SIAW Vol. 2 Chapter 9
Chapter 9 – Being Dumb Makes You Popular?
(POV: Tenma)
The alarm woke me up at half past five.
It was still dark outside, but I went to the smoking shack in ALA.
I wanted to check on the bacon and jerky I had worked on the day before.
They were done without problems, so I put them all into storage.
After that I went to the kitchen and cooked the bacon nice and crunchy. Eating just that would make for an unbalanced meal, though, so I made a salad with tomatoes and leaf vegetables too. I stored everything in my Item Box and went to ALA’s terrace.
Sil woke up soon after, so I went ahead and enjoyed his fluffiness for a bit.
I told him to go wake Misha up, and he complied — not without some reluctance, though.
In the meantime, I served breakfast on the table. The menu was crunchy bacon, salad, white bread and orange juice for Misha and me; for Sil, I cut the bacon in blocks and served some of the stew I had previously stocked.
A little while later, Sil came back with Misha. She looked sleepy, but got up properly this time.
We all sat down at the table and started eating.
Misha took a mouthful of salad and whispered, melancholic.
“I can’t feel any taste…”
She’s still afflicted by yesterday’s status ailments, after all.
“I guess we could remove the ailments, at least before eating?”
Misha nodded fervently.
“Yes! Eating is the one thing I look forward to the most!”
I took out about ten poison and paralysis recovery potions, together with poison and paralysis-causing potions, and gave them all to Misha, so she could manage them by herself.
According to Appraisal, Sil wasn’t affected by the ailments anymore: his resistance skills had grown to level 1 too.
While cutting the bacon, I thought about what to do today.
“Misha, please do the same training as yesterday until noon. I’ll head into town and gather herbs on the way. I should be able to arrive there before noon, so we’ll have lunch and then go into town together.”
Misha thought for a moment, then opened her mouth.
“I can’t eat a lot after training, so I’d like to take a bath before going into town!”
“Sure, no problem.”
“Really!?”
Misha looked happy.
～
After finishing breakfast, and before I could say anything, Misha drank the poison and paralysis potions, then went off to train.
I gave Sil the same potions to drink, though his were not thinned at all.
“(These sting more than before!)”
Of course they do, little one…
According to Appraisal, his HP was gradually decreasing, but it wasn’t going to reach zero before noon, so I told him to go run.
Sil stumbled down the stairs and went outside, though he kept stumbling and falling on the grassland too.
I made him drink unadulterated poison and paralysis potions, so I became worried.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
I prepared my equipment, exited ALA and started heading towards the town, gathering herbs on the way.
I encountered a Wild Bear in the forest, but took it down immediately. Wild Bears were much more violent than Forest Bears, but they were all the same to me. I encountered other monsters too, but nothing threatening.
On the way to town, I checked on Sil once, but his HP was going to last until noon, so I went back to advancing my itinerary and gathering herbs.
Eventually, on the edges of my Map skill I spotted a Honey Bee hive. I had things to do that day, so I decided to leave that hive for another time.
Honey Bees made delicious honey. Killer Bees, their higher tier version, made even better honey, which could be used to make medium grade potions, but Honey Bee hives produced greater quantities of honey, so it was more convenient.
～
I arrived at the outskirts of town at about eleven in the morning: it was a bit earlier than scheduled.
I went back to ALA and asked Misha if she wanted to take a bath: she was nothing but eager to say yes.
I used healing magic on Sil, just in case, and casted Appraisal: his Poison and Paralysis Resistance skills had grown to level 2.
They were probably going to get to level 3 by the evening: if they did, though, normal Poison and Paralysis Potions weren’t going to affect him anymore…
I waited for Misha to come back from the bath, then we had lunch in the Room’s dining room.
Misha and I then went into town. Sil wasn’t registered as my familiar yet, so I left him in ALA.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
At Ronda’s gates, a guard called out to us.
“You two came here with Ranga a few days ago, right?”
The guard that approached us was the same man who had talked with Ranga, last time we visited. His name was…Jorn!
“Yes, that’s right. You are Jorn, Ranga’s acquaintance, yes?”
“Gate guardian Jorn, at your service. You both look kinda different than last time, though?”
Hmm, I thought I had picked clothes and equipment that wouldn’t make us stand out…was I wrong?
“We changed our outfits and equipment, since we’re going to start taking adventuring work in earnest. Should we show you our guild cards?”
Jorn shook his head at my question.
“No need. In this town, you need to do it only when asked to. Anyway, young lady, you were on the coachman’s seat last time you came here, right? You have a totally different air about you too, so I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Really?”
Misha asked back, perplexed.
“Yeah, in just a few days you became a lot prettier! The boys in town aren’t going to leave you alone!”
“Wow, thanks!”
Misha seemed happy to hear that.
Her ears twitched, her tail wagged too!
Could this be the reason why she wanted to take a bath?
Now I understand why she was so eager…
Well, her cuteness was going to stand out regardless of clothes and gear, so that wasn’t a problem.
I glanced at Misha and thought to myself that it could be helpful to be friends with a gate guard.
“Thanks for your kind words, Mr. Jorn!”
“Take care, you two!”
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Once in town, we headed to the Adventurers’ Guild first.
As it was early in the afternoon, there were few people in the guild: even so, I could tell most eyes were fixed on Misha. Pretending not to notice, I went on the quest board, picked up a commission about catching guinea fowls and brought it to the reception.
“Excuse me, I caught some guinea fowls on the way here. Can I take this commission?”
The receptionist smiled at me warmly.
“Yes, you can take these gathering or hunting commissions even if you have already achieved the objective. Let me see…this commission? Where are the guinea fowls now?”
“I have them in storage. Where should I put them?”
The receptionist put her hands on her chest and let out a happy squeal.
“Over here, please! It’s been a while since someone took this commission!”
I took three fowls out of the Item Box, and the receptionist froze.
On the board there also were staple commissions about gathering 10 tufts of medicinal herbs and catching five Horn Rabbits, so I presented those too.
“Do you take staple commission materials here too?”
“Er, yes, I can take those too now…”
I presented my guild card to identify myself and asked another question to the receptionist.
“By the way, I’d like to see the guildmaster. I promised I would come to see him the other day, so I’d be grateful if you could let him know that Tenma is here.”
“P-Please wait a moment.”
The receptionist hurried to the back room. She then picked up the materials I brought and asked someone to evaluate them. She had someone else go inform the guildmaster, I figured.
Then, a different receptionist approached us.
“I apologize for the trouble Gust caused you, Tenma,”
…aah, she’s the receptionist that registered us! Her explanations were really clear and courteous. She was Humankin, probably in her mid twenties. She had dark brown hair, facial features that suggested a sharp, intelligent personality, but also a sort of mature charm…her smile was also lovely. Her figure was slim, but had nice curves just where you wanted them…
I definitely wanted to be friends with her too!
I straightened up my posture.
“Mr. Gust too had been tricked by Ranga, in the end. He acted for the sake of his friend, and it’s all in the past, anyway.”
“I am glad to hear that. Allow me to introduce myself then, please. My name is Luka, I work as a receptionist here. If you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to ask.”
Luka’s smile was devastatingly charming. I had to give up on Sasha, since she was Ranga’s wife, with Luka I just had to ask.
“I will, thank you. But with a beauty like you at the reception, I’m sure there will be plenty of people trying to court you?”
Luka seemed pleased by my words, and replied.
“Hehe, I used to be popular, back in the day…but after I married, no one has time for me anymore, it seems!”
So she’s not single…well, I should have expected it.
I couldn’t help feeling dejected. Not that I wanted to hit on her — or had the required skills to — but I just wanted to be friends! Get a little closer! That’s all!
After making such excuses to no one in particular, I expressed my sincere opinion.
“Your husband is one lucky man…”
“Er…it’s a bit difficult to tell you this, Tenma, but…you’ll probably know it soon anyway, so I’ll go ahead and say it…my husband is Gust.”
D-Did I really hear what I think I heard!?
The shock sent me wobbling, so I put my hands on the reception desk to prop myself up.
“T-Tenma? Are you okay?”
First Sasha, and now her! Why do the women in this world marry cocky fools and muscle-headed fools? Does it mean that being dumb makes you popular in this world?
I was still being devastated by a realization that I never wished to make, when the guildmaster showed up.
I’m definitely NOT in the right mood to talk to you, old man!!!!
So I silently screamed…
Thanks for the treat.