A Free Meal Comes at a Price
Ryude let out a small sigh of relief. “Phew, found it.”
Surprisingly, locating the rabbit’s corpse had been easier than expected. Maybe the rain had washed away the scent, because no other beasts seemed to have discovered it. He picked up the rabbit’s head and his dagger, then headed back toward the stream.
The clothes he’d left drying in the sun were now bone-dry. The bloodstains hadn’t come out completely, but they were faint enough to be tolerable. He dressed quickly and began searching for the forest’s exit.
Every now and then a burning pain flared in his shoulder and side, but it was nothing he couldn’t endure. After following the babbling stream for about thirty minutes, he spotted a village that looked fairly lively. From his memories, this seemed to be the place he had lived.
As soon as he stepped into the village, the scent of people filled the air—along with the mouthwatering aroma of all kinds of food. His stomach let out a loud growl.
“Ugh… I’m starving.”
His belly had been rumbling nonstop since morning. The sight of golden-brown potatoes, sweet potatoes, and whole chickens roasted over charcoal nearly made him dizzy with hunger. But Ryude didn’t have a single coin to his name.
He’d have to sell this rabbit’s corpse first and fill his stomach with whatever money he got. Without hesitation, he headed straight for the guild.
Throughout this world, guilds could be found in nearly every settlement. They handled everything related to magic beasts—subjugation requests, escort missions, reconnaissance, and more. They also bought the spoils from defeated beasts and converted them into cash. That was as much as his fourteen years of memories could tell him.
“Here you go.”
Ryude walked up to the counter and placed the rabbit’s head and dagger on it. The employee’s face twisted into a frown the moment she saw them.
“Kid, did you catch this yourself?”
“Yeah, why?”
She was a middle-aged woman. Ryude felt a flicker of anticipation at her reaction. Could this be some kind of rare monster that was hard to deal with? He’d read enough novels and comics to know how this usually went.
Maybe I’m actually pretty strong?
But it seemed that wasn’t the case. The woman let out a long sigh and held up the rabbit’s head for him to see.
“Haa… Next time, just cut out the mana stone and bring that, okay? We buy mana stones, not monster corpses to grill and eat.”
Mana stone. There was something hard embedded in the rabbit’s forehead. That must be it. Ryude nodded, filing away the new information.
“Understood. I’ll do that from now on.”
“Hmm. Looks like this is your first time hunting magic beasts. You actually managed to take one down?”
Oh. So I really am pretty strong?
This time he was sure of it.
“Is this guy hard to catch?”
“Not really, no.”
Apparently not. She looked him up and down before adding, “Still, it’s pretty impressive for a kid like you. They’re awfully quick, after all.”
It was just her personal opinion. Even so, the praise felt surprisingly good. Like maybe there was real potential here.
“More importantly, kid—what happened to its eyes? Did another beast eat them?”
“Uh… something like that.”
Ryude scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He would’ve loved to brag about his adventure, but to her it was just a rabbit.
“Here. Payment for the mana stone.”
She tossed him a small pouch of coins. Inside was the dagger he’d brought as a trophy as well.
“And we don’t buy trophies. If you want to sell that dagger, try the blacksmith. Or just keep it for yourself, kid.”
“Ah, got it.”
With the coin pouch and dagger in hand, Ryude left the guild. He pulled the dagger out and examined the blade.
“Guess I’ll just use it myself.”
He didn’t have money to buy a new weapon anyway. The rusty dagger he’d been holding at the start had disappeared during the fight, so this one would have to do. It wasn’t in great shape, but it was better than nothing.
“Let’s see…”
He opened the long-awaited coin pouch. The sound of metal clinking inside told him it wasn’t just a single coin.
“Hmm… ten copper coins…”
Ryude looked around. Three well-roasted sweet potatoes or three potatoes cost one copper. A whole charcoal-roasted chicken was ten coppers. So one copper was roughly a thousand won. One hundred coppers made one silver coin, one hundred silvers made one gold, and one hundred golds made one platinum. That seemed to be the currency system here.
“Ugh, I really wanted that chicken…”
Couldn’t be helped. With nothing in his pockets, splurging on greasy food right now would be pure luxury.
“Mister, can I get a mix of sweet potatoes and potatoes?”
“No.”
…Even though the price is the same.
Still, he didn’t want to eat only one kind. Even though his stomach already felt full just thinking about it.
“Then I’ll take three sweet potatoes and three potatoes, please.”
“Here you go.”
He accepted the paper bag. Warm steam rose from it, carrying a delicious smell.
“Guess this is dinner tonight.”
Eight copper coins remained in his pouch. Aside from food, there wasn’t much else he needed to spend money on anyway.
“Time to head back to the cave.”
He had already decided that cozy cave would be his home. The stream flowing in front of it provided free drinking water. No rent, and a natural water purifier for free? He couldn’t pass that up.
A month passed.
Ryude had gradually grown accustomed to this world.
“Another wasted day…”
His stomach growled loudly.
“What now?”
The money he had left was completely gone. By now, catching rabbits had become easy for him. But rabbits didn’t respawn every single day. This was already his fifth straight day of failure. Including today, he hadn’t eaten anything but water for two days.
He glanced deeper into the forest. The terror of death he’d experienced on his first day still lingered. He had no idea what might be lurking in those depths.
“…It’s not time to gamble yet.”
He searched his memories. There had definitely been a church in the village. It seemed like they offered free meals there.
His stomach growled again.
No choice. Ryude headed straight for the church.
—
Ruthenia Empire. The nation Ryude now belonged to. Every church in the Ruthenia Empire worshipped the creator god Ollun. Because of that, they had no need for missionary work. Instead, their main activity was community service.
“Alright, everyone here for volunteer work, please come this way! Once you’re finished, you may use the soup kitchen~”
…It wasn’t actually free food.
He couldn’t blindly trust every memory. But he still needed to eat. Ryude approached the nun.
“Please form a single line and maintain order. If you don’t, I won’t stamp your card, okay?”
That stamp must be the ticket for the soup kitchen. People of various ages lined up obediently at the nun’s words. Among them were children around Ryude’s age, but there were also quite a few rough-looking adults. Their faces alone suggested nasty personalities. Still, without a stamp they’d get nothing, so even they reluctantly followed the rules.
“All set! As I mentioned earlier, please head to your assigned locations. And don’t forget to get one more stamp when you leave for the day~?”
The people shuffled out of the church and began moving toward their tasks. Ryude followed the location written on his paper. After walking for about thirty minutes, he found two or three collapsed buildings. It looked like one old structure had fallen and triggered a chain reaction.
“Ah, those of you who just arrived—please help clear away the debris you see over there.”
A man who seemed to be in charge gave the order. He himself hoisted large stones onto both shoulders and got to work.
“No matter how you look at it, this is too much. How are we supposed to handle all this?”
“Those bastards. This is crossing the line. Do they think we’re suckers?”
“This is straight-up labor exploitation. Screw this, I’m out.”
Including Ryude, about ten people had come. Every single one of them grumbled and hesitated to start working.
“Hup.”
Whatever they said, Ryude ignored it. He began clearing the debris right in front of him to open up a path.
“Tsk. What a sucker.”
A man who seemed annoyed by Ryude spat on the ground.
“Little brat’s trying to look good for the nun. Pathetic.”
“You think the nun’s gonna give you anything for that? Heh heh.”
Their attitudes were all rotten. The best response was to ignore them.
“Gentlemen over there, please get started.”
“Yeah, yeah~”
When the church supervisor watching them gave a warning, they finally began lazily picking up stones. An hour passed like that. The pile of rocks blocking the street was cleared enough to allow passage.
Ryude shouldered a sack filled with debris and headed to the designated dumping spot.
“Whew.”
The work itself was simple manual labor and not particularly difficult. The heat, however, was brutal. Sweat poured down his forehead, blurring his vision.
“Hello?”
A sweet voice suddenly called from behind him. Nun habits required the hood to be worn high, leaving the forehead completely exposed. It was clothing most people would struggle to pull off, yet she wore it beautifully. She was stunning enough to make the outfit work.
“…Is there something you need from me?”
“Ah, as you can see, I’m also part of the church. I’m currently performing my duty as a supervisor.”
When Ryude looked confused, the nun pointed at her habit to emphasize that she was working too.
“I see. Then I’ll get back to work. Have a good day.”
She probably hadn’t approached him for any particular reason. She was just confirming he was actually working. Or so Ryude thought.
But that was a mistake. She didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.
“…I am working quite diligently, you know.”
“Mm? I can see that.”
Then why don’t you go away?
And if she was supervising, why was she standing so close? Ten minutes of cold sweat later, Ryude finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“How long are you planning to stay here?”
“What do you mean by that question?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“Hmm. In that case, I suppose until the work is finished?”
She was surprisingly stubborn. With no other choice, he stopped talking and focused on organizing the sacks. Once this was done, he could eat a proper meal. The faster he finished, the sooner he could eat.
Hmm.
Then a good idea occurred to him.
“Excuse me, Sister.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Instead of just standing there, why don’t you help me with the work?”
“Pardon?”
After all, they’d probably never see each other again.