22 To the Capital!
Mile agreed to head to the place called Hunter Training School in the capital. If she didn’t, the receptionist Laura would have been fired, and the Guildmaster would probably have suffered some kind of punishment too.
Since they would have been able to live their lives peacefully without the irregular named Mile appearing, she, as a former japanese, would have felt pained if she hadn’t done this for them.
Although Laura-san might have committed a similar blunder at a later anyway, but now she would probably stick to the rules.
And to be honest, Mile didn’t mind either way.
She would have turned C-Rank sooner or later, so it didn’t matter if she reached there somewhat sooner. And since she earned that C-Rank only by virtue of being able to use Storage Magic she would still be seen as a “normal C-Rank Hunter”, although a slightly rare case.
That much didn’t matter compared with remaining F-Rank while knowledge about her Storage Magic becoming known.
While she could also run far away and register again, the normal procedure would earn her a C-Rank right away, and if she lied to become F-Rank and hid her Storage Magic, she would be limited to the normal harvest of a F-Rank Hunter.
And that was not acceptable to Mile.
If she had the choice, she didn’t want to be poor.
In the end, it was only a difference of half a year of school life.
And Mile wanted to experience that 『school life』。
She wanted to!
Her suddenly interrupted school life at Ekland Academy had been fun.
Everyone talked to her normally.
She had friends.
They played with her.
She wanted to stay there.
She wanted to graduate along with everyone.
She regretted having to leave.
She still had lingering attachments.
Thus, she reflexively replied.
「I’ll do it! I’ll enroll in that school!!」
Three weeks after it was decided that Mile would go to the capital.
Mile had earned money.
A lot of money.
She had asked a knowledgeable Hunter, and according to him, board and lodge as well as school fees were free, and you could earn money as a Hunter during your stay. But she wanted to be on the safe side, and having a little bit of money never hurt.
The next time for enrollment was roughly one month away, so she would spend 3 weeks on earning money, then travel 8 days to the capital and have 10 days remaining to prepare herself, and if everything went well, make herself familiar with the city.
That one week had six days, and one month six weeks made it easy to plan since those numbers could easily be divided.
She hunted in the beginner forest, only forgoing the pebbles for her sword and magic.
While she might also have held back in Ekland Academy, there is a clear difference in keeping herself to the level of a normal 10~12 year old girl, or matching people who would become C-Rank Hunters in half a year.
Maybe the would even use real swords instead of wooden ones for sparring.
Also, Mile thought, that most other students were probably going to be older than her.
The birds were hunted with magic.
The Horn Rabbits and fox-likes with a half-assed excuse of a spear made from wood.
And boars or deer were finished by her sword.
Despite taking care to leave some prey for the other novice Hunters, she made the material counter clerk shake his head in exasperation over the number of prey she brought back. By the time of her departure, 7 gold coins had amassed in her Item box. Combined with her savings, her fortune rose to 10 gold coins, around 1 million japanese yen.
For her journey to the capital, her stay there before the start of school, as well as school supplies, this should be enough.
With this, she could also say farewell to the days were her school uniform and Hunter garb are her only outfits.
Three weeks after the conference in the Guild’s meeting room.
The Guildmaster, the Guild’s clerks as well as the Hunters saw her off when she climbed onto the carriage.
8 days until she would arrive at the capital.
Mile could shorten that time considerably, but she wouldn’t do so without needing to.
After all Mile was a totally normal, average F-Rank Hunter.
The fee for travel and food were covered out of the private funds of Laura-san and the Guildmaster. The reason for this was obvious.
「She’s on her way…」
「Yes, she really is…」
Laura answered the Guildmaster’s mumbling.
「In half a year she’ll return as a C-Rank Hunter. A few years later she’ll reach B-Rank. And since she’s still so young, she might even reach A-Rank.
It would be nice if she became this town’s flagship Hunter…」
「Eh, she will come back? I thought she was going to stay in the capital like this?」
「She should come back here since her family is here, right?」
「Eh? Mile-san is from somewhere deep in the mountains and came here since her parents died and she needed an occupation. She isn’t from around here and has no family anymore.」
「Eh?」
「Eh?」
「EEEHHHHH!」
The Guildmaster collapsed.
「A-At least graduate with flying colors and raise my value to the higher ups, please…」
The Guildmaster started crying.
Behind him, the Hunters who had overheard their conversation also collapsed.
Mile’s journey to the capital went swimmingly.
The clothes she wore were simple and turned her into a simple, average village girl.
She also provided an unlimited amount of hot water to her fellow travelers who were very grateful for this service. It seems like Mile has internalized the spirit of customer service.
But due to this, and the fact that she had taken out food from her Storage Magic, it had become known that she wasn’t normal, despite going as far as wearing her normal clothes.
「You are going to the capital, Mile-chan? Are you going there to find work?」
「Um, I’m going to a place called Training School…」
「Ah, a servant there. That place seems to be for the elite among Hunters, so if you can catch a good husband there your future is set. Don’t worry, Mile-chan, in a few years the boys won’t be able to keep their hands off of you.」
The one who gave this advice was a slightly airheaded, young woman Mile had given a warm shower to everyday and shared some of her meat with. But this comment made a bitter smile float up onto Mile’s face.
The other travelers who overheard their conversation rebutted her inside their minds.
(As if someone that can use Storage Magic and produce that much water at such an age could be a servant! Of course she’s going to enroll, you dunce!)
9 days after its departure, the carriage arrived in the capital with a delay of one day.
During the trip rain had turned the roads into a muddy mess and forcefully plowing forward had led to a broken axle. But for accidents like this, arriving with only this much delay was good.
Aside from those whose destination was close right after entering the capital, all other travelers got off together at the central market place.
「Thank you for the hot water, Mile-chan!」
「Ride with us again next time!」
The fellow passengers, especially the women, who got to enjoy her hot showers, a luxus not even nobles could usually enjoy, showered her with thanks and shared some of their surplus food or souvenirs from their hometowns with Mile.
「When you’ve become a full-fledged Hunter I’ll put in a personal quest for you!」
(Ah, so there were people aware that she wasn’t a servant…)
Of course there were.
「The capital…」
She had the impression that this city was slightly smaller than the capital of her fatherland.
She wondered whether there was a school for the nobility or rich here too.
Anyway, this was the city she would spend the next six months in.
Since you could apparently move into the dorms three days before the school starts, she would spend the next 6 days in an inn and explore the city.
But, naturally, securing an inn came first. The sun was still high in the sky, so she decided to ask some honest looking person to recommend or guide her to an inn she could then take a look at before deciding. With this in mind, she started searching.
(Oh no! I could have asked one of the other travelers. The majority of them even were citizens of the capital on their way back!)
As usual, Mile had blundered.
In the evening, just before sunset.
Mile was standing in front of an inn.
She had asked a friendly looking, elderly couple for an inn a lone girl could safely stay at for a reasonably low price, ad with delicious food. The three places these conditions narrowed her search down to were then checked for their location, the clientele they catered to, and the cleanliness of their entrance. Since the comfort of the next six days was on the line, she had to decide suuuper seriously. If this didn’t help she’d only have bad luck and her own lack of insight to blame.
「Excuse me, do you have a free room?」
「Yeees~, we certainly do~!」
A cheerful girl’s voice replied to the question Mile had posed while entering through the door.
Right next to the entrance was a counter behind which a 10 year old girl was seated.
They innkeepers were probably busy with dinner, so their daughter was helping out.
「I would like to stay for six days…」
「Yes, just the room is 5 silver coins per night, breakfast is 3, lunch 5, and dinner 8 small silver coins. Hot water is five small copper coins for a full tub and two small copper coins for a filled basin.」
「Hmmm~, since I want to try out many different things, I will take dinner only for tonight, but breakfast everyday. I can produce hot water on my own, so I am fine in regards to that.」
「Oh cool, so you’re a magician! How nice…」
The girl was radiating a sense of pure envy.
As the daughter of an innkeeper, being able to freely produce hot water certainly would be useful.
Once again, Mile recognized just how blessed she was.
「You can already have dinner if you like. But only until the second night bell.」
The second night bell is a bell rung at what would be around 9 o’clock on earth. At 6 o’clock the first morning, at 9 o’clock the second morning, at 12 o’clock the first noon, at 15 o’clock the second noon, at 18 o’clock the first evening, and at 21 o’clock the second evening bells were rung.
「Ah, then I will best eat right away.」
Since it would be bothersome to descend again after climbing the stairs to her room, Mile decided to eat now rather than later.
Apparently you could choose from a menu that was hung on the walls….
『Orc steak』
『Orc saute』
『Orc stew』
『Orc skewers』
『Fried Orc』
It seemed like they wanted you to eat Orc meat, no matter what.
The girl glanced at Mile.
「Ahaha, we slightly miscalculated the amount of meat we needed…」
A bitter smile accompanied these words form the small girl’s mouth.
There was no helping it it seemed.
To be honest, Mile hadn’t eaten any monster meat until now.
This was common among nobles and even in the Ascham manor, monster meat never was put on the table.
And even though they were of low rank, a lot of Ekland’s students were nobles, so taking this into consideration, they couldn’t serve any monster meat either.
It isn’t like it was poisonous or something nor did Mile mind it. She would probably eat it a lot from now own after all. It was only that she hadn’t had a chance to eat it until now.
Since she would eventually eat it while traveling, she chose a style of cooking usable during her journeys. With this in mind, Mile placed her order.
「One Orc steak, please.」
Then the ordered food came.
An Orc steak, an Orc soup, and a side of bread and salad.
The amount of meat was slightly high. They probably couldn’t use up all of it.
Appearance-wise, it looked identical to pork.
It’s smell was identical to pork.
When she tried a piece, it tasted identical to pork.
…Conclusion, it was pork.
(Return my tension!)