/
Chapter 149: Riche and Stick
When I came to my senses, I was already in a landscape that’s similar to the one I was in before I crossed that lake. It wasn’t a forest reminiscent of early summer, no tree blooming with white flowers tinged with gold. But then, there was still the Pokey Stick EX on my hand.
A monster that looks like a saber-toothed tiger pounces at me so I defeat it. I looked around me once more, and after confirming there was nothing, I 【Teleport】.
「I’m home, Riche. 」
Riche charges at me from in front of the fireplace, then he sniffs me. It’s his habit to smell all over whenever I return from another place other than Canum.
I let Riche do his thing while I removed my outer coat and released the fire spirits. Dan-chan jumped into the fireplace to warm up.
Riche briefly sniffed me, then he sat on his bum looking up at me. He probably noticed Pokey Stick EX, which had become around 40cm long.
「It’s a good stick, right. 」
I squatted down to Riches level and let him sniff Pokey Stick EX.
「Yo! I’m Pokey Stick EX, let’s get along! 」
Pokey Stick EX happily greeted, his leaf popping open.
「This is Riche. 」
He suspiciously sniffed at the stick.
「Isn’t Pokey Stick EX too long of a name? How about a nickname? What do you want me to call you? 」
「The Great and Mighty Rod Branch Super Pokey Stick EX! 」
「Alright, let’s go with X. 」
That’s way too long! And ‘stick’ and ‘rod’ are already similar as it is.
「Eh~ then just leave ‘Stick’! It’s my identity! 」
「Okay, then X-Stick. 」
「Yeah! 」
「Alright, I’ll take a bath. 」
The spirit’s place had been warm, but it was so cold that I felt chilled to the bone, so it was still cold. I propped X-Stick on the chair and went to bathe.
I didn’t really wash up, just leisurely soaked my body in hot water. I was about to drink milk after finishing the bath, when I spotted Riche biting X-Stick.
「Ah~ there, there. Ouch ouch ouch ouch! No, not that strong! Yeah, yeah, that hits the spot. 」
I panicked at first, but it seems they’re fine. And so Riche was innocently biting X-Stick, and the latter was babbling a bit too loud, but I just left them be and went off to drink some milk before resting.
I quickly made some ochazuke, and turned in for the night, albeit a bit early. Maybe I can make something and send it out, before inviting the others to the forest to brag about X-Stick.
***
I woke up to the pattering drizzle the following day. We can’t go to the forest as planned, so I can only invite them for a card game, huh. The weather is bad, so I can’t do any clang clang smithing, either. I’m also taking a break from field work for today, so might as well do something useful indoors.
There are two ways to use the stone kiln. Either you bake your goodies by shoving the coals taken from the fireplace into the kiln, then adjusting the temperature after, or you can put the firewood inside, raising the temperature by letting it burn completely, then take turns shoving the food in depending on the temperature as it gradually cools down.
Because I went to bed early last night, I ended up waking early today, so I chose to do the firewood method to make various dishes. Riche and I strolled first while waiting for the firewood to completely burn out.
I wore my hood while we hiked in the mountains. Riche doesn’t get wet, so we still go out if it’s just a light rain shower. The woods look picturesque in the rain, but the ground is slippery so it’s quite tricky.
After checking the wood in the kiln and making sure it turned into coals nicely, I poked around the ashes to make room for the food. First up was some spareribs and potatoes. I named the spirits while waiting for them to cook.
The next batch to cook were buns. I played with Riche while waiting for them to bake.
Next was pizza — I kept an eye on it since it bakes quickly. Last was soup in a jar, with chickpeas, spring cabbage and shredded bacon.
I plated the spareribs and bread and put them inside a basket, then covered it with a cloth. With X-Stick in hand, my preparations are now complete.
***
「Good morning, these are for you. I’m free today, so how about a card game? 」
「Thank you very much. If it’s today, how about we do it after lunch instead of doing it in the evening? I will inform Retze-sama. 」
「Alright, thanks. 」
The weather is bad, so rich adventurers are probably at home during this time, unless they have a commission to do. It’s too early to hang around the pub, after all.
By the way, it’s early enough that Ash isn’t awake yet; Butler and Dinosso’s family are usually the ones up at this time. Dinosso recently oversleeps for a bit the day after he drinks, but he still gets up pretty early, since they had lived as farmers.
Butler usually estimates the time when Dean’s trio wakes up before he delivers the food.
It’s X-Stick’s debut, so I hid him first. Dinosso also said okay, so it’s decided that we’re meeting up this afternoon.
The rain is also falling around here in Canum, so it’s a bit cold. I looked around the room after kindling the fireplace. I had been spending my time outdoors since yesterday, so I decided to just laze around in front of the fireplace for the whole morning.
I also lit the fire in the attic room, then rolled into bed. Daifuku isn’t here, so it’s kinda lonely, so I cuddled the feather pillow while reading a book. The windows are shut and the lamp is the only source of light, and it’s making me sleepy.
I enjoyed sleeping until late in the morning, with the raindrops on my window as my background music.