Chapter 96

The Hero and a Meal

With him proposing to Rokuko, he’ll probably be executed immediately if he manages to return alive . Well, I’m not really worried about him but as expected I’d feel sorry for abandoning someone from the same world as me . I feel like doing a good thing so let’s just continue on with the campaign .

“… So, what do you think we should do, Kehma?”

“For the time being, tell me how he asked . ”

“Eh? Nnn, umm, ‘would you be my partner’ . ”

Rokuko’s face is blushing from embarrassment… but is that even a proposal?

Partner can have various meanings after all . Though it could definitely mean a partnership between a man and a woman, it could also mean partners like me and Rokuko .

Even I use [Partner] to describe Rokuko a lot .

… Ah, there’s a chance that Translation-san is replacing what I mean with that unthinkable meaning isn’t there…

“Heeey, Rokuko, did you answer him about the ‘partner’ thing?”

“Yeah, well I refused immediately though! I have Kehma so I don’t need another partner . ”

“Y-yeah . Then isn’t the problem solved with that?”

“Wait up! Umm, that’s… he’s really persistent… He invited me wanting to talk and I don’t want to eat together with him . You come too, Kehma!”

An S-Rank adventurer’s request huh… Wouldn’t it usually be fine if I just refused?

No, it might turn into a bad situation if we don’t talk to him at all, so eating a meal with him might be a good opportunity .

And if Rokuko talked with him by herself, yep, I definitely have a bad feeling about that . There’s the possibility that she’s already guilty of something, after all what did she do to make him ask her to become his partner?

“So I was thinking about properly requesting you to be there, as my partner!”

“Yeah? Yeah… I guess?”

“Hey, do it right! Kehma is my partner after all . ”

“That’s right, I’m your partner, yeah . ”

Crap . With this course of events, what kind of meaning is this ‘partner’? I can’t figure it out .

… The problem is that I’m trying to not be seen . Postponing my problems, it really is a Japanese thing to do huh .

Ah, maybe I could ask the hero about it directly?

*

In the end, I decided to talk directly with the hero . While eating a meal together .

We’re in the suite . Right now, Kinue-san is in the middle of setting up the A-Rank special, the [Avarice Meal], also known as the kid’s meal .

And as for me, I was sitting in front of the hero with the mysterious earth mage adventurer Narikin disguise . Rokuko was next to me .

Furthermore, in order for today’s disguise to conceal my hair color as well, it’s closer to a full-face helmet than a mask . I made the mouth area able to be detached for the meal . It’ll be convenient to hide my hair color in the future as well, so let’s go with this from now on .

“Good to meet you, Hero-dono . I am Narikin . Rokuko’s partner . It is my honor to be able to meet you . ”

“Good to meet you . I am Wataru Nishmy… umm, Narikin-san . Rokuko-san . It was very impolite for me to invite you, but—it’s impossible to talk with this meal in front of me, I’m very sorry .

You could talk while eating though… you can be a bit loose with the kid’s meal~ . Well, I thought something like that, but it looked like that was out of the question for the hero . He’s been fixedly staring at the kid’s meal and cream soda for a while now .

Maybe I shouldn’t have served the hero a meal meant for children after all? The hero probably knows how much the kid’s meal costs in Japan, I’m expecting him to call it a rip-off at five gold any time now .

Then, the hero single-mindedly ate the kid’s meal . Moreover, with a serious face the whole time .

… He looks like an adult, but with him silently eating a kid’s meal, the atmosphere’s pretty heavy .

In the end, he was angry about the price being too high—not . I thought he might be, but it didn’t look like that was the case .

“—Thank you for the meal . ” [1]

Drinking the last drop of the cream soda, the hero, Wataru, who hadn’t left a single grain of food left on his plate—shed tears .

“I’m sorry, I just recalled my hometown… it’s already impossible to return there . ”

Three years . I’m sure Haku-san said that three years have passed since this hero was summoned .

Entering into high school, that would be the same period of three years it would take to graduate . With that amount of time, various things probably happened . I don’t know what happened, but from the way he looks right now, it’s easy to see that he’s gained a grand amount of experience compared with what he would have living in Japan .

“You can’t return anymore, is it?”

“Yeah . My hometown is in a different world, so there’s no way to return . I’m still looking for a way, but—even if I find one, I still wouldn’t be able to return there… Since coming to this world, my hands have killed many . In my hometown, that is the greatest sin . ”

I see, so he’s killed people since coming to this world . So he can’t return to Japan, huh .

Murders in another world probably wouldn’t get him arrested as a criminal if he returned to Japan though, but the problem is probably how he feels about it .

“So then, why are you looking for a means to return despite not being able to?”

“Ah, in the future, I might meet a person from the other world that might want to return to their hometown—because of that; and lingering attachments . One’s hometown is something to be missed…”

… For me, even though I don’t feel like leaving my comfortable life here to return to Japan, I wonder if I’d want to return some day? I’m happy so long as I can sleep though .

“I understand the reason Haku-sama recommended this inn . This place really does have a hint of Japan . I have a few questions I’d like to ask, is that alright?”

“… If I am able to answer, I will answer . ”

“Then… [Rice] . What region is this from?”

Ah—a difficult question right out of the gate .

For example, even if I said, ‘I don’t know since we procured it from Haku-san,’ this hero could go and directly ask Haku-san to confirm it . Then if Haku-san answered with, ‘I don’t know where,’ or something there’d be a contradiction . It’d be really bad if that happened huh .

“… Well, we don’t want to leak our supplier since this is a business…”

“Please, somehow . I won’t tell anyone else . I absolutely want to acquire it . ”

“If that’s the case, I can accommodate you . We don’t have so much, but we can sell you the rice that has finished cleaning . ”

“Definitely! —Ah, and what kind of soil does it need?”

He didn’t bite . Well, rice is the Japanese soul food, it’s natural for him to be anxious about it .

He’ll probably keep asking if I don’t answer him . Let’s go with using that appropriate country’s name and be a bit enigmatic… Ummm, what was the name of that country Haku-san definitely mentioned? Wakoku? You could get cherries there right? Alright, let’s go with using that .

It looked like Wataru expected me to hesitate and think over responding, he was waiting quietly .

“Do you know of the country named Wakoku?”

“Yeah, I’m planning to go there . [Wakoku], its name matches it being to the east, so it’s been on my mind . ” [2]

… Ah, he’s right! I didn’t notice!

“Well, Haku-san brought us things called cherries from there . ”

“Ooh, so there are cherry trees in Wakuko then! I can’t wait!”

Ah, is that so? Cherries are cherries, so I guess that means cherry trees too .

So if there really might be [Rice] too—wait, Haku-san said she didn’t know what [Rice] was didn’t she? I don’t think Haku-san would overlook a grain while knowing about a fruit like cherries . In that case, it looks like there isn’t much of a chance then .

… Yep, I didn’t say that I got our [Rice] from there, safe, safe . Even those lie detecting magic tools wouldn’t catch my white lie .

“As for our current supplier, that’s all I can say . ”

“Thank you… Next, I would like you to have a look at this . ”

After saying that, Wataru took out some playing cards .

“I heard that these could be obtained from the dungeon [Cave of Desires] . ”

“Yes, it appears that they are obtained from the first floor . We buy them for five copper coins . ”

“… Narikin-san, please look at this . ”

The hero pointed to the box of cards… What? What am I looking at? It’s just the normal box .

“Yeah? … It doesn’t look like anything’s different, are you trying to show me a magic trick?”

“Hey, what’s that weird pattern?”

The hero smiled broadly . I suddenly understood after hearing Rokuko’s response, and immediately my blood flowed backwards as I was attacked by chills .

… It’s a bar code . With something like that, it’s a complete out!

“Yes . This here is called a bar code, it’s a special way of writing a price . ”

“Ahh now that you mention it, this pattern, I’ve always thought it was something or another, but it was like that then?”

I promptly handed it back… This guy, he might suspect me being Japanese . He might have even settled on that with my reaction just now .

Oh right . Haku-san’s surely heard about bar codes as well . So with her thinking that I had schemed some super-excellent plan, she probably saw the bar codes as bait . Even though it was really just a complete fail on my part!

“… Well, this is why I came to this dungeon . It’s a clue for returning to my hometown . ”

“Is that so… Ah, it’s fine to examine it, but since this one is more or less for beginners… please don’t damage it too much, alright?”

“Yes . I understand . I am planning on staying a week for now . ”

Hero Wataru said that and bowed deeply… he doesn’t seem like a bad guy .

Ah . Right . I need to ask about his proposal towards Rokuko too huh . Well, nine times out of ten he probably meant it as a study partner though .