Chapter 10

"Good morning, Yurii. Good morning, everyone. Was it safe last night? Did you sleep well?"

"…It was safe, but it took me a while to fall asleep."

"I see. As expected, it's hard to sleep without a tent, isn't it?"

"No, we're former mercenaries, so we're used to sleeping under the sky."

"Oh, then why?"

"Because your voice and that woman's voice were too loud!"

He didn't specify what kind of voices they were. He hesitated to clearly mention what his lord and his plaything slave were doing in the tent alone at night.

"Well, you can't blame me. We overcame the danger of being attacked by bandits and reunited as lovers, so I hope you can forgive us. After all, it was your fault in the first place."

Noein said this with a grin, and Yurii could only respond, "Grr… Fine, I get it."

"You don't have to look so bitter. From now on, we'll keep more distance, and you'll sleep in a tent, so it'll be fine."

After discussing this practical matter to ensure everyone's comfort, they finished breakfast and set out for the shopping trip to Retvik.

At first, Noein suggested leaving Matilda and Mai at the settlement and going shopping with the men, but Matilda showed a fierce resistance to the idea of her lord being away with the men who were bandits until yesterday. So, they decided to leave Yurii and Mai to watch the settlement and the remaining five to go to Retvik.

For Noein, it meant leaving the settlement in the hands of people he had only just met yesterday, but since they were taking all the valuable items like coins and magical artifacts, it wasn't a big problem.

They left the forest on a route that had been well-trodden by Noein and the golems multiple times, making it look like a proper path.

"Sir Noein, how do you manage to control the golems so skillfully?"

On the way to Retvik, Pense, a thin man with a sharp gaze, asked this question.

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that too. The golems move so smoothly, it's a bit creepy, isn't it?"

The young, handsome Bart joined the conversation.

"Even from your perspective, the movement of my golems is impressive, right?"

"Absolutely. We've seen golems used for carrying loads, but they all moved much more slowly."

"…I've only seen one person who could control a golem as skillfully as you, Sir Noein. He was an old puppet mage in the royal army, but even he could only control one. It's hard to believe you can control multiple golems like you do."

Raddle echoed Pense's sentiment.

"Usually, once someone is known to have puppet magic, they start working in jobs like carrying loads after a bit of practice. It's rare to find someone like me who had plenty of free time until adulthood and could spend a vast amount of time practicing golem control. That's probably why my control skills are so high."

Noein thought that mastering golem control was similar to a baby learning to control its body.

Through endless repetition, the brain and body gradually synchronize, and the nerves are connected one by one, developing the skill.

By persistently advancing on this long and distant path, Noein had become able to control two humanoid golems as freely as his own body. As for the horse-type golem, he could control it with a casual awareness, without much practice.

He thought that controlling more golems simultaneously would be difficult, but he was probably one of the top puppet mages in the kingdom, and perhaps even in the world.

...

Upon arriving in Retvik, they first headed to Eliza's grocery store.

"Oh, it's the forest lord. You were here yesterday, what brings you back so soon?"

Eliza greeted Noein with surprise.

"Hello, Eliza. Actually, I finally have new residents in my territory, and I've come to buy food for them."

Noein smiled and pointed to the three who had entered the store with him.

Here, Bart's good looks came in handy.

"We came to this town as refugees, but the lord took pity on us and took us in. We plan to serve him diligently to repay his kindness."

His heartfelt tone and good looks combined to create an atmosphere that stirred Eliza's protective instincts. "I see. It's good that you were taken in," she sympathized, with no idea that he had been a bandit until yesterday.

Noein, impressed by Bart's acting, suddenly felt a bit startled when he glanced to the side.

First, Pense. His sharp gaze and thin build gave him a lizard-like impression, but now he had a piteous look, making him appear as a "skinny, pitiful man."

Then, Raddle. Though he was frankly unattractive, his sad expression added an indescribable melancholy. He had the kind of aura that would make you want to throw a coin at him if you saw him begging on the street.

Both of them, not inferior to Bart, could easily be believed to be "pitiful refugees." They must have used these faces to lower people's guard and navigate through towns and villages.

Suppressing the urge to point out how different they looked from their usual rough appearance, Noein bought additional food from Eliza.

After finishing the food shopping, they moved on to buy living supplies and bedding for the residents.

"Are you going to buy us clothes too?"

"Of course. You can't keep wearing the same clothes all the time, can you?"

They had been wandering the kingdom as bandits and hadn't washed their bodies or clothes properly, so they smelled.

However, without proper clothes, they couldn't do laundry either.

Noein thought that the situation where the residents couldn't wash their clothes needed to be improved immediately.

He bought appropriate changes of clothes for Yurii and Mai, who were staying at the settlement, and added towels, buckets, and soap for the five to wash their bodies.

Pense and the others were humbled by the idea of having soap, a luxury item, provided for them, but Noein said, "Good work leads to a good life. If you feel it's too much, you can repay it with your work."

The last item to buy was the tents.

"I think it would be difficult to fit all five of you in one tent. How should we divide them? By gender?"

"No, Mai is the leader's woman. It would be easier if we could split into two groups: those two and us."

"Oh, I see."

He understood why Yurii had said he would stay with Mai at the settlement.

While complaining about the noise at night, he probably intended to enjoy himself with the woman in the settlement without any interruptions.

Despite his grumbling, he bought the tents and returned to the settlement with the fully loaded cart.