Bashura. The Adventure town. This town had a Dungeon and a dangerous field around it, so, it was a must to have some Adventurers to protect the town and to eliminate the threats of monsters. That was why, not only there was Adventure Guild, but there were also a lot of Weaponsmith and Armorsmith along the way.

Unfortunately, it was only a small town, unlike the Royal Capital, Acropolis, so it didn’t have a barrier set up to protect the town. And because of that, I couldn’t walk on my own without showing my weakness to the other people. And because of that, the only one who wanted to help me, Zero, was piggybacking me at the moment.

“Hey, why don’t you princess-carry me again?” I asked curiously. When we arrived at the town, he put me on his back. I wondered if he was embarrassed?

“It’s easier to carry you this way. Princess-carry is for a woman, not a little girl like you.” He replied with a slightly mocking tone.

“You did it earlier! You sure are a fickle person.” I retorted.

“We were running away from the Goblins earlier and I didn’t have the time to change my style! No, don’t complain and shut your mouth or I’ll toss you into the sky and watch as you fall. To the sky.” He grinned mischievously. I knew he was lying, but that was enough to shut my mouth. Mm, it was not because I was afraid of him actually doing what he said. Definitely not because of that.

After a few minutes of silent walking, he opened his mouth again. “So, you were in the deeper floor of the Dungeon?”

“Mm,” I replied casually.

“...how?” He asked again.

“Mmm, mm, mm,” I replied again.

He sighed. “Fine, fine, you may open your mouth.”

Hmph! Do you think I am a woman that will obey every man’s words?

“...or I’ll toss...”

“Ah, that’s actually because of a silly, er, Academy principal sending me to that silly girl’s position. Yep, right beside that silly girl’s position, meaning, deep inside the Dungeon. Fortunately, I found Steely Mk I.” I replied immediately.

“Oh, that’s a nice Spell she has, huh?” He muttered to himself. What, did he think everyone could use that Spell? Even amongst Gods and Goddesses, Magie was probably the only one that could use that Spell!

No, that was not actually accurate. Normal [Teleportation] could be used by anyone that could use 6-circle Spells. However, teleporting someone to a specific point inside a Dungeon, I believed no one could do that besides her. After all, a Dungeon had different rules of space and the Mana inside the Dungeon might jam the teleportation Spell, so, that was why no one should be able to teleport into or out of the Dungeon easily. I mentioned that to him, and he only shrugged silently.

And while we talked about that Spell, we arrived at the Adventure Guild. Finally, I could walk on my own feet again. I really should take care of my phobia soon. Seriously, I knew that I wouldn’t fall into the sky, but my body wouldn’t listen to my logic at all. Did it know instinctively that my brain was kind of bad at thinking logically? Well, women tended to move by intuition rather than logic. Yep, as a woman, I believed so.

After we returned, or for me, arrived at the Adventure Guild, the silent God and the others started a strategy meeting. I was surprised because the silent God was talking. It was the first time I heard him talking, so it was really surprising for me. His voice was hoarse, probably because he hadn’t talked in a long time. Anyway, he delivered the plan I was suggested, and this time, most of the Players seemed like they were eager to go.

As for me, I went to the tavern connected with the Adventure Guild and ordered some food. Mm, I didn’t want to have anything to do with the Adventurers and the Players. Besides, I was starving, and a single apple was not enough for me.

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Speaking of which, the tavern was empty. There was only a single cook in the kitchen and he was quite scary. He was big, had arms bigger than my thigh, and had a lot of scars on his body. Even without my amazing deducing skills, I knew for sure that he was an ex-Adventurer. So, perhaps that was why he was still in this town while most of the people had evacuated to the next town.

“Hum!” He put a huge plate in front of me. No, it was really huge. Was it really a portion for a single person? There was a mountain of rice in front of me!

The cook returned to the kitchen, but soon, he approached me again and served a huge chicken, no, was it a turkey? Wait a minute, he hadn’t finished it yet? After the mountain of rice and turkey, he brought... a lamb? Or was that a calf? Anyway, that was too much, no matter how starving I was!

“No, I think that’s...” I stuttered as the cook glared at me. Scary! Why did I come to a tavern for Adventurers!? He must be used to deal with scary Adventurers! I gulped as he brought one food after another, and in the end, he brought a huge pitch of... milk?

And in the end, in front of me, there was a feast enough for ten people while I was sitting alone there. And the cook was glaring at me as if watching me whether I would eat or not. Seriously, please don’t stare too much, you are too scary for me!

Under such pressure, I started eating, as slow as I could.

“Delicious!” I exclaimed in surprise. Perhaps it was because I was starving or perhaps because it was really delicious, but I couldn’t stop once I started eating. In the corner of my eyes, I saw the ex-Adventurer cook nodded and his smile curved up a little. It seemed he was happy to hear me praising his cuisine!

...

In the meeting room.

“Alright, so, the Adventurers will help the citizens evacuating and you, Players, will go to the Dungeon and enact that plan of yours. We will stay here and hold the fort as long as we can. Is there any question?” An older man with a weird mustache, the Guildmaster of the Adventure Guild of Bashura looked around the room. He stopped as one of the Players raised his hand.

“Uh, I want to ask. Where is the girl that will teach us how to control the Golems?” He asked and looked around, causing everybody to look around as well. 

Zero shrugged nonchalantly. “I saw her going to the tavern. We’ll fetch her later.”

The Guildmaster nodded and looked around again. “Alright, if there’s no question, let’s start the plan immediately! We have to gain an advantage in this war! We can’t let the Goblins do as they wish in our land! Go!”

The Adventurers and the Players shouted excitedly at the order. It was probably the first time they might gain an advantage against the Goblin’s army. So, naturally, they would be excited. The Players, led by Zero, went to the tavern to ask the girl about the method to control the Golems. However, when they reached the tavern, they saw the girl was eating while crying.

Zero and Donald raised their eyebrows. They looked at each other, speechless. Donald gestured to Zero that Zero should be the one to approach that girl. Zero shrugged and walked toward her.

...

I had to admit, the food was really good. Extremely delicious. I couldn’t describe how delicious it was, but perhaps it was comparable to Michelin three stars or something like that? I wasn’t sure, as I never ate in one of those restaurants. I wondered why I could remember something like that though? It was really a mystery.

Anyway, it was really delicious, however, it was still too much!

After eating a third of the food (in my opinion, a third of everything on my table was meant for three or four people, glutton people), I almost couldn’t eat anymore. However, the cook was still watching me, so I gulped and kept on eating, and I didn’t know since when my tears started flowing from my eyes.

I heard people could die because of overeating, could I die because of it too? Seriously, I never thought that I would die because of that kind of silly thing!

As I was almost half-finished all the food in front of me, I saw Zero approached me with a frown on his face. His eyes were looking at me, or more accurately speaking, he was looking a little down from my face. He was looking at my... bulging stomach?

I didn’t care though, he could mock me or say anything he wanted about me, but more importantly, I had to force him to eat with me too!

“Ah, Zero, I’ve been waiting for you! Come on, let’s eat together!” I said with a smile on my face. Of course, I didn’t forget to wipe my tears before talking to him.

“So, what are you doing this time?” Zero sat in front of me and asked.

“What? Can’t you see? I’m having a feast, but eating alone is too, well, too lonely, so thankfully you are here! Let’s eat! It’s delicious! Oh, let me feed you! Ah~”

Zero leaned back as I wanted to feed him. “Tell me the truth or I’ll leave.”

He... could tell that I was lying, huh? I leaned closer to him and whispered. “No, don’t leave or I’m going to die for sure! You see, I just want to eat, so I ordered some food, but in the end, the cook brought, well, all of them out. And I want to stop eating, but look! He is glaring at me as if he will eat me alive if I don’t eat his food! It’s so scary, so I forced myself here, eating. Fortunately, you come, so, please help me! I beg you! It’s a once in a lifetime wish of mine! Please grant it!”

Zero sighed. He waved his hand and all the Players approached us. Wow, they had been hiding watching me eating and crying at the same time? I didn’t know whether I should be embarrassed or should be angry at them. Especially at the blond guy with blue hair that stood in front of all the Players. No, he was not the silent God. He was a Player as well and his name was Donald.

Yep, Donald was looking at me, scratched his cheek, and smiled awkwardly. If you were here, you should tell me soon!

“Cough, what takes you so long? Look, I’ve eaten half of the food here! Come on, sit, sit, don’t be so polite with me!”

In the end, I chose to approach them with open arms. Mm, let’s let them think that I was actually waiting for them to have a feast with them, but since they took so long, I ate half of the feast. Mm, there was nothing wrong with my logic, right?

And so, we combined some tables as the numbers of Players were quite high. I heard they were the highest-level Players. But they numbered more than fifty. Quite a lot, if I said so myself.

As I opened my mouth and the Players started taking food, the ex-Adventurer cook came again, bringing more food for us to eat. In the end, he brought food for more than a hundred people in front of us. I gulped and tried to ignore all of the food on the table while Zero and the others now understood how I felt earlier. Mm.

"He just wants to cook all of his stock, huh?" Zero muttered silently as he glanced at the scary cook. I heard him and I realized that should be the case. Well, anyway, knowing the reason wouldn't lessen my suffering, so, I decided to move on. More importantly...

“Alright! Guys, I won’t let you go before you eat all the food on the table! Meanwhile, I will tell you the method to control the Golems while you are eating! So, don’t be shy, let’s eat to our heart’s contents!” I laughed happily as I imagined their feeling now... what’s this called? Schadenfreude? Hm? Did I have the quality to be a real Demon Lord? Laughing while looking at other people suffering...