Mr. Nobu’s Otherworld Chronicles

Our journey to Pezun Village was relatively smooth despite some monster a.s.saults along the way.

We easily dealt with the attacks of several goblins and Giant Bats. I mean, Kagura-san killed two goblins for every goblin I and Tama-chan beat. Fast, way too fast.
I haven"t used magic yet though. I"m currently in one-handed sword rehabilitation, y"see.

Only a few hours before we reach the village, and I"ve been talking with her along the way. It"s mostly me asking questions though.
Apparently katana really does exist in the eastern countries. Heck, there"s even Samurai and Ninja cla.s.ses. Food culture is also like j.a.pan with miso and soy sauce existing. It"s apparently because an eastern country, the founding figure of 『Hinoto Empire』 was a j.a.panese person that stumbled their way here from alternate world. They must have been a j.a.panese person from the modern culture. Kagura-san seems to have lived in an isolated village at the edge of the country. She had been active as a mercenary since the age of 10 and arrived at Gramada after wandering across many countries. She started her life as an adventurer when she got to Gramada. She told me stories about her adventures up until now with their ups and downs in humorous manners.

I got enthusiastic making our supper as thanks. Faux pizza made without stone oven and vegetable-ladden pot-au-feu.
I put on the heat with my magic from below an iron plate. The topping is simple handmade smoked beef, cheese and tomato sauce. I"ve always had the dough inside my rucksack, so I can make one in most situations. I filled the pot-au-feu with trial sausage, potato, cabbage and carrot. By the way, I"ve been replenishing the broth ever since things settled down at Gramada, so its flavor has been increasingly getting thicker.

Kagura-san stared at the dishes in amazement when I put it before her. As mentioned by Mitama, average adventurers don"t get to eat this kind of food while traveling. But, j.a.panese people are peculiar about food. Who wouldn"t love to eat tasty stuff in any occasion. With magic rucksack by my side, I will pursue good food.

"Tama-chan, house!"

Poin-poin, Tama-chan leaped and went back to her home base; my shoulder. She suffered nary a scratch after annihilating the monster that showed up all of a sudden.

"It"s really weird no matter how many times I witness it. How come a Moss Ball got that strong?"

It was a Goblin Archer whom Tama-chan completely overwhelmed. It"s probably a scout or something, wonder if there"s a goblin settlement nearby.
Not sure how many times Kagura-san"s eyes turned dot-shaped since she saw Tama-chan. It seems she found Tama-chan"s prowess demonstrated before her eyes incredulous. Tama-chan isn"t your average Moss Ball, I mean she has Super in her name. I"m a bit worried that she might become a Moss Ball that transforms into a racc.o.o.n or a hammer some of these days.

"It"s cause she"s been fighting alongside me. I think her battle experience cannot be compared to an average Moss Ball. On that note, I"d love to surprise the world at some tournament or something."

"Indeed, that would be quite sensational, kukuku."

Maybe I could release her goods if she became famous. Like Moss Ball yogurt or something.

"Putting that aside for now, let"s set up a camp in the cave today. I"d prefer not to stay at Pezun Village"s inn due to a circ.u.mstance. We"ll spend the night and enter the cave first thing in the morning."

"Got it. We should hurry and get some rest then."

Our destination is a ro

cky cave near the village. The inside is quite chilly. However, we completely ignored the village. Did she have a bad memory of the place?
We"ll be camping near the entrance of the cave. The area around the part is relatively safe with no particularly dangerous beasts around. But as a precaution for goblins that might have settled down here, I"ve set up some handmade clappers in the vicinity.

I tried to touch the subject while we were enjoying consommé soup and sake for dinner.

"Kagura-san."

"Nu?"

"In the end, what are we here for anyway? You haven"t told me about it at all."

"Oh right, now that you mention it, there"s a place that produces a certain water inside this cave, you see. My goal is to obtain that water. As for what I"m going to use it for, I"d prefer not to divulge since it"s personal. The reason why I need a company is because we have to get on teleportation magic circles along the way. But here"s the tricky part. The magic circle will not work unless two people get on two magic circles at the end of a split path."

"That sounds quite troublesome."

"Well, there"s no trap inside, so it"s still the better kind. Now then, we should rest our body. The entrance is blocked with wood and stuff, so we can react from sounds were anything come by."

"Gotcha."

As sleeping bags don"t exist, we"re just putting blanket on bare ground. Kagura-san is already fast asleep huh.
Just like Mitama and Futsuno-san, Kagura-san also doesn"t mind at all to sleep next to a man. Is she not conscious of me as a man, or does she have a complete trust in me... I"d like to believe that it"s the latter.

There"s no end to it if I keep worrying about it. I"ve been keeping awake just in case, but I should change shift with Tama-chan and get some sleep myself.

It was still dawn when I woke up. Kagura-san is... still asleep huh. Tama-chan is standing by near the entrance... She"s not sleeping, is she? Ah, you"re awake, sorry sorry. Well then, let"s go out and do practice swings. I ended up waking up at the usual time. Usually, I"d make breakfast after the practice swing and go to Master"s house. Guess I"ll go prepare our breakfast once I"m done. Bacon egg, bread and salad should be good for the menu.
I put the usual water in the container for Tama-chan too. Good work, here"s a cup for you.

Sizzle

I fry the bacon and egg on a portable frying-pan especially made by Boss-san. It"s a gem whose non-stickiness puts even the stuff you see in midnight TV shopping channel to shame. I have no soy sauce with me so I use salt and pepper to season the sunny-side fried egg. There were apparently times when pepper was as valued as gold and silver but since they can be gotten in dungeons like sugar in this world, you can get them cheap.

It seems like dungeon stuff is indispensable if I really aim to be a town mayor. Either build a town near a dungeon, or conquer a dungeon and build a town at the safe managed dungeon. The former has a chance of suffering horrendous loss due to dungeon rampage. The latter requires me to be capable of conquering a dungeon.
Aim high at the latter. I"ll form a party and challenge it someday. Tama-chan is still the only fixed member I have though!

"Nn, ah sorry. It appears that I overslept. My condition isn"t too well at this time of the year."

Kagura-san"s complexion looks pale. I thought she just had low blood pressure or something when she was like this yesterday, but apparently it"s not that.

"Are you okay? I"ve prepared our breakfast, would you like to have it?"

"My apologies. Please wait a bit. I"ll be with you right away."

"Got it, I"ll get it ready for you then."

I put the fried bacon and salad on a plate. The bread is honey toast furnished with Applevel Jam. The soup is the leftover consommé soup from yesterday. Ah right, the jam"s apples won"t be harvest-able for the entire year, I"ve got to think up a new product.

Kagura-san came when I was done preparing everything. Her complexion has gotten quite a bit better.

"Thanks for waiting, it finally calmed down."

"Then, let"s go and have our fill. Please go ahead while it"s still warm."

"Hafu hafufu. Being in the same party as n.o.busada really is blissful. I mean, you"ll be able to eat food like this every time."

"Haahaahaa, then how about forming a party with me, Kagura-san? I only have Tama-chan and no other party members here."

"I would be honored to. ...But I have my own circ.u.mstance. I cannot readily join a party."

She looks down while looking sorrowful. I"ve got things I can"t tell other people myself, I"m sure Kagura-san must have some too.

"Well, I"m flying solo myself as you can see, so feel free to call me anytime. I"ll rush up to you with Tama-chan."

Poyon, poyon.

Tama-chan is bouncing around, giving her affirmation. Looks like she"s also quite fond of Kagura-san.

"Thank you, n.o.busada."

I"m being lectured of the cave"s interior after we"re done eating.

"n.o.busada, there are two stage of the teleportation magic circles. There are no monsters until the first magic circle, but I"ve come across some many times after the teleportation. Make sure to be on your guard."

"Leave it to me. Tama-chan will go with Kagura-san just in case. When push comes to shove, we could roughly communicate telephatically, I think she will be a big help."

"Tamed Monsters can do that huh. There"s still so many things unknown to me out there."

Poyon, poyon, Tama-chan bounces and climbs onto Kagura-san"s shoulder. But she seems to find it uncomfortable, she"s quivering around somewhat. And then, with a poyon, she stopped in Kagura-san"s cleavage.
Nu, nununu, how enviable, truly enviable Tama-chan. But you"re a girl yourself. So even Moss Ball fall captive to Kagura-san"s melons... How terrifying!!

"Mwu, hey Tama-chan, that place is no good."

Fururun, Tama-chan shook. The melons also shook along with the vibration. Such weightiness.
The ball of life in the cleavage, blooming alongside the two... It"s in man"s nature to reactively stare at them.

"No-n.o.busada. Stop looking so wistfully. Now then, let"s finish our preparation and head inside."

"I"m sorry, I"ll get myself ready."

Not good, I lost to my instinct for a second there. Is this what they call youth. Something is welling up from inside, this is bad in many ways. I should go to that kind of store some times. I haven"t gone to one yet because I was worried about disease and stuff. It should be fine now that Discerning Magic Eyes can discern disease though.