The end of the year festival had ended and itâs almost time for spring to come .
ăStarting tomorrow, the school would be reopening once againă
Sensei announced that at the village square . Because of that, I decided to go to school .
We were told that we could graduate as early as two to three years but since I was exempted from mandatory attendance last year, I probably wonât be having any particular problems regarding that . I was thinking about that as I walked to our meeting place but Suzuran didnât come as usual so I had to go and wake her up .
By the way, these skills increased during winter . ăCraftsmanship: 2ăăRecovery Magic: 2ăăPhysical Augmentation: 2ă
Craftsmanshipâs level went up while I was creating gla.s.s beads and Physical Augmentation during my muscle training . I made a mistake and burned my hand while melting gla.s.s so when I used Recovery Magic at that time, its level increased . Iâm not really sure why it went up though since there werenât a lot of situations where I could use it .
A little after we arrived at school, the headmaster and the rest of the teachers entered out cla.s.sroom .
ăAhemăŒ Since we have deemed that everyone has enough knowledge and ability that you wonât have any particular problems surviving, it would be alright for us to say that you will be joining the ranks of the adults starting tomorrow . Congratulations to everyone for graduating . Did you do as I asked before we entered our winter break to ask your parents where you will work? If you havenât then you should have that discussion with them and decide beforehandă
After saying that, all of them left the cla.s.sroom . Oi oi, wasnât that really simple for a graduation ceremony? I wasnât asked to have that discussion you know? Suzuran-san? Why didnât you properly inform me of that?
When I asked afterwards, ăhn?ă she just ended the conversation with that . Isnât that a bit harsh?
I asked the three idiots who remained in cla.s.s and they told me that they were going to remain in the village . Their partners seem to be doing the same as well . Huh? Does this mean Iâm the only one who wants to go to town?
ăSo what will you guys do here in the village?ă ăHa? It has been decided that Iâm going to work at the distillery warehouse you know? I was just doing odd jobs at first but got hired permanently because it seems like the headmaster is planning to increase the number of stillsă ăI would be part of the patrols and defense in the area near the forest . Since my eyesightâs good, theyâve been planning to let me man the watchtoweră ăMy nose is good so I will be patrolling near the highwayăŒă
Oi oi, has everyone already made their decision? Am I the only one without a concrete plan? Someone whoâs supposed to be almost forty inside is unemployed? Nononono, havenât I already decided that Iâm going to town to study skills that Iâm lacking? I would only be unemployed if my parents are against it .
ăBecause of how Suzuran is, I wasnât able to discuss with my parents what Iâll do after graduation⊠I want to go to town but if my parents donât approve of it Iâd become unemployedă
Would âfreeterâ be a better word to use in this world?
ăYouâll be fiine~ Even if they donât let you go to town, because of the villageâs growth, youâll probably be given a job by the village chiefâs sideă ăRight . You can do anything thatâs why you it probably wonât get to the point where you wonât have anything to doă ăYeah, since Caamâs really cleveră
Guys, why did you just tell me that while keeping eye contact like usual? This old man would get shy if you say something like that, you know?
For the time being, I tried speaking to my parents about that at dinner .
ăYou know, I just graduated but I wonât be working in the village . Iâm going to town since I want to learn various things thereă
ăItâs your life . Do what you want, it doesnât matter to me which plains you die . Itâs just that if you do, Suzuran-chan would be sad, You should at least send letters periodically or come and show your face once in a while . I mean, itâs just a half a day walk right?ă ăWouldnât it be fine as long as you get Suzuran-chanâs consent?ă
This is a conversation about me so why do they keep on inserting Suzuranâs name in there? Well, itâs probably fine since weâve already talked about during the harvest festival together with the dragonkin girls . I was thinking of that while being overly optimistic .
ăMeet once every 30 daysă
So she wants us to meet once a month . I guess that should be expected since we really enjoyed ourselves a few times inside the unoccupied houses after the harvest festival .
ăOkay, I will come back once every 30 daysă
With that, my trip to town has been finalized .
ăWell then, Iâm offă ăTake care of your selfă ăYour coming back once every thirty days, right?ă
I placed my remodeled rucksack on my back while the machete and crowbar are at my waist . After placing the shovel I was holding over my shoulder, I began my departure .
Why are they treating this lightly even though Iâm about to go work in town . Well, the town is only half a day away so itâs probably that .
The village chief was saying stuff like
ăIf Caam-kun isnât here, what would we do about the village!ă
Because of that, Wurst had to hold him down as I left for the highway . It seems like the village chiefâs already depending too much on me . After saying goodbye, I headed for town .
I already got the foundations down to an extent and I also have an understanding of how to build facilities so all thatâs left is to improve it . Iâm not really sure how long Iâll be staying in town but it should be at least three years . Since I would be working at that time, three years might just feel like three months or three weeks or even three days .
It was really peaceful along the way and the fields and ca.n.a.l that the village chief forcibly increased were still by the side of the road . When we went to town two years ago, you could no longer see fields after leaving the village . If you think about it, magic sure is amazing .
I originally wanted to take a short break every hour but I increased my pace so that I can reach the gazebo at the halfway point since itâs almost noon anyway . For my lunch, Suzuran woke up unusually early in order to make me a bento thatâs why Iâm a bit excited .
To my surprise, I found a karaage bento when I opened it . Everything inside was light brown . It was just a few pieces of karaage and white bread though . You should have put vegetables in it too you knowâŠâŠ Moreover, the white bread wasnât even sliced so there was nothing but light brown stuff in it .
I was able to reach Aegirine town somehow without even encountering a single wildlife or monster . In front of the townâs gate, there were people lining up so I went to the end of it to do the same . If I remember correctly, Iâll need to pay 5 large copper to enter the town .
I was called while I was thinking about that so I stepped forward .
ăIâm Caam from Beryl Village . I have already entered this town two years agoă ăAhăŒ wait for a bită
For some reason, he started checking on a few stacks of papers . Do they put all of the papers from neighboring villages together like that, I wonder .
ăAh, there it is . It doesnât look like there are any discrepancies . Did you get a bit taller? What is the purpose of your stay?ă ăIâm here for work . Once every thirty days, Iâll be going back to my villageă ăIs that so? Iâm sorry about this but youâll have to pay 5 large copper each time you do that . Would that be okay?ă ăYeah . I donât mindă ăAnyway, please report here once you found a place to settled downă ăWell, for the mean time, Iâll be staying at the inn that the Beryl villageâs students used last timeă
I pointed at the place as I said that .
He wrote something on the papers again after that .
ăGo along now . Donât cause any problems, okay?ă
After replying, I headed towards the inn . There, a well-built oba-chan said,
ăWelcome . Ara, are you from Beryl Village? I remembered you because of the color of your skină ăThanks for that time . This time, I came because Iâm going to be working in this town . Iâll be troubling you for the time being while Iâm searching for an apartmentă ăThen, Iâll give you a discount if you stay for ten daysă ăHmăŒ I want finish searching in less than ten days so, how much would it be just for a day?ă ăA single room without meals is 3 large copper but if youâll stay for ten days then itâll just 2 large copper per night . Wouldnât it be alright you just go for the ten-day contract for now and just change it to the one day contract if you manage to find one before the sixth day?ă ăI guess thatâs fine . Iâll go with thată
I left my luggage in my room and immediately went out to search for an apartment . For the time being, I tried asking guards who were by the guideposts on the main street .
ăExcuse me . I just wanted to ask where I can find apartments in this townă ăHm? Are you looking for those at the lower cla.s.s or middle cla.s.s districts? You donât want those in the high-cla.s.s district, right?ă ăWell, as a reference, please teach me the location of both the low and middle cla.s.s onesă ăIn that case then the low-cla.s.s district is around the gate in the direction where the sun rises . As for middle cla.s.s, if youâre facing the direction where the sun rises, itâs the gate to the right of thată
So theyâre by the east and south gates . Since the lower cla.s.s district is at the east, does that mean the high-cla.s.s district is at the west side?
ăThank you very muchă ăBy the way, it would be 5 silver for a thirty-day stay at the middle-cla.s.s apartments while it would be around 2 or 3 silver for the cheap onesă
After saying my thanks, I headed for a lower cla.s.s since I thought that would be enough for someone like me .
After walking for a bit, I found a few notable places and decided to have a meal before returning to the inn . The place was the restaurant where Suzuran relentlessly ate karaage .
ăWelcome . AhăŒ, you were the one with the little missy who has a large appet.i.teă ăh.e.l.lo . Thank you for what you did during that timeă
She led me to a vacant seat .
ăI remembered you because of your skin color . Youâre not together with that little missy this time?ă
I feel like she just remembered me because I was with Suzuran .
ăI was the only one who came here from the village to workă ăI see . So, want to eat karaage?ă ăNo since that girl made me a karaage bento for lunch . Iâll have the daily special . ă ăThatâs too bad . Todayâs special is karaage, you know?ă ăâŠâŠwell, just give me anything I can eat for 1 large copper coină ăSure thingă
The oba-chan smiled and headed towards the kitchen .
I returned to the inn after that . Nothing particularly interesting happened so I immediately went to sleep .
That day, I had a karaage filled nightmareâŠ