A Foolish Choice
Since then I’ve been steadily working as an adventurer. But I can’t seem to save any money. The reason is that food costs too much.
To give a rough picture of this world’s food situation, the nobles eat wheat that’s been paid to the state as tax.
Commoners eat wheat only as an occasional luxury, otherwise they live on barley, coarse grains, and a potato-like tuber as their staples.
Because monsters run rampant, it’s difficult to raise livestock.
Ranches require a fair amount of space. Also, monsters are attracted to livestock, so you have to defend a wide area.
There’s a method to keep a few chickens or pigs in the village, but it risks provoking goblin raids and the like that are after the animals. That kind of risk is huge for a small village.
Naturally, there is very little meat that reaches the market. Livestock meat only circulates as an expensive luxury ingredient for the nobility.
Commoners eat wild animals taken by hunting, or monster meat. It’s easier and less risky to go into monster territory and get meat than to raise livestock while defending it from monster attacks.
Monster meat is cheaper than livestock raised on a ranch, but it’s still pricey. Vegetables are even more expensive.
Basically, fields are used to grow grain to pay taxes. Vegetables are usually grown only in small amounts for each household’s own consumption. Perishable vegetables rarely appear at market.
People know that if you don’t eat vegetables enough you’ll get sick, so everyone eats them occasionally almost like medicine.
The adventurers’ guild tavern has a kitchen garden in the back. You can eat vegetables from there, but they’re very expensive.
If you try to eat with good nutritional balance, getting the protein and calories you need, it costs a huge amount of money.
Al says the meals I always eat are like a noble’s table.
But I’m an adventurer whose body is my capital. Thin soup and rock-hard coarse-grain bread every day won’t keep me going.
Spices used in cooking are expensive too, which only makes cooking costlier.
Because this place is a production area, spices are cheaper here than in other countries, but merchants from the Megad Empire can sell them for high prices. As a result, supply can’t keep up with demand.
When Al and the others saw me spending a lot on food they didn’t say anything. Most adventurers get hooked on drink and women, but apparently some get obsessed with food instead.
They said, “You must have eaten nothing but awful food in the village…” It’s true I want to eat delicious things, but compared to Japan it’s…meh.
Even the expensive dishes aren’t refined and taste bad. The only truly good thing is the steak.
The dressings are awful, and the vegetables haven’t been bred well, so they taste green or bitter.
My fussiness about food is for the sake of my body. With knowledge from modern Japan, I know how important a balanced diet is.
I don’t know how much illness a pharmacist or healing magic can cure. It can’t hurt to take care of my health.
In Rock Cliff, no one has ever seen an Asian-looking face like mine. My features are distinctive, so if the guards mobilize over the village chief’s murder they’ll find me right away.
Why haven’t I been arrested yet? There are various possible reasons. Maybe the information hasn’t reached them, or they’ve written me off as a nuisance who’s dead. But as long as the guards don’t come to arrest me, I guess I’m okay.
As a precaution I’ve sewn various things into the lining of my clothes. The bare minimum I need to live like salt, spices, and gold.
Salt is necessary to sustain life. Spices make food tasty and can be sold for a good price. Gold is the strongest convertible material in civilization. If I have these sewn into my clothes, even if I have to flee with nothing but my body, I can manage somehow.
I began to feel anxious that my money wasn’t growing as quickly as I’d hoped, but there was nothing I could do about it. The guards didn’t seem to be actively searching for the village chief’s killer either. For now, I decided to focus on honing my skills as an adventurer.
Since then, I’ve completed several requests with Gonz and the others. We’ve become more in sync with each other, and our teamwork has improved.
Little by little, I’ve started to get used to life as an adventurer. Just as I was settling into a routine, Al brought a new request.
It was the same request I’d taken on first: the extermination of the Gray Wolves. The Gray Wolves were troublesome, so normal adventurers would form multiple parties to deal with them.
But since Gonz and the others could handle it with just one party, the reward was much higher. Since it was the same request I’d completed successfully before, we all agreed unanimously to take it on again.
After camping for a night, we arrived at the village. We spoke with the village chief and headed into the forest. The situation felt so familiar, I almost thought time had looped.
This is it. The flag has been raised. It’s probably going to be one of those situations where it seems like the same thing, but then a dragon will show up or something.
While having such ridiculous thoughts, I walked toward the forest where our target was.
In town, I constantly kept my detection and concealment skills fully active to avoid getting entangled with anyone. Thanks to that, I was able to keep an eye out while letting my mind wander with strange thoughts.
By continuously using these skills, I had eventually learned to keep them active unconsciously. I could also naturally ignore any irrelevant information coming from the skills.
Now, even while sleeping, the skills were still active.
When a person is forced to learn something, they end up picking it up whether they want to or not. Thanks to that, I’d never been bothered by anyone in town.
However, I once forgot to deactivate my concealment and startled a shopkeeper when I spoke to them.
They were so surprised that they tried to punch me on the spot. Even I was shocked. This is an isekai world for sure. Customer service here packs a punch.
Normally, I thought they’d apologize immediately if they hit a customer, but instead, they got angry at me. Apparently, it was my fault for scaring them. The shopkeepers in this world are wild.
Just like before, I used the herbs growing naturally in the area to mask my scent. Following the trail, I tracked down the Gray Wolves.
The Gray Wolves I found weren’t clustered in their den but were spread out at regular intervals, keeping a lookout.
There were five of them, just as I’d been told. I returned to Gonz and the others to report the findings.
After a quick discussion, I volunteered to act as the bait for a decoy mission, something usually reserved for lower-ranked scouts.
There was an open area in the forest, so I decided to use the blood of wild animals to lure the Gray Wolves and guide them in.
The forest was dense and dark, and I figured it would be risky to fight the Gray Wolves there.
At first, Gonz and the others were hesitant, but I reassured them, saying that I was confident in my ability to navigate the woods. I promised I’d be careful, and they reluctantly agreed.
To be honest, I wasn’t confident about sneaking through the forest with the clumsy Gonz and the others. With most monsters, it wouldn’t be a problem, but the Gray Wolves have excellent detection abilities.
I had already prepared a squirrel and cut its throat, spreading its blood to lure the Gray Wolves closer.
I detected their approach through my scent detection skill. I lured them a little further before running toward the spot where Gonz and the others were waiting.
I was confident in my ability to run through the forest, but as expected, the Gray Wolves were faster than I anticipated. I ran desperately, with the wolves right on my tail.
Crap, if I don’t pick up the pace, they’re going to bite my rear! The dense forest made it hard to see, and the uneven ground with roots and slippery leaves didn’t help.
I didn’t think any other adventurer could run at this speed. The life expectancy of a scout acting as bait is probably pretty short.
I made sure to lure the Gray Wolves from a distance so they wouldn’t catch the scent of Gonz and the others. Maybe I should’ve lured them a bit closer.
I’d also taken care to mask Gonz’ and the others’ scent, so they probably wouldn’t have detected them even if I had been closer. I reflected that my planning was a bit too optimistic.
Barely making it through the forest, I shouted to Gonz and the others.
“The Gray Wolves are coming! Prepare for battle!”
No sooner had I shouted than the Gray Wolves charged out of the woods. One of them was immediately struck by an arrow. It seemed like they’d been prepared, not letting their guard down.
Unlike the cave, we couldn’t restrict the enemy’s movements here. It was taking longer than I expected, but Gonz and the others were managing to keep the fight in our favor.
They had already taken down two of the five Gray Wolves, leaving three behind.
This will be over soon. Flag successfully avoided, I thought, but then I got a sudden reaction from my detection skill.
1… 2… 5… 7… 10! Crap.
“Gonz! More are coming from the forest! There are ten of them!”
“Ten?! What the hell is going on here?!”
“Al, should we retreat?”
“It’s impossible, Kimon. We can’t escape until we take these down!”
This was bad. The readings hadn’t been there a moment ago… It was my mistake as a scout. Should I abandon Gonz and the others and run? I hesitated.
I discarded the thought. I had to prioritize my life is what a voice like a devil whispered in my ear. I hesitated for a moment, but then I ran toward the Gray Wolves Gonz and the others were fighting.
This situation was my mistake.
If I abandoned Gonz now, I’d never be able to respect myself again.
I knew it was a foolish choice. Even if I charged in, Gonz might use me as a decoy to get away. But there was no option to run.
I silenced my fear of death, let out a battle cry, and charged toward the Gray Wolves.