Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

“Welner, you’re really weird.”

“Don’t call me weird.”

I requested Luguentz to select the mercenaries and adventurers who are tight-lipped and used to traveling for an escort mission.
We also agree to inform Gekke-san too.

After we explained our purpose for looking for escorts to Luguentz and ask for her cooperation with Mazell, Luguentz said ‘I’m looking forward to Mazell’s growth’ The famous game line and left.

And now, Mazell started to call me weird.

“I only said the truth you know.
You’ve memorized towns’ position on the continent.
As for me, I‘ve never even looked at a map.”

“I didn’t memorize all of them.”

Rather than ‘I didn’t memorize’ it’s more accurate to say ‘I forgot’.
No one can perfectly remember the game they’ve played 30 years ago.

Well if it’s only the rough location of towns where a game event happened or towns where you can buy some good equipment I still remember it.
It’s really just a rough location.
Something around the level ‘go straight, turn left, turn right, then cross the river and you’re there!’ but it’s still better than nothing.

I remember complaining the King didn’t even provide a map to the hero.
I ended up relying on a strategy book, since at the time internet still didn’t exist.

When I come to this world, I was told that an accurate map is a national secret because making it known can be dangerous for the nation’s defense.
That’s how I understand why the hero in the game isn’t given any map.

Still, having a map is important.
That’s why I worked really really hard to dig through my memory and created a rough map of the continent.

When I began to create the map, I noticed that many towns isn’t featured in the game.
Ah, no, it’s the opposite.
Towns that are featured in the game are only the towns where some kind of game event will take place.

The Zeavert’s household county also didn’t appear in the game.
I originally thought because it’s located in the countryside, but the real reason is probably that it has no relation to any game events.

There were also no events where the hero party greets the territory lord when they visited towns.
As for an event that takes place in a territory lord’s mansion… There was one.
It was in a town where the lord had been replaced by a devil.

Other towns where none of the game events takes place are completely erased from the game by the developer.
That’s why I’m not only relying on the game’s knowledge to create this map but also on my own knowledge after living in this world. 

Luguentz mentioned that my map can be sold for quite a fortune.
I don’t plan to sell it since I know it’s going to be troublesome.

“But Welner, where are we going to get the money?”

“My house will pay it first.
After that, I will make the kingdom fork out the money.”

“How do you even make the kingdom fork out money…”

Mazell commented with a wry smile.
It’s an understandable reaction.
But realistically, the kingdom will have no choice but to take action in the end.

I didn’t come up with this idea on my own.
I consulted with father and got his approval.
It’s because I told him it’s related to the Crown Prince’s request though.
As a minister, father knows about the demon king’s revival.

“Anyway, I’ll do my job here, so Mazell, you’d better work hard on your training.”.

“All right.”

That’s right.
Everything will end if the hero party defeats the demon king.

I kind of understand why people in a story often just wait for a hero to come.
After all, it’s easier to just wait for a person that can just solve every troublesome thing, rather than doing it yourself.

This kind of ‘waiting for hero’ mindset is for a good-for-nothing person.
In a sense, I, who is also waiting for Mazell and his party to defeat the demon king can perhaps be categorized as a good-for-nothing.
I don’t have any choice.
I don’t have enough skill to defeat the demon king with Mazell and his party.
If I try, I’m going to hinder them instead.
That’s why I’ll do what I can do here.

“If you go south until you reach a river then go east you will find a forest on your left side.
Inside that forest, there’s a small old shrine.
I heard demons often appeared in that shrine.
How about testing your skill there?”

“Alright.
It’s a good chance for me to train so I can be in sync with Luguentz-san.
I’ll go there when I don’t have any classes.”

“Ok.
Be careful.”

In the early game that ancient shrine is the best farming spot.
The drops aren’t great but the encounter rate is high so the amount of experience per minute is great compared to other early game farming spots.

By the way, in this world, a week is also divided into seven days.
The name of the days is based on different kinds of activities.
Those days are Farm&Fish, Trade, Blacksmith, Hunt&Rear, Art, Ritual, and Nativity.
For some reason, forestry is included in the Hunting&Raisingday.

Nativityday is equivalent to Sunday.
There is also a belief that a certain day is auspicious to do a certain activity.
For example, it’s auspicious to do a musical performance on Artday or wedding ceremonies on the Ritualday.
Welp, I went off the topic.

Anyway, while Mazell and Luguentz are busy getting real-world fighting experience, I need to solve several things.