Profession, Merchant Volume 13 Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3 – Miss Priestess, the Ever-Reliable “Big Sister” III

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No! I can’t allow this!


After all, if my job is to make out with working women, aren’t I no different from a pimp?


When I got to this point, I had no choice but to revise my initial thoughts.


Hmm. If this is the female warrior, she would just complain like “I’m hungry” or “I’m bored,” so it will be clear what work I can do for her.


If it were the holy knight, it would be a little worse, considering how much of an idiot she is. She might ingest some poisonous plants, thinking they’re edible, or cook already edible plans to the point of becoming inedible before eating them, only to get food poisoning later.


But at least I know what work I can do for them.


They probably wouldn’t be able to survive without me if they were exiled to a deserted island. But if that were to happen, I would have a lot of work to do instead.


On the other hand, in the case of the priestess, it seems that she can survive without me. That if I want to do something for her, I won’t know what to do, and asking her doesn’t help either, as you can see, this is how it ended.


So I decided to change my way of thinking.


In other words, since I can no longer contribute to the matter of basic survival, from now on, I have to decide for myself what they need and call it “work.”


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After making the decision to go to “work,” I decided to investigate this uninhabited island first.


Ever since we were exiled to this island, our approximate residence has been the beach on the south side of the island. The climate was warm, so we slept on the shore, using it as a bed, while at night, we built a fire to scare away the beasts.


In short, it was a primitive, or rather proto-human, way of life.


If you look at the main body of the island to the north with the sky in the background, you will find two small mountains lining the east and west sides of the island. Each is covered with forest and looks very humid.


While I am not an outdoorsman by any means, I am a traveling merchant who conquers impregnable forests and dungeons. What I’m trying to say is that even though it’s not my specialty, my survival skills are not to be underestimated.


For now, I decided to climb one of the mountains on the west side to get a panoramic view of the island and the surrounding ocean. I don’t expect it to be easy, like finding a physical connection to the continent right away, but if I could see some other land in either direction, it might give us a foothold from which we could quickly escape.


However, when I actually started to climb the mountain, I found out that it was quite a challenge. It was not that high and not that steep, but the lack of footholds on the wild path and the wild flora and fauna blocking my way made it very difficult. How could this woman walk in the mountains like this?


I stopped halfway up the mountain and, out of breath, looked back at the path I had taken.


At the bottom of the mountain was a golden beach, and a little to the west was a rocky shore that would tickle your sense of fun. And far beyond, the endless sea was bright, as if the island were filled with the shimmer of jewels scattered everywhere.


It was beautiful, but I could not see any land. However, on the positive side, this is only the southern part of the island. So I pinned my hopes on the north side and climbed up again, all the way to the top of the mountain.


But what I got was another big disappointment.


The landscape didn’t change, and it was all beautiful. But no matter where you look, there is no trace of land on the oceanic horizon.


In other words, this was not just an uninhabited island but an isolated island in the middle of the ocean.


Damn. I had hoped to make an early escape and return to Newland sooner than that secretary had planned.


Despite my disappointment, what really surprised me as I looked down from the summit was the shape of the island as a whole. When you look down from above, you will see a basin-like forest extending north from the mountain, and the entire island looks like a pair of slippers.


The island itself was larger than I had expected and seemed worth exploring.


Anyway, that’s about all the information I could get from the top.


I decided to go down the mountain, but it would be boring to go back the same way, so I went east to the valley between the mountains.


When I reached the valley and looked south, I could see the ocean but not the beach. The ground in the valley was relatively high above sea level. It looked like the ocean was floating, which was kind of fantastic.


There was also a river coming down from the mountain, with the other end going through the valley. There, the water flows all the way through the basin to the north. The valley forms a pleasant canyon, and the clear splashes from the rushing water make it look cool even from a distance. This must be the place the priestess always came to when she said, “I’m going to fetch water.”


The sun was still high in the sky, so I decided to walk along the canyon. Along the way, I could hear birds chirping at a high pitch, and every once in a while, an animal would come to drink from the water and slurp lazily. When this happened, I would stop and enjoy the scenery in front of me. It is perhaps a common trait of travelers and drifters to be enthralled by such scenes.


But it was at such a time that I discovered something unexpected.


“Woahh, amazing. This is the first time I’ve seen one so exposed.”


I looked up at the precious minerals on the walls as I muttered these words. At the foot of the mountain, on the east side, stands a vein of crystalline magic ore, not in any way, but in a natural way.


I filled my fingers with mana and tried to cut out the ore like a laser cutter. This magic laser cutter isn’t powerful enough to defeat monsters, but it’s perfect for cutting rocks and minerals, even if it takes a little more time. When I held the cube-sized mineral in my hand, my mana pool was fully charged in no time. And when I tested its properties with Read, it was identified as a “magic ore.”


This is it. There’s no doubt about it.


In the first place, magic ore is the result of the mana of demon races and demonic beasts that accumulate in certain minerals over a long period of time and become imbued with magical properties. Therefore, it can be said that demons once lived on this island as well.


The fact that Newland threw us into this island is also proof that this is part of Newland’s territory, or at least that Newland citizens once lived here. It seems a shame, though, that an island so rich in nature and resources has become a mere penal colony.


However, with this, it is now possible to use various types of magic even on this uninhabited island.


Up until now, I have been unable to use the minimum amount of magic required, such as making a campfire, because I thought I needed to save my mana for future emergencies. After all, we live in this place with no one to help us but ourselves, and living a stressful life slows down the rate at which we recover our mana.


Just thinking about the possibility that one day you might be in danger, but you’re helpless because you can’t cast a simple spell to save yourself, it’s already taxing on the heart.


But with these ores, even if I waste mana on various things, it will not be a problem because now I can replenish mana instantly.


However, even with this and the priestess’ ability to fly, with the collar around her neck that severely limits the output of magic power, it won’t be of any help no matter how much of these magic ores we can carry.


But hey, at least now there are no limits to the types of magic we can use, and that’s good.


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