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Chapter 290: Riche too

「We already reported the general roles that everyone played and the outcome of their actions to the Guild. No fixed compensation for everyone has been set yet as of now, but there’s a chance that you all will get promoted. Make sure you finish your respective negotiations before the payment’s due date two days from now — Jean, I only told them that you do light magic and you can restrain one person at a time, and you also assist and support; basically just said some useless and harmless info. 」
Dinosso told us about his discussion with the Guild. I’ll just get whatever compensation is offered by the Guild and leave it at that since it’s too troublesome to do otherwise.

We went out again after he finished briefing us. We visited a smithy and some craftsmen that do repairs and then left the equipment that had been damaged during our trip to the Labyrinth to them. Although I couldn’t leave the spirit swords and the other materials behind, they repaired the other equipment nicely.

As for the shoes, I waited while they were being repaired instead of leaving them. I pretended not to see the spirit clinging to Dean’s feet after he removed his shoes.

We went to a restaurant specializing in meat for lunch. The spareribs were served with some onions underneath the meat and with a carving knife sticking on top of it. The whole thing, which they placed on a cutting board, was so huge I doubt there’d be anyone who could polish it off on their own. The dish also came with hard glazed bread shaped like pretzels, quite a feast indeed. The beer, which we ordered separately, was a deep tawny hue.

「The cow monsters they handle here are bigger than usual and no matter what you order, it’s definitely delicious. 」
Dean, the meat lover guy who recommended this restaurant, happily commented.

Oh, the ribs do look quite thick when you look at it closely. The meat does taste great, but it gives off that feeling of, “hey, look here, we’re eating MEAT!”.

Ash and Chris were using knives and forks, but I chose to imitate Dean as he held his while boldly tearing the meat off the bone with his teeth. The way he ate is probably the appropriate approach for this type of restaurant.

Khan also appeared to eat heartily. He was mainly guzzling the wine and was only eating a little bit in reality, but it looked like he was also gobbling a lot.

「Although it’s winter soon, folks can still easily get fresh meat here in the fortress city. Ah, but I still recommend wild pigs during this season since they gorge on acorns during this time. 」
Chris skillfully cut the meat off the bone with his knife.

Because there’s a shortage of ingredients that could be used as feed in normal villages and cities, so when winter comes, folks there had to slaughter the livestock that they could no longer raise and then they preserve the meat by drying and curing it with salt.

In contrast, fortress city people would release pigs, cows and chickens into the forest and let them turn into monsters, which they would then hunt. It’s inevitable that some of the livestock would also become prey for the monsters. The fortress city had it quite hard, because they had to do some difficult adjustments like that while monitoring the war situation in the Central Plains.

I don’t know if the humans who make use of black spirits like this are considered resilient, or they’re just something else. The casualties killed by the livestock that turned into monsters aren’t few, after all, but even so, many people still choose this method because this method ensures stability of food supply.

The land near monsters can be said to be cornucopious; however, although it nourishes many people, it also takes the lives of many in turn.

We spent the afternoon sightseeing in the fortress city. Dean and Chris took us to the tourist spots they recommend, then we retrieved our equipment before returning back to the inn. It’s an old municipality, so for me, the entire city itself was a tourist spot.

Ah, but let’s keep it a secret that I attempted to enter narrow alleyways several times but had been stopped and held back.

「Ou, welcome back. 」
「We’re home~ 」
Retze had already returned to the inn, and he greeted us while brushing his bag. He was surrounded by folded sleeping bags and other stuff, so he must be in the middle of tending to them. Ack, so diligent…!

Everyone was here, and we ate dinner in the room. Hey, you guys, eat veggies, eat veggies I say!

Afterward —

「I was away for just one day and Mischt and Halalfa already… 」
Retze clutched his head as he brought up the topic that had been discussed during dinner.

「Alright, so based on how I understand it, you’re following five deities, is that right? 」
Dinosso, Retze and I were together just before bedtime. Dinosso was sitting on the edge of the bed with his arms folded.

I was about to turn in for the night, then go to the island tomorrow, but it seems like I had to divulge the things I couldn’t say in front of everyone earlier.
But wait, did he say five? The ones who appeared were Mischt, Halalfa, Khadar — then who else? Van only showed up on the island while Pal, Ish and Ludere didn’t turn up yet, right? Then is it X-Stick and Khan?

「Oy, wait, stop counting with your fingers!! 」
Dinosso stopped me when I reached the seventh person on my list.

「Who? 」
「You’re gonna focus on that!? 」

「Why are you getting so angsty whenever you’re grilling this guy? — So, Mischt and Halalfa, the ones who appeared this time. Then we also have Khadar, Riche and Veiris. 」
Retze nonchalantly named them all.

「So the King’s Bough isn’t counted, huh. Hm?? But Khan’s Veiris is tiny, right? 」
She shouldn’t have been visible to Retze. Huh, wait a sec, does that mean she only deliberately erased her presence? Did she show herself while they’re living all together in the rental house? Huh?

「She was as big as a human when you made the contract, right? Khan said so. And he also said that you already seemed clueless even back then! 」
Oh, right, Veiris had been humanoid and was as big as a normal human back then.

She’ll probably return to a voluptuous beauty if she returned to the desert. My impression of Khan being a lolicon was so strong that I forgot and treated them as two different entities!

「She’s probably the Goddess of the Desert. If it’s bestowing protection then it’d be understandable, but I never heard of anyone trying to make a contract with a deity then controlling said deity, regardless even if there’s mutual consent. You’re treading in dangerous waters so be more mindful of yourself at the very least, will you. 」

Ack, Retze’s torturing my cheeks again!