Chapter 278

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

Disturbing People

『Who exactly is that Silver Face guy? He doesn’t even remove his mask in the presence of His Majesty . It seems people from Primeval are truly a bunch of apes . They don’t know any manners . 』

『But we cannot take them lightly . It is a fact that their power healed King Doriachi . His Majesty didn’t even criticize his rudeness, and instead invited him to a private meeting after the banquet . 』

『His Majesty has changed . He is no longer fit to be…』

『Ssh . That’s disrespectful . 』

『No need for concern . There’s only us here . His Majesty’s illness had made him weak, and the apes from Primeval took advantage of that . Yes, that must be it . 』

『It’s all because of his illness . 』

『Indeed . 』

A man sat in the corner, his eyes closed .

『Don’t you agree, Lord Grucel?』

Hikaru met Luke again in the building where they were staying . At first, he thought citizens would swarm them, wishing to see Healing magic, but that didn’t happen at all . In fact, it was fairly quiet .

「Looks like the flow of information is being regulated well . 」the knight said . 「People might still find out about it later, but King Doriachi assured us that if that happened, they would do their best to not cause us trouble . 」

「I see . So what are you gonna do now? You already accomplished the one thing you came here to do . 」

「You were the ones who did it, but yes… The plan is to just keep guarding the Healer in the meantime . 」

「So you’ve got nothing better to do . 」

「As much as I hate to admit it, yes . 」

The two were now able to talk to each other in a casual manner . Hikaru didn’t really care about someone’s social status when talking to them, so Luke did the same . Luke’s party didn’t have anything better to do until the survey team arrived .

「How are you getting in touch with Vireocean?」Hikaru asked .

「We have no means of communication with them . 」

「Really?」

「We were in a hurry . I think the survey team will bring some magic item with them, but it’ll take some time to install and requires rather technical knowledge . 」

「Linga’s Quill Pen . 」

「I don’t know . With more money, they could get a miniature-sized communications device . 」

「Does it work across continents?」

「No idea . Dream Maker’s navy can’t even get in contact with their troops in Dew Roke . It’s not like we’re inferior in terms of that . 」

So communications is a hit-or-miss, Hikaru thought . Searching for Linga’s Quill Pen in the ruins might be pointless .

「What about you? What’s your plan?」Luke asked . 「There’s nothing really better to do . 」

「Good question . I think I’ll do some money-raising . 」

「You’ll make some money?」Luke looked at him blankly .

Oh, right . This dude’s from a noble family .

「Why are you looking at me like that?」the knight asked .

「Nothing . I’m not thinking about how you probably never had financial troubles, coming from a noble family . 」

「You definitely are! There’s no need to even earn money . King Doriachi said they’ll shoulder our expenses . 」

「Well, if you’re fine with that, be my guest . I have my own way of doing things . 」

First, Hikaru didn’t like owing people . Second, he didn’t want the flow of money to be monitored . The great thing about making money was Hikaru himself got involved in selling goods, which meant making contact with people of the city . In other words, making connections himself, not being introduced by Doriachi, Duinkler, or Grucel .

Apparently, many old people here—not just Man Gnomes—could speak Hikaru’s language, although broken .

If this country’s not a monolith, then I should set up some antennas in different places .

「If you don’t mind me asking, how are you going to make money?」

「Kill monsters and sell materials . 」

「Sounds like an adventurer’s job . 」

「It is . What about it?」

「Nothing, really… You seem to be the type who’ll attack from behind . I just thought you had some unique method to make money . 」

Where on earth did that come from? What does he think I am?

「So you get your hands dirty too, huh?」Luke said .

Money making might involve some luck, but there’s no shortcut to it . Forcing to take a shortcut won’t do you any good . Those were words Hikaru lived by .

Lavia was busy learning the language, so Hikaru asked Paula to check for places where he could sell monster materials . Drake stayed behind with Lavia .

It’s been a while since I’ve strolled in a forest alone .

When Hikaru said he was going out of the city, Duinkler suggested someone escort him, which he politely declined . It felt as thought the man was trying to probe into his affairs .

There were few gates that led out of town . Since an expedition squad had to venture out in the morning and return in the evening, they had to be opened . Hikaru, however, specifically asked to leave through a side gate .

He had a map of the immediate vicinity and a list of dangerous monsters, but since he couldn’t really read, he asked someone to recite them for him, then he drilled them into his brain .

Nothing but forest . Though there’s clearly a trodden path .

Under the trees, sunlight filtering through the branches, Hikaru walked on an actual path wide enough for a passenger car . It was apparently for the expedition squad’s wagon .

In Dream Maker, soldiers ventured out to hunt monsters as part of their training . Since they didn’t have a huge enough land for livestock farming, they had to kill monsters for meat . The same applied for fruits . Other important materials like timber and stones, they also had to gather outside of the city .

So their Soul Ranks are high because they go hunting daily .

In general, almost all the soldiers in Dream Maker had high ranks . The ordinary citizens did not . Soldiers were members of the army, hunters, and also manufacturers .

Unfortunately, Dream Maker didn’t have guild cards or soul cards, so people couldn’t receive buffs from job classes . They had heard about these classes, but they couldn’t seem to wrap their minds around the concept . For now, no one really wanted a guild card .

All right . Let’s do this .

Hikaru already had his Stealth on . He found a deer-like creature up ahead, eating grass . Monsters like the Yamamaneki might show up farther ahead . Raising soul rank now would be good . Right now, he was at rank 44 . Considering how soldiers here had three-digit ranks, it might be easy to gain points .

Hikaru started hunting, testing his theories along the way .

Later that evening, the expedition squad was dumbfounded by the pile of animals strewn by the side of the road .