All right. The stew I made, which is nothing special, is finished.
「……It smells amazing……」
The scent was familiar to me, but to the boys it seemed like something exquisite. They swallowed their saliva again and again.
「I am hungry」
Ladarion shrank down and returned, drawn by the smell, so I served her first.
「Cut the hard bread. It tastes good dipped in this stew」
I told the boys to cut the hard bread and place it on the leaves they gathered. While they were doing that, Rondario-san and the others returned.
「Good work. You hunted quite a lot」
High-rank adventurers are scary. They hunted almost eighty in thirty or forty minutes.
「Smells good. What did you make?」
「A stew. A simmered dish」
「This is stew? It smells completely different」
So, they have something called stew here, but it must be a different dish.
「Anyway, let us eat. I want all of you to hunt plenty of goblins this afternoon」
I had the boys serve the stew into bowls and hand them out to Rondario-san and the others, and we started lunch.
「This is good!」
I really need to thank the people who invented roux. Just adding roux and milk makes vegetables and dried meat from another world taste good.
Even though I made a full stockpot of stew, not a drop was left. Everyone finished it, and even the hard bread we bought was gone.
「This is the best thing I have ever eaten」
「Yeah. First the wine and now this stew. How are we supposed to go back to our usual food?」
「I wish I could have eaten more」
They were all completely satisfied. At this rate, if I do not make three pots tonight, they will explode with complaints.
「Since you earned so much, we can add meat tonight. You can also buy softer bread」
Rondario-san and the others lit up. Good. I want them in high spirits so they will take out lots of goblins.
I heated water on a gas stove and brewed coffee for everyone.
「Add sugar to taste. Also, it is good if you pour in some of this cow milk」
「We can buy sugar too? We could make a fortune selling this stuff」
That was Zora-san.
「If merchants start clinging to you, do not complain to me」
「I will not. No, I cannot. All of these items would make any merchant change the look in their eyes. And anything that disappears in ten days cannot be sold. They would call it fraud and the soldiers would arrest us. Yes. I understand what you mean, Takato」
Zora-san was educated at the academy, so he was smart.
「Well, there is no issue with earning money from things that are consumed right away. But you should decide among yourselves what you can show and what you cannot. Even if you earn from goblins, you still cannot cover your inn fees」
「So, we need to take normal requests as well, not just goblins」
「But can we really hide all of this? Keen people will notice if something is good. Plenty have already noticed that Takato’s belongings are unusual」
「When that happens, tell them to become goblin contractors. I make money if more people take contracts」
Living off the cut I take sounds perfect.
「If that happens, we get less of a share. We will not be able to eat stew as good as this」
Heh. That is the trouble.
「We should avoid inviting anyone to become a contractor」
Rondario-san decided, and his companions nodded with no objections.
「I will leave that to all of you. I only want the goblin numbers to go down」
After finishing coffee and settling down, I decided to teach them how to use the card.
First, I had Rondario-san show me his card. He had one hundred nineteen thousand yen. Even though I knew it, seeing the number made me question what all my effort had been for.
「Hold the card and think of buying something. You should see a screen, a transparent board that only you can see」
I did not know what kind of privacy this was supposed to be, but even I, the original contractor, could not see it. Think your explanations through, useless goddess.
「Ah, I see it. What is this?」
I wanted to ask the same thing. Well, knowing the reason would not change anything, so I just let it slide because it is convenient.
「Then please picture wine next. That will bring up many kinds and prices. Can you read the names?」
「No, I cannot. What script is this?」
I knew it. Since Mishinie’s card had the same issue, they probably reused the one meant for me. They can be careless in the worst ways.
「It is the writing from my country. I cannot change it to the script here, so judge by the pictures. Also, the numbers under the text are the prices.」
I took out my notepad and taught them the numbers from my world. I told them that one copper coin was one hundred yen, one silver coin was ten thousand yen, and I had no clear idea about the value of gold coins.
「For now, touch something that costs around one thousand yen and think about buying it. The item will appear on the ground. Try it.」
「A, alright」
They tried it nervously, and a bottle of wine appeared on the ground.
「Whoa! It appeared!」
Rondario-san held the wine and cheered like a child. Men like this are probably popular with women.
「Is there anything else you want?」
「I want shoes. I have thought your shoes looked good ever since we met. Can I buy them?」
「If it is the eight-thousand-yen ones, you can buy ten pairs without any trouble.」
I measured Rondario-san’s foot size. It was the same as mine, twenty-eight centimeters, so I had him choose a pair of tactical boots and a set of three socks.
「I knew it!」
After putting on the socks and tactical boots and checking how they felt, he shouted at the top of his voice.
「Good! This is it! This is the grip I wanted!」
He moved like someone who could win an inter-style martial arts tournament. Was Rondario-san really human? Or was this a world where people level up?
「Damn it! I am going to hunt goblins too!」
「I will go too!」
Fired up by Rondario-san, Mizeng-san and Zora-san ran off toward the mountain.
Well, fine. I kept going and taught Reinser-san and Marit-san how to use the cards.
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