Volume 2 - CH 109

A single horse-drawn carriage was making its way through the woods.

The place on which it was traveling could barely plausibly be called a road, but at first glance, it could almost be described as an animal trail.

Every time we passed through the muddy road, the wheels of the carriage would roll up the mud and send it flying backward.

I was impressed in a weird way, thinking that even though they did not have grooves like car tires, they rolled up dirt rather firmly.

The surrounding woods would have been a beautiful emerald green if the sun had shined.

However, it is raining now.

The weather was not too bad, but the ground had taken on a lot of water and was all sticky.

The carriage seems to be waterproof and repels water well.

However, there was no protection from the rain on the person holding the reins.

If it were a normal person, they would have already been drenched.

But I can handle it.

I use 【Infinite Water Manipulation】 to control the water so that it doesn’t fall on me.

MP consumption was not a big issue either, as all I had to do was deflect the trajectory of the water that naturally falls on me.

So I was in charge of driving the carriage, and the other four were left to relax in the carriage.

Since there was no way to pass the time, Reizen was teaching Alena and Satera a traditional game that he had seen in his previous life.

“I call- Two!”

“I call – Three!”

“I call – One! I did it! I won!”

“Satella is strong!”

The three laughed happily and then began to play again.

The thumb game that the three of them are playing is that they first decide on the caller, and after the caller says ‘I Call-“, the caller says a number.

The player and the caller put their thumbs up, and if the standing thumb and the number said by the caller’s thumb hit, the caller puts one arm down.

In short, if the number you say twice matches the number of thumbs you were standing on, you win.

It was a game that was called differently in different regions.

There must have been various calls for the game such as “Thumb Calls” and “Thumb declaration”.

In the place where Reizen was, it must have been called ‘Thumb Calls’.

What is the official name of this thumb game?

I’m sure if I looked it up, I could find it, but unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Internet in this world.

Although Uchikage does not participate in this kind of traditional games, the other three seem to get along well with each other.

Or rather, Reizen knows a lot of traditional hand games.

He taught them various games using only hands such as “Chatsubo,” “Arupusuitimanzyaku,” and “Ocharakahoi.

It made me nostalgic as I watched them play.

The three of them seemed to be having a lot of fun, speeding up the traditional games, changing the speed, and clapping their hands together.

I’m so glad they’re having fun.

It had been a day since we left the Kingdom of Salettana.

We are now moving along at a relatively leisurely pace without any major assaults.

However, even though there were no major assaults, a monster attacked us twice.

They are dog-type monsters.

They were in groups of about 10, but I was able to defeat them with my 【Water Spear Volley】.

I felt sorry for the dog, but I didn’t think it was cute, and it was creepy to say the least, so I just killed it.

As for monsters, I am no longer afraid of killing them.

I guess I still feel the same way I did when I was a snake, but I have something to protect as well.

If we hesitate to feel sorry for them, we will be the ones to suffer.

This kind of progress is necessary.

However, when I face humans, I am not yet prepared, or my approach to the situation is shallow.

I learned this well in the fight with Lequam.

It may be that my previous life was human, but this kind of naivety will have to be taken out of me somewhere.

“BUUURhhhhhh”

“Oh, I’m sorry Starhorse. I was distracted a little.”

The water that has gotten on the starhorse’s body is repelled.

If it is around me, I can deflect the water unconsciously without being overly cautious, but if it is even a slight distance away, I have to be conscious of it.

I guess this is something I’m used to, but I still need to work on it.

I mean, …… I don’t think I can make a bonfire in this kind of rain.

Up until now, we used to cook on the campfire when we hunted our game. ……

I guess we’ll just have the emergency rations we bought in town for dinner today.

Although I hunted a deer, it is …… a pity.

Well, this is part of the fun of traveling, isn’t it?

Let’s just enjoy it.

“Ah, Uchikage”

“Is there any problem?”

“Where are we going to spend the night today?”

I was a little concerned, so I asked.

It wasn’t raining when we came here, so I don’t have a clue what to do in a situation like this.

I didn’t remember the route yet, either.

I decided to ask a more experienced traveler for advice.

“That’s right. …… We will be at the village in a few more minutes. We should spend the night there. We’re a little behind plan, but it’s not safe to cross the Yagul Mountains in this rain. Let’s move when it’s clear.”

“Alright, I understand.”

I slap the reins and make the horse go a little faster.

The shaking becomes a little more intense, but I can’t wait to get to the village and take it easy.

We still haven’t made it through the woods, and the scenery continues to be the same, but the rain-soaked woods are surprisingly beautiful and pleasant to me.

◆

We stopped the carriage.

We were almost to the village, but Reizen got a little sick on the carriage, so we decided to take a short rest.

We were not heading any further from the village today anyway, no matter how much we hurried, so there was no problem in our schedule if we took a break here.

Despite the rain, Reizen suddenly jumped out of the carriage.

I noticed this and hurriedly deflected the water away around Reizen.

I wish he would at least say a few words before jumping out.

“Uheee …”

“” Reizen, you okay? “”

“I’m o- fine-“

You look a little pale. Take it easy, okay?

I didn’t have to reverse, but it looks like we should take a little longer break.

Ah, that’s right. I wanted to ask Uchikage something.

“Uchikage. I saw an apothecary and a potion shop in the kingdom of Salettana, what’s the difference?”

“Eh, oh. Yes, it is. It’s a little different. An apothecary deals in herbal medicines for illnesses, colds, etc., and a potion shop deals in things that can be taken to obtain various effects. The easiest ones to understand are potions for restoring magic power and restorative potions, right?”

Oh, a potion to restore magic power.

I should definitely buy some of those.

I’ll stop by next time when I find it.

I should also stop by an apothecary’s shop.

My 【Great Heal】  is not something I can use easily, so regular medicine might be important in case …… something goes wrong.

It might put a little extra pressure on my backpack, but it wouldn’t be a replacement for safety.

I hope there is an apothecary in the village we are heading to now, …….

It may not be that convenient.

“Ah yes. Ouren-sama.”

“Hmm?”

“This is common knowledge, but you should not ask about status indiscreetly.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. First of all, it will raise suspicion.”

Those who ask about status are often those who know the other person’s status and do something devious, he said.

It is said that now and in the past, people were often asked such questions, and then the crooks would take notice of them.

Because of this, it was considered rude to ask for status information, and the adventurers were forbidden to ask for status information without proper explanation, as the leakage of status information was fatal to them.

It is said that even those who are truly trustworthy often hide their own inner thoughts and feelings.

Maybe Uchikage is hiding something, too.

Well, it doesn’t matter.

“OK, I’ll be careful.”

If I hadn’t heard this, I would have asked it normally to someone who became an adventurer and joined my group.

Close call, close call.

Well, now I get it.

Uchikage does not teach me much in the way of common sense, after all.

I guess it’s like, “How come you don’t know about this?”　I guess he is just asking me why I don’t know about it.

Irza was the same case.

I guess I should ask if I’m overlooking something.

Before it’s too late and something goes wrong.

Uchikage. Is there anything else you haven’t taught me as a matter of common sense?”

“Let’s see, …… the rest is about not telling …… about your skills, too.　Sorry.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize”

“Oh, then ………”

Reizen is staggering toward us.

It seems that he has not completely recovered from his motion sickness yet.

His face still looks a little pale.

Is it possible that this guy is starting to get hillsick?

Reizen asked Uchikage a question while looking queasy.

“What’s the average status of people and Oni’s on ……? I kind of don’t know what the average is, so I don’t know how strong we are.”

Oh, I see. That’s an appropriate question even for Reizen’s case.

There are humans, oni or demon-kin, and then there are beastmen, right?

There may be many other races, but it is better to know a little bit about the average status of each race to get a better idea of how strong they are.

That’s good, Reizen. That’s a good question.

Uchikage thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“This is from a book, so I don’t know if it’s accurate or not. ……”

He told us the average status of each species as far as he knew.

“Human”

LV : / 100

HP : 300/300

MP : 300/300

Attack Power : 150

Defense : 120

Magic Strength : 400

Agility : 200

“Oni”

LV : / 100

HP : 500/500

MP : 200/200

Attack power : 1300

Defense : 300

Magic Strength : 300

Agility : 300

“Beastmen”

LV : / 120

HP : 650/650

MP : 100/100

Attack Power : 600

Defense : 350

Magic Strength : 100

Agility : 500

“Devilkin”

LV : / 200

HP : 900/900

MP : 600/600

Attack power : 500

Defense : 100

Magic Strength : 600

Agility : 200

According to Uchikage, there are still more races.

But the books only showed them like this.

Well, there is nothing we can do about it.

But …… the average for humans is low.

The magic strength seems to be specialized to a certain extent, but …….

Oni have high attack power.

Beastmen have high physical strength,…… and agility.

Maybe they are a beast just as their name implies.

I mean, is there such a thing as a devil tribe?

I think I’ve heard of them before somewhere, but I think I overlooked it because I’m not that interested.

The devil tribe has high magic power and MP.

They are able to use their skills as much as they want, aren’t they?

Well, if we travel around, we may meet them.

“Hee. There are various races!”

Reizen nodded his head in amazement.

However, Uchikage knows a lot of things, doesn’t he?

I’m really glad he followed us.

Reizen’s sickness seems to have subsided, so we decided to get into the carriage and set out.

We were able to reach the village in no time and managed to secure a place to stay.