Moving on to a new chapter.
About two weeks after leaving the Southern Autonomous Zone, we were able to safely return to Seigen. The reason we made it back faster than the trip there was that we already knew the way home, we didn't make any detours, and we took shifts driving the carriage from dawn until late at night — four shifts between three people and one slime.
Thanks to that, Raiden was a little disgruntled from being worked so hard, but Grandpa, Slarin, and I kept its spirits up by periodically sending it Magic Power. Still, we only planned to stay in Seigen for about a day before setting off on another week-long journey, so figuring out how to keep Raiden happy this time around was going to be a headache.
"As for the entrance, they'll let us through right away if we show the commission slip, so we'll head straight to the apartment. What about you two after that?"
My plan was to head to the Guild as soon as we reached the apartment, gather information about everything I'd missed, then go around visiting acquaintances to hand out souvenirs.
It was still before noon, so Master Gants and Karina would probably be at their workshop or home, but Jin and the others or Agri's group might be dungeon-diving. So, I'd ask about the Dawn Sword and Agri's group at the Guild. If they weren't around, I'd try again in the evening. And if I still couldn't catch them, I'd just have to give them their souvenirs the next time I came back to Seigen.
"I think I'll stay at the apartment. I haven't driven for that long a stretch in ages, and I'm worn out. Besides, someone's got to keep Raiden in good spirits."
"I'm coming along. Waiting around is boring."
"Got it. Grandpa, sorry to ask, but I'm counting on you to look after Raiden. Slarin, stay behind too and help keep Raiden happy. Shiromaru and Solomon, you can come along if you want, but behave yourselves."
With that, we sorted out a quick plan and headed for the apartment. I parked the carriage in its usual spot and went to say hello to Karina and the others. That was when I gave them their souvenirs, but Amy had already gone to the Royal Capital, so I'd deliver hers in person when I visited.
After a brief chat with Karina and the others, I returned to the carriage to find Grandpa and Slarin already working on keeping Raiden happy by giving it Magic Power and washing its body.
After entrusting Raiden and the carriage to them once more, I realized I hadn't asked about Gol, Jil, and the two lambs. When I peeked inside the Magic Bag, Lamb I appeared to have challenged Gol and Jil to another contest and lost — it was wrapped up tight in spider silk and wasn't in any condition to communicate. Lamb II was sleeping peacefully. Gol and Jil didn't seem to care either way.
I decided to bring Gol and the others along (Gol and Jil didn't seem inclined to leave the bag, but since Shiromaru and the rest would be going inside, it made sense) and set off toward Amour and the Guild.
I broke into a light jog to loosen up my muscles, so I arrived at the Guild in no time. I headed inside and was about to make for the notice board when I spotted Agri and the others gathered at their usual seats.
"Oh, Tenma! When did you get back?"
"Just now, actually. I was planning to look for Agri and the group so I could give you all Southern Autonomous Zone souvenirs."
Agri's group had apparently been having a meeting about their upcoming activities, and they asked if I wanted to join in, but I still had places to visit, so I politely declined. When I asked about Jin and the others, I was told they'd just gotten back from the dungeon yesterday and were probably either wandering around town or sleeping at their inn today.
We chatted for a while about recent goings-on, but I didn't get any particularly useful information from Agri's group. In exchange, I got an earful of complaints about how Amy had gone off to the Royal Capital, leaving them with nothing to do lately.
Fleeing from the grievances of the Tamer's Guild members — Agri in particular — Amour and I headed next for Master Gants's workshop. In case Jin and the group happened to stop by the Guild, I left word with Agri's people that I'd swing back by the Guild after finishing at Master Gants's place, and asked them to either wait at the Guild or at Jin's group's inn.
Despite my intention to reach the workshop quickly and avoid wasting any time, thinking about future plans, I was unable to meet Master Gants. That was because I was caught by one of his apprentices just before the workshop and told about the Master’s recent troubles.
Apparently, not long after I left, the Master had gotten into an argument with one of the nobles—it seems the noble made an unreasonable demand and the Master lost his temper. Because he had to deal with the aftermath, several jobs he’d taken on were now facing deadlines just a few days away. As a result, if I showed my face now and handed over the sake, there was a real risk the stressed-out Master would escape reality by ditching the work and starting a drinking party.
So, without calling out, I entrusted a message to the apprentice and decided to leave the alcohol in his care. Instead, I handed over some food as a gift and left the workshop without the Master noticing.
"Next up are Jin and the others... hm?"
As I left the workshop and headed towards the Guild, a familiar group of four came walking from the opposite direction.
"Oh! There you are!"
"Hey, Tenma!"
Waving as they approached was the group I’d been looking for, the 'Dawn Sword'. After meeting up and exchanging stories, it turned out that shortly after Jin’s group headed to Master Gants’s place, they had stopped by the Guild. There, they heard from Agri and the others that I was looking for them and were on their way to the Master’s workshop.
"See, I told you waiting at the Guild would’ve been fine. If we’d missed each other, it would’ve been a wasted trip for nothing."
"Indeed. They did say they’d definitely be at the inn by tonight, so we could have waited at the Guild while handling our report and discussing the next dungeon expedition."
It seemed Menace and Lina wanted to wait at the Guild, but Jin and Garat had insisted on bringing them along.
"No way, if you went to the trouble of bringing back souvenirs, it wouldn’t be right for us to just have you come to us."
"And if we’d missed each other, it would’ve just added to Tenma’s burden."
"In the end, we met up with Tenma safely, so it’s fine, isn’t it?"
"There’s no need to gamble away a sure chance to meet up. You’ve just come back from the dungeon and are already tired..."
The reason Menace and the others were in a foul mood was because, despite being exhausted, they’d been made to walk by Jin and Garat. As top-ranked adventurers, they should still have physical stamina to spare, but apparently, having to walk when both body and mind were in rest mode was tough.
"Rest is important. If you don’t rest when you can, you won’t be able to move when it really counts."
"Guh... sorry."
After being pointedly told this by Amour, Jin and Garat bowed their heads in apology. They didn’t seem to have expected such a direct, logical retort from Amour, and honestly admitted their fault.
Menace and Lina seemed a bit soothed by this, but they still clearly didn’t want to walk. At their suggestion, we decided to return to the Guild by carriage. Of course, the fare—for all six of us, including Amour and myself—was to be covered by Jin and Garat.
"Still, Menace and Lina really look exhausted, don't they?"
"Well, yeah. The mental fatigue is way worse than the physical tiredness."
"Tenma, listen to this! Those two—they were in such good shape that they just kept pushing forward nonstop! I mean, sure, being able to descend four floors in one week was a welcome surprise, but pushing through unfamiliar territory at that speed—only a complete idiot or a total lunatic would do that."
Being a complete idiot and being a total lunatic pretty much meant the same thing, didn't they? But I guess it really was that reckless... Since I'd pushed through at even faster speeds, by Lina's logic, I must be an even bigger lunatic.
"Tenma being a lunatic is nothing new, but that pace of exploration is impossible for any normal person."
The two of them must have been thoroughly exhausted, because their heads didn't seem to be working properly. Jin and Garat, who had been thoroughly lectured up to this point, quietly distanced themselves from the two without being noticed—but they at least had the sense not to pull something as absurd as using Stun inside a carriage. However,
"I went and bought you all souvenirs, but... I don't really want souvenirs from a lunatic, you know."
At those words, the two finally seemed to realize their slip of the tongue. They hurriedly apologized for what they'd said. After teasing them enough, I handed over the souvenirs as planned. Some of them were perishables, but since every member of the Dawn Sword carried a Magic Bag, that wasn't a problem.
On the way to the Guild, I asked about recent news, but apparently there hadn't been any major changes. However, goblin corpses—which had risen in price before we headed south—had apparently become cheap again. The experiment to use them as fertilizer had been a success, with a certain level of effectiveness confirmed. But the number of goblin corpses brought in had been too high, so they'd turned it into a relief-style commission for struggling new adventurers (by setting the price low, it became a commission that was both troublesome and poorly paying for veterans).
"Then I was right to get rid of those goblins back then."
"Those goblins from back then?"
Those goblins referred to the swarm that had been about to attack the village I'd stopped at on the way to the Southern Autonomous Region. When handing over the magic cores, I'd given over the goblin bodies whole, and at the time Amour had suggested something along the lines of "If the bodies are worth money, wouldn't it be better to take them?" But in that situation, saying something like "I'll take the bodies after extracting the magic cores" would have been petty and uncool, and waiting for them to finish butchering that many goblins would have been a waste of time. So I'd asked the village to handle the disposal and left.
"I hate to say it, but Tenma... you really are a monster."
"Sealing off a cave or dungeon is one thing, but annihilating a massive goblin horde entrenched in a forest? Even a nation couldn't pull that off with its army. At best, you'd be looking at taking out half of them as an impressive feat."
"Doing that with just a few people goes beyond just being unconventional."
"Well, sure, if it were just about wiping out the horde, you could gather a bunch of mages and have them bombard the entire mountain until their magic ran out. But it would take decades for the mountain to recover, and the surrounding mountains would have their ecosystems thrown into complete chaos. If that happened, the nearby villages would suffer damage that, in a way, would be even worse than being ravaged by a goblin horde."
Normally, this would be the moment where Jin—who had been calling me a monster—
...would face divine punishment.
But after hearing Lina's analysis, I decided to let it slide this time. Besides, using something like Stun inside a carriage would definitely startle the horses and cause an accident.
We continued our idle chat and got off at the Guild, where Menace and Lina ordered Jin and Garat to handle the post-dungeon-exploration cleanup before settling in at a table to enjoy their souvenirs.
Jin and Garat had started rushing, desperate not to let the two of them eat everything before they could get to it, but running into adventurers returning from the dungeon had thrown a wrench in things, and it didn't look like their errands were going smoothly.
As expected, Menace and Lina hadn't gone so far as to devour everything, but the amount left for Jin and Garat was clearly less than what Menace and Lina had gotten. The only saving grace was that the souvenirs I'd bought came in two varieties: things meant to be shared at Dawn Sword, and things meant to be eaten individually.
Since I'd gotten the souvenirs—the biggest thing on my mind—to Dawn Sword earlier than expected, I decided to head back to the apartment.
When I was leaving, Jin and the others invited me to dinner, but when I told them I'd be heading to the Royal Capital starting tomorrow on a commission, they were shocked at the kind of grueling schedule no ordinary adventurer would dream of. After hearing the client's name, they understood and sympathized.
After being seen off by Jin and the others—and the remaining members of the Tamer's Guild—I returned to the apartment, where Grandpa and Slarin were polishing Raiden with a cloth. Moreover, judging by the sheen on Raiden's body, they seemed to have used oil to clean him up as well.
"Oh, you're back? We'll be done here in just a bit."
Even as Grandpa and Slarin polished Raiden, they didn't cut any corners despite keeping up the conversation. Through their story, I learned that originally they had only planned to wash Raiden with soap, rinse, and dry him off. But when they saw he wasn't satisfied, they got carried away—Slarin cleaned Raiden's interior, including her own entry and exit points, oiled his joints, and coated his entire body. Now they were carefully wiping away the excess oil. Raiden watched his body get cleaner and looked quite pleased with himself.
"I finished everything on schedule, so we can depart tomorrow as planned. Also, dinner will be ready in a little while."
"Mm, understood."
Since we needed to sleep early tonight to prepare for tomorrow, I got right to work on dinner. I didn't make anything fancy, but it had been a while since I'd eaten in a safe place—though I'd been maintaining the barrier the whole trip, so I suppose it had technically been safe the entire time.
"Well then, after the bath, Amur will sleep in the apartment, and Grandpa and I will sleep in the carriage."
What should have been a perfectly ordinary statement apparently didn't sit right with Amur, who started negotiating to swap sleeping spots with Grandpa. Naturally, Grandpa refused, but I caught that he was dangerously close to giving in after just a bit more persuading. I'd need to be even more careful going forward.
The next morning, we departed for the Royal Capital as planned, but the only ones who came to see us off were Amy's family. And even that was less a proper farewell and more an excuse to ask me to pass along a message to Amy. Jin and the rest of the Tamer's Guild had probably overslept (maybe because of
the souvenirs
I'd handed over yesterday), and the guild master was probably being made to work through his commissions under his disciples' watchful eyes.