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Volume 12 Chapter 4 Part 2

「Miria, other than this one, do you see anything else that looks good? 」

「Yes, desu! 」

Thanks to that, things are going to get moving instead of just staying in place.

「This fish tends to degrade quite fast once it is pulled out of the water, so if you ever happened or will happen upon someone who says that it’s disgusting or tastes bad, it’s probably going to be because they got a hold of the one that was already kept in storage for too long. But not here in my shop. This batch has been freshly caught just this morning, so if you decide to buy it, my advice would be to eat it for dinner today at the latest if you want to enjoy its taste to the fullest. But if you want to browse others first, then by all means, stop by and have a look. 」

So he does admit that it is going to go bad if it is going to be kept around for too long, huh?

Well, I guess it cannot be helped, but then again, it’s not like it’s that big of a deal for me anyway.

「If you see something good and decide that you want it, then go ahead and pick it, and we’re going to have it for dinner tonight. 」

「Thank you for your patronage. 」

「Yes, desu! 」

Is it just me , or is it more than a little disturbing that the shop clerk tends to react to my words much faster than Miria does?

No, Miria has already decided that she wants to buy the fish, so it’s just that she was still in the middle of the process of deciding which fish exactly she wants to buy, and once that happens, she tends to not to listen to any voices from her surroundings and focus solely on the task, or in this case, fish, ahead of her to make sure that she’s going to make the best selection possible.

Even though I explicitly said to her that she can choose anything that she likes.

It’s a given that we’re going to buy something here, but if she doesn’t decide on what to buy soon, I might just give up and be forced to buy that fish to move things along.

Buy it.

Should I buy it?

I should definitely buy it, right?

In other words, am I being taken advantage of?

Maybe I am, but I will buy it.

I will buy it though.

But… is that really going to be okay?

「How is this? 」

「…… 」

「That guy is also lively. It’s a bit different. 」

「…. 」

Let’s evaluate the attitude of being completely unmoved by the shopkeeper’s opinion as a reliable one.

「If there’s one bad thing about that fish , it’s definitely that the male and female ones need to be cooked in different way in order for you to fully enjoy their flavor when it is at its peak. Males need to be grilled slowly until the surface of their skin is going to be slightly charred, and if done correctly, their insides should be soft, making it melt instantly in your mouth. As long as you remember to follow these instructions, they should always turn out exceptionally good. The female ones, on the other hand, should be perfectly ready to eat after just a bit of light toasting, which is going to make the surface heated just right for the insides to be perfectly crispy. Yup, so good! Absolutely the best. Oh, and this should go without saying, but whoever says that they are bad or taste awful simply cooks them in the wrong way! 」

Doesn’t that mean that the fish itself is bad after all if different kinds need to be cooked differently?

I don’t really care about all that other stuff about its reputation or people not knowing how to cook it.

I am also willing to bet that the majority of the people doesn’t know how to cook them, and they give them bad reviews because of it.

「Hmm… 」

「It might also be hard to distinguish between the male and the female ones at first. However, I am a veteran with 20 years of experience in that subject, so whether you want to eat male or female, just leave the selection up to me! Hmm, o-oi, girlie, that one over there is a… 」

「It’s a female. 」

「… A-And the one next to it is…? 」

「A male, desu. 」

Looks to me like this guy was instantly beaten in his own game by Miria quite easily.

Well, let’s just say that it was all thanks to Miria being so reliable, which is why I should leave the process of choosing entirely up to her.

In the meantime, shall we try collecting some information?
「It seems that there are not too many people around here. 」

「Noticed that, huh? It’s because the Labyrinths popped out so unevenly. 」

「So it is because of that after all? 」

I exchanged information with the shopkeeper who was beaten at his own game by Miria.

「Yeah, pretty much. And because nothing is going to be done about it anytime soon, those of the people living here who had a lot of valuables or heirlooms passed down for generations have chosen to evacuate early in order to avoid running into unnecessary trouble while the roads are still usable and there is not too many monsters roaming around the neighborhood outside of the Labyrinths. 」

「I see. But if it’s just about the people, then does that mean that Adventurers are helping them with that? 」

「That’s exactly what’s happening right now. 」

When the monsters from the Labyrinth can no longer be dealt with by conventional means and it will finally be the time to evacuate the people to safety, Adventurers can be incredibly useful with the evacuation effort thanks to their 「Field Walker」Skill.

If all that they need to transport is people, then they should have no problems with managing that at all.

As for the other staff, people won’t be able to take more than their hand luggage, because you cannot take anything that’s too big through the portal created with 「Field Walker」.

Judging by what the fishmonger guy said just now, the people with valuables that are troublesome to carry ran away first, and I guess the people who don’t care about the land on which they lived are soon to follow.

It should also go without saying that the elderly and the children must have been evacuated as well, and that is why there are so few people on the streets of Nesco right now.

Hmm…

「Where exactly is The Labyrinth Behind Nesco located? 」

「Well, just like the name implies, it should be located behind the town, right? 」

「This is supposed to be the Labyrinth that appeared here as the very first one. 」

「If you are looking for the one that appeared as the first one, then you will find it if you follow the main road straight ahead. 」

The owner pointed towards the direction of the main road.

I thought that the name itself was going to be enough for the locals to recognize which Labyrinth I was talking about, but since I needed to specify that I wanted to go to the very first Labyrinth that appeared here, then maybe that is not its official name, but rather the one that was given to the Explorer’s Guild without permission.

Nevertheless, we should go and see how it is inside of it.

「I understand. Miria, are you done choosing the fish? 」

「Yes, desu! 」

Yeah, so that should be enough information gathering for now.

「I see. We will be getting that fish then. 」

「Hey, thank you for your patronage! 」

「Can put, this in, here, desu. 」

Miria took out a small bucket from her rucksack and presented it to the fishmonger.

Did you have such a thing prepared just for this occasion, Miria? Did she knew that something like that was going to happen?

Man, you’re always ready to buy fish no matter where you are, aren’t you? Talk about being well prepared.

Miria moves the fish to the bucket while showing it to the owner.

Overall, we ended up buying around 10 of them or so, so I guess we’re going to have an equal amount of male ones and female ones in there.

It’s great to see that she didn’t end up getting too much just for herself, but I do have to wonder what are we going to do with the excess fish, if there are going to be any left after today, or what’s going to happen if we mess some of them up, so…