「Really, even though I told you guys not to eat, but you still ate them……」


  The man sits on top of a reasonably-sized stone while muttering and grumbling in dissatisfaction.

  A well-proportioned features with almond eyes that are likely to be popular with women. And he is also tall, with almost no excess fat on his body. An ikemen with long black hair tied in a ponytail-like style at the back of his head.

  A man with a mature charm and look different from Sylvio-niisan, but his appearance is ruined since he only wears a loincloth.

  「Hey, you’re not going to get dressed, brother?」


  「I was diving in the river and my body is still wet. I’m going to wear it after my body is dry」


  Well, I guess that’s true. If possible I don’t want to eat in front of a man who only wears a loincloth, but it’s thanks to this man that I can eat these salt-grilled fish. Let’s endure it.

  When I was thinking about that kind of thing in my mind, the man in front of me took a grilled fish and heartily bite into it. After that, he slowly chews on it and said in a mellowed voice「……delicious」


  I guess eating a grilled salt-fish with their fat and salt after diving in the river and sweating is the best, huh.

  Rather, this grilled fish is extremely delicious. Maybe he comes up with a way to process them, or maybe it’s the fishes themselves that are delicious.

  We simply eat the salt-grilled fish for a while.

  The men in front of us are also not complaining any longer. It seems like he’s concentrating on eating right now.

  Then, when the three of us finished eating a fish, the man asked us.

  「By the way, going by your hair color are you, foreigners?」


  「Un, that’s right. My name is Alfried Slowlett, I’m from Misphilt Kingdom」


  「I’m Roomba!」


  「Hmm, I don’t know where that country is located, but the people from foreign countries all have peculiar names as usual.」


  Well, it might seem like that for people of Kagura, but I think Roomba and the others should also think like that.

  「What’s big brother name?」


  「My name is Kojiro Inaba. I’m more or less working as a swordsman for this country」


  When I asked him, Kojiro pointed to the sword placed beside him.

  It was carelessly placed under his Kagura’s clothes that were lying around messily for some reason.

  Well, leaving those aside, he’s a swordsman. I saw the figures of swordsmen many times since I arrived at Kagura, but this is the first time I can talk comfortably with them like this.

  「What kind of work do swordsmen did normally?」


  As soon as I asked him with a slight bit of curiosity, Kojiro’s eyes become cloudy.

  「We woke up early every morning and start cleaning. Then we have a morning practice after. And after eating breakfast, we continue to escort important persons, then patrolling the city. After that, when you finish with your lunch you still have to do more practice, and when that’s done you’re asked to do some odd jobs, your superior got angry at you for some unreasonable things, and you still have to bow your head even if you don’t want to. And when you return back home exhausted, you have no motivation to do anything else and the day ended just like that――」


  「That’s enough Kojiro! You don’t have to say anything more than that! It’s tough, isn’t it? It feels like you want to quit your work, right? I understand how you feel!」


  As I got a glimpse of the darkness from Kojiro’s job, I unintentionally sympathized with him and hugged him.

  As expected, as long as there is a troublesome interpersonal relationship between people, such darkness in one’s job is probably unavoidable.

  Especially that episode about being angry with the unreasonableness from your superior, I can truly sympathize with that! Those guys, they don’t understand the inconsistency of what they’re saying, and they also can’t bear the responsibility caused by their words!

  「……o, ooh! I wonder what is this? Even though Alfried’s words are the words of a kid from a foreign country, they pierce inside my chest more than anyone had ever said to me. And they also gave me what I wanted to hear the most………!」


  Kojiro hugged my body as he was being touched and crying.

  I don’t care even if Kojiro is wearing only a loincloth. For people who had experienced the same tough job, we can easily overcome such a trivial barrier between us.

  「……Al, I want to quit my job」


  「There there, Kojiro is doing his best. You’re doing your best, rightー」


  I frantically comforted him as Kojiro said that to me sincerely.

  「……what the heck is wrong with the two of you? Getting along and hugging each other so suddenly. Rather than doing something like that, can I eat another salt-grilled fish?」


  It’s awful of you to call the pain of one’s job like that Roomba.

  ◆


  「It’s insufficient when eaten by three people, huh. Should I dive again to catch more fish?」


  「Right! I’m going to help you this time!」


  Since the three of us ate the salt-grilled fish, they disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the adults - Kojiro and Roomba - are still trying to catch more fish.

  「Do you want to eat, Al?」


  Roomba turned around while he smoothly took off his jinbei.

  「Noー, I’m full already I’m fineー」


  When I answered like that, Roomba got into the river with a single pair of pants on him.

  You can clearly see Roomba’s huge body swimming smoothly underwater.

  「Yosh, shall I follow after Roomba then? But let’s take a look at the trap before that」


  Perhaps Kojiro also set something like a trap nearby, he walked downstream for a while.

  There is nothing I can do even if I watch Roomba’s figure underwater, so I will also follow Kojiro to look at the trap.

  When we walked a bit away from the place where Roomba swim, we found a basket that was placed in shallow water densely packed with rocks.

  When I approached the basket, I can see that the basket leads to a puddle of water on a dug soil, it’s the type of construct that works like allowing something to pass only once and leads to a dead end.

  「Ahー, this guy got inside the trap again?」


  Kojiro said while grimacing when he looked at the puddle of water.

  When I also peer into the puddle of water with him, I can see several small fishes and some long and narrow fishes gathered there.

  「Hey, Kojiro. Could this be an eel?」


  「Aah, that’s right. They’re slippery and smells of mud, even when you process them into food, they don’t taste good so no one wants to eat them.」


  Ehー, even though it will taste good if you properly process them and made them into a kabayaki. You can also pour a sauce on it and put it on top of a bowl of rice. It’s truly a waste that no one wants to eat that you know.

  「It will taste delicious if you properly process them you know?」


  「Hm? Does Al know the way to make this thing here into delicious food?」


  「I know. I’ll give it a try, just watch me」


  「Ooh! Really? Is it a recipe from a foreign country? I’ll be glad if we can eat these things since we just got so many of them that it’s a waste 」


  Rather than a recipe from a foreign country, it’s more of a recipe from a foreign world……Oh well, let’s not worry about it since both of them are the same thing from Kojiro’s point of view.

  When we return to the place where Roomba is swimming, I immediately make a simple kitchen using Earth magic.

  「……o, ooh. So you were a magician, Alfried. Being able to use Earth magic at will with no chants, so you’re so talented despite your appearance……」


  I’m happy that you praise me, but that part about ‘despite your appearance’ was unnecessary. But even so, ‘talented’ huh, I feel that it’s the first time in my life someone told me that.

  「Kojiro, do you have a small knife?」


  He’s been capturing and grilling the fishes with salt after all, I wonder if he also has a small knife to treat the fish? I thought, so I ask.

  「Of course I have. Just a minute, I’m going to wear my clothes 」


  It was just when Kojiro wore his clothes, was he doing an inspection?

  I thought that it was just normal Kagura clothes, but there is some sort of flower pattern drawn on the back of his clothes.

  「……does the pattern on the back of your clothes have any meaning?」


  「This? Well, it’s the family crest of the man I serve. As long as you have this, your status is guaranteed and nothing’s bad going to happen to you」


  I see. So it shows which house you serve in an easy-to-understand manner, huh? It’s like showing people that you’re serving a noble in the Kingdom, could it be that Kojiro is actually quite an amazing swordsman?

  「Here, the small knife」


  「……thank you」


  He looks completely different from the first time we met him, Kojiro gave me a small knife he takes out from his chest pocket after he properly wears his Kagura clothes.

  Looking at him like this, he’s quite tall, and he looks like a gallant ikemen, he’s cool.

  「……hm? What is it?」


  「No, it’s nothing.」


  Oh well, it won’t change what kind of person Kojiro is, let’s not worry about the small details.

  When I receive the small knife and come to myself, become untied and his loincloth is exposed again.

  「Oops, looks like my obi was tightened loosely. Sorry」


  What the heck. Why is this guy is such a disappointing guy…