Fairy Tale Chronicles

Chapter 10.1

「I want to make sure we’re on the same page. What now?」

The morning after Elena had arrived to the workshop, Tatsuya asked Hiroshi this question, representing the rest of the group. At the moment, their main objective was to treat Elena, and as such, Hiroshi was in charge of the party’s actions.

「I know y’all just got back, but I want y’all to go gather somethin’ else. Mio, ya know what a Solmizen fruit looks like, don’t ya.」

「Mm-hm.」

The party of three nodded in acknowledgement.

「While y’all are out, I’m gonna treat Ellie the best I can, and maybe whip some armors from the Wyvern hide if I got any time to spare.」

「What about me?」

「You’re on standby for now, Haruna-san. I should be askin’ ya to do some stuff when we’re takin’ care of Ellie. I don’t want us wastin’ time, though, so in the meantime, could ya fill out the unclassified potion orders with any equipment I’m not usin’?」

「You got it.」

「And, if you got time, work with Doul and Reena-san to give Elle some training.」

All three of them gave a solemn nod, understanding what Hiroshi meant. There was only so much self-defense techniques a ten year old could acquire, but at this point, when someone was directly threatening her life, any technique was better than nothing. One could point out that half-baked training would only put Aearis at risk of hurting herself, but the benefit of the correct mindset for the dangers ahead may outweigh the risk.

Besides, Aearis was a wise girl. She wouldn’t try to recklessly take down an attacker with her newly acquired self-defense moves. Even now, she understood the party’s intention, and bowed to her trainers with reverence.

「Oh that reminds me, Doul. I don’t need too much of ‘em, but can ya get me some steel ore from somewhere?」

「I have some leads that can make it happen. What do you need them for?」

「Thought I’d forge a pair of daggers for Elle and her sister, for some protection. 」

「Are you sure you want ores? I can just buy some ingots.」

「I’m gonna melt ‘em and tweak ‘em anyway, so ores are better for it.」

Nodding in response, Douga began planning out how to acquire said materials.

「Speaking of making weapons…」

「Yeah, Makoto-san?」

「Why don’t you settle on a real weapon, too?」

「I’ll get to it. Not right now though, we don’t got the time nor materials for it.」

The party couldn’t help but chuckle at Hiroshi’s apathy. Everyone else had already long acquired legitimate weapons, while this man was still using his felling axe, pickaxe, and large shovel used for digging, as well as a forging hammer, out in the field. It was quite troublesome that he was ignoring these disadvantages in combat, when he could only attack with Smash attacks to begin with.

「And why don’t you get some training in too, Hiroshi? With our party, you’re going to be the one tanking the attacks out front. Even if you don’t have time to enhance your repertoire of attacks, just learning Fortress, Defensive Circle, and Outclass would help you a lot in the long run.」

「You got those skills too, Makoto-san?」

「I do, but I’m not too deep into them since I never tanked too hard. I think they’re Uncle Doul’s specialty, though.」

「Indeed. I can’t teach you any axe attacks, but you could learn some of those skills and some advanced Smash attacks.」

「When there’s time. I don’t think I got enough time to even do that much, at least for a while.」

「Of course. Once you catch a break with the treatment, I mean.」

For a change of pace, Hiroshi was in for a lot of work. In addition to treating Elena and crafting weapons for her and Aearis, he was planning to improve their arsenal of armor, which had been neglected for the most part due to the lack of ingredients. He would also have to craft a potent healing garment for Elena, in case of emergencies. Safe to say, Hiroshi would not have time to go crazy on a passion project for the foreseeable future.

By the way, Fortress improved Defense, Defensive Circle provided wide-range protection, and Outclass was an aggressive group taunt. All of these skills were practically prerequisites for any tanks, but Hiroshi had gotten by without them. This was partially because he had never dove into a difficult dungeon, and he could use Smash attacks and Taunts well to take down almost anything one-on-one.

Besides, a player would naturally have less visibility in a VR MMO compared to conventional games. When a group of players would enter a dungeon, the group would seldom have less than two tanks. So, when Hiroshi would tag along to a dungeon, no one expected him to hold off an enemy single-handedly. In fact, he proved himself to be a rather useful tank despite his skill distribution. No one had every complained for having Hiroshi in their party.

「Yeah, that would take some serious dedication. Let’s just get on with the treatment, first.」

「I agree. It would be nice if Hiro could improve on the frontlines, but it’s not an emergency.」

「Okay. But as soon as you get a break, you’re getting on this.」

Hiroshi nodded with a chuckle to Makoto’s insistence, and reiterated everyone’s next move.

「Now, what to pack… Mio, how long would it take up to get to where these Solmizen fruit are?」

「Two days, if we don’t encounter anything on the way.」

「Okay. Food is a big issue, then.」

「Oh, just let me know what you need. I’ll make it. We can send you anything through the link.」

Haruna chimed in.

「Cool. Then we just need to pack our equipment and bags.」

Tatsuya said, relieved. Having access to decent meals was a big deal. That alone made the linked bags well worth the effort. Sure, there were some problems like no one could personally hold onto an item, but everyone here was in it together, at this point. There was no point in arguing over who gets a rare item and whatnot. One of these days, the men in the party may want to acquire some… literature of a certain variety. But when that time comes, they would just have to also acquire a bag especially for that purpose.

「Speaking of, we’re having Soba noodles for lunch. Let me know if you want any toppings, I’ll try to make it happen.」

Hearing this, Aearis brightened. Soba noodles was one of her favorite dishes. OF course, she would be ecstatic about most meals nowadays.

「Awesome. Can you do curry?」

「Sure can. Mio-chan? Makoto-san?」

「Tempura shrimp. I dreamt about it.」

「Something with meat for me. But some shredded yam sounds good too. I want both.」

Haruna assured Makoto that she could have both, as she chuckled at Makoto’s very athletic order.

「Okay. I’ll have to go get the ingredients real quick. Is that okay?」

「Perfect. I’ll get to givin’ her some medicine.」

「Okay. We’ll leave as soon as we’re packed.」

With their objectives clarified, the team split up, inaugurating their first all-hands-on-deck project.

「Now. What to do with this Wyvern meat…?」

After lunch and Aearis’ first training session, Haruna had found herself with little to do, staring into the pantry. As it measure over 10 meters, it produced a lot of meat. Since the only damage done (other than the decapitation) were the arrows to the wings, most materials were collected from its corpse undamaged.

It was still quite early for dinner, but prepping for so many portions would take a lot of time. Besides, Haruna wanted to take some time to tinker with this unknown food. One might nag her to practice making those potions from earlier, but despite the sensation of her skills improving, crafting one unclassified potion after another for eternity was soul-destroying. No normal human (excluding Hiroshi, of course) couldn’t stand to craft potions for 16 hours straight.

「I’m sure there’s no venom left in there… But I doubt it would be good raw.」

While she was confident that there wouldn’t be any parasites that targeted a creature like this, she couldn’t be sure. So, she had to cook it thoroughly, somehow. As a side note, Haruna tended to think out loud (more than usual) while facing off a food she hadn’t cooked before.

「Steak or stew seem like the safest option, but maybe I should play with it? Maybe make them into jerky or something. We have so much of it, after all.」

With that, she took out a decently sized chunk of thigh meat. She decided to cut off a few pieces and tried grilling them to check its taste.

「…Tastes like chicken. More like a gamecock or Rhode Island Red, at that.」

The first thoughts to her mind when it came to chicken were Yakitori skewers and fried chicken. However, she would have to prepare a sauce to drizzle on the skewers (which she thought would taste best if prepared overnight). So…

「Fried chicken it is. Kind of boring, though. Maybe I can put a twist to it…」

After checking the ingredients in the pantry, Haruna began to bring her inspiration to life. Once she had her ingredients lined up in the kitchen, someone came in.

「Elle-chan?」

「Haruna-sama, may I interrupt for a moment?」

「What’s up?」

「Elena says she is thirsty…」

Saying so, Aearis sheepishly held out the emptied pitcher.

「Okie dokie. Just water? Or do you want me to make something else to drink?」

「Perhaps something with a little flavor would be best.」

「Then how about… Some Safna juice? We have some left over from last week.」

「Yes, please. She likes Safna juice, too.」

Nodding in response, Haruna took out the chilled bottle of juice from the pantry. Safna was an apple-shaped citrus, with much less acidity than other citrus fruits. A ripe Safna was soft enough to be peeled by hand, and was filled with juice, enough that a glassful could be squeezed out by hand. Since it held so much juice, it was common to eat them unripe and juice them ripe. This citrus was also easy on the stomach. A warm cup of Safna juice was also a common beverage to drink when feeling under the weather.

「So, do you think Elena-san could handle some meat for dinner?」

「I gave her medicine so she could. Cook to your heart’s content, Haruna-san.」

Hiroshi chimed in, poking his head into the kitchen.

「What kind of medicine?」

「An appetite stimulant and a digestive aid. ‘Course, I got her plain ol’ nausea medicine too. She shouldn’t have trouble with somethin’ a little greasy.」

「How about the venom?」

「It’s a long road to curin’ her, but we got enough out that she ain’t feelin’ phantom pains no more. She’s good enough to go to the can on her own, so she don’t need an ICU no more.」

Haruna and Aearis let out a sigh of relief, hearing this. Watching them Hiroshi added a long sigh, remembering something.

「When it comes down to it, it ain’t easy bein’ royalty, is it?」

「…What happened?」

「Judgin’ from Mio’s examination, Ellie was in enough pain to keep a grown man either screamin’ or passed out. And there she is, actin’ like she’s just feelin’ under the weather or somethin’. She’s got some serious willpower.」

「She was in that much pain?」

「If she were still bein’ poisoned, there would have been a nation-wide funeral by now.」

Aearis froze to Hiroshi’s nonchalant assessment. She hadn’t expected them to cut it this close.

「Well, we did get her in time. Don’t worry about the worst case scenario might-have-beens. Why don’t ya take her the juice.」

「Oh, yes.」

With Hiroshi’s reminder, Aearis exited the kitchen with the pitcher a glass of juice. After watching her leave, Haruna asked:

「Oh, Hiroshi-kun. Did you want something from the kitchen?」

「Just wanted to use the stove for a bit.」

Hiroshi said, filling the wok to the brim with water before putting it on the stove.