Ch.412Collapsed Daily Life of an NPC. (6)

“…Hmm. Here it is.”

“Ah, Salt Non.”

“Non oppa~!”

A few days after I finished telling everyone about Behemoth’s core. I was at the ‘restored’ market of Naty with Ira. Though it’s just a makeshift building made of huts, what’s in front of us is a café.

“Hard to see your face these days.”

“Haha, true. Just the fact that you came all the way here should be reason enough for me to visit, sorry.”

“Sorry for being busy.”

“It’s not Ira’s fault. It’s because your brother is too occupied.”

Don’t make your sister apologize, he added, looking at me with eyes that clearly said he was joking.

I heard that Salt Non had come here two days after the Behemoth battle ended. Ragni knew before I did, but she couldn’t tell me my friend had arrived because everyone was shocked by what happened to Gorg. Above all, we were too busy with the aftermath.

As a result, by the time I was able to talk about Gorg, Ragni told me about Salt Non, and I was able to meet him while he was receiving treatment from Lizerotte along with other soldiers.

“How are you? Are your arms and legs better?”

“Hmm. Thanks to the Saint… no, Elder Green Stone’s wife, I’ve been back in the field since last week.”

Well, the fact that I could come this far is thanks to the potion recipe you gave me. After saying this with a smile, he reached out to pat Ira’s head gently instead of mine. Hey, Salt Non, don’t try to seduce Ira, okay? I might accidentally kill you for real.

“Oppa, don’t say bad things to Non oppa.”

“Right, think about the age difference between your sister and me. Ira is kind, but by her standards, I’m practically a grandfather.”

That’s what you say, but that top-tier old man snagged a saint in her 20s? An old man who’s lived since ancient times is marrying a woman in her 20s from the 21st century? I couldn’t say this in front of Ira and Salt Non who don’t know about my past life. I subtly pulled Ira back to avoid his hand. Anyway, I don’t want to kill my only same-sex friend with my own hands.

“Hehe. Ira, you’re loved.”

“Yes! Oppa likes me very much!”

“That’s right, oppa likes Ira the most in the world~”

I nuzzled my cheek against the top of Ira’s head, and she giggled happily. Salt Non sighed in disbelief at my behavior, but I deliberately continued. After waiting for a while, our tea finally arrived, and after putting a piece of bread we ordered as dessert into Ira’s mouth, I got to the main point.

“Introducing a mage from the spirit folk? Do you really need to ask me for that? No spirit folk would refuse your request, and besides, your sister Ira, though her power is somewhat hidden by magic and hard to sense, has tremendous spirit power even to me who knows nothing about spirit arts. Rather, if you ask them to meet you, even those shy ones would come running barefoot.”

After hearing my request, Salt Non tilted his head as if he didn’t understand, but my story doesn’t end there. Specifically…

“I think we’ll need the power of all the spirit folk who came here. I talked to Green Stone, but he said he hasn’t really talked with the spirit folk since ancient times, and even when he led the army, he left it to other officers or elves, so he won’t help.”

“Tsk. Looks like the Elder’s wanderlust is acting up again. Should I tell his wife to keep him from leaving?”

He sighed, saying the Elder was already quite free-spirited, returning only once every few thousand years. I couldn’t help but smile awkwardly. I wonder what would happen if he knew most of that time was spent going around gambling dens. No, I should invite Salt Non and Green Stone for drinks later and tell them.

“Anyway, the reason I need the spirit folk’s power is because we need to extract Behemoth’s core…”

“Hmm? You haven’t extracted that monster’s core yet? No wonder the corpse hasn’t decomposed. But, all the spirit folk just to extract one core? There are almost 200 spirit folk assigned to the army…”

“Well, the size is…”

When I told him it’s the size of the largest building we can see, big enough to fit their entire country’s army as a barricade, Salt Non’s usually expressionless eyes widened like saucers. Haha, right? When I first heard it, I also wanted to beg them to say it was a lie…

“…In that case, it would be better not to borrow the spirit folk’s hands. No, don’t leak this information at all.”

“Eh? Oh, why? I heard spirit users are good at extracting monster mana stones and cores.”

“You don’t seem to know the reason.”

After saying that, Salt Non ordered another cup of tea from a passing staff member and naturally cast a spell around us. Huh? What’s this?

“Silence! It’s a magic that prevents voices from being heard!”

“Hmm, you’re knowledgeable for Jack’s little sister. Yes, I hope no one heard our earlier conversation, but anyway. The reason spirit folk and spirit users are good at extracting mana stones and cores is because high-purity mana stones and strong monster cores are useful as mediums for summoning high-level spirits. A core of that building-sized scale… As far as I know, the spirit folk are just here as part of the ‘Siltra Army’ following the elves and beastfolk, not particularly interested in Behemoth’s core. Rather, like me, they probably thought it had already been extracted and didn’t pay attention. But if you tell them it’s too big to extract… they’ll go crazy.”

Literally all of them would rush to use that core to summon spirits. After hearing Salt Non’s explanation, I swallowed hard. Wait, you know this but Green Stone didn’t? That old man really…!

“No, the Elder must have known. He probably read that you would come find me and dumped the task on you because he was too lazy to explain it himself.”

“That’s still unforgivable.”

“Yes! We should scold teacher later!”

“Heh. Maybe he was being considerate because I complained about you not visiting me enough. Don’t be too hard on him. And, teacher? Has the Elder been teaching Ira? That’s the first I’m hearing of it.”

Thinking we’d finished discussing the spirit folk, Salt Non changed the subject. After that, we continued our conversation about various things. We moved to another shop for lunch, bought Ira cake for dessert, and then had tea again.

*Sip* *Clink*

“…Humans are truly amazing.”

“Huh?”

“Mmm?”

*Munch munch*

Salt Non put down his teacup and quietly turned his head to look at the view of Naty. What’s so amazing? That we defeated Behemoth?

“Well, that’s impressive too. But even more so is the current scene. If Siltra had been destroyed and devastated to this extent, I wonder if we elves, and the beastfolk and spirit folk, could have worked day and night to restore it like this. No matter how I think about it, I can’t picture such a scene.”

Rather, the image of abandoning the forest and fleeing comes to mind too easily, which is troubling, he said. His eyes looked amused and envious. Hmm.

“Salt Non, didn’t you say you came out this time to visit Aigram for recuperation?”

“I was going to, but then that city disappeared, so I was about to return when I heard about you and rushed here.”

“Then, after this job is done, are you going back to Siltra?”

“No, I’m thinking of traveling around the continent a bit. Originally, I was planning to return because of my injured limbs, but now that I’ve recovered, I can leisurely travel for about 300 years.”

A bit is 300 years? The jokes of long-lived races are hard to understand. As I said that while awkwardly scratching my head, Salt Non tilted his head and asked if I was joking, saying he wasn’t. Don’t show me that kind of expression. Elves are already beautiful, so every little action seems like flirting. Don’t try to seduce Ira!!

“Well, if you’re going to travel around the continent anyway. I was wondering if you’d like to join us. We can’t stay together for 300 years, but our next destination is ‘Aiti.’ It’s a place where even humans rarely visit, and if you don’t go now, you probably won’t get to see it for hundreds of years.”

“…Aiti, huh. Indeed, it was also called a ‘neutral city.’ I was already feeling a bit regretful about not seeing Aigram, where the Elder stayed for a long time, before it changed, so if you’re inviting me, that doesn’t sound bad.”

*Munch munch, gulp!*

“Will Non oppa travel with us too?”

“Yes. It seems that’s how it’ll be.”

Salt Non’s level is still around 110. Honestly, his level is quite low for going to Aiti, but if he stays with our group, he might be able to level up quickly. I was thinking that even though the Siltra Army participated in this war, they were too weak to make a difference. At the very least, for the future, we need to raise the average level of elves to Green Stone’s current level.

“Then, let me know a month before departure. I need to wrap up the work I’m doing here.”

“Huh? We’ll probably leave before a month passes.”

“…Humans live short lives, but you’re too hasty.”

“No! Non oppa is just too relaxed! We have an important mission to resurrect Gorg!!”

When Ira shook her head strongly in response to Salt Non’s reaction, he looked surprised, widening his eyes, then slowly reached out to fix Ira’s hair and spoke with a gentle smile.

“…Heh. I see. Alright. I’ll tell the work team leaders starting today. I’ll also inform the Elder.”

“Great, see you later then. I still need to figure out what to do with that core anyway.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help with that matter.”

“No, it’s fine. I heard good advice before making a mistake.”

“Yes! We’ll figure it out ourselves!!”

Although I didn’t achieve my goal, thinking that having another companion join us later would be quite enjoyable, Ira and I left Salt Non to find another solution.