In the Land of Leadale Vol. 4 Page 3

  “That one might be a fake, too…,” Roxilius replied.

  “Well that’s no help.”

  “What are you talking about?!” Roxine interrupted. Cayna and Roxilius examined her with an audible Hmmm.

  “It’s just, you haven’t been nearly as sadistic lately, so we thought you might be a fake,” Cayna said.

  “Huh?”

  A vein in Roxine’s temple throbbed. Cayna had a bad feeling about that; Roxilius was looking up in thought and didn’t notice she’d taken a step back.

  “Oh, so you were thinking you’d just switch out the bitchy cat and—?!”

  Roxine’s petulant grumblings were interrupted by the clanging of metal. Roxine, who had drawn her weapon to unleash her power, had been cut off by Roxilius.

  Roxilius’s weapon was a common, one-handed sword. Roxine’s was a hatchet. Not only that, it was a rare Tragic Night: Jason Blade. Cayna remembered giving it to Roxine when she asked her for it since Cayna didn’t use it anyway. She never imagined that the werecat would end up using it to kill a coworker.

  “It seems the time has come for us to settle things once and for all!” Roxilius declared.

  “Hey now! I can’t have you guys waving weapons around!” Cayna shouted.

  Scraping and screeching rang out as sword and hatchet crossed. Although their skill sets differed, their strengths were about equal, so there was an ongoing struggle for dominance. Cayna had tried telling them to get along, but just like in the game, they broke out into fights at the most trivial comments. Now even she wondered whether she’d teased Roxine too much this time. It was quiet as long as the two didn’t move from their crossed weapons.

  Just as Cayna thought to herself she should probably stop the fight before things got too serious, she heard a withered voice call out, “What’s going on…?” behind her.

  “Oh, Mimily. Something the matter?” Cayna asked as she turned around to find Mimily staring at them in shock.

  “‘Something the matter?’ Shouldn’t I be asking that?” the mermaid retorted.

  A sword-wielding butler and hatchet-wielding maid engaged in ferocious combat was undoubtedly a shock to anyone unfamiliar with their usual pattern of behavior.

  “Oh, this? Just a little difference of opinion.”

  “One that’s turned to bloodshed?!”

  Cayna shrugged as if this was just part of an average day. Mimily’s head throbbed. Anyone else would call this carnage. Given how calmly Cayna was watching this fight unfold, Mimily couldn’t help but think she was something of an oddball. She’d always had an inkling, but now Mimily was really starting to believe that Cayna was highly unusual.

  “Guess I oughta let them blow off steam once in a while.”

  “That’s the problem here?”

  Mimily pointed at the savage scene with a trembling finger, but Cayna just smiled awkwardly and clapped her hands. It wasn’t just her imagination that Cayna’s idea of arbitration was more like feeding koi fish.

  “Okay, you two, that’s enough for today. You’re upsetting the audience.”

  “Ack?!”

  “Ngh?!”

  Unbeknownst to Mimily, a coercive power hit Roxilius and Roxine with pinpoint accuracy. They immediately put away their weapons and straightened their posture while Cayna shot them a spine-chilling smile. And all this transpired the moment before Mimily turned back around.

  ““W-we’re very sorry.””

  “Right, great. You can’t fight just because Lu isn’t around.”

  The brutal atmosphere dissipated, and Mimily stared at the shamed pair in confusion. She couldn’t really understand what had just happened since she hadn’t spent much time with the two, but she wasn’t about to step into another household’s affairs. After all, the maid and butler appeared to have turned frightening awfully fast.

  “So what brings you to our home all the way from the bathhouse?” Cayna asked.

  “Oh, um, I came for some bread,” Mimily replied.

  “Bread?” Cayna tilted her head in confusion. She obviously knew what bread was, but she had no idea why Mimily was suddenly saying she came to pick some up.

  Mimily normally ate meals provided by the inn. However, she had been through a tough learning curve during her time there. Initially, no one in the village knew anything about mermaids. Cayna had left Mimily in the care of the village elder and Marelle, both of whom struggled with what to do with the mermaid. They figured she’d be fine serving food at the inn since she looked human from the waist up, but it turned out they hadn’t given this quite enough thought. Who would’ve guessed the inn’s patrons would turn pale and collapse at the sight of vegetable soup?

  According to Mimily, her hometown’s staples were seaweed and algae. Mermaids didn’t eat fish, but shellfish were perfectly edible. After taking this into account, Marelle focused on making soups full of leafy vegetables to get villagers used to the concept bit by bit before eventually earning Mimily’s trust. Once things had calmed down a bit, Cayna visited the inn and heard only a few idle complaints.

  Considering all that Mimily had gone through, Cayna became a little upset with herself when the mermaid mentioned bread. She felt bad that she’d been so busy lately, running around looking for projects to do for the village, that she hadn’t taken the time to check in on Mimily.

  Roxine, however, responded to Mimily’s mention of bread with, “Ah, that.”

  She withdrew into the house temporarily and brought back a basket with a cloth over top before saying to Mimily, “Shall we get going?”

  Feeling curious, Cayna decided to accompany them while Roxilius chose to stay home.

  Their destination was an empty house near the public bath. There, they found several other women waiting with plates and cloth-covered baskets just like the one Roxine was carrying.

  “Oh, Cayna came with you, too?”

  “What a sight for sore eyes. Will you be helping us today?”

  “Umm, what’s everyone here for?” Cayna asked. She had trouble answering the women since she had no clue what was going on.

  As she stood there confused, several women took the covers off their baskets to show her the contents: several round, palm-sized white objects.

  “Did you not know we’re going to bake these, Cayna?” one woman asked.

  Cayna thought back but had no recollection of this.

  It seemed that Roxine was using this empty house for her own personal event. Several stone ovens like one might see in a pizza shop were lined up in the room. It was at this point Cayna finally figured out what they were being used for. She remembered always seeing cooking scenes like this on TV when she was bedridden.

  “You’ve been making bread?”

  “To be more precise, I’ve been teaching them how to create leaven, which we then use to bake bread. I had Lux make the ovens,” Roxine answered matter-of-factly.

  The villagers mostly baked a salty, hard, dark rye bread that could be softened by dipping it in stews and soups. The bread Cayna’s household made with the help of Cooking Skills was a perfectly soft roll. When Roxine had brought some of this to the village, the women—Marelle included—were amazed. They said it was a delicacy, the kind of food only nobles ate.

  In response, Roxine made yeast using the berries she’d harvested from the village’s outskirts—a bit of knowledge she seemed to have picked up outside of the game’s hardware. Cayna asked Roxine where she had learned such a thing, but Roxine claimed she didn’t even know herself. It was as if Roxine had been equipped with some sort of external knowledge database.

  “Well, it’s not like I’ll get a straight answer from you anyway, if even you yourself don’t know where that info came from,” Cayna concluded, giving up on the idea of pressing her for further information. “Besides, I’d just end up with a migraine.”

  “A wise decision indeed,” Roxine replied, and an indescribable expression came over Cayna’s face. After all, Roxine’s vague response was the very reason why she decided not to think about this too much. However, she did wonder if her maid was intentionally dissing her. And considering this was Roxine, that was all too likely.

  Nevertheless, Cayna was happy to see Roxine voluntarily contributing to the village’s food culture. This change in Roxine, who never showed interest in anyone outside her immediate circle, astonished Cayna.

  Since the ovens used firewood, the method was to light several at once. The current season presented no issues, but everyone would have to conserve wood once winter rolled in. Rather than warm each home individually, it was more efficient to burn a fire in one place.

  “Now that you’re here, Lady Cayna, we won’t need to use firewood,” said Roxine.

  “I was wondering why you didn’t say anything when I followed you here,” replied Cayna. “You had every intention of putting me in charge of the fire, didn’t you?”

  “I cannot deny that.”

  “Some maid you are…”

  Roxine’s straightforward answer made it seem like a completely premeditated crime.

  Mimily paid for meals via her laundry services, so she came to this gathering to take advantage of the shared bread.

  Cayna reluctantly summoned a Fire Spirit to light the ovens and adjust the heat as Roxine instructed. However, watching the Fire Spirit in the hole beneath each oven raise one hand in the air and create a particular hero’s signature pose with the flames was incredibly strange. The women were just baking bread, so using the Fire Spirit for this purpose felt totally wrong. Cayna didn’t use magic rhymestones because you couldn’t adjust the temperature well with them and they could run out of gas quickly if they were too small.

  “I bet Opus would burst out laughing if he saw me doing this.”

  “You may well be right.”


  Even Kee sounded exasperated.

  Cayna attempted to get by without leaving the village for half a month but started running low on supplies. Roxine’s estimations were right on the nose.

  The biggest contributing factor was the large volume of food they were consuming. This included the seasonings as well as the wheat used primarily for bread, which was a dietary staple. Since Cayna’s household didn’t have their own field in the village, they couldn’t grow their own wheat. They could get food from Marelle in a worst-case scenario, but that would put Roxine in a bad mood. Vegetables weren’t an issue since Roxilius had charmed the local wives; they gave him some of their own in exchange for small tasks. The meat caught by the hunter Lottor was divided evenly among the villagers, and Roxine brought back whatever animals she took down while gathering wild strawberries and plants.

  There was also the matter of clothing and accessories.

  Once the house was built, Cayna had made a large number of cloth-based items. Cayna herself hadn’t been sure how much they’d need on a daily basis, so the quantity she had purchased had been completely inadequate. As she obeyed Roxine’s demands of “I’d like a curtain here” and “A rug would be good here,” Cayna ran out in no time. Luka also used fabric for her sewing practice, so the household truly did use up a great deal. Although processing items had its many uses, doing so also required materials. No matter how mighty one’s skills might be, you couldn’t create something from nothing.

  “Hmm. I knew it—we’ll have to go to Felskeilo or Helshper and buy some more.”

  It looked like she also had the option of reaching out to Lux Contracting and ordering from Sakaiya directly. However, it would take her goods over ten days to arrive.

  “Come to think of it, I’ll also need fodder for the goats,” said Cayna.

  “Do not worry on that matter,” Roxilius assured her. “As long as they do not disrupt the village’s crops, it seems they are free to eat the weeds and grasses. We can always feed them hay as a stopgap measure.”

  “I’ll…walk the goats,” Luka added.

  Cayna planned on keeping goats for their milk. Roxilius had apparently found out from the villagers the best way to care for them, and as soon as Luka heard this she volunteered to help as well.

  “Shouldn’t that be my job?”

  “Your miscellaneous chores are our duty, Lady Cayna,” Roxilius replied.

  “Besides, shouldn’t you be looking for Opus?” Roxine asked.

  “…That’s true. I wonder if that jerk’s still around.”

  Opus’s existence seemed questionable, but Li’l Fairy was the key to finding him—at least, that’s what Cayna thought. She needed a way to communicate with the fairy, something she hadn’t quite figured out yet.

  Li’l Fairy popped out from Cayna’s hair and beamed. The fact that only players could see her was a source of frustration.

  “You’re one big swirl of mystery, too,” Cayna told the fairy as she watched her flit about happily.

  Li’l Fairy was slightly under twenty centimeters tall and could fit in the palm of Cayna’s hand. She had long, light green hair and blue eyes, and the four wings sprouting from her back were a translucent light green. Her face looked like that of a ten- to twelve-year-old human girl. The fairy lived in Cayna’s hair, and when she did come out on occasion, she was usually all smiles.

  Cayna and the other players could touch her, but she seemed to pass through everything else. The fairy was sensitive to noise and hid at any intense or loud sound. She didn’t need to eat and smiled every morning as she watched everyone eat breakfast. Even windy days had no effect on her, and she could always sit on Cayna’s shoulder with ease. Cayna had no idea if Opus ever named the fairy, so she simply dubbed her Li’l Fairy. Since the fairy glowed with a faint phosphorescence every time Cayna used her skills or magic, she wondered if she was connected to the game’s system.

  “Yeah, there’s gotta be some connection.”

  It seemed that the change in the system Cohral had talked about had happened right after Cayna met the fairy, and she’d also acted strangely back when Cayna used Special Skill: Oracle. It might even be possible that Cayna wouldn’t have been able to use the skill without her. Based on his actions during the game, Cayna had a sneaking suspicion Opus was an administrative player. Not that she had any proof.

  “Did Opus purposefully leaving you behind have something to do with the system?”

  She had a feeling the truth went far deeper. After all, Li’l Fairy’s response to this question was to immediately turn to Cayna and puff up her cheeks before turning away haughtily to sit on Cayna’s shoulder.

  Cayna felt like she offended the fairy in some way. At this point, though, she could do nothing more than talk to her, pat her head, and apologize in earnest. By the time the fairy had cheered up and was flying around in happy circles, Cayna went back to her room and collapsed into bed from mental exhaustion.

  A knock soon came at the door, and Cayna sat up listlessly. “Come in,” she said.

  Luka popped her head into the room, then went inside and walked over to Cayna.

  “Mommy Cayna…”

  “What is it, Lu?”

  Luka hugged Cayna’s leg. Cayna picked the girl up and took in the child’s warmth.

  “Were you talking…to someone?” Luka asked.

  She must’ve overheard Cayna apologizing to Li’l Fairy. After a moment’s thought, Cayna set Luka down next to her.

  “Uhh, well. I might’ve mentioned this before, Lu, but I can see fairies.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “And I made one of those fairies mad at me. I was apologizing just now.”

  “Mm…?”

  Luka didn’t seem to follow. After all, she couldn’t see the fairy herself. It was hard to believe in something you couldn’t see. Fairies in storybooks were visible only to children, but in this case it was practically the opposite.

  “Are fairies…scary when they’re mad?”

  Cayna pondered Luka’s question for a moment. The easier answer would be, “They’re a bunch of meanies!” but if she made Li’l Fairy mad again, it’d only wind up being more work for her.

  “Uhh, well…they’ll pull your hair while you’re sleeping, take your fork when you’re eating, and sit in the middle of the page when you’re reading a book,” Cayna replied, choosing her words carefully as she gauged the fairy’s reaction.

  Li’l Fairy plopped herself right on Luka’s head and stared at Cayna, which made Cayna more than a little nervous. She was still in the realm of gentle ribbing, but if provoked, the fairy might shoot a magic spell in a random direction, something Cayna was eager to avoid.

  Luka looked sad, so Cayna patted her head and said, “It’s all right. Watch this!” She then cast Illusion Magic. Small bits of phosphorescence gathered from around the room to converge right in front of Luka. They gradually took a humanoid form and solidified to become a second Li’l Fairy. It was a carbon copy of the real one, so the size was exactly the same. It was impossible to touch since it was an illusion, but Luka could without question see this “Li’l Fairy.”

  Luka stared wide-eyed for a few moments before reaching out her hand, which passed right through the illusion.

  “Oh, sorry, Lu. It’s just a picture, so you can’t actually touch her.”

  “This is…a fairy?”

  The illusion spread her wings and arms as if she were flying. The real one gleefully struck the same pose.

  Luka gazed curiously at the two smiling fairies.

  “This fairy looks the same as the one that flies around me. The real one is right next her making the same pose,” Cayna explained.

  Luka looked between the illusion and the empty space that the real fairy occupied and giggled softly.

  “Show me…the real one someday…”

  “Sure. I promise I’ll introduce you.”

  Cayna spent the rest of the day chatting with Luka until they eventually fell asleep together. The next day, Luka asked if there was any way to keep the fairy illusion around.

  “Hmm. I guess it’s not impossible. But what for?”

  “I want Latem…to sculpt her.”

  Cayna couldn’t help but sympathize with poor Latem for the huge request he was about to get. She’d cheer him on but wouldn’t help him out of this one.