Bllllrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg~~~

I rubbed my tummy after letting out a satisfied burp. Well, the food here wasn’t that good. Initially, I was here because of the braised ribs. Unfortunately, the one I was looking for was out of stock.

They served me braised rib of something they called orcs. I was revulsed at the sight of the meat and the smell it emitted even after it was done cooking. Still, I tried one bite, and it was awful, even with all sorts of sauce they had to present. The meat itself lacked moist, and it was away too chewy. The meat had thick fiber, and I didn’t know what it made me after eating another monster’s meat. Orcs are monsters, right? Anyway, the meat was seasoned quite well, the initial kick of spice and combination of what they called skhzt sauce, well I’ve no idea what it was, it tasted pretty good, but I am more or less sure it was made something weird. Well, the good seasoning didn’t help with the taste of meat at all. It was robust and had an odd stench, and left a very bitter aftertaste.

The other things were good. The meat delivered to me the other night was venison, and the creature in question was elk-like. They are costly and hard to find. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll start up an elk-thingy farm and give a restaurant, not a shabby idea to live a new life, huh...

“What do you think, Sandy?” before she could say, I answered for her, “Borrrriiiingggg, right?”

“Yeah, what were you expecting,” it was hilarious the way sandy rolled her eyes.

Now to the next stop, I hope they have something good to offer.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Sandy asked me. While handing over a silver coin to each of the beast-kin girls that worked here and then paying the bill, I stepped outside.

The air here was sickening.

“I almost forgot,” I went back and asked the cashier of the restaurant, “Where can I find Megumi?”

She was still drooling with the gold coin I gave her. Well, as for her name, I didn’t bother asking. Judging from the get up of the beast-kins that served here, they looked like they were going through a lot, and from the greedy glance that the cashier threw at them when I handed them the silver coin, I’m more or less sure she is going to get each one of the silver coins back from them.

The cashier gave me a flat look. After seeing it was me, her visage changed, and she tried presenting herself with a dignified presence, “I don’t suppose she is any of the girls serving here, Good Sir?” She then glanced at each every of the beast-kin girls.

“No,” I replied calmly. Well, I am no justice warrior, and I don’t have an inflated sense of justice, it’s just hard t watch, and what is this feeling I’m getting? Do devils here have empathy? Well, mum looked kind, I might’ve gotten that from her. Then again, I don’t think I’ll do anything for the girls, and I’m now sort of regretting my decision to hand them something worth than their months of salaries. Sigh~

“Stop stressing, why not just do something for them, Master?” Sandy chimed in my thought.

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“It’s rude to disturb while someone is thinking or trying to hold a meaningful conversation,” I gave her cold stare inside my mind, instead of getting scared, she just sticked her tongue out.

I breathed out. Seeing me sighing, the cashier looked a bit worried, “May I ask you to give some description for the Megumi girl you’re looking for, Good Sir.”

“She told me, if I said her name anyone in the town would know,” wait, I just remembered Megumi was addressed as Tsukiki, at the gates, so I tried asking, “Tsukiko, rings any bell?”

The cashier seemed a bit worried, “Good Sir, do you mean Tsukiki by any chance?”

I nodded enthusiastically. The cashier seemed relieved, and replied with a formal smile, “Oh, yeah everyone knows Tsukiki, she is such a diligent, and sweet kid. She is just adorable...”

“I didn’t ask your opinion of her,” I returned her the flat look.

The cashier, visibly paled a bit, “Sorry, Good Sir. Go to the Drik’s Smithy.” She hesitantly scribed something in the paper, and handed it over to me, “If you have trouble navigating using the map app, use it. Sorry, I’m not very good at drawing, Good sir.”

The map was simple and she made the roads with blank parallel lines and pulled a red line in it from the restaurant to the Smithy, it was neat, and not to mention she did it way too fast.

“Thanks,” I leaned closer, and whispered in her ears, “It would be real rude if you trying snatching the tips.”

Ahh, I could smell fear in the air, and the scent of fear was so intoxicating. I waved the cashier goodbye, stepping out. I halt at the doorstep, looked back, and showed all my teeth, “It’ll be nasty, you know.”

And then went off with a silent glee. The face that the cashier made is going to be so fresh in my memories. Wait!

“Sandy, can you uh, save my memories,” I tried terming it in simplier, “You know just like you take a peek...”

“I know, and I don’t peep, Master.” Sandy sulked.

“Do I need to define peeking now?”

“Nah... and yeah, I can do that, do you want to keep all the things you do organized?”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah, pretty neat,” Sandy stopped for a while, “On it...

So, how do you want to organize them, date-wise, or event-wise? Or any other suggestion?”

“For now, go with the date-wise, I scratched my chin, “Am I just two-days old according to this Prima’s standard?”

“Sometimes, Master, you ask such dumb questions, she let out a deep sigh.”

Meh~

So, do I take a left? I stood at the cross-section. The town didn’t have much population but it sure was bustling now. It was a rare sight. Man, I was in Earth just yesterday?

I stood still, looking at mixture of all races and cultures, there was dwarfs mostly and they stank, the 2nd most common was the beast-kin, and they are truly a wonderful sight. There were I don’t know, horse-like, bull-like, elk-like, cat, dog, and so much more varieties. The only way to know what type of beast-blood they had was expressed by either their ear, nose, horns, tails, and all.

But it feels like most of them are not here by choice, some of the beast-kin looked dead, they felt like an empty husk. It was a saddening sight. But, money matters everywhere, I guess.

The smithy was just in the next road. It was quite easy to locate, as Drik’s Smithy was the only smithy on this road, and my it’s quite the spacious.

The gate was quite bland, wooden with metal railings, and there was the open sign, hanged beside the door.

“Excuse me,” I went in to see a gruff looking dwarf, focused on something, he was tweaking a thin metal alloy with diagonal pliers.

He seem so focused, that I felt it would be rude to disturb in his work. He slowly spun the metal around another sheet, he was making a pattern with the metal alloy. And when he was done it looked somewhat warmish, both of the ends of the wire ended tapered, and it was spun around something which looked like a hilt of a sword, or bladed weapon, it could be something else, or maybe nothing of any importance at all.

He finally noticed me. He wore a thick monocle in one eye, he did a careful examination, with one eye squinted.

“How may I help you, lad?” The dwarf asked, stroking his thick, white bushy beard with one hand.

“I am Wilhem Blackburn,” I offered my hand for a handshake, “Nice to meet you.”

“Dirk, Lomnuli Dirk, as always,” he returned my gesture with a welcoming smile, “Here for Tsukiki-chan then?”

I nodded. Apparently, handshaking was a gesture of wellness even in this world.

“Tsukiki-chan is in the town-square,” Dirk took a doubtful glance, “You’re new here, right?”

“Yes, my first time in Dertorhm.”