Volume 3 Chapter 1-2 The Journey to the Village – Part I
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
It’s a 4-pointed devil’s water chestnut.
There are different kinds of water chestnuts, but this one has 4 sharp spikes and was famous long ago when ninjas threw it on the ground as caltrops.
You can eat it too, and it tastes good.
Ms. Aqua swims lightly on the water, picking them quickly and smoothly.
Ms. Ann looked like she really wanted to join, so when I said yes, she jumped into the water all excited.
The Antfolk’s shells repel water, so they don’t get wet at all.
Their shells shine silver underwater, which is kinda magical.
”We eat this?”
Ms. Nina is shocked at how weird and gross the chestnuts look.
Ms. Ann is already eating one──maybe testing for poison?
From what I hear, they’re not poisonous.
Since we’re here, let’s call it an early lunch.
We share some bread and ham that Ms. Floria gave us.
Ms. Claire made a weird face eating the ham, but I don’t think she hates it.
Do centaurs even eat ham?
The 3 Antfolk girls are overjoyed eating the ham.
Antfolk eat anything because they’re omnivores, but meat still tastes the best to them.
Only Ms. Ann and I ate the water chestnuts.
There’s delicious wall barley bread here, so it’s not like we needed to eat them, but for me, the taste feels nostalgic.
Ms. Ann seems to like the taste of the chestnuts; since it’s a seasonal thing, we can’t eat them all the time.
Let’s take the rest home and try planting them near the village. Maybe if we look along the canal, we’ll find some growing already.
While we were wasting time, the sun started to lean down. At this rate, it’ll be dark before we reach the inn town.
Well, that’s okay though.
We’re ready for sleeping outside this time. Camping out now and then might be fun.
Just before sunset, we hit a fork in the road.
The road to Toyata village leaves the canal once, then goes through the inn town, then for about ten kilometers across the grasslands before joining the canal path again near the village.
”Was this road really this narrow?”
Only Ms. Nina and I have been down this road before.
”I think the road to the inn town was supposed to be a bit bigger.”
Hmm, the turn to the inn town is a bit further ahead, right?
Well, whatever. We got what we need for sleeping outside, so let’s just keep going along the canal.
The big sunset sinking into the canal is breathtakingly beautiful.
And the whole sky is shining with purple sardine clouds.
The sunrises and sunsets in this world are just insanely dramatic──I wish I had a camera.
Maybe the sunsets in Japan were pretty too, but when the sun went down, I was at home watching TV.
If I’d known I’d get summoned to another world, I’d have actually cared about everyday life more.
”Are you sure you don’t want to get ready for sleeping outside?”
Oh right.
Setting up the tent gets real hard once it’s dark.
Luckily, thanks to the wall barley, there’s plenty of empty land without weeds anywhere.
The dead wall barley straw breaks down insanely fast in the soil, and tiny barley sprouts are already starting to grow.
It’s like a nice clean grassy patch──a perfect spot for camping.
I’m putting up the tent I just bought in the royal capital with Ms. Ann’s help.
Ms. Nina and Ms. Aqua are getting the fire ready, Ms. Joa and Ms. Claire are gathering firewood.
Ms. Ant’s in charge of hauling water.
The tent is simple, way easier to set up than the one I used camping with my cousin before.
But the Japanese tent my cousin had folded up way lighter and much smaller.
I remember how that tent was built pretty well.
If I could get some thin but tough cloth, maybe I could make a tent that’s all about being portable.
Could sell well to adventurers who sleep outside a lot.
Making stew with barley flour in a big pot──dried meat and barley flour alone felt boring, so I threw in some water chestnut seeds.
Ms. Ann dug up a big lily bulb, so I added that too.
While cooking, Ms. Ant brought celery, Ms. Aqua brought mountain yam, and they kept bringing stuff one after another.
Antfolk are just… I freaking love them.
We all dug into the stew together, lots of stuff in it and it’s pretty damn tasty.
The wild celery smell is surprisingly amazing.
I kept piling in the ingredients, so the stew in the big pot was nearly overflowing. I was sure there’d be plenty left, but it turned out real ugly.
The Antfolk eat a lot, but Ms. Joa and Ms. Claire had quite the appetites too.
They eat like a horse and drink like a bull, so yeah, they were bound to chow down.
After the meal, Ms. Ant went to wash the pot at the canal and brought back a big eel as a gift.
The folks in Toyata village eat these eels, but even though they look like eels, they don’t taste like it, unfortunately.
They’re not bad when you boil ’em whole and then chop and fry ’em, but they’re not exactly breakfast material.
For now, I’ll just let it swim in some clean water in the pot and leave it to purge the mud overnight.
The centaurs sleep standing up, and the Antfolk don’t sleep at all, so it’s just me and Ms. Nina in the tent.
The monsters around here are mostly just slime, so I’ll make the fire blaze nice and bright.
If we get attacked, it’ll probably be by humans.
The Antfolk can fight in the dark, no problem. They can sense their surroundings with their antennae, not just their eyes.
Unlike regular ants, their antennae usually stay tucked behind their necks.
Their black, string-like antennae look a bit like wireworms, come to think of it.
It’s just me and Ms. Nina in this cramped tent.
Her wooden body keeps bumping into mine, and she’s getting all embarrassed about it.
That’s a maiden’s heart for you.
I wonder if she’d get mad if I kissed her.
I just learned a new trick from Miss Floria, and I really want to show it off.
”No kissing, okay? Now go to sleep.”
She says it’s a no-go, huh.
But I’m tempted to… I guess that’d just make her hate me.
Ms. Nina isn’t the type to play games, so when she says no, she means it.
Hate it or love it, it’s all part of the game.
Lately, I’ve been getting how those villains in historical dramas feel.
They’re gonna get taken down by the good guys in the last act anyway, but I wonder where they went wrong. Could there ever be a happy ending for the town girl and the villain, huh?
While I was worrying about this and that, sleepiness hit me nice and cozy.
I guess I’ll just go to bed for today.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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