Sylphia's sandals clogged against a small wooden bridge that cover a calm stretch of river. Amidst their travel, she had been sharing a horrendously one-sided account of their adventure in the cavern, conveniently leaving out her more unsavory deeds and playing up what she considered 'the good bits'.

"...of course," she continued, "food wasn't the only thing we bought for that Mythril. This bridge was one of the first big projects we completed using only imported materials. The mushroom stalks were pretty durable, but it took so long to dry them, and they were a pain to turn into solid blocks. Which was apparently why both tribes used whole stalks when building fences."

At that point, finally, Eris' lips parted and a soft, muttering voice escaped, "So that was why you were looking for Dante that time-" A grim expression then clouded her face "-if only I'd realized sooner..."

"Hm? " the girl cocked her head.

And in response, the woman shook hers, asking instead, "So reason the monsters here kept referring to you as 'Goddess' was..."

"Mm!" she then beamed an unabashed smile. "Crazy, huh? But that's how it went! Oh, and speaking of so-called 'the death god'. She unfurled her fan, turning Sebastian's 'face' towards her secretary. "I know you got off on the wrong foot, but this guy's completely harmless, so here, say hi to Sebastian!"

Eris, however, only stared at the fan's moving features, her expression betraying a palpable unease.

This prompted him to take the lead himself. "Hey," he said, " nice to meet you. Eris, right?"

She nodded.

"Oh, and, ahem, let's just make one thing perfectly clear - Whatever this little girl says, I'm still a rare and powerful living weapon! A real treasure, you know? So you should look up to me with respe-"

"-he is a bit of a pervert, though," Sylphia interjected, "so watch out."

"A-am not!" he protested, as his cloth body turned bright red.

"Heeeh? Now that you mention it, I think I left out a little incident..." A naughty smirk surfaced on her lips.

"Hic!" Sebastian jerked violently inside her hand, his eyes flicking every which way as he tried to avoid her gaze.

"You know, the one right after you levelled up, when you flipped-"

"Ah! Aaah! Aaaaah!" he shrieked, "I-in that case, how about when you snuck around the river to peek at-"

This time, it was Sylphia's turn to go red. "Uwaaaah! Shut up, you stupid fan!"

"Eeeaagh, stop mushing my face! There's no mouth to cover you silly girl!"

While the two quarreled, Eris looked on in bewilderment. Somehow, the absurd skit unfolding before her eyes had melted away just a little bit of the anxiety clouding her mind, and from that point on, she became comfortable enough to talk freely.

Their path led them through a trail amidst the vast mushroom forest. Sylphia had seen it before, but the fact never really detracted from the sheer wonder of it all. Moreover, she was very much enjoying Eris' face as she gawked at the otherworldly landscape, such as the underside of the massive mushroom caps fluttering in the wind above.

Soon, however, dense forest gave way to a field of stumps. What used to be fungal groves, now cut right down to their base, dotted the clearing. Amidst this desolation, small figures scampered hither and dither, felling more of the titanic mushrooms and dragging their hulks away into the distance.

The pair followed the dirt trail carved out by thick, heavy stalks and soon arrived at the kobold village. Stone structures had cropped up where rickety wall used to stand, though for some reason, the gate remained, marking the entry to the old village, just as the new began to surround it. They passed through.

Here, the elder's house stood as the sole landmark with its unique stonework created by and for these diminutive creatures.

Today, however, something was different.

For upon its handful of steps now sat what appeared to be a massive ball of fur.

Eris rubbed her eyes, unable to make of what she was looking at.

"Hehe." Sylphia shrugged." Don't worry, it's just a bunch of kobolds."

Indeed, on closer inspection, the subtle details revealed dozens upon dozens of cat-men, all huddled together and lazing on top of one another.

"W-why in the world are they doing that?" the woman asked.

"Oh, that's because that-" The girl then twirled around, pointing her thumb at the mass. "-is the 'Goddess of Mercy'."

Eris' brows furled. "Huh? Didn't you say earlier that she was a human...?"

"Hm? Yeah. Just watch." Sylphia approached the ball, sucked in a huge breath, and all at once, let out a scream, "Hey!! Letty, wake uuuuup!!"

Startled, the dozing kobolds snapped awake and fled from the sound of Sylphia's voice. Like an onion, they peeled off one by one, revealing the core underneath - a sleeping young woman with a book over her face.

Eris' jaw fell.

Slowly, she stirred, letting out a moan as she rubbed her heavy eyes.

"Morning, sleepyhead." The cheerful little girl waved at her.

"Nnngh..." Still half-asleep, Letty sat herself upright. She blankly looked around her, clearly out of it, and even when she made eye contact with Sylphia right in front of her, nothing seemed to register.

Only for a few seconds, that is.

Inevitably, she realized what was going on, and the guild scribe sprung to her feet, flipping her pointy hat off her head, and stammered, "S-S-S-S-Sylphie...!?"

"Hihihi! Hello, must have been a pleasant dream, eh?"

By this point, Letty's face was tomato red. She clasped her cheeks with her hands and whimpered, "H-how long were you there...?"

"Hmm..." The smug girl then half-covered her little smirk, saying, "Since you were buried head-to-toe in kobolds."

"Khaaaa......!" She doubled over, letting out such an impassioned sigh that steam practically puffed out of her ears. Taking a deep breath, she then made a desperate plea, "Please... forget it!"

The mischievous girl however, merely laughed at her ardent request. "No way. You looked so cute, with this little smile the whole time!"

"Khaaaahaaaa.....!"

It was a critical hit. She writhed so hard, watching her conjured the image of salmon flopping on land.

Sylphia, on the other hand, was torn between her desire to continue teasing her friend and her conscience telling her to console her already.

In any case, things calmed down short after, and Letty finally composed herself enough to notice the new face. "Hm...? This is...?"

"Oh, I completely forgot." She swept her arm sideways. "This is my secretary, Eris. She manages Dellwick for me. I brought her here to familiarize her with what we do."

The woman arched forward in greeting.

"P-please lift your head! I'm... no one important, really...!" She then brought her hands together and faced Sylphia. "Oh, that's right, Sylphie was a Lord, after all... that happened pretty fast, didn't it?"

"Y-yeah..." She scratched her head. "Well, that's how it is."

"O-oh!" She clumsily shifted back to Eris. "A-and my name is Letty, Master Scribe from the Adventurer's Guild, Aubury branch. I often visit to learn more about the kobolds and siths living in this cave."

"And cuddle the fluff, apparently," Sylphia quipped.

"T-that's not...!" Letty squeaked in defiance, but soon shrank away, mumbling, "...the main reason..."

After watching their little back-and-forth, it seemed that Eris had lightened up enough to be seen holding back a smirk, much to Sylphia's relief.

Thus, the girls continued with their journey, bringing Letty along with them as an impromptu tour guide.

Sylphia swivelled her head around and took in the sights of the kobold village. She didn't visit much, her responsibilities often finding her with the siths instead. But with Letty now doing to talking, she took this chance to observe the progress of civilization on this side of the Mythril Cave.

First of all, there still aren't that many kobolds around. I was worried that 'home' might translate even to the housing blocks I had them build, but given we're not suddenly awash with starving kobolds, I guess I was right - only their mushroom huts serve as their sole spawn points.

"Heh." Her lips curled into a mischievous grin.

As I expected. That means that both sith and kobold populations are artificially malleable! If I wanted, I could even-

Her train of thought was cut, however, when Letty went quiet all of a sudden and tugged on her arm.

"Sylphie," she whispered, "Is Eris okay? That limp looks recent. She doesn't seem to be used to walking with a cane yet."

"Ah." A lightbulb flashed inside the little girl's head. "That's right! You know some first-aid, don't you?"

"Eh? D-do you mean it's that recent? And she hadn't gotten first-aid yet? What happened?"

"Err, she uh... broke her leg?"

Up till I woke up this morning, I was still pretty miffed from getting double-crossed. In retrospect, I probably should have brought her to a doctor at once... I didn't really mean it when I told her to be a cripple for the rest of her life!

Well, not anymore, at least.

Wait... are there even any doctors in this world? Come to think of it, I only know a handful who can do first-aid, but something like this... Would Alphonso know?

"Ehhh...?" Letty's face deflated into an expression of complete doubt, but she soon let out a sigh, saying, "Anyway, let's fix her up first."

"G-great!"

"Okay, hold on a minute." She then approached Eris whilst rummaging for something beneath her mantle. "Please, sit down."

"Huh...?" The injured secretary looked confused at first, but did as she was told.

"It must hurt everytime you use this leg, right?"

The moment she laid a finger on a swollen patch of skin, she recoiled sharply.

Letty looked glum. "Not good..."

Next, she stuck some magical herbs around the woman's shin and wrapped them with a measure of bandage.

"This should help with the pain, but it won't go away entirely. I'll try to realign the bone and keep it in place with a splint. It'll hurt, but please endure it."

She did just as she said, amidst her patient's stifled wails.

While this was happening, Sylphia asked, "Are you sure, Letty? Aren't magic herbs expensive?"

And without hesitation, she answered, "Mm... it's a guild subsidy, anyway. Since I filed this as an official trip."

The little girl gave her a mischievous smirk. "Eh? That's pretty naughty of you."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ah... haha... Don't say it like that... I really am doing my job, you know? I've learned so much about how monsters behave during my stay here."

"Heeeh..."

"Mm... how they live and how they think - if we get a better understanding of those, then we can definitely save lives. Maybe, even..." She then turned silent.

"Hm?"

"Mm-mm." Letty shook her head. "It's nothing."

Finally, after the splint had been applied, she added another layer of magical herbs, wrapping them around the entire thing.

The scribe stood up and wiped her forehead. "Haah... done. I'm sorry if it itches, but please try not to remove it for a few days. The magical herbs will rot away in about a week, and you can take it off then, but you'll need to put the splint back on yourself."

Eris nodded and said with a wispy voice, "Thank you."

Afterwards, Letty approached the Sylphia and whispered into her ear, "Hey. You know, that injury is pretty bad. What happened?"

"R-really?" She jolted in surprise. "How bad?"

"The constant pain should go away, but it won't ever heal completely. Not even with that splint. I've seen adventurers retire from injuries as bad as that."

"Eh? But didn't you use magical herbs?"

"Yes, but magical herbs can't put broken bones back together again, you know? To begin with, its effect is shallow, and can't reach into the bone... well, unless you cut the flesh open and stick it in there..." She shook her head. "A-and even then! It couldn't fix the fracture... It's not a miracle drug or anything."

"Eh...?" All of a sudden, Sylphia felt an aching pool guilt welling up from deep in her belly.

But isn't that exactly what magical herbs are supposed to be?

At the same time, in the back of her mind, she began to recall an alarming fact - she already knew this, and simply forgot.

"W-well, it's okay. You've done plenty!" Sylphia gave her a pat on the back. "I'll figure out something later to get her fixed!"

A bone fracture, huh...? Even in back the old world, I'd never been injured this bad to know how it gets healed... but maybe there's some sort of magical bone doctor in this world too. It's a fantasy land with magical swords, fuck goodness' sake! There has to be something mundane like that lying around!

Letty still looked anxious, but in the end, she nodded in agreement.

Thus, with Eris picking up the pace after her treatment, their tour of the mythril cave resumed.

A row of stone buildings cropped out of one side of the village. Their chimneys puffed smoke up to the cave ceiling, only to be blown by the wind on its way to the river outflow, deeper into kobold territory.

On the ground, countless hands were hard at work. The streets were awash with life as sacks and baskets were passed back and forth between the different buildings. A kobold with a sack of raw mythril crystals would make his delivery to one of the many forges. At the same time, another would waddle out carrying a basket of tiny parts into another building. Yet another would then emerge with a case of assembled trinkets - clips, bangles, rings, the whole assortment.

Eris marvelled at the sight. She examined the display of finished products laid out on the side of the road and gasped in awe. "Amazing... so, this must be where Dante..."

"Mm!" Sylphia puffed her chest out. "And this isn't all! Soon, we'll expand our reach. If these cheap trinkets are bringing us money now, wait until we roll out our weapons and armor!"

"Mythril arms, mass produced..." The woman nervously adjusted her glasses. "Something like this could topple the entire balance of power."

The girl giggled. "Of course we won't be selling it to just anyone. Oh, and which reminds me-" Sylphia then turned to Letty. "When you're making those equipments for sale, make sure to add lots of impurities to the Mythril."

"Eh..? But why?" Letty asked.

"We can't let possible competitors to have access to the good stuff, now do we?"

"That's terrible..."

"It's smart." She tapped her forehead. "Think about it. You don't want to spread such potent weapons all over the world, do you?"

Letty flinched.

"Right? Pure mythril, like the ones used by the siths and kobolds are far stronger and lighter than any material that exists out there."

I'd even wager it's comparable... no, better than modern steel!

"Say we only sell them as armor. Though the technology doesn't exist outside yet, people will soon catch on and start melting those down. And what can they reforge now them into?"

"...weapons..."

"Exactly. It's inevitable. So, instead, we add a lot of impurities to the products, so that when they melt down a full piece, even if they do get some pure stuff in the end, it'll be too little to make anything out of!"

"But then they can still melt several items and-"

"Well, we can't help that." Sylphia shrugged. "We sell mythril, so mythril is what the customers must get. At the very least, we can make it prohibitively expensive to pull off such a thing!"

And make a huge profit margin per unit of mythril, at that!

"C-can't we just not sell any mythril?"

"Then we won't make any money. And we can't buy the food for two whole villages with just our pocket change."

"I-I know, but..."

"Look, don't sweat it! Leave everything to me!" She said with a wink.

"Nmmmngh... okay..."

"Oh, and speaking of which, did the armor set I requested pull through?"

"Ah, do you mean the ones for Ruth and Ceressa?"

"Yeah."

"The Ruth's full plate took a long time and was just finished a few days ago... b-but Ceressa's breastplate should be done within the week! The siths are working on them in their village, if you want to take a look."

"Oh, so that's what those were! Anyway, it's fine. I trust you can finish it in time for their graduation." Sylphia cocked her head and poked her finger into her cheek. "Er, when was it again?"

"It's a couple of weeks from now. Will you be attending? I'm sure they'd be happy."

"Mmm..." The young lady crossed her arms, "I don't know... there's a lot for me to work on. At best I could probably send Rika, but..." She snuck a peek out of a corner of her eye, only to see a dejected look on the scribe's face.

Oh, geez...

"Well, I'll try to make some time."

Letty immediately lit up. "Mm! I'll make sure to present it to them during the graduation ceremony!"

She sighed, muttering, "Ceressa hates my guts, though... will she even want to see me on her big day?"

She shook her head. "That's not true. She's always so lively when around you... She, uh... doesn't express her feelings well..."

"Heeeh..."

Coming from you, it somehow sounds extra convincing...

Afterwards, Sylphia introduced Eris to the kobolds important enough to have titles. The new Chief Headhunter, in particular, was enthusiastic to have her and gave a warm welcome.

And with that, the tour was complete.

Letty soon parted with them to continue her research at the sith village, which they were not going to visit today.

But along the way, in the midst of the shady mushroom forest, Eris stopped.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Sylphia turned around and asked.

"M-my Lady..." The secretary pressed her hands on her chest as she eked her words out. "I... even though... why show me all this?"

"Hmm...?" Sylphia's eyes fell halfway and her lips twisted into a cold smirk. "Simple. To make you understand the value proposition I am offering you."

"Value... proposition?"

The girl tapped her own forehead. "Think about it. Right now, you're just a middle-tier bureaucrat in some dump, out in the middle of nowhere."

Eris recoiled from the insult, but could say nothing back.

"But that isn't enough for you, is it? Why else would you risk your neck on schemes that, with one mistake, can send you straight to hell? That tells me one of two things - either you're desperately scraping by..." The little girl grinned. "...or you have ambition."

Her face darkened.

"I am contemplating a promotion for you," she said as she turned away, "You will no longer be the Secretary of Dellwick..."

"Wha-"

The girl then glanced out of the corner of her eye and grinned. "...but mine. Part of today's trip was to show you what your future job will be. But also, to show that making an enemy of me is a very, very bad idea."

Eris froze in place, shaken, though not quite broken, just yet.

A yawning silence then spread between them, filled only by the ambient noise of the swaying mushrooms around them.

Sylphia glanced up at the fungal canopy and caught a glimpse of tiny shadows leaping from cap to cap.

"Speaking of which. This is perfect timing." She then looked up and yelled, "Hey, guys! Come down here for a moment!"

"Eh...?" Eris followed her eyes, but before she could even make anything out, a pair of ropelines fell from above.

Not a second later, a couple of kobolds rappelled down the rope, straight from the top of the giant mushroom. Each one had pitch black fur, and a solid amber gaze, reminiscent of the little girl's.

Seeing them arrayed like that unnerved Eris, who slowly backed away.

"Let me introduce you," the girl said, "these are the Kobold Commandos."

All at once, the cat-men gave a disciplined response, "Nya!"

"You've already met a few of them. As you can see, they're a bit different from your usual kobolds. That being their fur. It's not just me being edgy or anything. Their fur is special."

At that moment, several more kobolds appared, as if fading in from the aether.

"You've noticed their ability. And you were pretty close, too. They don't just 'blend in' with their surroundings, like you would with camouflage. No, they can, quite literally, vanish. And they do so..."

She then lifted her arm, placing it over the kobold beside her, blocking part of the light filtering from the space between the mushroom caps above them. And in that same instant, more than half of the kobold just snapped out of existence, as though it were cut away by a pair of scissors.

"...when not under direct illumination."

Next, she cast a small ember from her finger that hardly imparted any light over the already bright ambient glow of the cavern. But when she did so, it revealed the not only the half-dozen, but a full dozen more, forming a circle around them, who had been invisible under the shade from the very beginning.

Eris's face contorted in sheer terror as she wrapped her arms together and trembled.

"So, I can understand that you aren't entirely sold on my proposal yet. That's fine." All of a sudden, the girl beamed a warm smile at her, adding, "But think about it! I don't need an answer right now. After all, that's not all I have in store! The next thing is a super-surprise, and that - that will really blow your mind!"

She then twirled around and winked.

"Look forward to it!"