Chapter 9

“It’s the village!”

Upon seeing the village, Mari spread her arms and let out a cheer.

Even though the village wasn’t particularly large, Mari seemed as excited as if she had arrived in the capital of a kingdom.

I should walk a bit further away to avoid embarrassment.

“Mr. Kurt! It’s the village! The village!”

“Yeah, I see it too. You seem really excited.”

“Of course! If we’re in the village, we can eat fried food!”

“Ah… I see.”

As she said, Mari had been singing every day during our journey, wanting to eat fried food.

However, frying isn’t a cooking method that can be easily done anywhere.

Especially not while traveling through the forest and camping.

On the first day, we were lucky enough to hunt a Boiling Oil Mimic Plant and obtain a large amount of oil, but such plants are rare, so we didn’t get that lucky again.

If such flowers were common, the entire forest would have turned to ash in no time.

That’s why Mari had been eagerly waiting to reach the village since the second day.

“By the way, there’s something I haven’t told you because I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Hmph. Right now, I’m invincible as long as I can eat fried potatoes. Nothing can disappoint me. What is it?”

“Actually, even if we reach the village, we can’t eat fried potatoes.”

Upon hearing this, Mari looked as devastated as an elf hearing that the World Tree had burned down.

“What!? Why not?”

“Because oil is expensive.”

And we don’t have any money.

Originally, a monetary economy is a privilege of those who have formed a collective large enough to establish a nation.

Elves and Lizardmen live in closed communities with little interaction with other human races, so they don’t engage in a monetary economy.

Honestly, I don’t know much about elven culture, but even if they use their own currency, it wouldn’t be usable in a human village.

And of course, oil is generally quite expensive.

Last time, we used a pot full of oil just to fry potatoes, but unless you’re quite wealthy, you can’t use oil so freely.

Oil is useful not just for cooking but also for lighting fires at night, making it a valuable commodity with limited means of acquisition.

So, for two novice travelers without proper currency, oil isn’t something easily obtainable.

After hearing my explanation, Mari slumped down as if her earlier joy had been an illusion.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“If you’re going to be disappointed anyway, isn’t it better to have a short, happy dream rather than being disappointed from the start?”

“It’s not better at all!”

Even though the Lizardman tried to be considerate, this was her reaction.

This is why you shouldn’t take in black-haired beasts.

Though Mari was blonde.

But soon, Mari regained her energy and spoke to me in a spirited voice.

“Then let’s earn some money! Mr. Kurt!”

“Huh?”

Me too?

…

“Sorry, but there’s no Adventurer Guild in this village.”

The villager Mari asked smiled kindly and answered.

“What? Why not?”

“Why, you ask… An Adventurer Guild wouldn’t come to such a small village.”

This is the sorrow of the countryside.

Franchises that are taken for granted in cities don’t exist in rural areas with small populations.

That’s why rural folks can only enjoy such franchises when they make the effort to visit the city.

Such is the nature of franchises in the countryside.

I had thought this might be the case from the village’s size, but I didn’t tell Mari to avoid disappointing her.

Hearing this, Mari turned to me with a deeply disappointed expression.

“Mr. Kurt, what should we do? If this continues, we won’t be able to achieve our dream of eating fried potatoes.”

It’s your dream alone. Don’t drag me into it.

But it wasn’t all bad luck. The villager who answered Mari’s question gave us some information.

“You seem like adventurers. If you’re looking to earn money right away, there’s a way.”

No, judging by his expression, he just wants to win Mari’s favor.

If I were alone, he would probably look at me with suspicion and be reluctant to answer…

Elves really do have it good.

Though the inside might be a bit lacking, the exterior is flawless.

Among the many human races, elves and humans are the ones with the least difference in appearance, next to wizards, who are a race that looks exactly like humans and can use magic innately. By human aesthetic standards, elves are considered beautiful as a race.

Having been human in a past life, I can understand.

“What method is that?”

“Hahaha. Adventurers don’t have to rely solely on guild requests to make a living. Sometimes, hunting rare or powerful monsters and selling their materials is also a way.”

“Does that mean there’s a threatening monster around here? If it had appeared, people would have sent a request to the guild, so it must be a rare monster.”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

The villager answered in a trembling voice, avoiding my gaze.

Hah. As if a Lizardman would live in sorrow.

…

After hearing the villager’s explanation, we entered the forest to hunt monsters without even booking a place to stay, still in our travel gear.

“According to the villager, it should be around here.”

“Really? I’m surprised. I thought you wouldn’t be interested in hunting monsters, Mr. Kurt.”

As she said, unlike Mari, I don’t have a reason to hunt monsters for money.

Even without money for lodging, it’s not a big inconvenience, and I can hunt for food myself.

“What I’m interested in is the monster itself.”

“The monster itself?”

“Tell me the name of the monster we’re hunting.”

“Uh… some insect-type monster… Ah! The Rainbow Army Honeybee! Could it be…?”

“Yes. The honey of the Rainbow Army Honeybee… is said to be delicious.”

“Said to be? Have you never tasted it?”

“No, I’ve eaten it. But I’ve never tasted it.”

“Huh? Is this some kind of riddle?”

I had tasted the honey of the Rainbow Army Honeybee, or Rainbow Honey, only once.

Back when I was a hunter in the Lizardman Village.

I stumbled upon the monster’s nest and tasted the honey.

But at that time, I hadn’t reached the transcendent level, so my sense of taste was no different from other Lizardmen.

Even when I tasted it, it just felt like a sticky liquid, and I ended up using the hive for wax and discarding the honey as a byproduct.

Looking back, it was a terrible mistake.

So this time, I’m determined to taste it properly.

Then Mari shouted at me.

“Ah! Is that it?”

Mari pointed to a giant yellow bee the size of a human head.

This monster, far larger than ordinary insects, looked more like a hornet than a honeybee.

“That’s it. Good find.”

“Really? That bee is the Rainbow Army Honeybee? I found it, but it doesn’t look like a rainbow or a honeybee.”

“If it were a real hornet that had become a monster, the village would be in a state of emergency, not casually informing travelers. And you’ll soon see why the Rainbow Army Honeybee is named so despite being yellow.”

I quietly followed the Rainbow Army Honeybee back to its nest.

…

“This is…!”

“Yes. This is why the Rainbow Army Honeybee has ‘rainbow’ in its name.”

“The hive is rainbow-colored!”

Mari, keeping her distance to avoid alerting the bees, exclaimed upon seeing the hive.

“Right. The honey of the Rainbow Honeybee has a rainbow hue. Thus, the hive containing the honey also shines with rainbow colors.”

“It’s really amazing! Alright, I’ll show you my skills!”

Mari immediately took out her bow and shot an arrow at the Rainbow Honeybee.

The arrow, fired from over 100 meters away, pierced the monster’s head without missing, and before the first monster hit the ground, a second arrow pierced another monster’s head.

“Hoh… Not bad.”

I had thought she was just a dim-witted girl who only knew how to sing about fried food.

But it seems she has the ability to protect herself.

Generally, without long-range weapons, dealing with the Rainbow Army Honeybee, with its tough exoskeleton, toxic components, and overwhelming numbers, would be extremely difficult.

But for Mari, who could shoot arrows from a distance where the monsters couldn’t even detect the source of the attack, these factors were meaningless. The monsters fell one by one, pierced by arrows.

Of course, I didn’t just stand by and watch. I joined in to help Mari, and naturally, the speed at which we defeated the monsters increased. Within a few dozen minutes, we had taken down all the monsters.

“Pant… pant… I was confident in my archery, but you’re really amazing, Mr. Kurt. How did you just casually throw a stone and hit those bees from so far away…?”

“It’s the same for you.”

“No. I used a bow, and you just threw a stone with your bare hands.”

“It’s similar. Stop talking and let’s collect the hive.”

“No, it’s not similar at all…”

Mari, whose pride was hurt by her archery being matched by my casual stone-throwing, kept grumbling, but what can you do?

The basic hardware difference is just too great.

Well, even if she’s sulking now, she’ll get over it soon.

I’m planning to make a special dish using this Rainbow Honey for dinner tonight.