After we have breakfast, we keep working on the monsters. I say that, but we’re hanging them to drain their blood, and we’re going to finish our business here by the time that’s done.
Rurika and the others stop by the guild, and sell materials of monsters we took apart yesterday. Then we go around the capital, but not just to have fun.
We need to do some last minute shopping before entering the empire’s territory, and stock up on flavorings that are running low. Once we’re done, we go around the stalls and stock up on food too.
“Master, how many monsters are left?”
“Three I think.”
We also sold monsters we didn’t take apart.
We get more money if we take them apart ourselves, because we don’t have to pay a fee, but since we’re going to the empire, we decided to sell them here.
Since we’re going to dungeons there, I’m sure finding monsters won’t be a problem.
“Look after the house.”
Three days later, the servants see us off as we leave the capital.
They’re pretty free, because they just have to look after the house and can do whatever they want aside from that. That threw them off a lot at first, but they’re used to it.
They can do other work during that free time, so apparently they pursue other things when we’re not here. It’s a really easy working environment, other than when we suddenly drop by.
We follow a road east towards the empire, and our first stop is a town called Grit. We’d reach the imperial capital Heil if we went further east, but we’re going down south from Grit to a town called Zuirya. That’s where the dungeon is, and where we’ll meet up with Argo’s party.
Incidentally, we asked about them in the capital, and we were told they stopped by five days before us, but left right away.
The town of Grit borders Elesya, but unlike the town on the border with Eldo, there are still watch towers, but the atmosphere is less violent.
Maybe it’s because both countries believe in human supremacy, or maybe it’s because Elesya got rid of its king and is still recovering, and the empire doesn’t feel too threatened.
“Your goal?”
When we enter Grit, we’re asked why we came to the empire.
“To go to the dungeon in Zuirya.”
I say, and show my guild card.
I feel like Grit has a lot of imperial soldiers, and not many adventurers. When I ask someone in the inn about it, I’m told most adventurers gather in the towns with the dungeons.
The empire has three dungeons. One in the capital, one in Zuirya, and one in a town called Avid.
If things go well in Zuirya, we’ll go to Avid too.
According to Argo and the others, if we just want to conquer the dungeon, the one in Zuirya doesn’t take that long.
“There’s not much to see, so let’s stay in the inn and leave tomorrow.”
“Yes, got it.”
I’d like to go around the stalls too, but we walked through the main street on the way here, and the stalls were few and expensive.
“Stalls in the empire tend to be hit or miss. If you want something good, you should go to an inn or a tavern.”
Says Rurika, and her words have weight because she’s gone around the empire.
The next morning, we leave Grit after having breakfast, on a wagon I bought in Grit.
The biggest reason why I bought it, is that since the main road has many merchants coming and going to do business with materials from the dungeon, we can’t use the golem wagon, or people would see it.
We could go by omnibus, but Rurika and the others don’t want to.
Apparently they had a pretty bad experience last time they were here.
I give the wagon the Absorption skill to minimize shocks, but I still feel it shaking more compared to the one I made.
“Bear with it until tonight.”
I talk to Hikari next to the driver’s seat, and she nods. It’s currently her, me, and Sera sitting here, and Sera is holding the reins, because she’s the best one at getting the horses to move as she wants.
But I don’t want her to have all the burden, so we’ve been taking turns. Although for some reason, they don’t really listen to me. Hikari was bad at it too at first, but she’s getting better as the day goes on.
“Hikari, what is your secret?”
“I showed who’s boss.”
What did she do?
“You could give them something tasty.”
Is her advice. So winning them over with food? But we typically give horses raw vegetables.
Maybe brushing them and being friends is the best way.
We can’t talk, so all I can do is try to guess what they want.
It takes us five days to reach Zuirya, but I end up not being able to get the horses to listen to me like they do with Sera and Hikari. I guess I’m better than I was at first…
We’re keeping them even after we reach Zuirya, but we need somewhere to keep them while we’re in the dungeon. But I’ll take good care of them.
“What should we do first, master?”
“Look for a place to leave the wagon, and then meet up with Argo’s party?”
I ask the guards as we go in, and they tell us there’s a stable near the entrance.
Some inns also have spaces where we can keep them, but we leave them in the stable, and head to the adventurer guild.
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
Thanks for the treat.