Chapter 80 : Road to Laserna ・ Day 1 (Midday)
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“Okay! We will have our lunch right here!”
As the sun was getting higher up in the sky, I heard Mel-san’s voice, shouting from the vanguard. The carriages stopped one by one in an open field near the highway.
The maids took a tarp from the magic inventory and proceeded to set up a canopy in the open field. Their movements were efficient and quick, it was clear to see those maids were highly experienced.
The people in the guards team also began to prepare a tarp for themselves. After all, it’d be hard to stand underneath this heat without a shade.
“Umm… I also brought a tarp with me but unfortunately, mine is in the shape of a tent for you to sleep into…”
“Hm~ It’s alright~ I have a tarp so we can use mine~ Ren-chan, do you still have the table set in your magic bag? Can you please bring it out for us?~”
The tent that Malik-san had prepared for me also had a canopy part for shade but the tarp everyone else prepared was a simple one like the one people used to use during school events back in Japan. The tarp was only used as a roof to protect them from the sun. No one took out an actual tent where you could sleep in like mine.
While I was wondering what I should do, I asked Chris-san and he said I only needed to take out a table set from my magic bag. We had been using my tent ever since I started travelling with Chris-san so I didn’t know he also had a tarp in the shape of a canopy.
Hm~ Little by little, I need to get to know more about them…
“I’m going to put a [Barrier] around this whole area so we won’t have to worry about getting attacked while we’re having lunch. I will draw a line so everyone can visibly see the barrier’s border.”
We tended to be quite defenseless during meal time so I thought it’d be better if we had a defensive step beforehand. Picking a random tree branch near my foot, I drew a line on the ground.
I drew a circle surrounding everyone, including around the horses that were stationed a little further from us. After connecting the first and the last circle together, I stood in the center. I closed my eyes and imagined a protective barrier on the line I had just drawn.
“【Barrier】… Okay, I’m done. Everyone, I’ve put up a [Barrier] all along the line. You will all be safe as long as you stay inside the barrier so please make sure to not stray away from it, alright?”
“A-All the way there…?! Ren-dono, you’re really amazing…”
Huh? During the Calhea quest, Janson-san made a barrier that stretched all over the entire Calhea so I tried to implement the same idea here. Though somehow the people in the guard team looked surprised.
“I don’t think I’m that amazing… After all, Janson-san is also able to make a pretty big [Barrier] as well…”
“No. Ren-dono, you might not know this but usually a barrier can only go as big as a room in an inn or one single tent. That guy sounds amazing but he’s a special case, isn’t he? That guy is specializing in [Barrier] magic only so his other support magic can’t be relied on at all.”
“Huh?! Is that so?!”
I see…
It made sense though. He wouldn’t be able to create a barrier of that size unless he specialized in [Barrier] magic and nothing else. To be precise, he was able to make a barrier over 100kms wide.
“I know, right? It’s amazing how Ren can easily do something that surprises us like that. Hey, Ren! Can you bring out the food now? What are we having today?”
Sig-san gently stroked my head and asked about today’s lunch.
“Ah, yes. Everyone else is still in the middle of cooking though. Can we eat first?”
The guards and Francesca-san were still waiting for the chef to finish cooking before they could eat. I wondered whether it’d be alright for us to eat first?
“Hm?~ Yeah~ It’s not like everyone needs to do everything together during a trip like this, you know?~ So don’t worry about it and let’s eat first, okay?~”
Chris-san said.
Of course. There were a lot of people on this trip and meal prepping for that many people was very hard to do. That was why except for bread, they said they’d make all of their meals on the spot.
The two chefs were preparing the ingredients with great expertise. As I expected, professionals were in a different league entirely…
“Hm~ Since it’s hot today, something refreshing sounds great. How about if we have pasta with shredded tuna?”
We went under the tent Chris-san had prepared for us. I put my magic bag on top of the table and began to fetch our lunch for today.
For shredded tuna pasta, I mixed soy sauce, lemon juice and water together. After the mixture began to boil, I added potato starch to thicken it. I stirred the mixture for a little before I turned the heat off and let it cool so I could begin to cook the pasta. While the pasta was boiling, I grated some daikon and set it aside. Once the pasta was already cooked, I casted [Cool] on both the pasta and the sauce mixture. This food was meant to be eaten cold. The refreshing and cooling sensation made it the perfect dish for a hot day like today!
Tuna Pasta
For the tuna, I used canned tuna. In Alsar, they already had things like a magic bag and refrigerator so of course they also already developed food preserving technology like canning and smoking.
Apparently, not every household had a fridge in their home. Even if they had one, they usually didn’t have a big fridge like the one in Malik-san’s house and my fiancés’s rented house.
On the other hand, Francesca-san used magic inventory to store her belongings for this trip. Although magic inventory could store a lot of things, you couldn’t store perishable items for a long time because time passed normally in there.
The magic bag I was using now used to belong to Malik-san. This magic bag had a big capacity but the price was outrageous! I wanted to repay Malik-san for this bag so I checked the price for this magic bag in the market and to my surprise, you could buy one house or one luxury car for the same price as this magic bag…The magic bag those three used must be very expensive as well.
Thanks to the existence of magic bag, the people in Alsar often stored the perishable they bought at room temperature. Because of that, the preservation technology in this world was more advanced than I originally thought.
“The three of you eat a lot so this pasta won’t be enough for you guys.”
I took out a plate of ratatouille that I had made beforehand. To make this dish, I only had to cut an assortment of vegetables like tomato, onion, bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini into two cm cubes. Then I stir fry the vegetables together in tomato sauce and add salt to taste.
Ratatouille
For more protein, I also took out a box of karaage. For this karaage, I marinated the chicken with grated garlic, ginger, onions, apple, soy sauce and sugar. After marinating for about one to two hours, I coated the chicken in flour and deep fried them.
Lastly, there was this delicious bread I had bought from a bakery near Malik-san’s house. I lined up all the foods on the table set along with some cold drinks.
“Wow! Today’s meal looks delicious as ever!~”
“You’re right. Well then, shall we eat first?”
「「「Thank you for the meal.」」」
The three of them each took a seat and brought their hands together to say the Japanese greeting I had taught them before.
“Yes, you’re welcome.”
“Hm! Ren’s meal is really tasty!”
“Is this tomato stew? It’s so delicious.”
“I never knew shredded tuna can taste this good when you mix it with pasta~”
The three of them began to eat heartily while complimenting a dish that caught them by surprise. Looking at them eating my food heartily like this really made all my effort in cooking didn’t go in vain.
“What’s with their food? Everything looks super good!”
“With foods like that, no wonder they said they didn’t want to eat other’s food.”
“Not only Ren-dono is kind, strong and good looking, he’s also good at cooking…”
“I wish I could have a spouse like him too…”
The people from the guard team who were sitting a little farther from us were talking about something while staring at us. They must be curious about the food made by an otherworlder like me, huh? But I couldn’t share our meal with them until we reached Laserna…
“Ren, don’t worry about them. Those guys already have their own share of food.”
“You’re right. If they’re still curious about otherworlder food, I will ask them if they want to have a taste after we’ve arrived at Laserna.”
“Ren-chan, I don’t think that’s the case though…”
Chris-san said with a sigh while shaking his head lightly. Did I say something wrong though?
While we were eating our meal, their chefs had already finished cooking as well. The people in the guards team didn’t eat at the same time. They divided their group in two. The groups then took turns in eating and standing guard.
I also noticed that Francesca-san had a table and chair for her but the servants and the guards all had to sit on top of a cloth while they ate.
“Umm… I guess eating at a table while traveling is not a common thing in Alsar?”
“Ah, yeah. You know, things like table sets and tents take up a lot of space in the magic bag. Ren’s magic bag is special. Very special. Still, it’s better to use things that you have so no need to worry about other people, okay?”
When I saw the servants and the guards sitting on top of the cloth like that, I already suspected having a table set while travelling was a luxury. If more people knew how special my magic bag was, some thieves might target this bag…But just like what Sig-san said, since I already had this bag, it’d be a waste not to use it. Hence why I would utilize it without hesitation.
“Has everyone finished eating? We’re going to move out soon!”
We were relaxing after we had finished eating when we heard Mel-san’s voice.
“Okay then, let’s tidy up our stuff quickly… Ren, it’s my turn next, right?”
“Yes. Oscar, I’ll be counting on you.”
I approached Oscar and brushed him gently as I greeted him.
I had already cleaned our cutlery using magic and put them in my bag beforehand. We only needed to disassemble Chris-san’s tent and put the table back into my bag then we were all done.
When Sig-san lifted me up, I could feel a piercing gaze being thrown at me but I chose to ignore it. I didn’t have to turn my head to look either since I already knew who was glaring at me with bloodlust in her eyes.
“Haaah….”
I heaved a sigh, careful not to let Sig-san, who was hugging me from behind, notice it. After all, Sig-san was not at fault here. Just four more days… I hoped nothing bad would happen in those four days…
Chapter 80 : Road to Laserna ・ Day 1 (Midday)
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
“Okay! We will have our lunch right here!”
As the sun was getting higher up in the sky, I heard Mel-san’s voice, shouting from the vanguard. The carriages stopped one by one in an open field near the highway.
The maids took a tarp from the magic inventory and proceeded to set up a canopy in the open field. Their movements were efficient and quick, it was clear to see those maids were highly experienced.
The people in the guards team also began to prepare a tarp for themselves. After all, it’d be hard to stand underneath this heat without a shade.
“Umm… I also brought a tarp with me but unfortunately, mine is in the shape of a tent for you to sleep into…”
“Hm~ It’s alright~ I have a tarp so we can use mine~ Ren-chan, do you still have the table set in your magic bag? Can you please bring it out for us?~”
The tent that Malik-san had prepared for me also had a canopy part for shade but the tarp everyone else prepared was a simple one like the one people used to use during school events back in Japan. The tarp was only used as a roof to protect them from the sun. No one took out an actual tent where you could sleep in like mine.
While I was wondering what I should do, I asked Chris-san and he said I only needed to take out a table set from my magic bag. We had been using my tent ever since I started travelling with Chris-san so I didn’t know he also had a tarp in the shape of a canopy.
Hm~ Little by little, I need to get to know more about them…
“I’m going to put a [Barrier] around this whole area so we won’t have to worry about getting attacked while we’re having lunch. I will draw a line so everyone can visibly see the barrier’s border.”
We tended to be quite defenseless during meal time so I thought it’d be better if we had a defensive step beforehand. Picking a random tree branch near my foot, I drew a line on the ground.
I drew a circle surrounding everyone, including around the horses that were stationed a little further from us. After connecting the first and the last circle together, I stood in the center. I closed my eyes and imagined a protective barrier on the line I had just drawn.
“【Barrier】… Okay, I’m done. Everyone, I’ve put up a [Barrier] all along the line. You will all be safe as long as you stay inside the barrier so please make sure to not stray away from it, alright?”
“A-All the way there…?! Ren-dono, you’re really amazing…”
Huh? During the Calhea quest, Janson-san made a barrier that stretched all over the entire Calhea so I tried to implement the same idea here. Though somehow the people in the guard team looked surprised.
“I don’t think I’m that amazing… After all, Janson-san is also able to make a pretty big [Barrier] as well…”
“No. Ren-dono, you might not know this but usually a barrier can only go as big as a room in an inn or one single tent. That guy sounds amazing but he’s a special case, isn’t he? That guy is specializing in [Barrier] magic only so his other support magic can’t be relied on at all.”
“Huh?! Is that so?!”
I see…
It made sense though. He wouldn’t be able to create a barrier of that size unless he specialized in [Barrier] magic and nothing else. To be precise, he was able to make a barrier over 100kms wide.
“I know, right? It’s amazing how Ren can easily do something that surprises us like that. Hey, Ren! Can you bring out the food now? What are we having today?”
Sig-san gently stroked my head and asked about today’s lunch.
“Ah, yes. Everyone else is still in the middle of cooking though. Can we eat first?”
The guards and Francesca-san were still waiting for the chef to finish cooking before they could eat. I wondered whether it’d be alright for us to eat first?
“Hm?~ Yeah~ It’s not like everyone needs to do everything together during a trip like this, you know?~ So don’t worry about it and let’s eat first, okay?~”
Chris-san said.
Of course. There were a lot of people on this trip and meal prepping for that many people was very hard to do. That was why except for bread, they said they’d make all of their meals on the spot.
The two chefs were preparing the ingredients with great expertise. As I expected, professionals were in a different league entirely…
“Hm~ Since it’s hot today, something refreshing sounds great. How about if we have pasta with shredded tuna?”
We went under the tent Chris-san had prepared for us. I put my magic bag on top of the table and began to fetch our lunch for today.
For shredded tuna pasta, I mixed soy sauce, lemon juice and water together. After the mixture began to boil, I added potato starch to thicken it. I stirred the mixture for a little before I turned the heat off and let it cool so I could begin to cook the pasta. While the pasta was boiling, I grated some daikon and set it aside. Once the pasta was already cooked, I casted [Cool] on both the pasta and the sauce mixture. This food was meant to be eaten cold. The refreshing and cooling sensation made it the perfect dish for a hot day like today!
Tuna Pasta
For the tuna, I used canned tuna. In Alsar, they already had things like a magic bag and refrigerator so of course they also already developed food preserving technology like canning and smoking.
Apparently, not every household had a fridge in their home. Even if they had one, they usually didn’t have a big fridge like the one in Malik-san’s house and my fiancés’s rented house.
On the other hand, Francesca-san used magic inventory to store her belongings for this trip. Although magic inventory could store a lot of things, you couldn’t store perishable items for a long time because time passed normally in there.
The magic bag I was using now used to belong to Malik-san. This magic bag had a big capacity but the price was outrageous! I wanted to repay Malik-san for this bag so I checked the price for this magic bag in the market and to my surprise, you could buy one house or one luxury car for the same price as this magic bag…The magic bag those three used must be very expensive as well.
Thanks to the existence of magic bag, the people in Alsar often stored the perishable they bought at room temperature. Because of that, the preservation technology in this world was more advanced than I originally thought.
“The three of you eat a lot so this pasta won’t be enough for you guys.”
I took out a plate of ratatouille that I had made beforehand. To make this dish, I only had to cut an assortment of vegetables like tomato, onion, bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini into two cm cubes. Then I stir fry the vegetables together in tomato sauce and add salt to taste.
Ratatouille
For more protein, I also took out a box of karaage. For this karaage, I marinated the chicken with grated garlic, ginger, onions, apple, soy sauce and sugar. After marinating for about one to two hours, I coated the chicken in flour and deep fried them.
Lastly, there was this delicious bread I had bought from a bakery near Malik-san’s house. I lined up all the foods on the table set along with some cold drinks.
“Wow! Today’s meal looks delicious as ever!~”
“You’re right. Well then, shall we eat first?”
「「「Thank you for the meal.」」」
The three of them each took a seat and brought their hands together to say the Japanese greeting I had taught them before.
“Yes, you’re welcome.”
“Hm! Ren’s meal is really tasty!”
“Is this tomato stew? It’s so delicious.”
“I never knew shredded tuna can taste this good when you mix it with pasta~”
The three of them began to eat heartily while complimenting a dish that caught them by surprise. Looking at them eating my food heartily like this really made all my effort in cooking didn’t go in vain.
“What’s with their food? Everything looks super good!”
“With foods like that, no wonder they said they didn’t want to eat other’s food.”
“Not only Ren-dono is kind, strong and good looking, he’s also good at cooking…”
“I wish I could have a spouse like him too…”
The people from the guard team who were sitting a little farther from us were talking about something while staring at us. They must be curious about the food made by an otherworlder like me, huh? But I couldn’t share our meal with them until we reached Laserna…
“Ren, don’t worry about them. Those guys already have their own share of food.”
“You’re right. If they’re still curious about otherworlder food, I will ask them if they want to have a taste after we’ve arrived at Laserna.”
“Ren-chan, I don’t think that’s the case though…”
Chris-san said with a sigh while shaking his head lightly. Did I say something wrong though?
While we were eating our meal, their chefs had already finished cooking as well. The people in the guards team didn’t eat at the same time. They divided their group in two. The groups then took turns in eating and standing guard.
I also noticed that Francesca-san had a table and chair for her but the servants and the guards all had to sit on top of a cloth while they ate.
“Umm… I guess eating at a table while traveling is not a common thing in Alsar?”
“Ah, yeah. You know, things like table sets and tents take up a lot of space in the magic bag. Ren’s magic bag is special. Very special. Still, it’s better to use things that you have so no need to worry about other people, okay?”
When I saw the servants and the guards sitting on top of the cloth like that, I already suspected having a table set while travelling was a luxury. If more people knew how special my magic bag was, some thieves might target this bag…But just like what Sig-san said, since I already had this bag, it’d be a waste not to use it. Hence why I would utilize it without hesitation.
“Has everyone finished eating? We’re going to move out soon!”
We were relaxing after we had finished eating when we heard Mel-san’s voice.
“Okay then, let’s tidy up our stuff quickly… Ren, it’s my turn next, right?”
“Yes. Oscar, I’ll be counting on you.”
I approached Oscar and brushed him gently as I greeted him.
I had already cleaned our cutlery using magic and put them in my bag beforehand. We only needed to disassemble Chris-san’s tent and put the table back into my bag then we were all done.
When Sig-san lifted me up, I could feel a piercing gaze being thrown at me but I chose to ignore it. I didn’t have to turn my head to look either since I already knew who was glaring at me with bloodlust in her eyes.
“Haaah….”
I heaved a sigh, careful not to let Sig-san, who was hugging me from behind, notice it. After all, Sig-san was not at fault here. Just four more days… I hoped nothing bad would happen in those four days…
