Part 1
“Keyaruga-sama! Keyaruga-sama!”
I woke up hearing a woman’s voice. I look around, we’re still in the inn like before.
“Good morning, Freia. What’s wrong? For you to wake me up like that.”
“You seemed like you were having a nightmare. I got worried and woke you.”
“I see, I’m sorry to worry you. … Thank you, Freia.”
“No, everything of mine is for Keyaruga-sama. This much is only natural.”
Freia, a beautiful girl with light pink hair, blushed a little and smiled proudly.
Freia is actually princess Flare, the woman I hated so much.
My grudge won’t disappear by simply killing her. That’s why I erased her memory and changed her face. From now on, I’ll use her as my slave, both for fighting as well for sex.
The person herself is happy to serve me and wholeheartedly laughs. It’s comical.
“I had a bad dream, but… I’m glad to have seen it. It reminded me of what I need to do.”
Freia tilts her head curiously. But there’s no need for me to explain it to her, nor for her to understand it.
That dream reminded me of what I must do. Taking revenge on princess Flare was just the beginning. The Sword Hero and the Cannon Hero are still out there.
They treated me just as badly as princess Flare did. I will definitely get my revenge.
Part 2
We had breakfast in the inn and then began heading out of the capital.
We were going to take the regular horse-drawn carriage to the next town, but that service is under strict regulation due to the recently increased security measures. So we were left with no choice but to walk.
We just made it out of the city. I was able to easily pass the inspection. That’s only a matter of course, since the man who is wanted is the captain of the royal guard, not me, and Freia is just a girl.
“Freia, make sure you hold on to your luggage.”
“Y-yes, Keyaruga-sama.”
I’m still not really used to my new name, Keyaruga, so it took me a second to respond to it.
Both Freia and I are carrying luggage, and they’re quite heavy. It’s several kilometers until the next town, so we had to pack a lot of things.
Since we’re not sure what we’ll be able to find on the way, we had to pack a lot of water and food, as well as other necessities such as clothes. Making our luggages quite heavy.
A heavy luggage also means our expenses were quite high.
It would be regrettable to skimp out on equipment for our travels, so we purchased a set of lightweight but sturdy clothes for the two of us and a cloak to cover our faces.
As expected, I wasn’t able to buy anything enchanted with magic, but that’s fine. I’ll make one myself one of these days. With alchemy and knowledge, all I need is time.
Metal armor would be better for defense than the clothes we got, but it wouldn’t be worth it for our long trip. It would be a severe lack of insight on my part if I wasted money on that.
I also brought a sturdy water bottle, preserved food, sleeping bags, and more stuff we’ll need along the way.
“P-please wait, Keyaruga-sama. T-the luggage is heavy.”
Freia is breathing hard. I thought this much would be no problem for her, but I supposed she was never used to exercising herself. But she’ll be able to show the real value of her status after getting used to it.
“I’m sure Freia can endure it. So give it your best shot.”
“But it’s the first time I carry something so heavy. Please, let’s slow down.”
“This is for Freia’s own good. If you can’t move on the battlefield, you die. Besides, didn’t I tell Freia she can do it?”
It couldn’t be helped if she actually lacked the ability to do it. but she’s still level 25, even if she is a Magician, so her physical strength is basically that of a superhuman.
In other words, the only reason why she’s having trouble is because she believes she can’t do it. It’s a problem that can only be solved by forcing her. If I let her be, she’ll never be able to do it.
“I understand! I’ll do my best to live up to Keyaruga-sama’s expectations.”
Hearing my words, Freia quickens her steps. It seems she got a little motivated. Well, if she runs out of energy or gets muscle pains, I’ll use Heal to help her a little. By the time we reach the next town, she’ll already be much better.
“I know that Keyaruga-sama is aiming for the town of Ranalitta, but is there a reason for that?”
“Yes, I’m going to make a new friend. Freia and I are both rearguards, so we need a vanguard.”
By the way, I convinced Freia that I’m a nobleman from some country training as a warrior and on a quest to save the world. It’s not exactly a lie, since I plan to travel all over the world, become stronger, and end the war between humans and demons.
“I see. I believe there must be many strong adventurers there.”
She seems to have some kind of idea of how the town is. Even though her memory has been erased, common knowledge still remains.
In a single phrase, Ranalitta is the city of chaos.
Many products, both legal and illegal, gather there. And it’s easy to enter the city, so lots of people come and go. That’s why many yakuza-like adventurers like to live there. It’s a good place to live as long as you’re strong.
“I don’t expect much from the adventurers. What I expect to get there is a surprise.”
My purpose is to visit the slave market. About 60% of the country’s slaves are bought and sold there.
Demi-humans caught with the purpose of being turned into slaves gather in Ranalitta. Some of the illegal requests made to adventurers involve raiding demi-human villages, catching the women and the children and distributing them to the slave market.
I don’t personally like the existence of these people, but I have to use what I can. At the very least, I plan to treat the slave I buy in a way that they’ll be happy it was me who bought them.
But I need to be careful when buying a slave. They can be a hit or a miss.
Because many of them are demi-humans who were forcefully abducted, most of them are in poor condition and it’s not uncommon for them to die right after they’re bought. The talent values and level cap also depend on luck. And demi-humans who come with an Appraisal are much more expensive.
But I have the Jade Eye and Heal. I can carefully select and purchase some species with high physical attack, physical defense and speed, and I can even heal them if they are wounded.
Freia and I continue to walk. During that, I sometimes picked up some wild grass and mushrooms, since I had an idea for a money-making scheme. With some luck, things will go well in the next town.
Because of our high levels, we’re also going quite fast. At this pace, we’ll only have to camp out twice. As I was thinking that, Freia called out to me.
“By the way, you’ve been gathering grasses and mushrooms for a while. What are they for?”
“To earn money for our travels.”
I said that to her and then showed the basket in my hands with its contents.
“This is?”
“I’ll use these wild grasses and mushrooms to make medicine. I can use alchemy magic, so I can extract the medicinal ingredients and make them into enchanted potions.” This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
“You can do even that. I’m surprised.”
Freia looks at me with eyes filled with respect. I can only smile wryly at that. Alchemy has a lot of practical use outside combat, such as the ability to produce stuff, or you could even say that’s the correct way to use it.
Using Heal is quick and easy, but it’ll make me stand out. But by passing myself as an alchemist doctor and using alchemy to make potions and the Jade Eye to find sick people, I can earn money discreetly.
And it’ll also earn credibility to my claim of being an alchemist.
“I’ll do my best to help Keyaruga-sama sell his potions in the city.”
“Well, if Freia is around, I’m sure it’ll sell well.”
It would be hard for me to pop up out of nowhere and appeal to the public. But if there’s an extraordinarily beautiful girl like Freia there, then the customers will come flocking over. Good looks themselves are a weapon.
As long as the customers come, I can win them over with the quality of my potions. At that point, I’ll win against any other vendors. I’m offering potions made by an alchemist, after all.
For the time being, I should focus on getting money for our travels. I put power into my Jade Eye and continue collecting grasses and mushrooms one after the other.
Part 3
After that, we continued walking for 2 more hours. Then we set up camp in an open area of the forest a little off the road.
I set up the tent while teaching Freia how to do it. She has some trouble but tries her best to learn. She’s smart and dexterous, so after we do it two more times or so she should be able to learn it.
While I was making our camp, I sensed the presence of something with magic power. I turned my head and saw a rabbit-like creature with a horn on its head looking at me. Lucky me.
Smiling, I took out a knife from my pocket and threw it at the rabbit. The knife pierced the rabbit’s forehead.
“Pigyaa!”
With that final scream, the rabbit became a corpse.
“This is good, Freia. We’ll have meat for dinner rather than just preserved food.”
“Keyaruga-sama, that’s a monster, you know. You’ll get an upset stomach if you eat it.”
She was right, there’s a difference between monsters and ordinary animals. The difference between them is if they carry miasma on them or not.
For humans, that miasma is like poison. You won’t get off unscathed if you eat a monster. But, on the knowledge I have absorbed, there is a way to get rid of the miasma.
It’s knowledge I got from a certain sage when I used Imitation Heal on him. An ancient hero called Souji* found out a method to remove the miasma of monsters and turn them safe for consumption and he wrote a thesis about it.
“Don’t worry, it’s safe. And we’ll need it to become stronger anyway.”
Even I don’t want to eat monsters.
In the thesis written by the ancient hero, he says that demons have a factor that helps humans become stronger. I can confirm the presence of that factor with my Jade Eye.
If I eat the meat of this monster, that factor will adapt to my body and my talent values will rise. I can increase my talent values a little with Transformation Heal, but this is an addition to that. But I have to take in the factor in appropriate form.
I chuckle as I eat the meat of the one-horned rabbit. It’s a bit nostalgic. I did the same thing in my previous life. I would often be made to go without meals, so I’d sneak out to hunt a monster and use the ancient hero’s technique to remove its miasma for me to eat it.
Maybe that even helped me overwhelm the Demon Lord in that final battle. At that time, I was really skilled with Heal, so I was able to easily and instantly focus my talent values on whatever I needed at the moment. I hope to reach the same level of skill again.
“Freia, I’ll make a delicious dinner soon, so look forward to it.”
Now then, let’s have a tasty, tasty dinner. Food made of monsters is unexpectedly not bad.