Chapter 69: Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru Chapte

When I returned to the camp, there was a bit of a commotion. Misuranika-sama, who had returned to the form of a cat, went back into the tent.

「Souya!」

Shuna beckoned to me when he saw me.

I was rushed into a seat.

「What? What happened?」

「This person said that she’s a Brave!」

I had never seen Shuna's eyes sparkle like that before.

「Tell me, tell me such things first」

「Did I not tell you?」

「You didn’t~!」

I had thought that kids nowadays weren’t interested in things like Braves, but it seems like that isn’t true in the alternate world.

「She calls herself a Brave, but she’s the Hemus’ Brave, right? She has nothing to do with elves~」

「Shuna-san, something like a Brave isn’t anything decent, you know?」

The elven sisters were calmly speaking coldly.

「That’s right, Shuna-sama. Braves are people who can’t make a proper living and sleep in stables, you know? Souya-sama, who properly arranges for a place for you to live, prepares delicious meals, and supports the party, is many times more commendable」

Lazarissa, you should be defending her.

「Gr, grrr」

The Brave herself was making an expression that was unbecoming of a Brave.

However, perhaps because she had no words of response, she was eating the curry voraciously. That was my share that she was eating though.

As everyone took refills freely, the pot of curry was emptied completely, and then we drank tea while taking a breather.

「But the tea is utterly no good. The tea leaves are cheap」

「Certainly, it’s as Ojou-sama said」

The tea got criticized by Frey and Lazarissa.

Rana glared at the two of them with wide eyes.

As a matter of fact, tea leaves were a problem, and I had just been searching for a way to resolve it. It was just right, so I tried asking them.

「Umm, there’s this merchant company that I’m a consultant for that’s looking for people who can appraise tea leaves. But do the two of you, errm, want to become appraisers?」

「Lazarissa does!」

Lazarissa leaned over the table and drew closer to me.

「This Lazarissa is somewhat well versed in the tea leaves of the left and center continent. So, Souya-sama, can you introduce me to that merchant company? How much pay will Lazarissa receive?!」

She was desperate.

That's right, isn’t it? There’s no money in defeating a Demon King who hasn’t done anything bad, is there?

「Lazarissa, stop it. I won’t allow an attendant of a Brave to become something like an appraiser」

「Ojou-sama, Lazarissa is resigning as of today. Lazarissa will become Souya-sama’s mistress. It hasn’t been fun thus far, goodbye」

『Hey!』

The voices of Rana, Ea, and Frey rang out in unison.

It was a good thing that Lanseal wasn’t present. Blood would have flowed.

「Lazarissa-san, I’m not looking for any more mistresses」

「Because you already have a silver-haired, big-boobed Fox-Nee-chan, right?」

Shuna stabbed me with great force.

「I promise that the pay will be exceptional. However, it comes with the condition that you must vow to not do business with any merchant company other than the one I specify」

The tea leaves appraisers had been rounded up by the merchants from the center continent. If she was willing to work for our side exclusively, she would be hired at a fairly high pay. Moreover, she was the Brave’s attendant and a highly skilled adventurer. Her strength was at the level where she could snort with laughter as she beat the heck out of the hoodlums and the like that the merchants from the center continent would hire to threaten her.

「Yes, Lazarissa is okay with that」

「Then the earlier the better. I’ll introduce you immediately after this. For the time being, your food, clothing and accommodations will also be taken care of. There will be nothing left to be desired」

「That’s absolutely wonderful」

Lazarissa’s face was impassive, but she seemed happy. Frey was pulling on her sleeve. There were tears in her eyes. I felt somewhat bad for her, so I added something.

「I want to give it the distinction of being appraised by the Brave, so please have Frey-sama do it together with you as well」

「That is, hmm, but……」

Lazarissa had a complicated look on her face.

I had said that just to give it a shot, but certainly, a Brave doing something like appraising tea leaves――

「Tea leaves that have been appraised by a Brave will acquire value. We’ll surely get even more money as well」

In the end, Frey was into it, so it turned out alright. She was a mercenary person.

She took my hand all of a sudden. Rana's eyes were scary.

「Well then, it has been late in coming, but I’d like to express my gratitude. In the name of Frey・Dis・Gastolfo, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Souya and his party members. The spirit of protecting the peace that everyone has is more valuable than pyroxene. As long as there are people with that spirit, the world will never be destroyed」

Her pure-hearted words pricked my conscience.

「And the one who protects the Brave is also a Brave」

Hmm?

「In the name of Gastolfo, I acknowledge the "new Brave" here」

Huh?

「Oh Souya from a foreign land, accept this」

「Hey, wait a minute」

She was strong. I couldn’t pull my hand away. Frey's palm shone with a warm light.

This is bad. Because it's too unexpected, I’m completely unable to respond.

「I hereby confer upon you the crest as the 1,432nd Brave. Oh Brave, in order to bring glory to that name, do your best to act fittingly and behave in a manner that won’t bring shame to that name」

My face twisted at the burning pain in my left palm, and when I pulled that hand away from Frey……

……there was a distorted V-shaped pattern on it.

「What the heck is this?!」

「It’s the crest of the Brave, Souya. Someday, on the day the Demon King is reborn, you will surely be guided by that crest」

「Souya, that’s awesome!」

Shuna’s eyes sparkled even brighter.

I'm sorry, I don’t care about being a Brave and whatnot, so I’m really fine without it!

「I don’t want it! Please rescind it!」

「It's no use. A Brave cannot be rescinded. You’ll be a Brave until the day you die」

「That's malignant!」

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Is it a curse?!

「For example, even if you cut off your left arm, the crest will surely appear somewhere else. Give up and play your part as a Brave. You cannot escape it. You have that qualification」

It's a curse!!

The adventuring business is…… My plan for the adventuring business is going haywire again.

It's dragged on for so long already.

【81st day】

After meeting a variety of people, going through a host of events, many twists and turns, rapid progression, and acting blindly, I finally regained some peace and quiet a few days later.

It had been long.

The last few days had felt especially long.

The reason for that was mostly the Brave’s fault and having to deal with the aftermath of that incident. Fortunately, the scars of destruction on the plain weren’t a problem because strangely enough, they were completely fixed after one night.

The problem was the method in which the plains had been restored.

It was named the miracle of the Lemuria plain. The inquisitive adventurers inside Lemuria and the magicians of the Jumikura School had even posted requests to start the investigation of the plain.

For a while, it overflowed with people like a tourist attraction, threatening those who hid and lived in the plain.

In order to distract the adventurers, another commotion was caused in the plain on the opposite side of the Kingdom of Lemuria, and people were led there. I took that opportunity to create an explanation document with Rana and Frey’s signatures.

The miracle of the Lemuria plain was cleared up as a natural phenomenon.

Frey also agreed to hide the existence of the Demon King. No populace would be happy to hear that such a being was sleeping in the neighborhood.

In addition, more than 30 fake explanation documents were distributed. Because of that, the documents, which were close to the truth, made by the other magicians were squashed. When there were a lot of lies, humans stopped caring about the truth.

It felt like I was doing nothing but things like this.

And finally,

At last,

I was able to start a kitchen garden.

「Lars, make sure to pull out the weeds. After digging up the soil, scatter the shells, mix the humus on top of them until the soil is fluffy, and then plant the seeds about four of your fist-lengths apart. There is plenty of land, so use it liberally」

「Boooo」

A 50-cm-tall wooden golem answered. It was pulling up weeds attentively while moving according to my instructions.

It was a token of gratitude from the Demon King.

She had revived it from the remains of the golem and remade it smaller. It obeyed my orders and it seemed that it would move stably for about a year. At present, its orders were to nurture and protect the kitchen garden.

It was somewhat ironic that humans’ magic brought about destruction while the Demon King’s magic revived it.

In addition, I asked Shuna about Ukazor-sama, but……

『Hey, Shuna. By any chance, when Ukazor-sama removes his hat……』

『Yeah, he’s bald. He apparently used to shave it when he was still alive. I’ve seen it once, but it was a strange hairstyle』

The fact that Lars has a wooden sword on its waist is probably his influence.

I had thought that the portal is the only way to drop into the alternate world, but is that wrong? Are there other ways? Or is the portal itself something that brought people in erratically? If Ukazor-sama wasn’t wearing a top-knot as a fashion statement, that would mean that the modern world had been connected to the alternate world before 1946.[1]

There is also a possibility of it being one-way, but in that case………………

In that case, what?

Did technology from the alternate world have an influence on the modern world or something? That’s right, for example……for example………what, I wonder.

This is the limit of what an ordinary person can think of.

I don't think about things that I don't understand. I’ll put it off. It’s precisely in times like this when I’m thinking about strange stuff that I should do gardening.

I haven’t done such things since elementary school, but I’m enjoying it for some strange reason.

Eating, cooking and growing plants are all different. They require trial and error.

Using Rana's magic, food can be grown rapidly. However, this depletes the nutrients in the soil completely and continuous cropping will result in problems.

I'll start by doing selective breeding on the vegetables, so for the time being, I intend to make them grow rapidly using magic, repeatedly choose good varieties and breed them to make them delicious, and then grow them leisurely.

With Ukazor-sama’s grace, it probably won't take long. With Makina’s knowledge and Lars here, working the uncultivated land isn’t difficult either.

Yeah it’ll go well.

This is great.

I'm looking forward to it. First, I’ll start with cherry tomatoes, white eggplant, and cucumber. I want to grow red peppers too, and I wonder if I’ll be able to grow perilla mint, spring onions and radishes as well. Basil and herbs for pasta too. Oh, should I try growing edamame as well? I don't think that anything and everything will work out from the start, but even so, my dreams are expanding.

Huh, actually, I feel like I’ve forgotten something though.

Is it just my imagination?

It's just my imagination.

「Neigh」

I heard, along with the sound of horseshoes.

Riding atop a black horse that was galloping across the plain, an adventurer was approaching me.

It was a face I recognized.

He had black hair and eyes, had a scruffy beard, and wore an eye patch over his left eye. His adventurer’s equipment was well-used. He looked in his late thirties or early forties. He looked extremely similar to Toshiro Mifune.

In my opinion, among the residents in the alternate world, he’s most suited to wearing a kimono and katana.

What business does he have, I wonder? The sisters and Lanseal are still sleeping so I don’t want to make too much noise though.

「Good morning」

「Hey, good morning. Souya, what have you been up to recently?」

It was Medimu, the adventurer known as the father of adventurers.

「Recently? I’ve been dealing with the troublesome affairs of people, introducing jobs, and today, I’m thinking of making a vegetable garden」

「I see, it's a situation that adventurers like you who are strangely well-off often fall into. I’ve got one thing to say to you. Hey………………explore the dungeon! That's all!」

Otou-san turned the horse around and went back the way he came.

By the way, his expression had been super angry. It had been a long time since someone older than me had gotten angry at me with a ferocious expression like that.

For a while, I stood still and let the wind wash over me.

Even as I was doing that, Lars was toiling away at the preparations for the vegetable garden.

I had forgotten. Come to think of it, that’s right. I had come here for a reason like that.

『Souya-san, can Makina and Yukikaze also say one thing?』

「Oh, yes」

Makina, with Yukikaze sitting on top of her head, slid over.

『Please explore the dungeon』

『Explore the dungeon』

「………………Okay」

I'm going to explore it from today onward.

＜End＞

[1] The top-knot is the hairstyle of samurai and people of status in the Edo period (1603-1868). Which is significantly before the modern world supposedly first made contact with the alternate world(1946).

Another curse has been added to Souya’s growing list of curses lol. Bet you hadn’t thought that being a Brave was a bone fide curse lol.

But more importantly, Lars is back!!!

And there we have it, the end of the side stories. Hope you’ve enjoyed the light-hearted pace so far, because things will be turning serious once volume 3 proper gets started! And the pace will pick up too, FYI, no more long breaks like this till volume 7! Stay tuned!

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