Chapter 69

This is the second update of the day.

Ultimately, I only bought some dried meat (already chewing on one piece) and emergency potions for when my MP runs out, finished shopping, and headed to the Adventurer's Guild where I was meeting Caro.

It was about time for me to get hungry, but I decided to wait until Caro arrived before ordering food, so we only ordered drinks.

I ordered a lemonade from the drink menu.

“What about Haru?”

“I’ll have the same, please.”

“Marina, what about you? You can have a drink too.”

“...I don’t drink much... I’ll have the same, please... By the way, the mask... the mask...”

Marina is too dependent on the mask.

Though she is shy and gets nervous around people, she is more normal than the others.

I want her to stay as she is except when we are talking, so I won’t give her the mask back.

“Besides, Marina, you have such beautiful eyes. It’s a waste to hide them behind a mask.”

“...The mask...”

She’s not listening at all.

After a while, before our drinks arrived, Caro came in.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Master.”

“Welcome back. How was it?”

Caro’s face didn’t look too good. There must have been some bad news.

“One good piece of information, one bad piece, and one that’s become a town rumor.”

Three pieces of information in such a short time.

“...Let’s start with the bad. What’s the bad news?”

“There’s a landslide on the road through the valley near the southern border town. It will take a while to clear. If we’re heading to Portcove, it would be faster to return to Ailamburg and then go back to Collat.”

We should return to Ailamburg.

Looking at Marina’s face, she was shaking her head silently with tears in her eyes.

I can’t just leave her here.

“We need to sell spices and iron, so it might be better to head to Ferito first.”

“The good news is that the buying prices for spices and iron have gone up. We can make a good profit selling them here.”

We don’t need to go to Ferito then.

I looked at Marina again.

She was already crying, and her tears were flying off as she shook her head.

“Ah... Even though I sometimes want to tease Marina, it’s too pitiful. Let’s head to Ferito. It’s a four-day round trip, but we’re not in a hurry.”

“...Thank you... so much...”

Marina, who was brought her lemonade, drank it while crying in gratitude.

“So, what’s the rumor?”

“It seems the hero and his party are in this town.”

“………………!?”

At Caro’s words, Haru’s tail stood up straight.

The hero.

To Haru, the hero is both the enemy who defeated the Demon King and the one who, after she became a slave, treated her relatively well.

However, if the hero hadn’t come, the Demon King wouldn’t have been defeated, and her father wouldn’t have been executed.

It’s a complicated situation.

“Haru, what do you want to do? Do you want to meet the hero?”

If Haru says no, we’ll go to bed early today and leave the town first thing tomorrow morning.

That’s what I thought.

“...I want to meet him.”

Haru said it as if making a decision.

“Got it. Caro, where is the hero?”

“Sorry, I don’t know exactly. But it seems the hero is gathering information, so he might be in a place with a lot of people.”

“Places with a lot of people, huh.”

We’ll have to search on foot. There are apparently three inns in this town, so we could stake them out, but there’s also the possibility that he’s staying at a friend’s house.

“Hey, Ichino. Can I have my mask back...”

Marina is still talking about the mask.

This girl is really at her own pace... huh?

“—This is it!”

I shouted and stood up.

※※※

“Look, behold my super magic! And rejoice! In the infinite flow of time, at this moment, in this one spot on the vast land, you are here.”

Marina, wearing the mask, said this and took out a bow, seven targets, and seven arrows.

“By my super magic, I will hit all seven targets with the seven arrows, guided by the wind magic.”

“What? That’s just archery, not magic!”

One of the spectators shouted in derision.

“Hmph, if you think it’s just archery, watch closely.”

She drew the bow.

The direction was toward the sun, the opposite direction of the targets.

She released the arrow.

The arrow flew in the wrong direction.

But suddenly, it changed course, and six arrows pierced the six targets behind her.

The audience burst into applause.

She hit six out of seven targets while facing the opposite direction.

Even though she missed one, the skill was indeed super.

She doesn’t even have the bow skill.

This super magic—rather, the trick of the street performance—is very simple but also very difficult.

I asked Marina, who wasn’t wearing the mask, how it was done.

There’s a thin, almost invisible thread attached to the fletching of the arrow. It can be pulled off easily.

She changed the arrow’s course by pulling the thread.

It’s theoretically possible, but hitting the target requires superhuman skill.

“Damn, I missed one.”

She turned around, looking disappointed at the result.

“Even missing one is amazing! It’s really super magic!”

“You’re so cool, lady!”

“It’s wonderful!”

Marina ignored all the cheers and walked to the missed target.

“I must have been distracted by the presence of a demonic being and accidentally shot the arrow there.”

When she picked up the arrow, a dead frog, pierced by the arrow, was there.

The audience erupted in even more cheers.

She collected a large amount of tips in the silk hat she took out.

“Now, let me show you the next super magic.”

She removed the black scarf, revealing the slave collar, but no one pointed it out.

Then, she covered the silk hat with the scarf and removed it quickly.

In the next moment, all the tips in the silk hat disappeared without a trace.

Her street performance had just begun.

※※※

“It was a great success, Ichino.”

At the Adventurer’s Guild table, Marina counted the tips, looking satisfied.

Most were copper coins, but there were some silver coins mixed in.

“My level has gone up to 30, and I’ve learned a new magic.”

Street performers gain experience not only from battles but also from receiving tips.

Apparently, the maximum tip per customer is one silver coin.

You can’t repeatedly throw gold coins and collect them to gain experience.

Hiring shills to throw silver coins might work, but it’s more efficient to level up by defeating monsters as a party.

“Let’s have a celebration today. Waiter, bring us grape juice as red as blood.”

It seems Marina can’t drink alcohol either.

But let’s get to the main topic.

“Haru, did you find the hero?”

“No, there was no one who looked like him... I didn’t sense his scent either.”

“I see... I thought it would work out.”

We’ll have to search the old-fashioned way.

Just as I was thinking that,

“Excuse me—may I have a moment?”

A man’s voice came from the side.

Did Marina get a fan?

I sighed when I looked over.

A handsome man was there.

He had short black hair, silver armor, and a sword at his waist.

Three beautiful slaves were with him.

“My name is Suzuki Kouta. I am the hero in this world.”