Chapter 13: The Set Meal and The Defensive Armor

I usually woke up with the sound of the bell. Then, I went to the restaurant to eat, and left afterwards. This was the basic cycle of my life in this world.

However, it seemed that I woke up a little earlier than usual today. I had no problems to wake up despite not hearing the sound of the bell. I got ready and left my room anyways.

「You woke up quite early today. The restaurant is still preparing for opening.」

The innkeeper spoke to me while cleaning the hallway. When did this person sleep?

「Do you know any restaurant open at this time? 」

I asked the Lady for the time being. I had a decent amount of money, and sometimes, I wouldn’t mind to eat my meals quietly even if I paid more than usual. Well, in fact, I did not want to be exposed to the loud voice of the old man in the restaurant next door every morning, I wanted to avoid it, but I never found an opportunity to eat somewhere else, I just wanted to enjoy a quiet meal once in a while.

「I can recommend you a restaurant close to the Guild. It is a restaurant for adventurers. It is a little expensive, but it is open most of the time. I think it’s not as good as the one next to my house, but you can go there and try for the first time. I recommend the adventurers’ set meal, the content varies depending on the day, but the differences are not that evident.」

A restaurant near the Guild that served set meals? I went there for the time being.

I arrived at the Guild. Certainly, there was one restaurant nearby and I noticed that it was indeed open. I decided to go inside. I didn’t know if the innkeeper was talking about this particular restaurant, but there were no other open restaurants nearby. Maybe this place was the restaurant she spoke about earlier.

「Welcome! 」

I felt betrayed. Certainly, it was a different restaurant from the restaurant next to the inn. The owner was a woman, unlike the restaurant next door. However, there was no difference in loudness. I expected to eat quietly, but unfortunately, I was going to eat in a frenzy zone again.

Actually, the volume did not change that much, but it felt worse somehow. The owner’s voice was lower than that of a standard woman, and although she looked like a man with tall and bulky body proportions, she was a woman. Naturally, the voice was higher than the voice of the owner of the restaurant next to the inn. Even if the volume was the same, her voice stuck on my ears. I tried to regain my peace of mind.

「Ah, I want the adventurers’ set meal please… 」

I was nervous that I even ordered the inn’s recommended menu without looking at the other options. The price was 100 Tael. Of course, the reply was…

「Right away!! 」

She gave me this reply. I tried to smile politely without showing embarrassment. As usual, the food came out quickly, a common trait of this world. However, it didn’t make me feel at ease.

I began to eat. The menu had some unknown vegetables along with something that resembled stir-fried meat and bread. It was certainly not as good as the food at the inn’s restaurant. However, I felt that this bread was similar to the one served at the inn’s restaurant. Maybe they were from the same bakery shop.

Aside from my heart, my stomach was full, so I paid the meal and left the restaurant.

「See you next time!!! 」

Please stop it. My life energy decreased to 0 after such loud noises.

I regained my posture and went to collect medicinal herbs. I decided to collect herbs until noon. Then, I would eat and go to pick up the remaining equipment.

I felt extremely grateful to eat calmly in the woods. Moreover, I did not have to be vigilant because of the radar boosted by the Information Manipulation Analysis.

I continued to collect medicinal herbs while looking forward to lunchtime. When I found an herb, I ran up and crouched down, and at the same time, I stored the one that I grabbed from the root earlier. Then, I went to the next one. I did it in 3.5 seconds this time. I got used to this work, and I could say that I was already skilled in collecting herbs.

Anyway, I focused in collecting Zunana grass. After collecting it for about an hour, I found something interesting.

I found a plant that resembled the Zunana grass. But it was not the Zunana grass. The length was about 12 cm, and although the price would not the same as those bigger, it was still at a level where I could earn some good money. However, it did not display the ▼ mark. This may not be the Zunana grass, but it could be useful somehow. I tried to appraise it in the meantime.

—

Zunana grass (immature, useful)

Description: Immature Zunana grass. It has hemostatic and enhancing effects.

—

Didn’t the people at the Guild say that the enhancing effects were more effective when mixed with other medicinal ingredients?

Despite being immature, it was still useful, I see. That meant that some could be useless too. I wanted to avoid the useless herbs, so I imagined the shape of the immature Zunana grass in order for them to appear in my radar. I did this so that I could avoid picking them by accident. It was not good to overfish even small ones, so I decided to leave the immature Zunana grass alone.

▼ The number of marks had increased. There were about 10 times as many as Zunana grass. I tried to appraise the closest herb other than the one I was looking at now.

—

Zunana grass (immature, useless)

Description: Immature Zunana grass. Oral ingestion causes diarrhea and abdominal pain.

—

Hmm? Was this not the description of the Dokuzunana?

However, the appraisal window said “Zunana grass”. The useless immature Zunana grass did really exist, my suspicions were correct. Yet, that description confused me. Would the useless and immature Zunana grass turn into Dokuzunana? Or was it a completely different kind of immature thing that turned into something useful upon maturing? It could be the latter, since the Guild did not buy anything less than 10 cm long.

Dokuzunana may have propagated because it mutated in the past as it grew into a poisonous plant. Animals no longer ate this type of grass. However, I did not understand why the stems were square.

Anyhow. I came to pick the genuine Zunana grass. I changed the display of the ▼ mark in the image of the ordinary Zunana grass. The increase in the numbers returned to normality, and my speed increased a little after restarting the collecting work.

A few hours had passed since I began collecting herbs. The sun was rising almost directly above, signaling daytime. When I sat down, I took the bread out of the item box. A calm meal was the best. The forest healed my heart because of the quiet atmosphere even though an Herb Hunter vandalized the forest itself just moments ago.

After I finished eating my lunch, I went back to pick up the equipment. Therefore, I climbed the gently sloping forest, and headed towards the Guild as usual. The Zunana grass was not luggage, but it would be better to deliver it quickly.

When I entered the Guild, I noticed Sally-san at the window. Another adventurer occupied one of the two windows, but fortunately, Sally-san’s window was available.

「Hello, I came to deliver the medicinal herbs. Today is a little less because I only worked up until noon.」

After saying those words, I took the Zunana grass out of the item box and put it on the counter. The item box displayed 252.

「Yes. It is less. ONLY 252, yes. It will be 7560 Tael.」

Sally-san spoke about the Zunana grass as usual, as if she gave up being surprised. She then gave me the payment in coins. I threw them in the item box. I received just a few today. I left the Guild thinking that I should have taken a little more time on the herb gathering.

I wanted to get my wand for the time being. Therefore, I went to the magical staff shop. That’s right, that Lolita Witch shop.

「Excuse me. Have you made my wand? 」

I saw the Lolita Witch inside her shop and asked her that question.

「Fuh, fuh fuh fuh… 」

Why did she laugh at a person’s face? Such a rude Lolita. Well, I forgave her because she was a Lolita after all.

「Ah, I’m sorry, really. I made your wand. It only increases your casting time about 2.5 times more, but it’s suitable to use alongside other weapons because of its size.」

While saying those words, the Lolita Witch took out a small wand from a box. The wand was a little less than 20 cm long. It was a straight wand that resembled a small Nunchaku* stick. Such a delicate size.

「Thank you very much, that’s plenty enough. 」

I received the wand. It was heavy in the upper side of the vertical connection near the middle. I wondered if it contained an iron core. There was still some time before I could get my armor. Therefore, I decided to try the power of this wand.

Speaking of which, I felt there was a subjugation request at the Guild, but I did not plan to hunt for a while since I still had no proper equipment. That’s why I haven’t accepted such requests yet. However, I wanted to try the prowess of this wand. It would be pointless to waste time while searching for a green dog. So I decided to go deeper into the forest to collect more medicinal herbs and let luck be on my side. I would try casting my magic if found a green dog while collecting medicinal herbs.

I equipped the shield again, grabbed the wand and went to the forest.

I tried throwing a rock spear for the time being. Obviously, the magic flew faster than before. Certainly, it was about 100km / h. If I used the wand that the Lolita Witch made for me, would my magic land the moment it is activated?

I tried to make a rock spear appear directly in the tree, but I couldn’t do it. It seemed impossible to cover a part of the tree with the magical generation range. Unfortunately, it was an unmanageable option.

I used my right hand to pick herbs while thinking about other solutions. My advanced radar caught the reaction of a green dog when I got deeper into the forest. There was only one green dog. I quickly shot a rock spear at his head. The rock spear flew to the green dog much faster than before, but it still broke when it hit its head.

*victory sound*

I leveled up. The green dog died with a single blow because of the fragile spot, but as far as the prowess was concerned, it seemed that the power did not change even if the speed increased.

It was about to get dark, so I decided to go back to the town. Anyway, my MP increased by 500.

—

Name: Suzumiya Kaede

Age / Race / Gender: 20 / Human / Male

Level: 4

HP: 141/141

MP: 2011/2512

STR: 28

INT: 60

AGI: 37

DEX: 49

Skills: Information Manipulation Analysis (concealment), Complete Mastery of Different World Languages (concealment), Magic Qualities, Martial Arts Qualities, Otherworlder (concealment), All-Attribute Affinity (concealment), Fire Magic 3, Earth Magic 3, Water Magic 3, Pressure Magic 1, Perceptual Magic 4, Recovery Magic 2

—

I felt that my speed when I ran back to the town had increased. Most probably because the AGI had increased as well.

I arrived at the town as soon as I could because I was a little further in the forest than usual. I heard the sound of the bell. Great timing.

I arrived at the gate with the same speed…I showed the Guild card properly at the guard and went inside in a hurry. I went directly to the armor shop.

「Hello, I came to pick up the armor. 」

「Yes, it’s already done. Try it on. 」

I tried the armor. The material itself was leather armor, and the structure was completely different from the clothes worn in Japan. But, for some reason, I could understand how to equip it. I checked if I could move smoothly with the leather armor. It felt nice.

「It’s okay. It fits perfectly. 」

「Great. Come to my store if something happens to the armor. Of course, I’ll gladly take the money first.」

「Yes, this will do. 」

I went back to the inn with my armor on. I wanted to experiment with something in the room since I was little worried. I wanted to store the armor I was wearing in the item box as a trial… It… It worked. Now I wanted to equip the armor instead of taking it out. This was also possible. I was able to do the same with the shield. If I used this trick, I could move lightly and change clothes immediately during a battle. Like a Magical Witch.

For the time being, I put all the equipment together (as they were) in the item box and went out to eat. The loud voice of the old man at the restaurant did not bother me much in the evening. I ate the food, went back to the inn.

About my plans for tomorrow, I decided to take a request to defeat monsters.

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*A Japanese martial arts weapon consisting of two hardwood sticks joined by a chain, rope, or thong.

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