Chapter 21.17 - Extra 3.2

Extra 3.2

「Oh yeah, I heard that you all rampaged around the farming area.」

「Yeah, we did take up a request of that sort.」

「And is it true that you brought down over twenty monsters in the morning?」

「Sure is. They came out in droves. Hiroshi-kun gathered them all in one place, though, so it wasn’t all that hard.」

Elena and Aearis looked at each other after Haruna added that last part. Sure, he came out when he had to, but Hiroshi was in general a coward, so it felt very strange to hear about him aggressively calling attention to himself.

「……I’m amazed that Hiroshi did something as bold as that.」

「I’m sure Hiroshi-kun felt the same way. Although I think the reason was that the process only lasted about five minutes and he wouldn’t get hurt from being hit by monsters of that level.」

Even when Haruna pointed that out, neither of them really felt satisfied with that explanation. In truth, monsters that came close to where people were living were absolutely powerless before Hiroshi’s defense. For monsters that lurked near plantations, your average Level Seven adventurer could certainly win in numbers, but not necessarily without some wounds, whereas Hiroshi could stand out there by himself naked and still not be affected. Sure, it would hurt to get hit, but it was way more painful to stub his toe against the corner of a dresser, so it might not be so strange for him to nonchalantly stand before enemies like that.

However, they still felt off about this whole thing—probably because neither of them really saw Hiroshi as a battle combatant.

「……Yeah, I still don’t really feel it.」

「When it comes to Hiroshi-sama, I don’t see him as someone who tenses up for battle. I think he truly shines when his eyes glint at precious materials or when he earnestly challenges new and difficult things.」

「Well, it’s not like I don’t agree with you, Elle-chan.」

All three girls agreed that Hiroshi wasn’t cut out to be the protagonist of an adventure story. The pathetic thing about all of this was that not only did Layotte and the other males agree on this, Hiroshi himself agreed.

「But everyone including Hiroshi-kun has agreed that we’d best practice coordination for all the battles that we’ll probably be fighting in the future.」

「Yeah, that’s unfortunately how it has to be.」

「Thankfully, we managed to save Farlane from the clutches of Barold through the skin of our teeth, but as to whether or not it’ll go as well for other countries……」

「That’s the issue, isn’t it?」

Haruna sighed in response to Aearis’s statement. From what she knew about returning to their world, there was no avoiding the dangers that would come. Although they didn’t intend to go out of their way to cause trouble, in 8 or 9 cases out of ten they would still probably end up getting caught up in something.

「There are plenty of things that we need to do or that we should do, but it’s a bit difficult when we have to figure out where to even start.」

「But when you get to that point, you could simply choose between things that wouldn’t take too long versus things that would take a lot of time.」

「It would be best to get into the habit of deciding on something from the get-go, otherwise you’ll always end up dragging things out with indecision.」

「Mm, true enough.」

Haruna agreed with their opinions, although one of their phrases caused her to realize something else.

「You know, when Aearis mentioned getting into the habit of something, that kind of reminds me of diets.」

「Come to think of it, whenever there were long banquets or parties, my older sisters Rena and Maria would always go on about “My weight!” or “My corset!”.」

Aearis recalled a nostalgic story when she heard what Haruna had said. Apparently, the concept of a diet was not unknown in Farlane.

「In enough time, Aearis as well shall become one of them…or not. She is the priestess princess after all.」

「What, do priestess princesses not get fat?」

「It’s because they don’t generally eat extravagantly, as well as the fact that purifying the earth requires a great deal of energy.」

As a potential result, priestess princesses throughout the years had all had slender bodies, apart from their chest and rear.

「We all initially praised Katrina from that perspective. After all, it was her continuous hard work that allowed her to maintain her physique and good looks.」

「Ahh, I never actually got to speak with her properly, but she did seem to be like that.」

「So what about you, Haruna? You seem to be awfully fixated on food.」

「Hmm…Well, my family doesn’t really get fat.」

「Seriously?」

「Yeah. Especially when it comes to karaoke—that’s what they call it in my country where individuals or small groups go to specific places suited for singing—when my three other family members and I go there, everyone other than my father usually loses about 2 kilograms.」

「……Just how much energy are you using when you sing……?」

With that being said, Haruna saw singing as more of a hobby than anything worth getting serious about, so she generally never expended much energy unless her family took her out, in which case her mother Yukina and younger sister Miyuki would sing with all their might and everyone singing would burn more calories than jogging.

「Plus I’ve had many opportunities to exercise my stamina since coming here, so I’d argue that I weigh less than usual.」

「Then you’re essentially the enemy of all women who do their best to keep beautiful and in shape.」

「Makoto-san said the same sort of thing to me, but what exactly am I supposed to do about it?」

Haruna couldn’t help but grimace at what Elena had said. She was about to add more in order to argue back when Mio came into the room.

「Haru, it’s about time to prepare dinner.」

「Oh, that’s right.」

Haruna remembered when Mio said that, and got out from the kotatsu.

「Incidentally, what’s today’s meal?」

「I’ve been absorbed so much in Farlane cuisine as of late, so I wanted to change things up today and make some cuisine from my country, called fried oyster. Plus the changing of the seasons is near anyway.」

「I want to cook in the future, so might I lend a hand?」

「Alright. I’ll teach you lots and lots.」

Readily consenting to Aearis’s request, Haruna taught various things to her. Aearis, who had taken whatever opportunity she could get during her stay under their protection, also happened to have no problem with cooking easy meals. As the others watched her unexpectedly good performance,

「Seriously? No matter what I do, I can’t even stand a chance against a princess who barely turned 11…」

In secret, Teres was quite depressed, since she was not, in fact, good at cooking.

「Are you all Makoto’s friends?」

「Yes, we are, but who are you?」

「I guess you could say that I’m…Makoto’s drinking buddy?」

It was the day of Tatsuya’s assignment. When he had shown up at the meeting place, he was approached by a female adventurer of whom he was not familiar with. She had long, chestnut-colored hair, which was unusual for a female adventurer.

「My name’s Irva. I’m the leader of the team called “Bloody Rose”, and my rank is Level 5. I should also add that my entire team is female. This time, we’ll be escorting the caravans to Kalsus alongside you and your folks.」

「I’m Katsuki Tatsuya. I guess you’d call me the main negotiator from Azuma Workshop. My rank is now at Level 8. This time around, I’ve come along with everyone other than trainees.」

Tatsuya had decided to introduce his team name as Azuma Workshop and introduce himself. Until he had heard Irva’s introduction, he had not actually realized that his team had not yet decided on a name. As Tatsuya had been registered by the Adventurers’ Association as being a specialist from Azuma Workshop, his introduction wasn’t far off at all.

「I bet it’ll be a very memorable experience to be able to work together with someone from the famous Azuma Workshop.」

A well-built, handsome man had apparently been listening in on their conversation, joining in.

「Famous? And who are you anyway？」

「Oh, my bad. The name’s Haan. Haan Sandrom. My rank is Level 6 and I’m a member of the『Deep Green Fangs』. Just like both of you, we’ll be participating in the escort of caravans to Kalsus. We do happen to have another leader, but they’re not exactly good at introductions and the like.」

「Our workshop’s leader is actually the same way, so don’t even worry about it.」

「Oh, well that’s a relief.」

Haan truly looked happy at Tatsuya’s reply. That truly showed how considerate of a person he was.

「So, what do you mean by famous?？」

「Well, they make a lot of interesting things, right?」

「Can’t deny that. Although I’m not the one making them.」

As Tatsuya was getting to know the other teams more closely,

「Brother, we’re headin’ out purty soon.」

And like a moth flying into the flame, Hiroshi called out.

「Is it already that time? Oh yeah, while I’m at it, let me introduce you. Hiro, the lightweight warrior over here is the leader of the team『Bloody Rose』, Irva, and the handsome fellow over here is the negotiator of the『Deep Green Fangs』, Haan. And you two, this is the leader of our workshop, Hiroshi Azuma.」

「Haan Sandrom. Nice to meet you.」

「Irva Mille. Makoto has always helped us tremendously.」

「I’m Hiroshi Azuma. I never did done nothin’ adventure-related, but I’ll do my best to not slow ya down.」

Tatsuya couldn’t help but grimace at how many unnecessary things Hiroshi was saying about himself. Besides, even though he was just carrying it around, Tatsuya doubted that the two of them were so ignorant to not realize that Hiroshi was carrying around a heavy mace with a metallic handle. They wouldn’t consider that sort of person to be 'slowing them down”.

「Haan Sandrom, was it? Heh.」

「Something the matter?」

「Nah. I was just thinkin’ that if ya had a nickname or alias it’d be『Handsome』.」

Tatsuya and Irva burst into laughter at the dumb joke. Apparently the word “handsome” was understood over here too. Haan had probably heard this a million times before, simply grimacing. In that sense, he seemed oddly adult-like.

「Anyhoo, we should git goin’. We’ll git left behind otherwise.」

「Alright. With that being said, we’ll be moving along the roadside, so I doubt we’ll have much to do.」

「I wouldn’t be so sure. Sure, it’s gotten a lot better recently, but that hasn’t stopped irregular monsters from showing up.」

「If it were that easy, then there’s no way that high-ranking adventurers like us would be hired just for going to Kalsus.」

「True, that makes sense.」

Haan and Irva dismissed Tatsuya’s naïve optimism with their own observations. Tatsuya found himself agreeing with them.

「Well at least we have Mio, so we don’t need to worry ’bout detectin’ enemies.」

「For sure.」

As they were discussing all this, they got into the carriages allotted to them in the center. Bloody Rose was at the vanguard, while the Deep Green Fangs were at the rear. What Hiroshi’s Japanese team failed to realize was that there were two females—a tall, meager-breasted knight and a medium-built girl with black clothing top to bottom—watching them and communicating secretly to each other.