Chapter 64: To Zoltan’s port

Translator: Tseirp

“I guess our only option is to ask that Alchemist for the details.”

In the end, after all the discussions, we came to the conclusion that we had too little knowledge on the Devil’s Divine Protection.

“Although we have no idea just how much G.o.dwin understands the Devil’s Divine Protection too.”

Nevertheless, he was supposedly the only Alchemist the Contract Demon taught the Devil’s Divine Protection recipe and effects to.

He was probably the most knowledgeable person on the Devil’s Divine Protection in Zoltan.

“Erm …”

Tise raised her hand halfway through our conversation. She seemed a little terrified.

I wonder what on earth happened?

“Are you not angry that Ruti-sama broke G.o.dwin out of jail?”

“Ah, what, so it’s just that.”

I see, I guess I have that kind of ‘image’.

“First things first. Ruti has revealed her true self so I should do so too.”

“True self?”

“Firstly, I am not a person who will put my life on the line for people who I do not know the face nor name of.”

“Eh? But as the Hero party …”

“I only joined because Ruti was the Hero. Of course, I will fight for the sake of my friends or the people from Zoltan’s Downtown but I will not risk my life for people whose relationship with me are more distant than that.”

“I’m surprised, I heard that the Vice Captain of the Knights of Bahamut fought tons of monsters to save many people.”

“That was only because I continued to volunteer for missions where I was likely to face strong monsters in order to raise my level as much as possible in preparation to set off on the journey with Ruti. I did that single-mindedly and ended up getting promoted up until Vice-captain before I knew it.”

“Is that so …”

I was speaking the truth.

Otherwise, I would not have holed up in Zoltan and aimed for a slow life.

“The damages this time was probably only limited to injuries suffered by the jailers and prisoners. Well, it wasn’t a good act but it’s not a big deal to me.”

Tise seemed genuinely surprised that I would say that so easily.

“I’m also a bad princess who did things like working as an adventurer or a bouncer after I left the castle.”

Lit also smiled wryly.

In Lit’s case, she has a love for her hometown but she doesn’t hold a stance where she must abide by the law.

To the two of us, the jailbreak that Ruti pulled off wasn’t something we would reprimand her for.

“Please let Ruti-sama know that the next time you have the opportunity. I believe Ruti-sama is probably afraid that Red-san would find out.”

“All right.”

We nodded and smiled slightly at Tise’s words.

Ruti seems to have made a very good friend.

“Anyway, we can’t decide on our future direction without hearing what G.o.dwin said. So our destination will be the Elf ruins in the mountain I harvest medicinal gra.s.s?”

“Ruti-sama has destroyed the system to enter so you will have to jump into a hole that leads a hundred meters underground.”

“Violent work from Ruti as usual.”

That was probably done so there would not be any other infiltrators.

It seemed that Ruti ended up destroying the elevator. I could still descend using the Slow Fall skill from my Acrobatics Skill Mastery or Lit could hug me and make something work with her Spirit Magic.

Tise seemed to have her own way of descending considering how she didn’t say anything.

“I guess we don’t have any problems with that aspect.”

“Yeah.”

Our direction was set.

Ruti should be at the ruins now as well so it was just right.

“Then, let’s close the shop and head toward the ruins.”

I quickly got up.

“Ah, wait.”

But Lit spoke up seemingly having thought of something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t the trade ship arriving today? I was wondering if we should go and purchase the alchemic tools needed to compound the Devil’s Divine Protection?”

“G.o.dwin mentioned that too. That the tools were insufficient. It was possible to acquire them in Zoltan but the selection wasn’t good.”

“But this is the last stop for the trade ship, will they still have any left?”

Zoltan was located in a remote region.

The trade ship that comes from the west will make a U-turn at Zoltan and return via the route it took to come here.

As trading with Zoltan was not very profitable, only small-sized vessels that don’t cost much to operate travel all the way here.

So there was no telling if they sold the tools we were looking for.

“But the trade ships only come by once or twice a month so wouldn’t it be a good idea to take a look while we have the time today?”

“That’s true too, that will be our first destination then.”

“But shouldn’t it be all right if just one person go?”

Tise chimed in.

That’s certainly true too.

“Then, since I can run faster than a horse or running drake, I’ll cover the harbor.”

“All right, I have a memo about the alchemic tool that G.o.dwin talked about.”

Tise took out a memo and a silver coin bag from the item bag on her waist.

The names of all kinds of expensive tools such as the Alphilia filter were written on the memo.

That would have been quite tough to buy with the a.s.sets I had. I thankfully borrowed the silver coin pouch from Tise.

“Well then, we’ll borrow a couple of running drakes and head on ahead.”

“Sure thing, I’ll catch up soon.”

After putting on our traveling gear, we left the shop and I posted a ‘temporary closed for today’ sign on the entrance to our shop.

☆☆

The harbor district was located on the western side of Zoltan and directly connects to the river.

Just like the district name suggested, the district was equipped with harbor facilities and although it was situated near the mouth of the river, it was still just a river so large ships could not enter.

It was fundamentally used by sailboats or galleys with shallow hulls.

Even so, as Zoltan was situated in the path of storms, it was extremely dangerous for such vessels to journey during the summer season.

Even with such conditions, the reason the trade ships still came over was that Zoltan was at the frontier.

And surprisingly, there were three new ships anch.o.r.ed in the harbor.

“Even though there would usually only be one ship.”

The ship usually moored at Zoltan were work boats used for fishing, rowboats meant for traveling up the river to trade with the neighboring villages and just three caravels, small sailboats, capable of carrying 20 people each.

While all other countries field the new galleons or robust large galleys, it was downright unreliable to only have a fleet of three small olden caravels to defend the capital. Well, there was also the fact that there was no opponent that would wage war with Zoltan.

With such circ.u.mstances, I could easily distinguish the ships that had recently come in.

Currently, in addition to the usual trade ship moored in the harbor, there were also two fast ships. One was a small galley while the other was a mid-sized sloop sailboat.

The sloop sailboat had a deep hull and they might have been afraid of running aground at the harbor as they had anch.o.r.ed in the middle of the river and seemed to be transacting with the harbor via smaller boats.

“The smaller ship should be here to transport items ordered by the wealthy residents of the Central district? Whereas for the mid-sized vessel, does it intend to head eastward toward the Wall at the End of the World?”

If that was true, they might be selling unusual items to earn some extra money. I wasn’t certain if they had the alchemic tools but maybe I can hold some expectations.

I walked toward the harbor city while feeling a little excited.