Okami Wa Nemuranai

Episode 1.8-9

One year has passed since Lecan started staying at Zaidmahl house.

He has largely overcome his biggest obstacle to living in this land, language. Lecan's wordings still sound off to other people even though he intends to sound fluent. However, since the literacy rate in this world is quite low, there's actually fewer people who can talk perfectly well, so he's not standing out in particular. His writings are poor and with limited vocabulary, but he's learned to read to some extent. In this world, more people cannot read and write than those who can.

A small hut in the corner of the mansion's garden is Lecan's dwelling.

Lecan's sleeping hours are short. This morning too, he woke up before dawn, ran through forest and hunted two small magic beasts.

Afterward, he taught knight Ezak how to wield a sword. Recently, all the mansion's knights and underlings have been asking for his guidance, the plot in front of Lecan's hut has been transformed into an impromptu training ground.

After breakfast, he was summoned to the young lady's room.

"Good morning (Haleef), Lecan."

"Good morning to you (Haleef), Ruby."

Lady Rubianafale's maid, Gria, who's standing diagonally behind the lady slightly sharpens her gaze, but there's nothing Lecan do about this.

The young lady herself told him to call her Ruby. He wasn't allowed to call her either Lady Rubianafale (Schera), or young lady (La Toile). Apparently, Lecan is the only exception to this in this household, as the only other persons who could call her Ruby are her father, the family head, and her elder brother who's enrolled as a knight in the capital. Yet, the young lady insisted for Lecan to call her Ruby. She didn't budge at all no matter how hard Gria tried to persuade her otherwise. Thus, he has no other choice in this matter. And yet, Gria always glares at Lecan whenever he calls her with her pet name.

That said, he calls her Ruby only when Gria or the Maid Marianka are around her. When there are other people around, she doesn't demand him to call her with it.

"I have something to ask you, my Mr. Wolf (La Geedo)."

Lecan bundles together his right hand's fingers and hit his left chest with them. A sign of consent.

The young lady is very fond of this highly exotic gesture.

"I want to go to the <Cliff>. Please guard me."

"Yale (Yes). I shall abide if Ezak gives his orders."

"It's okay, father has given his permissions. I'm going to tell Ezak after this. And, you see, Lecan. I want you to wear your clothes, not the uniform today. Along with that lovely overcoat too."

Lecan hits his left chest with his right hand again. It's a curious instruction, but since they're going deep into a forest with no other people around, no problem in him wearing any clothing.

Lecan came back to his hut, took off the uniform lent to him, and put on his own. The unassuming black vest is a fine article made from Thousand Rock Spider's silk, it has a superior magic defense. His trousers that have lost their colors from dirt are also another fine item made from rare materials by the hands of a skilled craftsman.

Lecan continued to practice swing in front of the hut for a while before Knight Ezak came.

"Lecan. You've got a job. Escort the young lady's wagon. Can you sortie out now?"

"Got it (Yale). I can."

Lecan went inside the hut and put on the overcoat that was hanging in the corner. Lecan is wrapped in a huge sense of relief whenever he's wearing this overcoat. It feels a bit stiff probably because he hasn't worn it in a while. This overcoat is made from Overking Bear's leather. It's superior in both physical and magic defenses. Moreover, the jewel sewn in the collar section is augmented with <Automatic Restoration> effect.

Knight Ezak knitted his brow when he saw Lecan wearing his overcoat. His reaction is only natural as Lecan doesn't look like a noble's escort at all. However, it was the young lady herself who asked him to wear the overcoat.

<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>

Lecan got lost in thought as he walked behind the wagon heading toward the <Cliff>.

--The time should be right now.

Living in Zaidmahl house doesn't feel too bad. Or rather, it's very nice. They even accepted Lecan who was obviously a foreigner.

He noticed that it was unusual when he went to villages and towns. There, Lecan was an existence to be on guard with, doubted on, and avoided against. Thanks to the rumors spreading about him being a swordsman hired by the territory lord, the heat has fallen down quite a bit, and yet he's still never received a favorable reaction.

However, he's found himself here in a foreign country and all. He's not satisfied to be stuck in the small house of a back country lord. He wants to see sight unseen. Fight powerful foes unlike anything before. Gain wealth and powers. The life with Zaidmahl household is too peaceful.

Besides, Boudo might be somewhere in this world. He's not particularly looking a way to find him, but Lecan is pleased with his partner whom he spent two years in a journey with. He can challenge any foe no matter how strong if he's with Boudo. He can have perilous adventures.

This world has dungeons too. Magic beasts inside a dungeon drop magic gems, and sometimes unusual treasures. He absolutely wants to go into a dungeon. He also wants to fight many kinds of magic beasts above ground.

And he might get back to his world someday. In preparations for that day, he's got to gather enough souvenirs to bring back.

While Lecan was thinking that, his <Life Detection> detected a magic beast. He ran up to Ezak who was riding a horse at the front, and after he got the ok to separate away from the party with finger signs, Lecan spread out his overcoat and rushed into the forest.

There it is.

Spider Monkey (Rindou). Quite a big one. It's as tall as a human. When a Spider Monkey gets this big, it has to move on the ground, not high up on trees. When they're on top of trees, their six limbs function similarly, but when they're on grounds, four of the limbs act as legs, while the other two are like arms. These arms are exceedingly powerful, it can crush a human's head easily.

Since the Spider Monkey was attempting to do a war cry, Lecan threw a knife and crushed its throat. And then he cut off its head as he passed through it, splitting its right chest open deeply.

Lecan waited for the gushing blood to stop, took the magic gem out, and stored it inside the <Storage> after wiping it clean with an old rag.

After some experimentations, he found out that he couldn't take magic gems out of a still living magic beast in this world too. Because the gem is materialized the moment a magic beast dies. The majority is materialized in the area around the heart, but there are slight differences depending on magic beast's kinds and specimens.

Magic gems are valued highly even in this world. Powerful magic gems left behind by huge magic beasts are traded in eye-popping amount of money.

He's learned that magic gems have its uses in this world too.

First of all, magicians make use of magic gems when they're going to cast great magic. This one is also practiced in his former world, Lecan himself does it too. However, he cannot confirm whether absorbing mana directly from magic gems is a common sense here or not.

Secondly, they're used in ceremonies executed by priests. Lecan still has no clue how it's getting used though.

Also, magic gems are used as fuel for magic items in this world.

He's still not well informed on what magic items are. The mansion has magic items that emit light, but he's never seen one. Either way, they're something that don't exist in his former world, taking one there would surely bring in the money.

Lastly, magic gems are used in the creation of magic potions. This is the same as with his former world. However, only small weak magic gems that have no uses in other areas are used in this case.

Apparently Zaidmahl territory has no craftsmen who create magic items, known as Magic Item Engineers. It has pharmacists who create magic potions. Lecan presents about half of magic gems he hunted to Ezak, apparently magic gems acquired by servants of Zaidmahl house get delivered to pharmacists. In exchange for getting magic gems for free, those pharmacists share half of magic potions made from the magic gems, and a portion of the sales to Zaidmahl house.

In his former world, there exist an occupation called Augmenter that can augment jewels and accessories with additional effect using mana from magic gems. Lecan suspects that Augmenters do not exist in this world. Which means, he'd better not let many people catch a sight of the augmented stuff he has.

Lecan went back to the troupe, made eye contacts with Ezak and got back to his position behind the wagon. Lecan will eliminate magic beasts outside the young lady's view and hearing whenever he finds one. He's gotten completely used to it.

In this past year, Lecan's usual job was to escort either the young lady or the family head in their outings. However, it's only when they're largely going into forests or villages, they cannot bring Lecan when they're heading to places with other nobles around. They never tell Lecan the reason why, but Lecan understands that that way is best for both Zaidmahl house and Lecan himself.