Chapter 315: Sudden Visit

A lot happened this summer, but today is the final harvest day for the summer crops. The planting of autumn crop seeds and seedlings will begin soon, but I wanted to properly celebrate this milestone.

“With this, all crop harvesting is complete. Thank you everyone for your hard work in the heat again this year.”

After my words, applause came from everyone. Strictly speaking, we still need to sell the harvested crops, but Leticia-san handles that part.

You see, Leticia-san doesn’t do farm work—instead, she travels to the royal capital to sell the harvested crops and handles the negotiations. Until now, I had been going myself, but I was busy and doing things haphazardly, and I wasn’t doing anything that could properly be called negotiation.

Leticia-san is quick at calculations and articulate. She’s also good-looking, and having worked as Chris-san’s close associate, she has connections too.

She’s the perfect person for conducting negotiations, and sales have doubled compared to when I was doing it. Not only that, but she also negotiated for the buyers to handle transporting the crops, which significantly reduced our workload as well.

According to Leticia-san, “The crops here are really high quality,” but no matter how you look at it, her skill is the biggest factor. I was selling the same things, after all.

The other beastkin are working hard too, and not only were we able to receive Elec and Trick, but even someone as outstanding as Leticia-san came to us.

I thought once again that accepting the former slaves was the right choice, as I finished the last farm work of summer.

The next few days were scheduled as holidays, and I wanted to go on another trip, but the combat-capable members including Sheila-san were apparently going to an unexplored dungeon that Lua-san and the others had found. I was invited too, but while a leisurely winter expedition would be one thing, I declined because I didn’t feel I could keep up with a serious expedition lasting several days.

So I was planning to stay behind with craftsmen like Rozzo-san and Sid-san. I couldn’t help but feel it was a waste of a good holiday, but lazing around wasn’t so bad either.

There are plenty of entertainments, and I planned to spend the evenings drinking with Rozzo-san and the others.

I was making such holiday plans, but… that night, visitors arrived.

“Sato! We came to hang out!”

“Sorry for coming at night. If it’s an inconvenience, we’ll leave right away.”

When I opened the door, there stood Mika-san with a beaming smile, and Yui-san looking somewhat apologetic.

“Mika-san and Yui-san. What brings you here at night? You didn’t run away from home like before… right?”

Since I didn’t see Ren-san and Shoji-san, I couldn’t help but wonder if they had gotten into a fight.

“That’s not it! We thought it would be a bother if everyone showed up, so just the two of us came!”

“Ren and Shoji are in the royal capital. Mika and I heard from Velvet-san that ‘the summer farm work should be finishing around tomorrow,’ and came knowing we might be imposing.”

“Sato, if you’re free, let’s hang out!”

Mika-san and the others must be busy too, so I was genuinely happy that they came all this way based on Velvet-san’s vague information. I had been planning to laze around with Rozzo-san and the others, but I couldn’t turn down such a delightful invitation.

“Since the work finished today, I’d love to hang out if it’s not a bother.”

“We’re the ones who came to invite you, so there’s no way it’s a bother.”

“Yay! Then let’s go to the royal capital first thing tomorrow morning!”

“First thing in the morning to the royal capital, is it? Will we be touring the royal capital?”

“Nope! I don’t think it’s the royal capital, but I don’t know the details! Ren and Shoji are working out all sorts of plans!”

“I see. Well, please come inside. You’ll be staying the night, right?”

“Yeah! We’re staying!”

I invited Mika-san and Yui-san in, and we decided to have dinner together. Since today was the last day of summer farm work, dinner was more lavish than usual.

Since we were eating in the event hall, it felt somewhat like a ceremony. Mika-san and Yui-san had come at the perfect timing.

“Wow! The food is so fancy!”

“As I mentioned earlier, today is the last day of summer farm work, so it’s fancy to celebrate everyone’s hard work.”

“Is it really okay for us to eat too? We haven’t done anything…”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to finish it all, so please eat without reservation. Mika-san and Yui-san have always been a great help to us.”

“Then, without reservation—wait! Huh! There are beastkin! New residents!?”

Mika-san had been engrossed in the food, but she shouted the moment she saw Leticia-san. Leticia-san had been the first beastkin I had ever seen in this world, and apparently she was the first for Mika-san and Yui-san too.

“Yes. There are more beastkin in the back too. They came here recently.”

“I thought there weren’t any beastkin even though it’s another world! Wow… so fluffy and cute!”

“Shall I introduce you? Leticia-san goes to the royal capital often too, so if you become acquainted, you might be able to meet her there.”

“Yes, please! I want to talk to her!”

And so, I introduced Leticia-san to the two of them. They were already excited just to meet a beastkin, but they got even more excited by her maiko-like way of speaking.

Even Yui-san was uncharacteristically enthusiastic, and Leticia-san was quite bewildered. Since I well understood how Mika-san and Yui-san felt, I watched the three of them interact with a fond smile.