Satou here. They say “fate works in mysterious ways,” and I think that’s true. Lots of relationships start from unusual connections, not just romantic ones. Especially in a parallel world…
“Well, Sir Pendragon, let us meet again at the New Year’s kingdom conference! I’ll repay my debt to you then with treasures the likes of which you’ve never seen!”
When we entered the trade city of Sutoandell in the Ougoch Duchy, Baron Jeetbert shook my hand fiercely before riding off to the viceroy’s castle on horseback.
He was going to borrow an emergency high-speed boat from the viceroy to hurry to the old capital.
“Wobblyyyy?”
“Kinda feels like we’re still on a ship.”
Tama, Arisa, and a few of the others were stumbling around, unaccustomed to solid ground after so many days on the ship.
“You’ll get used to it pretty quickly. For now, let’s take care of things here and find somewhere to eat.”
At that, everyone immediately jumped into action. I guess they really wanted to eat some meat.
Leaving the care of the ship to the figurehead golem and the living dolls, which were disguised with Illusion, we went to the harbor’s chamber of commerce to rent a small temporary warehouse and place some requests with the merchants.
I’d used up a good deal of my supplies and ingredients in the elf village, so I wanted to restock as much as I could here.
Once that was taken care of, we went to a meat restaurant as promised, which turned out to be a big hit.
We’d mostly been living off seafood during the journey, so aside from Mia and Rei, the girls all dug in to their meat with a great deal of relish. I decided I would start cooking meat for them a little more frequently when we resumed our travels.
Patting their bellies, everyone practically bounced out of the shop.
“So fuuuuull?”
“Meat really is the best, sir.”
“The mutton was truly delicious. Its sinew had such an excellent mouthfeel.”
The beastfolk girls seemed especially satisfied.
Liza’s remarks were a little unusual, but if she was happy, that was good enough for me.
“Whaaat? The lamb steak was waaay better.”
“The sauce was very flavorful. I can’t wait to try to make it myself.”
Arisa and Lulu, too, looked so pleased that it wouldn’t have surprised me if little musical notes appeared next to their heads.
“Larva, what is the matter? I inquire.”
“<I’m okay… It’s just…bright.>”
Rei staggered a bit when we left the shop, but Nana was quick to hold her up.
She was probably merely a little dizzy, but her face looked strangely pale, so I decided we should find an inn as soon as possible so she could rest.
“Pilaf tasty.”
“<Yes… The pilaf…and the salad…were very…good.>”
Mia was the last to leave the restaurant with a comment, and Rei nodded in agreement.
Apparently, she liked the pilaf and salad so much that just thinking about them brought her back to her regular self.
“I agree with the larva. The seaweed salad was delicious as well, I report.”
They were right: Even the non-meat dishes were very tasty.
I was particularly curious about how they’d made the seaweed salad Nana mentioned. I’d gotten them to wrap up an extra portion for me, so perhaps I could ask the elf chef Miss Nea next time I went back to the elf village.
I could probably figure it out with the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance, but that would be cheating.
“So we’re spending a night here, right? What are we doing after that?”
Arisa turned around to face me as she walked ahead of us.
“I want to buy some scrolls at the magic shop, so we’ll check out some street stalls along the way.”
It was actually quite fun to walk around the open, friendly trade city.
Like in the harbor area of the old capital, there were a lot of exotic sights and people wherever we looked.
I picked up a few foreign language skills, but most of them were just dialects of languages I already knew, so I didn’t put any skill points into them.
Besides, the magic shop in this harbor seemed to be selling a scroll of the Practical Magic spell Translation: Lesser.
I was hoping to buy it along with any scrolls that might be of use in our journey at sea.
“In that case, I’d like to take a look at some accessories!”
“Mm. Yeah.”
Mia, who was walking alongside me, nodded in agreement with Arisa, who was still facing us.
Despite the fact that we’d recently eaten, the beastfolk girls and Lulu were eyeing all the food stalls with interest.
“Okay, but could you stop walking backward like that? It’s dangerous.”
“All riiiight… Hmm? Who’s that?”
Looking past us, Arisa tilted her head in confusion.
“<Sister! I’ve found you at last!>”
A voice called out from behind us that nearly sent a chill down my spine.
It had a strange echo to it.
Turning around, I saw a slender young girl with black hair, the ends of which were red, standing with her shoulders squared.
Her skin was so light that it almost blended in with her white clothing. She bore a strong resemblance to Rei when she was in young-girl mode.
This girl’s eyes, however, were alarming. They looked like a photo negative: black where there would normally be white and white where the pupils should be black.