Chapter 16.4 (1/2)

Chapter 16.4

Well then, let’s talk about them results up till noon.」

Hiroshi and the five of them formed a circle in a perfectly inconspicuous corner of the courtyard, handing out the lunch they had prepared as they had a meeting. Needless to say, they had taken precautions against eavesdropping.

「Looks like I’m up first. I don’t got nothin’ at the moment though, other than takin’ half a day to be able to activate some sorta outface thing.」

「And what happened on the firepower side of things?」

「We settled on swingin’ around a pole axe for the time being. Bein’ real with ya, I think I’d have some trouble with learnin’ attack-related skills.」

Basking in the smell of the prepared food, Hiroshi finished his own report. As the drinks last night had been filled to the brim with poison, Hiroshi was appraising this food as well with his top detection skills. It was made at the knight’s mess hall and not the guest one out of precaution, but declaring it safe as a result was a little too careless. So even with the alluring scent of food before them, not a single person tried to even touch it.

「So you still ended up not focusing too much on the offense…」

「Well, as long as Hiro doesn’t try to go off on his own, we should be fine for the time being.」

「Right, right. Plus we can easily support him as things are.」

Makoto’s shoulders dropped when she realized that there wasn’t any major problem that had been resolved. Meanwhile, Haruna and Tatsuya hadn’t expected much of him, so they were lenient on him for at least learning Outface.

「Still, wasn’t that a bit fast?」

「Maybe those settings that we started out with’re still in effect, like Haruna said?」

Makoto and the other two made dubious expressions at that query. Haruna began a supplemental explanation after seeing their expressions.

「Well, you see. According to the game’s settings, the guests from the unknown continent are supposed have quicker growth than that of the average person in this world. So I was thinking that it might not be weird at all for us to also acquire skills more quickly.」

「Besides, the old man ’n everyone else were sayin’ things like “As I’d expect from lads from the Unknown Continent.”」

「Hoho, I see. So if I were to learn things related to crafting right now…」

「Yup, I think ya’d have about as easy a time as in the actual game.」

Makoto grimaced at Hiroshi’s answer. Of course things couldn’t go her way. For those who hadn’t gone through the trial of crafting, one might say “Oh, that thing that gets easier as you progress?” Still, if you were to think about it normally, it would only take around twenty years to master a field that would normally take one’s whole lifetime to master, in addition to all the skills that came with it, so it was still quite comparatively easier.

「And that’s how it is, so I bet I can learn that there Around Guard shouldn’t be too hard to git as a prerequisite. Although I worry ‘bout just how much trainin’ ya gotta do to be able to use it proficiently.」

「Ah, okay.」

「Also, this ain’t really as I expected, but there’re quite a few peeps who don’t think very well of us, regardless of miasma. Welp, not like we know whether they’re under the influence’re not just by meetin’ ’em.」

Makoto and Mio grimaced and nodded at what Hiroshi said. Someone had apparently said something to them too when they parted ways with Aearis. It seemed that by this point, only Tatsuya and Haruna had not encountered such people.

「Yeah, and I just finished bein’ told off by one of them authority figures from the meeting to hurry up ’n git goin’. But well, I think even if he tries to git us out, he probably won’t interfere with our investigation.」

「You sure it’s okay?」

「Well I can at least say they had no issue with purification, so they ain’t Barold’s henchman or anythin’.」

Tatsuya and Makoto seemed to be satisfied with Hiroshi’s information. In actuality, it would be more effective and less risky to make them facilitate the process by being in the library.

「I’d say the real problem here is Ellie’s maid.」

「I think so too.」

「That there gurl is dangerous. Honestly, even if I try ’n stick to the edges of the room, it’s too risky for me to go into Ellie’s place by myself.」

「I mean, even I don’t want to go in there alone.」

After they had finished breakfast that day, Hiroshi and Mio had gone to Elena’s medical examination before training just in case, and as they remembered the events that had transpired, they shivered all around. Especially in Hiroshi’s case, since he had been subjected to all sorts of things that aggravated him, which was why Elena and Mio had had to support him desperately.

But all that did was rub the maid even further the wrong way, making their relationship even worse.

「Just in case, we’ll git to medical examination affairs while we’re here, but I think it’s best we finish up and git outta here as soon as possible…」

「Agreed. So what about Makoto and Mio?」

「Nothing that’s particularly worth discussing, I’d say. Other than maybe that we can launch a protective barrier against flying weapons at a moment’s notice.」

Mio nodded at Makoto’s report with an earnest face. Aearis was also pretty reasonable for her age. Although it was troubling that her lack of exercise caused a lack of stamina, it wasn’t like she was a guest from the Unknown Continent. She couldn’t just solve this issue in a brief span of time.

「Elle’s seriously giving it her all. She should be getting up there pretty soon.」

「Sounds about right. Plus she listens to what people have to say and her reflexes aren’t half bad either.」

「Well that’s good to hear.」

「So, Sensei. We going to eat yet?」

Pestered by Mio, he made a slight grimace and nodded. He at least couldn’t detect any poison from any quick searches, nor did he have any bad feelings about it, so even if something had been slipped into it, they could probably just detoxify it by biting into some solmizen.

「Alright then, let us eat.」

「About time we get to dig in…」

After putting her hands together to exchange pre-meal formalities, Mio grumbled as she reached out for a sandwich. To Mio, who had about as much obsession with meals as Aearis did, it was quite testing to have food right in front of her but to not be able to touch it. With that being said, all these sandwiches involved were hard, black bread and your typical ingredients inserted inside- a very masculine, bare-bones sort of product.

「Y’know, I think this every time, but is there any way to do something about the hardness of this bread?」

「That’s cause we ain’t usin’ yeast. How ’bout ya learn how to ferment dough in the castle’s kitchen for now?」

「Oh yeah, you asked Prince Layotte to help out as well, right?」

Haruna muttered as she remembered. It wasn’t like she had forgotten, but it was just infinitely low on her priority list, so she hadn’t thought about it in the slightest. Ever since he had tasted the soft, fermented bread in the kitchen, Layotte had become obsessed with normalizing it. It would probably be best to just get over it and teach everyone as much as possible, both for the sake of his wish and for their own affluent eating habits.

「Heck, Lay even wanted to increase the production and normalization of takoyaki plates.」

「Sensei, I don’t think that plates alone will suffice.」

「Well yeeeah. Puttin’ aside green seaweed, the sauce ’n bonito flakes alone would be too difficult as of right now.」

The Japanese group’s conversation became increasingly derailed with the topic of food. The topic of what to eat was truly a fearsome one. Furthermore, the takoyaki plate that Layotte was so insistent about was more of a simple edition, where you would set it on a stove or hot plate. Both of those had the corresponding magic tools, so Layotte figured that all they needed was to make boards.