Naming the Fire Elemental

The formal contract with Kazusa would wait until I'd drawn up the paperwork.

For now, I asked her to continue maintaining and looking after the inn and sent her on her way.

The incident was resolved, and there was no longer any danger of Kazusa being targeted. The winter would be a good time for her to settle into the city.

She was also open to tagging along as a porter when needed.

In that case, I'd take responsibility and have her stay at our place rather than the inn.

Her step looked light as she left, so I didn't need to worry about her mental state.

I also wanted to make a good impression on her brother Leo. Hopefully he'd come work for us when he was older.

After that, I met with the merchant I had contracts with for grain and vegetable procurement.

Prices tended to rise in winter since we'd be buying from pre-harvested reserves.

This year was worse than usual, driven up by unrest in the Empire and the deteriorating relationship with the Church of the Sun God.

From the perspective of a city like Luido where primary industries thrived, it would be hard to believe, but people might well end up freezing or starving to death.

In the past, Sun God clergy and their affiliates had run soup kitchens and distributed blankets, but they'd withdrawn from the city, so that was no longer an option either.

Jacob was aware of the situation, so he surely wouldn't do nothing, but…

The merchant guild might organize something as well, depending on how things developed.

Whatever produce left Luido was bought up by the capital at fixed prices, so none of it made it this far.

At a time like this, a little flexibility would've been nice, but there was no point wishing for it.

I ended up settling on a price thirty percent above last year's rate for the same period.

Kazusa turning down her share of the auction profits had helped on that front.

A tool shop like ours also sold sundries and foodstuffs, practically serving as local infrastructure.

Luxury items like scented soap were one thing, but necessities that people always bought couldn't be allowed to go out of stock, no matter how expensive they got.

I'd drilled that into Kaimol and the others.

The price stung, but we'd get through another year.

After confirming the deliveries and stepping out of the warehouse, I put my hands on my hips and exhaled.

"You look worn out."

"Yeah. I'd been putting things off, so the work's piled sky-high."

Alexia had come to check on me.

"Where are the others?"

"Elza's tending the vegetable garden. The other two are sparring in the backyard. I'll join them later, though."

"Good. That's dedication."

"They're just bored."

Alexia said, waving her right hand.

"If you're that bored, I could find you a job or two."

"I wouldn't mind. I've gotten used to handling this little one, and it's gotten much less cold because of it."

By "this little one," she meant the Fire Elemental, I assumed.

As if it had heard us talking, the spirit materialized on Alexia's left hand.

"You should give it a proper name, don't you think? 'Fire Elemental' is a bit of a mouthful."

"You think? Hmm. Well, when it comes to fire, how about Salamander?"

"Isn't that a fire lizard monster?"

Salamander.

A monster that governed fire, though in some regions, it was revered as a sacred messenger of the fire god.

In a way, it wasn't far from a Fire Elemental.

The spirit seemed to like the name, brightening its glow.

"Looks like that settles it."

"I've heard that naming one strengthens the bond, but…"

The instant it had a name, the air around us seemed to grow warmer.

The Fire Elemental, now Salamander, retreated into Alexia's brooch.

Within the brooch's crimson gleam, a flickering flame could be seen.

"I'll come check in on the backyard later."

"All right."

I parted ways with Alexia and locked up the warehouse.

The winter had been especially cold this year, and our burning stone stock was running low.

The margins on burning stone were far better than firewood, but purchasing from the mines was difficult in winter.

The ravine where I'd once had Azu dig would be frozen solid this time of year. Not much could be excavated.

We had enough firewood to meet demand, but it was still a missed opportunity.

The weather was hard to predict, so seasonal goods always carried this risk.

Better to sell out than to have it sitting on the shelf, so it wasn't the worst outcome.

I checked the mailbox and found several quest forms from the Adventurer's Guild.

Adventurers tended to take the winter off, so the guild was pushing some of the workload our way.

I looked through a few. Nothing particularly dangerous.

Seasonal monster culling, inspecting windmills damaged by ice, escort duty while repairs were underway. That sort of thing.

I'd been thinking of giving Azu and the others a break until it warmed up, but manageable quests like these would keep them from going rusty.

The truly dangerous commissions would be handled by the senior adventurers above Azu's rank.

None of the jobs looked like they'd take long, so there was no need to bring Kazusa along as a porter.

Before any of that, I should talk to Finn.

Her assassination skills aside, her scouting ability would be a real asset to Azu and the others.

It was the kind of skill that could mean life or death for a party, and you couldn't entrust it to just anyone.

I'd considered buying a slave for the role, but when I asked myself whether I could trust a stranger as much as I trusted Azu and the others, I couldn't pull the trigger.

You could punish a slave for disobedience, but once they were in the field, you had no eyes on them.

And orders could be bent any number of ways if there was room for interpretation.

If someone wanted to, they could deliberately get the entire party killed.

Even if you punished that slave afterward, you'd have nothing left to show for it.

Finn hadn't been someone I could trust at first, either.

Once I'd confirmed she was a professional who delivered in proportion to what she was paid, I started giving her more work, and she grew comfortable with us.

Being a lone wolf unattached to any organization probably helped.

Finn got to choose her own jobs. And lately, she'd been choosing to stay with us.

She was someone I trusted now.

She'd also been sparring with Azu frequently, and Azu had been feeling the results.

According to Finn, Alexia was ferociously strong even unarmed.

Swinging her axe and hurling spells made for a flashy display, but her hand-to-hand combat was the kind of thing a layman's eye couldn't follow.

A lovely appearance, but underneath it, she was the product of a militant noble house.

Trained from childhood to protect her family's territory.