Volume 3 Chapter 5 Part 5
According to orc myths, the evil god Ruin, even after defeating god, had refrained from consuming him.
And as devout followers of Ruin’s teachings, the orcs of Yomi Dungeon unanimously agreed on a diet purely consisting of plants.
「By they way, Enami. Last time you were on the fifth floor, do you remember dropping a small, round object?」
「Oh yeah. I think it was a seed or something.」
「It wasn’t. It was pet food!」
「W-what?」
「It was meat! Meat!」
「W-whaaa… ah, I see… ahhh, I must beg Master Ruin for forgiveness.」
I don’t think you need to apologize to an evil god.
The village elder’s home contained a statue depicting Ruin. In the depiction, he was chubby and grinning broadly, altogether not quite matching the imagery of an evil god.
But now that I’d informed Enami of the true contents of the own pellets, I wouldn’t have to worry about him getting trapped under my automatic leveller.
With that, my plans had once again advanced! Heheheh.
In stark contrast to my joy however, the village elder looked grim.「Do you think, that somehow, orcs and humans could coexist in peace?」
I turned to Deet. 「Are there any orcs who are on good terms with humans?」
「I mean, there are some that in outlying territories but… most orcs won’t hesitate to bite a human’s head off. So resolving this misunderstanding won’t be easy.」
With all that in mind, the otherworlders, Ria, Deet, Miri, the village elder, and Francoise, began devising a plan to help the orcs.
As people from japan, neither Enami nor I was familiar with the situation, we decided to sit out.
Abruptly, Enami waved at me, motioning for me to leave the house.
As I made to leave, I heard their voices grow louder as the discussion began to heat up.
Once we were outside, Enami walked up next to me. 「What do you think, Suzuki? About the orcs?」
I glanced around, catching sight of a group of orc children playing in the plaza.
There was also a female orc with big boobs watching over the children.
「They all seem like good people.」
「Yeah, I think so too.」
Though I couldn’t exactly say if they counted as ‘people,’ so I still couldn’t fathom the idea of marrying an orc.
Both the village elder and Francoise seemed like innocent, honest individuals.
「I’m thinking of settling down here.」Enami said.
「For your entire life?」
「Yeah. There’s a lot less men than women here. So I have my own harem, you know? Besides Francoise, I’ve got other wives too. Jealous?」
「A-ah, I see…」
There were several points I wanted to grill him on, but I decided to go with the least rude thing. 「I can see there’s a lot of women and children here. But why less men?」
「Actually, the orcs are fighting a war against the goblins right now.」
T-turns out, the sixth floor monsters also had disputes.
And now that I thought about it, wasn’t I getting pretty off-track from my original goal of collecting fish?
「T-that sounds pretty terrible.」
「It is. The goblins have recently started using poisoned arrows, which they’ve never done before.」
Enami explained that the goblins were the least technologically developed race on the sixth floor, so them using poisoned arrows was wholly unexpected.
「That’s why the village elder is so keen on making peace with the humans. We can’t deal with so many enemies at once.」
「E-Enami… maybe you should consider running away.」
「If it were you, Suzuki, would you abandon your wife to flee?」
「Huh!?」
Aren’t… you’re wives orcs?
But Enami’s eyes were filled with resolve.
「Ahaha, maybe I tried to look a little too cool there.」Enami chuckled.
「Enami…」
But despite his jests, I knew he was utterly serious.
「Why don’t you come meet my wives? They’ll probably be a while before they’re finished.」Enami said, nodding towards the village elder’s house.
His wives? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see them or not. Wait, no. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to meet them or not.
「Alright. Let’s go.」I said, making up my mind.
「Cool! This way.」
As it turned out, the house made of stone blocks was Enami’s house.
「I’m home!」He called upon our entry.
「Welcome home!」
「Welcome-」
「Welcome home, dear!」
A pack of… no, wait, a group of three bald, yellow gorillas… or rather, orcs, came to greet us.
「Who’s that?」
「This is Suzuki.」
「N-nice to meet you, Suzuki.」
Enami introduced all three orcs, who bowed their head each in turn.
「Katarina, Lola, and Jacquelina.」
I appreciated Enami’s courtesy, but I couldn’t tell apart the three whatsoever.
Let’s see… the tall one was Katarina… Lola was the on with broad shoulders… and the one with long eyelashes was Jac- Jac… ah whatever, I could recognize them, at least!
「Suzuki is the spitting image of Enami, isn’t he?」
「Totally.」
「The exact same.」
That’s not true whatsoever.
「Hahaha! According to the orcs, I look really handsome. You should come live with us, Suzuki!」
If I chose to live here, I’d probably become popular like Enami. I glanced at Katarina, Lola, and Jac-something. Mm. Upon closer inspection, I could see that they were definitely sexy.
Wait wait wait! What was I thinking?
「…I’ll pass.」
「Hahaha! That’s too bad. But, you guys should spend the night here at my place.」
「Huh?」
「Tonight, I’m making the best chankonabe you’ll ever have.」[1. TL Note: a fish, meat, and vegetable stew, typically for sumo wrestlers]
His three wives cried out happily. 「Woo! Chankonabe!」
「Wait, aren’t you guys vegetarian? Wouldn’t it just be pure vegetable chankonabe?」
That didn’t sound very pleasant.
「Oh, we can’t eat meat, but fish is fine.」
「Eh? Really? For religiously devoted people, you’re not very devoted.」
「From what I’ve learned, the evil god defeated god, but due to that battle, food became scarce. The evil god was starving, but didn’t eat god.」
「Oh, so orcs have religious stories too.」
「Yup. So that’s why meat is no good, but fish is fine.」
As I thought, they’re not devoted at all.
「You really should stay!」Enami exclaimed. 「Fish chankonabe is really good~」
If I recalled correctly, similar to the orcs, during the Edo period of japan, consuming meat was banned, but fish was fine.
「By the way, where do you get the fish and vegetables from anyway?」
「Well, below this floor, there’s a lake with islands.」
「Oh, I’ve heard of that.」
「You can go fishing there, and on one of the floating islands, we cultivate all sorts of vegetables. We call it ‘vegetable island.’」
「That’s surprising. I didn’t realize there was an island like that.」
「Maybe it’s because of the dungeon’s magic, but lots of things grow there.」
「I see.」
Through Enami, I learned quite a bit about Yomi Dungeon’s orc’s ecology- er, rather, their lifestyle.
Cultivation and fishing. And though I hadn’t seen it yet, I imagined they did sumo wrestling as their pastime.
I’d been thinking that orcs were barbaric monsters, but they lived a surprisingly cultured way of life.
「I know I said my house, but it’s too small to fit everyone, so let’s eat in the training room instead.」
Despite his words, I was pretty sure that a single one of Enami’s wives took up the space of Ria, Deet, and Miri combined…
「S-sure…」
「Alright! Let’s go!」
Each of Enami’s wives brought vegetables along with them. Enami himself was carrying a wooden box.
「What’s that box for?」
「The fish I mentioned earlier. They’re small, but make an incredible stock.」
「You’re making the stock from scratch? I’m looking forward to it, then.」
I never thought I’d be able to taste chankonabe made by a genuine sumo wrestler. And made using other world ingredients, at that.
Once we finished moving everything to the sumo building, I saw Ria and the others leaving the village elder’s house, along with Francoise.
「Hey! Over here!」One of Enami’s wives called out.
Though we’d already introduced ourselves, for the second time, I couldn’t distinguish between Enami’s wives.
Both Ria and the others and the orcs seemed to be going through the same struggle.
Only Enami could tell the difference between everyone. Which was impressive, in it of itself.
「Ah, it’s fine.」Enami said.「Let’s just have some chankonabe together. I’m sure we’ll be able to remember each other after that.」
I-if you say so. We entered the circular building that I’d seen earlier that day. At its center was a sumo wrestling ring.
「Woah. It’s an actual sumo ring. Just like Japan.」
「I was shocked too. The training room is this way.」
I followed him downwards into a room covered in sand. A traditional japanese wood stove sat in the middle of the room.
「The sumo wrestlers come here to eat after their training.」Enami explained.
「I see.」
Enami placed a massive pot on top of the stove. He poured bottles of water into the pot, then lit the fire.
「Ooh, it’s like mizutaki.」「2. TL Note: food boiled in plain water then served with dipping sauce]
「Well, basically. After the water boils, I add the fish which gives it ample flavor by itself. I just add a touch of salt afterwards.」
「I see.」
「After that, I put in the vegetables, and after a while, they soak up all the stock. It’s really good.」
After hearing that, I couldn’t help but lick my lips in anticipation.
「Alright! The water’s boiling.」
「Do you add the fish now?」
「Exactly!」
Enami drained the water from the wooden box, then threw the fish inside into the bubbling, scalding water.
Not just ordinary fish- seven-colored fish.
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