Chapter 178 – Stopped Footsteps.
“Would you like to chew some too?”
Krikaliev asked as she was just staring.
“Call me Helena. Is there a reason you chew leaves more than that?”
“It’s a substitute for brushing your teeth.”
“Brushing teeth?”
Helena walked over to their side and saw the mangrove leaves they were chewing on. Looking closely, I saw white grains on the leaves, so I took off the grains and tasted them, and the salty taste spread in my mouth.
“Salt?”
“Mangrove trees are able to absorb water through their roots and excrete the remaining salt through their leaves.”
The act of disinfecting teeth by brushing with salt water was quite common. Since the sand of the vast wilderness contains a lot of salt, it was mixed with water to separate it from the soil. However, if salt is secreted separately from mangrove leaves, such troublesome work would not be necessary.
“There are many strange creatures here. It’s strange that plants grow in salt water. I can’t believe I can get salt like this.”
Helena was convinced and put her mangrove leaf in her mouth. The bitter and salty taste of the mangrove seemed to erase the fishy smell that seemed to still linger. She and she remembered the way the shop where she bought the skewers yesterday wrapped the skewers in mangrove leaves and grilled them. She thought that the leaves were scented to get rid of the nasty smell, but she didn’t think that was the only reason. Just as she chewed and spit out the mangrove leaves, Nausicaa spoke to her.
“You said Helena was from another country, right?”
“Yes, but.”
Helena responded with a subtle look on her face when she called her by her title. Then Nausicaa ran towards her with her bright smile.
“As expected! As soon as the old man came yesterday, he boasted that he had a lot of money, and she showed me Lan Tua’s gold coins! It’s your sister’s, right?!”
“Yes.”
Then she wondered if she was bragging about it, and when she saw Krikaliev, he was looking at the mangroves and blowing her whistle.
“Wow! Living here, I’ve seen a lot of people say they’re from another country, but this is the first time I’ve been to Lantua!”
That must be the first time. Few people even knew that Lantua was originally a country that belonged to the same district as Parz.
“How do people usually live there? Or what kind of creatures live there?”
Nausicaa began to chatter and ask various things, and Helena was perplexed. The twinkling of her eyes with her curiosity was enough to make her even more burdened. Because she wasn’t particularly sociable. She was especially at a loss as to how to deal with children younger than she was. Nausicaa seemed to be enough to call her a woman, but she still had much of her freshness left. She was at a time when Helena was choosing not to let out stinging words, and she was asking another question, and she couldn’t bear to answer.
“Huam. Helena?”
Belka, rubbing her eyes as if she had just woken up, came out to her backyard as if she had promised her.
“Miss? Are you awake?”
“I heard a sound.”
Apparently, their voices were quite loud. Because of this, Nausicaa’s curiosity was immediately transferred to her Belka and ran towards her.
“What’s your name? You’re from Lantua too!”
“?”
The girl who looked up at the figure of Nausicaa approaching her, immediately answered calmly.
“I’m Belka.”
“You know my name? Nausicaa! By the way, aren’t you and Helena wearing special cosmetics? Just Lantua’s cosmetics!”
“Wouldn’t it be a bit early for me and Nausicaa?”
“Collock! I know you don’t use it. Don’t say the same thing as Mr. Yoff! It’s a small thing!”
She was watching Belka answer Nausicaa’s words as if she were pouring out words she hadn’t been able to say since meeting yesterday.
“So what are you going to do next? Yesterday I knocked him down and came back.”
His voice, as he said so, was lowered so as not to reach the girls.
“First of all, I want to make sure that Mr. Usher’s condition is getting better.”
“I wouldn’t even say it if possible. How did you get bitten by that bastard?”
Hearing Krikaliev’s words, Helena also sensed that there was something in him. She didn’t know how to explain it, but her manhood gave her an indescribable feeling of discomfort. While their conversation stops, Nausicaa’s voice interrupts.
“Oh, right! Have you ever brushed your teeth with mangrove leaves?”
“Is that how you brush your teeth here?”
“No! It’s just that Mr. Yoff is comfortable!”
Belka tilted her head, she obediently bit the mangrove leaf, but Helena glanced back at Krikaliev.
“Oh, it’s time to eat! Nausicaa! Give me some food!”
“Old man prepares it himself!”
“Really?”
“Ugh, I’ll just do it.”
Nausicaa must have remembered something wrong with her, and she went back to her inn with a pale complexion, and Helena had no choice but to put her hair on her head.
“Replacement.”
She was a really unpredictable man. So they ended up sitting at an awkward table. It was awkward to sit apart when there were only them as guests, but Helena asked curiously.
“Aren’t you sure the price of the meal was calculated separately?”
“Hee hee! As long as the food isn’t overly expensive, the service is possible? You’ll have to talk a lot instead, right?”
Looking at Krikaliev, wondering if he would really be okay with that, he waved his hand as if he was okay.
“Well, how is it? He doesn’t have any customers anyway, and his hobby is listening to strangers. And this is what I shoot.”
“Without paying money!”
“Who opened this shop?”
“I’m sorry!”
I felt it from the first time I met them, but they were really innocent. Like a family Looking at the name, it doesn’t seem like that. Above all, Krikaliev looked like a human even when he was hiding, and Nausicaa was a harpy. Helena decided not to dig too deep. Because they have their own circumstances.
“Here! Special Baklazan Pie is here!”
“Isn’t there any meat in it?”
“I took it off today!”
In fact, before Helena entered her kitchen, she was going to teach Belka that she couldn’t eat her meat, but she didn’t have to.
“I heard that from Belka! Everyone who comes is asking just in case!”
She was a smarter and smarter girl than I thought.
“Eh, I’m going to work in the morning, isn’t it a little reassuring?”
“So you made another one for you.”
Surely they shared a pie, while Krikaliev had a slice and an extra pie.
“Ghmm, vegetables aren’t very energy efficient.”
“It sounds strange again. You don’t hate vegetables, so why are you doing that?”
With their bickering in the background, Helena took a picture of a piece of pie. The contents of the pie were in the form of a red sauce centered on layered baklazan. When I took a bite, I was blown away by the sweet and sour taste with a slightly spicy scent, and the sweet baklazan and bread slices. In particular, the mangrove leaves used like herbs matched better than I thought. Apparently the baklazan was eggplant and the red sauce was tomato sauce. Helena quietly admired.
“Excellent. It’s been a long time since I had such delicious food.”
Even when she was with Jude, she could eat what could be called a delicacy, but unfortunately she couldn’t remember the taste. If she was with such a person, even the most expensive delicacy would fade. On the contrary, I was just glad I didn’t vomit it.
“Hehe! Did you hear that, too? My skills are this good! So, eat without complaint!”
“Can’t I just use the kitchen? It’s not very efficient either.”
“Stop it! No matter how good meat is, a man who says that it’s meat and eats it is strange!”
Watching her quarrel again, Nausicaa’s gaze soon turned to Belka, who was eating her pie without saying anything.
“So! What is the most important evaluation of our baby rabbit?”
“A baby rabbit…”
“A rabbit?”
Since everyone except Nausicaa was looking at it curiously, she said confidently as if there was something wrong.
“Why? It’s like how it looks and how it tastes. It’s just a baby rabbit that’s harmless, right?”
Following her gaze, Nausicaa pushed forward as if she had already decided whether or not she knew Belka and knew what they were thinking.
“So how does it taste?”
“Yeah, it’s delicious.”
“Okay! The majority vote rejects the old man’s opinion! If it’s not enough, I’ll make more. Stay still!”
“…A baby rabbit?”
Then the girl’s murmur echoed belatedly as Nausicaa headed towards her kitchen. But even after she came back, she asked Belka some more questions and the girl answered them, so there was no chance to answer her questions.
“I heard there are many dwarves living in Lantua?”
Even after the meal, she seemed to have many things she wanted to ask.
“Sorry. I have somewhere to go now.”
They had to go check Usher’s condition. Jeremiah thought she would take good care of her, but she could see Belka fidgeting. For now, it doesn’t matter if you leave your luggage behind, but she’s got money in case something goes wrong.
“Huh, then tell me more later.”
Nausicaa couldn’t hide her regret when they said they were leaving for a while, but she was soon seen waving her hand loudly in front of her inn.
“Mister, have a good day! Don’t forget to buy something delicious on the way back!”
“OK!”
“Why are you following me?”
When Helena asked how Krikaliev casually followed them, he pointed to her bag on her back and said,
“What is it? I’m going to work.”
“Parzu’s resistance is on the other side.”
“You have to catch the fish first. I didn’t mean to escort you.”
I could tell it was pure goodwill, but I couldn’t figure out why it was so suspicious. Among them, the biggest reason is that he always wraps himself in old cloth, so I have never seen his bare face. He was living a daily life with the old cloths he had seen when he first met them, as if he was not frustrated or uncomfortable. Even when eating. And that, in Helena’s eyes, was a very suspicious but somehow familiar habit.
“…Are you a knight by any chance?”
“Her?”
For the first time in her life, Krikaliev looked at her in amazement. Yea it was A figure wrapped in something to protect the body to the extent of thoroughness. Even in such a state, living a daily life without much inconvenience was not a mere mercenary or fighter, but a soldier who was ready to go into battle at any time, and that was also the case of a knight. He looked around and noticed that he had already come to the corner where Jeremiah’s hut was, and said as if he couldn’t help it.
“Once upon a time.”
“If only once?”
“Now I don’t know what to call myself, so I won’t go into detail.”
And then, without a word, he walked to Jeremiah’s hut. Helena couldn’t say anything more when she saw the man she thought was suspicious. If she was a knight, she could be said to be an elite soldier close to a combat weapon, but she didn’t have the courage to find out why such a person was hiding behind her and acting as her dealer.
“By the way, wasn’t the young lady trying to take care of the little girl with the little girl?”
However, after Helena took Belka to Usher’s presence, she was accompanying Krikaliev. On his back were several large traps made of twigs, all but one of which were Dvayaka.
“Because there are still many things I want to ask you.”
“I have no intention of dating anyone.”
“Don’t worry about that. You don’t care in the slightest in that way.”
He and Helena passed by and chatted.
“George, how’s the sun today?”
“It feels like my flesh is being grilled. Son.”
When he reached the checkpoint he met the guards he met earlier, though he had to stop talking for a moment.
“Is that maid from yesterday?”
“How can I come along with you?”
“Um, it would be difficult if it became a problem.”
“Hey, what’s wrong? I only caught one today. Can you see it?”
“This…!”
Although Helena almost couldn’t get past, she was able to move on with Krikaliev slipping him a pot containing the tebrani, the only one caught among the dvayakas.
“Do you usually pass checkpoints like this?”
“Catsy is crazy about Tebrani. And she’s a trustworthy friend.”
They passed through the checkpoint and walked out of the city in silence.
“But he must be frantic. Would he really be okay with coming all the way here?”
“Yes, I’ve already made up my mind.”
“So what are you curious about?”
He couldn’t help it, he asked. The moment he entered the alley, he ran into a person he never wanted to see again.
“It was that you didn’t know that man was a wizard.”
In front of them stood Jude, who was propped against a wall covered in blood, blocking them.
