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Tondemo Skill - 483 - Arrived at Ronkainen
🕑 Added 2023-04-04 15:34:51 +0000 UTCEguchi Ren: From now on, I will do my best to update every Monday, so please continue to support Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skills
Gumihou: Since I've been calling it Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi, I'll just stick to it, yeah?
We landed on a meadow in front of the City of Ronkainen.
“Woah, we arrived earlier than expected,” I said.
“Flying is the most convenient form of transportation,” Grandpa Gon said matter-of-factly.
As usual, we started the day with a hearty (meaty) breakfast before leaving for Ronkainen. It took Grandpa Gon less than half a day to reach this place from the forest.
““Oi, something’s coming,”” Dora-chan called. “”They are coming from the city gate.””
“Mu, should we?” Fer was smirking dangerously.
“Hey, why is fighting the first thing on your mind?”
““Sui pew pew?””
“Look, you are a bad influence on Sui!”
Before I could say anything else, a bunch of people dressed in armour holding spears and swords had arrived. I supposed they must be soldiers from this city?
I did report to the Adventurer’s Guild that I would be heading towards Ronkainen, so, why are these people here?
Anyway, I wanted to avoid a troublesome situation. Let’s stay calm and find out the situation first. If I lost control of the situation, things could get bad very quickly.
“A-are you S Ranker Mukouda-san?” one of the soldiers stepped forward with shaking legs to ask.
“Ah, yes…?”
“Th-then, please come this way,”
He was being polite, so I decided to follow along quietly.
As our party moved forward, the rest of the soldiers began to surround us.
What the heck?
I must have seemed a little anxious, because one of the soldiers said, “We are escorting you to the Adventurer’s Guild.”
“Um, I’m sure my party could get there on our own…”
“This is our job,” replied the soldier in a serious tone.
“Ahaha…” I guess he must have received orders from above?
My familiars were all grumbling at me through telepathy, but I managed to calm them down for now. The walk towards the Adventurer’s Guild was starting to get awkward, so I started talking to the soldier who had answered me earlier out of sheer desperation.
[1]
“So, um, you guys are…” I made a vague gesture at the entourage around us.
“We are soldiers from the 4th Corporation in charge of the North Gate. We’re the closest to you when you landed,” said the friendly soldier.
“I see, so, the city knew we were coming,”
“The Adventurer’s Guild was notified, and, well,” the soldier smiled awkwardly, “there was a general pandemonium when the higher-ups heard that we have a Fenrir and an Ancient Dragon coming towards us.”
“Ah.”
“I think the leaders were making noises at the Adventurer’s Guild. But it’s not like the Guild could do anything about your arrival or stop you or anything,” he said bluntly. “However, we want to prevent public unrest as much as possible, hence the welcoming party.”
“Ahahaha…”
Soldiers to help reassure the people? I’m fine with that. It will be much less tiring than having to yell ‘These are my familiars, they’re fine!!’ at random people all the time.
[1]
When we arrived at Ronkainen, aside from the solid high walls surrounding the city, the impression I get here was less… pseudo-European than Carelina and other cities I have visited before. Perhaps it was due to the constant struggles between neighbouring countries just next to them, but, the general feeling I got from Ronkainen was more… Asian? Southeast Asian?
[2]
Though I can’t really point out why that was the case. Perhaps it was the flimsier looking cloth and wood structures? The more colourful and, ahem, exposed clothing?
The curved scimitars at their belts?
I certainly felt less safe here. Even so, the air of exoticism that permeates place made it seem more interesting. I’m suddenly interested to know what kind of things I could buy here. Exotic spices? New cookware?
[2]
Meanwhile, we eventually arrived at Ronkainen’s Adventurer’s Guild.
As expected, all eyes were upon us despite the soldiers' escort. While I was squirming under the painful gaze, someone darted out the door.
The man was of medium build, with a grey beard and rather dandy-looking, “Welcome! Welcome to Ronkainen’s Adventurer’s Guild! We’ve been waiting for you!”
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As soon as the door to the Guild Master’s room on the second floor closed, Orson, the Guild Master immediately cried, “Right, there are some things I’d like to ask your party to take care of as soon as possible…”
The room was quite tightly packed, especially with Grandpa Gon and Fer with us. Sui had perched herself on Fer’s head while Dora-chan was sitting on Grandpa Gon’s head.
I had just put myself into the chair opposite Guild Master Orson when he blurted out his request. I really came here just to get a new Magic Stove, but it looks like I might be saddled with a few subjugation missions as well.
Obviously, being a major city close to the border of a group of small countries, it was clear that this city was built on trade and commerce. However, there was another lesser-known characteristic of the city that contributed to its wealth.
Near the city was a large river called Eremae which was a great source of valuable (dangerous) monsters. It was no exaggeration that Ronkainen Adventurers’ livelihood depended on the monsters from the Eremea River.
“So, we have a few subjugation missions,” said Orson as he shuffled through his papers. “We have subjugations requests for a Kelpie, a Tyrant Black Alligator, and a Berserker Mud Crab. The most urgent one is the Berserker Mud Crab. So, if you could…”
Orson-san was looking hopefully at me.
“Oi, don't that thing usually stay in the mud at the bottom of rivers?” said Fer.
Orson-san looked a little taken aback at being talked to by Fer. However, he managed to recover himself enough to say, “Well, some idiots who did not know their level went poking around where they shouldn’t…”
“… um, excuse me…?” I prompted.
[1]
Orson-san sighed and explained, “Occasionally, we get nobles who signed in as Adventurers to hunt monsters for sport. We don’t really care, so long as they don’t mess up too much. Anyway, that hobbyist had enough money to hire a B Ranker to go with him and went after a Berserker Mud Crab-”
“Oh-”
“-C Rank monster Mud Crabs are pretty quiet, but when attacked they would become enraged and rampage around. Depending on the ferocity level, they could even overpower A Rankers!”
“Ah, sounds… dangerous…”
“Right? Right? It’s been 20 days since and it’s still stomping about the river. An enraged Berserker Mud Crab could rampage about for over a month! I’ve been inundated by requests to ‘settle the issue as soon as possible’. How do they expect me to do that?! A party of A Rankers or higher would have to be sent to even have a chance of taking down the crab-”
“Is that so…”
“That’s when I received news of your impending arrival, Mukouda-san!” Orson suddenly leaned forward to grab my hand. “Please subjugate that Berserker Mud Crab for us.”
[1]
“Uhh…” I looked to the side, “Guys?”
“Umu, it’s fine, Berserker Mud Crabs are delicious,”
“Indeed, I look forward to this mission.”
“”Woah, I never had one before!””
“”Yummy?””
“Ahem,” since I received a unanimous agreement, I said, “We’ll take the mission.”
Guild Master Orson looked really relieved by my answer. Two seconds after his tensed shoulder slackened, it went up again, “What about the Kelpie and the Tyrant Black Alligator?”
[3]
“Ah, well, my familiars are more interested in taking down edible monsters. Are Kelpies edible?” Those are basically horse-fish things, right?
“I shall be frank with you. The Kelpie mission had been on the shelf for a long time because it’s a B Class monster, but the only valuable thing one could get from it is the tail skin. The meat is edible, I think, but, well…”
“They tasted bad,” said Fer.
“Terrible,” Grandpa Gon agreed.
“… …”
“… so, it’s a difficult job with low return.”
“Ahem, even so, we can’t leave the matter alone just because the return is low. So, I’d appreciate it if your party could take care of it. As for the Tyrant Black Alligator, it’s dangerous, but due to its huge body, it could be easily spotted and no casualty has happened yet mostly because people could see it and not stumble over it by accident. Even so, it’s an A Class that’s close to S Class. So, if possible, I’d like to see it taken care of.”
“Alligators are good to eat,” said Fer.
“Really? They tasted so, so, to me,” said Grandpa Gon.
“… …”
“… actually, I’m rather interested in the Alligator meat too. I heard it’s similar to chicken…” I frowned, wondering how I should cook this Tyrant Black Alligator. Would karaage be good?
“Ahem, I take it your party is prepared to take on all three missions?” asked Orson.
“Oh? Oh! Yes, yes, we are prepared.”
“Wonderful! Now, I expect nothing but good news from you!”
[3]
“Er, right, um, could you let me know where the Merchant Guild is? I want to rent a place for myself and my familiars…”
“Oh, the Merchant Guild, eh? Hmm, to be honest, that place is always busy. Ronkainen is a merchant city so they are about 10 times busier than us. If you go there alone, I’m afraid you’ll have to line up just to enter the building. Those merchants are pretty uptight. If they don’t know you, you could end up waiting for a long time.”
“Ugh…” I imagine a cranky Fer next to an overly conspicuous Grandpa Gon lining up for hours and felt a throb in my head.
“Well, being a Guild Master has its perks. I’ll take you there myself. I’ll make sure they see us sooner than later.”
“Really! That would be a great help.”
[Gumihou: The general chapter is a little awkward, but not too bad]
[1] Rewrite the inform Mukouda re Ronkainen reaction via dialogue and some action verbs that are not passive for dramatic purposes.
[2] Give a reasonable explanation on why Ronkainen felt more ‘Southeast Asian’. Author is probably thinking about Islamic cultures when so go with the general stereotypes for such an impression.
[3] Redid the ‘shall we take this mission’ scene so that it is not too repetitive.
