Truck-San Strikes Again! Chapter 16: On the road.
It was the day after I got my new armor and I only had 10 silver left since I spent so much on preparations. Of course I can always gain more silver by doing B-ranked requests since these pay a lot due to their difficulty. (AN- If you are wondering, Arthur is currently C-rank and he can accept missions up to one rank above him).
<Master, we are going to subjugate a dragon yes?> (Wes)
<Oh Wes you were here, I totally forgot... and yes we are> (Arthur)
<To think you would forget about me... well in any case, this might be a good chance to use the {Capture Crystal} you made> (Wes)
<Hmm.. I was thinking that too, I mean to have a dragon under my control, it would be a dream come true..> (Arthur) (AN- in case you guys forgot, I am using <> for telepathic communication).
I mean just imagine riding a dragon through the sky, fighting monsters and saving people. It's what every Chunni wishes to do. If there a Chunni into fantasy that is. (AN- *Chunni= shortened from Chunnibyou which is the Japanese slang word for THIS who have '8-Grade Syndrome'. Which basically means those who have very overreactive imagination to the point where they believe the have powers a lot of times). Even if it's not a strong dragon, it would still look cool. Hopefully it's not a ground dragon.
I arrived at the north gate which is our meeting spot and saw the girls hanging around a good, but not fancy, carriage. When Elli noticed me, she waved me over. She was smiling, Jasmine looked a little timid, probably not good with new people, and Caroline looked a little irritated. Well, she never really liked me. (AN- Little hint, ----dere. Take that as you please). I started walking over to them.
<These are the people you are slaying the dragon with?> (Wes)
<Yes, is there a problem?> (Arthur)
<Well don't they seem a little.....weak for wanting to beat a dragon?> (Wes)
<They're just a distraction, apparently they have some sort of sword that can pierce through a dragon easily. My job is to sneak up on the dragon and stab it with that said dagger.> (Arthur)
<That strategy is dirty but I see how effective that would be...> (Wes)
<I'm not planning on killing it though, I'm just going to weaken it so that my {Capture Crystal} doesn't fail.> (Arthur)
<Yes, that would be problematic since we only have three gold A-rank ones...> (Wes)
That's right, even though I made many {Capture Crystals}, I was only able to make three gold ones. And even these have limitations; First- a monster with high intelligence, such as dragons, no matter what rank must be weakened before being able to captured. Second- The user of the { Gold Capture Crystal} must have significant affinity with [Light] and [Tamer] magic. Third- A monsters size and rank will decide how much space it takes up. Fourth- A user can only have up to 100 spaces within a {Gold Capture Crystal} depending on their magic affinity. This means even if I have multiple, I only can have up to 100 free spaces until I get better at magic. But that also means, say one of them breaks upon failing to capture a monster, I will still have a hundred spaces left for the other ones. In fact I only really need one but if it ever breaks, I would be in trouble. Enough thinking about that, I got help a princess now. Need. To. Be. On. Task.
"Hello Elli, how are you today?" (Arthur)
"I'm fine, you?" (Elli)
"I'm good, how about those two?" (Arthur)
"I..a..am fine..please take care of us!" (Jasmine) (AN- think of a shy Japanese person from the manga you've read or the anime you've watched when they join a club).
"Hmpf, no need to tell you." (Caroline)
Wow, she doesn't like me at all. Jasmine is a little shy of me still and Elli's behavior did a complete 180 from when we first met.
"Don't you think that was a little rude Cari-chan?" (Elli)
"Don't use such an embarrassing nickname in front of others PLEASE princess-sama!" (Caroline)
Wow, I'm speechless. I mean I know I'm in some sort of manga like situation, but I never expected people to Japanese honorifics. I hope I'm not expected to use them, I am not totally clear on the subject of honorifics. (AN- I'm really not. I know -san, -kun, -chan, -sama, sempai, -nii, -nee, but that's about it. I know you use -sama when addressing someone of higher status, and -kun is when you address a guy younger than you or same age but I'm still not to clear when it comes to these honorifics. I am clear on sempai, -nii, and -nee though).
"I-in any case it would be best to leave early correct? So we should be on our way then." (Arthur)
"Hai~, let's go then." (Elli)
Seriously though, what's with these Japanese references, I swear I'm going to be hearing things like 'Mu~' and 'Kukuku' next. (AN- when some one says Muu~, that's showing their embarrassment or annoyance?).
•....•....•....💥
It's been about 4 days since we started the journey and I'm getting sick of it. The scenery is nice, the weather is perfect, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming (AN-undertale reference) but I HATE the food they have. It's same thing all day! Dried beaf for breakfast, dried beaf for lunch, dried beaf for dinner, ITS ALL DRIED BEAF AND THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE FOR DRINKING IS WATER. I know I'm in a world that is akin to the medieval time period technology wise in my world but seriously! At least have something better to eat when you travel!!! That's it, I'm cooking tonight.
It came to night and everyone was unpacking their dinner by which I mean dried beaf but I'm not eating that tonight. I opened my inventory in my bag and pulled out something that I found that resembled a grill top. Since it would be weird if I pulled out fresh meat or even a full platter of already made food, I need to go hunting for a bit. I will eat the Karaage later since I can preserve it for as long as I won't in my {Item Box}. The girls seem to be curious as to what I'm doing.
"I will be back shortly." (Arthur)
"Ah..what oh ok." (Elli)
I went hunting for a bit and found a hog, killed it, and nicked up its item drops. Yes! It dropped a lot of meat, which is what I need. I ran back immediately and started on the dish, if you can call it that since it has no sides.
I pounded the meat to tenderize it and formed patties with the meat that I was able to do so with. The other meat went in my {Item Box} secretly. After setting up some sticks to hold the grill top above the fire, I grabbed a big fork from my inventory. I then grabbed some different spices from my inventory and put the patties on the grill top. Yes, I'm making a true, homemade, American burger. (AN- and no, it's not the kind of burgers from shokugeki no soma (food wars). And it's not the fast food burgers either. This is a simple yet tasty burger that can only be homemade on a grill).
A burger is simple and easy to grill, the only thing I have to watch out for is burning it which is not hard since it's on an open grill. I first added the proper amount of salt and pepper along with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, my own homemade steak seasoning, and something close to lemon juice but it's made from a fruit called 'beluos'. (AN- completely random. And don't judge me, these spices make a good burger in my opinion if you use them right). I waited a little while, then flipped the burgers and added the seasoning to the other side too. The best kind of burger is when it's medium rare because then it's still cooked thoroughly while being juicy and having a slight bit of pink in it. (AN- i highly suggest medium rare, it's pretty perfect for most people).
The girls, drawn by the scent, started walking over from the carriage. I continued to flip the patties and make sure that they don't burn. I checked this by making a slight slit in the middle to see the center. Unfortunately, I don't have any cheese since cheese is considered a high class commodity apparently in this world. Next I took out a big plate I had and moved all the burgers to the plate. Then I took out some bread that looked similar to the type of bread they make subs with (AN- like the kind from subway), you know, typical fantasy/medieval bread and first cut it into two separate loafs and then cut them in half horizontally to make buns. I put all the burgers in the buns and took out the last ingredient. Barbecue sauce. Now it's isn't actually barbecue sauce, just something really similar. I put it on my burger, added the top bun, and started eating.
"Hey um, Arthur, what is that?" (Elli)
"Well I got tired of eating dried beaf all the time so I made some thing called burgers. You wanna try, I made enough for everybody and a little extra." (Arthur)
"Uh, sure. But how exactly do you eat it?" (Elli)
"Like this, it's basically a cooked sandwich after all." (Arthur)
"Well ok then." (Elli)
Even the other two where a little slower at picking up the burgers, they all took a bite of the burgers. I swear their reaction came strait out of Sho****ki No S**a, except no clothes were torn. And I may be exaggerating just a bit.
"Mmh!" (Jasmine)
"This...this is just delicious!" (Elli)
"How.. cafwn a gfwuy like you mafwke something so good!" (Caroline)
Oi, eat or talk, pick one. (AN- every 'fw' is when she took a bite). Next I handed them the barbecue.
"Try this too. It's not for everyone but I enjoy it." (Arthur) (AN- this is true, barbecue is usually only used for baking pork, cooking steak, chicken wings, etc. I use BBQ on all lot of things including fries, chicken tenders, backed chicken, pork, ribs, etc. I just love the sauce).
They all put a little on their plate and the all like it. In fact they even asked for seconds and put even more BBQ sauce on the second burger. They all ate way to quickly.
"Arthur, do you like to cook?" (Elli)
"I don't dislike it, it's just I usually just buy already made food." (Arthur)
"Well, can you cook something for breakfast and lunch too?" (Elli)
Hmm.. bacon is pretty easy to cook and I could make some sort of sandwiches for lunch.
"I guess so, I wouldn't really mind it." (Arthur)
"Then you are now our honorary chief for the length of this ship." (Elli)
"O..k" (Arthur)
"But I do have another question." (Elli)
"What is it?" (Arthur)
"Where did you pull all this stuff out of and how?" (Elli)
"Hehehe, that's a secret princess-sama." (Arthur)
She stared at me with amusement and a hint of curiosity but she didn't push any farther. Don't after I cleaned up, we all went to bed, the girls in the carriage, and me outside in a roughly made sleeping bag like bed.
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AN- almost 2000 words, it's amazing for me. As always, correct me on errors and look forward to 'The Anonymous Swordsman' in 4 more chapters. Also, look forward to a new/old character in chapter 20. Hehehe. "Evolution is a great thing" is your only hint. Later.