Chapter 159: The Battle Against Pride II

【171st day】

The city was shrouded in darkness and the morning fog hung thick in the air.

Last night, after what had happened, I had informed the whole party about today's itinerary, and we had met up first thing in the morning and made our way through the city. This was the day after we had completed an adventure. It would normally be a day off, but due to the pressing circumstances, it couldn't be helped.

And there were problems.

「Urg, urghh」

「Are you alright?」

Otou-san's face was ashen.

「………I drank too much」

「And I even warned you to take it easy on the alcohol……」

He had definitely responded at that time. It was a drunken reply though.

With his hangover, Otou-san was in terrible condition.

「Shuna, Lys?」

I snapped my fingers in front of them both.

「Hmm, what? I'm not asleep, you hear?」

「Shuna, I'm over here」

Shuna was facing Rana with eyes that weren't quite open. I was next to her.

「You didn't sleep well either?」

「When any of the kin return safely from an adventure, it's a custom for everyone to throw a banquet……………… Ah, I'm not asleep!」

Yeah, you fell asleep there.

「Lys?」

I snapped my fingers at her like a comedian from the Showa era.

「………………Huh, Onii-san? Ehh, where am I? Whoa! The armor's heavy! The shield's heavy! My body's sluggish!」

Lys' blank expression reverted to that of an innocent young girl.

It's been a while since she's given the body back to Bel. Is she that drowsy?

「Long time no see, Bel」

「Oh, yeah, long time no see」

It's really been a long time.

And our strength has just dropped drastically. I feel bad saying this, but I don't believe Bel can handle this fight. The difference in the experience gained so far is simply too great. I have plans to train Bel someday when I have more time to spare, but for now, she’ll have to sit this one out.

Which means that………

The elven sisters, Rana and Ea, are the key to victory this time, I guess.

Well, depending on how things turn out, I have a feeling that Rana can win it all by herself. However, I want Ea to actively take part in the fight so that she can regain the confidence she lost yesterday.

Well, that's about sums up our condition, I guess.

I should make Otou-san stop drinking for a while. The things I have to tell on him to the proprietress has just increased.

And then………

We arrived at the Adventurers' Guild.

Right at that moment, the bell that signaled the start of the day rang.

「You're slow!」

I found a brat who was already snapping at me early in the morning.

Arcane, the apprentice hero, glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

Behind him, the other members of his party were wrapped up in blankets and sleeping on the ground.

「What? Did you wait here all night?」

What's with this overblown need to be punctual?

「What? No! You're wrong!」

「He couldn't sleep, so he made us come here」

The silver-haired young woman answered with half-open eyes.

「Nanassy! You shut up!」

「I'll sleep a little more」

Nanassy went back to sleep.

「Souya, I'm also going to take a break. Call me when you need me」

「O, Onii-san, my body is at its limit too」

Shuna and Bel slumped to the ground, lying on top of each other.

「Souya, I've also got to………urghhh」

「Yeah yeah, go ahead」

Otou-san made a mad dash for the toilet.

Looking around, I didn't notice anyone other than Arcane baring his teeth at me like a dog. There was no sign of Evetta or any other employees of the Guild.

「Onii-chan, let's have breakfast」

「Yeah, that's a good idea」

My sister is right. We should have a light meal before the fight so that we won't run out of energy.

Leaving Arcane to his own devices, I started to get ready for breakfast. I spread a blanket on the ground, sat down, and made myself comfortable.

「Dear, here's an onigiri(rice ball) that I worked hard to make earlier. Inside―――――」

Rana gave me a softball-sized onigiri.

Inside………I wonder what she filled it with, but I’d be grateful if it was still white.

「Ea, what's in it?」

「Meat miso(ground meat mixed with miso)」

「That's right, I filled it with meat miso. I did」

「I'm the one who made the meat miso though」

「Ohh, meat miso, huh? Itadakimasu」

I peeled off the leaves wrapped around it to preserve it and took a bite. There was so much meat miso in it that it almost spilled out.

It was exquisitely seasoned, sweet and spicy, yet with a touch of sourness. The onions accented the flavor of the meat, which went well with the rice. Moreover, no matter which part of the onigiri I bit into, my mouth was filled with luxurious amounts of meat miso.

「It’s delicious」

It was morning, so I gobbled up the onigiri with gusto.

This is delicious. I could get hooked on its taste. It will be hard to find a guy who doesn't like this.

「Fufun~」

My sister started to speak with a smug look on her face.

「Stir-fried onions and ground meat, mixed with miso, sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce. It's very simple, but I could never have made it without the seasonings you made, Onii-chan. This is a supreme dish that only we can make!」

「I'm the one who put it in the onigiri」

「In a sense, this is the culmination of our efforts? Ah~, I wonder if I've finally made it?」

「I'm the one who―――――」

「Yup, Rana, the rice that you cook is always delicious」

「Yes!」

Both sisters ate their onigiri with smug looks on their faces.

「Oh, I almost forgot. This one's from Lanseal and Makina」

Ea pulled out a large tumbler.

「According to Makina, this metal water bottle can keep its contents warm, and it's filled with pork miso soup that Lanseal made」

I remember now. I had asked Makina to recreate the thermos that I had lost.

Ea also pulled out some cups and poured out the pork miso soup.

「She said that she had kept the ingredients small」

Rana, a lover of pork miso soup, was the first to try it.

「Hmm, it's not bad. But your pork miso soup is five times better, dear」

Rana proceeded to rapidly eat one mouth of onigiri, then pork miso soup, onigiri, then pork miso soup in a one-two combination.

「I didn’t like it at first, but lately, when I drink miso soup, I can't help feeling calm and sighing. How strange」

After drinking the pork miso soup, my sister said something very Japanese-like.

I took a sip too.

The aroma of the warm miso soup filled my nostrils and the flavor and saltiness of the pork seeped deeply into my body.

This is good. No doubt it's delicious, but it's more than that. The smell, the taste, and also the rice that I eat with it, all of those come together perfectly. The taste of home is really precious, I suppose.

Ea will surely make a good wife.

Written as "my future woman" and read as "my sister".[1]

Yeah, right.

………………Everything about what I was just thinking is so very wrong.

I should just forget all about it. I mean, shouldn't we have a little sense of urgency about what's to come? Relationship problems are such a daytime drama thing.

If Rana and Ea were to ask me, "Who do you prefer?", I'm not sure………no, it's Rana, but why did I hesitate for a moment? Yeah, I should just forget all about it.

Arcane was watching us eat with a curious look on his face, but I turned my back to him to hide my food from him.

I don't have any food to offer the enemy. I can hear him gnashing his teeth, but I don't care.

「Oh, where’s Evetta?」

The Guild President showed up. His boyish face looked sleepy and he was carrying his ominous-looking staff as usual.

He sat down next to Rana as if it were the most natural thing in the world, pissing me off.

「Do you want some, Guild President? There's some miso soup with pork in it」

Quite unusually, Ea offered food to someone else.

「I'll have some. Now that you mention it, this miso is reputed to help clear the minds of magicians who drink it」

That's probably some rumor spread by a certain elf.

The Guild President sipped the miso soup in a refined manner and then let out a small sigh.

「Other than that, it's said to prevent heart disease, slow aging, have detoxifying effects, have beautifying and whitening effects, help preserve food, restore lost vigor, reverse balding, strengthen bones, bring good luck, and so on and so forth. It's rumored to be a real cure-all」

Miso is not a cure-all!

That bastard Melm, he exaggerated things way too much. I'll give him a talking-to later.

「Also, it helps with hangovers」

Otou-san returned, looking weary, and demanded some miso soup.

After drinking the cup of miso soup he received from Ea, his complexion improved slightly.

「Mmmmmm, I'm alive again. As expected of a cure-all」

It's all in your mind, I'm telling you……

I heard someone stamp their foot, so I turned around reluctantly.

I got the feeling that Arcane was saying without words, "Where's my share?", but I purposely ignored him.

「Father, haven't you been drinking too much lately? Even if you're keeping the king company, please drink in moderation」

The Guild President said something decent for a change.

I had forgotten, but Otou-san is the Guild President's foster father.

「It's fine. If I drink some miso soup the next day, the hangover goes right away」

Like I said, this idea that you'll be fine so long as you eat a lot of healthy food is wrong. Though he's looking a lot better and back to his usual self.

King Lemuria was also cured of his beriberi after changing his diet. I feel like the people of this world are strange in a lot of ways. Is there something fundamentally different about their bodies?

「So, where's the most important person, Evetta?」

Otou-san looked around, but the streets were still as empty as ever.

「She probably overslept. It's been especially bad lately」

There was nothing for us to do then.

We took our time eating breakfast as we waited for Evetta-san.

When I asked the Guild President about what he had heard about the miso, I learned that the rumors had been blown all out of proportion, some going as far as to say that it could allow people to grow tail fins and wings, and even breathe fire.

I'm happy to see the taste of my hometown spreading in the alternate world. But I must have a stern word with the king of elves.

If I don't put a stop to this, it will really be marketed as a cure-all.

Miso is a seasoning, not a recovery item.

Will I start to see miso-flavored healing potions, I wonder? Please spare me.

「I'm sorry!」

Evetta-san's voice rang out.

She looked as clean-cut as usual, but she had forgotten to comb her bed hair.

「I apologize for accidentally oversleeping」

「Alright then, let's get started. Everyone gather around」

The Guild President stood up and gathered both parties. I helped Shuna and Bel, who were still half-asleep, to their feet and propped them up with my shoulders.

The Guild President struck the ground with his staff and then declared.

「In the name of Vindoobunikuru, god of adventurers, a duel will be fought between the two parties, Seeker Brigade and Argancia. The winner will be given the right to hire Evetta, an employee of the Guild, first. There are no restrictions on weapons, but you will lose if you kill your opponent, if your entire party is incapacitated, or if these――」

The Guild President produced six pieces of red cloth from his pocket.

「――pieces of cloth are taken from you. In addition, this will be a 3-on-3 match. You may hide who you've chosen to participate」

After a quick rundown of the rules, he pulled out a silver coin.

「If the beast is on top, then it's Seeker Brigade. If it's the other way around, then Argancia gets to enter the dungeon first」

A coin toss was made, and the flipped silver coin was caught on the back of his hand and then showed to everyone.

「Argancia goes first. The battle will take place on the 10th floor. Please fight with the pride that befits adventurers. That’s all」

With an intimidating look on his face, Arcane walked into the portal.

「Now」

Who should I choose?

「Shuna and Bel………」

Are sleeping. Oh, well.

「Me and Ea are definitely participating」

We must have the leader and a scout.

Which leaves either Rana or Otou-san.

「The last person will be Rana」

I made that choice with relatively little hesitation.

I don't want that loud-mouth to spread weird rumors and ruin Otou-san's reputation as the “father of adventurers". Besides, this person becomes quite merciless when it comes to fighting, and even I’d feel bad for Arcane.

「Hey, Souya. Don't let your guard down, you hear?」

「Of course」

Otou-san's advice is all too obvious. I've never let my guard down in any way. I always go into every fight with everything I've got.

And I'll do the same this time.

「Alright then, let's just go and make quick work of them」

The sisters and I wrapped the pieces of red cloth around our left shoulders and headed for the portal.

「Souya, you really can't be too――――」

「We'll be fine, I promise」

Even Evetta-san is worrying about us needlessly. Ea, Rana, and I are all brimming with confidence. There's no way we can lose.

We jumped into the vortex of light, and after a moment of weightlessness and blinding light, we found ourselves inside the dungeon.

The 10th floor of memories past.

It was a labyrinth of gray stone.

「Alright」

Arcane and his party were a distance in front of us. Beside Arcane stood Nanassy and the otter beastkin. All three of them had the pieces of red cloth wrapped around their wrists.

So they left out the big guy in the armor, huh? That’s a relief as that guy's an unknown quality.

「So, are we going to start now?」

For form's sake, I asked. I gave Rana and Ea a look to tell them to get ready for battle.

Since they didn't launch any surprise attacks, I guess they must be quite confident in their fighting abilities.

「Ahh? It's already started, fool」

Arcane pointed a finger upward, but it was too late for us to react.

Water that had pooled on the ceiling cascaded down.

It was like being hit by a waterfall. Water got into my nose and ears, scrambling my thoughts. I flailed my arms desperately, and when I had finally managed to pull my head out of the water, I found myself unable to move at all.

「Once you're in that state, it doesn't matter how good of an adventurer you are」

From the neck down, I was encased in a viscous, aqueous substance.

This is a type of slime that I've fought before. Is the contents of that armor actually a colony of slimes? Do they have some sort of way to control these creatures?

The sisters were in a similar predicament and appeared to be completely unable to move.

「So, Seeker Brigade. Do you give up yet?」

Eh, what?

………………Have we lost?

[1] “未来の女” means future woman, and in this context Souya is saying that she’ll become his woman in future. And if you put the 女 and 未 together, you get 妹, which means sister. Which, including the commonly-seen “written as A but read as B” shtick, is the wordplay here.

The title of this arc is neat, isn’t it? The battle against pride(Argancia) as well against against their own pride(complacency). Double meanings are tight! (Sorry, I do enjoy Screen Rant’s pitch meetings)

Also, the entire bit about Melm spreading tales about the miso seems to be just to make us laugh, right? Well…just keep this bit in the back of your mind. I hope I do remember to bring it up when it’s time, but in case I don’t, I’m sure you’ll get it when you’re re-reading in future…

Clarification time. Japanese daytime dramas are similar to daytime soaps, though not as long-running. Also, “restoring lost vigor” is my way of saying “curing ED” in a world where I’m not sure ED is a term.

Well, have they lost already?! So simply?! Also, slimes and elven girls trapped in them, huh…righttt… Stay tuned!