The next day, I built an entire forge.
Actually, I only intended to rent one. But since it's the rainy season, the forges in town are quite busy, so no place had any intention of renting or selling. When I went to ask, they looked at me like, "Are you nuts?" and chased me away. So, to solve the problem, I bought a small plot of land, used magic to build a small house (and then lay dead tired for three days after that), hired a few low-rank adventurers to help with the construction, and bought equipment for Talhand to start working.
So after three days, the cost for the whole thing was about 34 royal notes, meaning somewhere over ten Asura gold coins, and everything was completed. Quite expensive, but with my wallet, it was nothing.
So I brought Talhand, Roxy, and Isolde to that brand-new forge. But instead of awe, I only heard sighs.
"We're only staying here until the end of the rainy season, right?" Talhand asked.
"That's right." I nodded.
"Then what do we do with this forge afterward?" He asked again.
"Probably resell it." I shrugged. "If not, just leave it there for the price to go up. Real estate investment, you know. Its price will definitely increase."
"Um... I don't think anyone would want to buy a forge located next to the forest." Roxy said with a worried face.
"It's too far from the market and the adventurer's district." Isolde also added. "If anything, its price will drop."
"Erm…"
Well, what's done is done, the money was spent, the house was built, so everything just had to be accepted as is. Besides, if I want to build a small house to retire later, I still have this place so it's fine.
...
Aside from that, I continued to go fight monsters as usual (if there were any). I didn't quite understand why monsters appeared less often in the middle of the rainy season. But according to the experience of other veteran adventurers, this is the time when they seem to not fight much and instead rest, or do other quests if available.
At this point, I was still only a C-rank adventurer. However, I found this to be much more reasonable than ranking up. Because at this rank, I could take on B, C, and even D-rank quests, which meant about 80% of the quests available during this rainy season (if you exclude the F-rank quests that are all just chores). So if the goal is to make money, most adventurers will primarily stay at B or C rank. Only truly special, experienced, and strong parties would rank up to A or S.
But even saying that, I didn't think the A or S ranks I usually met could really be called 'strong'.
Take the Aqua Road party for example. They had an Advanced-tier water mage, which means they couldn't even compare to me, seeing as almost all my magic schools had reached the Advanced tier. Their swordsman wasn't particularly special either, just an Advanced-tier North God Style swordsman. The person in the rearguard role was nothing too special either. Except for their fourth member, who was a half sea-folk obviously perfectly suited for the sea, you could say this party was nothing out of the ordinary.
But based on their quest completion record and after that one time fighting in the storm, I could understand why they reached S rank. It was because they could get the job done when they coordinated well.
Which means coordination is quite essential for an adventurer party.
Mythical Dancers, whom we used to do quests with back in the day, really had a huge problem when it came to working together. Even after years of fighting together and being instructed by Ghislaine, there wasn't much progress. Even though if we're talking about individual strength, any one of us at just ten years old was probably stronger than a bunch of S-rank adventurers.
Anyway, the reason I've been rambling on about this ranking stuff was to explain why I refused to rank up to B. Yeah, adventurers have the right to refuse a promotion.
My goal, as I've said, is to return to my old rank and continue being an adventurer with my friends in Roa. Although with the abilities of the other three, if they wanted to, they could absolutely rank up very quickly, but that would bring other unnecessary troubles.
So I decided to stay at C rank.
And Isolde respected that and also stayed at C rank like me.
"There aren't any A and S-rank quests around here anyway, so ranking up wouldn't do me any good."
That's what she said. Though I had a feeling Isolde didn't want to rank up alone. For some reason, she always wanted me to do everything with her. It was like that before, but now it seems even more obvious. Especially in front of Talhand.
Why? I wondered.
But whatever, it doesn't affect anything anyway. At least we can still do quests together.
As I mentioned, during the middle of the rainy season, most quests are just a mishmash of random things. Occasionally there were still some quite interesting ones, making my days of watching the rain in this town a bit less boring.
Like the time I took a quest to taste-test food at a certain shop. The pay wasn't much, but getting to eat and drink alcohol for free was truly awesome. There were also some extremely interesting things like monster stomach stuffed with meat, wild Sanshok Seed porridge... I really got my eyes opened by these dishes, and my culinary book got a few cool new additions.
Meanwhile, Isolde cried throughout the whole meal, for some reason.
Or another quest, where a B-rank young male adventurer asked me to teach him how to get through his first night with his lover.
I swear I was shocked that someone would come and ask me about this. I know sex in this world and era is quite open, but asking a stranger for experience is just weird. The reason for that was because everyone thought Isolde and I were a couple, since my friend used it as an excuse so she wouldn't be bothered by men or looked at with perverted eyes (because everyone was scared of me). Besides that, other young women, especially adventurers, would also occasionally make eyes at me and stuff, or even directly proposition me. I had to mentally struggle a lot to keep my composure against such temptation.
For that reason, the men in this town were all convinced I was a certified lady-killer, having surely gone through hundreds of romances in this 'long-lived' life of mine that hasn't even reached 15 years yet.
But I, a person with an ego as big as a certain friend who also gets stronger thanks to the sun, couldn't possibly say I was still a virgin.
So I bullshitted a lot using experience from watching 'documentaries' in my previous life.
In the end, the guy was successful with his first night. I even heard they're getting married after the rainy season. Good for him.
Oh, and the person he's marrying is Miredol. Lucky bastard.
...
At the beginning of the third month of the rainy season, a few unexpected things happened.
Although Talhand still hadn't forged a masterpiece or anything, they were still good pieces of equipment. Since I only intended to sell the items he made to break even, they were quite cheap. And cheap stuff naturally has a competitive advantage, so suddenly all the equipment the dwarven mage made was sold out completely.
It was also convenient that when I had nothing to do, I also participated in crafting and upgrading equipment for the whole group. I used one of the Astral Stag's antlers to make a shield, following Talhand's suggestion. It wasn't very big, only reaching up to an adult's neck. With a few modifications, it even had fire resistance and stuff. The special thing was that I used Blue Dragon scales to make the shield face instead of metal, so it was quite light.
Since I don't normally use a shield, I ended up just leaving it there with the intention of selling it when we get to Millishion. As for the rest of the antlers, I'll bring them back as a gift for Lord Sauros, perfect.
...
Almost at the end of the rainy season, I received a quest to go to the Lighthouse Academy, the largest (and only) school in Zant Port, to teach swordsmanship. It was a nominated quest, so it was entirely up to me to accept or not. Of course, I agreed because it sounded fun. Honestly, I was quite surprised to learn that a port town like this even had a school, considering I had walked around this entire town countless times and never seen any school.
But here's the plot twist: the academy wasn't built on the mainland, but on a small island about a nautical mile off the coast. I was quite curious about this, and it was explained to me that it was to protect the people there. After hearing some explanation, I understood what that 'protection' meant, as the majority of the students here were not human.
Demons, Beast Race, Elves, Dwarves... from well-off and powerful families were all sent here to study. Because on this Millis continent, outside of Zant Port, everywhere else seemed to openly discriminate against other races, especially demons. Other races like Beast Race, while not seen as evil, definitely wouldn't be accepted by schools affiliated with the Millis faith. So in short, to get an education, families in the Great Forest or the southern part of the Demon Continent either go to the Lighthouse Academy or to Sharia.
And since young students lacking life experience could easily become targets for kidnapping and the slave trade, placing the school on an island actually made a lot of sense.
"I heard there will be lovely adolescent girls there," Isolde said, staring intently at me.
"Yeah, so what?" I glared back.
"Don't do anything perverted."
"Of course not! Have a little faith in me, would you!"
In the end, Isolde tagged along to supervise. Either way, upon learning that a Water King was also coming along, the school side didn't object at all and very happily agreed.
Good for them. But I felt like I wasn't trusted in the slightest.
The afternoon after accepting the quest, we were picked up at the port by a small boat, the rowboat kind. But the boat didn't have oars, surprise surprise? Instead, the boatman chanted a spell to create a current to propel the boat forward. Even though I've lived in this world for many years, I'm still surprised every time I see new magic like that.
It made me wonder if wind magic could be used to fly. Maybe when I meet Rudeus again, I will try it with him.
One nautical mile isn't really that far. But due to the rain, and the fact that I hate wet things, plus my fear of the sea, the trip felt like it took half a day. So I was in no mood whatsoever to enjoy the scenery, just keeping my head down the whole time like a prisoner being escorted.
Only when the boatman said we had arrived did I look up. I immediately saw a blinding light shining straight at me. But before I could even panic, the light disappeared.
After composing myself, I realized it was just a lighthouse. Last time I docked it was during the day, so the lighthouse wasn't operating then, and I didn't pay much attention to it. And having that thing here, I could understand why this school got its name.
Upon stepping onto the island, we passed through a large gate next to where the boat docked. The entire school campus was completely enclosed by stone walls, like a fortress. I was greeted by a group of people, led by a human woman probably in her fifties. She introduced herself as Aenigia, the principal of this school.
And like any other principal in the world, Aenigia started introducing the history of the school. According to the story, the Lighthouse Academy was originally a fortress built to defend against the Demon Race's invasion during the Laplace campaign in the past. After the war ended, this place was abandoned until about half a century ago when it was rebuilt into a school.
Unlike the Royal Capital Academy that I used to attend, this place didn't train true nobles. Or like the Sharia Academy, which trains the next generation of mages. The Lighthouse Academy has the noble goal of teaching all sorts of skills so that all students can achieve their dreams. Sounds pretty noble.
That's why, besides the basic mandatory subjects like literacy and languages, they would occasionally hire experts in a certain field to teach special classes. Because of that, I was invited, as the strongest swordsman in Zant Port right now(?), to train students whose goal is to become stronger in combat. And three months later, they will hire someone else.
"But wouldn't it be better if you just hired a permanent swordsmanship instructor?" I asked curiously.
"We do have one; he was the one who suggested inviting you to teach this special class, actually."
"Oh, who is it?"
"It's the famous Knight Janek."
Who the hell is that?
Ah no, I don't mean any offense, but I've met quite a few people everywhere lately. So it's hard to know who someone is just by name. I guess I'll have to meet him to know.
(Spoiler alert, no, I don't know who the hell he is.)
"Besides, we value practical experience more, which is why we invited you," Aenigia explained slowly as she led me and Isolde inside the school. "Sir Hero must understand, swordsmanship needs to be practiced with many different types of opponents. When out in the real world, one mistake can cause a person to lose everything, even their life. So the more masters they learn from, the more equipped the students will be to survive and go further."
"I see." I nodded, then asked. "But what if different teachers give different instructions for the same problem?"
"That makes it even better." Aenigia smiled. "The students will then be able to choose the path they want themselves, depending on what they find suitable. Sometimes there isn't always a clear-cut answer readily available for a question. That is the difference between swordsmanship and magic, am I correct, Sir Hero?"
"Well... that's actually true."
Unlike magic in this world, which should be full of creativity and variation. But in reality, unless you have the ability to cast voicelessly, they all rely on quite clear rules, like how to chant, or how to use magic circles ect ect. It's very explicit. On the other hand, swordsmanship is quite... flexible. Even the Water God Style, which seems sluggish, always has more than ten ways to counter any attack.
"What about other subjects? Like business or magic, for instance?" I continued asking.
"For business, you have to break the mold even more," the old principal replied. "As for magic, if someone wants to succeed in that field, they wouldn't study here anyway."
"Ah, true. They would go to Sharia."
"Exactly. However, we still have instructors for basic magic."
"I see..." I nodded.
Everything seemed to have been thought out, truly meticulous.
We were then led to the swordsmanship class. This place was an indoor training ground, about half the size of a baseball field. Compared to the special training hall in Necross Fortress, this place couldn't match up, but it was about the size of the training hall I used to learn in at the royal capital academy.
However, the number of students wasn't too large, only a bit over twenty people, of all different races and ages. The youngest was probably around twelve or thirteen, the oldest nearing twenty in appearance. They all had one thing in common: when they heard my name, every single one of their eyes lit up and they started whispering. Seems like I really am famous, huh?
In truth, I didn't know what the hell to teach. But based on what the principal and the swordsmanship instructor said, I saw this as being like how experts come to schools to tell stories and pass on experiences, so I did exactly that. So I talked about my combat journey on the Demon Continent and, when necessary, would perform the techniques to demonstrate.
Overall, it was like a talk show.
And I was paid a whole Royal Note for one session like that. I was hired for 7 days, so that's 7 Royal Notes, almost 1 Asura gold coin—so awesome! Truly, in any world, becoming famous and then working as a speaker makes you pretty rich. The teaching session lasted half a day; by evening, it was done. Isolde and I were arranged to stay the night. We got private rooms, thank goodness.
...
A week at the Lighthouse Academy passed quite peacefully. My schedule consisted entirely of just teaching swordsmanship and talking about my combat experiences. Isolde also joined in; she was actually very well-liked by the students, especially two Beast Race princesses.
One of them had the surname Dedoldia, I think? And isn't Ghislaine's surname also Dedoldia? Ah wait, maybe it's a surname for people of the same tribe or something. But when looking closely, the two of them really did look somewhat similar. So I hypothesized that they were relatives.
Before I even had the chance to ask, the girl herself came up to me and asked.
"Mister Atur, do you know anyone named Rudeus, mew?"
"Huh?"
I totally didn't expect to be asked this question. Not about Ghislaine, but about Rudeus? What the hell?
"You mean Rudeus Greyrat?" I asked with disbelief.
"Mew!" She nodded.
"Then… yeah, I do." I scratched my head, confused. "Do you know him, Miss Dedoldia?"
Hey, wait. What if he had offended them somehow? Like stealing panties or something like that. It's Rudeus we are talking about then it's very likely to happen. And now they wanted to find him to settle the score? I should've just said I didn't know him, damn it.
"Yes, mew! Rudeus saved the Guardian Beast's life, my life, and many other girls as well, mew!"
"Saved your lives?"
"Yup!"
So Minitona started telling me about how Rudeus and his two teammates from the Dead End party had smashed a smuggling ring and saved the Dedoldia tribe's village from a fire. After that, he stayed in the village for the entire three months of the rainy season, where he had occasionally talked about me and others in Roa and Buena village, which was why this girl remembered my name and my special appearance.
Phew... So my friend is pretty heroic huh? It's pretty unexpected to be honest. And he didn't do anything perverted as well, thank goodness. Wait a minute though... if that's the case, could it be this isn't the Rudeus I'm thinking?
"So, did that Rudeus ever do something weird?" I asked.
"Weird? Let's see… Oh, sometimes Rudy would give off an abnormal scent of being in heat, mew. I thought all humans were like that, but after coming here, I guess not," Minitona added.
Ah, then it's definitely him. However...
"He didn't do anything disrespectful to anyone in the Dedoldia village, did he?" I asked nervously. "Like doing something to a young girl like you..."
"No, mew." Minitona shook her head. Thanks Millis. "Sara would never let Rudeus do anything. If he tried anything, he'd get scolded immediately. Except um... with the Guardian Beast, then..."
"The Guardian Beast? What the fuck? Ah never mind, please don't explain."
I don't think I want to hear any more about this issue, it's already giving me a headache.
Wait, Sara? I think I know her. The Counter Arrow party we ran into a few times back in Roa also had someone with that name. Actually, I was a bit suspicious when I heard about Rudeus traveling with a blonde archer girl. Blonde isn't something rare, but in the Demon Continent then she must be a human. And being an archer isn't something we can find easily in this world like in a normal fantasy world in anime and stuff. So it must be that girl then.
But what the hell happened that she's traveling with Rudeus? And the way Minitona described it, they sounded like a couple. How could that be? If that's true, then what about Sylphy?
Huh?
If he really betrayed Sylphy, I think two of the girls in Mythical Dancers would give him some taste of Hell. But let's set that aside for now. I don't want to intervene in the love troubles of others.
After that, I talked with Minitona and another girl named Tersena Adoldia, who had rather adorable floppy dog ears. I had to force myself to restrain from hugging girls and rubbing my face into their fluffy tails. Sorry for being a Boreas in the soul. For some reason, looking at them made me think of Ghislaine, her strong scent and especially her sweaty toned muscles...
"Mew! Mister Atur is giving off a scent of being in heat!"
"Hey! I am not! Please don't say such nonsense!"
"Atur," Isolde glared at me. "What did you say before we came here, huh?"
"Jeez, I said it's not what it looks like!"
That day's class was interrupted because I was grabbed by the collar and quarantined by Isolde. I had to explain that I had suddenly thought of my fiancée (a lie), which was why I reacted that way. Perhaps because I'm naturally silver-tongued and I was truly sincere about not having any dirty thoughts about my students, swearing on my honor as a teacher, Isolde temporarily believed me.
However, I still noticed she seemed annoyed for some reason. I really don't understand this girl at all.
The next morning, I met Minitona and Tersena again along with a few other students. Among them was a rather handsome elf guy. If I were to describe him, this guy looked exactly like he walked out of The Lord of the Rings. I mean his aura. Handsome, with golden blonde hair so long it looked like strands of silk sparkling under the candlelight when it was still slightly damp from the rain, and forest-green eyes that made even me feel a bit overshadowed standing next to this guy.
However, his way of speaking went like this:
"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Ganfort. I am the second son of the elf village chief, Magnafort. I love rainy days and have a hobby of learning new things. I also love books, so I read in the library every day until evening. My goal is to become the next village chief, so I came here to train to become the next village chief. How are you?"
"Ah, yeah. I'm Atur... Greyrat. I'm fine, thank you. And you?"
"I am fine," Ganfort replied. "Perhaps it is because I pray to the spirits and ancestors every day that they have blessed me. Every day is very happy. Do you believe in the spirits?"
This guy talked exactly like he was reading straight out of an English textbook!
I later found out the reason for this way of speaking was because he had just started learning the Human Language through a teaching program at this school. But that's a story for a fairly distant future.
Overall, the guy was easy to get along with, so I didn't mind continuing the conversation. I was introduced by Ganfort to his hometown, a normal conversation from chapter two of a language textbook. The elf village is located in the southern part of the Great Forest and has quite close relations with the Beast Race and Dwarven tribes. Basically, even though they are of different races, they still created a fairly tight-knit community and still frequently exchange goods and support each other. I heard that a few months after the rainy season, there will be a gathering of the tribal chiefs to discuss matters of the old year and the new year, kind of like a United Nations assembly.
Regarding architecture, Ganfort said the houses in the elf village are built on special wooden platforms. So during the rainy season, when the water level rises, their houses float on the water, much like how the Aztecs built their capital.
Sounds pretty cool.
Meanwhile, on the Beast Race side, there were also interesting things as Minitona talked about what the Beast Race village looked like. Unlike the elf tribe's floating house construction style, they mostly build their houses in trees, quite high off the ground so as not to be affected by floodwaters. It seems all their daily activities happen up high like that throughout the rainy season. For some reason, hearing about it made me think of the Sector V treehouse, making me quite curious to go check it out.
Minitona herself said the villagers would definitely welcome me since I'm Rudeus's friend, but since my immediate goal is to get to Milishion as soon as possible, maybe another time. I might even invite Eris to come along then, since she likes Beast Race anyway.
Or maybe with the whole Boreas family as well. Yep, Lord Sauros would love to go there hehe.
...
Finally, the contract time was up; I returned to the mainland and said goodbye to the people in the swordsmanship class. Although it was only a short seven days to teach the bare minimum, I started to understand why I had felt happy during the final days of my previous life. Even losing my life while trying to save my students.
Honestly speaking, I loved this job.
Maybe after everything settles down, I'll become a teacher or something.