Q & A

[Thank you for answering my question.]

The woman expressed her gratitude.

[I also apologize for asking that question repeatedly. I mean, I have also sensed that you’re not lying when you told me about how you defeated those four people. I also understand that you’ve honestly answered my previous questions.]

Did she have a lie detector? It’s as if she’s confident that she’s able to tell if someone tells the truth or not.

[That’s why—]

The woman looked at me with a sincere expression on her face. She bowed down her head, and put her hand on her chest with difficulty. It’s as if she’s making a pledge.

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[I will answer you question as honestly as I could in return. You’re the one who fended off those four people— Towards someone who could be called my benefactor, I don’t intend to do any harm to you at all.]

Her benefactor. I think that’s too much of an exaggeration. No– If she’s really that indebted to me, I guess I’ll use that to my advantage.

[What do you specifically want to ask? You had mentioned earlier that you’re not someone who lives around here.]

She said imposingly even though she can’t even move her body. This may prove that she had lessened her vigilance towards me.

[I’ve just been following where my feet takes me. I must have walked quite a distance already. Before I knew it, I’m already in this forest.] [How did you even arrive in this forest?] [It’s like I was suddenly thrown away into this place.] [—Is that so? I’m sorry that I have asked that.]

Something like me being thrown away.

Those words would provoke some dark imaginations to surface in your mind after you hear that.

For example, I may have been abandoned by my travelling companions. I may also have been driven out from the place where I used to live. Or I may even have been an abandoned slave (supposing that there are slaves in this world).

Etcetera, etcetera.

The story of me being thrown away is not a lie in the first place. I was abandoned by my parents and I was disposed of by that f*cking goddess. If she could sniff out that I have some dark past that I probably don’t want to talk about, she might become lax on her questions. It would be enough to just let her sniff out some truth covering the smoke of things that I want to hide. This also have another advantage. If I could do this well enough, I could also estimate the personality of the other party based on their reaction. I looked at the woman’s eyes. The expression of the woman? It’s as if a question mark is floating above her head.

[What is it?] [You don’t seem that bad of a person— well, for now that is.] […Did I perhaps gain some of your trust?]

[Yeah, Just a bit. It’s just that, I feel that my circumstances are a bit similar to yours. The both of us think that we should avoid intruding too deeply in the others lives—]

It seems that this woman also have her own circumstances that she wanted to hide. However, that doesn’t matter. All I wanted now is information. After I get the information I want, it would be good enough to go on our own ways.

[Yeah, I agree.]

Shadows cast over the woman’s expression.

[I’m also thankful if that we’re the case.]

There is still the problem with the remaining gauge. We have already wasted a lot of time with these idle-chatter.

[Okay. Well then, I’ll move on towards the questions I wanted to ask. Is there any village or town nearby?] [There’s one, there’s a small city called Mills nearby. I was also–]

The woman suddenly paused.

“I was also–“

There seems to be a reason why she doesn’t want others to know her destination. Is she afraid of the budding chance that I might give out the information of her destination towards her pursuers? Though I said that, those words she said just now have already given out where she’s going. Well, if I just know the location of the city then that would have been enough. I won’t dig into her circumstances.

The woman has taught me the direction and distance towards that city. It seems that it really isn’t that far from here. The time where I could finally sleep on a decent bed is finally near.

[Where is this place located?]

I move on towards the next question.

[Do you not even know where you are right now?] [My situation’s a bit complicated. I was living in a place that’s disconnected from civilization. I’ve never received any information from the outside. You should be able to guess my circumstances now.]

I’m trying to imply that I was escaping from the eyes of investigators.

[…I understand. This is a forest located to the south of Urza Kingdom, “Forest of Darkness”.]

I’m surprised. Isn’t this place located in Allion Kingdom? I completely thought that the disposal ruins were located in Allion. I’ve gained quite a valuable information.

[Where is Allion?] [Allion, is it? I think it’s northeast of Urza Kingdom? And also, to the southeast of Urza Kingdom is—]

The woman hesitated a bit.

[…where the Bachoss Empire is located.] (T/N: I suck at naming. This info may change depending on when I could sync it to the manga.)

There must be something there in the Bachoss Empire that made her think twice just to mention its name. However, I’ve said this before but I won’t dig to deeply in her circumstances. Nevertheless… It seems that this place isn’t located in Allion. That means that there is no way that f*cking goddess is nearby. Is it okay to consider this as a good news for now? The thing for me to consider first is the direction where I should go so that I could stay away from Allion for the meantime. First of all, the matter that I’ve talked about before regarding the Forbidden Curses should be prioritized on where I would go. Fumu… I’m in another country, so there is no need to be in a hurry to leave…

[Okay. The next questions might be a little strange.]

The woman suddenly have a face full of worry after hearing my words.

[—ah, y-yes. P-please do.] [For example… If I want to buy a bread that was usually eaten by commoners, how much would it usually cost?] [..So you want to know the market price, huh?] [I have lived in a place where I wouldn’t need to know the price of things…] [I understand. If you’re talking about a bread that you could usually buy in any city, then you can buy them with one piece of copper.]

So, bread exists huh.

[How many copper coins are equivalent to a silver coin?] [It’s about 30 copper coins for one silver coin.]

Let’s say that a bread could be about ¥100 each. (T/N: ¥ = jap yen.) If it’s according to the standards of my previous world, a silver coin should be equivalent to about ¥3000. It may just be an approximate guess from me, but I guess I roughly grasped it. It’s obvious, but prices in here should be different from Japan. I must not think of the value of everything depending on their equivalent in Japanese Yen. However, it’s a step forward now that I have understood the “standard” price of bread. I should fairly understand the price relationship when I have finally reached the city of Mills.

I quickly speak out the information I wanted to know. The yellow gauge is about to be depleted. There’s one last thing left that I need to really need to know from her. I took out the “The Forbidden Archives of Spells and Curses” from my leather bag. I spread open the archive in front of the woman’s face.

[Do you know anything regarding the letters used to write in this book?]

The woman’s eyes run through the letters in the book. Her eyes seems to shine as she hurriedly looked over the book. Did she find out something because of how her mouth moves like that? I don’t even know if she’s even conscious at all. Hmm? I noticed one thing from her. There’s a faint wrinkles that I could see beneath her eyes. Although, it’s actually so faint that I would have never seen it if I weren’t looking closely. Is it that she lacks some sleep because she’s been escaping for days?

[This is—]

The few wrinkles engraved on her eyebrows caved in a bit as she replied.

[It seems to be written with ancient characters. This is quite a special book.] [Can you read it?] [No, I’m sorry about that.] [I see. I understand.]

I rolled up the Forbidden Archive so that I could put it back to my back. It seems that this part is not going quite well, huh? Although I’ve only just a single clue, I have some expectation regarding this. Well, I’ll be able to know its contents in the future.

[However—] [Hmm?]

[I think I might know someone who is quite familiar with these characters.]