Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

When I arrived at the store, I found Jonas-san talking about something with a store employee.

Good afternoon, Jonas-san.

Oh, Alan-san. Thank you very much for yesterday. Weve finally managed to procure horses for you by the way. I was planning to inform you tomorrow.

I did see two horses tied in front of the store before I came in. They seemed like pretty large horses, but Im not really all that familiar with horses, so I cant be sure.

Its fairly hard to come by these kinds of horses. They can serve both as simple riding horses and war horses just fine. But, well, theyre a bit on the expensive side due to this though

No, that would serve us better actually. You cant compromise your safety and security because of wanting to save money after all. They really seem to be good horses. Well take them.

Thank you very much for your trust. Well then, would you like to leave the horses with us for the meantime until the date of your departure arrives?

Thanks. Ill take you up on that offer. So how much do we need to pay for all of the items?

All in all, it will come to a hundred and fifty thousand Guineas. Weve already applied a discount and subtracted an appropriate amount. These are the particulars.

Jonas-san handed me a memo written on paper, and I checked the contents out.

The carriage is fifty thousand Guineas.

The magic stove is thirty thousand Guineas.

One horse costs thirty thousand Guineas.

Another costs twenty five thousand Guineas.

The rest of the goods amount to fifteen thousand Guineas.

This is a rough summary of the details written on the memo. It looks like the carriage is the most expensive one out of all the items. Theyve probably rounded off the amounts too when applying the discounts. Well, since you can actually start a business as a travelling merchant by using the carriage and the horses, this price is more than reasonable.

Since the money I had on hand was enough to cover the costs, I decided to pay up straight away.

Thank you so much for giving us a discount. Heres the payment.

I gave Jonas-san fifteen regular gold coins.

Thank you for your payment. Were grateful for everything that youve done for us as well. Well then, please inform us a day before your departure. We will prepare everything for you by morning.

Thank you very much. Well be counting on you then. Oh, and can you give this to Tarus-san for me? It seemed that he really liked the risotto yesterday, so I wrote the recipe for him. Im sure the chefs Tarus-san employs are fully capable of making something similar once they take a look at the recipe.

Oh, Alan-san! Thats splendid! Master kept talking about how delicious that dish was when we were coming back from dinner yesterday, so this will surely make him quite happy. I will surely bring this to him later.

I handed Jonas-san the risotto recipe I wrote last night. I would have wanted to hand over the recipe for hamburger steak and potato salad as well if I could, but since theyll need the recipes for mayonnaise, ketchup, and Japanese-style sauce in order to make them, I gave up in the end. I asked for Verses permission before deciding to hand over the risotto recipe, so theres no problem.

I told Jonas-san I will be delivering the finished dryers by tomorrow and went back to the inn.

It was nearly evening when I got back to the inn, and Cleria and the others were already back as well. I found them having some tea in the dining area. It looks like theyre talking quite happily with each other as well.

Hi guys. Whats up? Did something good happen?

Alan! We successfully managed to become C rank adventurers! Selena announced.

Oh! So you already took the assessment tests huh!? Impressive!

Sharon and Selenas skills are to be expected, Cleria added while sounding strangely proud for some reason.

When I asked about the details, they told me that after claiming the armor for the two from Zalukes shop, they proceeded with sparring at the training spot, and determined that their swordsmanship levels were about on par with Clerias, but are still unable to match up to Elna. In terms of magic proficiency, Selena and Sharon win out on magic casting frequency, while Cleria and Elna excel in fine control.

It was quite impressive that they were able to match up with Cleria, who has a lot more swordsmanship experience than them, after just three days. And its understandable that they lost out to Cleria and Elna when it comes to command of their magic spells, since theyve only become able to cast magic just today. They would just have to keep practicing from now on.

Afterward, due to the recommendation of Cleria and Elna, the two proceeded to the Adventurers Guild to take the assessment tests, and successfully obtained C rank. Due to Cleria and Elna tagging along, their party registration also went smoothly.

I see. Congratulations! With this, well be able to act as a party with everyone.

Thats right! Im so relieved! We managed to attain the same rank as everyone else. Sharon answered.

Well, we didnt really have to be in the same rank you know. But Im happy for you guys anyway.

Well, they did end up achieving the same rank as us, so theres no problem. Cleria added.

After hearing about what the girls were up to, it was now my turn to report about my activities.

And so, we finally have some horses now, and Ill be able to finish my job order by tomorrow as well. We can finally set off two days from now.

It looks like were all settled then. So what are the names of the horses we obtained? Cleria inquired.

Hm? I dunno?

Eh? But you did ask about them, right?

Ah, sorry. I failed to ask about their names.

I cant believe it! What do you think, Elna!?

I cant believe it either! Even if theyre just newly acquired, failing to learn the names of your steeds disqualifies you as a knight!

I see. So thats how a knight is like huh.

Im no knight though.

Oh, thats right isnt it. But they will be our new comrades, so it is just proper to get to know their names, alright?

Yeah, I guess. That was thoughtless of me. Come to think of it, I need to learn how to drive a carriage as well. Elna knows how to drive one, right? It would be better if everyone else learns how to drive too.

Aside from Ria-sama, do you all not have any experience in driving a horse carriage?

Nope. We also have no experience in riding horses as well.

Or rather, I havent even touched a horse before. Selena and Sharon nodded to confirm my words.

To think you have no experience in riding horses as well Understood. I will teach you horse riding in turns.

Ill update my database with the required horse-riding skills before we set off. Theres a small fraction of the empires population with horse-riding as a hobby, so we probably have some data available.

Tonights dinner was tagliatelle with meat sauce, fried prawns, and vegetable salad. Theres also some hot pepper sauce included.

What is this dish!?

This is called pasta. Its wheat flour kneaded into long, thin strands, and then boiled in water.

Lets have a taste. Mm, nice! The pasta was perfectly al dente. Were talking about Verse here, so I bet he practiced until morning to get it right. The meat sauce was also great.

This chewy texture is great! Its delicious! Sharon exclaimed.

Its my first time eating such a peculiar dish! Its delicious! Cleria followed up.

I was worried they would not like eating noodle dishes, but it seems they had no problems with it at all. Most of the other diners and guests also quite liked the dish as well. The fried prawns were also great!

We then drank our after-meal tea and discussed our plans for tomorrow.

While we were discussing, there was a call from Iris. It seems Iris got permission and interfaced with Selena to monitor our status constantly, except during Selenas private moments. If shes calling at this timing, does that mean she has something to say about our schedule?

Captain, if possible, I would like you to retrieve the supplies the two of them left inside their escape pods. Nobody has discovered the pods yet as of now, but as the days pass, the risk of them being found grows.

(Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about that. Its indeed better for us to retrieve them. But how will we retrieve the supplies in question?)

The drones are strictly unmanned recon craft, so theyre not equipped with functions to carry supplies. In case of emergencies, people can ride on them, but they can only contain about three to four people in a cramped space.

We can just divide the supplies between different drones.

(Alright then, Sharon and I will go and recover those supplies. There are a number of things I want to get from among the supplies anyway.) Selena volunteered.

I see. Certainly, recovering those supplies doesnt need all three of us for the job. The two of them will do.

(Ill be counting on you two then.)

Oops. I, Selena, and Sharon went quiet all of a sudden, so Cleria and Elna ended up looking at us suspiciously.

Im sorry, but Selena and I have something to do tomorrow, so well probably be out of the city for the whole day

I think its fine. We really dont have any urgent business tomorrow anyway. At most, its just purchasing foodstuffs for the journey and such.

Since Cleria and Elna didnt particularly object, it was decided that Ill be delivering the hair dryers to Tarus-sans place in the morning, go see the horses along the way, go for some shopping if we had the time, continue shopping in the afternoon, and make some courtesy calls while were at it.

Since I didnt really have anything to do tonight, I enjoyed a nice, long bath and went straight to sleep afterward.