Chapter 298: In Search of Mountain Delicacies
“So, which way do we go?”
“I think we should start with Wasabi. The Forest of Enchantment is said to be at the northern edge, so we can save that for last.”
“Got it.”
With that, we headed straight to the Adventurer’s Guild after checking into our inn. It was only natural to come here first for information about Wasabi, as there were occasional gathering requests posted. Plus, we might gather some intel about the Forest of Enchantment as well—two birds with one stone.
We stepped into the standard-sized Adventurer’s Guild. It would be boring to wait at the inn, and everyone, including Phonia, had come along. Now that I think about it, El was the only one who wasn’t an adventurer. Phonia and Nil were considered Tamed Monsters, so it seemed El had little connection with the Guild.
“Oh, there’s a gathering request for Wasabi!”
Ivan’s voice rang out as he rushed to the request board. Wasabi was well-known to him, but here it was referred to as Mountain Pepper. As I followed his gaze to the board, I indeed spotted an E-rank request pinned there.
“Perfect timing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
He swiftly tore the request off the board and returned to us. With a request in hand, it would be easier to gather information from the Guild Staff. We headed straight to the counter, presenting the request while inquiring about more details.
“Yes, this is a gathering request for Mountain Pepper. You’ll need to head north of the town, and it grows near a stream in the forest to the east. However, please be cautious as there have been sightings of a D-rank monster known as the Black Ape nearby.”
“Understood.”
Hmm. An E-rank request with sightings of a D-rank monster nearby. That explains why the Wasabi gathering request was still available even though it was already past noon. It’s a good thing for us, though.
I asked if there were any other gathering requests we could do together, but the answer was no, causing Phonia’s ears to droop slightly.
“Well then, shall we head out right away?”
“Eh?”
Ignoring the surprised Guild Staff, we dashed out of the Guild. They had shown us a map, and it seemed like a leisurely walk would take about half a day. I could see why they were surprised we were heading out so late in the day, but I simply couldn’t wait.
“I want to eat sashimi.”
“Wasabi is a must, right?”
“I want to practice how to properly grate delicious Wasabi.”
“Is it really that important…?”
“I don’t want anything spicy…”
“Wuffuu…”
It seemed the Beast companions weren’t particularly fond of Wasabi, but for us Japanese, it’s an essential part of our cuisine. I was curious about the flavor of the Wasabi here as well. El had absorbed too much of Japanese culture, so I decided not to dwell on it.
“Tonight, we’ll have seafood rice bowls.”
As I murmured about dinner, Phonia’s drooping ears perked up a bit. Though she wasn’t fond of Wasabi, she did enjoy sashimi.
“Shall we look for wild vegetables along the way?”
“Sounds good.”
It had been a while since I had fully activated my appraisal skill to examine every plant we passed. Since we were in the mountains, I wanted to find something edible.
We walked northward through the stone houses of the town. By the time we crossed the town center, wooden houses began to appear more frequently. Although it was a mountainous region, it didn’t mean there were no forests. Stone houses tended to be cold, so the more upscale homes were made of wood.
We passed through the northern city gate and stepped outside. On the other side, a line of people waited to enter the town, and beyond them loomed a rugged mountain range capped with pure white snow. I could see some rocky peaks; perhaps they were volcanic.
“Shall we run?”
“Yeah!”
“Phonia-chan, let’s ride on Nil.”
I lifted the cheerful Phonia and set her on Nil’s back. This had become our usual mode of transportation, so everyone was accustomed to it. Only Ivan was doing some stretching, fully pumped up.
I also made full use of my skill, rapidly appraising everything around us. Just as I began to get a feel for it, we set off.
The path continued straight north, and after a while, we encountered a steep incline where the road split east and west. We chose the eastern path to circumvent the central mountain, and soon enough, we began to see patches of grass and trees on either side of the road. As the scenery on our right gradually transformed into a forest, I started to spot plants that had the word “edible” in their appraisal results.
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing our slowed pace, Rio called out. Usually, we’d stop just before Ivan would tire out, so she must have been curious.
“I’ve found a few things that look edible.”
“Oh, really? Should we gather some?”
“Yeah.”
I stopped running and turned back to see Ivan bent over, hands on his knees, panting heavily. He seemed to be holding up, so there was still a bit of stamina left in him.
“Let’s take a break and do some gathering.”
However, it would be troublesome if Ivan dropped out here. Hearing our conversation, Ivan waved his hand dismissively, so we decided to venture into the forest without any worries.
That said, our destination was quite close. We gathered some berry-like fruits, colorful mushrooms, and mountain yam before continuing on our way to the Wasabi’s natural habitat.