CH 30

The caravan is traveling smoothly towards the citadel city Marsfield.

The beginning of the line is Ellis’s carriage.

Next is the marvelous and decorated carriage that belongs to Maria.

There are two carriages carrying toilets and showers behind that with a carriage carrying the horse feed and supplies taking up the rear.

Ellis is riding a Magical horse and running parallel to Maria’s carriage with the other members of her party in similar positions.

In brief, they are acting as Maria’s escorts and are running a defensive perimeter.

Maria’s carriage holds Maria, Maria’s mysterious guest, and the merchant guild receptionist Nicole. It seems Nicole is acting as an attendant for the two ladies.

All the other carriages are unmanned except for the driver, so with the three passengers, the five members of Warren’s Jewelry Box, and the five Muscle Brothers, there are a total of thirteen people in this caravan.

As the journey progresses, Frau, a proud member of the adventurer guild who is used to dealing with all kinds, becomes the first to become acquainted with the Muscle Brothers.

Frau is usually running as an escort on her Magical horse as well, but she must regularly return to the carriage to prepare meals.

At one time when Frau was preparing the soup stock, the driver Goro mentioned the ingredients of the soup.

“Huh, is that shrimp head? It smells good.”

As a chef, Frau was interested in Goro who was able to pick out the shrimp simply from the fragrance of the soup.

“You are familiar with it?”

“Cooking is one of our specialties, and we love to try out the local cuisines when we travel.”

Today’s lunch is risotto cooked with shrimp soup.

Whenever the caravan takes a break, the five girls will return to their carriage. Reeve and Katie will prepare the dining sets while Ellis and Claire extend the tent mounted on the side of the carriage.

“Thanks for waiting.”

A fun lunch begins when Frau brings out the pot.

For some reason, Maria doesn’t leave the carriage.

Perhaps it is just another precaution.

There are some delicious smells coming from their carriage, so their is no need to worry about them eating.

Meanwhile, the Muscle Brothers sit on the seat of a different carriage and are eating something in their hands.

“What is that?”

Frau had already built up an immunity to the brothers’ strangeness and looked at their meal with interest.

They were eating large rice balls and something similar to dried vegetables.

The rice ball looks like it is made with just plain white rice.

Though the dried vegetable looked plain, their luster was beautiful, and they made a crunchy sound when the men bit into them.

Frau became interested in those vegetables and walked up to Goro from behind who she had become familiar with.

“What is that dried food?”

Despite being suddenly spoken to from behind, Goro did not jump. Perhaps he was already aware that Frau was behind him.

“These are tsukemono.”¹

“Tsukemono?” This was the first time Frau had ever heard of it.

“It is a type of preserved vegetable that you see mostly in the east.”

A preserved vegetable.

Frau was becoming more and more interested in this tsukemono.

Probably aware of such a situation, Goro broke off a part of the tsukemono and stabbed a toothpick into it before presenting it to Frau.”

“Would you like some?”

“Thank you.”

It was surprising to see that Frau did not even hesitate to take a bite.

A complex taste spread through her mouth, and she could not tell if it tasted salty, crispy, sour, or sweet.

This would be absolutely perfect for rice dishes!

“Thank you Goro.”

“Thanks are unnecessary.”

After lowering her head in thanks to Goro, Frau returned to Ellis with a satisfied expression.

By the time the sun was about to set, Frau had started preparing dinner.

“Is that saffron?”

Again Goro was able to pick out the splendid aroma.

Tonight’s dinner was boiled beef and vegetable stew with a little scented saffron.

The five girls are talking to each other and enjoying their stew with bread, but Frau was also once again interested in the brothers’ meal.

Frau left her seat and snuck up behind the Muscle Brother’s gathering to take a quick peep at what food they were eating right now, and she saw that they were eating the same rice balls and tsukemono as they were during lunch. Frau wondered why such gourmets would eat the same type of food so much.

“Goro, why are you eating the same thing as you were for lunch?”

Goro laughed at Frau’s question and answered with a carefree smile. “Because we are men. It takes time and effort to move food during transit, so it is more convenient to have portable meals of rice and tsukemono because they last awhile and are filling.”

“Does that mean that this will be your meal until we reach Marsfield?”

“Of course.”

Frau began to think.

Her dissatisfaction with the brothers had already dissipated, and the words that Goro said about their meal bothered her.

And those tsukemono were really good.

She made her decision.

“Say Goro, if you guys give me ten rice balls with tsukemono, I will prepare you all a hot breakfast and lunch tomorrow.”

“Mu. Is that alright?”

And then the next morning.

Frau delivered some plates of spare meat and vegetables with cooked beans seasoned with garlic along with a few side dishes to the muscle brothers.

“Thank you for the rice balls and tsukemono yesterday. It would be fine to return the pots and dishes once you’re finished.”

Four of the brothers couldn’t hide their surprise from Frau’s sudden offer.

“Mu.”

“Mumu.”

“Mumumu.”

“Mumumumu.”

Only Goro, who knew about the circumstances beforehand, received the food gratefully and fully enjoyed the smell of the cooked food.

“Thank you.”

The five brothers scarfed down the food, enjoying a warm meal after a long absence.

Meanwhile, Frau’s actions cause Ellis and the three others to frown.

Next is lunch.

Frau finely minced the pickles she picked up from Goro and sautéd the rice balls that were washed and loosened in advance. Another pan was already prepared with some clear soup and chicken bones.

Once everything was prepared, Frau called over the muscle brothers.

“Everyone please come here.”

Ellis’s four jumped at Frau’s sudden call.

“Frau! What are you thinking?”

Reeve was the most vocal of her objection out of all of them, but Frau refuted her with just a smile.

“These guys aren’t bad people.”

With Goro in the lead, the brothers look apologetic as they walked into the tent.

“Please sit here.”

Frau sets up a spare table next to the one where the girls are already sitting and directs the men to take a seat. She then continues to pass out bowls containing fried rice and chicken to everyone. Incidentally, the portions of the brothers’ meal is just as large as everyone else’s.

After everyone had received their bowl, Frau poured out the soup broth onto the dish.

“Please enjoy.”

“Mu.”

“Mumu.”

“Mumumu.”

“Mumumumu.”

While his brothers were busy devouring the delicious meal in front of them, Goro made sure to give their impressions to Frau.”

“Frau, it is delicious as expected.”

Ellis ate her rice without saying a word.

The sweet and sour vegetables tickled her teeth while her tongue lapped up the crispy and soft fried rice. Furthermore, the boiled chicken meat and the delicious taste of the soup complimented the rice perfectly making a tender and gentle meal.

Ellis-Eiji enjoyed the taste of the tsukemono after a long time.

I see, there are tsukemono in this world too?

Moreover, I think these are actually more delicious than the ones that I had when I had ordered in soup.

“Frau, this is delicious!

“It’s really tasty!”

“Yummy!”

It was a meal that was popular among everyone.

Frau stuck her chest out with pride.

For dinner of that day, everyone had sandwiches and rice balls that they made themselves. All ten of them sat in a circle trading their own creations and drinking a cup of hot soup.

Even Claire who had a preexisting condition of being frightened of large men came to recognize these muscular Dharma as kind gentlemen. That goes for Reeve and Katie as well.

Now it is evening, the day has gone, and everyone has gone to sleep in their carriage.

Ellis was quiet on the first night, but there really isn’t any reason for her to have to endure and hold back. So after the lights were turned off, Ellis suddenly left her bed, and she climbed into Frau’s without making a sound.

“Huh?”

“Shh.”

Ellis put a finger to Frau’s lips. She whispered into Frau’s ear loud enough that the other three could hear.

“Thank you for today Frau.”

“That’s not….”

“So I will give you a reward.”

“….Really?”

And so Frau enjoyed being treated as a pig woman for the first time in two days.

The other three listened in from their beds with heated cheeks, but they didn’t say anything.

They understood.

If Ellis doesn’t visit one person, she won’t visit anyone, and if she visits one person, she will visit everyone.

The other three quietly waited for their turn.

The next morning came around.

Five people woke up feeling more refreshed than they had the day before.

“Hoh. It looks like you also enjoyed your night.”

While ignoring Ichiro’s needless comment, Ellis’s group enjoyed their breakfast together with the gentlemen.

After everyone was done eating, they mounted their Magical horses and continued their escort job by running parallel with Maria’s carriage.

Shortly after their departure, Nicole popped out of the carriage’s window and beckoned Ellis over.

“If the everything goes well, we will arrive at Marsfield by evening today, but from here on out is the real trip.”

Today is the last day.

If everything goes well, we will be sleeping in Marsfield tonight.

Suddenly a cold chill ran up Ellis’s spine.

“Frau, sorry! Raise your maul to the sky!”

Following Ellis’s instructions without question, Frau pulled out her crimson maul and pointed it to the heavens.

Immediately after, a lightning bolt came crashing down from the sky and struck her maul. It was originally heading for Maria’s carriage, but Frau’s maul acted as a lightning rod and diverted the bolt’s direction.

Ellis immediately casted Full Recovery on Frau before looking to Reeve for directions.

Claire has already loaded a {Lightning Shower} spell into her boiler suit.

Katie is guiding her Magical horse around to be able to charge at any direction.

“Enemies at 10 o’clock!”

Once Reeve located the presence of the assailants and shouted out their location, Ellis turned her Magical horse in that direction and got ready to charge.

“Muscle group, wait here!”

Meanwhile the group of magicians who had cast the spell had yet to adapt to the battle’s sudden development.

“What!? {Thunder} has diverted off target!”

A beastman magician with the head of a dog cried out in surprise.

The ones who attacked were a group of Anubis-like beastmen.

The {Lightning Shower} that Claire had stored was released upon the would-be assassins.

As the static shock paralyzed them, Katie charged into the group, jumping off her Magical horse into the center of the five. With one strike, Katie dug her claws into one of their chests, killing him. The other four all ended up with a cut, and they were rendered unable to move again because of the effect of Stupor.

“Keep one of them alive!” Ellis yelled that as she shoved her estoc up from beneath one of the assailants, going through his bottom jaw and entering his brain.

“It’s too late!”

“That’s impossible!”

By that time, Reeve had already decapitated another assassin while Frau’s maul had rendered the fourth one’s head into a scrambled egg.

“All of you are so impatient.” Claire switched from an {Explosion} spell and switched her chant to {Bind}.

Ellis’s group bound and gagged the only surviving member. Thus the Anubis’s attack was successfully put to an end.

The title of this chapter is originally Gachi Gachi Hello. Gachi being Japanese slang that I translated to Super last chapter with the brothers being gachihomo.

1. Japanese preserved vegetables. Similar to pickled vegetables.