Chapter 184
After our meal, we took the opportunity to laze around and relaxed .
By the way, before leaving the City of Doran, I had already prepared all kinds of meals to sustain us during our travels . We had eaten a large part of it on the way to Feenan, but there was still quite a bit left .
It was all our usual favourites: Deep Fried Food, j.a.panese Hamburg Steaks, Gyozas as well as other stuff that goes well with rice .
Fer, Dora-chan and Sui were more than delighted to have a variety of choices for their meals, never mind that these were technically leftovers from dishes that I had prepared earlier .
I had mincemeat and tofu served over steaming rice . It was incredibly good .
Oh, that’s right .
Let’s give everyone a dessert as a reward for all their hard work . To be honest, I want something sweet too after such a tiring day .
Since everyone worked hard this time, I should give them something extra special instead of the usual sweet buns and chocolate bars . Let’s see… I opened up the Fujiya Cakes menu on the [Net Super] .
Fer would definitely like something like this, I thought, looking through the list of whole cakes . I stopped at Fer’s favourite, j.a.panese style Strawberry Shortcake . Unlike the original version from the West, it’s made of soft sponge instead of the usual shortcake biscuits and a favourite of all j.a.panese people .
As a special treat, I got the L size whole cake .
I’m sure Fer will be extra pleased with a cake this size .
For Dora-chan, it has to be pudding . I picked out a special combination gift set pudding . A luxurious 12 pudding set with 3 flavours: custard, caramel and mango .
Dora-chan the pudding lover would probably be happy with this .
Sui liked chocolate-based sweets, so I chose a chocolate cake for her . Since she liked strawberries as well, I chose one topped with lots of luscious red fruits . Naturally, both were L size whole cakes . I can’t wait to see how she would react to this .
As for myself, let’s see…
I’m looking through the list of sliced cakes now .
Oh ho, they all looked very cool and refres.h.i.+ng . Hmm, let’s go with this one . A limited-edition s.h.i.+rotama Cream Anmitsu [1] .
After making the payment, the usual cardboard box appeared .
I opened it and a blast of cool air from the box hit me in the face .
“Hey everyone, come over here for a moment . ”
Fer, Dora-chan and Sui gathered curiously before me .
“Everyone worked hard today, so we all get a reward . ”
I placed the specially ordered treat in front of everyone .
“Mu, it’s quite big, I can eat it all?” Fer’s face remained stoic, but his furiously wagging tail betrayed him .
“Oohhh, are these all puddings? They have all kinds of cool stuff inside!” Dora-chan zipped over the pudding, then did a few circuits around us at lightning speed .
“Uwah, the cake is so big~” Sui was also bouncing about spiritedly,
“Everyone worked very hard taking down the Evil Plants, so I prepared a special treat for everyone as a reward . So eat up!”
At my signal, Fer and Sui started on their cakes . Aah, the area around Fer’s mouth is now sticky with cream . Sui was also happily grabbing little handfuls of the chocolate and strawberry cake was dissolving them enthusiastically .
“Ah, Dora-chan, which one would you like first? There are three flavours here, custard, caramel and mango . ”
“Un, I’ll have all of them,”
“All three types?”
“Of course!”
Yes, yes .
I opened up three pudding cups and plop the contents onto a plate .
“Awesome! All three are yum, but this orange one is especially good!”
Well, it looked like Dora-chan liked the mango pudding best . I collected the rest of the unopened pudding cups and put them away in my [Item Box] for the next meal .
While everyone was busy with their treats, it was time to reward myself . It’s time for my s.h.i.+ratama Cream Amitsu cake!
“It’s been a long time since I had this, so tasty!”
The cake was not too sweet so it felt like I can just go on eating . Just looking at the cake made me feel refreshed . The smooth white exterior, the colourful fruit cube jelly toppings and tiny chewy dumplings . Haa, I wonder why red bean paste is so delicious when combined with brown sugar and honey .
“Fuuh, so delicious…”
Fer and Dora were preening themselves, licking up whatever cream or pudding left around their lips . Before I knew it, Sui was already wriggling into my leather bag and was snoozing inside .
“Well then, shall we head back to the city?”
“Umu,”
“Yea,”
After subduing the Evil Plants, we made our way back to the city .
Back at the City of Neihoff, we headed straight for the Adventurer’s Guild .
The people in charge took a look at my guild card and ushered us right into the Guild Master’s room .
“Ooh, that was quick,” Yoran-san called out, before coming over to meet us . I still can’t quite get over his very stereotypical wizard looks .
“Yes, it’s all thanks to everyone working together . ”
“Evil Plants are nothing to us . ” Fer proudly declared .
“Fuhahahahaha, that’s right . They are nothing to a Fenrir, a Pixie Dragon and a Special Slime . ” It looked like Yoran-san must have gotten quite a lot of information from Guild Masters in other cities to know that Dora-chan is a Pixie Dragon and Sui a Special Slime .
Ah, I also took part in today’s battle .
Just a bit though .
“Still, it was quite a big outbreak so I’m still very surprised to see all of you back so quickly . Especially when the outbreak is this serious . That is the reason why I asked you guys to take on the mission . ”
Normally, to get rid of so many Evil Plants, he would have to hire many Adventurers . Well, our high level of efficiency was why we were hired in the first place .
“Aah, that’s right . We managed to collect quite a few magic stones too, though they are not very big . Would it be alright if I take them out here?”
“Oh, yes, yes, please do that . ”
I took out the magic stones collected from the Giant Evil Plants and lined them up on the table . Of the total number of magic stones, 16 were collected by Sui and me, whereas the other 48 were harvested by Fer and Dora-chan .
A total of 64 pieces .
Since the Giant Evil Plants were merely B rank monsters, the magic stones were quite small . From the quality of stones I’ve seen thus far, I must say that these do not look as good as the ones from collected the dungeons .
“Although they are small, you have quite a lot here . Umu, how about 4 gold coins each?”
Are they really worth that much? I had thought they would fetch less .
Clearly, that price was A-Ok for me .
“Yes, 4 gold coins apiece is fine . ”
“Very well, I shall pay that amount along with the subjugation fee for the Evil Plants . ” With that, Yoran-san left the room .
A short while later, he returned with a box . “Sorry for the wait, the reward for subjugating the Evil Plant population this time is 430 gold coins . We shall purchase the magic stones for 256 gold, so the total number of gold coins to be paid out is 686 gold . From what I heard from Ugor of Doran, we should pay in large gold coins, is that right?”
Nice one, Ugor-san .
Gold coins were quite bulky so I’m grateful for it .
“Yes, I’ll be glad to take the payment in large gold coins”
“Is that so, well, here are 68 large gold coins and 6 regular gold coins . Please check the money . ”
1, 2, 3… 68 large gold coins and 6 gold coins exactly .
“I have received the exact amount, thank you very much . ”
“Umu, apologies, but do please take down the Cyclops when you have the time .
“Understood . ”
Ah yes, we still have that Cyclops mission . But it’s probably better not to do it right away . We should take a break tomorrow and go after that monster a day after .
“I’ll hunt down the Cyclops tomorrow,” said Fer all of a sudden .
“Wai- Fer, what are you talking about? Tomorrow?” Seriously, I’d like to take a break tomorrow .
“Mhm . There were a lot of Evil Plants but they are unworthy to be proper opponents . ”
Unworthy you say…
“I agree . The Evil Plants were lame . ” Even Dora-chan!!
“Are we going to fight? Will Sui get to pew pew more enemies?” Attracted by talks of battle, Sui poked herself out from the leather bag . She was clearly bursting with motivation .
Well, it looked like everyone was very motivated to finish their mission, so-
“Since everyone seems quite eager to go, I see no reason why we should not go and take down the Cyclops tomorrow . ”
“Hoo, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but is it really alright to battle on for two days straight?”
“Yes, I do believe that everyone is up for it . ”
Maa, rather than ‘up for it’, it’s more like they’re ‘chomping at the bits for it’ . My companions were too energetic .
As for myself, I don’t think I’ll get the opportunity to fight against the Cyclops . Unlike today’s Evil Plants, they don’t seem to have a fatal weakness which I could exploit .
I’ll just leave it to everyone else .
“I see, then I shall be counting on you . ”
So, just like that, it was decided that we would go and subjugate the Cyclops tomorrow .
For now, let’s go home quickly, eat a good meal and soak in the bath to heal from today’s tiring day .
[Gumihou: Fufufu… another nice and relaxing conclusion . ]
[1] s.h.i.+rotama Cream Anmitsu – It’s actually a modernized version of a traditional j.a.panese sweet of the same name . If I were to make a cake version of this, I’d make a sponge from rice flour, strain the anmitsu or red bean paste through a strainer before mixing it with cream to make it smoother before layering it up the inside of the cake, cover the outside with white cream and top it with cut fruits, cubes of jelly and tiny s.h.i.+rotama (rice dumplings)