Chapter 88 : Finally Changed Him Back!
The chairman, still very much a frog, adds his own croaking commentary to Gary’s tour of the port.
I guess because I look like a little kid, Gary gives me the express version of the tour, a quick loop around the shipyards and back.
I don’t mind. The sooner we finish, the sooner I can figure out how to turn the frog back into a person.
Huh… Maybe the chairman’s worried I’ll frog-ify his son, too?
Not a chance! I’m still panicking that this spell might be permanent!
Gary tells me a regular wagon will work for the timber I need to move, but a proper logging cart would let me haul longer pieces, which apparently sell for more.
He also warns me to be careful. The port, he says, is a popular spot for kidnapping spellcasters.
“The security here is terrible,” I point out.
The frog lets out a series of apologetic croaks.
Because the ships use sails, anyone who can control the wind is in high demand.
But most mages don’t exactly love the cramped, boring life at sea. If you’re not paying attention, you can get tricked and forced onto a ship.
On top of that, people from the shantytown are regularly rounded up to fill out the crews.
“What? Isn’t that basically slavery?”
The chairman-frog explains with a few more croaks that a lot of the people in the shantytown are peasants who ran away from their villages because they couldn’t pay their taxes.
They don’t have any real skills, so they can’t afford to live in Alina City proper. The whole area has become a hideout for criminals, too, so soldiers conduct regular raids.
When that happens, the real criminals get arrested, and the runaway peasants are more or less forced into service as sailors.
“What about the women and children?” I ask. “What happens to them if their fathers are taken?”
He gives a reluctant-sounding croak. Apparently, there aren’t many women in the shantytown to begin with. The ones who are there, he explains with a few more ribbits, are sold to brothels.
“That’s horrible. And the children?”
He gives a little croaking shrug, and I get it. The girls are sold, and the boys become pickpockets and thieves. That must be why none of them are allowed inside the city walls.
Gary gives me a deeply unsettled look the whole way back to the Marshall Trading Company.
I guess I can’t blame him. I just spent the last hour having a very serious conversation with a frog in a basket.
“I’ll just have a quick word with the chairman in the reception room,” I announce, “and then I’ll head over to the inn where Selina is.”
I need to get Gary out of the room so I can change the chairman back.
I shut the door behind me with a quiet click and place the frog on the pile of clothes I’d left behind the folding screen. Then I step back around to the front of it.
“Turn back into Chairman Willy right this instant♪” I sing. Spells just seem to work better when I sing them.
The words are just new lyrics I made up to an anime theme song from my old life.
A moment later, there’s a heavy thud from behind the screen.
“Aaaah, I’m finally myself again! Wait, I’m completely naked!”
That’s definitely something I don’t need to see. Please get dressed. Fast.
The rustling of fabric stops, and a moment later, Chairman Willy steps out from behind the screen, fully clothed.
“Oh, thank goodness,” I breathe. “I am so, so sorry.”
It’s a huge relief to see with my own eyes that he’s really back to normal. That’s another spell I’m never, ever using again.
“Haaah, it was my fault, too,” Chairman Willy sighs. “I was a fool to mock a witch.”
Is Chairman Willy actually a decent person? If someone turned me into a frog, I’m not sure I’d be this forgiving.
He seems thirsty from all the croaking, so he rings a little bell on the table, and a moment later someone brings us tea.
They bring a cup for me, too, along with a plate of small cakes.
On second thought, it probably would’ve been better to get all those explanations after he was human again.
Now Gary is completely convinced I’m the weirdest little girl in the entire world.
“Could you please, please not tell Selina I turned you into a frog?” I ask. This is super important.
“I wouldn’t dare,” he says, shuddering. “If she found out I’d been rude enough to get myself turned into a frog, she’d probably turn me into a pig.”
A little piglet might be cute, but Chairman Willy looks genuinely terrified.
He mentioned something earlier about almost being turned into roast pork, so she must have chased him all over the place.
A life-or-death game of tag sounds absolutely awful.
See? I’m definitely nicer than Selina. I even put him in a basket to keep him safe.
I nibble on a cookie, take a sip of tea, and sit up straight, ready for some serious business.
But it seems Chairman Willy has completely abandoned any thought of trying to swindle a witch.
“The base price is five silver crowns per tree,” he says. “The price will vary from there, of course, depending on the length and thickness.”
He even hands me a detailed price list. It looks like he’s being totally honest.
“Um, I live pretty far away,” I tell him. “I can probably only make deliveries once or twice a month.”
I’m not about to tell him exactly where I live, of course. Selina’s teleportation spell got us close to the city, but with a horse-drawn wagon, the trip would take at least a week. Maybe even two.
The real problem is, I’d have to come all the way into Alina City and get someone from the company to bring horses out to the woods to pick up the wagon.
If I was in the deep forest, it’d be one thing, but in that little patch of woods… even with a concealment spell, I bet someone gathering firewood would stumble upon it eventually.
“Hmm, twice a month, you say?” I can see the gears turning in his head as he tries to calculate how far away I must live.
“It’s not a good idea to go poking around a witch’s home,” I warn him. “How about we meet the day after the full moon and the day after the new moon?”
It’s a brilliant idea, right? If we set specific days for them to meet me on the road near the woods, I can just leave the wagon and won’t have to go into the city at all.
“Even if it’s raining?” he asks.
Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. Standing around in the rain does sound a little miserable.
“The horses won’t mind a little rain, will they?”
Besides, it should be fine since the road is paved with cobblestones… I think.
“In any case, we can try it and see.”