Proofreader: Xemul
“Now, Loren, what are we going to do now?”
The amount of cash that Mills left behind was an alright sum, and would have been enough to fill the four people in Loren’s party up on food and drink. Of course, this was only if the four of them were all normal people. With a being who ate a nonstandard amount like Gula in their party, even if they were to have access to the entire storehouse of gold in some royal castle, only Gula herself knew if she would be truly full.
“What can I do? I’m going to accomplish what Ivy asked me to do and get the information about the ruins that she used. That’s all I can do.”
“Then, we already know that there is something unusual going on in this city, and now we have to find out what is causing it, don’t we?”
Loren thought that this would probably be the case, but he looked to Ivy for confirmation just in case. Ivy, who was absentmindedly watching Gula quickly empty a plate of food next to her while sipping a glass of wine, noticed Loren’s gaze and replied.
“Yes, something like that, please.”
“So that’s what we’ll do.”
“Alright. So, the only clue we have so far is that sewer.”
Loren sipped from the glass in his hand with a blatantly disgusted look on his face as Lapis spoke those words even though they were in the middle of a meal.
Loren, who had left Lapis behind and entered the sewers alone, was later sprinkled with a fair amount of perfume by Lapis to mask rather than remove the smell completely. If it had been a low quality perfume, the result would have been horrible, as the scent of perfume would had mixed with the original smell. But the perfume Lapis used was something special: even though it couldn’t completely cover the smell that had seeped into Loren’s clothes, it did a fairly good job masking it. It was chilling to think of what Ivy and Gula would have said to him had it not been for the perfume.
Regardless, when told that they might have to go back to a space with such an intense smell, it was inevitable that not only Loren, who had actually been there, but also Ivy and Gula, who had only heard about it, would have a clouded expression on their faces.
“Just to be clear, I don’t like it either.”
Feeling the reproachful stares gathering on her for some reason, Lapis pouted.
“So. To somehow complete this unpleasant job, I think we should have a discussion.”
“‘Somehow’… We can’t do anything about it, right?”
The smell of a sewer was not created overnight. It came from all the things that accumulated and decomposed there over an endless period of time, and rather than just staining, it soaked in. It was not something that could be washed away, and if you want to do something about it, you need to start from the building materials that make up the sewage system and the surrounding soil itself.
In other words, as Loren said, it was not something that can be done just by having the will to.
“At the most, we could use perfume before entering.”
“That won’t work. If we try to disguise that stench with a different fragrance, we won’t stand a chance.”
“If you’re so sure, what do you want to do about it?”
Gula asked without stopping eating, and Lapis drank the contents of the glass in her hand in one gulp and put it down on the table, almost slamming it. The cups offered at the stall were simple carved wooden ones coated with some kind of paint, and would not break even if they were handled in such a manner.
“We need to take steps to control that smell, even if only temporarily.”
“Temporarily huh. Do you have any good ideas?”
Even Loren did not want to step into that stench without taking any measures. If there was a way to control it, even temporarily, as Lapis had said, he would endorse it.
“It’s not that I don’t. It’s a hassle, but…”
“Really?!”
Loren knew that there were eyes around him, so he tried to keep his voice as low as possible and not to raise it too loudly, but it was natural that his voice would become slightly louder at the answer.
Even though Loren did not know how long it had been since the town of Suest was built, he could not help but be surprised to hear Lapis say that she could do something about the stench.
“It’s really only temporary, and it takes a little bit of time, but there is a way to properly control that smell. If possible, I’d like your permission to do it.”
“Permission? Mine? Why? There’s nothing wrong with doing it, is there?”
“I don’t plan to act on my own. A party member should ask permission from the party leader before making a move.”
“I feel like it’s already a little late for that.”
“And I have to get it pre-approved in order for the leader to take responsibility if something goes wrong.”
“…Isn’t that the main reason?”
As Loren stared at her, Lapis hurriedly shook her head.
“It’s not like that. There is no way I would try to impose any inconvenience on you, Loren.”
“Oh, yeah? I’ll just leave it at that.”
Loren had no intention to pull a snake out of that bush right now. If Lapis said so, it would be better to just agree with her.
“Is that okay with you too, Gula?”
Before exploring the sewers, where there would almost certainly be something, Loren also asked for Gula’s consent to take whatever measures Lapis suggested.
Gula, who was gorging herself on the food, nodded her head only once without stopping. Loren took it as a sign of approval from Gula, and turned his gaze to Ivy. Even if he misunderstood that, he believed he could not be blamed as it was Gula’s fault for not stopping eating and expressing her opinion.
“What about you, Ivy?”
“I’m not supposed to be a member of your party, am I?”
Ivy, regardless of her true identity, was only an employee of the Adventurers’ Guild in the city of Kapha, and was not a member of Loren’s party. Therefore, she thought that she did not have to recognize Loren as the leader and followed his instructions, and that he would not be asking for her opinion. She looked at Loren curiously, as he had done the opposite of her expectation.
“Maybe so, but it’s not fun to just go along and be disregarded, isn’t it? Besides, we’re all in this together.”
If Ivy had been an ordinary guild employee, Loren’s words would have sounded sincere. But even though she had changed her name and body, she had originally been considered as one of the Evil Gods. It had crossed Loren’s mind that she might be offended by being considered to be the same as an ordinary adventurer like himself, but she didn’t seem to take it badly as he had feared. She nodded and said.
“You do have a point, Loren. Then, my answer to you is to proceed as you wish.”
“I guess there is no one who disagrees. So, Lapis, where do we start?”
“First of all, after you finish eating here, please go shopping with me. And I would appreciate it if Gula and Ivy would secure the yard of the inn like yesterday.”
“OK, understood, you want to go shopping alone with Loren. So it goes.”
“I’m not saying that I don’t, but if you put it so blatantly, you’ll give me ideas, you know?”
Lapis shrugged her shoulders in a deliberate manner and looked straight at Gula, which caused Gula to stop eating and turn away in a fluster. Loren was scared of how the Evil God of Gluttony was intimidated enough to stop eating, but there was no trace of that intimidating atmosphere on Lapis’ face when she turned to Loren after silencing Gula. Loren was inwardly impressed by the speed with which she was able to switch from one emotion to another.
“Gula and Ivy, once you’ve secured the place, don’t go near the well or the inn building, okay? Those were the two places where Nig was wrapping the threads, so there might be something there. Don’t ever go near them.”
“Alright, got it.”
“Understood.”
After confirming that each of the two Evil Gods had understood, Loren looked at Lapis.
“So, what are we going to do? You said something about shopping.”
“Yes, shopping. I need to buy some materials for something I’m going to make.”
“I don’t know what you’re going to make, but can you get it here in town?”
The city of Suest was located in what could be called a remote area. There was no way for Loren to know what exactly Lapis was trying to make, but if she was trying to make some kind of medicine or the like, it was very unlikely that she would have all the materials she needed. Stores that specialized in the production of such medicines-making ingredients were usually located near the center of the country or in towns that were key transportation hubs where many roads converge, perhaps because of the problem of stocking such materials.
“I think it’s probably fine. I don’t need such rare materials.”
For Lapis, she was more worried about whether she would be able to shop properly in this town than about whether she would be able to get all the materials she needed. The owner of the inn where they were staying, the soldiers at the guard station, and the residents of this town were all somewhat strange. She wondered if she would be able to deal with these strange people and receive their goods by giving and receiving money.
“In the worst case scenario, we may have no choice but to imitate some thievery.”
Thinking that they would cross that bridge when they got there and there was no need to dwell on the matter right now, Lapis took Loren to the store she wanted to visit.