TERNLF Vol. 1 Chapter 3 Part 1

Full title: The Exiled Reincarnated Noble Lives Freely

Note: If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write them in the comment. Thanks.

Translator: Canon

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◆Chapter 3◆

“Why did you give Grassa that cursed item?”

About ten days had passed since we rescued Grassa and the others and returned to the royal capital.

Grassa and I had gone to the Blackra Trading Company—the place where she had supposedly received the cursed pendant—to hear their side of the story.

Why were we in such a place to begin with?

The reason went back to the day that incident had occurred.

—

That day, after discussing what to do next, we decided that Nikka would focus entirely on treating Edra.

Meanwhile, Grassa and I would investigate the origin of the cursed item, starting with the store run by the acquaintance who had given her the necklace: the Blackra Trading Company.

Apparently, the Blackra Trading Company had rapidly risen to prominence over the past decade.

Back when I had lived in the royal capital, it had been a privately-run storefront I hadn’t even heard of, but now it ranked among the city’s top trading houses.

In truth, I had wanted to come here and question them about the cursed item as soon as we returned to the capital.

However, since Opos and the others had requested support from the Guild, we ended up spending several days at the temporary Guild Home assisting with their investigation.

That inquiry, though, hadn’t been entirely unproductive.

We were granted a reward for discovering the dungeon.

Of course, it had been Edra and the rest of Windfang who originally found it, but as thanks for rescuing them, Nikka and I received a portion of the reward.

Dungeons were treasure troves that produced all sorts of valuable resources.

If someone discovered one and chose not to report it to the Guild, they could monopolize those resources and potentially earn a massive profit.

But that was an incredibly risky gamble.

Clearing a dungeon and extracting resources without support meant facing dangerous monsters—or Guardians like the Tauros from before—without any backup.

If something happened and the Guild hadn’t been informed, no one would come to help, and no compensation would be provided.

That was why most people who discovered a new dungeon chose to report it to the Guild or to the authorities.

Naturally, there were always some reckless fools who tried to hoard the information.

To prevent the number of adventurer casualties from rising, the Guild had instituted a policy of rewarding first discoverers.

The reward typically consisted of a share of the profits from the dungeon’s resource sales over a set period.

The duration and percentage varied depending on the nation, territory, and the dungeon’s condition, but most commonly, it meant a one-year period and about one percent of the Guild-handled proceeds.

One percent might have sounded small, but over the course of a year, dungeon resources could yield a considerable profit.

For high-ranking adventurer parties, it might not have been especially attractive, but for mid-tier adventurers, it was enough to live comfortably for years.

Since adventurers had no stable source of income, even a guaranteed payout that required no effort was quite appealing.

This time, Nikka and I were granted a portion of that right.

The paperwork had been tedious and time-consuming, but with unexpected expenses having drained my wallet, there was no way I could afford to refuse.

Still, I hadn’t expected the process to take ten whole days.

At long last, with everything wrapped up, we finally arrived at the Blackra Trading Company.

“Quite the fancy place.”

I had been shown into a reception room filled with expensive-looking furnishings, and I wandered around, picking up a few pieces to examine them.

“T-Toa! What are you doing?! What if you break something by handling it so carelessly?!”

Grassa—ever the modest commoner—panicked at my behavior.

“I’d just laugh it off.”

“That wouldn’t work, obviously!”

Though she had been rather reserved with me at first, she now spoke to me no differently than she did with Nikka.

“You really think so?”

“Of course I do!”

I found her reaction so amusing that I couldn’t resist teasing her.

“The guy who brought us in told us to sit and wait, didn’t he?”

Her face turned bright red, looking as if steam might burst from the top of her head at any moment.

“Fine, fine. I’ll behave and sit quietly.”

I exaggerated a shrug, then plopped myself down right in the center of a luxurious-looking sofa.

“If you sit right in the middle, there’s no space for me! Move over, come on.”

As she said that and shoved me aside, the gloomy expression she’d worn on the way here had vanished from her face.

“Looks like she’ll be fine.”

Given the meeting we were about to have, it was only natural for her to be nervous.

But in that state, she might make a mistake when it mattered most.

That was half the reason I’d been acting silly in front of Grassa; to help her relax.

“…The other half is because her reactions are hilarious.”

“Did you say something?”

“Nope, nothing at all. Anyway, it looks like someone’s here.”

My expression turned serious in an instant as I turned my eyes toward the door.

Clack.

“Thank you for saving Grassa.”

That was the first thing the man said as he entered the room.

He wore a gentle expression and, in contrast to the flashy furnishings, dressed in subdued clothing.

But to someone like me, who had once been a noble, it was clear that everything he wore was absurdly high-class.

“Ah, where are my manners? I am Lakkra, the chairman of the Blackra Trading Company.”

Despite the fine clothes, he gave the impression of a perfectly ordinary, kindly old man.

That was the first impression I had of him.

“I’m Toa, an adventurer. I’d like to get straight to the point, if you don’t mind.”

“I believe you wanted to ask about the pendant I gave to Grassa, yes?”

Saying that, he sat down across from us.

“You look like a busy man, so I’ll be direct.”

I explained the entire situation to Lakkra and ended with a firm question.

“Why did you give Grassa a cursed item? …To be honest, I suspect you handed her that pendant knowing exactly what it was.”

“Absolutely not. I truly had no idea it was cursed.”

Lakkra showed no hint of guilt or discomfort.

I dropped the polite tone and pressed him with a sharper edge in my voice.

“Not knowing doesn’t excuse anything. We were lucky to discover it before Nikka left the capital, but what if it had been too late? How would you take responsibility then?”

“I don’t see how I’m responsible. When Miss Grassa came into the store, she was eyeing that pair of pendants like she really wanted them. I simply gave her one as a gift. You’ve got no right to talk to me about responsibility.”

Lakkra gestured toward the two pendants I had placed on the table as evidence.

“That pendant was mixed in with some junk an adventurer dropped off. I had no idea it was a cursed item or anything like that.”

“So you’re saying you handed it over without even checking what it was?”

“No. That wasn’t even part of the purchase appraisal. I was told it was worthless.”

Indeed, the pendant’s craftsmanship left much to be desired.

It clearly wasn’t something fit to sell in a proper store.

“The adventurer who brought it in claimed to have made it himself, but the quality was so poor we didn’t bother buying it, let alone putting it up for sale. Who would’ve guessed that such a shoddy thing could be a cursed item?”

“So you’re insisting that you gave it to Grassa without knowing what it was?”

“Of course. I only gave it to her out of kindness, she’s the daughter of an old friend I used to do business with. Had I known this would turn into such a hassle, I’d never have bothered with such charity.”

Lakkra muttered that last part bitterly under his breath, clearly annoyed.

“If you’re going that far to insist on your innocence, then fine. Tell me the name of the adventurer who brought it in.”

“And why would you want that?”

“I’ll report it to the Guild. If they determine the item caused serious harm, they’ll help track the person down.”

I recalled the damages claimed against Nikka.

Even if no actual harm had occurred yet, if something that endangered adventurers was involved, the Guild would take action—

Especially when it came to cursed items, which were nothing but trouble for most adventurers.

“…I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t record the name of the adventurer who brought it in.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

For a moment, I felt my blood boil.

But then I remembered, unlike my previous world, this one didn’t require ID checks for low-value trades.

Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to believe this man’s excuse.

If he was just going to brush us off, maybe I should resort to force—

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

“Ah, but now that you mention it…”

Lakkra spoke as if he’d just remembered something.

“There might have been something with a name on it in the box of junk that adventurer left behind.”

“A box?”

“As I said earlier, he brought in a large number of low-value items. It was a hassle to appraise them all, so I told my staff to toss everything that didn’t seem worth anything into a spare box and store it somewhere.”

He paused, then pulled out a notebook and began flipping through it, muttering, “Which warehouse was it again…”

“Ah, here we go. Looks like the box is in Warehouse No. 3 in the warehouse district.”

The warehouse district was located at the edge of the capital, where dozens of storage buildings were lined up.

“I’ll inform the staff, so why don’t you go take a look for yourself?”

Lakkra closed his notebook and stood up as he spoke.

“As you can see, I’m a very busy man. I don’t have time to sit here chatting with you any longer.”

Leaving us with that, he exited the reception room.

—

“So this is Warehouse No. 3.”

“There’s barely anyone around here… kinda creepy, don’t you think?”

The area where the warehouse stood was filled with old, crumbling buildings; some with roofs caved in or walls falling apart.

There was hardly a soul in sight, which made it clear that this part of the district was no longer in active use.

I glanced at the door of the run-down building before us, double-checking the number.

“Doesn’t look like there’s any other candidates. This should be it.”

I muttered to myself as I looked up at the large delivery door marked with the number “3.”

“Think we’re allowed to just go in?”

“Uncle Lakkra said he’d notify them… but I don’t see anyone who looks like they work here.”

Grassa had been pacing back and forth in front of the warehouse, trying to peer inside.

But from the outside, it was impossible to get a good look.

“Someone’s probably inside, right?”

I walked over to the smaller side door next to the main delivery entrance and tried the knob.

“It’s not locked, so I guess he really did notify them.”

“Seems like it.”

In any case, we had come this far. We couldn’t leave without checking the box supposedly stored in Warehouse No. 3.

I opened the door and called out.

“Excuse me, anyone here?”

Inside was dark, and the only light came from slivers of sunlight filtering through the windows.

Illuminated in that dim space were scattered boxes and what looked like broken equipment.

From somewhere deep inside, a voice called out, “Mr. Toa, correct? We’ve been notified. I’ve placed the box you’re looking for over here, so please come in.”

It was probably a warehouse worker employed by the Blackra Trading Company.

“Understood! Sorry for the trouble!”

I didn’t like Lakkra, but the staff were another matter.

Doing my best to sound polite, I called back, then turned to Grassa.

“Looks like someone from the company’s already set things up for us.”

We stepped into the warehouse together.

Unlike the bright outdoors, the interior was quite dark.

It wasn’t too bad for me, but Grassa seemed to be having trouble navigating.

I made sure not to leave her behind as we moved deeper inside.

“Where’s the box?”

“A little farther in.”

I still couldn’t see the person who’d spoken, but my eyes had adjusted enough to make out our surroundings.

Most of the boxes and equipment I’d glimpsed through the door were either broken or unusable.

In fact, it would be more accurate to call this a junkyard than a warehouse.

Just as Lakkra had said, it seemed the items brought in by that adventurer really were mostly worthless.

Which was probably why they ended up stored in a dump like this.

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