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Volume 5 Chapter 1 Part 5

「Okay, now that I have taken care of everything that I needed to do here, I think it would be best for me to be on my way. . . but you guys should be careful too. In this 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority pretty much every other participating Player is going to be a formidable foe, but that mysterious enemy who called himself Krishna is going to be especially dangerous. I do not recommend getting yourselves thrown head first into fighting him, unless you have already come up with a foolproof strategy for a surefire win.」

「I will make sure to put those words under advisement. But just to let you know. . . .  if it ever so happens that I am going to run into that bastard again, be in in near future or otherwise, I will drive my fist so hard into his face that he is going to be picking up fingernails from the back of his head for the next month. You are more than welcome to join in. . . . . . .  unless we will be mutual enemies by that time, of course.」

Orpheus took Izayoi challenging smile with a heartful laugh.

「Of course. I believe that during our previous battle my performance was subpar at best. . . . . but trust me, as a former Storyteller, there is no way for me to refuse a chance to challenge the young heroes from the next generation. The hidden power and potential of a young man who tore down the heavens with the power of his love. . . . . .  that is definitely something that I have to witness with my own eyes.」

And with that, Orpheus disappeared into the woods after he waved Izayoi and You goodbye.

「. . . . You think it was really okay to let him go just lie that?」

「To tell you the truth, for a moment I was seriously considering if it would not be better if we detained him, but did you see the face that he made just now? That was a face of a guy who has made up his mind and would not be swayed no matter what we would try to say or do to him, so the only option left was to shut up and see him off the way we did just now. Anything else other than that would have been unnecessary.」

Feeling the need to give himself another wake-up call, Izayoi approached another well and poured another bucket of water onto his head, and when he finished drying his head for a second time, he raised his head and looked in the direction of the clouds of smoke raising from the roofs of the settlement’s buildings, whose number have increased considerably throughout the course of their conversation with Orpheus.

「All right, enough about that for the time being. What do you say to grabbing ourselves something to eat? Unless you have already eaten breakfast yourself?」

「Not yet. Well, I was about to, but then I sensed your smell wafting through the air so I decided to put up with my hunger, as preposterous as that may sound, and came here to look for you.」

Izayoi whistled in amazement as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt when they started walking. He never would have expected that Kasukabe You, {No Name’s} most infamous glutton would ever prioritize reuniting with him over having herself a meal. . . . . . . . . .  but he decided to retract his amazement when You grabbed him by his rolled-up sleeve and began to pull him towards the direction where the smell of food and spices seemed to be the strongest. He was also willing to bet that she was doing all within her power to stop herself from outright drooling, and to that, he busted a bitter smile himself. Of course, why would it be otherwise. Now that she has achieved her goal of finding Izayoi and reuniting with him, of course her immediate objective would switch towards obtaining food as fast as possible, especially since she had the chance to eat earlier but has chosen not to take it. They still had a lot of things they needed to talk about, but if You was so much at her wits end that her gluttonous nature was beginning to take over, then maybe it would really be a good idea to have themselves some grub prepared by the natives first and talk later.

「. . . .   OOOOhhhh! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  」

When they finally arrived in the settlement’s center, where all of the various dishes were being lined up one after another, You could not stop herself from screaming in admiration.

The smell that led them here probably belonged to the spiced tomato soup that has been boiled to the point of being piping hot. The bread that was placed next to each bowl of the tomato soup looked like it had a pretty hard exterior, but the proper way to eat was most likely not eat it by itself, but rather by dipping it in either soup or wine to make it all soft and easy to swallow. Aside from that there was also an eggplant and potato gratin with meat sauce, zucchini fried buns, grilled vegetables with olive oil and tomato sauce and much, much more. And to top it all off, each and every one of the fried and baked dishes has been seasoned with herbs and garlic, creating a mixture of smells that really tickled the nose with the most pleasant of sensations. And judging by the sheer amount of the food that was already on the tables and that which was still being prepared, there is definitely going to be enough of it to last for everyone and then some.

「Just from looking at it I can say that these dishes are going to be the perfect balance between volume and taste. I give them all a 10/10 note. The people of Atlantis are truly a good civilization.」

「I feel like I should point out that your judging criteria seem to be somewhat biased, but since I generally have to agree with you I am going to let it slide this time.」

Concluding that just standing around was going to do them no good, both Izayoi and You grabbed themselves a fork and a bowl and proceeded to walk around the tables with food, picking up whatever they felt like eating right now, which is to say, a little bit of everything that seemed to be on the menu today. When they were passing by the plate where a literal mountain of olives was placed, Izayoi took one for himself and bite a bit off of it.

(Hmm. . .  taste-wise, these olives seem to be exactly the same ones as the ones tat grow on the island of Crete, so I guess that pretty much seals the deal when it comes to our suspicion about Atlantis’s location.)

The olive oil trees that are being cultivated on the island of Crete are those of the long-living variety, and the oldest ones among them can live for as long as three hundred years, and these olives right here, which have additionally been seasoned with a pinch of salt, look almost exactly the same as the olive oil trees from the Outer World.

(I wonder exactly how many years have passed since Atlantis and its residents have been summoned here? Judging by the fact that their culinary culture seemed to have progress to some extent, my guess would be that they must have been brought to Little Garden a solid few hundred years ago.)

He thought to himself while throwing a fried dumpling into his mouth. In the meantime, You has already managed to fill her plate to the brim and devour all of its contents in the blink of an eye, and now she was on the prowl for seconds.

It was at that time when Izayoi noticed a familiar figure among the native: the Assistant Priestess, Lalah, coming out of the building that was probably the kitchen. He wanted to approach her, but before he could do that, she did exactly that when she noticed him in the distance.

「Did you have enough rest? Last night must have been pretty difficult for you.」