The Forsaken Saintess And Her Foodie Roadtrip In Another World

"Rin, you're really good at cooking! Are you a chef or something?"

"Cooking is just a hobby of mine… If I had to do this as a job, I'd probably end up not wanting to cook for myself anymore…"

…Now then, with both our stomachs bulging, we cleaned up after our meal and completely dismantled the tent. As we drank some barley tea (strangely enough, the amount hadn't decreased despite how much we chugged it yesterday), Ville looked at me with eyes filled with admiration. Hmm, let’s think about it. My cooking skills were probably middle of the middle… though if I could be a bit greedy, could I bump myself to the top of the middle? Ville probably complimented me and felt that way because he was hungry… People do say that an empty stomach is the greatest spice to make any food tastier.

I know I said that cooking was my hobby, but I really do cook for fun (no obligation). I was the type who once my hobby (cooking) turned into work (obligation), I would stop wanting to do it for myself. I would probably shout, "Once I get home, I have to cook again?!!!"

Leaving that matter aside, the unending supply of barley tea intrigued me… Was it like a never ending spring of tea? Nah, that couldn't be… right…?

"By the way, Rin. This is just to satisfy my own curiosity… but who exactly are you?"

Spurt! What was with this sudden fastball of a question?!

I almost completely spewed out my tea, but Ville purposely pretended to not have noticed.

"At the very least, I've never seen this kind of foldable, portable chair like the ones we're sitting on, the metal stand that you lit a fire inside, the strangle-feeling tent, and that bedding."

"U-uhh… Well, that's…"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter who you are. You saved me. As long as my hand isn't being forced, I swear I won't do anything to hurt you going forward."

"H-hand being forced… What do you mean…?"

"…I thought you must have heard of such stories before… but I guess if you were to betray my comrades or attempt to hurt me…I would have to react."

"Oh, I won't do that. Although I'm still an amateur, I worked in the medical field. I have no intentions of hurting anyone."

O-ooh??? Ville seemed to still be wary of me, but he wanted to be my ally… Was I reading this right?

…In that case, I shouldn't keep quiet if we're going to be traveling together from now. Besides, it wasn't in my personality to deceive others… Should I talk about my circumstances and skill…? If things go south or the mood gets too awkward, I could abandon all my stuff, escape into Campy, and take off.

"Umm… W-well… you see, Mister Ville. There's something I would like to discuss with you before we depart."

"What's wrong, Rin? You got something you need to talk about with that serious of a face on?"

"Yes… Well, how can I put it…? It'll probably be easier to show you."

I know I decided this myself, but I didn't know how exactly to reveal my situation. I glanced over at Ville. Sensing things, Ville tilted his head while still holding a cup of barley tea in one hand. The gap from such a cute gesture coming from a well-built man was…dangerous. …You know how it is… A handsome, friendly man was dangerous… In any case, I sent my brain waves… or I guess just my thoughts to have Campy "physically appear before Ville". Seeing was believing, after all.

The very next moment, I heard a crash. Ville suddenly got up from his chair, and it fell down. Campy was always visible to me, but now Ville was capable of seeing it.

"R-Rin… This is?!"

"Oh… Sorry for surprising you. This is my skill(?) that I'm going to explain to you right now. Or I think it's a skill."

"This thing is…?! Rin… Exactly who are you…?"

"Um… I'm just a simple and ordinary acupuncturist, moxibutionist, and care worker…"

Ville dumbfoundedly muttered as he stared at Campy, and I lowered my head from the sides. Yeah, I was fully aware and felt sorry for dragging him into my incomprehensible situation. Ville's eyes looking at me were a mix of shock and confusion, along with an excessive amount of vigilance toward me. …Well, I did see this coming. I too would probably be like that if something this shocking were to happen to me. That was why I knew I had to keep talking until Ville could make sense of things. Explanation and informed consent were important in daily life. They shouldn't be limited to only medical consultations and treatment.

"Umm, where should I start? Well, I came to your world through something called a saint summoning. I guess you can say I'm a foreigner."

"S-saint summoning?! Are there really idiots out there who actually attempted that ritual?!"

"Hm… probably. Anyways, because of those people, I was summoned here along with another person, but I was considered 'useless' and thus hurled out to this remote area."

"…Not only did they summon you here without your consent, but they also deemed you useless without checking and forced you out to the outskirts… If you really were 'useless', you could've died out here, don't they know?!"

"…I think that was their plan all along… It was like me being in their line of sight was enough to irritate them…"

For the time being, the two of us sat upright in our chairs. I gave a rough rundown of the sequence of events as I refilled our cups of tea. Ville was shocked at first, but by the end, he was crestfallen, holding his lowered head.

…Yeah, I've always thought that those guys' ways were inhuman, but it seemed that to a third-party like Ville, they were indeed very inhuman in their treatment of me. My impression wasn't wrong! That goodness!!!

"So, after you were thrown out, you activated this skill. Is that right…?"

"Yes. It's some kind of 'special skill' and I can only activate it outside. Oh, and I can store and take out quite a lot of stuff from inside."

Yup, I wasn't lying Part 2. I believe I can store a massive amount of stuff inside that fourth-dimension space…

"I see… But to call this useless… I guess it will be useless in battle, but it seems very useful during travel, no?"

"I wonder about that. I was summoned inside a building, so those people probably couldn't see my skill. Besides, while this size is good for a small group, I doubt it'll be very efficient for an army…"

"No. If you control a box that can spontaneously appear anywhere you indicate and has high capacity, then that makes you capable of transporting massive amounts of food, medicine, weapons, armor, and tools with a single carriage. That's the perfect skill to have to maintain the front."

"What…? That kind of sounds scary."

If I had to maintain the front all by myself, I would be overworked to death!

…Or rather, it seemed that based on Ville's words, he didn't know that Campy was a vehicle. Now that I thought about it, he called it a "box", so he probably thought it was some kind of large box.

Well, it was only natural that he wouldn't imagine that such a lump of metal could actually drive… I sometimes wonder how such a heavy object could move… But then again, an airplane can fly through the air through an application of some kind of theory, right…?

It was truly thinking outside the box!

In any case, I was starting to get nervous seeing Ville's pensive face.

…Could it be that he was thinking of capturing me and returning me to that country? If that were to happen, I would surely be used and thrown away. Death from overworking would be certain! No way do I want that!

"…Hey, Rin. What do you plan on doing from now on?"

"Um… Frankly speaking, my top priority is returning to my original world, but if that's impossible, I want to search for a job and find a place to set up camp."

"I see… So, you don't have any desire to become a war hero…?"

"None. None at all!!! I especially don't want to work for those people who summoned me without my consent and threw me to the side of the road!"

"Yeah, that's reasonable… I know that it's not right to overwork your benefactor to death."

Ville spoke, breaking the silence. I took a peek at him using Survival Skill… and I didn't get that red warning message. …He's…safe…right? He said, "I swear I won't do anything to hurt you going forward" so I'll believe his words!!!

Author’s note:

To Ville, Campy is a large, metal box that only those permitted by the skill user could see, and it was capable of appearing and disappearing at the user's discretion. He believed that it was not capable of self-driving and could only appear where the user decides, thus someone could just load it up on a horse or carriage to carry it over to the destination. However, in actuality, it's a metal box that you could board and drive…