Chapter 40
About Time to Return
I wonder if it’s fine to leave the goblins here… this isn’t a field though.
Would throwing them into the forest solve it?
Ah, while I was thinking about that Meat and Ichika came back with the rabbits (beheaded) from the forest. That was fast.
“Goshujin-sama, I hunted the meat.”
I wonder if hunting stimulated her dog-eared girl instincts? Meat was faintly smiling. Guess she’s satisfied.
For now, the three of us went to hanging the rabbits upside down, putting them into the bag when blood stopped coming out.
“What about the goblins’ magic stones? Well, they’re not much but it’s nice to get some extra money as F-rank.”
“Goblins have magic stones?”
According to Ichika, it seems they’re buried in their brains. It takes about a minute per to find the magic stone.
Its head was sliced open with the sword and its brain scrambled around… Uoeh… What came out was a scrap magic stone even smaller than the one I could get with 10 DP. I guess with five of these it might be worth around the 10 DP magic stone…?
“It’s a demon so it has a magic stone. It’s pretty small, but demons have magic stones somewhere in their bodies. If the rabbits also had magic stones, they’d be demon rabbits soon… Hmm, I guess this’d sell for a copper… ah, I think it’d disappear after a night of being used in that light magic tool at last night’s inn.”
If five goblins really did become thirty copper, it wasn’t worth the time in getting its scrap magic stone for a single copper. It’s obviously more profitable to use that time to hunt another goblin.
… I wonder if it’s fine to throw them away now? This takes too long.
I got the scrap magic stone from Ichika for now. It might be useful for a golem.
Returning to the town with rabbit meat in hand, we immediately headed to the grilled meat skewers stall.
“Oh, you brought rabbit meat?”
“Yeah, here. Please assess it.”
He decided to purchase the headless rabbits I took out from the back.
Of course, they were all for the highest amount of twelve copper coins. With six of them, that made seventy-two copper. I didn’t get the money from him since I would receive it from the guild. Adding it to the reward from the goblins, it made around one silver and two coppers. A silver coin was a refreshing reward.
“Ku—, you did a good job… Eh, by some chance, is that Nee-chan your new comrade?”
“That’s right! The name’s Ichika. Good to meet ya! My~, that smells gooood. I wanna eat that meat skewer, Goshujin-sama~, buy it~?”
“Hahaha! So An-chan? I’ll throw in a small extra if you buy it, so?”
“… Well then, I’ll take three.”
“Thanks for the purchase!”
Handing him fifteen copper coins, I received four meat skewers. One as a freebie for buying three seemed like a lot.
I handed two to Ichika and one to Meat.
“Though An-chan, she’s a beauty. Even the small Jou-chan has an amazing future, you’re pretty attracted to looks huh.”
“She was a pretty good bargain. She’s noisy when it comes to food though.”
“Haha, then go ahead and be a regular customer to my shop. Ah, right. I bought the meat from An-chan, but it’s even more delicious and popular than usual. If possible, I’d appreciate it if you sold it on a regular basis.”
“I can’t just hunt rabbits… my rank went up.”
“Ooh, congratulations on that. It’s fine if it isn’t rabbits then. Boars or something like that, I’d buy whatever so long as it’s delicious. I was originally a butcher, with this stall as a side job. I can handle anything.”
“Come to think of it, I hunted goblins.”
“Hahaha! Goblins are horrible no matter if you roast them or boil them ya know?”
Is that so~.
“Well, could you tell me the secret to making the rabbit meat so delicious? I’d offer up to twenty silver.”
“Heeh… that’s pretty generous. What if he teaches ya? Will there be delicious meat stuffs here whenever?”
Ichika spoke with some strenuous effort, at least it was probably that.
In truth, even I appreciate good meat… but it’d quickly spread around if I told him.
Alright, let’s not tell him.
“It’s still a secret for now.”
“Well, can’t be helped. Please let me know when you feel like it.”
Since Ichika looked a bit disappointed, today’s rabbit meat… I had him promise to set some aside for us for a week. I paid twenty-five copper coins in advance… I’ll try to not forget about coming to eat here. Ichika is scary.
After that, we headed to the guild and received the one silver and two copper coins reward.
It was finally time to head back to the mountain. Just in case, I told them that I’d come back some time next week.
We went to the west gate to return to our base.
“Hey, is that enough stuff to go to the mountains? Ah no, I know about [Storage], but…”
“Right, this doesn’t seem like enough previsions to people huh.”
Come to think of it, it was a bit dangerous heading to the west gate last time.
Alright. I’ll hand Ichika a silver coin from today’s reward.=
“Is this enough for equipment?”
“For three people… I thought we were getting three day’s worth of food? This is enough for a week’s.”
“We can get supplies at our base, so that’s fine. I’ll go and nap in the central park. Go and buy stuff with Meat.”
“Got it. Then, I’ll buy stuff. Can I buy sweets with the change?”
“… Just let me know roughly how much you spend.”
“Leave it to me~ ♪”
I’m terribly uneasy about this, but I’ll trust the former C-rank adventurer.
*
“This meat sandwich is gooood. Mmmm, the vegetables and oil from the meat intertwine and become an amaaaazing flavor, artisan-level technique! A good texture and feeling. Moreover, this flavor… it’s cheese! There’s cheese in it! I’m so happy. Have a good appetite… eat up!”
There was a food terror as soon as I woke up.
“Why are you making that face Goshujin-sama? I bought your part too, food~ food~”
When I looked, Meat was also holding a sandwich in her hand. Ichika was holding two. Shrewd.
I looked over the equipment Ichika while she ate the sandwiches.
Flint, tent, food, canteens, pelts, food, knife, food, canteens, food… oi, why so much food!?
“It’s normal, if we lose it we can’t eat, so I got a lot.”
Well, changes of clothes aren’t needed with [Cleanup], and we can use life magic to heat water or warm ourselves with [Generate Heat]. We’d need the magic skill [Ignition] or a flint to make a fire though.
For the most part, with life magic the most important thing to live in the mountains is edible food.
A knife was convenient for processing and cooking food, and furs were for laying on the ground to sleep.
But these pelts are white and fluffy… hey, aren’t these rabbit furs? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
“I put various stuff in the bag. Even though Goshujin-sama has [Storage]…”
“So, how much was it?”
“The sandwiches! Bargains, at six coppers each!”
“Not those.”
“Ah, that. We used it all. Aaah, it’s good we were just barely able to buy the sandwiches~”
Her smile looked as though she were asking to be praised for spending it all.
Nah, in truth I thought this would happen when I handed her the silver coin. Enough food and equipment for three people for three nights with 10,000 yen would have been pretty hard. It was probably really hard.
“Seriously, Meat-senpai saved me y’know? She drove down prices hard. Aah, we were lucky the clerk was a guy ♪. He kept looking at my chest, because of that we saved fifteen copper.”
Wouldn’t that interfere with his business?
“Well, you really did well. Thanks. It would have been better for me to hand you a bit more funds huh?”
“What ya gave was fine though? Ah, but you can pay me in food?”
… You can eat stuff like hamburgers and melon bread when we get back to the [Ordinary Cave].
And so, now with proper equipment, we headed towards Tsuia Mountain.
Come to think of it, I’m a dungeon master but it doesn’t feel like it at all. Something like being an adventurer after heading down to a human village is definitely not a dungeon master’s business.
Has the life of staying indoors like the bandits and sleeping that I’ve longed for finally arrived?