Chapter 6: Let’s Go Home

The Meat Dungeon Festival was over, so now we were entertaining the notion of going back to Karelina. My familiars, especially Fel, strongly wanted to dive into the dungeon one last time for meat, but I had to put the kibosh on that. While my Item Box could fit the extra meat, it was already being taken over by all the drops from that dungeon my familiars got.

Since I had way too much meat, I was thinking that I could use some as a souvenir for all my servants waiting for me in Karelina.

Let’s make a feast for them using the dungeon pork and dungeon beef once I’m back. It might also be nice to have everyone come to the Meat Dungeon Festival with us next year.

So just like that, it was decided for us to return to Karelina, and I began preparations.

As always, first was preparing the food that we’d eat on the way. All of my familiars are huge eaters, so I needed to make thorough preparations on that front. While it was possible for me to cook food on the spot, it was much easier for me to prepare food beforehand. And so, I started diligently cooking in preparation for our trip.

I made everyone’s favorite karaage and pork cutlet, as well as chicken cutlet and hamburg steak cutlet. Basically the whole gamut of fried foods. I also made hamburg steak, ginger fried pork, teriyaki chicken, and extra-meat stir fries. I stocked up on all our usual foods, but I used the meat dungeon drops this time since I had so many.

After two days of preparation, I received a visit from Maynard and Enzo.

“Thank you so, so much, Master!”

“Thank you very much!” Maynard and Enzo were flooding me with gratitude.

While they had the confidence to do well, apparently they still hadn’t been sure if they’d make it into the top five.

“We made it into fifth place on our first try. It’s like a dream.”

“Yeah. Ever since we won, we’ve been really busy talking to all the stores that want to recruit us.” I was told that they actually wanted to come thank me immediately, but they were flooded with so many recruitment offers from different places that they were too busy to leave the orphanage until now.

“Well, you did place fifth on your first try. I bet they expect a lot out of you two.”

“That’s great, but...”

“Yeah. To tell you the truth...” According to them, they wanted to try going into business for themselves.

Apparently, while their plan was to place in the festival so they could get employed somewhere and train there, while they were running their stall during the festival, their opinions changed.

“This way we’ll be able to cook and serve what we want, and we can also hear the opinions of our customers directly.”

“Yeah. I was really happy serving something I thought was great and seeing the customers so happy. When I experienced that, I started thinking it would be better to have our own place instead of working somewhere else...”

That’s true. Especially since with a stall they’ll be able to speak directly to their customers. And most importantly, if they work at a restaurant they’ll only be able to cook what’s on their menu. There’s no doubt that by being employed they won’t be able to have their own way anymore.

At any rate, after worrying over it a lot, apparently they discussed it with the orphanage’s director.

When they did...

“She told us to try managing our own stall first. She also said that we should be able to make the stall ourselves with the help of the kids that are trying to become carpenters.”

Riiiight, since I think all the stalls for the Meat Dungeon Festival had to be rented from the Merchant’s guild.

Since it was decided that they’d be able to swing something with the little money they had on hand and the orphanage’s help, they decided to start a stall by themselves. Plus, they now had the honor of placing fifth in the Meat Dungeon Festival, so they were really excited about it since they now had confidence that they’d do well.

“Am I right in thinking that you’ll be serving offal?”

“Yeah. We plan to continue practicing what you taught us. It’s delicious, and we can get the meat for cheap, so that’s a plus too.” Apparently they planned to enlist the help of the adventurers who came from the orphanage to get their supply even cheaper than usual.

“I think you already know this, but since you’ll be using organs and intestines...”

“They go bad fast so you have to use them while they’re still fresh, right?”

“Exactly. Be careful of that.”

““Got it.””

“Ah, right. I heard this from someone in the Merchant’s guild. It sounded like your stall was doing well, Master.”

“Yeah, he said, ‘If he kept it up for all three days he’d have been a shoo-in for the top five.’” According to them, I managed to get to 13th place on one day alone.

That’s amazing for only one day, especially on my first try.

“The more aware chefs are on the lookout for your cooking, Master. There are people already trying to copy you, too.”

“Hmm~? That so? Already? Well, it’s not like hot dogs are that hard to make,” I said, and for some reason the two of them heaved a sigh.

“I know how weird it is to be saying this after you taught us so much, but normally this is the type of thing you never teach anyone else, and just trying to copy it would start a fight.”

“A fight? Aren’t you exaggerating a bit too much, Enzo? It’s just a hot dog. Bread and sausages aren’t anything new. I just put them together.” After all, I decided on hot dogs after taking into account what did and did not already exist in this world.

I even locally sourced the bread from the orphanage, although I did specify the shape to them. And as for the sausage, there were a lot of places in this town even now that sold them, so it wasn’t exactly rare.

“That’s just naive, Master. Sure they already exist, but you’re the one who came up with the idea to ‘combine’ them, Master. So the dish is yours. And everyone knows you’re the one who served the hot dogs first during the Meat Dungeon Festival, too. That’s why you have the right to make a complaint about anyone who tries to copy it,” Maynard explained.

That might be true, but I didn’t even come up with hot dogs. They already existed for a long time in my world.

“I don’t feel like complaining. Just leave them alone. Not to mention it’s better that they’re all working hard so that people can enjoy hot dogs,” I said, causing the two of them to heave another sigh.

“How should I put this... It’s just like Master to say that, but now I feel like an idiot for trying so hard to steal his techniques.”

“Yeah.” Apparently they originally just wanted to steal any recipe they could from me since I knew so much about cooking.

“I mean, if you ask I’ll teach you.”

“And you’d be the only one.”

“Yeah. Normally chefs don’t teach anyone.”

“Well, I mean, I’m not a chef or anything.”

“What are you saying?! You’ve got the skills of a cooking specialist!”

“Yeah! Actually, you’re better!”

Like, even if you say that... It’s all basically thanks to my Online Supermarket... Like, all the seasonings and stuff I can get from there are just amazing.

“I have no right to tell you this, but you need to stop giving recipes away so easily,” Maynard advised.

I answered with, “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try my best.”

But that made Enzo cry out, “I’m begging you! At the very least keep your offal dishes a secret! There are chefs already trying to copy it, just like with your hot dogs.”

“Huh? You mean the stew I taught you guys?”

“Yes. But it looks like they can’t get the cleaning right, so it’s all come out terrible so far.”

Well, of course. Without proper cleaning entrails are disgusting.

“So we’re going to try and compete using the offal dishes you taught us. That’s why you need to keep them a secret! Please! I’m begging you! You gotta!”

“Wai-, W-Wai-!! You two’re too close! Okay! I get it! I won’t teach anyone!” I declared, and the two of them finally seemed relieved.

But...

“What about the other kids at the orphanage?” I taught a lot of them how to clean my entrails.

“That’s covered. They all know reeeaaallly~ well what they need to do.” I wasn’t sure why, but the two of them grinned creepily.

Hey now, I don’t know what you guys did but that expression just looks evil.

“Anyway, I was pretty much going to leave anyway...”

“Huh?! Already?!”

“It shouldn’t be surprising, Maynard. I’m not from this town anyway.”

“That’s true, but...”

“I got a lot of meat from the meat dungeon, and had plenty of fun at the Meat Dungeon Festival. I’m pretty much done here.”

“But we wanted to learn more from you...”

“Don’t be like that, Enzo. You two did really well during the Meat Dungeon Festival. You’ll be fine.”

“But I wanted to ask you how to make that stew even better!”

“What? You should be the ones to do that. You need to figure out how to make it better on your own through trial and error. That’s how you guys made that ‘ultimate sauce’ as you call it, right? It’s the same idea,” I said, but they still looked uneasy.

“What’s with those faces? I’ll come back next year for the festival too, so just keep experimenting on your own until then. I’m looking forward to it!” My words caused the two of them to look at each other.

And then...

““Yes, Master!””

“Oh, right. Changing the subject, I want to order more bread from the orphanage. Can I get you two to tell them?” The bread rolls I got from them seemed like they’d have a lot of uses, so I decided to stock up before I left.

“Yes, of course. It’s thanks to you that we’ve started to get more orders too. We were in a dry spell before you came along. Our director is really happy about it.” According to them, people had learned that the buns for the hot dog I served were ordered from the orphanage, so they were getting a lot more orders now.

“Then I’ll head over tomorrow evening. I’d like to buy as much as I can of however much you have ready to eat by then. Can you tell the director that?” With my Item Box that stopped time, I wouldn’t have to worry about mold or anything, so I could buy as much as I wanted.

“Got it. You really are a huge spender though, Master.”

“I am an S-ranked adventurer, after all.” That was almost entirely due to Fel and the others, though.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Okay, so I’ll go to the orphanage tomorrow evening to buy the bread I asked for, and then we can leave for Karelina the day after tomorrow, I think?

After dinner, I was taking a breather with a cup of coffee while pondering plans.

As for Fel and the others...

《Yes. This white one is delicious.》

《I needed this! Pudding’s the best~!》

《Sweet cakes... They’re all so delicious!》 They were having dessert.

I actually bought some for myself too.

They were doing an autumn festival, so I started reminiscing about falls in Japan. When I laid eyes on a Mont Blanc, I couldn’t help myself and got one.

I took a bite out of the creamy mountain and a sip of my drink. Mmm, good. This chestnut purée is truly to die for. The chestnut flavor was definitely there, and it wasn’t too sweet, so it paired well with my coffee.

As I pondered leaving this town the day after tomorrow while enjoying my Mont Blanc...

“Huh? I feel like I’m forgetting something...” What was it............ Ah! I remember! It’s the gods! I’m forgetting the gods.

It was coming up on a month since I last gave them an offering. They were probably getting impatient by now.

I guess I’ll go and talk to them before I sleep. I’ll get the shopping done before tomorrow evening, since I’m free until I need to go to the orphanage.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“Hello! Anybody there~?” I called out, and was greeted by the pitter-patter of several feet.

＜Finally... Finally...! We’ve been waiting so loooong!!＞

＜We really have~.＞

＜Yo! Kept us waitin’, didn’t ya?＞

＜...You did.＞

＜Whiskey! Give us whiskey!＞

＜Gaahh! It’s been so long!＞ For some reason, it sounded like some of them were at the end of their rope.

“Uhh, I think the plan should be for me to listen to your requests now, and I’ll get your offerings ready tomorrow during the day to hand over to you all tomorrow evening.”

＜R-Realllyyyyy?!＞

＜You’re such a fool, Ninrir~. Oh my.＞

＜Yeah. Actually, wait a second, isn’t your desperation your own fault since you just indulged yourself with what you got without planning or budgeting at all?＞

＜...You got what you deserved.＞

＜Well if you’re going to put it like that, those alcoholics over there are in the same boat.＞

＜Grk... I don’t have a comeback for that... but it’s so humiliating being considered the same as that idiot.＞

＜Don’t lump us in with Ninrir, who ate through that huge amount of stuff in just half a month. We managed to make ours last much longer. We only ran out three days ago.＞

...............Holy crap Ninrir.

Even the hard-drinking liquor-loving combo was saying things like, ‘humiliating,’ and ‘don’t lump us in with her.’

＜Sssshhhh... SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU! I mean! Like! It was so delicious! Nobody’d be able to resist thaaaaat!＞

Oh no. She snapped. I always thought she was rather disappointing for a goddess, but is it just me or has her defectiveness level only stepped up? Like, seriously? You ate all that in only half a month? That’s actually scary. You sure you’re doing fine on weight, Ninrir?

＜Heeheehee, I heard that. It’s true, Ninrir got fat after she met you, otherworlder boy. But she went back to normal during our house arrest, though I don’t know if that’s good fortune on her part or not. But you know what? She got fat again in a single month. And she’s much worse this time. Even her cheeks are sooo plump.＞

＜Yep yep. Ninrir’ll never admit it, but Kisharle’s right. She’s fatter than ever.＞

＜.........Fatty.＞

＜Hm, now that you mention it, Ninrir does seem more plump than before.＞

＜Definitely.＞

＜WAAARRGGGHHH! How dare all of you gang up on me like that! I-I’m not fat! S-Sure I might have gained just a liiiiittle weight, but I’m not fat! It’s true! And you! Ruka! Don’t call me a fatty you slanderer!＞

＜It’s true. Look, your clothes have become so tight.＞

＜Grk...! Th-this is...! Y-Y-Y-You know! Uhh... R-Right! It’s just a coincidence! A coincidence!＞

...Ninrir ...coincidence? Really? There’s a limit to how blatantly you should lie.

“Uhmmm... W-Well, you are a goddess, so I don’t think you’ll end up contracting diabetes or some other lifestyle-affecting disease, but please exercise some self-control.”

＜I-I know already!＞

“Getting back to it, I wanted to hear all your requests.”

＜Yes! Me-me-me! I’m first!! I’m always first!!＞ Ninrir was on a whole other level of excitement.

I heard the other gods whispering to themselves, half in resignation, ＜Let’s just have her hurry up and go so we can get it over with.＞

＜I don’t like admitting this, but even with some extra paunch Ninrir is an earth-shattering beauty when she keeps her mouth shut. It’s such a shame...＞

＜Heheheh... Don’t say that so seriously, Kisharle. You’re making me feel sorry for her.＞

＜But you think so too, right Agni?＞

＜Well, sure...＞

＜Ninrir is no good. Everyone in the divine realm knows.＞

Hey now, Ninrir, your fellow goddesses are really heaping on some verbal abuse here.

It seemed like she hadn’t heard them at all though.

＜Of course, I need dorayaki. Dorayaki is great. I’ll never get tired of it. Other than that, I also need cakes from Fumiya. Those are good too. They have so many different varieties, and each one is a delight. So I want a whole smorgasbord of cakes! Oh, right! If any new ones have come out... Wait, hey! Are you listening?! I’m talking about something important here!＞

Important? You’re just talking about what you want to eat. Hearing this, it’s just becoming harder and harder to imagine Ninrir as an earth-shattering beauty.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m listening. Don’t worry. You want dorayaki and cakes from Fumiya.”

＜Indeed. Especially any new ones!＞

“I know already. I’ll get you anything new. I can just decide on my own for anything left over right?”

＜Indeed you can. Ah, but they need to be sweets, got it?! I’m counting on you!＞

“Sure, sure. I know, I know.”

This was the same as usual, but every time I think about Ninrir’s offerings, it’s just so much sweetness I feel like I’ll get heartburn.

＜Next is me, Kisharle. I’d like the usual face wash foam, lotion, and cream. Oh, and also some facial sheet packs. Also...＞ Kisharle asked for slightly more expensive face wash foam, lotion, cream, and facial sheet packs than usual. And anything left over she wanted to go into beauty products for the face.

I was told that she was still good on shampoo and hair treatment from the last refill, and the same was true for body soap.

Since that was the case, she wanted beauty products for her face.

Kisharle specifically asked for some sort of beauty lotion that would work well in moisturizing her face.

My gut instinct was that she shouldn’t ask me about this kind of stuff, but I had no other choice but to try and fulfill her requests as accurately as possible by paging through my Online Supermarket.

After I listened to Kisharle’s order, it was Agni’s turn.

＜Of course I’ll be having beer! I’d like a box of the usual blue one and gold one. Other than that, I liked how I got such a wide variety last time. Could you get me something like that with the rest?＞

A wide variety of beer... Ah! She’s talking about the comparison set. If she likes that, then there’s several more comparison sets, even for foreign beers. Maybe I’ll get some of those.

＜Oh, and some snacks that go well with beer would be nice. You know, like those grilled guts you made before. Those look like they’d be great with beer.＞

True, grilled offal goes amazingly well with beer. Those hot dogs I made for the Meat Dungeon Festival would be great, too. I haven’t made any sausages for the trip, so maybe I should take tomorrow to do that and set some aside for Agni. And let’s make some other simple stuff to go with her beer too.

＜Other than that, I’d of course like the rest to be spent on beer. I’ll leave it to you to pick. I’m counting on you to get some good ones!＞

She seemed to like that local beer comparison set immediately, so maybe I should choose a selection based off of new beers from famous brands? Well whatever, in times like these I should just rely on recommendations from the store.

＜I’m next. I want ice cream.＞ It seemed like Miss Ruka was completely hooked on ice cream, since she centered her request on it this time as well.

As I listened further, I was told that she wanted to have a large variety of ice cream flavors.

Up until now I’d been mostly doing cups of ice cream from Fumiya, but I decided to pick from the general Online Supermarket this time instead.

She also wanted cake slices, especially new ones like Ninrir did.

＜I also want food. The food you were cooking to prepare for your journey looked good. I want it.＞

O-Ohhh... They were watching me the whole time? Well, I made a lot for the trip so I think I can spare some for Ruka.

Last up was, of course, Hephaestos and Vahagn.

＜It’s finally our turn.＞

＜We’ve been discussing what we want next. We’re mostly done.＞ It seemed like the two of them were having a lively convo about what to pick while sipping on some whiskey, and they’d mostly reached a consensus.

＜First, we’d like the usual world’s best whisky. Both of us like it, so one bottle for each of us.＞

＜Yeah. With the rest of the money, we want new whiskies we’ve never had before.＞

＜Yep. We want to try a bunch of different flavors. Also, try to give us as large a variety as possible.＞

Which means they’d rather have a lot of modestly priced stuff rather than some expensive stuff. Time to rely on the store recs some more then.

“Okay, then. I’ll send your offerings tomorrow night.”

＜Okay. Don’t you dare forget what I asked for!＞

“I know already. I have it written down, stop worrying.” I did indeed write down all their orders on a memo pad I bought with my skill.

＜Right then. We’ll be looking forward to it~.＞

＜See ya tomorrow!＞

＜Tomorrow.＞

＜We can’t wait!＞

＜We’re counting on you!＞

Tomorrow’s shaping up to be pretty busy.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“Whew. This should do it.” I had a ton of finished sausages in front of me.

Some were set aside for offerings to Agni and Ruka, but I made extra since I figured if I was going to be making them anyway, I should have some for us too. I had two kinds of sausages. The ones for hot dogs were simply seasoned with salt and pepper, while the other ones were a coarsely-ground black pepper and lemon herb flavor (heavy on the black pepper).

While I was at it, I made a lot of ground meat to refill my stock so that I would be ready to cook with ground meat at any time. Ground meat has a lot of uses, after all. There’s meat soboro, vegetable stir fries, hamburg steak cutlets...

Ah, maybe I should make some meatballs next time.

I liked meatballs that were well fried in oil so they were firm and crisp on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside, but since that required oil, I never tried making them. They were too much trouble.

Yeah, let’s try making some next time I’m free. I can even make extra and build up a stock.

Now that I’d thought of it, I suddenly got a real craving for them.

Okay. I’m definitely making them when I’m free next. Oh, whoops. I need to get back to Agni and Ruka’s hot dogs.

This time I tried baking the sausages in the oven. I’d put them in earlier while I was preparing more sausages to store, so they were about done by now.

I put away the huge pile of raw sausages in my Item Box before peeking into the oven.

“Yeah, looks good.” I retrieved the sausages from the oven, and...

My familiars were all standing behind me.

“............” Fel was trying to act aloof and unaffected, but he was drooling.

Dora-chan had his eyes glued onto the sausages even while flapping furiously to stay still in the air.

And Sui just kinda seemed like it was looking my way.

“These aren’t for you. I’m offering them to the gods.”

《What?!》

《It’s not for us?!》

《We can’t eat it?》

“Hey, come on, didn’t you guys have a full breakfast?”

《That is different. It has nothing to do with the sausages here and now.》

《Exactly. I was just getting a little peckish.》

《Sui wants them...》 Fel and Dora-chan aside, Sui sounding so sad was getting to me.

“Anyway, these are for the gods, so no,” I said, before getting back to preparing the hot dogs for Agni and Ruka.

I put the baked sausages in some bread I bought with my skill and topped it with lots of ketchup and mustard. I kept the hot dogs I served for the Meat Dungeon Festival in mind and made sure to keep it simple, with only sausage between the bread.

I decided to give the goddesses a larger portion, so I cooked five for each of them.

“So, why are you three still here?”

《It smells so good I cannot leave.》

《Yeah! Feed us!》

《Masterrr, Sui wants to eaaat!》

Oh fine.

“You won’t get a lot. It’ll just be a snack.”

《Okay.》

《Tch! Fine...》

《Snack!》

Once again, I put some sausages into the oven to cook. There were ten each for my familiars. Of course, they managed to finish all ten like it was nothing. And even after that, they ate just as much as usual for lunch, as if nothing happened.

Just what is going on with this gluttonous trio’s stomachs?

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

After lunch, I was busy buying all the items that the gods requested. The stuff that I picked out while scratching my head and looking at my notes were separated into different cardboard boxes for each of them. I made a pretty serious effort in choosing, so I was fairly confident that they’d be happy. It was actually pretty fun, going through sections of the Online Supermarket I never frequented and seeing new products I never knew existed.

Well, thanks to that I ended up buying some things for myself on impulse. While I was looking at makeup and beauty products for Kisharle, I found a section for men’s cosmetics, and since the skin on my cheeks was getting pretty dry, I ended up buying some face cream of my own.

Also, while I was looking through my Tenant, Liquor Shop Tanaka, I found a new canned chuhai that was being advertised. Thanks to that, I remembered that I hadn’t had any chuhai at all since I was summoned to this world, and that made me want some, so I bought that as well as a tasting set of ten cans of chuhai from S-company.

At any rate, I had fun shopping for the gods and myself, and by the time I’d finished, it was already about time to go to the orphanage for bread.

“Heeyyy, everyone! I’m going to go to the orphanage now to get the bread I ordered. What do you all want to do? Want to come with or stay home?” I already knew where the orphanage was, and it wasn’t like this town was dangerous, so I figured I’d be fine even on my own.

《I am bored, so I will go with you. There might be some good food to discover at the stalls on the way.》

《You’re right. I’m going too.》

《Sui wants to come too~!》

Gah, they want to go to more stalls?! They’re just incorrigible.

In the end, we leapfrogged to three stalls that caught my familiars’ eyes on the way to the orphanage. Well, at least they were all delicious. I ended up buying a lot from each stall to either eat during the trip or gift to my servants back in Karelina, so I couldn’t complain.

At any rate, after a couple detours, we finally reached the orphanage.

“Hello~!” I called out as I entered the grounds, and since I was a familiar face, I was quickly led to the director.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Mukohda.” The director greeted me with a smile.

“Is the bread I asked for ready?”

“Yes, of course. Since it was you ordering, everyone worked happily through the night. The bread is here.” I was shown to a worktable, on top of which nicely baked bread rolls were piled up.

“Ohh, there’s quite a lot. That’s great. Then I’ll take all of them.” There were more on the table than I ordered for the Meat Dungeon Festival.

I stored the bread rolls in my Item Box and took out a bag I prepared yesterday.

“Hup. Here’s your money.” I put the bag in front of the director with a thud.

It was filled with 200 gold coins.

The director was staring at the heavy-looking bag, confused.

“Uhhh, this is your payment for the bread, plus an extra donation.” The director peeked inside, and her eyes widened.

“Mr. Mukohda, this is...”

“This orphanage is quite old, please use it to remodel.”

“This is a very kind and generous offer, but this is still far too much money to accept. Even if we completely rebuilt this building, there would be a lot left over.”

Huh? Really? I figured that 200 gold would help them a little, but I guess it was too much.

But still...

“If there’s any left over, just use it for the children.”

“But...”

“They helped me make some fun memories in this town, and they also helped me a lot in other ways too. Please, I want to give this to you. I am an S-ranked adventurer, so I’m not bothered by the amount. Please don’t hold back.”

“Mr. Mukohda... Thank you very much. We will use it well.”

“Okay, then, it’s about time for me to leave. ...Oh right. I heard that Maynard and Enzo are going to be starting their own stall. If they need more funds then please help them a little. Also, please tell them, ‘I’ll come back next year so train hard,’” I told the director.

She smiled at me. “I’ll be sure to pass on the message.”

When I was about to leave the orphanage with Fel and the others, the director and all the nuns sent me off with bowed heads and hands clasped in prayer.

I could feel their deep gratitude, and it made me feel like donating money was worth it.

Well, at least when I had the spare funds.

《Okay. You are done, yes? We are going to tour stalls.》

“What? When did we decide that?”

《We are leaving tomorrow, correct? Then this will be the last hurrah.》

《Oh, that sounds great!》

《Yaayyy! Meat~!》

《Then we are in agreement. Let us be off!》 Fel commanded, and the trio of gluttony ran off.

“Ahh, wait! You can’t buy food without money so you can’t just leave me behind!” I hurried to catch up to Fel and the others, who were already rushing towards where the stalls were.

As it would happen, my familiars had extra motivation since this would be the last time, and ended up eating at a pace that would drain all the stalls in the town dry. As for me, I just considered myself lucky that I wouldn’t have to cook dinner for them. Also, I took the opportunity to buy even more food from stalls as souvenirs, so I was quite happy.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone,” I called out and was greeted by a crowd of voices and footsteps.

＜I almost couldn’t stand waiting!! Hurry, hurry! My sweets! Give me my sweeeets!!!＞

H-Hey Ninrir! W-Wait a second, you’re too excited!

＜Hey now Ninrir, calm down a little.＞

＜Yeah, geez.＞

＜...Fool.＞

＜I never want to become like that...＞

＜My feelings exactly.＞

Wow, everyone thinks about her the same way... Geez, how sad can one goddess get?

“Uhhh, then I’ll send them to you all in order. Please accept my offerings. First is Ninrir’s.” I set up Ninrir’s cardboard box.

Inside were all the items she wished for: her favorite dorayaki and a variety of cakes.

As for any new flavors, their autumn fair and Halloween fair just happened to be in full swing so I made my choices from those menus.

When you think about fall flavors, the first thing that’d come to mind would be chestnuts, so I chose a Mont Blanc that used three different types of chestnut cream, and a chestnut roll cake with lots of chestnuts in it. I also got her an apple pie that used domestic apples, an apple cake with a whole apple in it, and a pear tart.

The box, through which I could subtly smell what was inside, disappeared as soon as I lined it up on the altar.

“Woah...!”

＜Waaaaahhhh! I’ve been waiting so long for sweets from the other wooorrrllld! *Snff* Finally... Finally! I can eat sooommmeee! Thank youuuuu!＞

............She’s totally crying. If you’re gonna cry that hard why not just plan out how you’re going to eat things instead of gorging on them all at once?

＜Hey now, Ninrir. Don’t eat here. That’s unseemly.＞

＜Shut up! I’ve been waiting so long for these! I’m eating them now!＞

＜Woah! She’s gobbling them up! She’s got food in both hands!!＞

＜Your mouth is plastered with cream. Filthy.＞

＜Woah there, you’re her fellow goddesses, right? Do something about her.＞

＜Yeah. She’s just unsettling to look at.＞

＜What? I’ve got nothing to do with that.＞

I understood why the three goddesses were like that, but the fact that the liquor lover combo was being so cruel was a bad sign.

＜Aghh, geez. Let’s just leave Ninrir alone and go to the next one. Hear that, otherworlder boy?＞

“Y-You sure?”

＜It’ll be fine. She’s already gorging herself on the cakes and stuff she got from you. She’ll probably have her fill eventually.＞

She’s supposed to be a goddess, but they said she was... gorging herself...

＜Waaahhhh! It’s been so long since I’ve had dorayaki and cakes, they’re so goooooood!＞

...Yeah, I guess I should just let sleeping ‘gods’ lie on this one.

“Uhh, then let’s move on. Next is Lady Kisharle.”

I set up Kisharle’s cardboard box. Of course, the inside was packed with beauty products. I’d bought the entire set of her slightly expensive skincare products, as per her request.

Other than that, she asked for beauty products for the face, so I selected some items marked as premium for her. Though the price for them was also premium. One was a beauty lotion that was advertised as being able to help a person regain their skin’s original bounce and smoothness. Its price was high, a surprising 1 gold and 4 silver. Regardless of that high price, the effects made it a very popular product.

One other was a beauty oil that was on the recommended page. It was apparently made by blending five carefully selected natural plant oils together for a light and nice feel on the skin, and was advertised to bring back gloss and moisture when applied. Also, it said that the oil could be used not just for the face, but also the hair and the rest of a person’s body. I’d heard beauty oils were popular among women nowadays, and this one was the most highly recommended of them. The oil also cost me 1 gold and 4 silver. As always, good beauty products cost an arm and a leg.

At any rate, I was fairly confident Kisharle would be satisfied with my selection. After the cardboard box disappeared, I started telling Kisharle about my purchases and how to use them, and she seemed quite interested.

＜So, this is an effective beauty lotion and the most recommended beauty oil right now? Thank you, otherworlder boy. Heehee, I’m looking forward to using them both. By the way, for this oil, how do I use it?＞

“Wait a second please.”

There should have been instructions on the page...

I checked the product page, and they were there.

“Uhhh, it looks like there’s more than one use? First, it seems that if you use it right after you wash your face, it’ll soften your skin and help facial lotion seep in better. Also, you can use it in place of cream after you apply facial and beauty lotion. Apparently if you mix it with facial lotion or cream they will boost its moisturizing ability. Other than that, it seems you can use it instead of massage oil when you get a massage. It says here to adjust the amount and style of usage according to the state of your skin.”

＜Hmmm~, so it has a lot of uses. I’ll have to try it today then. I’m looking forward to it~.＞

＜You should be done now, right Kisharle? Switch with me.＞

＜Aww, Agni, don’t be in such a rush.＞ Then Agni, tired of waiting, made her presence known.

＜I’m next. Hurry and give it.＞

“Sure, sure. Here you go.” I set up Agni’s cardboard box.

Of course, it was filled with beer.

As she wished, I had a box of S-company’s premium beer in the blue cans, Y-bisu beer in the golden cans, and two local beer comparison sets.

Other than that, I got her a foreign beer comparison set, some black beer, and some new beers. Anyway, there were a lot of different beers packed inside, which should’ve satisfied Agni the beer fanatic.

Also, since she asked for snacks that would go well with beer, I packed in the grilled offal she asked for, as well as hot dogs and a portion of the other fried travel rations I’d made.

＜Ohhh! This looks great! Thanks, man! I’m gonna have some as soon as I get home!＞ I kind of felt like I should’ve kept quiet about it, but Agni felt kind of like a middle-aged man.

I’d never met her in person, but I could just imagine her snacking on fried foods or grilled offal while downing beer after beer, just like a standard old dad or something.

＜I’m next.＞

Oh, it’s Miss Ruka. Uhhh, her box is... this one.

As soon as I’d set up her cardboard box, it disappeared. Inside, there was ice cream and cake. There were the usual cups from Fumiya, as well as several things I picked out from the general Online Supermarket. I got her everything from a pretty expensive American ice cream brand to a few more affordable kinds.

As for the cakes, I picked out the same stuff that I gave to Ninrir. She also wanted food, so I shared some of my travel rations with her too, including the hot dogs I made during the afternoon.

＜Lots of ice cream. Lots of cake. Lots of food. I’m happy. Thank you.＞ It felt to me like Ruka’s voice carried just a subtle hint of elation in it, so it seemed like she was quite happy with the offering.

That’s great to know.

＜Great, then last is us!＞

＜Bring it!＞

Whadda ya mean, ‘bring it’? Geez.

I set up the cardboard box for the Hephaestos and Vahagn. It was stuffed with whiskey bottles, so it was rather heavy. Other than the usual world’s best whisky from a domestic brand, I’d picked up as many different varieties of whiskey as I could at their request. I put in domestic whiskys, Scotch whiskies, Irish whiskeys, American whiskeys, and Canadian whiskies. Basically, everything I could get my hands on at an affordable price.

“Hup. This is the last box. It’s heavy, so be careful.”

＜Alright.＞ As soon as I heard Hephaestos’ reply, the heavy cardboard box disappeared.

＜Yahooo! This is exactly what we asked for! Thanks!＞

＜We definitely asked for as many varieties as possible. With all these choices, it’ll definitely be fun trying them. I’m grateful!＞

＜Alright! Let’s start drinking now, War god!＞

＜Of course, Blacksmithing god!＞ I heard the thumping of footsteps.

............Uhhh, did they run off already?

“Ummm...”

＜What should I have next~? Okay! I’ll have this cake!＞

＜...Everyone’s gone home. It’s only Ninrir here eating cake. I’m going home to eat my ice cream too. Later.＞

“Ahh, sure thing, Miss Ruka.”

...That was fast! Geez, are they children? Going off as soon as they get what they want like that. Well, I guess it’s better than the one who started scarfing down her treats right on the spot.

“Well, I guess that’s all the offerings done with. I should sleep now since we’re going to be leaving town early tomorrow.”

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

Before leaving Rosenthal, I stopped by the Merchant’s guild and returned the key to the house I’d rented and settled my accounts as well.

After that, we stopped by the Adventurer’s guild to say my goodbyes to Giannino the guildmaster. He showered me in thanks the whole time, though. While it was a request, I brought back way more dungeon pork and dungeon beef that he asked for, after all. I managed to get even more meat than that for me and my familiars, so I was more than happy to do it.

Finally, we headed for the town gates, and there, waiting for us, was...

“Big bro, you’re late!” Luis and his party, who I met on the first floor of the meat dungeon, were waiting for us along with all the other orphans that came over to help me make food. Maynard and Enzo, two of the orphans who wanted to become cooks in the future and called me master because of it, were there too.

“Oh, you guys came?”

“Well yeah, you were really good to us after all, bro.”

“It’s a disciple’s duty to see their master off.”

“Exactly.” This brought up some feelings in me that made me itch, but it was nice.

“You’re comin’ back, right bro?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll come back next year for the Meat Dungeon Festival.”

“Great! You made us some good weapons, bro, so we’ll get much much stronger by the time you come back next year!”

“Yeah. We’ll beat more monsters and get more meat!”

“Yeah!” Luis and the other adventurer hopefuls were full of spirit.

“It’s cool that you’re so motivated, but be careful not to get hurt.”

“Of course! We’ve got some ideas for that too.”

“Yep. We’ve been practicing our teamwork. Right, everyone?”

““““Yeah!””””

“I see. Well, do your best. Oh, also, next time I come I’ll cook some food for you with the drops you pick up.” When I said that, everyone cheered.

“Master, we’ll guard the recipes you entrusted to us with our lives.”

“We heard from the director. Thanks to you, our stall is almost done.”

“Oh! That’s great to hear.”

So they’re close to having their own stall for real. That’s awesome.

“It’s all thanks to you, Master.”

“Thank you so very much.”

“Well, the rest will be up to your efforts. Work hard.”

““Yes, sir!””

“We’ll make the recipes you taught us even better for the next time!”

“Yeah. Then we’ll have you eat it and groan in jealousy!”

“Hahaha, that’s the spirit. I’m looking forward to that!” The children were all watching me.

“Well then, see you all later!”

“You definitely gotta come next year, bro!”

“We’re waiting for you, Master!”

“For sure!”

“Yeah, I’m definitely coming back!” It was hard, but we set off for Karelina.

“Then, let’s go. Fel, Dora-chan.”

《Indeed.》

《Yeah.》 Alongside Fel and Dora-chan, I stepped through the gates.

Sui, as always, was in my bag.

Luis, Maynard, Enzo, and the rest of the orphans were waving goodbye as I left. I turned around and waved back at them.

“Rosenthal’s a good town.”

《Quite. It is a nice place overflowing with good food.》

《It was fun.》

But in the end, I feel most relaxed in Karelina.

“Let’s go back to Karelina.”

《Hmm. Let us hurry. Then we can head to the next dungeon.》

Grk! ...Fel remembered.

《Oh, that’s a great idea! We were talking about a dungeon in the next country over, right? Sounds fun.》

Oh no. Dora-chan remembers too.

《Dungeon~?》

Agghh even Sui woke up after hearing the word, ‘dungeon.’

“No, we’re going back to Karelina first. Right?”

《You are simply planning to stall again, are you not?》

Grk!

《Hmmm? Reeeally?》

“N-No! No way...” They know! Oh no, how am I supposed to stall now?

《To be honest, I want to go straight to the next country, but you would find that disagreeable, no?》

“W-Well of course. I already told the people waiting at home that I’d be gone three months at most.”

《That is why we are going back. But you understand what happens after that, right?》

Awwwwww dammit... I can’t refuse, can I?

“...Fine. We’ll go to a dungeon in the country of Erman.”

《Hmph. As long as you understand.》

《Yahoooo! Finally, a hard dungeon! Aww man I’m shaking in anticipation!》

《We’re going to a dungeon? Yayyy!》

《With that decided, let us hurry home. Get on.》

Agghhh, fine. I get it.

As soon as I got on Fel, he started running.

“Waaarrgghh!! Too fast!! Go slowerrrr!”

《How many times have you ridden on my back? You should be used to it by now!》

“I am! A little, at least! But this is just way too fast!! This isn’t the kind of thing you can just ‘get used to’ because someone else told you toooo!”

《Hmph! Just shut up and hang on. I am going to speed up!》

“No, no! Speed up?! Stop that!! Wait a second! I’m gonna die! W-W-W- Wai-AAAAGGHHHH...!”

Gossip: The Children Half a Year Later

“““““Welcome baaaack!”””””

After a full day’s work, when Maynard and Enzo pulled their cart back to the orphanage they were overrun by a herd of small children.

“We’re back.”

“We’re back, everyone.”

The little ones grabbed on to the two of them and started making a fuss, saying things like, “Meeaat,” “Meat! Meat!” or “Meat pleeeaaasseee.” These growing children were basically always hungry.

“Geez, oh alright...” The two of them grumbled while still preparing their cart for the children.

To Maynard and Enzo, who were raised in the orphanage, all the children here were family. It was fair to say that all the younger kids were basically their little brothers and sisters.

And to them, feeding hungry children was their way of paying back the orphanage and its director, even if just a little.

Since the orphanage was filled with children with vigorous appetites, the biggest expense the orphanage had was for food. Maynard and Enzo knew that the director and the other nuns were all worried about food costs.

“Okay, okay, we still have some guts left. We’ll make skewers, alright? Just calm down, everyone.” At the moment, their tripe-style chitterling tomato stew was their stall’s specialty, so it sold out every day. That meant they could only make skewers for the children.

Glistening drops of fat dripped off of the sizzling chitterling skewers.

Not to mention the amazing smell of cooking meat.

The children, captivated by the smell, crowded Maynard and Enzo’s cart.

They were all drooling and locked on to the skewers, looking like they just couldn’t wait.

“Oh, looks like we made it in time today.” From behind the gathered children, Maynard and Enzo heard Luis from the adventurer group. Luis was the same age as they were.

“Oh, it’s just you Luis. You’re back from the dungeon already?”

“Yeah. Our teamwork’s improving so we’re doing better hunting, too.”

“Yep yep, we did great today.”

“Right. We got six monsters!”

“And one of them was a wild chicken, too. We got lucky.” They must have had a really good day, since Luis’s party and the other adventurer hopefuls all sounded excited as they bragged.

“I see. You’re getting good too.”

“Hah! Of course!” Luis replied to Enzo.

“We promised our bro, after all. It’d just be too shameful if we didn’t grow at all.” Hearing what Luis said, his party members all nodded in agreement.

“Haha! Yeah, you’re right. Whoops, these are done.”

As soon as the children heard Enzo say that, they swarmed him saying, “Gimme! Gimme!” and “Meeaat!”

“Line up! Line up, I said! If you don’t, you don’t get any! And as always, you all only get one each!” Maynard shouted, and the children all quickly and smoothly formed a line.

So Maynard and Enzo handed each of them a skewer.

The children, with skewers in hand, happily started chowing down.

The two could hear shouts of, “Delicious!” from here and there.

“Today we want some too.”

“Sure. Here you go.” Luis and the others, who lined up in the back, also got a skewer each.

“Mm? Is it just me, or is this better than last time...?” Luis wondered to one of his teammates who nodded along after they had a bite of their skewers.

“Really?”

“It’s great as always, but...”

“Heheheheh... So you can tell...”

“Yeah.” The two cooks grinned.

“What? Why’re you acting like that?”

“You guys aren’t the only ones working hard, that’s all. Right, Enzo?”

“Exactly,” Maynard and Enzo said, looking at one of the skewers they cooked.

“Hm? Did you change something with the skewers?”

“Yep. We’ve been researching this flavor day after day.”

“What he said. We made a small change to the sauce a couple days ago.”

“Really?”

“Just a little, though. All we did was add a little bit of an herb that wasn’t there before.”

“It’s only a small difference, but I think you can taste a bit of refreshing acidity.”

“In my opinion, adding this herb makes it so that offal, which is really fatty, is a bit lighter and less overwhelming for the palate.” The two of them said, causing Luis to stare hard at his skewer before taking a small test bite. Once he did that though, he started wolfing it down again.

“Mgmg...... Hmmm, since you told me about it, I think I can taste the acidity a little when I bite into it.” Luis and the others once again started eating, muttering things like, “Now that you mention it,” and, “Yeah...”

“You two must’ve put in a lot of effort.” It was only a small difference, but Luis could really feel their mettle through their efforts to try and make the taste even a little better.

“I’ll repeat what you said: Of course. We’ve been given a really good chance. If we didn’t put the effort in, we’d be letting our Master down.”

“Exactly. It’s not just the skewers, either. Every day we’ve been researching how to make our main draw, the tomato stew, even better.”

“Of course, we’ve been sticking to the base recipe that Master gave us, though.”

“Man, there’s only half a year until big bro comes back, huh?”

“Yeah. We made a big boast, saying that we’d make him groan in jealousy after eating our food, after all. So of course we’d want to grow as much as we possibly could to show him. We can’t afford to get lazy about it.”

“Right.”

“If you’re gonna put it like that, then we bragged to big bro that we’d be so much stronger the next time we met. But you know... I’m still looking forward to it!”

“Yeah!”

“Well, we’ll just have to do our best, won’t we?”