Chapter 89 (1/2)
「It’s been a while since I’ve felt full, that’s no easy feat. It’s this meat! It doesn’t taste like anything I’ve had before and it just kind of falls apart in my mouth. This is monster meat you’re feeding me, isn’t it?」
Even though she said it kind of rudely, she was rubbing her belly in contentment. The soup which I had made so much of was gone before I knew it, the pot licked clean.
「It’s Grateful Boar meat.」
「Fool, you’re really going to keep mocking me? Grateful Boar meat is the lowest class, blandest, most sinewy meat there is! Do you think I know nothing about meats, saying obvious lies like that?」
「Oh? I’m so sorry then.」
I smirk at her and do a little shrug and she frowns back at me upset. It’s not as if I’m lying to her, I just don’t plan to tell her the secret of the meat.
An old man back in the capitol taught me an ancient dwarven recipe as a favor: You have to boil the Grateful Boar meat in the liquor of ricol fruit from the first harvest. There was no real reason not to share the recipe, but it took forever for me to convince the old man to teach it to me. Because of that, it seemed a bit unfair to tell her the secret so easily.
「Can I ask you my question now?」
「Oh yeah, we did agree to that. What do you want to ask?」
「I want to know about those clothes you’re wearing.」
I point at them and she shook her hand, letting the sleeve flap.
「Really? You want to know about this thing? You don’t want to ask about who this beautiful lady in front of you is? or ask about this dungeon?」
「That second one I’m curious about, but I can ask later. Also, calling yourself a beautiful lady is just too funny, you should stop before I die of laughter.」
Even if I were to ever call her 「beautiful」, I would have to add 「unfortunately」in my head.
「Hmmm? All I hear is a petty little man telling bad jokes. Anyway, this clothing is called a kimono, isn’t it pretty? It’s got all sort of enchantments: autosizing and autodressing and heating and―」
「Stop, I didn’t want to hear about its capabilities. I’m want to know where it’s from, who made it.」
If there’s someone in this world who made a kimono, there might be other Japanese people like me who came here from my original world who taught them how. In the novels I used to read, there was always the potential of summons and reincarnators other than main one.
Regardless of that, it seems like the thoughts of the redheaded girl in front of me, not knowing my circumstances, were going in a wildly different direction.
「But these are women’s clothes! Unless you’re into that? Wow, you’re not just an idiot, you also have a weird fetish! You must have done something really bad in a past life to deserve this.」
「Hey! What gives you any right to call me an idiot? More importantly, I’m not a crossdresser!」
Her eyes looked far off as I panicked and started denying.
「I only care about the person who made it. I don’t want yours, I don’t even want to get one of my own, so stop looking at me like I’m a weirdo!」
「It’s… It’s not like you needed to hide it from me or anything! Not that I’m saying you should have told me if you didn’t want to…」
「The things you’re saying are so off the mark it’s not even funny. If you don’t stop going on like this, I won’t make you any more meals.」
In response to my threat, the redheaded girl just gave me a knowing look and shook her head. Yep, I thought, I want to pummel her so bad. I was debating whether or not to summon a novelty hammer when she suddenly spoke as if nothing just happened.
「Enough. You wanted to know the source of the kimono? Unfortunately, I don’t know who made it. I just grabbed something from one of my place’s storerooms at random.」
「I see…」
「However, I have seen someone selling clothes just like it. There was a place in the Beast Country where a bunch of skilled beastmen were making them. What kind of beastman were they…」
Beastmen, huh. That rules out the possibility of a summon, though a reincarnator was still possible.
I shouldn’t get my hopes up. It could also be the black haired, black eyed hero from 200 years ago who shared the kimono designs. Though, if that was the case, wouldn’t it have spread through the Kingdom rather than the Beast Country?
Thinking about these things, I suddenly realized that I don’t have much knowledge about this world. After coming here, I spent all my time training, being a hero and saving people and didn’t get to see much of the world. I was shocked to think that even though it’s been more than a year since I came here, I barely have any knowledge about things besides fighting and monsters.
At any rate, I should ask Yumis about it when I get out. Then again, someone who’s travelled the whole world like Knight Captain Guidott would probably know more about this sort of thing.
「Even knowing that much is better than nothing. Hmmm… the Beast Country…」
I’ve heard that in the Beast Country of Gilmus, the beastmen are viewed as superior. Back when I was summoned, Alesia told me that because of that ideological difference, the Kingdom of Aurelia and the Beast Country of Gilmus were hostile to each other. No matter how much the Empire in between the two tried, their skirmishes didn’t stop.
Furthermore, even though I’m the hero, I can imagine all sorts of problems cropping up because I’m human. Alesia wanted to use her influence as princess to do something about the situation, but the nobles and other internal issues made it too difficult. Also, the dungeon-loving Beast Country’s policy of occupying any dungeon, regardless of how far within the Empire’s borders it is, was very controversial. Because of these things, Alesia eventually decided to turn her focus to internal matters.
In the end, Alesia went on a journey to escape from the increasing activity of the Anti-Royalists in the capitol. She thought that forming a travelling party with the veteran Knight Captain who exceeded everyone in the Aurelian military in combat skill and the Hero would be safer than staying. Being a princess sure is tough…
Luckily, because Alesia had strong healing abilities, the king told us that he expected we would survive. Nevertheless, we decided that taking the princess to a country of anti-human prejudiced beastmen would be too dangerous.
「I guess I’ll be leaving this dungeon now.」
Because I fell down from a hole, all I have to do to get back out is aim upwards. The only issue is that I know nothing about this dungeon. Not only has no country occupied it, no one has even cleared it yet.
「Leave the dungeon, you say? My, such confidence.」
「Confidence has nothing to do with it. I don’t have the time to stop and smell the roses in a place like this.」
If I don’t make it back to my party, my training will be delayed. In other words, it would take longer for me to return to my original world.
I stand up and look around the room once more. If I were to describe its size, I would say that it’s roughly the size of two Earth classrooms. If you face the wall with the water fountain straight on, there’s a corridor to the right and a set of stairs behind. If I want to leave the dungeon, going up the stairs would be the best option. I also kinda want to try and clear the dungeon, but meeting back up with my party on the outside is more important.
「Well, you do you. At the end of that corridor is a room where edible monsters spawn. If you stay here, I expect you to make more meals. Anyway, I’m feeling full so I’m going to nap for a while. I would recommend you do the same. The passage of time in here is a bit odd.」
With that, the redhead let out a huge yawn, grabbed a blanket and pillow from a bag, and unceremoniously flopped onto the ground. I couldn’t help facepalming at the sight.
「Hey, wait! What are you doing sleeping when I’m about to leave this dungeon? I’m sorry, I don’t have the time to just wait here for you to wake up, so if you’re expecting me to keep a lookout…」
I thought she would follow along because I could cook for her, but contrary to my expectations she showed no sign of moving. I am not going to carry her on my back.
「I don’t need a lookout, this is a safe zone. Besides, if anything did try and kill me, I would wake up.」