“Here’s a bunny!” Miki declared, sniffing around.
“Here’s a deer!” Lydia added, chasing after several animals like a predator.
“I found vegetables.” Terra pulled out a bunch of roots from the ground while using her earth magic to track more.
“I found spices!” Celeste adds while using the wind magic to search for exotic scents.
We had ended up about a fifteen minute walk out of town into a small forested area.
“I found water!” Shao announces excitedly, holding a water stone to me.
“Isn’t that the water stone from my backpack?”
“Mmhmm! And I found it!” She responded; her eyes focused on me.
“Ah… good job.” I patted her head, and Shao smiled happily.
Well, it’s not like every girl had skills uniquely set for gathering food. Still, in the end, my ring was full of fresh foods. None of this was really necessary. My original plan was to go straight into the dungeon, so we naturally had nearly a month of provisions. However, it wasn’t quite dark out and I thought it’d be nice to have a cookout.
We returned to the mining town an hour later just as the sun was finally setting. The innkeeper let us use the back of the inn, so we began cooking various things. As I worked, I considered that I should start working on my cook ability a bit more. I prided myself on my ability to make a good tasting meal. After getting Faeyna she prepared our provisions for us. It was remarkably easy since my cook skills kept our food from rotting for months. However, I didn’t want to depend too much on her cooking for everything.
Soon, pleasant scents began to fill the small town. This began to draw in all the people to the inn. Since I didn’t spend any of my gold on supplies, I still had fifty gold from Prince Aberis. I decided to buy a few kegs of alcohol to greet everyone in town. The innkeeper was quite happy to make the coin, and after trying some of my roasted deer and chili, he tried to hire me to work as a cook in his inn.
“Haha… well, I’d consider it, but aren’t I already your boss?”
Although Alerith was in Aberis, this small mining town was in the wilderness. That meant, technically, these people were my subjects. In that case, welcoming everyone seemed like a good idea. Hearing that I was Viscount Deekson, everyone’s attitude changed quickly. The drunk guys who had previously been laughing even gave me bows.
“Enough of that!” I cried out, raising a mug, “I’d rather merriment than bootlicking! Let’s get drunk!”
Everyone let out cheers, and a party seemed to spread out, quickly taking everyone in town.
“You’re a sylph, right? Doesn’t that mean you can sing?” A drunk woman who had been complementing the girls suddenly asked.
“Eh? Maybe?” Celeste said uncertainly.
Leave it to Celeste to not even know if she could sing. She ended up standing up, but then realized she didn’t know any songs. So, women and men began to sing out a tune and then she’d repeat it. Remarkably, Celeste only had to hear a tune once before she could replicate it perfectly. I was honestly really impressed.
Even more impressive, each time she sang it, it came out more beautifully. By the third time, a drunk bar song came out with such deep emotion that it caused several of the barflies to cry. Throughout the night, Celeste learned more and more songs. She had a beaming smile on her face, so she seemed to really like singing. As a wind fairy, the concept of manipulating vibrations was a part of her. She even started replicating the sound of instruments with just her voice. She could create three to four separate pitches. It was really top class. I checked, and she had gained the Singer job.
“I’ll show my dancing!” Lydia, who was slightly tipsy after downing a few drinks with the ladies, tried to stand on a table.
“No!” I put my foot down on that.
Even with her job as a dancer, let’s leave those kinds of dances just for the two of us.
With Celeste singing, the alcohol flowing, and the food cooking, the mining town partied all night long. They could even be heard by the distant residents of Alerith who could only wonder why the poor, out-of-work town from a derelict mine was suddenly so rowdy and joyful. To the people of Alerith, those from the mining town were outcasts and unsavory sorts, and with the mine closed, they had nothing of value and were practically homeless. Yet, a clear celebration was going on until the morning.
The party did get a little out of hand. I was already drunk, as several people wanted to challenge the new lord to a drinking game. I think one of the people who ended up challenging me was that girl with the red hair from earlier. I didn’t use poison immunity, as I didn’t want to risk what happened last time. I mostly kept it to a few cure poisons and healing. Despite that, she still drank me under the table and I blacked out.