Leave a comment

「Why did it end up like this…」

Currently, we’re walking through the highway… We just couldn’t take it anymore.
Everytime something happens during work, we keep getting told something like, “The two of you are really amazing” or “That really helped us a lot” or something.¹ There was also that troll incident but the main reason is that ever since we noticed our slight overpoweredness, we’ve begun thinking that we might start getting some disputes from our peers. After all, the amount of work we do is absolutely more compared to other people.

So we decided to leave the town. And as we were wondering where we should go, since we have the chance, we decided to go to the royal capital.

「Hm?」

Feeling a gaze while walking, I turned around and instantly met with Ruti’s eyes. However, she immediately turned away.²

「What is it~?」
「Nothing at all?」

Recently, this kind of conversation has been happening more often. Did I do something?… Maybe she knows that I secretly went out the other day to eat some pancakes.³ But in that case, she would just get mad at me normally, though. Not knowing why she’s acting like this bothers me for some reason.

After repeating this kind of exchange and camping out for one week, we arrived at the royal capital.

Royal Capital Arst. It seems like the royal capital has the same name as the country itself. Unlike Zanbul, the ramparts are firmly built stone walls and there are soldiers patrolling on top of them. There are two layers of these stone walls. In the inner layer of the two stone walls is, maybe for noble use only? Doesn’t look like a place anybody can go inside, though. And in the middle of the city is a castle, and it looks like there’s a moat surrounding it. The main streets leading to the cardinal directions are wide. The size and just about everything is different from Zanbul.

「It’s really big~」
「Well, it’s the royal capital after all. Not only is the city large, it’s populous too.」

Walking through the streets are many people of different diversity. As for the stall shops, well, there’s a lot of them and they’re absolutely bustling with people.
There are even stalls selling food. Since it’s also nearly noon, we decided to take a bite while roaming around.

「Mmm~, this grilled skewer is delicious.」
「Natsuki, I know you like sweets but you really like meat too, huh?」
「Well I am what I am, you know… Also, I was only able to eat meat consistently after I came here too.」
「What kind of life did you even have…」

I couldn’t help it. The meat back then was expensive. Like before payday comes, I only had pasta… Peperoncino is justice.⁴ After roaming around for a while and filling our stomachs, we decided to look for an inn.

Since this time we have some leeway with money, we searched for a mid-tier inn.
Getting a good and comfortable sleep really enriches your life, after all.
And the one that we found was a double room—complete with breakfast and dinner—that’s worth 1 gold coin. It’s twice as expensive as the one before.

「「Woah!」」

Entering inside, it’s really wide. The bed is probably a three-quarter size, I think? The fluffiness is also more than the previous one. Even the tables and furnishings don’t look cheap.

「Did we hit the jackpot again?」
「I think so. But this time, we might be getting more than our money’s worth.」

After this, since we didn’t have any plans, we left our things and went off to relax and take a bath.

「I always think about it, but your skin is really pretty, Natsuki.」
「Hm~hmph~ I know, right? But yours is pretty too, Ruti.」

We talk while sitting beside each other in the bathtub. Both of us have silky smooth skin with no unwanted hair.

「Say, can I touch your skin?」
「? Sure?」

After saying so, Ruti began to touch and squish my arm. Then my belly and hips. It’s a bit ticklish. And then my chest…⁵ Hm?

「…… Ruti?」
「… Ah, sorry.」

She suddenly drew back her now caressing hand. “You can touch your own if you want, you know?” I told her. She replied “Well, that’s not what I wanted to do…” Curse you! So you feel like playing with the have-nots!⁶

「… Well how about you, do you want to touch mine?」
「Uhh… 」

Honestly, I’m curious about how the sensation of the endowed feels…

「Then, just a little bit…」

I gently touch it. It’s an E-cup, I think? Squeeze, squeeze….
… It annoyed me for some reason, so I accidentally put more strength on my hand.

「Mn… ah」
「…… Sorry.」⁷

The mood turned pretty weird. Feeling awkward, I pulled my hand back.

「W-why don’t we finish up?」
「Ah… Yeah.」

In the end, still in an awkward mood, we silently returned to our room.

The next morning, probably since we had a good rest from the fatigue of the long trip, we’re not in an awkward mood anymore.⁸

「Well then, why don’t we go to the Union today?」

Though we do have some money left still, it’s not like we can just rest forever. We need to find work to keep on staying in this inn too.
And so we went to the Union and looked through their binders.

「… Isn’t the hunting request a little to few?」

The hunting and extermination requests that were plentiful in Zanbul practically don’t exist here. And the only ones available are, say, stray dog extermination for example. The stray dog requests don’t even give good rewards and we can’t possibly eat that too.

「Perhaps it’s because we’re far from the forest, this place is quite peaceful. It might also be due to having a good circulation of meat and materials in the market.」

So we can’t go for our specialty, huh~. Since we have no other choice, we decided to look for a day-to-day job request.
Probably because there’s a lot of shops in the capital, there’s much more of them compared to Zanbul.

「It’s really different depending on the place.」
「It’s that kind of setting that makes it interesting. Ah, what about these ones?」
「For restaurants, huh?」

It’s the “Currently Hiring Hall Staff!” thing in my old world. So there really are things like these here as well.

「Hmm, this one pays especially well.」

Saying so, Ruti shows me a cafe’s hall staff application. Even compared to other restaurant-type requests, it pays really well.

「There’s nothing wrong with the time too, so this should be nice. Then let’s try this out.」

This is my first non-hunting work in this world. I just hope that there won’t be people complaining.⁹

1. Lyly: Lol, guilt trip
2. Lyly: huehuehue
3. Lyly: Lol
   Silva: Or maybe what happened in 12.5?
   Fire: Nah, it’s definitely the pancakes
4. Lyly: Broke (ex)boi
5. Lyly: Eh?
6. Lyly: Natsuflat
   Fire: Flatsuki
7. Lyly: ….
   Fire: Well, uhh… That just happened
8. Lyly: Good for you, for now
   Fire: It will be awkward again sooner or later
9. Lyly: Don’t jinx the Karen, Natsuki.
   Silva: But what if Natsuki is good at cooking? Plot Twist!
   Fire: She does have some experience cooking. She could also make a show with her Breath. Just hope it doesn’t burn down the store.