Strongest Gamer Lets Play in Another World Volume 1 Chapter 3
Milt Village’s square was crowded with people on the morning of the market day. For the most part, it looked like a place where people bartered with money. Those that had goods spread them out on a cloth on the ground and lined them up like street vendors, and those who weren’t selling visited the stalls and negotiated.
“There really are a lot of races living in Daemon, aren’t there?”
There were small kobolds with the same physique as Ann gathered in the square, but there were also minotaurus like the mayor, beast men with tiger heads, and even one-eyed giants with horns coming out of their foreheads.
It was very interesting to see humans and people with pointy ears—that I supposed were elves—living so peacefully among these giants and demon-looking, monster-like creatures. It feels like it was just commonplace around here.
The tiny kobold pups and the ashen-skinned, goblin-like children ran about and played together. The elf running the vegetable stall, and the lizardman dealing with vegetables and pelts, looked at them with smiles on their faces.
“Ann, are there normally this many kinds of races living together in normal villages?”
“Not really. Villages usually have one or two races living together, at most. The only places where there’s this many races are pioneering villages like this, or big cities. I think my granny was from a village where kobolds and humans lived together.”
That made sense. Races whose body structures were close to each other might be able to have children, but finding a marriage partner which you could even do so with must have been difficult when there were so many races like this.
You might be able to produce offspring even among races that looked totally different in this world, but then there would be a different type of problem. Like, the anatomy of the child might be far too warped to fit in anywhere. If you showed me a picture of one of these cyclops in a swimsuit, I wouldn’t really understand the sex appeal, at least. If it was like a town or a village that didn’t have much variety of residents, it would be convenient to have multiple races doing business in hard labor or farming work, but it would be kinda difficult in terms of ensuring the perpetuation of one’s species.
I was carrying the hoes and sickles made with the <Dungeon Management Tool> on my back while Ann carried the bag with the potions and lamps inside. I could feel a lot of strange glances coming my way. Ann wasn’t too out of place, but I was a new face around here; they must be on guard.
“Mayor Hopper, good morning.”
I found the mayor spreading out an old rag right in the center of the square.
Next to him there was a stake sticking out of the ground, with a rope attached. On the other end of that rope was... a six-legged lizard that seemed to be about 50 centimeters long, tied by the head. Maybe he was selling it as a cooking ingredient?
“Oh my, if it isn’t Mister Aoi. Well met.”
Mayor Hopper’s happy bovine countenance couldn’t have been more heartwarming as he proceeded to raise the lizard and snap its neck as if it was a pair of chopsticks, to which he handed over to a female goblin, which I assumed was a housewife from her appearance. She handed a corn-like thing in exchange. The whole encounter left me unsure what to feel.
—So it was an ingredient after all...
“I’d like to participate in the village’s market. I was wondering if you would allow me. Also, where would the peddlers happen to be?”
“Oh, goodness. It’s not that big of a deal. You’re very welcome here. The peddler’s festival is a little ways from the square. Just head for the village’s northern exit.”
“Thank you very much. Ann, what are you looking at?”
Ann, who turned into her kobold form as soon as we left the ravine, was now looking intently at the mayor’s lizards.
“Ah, it’s nothing. It’s been so long since the last time I saw normal meat.”
That was because we’ve been eating nothing but pumpkin and beef jerky... I wanted to do my best selling this stuff so I could get Ann’s favorite foods as well.
I thanked the mayor once again for giving me permission to participate, and proceeded to set up my stall in a corner of the square.
“Alright, Ann. I don’t know the prices of things in the village, so I’ll leave things to you. Exchange the hoes and sickles for vegetables and meat we can eat, and don’t forget to mention they have durability and can only be used for half a year.”
I lined up the hoes and sickles on top of the cloth and delegated the pricing and negotiations to Ann.
“Huh? You want me to do that all by myself?”
Her fur visibly stood on end due to the surprise of me dumping the work on her all of a sudden.
“Listen now, Ann. It’s true I may be more of an adult, but I don’t know anything about this world outside of the labyrinth. Which means you—hell, even the kids of the village know way more than me. I don’t know how much tools and food are worth in the village. Rather than listing the price too high or too low, I’d rather rely on you.”
I may have been able to sell items to Tundra and get their assessment, but in a fantasy world where a normalized distribution system wouldn’t get developed without trading in person, I couldn’t really use Tundra’s price assessments and references for commodities in relation to localized farming villages and urban areas. That’s why I decided to leave it all in Ann’s hands.
Since it was a countryside village, chances were most of them knew Ann, so they wouldn’t be wary of her. And the adults would keep their prices accordingly if Ann was the one running the business as well. Quite the bulletproof plan. I might have a bit of a weakness by just acting as figurehead, but I could bear with that...
“I got it, Aoi! I’ll do my best. I’ll do business so we can have meat and vegetables for dinner tonight!”
Ann clenched her paw and accepted the challenge.
I hoped she could get ingredients that could get cooked up later. If she was given a live lizard as an ingredient, well... yeah. Let’s ask Jenny for help if that happens. If I was in a realistic survival game where we had to deal with securing food in a solitary island or in an extremely cold region, I'd know a little about it. But here, I didn’t have even the slightest idea about food making or ingredients. It’d be fine if wasn’t tasty, but we’d have a problem on our hands if I came around something poisonous because of my ignorance.
“Mister Gald, I have good stuff. Take a look!”
The man Ann called was like a mountain of muscle roughty two meters high and covered in clothes that were patched up all over. A pair of big tusks extruded from his mouth. He must be what people called an ogre. He looked capable of pulling off a pretty mean face, but he really seemed gentle when he was in a good mood. I could tell that the opposite expression of his face wouldn’t be for the faint of heart.
“Oho, well if it isn’t Ann. I was worried ever since I heard you got employed, but you look quite well. Your complexion looks pretty nice. Have you gotten fatter?”
“Hey! You have to tell a girl that her fur looks glossy, and her figure looks better!”
Although the exchange between him and Ann was as pleasant as the weather, I couldn’t help but feel a chill down my spine as his tusks moved around as he spoke..
“You’re her employer, mate? How’s this little cute thing behaving? She’s a good ‘ittle working girl, ain’t she?”
“Yeah, she’s smart and works hard. Are all the children of this village the same?”
“Gwahaha, not a chance! Ann’s a pretty special lass, y’see. My kids have been so lonely since their cute and smart big sister has left.”
“Now that’s a problem, I don’t want all the children mad at me because I stole their beloved big sister away from them.”
The talkative ogre named Gald gave me a hearty laugh. While he certainly looked rather rough around the edges, he was still a nice guy, nonetheless.
“Geez! You have to go behind me and just look, Aoi. You too, Mister! Rather than talking, how about looking at the wares? We have hoes with iron blades here. You told me you needed some before, right?”
Ann looked more peppy than usual. I wondered if it was because she was around so many familiar faces.
“A hoe with an iron blade, you say? I certainly need one, that’s for sure. Must be pricey, though...”
He lifted the tool and checked the handle and the blade to make sure.
“Now this is quality. The handle is solid and pretty well done. The blade is as pretty nice piece of art as well. But... the price must be steep, eh? I don’t think someone as poor as me could afford it.”
“It’s not that expensive since it’s a little different from a normal tool. It’ll break after half a year, so it’s cheaper than the ones the blacksmith sells!”
“It’ll break after half a year? So this here’s a magical tool? How much are you asking for, then?”
So things like this could be accepted as magical items in villages like these? The popularity of magic here seemed way higher than back on Earth.
“You’re cultivating demi corn back at your place, right?”
“Yeah, I somehow managed to haul a harvest big enough to fill 20 sacks, so I won’t have to worry about food for now. The taste is a bit iffy, but I want my kids to sleep with their bellies full.”
“Hmm... Demi corn is easy to make, but the harvest is over if it dries up. In that case... let’s see. Yes, how about one hoe for two sacks?
Ann extended her soft paw towards the ogre with a speed that denoted her enthusiasm.
When she changed to girl form, her hands became like those of a human's, but it was kind of a shame those cute soft paws were lost in the process.
“Hmmmm. I do want the hoe, but 2 whole bags is...”
The ogre folded his arms, perhaps in thought as to whether Ann’s price was appropriate or not. Those gigantic and burly arms seemed as big as Ann’s waist.
Leaving it to Ann was the right choice. She might have be negotiating on a bag-to-bag basis instead of weight, but I didn't know the first thing about how much any of it was worth. Raw currency really was great. I wanted to know how big those sacks were when we headed back to the cabin. I’d be more of a pushover if I didn’t know that much by the next time we traded.
“Then how... about a normal sack and two little ones. It’s a special offer just for you!”
“Y-You’re on! I’ll get it in that case. Can I bring the sacks in later?”
“Yes! But please do it early, okay?”
Seemed like the deal was sealed. And so, the ogre man took one of the ten hoes I’d prepared for today.
“Aoi, I sold a hoe. And I got some sacks of dry demi corn for it, too! Even if we only eat that every day from now on, it’ll last us a whole month!”
“You did your best, Ann. Good girl.”
“Awoo! I’ll keep at it, okay!?”
I patted her head, as a cold sweat ran down my spine. I had to do a market and price investigation as soon as possible. I’d also have to rely on Jenny to teach me about the ingredients and food recipes.
The intuition I’d built after spending so many years playing spoke to me. If I stopped putting in any effort here, then my future of depending on Ann for everything, like a gigolo, was almost certain. Although I did have some kind of admiration for that kind of life, what kind of example would I be setting for her? I couldn’t do something like that...!
“Phew. They’re all sold, huh?”
“Are farming tools really this profitable?”
It had been barely two hours since Ann took over the negotiations and the bartering, and we already sold all of the 15 sickles and 10 hoes we’d brought with us this morning. There was a jute bag filled with dry corn, with grains so big they looked like little potatoes, which sat on top of the cloth where the tools were lined up not so long ago. There was also a big bacon-like salted block of meat that weighed about 20 kilograms. And also, one of the lizards from the mayor’s stall, which was already dead. It had just finished dripping blood out of its head, thankfully.
Apparently the poor lizard was unable to escape its fate. The ones from the mayor’s stall seemed particularly big, but I saw plenty of other villagers selling them as well. I thought they might be somewhat of a parallel to chickens on Earth.
“Yes, everyone uses tools nonstop around here, so everyone working out in the fields wants good tools. The one you make turn into light and disappear when you use them too much, but they rarely get chipped or rust, so I wonder if they’ll get really popular.”
While I looked at Ann’s radiant smile, an uncomfortable feeling started swirling inside of me as I surveyed the mountain of goods the sales had reaped.
“Ann, is Mister Gald an ogre? Is he as strong as he looks?”
“Yes, people from the ogre race like him are really strong!”
“Then why does he need farm tools? With that much force he could... use a stone hoe or something, or uproot a tree out of the ground and till the soil with it.”
“Huh...? Yes, I guess he could.”
She tilted her head to the side in confusion, and looked at me with a curious face.
“Then why are there so many people that want an iron hoe? I might understand if it was a weak elf or a kobold, but we had some people from the giant race buy some, too.”
“U-Umm. Well, that’s because it’s easier with an iron tool?”
I understood that it was easier, but the odd feeling still didn’t subside.
“Ann, you think Mister Gald will be done with his work faster thanks to that hoe, right? What do you think he’ll do with his free time?”
“Let’s see. He really loves children, so I think he would play with them... Or teach them to fish in the river that’s a bit far away from the village... Maybe?”
Using your free time to do the things you liked, I could understand that as well. That was the same reason why this village’s position seemed odd to me.
“Ann, we got a lot of corn and vegetables from selling the tools, right?”
“Yes, we wouldn't have trouble eating for around half a year with all this!”
“I don’t want to say it too loud, but this village isn’t that rich, huh? Then why did they give you this much?”
“Well... these sell for very cheap if you go to a town; they’re not really popular.”
“That’s odd. How come?”
“You can make a whole lot in a village... but it isn’t tasty at all. It’s not very nutritious, either.”
Ann said sorrowfully as she looked at the mountain of produce in front of us. I see, cultivating in the wastelands could yield a good amount of harvest, thus they didn’t starve. However, they wouldn’t gain weight since the nutritional value was so low, and since they sold for so low, you wouldn’t get rich anytime soon trying to cash it in.
“You know a lot, huh, Ann? Is it difficult to raise crops that’ll sell for much in the city?”
“Yes, to grow those, the soil needs to be better. We’d also need a lot of water, and it seems the field upkeep costs would rise as well.”
“You’re quite the bundle of knowledge, aren’t you?”
“Awoo. You said you were ‘ignorant’, so I just want to help you.”
While I praised Ann and patted her head, I came to the realization of the weird feeling I had. That being... living in this pioneering village, filled with countless types of people and races, yet still managed to be peaceful. No, if I took into account that this was also a countryside village, then they were too peaceful...
Even though the villagers only wore patched up rags and had no hope of living any better in the near future, they weren’t desperate or bitter—they just lived peacefully. They only bartered and exchanged between each other for goods at good rates. I had yet to hear about an unfair trade even once around here. Even though they were basically living in poverty, they could avoid the danger of starvation due to the amount of variety of produce they could get cultivating the wasteland, and accepted their status of poverty because of it.
I didn’t see any desire to break free from poverty anywhere around. But I also didn’t feel like there was something sinister behind it. They might be living in poverty, but it seemed that they led peaceful and fulfilling lives in spite of being impoverished. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this was some kind of paradise. It was a scene so moving that it’d put a religious person, who said that a modest and honorable life of poverty was the way to live, into tears. However, for someone like me who took pride in their gaming abilities, this was far from paradise.
If I used my beloved games as a metaphor, it would be like if you kept playing, the difficulty curve would drop off to stupefying levels. Playing the game was like a double-edged sword.
That was the very same reason I felt annoyed by this paradise, while at the same time I thought it was charming. It was distasteful to try and force someone to change their playstyle, but when you saw players that weren’t taking the game seriously, you’d feel the need to set them straight. Because of my life with Ann, I knew that the villagers—including Ann—all accepted poverty with open arms. But I was sure they also still had dreams and aspirations, too. I gave the villagers tools to make their livelihoods easier, just like I gave Ann a job and some income. Giving them something to aim for could change the village’s outlook on things. However, I didn’t have enough time to really make an impactful change for them. I had less than a month left. Before I even noticed, the sense of loss and frustration overcame the relief, as I recalled that my time left here was almost up.
“Hey, can we hold hands?”
Ann presented her paw to me after she was done packing everything, and had the bags up on her back.
“Sure, something the matter?”
A warm and fluffy feeling enveloped my hand as I held hers.
“You looked pretty sad just now.”
“I see... Thanks. You’re so kind, Ann.”
Right. If I only thought about the fact the ending was closing in, I’d end up squandering what precious time I had left.
The bag on my back was pretty heavy with all the corn and meat stuffed inside; not to mention the headless lizard that hung from it. And so, we headed to the place where the peddlers were.
◇
I found the peddler the mayor told me about right away. It was a cart with a curtain attached to it you wouldn’t find anywhere else around the village. The goods were lined up on the ground near the cart’s roof rack. It was to be expected, but the variety and amount of products was really different from the rest of villagers. But I guess that’s what sold the most around here. New jute bags, iron hoes and axes, plain colored cloths and everyday appliances—nothing too showy all in all.
Seemed like the villagers made their rounds through here today already. The cart was filled with jute bags of various produce and live lizards.
“Nice to meet you. Can you show me the goods?”
Perhaps the peddler had gotten enough customers for the day. He was relaxing and smoking a pipe that let out a sweet mint-like scent, when I called out to him.
“Oooh? I don’t recognize you... Are you a new villager, boy?”
His physique was way more rugged and wild than a normal kobold. The male wolf-faced merchant took the pipe out of his mouth and responded. He seemed to be a canine type, but not exactly the very same as a kobold.
—Maybe he really was a wolf, or a human beast, or something?
He had a pretty big scar across his left eye that looked like it was caused by a sharp object—it was quite striking. The rough tone of his voice gave me the impression he was no youngster either.
“Yeah, the name’s Aoi. I’m kind of a hermit that lives close to the village. Nice to meet you.”
I was a labyrinth manager, but I couldn’t recall that set of stairs leading down to a shabby cabin inside of a ravine labyrinth without feeling embarrassed.
I didn’t live quite the life of a farmer, so I couldn’t come up with anything besides hermit. This wolf man looked sharp though, like nothing amiss would get by his watch. The atmosphere about him was akin to encountering a worthy rival in a game tournament.
“Hmm. Kwaharharhar, what’s with that? Well, you wouldn’t have been too convincing if you told me you’re a villager with that getup anyway. I’m a peddler, Fez’s the name. Nice to meet you, Mister Hermit.”
I shook hands with Fez and noticed the strength of his muscular arm. The palm of his paw had a pad just like Ann, but his was rather rough, and kinda painful to touch.
“Fez, can I use DL to do business with you?”
“Getting paid with money is really appreciated. Oh, so that’s why you came to me?”
“Yeah, every deal with the villagers involves goods, so using currency is a bit hard. But you accept money, right?”
The hoes and sickles were insanely valuable in the village. It was kind of hard to ask them to pay them in cash. Even if we bartered, exchanging large quantities of fragile expensive goods like leafy vegetables or eggs would be difficult. However, once something got into a peddler’s cart, it should have a set price tag, so I was expecting there to be no problem with just paying with money upfront. My hunch looked to be true.
“Ann, choose what we need to get by for a while with a budget of around 30000 DL. Don’t worry if it goes over that buying iron cookware or things we really need, okay?”
“Yes, leave it to me!”
Ann dropped her bag and headed to look at Fez’s lineup, with a serious expression on her face. I was in trusting ‘Ann Mode’ once again. She seemed really happy that I trusted her, but trusting everything to her made me feel kinda bad, too.
“Digging into the matters of the village is a little odd, to say the least. You’re an odd one, man. You seem kind of uninformed if you don’t even know if you can pay with money, but you don’t seem that odd. I’d believe you if you told me you’re a noble that got kicked out his mansion, or something.”
It might feel kind of wrong coming from Earth, but in a meritocracy where nobles rose in power depending on their physical strength or wisdom one after the other, family lineage awareness was still something to keep in mind, huh?
“You look pretty sure of your skill as a peddler, Fez. Have your worked as mercenary or something like that?”
The rift I could feel between me and Fez was less like that of a merchant feud and more like... of a gamer standing in front of another player in a match.
“Heh, you’ve got quite the eye, don’t you? I did work as a mercenary for a while, enough for my name to spread a little, at least. I was called Fez, Berkud Frontier’s Red Spear...”
“So you run your business alone because you’re confident in your strength, huh? Why become a peddler if your name was so famous anyway?”
“Ah. Well, that’s a long story.”
That looked to be a touchy topic for Fez, but I wondered about where he got that scar on his face.
“You see, I was kind of having some fun with a widow working in the peddler business, and the daughter of a merchant... And both of them got pregnant at the same time...”
Well, that was as valid of a reason to retire from the mercenary work as taking an arrow to the knee was...
“I don’t really know what to say, but... do your best.”
I couldn’t do anything but place my hands on the shoulders of the crestfallen Fez as he told his story with a gloomy tone. This wasn’t a battle he could win with his mercenary experience alone. He was probably told to stop pursing that line of dangerous work as soon as he had children.
“Oh yeah, I have some rare items on me, wanna take a look?”
I took out a bluelight moss lamp out of the bag Ann had carried all the way here to shake off the heavy mood.
“What’s this blue light you’ve got there?”
I brought the lamp closer to Fez. Since it got bathed in sunlight from being taken out, it didn’t take long for it to return to its normal state.
“It’s not that bright, but it’s a lamp that lets off a blue light in the dark. It’ll work as long as you keep it watered, so it’s good for saving oil.”
“Now that’s something I’ve never seen before. I haven't seen a lamp that doesn't need oil even in the big cities.”
“It’s something that needs a really valuable material. I have ten of these. I’ll sell them to you for cheap, so how about trying to sell them to the villagers, eh?”
“I don’t really mind, but why don’t you do it yourse— Ah, I see. They’re expensive, huh?”
“Yeah, I use a glass container for it, so it’s kinda difficult to exchange for meat or vegetables. One of these is worth 120000 DL, but since it’s an unfamiliar item, I can sell ‘em to you for 30000 DL. That’ll be 300000 DL for all of them.”
“The offer is quite nice, but it’s still pretty expensive. The fact it doesn’t need oil is pretty good, but a clay oil lamp is still cheaper than this.”
I checked the price of lighting equipment in the Tundra catalog beforehand, but it was just like Fez had said. A simple oil lamp made out of pottery and cloth went for as low as 1500 DL on Tundra. And if you used fish or tallow it was kinda smelly, but cheap.
“Right... Then how about I hand them to you so you can try and sell them? I don’t mind if you sell them for cheaper, and we can decide on a final price later. How about half and half?”
“Those are some pretty nice conditions. I don’t mind them, but are you sure?”
“Yeah. I need a little bit of advice, could you help me with that? See it as a consultation fee.”
“That’s fine by me, but I won’t help you with problems about money or women.”
—Hey, why did you look at Ann when you said that?
“No, it’s not that! I just came here recently, so I want to fit in with the village quickly.”
I couldn’t slack on my social relationships with the locals if I wanted to pursue about the expansion of the labyrinth, and employment of manpower for it.
“Well this is a pioneering village, so you have a bit of luck there, but even then it takes time to fit in.”
“Being helpful around here is the best way to fit in, right? So, that’s why I made this.”
I took a potion out of my bag and handed it over to Fez.
“Ohohoho, a potion... No, a magical potion. So you’re a hermit that knows about alchemy as well, huh? What does this little guy do?”
“That’s a Grade 6 recovery potion.”
“Bwah!?”
—Hey, there. Now that’s a puff.
A big round, white cloud of smoke came out from the tip of Fez’s pipe as the surprise made him blow unexpectedly.
“I... (cough)”
“Are you okay, Fez?”
He choked over that pretty badly, but he was so small I didn’t wanna overdo it by patting his back.
“Are you stupid? It’s hard to come by these even in big cities. A Grade 6 recovery potion can sell for way higher than any jewel!”
Hmm, so it was that rare, huh? It did sell for 1.5 million DL when I put it in the delivery box; it also sold out as soon as I took a look at the catalog afterwards.
“Figures... I was thinking of selling it to the mayor, but I don’t think he could just buy it off me since it’s so valuable.”
“Well, you’ve got the right of it... Do you have more stuff?”
“I have Grade 6 vitality potions and Grade 5 stamina potions as well.”
“The whole village would get wrung dry if they bought this from you.”
“That’s why I wanted your advice. I’m not really looking to make a profit, but it would be bad to just give it over for free, wouldn’t it?”
“Of course. Oh man, now that’s a harder consultation than I thought.”
Fez was so confused he couldn’t help but scratch his head.
“It would be better to talk it out with the mayor. Everyone’s gonna close up shop by noon, can you wait till then?”
“Yeah, I sure can,” I told him. “Hey, Ann, are you ready?”
“Yes, I managed to spend around 20000 DL or so.”
She chose some porcelain cutlery, jute and wool cloths, a cord to hang laundry, and a frying pan. She also got daily goods, like some eggs, leafy veggies, and pickled vegetables to cook. Pretty practical choices overall.
“Hey, Fez. You wouldn’t happen to have cute accessories for girls around here, would you?”
“I don’t have much in the way of variety, but how about this?”
Fez took out a beautiful silver ring passed through a leather strap.
“A necklace? Is this silver?”
“Yeah, a real silver ring. Finger rings get in the way of work in a village like this, y’see, so there’s a lot of folks that put a strap to it and hang it on their necks. Just put it around the girl’s neck if you chose her. Since we’re doing business now, how about we leave it at 40000 DL?”
“Not a bad deal. I’ll take it.”
I took my wallet out of the bag and handed over four 10000 DL coins.
“You don’t have any small coins? You’re pretty stacked for real, huh?”
Fez put all the things Ann chose inside the bag. We ended up making it even heavier. Well, Ann had gotten strangely strong as of late, so there probably wouldn’t be any trouble.
“This is for you, Ann. You’re always doing your best, so here’s a little something.”
I handed the silver ring necklace to Ann.
“Oh... Umm. Thank you!”
She seemed a little confused at first, but it didn’t take long for a radiant smile to take over her face.
—Ann’s really a girl, huh? I suppose accessories would make any girl happy, though.
“So I put on like this... How does it look?”
She put it around her neck right away.
“It really suits you. You look like a princess.”
“Ehehe~”
I think I exaggerated a little, but she seemed happy, so whatever.
“Hah!”
Fez was a married man, and a peddler at that. How about complimenting clients a little more?
Around noon, I visited Mayor Hopper’s house along with Fez after he was done wrapping up his stall.
“I see... A magic potion would be a great help, but it is pricey, indeed...”
The Mayor’s face lightened up when he heard vitality potions could heal wounded people and recovery potions could cure most diseases, but as expected...
“If you were to sell this in a town...”
And his mood deflated as soon as he heard the price.
“But missing this chance is indeed a shame.”
What Fez proposed was to make a potion deposit in the mayor’s place for use in an emergency. I’d have to come around every six months or every year to refill the potions, check that they haven’t deteriorated, or replace them outright if they couldn’t be used anymore. As payment, the village would have to keep giving me a periodic supply of crops and meat even if I didn’t need it. It was very close to the way medicine was sold in Japan a long time ago. I was surprised Fez could come up with something like that, but it seemed this kind of arrangement was quite common when a doctor settled in a remote village where medicinal plants could be gathered to cover their life expenses.
“Hey, Fez, I really have a lot of vitality potions, so how about showing the effect?”
The remuneration was specifically to deliver food to me every three days. At present, they’d just be giving enough for Ann and me, but the deal included them giving us enough food for up to eight people if our numbers increased. With the current state of the village, feeding only two of us was still quite a hit.
I proposed trying the potion out when I noticed the mayor was doubtful of the proposal. While the fact the number of people could increase was written in the contract, it still seemed kinda bad that he was thinking so hard about it.
“So we need someone that’s injured, huh...? Little Gen injured his forearm a while ago.”
When we asked whether there was a person like that in the village right now, he guided us to a young man from the giant race living in a corner of the village.
I thought ‘Little Gen’ was a cute nickname for a giant of about 3 meters, but it looked like he was still a little rascal in the mayor’s eyes. Interspecies social relationships in another world were difficult.
“Is it just an arm injury or a broken bone?”
“I was looking for plants and rock fell. My left arm is swollen and hard to move.”
The young giant spoke with the same accent as the mayor’s, and had a very particular speech pattern as he said his arm was swollen. It was obvious that the wound itself was deep, so assuming it was a bone fracture was pretty reasonable. Yet the only thing he complained about was that he couldn’t move it anymore? Was this the power of a giant’s genetics?
“Is there a cloth around? I’ll pour half of the bottle on the wound. It might sting a little, but do your best to endure it. You’ll have to drink the other half of it as well.”
As soon as he applied half of it to the wound, and drank the rest, the wound started to heal. The caved in flesh started to fill out, and a minute later there wasn’t not even a hint of a scar.
“This is amazing... So this is how the Grade 6 ones work!”
Both the mayor and Fez were visibly impressed, but my impression after seeing the actual healing up close was that it was kinda grotesque, honestly.
I knew it was something common in fantasy settings, but actually watching it was way too raw. Maybe it was because games fooled you with sparkly effects...
“I can’t believe it. You could ask for food delivery every single day with this kind of thing.”
Seemingly impressed by the potion’s effect, the mayor accepted the contract immediately. Now there would always be a vitality, stamina, and recovery potion in his custody.
“Say, I’m kind of short on cash right now, but I’ll bring the real deal next time. Would you mind selling me some of those then?” asked Fez.
“I can’t hand over that much, but I guess five of each would be okay.”
I also decided to sell them to Fez to thank him for mediating the contract. My favorite item was the lamp, though...
I said goodbye to Fez in the mayor’s house and headed off to take cooking lessons at Jenny’s place. I took the ingredients I got from exchanging this morning with me. I was really pleased we got more to eat than we could even ask for. Jenny taught me all about them, and different ways to cook them as well.
In other news, even though I disliked the idea of salt-seasoned lizard, it turned out to be quite tasty. It tasted like bird thigh, although it had a certain elasticity to it. The tasty smell of the lizard cooking up in its own juices made me eat two of them in the end. It seemed Ann was also starved for meat, because she completely forgot her table manners and was eating with her hands alongside me.
◇
“Well then, now this is a problem... It doesn’t taste like anything, but this is how it really is?”
“Yeah, it was always like this when I ate it back at the village.”
A problem arose when we tried out the ingredients we got from exchanging with the villagers in the market. Since the lizard meat turned out to be so tasty, I was expecting something along the same lines out of the crops and corn, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I tried having a taste of the ingredients with a simple method of boiling the cabbage-like leafy crop and the demi corn I’d gotten from the ogre with water, but they weren’t tasty at all. It honestly surprised me.
It wasn’t so awful that I didn’t want to eat it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat it either. At the very least, I didn’t think I would be enjoying a meal of it anytime soon. It was difficult to express my disappointment, but...
“My day is ruined.”
Would be the most accurate way to put it, I think.
The cabbage-like thing looked tender at first, but the fibery texture was so dense I was appalled at first. No matter how much I chewed on it, the thing was still hard to swallow. It also smelled a lot like grass, but nothing of that was reflected in the flavor—it was so damn insipid.
Then we moved on to the demi corn onto the demi corn. To sum it up in three words: Hard to eat.
It got so soft it started falling apart when you boiled it, and despite looking like corn, the individual kernels were so huge it looked more like oversized rice. The texture when you popped it in your mouth was extremely dry, like munching on a unpeeled potato. It spread all over my mouth so quickly that I had to reach out for water. It also had no taste like the cabbage thing. It had a slight tinge of sweetness, but you wouldn’t even notice if you weren’t looking for it.
“I see. So less nutrition means less taste too, huh?”
Surely they would do great as a diet food back on Earth, but it was really troubling to think they ate something so devoid of nutrition in a pioneering village, where they busted their backs working every day in the fields.
“I’ve heard the vegetables they sell out in towns are way tastier! But... everyone back at the village eats this kind of stuff.”
So she’s used to this kind of thing. Now I knew why she loved the pumpkin so much even though it was kinda crappy. It wasn’t that different from the corn and vegetables of the village. I’d rather have the pumpkin. At least I could stomach that with salt and pepper while munching on some jerky, or whatever.
“I understand why they would be cheap if you took them to any town now. It may be a bit of a luxury, but I would really like to eat tasty stuff after all.”
“Yeah...”
Ann also took a bite of the boiled demi corn on her plate, but it didn’t look like she was enjoying it at all.
“But this sure is a problem. There’s no way I can just ask Fez to get us vegetables from town when we have a farming village right in front of us with more than enough stock to go around.”
About half of our food storage was taken over by the pumpkins, but even after giving Jenny some of the ingredients we exchanged back at the village’s market, we still had enough to eat for about 2 months.
“Ann, do you know if there’s any way to make these tasty?”
“If you want something tastier, it’s pretty pricey in towns...” Ann replied with a sad tone.
I guess she was right.
I didn’t think it was proper for a gamer like me to give up in this kind of situation. It wasn’t like I lived a luxurious life before all of this, but I was still raised in Japan. I wanted to at least eat tasty food, even that was a bit overkill in a fantasy world like this.
“Anyhow, I’ll do my best so we can eat something at least a little bit tasty.”
And so, we lined up the ingredients and all our cookware in front of the cabin, and set to work to prepare them in such a way to make it tasty.
“Yes, I’ll do my best too!”
Given her achievements so far, I couldn’t really expect her to be much use in the kitchen, but she seemed like she was eager to help. I guess she was really interested in tasty stuff after all.
“First we have to try the corn and the vegetables one at a time.”
“Uhh, so the demi corn and the white bana? Can you really make these tasty?”
“I don’t know... the odds aren’t looking too good, to be honest. But it doesn’t hurt to try, does it?”
So we had the demi corn and the white bana; I still thought it looked like a cabbage, though. It seemed like they were quite accustomed to these two back in the village. If I managed to improve them, it’d be good for everyone, because I had the feeling I was gonna be seeing a lot of them from now on.
“Well then... How do we cook these?”
I did have a lot of experience cooking in realistic survival games, but unsurprisingly enough, it was my first time trying to cook ingredients I didn’t know anything about.
All the cooking methods Jenny had taught me were rather common. At the very least, my cooking knowledge from Earth came in handy. Though it was necessary to remember the parts you couldn’t eat from the lizard, it didn’t differ all that much from the typical ways of preparing a normal chicken. Well, besides the obvious difference in appearance.
“Let’s think about the demi corn first. I would be able to try a few things if I had flour, but I guess it won’t be so easy for now.”
“Flour? What’s that?”
“You don’t know? Isn’t there bread or... Well, it’s corn, so it would be more like tortillas? You don’t know about any of those?”
To make flour out of the corn I would need a measuring cup, or something like that. They’re quite pricey on Tundra, and with my current budget, I didn’t think it’d hurt my pocket too much. My aim right now wasn’t that, though. I wanted to figure out a recipe that would let me make as much as I wanted, using stuff from the village.
“Ann, is there anyone that likes the dryness of the corn?”
The feeling of it draining the water out of my mouth was way worse than the nonexistent flavor.
“Well... I don’t think so. I’ve heard that tasty demi corn isn’t so dry.”
Looked like my biggest fear wouldn’t be a problem. I’d be seriously concerned if anyone actually liked this stuff...
Japanese at large say foreign rice was way too dry and not tasty at all, but people from different regions would say the Japanese rice was way too sticky and not tasty at all as well. So I had to consider the difference in preference.
“Then let’s turn it into something we both like. We’ll start with the texture.”
I opened Tundra’s catalog, deep in thought, while I boiled some of the corn in hot water. I searched in the ‘Food > Flour’ category and buy a product called ‘Fake Starch’...
Fake Starch (1 kg) == 3500 DL
Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #201
Rating : ★★★★☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #112
- High quality starch. But I wonder what the fake is about... It dissolves well in water and it doesn’t add any weird flavors either. I was impressed that I was able to make a bowl of rice just like the ones back home as much as I wanted, sticky and tasty just like I like it! I think it’s good enough to be called normal starch, but I feel a bit squicky about the fake part.
I could use starch as flour just like I was aiming to, but the ‘fake’ part made me a little nervous.
“Well, how about that... There’s a lot of Japanese seasonings in this category, huh?”
When I tried taking a look at the ‘Seasonings’ category, there was surprisingly a whole ‘Soy Sauce’ section. Lots of brands ranging from the dark and thick soy bean-based sauce that Japanese were so used to, to more mild ones. There was even fish paste in here.
I heard before that anywhere around the globe that Japanese people went, they brought soy sauce and miso with them. But the Japanese that came to a whole different world here still took the time and effort to make soy sauce and miso as well.
—If I ever have the time, I’d like to try making some kind of seasoning like soy sauce out of the ravine’s moss.
This time I chose the fish paste and ordered it. The fact that they were cheaper and the supply was more stable than soy bean-based sauces was a good thing, but the fish paste also had a nice flavor, and was a pretty simple way to enhance the flavor of something. I heard about it a lot from the clerks in the ‘Side Dishes’ corner back at the supermarket I always used to go to. Although what I really loved from there were the croquettes, but I digress.
Fish Paste (Pottery Made - 1 L) == 5200 DL
Brand : Small Fry Concert
Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #370
Rating : ★★★★★
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #421
- A magnificent harmony of the blessings of the sea and earth~
The strong smell was a little bit of a problem at first, but I forgot all about that as soon as I got a taste of it, it’s excellent! It blends really well with the crops we grow over here. It goes well with stewed and boiled dishes, this is amazing~
Rating : ★★★☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #28
- Extremely tasty, but it isn’t so popular with children that aren’t so used to it. I thought it was really delicious, but children that aren’t used to fish paste or soy sauce will have a little bit of a hard time with it. They told me it has a fishy smell. Even though it’s so tasty and all...
Nonetheless, compared to a liter of soy sauce that went for over 10000 DL, I was surprised something this good costed only 5000 DL for a liter, and was well stocked to boot.
It said the supplier was Labyrinth #370. Hm, yeah. I was always buying salt from this labyrinth, it seemed. If he was putting up salt and fish paste for sale, then it must mean the labyrinth was near a beach of some kind. He probably had a salt pan or something nearby, too. I was kinda jealous of how well he used his resources.
I ordered and paid the fee—it arrived as fast as ever. I wanted this delivery speed back on Earth as well.
“Thank you very much~ This is a fragile product, so be careful.”
Perhaps it was because of the pot used to hold the fish paste, but the box was strangely sturdier than usual, and had a sticker that read “Handle with care!” on it. I guess it was better to keep that in mind and be careful when there was a sticky note that said “Handle with care!” and “This side up.”
“Ann, can you open the package, please?”
“Sure!”
Since she was in human form, Ann didn’t have her tail right now, but if she did, it would probably be wagging from right to left. That was how happy she was to help.
“First, let’s peel the demi corn and and smash it a little bit.”
I took off the skin of the demi corn, which was about the size of a man’s fist, and crumpled it inside the pot.
“Now we add the starch and mix—there. If this goes well, I think we won’t have too many problems with the dryness.”
But what I did just now made me think of something. There was this one realistic zombie survival game called “Last Days, Last Life” that had you choose your race first thing in the character creator. If you chose Japanese and set your affinity to ‘tough’, you’d need less food to survive compared to a Caucasian character, and you could fill up your hunger meter faster than normal if you mixed starch with normal rice.
I’d wondered why they would sneak in something that affected Japanese characters exclusively like that. It was a mystery to this day. Well, the knowledge came in handy, so whatever...
“Ann, can you open that pot?”
“Yes!”
I took the pot Ann held out to me and sprinkled some of the fish paste into it. This should compensate for the lack of flavor.
“Ann, can you put the frying pan on the fire?”
I asked Ann while kneading the now cold demi corn inside of the pot. Having someone around to help me with the cooking was really nice.
“Yes~ Ready!”
Ann moved the pan over and placed it onto the fire. At first I was a little afraid, but now I could leave easy cooking to her no problem. Seeing Ann grow little by little made me really happy.
I finished kneading the now sticky demi corn and shaped it into a pretty ball, before flattening it and pressing it against the now warm frying pan. Truth was, I wanted to put even more oil and fry it to make something similar a to croquette, but I didn’t have any way of making oil, and it was pretty expensive to buy. I also wanted to make a recipe that was easy to reproduce in the village, so I held off for now.
“It smells really good...”
It ended up looking somewhat like a hamburger. It roasted on top of the frying pan until it had a light brown color. Ann stared at the cooking demi corn in awe. The nice smell must have been enticing her. I flipped it over and let it set until the other side was completely cooked as well...
“Alright then, it’s complete. Ann, I don’t mind if you wanna try it first. It’s hot, so be careful.”
I put it on a plate right in front of her, and Ann stabbed it with her fork almost instantaneously.
“Hot! Hot! Got! So tasty! This is delicious! Sho hooooot!”
It wasn’t all that surprising that she put something that was still steaming right into her mouth, but it was worthwhile seeing Ann’s happy smile as she ate it.
I got a mouthful for myself as well. The dryness of the demi corn was completely erased by the fake starch. It didn’t taste all that doughy, and its consistency was miles better than before. The smell and taste of the fish paste made it even more appetizing. This was the biggest hit since roasted lizard, truly tasty. It was kind of like a sweet potato mochi—to compare it to something from Earth.
“Can I... have more?”
—It’d be nice if someone could teach me a technique to resist the urge to protect and pamper her when she looked at me with those upturned eyes...
In the end. over half of the demi corn dough ended up in Ann’s belly. She was still growing. so it was okay, though I had to be careful not to let her get too fat.
Cooking the white bana turned out to be incredibly easy as well. I just took some, chopped it up and stuffed it inside a jar to preserve, alongside some leftover fish paste and water. Then I ordered an item called a ‘fermentation mushroom’ from Tundra that was said to be a carrier of something like a lactic acid bacteria, which supposedly to sped up the fermentation process. I stuffed it in together with everything else. It would have been way too hard to get rid of the fibery texture with any single method.
Zaua Pirutz (100 g of Fermentation Mushrooms) == 1800 DL
Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #16
Rating : ★★★★★
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #112
- Easy way to make pickled products. All you have to do is chop whatever vegetable you wanna use and you can make something that really feels like slightly pickled vegetables. It’s good that it doesn’t have a strange flavor, but people that really like pickled products might find themselves a little dissatisfied? It smells, so make sure you ferment in a well ventilated place, have fun pickling it up!
Rating : ★★★★☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #7
- A very interesting material to be sure. It seems to be a mushroom that has a symbiotic relationship with a microorganism similar to lactic acid. The mushroom itself houses them, and the mushroom’s secretions accelerate fermentation greatly thanks to it. It’s one of the ideal examples of fungus having symbiotic relationships with microorganisms. Also who was the fool that came up with that stupid brand name?
Three days later I took the fermented white bana out of the pot. They had a similar texture to pickled bamboo shoots. I made a bet to see if the fermentation process softened up some of the fiber, and it seemed I was right as rain this time.
“(munch) This ish tashty!”
“I get it, but quit talking with your mouth full, okay?”
I thought it was obvious that the taste had improved from the way Ann stuffed her mouth with the pickled white bana.
I took a bite as well. The taste of the fish paste, with an added mild acidity, spread across my mouth. It was so Japanese it made me want a bowl of rice. It was good news that Ann took a liking to the taste of fish paste. It was better if we had similar tastes if we planned on living together.
When I thought about it, even though there were different races living in Daemon’s towns and pioneering villages, their food preferences didn’t vary? It was kinda convenient, but it still worried me all the same.
“Well then, Ann, now that we know how to make things tasty, how about we both practice?”
“Yes, I’ll do my best!”
Our next goal was to make even more of these until the next village market day. Since the food didn’t require any delicate temperature managing or flavor adjustments, it wasn’t that hard to repeat once you memorized the process. I guess anyone would be able to do it if they remembered the recipe at least a little.
We started preparing for the next market filled with satisfaction after creating something delicious.
Thankfully Ann didn’t share the ‘no good at cooking’ attribute that visual novel heroines usually had. She made a lot of beginner mistakes at first, but she managed to still make edible dishes, even if she was limited only to these two ingredients.
◇
This would be the second market day we’d participate in. Ann and I were occupied in front of the kitchen counter all day yesterday.
The day of the market, we decided to hand gift some for all the people of the village that were worried when Ann fell down the ravine. The gifts themselves were rather simple: a piece of baked demi corn Ann made herself, and a set of pickled white bana.
It took us a whole day to make 200 servings and wrap them inside a bactericidal container they used to preserve food in the village, in sets of four. That was pretty tiring, to be honest. We might have been doing this to celebrate Ann’s safe return to the village, but there was a reason for all this.
—To teach them that they can take their drab everyday meals and turn them into something tasty, with just a little bit a work and some money!
That was it.
Before, I felt admiration for the peace they achieved here, but I was upset at the same time. This was my first step towards changing the minds of the villagers, while still keeping the peace.
The fish from Labyrinth #370 was pretty tasty and budget friendly, but if I just brought them to the village as they were without thinking about the costs of transportation and selling labor, it probably wouldn’t end well.
They weren’t acquainted at all with fish paste in the village, and I guess they didn’t use more salt to cook than what was absolutely required just to get by. They weren’t used to the luxury that seasonings provided in the first place, let alone use them.
What would happen if they knew that the things they consumed everyday could drastically change with some effort?
I’d changed my views of new features not too long ago. This should work.
For example, it was like when the world was filled with monochrome TVs, and people all over the world were introduced to color TVs. It was hard to go back once you had an improvement like that.
This time, our stall was pretty modest.
Our main attraction today was the pumpkins, because the surplus of them was threatening to explode the warehouse. That, along with some economical packs of fake starch and fermenting mushrooms I’d gotten from Tundra; plus salt for seasoning, sugar, and fish paste. No hoes or sickles this time around. They didn’t need that many of them in such a tiny village. If I’d brought those every single time, all the people that needed them would have been covered, and there wouldn’t be any demand.
“The delicious food from before has this thing inside it? It smells pretty fishy, doesn’t it?”
“Starch? It has such a curious name, but it’s so white and pretty. Will it really give it that kind of texture?”
“This thingie? So the pot goes for 8000 DL? Hmm... it would be hard on my husband’s wallet...”
Just like I’d planned... the crowd gathering around the stall this time was different. Now it was the wives instead of the husbands who were eagerly looking at the the items.
It was a good idea to have Ann hand out the demi corn... cakes and the pickled white bana around. It’d be nice if no one noticed the fish paste price tag was a little higher than what was listed on Tundra. I figured it would be fine to sell it for as much to the village, but it’d end up being a huge deficit due to the ‘shipping’ charges of bringing it from the labyrinth to here if the demand increased.
The housewives ranged from humans, elves, dwarves, to even kobolds like Ann. Hell, there were even orcs, minotaurus, and giants among the crowd. The spectacle was amazing, to say the least. I could somewhat manage to discern a male dwarf from a female one, but I still had a little bit of trouble figuring out a kobold’s appearance and sex. I guess I just had to get used to the increased difficulty of making out individual differences.
There was a reason as to why there were so many people gathered around here. Aside from giving out the gifts that Ann and I had prepared, I started giving out samples to all the wives that had heard the rumors and came by within the first hour of opening.
The first ones to eat the samples were the men and children at first, but they gave up due to the sheer enthusiasm of the housewives, and disappeared before long.
There were a lot of wives asking all sorts of questions in front of the stall. I guess there weren’t many people with that much pocket money in a village like this, since not many people were actually buying.
Even if it didn’t sell this time, people would at least know it existed. I guess I could also leave the selling to Fez next time as well. And right as that thought crossed my mind...
“I’ll have one of those fish paste thingamabobs, please!”
An elf, maybe? Her ears were kinda pointy. The wife that spoke up was a pretty well-built lady, and led a vanguard of five other housewives with a money-filled bag in her hands.
“Just one, right? Thank you for your purchase.”
I gave the pot to her and she embraced it as if she just picked up a rare treasure, with a big warm smile on her face. The housewives accompanying her were quick to express their delight.
Fish paste was sold in one liter pots, but it seemed they’d decided to rally their money together with their fellow housewives as they heard my explanation about how one pot was more than enough to make a hundred dishes with the demi corn.
Barely an hour had gone by before the housewife that had made a fuss and bought the fish paste came back after trying it out with her cooking...
“Try this!”
She passed them around quickly among the others. I was truly impressed by her speed, and the depth of the relationships between all of them, that allowed her to give it out without any hint of selfishness.
She gave one to me as well. The taste was sweeter and smelled more like seafood. Perhaps she used too much fish paste, but even then, it was still delicious. Soon enough, there were more housewives rallying together saying “Let’s raise money together!” I ended up selling a total of six fish paste pots that morning.
“Bring more of these for the next market, please!” implored the housewives that didn’t manage to buy a pot this time.
They kept urging me to bring more with unbelievable insistence.
“Looks like you had a good day... You doing okay, buddy?”
I arrived at Fez’s cart as he was already closing shop and picking everything up. His hair looked kind of messed up, and he seemed absolutely exhausted with a mountain of vegetable and corn bags all over him.
“Do I look okay to you? It’s the first time I’ve had so many clients in this village.”
The tired Fez breathed a heavy sigh, then crossed his legs and took out his smoking pipe.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t expect the people to come rushing to your place, but it really was more than I expected.”
Since I was selling the fish paste for money instead of exchanging for goods, the wives that didn’t have enough money rushed to Fez’s cart in hopes of cashing out their corn and vegetables with him.
“I did hear about that. You turned out to be quite the schemer, eh, hermit? You’re surprisingly sharp.”
Fez stuffed the tip of his pipe with some kind of fragrant grass and inhaled deeply. The usual smell of mint started wafting along.
“Mister Fez, what do you mean? Aoi was just teaching everyone to make tasty food.” said Ann.
“He didn’t just teach them to make tasty food. It costs money if you want to eat something tasty. He’s training their stomachs to make them say ‘I’ll work harder so I earn more money to eat more tasty stuff’. Simple enough, but the result is still rather... strong.”
“Um... What’s so bad about that? Everyone in the village gets to eat tastier things, and I think it’s good that they have a reason to work harder. It helps your business too, doesn’t it, Mister Fez?” replied Ann, tiling her head in confusing.
“I’m ticked off because he got the upper hand today. It’s not cute at all when he’s so good...”
“H-Huh...?”
Ann looked more and more worried by the second. Yeah, I’d like it if Ann could stay this innocent forever.
“If you hate it that much, then all you gotta do is step up your game, right?”
A long while ago, the AI in simulation games were more of a pushover; but as the advent of multiplayer came to the simulator genre, it became more difficult to survive, let alone win, against your opponent when you couldn’t do much.
“As a merchant, I have no choice to. So, what’s your endgame?”
Fez’s expression was as grim as a dog’s face could be, and his words feel like sharp blades.
“My... endgame?”
—That’s actually a very good question. What even is my goal here?
“Yeah, you drew your hand and kindled a fire among the villagers. What do you intend to do with this situation? If you’re planning to disturb a place like this village... I hope you’re prepared.”
Fez gave me a powerful smile, baring his sharp canines.
“But of course.”
A situation in which the villagers got the seasoning bug and wanted money. Well, if I was a merchant, I would also be skeptical about this kind of thing. Money lending and high risk, high reward seed-selling were not to be taken lightly.
“I have no endgame. This situation itself is it. Don’t you think it’s better to see them all filled with energy like this?”
“...Huh?”
His expression was rather comical now.
“See, while the village was always calm and serene, I wanted it to be more lively, you know? Today’s market was so bustling it looked like a real town.”
“Hold it right there. You’re telling me that all of this was just to make the village look more lively?”
I wondered why Fez looked so surprised. Then again, we were in an environment where it was easy to do bad things, should you desire.
“Yeah. Is that so bad?”
“What in the world are you trying to get out of this!?”
I see. That was a concern fitting for a merchant.
“Nothing at all. It’s not interesting just to think about loss or gain, is it...? Oh, maybe you want to protect this simple village from my evil influence?”
“I’m the fool here for thinking about it seriously!”
Fez’s almost tearful response could have made it all the way to the sky. Perhaps I had hit the bullseye just now.
“So, do you have anything else up your sleeve, hermit? I’m pretty beat myself, if it ain’t obvious already.”
Fez went into full sulking mode, and his eyes looked incredibly tired.
“I wanted to ask you something. The housewives looked really happy, but none of the men seemed into it at all. The whole mood was kinda heavy for some reason. Did something happen?”
“You’re quite sharp when it comes to these sorts of things, aren’t you? Something did happen—it was the day after the last market. About two or three days of travel west from here, a village was attacked by the human clan. They made a pretty mean mess out of the whole place.”
The human clan... Did he mean the human-only country that opposed Daemon?
“West... Wasn’t there a fortress or something in that direction? Didn’t they suppress the invasion?”
“The fortress has a tight grip on the land, that’s why those rats snuck in small troops via boat. The feudal lord and the Demon Lord’s navy did their best, but the damage was done already... And, well...”
Now that he mentioned it, I heard something like that from the mayor as well.
“What happened to that village, then?”
“The villagers ran away and somehow made it all the way to the city. It seems the feudal lord’s troops made it to the village after they made their escape. Thanks to that, I’m wary wherever I am. I hired an escort and everything to accompany me for about a week as well and all.”
Corsairs that arrived from the shores... Were they authorized to do that by their country, or were they paid to do so?
“I don’t think they’ll come all the way to my house, but I’ll be more careful from now on as well. Thanks for telling me, it really helps.”
“This is just service for a good money-paying customer. Do me a favor and buy something off me, would you?”
“If I find something nice, sure.”
It was nice to have someone to make some small talk and exchange jokes with. I would say that Fez was the closest thing to a friend I’d made since I came to this world. I window-shopped a little while chatting with him, although I ended up going home without buying anything.
◇
After the seasoning sampling and market rush, life didn’t change all that much.
“Lunch’s ready!”
“Okay~ I’m coming!”
“Oh, yes~ I was getting hungry~”
I announced lunch time with the frying pan in one hand and both of them answered in kind.
One was the ever cheerful and cute Ann, and the other was a relaxed adult woman.
“Whoa! It looks positively tasty today as well~”
I placed the meat and potato stew-like dishes on top of the wooden table that had ranked up from the pile of rocks I lined up from before. Ann was quick to display her joy with an “Awoo!” The woman besides her had impossibly long, droopy ears and locks of bright green hair that swayed as she walked. You couldn’t get hair like that in Japan unless you used a lot of dye. She had a sculpture-like appearance and a relaxed air about her, which was apparent enough by the relaxed tone in her voice.
Once every few days, she would come to deliver food from the village according to my contract with the mayor. Her name was Deneb, and she was apparently around the same age as me, and she joined Ann and I at the table.
She was supposedly a blood relative of the mayor, but I would have never imagined that imposing cow-faced mayor could even be related to a pretty elf like Deneb. Interspecies relations truly were complex.
“Good morning to you, Mister Aoi~”
“Good morning, Miss Deneb. Thank you for the delivery.”
As usual, she arrived around the time I was preparing breakfast with a basket full of food. We hadn’t really agreed on a set time to deliver the food, but she always arrived early in the morning.
“Uncle Hopper—I mean, the mayor—sends his regards~ Someone got hurt from falling off a tree while they were working to chop it down, you see, and he got better right away thanks to your medicine~”
"The fact it’s useful is more important than anything else. I’ll go refill it next time I come through the village.”
“Thank you very much~ Ah, that smells wonderful~”
Deneb usually got so close that it felt like we would end up touching if she moved even a little bit. It seemed she wasn’t just trying to flatter me when she said something smelled nice; if her enraptured face was anything to go by, that is. It was pretty erotic when she was like that, to be honest...
“I’m preparing breakfast, after all.”
“It smells heavenly~”
She moved in so close that our shoulders and hips started touching. The soft feeling made the hand I was holding the frying pan with shiver.
“Yeah, well...”
“It smells sooooooo good~”
She was literally glued to me by this point.
—No wait, this is all messed up! I can’t explain why, but this is too much...!
“.........”
“It smells absolutely... delicious~”
Deneb placed her head on my shoulder and traced circles with her fingertip on my side. I wanted someone to praise me for hanging on so desperately. No doubt I would lose it the moment I opened my mouth.
“W-Would... you like to have breakfast with us?”
“Whoa, are you sure~?”
She suddenly separated from me, put her hands together, and faced me with a smile stronger than a thousand suns.
In the end, I just ended up smiling back in defeat before the pretty—and strangely erotic—lady.
Although she may have been a pretty good trickster, her sex appeal status was on a different level from the usual extreme cuteness I got from Ann on a daily basis. From that day henceforth, Deneb ate with us every time she came around to bring food. I got a little curious, so I asked Ann about what she thought of Deneb...
“Pretty relaxed, but she’s a really kind lady.”
Were her impressions. The desire to eat tasty food sure was terrifying. It turned a laid-back lady into a weapon of sexualized destruction...
“Oh... That’s the one I asked you for before, right? I was thinking of skewering and roasting it today.”
“Huh? A spit-roast? Whoa!”
Ann was positively ecstatic about it. She was just so lovely all the time. Deneb felt kinda closer than usual. There was so much body contact it was kind of overwhelming. But, it did have its side benefits, so it was kinda complicated.
“So you’re having a spit-roast tonight~ I’m so glad I procured a lamp just in case~”
“Wha...!?”
I unintentionally gulped down air when I saw Deneb take an oil lamp from the basket.
—Don’t tell me... She came prepared to have dinner here as well!?
“Say, Mister Aoi~ It’s been a while since the last time I spoke with Ann. Do you mind if I do~?”
She asked while sticking as close as a wet shirt to me.
“A-Ah... Y-Yeah. Sure.”
“Hmm?”
—Ann, would you please notice how I’m suffering here instead of looking confused!? I might be able to get away from her if you forced your way in between...! Please!
“Whoa, it’s positively delicious~ Meat with sauce is so tasty~”
In the end, Deneb ended up staying all the way until dinner. I don’t know if there was a god in this world or not, but: God, can I let loose and give in to the temptation already...?
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