I Was Reincarnated As An Instructor In An R18 Game... - Chapter 40

The next day, it was 7 AM.

In front of the inn, I pull Niimi close and kiss her.

“Take care… Reid-san.”

“Niimi, I’m off.”

After kissing the smiling Niimi once more, I leave Suzuya and head toward the castle gate to exit the capital.

My destination is the castle gate on 7th Street, from where I will board a carriage heading south.

About three days’ travel south by carriage, there is a town called Santoni.

It’s said to be the second largest city after the capital, and a place where the three songstresses often perform.

As I walk, I glance down at the documents handed to me by the adventurers yesterday.

There were two things I asked for. First, the matter of the noble who was entrusted with managing the church.

Erika had informed me that Baron Abonano was in charge, but the adventurer’s papers contain some bad rumors.

The second matter is about the songstress’ patron.

Since I knew that Baron Tegagusa was the patron, I had them focus the investigation on the bad rumors and his movements.

The reason I asked the adventurers is simple.

Rumors spread quickly among adventurers, it’s almost like each one has their own network of information.

From hunting grounds, escort requests in other towns, discussions about items and clothing, to bad rumors.

Their profession relies on keeping their lives, so they generally avoid dangerous requests or clients.

Among the bad rumors in that network of information, there are mentions of Baron Abonano and Baron Tegagusa.

I sighed and, seeing the castle gate ahead, I stashed the papers into my magic bag.

There are quite a few adventurers and merchants who use carriages in the morning.

Perhaps because of this, I search for an empty carriage while observing the slightly larger flow of people.

I need to avoid carriages that have posted escort requests at the guild, but surprisingly, these are often available.

The reason is often because they were quickly prepared for a sudden business deal, or because commoners urgently need to travel elsewhere.

In smaller towns, reservations are essential, but in this large capital city, I can find one without a reservation.

Among them, I freeze when I see a familiar adventurer waving at me.

In front of a carriage with a spacious wagon that could comfortably seat about six people, there was Minty, smiling and waving energetically.

…No, I have a bad feeling about this already.

As Minty waved, I noticed Satur and Rolle nearby.

That means… the client must be here.

Minty was shouting something toward the wagon, and then Erika appeared from it.

Erika, dressed as a traveler, looked for me where Minty pointed, then smiled with an intimidating expression and spoke.

(Get… over… here.)

“Ah, I might be scared for the first time in a while.”

I unintentionally said it out loud.

I wonder why I feel fear when a woman smiles like that.

…No, I understand why they are angry.

Letting out a sigh, I walked over to Erika and the others.

–

A few minutes after leaving the capital, Erika and the others picked me up and set off right away.

Rolle was driving the carriage, with Satur beside her, seems like they’ll take turns.

Erika sat in the wagon, arms and legs crossed atop a crate, wearing a terrifying smile.

I sat on a crate across from her, waiting for Erika to speak.

While keeping an eye behind us, Minty glanced our way and gave a wry smile.

“Don’t you have something you should be saying?”

“… Ah~ But I did tell you, right?”

“Hoho…? So I hear you’re going to be away from the capital for a while… passing the message through Merine?”

“No, I mean… we didn’t get a chance to meet, and you’ve got school and everything.”

Even if Croana granted an exemption, she’d still fall behind in her studies.

Erika re-crossed her legs, let out a soft sigh, and continued with a look of exasperation.

“If this were just about you personally, Reid-san, I would’ve stayed behind. But this is for the songstresses, right? The ones I sponsor, correct?”

“…Alright, I get it. I’m sorry. But I genuinely wanted you to focus on your studies.”

Erika let out a deep sigh again at my reply, then finally smiled and shook her head.

Even Minty, who was silently keeping watch behind, smiled slyly upon seeing Erika’s expression.

“Reid-san, patrons basically provide financial support and help with travel to provinces. But if I do the songstresses a favor this time, their trust with me will deepen. I’m not just acting out of kindness, you could say I have a cunning side too.”

“…Maybe say things like that once you’ve gotten better at hiding your feelings.”

Erika blushed at my words and pouted angrily, clearly embarrassed.

Minty laughed happily at my words, and I could hear laughter from the driver’s seat too.

What could a woman who listened to the three songstresses, looked worried, and finalized the details in one day possibly be saying?

I silently repeated to myself what I thought when I first met Erika.

… Even if I were deceived by her, I wouldn’t hold a grudge. In fact, I’d praise her.

–

It was midday, probably just past 2 p.m.

We were preparing lunch in a flat, open plain.

Generally, monsters don’t appear where people pass frequently, but just off the beaten path, they quickly show up.

Stopping the carriage to feed the horses and hunt monsters for food was a basic routine for adventurers and travelers.

However, you have to be careful in case you end up with a troublesome monster.

Usually, adventurers target boar-type monsters called Boars or wolf-type ones called Wolves.

But occasionally, you draw the unlucky card and get a bear-type monster, a Grizzly.

If you encounter colored variants like Red or Green there, you’d better be ready to fight for your life.

People usually assume they can run away, but the monsters follow your scent all the way back to the carriage.

Well, that usually happens with adventurers or travelers who aren’t good at sensing presences or magic.

The three adventurers traveling with me seem to have been trained by Silver Wolves in my mountains and hunt monsters easily.

And they even quickly bleed out and butcher the monsters…

I took out a simple magical stove and began grilling meat in a frying pan.

Minty watched me grilling the meat nearby while staying alert to our surroundings, clearly pleased.

“Instructor’s cooking~ Hehe, it’s been a while~♪”

“…Uh, this is just simple travel food, isn’t it?”

“Teacher’s cooking is delicious.”

Erica tilted her head at Minty’s words, and Rolle, who had just returned from keeping watch, cut in.

I gave a small smile at the three of them and arranged the grilled meat on plates on the temporary table.

In this world, travel food basically means seasoning with salt or just grilling it plain.

You can eat delicious food in cities or villages, but adventurers’ meals are more about just getting something edible or filling your stomach.

Naturally, that kills motivation and takes away any joy in eating.

Looking back, the war times were the most miserable…

Though seasonings were available, I regularly debated with fellow soldiers about why the food was left bland.

Once the meat was cooked for everyone, including myself, I called the others.

Then, everyone stabbed their meat with forks and ate heartily.

…That’s strange, I thought I grilled large pieces of meat for the three adventurer girls?

The meat for the three girls kept disappearing quickly from their plates.

Erika delicately cut the meat into smaller pieces with her knife, took a bite, and then froze.

“…Erika? The meat gets tough when it cools down, so eat it quickly, okay?”

“Eh… yes. Huh? This… huh?”

Watching Erika eat with a head full of question marks, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

By the way, the three adventurer girls had already finished eating and returned to keeping watch.

I don’t know when, but they’ve washed the plates they used with water and set them aside.

They probably used magical tools… but when exactly did they do that?

I can’t blame Erika for being confused.

In this world, salt and pepper exist separately, but the familiar blended seasoning from my past life doesn’t exist.

That’s right, there’s no salt-and-pepper blend; normally, if they exist separately, you’d expect a blend too.

And truly, it doesn’t exist.

I seriously searched for it, even went to a spice shop and asked the owner.

Since there was no choice, I blended salt and pepper myself, adjusting the ratio by taste.

If I put it in small bottles, I can just sprinkle a little when cooking, making it convenient.

Come to think of it, when I first served it to the adventurers in the mountains, they fought over it…

So, every adventurer who visits Suzuya without fail carries the salt and pepper blend I made.

…Though a very few who are bad at cooking don’t have it.

I explained it to Erika after she finished eating, and she was surprised.

When I suggested maybe selling it, she gave me a distant look, so I changed the subject.

Chapter length 3604 characters.