Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?

Chapter 16: The Town of Volton 1

On an ordinary carriage, it’s a 3 day trip to the town of Volton. So if one were to ask if there were unordinary carriages, there actually are. A horse that has turned into a monster, a Demon Horse, boasts a remarkable difference in ability from a normal horse in both speed and stamina. In this world where the roads and distances traversable in a day are bad, a normal carriage can travel less than 100 km, whereas a Demon Horse-drawn carriage is able to travel twice that distance.

On our way to Volton, we had encountered Goblins and Forest Wolves a number of times but Heath-san and his party kept us safe by killing all of them.

Nevertheless, it was my first time seeing the classic small fry enemy, the goblins, in fantasies. They were around 120-140 cm tall, their bodies were completely green, and two horns grew on their ugly faces. It seems that while they are certainly recognized as small fry by adventurers; they are threatening enough to ordinary people, so if they were to form and attack in groups, it would turn out like the deserted village I had seen.

Forest Wolf isn’t an animal, but a full-fledged monster.

I heard that monsters are determined by whether they have magic stones within their body or not.

On the third day after leaving Bohd Village, the town of Volton could be seen in the distance.

Volton is a fortress town encircled by tall ramparts.

The gate facing Bohd Village had a sparse queue of people, so it’s likely that entering will be a short wait.

「It’s a splendid town for the border, isn’t it? Volton is located on the western edge of Valkyra Kingdom. This town has an excellent feudal lord governing it, and there are plenty of mid to high level adventurers like Heath-san active here.」

From what Papeck-san said, with a vast forest where monsters run rampant northeast of the town, to a mine that yields rare ores in the northwest, and with various monsters inhabiting areas from the grasslands in the south to the wetlands in the southeast, it is an ideal place for adventurers to work at.

「Taking into consideration Takumi-sama’s material collection, I believe this place would be a suitable base for you.」

「Yeah, it loses in comparison to the kinds of medicinal plants around Bohd Village, but even then, the variety and amount are still aplenty here.」

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From Papeck-san and Heath-san’s words, it might be a good to make Volton my base of operation for a little while.

「Okay, next! Oh, if it isn’t Papeck-dono. Are you on your way back from peddling?」

「Yes, the escorts are the 3 members of the C rank party 『Lion’s Fang』, and this is Takumi-sama. He travelled with me from Bohd Village. On Takumi-sama’s knee is Takumi-sama’s familiar.」

Our turn came after a while, and it seems that the gatekeeper soldier and Papeck-san are acquaintances. The gatekeeper approached me.

「So you are Takumi. What is your purpose for coming to Volton?」

「Yes, I practiced Alchemy and Smithing while harvesting materials in Bohd Village, but I thought it would be better to go to a large town to further my studies on alchemy.」

「Alchemy huh, that’s rare. Yeah, Volton certainly has a books and spell books that Feudal Lord-sama had gathered from around the continent in the large library. It might be the best place for you to learn. So then, do you have identification papers?」

「No, I do not have one.」

「Then, there’s no problem if I collect 5 silver coins?」

「Yes, 5 silver coins, correct?」

I took 5 silver coins from my bag and handed it over.

I was then handed a permit of stay, and advised to pay for identification papers to be issued at the Government Office or to register at a guild somewhere.

「If you register at a guild, deducting the handling fee, 3 silver coins will be returned to you so bring your permit of stay or guild card to this gate again. And, because you are obligated to register that spider familiar in the Adventurers Guild or Government Office, please go to either one and register your familiar.」

「Yes, I understand.」

「Is everything good now?」

「Thank you for the wait.」

Papeck-san’s carriage advanced.

Inside the fortress town past the sturdy gate is a main street paved with flagstone that continues up to the castle in the middle. Stone buildings lined up on both sides, and the townscape had overwhelmed me.

「Takumi-sama appears to be pleased with Volton, that is what’s important to me.」

Watching me look around, Papeck-san was smiling at me as he said so, and my face turned red when I realized. Totally like a kid. As a middle aged man, I can definitely feel my mental age is turning into the age of my appearance. But it can’t be helped that I look around! After all, this is my first time seeing races other than humans.since coming to this world.

Right, in the town of Volton, there are a variety of races aside from humans living here.. There were no races other than humans in Bohd Village, but Valkyra Kingdom is a country that encourages inter-racial harmony. And it seems there is a diversity of people of different races living in this country.

On the main street were Humans, Beastkin that have animalistic traits, short and stout physiqued Dwarves, Elves that are race of beautiful men and women with tapered ears, and Mazoku whose individual traits are different so there isn’t a way to distinguish them from their outward appearances.

Papeck-san informed me detailedly.

「In rural areas, there are many people like Takumi-sama who have not had an opportunity to meet other races until they reached adulthood.」

「Ha, I see.」

I think that’s true. If I had been born in Bohd Village, it wouldn’t be strange to live my whole life and die in that village, far from the other races.

5 minutes from having passed through the gate, we had arrived at Adventurers Guild of Volton. A 3-story stone building, as expected of an adventurer town. It’s very imposing.

「Now then, this is the Adventurers Guild. Heath-dono’s party must report the completion of their request so we will be parting with them here, but Takumi-sama, wouldn’t it be better if you take this opportunity to register yourself as an adventurer while subsequently registering your familiar?」

「Are other guilds not allowed?」

Since I don’t want to become an adventurer, wouldn’t the Alchemist Guild or Blacksmith Guild be better?

「If Takumi-sama is only going take the Blacksmith job, then there is no problem with the Blacksmith Guild. The Commerce Guild requires an annual fee therefore I can not recommend it. The Magician Guild is corrupt so it would be better to give up now, and unfortunately there is no Alchemist Guild.

「Eh? There is no Alchemist Guild?」

I thought that because alchemy is convenient, whether it be in smithing or in potion-making, there would be an Alchemist Guild.

「While there are a number of Alchemists, it seems that there are more who main as a Mage that dabble a little bit at alchemy.」

「Then the Adventurers Guild is the only option, isn’t it? There’s also Kaede’s registration.」

I had not realized it at the time but I had forgotten that it is thanks to Appraisal EX that I could say alchemy is convenient. And even if it’s just extracting iron from iron ore, for the mages of this world who have no scientific knowledge, it would be impossible if they are not flexible with their usage of either Earth Magic or Alchemy.

At this point in time, there are few people studying and training to become Alchemists. Even though it’s so useful.

「Well I will be waiting outside so, Heath-dono, may I leave him to you?」

「Yeah, I got him! Takumi, let’s go.」

Getting off the carriage, I was led by Heath-san and his party to the Adventurers Guild.

I wonder if there will be a template development or something like it.

***

Translator’s Note:

Thank you for reading!

Everyone knows what Takumi looks like, but for those who have wondered what the other characters look like, I’ve made this Character Page.  I hope you enjoy it ^^ I’ll see you guys next chapter~