CH 90

Towering mountains rise beyond the northern side of the sea. People inhabited the land at the border of the north, and half of that land is a world filled with black rocks and white snow. Many of the other places are also desolate, and only a sparse amount of grass grows there. The noonday sun is weak, and there are also white nights.

This country is located beside the north’s Black Mountain, and it is a land of seafarers who have more faith on the light of the stars than on the sun. They also do trade with other countries, but they are not like Nalluahdid that imports rare goods that can fetch a high price because their marine transportation isn’t developed.

They specialized in hunting, instead. They hunt whales and walruses on their fast, narrow boats and sell the meat, tusks, bones and the like. That’s the main source of livelihood in this country — well, technically they operate on a familial level, with each unit composed of family members, but for the sake of convenience it is referred to as a country.

There’s an island inhabited by a single family specializing in trade, and most of the foreigners do their transactions over there. If those outsiders attempt to pass through routes not previously agreed upon, those northern people would promptly turn into pirates, so it’s important to be cautious. Well, it’s not like only the northern merchants and navy would turn into pirates, though.

There are a lot of unusual things around here and I also want to look around, but let’s do that later. There’s no point trying to leave an impression on the folks here with the black-robed figure in the first place if I’m also in the same town at the same time. Ah, but maybe there’s no need for me to make a fuss by engaging in combat; I can just shop around in my black robe to achieve that goal?

The folks here embroider thick cloths and hides with distinctive patterns, and those of the affluent class wear furs. In short, I really stick out like a sore-thumb with this get-up of mine. Since I’ve been trying to be as conspicuous as possible while showing this get-up for all to see before coming here, even if I just did some shopping now, I’m pretty sure I’ll crop up in conversations if an interested party tried to gather info about me.

The monsters living in the northern Black Mountain are separated by the sea, so folks here just leave them alone. Strong ones appear from time to time, but the northern people think that the Black Mountain is such a place and that they shouldn’t mess with it.

In light of the monsters being monsters of the sea, it’ll be difficult for me to do something given that I don’t have a boat. Ah, but it’ll still be hard to do anything even if I have one, huh.

And look at these people, they’re truly a fighting tribe; they’re screaming their heads off in glee if the sea is brimming with monsters, yelling things like “it’s prey!” and “what a good haul!” while scrambling to hunt them. I can’t even show-off!

Okay then, change of plans, let’s go shopping.

Walrus tusks, whale oil and whiskers are expensive. Not sure if it’s because there are a lot of excellent metal artisans here; but the goldsmith’s silverwork like hair clips, sash clips, cloak brooches and other stuff are superb. Some of the silver bangles are also treated as currency, apparently.

And just look at all the seafood here, seafood, you hear me? Salmon, mussels, shrimps, crabs, and cods. They also have a lot of those dried, salted cod, too.

I don’t have any plans of buying a lot of stuff while wearing this robe — okay, just one salmon. And a jar of lingonberry jam and two loaves of black bread that I have never seen before.

The fragrant aroma of burnt butter wafted in the air, luring me towards a small, round, baked thing which I then bought. 【 Appraisal 】 results say it’s a dish made with white cod meat as its base. The texture is similar to that of a pounded fish-cake that had been hardened for a bit. It’s a bit strange.

They also have a lot of iron goods, too.

I strolled through the marketplace and found a corner where swords, shields, chain mails and other stuff are being sold. Oh, right, I have to find a good blacksmith who can handle the magical iron that Ash gave me.

Alright, let’s buy a set of cloak and shoes here so I can use them to blend in next time I return here to shop. My body shape is different from my current appearance, and if anything, my skull shape is also different, so I don’t think they’ll see me as the same person even if I just changed my clothes; they’ll probably think that I’m just a guy who came from who knows where and lives nearby. I happen to see several folks like that, too.

Men here grew beards and they have an overly muscular, short and stout physique. It’s pretty obvious that even the women here have more muscle than me…It’s amazing how one can easily tell even if they’re dressed in thick clothes.

I can’t help but feel grateful that I have【Language】as I finished shopping.

Dragons fly around in the south, so there’s no need for humans to be involved. As for the west, the three heroes are there, so they can probably do something about the monsters from the Land of Desolation.

The northern spirits also begged me to name them, so I diligently set to work. It is said that deep underneath the Black Mountain where the ore deposits lie, there are many places with stockpiles of jewels and gems carried in by the spirits and fiends. Because of this, there are one or two young people who sail to obtain that great fortune in one fell swoop. It’s a bit ambitious and romantic isn’t it?

There’s a possibility that magical beasts that can use magic and fiends might appear; I’m a bit scared to fight with them, so I plan to increase the number of spirits who can help me before I go there.

The term fiend is actually quite vague. People use this term for the offspring of monsters and beasts possessed by weak spirits, a type of monster, or spirits that proactively play pranks on humans — basically, any being that uses magic to inconvenience people were all lumped up as fiend.

I went home and took a bath. I could feel the chill of the northern land to my bones, so I returned home once without a second thought to prepare the bath before I started naming the spirits. The numbing sensation spread through my body as I soaked in the warm water, and it felt like my body was falling apart.

Let’s go to the Northern Kingdom in summer. Summer, alright.

I’ve already done my part in leading Roza and her comrades away. All I have to do now is to wait for them to return and pick-up the rumors.

Oh, if the Gold ranks went away too soon, will it hinder the subjugation? Ah, no, it’s probably fine since I already captured most of the black spirits around this area.

By the way, I really want to cut my hair, but I don’t want to go to the barbershop that’s also doing the bathhouse. What about Ash?…Butler probably cut it.

I took a long, leisurely bath then drank milk after I’m done.

I rubbed and stroked Riche, then had some coffee while reading. It’s so nice that I don’t have to worry about running out of books to read. Novels were few, but it’s also fun learning about new stuff. You can say that anything printed is fine with me.

Right now, I’m reading about the things that spirits like. If two or more spirits possess the same person, most of the time, they stay beside that person for the same reasons — yeah, stuff like that.

Then, does the fire lizard darting around Dean’s shoulders have an armpit smell fetish, huh…?