Our reunion with that person was sudden. It was the thing I'd been so desperately wanting to see, and we'd finally managed to meet.
That person was standing quietly in front of a certain shop. Their figure looked almost divine, like a painting of a saint.
When I noticed them, I stood before them, stared, stroked them, and then...
"Auntie! Don't you have any more of this rice?"
Pointing at a burlap sack containing about 10kg of rice, I asked the shopkeeper.
This wasn't the indica rice I'd seen so much of in this world. It looked a lot like the japonica rice I used to eat almost every day in my previous life.
"I've still got another 50kg in the back. How much more were you looking for?" the shopkeeper asked.
But that was obvious...
"All of it!"
For me, a former Japanese person, you could never have too much japonica rice!
The shopkeeper was surprised, but she was probably happy to clear out her inventory. She hurriedly called out to an employee in the back, then brought out five more burlap sacks identical to the one in her hand.
The total came to 60kg, costing 1800G, but perhaps because I bought in bulk, the shopkeeper gave me a 100G discount.
It was probably rare for someone to buy so much at once. The shopkeeper was smiling.
I learned when I went to pay that this rice was grown in a certain region up north. Compared to indica rice, it had less circulation, and because it was very sticky, it wasn't very popular. She'd just happened to purchase it at the request of an acquaintance merchant and had been worrying about what to do since it wasn't selling.
As the shopkeeper waved us off,
We
left the store... Actually, we were just coming back from a dungeon.
Jeanne and Aura seemed surprised by my sudden action, as they hadn't said a single word.
"Master Tenma, what are you going to do with this much rice...? I've never cooked this type of rice before..."
Aura looked anxious as she asked, clearly thinking she was the one who would end up doing the cooking, but—
"Don't worry, I'll be the one cooking this!"
I had resolved in my heart that no one, not a single soul, would be allowed to interfere with this momentous occasion. I had no intention of letting Aura lift a finger, either.
However, my steps after buying the rice were much lighter than I'd anticipated, and Jeanne and Aura, who were following behind, were starting to get a little out of breath.
I had to rein in my eagerness and consciously slow my pace.
Before long, we reached the room, and I pulled a clay pot from the very bottom of my bag.
This was a piece I had made back in Kukuri Village so everyone could share a hot pot meal together. It even had a proper lid.
When you think of rice, you probably imagine cooking it in an iron pot, but I've never done that and don't own one, so I decided to use the clay pot as a substitute.
First, I washed the rice and soaked it in water. After thirty minutes, I drained it, put the rice into the clay pot, added an equal amount of water, and leveled the rice flat.
Next, I modified the pizza oven so the clay pot would fit inside, then used magic to start the fire in an intermittent cycle.
At first, I heated it on high until it was bubbling vigorously, then turned it down to low and let it cook until the bubbling sound stopped. After that, I took it off the heat and let it steam. That was it!
First, I wanted to taste the plain cooked rice itself...
"It's delicious..."
A nostalgic flavor spread through my mouth. The quality of the rice was probably inferior to what I had in my past life. But that didn't matter—no, it didn't bother me at all! The first and foremost thing was that I was eating rice like I did in my past life; the taste was a secondary concern.
Surprisingly, the person who was most concerned about my meal was Aura.
"Lord Tenma, may I have a taste?"
Jeanne and Aura were eating a different dinner from mine. It was what Aura had prepared: bread, soup, and stewed meat.
Recently, Jeanne and Aura had stopped being overly formal with me, and I, in turn, had stopped being strangely considerate. We could spend time together without any discomfort.
"Here you go."
I handed her the whole plate (I'd plated it on a dish because I didn't have a rice bowl). Aura hesitated for a moment before putting the rice in her mouth...
"Delicious…"
she exclaimed in surprise. Perhaps cooking rice this way was a rarity in this world.
Moreover, this method of cooking was something I had learned in my previous life, and I was rather proud of how well it had turned out.
Maybe inspired by Aura and me, Jeanne seemed interested too, and she sent her plate my way.
In the end, the rice we had cooked wasn't enough, so we decided to cook another batch.
Shiromaru and the others had shown interest at first, but after taking a bite and being startled by the heat, they gave up on asking for more.
From now on, whenever we came across rice like this, I was going to collect as much of it as we could get our hands on!
After all, with a Magic Bag, there was no worry about it spoiling, and with my current bag, one to two tons could be stored without any trouble.
Savoring the taste of rice after so long, that night I slipped into my futon feeling absolutely blissful.
The next day, we continued our dungeon conquest. We started from the eleventh floor.
Since we had destroyed G's nest the day before, there was unlikely to be an encounter anytime soon—I persuaded the two of them to begin the assault with that reassurance.
Thirty minutes after we started, and just as expected, there was no sign of G anywhere.
Perhaps it was because they had witnessed G's massive swarm the day before, but the two of them didn't flinch even when facing not just caterpillars, but spiders, centipedes, and millipedes— Monsters of all kinds.
Shortly after, they discovered a staircase and headed for the floors below.
Twelfth floor… There were plenty of grasshoppers and spiders, but the two used magic while keeping their distance to attack. At first, their strikes were being deflected, but gradually they began to understand which spots—joints, abdomens—were more vulnerable, and they were winning their fights with increasing confidence.
Thirteenth floor… This was where Aura got attacked. The two had been advancing while keeping watch on their surroundings, but it seemed they hadn't quite grasped the enemy's traits. A spider clinging to the ceiling lunged down and nearly bit her.
However, I had noticed the spider's presence and kicked it away just before it could sink its fangs into Aura, so she avoided any serious injury.
I reminded them that insect-type Monsters could cling to ceilings as well, and told them to stay alert, before resuming the conquest.
Fourteenth floor… This time a centipede attacked from the ceiling, but thanks to my earlier warning, the two had been watching overhead as well. They dodged it effortlessly, and Jeanne landed a counterattack.
Both of them had grown considerably more proficient with their weapons, and now they could dispatch Monsters of moderate size in a single blow.
Fifteenth floor… The two of them were starting to show clear signs of fatigue. Their concentration was beginning to waver, and they were taking more counterattacks from the Monsters. We had been inserting breaks along the way, but they were probably approaching their limits soon.
We had already been delving for about five hours by this point. Calculating it out, we had been clearing roughly one floor per hour up to here.
We could have turned back here, but there should have been a staircase nearby, so I had the two of them use potions and pushed on a little further.
Sixteenth floor… This floor looked different from anything we'd seen so far, and both of them were surprised. However, the floor where they had encountered their previous dungeon was much deeper, so I thought it was odd and asked about it. It turned out that the Viscount who had been their previous master had forced the adventurer guiding him to tag along all the way down to the thirtieth floor before beginning their own conquest, and while resting at the first dead end after descending the staircase, they had been attacked by a centipede.
No wonder they were surprised by this place. But that Viscount had been an idiot too. Without knowing his own limits, he had deliberately…
Monsters
…as if he had gone out of his way to become food for them.
Setting that aside, I dug up some nearby tree roots and began harvesting white grubs for the first time in a while.
Jeanne seemed curious about what I was doing and peered over at my hands, but the moment she saw the grubs and asked what they were used for, she recoiled from me with considerable force.
Aura apparently already knew that white grubs were edible, so she didn't say anything, though she did have a wry smile on her face… Grubs are delicious, though…
I also grabbed enough for Ii-chan and Shii-chan, and called it a day.
That night, I thoroughly enjoyed a grub meal for the first time in a while, but Jeanne's reaction was strongly negative, and she wouldn't speak to me for some time after that.
Aura, being a cook herself, seemed interested and cautiously tasted the soup, being surprised by how delicious it was — but the butter-fried version was a no-go. Jeanne was horrified that Aura had actually eaten grub cuisine.
The chicks over at Amy's place had apparently grown large enough recently that they could eat grubs without needing them to be ground up, which had eased Amy's mental burden considerably.
By the way, in exchange for giving Amy grubs and magic cores, I had been having her do things like clean my room, but ever since Aura arrived that was no longer necessary, so it had all been put on a tab… I really didn't need payment of any kind, but for appearances' sake, I figured I'd let it slide since she was my disciple.
I felt like the grubs had brought me closer to Aura, but conversely, they seemed to have driven a wedge between me and Jeanne.
Things never go the way you want them to, I thought to myself as I started preparing the bath… By the way, as of yet, no lucky pervert events related to the bath had occurred… or rather, I had no intention of causing one!
Perhaps it was my own fault for thinking such things… The bath event finally happened after all… Well, I was the victim, though!
In a rare occurrence, when I was about to get in first, Jeanne — who hadn't noticed I was there — climbed into the carriage, and she locked right onto my little soldier… I suppose I was partly to blame for being stark naked in the middle of the carriage…
But still, there was absolutely no need to scream and call for Aura, was there?!
That's how it ended up — Aura and Amy came bursting into the carriage too!
Well, by that point I'd already hidden myself in the bath area, but afterward, it took quite the effort to clear up Amy's misunderstanding…
In the end, Aura was the one who explained everything, but the mental damage I suffered in the meantime was immense…
For the record, Amy had heard Jeanne's voice when she came to thank me for the caterpillar, so she reflexively followed after Aura.
But Jeanne… Even while letting out that scream, you kept your eyes firmly locked on my son, didn't you… I won't press the matter out of a warrior's mercy, but that was the night I swore to be more careful about things going forward.
The next morning — dungeon crawling again today…
"Jeanne, good mor—"
The instant I called out to her, she vanished from my sight… Well, she just dove under the covers, really.
Even after that, whenever I tried to talk to Jeanne at an opportune moment, she'd hide behind Aura, or hide behind Shiromaru, or cover her face with Solomon… Except Solomon can't really hide your body, Jeanne.
And so, she continued avoiding me.
It was the same even when we were inside the dungeon. I tried consulting Aura about it, but—
"Jeanne… is adorable, isn't she?"
She just flashed a pleasant smile and refused to engage with my problem… Was Aura actually enjoying this situation? She'd occasionally glance between me and Jeanne with an amused little smile.
With my lifeline completely non-functional, the dungeon crawl continued…
On the eleventh floor, we advanced while keeping watch for G-rank Monster attacks, but since we'd eliminated most of them yesterday, there wasn't a single trace of them so far.
Once that was clear, Jeanne and Aura returned to their usual groove, and our clearing speed picked up considerably.
Both of them had grown significantly stronger since we first met. Between the weapon enhancements and their improved magic skills, they could probably hold their own against a C-rank adventurer.
That said, this only applied to head-on combat with magic included, and strictly limited to actual battle scenarios — but even factoring that in, as D-rank adventurers, they could probably make it work even now.
On the twelfth floor, there were no G-rank Monsters to be found either, and both of them — me too, obviously — were visibly relieved.
Relieved as they were, they hadn't forgotten to remain vigilant of their surroundings, just like before. Sure enough, a spider-type Monster swooped down from directly above them, but they dodged it effortlessly and counterattacked.
Incidentally, since it was the same spider I'd eaten before, I took responsibility for recovering the corpse.
After that, it took a while, but we managed to push through the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth floors.
"Jeanne, how about we take a break soon—"
When I called out to her, she hid behind Aura just like always...
And Aura was smiling with that same exasperated expression as always...
At this rate, my spirit was going to break — when I sent that kind of thought her way, I caught Jeanne's eye from behind Aura... but she hid again. Her face looked redder than usual, perhaps, but I didn't have the luxury of worrying about it.
Forget it. With a half-resigned feeling, I went ahead and created a rest spot.
Just like always, I made a dead end and walled it off, then pulled out the beds I'd bought for resting and set them up. Jeanne immediately started moving the two beds farther apart... That one actually stung a little.
Seeing this, Aura pulled Jeanne over to a corner, and the two of them began talking.
I don't know what came of their discussion, but Jeanne's face was flushed, and Aura was grinning even more than usual.
Neither of them seemed willing to tell me what they'd talked about, so I decided not to ask and just ate my meal instead.
Today's food was all from stalls again, but it was quite delicious.
After the meal, I gave Jeanne a potion laced with my blood and we settled in for a rest... But if I only gave it to Jeanne, Aura might get suspicious, so I handed her one dyed the same color and had her drink it too.
I told them it was a potion to speed up physical recovery. In truth, I'd also prepared a magic power recovery potion and a resistance-boosting potion — three kinds in total — all with the effects they claimed to have, so I wasn't lying.
After a brief rest, we cleared out the remaining parts of the sixteenth floor and pushed through the seventeenth and eighteenth, bringing today's dungeon run to an end.
When we stepped outside the dungeon, I noticed quite a few people whispering as they looked at us.
Some were even pointing at us as they talked, which finally started to bother me, but every time we got even a little close, they moved away from us, so there was no way to find out what they were saying. The only thing I could tell was that they weren't exactly making fun of us — it was more like they were paying close attention to us, so for the time being I didn't think there was much risk of getting mixed up in trouble.
When we headed to the guild, we happened to run right into Jin and the others, so I told them about what had just happened.
"What, you didn't know?! You guys are the talk of the town — everyone's saying you're the most talked-about young party right now, and that Tenma is the strongest adventurer in the whole city!"
I couldn't hide my surprise at Jin's words. I sort of understood the "talk-of-the-town young party" part, but I had no idea why rumors were circulating that I was the strongest.
Indeed, it seems that even before Jeanne and Aura joined, I had already become a topic of conversation for solo infiltration and for taming a dragon, but rumors about me being the strongest hadn't circulated at all.
When they saw my reaction, Jin and the others started explaining,
"Well, that's probably because Tenma beat up that noble's son and scared off an Ogre."
"Plus, Tenma often knocked Jin unconscious and buried him in the dirt. Jin's always complaining at the tavern that Tenma's scary, he won't go against Tenma, and he doesn't want to die fighting Tenma."
"So it was your fault!"
Thanks to Lina's little tale, the culprit who spread the rumors was revealed... Naturally, I moved to give Jin his usual Stun, but—
"See ya!"
—and Jin sprinted away from the scene with all his might.
I was a little surprised by the sheer speed of his action, but as soon as Jin started running, Shiromaru gave chase. Before fifty meters had passed, Jin was completely flattened by Shiromaru... Incidentally, it seems a new rumor spread among those who witnessed this that Tenma is someone from whom you cannot escape.
"Come on, come on, let it rest. But you guys have been doing great lately, right? The word is you're sneaking back into those ruins at a brisk pace with barely a scratch, even though you're escorting two girls."
Menace was grinning, heavily emphasizing the "two girls" part, but I kept my expression neutral and just said,
"Oh, is that so..."
and ignored him. Menace looked a bit disappointed, so Garat chimed in next,
"Now that you mention it, are you guys entering that martial arts tournament?"
I had no idea what he was talking about at first—
"What's that? First I'm hearing of it..."
—but I could guess from the name alone. Garat looked at me in surprise, but Menace explained,
"Well, the Tenma of late probably hasn't had the time to be interested in something like that. It wouldn't be strange not to know."
Ah, that explained it.
"So, what exactly is this martial arts tournament?"
When I asked Menace and the others straight up about it, Lina happened to chime in from the side, saying—
"To be precise, it's the Victory Prayer Imperial Martial Arts Festival, hosted by the royal family."
She was nice enough to tell me, but all I could think was that it sounded ridiculously grandiose.
Seeing me at a loss, Menace jumped in,
"It's a mouthful, so everyone just calls it the 'Martial Arts Tournament.' Back in the day, when this country was still small, knights used to hold mock battles to boost morale. Over time, the format changed, and now it's become a form of entertainment."
"But even calling it entertainment — since it's hosted by the royal family, the strongest fighters tend to show up. A lot of the top finishers end up getting knighted or granted noble titles, so the event keeps growing. Every year, well over a thousand people compete."
She explained it all in a way that was easy to understand.
"Plus, the tournament is divided into three divisions — Individual Battle, Pair Battle, and Team Battle — so tons of adventurers looking to make a name for themselves show up."
Garat added as well. Apparently, a team in this context fights with a maximum of five people, and one substitute is allowed as a reserve.
"So, is Tenma going to compete too?"
"I haven't really thought about it... or rather, Tenma—"
"—also—"
I picked up on that last word, and when I looked over at Menace,
"That's right! We, the Dawn Sword, are entering the tournament too!"
she declared proudly. Apparently, the Dawn Sword had entered the Team Battle the year before last as well. They were eliminated in the Preliminary back then, but last year, with Lina joining the roster, they managed to qualify for the Main Tournament — though since Lina was still new, their coordination was lacking, and they lost in the first round.
For reference, last year's participation numbers were roughly 450 individual fighters, 200 pairs, and around 100 teams.
That easily puts the total over a thousand participants, but that's because there are no restrictions — plenty of people who entered the Individual Battle also competed in the pair and team divisions.
Apparently, some pairs who entered the Pair Battle even competed in the Team Battle with just the two of them and nobody else.
The Preliminary for the Individual Battle is fought in battle royale-style groups of several dozen, with the last two standing from each group advancing to the Main Tournament. A maximum of 32 fighters are selected.
The pair division works the same way — a battle royale format that similarly selects up to 32 pairs.
The Team Battle is divided into 16 blocks from the preliminary round, using a tournament format, and the winning team from each block advances to the main tournament.
The main tournament uses a tournament format, and opponents are determined by lottery before the match begins.
However, for the Individual Battle only, those who reached the semi-finals or beyond in the previous tournament are given Seed Rights, exempting them from the preliminaries and allowing them to enter directly.
The tournament lasts 9 days: the first 3 days are for the preliminaries, the next 3 days up to the semi-finals, then a 2-day break, with the final day for the championship match.
Apparently, both official and unofficial gambling takes place at this tournament — betting on the winner, the top three, who will make it to the main tournament, and various other things.
The event is about two months away, and an auction is apparently held at the same time.
Deep down, I'm thinking of going. The reason is that if I go to the Royal Capital, I might hear news about the village survivors, and I could also let the King and the others know that I'm alive.
I decided to discuss this with everyone tonight.
But for now, my priority is to restore my relationship with Jeanne. I look at Jeanne, but she still hides whenever our eyes meet. It's gotten better than this morning, but there's no denying I'm still being avoided.
Today, I made dinner simple and quick, then discussed future plans.
Not that there was much to discuss — since Jeanne and Aura had no veto power, we only decided on the route to the Royal Capital and the departure date.
At that time, I told the two of them that I had an acquaintance there and would be going to visit. But saying that the King of this country was my acquaintance was a bit much, so I vaguely said I'd be meeting someone from my hometown.
"Um... Tenma, Jeanne probably has relatives in the Royal Capital..."
Aura said that, so
"Then this might be where we part ways"
I said, intending to hand the two over to that acquaintance, but
"I absolutely will NOT do that!"
Jeanne raised her voice in rare opposition.
I was surprised both by Jeanne raising her voice and by her refusing to be freed from her slave status. Then Jeanne continued,
"If I have to go to that man's place, I'd rather die! Being Tenma's... slave is happier!"
She resisted so fiercely that I tried to ask her why, but Jeanne didn't seem willing to talk. Instead, Aura spoke up.
"That relative is my mother's cousin's husband. His name is Podro Il Kloride, a viscount—he is the lowest kind of man."
It wasn't just Jeanne—Aura clearly despised this Podro fellow as well, showing open disgust.
According to Aura, Podro had married into a branch family of Jeanne's household, yet the moment Jeanne's family fell on hard times, he was the very first to abandon them. Even before that, every time they met, he would leer at Jeanne and the others with predatory eyes. He had a terrible reputation with women—apparently he kept around ten mistresses.
To make matters worse, Podro's wife had been mentally broken by his womanizing, and the guilt of having readily abandoned the main household had left her practically bedridden.
"For that reason, we have no objection to going to the Royal Capital, but please—do not hand us over to that man."
Aura bowed her head and pleaded earnestly. I agreed—I certainly couldn't hand the two of them over to a man like that—and I made it clear that no matter what happened, I would never do so.
Seeing me like this, Jeanne said,
"Um... Tenma... sir..."
"Just Tenma is fine."
When I told her she could just call me Tenma, Jeanne thought for a moment and then said,
"Then... Tenma... um, thank you..."
She said this with an embarrassed look on her face.
Aura tried to reprimand Jeanne for calling me by my first name, but when she learned I had given permission myself, she accepted it.
I also offered Aura the same, but
"I am a maid before I am a slave. I cannot be so rude as to address my master that way."
...she turned me down.
After our discussion, we reached several decisions: we would depart for the Royal Capital one week from today to secure lodging early, we had no current plans to enter the martial arts tournament, we would not hand the two of them over to Podro, and if the situation called for it, we would flee at full speed all the way to Seigen if necessary.
I also promised that when we went to the Royal Capital, I would give them a specially made Golem core to serve as a bodyguard in place of an escort.
The two of them seemed greatly relieved. Jeanne in particular crawled into her futon and fell asleep right away.
Since starting tomorrow we'd also be preparing for our trip to the Royal Capital on top of dungeon exploration, going to bed early seemed like a good idea, so Aura and I decided to turn in early too... completely unaware that it would lead to the commotion the very next morning.