Gumihou: Adjusted so that the dialogue flow in a more natural way. Not too stilted or repetitive.
I duly received the money from the Guild Master.
Goodness, there look at all these platinum coins. Let’s put them together with the other platinum coins hanging out in my [Item Box]
Haahhh… that pile of coins is just going to keep growing and growing…
“Now, what shall I do next…” I mused after putting the money away.
“The Capital! Let’s go to the Royal Capital!”
“For the Leviathan! The Leviathan!”
“Hmm…”
[1]
Willem-san coughed into his hands. “Well, if you are anxious, I could go with you…”
I snapped out of my automatic stupor. “What was that?”
“Nu?”
“Hm?”
Willem-san coughed again, “I said, I could go with you. After all, you don’t know your way around the Capital, right? I could also help you mediate things a little and introduce you to a few people…”
“Oh, oh! That would be very helpful! Thank you very much!”
“Oi, are we going?”
“Don’t be rude, Fer.”
I sighed, “Looks like I can’t get out of going. I trust you to take us around…”
“I wonder what kind of food they have there?”
“Master, let us visit the food stalls there too,”
“”Food stalls! Food stalls!””
“”The Royal Capital~~””
Ignoring the touristy mood behind me, I asked, “Guild Master, I’m sure you’re busy. We will leave when it is convenient for you.”
“No, tomorrow!”
“Can’t we go tomorrow?”
“Absolutely not, do you think everyone is as free as you? Huh? Willem-san has a lot of responsibilities as a Guild Master you know? Do you even understand the great and terrible enemy that is ‘paperwork’? Huh? That’s not something that absolute strength could destroy, you know?”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“O-oi, what’s with you…”
“Master, please calm down…”
“Ahem, if it’s any consolation, I can leave in five days.”
“Five days-! cough, fine, five days.” Fer grumbled.
“Apologies,”
[1]
“No, no,” I said. “No need to apologise. In fact, I should apologise for my overbearing familiars. Also, please take into consideration transportation as well. We will be travelling on Grandpa Gon, so we’ll most likely spend less time travelling.”
“Ah, is that so, I see.”
Willem-san looked kind of stiff.
Well, it’s not like travelling via dragon is common or anything. So, please do your best to enjoy it.
Since my familiars knew that we wouldn’t be going to the Royal Capital ‘tomorrow’, they started to make a fuss about wanting to go hunting.
“If you want to go hunting so much, go look for more bird-type monsters for Karaage.” I snapped.
“For Karaage!!”
The hunt resulted in plenty of Cockatrices, Rock Birds and Giant Dodos. All the standard bird-type monsters. I kept three Cockatrices to practice my dismantling skills on and brought the rest to Johan-san.
“Hey, I thought you were all done the other day,” said Johan-san.
“Well, those were stuff from the dungeon…” I said.
“Right… right, so, a dismantling job, eh?” said Johan-san. “I expect you can pick up the meat and money on the day you leave for the Royal Capital with Willem.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After leaving the guild, I found myself at a loss. What should I do next?
“Mu, buy us something from the stalls.”
“Oh, a little shopping trip? I don’t mind,” said Grandpa Gon.
“”Yay!!””
“”Yummy~!””
“Hmm, I don’t mind going to the stalls. I guess I could go and check out some of Carelina’s shops too.”
I was a little hesitant about shopping in large cities with my familiars for obvious reasons, but the people here were getting used to Fer and Grandpa Gon’s presence. The number of people who cross the street to avoid us or dart into houses with their children has lessened by a lot.
Well, humans are adaptable creatures after all.
Today, I stopped by a dried herb store.
I shopped here a few times before and found they have a good variety of herbs for sale. Their speciality blends were pretty nice too, I had bought plenty of herb mixes that go well with meat.
Fer, with his super sensitive nose, did not seem to like this store and stayed upwind of the place. In fact, all of my familiars stayed with Fer since none of them found the ‘dried plant bits’ interesting.
[2]
“Welcome… ah, Mukouda-san!” The owner, a slender man in his forties, smiled at me and said, “How may be of assitance?”
“Yes, hello. Hmm, I’ll take this one, this one and that one too.”
The herbs I pointed out were rosemary-like, sage-like and oregano-like herbs that I had bought before.
The owner quickly packed them up for me, “Anything else, sir?”
“Hmm, do you have any new spice blends for meat?” Because this world lacks the modern conveniences of speciality seasonings, dried herbs play a great role in spicing up their palate.
However, lots of households would grow their own herbs to give their dishes a little more character, so speciality stores like this would depend on their special herb and spice ‘blend’ to get ahead.
While it’s great to use [Net Super’s] herbed salt for my dishes, I like to check out local products to see what they have in this world. Thus far, all the blends I bought from this store have been a hit, so I would usually buy whatever th0e owner recommends.
“Brother, thank you for your patronage~”
The packet of herbs he handed to me smelled strongly of rosemary, along with other scents. Well, rosemary has always been good with red meat like lamb and beef, I think it would be great in both grilled and stewed meat dishes.
“I’ll take it!”
“Thank you for your patronage~!”
[2]
After getting my herbs, I went to the salt store next, along with Fer and the rest.
The rock salt from Mercadante that I received before was really good, so I want to buy more of it. The price was so-so, but I don’t regret buying it
I may have spent a lot more money than I expected because the owner personally escorted me out of the store.
““Oi, aren’t you done yet?””
“”Master, I’m hungry…””
“”Same, food please!!””
“”Sui is hungry too~””
“Yes, yes, I know. I need to stop by one more store first. So, wait a bit, alright?”
I could see that the gluttonous quartet was getting bored, but I only had one more store left to visit. It’s the one that I had been looking forward to the most.
The speciality tea shop.
“Excuse me, do you have any Celia Tea?”
“Ooh, we just had a new shipment in~!”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmCelia Tea is a special tea from the town of Celia, it’s the tea that Lambert-san often serves to me. Celia Tea has the scent of roses with a very elegant and delicate fragrance.
I always thought of buying it, but haven’t had the opportunity until now.
“Do you have any other recommendations?” I asked. Rather than pretending to be an expert, it’s better to receive advice from one.
“Well, if that’s the case… we have all sorts of tea. For now, the ones in stock are…”
[3]
– Tea from the City of Granados, Elman Kingdom
“…tea infused with the fragrance of dried fruits. This tea has been stored with dried fruits to incorporate its fragrance into the leaves, but not a single fruit pulp or flesh is mixed into the tea A most elegant tea with a fine and delicate aroma.”
– Tea from the Town of Seraati, Klaasen Empire
“…this tea is especially precious as only a limited amount is produced each year. It has a [3a] unique smoky flavour with a sweet aftertaste. Its gentle floral aroma makes it a favourite among tea connoisseurs.”
– Tea from the City of Brunel
“…if you like a more bracing and refreshing aroma, how about this tea from the City of Brunel, situated within our very own Kingdom! It has a cool and refreshing scent that wakes up the brain and keeps the mind alert for arduous brain work. A favourite among scholars!”
Woah, this guy is good. The second tea smells like the rare Golden Katsura Oolong that I once had a long time, while the third one has a refreshing mint-like scent…
“Right, I’ll take all three!”
“Thank you for your patronage!”
Fufun~ normally, I have to restrain myself from such impulse purchases back on Earth, but now… I can’t wait to try these lovely teas~
““Oi, are you done yet?””
“”Where are we going next?””
“”Let’s go to that skewer stall!! Slurp.””
“”Meat~ meat~ Sui wants to go to that meat stall~~””
Before I could say anything, my familiars all scattered.
“Oi, oi! Don’t go too far! Ah, sorry, I’ll pay for them, so please-”
I spent the rest of the day chasing after my familiars, apologising to stall owners and paying for the things my familiars devoured. Luckily, since this was not the first time we did this, none of the locals panicked. Not too much at least.
Still, it was really tiring…
[Gumihou: Lol, he’s lucky they didn’t scatter earlier]
[1] Restructured the dialogue between the familiars, Mukouda and Willem-san. At first, it was unclear how Willem-san ‘will go with you, of course’. Have the dialogue happen instead.
[2] The dialogue with the storekeeper was very stiff and unnatural, so redid it
[3] Gumihou will infuse the tea descriptions with her own knowledge as a tea snob
[3a] Describing ‘oolong tea’ since the shopkeeper should not have ‘oolong’ in his vocabulary