Chapter 23: Dining Table Of A Foreign Land VI (1/2)

【44th day】

100 adventurers were asked the reason why their parties “disbanded” by a minstrel.

First, in 5th place: Money

The allocation of money obtained from adventures, monopolization of treasures, refusal to pay the Guild, and debt.

People say:

Adventurers are free creatures.

But that didn’t mean that they would be forgiven for not returning the money that they owed.

4th place: Race

An extremely delicate problem. Basically, at the stage when a party is formed, races that do not get along will not be added to the party, but due to the pressures of necessity, whether it was other parties, clients or supporters and so on, there were many seeds for disputes that they had no choice but to get involved with.

The Hemus acted as if they were superior, the elves looked down on the other races, and the dwarves secluded themselves for the sake of their craft. And the “beastkin” who were treated as lesser compared to those three races of “humans”.

It didn't become like this only recently. There was a history. I did feel angry about it, but I didn’t think of changing it. Even if it was a bad custom, it didn’t change the fact that it was a custom of this world. I had no right to change it.

3rd place: Differences in adventuring direction

Are you guys a band or something?

2nd place: Death

The better the party, the more it functioned like a set of gears.

If even one of them was missing, the party would fall apart.

In the event two or more party members died, 90% of the parties disbanded and found a different path. Filling the hole left by those who had died was next to impossible, so that was probably the reason why party members supported and helped one another.

1st place: Relations between the sexes

The rate at which mixed-sex parties disbanded was about five times that of same-sex parties.

It was doubled further if there were female beastkin or elves in the party.

If the leader was indecisive and male on top of that, it was also doubled.

Close in age overall. A married couple in the party. Brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

「………………」

『That was the result of the survey of 100 adventurers conducted by the minstrel and compiled by Izora』

That last one was probably not from the survey, but a snide remark.

『Team member Souya, there is a well-known line from Izora’s country.「I did not have sexual relations with that woman」』

「Right, that's the second time you’ve used that」

They were the words of a president who had an affair with a female intern.

『It’s not Izora’s job to question your morality. ……… But I want you to hear Izora’s personal thoughts on it: Cheating is the worst』

「Weren’t you guys observing? My explanationー」

『Izora has a suggestion. Let's standardize the terms so that there will be no such misunderstandings in future. The one that means physical vitality will be called ”regeneration point”. The term “inner magic” is now obsolete. The numerical value required to use magic will be called ”magic power point” or ”magic power”. The term ”outer magic” is now obsolete. Is that alright with you?』

「Understood. Let's go with that」

I had been ignored.

Izora-kun, did you forget that I'm the one and only official user in this world?

『As a result of that deed with that native, your regeneration point has increased to 33. It’s currently decreasing over time, but it’s astonishing considering that its value is 10 under normal circumstances. No sexually transmitted diseases have been found either. Or rather, just do whatever you like, alright?』

What’s with that tone?

Somehow, it’s now a bed of nails.

『Well then, see you in the dungeon』

Communications had been cut off one-sidedly.

I was annoyed so I called her, but I got ignored.

『What was it that Izora wanted?』

Makina asked me.

「A, a little bit about what happened last night」

『………………』

「………………」

There was an awkward silence.

It was early morning, and a breeze caressed my cheeks. With the chill of the morning dew lingering in the air, the rays from the sun felt comfortable.

I had a feeling that today would be a good day.

『Souya-san! Makina has completed the thing you requested!』

「Ohh, is that so?!」

Makina and I both read the mood and changed the subject.

The thing that had appeared with a bang in front of me was a dome-shaped stone oven. It had been added to the kitchen at the camp. From order to completion, it had taken 16 hours. That was astounding.

「That’s amazing, what did you do in terms of the materials and so on for this?」

The stone oven, which had a radius of one meter, and its base used quite a large amount of stone. Makina couldn’t have found enough lying around to build it.

『Under the place where we first appeared in this world, Makina found some ruins. Makina took some of the ruin’s walls and various things, and used them to make the oven. It’s improvised, but Makina believes that there shouldn’t be any problems with the design』

「Ruins?」

『Yes, it’s a dungeon with a composition that’s similar to the Odoriji spire. Makina even found Shogaku stones. Makina believes that it’s the reason why the regeneration point works near the camp』

「I see」

Could it be that we had come here due to the power of the ruins? If I had some free time, I suppose I should look into it. If I had free time, that is.

Alright, leaving that aside, it’s time for food.

「Makina, what about the other thing I ordered as well?」

『Needless to say, it's done』

Makina’s body opened up and she took out a bowl. In it was a white and sticky substance: fresh cream.

「Incredible! Did you really make this?」

『Makina cast magic on milk and butter』

I couldn’t make heads or tails of making sweets so she was a tremendous help.

「About the edamame, can I leave the rest to you?」

『Fufufu, please leave it to me. Makina is also a girl～♪, so leave the making of sweets to Makina～♪』

I had gone to the farms a short while ago. I was able to buy immature soybeans, different varieties of vegetables that had yet to be sold inside the city, and also some dairy products.

Makina had gone to the trouble of completing the oven, so I had no choice but to make that dish, didn’t I?

As Makina got started on making sweets, I also started my preparations.

I took out the udon dough that I had made then put aside last night. I tore some off and rolled it into a ball several times, then used a rolling pin to spread them into circular shapes before I smeared tomato paste all over them. I shredded three different kinds of alternate world cheese and sprinkled them over the dough. With this, the foundation was completed.

The first one was simply heaped high with bacon, the second one had potatoes and mayonnaise, and the third one was luxuriously topped with eggplant, edamame, onion, tomatoes and olives.

Geto-san made his entrance here.

I had been waiting.

「Hey, what’s that?」

「It’s a baking oven」

「That’s scary」

For a fishman, that massive lump of heat was probably terrifying. Today, he brought scallops and shrimp. Yes!

I prepped the seafood.

Geto-san sat in his usual seat and challenged a three-dimensional puzzle.

Makina put the ingredients into the oven.

Preparations for breakfast were suspended temporarily as I packed the food for today's adventure. It was scheduled to be a brief exploration to check things out. But the maps were coming today, so I wanted fight a little bit with the enemy just to get a feel for them.

My way of adventuring was to be doubly careful while proceeding. For all that, we would have to act recklessly if we ran into unforeseen circumstances. That was why I always made plans with plenty of leeway.

Nearly an hour later,

「Souya-san! It came out well～!」

「Ohh, that looks really awesome」

Makina raised a cheer.

「What’s this」

Geto-san drew closer, while grimacing at the oven’s heat.

An offering had been placed on top of the cutting board.

『It's zunda-cheesecake. Makina tried making it by mixing in the anko that was made from edamame. Makina held back on the sweetness, and it also has a fair amount of vitamin B1!』

There was a light green cheesecake in a round mold.

The refined sweet smell that wafted from it made me feel homesick.

「Is this thing delicious?」

Geto-san's questioned.

Well, I do think that it's delicious, but I had another question though. Will the people of this world accept this green color from something that isn’t a vegetable? Color is important, isn’t it? The castle is covered with moss anyways……

『Let's chill it～』

It was put into a wooden box and hung from the drone. Like yesterday, it was sent up into the sky.

I resumed the preparations for breakfast.

I arranged the seafood on the dough.

The scallops and corn were seasoned with butter and soy sauce, while the shrimp and a species of fruit that looked like avocado were seasoned with salty-sweet mayonnaise. Finally, cheese was sprinkled over it again, and olive oil was also lightly drizzled over it. With that, the preparations were complete.

Alright, next was,

「Makina, can I leave it to you?」

『Makina will take care of it～』

I left the baking to Makina.

I’ll unreservedly rely on her from now on.

After all, I'm an adventurer. Not a chef.

But should I also make an offering for the king? Is it a Japanese misconception that sugared soy sauce seems to make pretty much everything taste good?

I shook the frying pan containing the ingredients.

「Morning～」

「Good morning～」

「Yes, good morning」

The sisters came out of their tent. Ea looked fresh, while Rana looked unsteady. The two of them went to the washstand, which collected distilled water, and washed their faces and tied their hair.

Ea had slipped into my bed last night.

I almost reached enlightenment.

Nothing in particular happened though.

No way, among other things, she is my sister-in-law, you know? But it’s just in-law, huh?

As I was agonizing over it, I heard the sound of horseshoes.

A person that I recognized was on the horse. I could see her thighs under her fluttering skirt.

「Good morning, Souya-dono」