CH 240

“Have a safe trip!”

“It’s good to be alone once in a while.”

“Thank you. Then, Makina, good luck with that.”

“Yes!”

I know I’ve been eating a lot, but Makina has just finished her lunch and resumed her training. I told her I was going into town, and she just saw me off.

The horses thought they were going for a walk and came up to me, but I couldn’t take them into town, so Makina gently led them back to the stables.

“Well, Fath-san was right, it’s been a while since I went out alone. I’ve been with someone most of my life, so it’s refreshing to be alone ……”

As I recall, my brother was with me most of the time, training with Verna-sensei and living with Ryuuze and my classmates at the academy. Makina is still with me, so it’s actually been quite a while since I’ve been on my own. 

“…… I’m getting a little nervous ……”

I walked to the shopping district and headed to the butcher shop. I thought I’d make hamburgers for dinner. But when I got there–

“Can you make this meat into ground meat?”

“Ground meat? What kind of meat is that?”

When I asked to have the beef and pork I bought ground, I received such a response. Ground meat sounds like something you’d find, though ……

“Well, it’s like pounding the meat with the back of a knife to make a paste or something like that.”

When I explained how to make it with a knife since there was probably no such thing as a minced meat machine, the butcher’s father clapped his hands and smiled back at me.

“Oh! What, so you mean scrap meat! I don’t mind, but it’s a shame to turn good meat into garbage, you know? Do you want to feed it to the dogs? You look like a rich guy.”

I see, so they call it scrap meat here. But apparently, minced meat is processed from meat that is not in good condition and fed to pets. That’s why it doesn’t appear on the dinner table even in poor times.

“I need some ground meat for a dish I want to make. Well, I’ll try it myself.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that I can’t do it. Give it to me.”

I handed the meat to the father, and he retreated to the back of the room and started crisping it up with that square meat knife. Soon each piece of minced meat was ready, and he wrapped it up and handed it to me.

“There you go, just like what you ordered.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“Well, I’m not busy today, so don’t worry about it! But this new dish, is it good?”

“Yeah, it’s great in my opinion. I’ll need some onions, breadcrumbs, milk …… and a few spices.”

“Wait a minute, spices? It looks like it’s going to spend a lot of money …… What the hell can you do with it …… If you can do it, let me have some, as a butcher I’d like to know.”

As I was talking about my next goal, the father narrowed his eyes at me. Apparently, he was curious about how I’ll cook the scrap meat.

“Hmm, I can make a small one out of this amount, if that’s okay.”

“Oh! I’ll give you a little extra at that time, I’m Craig.”

For some reason, it’s been decided that I’ll let the butcher taste it, and I agreed that it would be okay if he gave me a discount, so I left the butcher shop and went to the grocery store to buy onions, bread, and salt, pepper, and nutmeg. The sauce should be ketchup based.

“The salt was expensive, but the pepper was not. No wonder the butcher’s father told me that it’s going to spend so much money. But I wonder if this will make Makina happy.”

I thought of her smiling face as I walked through town. I walk elsewhere to see if it’s too early to go home. Of course, I didn’t want the meat to go bad.

“As expected, It’s a big place compared to the town of Gust. The east side is a residential area. Is that where I live? Is that the theater she said was in the back of the shopping district? It’s big …… The castle is to the north, and to the west are stables, fields, and a blacksmith shop. There’s a lot of smoke. Farmers may also be relieved to be able to produce in the capital.”

I go up with levitation up to the roof of the clock tower in the square a little west of the main street leading to the castle and looked around. The town was large enough that it would take several hours to walk from one end to the other, and there were a few stores on the west side of the street from the shopping district. In order to prevent the creation of so-called slums, which are the stuff of stories, the plots are maintained and there are few places that are hard to reach.

“I’d also like to check the location of the theater, and I’m also curious about the blacksmith shop. I wonder how Arjan-san is doing.”

After I had my Sarge Equipment made, I had visited the place a few times, but it was difficult to get to the country next door, so I naturally drifted away, and I hadn’t been there in recent years. I landed in the park, thinking that if I summoned Sarge, I would be able to fly away.

“Well, I guess it’s time to go home and when I start preparing, it’ll be just at the right time.”

I landed in the shade of a tree in the park, where there would be few people. I don’t mind if people see me, but I don’t want to startle them. The moment I turned my feet to see if the exit was that way, I heard a child’s voice.

“Where did you come from? Are you lost? Want to come to my house then? What ……?”

When I looked in the direction of the voice, I saw a small girl crouched down and talking to something. Lost …… I can’t see her, but if anything, she looks like a lost child.

…… a little dim, huh? There are thoughtless people, just like when Luciel was kidnapped. I called out to the girl to show her to a brighter place.

“Hey, you, what’s wrong?”

“Hyaaa!? Who are you, brother?”

“I’m Lars. It’s not safe for you to be out here in the middle of nowhere, let’s go to the square.”

“I’m Chelle! It’s okay, I come to this park a lot!”

Then a girl named Chelle quickly hid something behind her back. When I looked at her, she started to back away from me.

“Thank you for worrying about me! See you later, big brother Lars!”

“Y-Yeah.”

Chelle runs away from me with a swoosh. After getting some distance, she turned her back on me, and in her hand was…

“…… A Bonsai?”

(T/N: A bonsai is a miniature potted plant.)

A small tree was held in her hand.

It’s not really a bonsai because it doesn’t have a pot, but is she talking to that?

“…… It reminds me of the old days when I used to complain to my stuffed animals ……”

Shaking my head that it wasn’t a good memory, I scratched my head as I left the park and headed for home. For now, let’s make hamburgers!

A hunch of an incident?

While practicing, but there it that!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“A child with a name ……! That’s important!”

Don’t put it in that category …… There were no adventurers with names in Oriola, either!