by Fuse
“Are you sure you can volunteer for that without Carillon’s consent?”
“Of course! Lord Carillon is always quite tolerant of things like that.”
“And our lord seemed concerned about repaying his debt to you as well, Sir Rimuru. If we don’t step up here, I am sure he would lecture us about it.”
Hmm… Frankly, I appreciated this offer a lot. Having these two around would put my mind at ease quite a bit for the battle.
“I agree,” Benimaru added. “I believe we can trust them.”
“When I’m gone,” Shion asked, “will you be able to eliminate anyone getting in Sir Rimuru’s way?”
“Absolutely,” Sufia casually replied. Those two did seem to get along pretty well with each other—and I wasn’t hearing any no votes.
“Can you do it?”
“You can count on us!”
“Thank you for your kind words!”
I hated to rain on Rigurd’s parade when he was all revved up like this, but I needed someone to lead the people in town. When it came to fighting, I didn’t have complete confidence in him, either. But with Sufia and Alvis on our side, we couldn’t be much better prepared for Hinata and her forces.
It was hard to call what we had cobbled together a “strategy,” but either way, we had something to work with. Now my staff was discussing the details with one another, checking to make sure there weren’t any holes in our plan.
I closed my eyes and tried to guess at Hinata’s behavior again. Raphael’s calculations told me this approach was the most likely way to avoid casualties. You could say that I had nothing to worry about, but I was still hung up on a couple of issues.
One, this whole thing would be so much more in the bag if I either gave up on conquering Farmus or called Geld back here. I was going through with this anyway for reasons I suppose you could call purely egotistical. That was why I had to aim for a complete, flawless victory.
If Hinata agreed to talk, then fine. If not, we’d duel it out, one-on-one. We were fully prepared for that scenario, albeit with one considerable pitfall: What if I lost? Then everything would be meaningless. Raphael seemed to have little doubt about my victory, but if I blew it, that would tank this entire operation. Could I really trust Raphael’s calculations? I had a suspicion that Raphael tended to err on the side of overconfidence, and it wouldn’t be the first time, either. It believed too much in me—it wasn’t overrating my chances, was it?
I couldn’t banish that thought…but I had to do this. That’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it always will be. Whether I fully believe in myself or not, all my friends certainly do. I just have to stop wavering and press on.
“I’m going to say this one more time. If, at any point in this battle, it looks like we’ll have trouble keeping ourselves afloat, I want you to immediately focus on annihilating the enemy. The lives of our allies have to take first priority. You need to understand that all this means nothing if any of you get yourselves killed. I expect everyone to make it through this alive, just as we always do. Dismissed!”
“““Yes sir!!”””
If we were too reluctant to pick off a paladin, and it got one of our friends killed, it’d make all of us look silly. I wanted to be sure everyone was fully aware of that. Seeing them all voice their agreement, I reciprocated with a satisfied nod.
Now to wait and see what Hinata tried.
The journey to Tempest was proceeding along well for Hinata.
A quick trip through the transport gate was all it took to go from Lubelius to Englesia, but from there, she had to do it the normal way—and without any replacement horses, so frequent rest breaks were a must. She was used to marches like this, so she kept her own gear to a bare minimum. One horse and a sleeping bag, which she kept filled with emergency rations, a pot, and so forth.
The trails weren’t blocked by snow or anything, but the seasonal weather still precluded her from making this trip with haste.
She had rendezvoused with four of her paladin subordinates soon after departing. It had been a surprise at first, hearing hoofbeats from behind and spotting four familiar faces—Arnaud, Bacchus, Litus, and Fritz, her paladin commanders. Renard, the vice captain, was holding the fort while Hinata was gone, and since having all the commanders away from Lubelius at once was not an option, they drew lots and picked Garde to stay behind.
“…What are you doing?” she had asked them.
“We would ask you the same question, Lady Hinata. Attempting to get a head start on us?”
“A head start on what? I am merely going there to talk.”
“Oh, come now. You know, you sound less than convincing given how clearly you are equipped to wage war.”
“Yes! And we have no interest in standing atop your sacrifices. Our glory comes only when we serve under you.”
“Indeed. And besides, that message didn’t insist upon you traveling alone, did it?”
Hinata rolled her eyes and sighed. “I know, I know. But this is a demon lord, all right? I’m the one who riled him up. This is my problem. You have neither any responsibility nor any involvement in it. Return to our homeland at once.”
But Arnaud and the others ignored the order. She was eventually forced to say “Whatever” and allow them to join her.
The road this band of five chose was maintained, but it had seen better days. Inns were sparse along the way, and at this time of year, no-vacancy signs were a frequent sight. They would be forced to camp out, and even though they weren’t running into monsters, camping out in the cold of winter with nothing but emergency rations took its toll on Hinata and her companions.
By the time they reached Blumund ten days later, they had exhausted a worrying amount of their strength. They decided the time was ripe for a night indoors, for a change.
“This town has certainly changed,” Arnaud said after the five of them each rented their own room and assembled down at the dining hall.
Hinata felt the same way. Litus had said as much in her report, but seeing it with her own eyes made the difference exceedingly obvious.
After changing and resting up a bit, they decided to go explore town. The markets were packed with people, despite the winter weather, and all sorts of strange and unfamiliar merchandise was available. The backward country atmosphere Hinata felt the last time a mission brought her here was now considerably weaker.
“And did you see the people? So much more variety to the clothing around here now. Some of them had the kind of fancy outfits you normally only see in Englesia.”
“Yeah, and those weapons and armor… I think some of it is monster-derived. Real high-quality stuff circulating.”
Arnaud and Bacchus had trouble believing their eyes. Hinata could see why. It wasn’t up to the standards they enjoyed as paladins, but everything they saw was almost too upscale for a small country like this. And all the merchant stalls! In a world where many shops closed for the winter season, the sheer number they saw was an extreme rarity. If they were open, that must have meant customers were around—and that must mean that, even in winter, this little backwater town was entertaining large numbers of merchants and adventurers.
“Is this Tempest’s influence at hand?” Fritz asked, gauging Hinata’s response as he did. All this development must have come after trade relations were opened up with Tempest. That was the only reason he could think of. It also meant that large numbers of people in this town were not only ignoring the teachings of Luminism, but actively flouting them.
“All this prosperity,” whispered Litus, clearly shocked, “by doing business with a demon lord?”
Hinata, deep down, had to agree with her. This wasn’t normal. For him, though; for someone like Rimuru who came from the same land as her, maybe this wasn’t so strange at all.
For example, the menu on the wall of this dining room.
“Have you decided?” an attractive waitress asked them.
Hinata was ready for her.
“I’ll have
the ramen, please.”
“The ramen! That’s been gaining an audience lately. It comes in miso, shoyu, and tonkotsu flavors, each available in a lighter or thicker broth. Do you have a preference?”
Six types in all. This wasn’t some misunderstanding. Ramen, here, definitely meant the meal she was familiar with.
“Tonkotsu, please, on the thick side. And one side of gyoza and rice to go with that.”
“Excellent! You certainly know your food, ma’am, if this is your first time here. And you guys?”
Her companions watched in awe as she ordered without hesitation.
“Um… The same.”
“M-me too…”
“Yeah.”
“And I, as well.”
None of them knew what any of it was, so they just followed their captain’s lead.
“Lady Hinata, could you tell us what this…ramen is?”
“You do know, right?”
“Yeah. It… Well, it might be a tad difficult for you guys to eat.”
“““What?!”””
Tension raced across the table.
“Don’t worry. I only think it will take some practice before you can eat it correctly.”
Hinata was just worried about the chopsticks. Did Arnaud and her other compatriots know how to use them? Did anyone in Lubelius, for that matter? Her friends, meanwhile, were now scared Hinata had made them order something on the level of monkey brains.
After a short wait, the bowls came out. It was ramen, no doubt—a nostalgic sight for Hinata, a totally unfamiliar one for the rest of the table.
Brushing her hair back with one hand to keep from dunking it in the soup, Hinata picked up a pair of disposable chopsticks, snapping them apart.
They’re even the kind you break… Is this what they’re focusing on?
Could Tempest really popularize chopsticks so quickly that they were already spreading to their neighbor countries? It unnerved her a bit, but the steaming ramen in front of her diverted her attention.
She put her hands together in a small prayer before picking up a renge ramen spoon off the stack and sampling the soup. It was definitely tonkotsu pork broth, on the thicker side. She had no idea where they got the dashi soup stock from, but it perfectly re-created the heavy, flavorful taste she remembered.
Then she picked up some noodles, brought them to her mouth…and half spat them back out.
“Are you all right?!”
Arnaud stood up. “Was it poisoned, Lady Hinata?!”
“Quiet. Just calm down and eat.”
Hinata picked up some noodles again—this time, placing them on her spoon and blowing on them a bit first. She wasn’t used to food served at this temperature. It was almost cutesy of her, especially given her usual frigid demeanor, but she was too focused on the noodles in her mouth to care.
Good body. Good taste. The savory broth had soaked into the noodles well. It was excellent. She never thought she’d taste this again, but it was a perfect re-creation.
Silently, Hinata concentrated on her meal, Arnaud and the others carefully watching her every move. Soon, they tried imitating her.
“…Agh! Hot!”
“Mmmm! Wow, what is this?!”
“The soup’s great, too!”
“Incredible! I’ve never eaten anything like this before…”
They were struggling mightily with their chopsticks as they challenged themselves to the ramen, but their reactions were like nothing Hinata expected. To them, whose diets revolved around the staples of hard bread, salty soup, and fresh salads, this ramen opened up an entire new universe of taste. It was a revolution for their taste buds.
And look at this rice! This rice they ordered simply because Hinata did. It was a perfect accompaniment to the ramen, growing sweeter in the mouth the more you chewed on it and filling your stomach in the most satisfying way. And the gyoza… Oh, the gyoza! The contents spread across your mouth when you bit into them, the aroma wafting all the way up your sinuses. It was a symphony of flavor, played by a large variety of ingredients and performing in exquisite harmony with the rice.
“This is so good!” Arnaud half shouted. “I can’t believe this!”
Compared with the portable rations of the last ten days, this was heaven. It wasn’t long before a single gyoza dumpling remained. Fritz’s chopsticks began to drift toward it…only to be deflected away by Hinata’s with a dry tssh! sound.
“That’s my prey, Fritz. I wanted to save it for last. No stealing.”
Fritz felt a shiver go down his spine. She was playing for keeps.
“S-sorry, Lady Hinata. It was just so good, I couldn’t help myself…”
“You could always order another plate,” an appalled Hinata replied—and right on cue, her four companions began shouting for the waitress. But then, tragedy struck.
“Oh, I’m sorry, guys, but that was the last of our supply for the day.” The waitress delivered the devastating news. “You know, this ramen is actually a new offering from us. We only started serving it last week…and just between you and me, I heard it got its start as a fervent request from the demon lord for his dinner. There’s a merchant named Sir Mjöllmile who’s one of the bigger names around this town, you see, and he purchased this ramen directly from the demon lord himself. Can you believe that? It’s not selling that well yet—it’s pricey, and there’s kind of a learning curve—but once you try it, you just can’t get enough!”
Considering this was “just between you and me,” the waitress was loud enough to be clearly heard across the entire dining hall. The act fascinated Hinata; no doubt she was instructed to advertise it to her regulars like that. Building a faithful base of repeat customers would allow them to create more of it in bulk, establishing it as a full-fledged product. She could spot a few people in the hall curiously eyeing her table. Watching her consume that bowl so expertly probably made them want to try it themselves.
She took in the last of the soup as they chatted.
“Thanks. That was very good.”
Hinata paid for the meal and stood up. Her companions, seeing this, scrambled to slurp up the remainder of their soup.
“No rush. I’m just going back to my room. Also, here’s a word of advice: If you drink all the soup, too, you’ll gain weight.”
Litus was the only one who stopped eating.
“Huh? But… You did…?”
“I’m naturally skinny.”
And with that warning, she left. She could feel Litus’s hateful gaze pointed at her, but she was too happy and sleepy to turn back around.
“Let’s go.”
The group was back on the road the next morning, fully rested and recharged. They would need it, because navigating the treacherous roads into the Forest of Jura took a lot of willpower.
Hinata was all smiles as she set off with them, but it wasn’t long before that enthusiasm evaporated.
“What’s all this about?”
“This is so easy, it almost bores me.”
“Yeah, and just look at this highway! It’s as neatly paved as the streets of the Englesian capital. This is crazy!”
The surprise around the party was understandable. The road was paved in stone, not a single puddle of water to be found. It was even lightly banked around the turns, and gutters had been dug on both sides. The winter weather hadn’t frozen the path at all, ensuring the easiest possible journey.
“I don’t even think there are any monsters nearby. There weren’t too many out in the open forest, either…”
Litus, who had staged a short expedition into the unexplored woods, couldn’t help but be astonished. She was right—the barrier deployed over the entire highway was a shock to see in action. Magical devices had been installed every six or so miles to power it, preventing any nearby monsters from wandering the roads. This made the journey vastly safer, and they saw more passing merchants traveling down the road as they pressed on. Those merchants must’ve been responsible for breathing so much life int
o Blumund right now.
“If they’ve devoted this much time and effort to constructing a road like this, I wonder what we should expect to find in the monsters’ homeland up ahead.”
Nobody responded to Arnaud. He was just stating what everyone else was thinking—and they all wanted an answer just as badly.
“That merchant said you could take this highway mounted easily enough. He was right.”
“Yeah. I thought our horses would be a bother in the forest, but I suppose we had nothing to worry about.”
Hinata had heard reports about the large-scale construction project Rimuru was carrying out in the forest. Seeing it for herself, however, made it hard to hide her surprise. The Forest of Jura, so forbidding to humans for so many years, was now as accessible as a city park.
So the party proceeded along for a while, until they spotted a group of hobgoblins riding wolves up ahead.
“Did they notice us?!”
“Hold it,” Hinata calmly said. “I don’t think so.”
She was right. They could hear laughing. It sounded like the hobgoblins were merely chatting among themselves. It was a straight path ahead, so they had noticed Hinata’s party, but they just waved and approached in a friendly manner.
“Hello! We haven’t seen you before. You don’t appear to be merchants—are you adventurers, then?”
“More or less, yes.”
“Ah, very good! I wish you good luck on your mission. Now, I’m sure you’ll be just fine, but there are a few things I need to warn you about.”
The hobgoblin changed his tone, then outlined the rules all travelers needed to follow on the highway:
No garbage dumping.
No fighting on the highway.
Use the drinking fountains located every six miles on the highway when camping overnight.
For added safety, take advantage of the patrol stations located every twelve miles on the highway.
If you have the money for it, inns are located every twenty-five miles.
If you see anyone in trouble, report it to the nearest patrol station.
…and so on.