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The next morning, I woke up when the sky was still dim. You could say that I got up very early. Why? Of course, it’s to dig the bamboo shoots.

Lily and Arisa… yeah, they were sleeping. I tried to call them, but they didn’t seem like they would wake up any time soon. Forcing them to get up would be troublesome, so I probably should just go alone. Well, Norn and Bell were coming with me, though. And if things get rough, I had this freshly made magic armor with me.

I changed my clothes quickly using [Storage], making sure I wouldn’t wake the girls up. With my cloak and my muffler, I finished turning into a suspicious person! Ah, my glasses too!

When I got out of the room and went down to the first floor, the inn’s staff sitting at the counter was already awake. They must be keeping watch throughout the night.

I slightly bowed to them and left the inn, heading to the back of the building. After picking Norn and Bell, I went straight to the entrance of the town. Well, it’s actually just a gate. But there was a guardhouse nearby, and the gate could be closed. In a sense, what I said was right.

The gatekeeper was surprised since it was still too early in the morning, but they let me pass through without giving me any particular problem. And so, I moved to the bamboo grove while straddling Norn at high speed. I had to dig bamboo shoots as fast as I could!

We ended up arriving at the bamboo grove in such a short time! I also knew I was being too hasty since it had only been less than thirty minutes since I woke up, but I had to prioritize delicious food over anything else.

Anyway, I used [Detection] around the place where I found the bamboo shots yesterday. Yep, they were here. Bamboo grew fast, so it was fine to pick a lot of it… Under my selfish and unreasonable logic, I collected around 90% of everything edible in my storage. My appetite had the right to decide!

Now then, let’s dig the bamboo with my own hands… See, I used [Storage] to collect most of the bamboo shoots to secure my stock. Even so, I would do the actual labor properly, okay? This was my first time digging bamboo shoots in this world, plus having experience in everything wouldn’t hurt.

Having decided so, I took out my self-made hoe. Umm… Ah, it’s here. I swung the hoe, then huft! Got one! Okay, let’s continue! Eh… that one? Sure, here we go.

Lily and Arisa came running when I had dug around five. Hey, both of you were late, you know?

“Ren, why didn’t you wake us up!?”
“So heartless…”

Ehh, I woke you up, though? Even if it’s only once.

“I tried to. But you two wouldn’t wake up, so I gave up. Digging bamboo shoots was a game against the time.”
“Uu, if you say that…”
“Lily. Rather than that, we need to know how to dig it.”
“Ah, right! Ren! Please tell us what we should do!”

Well, I told them that this was a game against time… Plus both of them were motivated, so I pulled myself together and taught them how to find and dig up bamboo shoots, then I handed them a hoe. Work hard~

Hmm, now that they were digging the bamboo shoots, I should prepare breakfast.

The first thing I made was bamboo shoot sashimi. Our bamboo shoots were fresh, so we could afford to eat them like this. It didn’t take much to make too.

First, I boiled the water. Then I took out one freshly picked bamboo shoot and peeled it. Next, I sliced the soft edible part thinly.

These slices could be eaten as it was. Even so, eating everything like this would cause some of it to turn bitter, so I only served some of it and soaked the rest in the water for around five minutes to make it easy to eat. And that’s it.

That’s the only part that could be eaten like this. Later, I would remove the lye and use the rest to make another dish. But I had no time to do that now. In the first place, it’s impossible to cook in a place like this.

I also had to prepare wasabi soy sauce. Wasabi grew in the upper stream of the forest river where I secluded myself after that accident, so making it wouldn’t be a problem. Just scrape it off. Then make the soy sauce.

After that… Hmm, should I make vinegared miso? Mix vinegar, miso, and mustard at a 1:1:1 ratio, and it’s done. And then… Let’s finish here for now. Making too many things at once was troublesome anyway.

Then, I prepared the staple food. Umm, since we had bamboo shoots as the ingredient, let’s go with Japanese food. I already had cooked rice in my [Storage], so I took them out and made rice balls with it. I grilled them using a net, applied soy sauce and soup stock, then grilled it again.

For the soup… hmm, miso soup should be enough. The ingredients were self-made tofu and green onions.

Mmm… Bamboo shoot sashimi wouldn’t be enough as the main dish, so let’s cook some rolled eggs.

Yeah, well… that should be it.

When I turned back to call Lily and Arisa, they were already waiting for me. Hey, could you at least call me if you were done…? Huh, I guess it’s not a big deal.

I spotted some bamboo shoots at their feet. One, two, three… six? I stored them all in [Storage]. Good work, everyone.

“Let’s have breakfast now.”
“Yay! Food!”
“Wahh, they look delicious!”

And that’s how we immediately took a piece of the bamboo shoot sashimi, dipped it in the wasabi soy sauce, and ate it. Munch, munch… It had a good smell. I also liked the texture.

“What’s with this texture… So satisfying…”
“The taste is light, but the smell is nice.”
“This is miso… sauce?”
“I modified it a bit.”
“Hmmm! The combination fits well!”

Oh, it seemed like they liked it a lot. Now then, would you like to have a taste of the side dish for the rice balls?

“Is this an omelet?”
“Lily! You’re wrong! This is something completely different, okay!? What is this! Amazing! Delicious!”
“Eh, Arisa? Does it taste that good?”
“Wow! I like this! I like it so much!”

Oh… Speaking of which, this should be their first time eating a rolled egg, huh? I know it’s delicious, but I didn’t expect this kind of reaction…

“Eh!? What is this! This is not an omelet!? Eh, it’s delicious!?”
“This rice is delicious too! I never thought rice could taste this good… I feel like my world has expanded!”

Hmm, the soy sauce-grilled rice balls were also popular. I personally find the taste quite different, though… What went wrong? The variety? If only I could see the rice fields where the rice was cultivated… I wanted to know the difference. After all, I’m Japanese.

Rolled egg, rice ball, and bamboo shoot sashimi plus miso soup in between. Naturally, they also liked the miso soup. We finished eating in no time. Yep, happy smiles during meals and satisfied faces. I wanted to see this!

“…Being this happy early in the morning…”
“This is bad…”

Umm, it affected them a bit too much, huh? I probably should refrain from serving Japanese food… Anyway, come back to your senses quickly, okay?

In the end, we took a break until both of them recovered themself, waiting until our stomach had digested the food. It was already quite late when we headed to the guild. Muu.

We returned to the town at once and went straight to the adventurer’s guild. I took Norn and Bell inside and went to the bulletin board… but it was more crowded than our expectation. I didn’t think we could get to the front of the bulletin board. How many adventurers were staying in this town? Weren’t they a little too many?

Mumumu, waiting like this would be pointless. How about making Norn push through?

“….It’s not like we want to accept difficult requests, so let’s wait until it’s less crowded.”
“Okay…”

Well, that’s how it went. Both Lily and Arisa already reached D rank, but I was still E rank. There was no point in overdoing it.

We watched the adventurers taking the request form, looking surprised at Norn and Bell when they turned back to bring the form to the reception desk, and fearfully went out after accepting the request. After thirty minutes, the bulletin board was finally vacant.

…It wasn’t that different from when we came in yesterday afternoon. What should we do now?

“…Anyhow, this is the first time I’m taking a request, so let’s start from the basics. How about exterminating goblins?”
“…Sure.”
“I’m okay with anything.”

Arisa… no, this is fine. Please stay that way.

And this was my first subjugation request. We started from the basics, going for goblins. I actually had participated in many subjugations secretly from time to time, but this was the first time I took the request through the guild properly.

Then we went outside the town again. Time to work.

But then, there weren’t that many details on what we had to do specifically since this seemed to be a permanent goblin extermination request. In conclusion, we should just defeat a lot of them.

Thankfully, the spotted locations were disclosed to the public, so we proceed to the depths of the forest following that information. We kept moving for around an hour before we took a short break. Well, I was riding Norn so I wasn’t tired at all. Please don’t say this was unfair. This was the privilege of a tamer with a rideable familiar.

“We should be encountering them soon. Ren, what’s your plan?”
“Right… I’ll take out my armor now.”
“…Are you using that?”
“I plan to. I want to operate it in actual battle and collect data to improve it.”
“Hmm… Ren will have an impregnable defense with that, but…”
“Lily, we’re probably the only ones around here. We’ll be fine.”

Yeah, that’s right. I couldn’t find other adventurers with Norn’s [Detection] and my [Sign Detection]. I could sense that there were only monsters all around so there was no risk of getting witnessed. Rather, it would be more dangerous for me if I didn’t equip the armor soon. Arisa knew that after looking at my attitude without needing me to say anything. She was really amazing.

I nodded once to Lily, who glanced at me. Lily should understand this.

“…I understand. Then, Ren should get on that armor… Right, Norn is the best at scouting compared to all of us, right? Let’s have her lead us to the goblins.”
“What’s the plan once we encounter the enemy?”
“Norn will retreat, switching her position with Bell. The vanguards are Arisa and Bell like our training. I will support the vanguards behind them. Basically, I’m buffing them while watching the situation, attacking if there’s a chance. Ren and Norn are our back up, going forward as last resort. I don’t think Ren will have to fight since we’re only going against goblin, but we can’t be sure. It’s not impossible to encounter a herd of them and get overwhelmed.”
“Sounds good. Then let’s go with that. Arisa, any opinion?”
“Nope. Lily is in charge of the strategy planning, so leaving it to her should be fine.”

…I see. This was the reason Arisa stopped thinking, huh. But it was amazing that Arisa could move according to the strategy Lily made. Rather, there were times where she needed to think during battle, so let’s not force her more than necessary…

“Arisa will tell us if she’s bothered with something, so please don’t make that kind of face…”
“…I think I should also give opinions in the future.”
“Can you please? There’s a limit to how much I can see, so…”

Somehow, I have a feeling that I’ll be in charge of the strategy planning soon… Well, I’m fine with it, though?