Publishedat 18th of September 2019 07:13:10 PMChapter 46
They followed the dwarf girl, and to their surprise, the field was not as jungle-like as they had expected . There was a clear path to walk under the flowers . But the s.p.a.ce was a little low for Maki .
“Ouch, ouch . ”
She kept saying, and was likely hitting her head against something . After a while, they came out into a large clearing . A lot of other dwarves were gathered here and relaxing . In the center, there was a large pot with something sweet inside, and a large grill had also been prepared .
“Hey! I got new workers!”
The girl shouted .
“Good job! Oh, are they human children?”
The resting dwarves gathered around them .
“They were traveling with the soldiers as cooks . But now they’re unemployed because they were paid by the day . And so I asked them to help us . ”
She wasn’t wrong . Her explanation was technically correct . Still, Maki and Chiharu weren’t quite satisfied with it .
“Will the soldiers hire you again when they return?”
“Yes . But we’re not sure when that will be . ”
“Hmm . The next five to six days are very important for us . It would be great if you could help . ”
“We’re beginners . ”
“That’s fine . Just pick the flowers and toss them into the baskets . ”
“Then we should be able to manage . ”
“Good! It’s a deal then! Bring it over here!”
He meant the large pot of soup . The purple soup smelled like sweet potatoes .
The two of them accepted their cups with hesitation .
“Oh, you don’t know about sweet potato soup?”
Advertis.e.m.e.ntThey were asked . They only knew about potato soup .
“Well, try it . ”
When they put their spoons inside of the soup, they found small and flat dumplings . Then they blew on them and bit into them . The dumplings were soft but chewy and went well with the sweet soup .
It was a hot day in early summer, but they drank all of the hot, sweet soup while blowing on it . Ahh, it was so good .
“We have this in the morning . In the evening, we’ll eat some steamed buns . ”
“We’ll do the job!”
“We’ll do the job!”
“Do you want more soup?”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
And so they both had a second cup of soup .
“I’m Stilla . What’s your name? Oh, Kenneth? Ryan? Now, I will teach you how to gather the flowers . ”
Apparently, the dwarf girl’s name was Stilla . And so Maki and Chiharu shouldered the baskets and followed her into the fields .
“They were such pretty human children . It will be very bad if the mayor sees them . ”
“Perhaps we should hide them in the fields during the day . ”
“Indeed . And then they will be able to help us more . ”
Maki and Chiharu had no idea of this conversation that took place behind them .
So, what was lavender gathering? Apparently, you just needed to grab the flowers and pull downward, and they would come off . And then you just tossed them in the basket behind you . Toss . Toss . Toss . Toss . But the flowers were quite big, and so the baskets became full quite quickly . When that happened, you returned to the clearing and someone would take the flowers to a storage shed to be dried . And you returned to picking .
Lavender flowers blossomed from the bottom to the top, in that order . So you could go to the field every day and there would still be flowers .
“What were you two doing?”
Grudo asked as they returned tired that day . He sounded a little exasperated .
“But you know, these things give you a real sense of accomplishment . ”
“Yes, yes . The basket slowly getting heavier . Oh, and watching the wagon get full of flowers from your basket . ”
“Yeah . It’s nice to sweat like this . ”
Maki and Chiharu said .
“I know what we should do on days like these . ”
“Grudo, do you mind?”
“Well, I have to agree . ”
“We’ll drink ale tonight!”
Maki and Chiharu always seemed much more relaxed when they were with Grudo . Maki and Chiharu had concentrated on their work without even realizing that Edwy and Aeris had not contacted them . Grudo had rested at the inn and their guard had been forced to help watch the pot with the dwarves .
Still, there was someone who noticed Maki and Chiharu .
“Hey, look at them . ”
“They seem like the right age . ”
There were Adventurers who were staring at Maki and Chiharu as they returned from the field .
“A good job to finish with . ”
“We can’t make any money now that the soldiers are in the dungeon . ”
“Let’s do it then . ”
“We’ll stop at the inn and watch them first . ”
During this time, Edwy was very irritated that he was unable to enter the dungeon .
“It is very rare for human royalty to come here . ”
“This is to continue good relations concerning the magic stones . ”
And so he had to continue to attend dinners along with Nyran . During the day, he had to take tea with other powerful neighbors .
But Aeris and Kaider, who was dwarf royalty and therefore not worth very much in the eyes of the mayor, were allowed to go to the dungeons with the soldiers .
And the dungeons were not peaceful .
The dungeons of Gromble were big and deep . So even if there were 100 soldiers in there, it would not have been impossible for Adventurers to go in and hunt . That’s how many monsters there were .
However, the Adventurers were not that desperate, and so they just wandered around the town instead .
At first, only half of the soldiers were going to be sent in, but they were all sent in the end .
It was the fourth day now, and he was still forced to have dinner with these important people .
“It should be time soon . ”
“I’ve had enough . ”
In the hall, there were two human children with sand-colored hair who were helping with the food . As it was unusual to the dwarves, the guests were amused .
“Are they inland children? Why are they working so far from home?”
“I only talked with them a little, but that seems to be the case . But they were unable to make a living there, and so they came here . ”
That’s what Edwy and Nyran talked about on the balcony after getting away from the others .
“Oh, but you are our honored guests . Please come inside . ”
It was the mayor . He was about 250 years old and likely to retire soon . But he had developed this dungeon town and been mayor of Gromble ever since the beginning .
“I must have drunk too much . I needed to cool off out here . ”
“Oh, that is no good . There is an arbor over there . Please let me take you there . ”
The mayor said as he touched Edwy’s waist . Edwy moved away .
“I think we will have to return to our main objective soon . We are very grateful for your hospitality, but I will go to the dungeon tomorrow . Thank you for welcoming us . ”
He said flatly .
“Oh, dear . But I hope you will at least stay, Prince Nyran . ”
“No, it is my job to go to the dungeon . For Gromble’s sake, I will go tomorrow . ”
“Thank you . ”
“Thank you . ”
And then the mayor went back inside .
“Can I be honest with you, Nyran? Something about him disgusts me . ”
“You too? On the first day he muttered something about how he wished I had visited when I was younger . ”
A chill ran up his spine .
“What if the child waiters…”
“I doubt it . They did not seem afraid in the least…”
They muttered together in the garden .
“I’m afraid I now feel the monsters are more decent . ”
“We’ll go to the dungeon tomorrow . We will . ”
And then they would take Maki and Chiharu with them and return to Midland .