Chapter 27

After listening to Mari’s nagging for a while, I somehow felt even more mentally exhausted than when I had accepted the request, so I headed up to my room.

I’d rather hunt a Basilisk.

…

But speaking of chicken wings, there’s a Three-legged Fowl, but is there no Three-winged Fowl?

The wing part isn’t as competitive as the legs, so there’s no need for three, but wouldn’t it still be nice to have three?

Wait, flipping the idea, is there no octopus chicken with eight legs?

Maybe it’s because I had a satisfying meal for the first time in a while.

Or maybe it’s the beer I drank with the fried chicken.

My mind feels loose, and silly thoughts are passing through my head.

As I climbed the stairs to enter my lodging, there was someone waiting for me in the hallway.

“Karina?”

“Ah… You’ve come up. It took longer than I thought.”

Karina said with a bitter smile.

Though she spoke lightly, I could sense that she had something important to discuss.

Common sense dictates that if it weren’t important, she wouldn’t be waiting at my door.

“Running away alone is pretty cheap.”

“I’m sorry about that. But a living human has to live.”

How shameless.

At first, she was more stiff, but now she’s comfortable around me.

“…So, what’s the matter?”

“Can we talk in my room for a moment?”

Karina pointed to her room as she spoke.

Hmm. This is the first time I’m going to a woman’s room besides Lakia’s.

…

Karina’s room didn’t feel much like a woman’s room.

In one corner, a well-maintained Battle Axe and two Hand Axes she usually carried at her waist were neatly arranged. On the floor, a bear skin with a large straight wound, likely from her hunt, was laid out as a substitute for a carpet, though its quality was a bit questionable for sale.

As I slowly looked around Karina’s room, she suddenly bowed her head and got straight to the point.

“Please take me as your disciple!”

Ah, of course, it would be something like this.

“Disciple…?”

“Yes! I thought about it when I first defeated the Shavel Tiger, but after today, I’m even more convinced. Please take me as your disciple.”

Hmm…

So that’s it.

I was taken aback when she suddenly bowed her head as soon as I entered the room, but I could understand Karina’s actions.

In terms of combat ability alone, Karina would probably rank high even among silver-grade adventurers.

The fact that she could use aura to some extent at her age made that clear.

In rural villages, there are plenty of cases where knights can’t even use aura, so that alone speaks volumes about Karina’s talent and effort.

However, compared to that, Karina’s other skills and mindset as an adventurer were, frankly, not up to my standards.

Her ability to track monsters was better than Mari, a rookie, but it wasn’t particularly outstanding. Even today, when hunting the Three-legged Fowl, she hesitated to hunt monsters with Mari.

That alone showed her mindset wasn’t cold and calculated.

It’s a bit awkward for me to say this, but objectively speaking, I surpass her in combat ability, tracking skills, and mindset by several levels.

Seeing me, it’s not unreasonable for her to admire me and want to be like me.

In fact, the fact that she doesn’t harbor an inferiority complex and doesn’t go down the wrong path shows her potential isn’t bad.

But still, a disciple?

Her heart is admirable, but I have my own life, so I don’t plan to actively teach her.

I carefully conveyed these thoughts to Karina.

“Even if I take you as a disciple, I can’t spare much time to teach you anything special.”

“That’s fine! Even if you don’t set aside time, just occasional advice would be enough!”

“Let me say this upfront, don’t expect any serious teaching from me.”

“I’ll learn by watching from the side! Please just give me your permission!”

Well…

If it doesn’t interfere with my life, I guess I can accept.

“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll first teach you a technique for tracking prey…”

“Please teach me the secret to becoming a fine noble lady!”

“…What?”

Did I hear that wrong?

Why are you asking me for that?

“…Ah! I guess I was in such a hurry that I didn’t explain properly.”

“You definitely need to explain a lot more…”

“Actually, I didn’t leave my northern hometown to become an adventurer.”

“I heard that story before.”

“My dream is to become a noble lady like the ones in the city. Like the noble ladies in the fairy tales I read as a child, doing embroidery and cooking, quietly dedicating myself to my family. That has always been my dream.”

Karina stroked the Battle Axe by her bedside as if reminiscing about the past.

Is there a need to stroke the Battle Axe during this conversation?

“But in my harsh hometown, where we competed for survival against monsters, everyone, regardless of gender, lived a rough life hunting monsters. In such a place, my dream of becoming a noble lady was impossible.”

That makes sense.

The northern tribe Karina speaks of is also known as the Barbarians.

The general perception of them is that they are a tribe of warriors, regardless of gender.

“So I left the village. I left my Barbarian tribe and headed for the human Kingdom of Eustia, where I could live the life of a noble lady like in the fairy tales.”

“But why become an adventurer?”

Is it for money?

At my words, Karina laughed awkwardly.

“Money… is part of it, but first, to become a noble lady, I need to become a noble, right?”

Ah, so by becoming a famous adventurer, it would be easier to meet noble men.

Quite calculating, aren’t you?

But Karina’s answer was somewhat different from what I expected.

“If I make a name for myself as an adventurer, someday the Kingdom of Eustia might honor my achievements and grant me a noble title. Then, from that point on, I can become a noble lady!”

…

Even if she gets a noble title that way, it probably won’t be the kind of noble lady Karina imagines.

“But I’ve realized something!”

Ah, finally, she’s realized.

“Even if I become a noble, I lack the basic qualities of a noble! So first, I want to learn cooking from you, Kurt, as it’s a fundamental skill for a noble lady!”

“…Ah, I see.”

I’m not sure how to respond to this.

Karina, who had been passionately talking about her dream, noticed my subtle expression and quickly composed herself, looking uneasy.

“After all… is my dream strange?”

“Huh?”

“The villagers said so. They said my dream was strange and didn’t suit me. They said I was more suited to smashing monster heads with a Battle Axe.”

“…”

“But despite that, I left the village, ignoring the ridicule from my parents and other villagers. I vowed to become a noble lady no matter what…”

Karina’s story…

Somehow, it didn’t feel like someone else’s story, so I couldn’t laugh.

“But recently, while living as an adventurer, I feel like I’m forgetting my dream. Before I knew it, the noble lady was nowhere to be seen, and every day was just hunting monsters…”

Trailing off, Karina soon gave a lonely smile and said to me.

“I’ve been rambling about pointless things. Somehow, seeing you so serious about gourmet food today made me feel like I was having vain thoughts… Ahaha. Can we pretend you didn’t hear what I said today?”

Karina smiled awkwardly, saying she got carried away, but I could read the emotions hidden beneath her expression.

It was the fear that her dream would be denied by someone else again.

Before others could deny her dream, she would get scared and say it wasn’t serious, that someone like her couldn’t have such a dream, and armor herself by denying it first.

That emotion was one I knew well.

The looks my family gave me when I said I wanted to become a chef in my past life, the looks of incomprehension.

And in this life, when I said I wanted to travel the world in search of more delicious food, the looks from the Lizardmen in the village.

Countless such looks made me shrink back in fear.

“No. I can’t pretend I didn’t hear it.”

“Ku, Kurt…?”

“I’ll teach you cooking.”

People who saw the Three-legged Fowl mocked it as a creature that had evolved wrongly, unable to fly or run properly.

They said it would have been better to have larger wings or faster legs.

But I don’t agree with that opinion.

The Three-legged Fowl didn’t make a wrong choice; it made a different choice.

By gaining an extra leg, it had stronger reproductive power compared to other birds, allowing its species to spread widely.

Similarly, Karina didn’t have a wrong dream.

She just had a different dream from other Barbarians.

Like me, who left the Lizardman village with the sole determination to eat delicious food, or Marisia, who rejected the closed culture of the Elf village to see the world.

In our respective societies, we might seem like heretics with wrong ideas, but I don’t think that’s the case at all.

At my words, Karina made a face like a child about to cry.

“Ku, Kurt! No, Master!”

“Master is a bit… Just call me Kurt.”

“Kurt Oppa!”

“…No. Just call me Kurt.”

At my words, Karina, as if hearing something she never expected, teared up and hugged me.

…

By the way, I sneakily checked Karina’s cooking knowledge, and it was hopeless.