Arisugawa’s carelessness had somehow offended Elana.
The next day, I departed at dawn, despite being asked many questions about the cut on my face. Of course, I had no intention of explaining the reason. The morning was relatively cool, but the sun soon rose, and a hellish heat descended.
I gazed at my feet moving back and forth, as if trying to escape the sunlight. Sweat dripped from my forehead onto the parched ground. The only sound I could hear was the cart Philiana was pulling. The water I had brought, which I had been so careful to pack, was already running out.
Sharin nudged my shoulder as I was zoning out due to the intense heat.
“Hey, isn’t that the town the Kinnara were talking about?”
I looked up and saw several buildings lined up in the distance. It seemed we had arrived without getting lost. For the time being, I had everyone take shelter in the shade of some rocks, and Sharin and I decided to go scout ahead.
The town was bustling with people, and stalls lined the streets. Unlike the previous town, it was not surrounded by walls and was quite open. Also, I felt there were more demi-humans and beastmen among the people. I immediately looked around the stalls to buy water and bring it back to everyone.
I found water quickly. However, the price was very high. It was three times what I had paid before. To put it simply, water that cost one hundred yen now cost three hundred yen. This might not sound like much when you hear it, but it’s different from buying one bottle during a lunch break. Here, we had many companions, and we needed enough for several days.
“It’s a bit too expensive. It would be nice if there was a well or something.”
“How about that?”
I turned around at her voice and saw a row of fruit and vegetable shops. Various items were displayed in front of the shops, but I noticed a fruit that looked like a watermelon, but without stripes. If it was similar, it might be more worthwhile than buying water.
However, contrary to my expectations, it was small and expensive. Well, trying to get water cheaply in this wilderness during this heat was probably a mistake in itself. I decided to buy one and try it.
I cut it in half with my dagger and shared it with Sharin. The inside was reddish, with white seeds scattered throughout. It did indeed resemble a watermelon in appearance. As for the taste… the sweetness was faint, and it lacked moisture, so honestly, it wasn’t very good. Sharin also made a doubtful face.
“It doesn’t taste very good; what should we do?”
At my words, the shopkeeper’s face contorted.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t get any water right now. Because of that, all the imported fruits have gone bad.”
For some reason, the water resources had been depleted. But we couldn’t just turn back and say, “Oh, well.”
“Is it because it hasn’t rained?”
“No, that’s not it. It doesn’t rain much here anyway. It seems that the main water source has been occupied by gangsters. The self-defense forces are trying to do something about it, but if they don’t hurry up, our businesses will fail.”
Unfortunately, or perhaps as usual, travel rarely goes smoothly.
