Ch.89Daily Life in the Holy Kingdom (7)

I rushed out of the lodging in a hurry and ran into Ha-eun.

“Senior? You’ve been discharged…”

“Run away right now!”

And so I managed to escape from that lodging with Ha-eun in tow. Thankfully, we weren’t too late.

“Senior? Why did you suddenly tell me to run away?”

“There’s going to be a huge commotion in there soon. An incredibly huge commotion.”

“What exactly is going to happen?”

“The entire lodging might get blown away. So we shouldn’t go back in there for a while.”

If we stay there, we’ll definitely get caught up in something extremely dangerous. My intuition is screaming that at me right now.

“Then shouldn’t we get Taeyang and Senior Ju-an out too?”

“You’re right, we should quickly get them—”

—BOOM!

After an enormous explosion that nearly ruptured our eardrums came from the lodging, the ground shook violently. So Agath chose suicide after all.

But the tremors didn’t end there. At this rate, is that building really going to collapse?

“Wait here a moment.”

I called Ju-an first. If I walked all the way there to get him out, I’d obviously end up caught in the mess and die.

-Sorry! I’m busy subduing the former Hero right now… I’ll call you back later for sure!

The call disconnected as soon as it connected. By the way, didn’t they say he needed to rest? Is this really okay?

Anyway, I called Taeyang too, but he didn’t answer. Did he pass out or something?

Ju-an will handle it somehow. I really don’t want to go over there.

“Ju-an is stopping Leo, and Taeyang just isn’t answering his phone.”

“Then we should definitely go get them.”

As soon as Ha-eun finished speaking, three clones emerged from her shadow. The clones ran toward the building.

“Like you said, Senior, we should probably spend some time outside today. What are you planning to do today?”

“We’re going to the beach tomorrow, right? So I was planning to go buy some food for that.”

“I don’t have anything else to do, so I’ll go with you.”

“Alright, if there’s anything you want to eat, just buy it. I have plenty of money anyway.”

I earned some from completing requests, and I also received quite a bit in compensation for the Holy Kingdom’s laughably poor security. Thanks to that, I can live comfortably now.

When I first came to this world, I had no money at all and had to rely on others for food, but look how far I’ve come.

I wonder what everyone else saves their money for? Leo probably spends most of his on scrolls, but I have no idea about Agath or Rebecca. Are they just saving for the future?

I’ll ask Rebecca later, but I won’t ask Agath. I’d probably get some insane answer anyway.

Anyway, Ha-eun and I went to a large supermarket together.

***

It feels familiar yet strange. I didn’t expect to feel this sensation again here.

The reason I’m suddenly saying this is because the products they sell here are excessively unique.

“Holy Kingdom’s special holy water! A magical potion that naturally heals when drunk or sprinkled on wounds! Why not buy at least one to prepare for emergencies?”

They’re selling gift sets of holy water with healing abilities like potions, or…

“Lucky blessing charms! Just carry it around for a month and your luck will improve!”

They’re selling charms with blessings that improve your luck. They mainly sell items related to divine power.

They’re even selling maces infused with divine power at the entrance. They might have done something strange to the food with divine power too. The Holy Kingdom really lives up to its name.

Fortunately, all the food ingredients were normal. Now let’s find what we need to buy.

First, we definitely need meat. Then vegetables to go with the meat, and then things to eat with the meat.

You might think I’m too focused on meat, but the real joy of traveling is grilling meat like this.

We don’t need to choose seafood since we’ll have plenty of fresh options at our destination.

As I continued looking for good meat, I found some lamb.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of lamb. It tastes good, but I don’t particularly like it because of its unique gamey smell.

Come to think of it, Ju-an really liked lamb. What does he find so good about it?

With such thoughts, I put the lamb in the cart.

“Senior, why are you putting so much lamb in the cart?”

“Ju-an eats quite a lot.”

“But we already have plenty of other meat. Why so much lamb specifically?”

“I just suddenly had a craving for it.”

“…At least Senior Ju-an will be happy.”

So I filled the cart with various meats, including lamb. Now I need to buy snacks and such.

Come to think of it, Ju-an surprisingly liked sweet things.

“…Senior. Buying snacks is fine. But isn’t buying 30 different kinds of chocolate a bit much?”

“It’s fine since I’m buying it with my own money.”

“But isn’t that really too much? It seems like enough to last three months.”

“Considering how much Ju-an eats, this seems about right. No, maybe it’s not enough?”

Let’s buy several more of different kinds. It’s better to have too much than not enough.

Anyway, I continued looking for more things to eat.

***

This should be plenty. We definitely won’t run out of food.

Anyway, I had everything we bought delivered to the lodging. They said it would arrive around this evening, so we can easily pack it tomorrow morning.

“But it seems like there are a lot of things that Senior Ju-an likes.”

“Our tastes must overlap.”

“But you don’t usually eat those things, Senior.”

“I’m buying them for someone else, not for myself.”

Ha-eun frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then smiled somewhat bitterly.

“I think I know who you bought them for.”

“…It’s not what you’re thinking.”

I don’t have feelings for him. I’m just doing this because he’s helped me in many ways.

And Ju-an is my most precious friend. So it’s natural to take care of him like this.

Suddenly, Ha-eun sighed softly and said with regret:

“I’m envious of Senior Ju-an…”

“Why him?”

“It seems like Senior Ju-an wins love so easily.”

“…I told you it’s not like that.”

“I wonder how happy Senior Ju-an must be? If it were me, I’d probably be smiling for no reason for about a week.”

“I’m telling you, it’s really not like that!”

Lately, it seems like everyone around me is obsessed with teasing me. I only think of Ju-an as a friend, why doesn’t anyone understand that?

Based on my long experience, the best approach is to just change the subject. That’s the most effective method.

“By the way, what happened to Taeyang?”

“He was helping Senior Ju-an subdue the former Hero.”

“…Him?”

“Well, he does step up when needed.”

“That’s hard to imagine.”

Honestly, I thought Taeyang would either run away out of fear or faint from extreme terror.

Anyway, we should head back to the lodging now. Everything should be over by now.

So Ha-eun and I chatted about various things as we returned to the lodging.

***

“Senior.”

“What?”

“That is our lodging, right?”

“…Probably.”

About half of our lodging had completely disappeared. Additionally, there were quite a few large cracks in the ground.

What horrific events took place here?

Anyway, as we approached the entrance of the lodging, we saw Ju-an looking extremely tired and Taeyang sitting with a blank expression.

“Hi… I said I’d call you back but couldn’t… So why did you call earlier…?”

A lifeless voice emerged from Ju-an’s throat.

“It was nothing important. But what exactly happened here?”

“The former Hero went on a rampage.”

“…What did Leo do this time?”

“He just smashed the building with his fists, caused explosions with magic, and did all sorts of things.”

“So how did you stop him?”

“The Pope came all the way here and smashed the heads of the former Hero and the Holy Knight.”

These people are the same as always. They never have a peaceful day.

At least half of the lodging remains, so we should be able to sleep.

“But why are you two sitting out here?”

“We need to go back to our rooms, but I just have no strength left…”

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Ju-an this exhausted. He must have had a really tough time.

“Should I help support you?”

“It’s okay… I’ll just rest here a bit longer before going back…”

“Alright, see you tomorrow then~”

“Bye…”

So Ha-eun and I returned to our room.

***

After untying the ribbon, I struggled to wash up. It’s really difficult to move without it.

Fortunately, the effect is maintained even when I tie the ribbon around my arm. If I tie it on my arm like this, I should be able to go in the water tomorrow.

By the way, I don’t have anything to do now. Should I go to Ju-an and ask him to hang out?

But Ju-an looked too tired for that. There’s really nothing to do.

As I was about to kill time browsing the internet, a decent idea came to mind.

I should learn some lamb recipes. We bought so much lamb, it would be a waste to just grill it.

Ju-an will really love it. Tomorrow I’ll feed him until his stomach is about to burst.

And so, until right before falling asleep, I searched for recipes to make for Ju-an… no, recipes for the food I’ll make tomorrow.