Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. S007

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
S007: Tomii’s Life Story Part 3

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——

The inn Tohya-kun led me to was located nearer to the city center, but along a small enough road so it was almost impossible to find.

It didn’t seem like the sort of place that would be teeming with customers, but the dining area was lively and packed with people. Were there lots of guests staying at the inn, or were all these regulars?

“Take a seat. Innkeeper, an ale for this guy and water for me, plus some snacks too.”

Tohya-kun had taken a seat at the counter, and I sat down beside him. Soon, a mug of ale appeared before me. So this was it. Tohya-kun had said that it wasn’t delicious, but the excitement of trying it still made me break out in a grin.

“Itadakimasu!”

“Yep. Try your best to finish it.”

I brought the mug to my lips and took a sip.

…Hmm? I guess it wasn’t super delicious, but it wasn’t that bad?

It didn’t really taste like alcohol either. Maybe that was an effect of my Drinker Skill?

“What do you think?” Tohya-kun asked with a wry grin.

“Well, it’s not good, but it’s not too bad?” I answered honestly, head tilted.

“Seriously? Lemme have a taste… Argh, it’s bad! What is this? Some sort of racial characteristic? Or are your taste buds not working, Tomii?”

“How rude. And what’s a racial characteristic?”

“Nothing special. For example, elves can balance really well on trees, and beast-hybrids like me are physically strong with a heightened sense of smell. Maybe alcohol just tastes good to all dwarves.”

“Sounds plausible.”

If this ale contained more alcohol, I was sure I’d enjoy it more.

“Well, you can finish it if you like. It’s not that expensive, and if you work hard, you can drink it as often as you want, though I think you’d better set a limit for yourself, since you won’t know when to stop, you know?”

“You’re right. Guess the Drinker Skill really brings more harm than good.”

“It is a land mine of sorts, so you just have to be careful.”

“Yes, I will.”

I knew drinking and dwarves go perfectly together, but alcohol poisoning isn’t a joke. I wondered if one of dwarves’ racial characteristics is to have a higher tolerance of alcohol anyway, but I was too afraid to experiment.

Our bodies have built-in signals to let us know when we’ve had too much to drink. Without that, I’d be able to consume alcohol until I reached my body’s limit, and if I went past that, I could even die. From this perspective, the Drinker Skill was a true land mine.

“By the way, why were you at my job site, Tohya-kun? Were you looking for me? And weren’t you headed to another city?”

“Yeah, but we’re back now. We rushed back here once our business there was finished. Well, I guess you can say that we’ve made this city our base camp.”

“I see… By the way, do you know if any of our classmates is called Yasue-san?”

“Yasue? Who would that be…? Why are you asking?”

“Oh, I sort of ran into her, and it seems that she has Skill Copy.”

Tohya-kun seemed deep in thought for a moment, before hitting his palm with a fist.

“Can it be Umezono? But I don’t know her first name.”

“Umezono-san? …Now that you mention it, I think you’re right. Have you met her yet?”

“Yeah. She copied our Skills, then taunted us and ran away.”

“She copied Haruka-san’s Skills? That’s brave of her.”

If it was me, I’d be too scared to even pull something like that, especially after that day when she’d smiled and hinted that she had no qualms destroying her enemies.

“Wait, but I thought you can’t use Skill Copy unless you knew the Skill name and level of the other person?”

“Yeah, so she did ask us nicely to tell her what our Skills are.”

“And you guys told her? Didn’t you already guess that she has Skill Copy?”

“Exactly. Haruka has the Intuition Skill, so she knew right away.”

“And she still told Umezono-san all her Skills? Without giving her any ample warning?”

“Well, I guess she did leave out some Skills that had no levels.”

“Makes sense. If Haruka-san had told Umezono-san that she has Intuition, Umezono-san would have known that she was busted.”

But Umezono-san hadn’t thought about any of that, and had blindly copied all the Skills. It should have been obvious when Haruka-san listed out all her Skills so readily. Or did Umezono-san just assume that Haruka-san was just too naive and friendly?

“I guess Haruka was trying to test her. I mean, she knew that Umezono was hiding the fact that she has Skill Copy, so she didn’t tell her that she has Intuition. She wanted to see if Umezono would be truthful with us.”

“But Umezono-san just copied all your Skills without permission, then taunted you guys and left?”

If she had been honest and apologized, Haruka-san might have forgiven her, and maybe even helped her out.

Hmm, maybe Umezono-san was just an idiot?

Did she not realize that Haruka-san knew exactly what she was doing? Or did she think that everything would turn out okay as long as she managed to copy the Skills…?

“If she’d just copied our Skills, Haruka won’t have minded so much, but Umezono went ahead and insulted us after that, then ran away… To be honest, though, I felt more annoyed than angry.”

“I bet she’ll feel like a fool once she learns how Skill Copy actually works.”

Especially now that the Guild was also upset with her…

“I saw her at the Adventurers Guild, but since you guys are based here, you may bump into her again. It’ll be trouble if that happens, so just be careful,” I advised.

“Sure, thanks. We need to visit the Guild sometimes, though. How troublesome.”

“Is there anything I can do? I mean, you guys helped me out so much. Besides, nobody will recognize me now.”

“I appreciate the offer, but we still have to attend to business personally.”

“I see. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“Nah, I’m grateful for your offer. Besides, I’m sure even Umezono isn’t brave enough to confront us directly about being unable to use the Skills she copied without permission.”

“Agreed. In fact, she probably won’t understand why if no one bothers to tell her.”

I wonder if Umezono-san would ever be humble enough to ask for help from a classmate who got Help. That is, if she manages to recognize any classmates in the first place.

“Anyway, forget about Umezono. Let’s come back to the topic.”

“That’s right. If you’re here to ask for your money back, could you please give me a litt-”

I mean, I had enough money now to repay the loan, but doing so would leave me penniless and in a pinch.

“That’s not important… I mean, it is important, but not right now. Actually, I went to your job site to watch you at work. In fact, I was there yesterday too.”

“What!? Really? I didn’t see you at all.”

Maybe because I was really busy yesterday.

“Well, I made sure I wasn’t easy to spot. Anyway, you were working really hard.”

“Yeah. I just did my best.”

I might be a beginner, but I wasn’t going to slack off or try to cut corners. In fact, because I was a beginner, I tried to put in twice the amount of effort. Thanks to that, I was now able to complete the work on my own, and with praise from the site manager, I knew that things were going well.

“If I’d seen you slacking off with work, I would have left already, but since you were so hardworking, I’ve decided to help you!”

“Help me…? How?”

“You wanna make a shovel, Tomii?”

I tilted my head in confusion, not understanding his meaning.

“Shovel? Huh, a shovel? You mean, like a hand-held tool? Or like an excavator?”

“It’ll be awesome if you can build an excavator, but that’s impossible, right?”

“Yes, impossible.”

I could never build something like an excavator without constructing a hydraulic system. While I had a rough idea of how hydraulics worked, I still needed working pistons and hoses, which I didn’t think were easy to make at all.

“Exactly. So an ordinary hand-held shovel. Didn’t you realize that nobody at your job site was using any shovels?”

“…Now that you mention it, yeah.”

At the site, we’d used hoes to dig holes. To move the dirt around, we used small spades to scoop the dirt into bamboo baskets, which we then carried away. It was all very crude and inefficient.

By the way, according to the rules set by the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards), tools used to dig holes were called shovels, while tools used for shoveling snow and scooping up soil were known as spades. However, these names were used interchangeably in different regions and industries, so it was all very confusing.

“If we introduce shovels to this world, do you think they’ll sell well?”

“Probably. It’ll really make work so much more efficient, so they should be in demand. But how can we make one? I know I have the Smithing Skill, but I imagine it won’t be that easy.”

In RPGs, all we had to do was collect iron ore, process them in a furnace to make ingots, then hammer them into tools. It seemed really simple, but reality was surely different.

We’d need a furnace and coal to process ore into metal, then other tools to shape that metal into the end product. Besides, it probably wasn’t easy to get our hands on iron ore in the first place.

Even if we somehow managed to craft a shovel, where would we sell it? Did we have to set up a roadside stall and try to peddle our wares?

“No need to worry so much. I’ve already discussed this with a blacksmith friend of mine, so we can use his metal and facilities.”

“What!? You managed to convince a real blacksmith to help us!?”

Didn’t these guys tell me that it was extremely difficult to try to even rent a smithy?

“It wasn’t easy! It’s only because we know each other well, and I had to agree to some of his conditions too.”

Tohya-kun hadn’t supplied any exact details, but I could guess that this particular blacksmith was probably the one who’d supplied him with all his weapons and armor.

According to Tohya-kun, if we managed to successfully craft a shovel, the blacksmith would have the exclusive rights to sell the item in his store. But that would mean he was banking on this as-yet-unknown tool to be a bestseller item. I felt like a craftsman who’d received an important order from a valued client.

“Besides, don’t you wanna become a blacksmith? Diola-san, the lady at the Guild, told me about that.”

So the counter staff at the Guild was called Diola-san. Was she also friends with Tohya-kun, and was keeping him updated on my situation? That would explain how Tohya-kun managed to locate me at my job site.

“Well, that’s true… I guess personal information privacy is not a thing here.”

“Nope. If you want privacy, you’d have to become someone important and worthy of protection. And Diola-san trusts me more than she trusts you… I mean, just based on the length of time she’s known me. Besides, it wasn’t any super confidential information, so she just told me when I asked. That’s all there is to it.”

“What a cruel world this is.”

“I’m sure Diola-san won’t divulge any confidential information… Probably…”

“Hmm… Anyway, what about it? Diola-san told me that it’s nearly impossible for me to become an apprentice.”

Not impossible, but I’d have to put in several years of hard work. Ranking up as an adventurer would probably take forever, so I was hoping to gain someone’s trust enough for them to recommend me to a master.

“Yeah, but depending on your work ethic and the success of the shovel, I may be able to get you an apprenticeship.”

“—Whaaat!!!? R-Really!?”

“Yep. He did say that he needed to think about it, but if you can show him your serious attitude and just a little talent, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“T-Thank you!”

“But if you become incompetent or lazy after you become his apprentice, I won’t hesitate to ask you to leave.”

“You don’t have to worry. I just need a chance to prove myself!”

While nothing was decided yet, Tohya-kun had given me an opportunity I never imagined was possible, so I was already extremely grateful. In this world, recommending someone was as good as signing on financially to be their guarantor. Thus, it was not a stretch to call Tohya-kun my benefactor.

“But it all depends on how well you can craft the shovel. Either way, we’ll get an early start tomorrow morning, so just eat and drink your fill tonight. The food here is really good!”

Tohya-kun offered me the snacks that the innkeeper had brought over, and I took a bite.

“Sure, itadakimasu! …Whoa, it’s so good!?”

The food I’d had at eateries and my own inn were basically quite tasteless, so I’d expected the food here to be similar, but these snacks tasted so delicious, especially when paired with ale.

“I know! This place serves the best food in this city. And it’s cheap too, so it’s just great!”

That’s right. Tohya-kun had mentioned that he was staying here with the others. Were the rates expensive? My current inn was definitely cheap, but it wasn’t a place I’d like to live in long-term.

“Hey, how much is it to rent a room here?”

“Here? Innkeeper, you have any single rooms? …Yeah? How much is that? …I see. He says it’s 300 Reas for the room, 80 for breakfast and dinner, and 15 for a bucket of hot water, so a total of about 400 Reas per night.”

“Huh? But the innkeeper didn’t say anything?”

It was true. All I saw was Tohya-kun speaking. The innkeeper, who was working behind the counter, hadn’t responded with a single word.

“Our innkeeper isn’t too chatty, but you saw him nod and hold up three fingers, right?”

I see. Since Tohya-kun already knew how much the meals and hot water cost, the innkeeper only had to indicate the cost of a single room.

So a night here would cost as much as four nights at my current inn… It wasn’t a crazy amount of money, and after three days of work, I did have enough cash. So, would I be willing to pay for a good night’s sleep here?

“I know you’re thinking of staying here, Tomii, but I’d suggest you wait, at least until we know if you can get an apprenticeship at the smithy. If you’re successful, then your situation will be very different.”

“You’re right… Besides, if I become an apprentice, I’ll have to live with my master in the smithy, right?”

“Hmm… You may be my friend, but to Gantz-san, the blacksmith, you’ll be a total stranger, so he probably won’t want you to live with him yet?”

“I see. I’ll have to gain his trust first, then. Oh, if I become an apprentice, will I get a salary?”

“Well, you should earn enough to rent a room at this inn. Either way, if things goes well tomorrow, everything else should just fall into place. Otherwise, you’ll be back at square one. There’s no other way about it.”

“…I’ll do my best!”

“Be sure you do! Let’s get you another drink, just for luck. Innkeeper, another ale please!”

It had been a while since I’d had such delicious food, and with a belly full of fairly tasty ale, I bid Tohya-kun goodbye and headed back before the sun set.

——

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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. S006

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
S006: Tomii’s Life Story Part 2

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——

“The inn… Hmm, maybe I should get a meal first.”

Though I’d eaten lots of fruit provided by Haruka-san and the guys, it had been quite a few hours ago and my stomach was rumbling. If only I could get a cheap meal somewhere…

“Meat sure is expensive here, but I guess that’s because industrial farming isn’t a thing in this world?”

Raising livestock had long been a part of civilization, but until the birth of industrial farming, meat didn’t come cheap. On one hand, it was because good meat was hard to produce, since the animals were fed with low-quality grass that humans wouldn’t eat. On the other hand, animals raised on a good diet of corn and yams were rare, since farmers would make more money just selling those items by themselves.

There was even a point where the profit of raising cattle got so bad that the United Nations actually recommended eating insects as the most efficient source of protein. However, it was near impossible to get people to accept that idea, so a compromise would have to be reached. Maybe people could farm insects, then feed those to animals or fish? I wonder how well that could work out.

I mean, that’s what happens on silk farms, where the pupa of silkworms are used to feed carp, and then people living in those areas eat those carp, right?

Sounds like an ideal scenario. Growing mulberry bushes with edible berries, then using the leaves to feed silkworms. And once silk has been produced, the pupa are used as feed for carp, which are farmed for food. Nothing is wasted!

Sure, the carp were fed on insects, but it was easy for humans to stomach it since we were technically eating the fish. I mean, there were people who didn’t mind eating insects, but those are quite rare…

“Dammit, now I’m worried.”

While I didn’t mind people adopting insects as part of their diet, to really do so myself was another story. It was just too difficult to imagine.

I knew that some countries in our previous world served up insect dishes like it was the most normal thing in the world, but it was always something that happened somewhere else, and not of my immediate concern.

Anyway, if I encountered any insect dishes in this world, I’d avoid them if I could. If it was cooked into a dish, I guess I could eat it, as long as nobody told me that there were insects inside.

“Either way, I’m going for bread and some fruit juice today.”

I’ll be fine as long as I didn’t keep thinking about it. Otherwise, I’d be suspicious of each dish, wondering if they were secretly made with insects.

That decided, I quickly located a cheap eatery and paid 10 Reas for rye bread and fruit juice.

“Mmm… This should fill me up well enough.”

The fruit juice was mostly watered down, while the bread was dry and tasteless. However, the bread was as big as the size of my palm, and combined with the drink, it sated my hunger nicely.

I wondered if rye bread was a type of black bread. However, it wasn’t as hard as I expected, and the taste wasn’t too bad either. The only problem was that it probably lacked vitamins to make it a good nutritious meal.

“I guess I should purchase a change of clothes too.”

I would most probably be doing lots of physical work, so my clothes were sure to get dirty. I was quite sure I wouldn’t have the luxury of having any work clothes provided for, so I’d have to prepare an extra set on my own.

Returning my cup to the eatery owner, I asked the location of the nearest secondhand clothes and general goods stores, and made my way over.

~

The work clothes available in the secondhand clothes store were much more expensive than I’d anticipated.

I’d planned to buy at least two sets so I would have time to do laundry, but it turns out that durable clothes that fit my size and stature was pitifully limited in number. On the bright size, these smaller clothes were priced cheaper, so the prices weren’t too outrageous.

That said, there were almost no choices for selection, I guess because the store didn’t see many dwarf customers. Oh well, as long as the clothes were wearable and the price low, the design didn’t bother me much. Even so, I did fork out much more than what I’d expected.

At the general goods store, I purchased a sack to use as my bag, as well as some fresh undergarments. These turned out to be cheaper, but I was now left with less than half of what I started out with. If Haruka-san and the others hadn’t lent me some money, I would be in so much trouble now.

“I wonder how they did it, since they didn’t have anyone to lend them money at first…”

I counted myself lucky, since I started out with four times as much money as any of my other classmates. And while it was true that the three of them transitioned together and had three times the amount of money, they also had to purchase three times as many items as I did.

“It must have been crazy hard for them…”

No wonder they weren’t keen when I requested to join their party, especially since they probably knew that I would be more of a freeloader than a contributor to the group. Even so, they generously lent me 3,000 Reas, despite not knowing if I could ever repay them.

“…I’d better work hard.”

I finally reached the inn recommended by the Guild, and it was quite rundown, to say the least.

I paid 100 Reas, and was shown a room where ten people were to sleep packed like sardines. I had about the space of one tatami mat allocated to me, and was given a smelly blanket. The food served was edible, but nothing enjoyable at all. After gulping it all down quickly, I hurriedly went to bed.

The next day, I got up as early as I could, wolfed down breakfast, and headed to the Adventurers Guild with haste. There were already several people lined up outside in the dim light, and I quickly joined the queue, hoping I was not too late. Everyone present turned to stare at me, and I smiled awkwardly, and people soon lost interest. Nobody bothered trying to chat with me.

In the end, I waited for an hour, or was it two? More and more people soon arrived and lined up behind me, and once the Guild doors opened, the queue started to move forward quickly.

Initially, I’d expected the process to be a mess, with everyone clamoring to be first without any order, but that didn’t happen at all. Though most of the people in the queue looked a little rough (to be brutally honest, most of them looked like punks), they behaved in a really civilized manner.

It was only afterwards that I learned that anyone who kicked up a fuss was immediately removed from the premises and not given any jobs. I guess the Guild liked to keep its members on a tight leash. By keeping a close eye on conflicts between its adventurers, the Guild was able to lower the rank or kick out any member who gave them trouble. Maybe it was also because they had to uphold their reputation of providing a trustworthy workforce to society.

It was the same as recruitment agencies back in the previous world. If you gave your recruiting agent any trouble, they wouldn’t be as willing to help you secure a job.

“Next.”

“Hello.”

Thanks to my early arrival, it was soon my turn. After watching the people before me apply for jobs, I carefully copied their actions. First, I took out my Guild card and placed it on the counter.

“Good morning, Tomii-san. Are you willing to take on manual work for higher wages?”

“Yes, I’m confident in that.”

The staff serving me was the same lady I spoke to yesterday. Flipping through a stack of papers, she quickly selected two pieces and passed them to me.

“This job needs you for only three day’s work, but the wages are high. This one is a job for ten days, but the wages are slightly lower. Which would you like?”

Both seemed to involve manual labor at a construction site, but the former definitely sounded better. I desperately needed to earn enough money to stay at a better inn.

“I’ll take the first job.”

“Sure. Please take this form and report at the job site.”

“OK.”

I took the form and threw a glance at the rough-looking men lined up behind me. The last thing I wanted was to get in someone’s way. Heart thundering, I silently slipped past the line of people and escaped outside, making my way to the job site indicated on the form.

The work at the job site was slightly hard.

Slightly? Yes, just slightly.

To be honest, compared to the other workers around me, I had a relatively easy time.

I guess I had my Toughness Lv.3, Enhanced Physical Strength Lv.2, and Fortress Lv.2 to thank. Despite my shorter stature, I was able to complete the tasks I needed to, and paired with my enhanced physical strength, I did well enough to receive praise from my site manager.

Most of the praise came from my pile driving work. There were various areas on the job site that needed such work, but once I took on the responsibility, all the work was suddenly brought to me. In the end, there were people who even asked if I was a professional trained in pile driving. It must be my Smithing Skill coming into effect.

And while I was glad to receive praise and be useful, it didn’t diminish my wish to become a blacksmith someday.

The work ended at sunset, and after receiving my wages for the day, I headed back to the inn, changed out of my work clothes, did laundry, and started getting ready for bed.

I was also getting used to the bland food, gulping it down quickly to get some energy. Besides, I’d already had a good lunch at a nice eatery, recommended by the workmates at the job site.

Work the next day was largely the same, and now that I was familiar with things, my efficiency also went up, and I was even able to cooperate with the other workers to get things done smoothly.

Finally, the third and last day of work came. Physically, the work wasn’t tough for me at all, so the site manager invited me to join his next project as well. And though there wasn’t much work on this last day and we managed to finish early, I received even higher wages and a good performance review for my hard work.

“Hey, Tomii. Wanna go for drinks after this?”

After three days of working together, I’d grown close to this particular workmate. I imagined an evening out with him, drinking cheap ale and trading jokes at some pub. Yep, that image really suited a dwarf. Not bad.

“Sounds good! So-”

“Tomii!”

“Huh? Naga-… I mean, Tohya-kun.”

But before I could say anything, I heard Nagai-kun, I mean Tohya-kun, shouting my name. Yes, he’s Tohya-kun now, and Kamiya-kun is now Nao-kun. I had to be careful not to slip up.

Haruka-san was much easier to remember, since I didn’t speak to her much in the previous life anyway, so I hadn’t much chance to address her as Azuma-san.

“May I talk to him for a minute…?” Tohya asked my workmate, who happened to be at least twice my age.

“Sure, no worries. Tomii, we’ll go drinking together next time!”

“Of course!”

My workmate smiled and waved goodbye as he walked off to join another group of workmates.

“Sorry I spoiled your plans.”

“It’s OK, we’re not really close friends. I just wanted to go get a drink.”

I mean, here I was in a fantasy-like world, and I’ve yet to try any ale. Aren’t dwarves and ale supposed to go well together?

“Was that why you got the Drinker Skill? Well, I can buy you a drink if you-”

“Really!?”

“Calm down! Have you already forgotten the evils of the Drinker Skill?”

“O-Oh, right. I may not get drunk as easily, but my body’s ability to process alcohol is still the same?”

“Exactly. Since you won’t get drunk and feel bad, you basically won’t know your body’s limit.”

“True…”

Normally, when people started to feel bad after drinking alcohol, or not have any memories of the night before, it was a sign for them to regulate their alcohol intake the next time. However, this was no longer true for me. Aside from taking a blood test, I really had no way to knowing how much alcohol was in my system.

“Anyway, since you can’t get drunk, is there still any purpose in drinking ale? Why not drink juice?”

“Erm… Well, I was just curious about the taste of ale!”

Of course, some people drank to get drunk, but there were others who just liked the flavor and taste. Besides, since I couldn’t get drunk, I could really savor the taste of alcohol calmly, just like an adult.

“Well, the taste of alcohol isn’t anything special to me, but since you have the Skill, maybe it’ll taste different for you…? Just to warn you, ale tastes disgusting to me, and there isn’t much alcohol in it anyway.”

“Huh, really?”

“Yeah, its alcohol content is even lower than beer. As for the taste… It tastes like room temperature beer with all the bubbles gone, only a little more sour… I guess?”

“It doesn’t sound good at all.”

“Nope, but maybe some people really enjoy it? I see loads of people drinking it happily in the pubs. Maybe it’s just me, since I didn’t really drink much beer back in our previous world.”

I’d heard that black beer and craft beer were sometimes drunk at room temperature, so the temperature shouldn’t be a problem?

“Either way, you should try it once for yourself. As for us, we usually just drink water, since it’s free.”

“Money is a concern, huh… But since you’re treating me today, I’d like to try ale!”

“Wanna come to my inn, then? There’s food there too.”

“Sure!”

——

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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. S005

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
S005: Tomii’s Life Story Part 1

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——

After separating from Azuma-san and the others… I guess I should start calling her Haruka-san now… I walked on alone towards the city of Rafan.

It had been about two weeks since the guys I came to this world with had died. To be honest, we weren’t exactly close friends back in the previous life, but we did spend several days living together, so it was still a big shock to know they are dead.

However, after several days, I came to realize that most of my emotions stemmed, not from grief that my friends were dead, but more from losing people I could rely on. At that point, the guilt hit me and I fell into a depression.

Not that the depression lasted more than a day.

I mean, if I had really been depressed, I could easily have starved myself to death. There was nothing much to eat in the forest, and I couldn’t even start a fire, so I could only eat things that could be consumed raw. Of course, I had the ability to craft tools, but there was nothing much I could make out of fallen branches and stuff.

Thus my body grew weaker each day, and I finally lost consciousness and collapsed. I’d closed my eyes back then thinking that that was it for me, and when I next opened my eyes, I truly thought I’d died and was waking up in the next world. I mean, the sight that greeted me was true beauty.

Of course, reality hit me the moment I caught sight of Nagai-kun nearby.

Back then, I felt so relieved that people had come to help me, but they turned out to be crueler than I ever imagined. Especially when Haruka-san basically told me to leave and survive on my own.

I was upset at first, wondering why they bothered saving me if they weren’t going to help me, but after I calmed down and thought about it, it all made sense.

They had been thrown into this world just like me, and had worked hard to survive up until now. While it was a big risk to leave me by myself, Nagai-kun was right to say that the relationship between us was that of mere classmates. They were not obligated in any way to look after me.

For example, if a classmate had barged into my home in our previous world and demanded to live there, I would have called the police. Now that we were in a much more dangerous situation, it was probably foolish of me to even ask them to save me when I couldn’t offer anything in return.

And though they spoke some mean words when I sounded my protests, they still gave me good advice in the end, and even lent me some money.

30 big silvers; three times the amount I was initially given. According to Haruka-san, that amounted to about 30,000 yen.

And I was given this money out of goodwill, despite there being no guarantee that I could ever pay it back. And since I was lonely, it was a comfort to at least have some cash on hand.

It may be difficult to become what Haruka-san called a ‘useful person’, but I’ll definitely try my best to earn enough money to repay the amount they lent me, interest included.

~

About an hour after I left Haruka-san and the guys, I reached the city of Rafan. Handing one big silver to the guard at the gate, I asked for directions to the Adventurers Guild and headed over there.

Along the way, I peeked into some stores, trying to get a sense of how much things cost in this world.

“It doesn’t make any sense…”

Using the simple conversion of 1 Rea to 10 yen, I found that there seemed to be no correlation between the prices of items here compared to the previous world. Some things were more expensive, while some were much cheaper. Yet one thing I noticed was that labor cost seemed super cheap?

In the previous world, it was normal to view people as valuable assets, but that didn’t seem to be the case here.

To give an extreme example, take an artisan who crafts sculptures out of sugar. In the previous world, the cost of the sculpture would depend on the skill of the artisan, but here, the cost would depend much more on the price of sugar. In fact, the two values were almost the same, meaning that almost no value was placed on the labor required to craft the sculpture. It was the same thing in most eateries as well, where we could buy a large amount of food at relatively cheap prices.

The exception was fruits and spices, which seemed to be rare, and were thus priced high, so much so that I couldn’t even dream of buying any with the amount of money I had now.

“Oh, that’s the fruit Nao-kun gave me just now… What? One piece for 600 Reas!? That’s so expensive!!”

Each big silver was equivalent to 100 Reas or about 1,000 yen, which meant that one fruit cost around 6,000 yen.

“And to think I ate three of those so quickly…”

The guys hadn’t complained about that, but I wondered if they were secretly mad at me…?

They did have a lot of the fruit, so they might have harvested it from somewhere instead of buying it, but they could have sold it and earned good money instead of feeding it to me for free.

“Argh… And they treated my wounds too… I shouldn’t have been so rude to them.”

I remembered a program I watched on TV, where someone did a social experiment by pretending to collapse in public, and found out that most people just chose to ignore the man instead of helping him.

Compare those people to Haruka-san and the guys, who decided to save a strange person (I guess a guy with an overgrown beard could be considered strange) collapsed in the woods. Back then, they didn’t yet know that I was their classmate, but they helped me anyway out of the kindness of their hearts.

“If we meet again, I gotta thank them properly.”

But first, I needed to survive.

I continued my walk towards the Guild with determination. It seemed to be located near the South Gate, while I had entered through the East Gate, so it was quite a distance, but I finally managed to reach the place.

“Alright…!”

With a little trepidation, I pushed open the door and entered. So this was the Adventurers Guild… But before I could even look around, I heard someone shouting.

“Why can’t you recommend me!?”

“Because you ditched your previous job yesterday without a good reason, Yasue-san. The owner even came over here to complain about you.”

“Well, that’s because…”

“You may have your reasons, but you just ran off, and didn’t even return to give a proper explanation. That is just unacceptable.”

Yasue?

I glanced over to see a somewhat familiar figure arguing with the counter staff. Recalling Haruka-san’s advice, I quickly looked around, then retreated to an inconspicuous spot.

I knew I didn’t need to worry, since Nao-kun and the others weren’t able to recognize me with my current appearance. The only similarity between my previous and current appearance was my short stature. In fact, I was even shorter now due to my race.

“Either way, I won’t be able to get you any jobs at the moment. I’d advise you to return to your previous employer and apologize. If you don’t do that, I won’t be recommending you for any more jobs in the future.”

“Whatever, I get it already!”

The girl turned and stormed towards the exit, while I hurriedly turned towards the noticeboard next to the door, pretending to read the announcements posted there. I didn’t want to get recognized as a classmate and get into unnecessary trouble.

“Dammit! I can’t use any of the Skills I copied, and now I lose my job! Just my luck!” Yasue-san muttered angrily to herself, pulling the door open forcefully and marching out, taking zero notice of me.

…Who was this Yasue-san, anyway? I knew the first names of just a handful of girls in my class, so I couldn’t place her.

Which handful of girls, you ask? Of course it’s the cute ones. Aren’t all guys the same? Every dude in class knew the names of Haruka-san and the two cute girls who always hung out with her, Shidou-san and Furumiya-san.

None of them were called Yasue, though… Yet she’d looked so familiar.

…Wait, she mentioned something about ‘Copy’, right?

Yep, that was a land mine right there. Even if I didn’t know she had the Skill, just her attitude alone was a land mine. It seemed that she’d copied Skills from someone without their permission, and she’d screamed at the Guild staff too, despite it being her own fault for running away from work and getting fired. Even I knew that trust and reliability was more important in this world than our previous one. Without things like resumes and character references, most places would not take on workers if they couldn’t trust them.

That said, it would probably be hard for me to become a blacksmith’s apprentice, since there was always a chance that I signed on as an apprentice just to steal from my master. Even back in our previous world, people wouldn’t hire someone to live and work in their homes unless they knew the person to be trustworthy.

Wait, I’d come here to be registered. I still needed to find a place to stay, so I’d better get my business here done quickly.

I walked over to the lady at the counter, who looked a little weary after the encounter with the nasty Yasue-san.

“Hello, Miss.”

“Hello. How can I help you today?”

“I’d like to register, please.”

“Sure. That’ll be 300 Reas.”

“Here you go.”

I handed three big silvers over. If Haruka-san hadn’t given me more money, I’d be left with a measly six pieces by now. How tough would that be!

“Thank you. Would you like an introduction to everything?”

“Yes, please.”

The lady proceeded to talk about how the Adventurers Guild worked while I filled in the registration form. Aside from my name and race, I’d never written anything to promote my skills before. In the end, I settled for ‘strong and resilient’.

I’d wanted to add my Aptitude with Smithing Skill to the list as well, but there didn’t seem to be any way for people to judge Skills here, so I decided not to include it, in case I came across as overconfident.

The Guild card I received was a plain item, and didn’t seem to serve any special function.

It was slightly disappointing. Shouldn’t transitioning to a fantasy world come with some amazing technology?

“That’s all. Do you have any questions?”

“No, I’m good. Oh, can you recommend some jobs for me today?”

“Oh, you’d like to get a job instead of Adventurer missions?”

“Yes.”

To be honest, I’d love to go harvesting and defeating enemies outside the city with Nagai-kun and the others, but I knew I wasn’t ready for that just yet.

In novels, a teenage protagonist who gets transported to another world always manages to become an adventurer on his own and become successful. Just how courageous must one be to make that a reality?

Some people might have the courage to camp out in the mountains by themselves in a safe place like Japan, but to do that in a dangerous new world…? Impossible!

And for those who don’t think it’s a big deal, try spending the night alone in the mountains out in the countryside. And I don’t mean at one of those camping grounds with convenient facilities nearby.

“I can recommend some jobs to Tomii-san. I’m guessing most people will want to hire you for manual labor. But to be totally honest, it’ll be a struggle to find good jobs now.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Everyone who wants this type of work comes here very early to queue, so what I have left now are the bad jobs which nobody wants to do…”

“Will I be able to get a better job if I come tomorrow?”

“It’s not a promise, but you’ll have a better chance.”

Was there really that much competition? Luckily, I still had 3,600 Reas left, so I didn’t need to start working immediately…

“Erm, so I have to queue here everyday to get jobs?”

“No. Once you get a job as a day laborer, you can continue with it until the work is complete or you quit. That’s why everyone is desperate to get a job with good benefits.”

I see. So the type of job you landed would determine your future prospects.

Of course, if I couldn’t get a job with good benefits, I could just work first and change employers whenever the opportunity arises, but it meant I had to first establish myself as a trustworthy worker.

“By the way, is there a process for people interested to become blacksmith apprentices? I hope to become a blacksmith in the future.”

“An apprentice…? Hmm…” The lady paused, a frown on her face. “To be honest, it can be quite tough. Most people get an apprenticeship through introductions and recommendations by friends. In fact, some people start off by working for their relatives. So it’s a little hard for us to help you.”

“I see.”

But I had no relatives in this world. As for friends, I only had Kamiya-kun, Nagai-kun, and Haruka-san. Well, I guess I could count that Yasue-san too, if she’s also a classmate.

“Well, another way will be to sign on as a day laborer and work for some time, gaining friends and earning credibility. Then, maybe someone will recommend you to a blacksmith they know. Either way, you won’t get far unless people know you can be trusted,” the lady advised.

Hmm, so I could work and try to make friends along the way, though I didn’t think it would be easy to convince someone to become my guarantor.

Even in the previous world, people rarely asked their work colleagues to vouch for them. In fact, some people couldn’t even get their own family members to help them.

“There’s also a third method, which is to achieve a higher rank as an adventurer. Since you’ve just registered, you’re still at Rank 0, but once you’re at Rank 5 or 6, people will know that you’re someone they can trust, and there may be blacksmiths willing to take you on as an apprentice. No promises though.”

“Really…? OK, thank you.”

I guess there really was no easy way to do this.

I thought having Aptitude with Smithing and Smithing Lv.3 Skills would make it easy for me to become an apprentice or get jobs, but the initial hurdle of getting started was still so high.

I bet becoming a swordsmith in Japan was easier than this, even if the profession was dying out these days.

Either way, coming from a family where both my parents were hardworking people with stable jobs, I knew the value of having steady employment.

“Alright, I’ll come again tomorrow to look for a job. In the meantime, can you recommend some suitable lodgings for me?”

“Lodgings? What are you looking for? Somewhere with good food, or good security, or nice amenities?”

“Somewhere cheap will do. I don’t mind room-sharing too, if it’s safe.”

“There’s a place nearby, then. You can stay there for 100 Reas per night, breakfast and dinner included. It’s one of the cheapest places around that is still safe.”

The lady then showed me a map of the city and pointed out the location of the inn. It was situated in an alley away from the city center, and was quite a distance from the Guild. I tried my best to memorize the inn’s location and name. The ‘Wooden Pillow’… What a strange name. But it would have to do.

“Thank you. I’ll come by again tomorrow.”

“Sure. Be careful.”

With a smile, the lady saw me out of the Adventurers Guild.

——

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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 052

ACT 2: UNION
052: Let’s Get a House! Part 2

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——

…The third house.

“The land size for this lot is between the first and second. The building is one-storied, but it’s quite spacious. It is a little old, though, and may need some renovations.”

“Any bad history in this place?”

Haruka had become much more discerning after the incident at the previous house, and was now looking at Diola with a raised eyebrow. Diola just smiled and shook her head.

“This place is fine. It was built when this city was still a small village, and the owners worked on the farm over there. Now that they have grown old, they have moved into a smaller house near the city center.”

So the city of Rafan was founded from a village and its surrounding farmland, and while such houses were common in the past, most had since been divided up and used to build many smaller houses. As such, these large lots had become quite rare.

“This place costs 12 gold coins, but I think it’s the best choice that meets all your conditions.”

“That’s really quite expensive…” Haruka murmured with a frown.

I didn’t know how much rent was supposed to cost in this world, but compared to the price of renting our rooms at the Slumbering Bear, this did feel a little pricey. I didn’t think rent was this expensive back in Japan either.

“Shall we take a look inside first, Haruka?” Yuki asked.

“Agreed, since we’re already here,” Natsuki added.

“Alright. May we go inside, Diola-san?”

“Yes, of course. Let me open the door.”

Diola unlocked the door and we all filed inside, breaking up to inspect the different rooms.

The humidity level of the air in this world was slightly lower than in Japan, so there were not many places with rot, but a part of the house seemed to have been drenched in rain. The laundry room was also narrow, which meant that it would be difficult for us to construct a bathtub here.

Aside from that, there were four rooms that could be converted into bedrooms, one larger room, and a sizable barn. The only thing I didn’t like was the kitchen, which was small and looked to be in bad shape. Maybe it was because we’d been in Aera’s kitchen yesterday, so I knew how nice a good kitchen could look. In fact, I doubt we could cook anything delicious in this place.

We took more time to wander around, then gathered back at the front of the house. Looking at the others, I could tell that none of us were impressed.

“What do you guys think?” Haruka asked.

“…It’s a maybe?” I answered after some hesitation.

Of course, the place was still livable, but if I had a choice, I would definitely say no.

“My answer is no.”

“Me too…”

Unlike me, Tohya and Natsuki were totally honest with their opinions, despite the presence of Diola standing right beside us. Yuki said nothing, but the forced smile on her face told us everything we needed to know.

“I’m not a fan of this place too. And it’s a little expensive… Don’t you agree, Diola-san?” Haruka probed.

“I see. Well, this house holds lots of memories for the owners, so I guess they felt that it deserves high value…”

That was true. If the valuation was done by a real estate company, they would have done it objectively, but since the valuation was done by the owners themselves, they might not see the flaws and thus overestimated the building’s value.

“You don’t have more lots to show us?”

“Not really. We don’t have that many spacious lots in this area. It’s not a place where rich people usually live, so most houses are small. If there were other lots similar to this nearby, I’m sure the owners would have been more realistic in their rent estimate…”

Since this was one of the only large lots in the area, the owners were free to ask whatever price they wanted. Of course they could lower the price if there were no renters, but since they hadn’t done so, it meant that they weren’t in a hurry to rent the place out.

“Hmm. Can we have some time to discuss this, Diola-san?”

“Sure. I know it’s a tough decision. Of course, it’s perfectly fine if you decide not to rent any of the places after all.”

“Thank you. We’ll think about it and let you know.”

We all moved slightly away from Diola and put our heads together.

“What do we do now?”

“Hmm, this is tough. The first lot doesn’t have a house, and this one is in such a bad state,” Natsuki sighed.

However, if we wanted to move in quickly, we didn’t have a choice at all.

“We haven’t seen the second house. Shall we try to work on it?” Yuki suggested.

“What do you mean, work on it?”

“…Like calling in an exorcist?” She asked, holding a finger against her chin and tilting her head innocently.

“…You know any miko-san or nuns?”

“Oh, not at all. None of my family or relatives are the religious type. Anyway, if we’re talking about miko-san, you should ask Natsuki.”

She was right. After transitioning, Haruka’s hair color had changed, leaving Natsuki as the only one with pure black hair. Paired with her features which still looked somewhat Japanese, she definitely resembled a shrine maiden.

“Me? I mean, my ancestors used to run a shrine long ago… And there are some distant relatives who married into religion, but I personally have no connection to any of that.”

“Still better than me. Anyway, we don’t even know if the miko-san from Japan can get rid of ghosts in this world!”

…While Natsuki had true connections to authentic miko, it seemed that Yuki’s ideas all came from watching TV. To her, any girl waving a wooden ceremonial wand around probably qualified as a miko.

“Girls, have you forgotten about Haruka?” Tohya interjected.

“Haruka? A miko-san elf? Hmm… Maybe?” I mused.

I guess she could look nice in a miko’s clothes. I mean, traditional Japanese clothes do look best on women with no boobs, right?

“No, idiot! I meant her Light Magic! Isn’t that what the original purpose of Purification is for!?”

“……O-Ohh!? I see! Yeah, Purification isn’t supposed to be used for showers!” I stammered awkwardly.

“That’s right. It’s been such a convenient spell that I forgot about its original purpose,” Natsuki added.

How embarrassing to be called out by Tohya. I remember now, Purification was originally used to purify ‘unclean’ things.

“Haruka?”

Haruka shook her head.

“Yes, I can cast the spell, but I don’t think it’ll be powerful enough. I mean, if the problem can be solved by a simple spell cast by a beginner like me, then that beautiful royal house won’t be abandoned, right?”

“I guess you’re right. I just got carried away with the thought of being able to rent a royal’s house,” Yuki sighed.

So that was why she suggested exorcism in the first place. I guess I understand her feelings a little.

Haruka then took over the discussion.

“Anyway, let’s review our choices. We can give up on the first lot with the large garden, and find another place to rent. We can search in another area where rent is higher. We can continue living at the inn, or we can build a house on the first lot. That’s all I can think of. What do you guys think?”

“I don’t have any other ideas,” Natsuki replied. The rest of us nodded.

“I’d really like a place with a garden. It’ll be such a chore to leave the city every time I want to train,” Tohya added.

“Yeah. We definitely can’t do our training out on the streets,” I agreed.

“OK. Does everyone agree on this?”

Everyone nodded. It was essential for us to train every day, so we couldn’t afford to get a house without a place to practice freely.

“Did we also talk about having a house where we can do things that we can’t do while living at the inn? Like alchemy,” I shared.

Just like cooking, alchemy required special equipment and tools. We’d also need space if we wanted to buy books to study magic and alchemy. If we continued living at the inn, we’d have to give up on all these.

“Agreed. It’s great having delicious meals provided for at the inn, but it’ll be good if we can work on improving our own cooking Skills too, so I’d like to move out of the inn,” Yuki said.

“In that case, we’re left with the options that require the most money… So, how much money do we have right now?” Natsuki asked.

We were left with two choices: to rent a big house in a high-class residential area, or build a new house from scratch. Both sounded like they would cost a lot of money…

“To be honest, not much after we ordered chain mail for you girls,” Haruka sighed.

“Oops. Sorry.”

“And we don’t have anything to contribute…”

Yuki and Natsuki grimaced in embarrassment. However, I felt that it was a necessary expenditure. I mean, I didn’t want the girls to get hurt because they didn’t have armor.

I was just going to reassure them when Tohya cut in.

“Nah, it’s fine. It’s a necessary item anyway.”

“Yeah. Anyway, it’s much cheaper compared to Tohya’s armor,” I settled for teasing.

Natsuki was about the same build as me, while Yuki was the smallest in stature, so their chain mail hadn’t cost a lot.

As its name suggests, chain mail is made of metal knitted in chains, so the labor and material costs are proportional to the size of the piece. In short, larger pieces will cost more. Since Tohya was so tall and muscular, the price of his chain mail was twice as expensive as any of ours.

“…So I guess we don’t have a choice after all?”

“Not at this point.”

“So we’ll have to focus on earning money for now?”

“That’s our only option. Personally, I’d like for us to rent the first property and build a house there,” Haruka shared.

“I agree that there is a certain charm in designing and building our own house… But won’t that cost too much?” Natsuki asked doubtfully.

“Yeah. I’d rather rent a nice house if we can find one,” Yuki added.

However, the evil god had chosen(?) for us to transition to this city, a rural but peaceful place. As such, most of the residents are ordinary people instead of adventurers like ourselves. As the city grew bigger, many people migrated here to set up business and thus live in simple houses. In other words, there was simply no demand for large properties with a garden attached.

There were of course some large houses for aristocrats and the rich, which were sometimes left vacant for different reasons, but these were not places that we could afford anyway.

“So the only way to get a place we like is to build it ourselves. In order to do that, I’d like to earn money to buy the first lot,” Haruka concluded.

“Buy? But land isn’t a liquidated asset, so won’t it be better to invest in cash? I mean, we’re not planning to live in this city forever, are we?” Natsuki countered.

“That will be true if banking exists in this world. Besides, we’re still currently low-ranking adventurers,” Haruka reminded.

“I see, alright, so owning land in this world is actually better for us.”

“Yes, because land and buildings cannot be taken away. If we buy land, we can sell it if we want to leave the city. On the other hand, if we just rent, all the money we pay will forever be lost.”

“Especially if we sign a contract with the Guild.”

“Also, buying land is a good way to show the Guild that we’re spending the money that we earn.”

“I see, since they’ll know that we have the money to spend,” I added, joining in Haruka and Natsuki’s discussion.

We’d been selling Dindle to the Guild frequently, so anyone who knew the market price of the fruit could easily guess at how much we were earning. Of course, we’d spent most of that money on weapons and armor, but at first glance, the only item that was obviously expensive was my spear.

“Wait, what do you guys mean?” Tohya asked, confused.

“Well, if criminals know that we’re earning lots of money, they may try to attack us, so we need to show everyone that we’re spending that money away,” Haruka summarized. “We’ll need to continue living at the inn for some time, but I’d like to buy that plot of land as soon as we can.”

“But the rent is just 2 gold coins a month. How about renting it first to build our house, then buying the land after?”

“No, if we build the house first, then the owner probably won’t sell it to us. He’ll just chase us out and get the house for free.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Anyway, let’s go talk to Diola-san first.”

With that, Haruka called out to Diola, who had been hanging around a short distance away.

“Diola-san, is it possible for us to buy the first lot?”

“Buy? The owner was thinking of just renting it out…”

“Let’s say he puts it up for sale, how much will it cost?”

“You should be able to get it for just 400 gold coins, but it’s really up to the owner.”

400 gold coins sounded quite affordable to me, but I guess I was just used to exorbitant land prices in Japan. Either way, if we were to build a large house on the land, the construction would definitely end up costing more than the price of the land itself. As such, it would be a blessing to get the land for cheap, as long as we could sell it off again later with house attached.

“Can you help us to negotiate with the owner, Diola-san?”

“Negotiate…?”

Diola looked a little doubtful, so I guess she was probably unwilling to help. It made sense, since buying and selling houses wasn’t part of her job at the Guild.

“…Oh yeah, Nao, we’ve just about finished a large lot of dried Dindle, right?” Haruka suddenly asked.

Diola’s eyebrow twitched.

“Oh… Yes! We’ve got a good amount for our own consumption. Since it’s quite expensive, it’ll make a great gift too,” I smiled, playing along.

“Exactly. It’ll be such a wonderful present for anyone who helps us with any favor.”

We were obviously baiting her, but Diola didn’t seem to have caught on at all. Instead, her frown was quickly replaced with a smile.

“H-Haruka-san? I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try my best to talk to the owner?”

“Oh, you don’t need to force yourself. I’m sure we’ll be able to find another similar lot easily…” Haruka said, a small smirk tugging on her lips.

“Oh, of course, but you may not be able to find a lot as affordable as this one! I think owning land in this area is such a good investment!”

“Really? So, will you help us?”

“Of course, please leave it to me!”

“Great. We’ll need to earn a little more money first, so there’s no rush. We don’t mind buying at market price, but if the owner is willing to sell it for cheaper, we’ll just have to reward the negotiator well, won’t we?”

“I’ll do my best!!”

With that final statement, Haruka managed to get a confident response from Diola.

——

Translator Note:
Miko are shrine maidens in Japan.

——

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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 051

ACT 2: UNION
051: Let’s Get a House! Part 1

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——

“Wow~! I know you already told us that Inspeel sauce tastes great, but I didn’t imagine it was THAT good!” Tohya gushed.

“Exactly. Who could have imagined a strange recipe like that can produce such an amazing sauce?” Haruka smiled in agreement.

We were back at the Slumbering Bear, dressed in our sleepwear after receiving Haruka’s Purification and chatting about the pot of sauce we received from Aera.

“I don’t know for sure… But I guess it must have taken a long time to come up with the recipe,” I added.

Much like okonomiyaki sauce and Worcestershire sauce, Inspeel sauce must have taken years of research to perfect.

“With this sauce, mealtimes will be so much more fun now,” Natsuki said with a smile.

“I know! I think finding Aera-san’s store has been the best move we’ve made since transitioning here!” Tohya grinned.

“That’s a little extreme… Not that I disagree,” I grinned back.

“We started off eating the food back in Saarstat, and were on the point of giving up totally, but I guess there is good food to be found after all,” Yuki added.

“But we still have to be aware, because most of the food here is not that great. I’d say that of all the dishes we’ve tried in this city, I don’t ever want to eat about 80% of those ever again,” Haruka warned.

Though we hadn’t had many meals around town so far, aside from our inn, the only other place I’d probably eat at again was that expensive cafe we visited the other day. In fact, now that we’d found Aera’s place, I don’t think I want to go back to that place either.

“So even with this sauce, we should still cook our own meals. How goes our house-hunting, Haruka?”

“I’ve only just completed my backpack-making class today, so Diola-san said that she can show us some houses she’d found tomorrow. Let’s all go together?”

“Wow, sounds fun!! It’ll be like a dream to have our own place!” Yuki said wistfully.

“I’d love to build our own place from scratch, but I guess we’ll have to leave that to the future for now,” Natsuki added.

“Erm, aren’t we a little too young to own a house…?” I countered.

“Not in the countryside. Besides, we’re almost adults, remember?” Haruka said.

Sounds like a heavy responsibility to me. But I wouldn’t say it was an impossible dream for us… I mean, we actually had about 10 million yen up until about a week ago.

On the other hand, all that money was so quickly spent on buying equipment, so it might be near impossible to save enough money to build a house so long as we remained adventurers.

“By the way, how are things going on your side, Tohya? Is everything OK?”

“Yeah! Look!”

With that, Tohya went to his side of the room and returned with what appeared to be a metal plate and rod.

“That’s… Not a shield, right?”

“…Is it a shovel?”

“Yep! You got it, Yuki! It’s a portable shovel,” Tohya grinned as he pushed the end of the metal plate into the rod to assemble what was now obviously a shovel.

“Our original plan was to make a foldable one like the ones the self-defense forces use, but Tomii’s skills weren’t at that level yet, so he made me this one. He said that this was the type used by the old Japanese army back in the day.”

Tohya passed the shovel to me so I could take a better look. The metal plate was about the size of a book, just wide enough to allow someone to place a foot on it when digging holes. The metal tip also seemed well-made and durable, but other than the removable handle, it looked just like an ordinary shovel.

“So, is this a gift from Tomii for helping him find a master?” I asked doubtfully.

Indeed, Tohya had been hard at work these past few days, going around introducing Tomii as a serious worker and vouching for his personality, but so far, he’d only managed to convince Gantz to engage Tomii’s services.

That said, making a plain shovel as a gift still seemed too little?

“Hey, a shovel is quite impressive, you know! I’ve heard of people using it as a weapon to achieve chain kills.”

“Really~? But that’s not the point.”

Gantz’s store specialized in selling weapons and armor. I doubt he’d want to add a shovel to his inventory.

“It’s also a useful tool to dig holes,” Tohya continued his defense.

“Even if Gantz doesn’t sell shovels, I’m sure he already sells something similar.”

“Nope, a shovel of this design is quite a new invention, derived from spades which were used in the past.”

I remembered seeing spades in a textbook; wooden tools with a large metal plate attached to one end. The plate had a sharp tip, so one could put one’s foot on it to dig deeper into the ground.

If such a tool didn’t already exist in this world, then maybe it would be an item worth selling. It could be useful for civil engineering work, and for adventurers as well, since we’d need a tool to dig holes when relieving ourselves in the wild or during camping. We’d been using a hoe so far, but it was honestly not the best tool.

“Whether it can be sold in Gantz’s store is one thing, but more importantly, I wanted Gantz to see how hardworking Tomii is. I’m sure that was the key reason why he decided to take Tomii on as his apprentice.”

“Oh, he’s accepted Tomii?”

“Yep! Tomii’s glad, I got to practice my Smithing Skill, and even got a free shovel. Won’t you say it’s a good deal?”

It was much better than I’d imagined. To be brutally honest, it was totally unexpected. Who would have thought that an idiot so focused on brawn over brains could execute such a great plan?

The girls were nodding in amazement as well as they examined the shovel. I guess I shouldn’t underestimate Tohya in the future. I mean, he’d always been great at taking care of his friends.

“Well, it’s good to hear that Wakabayashi-kun… I mean, Tomii, has found a stable job,” Yuki said,

“Yes. It’s good that some classmates have not become our enemies. In fact, we may even get the chance to help each other out in the future,” Natsuki added.

“Yep, as long as they’re not land mines,” Haruka reminded with a wry smile.

“It’s sad that we can’t look for more classmates just because of that,” Yuki frowned.

“Because even the slightest contact can spell trouble…”

The girls looked at each other and heaved heavy sighs.

So far, we’d met up with Wakabayashi and Umezono, and it’d been a 50% success rate… Wait, there was also Tanaka and Takahashi, as well as seven or eight others who’d died before we even met them face-to-face. Taking all of them into account, it seemed like our chances of finding a ‘safe’ classmate was less than 10%.

It was just too risky to seek more classmates out.

Though to be optimistic, maybe the land mine Skills had killed off most of the dangerous people, so the classmates left were probably the harmless ones.

~

The next day, we sought out Diola during a lull in her workday, and went to look at some houses. She’d found three suitable places for us, and we followed her to view them one by one.

…The first house.

“This one has a large garden, so I think you should have enough space to swing a sword or spear around, or even have a mock battle.”

“Erm, Diola-san, the garden sure is large… But that’s because the whole property is just a garden?”

“Oh, no. Look, there’s a house over there.”

“Well, that’s just a storage shed, right?”

The first place Diola showed us was a large piece of land, about five to six times the size of the Slumbering Bear.

It was a large, vacant lot overgrown with vegetation, and while there was a house as well, just like what Haruka said, it was more of a storage shed than an actual living space.

“There used to be a large house built right here, but after the owners moved out, it started to get overgrown and crumbled. Soon, it was demolished to deter any criminals from using it as a hideout,” Diola shared.

Abandoned homes were a big problem back in Japan too. In fact, since housing lots were so tightly packed, a crumbling house was actually quite a hazard for the neighbors. I’d also heard of criminals or homeless people living in abandoned hotels, but never of them hiding in private properties belonging to ordinary civilians. Maybe because most homeless people congregated in the cities, or because the police were successful in keeping them out…?

“I know we said we wanted a big garden, but we’d also like somewhere with a house that we can live in?” I suggested.

Diola nodded as if in understanding.

“Well, this lot doesn’t come with a house. In fact, the owner told me that you can remove that shed if you don’t want it.”

“In other words, we’d have to build our own house here?”

“Yes. You’ll be free to build a house to your liking. Besides, the rent for such a large piece of land is only two gold coins a month!”

Two gold coins, or 2,000 Reas. It definitely sounded cheap, though I didn’t know the market rate for land in this part of the city.

“The only condition is that when you move out, you’ll leave the house intact.”

“So if we’re told to move out, we can’t take the house with us…”

So we don’t have to pay someone to demolish the house, and the owner gains the building as an asset. Sounds like a win-win to me.

I shared these thoughts with the group, but Natsuki shook her head.

“No, Nao-kun. When we rent land in Japan, we usually have to restore it to its original state, which means demolishing all buildings and returning it to the original condition.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Of course, an old house can be rented out again, but that’s a rare case, since people normally move out of houses because there’s something wrong with it.”

She was right. People usually didn’t move out of houses if there was nothing wrong with it. Once a house got old, people would move out anyway, so there was no point in keeping the building around. The same goes for businesses; if a store was profitable, the owner would not give up the location. If the store wasn’t doing well, it was pointless for another owner to start the same type of business in the same location, hence there was no need to keep the building in that case as well.

That was why landlords wanted all buildings demolished. In Japan, there was also a thing called property tax, which owners needed to pay to keep the building intact.

“Well, lots with houses in residential areas get a reduced tax, so leaving a lot vacant isn’t the best either,” Natsuki continued.

“Things sure are different in this world…” I murmured.

I knew nothing about taxation in this world, though I could imagine it was nowhere as complicated as in our previous world. In fact, the only tax we’d paid so far were the big silvers required to enter the city. Maybe there were other ‘invisible’ taxes as well, included in the fee we paid to join the Guild, or the rent to stay at the inn.

“Hmm, this place does look promising, but we may not have enough money,” Haruka picked up the conversation.

“Agreed. Diola-san, if we were to build a house similar to what we described, how much do you think that’d cost?” Yuki asked.

Diola pondered for a minute before answering.

“Well… If we can compromise on a few things, maybe 100 gold coins.”

“Whoa! That’s too much!”

“Agreed. It is just too much…”

Yuki and Natsuki were quick to react in shock at the amount, but Tohya, Haruka, and I remained silent.

I mean, we did possess that much money just a while ago, so as long as we could keep up the sale of high-demand goods like Dindle, it wasn’t an impossible amount to earn…

I was sure Diola was well aware of that, which was the reason why she’d shown this lot to us. She’d been the one who had been dealing with us all this time, after all.

The three of us looked at each other and sighed.

“We’ll keep this place in mind, Diola-san. May we see the next place, please?”

“Sure. There’s no need to make a quick decision when so much money is involved,” Diola smiled in understanding.

“Ehh!? Haruka, we’re not dismissing this place? But it costs too much,” Yuki argued.

“Not really. Anyway, we’ll keep this as a last choice. Let’s go see the next place.”

“O-OK…?”

Yuki and Natsuki still looked doubtful, but we all trooped quietly after Diola.

…The second house.

“This mansion was once the house for the lover of a royal. The lot is smaller than the previous one, but it has a grand two-storied mansion, and with a little clean-up, a beautiful garden.”

“A beautiful garden? But this place looks worse than the first one,” Tohya muttered.

“Oh, it used to be beautiful a long time ago. The owner planted many trees around, that’s why it’s a little overgrown now,” Diola explained.

Hmm… Of course, I understood that even a grassy lawn needed to be mown to stay neat, but if someone had planted trees here, it would become a mess if left untended. Just the fallen leaves alone were enough to create a decaying mess on the ground, not to mention the weeds that would grow.

And with so much vegetation, we couldn’t even see the house. Right now, we were all standing at the gates to the mansion, and the forested garden was all we could see.

“Can we go inside, Diola-san?”

“Would you like to?”

“We’ll need to go inside to take a good look, right? I know it’s a hassle to force our way through all the vegetation, but we gotta do it.”

Besides, we had Tohya and his sword to lead the way.

“Would you really like to go inside?”

Diola remained still, not even moving to open the gates.

“…You seem hesitant. Is there a problem with this place?”

“The rent for this place is five gold coins per month.”

“I can tell where this is going, but can you tell us more?”

“This mansion was once the house for the lover of a royal, but some things happened, and this place was abandoned.”

“Erm, so what exactly happened here…?”

“Some things.”

“But-”

“You know… Some things! You know what I mean?”

“Yes, I see.”

Diola’s smile did not reach her eyes, and it was just too scary. Since this had something to do with the royals, I guess saying too much could get her into trouble.

“So, Diola-san… When you said ‘some things’, is it something bad?”

“No, it’s nothing much… Just that the previous people who rented this place fell ill a lot.”

“That’s not ‘nothing much’!”

“There’s no need to worry. There’s no proof to link their illnesses to this place.”

“Now I’m even more worried! Will you live here, Diola-san?”

Diola shook her head, no trace of hesitation in her voice as she answered.

“No, because I believe in those things.”

Well, since magic exists in this world, I guess it wouldn’t be a stretch for things like curses and grudges from beyond the grave to exist either.

“Then please don’t suggest such places to us… This one’s a miss, a total miss.”

“Agreed. I’m glad you guys aren’t interested to take a look inside. Let’s go see the next house, shall we?”

With that, Diola started walking away.

If Diola wasn’t really recommending this house to us, why did she bring us here in the first place? I wondered if she had some sort of quota to fill. Or had she been forced to make this suggestion?

——

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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 050

Apologies for the lack of translations recently. Unfortunately, my family has been caught up in some pandemic-related issues and I haven’t been able to find the time to update the site. I have scheduled a number of auto updates for the near future so hopefully that will tide us over for now and I’ll be back to pick this up with as little disruption as possible.

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
050: Let’s Make Tonkatsu!

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——

“I hope it’ll meet your expectations… Anyway, let’s move into the kitchen, since we can’t cook here,” Haruka said with a smile.

“Sure!”

With that, the two girls headed into the kitchen. The rest of us followed, gathering in a corner of the kitchen to watch. The area was much too narrow for all of us to help.

“We’ll need oil, so let’s take that from the meat.”

“OK. So I just need to remove the fat, right?”

They proceeded to strip the boar meat of fat, which they tossed into a large pot. The Tusked Boar was quite fatty, so they managed to harvest a good amount. It was fascinating to watch Aera slice the fat off so cleanly while we chatted idly in our corner.

“Erm, isn’t it super unhealthy to fry tonkatsu in lard?”

“I know. I always thought that salad oil was the best option…”

“Some restaurants do fry it in lard, though, because it’s a solid at room temperature so it’s not sticky and easier to handle? But yeah, it may be unhealthy.”

“It’s basically a lump of cholesterol.”

“But even if salad oil is low in cholesterol, using so much of it defeats the purpose anyway.”

“Yes, even if some vegetable oils really do contain no cholesterol.”

I guess moderation is key. Even if something is good for the body, it may become harmful if consumed in large quantities. The worst were those diets that urged people to eat only one type of food in order to lose weight. You might see results in the short-term, but it could become unhealthy after some time, right? I guess it was fortunate that most people gave up on dieting before that happened.

“You’re really good at this, Aera-san… I think we have enough,” Haruka said.

“I worked a lot with meat. Are we going to use all of the fat? It’s a lot.”

“Yes, so please light the stove and melt it.”

“OK.”

Aera lifted the pot of lard and set it on the stove, then proceeded to fiddle with it. Was that a magical item as well? Most stoves in this world used charcoal fire, but Aera’s didn’t seem to. She must have spent a ton of money on it too. I wondered if she’d purchased it at the advice of the so-called consultant.

“We need to slice the meat into thick pieces next… Guys, which part should we fry?” Haruka asked.

“I vote for the loin!” Tohya exclaimed quickly.

“I like the fillet more,” Yuki added.

“Nao, you prefer the loin, right?”

“I don’t really have a preference, but I guess so.”

Bite-size pieces of fillet cutlet were great, but a whole slab of thickly-cut loin was definitely the classic tonkatsu. It sure sounded like a luxury, but maybe it was because we were no longer rich?

“Well, let’s use the loin, as well as any other parts that look good. Aera-san, can you slice the loin into pieces about this thick?” Haruka requested with a gesture.

“Sure.”

Aera sliced off quite a few good pieces, which Haruka then proceeded to pound and rub with salt.

“Let’s make a liquid batter, since it’s easier. Do you have any eggs, Aera-san?”

“Yes, but… If we use eggs in the recipe, it’ll drive the price of the dish up.”

In our previous world, eggs were so cheap that the price seemed quite unbelievable sometimes. However, the opposite was true in this world, probably because the eggs were laid by pet chickens since industrial farming doesn’t exist. I guess it made sense, since eggs were also hard to come by in Japan before the war.

“We can use water, but it’ll be more delicious with eggs. We’ll try both, then you can decide which method to adopt.”

With that, Haruka mixed the eggs with some wheat flour to make a batter that resembled what we used to make tempura.

“Erm, Natsuki, is that how you make tonkatsu too? It doesn’t look like the method I know,” I asked.

“Oh, I’m guessing your method is to coat the meat in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, right? Or is it the more complex method with flour, milk, flour again, egg, then breadcrumbs?”

“I guess the first method? Anyway, the breadcrumbs are an essential step, right?”

“Yes, but Haruka’s method is easy and fail-proof, not that I use it myself.”

I cocked an eyebrow at Natsuki’s strained tone. I personally didn’t care which method was used, as long as the end product tasted good.

“Do you have bread, Aera-san? It doesn’t matter if it’s a little stale… Thanks. Natsuki, could you shred this up, please?”

“Sure.”

Natsuki took the bread from Aera and started grating it into crumbs, which Haruka and Aera then used to coat the battered meat.

“Ooh, then we fry these in hot oil?” Aera asked.

“That’s right. We need to watch the oil temperature, but that shouldn’t be too hard… Let’s try.”

Haruka dropped some breadcrumbs into the oil to test its temperature, then slid the pieces of meat in next. Soon, the kitchen was filled with an appetizing aroma to accompany the sizzling oil. It was a simple aroma and nothing too special, but delicious all the same.

“It’s ready to be taken out now. Let’s do that?”

“OK!”

Aera continued to fry up more tonkatsu under Haruka’s watchful eye. While she seemed a little hesitant at first, her actions became smooth and even a little reckless the more pieces she finished. Within ten minutes, she’d finished frying enough pieces for all six of us.

“And it’s done. We just have to cover it in sauce, then we can eat it straight or make it into a sandwich… But it seems a little lacking still.”

While I was happy to just dig in to the delicious tonkatsu right there and then, I guess it was nutritionally bad just to eat it on its own. Of course, we had Dindle for dessert, but having a side salad would be nice.

“Then I’ll make something, since we have some fresh boar innards today,” Aera offered.

And here I was, trying to be healthy by thinking of salad. While it wasn’t Aera’s fault, my image of salad was now tainted by innards. And ‘fresh innards’ too, what a powerful image.

“…Fresh innards?” Haruka asked with a frown. I guess I wasn’t the only doubtful one.

“Aera-san managed to harvest some boar innards from our hunt today,” I explained.

“I see… May I watch then, Aera-san? I’m not good at preparing and cooking innards.”

“No problem. If you go hunting often, it pays to know how to prepare them properly. Innards go bad easily so most people don’t harvest them, but it’s alright if we’re planning to cook and eat them quickly.”

Aera went over to her fridge to retrieve the boar’s heart, liver, kidneys, and tongue, then lined them up on her chopping board. It was quite a grotesque sight, to be honest. I knew we ate these things back in Japan, but looking at them like that didn’t help.

“Let’s start!” Aera said with a child-like smile as she started cutting into the heart.

The sight was soon too much for me, and I retreated to the cafe area to wait.

~

“Thank you for waiting~”

In the end, Tohya decided to join me, while Natsuki and Yuki stayed with Haruka in the kitchen to watch Aera work. Thanks to her professional skills, Aera managed to quickly whip up a vegetable soup, innards stir-fry, and grilled innards to go along with the tonkatsu.

“Whoa, looks delicious! I’m gonna start with the tonkatsu!” Tohya said happily as he accepted a sauce pot from Aera, poured some onto his tonkatsu, and dug in.

“Giricious! Sho good!”

I knew what he was saying, but I wished he wouldn’t speak with his mouth full. However, I did share in his enthusiasm, and took a bite out of my tonkatsu too.

“Mmn~!”

The crunchy texture underneath a sweet sauce, paired with meat juices gushing into my mouth. How delicious!

The meat itself was so tasty. The Tusked Boar tasted so much better compared to the pork I used to get at the supermarket. And excuse me if I sound like a critic, but I wish we hadn’t grated up the breadcrumbs quite so finely, since using coarser breadcrumbs could have made the tonkatsu even crunchier. Oh well, I guess that was the drawback of using a regular grater.

Even so, it was clear that all of us, Aera included, were happily munching on the tonkatsu. I was sure it would be pleasing to the palate of the people in this world.

“So we can use these in sandwiches too…? Hmm, I think a soft type of bread and a little accent will do nicely,” Aera murmured to herself as she slid her tonkatsu between two slices of bread and took a bite.

I tried to think back to the cutlet sandwiches sold back in Japan, and what ingredients were used to make it. Was it cabbage, or lettuce? Was there mustard in it too?

“But this should sell well by itself! I’ll start making these for sale once the Inspeel sauce is done. But the question is, how many should I make…?” Aera asked with a frown.

“Can you give an estimate of the cost price of one sandwich?”

“Well, it depends on which part of the boar we use. If I use a slice about this big, from a cheaper part of the animal… I’d say about 15 Reas?” Aera guessed, her hands gesturing to a size that looked to be about 50g of meat.

The cost of meat in this world is slightly higher than what I was used to back in our previous world. When we hunted Tusked Boars, we could sell its meat for about 5 Reas per gram, but that was with fat and bone still attached. Once those were removed, the amount of edible meat wasn’t much at all.

“Luckily, tonkatsu tastes quite good no matter which part the meat comes from,” I assured Aera.

“Yep! This is my first time eating cutlet made using the belly meat, but it was so tender and melted in my mouth. So delicious!” Tohya added with joy.

“Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the belly… But the rest did taste pretty good,” Natsuki shared.

Tohya was probably a fan of belly meat since it was full of delicious fat. However, Haruka and Yuki were nodding in agreement with Natsuki, so I guess it wasn’t a hit with the girls. I myself probably wouldn’t mind having it once in a while. Maybe boiling the meat first, then removing any fat before deep-frying it would make it really delicious?

“I think buying the whole boar is a good idea. Then, you can pick the better parts to make the more expensive dishes, and use the fat to make tonkatsu. What do you think, Aera-san?”

“That sounds good, but I don’t think the butchers will like me buying up their entire stock.”

According to Aera, raising livestock is limited to certain areas, so butchers in the city had to buy prey caught by hunters and adventurers like us. With such an unstable supply, it would not be good business for a butcher to sell all the meat to one customer and neglect the rest of his customer base. Thus, without a steady supply chain, it was hard for us to procure a good amount of meat.

“Hmm… We do quite a bit of hunting ourselves, so I guess we can sell one of our boars to you…?” I ventured.

“Really!? I’ll make sure to pay you more than the butcher! I’ll even buy all the innards if you can bring those back!”

That’s right. If we could provide boar innards to Aera without the butcher as a middleman, the items might still be fresh enough for her to use in cooking. The dish she’s cooked up for us today was quite delicious, so I was sure it would sell well. I turned to everyone.

“What do you think, guys?”

“I don’t mind,” Tohya agreed without hesitation. Yuki and Natsuki nodded as well.

“I don’t mind either… But we won’t be able to go hunting every day. What will you do then, Aera-san?” Haruka asked.

“Maybe I can advertise the dishes as ‘specials’, and only sell them when I can secure a supply of meat from you guys? Or I can try to look for another supplier?”

“I’d suggest the latter, so that you won’t be in trouble if we can’t sell you any meat. Either way, once you build up your customer base, you won’t have to rely so much on cutlet sandwiches,” Haruka advised.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Our idea is to sell the sandwiches as a way to attract customers. Once you start to shift your focus to more luxurious dishes, you don’t need to work so hard to sell sandwiches in the morning anymore.”

“I see, I’ll keep that in mind,” Aera nodded in understanding. “I guess I’ll start buying meat from you guys once the Inspeel sauce is done in a week.”

“Sure. So, shall we head back to the inn? We still have things to do tomorrow,” I suggested.

“Will you be OK tomorrow, Aera-san? Do you need help?”

“No, I’ve always been running this restaurant on my own! Besides, you guys have already helped me out so much,” Aera said, her gaze shifting towards her store’s signboard and the menu blackboards.

The menu was already written on with white chalk, the words and pictures beautiful and decorative with shadow effects. I’d spotted Yuki working on these while waiting for Aera to finish cooking, and thought she was just making a simple sketch, but it seemed like her drawing skills were quite amazing. Even so, Yuki still seemed a little dissatisfied.

“If only I had some colored chalk, then this would look nicer,” she sighed.

“We’ll come over here to have meals sometimes, so if you have any troubles, please let us know,” Natsuki offered.

“Thank you!”

Aera gave us a grateful bow. After bidding her goodnight, the rest of us returned to the inn.

——

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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 049

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
049: Let’s Make Sauce! Part 2

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——

When we got back to Aera’s shop, Haruka and Tohya were already there. Apparently, the blackboards were quite hefty, so Yuki had decided to fetch the two first so they could help her carry them here.

“Nice to meet you, Aera-san. I’m Haruka.”

“And I’m Tohya.”

“Nice to meet you. Nao-san and the girls have been a great help to me.”

“No problem. They have lots of free time anyway, since I was busy with something else,” Haruka shared.

“Thank you. So, shall we make some Inspeel sauce now?”

“Sure. We can make tonkatsu after that.”

“OK… The kitchen is a little small for all of us, so I’ll bring everything out here.”

Aera had designed her kitchen to accommodate only one chef, so it would be impossible for all of us to fit in there. Thus, we used the kitchen to wash the ceramic pots we’d bought, then brought them to the main dining area and placed them on a table.

“So, Inspeel sauce.”

The old pot Aera was using to hold her sauce was slightly bigger than ours. Opening the lid, we could see that it was filled about four-fifths of the way with sauce. Using a scoop, Aera then divided the sauce out to the three new pots we’d bought.

“That’s not much… Will it be OK?” Natsuki asked.

Since Aera’s new pots were much larger, there was just enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pots. I’d heard of sauce in Japan being made in this manner, with some old stock being used in the process of making new stock, but this seemed to be quite a tiny amount…

“No problem. It’ll just take slightly longer to ferment, and we can help the process along by chopping up the fruits and vegetables finely.”

“I see.”

“Next, we’ll need fruits. We have Dindle this time, and since we’re using both the peel and the fruit itself, the sauce should be super rich!”

“Will we be using all the fruits we harvested today?”

We had three backpacks full of fruit. I doubt we could fit everything into the four pots.

“Oh, of course not! That would be a waste… I mean, the flavor of Dindle will become too overpowering, so we’ll need just two-thirds… Maybe even half will do.”

“…Oh, not because it’ll be a waste?” I teased.

“Absolutely! It’s all about the flavor!” Aera defended herself.

“Exactly! It’s all about the flavor,” Yuki was quick to back her up.

“Yes. We must get the flavor right,” Natsuki added too.

It was obvious that they were all keen to eat the Dindle fruit themselves.

“Well, you did pick most of the Dindle, Aera-san, so you call the shots…” I conceded.

“Yep! We’ll need to have some dessert to go with tonkatsu!”

“Agreed. So, we just need to slice up the Dindle and put it into the pots?” Natsuki asked as she started taking fruits out of the backpacks and lining them up on the table.

“Yes. Please wash them clean, remove the stems, and slice up the fruit. Please wait.”

Aera then brought over a large barrel filled with water for us to wash the Dindle in. We then started working on the fruit.

“Oh, please don’t put Dindle into this pot. We’ll use it later to make tonkatsu.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

After some time, it was clear that Aera was the most skilled out of all of us with the knife. While slicing fruit wasn’t a difficult task, Aera was the only one who could do it so quickly, her knife seemed like a blur to the eye.

Haruka and Yuki were not bad too, probably because of their Skill. After that came Natsuki.

“It’s a little embarrassing… To lose out to Yuki,” she murmured quietly.

It must be tough on her, since she used to be such a pro at cooking.

Tohya and I were, of course, at about the same level. In the time it took us to finish one fruit, Haruka and the girls would have finished two, and Aera three. We were clearly outmatched.

However, our knife techniques were much better compared to our past selves, so it must be because of the Disassembly Skill.

“Alright, that should be enough. Let’s start mixing.”

We’d sliced up about half of all the Dindle and distributed them among the pots. Now, Aera started to mix the sauce with the fruits.

The Dindle were quite soft, so after a little mixing, the pulp broke down and the mixture soon resembled ketchup. Due to the large amount of fruit in the biggest pots, most of the liquid was Dindle juice. Only a hint of the original sauce base was left, giving off a faint aroma.

“We can just leave the mixture to ferment, but mixing will speed up the process. When we make it at home, we just add the fruits in little by little, so it doesn’t matter in that situation.”

We had it a little tougher since we wanted to make a large quantity from a small amount. Usually, the process involved dumping fruit and vegetable offcuts into a whole pot of sauce and leaving it to ferment by itself.

“Next will be the vegetables. Let’s use what we have in the kitchen. I have lots of wilted vegetables to use because, you know, there are no customers… Fufu… F-Fufu…”

Aera was laughing, but her eyes were dark… Scary!

With our help, Aera moved several wooden crates of vegetables out from her fridge into the cooking area. As she said, most were already slightly wilted. So this was the result of her small profits and quick returns strategy.

“Please put the vegetables into the pots. Be careful to distribute the different types equally. I don’t think any of it has started to rot, but do keep an eye out for those,” she instructed.

“Do we put all of it in? What about proportions…?”

“Don’t worry, the sauces should turn out fine. Just be careful when distributing the vegetables which have a stronger flavor.”

We started to wash and slice ingredients again. I wish we had a food processor, since it was clear that most of us, especially Tohya, were getting a little tired. Aera was the only one who kept up the pace.

“You’re such a quick worker, Aera-san,” I commented.

“Ahahaha! It was tough being a chef’s apprentice. I used to spend half a day just peeling potatoes. But I was young and passionate with big dreams… Compared to those times, slicing fruits and vegetables is a super easy task.”

I’d heard that cooking school in our modern era was tough, but it seemed even more so in this world. Without any machinery to help with work, most of the prep and cooking had to be done manually. In other words, all of that fell onto the shoulders of a newbie.

“But you really wanted to become a chef, right?” Haruka asked.

“Yes. I used to cook for my friends back in my hometown, but I wanted more people to enjoy the food I made, so owning a restaurant became my dream. I worked hard at cooking and saving up money… Just thinking of my own restaurant kept me going through the tough trainings. It took me a long time to get to this point, and I finally have my own shop… But…”

We were all speechless.

Who was it!? The scoundrel who scammed this poor girl! We looked at each other and nodded. We had to help her, or we’d never be able to live with ourselves.

“A few days ago, I was so helpless, and didn’t know what to do… So I’m really grateful to Nao-san for coming to my shop,” Aera finished.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I was just wandering around the area. We’re glad to have met you too, Aera-san. Right, guys?”

“Yep! It’s great to know a place that serves good food.”

“And you’re teaching us how to make Inspeel sauce.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

We continued slicing vegetables, putting them into pots, and mixing everything together. Finally, we emptied the wooden crates, and each pot was at least 80% filled.

“Thanks for your help. We’re almost done, but we need to work on the potatoes now.”

Aera brought out another wooden crate, this one filled with what looked like potatoes from our world. I knew these were really cheap, since many people ate them as a staple food instead of bread.

“These can be sliced and put into the pots as well, but since they determine the sweetness, we have to be careful with how much we put in. I like to make my sauce sweet, so please add about five potatoes into this pot.”

“So for our smaller pot, about four will do?” Haruka asked.

“Yes… But since there’s only Dindle fruit in there, you can even add up to five.”

Following Aera’s advice, we sliced up five potatoes. For Aera’s huge pots, we ended up putting at least ten into each.

“Next is herbs. We’ll put those that we harvested today into the pots. Like the vegetables, let’s not put in too many of the strongly-flavored ones, though that will depend on your personal preferences.”

Tearing up the herbs by hand, we added those to the pots as well. Not really knowing the exact amounts, we made sure to ask Aera and follow her advice closely.

“Lastly, spices. We’ll add just a little bit of salt, as well as other spices. Adding too much will spoil the sauce,” Aera explained.

“What if we make a mistake and add too much?”

“Then we’ll just have to adjust the volume of sauce and make more. I did it once, when I accidentally dropped a whole bottle of spice into the sauce… My mum got so angry at me,” Aera recalled with a wry smile.

For normal dishes, we could just throw it away if we messed up. However, Inspeel sauce was a base for making more Inspeel sauce, so dumping it out was not an option.

Maybe we should keep our sauce in two separate containers after it was finished, just in case. If we messed up making the sauce, we’d still have a backup.

“Now, we just have to mix it, and leave it to ferment for a week. We can mix it during this time to help it ferment quicker.”

Aera brought out what looked like an industrial-sized wooden spatula from the kitchen and used it to mix up the sauces. There was so much sauce in the huge pots that I wondered if stirring it did any good. In contrast, our pot was smaller, so the mixing process was much easier.

“Uuuh, it’s really thick.”

“Let me do it, Aera-san,” Tohya offered.

“Oh…”

Aera glanced at the huge pots, then at Tohya. After some thought, she handed the wooden spatula over.

“Sorry, but thank you, Tohya-san.”

Compared to Aera, Tohya was much more powerful, and though he easily managed to mix the contents in the pots really well, it looked nothing like sauce at this point. In fact, it looked more like a salad with chopped up ingredients.

“Is this OK, Aera-san? It doesn’t look like sauce at all,” I asked doubtfully.

“It’s no problem. It may look like this now, but the moisture will be removed overnight. It’ll start to look like sauce after about three days. With some mixing, we should have a nice smooth sauce after a week.”

“Just a week…?”

I understood the part about removing moisture, since we’d used the same method with salt to pickle meat and forcefully draw out all its water content overnight. However, I wasn’t sure how the same process could work over a week to turn this mixture into sauce. The bacteria at work must be really powerful at metabolizing things.

Or was the black sauce some type of bacteria itself, or even like some slime…

Damn! That’s not a good train of thought. I shouldn’t think of that delicious sauce in such a manner.

“Anyway, the main process is finished. Thanks to everyone!”

“Thank you too, Aera-san. Now it’s my turn.”

“Finally, tonkatsu!”

Aera smiled as she leaned forward in anticipation.

——
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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 048

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
048: Let’s Make Sauce! Part 1

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——

“First, let’s put the meat in the chilled storage box.”

We were all back in Aera’s kitchen, transferring the meat from our backpacks into a large chilled storage box… In other words, a fridge. It stood about two meters tall and wide, and was about 1.5 meters deep. It was a magical item which probably cost her a ton.

“It’s really convenient! …But I guess I won’t be using it much, now that we’re not following the strategy of small profits and quick returns,” Aera said with a sigh, her expression clouded with sadness.

It couldn’t be helped. The item probably cost her a lot of money, and maybe even more to keep it running. It would be a total waste if she couldn’t find another use for it.

“Don’t worry, Aera-san. If you work on making desserts, having this fridge will be so useful!” Yuki hurried to assure her.

“She’s right. With this, you can serve fresh desserts. Won’t that be a nice advantage?” Natsuki added.

“R-Really? W-What do you mean by fresh desserts!? It sounds so delicious!”

“H-Huh? Don’t you know about fresh desserts?”

“Not at all. Please tell me about it!”

That’s right. The cafe we visited before only served baked desserts such as cookies.

While there were sugared desserts listed on the menu too, Haruka had guessed that we would simply be served sugar cubes, so we hadn’t ordered it.

Back then, I’d imagined the desserts being similar to sugared candies, but maybe my image was too far from the truth. Looking at the price of the items on the menu, it was clear that the desserts of this world weren’t as amazing as what we had in our previous world.

I guess that would explain why Aera was so eager now, eyes sparkling as she moved closer to Natsuki, who seemed to hesitate a little before nodding.

“Alright, I’ll tell you more when we have time.”

“That’s a promise?”

“Yes. But let’s make some Inspeel sauce first…”

“Oh, that’s right. Erm, we’ll need a ceramic pot for that. I’ll need one to make sauce for the restaurant, and one to make sauce for you guys. Shall we go buy pots?” Aera suggested.

“Sure, but we also need to go pick up your signboards, Aera-san,” Yuki reminded.

“Oh, right!”

It seemed that the signboards the girls ordered yesterday were finally ready for collection. The signboards described by Yuki were simple objects that could be finished in a single day, but since we wanted to make something nice to display inside the restaurant, the carpenter had requested an extra day to work on them.

“What shall we do? It’s almost closing time for the shops.”

Aside from some restaurants and the red-light district, most stores in this world closed for the day once the sun had set. Judging by the time now, it would be impossible for Aera to visit both shops today.

“Hmm. I’ll go get the signboards then. Aera-san, you can go with Nao and Natsuki to buy the pots,” Yuki offered.

“Is that OK?”

“Sure. It’s a simple errand. In exchange, can you guys go get Haruka and Tohya as well? It’ll be great if you can teach Haruka how to make Inspeel sauce too, so she can make some tonkatsu for us.”

“No problem! I’ll do anything to learn how to make tonkatsu!”

~

“This is where I buy all my cooking utensils.”

The shop Aera led us to was located in a side street, tucked away from the main street. It was quite well-hidden, and I wouldn’t have spotted it unless I knew it was there.

It seemed to be a shop specializing in ceramics, selling all kinds of utensils and pots. Since most utensils in this world were made of wood, it was surprising to see this store selling only ceramics. The craftsman running the store must be quite well-known for his handiwork, or was a shrewd businessman who sold only high-quality items at high prices.

“Erm… Natsuki, do you have cash?” I whispered.

“Huh? Not much. I only have whatever I managed to earn in Saarstat.”

“Dammit. Haruka’s in charge of all our money, so I only have spare change.”

We probably only had about 3,000 Reas between the two of us. I looked around the store, and was dismayed to see that none of the items had price tags on them… Then, I spotted Aera walking towards the back of the store as she called out to the staff.

“Hello, I’d like to buy some pots. Something sturdy and good for heavy use.”

“Sure, how about these?”

The staff was showing off a series of light brown pots with lids. The largest looked to be about 50 cm across in diameter, while the smallest was tiny enough to fit onto my palm.

“I think I’ll need two of these for use in the shop… Nao-san, will you help me to bring them back?” Aera asked.

“Oh, sure.”

Aera had picked out the largest pot on offer, so it would be tough for her to carry two of them back on her own.

How about us…? Which pot would be best for us to make sauce for ourselves?

“What do you think, Natsuki?”

“Hmm… This one seems to be big enough?”

Natsuki pointed to a pot that was slightly larger than a flower vase. I guess it could hold about three or four liters of liquid. Turning to the staff, she addressed him.

“Excuse me. What’s the cheapest option you have for a pot of this size?”

“That size… How about this one? It’s a little wonky, but perfectly usable.”

Looking at the pot indicated by the staff, it was obvious that it looked a little distorted compared to the rest. It was to be expected. Since all pots were handmade on a potter’s wheel, it was understandable that some would have imperfections.

Natsuki picked up the pot in question and gave it a few light knocks, then nodded.

“How much is this?”

“600 Reas.”

Ooh? It was surprisingly cheap? I mean, all these items were handmade, so I thought they should cost a little more?

“What do you think, Natsuki? Isn’t it a little too cheap?” I whispered.

“Maybe. I can’t be certain of the actual numbers, but I’m sure he makes enough profit from selling the other pots.”

“I see. I guess he’ll sell it for cheap if nobody wants to buy it.”

With that, I turned to the staff.

“OK, we’ll get this one.”

Aera turned to the staff as well.

“Excuse me, since we’re buying all these pots, could you give us a small discount?”

“Well… How about 3,000 Reas for all of them?” He offered.

“Sure, thank you.”

With a quick nod, Aera pulled out her purse and paid for all the pots. While it was quite a good bargain, I wondered how much Aera’s pots originally cost before the discount was given…

“Shall we head back? Nao-san, could you help me with that pot, please?”

“S-Sure.”

Grabbing one of the large pots, I followed Aera, who had the other pot, out of the shop.

“Thank you for your business~!” The staff called out merrily as Natsuki brought up the rear and exited the store with our smaller pot.

“Erm, Aera-san. I don’t know the exact price of the pot, but I’ll give you 600 Reas back for it?” Natsuki asked.

“Oh, no~! I bought the pot as a gift for you guys. Getting these two pots for 3,000 Reas is slightly below market price, so it’s as if the staff gave us the small pot for free as a bonus,” Aera explained, then added with a wry smile. “Besides, I’ve already spent so much at his store just the other day.”

It seemed that Aera had purchased all her cooking utensils for her restaurant from that shop, so they must have earned a large profit already.

“Are you sure about that…?” Natsuki asked again, with a glance at me.

She must be worried, since it was clear that Aera probably didn’t have much money left…

“Also, you guys came to help me harvest Dindle today. I’d much rather spend money on these pots than buy Dindle from the market.”

It was true. Aera would have paid the same price for this pot as two Dindle fruits. Dindle was just that expensive.

“…In that case, thanks,” I said appreciatively.

“Thank you,” Natsuki added.

And thus, we got ourselves a free ceramic pot thanks to Aera’s generosity.

——
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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 047

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
047: Tonkatsu (Ingredient) Appeared!

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——

After visiting two more Dindle trees, we finally managed to fill up all three backpacks. Along the way, Aera also pointed out some herbs that we harvested, so I was sure we’d be able to make a good profit.

“It’s almost noon. Shall we stop for lunch?” I suggested.

“Agreed. The plan is to hunt Tusked Boars on our way back, right?” Natsuki responded.

“Yeah. We’ll have to fight it, and it’ll be better to do that with full stomachs.”

We found an open space in the forest and sat down. While the backpacks full of Dindle were slightly heavy, I’d trained to the point where carrying it no longer tired me out. It was proof that all the training I’d done since transitioning to this world wasn’t in vain.

“Erm, would you guys like some?”

Aera was holding out three round items wrapped in leaves, each about the size of a fist.

“Oh, are these the takeout items from yesterday?”

“Yes. I made one for everyone.”

“Thank you!”

I took one and peeled away the leaf to reveal the meat-wrapped mashed potato dish from yesterday. While the one we had yesterday was slightly warm, this one had already cooled down. Its taste was also accented by the fragrance of the leaf wrapped around it. In short, it was delicious.

“It’s tasty,” I expressed my appreciation.

“Yep! This will surely sell well! If only your shop was nearer to our inn, Aera-san, I’d go to buy this every day~~” Yuki added.

“Yes, it’s really good. The fragrance of this leaf adds to the flavor,” Natsuki piped up.

“Thank you,” Aera replied happily, her face flushed as she listened to our compliments.

While she looked like a young child, she was definitely an experienced and capable chef. I mean, she did have Cooking Lv.3. If she had access to more types of seasonings, would she be able to make even more amazing food?

“Here, have some of our bread and jerky. The jerky is homemade, but really tasty,” Yuki said as she held out our jerky with much pride.

It felt a little strange, since it was only plain jerky. At least the taste was good, since it was made by Haruka.

“Oh! You made this yourself? I did it back in my hometown too… Mmm!? Delicious…”

“I know! It tastes so different from the ones sold at the market, right!?” Yuki exclaimed.

“The bread was bought from our inn, but it tastes OK too,” Natsuki added.

“…Yes, you’re right. It tastes better than the breads I’ve tasted from the bakeries in the city,” Aera confirmed.

Hoping to buy some bread as an ingredient to use in her cooking, Aera had visited numerous bakeries in Rafan. However, she didn’t find any that she liked, so she ended up baking her own bread instead. But because it was difficult to bake large amounts of bread, she hadn’t added it to her lunch special.

Aera didn’t really elaborate on her own baked bread, but I was sure it would taste better than the innkeeper’s. I hoped I’d get to taste it someday.

“Did you make this jerky, Yuki-san?”

“Nope, it was made by the other elf, Haruka. She’s not here today.”

“Oh, the other elf. The meat itself already tastes good, but the drying process was done really well too,” Aera praised.

“I think she’ll be glad to hear that coming from a pro chef,” I smiled.

Of course, Haruka’s Cooking Skill was only at Level 1, which wasn’t much compared to Aera, but she had the advantage of having lots of cooking knowledge from our previous world.

For example, it would be easier for an amateur chef to blend spices well and make a good curry, versus a professional chef who had never heard of or tasted curry before.

“I’d love to meet her, and maybe cook with her too,” Aera said.

“I’m sure you’ll get the chance sometime… So, shall we go?” I asked, after checking that everyone had finished their lunches.

“Yes. It’ll be good to get back soon.”

With a nod, we all packed up, shouldered our bags, and stood.

“We’ll hunt a Tusked Boar, then head back…”

“Will it be OK? I mean, it’s not easy to hunt those back in my hometown,” Aera asked with a frown.

“No problem, I’m good at locating them… Alright! Aera-san and I will go in front, and you two girls follow behind, OK?” I instructed.

“Sure.”

I reasoned that since Aera and I had the Stealth Skill, we could sneak up on the beasts without alerting them. However, the moment we started walking, I could sense that something was off.

I knew Natsuki was behind me, but I couldn’t sense her at all, especially since I could sense Yuki really easily.

…That’s right. It must be because Natsuki has Invisibility Lv.2.

My Stealth Skill helped to conceal the sound of my footsteps, but Natsuki’s Invisibility worked to conceal her entire person. And while each had its own advantages, I was sure being able to hide myself entirely would be super useful.

“Oh! There’s one. Shall I start the ambush, Nao-san?” Aera asked.

Through the trees, we could see a Tusked Boar, slightly above average in size compared to those we usually hunted.

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Got it.”

With that, Aera quickly scaled a nearby tree, nocked an arrow into her bow, and fired a swift shot. At the same time, Natsuki and I charged towards the boar as one.

The boar let out a roar at the sudden attack as our two spears pierced into it. Then, with a loud thud, it fell to the ground.

Yes, our two spears had pierced the boar at the same time, though I was clearly a few steps ahead of Natsuki. She’d obviously managed to catch up to me.

Spear Skill alone wouldn’t have been able to make up the distance, so it must have been her physical strength. Though I was quite certain that I was the more nimble one, it seemed that when physical strength was taken into account, Natsuki came out on top.

It must be because of our different races… Yep, I gotta train harder to catch up to her. Even if my specs weren’t as good, I’m sure training would make up the difference.

Of course, if Natsuki trained hard as well, there was a high chance that she’d forever be stronger than me.

“Wow, you two were really quick,” Aera commented.

“That’s because we’re adventurers. In fact, I think you’re amazing to hit the boar so accurately, since you’re a chef and all,” I replied.

The arrow Aera fired had hit the boar right in the eye. It didn’t pierce through very deeply, probably because Aera didn’t have a lot of strength, but it did enough to hinder the boar so we could attack it.

“I used to hunt lots in the past, though only as support when hunting such large animals,” Aera shared with a smile. “But I’m really good at hunting birds!”

I recalled how Haruka was great at hunting birds as well, especially compared to how badly I did so with magic the other day. It was definitely no easy feat.

I guess Aera was a pro hunter as well as a pro chef.

“So, shall we dissect it? I can do it, since I’m used to it,” Aera offered.

I looked at Yuki and Natsuki, and after seeing them nod, I turned back to Aera.

“Erm, OK. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Drawing a knife out of her pouch, Aera started to dissect the boar with beautiful, smooth motions. She worked without hesitation, and it was clear that her Skill was much higher even than Haruka’s, who was the best among us. Quickly, she skinned the beast, cut up the meat, and passed it to us to put into our leather pouches.

“You’re really good at this,” Natsuki observed.

“Yep. I used to go hunting back in my hometown, and also worked with lots of carcasses during my apprenticeship. Knowing how to handle meat is a basic skill,” Aera explained.

Back in Japan, cutting meat was a butcher’s job, so most meats were already sliced up nicely by the time it reached the restaurants. In contrast, it seemed that restaurants here purchased meat as whole carcasses, probably because of issues with storage.

In a world without any established supply chains, it was slightly risky to slice meat up for sale, which meant that every chef needed to have the skills to dissect meat. Sounds like tough work!

Thanks to Aera’s Skill, we managed to cut the meat down into blocks, so we didn’t need to bring back any unwanted bones. However, I noticed that she was also holding on to some innards which we usually discarded, so I guess we’d end up carrying about the same weight of boar anyway.

I watched as she put aside the boar’s heart, liver, and was that its kidneys? And its tongue too! We’d never thought about keeping boar tongue before, even though we did eat pork tongue back in Japan.

Furthermore, Aera also sliced out the meat at the back of the boar’s neck. We usually discarded the entire head, so I was surprised to see that there was actually meat that could be harvested.

Of course, boars were similar to pigs, so I guess their ears and noses were edible as well, but the look of it was just too much, so we’d never thought about keeping those parts.

“Can anyone use Water Magic?” Aera asked.

“Oh, that’ll be Haruka, but she’s not here today,” I replied.

“I see. In that case, I won’t keep the stomach and intestines. It won’t be good to bring them back if I can’t wash them first.”

Digestive organs needed to be washed thoroughly and carefully, lest it contaminate the other parts. It was truly a job best left to the professionals.

“OK, I’m done. Let’s hurry back to the city. If we don’t, the quality of the meat will change,” Aera said.

“Erm, should we just leave the rest? How about burying it?” Yuki asked, pointing to the boar’s head and innards.

That was right, we hadn’t brought the hoe along today. Guess we had to ask Yuki to make a hole with magic?

“It doesn’t matter unless we’re taking a break or setting up camp nearby. Otherwise, the forest creatures will take care of it for us.”

Aera was right. In Japan, we had to bury any animal remains to prevent pests from gathering, but that was not the case in this world. If Yuki didn’t know this through her Otherworldly Sense, then this wasn’t common knowledge. Maybe it was common sense only for hunters and adventurers?

“Oh, is that so?” I asked.

“Yes. Oh, we also need to bury the remains if we’re near anyone’s home. Either way, it’s always good practice to bury remains if we have the time,” Aera explained, tying up her pouch full of meat and standing up.

The boar turned out to be smaller than I’d first thought, so we only had about 10kg of meat each to carry. Looks like there would be no problem here.

“Great, then let’s hurry back. Everyone OK?” I asked.

“Yes, since we already took a break,” Natsuki replied, and the other two girls nodded as well.

“Then let’s jog back. Aera-san, do let me know if you get tired.”

“OK, but I’ll probably be fine.”

Aera smiled, holding her heavy pouch as if it was the lightest thing in the world.

~

Surprisingly, Aera’s physical strength was better than I’d imagined. According to her, chefs needed to be really strong and tough people.

On our way back, we took some shortcuts and encountered a Goblin, but we managed to defeat it easily, Natsuki and I with our spears and Yuki with her metal rod. Aera didn’t need to use her bow and arrows, nor did we need any magic.

Because Goblins looked somewhat humanoid, it felt a little weird to attack it, but that also made the beast easier to take out. We just had to use our spears to aim for its heart, or for the brain through its eye, to take it down quickly.

It was also Yuki and Natsuki’s first time encountering a Goblin, but they attacked it without any hesitation. What brave girls.

However, instead of harvesting its Mana Stone, I used the excuse that we were in a hurry to avoid doing so. If we’d wanted to harvest it, I’d have to ask Yuki to use her metal rod to bash the Goblin’s skull open. I didn’t want to be the one to request that of Yuki.

And so, after a long day, we finally got back to Aera’s shop before dusk fell.

——
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Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included. 046

Transition to Another World, Land Mines Included.

ACT 2: UNION
046: Getting Ingredients for Sauce!

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——

The next day, we left to pick Aera up right after breakfast, and we all headed to the East forest. Since I was the only one in the group who knew the location of the Dindle trees, I led the way as we entered the forest.

Aera had equipped herself with some leather armor, a bow with arrows, as well as a pouch. In fact, she looked much more like an adventurer than Yuki and Natsuki.

The two girls were dressed in under armor we’d hurriedly bought yesterday, chain mail, and some baggy clothes on top, together with their new backpacks. We also had them measured for their own set of chain mail, which should be ready in a few day’s time.

Thanks to my Enemy Awareness, we managed to reach the closest Dindle tree without engaging in any battles.

“So, this is the first tree… Let’s have a look.”

I used Hawk’s Eye to look towards the top of the tree, and while there weren’t many, I could still see some fruit hanging from the branches.

“It’s really a tall tree… Seems like there’s still some fruit too,” Aera commented.

“Oh, you can see the fruits, Aera-san?”

“Yes. I have good eyesight,” she said with a smile.

Did Aera have the Hawk’s Eye Skill as well?

Wait, I have Intuition! Let’s take a look!

——————————————————————————-

Name: Aera
Race: Elf
Condition: Healthy

Skills:
[Bow Skill Lv.2]
[Hawk’s Eye Lv.1]
[Aura Detection Lv.2]
[Stealth Lv.1]
[Disassembly Lv.2]
[Farming Lv.2]
[Plant Knowledge Lv.3]
[Food Knowledge Lv.4]
[Cooking Lv.3]
[Wind Magic Lv.2]
[Water Magic Lv.1]
[Cleaning Lv.2]
[Flute Lv.1]

——————————————————————————-

…Hey, she’s quite a strong character? And with much more life experience than us as well.

And Intuition. What an amazing Skill, since I hadn’t expected to be able to glean such details. The only thing that I couldn’t see was her age. Oh well.

In any case, it was a relief to know that Aera had such reliable specs.

“Erm, I can’t see anything, so I’ll have to trust you guys. Are we gonna climb up?” Yuki asked.

“I don’t think I can do that…” Natsuki murmured.

Oops. I guess I should have informed the two girls beforehand. I’d become so used to scaling tall trees that I’d forgotten that it would be near impossible for others to do the same.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go… How about you, Aera-san?”

“Of course I can go too. The tree’s a little tall, but I’ll be fine.”

“Great. You girls can wait for us on the lowest branch.”

I took out a length of rope and secured it to the lowest branch. Thanks to much practice, I managed to do it quickly. Using the rope, I climbed up onto the branch and soon, Yuki and Natsuki were up beside me as well. Aera, on the other hand, managed to get up onto the branch without the rope’s help. She was a true elf, indeed.

“Aera-san’s pouch won’t be able to hold much, so let’s take Yuki’s backpack instead. You OK with that, Yuki?” I suggested.

“Sure. Here you go, Aera-san. Do you know how to put it on?”

“Yes. This seems very convenient. Now I have both hands free.”

“Yep, it is a great item. You can use it to carry heavy things easily.”

By the way, the Guild had recently put out ads for the backpack, stating that it would be available for sale soon. And while it wouldn’t be essential for a chef like Aera to get one, it might come in handy when she went shopping for ingredients.

“So, shall we climb?”

“Yes. I’ll go first.”

Adjusting Yuki’s backpack to sit better on her shoulders, Aera gave us a nod and started climbing upwards. I tried to follow after, but her speed was just too quick. It was only because I’d had so much practice with climbing that I managed not to fall too far behind. If this was my first time, it would have been totally impossible to keep up.

“You’re amazing, Nao-san. I know I’m a great climber, but you’re actually keeping up with me,” Aera looked down at me with admiration.

“I-I guess so. That’s because I’ve climbed this tree so many times,” I panted.

In truth, I was barely keeping up. I prayed hard that she wouldn’t take this as a cue to speed up.

In the end, I reached the top of the tree just after Aera.

While I felt a little upset at losing out to someone who was climbing this tree for the first time, it was worth it just to see Aera smiling as she started harvesting the Dindle fruit.

Also, I was glad I hadn’t panicked and slipped. If I had, it could have been my death? Of course, I would probably have caught myself on a branch before I hit the ground, but it was still a scary prospect.

“You doing good, Aera-san?”

“There’s not as many as I thought, and they’re a little overripe. There are some more out there on the tips of the branches, I’m gonna try to get them.”

Thus far, Haruka and I had been hesitant to harvest the fruits which hung out on the tips, so it was nerve-wracking to watch Aera as she climbed out onto a slim branch to harvest more fruit. Though we usually took care to have one hand and both feet firmly on branches as we picked the fruits, Aera had no trouble using both hands at once. In one instant, I even saw her step out, leaving only one foot on the branch as she stretched for a fruit…

Nope, I could never do that. And so, I limited myself to harvesting the fruits within arm’s reach.

In the past, we could stay in one spot and harvest several fruits, but now, the fruits were so sparse that we had to move around quite a bit more, which made the process much more inefficient.

In the end, we spent about 30 minutes up on the tree, and my backpack was still barely half full. It didn’t seem smart to continue.

“Shall we head down soon, Aera-san?” I called out.

“So soon? But there’s still more to harvest…”

Aera gave a graceful twirl on the branch to face me. Whoa, please don’t do that again! It’s just too scary for me.

“It’s not very efficient, though. There are other trees around, so I think we should move on to those.”

“Alright. Let’s head down, then.”

With that, Aera spun around and jumped… Wait, whaaaat!?

Ignoring my shout, Aera continued on her way down the tree, hopping lightly from branch to branch.

“…Seriously. I’m not gonna do that.”

I might follow in her lead if we’d been 2-3 meters off the ground, but we were tens of meters up high, so it was just impossible. Fear kept me immobilized.

“I don’t care if I’m slow, but I’m descending the normal way…”

It wouldn’t take long anyway, maybe just five minutes, so I didn’t need to stress myself out.

When I finally made my way back down, the girls were in the process of transferring some of the Dindle fruit from Yuki’s backpack to Natsuki’s. And while we could fill all three backpacks with Dindle…

“Aera-san, we’re planning to hunt Tusked Boars on our way back, so let’s leave some space for that, OK?”

“Huh!? Y-You want to put the meat in my pouch?”

“Of course not. It won’t fit anyway.”

Aera’s pouch fitted her well, which meant that it was small like a child’s bag. There was no way a 100kg boar would fit inside.

“The meat goes into leather pouches, right, Nao? We’ve made those too, so we can fill the backpacks with Dindle fruit,” Natsuki explained.

“Yep, there shouldn’t be any problems,” Yuki confirmed.

Ooh, so Yuki, and even the serious Natsuki, were in agreement with getting more Dindle? Even though it was so sweet? Oh well, I didn’t mind eating more of the fruit. The girls were probably just excited since this was their first time harvesting them.

“Hmm, but if we manage to hunt a huge boar, it’ll be heavy to lug everything back?”

I mean, imagine carrying a pouch with 20kg of meat inside, from the forest all the way back into the city.

“No problem!!”

The girls yelled in unison, and I could only nod.

“…Alright. Guess we can try.”

Well, if it didn’t work out, we could just empty out some fruit later, wasteful as it seemed. Either way, it was better that than try to go against these three ladies and their sweet tooths. Yep.

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