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“…Hmm.”
A sensation that’s too cold to be described as refreshing air wakes me up, making me shiver. The light peeping in from the gaps in the door was dazzling, and it seems like it’s already morning.
“Su…Suuuu..”
“…………….”
Next to me, Tia, strangely wrapped up thick in her cloak, was fast asleep. Probably half of the cloak was given to me, but I feel a sense of absurdity rather than kindness in the fact that all of it was wound around Tia’s body.
“Tia, wake up. It’s morning.”
“Huh?”
As I poked her cheek, devoid of any hint of alertness, Tia opened her eyes sleepily. The fact that we could rest here so carelessly was because there were no monsters or thieves in this world that would attack us in our sleep.
It’s somewhat inappropriate, but we can feel as safe here as we would in an inn anywhere… though it’s terribly cold… this could be one of the few advantages of this world.
“…Ah, Ed. Good morning.”
“Good morning, Tia. And good morning to you too, Harris-san.”
“…you noticed?”
By the time I woke up, Harris was already awake. Whether that was because he was on guard for something, or simply because he is a light sleeper, I can’t tell since I only met him yesterday, but as he lifted his head, Harris looked at us inquiringly.
“You look very refreshed.”
“Yes, thanks to you. I think we can depart without waiting until noon.”
“You’re not pushing yourself, are you? There aren’t many places to keep out the cold. It’ll be more troublesome if we have to stop midway.”
“Haha, it’s alright. Come on, Tia, let’s get ready for the morning.”
“Okay.”
Leading a yawning Tia, we went outside. Normally, we would scoop up snow with our hands and scrub our faces, but for some reason, Tia stopped.
“Hm? What’s up, Tia?”
“Hmm. You know, this snow, the more you touch it, the more you’re cursed, right? So I was wondering about washing our faces with it…”
“I get what you’re saying, but it’s a bit late for that, isn’t it? Do you have any idea how much of the blizzard we’ve been through up to now?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Ever since we came to this world, not a single day has gone by without this blizzard. We’ve walked and moved around plenty in the blizzard that blowed without regard for whether it’s day or night, so our bodies were soaking wet from the blizzard for a lifetime’s worth. Whether we wash our faces from here on is too little too late.
“If you insist, why don’t you produce water with your own magic? Or use a water generation magic tool?”
“Hmm… no, it’s fine.”
Resigning herself, Tia began to scrub her face with the snow. After that, she took care of her needs a little distance away… just a few steps around the corner with her hand on the outside wall of the house… and when she came back, Harris was taking out food from the backpack he had placed in the corner of the room.
“Back already? Let’s have breakfast… you have your own, right?”
“Yes.”
I put my hand into my waist bag, and in that state, I activate the [Stranger’s Box], and take out two of the preserved foods. When I handed one of them to Tia and opened the seal, Harris spoke up, looking intrigued.
“…What’s that? Are you really eating dirt?”
“No, no, we can’t really eat dirt. I don’t really know what it is… but it’s not dirt, right?”
“It’s not dirt, is it? I don’t know though.”
I asked Tia just to be sure, and Tia, with an innocent face, answered while nibbling on the preserved food. Hmm, I wonder what it’s made of. I never really cared, but maybe in that world, they might be making super delicious dirt, right?
But would they go out of their way to make dirt edible? But there might be such odd things in that world… but dirt… huh?
“I’m more curious about what you’re eating, Harris-san. What is that?”
Ignoring me, who had started to worry about strange things, Tia asked. What Harris was eating was a black, square object about the size of a thumbnail, and indeed, I don’t know what it is.
“This? It’s meat and fish, ground and compressed, then dried. You can eat it as is, or if you have a heat source, you can put it in boiling water to make a little soup.”
“Wow. Hey, would you like to exchange one? I’ve been eating the same thing all the time, so I might want a different taste once in a while.”
“Haha, sure.”
As Tia handed out a little bit of her preserved food, Harris also handed one small square to Tia. The moment they put it in their mouths, both of their faces twist in astonishment.
“Mugah!?”
Tia, with a severely distorted expression, looked at me with a face that seemed like she’s about to cry. Judging from the tears welling up slightly in her eyes, it seems to have been considerably disgusting.
“…Hang in there, Tia.”
“Mufuuuuuuu…”
Knowing the extreme value of food in this world, Tia couldn’t spit it out just because it tasted bad. Somehow swallowing it, she took a cup from her bag, produced water with magic, and gulped it down.
“………..…What is this!?”
Just like Tia, Harris was also frozen eating the preserved food Tia had given him. After slowly finishing his chewing, Harris leaned in to talk to us.
“It’s sweet preserved food!? How can this be? Where did you get this!?”
“Calm down, Harris-san! Even if you ask us where, we can only say it’s ‘somewhere very far away.’ We don’t even know where we are right now.”
“Is, is that so… By the way, do you have more of these?”
“Yes, we do. Would you like us to share some with you?”
“Really!? Ah, no, but against such an item, the price I can pay…”
“No, no, it’s fine. We’re grateful enough that you’re letting us travel with you, and more importantly, we have a lot of them, so if we don’t eat them, they’ll rot eventually.”
“………..What?”
At my casual words, Harris’s expression suddenly became severe. What? Why did my words get this reaction?
“I’ll let you know that there’s no ‘give me all of it.’ We’ll resist that.”
I announced that I had a large amount of precious food, which was delicious, knowing that he was the Hero. Reflecting on the carelessness of that statement, I was wary, but Harris denied it loudly.
“No! I wouldn’t say such a shameless thing! Rather, it rots? Do you know what it means for something to rot!?”
“Eh…?”
Not understanding the meaning of his words, I raised a confused voice. Then Harris, with his sharp gaze intact, sighed once and continued.
“…Indeed, whether it’s meat or whatever, food will rot if left alone. But that’s the common sense before the blizzard. In this world now, no matter how long you leave it outside, it never rots. The only exception is if you dig a hole about twice the height of a person and bury it in the ground. So why do you know that things rot? Even if you were taught that, why do you think the preserved food you carry around will rot? …It’s strange. Everything is strange. With the youth born after the blizzard, you have the common sense of the world before the blizzard, and you have a lot of food that you can’t get in the current storm… who are you really?”
On Harris-san’s face, who had been considerate of us, clear caution was evident. He’s still sitting now, but I could see that his body was tense, ready to stand up and draw his sword at any moment.
Damn, this is my fault for blabbing… but you could say it’s a good opportunity. We have no reason to keep secrets in this world.
“I understand. We’ll tell you. We…….. come from a different world.”
As calmly as possible, as if it were nothing. I raised both hands to show I have no hostility and told him plainly..