I Was Connected to Earth’s Black Market From Another World With The Skill [Market]! (WN)

Chapter 208

Sponsored chapter by Patreon, and you may also want to check our new Patreon tier since you can now choose a tier for specific novels, so please go check it out, and also new Ko-Fi offer here~

Enjoy~

Chapter 208 – Dungeon Meal

“Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

As I stored the bodies of the two-headed wolves and called out to the adventurers, the three that had been frozen began to move sluggishly.

“Y-yeah. We’re fine. These guys are also…”

The leader of the group, a tall man with a large sword, pointed to the four men who had collapsed and said.

“They’re just out of magic power and can’t move.”

“I can still… move.”

A young man lying on his face beside him looked up and looked around. He was probably a dwarf, with his shaggy head, small stature, and talking like an old man (like Myrril-san).

“Arman, don’t push yourself too hard. Just stay there.”

“No… It’s the leader’s… responsibility…”

The dwarf named Arman is desperately watching his surroundings, but he seems to be dazed, and his eyes are darting around.

“Mir, are there any magical beasts nearby?”

“No. There’s a sign in the back, but it’s probably on the lower floor.”

“Thank you, you saved our lives.”

The tall man holds out his hand for a handshake. Just before he did, his knees buckled, and he fell to the floor. He smiled shyly as he shook my hand.

“Sorry, I’m Kane, a member of the third class party, the God of Liquor. The dwarf over there is Arman of the fourth class party, the Anvil.”

“I am Takifu, and this is Mir. We came to help at the request of Ivan-san.”

Arman the dwarf stands up and looks at me.

“Hey, what happened to the guys who escaped from here? Two of the fourth-class adventurers went to Sarz to ask for help.”

“Is that the young one with the funny-looking mustache?”

“That’s him.”

You remember it well, don’t you, Myrril-san? I didn’t even get a good look at him.

“They’re safe. They were outside the guild, dripping with tears, desperately calling for help. They must have been the source of the information about your situation and the request for help. We only know what Ivan-san told us.”

“Oh, I see. So they managed to escape, huh?”

“You did a good job of holding things up. Are there only three of you that can move?”

“For now. If they get some rest, even those without magic can at least walk. However, it will take about half a day before they’re ready for battle.”

In this world, there is no other way to deal with the loss of magic power than to rest. Well, I don’t remember hearing about potions or anything like that since I came here.

“Do you have any recovery potions?”

“No. I ran out of recovery potions. I’ve used up all my recovery potions, and magic recovery potions are too expensive for a third-class adventurer to buy.”

I see, there are such things.

Of course, I don’t have any. I’ve never seen it, it wasn’t in the supplies I took, and there’s no way I could buy it from Simon.

Anyway, if everyone is safe, there’s no hurry, right? Myrril-san looked at me and nodded.

“Hmm. Well then… let’s try the food, shall we?”

“””Huh.”””

The adventurers look at us suspiciously. Well, it might come as a surprise to hear that in a cave full of monsters and beasts.

“Don’t worry; we killed most of the monsters when we got here. Your friends can’t move when they’re like this, and you can’t fight when you’re hungry. They should be able to recover faster if they eat something with magic in it.”

“Are you going to roast the monsters you kill? Here?”

“That’s not too bad, but we have some pre-cooked stuff.”

With a line that sounded like something out of a cooking show, I pulled out a large pot of stew from my storage. I made a simple table out of a cardboard box and set out large, deep plates and bowls. The adventurers seemed surprised at the sight of the supplies appearing one after the other, but in their adventurer way, they didn’t inquire about my skills.

“Oh, Takifu. That is your prey.”

I used my Sturm Ruger (Mk2) to kill a group of horned rabbits that had wandered out and put them away while I prepared the table.

“Huh? So fast…like it was a one-way job.”

The group of horned rabbits was seven in all. It was the first time I saw them on the second floor. Maybe the deeper ones are more dense with external magic, or maybe their physique is a little bigger than the ones on the first floor. I don’t know how many dozens of rabbits are already in storage, but upon closer inspection, they look like tasty creatures. However, considering the effort of dismantling them, I don’t feel like eating them right now.

“You can eat rabbit meat, can’t you? We have a lot of rabbit meat, so we can share it as a souvenir when we get back home.”

“No, we almost died, but you say it as if you came here for fun…”

“No, it is only when you are safe and sound that I can make light of your situation. If even one of you had been seriously injured or killed, I wouldn’t have been able to relax like this, you know?”

“Is that… so…?

“I don’t understand.”

The two party leaders seemed to be facing a culture gap between the Republic and Casemaian, but they would not be able to return home safely unless they at least ate something. I’m a little hungry myself.

After the table was set, I handed them deep plates and encouraged them to share their own food. The large pot was still hot, and the flatbreads on the platter were still slightly steamed. A small moan could be heard nearby.

“Well, let’s eat. Why don’t you girls join us?”

“…Ah, Itadakimasu.”

Among the group members who had been lying down, a woman wearing a robe and holding a staff who appeared to be a mage and a woman with a short bow stood up.

“…U-ugh.”

The large man with the shield beside them seemed unable to get up, only grunting in pain. He was examined lightly, but there were no external injuries.

“Do you think you’ll be able to eat?”

“I’m sorry, I… can’t. If you have any water, could you… give it to me?”

I took out a large plastic bottle of mineral water, opened the lid, and handed it to him.

“T-thank you.”

He was out of breath but took the bottle with a trembling hand and drank the 1.5 liters of water in a flash. He exhaled happily and then suddenly became agitated.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“O-oh… sorry… I’m sorry about the precious water.”

“Is that what this is about? I don’t care; I have plenty more. You’re all welcome to have some if you want.”

When I set out a dozen shrink-wrapped 500-milliliter plastic bottles, everyone cheered, pried open the lids, and gulped them down.

“You were that thirsty? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“Takifu may not understand. Normally, your mouth gets dry when you’re in battle.”

No, you say that as if I’m not normal. And you, too, Myrril-san. I offered her a bottle, but she shook her head.

“No, it was my fault. I wanted to make a day trip and didn’t have any water on me.”

Kane, who appears to be the leader of the group and carries a large sword, hangs his head.

“You can always think about that next time. Now, why don’t we eat before it gets cold?”

“””Itadakimasu!”””

The adventurers, who had started to eat in a row, immediately started to devour the food. Impressed by the taste, they started to say something to each other, but the eaters just let out a grunt and a groan. The man with the shield, now recovered from his thirst, bowed his head and began to eat as I served him a bowl of stew.

“Mmm, mmm!”

He took a second helping after another and then began to eat it with teary eyes or sniff it as a sign that he wanted some left over for himself. Are you puppies?

“Relax, there’s plenty more. If you need more, there’s some bread with grilled meat on it.”

“I-I’ve never tasted anything so good!”

“It’s heartwarming…”

“The sauce is sweet and sour and thick. It’s too good!”

“My magic.”

The mage woman froze, her eyes wide open.

“Such, healing, and… no, it’s different. This… amount of magic itself…!”

“Oh, it seems to have worked immediately.”

Myrril tilted her head with a smile. As expected of a mage, can she be aware of the results of ingesting food that contains magical power? I can only feel a slight warmth in my body.

“What is this… meat?”

“It’s earth dragon meat.”

“””Earth dragon!?”””

The adventurers’ hands stopped. Oh… yes, of course it is. When you have seen the real thing, even more so.

“Taste it well and make it your flesh and blood. It is a delicacy that even we do not enjoy very often.”

“…Delicacy, you say…”

“And in this bread is the meat of a wyvern.”

“””What?”””

Some people who had been absorbed in the stew reached for the wyvern sandwiches when they heard this. It’s funny how everyone starts tasting it again, looking at the air and munching, realizing that it’s an unknown ingredient.

Kane, the leader of the group, then realizes something.

“No, wait, we can’t pay for this stuff you’re serving us. I don’t even know if it can be bought with money.”

“It’s inevitable that we’ve already eaten it. I’ll pay for it with my body. The value is more than worth it.”

The dwarf girl laughed when she saw Arman devouring the food with a hungry look on his face.

“Don’t worry, we won’t take any money from you. I don’t need your body, either. You have done a noble deed, and this is your reward.”

“A reward?”

“Yes, from His Majesty the Demon King!”

Myrril-san flutters her hand and points at me as if to say, “Ta-da!” Please don’t do that; I look like a mass-produced old man.

“””Huh!?”””

See? The adventurers froze with open mouths and became stone statues.

◇ ◇

Somehow, the large pot of stew that seemed to hold enough for twenty people was almost empty. Since the men did not seem to have eaten enough, I added a little water to what was left at the bottom of the pot and made ojiya by adding barley rice cooked at the Wolf’s Tail Pavilion. Making a fire was a hassle, so I used a white gasoline stove I got from Simon before I went to Lafan and had not used it since. There were no ingredients left, so I added some wyvern meatballs and sprinkled some nourishing and strengthening herbs that Minya had picked for me some time ago.

“Oh… this is delicious too…!”

“Amazing… I feel like my body is screaming with joy.”

“This round thing tastes so good.”

“I-it’s so frustrating… I can’t eat anymore…”

“Oh, but there is something sweet.

“””I’ll eat it!”””

I knew it; women had a separate stomach for that.

I placed the baked goods and chocolates on a platter and handed out cups of herbal tea. The herbs were picked by the elves in Casemaian. I have heard that it has a restorative and fatigue-relieving effect.

“Sweet… It’s so sweet…”

It seems that sweetness is precious in the Republic, and not only the women but also the men tasted the sweets happily.

“Huff, it’s a blessing…”

“I agree, but I ate too much. It hurts…”

By the time they finished eating, everyone seemed to have regained their magic and strength, but this time they were too full to move. We decided to take a short break after eating so that we would not have to rush out now. 

There were seven of them, four in the third class and three in the fourth class. In today’s Sarz, where there has been an exodus of adventurers and businesses have shrunk, you could say that they are qualified. They are all well-trained and have enthusiastic eyes, although they look to be in their 20s. From an old man’s perspective, this makes me smile.

My eyes are already cloudy.

“Um… Your Majesty, the Demon King? I am grateful for your help, but what were you doing in such a remote place?”

The magician speaks to me softly.

“Oh, you can call me Takifu. I’m taking a break from the Demon King business.”

“Huh… I mean, can a demon king take a break?”

“Yeah. I have reliable friends and subordinates. Now that I have my winter break, I am working as both an adventurer and a merchant in the Republic.”

“A merchant? A vacation, an adventurer… even though you’re a demon king?”

The mage woman tilted her head more and more as she listened to the conversation, and suddenly she noticed Myrril standing next to me.

“And what about you…? You look like a dwarf, don’t you?”

“I’m his wife.”

“””Eeehh.”””

“I am a dwarf, a demon queen, and yet, although Takifu is a demon king, he is a human being. In the Demon King’s territory of Casemaian, we don’t care much about race.”

“Huh.”

“Is that what this is about?” is what you can see on the faces of the adventurers. However, they don’t seem to know enough about the situation outside the country to argue against it and have decided to accept it as reality, with a wry look in each of their eyes.

Casemaian, the Demon King. It may or may not have been long after they learned what it meant that their blood began to boil.