Chapter 97: 21.10

Extra 1.1

「Teres Farm. Pleased to meet you all.」

「Nora Mora. Hi, everybody.」

The day after the King had stopped by to vent, Merizza had brought two women to the Azuma workshop. Teres was an elf, and Nora was a rabbit Hybrid (although she looked mostly human). It was an interesting sight to see these two elegantly beautiful women on either side of Merizza, a well-built man beginning his elder years.

Teres was a stereotypical elven beauty with golden hair and jade-colored eyes. She stood taller than Hiroshi, let alone Haruna. She was slender in girth, to add to the stereotype. Her breasts were about as developed as Mio’s. They weren’t nonexistent like Makoto’s or Rayna’s, but very underwhelming for her height.

Nora was a hybrid with blush pink hair, beady red eyes, and rabbit ears springing from the top of her head; adorable in a cuddly animal kind of way. She was short in stature (like a rabbit) but with enough curves on her that no one would say she was lacking in that department. While she was a hybrid, the only difference between her and a human were her ears and tail. Even her hands were exactly the same as a human’s. Hiroshi wasn’t sure if he wanted to thank or curse the fact that she had no paws or claws that got in the way of working here.

「Just wanna get this outta the way. Y’all don’t wanna go home or nothin’?」

After the Japanese members had introduced themselves, Hiroshi decided to double check this (while keeping plenty of distance between him and the girls) considering that they were rescued from those bandits’ captivity. He was sure that Merizza had cleared all this, but just in case.

「I could, but I left home with a purpose in mind, and if I go home now…」

「Don’t worry ‘bout what people think.」

「To be honest, I’m beginning to enjoy living in the city.」

Teres said, with a touch of embarrassment. Hiroshi presumed that this country girl simply got a taste for city life. Most fantasy settings described elves as isolated, which could be translated to mean that they were rural.

「Most of the elves in the city don’t want to move back home.」

「Really?」

「Yeah. As far as I can tell, there isn’t a law or anything that forbids them from coming home, but…」

Hearing Merizza add this bit of information, Hiroshi could imagine the elves leaving the forest saying “I’m going to make it big in the city!” Kind of clashing with the whole fantasy thing that is going on here.

「…Sure. And you, Mora-san?」

「Call me Nora. Just Nora, please. Mora describes our entire species.」

「…And you, Nora?」

「Moras no longer have a home, once they live on their own. I wasn’t born in a human city, so my hometown has moved somewhere else. It doesn’t exist anymore.」

She sounds like a wild animal that way, the Japanese members thought. Moras, by the way, were not one of those all-women species, which meant that there were villages comprised entirely of Mora men and women.

「Moras are not strong, so it’s hard for us to live outside the city. But to live in the city, we need jobs. I don’t have the skills for that.」

「So Merizza-san came up with the perfect opportunity.」

「There are a lot of risks in living as someone’s pet.」

Her self-awareness for her fate in that case indicated some resilience within her, in contrast to her appearance.

「So, here they are. Can you teach them?」

「Couldn’t tell ya until we gave it a shot.」

「Makes sense.」

Merizza said. Still, mass-producing spices like curry powder wouldn’t be too complicated. If they were taught how to use the equipment, the mass-production can happen regardless of their skill levels.

The question was, how much Hiroshi would have to teach these girls. Even half a decade was too short for them to reach Mio’s level, let alone Hiroshi’s.

「To tell ya the truth, if ya just want curry powder and other spices, I’ll just make some equipment for it, teach ‘em how to use ‘em, and make sure the hard parts are automated. The problem is, they won’t be able to teach anyone else how to make it, so there’s a real low ceilin’ for the amount we could produce.」

「That makes sense. A monopoly’s sweet for a while, but it’s a loss in the long run.」

「That bein’ said, in three months, I could maybe get ‘em to Haruna-san’s level, but that’s it…」

At this time, Haruna was at a point where she could craft class 8 potions (with the right ingredient) without fail, usually. She was far from reliably crafting class 7s, and she hasn’t been trained at all in Refinement, Weaving, and Building.

「In any case, I’ll teach ‘em as much as I can, starin’ from the beginning.」

「Please do. If you need anything, just holler. I’ll make it happen.」

「That’s mighty generous of ya.」

「Just investing in a business.」

Merizza said with a laugh, as he left the workshop. After watching him leave, Hiroshi turned to Mio.

「For starters, can ya teach ‘em what potion ingredients we can get ‘round here?」

「Mm-hm. Can either of you use any weapons?」

「A bow and arrow.」

「Sadly, the best I can do is keep some thugs at bay with my bare hands while I run away.」

Teres and Nora answered honestly, a little taken aback. This was starting to sound foreboding.

「Then train at the Association in your spare time. Register as an adventurer if you can.」

「Adventurer? Even though we’ll be working in the workshop?」

「Some ingredients, you have to fight for.」

Mio answered Teres with a straight face. They didn’t need to train these girls in the first place if they were only expected to deal with materials readily available on the market.

「You want me to tag along? I haven’t collected materials in a while.」

Haruna asked.

「If ya don’t mind.」

「No problem.」

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「What about you, boss man?」

Tatsuya asked.

「I’ll go get tools for ‘em at the Association.」

「You’re not going to craft them?」

「I gotta teach ‘em tool craftin’ too, so it ain’t much point in givin’ ‘em the good stuff right off the bat.」

This made sense. Who would be motivated to craft new tools if they already had ones that worked better than anything they could craft?

「Then I’ll go with you. We have to get some spices too, right?」

「Then I’ll take on a mission or something.」

「So you’re comin’ with us to the Association, Makoto-san?」

「Yep.」

「Then let’s lock up, since no one’ll be here.」

So. With new members in tow, another day at the Azuma workshop began.

「I mean, I pushed for this too, but are you sure you’re okay with this?」

「Little too late to ask, don’t ya think?」

「I mean… Yeah…」

On their way home from the Association, Tatsuya was trying to gauge how Hiroshi was doing. Regardless of any teaching involved, he was nerve-racked about having more women around the workshop. Although, they would be amiss to leave the workshop unattended for such a long time. The best solution was to hire people to work and maintain the workshop. If only the two candidates were men, this was the perfect opportunity.

That’s why Tatsuya was enthusiastic about this solution, but he noticed during the interview that Hiroshi did not look too good. Alarmingly so. The two girls didn’t say anything, perhaps because they were nervous themselves, but there was no way that they didn’t pick up on it. Haruna and Mio could teach them the basics, but Tatsuya was anxious thinking of the day when Hiroshi would have to step up.

「Brother. You gotta forget ‘bout my phobia for a bit.」

「Still. Couldn’t we have had the King pick out some male apprentices?」

「I just gotta keep my distance. That’s all. Unless your’e sayin’ ya can kick ‘em out now.」

「…No.」

「Ya see?」

It was too late for that. Before the interview, they still had a chance. But now that they had evaluated their characters, morals common decency prevented them from firing the girls (unless they would turn out to be hopelessly unfit for the job).

「Besides, I got some questions for Teres-san.」

「Questions?」

「I wanna ask if there’s an elven village and some shrine or another in the Southern woodlands.」

「Oh, right.」

Tatsuya remembered. It was important to make sure that there was a village to go to, since this world had proved repeatedly to be different from the game.

「Anyway, they’re gonna be mixin’ curry powder and preppin’ soy sauce and ponzu for a while.」

「Client’s orders.」

Tatsuya realized that his party could not get away from food. It didn’t help that demand for food (while theoretically quantifiable) was never-ending.

「So, what do we need to buy?」

「Spices, of course. And soy beans, wheat… Lotta yuzu, too.」

「Okay.」

It seemed like they would need to buy a good amount. Just as they were about to split up,

「Grah!」

With a loud zap, a cry erupted from around Tatsuya’s feet that seemed feral. Looking down, they found a young child (too young to tell their gender) in rags, holding their right hand as they crouched on the ground.

「A pickpocket, huh…」

「Ain’t exactly news-worthy.」

That being said, the Japanese party (who were all securely guarded with enchantments) had not encountered any pickpockets after their first week in Farlane. They assumed that these thieves talked among themselves.

「What now?」

「If the kid don’t know who we are, they ain’t a pro. Let’s ask ‘em a few questions.」

「You’re having fun, aren’t you?」

「It’d be a waste to ignore such a cliché-slash-ubiquitous event to just turn him in, don’t ya think?」

Ignoring Hiroshi’s nonchalance, Tatsuya tied up the kid with an inconspicuous Bind to keep him from running.

「That was quite the scream. What happened?」

A man working in the market called to them.

「Well, I wasn’t watching my step so I ended up kicking this kid, pretty hard. I don’t want him to be hurt, so we’re going to take a look back home.」

「Why bother?」

「I’d feel bad if he was injured badly.」

With straight faces, they proceeded with the kidnapping. After watching them leave, the man who had called out to them returned to his job.

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