Chapter 3 - Section 3 - Collector Spirit

Our journey under the mountain was only about ¼ complete when ahead of our cart sounds of battle echoed through the tunnel, but this wasn't sword on sword, it was more like metal on stone.

"What's going on?" <Satou>

"Oh it's probably just another stampede; nothing to worry about the guards will handle it" <Raisa>

Looking ahead as we joined the queue of carts that had come to a stop, just in front of us about 10 guards were engaged in combat with 3 Gorons, and 2 Stone Golems.

Gorons stood equal in height but twice in girth to the guards, whipping their fists around instead of wielding weapons, the stone golems stood a colossal 12 feet tall, and tried to crush anything in their path.

"Yeah this much isn't to worry about, they venture out here from time to time because we've exposed too much rock face in making the tunnel, don't know if you know this but those guys actually eat rocks.

Course their monster's so trying to negotiate is out, if you stand in the way of their 'meal' they just attack, and well in the past when we'd let them be, they'd eat so much and cause a cave in, making us re-dig the tunnel.

Long ago this mountain range was ruled by the Divine Beast Tellus, she is said to be the progenitor of the Goddess of Terra's Blessing, though there are others who claim the beast was just the goddess's mortal form course most of those folk belong to the Goddess's sect so their more just boosting their own goddess's fame, since few of the gods, and goddess's interact with the mortal races, and even fewer still descend here to walk among us." <Raisa>

[Huh crazy gods are real here, not that it's weird it is a fantasy world so what they call gods might just be immortal beings, however if they can change their forms perhaps they truly are gods or some sort of inhuman races, not sure if demons, or hetromorphs exist here yet but they might belong to one of those races]

As I sat pondering the power of the gods influence on this world, I continued to query Raisa on their influence.

To summarise the religions of this world they are broken down by tiers with;

The God Of Creation/World

The Goddess Of Life The God Of Death

The God of Fire|The Goddess Of Water|The Goddess Of Terra|The Goddess Of Water|The God Of Magic|The God Of War

Below the Cardinal Gods, and Goddess's serve the Servile Gods, and Spirits who take minor roles towards specific things, such as blacksmithing, seasons, food, wine etc.

Each of these "Lesser gods" serves one or more of the greater gods.

While belief and prayer to the lesser gods does occur all major religion in the world is setup to worship the Cardinal Five (Life, Terra, Fire, Water, Air) while cult factions worship The God Of Death in secret.

The God of creation refuses worship and any who have prayed excessively to him were granted with an oracle thanking them but also to tell them they should not waste their limited time on him.

"Thank you Raisa this world is quite a bit different from my own" <Satou>

"Oh really?" <Raisa>

"Yes well, you could say each country has their own God, or set of Gods, but these themselves change about every hundred years or so, and to our knowledge none have ever interacted with or walked among us, granted though our world has no magic, or monsters. Though part of me thinks we might've had in the past since we have books detailing a great number" <Satou>

"So a world of only humans, elves, dwarves, and the other races then?" <Raisa>

"ha ha no no… just humans, well us and the animals we either raise or those still found in the wild." <Satou>

"Sounds like a pretty strange world to me, among the many races Human's aren't exactly strong so to hear that humans rule your entire world seems pretty unreal to me, but if it's that way it must be a safe place to live without monsters." <Raisa>

"Yeah that is very true, but instead you have to watch out for the other humans even more since there are always though who live for blood in any world it seems, and well in my world without monsters that type choose to target other humans pretty excessively" <Satou>

"Sounds like humans are the same everywhere then hahaha – but if your world has no magic how do you survive? Life on the other side must be very difficult" <Raisa>

"Oh actually it's not so different from here, because we had no magic we created tools that are capable of doing those sorts of things for us" <Satou>

"Magic tools without magic?" <Raisa>

"Sort of… it's hard to explain" <Satou>

[Maybe it's easier to show an example but without the crafting menu I cannot create anything like technology yet, so instead my only option would be to purchase something from the store, but magic guns are a bit excessive so should I instead go with candy or some kind of food?]

Quickly opening and manipulating my menu I placed a quick selection of sweet based foods that look identical to treats I know from my days on earth, cashing out and placing the contents in a lunch basket I also purchased at the same time.

Pulling the basket out of my inventory I placed it on my lap.

"Oh what an interesting basket I don't believe I've seen one like this before" <Raisa>

Her eyes gleaming as she started at the basket.

[Seriously it's just a wicker lunch basket, I mean it's different in that the wood used probably doesn't exist here, and sure the design is weird with the whole rectangular basket with a mid handles, and hinged cover]

"This is an example of something we used to use to carry food around, but it hasn't really been used now for probably 200 or so years, I have a couple of food stuffs from my world that I'd like to share with you if you'd accept?" <Satou>

"200 years… but it's quality why on terra would you ever stop using such a thing…?" <Raisa>

"Raisa?" <Satou>

"Huh oh yes sorry I just couldn't believe your people would abandon such goods, it makes my head spin trying to think of what replaced it." <Raisa>

'Spftt, spftt'

Cracking open a pair of canned drinks from within the kit, and handing it over to her.

"A cup made of metal, but so thin" <Raisa>

"Yes we use these to allow drinks to be sealed completely similar to how waterskins work, but since metal can be melted down and reformed, it allows for the cans to be resealed to preserve freshness of the contents for a long time." <Satou>

"Ah yes as you said you developed to get around not having magic like preserve, ingenious to come up with a way of making food last longer without it." <Raisa>

Taking her comment with a coy grin, I placed the can to my lips and took a long sip of the contents.

[Ahhh Rulucsh Peach Iced Tea a perfect drink for a casual conversation, just the right amount of sweetness]

"WHAT! Satou… Satou what in the world is this drink?" <Raisa>

Grabbing my shoulder with her free hand and gripping it tightly Raisa's eyes meanwhile remained locked on the top of the juice can in her hands.

"This is what's called Peach Iced tea; it's a mixture of fruit juice and cold tea" <Satou>

"But this, it's as sweet as an Uccoli fruit this must cost a fortune!" <Raisa>

My face twisted up in a screw.

[It's not though from what I've seen here that entire can should only cost maybe a couple of iron plates at most]

"No Way!" <Raisa>

Her face full of shock staring over at me.

"Judging from the look on your face this drink here is pretty common in your world isn't it? So that means it's not actually that expensive at all?" <Raisa>

"You've got me there, hate to break it to you but that entire can of Juice is only worth about 2-3 copper coins in my world." <Satou>

Reality descended and Raisa's jaw dropped so fast I swore it was going to snap off.

"Your world sounds pretty amazing even with what little I've heard of it, but… judging by the size of that basket this Iced Tea isn't the only thing you were planning on showing me of your world" <Raisa>

"You've got me there; I figured it best to ease you into it, since most of my world commoner goods could be seen as the stuff of nobles or royalty here" <Satou>

"Oh really! Do show me, we won't be moving for quite a while yet so it's a perfect time for a break" <Raisa>

Resigning to her request I started pulling the various goods out of the basket; a metal container with Bon Bon Barriere (Chocolate Bon Bon each with a different filling), a small bag of Sky Salt Toffee (Looks to me a lot like Salt Water Taffy), 2 Cloud ripple Chocolate bars, and a divine fruit platter.

Every item that was taken out was thoroughly examined by Raisa as I proceeded to remove the next item from the basket.

Questions rained down upon me as we setup out little picnic in the cart.

"What is this" "What did you call this" "It's stuck… Satou help it's stuck in my mouth" <Raisa>

Mixed in were constant denials of being allowed to have any more than one of each, but I won that argument by stating they were merely leftovers and that I myself do not enjoy sweets so the fruits were more than enough for me.

Her wonderment was a refreshing breeze like a child who had been locked in prison all its life getting to have a taste of true life for the first time.

All of the sweets were vacuumed up in almost no time at all, until all that remained was the fruit platter, personally this is what I'd been snacking on this whole time since sweets were never my strong suit.

Having drunk the rest of her iced tea Raisa picked up a Strawberry from the platter, and after watching me took a similar bite opting to avoid the stem.

Once again her eyes just about popped out of her head, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Their good right?" <Satou>

Smiling ear to ear, knowing firsthand what the taste of one's first strawberry tastes like.

"It's like the best thing ever! Even when compared to those sweets you let me have before" <Raisa>

"Well Strawberries are a pretty sweet thing but every thing on this platter I think will shock you" <Satou>

The rest of the stampede passed by in a flash, the soldiers and adventurers worked quickly to clear the road so the merchant carts could once again begin moving.

As we approached the site of the battle I quickly jumped off the cart an ear to ear grin on my face.

"What're you doing Satou?" <Raisa>

"Uh I've sat in the cart to long so I figured I'd walk for a bit since it'll be slow going until we're through this section" <Satou>

"Oh ok if that's all it is" <Raisa>

A hint of apprehension in her voice but she chose not to press since other's were within earshot.

[Nope not even close, this entire tunnel is full of drops, Ore, Gems, Dokc, Goron and Golem monster cards. The floor is littered with so many I can barely see the ground beneath my feet. I feel pretty bad farming these drops considering I didn't do anything at all to earn them but no sense leaving them behind if no one else can use them]

Collected: [[ 32,000 Dokc, 221 Iron Ore, 143 Copper Ore, 27 Coal, 17 Goron Common Cards, 6 Stone Golem Common cards, 3 sapphires, 1 ruby, and an alexandrite]]

Once we'd passed the site of the battle I once again climbed into the cart as we set off at normal speed racing towards the half-way point where we'd stop for lunch to water the horse.

A couple hours later without further incident we pulled into a wide cavern that has a small stream that fed into a reflecting pool that acted as a trough for the animals and monsters pulling carts and carriages.

"You said you had lunch covered for us right? In that case I'll unhook the horse and get her some water while you get ready ok?" <Raisa>

"Sounds good to me" <Satou>

Watching her back as she strode of horse reigns in hand towards the pool.

[Ok let's see I promised lunch would be food from Earth, but let's see what we can manage using the shop.]

Pulling up my Menu and navigating to the shop once again, I filtered the contents to only showcase food items; scrolling through that list everything was too fantastic.

[I need something that won't stand out to much to be eaten in a cave. Can't very well pull out dragon steak, with all the fixings. Hm this could be good, Dire Boar Stew though that might be too much it would give way more of a boost thanks to the foods effects. Hm how about this it was a joke item in the game to troll your friends but perhaps now it would actually be the best option.]

Making my choice I selected two lunchbox items along with a couple of drink options and made my purchase, placing the items newly arrived in my inventory once again into the Lunch basket I'd purchased earlier.

As I was pulling the basket out of my inventory behind the cart so others would not see, Raisa returned tying the horse to a post.

"All ready?" <Raisa>

"Yup take a seat, I'll pull everything out now" <Satou>

The pair of us climbed up and took seats in the back of the cart sitting across from one another the basket placed between our feet.

"Now I wasn't quite sure what you'd like to drink so I chose a couple of different option from what I had on me, feel free to try as many as you'd like. As for lunch itself I hope you enjoy it it's a common staple in my country" <Satou>

Reaching into the basket I pulled out a pair of wooden boxed lunches, removing the lid on mine steam rose from its contents, and my mouth watered immediately.

[Ah the joy of a hot boxed lunch oh how I loved it when I purchased one from the runners in the office, I always meant to try eating at the restaurant itself but I guess that'll never happen now]

"What exactly is this Satou?" <Raisa>

Raisa's question snapped me back as I looked over at her, worried she'd reject what I had offered but instead her face shone with another look of wonderment and curiosity.

"This is what we call a boxed lunch it's a quick way to carry and eat while on the go or at work. This one contains a couple of chicken snack wraps, a pork stir fried rice, and lemon custard for dessert... umm not sure if that made any sense to you since i don't know what types of meat are here after all." <Satou>

[I feel so bad, once again I'm lying to her, the contents only look like those items, when really their probably orders of magnitude better since their food items from Yggdrassil, but the item offers no bonus to stats, and only offers a recovery of stamina so it's my safest choice]

"That sounds amazing, I haven't had anything with rice in it since I was a little girl it's pretty hard to come by, plus to think I'd get to try exotic meats known only to the summoned heroes." <Raisa>

"WHAT! There's rice in this world" <Satou>

Jolted by my loss of composure Raisa raised a confused smile.

"Well yeah I mean course we do, you're not the first other worlder here you know" <Raisa>

"Ah yeah I see so where I had this on me when I came here perhaps someone else was a gardener and had seeds or the like" <Satou>

"So my turn for a question Satou" <Raisa>

"…" <Satou>

[She's been asking nothing but questions for like 3 hours now]

"How am I supposed to eat this Boxed Lunch of your?" <Raisa>

"Oh yeah right like this" <Satou>

Placing my hands on either side of the box and sliding the sides forward a fork and a knife made of wood slid out from the wooden container leaving their negative impression behind.

Rasia didn't move to copy me, she just sat there staring at me, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"You ok over there?" <Satou>

"Huh.. Oh yeah just still figuring out how you managed that without magic I mean you just summoned wooden cutlery of all things from thin air without even casting a spell" <Raisa>

"Huh, oh I didn't summon it, these are actually a part of the wooden box holding the food see" <Satou>

Turning the Bento in my lap towards her showing the recess in the side of the wood.

Hesitantly she gripped the side of her own box and cautiously slide her hands forward until the tips of her utensils were showing before grabbing them and pulling them all the way out.

"Oh wowee your world sure did come up with a lot of things huh Satou" <Raisa>

Digging into my food, I cracked open a can of soda to drink with my meal.

[Gotta admit in game food is really tasty but still it doesn't have the same oomph that Earth food did, Dire boar is a decent replacement for Pork but it doesn't taste quite right, same goes for the wraps Faceless Dodo is good but can't say it's the same as chicken. Not that anything can after all everything tastes like chicken heh heh, but this Maruwem custard is really good not sure I'd call it lemon, but closer to a really sweet sort of banana]

I ate in relative peace while across from me, Raisa was constantly in a state of delirium declaring she'd never tasted food this good before and that if I had access to this kind of food all the time I'd be able to have a better restaurant than any in the entire Meritocracy, that all 4 of the drinks I provided were clearly nectars of the gods.

By the time she'd reached the custard I thought her surprise would've worn off, but if anything it just renewed her excitement tenfold.

So much so that her squeal of delight spooked our horse, and cause a number of eyes in the same rest stop to stare over at her in wonder.

[Well worst case at least it's not me drawing attention and it's not like post lunch we'd have anything for them to try and steal from us, and even if they ask we can just say we bought it back in the kingdom somewhere]

Lunch passed and once Raisa had finally settled down the pair of us relashed the horse to the cart, before climbing aboard and setting off to complete our journey to Bobel in Joquet.

"Mind if I ask you something? You mentioned the gods of this world before but do you have any whose congregation you belong to?" <Satou>

"Cong what?" <Raisa>

"Ah um let's see here a member of their faith" <Satou>

"Oh well it's not like I belong to a church or anything but I guess you could say I'm a follower of the Goddess Of Terra, since she is the Master of the Gods of Commerce and Trade. Merchants who receive her blessing always succeed in any manner of trade." <Raisa>

"Oh I see, how does worship and blessings work?" <Satou>

"Well I can't speak for everyone, but for me whenever I get to a town that has a church or shine to the Goddess, I'll give a quick prayer and a tribute if I'm able, as for blessings themselves that's for the gods themselves to decide usually they give blessing to the truly devote or those who aspire towards deeds in honor of the Gods.

There are stories of a person who spent 10 years cleaning and purifying a lake far in the north after a poison slime made a nest and turned the place into a poison swamp, for his deed in restoring the land, the Goddess of Water granted her blessing.

The lesser gods give their blessing more often for far lesser reasons but their blessings are nothing more than maybe a small boost in your luck towards whatever the god resides." <Raisa>

"Well even with that much effort you are quite pious in my eyes, back on earth those who even believe in any gods dwindle year by year to the point that a good portion of humans don't even believe there are any gods yet looking over our world" <Satou>

"…" <Raisa>

"Sorry I did not mean to insult you it is just how my world has become, perhaps if we had as much interaction with or even proof the gods were watching over us we would not have given up on them, perhaps now that i'm here they might chose to interact with me in a method that magic would permit?" <Satou>

"I can't really blame you, if our gods abandoned us we'd lose faith as well, but given your description of religions of this earth from before, it sounds like they've been absent for quite some time already, but it would be really amazing if you could converse with them now that you're here." <Raisa>

"Well perhaps one day if I get to speak with a god of this world or mine I can ask them about it heh" <Satou>

"I'd love to see what kind of a blessing you'd receive" <Raisa>

Cheer returned to our cart as it trundled its way through the cave every now and then I would dismount to collect drops from a goron or two who would be found and killed by patrols on the road.

Collected:[[ 27 Copper Ore, 5 Goron common cards]]

Finally after close to an entire day underground we emerged from the passage and formally were within the lands of Joquet, at the side of the road an inn with ample parking was available.

"It's pretty late we should stop for the night, otherwise we'll have to camp, but without guards it could be dangerous." <Raisa>

"Well I know I said it before but I can use monster summoning so we could use those to guard us? But I'm also not opposed to staying the night in an inn either, I've got enough supplies on me so I don't need to restock really" <Satou>

"Hmm, well my own provisions are getting pretty low, but if you're offering up more of your worlds food then I'd be more than happy to forego purchasing more travel rations here, and honestly those bedrolls of yours are more comfortable than any inn bed I've ever seen" <Raisa>

"Well in that case we might as well stop briefly to water the horse again before setting out, and we should manage 3-4 hours travel before we stop to setup camp then" <Satou>

"Sounds good, course we'll have to camp off the road a ways since anyone traveling would see your monsters and attack, but if we can manage that long on the road we should be able to reach bobel by lunch tomorrow if we set off at first light." <Raisa>

As Raisa headed off into the parking lot to provide her horse with water, I entered the inn hoping to unload something I had come across in my inventory and wanted to dispose of asap but if Raisa saw I'm sure she'd prevent me.

I hunted down a party of adventurers, and approached them.

"Good Afternoon everyone" <Satou>

"And what's you want?" <Adventurer Guy>

[Ok maybe a bad mistake they are clearing drunk]

"Uh well I was wondering if you guys were interested in buying some monster materials from me, I don't have enough coin for a room at the inn." <Satou>

"Bwahaha that's so is it, well fangs and stones won't be enough whatchu got that's on offer boyo" <Adventurer Guy>

Pulling a bag out of my backpack trying my very best not to make a face as the sound of flesh squishing could be heard as its weight spread out onto the table.

"I've got orc… testes I can give you everything in this bag for enough to spend one night" <Satou>

A female member of his party reached over in a hurry and opened the bag to examine the contents.

"He's not kidding by my count theirs 7 pairs in here!" <Adventurer Girl>

"Hoh hoh, mighty fine deal you've struck there boyo, y'sure you only want a single silver for this?" <Adventurer Guy>

"Yes sir, I just want a place to rest my head in safety until I can get home safe and sound tomorrow" <Satou>

"Well no skin off our teeth" <Adventurer Guy>

Flicking a silver coin in the air and arcing it towards me.

"Deal's done now scram, your spoiling the taste of my mead!" <Adventurer Guy>

Pocketing the coin I happily left the inn.

[Ugh why does everyone prize parts like that so much, I don't want to ever have to handle anything like that ever again, but I get a feeling that's likely to happen more and more frequently]

Leaving through the swinging doors of the inn I headed outside the afternoon sun shining down warming the skin of my face, after enjoying the warmth for a brief moment I headed over to the parking lot to rejoin Raisa and continue our journey once again.

"Heya Satou" <Raisa>

The familiar red headed woman waved me over as I entered the lot.

"Everything set?" <Satou>

I questioned with a hint of concern.

"As far as I know on my end yeah, you didn't go and cause more trouble again did you?" <Raisa>

"ha ha I don't think so, just gathering intel as it were" <Satou>

"Well that's good but I should be able to tell you anything about this area I've been traveling this route since I was 5" <Raisa>

I wore a look of shock on my face as she gestured for me to climb aboard the cart, but instead of once again joining her on the driver's box I climbed up into the back of the cart.

"Oh" <Raisa>

She was wearing a slightly disappointed look she replied to my action

"Am I such a bad traveling companion?" <Raisa>

"What no, of course not I just wanted to experiment with my skill some and well, would need room to do it in, since it might affect our safety for the night I certainly wanted to do it before we actually needed it" <Satou>

"Oh I see well you should've just said so them, here I thought you were mad at me or something" <Raisa> Puffing her cheeks up before sticking her red tongue out at me in a joking manner.

With everything settled we both boarded and departed from the rest station.

Once we were about a mile away from the station my experiment began, from the front seat Raisa turned to check on me every so often with mixed reactions, since from her perspective I merely was waving my hand around in the air like a lunatic.

Ok so first up for my Gamer skill is some way to provide us with security; I need to know exactly how my Monster summons skill works.

So far whenever I summoned a monster from a monster card the creature would remain until either it was killed, or two hours passed before they merely vanished, at least that's what happened to the Kobold I summoned when fleeing the bandits who had captured me.

Pulling a pair of Kobold cards from my Monster book, having selected them because of their size they would easily be able to remain in the cart with me, and without drawing attention.

"Summon Kobolds" <Satou>

Calling out the command two Orange kobolds materialized in front of me on the other bench of the cart.

Once again the naming screen appeared before my eyes, I pushed one to the side opting to not name it, but for the other I selected the naming screen.

[Ugh I hate naming things I'm always the worst when it comes to them, should I just go for a tried and true basic like pochi, tama, or Kuro? No that would just give the other heroes even more reason to mock me, so instead I'll name it after a famous gamer fox]

Without hesitation I typed in the name from my favorite ninja anime back on earth from when I was a child.

Clicking the confirm screen that appeared after entering the name.

From my character screen now I saw a small change, where the first summon card disappeared from my inventory, the second now could be found on a sub tab of the monster book, still appearing brown in color denoting it's common attribute, but the name I'd chosen now showed in bold letters above the creature name, and below at the bottom a line for a special ability was now showing though at this time that line was blank.

[Guess that will fill in as the cards are increased in rarity]

Ok next check, I looked at the two shown ally's in my party listing, it was showing two level 7 Kobold, one just showed Kobold while the other displayed the name I'd chosen.

"Now if this was just like the game I should be able to dismiss any summoning early if I choose to, but I wonder how it works in this world, so many things are already different than the game" <Satou>

Casually letting my words fall out as a whisper

Having decided it was worth the risk of losing the two summons I selected their icons and selecting dismissal, the unnamed kobold vanished in a glittering scattering of light particles, whereas the named kobold glowed white before flashing towards me.

Checking my book it now showed a full color creature card whereas before it had been greyed out.

[Good so it looks like if I name them I can keep them if they are not killed but next is the test of how long they can remain outside card form; don't want them to disappear while we're sleeping]

"Summon Kurama" <Satou>

A single flash of light and the Red furred kobold once again sat on the bench in front of me.

"Kurama?" <Raisa>

I heard a faint voice from the front seat, well any name I choose is going to be weird to here I think.

Expanding on Kurama's display I looked over his skills and stats.

Seems his skills are about half as strong as I am at my level now, but his skills are focus as one would expect to survival skills; Survival, Hide, Darkvision, Search, and Listen.

After having examined my new 'pet' I raised a question to Raisa who jumped with a start as she heard my voice.

"Raisa" <Satou>

"Eep… Uh yes what is it?" <Raisa>

"Oh sorry didn't mean to startle you, I just had a question about skills since I only know about my own so far, can you tell me how they work?" <Satou>

"Uh well can't speak for everything but from what I've heard, most common skills are ranked G-A and they grow in power or ability as one levels it up, which only happens from constant or repetitive use, whereas the profession skills are on a different scale they range from 1-5 but they are much harder to level up you see." <Raisa>

"Oh ok, I see" <Satou>

[So the profession skills are just like the skills we used to have in the game I bet, like Alchemy, Blacksmithing and the like, but we never had common skills so I wonder if I can obtain them myself?]

"Thank you, well I suppose introductions are in order. Raisa this is Kurama he's going to be our watch dog, err scout?" <Satou>

"Aww it's such a cutie! I don't think I've ever seen a kobold quite like that one before" <Raisa>

Her voice was so high it was almost a squeal.

[Guess she's like any girl and like something she's declares as cute with fervor]

"Do you mind if he joins you up front? He's got skills in scouting so if any monsters try anything we should know about it long before anything happens" <Satou>

"Sure I don't mind" <Raisa>

Responding positively she patted her hand down at the seat next to her.

Kurama took one look at me and I nodded my head so the little fox clambered its way over the cart and onto the seat.

[Ok so next is to decide whom will be our guards since I've already got Kurama as our scout plus he's the best choice with darkvision, my other guard choices are; Stone Golems, Night Wolves, Gorns, or Orc's, The wolves would most likely also have darkvision, but would be limited in their ability to fight since their an agility spec'd monster, Orc's on the other hand are Atk spec, so I should go with Stone Golems who are tanks, since they'd give us the greatest amount of time to respond to an attack]

Pulling two Stone golem cards into my inventory I worked the menu to bind the cards to myself without actually summoning them, the same naming screen appeared once again.

"Let's see for a pair of tanks who are going to take a beating, let's go with a couple of boxer's then who are used to taking a pounding" <Satout>

Having made my choice I registered my two newest summons before confirming their appearance In my monster book.

Stone Golem: Rocky, and Creed;

Their stats showed lower ranks in agility, and dexterity, but boasted higher defense and strength.

Skillwise they both possessed only two: Intimidate, and Survival.

Continuing to poke around my menu as we carried on our way as the suns, crept slowly towards the horizon.

Not opting to waste my time solely on investigation I worked my way through the shop to purchase items for our dinner and subsequent breakfast.

Having chosen to go for simple foods once again I purchased a Pot of Eodun Potato soup, a Loaf of Llambdas bread, and cause she'd never forgive me if I didn't a pack of assorted cupcakes.

Along with a pair of fruit juice pitchers.

As I was purchasing dinner our cart left the main road and proceed its travels into the wilderness until coming to a halt on the edge of the forest with the cart acting as a natural barrier from any who traveled this way from the road.

I gazed on as we came to a halt, Kurama who started by sitting in the front seat was now laying down with his head in Raisa's lap her free hand petting his head.

"Don't you two look comfortable" <Satou>

I quipped towards the snuggled up pair driving the cart.

Immediately her cheeks reddened and her back straightened, due to this sudden tensing Kurama bolted upright as well scanning the area, his ears rapidly twitching.

"Sorry, sorry guess I gotta work on not scaring you so much" <Satou>

"No, uh no that's not it; I just well suddenly realized I was being far too familiar with your Summon is all." <Raisa>

"Oh don't worry about that, I'm glad to see you were happy, but since we're here now we'll have to setup camp else we won't get to sleep or eat anything." <Satou>

"Right let's do our best Kurama!" <Raisa>

She did a light fist bump into the air before jumping down from the cart.

As the two of them worked together to collect and build a place for a fire, I pulled out the box containing the tent, and a pair of bedrolls.

"Summon Rocky" "Summon Creed" <Satou>

A quick flash and then two 8ft tall Stone Golem stood before me, one a faint grey like paled marble, the other a faded black like dusty onyx, their less dexterous so I cannot get them to do anything to fine tuned, but I worked alongside them as they planted the tent poles into the ground effortlessly while I managed the tent pegs.

In almost no time at all our nightly shelter was constructed and once again a canvas sheet was used to divide the tent itself into halves, placing down both bedrolls, I also lay my spare mantle down since it'll serve as bedding for Kurama.

Walking outside the tent the looming darkness filled the surrounding, but the flickering light coming from the stoned pit Raisa and Kurama created was building.

"Looks good, and with your Golem's help setup took practically no time at all" <Raisa>

"I was just about to say the same to you and Kurama" <Satou>

"He's such a good helper" <Raisa>

Raisa praised Kurama, while patting his head, he did not seem to react to her praise even a little instead just staring intently at me.

"Uh good job Kurama" <Satou>

At my say so, Kurama raised his paw in a triumphant gesture.

*giggle*

A quick simple giggle escaped Raisa lips as she watched his action.

"Ok now I think it's time for the main event don't you think?" <Satou>

"Wait you don't mean…" <Raisa>

Her words trailing off as he mind started to run into overdrive imagining what I might have planned for dinner tonight while her face flushed and her fingers started to figet.

"Yup exactly so, but first things first, Kurama, please setup in the cart and alert us or the golems should anything monster or human present itself either to your eyes or ears" <Satou>

With a nod of his head the little kobold made off and took position in the cart.

"Rocky and Creed take sentinel duty on either side of the camp and blend in should Kurama alert any danger respond in kind" <Satou>

'thump thump'

Both golems beat their chest once with their right "hand?" before marching off until reaching positions and then resting looking like nothing more than giant boulders in this field.

"Alright and now for us, well I've got the food already and it's cooked so I guess we just need to decide where to eat?" <Satou>

'Huh!'

A quick gasp of exclaimation escaped her lips before she quickly collected herself for response.

"Well... well I think where we eat is conditional to what we're eating, since use of different utensils will require different settings don't you think?" <Raisa>

"Hmm I suppose that's true, but all I've got is soup, and bread for us this time." <Satou>

Shrugging my shoulders as I stated so casually, Raisa's shoulders drooped.

[heh she thinks it's gonna be common food after all the treats I presented before]

"Well if it's only soup sitting on the grass here or even some padding is fine I think" <Raisa>

"Well can't very well eat Earth soup while sitting on the grass itself I daresay" <Satou>

Pulling out my two remaining mantles from my item box and folding each up so they would work as seat pads, placed them close to the fire, offering either to Raisa as a chair.

Once we were both seated I once again opened my itembox and pulled a large bronze cauldron with a lid out placing it in between but also to the side of us, 4 small metal bowls hung from hooks on the cauldron, and an open satchel could be seen with cast iron spoons within.

Likewise pulling out the loaf of bread and unwrapping the leaf cloth that was around it.

[Thank goodness it was pre-sliced, heh only cutting tools I've got is a dagger, and a sword, neither of which is meant to cut bread plus they've both been used to attack monsters so there could be minute leftover blood on both]

"Oh my what white bread, what kind of soup do you have for me today?" <Raisa>

Lastly pulling out the two pitchers of fruit juice, one peach, and one apple along with a set of glasses.

Pulling the lid off the cauldron a great puff of steam rose into the air, and a cloud of culinary vapour poured out like mist filling all the surrounding air.

Raisa's eyes closed and I could see she was breathing deeply, so entranced was she that she failed to notice a bit of drool started to creep its way out of the corner of her mouth.

Thinking it safest not to point anything out, I worked my hands to select two of the bowls from the cauldron and proceeded to fill them up ¾ full before placing a spoon into each bowl and placing them before us.

"This is what's called Potato soup, and to accompany it we've got White Herb Bread. Both are highly good for you and it goes without saying taste delicious as well" <Satou>

"Itadakimasu" <Satou>

Placing both hands in front of me I stated my simple prayer, having witnessed me do this for the last few days already Raisa quickly mimicked my action but did not say the word since to here it was the same as me hearing someone chant magic.

Reaching out I took a slice of the elven bread and took a quick bite.

It was glorious the bread was so light it made me wonder if I had even taken a bite at all, and when I swallowed it was like a radiating glow started to emanate from my stomach, the only drawback was that the bread itself tasted not much like anything.

Moving next to dip my slice of bread into the soup the thick creamy mixture thoroughly coating the slice.

This next bite was full of flavour the light I felt before intensifying tenfold, and my appetite that told me I was hungry was now telling me I was starving.

Looking across I saw Raisa had once again been mimicking me, but until me she was savouring her bite of dipped bread with closed eyes, and trembling hands.

Carrying on with eating of the soup and bread myself, eventually she snapped out of it.

And rejoined the feast.

"This soup is delectable, but it's so unlike any soup I've ever seen before not because of the vegetables that are in it, or this meat, but rather the broth it's almost like the entire thing is made of cheese" <Raisa>

"Well that's not too far off, the base is primarily made of milk, but the potato is worked in and further chunks added to it later on, along with the bacon, and herbs." <Satou>

As I finished speaking she reached out to refill her bowl

"You're welcome to as much as you'd like just make sure to save room for dessert" <Satou>

Her hands stopped and a fire lit in her eyes as she glared as me.

"You never said there was dessert!" <Raisa>

Her voice came out almost like a feral growl.

"Well yeah I mean if I did then you'd eat them all and this nice soup would've gone to waste, better to conserve the best things for the longest eh?" <Satou>

"Not trying to cover up the fact that you were trying to hide this dessert from me to keep them all for yourself??" <Raisa>

"What! No if that was the case why would I warn you about leaving room for it?" <Satou>

A few seconds passed as she contemplated this.

"Fine you're mostly innocent then" <Raisa>

[mostly innocent, I'd like to think purely innocent, after all I did nothing wrong… I think]

Accepting my statement at last she fill her bowl only ½ full this time and we continued to eat in relative peace at least until she finished her second bowl and placed it onto the grass.

Once she'd done this the predator gaze once again settled upon me.

"Ok ok, I get it sheesh" <Satou>

Pulling out the package containing 6 assorted cupcakes all of which were different cake, frosting, and filling flavors.

Her face shone with a gleam, and a distinct twinkle could be seen in both eyes and she watched every motion as I open the package exposing these treat to the fresh air, and carnivorous gaze of Raisa.

Offering her first pick she began to perform some sort of chant, which to me looked reminiscent of eenie meenie minie moe, when at last she settled on a red velvet with amber crème cake, I meanwhile took a simpler lemon poppy seed, with plain frosting.

Reaching out and taking a second cake in my hand I'd selected an orange cake that had a red crème with a red spice sprinkled on top.

Ignoring Raisa's complaint at my taking of two I tossed the orange cake into the air.

"Kurama catch" <Satou>

As the cake arc'd through the air the kobold sprang up and captured the soaring cake before once again landing in the cart before retaking his seat he bowed low.

"You make it look like you tamed him rather than summoned him, I mean do summoned monsters even need food?" <Raisa>

"Oh don't be gloomy he's going to be protecting us through the night I think that's more than worth the loss of a single cake, and besides I'm sure that one wouldn't agree with you, it's not really a sweet cake, it's a spicy one" <Satou>

"Why would anyone want a spicy dessert?" <Raisa>

"Well on cold winter day's they help to warm one up from the inside, but besides that I've heard spicy foods can aid in digestion and speeding ones metabolism" <Satou>

Continuing to eat her cake oblivious to the crème on her cheeks she cocked her head to the side a little.

"uh let's see, it helps to make one thinner?" <Satou>

"Huh well that might explain why spices always cost so much and only nobles use them, then again most nobles I know of are fat, so perhaps this is only true of your earth spices" <Raisa>

Leaving it at that since I couldn't confirm or deny anything.

Post dinner we stayed up chatting for a little while longer before Raisa elected to turn in for the night.

I meanwhile entered into my usual routine of investigating my menu further, as expansive as Yggdrasil was not having the menu accessible on a second screen was a huge detriment I'd read something in one place and spend the next hour trying to find what it was talking about.

But since I'd managed to figure out my Monster summoning I figured I should get started on learning how my own magic system, and skills worked so that once we reached Bobel I would be able to find work, or something to do since as I was now I could act as a low level adventurer since I wouldn't stand out much for that or sell my Yggdrasill goods through the merchants guild which would be a sure fire way to put a huge target on my back.

After an hour of searching sleep began to creep into my eyes, so stood reclaiming my two mantles and dishes, before giving a final command to Kurama the leader of our night watch.

[We should be safe it's been over 4 hours since Kurama was summoned the others disappeared after only two so unless they are defeated or I call them back we should be fine, I just pray they don't disappear if I lose consciousness]

Ordered to carry on through the night, to deal with any simple opponents themselves, but to wake me if anything that would give them even a moment's pause.

Settling the matter I entered the tent and fell asleep as soon as I had lain onto my bed.