Tenkomori: The Homecoming Club Conquers Another World

The town of Reedwald, although remote, is a major transportation hub and a treasure trove of nature facing the Leknod Forest. To enjoy this, the major guilds have established their branches, no matter how big or small.

In the morning, I took Roland and go to the Magic Guild.

The main purpose was to gather information, and I intended to ask them to examine the magical stone of the Tremble Cube. I thought that an expert could extract information other than the monetary value or the material for the magic tools. But it would be impossible. Roland said he had never heard of it, and my "Appraisal" had not yielded any useful information. It was better than not trying, but that was the extent of my expectations.

The staff member who dealt with me was amazed at the size of the magic stone without even talking to me. I reminded him that I wasn't going to sell it yet, and asked him to let me know if something he could find out by investigating the ash vomit disease and the magic stone. He looked like he wanted to buy it all the way through, but we would discuss it once everything was settled. I'd like you to wait until then.

After that, I headed to the adventurer's guild's archives.

Danil and Ose had already left, and we were greeted by two staff members, Markant and Mateo. They invited us to enter the archive room. I took a look around and was taken aback. Some shelves seemed to reach to the ceiling, leaving only enough space for one person to pass through. Except for the straight lines in front and to the left and right. I can't see anything else. I could only guess at the size of the archives, but if I was right, I wondered how much material was stored there.

"People who come here for the first time have the same reaction. We've been discarding unnecessary materials, though. We also keep high-demand materials in a separate room and older materials in the basement."

"There's more?"

I was dumbfounded, but Matteo's comment bothered me, so I asked him.

"Mostly reports of requests. Most of the time, it's just a simple request to collect or kill something, with no particulars. If the information you're looking for is in here, it's been removed from the discard pile."

"I was relieved to hear that. By the way, why did you start here?"

"The other room is already finished."

Markant responded.

When I looked up at him again, I saw that his face was tired and his eyes were glazed over.

"You haven't slept much, have you?"

"It's not uncommon for adventurers to stay up all night. Let's get started."

"No, no. You need to rest first."

"I don't have time to rest! It's for half a month!"

"Still no luck. You don't think it says what you're sick with, do you? You have to draw an analogy from the symptoms and circumstances. You can't make that judgment in your sleepy head."

Markant fell silent.

I can understand his impatience. But if he misses the information, it will all be for nothing. I pulled Markant into a corner of the reference room and forced him to rest.

After some discussion, it was decided that I would be in charge of the documents and books, while Roland and Matteo, former adventurers, would be in charge of the requests and other documents.

After about two hours, Markant returned early. As you'd expect from a C-rank adventurer, he looks back to his usual self after such a short break. But I'm sure he's not at peace inside. Whatever the case, he seems to have recovered to a certain extent, and there's no way he'll listen to me if I tell him to rest yet. I was short on manpower. I decided to leave the literature to Markant as well.

The day passed without much success.

Danil showed up at the archives with snacks and drinks, so I took a short break to report back.

The report was not a good one. The merchants hadn't heard of ash vomiting disease, and the medium-grade disease-healing potions we'd purchased hadn't worked. There was a possibility if we could get a higher level potion, but it was so rare that when it appeared on the market, it would be auctioned off, otherwise it would be bought up by the imperial family or higher nobility. Danil said that it would be better to go to the imperial capital for treatment rather than scramble to get it.

As soon as he realized that there was no progress, Markant went back to scouring the literature.

When Danil saw this, he had a complicated look on his face.

‘Those shelves over there are literature, aren't they?"

‘Yes, but…"

‘Markant isn't very good at writing."

He stopped reaching for the bread.

"How good is it?"

"He can't read most of the jargon and the language he uses."

Is this an error in judgment on my part? I was thinking in terms of my previous life and myself. It's not surprising that literacy is so low, and as a former peasant mercantilist, I'm sure he had little chance to learn to write. Still, I wanted him to say something. I had just told him to draw an analogy.

Markant opened the book and painstakingly followed the letters with his fingers. But in reality, it was worm-eaten. He only picked up the words he could read. Should he be glad he had figured it out so quickly?

"Isn't the reference room unsuitable?"

"Other than that, it's a negotiation. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for him."

Merchants and alchemists, all of them seemed to have their habits. If you are in a bad mood, you will not be able to get the information you need. I'm sure Danil has a good point.

"Requests and guild reports are plain language. You can read them without any problems. You should turn them there."

"All right. I'll do that."

He's a troubled guy, but I guess that's why he's so worried about Valerie. I had no choice.

When I was thinking about how to start the conversation. And then Ose came back.

Markant stayed put for the moment and took the report. But this one was out of the question as well. The alchemist had no idea what was going on and asked him to check it out. Ose was not good at technical terms either, but he was much better than Markant. I took the opportunity to male him switch places with Ose, leaving Markant to check the documents. Of course, I asked Roland to follow me.

After that, the work proceeded without any problems, but I ended the first day without getting any useful information.

The next day, before going to the reference room, I went to Chief Gerrit's office.

Because based on my feeling from yesterday, I thought it would be difficult to go through all the materials. It would take days, and there was no guarantee that we would get any information even if we did. If that was the case, we should make it quick and focus on something else.

Chief Gerrit had already given us a staff member named Matteo. It pains me to ask him for more staff, but I don't want to ask my father to send someone he's not familiar with, and I don't want to ask an adventurer. The reason I'm here is to keep things from getting too serious.

Chief Gerrit accepted my request, but he promised to increase the number of staff only when he could spare them, as he didn't want to interfere with the guild's business. Still, it was enough. When I returned to the archives with gratitude, I found that Markant, Ose, and Mateo had already started working.

Roland and I joined them and resumed our work yesterday.

It wasn't long after that.

"Come here!"

Markant shouted from the back of the room.

We all walked over to him, and with a flushed face he held out a stack of parchment.

I look at the page he's showing us, and my eyes widen.

"This is ……."

It was a record of the adventurers who had come to the town with a certain request.

Three of the adventurers had fallen ill with a mysterious illness after arriving in town. They repeatedly coughed and had trouble breathing. They began to vomit clots of blood, and two of them died in less than three days. The guild, fearing the epidemic and sickness. Talk with the lord aka my great-grandfather and had them cremated immediately.

The last one was so weak that he vomited blood and smoke. But he did not die. A traveling mage who was staying in the town prepared a potion, and when he took it, he survived. The mage left the town immediately, so it was unclear how the potion was made or what kind of potion it was.

The guild collected and examined the bluish-purple residue left in the bottle, but could not identify it.

Based on the ingredients of the residue and the footsteps of the mage, they tried to recreate a cure, but the result was poison. The rumor is a mage had tried to euthanize the victim, or that the residue had been altered, but the poison was too weak to kill, and if it had been altered, it would have been extremely difficult to identify. No conclusion was reached until the end, and the report was closed.

There was no mention of what happened to the survivors, or who the mage was.

But–

"Ash Vomiting Disease."

"That's the predecessor's report. It's a form that's no longer in use. The time is… eighty years ago?"

Mateo said, looking at the cover of the bundle.

"We'll have to search the whole area! There must be other information!"

"Wait a minute."

I appeased Markant, who was raising his voice.

Let's get a few things straight. After recreating the cure, the result was poison. So who tried to create it and made it poisonous? The alchemists, no doubt. And euthanasia and transformation would be their opinion. Since my great-grandfather is in the story, one of the best alchemists in town must have been asked to recreate it. And the fact that there are multiple opinions is because there are so many alchemists involved.

"Ose, run to the alchemists again. Give priority to those who have been living in Reedwald since my great-grandfather is the lord, rather than their ability. The longer they've been here, the better. The next thing I want you to look into is a weak poison that requires high mixing skills. It's a potion where the effort is not worth the result. Roland, will you split up and help me?"

"Yes, sir."

Watching Roland and Ose jump out, I look back at Markant.

"We've made a lot of progress, thanks to you, Markant. Now let's focus on this year and see what we can find. Maybe we'll find something."

"Oh!"

The rest of us, covered in dust, began to turn over the documents.

◇◇◇◇

However, we got no new clues, and then the next morning arrived.

For a short time, we received an increase in the number of Chief Gerrit, and as a result, the time had gone back to seventy years ago. The elation of yesterday had long since faded. It was no longer possible to believe that what happened ten years ago had been added to the list. Should I continue searching for the documents, or should I just go back to the literature?

While I was pondering this, looking up at the bookshelf that stretched to the ceiling, Oze came running into the reference room.

"There's been a call! He said he might have the information we're looking for!"

"From the alchemist?"

"Yes, come to me first thing in the morning!"

I asked Mateo to stay in the reference room then, we ran to the alchemist's place.

The house was on the outskirts of town, and we were greeted by a man in his forties who called himself Simon. He seemed to have been told that the son of the lord was on a mission, and he suddenly started to make a big speech, which we needlessly suppressed.

"I want some information."

I came into the room and sat down on a chair. I started to speak without so much as a greeting.

Simon politely declined and left the room, returning shortly with an old parchment.

"This is a journal left by my master. I don't know how it came about, but it seems he was attempting to create a potion at someone's request."

"May I see it?"

"Of course."

I took it and looked through it.

This is quite a mess. It's full of scribbles, and I have no idea where any of them are connected. It's almost like a cipher. Could it be that they're writing like this on purpose?

I managed to pick up the words and asked Simon a question.

"Did your master live in this town?"

"Yes, he was born in Reedwald. When I started to study with him, he had already passed away. I think he passed away about fifty years ago."

The time's match. Is this a hit?

But is it something that can be found today, yesterday?

When I asked that question, he clears my doubt.

"It was probably three days ago that Ose-dono was here. I had already found this journal when I was researching a disease called Ash Vomiting Disease. But this is a poisonous medicine. I dismissed it as irrelevant."

"So that's it. Thank you for your efforts."

"No, I'm not grateful."

"And I must confess, I can't read this. What about you?"

Simon laughed when everyone who was looking at him shook their heads.

"It's not easy for me either. May I?"

I handed Simon back the document.

"I've got the Alchemy Solution, Majumag Powder, Kelisea Juice, Einaris Rhizome, and Strong Liquor."

"Wait, are those the ingredients?"

"Yes. According to this, the request was to find out what could be done with the materials provided. There is also a creative method that Master tried."

"Do you often get such requests?"

"No way, it's not common. If there is such a thing, it's when you get a rare material, but the only one that can be called rare in this list is Einaris. Even so, it's nothing to get excited about."

It matched the data. This seems to be a sure thing.

Someone found out the material. But they couldn't reproduce it, so they must have talked to other alchemists and grandmasters.

"Simon, would you be willing to take the trouble to make a clean copy of it?"

"Very well, sir."

As Simon left the room, I looked around at the three of them.

"Can you get that material?"

"Majumag is easy. I'm sure you've seen it, little man. It's a whitish stone sold at street stalls."

"That's what they use for jewelry."

It was a very inexpensive gemstone, more like a beautiful stone. I don't know where it comes from. But if it's so common it should be easy to find.

When I asked about the rest of the materials, Ose responded with a raised eyebrow.

"The alchemist can make the Alchemy Solution. We can find the liquor if we look for it. Kelisea is only a short distance away from the forest. The problem is Einaris, isn't it? Simon said so, but it's not an easy herb to find."

"But I'm sure it's in circulation in a certain way. If it wasn't, Simon wouldn't have said it like that. The first thing we should do is to check the inventory at a specialty store. Should we also head to the collection? I'll–"

I cut him off.

Should I go? I can Appraise the actual item, it's certainly easy to find. The problem is where to find it in the vast forest. The condition for activating "Appraisal" is visibility, but the visibility in the forest was really bad. There were many situations where it was impossible to appraise without getting close enough to touch it. Even if we ran around the forest in the dark, we would not be able to find it. If that's the case, I'll need the help of Danil, who knows a lot about "Battle Axe of Destruction, especially medicinal herbs. And as soon as I've collected them, I can return home by myself using Fast Travel.

It's not a bad idea, but there's a pitfall. If I bring "Battle Axe of Destruction" with me, they'll have to protect me. Now that Valerie is gone, the burden is even worse. Roland would also be coming with me, and it would be bad to have no one in command in the town. And if you're going to return alone, even Oze is fast enough.

"I'd like to leave the collecting to you guys, "Battle Axe of Destruction"."

"All right, I'll be right there!"

"The sun is already up, but please go collect Einaris."

"I'll take care of it. I'll pick up Danil and go!"

Markant stood up and took off.

He bowed and Ose followed him.

I'm a shackle. They should work better without me.

When Simon returned, he gave me a copy of the journal and asked if hI could try making it when we had the materials.

Simon thought about it for a while and agreed, though he was troubled.

"I'm not good enough to challenge Master,"

"I'm sorry for asking."

"No, please don't get your hopes up. I haven't even surpassed my master."

He said that, but since he had a small number of ingredients. He would start mixing immediately.

I thanked him again and left Simon's house.

After a short distance, I opened my mouth.

"I'm sorry Simon, but I'd like to ask another alchemist to help me. I want to increase the chances of success as much as possible. Take this and go to Pavel. Ask him to introduce you to a competent alchemist and ask him to do it. After that, take care of collecting the materials. I'll gather them after I've finished my business."

"Yes, sir. By the way, what do you want? Are you asking the guild to collect materials for you?"

"No, I just remembered another message. I'll go see him."

"I'm also your bodyguard. I don't want you to just wander off."

"Don't worry. You know him too."

When I mentioned his name, Roland nodded his head, as if he had gained some kind of confidence.