HOW TO SPEND WEEKENDS ⑤

“Fu-.
Thanks for the meal.”
“To think you could finish two.
Even Reno only managed one.
Boys really are something else.”
“That’s because it was so tasty.”

Aria and the rest were satisfied with only half a fish each, while Reno had one.
Well, though they were big, Aria and the others made it so flavorful that I guzzled two whole fishes.

“What should we do in the afternoon?”
“I’d like to find more snow-strawberries.
I really want to make a jam out of them.”
“I’ll help! I’m gonna find lots of them!”
“I will, also, help.”

The three of them seemed really taken in by the snow-strawberries.
They were popping them earlier at quite a speed too.

Whichever world you go to, girls will always have a weak spot for sweets huh.

“Then I guess I’ll go with you all.
Kili? Milia?”
“I’m really tired after this morning, so I think I’ll go back and rest at home.
I’m still in the middle of reading that book I borrowed from Milia.
Besides, even if we know no one’s coming to visit, I don’t think all of us leaving the village is a good idea.”
“In that case, I shall accompany you.
I too have an unfinished book I’d like to finish.”

Kili and Milia went back to the village.

Just as she said, it could be problematic to leave the village empty for long periods of time.

There isn’t much snow around here because it’s heavily influenced by the Demon Forest, but the village which lied close to here, should have accumulated a lot of snow by now.
I haven’t seen it yet, but it seems that it can snow enough to fill people in.
Sieg-san and the others really cut it close with their visit.

It was highly likely that we would get any visitors under these conditions, but all the same, it would be bad to leave the village unattended.

“Ah! That’s true.
In that case I’ll also…”
“There aren’t any scheduled visits, so two people should be enough.
If a scout comes visiting like before, I’ll contact you.
Aria should instead pick those juicy snow-strawberries for us.”
“…Really? Okay, I’ll leave it to you then.”

Aria thought about returning as well, but the temptation of fruits won in the end.
She decided to come with us to get as many snow-strawberries as possible.

“…Everyone liked sweets huh.
I honestly had no idea.”
“Yeah, sweets are luxury goods in this country after all.
Except for snow-strawberries in the winter and honey, you can only get fruits from orchards in the south of this country, or import them from other countries.”
“Really.
In that case, if fruits grew deeper in the jungle, we could get rich by selling those.”
“FRUITS GROW THAT DEEP!?”

Aria jumps in the middle of the conversation.
The other four were also looking towards me, with piqued interest.

(I might have said too much)

I could feel the cold sweat running down my back.

“W-well, the environment changes drastically along with the concentration of magic.
It’s possible that the deep-end of the forest is like the south of this country.”
“So we can get lots of fruits if we go there right!?”
“‘If’ there is such a place.
There’s a chance it doesn’t even exist.”
“But there’s a chance it does, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Alright! I’ll explore super hard from tomorrow!”
“I’ll work hard, too.”

The two pip-squeaks were raring to go.
Looking closely, I could see a fire burning in not only Kili’s, but also Milia’s eyes.

(I should not have brought this up.
No wait, since they’re acquainted with the dangers inside the forest, they shouldn’t be taking any rash steps)

Everyone was unexpectedly motivated.
However, after having the terror of the forest hammered into them, I was sure they wouldn’t take any rash steps.

I really hope they didn’t…

***

“Oooi, can we home already?”

“…Yeah.
I’ve found plenty, so let’s go back.”

When the sun started to set, I called out to Aria.
The basket I had, almost overflowed with snow-strawberries, and Aria’s basket also had an impressive amount in it.
Or rather, her basket looked as if it was crying for help.
Will it really hold till we reach the village?

“Ooi, are you coming-?”
“Our basket, is full.”
“Wow.”

Having heard our voices, Reno and Sui, who were at a slight distance, came over to us.

I unwillingly raised a voice after seeing their basket.
The snow-strawberries formed a mountain inside it.

“You picked so many, it’ll be a waste if they fell on the way back.”
“Holding it, with magic.
No problem.”
“…I see.”

Saying that, Aria continued hunting for more snow-strawberries.
Sui cast magic on Aria’s basket in the meantime.
I believe this was state-preserving magic.
When did she learn that?

“Hey! Get back to work Lain, or the sun will set!”
“Let’s stuff Lain nii-chan’s basket as well!”
“Good.
That’s the spirit.”

It seems that none of them were willing to head back till they had found as many strawberries as they could.

(It might be better not to bring up [Storage] magic right now)

I prayed to make it back by dinnertime, as I continued looking for more snow-strawberries.

***

“That is all for my report.”
“Good work.”

I gave the head-butler words of praise.
I had him do a background check on the merchant who visited Aria’s village.
Mid-level for a merchant, but their business was running soundly, without any negative reputation.

“It’s assuring that they’re not troublemakers.”
“Yeah, and it didn’t seem like they made a deal which would be disadvantageous to Aria’s group.”

I had determined that place to be of strategic importance.
The purity of that Earth Extract didn’t lose out to even those of the finest quality, found inside ruins.
Even with the amount I bought from Aria, I was able to restore numerous magic tools and magic swords, which had been unusable till now.
That alone was a considerable profit.
There was an alchemist who could make such a thing.
He alone could serve as a trump card, who could change the flow of this war.

I’d like to keep him bounded to this territory by all means.
With that in mind, I was in the middle of picking someone who could serve as a funnel to that village, when reports of a single trader going to it, reached me.

I should have restricted access to that village till I decided on a proper candidate.
I believed no one would visit such a remote pioneering village.
To think, the finest alchemist in the territory, whom I asked to confirm the purity of the Earth Extract, would leak this story to me.

“Might as well make that merchant the funnel between us and that village.”
“That merchant?”

The merchant had at least earned some level of trust with Aria.
As proof of that, he had brought back quite a large volume of Earth Extract, and was entrusted to buy a very high-end product, called an alchemy pot, in exchange for it.
Besides that, it seems that he received many orders for clothing and luxury items.
If you weren’t trusted to a certain extent, you wouldn’t have been given orders for clothes.

“That merchant and Aria are well-connected with this incident.
Rather than sending someone else carelessly, wouldn’t it be better to make that merchant exclusive to Aria with my endorsement?”
“…Indeed that would be so.”

It’s someone they had already traded with, albeit once.
It might send a better message than sending a complete stranger to them.

Besides, the fewer people knew about that village, the less likely its information would be leaked.
I’ll have the adventurers continue to act as escorts of that merchant.

“Then shall we let the merchant hold the letter from the capital as well?”
“…I don’t see why not.
I’m sure Aria would refuse either way.”

A while back, we received a letter addressed to Aria from the capital.
The letter was an invitation to the martial-arts tournament held in the royal capital.
It was organized every year to test the skills of each person in the first year of their adulthood.
Along with showing their progress as an adult for one year, it also serves to announce newly selected aristocrats.
Despite being disowned, an invitation was also sent out to her on account of belonging to the lowest seat of aristocracy.

Basically, those who did not participate in this tournament were not considered aristocrats, so you lose any and all claim to aristocracy by refusing to participate.
Well, there were some who only participated to not lose their rights to aristocracy, but this tournament wasn’t concerned with whether the participants were dead or alive.
If you were an aristocrat, your killer would earn the wrath of your entire house, so there was no way for you to die.
However, Aria does not have the power of a house behind her.
Our connection was too weak, so I couldn’t serve as her shield either.
These aristocratic shackles were troublesome as always.

In other words, there was no one to raise a voice in case Aria were to die in this tournament.
If you forcibly participated, you might end up killing yourself.

“Have it be that way.”
“Very well.”

The head-butler bowed deeply, and left the room.
I had an unsettling feeling about this, but I knew that girl wasn’t an idiot.
She’d surely refuse.

“…Please don’t be an idiot.”

While looking at the town buried under snow, I thought about my adorable niece.