Episode 89: Journeying Far Away
“Oh, everyone’s here. Did I keep you waiting?”
“No, we have a lot of supplies to prepare, and we thought the application to leave the city would take time. You arrived earlier than the meeting time we told you. It’s not that you’re late.”
“I see. I’m glad I wasn’t late for our date.”
“Haaah… You really are…”
Oops, I’m getting some cold stares from the morning.
“Well then, shall we go? On our expedition.”
That’s right, starting today…
We’re going on a summer Monster thinning expedition with the ‘Blue Comet’….
“Yaaay!”
“Yo, Shio.”
We started moving.
Immediately, Shio jumped onto the side of my wagon and started talking to me. Jumping onto a moving wagon with a Greatsword that probably weighs over 100kg on her back, that’s amazing physical ability. Magic Skills are amazing.
“You brought a big wagon, huh?”
The one I brought this time is a large Conestoga Wagon. The boat-shaped covered wagon used in the Western Frontier era. I made it specifically for this day.
I finally managed to make the bearings and suspension with performance I could be satisfied with… It was worth doing hundreds of simultaneous parallel durability tests using time manipulation.
Specifically, it’s durable enough that it won’t break even if someone carrying a Greatsword weighing over 100kg jumps on it. It won’t break even if an elephant rides it!
…That’s why I can’t expand the ‘Garden’ no matter how long I try. I should have a lot of Magical Power, but it’s not enough!
And that luxury wagon.
I have four artificial Magic Beast horses, “Zephyr,” “Ninja,” “Eliminator,” and “Vulcan,” pulling it.
The load capacity is probably around five tons? You might think, “With just four horses?” but the horses are artificial Magic Beasts. One of them can do several times the work of a normal horse. And incidentally, they don’t need to eat or drink water. Are they monsters? Well, I did create monsters.
So, four horses are enough for an eight-horse wagon.
…But what are we carrying that weighs five tons? Well, there’s food for thirty people, of course, and an ice-filled freezer (cooler box?), a bathtub, towels, and spare clothes. When you think about it, it’s actually not that much. Weight aside, we need this much space.
“If it’s not this big, we’ll be in trouble later.”
“Well, I want to eat my fill too, so more is better.”
“…No, not all of it is food, you know? There’s a ceramic pot for the bath, and Soap.”
“Ehh?! You’re taking a bath even when camping out?!”
“One or two days is one thing, but a month is…”
“You’re such a neat freak, Dru… Just like a girl!”
“Well, I’m cleaner than the average woman, and my face is beautiful too.”
No, that’s true.
Cleanliness aside, my face is super handsome.
It’s at a level where a mysterious sparkling effect, like in old shoujo manga prince characters, wouldn’t be out of place.
Especially when I’m with Strider, since the guys around me look like grimy bandits, having an incredibly handsome prince among them makes me too popular, which is a problem.
“If it’s okay, can I take a bath too?”
“Sure, let’s take one together!”
“Ehh, I’ll want to do it!”
“That’s fine, let’s do it!”
“If we do it during the expedition, the captain will get angry!”
Well, that’s true.
“But you really should be careful about hygiene. If you’re not clean, bacteria can get into wounds and…”
“I don’t understand that kind of talk, but you mean we should wash well so our wounds don’t get infected, right?”
“That’s right. Being clean not only makes you popular with the opposite sex, but it also has real benefits.”
“Heeh, the Apothecary-sama is smart after all.”
“I make a living with my smarts.”
Saying that, I drank some chilled juice from my water bottle…
And then.
About five hours after we started walking.
“Everyone, stop!!! We’ll take a break!!!”
“””””Yes!”””””
It’s break time for the ‘Blue Comet’… In other words, it’s time for my work.
That is, it’s cooking time.
…That being said, it’s still the first day.
I’ve made preparations, I’ve made preparations…
“Alright, food’s ready!”
“Yay! What is it today?!”
“Lunch is Sandwiches.”
Sandwiches with ham, lettuce, and cheese in between slices of bread. I made them in advance.
Two servings for each person.
They’re wrapped in oil paper, so I hand them out…
“Oh, it’s a sandwiched bread! Dru invented this, right?”
Shio says.
That’s right, this.
It seems I invented it.
Until now, there were things like walnuts and raisins mixed into the dough and baked… but the idea of putting something between bread slices and making it into a lunch didn’t exist in this world.
So, when I did that normally in Midford, the commoners who saw it all started imitating me.
That’s the story.
But everyone knows I’m the inventor, and besides “sandwiched bread,” it’s also called “Apothecary’s Bread.”
Lord Count Missgancia also likes it, and it’s becoming a popular local dish in Missgancia…
“Munch munch… Not enough!”
And here we go.
Eating two sandwiches, four slices of bread, and saying that.
But it can’t be helped. They’re Strider, after all.
In the first place, using Magic Skills consumes a lot of calories. There’s no helping the large amount of food they eat.
If you’re exerting ten times the muscle strength of a normal person, you need ten times the calories! When you’re told that, there are various things to point out, but there’s a certain level of agreement, right? That’s how it is.
Besides, even in modern Earth, which isn’t a fantasy world, some athletes consume ten thousand calories a day… more than five times the amount of a normal person. There are people who can’t maintain their bodies without that.
When you think about that, isn’t it natural for warriors in fantasy worlds to eat a lot?
So, I distributed tuna and egg sandwiches as seconds.
“Munch munch… A little more!”
Well, within expectations.
“There are no more sandwiches, so you’ll have to eat preserved food.”
“Ehh!” “Preserved food?!” “Dried meat, huh…”
The young newbies complain, but…
“Fufufufu… Dru’s preserved food is different!”
For some reason, Shio starts bragging.
Next to her.
“There are dried sweet potatoes and nuts. And smoked meat…”
I started handing out preserved food… or rather, slightly longer-lasting snacks.
“Uwaaa! These nuts have sugar syrup on them! They’re sweet and delicious~!”
“Dried sweet potatoes? Or whatever this dried thing is, it’s sweet and delicious~!”
“The smoked meat is so good! If only I could drink ale with this…!!!”
“…Ah! What about my share?!”
“It’s here! There’s no need to rush, okay?!”
Seriously… It’s like I don’t feed them at all…
Are they gluttons~?