183

The negotiation was concluded.

However, that did not mean there were no problems. Would Boobs Lady really bring the potions properly?

And I did not know whether she would be able to find me again and hand them over.

If she ran off with the goods, that would be the end of it.

That was what I had thought, but according to Boobs Lady, “I will be forcibly mobilized again anyway,” which dispelled my worries.

In addition, she told me to sit still and wait, since it would be troublesome if I came over there to collect the items.

For the time being, I figured we would need some means of contact, and just as I was about to rummage through my backpack to see if there was anything suitable, Boobs Lady made a suggestion.

“If you need something, around noon—when the sun is overhead—we will raise a signal fire on the far side of the river. Use that to figure out where we are. You move faster anyway, so it is fine if you come to us, right?”

Boobs Lady settled it briskly.

It was easy to understand, so I had no complaints.

I slowly nodded my agreement and put the remaining wine back into my backpack.

Boobs Lady stared fixedly at that.

Incidentally, her name was apparently “Diera.”

To be honest, the impression left by those magnificent things of hers was so strong that I was not confident I would remember it.

And so, our discussion ended safely, and the time came to part ways.

They would be heading back along a dark road at night, but if they were hunters, there was probably no need to worry.

But then I suddenly remembered the first time I had encountered her.

(That time there had been an ogre, but they had been right on the verge of being wiped out.)

Considering her ability, I felt that level of threat should have been manageable somehow… but when I thought about asking her about it, I reconsidered, deciding that would be an insensitive question.

She seemed to have found new companions, so it would not be good to carelessly dig up old wounds.

I watched them off as they began crossing the river, illuminated by a light spell, but Boobs Lady was so reluctant to leave that she kept looking back this way again and again.

Having no choice, I wrote in big letters on a sheet of paper, “For post-payment,” then held it up together with the wine I took from my backpack, using a light spell.

Boobs Lady, giving me a thumbs-up with an extremely nice smile, shouted loudly, “Store the wine back where it was!”

Was this person not just a little too adaptable?

I could not deny the possibility that she was simply an unparalleled lover of alcohol, but after seeing them off, I let out a deep breath.

“She was someone I could talk to more than I expected.”

When I thought of Seizerian hunters, I had assumed the standard response would be, “It is a monster. Kill it!” but apparently there were some who could talk.

Or perhaps there was also a good chance that this time had merely been a coincidence due to the nature of the request, but even that would still mean there were people who issued such requests.

In any case, I did not want anyone finding fault with the condition of the wine, so I decided to obediently do as she said here.

Perhaps because I had sealed the entrance tightly, it took me a bit of effort, but I successfully put it away in the wine cellar.

Since it was a basement in good condition, I wanted to preserve it as it was for as long as possible.

So once again, I carefully secured it, making sure other creatures could not ransack it.

Finally, I used a suitably intact section of collapsed wall as a lid.

It was something I had to carry with both arms spread wide, so goblins should not be able to do anything about it.

A human might be able to break it with tools, but there probably would not be some eccentric carrying such things into a place like this.

With that, I felt relieved and looked up at the night sky just before dawn.

I supposed I would do my best with one hunt for breakfast.

Night ended and the sun rose.

I reused the stove I had built by the riverbank and grilled rabbit meat on an iron plate.

I combined edible mushrooms with herbs and, as the final adjustment, added a pinch of salt—done.

I transferred the freshly grilled meat to a plate and placed the cooked mushrooms on top, so the appearance was perfect too.

Using a knife and fork deftly with my thumb, index finger, and middle finger, I cut into the rabbit steak.

Before bringing the large cut piece of meat to my mouth, I savored its aroma.

The smell of the meat had been splendidly canceled out by the herbs, and that fragrance spoke eloquently of how appropriate the amount used had been.

And then I ate it—it was terrible.

The salt level was not the problem.

It was just that these herbs went fatally poorly with the bland rabbit meat.

“The smell is good, though…”

The taste was a little too strong, so if I was going to use it, wild boar meat would probably be more suitable, I thought, removing the herbs with my knife while chewing the steak.

Herbs really were difficult to use well, I thought, shoulders slumping even as I still finished everything properly.

Once I finished cleaning up, I slung my baggage over my back and resumed exploring.

First, south—I took out the map and checked my current location.

Since there were no landmarks, it could only be rough, but I estimated it was about this area and circled the planned search range.

Now then, it was time to begin exploring.

I lumbered into the forest, and what I found after advancing for a while was traces of a road.

Judging from the direction, perhaps it had led toward Eilqueel?

Since I had no other information, I tried following the traces, but before even ten minutes had passed, they vanished.

I tried moving ahead by predicting the route, but I could find no further traces, so reluctantly I switched back to ordinary exploration.

As I ran while keeping the western side in mind, I discovered goblins.

I exterminated them without hesitation and searched for their companions.

However, I could not confirm the presence of any other goblins nearby.

“…A stray?”

If so, then there should be a group it had come from.

And if there was a goblin group, then I arrived at the possibility that there might be ruins I still had not discovered.

Very well, then. Goblin hunting it was.

Even if they were ruins, they were splendid remains left behind by my homeland.

You lot had no right to make use of them.

Sensing the start of a large-scale goblin extermination for the first time in a while, I advanced a little more cautiously.

When the enemy came in large numbers, the safety of my baggage became a concern.

To buy myself time to hide my backpack somewhere away from the area, I wanted to discover them without being noticed.

So with that, I shifted my focus from exploration to hunting, and after moving on for a while, I got a reaction.

The first thing to catch it was my hearing.

My sense of smell came next.

Once I became certain that they were there, I took out my spare saber, moved my backpack up onto a large tree for safekeeping, and, as markers, stabbed the branches I had picked up into the ground one after another.

With that, preparations were complete.

It was time to pay a visit and collect the usage fee for the heritage from the goblins.

If they noticed me and ran, it would defeat the whole purpose, so I approached carefully in Stealth Mode.

What came into view then was something like a shabby shack.

I observed it for a while, and it seemed to be a settlement making use of several ramshackle huts built by humans.

But I could not imagine something like this had existed in the days of the Empire.

Even a slum should have been better than this.

(In that case, this was something humans from Seizeria built for some purpose. Or perhaps it had been a place where people who fled had settled down.)

That meant collecting a usage fee here was out of the question.

So I simply exterminated them.

They were goblins, after all. There was no value in letting them live.

I searched the foul-smelling place just in case there was anything of interest.

What I got was a bundle of papers I could not read.

They had come from inside a smelly metal box that the goblin who seemed to be the boss here had been using as a chair.

Since they were in a place like this, there was also the possibility that they were something important.

Therefore, I secured them just in case.

At best, perhaps they could be used for something when I traded with Boobs Lady.

I continued exploring like that until the sun went down, but since I found nothing else, I changed course eastward and headed for the river.

I planned to rest today, so as soon as I arrived at the river, I began preparing camp.

Since I had the chance, and because the goblin stench might have rubbed off on me, I bathed as well.

After warming myself by the campfire, I began cooking.

I had managed to gather enough shrimp and crabs to heap into my hands, so today I would try making stock from them.

I seemed to remember hearing somewhere that shellfish made good stock.

Though I struggled because of their size, I removed what seemed to be the intestines and innards, washed them, and then tossed them into the pot one after another.

Once it came to a boil, I adjusted the taste with salt at the end and gave it a try—it was better than I had expected.

Since I had the chance, I filleted the fish I had caught and added them in as well.

It had become a rather luxurious-looking hot pot.

When I sipped the soup with the ladle, I was involuntarily moved by how well it had turned out.

I then ate the ingredients inside together with it.

“It is delicious,” even a monster would nod in agreement at this level of tastiness.

It was probably the best thing I had made so far.

I would have to show this off somewhere again, I thought, imagining the breasts of Boobs Lady, whose reactions had been wonderful.

(Oh no, I cannot remember her name?)

It seemed that if there was a particularly striking feature, that would take priority after all.

After fully enjoying the satisfying meal to the very end, I finished cleaning up and went to sleep without even doing my now-daily magic practice.