bookworm

Okay, they’re here!“Hahh!” I slashed at one of the running orc’s legs. Once it flinched......*Stab*I thrust into its heart.Yeah!“Woah!” The moment I let my guard down because I’d defeated the orc, I was blown away from the side and hit a tree.“That hurts...”“Squeee!” The orc glared at me angrily.“Oh you’ve done it now, you damn orc!! STONE BULLET! STONE BULLET! STONE BULLET!” I shot Stone Bullets at the orc that sent me flying.*Thdshh* *Thdshh* *Thdshh*Rocks around 5cm in size hit the orc.“Ssqueee!” The orc fell to its knees, crying out in pain.Without missing a beat, I closed in on the orc and lopped off its head with my mithril sword. “Heeiih!” The orc’s head fell to the ground with a thud.“Whew~...” Looking around, I’d noticed that the people in Shadow Warrior managed to take down another two or three orcs.“Are there any left?”“No, all the orcs that ran are here,” said Alonzo.“Well then, let’s head for the settlement.”“What about these orcs?”“I have an Item Box, so for now I’ll just stuff them in. Let’s decide what to do with them later.”Leaving how to divide the spoils for later, I collected all the orcs and we headed towards Fel and the others.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇When we reached the orc settlement, I saw countless orc corpses scattered around — and among them stood my three familiars.Yeah... That’s amazing. They’re all ridiculously strong.The members of Shadow Warrior were all looking around at the huge amount of dead orcs with cramped looks on their faces.“What a sight......”“Yeah, they completely wiped out an entire orc settlement so quickly.”“Normally, there’d be some casualties amongst adventurers when destroying an orc settlement, right......?”“Yeah. And not only are we all fine, we’re already done...”Ummm... sorry... But, this is just normal for us... Yeah...“Okay then, I’ll be storing all the orcs around here, then.”Ignoring the dumbstruck members of Shadow Warrior, I started retrieving the orcs with my familiars’ help.“Whew, it’s finally done.” By the time I’d finished retrieving the orcs, the members of Shadow Warrior had collected themselves and were breaking down the huts that the orcs had built before burning them.When I asked Alonzo why, apparently doing so was a rule that was set in stone for these kinds of situations. “If we leave it as is, it’ll just get used again by orcs or goblins.”I see.“Luckily, this time there weren’t any victims, but if there were, the rule would be to burn their bodies, too.”So it really does happen, huh? Well, it makes sense.I had heard that there were no female orcs or goblins, so they had to populate and grow ranks by using other animals, monsters, and people. Orcs and goblins all had very strong sexual desire, and especially liked human women, it seemed. With that in mind, it would make sense for there to be victims in the area, wouldn’t it?I don’t know if I’d be able to stay calm in those situations, but I might have to just accept that that sort of thinghappens.“So about burning the bodies of victims, do you not hand them over to their families?”“No. The victim wouldn’t want to be seen like that, and the victim’s family wouldn’t want to see the victim like that, either. So it’s become an unspoken agreement.”I see...... Being taken by orcs or goblins is nothing other than a nightmare for the victim and the victim’s family, huh?“Also, you can’t rule out the possibility of them becoming undead, so burning them is the rule,” added Clement.Undead? They do exist, don’t they? Zombies... When I asked, it seemed that they were rare, but they did exist. I was also told that for dungeons, there were floors that had only those sorts of monsters in them, as well.Blech... I can only hope that the dungeon in Aveling doesn’t have a floor like that. Wait, that’s only if they’re dead, right? What if they’re still alive?“What if the victim’s still alive?” When I asked, the members of Shadow Warrior all looked at each other with sober expressions.“......That would be the worst thing that could happen. Do you think you could stay sane after being played around with by orcs or goblins?”Ahh, yeah......“Almost every time, they’ll either just commit suicide right then and there, or they’ll have lost their sanity and be sent to be cared for in a temple. If they’re alive, we’ll take them back, but whether that’s a good or bad thing is up in the air......”Apparently, the temples had a place where they would take in those with mental illnesses, or who have lost their limbs and could no longer live on their own. There weren’t many of them, but it seemed that there were places like that in this world, too. Apparently the members of Shadow Warrior had to deal with that sort of situation once, after decimating a nest of goblins. The victim was a girl still in her mid-teens, but by the time she was found she’d already lost her mind. That girl was sent to be cared for, and apparently they’d heard rumors that she was still convalescing even now.“That’s why adventurers like us have to put our bodies on the line to actively hunt trash like this, in order to prevent there being any more victims,” said Matthias.“That’s the problem. Orcs and goblins are like weeds; they come back real fast. We always make sure to hunt them if we see them.”Ernest followed up on Matthias’ statement. All the adventurers in Shadow Warrior looked scary, but they were pretty stalwart, too. I’d only thought of adventurers as people who hunt monsters to sell their materials off for money, or dive into dungeons for drop items and loot, but I changed my mind after hearing them talk.Truthfully, I’d hate to even look at goblins, but let’s start hunting them if we see any. Orcs too. It’d be nice if there’d be less victims thanks to us doing that.Once the huts burned out, we left the former site of the orc settlement behind.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇We got out of the forest and were on the road; all that was left was to go home. Since destroying the orc settlement was so quick, there was still time until sunset.“Okay then, let’s go home.”“Mn, wait a second,” Fel butted in.“What, Fel?”“I am hungry.”《Me too.》《Sui too.》Oh yeah, it’s past noon. “Sorry, Fel and the others are saying they’re hungry. Want to eat?” I called out to the members of Shadow Warrior.“Now that you mention it, we haven’t eaten. Right then, let’s have a meal.”We all sat wherever we wished along the side of the road. All four of the Shadow Warrior members retrieved black bread and dried meat from the bags on their backs. It wasn’t my place to say anything, but it didn’t look very appetizing.Okay, we’re comrades who accepted the same request, so let’s share some food.“Um, would you like to try the food I made? I think it’s better than dried meat.”“Are you sure?”“Yes. Since we’re comrades who took the same request. Please wait a little.”What should I make? Bread would be better than rice, right? So if that’s the case...... Yeah, let’s go with that. I still had lots of black bread that I bought from Dolan, so I used that.First, take the round, black bread and cut it horizontally into two halves. Layer a bed of shredded cabbage on the bottom half, and lay the hamburger on top of it with lots of ketchup before closing it with the other half to finish up the burger...Each of them should get two each, I think. They’d probably eat that much with those builds. And five each for my three familiars. I’m fine with one.“Here you go.” I put the hamburgers on a plate and served them out to everyone. My three familiars started chowing down as usual. Looking at them go, the members of Shadow Warrior also bit into their hamburgers.“I-It’s delicious! What is this? It’s the first time I’ve eaten something this good!” Alonzo said before stuffing his cheeks full of hamburger.“So tasty!! This sauce on the meat is great!” Clement said, taking bite after bite of the food.“Yeah, this sauce has acidity and also a little sweetness. It’s thick too, and delicious! It was a good thing we took this request, since we got to eat this!” Matthias followed up, and took a huge bite out of his hamburger.“.........” Ernest was just silently munching away at his food, too preoccupied with enjoying it.Looks like they all like it. That’s great.“More.” 《More!》 And then came Fel and Sui’s order for more.It looked like Dora-chan was already full. Black bread’s got some bite-back to it, after all.I served Fel and Sui their extra servings, and started eating myself. Yeah, the black bread is hard, but it works. There’s no mistaking this for anything but a hamburger. Hamburgers are delicious.It seemed like the adventurers of Shadow Warrior weren’t satisfied with just two, so I gave them each another one. Fel and Sui were both satisfied after several more helpings.“Oh yeah, you said you were going to leave this town tomorrow, Mukohda. Do you have any plans?” While we were taking a short break to digest, Matthias asked me that question.“Yes. Fel wants to go to the sea, so we’re heading for Berléand. It’s on the coast, so we’ll be able to eat fresh seafood. I’m looking forward to it.”“Ohh! Berléand, huh? We went last year, ourselves. The fresh fish there was just the best, wasn’t it? But there was a certain someone who couldn’t enjoy it... Gahahaha!” Matthias said, laughing.“Yeah. Matthias, Ernest, and I all had our fill of the food in Berléand, but Alonzo...... He hates fish, so he wouldn’t shut up about going to a different town already. Even though we were busy enjoying ourselves. You don’t get that many chances to enjoy fresh fish, you know?” Clement said, looking over at Alonzo with an exasperated expression on his face.Alonzo hates fish?“Right, right. Even though Berléand’s famous for being on the coast, all Alonzo ate was meat. Not only that, but the people in the stores and such all had faces like they wanted to ask, ‘if you’re not going to eat fish in a town by the sea, why did you even come?’ That was funny,” Ernest said, laughing loudly.“Fish and stuff just smells, I can’t stand it. Personally, I don’t want anything to do with any place by the sea anymore. It’s gotta be meat for food, you know?” Alonzo complained.But fish isdelicious though...“So if you’re going to Berléand, you have to go see the morning market near the port. Not only can you get fresh fish for cheap, there’s lots of food stalls around too. I’d recommend it,” Matthias said.Hmm, the morning market, huh? He taught me something good. With both cheap, fresh seafood, and food stalls around, it’s a must-see.“Hey, that fish, the one that Berléand’s famous for, that was delicious too, right? What was its name?” Ernest said, trying to remember. He kept muttering, “That one, right? That one...”“Tyrant fish, right?” Matthias stepped in to help, and Ernest slapped his knees while saying, “Yeah! That!”“If I remember correctly, that’s a kind of monster, right? It looks ferocious, but its white meat is light and delicious,” Ernest said, nodding. He must have been remembering the taste of the fish.“It’s something that only those wild fishermen of Berléand can catch, so it’s that town’s specialty. Mukohda, if you ever go there, you definitely have to try some. It’s really good,” Clement recommended to me.Tyrant fish, huh? I’ll remember it.“Also, that shellfish... Uhhh... Was it called ‘big hard clam’? Those are great in soup.”I inquired further, and big hard clams were apparently a bivalve that was about the size of my palm. I wonder if it’s like an Asian hard clam? Using it in Japanese-styled soup seems like it would lend its flavor to the dashi... That sounds delicious. It might also be tasty cooked with just a little soy sauce on it. That’d be perfect for some seafood barbecue.*Sshlrrp*...... I feel like I’m about tostart drooling. Since I’ve been eating so much meat due to Fel and the others, I had a craving for seafood. I’m gonna go to Berléand and have my fill of the bounty of the sea!“Ahhh, talking with Mukohda about Berléand is making me wanna go again.”“Yeah. I wanna eat some seafood.”“Yeah, me too.”Clement, Matthias, and Ernest each chimed in. And Alonzo quickly objected: “Don’t joke about that.”“I won’t go to the sea, got it? Weren’t we going to Aveling next?” Looks like Alonzo’s quite bad with seafood, huh?“Fuhahaha! Don’t get so mad, Alonzo. We just said we want to eat seafood. Don’t worry, we’re going to Aveling after this.”“Yeah! It’ll be the first dive in a while for us. I’m getting excited.”“Right? We’re planning to stay for a while too; let’s earn a whole lot.”Oh, they’re all planning on going to Aveling after this? “So you’re all going from Nijhoff to Aveling?”“Yeah. We’re staying in Nijhoff for another four or five days, and then going,” replied Alonzo.“That’s a coincidence. We’re also planning to go to Aveling after we’re done with Berléand.”“Ohh, is that right? This time we’re going to plant ourselves there and really challenge the dungeon, so we’re planning on staying for a while. We might meet again in Aveling.”When Clement said that, Matthias followed up with, “It does happen in dungeons, doesn’t it? Just randomly reuniting with people.”“Reuniting in a dungeon, it might happen. To tell you the truth......” I talked about how I met the adventuring party “Iron Will” again in Dolan’s dungeon.The members of Shadow Warrior had apparently challenged the dungeon in Aveling before, and I managed to learn a lot about it. With this and that, the mood became excited with the subject of dungeons, and before I’d noticed, a large span of time had passed. Even though we finished eradicating the orc settlement quickly, we were running out of time.“Okay then, it’s about time to go back.” We returned the same way we went, with the members of Shadow Warrior riding on the back of a giganticized Sui.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇When I entered the Adventurer’s guild along with the members of Shadow Warrior, Jöran, the guildmaster, came over immediately.“Oh? Is it already done?”“Yes. We’ve completely decimated it. Although we basically did none of the work,” Alonzo said, giving a bitter laugh.Fel and the others basically killed everything on their own, after all.“I want to sell the bodies, but there’s a lot.”None of the adventurers in Shadow Warrior had an Item Box, so they all asked to sell the parts. Personally, I’d like to get the meat for however many they manage to finish butchering by tomorrow.“I see. Then let’s head for the storehouse.”We followed Jöran to the storehouse.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇“Oh? What is it today?” Horace asked as we entered the storehouse. It seemed like, in a bout of good timing, he’d just finished his work and was currently free.“Is it all right to go with what we discussed before? Alonzo? Everyone?”While we were returning to town, the members of Shadow Warrior and I discussed how to split the reward and the money from selling off the orcs.“Yeah, it’s fine. Right, guys?” Alonzo asked, throwing the question to his comrades.“Yeah, of course. We might even be getting too much.”“If we were to complain about this, we’d meet divine punishment, seriously.”“Right?” said Clement, Matthias, and Ernest, respectively.“How many orcs can you butcher by tomorrow morning?” I asked Horace.“If I do my best, fifteen, I think,” he replied.“Then, I’ll ask you to take care of fifteen of them. So, I’d like all the meat returned to me, but for everything else, just sell it and give the money to these nice people in Shadow Warrior. That’s how we decided to split it,” I told him while taking the fifteen orcs from my Item Box.“So the meat to you, Mukohda, and the money for the sale of everything else to the fine folks in Shadow Warrior? Got it,” Horace said, already inspecting the fifteen orc corpses I handed over.This is what Shadow Warrior and I decided when we talked about it. First, I wanted meat, so I would get them to butcher as many orcs as they could by tomorrow morning. For those, I would get the meat, and the money for the sale of everything else would go to Shadow Warrior. As for the rest of the orcs, I tried to split them 50/50 with Shadow Warrior, but they pushed back, saying that they couldn’t take it.“We can’t take that, we barely did any work,” all four of them replied.So in the end, I took two-thirds of the orcs, and they got the rest of them. Even so, the people in Shadow Warrior still protested that they were getting too much. Really though, all the money I’d earned was thanks to Fel, and it was enough that I’d never be able to spend it all anyway. Meat was more important to us at the moment, too. And even turning them into meat, there were too many orcs, so that’s why I dealt them their share like that.“Ah, are you all planning to sell off your one-third’s share here?”“Yeah. None of us have an Item Box, and we don’t have a magic bag, either.” Even though they were only getting a third of the orcs, it was still a considerable amount, and the members of Shadow Warrior didn’t have any way to preserve them. And so they were planning to sell it all right away to the Nijhoff Adventurer’s guild.“That’s how it is, so it’ll be quite a lot of them, but can I take them out here, Horace?”“So Shadow Warrior is planning to sell their share to us here?”“Yeah. Please.”Led by Horace, I left the orcs in an open space in the storehouse. This time, the total tally of what we got from the orc settlement extermination was: 6x orc generals, 18x orc leaders, and 179x orcs. From those, leaving aside the fifteen I already gave over, one-third would mean 2x orc generals, 6x orc leaders, and 54x orcs for Shadow Warrior’s share, while the rest was mine.“Umm, this is Shadow Warrior’s share. Two orc generals, six orc leaders, and fifty-four orcs. Please count them up, Alonzo.”“I already did while you were taking them out, Mukohda. You’re fine.”“Yeah, we did too, so there’s no mistake.”Looks like I wasn’t mistaken then?“We plan to stay in Nijhoff another four or five days, so prioritize what you’re giving to Mukohda,” said Alonzo, who had turned to face Horace.“Got it. Well then, I’ll ensure I can hand over the meat to you tomorrow morning Mukohda, so come by to pick it up.”“Understood.”So I’ll need to swing by and pick up the meat before we leave tomorrow, huh?“Have you finished your sale?” Jöran asked, proving that he’d been waiting for us to finish.“Since Mukohda is leaving tomorrow, why don’t I pay your reward now? Okay then, the reward this time is 180 gold. Since Shadow Warrior is here, I’ve prepared the sum in gold coins. Is that fine?”Since Shadow Warrior is here too, it’s true that gold coins might be better.“Yes, that’s fine. Right, everyone?”“Isn’t it normally gold coins?” Matthias asked, puzzled.“Umm, just being paid in gold coins was too heavy, so up until now I’ve been paid in large gold coins.”The members of Shadow Warrior were all surprised, and said in unison, “Wow, A-ranks really are different.”“Okey-dokey then, here,” Jöran said, placing a bag of gold coins in front of me.“All right then, one-third of 180 gold is 60 gold, so that’s Shadow Warrior’s share.” I counted 60 gold out of the bag and handed it over to Alonzo.“I feel kinda guilty about this. We basically did nothing, but we’re getting all this stuff.”“No, no, if you’re going to put it like that, I also did basically nothing, right? Or rather, that’s how it usually is. Fel and the others are strong, after all,” I said, looking over at Fel, who was sleeping in a corner of the storehouse.“Yeah. That strength is like cheating. But well, I guess that should be expected out of a Fenrir.”“It’s not just the Fenrir, Alonzo. That small dragon was also strong.”“If you’re gonna say that, Clement, then the slime was really strong too. I never thought that slimes were that strong.”Alonzo, Clement, and Matthias spoke amongst themselves.“Basically, all of Mukohda’s familiars are strong, right?” Ernest said., Alonzo, Clement, and Matthias all replied with, “No doubt.”“Well then, we’re going to be leaving here early tomorrow, so I’ll be taking my leave now.”“Sure. We’ll be in Aveling a while before you.”“Yes. Please teach me a lot when we meet each other again in Aveling.” Like that, I said goodbye to the members of Shadow Warrior, and left the Adventurer’s guild.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇I had planned to have a meal as soon as we got back home, but I was lost as to what to make, because today would be the last day I’d be able to use this fancy kitchen. I had been planning to just go with something that I’d already made for tomorrow’s breakfast since we were planning to leave early, but...Hmmm... Let’s try making something kinda fancy for the last hurrah, here.After some dithering, what I eventually decided to make was salt-crusted baked meat. A long time ago, I tried making it because it seemed interesting. I used pork back then, but it didn’t come out completely right. I did it as the recipe stated, but the meat was a bit too salty. When I looked it up online later, there were also recipes that said to wrap the meat in cabbage or lettuce so it doesn’t touch the salt directly. With that incident in mind, this time I’d be wrapping the meat in cabbage.It’s time for a revenge match! Round Two!This time, I planned to use bloody horn-bull meat. First up is getting the ingredients using my skill. I’d need sea salt and eggs for the salt crust, and I wanted something slightly higher quality for flavor, so I ended up buying natural salt, along with black pepper in its own grinding mill, as well as fresh rosemary.Okay, let’s start.~◇~◇~◇~First, lightly boil the cabbage that’s going to be used to wrap the meat.For the salt crust, add in the sea salt and egg whites into a bowl, and mix by hand until it stays clumped a bit when you lightly grasp a handful of it. Once the salt crust is ready, smear the bloody horn-bull meat with the natural salt and black pepper, and lay some finely cut fresh rosemary on top. Then, wrap that meat in several leaves of boiled cabbage.Lay a cooking sheet over the baking tray, and spread the salt-crust mix over that so it’s a little bigger than the hunk of meat before laying the cabbage-wrapped meat on top. After that, coat the meat so it’s no longer visible with the salt-crust mix. Once that’s done, bake it in a preheated oven.~◇~◇~◇~The recipe called for baking at 200 degrees, but this kitchen’s oven was a range combined with the magic stovetop, so I could only eyeball the temperature and how it was cooking.I also brought out my own magic stove in an empty space in the kitchen, and used its oven to bake too. Each oven was baking six bloody horn-bull roasts at a time. While I thought that might be a bit too much, I figured I could just store any leftovers in my Item Box.“It seems about... done.”I took the finished salt-crust baked meat out of the oven and let it rest. While the meat was resting, I made sauce. It seemed like it’d be delicious on its own, but I also thought powdered mustard sauce would fit it well, so I started making some.Add powdered mustard, mirin, soy sauce to a pot and bring the mixture to a quick boil. Once the mixture has cooled from that, throw in a dash of olive oil to finish the sauce.I wonder if the meat’s cooled off? ...Yeah, looks fine now.Using the handle of the knife, I tapped on the salt crust to break it. The nice smell of the meat and herbs rose up. I peeled the cabbage off from the now-revealed bloody horn-bull meat, and removed the rosemary as well. When I tried cutting into the roast, the middle was a faint pink: it was well-cooked.When I tried tasting the end of it......“Tasty!”The smell of herbs tickled my sinuses. It was perfectly salty; the meat was nice and soft, cooked to perfection, and plenty delicious even by itself. This time, the salt-crust bake was a huge success! Wrapping it in cabbage really was the right idea.For now, I cut and plated an entire chunk of meat each for Fel and the others. I’d have them taste the meat without the sauce first. I also cut out a small amount for myself and put it on a separate plate. I shut the rest of the meat into my Item Box.Putting the plated dishes on the trolley, I rolled them out to my familiars, who were waiting with empty stomachs.“Sorry for making you wait.”“We were getting sick of it, you know?” Fel said, sulkily.“Sorry, sorry. Man, when I thought that today would be the last day I could use such a fancy kitchen, I started wanting to make something good. So in exchange, I’ve got some good stuff here. So let me off, okay?” I served the plates full of the well-done bloody horn-bull in front of the three of them.“Ohhh, what scrumptious looking meat.”《Yeah, yeah — it smells kinda good.》《Looks tasty—.》“It turned out well this time, so try it out.”With that, everyone started eating.“Mm? This is amazing,” Fel said, before digging in with even more enthusiasm.《Wow, this meat is soft and delicious!》 Dora-chan said, proceeding to stuff his face full of meat.《This meat smells and tastes nice~!》 said Sui, happily engulfing the meat.The aroma of the herbs clung to the meat nicely, too. Using the fresh rosemary was a success. Well, when it’s too much trouble, I can always just use herb salt, I think. Now then, let’s eat too.*Chomp*Yep yep, it’s soft and moist and delicious. I could almost just keep eating this forever. Thank goodness the salt-crust bake worked. It might be nice to cook orc or rockbird meat this way, too. Ah, we’re going to Berléand next, so fish sounds nice, too.“More.” 《More.》 《More!》Yeah, yeah. I took out more of the meat from my Item Box.“Mn? What is that?” Fel asked, puzzled at the sight of the salt-crust baked meat without the salt crust removed.“The meat I just cooked is inside. Just use the knife handle like this......” I tapped the crust with the knife handle. After peeling off the cracked salt crust...... “See, there’s the meat. I baked it inside this, so the meat’s soft and moist.”“I see. Okay, cut it thicker next and hand it over.”《Thicker? That’s a good idea. Do it for me too.》《Sui too—.》You know I’m explaining all this to you, and you’re just going to go ahead and eat?!I did as everyone asked and cut the meat thicker, and also slathered on the powdered mustard sauce before serving it.“Ohh! This tingly stuff compliments this meat well. Indeed, this is good.”《He’s right. It’s tingly and delicious.》《It’s tingly, but Sui is all right with this much—. It’s tasty~.》Looks like everyone likes the powdered mustard sauce. Let me try a bite too.Yep, it’s great. The small bit of texture of the powdered mustard and its slight spiciness accents the meat nicely.《Whew~, I’m full. I can’t eat another bite.》 Dora-chan raised the white flag after finishing only half of his second chunk of meat.So two servings was too much for Dora-chan, huh?《Then Sui will eat it~.》 With those words, Sui just scooped up Dora-chan’s leftover share. Of course, that wouldn’t satisfy either of them......“More.” 《More.》 Fel and Sui still wanted more.In the end, they both put down another four servings each. Even though just one chunk was already pretty big... For now, I managed to save two roasts, so I’ll let it go.And since everyone tried hard today as well, I served them some dessert. For Fel, I chose a small sized whole strawberry shortcake; for Dora-chan, a pudding sundae with strawberries and bananas, as well as the usual pudding and choux creme; and for Sui, a small, whole chocolate cake with lots of fruit on top. “You all did your best today, after all. Here, eat it.”“Indeed.”Fel said, ‘indeed,’ all haughtily, but he seemshappy.《Yesss! Pudding!》Dora-chan seemed overjoyed to be eating pudding.《Chocolate cake! Yayyy!》Sui was also thrilled.I watched everyone happily eating cakes while I sipped on some drip bag brewed coffee. Tomorrow we’ll have to say goodbye to this fancy mansion, huh? It was really nice to stay in, though. Well, we still have money, so we can just rent another house in Berléand, I guess.◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇“I have something to do, so you two can go to sleep first.”After getting out of the bath, I told Dora-chan and Sui that before leaving the master bedroom for another room. It’d been about a week, and tomorrow we’d be traveling again, so I was going to get the offerings over with.“Is everyone there?”When I called out, I got answered by all the gods saying, “We’ve been waiting!”“Tomorrow we’re headed for Berléand, so I’ll be listening to your orders tonight.”Because it’d be too annoying to do while traveling. That’s why I really want to end this while I’m still here.＜Mnn?! I can’t let that ‘annoying’ statement go. What areyou even thinking?! Making offerings to us gods is a sacred act!!＞ She must have been listening in to my thoughts, as Ninrir the divine disappointment started chewing me out.‘Sacred act?’ This? It’s a sacred act? No matter how you think about it, it’s just gods begging for stuff, right?＜Begging...... Grrrr... I can’t deny it...＞Oh, so you realize it yourself. Well, at any rate, I’m stuck with you gods, so it’s fine, though. More importantly, I’d like you all to hurry up so I can sleep. I have to wake up early tomorrow.＜Grrr...There’s a lot I want to say, but there’s a line behind me... I want Fumiya’s cakes, like usual!＞She really doesn’t waver, huh? I opened up Fumiya’s menu through my skill.“For Fumiya’s cakes, there’s one more shortcake to try out of this shortcake section...... After that, there’s three of these cheesecake slices. These cheesecakes are all different, after all. All that’s left is...... It’d be these whole cakes, huh? They’re a bit big, but would that be okay?”Huh? I’m not getting any reaction out of Ninrir... Even though whenever there’s a new cake, she always kicks up a huge fuss...＜............W-W-W-W-What the hell?!! There’s dreamlike cakes like this?!!＞Oh. Looks like Ninrir the divine disappointment is operating just fine. She was just too excited over whole cakes to express it.“Seems like one of these smallest sizes is fine. Uhh...It’s 14.5cm in diameter, so...... it’s a round cake about this big,” I said, making a hand motion to indicate the general dimensions of the cake. “Even if it’s the smallest size, it’s still much bigger than the usual short cake slices, so would that be okay?”＜Of course it’s fine!! Actually, just give me the huge cake already!!＞Don’t tell me to just give it to you. You know you have to choose which cakes you want first, right?＜Hm, for the type, I want you to start from the top again!＞The same pattern with the shortcakes, huh? So that means... this one. It looked like a strawberry shortcake, but there were fruits sandwiched in between the sponges.＜Mhehehoohoo~ Mmhehehoohoo~.＞ Ninrir the divine disappointment was laughing in kind of a weird voice. I’ve never seen her, so I don’t know what she looks like, but she’ll definitely scarf the whole thing down with a sloppy-ass expression. I can just see it. She really is a disappointment of a goddess. So let’s leave that disappointment alone and just move on to the next one.＜Next is me, Kisharle. Wait, Ninrir’s laughing with a kind of creepy look on her face...＞“I don’t care about that. I can’t take responsibility for it, either. Won’t she stop once I send the offerings?” Ninrir would probably immediately jump on any cake that appears in front of her, that divine disappointment.＜That’s true. Then for what I want~... Hmm there isn’t really anything specific...... Hey, is there anything good for beauty that you can recommend?＞Good for beauty... Hmm. From what my sister told me, beauty lotion was pretty important. She said that washing and cleansing your face, followed by facial lotion, milky lotion, and creams was a must, and that if one wanted to maintain the quality of one’s skin, beauty lotion was also important. She also said that they had strong effects, and that it was possible to pick a type depending on what you wanted: moisturizing or anti-aging. Oh yeah, I remember my sister poring over fashion magazines while trying to pick out what to use next, talking about this and that compound and about what new formulation would be effective.“What about beauty lotion? It’s apparently something you put on after facial lotion, and you can choose what kind of lotion you want to use depending on what you want it to do, and from what I’ve heard, its effects are strong.”＜S-Strong?! Yes, give me that! I’ll take the beauty lotion!!＞Lady Kisharle’s really biting on that bait, huh? I looked through the available beauty lotions in the Online Supermarket.“They’re different depending on your aim, so what do you want? There’s one for combating moisture and anti-aging... Well, it takes care of wrinkles and stuff, basically. It also looks like it has stuff to combat sun damage, so it works on spots and other things.”＜W-Wrinkles......＞Lady Kisharle, are you concerned about wrinkles? I pictured you as a young goddess, but could you actually be quite old?＜Wa-hey! I’m no old lady!! I’m in the prime of my youth!＞When Kisharle said that, all the other gods chimed in, retorting with, “If you’re young and beautiful, then so is everyone else here.”＜Khh! Be quiet! Hey, otherworlder boy, is there one that helps with the suppleness of one’s skin? I’m going to become so breathtaking, I’ll make all of them faint!＞Is Lady Kisharle old enough to be worrying about the turning point for skin beauty? If that’s the case......“Then how about this? It’s a little expensive at 6 silver, but it has components for anti-aging. Would you like this beauty lotion?”＜Yes! That one please!＞Sure thing. But there’s still some money left. “What do you want to do for the 1 silver you have left? I can save it for next time.”＜Then please do so.＞All right then, let’s save this 1 silver of Kisharle’s for later.＜I’m next! It’s me, Agni, and I want the same beer as last time! Give me the same kinds of regular and black beer, okay? Man, all of that was amazingly good! It’s the best cold, right?＞It seemed like Agni really took a shine to what I chose for her last time. I can see why though, since it was a lineup of all the famous company’s premium and black beers. I honestly think I made some great choices given what I had to choose from. Adding the same stuff that I got last time for Agni, I used the leftover money for some Australian white wine this time.Okay. Next is Ruka, right?＜......I also wantthe same as Ninrir. The big cake.＞Sure, sure. A whole cake, right? Whole cakes really do just mesmerize anyone with a sweet tooth, huh? Though I don’t think one would be able to eat it by themselves at that size, even ifit’s small.＜It’s fine. Sweets get their own stomach.＞Oh. She read my thoughts. Sweets get their own stomach, huh? So girls think the same way whether they’re gods or people, huh?I picked out the same order as Ninrir for Ruka.“Next is......”＜Heyyyy, it’s us!＞＜For us, first we want the world’s best whisky that we got before. One for each of us, got it? That’s the only thing we won’t compromise on.＞＜Indeed. That’s something special we save only for ourselves.＞Wow, they really liked S-company’s domestic whisky. Wasn’t that the lowest-grade available, too?＜W-What? There’s whisky even more delicious than that?!!＞＜Hey! Is that true?There’s even more delicious whisky?!!＞Aw crap, they read my thoughts.“Ah, no, that’s all I can buy with my Online Supermarket. If you want something better, then it’ll have to be at a specialty store......”＜Specialty? So, a Tenant?＞“Well, that’s if there’s a liquor store available as a Tenant.”When I said that, Hephaestos and Vahagn both started whispering to each other.＜By the way, how’s your level?＞ asked Hephaestos.Level? Even if they ask, I’m not at the level where I’ll unlock the next Tenant......... Wait, ahh!! “Could it be... Were the two of you the ones who put the “Double Experience Gain” skill on me?”＜I-I-I-I know nothing about that.＞＜M-M-M-Me neither.＞......You two, stuttering and squirming like that is basically like telling everyone you did it.The goddesses behind them were saying things like, “They did something stupid again,” and, “They really do never learn.”These two really will do anything for alcohol, huh? Well, it’s not like I was affected badly this time, so it’s fine. But......“Uhm, it’s not like this incident was bad for me, so I won’t really complain, but please stop just putting skills on me at your own discretion. At the very least, tell me first.”＜Mm, all right. I understand.＞＜Fine, fine.＞I guess it’s fine as long as they get it.“Okay then, what do you want to do for the rest?”＜I would like something I haven’t tried before. What do you think, War God?＞＜Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. We need to explore new kinds of liquor.＞Something they haven’t tried before...... That would only leave the relatively expensive stuff, then... Something they can buy with what they have left...... this one.“From the amount of money you have left, I can buy the one that comes in this black bottle — is that fine?”I pointed to a whisky that came in a bottle that looked like a black volumetric flask made by the domestic S-company.＜I haven’t tried that one. I think it’s fine. How about it, Blacksmithing God?＞＜Indeed, we have not tried that one. I also think that is a good choice.＞Then it’s decided. I arranged all the gods’ offerings on their cardboard altars.“Then please accept these offerings.” As I said that, the products on the altars all disappeared. I immediately heard the gods’ cheers.It’s finally over.When I moved to leave the room and go sleep, Hephaestos’ voice rang in my head.＜By the way, what level are you now?＞“Level? Oh yeah, I hadn’t checked after we finished that orc extermination. Please wait a second.”

【Name】 Mukohda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)【Age】 27【Job】 Victim from Another World【Level】 32【HP】 335【MP】 326【Attack】 303【Defense】 300【Agility】 281【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Fire magic, Earth magic, Perfect Defense, Double Experience Gain, Familiars (Contracted Magic Beasts): Fenrir, Huge Slime, Pixie Dragon【Unique Skill】 Online Supermarket<> Fumiya【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir (small); Blessing of the Goddess of Fire, Agni (small); Blessing of the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle (small)

Oh, it went up a bit. I only defeated twoorcs, though. It might be because I was pretty close to leveling already thanks to the evil plants.＜32, huh? That’s kind of... You should try a little harder.＞This voice is Vahagn? Don’t just trail off like that.＜Although... You’re going to a dungeon after Berléand, right? I’m looking forward to it.＞＜Oh, oh, that’s right — I’m expecting a lot, too!＞Those expectations don’t help, though... They’re probably trying to get me to my next Tenant, but it’s not certainthat there’ll be a liquor store available. I’d like them to understand that.“I’m just saying, you two, that I don’t know what will appear as the next Tenant. Don’t get your hopes up too high.”＜I know, I know.＞＜Right.＞After the two of them replied, the connection cut off with a snap.They replied lightly, but do those two really get it?◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇“That otherworlder didn’t get mad.”“Yeah. Just like we expected.”“He leveled up, but he’s still a ways away from level 40. But, he’s going to a dungeon...”“If he’s going to be diving into a dungeon, he’ll level up even if he doesn’t want to.”“That’s right.”“Yeah. Finally, it’s time for another Tenant.”“A Tenant!”““A liquor store, right (no)?””“Ahaha!”“Gahaha!”“Ahahahahahaha!”“Gahahahahaha!”