Chapter 59

Summary of the previous chapter ------------------------------------------------------

Tommy arrived in the town of Rafan and headed to the Adventurer's Guild.

There, he saw a classmate named Yasue causing a commotion.

Feeling it was too much trouble, he ignored it and listened to the explanation about registration and jobs.

"Before heading to the inn, I should probably get something to eat and do some shopping."

Although he had been given a lot of fruit by Haruka and the others, it was already well past noon.

His stomach was starting to protest, and he thought about getting something cheap to eat.

"Meat is a bit expensive, even though there's no livestock industry. But, that's probably to be expected, right?"

Even if there were a livestock industry, it would be hard to find cheap meat.

If you could raise animals on grass that humans can't eat, that would be one thing, but if you feed them corn or potatoes, it would be more efficient for humans to eat those directly.

Basically, raising mammals is inefficient, and the UN has even said that the most efficient protein source is insects.

However, eating insects directly is a bit of a hurdle, so maybe a step in between, like animals or fish raised on insects, would be better. How efficient would that be?

Oh, right, I remember a story about a place where silkworm pupae were used to feed carp, and the carp were often eaten in that region.

Wow, how efficient. Raising mulberry trees for food, using the leaves for silkworms, the silkworms for silk and the leftover pupae for carp, and the carp for food. No waste at all! No waste at all!

Eating silkworm pupae wouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if they're in fish.

--Some people apparently eat the pupae themselves, though.

"Ugh, thinking about this makes me nervous."

I don't mean to belittle insect-based foods, but the idea of eating them myself is a different story. Physiologically, I can't handle it.

In my original world, insect dishes are common in some regions, so I can't say for sure that there won't be any at the stalls around here.

If I can see it, I can avoid it. If I can't see it, I'd rather not know. As long as I don't realize it, there's no problem.

"But today, I'll go with bread and fruit water."

If I forget about it, I can eat without worrying, but in this state, I'd definitely be thinking, "Is this in it?" while eating. I'd rather avoid that.

I chose a set of rye bread and fruit water, which was the cheapest at 10 rea, and bought it. I took a bite.

"Yeah... it seems like my stomach will fill up."

The fruit water was mostly water, and the rye bread was dry and tasteless, but it was the size of a palm, so if I stuff it into my stomach with water, the hunger will subside.

It's probably a type of black bread, but it wasn't as hard as I thought, so if I can endure the taste, it's not that hard to eat.

However, it seems to lack vitamins in terms of nutritional value.

"Well, I need to buy some clothes to change into."

Many of the day jobs are physical labor, so it's almost certain that my clothes will get dirty.

The chances of being provided with work clothes are almost zero, so I need to prepare a change of clothes.

I returned the cup to the stall owner and asked for the location of the secondhand clothing and general goods stores, then headed there.

◇ ◇ ◇

The work clothes I found at the secondhand store were more expensive than I expected.

Considering the need for at least two sets for washing and a sturdy fit for my body, there were almost no options.

However, I was lucky that my size was much cheaper and sold at a clearance price.

There was no variety, and there might be almost no dwarf customers.

Well, as long as they're practical, the design doesn't matter, so I was glad they were cheap. Still, they were quite expensive.

I also bought a head bag and underwear at the general goods store. They were cheaper than the secondhand clothes, but by this point, my money was less than half what I started with. If I hadn't borrowed money from Haruka, I would have been in trouble.

"I wonder how Naga and the others managed. I didn't have anyone to lend me money like I did..."

In my case, my money quadrupled, which gave me a little leeway.

They were three people, so their money tripled, but they were also three times as many.

"They must have had a hard time..."

Even so, I can understand why they might have been upset when I casually said, "Let's be classmates and join the group." At that time, it was clear that I was relying on them, not helping them.

Still, they lent me 3,000 rea at the end, even though there was no guarantee I could pay it back.

"...Yeah, I'll do my best."

The inn introduced by the guild was, to put it mildly, dilapidated.

For 100 rea, I was shown to a room where about ten people could sleep in a dormitory-style setup, and my space was barely a tatami mat. The blanket I was given was honestly quite smelly.

The food served was barely edible and certainly not something to enjoy.

After forcing it down, I went to sleep early and woke up as early as possible the next morning to eat breakfast and head to the Adventurer's Guild.

There were already a few people forming a line in front of the guild, which was still dimly lit, so I hurriedly joined the back of the line.

Everyone turned to look at me, and I tried to give a friendly smile, but it didn't seem to have much effect.

I waited for about 1 to 2 hours.

When the line behind me had grown considerably, the guild's doors opened, and people started entering in order from the front.

I had expected a chaotic scene with everyone fighting to get in, but that didn't happen. The people in line looked quite rough—frankly, like thugs—so it was a bit strange.

Later, I learned that causing a disturbance would result in immediate exclusion and loss of job opportunities. The guild is quite strict in this world.

The guild doesn't get involved in disputes between adventurers; if you cause trouble in their sight, you'll be demoted or expelled. The guild is, in a sense, a business of trust, so it makes sense.

In modern temp agencies, if a dispatched worker causes problems, the agency will naturally receive complaints.

"Next, please."

"Yes."

Thanks to getting up early and lining up, my turn came quickly.

I placed the guild card I had prepared on the counter, following the example of the person before me.

"Good morning. Would you like a high-paying physical labor job, Tommy?"

"Yes, I'm confident in my strength."

The person helping me was the same lady who was at the reception yesterday.

She flipped through the job listings and handed me two.

"This one is only for three days, but the pay is high. This one is for ten days but pays less. Which one would you like?"

Both seem to be construction site jobs, but I'll go with the first one.

I need to at least upgrade my inn a bit. It's a pressing matter.

"I'll take this one, please."

"Understood. Please take this job listing and head to the site."

"Yes."

I took the job listing and quickly moved aside.

There were tough-looking people lined up behind me, so I couldn't afford to get in the way.

I passed by the silent, tense people and headed to the site listed on the job listing.

The construction site work was quite tough.

Quite tough? Yes, quite tough.

To be honest, I had more leeway compared to the people around me.

Was it because I was a dwarf, or thanks to skills like [Tough Lv.3], [Strength Boost Lv.2], and [Iron Wall Lv.2]?

My short stature prevented me from doing certain tasks, but I made up for it with my strength, and even received praise from the site supervisor.

The most praised task was driving stakes.

There were many opportunities to drive stakes on the construction site, and after I did it once, all the tasks were assigned to me. By the end, I was even asked if I was a professional stake driver. I think this was probably due to the [Blacksmith] skill.

It's good that it's helping to improve my evaluation, but as someone who wants to become a blacksmith, it's a bit of a mixed feeling.

The work ended when the sun set.

I received my pay, returned to the inn, changed clothes, washed them, hung them up, and went to bed early to prepare for the next day.

By the third day, I had gotten used to the tasteless food and could endure it as a source of nutrition.

For lunch, I ate at a slightly better stall that I heard about from my coworkers.

The next day, the work content didn't change much, but I had gotten used to it, so my work efficiency improved, and I could work smoothly with my coworkers.

On the final third day, I could handle the work much more easily, and the site supervisor even said he wanted me to participate in the next construction project.

Furthermore, even though the work ended a bit early on the last day, I received a little extra pay because I had worked hard. I think my job evaluation was high.

"Tommy, how about it? Want to go for a drink?"

This was said by a coworker I had gotten to know a bit over the past three days.

After work, drinking cheap alcohol and laughing with coworkers. Yeah, it sounds pretty dwarf-like. Not bad.

"Sure! Let's go—"

"Tommy!"

"Huh? Oh, ...Toya."

Just as I was about to say let's go, I turned around to the voice calling me and saw Toya, not Naga. Right, Toya, Toya. I need to remember that. Kaminoya is Naoto.

Haruka got used to it quickly, but maybe it's because I don't often call people by their last names?

"I have something to talk about..."

Toya looked at me and the coworker.

"Ah, don't worry about it. Tommy, let's have a drink another time!"

"Sure, I'd love to!"

The coworker smiled and waved, then walked away with the others.

"Sorry, I guess I interrupted."

"No, it's fine. We're just acquaintances. I did want to have a drink, though."

I haven't had ale yet, even though I'm in a fantasy world.

Ale and dwarves, it's a classic combination.

"By the way, I heard you have the [Python] skill. I could buy you a drink if you want—"

"Really!?"

"Calm down. Do you remember the downside of [Python]?"

"Ah, yeah. I don't get drunk, but I don't get stronger, right?"

"Exactly. So, you won't feel sick from being drunk, but you won't know your body's limit."

"True..."

Usually, you learn to adjust your drinking by experiencing things like feeling sick after drinking a certain amount or not remembering the next day. But in my case, I don't have that experience. If there were scientific tests, I could measure my blood alcohol level, but that's not possible here.

"Also, if you don't get drunk, what's the point of drinking? Wouldn't juice be better?"

"Ugh... No, I think I can enjoy the taste of alcohol!"

Some people drink to get drunk, while others enjoy the taste. Being able to calmly judge the taste of alcohol without getting drunk could be a mature and good thing.

"I think the taste of alcohol is what makes it alcohol, but how does it feel with [Python]? Anyway, by the way, ale is not good. I couldn't even taste the alcohol."

"Really?"

"At least it's worse than beer. The taste is... like warm beer, and the carbonation is gone. Then, a bit sour... or maybe a bit different?"

"Sounds terrible just hearing about it."

"Yeah, but maybe some people think it's good. They seem to enjoy it in bars. I didn't drink much in my original world, either."

Hmm, I've heard that black beer and craft beer can be drunk at room temperature, so the temperature itself might not be a big issue?

"Well, you should try it once. We usually drink water, but it's drinkable and free."

"Free is a big plus... But if you're buying, I'd like to try it!"

"Then, come to my inn. The food is decent there."

"Sure!"