Chapter 2 Episode 13
Threat

In the middle of the night. I left the inn alone and ran through the dark path.
It’s so dark visibility is next to zero but with the feedback of the wind it’s not a problem.

The reason I left in the middle of the night like this is to guarantee s.p.a.ce in the 【Item Box】.
Now, in the item box there are about one hundred goats. Each weighing around 30kg, to an overall weight of 3000kg. That leaves about 1000kg of free s.p.a.ce.

There’s not enough s.p.a.ce for the ingredients and clothes we’ll get tomorrow. I had to return to Elucie and release the goats.

「Nevertheless, as expected of the city of commerce Erin, there’s lots of delicious stuff」

Today’s dinner was amazing. Beef stew made with a tomato base demi-glace sauce and bread with a lot of b.u.t.ter. Aside from a fresh salad made with eggs and bacon.

As expected cow is delicious. The meat, of course, but the milk is also better than goat’s. I want to raise them in Elucie, but the cost performance is really bad. The necessary food for one day would be so much that not to mention the leftovers even the entire grain production of Elucie would not be enough. Not to mention they are weak to cold and get sick easily so that would take even more resources. No matter what raising cattle seems impossible.

On the bread side, the wheat was threshed very well so the quality was pretty good. Because of the b.u.t.ter and eggs the taste was also better than what we have at Elucie.

A fresh salad is also such a luxury in Elucie that you can hardly ever eat.

While the food was so, the best thing in tonight’s dinner was without a doubt the cider (alcohol made from apples). Elves and firefoxes are races that like alcohol on the genetic level so we all got very excited.

After a little longer, we’ll be able to make alcohol in Elucie. After that everyday life will get pretty good.

「I need to restock the private funds on my wallet. I don’t really want to but should I sell the knife? It looks like only the Empire can match the manufacturing process so it should fetch a high price」

This time, aside from lodging, all other expenses like food and entertainment were paid by me.
I could call it official business, but for a more emotional reason I can’t take the money from Elucie’s funds.

Despite saying that, I don’t want to sell weapons made from iron. If I disregard making a specialty product for Elucie as a bother, and ma.s.s produce weapons with all the iron I can get my hands on and sell everything at Erin, we can probably make enough money for everyone in Elucie to live comfortably for several years.

However, in case I die. Elucie will instantly turn into a frail ent.i.ty.
While thinking these things, I approach the woods near Elucie.
This place is very steep so elves don’t use it as a hunting ground. Normally no one comes here.

「Gotta make a fence surrounding it」

I stretch barbed wire around the trees surrounding me. It covers a radius of about 100 resulting in a huge cage in using the woods.
Living beings with a certain amount of intelligence can enter it easily, but things like goats, deers and boars can’t get in from outside or get out from inside.

I make sure there are no animals that could hurt the goats inside the barbed wire I prepared beforehand and so I can release the goats safely.

Then I build two large brick animal pens inside the area and enter one.

「【Reincarnation Recall】, Deet. 【Item Box】」

After entering the pen I quickly use【Reincarnation Recall】to change to Deet and 【Item Box】to release the goats in state of apparent death.

After doing that, I immediately return from Deet to Cyril.
After all I have to return to Erin shortly. If I don’t keep the time as Deet as short as possible later the recoil will be rough.
Then, I run electricity through their hearts and forcibly bring them back to life.

「Baaaa」
「Baaaaaaaa」

One by one the bewildered goats rise let out cries and trash about. But since the door to the pen is closed they can’t get out.
After finishing waking up the goats, I enter the other pen.
There I leave a large quant.i.ty of maple leaves to dry in the sun in a manner that they won’t spoil.

I made the women and children of Elucie to gather these maple leaves together with the cranberry. Not to make compost, but to guarantee feed for the goats.

Of course, if you release the goats on the woods even in the winter when there’s no food, they’ll dig up and eat roots and the bark of tree so they will not die from hunger.

But that will leave lasting damage on the trees. To prevent that we need some extent of food.

「I also have to teach them to return to the pen」

I put some of the maple leaves into feed bins I had prepared in the pen with the goats. The goats start to eat away the leaves.
Goats are clever things, they will remember where there’s food.

If they remember that this pen is a warm place suitable for sleep, and that they can easily get food here. Even if they are released they will return here.

「It will be the firefoxes job from tomorrow on, have to teach them right」

Firstly, first thing in the morning they have to milk the goats in the pen. After that they have to get the goats out to exercise and forage. Then they have to clean and replace the water and food in the pen. Then on the evening they have to gather the scattered about goats and lead them into the pen and close the doors.

Other than that, they will have to use heat to sterilize the milk and divide it up between everyone. Also help with childbirth, mating and strangling the goat’s who stop giving milk. Shear and gather the fur, there are several different things to do.

「They seem motivated so it’ probably all right」

For today i’ll fill the water and food and close the doors by myself. With this the firefoxes will go from being neets to productive members of the village.

Right now they only gather mushrooms at the forest and making lard and sauce. They can’t make enough lard or sauce to distribute to all the elves so they left spa.r.s.e impression so far.

But, if they if the deliver goat milk everyday to the elves homes, the elves should recognize their efforts.
Doing that I left Elucie and went back to Erin.

「Good morning, Cyril」
I rub my eyes.
While doing that, Lucie who woke up earlier greets me.

「Good morning, Lucie. Did you sleep well?」
「Yes ,the bed is really soft. It’s amazing! Totally different from the beds back in the village」
Saying that Lucie jumps into the bed and her small body sinks into the soft bed.
This causes Kuu who was still asleep to fly off the bed and she opens her eyes in mid air.

「Munya, hyau!? What’s going on!?」

She sits with her legs to sides and looks around.

「Ah, Kuu-chan i’m sorry」
「Eh, ah, right. ….. We came to Erin yesterday. Good morning Cyril-kun, Lucie-chan」

Kuu, looking like she forgot we came here while still half asleep shakes of her confusion and returns to her usual older sister expression.

「Kuu, it’s fine to put air like an older sister but you still have bed hair 」
「Eh? No way! It’s true. Hauu this is embarra.s.sing」
Kuu pets the hair on her tail and desperately tries to settle it.

「You starting there?」
「What?」
「No, nevermind」

While I’m coming to terms with that, Kuu goes Yes! and keeps working on her tail until she’s satisfied.

「Well then, get dressed the two of you. After finishing breakfast we’ll go shopping. There’s a lot to buy so we have to finish in the morning so day deliver in the afternoon. That’ around the time the clothes we ordered yesterday should arrive so we’ll get them and return to Elucie」
「Okay, understood Cyril」
「Then, let’s get dressed and go down. …… Cyril-kun, you want to det dressed? 」
「Yeah, so please hurry up」

Lucie and Kuu are both wearing thin pajamas lent by the inn. The inn costs 2 gold(12.000yen) a day but their service is up to par, the clothes we were wearing yesterday were already washed and delivered.

「What’s wrong Kuu, you won’t change?」

Lucie undressed naturally and put on her clothes.
We grew up like siblings so changing clothes it’s not anything to be concerned about.
I start to change as well.

「Erm, you are not a little embarra.s.sed or something?」
「But it’s just changing clothes?」
「But, Cyril is here」

Kuu seems to be a little confused as how naturally we start to change.

「That’s right, it’s just changing clothes」

Then, while still embarra.s.sed the sight of Kuu’s changing clothes enter my field of vision.
The main point is that she’s right at the edge of my field of vision. If I look directly a her she’ll get conscious and probably hate me.

Then, after looking at me and seeing that nothing changed she relaxed and started changing.
Yes, a sight for sore eyes. While imprinting their beautiful skin on my eyes the morning goes by.

「Wow, it’s so lively!」
「I don’t know where to look!」

The three of us go to the city. We are overwhelmed with a number of enthusiastic people that can’t be compared to yesterday.
We walk around while snacking on sandwiches.
Since we didn’t have enough time to eat breakfast I asked the inn staff to bring us sandwiches.

The egg sandwiches made with mustard and tomato puree are superb. It’s enough to make we want to live here.

The market in the early morning, is more focused not on individual shoppers but more on other merchants. It’s filled with people who want to buy large quant.i.ties at smaller prices. We can’t lose to them.

「For a while now, you’ve been writing things down very fiercely. What are you writing Cyril?」
「I’m creating a diagram of the locations in this city」
「That’s for checking the prices on the stores and buy the at cheapest one no matter by how much?」
「That as well, but instead of checking where it’s cheaper, i’m focusing on how much each kind of merchandise is going for overall. 」

Lucie and Kuu, tilt their head at my response.
They can’t imagine how much today’s shopping affects my plans.

「Today we came to buy, but next time I want to come here to sell. Seeing what is being sold at which prices is something we must know. If we make something that takes a lot of work to make but only sells for little, won’t that be bad? We have to make things that sell for a lot」

That’s the biggest principle in business. If you start selling without knowing the tendencies of the market, only ruin awaits you.

「It’s fine to bring expensive things but won’t they not sell because it’s expensive?」
「Everything is different, but something that everyone wants, but there’s little of will become expensive. So even if it’s expensive since people want it, it’s not hard to sell」

It’s irrational, but it’s how things work.
「Take a look that as for example」

I point to a well built merchant holding a leather bag with both hands and speaking with a loud voice.

「Today’s main attraction! Sugar from beyond the seas! One bag only one gold! You’ll not find cheaper than this anywhere!」
「Gimme three bags!」
「I want five!」

The price is very high but the sugar sells like a joke.

Look like each bag should hold about 500g. Even then it’s probably mixed so the quant.i.ty is diluted.

「So if we can get out hands on sugar, we can make a profit like that. Even if it’s not sugar, we need to find something that sells for a lot. And on the other side, if we find something cheap, we can return to buy after going back to Elucie. 」

While saying that I run my hands writing down. I memorize every little bit of everything on display. Then I use the data and write down the average.
Is there nothing that sell for a high price like sugar, but can be produced at Elucie, is what i’m thinking.
For now there’s only one thing that fits, but I want to increase the scope.

「Ah, Cyril-san how about salt? 1kg is selling for 1 silver coin. That store is selling 1kg of wheat for 1 silver. You can buy the same quant.i.ty in wheat.」

Kuu says while swinging her tail.
Her eyes look like she’s saying praise me praise. I feel a little sorry.
It did became easy to get salt at Elucie now, but we can’t make a profit with that.

「Kuu, salt is indeed precious close to Elucie, but in a city that gathers merchandise from all around like Erin it’s not worth that much. You can get salt from a lot of different places and if I recall correctly there’s even one close to Erin」
「But it’s selling for 1 silver」
「The tax on it is very high. Salt will certainly sell and if find a place with rock salt you can extract it very easily. So the country and the aristocracy keep a monopoly on mining rights and sell high as a source of income. The salt that comes from outside is heavily taxes so that it can only be sold at high prices」
「Uuu, that’s not fair」
「Without knowing these unfair things you can’t make business. Kuu than you for think about things」

While saying that I pat her head. Kuu narrows her eyes and links her arm with mine. Her tail flies out of her skirt and rubs against my a.s.s. I realized this a while ago but, when Kuu is happy she has this habit of rubbing her tail.

By the way the actual foxes have scent gland under their tails. That they use to mark their territory and mark males they like to claim ownership so that other females do not approach.
……………….I’m sure that and Kuu’s behavior are not related.

「Kuu, your tail came off, hide it」
「Hyau, I’m, I’m sorry」

Kuu returns her tail to the inside of the skirt.
Since we’re hiding her ears to hide the fact she’s a firefox, if there a huge tail coming out it’s pointless. Fortunately everyone is focused on shopping so I don’t think anyone noticed.

「If the taxes are the problem. Cyril can cheat with his magic right?」
「Right. Like Lucie said. I can use magic to cheat on the taxes」

But only the tax paid at entering the city. The things in the【Item Box】will not be found out. If you don’t have to pay the taxes you can sell the salt for a good profit.

「But, if we sell a lot of salt we’ll stand out and probably be caught for tax evasion. Besides, I don’t want to use these unfair things to do business.」
「Sorry, Cyril. I didn’t think far enough」
「There’s nothing to apologize for. Like I said before, I’m happy that Lucie and Kuu are thinking about these things. Thank you Lucie」

This time I pat Lucie’s head. Lucie also glues herself to my other arm. She’s more bold than usual. Her sense of rivalry probably got aroused by Kuu.

On both arms i’m holding beautiful girls. There’s probably not many who are this happy.
Thanks to that, i couldn’t write anymore. Memorizing everything and writing it down later will have to suffice. Let’s enjoy this moment.

Without buying anything, I look at every corner of the marketplace, considering what we’ll buy on the way back.

「First. I need 2 tons of barley. With this, the potatoes, and the wheat from the social gathering, it should be enough for the firehose to get through winter. With the village provisions 1 ton of wheat should suffice. This is also a sure thing. Going by the market price, 3kg of barley are around 2 silver(2400yen) so around 23 gold coins(1.380.000yen). 1kg of wheat is 1 silver(1200yen) so around 17 gold coins(1.020.000yen). Adding all up it comes out to 40 gold coins(2.400.000yen).」

This time we bought about 300 gold coins(18.000.000yen).
6 gold for the pa.s.s, 3 for the lodging, 30 for the clothes (if you add my own expenses 40) 94 at the ranch, we’ve spent 133 gold so far.

Addin the gold spent on grains it comes out to 173 gold(10.380.000yen). There’s still 127 gold left(7.620.000yen).
There’s also some room in the luggage as well. The clothes should take about 100 kg so there’s 900 kg left.

「Lucie, Kuu. You wanted vinegar didn’t you?」
「That’s right, I would like if we had it」
「I want it too. The meals are a little lacking」

If they want vinegar for flavoring, we can easily buy some while here. A one liter bin costs 20 copper (800yen). Three hundred of them are 4 gold coins(240.000yen). If we gather all the bins it should use up around 360kg of our capacity.

「Deciding on the vinegar, I’m a little troubled. I want to buy some herbs. Sage, rosemary and thyme. With these I can look forward to a lot of smell and tastes. 」
「That gra.s.s Cyril was all excited about? Can you that make you full?」
「No, the main purpose is to add an aroma」
「Then that’s rejected. We can’t afford these extravagances. It’s very expensive and they only sell dried leaves so we can’t plant them」
「Uu, if you say that It’s hard for me」

It’s true that herbs can’t fill your stomach. It’s all my hobby. Right now in Elucie we don’t have the leeway to buy them and since I’m the only one who can use them well there’s a possibility of everyone disliking me.
Since it’s like that i’ll have to buy some with my own money.

「If you want filling foods then let’s buy some onions and carrots and go back. They last longer. What else, let’s buy some turnip seeds plant on the village. If we plant the turnips now they’ll grow during winter and be ready for harvest during spring so they’ll serve as some sort of insurance」

Truthfully I wanted to raise tomatoes. Having them, the food variety will get abundant in one gulp.
But to raise tomatoes is unusually difficult. Even if you buy seed, they can all wither. When the harvest season comes around i’ll have to come back and buy a lot of them.

Turnips on the other hand, once they germinate it’s harder to kill them than anything else. They say that it along with potatoes are the best vegetables for novices to grow.
Since now it’s planting season, in the front of the store there are various kinds of seed line up so buying is easy.

「Yes, that is best. If we bring back vinegar and the fabrics as gifts the elves will certainly be very happy. 」
「The firefoxes too. I’m really thankful for such good clothes. After returning we’ll use the barley to treat everyone to milk porridge.」

Both of them smile imagining the happy faces of those left behind in the village.
They could be a little more selfish and say what they want for themselves.
They are at the age that normally girls go I want this! or I want that too!.

「Let’s go around buying things then」

I go around buying the things we decided, while look at them with the corners of my eyes trying to figure out what they want and buy it for them, we return to the inn.

After returning to the inn, and receiving the goods we ordered, the sun is starting to set.
The clothing store managed to finish Kuu’s modifications in one night and the special semi custom order dresses I bought in secret also arrived.
I had paid in advance but the clothes were so cute gave them a tip.

After going back I’ll give them these as presents. The clothes are really cute so they’ll certainly be happy.
I used 【Reincarnation Recall】and put all our luggage into【Item Box】. Then we leave the city of Erin.

Just like when we came, I princess carry Lucie and Kuu climbs on my back.
After running some 40km, Kuu who was on my back starts getting restless.

「Kuu you’re strangely restless. It was like that when we came too, is there something wrong?」

Kuu shivers when she hears my inquiry.

「It’s nothing」
「Kuu, there’s no need to lie. 」

I actually wanted to address it when we first came, but we were in a hurry so I ended up leaving it. But I want to relieve her anxiety as much as I can.

「…. Well, it’s nothing really. Onii-sama and the others fled to a village near here. To a small village where various races live together.」

I see, that really get your attention.

「You to confirm if your brother and the others are alright」
「That’s right. It’s a little out of the way but I want to see」

I can’t see Kuu’s face, but from what I know about her I can imagine she’s forcina a smile right now.
After this image is in my mind I can longer ignore it.

「Kuu, don’t worry. Let’s go say our greetings. When we go to war with the empire we may end up needing their help. Also if they have a specialty product I want to buy. I deem it necessary to show my face there as chief of Elucie」
「Is it really alright?」
「Of course, show me the way」
「Cyril-kun, it’s this way」

With Kuu leading us, we leave the road and enter deep into the woods.
Then in a clearing on the middle of the tree we find a village.

「This is the village Nii-sama and the other were supposed to escape to. They had friendly relationships for a long time, and it’s close to Erin. If they used the money ama.s.sed by the villagers, food wouldn’t be a problem so Tou-sama and Nii-sama decided to come here.」

While listening to Kuu’s explanation, I let Kuu and Lucie down and survey out surroundings.
Strange, it’s too quiet.
I can’t feel anyone’s presence. There’s something wrong.
Just in case I activate 【Enhanced Perception】, then….

「What’s, this」

You can’t see it from here but there’s the corpse of firefox woman whose heart has been ripped out. And it’s a fresh corpse. Not even a day old. Looking around with 【Enhanced Perception】I realize the number of dead bodies is not just one or two.

Who did this? They empire would have captured the women without killing them.

While I’m thinking…… I feel something approaching at a frightening speed.
Faster than when I move using wind magic.

Whatever is coming from behind is holding a huge sword.
It was probably meant to be a sneak attack but I saw through it.
A little breathing room is….. impossible. The speed in which the sword is brandished again is too fast. No way to dodge. I have to take it on.

I hold the knife in a reverse grip and receive the blade diagonally letting the enemy’s sword slide.
I nullify the enemy’s attack completely. There’s no better way to parry. The blade of the enemy hits the ground and with a loud sound goes deep into it.

Even so, my ears ring and there’s a cut in my arm.
Even if I received it perfectly, a few percent of the force goes through.
It’s unbelievable but with just these few percent the enemy’s attack was able to cut me.
But that’s not important, the enemy showed a gap.

I aim a high kick at the defenceless temporal region, and let loose the knife hidden in my boot. After using 【Body Enhancement, the attack perfectly carries all my body weight behind it.
The kick hits. The enemy body trembles. But I don’t feel like I pierced anything and a dull pain runs through my leg.

Is it 【Body Enhancement】magic? But there no mana reaction. A genuine internal magical barrier.

I doubt my own eyes. A barrier like that directly interferes with the laws of physics so it’s weak. There’s no way it can stop a kick from me using full force and stop the knife like now.

To do that it would need magic power 32 times stronger than mine. There’s only one being that can have this much power.

「Hmm, still alive after my attack and even did a cheeky conterattack」

While removing the sword stuck to the ground effortlessly, the knight who attacked me, a little girl looks at me and gives a fearless smile.

It’s a gorgeous girl. Her height is about 150cm, her semi long black hair carelessly floats around. If she was not wearing armor, you could swear she as villager living in this place.

In her neck is a warm looking m.u.f.fler, the color is a yellow that I could swear I saw somewhere…..

「Nii-sama, it’s Nii-sama’s tail! That can’t be! Noooooooooooooo!!」

Kuu trembles while pointing a the m.u.f.fler. Point at her brother’s tail, she screams.