Manuke FPS

“Schwarz is back, nya-“

“I’m back.”

Mitche-san and Ruu-san noticed me immediately.
The others, Frau-san, Marinda-san, and Lali-san were at the knights’ side.
They were sitting at a round wooden table together with Caymon, the vice-leader, and sipping tea… They even brought such a table here…

“There are less knights than before.
Did they go into the labyrinth?”

“They went to sweep the area around the Spring.”

Ruu-san answered.
She was pouring soup from the pot that was heated on the fire into a wooden bowl for me.
Taking the bowl from Ruu-san, our dinner today was… Vegetables, thinly sliced meat and… Was that rice?

My hands shook when I held the bowl… It was such a surprise attack… It had been a month since I came to this world.
During all the meals I had eaten at the White Flower Pavilion of the Labyrinth in Barga, rice hadn’t appeared even once.
I had thought about asking for it, but I was afraid that they would tell me it didn’t exist or they didn’t know about it.
So I hadn’t asked.
I had thought rice didn’t exist in this world and I would never be able to eat it again, but it wasn’t something I had paid attention to in my day to day life.
Now it suddenly appeared before my eyes like that…

“What’s wrong nya? You don’t know rice nya?”

“N-No… J-Just that it’s been a long time since I saw it…”

[PF: apparently all isekai MCs are obsessed with rice]

[T/N: Rice is an irreplaceable component in the daily meals of many Asian countries, including Japan.
A typical meal always = rice + some side dish.
Rice also appears extensively in a number of snacks and desserts.
So, suddenly being unable to eat such a staple of your diet like these MCs… It won’t affect day-to-day, but it surely will feel like something is amiss.]

“Rice is expensive, nya.
It’s not something you can have whenever you ask, nya.
The knights brought it here today, nya.”

“Rice is expensive? Is it something luxurious?”

“It’s brought here from the East of Orlando through transporting magic circles.
The fee is high, so naturally it’s expensive.”

“Is that so… I see…”

The soup was similar to congee.
It was a bit oversalted.

After dinner, I got together with the Guild staff and Johan-san, the Knight Order’s scout.
I handed them the map to this area as well as the map that lead to the Dungeon Master.
We also discussed things such as the appearance rate of monsters and the expected versus actual arrival time. Then Viscount Caymon came to our group.

“Johan, do you have an idea for our course tomorrow?”

“Yes.
According to Schwarz-dono’s* map and his information, I believe we’ll arrive in 3 to 4 hours.”

[*T/N: A honorific used by inferiors for their superiors.]

“Can I see the map?”

“Yes, here it is.”

The Viscount looked at my map.
In the next instant, his eyes moved to me.

“Schwarz-kun, you said that you’re a D-rank? I wonder when you plan to move up to C-Rank.”

“With all due respect, I have no other talent aside from cartography.
I’m just scraping by shutting myself in labyrinths.
I am saving guild points to take the advancement exam, but that’s still a ways off.”

“Is that so? In that case, why don’t you join our Knight Order? You can have a better life than being an explorer.
“

“I can’t use swords or magic.
I believe I am not qualified to carry out a knight’s duty.”

“Is that so… If you change your mind, come to our headquarters in Barga.”

“I will, thank you.”

The Viscount left Johan-san with some instructions before heading back to the Knights’ camp.
The exchange earlier… To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it went well or not.
It seemed like with just one glance at the map, he deemed my mapping ability useful and wanted to secure it, but was it just a light-hearted invitation or did he just reveal his hand…? If I joined the Order, I would work as a cartographer for real.
This was probably another path, but for now, I still hadn’t changed my life’s goal here.

Wolf Fang’s Labyrinth would be the first.
I will conquer it myself.