Volume 3 Chapter 5 Part 6
「Aaaaaaaaah!」
「Hahaha. Don’t worry. These seven-colored fish may look off-putting and they’re a little small, but I promise they’ll taste great.」
Miri peeked over from behind, as though trying to look at the cooking, and cried out.「Meow!!! That’s not the point!」
「Huh? What do you mean?」
「We came here just to obtain those seven-colored fish! Meow!」
「What? Really? We need to take them out then. Ouch!!!」
Enami desperately tried to retrieve the fish from the boiling water, but he was quickly stopped.
「Th-They can’t be saved.」
The floundering seven-colored fish had already stopped splashing about noisily.
「Hahaha. Seven-colored fish? We can always catch more. Let’s eat first.」
The seven-colored fish they had discovered ended up becoming ingredients in the salt-based chankonabe. Enami sprinkled some salt into the broth and tasted it.
「Mm. Yummy. Suzuki, would you like to try it too?」
「Sure. Just a little will do.」
Enami brought over a small dish with one of those seven-colored fish on it.
Its color… really turns me off, though the smell is all right.
I blew on a spoonful of the food and then took a bite.
Oh? This stew…
「Oh, wow. It’s delicious! Amazing! This is the taste of seafood soup!」
「Right? Shall we put in the vegetables too?」Enami started putting the vegetables into the soup elatedly. After some time, the cabbage-looking vegetables and mushrooms started boiling in the soup to form a delicious stew.
The orc… I corrected myself. Enami’s wife scooped a portion for me. My guess was that she was Lola.
「Suzuki, enjoy your meal.」She said with a slight chuckle.
「Oh, th-thank you.」
Lola behaved a little like an older sister. I wondered if this information would come in handy in the future.
「Well then, thank you for the food!」
「Thank you for the food!」
The cabbage-looking vegetables had absorbed the seven-colored fish broth, making it surprisingly delicious.
「We also have steamed island yams too!」
「Island… what?」
I realized that I had been utterly focused on Enami’s chankonabe. One of the wives, whom I could only guess was Jacquelina, had cooked something else in the meantime.
Enami kindly informed me of what had been said. 「They’re island yams.」
「Ah… Island yams. They’re being farmed in the island a floor below, right?」
「Yes, exactly.」
I took over the island yam from Jacquelina.
「Wow… It has a really crumbly and soft texture, but it tastes good.」
「Yeah. Isn’t it like sweet potatoes that aren’t very sweet?」
「You’re right. It does taste similar. It seems like a great combination to be eaten with salt-based chankonabe.」
「Right? I think so too!」
「But having salt-based chankonabe makes me really crave some alcohol!」Deet exclaimed.
Enami let out a hearty chortle. 「Hahaha. Actually, we have a type of orc wine made from these island yams. I wanted to bring it out much earlier, but I thought it’d drown out the subtle flavors of the chankonabe. So, I held back.」
Enami retrieved a bottle for us.
「Is this really alcohol?」
「Please help yourself to it.」
Enami poured Deet some wine. I thought it would be cloudy and unfiltered, but the liquid was clear. I had to acknowledge that the orcs were far more cultured than I had expected.
「Mm. It’s pretty decent.」
「Right? Hahaha.」
The orcs’ banquet lasted till fairly late in the night.
Deet and the rest eventually ended up dead drunk from drinking too much. I couldn’t help wondering if we would even be able to continue our exploration tomorrow. Yet, it seemed like it would be fine if we stopped our adventuring here.
Even though Enami had left with the orcs, we were allowed to stay in the existing lodging for the night.
~*~
「Ow!!! My head hurts. Ugh. I feel like crap.」
As expected, Deet was hungover the next day. Ria rubbed his back and offered him some water. Meanwhile. Miri was in an irritable mood.
「We finally managed to learn about the exact spot for fishing these seven-colored fish from the orcs. How could you guys get so drunk?」
「I-I’m sorry!」
I smiled at Miri and Deet. 「Well, there’s nothing much left to do except head back home. How about taking it easy?」
「Meow? We’re going back? But we just came here!」
「Yeah. We’re going back.」
「We haven’t caught any seven-colored fish. Why are we going back?」
I was about to explain myself when Enami and the village elder came over to greet us. They couldn’t have come at a better time.
「Oh, good morning.」
「G’morning.」
「Actually, there’s something I want to consult the village elder about…」
「Wh-What? Really?」
Last night, I had pondered over some matters before falling asleep.
「You want to get along with humans, don’t you?」
「Yes, but I know that humans won’t trust us so easily.」
I was well aware that humans and orcs both feared each other, leading to such a rocky relationship.
「But there’s a way to build trust!」
「Oh! Is that so?」
「Yes, by trading. To put it simply, the orc village can barter with the Thieves’ Guild using goods.」
This suggestion shocked both the village elder and Miri.
「What? Barter?」
「Meow? Trade?」
I addressed the village elder first.「The orcs engage in battles. Don’t you worry about your supply of clothes, food, daily necessities, and so on?」
「Well, we do… It’ll be great if we could obtain items that they possess…」The village elder mumbled.
「We don’t want anything the orcs have though.」Miri commented without much thought. Even the tone of her voice was impassive.
「There’s orc wine.」I prompted. Miri had praised it to the heavens yesterday while downing tons of it last night.
「Oh. Right.」
「We’ll be needing seven-colored fish in the future. It’ll be a chore to go fishing for it every single time.」
「Meow. That’s true…」
Truth be told, we had suffered quite a bit just trying to get here.
「The orcs can also retrieve other items on behalf of adventurers searching for specific things in the dungeon. You can charge them for these items.」
「If that’s all that needs to be done, it’s fairly simple.」
Noticing that Miri also seemed to open up to this proposition, I persuaded them further.
「It’s hard to resolve the misunderstandings between humans and orcs. However, if there is something to be gained for both parties, it’ll be a lot easier to communicate with each other. Don’t you think so? More than that, if there are profits involved, I’m certain an amicable relationship will be established.」
Japan had probably started trading with the West in the same manner during the Nanban trade period.
「All right. Let’s try this out then!」
「Yeah, let’s give it a shot.」
A wave of relief swept over me. Both the representatives of the orcs and the Thieves’ Guild were finally convinced to trade with each other. The bartering would definitely bring great benefits to both parties. If their trading goes smoothly, the orcs would no longer be treated as dangerous monsters. Rather, they would be regarded as just a neighboring community.
「You’ve been a great help, Suzuki.」Enami said to me.「Though, all I’ve done is cause trouble for you.」
It suddenly struck me that he was feeling bad for me. I had gone through quite a lot of hardships recently, from heading to the Adventurer’s Guild to being disrupted when I had been trying to increase my level. Perhaps he was concerned because we had chatted quite a bit while drinking the island yam orc wine.
「Enami, it’s best if orcs and humans can get along.」
He sobbed as he spoke.「Thank you. Thank you.」
「I’m counting on you for the seven-colored fish.」
「Yeah, okay.」
We bid our farewells to Enami and his wives. After that, we returned to the apartment.
Once we were back, we started preparing the food cart with the hopes of attempting the automatic level up once more.
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