BXBX NOVEL Volume 4 - 7
Volume 4 Chapter 7: Pick-up
The next day
After I finished my morning preparations, I went outside to the bamboo thickets, and prepared my monster carriage.
A monster carriage is just a carriage pulled by a magical beast, so the structure isn’t really that different from a normal carriage. People wanting to buy one also needs to go to a workshop or a store that sells carriages, so there are people who just call them both carriage.
If I had to point out a difference, it would be the position of the coachman’s seat. The magical beast’s body is different from a horse, so it’s necessary to position the seat with that in mind. As a result, there are quite a number of specially ordered goods for monster carriages. Unless of course, the body of the magical beast to be used is similar to a horse.
"I’ll be relying on you today." [Ryouma]
"Kyuyon!" [Cannonball Rhino]
I said that as I tied Rai to the carriage. When I did, he responded with an unusually high-pitched voice.
Rai’s no longer the same as when I met him 2 years ago. His body is now close to being 3 meters long, which is the average size for an adult cannonball rhino. So with that, I guess you could say he’s an adult now. Along with that growth comes power. Nowadays, Rai’s strong enough to pull a large carriage by himself easily, so whenever I use one, I usually let him pull it.
Moreover, the monster carriage I tied Rai to was closer to an oxcart in shape rather than a carriage. The frame of the carriage is a long rectangle with sticky slime hardening liquid planks inlayed onto the windows to prevent crimes. There’s also the specially-ordered seat for the coachman that’s positioned a little higher than what it should be in order to take into consideration Rai’s future growth.
It’s possibly to put objects atop the frame, but even without doing that, the frame could already fit 8 adults inside excluding me. So there’s plenty of space even when I let the slimes ride on the carriage. Only, due to Rai’s overbearing strength, the stress placed on the frame and especially the wheels at full speed was too great. So in order to remedy that, I had the big iron slimes transform into wheels.
"Whoops, I guess I better go now."
I shouldn’t be late for my appointment with Elia and the others.
I ordered Rai, and he entered into my Dimension Home. I plan on going to Gimuru with my dimension magic, but I won’t be able to take Rai and the carriage with me. Fortunately, I can take him along as long as I have him enter the Dimension Home first, and then release him once we get there.
I say... Dimension magic sure is convenient. Though I guess saying that might be a tad bit too late now considering everything.
"’Gate’" [Ryouma]
When I used the advanced dimension magic, Gate...
“Made it in just the nick of time.” [Ryouma]
...the scenery immediately changed from that of the abandoned mine and the bamboo thickets to that where I was close enough to see the outer walls of Gimuru.
Relatively speaking, it’s just something recent, but I learned how to use ‘Gate’. It’s thanks to this magic that I’m able to greatly reduce the travel time between towns. Unfortunately though, with the speed comes the loss of enjoyment. There’s no elegance or atmosphere to it, so I only use it when I’m in a hurry. Otherwise, I’d rather take my time, and enjoy the travel with Rai pulling on the monster carriage.
“Just as the name implies, the advanced long distance magic, ‘Gate’, is able to teleport one from outside the gate to the next town’s gate. It seems to have been named exactly because of that ability. Anyway... ‘Dimension Home’” [Ryouma]
With a cast of my Dimension Home, I took Rai and the monster carriage out. Then I sat myself over the coachman’s seat, and took hold of the bridle as I drove the monster carriage. By the way, the bridle is just for show. Rai is my magical beast, so I can just order him to pull it with the bond between us that’s formed via magic. There’s no need to actually hold the bridle.
Five minutes later as Rai pulled on the monster carriage, we arrived at the northern gate of Gimuru.
"Good morning." [Ryouma]
"Hey, good morning. Big as always, huh? This guy." [Guard]
"Kwon!" [Rai]
"Oh, good morning to you too, huh?" [Guard]
"I’ve finished confirming your identification. You can go now. And if it’s you, I think you’ll be fine, but do take care in handling your magical beast." [Guard]
"Alright. Thanks as always." [Ryouma]
I passed through the gates, and then I headed to the girls’ lodging.
Riding on the monster carriage, I entered Gimuru. As we passed by, people who recognized Rai waved their hands, and the children ran along with us. There were also people who were surprised, but they were all either people who didn’t live in Gimuru or people who had only recently moved here.
There was a time when the people were scared due to the idiots over at the tamer guild, but after earning the trust of the people, I now often come here with Rai. Besides, the people like to touch him, and the kids like him too.
He’s big, he’s strong, he’s gentle... and the fur over his body is pretty too. He’s actually great to look at.
“Even though I thought he was brownish when we first met...” [Ryouma]
“Kwon!” [Rai]
I didn’t notice it back when we were at the Great Forest of Shurus, but his fur is actually colored gray, close to white. I only found out after he became my magical beast, and I had the cleaner slimes give him a shower. I was really shocked when the color of his fur vanished in the blink of an eye right in front of me...
I investigated the matter a bit later, and apparently, the base color for a cannonball rhino is gray. It does change a little depending on each cannonball rhino. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any information on what other colors there were. I do want to research the matter a bit more, but even if I tried to clean the other rhinos with my cleaner slimes, they’d just run away... But then again, Rai has grown up... Should I find him a mate? Once I do, I could use that as an opportunity to research.
In any case, I’ll deal with that later...
As I approached the lodging, I noticed that Elia and the others were already outside, waiting.
Oh? Was I late?
“Good morning. Sorry for making you all wait.” [Ryouma]
“Good morning, Ryouma-san. You’re actually earlier than the appointed time.” [Elia]
“Yesterday, I heard you were going to prepare a monster carriage. I was so excited wondering what magical beast you would take with you.” [Michelle]
“This kid’s so big... What kind of magical beast is this?” [Kanan]
“His name is Rai. He’s a cannonball rhino. A B Rank magical beast. Not only is he a huge help with that carriage, but he’s also a great deterrent to other magical beasts attacking, making travel a breeze.” [Ryouma]
Because of that though, he’s unfit for subjugating bandits. Since they’d just run away as soon as they saw him. For example, the bandits that aren’t a part of the dark guild that haven’t heard of the rumors about me – who, in other words, are ‘unlicensed bandits’ ¬– would just generally run upon seeing Rai.
“That’s that, but isn’t it hot waiting outside?” [Ryouma]
“Not at all. It’s still early morning, so the weather’s still fresh. The morning wind also feels good, so there’re waiting outside’s no problem.” [Riera]
“So she says, but deep inside, she’s actually just dying ta have her match with you.” [Miyabi]
So that’s why they were waiting outside.
“M-Miyabi...” [Riera]
“Ain’t it fine? I don’t think there’s anything ta be embarrassed about considering it’s Ryouma we’re talking about.” [Miyabi]
“He’s on a different league compared to our classmates at the academy.” [Kanan]
“Well that’s true...” [Riera]
Her face is a bit red... I wonder if she’s nervous or embarrassed because she got found out. In any case, I should help her relax. I planned for the match to be held in the afternoon from the start anyway, so...
“We’ll just keep talking and standing outside here at this rate, so everyone, please enter inside.” [Ryouma]
As I stepped down the coachman’s seat, I opened the door of the carriage attached at the side of the carriage’s frame. But before letting them enter, I placed a wooden foothold to make it easier for the girls to enter. Elia and the others thanked me as they each entered the carriage.
After everyone had gotten inside, I sat myself back up over the coachman’s seat. There’s a door just big enough for one person to reach the coachman’s seat. Opening that door, I called out to Elia and the others.
“If there’s nothing else, we’ll be departing. Are you all ready?” [Ryouma]
When I asked that, they answered back that they were ready. Since everything was good to go, I gave Rai the order, and the carriage began to move. The people of this town are alright, but there’re a lot of outsiders in the lodging, so it’ll be best for us to leave quickly. Rai is a strange sight after all, so there’re a lot of people who can’t help but want to take a look at him. There’s also no point in staying, so leaving quickly is best.
“Please feel free to speak out if the temperature’s too hot or cold! I can adjust it for you!” [Ryouma]
I said in a voice just loud enough for them to hear as I continued facing the road’s direction. But the response that came back from the girls was not an answer, but a question.
“Change?” [Kanan]
Ah... I’ve been using the monster carriage like a car from my previous life, so I’ve forgotten. But now that she mentions it, yeah... ACs aren’t normal here in this world, huh?
“There’re three slimes in the carriage, right?” [Ryouma]
“Yeah.” [Kanan]
“Those three slimes are cooler slime, heater slime, and aircon slime. Those slimes can each use wind and ice, wind and fire, and then wind, fire, and ice, magic respectively. If you want me to, I can order those slimes to blow cold air or hot air inside the carriage to control the temperature. Please feel free to say it if you need the temperature changed.” [Ryouma]
The girls weren’t surprised at all when I gave that explanation, rather they just calmly accepted it.
“By the way, Ryouma-han. Where are we going right now? Yesterday, you did mention that we would be going several places today.” [Miyabi]
“First off is the lodging for the training and the trainees. It’s close to the residential district, northeast of Gimuru. That place used to be the slums three years ago, but all that changed thanks to the increase in jobs.” [Ryouma]
Most of the town personnel were split between the two towns, so I was put in charge of dealing with the demolished slum. The training facility is one of the things I constructed there. There are also a lot of trainee that lived in the slums before.
As I laughed while saying that, the others said they were interested. Especially, Michelle-san who was staring quite strongly... Well, as long as they’re enjoying themselves, then that’s all that really matters.
“By the way, why did you start that training facility of yours?” [Michelle]
“Hmm... Well if there was to be a reason, then I guess it would be because I was uncomfortable.” [Ryouma]
Michelle-san could only tilt her head in puzzlement when she heard my words. Can’t be helped... it’s only natural after all that she wouldn’t understand much with just that explanation..
“I started the training facility about 2 years ago. Until then I was always away from Gimuru. But during that time, the construction of the second town began, and the adventurers and slave demon magic users coming from outside also increased. Even if I were to say it myself, the reason behind what happened then was probably because I was strong...” [Ryouma]
“Were you envied by adventurers your age?” [Riera]
“Exactly.” [Ryouma]
That time sure was rough... I was really sensitive to petty envy due to the demon king’s fragment. It was such that I could feel even the tiny envy from adventurers I was close with whenever we talked.
“Then why did you start the training facility because of that?” [Kanan]
At first, I did consider just cooping myself up inside the mine. But then, it hit me. While I may have been bothered by the ill will people held against me, at the same time, although vague, I was able to understand what it was that was causing that ill will.
When I realized that, I thought to try something.
“So I thought I could solve the issues as long as I made the reason behind their malice go away. And since people were envious of me because of my strength, I figured I should just train them until they were strong enough they didn’t need to be envious. As for those who were envious of my money, then I decided I should just introduce them to a good job, so they could earn money.” [Ryouma]
I wasn’t sensitive to subtle things like that back in my previous life. Thanks to the demon king’s fragment though, I was able to sense it. It might only be limited to negative emotions, but it’s no doubt that it’s thanks to it that I was able to understand the emotions those people held.
My actions were done on a whim, but the result was mostly a success. I trained people whenever I went out to buy food ingredients, and over time, the eyes that the troubling people looked at me with changed for the better.
Of course, there were also times when they needlessly refused. But at that point, there’s nothing else to do, but to just ignore those types of people. That’s a compromise I decided on since before, so I wasn’t really bothered much.
There were failures too. Some of the people who were envious became scared instead. I did hold back though. I wonder if they were beginners. People thought I was bullying people, so the guild master, Wogan, paid a visit. I explained everything to him except for the demon king’s fragment, and he decided to help out as well.
I think it was around that time that aspiring newcomers would sign up on their own. It was due to that that the scale of the facility also grew bigger...
After continuing that for some time, I eventually learned the Coach skill. Moreover, even though the fragment of the demon king’s almost been finished being treated, I’m a lot more sensitive to people’s feelings now... Or at least I think so anyway. At the very least, my acquaintances have increased. I know way more people now than I ever did back in my previous life. I’m really happy about that. I also have a bit of influence in Gimuru nowadays too. No one’s coming to sabotage my stores like that time when I first opened my store either. Everything’s going real well.
Now going back to the main topic...
I explained the story to Elia and the others as the carriage swayed. Of course, I made sure to leave out the demon king’s fragment. As I finished explaining, a white wall about 2 meters tall and a gate surrounding a two-story building entered my vision.
You can’t see the whole thing from here, but the buildings are arranged like the katakanas ‘コ’ (ko) and ‘ロ’ (ro) from the entrance of the building. Overall, the place looks like a mansion save for some parts. The whole place is shaped like a rectangle with the dimension 50m x 100m, and an area of 5000 square meters.
“You can see it now.” [Ryouma]
When I said that, Elia and the others took a peek from the door behind me.
“So that’s Ryouma-kun’s training facility?” [Kanan]
“It’s well made.” [Michelle]
“To think it would be this big.” [Riera]
“I talked with the duke before making this, so I got a lot of help.” [Ryouma]
“Ryouma-sama’s efforts have greatly improved the public order of Gimuru. The household of the duke also managed to gain some hidden gems amongst the accomplished people trained by the facility. The master also plans to continue providing assistance depending on the success from here on. Moreover, the Jamil Household is also investigating whether to make similar buildings like this one in the different town. It’s not so strange at all that the duke would support Ryouma-sama’s idea.” [Sebasu]
Come to think of it, weren’t there people leaving to work for the duke recently? I can’t remember their names, but they should be doing well... right? It’s great that they were able to find a good place to work at.