Chapter 3 Monster Meat Taste Better
Translator: Skythewood
Editor: Hiiro
Morning for the 《Scarlet Lynx》 wasn"t special, and the members would come around 7am to eat breakfast. The one responsible for cooking had to get up even earlier. For Yak who grew up on a farm, getting up at 6am would be enough time to prepare breakfast. It was a piece of cake for him, since he had to get up at 4am to help up with farmwork back home.
And so, Yak got up at 6am and headed to the dining hall… That was his plan, but he thought about Yuri, and made a detour to his room. He was worried that the newcomer couldn"t get up so early… Because he had seen his fair share of problematic seniors.
「Yuri, are you up?」
「Oh, Yak, morning.」
「Morning, did you sleep well?」
「Yes, I slept soundly. I was worried that I won"t be able to wake up, but fortunately, my biological clock is working fine～」
Yuri said with a smile, and Yak agreed with him cheerfully. He didn"t know what a 「biological clock」 was, but he didn"t intend to ask. He learned yesterday that Yuri was a foreigner who got transported here from a trap.
But Yuri was sincerely happy that he could get up. He was from modern j.a.pan, and he wasn"t sure if he could wake up in an environment without alarm clocks. Luckily, his biological clock still worked. Yuri commutes to school via trains since young, and his body still remembered that he had to wake up around 6am.
They walked to the kitchen together. The other members were still asleep, so they didn"t talk along the way and took care to tread lightly. Once they reached the kitchen, Yuri opened the fridge and took out a large bowl.
「Yuri, did you make this yesterday?」
「Yes, I think this will be a nice change of pace.」
Yak took stock of the bread, milk and eggs delivered in the morning, and put them away properly. The bread delivered was different every day, and might be toast or bread roll. Today"s bread was bread roll, which was to Yak"s liking, since if it was toast, he would need to slice them.
Yuri took out the bowl of dark liquid, which wasn"t anything special, just hard boiled egg placed inside a mixture of soy sauce and wine, a simplified version of ramen egg. Normally, the eggs need to be soaked in a variety of spices to season it. However, Yuri"s Kugimiya family will just soak the eggs in the soy sauce mixture overnight, which is surprisingly simple.
His main concern is the lack of many of the ingredients, and messing up the marinating sauce. His family will just add some ready made ramen sauce out of convenience, and that sauce already contains all sort of seasoning. Yuri also tried using ponzu vinegar soy sauce, which has a refreshing and nice taste too. However, he didn"t have anything other than soy sauce and wine. And it isn"t cooking wine either, but something that has a fragrance close to sake that he found in the storeroom… After all, he really didn"t want to make eggs with grape wine.
「Uwah, the eggs have turned brown.」
「I hope the taste has seeped in.」
As the hard boiled eggs rolled onto the plate, Yak who has only seen white eggs couldn"t help frowning. Yuri could tell from the color that it has been well seasoned. He took a smaller egg and cut it in half, and the inside looked well seasoned too.
「Here, Yak, try some.」
「Huh? Okay.」
Yuri chewed on the hard boiled egg, and Yak couldn"t bring himself to say that it didn"t look like food, and ate his half. Hard boiled eggs are usually dry and bland, but since it was easy to make, Yak would often cook them. When he brought this up yesterday, Yuri suggested that they could 「put in a little more effort」.
The eggs absorbed the taste of soy sauce, giving it a unique flavor. Yak was rather surprised, he thought only the color has changed, and never expect the flavor to be so wonderful. He couldn"t help wolfing it down.
And there was another surprise.
「The yolk is so soft!」
「Yes, this is ramen egg with runny yolk.」
「How!? How did you make the yolk so smooth!?」
「Just don"t cook it for too long.」
「Are you serious!?」
Yak has never eaten a hard boiled egg that is so smooth and delicious. Aside from the taste of soy sauce, the yolk was runny too, it was the first time he ate such a delectable egg.
Yuri took out normal hard boiled eggs from another plate… He was worried that some people might not want to eat his ramen eggs, so he prepared normal ones, although the yolks were runny too. Yuri heard they always ate hard boiled eggs, so having runny yolk would be a nice change of pace. Besides, Yuri belonged to the runny yolk faction.
These eggs weren"t marinated in soy sauce, but he still soaked them in salt water overnight… By soaking them in salt water, the saltiness would be just right. This was a trick from his mother, so Yuri didn"t have to sprinkle salt on his eggs in his lunchbox.
「I"m sorry that breakfast is just bread, milk and egg.」
「... It can"t be helped, Yuri, we don"t have any other ingredients.」
「Yes, that"s why I want to change up the hard boiled eggs with runny yolk and seasoned eggs.」
Yak looked to the distance with a resigned face, and Yuri smiled awkwardly in response. A chef couldn"t do anything without ingredients, and there weren"t any leftovers from last night"s kakiage, croquette and cream soup… After Ari ate his share, a battle broke out over the leftovers. Yuri just continued frying food with a smile, but the riot was already on a level of a festival.
Hence, the only ingredients they had were the freshly delivered bread, milk, eggs and their large stash of potatoes. Yuri started peeling the potatoes, while Yak boiled the water with a large dose of salt as instructed by Yuri.
「...Yuri, what are you cooking?」
「The dishes are too bland, so I salt boiled potato.」
「You are steaming them?」
「No, we will boil them. It can be eaten directly by seasoning it with salt, right?」
Yuri said with a smile, and Yak opened his eyes wide in surprise. The idea of boiling the potato with salt never occurred to him before. He only knew potatoes could be steamed or grilled. He had no idea what boiling it with salt meant, and was shocked after tasting it. The slightly salty potato was soft and tender, and incredibly delicious.
They then lay out the goods at the counter close to the dining hall. The food would usually be placed on the counter on the kitchen side, but Yuri was planning a buffet breakfast today. He didn"t know how much each of them would eat, so he thought it would be better for them to help themselves.
Breakfast was white and brown hard boil eggs with runny yolk, huge numbers of salt boiled potato, and a fresh batch of toast bread. The milk was stored in the refrigerator for now, and they would pour some for anyone who wanted some. And so, breakfast was ready.
They had a quick breakfast before the morning crowd arrives. Yak was surprised when he ate the salted egg too, and Yuri respond with a smile. They ate the potato, two types of eggs, bread and milk.
And then...
「Yuri, can I have another egg!?」
「Everyone can only eat one of each type of egg.」
「Please, Yuri! That coffee coloured egg is really yummy!」
「That will deprive someone else of an egg, so give it up. But you can have all the potato and milk you want.」
Yuri said with a smile, and the guy who was tactfully turned down left dejectedly. When Yak saw that, he thought「As I expected」. Even though Yuri didn"t think much of it, the runny yolk eggs were incredibly delicious. Normally, the members would make a 「... hard boiled egg again」 face, but today, they were wolfing it down. Many of them dislike the coffee colored egg at the start, but Yuri said 「please try both」 and placed it on their plates. After they ate it, there were many return customers… But no one manage to eat one more egg.
There were plenty of eggs, but Yuri couldn"t make seasoned eggs on the spot, since it would take time to season them.So Yuri could only recommend the unlimited supply of potato, bread and milk. He refused to budge no matter what the others say, because he hoped everyone would have the chance to try one.
Yak and the others were shocked by how firm Yuri was, and he wouldn"t relent no matter how hard they tried. He was always so gentle, so his adamant stance was a surprise.
… Actually, Yuri could fend off all those asking for seconds because he had similar experiences when distributing lunch at school.
The elementary school Yuri attended provided lunch, and students on duty would collect and distribute the dishes. A battle would erupt at lunch, and no matter how much the bullies demanded more food, Yuri would bravely turn them down by saying 「there won"t be enough for the others, so no.」 Only during moments like this would the entire cla.s.s think of Yuri as a hero.
Another member bites the dust after Yuri rejected him with a smile, and he returned dejectedly to his table. But one man was trying both runny yolk eggs calmly. And that was Brooke.
Given how sumptuous dinner last night was, he was certain that breakfast would be delectable too. So he asked about the number of eggs, and nodded when he learned each member could only get one of each. He cut each egg in half to try them, and enjoyed it. As an adventurer, this level of foresight was a given… Which meant those who were making a racket because they couldn"t get seconds were still apprentices.
Yuri never thought just serving seasoned eggs and salted eggs (both with runny yolks) would be so well received.
After the breakfast rush hour was over, Yuri and Yak went out to replenish their food stock. They had run out of ingredients, and had to procure more. When Ari gave them the money for groceries, Yuri only made one request.
He wanted to buy seasoning and spices.
Ari frowned after hearing that, but he knew that they only had the bare minimum of seasoning in the kitchen, and agreed. The condition was that Yak had to decide on where to buy groceries, since Yuri had no idea about the prices of goods… Ari already labeled the carefree Yuri as 「out of touch with mundane matters」, which wasn"t wrong either. Yuri didn"t know the common sense of this world.
So the money and choice of shops would be decided by Yak, and Yuri had no objections. With the sling bag Ari gave him on his shoulder, Yuri followed behind Yak. This was a magic bag used to procure groceries. Simply put, this was a magical bag that could hold much more things than it looks.
Magic bags were valuable items, but most adventurers had one each. The capabilities of the bags varies, and were either made by alchemist, or drop items from dungeons, which made Yuri think 「as expected of a fantasy world」. However, this wasn"t a magical world he imagined, since humans and monsters used skills instead of magic.
Yuri was a little disappointed by this, but this world had magic items made from magic stones with different affinity, such as the heater in the baths and kitchen stoves. And these were made by alchemist or blacksmiths… And the term 「magic」 was used in this world as they had fairy tales featuring magic too. As no one could use magic, wizards only appeared in legends.
Yuri felt this world was on par with the technologically advanced j.a.pan, just that their natural resource were magic stones── a shallow conclusion he came up with. He wasn"t interested in deep topics, just knowing there were convenient tools was good enough for him.
… Since Yuri was a Seeker who possesses the 【G.o.d Eye】, he could find as many of such tools as he wished, but he wasn"t aware of that.
By the way, their residence was in the lower mid tier of the capital. This wasn"t referring to the geographical location, but the economic cla.s.s. Yak was familiar with the city, and Yuri kept asking him questions. Yak was happy about a newbie joining after him, and wasn"t annoyed by the relentless questions, answering them all happily.
The adventurers area of activities were close to the Main gate of the capital Drahern, so they could a.s.sist in the city"s defence should there be any emergencies. It also keeps the ruffians from dubious origins further away from normal citizens and the buildings in the city. The citizens of Drahern and the adventurers were on good terms… But some countries label all adventurers as delinquents and gangsters.
Today, Yak brought Yuri to a market with economical prices. The crowded and rowdy scene reminded Yuri of a shopping district. There were shopfronts, tents, and even push carts, and everyone shouting energetically to promote their own wares, which felt just like an authentic traditional shopping district to Yuri.
「It"s best to shop at this market.」
「Is that so? Didn"t you mention there are many stalls over there too?」
「... That"s true, but it"s more expensive there. But they have all sorts of wares.」
「Oh, so that place is more suitable for the rich and businessmen, and the goods are pricer?」
「Correct.」
Which was why Yak didn"t feel either place was good or bad, just that the treasure hunter Clan《Scarlet Lynx》 didn"t really splurge, so they wouldn"t go out of their way to an expensive shop… Which was the consensus of all the members, except for Yak"s problematic apprentice seniors.
That"s why Yak usually frequents the more economical market.
「Oh, it"s the boy from Ari"s place! Grocery shopping today too? We just got a fresh batch of delicious meat.」
「Hey, isn"t that Yak? How about some cheese today? We have b.u.t.ter too.」
「Yak, the seasonal vegetable just came in, have a look!」
「Long time no see, Yak. I just brought in my goods, take a look at our fishes.」
Everyone wanted to chat with Yak, who was quite popular with the stall owners. That was because they all knew he was a serious apprentice from the 《Scarlet Lynx》. This market was a great place for commoners, and having a good relationship with the stall owners gave plenty of perks. Be it extra gifts or discounts, there"s no reason not to get on their good side.
So Yak introduced Yuri as the newbie who just joined the 《Scarlet Lynx》 to all the stall owners he visited, highlighting his outstanding culinary skills and great use of ingredients. Yuri denied that, but everyone just thought Yuri was being humble and was friendly to him.
When they heard about Yuri"s cooking skills and great use of ingredients, their eyes changed.
All businessmen want their wares to be put to good use, but Yuri seemed unaware of the gazes on him. He just picks out the ingredients without any reservation, and as he didn"t know the pricing in this world, he would pick the better products out of similarly priced items.
He could do so because of his skill, 【G.o.d Eye】. Appraising was a professional skill that one could make a living from, and the highest level of appraising skills was the 【G.o.d Eye】. Yuri just needed to look carefully to understand the condition of the goods without even touching them. So Yuri just kept picking the best ingredients, which surprised the stall owners.
… As mentioned before, Yuri didn"t pay the surprise of others any mind.
After shopping at a few stalls, Yak asked Yuri as if he had just remembered something. During this time, Yuri was comparing two cabbages of similar sizes.
「Yuri, do you have an eye for picking things?」
「Huh?」
「Well, because you will always pick out the good stuff that even surprises the stall owners.」
「Oh, that"s because I"m an appraiser. Excuse me, I would like this cabbage.」
「Ehh?」
Yuri answered off handedly, and pointed at the cabbage on his right. The stall owner laughed intriguely at that. The two cabbages seem identical, and Yuri chose the one that had a better colour. Even an expert would find it hard to discern such a minute difference.
At this moment, Yak was completely petrified. That seemed to hit him really hard, and he stiffly uttered 「Appraiser?」... Which was only natural.
Appraising was a rare skill in this world. Not only was the ratio of people with this skill is low, there were many advantages in having appraisal. Nothing much could be done if their level was low, but the higher their level, the more things they could see. And this wasn"t limited to detecting traps and appraising treasures.
For example, if an unknown poison was found, someone with a high appraisal level could tell what effect the poison would cause, a.n.a.lyze it, and find out the composition of the poison. After knowing what it was, they could deal with it. So people with appraisal cla.s.s skills were highly sought after.
Those with low level appraisal skills were 「Appraisers」.
The next higher level appraisal skills was 「Master Appraiser」.
「Truth Appraiser」 have and even higher appraisal skill 【Magic Eye】.
There were just three cla.s.ses, but their effects were vastly different. Very few Master Appraisers could become Truth Appraisers. It was possible to obtain 【Magic Eye】 through hard work, but only a few manage to get it after refining their appraisal skills and raising their levels. Ninety percent of all Truth Appraisers were born with the 【Magic Eye】 skill, which shows how valuable a skill it was.
… Yuri completely ignored Yak after dropping that bomb, and continued browsing the vegetables without being fazed.
Yuri was in charge of picking the vegetables, and Yak would only settle the bill at the end. But Yak was petrified right now, so Yuri had no choice but to take the purse from Yak and looked inside.
There were small copper coins, copper coins, small silver coins, and silver coins. In this world, there were also gold and platinum coins, but normal people seldom used gold coins, and only the rich and n.o.bles would use platinum coins. Hence, the highest value coin in the purse Ari gave them was silver coin.
One small copper coin was one Gordes, a copper coin was ten Gordes. A small silver coin was equivalent to a hundred Gordes, while a silver had a value of a thousand Gordes. Gordes was the currency of this world, with the short form G. Yuri thought this world was really convenient since the currency and language was the same everywhere. He didn"t know if this different world was bigger or smaller than earth, but things would be much easier if there was just one language and currency.
After Yuri paid the price stated by the stall owner, he looked at a small copper coin curiously, which activated his skills. He saw the Basic Information that gave a detailed explanation:
── Small copper coin.
Currency equivalent to one Gordes, the most common form of money seen by commoners.
Circular in shape, the coin has the emblem of the G.o.d of Commerce Ludo (A vertical line through a diamond).
One Gordes was equivalent to ten yen, and is similar in size to a j.a.panese ten yen coin.
「... Hmm?」
There seem to be some unnecessary details right at the end, but Yuri wasn"t really bothered by that, and roughly understood the price difference between here and j.a.pan after reading the explanation. He needed to multiply the Gordes by ten to convert it to yen, giving him an idea of the price. That cabbage cost 150 Gordes, or 1,500 yen, what a surprise.
But this place was different from j.a.pan. Since Yuri was using the money from here to procure goods, he decided not to mind the details. Thinking about such difficult things weren"t his mission.
「Yak, let"s go to the next stall.」
Yuri stuffed the vegetable into his magic bag, then shakes the petrified Yak to revive him. Yak finally snapped out of it, but his jaw was still slack from shock. He looked at Yuri, sighed in resignation, and brought Yuri to the next stall.
「...Yak, are all these monster meat?」
「Hmm? Yes, the tasty ones are monster meat, of course.」
「... I see.」
Yuri asked after seeing the meat on sale at the butcher shop, and Yak replied calmly. The butcher had a face that seemed to say 「that"s only common sense」. It might seem strange to Yuri, but this was the norm in this world.
There were a huge variety of meat laid out on the table, while poultry, beef and horse meat were tucked away in a corner. They were astonishingly cheap, at just one tenth that of monster meat. At this price, he felt the meat either taste horrible or have some sort of problem.
「What are the meat in that corner?」
「Hmm? They"re from butchered lifestocks. It"s sold here, but I don"t recommend it, the taste is quite nasty.」
「It taste nasty!?」
Yuri said in shock. He felt chicken and beef would taste better than monster meat, so why was this happening? Yuri"s mind was filled with question marks.
… But this was a given fact in this world, there wasn"t any industry that specialize in rearing livestock for food. Yuri didn"t know, but monster meat was edible in this world, so no one wanted raise livestock for food, and run the risk of them being attacked by monsters or wild beasts.
Then why was there livestock meat at the butcher?
Simply put, livestock that had lost their productivity would be slaughtered and sent here. Bulls too weak to rake the fields, cows that couldn"t produce milk, chicken that stopped laying eggs and horses that couldn"t pull carts would be slaughtered and sold for cheap at the market… And the impoverished people would buy these cheap meat despite their taste.
… The minced meat Yuri used to make croquette last night were livestock meat, and didn"t taste good. And the reason was the senior apprentice wasting too much money, and Yak had no choice but to buy a little livestock meat to save money… And those seniors used up those livestock meat splendidly, so there weren"t any left when it was Yak"s turn to cook.
「...Yak, which ones taste good?」
「Don"t ask me, ask the stall owner.」
「But the stall owner will definitely say everything taste good.」
「Aside from the livestock meat, none of my goods taste bad.」
「See?」
「... Yeah.」
The stall owner laughed heartily after hearing Yuri say that. The owner might be stating a fact, but Yuri needed recommendations since he didn"t know any of the ingredients, and what the owner said was of no help at all. Yak then told Yuri about each of these meat with a wry smile. He was really a thoughtful lad.
While Yak was explaining, Yuri appraised the meat.
「This is viper meat, it doesn"t have any stench, and has a refreshing taste.」
「If there isn"t any stench, we can use light seasoning...」
── Viper meat
Meat from a Viper monster"s torso, not much of a stench, refreshing taste, popular with women.
Doesn"t have much fats, suitable for cooking, a common ingredient.
The texture is similar to chicken breast or fillet.
Like before, at the very end of a screen was an explanation that only made sense to Yuri. After seeing that, Yuri decided to appraise the meat while Yak was explaining, so he could imagine the taste. If not, he would have no idea what dishes they could be used in, and he would hesitate in buying them.
「This is Orc meat, some parts are very fatty, and it is good for grilling or boiling.」
「Oh, so it"s an all purpose meat.」
──Orc meat
Meat from the monster Orc, different cuts have different values. It is easy to cook and well received.
Men prefer the fattier cuts, while women prefer the leaner ones. Both are tender after they are cooked thoroughly.
It tastes no different from j.a.panese pork, and the texture corresponds to the different pork cuts too.
Orcs were demi-humans with the face of a pig, so Orc meat being similar to pork was no surprise. However, equivalating the bipedal Orc with pigs left a disquieting taste in Yuri"s mind. But since the taste is similar to pork, he knew how to cook them. There were plenty of ways to cook pork, so he added them to the procurement list… And they seem quite cheap too.
「This is Bison meat, known for its fatty meat, but the leaner part is tasty too. It taste wonderful if you grill a thick slice of it!」
「... So Bison steak is delicious? I don"t really like fatty meat, so I will use a wire mesh to grill it.」
──Bison meat
Meat from the monster Bison, a lot of fatty parts, and the lean meat has lots of fats too.
It is usually cut in thick slices and grilled into steaks, and premium meat is called marbled frost.
It"s expensive, but is relatively tastier, and commoners will splurge on them when they want to enjoy.
Similar to j.a.panese beef, the texture is the same as the average beef available on the j.a.panese market.
As Yuri suspected, Bison meat was like beef, but that wasn"t important. Yuri sympathized with the Bison thinking that it was mean to call them average. His mind started to wander, since Bison was at the level of average beef, then there must be premium Bison meat that was as good as premium beef.
There were many ways to cook beef, and most youngsters likes to eat them too. However, Bison was more expensive than Orc, so Yuri decided to take his time to deliberate. Meat was too important.
「Oh, there"s Big Frog meat here. Shopkeep, where did you get them?」
「I heard there are plenty of Big Frogs showing up in a swamp nearby, and the adventurer guild sold this batch to me.」
「Yuri, Big Frog are similar to viper, but the taste is stronger. It is also very cheap, so I highly recommend them!」
「A refreshing and stronger taste… so Big Frogs are just frogs, huh.」
Yuri mumbled under his breath. He never tried frog meat before, but a TV show mentioned it taste like chicken, and could be fried whole. Yuri decided to check with his appraisal.
──Big Frog meat
Meat from the monster Big Frog, found in the swamps, it has a simple and refreshing taste.
The refreshing taste of the Big Frog is popular with women, and also beloved by people of all ages because of its tastiness.
The price would drop when found in large quant.i.ty, and well-liked by commoners.
The texture is similar to chicken thigh meat.
Viper was chicken breast, and Big Frog was chicken thigh. He had no idea why snake and frog monsters taste like chicken, but the meat on display here does look like chicken meat… There were parts that look similar to a frog leg, which made him avert his gaze in a panic.
There were other types of meat, but they all seem too expensive, so Yuri skipped over them. Yak only told Yuri about the meat normally used by commoners, as he never tried the high quality meat before and had no idea how they were.
That make sense, Yuri thought. Yuri never tried j.a.panese black cattle wagyu sirloin beef steak before, and its price tag had lots more zeroes at the end than normal. He knew of Berkshire pigs, but never ate any either. He did have Herb pork before though… which means, there was meat he had heard of but never tried before, and couldn"t talk about them. So it was fine to skip them for today.
「Can you give me these four types of meat for now? Equal portions for each type… Yak, how much meat do you usually buy?」
「Well… We will buy more when we run out, so we usually don"t buy too much...」
「Yak...」
「Or rather, my budget is limited whenever I go grocery shopping, so I always buy Big Frogs when there is an oversupply, cheap viper, or give up and settle on livestock meat.」
「... It must be hard on you.」
Yak muttered as he looked into the distance, and Yuri patted his head. The shopkeep also used his big hands to gently ruffle Yak"s hair. Yak"s suffering was plain for everyone to see… which was why they would always give him a better deal, they sure were kind.
… He did everything he could to be thrifty, but his foolish seniors would shop for groceries at expensive shops, wasting his efforts.
Reality was cruel.
But things should be getting better now, since Yuri would be in charge of the meals. Yuri didn"t want to be a treasure hunter, and was only staying in the 《Scarlet Lynx》 to learn common sense and get a place to lodge in. Ari wanted to supervise and take care of him too, so Yuri wouldn"t spend time training like the other apprentices or go adventuring. His job was to cook meals and clean up the place.
And the problematic and clumsy senior apprentice would be working under Yuri now. Ari asked Yuri to teach the apprentice how to cook and make use of the ingredients, so they would have to start from picking out the ingredients and buying them. Yuri wasn"t familiar with grocery shopping yet, but once he does, there wouldn"t be any more wastage of money or ingredients anymore.
...Girlish boys might have girly hobbies, but he wasn"t the type that was filled with sparkly hopes and dreams. Strictly speaking, he was closer to the house husband type… Somehow, he knew lots of tricks from housewives and grannies, and would never buy things on impulse or permit such things from happening.
If Yuri was in charge of finance, he would be engrossed with making cheap and tasty meals. Actually, he was already showing signs of that right now. He would choose the largest of similarly priced vegetables, and take the best quality meat── all thanks to his appraisal skills.
「Yak, let"s make a simple and delicious lunch with these meat.」
「... A simple and delicious meat dish?」
「Yes, so let"s clean up the place properly after the shopping is done, and get started on lunch.」
「... The seniors are in charge of lunch though.」
「Don"t worry, I will get them to help too. Ari asked me to take care of the menu for now.」
Yak looked surprised for a moment as Yuri smiled at him, and then smiled in response. Yuri didn"t know if Yak felt happy because he wouldn"t be affected by his foolish seniors actions, or because he was looking forward to a delicious meal. No matter what, Yuri was glad to see the lad who was so kind towards him being happy.
After procuring large amount of meat, the grocery shopping was done, and they returned happily to the base.
「Cleaning has to be done from top to bottom.」
Yuri"s voice echoed in the base, and the four young lads answered docilely. Yak and the other three youths were apprentices responsible for miscellaneous ch.o.r.es, with Yak being the youngest at 13, and the oldest being Urgus at 16. Only those above 18 were considered adults, so they were tasked with all sorts of ch.o.r.es. They weren"t being treated like children, but they were like fledglings with wings that had yet to harden, so they needed such training.
There were few that could be independent at 18, which was impossible unless they were born to a family of a professional trade, and had been trained in all sorts of skills since youth… Demi-humans who were natural warriors were an exception. The youths here were all human, but the Clan didn"t discriminate any races. It just happened that this batch of apprentices were all human.
Yuri was wiping the top of the book shelf with a rag… In the 《Scarlet Lynx》, the rooms were cleaned by the ones staying in them, but the apprentices were responsible for the common s.p.a.ces. When there were few apprentices, the other members would help out too. The goal of this wasn"t to exploit the newbies, but to train them to perform these basic ch.o.r.es. Similar to cooking, everyone had to do the basics, so the newbies must have the determination to deal with these ch.o.r.es.
Yuri was in the study room in the base. Books were expensive, but they were still available in the market, and the members stow their books in this base. There were also textbooks that includes basic and necessary knowledge, so there were more shelves in this room than the others. The top of the shelves were covered with dust, and it had probably never been cleaned before.
In the beginning, Yuri planned to follow Yak"s lead in cleaning. However, their cleaning didn"t reach Yuri"s minimum standard at all, and he felt they missed a lot of spots.
Yak and the others left the study room happily, thinking they were already done, but Yuri stayed behind and continued cleaning quietly. He thought there weren"t enough cleaning tools available, and continued cleaning with a rag and bucket. At first, he thought just sweeping the place would be good enough, but he couldn"t stand too many minor spots being skipped.
When he realized it, Yuri had started instructing everyone to clean.
However, Yuri"s tone was slow and relaxed, so the others didn"t feel that he was ordering them around. The atmosphere felt like a kindergarten, where everyone was following the lead of the teacher… and Yuri was the one who created that atmosphere. The only adult on base, Tiffana (one of the trainers, a rogue) looked at them with a smile, making it feel even more like a kindergarten.
Everyone started cleaning the shelves with Yuri, with the nimbler ones climbing up to wipe it. Yuri stood on his toes on top of his chairs, while the shorter Yak wiped the shorter shelves. The group would usually squabble over the smallest thing, but they were probably affected by Yuri"s fluffy air, and worked together without any complaints.
「Yak, it"s too dangerous for you to climb up, so clean the lower spots. Kamir, be careful not to fall off the shelves!」
「I will be fine, Urgus.」
「You need to watch it yourself, the shelf will topple if you use too much force.」
「Shut up.」
The oldest Urgus took care of the others. He was the most senior of the apprentices, and would worry about Yak and the second youngest Kamir. Urgus was big, and the shelf would shake if he used too much force. Kamir teased him with a laugh, but the atmosphere between them was relaxed.
「...」
One of them was silent as he wiped the shelves. That was Magu, who was always quiet and expressionless, so no one knew what he was thinking. He was probably serious about his work and did his tasks quietly. He was the second most senior apprentice after Urgus, so he should be taking care of the newbies. However, he always acts on his own, and seldom instruct his undercla.s.sman.
That was how their cleaning went, and everyone enjoyed it. Yes, they actually enjoyed it. When they wiped in the way that Yurii taught them, the shelves turned completely clean, which would make them happy. Tiffana who was pa.s.sing by commented: 「The place is much cleaner, everyone is so amazing.」 The compliments from a pretty lady filled the youths with motivation.
In the end, all the shelves became sparkling clean.
They were all moved by the shelves that looked brand new, and started cleaning all the shelves in the base on their own accord. Yuri watched the youths dash off to clean the shelves, and stared at the windows.
The gla.s.s making technology in this world was much poorer than Yuri"s world, so their transparency and strength were lacking. Fortunately, through the hard work of the workers with craftsmanship skills, the gla.s.s was pretty well done… Side tracking a little, workers with Level Max craftsmanship could make the best gla.s.s in the world in both transparency and strength, but they could only be found in the palace or the landlord"s mansion.
Hence, the gla.s.s in the 《Scarlet Lynx》 base was a little foggy, with stains from the rain outside and the dust from the inside. The windows were cleaned routinely, but it was probably wiped with rags with loose threads which left marks on the window, ruining it"s aesthetics.
Yuri inspect the rag in his hand. It was made with cotton, a cheap material that even commoners could easily afford. The problem was, there wasn"t any towels here.
The trick to cleaning gla.s.s was to use a half drenched rag. Squeeze half of the rag dry, then fold the dry part on top of the wet half, then squeeze it dry again, which would make the rag half drenched. This wouldn"t leave any wet stains on the gla.s.s, and wipe away the dirt with the right amount of moisture.
This was the gla.s.s cleaning method Yuri knew. There were other tools that could be used to clean the gla.s.s, but there was no other way since he didn"t have access to them. He only had a rag, so he just had to use a half drenched rag, but the problem was with the rag.
The rag Yuri used for cleaning was made from towels.
He would use old towels as rags, or rather, that was the case for all families, right? When his elementary school requested students to bring rags to school, His parents would prepare rags made from towels. Yuri"s family would cut old towels into rag sizes, then sew up the edges. So for Yuri, rags were towels, but the one in his hand was a cotton cloth, which couldn"t clean as well as a cotton towel.
「Alright then, let"s give it a try.」
He muttered, dip half of the rag into the bucket, then squeeze the wet half dry. He then fold the dry part on top of the wet half, squeeze it again, and he was ready. He gently placed the half drenched rag on the gla.s.s, careful not to use too much force and leave a stain. After he finished wiping, the stain was gone and there wasn"t any water stain either. It seems the cotton rag worked just fine.
His experiment was a success, so Yuri cleaned the windows one by one. He left the outside of the gla.s.s for later, cleaning all the inside of the window for now. By wiping with a half drenched rag, the water would evaporate immediately, and not leave any annoying water stains. There wasn"t any signs of the rags wiping over the gla.s.s either, which met Yuri"s standard.
「Huh? What are you doing, Yuri?」
「I"m cleaning the windows.」
「Ohh… That"s too clean!? How did you do that, Yuri?」
「Uwah!? It"s true! It"s usually dark and foggy, but it"s super clean after Yuri wiped it!」
Yak sighed in awe, and Urgus concurred after looking at the window. Kamir and Magu came over to look at the windows too, and stared at Yuri after realizing that was true. Their eyes were pleading Yuri to share his wiping methods. Yuri tilted his head in surprise, then explained with his usual silly smile.
They then made use of their numbers to wipe all the windows.
They were planning to clean the windows in the study room and dining room at first, but they understood after seeing the results── if only a part of the mansion become clean, it would make the dirtiness of the other rooms obvious!
Just observing from inside the rooms were fine, but if you look at the windows of the study and dining room from the outside, and shift your gaze to the dirty windows in the adjacent room, it would be a problem. Yuri said 「The difference is too prominent, I will go clean it」, and then got to work. The other teens followed him… They were working so hard because of Tiffana"s praise, a pretty lady was really powerful.
In the end, they used their self training time to clean the windows. They could train later in the afternoon, so they didn"t want to leave after cleaning halfway. And Yuri seemed determined to clean by himself, and they didn"t want him to overexert himself.
If Yuri collapse from overwork, they won"t get to eat delicious food.
It was a matter of life and death.
Or rather, if they left Yuri to clean by himself, and he fell sick and couldn"t cook, the other members of the clan would admonish all the apprentices. Yuri"s breakfast and dinner were enough to captivate the stomachs of everyone in the 《Scarlet Lynx》.
And so, they spent the entire morning cleaning windows. By the way, under Yuri"s supervision, their routine cleaning became something like a spring cleaning. As the common areas were really clean, many members asked Yuri for the tricks to cleaning, and tidied up their own rooms properly.
「Let"s make lunch.」
「「Okay!!」」
The energetic voice of the apprentices came from the kitchen. Even though they spent the entire morning cleaning and exerted three times the energy Yuri did, they were training every day to become treasure hunters and didn"t feel tired at all. And when they were cleaning, the apprentices urged Yuri to take it slow, so Yuri could clean slowly at a leisurely pace.
Their consideration was all for this moment. If Yuri was exhausted before making lunch, then it would be all for naught. Yak remembered Yuri saying that he would cook something simple and delicious, so all the apprentices lined up before Yuri and answered him docilely.
「There aren"t many people having lunch today, so let"s make 『Meat and Egg on Rice』.」
「Taning Don?」
「Yes, that"s a dish with sweet and salty meat poured over rice with an egg. Why don"t we add in a vegetable soup?」
「... Is it tasty?」
「I think it"s great.」
「「Alright!!」」
After Yuri answered with his head tilted, everyone was filled with joy. They know Yuri"s dishes taste great, and his croquette was really tasty. Hence, this taste must be delicious too. They were really united on this.
They awaited Yuri"s instructions, and hoped he would teach them quickly. However, Yuri wants them to help him for today, and also cook their own portion… There were frying pans with the right sizes too, so they could make a single portion egg. But beginners might not be able to season the meat themselves, so Yuri would cook all the meat in a bigger pan.
「Let"s get started with the soup. Yak, can you help me boil some stock with bones? Just like yesterday.」
「Alright.」
「...Yuri, where did you get these bones from?」
「These are the leftover bones from the butcher. The stock will taste better if I used them.」
「「Huhh!?」」
Yak ignored the other apprentices who were shocked, and added the bones into the pot. Stock was mandatory to make delicious vegetable soup, so Yuri asked the butcher to give him the livestock bones they wanted to discard for free. For the butcher, Yuri was just clearing their trash, so this was a win-win situation.
Yuri then took out another pot. It was filled with water, with something green inside. The youth didn"t know what the gooey clump was, but it was a familiar sight to Yuri… it was kelp, a great ingredient for making stock.
When they were out shopping for groceries, Yuri found a fish and dry food shop keeping the kelp in a corner, so he bought them. People didn"t have the concept of cooking kelp to make stock, so they thought of kelp as a mysterious merchandize with dubious uses. The shopkeeper only bought it from the fisherman who recommended it to him when he was procuring dried food, and didn"t really understand what it was… Yuri felt that if the fisherman explained the use of kelp in detail, maybe places other than coastal towns would understand how wonderful kelp stock was.
Yuri poured the stock from the kelp into a deep pan. After filling half of it, he dropped a few pieces of kelp into it and turn on the fire. He then picks up an onion.
「Do you know how to peel onions?」
「Huh? We just need to peel off the brown outer layer, right?」
「Yes, help me cut off the top and bottom parts, peel off the brown outer layer, cut it in half and remove the core.」
「「... Core?」」
They didn"t know the core needed to be removed. They looked at the white core of the onion in their hands, which didn"t look poisonous at all. However, Yuri was used to removing the core, since the core would sprout with time, so he didn"t want to eat it. It might not be poisonous, but the texture was different, so he wouldn"t hesitate in removing it.
The apprentice watched Yuri and copied him, and took care of the onion meant for their own portion. Yuri had to make the portion for Tiffana who was housesitting, and had two onions.
After peeling the onions and removing the cores, everyone slice it to the slice they preferred. Yuri like it thinner, but the texture of the onion would be lost if he cut them too thin, so he would settle on something in between. Yak and Urgus cut them thicker, which was more suitable for frying. Kamir sliced them as thin as Yuri"s… While Magu slice them as thin as onion shreds, and the way he wield his knife looks very professional.
Yuri then took out Big Frog meat, and cut them diagonally into bite size. The diagonal cuts made it easier to cook and absorb the stock. After cutting a bit more meat then the number of people present, he realized the kelp stock was boiling… And of course, he already picked out the kelp before it boiled.
「I will season it with soy sauce, wine, and add some sugar to sweeten it a bit.」
「Okay, but why use water soaked with kelp?」
「Amongst seaweed, kelp is the best for making stock, and just having stock would make the food delicious. Why don"t you try drinking some of this kelp stock, and see how it is different from normal soup?」
Yuri poured four portion of kelp stock onto a saucer, and offered it to them. The stock had the faint colour of kelp, and after they tried it… they opened their eyes wide at the taste, even though salt or soy sauce wasn"t added in/
「Hmm? But why does it have a taste?」
「Uwah, it"s just hot water, but it is tasty.」
「It taste different from the stock made from animal bones.」
「... It"s good.」
「「Magu spoke!?」」
「... Huh? Magu usually doesn"t speak?」
Yuri stared in surprise when he heard the three of them said 「It can"t be」, 「Are you serious」. Magu was usually silent and covered his eyes with his bangs, so no one could read his expression. But he would take the work a.s.signed to him seriously… And that Magu actually spoke, which spook everyone.
Yuri thought 「whatever」, and added seasoning to the kelp stock in the frying pan. He added wine, soy sauce and sugar before heating them up, and made it into sweet and salty sauce for the dish. After completing the seasoning, he added Big Frog meat that had been diagonally sliced, and heat it over a small fire.
The apprentices watched the frying pan seriously, while Yuri turned around and sliced his onions. He thought about dicing carrots too, but on second thought, he felt it would be better to cut them differently, and decided on semicircles. He then diced the potatoes into bite size, and glanced at the pot of animal bones stock… it was almost ready.
He quickly scooped up the bones, tasted some, and then added salt, pepper and spices to adjust the taste.Since the main dish was sweet and salty Meat and Egg on Rice, the soup should be plainer. He then added vegetables and cooked it with low medium heat… When the taste of the vegetable gets absorbed into the soup, it should become a vegetable soup with a gentle taste.
「Is the meat cooked?」
「It"s colour has changed.」
「Let"s test the taste.」
After saying that, Yuri pick up a two large pieces of meat, cut it into five pieces and place it on a tasting plate. They quickly wolfed it down and everyone except Yuri praised the taste in awe. Yuri chewed to check the texture of the Big Frog meat after cooking it with wine and soy sauce, and how well it absorbed the seasoning… If he didn"t know better, he would have thought it was chicken thigh meat.
But the meat was surprisingly delicious, and monster meat really tasted better than livestock meat. The texture and the taste of the Big Frog was really similar to chicken, just like what the result of the appraisal said. So this is monster meat, Yuri thought. Given how good the ingredients were, just cooking it like this was enough to make a tasty meal.
「Let"s make the Meat and Egg on Rice. First scoop the rice onto a plate.」
The rice cookers in this world were powered by magic stones. And the base actually had two of them, with each capable of cooking nearly 2 litre of rice… But if all 21 members were present, that wouldn"t be enough. In any case, Yuri scooped up the freshly cooked rice into a plate, but he didn"t put too much rice to make s.p.a.ce for the meat and egg.
「Put one portion of meat and sauce into this small frying pan, then add in onions and cook until it turns soft.」
Yuri demonstrated with his portion. He added meat and sauce into the pan, toss in the chopped onion and turned on the heat. As he cooked his meal over a weak fire, he quickly added two eggs into a bowl and scrambled it with a long chopstick. His egg beating movement was so smooth that the others couldn"t pull their eyes away. But Yuri wasn"t aware of that at all.
「After the onion turns soft, cook it together with the egg… Well, it"s up to your preference on how well done you want it, but personally, I like to cook it until the egg white is cooked.」
Yuri slowly poured the contents of the pan onto the rice with a smile. The rice was slowly absorbing the sweet and salty sauce, and the sumptuous egg, meat and onion made everyone gulp.
「Okay, then let"s do this one by one. I will watch from the side, so give it a try.」
「「Okay!」」
In the end, they didn"t make any serious mistakes and successful cooked their Meat and Egg on Rice. Tiffana had wandered into the dining hall without anyone noticing, and her portion was cooked by Yuri. The main dish and soup were set on the table, with the onions in the vegetable soup cooked just right. The Meat and Egg on Rice was really tempting, and when everyone was about to dig in, Yuri said:
「Rub a dub dub thanks for the grub.」
He put his hands together and quietly offer thanks for the food. This was a natural for j.a.panese, but would seem strange to foreigners… Saying grace before a meal wasn"t uncommon, but not many people knew that this phrase wasn"t a prayer, but sincere grat.i.tude towards a meal. On top of that, Yuri was in a different world now, so everyone looked at him confusedly.
Yuri noticed their gaze, and smiled gently.
「This is a custom from my hometown, which is to offer thanks to the food and the people who cooked them.」
「Then let"s do it too. Is it like this?」
「Yes.」
「... Well then, Rub a dub dub thanks for the grub..」
「「Rub a dub dub thanks for the grub.!!」」
After Tiffana said that with a gentle smile, the apprentices followed too, and they quickly dug in. The teens shouted in joy, while the only girl present was curious on the recipe, and asked Yuri beside her for the details. After hearing the answer, she opened her eyes in surprise:
「It"s so delicious, but so easy to prepare. And you can cook so many portions in one go.」
「That"s right, meat over rice is cooked for manual laborers, so it"s easy to make and eat.」
「... If you teach this dish to the restaurant, they will be really happy.」
「Is that so? I"m glad to be of help.」
Tiffana smiled troublingly as she watched Yuri eat his Meat and Egg on Rice with a silly smile. She said 「You really have no worldly desires.」, which made Yuri looked at her bafflingly. To Yuri, this was just a simple meal, but from Tiffana"s point of view, he could earn a tidy sum from the information fee of teaching this dish── but Yuri didn"t mind that at all.
Or rather, he would teach them the recipe if they ask for it, but that would be all. This wasn"t a dish he invented, and to him, teaching recipes had nothing to do with earning money. A normal high schooler (and in this case, a girlish boy) wouldn"t think that far.
Tiffana invited Yuri to visit a restaurant together next time, and Yuri accepted. Yuri wasn"t aware of the envious gazes from the apprentices at all.
Chapter 4: His Cheat is Really Overpowered
Time pa.s.sed quickly, and it had been two weeks since Yuri lodged with the 《Scarlet Lynx》. Which meant he had been transported to this different world for two weeks.
Many things happened, and Yuri learned more about the 《Scarlet Lynx》 and the capital Drahern. Yuri had always been optimistic and carefree, so even though his job was to prepare three meals a day and housework, he was enjoying it, and no one had any complaints. Even though his lifestyle was just like that of a househusband, he was really comfortable with it.
Yuri would shop at the market from time to time, so he had gotten acquainted with the shop owners. He would also visit shops, which might be more expensive, but offer better quality products.When he wanted to buy something, it would be more interesting to visit the shops. There were pros and cons between going to the market or the shops, and Yuri understood them well, and had gotten to know more people from these two places.
Aside from that, Ari also taught him the common sense of this world. As he was unworldly, he would sometimes create trouble by accident, so Ari told him what people with appraisal type Jobs would usually do, as well as other knowledge. However, Yuri wasn"t an adventurer and didn"t want to be one, so he didn"t learn any skills for self defence. Ari told Yuri to figure out what he wanted to do before consulting with Ari.
In the end, Yuri still registered with the appraisal guild.
He didn"t plan to be an adventurer or take on missions, and registered with the appraisal guild to get a membership to use as a form of identification. The simpler way was to get a membership card from the adventurer"s guild, but if Yuri couldn"t finish a mission within the a.s.signed time, his membership would be cancelled. So he gave up on this method, or rather, Ari persuaded him not to.
Yuri was a seeker who possessed the ultra rare skill 【G.o.d Eye】, and he would need to register his Job and skill when he collects his guild card, which would create chaos. And the guild couldn"t appraise his Basic Information either, which would lead to plenty of trouble. Compared to that, anyone who has appraisal skills could register with the appraisal guild, which was a better deal for Yuri.
Yuri being a Seeker was still a secret, and he registered his cla.s.s as a Master Appraiser. The appraisal guild wouldn"t appraise the Basic Information of other people without any cause, and Ari also accompanied Yuri and guaranteed Yuri"s skill and cla.s.s. The guild didn"t need any Basic Information, which suits Yuri just fine.
Anyway, Yuri was enjoying his life here, and his presence was as natural as the air here.
「Yuri, we are going for our training.」
「Yes, be careful, and come back before dinner.」
「I will, I"m in charge of dinner tonight.」
Yak and the other apprentices ran off with their equipment and weapons. They weren"t going off to fight monsters, and were just training their body. They asked Yuri if he wanted to join in, but Yuri turned them down as he didn"t feel he was suited for that. Forcing someone to do things against his will wouldn"t yield good results anyway.
Hence, Yuri engrossed himself with one of his hobbies, which was sewing. He felt the dining hall was a little empty as there wasn"t any table cloth on the dining table. But it was too much work to sew a tablecloth, so he settled on making table mat instead. He bought cloth, and sewed colourful patterns on them.
...Yuri"s sewing kit were from the sewing bag he always had inside his Student bag.
After coming to this world, his sewing kit also changed. Not just that, his Student bag and its contents all became magic tools. His Student bag turned into a bag of holding, and despite its flat appearance, it had unlimited capacity and freezes time inside, becoming an incredible rare item. Yuri was surprised by how amazing being transported into another world was.
Aside from that, the other items inside the bag also changed drastically, but not into anything dangerous… They would never break, and there was a limitless supply of them. For example, his pen would never run out of ink, he could tear out endless number of pages from his notebook, things like scissors and needles would never break and could cut or pierce through anything. It was amazing and convenient, so Yuri made use of them gratefully.
But there wasn"t any electricity in this world, so things like his smartphone and music player became junk. It was a waste to throw them away, so he kept them deep inside his magical Student bag.
Hence, Yuri could keep sewing leisurely and not run out of threads. He had an unlimited supply of threads, but the colours would be limited. And so, he also used the threads he bought from the market.
「An endless supply of thread is so convenient～」
He said happily and continued sewing while humming… Magical tools were actually really expensive, but as the members under Ari"s tutelage had excellent skills and earned a lot of money as adventurers, so there were magic tools everywhere on base. Normal people couldn"t afford them, and people would cast envious gazes towards their magic bag used for grocery shopping… But Yuri wasn"t aware of that at all, and just felt elated that his tools would never break.
「Yuri, I"m heading out, need me to buy anything for you?」
「Clay? Where are you headed?」
「I"m delivering the items our client requested us to collect.」
「I see, I don"t have anything I need though.」
「Okay.」
Yuri watch Glacier go with a smile, but felt something was off and called out to him on reflex: 「Wait.」 Yuri asked Glacier who turned back:
「Clay, do you have time?」
「Hmm? Yes, I didn"t set a time to meet with the client.」
「Your b.u.t.ton is falling off, give me your jacket.」
「... Huh? Oh, this is fine, don"t worry.」
「No.」
「What?」
Yuri who always had a silly smile on his face was saying no firmly with a stern face. His bangs were covering his eyes, but Glacier knew Yuri"s face was more serious than usual. So he decided to do as he was told, and handed his jacket to Yuri.
The b.u.t.ton at the bottom of his jacket was falling off, with some thread sticking out, and would drop with just a tug. Yuri didn"t miss that, and cut off the thread with his scissors before sewing it back carefully.
「Yuri, you are really dexterous...」
「Anyone can sew a b.u.t.ton… Here, it"s done. Since you are meeting a client, you have to groom yourself properly.」
「... Groom myself properly, huh...」
Glacier put on the jacket Yuri handed him with a bitter face. When he saw Yuri tilt his head, Glacier shrugged gently. Glacier was about Yuri"s age, so he felt comfortable before Yuri… However, the members of the 《Scarlet Lynx》 all treated Yuri kindly. It wasn"t because of his ∞ luck stats, but because they were captivated by his cooking.
「Clay?」
「I don"t have enough money to spend on grooming myself.」
Yuri was baffled by what Glacier said. When Yuri mentioned grooming, he wasn"t asking him to dress fashionably. For Yuri, grooming and dressing up were separate things. Grooming meant cleaning up one"s appearance, and doesn"t mean wearing fashionable things.
Thinking Glacier might be misunderstand this, Yuri explained carefully:
「I"m not asking you to dress fashionably, I just mean tidying up your appearance since you are going to meet a client.」
「... Hmm?」
「For example, wearing a clean shirt without any crease, compared to a wrinkled and dirty shirt, which one will leave a better impression?」
「...Oh～ so that"s what you mean?」
「Yes, that"s what I mean. So a properly sewn on b.u.t.ton is better than leaving it hanging.」
「... I see, I get it now~ that"s another way of seeing this～」
He seemed unfamiliar with this concept, and nodded in enlightenment. Yuri fixed the loose thread on the cuffs and hems too. His sewing level was high, so his movement was fast. Compared to his time in j.a.pan, he felt his hands were much more dexterous now. His only thought was 「Good, now I can sew faster.」 Yuri was still Yuri.
Glacier left to visit his client, and Yuri continued sewing leisurely.
There was a follow up to this.
Now that Yuri mentioned it, Glacier started paying attention to his appearances. They were adventurers working as treasure hunters, and the nature of their job meant it was hard to keep themselves clean. But what Yuri said was true too, since it wouldn"t cost too much money, they reminded themselves to keep their appearances clean and proper.
In the end...
Their clients, guild staff and others had a better impression of them.
Adventurers were human too, even though they shouldn"t judge a book by just its cover, just being clean and tidy would leave a good impression on others. It was easier to talk to others, and their adventurers work became smoother too.
It didn"t matter whether their level was low, they were young, or they were broke. Even a child could groom themselves properly. The adventurers never thought something so simple would make their job so much smoother, and wanted to thank Yuri. Glacier who was the first one to learn about this was the most eager to do so.
However, Yuri"s response was very straightforward.
「Huh? If you groom yourself properly, both you and the others will feel happier, right?」
Grooming would make you feel happy, and others who see you being happy would have a good impression of you. It was that simple, and wouldn"t cost much money, and was the norm for Yuri… But Yuri didn"t realize that the normal household standard in j.a.pan didn"t apply to this world. As expected of Yuri.
From then on, grooming themselves gradually became the norm amongst adventurers, and at the same time, the impression the public thought of adventurers turned for the better. Yuri didn"t notice that this was because of him, and no one told him either.
In summary, grooming your appearance was the basics of the basics in social life.