I arrived outside of the adventurer's
guild at the agreed time, but the entire team from Iron Will was already there.
"Sorry for being late."
"It's okay, we just came too early."
The leader of Iron Will, Werner-san said while smiling.
It seems that they have been
accustomed to mobilising early.
That's some intense dedication there.
"Shall we make our move then?"
I gave a nod and we left for Veenen.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The departure from Kiers and begun
our journey smoothly.
Iron Will maintained their battle
formation throughout.
I stood in the middle of it, while the
lead was Rita the scout. On my right
is Vincent the swordsman; on my left
is the mage Romon; behind me were Franca, the cleric, and Werner-san.
This arrangement is to ensure the protection of the client, me, when the critical moment strikes.
"Is it about time to have a break?"
With Werner's suggestion, we took
a mid-noon break.
As per the agreement, I started to
prepare everyone's meals.
While I say that though, it is not a
simple task due to the limited time
we have.
Firstly, I took out the gas stove, which
was purchased from the Internet Supermarket, from the item box.
"Wow, Makooda-san has the item
box skill. In addition, that's a
magical stove, amazing!"
To Vincent's query, I nodded my
head while replying, "Its capacity
is pretty small though."
I heard that there are people with
item box skill out there, but most
have small capacities, so I set mine
to have a small capacity while using
it.
I concluded that using it this way
is more convenient and is far less suspicious than using it secretly.
"I received this magical stove from
an acquaintance of mine. He said
he no longer goes out camping and
has little opportunities to use it, so
I got it at a fairly cheap price."
I gave the lie I cooked up beforehand without any stuttering.
Lying is one of my weapons too.
While talking to Vincent, I made a
simple sandwich using 2 slices
of bread, cheese and ham.
Next, I put instant consommé
soup base in a wooden cup, and
of course, all this was hidden
from plain sight.
After pouring water into the
cup and boiling it with the gas
stove, I announced that lunch
is ready.
"Everyone, lunch is ready."
I passed the sandwich that
was on a wooden plate and
the soup that was in the cup
to the adventurers.
"Well then, let's eat?"
Everyone started eating after
Werner's signal.
"Y-yummy~"
"This bread is sooo soft, yum~"
"Yep, yep, this bread is amazingly
soft and delicious. That soup too
is so tasty."
"This is scrumptious."
"Delicious..."
Starting from above, Vincent,
Franca, Rita, Werner-san, Ramon-san.
I'm relieved they enjoyed it.
Still, I might have skipped way
too many steps.
The reviews on the bread, especially, surprised me.
This degree of softness of
the bread is only available for the aristocrats, they said.
Indeed, the bread I have eaten
in this world were mostly black
or brown bread which were
quite stiff and hard.
In order to explain for the soft
white bread, I gave the excuse
that "This was the bread baked
in my village; I bought lots of
them and stored them in the
item box before leaving."
Eating such valuable food made
them feel ashamed, and they
wanted to return it since it is
food after all and can be stored
for later, so I had no choice but
to keep the food.
I could always restock from the
Internet Supermarket, ya know.
"Furthermore, we are very thankful
to have warm food while on a journey."
Everyone nodded at what Werner-san
said.
"Hell yeah. Accepting this job was
the right choice."
Usually while on a journey, it is
very common to have dried meat
or those stiff bread and the like
for their meals. Thus, the food
that I have brought for the journey
seemed like a sumptuous feast for
them.
Having such appetising food
created a relaxing atmosphere
and made them livelier during
our chats. This is good since
we will be together for quite
some time while on the journey.
It appears that even Iron Will
has noticed the increasing
instability in this country and
have discussed among
themselves on whether they
should move to a neighbouring
country.
It looks like they had then noticed
my request and felt that it was
the perfect job to take, so they
received it.
Back then, there were greater
rewards for other bodyguard
requests, but we are not in dire
need of money and this request guaranteed the provision of meals
so they thought it was better.
It looks like the food expenses
for the 5 of them are not
something to be sneezed at.
"I should be the one thanking
you all for accepting the request.
I, too, had thought of leaving
this country as soon as
possible, but
when I arrived at Kiers, I found
out that the stagecoach service
had been suspended, so I
panicked for a moment. Thanks
to all of you, I am now able to head towards Veenen. If you see it i
n that way, since cooking
is my specialty, from now
on, everyone can count on
me for the food."
Everyone smiled after hearing
that.
The only thing to enjoy is the
preparation of the meals, I
guess.
I will work hard for this one
thing that I can do, so please
bring me safely to Veenen.