224: You can't get trust unless you do it over and over, huh.

I burst into the inn where Eva and the three Casper sisters were staying, dashed up the stairs, and threw open the door to their room.

"Eva! I wanted to try—something—about finding the hidden village—"

My voice trailed off.

There was Eva, half-naked. Camille, half-naked. Marilyn, half-naked.

Clothes and gear were scattered at their feet. Probably sorting through travel supplies.

"Ah—uh. This is a misunderstanding. Yeah, um—"

Three pairs of eyes stared at me, wide. My gaze, of its own accord, drifted straight to the biggest (…).

"Damn."

"‘Sky Blast!’"

Evac’s merciless magic blast sent me flying, crashing hard through the inn’s open rafters and landing straight on a tavern table on the first floor, surrounded by adventurers still eating and drinking, my vision fading fast.

◆

The scene shifts—now at my house.

Lyuco is brewing tea for the three sisters.

On the living room sofa sit Eva, utterly furious, and Camille, as expressionless as ever. Marilyn, her cheeks slightly flushed.

They carried me home after I’d hit my head and passed out.

Since Marilyn was here, she could’ve just healed me on the spot…

“Would’ve, if you hadn’t shouted about the hidden village so loud.”

Eva’s voice was ice.

“…I’m sorry.”

“…What was that?”

The voice sent a chill down my spine.

“M-me too! I even burst into the room without knocking!”

I remembered the lecture from Master Javil: “Knock before entering.”

He was right!

…No, duh. Common sense. I was the one who messed up. So I dropped to my knees and bowed deeply to the three of them.

Marilyn bit her cheek and said, “I-I’m sorry too… I forgot to lock the door…”

Camille waved it off. “You wouldn’t have found me interesting even if you’d seen me.” I didn’t really get the meaning, but okay.

Eva… yeah. She blew up. Like, *really* blew up. Sat me in a corner and scolded me for two hours straight.

And then Camille got dragged in too. The reason?

“Camille! You saw Craft approaching, didn’t you!? Why didn’t you lock the door!?”

“Because it looked more fun that way.”

A proper sitting-scolding for two, I suppose.

It was already late at night, so we decided to let the three of them stay over at the house.

“Don’t go getting any wild ideas…”

“Master Jabir’s here too, and Ryuuko! The guest rooms are overflowing!”

We had to spend ages clearing up the misunderstanding.

Could this be a case of female trouble, or something?

◆

The next morning, somehow Van and Leifan were there too, besides the three sisters, Ryuuko, and the teacher.

“Your Majesty. What in the world are you doing this early? You okay with your duties?”

Van made a face like he’d bitten into something bitter.

“Not really. Show me you can handle your work before the guard knights grab you.”

I’ll explain everything later, for crying out loud.

Leifan let out a long breath.

Craft, your reports only ever say the results. You know damn well stuff goes wrong halfway through! Could you at least try thinking about how it feels to be on the receiving end of the fallout later?

If the result’s good, everything’s fine, right?

Just like that, Leifan arched an eyebrow, as if reading my mind.

"We’re here to see what’s *not* in the results!"

"O-oh."

I was outmaneuvered. He came all this way—can’t kick him out now. Still, I can’t help but feel a little off about it. This one wasn’t even that dangerous.

Leifan jabbed a finger straight up.

"So? What’ve you come up with this time?"

"Nothing big. If we ask Eva to dowsing, we should be able to tell which way the village is."

Leifan paused, thinking. Then his face lit up instantly.

"Dowsing... Craft! That's a great idea! But can you really dowsing something as vague as a village? Not a physical object, you know?"

"Didn't know, so I jumped into the inn yesterday to try. The dowsing teardrop should recognize concepts based on the user's knowledge, so there's a chance it’ll work."

"Seems harmless enough to test, then!"

"Aw, come on. If it were dangerous, I wouldn’t be suggesting a little test at night!"

Leifan gives me a half-lidded look.

"Too many priors, that’s all."

"Harsh."

Anyway, I handed the dowsing teardrop to Eva and had her use it.

Leifan explained it to her, but kept saying "It's not dangerous" every other sentence—could’ve just said it once!

Eva nodded, satisfied, then let the chain dangle carelessly and took the teardrop in hand.

You’re using it while picturing the village, huh?

Leifan nods.

Think as finely and in as much detail as you can!

Understood. I'm going.

The teardrop had been still for a while, but then it began to turn slowly, ever so slightly, and a faint light flickered, pointing in one direction. Leifan’s eyes lit up at the sight.

Reacting! But it's pretty vague. Northeast-east, maybe? Seems pretty far off.

The destination’s pretty far off—weak signal, direction barely there.

Van rubbed his chin with a hum.

"Towards the capital?"

Further east, I think. This reaction’s coming from farther than the capital.

Makes sense. Then we’ll just teleport to the capital and try again.

Yes, Your Majesty.

The teleportation gate connecting the capital to Goldendown is already set up—large ones for authorized merchants, small ones for Van and his associates—so getting to the capital is a breeze.

I announce to everyone.

“Alright, everyone. Get ready by tomorrow. Meet back at the castle!”

“““Yeah!!”””

And so we began our journey to bring Kyle back to life!

The next day.

At Goldendown Castle, members started trickling in one by one… but there was a troublemaker among them.

“Jitarou…”

“Whassup?”

I glare at the useless pile of food and supplies stacked behind Jitarou.

“What’s with all that stuff…?”

“Long trip, right? Can’t have too much, ya know!”

“Yeah, you just scavenged it all from Shirla’s place.”

“Whatever! That’s one thing. This is another!”

“Ugh… anyway, everything we need’s already provided by the kingdom.”

"That's that! This is this!"

I shook my head, no treatment needed.

"Whatever! We’ve got Craft and Eva’s storage anyway, so what’s the problem?"

"I really don’t want to put it in there..."

"Truthfully, neither do I."

It’s fine if it’s just storage, but still... it’s just weird. Like I’m helping Jitarou with his cravings.

Me and Eva just stood there, speechless.

"Alright! Let’s go!"

"““Ooooh……””"

We gave half-hearted replies, stepped through the transfer gate, and arrived in the capital city.

Adventure Rank: Fired #7 — Now on sale!

June 7th: Comics version of Fired Alchemy #5 — On sale!

★

Just now noticed the “Allow Likes” option, so I turned it on for now. What even is this feature, though?

Anyway, not a bad thing, right?