Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 266: Going Home Empty-Handed…
Tauro was in trouble.
His shopping trip was about to transform him from a customer into a teacher.
He had worked under Angus in Saisi and knew a little about smithing, but he was nowhere near qualified to instruct a professional craftsman.
There was very little he could teach Rangas.
The knowledge he had offered Angus had merely come from accidental hints based on memories of his previous world.
“I have nothing worthy of teaching you. Mr. Angus succeeded through his own effort after making use of a few hints from me. His achievement wasn’t mine.”
Tauro answered Rangas’s plea as modestly as he could.
“My brother had struck a wall he couldn’t overcome, and you showed him the way past it! Please, Master—just give me one such hint!”
Apparently, Rangas had reached a wall much like the one Angus had once faced.
“Even if you ask me that…” Tauro looked around the shop with [True Eye]. “You have excellent materials and an environment where you can create almost anything. But what you truly want to make isn’t leather equipment. You prefer armor made from iron and similar materials.”
“The problem may be that you’re forcing every material toward that single ideal. Each piece here is valuable and skillfully made, but the finished equipment doesn’t make full use of the distinctive properties of the monster material from which it was made.”
Tauro posed the difficult question after studying the shop through [True Eye].
Rangas froze as though struck by the words.
“…You’re right. I was so fixated on making what I wanted that I lost the flexibility to make the best use of each material. Now that you point it out, the goods in my shop use many different materials, yet all of them feel uniform and uninteresting… Thank you, Master! I’ll start over and create armor that brings out the material’s true qualities!”
Rangas’s face brightened, and he sprang to his feet.
“Then I’ll choose the leather armor I came for—”
“I’m sorry, Master! I’m closing the shop for today so that I can concentrate on creating. Please come back another time!”
“What?!”
No, I’m a customer! Let me buy the armor first! I can handle any later modifications myself!
Before Tauro could voice the protest, Rangas hurried him out and shut the shop.
“The main purpose of today’s trip…”
Tauro sank to his knees in dejection.
Then the belt around his waist began to move.
The apparent belt was actually Pella, the slime familiar, using mimicry.
Because Tauro wasn’t wearing his leather armor that day, he had asked Pella to imitate a belt instead. Now the slime wriggled as though trying to encourage him.
“Thank you, Pella. I understand what you’re trying to say.”
Tauro gently stroked the familiar disguised around his waist.
Still disappointed but with time remaining before he needed to return, Tauro decided to eat and then continue walking around the village.
He chose the Fire-Eating Dragon Restaurant, which members of the garrison had recommended.
The restaurant was crowded and lively when he entered.
“Just one?”
Tauro nodded to the female dragonfolk server.
“Then please take a seat at the counter.”
She guided him to an open place at the counter.
Dragonfolk customers repeatedly looked toward Tauro on their way out and said:
“Thank you!”
Then they left.
Tauro was grateful for their appreciation, and while waiting for his meal he could simply bow in reply.
But being thanked over and over while trying to eat was another matter entirely.
The interruptions came so frequently while he ate the restaurant’s famous fire-eating lizard steak that he barely had a chance to savor it.
The dish lived up to its name: the meat remained wrapped in flames even on the plate. It was wonderfully juicy and delicious, but by the time Tauro finished, the inside of his mouth was badly burned.
[Super Recovery and Regeneration] healed the burns after the meal. An ordinary human should never attempt to eat the dish without first learning the proper technique.
After Tauro returned home, Drago explained that dragonfolk lightly breathed into their mouths to extinguish the flames before chewing, preventing burns.
In other words, the dish wasn’t naturally suited to a human like Tauro.
Because the technique was common knowledge among dragonfolk, no one at the restaurant had imagined that Tauro was eating the steak while repeatedly burning his mouth.