Chapter 41: Traveling to Selene - Banquet
Tess leads me to the dismantling shed.
"Battle Axe of Destruction" tried to follow us, but there seemed to be no danger in the village, and Roland and I could handle most situations. And since most of the dismantling would have finished, it shouldn't take too long. That's why Roland was the only one to offer his services.
Tess was walking a little fast because Miranda had told her to hurry.
But I think she wanted her to run, but she didn't feel comfortable rushing the child.
Tess is strangely happy and her golden hair tied back in a bun, is swinging lightly. If there were a cat, I would jump on it.
But she is a stunning resemblance to her mother. The only thing she inherited from her father was the color of her hair. She will probably have a hard time when she grows up.
I didn't want to walk around in silence, so I talked to Tess.
"When we came into the village, there was a moo – a sheep. Is that one Ronnie's?"
"No, it's Neil's. I often have free time to work at the inn, so I'm helping him."
Compared to the population, there are many sheep. I guess people help to herd the sheep to maintain the village.
"So I am happy. We haven't had this many visitors in a long time."
"I see. Those sheep are noisy, but please take care of them for the night."
"I'll take care of them!"
Tess spun around and cheerfully responded.
I see that's why she's so happy. She seems to be proud of and attached to the family business. It is indeed a good inn. It's clean, and the food is good. However, since it is on the southern road, the only customers are probably the peddlers who visit regularly and adventurers on rare occasions. Although it could be a transit point to Weld, there is a well-maintained road a little to the east, so there is no need to force one's way through. The location was too bad. It is a valuable bar in the village, though, so it will not go out of business.
After that, as we engaged in idle chit-chat, I learned that Tess was eight years old, two years younger than me.
She is firm for her age, but children in this world, especially in villages, often work from an early age, so the time they can act like children is short. Even in the villages along the way, I rarely saw kids playing.
While I was thinking about this, I saw a dozen or so villagers building a bonfire and setting up tables and chairs in the central square. Are they going to have a feast outside? I think they don't have a building big enough for everyone to gather.
Even there, a few children were running around under the direction of adults, but everyone had a smile. The kids also seemed more ready to play than to work.
We left the lively square and approached the outskirts of the village.
"Wait!"
We stopped at an unexpected halt.
Looking to see what was going on, we saw a boy emerge from a side street.
He was dressed neatly for a village kid. His manner was somewhat pompous, so I guessed he was the son of an influential person.
Tess muttered in a whisper.
"……, here comes the nasty one."
The boy comes up to me, glaring at me.
I don't remember him being hostile toward me.
"He's …… always mean to me."
Tess backed away a bit as she said this.
Oh, I see what you mean. That's what you mean when you're mean to a girl you like. He is around the same age as her, so he must have looked like a pest to her. I had never had friends like this in my previous life, but I wondered what she does when she called her out. Is he going to say something sarcastic? I'd like to get on with it, wouldn't I?
The boy moved his gaze to Tess and chuckled.
"Be my wife!"
"No!"
It was a direct confession.
It's not mean-spirited, is it? He rejected her immediately.
"Why? She'll be the village chief's wife!"
Undeterred by Tess's rejection, the boy persists.
Is he the son of the village chief? He doesn't look anything like him. Is it better that he's not a twisted little boy?
Well, whatever. I don't know, but I'm going to ask you to leave early.
"I'm sorry, but Tess and I are both busy. We'll talk another time."
"What the hell are you?
"I'm a guest at the inn."
"I'm the son of the chief!"
"Okay. I'm leaving."
No, don't go! I'm not done with you!
"No, you're not."
"I said next time."
"You can talk to Tess again. We can talk about the future then."
"Well, the future…"
Suddenly, the village chief boy had a smirk on his face, which made Tess look very surprised.
Okay, now.
Leaving the boy behind, now a delusional schizo, I hurried on.
But this time, Tess's steps become heavy. I think she became grumpy because I said something about the future without her permission.
I think it would have been faster if I had asked her where it was and gone alone.
I don't want to be uncomfortable, even if it's just for one night. Let's get him back to life quickly.
"That boy you just mentioned, he confesses to you every day, doesn't he?"
"Yes, but ……"
"I said speak, not talk to each other. Just say no as usual. It won't change anything."
"Oh, I see. That's right!"
Tess is convinced and walks off briskly. What an easy girl.
"Is it the right decision to send such a little boy to the academy ……?"
Roland behind her lamented with cold eyes.
I'm not a good listener. I'm a normal guy. The only thing I can think of is that it's a bit of a stretch.
◇◇◇◇
The feast began with a grand bonfire and the village chief leading the way.
We grill Gowthus meat on skewers over the bonfire.
The grilled skewers are then distributed to the villagers, with the children cheering and the adults smiling as they taste the meat.
Watching them, I took a bite myself.
People simply grill the Gowthus skewers with a light sprinkling of salt. It was for the villagers, but it looked so good that they gave me one. It was simple, but the taste of Gowthus is potent. This was delicious.
In the plaza, only simple cooking such as skewers was grilled, while Miranda cooked the more elaborate dishes at the inn. This is for use at the guest of honor table.
In one corner of the plaza, they pile up the dismembered Gowthus, and the village women are skewering them one after another. Tess was working among them.
When we arrived at the dismantling shed, the dismantling of the Gowthuswas already done.
They were in the middle of cutting out the pieces to take to the inn, so even if I had rushed in alone, I wouldn't have made it in time. Tess took over the transportation, and I helped with the rest of the work, listening to the tips and difficulties.
People ate the first group of such skewers as soon as possible, and the second group went to war, but they are slaughtered one after another.
More than a hundred people attended the feast. I think it was almost all the villagers.
Gowthus weighed nearly two tons. The pile of meat was less than half of that. Simply put, even if each person ate 500 grams, that would be enough to feed more than 1,000 people. At first, I was worried about whether it would be enough for the villagers, but there are other dishes prepared, and the momentum is slowly waning. It looks like we will be fine. And there will be quite a bit left over, so we'll turn it into dried meat and have it stockpiled.
"It's steamed Gowthus with Acru sauce."
Ronnie lays out Miranda's dish.
Oh, I've had this a few times. Is this an iron plate of gousas dishes?
I put it in my mouth, nostalgic for the old days, and am amazed.
This – it tastes better than the chefs. There may be issues of freshness and management of ingredients, but the depth of flavor is different. How can a village chef beat aristocrat's chef?
I looked to the side and saw that Markant had finished his meal in no time at all. Taste a little more.
When I complimented Miranda's cooking to Ronnie, who came to take down the plate, he thanked me proudly.
According to Ronnie, he is in charge of the cooking. But when he took her as his wife, he quickly improved his cooking skills and easily overtook her.
I listened to his blabbermouth about how it all came to be and pondered over Ronnie's status.
The couple and the chef also had not mastered cooking skills so they don't have the "skills".
The same goes for dismantling, Nerios and the hunters here have not learned dismantling skills either. I don't know exactly why, but one thing is clear.
Those skills are outside the scope of my "Increased Growth Potential".
If it's not in the skills, I don't get the skills. I realize that through my senses. To learn such skills as they should be, I had to gain experience. That is also the reason why I insisted on dismantling Gowthus.
"What's wrong?"
Ronnie asked as I stared at him.
"No, it's nothing serious. Perhaps Ronnie is a former adventurer?"
"You know exactly what I mean. I was for a little while when I was younger. I didn't have the talent and soon gave up and go back to my parents' house."
Ronnie had mastered "One-Handed Sword 1". Of all the skills, combat skills are the hardest to learn. Besides, villagers don't have opportunities to swing a sword, so they had to either have served in the military or be an adventurer.
"From how he carried himself, I thought, ‘What if…?' He's not that different in build from Markant."
"I see."
Markant stood up and lined up with Ronnie.
He was trying to cover it up, I thought so. Yeah, they still look alike.
Seeing the two of them, Danil is also impressed.
"It's true, I didn't notice. Not only do they have similar physiques, but they also have similar atmospheres. They are like brothers."
At these words, Markant and Ronnie observed each other intently.
As soon as they looked at each other, they said.
"Brother!"
"Brother!"
They hugged each other tightly.
What the hell are they doing? And Ronnie, you're older than him, right?
They separate themselves from others, and suddenly the farce began. The others were cheering and eating up the rapid-fire developments while enjoying Miranda's cooking and drinks with them. The village chief who sat next to us was staring at the improvised drama. Oh, there's his son. Okay, let's pretend we didn't see it.
Nevertheless, the presence of his son reminds me of Tess.
If you look for him, you will find that he is still running around all over the square, adding drinks for the villagers and distributing grilled skewers.
Isn't he working too hard?
Perhaps it's in his nature, but he seems to be enjoying himself, while the other children are chomping on the skewers or playing with them. None of them are working.
"Tess!"
I called out, and he turned and rushed over.
"You wanted to see me, Alter-sama!"
"You've been working hard, haven't you? You've probably been taking care of the sheep since this morning. Take the rest of the day off."
"But I'm working, sir."
"The other children aren't working. In times like this, the adults should be left to their own devices, and the children should stretch their wings."
Valerie, who was listening nearby, nodded.
"You're right, Alter-sama. It's one thing for village kids to be busy. But festivals and celebrations are different. Children need to have fun."
"But we don't want to be short-handed. ……"
"No problem then. Go on, Markant, give us a piece of your skin!"
"Heh–?"
Markant, who had been on the farce, turned to me with a dumbfounded look.
Then, as soon as he sees Tess, he assesses the situation at an uncharacteristic speed.
"Leave the rest to your uncle!"
And he ran off toward the inn.
Ronnie was the one who panicked.
"Hey, brother! That's not good! I'm your brother, but you're still a guest!"
He's not your brother, though.
I sent Ronnie off in hot pursuit, and let Tess sit in the empty seat. I felt a hint of fidgeting from the village chief's side, but it was bothersome, so I did my best to let it slide.
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