Chapter 23

For some reason, under the gazes of Mari and Karina, who seemed to think less of me, we headed to the guild’s bulletin board to pick up a quest.

“Hmm… A rampaging Golem caused by a failed creation, destroying the surroundings… Since it’s a request from the Magic Tower, the reward isn’t bad. How about this one?”

Karina slowly scanned the quests on the board and suggested her opinion.

“No. Rejected. Let’s find another quest.”

“Then how about a mission to exterminate a large number of Undead? This one doesn’t look bad either. It might take some time due to the distance, but the reward seems high.”

“No, still rejected.”

“Why? The quest itself doesn’t seem bad…”

“Because Golems and Undead aren’t edible. Isn’t there a quest to hunt down a more delicious Monster?”

At my words, Mari, looking utterly baffled, cut into the conversation between me and Karina.

“What did you say? Do you even realize your current situation, Mr. Kurt?”

“I do, but… Still, it’d be nice to enjoy some good food while completing a quest.”

“If you’re so picky about quests, how do you plan to make money? You shouldn’t squander money just because you have some now; you should save for the future!”

Why is she suddenly making so much sense?

“If I run out of money, I can just sleep in front of the Adventurer Guild.”

To Karina and Mari, my way of selecting quests might have been hard to understand, but the reason I became an adventurer was to travel the world and experience more delicious food.

“I became an adventurer to explore the delicious cuisines of this world from the very beginning. So, I only take quests that might lead me to more delicious meals. I became an adventurer to fulfill my dream, not to be an adventurer for the sake of it.”

“Ugh… Using the word ‘dream’ so shamelessly. Fine, do as you please. I don’t care anymore.”

At my words, Mari finally spoke in a resigned tone.

“For the sake of a dream…”

“Karina. In that sense, isn’t there a quest that looks more delicious?”

“What am I even…”

“Karina?”

“Ah, yes! Are you asking about a quest that seems decent?”

As if snapping out of a trance, Karina quickly regained her composure and looked over the quests on the board again.

“Hmm… There aren’t many quests to hunt down delicious Monsters… At best, there’s a quest from a nearby poultry farm due to the appearance of an Awakening Species of Three-legged Fowl, but it’s only at the Stone rank…”

“That’s the one!”

“Huh!?”

“An Awakening Species of Three-legged Fowl? A Monster I’ve never tasted before. I wonder how it would taste…”

Just looking at the quest on the board makes my mouth water.

“Ah, yes…”

And so, the moment my long-awaited first quest was decided.

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…

“I can’t understand this at all!”

Mari complained as she followed me out for the quest.

“What’s the problem?”

“Everything, of course! We started as Bronze-rank adventurers, and our first quest isn’t even Iron-rank but Stone-rank!”

Previously, I was recognized by the guild as a Bronze-rank adventurer for hunting down an Awakening Species, the Shavel Tiger.

If I were serious, I could have aimed for Silver-rank, but since Karina could only vouch for me up to Bronze-rank, that was the best I could get.

Of course, if the guild master stepped in, Silver-rank wasn’t impossible, but the strict evaluation process that judged not just skill but character and diligence seemed too bothersome, so I settled for Bronze-rank.

If I ever needed to take on a Silver-rank quest, I could just bring Karina along without officially accepting it, so Bronze-rank was fine.

“What does the quest rank matter? And even if I take a Bronze-rank quest, you’re Iron-rank, so you couldn’t have co-accepted it anyway.”

“That’s something we can just manage by tagging along without officially accepting it!”

Already thinking of tagging along? How can she have such sneaky thoughts?

I’m worried she might turn into a delinquent adventurer at this rate.

“Besides, I thought my first adventurer quest would be an exciting, heart-pounding adventure, but who would have thought it would be hunting down a runaway Three-legged Fowl from a poultry farm…”

“If you dislike it so much, you don’t have to come along.”

At my words, Mari looked at me with the expression of a kindergarten girl being told by her brother that it’s okay to play house with other kids.

It was as if she was saying, “How can you say that to me?”

“How can you say that to me?”

“Hey, it’s not like I said anything that bad.”

“I can’t believe it! Aren’t we comrades?”

Weren’t we just fellow diners? When did we naturally get promoted to comrades?

But if I keep teasing her, she might really get upset, so I should probably soothe her.

I offered some comforting words to Mari.

“Don’t get so worked up. I’ll make you an amazing Three-legged Fowl dish instead.”

“Do you think I’ll fall for that?”

“Don’t be surprised when you hear this. The Three-legged Fowl…”

“No matter what, I won’t fall for it.”

“It tastes great when fried.”

“Fr… fried?”

At the mention of frying, Mari, who had been pouting just moments ago, forgot her anger and spoke in a flustered voice.

“Yes. Remember the Golden Bird skewers we had last time? That was just a substitute because we didn’t have cooking oil. What I really wanted to eat that day was fried chicken.”

“Fr… fried chicken?”

If Mari had to name her two favorite dishes, it would undoubtedly be the Fried Potatoes I first made for her.

And the Golden Bird skewers I made when she revealed she was a Half-Elf.

Those two dishes, fried food and poultry, were the two great pillars supporting her concept of gourmet food.

But realizing that these two pillars could actually be combined, she reacted like an ordinary person in the Cthulhu mythos facing an unimaginable cosmic concept.

“Combining delicious things… That’s completely…!”

“Completely delicious food.”

“Kyaaaah!”

At my words, Mari let out a happy scream, running around me and jumping up and down.

In her mind, any resentment for ruining the special event of her first quest was gone, replaced by the excitement for the ultimate dish, like a child going on their first school trip.

Easy.

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…

Having calmed down the sulking Mari, I turned to Karina, who had been silently walking without a word.

“What’s up? You haven’t said a word. Are you also unhappy with the quest I took?”

“Ah, no. I was just thinking about something else…”

“Something else?”

“Nothing major…”

“If it’s not major, you wouldn’t be so deep in thought.”

Thinking about it, Karina had been acting a bit off since I brought up the first quest.

No, actually, she had been acting strange since breakfast.

At my words, Karina, looking as if I had hit a nerve, confessed her worries.

“Um, Mr. Kurt! Did you prepare any Potatoes?”

“Yeah, I did. Since I’m talking to Karina now, can you keep it down a bit?”

“Eek… Is this something I shouldn’t hear?”

“No, Miss Marisia, it’s fine for you to hear.”

With Mari now involved, Karina shared her concerns.

“Actually, there are two types of people who want to become adventurers. Those for whom being an adventurer is the goal itself, and those for whom adventuring is just a means to achieve their goals.”

“I’ve always dreamed of becoming an adventurer and going on adventures!”

“Hehe. Then Miss Marisia is the type for whom being an adventurer is the goal itself. In contrast, Mr. Kurt’s case is that adventuring is not the goal but a means, so he falls into the latter category.”

“Exactly.”

In fact, since I can fulfill my dreams through adventuring, it’s a bit ambiguous, but if I could enjoy gourmet food without being an adventurer, I wouldn’t cling to it.

“Actually, when I first arrived in Astram and started adventuring, I had dreams other than being an adventurer. But before I knew it, I got so caught up in adventuring that I forgot my dreams and just focused on adventuring.”

“Ah. So when I said I was taking a quest…”

“Yes. When you said that adventuring was just a means to achieve your dreams, I realized I had been dedicating myself to adventuring without any relation to my own dreams. Thinking about that made me feel heavy-hearted.”

Indeed, sometimes life can turn things upside down like that.

I once dreamed of opening a restaurant under my name, but before I knew it, I got so caught up in making money to open the restaurant that I forgot about the restaurant itself.

I could relate to this kind of worry.

“Well, I don’t know what your dream is, but as long as you don’t forget it in the end, you’ll find a way, so don’t worry too much.”

“Hehe. Yes, just sharing my worries has made me feel much lighter.”

Karina’s face did seem much brighter compared to when we left the Adventurer Guild.

I casually gave some advice, and it seemed to have cheered her up, which is good.

While we were chatting about this and that.

Our party finally arrived at the quest location.