Reborn as the Hero's Daughter

I decided to press Aste for answers while Den was away. His change was far too bizarre, after all. It was like—right, just like the Goblin Lord’s change.

“Hmm, Den’s change, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s far too abnormal, don’t you think?”

“I would say that the fact that this mountain is one of the Ley Lines should be influencing him.”

“Huuh?”

Wait, this is my first time hearing that, you know?

If this place was a Ley Line, it wouldn’t be unnatural for much more dangerous creatures to show up. But after considering all that, I realized that my worries were unfounded.

After all, even if such creatures did appear here, the man before my eyes would immediately get rid of them.

“I-Is that the case? No, rather, are Ley Lines really something so common?”

Maxwell seemed to have forcefully convinced himself over something and moved on to ask a question.

Right, this was important. If there really were so many Ley Lines around, it would have brought big changes to the world’s power chart.

“No, in total, there are five… no, six, on this whole continent. And one of them is here.”

“But umm… Should they be left alone like that?”

“Are you worried about them being misused? Well, at the very least, I won’t let anyone misuse this one for as long as I’m here.”

Certainly, there wouldn’t be any fellows trying to misuse this place where this guy resided. So I suppose we could conclude that Den’s changes were also because he lived on such a mountain.

“Oh well. Now, one more thing. And this is more of a commission from me.”

“A commission?”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaahn!”

Suddenly, a strange yell resounded through the place. It was a hard-to-describe, spicy voice. When we heard it, our room turned dead silent.

But then, Aste cleared his throat and left his seat.

“Sorry about that. My wife made a blunder so I was in the middle of punishing her. I’ll go shut her up for a bit.”

He stood up with those words and lifted up a section of the floorboard, and headed down to the basement. Huh, so this place had a basement? Never seen that before.

After ten-odd minutes, the yells stopped, and Aste came back with a refreshed expression.

“Sorry to make you wait.”

“That’s fine and all… But don’t tell me you have some domestic violence going on here. She’s alive, right?”

“Don’t worry. I haven’t hurt her, and she won’t die even if you kill her anyway.”

“T-That makes it fine…?”

My instincts told me that I should not stick my nose too deep into this mess. Thus, to change the topic, I started telling him all that has happened lately.

Den returned in the middle of it, but there was nothing else to hide from him. Everyone here was fully aware of my real identity.

“Hmm, so you want to order a special perfume that would make it clear who you are?”

“Yeah. If possible, I want it to be something that can’t be replicated.”

“You see, we do not have many fashion-minded individuals among our comrades. We failed to think of anything and were at our wit’s end.

“Well, I have one.”

“Oh well, you didn’t seem like a fashion type, so I guess there’s no point to-… Wait, you do!?”

I ended up retorting in a cliche way when he declared as if nothing.

“I’m talking about one-of-a-kind perfume here, okay? Are you sure an obvious recluse like you can procure it?”

“That was some rude remark there, but I guess I can see your point.”

With those words, Aste left his seat and headed inside. He came back a few minutes later holding a small drop in his hand.

The orb was only a little bigger than the tip of an adult’s thumb, but it was giving off an extreme grassy smell for its size.

Still, it wasn’t a bad smell, but a peculiar smell akin to abundant vegetation.

“And this is?”

“Miracle Drug ‘Elixir’. Getting your hands on it nowadays is quite hard.”

“Come again?”

“I said it’s called Elixir, what about it?”

Wait for a second here. Wasn’t that the thing that pops up in the myths? The thing that you could obtain at the topmost floor of the labyrinth of the World Tree, and even one gulp of it could treat all kinds of wounds and illnesses…

“You’re pulling out a legendary medicine!?”

“Yeah. But with this smell, it would be impossible to replicate.”

“That’s true, but why do you have… Actually, you did say you entered the labyrinth during your adventuring days.”

“Yeah, it’s the leftover from those days. This is the last one I have.”

“You’re right that they wouldn’t be able to replicate this, but I don’t have enough money to pay you for it now!”

“It’s fine. I was just hoarding it anyway. You can take it if it’s useful to you.”

“I’m glad that you’re so generous, but…”

I wouldn’t need to worry about them replicating this peculiar smell for sure. And he was giving it to me so I had no reason to refuse, but given the rarity of the thing, even I was feeling awkward about taking it.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s useless for someone who has already retired. I feel it’s a bit of a waste to give it to you, but I can’t turn you away when I know a woman’s safety is at risk.”

“So you’re aiming for Cortina? I’m not handing her over!”

“And I don’t need her. I’m a dedicated husband even if I don’t look it. You can break that drop into six parts and give each part to each person to mark them. Normally, you can put them in hermetically sealed containers so the smell won’t leak out.”

“How long does this smell last?”

“I guess about a thousand years at least. According to the myths.”

I don’t know how he managed to get it, but maybe it was already left exposed when it was obtained. If that’s the case, this drug has been giving off its smell ever since it appeared on stage a thousand years ago.

If each of the Six Hero members takes a part of it as a mark of their identity, then even that disguise master Kufar would not be able to falsify our identities.

“I feel really awkward about this. Taking something so valuable.”

“Don’t make me say it over and over. I no longer need it, and I owe you one this time. That aside, go back and show your face to your woman already.”

“Owe me? Oh, right, I’m out of scrolls, so I need more of that too.”

“And you were being so reserved a second ago. Oh well, I have it prepared.”

Aste once again left his seat and starting pushing his way through some weird pile of materials next to his desk.

Some dust rose up every time he pushed things aside, but I wouldn’t be an Adventurer if I was bothered by dust.

If I had to say, Den was the one who seemed slightly troubled by dust getting to his clothes. This guy sure has developed a love of cleanliness.

“Oh, there it is.”

“You left it under that pile of garbage?”

“It’s still a Magic Item, so some dust wouldn’t hurt it. Don’t worry about it.”

“There’s some gooey liquids on it though?”

“Ah, that’s from the last time I failed when trying to melt the Huge Crawler threads and shape it into a cloth form.”

“Just make clothes normally!”

“Well, I didn’t want the air to escape from the stitches.”

He’s trying to make some weird inventions again. If it’s this guy, it was only a matter of time until he would invent even more remodeling items.

“Oh well. Thanks for today. Oh right, hundred gold coins aren’t enough as compensation, so you can just go and pick whatever you want from my hideout.”

“Are you sure? I don’t think it really rivals the Evil Dragon’s materials.”

“You said it yourself, earlier. I can’t make good use of them. In that case, it’s better for you to use them. And then, I’ll use whatever items you produce with them. I call this a perfect reciprocal relationship.”

“I feel like you’d be the only one gaining merits from that… But fine. It is a tempting offer to use them as I please.”

He quickly pulled out a paper and started drawing something down. It seemed like some sort of a blueprint at a glance.

When he became like this, he’d start thinking of us as a nuisance if we overstayed. Den seemed to be used to this too, and started putting away our partially consumed cups.

“Well then, we’ll be going back now. You take care too, Den.”

“Yes. You as well, Lady Nicole.”

Den smiled me back with his new handsome face. Honestly, that innocent smile made me waver for a bit, but I’m sure it was just the trick of the imagination.