523 Rejmar Trade Outpost

With the new trio of companions joining us, we made our way towards the trade outpost like we had planned.

The three of them kept to themselves and were silent throughout the journey so we did the same as well.

I noticed that Katsuki kept eyeing them from time to time, a clear indication that she did not completely trust them yet.

Oh well, I won't say that she's being paranoid since we did meet them in the middle of the wilderness a short distance from our training camp... Which I have to mention no one else had a reason to visit since this whole area was actually off limits to outsiders not of the Nilm Family.

Thankfully, it did not take long for us to reach the village.

Honestly I didn't really know what to expect since this would be my first time seeing a Rejmar village… But it looked like a normal village aside from the fact that most of the buildings are smaller and they seemed to be carved out of the mountain stone.

Riklan turned to me, "Though our journey was short, I thank you for accompanying us here. Perhaps we shall meet again."

I was about to return his sentiments when Katsuki squeezed in between us with her arms crossed, "Yes, yes. Now you can go about your business, no need to bother yourself with us."

Eh? Why is Katsuki so hostile towards him? Did he do something along the way that I did not know about?

If her attitude bothered Riklan, it did not show on his face. He simply nodded in response before heading into the village with his companions.

Kaelin rushed after his leader while Eita paused to give us a wave before hurrying after her party.

I waited until they were out of sight before turning to Katsuki, "What's wrong with them?"

"My apologies Mistress… But that man stinks…"

I tilted my head, "Really? Is it because he was hostile to us?"

Lisa appeared by my side and slipped her hand into mine smoothly, "No, no~ Our little maid here is talking about that guy's smell. Even I felt a little icky near him for some reason."

"Eh? Really? What about you girls?" I asked, turning to Delmare and Odeta.

The Amrap crossed her arms, "Mmm… I dunno. He felt a bit weird to me I guess?"

Delmare scribbled in her notebook, 'He felt like those men who would try to attack us after we sang.'

Huh… So it wasn't just Katsuki? But I felt nothing off about him though? Is it because I'm too trusting or maybe… That guy is an Off-Worlder too?

Hmm… Was there an option that made people less trusting of you? I think there is, so this might explain why everyone else is feeling that way.

And since I'm also an Off-Worlder, maybe it doesn't work on me?

Ugh… I should have used [Screened] on him when I had the chance… I just didn't think it was necessary since he gave me 'side character' vibes…

Oh well!! Who cares? We're probably not going to interact much with him anyway! We're here to sightsee after all!!

Now where are all the fun things at?

As though waiting for that exact moment, a male Rejmar dressed from top to toe in furs came up to us. The first thing I noticed was that his beard reached all the way to his waist and was braided quite intricately.

"Hello there. I see it's that time of the year again for you trainee maids to come over to train here, though you're all a little bit earlier than expected. Never seen you around before though? Name's Balin Stonecleaver."

I smiled at him, "Hello, I'm Aster. We're all new here and we're wondering what is there to do in this village?"

"Hahaha! No worries, that's what I'm here for! I'm the unofficial guide for this outpost for you new trainees. It's already like a tradition now! Come along, I'll give you all a small tour! Though I have to warn you there's actually not much here in the first place. Hahahaha!"

He turned and beckoned to us, prompting us to follow after him into the village.

"The first building over there's the trade shop by the entrance. Truth be told, this wasn't meant to expand further than a small outpost but we added a few more amenities at the insistence of yer Madam. 'Course, there's also talks about expanding it further after we found a small Dungeon nearby so there's word of a Guild coming here to set up a branch too. Though when exactly that's happening is anybody's guess."

All of us turned to look at a large two story stone building carved into the mountain with a curtain for a door and an open counter at the front.

I noted that this building was clearly designed to be bigger than most of the other buildings around it. Although this was not the only larger building since I also spotted several others that were similar in size dotted around the town.

The smaller sized buildings must be the dwellings or buildings meant for the Rejmars while the larger ones were built specifically for visitors in mind.

Balin then pointed to another one of those bigger buildings, "That's our guest cookhouse. We made that after we realised you trainees had to hunt and forage for your own food so we set aside a place where you could eat something else instead of what you could get in the wild."

Well, that's good I guess? It's not like whatever we've been eating tastes disgusting anyway… But I suppose it's always nice to have someone cook for you for a change.

Not that I have much to say about that since Selene and the others usually handle those sorts of chores and all I needed to do was to do something mundane like start the fire for them.

"And that over there is our bakery. We make Rejmar specialty sweets and--"

I was already rushing ahead of him and zipping through the entrance of the store before he finished his words.

"Sweets! Where?!" I gasped aloud, frantically looking around the store I had just entered.

Several Rejmars that were already in there turned to look at me with surprise, which only increased when they saw the maid uniform I was wearing.

Spotting the display that was filled to the brim with various pieces of confectionary, I bounced my way there and inspected their selection.

And by that, I mean press my face against the display and salivate at the sweets inside of course.

Woooooow~ They all look so good!!

"Errr… Can I help you?" One of the store assistants asked with concern from behind the counter.

I wiped the drool off with the back of my wrist before answering him, "I want all your sweets!"

He blinked at me for a moment, "I'm… I'm sorry? Is this… Err… Are you robbing us or something?"

"Huh? What? No! I want to buy all the sweets you have! Oh wait, maybe that's too much… Just one of every sweet you have then! I'll get more of those that I like after trying them!"

The shop assistant still gave me a confused look and didn't move from his position.

Odd… Did he not understand me or something?

That was when Katsuki appeared and deposited a few Creas on the counter and looked at the Rejmar in the eye, "Please do what she says. I believe this should cover everything."

The Rejmar behind the counter quickly returned to his senses and started gathering the confectionaries onto a tray.

Ahhh! Thank you Katsuki! I was just about to reach over and strangle the Rejmar for not giving me the sweets I wanted! Headpats for you!!

"Ah? Mis… Mistress… Now is not a good… Unngghh…"

Awww~ She's so cute~ Her tail is wagging~

Balin finally entered the store with a concerned look on his face, "Err… Is there a problem?"

Odeta appeared from behind him, "Wahaha! There's nothing wrong! Sister Aster just wants some sweets, that's all! Speaking of which, I want some too!"

Delmare also joined her side while showing me her sketchbook, 'I want some too, Aster.'

She even drew a cute pleading face of herself at the end too.

Lisa brought up the rear of the group and smirked at me, "We can also get a few back for the others back at camp. I think a certain maid princess would love it if you brought her some cookies."

Oh yeah! Thanks Lisa! Tiara would definitely want some of this! Err… But which cookies… Ah! Let's just get every single one of these cookies for her!

To Balin's credit, he quickly recovered from his confusion and came to me, "I recommend this pastry and that one over there. Quite a lot of the trainee maids seem to like them and they're always sold out whenever they come by."

I looked at what he pointed at and realised those looked like my old World's equivalent of melon bread and… Oh wow, is that a yakisoba bread?

Oh now I have to try them too!

You know what? Just give me one of every bread you have here!