Leave a comment

「uuuuo…」
「Lily, Are you okay?」
「I’m okay… I’m okay…」

Urania and I are currently traveling by coach. Based on previous experience, I tried spending a lot of money to buy cushions, but the only comfortable ride was on the first day. Since the second day, I couldn’t stand sitting for a long period of time; as the cushion shifts every time the coach shakes, I feel uncomfortable.

As a result, I was frustrated with the comfort of the cushion, so I took off the cushion, and my butt became painful as I shifted repeatedly. On the third day, I perfected the cushion. It wasn’t because I was embarrassed with the other passengers watching me shifting it around.

As you can tell from the flow of the story, the coach we are riding is not the stagecoach bound for the Abyssal Forrest. This is the fifth day our coach has shaken from Motsi to the northwest; towards our destination, Gateskeep town.

Although the size of the city itself is slightly smaller than that of Motsi, Gateskeep is said to be the holy land for adventurers because of its four dungeons in the east, west, north, and south.

Perhaps because of that, Gateskeep’s adventurer guild is larger than the one in Motsi, and it seems there are many permanent staff members stationed there as well. Since there’s an examiner who oversees the Promotion Exam, adventurers who belong to the guilds of the surrounding towns are regularly taken to Gateskeep town to take the test there.

「Haa, well but, the move is over for today.」
「Nn, I’ll make food.」
「I leave it to you. I’ll go prepare the tent (bed).」

The coach used this time is a long-distance coach traveling between Motsi and Gateskeep. There is a village in between, but it isn’t suitable for lodging because it’s a little far from the main road. For this reason, there are several unmanned inn towns between Motsi and Gateskeep so it was decided that we’ll be using those.

Of course, there is no room for all the passengers, so additional fees are required to use the inn. It wasn’t an amount we couldn’t pay but we decided to do something ourselves, put up a tent and prepare our own meals.

To be honest, although Urania and I had to share the same bed, I thought it would be more comfortable to use a bed I made with 【Dream Fabrication】 over an inn’s which is not well maintained. In addition, meals can also be prepared if you pay for it first but we decided to make our own food as well, rather than eating the preserved food because it just tastes better.

「It looks as delicious as ever.」
「That done?」
「Not yet, It’s stillーHold on!」

The one who spoke to us while looking at the Borscht-like soup Urania made was Gerald, a C-rank Adventurer from Gateskeep. He’s an adventurer born on the empire, and it seems like he’s on his way home after finishing a slightly long term request. The empire seems to be currently at war with the three eastern countries, but the west side is the image of peace itself. It’s probably different in the front lines, but even so, it doesn’t look like they’re in chaos every day.

「You didn’t come here to extort food from us did you?」
「Nah, well, perhaps I did…」

So this guy really did come to extort food from us after all. He got a sniff of the fake curry (it’s fake because it lacks some spices) that I made, and because he was staring at us so much, I lost to the feeling of awkwardness and ended up giving him some food. While this guy is like a dog, in a different way compared to Urania, he’s definitely pure human.

「Well, isn’t it fine? I’ll pay. I’ve had enough of this dried meat.」
「Sigh… Urania.」
「Nn. It’s fine.」
「Alright! Negotiations successful!」
「Is that so…」

The amount Urania indicated, five large silver coins, is actually about 5,000 yen. Certainly, Urania’s home-made dishes are worth that much, and in these inns, it’s rare to see dishes made with fresh ingredients. It’s not a rip-off, but usually, only the rich fools who would give out such a large amount of money for one meal.

「Gosh— you’re really a lifesaver, I was just getting tired of living by with dried meat.」
「We don’t really mind though…」

As we are on the side receiving the benefits, Urania is shrewdly preparing the soup in anticipation of Gerald eating it, so she has no complaints. It makes my heart hurt a little because of the price, but if we make it too cheap, not only Gerald but also the other passengers will come and extort food from us.

We don’t have enough ingredients to cover all the passengers, so we’ll be troubled in various ways. That’s why I’m continuing to offer it at such a high price but this guy will just come and pay for it without a second thought.