[Reminiscence 1] Blue Ring
Trao was born into a merchant family.
As the second son, he wasn’t the heir, but the family ran a large business and had plenty of money.
However, due to his merchant-like father’s policy, the family lived frugally, leading an almost poor lifestyle. Still, Trao didn’t mind this and accepted it as natural.
From a young age, Trao was a sharp child. He started imitating business practices early on and could earn his own pocket money.
He was especially good at reading future trends, accurately predicting price increases with limited information.
His father had high hopes for Trao, even considering making him the heir.
However, Trao had too much talent as a merchant.
He could see a future where he would certainly succeed if he lived as a merchant.
A life with a predictable future seemed tasteless.
Yet, he thought the only path shown to him was that of a merchant, with no other way to live.
Then, he read a book about a merchant who traveled with a hero.
This was a real person from the past who journeyed with a hero while doing business, contributing to the hero’s adventures through unique money-making schemes and negotiation skills.
Interested, Trao researched the Adventurers’ Guild and learned that even now, one could register as an adventurer with the occupation of “merchant.” Moreover, it was a time when monsters had united under a new Demon King, making the world unstable.
“I’ll defeat the Demon King as a merchant!”
After all, if the world were invaded by the Demon King, there would be no business to speak of. Therefore, Trao thought that defeating the Demon King was important even from a merchant’s perspective.
However, his father and others didn’t see it that way.
“Registering as an adventurer with a merchant occupation is for those who are bad at business, not for proper merchants,”
they said, opposing Trao’s desire to become an adventurer.
“If we don’t defeat the Demon King, we won’t be able to do business,”
Trao argued.
But they dismissed him, saying,
“That’s not a merchant’s role.”
In the end, Trao left home, practically disowned, and became an adventurer.
When he registered at the Adventurers’ Guild as a “merchant,” the receptionist looked at him very strangely.
Although he had left home, Trao had saved enough money not to struggle financially. However, he received no work as an adventurer. No one wanted to form a party with someone whose occupation was “merchant.”
“It’s good to have a merchant in your party. They can manage money, make negotiations easier, and above all, plan strategically to defeat the Demon King,”
he tried to appeal to other adventurers.
But they would reply, “I want to use my money as I please, and I can negotiate on my own. The Demon King?
What can a weak merchant do?”
Sometimes he was allowed to join adventures on a trial basis, and while he was useful for miscellaneous tasks, he couldn’t contribute in battle.
“You’re helpful in many ways, but if you can’t be useful in combat, we just can’t…”
they would say, refusing to add him as a party member.
Even the Adventurers’ Guild suggested,
“You’re the only one registered as a merchant. Why don’t you quit being an adventurer and work for us as an office clerk?”
He was solicited by the Adventurers’ Guild to quit his job as an adventurer and join them as a clerk.
Even the talented merchant Trao was discouraged by this.
(Maybe it’s impossible for a merchant to be an adventurer after all?)
Finally, Trao decided to give up being an adventurer and went to the Adventurers’ Guild to cancel his registration.
As he approached the reception desk, feeling dejected, someone called out from behind.
“Are you the merchant adventurer? Would you like to join my party?”
Standing there was a blue-haired warrior, about the same age as Trao. Behind him were a priestess and a magician, both girls with the same blue hair.
“Huh? I’m a merchant, is that okay? I hate to say it myself, but I’m not very useful in combat.”
Trao, who had given up on being an adventurer, ended up saying something negative instead of selling himself.
“You’re not completely useless, right? You can at least be in the front line, can’t you?”
“Well, that’s true…”
Trao had been training to join a party, so he could serve on the front line, though not as well as a warrior.
“And you’re good at negotiations and handling money, right? The guild people were praising you.”
Trao had been doing clerical work for the guild to earn daily wages and was highly regarded by the guild staff.
“Yes, I’m good at those things, but…”
“You see, we lack planning skills and always run out of money quickly,”
said the priestess with a troubled face. She had a charming expression.
“We’re all bad at negotiating too. We always get ripped off,”
said the magician with a slightly stern face.
“The three of us are childhood friends, but with just three in a party, we often find ourselves short-handed. We thought you’d be a good fit since you’re about the same age,”
said the blue-haired warrior.
“Are you really sure?”
Trao, who had lost confidence, pressed.
“Of course! We, the Blue Ring, welcome you!”
This was how Trao met Rainer and the others.
With Trao added, the Blue Ring made great strides. Originally, Rainer, Ciel, and Louise were promising youngsters, but they had been struggling due to failures in non-combat areas like money management. Trao skillfully supported them in these aspects.
In combat, Trao held his ground as a frontline fighter.
Knowing he couldn’t match a warrior in sword or spear skills, he trained to use all kinds of weapons.
Of course, he couldn’t match those who specialized in each weapon, resulting in a jack-of-all-trades fighting style. However, he was valued by the Blue Ring members for his ability to switch weapons accurately according to the enemy.
Trao proved that even a merchant could fight.
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One day, Rainer said,
“I have presents for everyone today.”
In his hand was a fine box, the kind used for valuables.
“What did you spend money on, Rainer? I told you countless times not to waste money,”
Trao scolded Rainer.
“No, no, these are necessities,” Rainer said.
When Rainer opened the box, there were four blue metal rings of different sizes.
“These are specialties from our hometown, called ‘Blue Rings.’ It’s also the origin of our party name.”
Trao knew about this metal. It was a specially processed blue metal made in the Kingdom of Lyuze. While beautiful, it wasn’t particularly valuable.
“How are these necessities?”
Trao didn’t think it was something they really needed at all.
“It’ll be proof that we’re comrades, right?”
Rainer grabbed Trao’s right hand and slipped a blue ring onto his middle finger.
“Look, isn’t it nice?”
Trao held up his hand, staring intently at the ring.
The other three also put blue rings on the middle fingers of their right hands.
“Yes, it does feel like we’re comrades,”
Ciel said.
“Rainer, you occasionally make good purchases,” .
Louise seemed to like it too.
“…Yeah, that’s right. Yeah,”
Trao smiled. It wasn’t his usual polite smile, but a carefree one.
“This is indeed a necessity.”
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continue
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The Blue Ring steadily leveled up, finally reaching S-rank.
This was according to Trao’s plan, which suggested they should be able to defeat the Demon Lord in three more years.
“Hey, Trao. How exactly do you plan to defeat the Demon Lord in three years?”
Louise asked during a meal with the whole party in a room at their usual tavern.
Even the Blue Ring members hadn’t been told the specific method to defeat the Demon Lord by Trao.
They hadn’t taken it too seriously because they were half-skeptical of Trao’s plan themselves.
However, everything Trao had said so far had come true. They became A-rank adventurers in the planned period, and then S-rank adventurers too.
Now all party members understood that “Trao only says what he can do.”
“Ah, I’m thinking of gathering legendary equipment,”
Trao answered with a smile.
“Legendary equipment? What kind?”
This time Rainer asked. There are various legends about legendary equipment, so it wasn’t clear which ones he meant.
“First, the sword of God Kusanagi.”
“The sword stuck in Kusanagi’s rock? That sword is famous for being impossible to pull out. Can I do it?”
Rainer didn’t seem confident about pulling out the sword.
“No, that sword is probably impossible. Even Ganon, likely the strongest warrior, couldn’t pull it out,”
Trao easily admitted it was impossible.
“Then what are we going to do?”
Ciel asked.
“Kusanagi is also famous as the god of swordsmiths. So, we’ll have him make a separate sword.”
“Is that possible?”
Louise seemed a bit doubtful of Trao’s story.
“Yeah, according to my information, Kusanagi’s shrine seems to be quite deteriorated. I think it’s probably unbearable for a proud god to stay in such a shrine. So, I’m planning to have him make two swords on the condition that we rebuild the shrine. One for Rainer and one for me.”
“Rebuilding the shrine, how much money is that going to cost?”
Rainer had an exasperated look.
“That’s not all. We’ll probably need orichalcum as material, so it’ll cost even more. Also, I plan to have Kusanagi bestow his blessing on Rainer, so while we’re saving money, I want you to level up as much as possible, okay?”
“Are you serious?”
Rainer laughed. However, it wasn’t a laugh from hearing a joke. It was a resigned laugh, like “If Trao says so, we have no choice but to do it.”
“What’s the other legendary equipment?”
Ciel asked while giving Rainer a sympathetic look.
“After the sword, it’s the shield of God Aegis.”
“Aegis? Isn’t that the god at the bottom of the sea? How do you plan to get there?”
Louise was twirling the fork in her hand.
“I’ve researched various things, but there’s a pill that allows you to breathe underwater, so it’ll be fine.”
“What? That pill is so expensive you could buy a house with one, right? You’re going to prepare four of them?”
“That’s not all. To receive a shield from Aegis, we need offerings. And they have to be first-class works of art. Shields for everyone are essential for countering the Demon Lord, so we need four of those too.”
“…How much money are you planning to use?”
Louise’s expression soured as she considered the amount needed.
“It’s okay, I’m a merchant after all. I’ll definitely manage to raise the necessary amount.”
“What a waste. With that much money, you could live in luxury for life.”
“I can’t gather money for something like that. I’m motivated to gather money because it’s to defeat the Demon Lord,”
Trao smiled.
“Is that why most of our equipment is second-hand? Because you’re saving that money?”
Ciel pinched her priest robe, looking a bit displeased.
“That’s right. We need to save as much money as possible to defeat the Demon Lord as soon as possible.”
“Ugh, I want new equipment,”
Ciel looked at Trao with resentful eyes.
“Also, at Aegis’s place, I plan to have her bestow blessing on Louise, so Louise, make sure to level up by then too.”
“Eh, me too? Well, I guess there’s no helping it…”
Louise looked a bit reluctant at first, then resigned.
“…By any chance, do I need to level up too?”
Ciel asked nervously.
“Of course. The last legendary equipment is the fairy armor. The blessing of Nimue, the fairy who grants the armor, increases affinity with the world and brings gods closer. In other words, it’s compatible with healing magic. Ciel, you’ll need to become worthy enough in Nimue’s eyes too.”
“I thought so…”
Ciel looked a bit disappointed, then smiled as if to show it was a joke.
“The fairy armor, isn’t that the story where you throw armor into the lake and Nimue exchanges it for better armor? Doesn’t it have to be really good armor to become fairy armor?”
Rainer asked.
“Of course! We need four sets of armor too. I plan to prepare high-quality mithril armor for each of us.”
“And you’re going to throw that into the lake?! It’ll be disastrous if Nimue doesn’t show up.”
“It’s called necessary investment. If it goes well, the return will be huge, and if it doesn’t, I’ll have Rainer dive into the lake to retrieve the armor. We might even find other good armor sunk there.”
“In that case, you’re diving in with me!”
When Rainer protested like this, Trao laughed and said,
“Alright, let’s search for armor together then.”
“Hey, Trao.”
On the night they heard the specific plans for defeating the Demon Lord from Trao, Rainer called out to Trao, who was sleeping in the next bed. When the Blue Ring stays at an inn, they split into two rooms, two men and two women.
“What is it?”
“You know, couldn’t you defeat the Demon Lord even without us?”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought that even if Trao had teamed up with a different party, you could still defeat the Demon Lord.”
Trao looked at Rainer. He was staring at the ceiling.
“…I wonder? But you guys were the only ones who accepted me as a comrade, so I can’t imagine being in any party other than Blue Ring.”
“I see.”
After being silent for a while, Rainer spoke again.
“If, hypothetically, we were gone, you’d still defeat the Demon Lord, right?”
“Why?”
Trao sat up in bed and looked at Rainer. Rainer turned towards Trao too.
“It’s just a hypothetical. But well, if the Demon Lord isn’t defeated, everyone will be in trouble, right?”
“That might be true, but…”
After thinking for a bit, Trao said,
“But it’s okay. As long as I’m here, I’ll never let you guys face any danger!”
“…Yeah, you’re always right.”
Rainer muttered as if talking to himself.
This was one year before Trao’s exile.
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