"Hmm?　This grain?　I've never seen it before.

　At the end of the market. At a stall in a less crowded area, there was a triangular brown grain for sale that I had never seen before.

　It could have been some kind of seed or nut, but the way it was sold made it look like a grain. I don't think they sell nuts by weight in big squares.

"This is ...... soba.
"Oh, that's soba!　Let's buy some. I want some.

　I never had a chance to see buckwheat noodles, so I didn't notice them. It's going to be hot, so I want to get some soba.

　As long as there is something like soy sauce, there is no need to hold back.

　If Yuki is good at making udon, I'm sure she'll be good at making soba.

It's a lot of work to make this into flour.　You have to remove the buckwheat husk, grind it in a millstone, and sift it. Nao, can you do it all?

"Uh-huh, I see. ......

　Flour is available in the market, so you don't need to take care of it.
　I was wondering if I should just stick with somen instead of soba.
　As I was wondering, a rather timid-looking man working at the store called out to me.

He said, "Um, if you don't mind, could you buy some?　I'll give you a discount.

　When Haruka heard the price the man offered, she rolled her eyes in surprise.

　I'm not usually in charge of food shopping, so I didn't understand, but according to Haruka, it's less than half the price of the same amount of wheat.

"Why is it so cheap?
"It doesn't sell well, in this town. We don't have a habit of eating soba noodles.

　This man comes from a cold village a little far from Kergu, where there is not much good land and buckwheat is easy to grow.

　However, buckwheat noodles, which have the image of a destructive crop, are not very popular and do not sell well in Kergu.

　Therefore, they usually consume buckwheat noodles in their own village and do not come to sell them, but this year, other crops were not doing well and they had no choice but to sell buckwheat noodles.

　After explaining this, the man sighed in annoyance.

"Even if soba is a little cheaper, wheat is still more popular. ......

"Well, if you don't usually eat buckwheat, you're probably right. It's hard to handle. ...... Do they eat it as it is in your village?

Yes, we peel them and then boil them.

　Do you think it tastes good?　Is it like porridge?
　I don't even think I want to eat it. ...... Soba noodles may have a lot of nutritional value, but I don't know.

What do you think?

It's cheap and you can buy it at ...... but what should you do? If you want to buy it, you need to make a special tool for it. We can't just tell Nao and the others to do it by hand.

We?　No, well, maybe we'll be in charge.

　If Haruka and the others are in charge of the cooking, they will have to do at least the preparation if they are asked to do so.

　Will they use a stone mortar to grind it?　I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use a stone mortar or a wooden mortar.

　Is it possible to use a wooden mortar to grind rice, or to remove buckwheat hulls?　I'm sure you don't want to peel them off one by one by hand, do you?

No, I'm not saying that. --No, you're not. Okay, Uncle. I'll buy them in bulk.
What?　You sure?　There are quite a few.

　The uncle shouted to Haruka, who was a little troubled.

　The uncle was right, there were still three large bags piled up in the stall.
　One of them was about the size of a bale of straw.

　Although Toya and the women have been eating a lot since they came here, it would take a long time for them to consume this amount.

　It's not like they eat soba every day. As for me, one summer's worth of soba is enough. ...... Or do I need New Year's Eve soba too?　Well, even so, a bag of soba should usually be enough.

But only this time. We don't live in this city.
That's great!　Thanks!　So, where do you want me to take it?
Oh, no problem. I'll bring it back.

　I'll bring it back." He thanked the man with a smile, paid for it, and Haruka carried one of the bags.

　I'm in charge of the other two, aren't I? Yeah.
　I'll use my muscle strength to carry the two bags on both shoulders. --It's heavy!

　This thing must weigh over 100 kilos. I'll put them in my magic bag as soon as I'm out of sight.

　After saying goodbye to the man who dropped his jaw at Haruka for carrying the bags so lightly, we quickly moved to the back alley and threw the buckwheat noodles into the magic bag.

But the cold village is a lot harder than I thought, isn't it?


"Yeah. It wasn't a lot of money, but I guess ...... cash is hard to come by?
If you just want to eat, you have to be self-sufficient.

　Hulk paid less than a week's wages for an average worker.
　We can make that in less than a day.

　Unless you live a life where you don't spend a lot of cash, it's going to be very difficult to survive.

　I've heard that many adventurers come from rural areas, and it makes sense to me.


　After a few more hours.

　We bought some foodstuffs that Haruka was interested in, and after a quick lunch at a food stall, we headed to the Adventurer's Guild, where we were to meet Natsuki and the others.

　When we entered the guild, there were only a few adventurers, and Natsuki and the others were still nowhere to be seen.

Hello, Nao. You're the only one here today. ......

　The person who approached me was the receptionist, who I've become good friends with over the past few days.
　She must have stood out a bit, since she was a partygoer who came into the reference room every day without taking any requests.

"Yeah, we've already read everything.

"You're all very studious, aren't you? There are many adventurers who don't read materials if they don't need them, or even when they do need them.

It's a shame to have a library.

Yes. Some people can't read, so there's nothing we can do about that. ...... We've included a lot of diagrams, though.

"Oh, so that's why. It was certainly easy to read.

　Even if you can't read the text, it should help you a little.

　Incidentally, the literacy rate in this country is not very good, with half of the population being able to read, and less than 20% of the population being able to write without difficulty.

By the way, I heard you're coming back to Laffan tomorrow. ......
From Toya?　Yes, that's the plan.
If you don't mind, I was wondering if you would accept my request.

　I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.

"...... to take down bandits?

Yes. They seem to be popping up with Rafan lately.

But this is a request from the guild, isn't it?　Why would the guild want to take down bandits?

　If you look closely at what Haruka said, you'll see that the client is indeed a guild.

　I could understand if the client was a lord or a merchant, but the fact that the adventurer's guild would send a request to take down the bandits is a bit puzzling. The guild is an organization for adventurers, not a public safety organization.

I can't say this out loud, but it seems that the bandit is an adventurer.

　In the event that you're not sure what you're looking for, you'll be able to find out more about it here.

I'm sure you're not the only one.

If the bandit is likely to be an adventurer, the guild will kill him. It's not in the guild's best interest for the adventurer's reputation to be damaged.

　Oh, more solid organizational management than I expected. As I thought at the time of the guild ranks, the rules seem to be based on the best interests of the guild as a whole.

　Unlike artisans, adventurers are a profession that can be taken up by anyone, so if they don't tighten up on that, they could become a group of misfits.

"But why us?

But why us?" "Because you're going back to Raffan, but also because you're rank 4. There aren't many rank 4 adventurers in this town either.

Is that so?

Yes. There are many of us, and we have plenty of jobs, but there aren't many difficult jobs in this city.

　I thought that I would go to this city after graduating from Raffan, but it seems that there is not much difference in the level of difficulty of requests in this city.

　It's true that the requests posted on the website didn't seem to be too difficult.

　There are a lot of them, so you won't have any trouble finding work, but at least for us, we don't seem to be able to make more money than Rafan.

But taking down bandits, ...... what do you think, Haruka?

I'm not sure if they'll attack us, but I'm not sure we'll find them.

In the event that you've got a lot of money to spend, you'll be able to take advantage of it.　In addition, the reward itself will be paid based on the number of guild cards collected, so even if you don't find the hideout, you will still get the reward.

　According to the information currently available, the number of bandits is around 10. They've attacked the merchant's carriage several times.

　They should have been active when we moved from Laffan to Kerg, but we didn't see them at that time.

　Either they weren't there by chance, or they didn't see the point of attacking us when we were running with a small group. --Probably the latter.

But would they attack us on foot?　It's not worth it to go hunting in the mountains without a clue.

"Well, ...... will lend you a carriage from the guild. You can return it to Rafan, and we can give you your reward there. How about that?

　That's a good deal, isn't it?
　You can return it to Rafan and you can give him the reward.

I'm not sure what to make of this.　I'll have a decision for you by the end of the day.

Yes, of course. I look forward to working with you.

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