Chapter 34

Things were going well. The weather was great, the beaten path was easy to walk on. And while the forest trees surrounded us, we were never attacked by forest wolves like before. Beowulf’s commands must have reached all of them. Occasionally, we would see a snout poking from the leaves, but we were left untouched otherwise.

“So, Daniela. How far are we to the next town?”

I ask, walking beside her.

“Indeed… I would say that it is six days on foot.”

“That’s quite far.”

“I would not say so. All towns are rather scattered unless you are close to the capital.”

Were they now… Oh well, as long we could still reach it. Imagine if we had to cross oceans or mountains.

The seclusion and peaceful air continued for over three days after that. And I was starting to feel a little rusty. The journey was easy. All we did was eat store-bought food around a bonfire every night and then walk.

But then this all ended because of the rain.

It rained so heavily that I thought it we were in a typhoon. But we just donned our raincoats and continued to walk.

“This weather is atrocious.”

“Yes… Well, it is a part of any journey.”

It was not realistic to expect the weather to always be in your favor. And it wasn’t as if the weather had some grudge against me. There was nothing to do but walk.

My boots trudged through the mud as I looked ahead of us. The thick clouds were casting a shadow that made the midday look like it was afternoon. It was even darker in the forest. There were no signs of the clouds parting or the rain letting up. It would be a long time before it stopped raining.

What was scary about this rain, was the drop in body temperature. Also, it obstructed your vision. But this was still my first time traveling for real, I could only imagine what could happen, which was good for reminding me how much experience I still lacked.

After a while, the forest on both sides began thin out, and instead, we were greeted to a vast, open field. There were no trees around, and we caould see to the far off distance. Well, actually it was still too dark and rainy to see that far.

“We have reached the end of the forest. These grasslands mean that we are now in the territory of the grass wolves. We must be wary of monsters here.”

“Ah, right. Grass wolves…”

I let go of the strap to the vintage bag I was holding, and touch the pommel of my steel sword. So there was a high likelihood of fighting on this trip now. It might be more eventful than I had thought.

Daniela used her inherited ability to detect the presence of enemies and increased its range. She detected a few wolves not too far off. Well, it looked like we wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked immediately. Though I wasn’t sure how relaxed I should feet just yet. But it was enough to make me let go of my sword and pick the bag back up. I just hoped that we wouldn’t have trouble when camping out tonight.

We chose a place that had a giant boulder to set up camp. The tent was put up with the boulder at its back. The rain had lessened a little now, but hadn’t completely stopped… I considered making the fire under a tarp, but then realized that it would burn, and so tried making the fire without it. At least the firewood wasn’t damp, as I had stored some in the hollow bag. There was also plenty of small branches to use as tinder. It was a good thing I had saved them from before.

While there was plenty of white smoke, I was relieved to see the fire burning hot as I put a pot over the flames. It was full of the usual soup. Dried meat and freshly picked vegetables. A perfect meal to warm your body in this weather. As I stir the pot and scan my surroundings, I see Daniela return from the rainy fields. I kind of felt like a house-husband as I stirred.

“Welcome back.”

“I killed all of the grass wolves that were in the area.”

“Sorry. For leaving it to you.”

“We help each other in this party, Asagi. I am hungry now.”

“Coming right up.”

We take out the well-worn bowls. The slightly bigger one was Daniela’s This became incredibly obvious during our training camp, but she liked to eat. According to her, she didn’t get fat. Was it a trait of light elves!? I tried asking her, but she claimed that it was not. I was incredibly jealous.

I gave her an extra large serving as she somewhat shamefacedly asked for seconds, but I knew the truth. That time when she had disappeared into the park with a load full of street food in her arms. I don’t know if I had ever seen her look happier.

She took her large bowl and I took my medium one and we sat around the bonfire. It was still raining, so we had the tarp hung over our heads. Something about this scene reminds me of a game I once played, I think as take a sip of the hot soup. The weather may have been terrible, but the taste was amazing. I always felt that food tasted at least 20% better when eaten outdoors.

The pot was emptied in no time. Now the only thing to do was to sleep. Daniela quickly entered the tent before her warmed body could cool off again. And so I stayed outside to tend to the fire. We would take turns watching it. The rain had dyed down even more now, so it was unlikely that the fire needed much attention to keep it burning.

I run my hand through my hair without thinking. It had grown quite a bit now. There was no store manager in this world to remind me to cut it. And so I pulled out a pair of scissors from the hollow bag and started to snip at my hair. Back in my world, they had all kinds of nifty gadgets for campers, but there was no such thing here. And so I had bought these separately. I also had Chief make me a small estoc that looked like an ice pick.

“What would you need a tiny estoc like this?”

He kept asking as he made it. But the finished product was amazing. Only Chief could have made something like it.

I cut off roughly a few inches of my hair. I was sure people would say ‘Isn’t it still too long?’ but I would catch a cold if I cut it too short. And that was the bigger danger in the present.

After burying the chopped off hair in the dirt, I take out the estoc and some meat that we had bought. As the hollow bag used dimensional magic, I wondered what would happen if I put raw meat inside, and as expected, it showed no signs of having aged. But I wasn’t sure if it was just the appearance, and perhaps the time had passed inside, so I experimented with warm and cold food. There was no difference in temperature. So time really had stopped. However, we had now stuffed the bag until it was full, so we would have to eat the food and create more space.

I skewer some sliced meat with the estoc and hold it over the fire. Hehe. The one good thing about working all night. A company benefit. Midnight meals. As the meat began to cook, and the juices sizzle, I add some spices that we had stocked up on. Ah, it smelled so good. A real man’s meal. The meat in the flames had turned into the perfect color. The surface would be crispy while the inside was still rare. The trick was to not overcook it.

“Hehe. I think it’s ready.”

“What is?”

“The meat. This is about perfect.”

Alright, the juices were starting to drip. Now was the time! Time to eat…?

“That looks very good. Are you going to eat that?”

“Ah…Daniela? Wait, I thought you were asleep…”

I hold the savory skewer in one hand as I turn around. Master Daniela was standing there, looking down at me with folded arms and a big smile on her face.

“Asagi.”

“…Yes.”

“Where is my portion?”

“Here you go…”

I gave up the delectable piece of meat to Daniela.

Our first night in the plains was off to an awkward start, but at least we weren’t ambushed by any monsters. I continued to cook more meat until she was satisfied.

It was only after Daniela returned to her tent to sleep that I realized that we had gone through our entire stock of meat.