Not Sure, Another World Reincarnation

Chapter 30: Troubling Matters

Morning. Its morning. Lets eat and go to work.

I headed into the dining room for breakfast. It was the usual meal. I glanced around at my surroundings while I was eating, the other customers were looking at me as if they wanted to say something, and the cook was glaring at me from the kitchen, but I splendidly ignored them.

After finishing my meal, I headed out of the inn and gave a slight wave to Lily since she was staring at me with lovestruck-like face.

Now then, lets go to the guild, or rather, lets just head out of town. The receptionist lady told me yesterday that I could just go directly to gather the herbs. When I exited the town, some of the children gathering in the surroundings noticed me and approached me. But I didnt really have anything to say to them. I walked towards the southern parts of the forest with Norn. And behind meisnt it more than yesterday? Hmm, about 15 people? Thats fine, just do whatever you want then. But Im not going to help if they get attacked by monsters.

I arrived in front of the forest. I was planning on going a bit deeper than yesterday. There wasnt much left here because of my excessive gathering from yesterday.

I was already used to walking around in the mountains due to living in the forest for over a year, though I still lacked stamina. As I started moving forward, the people following me began to get further and further away.

I gave a quick glance backwards and saw the boy who spoke to me yesterday leading the group. His face turned red when he met my eyes. Hmm, I get the feeling he looks about 11-12 years old? And the girl behind him looks about 10.

The boy began speaking. It would appear the girl is his friend, maybe sister? It looked like she was falling behind, so I stopped walking and waited for them to catch up. Since I felt like it. But it wont happen again.

The children who realized that I was waiting for them began to quicken their pace. After repeating this two times, I finally found a small area filled with herbs. Lets gather here for today.

But since it was troublesome to gather everything by myself, I used Storage to thin the area out, but to the extent where it wouldnt be noticeable at first glance. I think I took about half of everything in the area? My stockpile has increased again. I guess Ill slow down a bit later.

When I crouched down and began gathering, the children following me split up and also began gathering. About 30 minutes later, the boy from before came near me and began to talk.

Um, thank you for before. It was just a whim. Even so, I still want to say thanks. That girl, you see, Yui, is actually my little sister, and shes kinda slowso she mightve gotten lost if you didnt wait for her. I think its better to move your hands than your mouth. Eh, ah, okay. Ill do my best. Thank you very much.

Why was he thanking me? Never mind, theres no point in overthinking it. It would be bad if my feelings changed too much. If something happens, I might consider helping. But Im not going to help with anything troublesome.

I kept gathering herbs until it reached noon. Im hungry. Lets just eat here for today since its too troublesome otherwise. I thought that and stood up, but there were three dead orcs on the ground. Bad Norn! There are children watching!

I quietly stored everything. Nothing happened here. I didnt see anything.

Anyways, theres still some leftover udon from yesterday. It was still edible since I had kept it inside storage the entire time. How convenient.

As such, I was able to prepare a bowl of udon in no time. The children were confused when I suddenly started eating. But the children who were following me yesterday managed to recover immediately and also started preparing food.

After about 30 minutes, everyone seems to have finished eating, but for some reason they were all sneaking weird glances at me. What is it?

Um

It was that boy again.

Do you need something? What are you going to do now? Are you going to another place and do what you did yesterday, or are you heading back? Im going to continue gather for today. Okaythat helps a lot, thank you very much.

After hearing my plans, he hurried back to the other children to relay the news. Everyone looked really happy. Its just because I feel like it, so dont overthink it. Ill abandon them if I need to. .I really mean it.

Afterwards, I continued on gathering for about another two hours before deciding to go back. I wanted to avoid the busy evening hours, so I decided to head back early. If I leave now I should reach the town by around 4.

But some of the children looked dissatisfied. They were able to gather 5 times the usual amount, but it looked like they wanted to gather some more. Sure, just do whatever you want then. Im not their leader or an escort.

I ignored the boy who I was talking to earlier and began walking. The children who noticed me leaving began frantically following me.

But I could still hear some complaining as we walked through the forest so I began to quicken my pace. I, Ren, wont be easy on opponents even if theyre children!

When I got back to town, I went straight to the guild to sell my materials. I received 10 small gold coins for today. And I still have a lot left in my stockpile. Should I head back early and make something for tonight? What should I make? But as I was thinking about dinner, the boy approached me.

Ah, um, sorry about what happened on the way back. Its not like its your fault, right? No, I was the one who brought them along

I listened to his story for a bit. The boys name was Shin. And he was 12 years old. Apparently, he had been following me since my second day. On the second day, he was surprised when he ended up earning almost twice as much as usual. Furthermore, yesterday he also ended up earning double the amount he had earned when gathering in the morning. So today he had brought along a few friends and his sister.

His sister was unfamiliar with the process, so he was worried since we had headed deeper into the forest today, and one of his friends was the one complaining on the way back.so in other words, he had come to apologize in place of his friend, who had misunderstood his position as someone who was just picking up another persons leftovers.

Thats why, um I dont really care if you bring them along tomorrow or even after. Theyre even free to say whatever they want like today too. Rather, isnt it fine if you all just continue gathering without me? It doesnt have anything to do with me anyways. Thatsum, Im sorry. Dont be, youre free to do whatever you want. Dont mind me. I wont bring him along tomorrow. .Do whatever you want.

Afterwards, I left and went straight back to the inn.

The two of them were most likely orphans. But unlike me who lived in an orphanage, those two were likely street orphans.

They probably had to struggle to survive. I was also the same before, even now Im still doing my all. As such, I was being lenient on them. But it would be annoying if they were to start demanding things out of me.

I might have been a bit harsh, but it was necessary, to begin with, Im not even their friend or anything. It would be bad if they misunderstood.

.Its annoying to get too involved.

If it becomes too troublesome, I might have to switch to a different gathering spot. If I recall, there should be a river towards the northeastso maybe somewhere over there?

I arrived back at the inn.

Lets make something delicious to calm my anxious heart. Today, Norn brought me an orc, so I guess Ill cook it with ginger? I went to ask Lily for permission to use the kitchen, but the cook interrupted me.

Hey, you. Its annoying that you keep using my kitchen so often. But Im not saying you cant use it. If you pay the appropriate price I wouldnt mind letting you continue to use it. So starting from today, you are to give me your cooking recipes instead of money. Please excuse me then, I didnt know I was being such a bother. I wont ask again in that case. I apologize.

Alright, I wont ask you to lend me anything then. I dont want to get involved in an argument. Eh? Price? I think he said something, but I guess I mustve misheard.

Hey, wait, thats not it. Instead just No, since its troubling you, theres no need to force yourself. Please excuse me.

I headed straight up to my room. Lily looked stunned. Im sorry, I wont be able to cook for you anymore

Afterwards, I immersed myself in thought while taking a bath.

From now on, I guess if I want to make something to eat, I would need to borrow a kitchen somewhere else, or think of something else.

Hmm, but the reason Im borrowing the kitchen in the first place is because of the fire? So in other words, I need a stove. In that case, I need something in substitution for a stove. If I had a portable gas stove, I could even make things when Im outside gathering. It would be nice if I could find some sort of magic tool like that, but if I were to make itI would need magic stones to make such a magic tool. I didnt know how to make one, but Ill just have to push forth using [Creation Magic]. I have magic stones, but would they be enough?

.Magic stones were special stones that contained magic powers and were found within the bodies of monsters or demons. These stones were also the reason why monsters were monsters, plus theyre also the weak points of monsters. But there were also various ways to use them. As such, in monster subjugation, people usually wouldnt aim for the magic stone just because it was a weak point, unless the monster was too strong.

So to make something like a gas stove, I would need a fire attribute magic stone, right? It would be expensive to obtain one, but having one would be handy. But I only had ones from the goblins or orcs I defeated. The low-level monster magic stones were not very high quality and were also quite small, so to be frank, I had mixed feelings about having them in hand

But in the end, I decided to just make one myself after dinner since I didnt want to go around looking for one. I think the results werent too bad. I didnt go through too many magic stones. Since I had the skill [Magic Conferment]1, assigning attributes to magic stones was quite easy. However, the process itself took some trials, so I ended up falling asleep after using too much mana.