Chapter 005: Setting Out for the Neighbouring Country with Adventurers

 

Re – Translated by Gumihou

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When I arrived at the promised meeting place in front of the Adventurer’s Guild, members of the [Iron Will] were already gathered in full force.

“Please excuse me for being late.”

“Oh no, we’re just early. Don’t worry about it.” Said their leader, Werner-san, with a smile.

It looked like they make a habit of being early to meeting places and accomplishing missions as fast as they can. It’s a great attitude to have, and my Japanese soul really respected this kind of person.

“Well then, shall we set out?”

I nodded, and so we began our journey on the road towards the Kingdom of Feenan.

 

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Immediately after leaving the Town of Kiels, our journey was rather smooth and unremarkable.

The [Iron Will]’s party line up was very complete and well balanced.

As for battle formation, I was placed in the very middle, with Scout Rita leading the way; Swordsman Vincent to my right and Magician Ramon-san on my left. To the rear right of me were Healer Franca and Leader Werner-san protecting my rear left.

According to this them, in case of an emergency, this formation was the best to ensure maximum protection for the client, me. I have no complaints about this.

“Shall we take a break?” Werner-san’s voice rang out, calling for an afternoon break in our journey.

I began preparations to make the promised lunch meal.

To be honest, I can only prepare simple things, since we’re on a tight schedule and being on the road was not the most ideal place to prepare elaborated food.

First, I took out the portable stove I had bought from [Net Super] just yesterday from my [Item Box].

“Oh, Mukouda-san has the [Item Box] skill, and that’s a Magic Stove, isn’t it? You have some amazing things in hand, eh?”

I nodded along at Vincent’s comment. Even though having an [Item Box] was not common, it was not rare either. Only large capacity [Item Boxes] would draw attention, therefore I have decided to use the [Item Box] openly and only hide the actual capacity of this skill.

If anyone were to ask, I would say, “Oh yes, but the capacity is really small though.”

That way, I could easily carry more things with me without being suspicious. It’s better to establish that I have some small talents than to try to hide this ability and sneak around. Suspicious behaviour would only attract negative attention.

Speaking which… “I got this Magic Stove from an acquaintance who didn’t have much opportunity to use it. Rather than letting it gather dust in his house, he kindly let me have it for a low price.”

I smoothly gave them the reason for why a commoner looking guy like me happened to own an expensive ‘Magic Stove’.

The end justified the means, also, it’s not like I hurt anyone or stole this stove after all.

We chatted casually as I took out the bread, cheese and ham that I had bought from [Net Super] to make some simple sandwiches.

I discreetly place instant consommé soup cubes into each wooden cup and set a kettle to boil on the portable stove. Once the sandwiches were assembled and the hot water poured into each cup, lunch was ready.

“Everyone, it’s time for lunch.”

Each Adventurer received a plate of sandwiches and a cup of consommé soup.

“All right everyone, let’s eat.”

At Werner-san’s command, everyone tucked in readily.

“Oh, th- this is delicious”

“This bread is really soft and tasty.”

“Yes, yes, the bread is very soft and this soup is really delicious too.”

“This is really great.”

“Delicious…”

The comments were from Vincent, Franca, Rita, Welner-san, Ramon-san respectively.

It’s nice that everyone liked it, even though I’ve cut corners in my food preparation. what really surprised me was their reaction to the bread, isn’t it just bread?

It turned out that soft bread was something that only the nobility or the very rich have access to.

Now that I thought about it, whenever I was served bread at inns or restaurants, it was always hard brown bread or hard black bread. To head off any questions, I casually remarked, “Oh, this is a speciality from my hometown. Before I leave, I pretty much emptied out a shelf at my local bakery and stuffed it all into my [Item Box]”.

Everyone looked a little ashamed to be consuming such high-end, precious bread and was on the verge of returning them. So, I added, “It’s still food, and its real value is only recognised when eaten. It would be a waste to just put it away and not eat it.”

The bread was just bread to me, and I could buy as much as I want from [Net Super] as long as I had the money.

“Be that as it may, it is a wonderful thing to be able to enjoy such a nice meal while on the road. Please accept our thanks for the meal.”

Everyone nodded along at Werner-san’s warm praise.

“That’s right, we did the right thing accepting this mission.”

The talk went in the direction of all the previous meals they had had while on the road. It turned out that most of their meals consisted of dried, bland things such as meat jerky, or hard bread and cheese. Food that was made to last rather than to satisfy a person. The simple sandwich and soup I had served was something like a feast to them, considering that we were right in the middle of nowhere.

Eating delicious food puts everyone in a good mood, this law seemed to work here as well. The atmosphere was very cheerful so everyone began chatting energetically together.

Apparently, the [Iron Will] party also sensed the unrest within the country and were already making plans to move their operations to a different country when they saw my mission request. Thinking that this was an excellent way of getting out of the country while getting paid, they accepted the escort mission.

According to them, there were other escort missions with higher pay, but since the party was not hard up for money, they thought that having their meals covered would be more convenient since they could pack more stuff with them in place of food rations. Which was why they had accepted my escort mission.

Moreover, the cost of food for five people was not cheap, let alone five active Adventurers who must burn a lot of calories in their line of work.

“For my part, I am grateful that you have decided to accept my escort mission request. I also wish to leave the country as quickly as possible. When I first arrived at Kiels, I was really anxious when I found out that the stagecoach service had been suspended. Thanks to everyone, I am now on my way to the Kingdom of Feenan. Though I do not have much to offer, I am pretty good at cooking. So please, let me take care of all of your meals for the rest of this journey.”

At this little declaration, everyone smiled happily enough.

After all, the one thing that was most anticipated on a journey was meal times after all, right?

Alright, I shall do my best to prepare the food. So, please make sure that I arrive at the Kingdom of Feenan safely.

 

[Gumihou: Aahhh, nothing happened here… So peaceful ~]

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