The Hunting Team
The frog fiends’ nest, or rather their settlement, is about an hour north from the spot by the lake I was on, or so I hear.
That must be why they kept coming over for a look. If I had picked the wrong Blessing at the time, there’s a strong chance I might be scrap right about now. It’s a good thing I didn’t pick a combat ability…even though I don’t think I could use one with a vending machine for a body anyway.
“Welcome.”
“Thank you.”
“Please come again.”
Still, business is booming, and I don’t have time to think about it much. I’ve been at full speed for a while, giving out an endless string of thanks.
When noon came around, the party of hunters began to break for lunch, getting out the food they’d brought or using some of the many ingredients stored in our cargo. But after a word from Lammis, I suddenly had a lot more customers.
“This pasta dish is heavenly!”
That’s right. Out of consideration for the long trip we’d be taking, I used one thousand points to add on a new function. Mornings and evenings are starting to get chilly, so I picked a hot-water-dispensing function, and I added four types of cup ramen as well. Kitsune-style udon, soy sauce ramen, pork bone ramen, and salt ramen—a lineup that lets people choose whatever they like.
Of course, I was dealing with ignorant people from a different world, so I chose simple items that only needed hot water added to them. These had instructions in both words and pictures on the sides of the containers, so Lammis and Munami had figured it out right away.
After changing to cup ramen mode, the water-dispensing function takes up half the vending machine, so one downside might be that there’s less room for beverages. However, I can switch freely in and out of cup ramen mode, so I can go back to normal right away.
Today it’s cloudy, and with the chill making things difficult, seeing Lammis happily eating the noodles brought on a surge of customers.
As a side note, I’ve set each cup ramen to two silver coins. Taking all the necessary measures, I’ve provided the optional fork with the cup ramen as well.
“Whew! This warms me right to the core.”
“I feel this big brown one’s taste in my heart. Delicious!”
“Yours looks good. Let’s trade bites!”
The hunters eat in a lively group, sharing their impressions. In a flash, they buy no fewer than forty cups of ramen and drinks. Considering they are in a physically active profession, it’s not strange that a lot of them eat two cups or more by themselves.
Given that they planned to travel two days out from the settlement on foot, they had plenty of extra food stored, but it seems like a basic rule that hunters eat simple, basic lunches; this combined with their curiosity over the cup ramen is what’s netting me sales.
Of course, it goes without saying how wonderful the flavors are—the makers created them after much trial and error. Tasting the fullness of something so high quality makes me truly glad to have been a Japanese person.
At this rate, I’m going to make a huge haul during this trip. I could set the prices to three silver coins each, but wiping out the frog fiends takes priority, so I keep the markup low in order to support the hunters.
We’re at the back end of the hunting team, and thus removed from the actual fighting. Not that there’s much—we’ve heard shouts and weapons clashing from the front line only a few times so far. Other than that, it’s been supremely peaceful.
Nobody will be buying anything while we’re physically on the move, so I use that time to check back over all my abilities and consider how to proceed from here.
My full status display looks something like this:
[Vending Machine: Boxxo] |
|
DUR 100/100 |
|
TGH 10 |
|
STR 0 |
|
SPD 0 |
|
DEX 0 |
|
MAG 0 |
|
PT 3,600 |
|
(C) Mineral Water | ¥1,000 1SC (x130) |
(C)(W) Milk Tea | ¥1,000 1SC (x124) |
(C)(W) Lemon Tea | ¥1,000 1SC (x65) |
(C) Sports Drink | ¥1,000 1SC (x78) |
(C) Orange Juice | ¥1,000 1SC (x65) |
(W) Corn Soup | ¥1,000 1SC (x119) |
(W) Canned Oden | ¥3,000 3SC (x56) |
(N) Pressed Potato Chips | ¥1,000 1SC (x136) |
(N) Cup Udon Kitsune-Style | ¥2,000 2SC (x85) |
(N) Cup Ramen Pork Bone Flavor | ¥2,000 2SC (x92) |
(N) Cup Ramen Soy Sauce Flavor | ¥2,000 2SC (x88) |
(N) Cup Ramen Salt Flavor | ¥2,000 2SC (x89) |
{Features} Cold Retention, Heat Retention, | |
{Blessings} Force Field |
|
There are too many things to fit on the display at once. I should probably check each item individually.
I’ll keep myself in cup ramen mode for as long as I’m accompanying this hunter team and have one of each beverage in the lineup.
Adding that function makes my appearance change instantly, like magic. That might mean I can find design-changing and form-changing functions in the upgrade list, too… Found it.
Oh, wow. Freely changing my color? I can add patterns, button designs, and even an electronic sign? That’s a lot of customization.
Changing colors doesn’t seem to cost that many points, but the ones that change my form and add the sign are fairly pricey. I’ll get them once I have more to spare.
Time passes quickly as I look at all the different add-ons I can get. The next thing I know, it’s gotten dark out.
“We’re spending the night here. Get to setting up camp, everyone.”
Is that austere voice the Hunters Association director’s? Right, he’s part of the hunting team, too, isn’t he? He used to be an extremely good hunter, I hear, and a cut above all the rest of the members present, in terms of ability.
Some groups are setting up tents, but many hunters are simply sitting in front of a fire. Are they going to make do with just sleeping rolls or blankets? I wonder what Lammis is going to do…? When I look over, she’s just sitting next to me with a smile on her face…
…It may look like she’s spacing out, but she technically used to be a hunter, so that can’t be true. Then again, I don’t think she brought along any luggage at all, besides lugging me on her back. Is she going to be all right?
Completely unaware of my worries, she’s racking her brain over what to buy. The others will be engaging in a decisive battle tomorrow, and the dinner they made tonight is rather lavish.
Most of them buy only a drink; the oden and cup ramen aren’t selling much. They must want to use up their food so that they have less to carry.
“I really like the skewer one. They should make one that only has the little eggs on it.”
So Lammis is an egg person? Quail eggs are expensive, so if I offer an item with only eggs, it’ll probably cost more to stock. Personally, I think stuffed tofu and daikon are irreplaceable in oden.
For dinner, she has oden, milk tea, and kitsune-style udon. Not sure whether that’s a balanced diet or not.
“Do you have a moment?”
All of a sudden, like a towering giant, the director is standing behind Lammis.
I didn’t notice him getting this close at all. Those rumors about him having been a skilled hunter must not be all talk.
“Do you want to buy something, Director?”
“Perhaps I’ll have the yellow soup later. More importantly, about tomorrow… We should arrive at their settlement in three hours from here. We’re in a clearing surrounded by trees right now—ideal for setting up camp without letting any light leak out. The enemy will likely not find us here.”
So that’s why they made a fire. I was concerned, since we’re close to the enemy base and the fire is really visible—but now I get it.
“Which brings me to my question. I’d like you two to choose whether to wait here or to head to the battlefield with us. If you stay here, you could be set upon by frog fiend stragglers or other monsters. We’ll leave your escort with you, but I can’t say for sure you’ll be safe.”
Going with them to the frog fiends’ home would definitely involve us in the battle, but having thirty hunters with us is arguably more of a relief. The group consisted of many veterans, too, and I have advance information that even if things go really wrong, they’ll still win.
To be honest, I don’t know how strong other monsters are, so I can’t decide which is the right choice.
“Hmm, well…I am still a hunter, so I could head to the battlefield. But I’m sure Boxxo doesn’t want to be wrapped up in the fighting.”
That’s troubling. How do I answer? I can’t feel pain, and I know from experience that I can shrug off a few hits. Even if I get hurt, I can restore myself with points.
I don’t particularly mind, but it depends on what Lammis wants to do. From the looks of her, she’s not scared—in fact, she looks like she’s raring to go. That makes my answer easy.
“Too bad.”
“Wait, you want to be in the battle?”
“Welcome.”
“Okay, got it. Director, we’ll be taking part, too!”
I’ll protect her for sure. I don’t have arms or legs, but I have my Force Field, so I should be able to defend her. She was my first customer when I came to this world, and my first friend. I’ll use as many points as I need if it means I can help her. I’ll have to do my best to sell as much as I can.
Come, ye hunters, and become thralls to my products!
*****
As the sun begins to rise, the hunters stir as well. Lammis ended up sleeping against me. My Heat-Retention function seems to affect my surroundings, and surprisingly, she slept soundly with nary a shiver all through the night.
It’s cooled down quite a bit since yesterday, and now the oden and the warm beverages are selling like hotcakes. Making one thousand points in a single day is stunning in a good way.
This morning, once again, there’s a line in front of me for the warm items. I should probably increase the number of cup ramen and corn soup I have on hand.
As for slaying the frog fiends, I feel as though we could wait a bit, until they go into hibernation. Even after taking the notable differences into consideration, as long as they share that key property with the frogs from my world, waiting would make the raid a lot easier. Well, even if my guess is correct, I have no way of communicating that.
“Listen up, everyone. Now that we’ve finished breakfast, we’re going to attack the enemy’s headquarters. Do everything as we planned. In terms of combat power, we should achieve total victory. But do not let your guards down. That is all.”
I feel an odd persuasiveness and sense of relief from the director’s words. They seem to assure that everything will be all right.
It looks like the tents and cooking utensils are all cleaned up. Lammis hoists me onto her back as always, and we set off.
Traveling with allies to fight monsters. Thinking of it this way makes it sound like a commonplace otherworld fantasy story, but I’m a vending machine, so…I can’t move by myself… It can’t be helped.
Acquiring another Blessing aside from Force Field to gain abilities seems like the fastest route to actually doing something on my own, but even the least expensive of those Blessing abilities I can get cost one million points!
Ah, the skies are clear and blue. Existing only as something that gets carried around by a cute girl makes me, as a man, start to wonder about things, but I’ll get depressed if I think about that, so I won’t.
