Yuri Was A Hard Worker Even On Vacation

With the Gigant Lizard subjugation and Saber White Wolf extermination jobs finished, Yuri and I ended up spending some time together at home.

The periods when there were no requests from the Guild were precious vacations. Even so, Yuri was incredibly hardworking.

She was constantly bustling around every day.

One moment she was preparing dinner, and the next she was cleaning the bath and kitchen.

Thanks to her, my house had become cleaner than it had ever been.

Seeing how diligent Yuri was made me start cleaning too.

While I was sweeping up the fallen leaves in front of the house, I spotted Yuri bringing in the laundry.

I’d always cleaned my clothes with Clean Magic, but Yuri carefully drew river water into a tub and washed them properly by hand.

She even finished them with a liquid called softening extract that supposedly made fabric fluffy, so the clothes came out smelling pleasantly of flowers.

By the time I’d finished gathering the fallen leaves around the house, I’d made a small pile just the right size for a bonfire.

Since I had the chance, maybe I’d roast some potatoes.

These particularly sweet potatoes were called Eto Potatoes, and their defining feature was their thick skin.

They tasted best roasted, after all.

I buried the potatoes beneath the pile of leaves, then snapped my fingers.

The next instant, a small flame appeared among the leaves and gradually began to spread.

The leaves alone weren’t enough, so I added some branches as well.

It was spring, but the wind was still chilly.

Ahh, a bonfire really warmed you up.

Being able to appreciate little moments of happiness like this was one of the nice things about living in peace.

After finishing with the laundry, Yuri came over.

Apparently, she was curious about why I was poking at the bonfire.

“Roy, what are you doing?”

“I’m roasting potatoes.”

“Potatoes?”

“You’ve never roasted potatoes like this before?”

“I’ve used potatoes in stews, soups, stir-fries, and all kinds of things, but I don’t think I’ve ever roasted them like that.”

Come to think of it, Eto Potatoes were only cultivated around Eto.

It wasn’t surprising that Yuri had never seen them prepared this way.

After a while, the potatoes had roasted nicely, so I rolled them out of the fire with a branch.

Once they’d cooled slightly, I split one in half, revealing its golden interior.

I handed the roasted potato to Yuri.

“The skin’s tough. Let it cool a little, then peel it before you eat it.”

“O-Okay.”

Yuri carefully peeled back the skin, then took a bite of the golden potato.

Her blue-purple eyes immediately shimmered with delight, and her pale cheeks flushed.

“It’s delicious…!”

“They’re called Eto Potatoes. They’re sweeter than most other potatoes.”

“It’s fluffy, sweet, and really delicious!!”

Watching Yuri happily eat the roasted potato somehow made me happy too.

Eating together like this wasn’t bad at all…

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

Thudthudthudthudthud!!

The sound of pounding footsteps like an earthquake came rushing toward us.

What the hell was that!?

Large monsters almost never came around here.

Yuri and I readied ourselves, and then an enormous rabbit burst out of the bushes where the sound was coming from.

“It’s an Arangora!!”

I shouted the monster’s name.

That was one ridiculously huge Arangora.

It was a giant rabbit at least a size larger than a bear, with fluffy silver fur and gleaming red eyes.

The Arangora charged straight toward us.

“Rockfall.”

Yuri instinctively cast an offensive rockfall spell. A stone roughly twice the size of a person’s head suddenly dropped from nowhere.

THUUUUUD!!

The boulder struck the giant rabbit squarely on the head, making its eyes spin as it collapsed with a tremendous crash right in front of us.

The impact was strong enough to make the ground jolt vertically for an instant.

Arangoras were A-rank monsters.

Their pelts sold for a high price, and their meat was delicious as well.

“We should get a good amount if we sell it at a Monster Exchange. But this one’s too huge for any nearby town to handle.”

“…Yeah.”

“All right. I was planning to go shopping for a few other things anyway, so how about we visit a large city?”

“A large city? Eto?”

“No, there’s another place where monster trading is much more active. It also has a monster arena where adventurers go to test their skills.”

“Ah, do you mean the southern city… Belgion?”

“You know about it?”

“Yeah. I used to sell herbs I’d gathered there sometimes. And the Hero participates in the combat tournaments held there, so I’ve visited the city several times.”

Come to think of it, it was almost time for Belgion’s combat tournament.

That meant the Hero might be coming to the city too. Was there a chance we’d run into that party?

…No, in a city that large, rather than accidentally bumping into someone, it would probably be harder to find an acquaintance on purpose.

There wasn’t much point worrying about it.

Besides…

Unlike the old Yuri, whose overgrown bangs had hidden half her face and whose clothes had been falling apart, the Yuri now had a neatly trimmed short bob and wore a feminine tunic. Her overall impression was completely different. The Hero’s party might not even recognize her.

“Belgion is a lively place, isn’t it? I’d like to go again. The herbs I gathered around this mountain would sell for a good price there too.”

Apparently, plenty of medicinal herbs grew around this house, and Yuri gathered them whenever she had spare time.

Belgion had countless apothecaries, after all.

If Yuri knew that herbs fetched high prices there, then while traveling with the Hero’s party, she’d probably sold gathered herbs to help cover their travel expenses too.

Yuri herself didn’t seem particularly concerned about the Hero’s party, so we decided to head for Belgion to sell the Arangora and the medicinal herbs.