The Blacksmithing Town of Corky (1)

We decided to just sell the thieves off in the following inn town on our way.

It gave us some spending money, so our wallets were warm and happy. Well, they werent cold to start with since we brought some anyway.

Still though, it feels like we sold them at way too cheap a price, but it beat bringing them along with us longer. I also didnt want us to keep having slow down for them since they were walking.

So, Gozoh. Whats this Corky place like?

Oh, its called the blacksmithin town. Its where my and Kantras familys from, so we be stayin a bit longer.

Hohoh so theres a lot of dwarves in the blacksmithing town?

Its also called [Dwarf Village], after all. Our actual origin is further into the mountains, though.1

Really now? So its where Gozoh and Kantra are from, huh. I guess I wouldnt mind staying there for a week or so to catch up on sleep?

Theres a ton o taverns too. Nothin but beans and potatoes fer sides though Im gonna eat potatoes and fried karaage.

Are there cooks who can deep fry there?

Ye probably wouldnt find one in the whole town eh, if there was one, itd be the talk of the town. I dunno fer sure but bein able to deep fry would be imperial cookin class

It sounded like Gozoh and them were planning on spending the one-off income we got from the thieves entirely at the bar.

And as for the deep frying thing, well, Food God Ishidakas teachings were licensed.

You wouldnt be issued a license for it if you couldnt freely use an open-air fire to deep fry food. Since it was just easier to use a tool for the fire, he probably didnt want it to spread around too much.

Youd need an environment where you could practice with plenty of oil, which was rather expensive, so that would inevitably lower the number of people capable of acquiring the license. You couldnt just teach yourself either, so that lowered it even further. As a result, it had turned into a sort of secret teaching of the food god.

As for our village, Kinue and Wozuma had already acquired licenses for it. An examiner came from Pavuera and tested them before giving them licenses.

Did you bring some souvenir for your home?

I brought a bottle of sake, thatll be plenty.

Oooh! I drank it, Roppu.

Really? And I was wanting to bring them something nice.

Seeing Roppu shrug her shoulders and sigh, Rokuko jumped into the conversation.

Roppu, youre unexpectedly diligent even though you look rather boorish, huh. So this is that [Ill become a good bride] thing?

Hey!? Th-Thats not funny, Rokuko!

I wasnt intending it to be a joke though? I just wanted to follow your example.

Roppu and Rokuko were pretty frank with each other, huh. Wait is Rokuko actually good at talking with people? Whod have thought.

She did manage to befriend Shikina at some point really though, when? When I was sleeping, maybe?

*

And thats how we made our way all the way to Corkys gates.

It looked closer to what I was expecting as a big city in the empire. It was surrounded with large stone walls. Whether it was due to the Raverio Empires architectural style or due to this eras technology was a mystery, though.

Or maybe it being so uniform was due to being made through magic?

As for the gate, we had an escort commission ticket so we were able to go through without any issues. The merchant had to go through some baggage inspection and it turned into us completing the commission right there at the gate.

After having the commission completion signed and receiving the reward, Wataru came back.

Its been a while, welcome back.

No it hasnt, Kehma-san! Leaving me to stick with that merchant the whole time, cmon! That was horrible!

Hey, I cooperated by letting you do the commission you accepted however you wanted. Think of it as me letting my comrade do his own thing.

Hmph, whatever. Ill just have to exaggerate your role in that fight and be all [The adventurer Kehma is the strongest, not even a hero would win against him!].

Could you not?

I was just kidding. I know you dont like that kind of stuff, Kehma-san. I wouldnt want to spoil our friendship.

Alright, good then alright, shall we head to the guild now?

And so we had the coach head to the adventurer guild.

We kept hearing the sound of hammers striking metal as we passed through town, it really did feel like a dwarven village.

By the way, female dwarves look like lolis from a humans point of view. Personally, I was just happy they werent the type that had beards but well, it seemed like dwarves could tell the difference between them and young humans.

As we made our way down the street, I saw a ton of dwarves and adventurer parties standing at food stalls and drinking even though it was barely midday. Most were dwarves, but there were a few humans, elves, and beastkin. Either way, they were all being boisterous.

Looking around, I saw someone larger than the other people. A giant? Heeeh, I thought it was just a normal human. And there was another with some feathers sprouting from them so there were winged people too? It looked different from a bird beastkin, first time Id ever seen one. There werent any in our village oh, there were more of them to the south? Heeeh. I wonder how many races there are?

Hey Ichika. Is there anything tasty here?

Rokuko turned to Ichika.

Mmm, basically just alcohol. Theres meat, potatoes and beans, but its all just to go with the alcohol Rokuko-sama, do you drink alcohol?

I dont like it much. Its bitter.

Rokuko was starting to get more curious about food, was Ichika rubbing off on her?

Rather, even though shes gotten to look older, its only to the point of looking around fifteen. Isnt drinking alcohol at that age a bit bad? Come to think of it, didnt she drink at the Dungeon Battle closing party? I cant recall.

In that case, you could drink a fruit cocktail? With that, you should be able to drink it, Rokuko-dono.

Shikina. I thought about that, but then wouldnt it just be more tasty to drink fruit juice by itself?

Well, you dont have to force yourself to drink if you dont want to.

By the time Rokuko and Shikina finished, we arrived at the adventurer guild.

Okay, Ill be gettin luggage and leavin the coach to ye, Wataru.

Huh? Youre going, Gozoh? Guess youre going to say hi to some acquaintances then?

Aye, somethin like that.

We entered the guild with the delivery commissions luggage.

I thought thered be adventurers drinking inside, but unexpectedly, there wasnt even a bar in this guild.

It doesnt have a bar despite being the dwarf villages adventurer guild?

Its not like theres nowhere else to drink at, yeah? No reason fer em to have one. Peopled just get more rowdy.

I guess thats true? Forcing themselves to add a bar would just give them more work.

We took the luggage to the counter. There was a plump young girl there probably a female dwarf. Yep. Shes wearing makeup and has the feeling of a receptionist about her.

Yo, Anita! I got a delivery commission, could ye confirm it?

Oh, long time no see, Gozoh! Around a year, yeah?

Been gone fer a few reasons, but now Im becomin a B-rank.

B!? HeyGilmouth! Cmere, Gozohs a B-Rank!

Whaaat!? Gozoh? Really!? Thats great! This calls fer a celebration!

The receptionist dwarf called out another dwarf from inside the guild. But.. Gilmouth. Wasnt that the name of the guild master? Is it alright for him to go about calling for drinks this early in the day? Or maybe theres some kind of clause that allows him to do that?

Oh, Kehma, Anitas Gilmouths wife, so dont be makin no moves on her, ye hear?

Like I would. Who do you think I am?

The loli killer oooh. I hear dwarf women look like young girls to humans, but maybe ye can tell the difference, Kehma? Ye truly are the loli killer, bein able te tell the difference n all.

No, er, yeah. Umm, its been going on for a while now, but could you stop talking about me like Im some kind of pervert? Though while were on the topic, how old is she?

Hm? Right, I think shes

The receptionist, Anita, tapped on my shoulder as Gozoh was mid-sentence.

Hey there! Are ye Gozohs party member? Ye look pretty weak~

Huh? Oh, no, Im

Anita. This guys Kehma. Hes Golens Village Chief, not my party member. Hes more like our commandin officer. He looks weak, but Kehmas actually the reason Im gonna be a B-Rank.

Oh hoh! So yer Kehma-kun! That makes ye Gozohs benefactors then! Well, well, my Gozohs in yer debt. Ye wanna drink too, Kehma-kun?

No, Im not much for drinking. Ill have a side dish though.

Ye dont drink!? Are ye sufferin some horrid illness? For ye to not even have a beard bein so young, how pitiful

Oh, yeah, its alright

Oh, so shes old. She looks like a loli, but shes definitely old on the inside. I decided to just let the old loli think what she wanted to.

I never found out how old she was is it taboo to ask a womans age here too? Lets give that up for now.

1. Village also = hometown here