Chapter 182: Homesickness in the Indoor Market

Chapter 182 - Homesickness in the Indoor Market

Just to be sure, Hikaru reported to the Adventurers Guild that he'd completed his delivery task to the Tower. The guild in Agiapole was far smaller compared to other nations and well-organized. But the receptionists were beautiful women all the same.

Apparently, the Church's temple knights dealt with monsters, so only escort and harvesting jobs were available to adventurers. And since no adventurer would come to a guild with few requests, it became smaller and smaller.

「I've logged your arrival here, Sir Hikaru.」the receptionist said.「But Ponsonia's foreign minister will be the one to verify the completion of the request.」

「Okay.」

「Where are you staying in Agiapole?」

「I haven't checked into a place yet. I heard there's a Grand Hotel here, so I'm thinking of staying there.」

Grand Hotel, a hotel chain with branches all over the continent. First-class and huge, the cost of staying was expensive.

「I-I see. What are your plans today?」the receptionist asked, smoothing down her hair.

She realized Hikaru was loaded enough to stay at such a grand place. Even rank D was considered high in this guild.

Lavia and Paula were staring daggers at them from behind. Hikaru gave vague answers, and they left the guild.

Grand Hotel Agiapole had vacant rooms. After checking in, they went out once again...

『Finally, it's my time!』

...because Drake was too persistent. The drakon was annoyed that only he didn't get to eat pancakes at the café.

『Food stands, here we come!』

「Yeah, about that... I don't see any food stand.」

『...What?』

After walking down the streets of this white city, Hikaru noticed it was too organized. Food stands, which always filled the streets of other cities, couldn't be found here. There was nothing wrong with being organized. But too much and it seemed like the place was devoid of life.

『N-No way! My food trip!』

「We didn't come here to eat, you know.」

『Must be nice being you. You had that white, sweet stuff earlier!』

「Ah, that was delicious. I didn't know they had white sugar actually.」

This nation was too obsessed with the color white that they developed a technology to remove impurities from brown sugar to produce white sugar, even using magic.Don't they have anything better to do? But I guess it's just one of those things.

『I wanna eat! I wanna eat! I wanna eat!』

「Hey, keep it down!」

Hikaru covered Drake's mouth who happened to be on Lavia's chest.

「Kyaa?!」

「Ah, my bad—」

They had just stepped out of the hotel. Passerby's stopped, wondering what was going on.

「L-Let's go.」

They left in a hurry.

After asking around, they found out that there were food stands in this city. Not only that, but also a market. Except they were all indoors.

「Wow... I didn't expect all of them to be indoors.」

Before them was a huge, white warehouse with a high, dome-shaped ceiling. Rather than a warehouse, it was more of a gymnasium, only four times bigger than normal. Its giant doors facing the street were wide open.

High-spirited voices of people doing business rolled from within. Waves of people entered and left, carrying purses and the goods they bought.

「Oh...」

The inside was far warmer than outside from the crowd of people. Various scents hung in the air, mixing together—the aroma of grilled fish, fat, and spices, the smell of old furniture, and the scent of people—which made them dizzy.

The Pope did not allow doing business out on the streets, so the city had to build an indoor marketplace. It looked both like a flea market, and a food stand street. The presence of Beastmen indicated that even foreigners came here. There were thirteen of these places all throughout Agiapole.

Then, Hikaru's nose caught a familiar, sweet aroma. He hadn't smelled it before in this world.

「Don't tell me...」

Hikaru discovered something.

「I-I'm exhausted...」

Spending thirty minutes in the indoor market made them sick. Lavia threw in the towel, while Paula didn't have the energy to say anything. Their hands full of groceries, they stepped out of the building. The Pope also prohibited eating outside. Instead, a food court was built next to the market.

「They sure love their proper manners...」

The food court wasn't as crowded. They were able to take vacant seats and relax. Drake didn't waste time in devouring the dried fish. Every bite made a cracking sound as though he was eating dead twigs.

「I wasn't expecting them to have this...」Hikaru said.

For him, weaving through the crowd was worth it.

「Your eyes seemed to light up when you bought that.」Lavia said.

「What's that white thing?」Paula asked.

「It's staple food, kinda like bread. You cook it in water and it turns like this.」

Ill-shaped, round, white food. The wave of nostalgia made him buy five of it, even though he didn't really eat that many at once back in Japan.

「It's rice. And this dish is called onigiri. Actually, I'm not sure if you could call it a dish.」

「Is it really that good?」

「Try one.」Hikaru urged.

The girls, wearing doubtful expressions, took one each. They frowned as the rice stuck to their fingers.

「Of course this world would have rice.」

Hikaru had already tried noodles made with rice flour, but not actual rice. Hikaru asked the seller why they were serving this and they answered "Because it's white". Apparently, it wasn't really popular among the people.

This one moment made Hikaru thank this country's obsession with the color white. Hikaru took one as well. It was cold and hard.

He took a bite and chewed. It wasn't cooked enough and was still hard. The rice itself didn't have the sweetness that Japanese rice had. It was long and thin and had a particular odor to it. If this was served in a restaurant in Japan, one bite and it would've been returned to the kitchen.

「Hikaru?」

「Hikaru-sama...」

The girls watched Hikaru eat quietly.

「It's weird. I have not once felt homesick ever since I came here. I never even felt happy while eating such horrible onigiri before.」

Lavia cautiously took a bite. She frowned and immediately returned the food in the bag. Paula, on the other hand, forced herself to eat hers. Hikaru couldn't help but laugh.

「You don't have to force yourself. If it weren't for the memories, I wouldn't eat it.」

「I see... You have precious memories about this food.」Lavia said.

「Yeah. I used to eat this a lot.」

「.........」

Then, Lavia took her onigiri back out and started eating it.

「You don't need to—」

「I'm not forcing myself. I want to know more about you. Ugh...」

She choked, so Hikaru handed her some juice. The sweetness of the fruit juice didn't complement with the onigiri well.

「So you have this kind of food back in your hometown.」Paula said.

「They're much tastier back home, though.」

「Is that so... It's my first time having one.」Paula said with a hint of regret.

Hikaru understood how she felt.I want to know more about Hikaru-sama, too,is what she was probably thinking. But she hesitated. Hikaru didn't like people prying too much.

I did consider telling her about myself soon. I know. Once this is all over and we get back to Scholarzard, I'll tell her how I came to this world.

Hikaru ate the last piece of onigiri. There was actually one more, Drake's leftover.

『Tastes awful.』the drakon said.