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Since Rir was likely asleep, I quietly unlocked the door and went inside. As predicted, the curtains were closed, and I could see someone lying on the bed.

Good, she’s gettin’ some proper rest. I mean, I’m ready to eat lunch, but it’s only around 10 am, ain’t it? I better let her sleep some more. In that case, there’ nothin’ to do until noon… Maybe I’ll do another request, or not.

While thinking that, I was about to slowly close the door.

“…woof~¹… phew~… Master?”

Damn, I accidentally woke her up. Sorry ’bout that.

“My bad, I was tryin’ to leave quietly, but looks like I ended up wakin’ you.”
“Heh-heh, wolfkin have good ears and noses, you know? Even if you’re careful, it’ll wake me from a light sleep like the one just now. Don’t feel bad, Master, to begin with, it’s not my place to complain, should you wake me.”

Rir stood up, rubbing her eyes, and opened the curtains.

Hm~, as I thought, the clothin’ in this world shows a lot of skin, y’know… Sure, there’s the clothes I chose, but it’s not just those. It was the same with the girls at the counters and people walkin’ around town. The stuff Rir uses as pajamas got in disarray and… she’s lookin’ like the last thing a healthy high school boy like me should be lookin’ at. Let’s try to stare at her as little as possible.

“Ah… erm, I see. But still, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Master… Incidentally, did you become an adventurer?”
“Well, yeah. I did.”
“Will you be going to work, then?”
“No, I’m already done for today, y’see.”
“That fast? That’s amazing. How did it go? Will you be able to make ends meet on your own?”
“Well… I’ve already earned quite a bit…”

When I told her that, Rir’s eyes went round.

“That’s incredible…!?”
“Ha-ha, I guess? On that note, I also suddenly got promoted to D-Rank.”
“Woof~!? Incredible, you’re amazing, Master!”

I got carried away and ended up telling her about my promotion. Maybe because it surprised her so much, I could see her tail wagging excitedly under her skirt, her eyes turned into perfect circles, and her ear stood up straight. How should I put it… it looked cute… I guess?

“Yep, so that should give you the peace of mind to rest for two more days. If I manage a constant income, we might even rent a house.”
“Rent a house… that’d be great.”
“Ha-ha, yeah.”

On second thought, livin’ under the same roof with a girl your age sounds kinda iffy from a moral standpoint, but I’m not gonna worry ’bout that. Hm? That wouldn’t be different from how it’s currently…? Well, it’s a matter of feelin’.

“That said, you should go back to sleep, y’know. I’ll take a look around town and do another job until noon.”
“…Is there truly nothing I can do for you right now, Master? I’ll do anything, you know?”
“It’s fine. Right, is there somethin’ you’d like to eat?”

When I asked her that, Rir went still and seemed to think for a bit.
Oh, does this mean that there is somethin’ she wants to eat? That’s a good trend.

“Is it truly alright if I request something of you, Master?”
“Yep, that’s fine. You can say whatever you want, y’know.”
“T-Then, erm… When I was about to fall asleep, my ears picked up the words of someone talking outside. There’s apparently something called a ‘Sandwich’ that’s popular among the commoners. It’s supposed to be delicious… Before, I never had any appetite, but maybe thanks to you, Master, I think there’s something I’d like to eat for the first time in several years.”

So, sandwiches have shown up recently, too. This world’s behind the one I’m from after all, ain’t it? I’m not some hillbilly on anthin’, y’know.
In any case, sandwiches… They’re just vegetables and ham between slices of bread, ain’t they? Maybe they sell them at a bakery.

“Understood, I’ll go buy some.”
“Thank you… Master!”
“Nah, it’s all good.”

I went outside again.
Now, what do I do…? I’ve got two hours.

Requests from D-Rank and up apparently took from one day up to a week, if it went poorly. There were some that could even take a year.
I probably shouldn’t take any D-Rank requests for now. For the time bein’, guess I’ll do some E-Rank ones.

I went to the guild and looked for a suitable request. You could apparently choose them from those stuck to something like a notice board, or by asking the receptionists.

I found a good job. Extermination of goblins. Surprisingly, it was a D-Rank request. Obviously, the corpses of the defeated goblins belonged to the adventurer who beat them. This job was apparently a permanent request from the guild, or rather, the country itself. I took it.

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I got the request done without any particular incidents. It took me around two and a half hours. I didn’t find many of them and ended up with just seven goblins. As for what I earned, the money from the corpses and the magic cores totaled up to 5000 bells. Since I defeated them with Fireballs, the condition of the corpses was apparently poor.

I got a bit lost on the way, bought sandwiches at a bakery, and returned to the inn.

“I’m back,” I called out.

It looked like Rir was lying on the bed with the curtains still open, though she wasn’t sleeping. She looked my way.

“Welcome home, Master.”

Hm~… From how it looks, she probably won’t be able sleep constantly while I’m workin’. I gotta buy a book soonish.

“Say, Rir. You don’t have anythin’ to do, don’t you?”
“Mh… well, somewhat. But it’s not that I’m selfish.”
“Is that so? Don’t hold back. If there’s somethin’ you want…”
“…I’ll think about it.”

I brought out two sandwiches from the magic bag and gave one of them to her.

“It’s lunch.”
“Thank you. So that’s those sandwiches I’ve heard about before… It’s just slices of bread with vegetables in between them, right?”
“Yup, that’s it.”

Rir slowly brought the sandwich to her mouth and took a bite. She chewed on it and, though she had some difficulties, seemed to be able to swallow it.

“It’s interesting.”
“Hm? How so?”
“Even though it’s just vegetables stuffed between two slices of bread, it turns it into a proper meal.”
“Oh, that’s true, I guess.”

At any rate, Rir sure heals at a fast pace. I expected it to take longer… Is it because of individual differences or because she’s a beastfolk? I ain’t no expert, so I ain’t got no clue.

We finished eating our sandwiches, me in about five minutes, and Rir in 30.

“Woof… Thank you for the meal. Will you go and do another job, Master?”
“Nah… I’ve already earned enough money today, so… I’m done with work. Rir, could you tell me somethin’ ’bout you?”
“Something about me… you mean before I became a slave…? Ah, hang on, that wouldn’t be a good idea. It would only end up ruining your good mood, Master. Besides…”

Rir started trembling a little. It was probably something she didn’t want to recall.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. You don’t have to think ’bout somethin’ painful.”
“I-I’m very sorry.”
“Why are you apologizin’?”
“Eh… ah, no… erm… ha-ha, I’m not sure.”

Havin’ said that… Considerin’ sandwiches and Reversi were recently invented, the people of this world shouldn’t know anythin’ ’bout Earth. So, even if I told her ’bout me, it would just be like some fairy tale. Somethin’ like a bullet train would probably sound completely impossible to her².

…What do I tell her? From now on, I’ll live at least several days with her. And still, I’m havin’ trouble lookin’ at her, and on top of that if I can’t even hold a simple conversation, I won’t even get up to the “c” in “communication”³.

This is a pain. On closer thought, I never talked to any girls other than Mika and Sakura… some juniors in my clubs, and several girls in my class…

“What are you making such a serious face for?”
“Ah, well… it’s nothin’. I was just thinkin’ ’bout what to do until we go to sleep, y’know.”
“Is that so? In that case, couldn’t you go outside to kill time?”
“If I do that, you won’t have anythin’ to do here, Rir.”
“That’s true, but…”

Now, what is there to do…?

TL notes:
This chapter marks the end of volume 9 (at least on Syosetsu, not sure where the actual break was supposed to be, probably after side story 5).

Same as with Reversi last chapter, we can see Alim’s influence spreading through Anazumu, even to countries that are on bad terms with Mephilad. It makes you wonder why Shuu doesn’t pick up on it not only being the same game/food as the stuff on Earth, but also having the exact same name, which should be a strong indication of outside influence in its creation. But I guess it’s possible that he chalks it up to whatever translator microbes Jizou (or some other god) installed in them simply using terms he’s familiar with.

1. I was kinda torn if I should go with the original and have her bark like a dog or have her howl like a wolf. Only, having her howl reminded me too much of Noela from Drugstore in another World, which completely ruined the mental image I had of Rir, so I decided to go with the bark.
2. Why not just try it? They have crazy magic in that world, so a fast vehicle shouldn’t be unthinkable.
3. The original uses the expression コミュニケーションのコの字 (“Ko of komyunikeeshon”). Thanks to Kemm for explaining how that works.