SWNOVELXO Chapter 29: Commonalities between knowledge and food.
“What?! You met a pureblood demon race?! Are you, are you okay? Is your head aching, or are your arms moving on their own…! At the very least, do you feel nauseous or anything like that?!”
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. She protected me.”
The receptionist was surprised to see the goblin corpse in my hand, and surprised again to hear that I had met a member of the demon race. The person in Goldsmett had a strong stomach.
The person here seems to be a bit more delicate. I opened my mouth to say it wasn’t a big deal.
“That’s a relief… Just a moment. She… just levitated the ground and threw it…? Ah, no. Is that a half dragon…? In any case, good work! You dealt with the demon race admirably and even brought back evidence. I will give you your reward, so please give me your identification tag for a moment.”
Ah, right. I should have told her about this too. When you complete a quest, the record remains on the identification tag. It’s a kind of magic, simple in function but very complicated.
Akash also tried to solve it for fun when he was active as his main body, but gave up, so the security was guaranteed.
“…Yes! Done! Here are 20 coppers and your identification tag. Get some rest today!”
It wasn’t a difficult task to begin with, so the reward was a bit stingy, but I went to test the equipment, so I didn’t mind too much.
“…Um. This is how you receive the reward. You give them your identification tag for a moment, along with the reward. But until you learn the language, you have to come with me. Not all of these are subjugation requests.”
Rescue, gathering, capture. Even strange requests like finding a cat. Until she understands all the words written on the request forms, I have to look over them.
“I see. So. Do you like the equipment?”
Altera nodded as if she understood everything and asked if I liked the equipment.
I was very, very satisfied. They were just goblins, but even those things become very threatening when they have weapons.
Even a small group of the same grade should be taken seriously, and even a silver grade would have a hard time surviving a large group. To think their attacks only left me a little sore.
Expensive things are the best in any world. It was a time to feel the greatness of capital once again.
“Um. I like it very much. I’ll pay you back later, 5 gold. Now that the equipment is better and the party is stronger, we can take on dangerous requests with high rewards!”
Before, I could only stare blankly at the gold-level requests, but now I could try them.
“I didn’t give it to you to pay me back. Well. If you want to return it, I’ll take it. So, shall we go to the room now? I’m starting to want to learn the language.”
“Um. We should. Let’s go.”
She was already going up the stairs. I’m really glad she has a cloak. Otherwise, it would have been too stimulating.
…Speaking of stimulation. She didn’t seem to care at all about the gazes around her. She didn’t feel any shame about her outfit in the first place.
She probably never had a reason to feel shame. She probably doesn’t even know what shame is.
But every time I saw someone looking at her with an impure gaze, I felt a bit sick.
She said it wasn’t my problem to worry about. But I’m worried. I’m uncomfortable with how I treat her, and the gazes around us are annoying.
…First of all, that posture. Whatever she thinks, it’s an openly seductive posture.
Alright, alright. I followed her up the stairs. I checked what Akash and Yuna were doing, and they seemed to be fiddling with a map, trying to find that dwarf’s treasure vault.
“Oh. So did you score well? Your expression doesn’t look very satisfied. I guess what you thought was cool was lame to her, huh?”
“I said it was cool, okay? I was just… thinking about her outfit.”
Yeah, right. He said that and went back to looking at the map, trying to find the best route.
“Altera’s clothes…Why don’t you just force her to wear something? It doesn’t seem like gentle words will work, and the brush you have is perfect for this kind of situation.”
“I don’t want to do that. I want her to wear clothes because she wants to.”
I didn’t want to force her. It wasn’t because I had feelings for her. I just don’t like using the brush on people. Messing with someone’s mind is an unspeakably unpleasant thing to do.
“Well then. Good luck. One piece of advice, if you want to tame an animal, you must first convince it that you are not dangerous and that you are helpful.”
She already seems safe and harmless enough. I took her advice to heart and went back to the room.
She had already taken off the detachable cloak and was waiting with a fur pelt around her neck, the book already open.
“Quickly. Teach me. Ah, before that, teach me the letters first.”
The only desk was against the wall, so I had to sit next to her. Seeing her up close… No. I came here to teach her.
I took out an old map from the pile of luggage and wrote the letters on the back with the holy sword. This thing could write letters even without ink.
In the early days of the adventure, I even tried to sell the black liquid, whatever it was, ink or something, that came out of the holy sword. It never came out.
“Right. I should have taught you the letters before the picture book… Here. Are you asking if it’s okay? It’s old anyway… and it’s the back? Who cares.”
– – – –
“Hel…lo?”
“So close. You almost got it. Don’t pronounce it so strongly here, make it a bit softer. Then that means hello.”
It was a mess. Putting a dot on a letter to twist the pronunciation, cramming two letters into one and pronouncing them simultaneously. It felt like my head was rolling along with my tongue.
“…It’s hard, isn’t it? I felt the same way when I first learned. When I turned off the blessing, I suddenly heard strange words. But I learned it somehow, so you’ll learn it quickly. And let’s eat something first.”
Oh, that’s good. I don’t like that Akash guy, but his cooking skills are real. So I asked if Akash was cooking, and he said no.
“No. Sorry if you were expecting it. Akash’s cooking involves grinding people up… so it actually makes you more tired. Instead, I’ll make you something hearty.”
That’s a shame. I wanted to eat that delicacy again. But since he said it’s difficult, I’ll generously let it go. It’s not like I’ll die if I don’t eat it.
This is a good opportunity to see his cooking skills. He called Yuna and Akash, who were in the room, and went down to the first floor to ask if he could borrow the kitchen.
Myungho said he would pay for the ingredients separately and went into the kitchen. I waited for the food, reviewing the pronunciation of the words I had learned.
As I repeated the pronunciation, glaring at the strange gazes, he soon came out of the kitchen with a large frying pan, precariously walking to the table.
“Ta-da. Special… fried rice. The ingredients are completely different from what I knew… but I somehow managed to make it similar.”
“Is it that again? Not that I dislike it… Myungho. Can you not make any other food besides that?”
“I thought it was something new since he said he was serving it himself. Ha. I’m a fool for expecting. Why did I when I know you can only do that much. I’ll eat it since you made it.”
There was a fragrant and nostalgic smell, and I wondered what it was, and it was egg fried rice.
I froze for a moment at the unexpected appearance of the food, but soon I piled it on my plate and ate it as if possessed.
Oil, eggs, and beans. Other than that, it wasn’t the fried rice I knew. The shape of the rice and the meat inside were unfamiliar.
But it was the fried rice I knew. The one I made myself in the morning, the one that came out when I begged for dinner as a child.
…Then, the name, and the appearance. Is that guy also…
“You seem to like it. How does it taste? It’s good, right?”
Instead of answering, I scooped another serving onto my plate.
I saw something I thought I would never see again in this faraway place. Whether it was real or not, I could recall happy memories for a moment.
In the end, I scraped the frying pan clean, not leaving a single grain behind.
“…It’s delicious.”
“Right? Yuna and Akash are just being picky.”
Yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve had something good. My body was moving, and my stomach was warm, so I felt sleepy. I could stay awake if I wanted to…
This guy, I could trust him enough to sleep.
“…Huh? Are you going to sleep? I thought you wanted to learn more…”
“Learning the words is enough. Knowledge, like food, needs to be digested.”
“If you say so. I’ll turn off the light. Good night, Altera.”
The nights in this world are dark. It’s only natural since there are no lamps to illuminate the darkness. But the sky shines brilliantly. Even with a window in between.
The narrow window and poor quality glass couldn’t hide the sky of this world.
The red and blue moons and the fantastically shining stars. It didn’t seem like a purely cruel world, but the reason I couldn’t think that way was because of me.
So, I hated myself for no reason.
It felt like I was a single stain on a beautiful painting.