“This place is enormous.”
Many people worked inside the building. Hanna explained that it served as both the company’s warehouse and its offices. Stacia had a separate shop in the commercial district, while this building stored the goods sold there.
They led me farther inside to the site of the accident. Unlike the orderly areas we’d passed, shelves had collapsed there, leaving a terrible mess.
“What happened?”
“…Those shelves held my products,” Marina said with her head lowered. “They were already arranged carelessly. When I brought in more goods yesterday, I bumped one of the shelves and it toppled over.”
“The items here are mass-produced, inexpensive products,” Hanna added. “Even those that can no longer be sold weren’t particularly valuable, so neither Marina nor the company suffered a serious loss. But we couldn’t clean this up on our own, which is why we imposed on the guild and asked them to contact you.”
“Thank you for valuing my work so highly. I’ll begin immediately.”
If I delayed, the job would take too long. I borrowed cleaning tools and got to work.
I gathered the broken bottles separately from the other rubbish. Some fallen products remained usable, but the company couldn’t sell them.
“Even if something survived, we can’t offer merchandise that’s fallen into a mess like this,” Hanna explained.
“What will happen to it, then?”
“If any employees want it, we’ll probably give it to them. You may take anything useful as well, Erik.”
That offer increased my enthusiasm.
I cleaned every small corner while still working quickly. Two hours later, the disastrous area looked cleaner than it had before the accident.
“…Erik, were you a carpenter too?”
During the cleaning, I’d also repaired the collapsed shelf, whose supports had broken. The company had spare lumber, and after receiving permission, I’d used it for simple reinforcement.
“No. A skillful old man in my village taught me a little about woodworking. A professional carpenter would probably criticize this.”
“No, it’s properly reinforced. I was planning to purchase a new shelf, but this should remain usable for quite some time.”
“I agree,” Marina said. “It looks strong enough to survive even if I bump into it again. It’s better than before!”
Both women praised the repair.
As promised, I then selected useful items from among the unsellable goods. I received medicines, detergent, and supplies for maintaining weapons and armor.
There were even children’s clothes in my size that had never sold.
“M-May I really take clothes too?”
“Of course. If they remain here, we’ll eventually throw them away.”
Clothing became moth-eaten if stored for too long. The company had taken precautions, but these pieces simply never sold. Discounting them further would only consume space needed for other merchandise, so they were destined for disposal.
In that case, accepting them seemed reasonable. I took several outfits and sets of underwear.
“…Aren’t you carrying more than when you left?” Reina asked when I returned to the guild.
“Ha ha. The company gave me products they could no longer sell.”
“They must have been very pleased with your work.”
“I hope so.”
Reina showed me the outside-city requests. I accepted another involving slimes, but instead of leaving immediately, I returned to the inn first.
“My, you’re back early today. Where did all that luggage come from?”
“The client gave these things to me. They’d get in the way during my next request, so I came back to leave them in my room.”
Upstairs, I unloaded everything and transferred the medicines into the bag I wore when going out.
“I’m leaving again.”
“All right. Do your best.”
Amanda saw me off for the second time. I left the capital and returned to the forest that had already become part of my daily routine.
“…The forest feels even nicer than usual today.”
There was no oppressive atmosphere, and the air felt clear.
As I proceeded, I soon found a slime. After confirming no other monsters were nearby, I drew my sword and observed it.
The slime was placidly staring at some grass. I approached from behind and swung at its core.
◇
A monster has been defeated.
1 EXP acquired.
EXP until next level: 49/100.
◇
◇
[Swordsmanship] training completed.
1 EXP acquired.
EXP until skill acquisition: 1/100.
◇
The panel I kept active displayed new text beneath my level experience.
“What exactly caused me to gain experience toward [Swordsmanship]?”
This message hadn’t appeared the previous day. Something I’d done since then must have triggered it, but the only difference I could think of was that morning’s training.
“…Too much time has passed for the training itself to be the trigger. Could it depend on conscious intent?”
I found another slime and killed it while deliberately thinking about [Swordsmanship].
◇
A monster has been defeated.
1 EXP acquired.
EXP until next level: 50/100.
◇
My level experience increased, but the skill experience did not.
“Now I understand it even less. Still, I’ve learned that my skill can display progress toward acquiring other skills. That’s a step forward.”
Many mysteries remained, but I’d discovered another aspect of my power.
I continued hunting slimes.
◇
A monster has been defeated.
1 EXP acquired.
EXP until next level: 95/100.
◇
◇
[Swordsmanship] training completed.
1 EXP acquired.
EXP until skill acquisition: 3/100.
◇
I’d stopped checking the panel partway through to focus on exploring. By the time I looked again, the [Swordsmanship] experience had increased twice more.
My level experience had also risen considerably. When the evening bell rang, I returned to the city, completed the guild paperwork, and collected my reward.
At the inn, I maintained my equipment, ate dinner, and bathed.
Barring any unexpected trouble, I’d finally level up the next day. Excitement over that prospect made me go to sleep earlier than usual.
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