Adventurers are so free.
Tsige is currently in war, but there’s adventurers coming one after the other into the city.
The wasteland is like the last goal of an adventurer after all.
Question, right now Tsige is in a war between the Aion Kingdom with independence on the line, so why are they coming to Tsige in this period?
The answer is over here.
“War? Not interested. Do as you please.”
“Even if you mess up and run out of money because of the war, it would still be okay since it is in the wasteland.”
“No matter who is in control, Tsige won’t disappear.”
“I will think about it once the prices of commodities rise.”
It may be because most of the people I asked were newcomers, but these were most of their opinions.
With adventurers that have been in Tsige for a long time and have made it into their base, and the types that have bought a home here, they would mostly cooperate in the war for the sake of the city.
I suppose it is a fork depending whether they are attached to this city or not.
Also, there’s one other thing to think about.
The part that merchants don’t discriminate.
I am one of those merchants though.
Merchants and adventurers; these two types of people are currently wishing to enter Tsige at an incredible rate.
The well-established ones who already have a business firmly standing in another city, veterans, and people that are sent here to do research; there’s already so many that it is hard to keep tabs on them.
The rookies that want to plant their flag, youngsters that want to become merchants, and former adventurers who want to become merchants are just incessant.
This may sound unconvincing as someone who has become a merchant, but Tsige isn’t a city that’s suited for beginners.
This is a place where veterans and geniuses want to set out for a challenge.
The already existing stores have faced competitions that couldn’t be compared to other cities in order to continue in existence.
As someone who has worked in Rotsgard as well…my impression is that it is better than Tisge, but the competition there is also rough.
Wouldn’t it be better to slowly get used to it and increase in power in the countryside of Limia or Gritonia first?
But people are weak to fast success.
If it is in adventurer terms, there’s ones who would enter the wasteland without knowing their own ability.
And in merchant terms, it would be a merchant going independent in Tsige…
Then getting squashed.
If it is adventurers this would happen at their 1-2 time entering the wasteland.
If you entered without permission, at your first time.
If it is a merchant, it would be around the third month. 90% of them would collapse.
…No, there might be even more than that.
I don’t know how it works in other places, but a party reforming is like a daily occurrence.
It would also be normal for merchants to lower their store signs and become the apprentice of another store.
There’s a lot who would have their hearts broken and would search for something that’s not an adventurer or merchant to live their lives.
“I heard that the recruitment of the self-defense force that Rembrandt-shi proposed has 20 times more people joining in.”
I think about the problems of Tsige while watching the grilling meat cooking orderly.
I was enjoying grilled meat alone at my favourite meat store that works energetically since morning, when the owner Ryan-san saw me and spoke to me.
20 times more, huh.
You can choose as much as you wish then.
“There’s probably going to be people who will use this chance to change their adventurer profession.” (Makoto)
The cow entrail that was slowly cooking at the side had transparent oil seeping out of it.
It should be ready to eat!
When I bit into it, it was just as I thought, a lot of delicious fat began to ooze out.
It wasn’t good to have alcohol at lunch in broad daylight, so I went for tea with strong bitterness.
“It seems that way. There’s quite a lot of people who can’t earn a living as adventurers, and the newbies are actively dispersing to other places, but there seems to be a lot of youngsters who dream big… I am glad to see that you liked those entrails. They are popular!”
“It is as delicious as always. It doesn’t stink, and the fat is tasty. It is personally a taste that I would like rice together with, but the mainline accompaniment is bread, right?” (Makoto)
“Rice, huh. That still hasn’t resonated in Tsige. It is something that the Kuzunoha Company-san has dealt with since the very beginning, right? We are thinking about having them on the menu too sometime soon. I heard that you went to the Lorel Union which is the home of that food. I would like to learn that light footwork of yours.”
Rice with grilled meat is a staple.
But there’s a lot of different opinions regarding this.
I don’t think this combination is the best the whole time.
There’s no need for rice when drinking alcohol and eating grilled meat, and at the times when I want to enjoy a full meal, I would like rice with it.
It is a complicated thing.
The meat store had administration difficulties for a brief period of time, but after beginning the grilled meat style, they have been doing real well.
Now, they even increase their employees when it is lunch, and it has become a popular place where people don’t stop coming at noon or at night.
The manga meat that I ate here is still my go-to even now.
If this one disappears from the menu, even if there were grilled meat, I would not even feel like coming here anymore.
I have ordered one today too, and it has fulfilled me.
That’s…just great.
“Rice can be the main role or the supporting actor, and it is a leading star in the cooking industry, you know. There’s a variety of types, so when you are jumping into it, you can come to me and ask for advice.” (Makoto)
“Please do. By the way, about that peculiar salad you introduced to me, Raidou-san.”
“Aah, what about it?” (Makoto)
“I have decided to put it in the regular menu.”
“That’s something you can bring out depending on the season. It won’t get in the way of the meat. I am glad to see it clicked well.” (Makoto)
“The thing is, we haven’t decided on a name.”
Dressing up small sliced pieces of vegetables and pickled vegetables, and at times adding vinegar or something to it.
In Nagano it would be called random, and in Yamagata they would use slimy seaweed which they would call ‘dashi’.
In Asora, it is something that Mist Lizards and Wingedkin like.
Even so, it is not like we can just call it dashi.
It is hard to put a name to something, huh.
“Well, you can ask for suggestions to the people that come, you know.” (Makoto)
“Hmm, so you don’t remember the name of the dish that served as the source?”
“Yeah, I don’t remember where I ate it. It is just vegetables in season, pickled vegetables with strong taste, and dressing them, but there’s a lot of depth in it.” (Makoto)
“If you mix the sizes, it becomes even tastier!”
Hoh, I thought you had to maintain a specific size.
This kind of stuff is what the cooks specialized in this try out.
“Aah, I see. Then, wouldn’t it be interesting to make the meat the same size, grill it, and mix it with that?” (Makoto)
Like crouton, no, crispy bacon?
“! Adding meat to that?! Huh, it is true that it would be an interesting variation.”
Oh my.
Ryan-san has gone to his own world.
Well, I was eating grilled meat on my own in the first place, so it is okay though.
Rather than cutting them small, it seems like he has kept it as dice sized, so rather than dashi, isn’t it more of a cocktail salad?
“Now then, I will be going now. The bill please.” (Makoto)
“‘You don’t need to pay’, is what I want to say, but even if I do, you still leave coins, Raidou-san.”
“I won’t eat without paying.” (Makoto)
Ryan-san has told me several times: ‘I owe you, so you don’t need to pay me in the foreseeable future’, but learning the dishes I like, and arguing about the new dishes, are stuff that make me feel happy. I am the type that doesn’t feel good when told I don’t need to pay.
I have stealthily acted as if I were leaving, and then leave gold coins on the counter several times, so he has properly begun charging me now.
By the way, this meat store has expanded at some point in time.
I felt bad before for eating alone in a table of 4 people, so this is a relief.
I don’t have the nerves to eat on the same table with strangers at a grilled meat establishment.
While remembering a question I had, I finished paying my bill and leave.
…Hm…
They are tailing me, they are indeed tailing me.
Two people this afternoon, huh.
Aion is originally a country that’s passionate in their information gathering abilities.
There’s many spies infiltrated in Limia, Lorel, and Gritonia as well.
Of course, Tsige as well.
Before announcing independence, Rembrandt-san said that he cleaned the place, but that was just momentary.
And in reality, there are an innumerable amount of people that were stating falsely that they were adventurers or merchants to try and enter.
This is also a ‘current problem of Tsige’.
Tsige is in essence a place that doesn’t reject anyone after all.
Taking away the liveliness of the city to stop the spies? That’s outrageous.
That’s our basic stance.
And so, as they continued their spying, they pinpointed the influential people, and the ones who are most easy to approach, and those kinds of stuff. And so, they ended up arriving to me.
Yup, a perfect mislead by Rembrandt-san.
If we are talking about the contributions to Tsige, the Kuzunoha Company has done a decent amount, but when it comes to deciding the objectives of the city or the confidential information, I haven’t touched too much about it.
Of course, there’s some competent ones who wouldn’t fall for it.
But for now, there have been a plethora of spies from the Aion Kingdom coming in for Raidou.
Looks like they are not tailing me by two different contractors, but moving as a team.
I use Sakai to get a grasp of their tailing, and after choosing a street to make it easy to atta—I mean, get in touch with them, I nonchalantly walk the route leading to the Company.
If they are on the careful side, they won’t come for today anymore.
At that time, I will have the Company tail them back, and gather information on our side.
“But there’s no need to worry about that.” (Makoto)
I have been pincered.
At my front there’s a person that looks nothing but a hoodlum, and walks in a way as if saying he has no intention to let me move on.
At my back there’s a similar presence.
So that’s what they are playing.
They disguise themselves real pretty so that at a glance I won’t be able to tell they are outlaws and when I lower my guard…wait, they are totally going for the type that I wouldn’t want to get close to at all?
That’s new.
“The Kuzunoha Company’s representative, Raidou, right?”
“Yeah, and what about you two?” (Makoto)
“?”
“The lady at my back and you, from which side did you come from, the Kingdom’s army or the revolutionary army? That’s what I am asking.” (Makoto)
“…”
Well, of course they won’t answer.
Then…
“Fine. Sleep.” (Makoto)
“Guh?!”
“Agh?! …Uh.”
A narrow street alley, no witnesses.
Today’s fishing went well too.
This is a stun attack I am already completely used to now.
At first, I would incapacitate them with a needle made from magic power like in the time at Lorel, but there wasn’t a single enemy who required that much trouble, so I am keeping it at dealing a powerful shock to the back of their neck or their top of the shoulder.
I call it Stun Attack.
Lately, I have been shutting them up from speaking.
I will have them spill out everything later anyways.
There was no need to call anyone, two of our employees appeared from nearby, carried both of the spies, and disappeared again.
It is stealth itself.
“I feel like I will be able to fish a bit more today.” (Makoto)
The haul I would get in one day is around 10 people.
But the haul this day was a bit different in type from before.
So it is finally that time, huh.
The first of the revolutionary army have come.
I want them to spill out everything in regards to the revolutionary army’s current state and background.
“Anti-God…religion?” (Makoto)
Aah.
There’s people in this world who don’t accept the Goddess in a variety of meanings.
Within those, there’s a cult that is actively trying to shave off the religion of the Goddess in a quite radical manner.
Anti-Goddess Teachings Organization, Ark.
Anti-God Religion in short, or the Anti-God Church.
‘Going against the Goddess’, in that one point, I myself agree to a certain degree.
Their creed, or how to say it, their problematic way of thinking is that…
If it is to bring a world devoid of the Goddess, they don’t care about the means.
A world where the Goddess is gone will be an even better world for the living and the ones to live.
The Goddess herself is the incarnation of the disorder of this world. Thus, as long as the Goddess disappears, the disorder of this world disappears.
So on and so forth.
A bunch that seriously push the standard of the results justify the means.
I personally think it is as stupid of an ideology as thinking that having blind belief in the Goddess will allow everything to go well.
There were some in the demon race that were like that. It felt exactly the same, equally disgusting.
I see.
The background of the revolutionary army is that they are an Anti-Goddess cult, huh.
To think that something like this would manage to grow to such an extent inside the country of Aion. I feel like they would have walked the path of destruction on their own anyways.
Tsige’s independence plan had a good timing, huh…
At any rate, Ark, huh.
…
We have noticed a big problem.
……
With just one change in the characters written, it can be read as Asora.
…
Can’t they change their name?