Now, I could go to the library two times a day.
But it's not like I always had the luxury to.
I still had other things to do.
There was physical training. I should never skip out on that.
Some things in magic also required full concentration, so I was forced to sit at home at those points.
But the most important thing was writing even more things in my notebook of ideas.
Popsicles were good, and they had the potential to become big, but you could never have too many plans.
'Besides, I have to write as much as possible as soon as possible.'
The more memories I replace, the less material I will have to remember off of.
There's also a slight problem of technical knowledge, but that could be written in the notebook along with the ideas.
That was why at the current moment writing was the most important.
Because I will not be able to do it in the future.
Even with the assistance of that notebook.
***
"Haahaa... I'm... really grateful, Kilta. ...But where are you getting this food from? ...You... aren't stealing, are you?"
"Don't talk. Please, just don't talk. You have to recover."
I listen to his words. In the first place, I have no leverage to question him, I was the one who made a mistake.
'If I didn't slip and fall into that puddle that night!'
I wouldn't be so weak right now.
But I couldn't say I hated the feeling of Kilta taking care of me.
'No! Stop thinking like that! You are the big sister, you should be the one taking care of him!'
I grunted.
"Here, drink."
I gratefully accepted the water despite my feelings.
Suddenly, I got goosebumps.
'Ah, it's this again.'
I wasn't sure why I was getting goosebumps, that normally doesn't happen when I'm sick.
But ever since I caught a cold this time around, I just regularly felt some weird kind of displeasure, and that displeasure made me get goosebumps.
No, it was less displeasure and more fear.
'It just feels like... something unstoppable is happening.'
***
I had no qualms being evil. It was nothing more than a bucket added to the ocean for me.
But I still prefered being good. Because unlike adding, it removed a bucket.
And the most effective method in most situations is evil combined with good.
So after finishing most of my schemes, I don't feel good or bad. No, it's not that I feel neither, it's that I feel both.
But in the midst of that scheme, there's no way some kind of emotion wouldn't be winning over.
Currently, it was bad that was winning in my heart.
I shrug.
No matter which one was winning, a bucket wouldn't matter to an ocean anyway.
On another topic, now that the rude girl came in the middle of the day, I had a bit more free time.
But that wasn't enough.
I wanted even more free time.
That's why―
"She's almost recovered."
While watching a girl from afar, I muttered so.
'Time to increase the price.'
***
"Five bronze? Didn't it use to be only three?"
"It's weird, but it's still way cheaper than pretty much everything else. Five bronze is nothing."
Yep, yep. That is exactly the reaction I was expecting.
At this age of civilization, sweets weren't really something commoners would normally get. It was something only done for very special occasions.
That was obviously because of the prices of those sweets and treats.
But my popsicles were an exception. While most other treats cost around 5 silver, mine was ten times cheaper even after having its price raised!
'I was only barely making a return by selling them at three bronze, after all.'
That previous cheap price was only there until I got customers. It was for marketing and nothing more.
Now that I had someone who would buy the treat, I could easily raise the price.
It was a very effective tactic. Making something easily accessible so that people get used to it, and then making that accessibility more costly.
'Well, in my case, it's still very cheap though.'
Like I said, ten times cheaper.
That was the main appeal of my popsicles, and that difference in cost is something that must be mantained. After all, I didn't have sugar and such, so these popsicles weren't that good. These popsicles were only being sold because of the price.
That said, I have to not only get more money, but I also have to reduce the money I spend.
'But to reduce the money I spend, I have to spend a lot of money at once.'
It has been five weeks since spending that one platinum coin, and I haven't gotten even close to that amount since.
Makes sense. I focused on properly resting and increasing the fame of my popsicles instead of money.
But it's fine. Once everything gets going, I can take on adventurer missions again, and I'll earn money that way.
***
"I guess I'll have to close up shop for a bit."
It was early in the morning, so I was second in the Adventurer Guild. The first one was the rude girl.
Because it was so early, I saw a mission that was very profitable and that hasn't been taken yet.
"A rescue mission."
It was a Level 9 mission, something I probably wouldn't be able to do alone.
And since probably isn't good enough for me, I won't be doing it alone.
'This does break my plans a bit, but the reward is too great to pass up.'
***
"Rescuing a person from a bandit group?"
"That's right. The reward is 2 platinum, which means 5 gold for each of us. Quite good, don't you think?"
Souma nodded.
"Indeed. It's even more profitable than our mission of destroying a bandit group. But will we be able to take it? It's Level 9 after all."
"Well, it does seem a bit troublesome..."
The reason it was troublesome was because destroying was several time easier than protecting and the like.
'If I'm reading into this correctly, some wealthy merchant's wife got kidnapped, so he put this mission up.'
But saving was something we've done before, so it shouldn't be impossible, especially since I can now make preparations.
Souma shook his head.
"You misunderstood me. I'm not talking whether we will be able to complete it, but whether the guild will allow us to take it."
Ah, that's...
It's true that they might not give it to us. I'm Level 5 now and they are all still Level 7. While a Level difference could be made up with numbers, it was still not to be ignored.
"If just us will not be enough, I do have a card up my sleeve. For now, why don't we try?"
He shrugged.
"Sure. You two are fine with this too, right?"
Mitsuki and Leila nodded.
'Aah, what splendid acting.'
I shook my head to get rid of that thought.
When we walked up to the receptionist lady and showed the mission, I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.
She looked through the mission contents, and without a second thought―
"Alright, it's been accepted."
Pretty much all of us were stunned. Not even a second of doubt? Really?
We didn't ask why and just accepted the circumstances happily.
***
As always, reconnaissance comes first.
Since Souma was the stealthiest out of all of us, he was the one to check it out.
What? I might not have killing intent, but that doesn't automatically make me stealthy. It just means I'm good at sneak attacks.
Once Souma came back, he told us everything.
There were 35 bandits, and from their attitude, he could guess that there were 4 strong bandits. These 4 bandits were stronger than the Hands from back then, but weaker than the Boss.
In other words, something like a two-on-one is the most effecient way to beat them in a straightforward battle.
But that'd be a bit problematic, I don't have any experience fighting with these three after all. We'd just be getting in each other's way.
'Five gold, five gold...'
Should I...?
No. I wouldn't get that much money if I sacrificed some of my flesh for a win, and then payed for a heal.
...But, no, wait, do I even have to pay for a heal?
'If I get this 5 gold, I won't have to go on missions. I can just recover naturally.'
Alright, now that I can sacrifice a bit of my flesh, unexpected variables will be easier to deal with.
The expected variables are still there though, so we should think about how to deal with those first.
***
Sitting in front of my campfire, I yawn.
It was now late in the night. With the extremely tall trees blocking the moon's light, it was hard to see very far.
I put the fire out, lie down on the ground and close my eyes.
***
I could feel some kind of liquid being forced down my throat and my eyes open involuntarily.
I quickly push away the person on top of me and get up.
"Dammit, bandits. Why did I have to run into some here?"
I put my arms up in a show of defiance, but I sway.
"Eh? Wait... why's my... vision spinni―"
I fall to the ground.
"Keh, that was easy."
"Well, he does seem weak as hell. And what kind of dumbass sleeps in the middle of a forest?"
My head was grabbed by the hair and raised.
"I don't know, but he truly will net us a lot of money. There are a lot of hot girls in this world, but cute guys like him are hard to come by."
Just like that, I was captured by the bandits.
***
I was bound in rope and had a gag put inside my mouth, but they were overall not that rough with me. Probably because I was a good product.
I was placed inside a cage that was in a carriage.
The moment the bandits closed the door of the carriage, I opened my eyes.
Indeed, everything I saw around me was just as Souma said.
I was inside a closed off carriage, the one that could be locked from the outside and had no exists. On top of that, I was inside a steel cage, with all the other hostages.
'Really? Only women?'
I guess those bandits weren't joking when they said cute boys were rare.
I would've gladly cut my ropes and gag with magic, but these bandits check on the situation inside the carriage every so often. If they saw me unbound they would definitely think something was wrong.
'Now I play the waiting game.'
***
It was a bit difficult, but I killed all lookouts but three.
I kept alive the two that would be near my location and would see my campfire, and the one that was guarding this carriage.
Since there were a lot of bandits, they were spread very far out, and because I killed those lookouts just before making that campfire and 'falling asleep', they still have not noticed the disappearance of the others.
'That's another three humans I killed.'
But that was a useless thought, so I shoved it away.
The reason I didn't kill all the lookouts... was because two of them were the strong ones. The one that was guarding the carriage was one of the strong, and the other one kidnapped me along with a normal bandit.
The reason that normal bandit had to stay alive was because he was too closely placed to the strong one. It was a bit unfortunate.
Finally, after a long time of waiting, I could hear the bandit outside talk.
"What's that?"
'That's a burning tree.'
"Why would― Shit, it's falling right on our camp! And there's another one!"
Yep, this part of the forest had very big and tall trees. There's no way we wouldn't take advantage of something like that.
With that, I cut my restraints with Ice Lance, took the dagger out of my underwear and cut off my gag.
"WAKE UP EVERYONE, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
There were the alarm shouts, but they were a bit late.
A huge tree suddenly falling. Anybody who just woke up probably wouldn't be able to dodge that.
I heard the big guy running away from the carriage, and for good reason. After all, the trees fell right next to the carriage. Not all of them, but two of them pretty much made a barrier around the carriage.
"Everyone who's awake, wake up the others. We will escape out of here."
The women who were awake widened their eyes and started nudging the ones who were asleep.
Using some Body-Strengthening to be faster, I quickly cut off the leg restraints of all the hostages. I had no time for gags and hands.
Now, I took a stance with the dagger in hand.
Using a lot of my mana, I enhanced my body tremendously and cut through the steel bars.
'This isn't my first time seeing it, but it still leaves me baffled. Jagon, just how strong of a tool did you give me...?'
It was to the point where I wasn't sure there could be a better knife on the market.
Taking a lower stance, I cut through the bars again but this time lower down. Then I just gently pushed them and they fell out.
I punch the wooden door with my hand and break it.
"Follow me."
When I walked out, I was greeted by a huge burning tree. I ignored it.
"Erdia, Goddess of Earth, oh, how truly awesome you are."
The earth beneath me opened up to reveal a tunnel. This was what we spent a lot of our time on.
I walked into the tunnel, and stopped right after. Then I gestured for the hostages to come through quickly.
As quickly as they could, they started running down the tunnel.
Once all of them were through, I closed the entrance off.
'Welp, now I have almost zero mana left.'
It was to be expected. In the first place, if I haven't been increasing my mana like a maniac this whole time, I would've run out of mana by cutting through the bars just one time.
'Yeah, that maneuver costs a lot of mana.'
The dagger Jagon gave me was scarily sharp and and durable, but I still had to generate the power myself. As such, it was still not an easy task.
While running to catch up with the hostages, I found the hostage I was looking for. I matched my pace with hers.
She was giving me an anxious look.
'Yeah, that's right. You think I didn't cut off your arm restraints only because I didn't have the time?'
No, it was also a precaution.
Against bandits who were trying to pass off as hostages.
'After all, what kind of person doesn't cut off the gags and all restraints of hostages? There's no way people who want to save others would do anything as cruel as that.'
Is that what you were thinking? Your entire bandit group? I'm curious.
Well, I could also be wrong and this person could be just an extremely anxious person.
But it was truly weird that while all others had hope and happiness in their eyes, this one was constantly looking around and trying to take off her gag so much.
While running, she also stole glances at me, but that was the least suspicious thing about her.
After running for a while, we finally got to the exit of the tunnel.
From now on, we'll have to run through the forest.
"Just keep going straight!"
We were pretty far away, so I could now shout. I continued running alongside the anxious hostage.
There was a problem that started becoming apparent though. They were running out of stamina.
The adrenaline was slowly going away, and I could see some of them slowing down.
This part of the forest was pretty thick and had huge trees, but it was not impossible to fit a carriage here.
That is why―
"Over here!"
With the voice of someone as a guide, everyone got the last boost of motivation they needed.
At the source of the voice was a carriage with a driver.
As soon as all the women and I got on the carriage, the driver took off.
It was slow and uncomfortable due to the foliage, but only the horses were losing stamina now.
The bad part was the fact that we couldn't go straight to Toride, we had to do a small hook.
You see, the forest next to Toride had three 'parts'. One right next to Toride that was very thick with normal trees, a carriage couldn't fit there. If, from the first part, you go right, you will end up in the second part, where we were right now. And if you go left from the first part, you will end up in the third part, that one looked more like a park than a forest, it had a lot of open space, and a lot of different plants and mushrooms, but also the most monsters.
The whole forest was in the rough structure of a triangle that was pointed at Toride.
Because of all that, we had to get out of the forest on the second part and then ride on the road.
'Well, I doubt anything bad could happen to us now.'
I was sitting next to the anxious woman just in case, but there weren't gonna be any problems down the road.
'Leila, Mitsuki and Souma should be fine.'
They had a lot of time to run away after cutting those trees, mostly due to the panic that spread.
Besides, they had more mana than me, so they would be able to run for longer and faster than me too.
'I may be better at using mana, but they have more of it.'
By better at using mana, I meant using more mana in a shorter amount of time. This allowed me to show greater strength than even Mitsuki for a split second. A split second is the most I could do though.
I patiently awaited until―
Stomp stomp stomp.
'...Pancakes.'
I looked behind us.
One of the strong bandits was catching up to us.
'Right, this guy was a demi-human. He probably has something like better smell, or maybe it's something as absurd as instincts.'
I despised the idea of instincts, but this wasn't the time for stuff like that.
From his and our speed, it'd take two minutes for him to reach us.
Going faster wasn't an option, so the only solution is slowing him down.
'What can I do with the mana I have left?'
I Thought about it for a bit.
'―――'
The carriage was empty to accomodate all the hostages. Nothing I could use here.
The tall trees around us is not something I can use in this situation either.
'―――?'
No, I shouldn't throw away the idea of using trees so easily.
'―?――'
I nodded.
The most important thing in here will be stamina. Since he is still running at us, that means he'll have mana even after two minutes of running, but he will definitely be low on it.
I started walking around and cutting up the remaining restraints and gags of all hostages I deemed completely safe.
Once that was done, I started tying them together to make a net.
I made sure to tie the net in a place where the bandit wouldn't be able to see me.
After some time, the bandit was so close to the carriage that even the hostages could see him.
The bandit was running without a sword in hand, cause that'd make him slower.
That was where I'd get him.
I threw the net right at him as soon as we passed inbetween two trees.
It wasn't too wide of a net, but with not too much time to react, with trees on both of his sides, without having the sword in hand to cut through the net, he chose the most optimal option of jumping over it.
That gained us some distance.
When he landed, our eyes met. I smiled carefreely.
Once he saw that smile, he clicked his tongue and started running in the opposite direction.
'That's right. Get away with your life at least, that's the smartest solution.'
He understood that I wouldn't let him catch up no matter what, or that he would have to exhaust himself fully to catch up. Neither of those options are good for him, so he once again chose the most optimal option.
He was a smart one.
I could now relax.
***
Just like that, I got 4 gold and 8 silver.
What? That carriage ride wasn't free, it cost one gold. Since we didn't care enough to split down to bronze, Souma decided to round up the reward for me.
With this, and the 1 gold and 5 silver I already had, I now had 6 gold give or take.
'Almost there.'
I could rest and let the money flow in by itself, but there was no reason not to speed up plans.
That's why, the next few days will be a bit restless.