CH 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 space 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?”

They 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.