Chapter 104
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This would be the longest that Gren had ever gone without having access to the system. Two different research projects that would take twenty hours each. There were enough bullets prepared for the five rifles so that Gren could keep training the women; even without the system he could still continue what he started yesterday. They even had matching olive green military-style uniforms that Gren made them, including protection for their ears. The only differences were that Umaru and Yasinia required ear muffs that wrapped around their ears and that Yasinia's uniform only covered her upper body which left her donkey half covered with a blanket like usual.
Gren was planning on keeping the golden armor on for the entire day just to be safe but it proved to be too heavy so he just wore the breastplate and bracers from it. The gold armor was too flashy so it was covered up with an olive green overcoat. He faced the same problem with the massive rifle since it weighed over fifty pounds on its own; carrying it for a short amount of time was fine but he couldn't spend an entire day with it strapped to his back. The only weapons he'd be carrying around are the automatic rifle and the revolver which would allow him to deal with any threat that comes his way.
After making sure that he didn't forget anything, Gren started the first research project: Carbon Byproducts. The Batteries project was less useful to him currently since it needed carbon for the only battery type he'd be able to make before completing some of the other research projects. Just another forty or so hours until vehicles could be produced.
———————————
Gren headed towards the firing range to start the second day of training. Four of the women were already there; the only exception being Jessica. She already said that she would be late due to negotiating a request with a merchant so Gren planned on starting without her. "Alright, ladies. Today is going to be mostly the same as yesterday but you will need to shoot at targets. I want you all to get better with your aim so that we can continue on to moving targets." Gren didn't plan on leaving their sides while training them since anything could go wrong.
The women had seen greater improvement in their first day than Gren saw in a week of his closed door training. It showed just how much better it was to have an instructor there to help out. Although the system could calculate a shot's trajectory and tell Gren how to operate the gun, it didn't do so actively. Each and every command to the system required some knowledge of what the problem was before he could ask how to fix it which meant lots of trial and error.
As Gren watched on, he realized that Yasinia was beginning to struggle to deal with the recoil of the rifle. Her first few shots were somewhat accurate but her aim kept getting further from the target with each successive round sent down range. Getting their attention over the loud gunfire would be difficult with just his voice so Gren had a whistle to blow on for moments like this. After his signal, the four quit firing at the targets. "Alright, everyone, take a break. Remember to remove all ammo from your rifles."
The rifle that they were using was the Russian Mosin-Nagant. The US military didn't really have a good bolt action rifle of its own that he noticed so it was a coin toss between that or the British Lee-Enfield rifle. A literal coin toss, that is. "Yasinia, can you tell me what's going on with your aim? You started off doing well so I don't think it's a lack of skill."
Yasinia was rubbing her sides when she began to complain. "It hurts." Well, that wasn't much of a complaint. Gren forgot that Yasinia didn't speak much but she still gave him enough information to work with.
"It's probably the stance you're using to shoot. It works with humans but your lower body is significantly different." Gren healed her muscles in the meantime before trying to figure out how to solve the problem of her stance. The way that he had taught them to shoot was with one foot forward and one back while twisting their torso so that the rifle would rest against their dominant shoulder. It was beginning to become clear that the centaur's abdominal muscles on their upper body didn't have this sort of flexibility. "Try using my revolver for now. It's a bit different but you don't need to turn your body to fire it."
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After Gren taught Yasinia and she got used to the revolver, her accuracy stabilized. It wasn't as good as the other women but it was still at a point where she could be considered ready for the next stage. Unfortunately, the next stage was live combat testing and Gren didn't approve of that just yet. They were advancing faster than he had expected and he had planned for them to go shooting outside only after he had vehicles made.
Even though he was training them for the entire day, Gren still had a bit of time left before the first research project finished. He wasn't really tired so it wouldn't be a problem to wait the last hour or so for the project so that he could immediately start the next one and research while he slept. The wait was boring since Jasmine was on a request and both Jessica and Estella weren't going to sleep with him before he got some contraceptives. He couldn't even play cards with the women since he foolishly left them in his pocket dimension. Gren did make sure to carry some money so there was pretty much only one thing that he could do: night shopping.
The markets were more active during the day but there were still people haggling in what would be the black of night if it weren't for the lights running down the main streets. Gren had often shopped at the market street where the guild was located so he went to the market plaza on the west side of the city for a change of pace. Things were a bit more disorganized in the plaza and they often used tents instead of the carts that could be seen near the guild. Even at night, the number of soldiers patrolling the market was pretty high so it was relatively safe.
The first things that Gren decided to look at were the books. There wouldn't be any spell books but Gren was on a mission to find that second volume of Rumba the Sloth. "It's not here." After looking through the last tent with books, Gren couldn't find the second volume.
"What are you looking for? I might have it stored away at home." The merchant was a bronze-colored tough-looking man with a scar on his cheek. Even with his rough looks, it was hard to think of him as a threat with his permanent jovial smile.
"I've been looking for the second Rumba the Sloth book. I've already got the first and third in my collection." It was a shot in the dark but Gren hoped that the man would have it.
After a short while of thinking, the man shook his head. "I don't recognize the name. I'll have to ask my wife about it; if we've got it then she'll know about it. Even if we don't have it, she still might know about it. If you've got a few minutes, I'll be heading home soon."
It was weird being invited to the person's home but if the guy had more books then Gren would want to check them out. "After I take a look around then I'll come back." Gren didn't come to the plaza just to buy books, after all. "Even if you don't have it, there might be a book that I'm interested in."
There were other interesting things that Gren saw when looking around but the magic devices would be risky to buy without the system to confirm their use. They had foods that he hadn't seen before, a sword that could glow in the dark, and a few crude musical instruments. This was the first time that Gren had ever seen any musical instruments in this world. There was no simple way to tune the three strings of the instrument and they were too similar so Gren couldn't play it properly. Seeing the instrument reminded him of how he used to play the guitar in the orphanage and the box from his mother that had all of those old records. If he made a guitar then would he still be able to play it?
Gren put the instrument down and continued looking around the market. The jewelry, gems, and herbs that he found would make good gifts but he couldn't buy them without the system to tell if they were real. Although the system was usually out of mind, being without it showed just how much he relied on it. It was difficult for Gren to remember what things were like before he had the system; did he just trust people to tell the truth about what they were selling?
"Hey, mister, you look like the strong type. You interested in joining our team?" Gren looked around and saw an odd group of warriors near a tent. Their looks were all on the handsome side and their gear looked better than what the soldiers had. "With your looks, you'd be popular with the people as long as you know how to put on a show."
"I'm already part of a guild, sorry." Gren wasn't really sure what kind of team they were talking about but he wasn't going to abandon his guild.
"It's fine if you're part of a guild. The arena in Sekaton doesn't require us to be part of the same organization." This was the second time that Gren had heard of the arena. "It can be a great place to get both fame and fortune for your guild if you make it into the top eight teams. There's going to be a tournament in half a year; humans only. You don't have to worry about those unfair fights against demihumans." It sounded like a racist statement but some demihumans really did have an unfair advantage.
"Although that sounds interesting, I'm not planning on fighting in the arena. I appreciate the invite but I'm busy doing other things in my life right now." The guys didn't press on after Gren rejected them and started asking other people that looked like warriors. Even soldiers weren't spared from their recruitment campaign.
Enough time should have passed for the guy to be ready to pack up so Gren returned to the tent full of books. Just as Gren thought, the guy was loading his books onto a pull cart and was getting ready to go home. "Let me give you a hand." Gren carefully stacked the books up by the man's side; the books were more fragile in this world so it was necessary to be gentle with them. With the two of them loading the cart, it took no time at all for them to be ready to go.
The man's cart wasn't in that good of condition but it held up as they walked down the dirt path to his home. "You know, you don't really look much like the reading type. My wife's father didn't look the part either. Most of the people that buy books from me have thin arms and wear fancy clothes. Your clothes look well made but they're far from being called fancy." The guy seemed to be enjoying the conversation even though he was the only person talking so far. "What's your name, anyways? I'm Bradley. No family name since I'm not a noble."
"Gren." Bradley seemed like a nice guy, even if he was a bit too talkative. "Do only nobles have family names? I wasn't aware of that."
"Sort of. Family names can be given out by the royals and any noble above a baron. They're typically only given to someone that wants to become a knight and the merchants that buy one but a knight is still a noble and the merchants are usually made into baronets." Gren was already learning more about the nobles than he had known before now. "The lowest rank of noble that can give you your own family name is a viscount so, if you ever run into a viscount that needs some money, it should be pretty easy to get your own name. Just don't expect to be given a noble title since only a marquis, duke, or the king himself can give you one of those. I suppose you could get one from the queen, a prince, or a princess but it wouldn't look good to bypass the king to get a title from his family members and, for the princess, she'd need to be unmarried."
"That sounds kind of complicated but I don't really have an interest in getting a family name of my own. I was just wondering since one of my wives has a family name." Gren wasn't really sure what part of his comment made Bradley laugh until Bradley gave him the reason.
"You're one of those people that have multiple wives? That has to be tiring. I've got only one wife and she has complete control over me. I'd have to find a way to split myself if I had multiple wives." Gren wasn't as amused as Bradley was but maybe if he knew Bradley's wife then he'd understand. "Seeing all of those rich guys run into problems with their wives just makes me realize why my ancestors banned having multiple partners."
"My wives get along well and are easygoing as long as I don't make any mistakes. I'm aware of other people having problems with their partners fighting but I guess I got lucky." Gren really was happy with his wives even though Jasmine was a bit clingy and Jessica could be a bit preachy. Their problems were a direct result of his own actions which is why he couldn't fault them for acting in those ways. "Even if your ancestors banned it, you would still be able to take a second wife under the country's laws, right?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't do so. It'd go against my religion." His mother's religion didn't ban having multiple partners so this must be a different one. "My ancestors are from the desert far to the west where they worship the Sun God. It's said that having multiple partners would cause the Sun God to become angry which led to fire raining down from the sky. It's hard to imagine something like that happening here where things are so peaceful but it wouldn't be right to turn my back on the practices of my father and his father before him."
"I'm aware of some demihumans having different religions but this is the first time I've heard of other humans having different religions. Then again, I've only left the Adier Dukedom once in my life so far." The mission to the Elven fort took his group just outside of the dukedom and Gren hadn't gone beyond Fort Togo since then. "Since this is the eastern-most territory on this continent--minus the Republic of Doga--I guess it's not that weird that there are a lot of things I'm not familiar with."
"No single person can know everything. As long as you stay alive, you'll be learning new things." Bradley slowed down the cart and pointed towards a house. "Here we are. That's my lovely little home."
The house didn't have a courtyard like the guild did but there was a door just wide enough to pull the cart through. Gren followed closely behind Bradley as he pulled the cart in and closed the door after they entered. Gren couldn't see it when they just walked in but there were a bunch of books piled up in the room that they entered. "Looking through the books one by one will take too long. Let me go fetch my wife."
As Gren waited for Bradley and his wife, he noticed a pair of eyes watching him from around a corner. "Hello." Gren waved towards the kid but they hid around the corner. "Are you Bradley's child?" One eye peeked out from around the corner but they didn't answer him.
"I see you've met Pocky. She's a bit shy around strangers." Bradley came out with a similarly bronze-skinned woman. "Come on, Pocky, give your greetings to Gren." After Bradley's words, the little girl came up to him and bowed. With her being closer, Gren could see some scars on her neck when she stood up straight. "She can't speak so I hope you don't feel offended about her not saying hello back to you."
"It doesn't bother me that she can't speak but why not take her to get healed?" Gren felt like he was asking that question a lot lately. Healing magic was convenient so there had to be a reason for someone to ignore their injuries.
"That's why we've been selling the books. It's not much but we've been saving up enough to take her to a healer. We wouldn't be selling them otherwise since they belonged to Janet's father." Gren figured out that Janet was Bradley's wife by the context but Bradley was still nice enough to tell Gren. "Janet is my wife's name, by the way. Janet, meet Gren; he's looking for a book about a sloth."
"Rumba the Sloth; the second one." Gren already learned from his encounter with Eleanor and Len so he wasn't going to start off by asking them if they want him to heal her. It would need to be brought up after they had something to offer him; if they couldn't offer him anything then that's when he'd make the offer. "Do you know about it?"
"Those books were made recently; we wouldn't have them since all of the books here were part of my father's old collection. The good news is that they're from Doga so you can probably buy them from there." Although Gren couldn't get the book, he now had a hint to follow. "I remember hearing that a new magic device down there was making it easier to copy books."
"I plan on going to Doga in the near future anyways so I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the tip." They didn't have anything material to offer him without that book so Gren decided to ask for information instead. "Do you know of anything that I should look out for in Doga? Any specialties of theirs that I should buy or things that you'd recommend?"
"I've never been there myself but I hear that their magic devices are much better than the ones made here in the Dukedom. Other than that, there's a museum and the Great Bank of Doga that you can visit." Why would someone want to visit a bank? "There should also be a theater there where they put on plays." Bradley's comments didn't really give any extra insight into the city-state but Gren was only looking for an excuse to help.
"I'll try to keep that in mind when I go there. I don't know much about Doga so I appreciate all you've told me. As thanks, why don't I try healing your daughter's injuries?" Waiting for an answer from Bradley or Janet would take too long since it looked like their brains shut down from his question so Gren focused on Pocky. "Can you stay still for a moment?"
As Gren's magic made contact with her neck, Pocky's scar began to disappear. It was a sight that Gren was familiar with but Bradley's family was mystified by his magic. "There, that should do it. I've got to get back home before my wives get worried. If there's still a problem with her voice in a couple of days then head on over to the FMC and I'll take a look." When Bradley and Janet came to, they were focused on Pocky. It was uncertain if they heard Gren's words as they checked on their daughter so he left a small engraved metal business card. With the system available again, he headed home; it would be just one more day until he could make vehicles.
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This would be the longest that Gren had ever gone without having access to the system. Two different research projects that would take twenty hours each. There were enough bullets prepared for the five rifles so that Gren could keep training the women; even without the system he could still continue what he started yesterday. They even had matching olive green military-style uniforms that Gren made them, including protection for their ears. The only differences were that Umaru and Yasinia required ear muffs that wrapped around their ears and that Yasinia's uniform only covered her upper body which left her donkey half covered with a blanket like usual.
Gren was planning on keeping the golden armor on for the entire day just to be safe but it proved to be too heavy so he just wore the breastplate and bracers from it. The gold armor was too flashy so it was covered up with an olive green overcoat. He faced the same problem with the massive rifle since it weighed over fifty pounds on its own; carrying it for a short amount of time was fine but he couldn't spend an entire day with it strapped to his back. The only weapons he'd be carrying around are the automatic rifle and the revolver which would allow him to deal with any threat that comes his way.
After making sure that he didn't forget anything, Gren started the first research project: Carbon Byproducts. The Batteries project was less useful to him currently since it needed carbon for the only battery type he'd be able to make before completing some of the other research projects. Just another forty or so hours until vehicles could be produced.
———————————
Gren headed towards the firing range to start the second day of training. Four of the women were already there; the only exception being Jessica. She already said that she would be late due to negotiating a request with a merchant so Gren planned on starting without her. "Alright, ladies. Today is going to be mostly the same as yesterday but you will need to shoot at targets. I want you all to get better with your aim so that we can continue on to moving targets." Gren didn't plan on leaving their sides while training them since anything could go wrong.
The women had seen greater improvement in their first day than Gren saw in a week of his closed door training. It showed just how much better it was to have an instructor there to help out. Although the system could calculate a shot's trajectory and tell Gren how to operate the gun, it didn't do so actively. Each and every command to the system required some knowledge of what the problem was before he could ask how to fix it which meant lots of trial and error.
As Gren watched on, he realized that Yasinia was beginning to struggle to deal with the recoil of the rifle. Her first few shots were somewhat accurate but her aim kept getting further from the target with each successive round sent down range. Getting their attention over the loud gunfire would be difficult with just his voice so Gren had a whistle to blow on for moments like this. After his signal, the four quit firing at the targets. "Alright, everyone, take a break. Remember to remove all ammo from your rifles."
The rifle that they were using was the Russian Mosin-Nagant. The US military didn't really have a good bolt action rifle of its own that he noticed so it was a coin toss between that or the British Lee-Enfield rifle. A literal coin toss, that is. "Yasinia, can you tell me what's going on with your aim? You started off doing well so I don't think it's a lack of skill."
Yasinia was rubbing her sides when she began to complain. "It hurts." Well, that wasn't much of a complaint. Gren forgot that Yasinia didn't speak much but she still gave him enough information to work with.
"It's probably the stance you're using to shoot. It works with humans but your lower body is significantly different." Gren healed her muscles in the meantime before trying to figure out how to solve the problem of her stance. The way that he had taught them to shoot was with one foot forward and one back while twisting their torso so that the rifle would rest against their dominant shoulder. It was beginning to become clear that the centaur's abdominal muscles on their upper body didn't have this sort of flexibility. "Try using my revolver for now. It's a bit different but you don't need to turn your body to fire it."
———————————
After Gren taught Yasinia and she got used to the revolver, her accuracy stabilized. It wasn't as good as the other women but it was still at a point where she could be considered ready for the next stage. Unfortunately, the next stage was live combat testing and Gren didn't approve of that just yet. They were advancing faster than he had expected and he had planned for them to go shooting outside only after he had vehicles made.
Even though he was training them for the entire day, Gren still had a bit of time left before the first research project finished. He wasn't really tired so it wouldn't be a problem to wait the last hour or so for the project so that he could immediately start the next one and research while he slept. The wait was boring since Jasmine was on a request and both Jessica and Estella weren't going to sleep with him before he got some contraceptives. He couldn't even play cards with the women since he foolishly left them in his pocket dimension. Gren did make sure to carry some money so there was pretty much only one thing that he could do: night shopping.
The markets were more active during the day but there were still people haggling in what would be the black of night if it weren't for the lights running down the main streets. Gren had often shopped at the market street where the guild was located so he went to the market plaza on the west side of the city for a change of pace. Things were a bit more disorganized in the plaza and they often used tents instead of the carts that could be seen near the guild. Even at night, the number of soldiers patrolling the market was pretty high so it was relatively safe.
The first things that Gren decided to look at were the books. There wouldn't be any spell books but Gren was on a mission to find that second volume of Rumba the Sloth. "It's not here." After looking through the last tent with books, Gren couldn't find the second volume.
"What are you looking for? I might have it stored away at home." The merchant was a bronze-colored tough-looking man with a scar on his cheek. Even with his rough looks, it was hard to think of him as a threat with his permanent jovial smile.
"I've been looking for the second Rumba the Sloth book. I've already got the first and third in my collection." It was a shot in the dark but Gren hoped that the man would have it.
After a short while of thinking, the man shook his head. "I don't recognize the name. I'll have to ask my wife about it; if we've got it then she'll know about it. Even if we don't have it, she still might know about it. If you've got a few minutes, I'll be heading home soon."
It was weird being invited to the person's home but if the guy had more books then Gren would want to check them out. "After I take a look around then I'll come back." Gren didn't come to the plaza just to buy books, after all. "Even if you don't have it, there might be a book that I'm interested in."
There were other interesting things that Gren saw when looking around but the magic devices would be risky to buy without the system to confirm their use. They had foods that he hadn't seen before, a sword that could glow in the dark, and a few crude musical instruments. This was the first time that Gren had ever seen any musical instruments in this world. There was no simple way to tune the three strings of the instrument and they were too similar so Gren couldn't play it properly. Seeing the instrument reminded him of how he used to play the guitar in the orphanage and the box from his mother that had all of those old records. If he made a guitar then would he still be able to play it?
Gren put the instrument down and continued looking around the market. The jewelry, gems, and herbs that he found would make good gifts but he couldn't buy them without the system to tell if they were real. Although the system was usually out of mind, being without it showed just how much he relied on it. It was difficult for Gren to remember what things were like before he had the system; did he just trust people to tell the truth about what they were selling?
"Hey, mister, you look like the strong type. You interested in joining our team?" Gren looked around and saw an odd group of warriors near a tent. Their looks were all on the handsome side and their gear looked better than what the soldiers had. "With your looks, you'd be popular with the people as long as you know how to put on a show."
"I'm already part of a guild, sorry." Gren wasn't really sure what kind of team they were talking about but he wasn't going to abandon his guild.
"It's fine if you're part of a guild. The arena in Sekaton doesn't require us to be part of the same organization." This was the second time that Gren had heard of the arena. "It can be a great place to get both fame and fortune for your guild if you make it into the top eight teams. There's going to be a tournament in half a year; humans only. You don't have to worry about those unfair fights against demihumans." It sounded like a racist statement but some demihumans really did have an unfair advantage.
"Although that sounds interesting, I'm not planning on fighting in the arena. I appreciate the invite but I'm busy doing other things in my life right now." The guys didn't press on after Gren rejected them and started asking other people that looked like warriors. Even soldiers weren't spared from their recruitment campaign.
Enough time should have passed for the guy to be ready to pack up so Gren returned to the tent full of books. Just as Gren thought, the guy was loading his books onto a pull cart and was getting ready to go home. "Let me give you a hand." Gren carefully stacked the books up by the man's side; the books were more fragile in this world so it was necessary to be gentle with them. With the two of them loading the cart, it took no time at all for them to be ready to go.
The man's cart wasn't in that good of condition but it held up as they walked down the dirt path to his home. "You know, you don't really look much like the reading type. My wife's father didn't look the part either. Most of the people that buy books from me have thin arms and wear fancy clothes. Your clothes look well made but they're far from being called fancy." The guy seemed to be enjoying the conversation even though he was the only person talking so far. "What's your name, anyways? I'm Bradley. No family name since I'm not a noble."
"Gren." Bradley seemed like a nice guy, even if he was a bit too talkative. "Do only nobles have family names? I wasn't aware of that."
"Sort of. Family names can be given out by the royals and any noble above a baron. They're typically only given to someone that wants to become a knight and the merchants that buy one but a knight is still a noble and the merchants are usually made into baronets." Gren was already learning more about the nobles than he had known before now. "The lowest rank of noble that can give you your own family name is a viscount so, if you ever run into a viscount that needs some money, it should be pretty easy to get your own name. Just don't expect to be given a noble title since only a marquis, duke, or the king himself can give you one of those. I suppose you could get one from the queen, a prince, or a princess but it wouldn't look good to bypass the king to get a title from his family members and, for the princess, she'd need to be unmarried."
"That sounds kind of complicated but I don't really have an interest in getting a family name of my own. I was just wondering since one of my wives has a family name." Gren wasn't really sure what part of his comment made Bradley laugh until Bradley gave him the reason.
"You're one of those people that have multiple wives? That has to be tiring. I've got only one wife and she has complete control over me. I'd have to find a way to split myself if I had multiple wives." Gren wasn't as amused as Bradley was but maybe if he knew Bradley's wife then he'd understand. "Seeing all of those rich guys run into problems with their wives just makes me realize why my ancestors banned having multiple partners."
"My wives get along well and are easygoing as long as I don't make any mistakes. I'm aware of other people having problems with their partners fighting but I guess I got lucky." Gren really was happy with his wives even though Jasmine was a bit clingy and Jessica could be a bit preachy. Their problems were a direct result of his own actions which is why he couldn't fault them for acting in those ways. "Even if your ancestors banned it, you would still be able to take a second wife under the country's laws, right?"
"Even if I could, I wouldn't do so. It'd go against my religion." His mother's religion didn't ban having multiple partners so this must be a different one. "My ancestors are from the desert far to the west where they worship the Sun God. It's said that having multiple partners would cause the Sun God to become angry which led to fire raining down from the sky. It's hard to imagine something like that happening here where things are so peaceful but it wouldn't be right to turn my back on the practices of my father and his father before him."
"I'm aware of some demihumans having different religions but this is the first time I've heard of other humans having different religions. Then again, I've only left the Adier Dukedom once in my life so far." The mission to the Elven fort took his group just outside of the dukedom and Gren hadn't gone beyond Fort Togo since then. "Since this is the eastern-most territory on this continent--minus the Republic of Doga--I guess it's not that weird that there are a lot of things I'm not familiar with."
"No single person can know everything. As long as you stay alive, you'll be learning new things." Bradley slowed down the cart and pointed towards a house. "Here we are. That's my lovely little home."
The house didn't have a courtyard like the guild did but there was a door just wide enough to pull the cart through. Gren followed closely behind Bradley as he pulled the cart in and closed the door after they entered. Gren couldn't see it when they just walked in but there were a bunch of books piled up in the room that they entered. "Looking through the books one by one will take too long. Let me go fetch my wife."
As Gren waited for Bradley and his wife, he noticed a pair of eyes watching him from around a corner. "Hello." Gren waved towards the kid but they hid around the corner. "Are you Bradley's child?" One eye peeked out from around the corner but they didn't answer him.
"I see you've met Pocky. She's a bit shy around strangers." Bradley came out with a similarly bronze-skinned woman. "Come on, Pocky, give your greetings to Gren." After Bradley's words, the little girl came up to him and bowed. With her being closer, Gren could see some scars on her neck when she stood up straight. "She can't speak so I hope you don't feel offended about her not saying hello back to you."
"It doesn't bother me that she can't speak but why not take her to get healed?" Gren felt like he was asking that question a lot lately. Healing magic was convenient so there had to be a reason for someone to ignore their injuries.
"That's why we've been selling the books. It's not much but we've been saving up enough to take her to a healer. We wouldn't be selling them otherwise since they belonged to Janet's father." Gren figured out that Janet was Bradley's wife by the context but Bradley was still nice enough to tell Gren. "Janet is my wife's name, by the way. Janet, meet Gren; he's looking for a book about a sloth."
"Rumba the Sloth; the second one." Gren already learned from his encounter with Eleanor and Len so he wasn't going to start off by asking them if they want him to heal her. It would need to be brought up after they had something to offer him; if they couldn't offer him anything then that's when he'd make the offer. "Do you know about it?"
"Those books were made recently; we wouldn't have them since all of the books here were part of my father's old collection. The good news is that they're from Doga so you can probably buy them from there." Although Gren couldn't get the book, he now had a hint to follow. "I remember hearing that a new magic device down there was making it easier to copy books."
"I plan on going to Doga in the near future anyways so I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the tip." They didn't have anything material to offer him without that book so Gren decided to ask for information instead. "Do you know of anything that I should look out for in Doga? Any specialties of theirs that I should buy or things that you'd recommend?"
"I've never been there myself but I hear that their magic devices are much better than the ones made here in the Dukedom. Other than that, there's a museum and the Great Bank of Doga that you can visit." Why would someone want to visit a bank? "There should also be a theater there where they put on plays." Bradley's comments didn't really give any extra insight into the city-state but Gren was only looking for an excuse to help.
"I'll try to keep that in mind when I go there. I don't know much about Doga so I appreciate all you've told me. As thanks, why don't I try healing your daughter's injuries?" Waiting for an answer from Bradley or Janet would take too long since it looked like their brains shut down from his question so Gren focused on Pocky. "Can you stay still for a moment?"
As Gren's magic made contact with her neck, Pocky's scar began to disappear. It was a sight that Gren was familiar with but Bradley's family was mystified by his magic. "There, that should do it. I've got to get back home before my wives get worried. If there's still a problem with her voice in a couple of days then head on over to the FMC and I'll take a look." When Bradley and Janet came to, they were focused on Pocky. It was uncertain if they heard Gren's words as they checked on their daughter so he left a small engraved metal business card. With the system available again, he headed home; it would be just one more day until he could make vehicles.
This would be the longest that Gren had ever gone without having access to the system. Two different research projects that would take twenty hours each. There were enough bullets prepared for the five rifles so that Gren could keep training the women; even without the system he could still continue what he started yesterday. They even had matching olive green military-style uniforms that Gren made them, including protection for their ears. The only differences were that Umaru and Yasinia required ear muffs that wrapped around their ears and that Yasinia's uniform only covered her upper body which left her donkey half covered with a blanket like usual.Gren was planning on keeping the golden armor on for the entire day just to be safe but it proved to be too heavy so he just wore the breastplate and bracers from it. The gold armor was too flashy so it was covered up with an olive green overcoat. He faced the same problem with the massive rifle since it weighed over fifty pounds on its own; carrying it for a short amount of time was fine but he couldn't spend an entire day with it strapped to his back. The only weapons he'd be carrying around are the automatic rifle and the revolver which would allow him to deal with any threat that comes his way.After making sure that he didn't forget anything, Gren started the first research project: Carbon Byproducts. The Batteries project was less useful to him currently since it needed carbon for the only battery type he'd be able to make before completing some of the other research projects. Just another forty or so hours until vehicles could be produced.Gren headed towards the firing range to start the second day of training. Four of the women were already there; the only exception being Jessica. She already said that she would be late due to negotiating a request with a merchant so Gren planned on starting without her. "Alright, ladies. Today is going to be mostly the same as yesterday but you will need to shoot at targets. I want you all to get better with your aim so that we can continue on to moving targets." Gren didn't plan on leaving their sides while training them since anything could go wrong.The women had seen greater improvement in their first day than Gren saw in a week of his closed door training. It showed just how much better it was to have an instructor there to help out. Although the system could calculate a shot's trajectory and tell Gren how to operate the gun, it didn't do so actively. Each and every command to the system required some knowledge of what the problem was before he could ask how to fix it which meant lots of trial and error.As Gren watched on, he realized that Yasinia was beginning to struggle to deal with the recoil of the rifle. Her first few shots were somewhat accurate but her aim kept getting further from the target with each successive round sent down range. Getting their attention over the loud gunfire would be difficult with just his voice so Gren had a whistle to blow on for moments like this. After his signal, the four quit firing at the targets. "Alright, everyone, take a break. Remember to remove all ammo from your rifles."The rifle that they were using was the Russian Mosin-Nagant. The US military didn't really have a good bolt action rifle of its own that he noticed so it was a coin toss between that or the British Lee-Enfield rifle. A literal coin toss, that is. "Yasinia, can you tell me what's going on with your aim? You started off doing well so I don't think it's a lack of skill."Yasinia was rubbing her sides when she began to complain. "It hurts." Well, that wasn't much of a complaint. Gren forgot that Yasinia didn't speak much but she still gave him enough information to work with."It's probably the stance you're using to shoot. It works with humans but your lower body is significantly different." Gren healed her muscles in the meantime before trying to figure out how to solve the problem of her stance. The way that he had taught them to shoot was with one foot forward and one back while twisting their torso so that the rifle would rest against their dominant shoulder. It was beginning to become clear that the centaur's abdominal muscles on their upper body didn't have this sort of flexibility. "Try using my revolver for now. It's a bit different but you don't need to turn your body to fire it."After Gren taught Yasinia and she got used to the revolver, her accuracy stabilized. It wasn't as good as the other women but it was still at a point where she could be considered ready for the next stage. Unfortunately, the next stage was live combat testing and Gren didn't approve of that just yet. They were advancing faster than he had expected and he had planned for them to go shooting outside only after he had vehicles made.Even though he was training them for the entire day, Gren still had a bit of time left before the first research project finished. He wasn't really tired so it wouldn't be a problem to wait the last hour or so for the project so that he could immediately start the next one and research while he slept. The wait was boring since Jasmine was on a request and both Jessica and Estella weren't going to sleep with him before he got some contraceptives. He couldn't even play cards with the women since he foolishly left them in his pocket dimension. Gren did make sure to carry some money so there was pretty much only one thing that he could do: night shopping.The markets were more active during the day but there were still people haggling in what would be the black of night if it weren't for the lights running down the main streets. Gren had often shopped at the market street where the guild was located so he went to the market plaza on the west side of the city for a change of pace. Things were a bit more disorganized in the plaza and they often used tents instead of the carts that could be seen near the guild. Even at night, the number of soldiers patrolling the market was pretty high so it was relatively safe.The first things that Gren decided to look at were the books. There wouldn't be any spell books but Gren was on a mission to find that second volume of Rumba the Sloth. "It's not here." After looking through the last tent with books, Gren couldn't find the second volume."What are you looking for? I might have it stored away at home." The merchant was a bronze-colored tough-looking man with a scar on his cheek. Even with his rough looks, it was hard to think of him as a threat with his permanent jovial smile."I've been looking for the second Rumba the Sloth book. I've already got the first and third in my collection." It was a shot in the dark but Gren hoped that the man would have it.After a short while of thinking, the man shook his head. "I don't recognize the name. I'll have to ask my wife about it; if we've got it then she'll know about it. Even if we don't have it, she still might know about it. If you've got a few minutes, I'll be heading home soon."It was weird being invited to the person's home but if the guy had more books then Gren would want to check them out. "After I take a look around then I'll come back." Gren didn't come to the plaza just to buy books, after all. "Even if you don't have it, there might be a book that I'm interested in."There were other interesting things that Gren saw when looking around but the magic devices would be risky to buy without the system to confirm their use. They had foods that he hadn't seen before, a sword that could glow in the dark, and a few crude musical instruments. This was the first time that Gren had ever seen any musical instruments in this world. There was no simple way to tune the three strings of the instrument and they were too similar so Gren couldn't play it properly. Seeing the instrument reminded him of how he used to play the guitar in the orphanage and the box from his mother that had all of those old records. If he made a guitar then would he still be able to play it?Gren put the instrument down and continued looking around the market. The jewelry, gems, and herbs that he found would make good gifts but he couldn't buy them without the system to tell if they were real. Although the system was usually out of mind, being without it showed just how much he relied on it. It was difficult for Gren to remember what things were like before he had the system; did he just trust people to tell the truth about what they were selling?"Hey, mister, you look like the strong type. You interested in joining our team?" Gren looked around and saw an odd group of warriors near a tent. Their looks were all on the handsome side and their gear looked better than what the soldiers had. "With your looks, you'd be popular with the people as long as you know how to put on a show.""I'm already part of a guild, sorry." Gren wasn't really sure what kind of team they were talking about but he wasn't going to abandon his guild."It's fine if you're part of a guild. The arena in Sekaton doesn't require us to be part of the same organization." This was the second time that Gren had heard of the arena. "It can be a great place to get both fame and fortune for your guild if you make it into the top eight teams. There's going to be a tournament in half a year; humans only. You don't have to worry about those unfair fights against demihumans." It sounded like a racist statement but some demihumans really did have an unfair advantage."Although that sounds interesting, I'm not planning on fighting in the arena. I appreciate the invite but I'm busy doing other things in my life right now." The guys didn't press on after Gren rejected them and started asking other people that looked like warriors. Even soldiers weren't spared from their recruitment campaign.Enough time should have passed for the guy to be ready to pack up so Gren returned to the tent full of books. Just as Gren thought, the guy was loading his books onto a pull cart and was getting ready to go home. "Let me give you a hand." Gren carefully stacked the books up by the man's side; the books were more fragile in this world so it was necessary to be gentle with them. With the two of them loading the cart, it took no time at all for them to be ready to go.The man's cart wasn't in that good of condition but it held up as they walked down the dirt path to his home. "You know, you don't really look much like the reading type. My wife's father didn't look the part either. Most of the people that buy books from me have thin arms and wear fancy clothes. Your clothes look well made but they're far from being called fancy." The guy seemed to be enjoying the conversation even though he was the only person talking so far. "What's your name, anyways? I'm Bradley. No family name since I'm not a noble.""Gren." Bradley seemed like a nice guy, even if he was a bit too talkative. "Do only nobles have family names? I wasn't aware of that.""Sort of. Family names can be given out by the royals and any noble above a baron. They're typically only given to someone that wants to become a knight and the merchants that buy one but a knight is still a noble and the merchants are usually made into baronets." Gren was already learning more about the nobles than he had known before now. "The lowest rank of noble that can give you your own family name is a viscount so, if you ever run into a viscount that needs some money, it should be pretty easy to get your own name. Just don't expect to be given a noble title since only a marquis, duke, or the king himself can give you one of those. I suppose you could get one from the queen, a prince, or a princess but it wouldn't look good to bypass the king to get a title from his family members and, for the princess, she'd need to be unmarried.""That sounds kind of complicated but I don't really have an interest in getting a family name of my own. I was just wondering since one of my wives has a family name." Gren wasn't really sure what part of his comment made Bradley laugh until Bradley gave him the reason."You're one of those people that have multiple wives? That has to be tiring. I've got only one wife and she has complete control over me. I'd have to find a way to split myself if I had multiple wives." Gren wasn't as amused as Bradley was but maybe if he knew Bradley's wife then he'd understand. "Seeing all of those rich guys run into problems with their wives just makes me realize why my ancestors banned having multiple partners.""My wives get along well and are easygoing as long as I don't make any mistakes. I'm aware of other people having problems with their partners fighting but I guess I got lucky." Gren really was happy with his wives even though Jasmine was a bit clingy and Jessica could be a bit preachy. Their problems were a direct result of his own actions which is why he couldn't fault them for acting in those ways. "Even if your ancestors banned it, you would still be able to take a second wife under the country's laws, right?""Even if I could, I wouldn't do so. It'd go against my religion." His mother's religion didn't ban having multiple partners so this must be a different one. "My ancestors are from the desert far to the west where they worship the Sun God. It's said that having multiple partners would cause the Sun God to become angry which led to fire raining down from the sky. It's hard to imagine something like that happening here where things are so peaceful but it wouldn't be right to turn my back on the practices of my father and his father before him.""I'm aware of some demihumans having different religions but this is the first time I've heard of other humans having different religions. Then again, I've only left the Adier Dukedom once in my life so far." The mission to the Elven fort took his group just outside of the dukedom and Gren hadn't gone beyond Fort Togo since then. "Since this is the eastern-most territory on this continent--minus the Republic of Doga--I guess it's not that weird that there are a lot of things I'm not familiar with.""No single person can know everything. As long as you stay alive, you'll be learning new things." Bradley slowed down the cart and pointed towards a house. "Here we are. That's my lovely little home."The house didn't have a courtyard like the guild did but there was a door just wide enough to pull the cart through. Gren followed closely behind Bradley as he pulled the cart in and closed the door after they entered. Gren couldn't see it when they just walked in but there were a bunch of books piled up in the room that they entered. "Looking through the books one by one will take too long. Let me go fetch my wife."As Gren waited for Bradley and his wife, he noticed a pair of eyes watching him from around a corner. "Hello." Gren waved towards the kid but they hid around the corner. "Are you Bradley's child?" One eye peeked out from around the corner but they didn't answer him."I see you've met Pocky. She's a bit shy around strangers." Bradley came out with a similarly bronze-skinned woman. "Come on, Pocky, give your greetings to Gren." After Bradley's words, the little girl came up to him and bowed. With her being closer, Gren could see some scars on her neck when she stood up straight. "She can't speak so I hope you don't feel offended about her not saying hello back to you.""It doesn't bother me that she can't speak but why not take her to get healed?" Gren felt like he was asking that question a lot lately. Healing magic was convenient so there had to be a reason for someone to ignore their injuries."That's why we've been selling the books. It's not much but we've been saving up enough to take her to a healer. We wouldn't be selling them otherwise since they belonged to Janet's father." Gren figured out that Janet was Bradley's wife by the context but Bradley was still nice enough to tell Gren. "Janet is my wife's name, by the way. Janet, meet Gren; he's looking for a book about a sloth.""Rumba the Sloth; the second one." Gren already learned from his encounter with Eleanor and Len so he wasn't going to start off by asking them if they want him to heal her. It would need to be brought up after they had something to offer him; if they couldn't offer him anything then that's when he'd make the offer. "Do you know about it?""Those books were made recently; we wouldn't have them since all of the books here were part of my father's old collection. The good news is that they're from Doga so you can probably buy them from there." Although Gren couldn't get the book, he now had a hint to follow. "I remember hearing that a new magic device down there was making it easier to copy books.""I plan on going to Doga in the near future anyways so I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the tip." They didn't have anything material to offer him without that book so Gren decided to ask for information instead. "Do you know of anything that I should look out for in Doga? Any specialties of theirs that I should buy or things that you'd recommend?""I've never been there myself but I hear that their magic devices are much better than the ones made here in the Dukedom. Other than that, there's a museum and the Great Bank of Doga that you can visit." Why would someone want to visit a bank? "There should also be a theater there where they put on plays." Bradley's comments didn't really give any extra insight into the city-state but Gren was only looking for an excuse to help. "I'll try to keep that in mind when I go there. I don't know much about Doga so I appreciate all you've told me. As thanks, why don't I try healing your daughter's injuries?" Waiting for an answer from Bradley or Janet would take too long since it looked like their brains shut down from his question so Gren focused on Pocky. "Can you stay still for a moment?" As Gren's magic made contact with her neck, Pocky's scar began to disappear. It was a sight that Gren was familiar with but Bradley's family was mystified by his magic. "There, that should do it. I've got to get back home before my wives get worried. If there's still a problem with her voice in a couple of days then head on over to the FMC and I'll take a look." When Bradley and Janet came to, they were focused on Pocky. It was uncertain if they heard Gren's words as they checked on their daughter so he left a small engraved metal business card. With the system available again, he headed home; it would be just one more day until he could make vehicles.
