Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival [WN] - Chapter 25.2

“…What is that?”

Viro had a nice smelling basket in his one hand. When I pointed it out, he opened the lid of the basket as if he just remembered.

“Aria, you’ve been asleep for a whole day. I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you your share, along with my breakfast. Eat up.”

“…Meat…”

I thought it was the day after last night, but it was already the day after that.

But the [breakfast] Viro brought was boiled herb sausage and thickly sliced ham. The whole breakfast consisted of meat only, a seared lamb with sauce on the bone.

It was “typical” for an adventurer’s diet, but I would have preferred something light since I had nothing in my stomach for more than a day…

“…Must eat.”

Since my magic power was almost depleted in that battle once, my body was craving for food.

And since I didn’t know when I would be able to eat again, not eating was not an option for me. Also, it wasn’t poisonous. Still, the taste of the oil made something rise in my stomach, so I chomped on the ham like a little animal and pulled out the necessary information from Viro.

Apparently, those hobgoblins were really stragglers, and they had already cleaned out their nests in other areas, but a few of the goblins they had missed had unknowingly drifted down here. 

Dandol, who received the report, had dispatched the knights yesterday, so they will clean up the demons in this area with the prestige of the knighthood.

“…And what about my job?”

I had defeated the hobgoblin, but if it was a surveillance mission, I should have just warned the Maid not to approach the vicinity and gone back to report the situation. And since I had skipped a whole day of work after that, I couldn’t believe that Castro, who loathed that slum brat, would let me off like this.

When I asked with that implication in mind, Viro crossed his arms thoughtfully as he gulped down his (morning) fruit wine from the mutton he’d devoured.

“So, I hear you’ve got a new job, huh?”

“A new job?”

“Oh…and you’re just in time to hear it from the person herself. Come on in, Sera.”

As soon as Viro called behind him, there was a knock at the door of the room, and a beautiful, wheat-skinned maid entered through the door.

“…”

Viro seemed to have noticed her presence way earlier, but my detection skills couldn’t even detect any signs of her approach.

[Maid] [Race: Human ??] 

[Magic: 170/220] [Strength: 245/260] 

[Total Combat Value: 929 (With Physical Enhancements: 1126)] 

…She was not just a Maid, she was an extraordinarily skilled fighter with combat power almost on the same level to that of Viro.

This skin color… “Cruzian”?

Just as there were types of subhuman beastmen, like the Dog and Cat races, there were also different types of human races.

For dwarves, there were [mountain dwarves] who were good at woodworking and craftsmanship and [rock dwarves] who were good at blacksmithing, and for elves, there were [forest elves] and [dark elves].

And for humans, there were two races in this continent, and the wheat-colored skinned [Cruzians] were the first race in this continent, and although they were not excellent at attribute magic, they were supposed to be good at combat with high agility and dexterity.

The other race of white-skinned people like me and Viro were called [Mercenians], and we were descendants of people who migrated from the northern continent about 1,000 years ago.

In the Kingdom of Cleydale, 70% of the people were Mercenians, 20% were subhuman, and only 10% were Cruzians.

Even so, it was said that after a thousand years; the people had become much more mixed, and there was almost no racial difference between the two. I think that native-born Mercenians could only be found in the northern continent or among the nobility, and native-born Cruzians could only be found in the Khalfaan Empire or the United Kingdom of Ganzar, which were located to the west.

The Cruzian Maid, Sera, looked at the [meat and liquor] that Viro brought for me with a cold gaze, and then removed the dome-shaped lid from the metal tray in her hand.

“What are you feeding a sick child? You should eat this. I’ve made you a milk barley porridge.”

First, she directed her anger to Viro for his lack of common sense, and then handed me a bowl of milk porridge with a faintly sweet smell.

She was surprisingly pushy and forced me to accept it, but it was far better than meat, and to be honest, I was not concerned about it as long as it filled my stomach.

“Listen to me while you eat. First, I will return your equipment that I collected at the site.”

Sera watched with satisfaction as I started eating, then pushed Viro out of the way and sat down in a chair, placing my equipment at the side of the bed.

Additional information: Viro has a weakness for strange, strong-willed women.

“This magic steel knife is good. There were also other money items that I kept, so now check them out and see if all are here.”

“…And the string weights?”

I wished I could say that it didn’t matter because everything was replaceable except the black knife, but besides the throwing knife and some spare knives, there was only the distorted copper coin, and the braid of my hair was missing.

“I single-handedly decided that it was quite damaged and could not be reused, so I disposed of that one at my discretion. It’s not a problem, right?”

“…Yes.”

If it can’t be used, it can’t be helped. However, with my remaining hair left in my belongings, I would not have enough left to weave a new cord. …I’ll have to think of a new replacement weapon.

As I finished my barley porridge while mulling over such thoughts, Sera, who put away the bowl, turned to me once again.

“I have a new job for you. You are only rank 1, but I heard you are an adventurer as well, so this is a direct request to you as an adventurer, not through Viro.”

“A request?”

Sera nodded at my reply and spoke up about the request.

“Would you like to work under me as a Maid Apprentice and train to become an Escort Maid?”