Volume 2, Chapter 2
Translator: Einbedo
Editor: Weasalopes
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「Your drinking game is on point, sis.」
「Aye-aye. Go for another one.」
「I can do this all day!」
A feast with all Alte Ortem members present and wild.
There are around five hundred people in just the nearest vicinity and there are probably a thousand or so elves here and there, huddling around bonfires, downing unrefined sake like there was no tomorrow. Within that swarm Forest giants and Goblins in the lower second digits can be spotted. Truly chaos at its finest.
Makoto appeared to be taken captive by all those drunks, but she actually ventured into the fray of her own volition and is now opening every sake bottle left and right in an epic display of unhinged drunkenness. Receiving words of encouragement after every single bottle she downs, Makoto takes a bite out of some finger food and proceeds to empty out yet another freshly filled glass.
「Oh my, oh dear, oh my…」
「Makoto, are you sure about this?」
「That right there’s a natural born drunk. She can handle herself just fine.」
Tatsuya remarks, slowly working his way down some unrefined sake, which was surprisingly strong because of either differing manufacturing methods or just the world itself in general, visibly dumbfounded by the sight. Although Makoto’s been going at thrice the drinking pace of Tatsuya, she’s yet to show any signs of being hammered, as her demeanor and articulation are still in check.
「It seems as though I’ve let myself go a little too much…」
「Same here, don’t sweat it.」
Tatsuya answers back to Artiem, who’s clearly out of her element, with a strained grin. It’s a lot less embarrassing to be used as an excuse to throw a party rather than being demanded to apologize to some random stranger out of the blue.
「Seeing elves, goblins and forest giants all merrily enjoying themselves under the big blue sky is quite the surreal sight, ain’t it?」
「Is that so?」
「Well, goblins and elves or elves and dwarfs have this image of being sworn enemies in most fantasy settings.」
「Aye, not to mention that forest giants aren’t really into the whole inter-race interaction thing, although for reasons different from elves.」
「This stew really hits the spot」
Mio continues to calmly tackle her food as Tatsuya informs Artiem of the stereotypes surrounding foreign races in human cities. The stereotypes themselves aren’t all that different from the ones that Hiroshi and other fellow Japanese folk hold. Most of the foreign races in cities act in accordance to their stereotypes as well. If there’s one thing that’s out of line, it would have to be Teres’ level, up until this point nobody could’ve imagined that the elf race could’ve been like that.
「Were ya’ll the ones who rescued Tiem?」
As the inter-race bonding carried on, a goblin with a sake bottle at hand and a forest giant approached them.
「I guess so?」
「From what I remember you just charged in for the lumber.」
「What’s wrong with lumber?」
Hiroshi submits after being outed by Tatsuya. That being said he did run in there intending to save Artiem initially, so claiming he did save her isn’t off by any means.
「After Teres left there weren’t any young ladies left to go about in the village asides from Tiem.」
「The thought of her letting her life slip without havin’ experienced a life appropriate for a lass her age caused even us to get flustered.」
「Very rarely does anyone venturing by themselves manage to escape from the ambush of a hunter tree, especially if they’ve never faced one before」
「Aye, to make matters worse, the only things left behind were some wreckage and Chem’s bow. How could we not be concerned?」
All the elves around the area nod in agreement to their words. Hiroshi lets out a stifled laugh at this gesture while munching on some unknown bird’s leg. The sauce has some odd meat chunks in it but the spiciness makes it rather delicious. Eaten with a rice ball it goes down quick. It’s mostly bird and rabbit meat that make up the majority of regular and finger food, although there is some deer, boar and bear meet thrown into the mix in nominal amounts. In consideration of parasites all of their meat is thoroughly cooked through.
「Deepest apologies for making you both worry, Goivejon and Foeldan.」
「Cut it, you’re safe and that’s all that matters.」
The goblin and the forest giant respond to a bowing Artiem with gently squinted eyes. It’s probably clear by this point but Goivejon’s the goblin and Foeldan’s the forest giant respectively. Although all three races vary wildly in outwardly appearance, the fact that their core beliefs are almost the exact same is quite interesting
「Come to think of it, what were you doing outside the village?」
「I had plans to meet up with the western village elves since it’s my first time heading to Renedo to do some dealings.」
「Oh so you were going to be taught about the proper negotiating etiquette and all that?」
「Yes. Before being assigned to take Teres’ place she was the one responsible for negotiations, so I had to practice under the western village elves till I got permission to leave for the outside world.」
「Why couldn’t anyone else go?」
「It’s the younger generation’s responsibility to interact with the outside, or at least that’s what the older generation insisted on, so it was us who carried the part for generations.」
It seems that even the elven society has some odd stuff going on. In that case they’d just be better off getting permission immediately and learning through first-hand experience rather than second-hand experience, but apparently this kind of outlook would get one labelled as naive by elf standards. For context Teres is a young, under one hundred, elf and Artiem is about twice as young as her. Apparently in elven society fifty years would land you in the third year of middle school by Japanese standards. Although the birthrates are progressively decreasing there’s still a fine line between being concerned and being overprotective.
「But that’s just an excuse, the real reason they don’t want the elderly leaving is because they’ll never be coming back.」
「Huh?」
「Would they get lost?」
After hearing such astonishing reasoning, Hiroshi and Haruna seek for an explanation, completely dumbfounded at what they had just heard. Tatsuya, who had an idea where this was going, quietly carried on with his drink. Mio’s too absorbed in her shioyaki to pay attention to such trivialities.
「If only that was the case. Most of them get overtaken by wanderlust for the city and end up vanishing along with everything they were supposed to bring back to the village.」
「That sounds more like something a youngling would try pulling.」
「Aye. Disassociating from one’s village and heading off for greener pastures is more their thing.」
「Spending hundreds of years in some remote village leaves one longing for the unknown, it would appear.」
That statement said so many things concerning their culture that Hiroshi was at a loss for words but in his mind he went ‘what are you hags thinking’. The elves weren’t like this at all when the game started and that fact made it all the more flabbergasting
「If that’s the case why dun we just lettem off their leash?」
「I wouldn’t recommend that to a bunch of old-timers」
「Goivejon’s right ’bout this, the older generation should be leadin’ by example」
「If all of them started leaving depopulation would accelerate as well. That’s what happened to the southwest elf village, which got completely deserted as a result.」
Artiem chips in to Goivejon’s and Foeldan’s conversation with a concerning statement. If the elderly all packed their stuff and left one after another from a village with dwindling birth rates, it’s only natural that depopulation would quicken. Elves specifically are of working age till around seven hundred years of age, thus if all the elderly were to be taken out of the equation, maintaining the village would be impossible. The elves were facing similar problems as Japan’s rural areas.
「Declining birthrates are a problem anywhere you go it seems」
「Nay. Goblins’ life spans are short and they be havin’ kids left and right, so it ain’t an issue ‘ere at least.」
「Oh and by the way, Goivejon has seen more than a hundred winters in his time here while most goblins pass away by thirty, the old coot.」
「I ain’t no old coot, I just managed to evolve into an elder goblin through the help of Aranwen.」
Seems like the goblins have their own worries to attend to. Although Mio, who’s currently busy setting her sights on bell peppers and carrots and what not, had no interest in goblin related affairs at the moment.
「Oh yeah, how come ya’ll speaking Farlanian?」
「How many races do you think come in and out of this village on a regular basis?」
「Not counting humans, who occasionally happen by, a total of four different races gather together here. If you were to normalize either one of their languages the others wouldn’t take too kindly to that, now would they?」
「Besides, just from the way our mouths are constructed it’d be difficult to speak anything asides from the human language.」
They could kind of get Goivejon’s and Foeldan’s answer and sort of not. Aside from Artiem everyone else mispronounces the two’s names as Govjohn and Feldan, but as far as understanding one another goes there’s no real issue to be had. Also fairies are the remaining fourth race but they’re didn’t have any business here today so they’re not present.
「So Teres’ and Artiem’s enunciation is that clean because they’re negotiators for their race?」
「Yes that would be the case. Attempting to negotiate without proper pronunciation would be no laughing matter.」
When in Rome do as the Romans do. Everyone warmly watches over Artiem as she says something to that effect with a completely straight face. Even at this stage Mio is still absorbed with food, smoked cheese this time, but it’s starting to look forced, as though she’s purposefully trying to block out outside noises so that her inner impression of the races doesn’t crumble any further. A self-defense mechanism had kicked in.
「Hmm? It’s awfully noisy over there isn’t it?」
「T-That’s!」
「That’s the infamous sake – the Dwarf Slaughterer!」
An unsettling name comes out of Goivejon’s and Foeldan’s mouths as they react in a needlessly overblown matter. Everyone figures from the sound of it that it’s likely really strong sake.
「What’s up with that name?」
「It’s a type of alcoholic beverage, made from Lars barley, that’s been distilled to the very limit just for the sake of getting completely hammered.」
「It ignites just by bringing a fire source near a cap-less neck. It’s said that dwarves would pass out before even getting one of these down. The only thing it has going for it is the alcohol percentage.」
「Why would anyone ever-」
「I think I see Makoto downing one right now in fact.」
Just as Tatsuya had noted, Makoto and around ten elves were drinking the thing that could most aptly be described as liquid alcohol. The elves give in after just two bottles but Makoto’s already on her fourth one. Considering the amount she drank before that it’s probably about time to put a stop to this madness.
「I’ll be right back.」
「No worries, once that thing’s hit the scene the celebration’s already over.」
「Aye. It’s quite surprising there was someone strong enough to fully down even one of those.」
「And that someone’s a little girly」
Goveijon and Foeldan talk about Makoto in awe. Even by average human standards she’d be ranked in the short category. Asides from the goblins all the races present boast an average height of over one hundred seventy centimeters, that would leave Makoto as the shortest fully grown lady here. The very Makoto who is currently emptying the sake that even dwarfs couldn’t handle and, despite the fact, her enunciation and thinking capabilities are yet to degrade, even in the eyes of an onlooker. It’s natural to be taken aback by this sight.
「Roasted corn’s best with soy sauce」
「Mio, you should try holding back as well…」
Tatsuya looked dead in the eyes as he admonishes Mio, who was busy crunching on corn in her own little corner of the world. At the end of the day they’re still the exact same unique little group they always were.
「Good mornin’」
The following morning, a somewhat dozy Makoto, who had just come out of her appointed room, sprang into full consciousness after feasting her eyes on the breakfast Haruna had prepared. She then proceeded to ignore everyone else waiting for chow time and, without a moment’s delay, positioned herself right in front of the table and patiently awaited the rice to be done.
「Good morning, Makoto. We’ve got miso, seaweed, dried fish and a small side bowl to go with the rice but I still need to know how you’d like your eggs – sunny side up? Tamagoyaki? Or maybe you’d prefer them served over rice? 」
「Served over rice! 」
Haruna let slip a strained smile as she served up the rice alongside a three-way goodie set made up of eggs, katsuoboshi and soy sauce to Makoto, who showed no signs of a hangover after yesterday’s drinking. No one could rein in their amusement at Makoto’s Makoto-like reaction
「Are you fine with Natto? 」
「Yeah, but I’ll pass. I’m having egg served over rice after all. 」
「Huh, alrighty then」
Haruna nodded back at Makoto’s words while preparing her own share of the meal. Everyone else wanted their eggs over rice so she went with the same. All of the tableware before them were hand-crafted over at the workshop by the group effort of Haruna and Hiroshi.
「Do ya’ll eat yer eggs raw? 」
「We sterilize ’em so it all good」
「Oh right of course, no problem there.」
Seeing everyone crack open an egg on top of their rice and begin to mix it all together along with some soy sauce Goivejon and Foeldan couldn’t help but poke fun at them, looking visibly disturbed in the process. Artiem also shared the sentiment.
「Back in my place there’s a whole culture around eating things raw. Over hundreds of years of experimentation the proper way to prepare food for safe consumption has, more or less, been made apparent.」
Hiroshi said, taking in a mouthful out of his thoroughly blended together meal which he appeared to delight in.
「Haru, seconds. Also let’s have omelets for lunch.」
「All right」
Mio declared her demands while savoring her second serving complemented by seasoned laver. She made her preferences all too clear by devouring copious amounts of rice without any kind of reservation the moment she managed to lay hands on some.
「I’ll be having seconds. Also could I get some Natto? 」
「Roger that.」
「By Natto, do you mean those rotted soybeans? 」
「They seem like that at first glance but they’re perfectly edible, more or less. 」
Seeing Makoto throw stocking, mustard, onions and soy sauce together and dump it all over the rice without even flinching left Goivejon with a sour look on his face. A goblin’s repulsed grimace is quite an odd sight.
「Well, it might be too much asking some lot from an entirely different continent to comprehend varying attitudes towards food.」
「Aye, even folk from the same country as I eat their food differently a’ter all」
「I know right. Also, I’ve noticed that it’s mostly kansai people who refer to natto in that manner」
「It’s not like there aren’t any of us who are fine with natto. Mum and sis have no qualms about eating it, although me and daddy-o can’t stomach it.」
Whether or not one’s okay with eating natto hinges more on one’s cultural background than personal preference. The western side of Japan having little in terms of Natto production, it’s not all that puzzling that a good chunk of people can’t bear the taste. And while it’s certainly a nutritious meal it’s not like anyone should be given flak just because they can’t get it down their throat. As is natural to not attack others from a fundamentally different race from ours just for not being able to take in something completely foreign to them, the same should be applied to people from the same country as well. It’s only the exceptions like Aearis that can go ahead and eat some without any hesitation when it was placed in front of her as a joke.
「Mio, you’ve developed quite the appetite recently, haven’t you? 」
「Aye. Even back in Farlane she ate a fair bit but after getting back her intake increased somewhere around threefold? 」
「I’m a late bloomer. 」
Dancing her way out of Hiroshi’s and Tatsuya’s accusations, Mio proceeds to effortlessly gobble down a third serving of rice and a second dried fish strip. It’s a complete mystery where all that food manages to fit in her tiny body of childish proportions. Although, in all fairness, taking into consideration the nature of her recent activities it’s highly unlikely she’ll put on weight from just that much.
「There be nothing wrong with a child eating to their heart’s content. 」
「Aye-aye. 」
The goblin and the forest giant nod in agreement as they fondly observe Mio continuing to blissfully gorge on food as though nothing else in the world mattered.
「I’ve got to say this nimono right here really hits the spot」
「You betcha. What in tarnation is this black goo though? 」
「We call it soy sauce, it’s a type of seasoning from back home made by fermenting soybeans with a kind of mold known as koji.」
「Soybeans, eh?」
The three races attention was fixated to Haruna’s explanation. It seems as though it had peaked their interest.
「That soup right there is made through the same fermentation process as well.」
「This one a’well?」
「It went well with lars’ rice so I did a little digging myself」
「This world is just full of surprises, ain’t it?」
「How ’bout I teach how to make it?」
The three’s faces light up at Hiroshi’s proposal. They believed that, since it’s possible to self-dependently collect all the ingredients, as long they knew the recipe they could make as much of it as they pleased. It was visible from their glittering expressions
「However the stock we used this time around was picked up from the sea. We should definitely get around to investigating the local produce to see if there’s anything usable out there」
「Stock, huh…」
「That certainly does sound difficult now don’t it」
「The taste changes drastically depending on the quality of the ingredients」
Upon hearing Haruna’s words a shadow is cast upon the once lit up faces of the three races. It’s evident from the way they reacted to the mention of stock that they’re general knowledge in that area is, at the very least, more developed than Farlanians. During the discussion concerning various usable dashi ingredients around these parts, one peculiar question reared its head.
「I overlooked it yesterday but, now that I think about it, where do ya’ll procure your salt from?」
Asked Hiroshi, genuinely puzzled as to how this many races can be residing in the forest and yet at the same time be using salt as though there was an abundance of it laying around. If there were any rock salt node caves around then it would make sense but, from what he’d gathered, there was nothing of the sort in plain sight at least. Although there was a road leading into the nearest city, the village itself was buried in the forest. Compared to a coastal city such as Wulls, salt doesn’t go for that low of a price, and considering what the elves are able to put on the table, it seems highly unlikely that they could afford such large amounts. Also taking into account the logistical problems that would arise from the quantity of goods which would have to be delivered and it looks all the less plausible that they’re being acquired through barter. Taking all of the above into consideration, one can only assume that they’re producing it themselves through some means, but there’s no salt water close by and there’s really no other apparent means of production that comes to mind.
「Salt can be extracted from the salt tree fruit」
「The salt tree bears fruit all year round and because of that we can pluck and boil them down till the moisture disperses whenever the need arises. One fruit yields around 100 grams of crystalized salt.」
「With just one tree it’s possible to supply around a 1000 people. They are treasured by the villages around here.」
Unearthly plant life, wouldn’t have expected any less from a parallel universe. Also if one licks the salt tree fruit by it itself it’s said to taste fruity. Either way it still doesn’t change the fact that it’s salt, so it’s only people tricking themselves into thinking it should taste fruity.
「So what you’re saying is that what’s missing from these here villages is a little bit of excitement?」
「Aye-aye」
There’s no real reason to leave the forest when all the daily necessities such as water, salt, meat and vegetables are all conveniently within reach. As such, there’s no need to interact with the outside world more than completely necessary, but when all the necessities of life are in place people can’t help but feel a longing for some stimuli. And when it comes to someone from a cut off land, where human relations are non-existent, this is especially so. Usually, most notably in the case of elves, under these circumstances the elderly grow more and more conservative as the years go by but the village people around this area, conversely, want to leave for the outside seeking some luster in their life. Trying to imagine the full combined extent of the wanderlust that’s overtaken every village as a whole is a fool’s errand.
「Isn’t it mostly the elderly folk who are very keen on setting out?」
「Aye-aye」
「Then how come Teres was over at Wulls?」
「A little while back, I say that but it’s already been 2 whole years, A prophecy had been made by Aranwen which lead to a single one of the younger generation to set off for Wulls. No matter who got the short end of the stick it would’ve ended with a dispute so they all drew for it and it was Teres who got chosen to carry out the duty.」
Everyone present had a rough idea of what Aranwen’s prophecy was and that thought made the acts of gods feel more real than usual.
「I missed the opportunity to ask yesterday but how does everyone see their relationship with Teres?」
「An apprentice and her master, right?」
「Aye. A lot went down up to this point but that’s probably the most accurate description for the time being」
「Her master?」
「Indeedy. She went through the ropes for about three months where she spent that time sterilizing class eight potions and curry powder, also I made sure she’d be able to cook up a very special kind of seasoning. She should be diligently making something fine right about now」
Goivejon and Foeldan display mixed reactions towards the mentioning of potions.
Also every single potion, regardless of type, is known as the Farlane standard, even in elven villages. The reason for that is simple, the current herbalists of this village are but successors of the elves who once went through a period of study at the then recently founded Farlane. Having said that, although they underwent rigorous study, the best they could do was class four, even then it was somewhat of a struggle, and they all died out before the current day herbalists had a chance to be handed down the full extent of their knowledge. Because of these circumstances the uppermost class limit for mass producible potions is six.
「But did you teach her potion brewing?」
「Aye. The one to teach her was this one right there, my other apprentice, Mio」
「Even Mio can effortlessly teach up to the fifth class after all」
「Fifth class? You dun say」
Goivejon puts on a skeptical face upon hearing that keyword. Whichever way you look at it neither Hiroshi nor Mio look like herbalists who’ve mastered the art of brewing such high caliber potions.
「Alrighty, we can discuss what Teres has been up to at another time for now」
「Agreed. We should start from grasping our current predicament」
What level of potions Hiroshi and his apprentices are capable of concocting is completely irrelevant at the moment. The matter at hand that needs to be addressed right here and now are our plans of heading over to Aranwen’s temple.
「How’re the roads to the temple hanging on?」
「The main road is swarming with carnivorous plants, there’s no way we’re getting through there.」
「Wouldn’t suggest goin’ down the back road for a bunch of beginners like yerselves either, seeing as it’s a tad populated by Hunter Trees and Blood Wolves」
「Nevertheless, the back road is still the best option at the moment」
「Aye-aye」
That’s quite the upsetting news. We’d heard bits of information regarding the carnivorous plants yesterday so it wasn’t too much of a shocker but to think that the back road is also going to prove a challenge is rather discouraging.
Last time Hiroshi managed to slash down the Hunter Tree in three swings but facing off from the front would provide a whole new set of troublesome challenges in the form of saturation attacks carried out by the vines and branches. Although the core of it is immobile to compensate for this it manages to masterfully camouflage itself, blending into the environment and being able to deliver swift surprise attacks at any given moment. Though it’s weak to fire in relation to all the other elements that doesn’t mean that slightly wet tree bark will catch on fire all that easily and as such fire is a lot less universally effective than say an axe for example. And worst of all, it doesn’t really have any other weak points or elements to speak of and by benefit of being a tree its defense is naturally high. A bothersome foe to say the least, although not nearly as frustrating as attempting to down one with a bow that is.
The Blood Wolf, as its name would suggest, is a massive wolf with a mane as red as blood. Despite being a wolf it is able to skillfully utilize tree branches, with a grace only matched by members of the cat family, from where it is able to incorporate a vertical element to its attacks. Its nimble movements and sharp claws are capable of completely overwhelming the average adventurer in under five seconds. Despite possessing combat capabilities several times higher than that of a poison wolf, they form and act like a pact comprised of at least ten and, at times, over twenty wolves. What’s most troubling in this specific instance, however, is that they’re going to have the backup of Hunter Trees.
While Hunter Trees are carnivorous their main source of nutrition comes from energy, either of a magical or a physical nature, both of which are stored in the blood. On the other hand Blood Wolves are, unsurprisingly enough, pure carnivores and have little fascination with blood. If the two were to engage in head to head combat the Blood Wolves would come out on top through a pure numbers advantage. But it wouldn’t even really come to that, since if a Hunter Tree was to attempt to sneak attack a monster the caliber of the Blood Wolf, by the time they got into the execution phase, the Blood Wolf pack would have already escaped out of their effective striking range. From the perspective of a Hunter Tree, the Blood Wolf makes for an exceedingly inefficient hunting target, so it makes a lot more sense for them to hunt alongside the Blood Wolves and scrape up whatever remains in their wake.
「Isn’t it a miracle how these things can be on the loose and yet the surrounding villages still manage to remain unharmed?」
「Well, there’s a magical barrier protecting it for a reason」
「Aye, plus it’s not like us goblins would ever be caught dead losing a sheer numbers match, not to mention that forest giants are the natural predators for Hunter Trees. There’s no way they’re brain-dead enough to pick a fight with us of their own volition.」
「Makes sense」
The forest giant who’s huge in stature, firmly built and excels in the handling of axes is one of the absolute least favorable matchups for Hunter Trees. After all, the forest giants couldn’t care less about getting a bruise or two, they’ll charge straight for the core and swing at it with all their might, damn the consequences. And this goes for any tree type monster, not just for Hunter Trees. From their perspective there’s nothing quite as terrifying as a towering lumberjack.
「Well since we can safely discard the back road from our list of options it’d be a good idea to thoroughly check out the front one」
「How come you’re discarding it?」
「f it was just us out there it wouldn’t be an issue but with all the others tagging along things would get complicated」
「Huh?」
「From ya’lls perspective it would be more convenient to head through the front road, right?」
Their eyes popped wide open upon hearing those words
「No need to be so dramatic, we’re getting some rice to take back home, we’ve also going to need Farlane’s agricultural assistance so we’re fine with doing this one last small job」
「Wouldn’t that be asking for too much?」
「It’s all good, no really. Preparation will take some time, however, so you’ll have more mouths to feed in the meanwhile and hopefully that’s okay with you.」
「No worries, these past three years the harvest has been abundant. No village will starve that easily even if the population growth was in the lower double digits.」
Thus we decide on our course of action while mixing in some light conversation to ease the mood in between. For the time being, clearing out the front road is going to be our main focus.
「Now that breakfast has concluded how ’bout we check up on the state of the front path?」
「Yeah, just hearing about it doesn’t really tell the full story.」
「Sensei, what about weed killers?」
「We can see to that after checkin’. Besides, chances are the locals have already tried that, so I doubt they’ll be of much use」
Said Hiroshi as he finished up cleaning after himself and headed to prepare for adventuring. Grasping the battlefield comes before everything else.
And so, in accordance to the fundamentals of any successful undertaking, they headed out to investigate the conditions of the front road.
「Be gone with you!」
「Makoto, behind you!」
「I’ve had just about enough of this!!!」
「Sensei, Haruna, get down. I’ll shoot a fire arrow」
The front path to Aranwen’s temple was in critical condition.
「Isn’t this going a little overboard???」
Hiroshi grumbled and complained as he reactivated outclass to gather aggro. He fended off the approaching ivy vines with the knife in his left hand and proceeded to swiftly close the distance between him and the core, delivering a deadly blow with his sickle. The unidentified carnivorous plant, who’s official name was the man-eater, was being sliced down at a satisfying tempo, although, try as they might, there seemed to be no end in sight. Man-eaters, as the name would suggest, were carnivorous plant life who feed off of humans. They wrap the victim’s body around with ivy vines and sap away their body heat, at which point they are swallowed whole, only to be digested live. This kind of mechanism instills fear in its prey by nature. Although its preferred meal is humans it could feed on virtually anything.
Their biggest weakness was a sufficiently sharp sickle. With just one swing of the thing their numbers get thinned out rapidly. This was not limited to just man-eaters as all plant type monsters tend to be vulnerable to sickles. Vine plants were especially weak to it, just one clean swing to the core was enough to take it down.
「I can feel my proficiency level, in a weapon I’ll likely never be using, going up rapidly!」
Grumbled Haruna as she swiftly plowed through the man-eaters while Hiroshi acted as an aggro sponge. A rapier wasn’t suited for this kind of encounter, so she had to borrow a spare sickle from their back up reserve. Mio was also laboring away with the exact same weapon of choice.
「I’ll be burning it down, so make distance!」
Hiroshi cut a hole through the surrounding man-eaters and, in accordance with Takeya’s command, immediately pulled away from combat. It’s not like it would do any damage even if he got caught in the crossfire, but it’d be inconvenient if Takeya’s magic didn’t go off.
「Grand Napalm!」
A thick line of fire neatly grew in width as it consumed the man-eaters in its flames. Those flames were so scorchingly hot that they instantaneously annihilated all man-eaters within a fifty meter radius. Magic, due to its mechanics, didn’t affect anything outside of its trajectory, so it was perfect for times like these.
「Once the cooldown’s over be prepared for another one.」
「I know, and would you take care of the ones hiding in the bushes so they don’t get in the way.」
「You can count on us.」
Following Tatsuya’s orders, they quickly plowed through all the man-eaters hiding inside the bushes. The ash produced by the burn was being diligently collected by Mio.
「That being said, we’ve gone through the same motions three times already and we’ve only cleared a quarter of it thus far.」
「And its core is still intact, so if started raining they’d sprout back up in a second.」
「This is pointless…」
「We ain’t getting anywhere without a drastic change in plans, ain’t we.」
While in agreement with Makoto’s sentiment they still thought it’d be better to do something instead of doing nothing and desperately carried on with the extermination process. This had a similar shade of pointlessness as trying to pull out weeds by hand for one’s neighborhood association. There was no end to it, but you had to keep on going, and it wasn’t a rare sight to see that they’ve grown right back up immediately after work had concluded. That feeling of futility transcended language.
When one is doing work for one’s neighborhood association it’s fine to half-ass it a little but in this situation, even if so much as one of them remained intact, it would spell disaster. Accidentally leaving a root behind, only for it to grow right back, was out of the question.
「After another three napalm rounds, how about we just run off with anything useful we can find.」
「Sounds like a plan, it’s not like we’ll be getting anything serious done about this in the foreseeable future.」
「There’s something off about this area so I want to examine it. Would you all mind tagging along as well?」
「Roger, but first, let’s take care of the matter at hand, shall we?」
The rest of the team nods back and returns right back to work.
By the time they finished cleaning up after the third grand napalm the sun had already begun to descend westward.
「Haru, what was it that had been bothering you?」
Mio asked just as they had entered the village after finishing work for the time being.
「I need to get a feel for the area’s energy flow. If you haven’t paid a visit to the temple in a long while, it might just go badly」
「We’ll leave that stuff to your discretion.」
Everyone nodded to Haruna’s remark. Behind this kind of phenomena there were usually some spiritual factors in play.
「Do you think the man-eaters get enough nutrients when there are so many of them?」
「Well, they’re capable of performing photosynthesis after all.」
「Can it possibly be any more of a nuisance…」
That’s what made carnivorous plant type monsters so annoying to deal with. When there’s no fodder around they could just extract nutrients from the ground, which makes one question why it’s even necessary for them to be carnivorous in the first place. This meant that cutting off their food supply was no easy task by any means. They headed back to their temporary base of operations with no clear solution in sight.
「So, what’s the plan?」
「Maybe we should seriously consider weed-killers?」
「We’d need to be very cautious with those things.」
The discussion shifted to their new plan of action as they were preparing lunch in the aforementioned temporary base of operations.
「So are they out of the question, sensei?」
「Anything potent enough to affect that thing would likely take the land along with it.」
「Yikers.」
Leave it to some nameless carnivorous plant to have needlessly high survival capabilities. Makoto and Tatsuya spoke their mind, visibly fed up with the whole situation.
「Worst case scenario they might be resistant to weed-killers and we’d only eradicate the remaining plant life」
「Relying on chemicals is a no-go, huh.」
「They’re a bit pushing it to be sure」
Tatsuya grew even more fed up after further confirmation. At this point it might’ve been necessary to just burn everything down and dig up as many roots as possible, which was even more labersome than any of the previous suggestions.
「Any bright ideas?」
Haruna joined in on the conversation after putting the soup, which was to be a side dish to the omuraisu, to heat and having taken care of all other necessary preparations. Although they called it soup, in consistency it more closely resembled a stew, so it took its sweet time to simmer.
「The best course of action would be to fight fire with fire as they say, or plant with plant in this case.」
「Couldn’t that go horribly wrong as well?」
「Ideally it’d need to either take the other with it in battle or narrowly win but be unable to sustain itself afterwards and naturally wither away due to the characteristics of its type.」
「What if something unexpected happens in the middle of all this?」
「If ya start looking for flaws in any plan we’ll be here all day.」
Everyone simmered down being unable to argue back against Hiroshi’s uncharacteristic assertiveness. Hiroshi carried on with his point in an attempt to fully sell them on it.
「We should keep in mind that the man-eaters are clearly some alien species before worrying about the possible repercussions to the ecosystem. By their very existence the local ecosystem there is already out of whack.」
「Well, you’re not wrong there.」
Everyone present was of the same opinion as Haruna, who felt like there was something missing from the equation, but at the same time nobody had any other concrete ideas to oppose Hiroshi. Plants, especially vine plants, could reproduce in the blink of an eye if even the tiniest remnants of their roots were left intact, so it was a stretch to say that digging them all up was a realistic pursuit.
「I’m still not fully sold on the idea but dwelling on it won’t help matters. I got the whole fight plants with plants part, but what type do we plan on pitting against it?」
「I was thinking we could it make it ourselves actually」
「Oh you were thinking, wait, what do you mean by make?」
「If we combine our alchemical and agricultural know how we can easily whip up a new seed type or two.」
It seems as though the beaten pattern was inescapable. Places change but their way of doing things remained.
「Even with thorough usage of artificial plant growth hastening It’ll still take about a week till completion, so go poke around and see if ya can pinpoint any causes in the meantime, but before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s start by procuring some flower pots.」
「Understood, oh and I think it should be ready by now.」
Haruna headed back to the kitchen after giving out her reply. There she cracked a self-satisfied smile at the perfectly cooked root vegetables and began working on the chicken rice (I’m almost sure there’s a word for it but I couldn’t find it?) part of the omelet.
「It smells delicious, doesn’t it?」
「We came to prepare lunch but it appears we ran a bit late.」
Artiem and Chet popped in carrying a truckload of ingredients with them just as the table was being set.
「No need to worry about our food situation, we’ve got enough food stocked up for the apocalypse and some expert cooks to boot.」
「That reminds me, aren’t Hiroshi, Haruna and Mio all great at cooking?」
「Yeah, I’ve dabbled in it.」
The two elves looked on dubiously as Hiroshi offhandedly blurted out a logically incoherent remark. While not all of them were capable of cooking by default, the craftsmen of Fairy Tale Chronicles had at least fifty proficiency in the stat from the get go. As such Hiroshi wasn’t committing any crimes against logic when saying that he’s merely ‘dabbled’ in it.
The reason why Artiem knew about their cooking abilities is because she got to see them in action when she was helping out with breakfast. The kobachi was handled by Haruna, Mio did the Miso and Hiroshi smoked the fish and made tamagoyaki.
「And what might this ‘ere be?」
「It’s a Japanese dish called omuraisu, a type of omelet.」
Artiem and Chet stared intently at the dish served in front them – the omuraisu, an archetypical example of Japanized western cuisine. Although it originated in Japan, it drew inspiration from European cuisine, just as any other Japanized food, but the idea of westernized Japanese food never really caught traction. That’s because it was usually only the Japanese who played around with foreign cuisine.
Just to be clear the omuraisu being served right now was the kind that could often be seen decorating the tables of any old household – chicken rice rolled up in a thin layer of omelet, and not the type that places the omelet over the rice. Haruna prefered a more homely, soul-food style presentation over the type seen in restaurants when dealing with Japanese cuisine.
「I can put together two more portions if you two have yet to eat lunch.」
「I very much appreciate the gesture but sadly we’ve already had a bite to eat.」
「Ya woulda been better off starving for a bit for a meal as fine as this right ‘ere.」
「Tell me about it…」
Their pointy ears symbolically drooped downwards, further amplifying the disappointment on their faces.
「If you’d really like to I could teach you the recipe?」
「Would you really do that for us!?」
「Can we make it outta the local village ingredients layin’ around!?」
「Yea, we’ll teach you how to make both soy sauce and omuraisu but, unlike the former, the latter’s seasoning, or at least something close enough to it, can be found in this very village, so it should be a walk in the park.」
Artiem’s and Chet’s faces lit up at the proposition. It seemed as though even elves were slaves to their stomachs.
「Less talking more chowing.」
「That repetitive laborious work got me famished so if you make me wait any longer I can’t be responsible for what might occur.」
「You heard the people. Now, if you’ll excuse me.」
The two elves malignantly watched on as everyone else relished the food right in front of their eyes. They weren’t hungry but seeing others feast on something exotic made them feel as though they were missing out.
「Artiem, wouldn’t it ‘ave been better if ya two just shared a single portion?」
「I was just thinking the same thing…」
But it was already too late to cry over spilled milk. The following afternoon Artiem got Haruna to teach her the recipe. With this newfound knowledge she was able to wow the other villagers with her cooking skills.