chapter 17
Toast freaked out and started stuttering. Carrot, the only automaton with arms folded next to him, said.
“The reason the lord calls adventurers who have accomplished great feats is to praise them, but in fact, it’s because they want to hear about their adventures.”
Adam asked, pointing at Carrot.
“Have you been to Carrot?”
“Yeah, actually, I’ve been there a few times. Although informal.”
“and! Is the crank real!?”
Crank shook his head.
“Other than that, I’ve been here a few times because of farm work. Everyone knows how to run a farm in a manor house, right? If the income was not good, I would often come and work.”
“ah.”
Crank looked down at Carrot.
“I brought Carrot a couple of times, but I happened to be wandering around…”
“Carrot?”
“Oh wow! Countess Tish!”
A lady who appeared with a canvas on the other side of the hallway full of paintings turned her head and was pleased. There was a situation where the adventurers who were watching her face blushed at her beauty, but Crank calmly opened his mouth.
“An unfortunate incident of getting close with that Countess has happened.”
“Yeah, that chatterbox and Peanuts look pretty good together. Because we both like to talk.”
Harrison walked away and raised his hand.
“Hey, Countess.”
“Oh my goodness! Harrison!? long time no see! Please come and play often!”
“Because you recommended me as the temporary commander of the Armistice Line?! What’s this? Are you going to draw again?”
“Yes.”
Harrison, who had been peering into the white face of the smiling countess, pointed to a painting hanging beside her.
“Is this me?”
“that’s right. With the image of a female knight commanding soldiers!”
“I am not here.”
That said, Harrison seemed quite pleased with the painting.
“Does this painting look like Carrot?”
There were quite a few automatons in the paintings decorating the corridor, and among them, I saw a familiar figure. It was a painting of Carrot with a big smile, holding a parasol, standing on a hill against a blue sky.
“Three years ago, when I first met the little automaton.”
All eyes turned to Carrot.
“Uh, the parasol was rolling around in the wind, so when I picked it up, I ran into the Countess. But the exaggeration went too far. I have never been smiling so brightly.”
“Spices are important in cooking! The same goes for paintings!”
“You can’t cook, can you?”
The Countess staggered, clutching her voluptuous breasts.
“Ah! A dagger in my chest…!
The adventurers smiled heartily at the Countess’s easy-going playfulness.
The adventurers were soon ushered into a large hall. Already there were the count’s servants, the lord of Argon, the count’s daughters and young-sik, and an old man and an old lady standing upright in the gap.
“Who are those old people?”
Someone’s low question, Harrison answered lowly.
“I am the Lord of Argon and the Countess. To be as polite as possible.”
“Huh!”
Harrison went first and greeted the old gentleman and the old lady.
“How have you been? Count.”
“Hmm, Harrison, how are the Demon Lords these days?”
Harrison, who pulled a chair from nearby and sat down nearby, told me the latest situation. The old woman, who was holding her hand, said.
“Please don’t skip meals. Harrison.”
“Thank you for your concern. Countess. And these are the friends who worked hard on this expedition. Introduce each other.”
They were bewildered, but Ghetto stepped forward and introduced them. Molly the wizard, Rimo and Yuri with the automatic crossbow, and Toast.
“uh? sister?”
Toast made a stupid noise and immediately saw a maid with a similar impression standing there, narrowing her eyebrows.
Taking a step forward, she slightly bowed her head to the lord’s family.
“That adventurer toast is my little brother.”
“Oh, that’s a big deal.”
Everyone was amazed at the sudden friendship. Next, when the reinforced human Lena appeared, the old gentleman and the old lady looked at each other deeply to see if they were repeating what happened in the past.
A few senior members of the expedition team also briefly greeted each other, and the introduction ended with Crank and Carrot.
“Crank, I am an adventurer.”
“Carrot, it’s Crank’s automaton.”
“Wow, are you the owner of Carrot? Is it very big?”
When a blonde young lady spoke up, Crank looked at her and opened his mouth.
“That’s right. This is Claire, who is studying abroad.”
“uh? do you know me?”
“of course. I can hear the lord’s worries even in my ears because he doesn’t listen to me the most.”
Claire pursed her lips. Krank turned his head and saw the ghetto sitting next to him drinking tea.
“Mr. Ghetto, please start the general report of this expedition.”
“Oh, suck! I?”
“I will assist as much as possible.”
Ghetto, who had been looking around, stood up, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth. He stuttered a bit because he was in front of a member of the count family, but he caught everyone’s eyes and ears with quite detailed descriptions and gestures as he went back. In the end, the expedition report was completed by answering questions in the middle of the story and sometimes passing the narrator.
clap clap clap!
Everyone who was moved by the story clapped. While the embarrassed ghetto dyed her hair red, the waiting maids brought a kettle and refreshments and gave her an empty glass.
Toast stared open-mouthed at his sister who was pouring his teacup, and pinched his cheek at her, becoming a laughing stock for Youngsik and the young ladies who were watching.
As the atmosphere and story matured, Harrison glanced at his watch and cleared his throat a bit.
“Now that the report is over, please step back…”
“no! for a moment!”
Sasasasak!
The current countess, who took out a sketchbook she had put away, sat the adventurers down and made a rough sketch with a charcoal pencil as if they were about to catch fire again. The current and former counts looked at it with delight.
The former count looked at the wizard Molly and said.
“How are you? Wizard. she’s my daughter-in-law It works its magic on the canvas.”
Molly smiled lightly. Because he is sketching himself right in front of him right now.
“Wizard, arms like this, and eyes this way… Oh! great! wait a minute···!”
“What bone is that on your face?”
Molly, who was fixed in her posture at the blond boy’s question, heard it in Count Young’s style.
“Ah, a wild boar skull. Master’s keepsake…”
“A little arm like this…! ah! great! Very good!”
The Countess, who had been sketching for a while, turned around and attacked her next prey.
“Carrot, would you like to try that over here at the table? That ballet pose.”
“Ah, a spinning music box doll?”
Carrot, who hopped up to the table, took her elegant stance.
The appearance of the automaton on the table in the quiet evening hall was quite plausible.
Leaving behind the countess’ crazy sketching noise, Bellamy, the second daughter of the count, proudly puffed out her chest.
“That’s what I taught you.”
“uh? really?”
“huh! I came to see you practice, so I taught you the basics. Then it spins like a top?”
“and!”
When the countess finished sketching, time got late, so everyone stood up, greeted the count members, and returned to the village guild.
said Carrot, who was sniffing in the returning carriage.
“Something delicious smells even to me.”
The butler and the maid who rode the carriage together smiled.
“It is a special meal. The chefs worked hard.”
“Ohhh!”
Adventurers, especially men, liked it.
It was late, but there were still many people waiting in the guild. Everyone cheered as people and baskets were unloaded from the arriving wagon. It was because the lord’s special meal was quite famous among the adventurers of the Argon Guild.
“why? Is it delicious?”
“of course! Yum yum yum!”
“wow! Gedda! Ghetto Captain! Look at this Lena! Crab Crab!”
When an adventurer lifted a large red crab on the table, people widened their eyes.
“It is a specialty of the southern coast. Because it’s fried. Eat before it gets cold.”
The pretty maids explained the food and served it on a plate for everyone to taste. Among them, there was an adventurer who was beaten by a maid.
“Hey toast son of a b*tch! I told you to do some crazy things in moderation! ok?!”
“Ahh! Stop hitting me!”
Molly and the ghetto gleefully watched as Toast, who had snitched on his usual behavior, was beaten up by his sister.
The noisy guild night deepened.
For a while after the Dragon Rare Expedition was successful, the village was buzzing with what happened that day. No, maybe it wasn’t like that for the rest of my life.
It is because of the bronze gate that started to act as a portal gate between villages.
Near the central fountain in Argon’s town square, there was a massive bronze door that seemed to have been placed roughly around it, and guards stood around it.
whiz!
The door opened and the people who came through were amazed.
“Hey, is this Argon?!”
“oh my god! of traffic! And there will be a revolution in logistics!”
But the revolution in logistics did not happen immediately.
“It’s not possible! Lord!”
Surprisingly, the merchant guilds in each city that installed the bronze gate rose up at the same time. They applied for a private meeting with the lord, and they shook each other in front of different lords at the same time and in similar places.
“How are we supposed to eat and live! The movement of trade goods through the Bronze Gate is strictly prohibited in the name of the Merchant Guild! People who are involved in logistics and make a living off of this are all sitting on the streets!”
The merchant guild leaders said similar things in front of each other’s lords, and the lords eventually gathered in the space inside the Bronze Gate and decided to ban large-scale logistics movement for the time being.
“For the time being.”
The trail lord, who had his pods on the table, stopped talking. Maine Coon lord deputy said.
“Because we cannot ignore the lives of people in related industries. It takes time and changes little by little. If I eat too much suddenly, I get a stomach ache.”
“But what about the small bundles?”
“I wish I had some permission. Even if I block it, I do it all. And you have to open the water with that as an excuse. Of course, persuasion and negotiations with the Merchant Guild will be necessary.”
Trogen Lord, the eldest, nodded at the smooth words of the acting Maine Coon Lord, the youngest among the party.
“Anyway, I had no idea it would be a place like this. It’s a whole new world.”
Lord Argon, who was sitting at a table set up on a windy hill, turned his head and admired the scenery.
The other lords also looked around and smiled happily.
“Did you say you couldn’t go inside anymore?”
“According to the 2nd investigation team, they said they couldn’t go because there was something like an invisible wall 4 hours away on foot.”
“The sea side is also blocked.”
“According to our Wizards Guild, it’s a dome-shaped space. It wasn’t a whole new world.”
Dione Maine Coon, the eldest daughter of Count Veritas Maine Coon, acting Lord of Maine Coon, smiled.
“Whatever it is, it will be a good stopover for us. You use it until it dries and wears out.”
“Right. I never imagined that the lords of each city could gather and hold a meeting like this.”
At that time, the lord of Trogen, who stood up with his senile body on his staff, bowed his head.
“I heard about the behavior of our adventurers from the guild leader. As a lord, I have no face. I will do my best to make sure the behavior of the guild adventurers is correct.”
The three startled lords got up from their seats and comforted him.