Chapter 46 – It seems to be going on a request from the guild

Is there some good request?
Renya, who proceeded towards the guild while pondering about that, stopped his feet as he has discovered a crowd flocking in one part of the guild.
The current Renya is close to being penniless.
His earned money had been mostly used up for the expenses of the house purchase and buying ingredients to his liking.
Even though the contract isn’t urgent on the repayment, the present state of being burdened by debts is an issue I have to resolve quickly, Renya concluded.
At present there’s no hint of suddenly ending up suffering poverty.
The biggest reason for that was Shion and Rona providing small amounts of the funds, they saved up before meeting with Renya, however as for depending on them like that forever is something that Renya mustn’t do to not be labelled as pimp before being called a swordsman.
Only that was something Renya wanted to avoid by all means.
Shion and Rona told me to not mind it because it’s something like a rent, but I believe that there’s no way for me to say “Yes, okay” just like that. Even so, that’s probably one of the troublesome aspects of men.
At any rate, it’s no good, if I don’t earn money.
He considered opening the shop, but with the shop space, installed in the house, being in a state of not having been used for a long time, it’s dirty and damaged here and there. At present Frau is repairing and cleaning it at a quick pace.
Putting the cleaning aside, there’s material necessary to carry out the repairs.
Frau has out of nowhere said that she will provide that, however once he asked Frau, it seems to be a very Frau-like route of fund-raising.

“Raising my level, Frau will reach the point of producing magic gems ~no.” (Frau)

Level? What’s that? That question still remained, but while repeating the act of continuing to save the compressed mana, she has been receiving from Renya, Frau apparently obtained the ability to crystallize that mana.
Because the size is small and the purity isn’t that high in degree, it won’t go for a high price, however she appears to make small change by selling the magic gems, which were created with that ability.
It’s unknown whether it might be fine to say that Renya is the one earning it since the source of the mana supply is Renya, if one thinks prudently, but because those magic gems have been created by Frau’s skill, Renya is considering to be probably Frau’s earning.

“As the loss at the moment of crystallization is large, I won’t do it overly much ~no.” (Frau)

Frau says while being somehow apologetic.
Given that it is a deed similar to embezzling mana or rather black marketing it, so to say, she appears to feel slightly ashamed towards Renya.

“Is that so? Well, the current state is that it won’t become more than pocket money for Frau and me either, thus isn’t it fine for you to steadily make those, if it’s not at a level of becoming an impediment in your livelihood?” (Renya)

“The mana, which I have received from master, is Frau’s food. It’s my link to master ~nano. Therefore I will only use it in a truly distressing moment ~no.” (Frau)

Although Renya caressed the head of Frau, who is smiling broadly, with a “There, there”, he tries to voice out an issue, he suddenly remembered.

“Which reminds me, what did you do after you locked us up in the rooms? I feel like no one came after you surprisingly said that the house has been surrounded, though?” (Renya)

“There were visitors ~no.” (Frau)

After showing a behaviour similar to pondering for a bit, Frau continued,

“But, they left right away ~no.” (Frau)

Renya had a feeling as if he heard something else, but looking at the face of Frau smiling with a friendly grin, he decided to not mind about it as it’s probably nothing major.
Since it’s a different world, there’s likely a delicate difference in the nuances of words.
Given that they are fellows, who left obediently after being persuaded by a girl, they might not have been such bad people.
While thinking such stuff, Renya approaches the crowd.
There he found a single bulletin board with request tickets from the guild stuck on it.
Once he tries to peek through a gap in the crowd of people, he discovers that the interest of the surroundings is pinned on a subjugation request, which was submitted by the guild.
The location is north of the city of Kukrika. It’s a forest that’s around a half day’s walk away.
The forest, called 「Labyrinth Forest」, houses entrances to dungeons and is said to continue all the way to the Miasma Forest. It’s such a big forest that its size is several times that of the city of Kukrika.
The request is to subjugate unspecified types of monsters, that live there. At any rate, if one defeats the monsters and recovers their magic stones, they will be paid a corresponding reward for that. It was quite the ambiguous request.

“How unusual, something like a subjugation request with no specification.”

Someone from within the crowd said.
If it is a subjugation request of unknown types, it will be permanent and indefinite towards monsters, which have been somehow designated as seeds of danger.
With those only being requests where the monsters have a too high breeding ability, a high degree of danger or a high possibility of harming people, one can expect to be paid a reward, if one can prove that they defeated them, even without having accepted the request.
In reverse you can say, the monsters are difficult to find no matter how long one searches or are dangerous. Even if one tried to defeat them, there likely won’t be much of a reward for doing so.
This time it means that you will be paid a subjugation reward by hunting any type of monster, as long as it’s living in the forest specified in the request.
The adventurers in the surroundings are whispering that the request contents are normally unthinkable.
However, looking from Renya’s point of view, since he doesn’t know what’s normal, his degree of impression or thoughts was no more than “Ah, such a thing, huh?”

“You don’t say that an Overflow of the Labyrinth Forest is approaching?”

“What foolishness. The rate of monster appearances in comparison to the size of the labyrinth is low there. There shouldn’t be any record of an Overflow having happened in that labyrinth.”

“Have you used the records of god as reference there or what?”

“That forest, shouldn’t it have a considerable amount of monsters?”

“It might be just right for earning some small change? It will be fine, if you hunt anything you can lay your hands on.”

Each of the adventurers is chatting with each other in a tangle.
Renya feels suspicious no matter how he looks at the request and tries to search for another request without arousing anyone’s interest overly much. But suddenly his feet stopped due to some words he heard.

“Come to think of it, the season of the forest octopus will be any time now. It might be good to try aiming for them together.”

The one, who said it while grinning broadly and putting his hand against his chin, is an adventurer with the impression of a middle-aged man, who can truly be called a veteran.

“Hey, you over there.” (Renya)

The called adventurer replies with a tendency of gradually pulling back from Renya, who grabbed his shoulders firmly with a serious look.

“Y-Yea?”

“You said season? Are those monsters possibly edible?” (Renya)

“What, ni-chan? You dun’ know?”

That adventurer kindly taught Renya about the forest octopuses.
According to his explanation, forest octopuses are molluscs with eight legs living in forests. They are called a subspecies of the octopuses dwelling in the sea.
At first Renya was surprised about octopuses existing in another world, but he is even more surprised by them being octopuses land-dwelling in forests.
Forest octopuses move by standing on their eight feet. Their main staple food is small animals. They have proper, firm flesh for the sake of leading a life on land, in comparison to the ones living in the sea. They aren’t watery.

“Although octopuses, they are land-dwellers… do those breath with lungs…?” (Renya)

“I’m no good with the sea ones, but the land ones are my favourite food. Sprinkling them in salt and grilling the dried ones for a bit, they are the best together with some sake.”

“I see, I see.” (Renya)

“If you air them until they have dried up by sunlight, they will be delicious to take a bite just like that as well. Give up on eating them raw though. Your teeth won’t be strong enough for that. It’s also no good to grill them directly from being raw. You won’t be able to eat them since they will become as hard as shoe soles.”

Probably, if you dry them even a bit, some enzymes or such will make them soft and they will become edible, I guess.
It’s not always true that fresh flesh of animals is definitely delicious.
Because there are even things that are called the most delicious on the verge of rotting, according to some people, it’s nothing particularly strange to not be able to eat it as long as it’s raw, Renya could comprehend that.

“It’s difficult to find a splendid one and be careful since it occasionally happens that people encounter a really big one. The big one, my acquaintance discovered, had a size surpassing 5 m. If they become this big, they usually eat people.”

“Is there some relationship between deliciousness and size?” (Renya)

The adventurer replies while smiling wryly towards Renya, who is talking as if doesn’t matter that they eat people.

“They aren’t tasty if they get too big. It seems the most delicious ones are newborn children being dried whole. I haven’t had the chance to eat them, however grilling the eggs is quite nice as well.”

“I see… I heard something good. Thanks, please have a drink with this.” (Renya)

Renya politely thanks the adventurer, he talked with, and slips several silver coins into his hand.
He had only few funds remaining, but Renya believes that he should pay a proper compensation for profitable information.

“Oh, sorry. If you go for the forest octopuses, it’s a good idea to scatter small pieces of goblins and their likes other than the small animals, being in the area. They will approach being drawn by their smell.”

Do they even eat goblins? He wondered for an instant, however he didn’t feel anything particular like unpleasant feelings.
Someone, who minds such stuff, won’t be able to eat octopus or shrimps in my former world.

“I see, all of it was useful. Thank you.” (Renya)

Once he gives a bow and thanks him for the second time, Renya turns around and heads home.
Within his mind he was already coming up with plans how to capture forest octopuses.

“That means, it’s decided to hunt forest octopuses and such while at the same time carrying out the guild’s request.” (Renya)

Returning to the house, Renya announced that to Shion and Rona.
Renya sums up the conversation in the guild to the two, who wish for an explanation of Renya’s story, that suddenly skips several steps ahead.

“Ah, that, huh? That is certainly a delicacy.” (Shion)

Once Shion said that while nodding, Rona also agreed.

“On top of the number not being that many in comparison to the size of the forest, they won’t often appear on the market since they live in a place, where monsters appear. Because it can be said that adventurers, who sell them whole to restaurants and bars, are the sole supply-route, the prices are quite expensive, for that.”

“Since the profit as business will disappear, if a large amount of them is caught, you might get them at a wholesale store, but there aren’t many merchants dealing with them since their number on the market is too low”, Shion grumbles.

“Going only by my count, I haven’t eaten them much, but they are certainly delicious. They are tasty, if you put half-dried, thin slices into salad, pickle them or cook them with a finely cut produce called Western Alos.” (Rona)

“Alos?” (Renya)

“Ummm… it’s the raw material of sake and vinegar. It’s a white, small-grained corn.” (Rona)

Rona says while placing her finger on her chin as if recalling a memory.
Although Renya made sure to not show the shock, he received in his mind, on his face, it required all of his will power.
Isn’t that likely 「rice」, he wondered.
Although he might have lost his memories, Renya is originally a Japanese.
He can fill his belly with bread and pasta as well, but he was a man, who wants to eat rice, if it’s possible to do so.
He resolved himself that he likely won’t be able to eat it anymore as this is a different world, however, once he thought properly about it, there is ordinary wheat flour. Since vinegar itself is appearing on the market, you can only call it obvious for rice, which is its raw material, to be there. (T/N: I wonder, do Japanese make everything out of rice? Vinegar is commonly made out of wine or other alcoholic beverages in the first place…) 
While feeling slight disappointment due to his own carelessness, Renya tries to stress that it’s a story, which has proper gains even if carried out as job.

“Since the guild will provide a reward for the monster subjugation, even if we don’t capture it for example, it’s a job that will at least turn into money, if we clear absolutely all of it.” (Renya)

“It’s not bad.” (Shion)

Once Shion replied like that and as there wasn’t anyone against it either, they quickly decided up to the point of departing in two days.