Skeleton Knight, in Volume 5 - Ch 8

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

Harbor Town Plymouth Part 2

I never imaged that I would find chili peppers on this quest to obtain tomatoes in the Southern Continent. While tomatoes had many uses in cooking, red chili peppers were a versatile spice.

With both tomatoes and chili peppers, I could makearrabbiata.

Various Italian recipes started to flow into my head, and I frantically began searching nearby stall for the necessary ingredients and cooking implents.

Ariane ca up behind

and tilted her neck a bit when she saw the so-called devil nail in my hand.

Huh? Are you going to buy those?

Yes, I didnt know I would co across these here, and Id like to buy so if possible.

Ariane slowly turned toward the stall vendor and asked the price of the peppers after I said that.

When she heard it, her response mirrored the one of the wolf-eared man from before.

What, how can you charge that ridiculous amount!?

Ariane began chewing out the bear-eared vendor, with Chio and

nodding our heads in agreent.

I unintentionally reached for my gold pouch when we I heard the price the vendor had set.

However, Arianes sharp eyes caught that motion and held out her hands to stop

from doing sothing foolish.

Isnt that price just a rip-off??

While pressing the vendor Ariane voiced her criticism of him to .

Her golden eyes spoke of how outrageous it would be to buy at the asking price and that look carried so weight behind it.

I looked to Chio and strongly nodded to her to get her to agree.

All the while wondering what made the price such a hang up for her.

While I was contemplating the differences between n and won, the vendor began to explain his situation.

Like I told the guy before, the price was lower than it is now, but the tiger tribesn that were my suppliers have disappeared and I cant replace my stock.

Hearing his side of the situation explained why he was unwilling to negotiate the price.

Since chili peppers were dried goods they wouldnt spoil that quickly, so the vendor could just wait for a buyer willing to pay his price.

Ariane also realized this and frowned in disappointnt.

However, her face showed that she wasnt willing to buy at the asking price, and I wouldnt be able to buy the peppers at this rate.

Well, lets change the approach a bit.

Vender-dono, do you know of any other shops that deal in devil nails?

No rchant would purposely direct business to his rivals.

The vendor shruged his shoulders and shook his head as expected.

The western tiger tribe only recently begun to distribute devil nails in this region, there are almost no other places that sale them. If you think Im lying, youre welco to search the market yourself.

The vendor snorted and broke eye contact while crossing his arms, so I turned to Ariane to see what she know.

She nodded and chid in on what the vendor had said.

Ive never seen them before. You dont co across them in Canada at least

Then where can I find the tiger tribe to buy the nails directly?

Even with a brief look around the market, I couldnt find any tiger-eared people.

If the vendor told

where to find the tiger tribe the situation would solve itself, but he remained silent and let

continue my search in vain.

It was only natural for a custor to seek out the producer of a good they sought in this situation.

However, the vendor had no reason to tell

anything.

As I tried to co up with a way to trip up the vendor, Ariane butted into the conversation.

Arc, why do you wanna buy these things? From what we heard these things are dangerous, right? The sa thing with the Kraken, why are you only interested in the strangest things?

Ariane seed a bit mystified by my behavior but it was Chio and Ponta that objected to her comnt.

Kraken is delicious! Kyun!

There was earnest look in her clear blue eyes as Chio and the fur ball atop my head stood in solidarity.

Though they missed the point I accepted their backing and held up the pepper in my hand.

You can make various delicious thing by using this and tomatoes. Therefore, I would like to buy so at a more reasonable price.

Ariane raised an eyebrow at what I said. But the vendor reacted before she could say anything.

Youre planning to cook with devil nails!? Those of the tiger tribe use them to boost their fighting spirits by cooking them, but barely anyone else does that!

I looked towards the shocked vendor and asked him to elaborate.

Then, what are Devils nails used for besides cooking?

I couldnt think of any other use for them at the mont.

Chio and Ariane looked between

and the vendor as our conversation had peeked their interest.

Theyre usually boiled till they bleed out, and the juices are used as a monster and insect repellent. I also heard that squeezing them into your nose can temporarily increase ones strength.

If Im not mistaken then the capsaicin in red chili peppers had antiseptic properties as well as being an effective insecticide, but squeezing it into your nose? Was it so kind of curse?

However, I understood. The mbers of the tiger tribe were rumored to use them in cooking, but confirmation of that fact hadnt reached this town yet.

Since only the extrely curious would be interested in these, theres no need to hide the supplier. All I have to do is ask around about the tiger tribe in order to find them.

The vendor said that mbers of the tribe havent been seen around here recently, but it should be easy to find a clue about their location and buy the devil nails directly.

I started to look towards the other vendors with that thought in mind.

Then the bear-eared vendor sighed and scratched the back of his head.

Hah, thats true. The tiger tribe mainly deals in monster leather and fangs. They usually reside in the Kuwana plains, just beyond the Shingarika plains. The tribe is often sighted around Fernandez, just west of here. If you follow the Dojasu river you should reach it.

Sowhat reluctantly, the vendor revealed the location of the tiger tribe mbers.

I was ignorant of this continents geography so I turned to Ariane when I heard the na of the town, but she was also unfamiliar with those places to so she only shook her head.

Fernandez is ten days away by carriage and twenty days by foot. Do you actually plan to make such a trek?

A fatherly smile floated on the vendors face, as Ariane silently looked on.

There was quite a bit of distance to cover in order to reach the town. The vendors smile widened as he was assured of his victory. Even if we went through the hardships of reaching the town, there was no guarantee we could buy the items at a cheaper price.

My short-distance transfer magic Dinsional Step should be able to deal with the distance problem. Id guess that it would take three days to reach the town of Fernandez by using that.

While I thought it over, Arianes gaze landed on the baggage over my shoulder.

Arc. You have so magic stones in your bag right?

At her question, I was reminded of the magic stones I had collected in the caverns before we ca upon that underground lake. Do to the picturesque nature if the underground lake I should be able to use Transfer Gate and collect so more of them so long as intercontinental travel wasnt an issue.

I nodded at her question considering all of that.

I have a few of them, do you need a specific number of them?

Still unable to see her intentions, I gave her a frank reply that managed to put a smile on her luscious lips.

She seems to have thought of sothing

Follow . Arc. Since were already here, we might as well stretch our legs.

Ariane turned on her heel and began walking away from the vendor.

C-Coming!

Before the vendor could complain about her departure, I took out a gold coin and handed it to him.

Sorry, Vender-dono. Could you give

however many devil nails this covers?

The reason I relented was as a thank you for the information on the tiger tribe and I still wanted to sample the peppers.

The vendor acknowledged that there was no further room for negotiations as he watched Ariane walk off, so he reluctantly took the gold coin.

Although he was was a bit suspicious of the coin when he saw the emblem engraved on it, after I explained that it was from the human kingdom on the Northern Continent, the exchange ca to an end.

I was handed several devil nails in return, and after using the gold coin I had just paid to calculate the price for one of them, the re thought of buying them en masse paralyzed .

Even if currency exchange was taken into account, I had just been handed a value pack of devil nails with none of the value.

A price that reached the value of gold, I couldnt help but rember how I had heard once that pepper had been worth its weight in gold at one ti.

No, at these rates gold isnt the proper unit

My hand moved to my money pouch as I stared at the devil nails.

When I caught up to Ariane and Chio I asked her what she had in mind.

Where are we going?

Rember what I told you before we ca here? Though there shouldnt be many of them, there should be a transfer magic shrine network set up in this country. I dont know if we can directly travel to Fernandez but it should be faster than taking the highway, right?

Ariane raised her brow as she looked back in my direction. Chio was taken back when she rember that conversation.

I groaned a little when she brought up that conversation from not that long ago.

Hmm, I see. The only question is if the shrine network is open to the public.

Since using it requires a village elder to grant permission, what are the actual chances of us being allowed to travel to Fernandez?

Arianes status as daughter of a village elder probably allowed her to gain the necessary access to the shrine network, an advantage that we lacked here.

If the shrine network was opened to the public, it would an that a looser managent system was in place.

For now I pushed those thoughts aside and paid attention to the street we were heading down. Both sides of the street were lined with three-story tall buildings and had various types of beastn going about their business.

Though, it was actually a peculiar carriage that caught my attention. If you could call it a carriage, that is

There wasnt a single horse hooked up to the chassis.

Instead, there was a goat-like creature pulling it along. The creature had two ram horns jolting up from its head and it was covered in silk-like black fur everywhere but its face.

However, the creature was the size of a horse and showed no strain as it pulled the fully packed carriage.

There were two beastn guards protecting the carriage. They wore matching uniforms and had swords attached to their waist as they rode two-ter tall birds. The height of the bird allowed them to easily see above the heads of the crowd. The birds wings were a bit small compared to their bodies and their feather where a dark brown color except for their white heads. This feature coupled with its yellow beak drew up the image of bald eagles in my mind.

Hmm, I should have expected to find unknown animals here. Kyun!

These horse-like birds seem to be fast runners.

Ariane called out to Chio, Ponta and

as we stopped to evaluate the carriage passing us by.

Arc, Chio-chan, the sun will set if we dont hurry!

After confirming where we were headed, Ariane urged us to continue weaving our way through the crowd.

After an hour of walking, we reached the center of the city were a large solemn building stood in the center of a small field.

The seemingly Middle Eastern building was made from a lapis lazuli colored stone decorated with shiny filigree patterns. There was a baggage check station in front of the buildings entrance and guards could be seen all around the area.

This seems to be this countrys transfer shrine network.

Ariane made that comnt as she approached the main gate, with the rest of us in tow.

The building in front of us was more like a temple than a shrine.

As we neared the gate of the transfer magic shrine, one of the beastn guards gave Ariane a strange look before singling us out.

Its unusual to see a female dark elf around here, are you planning to use the transfer formation?

Ariane nodded at the guards question before asking her own.

Yes, is it possible to reach Fernandez or a nearby town?

You can transfer to Fernandez, but its impossible today. Todays two formations are linked to the capital city Galapagos.

The guard gestured at the line of people at the gate with his chin as he spoke.

According to him, the formation was frequently set to the capital (?), whereas transfers to other cities were only available for a limited number of people every day.

But more importantly, the capital was nad after the islands the evolution theory was based upon.

The three of you will exceed the limit of people for tomorrows transfer to Fernandez. I suggest you co back in two days when the schedule opens up. You can also pay half the fee in advance so that your na is placed on the register.

That was how Arianes question was answered.

Given the circumstances, doing so must cost a considerable amount of money. Even though the price seed to scale with the quantity of your baggage, the coins we had werent suitable for major circulation.

It felt like we were being presented with the foreign voyage cost of the early Showa period.

Is it possible to pay the fee in magic stones?

Yes, theres an appraisal station off to the side that can determine a price point.

The guard led us to the station before returning to his post.

The station in front of us would appraise the magic stones and calculate the usage fee based on their quality. If we were fortunate enough, then the cost could be covered by the stones I brought along.

After handing over all the magic stones I had for appraisal, they were exchanged for their monetary value. It turned out that the reservation only cost half of the payout, so I pocketed the difference.

We were also handed marked wooden plaques for the transfer formation. Basically so kind of passport.

This should take care of our expenses in this country of a while

The leather pouch in my hand held the money and passport that we had just received, and I looked back at Ariane and Chio as I spoke.

The group going to Fernandez wont be announced until noon tomorrow, so traveling outside of this town is restricted. We should find an inn sowhere.

When we reached the town square Ariane crossed her arms and started looking around the area as she brought up our schedule.

Chio restlessly moved about as she stood beside .

Sothing wrong Chio-dono?

N-No. I was just thinking about what we learned about the tiger tribe. From what I heard, the tiger tribe excels in martial arts. There only a few of them on the Northern Continent, so Ive never t one before.

Chio looked like a boy anxious to et his hero with her unusual expressive face.

While I stared at her, the image of a muscular giant suddenly appeared beside her, accompanied by a sense of deja vu.

According to the vendor, they havent been making that many appearances recently I do hope you can et them, Chio-dono. I would also like to purchase more devil nails from them.

When she heard this Ariane pointed a finger at

in protest.

Arc, did you actually buy so devil nails from that vendor? I thought you found the tiger tribes location so that you could buy them wholesale.

Ariane puffed out her chest and pouted in dissatisfaction as she spoke.

Though she had already walked off by then, her excellent warrior-senses and deductive reasoning shouldnt be underestimated.

I bought a few of them for sampling. I was thinking of buying the necessary materials in the market and cooking up sothing with the devil nails.

I grasped my fist as I spoke, but Chio and Ariane gave

a confused look.

Arc, you can cook?

Her question was actually reasonable when I thought about it.

I havent cooked anything for myself since I ca to this world. However, I had lived alone for many yearsand I beca quite competent in my cooking because of that.

Hmhmhm, let

show you my ability. You all will bear witness to my cooking skills!

Since its been a while since I last cooked, lets make so arrabbiata pasta with the devil nails and tomatoes. I rember that garlic and onions were available in the market, so they should be easily obtainable.

Kyun! Kyun!

Realizing what was happening, Ponta began joyfully wagging her tail and crying atop my head.

The devil nails might be a little too much for Ponta, so I need to remove them from her portion.