“Oh, I see. …Well, if I have to be honest with you, I don’t really like that style of clothing either. Any time I have to interact with those types, they always give off the feeling that they’re superior to me.”
“Is that so? Yeah, I have to say I don’t feel like that suits me.”
“Yep, yep. I can totally understand that. I definitely prefer your type, who are more mild and polite in your dealings.”
“Oh, that reminds me. I’ve already prepared things like a magic staff, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
100% lie.
“Oh, okay. There’s nothing else on my mind then. We’ll be in your care for the duration of the trip.”
“Right.”
Suimei’s agreement marked the end of the conversation and Galeon returned to join the other merchants.
He definitely had other matters to take care of. They were about to set out, after all. It was natural that he’d be busy at this time as the one in charge of the caravan.
At that moment, a nostalgic voice called out to Suimei, instilling him with a sense of deja vu.
“…Excuse me, but is that you, Suimei-kun?”
“Huh? Oh, Gurakis-san?”
Suimei turned to see the figure of someone who shouldn’t have been there: Lefille Gurakis.
“What brings you here? I’m sure you said that you weren’t planning on leaving for a short while yet?” he asked, thoroughly nonplussed.
Because Suimei and Lefille had stayed at the same inn, they’d conversed several times. Through those conversations, he’d learned that Lefille had some things to take care of, and thus hadn’t planned on leaving for some time yet.
So why would she be here, looking like she’s ready to set out as well? Suimei was unable to come up with an explanation.
His question prompted a nod from Lefille.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that the reward from the commission I accepted a couple days ago was quite a bit larger than expected. That meant that I met my goal for earnings earlier than expected as well.”
“So you’ve saved up enough?”
“Yep. I’m definitely fine on that point,” Lefille answered with a calm smile.
When they’d spoken earlier, she’d told him that she needed to stay around Mehter for a while, to save up money for travel as well as expenses for study.
“…If you don’t mind my asking, can I ask what kind of request that was?”
“Monster bounty. A large monster appeared a fair distance from here. The situation was pretty urgent, and so the reward was quite large.”
” ‘A large monster’? ” Suimei inquired, his interest piqued.
He’d never guessed that something like that had happened while he’d been waiting for an escort mission.
“Yep. A semi-giant.”
“Semi-giant…”
“Mm-hmm.”
…She didn’t continue.
She apparently was under the misconception that Suimei would understand with just that.
“…Um, and what exactly is that?”
“…Eh? You don’t know, Suimei-kun? We’re talking about semi-giants, you know?”
“I’m afraid not. There’s nothing like that where I’m from, you see.”
“O-oh, wow. Um, okay… So there are places like that too…”
His answer had been too unexpected; Lefille was completely taken aback. This was to be expected, however. As a visitor from another world, there was a veritable mountain of “common knowledge” items of which Suimei was ignorant. The name included the word “giant”, so he could at least tell that this monster was large and humanoid.