Shulim stared calmly at the biscuit the elderly woman held out, then said in a sincere tone, “Thank you, Ma'am, but because I am undergoing special training, I have strict dietary restrictions. I cannot eat just anything, so I'm very sorry, but I cannot accept this biscuit.”
“Special training?”
The elderly woman looked bewildered. Not only her, but the young woman and the middle-aged woman also had no idea what Shulim was talking about.
Yet, Shulim kept a straight, serious face. She lightly patted her wand and nodded with absolute certainty.
“Yes! A very special training!”
“Uh... I see. Well, in that case... never mind then.”
The elderly woman had no choice but to withdraw the biscuit, turning to share it with the middle-aged woman, the only one in the carriage willing to eat.
Compared to the young woman's clumsy lie that was clearly an excuse, sometimes fabricating an absurd reason completely outside of the other person's scope of knowledge actually worked better. It left them feeling impressed despite not quite understanding it, leading them to convince themselves to believe you.
Mm... anyway, that was how Semilis had taught her.
...
“Ding-a-ling—!”
The chime of a bell echoed.
The caravan ground to a halt.
“Halt! One-hour break!”
It was already midday. Regardless of whether the passengers in the carriages had already eaten on board, the escorting adventurers and the carriage drivers needed to stop and have lunch.
The sounds of many people leaving their carriages echoed from outside.
Shulim stood up. She was also ready for lunch, but she didn't want to eat inside the carriage. Having spotted a small river outside, she planned to eat by the water.
The elderly woman's eyes lit up when she saw her stand, and she reached for her biscuits. However, Shulim simply tapped her wand and shot her a look. The elderly woman had no choice but to retrieve her hand.
At the same time, the young woman in the carriage was also hungry and wanted to get off to eat lunch. But the moment she made a move, the elderly woman's eyes locked onto her.
“...”
The young woman's lips twitched slightly, and she was forced to sit back down. It seemed she would have to starve through the day.
And so, sometimes, choosing a good reason to decline was very important...
Upon arriving at the riverbank,
Shulim took out the portable rations prepared by Jessica and got ready to eat.
“Yo, young lady of the Hayeral family. Eating all by yourself?”
A voice suddenly called out from behind.
Shulim turned around to see Hunting Fangs, the C-Class adventurer party escorting them.
“Hello, Mr. Alec. You can just call me Shulim. Would you like to eat together?”
“Haha, alright, Shulim! I'll gladly take you up on that!”
Alec sat down in a carefree manner, and his companions followed suit, sitting beside him.
Alec glanced at his comrades. “Right, Shulim, you don't know the names of my teammates yet, do you?”
Shulim nodded.
Then, Alec began introducing them.
He first pointed to a somewhat quiet middle-aged man wearing armor.
“This is Bart, our vanguard. Don't let his quiet nature fool you, he is extremely reliable!”
The introduced Bart silently nodded to Shulim as a greeting, and Shulim politely returned the gesture.
“This is Ange, this is York, and this is Steen.”
Aye was the party's archer, a long-haired woman. York was their mage, who never let his wand leave his side. Steen was the scout, a man wearing a black face mask.
“And lastly, there's me, the party leader, Alec! Well, now that we've all been introduced, let's get along well on this trip!”
After greeting everyone, the members of Hunting Fangs also pulled out their dry rations to eat.
“Oh, Shulim, is that all you're eating?”
Alec looked at what Shulim was eating and couldn't help but shake his head.
“?”
Shulim was puzzled. “Mr. Alec, is there something wrong with my food?”
“Is there even a need to ask? Of course there is! A young person like you—”
“—has to eat meat!”
With that, Alec pulled out a piece of jerky from his rations and handed it to Shulim.
“Here, try this!”
Shulim glanced at the jerky offered to her, then looked up at Alec. He was chewing on a piece of jerky, as were the other members of the party.
“Thank you.”
Shulim accepted the jerky without hesitation. Imitating Alec, she tried to take a big bite, only to tear off a tiny piece.
“...”
“Hahaha!”
At the sight, Alec burst into hearty laughter on the spot.
“Your bite is way too small!”
The others in the party couldn't help but smile too.
“Come on, Alec, you're laughing too hard!”
Ange scolded him with a chuckle. Then, she stood up, sat down beside Shulim, and pulled out her canteen.
“Here, Shulim, soak it in water like this. The jerky will soften up a bit, making it much easier to chew...”
“Thank you...”
Though it had resulted in a little awkwardness, this interaction quickly dissolved any lingering unfamiliarity between Shulim and the Hunting Fangs party...
After lunch, there was still plenty of time before they had to set off again. Shulim sat by the river, watching the fish swim in the water. She wondered if she should catch some tonight to make grilled fish.
“Bobom! Bobom!”
A strange sound drifted over from the opposite bank.
Shulim looked up and saw two large, translucent light-blue spheres bouncing toward the riverbank on the opposite side. Following closely behind them were four smaller, similarly bouncing translucent spheres.
“A sli—no, wait, it's a bobom!”
Shulim's eyes lit up. She hadn't expected to see wild boboms here.
Although she had heard that wild boboms were quite common in many areas, unfortunately, none inhabited the vicinity of Mente Town. Thus, this was her first time seeing a live one.
“What did you say, Shulim? Oh, isn't that a bobom?!”
Hearing Shulim's voice, Alec turned his head and immediately spotted the creatures on the opposite bank.
He quickly walked over to her side and scrutinized the other side of the river.
“Yeah, that's it! Those two round white eyes on the sphere, the grouping of a male, a female, and four little ones, and their water-dwelling habits! That's definitely a rare sight—a whole family of boboms!”
“What? A bobom family? Where? Let me see!”
Ange, who was inspecting her bow, immediately became interested upon hearing Alec's shouting and walked over to the riverbank.
“Wow! Those four little boboms are so cute! I really want to go over and pet them!”
“Hey, don't actually do that. Even though boboms look cute, they're no push-overs!”
Alec warned her.
“Oh, I know, I was just saying. But they really are so cute!”
Just as Alec said, boboms were not creatures to be trifled with. They were actually quite agile. When encountering enemies, they could contract their bodies to make themselves rigid, and then project themselves at high speeds. If an ordinary adult took a direct hit like that, their ribs would be shattered.
In addition to body slams, adult boboms could also spit high-pressure water bullets from their bodies, which were powerful enough to splinter wooden planks.
Of course, there was another point, one that was exceptionally important to Shulim.
They were delicious...
“Delicious... ingredients.”
Shulim stared at the family of boboms on the opposite bank, her heart racing with anticipation.
“Bobom?!”
One of the adult boboms seemed to suddenly sense danger and quickly shielded the other family members with its body.
“Bobom!”
“Bobom!”
“Bobom!”
“...”
The four little ones, unaware of any danger, kept bumping against the adult bobom blocking their path, wanting to rush ahead and swim.
“Bobom!!!”
And they were promptly scolded.
The little boboms instantly deflated, stopping their jumping and shouting.
“Bobom, bobom!”
Led by the adult bobom, the entire family bounced back into the forest on the other side.
“Aw... they left!”
Ange looked disappointed.
Alec scratched his head. “Huh, that's weird. Did I scare them because my voice was too loud?”
Shulim was equally disappointed.
The delicious ingredients were gone...
“Ding-a-ling—!”
Right at that moment, the bell to depart rang out.
Shulim could only gaze regretfully at the opposite bank, giving up the idea of gathering ingredients.
...
Rate on N.U.
