Published: August 2, 2025
Today, four chapters are updated simultaneously.
This is the fourth chapter.
It takes three days by horse carriage to reach Renaf Town, passing through four small villages along the way. Although not as big as Gimul, I heard it's a fairly large town. Normally, the journey takes at least three days, but I expect to significantly shorten the time using spatial magic and qi gong.
During the trip, I basically practice by moving via 'warp,' but since I need to keep some mana in reserve, I run with a body strengthened by qi gong for the rest of the time. This allows me to recover my mana while moving at a pace no ordinary person could imitate.
I thought it might be good to take it slow and fight magical beasts, but only beasts that don’t pose a problem even without using qi gong or magic appear around here. After spending the past two months coming and going between my home and town, as well as venturing as far as I could on day trips, I had already confirmed this.
However, just recently, some slightly stronger magical beasts showed up near Renaf Town. If I hurry, I might be able to fight them. Also, I’m carrying a delivery from Ms. Griciela to Mr. Pioro. Since I was going to visit anyway, I accepted the task—it’s probably best to do it sooner rather than later.
So, relying on my mana and physical strength, I set off. I passed through forests, crossed grasslands, went beyond the third of the four villages, and by the time I was roughly between the third and fourth villages, dusk began to fall.
Let’s stop here for today…
I pulled over to the side of the road and activated Dimension Home. After entering, I started preparing dinner.
Today’s menu consists of several types of portable food I bought before departing. I purchased them out of curiosity at a shop in Gimul. I wonder what the typical portable food tastes like in this world?
First, I tried a square, thin, biscuit-like piece.
"...The texture is nice and crispy, but it’s quite powdery..."
It wasn’t especially delicious or bad. I filled a cup with water using water magic and drank it, then tried a brown, dice-shaped lump next.
"Hmm... hard... I can chew it, but it’s like hardtack. Maybe it’s so tough because it’s made thick?"
Next was dried meat.
"Salty... just salty... the more I chew, the saltier it gets... I can't taste any umami, only salt. I better stop—this seems bad for my health."
Finally, the green bread.
"This looks hard too... It’s already rock-solid just by holding it."
The stone-like bread. The shop lady warned me not to soak it in liquid.
She kept insisting that soaking it would ruin the taste and it would be wasteful.
...I guess I have to bite in with determination!
"Ouch!? So hard... What is this bread? Too tough!"
Literally, I couldn’t bite through it, so I reluctantly strengthened my jaw with qi gong. Then I bit again and was able to chew it this time. But it seemed tasteless... until suddenly—
"Ka... cough! ...Disgusting!!!"
I hurriedly drank water, but it wasn’t enough, so I made and drank more.
"Whoa... what is this!!"
What’s that taste? Grass? Some kind of herb? It’s a confusing mix of flavors. The more I chew, the more the saliva mixes with it, releasing a grassy, bitter, astringent, and harsh taste that spreads in my mouth—absolutely awful!!
The dried meat Mr. Fuse gave me was reasonably edible... Ah, I shouldn’t have bought portable food out of curiosity. I swear I’ll never buy that green thing again, at least.
Deciding this firmly, I bit into some fruit to cleanse my palate. Good thing I stored it in my Item Box.
Because the shocking taste killed my appetite, dinner consisted of just one piece of fruit. I then went to sleep inside Dimension Home. I have to be careful outside when leaving, but it’s such a convenient magic—no tent needed.
The next day.
I safely spent the night, then started moving just like the day before. Around early afternoon, I spotted the city walls of Renaf Town in the distance. Once I enter the town, I’ll head to Mr. Pioro’s shop… I should clean off sweat and travel grime inside Dimension Home first.