Chapter 3.2: The Foreigner, Can’t Explore the Dungeon II - (2) (1/2)

【3rd day】

The mornings of the alternate world were early. From afar, I heard the sound of a large bell signaling the start of the day.

After waking up at 6 o'clock, I bathed and got ready. I got Makina to help me with the dirty laundry. While hanging it out to dry, a guest came by with ingredients for breakfast.

「It's shrimp and shellfish」

「Thank you very much」

「Do you need a hand with anything?」

「No, please just have a seat」

「I see, I see」

Geto-san sat in his exclusive chair and challenged the puzzle ring that I had given him.

I removed the heads and shell of the small shrimp and de-veined them. Even though they were small, it’s still luxurious if there were twenty of them. The shellfish, which resembled clams, were lightly rinsed with salt water. I removed the core of an Elf garlic, an odorless garlic from this side, and cut it into smaller rings. Next was a species similar to cayenne pepper, let's call it alternate world pepper. No, that’s troublesome, so I’ll just call it pepper. I removed the pepper’s seeds. Taking some wild vegetables that I had found on the plain, I rubbed them with salt and left them for later.

I poured a generous amount of olive oil into a clay pot that I had bought on the way back yesterday.

First, I put in the garlic and peppers. Then, an appropriate amount of salt.

I moved the pot further from the fire so that the garlic won't get burnt and waited for the smell to come out. Once it felt right, I put in the rest of the ingredients then let it cook.

I sliced some hard bread that I had also bought yesterday and toasted their surfaces. The toasted slices of bread were then arranged on a plate and put on top of the simple table in my camp.

Once the pot was simmering nicely, I put out the fire.

Alternate world Ajillo completed.

Everything was from the alternate world, but it looked almost the same as the food in the food stores back in my world that I had peeked at.

I left it out in the plain for a while to let the wind cool it down.

I figured that green tea should probably be fine for drinks so I made cold-brew tea as best as I could.

Five minutes later.

「Geto-san, let's dig in」

「Ohhh」

I passed him a spoon.

「You put the ingredients on top of the bread and eat them together」

「Is that so?」

Perhaps they were his favorite, but Geto-san piled only the shellfish onto his slice of bread and put it all in his mouth.

「Umm. Once again, it tastes wonderful」

Loud crunching sounds. Geto-san was eating even the shells. Well, if he found them delicious then I had no complaints.

「Itadakimasu」

I put my palms together then piled an extravagant amount of shrimps on my slice of bread and took a bite.

「De, delicious」

I was in pure bliss.

The appetite-inducing garlic flavor and the tenderness of the shrimp danced on my tongue. The bread went well with the olive oil that had soaked in the deliciousness of the ingredients, especially with its toasted texture. It didn't end there. The subtle bitterness of the wild vegetables added an accent to the taste. I thought that there wasn't enough salt but it was bearable. We finished all the shellfish.

Bread.

It's bread.

There's not enough bread. Bring me more bread!

So both of us even ate the bread that I had bought to keep as preserved rations.

When the ingredients were all gone, we were simply scooping up the remaining oil in the clay pot with the bread and eating it just like that. I hadn't expected this hard and tasteless bread to go over so well.

「Urgh, this is the first time I ate so much land food. I'm going to go lie down」

The fishman lying there looked just like a beached whale. I did think that it was a bit rude of me to have that impression though. While it wasn't as good as my sister's, it was a delicious breakfast. It must be because the ingredients were good.

「Well, but, that is, I feel bad」

I stuttered an apology while I was washing up the dishes.

「Hmm, was there something bad about the food?」

Geto-san replied, still lying down on the ground.

「No no, it's about receiving such delicious food for free」

「What a weirdly humble race. For us, who can't use fire, we may only get the chance to eat food like that once or twice in our lifetime. That alone is well worth it. It was not quite a gold coin anyways. If you didn't take it, I would have just thrown it away」

「What did you mean when you said that it was not quite a gold coin?」

It was a phrase that I didn't quite understand.

「I meant that it's value isn't enough to be exchanged for one gold coin」

「Won't exchanging it for silver or copper coins be fine?」

「Ohh, I forgot」

Eh, about the value of coins? Was what I thought, but that was wrong.

「Do you have any silver coins?」

I took one out from my pocket.

「To non-human races like us, that’s a deadly poison that burns our flesh」

「What?!」

I reflexively let go of it.

「You’re getting alarmed for nothing. Let’s see, while waiting for the food to be digested, I'll tell you a story」

The fishman priest recounted the blood-soaked history of the silver coins.

Let’s start at the beginning.

In ancient times,

Right after the era of gods descending on this world was over, and human history had just begun,

There was a king who ruled over the beastkin.

His name was Ra Guzuri Duin Oruosuouru, the King of Beasts.

No matter the times, humans and beastkin had always been at odds with one another, the difference was only in where they stood.

At that time, it was the humans who were on the verge of extinction.

Losing their influence and power throughout the continent, the only territory they had left was a hidden dwarven silver mine at the northernmost part of the left continent.

It was there that the last king prayed to the gods.

「Please give us the power to destroy those with vile and abominable blood」

After a thousand days of prayer and the sacrifice of a hundred elves, the gods finally responded.

『Then, King of Man, drink that abominable blood and become a beast yourself, then we will lend you our power』

At the height of his resentment, the king obeyed.

In return, the gods performed a miracle.

Malignant spirits now resided within silver.

The king implored,

「Oh silver, hate, burn, kill, and massacre all races other than humans like us! Rain death and extermination upon all those with an ugly body like mine! 」

The blessed silver became the king's hope.

Dwarves created numerous weapons using silver.

The ugly king, in front of the lines of new spears, swords and arrows, said his last words,

「Now, my children. Let it “begin”」

On that day, many beast-hunter kings were born.

And so, humans hunted the beastkin down to the point of extinction, but stopped due to both exhaustion and mercy, and coexisted together with them from then on.

As the proof of peace, the beast-hunter weapons were made into currency and were spread throughout the world. But should the beastkin ever turn their fangs on humans again, they would yet again become swords, spears and arrows, and completely exterminate the beastkin at that time.

No one knew the names of the gods that had responded to the humans.

「………………」

I had several thoughts about that story, but it wasn’t right for outsiders to casually voice opinions like that.

I picked up the silver coin and looked at the beast engraved on its face. I wondered, was that the former human king, or was it the king of the beastkin?

「Although fishmen did not kill humans directly, we did help the beastkin cross the sea. So we were also caught up in the curse」

「I’m sorry」

「It’s pointless for you to apologize as you are someone who is not from this world」

「You’re right」

「As for the copper coins, they simply won’t do. They become rusty easily and dirty the water」

For a time, the myth that copper was poisonous had been widespread in Japan.

「Actually, if it’s okay with you, Geto-san, there’s something I need to ask you」

「What is it now?」

While I didn’t think that I would be able to help, since it was a sort of fate that we had met, I wanted to know if there was perhaps something going on.

「Why do you need money?」

It was something Geto-san had said yesterday, but fishmen should be able to live solely on the blessings from the sea. There was little to no need to meddle with affairs on land.

As long as they maintained their practice of staying in the depths of the oceans, humans would not be able to rule over them.

「I have five granddaughters. The youngest one saved a man from a merchant boat that had sunk due to a storm. After sending him ashore, she was almost in a frenzy and kept on talking about that man. One day, she suddenly disappeared after stealing one of our greatest treasures. The name of that treasure is Gu Barri, and by paying the price of what is most precious to the user, it can transform the user into their desired form. So, it was pretty obvious that my grandchild had gone after that man」

That sounded just like The Little Mermaid.

「We were denounced by the other fishmen clans, but I thought that it was fine as long as she was happy. But, one day, I heard from the others that there were people from the Eruomea West Phoenix company who wanted to talk business with me. The item they wanted to sell was a mermaid. The price was 4,000 gold coins」

So, the little mermaid had not dissolved into foam but had become merchandise for a merchant company.

This was a world where a loaf of bread costs one copper coin. I couldn’t imagine what it would take to earn 4,000 gold coins.

「Forget about it. I didn't talk about this because I wanted your sympathy. I merely answered your question」

「Yeah, okay」

And just when this was happening,

「What’s this, something smells delicious」

A gray creature came out of the tent. The freeloader stretched, then opened its mouth wide in a yawn.

「Good morning, Misuranika, -sama」

I didn't want to accept it, but if I didn’t call it with such an honorific, it would throw a noisy tantrum so I had no choice.

「Souya, prepare my breakfast」

「Yes, yes」

I took the pieces of the alternate world fish that I had dried overnight and sprinkled water over them to reduce their salt content. Shaking off the water, I piled them loosely onto a plate.

「What’s this?」

「It’s fish」

「This can’t be right! From the smell, you probably ate something better! I’m right, aren’t I?! Are you saying that this fish is worthy for someone of my status?! What disrespect! Bring me the sword!」

It was kicking and rolling around on the ground like a child.

「It's okay then, don’t eat it」

I'll just give it to the winged rabbit that flew by earlier instead. It was unusual and I wanted to let it become accustomed to being fed by people.

「Wait」

The cat put its front paw on the hand that I had stretched out to take the plate.

「I didn’t particularly say that I won't eat it」

「Is that so?」

Despite all the complaints, it started eating the fish. Geto-san was looking at the cat with an indescribable expression.

「Souya, what’s that?」

「It’s a cat. Do you call it something else on this side?」

「No, it’s indeed a cat. But the fact that it speaks, is somewhat...... no, surely not. I’ve spoken and eaten too much today. I’m leaving」

As he left, Geto-san muttered,

「Misuranika? Hmm... um, I’ve heard that before somewhere, but I’m too full so I’m feeling a bit muddle-headed」

He jumped into the river and disappeared somewhat slowly.

「It’s a bit beneath me but I’m satisfied」

「Oh, I see」

Misuranika-sama, who was satisfied despite all of its complaints, licked around its mouth using its tongue.

「I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when lunch is ready. Next time, prepare some other meat that isn’t fish」

It went back into the tent again.