Chapter 147: Suspicious Movement 2
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
Join the discord! Here
It was an old but neatly maintained spacious single room.
Though traces of lingering footsteps revealed the passage of time, there were no protruding splinters or creaky wooden boards.
The floor was smoothly polished, and the walls and ceiling were immaculately kept, making for a comfortable stay.
Oh! The 3-person room is a bit far away, so its fine, right? Unless you, like, call out Roland's name at night, the other mercenaries-
Lo, lower your voice!
Hey, even if Roland is superhuman, he won't hear us whispering like this, right? Surely, he wouldnt enhance his body with mana while resting in the inn?
If there was a problem, it might be that the soundproofing was woefully inadequate compared to a superhuman's physical senses.
Even just lying comfortably in bed without strengthening my body with mana, I could hear Han Se-ah and Graces voices clearly.
It seems like the design has the bed of the single room on the right and the bed of the double room on the left, with only a single wall separating them closely.
So, if there were no wall, Han Se-ah and Graces heads would be right beside mine.
Measuring the distance, it was approximately... less than 1m.
No matter how much they tried to suppress their voices, with a wooden wall between us, their voices were too easy to hear with my superhuman body.
But, Hanna.
Yes?
Han Se-ah, perhaps eager to push Grace into my room and peek inside, has a playful cheeky edge to her voice.
However, her voice quickly falters at Graces question.
Dont you have any thoughts?
...Thoughts about what?
About doing it with Roland.
I guess she thinks I'm not listening since she instantly launches a counterattack.
Even though Grace becomes a shy girl in front of me, normally she is like a sassy older sister character.
I also realized that she can be very brazen.
From what I see, you seem to like him more than I do. Its a bit suspicious? Maybe you want to join in?
No! Thats, umm...
Hey, dont shout. If you do that, Roland might wake up.
This girls talk, which ought to be private, flows from beside my head like a radio, providing an entertaining listen.
The two, once whispering, now seem to have entirely forgotten Im in the next room, as their voices raise to a normal level.
They talk like sisters, even consulting each other about their love lives, appearing very open.
Han Se-ah, playing the older sister, continuously nudges and probes - only to be counterattacked with an offensive full of crude jokes.
The only problem might be that the crude jokes Grace knows are based on her experiences with me.
Hmm? Hanna, are you asleep? ...Hehe, pretending to be asleep, huh.
She seems to have saved and logged out.
---
Raei Translations
---
The night passed quietly without Grace visiting my room.
In the morning, after Han Se-ah logged in and we gathered on the first floor of the inn, we agreed that while the lodging was decent, the food was somewhat lacking.
"Let's go to the Merchant's Guild as we discussed yesterday."
"Sure, Ive taken on a few requests here so I know where it is."
We headed out to the street together, having barely satisfied our hunger with a soup that felt rather mediocre compared to Irene's cooking.
Even though the meal was subpar, everyone seemed to be in a good mood, fresh from using a magic shower tool.
The moment our party stepped onto the street, ting-
Han Se-ahs stream turned on.
"Hello, everyone! Today's stream will start with us visiting the Merchant's Guild to gather some information. If youre not sure whats going on, the chatterboxes in the chat might kindly tell you about the linked quest, or not."
-Damn, only 10 seconds in
-Thats true
-Why aren't you showing us your pajama outfits?
"Why am I not showing it? I want to keep the good stuff to myself. Anyway, let's make some progress on the linked quest."
The streets, filled with merchants and mercenaries, were busy even in the early morning.
Carts lined up, blocking the narrow roads, and rough curses flew from the mouths of mercenaries upon seeing this, creating a scene reminiscent of a hellish commute.
I, armored, took the lead, forging through the densely packed crowd, with the rest of our group closely huddled behind me.
Feeling like a salmon swimming upstream, I nudged people aside to make our way forward.
"Hey, damn!"
"Dont push, you son of a-!"
"Who the hell is that?"
It was no surprise that a variety of harsh responses erupted when I, being both large and broad-shouldered, pushed people aside with my heavily armored body.
Of course, in the chaotic flow of the human river, no actual quarrels broke out.
Mercenaries shoved aside by the shoulder would merely swing a fist in the air, swiftly disappearing into the distance.
Since not everyone was stupid enough to verbally abuse a person armored head to toe, no particular incidents occurred.
"I wish I had inventory magic. Usually, pickpockets are a problem in places like this."
"Pickpockets?"
"Yeah. If youre not storing your belongings with magic like Hanna, little guys slip hands into your pockets in a crowd like this. Like now."
"Uh, ah!"
Lily, almost as if she was pulling a carrot, swiftly lifted a young pickpocket, who appeared to be no older than 10, by the wrist from the crowd.
It mustve taken some courage to target a group that included a fully-armored warrior, a woman with a spear, and another woman in a nuns robe.
Lily, who had reclaimed her wallet from the inexperienced-looking youngster, nonchalantly set him back down into the crowd.
"Catching them and handing them over to the guards only results in seeing them get roughed up, without anything actually happening. If we don't catch them, they pick our pockets, and if we show mercy, at most, people will talk about it. Truly troublesome little pests."
"Oh dear..."
Irene felt sympathy for the pickpocket rolling on the dirt floor.
However, she froze upon seeing the pickpocket, who quickly stood up avoiding people's feet and put his hand in a passing merchant's pocket while he was at it.
Street kids growing up in a much harsher environment than the city of adventurers have a vitality comparable to weeds.
-You can catch pickpockets as a senior adventure, but I got completely robbed.
-? There's an inventory, how'd you get robbed?
-There are quite a few kids who role-play
-Since the game has high freedom, all kinds of perverts pop out.
-I wall-climbed the outside of the tower on the first day. Being restricted to no inventory is nothing, lol.
Finally, the pickpocket kid, having swiped a clinking coin purse, disappeared into the crowd, with shouts of "Thief-!" echoing through the bustling people.
Only after the party silently handed over their belongings, such as waist pouches and lanterns, to Han Se-ah did we arrive at the Merchant's Guild.
Piercing through the crowd, we arrived at a wide open space.
Numerous carriages were neatly arranged here.
People in uniforms, people in silk clothes, and shabby-looking peddlers were mixed together haphazardly.
"Over there, that large building at the end of the square."
"You can tell just by the sign."
A tall and large building made of dark gray stone and a spacious sign outlined with metal.
The picture of a purse full of gold coins carved into the sign communicates that the building is related to merchants.
As dozens of people busily entered through the large main gate, what met their eyes was a brightly decorated lobby, like a noble's mansion.
From the large landscape paintings hanging on the walls, magical tools emitting light from within finely crafted glass crystals, to the sparkling armors and vibrant porcelain hung on the walls like a museum-
The party naturally shrinks back, just as the Guild intended.
"There are so many people. They must be incredibly busy, right?"
"Don't worry, these folks are merchants after all. Irene, could you stand at the front? Beside me."
"Sure, I understand."
Merchants are as sensitive to money as mercenaries.
We arent dressed shabbily and they wouldn't get greedy just at the sight of gold coins.
In the first place, merchants, who live off trust, wouldnt dare to hassle a group with a nun.
As sensitive as they are to money, they are to superstitions, too.
As if to confirm my thoughts, a woman welcomes us with a poised posture.
A beautiful woman, dressed in attire resembling a black suit and wearing round glasses, bows gently toward us.
Sneaking a peek at Han Se-ah's stream window, it seems like this character must have some stars attached to her.
"Welcome to the Ertta Merchant's Guild. How may I assist you today?"
"We need information about merchants who started out from the western port city."
"Information, you say?"
After turning off the stream window of Han Se-ah, which has gotten noisy upon the beautiful office ladys appearance, I gazed into the sparkling eyes behind those round glasses.
When our eyes met so straightforwardly, I felt like I couldnt look away.
The eyes of a merchant, fearlessly meeting mine, scrutinizing and calculating, are familiar.
Arent they the eyes Ive encountered most during these ten years of saving and spending money on magical tools?
"Hmm, information... Not bad."
But those eyes are a bit strange.
They arent eyes that weigh people and information on a mental scale to price them, but eyes that hold passion in an unexpected direction.
Wondering what this was all about, I fiddled with the gold coins in my pocket, debating whether to press her with money, when Han Se-ahs voice rang out from behind.
"Huh? What, there's such a title? Is this straight-up an NPC for that content? But she's a merchant?"
At her absurd shout, I involuntarily turn the stream window back on.
Satisfying curiosity comes first.
Thus, I came to know the identity of the NPC in front of us.
2 Lewd Violetta
...Damn it, she said she was a merchant.
---
New novel chapters are published on fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com