SIAW Vol. 1 Chapter 18
Chapter 18 – Return to the Pioneers’ Village
Caron and Raana said they would go back home to prepare for the next day, so we went down the first floor of the guild and watched them leave.
The guildmaster was with us too; after the two disappeared from our sight, he turned to the receptionist.
It was almost noon, so we were talking about what to do for lunch, and the guildmaster came back to us.
“Would you mind lending us just a little more time? We need to give you your new guild cards, and as an apology for all the inconveniences we caused, we’d like to offer you lunch too. What do you say?”
I almost forgot that we had given our cards to the reception before the rank F exam.
Convinced by the prospect of a free meal, we agreed and followed the guildmaster.
We were led to a room on the first floor. It was smaller than the room used for the morning meeting, but it seemed to be the same type of conference room.
In the back of the room, for some reason, Gust and Ranga were sitting, all prim and proper.
The guildmaster paid them no attention and invited us to take our seats.
“One of our instructors behaved in an unacceptable manner during the exam. As guildmaster, I wish to offer you my deepest apologies for his misconduct. You will all receive rank F guild cards. In your case, Tenma, I can use my authority as guildmaster to promote you directly to rank D. What do you think?”
“I don’t want to stand out, so rank F will be fine, thank you.”
The guildmaster nodded and gave us our guild cards. All of them were marked with our current rank, F.
“The instructor in question, as punishment, will undertake requests from the Caron Trading Company and the Pioneers’ Village at half price for six months. I hope you will accept it.”
Not bad at all! The guildmaster was more shrewd than I thought…
“We have no objections. It is only fair for the guild to rule on what happens inside it.”
The guildmaster looked me in the eyes and nodded. Gust was probably reaching his limits of sitting politely and properly, and jumped on his feet.
“Let me explain, I was tricked by Ranga and caused you trouble this time. It turns out that he was the one being trained by you, and everything he told me in the beginning was a big lie. But even if this idiot was lying, what I did was unacceptable for both an instructor and a rank C adventurer! I am really sorry, Tenma!”
My reply was a bit tongue-in-cheek.
“You acted for that idiot’s sake, I’m sure. That idiot’s wife has been very nice to me, so don’t worry about it. I plan to stay in this city as an adventurer for a while, so I’d be thankful if we could get along, Mr. Gust.”
“Of course we will get along. Heck, I’d be happy if you could teach me all sorts of stuff. You can just call me Gust, by the way.”
The guildmaster then intervened.
“It seems Tenma forgave you, so go get ready for the escort mission tomorrow, Gust. As I said before, don’t tell anyone about the method to increase magic power quantity. Make sure the other people who heard know too.”
“Loud and clear, boss.”
Gust then headed for the door. Right when he opened it, the guild staff came in with our meals.
“Looks like our lunch is here. Let’s eat and chat a bit, everyone. Don’t worry, it’s all on Gust today.”
Gust looked rather shocked, but he gave up on protesting and left.
～
The guild staff set our meals on the table: there were sandwiches and soup too. For the first time in this world. I saw white bread.
“The sandwiches come from one of the town’s most famous restaurants. It’s really delicious, but just as expensive, so you can’t just eat it every day.”
Everyone started eating, with big smiles on their faces. Misha looked especially ecstatic. Ranga received nothing, naturally.
“I understand it might not be proper to talk about this while eating…but I really need to talk to you about that method to increase magic power quantity. Frankly, I find it hard to believe, but if it really exists, it would be a massive discovery. Could you please let me know what it is? If possible, I would like the head of the Magicians’ Guild to be present too. Do you think you can do this for us, Tenma?”
Oof, the Magicians’ Guild gets involved too…? I don’t want to stand out any more than this…
“I really don’t want to stand out, so you can just ask Gust about it.”
“Hmm, but…the head of the Magicians’ Guild knows how to keep a secret, so there should be no problems if you don’t want to stand out. She’s my older sister, after all. Besides, if you register with the Magicians’ Guild, you could receive a fee from the members who will use the method, and they will receive money too. The users will also have to sign a contract, forbidding them to teach it to anyone else. If it truly is possible to increase one’s magic power quantity, there are dangers attached to it, after all. We want to make it registration based, to prevent people with ill intentions from using it. It will be possible to publish the method while keeping your anonymity too…could you please consider it, at least?”
“…do you mind if we talk about this another time? We’ll go back to the village tomorrow, but I’ll come back here in town, and plan to stay for a while. Let us discuss it again then.”
“Yes, of course. So…what should we do with the idiot over there?”
“I have to report about what happened to the village elder and his wife…until then, I don’t really want to talk with him, to be honest…”
Ranga made a face like the world came crashing down on his shoulders, but he couldn’t be forgiven just yet.
Misha and the others nodded too. We collectively ignored Ranga and started talking among ourselves.
“I’m thinking of going outside of town a bit, to get more familiar with the surroundings. It’s going to help when I’ll officially start as adventurer too. What will you guys do?”
Misha was going to come with me, while Jeet and Zlatan said they would look around town some more. We were going to meet again in the inn’s dining hall at about six in the evening.
We said goodbye to the guildmaster and exited the guild, leaving Ranga behind.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Once outside the town gate, I matched the pace with Misha as we ran towards a location away from people’s eyes.
Once we reached it, I opened the door to Dimension Area and we went inside. Differently from the Room spell, as long as the door was open anyone could come inside, even if I didn’t hold their hand.
Sil ran up to me immediately, but as soon as he noticed Misha he started growling.
“Sil? Don’t tell me you will bare your fangs at my companion?”
Sil promptly stopped growling, slowly approached Misha and started licking her hand.
She was a bit scared at first, but Sil’s fluffy fur quickly won her over and she started petting him.
Misha was surprised to learn that Sil had become my familiar, as well as how it happened.
Sil, on the other hand, was already happily getting his stomach rubbed.
Sil, my boy, where has your Silver Wolf pride disappeared to…?
After that, I left the Dimension Area with Sil, caught some Horn Rabbits and tossed them inside. Sil helped by chasing them into a corner.
After I tossed in more than twenty rabbits, I put Sil back inside too and gave him an order.
“You can eat up to three per day! No more, or I’m going to give you less next time!!”
Sil barked to show his understanding, but looking at the drool dripping from his jaw, I wasn’t sure he really did.
On the way back to the town, I caught three guinea fowls, so I let the blood out and brought them back with me.
～
We arrived at the Napping Cat Inn at about five, but no other member of our group was there.
I gave the three fowls to Marissa and asked her to cook two for our dinner, while the remaining one was a gift for her: she was so happy that she hugged me tight.
Just before six, Jeet and Zlatan came in, with Ranga in tow. They had made peace, apparently: they were going to live in the same village from now on too, after all, so the earlier they did, the better.
We then had dinner together. The guys cheered when they learned that there was guinea fowl on the menu: the elder distributed it to all the villagers in order, so Jeet and Zlatan did not often have the chance to eat some.
I could feel piercing gazes from the other guests, but nonetheless we thoroughly enjoyed the fowl, cooked in a taste different from the village style.
I did not give any fowl to Ranga, but I noticed that Jeet and Zlatan secretly shared some with him. Well, I could let him off the hook this time.
Misha and I went back to our rooms first: a while later, Ranga came in the room, but I pretended to be asleep, so we didn’t exchange a word.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, we had breakfast early and headed towards the horse carriage.
Caron was already waiting, with ten other people or so. We greeted Caron and Raana, the trading company staff, and Gust’s party, joining us as the escorts. Soon enough, the gates opened, so we departed.
The trading company’s carriage went first, with us right behind it.
On the way to the village, we were attacked by Forest Wolves: the party of rank C adventurers, however, proved their worth and eliminated the threat without trouble. It even took more time to butcher the Horn Rabbits than to fight them.
～
The convoy proceeded smoothly, and at around two in the afternoon we reached the spot where we found the overturned carriage.
We explained the state in which we found it, and Raana started crying.
There were crates with foodstuffs and cracked salt vases still left, so Caron and the others took care of them, also picking up everything else that was left.
～
The rest of the journey went on with no other pauses, so at three we were already in the village.
The elder came to see us immediately, and started talking with Caron’s group.
Ranga said that “since there’s time, I’ll go hunting” and scampered away, followed by Jeet and Zlatan.
Our convoy had a pretty large number of people: Gust’s party was going to set up a tent near the village gate and spend the night there.
Misha and I followed Caron’s group to the elder’s house.
The elder’s family started showing Caron’s group their rooms, so in the meantime I reported to the elder what happened in town.
The elder showed anger at Ranga’s conduct, but when he felt the aura of pure fury emanating from Sasha, who was present too, he decided to leave everything to her.
In the end, the elder and Sasha expressed their gratitude and sympathy to us for everything that happened.