Chapter 187
If I left Aldeno and headed even farther north, I would eventually reach Lake Tzia.
The Republic of Tzia, a small country whose territory encompassed Lake Tzia and its surroundings and which prospered through water transport, was actually the place I had visited most often among the small nations.
After all, if you traveled among the small nations by ship, you passed through Lake Tzia almost without fail.
Of course, even though I had visited it often, I had only ever stopped there as part of my travels, so I had no particularly deep attachment to it.
Lake Tzia itself was large and beautiful enough to impress me, but the Republic of Tzia had left little impression... Ah, no—I do remember one thing.
The two cities on opposite sides of Lake Tzia, Focca and Lulonte, were symmetrical, as though one were reflected on the surface of the water, like a pair of twins.
Focca and Lulonte were so alike that, when traveling through the small nations via Lake Tzia, it was difficult to tell at a glance which city the ship had stopped at to rest.
However, this time, as soon as I entered Focca by land, the weather changed and, unfortunately, heavy rain began to fall.
Once that happened, ships used to cross Lake Tzia—or to follow the river downstream from it—would be out of service for a while.
The swollen lake and faster-flowing rivers were dangerous enough already, and the activity of the monsters in the water increased as well.
If it were only fish becoming more active, it might merely mean better fishing, which would be welcome, but monsters were another matter.
Ships were normally well equipped to deal with monsters, but even so, emergencies could still occur.
All the more so when heavy rain gave the monsters extra vigor.
Even merchants eager to move on didn't want to become monster fodder, so although they spat curses toward the sky, they quietly stayed in Focca and waited for the rivers and lake to calm down.
For that reason, the inns and taverns in Focca were doing brisk business today.
Normally, I didn't mind a little rain and would simply continue my journey, but if the ships weren't running, I would rather not cross Lake Tzia.
I could walk on water, but doing so over a long distance would be tiring enough.
And when I considered the rough surface of the lake and the monsters that might attack me, I had no desire to force my way across it without an especially good reason.
Going around Lake Tzia would mean taking a considerable detour, and I would encounter several rivers along the way.
This wasn't an urgent journey, so even if the rain continued for two or three days, it would take only a few more days for the rivers and lake to settle down... I figured the ships would resume within a week, so until then, I decided to spend my time relaxing at an inn.
"Sorry... As you can see, every seat is taken right now."
Then the busy-looking owner of a tavern turned me away.
Focca attracted many visitors, and ships could suddenly be unable to depart, so the city had plenty of lodging, with many rooms at its inns.
But it was difficult for its eateries to keep enough workers on hand to match that demand in normal times.
Since no one could leave Focca, merchants and sailors lingered in the taverns to vent their frustration.
As a result, every tavern was crowded, and... there really didn't seem to be any room for me.
Unfortunately, the inn where I had found a room offered only lodging, with no meals, so at this rate, I wouldn't be able to get dinner.
No, going without food for one day wouldn't hurt me. More to the point, if I nibbled on one of the immortal peaches in my pack, I felt like I could live on just that for about a week...
Still, in a town I had gone to the trouble of visiting, not being able to enjoy a warm meal felt rather sad.
Besides, I had plans for using the immortal peaches, so I didn't want to waste one if I could help it.
The owner seemed to read something in my expression, and then...
"Ah, but hear me out. As you can see, we're short-handed here. ...If you could help serve customers with the simpler tasks, I could pay you and provide meals."
That was the offer he suddenly made.
It was an offer unlike any I had ever received.
If he'd asked me to cook, I'd have turned him down immediately.
I could manage simple meals while camping, but I wasn't confident enough in my cooking skills to serve anything elaborate to other people.
But serving... Hmm, waiting tables.
Somehow, it sounded like it might be fun.
When I heard the word serving, the person who immediately came to mind was Karena, whom I had met in a town in the Virestrica Republic. She was undoubtedly already dead by now, though.
Her movements had been remarkable. She had woven between drunken sailors and fishermen while carrying dishes to the tables.
Sometimes, she had even smoothly dodged the hands of ill-mannered men reaching toward her body.
Back then, I could only admire Karena's skill, but after seriously learning the Yosogi style and receiving some martial instruction from an immortal in the eastern lands, I had become confident in my movements, too.
Perhaps I could manage it like she did.
That thought suddenly sparked my interest.
Of course, Karena was probably so impressive because she'd been trained as an intelligence agent. The other servers—for instance, Su, whom I'd met at a tavern in Shirakawa Province—were perfectly ordinary girls, though.
Since there was apparently no prescribed uniform, I borrowed a spare apron from the owner, put it on, and carried dishes from table to table.
It was still difficult for me to catch the orders of drunk customers, so the veteran server focused mainly on taking orders.
Taking orders incorrectly was the biggest source of trouble.
So I focused on delivering the drinks and food, carrying them the way I'd been taught.
It felt like teamwork, and surprisingly, it was quite fun.
Better still, the meal the owner served after work was far more elaborate than the phrase staff meal had led me to expect, and both its taste and quantity were deeply satisfying.
When he asked whether I'd keep serving for the week until the ships started running again, I nodded without hesitation, my belly bulging from the staff meal.
For the next week, I worked at the tavern as a server, not just at night as I had the previous day, but from morning onward as well.
The owner was quite adept at putting people to work, and soon he had talked me into helping with food preparation as well.
That said, all I did was cut ingredients. It wasn't anything complicated enough to truly be called cooking.
I'd actually made a fair number of kitchen knives, but I hadn't had much experience using one to cut things.
When I cooked outdoors, I used a knife that was easy to carry and useful for other purposes as well.
So, out of habit, even when I occasionally felt like cooking in town, I made do with a knife.
But while that was fine for food prepared for myself or someone I knew, I couldn't very well use my knife to cut ingredients that would be served to tavern customers.
Even as the owner corrected my grip and technique here and there, I cut up potatoes, vegetables, and meat with a kitchen knife.
...I also realized that cutting meat with a kitchen knife was surprisingly difficult.
The knife I normally used was, well, a little too sharp, so I struggled with an ordinary kitchen knife.
Serving went smoothly: I moved as I'd envisioned and carried drinks and meals to the tables without a hitch.
Sometimes, after getting the owner's permission, I even tossed drunk customers who harassed the other servers out of the tavern.
I grew friendly with the owner, and sometimes we drank together after the tavern closed.
His name was Radahl, and he was actually from Janpemon.
I wondered if perhaps we had passed each other somewhere before.
The week passed in the blink of an eye, and the boats began running again.
Though Radahl, the owner, and the other servers were sorry to see me go, my enforced stay was over.
I clasped each of their hands, exchanged farewells, and boarded the ship.
Once I reached Lulonte from Focca by ship, Odine would no longer be very far away.