Chapter 99: Inbury Duchy

Principality of Inbury changed to Inbury Duchy.

Volume 1, Part 7, Inbury Duchy

Niels, Etho, and Amon’s party 『Room No. 10』 were outside the walls of Rune.

“I’m glad we came back earlier than planned for this job.”

“Thanks to the magic potion that Ryo made, it significantly reduced the time it took to recover magic.”

“I hope this crepe fits Ryo-san’s taste …”

Ryo provided the three of them with magical power potions he made by practicing alchemy as 『samples』, which made the request go a lot smoother than expected.

Feeling thankful, the three of them decided to visit Ryo at his house.

By the way, the crepe was from a new stall in the City of Rune, which they bought on the way.

“Oh, it’s here. It’s really close to the East gate.”

Niels said that they arrived in front of the characteristic house that was excessively spacious and had three doors.

Ryo’s new house.

The central door opened on both sides and was the front entrance.

The remaining two on the left and right were, so to speak, service doors.

“Okay, let’s enter through the door on the right.”

“Why bother avoid entering through the middle door …”

For some reason, Niels tried to enter through the side door instead of entering through the central entrance.

Etho lightly quipped.

“Isn’t that the relationship between us and Ryo? It would be different if this was the first time, but how many times have we come here already?”

Then Niels opened the door on the right.

There was a fairly large table and a few chairs.

And on one chair was a spectacle that made them doubt their eyes … A beautiful woman was reading a book.

Platinum blonde hair shimmered in the light shining through the window, and the slight tilt in her neck created an atmosphere unlike any other in the world.

It was as if the surrounding air had changed just by her presence.

The woman, who could be said to be the goddess of beauty, glanced at the three of them.

The three people, who had been frozen until then, returned to their senses.

“I’m sorry!”

Niels shouted and closed the door.

No one spoke for about 20 seconds.

It was Niels who finally opened his mouth.

“Um … it looks like we came to the wrong house.”

He was about to turn back and leave.

“No no, we’re right. This is Ryo’s house.”

Etho grabbed Niels’ shoulder and stopped him.

“There was a surprisingly beautiful woman.”

To their surprise, Amon described the situation a lot more calmly than the other two.

“Th-that’s right. That woman wasn’t a hallucination, right?”

Niels was no longer confident that what he saw was true now that he had closed the door.

“Okay, once more. Stay calm.”

Still, no one suggested entering through the central door.

Etho did not propose doing so again.

If you make a mistake, try again …

The three from Room 10 were such people.

“Excuse me.”

Niels opened the door with such a polite tone, even more so than when he entered the Guildmaster’s office.

But, Niels couldn’t change his nature. He didn’t knock.

When he opened the door, the same scene as before spread before their eyes.

This time, the beautiful woman sitting on a chair looked at the three of them from the beginning.

A voice was heard from the back before any of the four opened their mouths.

“Hmm, Sera. I’m sorry, but I can’t get that alchemy compound to work no matter how many times I try. Show it to me again … Oh, hi Niels, Etho, Amon, it’s been some time.”

Ryo, the owner of the house, came out.

“This is Sera, a B-rank adventurer. Sera, these three are my roommates from the dormitory, E-rank … no, they’re now the D-rank party 『Room No. 10』, Niels, Etho, and Amon.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sera. I see. So you guys were Ryo’s roommates.”

Sera nodded once to Ryo’s explanation.

“I-I’m Niels.”

“Etho.”

“Amon.”

The three of them were too nervous and could only state their names.

Speaking of 『Sera』 in this City of Rune, she had become a legend more so than Abel or Phelps … everyone knew that she was B-rank, but she rarely came to the guild.

Sera suddenly looked at the clock on the wall.

“Oh, it’s already this time. Ryo, I’m going back to the mansion. I’ll come again. The three of you, see you again.”

Sera said and went out dashingly.

In that instant, the three began to move as if their sleep paralysis had been lifted.

“R-Ryo, the person earlier was that 『Sera of the Wind』? Why was she here?”

“Speaking of Sera-san, she’s the instructor of the Knights. Her aura is different …”

“It’s really a surprise box whenever we’re around Ryo-san.”

Niels, Etho, and Amon had different expressions, but they all seemed to be uniformly surprised.

“Sera has taught me a lot. She helped with my alchemy a while ago too…”

As Ryo was replying, Niels and Etho were having a secret conversation.

“Sera, you hear. No -san …”

“When did they reach such a relationship …”

They were whispering but Ryo could hear it all. Of course, it was meant for him to listen.

“No, I do the same for Abel too …”

Ryo droop his head.

At that right time, Amon presented what they had bought for him.

“This is for Ryo-san. It’s from a stall in the City of Rune.”

“This is a crepe! Thank you. This is nostalgic~. I haven’t had one since the City of Whitnash. At that time, it was a festival, so a well-built middle-aged man from another city was selling it.”

Ryo took a bite.

An exquisite match of banana sandwiched between fresh cream. And a crepe dough that gently packaged them all.

It was perfect harmony.

“It’s the same composition as the one at Whitnash … it’s delicious.”

Amon was delighted to see Ryo eating contently.

“It appears that the street stall opened in the City of Rune yesterday. When I bought it, a young woman made it.”

Then Amon taught Ryo the detailed location of the stall.

Ryo firmly vowed to buy more tomorrow.

Heated negotiations were taking place in the guildmaster office of the Adventurer’s Guild when Ryo and the others were filling themselves with crepes.

“It’s definitely a wonderful magic stone. And these Wind magic stones are about the same size. How about one billion for both?”

“Gecko-dono, please don’t joke around. Even if you search all over the Central Nations, a magic stone like this would not appear again in this century. Three billion for both. I would be troubled if I have to give in further.”

“No, Master McGrath, that’s not too much. Hmm, let me see. Two billion! I’m willing to pay two billion! Please consider our partnership.”

“Gecko-dono … I offered this to you because you are a big merchant with a tight lip and can be trusted. The Lord also has expectations for this transaction. This is a transaction that can allow you to make a big impression on the Earl of Rune. That said, I will do my best. 2.8 billion immediate transaction. How about that?”

After that, the heated negotiations between guildmaster Hugh McGrath and merchant Gecko continued, and finally the two wind magic stones were sold for 2.6 billion Florin.

“Phew, I made a good deal.”

“Thank you for purchasing this product.”

“Well then, I will leave this city and return to the Duchy in five days, so please help with the arrangement for the escort.”

“Okay. Five adventurers, right? Please come here again the day before you set off. I’ll introduce you to them.”

Hugh said, the two shook hands, and the merchant Gecko left.

Gecko was a purveyor to the Inbury Duchy.

The Inbury Duchy was a country adjacent to the Kingdom of Knightley, to the east.

It was a small country that officially became independent of its vassal state to the Handal Union, one of the three major powers, as a result of the 『Great War』 that occurred ten years ago.

Complete independence had long been a dream for the Inbury Duchy, and it had developed rapidly since the achievement of that independence by the 『Great War』.

That 『Great War』was a war between the great powers representing the Central Nations, the Kingdom of Knightley vs. the Handal Union, but Hugh McGrath and others made a name for themselves there.

Therefore, the name 『Hero McGrath』 was extremely popular in the Inbury Duchy, and even now, ten years after the war, he was still highly respected.

The face of Gecko, who was able to make a satisfactory deal with that Hero McGrath, was naturally smiling broadly.

(These wonderful magic stones would definitely satisfy the Duke. When I receive the request a year ago, I thought it would be difficult … but I didn’t think that they would be in the hands of Master McGrath. In the first place, it is unbelievable that such exquisite magic stones would exist in pairs. It must be delivered safely to maintain the independence of our country.)

It was about 800 km in a straight line in the northeast direction from the City of Rune to the Capital of Aberdeen.

It was quite a distance.

Still, for Gecko, it was a road that he had traveled on many times.

His personal escort team was also full of reliable men he trained from an early age.

However, they were attacked before they reached the City of Rune and five of the twenty escorts would not be able to return.

15 escorts for 10 carriages would usually not be an issue, but this time, the goods he was carrying were critical.

He wanted to make sure.

That was why he offered to hire five adventurers.

“What? Abels or Phelps aren’t around?”

“Yes. Crimson Sword is in Red Post to the east, and the White Brigade Phelps will be back in two weeks.”

Hugh’s question was answered by the receptionist Nina.

Hugh was thinking of quickly processing Gecko’s escort request.

However, he received the answer that the two B-class parties that came to his mind first with 『good skill』 were unavailable …

“That’s a pickle … Sera is, of course, out of the question …”

“Master, when it comes to escorting to the Inbury Duchy, it takes 20 days one way. Even if they come back immediately, it seems difficult for a normal party to leave the city for 40 days … …”

“Yeah, that’s right … but the amount paid will be enough to make up for it this time. It’s from the Duchy. So it’s okay even if the guild has to make an advance payment to secure their accommodations.”

Nina was surprised by the implied lavish rewards from Hugh’s words.

To put it the other way around, she understood that it was an important request.

“How many C-class parties are likely to accept this request?”

“When it comes to just five people, there aren’t any. 『Kreis-sama and friends』 are originally a six-person party, but four of them are now in Rune. There’s also the four-person party 『Switchback』 …”

“Yeah, let’s move pass Kreis. As for 『Switchback』, that’s Ra and the others. Okay, let’s go with 『Switchback』. But four people …”

“Yes … Ra respects Abel-san, so he has a four-person party like the Crimson Sword …”

Nina also answered with a light sigh.

“They don’t have to imitate that aspect though … I’d like to place a strong solo adventurer for the remaining slot but we don’t have solo adventurers in the first place … Sera? Mansion? Magic stone …”

Hugh pondered deeply into that well of thought and smiled as if he had found something good.

“There’s a perfect solo adventurer.”

The next day.

Ryo’s mornings were early when living alone.

First, magic practice at dawn.

What he was working on right now was Breakdown Rush! … the initial stage.

An explanation for man’s dream that Ryo arbitrarily named 『Breakdown Rush』 …

It seemed to be … 『A technique to shoot sonic blades with three clones and following up with an assault charge』.

However, Ryo was a Water-Attribute Magician.

First of all, he could not fire the Wind-Attribute 『Sonic Blade』. As such, that part was omitted.

Next is the 『three clones』, but it was unclear how it is possible to create clones. So that part was omitted too.

Then, what remained was … 『assault charge』.

An instantaneous charge used by the Akuma Leonor and Sera that looked like teleportation.

He wanted to achieve that with Water-Attribute magic.

He had been practicing while running since he was still in the guild’s dormitory … but it was surprisingly difficult.

For that practice, the large courtyard in front of Ryo’s house turns into a skating rink every morning.

It becomes a floor of ice with .

Ryo would spout water jets and run on the ice … that was the idea.

Yes, idea …

“Ah, it hurts.”

“Guu.”

“Buhe.”

“Ayayaya.”

They were all Ryo’s cries.

“Why is it so difficult … those Otherworld reincarnation stories can fly with just jets from the sole of their feet. Even games allow you to fly with just shoes that can fly in the sky!”

Because those were fiction.

Considering that he needed his entire body to move, and ultimately move instantaneously, it was necessary to eject water jets from the entire back of his body.

If he only shoots them from his legs or his back … the other parts of his body would be strained and it would be dangerous.

However, the difficult thing was 『which part of the back and how much propulsion should be allocated to it』.

What was the balance between the force that pushes the head and the force that pushes the back? And so on.

At present, he was still fumbling around for everything …

Ryo’s current approach was to produce 1024 water jets across his posterior.

The power of all the water jets was unified.

Then, he would assign the number of spouts, for example, 300 on the back and 20 on the right shoulder.

Then, search for the optimum balance by moving the spout points little by little.

And so on.

However, it was quite difficult …

At present, Ryo could control 256 water jets perfectly and instantly.

When he doubles the number to 512, he could control it, but not instantly.

If it was doubled to 1024, He feels that they could be controlled, but it takes time to control them.

If it’s just for a basic battle, as long as he could master the usage of 256 jets instantly, there would be no problem and he wouldn’t need to fret.

But he just yearned for it.

That’s what dreams were …

While doing such daily morning tasks, he heard the bell at 9 o’clock from the city.

“Oh, I have to get ready to go out.”

In this way, little by little, Ryo was getting closer to his “Breakdown Rush” …

After leaving the house, buying and eating at a stall on the way as a substitute for breakfast, Ryo headed to the Adventurer’s Guild for the first time in a while.

“On Earth, the crepe itself was originally a French galette, and it was already consumed by the common people during the time of the three musketeers during the reign of Louis XIII … this crepe is a dessert with banana and cream sandwiched. Considering that this type of crepe originated in Shibuya Takeshita street in the latter half of the 20th century … this seems to be the work of a reincarnated person.”

Ryo walked whilst talking to himself, and by the time he arrived at the guild, he had completely finished the crepe.

“Hello, Nina-san.”

“Ryo-san, it’s been a long time. Master is waiting in his office. I will guide you.”

Ryo barely appeared in the guild for five months after moving to his new home.

(It sure has been a long time … When I was in the dormitory, I met her every day at the cafeteria or somewhere else even without receiving requests.)

Ryo followed Nina with a bitter smile in his heart.

Nina knocked and opened the door.

“Oh, you’re here, Ryo? Just take a sit there and wait. Sorry, Nina, please bring something to drink.”

“Understood.”

It was three minutes later that Hugh finished writing and sat down in front of Ryo.

“I asked you to come today because I have a request for you to accept. No, wait, please listen to the end for this.”

Hugh stopped Ryo from cutting in and continued to explain.

“It’s a merchant escort request, but one of the items that the merchant carries is Ryo and Abel’s magic stones. And he bought two.”

“I see …. Even from the amount of money that was transferred before, it was a good price, right?”

“This time it’s pretty amazing. With these two, Ryo’s pocket will roughly contain a ten-digit amount.”

“Ten digits … over a billion …”

As expected, it was more than he had imagined.

“Yeah. That’s the take-home after omitting all the guild fees and taxes. Well, the merchant I’m dealing with, the request is to escort him back to his country, but I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a country-affiliated merchant, but he’s a decent person, so it shouldn’t be that difficult.”

“Okay, so how long will it take? I’m guessing it will take a long time to travel to another country?”

“Yeah, kind of. The name of the merchant is Gecko-dono. The destination is the Capital Aberdeen of the Inbury Duchy. From the City of Rune, it’s about 800 kilometers northeast. It’s about 20 days one way by carriage. Basically Gecko has hired exclusive escorts so you will be working with them. There will be a total of five adventurers from us, Ryo and the four from 『Switchback』led by Ra.”

“Oh, Ra-san …”

At Abel’s Return Party, he was the Swordsman who was excessively thankful to Ryo for bringing his idolized Abel back and spoke to him the entire time.

Even after that, whenever they met in the guild or the cafeteria, he would talk a lot, so it could be said that Ryo was relatively familiar with him.

Ryo was relieved in that respect because he wasn’t a complete stranger.

“The Switchback guys are established C-rank adventurers. Basically, there shouldn’t be any problems if you do what Ra says. Ryo has only been hanging around in the kingdom, right? This time, although it’s a friendly nation, it’s a different country. Why don’t you give it a try and consider it as a chance to expand your knowledge?”

Ryo had caged himself for a long time since he got a new house … apart from the Lord’s house, the library, and Houshoku-Tei.

Sometimes it may be good to pick up a request and travel to another city.

“I understand. I will accept the request.”

“Oh, okay. I’m glad. You will meet Gecko here at 10 am three days later. The departure will be the day after that.”