Paladin of the End - Volume 3.2 - Chapter SS4

Hobbies: Bee

“Will, let’s go eat! I heard about a good place!”

I happened to stop by Whitesails one day because I had something to decide on with Ethel. In the evening, she came bursting into my room, and the above words were the first out of her mouth.

“Hey, Bee. You look well.” I replied with a grin, amused by her beaming smile and the fact that she’d shouted about food before even giving a greeting.

My friend and red-haired troubadour, Bee, really loved food. When asked about the subject, she would say, “Breakfast, dinner, high tea, elevenses, low tea, and supper! Eating for pleasure has been a part of halfling culture since ancient times!” However, I knew several halflings who didn’t eat as much as she did, so I thought Bee was probably just a glutton.

“But you usually go off on your own, right? Why did you come looking for me this time? Is something happening?”

“Well, the thing is, the place I’m interested in is a kinda rough area near the port. I heard the fisherman’s soup there is really tasty.”

“Aha.”

The port made use of a lot of physical laborers, and with all the boats going in and out, there were also a lot of dubious people coming and going around there. Some of those streets just didn’t feel safe.

“So, I heard you were coming to town, and I thought, this is perfect.”

“So I’m your handy tagalong?”

“Yep. I’ll treat you, though!”

I laughed a little. “You’re about the only one in the whole of Whitesails who would come up with the idea of making the Paladin your bodyguard while you go around the city looking for places to eat.”

“Aren’t I great?” she said, and we both grinned.

I immediately set about getting ready. If I was going to be heading into a rough area, I had to make sure I didn’t carry more money on me than necessary and didn’t dress in a way that made it look like I had money, either.

“You’re so careful. Even if a gang of thieves attacked us, I know you could win.”

“Even so, there’s no need to increase the amount of pain and grudges in this world.”

I dressed myself in a worn-out cloak that didn’t look very high quality, and the two of us talked as we walked through the city. We headed towards a slightly dusky street close to the dock where boats unloaded their goods.

“Hmm. There’s the landmark I heard about, so... Ah, there we go!”

Bee led me towards one of the street’s smaller taverns. An old lantern was tied to the tavern sign, and several wooden boxes were stacked outside. Warm light and a jolly atmosphere leaked out through the entrance and the windows, both of which were being kept wide open. Inside, many boisterous men were pouring drinks for each other, laughing in loud voices and shooting jokes back and forth.

We skipped on in, and a chirpy member of staff with fuzzy black hair and brown skin called out, “Welcome! Please sit wherever you want!”

“Heya!” Bee replied in a voice that was equally as cheery. “I heard your fisherman’s soup was good? That for two please, and something to drink.”

“Coming right up!”

Very quickly, we were served rye bread, ale, and the fisherman’s soup we were here for. The weak ale and the hard, sour rye bread were, to be honest, pretty much what I’d come to expect from this area. But the fisherman’s soup Bee had heard so much about, which came served in deep soup bowls, was in a class of its own.

“Ohh...”

“Now this...”

Not all the fish the fishermen caught in their nets were fit for normal sale; some were too small or a type they weren’t targeting. This tavern had probably bought those off them for cheap, boiled them in seawater along with, again, likely leftover vegetable scraps from the market, and finished off the flavor with herbs. That was probably all it was, but once we tried it after briefly saying grace, we both agreed it was also terribly delicious. It was a salty soup with the rich flavors of the ocean, including tender shrimp, prawns, and whitefish that fell apart beautifully. Bee and I bolted it down feverishly.

“Seconds, please!”

“Oh, and me!”

After drinking some weak ale and refreshing our palates, we went back for more fisherman’s soup. Soaking the hard rye bread in it was also very tasty. In the end, two helpings were gone before I knew it, and without it ever occurring to me to make conversation.

“Thanks, that was really good!”

“It was delicious!”

“Thank you very much! Please come again!”

We paid our bill with copper coins and left quickly. It felt wrong to stick around too long after eating when they were busy. Besides, I’d felt a probing gaze on me at more than one point during our meal. I didn’t want the back of my head bashed in on our way back from the tavern. I reminded myself to stay alert.

“Thanks for inviting me today, Bee,” I said, smiling. “That was delicious.”

“Huh?” Bee looked at me with wide eyes and tilted her head.

“Huh?” I went wide-eyed too, confused by her strange reaction.

“What?”

Just as I was about to delve inside my head to see if I’d forgotten something, Bee looked at me, mystified, and said something terrible. “Did I say just one tavern?”

“Wha?”

“It’s not often I get a good bodyguard like you, so I was planning on trying out all the taverns I’d heard about on the streets around here.”

“H-Hold on a second, isn’t that a little dangerous?”

“And there’s no need to worry, ’cause even if we are attacked, the Paladin’s right here! It’s so nice to able to try out all these places without having to worry about safety, you know?♪”

“W-Wait a sec! Bee! Bee?!”

All the food I ate that day tasted very good, but for some reason, I ended up losing a little weight.