The Blacksmithing Town of Corky (5)

I wound up hearing something outrageous just from casually stopping by an alchemist's workshop.

A black-haired, red-eyed woman. An alchemist at that. The possibility that it was Leona was extremely high.

If that was the case, she was enough of a dangerous person that just staying in this town any longer was a bad idea.

… Come to think of it, I dumped that woman pretty close to the capital at [White Beach], didn't I…? From here, that'd be on the opposite side of the capital. Well, plenty of time has passed since then, so it's not a strange distance.

"Umm, she said she worships the Chaos God as befitting an alchemist, and she also follows Beddhism. Something about how you can treat Beddhism as a sub-religion and follow both."

Where did she hear about Beddhism, I wonder? This is a pretty far-off town.

… Well, quite a few traveling merchants have become Beddhists…

"Oh, and I also got some Chaos God drugs from her. I can't really put them out in the open, but look, here they are: [Futanaru] and [T-A]! I've even got [Hole B-Gone] and [Pole B-Gone]! Everything from low-purity disposable ones that last only one night to the highest purity with permanent effects. I have no idea how she got her hands on them. She said she made them herself, but… I'd sooner believe she stole them from some noble's vault. There aren't any rumors about that, though."

Saying that, the shopkeeper pulled out a wooden box rattling with drugs. They were neatly arranged by color, from light to dark.

Unlike the haphazardly displayed products elsewhere in the shop, there was a seriousness to how these were handled, likely due to their rarity. They fetch a high price, so of course he'd keep them properly organized.

… And yeah, no doubt about it. It's Leona. Absolutely, positively Leona.

I'd heard about the effects, but I didn't know anyone else who could make such ridiculous drugs with such ridiculous names at such a high level, and I didn't want such a person to exist.

Also, [T-A] uses A instead of S? TS for transsexual, so it's a sex change drug. What a needlessly convoluted pun. Nobody in this world would get it… wait, was that the point?

"She told me to watch the market and sell them little by little since they'd fetch an amazing price at auction, but…! As a special offer for you, Founder-sama…! I'll let you have them at cost!"

"Oh, then could I get a [Pole B-Gone] with a one-year effect… no, half a year should be enough. Could you wrap one of those up?"

"Certainly! That'll be ten gold coins!"

So expensive!? And what the heck are you buying, Rokuko!?

Rokuko pulled ten gold coins from her [Wallet] and paid.

"If we have this, we can neutralize Shikina's, right? Having one of this strength on hand should give us peace of mind."

"Oh, yeah… Ten gold, huh."

It was an amount we could recover from Shikina's monthly tuition, but it was still basically ten million yen.

What an extravagant purchase. Oh, but I've been casually spending a hundred gold coins at a time on village operations too. My sense of money has gotten all messed up because of Wataru. Curse you, Wataru.

Oh, but come to think of it, our inn's suite costs twenty-five gold a night.

And wait, could the drug that got used on Shikina have been sold from this very shop? The possibility is tremendously high. By the way, that one was apparently acquired for a hundred and fifty gold. Since the effect was supposed to last a year, let's see… at cost, that would be twenty gold.

"… Still, if the one-year one costs twenty gold at wholesale… how much were the permanent ones? Where did you get the money to stock up?"

"I sold the drugs I first stocked at auction, then reinvested the profits, repeating the cycle, and I've finally managed to get one of each recently. They were a thousand gold apiece. Man, I'm glad I managed to stock up while she was still coming around."

A thousand gold at cost per bottle… four of them would be more than the debt I saddled Wataru with.

And that's just the wholesale price. I can't even imagine what they'd go for at auction. If something that cost twenty gold could sell for a hundred fifty at auction, a single bottle could exceed Wataru's total debt… Yeah, an ordinary person could live their whole life in luxury off one of those…

"… Wait. You said you stocked the pillow three days ago, right?"

"It's a popular item, so she brings them in regularly. Let's see, she comes by about once a week, so I guess she'll be here again in three or four days?"

"I see."

Right, gotta get out of town before then. Absolutely.

Every instinct I had was ringing alarm bells, telling me not to stay in this town any longer. I need to convince Gozoh and the others and leave town today if possible.

Or even just us alone would be fine. Luckily, this place is close to the imperial capital, only three or four days on foot!

"Alright, you can keep using the Beddhism name for the pillow, but the holy water is a no-go. Sell it under a different name. Do that and we'll let it slide."

"Y-Yes. I apologize for the trouble."

"… Also, I have some really bad memories with that alchemist, so don't tell her about me. As for the drug names, just tell her that someone from Beddhism came by, didn't recognize the names, and said you should change them. Work it out with her."

"Understood! Oh, could you please bless these pillows?"

With that, the shopkeeper rolled out pillow after pillow from his stock. How many did he have? Was this a pillow shop?

… I placed the holy symbol on the pillows, held my hand over them, and recited "Good Night."

Did it do anything? Nope, not a thing. This sort of thing is all about the sentiment.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

As soon as we got back to the inn, I contacted Wataru and Gozoh, and we decided to leave Corky the following day.

Considering the possibility that the shopkeeper might tell her about me, I wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

Turn tail and run! He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day!

"… Sheesh, I was plannin' on stayin' a bit longer. Why're we suddenly headin' out?"

"Sorry, I just got a really bad feeling…"

"Well, whatever. Knowing you, Kehma, you've got some reason you can't tell us."

Gozoh said with a sigh, scratching his head. He was putting on a show of being annoyed, but he didn't actually seem to mind.

"That's right, this is you we're talking about, Kehma-san. I'm more worried about whether Corky itself will be okay. Did you find something bad? Like symptoms of mine-specific poisoning or something?"

"I wish it were only that."

"Wait, there really is something?"

I placed my hand on Wataru's shoulder and spoke with a gentle smile.

"There's a saying: let sleeping gods lie. You're better off not knowing. That's the kind of thing we're dealing with."

"… Sounds like a sanity-crisis-level thing, so I won't ask for details!"

Good. That's wise of you for once, careless Wataru.

We rode our covered coach out through Corky's gate… I didn't look back. I didn't want to accidentally spot that black-haired, red-eyed ponytailed woman.

… Oh, but we'll have to pass through here on the way back, won't we? Maybe I could ask Haku-san to teleport us… or maybe I could use some excuse to split off from Gozoh and the others and take the [White Beach] route home.

Alright then, let's go. To the imperial capital.

The roads are maintained for carriages, so if we really book it we could apparently arrive tonight… well, taking two days is fine too, yeah.