Chapter 111 – Lochia

We depart from Saite two days after we were supposed to.
We didn’t want to bump into Light Sword again, so Sera also bore with us despite wanting to hurry.

In the meantime, we accepted another wolf hunting quest, snacked around town, and practiced controlling magic energy.
We also borrowed the guild’s training area to do some mock battles, mostly for Mia’s sake.

She’s going to be traveling with us, maybe even exploring dungeons with us, so I think she should at least be able to protect herself.

Mia is looking languid right now.
Her believers might pass out if they saw her now.

I would say something, but I’m feeling kind of sorry for her, so I let her be.
She must be having a lot of muscular pains.

But I have to steel my heart when it’s time to start walking again.
We’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t leave the resting until nighttime.

“Master, what’s the next town like?”

Asks Hikari.

“Apparently Lochia is an agricultural town.”

“Agricultural? Vegetables?”

“Pretty much.
I heard its northern region in particular is a grain-producing region, and sixty percent of the food from the magic state comes from there.
Apparently the grain-producing region is dotted with villages too.”

“There are villages inside the town?”

“I don’t really know a lot about it either.
I guess the land is too big to manage, so they separated it? And then they gather all the cereals and vegetables they harvest in Lochia, and people lump it all together and call it an agricultural town, I guess.
They say there’s a big river flowing from the mountains to the north, and they can’t take food directly to the west side.”

This makes me wonder why they don’t just build a bridge, but then again, I don’t know how big the river actually is, or the level of engineering in this world.
There’s magic, but apparently not a lot of people who use it for engineering work.

Two days after leaving Saite, we see a big wooden fence to our right, built about one kilometer from a forest.
I see what looks like cabins for people to keep watch too.

But what really catches my eye is what looks like wheat, covering the whole area in front of us.
Casting Appraisal on it tells me it’s in the wheat family.
So it’s not poaceae? Oh well, it doesn’t really matter.

“Master, can we eat that?”

“Probably not as is.
But it will probably be processed and turned into things like bread.”

“I want fluffy bread.”

“White bread?”

“Yes, that.
The darker ones are hard.”

“But they get softer if you dip them in soup.”

“Yes, but it’s not that good.”

Yes, they’re dipped in soup not to give it taste, but to make them softer.
I should make soup that’s more rich in flavor.
Maybe I’ll buy more vegetables and cook all sorts of them together.
They should be cheaper in this area, since they’re produced here.

I think about this while looking on at this peaceful sight.
I see people doing farm work in the distance, but I still don’t understand how seasons work in this world.

I asked about this before, and I was told that there is a yearly time cycle in this world, and each year has four hundred days.
Apparently it differs from place to place, but there are warm and cold seasons too.

But Mia and the others say that they don’t really have a general concept of time.

They generally wake up when the sun is up, and go to sleep when it goes down.
But the magic state is rumored to have magic items that can tell time, so maybe they know more.

Incidentally, I’m not very accurate when it comes to getting a feel for what time it is.
Should I look into if and how I can make a watch with Alchemy? Then again, if no one else cares, there’s not much point in only me knowing what time it is…

“Master is thinking about something hard again.”

Says Hikari, pointing to the space between her eyebrows to really get her point across.

“Sorry sorry.
I was thinking about a recipe for something nice.”

“From your world?”

“Yes, but I don’t have those ingredients in this world, so making it the exact same is going to be impossible.”

“Don’t give up developing it.”

She really is a glutton.
But I get the feeling that Mia and Sera have been going the same direction lately.

Mia has been facing down due to being tired, but I can see her reacting to this conversation.
Sera’s tail is shaking a little too.

This kind of slow, easygoing time is really nice.
It would be nice to stay safe, find myself a cute wife, and live out the rest of my days in peace.
But I need to at the very least look for Eris, and I also need to get magic stones to make the items I need to live comfortably, and things never really seem to go as I expect.

Two days later, we reach Lochia.

This town is a connecting point with the Holy Kingdom of Frieren and the Dragon Kingdom of Hafre, so it’s actually more like a small city.

There are large storehouses in every direction.
That’s probably where they store their harvests.

When I show the gatekeeper my card and we are let in, I’m warned that there are a lot of people gathered here, and to not cause any trouble.
I don’t think anyone really likes to get in trouble, it just comes on its own.

We’re told of an inn that serves nice food, and make reservations for three days.

“Master, let’s go check out the stores.”

The sun is still high up, so I guess we could go have a look around this area.
But Mia looks like she’s having trouble moving around, so she’s staying behind with Sera.
Why is Mia still having trouble moving? Because she’s been doing mock battles every single day.
She’s a hard worker, but I have to be careful not to let her push herself too much.
Although she’s pretty stubborn.

“Hikari, I want to stop by the merchant guild first, is that all right?”

I grab her hand, and we go to the merchant guild, because I’m scared that she’ll wander off if I let go of her.
Then again, I could find her pretty easily with Map and Presence Detection.

I’m going to the guild to withdraw money, because I’m starting to run out of physical money.
It looks like there are a lot of stores that take cards, but still, the vast majority deal in hard cash.
That includes the type of cheap inns we usually use.

“By the way, does this town pay more for potions than Majolica?”

“I don’t think there’s much of a difference in regards to high quality ones, but we probably pay a little more when it comes to potions that aren’t so good.”

“Why is that?”

“Majolica has a magic academy, so the students there make a lot of potions that are regularly shipped, driving down prices.”

Does that mean supplies outweigh what’s used in the dungeon?

“This town on the other hand has a lot of people coming and going, so demand for potions is high.”

That makes sense.

“So how much do you think I could get for these?”

I show one of each potion.

“Hold on a second… These are good quality potions.
So much so that I wish we could purchase them consistently.”

“As you can see, I’m a traveling merchant.
I actually acquired these while traveling.”

“I see, that’s a shame.
As for prices, ten silver coins for each healing potion, one gold coin for mana potions, and fifteen silver coins for stamina potions.”

Prices really do change depending on the place.

“What is the matter?”

“I was just thinking that prices change a lot depending on the location.
These prices are different from what I got in the holy kingdom.”

“That’s right.
So, what will you do?”

“How about I sell fifty of each?”

“That will be fine.
But can we check them first?”

I hand all the other potions I’m selling, and someone else is called from the back.

“Everything is in order.
Do you want to get paid through your card?”

“Only half, please.
And split it between gold, silver, and copper coins.”

I hand over my card.
Apparently my money won’t be gone even if I leave the merchant guild, so I leave half the money there.

But I’m taking the other half and storing it in an item bag and the Item Box.
I can’t have it all in one place, just in case.