“I don’t think you understand to whom you are talking to, missy!”

Hmm, what is this. I can see nothing but an ugly frog croaking at me. I am sure there are lots of cute frogs in the world, but the one before me is definitely ugly because it looks like a human being, but still a frog.

“I am talking to a merchant who thinks it would be easy to fool me with overpriced goods”

After all, I am not alone here; Akira is currently accompanying me at the market. You see, I am actually not so knowledgeable of prices and whatnot since my daily needs were usually taken care of by father. Well, I did some business with orcs before, but their nomadic ways had no need for actual currency, relying mostly on barter. In short, neither I nor Alan knew how to trade successfully.

“Eh? Are you calling me a liar?”

Oh, the frog-merchant croaked at me again. I think he needs to be shown his place.

“Oh, why would I even do this, sir? In fact, I can’t remember even once calling you this, did I, Akira-chan?”

I look at her, meekly nodding her head. Oh my, my student looks quite good in a simple dress. I may even gobble you up right now, Akira-chan.

“You didn’t, boss!”

Ah, what a nice child.

“See. I can accuse this shop of bad-mouthing its customers now”

Oh, who knew that a frog can turn so red from anger. It even tries to seem bigger and more imposing now, as if it would somehow intimidate me. After all, a frog, no matter how big it is, will always remain a frog.

“Y-You!”

How articulate. Do you want me to praise your immense vocabulary? Well, it is pretty small for a human, but from a frog’s perspective, you certainly have talent for speeches.

“Me…”

I deadpanned with an unimpressed look. I even twirled my magic staff in boredom, hearing a loud gulp from behind. Oh my, how uncouth from you, my student. Certainly, I was not threatening this frog in any way, didn’t I?

“Bah! I surrender! Look, I know my wares are pricey…”

“It’s two times normal price!”

Heh, his eye twitched.

“… But it’s all I can do to survive. I need money to move closer to the capital!”

Hmm? That’s interesting.

“Why would you need to move, then? If it needs such amounts, why bother yourself with this?”

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“Because I don’t want to die!”

What?

“Explain”

“…”

“Now”

“… It’s because of the demons. More and more of them appear out of blue. If it isn’t a sign of dark times, then I don’t know what is! Villages go dark one after another, and we don’t have neither army, nor knight orders to protect us”

I see. So, it’s more than baseless rumors at this points. That can explain the tense atmosphere on the market. It’s because they realized the incoming danger, too.

“Also, there were news about seeing an e-elf in the city! It must be a sign as well!”

Instinctively, I touch my hat. Ah, it’s so good that it’s large enough to hide my ears. I will show father my gratitude later.

After this charade, we proceeded further and I heard more of the rumors that circulated around. Mainly, there were three main topics:

About the king’s illness and who will inherit the throne.

About the sudden spike of demon activity nearby.

About who slept with who and such.

I expected the later, but the first two really surprised me. It seems, the old king is currently suffering from an illness of unknown nature. Moreover, it looks like there are two favorites for the throne, in case of king’s demise: the first prince and the second prince have divided both general populace and nobility among themselves. In worst case, there might be a civil war.

Ah, such disturbing news. I can’t help but shiver, and Akira shares this sentiment.

“B-Boss, it’s bad”

“Yes, Akira-chan. Current news are…”

“No! That’s not what I’m talking about! Boss…”

I look deep within her frightened eyes.

“… I felt a great disturbance, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear… some poor silence took ane-ue’s challenge again”

Challenge? Ah, the one about Erina-san’s inability to marry someone isn’t it? How was it? “Anyone who wants to marry me, should be stronger than me”, right? In this case…

Meanwhile:

“I feel so much better! Now, if only there was someone strong to spar with?”

“Oh, maybe I can help you, my boy”

“Thanks a lot, owner lady!”

… It somehow must be Alan’s fault.