EP: 89
“Ha! Run faster, my horse. Tak, tak, tak.”
Sadie, sitting on top of the Murishi, quickly dashed forward. Behind her, two black wizards, also sitting on the Murishis’ back, followed closely behind. However, Sadie and her Murishi stood out among them. Sadie remained steady and unwavering on top of the Murishi that ran faster than any racehorse.
Even as they ran faster than any racehorse, Sadie remained steady and unwavering.
The pony, who was running ahead, tapped his front hoof and flicked his head. It was a signal that he had spotted Tapahitee. Sadie praised her Murishi, who had once again been the fastest to locate Tapahitee, and skillfully dismounted from its high back.
As Sadie chanted a magic incantation, a massive pit appeared in the signaled spot. When Sadie looked back at the pony as if asking for the location once again, it sniffed the pit and snuffled, pinpointing the buried Tapahite deep underground.
After several attempts, Sadie successfully dug up a large chunk of Tapahite. It was so huge that it wasn’t easy to lift it even with both hands.
“Sadie, be gentle. You’ll be richer than Eklum at this rate.”
The black wizard, who had regretfully lost to Sadie, stroked his head and gently comforted his own disappointed Murishi. Sadie grinned at the heavy Tapahite bag hanging beside her saddle.
Sadie, who had a strong desire to win and collect, was only more fired up at such words.
“Since we’re all done around here, should we head to the lake? They haven’t mined Tapahite there yet, right?”
“No, the others have already dug it all up over there too. The tapahite near the estate is all dried up now, so we might have to go near the old mine.”
“In that case, I’ll go ahead.” The black wizard, who had lost the huge Tapahite to Sadie, dashed quickly towards the closed mine, determined not to miss out this time.
“Shortie, you can still run more, right?”
As Sadie struggled to push the enormous Tapahite into the pouch hanging on the Murishi’s back, her Murishi made a cute nyuing sound.
“Does that mean we can go?”
[Nyuing….]
“… Are you saying you can’t go?”
[Nyuing….]
“Does that mean you’re hungry?”
[Nyuiing….]
While Sadie and her partner pony were in sync when it came to finding Tapahite linked to rewards and special meals, they still struggled with communication. Unable to understand what it was trying to say, Sadie frowned and puffed up her cheeks in frustration. No matter how much she looked at her pony’s face, which was slightly less intimidating now, she couldn’t read it.
[Nyuh….]
At that moment, another Murishi without a saddle approached the spot where Sadie had dug up Tapahitee and sniffed. It was Muriel’s Murishi. Since Muriel commanded multiple Murishis at once, there was no need to saddle them up.
Muriel could simply order the Murishis to go find Tapahite while resting in the shade of a nearby tree. The Murishis would obediently dig deep into the ground with their long tusks and bring the buried Tapahitee back to Muriel. The Murishi who listened to Muriel grew in numbers, and now there were over ten.
“Should I go ask the captain?”
[Ha! Nyuing-nyuing!]
As expected, Muriel was lying leisurely under the shade of a tree. Next to her were three bulging sacks that seemed about to burst.
“Captain, have you already collected that much?”
Sadie recalled Muriel coming out for the job much later than she did, and her eyes widened. Of course, Sadie had also gathered a considerable amount of Tapahite that would make other wizards tired of watching, but that was thanks to her tirelessly moving and leading her pony by soothing it. Even so, her amount was less than half that of Muriel’s..
“Sadie will take over all of this again today.”
Muriel tapped one of the sacks and said. It seemed that one of the sacks contained rewards to be distributed among the black wizards.
“Should I go exchange mine now?”
Sadie glanced into one of the sacks and took down her own sack that was hanging on the pony’s back.
“Will you?”
“Is that so?”
In fact, Sadie was so eager to mine Tapahite due to Muriel’s groundbreaking proposal. “If you bring me Tapahite, I will give you the equivalent weight in gold.” It was a conciliatory measure for the black wizards who were scared by the Murishi and unable to even approach the vicinity.
Muriel didn’t need to borrow the help of Eklum, known as the kingdom’s treasury, to keep her promise. She simply needed to dig the ground. The abandoned estate, before being attacked by demons, was known for its abundant reserves of gold and esteemed minerals like Estimaville.
It even had huge reserves for Tapahite, which didn’t have any special mineral layers.
So Muriel just dug. And she didn’t do it herself; she ordered the Murishi to do it. The Murishi had no idea which stones were valuable to humans, so Muriel borrowed samples from August to show them. “This, this, and this are expensive, so make sure to bring them.” Utilizing the hunger of ten Murishi, she established an automated farming system, and the Ghost Estate quickly became wealthy.
As a result, each black wizard now had their own partner. Sadie was the first to name her Murishi, but gradually others started giving names as well, like they were dealing with horses. They started tending to saddles, grooming them, and slowly developing a bond. The timid black wizards quickly warmed up to them, knowing that these creatures were the key to acquiring expensive spellbooks and magical items.
“Captain, could you tell me what Shortie is saying? I’m thinking of going further today. Do I need to feed him before I leave?”
Sadie asked, dangling the bag next to the saddle to Muriel.
“By the way, can you move away a bit?”
Sadie, who’d become a collection fanatic who was more eager to collect Tapahite than construct the monster moat, had now become even more extreme. She had converted one room into a collection room, filled it with the exchanged gems, and spent her nights polishing stones.
She’d probably spend tonight cleaning it as well. Muriel, who found Sadie’s newfound hobby cute but also a bit troublesome, said quite coldly.
“Sure, haha.”
Sadie playfully replied, pretending to adjust the saddle,
“Hmm… Oh… Oh? The saddle seems a bit loose. Let me take a look at it… Don’t worry about me, Captain… Please… Please ask. What does shortie say?”
While waiting for Muriel’s words, her ears perked up. It was quite a sight to see how she couldn’t hide her anticipation and the way her nostrils were flaring.
Seeing her anticipation, even her nostrils were flared, it was quite a sight.
“Stay away, Sadie,” she said.
“No… This saddle is suddenly being troublesome… Ahem. I… I’m busy, Captain. I need to move diligently before the sun sets… What did shortie say?”
“You tell me…”
Sigh…
Muriel considered shooting back at Sadie, whose eyes were sparkling with anticipation, asking, “You came here to do this, right?” But she held her tongue and sighed. Debbie was right about Sadie. If she couldn’t win against Sadie anyway, it would be less exhausting to get it over with quickly.
Not only Sadie, but everyone in the territory had been acting like this lately. Of course, no one came explicitly to gawk like Sadie did, but their reactions were similar. They would subtly change their expressions and roll their eyes. Their lips would twitch as if they couldn’t hold back, their eyes would widen in surprise, and they would cover their mouth as if hiding their laughter.
It’s not a crime to talk to Mursie… It wasn’t particularly shameful, but Muriel was increasingly bothered by everyone’s unusual reaction. So she’d been refraining from talking to the Murishi in front of people as much as she could lately.
However, she wasn’t very amused to see Sadie coming to watch her talk with a Murishi with a lame excuse.
Look, that wincey, trembling shoulder, that cheekbone trying to hide a smile. Didn’t she just look like a Murishi in front of a rotten monster… No, that analogy just now was too cruel. Let’s just say she’s like a girl watching a circus. Perhaps Sadie thought she wasn’t being noticed as she had her back turned, as she had a relaxed expression on her face.
“Sigh… I’m not hungry, but isn’t one monster per three tapahit common sense? Then we’d have ten monsters to eat per day instead of eating every once in a while?”
Muriel relayed the words of the silly, chubby shortie. Most Murishi spoke in simple and straightforward language, but shortie seemed different, with a remarkable and logical way of speaking, maybe because they were the partner of the quirky Sadie.
“Oh, really? Hmmm… What should I catch? Our Shortie has been picky lately… Could you ask him about it, Captain? Let him know I’ll catch whatever he wants.”
“Just grab him anything. It’s not like Murishi are picky about what food… I mean, monster to catch.”
“No, no. My Shortie has a really refined tongue. Captain… Just ask a little more.”
“…Shortie, what do you want to eat? What? Anything rotten is fine? That’s what he says, Sadie.”
The words that came out of Muriel’s mouth did not belong to the Murishi’s language, but that of humans. Muriel had discovered two things about her ability: first, she needed to be near the Murishi to communicate with them, and second, she needed the intention to engage in a conversation with them.
So when Muriel asked what she wanted to eat, it was no different from just saying that to Sadie. I’ve done enough, now scram.
“No, Captain… That’s not it… the ‘kwing-kwing’ like the Murishi… You should ask like that. You were talking like a human right now.”
However, Sadie, with sparkling eyes, persisted, ignoring her obvious performance. Even though Muriel crawled away, appearing annoyed and waving her hand from the shade where she had been lying, Sadie stuck to her without thinking of backing off.
“Go away, Sadie. You said you’ll move diligently before the sun sets…!”
“But I haven’t seen the captain go ‘kwiing, kwiing’ yet. Huh? Huh? Just a little more, please.”
Sadie dropped her eyes incongruously and pleaded pitifully. Ever since Sadie found out Muriel was weak to cute things – mainly Debbie and Andal – Sadie had been imitating a rain-soaked puppy like this whenever she wanted something.
“Really… This is the last time. No more excuses, got it?”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course. I promise.”
Muriel sighed, wondering if Sadie, who nodded incessantly, had actually listened to her words. But still, Sadie’s begging was too cute, so Muriel eventually gave in.
“Is there any specific creature you want?”
[A big, robust guy.]
See? They’re all the same.
Muriel exhaled a long breath as if sighing and relayed Shortie’s very Murishi-like words.
“How robust exactly…? Isn’t that too subjective?”
“….”
Sadie had made a promise just a moment ago, but once again tried to hear Muriel talk to the Murishi again.
“Are you done looking around?”
Eventually, Muriel’s voice turned chilly.
Sadie looked at Muriel’s stern expression, her lips twitched, and she suddenly hugged her. Muriel felt like a thunderbolt had struck.
“But… Captain is so cute when she growls…”
C…cute?
Muriel was momentarily stunned by the word she’d heard refer to herself for the first time in her life.
Wasn’t “cute” an expression that suited Debbie who was like a squirrel or Andal who was like a rabbit? Muriel, with her cold aura and raised eyebrows, always made people feel intimidated in her presence. Muriel had gotten used to it too, so when she was called cute, she didn’t know how to react and just blinked her eyes.
“What are you talking about? Making fun of people… making excuses… Ugh! What are you doing, Sadie! Get away..!”
Muriel snapped back to her senses, shouting angrily, and squirmed in disgust as Sadie clung to her. However, Sadie snorted and hung onto Muriel’s cheek. Emitting a strange whimpering sound, she rolled her feet and roughly bumped her cheek against Muriel’s.
“Goodness, why are you so cute…! It’s the first time I’ve seen someone as adorable as Debbie.”
