“Himmel and Heiter caught absolutely nothing.”
“Your punishment is washing the dishes after dinner.”
Yakumo carried a basket containing tonight’s meal.
Five fish.
Five actual fish.
Not Satoru Gojo.
Two had been caught by Yakumo.
Eisen had caught the remaining three.
Apparently Eisen hadn’t been exaggerating when he claimed to be good at fishing.
Even with Shu’s special bait, Yakumo hadn’t caught another fish afterward.
[Shu: Little Yakumo’s heart has not fully settled yet.]
[Shu: But that is perfectly normal for someone young. Even a lively and restless child like Nian is quite poor at fishing.]
[Shu: If you want to catch a large fish, the first step is to calm yourself and avoid unnecessary disturbances that might frighten it away.]
[Yakumo: A perfectly still mind is way too advanced for me. I’ll try meditation sometime. Laughing through tears.jpg]
Yakumo had only begun studying magic halfway through his life.
Frieren could probably achieve exactly the sort of calm Shu was talking about.
Eisen’s talent for fishing might also be related to being a warrior.
His self-control was exceptionally strong.
Yakumo, on the other hand…
The impatience and constant sense of rushing he’d developed in modern society couldn’t be changed so easily.
Shu wasn’t the only one who noticed it.
Eisen had apparently seen through Yakumo’s problem too.
While they were fishing, he’d casually said,
“I’m not that hungry yet.”
What a roundabout way of expressing concern.
“Even though we have to wash dishes afterward, getting to eat something this good while camping makes it feel much less painful.”
Himmel drank a bowl of fish soup.
There was also tofu inside, courtesy of Shu.
Yakumo wasn’t sure whether Shu had started treating him as one of her family’s juniors.
But whenever she had spare time, she sent him huge quantities of food.
As though terrified he wasn’t eating enough.
There was hunger.
And then there was the hunger that existed because Grandma had decided you were hungry.
They still ate the fish soup with hard, dry bread.
It wasn’t so hard that it was impossible to eat.
But after sitting around for two days, it had dried enough that the texture wasn’t pleasant.
Dipping it into soup was definitely better.
“Next time we run out of travel money, we’ll leave Heiter at a construction site to mix cement for wages…”
Yakumo suddenly pointed his spoon at Heiter.
“And Heiter!”
“Stop being picky!”
Heiter was a grown man.
And he was still a picky eater!
Apparently, Heiter hated vegetables.
Yakumo hadn’t even put many greens in the fish soup.
Only a small handful.
Even so, Heiter was attempting to pick them out and transfer them into Himmel’s bowl.
“Hahahaha!”
“He’s still far too thin for a Hero.”
Heiter laughed loudly, attempting to bluff his way through it.
Under Yakumo’s stare, however, he eventually surrendered.
“Understood.”
“Tomorrow, we’re having an entirely vegetarian feast.”
Yakumo nodded solemnly.
After tonight’s meal, everyone had acknowledged Yakumo’s cooking ability.
By unanimous agreement, Yakumo would handle the party’s food whenever they camped in the wilderness.
So if Yakumo said tomorrow’s meal would be vegetarian…
There genuinely wouldn’t be a single piece of meat in sight.
“Even clergy can be picky eaters?”
Yakumo found this astonishing.
“I always imagined devout believers were perfect saints.”
“Now that I think about it, didn’t Heiter complain when we left the capital that we didn’t even have enough money for alcohol?”
“He’s a meat-and-wine priest.”
Eisen joined in with another strike.
“Definitely a meat-and-wine priest.”
Himmel ate the vegetables Heiter had dumped into his bowl while smiling mischievously.
“Heiter, do you remember what happened to the travel money we earned before arriving here?”
“Hahahahaha!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t we spend all our travel money before we arrived?”
Heiter continued laughing.
At the same time, he attempted once again to sneak vegetables into Himmel’s bowl.
“What kind of Hero Party is this…?”
Yakumo sighed.
He hadn’t watched much of the anime.
He hadn’t read the manga at all.
This particular party mainly appeared through Frieren’s memories, so Yakumo’s image of them had always been incomplete.
The Heiter who appeared early in the anime was already an elderly man approaching the end of his life.
He had behaved exactly like a highly respected and dignified priest.
Who could possibly have guessed that young Heiter was like this?
“A perfectly pure saint may be flawless, Yakumo.”
Himmel set down his bowl.
“But someone like that would feel far too distant from everyone else.”
“We may possess the determination to defeat the Demon King.”
“But we’re still ordinary people who are simply working toward that goal.”
“Everyone here is ordinary.”
“Isn’t that exactly why we can gather together like this?”
Himmel extended his bowl toward Yakumo.
“Another serving, please.”
Yakumo had been stunned that Himmel could suddenly say something so philosophical.
Then Himmel instantly fell from his pedestal again.
Yakumo accepted the bowl and filled it.
“Want more bread?”
“Oh!”
“There’s more bread too?”
“Then give me another piece!”
“Whew.”
“With Yakumo’s cooking, I feel like we won’t have to worry about starving at all during this journey.”
After dinner, Himmel and Heiter obediently went to wash the dishes.
“I have a feeling this journey is going to be full of trouble.”
Yakumo sighed.
“If we travel another two days without finding a village, we might have to search for a dungeon or ruin and explore it.”
“A dungeon?!”
Himmel, who had just gone off to wash dishes, came rushing back.
“There might be treasure chests sleeping inside!”
“Treasure chests?!”
Even Frieren, who had been sitting nearby quietly reading, immediately joined the conversation.
“Let’s find a dungeon.”
“There should be plenty of grimoires inside!”
“Himmel!”
“You haven’t finished washing your dishes!”
Heiter shouted from beside the river.
For a moment, the campsite became chaotic.
“But it’s a dungeon, Heiter!”
Himmel looked delighted.
“Countless mysteries are waiting for us to explore!”
“And there happens to be a partially unexplored dungeon nearby.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
“I think that sounds like a waste of time.”
Eisen stroked his beard.
“Our goal is defeating the Demon King, isn’t it?”
“The dungeon doesn’t seem to be on the way.”
“Eisen.”
“This is a necessary detour.”
Himmel’s expression became solemn.
“For our travel expenses!”
Anyone who didn’t know the context might have thought Himmel was making a life-changing decision.
“I also vote for the dungeon.”
Frieren raised her hand.
“If it’s for travel expenses, I don’t object.”
Heiter had already finished washing every dish and returned.
Despite complaining about Himmel, Heiter had honestly completed all the cleaning himself.
“I don’t care either way.”
“No matter where we go, I’ll still be researching magic.”
Yakumo personally didn’t mind.
With the game system attached to him, his condition was already rather similar to an immortal who had consumed the Hourai Elixir.
In fact, he had one advantage over such immortality.
He could still become stronger.
His body wasn’t permanently frozen in a fixed state.
“It can’t be helped.”
“Then let’s go.”
Despite originally speaking against the dungeon trip, Eisen didn’t stubbornly insist.
After only a few sentences, he agreed to the expedition.