I went to see Tad, who was in charge of the half-destroyed town.
The town was in quite a mess, so there was almost nothing to buy, and only water was available. Well, it was within my expectations, and I had already gathered most of what I needed, so it wasn’t a big problem.
We thanked Tad once more and left the town. Next, we headed for the Kinnara’s place. Philiana and I had visited them twice before, but it was the first time for everyone else. We had left in the morning, so we arrived a little past noon.
The girl who had guided us during our first visit ran towards us, waving her hand.
“It’s good that you all came. Would you like to stay for lunch?”
We hadn’t eaten anything yet, so we gratefully accepted. We were led to a rug spread out on the ground outside.
“Please wait a moment, I’ll bring it right away.”
She smiled and scurried off somewhere. Meanwhile, many people called out to us.
“Oh, Alasco, how are you? How are the Centaurs?”
“Thanks to you, everyone is safe. Thank you. Tad-san is in town now, so please visit him sometime.”
Everyone nodded with a “Hee–” at the good news. I was already used to people misremembering my name.
“Is that so? Actually, we heard that a town was being built, so we thought we’d start a business and prepared horses and donkeys. I’m glad it didn’t go to waste.”
As we were talking, the girl from before returned, holding a plate. It contained a brown dish that looked like curry. The rising aroma of spices was indeed curry. I never thought I’d be eating this in another world.
A child came from the side and placed a round, flat bread in front of me.
“I hope it suits your taste.”
“It smells delicious. I’ve never seen it before.”
Philiana happily dipped the bread and took a bite. Following her example, everyone else started eating. The taste was a little peculiar, but it was still delicious, like something from a specialty store. My appetite grew with each bite, reminded of a nostalgic flavor.
“Yeah, it’s good,” Nina said.
“It’s pretty good, I like it,” Nina seemed to enjoy it too. But at this moment, everyone suddenly stopped eating. My tongue began to feel like it was being roasted with fire, and soon my entire mouth went numb, and I coughed violently.
“Ugh—it’s spicy!”
Piyo, who was the most sensitive to spice and weakest against it, was writhing in pain.
“Well, I thought you all liked spicy food…”
“Hey, are you guys always eating this?!”
As Nina held her mouth, something was offered to her from the side.
“Have this. It’s milk. It will make the flavor milder.”
“T-tell me earlier…”
We drank water as if competing with each other, groaning in agony.
