Kays Translations

Chapter 6: Peaceful Hydrangea ⑤ – A Happy Morning Scene

Ton, ton-ton-ton-ton~♪

A sound.

Ton, to-ton. To-ton. Ton-ton~♪

A light rhythm. I like this sound.
From somewhere, a fragrant aroma drifts over.

“…nn…nnn…”
“Na!”

Dagaa cried out. He slapped at my forehead, pesh pesh. Annoying in a subtle way.
Guess that means “wake up.”

“Na!”

But the new bed—with its crisp white sheets and feather quilt instead of straw—was far too comfortable.
Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll get up. Just stop hitting me already.
And besides, you’re starting to enjoy doing it, aren’t you?

“Na?”

Ton, ton-ton. Ton-ton-ton~♪

That sound again. It’s the sound of chopping. No—cutting.
A kitchen knife, huh? I see, I see.

“…nnn…hmm…?”

I slowly opened my eyes, and right in front of me were two bottoms.

Two plump, rounded, bouncy rears lined up side by side.

“????”

If it were just one, I’d understand. That would be Mineha-san.
As always, large, soft-looking, swaying innocently.

It’s so sensual, you’d never think it belonged to a ten-year-old girl.
It’s the bottom of a grown woman.

And today, she’s wearing pants. The shape shows so clearly it’s almost unbelievable.
Even though I’ve gotten used to it, it’s still a breathtaking view I could watch forever.

But today, there was another. Side by side with Mineha-san’s.

This one was in a white skirt. And from that skirt extended something else—

A white cat’s tail, long and short, swaying lightly and carelessly.

I knew at once. That was Pakira-san. Truly, a tail-end indeed.

“…G-good morning…”
“Good morning.”
“You’re awake?”

When I mumbled a greeting, the two of them turned.
Mineha-san and Pakira-san.

For both “beautiful” and “cute” to exist in this tiny room at the same time—what a miracle.

“Pakira-san…?”
“Mm. I’m borrowing the kitchen.”
“Y-yes, of course.”
“Though, I am only Mineha’s assistant.”
“She’s actually quite handy.”
“Oh? Then I shall learn. I’m starting to enjoy this.”
“You’re going to learn from Lupinus?”
“Her cooking is certainly delicious, but it’s not really commoners’ fare. I prefer this sort of thing. Especially potatoes—they remind me of home.”
“What kind of food do they eat in your homeland?”
“Let’s see… My homeland was a cold place. What I recall most is hot potato soup. Fried pies stuffed with hearty vegetable-and-bacon soup. We’d dip hard bread into it. A bit unusual, but there was also a dish where we’d put a heap of eggs, tomatoes, and big chunks of meat into a cauldron and stew it. Adding spices, stirring, adding more, stirring again. Until the meat dissolved into the broth.”
“Sounds tough to make.”
“Exhausting, I’d say.”

Pakira-san laughed at our impressions.

And then we ate the finished breakfast.
Today’s menu: two types of fried bean bread, black and white. Fried eggs and thick-cut bacon. Tomato-and-onion soup. Pickles. Salted scrambled eggs.

“Oh, this fried bean bread—”
“Surprised, right?”
“Stuffed with cucumber and meatballs, huh.”

It was a little like a meat bun, unusual but tasty.

Anyway, Pakira-san and the others would be continuing their request today.

By the way, the reason she was here so early was because she forgot to tell me about the meeting place change. She came about an hour ago, apparently.

“What kind of monster are you all chasing?”
“A chimera subspecies.”
“Wait, that’s—”

Pakira-san nodded at my wide-eyed look.

A chimera subspecies. The monster from the dungeon where they had once been defeated.

I was the one who killed it, then used my elixir to save them when they were on the brink of death.
That was, in a sense, the very beginning of everything.

“…Will you be alright?”
“Mm. We know the cause of our defeat. The Evil Eye.”
“?”
“It’s a vision-based relic. Just by looking, it inflicts effects on the target,” Mineha-san explained.

She was still in her larger form, sitting on the edge of the bed eating.
Which meant my bed was completely full.

“The chimera subspecies’ Evil Eye stops its target’s movements for a few seconds.”
“That’s the worst.”

Just a few seconds. But a few seconds is enough. Being forcibly immobilized could be fatal.
If you didn’t know about it, it wouldn’t be strange to lose… But why was I able to beat it?

I’m sure it looked at me plenty of times, but I honestly don’t remember clearly.

“Still, don’t worry. We have countermeasures.”
“As much as I hate it, we consulted that pervy rabbit and got anti-Evil Eye glasses made for everyone. They’re legacies that break after four uses, though.”
“Such things exist?”
“Legendary grade was impossible because of material constraints.”
“But this much is more than enough.”
“Indeed.”
“…Oh, wait, where’s Haiyaan?”

I noticed he wasn’t around. The two glanced at the bronze jar under the kitchen.

Again? Honestly, there’s a thin line between genius and idiot.

“Speaking of Haiyaan—”
“What about him?”
“Ever since this place became a gathering spot for First-Class explorers, public order’s been worsening.”
“Yeah.”
“Um, what do you mean?”
“We hadn’t told you, had we? On the way back yesterday, we were attacked by some men.”
“Huh? Wait, Mineha-san and Torquetum were… attacked!?”
“Yes. Hard to believe, isn’t it?”
“I was shocked. We lured them into a deserted area on purpose since we knew, but they suddenly leapt at us. Honestly, they were stupider than monsters.”
“So what happened?”
“We had no choice but to take them down, then bound them and handed them over to the guards. From what we heard, a lot of outsiders have come in, and incidents like this, thefts, and more are spreading. We weren’t the only ones attacked. Others have suffered too.”
“…Suffered too.”
“Luckily, before they could drag anyone off, we intervened in time to prevent the worst. But thanks to that, the guards are shorthanded and even putting out escort and patrol requests to explorers.”
“Still, to attack so suddenly like that…”

Are these people just new kinds of suicide candidates?

“Even so, Hydrangea’s still relatively safe. Other places are much worse. Of course, it’s all still crime, but whether or not it gets punished as crime… that depends.”
“In one village we stayed at, there was even a custom of night-crawling. It was awful.”
“Some noble was pulling strings behind the scenes in another place. Our master destroyed the whole thing, though.”
“Ugh… in places like that, women couldn’t possibly live safely.”

How is that even allowed?

“There probably are women just living their lives who get victimized. But for the most part, explorers are the targets. Since explorers accept such strong personal responsibility and risk their lives in dungeons, people exploit that.”
“That’s the premise. Organized search parties are rare.”
“In the end, you just have to get stronger.”
“That’s how it is.”
“…”

Listening to this, I couldn’t help but feel how unreasonable it all was.
And as a man, it made me feel uncomfortably guilty, like I was somehow being blamed too.

“Wof, what are you doing today?”
“Eh? Ah, uh, I’m practicing archery.”
“Archery?”
“Yes, I’m learning from Juicy-san right now.”

The next story comes after this one, which is why I feel guilty about “stacking up commitments.”

I’d been looking forward to it, but I already promised—and Juicy-san is also excited.

So I’ll definitely go.

“Ah, Juicy certainly does use a bow.”
“Surprisingly, unlike Bid, she’s pretty orthodox.”
“No, Bid-san is orthodox too…”
“He’s been obsessed with the sword lately. Thanks to someone, that is.”

Pakira-san shot me a sarcastic glance.

“Haha…”

“Well now, it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s good. You see, ever since the party disbanded, he’d been really down. For a time, he even considered quitting as an explorer and returning to the countryside.”
“Really?”
“Thanks to you, for now at least, it doesn’t look like he’ll be quitting the life of an explorer.”

Pakira-san smiled faintly.

“I’m glad.”

“…A party disbanding can be something that weighs on you. Sometimes for decades.”

As if reminded of something, Mineha-san suddenly spoke up.

“Did something happen?”
“Not about you, that’s for sure.”
“――It’s about my master. Ever since her husband passed away, she’s been solo all this time.”
“You mean the one who was in a party with a witch?”

Axe-san’s father. So… he had passed away.

“Yes, back when my mother, my father, the witch, my master, my master’s husband, and one other person were together. The party name was, I think, White Daphne.”
“That’s a dazzling lineup.”
“They were a legendary party, blazing through with unstoppable momentum. But during a survey of a high-difficulty dungeon, my master’s husband died in an accident, and they disbanded. Ever since, my master hasn’t formed a party. She only works as backup or solo. She said she just can’t form one anymore.”
“That’s understandable.”
“My master is an elf, but I doubt she’ll ever marry again.”
“…For a thousand years, huh.”

Pakira-san groaned.
It’s said elves live an average of a thousand years.

Mineha-san gave a wry smile.

“Probably. My mother’s the same.”
“That’s love.”
“…Come to think of it, I’ve never heard Axe-san talk about his father.”
“He died not long after Axe was born. My master was still reeling from the shock, so she didn’t tell him much about his father. And since they had a falling out, she stopped seeing him altogether. Now, things might be different, but… my master hasn’t contacted him at all.”

“Not at all.” 

Mineha-san sighed.

“Axe-san said the same. No matter how many letters he sends, he never gets a reply.”
“That is concerning.”
“You don’t think the worst…?”
“It’s my master we’re talking about—so I think she’s fine. If she had died, news of her passing would have reached us by now.”

That was true enough.

Maybe I should casually ask the witch about it.

“That story strikes a chord with me too. If either Lupinus or Liv were to die and Torquetum disbanded, I doubt I would ever form another party again.”
“I see… is that how it would be?”
“I can’t say for Lupinus and Liv, but for me, yes.”
“I’m sure they’d feel the same way.”
“What do you mean?”
“?”
“Lightning fang. Axe and the others.”

Pakira-san and I both nodded in agreement.

After breakfast, we started getting ready.

“Ah, Wof. On your way back, pick up the usual meat.”
“Is mixed meat okay?”
“Yes, and some bacon too. We finished today’s supply.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
“Let’s see—cucumber, onion, potato, cabbage, leek. We still have puffed grain, so… especially onions and cucumbers, get plenty. Oh, do we still have breadcrumbs and flour?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Then that’s all we need.”
“Got it.”

A barrage of instructions.

Looks like she’s thought of something for tonight’s dinner or tomorrow’s breakfast.

Mineha-san seems to have awakened to the joys of cooking—she even started buying recipe books.

Not only that, but she’s also begun taking initiative in housework, which she used to leave entirely up to me.

She’s grown. A good sign indeed.

“Oh, that reminds me—the dried meat. Do you want some of the new batch?”
“Yes!”
“Absolutely!”

The eagerness in their voices made me laugh. I’ll give them extra since I made a lot.

Ah, and salt—we’ll need to buy more by the jar soon.

Something felt like I was forgetting…

Oh, right. Dagaa. Strange that he’s been quiet. Ah—he finished eating and fell asleep.

Well, he’ll probably head over to Mineha-san’s place again today.

…Ah! That’s it. Haiyaan! I hurriedly pulled him out of the jar.

On the way back, after finishing bow practice and feeling somewhat satisfied, I decided my first stop would be the butcher.

That’s when a voice suddenly called out to me.

“Um, excuse me. Have you seen a dog around here?”

The voice was husky, hesitant, coming from slightly below eye level.

It was a dark-skinned elf woman with long blue hair tied in a single bundle.

She wore a military-like blue uniform, a sword at her hip. Her pale green eyes wavered with unease.

Her hair was an even more vivid blue than mine, and she carried a kind of honed, translucent beauty.

“A dog, you say? What kind of characteristics does it have?”

A dog search, huh. At least Hydrangea is relatively safe these days.

Still, stray dogs and cats are as common here as in other cities. Requests to find them aren’t unusual, but they’re never easy.

“Yes. A very large dog with blue fur… and it carries a greatsword on its back.”

“T-that’s… quite an unforgettable description.”

This one would be found quickly.

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