Volume 5 Prologue Part 3

Volume 5 Prologue Part 3

Translator: Reflet

「Anyhow, we finished the check-in, so I was thinking of sending a report to the adventurer association and governmental office.」

「Good idea. We all need to go through the formalities tomorrow anyway, plus the earlier the better.」

Tatsuya nodded at Haruna’s suggestion. Even if hunting was not easy to get to right now, it also wasn’t like they would be contacted immediately today.

「Tatsu, Haru. You decided on going through the procedure, now what will we do for lunch?」

「Maybe ask around near the association to see where the good restaurants are.」

Tatsuya gave Mio an innocuous proposal. There was always the option of eating here, but right now was a bit early for lunch.

「You know where the office and association are, right?」

「Yeah. I made sure to look it over beforehand.」

Makoto asked, and Haruna confirmed everything was set to go. Sometimes Haruna made huge blunders because of her romantic obsession, but she was generally tactful in this field. This time, too, she appeared to have already researched everything she wanted to know.

「It’s along the main street, so not too far away from here. It’s on the opposite side of the office, so once we finish our errands at both places, I think it’ll basically be noon.」

「Ya think we can go sightseein’ after we eat?」

「I think so. While we’re at it, we should totally look for property to turn into a base.」

「That’s an idea too, yup. Even if we can’t go too far away from the inn here for three days, it ain’t like we can’t go lookin’ for property.」

The first day’s plans were decided without a hitch. With this being the fifth time they looked for a base, you’d certainly expect them to be used to this.

「So that’s what we do for noon, but what about night?」

Now that the day’s plans were set in stone, Hiroshi suddenly brought up nighttime.

「What do you mean by night?」

Makoto, getting a bad feeling about this, pressed Hiroshi for an answer.

「Oh nothin’. Just thought the potted plant agriculture is in a bit of a pickle at the moment.」

「You will do that after we move to base, Hiroshi.」

「Fiiine……」

Makoto immediately shot down Hiroshi. She would not be able to deal with crops suddenly transforming during the night if that ever happened.

「We have the ingredients, so I guess we can make scapedolls? Nah, I gotta think of Haruna and git to focusin’ on the snake leather coat……」

「……Hey, Hiroshi. Ever thought of just staying put and not doing anything crazy?」

「If I don’t make nothin’ then what’s there even to do?」

Makoto, who had interjected at Hiroshi’s muttering, felt a dizziness when she heard his reply. The vast majority of every suspicious contraption he had made up till now was a result of having nothing to do, and she seriously did not want to deal with that.

「Oh yeah, somethin’ I forgot to do.」

「Like what?」

Haruna asked Hiroshi, who had suddenly recalled something, as she tilted her head. Makoto, who was originally supposed to interject here, was currently out of commission, so she stepped in for her.

「Nah, it’s just that I been kinda wanton’ some cola lately, ‘n I was thinkin’ of tryna replicate it using whatever ingredients we got.」

「Ahhh, come to think of it, we didn’t really do much for drinks other than liquor.」

「I know right?」

Everyone had to empathize with the item Hiroshi brought up. With liquor they had sake, shochu, dry beer, pretty much anything the adults enjoyed drinking in Japan moving along at a good pace, but had barely tried anything with soft drinks.

Now, why hadn’t the group put much effort toward soft drinks? The reason was simply that it was too easy to get your hands on tasty fruit, and the group had satisfied themselves with fresh juice up to this point.

「So when you say cola, which kind? C○ke?P○psi?」

「We’re gonna start off with both. Other winners are McC○l ‘n Dr. P○pper 」

「And as a punishment, you make people drink soda warm, right?」

「Yup.」

Tatsuya and Makoto made sickened faces at Hiroshi and Haruna’s conversation. Mio, who enjoyed strange drinks, was outwardly conducting herself as usual.

「Could you quit trying to take it from there?」

「Whatcha mean? That’s standard, mate.」

「No, uhh, I mean it being standard is probably why I’d rather you didn’t……」

「Then how ‘bout I start with the ones that everyone thinks are gross?」

「No, just don’t……」

When Tatsuya interjected, Hiroshi continued going down the rabbit hole of things not to say. They might have to test out some questionable drinks if this continued.

「Sensei, Tatsu. Let’s just go.」

「……Good point.」

「I’ll think of what to do when it actually gits to nighttime then.」

When Mio pressed them to go, Hiroshi and Tatsuya ended the conversation. Finally exiting the room, the group took about 30 minutes finishing their errands at the adventurer’s association and public office before proceeding to fully enjoy the beautiful city of Rufeus as best they could.

Also, lunch (of which was eaten at a recommended restaurant) consisted of pheasant pie and Lake Luder fish grill. Let us state right here that the flavor, as per its reputation, was highly satisfying.

Rufeus Academy’s noble visitor room.

「Word just came in regarding Azuma Workshop’s arrival.」

「Alright. It was just as we thought based on what Farlane said.」

As the Lorren king and the academy headmaster were making various arrangements, the eagerly awaited report came in. This was around the time Hiroshi’s group had arrived at the Sages Bell Pavilion.

「I half believed half doubted when I heard it from Her Majesty from Darl, but they actually arrived……」

「But this is good, is not, Headmaster? Now the preparations we made based on this info will come to fruition.」

The report, which was expected but also unexpected, prompted the two men to have mixed expressions on their faces as they discussed this.

「So have they decided on a place to stay?」

「We still don’t have word on this, but I hear that the gatekeeper introduced them to the Sages Bell Pavilion. Also, the gatekeeper requested they send word to the public office or adventurer association once they find a place to settle down.」

「Alright. If they listened to that request, at the latest we should have word sometime tomorrow.」

Hearing about the update on correspondence, the king nodded as he muttered to himself.

「Thank you for the information. You may leave now.」

Bowing once to the king when he said that, the liaison politely exited the room. Seeing him off, the king and headmaster breathed small sighs.

「I tried to get the best gifts I could for them, but I wonder if they will actually listen to our requests……」

「Yes, we really don’t know at this point.」

When the king made an oddly fainthearted comment, the headmaster also made a fainthearted response. Only three years after succeeding the throne, and only several months since actually using his authority as a young king, there were various aspects of him that still lacked confidence here and there.

Then again, the headmaster who couldn’t even reprimand the king was also quite fainthearted in his own way. After all, Azuma Workshop was an organization whose behavioral principles were unknown. He absolutely wanted to link them with the king of Lorren, who had a lack of achievement and was currently suffering, but he was also unsure whether the bait he laid out for them would suffice or not.