’s walking around in public or anything like that.

Which was exactly what Mariela had so carelessly done without realizing.

02

The two of them left the wholesale market and headed for their new house. It was close to the exit on the northern street side of the market, and they got there in less than an hour. It really was in a good location. Around the time when Sieg finished his lunch, two people who appeared to be carpenters showed up just before the appointed time.

“Are you Mariela? I’m Gordon, the carpenter, and a dwarf, as y’can see.”

“I’m Johan, the architect. Half dwarf, half human.”

Between his short stature, stocky physique, and thick beard and brows, Gordon was the very image of a dwarf.

On the other hand, Johan had a small, sturdy frame, but he was taller than Gordon. He was clean-shaven, and he had fixed up not only his hair but his eyebrows, too, which gave him a stylish sort of look.

“Whaddaya mean, architect? Yer just a scrawny li’l punk of a carpenter who needs to brush up his skills some more.”

“I think they’ll be needing some guidance to build a proper, comfortable living space, don’t you, Pops?”

Apparently, these two were father and son. Mariela wondered if they were going to have a fight right after making their acquaintance, but this seemed to be more like an introduction for them. ““So what kind of remodeling are you interested in?”” the pair asked in perfect unison. They were on the same wavelength.

She told them what she wanted: fix up the storefront and open an apothecary; repair all the furniture so that she and Sieg could move in; get their advice on the finer details; and first and foremost—show them the house. “Go ahead,” she told the two dwarves, letting them through. Gordon began to check the main building and Johan the addition.

“There are no problems with this building here. The pipes haven’t deteriorated at all. You can live here just fine, but the floor and walls are damaged. Depending on your budget, it’ll need washing—nah, a cleaner—and after that, I’d recommend polishing the floor and stone walls. Johan, give ’em an estimate for all the furniture and upholstery they’ll be needin’.”

“As far as the magical tool in the galley is concerned, the magical gem is only cracked. It’s still usable. There are no problems with the addition itself, but the roof needs repairing. Overall, there’s so much grease and dirt on the wooden walls that it’d be better to refinish them. The storefront is in bad shape; the floor and pillars are rotting. If you want to set up a shop here, it’d be cheaper to just rebuild it. The counter and shelving only have surface damage, so they can probably be sanded down and restored. The problem is the lighting. Pops, give them an estimate for the construction work. Include the galley roof, too.”

As Mariela and Sieg watched, dumbfounded, the craftsmen took turns creating a schedule for repairs.

In what felt like an instant, the father-son duo had agreed on the remodeling plan.

After cleaning up the living area, they would lightly grind down and polish the wall and floor tiles to clean up the scratches and dents. Since materials were valuable in the vicinity of the Labyrinth City, laying down boards and tiles on the floor and putting up wallpaper seemed to be a luxury for the mansions of aristocrats.

Large furniture was often sold or left behind when residents moved out, and the furniture in this house was too old to merit paying transportation fees. Gordan and Johan offered to repair the wooden items that weren’t rotting. They would craft any necessary furniture or minimally decorative items like shelves and desks and repair the deteriorating fixtures such as the loose hinges on the built-in shelves and the ill-fitting door.

According to the pair, the overly spacious living room on the first floor seemed to have been originally divided into two rooms, and the wall was probably demolished to make it into a guest room for the restaurant. The space would have better utility if they built a wall where the original had stood. The living room would catch customers’ eyes with the proper furnishings, so they recommended buying nice-looking furniture for it.

The craftsmen informed Mariela and Sieg that once the current Labyrinth expedition ended, good-quality secondhand furniture would appear on the market within about two months. Yagu caravans would take two months round trip to transport materials obtained in the expedition before bringing back the finished goods from the imperial capital. Aristocrats would replace their current furnishings with the carpets and top-quality furniture parts manufactured outside the Labyrinth City, and the old furnishings would then become available for sale on the market.

The stench of oil that permeated the former galley would have to be cleaned by the proper Skill Users, after which the dwarves would polish the stones and refinish the wall paneling. Several of the roof tiles were broken, and they would replace those as well.

Since none of that would use much material, the estimate was one gold coin and seven large silver coins.

The storefront was the problematic part; repairing most of it would cost five gold coins, including a new roof to replace the tarp that had been set up to act as a makeshift cover. The outer wall would remain the same as before.

Given how high this wall was, even rebuilding the inner side would just block the view from the window. Getting less space for higher costs seemed to be the norm for remodeling in the Labyrinth City.

“It’s a little less than seven gold coins altogether. Is there any part of the estimate that can be reduced?” Mariela asked. This would more than double the purchase price of the house, which had been three gold coins. Johan carefully explained the breakdown of expenses; he was genial about it and didn’t have a pushy attitude.

Mariela also mentioned her concern about the shop lighting. The shelves behind the counter would store the medicine, so it would be optimal to keep them from being exposed to the light. However, if the outer wall was going to serve as the shop’s wall, then the place wouldn’t have even a single window. The gloominess would be stifling.

“Maybe if we got a large piece of plate glass,” said Johan.

“What, and bring it in from outside the Labyrinth City? Fat chance o’ that,” replied Gordon.

I can make plate glass myself, though…

Mariela wanted windows. “If you did happen to have plate glass, what kind of storefront would you be able to make?” she asked, phrasing the question as if she was just checking for future reference.

“If we had a lot, we’d use it for half the ceiling,” replied Johan. “Of course, since it would need to be sturdy, we’d cut the window frame into a square lattice shape and lay square-shaped glass diagonally, like this.”

“That’s a terrible idea. Typical architect. If it were me, I’d cut ’em into equilateral triangles to make it curved.”

“What did you just say, Pops? ………That’s brilliant!”

Mariela listened as the pair discussed the prospect of a glass ceiling with increasing excitement, tossing around ideas about what size the glass should be and what approximate thickness and about how many pieces.

“Could you give me two or three days on the shop part? I’d like a draft of the plan for the living area first. About how many days will it take?” she asked.

During that time, she’d prepare the plate glass. She’d need to come up with an authentic-sounding excuse for it, too. Including tonight, she and Sieg had five more days at the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion, so she also wanted to know the move-in schedule.

“If you need it within five days, the living area will be ready in plenty of time. Now, hear me out, but wouldja consider using a group from the slums for the cleanin’ work? The fee would be the same as if you had someone with cleaning skills do it. Of course, we’d be supervisin’ to make sure they did a thorough job. It’ll take a bit longer than normal, but would you let ’em do it?” asked Gordon.

The slums was probably the section in the southwest part of the Labyrinth City facing the Fell Forest where partially destroyed Endalsian buildings had been patched up. When she’d first arrived in the City, Lynx had told her the area wasn’t particularly safe.

“Those who are unable to work as adventurers anymore due to injury or illness end up in the slums,” Johan explained. “Plenty of ’em are honest folk. Would it be all right?”

“Is it possible…they would come back to steal things…in the future?” interjected Sieg, who’d left all the talking to Mariela up to now.

“We’ll choose the workers ourselves. They’ll only be day laborers, and we’ll have them sign a magical contract stating that they will not use any acquired information for personal use,” replied Johan.

Sieg was wary of hired slum residents taking advantage of their work to case the joint for a future theft.

I hadn’t thought of that possibility… Even so, I’d want anyone to be hired under a magical contract.

“They ain’t all bad guys. Won’tya give ’em a chance?” Gordon grasped his left wrist as he spoke. Mariela noticed a large scar on his left hand.

“Gordon, what’s that on your hand?”

“It’s from a long time ago, when I was an adventurer, see. I had to quit that line of work, but I managed to find success as a carpenter.” The dwarf had probably been given a chance and wanted to pay it forward to the next generation.

“I understand. I look forward to seeing their work.”

Sieg looked as if he wanted to say something. Even Mariela felt maybe she was being rash. But somehow, she thought that was what she should do. She remembered a certain person in the plaza of the Citadel City two hundred years ago; he gave her half his lunch one day when her stomach was rumbling with hunger while she was selling potions.

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for me to pay that kindness forward, Mariela wondered vaguely.

She paid one gold coin as a deposit. Tomorrow, work would begin after she signed the contract, so they told her they’d like to come in the morning. Apparently, she should also give them a duplicate key after signing the contract.

Gordon asked if she wanted to go choose the wood with them, but she declined, saying she’d leave it in their hands. She didn’t know anything about wood quality, nor could she imagine what kind of finish it would need.

Her only stipulation was that it should have “a cozy feel.”

Gordon and Johan nodded and replied, “Leave it to us.”

03

There were still about four hours until dusk. Chairwoman Elmera of the Merchants Guild had said the Adventurers Guild shop sold medicine, so Mariela decided to stop by to do some market research.

She and Sieg headed to the Adventurers Guild near the Labyrinth’s northeast gateway, the opposite direction of the wholesale market. If she was going to make plate glass, there were a few preparations she needed to make. Plus, she could finish up her shopping while she was at it.

The Adventurers Guild’s kinda eerie somehow. I feel like as soon as I go in, some scary old guy is gonna threaten me: “This ain’t a place for little ones!”

With thoughts like these at the forefront of her mind, Mariela timidly entered the guild. The lobby was bigger than the one in the Merchants Guild, and in it were several reception counters all lined up in a row. Large signs like ← MATERIALS TRADE-IN, ↑ REQUESTS DESK, BULLETIN BOARD ↓, and SHOP → hung here and there, along with helpful pictographs.

There were few people inside who looked like adventurers, probably because most hadn’t yet returned from the Labyrinth. They were either seated at the edge of the lobby and jabbering away or reading the bulletin board. They took no notice of Mariela and Sieg.

Right as Mariela was feeling relieved that no one had bothered her, a man who looked to be a middle-aged adventurer approached.

“Somethin’ the matter, miss? If it’s requests you’re lookin’ for, come right this way!”

His bright-white teeth gleamed as he broke into a broad grin—along with his smooth bald pate.

Ohhh, right, they also do requests.

He might have thought she was a novice adventurer. How brazen. Obviously, Mariela was a client. “I came to see the shop,” she said.

“In that case, it’s just over there!” the man replied, pointing dramatically. He seemed to be nothing more than your typical busybody. She thanked him and headed for the shop.

For sale were weapons and armor for beginner adventurers, along with ropes, lanterns, portable rations, and various sundries. Medicine filled at least three of the shelves, and their types—SALVES, STYPTICS, ORAL MEDICINES, ETC.—were written above them along with helpful illustrations. It was actually quite a messy categorization system.

Even the salves came in many different types, she noticed. Apparently, they had been made by different people. Their ingredients weren’t listed, but wouldn’t the ingredients and effects be different based on who made them? Most of the salves and styptics must have been ointments, given the tins they were packed into.

The shop also sold oral medicines—antidotes, restoratives, antipyretics, and paregorics—as well as the usual everyday household medicines. They didn’t appear to offer much in the way of liquid medicines like potions, but there were plenty of pills. Mariela checked the types and price ranges available.

“Can I help you find something?” a shop employee asked her. She was a beautiful, kind-looking young woman. The Adventurers Guild had a lot of attractive women, something Mariela had noticed just from glancing at the receptionists. Lots of adventurers were hot-blooded men; did the guild hire pretty ladies so that things would go more smoothly? On closer inspection, the male employees stayed on standby a certain distance away. They probably jumped in if any trouble occurred.

“Which of the salves is the most effective?”

“These ones here are our most popular products.”

The item she recommended was elegantly packaged, and its price per unit was high for a salve. Mariela felt it was being marketed as “an expensive item that looks expensive.” It cost fifty copper coins. Two hundred years ago, she could have bought ten low-grade heal potions in the Citadel City for the same price. Still, if you spread it thinly, you could probably cover the surface area of about ten palms, so maybe the price was reasonable after all.

She bought one and left the shop.

As they passed by the bulletin board, Sieg stared at one of the notices:

INFORMATION ON TRAINING COURSES

The guild appeared to offer a seminar divided into courses: for instance, the materials and monsters found in the Labyrinth’s lower strata; weapons training; beginner spells; and skills for explorers. Each course was designated an instructor who would teach their students one-on-one.

One large silver coin got you five half-day lessons that would be conducted every other day. For professional one-on-one guidance, it was a good deal.

“Would it be all right if…I took this course with the large silver coin…you gave me?” Sieg seemed to want to learn how to use a sword. “I can’t use anything but…a bow. And even that…”

Sieg’s right eye had been damaged and blinded, and Mariela couldn’t heal it at present, either.

There was no “dominant eye” when you had only one eye to speak of. His aim would probably be out of whack, and he’d have a hard time gauging distance.

So she had no reason to stop Sieg if he wanted to learn a new way to fight.

Sieg went to the information desk to sign up, and Mariela followed him. He might not tell her if he needed something, and she wanted to hear about it.

At the desk, Sieg said he’d like to take the practical training, and the middle-aged man who’d shown them the way to the shop earlier called out to him.

“Ohhh, a new participant! I’m the instructor, Haage!”

The sunset light reflecting off his cranium was blinding. Apparently, the man with an easy-to-remember name, Haage, was an employee of the Adventurers Guild. Sieg asked when he could start the class.

“Sorry, but my slots are all filled up till the expedition starts. I’ll have some openings in four days’ time, though! All weapons will be provided, so you just come wearing clothes that’re easy to move around in!” he answered with a broad smile that showed his white teeth.

“The Labyrinth Suppression Forces are the ones going on the expedition, right?”

Why would adventurers be taking lessons before an expedition?

“Because that’s the perfect time to make a profit! They’ll be delving deeper than usual, so there’re lots of guys who want to train!”

The Labyrinth Suppression Forces aimed for the deepest part of the Labyrinth. Monsters gathered in the deepest part to ambush them, so fewer appeared in the shallow strata. While the Suppression Forces were in the Labyrinth, adventurers went deeper than usual because the risk of attack by a swarm was lower. Even people with no ability to fight hired adventurers and went down into the Labyrinth to collect materials.

Every once in a great while when too many humans gathered in one place, stronger than usual monsters would appear, so the Adventurers Guild dispatched seasoned adventurers to defeat them.

There were also plenty of chances to observe seasoned adventurers, so even rookie and low-class adventurers looked forward to it.

Apparently, during an expedition, the entire Labyrinth City would be buzzing with excitement like a festival.

“Four days from now, the Labyrinth Suppression Forces will have a morning parade on the northeastern main street on their way to the Labyrinth, so you can come for your lesson after watching!” Haage informed them with a big grin.

04

They reached the Merchants Guild just before dark and hurried to the shop.

The Merchants Guild shop had a collection of necessities for merchants and artisans. The chemist corner had the genea cream Mariela was looking for in two sizes: a “retail tin,” which in actuality had about a five-cup volume, and an “ointment tin” packed with manufactured medicine. There was a much greater variety of medicine vials and paper for powdered medicine than Ghark had in his shop, and paper for vial labels was also for sale, so she bought several of each.

The shop also had a catalog listing items from mundane tools like mortars to instruments she’d never seen before. Pictures were shown along with explanations, and they introduced things like manual machines that compressed fine powder into tablets and rotating disk-shaped magical tools that made pills. It was the first time she’d seen tools like these. She could see how much technology had advanced, and she almost lost track of time gazing at it all.

No, no, she mustn’t dawdle. The young man in the shop appeared to be closing up for the day, as he kept glancing in her direction.

Flustered, she hurried to the smithing section. The young man approached her as if he wanted her to hurry up and finish so he could close the shop, so she asked for eleven pounds of trona crystals, twenty-two pounds of lum stones, and seven pounds of metallic beads.

“Metallic beads? Those scatter during smelting and forging. We might have some in the back.”

The young man briefly went to the rear of the shop to look for them. When he returned, he said, “These are old, but we were going to get rid of them anyway, so I can sell them to you for cheap.”

She settled up the bill and left the Merchants Guild. She needed about 660 pounds of lum stones in all, so this wasn’t nearly enough, but they should be available locally if everything went according to plan.

In any case, 4,409 pounds of glass would be needed to implement Gordon and Johan’s glass ceiling. Twenty yagus would be required to carry such a large quantity. It wasn’t even for an aristocrat’s mansion, and she had no intention of making something so conspicuous. Mariela considered pretending she “happened across it” and handing over half or three-quarters of the plate glass.

For that large an amount, a small crucible like the one she’d used to make potion vials just wouldn’t cut it.

Tomorrow, she’d head to her destination, and if things didn’t go as she hoped, she’d have them just make several small windows.

When Mariela returned to the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion, the sun had just set, so she handed Amber her cookies while the customers were still sparse. Amber looked as though she was in lower spirits than usual.

“These must be the cookies Emily was talking about. She said they gave her a lot of energy.”

The cookies were popular with the ladies of the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion and were gone in no time. Amber was also delighted, but the kind of energy she needed right now was different from what the cookies could restore, Mariela thought.

Hearing the excited clamor surrounding the cookies, Emily came running in a clatter of footsteps.

“Mari, Siggy, welcome back! Guess what? When Daddy ate a cookie, he felt sooo much better! We even went to the market together! He gave me a ride on his shoulders ’cause he said I’d get lost. I was up sooo high!”

Emily talked and talked, her cheeks flushed bright pink. She seemed thrilled that her father had spent time with her.

“Emily, time for a bath! And then it’s off to bed!”

The inn’s owner came out of the kitchen and urged Emily to return to her room.

“But I’m not sleepy yettt,” Emily groaned with a pout.

“Mariela’s gonna do your hair for you again tomorrow, right? What are you gonna do if you oversleep?” the owner gently admonished.

“Oh yeah! I’ll get up nice and early tomorrow and get your breakfast ready. Do my hair again tomorrow, okay?” With that, Emily returned to her room. She was a reasonable child. Tomorrow, Mariela would braid her hair into cute little plaits.

“Hey, thanks for the cookies. Emily and I were able to spend more time together than usual,” said the owner, and he brought out a tray with two kinds of dishes on it. It seemed to be a special meal that would let Mariela and Sieg enjoy everything on offer today at once. A gift of thanks from the owner.

They enjoyed it immensely and returned to their room before the evening hours.

05

“All right. Today, I’ll be making ‘general oil.’ This process will be performed by me, Mariela, and my lovely assistant, Siegmund!”

“…I look forward to…working together?” Sieg replied.

Ooh, Sieg’s on board.

The two of them had become quite good friends, much to Mariela’s delight.

They sat down at the table across from each other and lined up the materials and implements:

A mortar and pestle, orc lard, and orc king lard. Orc king meat was both very delicious and very expensive, but the large amount of lard collected from the meat could be bought cheaply at a few coppers for a fist-size piece. She’d gotten the orc lard as a freebie. Both were fresh and still had some magical energy within.

Mariela put one fist-size piece of orc lard in her mortar and two fist-size pieces of orc king lard in Sieg’s.

“All right, knead the lard, pleeease. Oh, but don’t put any magical energy in it, okay?”

Knead, knead, knead, knead.

Knead-knead-knead-knead.

When the lard had been smoothed into a paste, they added water infused with Drops of Life little by little and kneaded it again.

“General oil” required whatever magical energy was remaining in the orc and orc king lard, so making it involved manual labor. No matter what, you couldn’t use any skills or magic other than the necessary Drops of Life. If you did, your magical power would temporarily transfer to the material and erase the faint energy remaining in it.

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

Knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead.

“Hey, Sieg. You’re from a village near the Fell Forest, right? I know you didn’t use potions, but what about medicine? What kinds did they have?”

“There were…no potions in the village. The chemist…was an elderly lady…who made medicine.”

Any small village would have at least several healing mages, and medical treatment was generally performed using magic. Apparently, salves and styptics were commonly used as first aid until one could get to a healing mage, and people didn’t bother to use magic at all for minor injuries.

If a healing spell was cast on someone to treat an illness, the magic could even heal the disease itself, which was why regular medicine was the more common method of treatment. Healing mages were often loath to use this kind of magic on children in particular, since their lack of resilience could cause them to succumb and die even after being cured.

Since potions could be found in the imperial capital, low-rank heal potions were used there in place of medicine, Sieg explained.

“Where do they sell potions in the capital? For about how much?”

Mariela was grateful the conversation had turned to the imperial capital. It was where Sieg had been purchased, so it was hard for her to ask about it directly.

“Mid-grade and under potions…are sold even in general stores. You buy high-grade ones…at potion specialist shops.”

Alchemists who could make high-grade-ranked potions and above ran potion specialist shops. Twelve alchemists in the imperial capital could make high-grade potions, but only three could make special-grade potions. As for the prices, Sieg explained as much as he knew in detail.

“Only twelve people can make high-grade potions?!”

“Were there more…two hundred years ago?” Sieg asked, and Mariela realized something.

Two hundred years ago, there were more people who possessed alchemic skills than there were bakers, but Mariela had no idea how many alchemists could make special-grade- or high-grade-ranked potions.

“Only specialist shops handled high-grade potions in the Citadel City, too. I dunno how many there were in the whole kingdom, but in the Citadel City, there were only three…”

After Mariela was able to make high-grade potions, she’d visited several shops to discuss whether they’d stock her potions. However, every shop turned her away and told her “Don’t lie.” Since many people possessed alchemic skills, she had believed it also meant many could make high-grade potions and she was chased away because the competition was so fierce. But it seemed she was wrong.

Oh crap, my hand stopped.

Her hand on the lard had fallen still. She added water infused with Drops of Life and resumed kneading. The fat part of the lard emulsified; it was now white and creamy, with bubbles starting to appear on its surface.

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

Knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead.

The prices of low-grade- and mid-grade-ranked potions weren’t much different from their market prices in the Citadel City two hundred years ago. So they were abnormally expensive just in the Labyrinth City, after all.

“What do people from outside the City think of it?”

“I suppose it’s a bit like…a rest stop or safe zone within the Labyrinth. People lump the Fell Forest and the Labyrinth together, and they think the City is safe enough to sleep in within a place like a Labyrinth where monsters roam. It’s not considered…a permanent place to live. I was a B-Rank adventurer…and I planned to come here to reach A Rank.”

She hadn’t thought Sieg would tell her about his past.

He was a B-Rank adventurer…

Apparently, any adventurer could raise their rank by completing a designated number of requests of a difficulty determined by the rank in question. Rising from B Rank to A Rank required far more completed requests than previous ranks, most of which were concentrated in the Labyrinth City. It was more efficient to reach A Rank by accepting requests there.

Since the Labyrinth City was desperate for high-rank adventurers, it offered a service where those of A Rank who lived there would bring those of B Rank who wanted to go to the city. Incidentally, those who took advantage of this service would have to find their own way home, as they wouldn’t be escorted.

The ability to get through the Fell Forest by oneself was an appropriate benchmark for A Rank.

If you were B Rank, you could go through the forest with an A Rank leading you. However, if you were C Rank or lower or had a lot of baggage, you had to travel without rest by armored carriage, like those the Black Iron Freight Corps had, to protect yourself from attacks.

There were only three ways for a B-Rank adventurer to leave the Labyrinth City. They could either attain A Rank and fight through the Fell Forest through sheer willpower, travel with a yagu caravan for a month through the mountains, or pay a private group like the Black Iron Freight Corps to carry them as cargo.

Sieg explained all this to Mariela as they continued kneading the lard.

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

Knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead-knead.

The emulsification steadily continued, and it swelled and became fluffy like whipped cream.

“Yeah, this oughta be good.”

Mariela ladled out two-thirds of the orc whipped cream off the top into a new mortar. The lower part contained impurities other than fat, so it couldn’t be used. Then she scooped out about half of the orc whipped cream, put in the orc king whipped cream Sieg had kneaded, and handed the mortar with the mixture back to Sieg.

“Here, knead this.”

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

Mariela added orc king whip to the stuff Sieg was kneading in his mortar little by little. The amount was tricky. If there was too little of the orc king whip, the effect was weakened; too much of it, though, and it would separate.

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

“That about does it, I think? Okay, now it’s time to warm it.”

After the orc whip had been evenly combined with the orc king whip at a ratio of about 1:2, she put each mortar in one large vessel filled with hot water and churned them slowly.

After a little while, the whip separated into oil and water. The orc and orc king oil mixed into a single layer. This fat was “general oil.”

The recipe could be found in Mariela’s library under Essential Alchemic Products to Make Your Life Easier and was meant for advanced students.

“General oil compleeete! Next, we’ll use this oil to make orc leather maintenance cream!”

She put about three fists’ worth of the genea cream she’d bought at the Merchants Guild shop into a separate mortar.

“Here, Sieg. Knead, knead.”

Sieg made a face as if to ask, “More kneading?”

“You can do it, my lovely assistant.”

Sieg didn’t utter a word of complaint in response to Mariela’s encouragement, and he took the genea cream. He kneaded and kneaded some more.

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

Man, it’s real handy having an assistant. If I was kneading this all by myself, come tomorrow my arms would hurt so much I wouldn’t even be able to lift them.

Genea cream was a vegetable oil that came from the seeds of genea fruit. It was solid at room temperature, but at body temperature, it would melt and permeate the skin. The cream enhanced the healing ability of the tissue it was applied to, as a natural material containing plenty of Drops of Life. It was used long before Mariela was born as a cream for dry skin and general moisturization, and it was also widely used as a base for salves and an ingredient in soap, among other things.

Genea seeds were relatively large for fruit seeds, and the fruit itself had only a thin layer of flesh, but it had high nutritional value and could be eaten. The flavor was harsh and distinctive, and it wasn’t something you’d want to eat in large quantities. However, you could chop it or turn it into a paste, then put it on ham between slices of bread or mix it into a salad to provide a robust flavor. Incidentally, genea cream itself could also be eaten, but it didn’t taste good, so it wasn’t considered food.

Perhaps goblins enjoyed the distinct flavor of genea fruit, because they liked to eat it after it was ripe. Since genea trees grew in the shallow strata of the Labyrinth and Fell Forest, ordinary citizens could harvest the fruit as long as they were accompanied by an escort. The women who worked at the Seele Company before dawn went to the Labyrinth with an escort to pick the fruit and handle it all the way until it was processed into cream. Paintings on the labels of genea cream tins depicted them. The images were of women from middle age to old age, so perhaps it was a service to promote female employment.

The quality of the genea cream was good, and she didn’t need to improve it with alchemy. She definitely wanted to use it after this, too, she thought as she added the newly completed general oil little by little to the genea cream Sieg was kneading.

Knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead, knead.

Since she wasn’t adding moisture to the genea cream, it gradually turned into a soft cream without becoming whipped. When the genea cream and general oil were uniformly mixed, the work was complete.

“Sieg, thanks for your hard work. We’ve made a cream for repairing orc leather! You can shine the orc leather clothes we bought yesterday with this, and the shoes and bags, too. It’ll separate real fast, though, so you have to use it quickly.”

Mariela put some of the cream on a piece of cloth, then spread it over the brand-new shoes, bags, and clothes used for gathering to polish them.

“What is this cream?” Sieg was surprised. The quality of the orc leather improved as he watched her apply the cream. It was flexible yet strong. Normal orc leather could barely withstand one hit from a goblin, but now it was entirely different.

“Now it’s more like orc general leather!”

Typically, leather maintenance cream was mixed with fat from the same monster the leather was made from. Supplementing with fat from the same species resulted in some amount of tissue regeneration, allowing leather products to last longer.

Of course, simply spreading orc king fat on orc leather wouldn’t strengthen it. Even though it was the same orc species, the rank was different, so it would have the same effect as applying genea cream alone, not even regenerating the tissue.

The maintenance cream Mariela made combined orc and orc king fat together with Drops of Life to give an orc king leather–like restorative effect to orc leather. Although it didn’t bring it to the level of orc king leather, it did enhance it to the point it resembled mid-grade orc general leather.

Maintenance cream itself separated in about a minute and became useless, but while the strengthened leather might still look like it came from a regular orc, its performance was set at the level of the orc general class.

“If you polish orc leather goods with this stuff, they’ll last a suuuperlong time,” Mariela cheerfully explained.

An orc’s greatest defense was its thick fat, and their leather itself was a cheap material.

Even the quality of orc general leather products made them something that only E-Rank adventurers might use, so the material was inferior to minotaur products, let alone wyvern ones.

“No, isn’t this…rather significant? If you could strengthen wyvern leather to mid-grade dragon leather—”

“Ah, that won’t work. This stuff’s limited to orcs. The recipe said something like ‘The essence of orc resides in its meat and fat!’ Looks like it’s only possible ’cause it’s orc.”

Mariela had also tried this with other materials before, but none of them had worked very well.

Incidentally, the true value of general oil manifested in orc meat.

“And get this! If you cook orc meat with general oil, it’ll taste like orc king meat!” Mariela looked even smugger than she had the whole day. “Not orc general but orc king!” she repeated, really driving the point home.

This orc leather maintenance cream was a practical use of general oil.

General oil was recorded in Essential Alchemic Products to Make Your Life Easier, and when Mariela became able to make high-grade potions, this hidden recipe had inconspicuously been added.

Per the recipe’s notes: “For my unfortunate juniors who can make high-grade potions but can’t purchase orc king meat. (*The sale of this item is strictly prohibited. Please treat as a banned substance.)”

The first time Mariela ate orc meat cooked with general oil, it was so delicious that it brought tears to her eyes. So delicious that she even forgot the pain in her arms from kneading the lard. She was profoundly grateful to whoever had developed the recipe.

Sieg had cried when he ate the risotto, so Mariela assumed he’d want to sink his teeth into orc king meat, too. However, despite her diligent explanation, he merely narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“There are a lot of things I’d like to say, but… Mariela, have you ever eaten orc king meat? Other than what this oil was used on.”

“Nope.”

“Wouldn’t this make the meat taste like orc general? It’s called general oil, right?”

“!!!”

Certainly, the recipe had said it was “for my unfortunate juniors who can’t purchase orc king meat,” but nowhere did it say it would actually turn into orc king meat.

“…Well, it’s not as if a general-class oil can’t make quality orc leather products.” Sieg polished their orc leather items one by one as he spoke, paying special attention to hems and joints that wore out quickly. Mariela followed his example as she polished, too.

Around the time they finished polishing everything, the general oil and maintenance cream separated almost instantly and became useless.

Even though it wasn’t orc king flavoring, it had made an incredibly tasty meat. If she’d had time, she would’ve wanted to put it on some meat, too.

As Mariela cleaned up the fat in disappointment, Sieg mentioned, “Next time, we’ll have real orc king meat. You can afford it now, right?”

“That’s true. The Corps paid a lot for my potions, after all. I could even buy orc king meat myself…right? Wait… Huh? So I can even buy orc general or orc king leather goods? I didn’t need to make any general oil?”

“……You probably could have. You didn’t buy the orc leather on purpose to conceal your fortune, did you…?” Sieg asked as if he was speaking to a pitiful little child.

Mariela flopped onto the bed with groans of “Uuugggh” and “Aaaghhh” in a strange voice.

“I kneaded and kneaded and I didn’t need to do any of iiiit…”

“Well, it probably wasn’t for nothing. Cheap orc leather won’t attract as much attention,” Sieg said, trying to comfort her.

He’s right; it wasn’t totally pointless. And, Sieg, you’re talking normally now.

They talked a lot while they were knead-knead-knead-knead-kneading, and Sieg’s speech wasn’t faltering anymore. Although he’d spoken in broken sentences before, he’d started talking fluidly before she realized it.

“Siiieg, could you please clean up for poor little meee?”

“I guess I have no choice. You can take a bath now, too, if you like.”

He was even conversing more naturally. All that kneading really hadn’t been for nothing after all.

Sieg was the one who did most of it, though.

Mariela put on her now-polished and sparkling shoes and headed to the bathroom.

06

Early the next morning, the two of them headed for their new house. Gordon and Johan were already waiting in front of the entryway. When Mariela apologized for making them wait, they responded simultaneously: “Gotta get the amateur started early.” “Gotta get the old-timer started early.” Then, also simultaneously: ““What’d you just say?!””

Incredibly, they managed to smoothly transition into business talk.

They handed over the construction contract and the contract of employment for the slum residents, and Mariela and Sieg checked the contents. Apparently, the contract for the shop portion would come once they’d hammered out more concrete plans.

They were simpler than the one she’d signed with the Black Iron Freight Corps, but they were proper magical contracts with writing like “Any confidential information obtained in the course of executing this contract will be hereby protected.”

“Isn’t this a bit over-the-top?” Mariela couldn’t help asking.

“Naturally,” the elder dwarf replied. “Besides, that’s a sacred tree, right? I know this from many years of experience: Wherever you’ve got a thing like that growin’, stuff tends to happen. For better or for worse. With this in place, should anything of the sort occur, we’ll be protected, too, as long as we don’t leak any secrets.”

I get it now. Mariela was impressed. The magical contract was properly executed, not just to protect her and Sieg if information like the house layout was leaked but also to prevent Gordon and Johan from being threatened to hand over information.

They confirmed there were no problems with the contracts and signed the construction one. The father-son duo said they’d start work as soon as they got the key. Mariela could pay the remainder of the money owed after the work was completed.

“As for the plans for the shop, we ask that you please have it all together within two or three days,” Johan requested.

“Understood,” Mariela replied before leaving the house with Sieg.

Now was the time to focus on the glass she needed to build a lovely shop.

That’s why today she’d worn the newly polished orc leather clothes for gathering materials and also brought packed lunches.

She and Sieg went to the yagu rental they’d visited three days ago and requested two yagus. They lent her the one she’d used last time and a slightly meeker one. Groups of yagus had a clear hierarchy, and those lower in the pecking order followed behind the higher ones. Traveling in single file was one of the behaviors that made them easy to use for crossing mountains.

Mariela climbed onto the meek yagu and spurred it into motion, but…

“Whoa, hey, too fast, too faaast! I’m gonna faaall!”

…Mariela’s yagu ran after Sieg’s, which was galloping along in high spirits. She was desperately clinging to the animal to keep from falling, never mind riding it properly.

In the end, the two of them rode on Sieg’s yagu like last time and loaded their baggage onto the other one.

“All this after going to the trouble of borrowing two!” It was hard to swallow for Mariela, who was miffed, but since they could travel faster this way, she just had to accept it.

Unlike three days ago, Mariela, Sieg, and the two yagus headed downstream from the river where they’d gathered sand.

Neatly cultivated fields spread through the grain-producing region along the river where the sowing of wheat seeds was mostly finished. The employed serfs may have left for fields farther away where planting was still ongoing, or they were preparing for the Labyrinth expedition. The area was deserted.

Tamamugy grew wild on the banks of the river and would be ready to harvest in another week. Tamamugy was a material used in mid-grade and lower cure potions. Last time, she had bought it at Ghark’s herb shop, but she wanted to gather it herself if possible. Since this area was a grain-producing region, she’d asked Ghark earlier if it was okay for her to gather it. As she thought about these things atop the yagu, they reached the end of the grain-producing region. A palisade had been erected here, and the monster-warding plants daigis and bromominthra were planted as well.

This was the end of the breadbasket region that humanity had cleared and reclaimed. The Fell Forest lay beyond the stakes. An extensive amount of palisade had been erected from the grain-producing region to the Fell Forest and stretched on endlessly along the border between the two. Its vastness reflected the people’s fear of the forest, and despite using a monster-warding potion, Mariela felt a little scared.

The Fell Forest was even more vast than Mariela remembered. Although she knew this place was a cleared and reclaimed part of the forest, she felt like the trees were closing in on her.

Just to be safe, she used another monster-warding potion before she and Sieg rode into the Fell Forest.

They advanced along the river; it widened as they went farther downstream, but the amount of water decreased, resulting in distinct terrain with a large quantity of sand and small water currents. The soil around here was sandy even down deep, and the river flowed into an underground water vein. As the two of them traveled even farther downstream, the river went completely underground and disappeared.

River sand carried by water currents was deposited around here, turning the place into a high-quality sandpit.

Bit by bit, traces of stone buildings came into view.

This was today’s destination. Two hundred years ago, there had been rows of glassmaking studios here.

Mariela and Sieg peeked into the remaining workshops that hadn’t crumbled. The yagus also followed, naturally. Maybe they thought Sieg was their boss.

Only a single wall remained of the first one.

Around half of the second building remained, but creepers grew thick on the inside. Not just on the floor but on the walls, too. Maybe there wasn’t enough nourishment to go around, as they were all just saplings, but they wriggled along the walls in an extremely revolting way. She decided she didn’t want to look there.

They looked at a third and fourth one, but all of them were like this, so there were no remaining buildings with facilities she could use. This place had a lot of creepers because it was near a watering hole. Fortunately, the only kind growing were saplings, and thanks to their orc leather boots, Mariela and Sieg didn’t have to worry about getting stabbed by poison needles. In fact, the creatures were so weak, you could almost kill them just by stepping on them.

Sieg went first and stomped them flat, and Mariela followed. The two yagus on either side of her also stepped lightly and trampled the creepers that tried to coil around their legs. Although the animals were simple herbivores, they were very reliable.

Leaving the river and going farther back into the ruins of the ateliers, they only rarely saw abandoned buildings. Thinking it was useless after all, Mariela was about to turn back when she spotted familiar plants.

Daigis and bromominthra.

It used to be an alchemist’s workshop. It had no ceiling, and half of the walls had collapsed, but the daigis vines crawling along them and the bromominthra hidden by the trees protected the ruined building.

Maybe here, thought Mariela with high hopes. The moment she peeked inside, Sieg yanked her back.

Bratatatatat.

Stones pelted the place Mariela had been a moment ago. When she got a second look, they weren’t stones but seeds she’d seen before.

“Whoaaa, a grown-up creeper.”

And a seed-bearing one, at that. It was the intelligent, troublesome type.

Although the daigis and bromominthra had kept creepers from growing en masse, one had miraculously grown very large.

As far as she could tell from her quick glance inside, something resembling a furnace was in the back, and the place looked like a good spot for making glass.

“What should we do?” Sieg asked. Even though their equipment had been strengthened to the level of orc general leather, it was still leather, so the creeper’s stonelike seeds would be too much for it.

Come to think of it, Old Man Ghark said seed-bearing creepers could get drunk.

“I wanna look for something that smells sweet, like in a tree hollow. There might be some in there, since it’s autumn.”

“Monkey Booze?”

“That’d be good, too, but Monkey Lure would be better.”

Monkey Booze was a type of fermented liquid derived from the fruits hidden by monkeys or small animals in the cavities of trees. Finding this auspicious liquor was quite difficult. Monkey Lure was another type of alcohol that accumulated in tree hollows, but this type was fermented with tree sap and was poisonous.

Because Monkey Lure was always found in autumn, it was thought to lure prey with the sweet smell of alcohol and kill it with poison to provide nourishment for the tree in winter.

Mariela and Sieg didn’t have time now to go buy alcohol and come back tomorrow; it would be a waste of a day. The two of them began to search their surroundings.

“I wish I had the Searching skill.”

Sieg could use detection magic to follow familiar sources of magical energy, but he had no skills that allowed him to examine his surroundings for items. During his time as an adventurer, he’d only ever ordered his cohorts to bring him their spoils for him to kill; he’d never done any actual searching himself. The only weapon he could use was a bow, and he was much weaker than he used to be. Even a B-Rank adventurer could defeat a monster like a mature creeper with ease, but now he was of no use at all and extremely irritated with himself because of it.

My father was a hunter; how did he search for prey?

One of Sieg’s childhood memories crossed his mind: One time, when he’d come down with a fever, his father had brought him some honey. And when Sieg asked his father how he’d found it, he clearly recalled him saying, “I asked the spirits. ‘Please tell me if there’s any honey nearby. My son, Sieg, is sick with a fever and a sore throat.’”

After his fever had gone down, Sieg had tried telling the spirits he wanted honey, too, but nothing happened.

“You see, spirits like it when a person says they want to do something for the sake of someone else. But you have to see that desire through your own merit.”

That’s no help at all, the young Sieg had thought. Come to think of it, that was around the time when the spirits had disappeared from his sight. Sieg had become so selfish, they’d gone and abandoned him. It was only now that he realized how the spirits must have loathed him.

Forest spirits, hear my plea. Mariela wants Monkey Lure. Please would you lend us your power?

Sieg caught himself mentally imploring the spirits and snorted at himself. He was praying to them even though he didn’t necessarily believe what his father had said; even though he and the spirits ought to speak different languages. He couldn’t even take down a creeper, and his amateurish sword skills were hardly enough to protect Mariela. On top of all that, was he going to leave even the responsibility of searching to someone else?

Mariela was putting forth her every effort to locate some Monkey Lure. If Sieg had time to pray, he should be searching, too. His nose worked just fine, and he still had one eye left.

Sieg inhaled the scents of the forest and checked the trees one by one as he went farther in. Of course, to avoid monsters, he couldn’t let his guard down. He didn’t want to endanger Mariela. He wanted to grant her wish.

Just then, a gentle breeze wafted a sweet scent his way.

“! Mariela, over here.”

When he followed the direction of the smell, he found a single tree releasing a fragrance.

“Sieg, you found it! Way to go!”

Mariela rushed over in great delight. She industriously stuffed the Monkey Lure into a disposable rubber bag made from creeper sapling.

“I’ll take some mushrooms, too, while I’m at it.”

She picked and refined some poisonous-looking fungi growing in the vicinity before adding them to the Monkey Lure.

“Mariela, what are those mushrooms for?” Sieg asked, implying she was doing something weird again.

“These’re a poisonous type that’ll make you get really dizzy and pass out if you eat ’em. Just a single one will have you out for three days straight, and pairing it with alcohol will get you drunk instantly. This place is incredible; it’s full of stuff that’ll put you away for good.”

Mariela divided her special sleeping potion containing Monkey Lure into several rubber bags. She made all the bags into a size that could be carried in one hand.

The preparations were complete. They returned to where the seed-bearing creeper was to begin their process of subduing it.

The strategy was simple: They merely had to hit the monster with a rubber bag containing the Monkey Lure and break it open. The creeper would suck up the substance off the ground, and when it lost consciousness, Sieg would approach and take it down. Mariela and the two yagus would be in charge of retreat. On the small chance Sieg was caught by the creeper, they would yank the rope tied around his waist and flee.

Actually, it wasn’t exactly a foolproof strategy. Especially the retreating part. Would the yagus and the creeper end up playing tug-of-war with Sieg in the middle?

Sieg apparently had no interest in being captured; after he handed the end of the rope to Mariela, he got behind one of the walls that was still standing and threw a ball of Monkey Lure through one of the gaps.

He threw the ball, then dodged the incoming seeds and threw another in quick succession.

Thanks to his excellent agility, Sieg wasn’t getting hit at all. Plus, he was landing everything very close to the creeper. Mariela cheered him on while oohing in admiration, and the two yagus munched on fallen creeper seeds out of harm’s way.

Come to think of it, it’ll be lunchtime soon. I wonder what we’ve got packed today.

As Mariela fell into a daydream, the creeper started acting intoxicated. Sieg threw the remaining bags of the Monkey Lure at it just to be on the safe side. Once he saw that the creeper wasn’t reacting, Sieg took his small sword in one hand and approached the monster.

The yank-and-retreat squad remained at the ready. Mariela and the yagus watched Sieg attentively through a gap in the wall.

First, he cut off the pods packed with seeds and then severed the poison needle–bearing appendages at their base. The creeper must have been completely out, because it didn’t even twitch.

After chopping off every last appendage, Sieg cut off the creature’s central stalk. It was about as thick as a human neck. A large bud-like thing about the size of a person’s head was attached to the tip.

The creeper’s leaves trembled in fear. It no longer had its limbs or seed-filled pods with which to attack.

The remaining leaves turned brown and withered before their eyes. They’d managed to safely bring down the creeper. Mariela was really glad no one had gotten hurt.

“Yes! Great job, Sieg! That was awesome!” she shouted with joy. She and the yagus ran over to him.

Sieg laughed in apparent embarrassment and said, “I’m glad it went well.”

They ate lunch to celebrate their victory, and Sieg thought it tasted even more delicious than usual.

After their lunch break, the first thing was to process the creeper materials. While Mariela dried the pods, Sieg burned and tied up the cut ends of the appendages so the viscous liquid wouldn’t spill out. The yagus had eaten the scattered creeper seeds, so that issue was taken care of. The head-size bud contained magical gems roughly the size of fists, and the two of them were able to collect a bunch.

The former alchemist’s workshop still had what looked like a prototype furnace for melting glass. The refractory had peeled off, but there were piles of clay nearby that had been used to make it, as well as a shed full of materials for making glass: sand, the main component, and lum stones and trona crystals, the subcomponents. There was also broken pieces of glass that had deteriorated to a pure-white color. Combining all of it with what Mariela bought at the Merchants Guild yesterday would provide her with enough materials.

The sand, lum stones, and trona crystals had deteriorated from prolonged exposure to the elements, but heating them all up would restore them to their original state. Mariela dried the sand and heated the subcomponents to return them to usable form, then took the furnace’s crumbled refractory and varnished, dried, and molded it like clay.

The preparations were in order.

She threw firewood into the furnace, infused metallic beads with magical power, and created a Spark.

“Come forth, Salamander, spirit of flames!”

The ring on her right middle finger emitted a flash of light as she chanted; it was the one given to her by the salamander she’d summoned when crafting potion vials.

The fire twisted and flickered and took the form of a small lizard.

It was the same salamander. It really did come back.

“Mr. Salamander, lend me your power. I’d like to get things real fired up today.”

The spirit turned to check out the furnace it had been called to, then chomped down on the Spark Mariela had created.

The fire burst with heat all at once.

With this much thermal power, she could make everything in one go. For every hundred portions of sand, she used fifteen lum stones and a fifth of a trona crystal. After mixing in the deteriorated glass fragments, she used her alchemic skills to put it all in the furnace.

She gave the salamander ample Spark whenever it slapped its little tail up and down to ask for more. Perhaps the spirit’s power even had an effect on melted items, as the melted glass slowly formed a vortex and changed into a uniform liquid. All that remained was to harden it, but this was the most difficult part.

The only recipes involving glass-crafting were for potion vials, and she had just a smattering of knowledge of how to make plate glass. Because this glass was highly viscous, it was handled differently than the kind for potion vials that you blow and inflate. The furnace was the only equipment left in the workshop—there wasn’t even so much as a device to salvage glass—so she’d have to come up with some other way of using her alchemic skills.

“Thank you, Mr. Salamander. I’d like just a little more help, but first, here’s a li’l token of my gratitude.”

Mariela fed the salamander lots of Sparks and turned her attention to the furnace’s aperture. Although the spirit couldn’t comprehend human language, it seemed to understand what she wanted to do. It gulped down the Sparks, then looked at her quizzically.

“Form Transmutation Vessel, Control Pressure: Vacuum.”

She made a vessel about as thick as her forefinger and as long as her arm, then placed it on the surface of the melted glass and removed the air from it. With a shwp, it sucked up the glass.

Whoa, the Transmutation Vessel broke.

The high temperature was too much. In a fluster, she made two more vessels in the shape of rollers just as long as the previous one, then rolled the glass between them.

The rollers spun just about as quickly as the first vessels had broken. They would break from end to end, but since they were rotating right before breaking, the glass was getting pulled upward. She would then repair the broken Transmutation Vessels before they came into contact with glass again.

While the lifted glass was still soft, she cut it into uniform pieces, and Sieg stacked the finished plates in the shed. The drawn glass rapidly cooled and hardened, starting from one end—probably the salamander’s doing. Mariela didn’t have enough time to do that much; without the spirit’s help, the plate glass would have hardened while it was still wavy and elongated.

This is touuugh…

Mariela couldn’t even speak. There was no comparing the drain on her magical reserves between this occasion and the last. It was as if the magic were flowing freely out of a gaping hole in her body. The speed at which she had to regenerate the Transmutation Vessel rollers was just too fast. The glass had to be drawn quickly. Quickly, quickly—before she ran out of magic.

Somehow, she was able to pull all the glass out of the furnace before collapsing unconscious on the spot.

07

“Someone call a healing mage! Mariela is… Mariela is…!”

Siegmund rushed to the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion carrying Mariela. She was clammy and unconscious.

One of the guests who appeared to be a healing mage saw how distraught Sieg was and examined Mariela for him.

“Ahhh, she simply ran out of magical energy. There’s no need to worry so much; she’ll wake up tomorrow morning.”

Sieg breathed a sigh of relief. The inn’s owner urged him to put her to bed, and while one of the lady staff changed Mariela’s clothes, Sieg went to return the rented yagus.

When he arrived back at the Yagu Drawbridge Pavilion, the owner asked him what he wanted for dinner.

To leave my master’s side for a mere meal would just…

Siegmund hesitated to take a seat, but the owner told him, “Eating’s part of your job, too,” and offered him some food. He cleaned his plate in silence, then returned to the room.

Mariela was sleeping peacefully in her bed.

Sieg quietly pulled up a chair and sat by her side. Seeing her like this made her look even younger than she was.

That skill of hers was incredible.

He recalled how Mariela had crafted the glass. She pulled it again and again out of the blinding white-hot furnace, cut it, cooled it before his very eyes, and passed it his way. Things kept speeding up, and he felt as if he was witnessing one of the most magnificent uses of magical expertise.

What a tremendous amount of magical reserves, Siegmund had thought, trembling in awe.

And yet—after the final piece of glass had been lifted out, Mariela suddenly collapsed where she stood.

He thought she’d stopped breathing. His heart pounded a mile a minute, and his stomach clenched and spasmed. When he scrambled over to her and lifted her up, her face was white as a sheet, but she was still breathing.

Holding Mariela in his arms, he urged the yagus on at full speed.

His hand holding the reins trembled. Breathing was difficult, as if his worry were crushing him. It felt as if his insides were full of rocks.

If I don’t hurry, if I don’t get Mariela to a healing mage quickly, I’ll…I’ll—!

“I’ll be in a real fix if my master dies.”

Siegmund covered his face with both hands.

That’s exactly what I thought back there…

That he would be in trouble if Mariela died.

I’m grateful to Mariela. I owe her a great debt. She saved me from suffering a fate worse than death itself. She treated me as a human being, giving me three meals a day, clean clothes, new shoes, a warm bed, a daily bath, greetings every morning and night, casual conversation, everything. Everything. Not long ago, I had none of that…

Sieg lifted his face and saw two hands he could move freely and without pain. No more than a week had passed since this ability—something so normal for most—had come back to him.

I’ve already started taking all of it for granted.

Of course, he understood in his head. He was a penal laborer, and he would have been unlikely to find a master other than Mariela who would give him this kind of life.

Mariela was likely the only alchemist in the Labyrinth City. Even setting aside her rarity, her alchemic prowess was certain. Siegmund believed she was on the same level as the alchemists in the imperial capital. All that aside, however, Mariela herself was just an incredibly ordinary, unremarkable girl and a bit sillier than others her age.

He remembered what Lynx had said to him back at the inn’s rear yard: “She’s just a regular ol’ happy-go-lucky doofus of a woman.”

I thought so, too. So I wanted to protect her—I resolved to protect her, to cherish her, to look after her… I believed I’d be there for her when Lynx wasn’t. He was right. Other than being an alchemist, she’s just a regular country bumpkin. I even thought she’d only kept me around for her own convenience, that if I had a kind enough smile, if I pampered her like royalty, surely I’d fall into her good graces. All the women I’ve known up to now have been like that. Mariela is precious to me—she saved my life; no other woman can even compare. She’s wonderful, the only one I need. I felt that from the bottom of my heart. But surely I felt that way because Mariela is…irreplaceable, the perfect master, isn’t she? I want to be special to her; that’s no lie. I want a place in her life. Truly. I don’t want to lose everything all over again—her smile, our daily greetings, the meals we enjoy together, her warmth, her kindness, this stable livelihood…

Siegmund recalled the week they’d spent together. He recalled her smiling happily and sometimes sadly. Her hands sticking out from under the sheets were so small, yet they’d given him everything. He couldn’t forget how tenderly those hands had touched his face that first time. Her compassion, seemingly free of charge, was vividly seared into his heart even now, when he’d grown accustomed to being given everything. Even so…

Ahhh, what a selfish human being I am.

Siegmund had realized it deep down, and he balled his hands into tight fists.

I thought I was acting for Mariela’s sake. How could I have thought that?

He hadn’t been aware of his own feelings. He’d deceived even himself, and he felt a stitch tighten in his chest.

It was all for myself, wasn’t it…?

Indeed, Siegmund had been observing his new master ever since she’d healed him—her personality, her likes and dislikes. He didn’t talk unless asked a question, nor did he say anything beyond what was necessary. The idea that it was better to stay silent than to risk offense had sunk deeply into his consciousness from his long tenure as a slave.

He was actually against hiring people from the slums to work on the house. He didn’t know what kind of trouble that could invite. But he hadn’t said so. Mariela was a kind, gentle soul who’d bought him when he was on the brink of death.

If stopping them from getting hired would make Mariela think I’m coldhearted, then it’d be better to do as she wishes. If by chance something does end up happening, then all I need to do is protect her as best I can. Then she’d surely be grateful toward me.

He hadn’t pointed out the problems such selfish thoughts might cause.

Not that he was fully aware of these ugly thoughts, these ugly feelings. They were almost entirely unconscious, because he’d deceived himself into thinking he was doing it all for his master’s sake—for Mariela’s sake.

He took the handkerchief out of his pocket. The name Sieg was embroidered at the edge in small letters. Mariela had given this handkerchief to him the day they met. He had been so happy and grateful, he had never parted with it, so she’d said, “I’ll mark it so you don’t mix it up with the others,” and stitched it on for him.

The clothes he was wearing now, the shoes, the underwear, even his body—none of these belonged to him, and yet, he felt as if he’d received something to call his own; it made him so very happy.

There were no ulterior motives in Mariela’s kindness.

He gently stroked the sleeping girl’s head.

“Mm… Masterrr… Food…”

She often talked in her sleep like this.

He was certain she was lonely. Her master had assumed responsibility for raising her when Mariela was very young and was something like a foster parent. Whenever she talked about her master, no matter what kind of story it was, she always spoke with such deep affection. She said she’d become independent in her teens and had been living alone in the Fell Forest ever since.

When the Stampede broke out in the forest, I bet she escaped alone, activated the magic circle alone, and awoke all by herself two hundred years into the future. I don’t understand what suspended animation is, but if it’s like a very long sleep, then it’s no wonder she’s still afraid of the great disaster that destroyed a kingdom in one night. She must have been so ill at ease to wake up in a completely different world all alone without a single familiar face. Even when she purchased me, she could have been thinking of any number of ways to make use of me: as a source of information, a guard, a laborer. But it seems it was her own loneliness that brought her to extend a helping hand to me, as a child might pick up a stray dog on the side of the road. She wants a place where she belongs. I’m sure that’s what was on her mind that evening at the entrance to the Labyrinth.

That’s how normal a girl Mariela seemed to be.

Siegmund gazed at Mariela sleeping in the bed.

They said people who got kidnapped would sometimes fall in love with their captors, that someone who thought highly of the ones who held their life in their hands had a greater chance of survival.

Without a doubt, Mariela holds my life in her hands…

They also said injured or sick people treated by a healing mage would occasionally become attached to them.

There’s no mistaking it was Mariela who saved me from dying…

Siegmund understood he harbored strong emotions toward her.

My feelings for Mariela…

No matter how much he ruminated, his thoughts kept going in circles, and he couldn’t arrive at an answer.

What should I do from here on out?

Regardless of whom he was doing all this for, his desire to protect her was true. He understood in his head that providing counsel was necessary for that.

But I want her to like me; I don’t want her to think badly of me. I don’t want to voice any dissent.

And above all else…

I never want Mariela to know about these foolish feelings…

…he felt a tremendous surge of fear at the idea of Mariela learning what was going on in the depths of his heart.

Siegmund remained in the labyrinth of his thoughts as the night went on, until dawn broke at last.

“Sieg, good, uh, mornin’?”

Mariela awoke after a good, long sleep, looking completely refreshed.

She was surprised to see Sieg sitting in a chair at her bedside.

“Good morning, Mariela…”

He looked absolutely beat, his greeting utterly listless. Confused, Mariela wondered what was wrong.

Ahhh, that’s right. I ran out of magic and collapsed yesterday.

She’d probably made him worry. And upon closer inspection, wasn’t that his favorite handkerchief he was gripping so tightly?

Mariela got up and sat on the edge of the bed so she could look at him face-to-face.

Sieg’s gaze was downcast and wouldn’t meet Mariela’s eyes as she peered at him.

“I’m sorry, Sieg. I made you worry.”

“Yes…”

“Must’ve been quite a shock, huh? I should’ve told you I might run out of magic.”

“Yes…”

“And here you’d be in dire straits again if something happened to me. I’m so sorry I worried you, really I am.”

Sieg suddenly shivered and looked at her.

“Mariela… I…”

Sieg’s mouth gulped repeatedly for air.

Did Mariela know—? Had she noticed? He was so utterly afraid of her finding out.

“I… I’ve been buttering you up. I don’t want to go back to the way I was before. I don’t want to lose everything. It’s all for my own sake, even though you…you were the one who saved me—”

“Yeah. I know. It’s okay, Sieg. I still love you no matter what you’re like, so don’t worry about it.”

There was nothing romantic about Mariela’s “I love you.” Even Siegmund knew that much.

His tears spilled out in large drops, and Mariela stroked his head to comfort him.

That day, Sieg finally understood—even a puny, good-for-nothing coward like him, someone unable to comprehend his own thoughts and feelings, would be just fine right here, by Mariela’s side.