Chapter 45

### Chapter 45: Major Changes. Chapters 46 and 47 Deleted

For details, see the author's note at the end.

"Good morning, Craft! I have a delivery for you!"

"Hey, Ed."

That day, while having a late breakfast, the orphans, including Ed, appeared.

Perhaps because I've been their tutor, they've grown quite fond of me.

"Where's school today?"

"It's a holiday today!"

"I see."

Currently, the frontier town has implemented a morning school system. Classes are held five days a week, and free lunch is provided to the children. Additionally, parents who ensure their children attend school regularly receive an increased settlement assistance grant. As a result, all the children in Golden Dawn attend school. Furthermore, efforts to eliminate discrimination against beast people have been successful, so there are no issues.

The four beast person orphans each carried a large bundle of plants in their arms.

"A delivery, you say?"

"Yeah. It's herbs grown in the church's garden! Thanks to the fertilizer you gave us, they grew in abundance, so Az said to share some with you."

Kai offered the basket full of herbs.

"Thank you for so many. I'll dry them later. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"Not yet."

"Alright, then come and eat."

"Really!?"

"But Az might have prepared something."

"Then bring Az too."

"Yay! I'll go get her right away!"

Ed ran off without waiting for my answer. Soon, Azur was dragged along. Since moving to Golden Dawn, her fox fur had become lustrous, and she had transformed into a radiant beauty.

"Good morning, Craft."

"Hey, good morning. Ryuuko, take care of it."

"Understood, Master."

"Is it really okay?"

"Absolutely no problem. I'm doing quite well, you know."

"Then I'll take you up on that."

"Yay!"

The children started to cheer. As if on cue, the food was brought out, and they began to eat enthusiastically.

"Delicious!"

"The eggs are so good!"

"Hey, Craft. I heard that monster eggs are really tasty. Is that true?"

Ed looked at me while savoring a half-cooked egg.

"Monsters come in various types, and many of their reproduction methods are unknown. However, some monsters do lay eggs. According to rumors, the eggs of basilisks, cockatrices, and hydras are particularly delicious."

"Really!? Can you get some for us next time!?"

"No way!"

I firmly said.

"Why not?"

"Most monsters, not just basilisks, go berserk if their eggs are taken. Even if you manage to bring them back, they will chase you to the ends of the earth."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's best not to mess with monster eggs. I'll explain more later."

In fact, because of their high value, there are always people trying to get them. If the children become adventurers, I'll teach them more about it then.

"Ryuuko's egg dishes are delicious, right?"

"Yeah!"

"They are delicious."

"Then that's good enough."

"Got it! Seconds!"

"Hey! Ed!"

"Hehe, it's fine. Ryuuko."

"Sure, they're just done."

"Amazing..."

Ryuuko, who can create all the dishes at the perfect timing, is truly a world-class maid. She was modeled after a legendary maid, and the personality stone was created with the help of a legendary maid, as given to me by Mr. Jabeel. I'd like to see the original maid, even if just a glimpse.

"Sorry, Ed..."

"Yeah, after you finish eating, help dry the herbs."

"Aww..."

"No 'aww'! Craft, I'll make sure they help!"

"Alright."

I had the children help dry the herbs while spending a leisurely morning. Since I usually work on my research until late at night, I can't seem to get into the groove in the morning.

If I were an adventurer, I'd be completely unqualified.

Not because I was thinking about my adventurer days, but to restock, I headed to the Adventurer's Guild to check if there were any valuable materials brought in by adventurers.

"Hello, Craft."

"Hey, Mika. You seem as busy as ever."

I greeted Mika, a cat beast person who recently joined the Adventurer's Guild as a staff member. In Golden Dawn, there is no discrimination against beast people, thanks to Reifan and Kyle's efforts. The guild has also started bold reforms, such as hiring beast people as staff, as a test case to spread this practice nationwide.

"Yes, adventurers who heard the rumors keep coming in one after another."

"That's good. It makes it easier for me to gather materials."

"Here are the rare materials we have today."

"Let me see."

I sat at the counter next to her and carefully examined the materials. Initially, rare herbs were hard to come by, but recently, the quantity has increased. However, the quality varies, so I had to inspect each one.

"I'll take the good ones from this batch."

"I'll give you a little extra, but I'd like to know the quality of the rest."

"Sure. The ones I separated are 'average' quality, and the rest are 'low' quality. I'll only buy the 'high' quality ones, though."

There were many other rare materials, but I only bought a few fangs, claws, and a handful of herbs. For me, using a higher quality material in alchemy with an alchemy pot results in a larger quantity and better quality in the final product. I discussed this with Mr. Jabeel, but it remains a hypothesis, so I decided to accept it as it is.

"It helps. Many of the materials from this town are strange, and the appraisal magic often doesn't work."

"Wait, I can use appraisal magic, but I don't have the appraiser's certification. Why don't you ask Reifan?"

Reifan has the appraiser's certification, which requires a troublesome national exam and training.

"Formally requesting it would be expensive..."

"Isn't that a problem?"

"It's fine. I tell the buyers that Craft appraised them, so they feel reassured."

"What do you think I am!?"

"Ah, you really lack self-awareness. It's really fine."

"Well, if there's no problem, that's good."

Ah, I see. If they sell without appraisal, they can only sell to commercial or production guilds, and undetermined items are often undervalued. So, they use my name, which is somewhat well-known in town, to sell them, even without an appraiser's certification.

"Make sure to explain it to the buyers."

"Of course."

If that's the case, there's nothing more to say. Since I was already at the Adventurer's Guild, I decided to see if I could run into anyone I knew.

I went to the training ground at the back and, to my surprise, the orphans I had been working with earlier were participating in adventurer training.

"Hey, Craft."

"Hey, Raidok. Why are Ed and the others training with adventurers?"

Literally speaking, Ed the wolf beast person, Saika the rabbit beast person, Kai the red panda beast person, and Wamika the cat beast person were engaged in a lively mock battle with what appeared to be a seasoned adventurer party.

Raidok, who had come over, spoke before I could.

"Ah, I was going to ask you about this. You said you were giving the same stamina potion to those four and the fox priest, right?"

"Yeah. I also asked you to keep an eye on how much it affects them compared to other humans."

Initially, I didn't tell them, but I explained and had them take it properly later.

Reifan had pointed out to me:

"I know you mean well, but it feels a bit like a human experiment, doesn't it?"

"Wha!?"

I quickly apologized to everyone and asked if they would continue taking the "legendary" potion, and they all agreed. I really have great friends!

"So, the results are this."

Raidok pointed to the children, who were desperately holding their own against a party of four experienced adventurers. Both parties were sweating and had serious expressions, and their breathing was heavy.

"Huh? Both parties are tired?"

"Yeah, today's training is without the stamina potion."

"Huh? So they haven't taken the potion since this morning?"

"Right. They shouldn't have taken it."

The stamina potion I made allows for almost endless movement. While they would still breathe heavily and sweat during combat, they shouldn't show such obvious signs of fatigue. So, they must not have taken it.

"Wait, what's the rank of the adventurers Ed and the others are fighting?"

"Two are C-rank, and two are D-rank."

"Seriously!? They're fighting a C-rank party!?"

"Yeah. We've been pushing them and teaching them a lot, though."

"True, I've gotten used to it, but it's not normal for children without emblems to use sword techniques."

"Knight families do it sometimes. Famous adventurers' children, for example."

"So it's not completely unheard of."

"Don't get the wrong idea, Craft. Those kids have been trained from birth, and I can guarantee that Ed and the others won't reach that level of strength at their age."

"Hmm. In the forest, the comparison is too weak."

Considering safety, when I go on picnics with Jitaro and the children, I only let them face orcs at best.

"That's it. Craft, you let them hunt monsters sometimes, right?"

"More accurately, I help Jitaro with his hunts."

"Once you enter the forest, it inevitably becomes monster hunting."

"True, but isn't the area near the town pretty cleared out?"

"That's half true and half false."

"What do you mean?"

I wanted to see Kai's training, but Raidok's story seemed more important.

"As you know, the current Golden Dawn Adventurer's Guild has a large number of adventurers."

"Yeah."

"Most of their jobs are escorting caravans, maintaining town security, or hunting monsters in the surrounding areas. Especially monster hunting, compared to other towns, has a lot of requests and good pay."

"Yeah. Kyle has been working hard."

Kyle said that to attract excellent adventurers, a lot of rewards are necessary, and he has allocated a significant portion of the town's budget to the Adventurer's Guild. As a result, the guild also takes on jobs like maintaining town security, which they usually wouldn't.

"So why haven't the monsters decreased?"

"They have decreased, but the cause is different. First, this settlement is too vast."

Ah, right. The scale of this town is unprecedented. The surrounding area is so vast that even the granary is hidden beyond the horizon. If you consider the entire area as part of the "town," the surrounding area is enormous.

"Second, even if you reduce them, more monsters keep appearing from deep in the forest. Should we burn the forest?"

"No way."

Trees are a valuable and important resource. While they are being cut down at a rapid pace, the forest in this area grows back quickly. It seems to return to its original state before you know it. If you properly clear the land, it should be fine, but simply cutting down trees won't do much.

"Even if you burn a little, the forest is vast."

"We don't know what might happen."

"That's true."

"Still, are that many monsters appearing?"

"Yeah. The forest is too vast. On the other hand, it also contains many valuable materials."

"That's true."

The forest is rich in rare herbs and mushrooms that are not generally available. I don't want to burn it down. Besides, burning the entire forest is impossible given its size.

"Raidok! You're here! Can I have a moment?"

"Huh?"

The person who ran up was Cynos Gashur, the guild master of the Golden Dawn Adventurer's Guild. He is the brother of the former guild master who stayed in the Zaided settlement. Perhaps he received some special treatment within the guild. Cynos is usually calm and doesn't fit the image of a guild master, but he is very intelligent and capable.

The fact that Cynos, the guild master, is raising his voice indicates there is a problem.

"Oh, Craft is here too. Can you listen in?"

"Is it something related to the town?"

"Yes."

"Let's go."

We quickly headed to the guild master's office.

### Author's Note

Starting from Chapter 45, the story has been significantly revised, and Chapters 45, 46, and 47 have been deleted.

There was no Marlboro!

Please forget the previous content and read with an open mind (´▽`).

Thank you.

Also, my personal life has been quite challenging, and I haven't been able to maintain a regular update schedule.

I apologize for this.

I hope to improve the situation by the end of October, so please bear with me.

Thank you.