IGPB 27

Chapter 27

As if taking revenge for everything so far, Number 1 sneered and mocked me, so I clenched my teeth and gave a warning.
“Don’t tease me, Moo-reu — I’ll stomp you flat with my hooves. Neiiigh!”
Ugh, now I’m even making neighing sounds!
When the horse cry was added, my sense of human dignity was utterly demolished and I buried my face in the dirt again.
“Joe, you’ll get hurt doing that.”
Seeing me in anguish, Luan covered my dirt-smudged forehead with his hand, then quickly scooped me up with both arms.
My big eyes, lifted in an instant by Luan, locked on his violet irises.
“Luan… Neiiigh!”
Ah, please, not the neighing. Seriously.
“Uh, Joe.”
Just then, when I was about to be mortified, Luan—carefully checking my mud-streaked forehead—parted his lips cautiously.
“This isn’t the time to say something like this, but… this foal somehow… looks a little like you.”
“What?!”
As he said that, Luan inspected me from one side to the other, and the corner of his mouth curved into a faint smile.
Oh no, that face again. He’s got another reason to tease me — look at that!
“At first I wondered, of all the animals, why it had to be a foal. But the more I look, the more I see similarities with you.”
Luan’s gaze went down to my short arms and legs.
Ah—so that’s what he meant by ‘similar.’
God, today I’m sending up a handsome one.
I muttered a prayer inwardly, then brought my tiny hoof down hard on Luan’s face.
“Ouch.”
“If you tease me one more time, next time I’ll kick somewhere else. Neiiigh.”
“If Joe were a knight, I’d recommend he join the Chevalier order.”
The Chevalier was the northern knightly order Luan had mentioned before.
He said that if I joined the order I could dominate all the knights there or something like that—what a boast.
When Luan fixed his gaze elsewhere after that mutter, perhaps sensing my murderous intent, he gently set me back down on the ground.
Ahem—on second thought, I don’t think there’s any resemblance at all.
Rubbing the cheek I’d uppercut, Luan’s eyes were narrowed into a smile I hadn’t expected to return.
Phew—his smiling face is so pretty I’ll let it slide.
“Joe, didn’t you say you were supposed to go down to the village today? But… um, in this condition…”
The golem asked me with a worried look.
Oh right—today was the day to go to the village and register as a merchant.
We were currently at the edge of the Velnouar domain in the empire’s north.
Luan said there was a small village about three days away by carriage from here.
Because the village was near the Altus Mountains—where a garrison had been set up to guard against monsters—the Chevaliers stationed there would apparently restock food and gear and take their breaks in that village.
“Tell me about it… Neiiigh. Of all days, tomorrow is the merchant registration deadline—how am I going to register like this!”
“Joe, you’ve been through a lot because of me. Hmm, how about waiting for the next registration period?”
“But Sompara already has a huge backlog of orders. If I don’t register as a merchant as soon as possible, I can’t sell Sompara’s clothes.”
“Joe… really, I’m touched… I’ll bring you the items you asked for as quickly as I can!”
Sompara’s eyes filled with tears, and she pledged her loyalty.
Well, that reaction made sense.
Why? Because I’d freed Sompara from a slave contract.
Here’s how I earned Sompara’s complete trust.
Sompara had been selling her clothes to humans through a scarecrow monster who could speak human language—the ‘Crowdy.’ Those Crowdys were so sly that, together with merchants who dealt with them, they’d been exploiting Sompara for labor.
Only then did I understand Sompara’s frightened attitude when she had made my clothes earlier.
Wait—members of the same species eating their own kind?
No wonder people say to watch out for your fellow countrymen more than foreigners when traveling abroad.
Anyway, wanting Sompara’s clothes to be worn by many humans, I rolled up my sleeves and took action.
The first thing I did after finding the Crowdy was burn the contract—basically a slave contract.
Ha—well, there was some resistance from the Crowdy, but it was resolved peacefully. How was it resolved?
“Seriously, those scarecrows have no conscience. Neiiigh! Ah, I should’ve snapped another branch or two.”
I stamped my hooves on the ground and hissed.
To be honest, I only meant to scare him a little. But the wooden arm of the Crowdy went limp and snapped as soon as I grabbed it.
He made such a scene from the pain that I was a little taken aback, but Sompara said the Crowdy’s body could regenerate, so when I snapped his arm a few more times he quieted down.
Yeah, a very amicable solution.
“You’ll hurt your legs doing that, Joe.”
Maybe because it was a construction site, sharp things were scattered about on the ground, so Luan picked me up again with a worried expression.
“Well, I was a bit surprised when I heard you say that. Sompara-made clothes are secretly traded at quite high prices even among nobles—publicly they denigrate it as monster craft, but still…”
Luan’s brows twitched slightly as he spoke in a sarcastic, soft tone.
Every time the topic of nobles came up he made that faint, bitter smile—so his background as an illegitimate child of the royal family who suffered under nobles seemed to check out.
How’s that for my brilliant deduction? There’s always only one truth.
“Right. Neiiigh. Sompara’s clothes are amazing.”
I nodded and glanced at the white poet shirt Sompara had made for Luan.
‘She said that shirt is made of a special breathable fiber, right?’
The poet shirt with its full sleeves and the striped sash tied at the waist only enhanced Luan’s good looks.
Well, Luan seemed happy just to be able to take off his apron…
Because Sompara gathers rare natural materials and magical fibers to make her clothes, the quality was superb. Luan told me that Sompara’s garments sold out despite their high price.
But the problem was that Sompara had been paid an outrageously low rate…
Anyway, since the trade with the Crowdy faction had been cut off after their showdown, Sompara looked for other merchants herself. During the peaceful resolution with the Crowdy, Sompara realized her own worth and decided she couldn’t trust other humans anymore—so she asked me for help.
She proposed that if I registered as a merchant and sold Sompara’s clothes through the merchant guild, we’d split the profits by a set proportion.
That was a grateful offer for me—nothing to lose. I also needed to sell the crops from my garden in the village. Besides, I could communicate with both humans and monsters, so there was no one better suited than me.
“What should I do… they said the next registration period is a month away…”
A month’s delay would be too costly, so I sat there helplessly, my eyes rolling.
Watching me fretting, Luan spoke up.
“Joe, shall I register on your behalf?”
“Neiiigh? Is that possible?”
“Yes, it should be. Although it’s technically prohibited by imperial law, the head of the Velnouar merchants’ guild and I… um, we’re well acquainted.”
Luan thought for a moment, then answered with a voice full of conviction.
Is this… the friends-in-high-places advantage?
Connections are king, whether in real life or in games!
At that moment my inner scales tipped a little more toward the idea that Luan was indeed an illegitimate royal.
“Luan. Neiiigh! Ah—! Ahem, if I’ve been rude to you so far, I apologize in advance.”
“Eh? Why all of a sudden…”
Luan asked, puzzled by my sudden apology.
“Just… you saved my life, so let’s call it even, okay? Neiiigh.”
“…Joe, I don’t always understand what you’re thinking.”