Chapter 40

About Time to Return

I wonder if it’s fine to leave the goblins here… this isn’t a field though .

Would throwing them into the forest solve it?

Ah, while I was thinking about that Meat and Ichika came back with the rabbits (beheaded) from the forest . That was fast .

“Goshujin-sama, I hunted the meat . ”

I wonder if hunting stimulated her dog-eared girl instincts? Meat was faintly smiling . Guess she’s satisfied .

For now, the three of us went to hanging the rabbits upside down, putting them into the bag when blood stopped coming out .

“What about the goblins’ magic stones? Well, they’re not much but it’s nice to get some extra money as F-rank . ”

“Goblins have magic stones?”

According to Ichika, it seems they’re buried in their brains . It takes about a minute per to find the magic stone .

Its head was sliced open with the sword and its brain scrambled around… Uoeh… What came out was a scrap magic stone even smaller than the one I could get with 10 DP . I guess with five of these it might be worth around the 10 DP magic stone…?

“It’s a demon so it has a magic stone . It’s pretty small, but demons have magic stones somewhere in their bodies . If the rabbits also had magic stones, they’d be demon rabbits soon… Hmm, I guess this’d sell for a copper… ah, I think it’d disappear after a night of being used in that light magic tool at last night’s inn . ”

If five goblins really did become fifty copper, it wasn’t worth the time in getting its scrap magic stone for a single copper . It’s obviously more profitable to use that time to hunt another goblin .

… I wonder if it’s fine to throw them away now? This takes too long .

I got the scrap magic stone from Ichika for now . It might be useful for a golem .

Returning to the town with rabbit meat in hand, we immediately headed to the grilled meat skewers stall .

“Oh, you brought rabbit meat?”

“Yeah, here . Please assess it . ”

He decided to purchase the headless rabbits I took out from the back .

Of course, they were all for the highest amount of twelve copper coins . With six of them, that made seventy-two copper . I didn’t get the money from him since I would receive it from the guild . Adding it to the reward from the goblins, it made around one silver and two coppers . A silver coin was a refreshing reward .

“Ku—, you did a good job… Eh, by some chance, is that Nee-chan your new comrade?”

“That’s right! The name’s Ichika . Good to meet ya! My~, that smells gooood . I wanna eat that meat skewer, Goshujin-sama~, buy it~?”

“Hahaha! So An-chan? I’ll throw in a small extra if you buy it, so?”

“… Well then, I’ll take three . ”

“Thanks for the purchase!”

Handing him fifteen copper coins, I received four meat skewers . One as a freebie for buying three seemed like a lot .

I handed two to Ichika and one to Meat .

“Though An-chan, she’s a beauty . Even the small Jou-chan has an amazing future, you’re pretty attracted to looks huh . ”

“She was a pretty good bargain . She’s noisy when it comes to food though . ”

“Haha, then go ahead and be a regular customer to my shop . Ah, right . I bought the meat from An-chan, but it’s even more delicious and popular than usual . If possible, I’d appreciate it if you sold it on a regular basis . ”

“I can’t just hunt rabbits… my rank went up . ”

“Ooh, congratulations on that . It’s fine if it isn’t rabbits then . Boars or something like that, I’d buy whatever so long as it’s delicious . I was originally a butcher, with this stall as a side job . I can handle anything . ”

“Come to think of it, I hunted goblins . ”

“Hahaha! Goblins are horrible no matter if you roast them or boil them ya know?”

Is that so~ .

“Well, could you tell me the secret to making the rabbit meat so delicious? I’d offer up to twenty silver . ”

“Heeh… that’s pretty generous . What if he teaches ya? Will there be delicious meat stuffs here whenever?”

Ichika spoke with some strenuous effort, at least it was probably that .

In truth, even I appreciate good meat… but it’d quickly spread around if I told him .

Alright, let’s not tell him .

“It’s still a secret for now . ”

“Well, can’t be helped . Please let me know when you feel like it . ”

Since Ichika looked a bit disappointed, today’s rabbit meat… I had him promise to set some aside for us for a week . I paid twenty-five copper coins in advance… I’ll try to not forget about coming to eat here . Ichika is scary .

After that, we headed to the guild and received the one silver and two copper coins reward .

It was finally time to head back to the mountain . Just in case, I told them that I’d come back some time next week .

We went to the west gate to return to our base .

“Hey, is that enough stuff to go to the mountains? Ah no, I know about [Storage], but…”

“Right, this doesn’t seem like enough previsions to people huh . ”

Come to think of it, it was a bit dangerous heading to the west gate last time .

Alright . I’ll hand Ichika a silver coin from today’s reward . =

“Is this enough for equipment?”

“For three people… hmmm, I think we need three days’ worth? Should be enough for a week . ”

“We can get supplies at our base, so that’s fine . I’ll go and nap in the central park . Go and buy stuff with Meat . ”

“Got it . Then, I’ll buy stuff . Can I buy sweets with the change?”

“… Just let me know roughly how much you spend . ”

“Leave it to me~ ♪”

I’m terribly uneasy about this, but I’ll trust the former C-rank adventurer .

*

“This meat sandwich is gooood . Mmmm, the vegetables and oil from the meat intertwine and become an amaaaazing flavor, artisan-level technique! A good texture and feeling . Moreover, this flavor… it’s cheese! There’s cheese in it! I’m so happy . Have a good appetite… eat up!”

There was a food terror as soon as I woke up .

“Why are you making that face Goshujin-sama? I bought your part too, food~ food~”

When I looked, Meat was also holding a sandwich in her hand . Ichika was holding two . Shrewd .

I looked over the equipment Ichika while she ate the sandwiches .

Flint, tent, food, canteens, pelts, food, knife, food, canteens, food… oi, why so much food!?

“It’s normal, if we lose it we can’t eat, so I got a lot . ”

Well, changes of clothes aren’t needed with [Cleanup], and we can use life magic to heat water or warm ourselves with [Generate Heat] . We’d need the magic skill [Ignition] or a flint to make a fire though .

For the most part, with life magic the most important thing to live in the mountains is edible food .

A knife was convenient for processing and cooking food, and furs were for laying on the ground to sleep .

But these pelts are white and fluffy… hey, aren’t these rabbit furs? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

“I put various stuff in the bag . Even though Goshujin-sama has [Storage]…”

“So, how much was it?”

“The sandwiches! Bargains, at six coppers each!”

“Not those . ”

“Ah, that . We used it all . Aaah, it’s good we were just barely able to buy the sandwiches~”

Her smile looked as though she were asking to be praised for spending it all .

Nah, in truth I thought this would happen when I handed her the silver coin . Enough food and equipment for three people for three nights with 10,000 yen would have been pretty hard . It was probably really hard .

“Seriously, Meat-senpai saved me y’know? She drove down prices hard . Aah, we were lucky the clerk was a guy ♪ . He kept looking at my chest, because of that we saved fifteen copper . ”

Wouldn’t that interfere with his business?

“Well, you really did well . Thanks . It would have been better for me to hand you a bit more funds huh?”

“What ya gave was fine though? Ah, but you can pay me in food?”

… You can eat stuff like hamburgers and melon bread when we get back to the [Ordinary Cave] .

And so, now with proper equipment, we headed towards Tsuia Mountain .

Come to think of it, I’m a dungeon master but it doesn’t feel like it at all . Something like being an adventurer after heading down to a human village is definitely not a dungeon master’s business .

Has the life of staying indoors like the bandits and sleeping that I’ve longed for finally arrived?