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Chapter 168.1: Live in Tropical Country
「Our follower, Momokawa Kotaro.」
「Y-YES!」
C-Cr*p, it felt like she was about to launch a surprise attack on me.
Well then, I came to Ruinhilde-sama’s divine space like usual. Well, it was the usual chaotic universe, a mysterious space befitting of a god.
「You’re using a cane, huh.」
「A-yes… M-My apologies, I only noticed this as of late.」
She might be referring to the fact that I used 『Fool’s Cane』. I mean, that was the only cane that came to my mind when she referred to cane.
「Those called shaman are wielding canes. You’ve finally taken another step forward.」
「Thank you very much.」
Anyhow, I always welcome the first part, the praise, but… here was the scariest part of being called to this place. I mean, the last time I called into this space, she split my body right in half right after she praised me.
Be gentle for this one please…
「Whether to advance, retreat, or stagnate, it’s up to you. You may choose peace by not doing anything or choose anything. In truth, you’ve to tread a thorny path if you desire a change.」
Woopsie, here we go, a mysterious and incomprehensible lecture from Ruinhilde-sama. As for me, I didn’t give a shit about the truth, I only care about whether it would hurt like hell or not, that’s why my apologies Ruinhilde-sama, your lecture went into my right ear and exited from my left ear.
「Good, since your fate has connected, it’ll form karma. No matter which path you choose, you’ll be――」
I’ll be… what? Eh, wait a minute, please don’t stop your speech with such a cliffhanger.
「I shall grant thee a new curse.」
Ah, Ruinhilde-sama, please don’t stop your lecture in such blatant way by leaving such cliffhanger!
「T-Thank you very much.」
Hey, please tell me that this lecture wasn’t some sort of flag for a certain event right, right? Everything will be okay right? The way you stop talking in the middle made me feel uneasy but…
「Walking along, the shadow of falsehood will never change and stay by your side.」
She showed her bony hand with long and sharp fingers.
This pattern, she was going to stab me with her fingers! Was she aiming for my forehead this time? Or eyes? Or heart? Spare my crotch please… I gritted my teeth, preparing to accept the incoming pain. When I opened my eyes that closed by reflex due to many painful experiences in this space, I saw Ruinhilde-sama’s fingers pointing behind me.
What’s the matter, is there something behind me?
Though I was curious and wanted to turn around, I managed to surpress my curiosity with fear but… this might be one of those events which I had to turn around. So, I resolved myself and turned around.
「Eh… what the, who?」
A black shadow was standing quietly over there. The shadow, yes, it really was a human-shaped shadow. Upon a closer look, its limbs were wafting around as if it were idle.
It had no face or special traits. Just a simple human shape that didn’t seem to be any different, but for some reason… I got this feeling that its physical features resembled mine.
「Ah, could it be――」
And then, with a flick, my line of sight turned around to that of the shadow…
“Zaza~n”, “Zaza~n”, and thus, we’re welcomed to the next area by the calming sound of waves. The seemingly endless blue color spread beneath our eyes. It was a sea, A FU*KING SEA.
「Ah!」
I leaked an extremely sloven voice as I was lying slovenly in a splendid beach chair.
Beside me was a small, low, round table with ice-cold lemonade on top of it.
Sprawling lazily on this beach while enjoying the rich, pseudo-sunlight raining down incessantly was exactly like a vacation in the southern country. Yeah, as if the life inside the dungeon was a big fat lie.
「… This is bad. I don’t want to leave this place.」
It’d been more than a week since we arrived in this coast area. We’d already finished exploring the area, and I even got a new curse from Ruinhilde-sama on the first night we arrived in this area.
We ended up overstaying our visit since this place was very comfortable.
I mean, we’d a lot of delicious fishes, sweet fruits growing nearby, free for picking. In the forest, there was a whole lot of plump chicken-like birds literally telling us “Feel free to eat our eggs and meat”.
And Mei-chan was really happy as long as there were new ingredients to find, and the same went for me. During such a beautiful life in which we could forget about dungeon capture, and enjoy our vacation in peace, I started to abuse 『Simple Alchemy Formation』 to create furniture or tools during our spare time.
This beach chair was something I made by using the timer around this area with 『Simple Alchemy Formation』, the same went for the small, round table. Even the cup of the lemonade was made from timber.
Since a certain fruit which we found around this area had just the right lemon-like acidity, we could make fake-lemonade by using that fruit and honey. Since we had enough supply of fresh water from the fairy fountain, I just needed to use 『Witch’s Kettle』 to freeze the water and make ice for lemonade.
Which reminds me, lately, Mei-chan managed to gain perfect control over 『Witch’s Kettle』. Well, it was actually possible to tamper with its function to a certain extent. That also reduced the number of pots that I made for each function.
Currently, having a few subs for the heating purpose was enough. Those could be used not only for cooking food but also to create condiments or preserved food.
The fish could be dried, and salt could be prepared with ocean water. The salt was slightly different from goma’s salt, or rather, for us who were used to Japanese sea salt, it felt like our standard of living in this dungeon survival went up to another level.
When we’re talking about nostalgic taste, the first thing that came to mind was soy sauce… we’re lacking the ingredients for that, but the taste of fish sauce should be close to that.
Fish sauce was a type of seasoning made by pickling fish in the heap of salt. Though I heard that fish sauce such as nampla was quite famous, I’ve never actually tasted it before.
Since we got so many varieties of edible fishes, Mei-chan insisted on making more variants of it. Until just the other day, she was completely engrossed in her research to find the most delicious fish sauce by experimenting with every available fish in this place.
Finally, her passionate research bore fruit, Mei-chan finished the perfect fish sauce. When I tried it out, I almost shouted 「T-This is soy sauce!!」 due to how similar it was to soy sauce flavor. But then, thanks to the additional flavor and deliciousness of the fish which became its ingredients, it was… wait a minute, could it be that it was actually more delicious than soy sauce?
And though we successfully re-created soy sauce, what made both Mei-chan and I most elated was the fact that we could pick all those delicious fruits. I mean, a dessert after hearty meal was a must, right? This was the extreme of luxury, or should I say development?
Take this lemonade for example, it was made from fake lemon-or should I short it as fakemon-, a fruit which could be found around this area that tasted infinitely close to that of citrus. And look up there, the most indispensable part of southern country, palm tree lookalike.
But the one I liked the most was the fruit with rich and mellow sweetness like the combination of peach and mango, 『Momomango』. It was so fu*king delicious, yet so rare. Even after investigating the area, we only found two such fruits.
When we found them, deciding which to eat was so fu*cking difficult. In the end, we went for fifty-fift— nay, I’m a third, and Mei-chan two-third. I wanted to hold back from eating too many sweets.
Anyhow, we got a peaceful place that we want, a place abundant with food, and a sandy beach for sunbathing.
「Haa~, I can’t help but start to miss survival life.」
To be honest, living this slow-life wasn’t a bad choice. The food was delicious, and we could maintain this comfortable lifestyle as long as we’d Ruinhilde-sama’s curse, and most of all, I wouldn’t feel lonely since Mei-chan was with me. Well, from her perspective, she might want to be spared living like Adam and Eve with someone like me in this place.
「Kotaro-ku~n, lunch is ready~.」
And so, when I turned around towards the one who called me with her enchanting, sweet voice… I saw the charming figure of a woman who I wanted to spend my life with as Adam and Eve.
Mei-chan who rushing towards me wasn’t wearing her usual sailor uniform but a white bikini. It was the extremely risqué kind which almost completely exposed her massive and atrocious twin mountains that could instantly wipe out my sanity. Aah, the way her massive jug-of-tits swayed up and down as she ran made it to look like they’re about to pop out of her bikini bra that barely hung in there, or rather, I couldn’t help but wish it to just pop out… Ah, sorry, my deepest apologies for forgetting to pray to you just now, Ruinhilde-sama!
「Yeah, I’m coming.」
I replied to her while faking a calm face, stooping forward a little bit so she wouldn’t realize that my lower body had gotten really excited.
「The creation of that swimsuit was a huge blunder…」
What? Why did I make it then? I mean look, this place was hot, there was a sea with white sandy beach nearby, it was only natural that I wanted to make a swimsuit, right? And so, I casually made that white bikini for Mei-chan. Well to be honest, I made it with some hidden motive. Or rather, it was filled with my hidden motive.
In fact, thanks to my frequent use of spiderweb, the current me could weave proper clothes or two. To be exact, I could manufacture clothes with 『Simple Alchemy』 by using Arachne’s thread as the materials.
Since my curse could even fulfil the clothes part of three basic necessities of life without any problem, the spider thread white bikini for exploring the beach area was complete.