To Another World... with Land Mines! Volume 6, page 1
Prologue
Edith had disappeared along with the coldness of winter, and spring’s arrival was drawing near. We hadn’t spent much time with Edith, but she had left a strong impression on our minds and hearts, so we all felt melancholic after she had parted with us. As the days became warmer, we tried to clean up the mansion that she had passed down to us, but it wasn’t enough for us to shake off a restless feeling. As a result, we decided that in order to move on, we needed to dedicate a small shrine to Edith, and all of us worked hard to clean up the yard before we built a shrine and offered our prayers to her.
However, once we’d found closure through our work on the shrine and were ready to continue with our lives, I realized something: we hadn’t really benefited financially from our hard work fulfilling Edith’s quest. We had obtained a mansion as a reward, and it was a slightly painful fact that the mansion was larger than our own house. In addition, we had received Edith’s old alchemist tools, and the knowledge she had passed to Haruka and the others was valuable—as were our memories of her. However, we hadn’t earned very much actual money. The amount of money that we’d earned was decent, but it felt a bit lacking relative to the amount of effort that had been required from us to complete the quest. There was also one other major issue at hand that was bothering me.
“I feel like we haven’t made much progress toward our initial goal of obtaining effective ways to deal with undead monsters,” I said. “Am I wrong?”
The girls all nodded in agreement, and Haruka was the first to chime in. “No, you’re completely right. Holy water isn’t a practical method for dealing with undead monsters, and we haven’t obtained any other way of dealing them damage.”
“I’ve been practicing my magic, but despite our efforts, all we’ve obtained is an amulet,” said Natsuki.
“Yeah, it doesn’t feel significant at all,” said Yuki. “It’s only a twenty percent increase in safety overall, so...”
Touya was the only one of us who shook his head at that sentiment rather than nodding in agreement. “Nah, that amulet is super important! It’s like a one hundred percent increase in safety for me!”
“It’s zero percent for the rest of us, though.”
“Ugh! I mean, yeah, Nao, you’re right, but still!”
It had been unintentional on her part, but Edith had helped to prove that undead monsters like shadow ghosts weren’t that dangerous to mages.
“That being the case, Touya’s the only one who’s benefited from our hard work recently, right?” Yuki asked.
“Mm. On top of that, even the amulet that we’ve obtained won’t protect him from being possessed if he’s careless with it,” said Natsuki.
“Believe me, I’m really sorry about that,” said Touya. “However, everything with Edith worked out in the end, right?”
“In the end, yeah. We also learned the limits of the amulet’s effectiveness as a result,” said Haruka. “However, this is only relevant to you, Touya.”
“Ugh, come on!” Touya exclaimed. “Fine, I’ll do my best to live up to everyone’s expectations, so give me a break...”
Touya had a dejected expression on his face and let his tail droop, and the rest of us exchanged some glances and laughed before resuming our original conversation.
“Okay, that’s enough teasing Touya for now,” I said. “At the end of the day, the only practical way of dealing with undead monsters is weapons made from elemental metal, right?”
At least, it was the only realistic option apart from training our magical abilities, but elemental metal weapons weren’t cheap by any means.
“Mm, we confirmed that with Edith,” said Haruka. “She also taught us how to craft elemental metal.”
“Yeah, we can probably create a lot of different elemental metals, since there are a lot of mages in our party!” Yuki exclaimed. “Well, not darkness elemental metal, though.”
“Oh, like how we worked together to make our magic bags?” I asked.
“Mm. There are also other methods of making elemental metal, but there’s no reason for us to spend more money than necessary,” said Haruka.
According to Haruka, the process would require special materials that would differ depending on the element. With that in mind, you had the option of purchasing those special materials directly or making them yourself by obtaining the help of mages who could use the element you wanted to enchant the metal with. Purchasing the materials was obviously the more expensive option, and the mages in our party had every element except darkness covered, so saving money was the correct option for us.
“In that case, we should make the metal right away so that we can place an order for our elemental weapons!” Touya exclaimed. “Undead monsters won’t be scary for me if I can actually deal them damage!”
Touya seemed quite excited about the prospect, but Haruka sighed. “It’s not that simple, Touya. We can save money by making the elemental materials ourselves, but the other materials we need are also expensive! If we factor in the materials that we made with Edith’s help as practice and the amount of money that we have on us, then we can probably only afford one elemental weapon at the moment.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” said Yuki. “I’m not sure if we can even make enough elemental metal for a sword.”
Spears for my use and Natsuki’s would only have to have spearheads made out of elemental metal, but a sword for Touya would require much more metal.
“I guess that means we need to earn more money,” I said. “It’s not like we can sell Edith’s mansion, so...”
“Of course not!” Touya exclaimed. “I’d rather earn all of the money myself than do that!”
I had no intention of selling Edith’s mansion, but Touya’s reaction was much stronger than I had expected. I wonder if he’s really against this idea because he spent the most time with Edith. I hope it’s not because he wants to use it as a personal home for him and his future wife...
“Oh, I see. In that case, I like the idea of making Touya earn the money for his own weapon,” I said, grinning.
Yuki chimed in right away. “Yeah, that sounds good! Touya can’t directly contribute to the crafting process, and this way, he won’t be worn out that easily either!”
“It’ll probably take a lot of hard work to earn the value of a mansion,” said Natsuki. “Good luck, Touya-kun.”
“Finding work in the first place might be the hard part,” said Haruka. “We’ll probably need to ask Diola-san to recommend high-earning quests for Touya to take on, regardless of how hard those quests might be.”
“Huh? I’m the only one who’s going to have to work hard?” Touya asked. “I mean, it’s true that I can only contribute to the crafting process by earning money for the materials, but still...”
Touya had a slightly gloomy expression on his face as he pointed at himself, and the rest of us laughed once again.
“Relax, we’re just joking. But in any case, we definitely need to find ways to earn money, and we can’t really rely on orcs anymore, since there are fewer of them around now,” I said. “We’ll either have to venture deeper into the forest or aim for different monsters that are worth more apiece.”
“Monsters, huh? If I recall correctly, there are monsters like scalp apes, bind vipers, and ogres in the second and third sections of the forest, right?” Haruka asked. “Are any of those monsters worth good money?”
“Scalp apes aren’t even worth considering,” said Natsuki. “Bind vipers are worth slightly less apiece than orcs, but they’re not an efficient source of income because they don’t move in groups. As for ogres, they’re worth more than orcs, but that’s only if you somehow succeed at slaying them.”
Natsuki had tacked an important piece of information onto the end of her explanation, and Yuki hastily waved her hands. “Doesn’t that imply that we should flee from ogres?! We can’t earn money slaying them, right?!”
“Mm, ogres aren’t a good source of income,” said Natsuki. “And unfortunately for us, they don’t appear in large numbers, unlike orcs.”
“That’s actually a good thing for us, Natsuki! Come on, let’s think of something more realistic.” Yuki sighed when she saw the smile on Natsuki’s face and then paused in thought for a moment before bringing up an idea of her own. “Well, if we’re not going to just earn money little by little, then how does harvesting precious wood sound? Diola-san didn’t seem to approve of that idea, though.”
The branch master of the Adventurers’ Guild in Laffan had mentioned a quest to harvest precious wood, but Diola-san had strongly objected at the time. That being the case, it was probably dangerous work, but...
“Let’s do some research before we make a decision,” said Haruka. “We can just give up on the idea if it seems impossible.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” said Yuki. “All right, let’s go ask a specialist for information!”
Yuki pumped her fist in the air. Later that day, she led the way to someone who would have information on the subject of precious wood.
Chapter 1—Let’s Cut Down Some Trees!
It was our first time visiting Simon-san’s workshop, which happened to be quite large. There was a lot of open space for carpentry, but next to the work floor, there was also a much larger space storing lumber; in fact, the storage area was spacious enough to fit six ordinary houses. Simon-san’s workshop was even larger than the other workshops that I had seen on the way here, so there was a high chance that Simon-san was actually a very influential and important person in Laffan.
When I first saw Simon-san’s workshop, I felt a bit intimidated, since I had been imagining a small artisan’s atelier, but Yuki didn’t seem to be bothered at all. She had visited this place many times in the past, and now she stepped inside without breaking her stride. Her lack of hesitation was helpful to me; I simply followed her inside. The first thing I saw was a bunch of unfinished furniture in rows. Simon-san must have had multiple apprentices, as you’d expect based on the size of the workshop itself, and it was actually quite noisy; the sounds of sawing and hammers vibrated throughout the interior of the building.
Yuki raised her voice over the noise to announce our presence. “Hello! Are you here, Simon-san?”
We heard a voice from somewhere inside of the workshop; it sounded like it was coming from some distance away. “Yeah, I’m here. Sorry, wait a moment.”
“Okay!”
Since the place was unfamiliar to me, I made use of the wait time to observe my surroundings, and soon, Simon-san approached us through the gaps in the rows of furniture. “Oh, it’s you guys. What are you all here for? Any problems with your house?”
Simon-san sounded a bit unhappy, so Haruka shook her head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with our house. In fact, we’re perfectly happy with it. Thank you so much for your excellent work, Simon-san.”
“Heh, I’m glad to hear that. It was a good project for me too,” said Simon. He sounded pleased and satisfied at Haruka’s words. “In that case, what are you all here for? To order some furniture?”
We asked him about the idea of harvesting precious wood, but...
“Are you serious? I know you kids are quite strong, but you might die trying.” Simon-san grimaced. “Carpenters like myself would really appreciate getting our hands on precious wood, but there are monsters and animals like deer in those parts, you know?”
“Don’t worry, we plan on doing thorough research before we make a decision,” said Haruka. “Our questions for you are part of that research.”
“Sure, I take your meaning, but even high-rank adventurers have fled for their lives from quests to harvest precious wood...”
According to Simon-san, over a decade had passed since the last successful attempt to harvest precious wood from the north forest; all of the wood that remained in stockpiles in Laffan was from past quests, and its price had only grown over the years. Apparently there had been a few occasions in the past when high-rank adventurers, up to Rank 6—the kind of adventurers who usually wouldn’t stay in Laffan—had formed groups to venture into the north forest, since they’d be rich if they returned with precious wood.
However, none of their attempts had lasted long. As high-rank adventurers, they had been able to deal with the monsters in the north forest just fine, and they had no issues with harvesting the wood, but one major issue was how to transport it back to town. Even high-rank adventurers weren’t capable of carrying all that wood by hand, so they had no choice but to gather other people to drag the logs through the wilderness of the north forest. Monsters would attack them along the way, so more adventurers were needed to protect the people dragging the logs. As a result, the amount of money that each individual could earn had decreased until it was no longer worthwhile for high-rank adventurers. The natural conclusion for them had been to stop taking on that kind of work after a few attempts, and they’d left Laffan immediately afterward.
With all of that in mind, the biggest problem when it came to harvesting precious wood was transportation, but our party had a solution in the form of magic bags. When we explained to Simon-san that we could simply stuff whole logs into our bags, he nodded. “Hmm. I guess you guys might be able to earn a decent amount of money from that kind of work if you have magic bags that can fit an entire log, but that’s only if you’re capable of slaying the kinds of monsters you’ll run into.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful,” said Haruka. “Safety is our first priority, after all.”
“People who consider safety their first priority wouldn’t even think of heading to the north forest in the first place, you idiot!” Simon-san sounded exasperated and worried, but then sighed and shook his head. “Well, I guess it’s nonsense to say such things to adventurers. What do you want to know? I can’t tell you how to harvest precious wood—us carpenters just buy it.”
“Uh, well, we’d like to know what type of precious wood is worth a lot,” said Yuki. “We don’t really know much about precious wood, so...”
“The price can vary, but all of the trees in the north forest fall under the category of precious wood,” said Simon. “I don’t think showing you the wood itself will be too useful a reference, but I may as well for whatever it’s worth. Follow me!”
Simon-san guided us to a small shed in one corner of the storage space. Inside were stacks of roughly sawed timber. At a glance, the precious wood didn’t look that much different from the other lumber stored in this part of the workshop, and even after closer inspection, I couldn’t tell the difference. Is this wood actually that much more valuable? It’s kind of hard for me to believe...
“We’re one of the largest workshops in Laffan, but this is all we have left,” said Simon. “I can’t stock up either—there’s no precious wood on the market.”
“Um, Simon-san, is this really precious wood?” I asked hesitantly. “It doesn’t look like it at all...”
Simon-san chuckled and nodded. “Yep, it’s hard for a layman to tell from rough timber, and even I don’t know what it looks like as a whole tree. It’s said that you can find higher-quality wood the deeper you go into the northwest part of the forest. I hope this is useful information.”
It seemed like the price of precious wood was decided by its quality, and people had discovered that wood from deeper within forests tended to be of higher quality by comparing the precious wood with the areas that the wood had been harvested from.
“Precious wood is a hardwood with a unique fine grain, so it’s absolutely perfect for furniture,” said Simon. “There are some types with odd colors that even laypeople can spot, but that’s not all there is to the wood.”
According to Simon-san, precious wood was beautiful even when relatively unmodified, and it was also well suited for carving. On the other hand, it was a waste to use precious wood in construction if it wasn’t visible from the outside of the building. Apart from furniture, then, precious wood was only used for the floors and wallboards of mansions owned by nobles even in the past when there was still a steady supply from the north forest.
Simon-san picked up a board and held it up to us. Its dimensions appeared to be about fifty by a hundred centimeters; in its current state, it was about the right size for a small table. “Take this board here. It’s been properly planed. Can you tell the difference?”
Yuki touched the board, but she couldn’t come up with much to say. “Uh, well, it looks pretty, I guess? It also feels nice to the touch.”
As a guy, I couldn’t tell how it was different from a normal board either. When I rapped it with my fingers, it felt hard, and its swirling grain pattern was definitely unique, but I wasn’t sure if all that was enough to make it valuable. For the most part, the others seemed to have the same impressions, but there was one person among us who could tell the difference: Natsuki, which made sense to me, since she had been born into a rich family.
“Mm, this really is precious wood,” said Natsuki. “In fact, it’s a very expensive kind, isn’t it?”
“Oh, I’m surprised you know,” said Simon. He grinned; he seemed pleased that one of us had an eye for wood. “The figure of this wood is excellent. I was thinking of using it to make a desk table. It’s not easy to come across wood this fine.”
Simon-san proceeded to show us a bunch of different types of wood and explain their properties, but I couldn’t really follow. I could tell that the boards he showed us were all completely different from normal boards, but I couldn’t understand why they were so valuable.
The types of wood that he showed us had holes in them, weird patterns, or different colors that didn’t blend together. All of those properties seemed worthless to me, but obviously there were factors in the value of precious wood beyond its sturdiness and how it felt to the touch.
