Volume 4 Chapter 13 I'll Buy Souvenirs And Go Home
Cain and the others made it back to the place they had left the day before. Nothing strange happened. There were no signs of monsters or animals nearby, and nothing attacked them after the teleport.
"It's good we came back safe. Let's get our horses and go back to the main town in Margrave Shield's land. We can stop at Bridge Village for lunch."
Cain put the teleport staff back into his bracelet as he spoke.
"Yes. If we get the carriage and buy snacks at a food stand, we can eat while riding. That way, we'll reach the town before evening."
Barvish said. Gardy and Lala nodded too.
The morning sun felt soft on their backs as they started walking to the bridge. After about an hour, they reached it. Since it was still early, there were no lines of people or carts, and they crossed the bridge easily.
As they finished crossing, a soldier walked up to them.
"Welcome back, Lord Shamrock. How was it upstream?"
"Thanks for coming to greet us. Everything went fine. Sorry if we made you worry."
The soldier answered, "No, it's fine." Then he told another guard to bring over their horses.
Soon, they got back the horses they had left. Saddles were already on them. Cain and Lala got on their horses and headed to Bridge Village.
"Hey, Barvish. That soldier from before... what was that about?"
Cain asked.
"It seems someone had been following us. There were faint footprints near where we teleported. But when we came back today, there was no one around. So I think it's fine."
Cain thought, Was that Grandfather's order? He kept quiet and nodded.
* * *
They reached Bridge Village at noon without seeing any monsters on the way. After arriving, they left their horses by the barracks and walked to the inn where they had left the carriage. Cain wasn't needed for getting the carriage ready, so he went to the village square with Lala to buy food.
Even though it was still morning, the square was lively. There were grocery stores, general shops, and many food stalls.
Cain walked over to one stall. It smelled amazing—like grilled meat with sauce. They were cooking skewers with four thick chunks of meat each, about the size of steak bites. The brown sauce made a soft sizzle-sizzle sound as it cooked.
"Hey, boy! Want to try one?" the stall owner called out. "These are special. You get both belly and leg meat from wild boar."
Cain looked at them.
"They look really good... Hmm, can I get eight?"
"Thanks, like always! That'll be two silver coins."
Cain took out two silver coins from his pouch and gave them to the man. The skewers were wrapped in big leaves that kept them fresh and clean. Cain took them and said, "Thanks."
Skewers weren't enough, so he also bought brown bread and dried tomatoes from a store. While looking around more, he found a stall selling white trout—something this village was famous for.
Inside a big wooden barrel, the live fish were swimming fast and splashing around—plop! plop! It looked like there had been a big catch recently. Normally, the fish were only sold to the inns here, but they caught so many that the leftovers were being sold to everyone.
People came to the stall, picked a fish they liked, and the owner would clean it for them to take home. Some traders were even buying whole barrels to sell in Margrave Shield's main town or across the bridge.
Cain looked at the fish, remembering the meal he had two nights ago. I bet this would taste good fried, he thought, comparing it to the salmon fries he knew on Earth.
"Sir Cain, that fish was so good. I want to eat it again."
Lala said, her cheeks turning a little pink.
"You like fish, huh? Then let's buy some and have Grandpa cook it!"
"That sounds fun, but... it might go bad."
Lala looked sad as she stared at the trout.
"It's okay. We can keep it fresh with this!"
He held up his mithril bracelet.
"Oh yeah," Lala said, her eyes wide. She looked back and forth between the bracelet and the fish.
Cain bought five white trouts. The shopkeeper cleaned them, and Cain stored them in the bracelet's shadow space. Then he went back to Barvish and the others. They were already ready and waiting.
"Okay, do we have everything? Let's go."
Barvish said. He started the carriage. Gardy was the driver, and Barvish sat next to him, watching the area.
Cain and Lala sat in the back with the food. They used what they had bought to make simple sandwiches. They made four in total. They put two on a wooden plate and passed them up to Barvish and Gardy.
Then Cain and Lala ate the other two.
"Mmm, Sir Cain. This is really tasty."
Lala said.
"Yeah. The sauce from the skewers soaked into the bread. It's got a great flavor. And the dried tomato gives it a nice twist. I wonder... maybe I should make panini when we go back to the Sanroze lands."
As he chewed, Cain remembered eating panini at a little café in Italy back when he was on Earth. The wind was cool, the road smooth, and lunch was good. Life in this world wasn't so bad.
Character Notes:
• Margrave Shield - Cain's grandfather. An elderly man, robust, with white hair.
• Barvish - A slave dwarf with a muscular, compact physique, intended as Cain's retainer/bodyguard, brought via magical contract.
• Lala - Cain's companion, likely a servant or minder, cautious and protective.
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