Chapter 81

The day after we ate the strawberry cream cake.

Having completely washed away the fatigue from the carriage journey, we were in the midst of preparations to set off on our travels again.

“Ugh…! We’ll soon cross the border and arrive at the Village of the World Tree.”

“That’s right. This long journey feels like it’s finally nearing its end.”

Karina and Serena seemed to feel a mix of relief and anticipation as the Village of the World Tree drew closer, signaling the end of their journey.

However, Mari, who had tried to run away from home only to get caught and scolded by her mother, looked like she couldn’t bring herself to smile.

“Uuu… I don’t want to go home…”

While each of them shared their thoughts about the Village of the World Tree being just around the corner, there was something I needed to tell them.

“Actually, there’s something I need to tell all of you.”

“Something you need to tell us?”

“What is it?”

“Why are you suddenly being so serious?”

“We’re out of money.”

“….”

“….”

“….”

At my words, their smiling faces froze solid.

The money our party uses can be divided into two main types.

Personal money for individual use.

For example, when Serena filled half the carriage with beer, it was bought using her personal funds.

And the travel expenses, which the four of us pooled together for use during the journey.

This includes the money used to buy the carriage and the food expenses incurred during the trip.

Naturally, when I said we were out of money, I wasn’t referring to my personal funds.

I meant that the travel expenses we had pooled together had run out.

Hearing this, Mari, who among the four of us had the most sense when it came to money, asked in disbelief.

“Out of money…? Your personal assets, Kurt?”

“No. The travel expenses.”

Upon hearing this, Mari naturally raised her voice.

“Out of money! What do you mean? Didn’t we just defeat a monster attack and complete a request, earning plenty of money!?”

“But we spent a lot on buying the carriage.”

“That can’t be! We calculated the remaining travel period and the money needed before buying the carriage… There’s no way we could be out of money already!”

So, they had calculated all that before buying the carriage.

Despite appearances, she’s quite sharp when it comes to money.

As I absentmindedly thought about Mari’s behavior as if it were someone else’s business, Mari, while speaking, seemed to realize something and looked at me as if wondering if what she thought was really true.

“And recently, we haven’t spent much money… Unless…”

“That ‘unless’ is correct. We spent all the money on the strawberry cream cake we ate yesterday.”

In fact, the travel expenses alone weren’t enough, so I even used my personal funds to buy the ingredients.

“What, what did you say!? No matter how expensive desserts are, how could one meal yesterday…!”

“Exactly! It was enough money for four adventurers to travel comfortably, how could it all be gone after one meal!”

At my words, Karina and Serena, unable to accept reality, grabbed my clothes and demanded an explanation, and I quietly revealed the cruel truth to them.

“100g of sugar.”

“…What?”

“…No way? Right?”

“What, what did you say!?”

“That’s how much went into the cake we ate yesterday. And it was premium white sugar.”

Not to mention the butter and the refined white flour, only the best parts were used.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Th-that’s impossible.”

“…What on earth did we eat yesterday?”

It’s enjoyable while eating, but despairing afterward.

That’s calories and the receipt.

I spoke in a calm voice, as if I were a Buddha enlightening the three who looked like they might vomit if left alone.

“Give up. Accept your fate.”

Thud!

At my words, Mari kicked my shin as if annoyed, but I, being transcendent, didn’t feel any pain.

“This is all because of you!”

“But we enjoyed eating it, didn’t we?”

“…Ugh! But if I had known it was such an expensive meal, I would have suggested eating something else! After all, the travel expenses are money we all pooled together…!”

“I’m sorry about that.”

But I really wanted to eat it.

Still, since it was pooled money, I didn’t eat it alone; the four of us ate it together.

I thought about saying that, but it seemed like Mari might collapse before we even reached the Village of the World Tree, so I kept it to myself.

Thus, our party learned the bitter lesson that Mari should be in charge of financial management from now on, and we found ourselves sifting through the request board to earn money again.

“Sniff… I thought we could relax for a while after buying the carriage…”

“Sorry about that. But isn’t it good that we’ll arrive at the Village of the World Tree later because we need to earn money?”

“Kurt, be quiet!”

Hmm. Since I was actually at fault, I have nothing to say.

Mari, disheartened that the comfortable carriage journey had been ruined, was looking through the request board.

However, perhaps because it was a border town nearing the frontier, the requests weren’t as plentiful as in Astram.

In Astram, due to the geographical feature of monsters constantly appearing, decent extermination requests were easy to spot, but in an ordinary town, such requests didn’t seem to come up as easily.

After all, if there were constant monster extermination requests, it would mean the town was doomed.

Moreover, since we had a carriage, the option of easily tagging along as escorts for merchants as before was impossible unless we planned to sell it.

While looking through the board for a while, one request caught my eye.

“How about this request? It’s a person escort request, and it’s towards the direction of the Village of the World Tree.”

“Let me see. ‘Looking for adventurers to escort by carriage to the Dwarven Village’?”

“Oh. The Dwarven Village?”

“Dwarves?”

Perhaps because of the keyword ‘Dwarven Village.’

Karina and Serena, who were looking at other requests, also seemed curious and leaned in to check the request.

“The request deadline is today.”

“Hmm. The reward isn’t bad, and since it’s in the direction of the Village of the World Tree, there’s not much time lost…”

“I’m curious about the Dwarven Village.”

“Hmm…”

Thus, our next request was decided.

“Thank you so much. If no one had accepted, I would have been stuck in the city with all this luggage!”

The one who thanked us with a bright smile was, of course, a dwarf.

Wait, is he really a dwarf?

The first impression was, ‘Why is a girl making such a request?’ He looked so delicate.

Serena also had a delicate physique, but she was a woman and a mage who stayed away from exercise, so it was understandable…

But aren’t dwarf males supposed to be different?

Clatter

“I couldn’t sell as much equipment in the city as I thought, so I couldn’t carry it all.”

However, the dwarf boy, delicate only in appearance, effortlessly lifted a huge box filled with iron weapons and armor into the carriage with both hands.

Seeing the carriage sway as the box was loaded, it must have weighed several hundred kg. Despite his appearance, a dwarf is still a dwarf.

Thus, with the dwarf boy who had made the request on board, we set off for the Dwarven Village.

Clatter

Clatter

The boy, named Nail, introduced himself as an apprentice blacksmith from the Dwarven Village.

He had come to the city to sell items made by the village’s dwarves, expecting to sell everything and walk back, but unexpectedly failed to sell all the items, forcing him to place an escort request with the Adventurer Guild.

“Really? Dwarf-made items not selling?”

“Unbelievable. People would pay extra for dwarf-made items.”

“Ah… Actually, the items that didn’t sell were all made by me. None of them sold, so I had to bring them back.”

At Nail’s explanation, we understood without showing it.

Of course, that makes sense.

Even for a dwarf, it’s hard to make high-quality items as an apprentice.

Then, Serena, who had been quietly listening to Nail, spoke to him.

“Since none of them sold, the quality must have been pretty bad, huh?”

Oops. We were trying not to say that.

But surprisingly, whether such remarks aren’t considered rude among dwarves or Nail is just broad-minded, he answered with a smile without showing any displeasure.

“Ahaha. I thought I made them quite well, but others must not have thought so.”

“Can we take a look at some of the items?”

“Of course.”

Karina, who as a warrior was interested in various cold weapons, eagerly asked to see them, and Nail, somewhat shyly, took out the equipment from the box to show us.

Clatter

Clatter

“Ah, this is the full plate armor I made.”

What he pulled out was a plate armor of a quality that was hard to believe was made by an apprentice.

Indeed, its craftsmanship was worthy of the name ‘dwarf-made,’ and the term ‘apprentice’ seemed meaningless for him.

Except that the armor’s design was somewhat unique.

“What is this…?”

“Ah, this is my blade armor. The entire armor is covered in blades, so it’s an excellent offensive and defensive item that causes more damage to the attacker.”

“…But if every surface is covered in sharp blades, how do you put it on and take it off?”

“That’s exactly why all the test wearers got hurt, and it didn’t sell. Hahaha.”

A full plate armor with so many blades that even the wearer can’t freely put it on or take off, let alone ride a horse.

Next was a war hammer with gunpowder inside that explodes with each strike, but the explosion range is so wide that even the wielder gets caught in it.

A throwing weapon that scatters iron spikes in 360 degrees, really in 360 degrees, so even the thrower gets hit by the spikes.

Each item boasted an impressive level of craftsmanship that was hard to believe was made by an apprentice, but their designs were so flawed that they were unusable.

“This is my masterpiece. A greatsword with a magic circuit engraved on it, and when a magic stone is inserted at the back, the mana inside the stone wraps around the blade. It’s like enchanting the magic stone as a consumable! Of course, to make space for the circuit and ensure durability despite the complex structure, it ended up being quite large and weighs about 30kg…”

Nail continued to boast about the weapons he made, oblivious to our increasingly cold gazes.

Ah, this dwarf boy is talented but lacking in something.

Watching Nail, who had immersed himself in his own world, boasting about his creations, we thought so.

Thus, we headed towards the Dwarven Village with Nail.

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