Chapter 353: Intel Gathering
「So, you guys are touring Es once Dean is done with his job? 」
「That’s right. You’re coming with us, right? 」
We’re in the card game room of the Canum house as usual.
Retze and Butler were playing a game similar to chess. Dinosso and I also played that but we ended our game fast since we don’t really think about our moves for long.
Dinosso and I each carried a bag of potato chips and we munched on them as we chatted. IT was a completely contrasting scene compared to the other two, who were sipping their wine from time to time as they stared at the board.
I did notice that Dean had been making himself scarce recently. Turns out he was doing his job properly. He doesn’t even come home for two to three days in a row, apparently.
Once I’m back it’s vacation time, oh yeah! — said Dean, so instead of going to brothels, we’re accompanying Khan to his homecoming, or should I say Hauron offered to tour us to Es.
「I’ll go. Oh, and I also want to go to the place where they get the cinnamon. 」
「Where is that? 」
「That’s what I wanna know. 」
「Don’t talk nonsense. 」
It’s said that cinnamon is harvested on cliffs or else in the headwaters of the River Es —I still believe that it’s simply gathered from the cinnamon barks like normal.
「I also want a sturdy rope. I guess the mooring lines of ships are still the sturdiest? 」
「Rope? If you need strings for that, then wouldn’t the spider silk made by monsters called 『Queen’s Spinners 』be the most durable? 」
「Where can I find them? 」
「The second peak of the Black Mountain. 」
「I’ll think about it when the weather turns warmer. 」
That’s the north! It’s waayyy too cold!!
「How about twisting the cords that are used for the Meteor Hammer of Silence? 」
「Meteor Hammer? 」
「It’s a weapon with weights that people flung around. Most meteor hammers use chains, but those so-called “Silence” ones usually use cords made from the gossamers of 『Iragrams 』, which are far stronger than iron chains. They don’t make a sound at all, hence the name. 」
Retze explained while staring at the board with a grim face.
「You’re even very well-versed about weapons of assassination. 」
Butler chuckled silently.
What, it’s a weapon for crime!?
「Cat’s footfall, a woman’s beard, root of boulders, tendon of a bear, the breath of a carp, saliva of a bird… 」
Retze enumerated as he moved his piece.
「What? 」
「Is that the legendary cord that the deities tasked the Northern Folks to make? 」
「Oh, so you’re talking about the Earthkin? Well, it’s true that even their women have beards. 」
I don’t have any idea what the rest meant, though.
「Hey, those are stuff that had been used as materials and are said to be nonexistent now, you know? Don’t agree as if they exist!! 」
「Eh!? Well, it’s true that Daifuku doesn’t make a sound… But aren’t huge rocks the root of boulders? Bears normally have tendons. As for the carps, well, nishikikoi do ‘inhale’ with great gusto during feeding, to the point that they seem to breathe with lungs instead of gills, and birds — they do have saliva, right? 」
If I’m not mistaken, bird species that feed on dry food normally produce saliva, although sea birds didn’t develop that biological function, I think?
「Nishiki…? 」
「Oh, colorful carps also exist, you know. 」
Retze curiously asked, so I explained. Well, the carps in this world have large and uneven scales, so it’s a bit awkward when you look at them with the Japanese koi in mind…
「Whatever do you want that sort of thing for? Are you binding something? 」
Retze, please forget the tortoise-shell-bondage style, I beg you.
I wouldn’t be able to help myself if I happen to see Retze and Dean teaching that technique to the other adventurers.
「I’m thinking of making a toy for Riche. Stern lines will probably break easily, right? 」
「Bfft! 」
Dinosso did a spit take beside me.
In a coughing fit, he accidentally put his hand on the board and ended up ruining the game.
「Well, it’s true that such a rope will be easily broken… 」
Butler smiled with a complicated expression on his face.
「Alright, I’ll ask the Earthkin if they can make it for me, and if not, then I’ll go to the Black Mountain. Thanks. 」
I expressed my gratitude.
「No, both of those options aren’t something you can casually talk about or go to, you know? 」
Dinosso pressed his mouth and cleared his throat. Did he accidentally get the potato somewhere weird, like his windpipe or something else?
Well, I’ll be holding a feast for the Earthkin tomorrow lunch, and we also have the cold-sensitive, tone-deaf permanent resident to turn to. It took another half-day to finish everything up, apparently.
「Oh, right, do you know a merchant named Lady Roza? I’m not sure where or how I heard it, but it’s a familiar name. 」
It’s not the name of an opera heroine, I swear.
「Is it perhaps the person in charge of raising funds for Roza’s crew? 」
Butler answered with another question.
Oh, right, I forgot that there was someone like that. Maybe it’s because they have the same name that I found Roza familiar.
「Did they have a fundraising manager? 」
「They are raising money not for funding the adventurer party, but for the restoration of their own kingdom. There are people who blatantly collect money, and there are also a few who cleverly obtain the funds without disclosing their intentions. Among them, Lady Roza. who works on the merchant island of Nalluahdid, is rumored to be Roza-sama’s younger sister. 」
「I heard that she’s Roza’s cousin, and that she even played body double for the latter. 」
Butler and Retze explained. Oh, maybe she used Roza as her name because she was a body double?
「It’s amazing that you even know news from Nalluahdid, considering how far that place is. 」
「Information spreads fast, so it’s a piece of cake if that’s all you want. It’s just that nobody knows her face, no matter who you ask. Well, it’s actually safer to gather intel from a faraway place. There’s so many people passing the word and you can also keep your anonymity. 」
「These two might act nonchalantly, but didn’t you guys started actively gathering info the moment Roza’s gang approached us while seemingly being involved with the heroes, didn’t you? 」
Dinosso let the cat out of the bag.
Ah, both of them averted their eyes a bit!
「But well, I think you guys are amazing at gathering and collecting info. 」
Really.
Thanks, guys, I owe you one. Before the banquet starts tomorrow, I should warn Soleil not to get too close to that Lady Roza person unless necessary.
Notes
T/N: Okay, so I searched for a bit and found that 流星錘 in Chinese is Meteor Hammer, and it’s also an actual weapon that fits Retze’s description, so I used that term instead of meteor weights, for which the character 錘 stands for in Japanese. This weapon is also in D*ta 2 XD
NEXT CHAPTER
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I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
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Thanks for the treat.