A single horse-drawn carriage was making its way through the woods.
The place on which it was traveling could barely plausibly be called a road, but at first glance, it could almost be described as an animal trail.
Every time we passed through the muddy road, the wheels of the carriage would roll up the mud and send it flying backward.
I was impressed in a weird way, thinking that even though they did not have grooves like car tires, they rolled up dirt rather firmly.
The surrounding woods would have been a beautiful emerald green if the sun had shined.
However, it is raining now.
The weather was not too bad, but the ground had taken on a lot of water and was all sticky.
The carriage seems to be waterproof and repels water well.
However, there was no protection from the rain on the person holding the reins.
If it were a normal person, they would have already been drenched.
But I can handle it.
I use ăInfinite Water Manipulationă to control the water so that it doesnât fall on me.
MP consumption was not a big issue either, as all I had to do was deflect the trajectory of the water that naturally falls on me.
So I was in charge of driving the carriage, and the other four were left to relax in the carriage.
Since there was no way to pass the time, Reizen was teaching Alena and Satera a traditional game that he had seen in his previous life.
âI call- Two!â
âI call â Three!â
âI call â One! I did it! I won!â
âSatella is strong!â
The three laughed happily and then began to play again.
The thumb game that the three of them are playing is that they first decide on the caller, and after the caller says âI Call-â, the caller says a number.
The player and the caller put their thumbs up, and if the standing thumb and the number said by the callerâs thumb hit, the caller puts one arm down.
In short, if the number you say twice matches the number of thumbs you were standing on, you win.
It was a game that was called differently in different regions.
There must have been various calls for the game such as âThumb Callsâ and âThumb declarationâ.
In the place where Reizen was, it must have been called âThumb Callsâ.
What is the official name of this thumb game?
Iâm sure if I looked it up, I could find it, but unfortunately, there is no such thing as the Internet in this world.
Although Uchikage does not participate in this kind of traditional games, the other three seem to get along well with each other.
Or rather, Reizen knows a lot of traditional hand games.
He taught them various games using only hands such as âChatsubo,â âArupusuitimanzyaku,â and âOcharakahoi.
It made me nostalgic as I watched them play.
The three of them seemed to be having a lot of fun, speeding up the traditional games, changing the speed, and clapping their hands together.
Iâm so glad theyâre having fun.
It had been a day since we left the Kingdom of Salettana.
We are now moving along at a relatively leisurely pace without any major assaults.
However, even though there were no major assaults, a monster attacked us twice.
They are dog-type monsters.
They were in groups of about 10, but I was able to defeat them with my ăWater Spear Volleyă.
I felt sorry for the dog, but I didnât think it was cute, and it was creepy to say the least, so I just killed it.
As for monsters, I am no longer afraid of killing them.
I guess I still feel the same way I did when I was a snake, but I have something to protect as well.
If we hesitate to feel sorry for them, we will be the ones to suffer.
This kind of progress is necessary.
However, when I face humans, I am not yet prepared, or my approach to the situation is shallow.
I learned this well in the fight with Lequam.
It may be that my previous life was human, but this kind of naivety will have to be taken out of me somewhere.
âBUUURhhhhhhâ
âOh, Iâm sorry Starhorse. I was distracted a little.â
The water that has gotten on the starhorseâs body is repelled.
If it is around me, I can deflect the water unconsciously without being overly cautious, but if it is even a slight distance away, I have to be conscious of it.
I guess this is something Iâm used to, but I still need to work on it.
I mean, âŚâŚ I donât think I can make a bonfire in this kind of rain.
Up until now, we used to cook on the campfire when we hunted our game. âŚâŚ
I guess weâll just have the emergency rations we bought in town for dinner today.
Although I hunted a deer, it is âŚâŚ a pity.
Well, this is part of the fun of traveling, isnât it?
Letâs just enjoy it.
âAh, Uchikageâ
âIs there any problem?â
âWhere are we going to spend the night today?â
I was a little concerned, so I asked.
It wasnât raining when we came here, so I donât have a clue what to do in a situation like this.
I didnât remember the route yet, either.
I decided to ask a more experienced traveler for advice.
âThatâs right. âŚâŚ We will be at the village in a few more minutes. We should spend the night there. Weâre a little behind plan, but itâs not safe to cross the Yagul Mountains in this rain. Letâs move when itâs clear.â
âAlright, I understand.â
I slap the reins and make the horse go a little faster.
The shaking becomes a little more intense, but I canât wait to get to the village and take it easy.
We still havenât made it through the woods, and the scenery continues to be the same, but the rain-soaked woods are surprisingly beautiful and pleasant to me.
â
We stopped the carriage.
We were almost to the village, but Reizen got a little sick on the carriage, so we decided to take a short rest.
We were not heading any further from the village today anyway, no matter how much we hurried, so there was no problem in our schedule if we took a break here.
Despite the rain, Reizen suddenly jumped out of the carriage.
I noticed this and hurriedly deflected the water away around Reizen.
I wish he would at least say a few words before jumping out.
âUheee âŚâ
ââ Reizen, you okay? ââ
âIâm o- fine-â
You look a little pale. Take it easy, okay?
I didnât have to reverse, but it looks like we should take a little longer break.
Ah, thatâs right. I wanted to ask Uchikage something.
âUchikage. I saw an apothecary and a potion shop in the kingdom of Salettana, whatâs the difference?â
âEh, oh. Yes, it is. Itâs a little different. An apothecary deals in herbal medicines for illnesses, colds, etc., and a potion shop deals in things that can be taken to obtain various effects. The easiest ones to understand are potions for restoring magic power and restorative potions, right?â
Oh, a potion to restore magic power.
I should definitely buy some of those.
Iâll stop by next time when I find it.
I should also stop by an apothecaryâs shop.
My ăGreat Heală is not something I can use easily, so regular medicine might be important in case âŚâŚ something goes wrong.
It might put a little extra pressure on my backpack, but it wouldnât be a replacement for safety.
I hope there is an apothecary in the village we are heading to now, âŚâŚ.
It may not be that convenient.
âAh yes. Ouren-sama.â
âHmm?â
âThis is common knowledge, but you should not ask about status indiscreetly.â
âIs that so?â
âYes. First of all, it will raise suspicion.â
Those who ask about status are often those who know the other personâs status and do something devious, he said.
It is said that now and in the past, people were often asked such questions, and then the crooks would take notice of them.
Because of this, it was considered rude to ask for status information, and the adventurers were forbidden to ask for status information without proper explanation, as the leakage of status information was fatal to them.
It is said that even those who are truly trustworthy often hide their own inner thoughts and feelings.
Maybe Uchikage is hiding something, too.
Well, it doesnât matter.
âOK, Iâll be careful.â
If I hadnât heard this, I would have asked it normally to someone who became an adventurer and joined my group.
Close call, close call.
Well, now I get it.
Uchikage does not teach me much in the way of common sense, after all.
I guess itâs like, âHow come you donât know about this?âăI guess he is just asking me why I donât know about it.
Irza was the same case.
I guess I should ask if Iâm overlooking something.
Before itâs too late and something goes wrong.
Uchikage. Is there anything else you havenât taught me as a matter of common sense?â
âLetâs see, âŚâŚ the rest is about not telling âŚâŚ about your skills, too.ăSorry.â
âNo, you donât have to apologizeâ
âOh, then âŚâŚâŚâ
Reizen is staggering toward us.
It seems that he has not completely recovered from his motion sickness yet.
His face still looks a little pale.
Is it possible that this guy is starting to get hillsick?
Reizen asked Uchikage a question while looking queasy.
âWhatâs the average status of people and Oniâs on âŚâŚ? I kind of donât know what the average is, so I donât know how strong we are.â
Oh, I see. Thatâs an appropriate question even for Reizenâs case.
There are humans, oni or demon-kin, and then there are beastmen, right?
There may be many other races, but it is better to know a little bit about the average status of each race to get a better idea of how strong they are.
Thatâs good, Reizen. Thatâs a good question.
Uchikage thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.
âThis is from a book, so I donât know if itâs accurate or not. âŚâŚâ
He told us the average status of each species as far as he knew.
âHumanâ
LVÂ : / 100
HPÂ : 300/300
MPÂ : 300/300
Attack Power : 150
Defense : 120
Magic Strength : 400
Agility : 200
âOniâ
LVÂ : / 100
HPÂ : 500/500
MPÂ : 200/200
Attack power : 1300
Defense : 300
Magic Strength : 300
Agility : 300
âBeastmenâ
LVÂ : / 120
HPÂ : 650/650
MPÂ : 100/100
Attack Power : 600
Defense : 350
Magic Strength : 100
Agility : 500
âDevilkinâ
LVÂ : / 200
HPÂ : 900/900
MPÂ : 600/600
Attack power : 500
Defense : 100
Magic Strength : 600
Agility : 200
According to Uchikage, there are still more races.
But the books only showed them like this.
Well, there is nothing we can do about it.
But âŚâŚ the average for humans is low.
The magic strength seems to be specialized to a certain extent, but âŚâŚ.
Oni have high attack power.
Beastmen have high physical strength,âŚâŚ and agility.
Maybe they are a beast just as their name implies.
I mean, is there such a thing as a devil tribe?
I think Iâve heard of them before somewhere, but I think I overlooked it because Iâm not that interested.
The devil tribe has high magic power and MP.
They are able to use their skills as much as they want, arenât they?
Well, if we travel around, we may meet them.
âHee. There are various races!â
Reizen nodded his head in amazement.
However, Uchikage knows a lot of things, doesnât he?
Iâm really glad he followed us.
Reizenâs sickness seems to have subsided, so we decided to get into the carriage and set out.
We were able to reach the village in no time and managed to secure a place to stay.