Chapter 24: 24
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"Then, thanks for everyone from 『Pendragon』 for their rescue! And for our safe return, today let's drink the night away!"
"""YEAH!""
The feast begins with the leader-shi's greeting . His name is Koshin, and he seems to be the leader of a veteran explorer party called [White Horse Mane] . Gathering multiple parties and then going to the labyrinth deep like this time isn't their first time .
The party is located on the square where stalls have gathered ahead of the street with bungalows that's 300 meters to the east of the west gate . Around 30 food stalls and 10 drink stalls are lined up . The light from the stall signs are bright . Apparently, life magicians are using magic to illuminate it .
Besides us, there are also other explorers and day laborers-like people like carries who are enjoying the food and liquor from the stalls . Among them, there are young ladies with sensual clothes and strangely sexy young men here and there, sprinkling their charms . Either of them seem to be prostitutes .
One section of the square has been occupied today . It seems they've reserved one liquor stall, and three food stalls for the party .
There are no chairs and tables, it seems we're going to eat and drink in a circle, sitting on the ground . Lulu and Liza have put a sheet on the corner for the place we're sitting now .
The menu for this party this time are grilled meat, dried meat, boiled beans, and boiled potatoes . They're probably not shabby since Koshin-shi said teasingly "These are some feast" before the party began .
"Magician-san, thank you for the clothes that time . "
"Mwu?"
The two people from [Beautiful Wings] come to Mia while carrying something that look like folded clothes . Since Mia who looks troubled seeks help from me, I act on it .
"Please have those clothes if it's fine with you . If you expose too much skin, bad bugs could come after all . "
The two are forced to wrap few cloth on their body, so although they can hide the important places, their shoulders and stomaches are bare, it's quite sensual .
"Is it alright?"
"Thank you very much, Chevalier-sama . "
The two must have been embarrassed, they readily wear the cheap shirts . They leave the mantles folded since it's hot .
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"Hard~"
"This meat person is quite tough nodesu . "
"Haha, chibi-chan, you won't chew it if you eat like that . You thin it with a knife and then eat it . "
Pochi bite through the meat with a 'pssh' sound . The man who seems to be the stall owner that gave her the advice looks at her in wonder .
"Is it tendon meat?"
Lulu cuts a thin slice of the meat, puts it on a plate, and passes it to me . I chew that meat on my mouth, it's hard alright . It could be softened if it was boiled in a pressure cooker . With some peculiar bad smell, it's hard to say that it's delicious, but it's also not bad enough to make you vomit, it's a delicate taste .
"This might be not to noble-sama's palate since it's monster meat . "
"Insect meat is cheap after all, and you get used to it when you eat it everyday . "
Looks like these grilled meat and dried meat are made from insect-type monsters . It's a meat that's pitch black before it's even grilled, and it's as tough as tendon meat of animals . As to what kind of insects they are, even the explorers only call it [Insect meat] or [Meat] since the stocks change everyday . It's extremely cheap, one skewer of the meat only cost one penny .
"When I've just become an explorer, I often follow along a strong party from behind and collect the meat of the monster after they've finished stripping it off the materials . "
"Although it did become cash, it was quite nasty huh . "
It seems there are a lot of explorers who only collect the shells or the claws that can become money from insect-type monsters, and then there are also explorers who specialize in collecting the meat from the leftover . The people who collect such monster meat are called [Corpse Retriever (Looter)], and seen as the lowest . What a strange story considering it's a fine job that supports meals like this .
Some young explorers are exhibiting sword dance-like acrobatics in the center of the explorers circle . When that was over, Pochi and Tama came to the center .
"Pochii!"
"Tamaa!"
"Tou!"
I wonder if someone incites them, they're demonstrating the jump like the one they've done to the mantis' back . Whoomph, toward Tama who's jumped five meters above, cheers are coming from the surrounding .
Nana caught the fallen Tama . Pochi and Tama, and also the spectator who plead the two to do the jump were scolded by Liza since they made dust enter the meals, they were downhearted .
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"These beans and potatoes are soft . "
"Nn . "
There are a lot of vegetables even though it should be expensive in the labyrinth city .
"These are also monster meat though . "
"These are not the meat part you know . They're from the bodies of plant-type monsters called Walking Bean and Hopping Potato . "
Looks like these beans and potatoes are taken from monsters . The labyrinth isn't only a mine, but also a ranch, and a farm is it .
I tried eating them a bit, and it seemed that these beans and potatoes are a bit different than normal ones . The bean has hard rind, and peculiar grass smell . There are white fibers that looks like of orange inside, this part is a bit bitter . When I chipped off the part, and then spooned the inside and ate it, it tasted like normal beans .
"As expected of noble-sama . You're refined~"
"Maybe I also should use the spoon?"
Oops, I didn't mean to look refined . Even though I only wanted to take the inside and tasted it, I got some strange admiration instead .
The potato has thin sweetness of potato and stickiness-like taste of taro . They told me that the violet part inside the potato is poisonous so I shouldn't eat it . Although it seems that it only causes upset stomach, there's no danger to life .
The <<Walking Bean>> is a 30 centimeters tall pod with arms and legs, and there are 2-3 beans inside the pod after you defeat it . Since it's four times as big as normal broad beans, it seems you can earn a penny from 20 of it .
The Hopping Potato is a strange potato-type monster that's jumping around with spiral spring, it's as big as the Walking Bean . You can get as much as 10 kilograms potato from one monster . Since one kilo is one penny, you can get some money from it .
A middle-aged spearman told me that you could easily defeat them by just readying your spear since they attack by ramming themselves . This man has been passionately talking about Liza and spears since a while ago .
Both are area 14 monsters, and explorers who have lost competition for monsters in the big first area often hunt them . Curiously enough, these two monsters either don't give experience at all, or give extremely little . They're monsters no doubt since they have magic cores the size of a rice grain, but it seems that there are people who don't level up despite hunting them for a year . Therefore, they tell me the theory of poor explorers, that is to earn income at the area until you have enough money to buy equipments and then move to another area .
"Now, now chevalier-sama . Let's pour you some . "
"Thank you . "
I taste the ale that I've received in the cup . It's sour and bad . It tastes like diluted beer mixed with vinegar . According to him this is a luxurious item, everyone is drinking deliciously . The alcohol strength feels less than 5% .
"Ara, Chevalier-sama, you can't drink ale with such refined manner! You have to drink it like, so, in one gulp!"
Looks like the beauty-san of [Beautiful Wings] changes when she drinks liquor, she passionately speaks the way to drink ale .
I've forbidden our members from drinking alcohol since it would be chaotic like before otherwise . Everyone is drinking fruit water that I've brought .
There are also some small barrels of wine and spirits among those, and then the contest quickly happens not long after the start of the party . Although those liquor were just normal things that I bought from liquor store along the way here, it was good that they happily received it .
The patrolling soldiers in red hard leather armor came just 3-4 hours after the sunset . They ordered us to dismiss in loud voice since there is a restriction for doing business late at night in this city .
Since I can't leave the completely wasted [Beautiful Wings] and I don't know their addresses, I've decided to let Liza and Nana carry them to the mansion . The guest room is vacant, so they can just sleep there .
We told our thanks to Koshin-shi who couldn't even articulate words properly from his drunkenness and went back to the mansion .
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"We have troubled you greatly yesterday . "
"We're very sorry . "
The [Beautiful Wings] apologized for last night while enduring the headaches from the hangovers . They don't usually drink themselves that bad in the bar, but they went overboard last night since Koshin-shi was treating . I offer them magic potions for hangover, and invite them to breakfast .
They were deeply moved at the breakfast that Lulu had cooked, maybe it suits their taste . Lulu who looked proud while being bashful from the praise was impressive .
I've heard in the party yesterday, their fine for the ant-train case is two gold coins for each . It seems they have loaned money to pay it, but the debt increases by 30% every 10 days, and they will be sold as slaves if they can't pay the interest every month . I think that's quite an usury, but if I think about the high mortality rate of explorers who die in the labyrinth, it might be appropriate .
I offered the two to let me take over their debts .
Of course this isn't out of sympathy .
Briefly speaking, this is a part of the measure for the labyrinth city orphan plan . Arisa and I racked our brains lately for this problem, and we concluded that training baggage carrier children who want to become explorers in the labyrinth to become full-fledged explorers is the quickest .
They should become able to sustain themselves once they reach levels to an extent, and if they want stability, I could refer them to become soldiers or subordinates of Baron Muno in his territory .
The former baggage carrier children who have become full-fledged explorers then can raise the next generation children and it becomes a nice loop .
The problem with the rearing is if it follows our training regime, they will level up without even getting the minimum knowledge . As the result, they would grow arrogant, careless and thought that they wouldn't die .
Then I heard the story about their debts when I was searching for teachers, so I scouted them .
These girls should be qualified as they've gone through hardships as explorers . These two should be enough for the meantime, but since the three beastkins from the ant-train case should also be suffering from the interest rate, let's think about increasing personnels soon .
I can't lead Arisa and the others for the next two days . During that period, I'll ask everyone to train these two .
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