Chapter 270: 256

I'm at a complete loss as to what to do.

In order to fulfill my agreement with the Beastkin Alliance, I must go into the dungeon. I can't involve Arianne, so it would need to be with other adventurers, but I don't have those kinds of contacts. With the details being what they are, I can't just issue a request either, and to begin with, I don't have the money to do so.

Without any good answers, I wandered through the cold and snowy streets of the city.

Somehow or another, I made it back by noon.

There was quite a line in front of the store.

Shigure and a salesgirl I didn't know were serving the customers.

「Today's lunch bread is bread with winter mist grass mayonnaise salad and fried fish! They're fresh out of the oven! There are only 100 available! Don't miss out~! They're only two copper coins each~!」

Shigure seems like a different person after putting on their sales smile and sales voice.

Or rather, that's cheap! It's a fish dish, so they could have charged more for it. Are they even making a profit?

………It's none of my business, I suppose.

Seeing that the two of them were having no problems with the customers, I turned and made my way around to the back door.

I entered the store through the back door stiffly and bumped into Tyutyu in the kitchen.

「Ash-san, welcome back-nya」

「Thanks」

「I'll get you some lunch right away-nya. Sorry it's just staff food-nya」

「Not a problem」

Any kind of warm food is fine. All the better if it's not beans.

I washed my one hand in the sink. I was going to wipe it on my clothes, but Tyutyu wiped it with a towel for me.

「Thank you for saving me-nya. Sorry for not thanking you earlier-nya」

「No, I didn't do anything useful, isn't it? The hoodlums were all defeated by that mutt」

That very mutt was in the corner of the kitchen, gnawing on a delicious-looking piece of meat.

It must cost enough to feed me for several days.

「I'm just happy you tried to save me-nya」

「Is that how it is?」

「That’s how it is-nya」

Being thanked makes me happy too though.

Or rather, Tyutyu isn't letting go of my hand. The mood is a little awkward. I'm not so desperate as to lust after a woman with a child, but what am I supposed to do here?

I'm not in a romantic relationship with Arianne, and according to her, she doesn't think of me as anything more than a pet. It's not that I'm particularly reserved or excited about――――――

「Oh」

At the sound of the pot boiling over, Tyutyu let go of my hand.

I felt both relieved and a sense that it was a shame.

「What's for lunch?」

I changed the subject.

「It's tomato pasta today-nya」

Tyutyu grabbed the pasta from the pot with tongs. With a seemingly practiced hand, she tossed the pasta with the sauce in the pan next to the pot and then taste-tested it……

「Hmmm, as I thought, it's no good-nya」

……and then cocked her head

「It looks good to me though」

「Can you taste some of it-nya?」

I grabbed the pasta she had handed to me on a small plate with my fingers and gave it a taste.

The pasta is a little firm. The sauce is tomato, garlic, and basil. The acidity of the tomatoes has been boiled away and it has a mild flavor. The taste of garlic, the accent of basil, and its saltiness are all perfect.

「It’s delicious」

It's simple but exquisitely delicious.

I've heard that it's this kind of dish that's the most difficult to make. Is it lacking something, I wonder? Or rather, who am I to talk about it? I’m just a guy whose staple food is the bar's boiled beans.

「One more thing-nya. It just lacks one more thing-nya」

「How about adding cheese or something?」

「That'll make it the version Shigure likes-nya. But it's not cheese-nya. When this store first opened, this dish was served as our staff meal-nya. I've been trying to recreate the taste it had at that time through experimentation-nya. But it's difficult-nya」

No, even if you tell me that, something like cooking is………………something like cooking?

「………………?」

I cocked my head too.

Among the many seasonings and condiments lined up in the kitchen, there was one that had struck me as odd.

In all likelihood, it's something that's not usually kept by the stove. Perhaps it was used for another dish and the person cooking forgot to put it away. I think it's something like that. With her skill, there's no way she would mismanage the kitchen like this.

「How about using this?」

「Eh, Nya don't think that'll go well with the tomatoes-nya」

「It won't hurt to give it a try. Just add a little bit, just enough to bring out the flavor」

「If you insist, I'll give it a try-nya」

Tyutyu scooped out a teaspoon of said seasoning and added it to the frying pan along with a bit of the water the pasta had been boiled in. She gave it all a good stir and then taste-tested it.

「………………」

She froze.

「It’s no good, huh?」

It's just something an amateur came up with on the spur of the moment after all. I should stop sticking my nose where it doesn't belong.

「Did you work as a cook in the past-nya?」

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「No way」

I really doubt a cook would die in an alleyway covered in wounds.

「This taste……」

「It doesn’t taste good?」

Curious, I taste-tested it too.

I think it goes well with the flavor of the tomatoes. But that's just the stupid palate of an amateur talking, I guess.

「This taste-nya! Are you a genius-nya?!」

「That's absurd」

「To think that tomatoes and miso go so well together, that was a blind spot-nya~」

「It was a blind spot, huh?」

I don't get it, but it seems that it was the right answer.

「Thank you! Nya wants to thank you in some way-nya!」

「You're overreacting」

「That's not true-nya! I've always wanted to let Shigure try this taste-nya! It's something really important-nya!」

「I, is that so?」

She's very serious about it.

Even though all I did was suggest adding miso to tomatoes……

「But even if you say that, you're already looking after Arianne, and you're giving us food too………」

Oh, food.

If I recall correctly, the clientele here is……

「Sorry, can you introduce me to an adventurer? I need someone I can trust to keep their mouth shut」

「You can count on me for something like that-nya!」

This is a godsend.

「There's one who's helping Shigure right now-nya. She's a very skilled female adventurer who will soon become an intermediate adventurer, and she's the leader of her party-nya. She's a foreigner and an oddball, but she's a trustworthy person-nya」

「Hmm, a foreigner, huh?」

For such an adventurer to work as a bread salesgirl, she really is an oddball, isn't she?

Tyutyu's animal ears twitched.

「It looks like they've just finished selling the lunch bread-nya. I'll introduce you right away-nya」

Sorry~, we're out of stock for the day! came Shigure's voice. A booing similar to a cheer resounded outside. Tyutyu exited the kitchen and then came back bringing a woman with her.

She was a petite woman with long, lustrous black hair.

She had strong-willed, unyielding eyes. She was wearing the same serving outfit as Tyutyu and Shigure, but upon a closer look, I could see that her bearing was very different.

She’s well-trained and leaves no openings. Unlike the thugs or hoodlums who live from hand to mouth, she has the bearing of a【sound person】as befits an adventurer pursuing a higher purpose.

And……

And what's this, I wonder? What's this strange feeling that something is off?

「Eh, Tyutyu-san, who's this person?」

「Yukikaze-san, this is Ash-nya. Ash-san, this is Yukikaze, an adventurer-nya」

「Ash?」

Yukikaze cocked her head……

「Yuki……kaze?」

……and I cocked my head too.

It's déjà vu. It feels a bit like we've met before somewhere and a long time in the past, but I can't be sure. If I were a flippant man, I might have called this a "fateful encounter".

Oddly enough, she also seems to have something on her mind after seeing me.

「Ash, you――――――」

With a wide smile, Yukikaze lifted one leg into the air.

「Huh?」

Inside her skirt, which had flipped up, I could see her panties.

Black. Rather mini-sized.

Oh crap. I had been so distracted that I completely forgot to dodge the heel coming down.

With a thud, the impact rocked my skull.

I blacked out for a few moments, and only woke up when my face hit the kitchen floor. I tried to get up, but due to the damage, I couldn't move at all.

「So you're the piece-of-shit guy who's leeching off my party member!」

「………………」

That's a misunderstanding.

I couldn’t quite deny it completely, but before I could defend myself, I lost consciousness.

Wow, what happened to cause such a huge change to Gladvain-sama and her whole religion/faith? Is it something to do with Souya’s bonds? Or had something happened after the final battle?

Sigh~ Souya’s perviness will never change, will it? Once wasn’t enough, he had to diss the rat’s small boobs twice.

Why is the Adventurers’ Guild holding Lanseal prisoner? What weird turn of events led to this? Things have really gone downhill after the final battle, huh?

Souya was the one who cooked that first staff meal, wasn’t it? And though she’s probably unaware of it, Tyutyu had been trying to recreate that taste so Shigure can have a taste of their father’s cooking, isn’t it? Sniffle.

Ahh, it’s Yukikaze and her tendency to kick first and ask questions later lol. And…she seems to have the same taste in underwear as Ea, huh?

In case you forgot, Yukikaze’s party had a female knight in it. That’s Ari, huh? What a coincidence…

How’s that for the start of a new arc? Ash is getting embroiled in the power struggles and slowly coming into contact with the people we know well, isn’t he? Well, stay tuned!

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