Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 2

by Shinobu Yuuki

  Pretty sloppy specifications, but at least that gave us liberty to build where we wanted to.

  "Then that settles it. We will build the labyrinth up there, outside the ravine, on good solid ground."

  But starting would have to wait until tomorrow.

  ◇

  Dusk settled in as we began our dinner preparations.

  "Okay, Mary, I need you to be honest with me. Do you remember when I said being the guardian wasn't your only role and that we'd also need you to do odd jobs?"

  "Of course. A knight holds her promises very dear."

  "Good. So, Mary, can you prepare meals?"

  "I'm good at slicing things up."

  Well, that both was and was not an answer to the question.

  "Let me rephrase the question. Can you cook?"

  "I can't vouch for your safety if you eat anything I cook, let alone your enjoyment of it, but I welcome the challenge."

  That go-getter attitude was great and all, but it didn't change the fact that she couldn't cook.

  "Can you make a fire?"

  "It may take me some time, but with the necessary tools and my firm dedication, I can accomplish anything."

  "Then, can you light a fire for the furnace? Ask Ann to show you where we keep the firewood."

  "Leave it to me."

  Mary walked over with determination and began working on starting the fire. Human knights seemed to be from the noble class, so it was no surprise that she didn't know how to cook, but I was starting to worry that perhaps I'd misjudged her and she wouldn't be good for anything but fighting.

  "I was hoping bringing in a new chef would mean some diversity in our menu, but no such luck."

  I was getting damn near sick of steamed pumpkin. Ann and Deneb must have felt the same, but Milt was a modest village and it reflected in their eating habits. The locals ate anything that was cheap and filling, without much regard for flavor. I'd been expecting Mary to teach us human recipes, but since she couldn't cook, that would probably be asking a lot.

  I went through our storage and set out some of our seemingly endless stock of demi corn and pumpkin, and then began steaming and mashing them. I dished up the makeshift corn and pumpkin mash along with some jerky, as well as some fresh bread I'd found on Tundra. It was simple fare compared to modern Japanese cooking. The mashed pumpkin was pretty stringy, and despite everything I tried, the corn always tasted dry. But a place like Milt simply couldn't afford to prepare food with a lot of flavorful seasonings. In fact, every time Deneb came to visit, she'd smile and tell me how delicious my food was, so we were eating pretty well, comparatively. And as far as Ann was concerned, anything I made was delicious, so she wasn't the most helpful person to have around if I wanted to improve. I appreciated that she was such a sweet girl, not to mention that she wasn't a picky eater, but still.

  "Aoi, shouldn't we get one of these for Mary?"

  Ann showed me the Tundra page she had open in the labyrinth manager window. Ever since Karumi had approved my application for Ann to join my family, she'd had access to her own UI. It was somewhat limited compared to the full labyrinth manager interface, but at least she could open Tundra. She also could see the status of both the labyrinth manager and any other family members, so it wasn't all that bad. Ann currently had a window open displaying a modest set of dishware.

  "Oh, that's the same one we always buy porcelain from, right? Labyrinth #112. Their goods are a little pricey, but they're high quality and sturdy. Good choice."

  Labyrinth #112 stocked a lot of porcelain items, ranging from daily necessities to works of art. I wondered if the manager there was simply a pottery enthusiast. Their prices were kind of high, but the design and quality never disappointed.

  "Mary, over here!"

  Ann grabbed Mary and showed her to the delivery box alongside the cabin, then showed her how to fill the piggy bank above it to pay for goods.

  "See, just put the money in here."

  Ann inserted the DL coin through the slot on top of the piggy, and her UI window popped up a message indicating successful payment. Another window opened up in the air, and a cardboard box with a sticker on it saying "Handle with care" slid out and gently fell to the ground. The dispenser tended to be absolutely silent when it was a fragile item.

  "Thanks for your purchase. Have a loooovely day!"

  A cheery voice offered us a greeting---Ann and I just called the owner of that voice "the Tundra guy"---and the window closed as fast as it had opened.

  "...Ann, what the blazes just happened?"

  Mary rubbed her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she'd just seen. Her expression was half surprised and half exasperated. No, maybe 80% exasperated? It was quite a look, at any rate.

  "What, just now? That was the Tundra guy. He delivers things."

  Ann retrieved the paper cutter and opened up the cardboard box with ease, then removed the tableware from its cardboard cushioning.

  "Here, these dishes are yours. Make sure to wash them before you use them for the first time."

  Ann handed Mary her plates and then showed her to the spring we used for washing dishes. I felt like this was going to work out okay. Even if Mary was useless at housework now, she had Ann there to teach her, so I was sure it would be fine.

  "Aoi, I expect a proper explanation upon my return."

  I nodded at her and watched as Ann dragged her off.

  When Mary returned, I explained to her that Tundra was a marketplace and distributor for labyrinth managers and their families and subordinates, permitting them to trade their local goods with each other. I could almost hear the sound of her preconceptions shattering like glass. The Great Dark Lord implementing such a system in this primitive world was bound to raise a few eyebrows, so Mary's shock wasn't completely inappropriate. But like I kept telling her, you just had to accept things as they were and roll with the punches.

  I plated our dinner for three. When it came to having company at meals, my philosophy was, the more the merrier, and I was used to cooking an extra portion for when Deneb came around. Mary struck me as the type who could really pack it away, so I made double the usual, just in case she wanted seconds.

  "Well, let's get to it before it gets cold."

  "Yeah!"

  Ann dug in straightaway with a cheerful shout. Man, the way she looked so excited about dinner always made the effort I spent on cooking feel worth it.

  "Thanks for the meal."

  Mary, on the other hand, sounded a bit more hesitant. Maybe eating at July's table had left her with some trauma.

  "This is delicious!"

  "What a pleasant surprise. The seasoning provides a lovely balance between sweet and salty. I had heard the food in your labyrinth was good, but to think it was of this quality."

  Ann was kind as always, but Mary's delighted surprise was something new. Though I wasn't actually much pleased by her flattery. I'd kinda just thrown in all the seasoning I had. It seemed the humans in this world didn't have particularly refined tastes, any more than the Daemons I'd met.

  "I'm glad you like it, Mary."

  The surface of the mashed corn and pumpkin ball I'd cooked had grown somewhat cold, but a pleasant smell wafted from it when I cut it in half with my chopsticks. I popped a piece in my mouth, but the corn was as dry as ever, and the pumpkin was still stringy. The jerky was kinda rubbery and hard to chew, too. We were better off than before we'd finished the grand staircase, which had given us access to food from the village, but I still wasn't content with the situation. Still, in spite of my misgivings, the girls were enjoying it, so I smiled awkwardly and bit my tongue.

  The highlight of the meal was the bread, for sure. We didn't have any butter, so the only taste you got was the bread itself, and boy was it good. It didn't have the hard, crunchy mouthfeel or the heavy salt content of bread made to last longer; this was bread that you had to eat the day it was made. Man, I really had to pat myself on the back for making a point of monitoring Tundra to learn th
e exact moment this bread was listed. There was no substitute for bread fresh out of the oven, still piping hot. It was so popular that it usually disappeared within thirty minutes.

  "Aoi, um, this is all so excellent. I don't suppose I could trouble you for more?"

  "You want seconds? Sure, I made a lot tonight, so eat as much as you want. Oh, I don't have much of that fresh bread, though. You mind the regular kind? I have to warn you, it's not as soft."

  "That's more than good enough for me. I'm grateful simply to be able to eat."

  She ate that hardtack like it was nothing. Maybe she was used to it? I couldn't believe how contentedly she was munching on that stuff; if you asked me, it was about the same as eating a rock.

  "And it's okay to have more of the rest of this, too?"

  "It's fine. I made extra tonight."

  I'd been thinking maybe there would be leftovers that we could have for breakfast tomorrow, but it looked like she was gonna scrape the pot clean. She enjoyed the food so much, it was hard to complain. I was pretty impressed that she could maintain such a killer figure with an appetite like that. It wasn't like I had X-ray specs and could take her measurements through her clothing, but she didn't look like she had an ounce of extra fat on her.

  ◇

  "Kousaka, may I have a minute?"

  I was at the spring washing dishes when a window popped up, accompanied by Karumi's voice.

  "Yes, of course."

  Actually, two windows popped up. One displayed "Connecting: Sound Only", while the other one showed Karumi sitting at the office table, upon which was set a steaming water heater and an extra-large cup of noodles proudly proclaiming Tom Ramen.

  ...She didn't want me to see this.

  I set the clean dishes atop a nearby rock and took a seat. The bottom of the ravine was covered in luminescent moss, which provided a bit of light, but not much in comparison to the fluorescent lights of the office on the other side of the window. I could see the train station through the window in the office. They had a lot of lights on there as well.

  "I wanted to ask you about Mary, actually."

  Karumi pressed the button on the water heater, dispensing it into the cup of noodles. Three minutes until dinner time.

  "Sure, go ahead."

  "Knights are a bit different there than they are here, and they really come in two classes. First, those who pilot the Extended Knight Armor, the mechanical devices which you dealt with in Milt. Those are fairly common in scuffles between humans and Daemons."

  Right, Mary had said the same thing: people who could pilot the armor were called knights.

  "The other group is less familiar to me. It's possible Mary herself isn't terribly familiar with them. They're a clan of powerful members of the human colony, tasked with protecting their race. It's rare for one of them to be born with less than exceptional strength."

  "Hmm, so that's the other kind of knight, huh?"

  Maybe that was why I'd seen two different skill sets when I had used on Mary?

  "Yes. It seems Mary has training as both kinds of knight. The second variety may have faded into obscurity after the Extended Knight Armor grew in popularity, but Daemons are still wary of them. As a member of that clan, someone born into the guardianship of the human race, she has outstanding physical prowess."

  So she'd be like, a champion NPC or something if this was a game. No surprises there. Her stats were too high to be a simple soldier, however well-trained. The others who had been with her during the raid had been normal.

  "So you see, as a sworn protector of humanity, she would find it difficult to betray her people. If she tried, her knightly instincts would make her feel revulsion at her actions, leading her to avoid it by any means possible."

  At least it didn't sound like any kind of terribly painful experience, or like a physically binding restriction, but she did have some kinda fuzzy shackles. That whole thing about being the chosen guardians of her people was pretty amazing. Karumi seemed to be implying there were a bunch of other people like her. If they were all that amazing, they'd probably go down as a family of heroes on Earth, or maybe like a line of top military commanders or something? I wondered exactly how one became a knight here. It sounded like you had to be born into the clan, but Mary had said something about her initiation being difficult, so I wasn't so sure. Anyway, that question could wait. I had something more important to ask first.

  "Can she still be a labyrinth guardian?"

  I didn't think Karumi would've let her sign a contract if she couldn't actually do the job, but I still wanted to make sure.

  "Things should be fine as long as she's working towards returning to her kind. Even if she is temporarily allied with the Daemons, it will all be to benefit the humans in the end."

  "I see. As long as this isn't going to restrict her too much, we'll be okay."

  So Karumi had called to warn me, although there was nothing to worry about immediately. The sight of Karumi lovingly tilting her cup of noodles to drain the water from them cut the tension of the moment magnificently.

  "Can I ask you one more question? What would happen to a knight who betrayed her people?"

  Karumi had said that a knight would find it difficult, not that she would find it impossible. A subtle but important distinction.

  "I'm very sorry, but I can't answer that question. There are restrictions on what I'm allowed to tell labyrinth managers, and frankly, everything I've told you so far is already forbidden."

  So Karumi wasn't allowed to tell me much. Though they must've been pretty lenient about it, if she could just call me up and tell me about it quietly. Sounded more like an "only on a need-to-know basis" kind of thing, rather than a "strictly confidential" thing. At any rate, I was just relieved that Mary would get to stay on as our labyrinth guardian.

  "Thank you for contacting me. Enjoy your dinner."

  "Oh, thank y--- Wait, Kousaka, how do you know that I'm about to have dinner?"

  Karumi looked sorrowfully at the little timer on the table, which probably indicated that her noodles had been ready for a long time now, so I cut off the call. I sure hoped her noodles hadn't gotten too soggy.

  ◇

  "Aoi, where should I sleep?"

  After putting out the fire and returning to the cabin, Mary called out to me, a single blanket clutched in her hands. It was worn and discolored, but it looked like it had originally been of quite high quality. Was this one of Mary's few remaining personal belongings?

  "I'm accustomed to roughing it, so I could sleep on the floor if need be, but if you do have a mattress to spare, I would be greatly in your debt."

  "Oh, yeah, you'll need a bed."

  Damn, I'd forgotten to prepare a place for Mary to sleep. The only bed in the cabin was the one Ann and I used. I'd bought a bed for Ann, but she'd insisted we just push the two of them together to make one big bed. There was room for another bed in the cabin, but it would leave things a little cramped. Hmm. I could buy her a mattress stuffed with hay. Those were nice, since you could remove the stuffing and fold them up pretty small when you weren't using them.

  "You should sleep with us, Mary!"

  Ann, having just changed into one of my button-down shirts, interrupted my train of thought.

  "I-I wouldn't want to disturb the two of you at your rest, Ann."

  "Nah, the bed's plenty big. We can all fit in easy."

  Well, she had a point. We'd pushed two beds together, and Ann was pretty tiny, so we probably could fit three people in it.

  "..."

  While Ann and Mary talked, I reached into my pouch and took out a few dried leaves, which I popped into my mouth. Ah, that familiar, minty taste.

  "I want us to sleep together. We can all snuggle up!"

  The way she talked about it, it was like a precious experience she'd missed out on. Crowding everyone into one big bed together was a normal enough experience for a young kid in a family. I realized once again that I still didn't know much about
Ann's past.

  "Um. I see. I'm, uh, not so sure."

  Mary gave me a fleeting glance, which told me she was thinking the same thing I was. Her sharing a bed with Ann was one thing, but it would be a bit different for her and me. I was reluctant about the plan as well, but I was staying calm. The way Ann clung tight to me every night was already hard on me, and I figured Mary being around wouldn't make much of a difference. Most importantly, I had an ally in my nightly struggle: my minty friend.

  I checked the stash in my pouch. Hmm, looked like I was running low on herbs. I slid my index finger to the right, and the labyrinth manager menu opened up. I selected the Tundra catalog.

  Samathi Herb (Dry; 8 pc. set, 15g) == 1,800 DL