A Day in the Life of Adventurers

"I knew that we would be starting from the bottom of the totem pole when becoming adventurers, but this is ridiculous," I said as I shoveled another pile of oats into the feeding trough of a local farmer's horses. He apparently breeds and sells horses to the knights of Ruberios. They haven't become Holy Knights yet, as the local Lords are hesitant to give over more power to the Church.

"They say it builds character..." Yue replied with an obviously forced explanation.

"You sure it isn't hazing because we are newbies and look young?" I reply.

"..." Yue didn't respond as she looked the other way.

"Oy! Don't ignore me!" I yelled as I finished my side.

Yue had used magic to finish her part first. I was told by [World Sage] that doing it by hand was necessary for my stamina growth, as the repetitive motion would serve as a good exercise. Since my body was still that of a human, exercise was necessary. I couldn't even use [Restoration Magic] to heal my fatigue because it technically heals by reversing time, meaning that if I did so, I'd just be reversing all the work and effort I put into the workout, making it pointless.

"Ha... Well, that's all one-hundred-fifty horses fed and washed. Let's go back to the guild and collect our reward." I said as I walked out of the large barn and towards the farmer's house.

The old man was sitting happily on the porch rocking back and forth on his chair while his similarly elderly wife crocheted in the chair next to him. They were enjoying the nice cool breeze and staying out of the hot sun while we were slaving away in the awful-smelling stables.

The thing fantasy worlds always forget to go into detail about is the smell. Of course, without modern sewage systems or sanitation practices, the medieval world is ripe with pests, rodents, and odors that I'd rather not go into detail over. Don't even get me started with the bathroom rituals or lack of toilet paper...

"Ah, young'ns! It seems you've finished. Good work." He said with a wave of his hand.

"Thank you, sir," I replied while Yue gave a brief half-bow nod.

I collected the receipt of job completion and Yue and I made our way back towards the town to receive our reward.

"Hey, Shiki. How are you feeling?" Yue asked.

"You mean about nearly dying from magicule loss due to our naming ceremony the other day?" I say with half-closed eyes.

"Hehehe..." Yue laughed guiltily.

I had used nearly every single magicule in my body when naming Yue and had fallen unconscious for a full day due to that. The only reason I survived at all was that Yue fed on me when I passed out and gave me some of her magicules.

[World Sage] also had to sacrifice some of my lifeforce to convert it into magicules as well. Now I still look 14, like I did before, but my body's age has also aged up to 14 as well. Basically, I lost two years of my lifespan.

"Well, I'm feeling fine now. I've mostly recovered physically, though now I'll have to start again from scratch when building up my magicule reserves." I replied.

"Well, on the bright side, at least now we are liked by a Gemini contract so you'll get stronger!" She replied.

A Gemini contract is a unique form of magic that two beings can gain when they name each other. It allows for the growth of one to be affected by the growth of another. Basically, the stronger I got, the stronger she would get and vice-versa. This is the reason why Rimuru seemed to get so strong so quickly, even when taking in all the monster fights was because he gave Veldora his last name for them to share.

In the time between when he awakened as a Demon Lord and when he fought against BOTH a mind-controlled Veldora and Velgrynd at the same time, he went from one of the weaker Demon Lords to one of the Strongest. This was also after being severely weakened by naming Diablo, Testarosa, Ultima, Carrera, and hundreds of others who all gained a significant power boost from their naming. Just the primordials would have been as strong if not stronger than him when he first awakened as a True Demon Lord, let alone naming all the other Greater Demons of the Black Numbers.

At least, that's what [World Sage] hypothesizes.

(A/N: This isn't canon at all but it will help explain why Shiki will get so much stronger so quickly and why Yue will get so much stronger later on).

"I suppose that's a good thing. Anyways, I think our next quest should be an extermination mission." I say back to her.

"Alright. With our rank being Novice still, we'll only really get some goblin extermination missions or if we are lucky, we may even get to wipe out some Orcs." She said.

"Really? Well, I suppose that's are fine. My magic is quite good for taking out single and weaker targets after all... Hey, after we wash up, let's go out to dinner." I say with a smile on my face.

Yue locked up and she began muttering 'date with Shiki, date with Shiki, date with Shiki' over and over again under her breath. I stopped walking and looked at her with a raised eyebrow before sighing and picking her up into a princess carry.

"Yes yes. It'll be a date with me. Let's get going princess," I say with a little bit of snark in my voice.

Yue quickly blushes before hugging me around my neck and nods happily. "Hn!"

...

'The night is young and so am I!' I think to myself as I walk down the street towards the merchant district in the city of Illiasburg. I am hand-in-hand with Yue, who is smiling happily to herself.

We both are wearing some moderately fancy, for the time, clothing that I bought using the rewards for our recent quests. We've been able to do a few dozen quests in the week or so since we've arrived. I wanted to save up a good amount of money for our travels on the road, but I don't mind spoiling my partner here.

"Ah! this is the place!' I say as we open the door and go inside.

"Shiki... what is 'Mexican Food'?" Yue asks.

"It's some of the best food you'll ever have! Trust me on this!" I say.

As it turns out, Kaoru Yoshida isn't the only person to have wound up in the world of Tensura and started a restaurant. The owner, Diego Garcia, also ended up here, though at a much earlier time than his Japanese food counterpart.

"Welcome! A party of two then?" A waiter asked us. I am assuming he was a waiter anyways. He was wearing a decorative Sombrero and Vibrant Pancho, but then again, all the servers were.

"Yes please," I say as Yue looks on at the man in wonder.

"Then right this way, Por Favor," He says and I try not o snicker at his poor excuse at Spanish.

After leading us to a small booth and lending us a menu carved onto laminated paper (don't ask me how they laminated it). He then gave us a bowl full of corn chips and a side of salsa. It wasn't pureed quite as nicely as modern dips but it made up for it with the increase in peppers and other spices.

"OH! This is handmade salsa!" I yelled as I took my first chip, scooped up some salsa, and bit into it with glee. "So good!"

Yue looked at me with incredulity for a moment before repeating after me and taking a chip and some salsa. The moment she bit into it, I could see stars in her eyes and a golden aura erupting from her.

"SO GOOD!" She yelled as she began feverishly digging into the appetizer. I could hear some of the merchants in the background laughing, probably reminiscing of their own first time with the unique food.

"Isn't it!" A middle-aged man said as he walked over to our table. He had light brown skin, sleek black hair, and a bushy mustache. He was also quite round in stature but he gave off a very friendly and kind vibe.

"It took me a long time for me to re-create the recipes for corn chips and to get the various ingredients of pico de gallo in the right portion sizes to recreate authentic flag salsa but it was well worth it!" He said as he walked over to our booth.

"I can tell you spent a long time on this recipe! It's amazing!" I replied while taking another helping.

"Hahaha! Thank you, young man! So, what shall this old man cook you up today?" He said in a friendly way.

"Ah, I think for her first Mexican Food, one can't go wrong with some tacos! We'll take one Carne Asada and Carnitas each!" I say ordering food.

"Heh!?!" He replied as the background music seemed to stop.

"Heh?" I replied to his reply.

There was a silence for a few seconds as we both locked eyes. He was probably shocked at my proper pronunciation of the words since I was a new customer, so I shouldn't know how to actually say them. Even his own staff was looking on in shock while Yue, oblivious to the whole ordeal, simply continued eating to her heart's content.

"... Um..." I started before the man grabbed my hand and started crying tears of happiness.

"Finally! Someone who can pronounce Spanish properly!" He cried, causing a little scene as I looked around in slight panic and embarrassment. Yue simply looked up at me with smug eyes while still chewing her chips and salsa.

The man then triumphantly stood up and a light shined down upon him in a dramatic fashion, darkening the rest of the restaurant and making everyone look over at us. Glitter fell from the heavens as if to highlight how moved his heart was by my simple act.

"Hombres y Mujeres! Tonight everything is free! Let's celebrate!" He yelled as a mariachi band emerged from nowhere and began playing while tequila bottles and beer began being served by women in Spanish dresses.

"EH!?!" I yelled out as everyone cheered and a night-long party began.

...

I woke up the next morning in bed with a massive hangover. I felt slightly nauseous but the headache was the big thing.

"Ooohhh... what happened last night," I moaned as I opened my eyes.

[Answer. Master got into a drinking completion with individual Yue and individual Diego Garcia.]

'I see...' I thought with half-closed eyes, wanting to smack myself for being dumb and getting wasted.

[Master then continued on to make out with several women, 'chug' copious amounts of alcohol, strip naked and run through the streets with individual Diego Garcia singing traditional Mexican folk songs]

'Wha-'

[Master then went on to fondle a statue of the Goddess Lumi-]

'STOP! STOP! I don't need to know the rest!' I yelled in my head, red from embarrassment. I then held my head with both hands and began to sulkeven more.

'This is why I don't drink. Nothing good ever comes from it... I want to hide in a hole...' I think to myself.

[Notice. Master did receive [Poison Resistance] due to the large quantities of alcohol consumed.]

'...' I didn't know how to respond to that, so I simply sat up and put one of my hands to the bed while looking up to the ceiling to lament a bit more, only to feel that my left hand had touched and then sunken into something very soft and swishy.

'This is... don't tell me...' I looked down with hesitation to see my hand buried in Yue's naked chest. Somehow, her breasts looked a bit bigger than usual.

"Mmm..." She began to stir and opened her eyes, locking her crimson orbs with my own violet disks. We stared at each other for a few seconds before...

"Umm.. I can explain-" I was cut off by Yue's lustful smirk and licking of her lips.

"Breakfast in bed." She said as she jumped at me.