Chapter 168
The next morning, I finished preparing to leave Lindblum as Seimu.
All the guild paperwork was done, and all that remained was to depart from the west gate, but…
“Seimu, you’re really not going to become her mate, right? It is pretend, right?” (Melt)
“Yeah, it’s fine, it’s fine. Shuris-san probably just wants to use me as a deterrent against men.” (Shizuma)
Melt was still worried about the matter with Shuris-san, checking with me over and over again.
I’m Melt’s family. And yet, she seemed afraid that I might be taken away from her.
“That’s good then… But you’re not going to go to a ‘mate inn’ together or anything, right? You can’t do the ritual where you make a baby, okay?” (Melt)
“!? W-What are you suddenly saying…!?” (Shizuma)
D-Don’t tell me Melt has knowledge about that…!? No, it’s possible!
If it’s Melt, who reads, understands, and memorizes all kinds of books and materials, it wouldn’t be strange at all for her to know things like that… “Personally, I’m curious what kind of spell or ritual it is… I heard as a child that it’s a secret art passed down only at mate inns. But…if you have a child, you become a father and a mother, and then I can’t be family with you anymore. So it’s absolutely not allowed, okay?” (Melt)
Ah, so it’s kind of half-baked knowledge. How did this topic even come up…?
“It’s fine. That’s not going to happen. I’d like you to trust me.” (Shizuma)
“…Okay. I trust you.” (Melt)
“And Melt, don’t follow strange men, okay? There are a lot of people coming to the port and the islands right now.” (Shizuma)
“Okay, I’ll be careful.” (Melt)
After finally reassuring Melt, we set off from the west gate.
Incidentally, this time it wasn’t as part of some escort job.
The reason was that, in fact, someone had visited the house last night, right after I’d taken on Seimu’s appearance.
“At the fork in the road on the way? Near the swamp, right? That’s where they’ll pick us up?” (Melt)
“That’s what I heard. They’re supposed to arrive at noon, so if we head there now, the timing should be perfect.” (Shizuma)
That person was none other than Araza-san, the leader of Killcrawler.
One of the Thirteen Knights, Araza-san, had come to the house in person last night…
—————–
“So Shilent-dono has already departed. I would have liked to greet the individual known as Shizuma-kun as well.” (Araza)
“It seems you just missed him. My apologies. Shizuma headed to the port a bit earlier.” (Shizuma)
“I see… I truly regret this, but it seems our departure for Yasha Island will be delayed somewhat. I wished to convey that to Shizuma-kun.” (Araza)
“Ah, in that case, I’ll pass the message along. We’re planning to head to the port as well. Knowing Shizuma, he’s probably doing some independent investigation until the real clearing begins.” (Shizuma)
“I am truly sorry. Even though we were the ones who requested it. Haah… Who would have expected Lindblum Lair to revive as a massive dungeon. We thought that if we didn’t investigate, other explorers might be harmed, so we hastily accepted the Queen’s request. Please be sure to convey our apology to Shizuma-kun.” (Araza)
“Understood. I’ll be heading to the port tomorrow myself, so please focus on your investigation without worry, Araza-san.” (Shizuma)
“Then we will provide a carriage. The road extending from the Explorer Guild’s campsite leads to the swamp on the western highway. We’ll send the carriage there. Please allow us to take you to the port.” (Araza)
“Are you sure? That would be extremely helpful.” (Shizuma)
“It’s no trouble. We caused you inconvenience as well. Please let us do at least this much.” (Araza)
—————–
…That was the exchange we had last night.
So this time, we’d be traveling to the port by carriage arranged by Killcrawler.
The port was quite far: seven days by carriage.
Come to think of it, back when I was active as Seira, I heard that seafood only made it to Lindblum a few times a month. A round trip would take two weeks… Yeah, no wonder it rarely reached the inland areas.
To invigorate distribution like this, improving transportation really is indispensable.
“I’m looking forward to the port! I’ve only ever seen the sea from far away!” (Melt)
“I haven’t seen the sea in this world yet either, so I’m looking forward to it too.” (Shizuma)
And there might be rare things from other countries as well.
If so…maybe there’s rice, or Japanese-style seasonings somewhere.
Holding onto that faint hope, we headed for the fork in the road by the swamp where we were to meet up.
—————–
After joining up with the carriage, we proceeded along the highway leading to the port town in the western part of the country -an area neither of us had ever visited before.
Unlike the east, there were many branching roads along the way here, each connecting to other towns, villages, or regions.
Thus, we embarked on what might have been our first long-distance journey within the Kingdom of Lendia.
—————–
On the sixth day of traveling by carriage, we already moved quite far from the center of the country. In this region, where the influence of Dungeon Cores was still relatively weak, the temperature felt slightly lower than in the central areas.
The weather along the way hadn’t been rough at all. Even now, when I looked up, the blue sky stretched overhead, but despite that, the chill in the air made me think that this must be the country’s original climate.
“Sorry to have you act as the driver all the way here. I should have done it myself.” (Shizuma)
“No, it’s fine. It was the leader’s decision, and this time we ended up inconveniencing you entirely for our own reasons.”
In fact, the one serving as the driver this time was Busker.
This was probably the first time I met him face-to-face as Seimu. He apparently heard from Araza-san that I was a former member of the Brigade and a dungeon conqueror, so he was quite stiff at first, but he relaxed considerably over the course of the journey.
“It feels a bit colder here than in Lindblum. Is it usually like this at this time of year?” (Shizuma)
“I think the sea breeze probably plays a role. But it’s true that this area has always had a harsher climate than the center. There are winds blowing down from the mountains as well. Even so, this year’s temperatures are actually quite high, even here.” (Busker)
“I see… Then climate changes must already be starting across the entire continent…” (Shizuma)
To be honest, it was strange. I could understand crops growing better and plants growing faster due to the land becoming more fertile. But temperature didn’t seem like something that should rise just because the land’s power or abundance increased.
Which meant…there must be some kind of system that manages this world’s land and regions as a whole, including the climate.
It was unsettling. The current situation, where some existence seems to be manipulating this world like a game or simulator, was deeply unsettling.
But if that leads to happiness…if even that eerie system is being put to use by the people living here, then perhaps it’s not my place, as an outsider, to say anything about it.
“Well then, we’ll finally arrive at the port town tomorrow. I’ll be waiting on Yasha Island until the main force finishes their investigation and comes over, but what will you two do? Will you head to the island right away?” (Busker)
“No, we’ll do a bit of sightseeing in the port town first, then head to Yasha Island. Right, Melt?” (Shizuma)
“Yeah… I want to rest a bit…” (Melt)
Bad news: Melt had gotten motion sickness.
Between the sudden climate changes and the long carriage ride, she seemed to be having a rough time; she rarely looked unwell.
I gave her a status ailment recovery potion for now, but it wasn’t a complete cure.
…If only those hangover medicines worked for motion sickness too.
“I’m going to lie down a little more… This carriage shakes too much, I think…” (Melt)
“Ah… Yeah, it’s not exactly built with ride comfort in mind.” (Shizuma)
“They should prioritize that…” (Melt)
I see, this must be that explorer clan style “practicality first” mindset.
If you assume people are used to harsh environments, you don’t spend money on extra features.
…Someday, it might be worth teaching Kokuri-san about leaf springs or rubber tires.
—————–
The next day.
With a faint scent of the sea mixed into the air, we finally arrived at the port town after seven days of travel.
Fortunately, the weather was clear. Still, being by the sea, the town was a bit chilly, and Melt was bundled up in the coat she just bought this season, her hood pulled snugly over her head.
…Ah, the hood even has slits for beast ears, just like she asked for. That’s adorable.
Just her fox ears poking out of the hood, it really does something to you.
“Then I’ll leave the carriage and head to the island on the regular ship. We might run into each other over there, but I’ll take my leave here.” (Busker)
“Yeah. If we meet over there, take care of us. Thanks for keeping us company on the long journey, Busker.” (Shizuma)
“Bye, Busker! I’ll be helping Killcrawler, so I’m sure we’ll see each other!” (Melt)
After seeing off Busker, who took care of us for seven days, I discussed with Melt what to do next.
Now then…what should we do? Looking for promising ingredients at the market would be nice, or searching for strange foreign goods…
“T-The sea, the sea! It smells kind of different…! L-Let’s go see it quickly!” (Melt)
“Hahaha, yeah. Let’s see the sea first.” (Shizuma)
Looks like discussion is out of the question.
Melt, who clearly couldn’t hold herself back anymore, took off running, and I followed after her toward the pier.
Feeling the scent of the tide again after so long, I looked forward to seeing what the sea of this world would be like.
—————–
“Whaaaaa~!!!!! Amazing, amazing, amazing! Water! It’s all water! Everything I can see is all water! It’s not like a pond or a swamp at all! The waves are incredible! It’s this big!? I wonder how deep it is!?” (Melt)
As soon as we reached the pier, Melt shouted out her excitement, joy, and amazement, waving her arms around as if to show just how vast the sea was.
Her age-inappropriate enthusiasm was so heartwarming that it wasn’t just me, nearby residents walking past were smiling too.
Sorry! This kid is seeing the sea for the first time! Please watch over her warmly!
“Seimu, Seimu! How deep do you think it is here!?” (Melt)
“Well, right here it’s not that deep, but see that big ship docked over there? That area’s probably pretty deep.” (Shizuma)
“You’re right! If you look closely, you can see the bottom around here!” (Melt)
I checked too and was surprised.
Even though this was the sea right near the port, you could clearly see the seabed between the waves.
That transparency really drove home how different this world was from Earth.
“Alright, next let’s look for the market. We might find something unusual, or even sea shrimp for sale.” (Shizuma)
“Shrimp! I want to see them! Big shrimp! Wow, I’m excited!” (Melt)
“Yeah. They might even have skewers or something. Let’s go check it out.” (Shizuma)
Looks like we’ll be doing some port sightseeing for a while.
We should probably look for an inn where we can cook later, too.
—————–
As expected, the market was set up near where the ships were docked.
It looked like people who’d probably come from overseas, as well as local restaurant owners, were buying seafood in bulk.
Exceptionally fresh fish swam in large barrels, and the shrimp Melt had been waiting for were swimming in huge, bathtub-like containers, or leaping around in the water to escape the shopkeepers’ nets.
“!!!! They’re huge! Thicker than my finger! A-Amazing! How do you eat something this big!? If they’re this big, frying them might not work! The shells look so hard!” (Melt)
“Yeah. That’s why you peel the shells off. Sea shrimp are big, you can even peel them by hand.” (Shizuma)
“Oh! So you peel them first, then fry them?” (Melt)
Melt’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the shrimp, completely absorbed.
Seeing how cute she looked, the shopkeeper uncle struck up a conversation.
“Miss, these are better grilled with salt than fried, you know. If you cook them slowly over low heat, even the hard shells get crunchy enough to eat. There are food stalls around here that sell them, give it a try.”
“Salt-grilled! When they’re this big, you can grill them like fish! I’ll definitely buy some if I find them!” (Melt)
“Hahaha, do give them a taste. So, boyfriend, want to buy something?”
“Yeah. I’ll take about ten shrimp. I’m planning to cook them for her.” (Shizuma)
“Nice! Make sure the young lady gets plenty. Here, an extra. Twelve for nine silver coins.”
“Oh, that’s cheap! Thanks, sir.” (Shizuma)
“Heh, don’t mention it.”
Alright, now that we’ve got live shrimp in a small bucket, we need to find a place where we can cook them soon.
“Alright, Melt…salt-grilled is good, but I’ll make you a special shrimp dish, okay?” (Shizuma)
“Yay! Then let’s hurry and find somewhere we can use fire!!” (Melt)
Now then, it’s time for shrimp fry…! I’ll figure out the sauce somehow!
Witness the true power of sea shrimp…and savor it well!
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