The beastmen city Ascalon is a large city surrounded by stone walls. With all the clustered the low-rise buildings with triangular roofs, it reminds me of a medieval city in Europe.

 

As I walk around in town, I see lots of beastmen passing by. Just like the soldiers I have seen fighting against the bears, they have various appearances. Starting from their size that goes from that of a child to over three meters tall, some look almost like a human while others are more like walking animals.

 

There is one more thing in common that I noticed as I continue to observe them. Some have animal features with at least two different species while most of them have only animal feature of one species. As such, dog beastmen will most likely only have features of a dog.

 

Even though I rarely see humans, it doesn't look like me walking around like this is unusual. I was careful at first because I sensed lots of hostile gazes, but nobody called me out. When I looked more closely, there were also many of them that didn't care, and some of them even looked at me in a way similar to the Tail Foxes.

 

Since the guards stopped me at first when I tried to enter the city, I thought it would be a lot more troublesome than this, but I was worried for nothing.

 

At that time, I was brought to a room and was interrogated about my past. I only answered the minimum and was kicked out, but I managed to check the structure of the garrison with my detection spells.

 

In the end, I just flew past the city walls. There was some kind of detection magic casted throughout the sky, but the formulation was simple to read. It was some automated wind magic, so bypassing it was no issue.

 

Since then, whenever I came to watch Rick's matches, I checked out the different garrisons to estimate the military power of the city and how they coordinated with each other. Since the soldiers aren’t very skilled at hiding their presence, their group stands out in all aspect and it was not difficult to spot all of them even with smaller detection range which was reduced drastically with the city buildings and citizens.

 

I thought I would be able to find out something if I watched Rick’s fight a bit more, but it wasn't the case. On the contrary, I got more confused about how he could still enjoy those fights, and ended up getting a weird request from him.

 

A noble's crest and ten thousand gold coins, I wonder if he wants to become a noble? I have no idea how that request came about, just like how he can still smile. Well, I will just have to fulfill the request in order to find out. For that purpose, I would have to get involved with the nobles. I could think of some ways to fulfil this requests but I still lack information needed to develop a plan of action.

---

“Do you wanna hear about what my pet canary did yesterday? I was watching her drinking water and she almost choked on it!”

 

“I hate my math teacher. I can't help but fall asleep whenever I listen to him! He should work at hospital to cure insomnia.”

 

“My boyfriend yesterday …”

 

However, having this many people makes obtaining the relevant information difficult. I can get a grasp of a lot of conversations with my wind magic, but even with my intelligence stats, there is a limit on how much I can process at once.

 

It would be better to ask them directly. For that, I need to find someone willing to share the information with me. I guess I will head over to where more people are gathered for now.

 

 

 

“Five copper coins for an apple!” A man tending to a stall with different fruits shouts.

 

“It will be two silver coins for a cotton vest.” A woman tells her customer as she hands over her merchandise.

 

It appears that this is a marketplace. There are too many people talking so I just cut off the detection using wind magic. Since the beastmen's overall levels are rather low, there should be no danger in doing so. Some people look at me curiously as I pass by, but then quickly lose interest.

 

As I check the prices of the merchandises I quickly notice a pattern.

 

It appears that one hundred copper coins is equal to one silver coin, and one hundred silver coins is one gold coin. So ten thousand gold coins would be equal to one hundred million copper coins. That's a lot of copper coins, since I could buy fifty million apples!

 

I frown upon realizing the number. On top of it, the fruits and vegetables are rather expensive compared to the meat, making it even more difficult. It seems like doing a work anywhere near normal wouldn't be an option.

 

The food stalls are separated from those selling other goods like clothes, weapons and such. It's not like I eager for food since Rina had fed me so much, but I remembered that going to a tavern to gather information is the classic of a RPG. And tavern is a place where people eat and drink, just like a food stall, right?

 

Yep, this is a legitimate way to reach my goal! I approach a stall selling meat skewers emitting delicious scents that has been bothering me. The raccoon beastman who has been arranging the skewers turns to look at me.

 

“How rare for a human girl to come alone, did you lose your parents?” He asks with a gentle smile.

 

His expression doesn't have any hostility nor that of someone looking down on the weak. Rather, I think he is rather friendly.

 

“Three meat skewers.” Starting with an order would be the most natural.

 

“Is that so? Sorry I asked weird stuffs.” The man awkwardly smiles.

 

I don't know why he is apologizing, but it looks like I would be seen as a lost child. But I did see some children walking around alone. The only difference would be... that I'm human?

 

There were not many humans, even less for human children. Thinking about it now, I didn't see one of my age being alone, but it should be okay since nobody stopped me, right?

 

Ah, the skewers are ready!

 

The cooking area of the stall is separated from me by a table where I sit, and the raccoon man puts down a dish with three skewers in front of me.

 

The skewers are  bigger than what I remember of them in my previous life, it is displaying its beautiful texture of grilled meat. The sauce flowing down from it further stimulates my appetite.

 

I pick up one of the skewers and I take a bite. The juicy meat combines nicely with a slightly sweet and spicy taste of the sauce.

 

I quickly finish off the first one and start eating the next one.

 

“Miss, don't eat them too quickly or else you will get choked. Here is the water.” The man warns me, but that is unnecessary.

 

Is this what the beastmen cooking like? I think the meat Rina used was of a better quality, but the sauce makes up for it. What would happen if this sauce was used in Rina's cooking? Wouldn't that give the ultimate result?

 

After finishing the second skewer, I decide to ask.

 

“How do you make the sauce?”

 

“I'm glad that you like it but I can't really tell you the business secret.” The owner gives a bitter smile.

 

Is that so. I'm sorry, Rina. I don't think I can help you with this here.

---

I finish the third skewer and remember my original goal... for which I have been waiting for the right moment!

 

“How do I make lots of money?” I ask the owner who is making more skewers.

 

“Well, it would depend on the person, but if I was a rich young lady like you, I would invest in shops.” He responds after thinking about it for a bit.

 

“I'm not rich.” If I want a correct advice, I need to let this part known. Yep, I am penniless.

 

“Is that so? I thought surely you would be. Well, do you have any goal on how much you want to make?” He looks confused as he asks me.

 

“Ten thousand gold.”

 

“That's quite a lot. And how much do you have to start with?” He inquires.

 

“None.”

 

“Really now? How to make ten thousand gold from nothing... wait, does that mean that you don't have ANY money right now?” The man wonders.

 

Why does it look like it is going in a bad direction?

 

“I don't.” Saying that, I see his expression starting to distort.

 

This is not good. I need to think about what could have caused this.

 

It's obvious that when he realized I do not have any money, he started to have this reaction. Is he looking down on me because I'm penniless?

 

“So were you planning to dine and dash?” He shouts and glares at me, ready to catch me if I try to run. Even though his displeasure is obvious, I still can't feel any hostility from him.

 

Dine and dash? But I am not going to run away. Wait, I remember now. I am supposed to pay after eating food at a food stall. Even though I did not eat outside that often, I can still remember such things from my previous life, good job me! On a second thought, paying is actually one of the basics. Could it be that my memories are actually bad?

 

“What do I do with you? How are you even wearing those expensive looking clothes and not have any money? It's not like I can take those as payment... I can't hand you over to the police neither...” He must also be having lots of thoughts going through his head as his mumbling continues.

 

What do I do in this situation? Only if I have some money! I should have accepted the money from healing the demons, or Rick. But it looked annoying to carry around, so I threw it away. Well, I should have just expected that I would need to pay after eating here. After all, I could have just chosen to not order anything. It's too late now, though. Let's see... in a situation like this, do I get to do... dish washing?

 

“You are so small and I can't even make you work. Argh, it can't be helped. Just don't do anything like this anymore, okay?” His expression softens.

 

So no washing dishes? Oh wait, I just need to make up for it, right? And considering how much money people tried to give me when I healed them, it should be a valuable service.

 

Using light magic, I inspect his body condition. If he is sick anywhere, I can heal him and say that we are equal. I might even be losing on this trade, but I am okay with it since the amount of mana that cost me is nothing significant.

 

This way of inspecting a body's condition is inspired by the X-ray from my previous life. However, it is a bit different, since I do not need to detect the ray to observe. Instead, I use the way mana transforms into the ray which differs depending on the medium. By performing this magic inside the patient's body and keeping track of the process, I can deduce the inner structure and find the problem. This is also one of the underlying principles behind my detection using light magic.

 

But why is he so healthy? Well, he isn't a patient so that might be natural, but it wouldn't hurt to have one or two dislocated bones!

 

Checking more closely, I notice something protruding in the connecting part of his spine. I'm not sure why it is, but it is not normal and should be able to be healed.

 

“Did you hear me? You can go.” The man sighs heavily, with an expression of resignation.

 

I stand up and walk up to his side of the stall, and put my hand on his waist. I can heal without doing this, but in the stories I read when I was small, healers usually performed their magic this way.

 

“What are you doing now?” He gives me a lethargic look.

 

I pour in light mana and fix his spine. This should be enough to pay back for the food.

 

“What... a healing spell? But I'm not sick? Wait...” Muttering those words, he tries bending his waist.

 

“It doesn't hurt anymore?” He now starts walking on tiptoe. After trying different postures, he grabs my hands.

 

“Thank you. My back pain started bothering me recently, and I thought I would need to go see a doctor soon, but it is all better now! So you were a light mage, huh? That explains your appearance!” He nods to himself in satisfaction as he thanks me.

 

“Payment?” I point my finger at my empty dish.

 

“Oh, that. Of course! Not just that, you can eat more if you want.” He declares. I think I will take on that offer.