Chapter 425: Prepare
I also gathered some rumors about myself in the port city before 【Teleport】-ing back to Canum.
「Is Dinosso home? 」
「Hi Jean! Daddy~! 」
I knocked on my neighbor’s door, and Tina popped her head out. When I asked him where Dinosso was, she turned around and yelled.
「Ou. 」
Dinosso appeared behind Tina.
Tina was about to move back to give space to her father, so I handed the basket filled with some gifts ー just the usual apricot preserves, milk and bread.
「Thanks. 」
She then called for her mom while running pitter patter inside their home.
「What’s up with that complexion? Something happened? 」
Dinosso peered at my face.
「Rather than ‘happened’… 」
Is my expression that obvious? And.. is it okay for me to talk about Shrum here? People don’t regularly pass here, but still, a few do pass by.
「How about a game? It’s been a while. 」
「Ou. 」
Seems like he guessed what’s on my mind?
It isn’t nice to come empty-handed, so I crammed more stuff into the basket ー both for Ash’s home and the rental house’s portion. By the time I noticed it, the rental house’s portion was huge, mostly with bread and alcohol.
…Am I the type to wear my heart on my sleeve? Even Butler and Retze, who was in the living room of the rental house, suggested a card game before I can say anything.
Alright, let’s stop thinking about this too deeply. Maybe it’s not because I wear my heart on my sleeve, but because these three have keen perceptions. Yup. I promised Ash we’re going on a long ride later, so it’s more constructive coming up with the menu for that.
But before that, I should prepare the menu for tonight’s supper, or should I say dinner. Today’s guests are Dinosso, Butler and Retze. Retze had something up this evening, so our gathering would be quite late.
Canum’s weather is cold, so let’s go with nabeyaki udon. I have the earthen pot that I commissioned in Pasteur, I also have shrimp tempura and I also made some udon. I just need to fry the tofu and cut the other ingredients, I think?
And so, night came.
「Ahh… that kingdom is always like that. It must be either for the war or it’s something that the heroes want. Good thing the Fae’s Path in the fortress city got destroyed. I’m more at ease. 」
Dinosso commented after I was done narrating the rumors about Shrum.
I mainly focused on the matter of the spirit swords, as well as how they were looking for folks with 【Storage】, though.
「Well, Shrum already summoned heroes countless times, so there’s still a chance that they know about some Path’s that are obscure or aren’t known. 」
He continued with a sigh.
「I tried asking around, and so far there’s none near Canum. There’s a handful in the Magical Woods, but they’re far too deep, so not to mention Shrum, it won’t be a path for wind or light spirit. 」
The current era has heroes of the light spirit, while the previous era’s hero was under the wind spirit. Because Shrum mostly has these two types of spirits, if there’s a Fae’s Path connected from Shrum, it would be between these two attributes.
「…I won’t ask where you got your info. 」
Dinosso turned away.
「We can also consider the possibility of Fae’s Paths temporarily appearing in other locations.. The question remains whether they are connected to such… 」
Butler poured the wine and distributed a glass to everyone before speaking.
「Several Changelings are rumored to have disappeared, and there are also talks about Assassin Island. However, it isn’t just five or six people missing. I find it hard to believe that Changelings, famed for their uncooperative natures, would be willing to settle in one place all together without any conditions. We cannot disregard the possibility that Shrum is concealing the Changelings, especially since they are known to have the ability to traverse the Fae’s Path, in various locations. 」
I’m sorry. There’s more than 10 people, and they’ve settled pretty well.
Ahh, but he has a point, there’s a chance that Shrum, being far away as it is, would use and mobilize Changelings because of their ability to pass through the Fae’s Path.
「This one tastes strange. 」
Dinosso ate the dish made with tuna and yam placed together on top of nori, flavored with sesame oil and salt.
「This black paper-like thing, is it the same as the one you put on rice balls? 」
「Yup. 」
Oh, good job on remembering that, Retze. Actually, there are different types of seaweed and nori is one of them, but if I’m not mistaken, foreigners other than Japanese folks find it hard to distinguish which is which?
「This is also quite delightful. 」
Butler’s first pick was the smoked salmon wrapped in lettuce and cheese with mustard, wine vinegar, olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper.
They were already familiar with the other finger foods that I prepared. Seems like they chose these two because they haven’t seen it before. Ah, but if it’s Butler, he must be familiar with salmon, no?
「Nothing beats being careful, so I’ll tell him to keep an eye on your kids when they’re alone, Dinosso. Can’t say he’s gonna lend a hand in case something happened, but at least he’s gonna warn us right away. 」
Retze brought the wine glass to his lips while so saying.
I wonder who he’s going to ask. Can’t help but imagine it to be an extremely well-connected guy when it comes to intelligence network.
「Are you okay if the reason is nothing much, just using the kids as a pretext to have you do something for him? 」
Retze confirmed first with Dinosso.
「Yeah, I’d be grateful. 」
Dinosso.
「Is that something to be grateful for? 」
「Pretty much. I already blocked all the kidnapping attempts before and took revenge so incidents like that are gone now, but that’s all back when we were still living in the countryside. Can’t say, might happen again, so better safe than sorry. 」
「Oof. 」
「Well, we’re trying our best so that either Shiva or I are constantly with the kids, and they’re also learning magic from Hauron now. To be frank, those neighboring kingdoms that might start ganging up sound scarier than Shrum right now. 」
Poor Dad is in a tough spot.
Let’s also request the spirits to lend a hand.
「You… 」
Retze’s expression seemed off. He was about to say something, but he clamped his mouth shut.
「Hey, don’t stop mid-sentence. You must’ve realized what’s going on in this guy’s head, huh? 」
Dinosso urged Retze.
「Nah, I just thought Jean would probably make the spirits to keep an eye out, but I can’t See so there’s no way I can confirm that ー Can’t imagine what’s going to happen. 」
Retze shrugged.
「Something akin to a gathering of spirit stalkers, is it… 」
「Hey, hush, stop that. 」
Dinosso pulled back and shook his head when Butler started muttering.
「I’ll think about how to go about it… It’s gonna be okay, probably. 」
「Hey, that’s stressing me out! Oy, don’t look away! 」
It’s going to be alright, probably!
NEXT CHAPTER
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I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
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