Chapter 1: Arrival at Karelina

We attached ourselves to Lambert’s caravan and headed for the town of Karelina. According to Lambert, Karelina was about two days away.

By the way, we had decided to hand over the thieves we’d tied up to the knight brigade stationed in Karelina.

The head of the gang of thieves was dead, but it wasn’t a crime to defend yourself from attacking bandits, and there would even be a reward for reporting it properly to the knight brigade. It seemed that there would also be a reward for turning over the living thieves to the knights... and I would be the one to receive those rewards, because Fel and Sui were the ones to defeat them.

Lambert was insistent on it since he was happy enough to have been saved, and the members of Phoenix were of the opinion that I should claim the rewards since they were the ones who were unable to properly carry out their escort mission.

Since the income would be a windfall I would be greatly thankful for, I decided to gracefully accept their goodwill. Although it was looking to be a real pain, having to drag the thieves with us.

At that time, I overheard the adventurers talking in hushed voices. By the way, the members of Phoenix were all men with builds similar to Lars’. That’s probably why they were loud enough to hear, even though they intended to speak softly. I managed to catch everything perfectly.

“Hey, is it true that our leader said that that thing is a Fenrir? I’ve heard rumors that it’s just a great wolf, though.”

“I’m not sure, either. Our leader did say that it was a Fenrir, though...”

“Would a legendary beast ever become someone’s familiar?”

“I’ve actually heard from Sandra that it’s a great wolf.”

“Sandra’s the guild employee you’ve been getting along with, right?”

“Yeah. Look, the Adventurer’s guild is famous for using a teleportation device to send letters, right? They exchange a lot of info that way, but the info on this is a little complicated. Like, there’s ones that say it’s a Fenrir, as well as ones that say it’s a great wolf. So, it looks like Sandra and most of the people around her say that there’s no way it’s a Fenrir, so it must be a great wolf.”

“Really? Well, that’s the normal way to think about it.”

“Still though, our leader declared that it was a Fenrir, right? He even went as far as to say not to oppose it in any way if we don’t want to die...”

“Well, we wouldn’t be able to stand up to it either way, though. Even if it is only a great wolf, it’s still an A-rank monster.”

“That’s right. Luckily, it looks like it really is docile as that guy’s familiar, so let’s just let sleeping dogs lie.”

“Right you are.”

......So that’s what the rumors are like. Now that I think about it, it was a mystery why information traveled so fast in this world with no phones. A teleportation device, huh? So they had such a thing. The Adventurer’s guild is to be feared.

Or rather, no matter how I think about it, isn’t the Adventurer’s guild responsible for spreading all those rumors about Fel? Well, I guess any organization would contain all sorts of people.

Even so, it seems like even if Lars is convinced Fel is a Fenrir, the other members of his party aren’t so sure. So it must be true that strength and experience is the difference in this case.

Werner and the others from Iron Will were able to identify Fel as a Fenrir at first sight, and they were C rank. Even the old man from the Adventurer’s guild said that he had climbed to a decent rank before retiring, so that must be around C or B rank. Lars also said he was C-ranked.

The other members said that they were around D or E rank, and they looked to be in their early 20’s...

Thinking along those lines, people should start to be able to identify Fel at around C-rank...

For the time being, I had no choice but to keep with the setting that Fel was a great wolf, and refrain from answering clearly to people who could see through him. It seemed that those who could see through him were at least somewhat strong and understood just how powerful a beast a Fenrir was, so they probably wouldn’t try poking the bear. Just like how Lars told the other members to, “Not oppose him in any way if you don’t want to die.”

So the most problematic people are the nobles and the countries in general, huh? I came to this country because it was said that this place was a relatively free country with no discrimination, so it would be nice if they didn’t try anything strange.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The sun set, and so we stopped the caravan.

“Let’s stop here for the day.” Preparations for camp started at Lambert’s word.

《Hey, you better not have forgotten your promise from this afternoon.》

Huh? Did I promise something?

《You said that if I saved them, you would make something ‘extra special’ for dinner.》

Ahhh, right.

I had made that promise in the heat of the moment, so I had completely forgotten. But it seemed that Fel remembered.

“I got it, I got it. So, what do you want to eat?”

《Sui wants to eat karaage.》

《Ohh, that thing you made before, right? That is a good idea. I also would like to eat karaage.》

It looked like Fel was taken in by Sui’s idea. I was only able to eat a little last time, so I was on board, too.

Now then, let’s cook some karaage.

I had promised to make something extravagant, so this time so I decided to make two kinds with a normal base soy sauce flavor, and a base salt flavor. As for the meat, I decided to use the black serpent meat, as well as the rest of the cockatrice and rockbird meat I had. I was going to make a lot of soy sauce and salt karaage.

“Master— can I eat it?”

“Wait a bit.”

I piled the karaage on a plate and put it in front of Fel and Sui.

《Ah, the flavor is different from before. This is good, too.》

Ohh, so Sui noticed. I’m happy Sui likes it.

Fel was chowing down wordlessly. Him eating like that must be a sign that it’s delicious.

Now then, let’s keep frying...

It looks like Lambert, and the people he hired for his caravan, as well as the members of Phoenix are all gathered around for some reason, though. They’re even staring this way. Some of them are drooling, too...

This wordless pressure, it’s...

Ahh, fine, fine, I get it.

“Umm, if you’d like, help yourself.”

As soon as I proffered the plate with the karaage on it, they all jumped on it like starving hyenas.

“Ahh, man, sorry, sorry.”

“Really, I wanted to ask for some.”

“IT’S SO GOOOOOD—”

“It’s delicious! Delicious!”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever eaten something this tasty!”

Of course karaage would be popular.

Since that happened, I had to persist in frying up karaage and nothing else. It was hard enough making Fel and Sui’s portion, not to mention adding enough for the crowd that joined in. On top of that, there wasn’t even a single piece of karaage left for me, sadly.

There was nothing I could do about it, so I just quietly bought some of the sweet buns from my skill.

Damn it.

In return, I was relieved of having to keep watch during the night. Fel always put up a barrier, so I’d never had to do that, but I guess it would normally just be common sense, huh?

“It’s a small thing compared to being saved and feeding us something that good, but please sleep as much as you like.” The members of Phoenix said that to me, so I decided to graciously take them up on their offer.

“You guys get this. It’s just shitty rations but consider yourselves lucky you even get to eat. Also, don’t even think about running away or I’ll cut you down.” Lars, who was on first watch, finally went to give the thieves a little food as well as some threats just as I was about to sleep.

Man, adventurers really are ruthless. But really, they got what they deserved.

Some time had passed since the tragedy at noon, so I decided to help scare the more rebellious ones.

“We’re going to sleep, but our ears are sharp, you know?” I said while looking at Fel.

“We’ll fly awake at any time. You’ll be in fine slices before Lars even has a chance to act.” The thieves shivered in fear at my words.

“Oh, also, I’d stay quiet if you don’t want to die like your boss.” It looked like my threats worked, so things should have been fine.

Unable to bring out my futon to sleep in, I was made to endure curling up in my mantle for the first time in a while.

Sui, who had grown fond of the futon, grumbled a little. When I told Sui that it would only be until we reached town, it bravely said, 《Sui will endure it.》

Ahh, Sui is so cute!

I swore in my heart to make something Sui would like tomorrow.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Welcome to the town of Karelina!” Lambert said to me as we passed the gates.

I had thought as much looking from the outside, but the town of Karelina was pretty large. When I asked, Lambert bragged about it being the fifth largest city in the kingdom of Leonhardt. Apparently, Lambert’s family have been merchants in Karelina for generations, and Lambert himself pressed upon me that he loved this town that he was born and raised in.

It had taken almost two hours to get into town, but once we got past the line we were let in fairly easily. That was probably thanks to Lambert, whose business was an old fixture of Karelina. He even explained about Fel to the guards at the gate.

“Now then, why don’t we go ahead to the knight brigade’s office?”

Since Lambert’s and the Phoenix members’ testimonies would be necessary when handing off the thieves to the knight brigade, we all decided to go there together.

The knight’s station was close to the gate. After handing over the thieves, the members of Phoenix, Lambert, and I were all subjected to about an hour of questioning.

“We’ve heard all your stories and there doesn’t seem to be a problem here. The thieves you’ve caught seem to be members of a group called ‘Black Dog’ that have been a problem lately. Their head who you’ve killed, Zakhar, seems to have been quite evil even before he became a thief, so his head comes with a 30 gold reward. With that added in, all in all your reward for bringing them in comes to 45 gold.”

The man introduced to us as the knight’s captain, who was a brown-haired man in his early 40’s wearing full plate armor, notified us of that as he handed over a jute bag with the reward in it.

So this is a world where even human lives can become money, even though they were thieves.

It was their own fault for stooping down to the level of thievery, but the aftertaste of this was kind of bitter.

After that, Lambert went back to his shop, and I decided to accompany the adventurers of Phoenix who were going to the guild to report their success. I had wanted to go to the Adventurer’s guild first in order to get some meat, after all.

“Okay then, Lambert, I’ll make sure to visit your store at a later date.”

“Yes, I will be waiting.”

It seemed that Lambert’s store dealt in leather goods such as bags, wallets, belts and scabbards for knives, so I had decided to visit later since it sounded interesting. That being said, it was also because my bag, which had become Sui’s spot, was getting quite dirty and worn down.

Well, I did get it for free. If someone had said that this was a matter of course for something received secondhand, I wouldn’t have been able to argue. That was why I was considering using this chance to get a new, more durable bag.

Well, I’ll still be deciding after I look through the goods, though. Also, we’ll see if Sui likes any of them.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I arrived at the Karelina Adventurer’s guild along with the members of Phoenix. It was quite dark out by the time we had arrived, so the service counter wasn’t that crowded. I got in the line next to the one the members of Phoenix were in.

My line ended up being a bit faster than theirs.

“Excuse me, I’d like to make a transaction.” Saying that, I handed over my guild card.

“Understood. A transaction, is it?” The receptionist girl took my card as she spoke.

After checking something on hand, the receptionist’s face clouded up.

“It seems your registration has been revoked. Sir Mukohda, you seem to be a G-rank, did you not take any quests within the month?”

......Ah, that’s right if I don’t take a request within the time limit my registration would be revoked. Man, I was so busy that I’d forgotten.

“Really, there’s an explanation for this...”

“The time limit is the shortest for G-ranks so people like you pop up every so often.”

Hearing her explanation, it seemed that the accepted convention was for G-ranks to accept quests like madmen until they got to F-rank first and foremost. Doing that would up the limit to three months, and also open up much more profitable requests, it seemed.

Ehh, was that the case? I hadn’t heard anything about that. Well, I’m the most at fault here for forgetting the time.

“Will there not be a problem if I just pay the registration fee again?”

I needed help butchering monsters, so keeping up my registration with the Adventurer’s guild was something I had to do.

“Yes, it should be fine as long as you pay the registration fee of 5 silver. Sir Mukohda, you are currently the lowest rank, G, so there should be no problems with you using your current guild card.”

“Ah, and is there no problem with my familiars that I’ve already registered?” I asked while glancing at Fel behind me.

The receptionist was a little surprised when she noticed Fel, but managed to reply, “There is no problem.”

If that was the case, then I’d have no problem paying the 5 silver.

I paid up and had them reregister me.

“Also, I have a new familiar, so I’d like to register it as well.”

“A new familiar?”

“Yes, here.” I picked up Sui from my bag and showed it to the receptionist.

“A-A slime?” The receptionist looked bewildered.

You know you shouldn’t be making fun of Sui, here. Unlike other slimes it’s ridiculously strong.

“It’s special and really strong, you know?”

I bragged to her, but it looked like the receptionist didn’t believe me and only replied with a spiritless, “Haah...”

Grrrr... So only those who’ve seen Sui in action can understand its strength...

After registering Sui, we started talking business.

“As for the purchasing, I’d like to have you take care of several orcs and other monsters.”

“If that’s the case, please head over to the next window.”

Of course, the sale of large monsters would have its own window.

“Mukohda, are you done?” It was Lars, the leader of the Phoenixes.

“Yes. I forgot about the deadline for requests, so I had to reregister.”

“That sucks, man.”

“Truthfully though, it’s not like I plan to be an adventurer as my real job, so I’m not really that enthusiastic about requests and stuff.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. As you can tell, my familiars are big eaters. Fel hunts his own meat so it’s not that big a problem, but butchering the monsters he catches is...”

“I see. The Adventurer’s guild is best for butchering monsters. Well, you could ask underground butchers or meat shops, but they aren’t really all that trustworthy. You always run the risk of being ripped off by underground butchers and they sometimes treat the materials really roughly, and meat shops will butcher meat really well but treat all the other materials, like hide, like trash. After all, to us, there are times when the other materials are worth more than the meat. Thinking that way, the butchers at the guild with their large amounts of experience and pride as pros are really the best.”

Hohh, is that how it is? So I could have asked underground butchers or meat shops.

Well, I wouldn’t now after hearing that. Leaving aside the stuff about registering, I was right to rely on the Adventurer’s guild.

“So, Mukohda, you’ll be selling monsters here?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any meat left, you see.”

“Ah, is that because we ate it?”

Well, that was one reason, but I decided to stay quiet about that. “No no, I was already about to run out anyway.”

“You hunted them, right? I’m curious to see what monsters they are, can I take a look?” Lars said while looking over at Fel. I didn’t really mind if it was Lars and his team.

“Sure.” We moved over to the next window.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“I’d like to make a sale.”

“Sure. Let me see what you got.” Just like the guild at Falliéres, the butcher here was a grim-looking bald old man that looked like he used to be an adventurer.

“Oh, do you know Lars and his team?” Lars, his team, and the bald old man lightly exchanged greetings. It seemed that the bald old man was at least acquaintances with Lars and the others.

“Uhmm, there’s a lot...” I was led to the storehouse when I said that.

“There should be no problems here. Take them out.”

At his prompt, I took out five orc generals first.

“I-Isn’t this an orc general...? And five of them...”

I had thought about bringing out the orc king as well, but from his surprise that would probably be a bad idea.

I’ll seal the orc king in my storage for a while.

“These as well, please.” I took out three rockbirds.

I definitely wanted stocks of rockbird meat, which was delicious and very much like chicken.

“R-Rockbirds, too...” Both the bald old man and the members of Phoenix looked really surprised.

I’m sorry to interrupt your surprise, but there’s more. There’s still not enough meat with just this. Both Fel and Sui are big eaters.

“Also, a giant dodo and giant deer.” What’s with the blank faces? There’s still more.

“Also, a murder grizzly, black serpent, and red serpent. This is the last of it.”

I didn’t really need to take out the ogres now since they can’t be eaten anyway. And just from the name and look of it, the metal lizard didn’t seem edible, either. As for the chimera and the orthrus, taking them out seemed like it would cause a huge ruckus, so those are sealed for eternity.

“............A r-red serpent?”

Stunned into wordlessness, the bald old guy promptly recovered before inspecting the red serpent and said those words.

Huh? Should I not have taken that out?

“Where did you even hunt this?”

I shrunk a little in fear of the sharp look the old man was giving me.

“Uhhm...I’m not the one who hunted it...” I said, looking over at Fel, who was sprawled on the floor yawning behind me.

“Ahh, I see. It would be possible for a Fenrir...” It looked like this old man also knew that Fel was a Fenrir.

“That’s right, gramps. A Fenrir would be able to kill something like a red serpent easy. Something even higher ranked probably wouldn’t give it any trouble.”

I winced at Lars’ words. Sorry, I’ve also got a chimera and an orthrus.

“It’s just as Lars says. I shouldn’t be surprised at something like this.”

Really, I’m so sorry. I’ll seal the chimera and orthrus in my storage forever so forgive me!

“You’d never get a chance to see this many monsters all in one place, normally...”

“This is the first time I’ve ever even seen a red serpent.”

“If you’re saying that, this is the first time I’ve seen a black serpent, too.”

“Really, this is just amazing. I’m also surprised that you have a big enough Item Box to fit all this inside, Mukohda.”

So reacted the revived Lars and other members of Phoenix.

“Truly, it’s an amazing size if it fits all this.”

“Yeah, yeah. There aren’t that many Item Box users with one this large.”

“Man, I’m jealous. I want a large Item Box.”

“Mukohda, want to join our party?”

So said the members of Phoenix, now that the topic had switched to my Item Box.

Ghh! Th-This is bad... I shouldn’t have just taken all this out at once in my need for meat.

“Grrrrrr...”

Fel bared his teeth and let out an intimidating growl at the members of Phoenix, excluding Lars.

They promptly froze up. I could almost hear them turning to ice.

“Hey, you guys shut up!” Lars promptly turned around and yelled at his team.

“Sorry, Mukohda. Forgive them. Can you stop him from growling at them?”

“Yeah... Fel, it’s fine. Stop that.” Fel stopped right after I told him to.

“You guys went too far. You know that, right?”

““““Yes!””””

The other members of Phoenix all nodded like bobbleheads with their faces a deep blue.

Sorry, everyone. But please, don’t pry into my Item Box.

Fel knew about my Item Box and stuff, and why I wanted to hide it, probably. I felt bad for the guys in Phoenix, but Fel did well here.

“Oi, sorry to interrupt you, but I need you for a bit over here. With this much to do, I’ll need more than just a bit of time, you know? Let’s see, it should be fine if you give me all of tomorrow and come back the day after.” The old man gave me his predictions with a bitter smile.

The day after tomorrow, huh... Hmmm, but I’m already out of meat... I’d like at least one monster’s worth of meat. I need to at least secure enough for tonight’s dinner and all of tomorrow.

“Uhmm, could you butcher just one right now?”

“Hm? Just one?”

“Yeah. More precisely I need its meat. I want all the meat from the monsters I just showed you. I’ll sell everything else, but I need meat no matter what...” I gave a furtive glance to Fel.

“Ahh, I see. Understood. I’ll go and butcher one right now for you. Which would you like?”

Thank god— What would be good... Uhhh, aha! I’ll make that for dinner.

If that’s the case...

“The rockbird, please.”

“Got it.”

The old man dismantled the rockbird with practiced ease. Apparently, the innards really were just scrap, though.

Thinking it a bit of a waste, I asked about whether or not the innards were edible and got a weird look in return. It didn’t seem like there was any innards-eating culture here. It was a bit sad, but there was no helping it, I guess.

“Ah, red serpents are edible, right?”

The red serpent was the only one here that I was seeing for the first time, so I felt like I should ask, just in case. The black serpent was edible though, so it should be safe, I thought.

“Yeah, it’s edible. It’s a high-class delicacy. Something that peasants like us wouldn’t be able to eat in a lifetime.”

Huh? Th-That expensive? I wonder how it tastes. The black serpent was good too, so my hopes were high.

“Mukohda, I was wondering, but what kind of meat did you feed us before?” Lars asked, making an awkward face.

“Uhh, black serpent, cockatrice, and rockbird. Oh, also giant deer and murder grizzly.”

After I said that, the members of Phoenix, including Lars, all dropped their mouths wide open.

“You said that you only wanted the meat, so I suspected... Sorry!”

““““Sorry!””””

Lars and the other Phoenix members all bowed deeply.

“Eh? Wh-Wh... Stand up already, please. Wh-What happened?”

“We just kept throwing it in our mouths, without even knowing how expensive the meat was...”

The other members all nodded emphatically at Lars’ words.

“We ended up eating so much meat that we otherwise might never have tasted our whole lives...”

“No wonder it was so good.”

“Yeah, each piece was delicious...”

“.........” They nodded silently, probably remembering the taste.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but Fel caught all of that so it was basically free.

I had heard that they were high-class delicacies, but we were eating it pretty regularly, so there wasn’t really a sense of awe or thankfulness to it. And the only things I ever spent money on were spices, seasonings and the like, so my wallet was basically untouched.

“We’re really sorry, Mukohda. If you need something just tell us. If it’s possible, we’ll do anything you ask.”

“Don’t worry about it. I already had you bring the thieves into town for me...”

“No no, we ate such valuable ingredients.”

“Nonono, you already brought the thieves into town for me.”

“Oi! Leave your conversation there. I finished.”

Nice timing, old man!

I received the rockbird meat. “Okay then, I’ll be coming back the day after tomorrow so please take care of me then.”

“Sure.”

The members of Phoenix and I left the Adventurer’s guild behind us.

“This town’s guild is nice. Most times when I come in a place with Fel, there’ll be a fuss and people will stare, but there was none of that here.”

I said that to change the subject as we walked. They replied, “Because our leader was there.”

“Our leader is a pretty famous adventurer in this town. There’d be no one dumb enough to mess with his friends.”

Heehhh, is that so?

I might have lucked out by getting to know him.

“Just as these guys said, I’m a little famous around here. I’ve probably said this already, but come to me if you have any problems.”

“Thank you very much. It’s really reassuring that you’ve said that, Lars.”

“Well, starting tomorrow we’ve got another escort request to the next town so we won’t be around for about two weeks or so...”

Ah, I see. Well, I don’t think I’ll get in trouble that quickly.

“Thanks to this guy’s selfishness, yeah?”

“Right, right.”

“Sandra~”

“Shut up.”

Ahh, so he’s going to see Sandra the guild employee...

Normies should just explode.

“We’ll be gone for two weeks, but we’ll be here after that. So, if you just leave a message at the Adventurer’s guild, we’ll come running. Just give a shout if something’s up.”

If he was going that far, I could only be thankful. It seemed that Lars had a very strong sense of obligation.

...Ah, I had forgotten something important.

“By the way, do you guys know anywhere I can stay with my familiars?”

“If that’s what you want, just go straight along this road and you’ll find a place named the ‘Griffon’s Nest.’ I recommend that place.”

“Ohh, then I’ll go there. See you guys.”

We parted with the members of Phoenix and headed toward the “Griffon’s Nest.” I’d finally be able to sleep in a bed for the first time in a while.

Chapter 2: Putting in Effort as an Adventurer

I decided to stay at the inn that was recommended to me, the “Griffon’s Nest.”

The name called forth some complicated feelings since I had just passed straight through their territory, but... well, it’s just a name.

It was 8 silver a night for those staying with familiars. There was a shed in the back for familiars just like before, so I had Fel head there.

As for me, I went to my room for the moment to prepare for dinner — that is, to buy the ingredients for tonight’s menu with my Online Supermarket. Normally, I’d need about an hour to marinate the rockbird meat for the main course, but I could probably cut that down with a little prep work to make it easier for the flavors to sink in.

In the meantime, let’s spread my futon out on the bed, aaand... great.

It’s about time; if I don’t head over to Fel soon, he’ll probably force his way in here.

I took my bag, in which Sui had been sleeping this entire time, with me to where Fel was waiting.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Fel.”

“You are late. I am so hungry I am not sure what to do with myself.”

“Ah, sorry. But it might take a little longer.”

“WHAT—?!”

Please don’t make that pathetic face at me like you’ll start wailing any second now.

I felt a little sorry for him, so I went ahead and bought ten packs of menchi katsu for him.

《Food—?》

Ah, Sui woke up too. I’ll get another five for it.

“You two, eat these for now and wait.”

~◇~◇~◇~

Now then, first is the broccoli for the garnish. Slice the broccoli into appropriately-sized pieces and run them under water, then boil in water with a little salt added in. Once the broccoli is finished boiling, take it out and let it cool. If you cool it in the water, it’ll turn soggy, so I’d recommend against it.

If asked why I chose broccoli, I could only answer that it was because I like broccoli. Broccoli goes well with mayonnaise. I’ve always used broccoli to accompany this dish I’m making.

As for the main dish, I’m thinking tandoori chicken.

Inside a vinyl bag (prepared earlier in my room), marinate the meat in a mix of plain yogurt, grated garlic and ginger (both from tubes), as well as salt and pepper. Add in powdered curry, and mix.

Then, cut the rockbird meat into appropriately-sized pieces and poke with a fork to open holes in them before putting the meat in the bag and massaging. Leave it to marinate for a while and the meat will be ready.

Heat a pan with olive oil before putting the meat in and frying starting from the skin side. Once both sides are browned, the meat is done. Stack the tandoori chicken on a plate with the accompanying broccoli and a lot of mayo, and the dish is complete.

~◇~◇~◇~

“It’s done—”

Fel and Sui both rushed over and started eating as if they’d been waiting their whole lives.

“This is a strange taste, but it is still delicious.”

《Yeah. Sui likes this too!》

Curry flavor, with its abundant spices, might be an unknown flavor here. But still, I figured it would go over well.

I bit into my share of the tandoori chicken.

Ahhhh, delish.

Eating this made me want to eat curry. There really were times when you just really craved it. For my part, it wouldn’t even have to be the fancy type; I preferred homemade-style curry.

In my case, I liked to use two different kinds of curry roux. One would be half a portion of my usual roux, and the other half would be some new store-bought roux. I always felt like doing it that way made the taste fuller, more varied. It was just a little habit of mine.

Thinking about curry only made me crave it more. I guess I’ll have to make curry with a larger portion of meat.

Fel and Sui both ate a surprisingly wide variety of stuff, so it would probably be fine. And I could always just cook some steaks if they started complaining.

《Master— more.》

“Me as well.”

Sure, sure.

I cooked up another serving of tandoori chicken. I also enjoyed the taste of curry after a long while as I cooked it. Of course, even the boiled broccoli and mayonnaise on their own were tasty.

Next time would be a real curry rice.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After returning to my room and putting Sui to sleep, I started thinking of the future.

First, I wanted to do something about my adventurer rank. I’d definitely need their butchering services in order to obtain meat, so just withdrawing is not an option. But still, as a G-rank, my deadline for taking a quest or the revocation of my registration was only a month.

I’d only felt this while traveling, but on the road, a month tends to pass by in a flash. So, I was thinking of raising my rank while I was staying in town. I’d finally arrived at the stable country of Leonhardt, so I’d like to go around and see the sights, but it wasn’t like I was in any particular hurry. If I made F-rank, I’d have three months to play around with, so I should have enough leeway for travel.

In other words, I was planning to stay here until I reached F-rank. One could call it luck, but thanks to making the acquaintance of Lambert and Phoenix, I’d gotten quite a few people I could rely on here.

Only, since I never actually intended adventuring to be my main job, even if I planned to raise my rank, I didn’t really have any idea what the best way to go about that would be.

That was why I was going to go to the guild tomorrow and ask about it. The number of requests taken definitely had an effect on ranking up, so I was planning on taking a request as well.

I guess there’s no other way than to just work up steadily, bit by bit, by gathering herbs.

What am I doing, me? It’s not like I really want to become an adventurer...

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Ohhh shit.

I’d almost forgotten again.

That thing, the tribute to that disappointment of a goddess. I was about to be complained at again.

Let’s just get it over with quickly and go to sleep.

“Uhhh, open the Online Supermarket...”

I wonder what would be good...the last time I went with a smorgasbord of western confections, so this time Japanese sweets would be good.

First up is red bean daifuku, strawberry daifuku, and manjuu, I think. Oh, they have manjuu with a whole chestnut inside, let’s get that too. I should also get these skewered dango with the sauce, red beans, and sesame seeds. Uhhh, after that is... castella, and some dorayaki again since the theme this time is eastern sweets. I’ve offered dorayaki before already, but knowing that goddess, she won’t complain. Ah, and an entire block of youkan, just to clinch the deal.

“Right, this should be enough.”

I paid for the stuff I was going to offer as tribute to that disappointing goddess, and placed the goods on my cardboard altar.

“Oh great Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir, please accept these humble offerings of mine. I am grateful for the divine blessing you have bestowed unto me. Please continue to watch over me in the future.”

While offering my prayer, the goddess’ voice appeared in my head.

＜Oohh, I have been waiting! If you were any later, I was thinking of sending an oracle to warn you.＞

Hey, didn’t I offer quite a lot before? Are they really already gone? You’ll get fat if all you eat is sweets, you know? I have no idea if gods can actually get fat, though.

＜A-A god such as I would never get fat! I-I am forever beautiful!＞

Huh? What are you stuttering for?

＜Sh... Sh-Sh-Sh-Shut up. It’s not like I ended up finishing those sweets in three days because they were too delicious!＞

Goddess, you really are a disappointing person (god?), aren’t you? You’re basically telling the world yourself. That can’t be good.

You’ve been saying that there’s no way you’ll get fat, or that you’re beautiful, but there’s no way I can trust you on that. From your stuttering, I can tell that even gods probably get fat if they eat too much. More than that, eating all that food in three days will definitely make you fat no matter what.

＜Grrrr, this topic is over. More importantly! What are you offering this time?＞

Yeah, I’m glad I’m only hearing her voice. It’s just sweets, how excited can you get? If the goddess were here in person, she’d definitely be tripping over herself to get right up to me to ask.

＜What did you say? ‘Just’ sweets? YOU FOOL! Sweetness reigns supreme!＞

S-Sure, you don’t have to get that mad.

...Wait, I’d noticed this before, but you’re totally just reading my thoughts, aren’t you? Stop that. This is definitely an invasion of privacy.

＜Hmph, what ‘invasion of privacy’? I am a god. There is no such thing as privacy in the face of a god. If I wanted, I could view your life from beginning to end, even understanding your thoughts is as easy as picking something up off the ground. I am a god, after all. Am I not great? You should worship me.＞

......’Zat so? It might be awesome, but hearing it out of your own mouth is...

You really are a disappointing goddess.

I’d really appreciate it if you’d keep yourself out of my thoughts as much as you can. And please refrain from watching the entirety of my life. It’s not like my life is particularly interesting. Not to mention worship? Please don’t ask the impossible. Please look back at your own actions and figure out why.

Oh great sweets-loving disappointing goddess.

＜Grnnnnnngghh, I am not disappointing!＞

Ahhh, sure, sure, you’re right. This is going to get annoying, so let’s change the topic.

“Uhhh, I’m offering Japanese sweets this time. Sweets originating from my home country. Just as you have requested, I’m offering lots of confections with the black and sweet anko like red bean buns and dorayaki.”

＜What?! Sweets with that ‘anko’?! I can’t resist that tender sweetness that isn’t too heavy.＞

As expected of the disappointing goddess. How easy.

“Just as you can see, I have also once again prepared dorayaki.”

＜Oohhh, dorayaki! You’ve done well!＞ It seemed that she’d really taken a liking to dorayaki.

“Well then, please accept the offering.”

＜I understand. Let’s hurry up and get these to the divine realm—!＞ The sweets that were placed on the cardboard altar were wrapped in a faint light and disappeared. So that was how it got transported, I hadn’t looked too closely until now.

＜Mmhooo! There’s a lot this time as well. You’ve done a fine job!＞

Again, what does ‘mmhooo’ even mean? Truly, she’s a disappointment of a goddess.

＜I’m going to eat the dorayaki right now. *Mgmgm*... Mmhaaa—! This dorayaki is just as delicious as I remember!＞

What? Now it’s, ‘Mmhaa—’?

*Sigh* Let’s stop with the comic reactions to everything she does. I mean, she’s the disappointing goddess. Now then, let’s ignore that disappointing goddess and go to sleep already.

I couldn’t stay up forever keeping her company, so I hastily joined Sui in bed.

Haahh~ Sui really was my only source of healing in this world.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Just like yesterday, I had Fel and Sui accompany me to the Adventurer’s guild. Thinking that it would be crowded in the morning, I arrived a little later and was able get through to the service counter easily.

“Uhmm, I’d like to ask something.”

“Yes, how can I help you?”

“Excuse me, but I’m currently G-rank. What should I do to get to F-rank?”

The receptionist looked surprised for a moment, like she was thinking, “What, you’re asking now?” But she still answered me properly.

In order to go up in rank, one must succeed in requests and build up a certain number of points. Also, there were tests for promoting above C-rank. I wasn’t even considering raising myself past C-rank, so I figured the tests had nothing to do with me.

You needed 100 points to promote from G- to F-rank, but the requests a G-rank could accept usually only yielded 1 or 2 points, or 3 points at the most. G-rank was understood as being the training period for people to become real adventurers, so one was expected to learn the ABC’s of adventuring during their time as a G-rank. Those not suited to adventuring would naturally drop out, and those who would make adventuring their livelihood would learn a lot.

Taking all that into consideration, the points for getting out of G-rank were set a little high.

I see, so that’s why...

I wasn’t told any of that when I registered as an adventurer. Well, I wasn’t going to make adventuring my livelihood, but I’d already reregistered once and I’d like to get to F-rank, so I guess I would put in some effort.

“Ah, promoting from G- to F-rank usually takes around three months at the fastest, and normally around half a year. Please try your best, sir Mukohda.”

Ehh? Th-That long? I might have underestimated being an adventurer... Actually, she said three months at the earliest, but it’s pretty much a given that I’d take longer than that.

I’d be staying here for a long while at this rate: G-ranks have such a short deadline for requests, and it takes so long to get to F-rank, G-ranks really don’t have the leeway to take long traveling requests.

When I asked the receptionist about that, I got laughed at.

In the first place there were no requests available to G-ranks that needed travel. As long as there weren’t extenuating circumstances, a G-rank would never abandon taking requests to make F-rank just for the sake of travel. That’s why it was normal for adventurers to stay in the town they registered in until they got to F-rank, apparently.

Meanwhile, I had taken one herb harvesting request after registering and left on a journey.

That was a terrible idea, huh~

Yesterday, the receptionist said, “The time limit is the shortest for G-ranks, though people like you pop up every so often.” But she might have just said that to be nice. After all, from our conversation just now, it seemed that unless a person was not suited to be an adventurer or had extenuating circumstances, it was normal to just build up points until reaching F-rank.

Hahh, it seems I didn’t know anything. I need to stay in the Adventurer’s guild, so let’s just put in some effort here. The goal: F-rank.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I looked over the request board, thinking that I should take a request immediately.

Just as the receptionist said, it seemed that the requests that a G-rank could take were limited. Most of the requests were errands to be run in town.

The point value of requests should be written in the bottom right corner of the paper... Oh, found it.

All the requests that consisted of errands were worth 1 point. Other than that, all that was left in G-rank was herb harvesting. That was worth 2 points. Subjugation requests were basically nonexistent in G-rank, but there was one in the form of goblin hunting. It was worth 3 points.

Hmmm, there’s not a lot of choice. But still, the best one is obviously herb harvesting when you think about it. Let’s take that one.

As soon as I put my hand on the herb harvesting request paper, Fel called out to me with telepathy.

《Take the goblins.》

“What? No way. Don’t wanna. Wait, Fel you can read?”

《Who do you think I am? Reading human language is nothing for me, who has lived for so long.》

Right right, I see I see. But still, I refuse goblins.

When I once again put my hand on the request for herb harvesting, I got another, 《I thought I told you to take the goblins!》 from Fel.

“And I said I didn’t want to. The herb harvesting request is better.”

《I was listening to your conversation, and you need those points or whatever, no? If that is so, then you should take the goblin request, which is worth the most points.》

“No, I’ve decided to collect points considering safety first (carefully).”

《What are you saying. At that rate we will never make it to the ocean.》

Whaaat?! Since when were we aiming for the ocean? “The ocean? I never said one word about going to the ocean.”

《I decided to go when I remembered how tasty sea serpent and kraken are.》

What the heck?

《That is why I must have you become an F-rank or whatever quickly.》

Even if you say that, I’ve gotten nothing but traumatic experiences from goblins. Thanks to a certain someone.

《Sui, what do you think? Do you not want to fight and shoot your Acid Bullet?》

Sui poked out from my bag in response to Fel’s telepathy. 《Are we gonna fight? Sui wants to shoot a lot, like pew pew!》

《See? Even Sui is saying that.》

Grrr, he pulled Sui to his side...

“Sui, instead of going ‘pew pew,’ let’s go pick some medicinal herbs. They can be turned into a lot of different medicines.”

《Ehhhh, Sui can make medicine already, going pew pew is better.》

Ghhh, that is true. Sui had a skill that allowed it to make potions.

《Even Sui is saying all that. Just take the goblin subjugation request.》

《Goblins? The green ones? Sui wants to go pew pew and kill the goblins—!》

S-Sui?

《Just give up.》

Grrrrrr... I-I’ve lost. I just couldn’t say no to Sui going all, “Kill them all like pew pew—!”

I took the goblin subjugation request off the board and brought it to the receptionist.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Having taken the goblin subjugation request, we had come to the forest east of town. I had heard from the receptionist that goblins recently started showing up often in said forest.

Killing five goblins would complete the mission. The reward was 3 silver, and I would get 3 points.

Let’s just kill some goblins quickly and go back. Yeah, that would be best.

After walking around the forest a little, we quickly found some goblins— three of them.

《Master—, can Sui go pew pew?》

“Sure.”

*Pew, pew, pew!* The goblins were hit by Sui’s Acid Bullets and fell with a thud. All three of the fallen goblins had a large hole in their torso.

...What power, as always.

“That’s good, Sui. I need to take the ears back as proof that we killed the goblins, so no hitting them in the head. Hit them in their torso like you did just now.”

《Got it—》

That was no lie; I had to bring back their right ears as proof of subjugation. Ughh, I don’t wanna do it. But I can’t not do it......

I took my knife and plunged it through all at once. I put the ear in a jute bag I had bought from a general store on the way here.

Agghh, it’s disgusting. Let’s just find our equilibrium and go.

We once again set off through the forest to find goblins.

“Hey, there are five over there.”

I found them easily when I turned to where Fel was looking when he said that.

《Can Sui do it?》

“Wait, Sui. You do it this time.”

Fine, fine. We were in a forest, so I should use Stone Bullet instead of Fireball here, I think. Right, let’s concentrate.

“Stone Bullet!”

The Stone Bullets hit the goblins. Two of them fell without a fuss. It didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the other three, though, and they rushed over while raising their clubs and screaming, “Gugyah gugyah!”

“Stone Bullet! Stone Bullet! Stone Bullet!”

The goblins that rushed me fell over.

Whew, I somehow managed to win. So there’ll be some left alive if I don’t shoot at least three at once. I’ll need to be careful.

I timidly went to harvest the right ears of the dead goblins.

So this makes eight. Somehow I managed to get through it.

“We got enough for the request, so let’s just go back...... Fel?”

I called out to Fel, but after sniffing around at the ground a little, he gazed at something far off.

“What’s up?”

“There is a goblin settlement over there.”

“Huh? Settlement?”

“We are going.”

“Don’t ‘we are going’ me — I’m not going.”

“What are you saying? Is it not true that we will get points by hunting goblins? If so then we will get many points for going to the settlement and hunting all the goblins there.”

That’s true, but I have really bad memories of goblins — no, goblin settlements in particular.

“Sui, you want to fight more, do you not?”

《Yeah, Sui wants to keep going pew pew!》

Grrnn, this bastard’s drawn Sui to his side again!

“Huh? Sui, that’s enough already, so let’s go back to town.”

《Ehhh? Don’t wanna. Sui wants to keep shooting like pew pew— Master, please—》

My precious Sui, just why did you become so warlike? Even though you’re usually my only source of healing, so cutely jiggling and jumping around...

“It is settled. Stop this useless resistance. Hurry up and get on.”

Ghh, I’ve lost again.

《I can go pew pew? Yay—!》 Sui looked happy as it jumped up and down around me. It jumped into my chest, jiggling, and said, 《Master, thanks! I love you—!》

Khhhh... Sui’s so cute! I don’t even care that it likes fighting so much anymore. Sui’s cuteness is unbeatable.

“Oi. Hurry up.”

Fine, fine. Even though I was finally able to enjoy Sui’s cuteness.

Getting Sui to enter my bag, I hopped onto Fel’s back.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Peeking over at the settlement while making sure the goblins wouldn’t notice me, I found it swarming with goblins, of course. “What do we do?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do we do?’”

“No, I meant, how are we gonna attack the settlement?”

“Of course we are doing it the same way as before.”

The same as before? You mean just charge right in? Nonono. No way. There’s gotta be a plan or something, right?

“Stop spacing out. We are going.” Without even waiting for my response, Fel raised a howl.

Of course he would—!

Fel’s howl caused all the goblins to rush over. A huge number of them were heading this way wielding clubs, swords, axes and the like.

“I have made a barrier around you two, just as always. I will go hunt the high ranked ones, and leave the chaff to you and Sui.” Fel dashed away, leaving those words behind.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AGAI———N?!!

《Uwah, there’s a whole bunch of green ones! Master— can I go pew pew?》

Sui crawled out of the bag. That’s right, unlike before, Sui was here now.

“Sure. Go pew pew a lot. Sui and I are gonna kill all the ones here.”

《Sui and Master will do it?》

“That’s right. Sui and I will kill everything. Can you do it?”

《Yeah— Sui will try!》

“Then let’s go.”

《Yeah!》

After that was hell.

I just kept firing off the two spells I could use, Fireball and Stone Bullet, as much as I could. Sui was also shooting its Acid Bullet left, right, and center. Its accuracy was amazing, hitting everything it fired at.

To tell the truth, I was a little on edge, worried Sui might hit me on accident. The beams were so powerful I couldn’t help it. But I worried for nothing; Sui only hit enemies with its Acid Bullet.

How dexterous.

Sui was steadily killing more and more goblins with its Acid Bullet. I kept firing my spells so as not to lose to Sui.

Just like that, the battle ended before an hour had passed.

“Whew, I’m tired. It’s finally over.”

《We did it! Master, they’re all dead—!》 Sui was happily bouncing around.

I didn’t pass out this time, but I did feel plenty tired. Meanwhile, Sui was still full of energy. Sui’s battle potential was pretty impressive, it had killed about 80% of the goblins here. It impressed on me once more just how strong Sui was.

Looking around......... the surroundings were buried in corpses. This was no exaggeration. The ground was completely covered with a layer of goblin bodies.

“So you are finally done.” Fel slowly sidled up to us.

“What about you, Fel?”

“I finished my end a long time ago. There was a goblin king and generals, as well as mages and soldiers.”

Ahh, that so? So there was a goblin king. Well, with a settlement this big...

There were over 200 goblin corpses spread out in front of me.

“*Sigh* It’s gonna take a while to cut off all those ears.”

“You are the only one who can do it, so get moving.”

Yeah yeah, I get it. I silently got to work harvesting goblin ears.

There were a couple of goblins that were turned a ghastly pale like a zombie out of a movie due to Sui’s Acid Bullet, but I pretended not to see those and concentrated on harvesting ears. I understood then what it meant to turn your heart into nothingness.

I had finally finished harvesting all the ears at close to the three-hour mark. There were 227 in total — a terrifying number.

Wait a minute...

“Hey, Fel, did the goblin king and other evolved forms you hunted have magic stones?” I passed out last time, and so it never came to mind, but kings and the like seemed like they should have a magic stone.

“The king? It had a small one.”

So it did have one. Right then, let’s bring it back — it would be a waste not to do so. As for the others, I’m not sure, but I might as well bring them back just in case.

I stored the goblin king, the three goblin generals, two goblin mages, and seven goblin soldiers in my Item Box.

I was going to head back, but looking around, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Fel, is it alright to leave all these goblin bodies alone?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it seems pretty unsanitary, and the smell might attract monsters, I thought.”

“There would probably be monsters that come to eat the corpses, yes. That is the natural order of things.”

“That’s true, but won’t there be too many monsters with this many corpses? And it would be trouble if there was a strong one among them. This place is close to town, after all.”

“You have a point. If that is the case, then just burn the corpses.”

Even if you tell me to burn them, with this many bodies... Not to mention, if we accidentally set the forest on fire, it’ll be a huge incident...... Ah, but we have Sui.

I realized that, with Sui, we had another option.

“Sui, can you go ‘pew pew’ on these green ones and melt them?”

《Yeah. Is it okay to melt all of the green ones?》

“You can melt all of them. Can you? Please?”

《Got it. But wait a little...》

When Sui said that, it started jiggling frantically.

............What? S-Sui?!

Sui enlarged suddenly after its jiggling fit was over. Sui became two and a half meters wide and about a meter and a half tall. It might be a little bigger than Fel, now.

I appraised Sui when Fel reacted with a, “Sui has evolved.”

【Name】 Sui

【Age】 1 month

【Race】 Big Slime

【Level】 2

【HP】 684

【MP】 679

【Attack】 668

【Defense】 674

【Agility】 682

【Skills】 Acid Bullet, Potion Creation, Cloning

.........Sui, since when did you become a big slime? You’re already level 2, so it wasn’t just now. Not to mention, not only did Sui’s stats go way up but he’s even got another skill. It says ‘Cloning,’ but what kind of skill is it? Did Sui become bigger thanks to the skill?

“Fel, have you seen this ‘Cloning’ skill before?”

“I have not. Normally a slime would mitose once its level gets high enough, and that would be it.”

Hmmm, I don’t get it.

“Sui, it looks like you’ve got a new skill named ‘Cloning’ when you evolved; did you become bigger because of the skill?”

《Dunno. Sui can become bigger or smaller though.》

“Bigger or smaller?”

《Uhmm, Sui will try, so watch.》

Saying that, the enlarged Sui began to jiggle. Multiple small slimes split off from Sui, and Sui returned to its previous size.

《Everyone— go melt the green ones—!》 The smaller slimes all started crowding around the goblin bodies, and they popped, spreading liquid everywhere. The liquid was apparently acid, as it visibly started dissolving the dead goblins.

Not even the bones were left. Fel and I were both aghast at the sight.

“Fel, have you seen this before?”

“No, not even with my long life have I seen something like this.”

Sui, what the heck is that? “Sui, what are those smaller slimes?”

《Mm— those are also Sui.》

“‘Also Sui?’”

《Uhmm, Sui can get bigger if Sui wants, but if Sui wants to be smaller Sui splits up like that. The other ones can talk to Sui for a while, but after a long time we can’t talk any more.》

Uhh, so Sui can get bigger thanks to the skill, and can also use the extra mass added on by the skill to split? And Sui can communicate with those parts for a short time, but loses contact after some time has passed. I see, I see.

“So, what’ll happen to those slimes?” I’m curious about that part.

《Uhmm, Sui is here, so the other ones will disappear after a long, long time.》

So they disappear after a while. That means they have a lifespan. Hahhh, what an amazing skill.

Even if the split bodies have a lifespan, from what happened just now, it’s at least ten minutes. Thinking like that, you should just send your split bodies to attack as a long-distance assault, and even ambushes would be easy. And if the split bodies could even use Sui’s Create Potion skill, it would become quite a factory.

“Sui just seems to keep getting stronger and stronger...”

“Indeed. But getting stronger should not be a problem.”

That is true, but...

《Master— hungry.》

“Hm, I am, too.”

Ahh, I had thought it was about time for those two gluttons to say something like that.

“Well, being here is ruining my appetite. Let’s eat after going back a ways.”

No matter how hard I tried, I could not picture being able to stomach food with all those goblin corpses around. With that settled, I put Sui in my bag, got on top of Fel, and rode off.

After a while, I told Fel, “Around here should be fine. I’m a little tired, so are you guys alright with just snack buns?”

“Anything is fine, just hurry up.”

Fine, fine. I bought the buns from my Online Supermarket, choosing the usual jam, cream, and red bean buns, as well as melon bread and chocolate cornets. And, the necessary accompaniment to this bread — canned coffee.

“This is new.”

Fel gave the new melon bread and chocolate cornets a sharp look.

“I know I know, I’ll give you a bit of everything, so hold your horses.” I separated the food from its packaging and arranged them on a plate before handing it over to Fel and Sui.

《This is tasty—!》

“Indeed, it is delicious. The new ones as well.”

It seems Sui took a liking to the buns as well. And Fel was happy with the melon bread and chocolate cornets, too. As for me, I bit into a red bean bun with my canned coffee in hand.

Ahhh, delicious. The sweetness seeped through my tired body.

Still though, I wonder why a simple goblin subjugation turned into destroying an entire settlement. Hahh~ Well, if this turns into 100 points then it’s fine, I guess. I was prepared to stay for a long time, but I ended up finishing today. It’s a little...

Gossip: Which. One. Should. I. Pick. Hmmm~?

Just like always, the Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir, was looking through her water mirror at the lower world, peeking in on a certain group.

“He’s late! Late! La—te!!”

Damn that otherworlder, why won’t he offer me his prayers and sweets already?

Just as I was done waiting, the otherworlder got scolded by Fenrir.

Good job, Fenrir. Just what I would expect from one I’d given my blessing to. But still, to have simply ‘forgotten’ to give me his prayers and offerings? What a fool, doing so is the most holy of rituals!

The otherworlder finally started praying.

“Ohhh, finally! Really, just how long were you going to make me wait?!”

The otherworlder started giving out excuses like, “I was a little busy myself.” That’s definitely a lie. I’ve seen through everything, you know?

The otherworlder apologized, and I am no demon. “Hmph, I shall forgive you just this once, but make sure this never happens again. You were so late, I have lost count of how many times I was about to send you an oracle. However, even I have my own situation to worry about, so I could not...”

Really, how many times was I thinking of sending one down?

However, I still had those other goddesses, as well as the war god and blacksmithing god, to worry about. Especially those goddesses — I don’t know if they’ve noticed something, but they always appear next to me in the most unexpected places. If I just sent out a divine revelation haphazardly, there was a real possibility they would find out.

I needed to exercise the utmost caution. I couldn’t let the other gods find out about this just yet.

The otherworlder arranged a wide assortment of sweets, so I looked over them.

“Mmhooo!! Th-This is?!”

Such a colorful array of so many sweets! Not to mention, every single one of them was different. This is just fine. Bring it all on!

What? That stupid otherworlder, he thought it was too much?

“W-What are you even saying?! This is in no way too much. This is great! Offer this much next time as well. That is an order.” That’s right. There can never be too many.

According to the otherworlder, these sweets were fresh, so even if I preserved them with refrigeration, I would have to eat them by tomorrow. Hahhaan~ But that is no problem for me.

“I understand. However, I am a goddess, so both refrigeration or preserving them through stopping time are no problem. I am going to enjoy one every day. Muheheheh~”

Muhehe~muhehe~muheheh~ It’s nice to have something to look forward to.

Ah! I had to tell the otherworlder something.

“Now then, I will be looking forward to the same amount next time. Do your best to not forget.”

Fuhahaha, all these sweets make for a magnificent sight. Now then, let’s try one immediately.

Which. One. Should. I. Pick. Hmmm~?

Okay, this one: this white and triangular thing named, “Strawberry Shortcake” with a red fruit-like thing on top. Now then, how is it?

*Hawmph* Muhaa—! Th-This is earth-shatteringly tasty—! The soft and fluffy insides pair very well with the white outside, and this red fruit is also good: sweet, and yet a little sour.

*Hawmph*

*Mgmgmg*

Ah! There’s none left.

I felt — just a little bit — that I hadn’t had enough. I’ll eat one more...

Next is— this one. The round and soft one named, “choux crème.” Now then, how is it?

*Hawmph* Muha—hh! I just can’t resist this swee-eet yolkiness surrounded by this airy outside. This is good! This is... too delicious!

*Hawmph*

*Mgmgmg*

Ah! There’s none left.

I still hadn’t had enough. I’ll eat one more...

This one: this sweet named “Mont Blanc” with a weird shape. There’s a lot of squiggly yellowish stuff on top. They’re really thin and long. And there’s something on top that looks like a nut? Now then, how is it?

*Hawmph* Muhoohh!! This thin and long yellow stuff has such a mellow sweetness! And the nut-like thing on the top, such a delicate flavor! It’s all truly delicious!

*Hawmph*

*Mgmgmg*

Ah! There’s none left.

Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-This is bad!! I was going to eat them little by little and enjoy it, but I’ve already eaten three!!

I-I need to endure. Otherwise I’ll eat up all of tomorrow’s fun. Wait until tomorrow, tomorrow—!

Chapter 3: Somehow, I’m Doing Well as an Adventurer

I got off Fel when we reached the Adventurer’s guild in Karelina, and we went in together.

Our return happened to overlap with the time that most adventurers would return to the guild, and the inside was packed with adventurers. So, we lined up for the counter.

《With this you should become that F-rank thing, no? So we should be able to head for the shore tomorrow, yes?》 Fel asked telepathically.

《Even if I become an F-rank, I still plan to stay here a little longer.》

《Why?》

《For one, I want to visit Lambert’s store, the merchant we saved from those thieves.》

《Then, we leave tomorrow or the day after?》

《Don’t be in such a rush. The shore won’t run away.》

《Mm, that is true... but I always feel so constrained in human towns, and the bedding at the inn is especially bad.》

《Ahh, that shed, huh?》

Fel was a little too big for the kennel at the inn. It was just about big enough for Fel to lie down and have a tiny bit of space left over. It probably felt all the more confined because, in our travels up until now, we’d been sleeping freely under the stars.

I do feel a little sorry for him...ah!

《Should I spread out your futons in the shed? It should be a little more comfortable then.》

《It should. Please do so.》

《Well, it shouldn’t be that long, I think, so just bear with it for a while, please. I’ll make some good food for you in return.》

《Understood. Do not forget the good food.》

Yeah yeah. Whoops, it became my turn while I was busy having a conversation with Fel. I handed my guild card over to the receptionist.

“Goblin subjugation, was it? Do you have their right ears as proof?”

“Yes. Uhhh, here.”

I handed over a bag full to bursting with goblin ears.

“Wha? No, this? Huh?”

Sorry, it looks like you’re flabbergasted, but this isn’t all of it. I continued to give her another three bags filled just as much as the first: a total of four bags, with a total of 227 goblin ears inside.

Man, am I glad I bought extra bags. Hm? Is the receptionist okay? She’s not saying a word. The receptionist was peering into the four bags, aghast.

“Uhmm— Are you alright?”

When I said that, the receptionist came to with a start, saying, “Please wait a minute,” before hurrying off somewhere.

After a little while, the receptionist returned. “The guildmaster would like to see you so please follow me. Your familiars too, please.”

I nodded, sending Fel a telepathic message to follow along.

We entered the guildmaster’s office on the second floor. It looked a bit larger than a normal room since it was the guildmaster’s office, but Fel only barely fit.

“I am Willem, the guildmaster of the Adventurer’s guild here in Karelina.” Willem the guildmaster was white haired, with a stern looking face that had many wrinkles carved into it. From his face, he looked to be in his 60s, but he was tall, and his properly-trained build said to all that he was still active and healthy.

“I’m Mukohda. Pleased to meet you.”

Was it a mistake to take out all those goblin ears at once? The guildmaster called me and everything, after all...

“That familiar over there is a Fenrir, if I’m not mistaken.” Rather than a question, it was more like he was stating his conclusion for confirmation. It really did seem like the guildmaster already knew, so it looked to me like there was no way to bluff him here.

“Yes. His name is Fel.”

The guildmaster looked at Fel and whispered in awe, “To think I would lay my eyes on a legendary beast...”

Yeah, any normal person would be really surprised and react like that if they looked at Fel knowing he was a Fenrir. Ah, if we’re talking about familiars, I should probably introduce Sui too, just in case.

“Uhmm, I do have another familiar other than Fel...” I took Sui out of my bag and held him up.

“This is Sui; it’s a slime. It seems Sui is special — unlike a regular slime, it’s really strong.”

“A-A slime is...?”

“Yes.” I nodded emphatically in response to the guildmaster’s question. It seemed like the guildmaster was regarding Sui like a regular slime, but it wasn’t. Sui was super strong.

“*Cough* W-Well, you have a Fenrir following you, after all. You probably have a few secrets to keep.”

Yes, you’re correct about that.

“Well then, let’s move on to the reason why I called you all the way here. There was an urgent message from the royal palace. Put simply, it says, ‘Please spend your time freely in our lands. We swear to never force you to do anything you do not wish. This point has been made thoroughly to the nobles in our country so there is no need to worry. However, if something happens, we would like to count on your help.’”

Eh? Does that mean I’m free? Neither the country nor its nobles will come after me?

“It seems like something the king of this country would think up. That guy’s the type to throw away flowery words and get straight to the point. Didn’t you guys want to be free from worrying about interference?”

“Yes, well that’s...”

“That’s why he judged it better to have you in this country free than to try and force you to do something and cause you to leave. Just having a legendary Fenrir here is enough of a threat by itself. And it goes without saying what happens if that Fenrir is someone’s contracted familiar. So, like that, you are free to do as you wish, but we’ll be counting on your help in case of an emergency.”

Certainly. Even if he wasn’t my familiar, if someone was wrecking Fel’s home, he’d probably beat that enemy into the ground.

Well, even if you say that he’s my familiar, he was really just lured in by food. I think he’d probably listen if I asked for something that wasn’t that big... Actually, he’d better listen with how much I’ve been feeding him.

“Uhhh, well, honestly, I’m thankful for this, but... Fel, what about you?”

“There is no problem. If they will not be bothering us, then it is convenient for us as well.”

“So he says.”

“I see, that’s good. We’re very thankful that you’ll stay in our country. Even if the Adventurer’s guild is an organization that supersedes countries, ties are always stronger between guild branches from the same country. It’s very reassuring to have you around as one of this country’s Adventurer’s. So, with that said, I do have something to ask of you...”

It’s kind of scary when you start behaving all formal like that...

“Am I right in saying that you want to rank up, since you’ve brought in all those goblin ears at once?”

Ahh, that... Yes. Well, the only reason there were that many is because we were made to charge into an entire settlement by ourselves thanks to a certain someone.

“If that’s the case I can raise your rank to C with my authority as a guildmaster.”

“Huh? I’m G-ranked, and only wanted to get to F-rank because the short deadline for taking requests was inconvenient since I travel a lot. Is it really okay to just raise me to C-rank all of a sudden?” I only wanted to get from G- to F-rank, is C-rank even possible?

“That is no problem with a guildmaster’s power. More than that, it’s a problem if the person that has a Fenrir as a familiar is only G-ranked.”

I had only planned to be F-rank, but I’m C-rank now all of a sudden. If I remembered correctly, C-ranks could get away with not taking quests for half a year.

“There are several requests I’d like you to take though, in return for raising you to C-rank.”

Ahh, so it’s that kind of conversation? If that’s the case I don’t really need the C-rank.

“Uhhm, if that’s the case I ref—”

“Fine.”

“Fel?”

“This will raise your rank or whatever it is you’re trying to raise, no? If that is the case, why not?”

“Well, that is true but......”

“If this is about the request, if it is dangerous, I will help, so there is no problem.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but the request is A- or S-ranked, so either way it would become a request for you.”

The guildmaster said to Fel directly.

Ahh, I see. It’s like that. Thank god—.

“Well, that’s how it is, Fel. How about it?”

“Hmph, I know not of your ranks, but there is nothing that I cannot do.”

“So he says.”

“Oh, that’s good. To tell you the truth, high-ranked requests always sit around for way too long. Our supply of A- and S-ranked adventurers are limited, you see. Even so, we always manage to gather high-ranked adventurers in response to any urgent requests that pop up, but for ones that aren’t so urgent......”

Well, certainly, when it comes to high-ranked adventurers, their numbers are limited; even if there are a surprising number of adventurers that just hang around everywhere there’s no guarantee that there are any high-ranked ones nearby.

“So this will be another request, but in the course of your travels, if you could stop by Adventurer’s guilds and take care of their high-ranked quests as much as possible, we would be very grateful.”

Well, we’ll always eventually need to visit a guild because I’ll need meat, but... it looks like the guildmaster’ll raise our rank to C with his authority, but will a C-rank even be able to accept A- or S-ranked requests?

“Would that be alright for a C-rank?”

“Ahh, that’ll be no problem. Each guild in this country has been notified about you, and each request will be directly given to you by the guildmaster, so rank wouldn’t even matter.”

I see. “Fel, is that alright? No matter what, we’ll be needing to visit Adventurer’s guilds in the middle of our journey anyway whenever we need more meat.”

“Of course it is alright. Being able to fight is convenient for me as well. If I do not move my body, I will grow dull.”

《Sui will fight too—.》 Sui, who had been listening quietly until now, jiggled and sent that message with telepathy.

Ahh, yeah, yeah. I calmed Sui down by petting it.

“Well, there you have it. It seems this is fine.”

“Oh, ohhh, that’s good. I’ll hurry and tell the other guilds. Fights between adventurers are dealt with strictly in this country, so it should be fine, but just in case, I’ll also tell them not to let the other adventurers get weird ideas in them and make fun of you.”

Ohh, that’s nice. Just like a guildmaster, the man understands. It seems like all my problems all got solved at once.

“So then, about the high-ranked requests I’ll be asking you to take on: will you be able to take on some of the more urgent ones tomorrow?”

Tomorrow, huh? I’ll be visiting the guild because of all the meat I’m having butchered, but I also want to visit Lambert’s store. Then again, the guildmaster has already been very accommodating, so I guess we should go ahead and do his requests first.

“Understood. I’ll be coming back to the guild tomorrow to finish up a transaction, so we can talk more then.”

I suddenly had a thought as I said that. It went like this: Since they already know all about Fel and are giving us such good treatment here, won’t it be fine to unload all the monsters I’ve had sealed up in my Item Box until now (like the orc king, blue ogre, and such, and so on)?

“Um, would it be alright to add some more monsters to the sale?”

“Hm? Add? I don’t mind, but what monsters?”

“Well, you see, I thought that if I brought them out then there’d be an uproar about it, so I didn’t bother — but since you, guildmaster, are already this understanding of my circumstances with Fel and all, I was thinking it might be fine...”

“Oh? That bad?”

“Yes, I actually have a chimera and an orthrus. As well as an orc king and some ogres.”

“Wait a second. Did you just say, chimera and orthrus?” The guildmaster had a scary expression as he asked me that.

“Yes, I did...”

The guildmaster held his head in his hands, and had a face on that screamed, “Agghhh, he’s done it now...”

Huh? Was this really a mistake?

“I need to confirm this so please follow me.”

I followed the guildmaster while holding Sui and with Fel behind me, and we reached the storehouse that I would be visiting tomorrow.

“Hey, Johan, you free?” It’s the old baldy from yesterday. So, his name was Johan.

“What’s up, guildmaster? What are you doing here? Wait, you’re from yesterday...”

“Johan, sorry but can you shut the front door and make sure nobody can get inside? Also, keep what you see here a secret.”

He must have sensed something in the guildmaster’s tone, as Johan hurried to go shut the door.

“Right, this should be fine. So then just take everything out for now.”

Just as the guildmaster asked, I took out everything I was thinking of having him butcher and buy: the orthrus and chimera that I was thinking of sealing away forever, as well as four ogres and a blue ogre; and after that, an orc king, metal lizard, and lake shark; and lastly, the evolved goblins that were killed at the settlement earlier today — the king, three generals, two mages, and seven soldiers.

“This is all of it.”

The guildmaster and old man Johan stood stock-still, mouths agape.

“U-Uhmm......”

“Ah, ahh, sorry...... But still, this sure is a sight.........”

Sorry. I’d been saving up all this time and just let it all out.

“......Guildmaster, this is the first time I’ve even seen a chimera and an orthrus............” The revived old man, Johan, said, as if it were leaking out of his mouth.

W-Whaaa? Even the seasoned adventurer-looking guild employee old man Johan hasn’t seen these? It’s way too late now but I really should have kept them in my Item Box.

“I’ve seen a defeated orthrus just once, almost 40 years ago. If I remember correctly, three parties of only A- and S-ranked adventurers were only barely able to take it down.”

Three parties of only A- and S-ranked adventurers... Once again, I’m reminded of just how strong Fel is. Although the Fenrir himself is lying down yawning like it doesn’t concern him.

“As I thought, we really can’t buy this chimera and orthrus. First of all, there’s not enough money in this guild. Also, just the blue ogre, ogre king, metal lizard, and lake shark would make enough of an uproar. Buying up a chimera and orthrus is way too scary to even think about.”

Th-They refused to buy them. So I guess the chimera and orthrus really will be sealed away forever. Oh well.

“Then, I’d like to sell everything else.” The subjects of refusal, the chimera and orthrus, went into my Item Box once again.

“To think I would get to butcher a blue ogre with my own two hands......” Old man Johan said that so seriously that I listened in on his mumblings. Apparently, the blue ogre was special and several times stronger than a regular ogre, therefore rating an S-rank.

Fel, so you just went and hunted something like that, huh? What a fearsome child.

I also heard an explanation of the other monsters the guildmaster said would create an uproar.

The orc king itself was an A-rank monster, but when subjugating an orc king, it was said to be always surrounded by hundreds of other orcs. Taking that into consideration, the orc king was very close to being an S-rank.

The metal lizard was an A-rank monster, but because of its steel hide, physical attacks were not very effective on it at all, so the accepted method of killing one was to drop it down a hole and attack it with fire or water until it dies. However, doing that would take a hefty number of mages, so a metal lizard would basically never be seen in the market unless there was an emergency involving one.

Lake sharks were S-ranked, and it was said to be impossible to kill one since it swims so freely in the lakes it inhabits. The only time one would see a lake shark was if the lake dried up.

It’s all your fault Fel, since you only ever hunt stuff like this. Really, what an honestly fearsome child.

“The goblin king, generals, mages, and soldiers are from today?” the guildmaster asked.

“Yes. There was a goblin settlement.”

“So there really was one.” Apparently, the number of goblins being sighted in the eastern forest recently had led to speculation that a settlement had popped up, so they were planning to post some investigation requests soon.

“Then I’ll have to hand out a reward for destroying the settlement as well.”

Huh? There’s a reward? I was only forcefully dragged there by Fel, but if there’s a reward I might actually have been lucky.

“Still, Fenrirs must really be strong if you guys managed to take down a settlement by yourselves. Well, he’s strong enough to take down a chimera and orthrus, so that much is probably easy as pie.”

Hearing the guildmaster’s words, Sui, who had up until now been staying quiet in my arms, started quivering in protest.

《Aww... It wasn’t just Uncle Fel! Sui also went pew pew and killed a lot!》

I replied while petting Sui, “That’s right, Sui killed a lot. You’re awesome, Sui.”

“Fel killed all these goblins, but the normal ones were all defeated by Sui here, and I. Well, I only killed a small percentage of them.”

“Ohh? It doesn’t look that way, but that slime must be just as strong as you say then.”

That’s right, Sui is strong and can even make potions. He’s almighty.

“Guildmaster, I was planning to hand over the monsters that guy left here tomorrow, so is it okay if I just take these and hand them over at the same time as well? I’ll finish up this batch with super-speed and definitely make it in time for pick-up. Man, seeing all this really lights a fire in my tradesman’s spirit.” Old man Johan was suddenly bursting with motivation.

I’m trusting you to butcher all this properly. Ah, and hand over all the edible meat, please.

“That’s how it is, so can you come back tomorrow? I’ll prepare your C-rank guild card and pick out a high-ranked request as well.”

“Understood. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

So the problems from countries and nobles are all resolved, but now I have to worry about high-ranked requests, huh? Well, Fel will be the one doing them, though. I’ll just let him do all the work this time, I guess.

“Hey, I am hungry.”

Yeah, yeah.

“You have not forgotten those words, have you?”

Words?

“You told me to endure it in exchange for good food.”

Ahh, right. I did make that promise for the while we would be in this town.

“So you remember, yes? Hurry up with that good food.”

Sure sure, then I guess we’ll just head back to the inn.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Now then, what to make? Well, it’s not like I have anything but rockbird meat. Hrmm... I’d like something refreshing once in a while. There’s only one dish I can think of when it comes to rockbird meat and refreshing food: Bang Bang Chicken.

But Fel might still complain if it’s just that, so let’s make another easy stir-fry as an extra. It’ll be chicken and pepper stir-fry.

I personally didn’t hate peppers. I was actually pretty fond of their bitterness. Since both the dishes were for Fel, I’d be making them with extra meat.

First, though, I need to do some shopping. Uhhh, tomatoes and cucumbers, and some peppers and paprika... It didn’t matter if the paprika was red or yellow, it was mostly there for color.

I also bought some other important things, as well as some premium beer as a celebration for some of my problems being resolved.

Now then, let’s start with the bang bang chicken.

~◇~◇~◇~

Boil the rockbird meat in hot water with some sake and salt. After that, while the boiled meat is resting, cut the tomato into circles and the cucumber into strips.

Shred the breast meat of the cooled rockbird by hand. Plate the food with the coined tomatoes at the bottom, the cucumber strips in the middle, and lots of shredded rockbird breast meat on top of that.

Lastly, pour a generous amount of sesame dressing on top and the dish is complete.

Tare sauce would be too much effort so I made do with just the sesame dressing. That might be considered a sort of heresy, though. But sesame dressing is good, anyway.

By the way, if spiciness is necessary, simply mix the sesame dressing with chili oil.

As for the chicken and pepper stir-fry, first put holes in the rockbird meat with a fork before cutting it into large bite-sized pieces. Baste the meat in sake and soy sauce and massage for a bit to help the flavor sink in.

Take the seeds out of the peppers and paprika, and cut these into about 1.5 centimeter corners (it’s okay to eyeball this).

Cook the rockbird meat in an oiled pan until both sides are well browned before adding the peppers and paprika. Once the peppers and paprika have been heated to a certain extent, put in a giant squeeze of a tube of soy sauce flavored oyster spice.

This seasoning is an incredible treasure that works in both soups and stir-fries. The fact that it’s in a tube also makes it easy and convenient to use. I’ve had it permanently stocked since it’s been on sale.

Pile the finished chicken and pepper stir-fry on a plate aannd...

~◇~◇~◇~

“It’s done—!” Wait, you two were actually waiting right behind me?!

“Muh, it is not just meat?”

“Just shut up and try it. It’s good...”

“Let me see...” *Chomp*......... *Chomp-chomp-mgmg-mgmg*

Nice, since he’s scarfing it down like that that means he likes it.

Sui was already chowing down while sending me a telepathic message: 《Master, it’s good!》

*Sigh* Man, Sui is so cute...

I treated the bang bang chicken and stir-fry as an appetizer for my premium beer. Gotta start off by wetting the throat with some beer.

*Pshhf*

*Glug glug glug*

“Haaaahhh! Drinking like this once in a while sure is great.” I took in a bit of the bang bang chicken. Yeah, that’s good. The sesame seasoning was refreshing and delicious, as expected.

I took another gulp of beer. Yeeahhh, beer really hits the spot.

Now, I tried another bite of the chicken and pepper stir-fry. The chicken (or rather, the rockbird) meat was great with the peppers and the crisp texture of the paprika. And the flavoring is spot-on, too. Being able to just splash in a pre-made blend of spices that were designed specifically to be tasty is so nice and convenient. My compliments to the Japanese food industry.

While I was thinking that, I took another draft of beer.

Khaaahh! So satisfying.

Ah, I haven’t steamed any rice. Well, bread’ll do fine. Wait, does bang bang chicken work between bread? Let’s see... *Chomp*

“Ohhh, this works surprisingly well.” I had expected the bread to get soggy from the tomato, but it’s not that big a problem if you just eat it immediately. Yeah yeah, this works.

I threw back more of my premium beer. *Glug* Just wonderful.

As soon as I found myself enjoying the chicken and pepper stir-fry and the bang bang chicken sandwich with my premium beer, a voice interrupted me without delay.

“More.”

《Sui too!》

Sure, sure. I’d gotten quite used to this, so without any undue rush, I fried up more portions for Fel and Sui all while managing to enjoy my bang bang chicken sandwich, chicken and pepper stir-fry, and beer.

“How was it? Delicious, right?”

“It was fine.”

Fel can eat that much and still only call it “fine?” Wow.

《Sui liked it!》

I see I see, that’s good. Sui really is honest and cute, huh?

“Well, I’ll be getting more meat tomorrow, so I can make you some steaks then.”

“If you are grilling meat, then do the usual.”

Right, right. Fel’s favorite steak sauces, I get it.

Personally, I’d like to eat curry, but the smell might be too much while we’re in town... It seemed that it would still be a while until I could eat curry.

While I was absorbed in my thoughts, Fel released a huge yawn. It looked like he was sleepy after eating.

“I’ll spread your futons on the floor, then.”

“Please.”

Fel laid down on the futons after I spread them out in the small shed for him.

“Well then, we’ll return to our room...”

Fel replied with a shake of his tail, as his eyes were already closed. He really was that sleepy, it seemed.

Now then, let’s go to sleep as well.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

As soon as I entered the Adventurer’s guild, I was shown into the guildmaster’s room by an employee. Of course, Fel and Sui (in its usual spot in my bag) came as well.

“Now then, just as promised, here’s your C-rank guild card.”

I took my C-ranked guild card from the guildmaster. It just looked like a silver card, and it wasn’t that different from the G-ranked card I already had.

“Well, it might not look all that different, but it’s got your rank written all over it. As it happens, it is customary for a new card to be issued once a person goes up in rank.”

Apparently ranks F through B get this silver card, but A- and S-ranks get a gold card. It seemed like the gold card was the proof of being A- or S-ranked, and having one meant that you were the best-of-the-best as an adventurer. I hadn’t even known about card colors until now, so all I could do was give an appreciative grunt.

“Next is the money you get from selling us all those monsters. Since you’ve given us some good monsters this time the guild stands to profit quite a bit. That’s why we’ll waive the butchering fee.”

Ohhh, you’re gonna cover it? Thanks!

“I’ll start by explaining what you get for the first batch.”

That group with the red serpent, huh?

The breakdown went as follows:

The five orc generals went for 12 gold. Other than the meat, the only other useable parts were the testes, just like a regular orc, but apparently, they made for an even more effective virility-boosting medicine.

The three rockbirds came out to 24 gold. The harvestable materials were their beaks and feathers.

The giant dodo apparently had a magic stone, so with that included, the price was 33 gold. It seemed that, like last time, this one had a stone as well, even though it was only a B-ranked monster.

The giant deer did not have a stone, so it was only worth 16 gold. That was the price for its hide and antlers.

The A-ranked murder grizzly earned me 87 gold. Its innards, claws, and fur were all in good condition. Its magic stone was also big even for an A-rank, so that was reflected in the price.

The likewise-A-ranked black serpent was worth 88 gold. Since it had been a while since they’d received one, the poison sac, innards, fangs, eyes, and skin all sold for a slightly higher price. The stone on this A-rank was also quite big, and apparently of pretty good quality, so that also drove the price up.

Lastly, the red serpent was 201 gold. The red serpent is a special variant of the black serpent, and while it was also A-ranked, it was several levels stronger and that much meaner for it. That was why it was so absurdly difficult to kill one, and its carcass was so valuable because the guild would only see one every several years. Its materials were the same as the black serpent: poison sac, innards, fangs, eyes, skin, and magic stone. However, they all fetched a significantly higher price than those from a black serpent. Of course, the fact that the magic stone was so large also drove the price up, but the main reason for the price was that its skin was considered an extraordinarily high-class material, and just having something made of its leather would make one a target of envy.

“So, with all of that, your earnings for the first batch come to 461 gold. Ahh, the meat’s being kept in the storehouse, so head over on your way back.”

............

4... 461 gold? It turned out even bigger than last time. Fel’s our house’s big earner, huh? Well, he also eats the most so I’m happy he’s trying so hard. Not to mention the fact that Sui isn’t just eating my trash anymore, it’s eating regular meals as well.

Hm? Why is it eating regular meals on top of my trash? It’s because Sui started saying 《Sui wants to eat that, too—》 during meals, is that a problem? There’s no way I could say no to Sui when it’s being so goddamn cute. Don’t be so coy — you know that already, don’t you?

Well, that being the case, I’ll be needing Fel to bring home the bacon for Sui’s sake.

“And now, let’s talk about pricing the stuff you’ve added on. Thankfully, we’ve almost immediately found buyers for this stuff.” The guildmaster grinned widely as he said that.

Ahh, I see. All that stuff I brought out yesterday is turning quite the profit. According to old man Johan, all of the monsters I brought in yesterday were high-ranking, after all.

“Then let’s move on to the breakdown of these monsters.”

The four ogres were worth 160 gold. Ogre meat was reputed to be terrible — basically inedible, really — so the materials were just the horn and hide. The horn was used in a lot of different medicines, and so it traded at high prices. The hide, for its part, made for highly defensive leather armor, and was a favorite. Ogres were B-ranked; unfortunately, none of these had any magic stones.

The S-ranked blue ogre was worth 432 gold. It was a special variant of the common ogre, and its horn was highly prized in its own right as some sort of secret medicine. As for its hide, it was used to make leather armor that had extremely high levels of protection against both physical and magical attacks, and so was considered a superbly high-class material. And as expected of an S-ranked monster, its magic stone was not only large, but also of good quality.

So S-ranks by their lonesome can turn into such stupid amounts of money huh? I was certainly surprised.

The orc king was valued at 168 gold. It was an A-ranked monster, and its meat was an ultra-high-class ingredient. The guildmaster tried his best to get me to sell it, but I politely refused.

Sorry. Other than its meat, its testes, hide, and magic stone were all valuable.

Apparently, the medicine made from its testes would result in certain conception if used, so it seemed that nobles or royalty who were troubled over an heir would sell their own parents to get their hands on some. Its hide was popular for producing items specialized for defense against physical damage. Its magic stone was quite big.

The metal lizard, an A-ranked monster, was worth 169 gold. Unfortunately, I’d been told the meat was poisonous and thus inedible. Just as the name implied, its materials were its steel hide, teeth, and magic stone, which was fairly large. In spite of its steely hide, not only was it light, but it was said that there was no better material for physical defense, so leather armor made from it was a favorite of A- and S-ranked adventurers. Its teeth were used as arrowheads, and, evaluated purely in terms of penetrative power, metal lizard teeth arrowheads were among the best in the world.

The S-ranked lake shark turned out to be 468 gold. Its meat smelled terrible and was inedible, but its teeth, skin, and magic stone were all useable. However, it seemed that this lake shark would be turned into taxidermy after its magic stone was removed. The guildmaster looked pleased as he explained that they were already being swamped by offers from nobles who wanted to buy it. It must have been just that rare to see one, since apparently the only real way to do that was to find a dried-up lake. Its magic stone was also on the large side, I was told.

As for the goblins, the king had a very small magic stone, so it was 18 gold. None of the other goblins had materials of any worth. Instead, there was to be a separate reward for destroying the goblin settlement.

“So for the second batch, the total is 1415 gold. Additionally, the reward for destroying the goblin settlement is 70 gold. All told, with both batches and the reward for the goblins figured in, it’ll be 1946 gold.”

The guild master placed seven bags of money in front of me, each one making its own *thud* sound.

“Large gold coins and white gold coins are hard to use, so our guild always pays out in gold coins. Is that okay with you? Hm? What’s wrong?”

...............Nothing, it’s just that I’m speechless seeing all this money in front of me. I-I mean, all those bags are filled with gold, right?

“Th-This... 1946 g-gold coins... yes?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Each bag has about 300 gold in it. Ah, and this one is only half filled with 146 gold. Wanna count it?”

I shook my head hard.

“I w-wouldn’t even dream of it. I trust you, guildmaster. But even I’m surprised, with 1946 gold...” I had never even dreamed that it would turn into this much money.

“Ahh, I see. I get it. 1946 gold is the largest sale this guild has ever seen.”

Ghh! R-Really? Thinking about it, there wouldn’t be anybody who would hand over this many monsters at once.

Sorry... I’m really sorry about this. But they were just piling up in my Item Box... I needed meat, but I wasn’t really that hard up for money......

Truthfully, I still had over half the money left from the last time I sold monsters, and I even had the reward from those thieves we had just handed over. With all this money added in, I had over 2000 gold coins.

I’ve got over 2000 gold coins.

That means I’m walking around with over 20 million yen.

I’ve never been this rich......

Well, it wasn’t like I was the one that earned all this. I’d done basically nothing to earn it. I probably shouldn’t be speaking for Fel, who was the one who actually earned all this, but it didn’t look like he tried very hard, either. After all, most of it was from when he ate food from my world and overflowed with energy, so he just kind of went out and hunted. Even the lake shark was done in by a single spell. And as for the goblins, he was already done and waiting by the time Sui and I finished up with the regular goblins.

Well, all that means is that Fel is amazing, I guess. I really can’t stop seeing him as a gluttonous snackhound, though.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After I finished storing the money bags into my Item Box, the guildmaster started talking as if he’d been waiting the entire time for this.

“So then, as for the requests, I’ve got two I’d like to ask of you. The first one is to kill a metal lizard, and the other is to destroy a herd of bloody horn-bulls.”

I knew what a metal lizard was, of course, having just sold one to the guild. What kind of monster was a “bloody horn-bull,” though? Having “bloody horn” as a name sure sounded violent. Since it’s a “bull,” does that mean it’s like a cow? A blood-soaked cow...... what a dangerous name.

“Starting with the metal lizard, you can find it two days away by carriage at the foot of this mountain. The mountain’s name is Pascual mountain, by the way. The fact that there’s a metal lizard there means that there’s some sort of ore or minerals around, but we haven’t yet sent in an investigative team to find that out. Well, the area has other mines, so we weren’t that troubled by it and left it on the backburner, but there’s no harm in having more mines available. The reward for this request will be 238 gold.”

It seemed that the request had been around for quite a while, but no one would take it, so the reward just gradually increased until today.

The metal lizard seemed fine to do. We had killed one before, after all.

Well, Fel did, anyway.

“As for the bloody horn-bulls, they’ve herded up in some grasslands to the west, where most new adventurers go to hunt. The newbies appealed to us to do something about it, but they aren’t near any roads, so this was also left on the backburner. The reward for this one is 324 gold.”

Like the metal lizard request, the reward just kept increasing because nobody wanted to take it. According to the guildmaster, the bloody horn-bull was a rhinoceros-sized cow with a really violent temperament. Just like its name implied, approaching the herd was a sure way to get stabbed with two sharp horns and turned into a festival of blood. I was told that, while the bloody horn-bull itself was a B-rank monster, since they are so violent and always move in herds, taking one down requires over 4 parties of B- to A-ranked adventurers.

Otherworld cows sure are scary... to think they’ll gore you with their horns just for getting close...

“Will you take these two requests?” The guildmaster asked, but I wasn’t the one who would be taking them.

“Fel, were you listening? Wanna take them?”

“Of course. There is no way I would not.”

Well, that is true. “We’ll take them, guildmaster.”

“I see I see, that’s good.”

“Bloody horn-bulls, huh? Their meat is quite delicious. Let us hurry.”

Fel sure is motivated... Bloody horn-bulls are delicious, huh? So they really are like cows? I hope that’s the case. Orcs are tasty, but I’d really like some beef right about now.

“Ahh, sorry, but can you take care of the metal lizard first?”

“Muh...”

Oh my, it looks like the guildmaster wants the metal lizard taken care of first.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. The guildmaster said so, so let’s just go get the metal lizard first. It’s not like the bloody horn-bulls will go away, seeing as how they’ve settled down in the grasslands. It’s probably better to save the best for last anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you want to try grilling their meat and... using that?”

“By ‘that’ you mean... that?!”

“Yes exactly, that thing you like that goes so~ well with grilled meat.”

“Heh, sounds delicious.”

I knew I could convince the steak-loving Fel like this.

“Ah, guildmaster, we can keep the bloody horn-bull’s meat, right?”

“Of course — the monsters you hunt on these two quests are yours. But bloody horn-bull meat is popular as a delicious high-class ingredient. I’d like it if you’d let the guild buy half of it. We’ll even buy it at a slightly higher price, so if possible...”

So we’d keep half for ourselves and sell the rest to the guild? I guess that’s fine. I’m not sure how many there are, but since there’s a herd, there should be quite a few, I think. And each one is quite big, as well. Either way, I’d be able to get my hands on a lot of beef.

“Then we are going to kill the metal lizard.”

“No no, wait a second. No matter how fast you are, Fel, if we left now, it’d be in the middle of the night by the time we got back. They’ll have closed the gates and we won’t be able to get in. Isn’t it better to leave first thing in the morning? Then we’ll be able to get back by evening.”

“Hm, is that right?”

“That’s right. Guildmaster, can we wait for tomorrow to go for the metal lizard?”

“I don’t mind, but are you sure a single day will be all it takes?”

“Huh? It should be fine. If it’s only two days by carriage, Fel won’t take too long to run there, and the metal lizard itself shouldn’t take that long to kill, either... Fel, how long will it take you to kill the metal lizard?”

“Hmph, there is no world in which I would have trouble with a mere lizard.”

“There you have it.”

“I-I see... Hearing a Fenrir call a metal lizard ‘a mere lizard’ and declaring it to be easy prey really did bring home just how unfathomable a Fenrir’s might really is. I really want to praise our king for not making enemies of you right now.”

Please don’t say that so seriously, guildmaster. Because I’m with that Fenrir 24/7.

“Then, we’ll go to exterminate that metal lizard early tomorrow morning.”

“Sure. Sorry, but we’re counting on you. Make sure to report in once you’re back.”

“Understood.”

Leaving the guildmaster’s room, I headed to the storehouse. There’d be trouble if I forgot about the meat.

After receiving a large amount of meat from old man Johan, we left the storehouse and the Adventurer’s guild behind.

“Ah, Fel, there’s still time, so is it okay if we go visit Lambert’s store?”

“That merchant’s store?”

“Yeah. I’ve got more money now, so I want to get another bag.” I said, stroking the cloth bag that Sui was in.

“It has certainly gotten quite dirty.”

“Yeah. Sui’s going in and out all the time, and this bag was given to me secondhand in the first place. That’s why I want to just get a new one. And it sounded like Lambert’s store deals in leather goods.”

I’m gonna buy a nice one, one that Sui feels comfortable in. I won’t compromise on that, even if it’s a little pricey. It’s for Sui, after all.

“Ah, Fel, if you want something just ask.”

“There is nothing I particularly desire. If I had to say, it would be good food.”

You really do only ever think about food, don’t you?

“Ah, what about a collar?”

“Grrrrrr! If you try to put a collar on me I will bite you.”

“D-Don’t take it so seriously! I-It was just a joke!”

Come on, stop growling at me. I was just making a joke.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I’d arrived at Lambert’s store, but it was bigger than I thought it would be, and I was a little nervous. When I finally worked up the courage to go in, Lambert was right there.

“Ohhh, Mukohda, welcome! I’m glad to see you’ve come.”

“Me too, thanks. Fel is here too, is that fine?”

“Sure, come in, come in.” Lambert’s store was big and seemed like there would still be room even if Fel entered.

Fel immediately went to lay down in a corner.

“Actually, I was thinking of getting a new bag......”

“I see, what kind of bag?”

“Uhhmmm, something that goes on the shoulder like this bag, and is about the same size as well.”

When I said that, Lambert showed me several bags, saying, “How about these?” Their shapes were basically like messenger bags, and they all looked similar to each other. Their flaps and openings were all fairly wide as well, so it didn’t look like Sui would have a problem getting in and out. The wide straps were made to not dig into your shoulder either.

All that’s left is which leather I like, huh?

“This one uses leather from a red boar.”

Let’s see let’s see... it’s like a dark, soft cowhide. It seemed like it would become quite nice as it was used and broken in.

“This one is a bloody horn-bull’s leather.”

Ohh, how timely. We’re gonna be hunting these soon. So this one is a black leather. It felt soft to the touch, similar to the red boar’s leather, but this one was a little thicker, maybe.

“And this one is from a giant deer.”

Giant deer? Oh, those huge ones. This one’s a brown that’s really close to beige. It was a very tough leather. It looked like it would break in well, turning into a nice amber color as it was used.

“This one is made from sand snake leather.”

It’s a sand beige color with a snake’s unique scale pattern, how pretty. I wanted something like this as a smaller item, like a wallet, more than a bag.

“And this one is my recommendation, a bag made from black serpent leather. Black serpent leather takes a lot of work to tan to bring out its natural gloss, and it’s also originally from a high-ranking monster, so while the price is fairly high, it’s very popular. Look at this gloss, if you will. Isn’t it great?”

Ohh, that black serpent, huh? The leather was pitch-black, but I could still make out the unique snakeskin scale pattern. Unlike the sand snake leather, there was a definite sheen. It really felt like a high-class item. I would also have liked this as something smaller.

“Every one of these is fantastic, Lambert.”

“Thank you very much. Every single one of these is a proud piece of ours that our craftsmen have poured their blood, sweat, and tears into.”

“So, how are the prices on these?”

“The red boar leather is 2 gold, the bloody horn-bull is 5 gold, the giant deer is 4 gold and 5 silver, the sand snake is 8 gold, and the black serpent bag is 17 gold.”

Lambert did say that it would be rather expensive, but the black serpent bag really cost a lot.

The sand snake bag was also expensive, but that seemed to be more because it was made in the south of this country, so the price reflected transportation costs. Besides that, though, it also looked like the snake leathers were popular because of their unique scale pattern.

The black serpent and sand snake leathers exuded so much of a high-class feel, in fact, that they did not seem suited for daily use. To use it to carry Sui around everywhere, every day, these seemed a little...... I’d want it if it were something small, like a wallet, though.

“The red boar leather is great for daily use, so I would recommend it for that. Bloody horn-bull leather is pitch-black and is known for its softness, so it’s also easy to use. If you’re splurging for a celebration of some sort, I’d recommend this one. Other than that, the giant deer leather is hard at first, but once its broken in it becomes very flexible and changes color as well, so if you’re planning on using it for a long time, then this is my recommendation.”

I see. Personally, I’d prefer the giant deer leather. But that might be a bit too stiff for Sui to enter and ride in. If it was just for me I’d take the giant deer, though.

Thinking along those lines, it would have to be either the red boar or the bloody horn-bull.

“Lambert, can I let Sui, ah, I meant my slime familiar, out for a minute?”

“A slime?” Lambert put on a mystified face that said, “why the slime?”

“Uhh, actually......” I let Lambert look into the cloth bag.

“Ahh, I see — it’s to put your familiar in. If that’s the case, then the soft leathers like the red boar or the bloody horn-bull would be good.”

“Yes, that’s what I figured as well. So I was thinking of letting the familiar itself pick.”

I scooped Sui up out of the bag.

“Sui, which bag would you rather be in?”

When I asked that, Sui jumped out of my arms and into the red boar bag with quick movements. 《Sui likes this one.》

“Ah, Lambert, sorry!”

“No, no, it’s fine. So will you be taking this red boar leather bag?”

“Yes, please. Ah, also, a scabbard for my knife...” I said, explaining to Lambert that I wanted a scabbard to hang my knife from my belt.

“Ahh, if that’s the case, how about this?” What Lambert showed me was a giant deer leather belt with an attached scabbard.

“This is nice.” This is exactly what I’m looking for! It feels so good to touch... “How much?”

“The buckle took a bit of craftsmanship, so it’ll be 6 gold.”

Just as Lambert said, when I looked closer, the buckle was finely worked. So it’s expensive because of this intricate detailing? Hrm — what should I do?

I do have a lot of money now...right let’s buy it.

“I’ll take it.”

“Thank you very much.” After that, I had a look around the store at Lambert’s invitation.

“Ah...” My eyes caught on to a sand snake leather wallet. This looks good. It was a simple hand-sized wallet made to hold this world’s coinage. The scale pattern stood out even more beautifully than on the bags. I might want it......

“Do you like it? It uses sand snake leather, but since it’s small it’s only 1 gold and 5 silver. The scale pattern stands out especially beautifully on this one, does it not?”

1 gold and 5 silver... To hell with it, I’m buying it, I am! “I’ll take this too.”

As I kept going around the store, I reached the section where the shoes were lined up. “So you stock shoes here as well?”

“Yes. They are leather products, after all.”

Shoes, huh...... I took a look at my feet. I saw the cheap leather shoes that I had gotten from a chain store and had been wearing ever since I came to this world. I had been walking all over on unpaved roads and mountain paths, so they were greatly worn down. I could have just bought sneakers with my skill, but they would stand out to anyone who looked at them...

I guess I should wear stuff from this world. I decided to buy a pair of red boar boots that reached up to my ankles and cost 1 gold and 5 silver.

“A bag, belt with scabbard attached, wallet, and boots come out to 11 gold...... but you can have them for free.”

“Huh?” Free? Huh, what?

“Mukohda, you saved my life, and I also heard from Lars. The meal we ate was made out of really expensive ingredients... To think that it was black serpent and rockbird meat... I am sorry.”

“No no, we’ve been eating that stuff constantly. More than that, I can’t just accept such quality goods for free.”

“I can’t take money from my life’s savior. Although I will have you pay the next time you come, hahaha.”

“Lambert, thank you. If that’s the case, I’ll gratefully take you up on it.”

11 gold became free. Thank you~. Saving people really is worth it.

“I’m changing the topic, but I have something I’d like to ask of you, Mukohda......”

What could it be, for a merchant of Lambert’s level to need advice from me?

“If you had black serpent meat, that means that you hunted a black serpent, yes?”

“Yes. Although it was Fel, not me.” I glanced at the napping Fel as I spoke.

“If you have a black serpent on you, would you mind selling it directly to us?”

Too bad, I just sold it off to the Adventurer’s guild. “Uhhmm, I already sold it to the Adventurer’s guild...”

“Ahh, I see. That’s too bad. You see, normally we merchants would have to buy from the Adventurer’s guild to get monster materials, but right now we’re all short on black serpent skin...... Buying directly from an adventurer would get me marked by both the Adventurer’s guild and other merchants, but if it’s just a little I can get them to look the other way. So if you had one, Mukohda, I would have really liked to get one......”

Is he really that hard up for black serpent skin that he would ask me for one even if it gets him targeted by others?

“Are you that short on black serpent skin?”

“Yes. Black serpent leather goods are expensive, but popular and sell well. However, recently there aren’t many going around.” Lambert’s face clouded as he finished his sentence. It looked like he really was troubled by it.

“But still, the Adventurer’s guild recently got a red serpent, the evolved version of a black serpent, it seems. I’ve seen red serpent leather several times due to my job, yet I couldn’t help but sigh in admiration; that leather was so beautiful......” Lambert said with an entranced look on his face.

Lambert, I really shouldn’t be thinking this... but that face is creepy.

“But even I couldn’t afford a red serpent. It’s such a shame, but I heard that this time the skin was bought by marquis Brauer for quite the sum. I’m so jealousss...”

Sorry, Lambert. I’m the one who sold that red serpent to the Adventurer’s guild.

“Mukohda, please, if you do happen to kill a black serpent sell it to me. I’ll buy it for a bit more than what the adventurer’s guild would pay.” Lambert even went as far as to grasp my hand as he pleaded.

“Okay. If I ever get another one, I’ll bring it here.”

I took my purchases (although they were free in the end) and left Lambert’s store.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

《Sui, how’s the bag feel?》 I immediately asked how the new red boar leather felt to Sui, who was currently inside.

《This feels better than the last one.》

《I see, that’s great.》 Thank the heavens that it likes it. Getting a new leather bag was worth it, then.

“Ah right, Fel, did you hear what Lambert was talking about?”

“Yes. About that black snake, right?”

“Yeah, if there’s a black serpent around I’d like you to kill it. Will you?”

“Sure. That meat is tasty, as well.”

“Ahh, unlike how it looks, it tastes great. Especially when made into karaage.”

“Oohh, karaage, huh? That was delicious. Now that I think about it, we have meat from that red snake, no? Make karaage out of that. And I would also like that grilled meat.”

Oh right, red serpent’s supposed to be a really expensive ingredient.

“Karaage from a red serpent, huh? We’re going to hunt a metal lizard tomorrow, so I guess we can indulge a little for motivation.”

《Are we eating karaage—? Sui loves karaage! Yaay!》 Sui’s also saying it wants karaage, guess I’ve got not choice anymore, huh?

“But I want to buy some new clothes before we head back, so we’re stopping by a store.” I had money now, so I wanted to shop a little more. I could just buy socks and underwear with my skill, but obviously I couldn’t do that for my outer clothes. I could buy a sweatshirt and pants, but of course that would really stand out. So, we stopped by a clothing store before returning to the inn.

I searched high and low, but it didn’t seem like dyeing techniques were well developed, and everything was of subdued color and designed similarly.

In the end, I bought three sets of shirts and pants that looked the same as what I was wearing. It cost me 2 gold and 4 silver.

Now then, let’s go back to the inn.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I started preparing to cook as soon as we reached the inn.

Now then, let’s make some karaage as per Fel’s request. I had a lot of meat right now, so I was thinking of using a lot of different meats, not just red serpent. I wanted to make extra so I could keep some in my Item Box to eat any time.

I’m also making the same two flavors, soy sauce base and salt base, today. The main meat would be red serpent, followed by black serpent, rockbird, and giant dodo.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, massage the flavors of the soy sauce base and salt base tare into the meat. Leave them alone for some time to allow the flavors to seep through, before frying them quickly in oil.

This time, I’ll fry them twice to make them even tastier.

I start by frying the main attraction, the red serpent. Fry in low temperature oil to allow the fire to pass through to the middle. Then, go to high temperature oil to quickly fry to crispiness.

~◇~◇~◇~

Yeah, they’ve turned a good light brown color and have crisped up nicely. A taste......*Kee-runch!*

............SO GOOOOOOOOD———!!!

What the hell?!

The outside was perfectly crisp, and the inside was wonderfully juicy. Not to mention the tastiness of the meat itself.

It was light, but had its own definite flavor. More specifically, even though it had soy sauce and salt tare on it, the meat’s umami firmly came through. It might be the best karaage I’ve ever eaten up until now.

《Master, no fair! Sui wants to eat too!》

“Exactly! Let me eat as well!”

Ahhh, fine, fine.

《This is super-duper good!!》 Sui, in throes of bliss, continued to put down karaage.

“!!!!!!” As for Fel, he was quietly stuffing his mouth with full concentration.

“More!” 《More!》

Haha, they’re eating even more than usual.

Well, that just went to show how good the red serpent karaage was, as expected out of an expensive gourmet ingredient.

Now then, let’s keep making these karaage. Since using only red serpent would use up all of it immediately, I also mixed in black serpent, rockbird, and giant dodo meat as I continued to fry.

Anyway, I’m just gonna keep making more for those two. And I can leisurely enjoy it myself after.

For the two of them, I repeated the cycle of frying and serving, then frying again and serving.

《Whew~ Sui is so full.》

“*Burp* Me too.”

Fuhahaha! I’ve won! I won’t be repeating the same mistakes as before.

It was worth it to predict how much the two would eat as I prepared the amount of meat.

Now then, this time let’s start making my share plus more for storage.

“Hm? I cannot eat any more, you know?”

“This is for me, and also to store for later. If I make some now and preserve it, we can immediately eat some any time.”

“Ohh, that is a good idea! Make a lot.”

Sure sure, even if you didn’t tell me that I’d fry up this entire huge batch I’d prepared anyway.

Ah, right. I also had orc general meat. Fel said that he wanted grilled meat, so I sliced out some orc general steaks for him.

Ahh, even Fel probably couldn’t eat anymore in this state. Or rather, he’s already laying down on his futon.

Ah! I do happen to have some oil left, let’s cut this up and make some orc general cutlet. If I do that, I should also make some chicken cutlet out of rockbird meat. Right, let’s do that.

After that, I devoted myself to frying up a truly huge amount of karaage and both chicken and pork cutlets.

“Whew~ I’m finally done.”

I let out a deep breath after I finished storing all the karaage and cutlets that I had made.

Fel was already snoring, and Sui was also snoozing away in its bag.

Heheheh, now is the time for adults.

I piled up fresh and hot karaage and pork cutlet onto a plate, and got some premium beer to go with it. Surprisingly, it was cold when I got it from the Online Supermarket.

Cold beer and hot karaage and pork cutlet really does make for the best combo. Now then......

*Crunch* The meat juices just came overflowing. The red serpent karaage really was just superb.

*Pshhf*

*Glugglugglug*

“Khhhh, delicious! Karaage and beer, they definitely pair!”

Let’s try the orc general cutlet next. Put some tonkatsu sauce on aaanndd...

*Crunch*

“Ohh, this is better than orc!” The orc general meat had a more solid meat flavor than regular orcs, and its fattiness wasn’t as overpowering or insistent. I took several more gulps of beer.

“Whew~ This pork cutlet goes with beer too~.”

I reflexively looked up at the sky, and saw a round and large moon floating up there. It was a good sight larger than the one I would see from Japan.

“Drinking moon-viewing alcohol while eating good food, this is pretty luxurious, isn’t it?”

That night, I enjoyed watching the moon while eating good food and drinking good beer to its fullest.

Gossip: I saw~ I saw~!

Hahh, even though it’s so good, I still ate too much.

Eating all the sweets that otherworlder offered in just three days was the biggest failure of my life.

That damn otherworlder, why won’t he hurry and offer me more? If he’s this late I’m going to have to consider sending down an oracle.

That’s all I thought about every time I looked down at the world below.

Mmmh, finally. It seemed like the otherworlder is finally going to offer me his prayer and tribute once again.

“Oh great Goddess of the Wind, Ninrir, please accept these humble offerings of mine. I am grateful for the divine blessing you have bestowed unto me. Please continue to watch over me in the future.”

“Oohh, I have been waiting! If you were any later, I was thinking of sending an oracle to warn you.”

...W-What? You damn otherworlder, what do you mean I’ll “get fat if all I eat is sweets?” “A-A god such as I would never get fat! I-I am forever beautiful!”

That’s right. There’s no way a g-god could get fat. Of course I am f-f-forever beautiful.

O-Of course.

“What are you stuttering for,” huh? “Sh... Sh-Sh-Sh-Shut up. It’s not like I ended up finishing those sweets in three days because they were too delicious!”

That was not my fault. The “cakes” and “puddings” were just too delicious.

Damned otherworlder... “You’ve been saying that there’s no way you’ll get fat, or that you’re beautiful, but there’s no way I can trust you on that,” you say? And, “eating all that food in three days will definitely make you fat,” is it?

“Grrrr, this topic is over. More importantly! What are you offering this time?”

That’s right. The most important thing right now was what kind of sweets he was giving me now.

...Mmrrrr, that stupid otherworlder, saying something so unnecessary......

“What did you say?! “Just” sweets?! YOU FOOL! Sweetness reigns supreme!”

Sweets are all that is holy, this is unchangeable fact.

It looked like that otherworlder had caught on to the fact that I was reading his thoughts. Reading thoughts is “an invasion of privacy,” huh?

“Hmph, what “invasion of privacy”? I am a god. There is no such thing as privacy in the face of a god. If I wanted, I could view your life from beginning to end, even understanding your thoughts is as easy as picking something up off the ground. I am a god, after all. Am I not great? You should worship me.”

Heheh, I’m a god, after all. I’m great, you know?

...Huh? D-Disappointing goddess? Me?!

“Grnnnnnngghh, I am not disappointing!” That damn otherworlder———!!

“Uhhh, I’m offering Japanese sweets this time. Sweets originating from my home country. Just as you have requested, I’m offering lots of confections with the black and sweet anko like red bean buns and dorayaki.”

What?! N-No way, did he say, sweets with lots of “anko” in them?! Perfect, “anko” is delectable!

“What?! Sweets with that “anko”?! I can’t resist that tender sweetness that isn’t too heavy.”

When I remembered that “anko,” my drool...!! No, no, this won’t do! Least of all for the Goddess of the Wind!

“Just as you can see, I have also once again prepared dorayaki.”

What, there’s also dorayaki?! He’s done well! Now then, let’s quickly bring those to the divine realm—!

“Mmhooo! There’s a lot this time as well. You’ve done a fine job!” Oh my, there’s a lot this time as well...... This is great, just great!

“I’m going to eat the dorayaki right now. *Mgmg*... Mmhaaa—! This dorayaki is just as delicious as I remember!”

My first sweets in a while. So good, so delicious!

I had to be careful not to eat too much this time. I’d learned from my mistakes. But, just one more......

Yeah, this one. It was a square confection with a black top and bottom, but a pale yellow middle, called a “castella” or something. Let’s see... First, a bite...

*Mmnom*

Mmhaaa—! I can’t resist this tender fluffy mellow sweetness! This is good! So good!

*Mnomnomnomnom*

Ah! There’s no more.

I haven’t had enough. Just a little...... Wait, no! I can’t! This will just be a repeat of the last time at this rate. Ooooh... I-I need to persevere. Just hold it in———!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I saw~ I saw~! That girl, I thought she’d been sneaking around a lot lately. So, this is what she’d been up to!

Eating delicious things by yourself, that’s no fair~!

Let’s quickly go tell the other goddesses—!

Chapter 4: G-Goddess...

We left town early in the morning and ran for Mt. Pascual. Of course, Fel was the one doing the actual running while I was sat on his back.

Sui was asleep in my bag. It woke up in the morning and ate orc general steak with Fel and me though. It seemed that Sui got sleepy due to its full stomach.

Sui seemed to like the inside of the new bag, too.

“Is that the mountain that the lizard is supposed to be in?”

We had come in sight of a mountain that I thought was Mt. Pascual.

“From what we heard from the guildmaster, yes. Do you know where the metal lizard might be, Fel?”

“Wait a moment...... there it is.” Fel raised his speed and moved toward where the metal lizard probably was after he said that. According to Fel, he understood generally where monsters were, so it might just be that sensing presences is just something one picks up if they get strong enough.

“We are almost there.” Fel dropped his speed.

“There.”

When I matched my line of sight with Fel’s from the shadow of a tree, I spotted a cave. “Is that the metal lizard’s den?”

“Most likely.”

“So, what are you gonna do?”

“Is it not obvious?”

I’m getting a bad feeling...

Saying that, Fel went straight into the cave with me still riding him.

“O-O-O-Of course this would happen———!!” At least let me off first before you charge in like this———!!!

We proceeded through the pitch-black cave and quickly found the metal lizard. In the back of the cave was a large cavern, and the metal lizard was near a wall, munching away at something.

“W-What? It looks like it’s shining blue-white...”

“It does not matter. I am going to quickly kill that lizard so we can have lunch.”

D-Doesn’t matter? Wow, you...

I appraised it out of habit, and learned that it was a “Mithril Lizard.” ......Mithril? That valuable fantasy metal that’s common in novels and stuff?

“Fel, I tried appraising that thing and it looks like it’s a mithril lizard...”

“Then this place must have a mithril vein. It must have changed after eating the mithril ore here.”

A mithril ore vein......isn’t this a huge discovery? W-Well, it’s not like I can do anything about it.

B-But still, let’s pick up some mithril ore anyway, just in case. Having a mithril sword or something sounds way cool. Well, if I don’t have enough for a sword, even a knife or something...... Mithril sword, mithril knife... yeah. Yeah, cool.

I really do want a knife or sword made out of rare metals. I mean, doesn’t the idea of mithril just sound romantic? Fantasy is basically synonymous with rare metals. Of course I’d want one.

“Magic does not work well against mithril...”

Apparently mithril was light and hard, and it was also a good conductor for magic. Being a ”good conductor” meant that unleashed magic would easily be turned aside, parried, or scattered. According to Fel’s experience, a spell’s normal power would be halved or more by this effect.

“However, all that really means is that you just have to unleash magic powerful enough for the mithril to not be able to withstand.” As soon as Fel said that, the sound of thunder rang through the cave.

*BOOOOOM*, *Cracklecricklecrackle*!!! A flash of lightning hit the mithril lizard square on.

I was gobsmacked. Sui, also startled by the sound, peeked out of the bag.

“H-H-Hey, Fel, what did you just do?”

“I used a slightly strong lightning magic to kill the lizard.”

S-Slightly strong? No, man, no matter how you think about it, that thing was in no way only “slightly” strong. It made a ridiculously huge sound as it hit.

“It is fine already. Retrieve it and let us eat.”

“What? Fine? Is... is it already dead?”

“Yes. That lizard died with the magic I used just now.”

So it died instantly by taking lightning magic while it was quietly eating mithril ore, having not even noticed us...... That’s so sad I might tear up. Uhh, sorry about that, mithril lizard.

While running through those thoughts and more, I put the mithril lizard into my Item Box. There were lots of pieces of blue-white shining ore just laying around where the mithril lizard had been. So this is mithril ore.

“Fel, I want to take back some of this mithril ore, so wait a bit.”

“Mnn... Make it quick.”

《Master — you want these shiny rocks? Sui will help.》

“Thanks, Sui. Then, can you gather the shiny rocks and bring them here?”

《Got it!》 Sui jumped out of my bag and started gathering the mithril ore. I also diligently gathered the ore and stored it into my Item Box.

Right, this much should do it.

《Master— I have them—!》

“Woah! You sure got a lot—!”

The amount Sui gathered could easily fill a light truck’s bed. I felt like that was a bit much, but Sui made all that effort to gather it... Thinking that there would be no problems if I had a bit extra, I put it all into my Item Box. If I still had some left over after getting a mithril sword and knife, I might just make some armor.

But will metal armor restrict my movement? Ah, is a mithril lizard’s hide the same strength as actual mithril? “Hey, Fel, is the mithril lizard’s hide the same strength as actual mithril?”

“The ores that that lizard eats become skin with similar properties, so it should be.”

“I see. If that’s the case, rather than making armor out of mithril, wouldn’t it be better to make armor out of the more flexible mithril lizard hide?”

“Hm? Are you planning on making armor?”

“Well yeah, I thought it would be better to have a set.”

“But you should not need something like armor. You have my barrier. No matter if you have armor made of mithril or that lizard’s hide, it would not even begin to reach the protection of my barrier. It is useless to make something like that.”

That certainly is true. No matter what I say about it, it’s thanks to Fel’s barriers that I’ve made it this far without even a single wound. Hmm, but then what should I do with all this mithril?

Even if I just leave it in storage for now, I guess I could always just sell it if I need to.

“Hey, you got your mithril, did you not? Let us quickly leave and have lunch.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We decided to have lunch as soon as we got out of the cave, so I was preparing food.

I made pork cutlets yesterday, so I want to eat that...

Thinking of pork cutlet, it’s gotta be that dish. If I’m going to do that though, it’ll take a while, so I’ll let Fel and Sui have some cutlets and karaage while I’m cooking.

“I have something I want to make, so eat some of this first.”

“Make? Is it good?”

“It’s super good. I guarantee it.”

“Hohh, if you are that confident... I am looking forward to it.”

《Something good to eat?》

“That’s right. But it’ll take a while, so eat this and wait.”

《Yeah! Sui will wait!》

Great, now that’s taken care of. For now I’ll have both of them wait while snacking on pork cutlet and karaage.

What I’m making in the meanwhile is katsudon. I really, really just want to eat katsudon, a cutlet bowl with gooey egg and sweet and salty dashi soaked through it.

~◇~◇~◇~

First are the ingredients. I have onions, as well as the spices and seasonings to use in the dashi, so all I need to do is buy rice and eggs from my Online Supermarket.

To start, I need to steam the rice. I wash the rice before leaving it to steam in the clay pot.

Next, slice the onions thin before making the dashi. The dashi is the same as the one I used for the oyakodon. I tried using mentsuyu and a lot of other things, but this one was the best.

Then, break open an egg and lightly mix. Be careful to only lightly mix, and not to overmix.

While the rice is steaming, add water, dashi soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and onions into a frying pan and turn on the heat. Once the mixture gets hot enough that the dashi is starting to boil and the onions become half-transparent, add in the pork cutlet. Let it cook a little so the dashi seeps into the breading before swirling in half the egg.

Prepare the rice while the egg is cooking until half-solidified. Then, finish off the dish by pouring on the rest of the egg and let the residual heat cook it just slightly.

Lastly, put the entire thing on top of the rice, and the gooey egg mixed with sweet and salty dashi katsudon is finished.

~◇~◇~◇~

“The katsudon is finished!”

“Let me see...... Hm?! This is good. There is an egg mixed in with the orc general meat and it is delicious.”

Right? Right?! It’s great!

《The meat and the gooey-gooey is delicious!》

I see I see, Sui also likes it. I knew it, it’s never a bad idea to make a “bowl.”

Now then, I should dig in too. Actually wait, for rice bowls, especially katsudon, I might need something to refresh my mouth, like tea. I used my skill to buy a plastic bottle of tea.

Time to eat my first katsudon in this world now.

...Oohh, this cutlet mixed in with the egg and sweet and salty dashi is the best!

And once you mix in some rice, it also becomes the most powerful combo. Bowls really are simply delicious.

*Haumfhaumphhaumgphf*

And then a gulp of tea to cleanse my palate.

And then once again, a dig into the katsudon. I’m really going through this quick.

“More.”

《Sui too!》

That was fast. I quickly made the two some more.

“Here.”

The two started chowing down once again. They’d already eaten some karaage earlier, and I made this serving a little bigger, so they should be fine.

It went a little cold, but I still started on the remains of my katsudon.

It was still pretty good, even cold.

*Haumfhaumphhaumgphf*

Whew~, I sure ate. I drank some more tea to wash out my mouth.

《Master...》

“What? More?”

《No, Sui is already full. Umm, is the green stuff master is drinking good?》

“Hm, this? This is called tea. Want to try some?”

《Yeah!》

I poured a little tea onto an empty plate and gave it to Sui.

《Ewww, this is bitter! Not good. Sui hates this. Peh! Peh!》

Sui would eat pretty much anything (actually, it even eats trash from my world), but it looked like Sui hates bitter tastes.

If little kids hate bitter things... then how about this? I bought some cola from my Online Supermarket.

“Sui, how about this?” I offered some cola on a plate.

《This isn’t bitter?》

“No, it’s not bitter. It’s sweet.”

Sui stretched out a tentacle toward the cola, like it was wary of the stuff.

《!!!》 It looked like Sui liked it, as the cola on the plate was gone in an instant.

《Master — more of this!!》

I poured more soda onto the plate.

*Glugluglug*

《This is fizzy and tasty—!》

*Glugluglug*

“Hm? Is that good? Let me drink some too.”

Fel said he also wanted to try some, so I poured more soda onto the plate.

“*Gulp*...Hm?! W-What is this?! It is bursting on my tongue!”

Wow, Fel is surprised.

“*Glug, glug* Yes, this is not bad. However, this is a new sensation. So the otherworld has these kinds of strange drinks?”

It looked like both Fel and Sui liked the cola, both of them drank a 1.5 liter bottle each.

“Now then, we should head back to town.”

“Yes, certainly.”

“Sui, we’re heading back.”

《Yesss.》 Sui smoothly entered my bag.

I mounted Fel, and we set off back to town.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Having returned to town, we went to the Adventurer’s guild. When I showed the receptionist my guild card, I was quickly ushered to the guildmaster’s room.

“Good work. Sorry for pushing a metal lizard onto you.”

Not at all, I basically did nothing. Fel did all the killing, and it was only one spell to boot.

Ah, also it wasn’t a metal lizard. I should tell the guildmaster about this.

“Uhmm, we killed it, but it wasn’t a metal lizard.”

“Hm? Not a metal lizard?”

“Yes, it was a mithril lizard.”

“............What did you just say?”

“Huh? I just said it was a mithril lizard.”

“M-M-Mithril lizard?!” The guildmaster stood up as he shouted.

Huh? No wait, just calm down, guildmaster.

“If what you’re saying is correct, that means there’s a mithril mine. This is going to become big. Anyway, first let me confirm that mithril lizard.”

Considering its size, we had to head over to the storehouse again, so I went over along with the guildmaster.

“Yo, Johan, we’re barging in.”

“Ah, guildmaster... and you too, bro.”

“Johan, close the door.” Having been told that, old man Johan closed the door immediately, having gotten used to it.

“So, what did you bring in this time?”

No wait, even if you put it like that, this time it was just a monster that you guys asked us to hunt.

“Uhh, so I can take it out?”

The guildmaster nodded, so I took out the mithril lizard from my Item Box.

““............”” Both the guildmaster and Johan were speechless.

“U-Uhhmm......”

“It’s... real......”

“Y-Yes. It certainly is a m-mithril lizard. That’s all I can think of, looking at this hide.”

Huh? Are mithril lizards that rare?

“I totally thought it was a metal lizard, but to think it was really a mithril lizard...”

“Wasn’t it just a metal lizard when it was first sighted? Hasn’t it been a pretty long time since the request first came in? People never really went there in the first place, and with rumors of a metal lizard not even adventurers would go there if they weren’t highly ranked. And it’s been left alone exactly because those high-ranked adventurers wouldn’t go, either.”

“So, in that time, it found mithril ore, and changed into a mithril lizard, huh?”

“Most likely.”

Both the guildmaster and old man Johan heaved a sigh. And the two of them stared my way.

Huh? W-What?

“You just have to bring in something ridiculous every time, don’t you?”

“Really. Everything you bring to me is just... something.”

Eh? Eh? Huh? Should I not have brought it in?

“Just so you know, mithril lizards themselves are incredibly rare. Enough that the last time there was even a mention of a mithril lizard appearing was 400 years ago.”

F-Four hundred years...Really, old man Johan?

“They transform into mithril lizards by eating mithril ore, but places where they can even find mithril ore are more than extremely rare. At this moment in this country, there is exactly one place, as well as one each in the kingdom of Marveil and the Geisler Empire. Since we can only get mithril in those three places, mithril products are of course rare, and priced accordingly. Well, it’s also rumored that the mithril mine in the Geisler Empire has dried up, though. Anyway, if you take that into consideration, when you think of how an A-rank metal lizard managed to settle in a mithril mine and turned into a mithril lizard, you can understand just how rare and precious it is. Not only that, but since there was a mithril lizard, that also means that there’s mithril there. So additionally, that would mean that there’s been a new mithril mine discovered.”

I-It looks like this has become really huge, but will things be alright?

“This will be a huge thing for the owner of this territory, Earl Langridge, it’ll mean that a huge sudden windfall has just dropped into his lap. No one could ever have imagined that mountain would have mithril in it. I’ll have to go inform Earl Langridge about the mithril mine and all this other stuff... I’m sorry, but I’ll need you to let the guild have this mithril lizard.”

If it really was this rare, then it seemed they’d need the mithril lizard’s hide to present to the king when the earl reported that there’d been a mithril mine found in his land.

As for my armor, the conclusion was that I wouldn’t need one since I had Fel’s barriers, so personally I didn’t really need it and wouldn’t be able to do anything with it anyway, so I didn’t have any problem with selling it to them.

“In exchange, I’ll talk to Earl Langridge about adding a little to your reward. Don’t worry, in the face of all he stands to gain, he won’t mind. Killing the mithril lizard, finding a mithril mine, and the sale of the lizard’s carcass... adding them all up, you’ll most likely get at least 5000 gold.”

5000... gold............

5000......

...............

I-I’m a little scared, why am I getting so much money all the time?

“Wow, you’re gonna be rich, man. With the money from your previous sale you’d be able to live comfortably your entire life, but with this, too, you’ll be able to play around as much as you want. I’m jealous as all hell.”

Old man Johan was saying that, but as an ordinary citizen, having this much money suddenly rained on me was only causing me to shiver in fright. Even more so because I hadn’t done anything to earn it.

“Well at any rate I’ll have to leave to talk to Earl Langridge, and the reward’s going to be huge... So, the earl won’t be able to give it to you right away. It’ll most likely take an entire week. I’ll be calling on you when we’re ready to pay for the mithril lizard.”

The guild master gave me back the mithril lizard, but I wondered if they could just keep it.

I’d just be leaving it in my Item Box, but I really didn’t even feel like doing that much after hearing how much money was going to be involved.

“Ahh, also, try to keep this a secret. Johan, you too.”

Both of us nodded hard.

“Ah, now that I think about it, what about the bloody horn-bull request?”

The other request.

“Of course it would be nice if you could finish it soon, but we’re not in that much of a hurry.

Especially since you’ve just killed a mithril lizard. It’ll be fine even if you take a little while to rest before getting to it.”

“Hmph, there is no way I would be tired after killing a single lizard. We will be going to hunt the cow herd tomorrow.”

......Fel’s just as energetic as always.

“Well the person who’s going to do all the work is saying that, so we’ll be going tomorrow.”

“I-Is that okay? You’ve just killed a mithril lizard.”

I completely understood the guildmaster’s concern. But the mithril lizard was also killed with just a single spell.

“Ahh, I think it’ll be fine. Truthfully, Fel killed the mithril lizard with a single lightning spell.”

Both the guildmaster and old man Johan were knocked speechless when I said that.

“One... lightning... spell............”

“He really is a legendary beast......”

Umm, sorry. Fel’s just too strong.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We went to exterminate the bloody horn-bulls at the huge western grasslands.

The grasslands were to the west of the city, and thus were named the western grasslands. What an easy name. Well, leaving that aside, there’s a herd of bloody horn-bulls that have settled down in these western plains. From what the guildmaster told me, they’re about the size of a rhino, violently tempered, and group up in herds, so they’re really hard to deal with. Well, Fel’s the one that’s going to be fighting them, though. So for now I just have to make sure to not get in his way, huh?

“Fel, can you tell if the bloody horn-bulls are in the area?”

“Yes, I can. They are a little ways from here. Over that way. We are going to approach and finish them.”

When I followed Fel’s eyesight, I saw several black dots here and there.

“It won’t be good if they notice us, right? Sui and I will wait here.”

“Yes. That would be faster. I will contact you through telepathy when I am finished.”

“Got it.”

Fel proceeded, staying low so as to hide in the tall grass. As for me, I laid down flat on my belly amongst the grass, hiding myself as best I could. Sui crawled out of the bag that I had put down next to my head.

《Where did Uncle Fel go?》

“He went to beat up the big cows.”

《Unfair! Sui wants to beat the big cows too!》

“Huh? But it’s scary, there’s so many of them. Wait here with me, Sui.”

《Don’t wanna don’t wanna don’t wanna! Sui’s gonna go beat the cows!》 Sui left with quick movements after leaving those words behind.

“Ah, hey, wait!” Woah, he’s already all the way over there? Sui’s so fast.

“Aww, dammit!” Chasing Sui, I crawled along on the ground through the grass.

After some pretty desperate effort, I finally caught up in time to see Sui jumping all over the place around Fel.

“Hahh, hahh, finally......”

While I was taking a breather, Fel approached me with slow steps.

“What are you doing?”

Huh? What do you mean what? I was trying not to get seen by the bloody horn-bulls...

“All the bloody horn-bulls are dead.”

......Wha? Eh? It’s already over? Wow, that was way too quick. I stood with a grunt of effort.

I crawled all the way here, my back...... I bent backward to try and stretch out my muscles. After heaving a sigh, I looked around to find my surroundings bathed in blood.

.........What... the hell?

There were giant black cows tipped over in the lake of blood. Huge numbers of them.

The fuck is up with this hellscape? There was a gentle breeze blowing past, but this place was scoring a flat zero on the refreshing meter.

《Ah, master—! Sui beat the big cows!》 Sui, having noticed me, jumped over with big leaps.

《Master, master, you know what? Both Sui and Uncle Fel beat those big cows — at first, Uncle Fel swung his arm and there was wind, right? And a bunch of the big cows fell over. But there were cows that didn’t fall over, so Sui came and shot them like pew pew—! Isn’t that awesommme?》 Sui excitedly sprang around both me and Fel.

Fel most likely used Wind magic first, and the ones that weren’t dead were killed by Sui’s Acid Bullet.

“Indeed. Sui moved pretty well there.”

H-Huhh~, I see.

It was really sad seeing these bloody horn-bulls after they’d been on the receiving end of the ultimate tag-team of Fel and Sui. They probably weren’t even able to respond before being sent to the great beyond.

Yeah, you guys will just have to work for our food.

Now then, let’s get to work stuffing these bloody horn-bulls into my Item Box. Wow, looking from up close, these really are just huge cows.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, there’s still more... The guildmaster wants us to let him buy half of these, but it might be okay to let him buy more than that.

A single one was already the size of a rhino, after all. No matter how much Fel and Sui ate, it would probably take several days to finish off just one. Turning half the herd into meat would result in quite the amount. Not only that, but eating only beef would induce fatigue, so if I were to mix in different meats, having half a herd would last for a long while.

But that would be if Fel and Sui didn’t get bored of beef. I’ll just have to put in some extra effort so that doesn’t happen, though. Let’s make a huge variety of beef dishes so the two don’t get bored. Right, they’re all in. There’s fifty-eight bloody horn-bulls in total. Half of these, huh? Twenty-nine huge cow’s worth of meat...... That’s a lotta beef. W-Well, it won’t go bad if I just put it in my Item Box, though.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Well we’ve done our job, so let’s have lunch for now.”

“Yes, good idea. I am starting to get hungry.”

《Food—!》

I had thought to have a meal, but... The bloody horn-bulls are cleaned up, but the lake of blood is still there, huh? This place reeks of iron and blood.

“Ahhh, this place really kills my appetite.”

“The smell of blood is really harsh, huh? If the smell is this strong other monsters would probably come running.”

“Huh? That’d be terrible. Let’s hurry and run.”

“Wait a second. Sui, can you clean up the blood here?”

《Hmm? Clean up this red stuff?》

“Yes.”

《Sui can do it — wait a bit.》 Following Fel’s instruction, Sui started shaking violently. It was Sui’s Cloning skill. Once Sui became larger, it immediately split into many smaller slimes.

《Everyone — suck up all that red stuff!》 Following Sui’s orders, the smaller slimes headed for the lake of blood.

And then they sucked up the blood of the bloody horn-bulls. The lake of blood was gone in but a small moment, and all that was left on the trampled grass were red-stained slimes.

“Sui, good job.”

《Ufufu, Sui got complimented by Uncle Fel...》

“It is thanks to that Cloning skill, I knew you could do it.”

......It just seems like... Sui can do just about anything... “Sui, is it okay to leave those small slimes alone?”

《Yeah. They’ll probably disappear when it gets dark.》

So they’ll disappear at night, huh? Well it does seem like the clones have a lifespan.

《Master — Sui is hungry.》

Ahh, yeah I got it. I should make lunch, then.

“Here, it’s sandwiches — pork and chicken cutlets.”

I presented Fel and Sui with a pile of cutlet and chicken sandwiches on a plate. I prepared them yesterday using the pre-fried pork and chicken cutlets I had made (Sui seemed like it would be bad with spicy foods, so I accommodated for that.)...

~◇~◇~◇~

Butter the bread, and put on extra mayo and a layer of minced cabbage. Lay the pork cutlet on top of the cabbage before adding the tonkatsu sauce and finishing off with another slice of buttered bread. Then, cut the sandwich in half to finish the dish.

Do the same for the chicken cutlet sandwiches.

~◇~◇~◇~

“More.” 《More!》

“Coming up.” I presented a second plate piled high with pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches.

Hehehehhh, I pre-made these so I can bring them out immediately.

I didn’t have the time to pre-make food before when we were busy traveling, but since I’m staying in town for a while, it might be a good idea to start doing that. I’ve got a lot of meat in storage, so yeah, let’s do that whenever I have free time.

I bit into a cutlet sandwich. It’s so goood~.

This place is also pretty nice. If it weren’t for the bloody horn-bull stuff, this would basically be a fun picnic. Nope, stop it. If I remember that I’ll lose all of my appetite.

Clearing my thoughts, I bit into the sandwich again.

Ahhh, cutlet sandwiches are great. The cabbage, mayo, and sauce combine together in perfect harmony. Khhh~ so tasty!

Actually, the sandwiches I had made for myself were a little spicy, so there was a little stinging accent to the taste.

Eating under the wide blue sky is just the best.

Chicken cutlets are also delicious. Ahh, I want some beer.

《Master — I want to drink the fizzy thing.》

“Me too.”

“Ahh, cola, huh? If you want something carbonated...... wait a second.” I used my Online Supermarket to buy me some canned coffee and them some cider. I wanted some beer to go along with the sandwiches, but I stopped myself since it was still midday.

I poured out the cider onto plates for the two of them.

“Here you go.”

《Huh? This one is different.》

“This is called ‘cider.’ It’s different from before, but it’s also fizzy and good.”

《Sui will try!》 Sui gulped some down.

《Yeah, just like master said, this is good!》

I see, that’s great.

“Yes. This also bursts on my tongue. It’s good. *Berrp*......”

“Pfft...” Hahaha, Fel just made a huge burp. “Ahaha, that’s because of the carbonation. It’s good, but it causes burps.”

We continued to enjoy our meal while feeling the breeze blow past the grasslands under the big blue sky.

“Now then, let’s go back.” After a long break to digest the meal, I talked to Fel. Sui was taking a nap in my bag.

“Yes, we should. However, I still feel like I haven’t exercised enough. Both the mithril lizard yesterday and the bloody horn-bulls today were not even good enough for a warm up.”

Fel, I think you’re the only one that can say that about mithril lizards and bloody horn-bulls.

“Is there not some more challenging opponent?”

“And what would that challenging opponent even be?”

“Let me think...A dragon would be worth something. If not a dragon, then at least a horde of wyverns would do.”

............P-Please stop. Don’t raise these weird flags on your own. Actually, there can’t be a dragon around, can there? Don’t go around joking about wyvern hordes either. “S-Stop spouting weird things about d-dragons or wyverns.”

“It is not weird. Dragons and wyverns appear in human towns every once in a while.”

“Stop it. You might jinx it, you’re scaring me.”

“Hmph. Even if they came, I would just send them packing.”

No I mean, it’s not about whether or not you’ll send them packing, dragons themselves are no joke.

“You may not be aware, but both wyvern and dragon meat are both delicious. Especially dragons.”

I don’t give a shit about that. And of course I’ve never eaten something like that.

“It might be nice to hunt a dragon after we go to the sea. Yes. That is what we should do.”

Nowaynowaynoway! Don’t “that is what we should do” me! Can you not just decide our destination on your own?

“Here, get on. We are leaving.”

*Sigh~* Fel really doesn’t pay any attention to other people. It’s fine to go to the sea, but I’m definitely never going anywhere near a dragon———!!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Reaching the adventurer’s guild, I immediately headed over to old man Johan.

The guildmaster was off talking to that noble he said he was going to visit, so he wasn’t in today.

I was told by the guildmaster to report to old man Johan since he knew about the current circumstances already.

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, it’s you! I’ve heard all about it from the guildmaster. Over here.”

We headed over to the now-familiar storehouse.

“Is it the bloody horn-bulls today?”

“Yes. It was a pretty large herd......” After leading off with that, I started dumping out the bulls.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30......

“W-W-W-Wait a minute!” Old man Johan stopped me in a hurry. “Could there... possibly be more?”

“Yes, there is. There’s fifty-eight of them in total.”

“F-Fifty-eight?! What a large herd. They’d normally get to about forty at the largest......”

Huh, really?! I did think that there were a lot of them, but I didn’t think it strange at all.

“Well, it is you.”

Huh? What does he mean by that? My fault? Wait, but Fel’s the one killing them.

“But still, fifty-eight? This is huge.”

Sorry. “I’ll be selling half of these to the guild, so it’ll be a lot of work but I’m leaving it to you.”

“I know, I know. The guildmaster told me to prioritize you as well.”

Oh right, I had an idea so I need to ask him to give me one of the hides as well. “Hey can you hand over one of the bloody horn-bull hides as well?”

“Sure, why not. So you want half the meat and one hide, and then you’ll sell the rest to us?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s a lot of them, so let’s see...they should be ready in three days.”

“OK. I’ll come by again, then.”

I tried to leave after saying that, but Fel, who had been laying down ignoring everything until now slowly got up and said, “Wait.”

“Hm? What’s up, Fel?”

“Mm, what happened to that meat?”

“There’s a lot of them so I’ll get them in three days.”

“Then I cannot eat that meat today?” Fel deflated a little after learning that.

I hadn’t thought of it since we still had a lot of meat, but Fel must have been looking forward to the bloody horn-bull meat.

Oh well, might as well ask.

“Sorry, but can you give me one right now?”

“Haha, sure.” Old man Johan went and butchered one for me. “What about this one’s hide? Will you be taking it?”

That’s right, might as well take this one while we’re at it. Receiving a single bull’s worth of meat and hide, we left the Adventurer’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Fel and Sui started complaining that they were hungry as soon as we reached the inn. I thought they’d start up. It’s pretty much time.

“Fel, you’ll be wanting the bloody horn-bull, right?”

“Indeed.”

If that’s the case, then it’s gotta be steak. It’s my first beef in a while, too. Not to mention that the bloody horn-bull meat is a beautiful red that seems perfect for a delicious steak. Steaks it is, then.

~◇~◇~◇~

Start off with oiling a frying pan and heating it on high heat. The point is to make the pan reaaalll hot. Personally, I think medium rare is the best way to cook a steak, so I’m going to be making them medium rare.

Season the meat just before cooking. Failing to do that will allow the umami to leave the meat, so this needs caution.

Cook the steak for one minute on high heat at first, before lowering the heat a little and cooking for another minute. Do the same for the other side.

Once it’s cooked, cover in plastic wrap or aluminum foil for five minutes and let it rest on a plate.

Since hearing about this and trying it out, I find that it results in little waste of heat and makes the meat more tender and delicious. I always make sure to do this when cooking thicker cuts of red meat.

~◇~◇~◇~

“It’s done~. First, the salt and pepper.”

Fel jumped on the steak as if to say he’d been waiting forever. “Yes. This is delicious.”

《Yeah, this meat is great!》

It looks like Sui liked it too. Now then, my turn.

Oohhh, the meat juice just wells up in your mouth with every bite!

This is great! The meat juice that comes out with every bite really makes you feel like you’re eating meat. Yeah, beef really is simply delicious~.

Next, I tried some of the steak with soy sauce.

The beef was delicious even with just salt and pepper, but Japanese people have gotta have soy sauce. It’s ridiculously good.

“More.” 《More!》

Of course those two would say that. This meat is fantastic.

I grilled more steaks. Of course, this time I used Fel’s favorite steak sauces.

Today, we managed to enjoy the bloody horn-bull meat to our heart’s content.

《Whew~ that meat was super delicious! Sui is so full...》

“I am also satisfied. However, something is wrong... As it is now, as long as it is not an emergency, I no longer want to eat raw meat. Everything you cook is much better.”

《Sui also loves master’s cooking—!》

Aww, nothing will happen even if you praise me like that, though. But still, it’s thanks to Fel and Sui that I’m able to be so safe in this world, isn’t it? At the very least I’ll make you guys good food to eat.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

My heart skipped a beat when Fel asked, “Have you been keeping up on your offerings to Ninrir?” as I was going to go back to my room.

It still hadn’t been a week since I last made an offering, but I had completely forgotten. Knowing that disappointment of a goddess, she’s probably fuming about sending down a revelation to demand sweets or something.

I guess I should just make an offering for now to shut her up.

I opened the menu for my Online Supermarket and looked through it, trying to decide what to offer her.

“I made one of western sweets, then Japanese sweets. What to do next...?”

I guess it’ll be fine if I just give her some chocolate or other candy? It’ll last a long while, and since I’ll be able to give that disappointing goddess a lot of them maybe it’ll finally last the entire week?

So I bought a large amount of candy, chocolate, cookies, and the like. After piling up twenty items into the cart, I had thought it was enough and was just about to check out when a familiar shrill voice resounded in my head.

＜That is not enough. Give me more.＞

...What? All this is not enough?

＜There will never be enough sweets.＞

Ahhh, is that right? Then what more do you even want?

＜Nufufufufu, I’ve been waiting for you to say that! Umm, that western sweet you call a “Cake” and also some ”Pudding,” as well as those Japanese sweets “Daifuku” and “Youkan.” Ah, and also definitely add more “Dorayaki!”＞

Wow she sure demands a lot. Uhh, cake and pudding, daifuku, youkan, and dorayaki, huh? I guess any cake will do.

I added some chocolate cake and Mont Blanc, which were the first things to enter my sight. As for the pudding, I got the same custard pudding as last time, as well as pudding à la mode. For the daifuku, I got two each of strawberry and red bean daifuku, as well as an entire bar of youkan. Lastly, three of the dorayaki she seemed to love so much.

How’s this?

＜That’s good, that’s good! Now hurry, give them to me!＞

Don’t rush me, you utter disappointment of a goddess.

＜Woahh?! W-W-W-W-W-Why are you all here?!＞

＜Nice to meet you, otherworlder boy~.＞

＜Yo! Otherworlder.＞

＜............＞

Huh? Wha? Who?

＜The other day I just happened to see~. Ninrir was getting delicious-looking sweets from an otherworlder — she’s been keeping it a secret from us fellow goddesses and hoarding the sweets all to herself. That’s quite unfair~. That’s why I told everyone that Ninrir’s been eating delicious things secretly and not telling us! ＞

Oh, so they’re her goddess friends. Sh-She finally got found out, huh?

＜Ninrir, you need to stop being so distant. If you’re gonna eat something good you should have called us too~.＞

＜She’s right! Keeping this all to yourself just isn’t right! ＞

＜......＞ (Nodding wordlessly.)

＜Sh-Sh-Shut up!! Th-This one has been blessed by me. I’ve just been getting offerings from him! Th-That’s why this has nothing to do with you all! ＞

＜Hmmm~, I see. Then we’ll just give our blessings to the otherworlder and have him offer things to us too.＞

＜If that’ll net me good things to eat then I’ll do it too!＞

＜......Me too.＞

＜N-No! You can’t! You just can’t!!!＞

＜Oh my, but you’re not the one who decides that, are you?＞

＜Grrnrnrrr...＞

............I’ve just been hearing all these voices from before... what the hell is happening up in the divine realm?

＜Hello otherworlder, I am the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle. Nice to meet you~. So you see, you’ve probably been listening to our conversation just now, but we, and by that I mean the Goddess of Water, Rusalka, the Goddess of Fire, Agni, and I, will give you our blessings, so could you also make offerings to us, too?＞

Eh? Huh? The Goddesses of Earth, Water, and Fire? I already have the Goddess of Wind’s blessing, so I don’t really need them. I only wanted it to nullify status effects so having only the one suits me just fine.

＜Oh my oh my, I see Ninrir only gave you a blessing (small). Such a cheapskate, our Ninrir is. You can hardly call that nullification of all status effects, can you? Not only that, but you have hardly any affinity with the wind element, don’t you? Having Ninrir’s blessing (small) basically means nothing at this rate. At best you’re only able to activate magic a little better like this.＞

From what I heard that’s what blessings do, but does that mean that if I had the blessings of the Goddess of Earth Kisharle and the Goddess of Fire Agni there’d be some special effect?

＜Well asked! I am the Goddess of Fire, Agni. If you, who have an affinity for Earth and Fire, were to gain our blessings, you’d be invincible! For just a little magic power, you’d be able to bring out amazingly high-powered magic.＞

Heehh~ that sounds awesome.

＜A-Agni, what are you saying? You should know that we could never give a normal blessing on our own. If we did that we’d be yelled at by our God of Creation. That’s why I settled for giving him a blessing (small)...＞

＜Th-That is true......＞

＜Well, you do have a point. But if that’s the case, then we just have to give the otherworlder a blessing (small) as well!＞

＜She’s right! And on top of that, the otherworlder has an affinity for Earth and Fire magic, so mine and Kisharle’s blessings would be much more useful!＞

＜She’s right, you know. If it’s a (small) blessing, then even having Ninrir’s blessing wouldn’t let him use Wind magic.＞

＜Right, right. With our (small) blessings, not only would he spend less magic power on spells, but they’d be more powerful too, so he’d be able to use even more magic! You should try things out after you get our blessings. You’ll figure out what I’m talking about.＞

＜Grrnnnnn, damn you Kisharle and Agni. Running your mouths like that......＞

Wait, it’s sounding like it’s a done deal that the Goddess of Earth Kisharle and the Goddess of Fire Agni are giving me their blessings... Is it okay to refuse here?

＜Hey! Did you just say you wanted to refuse? Do you not want our blessings? Depending on what you say I’ll have to blow you away!＞

＜What are you spouting? You’ve done well. Tell them clearly how my blessing is the only one you need.＞

Can you not keep spouting the unnecessary, you disappointing goddess? U-Uhmm, it’s not that I don’t want them. It’s just that having even one is already unusual, so I was wondering if there even was anybody with multiple blessings.

＜Hmm... what the otherworlder is saying has a point to it. There was a hero in the past that had two, but I can’t think of any other than that.＞

See? It’s just like I thought. Even if I’ll almost never have my status looked at, I can’t predict what’ll happen in the future, so for now just having one blessing is more than enough.

＜Aaaaggh! You’re a man, stop worrying over stupid things! Here, the Goddess of Fire Agni’s blessing (small)!＞

＜My, my, Agni, how unfair of you to steal a march on us like that. I’ll be putting mine on you too...there! The Goddess of Earth Kisharle’s blessing (small).＞

＜Aaahh!! What do you all think you’re do——i—ng?!＞

＜Ufufu, now make sure to make offerings to us, too.＞

＜I’m looking forward to a lot of good stuff—!＞

Agghh~ I got another two blessings shoved onto me. It isn’t bad to have more, but I’m worried about if I ever have to get my status looked at. Well, I have Fel and Sui, who are always reliable, so if the worst comes to worst it should work out, I guess.

＜...............What about me?＞

＜Ah, ah~! R-Ruka...＞

＜The otherworlder...doesn’t have any affinity for water either.＞

＜Uh-Uhhmm, well......＞

＜He already has Ninrir’s blessing, so there isn’t much point to him having mine.＞

Huh? What’s going on?

＜You have no affinity for Water or Wind magic, right? But you’ve already got Ninrir’s blessing. That’s why there isn’t much point in having Ruka’s water blessing as well. Just like we’ve said, with a blessing (small) in something you have no affinity for, all the effect you can hope for is nullifying status effects to a certain extent and having it be easier to activate magic a little, but since Ruka’s effect overlaps with Ninrir’s there’s not much point.＞

Thanks for the explanation, oh great Agni. If there’s not much point, then maybe I don’t need it.

＜............If I don’t give you my blessing, I can’t get any sweets. It’s not fair.＞

＜W-Wai-, don’t cry, Ruka! Hey otherworlder, do something~!＞

＜Th-That’s right! You, do something!＞

＜Right! You’re a man, do something about this!＞

Ehhh? What’s with that unreasonable demand?! What do you even want me to do?! This is just too much. You’re all right next to her, you do something about it please! Uhhmm... Hrmmm... really, what to do? According to the goddesses, having Ruka’s blessing won’t do much on me, right? If that’s the case, then if it’s not on me...... Ah!

“The b-blessing! Oh great Ruka, please grant your blessing unto my slime familiar, Sui!”

＜O-Oohh, that’s a good idea!＞

＜Y-Yes, what a goo~d idea, that.＞

＜Y-Yeah, let’s do that.＞

If it’s got no effect on me, then there’s only Fel and Sui left. But Fel already had that disappointing goddess’ blessing. So really, Sui was the only option.

＜Understood. That slime has affinity, so this is perfect...... It’s done.＞

*Sigh~* Well, that’s done.

＜W-Wait, Ruka? You gave that slime a normal blessing, you know?＞

＜That is fine for me. Unlike you all, I have not been handing out my blessings over and over without thought.＞

＜Hey, Ruka, saying that we’re giving out our blessings over and over without thought is too much.＞

＜That’s right, Ruka.＞

＜It’s true. You’ve all been giving out your blessings to someone every ten years. The Creator God even got mad. I haven’t even been giving out blessings at a rate of one person in one hundred years. The last one I gave a blessing to was one hundred thirty years ago. That’s why giving this slime a normal Blessing is no problem for me.＞

＜Khh...＞

＜Ghgghhhh...＞

＜Grrnnnn......＞

It looks like they can’t talk back to Ruka. So they got yelled at by the Creator God for giving out blessings over and over. What are you even doing, goddesses?

“W-Well, let’s all calm down. For now, I’ll give you all offerings equally.”

＜Nnggrrhh, even though I’ve been keeping this a secret because I knew this would happen! You, I was the first one to give you a Blessing, so you must give me more than the others. I won’t forgive you if you give me less or something!＞

＜What are you saying, Ninrir? The otherworlder just said he’d treat us all equally. You can’t just get more than everyone else.＞

＜That’s right. Just because you were first doesn’t mean you’re better.＞

＜Ninrir, bad.＞

Hahaha, that disappointing goddess is getting chewed out by her friends.

＜Grrnnn...＞

＜Now now, isn’t it fine? We can just have the otherworlder try a little harder for us. Make sure you give enough to satisfy us, okay~?＞

＜......＞ (Nodding emphatically.)

＜Ah, I’m good with sweet stuff, but it’d be nice to get some alcohol, too.＞

＜Agni, that’s definitely off limits.＞

＜She’s right! You can’t drink alcohol!＞

＜Alcohol, bad.＞

＜Hm? Why?＞

＜Why? They’ll definitely come over if they notice something unusual like alcohol from another world.＞

＜That’s right. Those annoying ones will definitely come.＞

＜The War God and Blacksmithing God, and all the other ones that like alcohol, will all come running over.＞

＜Ahh, that’s right. There’s no way they’d miss the smell of alcohol.＞

＜Exactly, their eyes just change if alcohol is involved.＞

＜Right, right. Even more so if it’s something as rare as alcohol from another world.＞

＜So alcohol is off-limits.＞

Wow, they sure are saying whatever they want. Do they really like alcohol that much? The god of war and the god of blacksmithing?

＜R-Right. It’s too bad, but I guess I’ll give up on alcohol. If there’s alcohol involved, they’ll just pop up out of nowhere, after all.＞

A-Agni... pop up? Those are some real strong words.

＜Well, that’s how it is. Hurry up and make your offering.＞

I had no idea what she meant by that, but for now I just put what I bought on the cardboard altar, closed my eyes, and prayed.

“Goddesses, please accept this offering. I am grateful that everyone has given us their blessings. Please take care of us from now on.”

When I opened my eyes, the offerings on top of the cardboard altar were gone.

＜This is not enough. There’s four of us now, so you need to add more. ＞

＜Exactly—. Ninrir’s already eaten a lot so she’s fine, but please give us what she’s eaten already. Otherwise it isn’t fair.＞

＜She’s right, that’s exactly it—! Give us what you gave Ninrir—!＞

＜......＞ (High speed nodding.)

＜Grrnnnn, you~＞

Aahh geez, fine. They’re still goddesses from this world, so I can’t just rudely say no.

I used my skill to buy everything they wanted.

“Here are the extra sweets you wanted. Please take them. I’ve also put in a share for Ninrir just in case, so please don’t fight over them and share equally.”

When the sweets disappeared off of the cardboard altar, I heard the goddess’ overjoyed voices.

＜Good job, you!＞

＜What a softie this otherworlder is.＞

＜Man, these otherworld sweets are good!＞

＜Mggmg＞ (Nodding while eating dorayaki.)

＜Aahhhh, why are you all eating already?! I won’t’ forgive you if you touch my share———!!＞

＜She’s right! Stop eating by yourself, Agni, Ruka!＞

＜Ruka, why are you hoarding all of the dorayaki! Those aren’t just yours! Actually, those dorayaki are my favorite, I won’t let you take them all for yourself!＞

It sounded like they were kicking up a huge fuss, but the goddess’ oracle cut out in the middle.

I have no idea what’s going on up there in the divine realm, but please figure it out yourselves. Ahh~ finally free. Man those goddesses are noisy as hell.

I guess I should confirm my new status for now.

【Name】 Mukohda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)

【Age】 27

【Job】 Victim from Another World

【Level】 11

【HP】 194

【MP】 189

【Attack】 175

【Defense】 174

【Agility】 170

【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Fire magic, Earth magic, Familiars (Contracted Magic Beasts): Fenrir, Slime

【Unique Skill】 Online Supermarket

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir (small), Blessing of the Goddess of Fire, Agni (small), Blessing of the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle (small)

I really did get new blessings from Agni and Kisharle. Let’s try testing out the results tomorrow. Ah, my level’s also 11 now. My stats are also higher than they were before, but they’re nothing compared to Sui’s now. Hahaha...hahhh. Oh yeah, Sui got Ruka’s blessing, so how are its stats now?

【Name】 Sui

【Age】 1 month

【Race】 Big Slime

【Level】 6

【HP】 855

【MP】 848

【Attack】 834

【Defense】 842

【Agility】 852

【Skills】 Acid Bullet, Potion Creation, Cloning, Water magic

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Water, Rusalka

Its age became 1 month, but it’s not telling me how many days, is it? It didn’t tell me what month or year I am through 27 either, though.

Well leaving that aside, Sui’s already level 6. Its stats have gone up as well. Haha, Sui’s already leagues above me. Sui’s even got a new Water magic skill as well as Ruka’s Blessing. Sui was plenty strong even without the blessing, but with the blessing and Water magic... Somehow Sui’s growing stronger in almost no time at all. And at still only 1 month old.

I was planning to try out my magic tomorrow, but now we’d need to test Sui’s Water magic as well, huh?

So tomorrow was gonna be a magic test outside the city.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Having left town, I asked Fel to take us to a forest somewhat far away.

“Just as you have said, you now have the blessings of the Goddess of Fire, Agni, and the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle.”

“That’s right. When I went back to my room and was going to give an offering to Ninrir, a lot happened, and I ended up getting Agni’s and Kisharle’s blessings too. Not to mention they’re (small) as well for... reasons. Now I have to give them as much as I give Ninrir.”

“I see. But is that not a good thing? You are weak, so even if they are (small) having more blessings can only be good.”

W-Weak? ...You’ve gone too far. It’s true, but you really should try to have a bit more tact about that.

“‘You are weak’ — you really have no tact, do you?”

“Mm? But is it not the truth?”

“Well yeah, it’s true, but... Actually, forget about that. We came here to test out the effects of these blessings. Even if they’re (small), since they’re from elements I have an affinity for it looks like spells will cost less magic power now, and they’ll be a little more powerful. And apparently I’ll be able to use more kinds of magic.”

“I see. So we can to try that out.”

“Exactly. Ah, also, Sui got a blessing from the Goddess of Water, Rusalka. There’s reasons for that too, but it’s a normal one, same as you.”

“Whut? Let me see...... You are right. Sui has Rusalka’s blessing. With a blessing, Sui will get even stronger. Shall we try sparring?”

Hah? There’s no need for something like a spar. No matter how strong Sui’s gotten, there’s no way it’d be able to lift a tentacle against Fel, who’s level is almost at the limit.

“Wai- Stop that. No matter how strong Sui’s gotten, there’s no way it’s a match for you.”

“Mmrrhh, I thought it’d be a good partner to try out my strength on...”

“Nowaynowaynoway, Sui’s not a partner or anything. Even if Sui is stronger, it’s still nowhere near you, Fel. Please, just stop.” Damn these battle junkies. Wait, now’s not the time for that. I need to get to testing my magic, that’s the reason we came here.

“Sui, wake up...” I woke up Sui, who was asleep in my bag.

《Hmm—? Whaat, master?》

I picked up Sui, who was still a little sleepy, and explained things to it.

“You see, Sui got the blessing of the Goddess of Water. That’s why you’re able to use Water magic now.”

《Huh? Sui can use Water magic?》

“That’s right.”

《Yaayyy! Woohoo!》

“So you see, I want to see what kind of Water magic you can use.”

《Got it. Water magic, Water magic............ Ah, Sui can do it.》

A ball of water about 1 meter across appeared in front of Sui.

“From my experience, having a blessing means you can use most magic. That ball of water also is not just simple water. If it is made by someone with a blessing, it should be potable.”

Apparently water made by mages is usually filled with impurities and therefore not safe to drink unless the user was fairly skilled.

“Well, we all have blessings, so even drinking mud water would have no effect on us, though.”

Even if that’s true I don’t want to drink muddy water anyway.

“Then if Sui’s around there’s no need to worry about water, huh? Sui, we’ll be counting on you for when we need water.”

《Sure! Just tell me if you need water any time.》

“Sui, what else can you do?”

《Uhmmm...》

“Ah, what about taking that ball of water and making it crash over there, like ‘Bang!’?” When I looked at the ball, I thought of the ‘Water Ball’ magic in novels that shoots a ball of water at things.

《Sure, I’ll try it.》

As Sui said that, the ball of water put on incredible speed.

PLOOSH!!

The ball of water hit a fat tree, and the water splashed everywhere as the ball lost its form.

*Creak*......*Crcrecreeeeiaaakkkk*... *Thud*

............The water ball broke the tree.

Hah? W-What? That power...... That was a pretty fat tree. Eh? Eh? Eh?

《Woah, the tree broke—! Awesome! So cool!》 Sui, excited, jumped out of my arms and started bouncing about.

No well, rather than awesome, it’s more scary, Sui. I really don’t want to be hit by that...

《Ah! Master—, how about this?》 Sui said as it reached out a tentacle and shot water out of its tip with great force.

*Thonk*!

Eh? The tree fell? Drawing nearer to the fallen tree, I saw a clean cut like it was made from a chainsaw.

......So this is a water cutter? S-Sui’s gotten mega strong... All of its attacks, the Acid Bullet, the Water Ball, and the Water Cutter are all one hit kills. Oh wait, it’s a bit late, but I need to get Sui to understand that. Sui probably wouldn’t do anything strange, but all of its attacks are very powerful.

“Sui, your Acid Bullet and Water magic are both really strong, but make sure you only ever use those on monsters, okay? You should never, ever use them against humans. Unless if I specifically say you can against bad people. Other than that, never use your abilities against people, okay?”

《Yeah, got it — Sui will use them against the monsters. Also, Sui will properly listen to what master says.》

“Sui, you’re such a good child...”

Yeah, yeah, my Sui is honest and nice. Now then, it’s my turn next. There’s a lot to try, so it might take a while. If that’s the case......

“Fel, there’s a lot of magic I want to try, so it might take a little while. In the meantime, if there’s a black serpent around, can you kill it?”

“Ahh, because that guy said before that he wanted one?”

“Yeah, that. Lambert said that he’d like us to sell him a black serpent hide. Can you do it?”

“Sure, I can do it. I would be bored otherwise, anyway. Then I will be leaving now. Ahh, also I have put up a barrier already so do not worry. Now then, I take my leave.”

“Got it. Thanks Fel. Good luck.”

Fel must have been itching to get some exercise since he ran off immediately.

“OK then, let’s start with Fire magic.”

But shooting off a Fireball in the forest might cause a wildfire, so I was thinking of testing it out by changing the size of the Fireball on top of my palm.

First, I made a Fireball of the usual size.

“Woah!” The Fireball came out about twice as big as usual.

“So this is the effect of the blessing...”

OK, so make one a little more restrained than the usual size and... Oh, I did it.

As I continuously restrained the amount of magic power I used, the size of the Fireball became smaller in response. On the other hand, as I increased the amount of magic power, the Fireball grew bigger. At its largest, I was able to make the Fireball a meter in diameter.

“Maintaining this size is a little harsh...”

《Woah! Master, awesome!》

“Sui, this is a Fireball, and it’s hot, so don’t get too close to it.”

《Got it!》

Sui was singing my praises while watching me adjust the size of my Fireball.

“Next is a second Fireball in this hand.”

I created a second Fireball in my other hand and tested out adjusting their sizes. I managed to kill 15 minutes playing around like that.

“Huh? I’m not tired at all...”

Normally I’d definitely be all, “I’m so ti~red, I wanna sit down” right about now, but I’m completely fine.

“So this is the blessing’s magic power efficiency effect. My control over my magic power is better as well, and so is the general power of my spells.”

Maintaining a Fireball a meter and a half across was real tough, but it seemed like something I could use as a finisher in a pinch.

What the heck, having a blessing (small) is pretty damn good. Let’s try Earth magic next. First up...

“Stone Bullet.”

*Koonng* *Koonng* *Koonng* Several sounds rang out.

Arriving at the tree I aimed at, I found seven stones buried into the tree.

“Seven, huh? So there’s more pebbles now. And it looks like they’re more powerful now, since they’re all buried in the tree...”

After that I tried increasing the magic I poured into the spell, and found that I could shoot a thirty-pebble Stone Bullet.

“It’s like a shotgun. This thing packs quite the punch. It looks like this can be used as a finisher when the time comes, too.”

There’s also other magic I want to try, so let’s do that too.

“Stone Wall.”

A stone wall 2 meters wide and about 10cm thick was conjured in front of me.

“Ohh, I did it!”

I put in a little extra power because it was my first time trying the spell, but I guess this is what makes a perfectly sized wall, huh? I can feel a lot of magic power being drained from me. It really is different from Stone Bullet... It creates an entire stone wall, so I guess the magic it needs is just that different as well. But if I can do this, I can probably do that one thing I’ve always wanted to try. I want to try it, but maybe I should wait until I’ve recovered some magic power, first.

Looking over my status, I saw that I had used up about half of my MP. I was feeling a little tired and also slightly hungry, so I decided to take a break while snacking on something sweet.

I used my skill to buy sweet buns and other things.

“Sui~ let’s take a break.”

When I called out to Sui, who started doing its own Water magic training at some point, it came right over.

“Here, snacks.”

《It’s not mealtime, is it okay?》 Sui looked worried since it wasn’t its usual mealtime.

“It’s fine. But just for today, okay?”

《Yaayy!!》

Seeing that Sui started eating, I helped myself. I had my usual canned coffee and red bean bun.

Yeah, having something sweet really does hit the spot when you’re tired.

After resting for about an hour, I looked at my status again. I wasn’t full on MP, but I had recovered to about 90%. Sui got sleepy after eating its snack, so it was taking a nap in the bag. I made some distance so as not to wake Sui.

Right, now let’s try this thing.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Whew~ somehow managed it.”

Somehow, I managed to do it through trial and error. I had suspected I’d be able to after confirming that I could use Stone Wall.

What I was trying to do was make a house using Earth magic. I only had a blessing (small), so I couldn’t make anything too complicated, but this would be more than enough. The house I made (it’s a bit debatable if you can even call it a house) was around 10 tatami in area and completely box shaped. It was a simple house that only had four walls and a roof, but it would be a big difference between having this and not having it during our travels.

Fel’s barriers are perfect on the defense and even repel the rain and wind, but I couldn’t really calm down since they were transparent. Sleeping’s the biggest problem. I know it’s safe, but I still feel completely exposed so I can’t calm down. I really just want to be able to calm down and sleep between some walls.

And so, in comes the house! This is more than enough to sleep in. Yeah, yeah! This can work. It takes around 2/3rds of my magic to make one, though. Well, there’s no way around it if I want to relax when I sleep, I guess.

At any rate, this blessing (small) really is putting in some work. At first I was skeptical of whether it would really make a difference, but yeah, it really does. I don’t think this would be possible without it. Man — I’m really glad I got this blessing (small).

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

While I was busy making a house, Fel returned. He had a black serpent gripped firmly in his mouth.

Ohh, so he managed to catch one. Being able to go get one right after I asked him was basically why Fel was so reliable.

The black serpent was at least supposed to be an A-ranked monster, but the more I looked at it the less I felt that that was reality.

Fel dropped the black serpent he hunted in front of me.

“Thanks, Fel.” I put the black serpent into my Item Box.

“What happened here?” Fel asked, looking at the box-house I made.

“I made it using Earth magic.”

“Is this kind of thing really necessary?”

Kind of thing? Why you...

“Well you see, I thought it would be nice to have when going to sleep on the road.”

“But you have my barriers.”

“Well that is true... Fel, your barriers repel rain and wind, and I’m really thankful to have them. But still, they’re transparent... I can’t calm down feeling all exposed like that when I’m trying to sleep.”

“Hm? Is that so?”

“For example, a favorite place, or a good hunting ground, even you have at least one place you liked to stay in for a long time, right, Fel?”

“Certainly, I have.”

“So in those times, how do you choose where to sleep?”

“Well it would be a cave or a hollow in a huge tree, would it not?”

“And why do you choose those places?”

“Why? Well that is because those places are easier to relax and rest in, of course.”

“And that’s why I made this.”

“I see.”

“Well, since we’d be on the road they’d only be used once, but isn’t it really nice to have a relaxing place to sleep?”

It looks like Fel understands, so I guess I should get to erasing this house. Something this big would definitely just be in the way if I left it here.

Ahh, it looks like things you make with magic can be erased with a thought, because they’re made out of your magic.

When I made a Stone Wall, I was concerned about what to do with such a large thing, so I tried thinking, “disappear,” and it smoothly crumbled to dust. Most likely only the caster could make it crumble like that.

Well anyway, let’s erase this house. Man this is taking a weirdly long time.

“Fel, do you want to eat here? Or should we eat after getting back to town? If we wait, it might be pretty dark by the time we eat, though.”

“I am feeling fairly hungry, so let us eat here.”

Fel wanted to eat here, so I started cooking. Or rather, I started thinking of what I could make on short notice. I still had the fried chicken cutlet from before, so I was thinking of using that.

I’ll be making Chicken Nanban.

I opened my Online Supermarket menu and started buying the ingredients I needed. I need to get the vinegar for sweet vinegar tare... and let’s also buy extra of the usual tartar sauce. After that, steaming rice will take time so I should get bread instead, I think... Hm? They have hamburger buns. Let’s do that.

First, I need to make the sweet vinegar tare.

~◇~◇~◇~

Heat soy sauce, vinegar, and some sugar in a pan. Once the sugar has dissolved into the mixture, pass the chicken cutlet through the hot sauce so that the breading sucks in the tare.

After that, just line it up on a plate and heap tartar sauce on top, and the dish is done.

~◇~◇~◇~

Ah, I need to wake up Sui.

“Sui, food.”

《Hmm? Food—?》

“Yeah, food.”

《Eat, food...》 Once Sui got up, I put the plate of Chicken Nanban in front of them.

“It’s sour but eating it with this white stuff is good.”

“Indeed, this white stuff is delicious.”

It looked like both of them enjoyed the tartar sauce.

Tartar sauce is really good, after all. I’ll put on a lot too. Put the Chicken Nanban in between a pair of buns, and add a lot of tartar sauce on top...

I took a bite out of the finished Chicken Nanban burger.

“Delicious!”

The Chicken Nanban actually goes pretty well with bread. The chicken cutlet and the sweet vinegar soaked into its breading and the tartar sauce just hit all the right notes — so good!

“Mm, that looks good.”

“Wanna try this Chicken Nanban burger?”

“Yes, give it to me.”

《Ah, Sui wants some too!》

I made a Chicken Nanban burger for Fel and Sui.

《Eating it with bread is really nice.》

Yes, exactly! This combo is actually pretty good. As for Fel... he ate the hamburger in one bite. Well, given how he’s eating it he probably likes it.

We returned to town after taking a small break to digest our meal.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Ah, can we stop by the Adventurer’s guild?”

After asking Fel, we headed over to the Adventurer’s guild.

There was a young man working the sales window.

“Uhmm, is Johan present?”

“Hm? Do you need him for something? Wait a minute.” Saying that, the man turned around and yelled toward the storehouse.

“OLD MAAAN, YOU’VE GOT A CUSTOMER!”

“GOT IT! Wait a second!” Old man Johan’s voice resounded back in response.

After a little while, Johan appeared from the storehouse in the back.

“Oh it’s you. It’s not finished yet, you know.”

“Ah, that’s not it. I have something new for you......”

Sorry about this, I know you’re busy. Well, I’m also the reason you’re busy as well.

“What, again? If it’s you, then come over here.”

Old man Johan headed back for the storehouse. “What is it today?”

“Uhh, a black serpent.” I took the black serpent out of the Item Box.

“Man, my gauge of normalcy has been breaking ever since you’ve come. Black serpents shouldn’t just be something you can throw around...”

Really, I’m so sorry.

“I’d like the meat and the hide this time, and I’ll sell the rest.”

“Got it. I’m on pace with the blood horn-bulls too, so I’ll give it to you along with those.”

“Please.”

Ok, so now I’ve got a black serpent hide to give to Lambert. The timing was perfect, since I had something I wanted to talk to Lambert about.

Now then, let’s go back to the inn.

Chapter 5: I Also Tried Being a Merchant

Today, I was thinking of making food that I could stock in my Item Box to be cooked and eaten quickly at any time. The smell would linger and build up if I was to do it in my room, so I borrowed the inn’s inner courtyard.

I guess I should start with the stuff I’m stocking up. Let’s start with the miso-pickled orc general meat.

I put some miso tare and the meat into a vinyl bag to marinate. By doing this ahead of time, it became possible to quickly cook miso-grilled meat at any time.

After that, I got to work on the fried foods that had been a staple lately. I separated the portions into one for frying later, and the other for preparation to be fried at any time. Of course, I would be using the same two flavors as before. I used the black serpent, rock bird, and giant dodo meats, and prepared half of each flavor.

Because I was going to make large amounts of both flavors, I also prepared to steam some rice in the meantime. I steamed the rice after washing the grains and letting them soak in water for a little while.

Since I was no longer even remotely in need of money, I went all out and bought a new stove and clay pot. I only bought one stove — along with the ones I already had, this would make three stoves, and it didn’t seem like I’d be able to manage any more than that at once. It’d be a waste if I burned anything.

So, I used the three stoves to steam rice, and while that was happening, I continued to prepare the miso marinated meat. This was tough work, since taking Fel and Sui’s appetite into consideration, I’d have to make a huge amount.

Meanwhile, I made sure to toss the entire pot with rice inside into my Item Box once the rice was finished steaming. With that, it was now possible to enjoy fresh rice at any time.

After that, I started steaming even more rice on the three stoves. As for the finished rice, two of the pots would stay in my Item Box, and one of them was left over for me to make rice balls with.

“Whew~ Finally finished all that prep.”

I took out one of the pots of rice that I had thrown into my Item Box to keep from cooling in order to make rice balls.

“For rice balls, I’ll go with the common regular seaweed, the brown seaweed that you mix in, salmon, and baby sardines for fillings, I guess.”

Buying the ingredients using my Online Supermarket, I continued to make more rice balls.

Their shapes are a little off, but that just means they have charm. Really, I want to make these with mentaiko or something, but that’s too much trouble. I have more to make after this, too.

“Fuhahahahaha!! I’ve wanted to try this ever since I saw it on the Online Supermarket~.”

What I saw was a hand-cranked mincer. They were selling it as a cooking tool. So now I could make my own ground meat.

I was planning to make Hamburg steak. Just like karaage, I knew of basically no one who hated it. You can make it lots of different ways, after all, such as with cheese, with Japanese flavorings, or even boiled.

But first, I needed to make a large amount of ground meat. Since ground meat could be used a lot of ways, I wanted to prepare a lot of it. I started off with minced bloody horn-bull.

Fill the mincer and crank, fill the mincer and crank...... After repeating that loop countless times, I had finally made enough minced bloody horn-bull meat. But, it still wasn’t over. Next, I needed to mince the orc general meat. Just like the bloody horn-bull meat, I filled the mincer and cranked over and over again until I was done.

“Whew~, so tired... But now I can make Hamburg steaks.”

But first, I need to mince these onions...there. People either have their onions on their Hamburg steaks raw or cooked. Personally, I’m always raw since it’s less effort.

My plan was to make the patties 60% bloody horn-bull and 40% orc general. Now then, let’s get to mixing the ingredients.

I mixed some panko in a bowl with some milk. Then, I mixed together the ground meat and onions, an egg, and some salt and pepper. After separating them into appropriately sized pieces, I lined the patties up on a tray, wrapped the whole thing, and stored it in my Item Box. After repeating this several times, I had finally finished. At the end, I also tried stuffing the patties with meltable cheese.

All that was left was to cook the fried foods and patties and store them so that they could be eaten immediately at any time.

After heating up the oil, I fried half of the marinated meat. I double fried it this time as well for added crisp.

After I finished frying large amounts of karaage, I also fried some pork and chicken cutlet since I already had the oil ready. I also tried adding cheese in the middle of the chicken cutlet. Both the pork cutlet and the cheesy chicken cutlet fried up nicely; I made a large amount of these too.

“Good, good. This is going nicely. I have the oil, might as well make that too.”

I opened my Online Supermarket and bought some frozen French fries.

Since this was all unplanned anyway, I took the opportunity to get both thin-cut and thick-cut with skin. Fries would make a great side dish, and there was also the added benefit of being a great snack to go with beer.

I heated up an extra-large portion of the fries. “This should be enough for the fried stuff.”

Next would be the Hamburg steaks. This time, I was making the orthodox homemade version with ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.

Pressing a little indentation into the middle of the patty, I cooked it in my frying pan. Once both sides were seared over, I added water, put a lid on the pan, and steamed it.

Taking out the patty, I made the accompanying sauce. Mixing ketchup and Worcestershire sauce together and boiling for a little until they meld together completes the homemade sauce. I always used nothing but ketchup and Worcestershire, but apparently sometimes people would also put in soy sauce and sugar. That kind of thing differs between families, probably.

Coating the patties with the sauce would complete the dish. I coated the cheese stuffed patties with the sauce as well.

“Right, it’s done!” This should tide us over for a while. At least, I hope.

*Gyyrrrwwllll*

Hearing a massive rumbling stomach, I turned around to see Fel, waiting with drool coming out of his mouth. Sui was next to him as well.

*Sigh*... And I even cooked some meat for them to eat while I was doing this......

Oh well. I gave the two of them some of the patties I just cooked.

“It smelled delicious, but... yes indeed, these are good. Both are nice, but the one with the gooey stuff in the middle is better.”

《It is! This is great. The one with the white goo in the middle is super delicious!》

So cheese is justice in this world too, huh? Well, I’m also in the cheese camp as well. Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind as I joined the two in having a meal out of the freshly made Hamburg steaks.

Ahh~ delicious. I worked hard today, so maybe I’ll treat myself to those fries and some beer... Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We’d arrived at the Adventurer’s guild to receive the bloody horn-bull meat and the black serpent meat and hide.

Following after old man Johan, Fel and I headed toward the by-now very familiar storehouse.

Sui, just as always, was inside my bag. Sui took to the bag like a fish to water; it must have been very comfortable.

“Errmm, the guildmaster’s still out talking to Earl Langridge about the mithril lizard and stuff and hasn’t come back. But the reward for the bloody horn-bulls was left to me, so I’ll give it to you along with the money for the materials.”

So the guildmaster’s still with the earl, huh? Sorry for making things so complicated. Must be tough being in a position of power.

“First off, the reward for the quest is 324 gold. So next I’ll be breaking down the contents of your sale. Starting off with the bloody horn-bull horns, there’s a pair each for 58 heads for a total of 174 gold. Then, fifty-seven of their hides come out to 456 gold. And since you’re selling us half of the meat this time, that’s twenty-nine bulls worth of meat for 290 gold. And as for the black serpent you added: the poison sac, fangs, eyes, and magic stone total 79 gold. All in all, that’s 1323 gold.”

The bloody horn-bull’s horns were materials for magic tools, and leather made from their hides were popular as bags and shoes. Now that I thought about it, Lambert had a bloody horn-bull bag in his shop as well. Not to mention their meat was popular, even if it was a little pricey. Their numbers being what they were, it made sense that I made this much money.

“Since you’ve come here, bro, this guild’s made an unbelievable amount of money. Usually for this amount of money, we’d have to make you wait a couple days for it... but as it is now, we can just pay you.”

*Thudclink* *Thudclink* *Thudclink* *Thudclink* *Thudclink* — Old man Johan put five bags of money on the counter.

“Each bag has 300 gold in it, this smaller one here has 123 gold.” Johan said, patting a smaller bag on the left.

1323 gold, huh......? Man, my income’s become something unbelievable. Thanks to Fel, the big earner. I’m still going to get money for the mithril lizard, too.

“Ah, right. I have a message from the guildmaster: ‘We’ll waive the butchering fees for you from now on, so keep coming back,’ is what he says. Also, make sure to come here whenever you have monsters to sell.”

Free butchering, huh? Well for now I’m all good on the meat front, so there’s no plans to send Fel hunting for a while... Still, might as well have them buy it if Fel ever really wants the exercise and decides to go hunting.

“Oh also, here’s the bloody horn-bull meat and the black serpent meat and hide you wanted.”

I received twenty-eight horn-bulls worth of meat and the black serpent meat and hide from Johan. The amount of meat from the bloody horn-bulls was almost off-putting. I stuffed all of it into my Item Box.

Now then, I guess I should just go back to the inn.

I left the guild with Fel and returned to the inn. On the way, we stopped by a general store to get some essentials.

“Fel, I’m going to be heading to Lambert’s store after we go back and I make some preparations. What will you do?”

“I would only be bored in that shed. I will be coming with you.”

“Got it. Then I’ll be in my room preparing, wait a little.” I promptly returned to my room after that conversation.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Now then, recently I’ve basically been living at that Adventurer’s guild. I’m part of the Merchant’s guild too, at least in name, so I should do some merchant things every once in a while.”

I’d already paid my taxes to the guild, so since I took the trouble to be a member, so I should at least try to do something worthy of the membership. And so, I was once again planning on selling things from my Online Supermarket here.

I already had an idea of what I wanted to sell. I wasn’t totally sure, but this would probably sell. However, I wasn’t sure just how much it would be worth in this world. So I wanted to consult with Lambert about that. It seemed like Lambert was quite the experienced merchant, after all.

I bought what I was thinking of with my skill: a set of three soap bars costing a copper, and a set of three rose scented soap bars costing 3 copper. I also bought a refill of shampoo with conditioner for 4 copper. Then, I bought refills for shampoo and hair treatment for 5 copper each. I also bought some emergency hair masks, since it looked like those might sell, even if they were a bit expensive at 8 copper.

Oh yeah, I forgot to buy bottles to put this stuff in...... Well, I plan to sell this as a special product, so bottles from the Online Supermarket should be fine.

“Right, now all I’ve got to do is move this all into the bottles and bags I’ve bought.”

I took the soaps out of their packaging and put them separately into small bags. It seemed like soap already existed in this world, so it seemed to me that bar soap would be more familiar, and therefore better, than body wash. I was thinking of selling the three regular bars that cost 1 copper a little cheaper and treating the rose scented soap as a high-class product.

I swapped out the shampoo and conditioner, shampoo, and hair treatment into bottles with cork lids. I had enough for three bottles of each.

The shampoo with conditioner only required washing, so it was for casual use (although since baths themselves hadn’t diffused through the masses, it would only be for those with a small fortune), while the shampoo and hair treatment would be a high-class product for nobles. After all, using shampoo and treatment properly produces a totally different level of silkiness and shine to hair.

As for the hair mask I bought last minute, I repackaged it into a bottle I bought from the Online Supermarket that looked like it would store jam inside. I was also going to treat this as a special product, and claim that, in a pinch, this would make your hair beautiful like magic or something and sell it at a high price.

Right, this should be it.

I figured that these would sell, but I had no idea what price would be appropriate for them. So I thought I’d ask for Lambert’s advice. I was also considering having him try them out and give his opinions. Even if I liked it, I had no idea how people from this world would react to them, after all, since it was a solid bet that shampoo had never even existed until now.

At any rate, I’m just going to have to bring this over and ask Lambert.

Still though, I really want to get in a bath...

Even though I’d gotten used to wiping down my body with a wet towel, as a Japanese person I really feel like I need a bath. If only I had a bath...

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Hello. I’m Mukohda, is Lambert here?”

I had arrived at Lambert’s store, but unfortunately, it didn’t seem like he was in at the moment, and I was greeted by an employee. It seemed like the employee remembered me, as he quickly went to go and alert Lambert.

“Welcome, Mukohda.”

“So I have some black serpent hide that you had said you wanted before...”

“Ohh! I’m so thankful. Well then, this way.”

I was shown into a reception room in the back by Lambert. I sat in a chair when prompted by Lambert, and a maid promptly handed me a cup of tea. From the tea’s smell and taste, it was oolong.

“So then, will you let me see this black serpent’s hide?”

Prompted by Lambert, I pulled the black serpent hide from my Item Box to show to him.

“I see, I see... the hide is beautiful, and it’s in quite good shape.” Lambert continued appraising the black serpent’s hide while praising it to high heavens, saying things like, “Magnificent...”

Apparently getting something this free of damage was rare.

“Since you’ve got something this good, I’ll have to put in some effort as well. How does 50 gold for it sound?”

Heh? 5-50 gold, just for the hide? While I was reeling in surprise, Lambert started explaining his price.

“Just like I told you, this hide’s got very few wounds on it. If there is damage, that area becomes unusable, and it becomes increasingly harder to make things that need lots of leather, like bags. From that point, this hide has little damage and so there’s almost no part of it that would go to waste.”

I see. So from that the price becomes 50 gold, huh? What a surprisingly large income.

“I’ll take that price, then.”

When I said that, Lambert pulled out 50 gold from a room in the back.

“50 gold, please count it if you like.” Just like a merchant, he presented it as a line of five stacks of 10 coins.

“Indeed, I have received 50 gold coins.” I put the 50 coins into the sand snake wallet that I “bought” (was given) at this store and hadn’t used yet because I thought it would be a waste.

“Ohh, that’s from our store.”

“Yeah, I’ve been hesitating to use it since I thought it might be a waste, but since I got this at your store, Lambert, I figured I might as well use it for this.”

“Yes, indeed. This kind of thing exhibits its flavor the more you use it, so it would be best if you kept it in use for a long while.”

A wallet with 50 gold coins in it... it feels like I’m carrying a small fortune, haha. I reigned in my expression when I was about to break into a grin, remembering that I still had business with Lambert.

“Uhmm, I have something I’d like to consult with you on...”

“With me?”

“Yes. Before that...... I’ve come upon a large amount of bloody horn-bulls, so this is a gift.” Before getting on to the main topic, I presented Lambert with the bloody horn-bull hide I had received.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Just as I’ve said, I’ve got a lot.” It might just be to improve his mood, but giving a present makes it easier for me to ask as well.

Lambert accepted with a “Well then...” and the conversation continued.

“To tell the truth, I’m also registered with the Merchant’s guild.” I said as I presented my Iron-ranked guild card.

“Hohh, I see. It’s rare to be registered to both the Merchant’s and Adventurer’s guilds.”

“So what I wanted to consult with you about is whether or not something like this would sell, and if so, how much would be an appropriate price.” I said as I presented the soaps and shampoos I brought with me.

“This soap is...” Taking the cheaper soap in hand, I started explaining the product to Lambert.

“And, as you might be able to tell from its refined scent, is something I’d like to sell at a higher price.”

Lambert sniffed the soap with an interested look.

“This is for washing one’s hair, and if you use this one, your hair will become quite silky. I think this would be very popular amongst women.” When I took the shampoo with conditioner bottle in my hand and explained it, Lambert took some interest in it as well and popped open the cork to give it a smell.

“This one is also for washing hair, but it has a stronger effect than the previous one. So I’d like to give it an accordingly higher price. If you apply this one for a while and wash it out after cleaning your hair with this one, your hair will regain its moisture and gloss, leading to a beauty anyone would surely envy.”

Once again Lambert popped the cork to smell them.

“Lastly, my best, most special product. If one applies this after washing their hair and rinses it out after a while, any hair will become beautiful, like magic.” When I placed the bottle with the hair mask in it down, Lambert picked it up as well to confirm its smell.

After doing so, he closed his eyes in thought for a while. I was a little on edge in anticipation of what he was going to say.

“Mukohda. I’m really thankful that I managed to meet you.”

I wondered what was going on, for Lambert to get so emotional like that.

“Actually, my and my wife’s anniversary is in two weeks, and I was just stressing over what to get her as a present...” According to Lambert, all he had for presents was a women’s bag from his own store. If not that, then some sort of accessory. But then, his wife made a preemptive strike and gave an indirect pronouncement that she’d had enough bags and accessories.

And if he were to give a bag or an accessory just as he had before even with that edict......

To Lambert, the only presents to give were bags and accessories, so he’d been stressing quite a bit about what to get her.

“My wife’s quite fond of soap, and she’s been concerned about her hair as well. If I were to give her the items you’ve just introduced to me, Mukohda, there’s no doubt that she’d be through the roof!”

“Now I won’t have to be ignored...” What are you muttering, Lambert?! Must be tough being married.

More importantly, though, there was a part of Lambert’s speech that had me interested.

“If she’s been fond of soap, does that mean you have a bath?” Even though we were of different classes, I had thought that only noble houses had baths.

“Yes, it was my wife’s only wish that we have a bath in our house.”

Hmmm, so he does have a bath. I kinda want to see what a bath in this world looks like...

And if I could buy one, I definitely would.

“Ah, this might be a bit rude, but could you let me see your bath?” It was a bit rude to suddenly ask to see someone’s bath in their house, but I was so curious that I couldn’t help but try asking.

“Sure, that’s fine.”

Ohh, that was easy.

And so we came to Lambert’s bathroom. What I saw was a large round brown ceramic tub that looked like one of those wooden tubs made big. But the size was enough for me to fit comfortably, so wasn’t it fine?

“This is my house’s bath.” Apparently having a bath in their house was the sign that a merchant was successful, so Lambert wanted to show it off.

“What a wonderful bathtub.”

In reaction to my words, Lambert put on a bashful but happy face as he started telling me about it. Apparently, this tub was made specially by crushing magic stones to dust and kneading it into the tub itself, and so was very expensive. Most people thought of this kind of bath when asked about baths, where magic stones were powdered and kneaded into its construction. Doing so allowed the bath to be harder and retain heat much better. Lambert’s brown tub cost 350 gold at the time, but adding colors or art would raise the already princely cost even higher.

350 g-gold, huh? ...For a bath, that sure is expensive. B-But still, thanks to Fel, I’ve got enough money to actually consider it. Or actually, I just really, really want a bathtub.

For now, I wanted to at least look at some, so I had Lambert tell me of a place where I could buy a bathtub. Apparently the only place to get a bathtub in this town was a large store named the Illario trading company. It seemed like the store here was their main headquarters, and they had branch stores in several different towns. Since I wanted a tub, I decided to pay them a visit later.

Oh, that’s right! Before giving it to his wife as a gift, I need to get Lambert to try them out and see how they feel.

“Lambert, please try this out for yourself before giving them to your wife. I’ll leave you one of each. And if you approve, I’ll give you a set for your wife. Also, if you would tell me how it felt to use them and give advice on how much it should cost, I would be very grateful.”

“Certainly. I really should try these out for myself to see if they’re good or not before giving them to my wife.” Lambert continued, muttering, “I mean I can’t even tell how mad she would get if I just handed her something weird...”

Lambert, you must really have it hard......

“Well then, I’ll leave the rest to you.” And so I left Lambert’s shop.

The only question left was how much it would be worth. The soap and shampoo and hair treatments all came in different scents, and if I were to throw in the recently popular non-silicone versions as well, there would be a lot of price ranges I could cover. Even if I were to put this off until later, there was no doubt that it would be a profitable product I could sell outside of salt and pepper.

I’m looking forward to what Lambert thinks of it.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

In the inn’s inner courtyard, Fel, Sui, and I had just finished breakfast and were in the middle of digesting.

The inn’s proprietress came over with a boy of around 12 or 13 years of age in tow.

“You have a guest from the Lambert Trading Company.”

At the proprietress’ words, I took a good look at the boy’s face, and found him familiar. It was the boy that was with Lambert when we saved them.

“Uhmm, the president says to come to the store immediately......”

Hm? What’s happening? Why is this boy drooling? Oh, I guess he saw us eating and got reminded of the meal we treated them to on the way back to town. He’s a growing boy, after all...

Right then, let me treat him a little more. “It’s a bit heavy for the morning, but this should be just fine for you since you’re young.”

I quickly roasted some miso-marinated orc general and made a rice bowl of it. The boy’s eyes switched repeatedly between the bowl and my face.

“Boys at your age don’t get full no matter how much you eat, right? Here, eat it.”

“Uh, umm... are you sure it’s okay?”

“I made it for you...”

“Th-Thank you very much!!” Leaving those words, the boy heartily dug into his food.

“I-It’s good......”

He sure looks happy eating that...... I handed the boy some roasted green tea as he finished eating. I chose it because it seemed to be less strong in flavor, and the boy sipped on it after blowing on it to cool it down.

“It was very delicious. This tea, as well. Truly, thank you very much.”

Wow, what a nice kid. The world really is harsh, if a kid only 12 or 13 years old like this has to work. Don’t give in, try your best, kid!

“Uh-Uhmm, the president is still waiting......”

Oh, that’s right. He was sent by Lambert.

He told me to bring Fel and Sui, so the two of them accompanied me to Lambert’s store.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Following the boy and entering Lambert’s store, the man himself came rushing to greet us.

“Mukohda, you’ve finally come! Thank god......”

A woman appeared from behind Lambert, who was making a relieved face. Her age was a little over 30, but she was a beauty with long, olive brown hair and a curvaceous body that gave a very strong-willed impression.

“Dear, you’ve promised to introduce me, yes?”

“Y-Yeah...... Mukohda, this is my wife......” Lambert’s wife pushed him aside and stood in front of me.

“I’m Marie, Lambert’s wife. Pleased to meet you.” Saying that, she lifted the hem of her skirt and gave a neat curtsy.

“You’ve been taking good care of Lambert. I hope you’ll do the same with me.” Marie closed in on me aggressively, continuing with a, “By the way.”

“W-What is it?” My heart couldn’t help but be set aflutter being approached by a beautiful wife like this.

“Actually, about this product......” Inside of the basket Marie was holding were the products that I had given Lambert to test yesterday.

According to the two of them, Marie noticed that Lambert was exuding a really nice scent when he came out of the bath last night and so she interrogated him about it. Lambert tried to play dumb since he was planning to give it to her as an anniversary present, but Marie just wouldn’t give up......

“I mean, my husband was giving off such a good scent out of the bath. Not to mention his hair had become all glossy and silky, even though he bragged about how his family never went bald and he never took care of his hair because of it. There’s no woman in the world who wouldn’t be curious.”

I guess she would be curious if he came out of the bath smelling nice. Especially since girls were sensitive to that sort of thing. Of course she’d think that he used something good.

And so, thanks to her incessant questioning, Lambert spilled the beans.

“When I tried it after hearing about it from my husband, I really was surprised.” Marie excitedly started talking passionately about how nice it was to use. According to her, she used the rose scented soap, and it foamed up well and turned her skin silky smooth, and most importantly imparted a nice scent. And the shampoo foamed up much better than her usual soap and was much more refreshing to use since it cleaned her hair better.

“This product is really wonderful.” Marie held up the hair mask bottle as she said that. “I hear you told my husband that this one ‘makes any kind of hair pretty in one go, like magic,’ so I had to try it. There was no way I could doubt its effects since your soap was so wonderful. And when I actually used it......” Marie stroked her own hair, spellbound.

“My dry and stiff hair that I’d always been worried about became this glossy and smooth.” Marie continued to stroke her hair over and over, still spellbound.

......Marie, just how much do you like your hair?

“I was also surprised. I almost didn’t recognize Marie with her hair so glossy and silky, and with a nice scent to boot. Marie’s beauty has become even more polished, hasn’t it?”

............These damn normies.

“So, actually......”

Yeah yeah, so you want to buy a whole bunch for your wife, right?

“Mukohda, please allow us to sell these in our store.”

............Wha? My eyes went dark with shock for a second when Lambert asked me if he could sell my products.

Doesn’t Lambert run a leather goods store? It seemed like completely the wrong place to sell soaps and shampoos.

“I understand you’re surprised. I also objected, but......” Lambert said, looking toward his wife.

“Are you still going on about that? You just don’t understand. These will definitely sell. You can’t call yourself a merchant if you let products you know will sell go to a different store.” Or so Marie insisted.

“If we were to start selling these, not only noble ladies, but even my friends and common women would come to buy it. There’s no woman who wouldn’t be interested after looking at my hair.”

“Th-That much, huh?”

“That’s right, dear. We’re a leather goods store, but these are separate matters. Just a corner of the store would be fine. Please try stocking some of Mukohda’s products.”

“I-I see...”

“If you don’t want to sell these, I will.”

“N-No, it’s not like I don’t want to, yeah.”

I see Lambert’s been whipped.

“I get it. I’ll believe in you, Marie.”

When Lambert said that, I could hear Marie muttering under her breath, “Ufufufufu, now I can secure my own share...”

“M-Marie?”

“*Cough* Mukohda, sir, will you please allow us to stock your product?”

Marie, you’re really showing your hand, there. Setting that aside, though, having this store sell these was better than I even could have hoped for. I didn’t have a store of my own, and not having to attend to customers myself would be something I’d be thankful for.

“Of course it’s fine. I’m the one who wants to ask you to sell these.”

“Thank you so much! This is good~, truly splendid!” Marie said happily. What would have happened if I’d refused?

......Ughh, I just got the chills. One really shouldn’t underestimate the tenacity of women toward beauty.

“Now now, let’s talk about the details in the back.” Prompted by Marie, both Lambert and I followed her dejectedly.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Lambert, Marie, and I were sitting in a parlor behind the store space. It seemed like Marie was planning on joining in on the negotiations.

According to Lambert, he could not separate store space for my products right away, and was only planning on a small 2-tatami area.

“Personally, I’d like it to be larger, but my husband wouldn’t listen. He was insistent that this be determined by how well it sells...”

Marie seemed extremely disappointed by that, but I understood Lambert’s feelings on this. Not only was it a new product, but it was far removed from what he usually sold in his store. I thought it made sense that he was going to see how it sold first.

“If the space is going to be that small, should we narrow down the number of products?”

Since the store space would be limited, it might be best to start off with only three of the products I gave them. I had given them two kinds of soap, shampoo with conditioner, regular shampoo, hair treatment, and hair masks. Which ones would be best out of those?

“No no, that’s out of the question. We will be selling all of these.” Marie leaned forward and insisted vehemently. “Right, dear?”

Losing to his wife’s pressure, Lambert could only answer in the affirmative.

“The merchandise that Mukohda has brought in is the stuff of dreams for women. Any girl who knows of this would want it.”

What confidence. But it might be true, since it was Marie saying it. She actually tried them, after all.

“I’ll be telling all my friends about it, myself. Of course, if they saw my hair, they’d start asking me about it before I even opened my mouth, though. Ohohoho.” Marie started stroking her own hair in a trance again as she said that.

Yeah yeah, we get that you’re proud of your hair now.

“And as for the prices, what about 4 silver for this soap?” Mary said pointing at the cheaper soap.

W-Whaaat?! But I bought it at 1 copper for 3 of them...

“Marie, isn’t that too expensive?”

“Really? I tried using it to wash my hands, but this one foams up nicely as well, and even though it’s not as good as the other one, it still leaves a nice scent, in my opinion. Please think about the soap we’ve used until now. Not only did they not foam up well, they smelled bad, and they were still 3 silver each.”

“I-Is that right?”

“It is. Thinking like that, this would sell for 4 silver. Personally, I think even that is on the cheap side.”

“I-I see......”

Lambert’s being completely dominated by Marie, I see.

“W-Well, it depends on how much Mukohda’s willing to sell it to us for. What do you think, Mukohda?”

Huh? Me? The wholesale price, right? I’m not really sure, but maybe 50% is about right?

“Eh, uhmm, w-what about 2 silver?”

Lambert made a surprised face when I said that. “Nonono, that’s way too cheap. How about 2 silver and 5 copper? Even that’s pretty cheap, though.”

Wha? He’s fine with 2 silver and 5 copper? Of course I’m fine with it, since I bought them at three for a copper.

“O-Okay then, please.” The cheap one went for 2 silver and 5 copper... I’m making money hand over fist.

“As for this soap, the scent it leaves is so nice that I didn’t even need perfume. Mukohda has said that this soap is more expensive as well, so I was thinking we could sell this one at 6 silver a piece. Dear, what do you think?”

“Hmm, I agree with you, Marie, 6 silver is good for this one. This refined scent has just that much value. Also, this would probably be very popular among nobles.”

I was indeed thinking that the rose scented ones would be more expensive, but even so they were three for 3 copper... and now you’re telling me they’re 6 silver?

“And how much will you want for these?”

They’re selling it for 6 silver, huh? Taking the last one into account, 3 silver and 5 copper is about right? “Uhmm, what about 3 silver and 5 copper?”

“Are you sure that’s okay?” Lambert asked me about it instead. But the original price of it was 3 copper for three of them, so to me getting 3 silver and 5 copper was more than enough profit.

When I nodded my head and said, “Yes,” Lambert replied with a, “Truly, thank you so much.”

If Lambert is thanking me for this, does that mean that even this is too favorable for them? I don’t really get it, but it’s no loss to me, so, whatever, I guess.

The talks continued, and the shampoo with conditioner was set at a retail price of 7 silver, and I would get 4 silver. As for the shampoo and hair treatment, since they were better used together, it was decided that they would normally be sold as a set. It would be 1 gold for a set, and I would be getting 6 silver.

It seemed they were going to go with a system where the customer would only have to buy the bottle with the product inside once, and after they’d just have to bring the bottle back to get refilled. They would sell the bottle at close to what it would cost to make it, and the price of that would be added to the total cost, according to Marie. As for payment for supply of the bottles, they would pay the expense for their cost.

This time, I was basically reselling things. The difference between the cost of buying the products with my skill and selling it wholesale would come into my pockets as profit, so thinking like that, the cost of the bottles themselves wasn’t much at all, but being able to bill the expense was something to be thankful for.

“As for this specialty product here, in order to emphasize its prestige, we should only inform people who buy this set about it. It’s something I know since I’ve used it myself, but it really does make your hair beautiful like magic. Taking that effect into account, this one should be 2 gold.”

............*Gulp* *Hooo~* I was this close to spitting out my tea. I mean, 2 gold?!

That hair mask came in a tube, and it was only 8 copper. And that tube of hair mask filled two of the bottles I got from my Online Supermarket. Breaking it down simply, that would mean one bottle is worth 4 copper, but then it became 2 gold...... I was the only one who knew how much it cost originally, but even so I couldn’t help but wonder if it was okay to make this much off of it.

“This effect explains itself, those who know about it will understand. This is worth 2 gold.” Marie was insistent.

But still, 2 gold...

“Not only is this product special, but the glass container it comes in is also wonderful. I took both those things into account when judging the price.”

I see. But the bottle wasn’t even 2 copper when I bought it...

While I was still pondering whether it really was alright to charge this much for things, it was decided that with the bottle (it seems like they thought it was made to order) I would be getting 1 gold and 2 silver per bottle.

“For now let’s sell these on a trial basis. That’s fine, right Marie?”

“Yes.”

From Lambert’s perspective, he only wanted to start stocking them in serious amounts after seeing how much the products would sell. That being the case, he only bought 30 of each product for the time being.

“Ah, by the way, I’d be grateful if both you and your wife would keep it a secret where you got these from...”

I was totally fine with Lambert selling these, but I wanted to avoid random merchants or nobles trying to get me to sell these to them. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

“Of course. I believe that these will sell. It would be out of the question to introduce other people to you when we could have this product to ourselves.”

“Yes, that’s right. A good source is like treasure to a merchant. There’s no way we would share.”

Thank goodness... That takes care of one of my worries.

“Also, it’s not like I’ll be staying in this town forever, so are you all okay? Of course when I leave, I’ll prepare as much stock as I can for you......”

Fel was going on about going to the ocean, after all. With that in mind, it seemed like we’d be leaving fairly soon.

“That’s fine. I’ll be coming to buy some a few times a year. As long as I know where you’ll be, at the very least, I’ll be able to go there.” Apparently, Lambert would travel around a few times a year to procure hides.

If that’s the case, then that’s good for me, too. “Well then, I’ll bring the merchandise to you tomorrow.”

““We’ll be looking forward to your arrival.””

Hmmm, it’s going to get busy. I’ll have to prepare stock for Lambert from now on.

Assuming that I’m going to prepare the merchandise this time, if the orders get bigger, I’ll have to sell them to Lambert in large bottles and have him repackage them at his own discretion. Since bottles are supposed to be a business expense, it should be fine as long as I explain it to them properly.

As for the hair mask specifically, it’s a specialty product so there shouldn’t be too many orders, I think...... If worst comes to worst, I can just sell it to him in larger bottles and hand over the sale bottles separately and have him repackage them later. At any rate, it all depends on how they sell tomorrow. If they end up needing more, I can always just consult with Lambert and Marie. Now then, I need to stop by a general store on the way back and buy some bottles and stuff.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Whew~, it’s over.” Having finished repackaging all the merchandise to hand over to Lambert tomorrow, I muttered to myself while looking over all the rows of bottles in front of me.

“I’ve been smelling soap and shampoo this entire time, it’s making me really want to just jump in a bath already...”

Well when the money for the mithril lizard comes in, I do plan on looking at bathtubs myself.

“Woah, it’s already this late?” When I looked outside the window, I found that it had already started to become dark.

I guess I’ll head over to Fel and have dinner. Picking up the bag Sui was in, I headed for the kennel.

I feel like eating something hearty today. I have the ground meat, let’s go with that since it’s easy and delicious. Before that, I used my skill to buy eggplants and the tubed sweet and spicy Chinese miso I’d used before.

Now then, let’s get to making that ground meat and eggplant sweet and spicy Chinese miso stir fry.

~◇~◇~◇~

Leave the skin on the eggplants and cut them into around 2cm squares. Cook the eggplant morsels in a frying pan with a larger amount of oil than usual until they’re heated through.

Then, add the ground meat (I made it 7 parts orc general to 3 parts bloody horn-bull) and sauté until the meat changes color. Add extra large amounts of meat for Fel and Sui’s portion.

Add in a little bit of the sweet and spicy Chinese miso mixed with water to the mixture, and let the flavors get to know each other before putting in some potato starch to get rid of some of the excess water and add some thickness to the dish. After doing so, the dish is complete.

~◇~◇~◇~

Looks delicious~

This would be incredibly satisfying eaten with rice, and so, for Fel and Sui’s share, I put the stir fry on a bed of rice on their plates before giving it to them: I served them an eggplant and ground meat sweet and spicy Chinese miso rice bowl.

“Here you go.”

“Mm, what a nice smell.”

《It really is~》

The two of them started eating.

“This is great with this syrupy thing mixed in.”

“Yeah, yeah.” That’s because I made it thick with potato starch, so it sticks to the rice. Nice to see you guys got it.

They looked like they were enjoying it, but this might not be enough for the two of them. Maybe I should bring out that cheese stuffed chicken cutlet I made the other day.

“That isn’t enough for you guys, right? Here, have this too.”

《Ah, that white gooey delicious thing is in here, wow—! Sui loves this white thing—!》

It looks like Sui’s really loving that cheese. If I get some more time later it might be worth it to make some more stuff with cheese.

“Seconds.” Fel quickly demanded more after finishing his bowl.

《Sui wants more too.》

Ahh, Sui too, I see.

While I was making seconds for them, the two were happily enjoying the cheese stuffed chicken cutlet I gave them.

“Here you are.” I gave them their seconds. I also made sure to give them more rice this time around.

Now then, I should eat too. First, a bite. The thick sauce of the stir-fry wrapped around the rice and it was divine.

This really stirs the appetite. The eggplant and ground meat and sweet and spicy Chinese miso really complement each other. Especially the eggplant and miso.

“More of this, too.”

Yeah yeah, more of the cheese stuffed chicken cutlet, right? I handed more of the cutlet to Fel.

《Sui wants to eat more of that thing we ate before. The cooked meat with the white gooey thing inside.》

Ah, the cheese stuffed Hamburg steak, huh?

“The cheese-stuffed Hamburg steak, right? Sui, is that what you want to eat?”

《Yeah. Cuz having that white gooey stuff inside the meat is good!》

Man, Sui sure does love cheese.

“Then, just a little.”

《Thanks, master—!》

Wow Sui sure is cute, isn’t it?

While I was cooking the cheese stuffed patties, Fel asked for a share as well, so I ended up cooking more for the both of them. Smelling the scent of the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce made me want some as well.

The patties were delicious, but I think I ate a little too much.

*Berpp*

Gossip: The Three Heroes

““““““SUMMON HEROES!””””””

Those were words from a light novel my little sister got hooked on recently. I tried reading it myself to kill time, but the contents were trash. It was a story of common students or salarymen getting summoned to another world and gaining cheat-level powers. And they beat the demon lord. And in the process, they gathered a harem.

It made me want to snort and ask, “What the hell is this?!”

But right now, I was — no, we were just called to another world by a similar spell.

It was me, Saitou Kaito, and Oono Kanon and Yoshida Rio, who also go to my school... and some random salaryman.

Kanon, Rio, and I recently became 2nd years and were in the same class, and we got along pretty well. We all went the same direction going home as well, so we would leave school together.

Today was the same.

At the same crosswalk we always passed. Waiting for the light to turn green while chatting with each other. There might have been a salaryman in a suit behind us.

Then suddenly, our surroundings shone brightly......

And next thing we knew, we were here.

“Heroes!” So said a smiling, pretty, blonde-haired blue-eyed girl who was wearing a princess dress straight out of a fairytale. We were standing in the middle of a circular magic formation surrounded by men and women in robes. There were also armored knights standing flush against the walls of the room. It was exactly like the art from the light novel I borrowed from my little sister.

“This is... a hero summoning......?” While I was still surprised and spaced out, the world still turned without me, and things progressed.

We were told that this really was a hero summoning, like I suspected, and that there were supposed to be three of us summoned, but for some reason there were four.

Since there was a need to immediately confirm our statuses, an appraisal was held. So, while I still wasn’t sure what was going on, we were examined by an appraising magic tool.

【Name】 Kaito Saitou

【Age】 17

【Job】 Hero from Another World

【Level】 1

【HP】 800

【MP】 769

【Attack】 772

【Defense】 759

【Agility】 746

【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Holy Sword Arts, Fire magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Wind magic, Light magic, Lightning magic, Ice magic

That was my status from the appraisal.

I was a hero. Kanon and Rio both had similar statuses and were also heroes.

Looking at my status, it somehow really hit home that I was a hero. I made fun of the light novel that I borrowed from my little sister, but in reality, becoming a hero and getting acknowledged as such wasn’t bad. Everyone respectfully called me hero; it kind of felt good. Neither Kanon nor Rio seemed too bothered by it, either.

Only the salaryman’s job was “Victim from Another World.” His status was also significantly lower than ours, and his only skills were Appraisal and Item Box, which were guaranteed to summoned heroes. Since he also had them even though he wasn’t a hero, that meant that the skills were actually given to those summoned from another world.

Not only that, but it looked like he had a unique skill, but it was... “Online Supermarket.”

I was like, “What the heck is that??” We were summoned here to be heroes, so they must have wanted people with strong skills. But his was ‘Online Supermarket,’ I could just die laughing.

At any rate we were able to confirm our statuses, so we went to have an audience with the king. Apparently, we were summoned because the demon king was invading their lands and they were having trouble. And so, they wanted us heroes to somehow save them. It also felt nice to be relied on by the king, who was the highest authority here.

I’m fine with doing it, but what about Kanon and Rio?

“What should we do?” I tried asking the two of them.

“Hmm... well, it’s not like we have anywhere else to go, and if the demon king knows the way back, then I think it’s fine.”

“I agree with Kanon. Also, we have power, don’t we? I want to use that power to help suffering people.”

When the three of us agreed, the king, the queen, the princess, and all the other important people were happy. It made me feel even more like a hero, and raised my spirits.

But apparently the salaryman was different.

“Seeing as how I’m not a hero, I’d only be causing everyone trouble by remaining here. Doing that would riddle me with guilt, so if I could just have enough money to live during the two or three months it would take for me to find employment, I’d like to leave and live on my own.” Or so he said.

But in reality, it might be better that way. With his status, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with us. It doesn’t seem like he’d be able to fight like that, after all.

The salaryman took his leave, and Kanon, Rio, and I talked about the future.

“First, you need to get stronger.” Said the knight brigade leader. “So to start off we’ll have you register as adventurers, and do your best to level up.”

Thus, we were introduced to three of the most elite knights of the brigade. But man, I sure was surprised. I mean I’m 180cm tall myself, and my face isn’t bad; I’ve even been told I look like I’m a Johnny’s. Kanon has upward slanting eyes, giving her a headstrong look, but with her strong facial features and long black hair which compliments her body type, she’s a slender beauty. Even Rio’s cute enough to have rumors about her since she looks like a currently popular idol, though she’s a little short.

That’s why I was aware we were pretty good looking and popular, but these three were in another league.

“My name is Leonard Hume. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Leonard was taller than me, with silky blond hair and green eyes, he was the picture of a princely handsome guy. Rio was staring at Leonard with rapt attention and a red face.

She’s fallen for him, hasn’t she?

“I’m Aaron Palera. Pleased to meet you, heroes.”

Aaron was also taller than me, with fiery red locks and brown eyes; he was handsome in a wild way.

Ah, this bastard just winked at Kanon. But it didn’t look like Kanon hated it.

“My name is Luise Winkler. Heroes, I will be in your care.”

The lone female knight, Luise. Luise was, how should I put it......

I fell for her at first glance. She was just like my beloved and admired Hollywood actresses. Around 165cm in height, she was blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and slim, but with curves in all the right places. Her neatly cut golden hair went down to her shoulders, and her clear blue eyes and smart facial features were just like the Hollywood actresses I saw on the other side of the screen. When I thought of her, right there, within arm’s reach, my heart fluttered.

First we had to register as adventurers, but it was already looking like a fun journey.

Chapter 6: Wyvern Attack

I headed to Lambert’s store to hand him the stock for our test run. Marie greeted me as soon as I entered the store.

“Sir Mukohda, I’ve been waiting!”

Ohh, it looks like someone’s excited.

“We’ve decided on thirty each for now, so I’ve got them here. Where should I put them?”

“Then, how about over here?” There was a new shelf placed in the corner of Lambert’s store.

So they’ve already prepared a space.

“I asked my husband and got a shelf built immediately. I also started advertising to my friends already, so we should have some customers soon, maybe later today.”

S-So she already started advertising...

For now, I left the merchandise on the shelf, and Marie lined them up properly.

“Yes, this is fine.” Marie said, looking at the final placement of our products.

“Sir Mukohda, please, this way.”

I followed Marie into the parlor. Lambert was waiting inside.

“Mukohda, thank you for your quick shipment. This is the promised 84 gold, and this is your reimbursement for the bottles. Please make sure the amount is correct.” Just like with the black serpent, he presented them to me in stacks of 10.

“I have certainly received the proper amount.” I wanted to put them into my sand snake wallet, but it was already pretty full with the money from the black serpent yesterday. Since I had no other choice, I put the money in one of the bags I bought to put soap in.

Having finished business, Lambert accompanied me back to the store’s entrance, but there were apparently already some customers here for the beauty products, and Marie was properly receiving them. Both Lambert and I were surprised.

“You really can’t underestimate a lady’s information gathering abilities, can you?”

“Indeed.” Marie had said that she’d advertised to her friends, but I didn’t even imagine that they’d already line up to buy them.

“Please give my regards to Marie. If there’s any trouble, just send a message to the inn and I’ll come immediately.” Saying that, I left Lambert’s store behind.

“Now what should I do... I don’t have anything planned.”

“Mm, then why not go hunting?” Fel, who was next to me, recommended hunting.

“Ehhh, I don’t really feel like it. Well, I am free...... I’m fine with it as long as you don’t take me anywhere weird.”

“What do you mean, weird?”

“Something like a goblin settlement.” I didn’t have any decent memories of goblins, for reasons like suddenly being forced into a whole settlement of them.

“It is more strange that you are scared of weaklings such as goblins.”

“Shut up. It’s your fault I’ve been traumatized.”

“Hmph, your cowardice is to blame.”

“Cowardice...? Well, I hate to say it, but I can’t deny that. Anyway, we can go hunting, but safety is the most important thing.”

“Hmphht, I get it, I understand.”

Don’t you laugh through your nose at me. Safety is important.

“Ah, then let’s head over to the Adventurer’s guild and see what kind of requests we can take.”

And so, we headed for the guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When we entered the Adventurer’s guild, one of the employees called out to us.

“Sir Mukohda, yes? We have been told by the guildmaster to show you to his room if you were to come, so please follow me.”

I followed the employee to the guildmaster’s room.

“Master, Mukohda has arrived.”

“Got it, come in.”

When I entered, the guildmaster was at his desk writing something on a sheaf of paper. “I’ll finish soon, so just sit and wait, please.”

When I sat down in a chair, the guildmaster promptly finished his paperwork and took a seat across from me. “It looks like you took care of the bloody horn-bulls right away. I’m very thankful.”

“No problem, Fel also wanted to eat the bloody horn-bulls himself.” I shot a glance at Fel, who was lying down resting, as I said that.

“I see. Even so, I’m thankful. Also, I finally finished talks with Earl Langridge. He’s incredibly grateful as well. I mean, there’s a mithril mine involved, after all. So here’s the deal: he’s said that he would really like you to go over and meet him so he can express his gratitude, but I told him that you didn’t really want to stand out. He tried to insist, but when I said, ‘You should have been told about this, it’s the guy with the Fenrir,’ the earl was pretty shaken. Well, he gave up after that, though. But still, he’s really thankful to you.”

So that means that he won’t be coming back with Earl Langridge in tow or anything, right? Ahhh, thank goodness.

“As for the reward, Earl Langridge put in some real effort. For the extermination of the mithril lizard, the discovery of a mithril mine, and the price for the mithril lizard’s carcass, all told, you’ll be getting 5800 gold.”

...............

............

......

... F-F i f t y - e i g h t   h u n d r e d? Huh, that’s weird. I thought I heard 5800 gold, but have my ears gone bad or something?

“Uhmm, did... you just say 5800 gold?”

“Yeah. 5800 gold.”

...............5800 gold. 5800 gold, 5800 gold, 5800 gold......

“I understand you’re surprised, but it just means what you did is worth that much.”

What I did? Fel did all that.

“It’s a lot of money, so it’ll be paid in large gold coins. So you’ll be getting 580 large gold coins.”

*THUD* *THUD* went the bags of gold as they were put on the table. When I took a peek inside, I saw oversized gold coins that must have been the standard large gold coin. A gold coin was about as big as a 500 yen coin, but a large gold coin was, just as its name suggested, about one and a half times bigger than a regular gold coin.

How should I put this... It’s a bit of a complicated feeling since I wasn’t the one who earned this, but I’ll take it. I want a bath, after all.

I stored the bags with the gold inside them into my Item Box. Just as I finished storing the last one, a violent knocking sound occurred.

“Guildmaster, it’s terrible! A-A flight of wyverns has appeared!!” So said the panicked employee when they were called into the guildmaster’s room.

“What do you mean by a flight of wyverns?!” From the guildmaster’s voice and expression, I could tell the situation was quite bad.

“Th-The western plains were reopened, and a party of six beginner adventurers went there. And some wyverns suddenly appeared...... The beginner adventurers somehow managed to escape with their lives by the skin of their teeth, but two of them are heavily injured. One of them isn’t in danger of dying, but the other one was poisoned by them on top of having really awful wounds......”

“There were reports of lone wyverns... so those were scouts, huh? They must have come for the bloody horn-bulls, but they’d already been exterminated and weren’t there. So they went for the adventurers that were there instead? Shit!”

Wha? Huh? Should we not have killed those bloody horn-bulls? But it’s already happened, so there’s nothing to be done about it, I guess. Wait, so here wyverns have poison? I see......

“What happened to the antidote potions?”

“U-Unfortunately we’re out of stock...”

“Tch. Then what about high potions? High potions won’t cure poison, but it should buy time until we can get some.”

“Th-That’s...... we have a lot of mid potions, so we’re somehow managing with those.”

“Why the hell are we out of high and antidote potions when we actually need them?!”

“S-Sorry!!”

“Anyway, buy time with those mid potions!”

Potions............ Ah!

“U-Uhmm, I... have high potions.” I took out the bottle with Sui’s special high-grade potion in it.

Thank goodness I decided to switch it over to this regular bottle from the plastic one I was using. I did so a while before when I found a bottle at the general store. I also had Sui make some mid-grade and low-grade potions while we were at it, and including those, I had five bottles of high-grade potion and ten bottles each of mid- and low-grade potions ready.

“Of course you’d have high grade potions for personal use. Sorry, we’ll gladly make use of those. I’ll make sure to pay you later.” Saying that, the guildmaster ran off with Sui’s potion in his hand. The guild employee followed after him.

There was no point in staying, so I followed as well.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

There was a crowd on the floor in front of the reception counter.

“Move, move!”

The crowd parted in response to the guildmaster’s words. There was a blood-soaked man lying down in the center of the crowd.

If I remember right, wyverns with poison use them through a barb on the tail, right? The man was apparently stabbed by that barb in the stomach, and the blood just kept pouring out. Not only that, but the area around the wound had turned an ugly shade of violet.

The guildmaster poured Sui’s special high-grade potion on the man’s stomach wound. The man’s wound visibly closed up where the potion was poured on him, and the skin that had changed colors also turned back to normal.

“W-What the heck?? ......Both the wound and the poison are......” Saying that, the guildmaster looked at me as if he had something to say.

N-No, uhh, could you not look at me like that, please? I purposefully did not meet the guildmaster’s eyes and pretended like I wasn’t there.

There’s no way I can explain anything with all these adventurers here.

“W-Well, it looks like this guy’s fine. Let him rest in the first aid room.”

The guildmaster gave orders to the staff members as he got up before calling out in a loud voice.

“OI! YOU ALL KNOW ALREADY THAT A FLIGHT OF WYVERNS HAS APPEARED. EVERYBODY C-RANK AND ABOVE WILL HAVE TO GO FIGHT THEM, YOU DON’T GET TO REFUSE. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY QUEST FROM THE GUILD!!”

The adventurers that were in the room started making a fuss in response to the guildmaster’s words.

“BE QUIET! I GET THAT YOU’RE ALL HESITATING BECAUSE IT’S WYVERNS. BUT STILL, YOU ALL MUST GO. OTHERWISE, IT’LL ONLY BE A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL THEY ATTACK THE TOWN! ADVENTURERS EXIST FOR JUST THIS KIND OF SITUATION. AREN’T YOU ALL ADVENTURERS? THEN AS ADVENTURERS, COME TOGETHER AND SAVE THIS TOWN!”

““““““YEAH!!””””””

Woahhh, they sure are fired up.

...Wait, huh? Didn’t he say that C-ranks and above can’t refuse the quest? ......I’m a C-rank!!!

“Wait, humans.” said, Fel, who’d been quiet up until now. Fel’s voice resounded with mysterious clarity inside the Adventurer’s guild.

The place went dead quiet in an instant. I could hear faint whispers along the lines of, “It’s a Fenrir......” and “Wait, wasn’t it a great wolf?”

“I shall finish off that flight of wyverns.”

What? What are you doing deciding that by yourself?

“Wai— Fel, what are you saying?!”

“Mm? Is it not fine? It will be good exercise. Also, wyvern meat is delicious, did I not just tell you that?”

“Nonono, that’s not the problem here.”

“Hey, that human there, if I were to kill all the wyverns they would become ours, is that right?” Fel asked, looking straight at the guildmaster.

“O-Of course. The defeated wyverns go to those who defeated them. Also, if you kill them there’ll be a reward.”

“Good. If that is the case, then we must hurry. I will be able to fight well for the first time in a while.”

No that’s not it, no. You need to listen to other people more. Wait, no, of course this is not okay!!

“Fight well? Please stop that. It’s more likely the town’ll be destroyed because of you instead of the wyverns like this. Please, just stop. Keep it in check!!”

“Mmuh......”

《Master— are we fighting? Sui will fight too—!》 Even Sui crawled out of its bag and communicated that through telepathy.

The adventurers who were being quiet and watching us started whispering amongst themselves, “Hm? Wait, is that a slime?” and “So he’s got a slime as a familiar.”

“You fools. Sui is a slime but not even all of you together would be able to match it.” When Fel said that, the place fell silent for a second time.

Setting aside the fact that Fel just defended Sui, isn’t it pretty much completely out in the open that Fel’s a Fenrir now? *Sigh~* Even though I’ve been trying so hard up until now to hide it...

Well, since I’ve got assurances from above from this country, isn’t it fine...?

“Great Fel, please save this town with your power!” The guildmaster bowed his head as he said that.

“Understood. I shall.” Fel said, nodding.

“We’ll be in your care, Mukohda.”

Huh? Why are you including me, guildmaster?

“I think you guys all get it, but I’ll say it again. Don’t get any weird ideas about Fel and Mukohda. This comes from the king as well. Anybody who does something untoward won’t be able to live in this country any longer. In that case, the guild won’t help, either.”

Huh? Ehhh? You’re saying that now, guildmaster??

“Hey, get on.”

“Wha?”

“We are going to kill the wyverns.”

“No way. No way, man. You go by yourself. I’ll wait here.”

“You fool. I will be hungry after the exercise. I will not be able to eat if you are not around.”

W-What the heck? Is he telling me to go somewhere dangerous with him just for the sake of food?

“Stop whining and get on.”

“Mukohda, the town is in danger. Please.”

G-Guildmaster, are you trying to make me a sacrifice?

“Hurry up!” Fel headbutted me to hurry me up.

“Woah—” I just happened to fall on Fel’s back.

“If you do not hold on properly, you will fall.”

“Fuck, why is this happening to me?” Without any other choice, I clung to Fel.

While I was doing that, I could hear the other adventurer’s voices.

“We’re saved......”

“Yeah. It’s a flight of wyverns, you know? Even if everyone C-ranked an above here went, over half of them probably would have died.”

...............A-Are they really that dangerous?

“Then let us go.” At those words, Fel ran off to the western grasslands.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO MEEEE—————!!!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We had just arrived at the western grasslands, which had turned into a danger zone due to a wyvern invasion.

I really don’t want to be here, though. No, I mean I really, really, truly did not want to come.

“Hmph, so that’s them. Flying around as if they own the place.”

1, 2, 3, 4...... There are 12 wyverns in total. Th-They sure are big...

Looking at their form while flying, they were less like wyverns and more like the Pteranodons that appear in movies.

Fel, will you really be alright?

“Gyaaggh! Gyaaghh! Gyaaagghh!”

W-What an awful cry. Wait, huh? Aren’t those wyverns coming this way?

“So they are coming.”

“Wh-Huh? A-Are we being targeted? W-W-W-What do we do?!”

“Do not cower. It is fine, I have put up a barrier.”

“N-No... even if you tell me that......”

《Are we fighting those—?》 Sui said as it jumped out of my bag.

“Ah, Sui, don’t come out!!”

“That is correct, Sui.”

《The huge things are flying, aren’t they~?》

“I shall teach you how to hunt flying prey. Come with me.”

《Sure!》

“Wai— Huh? A-Are you going? Actually wait, no, don’t go teaching Sui weird things!!”

“You wait here. Sui, let us be off.”

《Yeesss!》

“Ah, w-wait!!”

Fel took Sui with him to go after the wyverns without listening to me. The wyverns were aiming for us, gliding closer at low altitude. It looked like they would be attacking at any second.

“Goddammit, listen when people are talking!!”

Fel and Sui were around 300 meters away, right underneath the wyverns.

《Listen closely, Sui. When trying to hunt flying targets, first go for either the head or the wings. If you hit the head they die instantly, but the target is small, so the head is easy to miss. In those cases, go for the wings. Most things will fall to the ground if you hit their wings. And once they do, you can finish them off at your leisure.》 He must have switched to telepathy, because I could hear Fel’s voice in my head.

《Got it. The head or the wings, right? Sui will try it!》

H-Hey, hey, try? What are you planning to do, Sui? Hm? Is that a tentacle? Sui pointed a long and thin something from his body to the wyverns.

“Gyaaghh! Gyaaaghhh!” One of the flying wyverns fell.

《Ahh~ I missed —and I went for the head, too...》

S-Sui, did you just shoot an Acid Bullet from that tentacle? Are you a sniper or something?!

《What did I just tell you? The head is small, so it is easy to miss. But still, that was a pretty good hit, it seems. It looks like you got the base of its wings, it will not be flying anymore.》

《Yaaayyy! Sui was praised~. Sui’s gonna hit all of them—! There! There!》 More and more wyverns fell out of the sky, struck by Sui’s Acid Bullets.

《I cannot just let Sui take all the credit. I will be taking action as well.》 Saying that, Fel created rocks slightly larger than volleyballs and sent them flying, knocking down three wyverns.

...............What the heck are these two?

I did think that both Fel and Sui were strong, but watching them take down one flying monster after another, I was feeling my sense of balance and common sense fade away.

《There, now all of them have been shot down.》

《Yeah!》

《Once that is done, we have to finish them off, but their meat is delicious. That is why you must try not to harm them too much. In that case, the most effective way is to cut off their heads. Like this.》

*Thwap!* *Roll* *Roll*......

Fel must have used Wind magic. The wyvern’s head came clean off and rolled around.

............F-Fel, have you suddenly become a guillotine?

《Got it. Sui will try to do it like Uncle Fel.》

《These things have a little bit of magic resistance to them, so if you are going to use magic to cut off their heads, you will have to use a little more power than usual.》

《Ok!》 Saying that, Sui approached a wyvern and swiftly removed its head.

Did he use the Water Cutter?

《Yayy! I did it—!》

《Indeed. That was a pretty good job. You have gotten the trick. Sui, let us finish the rest of them off.》

《Yeah!》

The two of them removed the wyvern’s heads one after the other.

N-No hesitation, huh? I-I’m kind of feeling that somewhat, kind of, that my Sui’s turning into another Fel......

If this keeps going, won’t it be called the legendary slime, or something? N-No. No way. Th-That won’t happen. Definitely not. Sui will remain cute for all time.

“Gyaahhhsss!!” An even larger cry rang out along with an accompanying gust of wind.

Ghhh...

A single wyvern came down before me. Apparently, there were thirteen wyverns, not twelve.

Could I possibly be... dead here?

“Gyaaagghh! Gyaagghh! Gyaaggghhhhh!” The wyvern whose friends were killed was incredibly mad.

“HEEYYYYYYYYY!!! FEL, DOOO SOMETHIIINNGGGG!!!”

*Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!*

The wyvern stabbed at me with its poison barb over and over again.

But thanks to Fel’s barrier, the barb didn’t get through and I was saved.

*Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!* *Thunk!*

“Hiiiihh!!” My waist gave out at the sight of the dauntless wyvern stabbing its barb at me over and over, without giving up.

《So there was still one left. Die.》

*Fwshh*

All of a sudden, the wyvern lost its head right in front of me. Blood spurted out from its severed neck stump.

*THUD*

The wyvern’s body fell over sideways.

《Wowww, Uncle Fel’s strooonggg!》 An excited Sui jumped all around the place.

“I-I’m saved......”

“Really, you sure are loud. As if something like a wyvern could ever pierce my barrier.”

“S-Something like a wyvern......*Sigh* Something that big stabbing its poison barb at me is scary, you know?” Don’t lump me in with someone like you.

“I had expected more out of this because they said there was a flight of wyverns, but it appears that it was only a small flight, I see. Sui was here as well, so it did not even count as exercise.”

So twelve or thirteen wyverns is a small flight to him...... Wow, is there no end to Fel’s strength?

“Now then, let’s recover these bodies and go back.”

“Mm? Not yet. Not until we have eaten.”

《Sui’s also hungry and wants to eat!》

......Of course this would be it in the end. Hahhh~ Well, he did bring me all this way for food. Oh well, I guess I’ll cook something. First, I have to put away the wyvern bodies...... wait a minute.

“Sui, can you suck out all the blood from those wyvern carcasses?” Sui was able to clean up an entire lake of blood from those bloody horn-bulls, so I thought it’d be able to do that.

《Yeah, Sui can—.》

“Wyvern blood? What are you planning on doing?” Fel asked, dubiously.

“You know, draining the blood properly gets rid of the smell and makes sure there’s less of a weird gamey taste in the meat, so it’s more delicious.”

“Ohh, is that so? Sui, go suck out the blood.”

So you become like that the second I mention good meat, huh? Wow.

“Ah, oh yeah, don’t wyverns have poison? Will that poison affect the blood or meat?”

“The wyvern’s poison is only in its tail barb and the poison sac located somewhere in the tail proper, so as long as you are careful of that, it should be fine. There is no effect on its blood or meat.”

Hmm, is that so? “Sui, apparently its poison sac is in the tail, so be careful. So, can you go suck out the blood?”

《Yeah, got it—.》 Sui started shaking as it said that.

Oh, are you gonna become a big slime? So that means you’re gonna make your clones do it?

《Everyone — go suck out the blood of those monsters over there—.》 Sui gave out those orders to its clones, and they all went for the wyverns and stuck themselves to the stumps of the defeated monsters’ necks in order to suck out the blood. The clear slimes gradually became redder and redder, and before long the slimes slowly fell to the ground as they finished sucking out the wyverns’ blood.

《Master — it’s finished—.》

“Thanks, Sui.” I threw all the blood drained wyvern carcasses into my Item Box. I wondered what to do with the heads, but eventually I decided to bring them back, just in case. I then thought to begin preparing food, but the area still reeked of blood.

“Sorry Sui, but can you also suck up all the wyvern blood left over in this area?”

《Yeah, sure—.》 The clones started sucking up the blood that had fallen to the ground as well.

Good, now it’s clean and we can eat.

“Thanks, Sui. I’ll go and make something good, okay?”

《Yayyy—! Sui wants to eat quickly—!》

“Mnn, I want something good, too.”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Now then, what should I make? I asked myself, before coming to the conclusion: Eating that while it’s freshly made under this blue sky would be awesome, so let’s go with that.

I would be making a Hamburg steak cutlet.

Both Fel and Sui had eaten some already through pre-prepared side dishes bought with my skill, but freshly fried ones were on another level. Not only that, but I was thinking of making three kinds: one with 100% bloody horn-bull meat, one with 100% orc general meat, and one with an even mix of both.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, chop the onions up finely.

Then, make the base of the cutlet. The base is similar to that of the Hamburg steak, but this time I was thinking of using raw panko since I had in mind the kind of Hamburg steak cutlet that was served in stores.

So, I’ll buy more of the breadcrumbs with my skill since I don’t have enough. I’ll also make sure to buy some premium canned beer, since it will definitely go great with freshly fried Hamburg steak cutlet.

First, the mixed meat cutlet. To make the base of the Hamburg steak cutlet, first steep a small amount of raw panko in some milk. Then, mix in the meat, finely chopped onions, an egg, and salt and pepper until it starts feeling sticky. Mold the base into a flat, round shape.

Since I can’t be expected to eat regular sized Hamburg steak cutlets over and over, I’ll make my portion a little smaller.

Like this, I’ll be able to eat and compare all three types.

Take the base and fully dip into wheat flour, beaten egg wash, and raw breadcrumbs in that order, before frying it in oil to a crisp.

~◇~◇~◇~

*Gulp*......Oh man, it’s frying up nicely. Looks delicious. I’ll do a taste test...

I took a bite without adding anything to the cutlet. *Crunch*

How juicy. The meat juices came pouring out. It tasted good and fresh, and it was even crispier than normal thanks to the raw panko. It was a simple cutlet without any sauces or anything on it, but it worked well since it was freshly made.

“Hey, what are you doing eating on your own. Give me some, too.”

Ahhh sure sure, just wait a minute.

“Here you go. First is the mixed meat cutlet. It’s a mix of bloody horn-bull and orc general meat. Be careful, it’s hot.”

“Oohhh, this is hot, but delicious. The meat juices come flooding out from inside.”

《It’s true, this is great!》

The two of them put down the plain cutlet in a single gulp.

“Next, try it with sauce on top.”

I really recommend this cutlet with sauce.

“Oohh, with this black stuff on it, the dish reaches a new level of tastiness.”

《Yeah yeah!》

It looks like the two of them prefer it with sauce. Then I’ll get to making a whole ton of this stuff, I guess.

I steadily fried up more and more cutlets of all three kinds: mixed meat, 100% bloody horn-bull, and 100% orc general.

“This is bloody horn-bull Hamburg steak cutlet, and this is orc general Hamburg steak cutlet.”

The two of them wolfed the food down.

“There’s three types, but which one did you guys like best?”

“Hmm, all of them are good, but I prefer this one with just the bloody horn-bull.”

《Sui also thinks they’re all tasty, but this one is the best, Sui thinks.》 Sui said, pointing a tentacle at the orc general cutlet.

“I see. I prefer the mixed meat cutlet, I think. So the three of us splendidly split our preferences amongst the three different types, huh?”

“Why? All of them are delicious. Is it not fine to just make all of the types? This is good so I would want you to make more.”

《Sui also wants to eat it again.》

He says that it’s fine to just make all three kinds, but I’m the one spending the effort... Well, it’s true that all 3 are good, so I don’t mind making it again.

《Whew~, Sui’s so full...》

“Indeed, I am too.”

Leave aside one of the mixed meat cutlets, and preserve the rest... there. Now then, let’s enjoy this last one slowly.

*Pfssst* *Gulp-gulp-gulp*

Hahhh~ Beer’s amazing.

I took a bite of the fresh mixed meat cutlet, this time with some sauce on it.

*Crunch*

It’s amazingly tasty, with the flood of meat juice.

After swallowing the cutlet, I promptly had a gulp of beer. “Hooo~, that’s good. That’s just the best.”

I leisurely enjoyed the collaboration between the cutlet and beer.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Entering the Adventurer’s guild, I saw the guildmaster and his employees, adventurers, and, for some reason, the knight captain from a while back wearing full plate.

“Ohh, so you’re fine!!” The guildmaster approached at speed.

“Yes, I’m fine. The wyverns are all dead, too. Isn’t that right, Fel?”

“Indeed. There was no sign of other wyverns, so that was probably it.”

“So he says.” As soon as I said that, there was a cry raised that shook the ground.

“““““““YEEAAHHHHHHH!!!””””””” The adventurer’s celebrated, patting each other on the back.

It’s fine that they’re celebrating since the danger has passed, but was it really that big a deal?

“Mannn — you guys were taking your sweet time coming back, so there were guys here saying things like ‘even if he’s a Fenrir, isn’t it too much to be taking on a flight of wyverns on by himself?’ The guys here were all pretty worried. I thought it would be fine, but I’ll admit I got some cold shoulders as time dragged on.” So the guildmaster explained.

I-I see... I mean, the wyvern extermination itself didn’t take that much time. It was the meal after... I can’t tell him it’s because we ate afterward...

“As if I would ever be bested by a wyvern. We were late because we had a meal.”

Wai— Fel! You can’t just say that!

“Eating... a meal......?”

Eh, no, ummm......... Could everyone not stare at us with such dubious expressions...?

Sui jumped out of my bag and started bouncing around me excitedly.

《Today’s food was super-duper good~!》

“Indeed. Today’s meal was a treat.”

No, no, you guys, try to read the mood a bit... Also Sui, you’re using telepathy so the only ones that can hear you are Fel and I. What do I even do about this weird atmosphere...?

“Uh-Uhmmm......”

“W-Well, talking here is a bit... Let’s just go to my room. The captain should come, too.”

“Y-Yeah.” The captain hastily followed after the guildmaster and left the room.

In the guildmaster’s room, the guildmaster was sat across from me, and the knight captain next to me.

“First off, we thank you for saving this city.” The guildmaster bowed his head as he talked.

“I will also give my thanks. Normally my knight brigade and the Adventurer’s guild would join forces to subjugate them, but you gallantly stepped forth instead. Truly, I am grateful.” The knight captain also bowed his head.

“No no — I wasn’t the one who did it, Fel and Sui were.”

“I understand Fel, but that slime too? It looks like that slime has power far beyond what its appearance suggests.” The guildmaster was looking at Sui, who was staying quiet on my lap as he talked.

“Yes. Sui is unique, and quite strong.”

“I see. I suppose it must be true coming from you. I’m grateful for your extermination of the wyverns.” The guildmaster said toward Fel and Sui.

Fel lay down on the ground without hesitation, and Sui jiggled in response.

“So, how many wyverns were there?”

“There were thirteen in total.”

“Th-Thirteen......?” Both the guildmaster and the knight captain had put on stern faces at my response.

“To think that there were thirteen of them... If the knight brigade and adventurers were to try and take them on, half of us would have died.”

“I don’t think it would be just half, guildmaster. We might even have been wiped out if we were unlucky.”

“Yeah......”

Eh? R-Really? That bad? Fel and Sui beheaded the wyverns with ease, so I didn’t think it would be that serious. Though, when I was attacked at the very end, I got scared out of my wits as well.

“So that means we were lucky, weren’t we?”

“It would appear so, guildmaster. But still, we shouldn’t just rely on luck. Since we don’t know where or when something like this will happen.”

“Agreed.”

“Part of the reason is because this town is peaceful, but it seems that my knights have been slacking slightly. There were people who were scared at the mention of wyverns, and even more who were clearly relieved when we heard that Sir Mukohda went to defeat them on his own...”

“My adventurers were the same.”

“I’ve decided. I’ll retrain my knights from scratch. And I’ll make them into fine knights who are able to deal with any situation if and when it comes.”

“That’s a good idea. I’m also thinking of taking another look at our guild’s point system. You can’t really call them real adventurers if they just gather up points to rank up, after all. I’ll just have to make them suffer a bit more so we can grow the numbers of decent adventurers. Hahaha.”

............Those two are making kinda dangerous faces over there... You guys are scary, you know that?

Also, knights and adventurers, I’m sorry. I’m not really too sure what’s going on, but it looks like the knights will all be worked like pack mules, and the guildmaster said that he’d reconsider the points system, so adventurer’s will probably find it a lot harder to rank up than before. Do your best, I’m rooting for you all. I want to go home......

“Oh, sorry. We’ve been having a conversation on our own. So then, you brought back the wyvern bodies, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“How badly are they damaged?”

Damage? Both Fel and Sui beheaded them cleanly so there shouldn’t be too much of that, I think.

“They were all cleanly beheaded, so I don’t think they’re too damaged, but......”

“The w-wyverns were... beheaded? ......Amazing.”

“Indeed. Doing damage to wyverns, who have a resistance to magic, is hard even for mithril swords.”

Both the guildmaster and the knight captain were surprised, but I guess that would be the thing to be surprised at? Both Fel and Sui were just doing it like it was a breeze, though.

“So then, are you going to be selling the materials to us?”

“Yes. Other than the meat, that is.”

“I see. Then for now, let’s move to the storehouse?”

“Then I will be excusing myself here. I’ll need to start reeducating my knights immediately, you see. Once again, I truly thank you, Sir Mukohda.” The knight commander left those words behind before returning to his brigade’s office.

Don’t die, all you knights.

As for the guildmaster and I, we moved to the usual storehouse.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“It’s in good shape.”

“Yeah. It looks like we’ll be getting good materials out of them. There’s thirteen wyverns in all. So there should be another twelve exactly like this one,” said the guildmaster to his friend, old man Johan, while slapping the side of the only wyvern that I had released from my Item Box for the moment.

“Th-Thirteen? That’s a little...... It’s too much to fit in this storehouse all at once, so if you’re asking me to take care of them all in one go, it’ll be impossible.”

“Yeah I expected as much. If that’s the case, let’s split it into two loads?”

“That would be the only way. So we can do seven of them now and when that’s finished, the rest of them. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Are you fine with that?” The guildmaster, who’d been talking to Johan, suddenly turned the conversation toward me.

“Y-Yeah... You guys are talking about splitting the load, right? I’m fine with that.”

“By the way, I need to ask you... are you planning on selling us all the wyvern materials?”

“Yes. Just like usual, everything but the meat.”

“Hmmm, I see. But you know, we can’t handle this large an amount of wyvern materials. Even though I really want to, seeing how much profit we could stand to gain...”

Apparently, the useable parts of the S-ranked wyvern were not only its meat, but of course its hide, fangs, poison sac, poison needle, and magic stones. So leaving the meat aside, buying thirteen wyvern’s worth of materials would be too much for the guild moneywise.

“We’ll handle butchering the thirteen wyverns for free. As for the materials, would you let us just buy all the fangs, poison sacs, and poison needles, but only five each of their hides and magic stones?”

They’re butchering the wyverns for free, and I’m not at all troubled for money, so I don’t really see a problem with that at all.

“Yeah. That’s fine.”

“I see, thanks. But man, you’re just piling up money, aren’t you? With this sale alone, you’ll be getting more than 2500 gold, probably.”

M-More than 2500 gold......?

“Wyverns are S-ranked monsters, right? So their materials are just as valuable. Their hides and magic stones are especially expensive.”

Apparently, their hides were thin and tough and light on top of having magic resistance, so they were perfect for making mantles out of. Although those mantles were all expensive enough to make my eyes fly right out of my head. And it seemed that their magic stones were always fairly big, so there was no end of demand for them.

“Thanks to you, this guild’s seeing its largest profits since its inception, but even for us it’s impossible to handle thirteen wyverns. You can just sell the rest of the hides and magic stones to guilds in other towns whenever you find it convenient.”

I see, guilds in other towns, huh? We’ll probably be leaving the town eventually, so I’ll just have another town’s guild buy them when that happens. Since me keeping them would only be a waste.

Oh, but having a mantle made for myself might be nice. Since I only have the one I bought before made out of old rags. Maybe I’ll ask Lambert about it, since it’s about hides. He might even already handle mantles, and even if he doesn’t, he probably knows someone who does.

“Hey, can you take out the other six wyverns now?”

Having gotten that prompt from old man Johan, I released the other six wyverns.

“Let’s see... this will take three days, not counting today. Guildmaster, I’ll be taking out the mithril knife for this one.”

“I know, I know. Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since that thing’s seen use.”

Apparently butchering a wyvern was impossible without a mithril knife, since they resisted magic. And it seemed that since that mithril knife was made out of precious mithril, the guildmaster usually kept it in safekeeping.

Butchering wyverns seems real tough. At least for now they’ll take care of all the wyverns for me. Oh whoops, I almost forgot. I haven’t given them the mithril lizard yet.

“Uhh, guildmaster, I still have to give you the mithril lizard that we forgot about because of the wyverns.”

“Oh, ohhh, right. I also forgot. Man, that would’ve been bad if I gave you all that money and never got the lizard. Wahahaha.”

I brought the mithril lizard out from my Item Box.

“It’s magnificent every time I see it.”

“Agreed.”

Both the guildmaster’s and old man Johan’s eyes were glued onto the mithril lizard.

“Well then, I’ll be back in three days. And I’ll drop off the rest of the wyverns then.”

“Yeah, got it.”

“We were really saved by you being here today. If there’s anything bothering you, I’ll help out anytime. Just say the word,” said the guildmaster as he slapped my shoulder.

Wai— That hurts, guildmaster. Dammit, that old geezer’s way too powerful for his age!

Now then, let’s go home. I’ve got more money now, so tomorrow I’ll go look at some bathtubs. And if I like one, I’ll go ahead and buy it.

Gossip: Goddesses, Filled with Greed

The divine realm, Goddess of Wind Ninrir’s palace.

Here, the goddesses gathered.

The master of this palace and the goddess who presides over wind, Ninrir. She was a beautiful girl with long, platinum hair and deep, clear blue eyes.

The first of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir’s friends: The Goddess of Earth, Kisharle. With long, wavy, golden hair and dark eyes, as well as a generous chest to go along with her slim hips, she was a different kind of beauty than Ninrir.

The second of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir’s friends: The Goddess of Fire, Agni. She had burning, fiery red hair gathered up in a ponytail, paired with golden eyes and tanned swarthy skin. She was more of a healthy kind of beauty.

The third of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir’s friends: The Goddess of Water, Rusalka. She had the form of a beautiful child of around 7 or 8 years old, with deep blue hair reaching down to her shoulders, and green eyes.

The four goddesses were gathered around a water mirror, watching a certain group.

“That man, is he still not going to make an offering~?”

“I know. He’s kind of late.”

“Right? Someone send down an oracle.”

“......” (Nodding silently.)

The goddesses were getting impatient. It seemed that the sweets from otherworld Japan had charmed the other goddesses as well.

“Agni, you were the one that suggested an oracle. You do it.”

“Yeah~”

“......” (Nodding wordlessly.)

It looked like the other goddesses were going to push the role of sending an oracle onto Agni, the one who suggested the idea.

“W-Why me?! I don’t wanna. You all know that if I did that, the other gods might think that we’re doing something in the lower world. Not only that, but the Creator God would get mad again if he found out.”

“It’ll be fine. No one will find out if you just do it once. Even I did it one or two times and didn’t get discovered.” (Luckily.)

“She’s right~. You’ll be fine for at least one time.” (Of course, there’s no way we would know if she’ll get found out or not.)

“......You’ll be fine.” (I have no idea if she’ll be fine or not, but as long as it’s not me...)

The goddesses were pretty heartless. It looked as though they wanted to avoid inviting the Creator God’s wrath, no matter what.

“Grnnrnrn...... It can’t be helped, since I was the one to suggest it. But if I’m going to take on this much risk, I demand a reward. You guys said alcohol’s no good, but I’m going to ask the otherworlder for some. If you guys don’t want that to happen, you guys send the oracle.”

“Khh......” (Alcohol, huh? It does seem like it would attract some annoying people, but without an oracle, that guy......)

“Alcohol......” (It seems like it would attract those annoyances somehow but maybe 1 or 2 bottles might be fine?)

“.........” (It might attract those alcohol lovers, but it has nothing to do with me since I don’t like alcohol.)

It seemed that, as the goddesses agreed with what Agni was saying, they wanted to hurry and get their hands on their offerings more.

“Hey, what are you guys gonna do?”

The three goddesses started talking to each other, prompted by Agni.

“What do we do? I don’t think he’d remember to make an offering without an oracle. He’s already forgotten once.” (It’s for sweets. Agni, I’ll be counting on you. I’ll pick up your bones if something happens. I’ll go and tell that guy to give me extra while he’s praying. This time, I’ll make sure not to be heard by the other goddesses. Nufufufu...)

“Certainly, looking at this otherworlder boy’s actions, it seems like he’ll forget. I personally think one or two bottles of alcohol would be fine.” (If she’ll settle for only that much. Not to mention, I was considering sending my own oracle while that otherworlder boy prays~. I definitely need to get my hands on that soap and shampoo and hair treatment and stuff. I need to get the otherworlder boy to offer me that stuff no matter what. Oracles while he’s praying go both ways, so it’s harder to detect. I’ll do it then~.)

“I also think it’s fine.” (As long as she clears the first hurdle it’ll all be fine. I’ll be able to send the otherworlder an oracle. The sweets were good, but the savory stuff looked good too. I want to try some.)

The three’s opinions came together.

The goddesses were apparently faithful to their greed. However, that was maybe an understandable flaw — even though they were gods, being able to get their hands on things from another world did not happen very often.

“““That’s fine (Indeed!) (~) (Nod nod)”””

“However, only one or two bottles at most.”

“Exactly — those annoyances might get lured over if you get too much.”

“......” (Nodding vehemently.)

The three goddesses didn’t forget to drive the nail of their point into Agni. Agni was a heavy drinker on top of liking her alcohol, so they knew that if they didn’t drive home the point, she’d end up going off the rails.

“Tch! Fine, I get it!” Agni nodded reluctantly.

“Hey! Otherworlder, can you hear me? Hurry up and hand over your offerings!”

Truly an oracle befitting of Agni.

Meanwhile, the other three goddesses were reaching the climax of their greed.

(Sweets, come hell or high water—! I will get my hands on a huge amount of sweets! Especially dorayaki, that’s the highest priority.)

(Soap and shampoo and hair treatment. Oh, I also want that hair mask. Ahh~ I want to hurry up and try them out!)

(Food, Food, Food, Food, Food...)

The goddesses were vastly enjoying their ability to get their hands on otherworld Japanese products that they stumbled upon by chance.

Chapter 7: Mukohda Finally Gets a Bath

“Hm, there’ll be trouble if I don’t give my offerings to those goddesses soon.” I whispered to myself in my dim room, which I was relaxing in after having dinner. As for Sui, the slime was already asleep in my bag.

Just as I opened up the menu to start buying offerings, I heard a voice in my head.

＜Hey! Otherworlder, can you hear me? Hurry up and hand over your offerings!＞

“This voice... goddess Agni?”

＜Yep!＞

“I was just about to buy some offerings, so please wait a little.”

＜Really? If that’s the case, give me two of that alcohol you called beer you drank before.＞

“Huh? Is alcohol okay? You guys were talking about how it was no good before......”

＜This is Ninrir. This time is special. However, only two.＞

Special, huh? Well, if they’re fine with it then whatever.

＜Ahem, this is Ninrir, I have an important request for you. You realize that I am the first goddess to have given you her favor, yes? So, you know... I want you to increase my share of sweets. Especially dorayaki. I will not mind no matter how many of them I get. Ah, also, keep this a secret between you and me.＞

Ninrir, you divine disappointment, what are you doing? I just said that I was going to treat you all equally.

＜It’s me you know? Me. The Goddess of Earth, Kisharle. Otherworlder boy, you’ve started selling some pretty interesting stuff, haven’t you~? That soap and shampoo and hair treatment, and also that super effective hair mask. Give me some of that, okay~? Plea~se. Ah, this is a secret from the other goddesses, okay?＞

......Goddess Kisharle, you too? So it wasn’t just Ninrir who’s a divine disappointment.

＜......It’s me, Rusalka. Your food looks delicious. I want to eat it too. Give it to me. This is a secret, got it?＞

Miss Ruka...... What is wrong with this world’s goddesses? They’re all so disappointing. Uhmm, you know, you’ve all been talking about secrets and being hush hush and more secrets, but I think it’s super obvious if you all message me at once from the same place.

“Ahem! You know, goddesses, you all said stuff about ‘keeping it a secret,’ and being ‘hush hush’ and it being ‘just between us’ and stuff like that, but I’m sending you your stuff all at once, so I think you’ll all get found out.”

＜Hah! That’s right!＞

＜Oh my. Now that you mention it, you’re right.＞

＜Ugh...＞

＜Oi, what’s all this about?＞

＜N-No uhh, this is...Agni......＞

＜R-Right! This is...that... Yeah, that.＞

＜.........＞

＜Did you guys just all ask for stuff you wanted? How sneaky! If that’s the case I’m gonna ask for my stuff too.＞

＜You wanted alcohol, didn’t you? That’s why we said you couldn’t do it.＞

＜That’s right, alcohol’s definitely off limits.＞

＜Alcohol, no.＞

＜Hmph! You all can get what you want, why can’t I? 2 bottles just isn’t enough. Otherworlder, I want alcohol, got it?!＞

＜Hey, I just said you can’t!＞

＜Yeah—!＞

＜No.＞

The sound of all the goddesses arguing was hurting my head.

Ahh goddammit, all of you just saying what you want. I just said that I’d treat all of you equally and none of you listened.

“Yeah yeah, okay okay, everyone quiet down. Didn’t I just say before that you were all equal?”

＜No, but that’s......＞

＜But I’d rather have beauty products than sweets......＞

＜Sweets are nice but savory food......＞

＜Alcohol and snacks are better than sweets, too......＞

Hahhh, so that means everyone wants something different, huh? If that’s the case......

＜I understand. So, everyone wants something different. There’s no way I can just provide infinite amounts of anything, so each one of you will get 3 silver coins worth of what you want. And then I’ll send it over.＞

Yeah, if I listened to all these goddesses’ demands I’d lose all control, and it’d all be over. But by setting a budget limit things should calm down.

＜Th-Three silver? How low. I demand a higher budget.＞

＜Y-Yeah, 3 silver is a little......＞

＜I’d like a little more to work with, too.＞

＜......＞ (Nodding furiously.)

“Whaaat? But it’s 3 silver a week. I think that’s more than enough... I mean, if I listened to all your requests it’d be endless. I think I’m already compromising quite a lot with 3 silver a week. What do you all think? If you still want more, then I’ll return your blessings, so please forget everything......”

＜W-Wait! Th-Three silver is fine. 3 silver is just fine! Right, everyone?＞

＜Y-Yes. 3 silver is fine. I’ll be able to get a lot with that much.＞

＜Y-Yeah. That’s fine. 3 silver it is.＞

＜3 silver is good.＞

Good, they’ve agreed.

“Then, I’ll be listening to your requests. One at a time, please. I won’t be able to tell up from down if everyone starts yelling about what they want all at once.”

＜Then as the one to give you a blessing first, I, the oldest, will be taking my turn.＞

What? Ninrir’s the oldest of the goddesses? Wow she doesn’t seem that way at all......

＜I desire sweets. And as much dorayaki as you see fit.＞

I see. Ninrir is forever about sweets. She’ll probably get fat, but, well, that’s her responsibility.

I used my skill to buy ten dorayaki, as well as whatever cakes and puddings and chocolates that caught my eye. I also put in some cola and cider as sweet drinks until I reached her budget of 3 silver.

“Who’s next?”

＜If we’re going by age, then it’s me. I’m Kisharle, by the way. What I’d like is the soap, shampoo, hair treatment, and hair mask that you started selling recently.＞

“Ahh, that stuff. But other than that, there’s a lot of different stuff for beauty that depends on what kind of finish you want and what kind of hair you have, especially for shampoos and hair treatments. Are you sure you’re fine with what I sold?”

＜Huh? There’s that much?＞

“Yes, I think at least several tens of varieties. If you’d like, you can tell me what you’re worried about with your hair, and I can buy something that I think would suit that.”

＜Really? Then, let’s go with that. Right now, I’m most worried about how dry my hair is. It’s so dried out that it’s hard to style properly. Every morning is so hard~.＞

I see. Surely her hair is damaged because it’s so dry. If that’s the case, then how about this? It’s a series of moisturizing hair care products, including shampoo, treatment, and a premium hair mask. They’re non-silicone based and made with a lot of different natural oils, costing 9 copper each.

The remaining 3 copper was just enough to buy a three-pack of the rose scented soap.

“Who’s next?”

＜Yo, it’s me, Agni. Really, I’d want all kinds of alcohol, but they’ve all been telling me to stop with that. So two bottles of that alcohol you call beer, as well as snacks that go well with it, and the rest can just be candy.＞

So for Agni it’s premium beer, snacks, and candy. Just having dried foods would be really boring, I get it. Ah, those fries I’d prepared and stored earlier and the Hamburg steak cutlets I made today should be fine. As for the price, taking the cost of ingredients into consideration, the fries would be 2 copper, and the cutlet is probably fine at 1 copper. Ah, also since I probably won’t be getting my plate back, I can just buy paper plates.

I prepared two premium beers and piled the fries on a paper plate, and 3 of the Hamburg steak cutlets on another. I used the rest of the funds to buy generally the same sweets as I got Ninrir.

This should be fine.

＜Next is me. Candy and food.＞

Last is Ruka, I see. Candy and food, huh? Did she see us eating and ended up wanting some of it? If that’s the case, then the Hamburg steak cutlets, and also, uhh... here it is. I still had some cheese stuffed chicken cutlets left, so some of that too. After that, I should still have both kinds of Hamburg steaks...... Yeah, here they are. Next, three kinds of rice balls and six slices of plain bread should be fine. As for the cost, the Hamburg steak cutlet is of course 1 copper each, the cheese-stuffed chicken cutlet is a little big so 2 copper, and the Hamburg steaks should both be fine at one copper each. The rice balls should be 1 copper each, too.

I piled the food on paper plates, making sure to split the request into even halves of 1 silver and 5 copper each. I used the remaining half of her share to get some random sweets.

Nice, this should do.

I made the payment and prepared four cardboard altars for each of the goddesses and put their offerings on them.

“Then, I’ll hand them over to each of you so please accept them. First is Ninrir’s desired sweets. Please accept them.” My offering to Ninrir disappeared as I said that.

“This is Kisharle’s desired soaps and shampoos. The shampoo I’ve prepared for you is better than the stuff I sold, so please try it out.” My offering to Kisharle disappeared.

“And this is Agni’s beer, snacks, and candy. I made the snacks myself, but I think the taste is quite good, so please eat it. I think they both go quite well with beer.” My offerings to Agni disappeared.

“Last is Ruka’s desired sweets and food. I also made this food, and the side dishes go with both the rice balls and bread, so please try it.” My offerings to Ruka disappeared.

“Then, please properly decide what you want next time.”

＜Got it—.＞

＜I understand~.＞

＜Sure!＞

＜......＞

Were they all preoccupied with their offerings? I could hear the goddesses’ voices as they celebrated.

The phrase, “three women make a market” fits well here. It’s four and not three, though.

But Ruka is fundamentally quiet, too. Apparently Ruka’s the youngest, but that just means that all three of her elders are no good.

Really.

While I was complaining in my head, the oracle from the goddesses suddenly cut off once again.

“Whew~ it’s finally over.”

I’m so tired. Time to sleep already.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Right now, I was heading for the Illario trading company. That’s the place that sells bathtubs, according to Lambert. I properly got their location from Lambert, as well.

Oh, that’s the place, right? As I had expected, it was a large store.

As we entered the store, one of the employees spotted Fel and I could see his face stiffen up.

Well, anybody’d be surprised seeing a magic beast this big.

However, the employees must have been well educated (since this store was so large), because we weren’t chased out.

“W-What are you looking for today?”

“Ah, uhh, can I see your baths?”

“Bathtubs, is it? This way, please.”

Even though I didn’t look like I had any money at all, when I asked the employee about baths, it seemed like he would show them to me without hesitation.

When I followed the employee, I found the baths lined up at the back of the store. There were three sizes of baths, and the one Lambert had in his house was the medium size. The small one was large enough that a single person could get in and have ample room to stretch their legs.

“Maybe even the small one would be fine......”

“If you’re looking for one of this size, we have several different models in stock, so please take a look.” The employee didn’t miss my mutterings and promptly recommended something. I was actually grateful for that, and I had him show me the different types of small baths.

Of course, the cheapest one was the one that was brown and had no coloring on it. But even that one was 300 gold. Just as I had heard from Lambert, baths were quite pricey.

The next one I saw was a deep green. It was a calm color, and I had a good impression of it. That one cost 370 gold.

So adding colors makes the price jump that high, huh?

According to the employee, applying a color evenly like this took quite some skill, so that was reflected in its price. The colored ones were expensive, but they looked good, and I had space in my funds right now, so the green one was highest on my list at the moment.

The next one I was shown was pure white. White was the normal color of bathtubs, and it gave off a clean impression. This one was 430 gold.

So it’s more expensive than the green one?

When I asked the employee why, I was told that the white one was a product that was recently released, and that to get the white color one needed to knead a special ingredient into the clay, which was hard to procure. And so that difficulty was reflected into the price.

The next one was a fancy looking model with painted flowers on it. I had expected it to be expensive, and it was. I was surprised when I heard the price: it was 500 gold. It seemed that having actual art on the product was much harder than simply applying color. And since the number of craftsmen who could do that were limited, the price was accordingly higher.

It looks fancy, but this one’s a no go. This is definitely the type to be in a noble’s home. I’m going to be using it on the road, so there’s no point to the fanciness. If that’s the case, then the green one I saw earlier really is the best choice, isn’t it? Yeah, let’s go with that one.

“Excuse me, I’d like this green bath.”

It didn’t look like the employee had thought that someone that walked in off the street like me would buy a bath right away, so he was surprised.

“Th-That’ll be 370 gold, is that fine?”

Does that “fine” mean, “do you even have 370 gold?” Heheheh, I’ve got it, the gold. Thanks to Fel, I’m totally okay with this expense!

“Here, 370 gold, right?” I took a single jute bag out from my Item Box. It held 300 gold in it. As for the remaining 70, I took it from one of the bags that were not full.

“Th-Then I’ll be confirming the amount.” The employee counted the coins.

“......370 gold. Yes, it’s all here. Do you want it delivered to your home?”

“No, I’ll be taking it with me in my Item Box.”

“Oh? You’re an Item Box user... I’m so jealous.”

“Well it’s barely enough to hold this bath, though.”

Well, in reality it’s pretty much got no limit. But sometimes lies are convenient.

I stored the bathtub in my Item Box.

“Thank you for your patronage.”

I left the Illario trading company, with the employee to see me off.

I made a good purchase.

...............WHOOHOOO! I’ve finally got me a bathtub!!

After clearing the store by a little ways, I couldn’t stop myself from making a small gesture in celebration.

“What the heck are you doing...” Fel seemed exasperated, but I didn’t care what he said. I had just finally gotten myself a bath!

Being Japanese really does mean having baths, after all. And so, time to take a bath already!

...Well, I would, but there really isn’t any place for a bath here, is there? Like I thought, I’ll have to leave town to do this, won’t I?

“Fel, I want to take a bath, so let’s go outside. So like, can you pick a place with as little chance of seeing any adventurers as possible?”

“Outside the town, huh? What a good idea. Then, let us be off.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I had Fel take me to a forest devoid of anyone’s presence.

As for Fel, as soon as we arrived, he couldn’t wait and was already off hunting. Of course, he had already put up a barrier around me, so I was safe.

I quickly made preparations for a bath. First was the enclosure.

“Stone Wall.”

I first made four walls to enclose me from my surroundings. I purposely did not add a roof in order to combat humidity, and so that I could look at the sky while enjoying my bath.

And now, to place the all-important bathtub that I recently purchased... there.

《Sui, you up?》 I called out to Sui with telepathy, and it immediately got out of the bag.

《Huaahh~aahh... Whaat, master—?》

So it fell asleep again. This bag must really be comfortable for Sui.

“Can you use your magic to fill this up to here?” I pointed out how high I wanted the tub filled.

《Sure—》 Sui promptly extended a tentacle and poured water out of it into the tub.

“Sui, that much is fine.” The tub was around 80% filled.

Next, with my Fire magic......

“Fireball.” At first, I created a small fireball and sunk it into the bath. The fireball disappeared as the surrounding water was brought to a bubbling boil.

I might have made it a bit too hot, maybe......

“Ah, I didn’t get a bathing poker.” I opened up my Online Supermarket to buy that, as well as everything else I needed for a bath. “I need a bathing poker and a wash bucket, right? And some body wash. Yeah, I’m for body wash over bar soap any day. As for hair, shampoo with conditioner should be fine, it’s too annoying to do something else. Oh, I can’t forget washcloths and bath towels. Is there anything else? ......Ah, might as well get some bath salts too. Hrmmm, I think this is it.”

After quickly paying for the stuff in my cart, I used the delivered poker to stir up the hot water.

“Let’s see...... OW!”

It’s a little too hot...

“Sui, can you add just a little bit of water here?” I got Sui to add some cold water. That got the water to the perfect temperature.

This is perfect! With that thought, I took off my clothes. Before I entered the bath, I first made sure to wash my hair, which I had only been able to rinse with water ever since I was summoned to this world.

“Guh, it’s not foaming up at all. Just how dirty is my hair......”

I finally managed to get it decently clean after 2 rounds of washing. Considering the state of my hair, I also made sure to wash my body twice.

“Good, good. This should be about it. Wait, my feet are all muddy.” Filling the wash bucket with hot water, I rinsed off my feet as I entered the bath.

And put in the usual powdered bath salts... there. By the way, I was trying out the yuzu-scented salts.

And finally, I was able to enjoy the bath.

“Hwaahhh~” I couldn’t stop my voice from leaking as I enjoyed my first bath in a long time.

“Yeah, baths are super nice...”

《Master — does it feel nice in that water?》 Sui asked, curious.

“Yeah. It’s hot so it feels nice. Do you want to get in too, Sui?”

《Yeah!》

*Ploosh*

《Woah, it’s true. Warm. This warm water feels nice, huh? It also smells nice~.》 Sui was floating in the water. It looked like Sui liked the bath, too.

I could feel my tense body loosening up while I soaked in the bath. The yuzu scent also had a relaxing effect, so I was feeling quite nice.

“Ahh~ baths are the best.” To be taking a bath while looking at the wide blue sky, what luxury.

Paradise, this is paradise. Japanese people really can’t live without baths.

Sui and I fully enjoyed the bath together. We ended up staying too long before we noticed the time, but as expected out of such an expensive bathtub, the water didn’t cool at all. It seemed like that talk about how kneading the magic stones into the clay made it harder and helped it retain heat better was true. It was expensive, but I definitely didn’t regret buying it.

After getting out of the bath and changing clothes, I started cleaning up. Clear up these stone walls... good.

“Sui, can you take care of this water, and all these bubbles here?”

《Got it~》 Sui and its clones took care of the rest.

“Man you really just want to drink something cold after getting out of a bath, huh?” I used my Online Supermarket to buy a bottle of coffee milk, and a fruit milk for Sui.

“Sui, this drink is super delicious after getting out of a bath.” Pouring out the fruit milk onto a plate, I put it in front of Sui.

《Woah, it’s true! It’s cold and sweet and good—!》

Yeah, coffee milk after getting out of a bath is also delicious.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Fel’s taking a long time to come back, isn’t he?”

《What’s taking Uncle Fel so long?》

I was waiting with Sui for Fel to return from hunting, but there was no sign of that happening. Although I don’t think he’d forget about us......

Well, I’m free, and it seems like Fel’d be hungry when he comes back, so I guess I’ll cook. What’s good? ............Ah, I have a lot of bloody horn-bull meat, it might be good to do that for the first time in a while.

I was thinking of the fast, delicious and cheap classic beef bowl.

Now that I think about it, I used to go to a shop for this whenever I really craved it on the way back from work. Man, that beef soaked in that slightly sweet sauce with rice was so good. And since you can eat it right away just by putting it on top of rice, it might be nice to make a whole lot and save it for later. I already have onions, and I should have soy sauce and sugar left, and mirin too. I’ve also got ginger, so the only thing I need is cooking sake and granulated dashi, right?

So I bought them with my Online Supermarket.

Right, let’s get to cooking.

~◇~◇~◇~

Start off by cutting the bloody horn-bull meat into thin strips. Since I’m planning on making two pots worth of beef bowl, I’ll prepare a lot. Whew — this should be enough.

From there, slice the onion into arches. Then, add water, soy sauce, sugar, cooking sake, mirin, granulated dashi, and ginger (from a tube) into a pot and lightly simmer the ingredients together. Once that’s done, add the onions, and once the onions turn clear, untangle the strips of meat and add that in as well.

The dish is finished after cooking on low heat for about 10 minutes while scooping out any scum that arises.

~◇~◇~◇~

What a good smell — really stirs the appetite. Let’s see, how’s the taste?

Trying a bite, I found that the meat was well coated in the sauce, and the onions added a nice texture. Simply put, it was good. And since I made a huge amount, to the tune of two pots worth, it seemed like this would last several meals.

But even though I took the time to make this much food, Fel still hadn’t returned. Sui must have gotten bored since it had nothing to do, so it was currently sleeping in my bag.

Seems like I still have time, so might as well make another dish to store.

I’d had occasions where I wanted this after having some beef, so I decided to go with that.

As for what the dish was, it was beef stew.

That being said, the beef stew I would make wasn’t the kind made from cooking wheat flour and roux. Doing that was annoying and too much trouble. It would need some time to boil, but if I made the base now, I could just cook it later when I had time.

First, I went to my Online Supermarket for ingredients.

I’ve got onions, but not potatoes or carrots, so I’ll get those. Other than that, if I remember correctly, I have butter, but I didn’t have ketchup or dried consommé, so I’ll get those. After that, I need a can of the important demi-glace sauce and red wine. Good, this should be all I need.

~◇~◇~◇~

Start off by cutting the bloody horn-bull into large bite-sized chunks.

Slice the onions into arches, and cut the potatoes and carrots into large bite-sized chunks as well after peeling them. Here, I make the potato cuts larger to fit my mood.

After heating up a pot and melting some butter, cook the bloody horn-bull meat after applying salt and pepper to taste until it is browned on both sides.

Then, add the onions, potatoes, and carrots into the pot and lightly cook before pouring in red wine and water until the ingredients are lightly submerged. Once this is done, throw in some cubed dried consommé and start simmering the mixture.

Simmer until the potatoes and carrots become soft while scooping out any scum that surfaces. Once they become soft, add in the can of demi-glace sauce and the ketchup, and simmer again for around 20 minutes. Once the flavors have gotten to know each other, the stew is finished. Lastly, adding butter is fine to add in some extra oomph.

~◇~◇~◇~

A taste test...

Using a can of demi-glace for beef stew really does make it easier while still maintaining flavor. Slowly cooking butter and wheat flour to make a roux is annoying and just such a ridiculously large amount of work, and if you burn it or anything it’s done. So it really is nice that using a can of demi-glace works just fine while being much simpler and harder to mess up. But still, it might be better to keep simmering for a bit longer so the flavors mix in better and the meat becomes softer ...Wait, actually, didn’t I just finish a whole stew?

I stored the finished beef stew into my Item Box.

Fel still wasn’t back.

“That guy, just how far did he go?”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Once the sun had sunk a good ways down, Fel finally came back accompanied by a rustling sound and a parting of branches.

*THUD*

“Have you been waiting long?” Fel said as he dumped the large lizard he had in his mouth in front of me.

............Fel, guy, what’s that huge lizard?

What Fel placed in front of me looked like a lizard that was an even larger version of the Komodo dragons I’d seen on TV. It was around 5 meters long from the tip of its head to the tip of its tail.

“I followed this thing’s trail and ended up going a little far. Thanks to that, I managed to find something with a little backbone.”

No, I mean, what I wanted to know is: What the heck is that thing?

“We got blindsided by those wyverns, right? But thanks to meeting this earth dragon I have finally managed to get some real exercise.”

............Fel, what did you just say? Have my ears gone bad? “Hey, Fel, what did you just say?”

“Hm? Like I just told you, we got blindsided by those wyverns, but thanks to meeting this earth dragon, I have finally managed to get some real exercise.”

“......E-Earth... dragon?”

“That is correct. This is an earth dragon.”

I tried appraising the huge Komodo dragon laid down in front of me.

【Earth Dragon】

...............

............

......

“What the heck do you think you’re doing—!”

“Hm? What is wrong?”

“Don’t give me that, what the hell am I supposed to do with an earth dragon?!”

“And I asked what is wrong. Earth dragons are delicious. Why is this a problem?”

“Nononono, how delicious it is isn’t the issue here! The Adventurer’s guild already refused to buy the chimaera and the orthrus, you know? What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?!”

They’ve already refused the chimaera and orthrus, so there’s no way I can show them this dragon thing, since it’s probably even stronger.

“Mm, but dragon meat really is delicious. Even if they will not buy it, can you not get them to just butcher it?”

Ah, that’s right. I can just do that. That might work, but......

“Just the butchering, huh? I’ll try asking, but since it’s a dragon and all...... I don’t know if they’ll actually do it.”

“Hrm, I see. And here I thought I would be able to eat dragon meat after such a long while. It feels like a waste, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.”

I’ll try asking them about it, but it’s an earth dragon, after all... I’m sure the guild master and old man Johan’ll be surprised out of their wits. Sigh~

“More importantly, I smell something good. *Sniff sniff*”

More importantly? Hahh — Fel’s always doing his own thing, huh? He doesn’t even care that he just hunted down a dragon. Well, since it’s Fel, this is exactly like him.

I put the earth dragon into my Item Box since it was huge and taking up space.

“Wanna eat here?”

“Yes.”

What he would be eating here was the beef bowl. Since even though I had technically finished the beef stew, it would taste better and the meat would be softer if I cooked it a little more. Using rice that I had previously steamed and stored before, I piled a mound onto a plate and topped it high with lots of meat.

Need to wake up Sui, too.

“Sui, food.”

《Hmm? Food—?》

“That’s right, food.”

《Food~》

I gave Fel and Sui each a portion of the beef bowl (extra large).

“Hmm?! This is amazing.”

《It really is! There’s flavor on the meat and it’s great~!》

I see I see, so they both like the beef bowl. It’s good huh, beef bowls...

Now then, I should eat too. Ah, might as well put an egg on it too.

Open up the Online Supermarket and... hm? They sell this? It’s better than a regular raw egg, so let’s go with that.

I had bought some hot spring eggs.

Put a soft-boiled hot spring egg on and... mmm, looks good~

I broke apart the soft-boiled hot spring egg and let it mix in with the meat and rice, and shoved a big bite into my mouth.

“Soo good~” The presence of the egg rounds out the taste.

Ahhh, so amazingly good. Man, I want some tea... If I remember right... I took out a bottle of roasted green tea I had bought earlier from my Item Box.

*Glugluglug*

Whew, my mouth feels refreshed.

And so I once more set in on my beef bowl.

So good.

“Hey, I want more. Hm? Are you eating one with egg on top of it? How cheap. Give me one.”

《Sui wants more too — with the egg on top!》

Fine, fine.

Assembling two more extra-large portions of beef bowl and putting hot spring eggs on them, I made sure to break open the eggs before handing them over.

“Mm! It is so much better with the egg on top.”

《Sui thinks so too—!》

Seeming like they both liked the new edition to their beef bowls, the two went at the food with vigor. After several more portions, it seemed like the two of them were finally satisfied.

“Fwhoo, that was good.”

《Yeah —it was good!》

“Well then, let’s go back?”

“Indeed.”

《Yeah!》

Having decided that we were returning, I got on Fel’s back, but...... “Fel.”

“What?”

“You’re filthy.”

“W-What?!”

I hadn’t minded too much up until now, but since I had just taken a bath and gotten refreshed, the filth stood out more.

“I mean, the fur here is all clumped, and it looks like you’re covered in dust or something.”

“Th-Th-That is not true. I always make sure to properly groom myself......”

“No no, no way that’s true.” I haven’t seen you groom yourself once.

“Grrr...”

“So I’m going to spend tomorrow washing you, Fel.”

“Wha-......”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re scared of water or something?”

“Th-That is absolutely not true!”

“Then it’s fine. I’m washing you tomorrow, Fel. It’s decided.”

“Grrnrrnnrrnnrrrnr...”

Alright then, tonight I have to buy some dog shampoo and a brush to wash Fel with. Does the Online Supermarket sell dog shampoo?

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Today was the day I had planned to wash Fel. I already bought dog shampoo and a dog brush, as well as a large bath towel yesterday. The Online Supermarket did indeed have them when I looked. They also stocked a lot of varieties of pet food, and were generally well stocked with other pet products as well. It made sense, since there were more people with pets nowadays. Not only that, but it seemed like there were more owners who spared no expense for their pets than before, too.

As for me, I was just happy that I was able to get these things with my skill.

Shouldering the bag that Sui was in, I headed toward the kennel that Fel was staying at.

“Fel, we’re going outside of town today, too. We’re going to wash you, just like I told you yesterday.”

“Guh......A-Are you really going to?”

“Of course. Or what, are you actually scared of water?”

“O-Of course not. I just kind of dislike getting wet......”

“It’s not like I’m telling you to get in the water or anything, it’s fine. We’re going.”

“Mnn, fine.”

I had him take us to the same forest as yesterday.

First off, I needed to brush Fel. I needed to properly tease out all the tangles in his fur before actually washing him. So I set about doing it while trying to remember what one of my dog loving friends did. I was told that suddenly washing a dog wouldn’t get out any dirt that was stuck on clumped fur, and that properly brushing a dog to get rid of any excess fur that’s already been shed will help make it easier to shampoo as well.

“Fel, I’m gonna start off with a brushing, I’ll need to straighten out your fur.”

“S-Sure.”

I proceeded to do just that.

“Ow. Can you not be a little more gentle?”

“Sorry, sorry.” I started to take care not to pull on the skin too roughly when combing out the parts where fur was clumped together. It was much harder since he was so large.

“Whew~, this should do it.” His belly was especially rough since it was so tangled together, but I’d somehow managed to straighten out all his fur. As for the fur that had been shed off of Fel’s body and become a veritable mountain next to me...... I opened a hole in the ground with Earth magic and buried it.

Since the brushing was done, I moved over to shampoo. First I need to set up the bath... there.

《Sui, I need your help, so can you wake up?》 Sui immediately crawled out of the bag when I talked to him via telepathy.

《*Yawn* Ma-ster... whaaaat—?》

“Can you fill this with water?”

《Got it!》

Once Sui filled it with water, I hit it with a fireball to make it into hot water. After stirring it with the bathing poker I bought and checking the temperature, it was once again a little too hot, so I had Sui add some more water.

Yeah, this should be good enough. Apparently, the best temperature was just slightly lukewarm, so I followed that advice.

I scooped up the water with the wash bucket and poured it onto Fel.

“Guh......”

He seems a little tense. He really does hate getting wet.

Once I repeated the process of pouring water on Fel several times, he started fidgeting.

“Is it not over yet?”

“Not at all. More like it’s actually a real chore to get you wet since you’re so big, Fel.”

“Can you not do something about it with Sui’s Water magic?”

Ah, yeah I could have done that. How about having Sui suck up the bathwater and spit it out like a shower? Sui should be able to do that since it has the Goddess of Water, Rusalka’s blessing, and since Sui’s a slime, it should be able to use its transformation abilities to do that.

“Sui, can you suck up the water in this bath and pour it on Fel like rain? It doesn’t have to be that strong.”

《Uhmmm, Sui will try!》 Saying so, Sui extended a tentacle to the bath water to suck it up, and on the opposite end, another tentacle extended to spit the water out. It was like a hose that spat out hot water.

《Like this?》 The end of the tentacle changed form, and the water came out like it was from a shower head.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s great. Keep it like that. Nice job, Sui.”

《Ufufufu... is Sui great?》

“So great, Sui. Now then, can you keep it like this until I’m finished washing Fel?”

《Yeah, sure!》

Thanks to Sui’s shower, we managed to soak Fel all over. Now was the time to use the dog shampoo I had bought yesterday. Well, it was really a dog and cat shampoo. I had bought one that said it was recommended by vets in its product description. It was advertised that this one was good for healthy skin and wouldn’t irritate or stimulate pets too much, so it was easy to use. It also apparently had conditioner in it, which would result in soft and smooth fur. It was a little on the expensive side, but it seemed good, so I decided to buy it.

Right, if I remember correctly I should start from the neck to the shoulders, and then to the back from top to bottom. And also to make sure to be gentle and use just enough force for the dog’s preference, as I recall.

I started to shampoo from the neck, gently washing Fel.

“Fel, is there any spot that itches?”

“No, it is fine. However, you can feel free to use a bit more power.”

Ahh, right. It’s Fel, so I shouldn’t lump him in with the dogs my dog-lover friend kept.

I started going rougher, as Fel wanted.

“Ooooohhh, there, that is the spot.”

Right, right. I concentrated on the spot Fel pointed out and went hard.

“Yes. Yes, this is pretty good.”

I washed his back, his flanks, and every other bit of Fel equally. Washing with shampoo may have had a massaging effect, since Fel seemed to enjoy the feeling. I wanted to wash Fel’s face too, since we were taking the trouble, but I was pretty sure that he would hate to have bubbles and foam on his face. I still wanted to at least rinse it in warm water, though.

“Hey, Fel, I want to wash your face, are you good with the bath water?”

“Th-The face? Mmmuh, I am a man. Do it already!” Fel closed his eyes as he said that.

Wow, Fel really is bad with water. But still, there’s no need for him to work up that much resolve. For a magic beast that easily hunts high ranking monsters to be bad with water...... I know that I shouldn’t laugh, but I almost can’t help it.

“Pfft...”

“Mm? You, did you just laugh?”

“N-No, I didn’t. Sui, can you suck up the water? Pft.”

《Su—re.》

“Grrrnnn...”

“Fel, I’m washing your face now...”

“Ghh.”

*Fsshhhh* Fel’s face was washed as Sui pumped out water from its tentacle like a shower.

Yep, he should be clean by now.

“Right, we’re done.”

“Whewww.”

“Next we need to rinse off your body.”

I washed off the shampoo using Sui’s shower. Carefully, so as not to leave behind any bubbles.

I certainly wasn’t harassing Fel or anything.

“This should be good, we’re done.”

“Whew, finally.”

“I’ll wipe you down with a towel now, so— Woah! Stop that———!!!”

Just as I was about to wipe Fel down with a towel, he started shaking and splendidly spreading the water everywhere.

*Plop* *Plop* *Thap* *Plop*

“............Fel?”

“Hm? Ohh, sorry.”

“Sorry my ass, I’m all soaked now, thanks to you. Pfphbt, pfphhbbtbtbt...”

On top of that, Fel’s fur was mixed in with the water that went flying everywhere. We had come to wash Fel, but I ended up needing a shower too. *Sigh~*

As for Fel, after shaking off the water, he created a gust of warm wind to dry his body. It seemed like Wind magic was just that easy to him thanks to Ninrir’s blessing.

Fel was bad with water, but it looked like he was happy with the results of being washed, as he looked at his own body and said, “Yes.” Certainly, his white-silver fur was now glossy and smooth and very inviting.

But you need to take proper care of that, you know?

“From now on, I’ll be washing you once or twice a month. Got it, Fel?”

“Wha? Th-This is not it?”

“What are you saying? Staying filthy like that is bad for your skin, you know? Not only that, but you seem to like your fur, don’t you? We need to do proper maintenance and wash you to keep it that way.”

“Muh... N-No, I do not really......”

“Also, don’t you think keeping your fur all pretty and flowing like that is more befitting a Fenrir? You’ll disillusion everyone by showing them a filthy one.”

“Gh, a filthy Fenrir? ......Grnnnrnrnnn...”

“Well, you’ll easily be able to keep that fur just by properly washing regularly. And I’ll take responsibility and do it for you, so don’t worry. Oh also, Sui, what do you think of Uncle Fel right now?”

《Hmm —he’s fluffy and pretty and cool!》

“See? Even Sui says so.”

“Muh, fine. I will allow you to wash me once or twice a month.”

Good, now I won’t have to ride Fel while he’s all dirty. I’ll make sure to properly wash you once or twice a month, you hear?

Chapter 8: The Wyverns Were Delicious

“Hello.”

“Ohh, Mukohda. Welcome!”

Today, I brought myself to Lambert’s store to see how things were going. I was curious to see how well my otherworld products were selling.

“So, how are the soaps and shampoos selling?”

“About that, I was just about to send someone to get you.” According to him, Marie’s advertising must have worked, and from there, word must have spread and now there was no end to the ladies that came to buy the stuff.

“As you can see, Marie is also excitedly explaining the merchandise. And that’s leading to even more sales.”

Over in the corner with the soaps and shampoos, Marie was explaining the effects and use of the merchandise while touching her own hair. The ladies were also surprised after touching Marie’s hair, and looked extremely interested in them.

“Thanks to Marie, sales are through the roof. Of course, it’s also thanks to your products being wonderful, Mukohda.”

I was told that the cheaper soap, as well as the shampoo with conditioner were close to selling out. As I had expected, pricewise those were much easier to budget for, it seemed. It also appeared that the rose scented soap and the shampoo and hair treatment set were popular with ladies who had a lot of room in their purses and were almost two-thirds of the way gone. As for the hair mask, it was very expensive, but even that did not stop them from selling almost one-third of what I had prepared, so I was surprised about that, too.

“I’m surprised at how well these are selling. Man, I really underestimated how fervently ladies pursued beauty. There was even one customer who said that they liked the scent and bought five of the high-class soaps.”

Apparently, Lambert was also surprised at how well these were selling.

The world may be different, but a woman’s tenacity toward beauty will always be the same, huh? (Blank eyes.)

My older sister was a beauty nut, and while we were at home would often say things like, “Nowadays even men have to pay attention to their looks,” and she would push the shampoos, conditioners, face lotions and other beauty products she no longer used onto me.

Though all that was really happening was that all her old stuff got rotated to me for space while she kept pursuing newer and newer products.

Leaving the past where it was, I was still happy that the merchandise was selling well.

“Oh, also, as a happy coincidence, my usual leather wares are selling well, too.”

Apparently, the ladies who came to buy soaps and shampoos would also take a look at the leather goods while they were at it, and if there was anything they liked and if they had money left, they would buy it. There were also those who came to the store accompanied by men, and they would beg their escorts for the goods as well (as for the men, they would buy it, wanting to look good). So at any rate, due to synergy, the leather goods, especially the ladies’ bags, were selling well.

“I would have never thought that it would affect the sales of bags as well. What a happy miscalculation.” Lambert was all smiles. It was to be expected, since his usual goods were selling as well.

“And so I have to ask you......”

Lambert wanted to order more stock. Thanks to the trial period, Lambert now believed that just as Marie said, the goods would sell.

As for the additional order, he wanted 600 of the cheaper soaps, 200 of the rose scented soaps, 500 bottles of shampoo with conditioner, 200 of the shampoo and hair treatment sets, and 60 more bottles of hair masks.

I was surprised since the numbers were so large, especially for the cheaper soap. Is 600 really all right? So I thought, but apparently looking at the trial sales, having that much stock wouldn’t be a problem.

Due to Marie’s decision, they would line up the soap bars directly instead of in their bags, so it would attract women to them with their scent.

Of course, even the cheaper soap was very expensive to regular women who weren’t nobles or merchants, but those with comparatively larger earning power like guild employees or female adventurers could be seen splurging and buying them.

Lambert had predicted that it would get even more popular as a luxury item that one could get if they just tried a little harder.

“The numbers are a little too large, so can I trouble you to do the repackaging into bottles yourself, Lambert? The hair masks are bought with the bottles, so I’ll do that myself, though.”

“Yes, that’ll be fine. Also, I’ve already thought to make it so that those who’ve already bought a bottle with us can just bring their bottles in to get them refilled.”

Now that I think about it, I do remember him saying something like that. At any rate, I’m just happy that I don’t have to do the repackaging myself. It would have been awful if I had to do all that myself.

“Then, I’ll get all that ready by tomorrow and bring it over.”

I had thought that it would sell, but I was still surprised at getting such a large order so suddenly. I’ll have to start buying as soon as I get back.

I couldn’t just hand over the refill pouches as they were, so I still had to move them into larger containers. Let’s go and get some wood boxes and pots at the general store real quick on the way back.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Yesss! Finally done~!”

By the time I was done preparing Lambert’s order, the sun had sunk considerably.

“Oh crap, Fel’s probably really hungry by now.”

Taking Sui with me and heading toward the kennel in a hurry, I found Fel in a sulking mood.

“You are late.”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll make something good, so forgive me.”

I took out the pot of beef stew from my Item Box. I had time last night, so I cooked it some more. It was very nice as it was now, and the meat was extremely tender.

I poured the beef stew on a plate and served it.

“Here. It’s hot so be careful.” I also woke up Sui and served it some beef stew.

“This is new. Let me see......” Fel lapped up the beef stew as if he was drinking it.

“Oohhh, the meat is so soft it melts in my mouth.”

《It’s true. And the flavor of the soup is soaked in. It’s so good~.》

Thank goodness, the beef stew went over well.

“More.”

《More!》

I gave the two a heaping second helping.

Buying some French bread with my skill, I also started to enjoy my share of the beef stew. The meat was tender, and the flavor was thick and delicious. Huh, it might have been nice to put mushrooms in this. Let’s try that next time.

As for the bread, I had thought that hard bread would go better with the soup, so I got French bread, but the one I bought with my skill was soft. Oh well. I should have known that for hard-crusted French bread I would have needed an actual bakery. Aww man, and hard bread would have gone so well with the beef stew.

......Ah, but this world already has hard bread. That hard black stuff.

Just eating some alone didn’t seem very appetizing, but it would probably match well with the beef stew. Hard bread is good with beef stew since even with the stew soaking the bread, it won’t lose its texture and crispness. Yeah, let’s buy some black bread for next time.

“More.”

《More!》

Fine, fine.

“Mm? Does putting that in this make it better?” Fel keenly locked onto my dipping the French bread into the beef stew and asked about it.

“Yeah. Dipping the bread in the beef stew like this is good.”

“Then give me some of that too.”

《Sui wants some too!》

Buying French bread for the two of them, I cut the loaves up and soaked the pieces in their stews for them.

“Try eating it. If it’s good, I’ll cut up more.”

“Okay.”

Fel and Sui ate the bread with the beef stew on it.

“Hohh, this is delicious. This bread has soaked up the flavor of the stew and become amazingly good.”

《It’s true — eating it with the bread is amazing!》

It looked like both Fel and Sui approved of eating the beef stew with bread, so I treated them to several more helpings.

“Yes, I am full.”

《Whoohh, Sui is full too.》

“You two sure eat a lot.”

“I ate a little too much.”

I see, I see. But that just means the beef stew was that good to you.

I thought I made a lot, but the pot was completely empty now. The stew needs quite some time to cook, but I guess I can try and make it again whenever I’m free.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I had come to Lambert’s store to deliver his order. I was just about to take out the wooden boxes and pots and get Lambert to check their contents. Just like always, Fel and Sui were with me, but they must have no interest in this at all, since Sui was asleep in the bag and Fel was asleep behind my chair.

“Yes, there’s no mistake. It’s nice that you were so quick about it. Especially for this soap, it was just about to sell out.” Lambert said as he laid his hand on one of the wooden boxes with the cheaper soap inside.

“As for the payment, it’s over 100 gold coins, so is it okay if I pay in large gold coins?”

“Yes, that’s fine.” I calculated this yesterday, and if I did it correctly, it should be 612 gold.

My status right now was of a person that has come upon huge amounts of money numerous times and has finally started to not even be surprised that it’s happening.

Who would have thought that although while I was in Japan, I was always living the poor life before payday, but here I would be making money this fast...... I mean, I’m thankful that I’m not at all troubled for money, but......

“Then, this is your payment of 60 large gold coins and 12 gold coins. Please make sure the amount is correct.”

As always, he slid it toward me in neat stacks of 10.

Since a large gold coin is 10 gold coins, 60 large gold and 12 gold is right.

“Yes, there’s no problem.”

According to Lambert, it was custom between merchants to use large gold coins for transactions dealing in over 100 gold coins. It made sense, since going over 100 gold coins would mean quite the amount. It also made sense for when they would go and get stock in other cities, since it didn’t seem that they’d be able to carry too much coinage with them.

It might be a little inconvenient for use around the town, but large gold coins were lighter overall and much better to carry around. Not to mention the fact that I already had more than enough regular gold coins.

By the way apparently white gold coins, which were made by mixing gold with mithril, were only used for trade between countries, or between merchants where the amounts easily pass over 1000 gold coins.

“Ahh right, I have something I want to ask you, Lambert: do you make mantles here?”

“Yes, we order make leather ones here. What kind of leather would you like?”

“You see......” I told Lambert about the wyverns.

“W-Wyverns? ......I had heard that wyverns had appeared, but I never would have thought you would be the one to defeat them, Mukohda............”

Well, it wasn’t me, though. Fel and Sui were the ones that actually killed them.

“And so, I would like to have a mantle, shoes, and a belt with a scabbard made from wyvern hide.”

“I’ve also wanted to eventually deal in wyvern hides. I’ll take this order as the biggest job in this store’s lifetime,” Lambert said, showing his resolve.

The biggest job of a lifetime? Are wyvern materials really like that? The guildmaster from the Adventurer’s guild was all ‘make a mantle out of it!’ and I had some materials left over, so I decided to get one without thinking too much about it, but......

“But when it comes to wyvern hide, it will take some time, is that fine?”

“How long?”

“Let’s see, about half a year, I think......”

That much? But wyverns do require a mithril knife to even butcher, so it really might take that long to make the things I want. Especially since it looks like it would take a while to tan, too. Well, I’m not in any real hurry so I guess I can just look forward to half a year from now.

“Also, even if you’re bringing in your own hide, the number of artisans who can work the materials are limited, and most of all it takes a lot of effort, so the price would be......”

Well, that does make sense.

After asking about it, I was told that since the amount of work hours that would go into it would be quite large, he couldn’t say, but it might cost over 500 gold all told. As I was now, it was something I could afford to pay, but I should have expected something order made to cost that much.

But I guess there’s nothing to be done, it looks like handling wyvern hide is pretty hard, and also takes a lot of work. Ah, right. I wonder if I can use the leftovers of the wyvern hide as part of the payment? A single wyvern probably has more than enough hide to make what I want, so it would be nice if I could.

“Uhmm, that cost, could I pay for part of it with what’s left over of the wyvern hide?”

“Huh? You’re fine with that? It’s not something one can come across very often, so that would be a great deal for me......”

Even if I held on to it, the only thing I could do with the thing is sell it anyway, so using it as payment would just lessen the amount of gold that would have to change hands and, therefore, minimize effort on my part, so I’d rather do that than anything.

“If you would accept that, I’d be grateful......” When I said that, Lambert agreed.

“Then I’m going to head over to the Adventurer’s guild now. I’ll bring back the wyvern hide, so I’ll be in your care then.”

“Indeed, I’ll be waiting for you.”

We left Lambert’s store behind and headed for the Adventurer’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Entering the guild, we were immediately greeted by the guildmaster. He must have been informed by one of the employees of my arrival.

Accompanying the guildmaster to the storehouse, we found old man Johan there as usual.

“Oh, you’re here. It’s done. Here’s your wyvern meat, your share of the wyvern hides, and two magic stones. Man, I have no idea how you did it, but it’s the first time I’ve seen such a good job of draining blood. Thanks to that, butchering it was easy.”

Ahh, the blood draining. Thanks to Sui, it was perfect. Sui really is all-purpose.

“I had Sui do the blood draining.” When I patted the bag Sui was in, Sui popped its head out.

“That slime familiar? So slimes can be used that way, huh?”

“Hey, Johan. This slime’s probably the only one that can do something this skillful. It seems it’s special.”

“Then it’s probably impossible to have a slime for each adventurer party, huh? If we could do that, my job would be so much easier, though.”

“Well, the world’s not that easy. Hahaha.”

Wow, that wyvern meat is huge, like I expected. This’ll turn into a lot of meals.

The guild’s buying five sets of the wyverns’ hides and magic stones, so I’m getting two of each, right? So these are magic stones. The wyverns’ magic stones were around 20cm in diameter, and were round and smooth black stones. It seemed that they were good for use in magic tools, so they were traded at high prices, but I didn’t have any use for them.

Let’s sell these when I’m in need of money.

Thanks to this, my wallet was actually so fat it was overflowing, so I had no idea when that would be, though.

The wyvern hides felt thin to the touch. If someone were to ask me what kind of hide they were like, I wouldn’t be able to tell them, but I liked the color. It was a calm, dark grey.

This certainly would look cool if I were to make it into a mantle.

“As for your money, do you mind if I give it to you along with the money for the rest of the wyverns once that’s done?”

“Sure.”

“Ah, right, I need to give you this first.” The guildmaster handed me 10 gold.

“This is for the high-grade potion. I properly went and got payment from the party that was healed. Well, I say that, but they were beginner adventurers, so they borrowed the money from the guild. Hahaha.”

Oh right, I did give him one of Sui’s high-grade potions. I totally forgot. So I got 10 gold, but do normal high-grade potions cost 10 gold?

“The potion you handed me was clearly much better than a regular high-grade potion, though. Those guys were really grateful too, you know? As for the money, I’m sorry, but please think of this as a favor between adventurers and leave it at that?”

“I got that basically for free, so don’t mind it too much.”

“I’m really curious as to how you got something like that for free, but I know that it’s forbidden to pry.”

Yeah I’d be grateful if you didn’t. (Forced laughter.)

There was no way I could tell him that Sui made it.

“Now that you mention it, how much do potions usually cost?”

“Potions? Low-grades are 5 silver, middle-grades are 1 gold, and high-grades are 10 gold. There’s a special grade above that, but that one would be 50 gold. Adventurers would carry around at most middle-grade potions. Although there’s some high-ranking adventurers out there that have high-grades as well.”

I was told that the Adventurer’s guild usually carried a stock of high-grade potions for emergencies but had coincidentally run out of stock when the wyverns attacked.

“Does the Adventurer’s guild not carry special grade potions?”

“Those are way too expensive. The guild in the capital would have some, but outside of that, no.”

I see, 50 gold certainly is a lot. The guildmaster did say that he squeezed payment out of those beginner adventurers. It must have been because, even outside of this instance, whenever a potion was used, the adventurer who used it would have to pay for it, and a normal adventurer would never be able to pay 50 gold. Incidentally, for special grade potions, even severed limbs could be reattached if too much time hadn’t passed.

“Ahh, right. I’ll be bringing out the rest of the wyverns now.” I released the other six wyverns. I had almost forgotten amongst all that potion talk, but I had come here to do that.

“Hey, do not forget to have them butcher what I went and got as well.”

“Ahh, that’s right.” Reminded by Fel, I turned my thoughts toward the earth dragon.

It would have been fine if I had just forgotten about it forever like this, though. Man, I don’t want to take it out......

“Hm? If Fel hunted something again, does that mean it’s something ridiculous?” Having heard our conversation, the guildmaster stepped in.

“Yes, actually, Fel went and hunted an earth dragon......”

...............

............

......

“If my ears haven’t broken due to old age, does that mean I just heard you say... ‘earth dragon,’ just now?” After a sizable chunk of time, that was what the guildmaster said.

“Y-Yes.”

“.........Is it really, really an earth dragon?”

“Y-Yes. I’ll bring it out now so make sure, please.” I revealed the earth dragon from my Item Box.

“............”

“............”

Both the guildmaster and old man Johan were speechless at the sight of the earth dragon.

Huh? This is... taking a while. He—y, wake up, both of you.

“Uh, uhmm......”

“Y-Yeah, sorry. No, I mean, we just blanked out from surprise there.”

Really, I’m so sorry.

“Hey, Johan, you alright?” The guildmaster brought Johan back by slapping the old man on the shoulder.

“Y-Yeah, guildmaster. A-Am I dreaming? I think I see an earth dragon in front of me, hahaha.”

Ahhh yep, that’d be the reaction, wouldn’t it? Guildmaster, old man Johan, I really am just incredibly sorry.

“Uhmm, so apparently dragon meat is delicious, so Fel wants you to butcher it at the very least, or so he says.”

“Indeed. Dragons are good. Wyverns are tasty too, but dragons are better.”

When Fel said that, the guildmaster and old man Johan fell silent again.

“............So dragons are delicious.”

“Y-Yeah. No one else knows how dragons taste, you know?”

Huh? There’s no dragon steak or anything?

“After all, the last time a dragon’s been defeated was around 200 years ago......”

“Yeah, a long-lived elf or dwarf might know stories from back then, but......”

From what I’d heard in passing before, elves lived for around 500 to 600 years while high elves lived for around 1000 years. Dwarves lived from around 200 to 300 years at most. So, if it was 200 years ago, just as old man Johan said, only an elf or a dwarf would know.

“I think I know what you’re going to say, but about the materials......”

“Don’t ask the impossible. We can’t even handle your chimera and orthrus, there’s no way we’d be able to take earth dragon stuff, which would be even harder to handle.”

Ahh, yeah I knew it. Well, of course it would be this way.

“I understand, but can you at least just butcher it?”

“Hrmmm, what do you think, Johan?”

“It’s impossible. There’s nothing to throw away when it comes to a dragon. From its blood to its innards, everything is an ingredient for something, it’s said. Doing such careful work that not even a single drop of blood goes to waste is just impossible for me alone. Not to mention, we don’t have the proper tools here.”

Apparently there needed to be proper tools for butchering a dragon. Well, it made sense, since there probably needed to be a lot of preparations to not waste a single drop of blood.

“It’s impossible here, but the guilds at the capital or a dungeon city might be able to do it.”

“Certainly. If it’s the capital or a dungeon city, there’d be employees that specialize in butchering monster corpses.”

The capital or a dungeon city, huh? At any rate, it looks like it’d be impossible to do here.

“Fel, they’re saying they can’t do it here.”

“It is unfortunate, but there is nothing to be done.”

I put the earth dragon back into my Item Box.

“Sorry, bro.”

“No no, I’m actually grateful you’re acting like my personal butcher. Well, that’s probably going to be over soon.”

I’d actually stayed in this town too long, doing this and that, after all. Fel’s been saying that he wants to go to the ocean, and he’s probably going to start hurrying me up soon, too.

I was thinking of leaving town right after receiving the rest of the money and materials from the wyverns. I wanted to go and look around this country, after all.

“Hm? Are you leaving already?”

“Yes. Once I get payment for the wyverns, I’m thinking of going back on my journey.”

“I see. That’s too bad, but I can’t stop you. We talked about this already, too. If that’s the case, then before you leave, just like we talked about......”

“Oh, the thing about taking high ranking quests from other towns we stop by on the way?”

“Yeah, are you still up for that?”

“I think that’ll be fine, but we haven’t actually decided where we’re going to pass through...... Ah, does the guild have a map of this country or something?”

“Oh, we do. If you’re asking for that, I’ll show you in my room. We need to think about the future, after all.”

As I was leaving with the guildmaster to go back to his room, I heard old man Johan call out to me.

“Ah, these wyverns are also nicely drained of blood so it won’t take too long. It’ll be fine to come for these the day after tomorrow.”

“Got it. Then I’ll come the day after tomorrow, so I’ll be in your care then.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“So then, have you decided where you want to go?” the guildmaster asked after sitting across from me.

“Rather than a destination, we’ve only decided that we want to go see the ocean.”

“Indeed. The ocean. I want to eat krakens and sea serpents.”

“So he says.”

“Krakens and sea serpents, huh? There’s some pretty ridiculous names in there again.”

“Uhmm, sorry. Fel just says they’re tasty and won’t listen to me......”

“Muh, those are good, you know? Also, eating seafood every once in a while is good. And if you cook it, it will certainly become even better.”

Ahh yeah yeah, I get it already.

“So that being said, we want to go see the ocean.”

“The ocean, huh? Wait a second.” Saying that, the guildmaster got up and retrieved a piece of paper from inside his desk drawer.

“This is a map of this country and the kingdom of Erman.”

The map he laid out on the desk pictured both the kingdoms of Leonhardt and Erman. It was pretty detailed. By the way, apparently this same map was sold at any Adventurer’s guild in both countries.

“If you’re going to the ocean, then I’d like for you to go along this road. The road’s being maintained so I’d recommend it for that too, but you’d also be passing by three major townships, so it’d be great if you could take requests at those places.”

“I’m fine with that, but where are the three towns?”

“The first one you’ll see coming from here is a town named Krehl. Passing through that, next is the dungeon city of Dolan. Then next is Nijhoff. Then last is the seaside town of Berléand.”

The guildmaster’s finger was pointed at the end of the line, at Berléand, a town facing the ocean. The first town we would visit, Krehl, wasn’t as big as this one, but apparently it was famous for its textiles industry. I was told that it was a lively town since many merchants would come for its colorful threads and cloths, or something to that effect.

The next one, the dungeon city of Dolan, had a dungeon in it just as its name implied. By having a dungeon, both merchants and adventurers would gather, and towns would grow large.

This town of Karelina was the 5th largest town in the kingdom of Leonhardt, but the towns above it consisted of the capital and three different dungeon cities. So that means that having a dungeon helps a city flourish, huh? It looked like a large city, so I was looking forward to it.

And the town of Nijhoff was a town of earthenware, so pottery and ceramics workshops were apparently everywhere. It seemed that they also made bathtubs there.

And lastly was the port town Berléand. It was famous enough that it was known that, for fresh fish, this town was the place to go. This world even had monsters in its oceans, so normally fishing would be impossible, but apparently this town’s fishermen openly defied the monsters and fished. Apparently, it was famously known that to be a fisherman of Berléand, one had to be strong above all else.

What aggressive fishermen, to not even mind monsters like that. Well, thanks to that, there was no other town with a more prosperous fishing industry. As a seafood loving Japanese person, I’m totally looking forward to those fish.

“I especially recommend the dungeon city of Dolan among these. Since a lot of adventurers gather, not only are there a lot of weapons and armor shops, the food is good too. Also, there’s a lot of rare things that come out of the dungeon being sold there. Right, if you have time why not try entering the dungeon?”

“Hm? A dungeon, huh? This is my first time in a dungeon in a human town. How fun.”

Don’t you go reacting to dungeons, Fel. Ugh, I’m getting a bad feeling......

《Dungeon? Are we fighting—?》

Ahhh, Sui’s come out of its bag, too.

“Yes, we are. Sui, let us go to the dungeon.”

《Dungeon~》 Sui, who for some reason was in high spirits, started bouncing around.

“Sui, stop jumping around. Hey, I’m not getting anywhere near that dungeon, just so you know.” I’m already sick and tired of dungeons. I’m not going anywhere near this one, you hear?

“Dungeons, huh? I have heard something nice. Let us go quickly.”

《Sui wants to go to the dungeon too!》

“No, no, I already said we’re not going. Also don’t ‘let us go’ me. We’re not leaving yet. We still haven’t got the money and other stuff for the rest of the wyverns, so at the earliest we won’t be leaving until the day after tomorrow.”

The guildmaster laughed after hearing the conversation between Fel and I (Sui was talking with telepathy so only we could hear it).

“Hahaha, it’s fine that you’re excited about the dungeon, but don’t forget about taking requests on the way to Berléand, please. Of course, there should also be quests left over in Dolan, too.”

“I understand. For me, something like that will be over with quickly. It should be fine to enter the dungeon then, no?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll tell Dolan’s guildmaster about this ahead of time.”

“Indeed. A dungeon in a human town, huh? I am looking forward to it.”

《Sui is too~.》

“Nonono, I already said I’m not going anywhere near it.”

Once Fel asked what he wanted to ask and said what he wanted to say, he went and fell asleep again. Just as always, he refuses to listen to other people. Goddammit, this guy... Hahh~

“Hahaha, you’ve got your fair share of troubles too, huh?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“I’ll give this map to you, so do your best with the requests.”

“Got it. I’m counting on you to tell them about us, guildmaster.”

“Yeah, I know. Ah, also, about the earth dragon, Dolan might be able to butcher it. I’ll be telling Dolan’s guildmaster about that, too.”

“Thank you. Ah, also, would you mind telling the merchant Lambert about my whereabouts if he ever comes to ask about it?” I knew that the Adventurer’s guilds communicated to each other through letters teleported by a magic tool, so they should know where I am at any given moment.

“Hohh, so you know Lambert?”

“Yes. I’ve been in his care in a lot of ways. Also, I’ll be asking him to make a mantle using the wyvern hide.”

“I see. Understood. If Lambert comes, I’ll tell him.”

“Please and thank you. Well then, I’ll be back the day after tomorrow.” Like that, we left the Adventurer’s guild.

“I would like wyvern meat for today’s meal.”

“I know already.” Wyvern meat, huh? I wonder how it tastes. I can’t really imagine. When I saw it in the storehouse, it kind of looked like wagyu beef... It seems it’s a high-class ingredient, so it shouldn’t be bad. I’m looking forward to it, just a little though.

“Ahh, right. I need to go and bring the wyvern hide to Lambert’s place. Fel, I’ll be heading to Lambert’s store for a bit.”

“Got it. Be quick.”

When I swung by Lambert’s store, Lambert himself just happened to be in.

“Lambert, I’ve brought the hide.”

“Ohh, then this way, please.”

I entered the parlor room in the back of the store along with Lambert.

“Then, I’ll be counting on you to make a mantle, a belt with an attached scabbard, and a pair of shoes with this.”

“Yes, certainly. Now then, can I ask you to wait for a little bit?” Leaving those words behind, Lambert stood up and left the room, before coming back after a little while.

“Here, please accept this as proof of your order.” Lambert handed me a wooden tag. It had today’s date, as well as what I ordered and what I left with them (the wyvern hide) burnt onto it.

“In half a year I’ll be exchanging your order for this and the payment, so make sure not to lose it. Well, even if you do, I won’t forget you so it should be fine, Mukohda. Hahaha.”

“No no, I’ll make sure to safeguard it properly. I’m looking forward to half a year from now, after all. Ahh, right. I’ll be leaving town soon, so I need to tell you. You can ask for my whereabouts at the Adventurer’s guild. I’ve asked the guildmaster there to tell you if you ask, Lambert, so if you need something you’ll know where I am.”

“Ohhh, so you’re finally leaving? You’ve been good to me, Mukohda.”

“No, I’m the one who’s been treated well by you. I’ll come back in half a year about when the mantle and stuff should be done, so I’ll be in your care again at that time.”

“No no, we’ll be the ones in your care. I’ll be waiting for you with some good stuff.”

“Yes, I’ll be counting on you for that.” Handing the wyvern hide over to Lambert, we left Lambert’s store behind.

“Hey, Fel, you said you wanted to go to the ocean, but is it okay to leave right after receiving the money and materials from those wyverns the day after tomorrow?”

“Yes. I have become interested after hearing about that dungeon earlier. I want to go as soon as possible.”

“No, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but I’m not going anywhere near any dungeons. Not to mention, we’ll be stopping by Krehl before the dungeon city Dolan, so you won’t be going right away anyway.”

“Mhh, you are correct. We have to take a request there, no?”

“That’s right. But it should be easy for you, right Fel?”

“Of course. It will be nothing for one such as me. Let us quickly take care of the request in Krehl and hurry to the dungeon city.”

“It won’t be that quick, though. Since we already have the go ahead to be free in this country, I want to take advantage of that and sightsee in Krehl too. It seems that they’re famous for their textiles, so I want to get new clothes there, too. We’ll be staying there for several days.”

“But, dungeon......”

“Even if you don’t hurry that much, it’s not like the dungeon will run away. Also, it’s not like we’re rushing toward anything, so why not take it easy and look around?”

“Muh, fine. It cannot be helped.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Now then, let’s eat.”

“Indeed. Remember the wyvern meat.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I retrieved the wyvern meat from my Item Box.

What... what expensive looking meat.

It looked exactly like those cuts of A5 wagyu meat basically meant only for gourmet places you see featured on magazines and TV. It was well marbled, and looked the picture of high-class gourmet meat. They say you can tell how well fed animals were by the state of their meat, and from looking at this meat, those wyverns must have eaten pretty damn well.

They seemed to be a pretty strong species so I could understand why, though. In these cases, it might actually turn out tastier if I don’t try to do too much and just make a simple dish to let the ingredients shine. And if that’s the case, it’s gotta be steak.

Having decided that, I opened my Online Supermarket. With meat this high quality, I also wanted to be a bit more picky about the kind of salt and pepper I used as well. Looking at the page for salt, my eyes stopped on a single item.

What is this? “Sea salt taken from the ocean and dried for one year: Sun dried sea salt”? This looks good, I’m getting it. Next is pepper. Oh, this looks good.

What I had latched onto was black pepper that came in a grinder. It came in the bottle still as peppercorns, and by turning the end, you would grind the peppers out. I bought the salt and pepper, as well as some wine because I felt like enjoying all this meat with some.

~◇~◇~◇~

Cut the wyvern meat into thick chunks for cooking into steaks. Oil up the frying pan and then put it over high heat. I’m trying out using the fattiest parts of the wyvern as a substitute for oil. After seasoning the wyvern meat with salt and pepper, lay a steak down onto the frying pan. When I do this, it elicits a nice sizzling sound. Since it’s such good meat, it should taste just fine rare, so quickly roast both sides of the steak.

~◇~◇~◇~

From sight alone, I could tell it was just the most delicious thing.

Right, first I need to taste test it......*mlowm*

......Oh my god.

What the heck? This is just...beautiful.

It’s so soft it melts in my mouth. And then my mouth just overflows with the meat’s umami. As a flavor, it kind of resembles beef.

I thought back to the times when I would splurge and get some wagyu steaks whenever I got my bonus pay. No, this was even better than that.

“Hey, hurry up with my share.”

《Sui wants some too—.》

“Ahh, sorry, sorry. I’ll cook them up now. This meat’s amazing by itself, so I think it’s best not to drown it out with too much stuff. I’ll just simply season it with some salt and pepper and cook it, okay?”

The wyvern meat was just too good, I spaced out for a bit.

“Anything is fine, just hurry it up.”

《Master, faster—!》

Fel was already drooling an ocean, and Sui was also looking like it’d jump on me at any moment. I hurried to finish cooking the wyvern steaks seasoned with salt and pepper.

“Ohh, the wyvern meat is delicious, just as I remembered!”

《This meat is soft and tasty—!》

I know, right? An unbelievable taste came out of that already amazing looking meat. I ate my own share of the wyvern meat as I cooked up more portions for Fel and Sui. I also had a cup of wine to go with it. Of course, the wine was red.

Mouth-meltingly soft and delicious meat with wine, what a feeling of luxury this brings.

After that, we indulged ourselves to the fullest with the wyvern meat. Fel and Sui both had several extra portions of the meat, and ate until they were ready to burst.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Since we were planning to leave town tomorrow, today I was going to spend time preparing for the trip by doing things like pre-making food. Of course, I borrowed the inn’s courtyard for this once more.

I started from the fried foods that were becoming a regular in our menu.

Using the four different meats of red serpent, black serpent, rockbird, and giant dodo, I fried up both of the previous flavors of karaage. Then, I also made some of the pork cutlet and the popular cheese-stuffed chicken cutlet.

Next, using the remaining ground meat, I prepared Hamburg steak cutlets. I made both regular steak cutlets and cheese-stuffed steak cutlets, since Sui liked the cheese-stuffed kind.

I used up all the ground meat, so I set about making some more. Using the hand-cranked mincer, I diligently ground out both orc general and bloody horn-bull meat. Turning the crank over and over, I continued to grind out large amounts of meat.

“This much should be fine. Whew~, that was tiring.”

Next was something I thought of while eating the wyvern meat yesterday; that being the fact that the wyvern meat would do good in shabu-shabu, or sukiyaki. And so I started to chop up a large amount of thinly sliced cuts of the wyvern meat.

Although running out midway sometimes also has its own charm.

Nevertheless, I made quite a lot of the thinly sliced wyvern meat. I laid the cuts out on a plate, wrapped the plate, and stored it in my Item Box.

There were a lot of scraps left over from creating those thin slices of wyvern meat, so I decided to make some wyvern Hamburg steaks with the leftovers. I’ve seen people using wagyu scraps to make 100% wagyu patties on a gourmet show before, so I was going to try and imitate that.

If I remember correctly, the recipe needed nutmeg...

I didn’t usually put nutmeg in my patties. I was the type to not bother putting in ingredients that didn’t have to be there (eyes sparkling), after all... just kidding. I was just too lazy to go and buy the ingredients, so I never ended up putting them in.

I’m using good meat this time so let’s do this properly.

The show I watched said that doing it that way enhanced the taste of it. And so I bought nutmeg with my skill.

~◇~◇~◇~

Start off by cooking the onions until they are completely soft and brown, and then leave them to cool.

This time, instead of running the wyvern meat through a mincer, we are going to mince the meat with a knife. Unlike with a mincer, cutting the meat with a knife often leaves differently sized chunks and makes it harder to shape. And having water content left in the onions makes the patties even harder to form, so that was why we cooked the onions earlier. Even I properly go through this step, although I’m normally of the raw onion faction.

Next, roughly mince the wyvern meat with a knife. According to the show, leaving the chunks at a size where you think it’s just a little large gives the patty a chunky feeling and helps the umami flavor.

Once the mincing of the meat is finished, put the meat into a bowl along with the cooked onions, panko, beaten eggs, nutmeg, and salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly.

Next is the forming of the patties and cooking them. Start with medium heat for one minute, then low heat for four, before flipping the patty and doing the same on the other side. While cooking the opposite side over low heat, hit the frying pan with some wine and steam with a lid for a while to finish out the dish.

~◇~◇~◇~

For the sauce, I made the usual mix of ketchup and Worcestershire, but I also added some wine and butter to it this time. This made the sauce richer than usual, and it looked like it would complement the wyvern meat nicely.

“Good. I should go call Fel and Sui......”

I didn’t even have to call them, the two were waiting right behind me.

“Here—.”

“Good.”

《Wo~w it looks good!》

The two of them started eating the wyvern Hamburg steak. Seeing that, I also started on my portion.

Ohh, the meat juices just explode out of the patty. And the texture of this chunky meat is nice. Mincing the meat by hand was a little more effort, but this kind of Hamburg steak is nice too.

“Mm? Is this wyvern meat?”

“Yeah it is. Just roasting wyvern meat makes it plenty delicious, but having it this way is nice too, right?”

“Indeed, this is good. Chopping it as finely as you did made the meat taste even better.”

《Yeah yeah, this is tasty~. Sui wants more!》

“Me too.”

Sure, sure.

I made a second helping for Fel and Sui. In the end, the Hamburg steak patties made out of wyvern meat, which I had made a fairly large amount of, were all consumed by Fel and Sui.

Man though, those two sure eat way too much.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I had come to the Adventurer’s guild. They must have been used to it, since as soon as an employee saw me, they went to alert the guildmaster.

The guildmaster and I headed for the familiar storehouse.

“Hey bro, it’s done. Six wyverns worth of meat, hides, and magic stones.”

I threw all of the meat, hides, and magic stones Johan handed me into my Item Box.

Moving on, the guildmaster explained the details of my reward. The reward for the wyvern subjugation was 840 gold; this was raised a little since the request was made as an emergency. For the sale of the materials, the fangs, poison sacs, and poison barbs of all thirteen of them came out to 481 gold. As for the five sets of magic stones and hides, the hides were worth 1000 gold in all, and the magic stones were 1650 gold.

Altogether, I was to receive 3971 gold. That was paid in 397 large gold coins and 1 regular gold coin.

And I made another huge load of money... It was better than being poor, but I was feeling a little lost having so much of it. Maybe I’ll just splurge a little at places we visit.

Wait, huh?

“Uhmm, didn’t you say before that I’d be getting 2500 gold? This seems a little much......”

“Ahh, that? That was just for the sale of materials. Also, the hides this time were of real prime quality. So we’re paying a little extra. That, along with the subjugation request reward, makes this amount.”

I-I see.

“We were really saved by your being here this time. We were able to gather all the adventurers above C-rank that were in town along with the knights to go out and do the job, but doing so would have resulted in a lot of casualties. Really, you have my thanks. So I added my gratitude to your reward.”

So he added a little extra to my quest reward. Kinda... sorry. Fel and Sui both just killed them without any real effort. I guess I’ll go buy the two of them something. That being said, knowing the two of them it’ll be something food-related.

But still, lots of casualties, huh? So according to the guildmaster and also what little I gleaned from talking to the other adventurers briefly, killing wyvern herds results in a lot of casualties. But Fel and Sui just kind of beheaded them easily. The wyverns died without ever being able to do anything, haha. Fel and Sui are way too strong.

Especially Sui, that slime’s been getting so strong so quick ever since it evolved, huh? Wait, will Sui evolve again? Even though it’s already ridiculous... I’m getting a little scared. W-Well, it won’t be a problem as long as Sui remains cute like it is now.

While I was absorbed in my thoughts, the employee who had run to get the money returned.

“Then, here are your 397 large gold coins and 1 gold coin.” The guildmaster took the bag of money from the employee and put it in front of me.

Taking the bag from the guildmaster, I stored it in my Item Box.

“You leaving?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve already talked to the guildmasters at Krehl, Dolan, Nijhoff, and Berléand. Make sure you stop by those places,” the guildmaster said, fixing my travel plans in place.

“I know already. I want to go and see a lot of different towns, so I’ll make sure to stop by.”

“I’m counting on you. The other guildmasters are waiting.”

Wh— Doesn’t that just mean the other guildmasters are ready and waiting to foist all their leftover requests onto us? Damn.

“Okay then, the both of you have treated me very well until now. That being said, I’ll still be coming back in half a year to pick up my order from Lambert. So when that happens, I’ll be in your care once more.”

“Oh, I see I see. We’ll be waiting. Make sure you come back safe and sound, you hear?”

“Right, right, having a big earner like you around makes my job worth doing.”

After exchanging goodbyes with the guildmaster and old man Johan, we left the Adventurer’s guild.

“Well then, let’s go.”

“Indeed. Let us hurry to Krehl, or whatever the name was. Get on.”

Yeah, yeah... wait, don’t you just want to go to the dungeon city already? Well that’s fine, but we’re still staying at Krehl for several days.

Like that, we left the town of Karelina behind us.

Chapter 9: New Friend

Fel was running along the road. I had told him to take it easier, but he must have been feeling in a rush since he didn’t drop his speed at all. I was getting used to riding on Fel after having done it so much, but I was only just barely okay. The adventurers and merchants we passed by every once in a while all wore surprised faces.

Once the sun finally started to set, Fel stopped.

“Let us stop here for today.”

I got off of Fel’s back, before swaying and sitting down on the ground. “You were going way too fast.”

“Mhh, I was not. You held on just fine, did you not?”

“I would have been seriously injured if I hadn’t. I was so desperate not to die that I managed to stay on, that’s all. Go slower tomorrow.”

“Fine. We are going to reach Krehl tomorrow at any rate, anyway.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yes. I can feel the presence of a gathering of a lot of humans up ahead. That is probably Krehl.”

Hmmm~ So he can tell that even though it looks like there’s quite a distance left to Krehl.

“Wait, we’re already almost there? I thought it’d take a little longer......”

“Is it not better to get there sooner? More importantly, I am hungry.”

I somehow get the feeling that I was just tricked, but whatever.

“Then I’ll make dinner, so wait a little.”

Today’s dinner is shabu-shabu. Let’s hurry up and eat this thin-cut wyvern that I spent my effort cutting. I even already prepared the pot with water and seaweed yesterday before sleeping.

Right, first up I need to buy the vegetables and sauce from the Online Supermarket. For the vegetables, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, oh, and I also still have carrots, so green onions, and also Japanese hackberries and shimeji mushrooms would be good, I think. For the shabu-shabu sauce, this should be it.

Of course, it was ponzu and sesame sauce.

I need to cut up the vegetables first, don’t I?

~◇~◇~◇~

Cut the Chinese cabbage into large strands. Slice off the root of the mustard greens, then render the rest into 5-centimeter-long pieces. As for the carrots, cut those into long strips. The green onions should be cut thinly diagonally, and the hackberries and shimeji mushrooms should have their hard tips cut off and rendered into small easily digestible pieces. After that, put the pot that was prepared yesterday on heat and take out the seaweed just before the water starts boiling.

~◇~◇~◇~

Right, now it’s finally time to shabu-shabu the wyvern meat. I threw the meat into the shabu-shabu pot, and occasionally some vegetables too.

Taking the finished meat and vegetables and putting them on a plate, I first covered them in ponzu.

“Fel, can you wake up Sui?”

“Sui is already awake.”

《Food, food!》

Ahh, because it’s time for food.

“Here.” I placed a veritable mountain of shabu-shabu in front of the two on top of a plate.

“Mm? Is this wyvern meat? The sauce on top of it adds a little bit of acidity... I feel like I can eat this almost forever.”

《Yeah yeah! It’s just a little sour and refreshing so Sui can eat all the meat—!》

No, it’ll be trouble if you guys eat any more.

The ponzu was no good, it was too refreshing and promoted smooth eating. Hrm, next is the sesame sauce.

I guess I should eat too. I took my plate of shabu-shabu with vegetables and first used ponzu.

Ohh, how delicious. Wyvern meat definitely works with the ponzu. It’s so refreshing to eat. It really does feel like I can just eat an infinite amount of this with vegetables.

“More.”

《More~!》

H-How fast.

Shabu-shabu, shabu-shabu.

“Here.” Of course, I used the sesame sauce.

《Ah, it’s a different flavor~. This one’s good too.》

“Indeed, it is good.”

Then I’ll be going with the sesame sauce from now on. Oh, I need to finish mine before they ask for more.

Take some wyvern meat with the hackberries and some sesame sauce...... Yep, it’s delicious. This thick and fragrant sesame sauce goes nicely with meat.

In the end, both the ponzu and the sesame sauce were good. But I can’t decide which one’s better. Shabu-shabu’s really just better with both of them.

“More!”

《More!》

I already said you’re eating too fast! Ahh fine, it’s such work making meals for these two.

In the end, I had to give them countless more servings until they were satisfied.

After the meal, I used Earth magic to make a box house. It was to be my sleeping spot for tonight. I spread both mine and Fel’s futons inside.

“Fel, I’ll be taking a bath, so you can go to sleep first.”

“Got it. Then I will be sleeping now.” Leaving those words behind, Fel entered the house.

Now then, time for my bath.

《Master — by bath do you mean that hot water?》

“Yes, I do. Do you want to come in too, Sui?”

《Yeah—!》

I created another set of stone walls to surround us and released the bathtub from my Item Box.

“Sui, can you fill this with water?”

《Su—re.》

I had Sui fill the tub with water, and as usual used a fireball to heat it up. The temperature’s nice...

Learning from my past mistakes, I took out some bathing goods I had bought before.

Blammo! A bath mat. As long as I had this, I wouldn’t be entering the bath with muddy feet anymore.

“Ah, Sui, you can go in first.”

《Okay—.》

*Ploosh*

《It’s wa—rm!》

Man Sui’s sure warmed up to that bath.

Taking off my clothes, I washed my hair and body.

Washing my body like this with all the bubbles sure feels nice and refreshing.

Rinsing off the suds, I entered the bath. Ah, I forgot to put in the bath salts. When I added in some of the yuzu scented kind, a pleasant citrusy aroma of yuzu started to gently rise from the water.

“What a nice scent.”

《It feels so ni—ce.》

“Yeah.”

After thoroughly enjoying the bath together with Sui, I had thought to immediately go to sleep, but I ended up remembering about... that.

If I didn’t do it, they’d kick up a fuss.

Oh well, I guess I just have to do it.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Ehh — Goddesses, can you hear me—?” I have some weird connection with those people, so this should be fine...maybe.

＜We can hear you. We’ve been killing ourselves waiting, you know!＞

＜That’s right! I have something I want to ask you for.＞

＜Yo! We’ve been waiting!＞

＜Food and candy.＞

......It went through immediately, huh? The pressure of their anticipation is so real. Just don’t ask for anything impossible, please. Just like I said last time, 3 silver each, right?

“So then, have you all decided what you want? I already told you before, but it’s 3 silver per person. Please keep that in mind.” I made sure to remind them and put a nail in the coffin of any ideas they might have had, since it seemed like they’d ask for something absurd again.

Especially Ninrir, that divine disappointment.

＜W-W-Why is my name the one that’s singled out? I-I understand already. 3 s-silver apiece.＞

Ah, she was totally going to ask for something ridiculous.

＜Wait a second Ninrir, by that face you were fully ready to ask for something stupid. Didn’t the otherworlder boy just say that it was 3 silver each? If you ask for too much we’ll all get punished for what you did and lose our ability to get what we want from the other world. Keep that in mind, okay?＞

＜She’s right! Stop being so selfish, Ninrir.＞

＜Ninrir, bad.＞

＜Gnnnrrnnnn...... Even though I was the first one to find him and give him my blessing. Damnit. It wouldn’t hurt to give me just a little preferential treatment...(*Whisper*)＞

Hahhh, I figured that divine disappointment Ninrir would be the most deplorable out of the bunch of them. I’m still disappointed, though.

＜Nnuh? You... I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but I am no disappointment!＞

＜Ufufufu, he called you a divine disappointment. It fits you, Ninrir.＞

＜Ahahahaha, it’s perfect!＞

＜*Snicker* ......Divine disappointment.＞

＜Muuugghhh, you guys too—?!＞

Yep, just like Ninrir, using words unbefitting a goddess. She’s acting as normal.

＜You! I am a goddess, you know?! You need to show more respect!＞

I mean, even if you tell me to do that...

＜Now now, calm down Ninrir. More importantly, let’s hurry up and tell him what we want?＞

＜Hah! That’s right. Of course, I want sweets. Also, that black drink and that clear one too from before. Those were fizzy and sweet, and they were the first things I’ve drunk that I thought were delicious. Also, some more dorayaki.＞

Nice one, Kisharle. As expected, she’s good at handling Ninrir the Disappointing.

“It’s sweets for Ninrir, got it. Also cola and cider, too.”

Still though, Ninrir sure doesn’t waver at all. She’s just sweets all the way.

I opened my Online Supermarket, and starting with the dorayaki, I also added cakes and puddings, several kinds of chocolates, and cookies into the cart at random. Lastly, I also added 1.5 liter bottles of her desired cola and cider.

“Next, please...”

＜Next is me, Kisharle. That shampoo, hair treatment, and hair mask from before was really good. My hair’s got more gloss now, and the dryness in my hair is completely gone and it’s so much easier to style now. And this fragrance! Every time I move the scent gently wafts and it just entrances me! It’s the best! It’s popular with the male gods too. Ufufu... So you see, didn’t you say that there’s tens of varieties of that otherworld shampoo and stuff? So, I’d like the same stuff, but with a different scent this time. I’m counting on you to choose a good one, okay?＞

So Kisharle is once again asking for shampoo and hair treatment and hair masks, huh? Certainly, nowadays shampoos and stuff smell nice. I get what the male gods are thinking. As a man, it’s way more impactful smelling the subtle nice scent of shampoo wafting off of hair when women move than something strong like perfume.

I looked through the beauty products trying to find something for Kisharle.

This is the one I bought before. What? This one says it’s got a rose bouquet scent. Which means, avoid rose scents and...... ah, this might be nice. It says it’s got a fruity floral fragrance, and it’s from the same non-silicone series for damaged hair. It looks perfect for Kisharle, who’s concerned about the dryness of her hair.

It was the same price as before, each costing 9 copper. Calling this stuff good, there was still some allowance left over.

“Goddess Kisharle, even if I buy what you want, you still have 3 copper left over. What should I do?”

＜If that’s the case, then I’d like what you used when you got in the bath before. What was it called, bath salts?＞

Bath salts? Sure, sure............ Hm? Wait a second, why did she know that I used that when I took a bath? No way......

“Uhmm, why do you know what I used when I took a bath?”

＜Well that’s because we all watched you when taking one—＞

＜Wai— Ninrir!＞

“Wait a second, goddesses, what are you even doing?! It’s a crime to peep on someone in the bath!”

＜N-No, you see, uhm, we didn’t mean anything bad by it. We were just watching you do stuff, and you went and took a bath......＞

“No, isn’t it fine to just stop watching then?”

＜Ahh geez, shut up! You’re a man, stop kicking up too much fuss over something as small as being seen naked!＞

Ninrir, you say that because I’m a man, but guys hate being seen naked too. Not to mention, now that I know that, how am I supposed to relax in the bath now?

＜She’s right—! Also, you know, seeing your scrawny body isn’t a treat or anything. Right, Ruka?＞

Grrr, well sorry for having such a scrawny body, Agni. Men aren’t just their muscles, you know.

＜............＞ (This has nothing to do with Ruka.)

“Anyway, you guys definitely need to stop peeking when I’m in the bath! If this happens again I’ll stop offering you all anything!”

＜Awawawawa, sorry!＞

＜W-We get it~.＞

＜Fine, fine.＞

＜.........＞

Geez, what are those goddesses even doing up there all day? *Sigh* ...I need to regroup.

I added the yuzu scented bath salts into the cart for Kisharle.

“Next?”

＜Hey! It’s me, Agni. I’d really like some alcohol......hey, one’s fine, right?＞

“One, huh? That much might be fine, what do you all think?”

＜Let’s see, if we say “no” I’d feel sorry for Agni, so one might be okay.＞

＜......If it’s only one...＞

＜Agni, just one, got it?＞

＜Sure, got it. Oi, one alcohol. Something strong would be nice...... (And large, too). After that, whatever snacks you like. Those fried and boiled potatoes and fried meat from before were delicious. Those would be good.＞

Agni, why did you just send a separate oracle to tell me to get a big one? Well, one is one, so as long as it isn’t over 3 silver I don’t mind. For strong alcohol, that would have to be whiskey, I think. Oh, this would be nice. They were running ads for this on TV. It’s 1 silver and 4 copper for 700ml.

After that, Agni said that she wanted more fries and Hamburg steak cutlets, so I put some of the stuff I made earlier on a plate. I added both the plain and the cheese-stuffed kind. I set the price to be the same as before.

Hrmm, but there’s still some money left. Ah, whiskey with some sparkling water would make a highball, wouldn’t it? Adding some sparkling water to the cart, that brought the price to basically 3 silver.

“Last is Ruka, right? What will it be?”

＜Sweets and food. More food than candy.＞

So Ruka’s the same as before too. But this time she’d like more food? Then the same Hamburg steaks and steak cutlets from before, yeah? And karaage. After that, let’s add some side dishes from the Online Supermarket. Croquettes, fried shrimp and chili shrimp, thick fried egg and macaroni salad. This should be enough. Oh, also some white bread and rice balls. As for the rest, just random sweets should be fine.

Okay, this should be it. I laid out the offerings for each goddess on their own cardboard altars.

“These are the offerings you desired. Please receive them.”

The stuff on top of the cardboard altars disappeared. Right after, I could hear the excited noises made by the goddesses.

“Ah, I have something important to warn Goddess Agni about. That alcohol is very strong, so don’t drink it all at once. If you’re going to drink it as is, I’d recommend diluting it with ice and sipping at it. You can also dilute with water, or mix it with the soda water I also sent you.”

＜Sure, got it. Thanks, man~.＞

*Psshnk*

Ahh, it’s finally over. Every time, dealing with those goddesses is so tiring. Let’s just sleep.

I crawled into the futon that already had Sui in it and fell asleep.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Just as Fel had said, we reached Krehl the next day.

Krehl was deserving of its fame for its textiles, and the streets were lined with thread or fabric specialty stores and clothing stores.

We went to the Adventurer’s guild first, and when we did, it was nice to see that although we attracted attention since Fel was around, no one tried to bother us. When I showed my guild card at the receptionist’s desk, the lady working there (it was a cute dog-eared beastkin) told me to wait a little and left.

“He—y! You’re here, I’ve been waiting.” The one yelling with a huge voice while coming over was a small old man with a large unkempt beard.

Is that a dwarf? I’d heard of them before, but this is my first time seeing one.

“I’ve heard about you from Karelina’s Willem.”

Karelina’s WIllem? Ah, if I remember right that’s the guildmaster from Karelina’s name, I think.

Still, this small old man... even though he’s so short, he’s really muscular. Not to mention his ridiculously shaggy hair. He’s so obviously a dwarf I’m actually a little moved.

“Hm? What, have you never seen a dwarf before? Dwarves aren’t really that rare in this country, you know? Aren’t you heading to the dungeon city of Dolan after this? There’s dwarven adventurers and blacksmiths all over there.”

Hehhh, is that so? So there’re even dwarf adventurers. I saw beastkin adventurers at Karelina every once in a while, but I never saw any dwarves. I’ve heard that there’s also elves, but I haven’t seen one of those, either. Huh, I might be able to see all kinds of people when we get to the dungeon city of Dolan.

I wonder if elves really are all beautiful people? I don’t give a shit about guys, but I’m really interested in those beautiful elf ladies. And, maybe we’d get to know each other... (I wish.)

“Oh, that’s right I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? I am the guildmaster of the Adventurer’s guild here in Krehl. You can call me Rodolfo. Pleased to meet you.” Saying that, the small old man, or rather, Rodolfo, took my hand and shook it.

“Now then, it’s a little too public to talk here so let’s go to my room. Follow me.”

We followed after the slowly walking Rodolfo.

“Well anyway, have a seat.”

After following Rodolfo and arriving at the guildmaster’s room, I took a seat across from the old dwarf. Fel laid down in an empty space next to the seat.

“I’ve heard a lot of rumors, you know? To make a Fenrir a familiar...... At first I thought, ‘what fool things are these people saying?’ But, after hearing it from Willem, and on top of that, the same things that other people were saying as well... Even though I was a bit dubious about it, I started thinking it might be possible. To think that I’d really be able to lay my eyes on a beast of legend... Not only that, but I’ve heard that you have a slime that’s absurdly powerful?” Rodolf commented, stealing glances at Fel.

Dubious, huh? That’s how it would be, hearing about Fel without ever seeing him, isn’t it? He’s legendary, after all. Even Sui’s getting real strong real fast after it evolved. It even surprises me, its master.

“So then, I’m sorry to put this on you since you’ve just arrived, but can we talk about the requests?”

“Sure.”

“To tell you the truth......”

Apparently, they needed the string from a venom tarantula (from its looks it’s just a huge spider) as soon as possible. I was told that it was a request from the Bruno trading company, one of this Adventurer’s guild’s largest clients, but it seemed that the venom tarantula nest was in a pretty inconvenient place.

I was told that the venom tarantulas could be found in the Ishtam forest, which lay north of town, but on top of being chock full of poison-bearing bug-type monsters, A-ranked giant centipedes (they look exactly as you’d imagine) also lived there.

“In the first place, you see, bug-type monsters don’t have a lot of useable materials. Figure in the poison on top of that and no one wants to go. Not only that, but if A-ranked giant centipedes are there as well, absolutely no one would accept it. And the people from the Bruno trading company keep hassling me asking me when it’ll be done, I was at my wit’s end.”

I was told that the cloth made from a venom tarantula’s silk is of the highest quality, and that it was used in formal wear and dresses for nobles, or something.

Apparently that Bruno trading company received a sudden request from one of the nobles they were close to. And they had just run out of venom tarantula silk to make the cloth with, so the company was in an uproar as well. It seemed that they tried all sorts of things to get their hands on the silk, but they were still just a little short. And so that led to this request.

I understood that the venom tarantulas were in this Ishtam forest, and it seemed that we were marked for this mission since it was an emergency, and the request had been left alone all this time since it was so annoying to do.

“Will you please take this request? I can’t just ignore the plight of the Bruno trading company like that, since they’re such good clients.” Rodolfo made a troubled face; it looked like he was really worried about this.

“Fel, what do you think?”

“Bugs, huh? ......I hate bugs since there are not many of them that are edible. You can eat venom spiders, and they aren’t terrible, so they are one of the better bugs, but that shell...”

Wha? You can eat spiders?

“Uhh, you can eat venom tarantulas?”

“Yeah. Just as the Fenrir said, bugs are generally inedible, but out of the edible ones the venom tarantula is said to be the best. They’re nice boiled, you know.”

You can eat spiders......

Just as Rodolfo had said, bug-type monsters didn’t have many useable parts, but venom tarantulas had their silk, their meat, and their venom sac, and so were one of the more fruitful types of bug monsters. By the way, venom tarantulas were B-ranked, but apparently they were more often found without magic stones.

“I’ll add a little extra to your reward, so can I ask you to do this?”

It looked like he was really troubled by this, and I really wanted to help him, but in reality Fel would be doing all the work.

“Fel, is this a hard request?”

“Do not say something so foolish. There is no request too hard for me. Hrm... if you were to cook it, I guess it would get to be pretty good. Okay, I got it. I will take that request.”

“It looks like it’s okay. We’ll take the request.”

“Ohh, I see I see! Thanks!”

“So, since it’s an emergency, it’s better to be fast about it, right?”

“Sorry, but if you could that’d be great.”

Hmmm, but today is a little...... There’s not much time until the sun sets.

“Fel, how about tomorrow?”

“Sure, that is fine.”

“Well then, we’ll leave tomorrow.”

“I see. Thanks for being so quick about it.”

“Ah, there’s something I want to ask you, is there anywhere I can stay that allows familiars?”

“If that’s what you want, then I recommend the “Spinning Wheel” inn.”

After getting the location of that inn from Rodolfo, we left the Adventurer’s guild.

“Fel, I’d like to go look around the clothing stores here on the way to the inn.” I went around looking at any clothes that caught my eye while we headed for the inn. This was supposed to be the town of textiles, and the clothes displayed in stores all looked to be several levels of quality better than the clothes I had bought. The clothes sold in this town were all plain, but were properly dyed and looked well made.

“Ah, this is good...... Fel, I’m going inside.” I had my eye on an olive colored pair of pants, and an ivory colored shirt. All of my clothes were a dull brown, or close to it, so my eyes naturally went to this kind of color.

Man, this is nice.

“Do you like it? Unlike other towns, this place’s clothes are almost all new. Of course, this one is, too. The shirt is 1 gold and 5 silver, the pants are 2 gold. If you go to other towns, the same thing would cost you almost twice as much, I think. But this is the town of textiles, so we can sell it at this price, you know? You’re getting a very good deal here.”

A good deal...... you’re real shrewd, salesperson. Hearing those words makes me want to buy it.

Even the feel of the material couldn’t be compared to what I was wearing now. I feel it’s a little expensive, but I’ve got a lot of money, so I guess I’ll splurge here.

I ended up buying 3 pairs of the shirts and pants. All three shirts were ivory colored, and as for the pants I got them in olive, deep blue, and dark grey. It was somewhat of an impulse buy, but I was satisfied.

Let’s try them on tomorrow.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Last night, I stayed at the “Spinning Wheel” inn Rodolfo the guildmaster introduced me to.

This morning, I tried on the clothes I bought yesterday. The fabric felt nice and comfortable on my body, and it was very easy to move in. I made a good purchase.

It was a whole new level of comfortable compared to the clothes I had worn until now. I might not be able to go back to those clothes anymore.

Now, we were heading out to the forest of Ishtam in order to complete Rodolfo’s request of obtaining some venom tarantulas. I didn’t want to dirty my new clothes, but there was no other choice.

“Let’s go then, Fel.”

“Indeed.”

As always, I got on top of Fel’s back. Sui was inside my bag. “Good, let’s go.”

Fel ran off toward the forest of Ishtam.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“This is the forest of Ishtam... or at least it looks like it.”

“Indeed.”

Spread out in front of our eyes was a thick, dense forest. Some unknown creature’s cries of “Gyieeehhh, gyieeehhh!” reverberated through the forest, and an obviously creepy air was laid thickly throughout the whole thing.

“Let us go.” Leaving those words behind, Fel slowly walked into the forest of Ishtam.

The dense foliage and packed trees caused the forest to be dark, even though it was the middle of the day.

“Ah, right. This place is supposed to be full of poison-bearing bug-type monsters, are we okay here?”

“We have my barriers, and we also all have god’s blessings. There is no need to worry.”

Oh that’s right. Fel, Sui, and I all have blessings from the goddesses. But, don’t I only have a blessing (small)?

“I only have a blessing (small), though.”

“Did not Ninrir already tell you? Even a blessing (small) will invalidate status abnormalities unless it is something as strong as an instant death effect.”

Oh yeah, she did say something like that...

“Judging from these presences, there is nothing in the forest that has such a poison. So you are fine.”

I see, thank goodness... “So then, do you know where these venom tarantulas are?”

“Yeah. I know generally where they are from their presence. They are pretty deep in the forest. We are going.” Fel started running toward where the venom tarantulas were located.

On the way, we encountered monsters that looked like huge moths, or monsters that looked like huge mosquitoes, but Fel cut them all into halves with one spell. Seeing how Fel would do that while running, I started feeling really grateful that he wasn’t my enemy.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Fel had suddenly stopped.

“A big one is coming.”

As if waiting for Fel to finish his sentence, what popped out with perfect timing was an absolutely enormous centipede. It looked like it must be over a meter just in width.

“GIIIIHHHH!!!”

“I-IS THAT A GIANT CENTIPEDE?!”

“Indeed. Wait a little.”

Fel squared off against the giant centipede, and just as it was about to attack......

*Whssshhhhh*

*Thud*

The giant centipede that had been in the middle of raising its head fell to the side. There was a large hole open to the sky just under the giant centipede’s jaws.

《Sui did it! Sui beat the big one—!》

S-Sui...... Oh man... Fel’s gone all stiff. Sui did steal Fel’s prey, after all...

“W-Well, forgive it, will you?”

“Hmpf!”

Since the giant centipede that Sui defeated was an A-ranked monster, I decided to bring it back for now and stuffed it into my Item Box.

“Look, uhmm, the main target, venom tarantulas are still around, you know? Let’s get going.”

“Get on.”

Fel, who had just had his spotlight stolen, said brusquely.

《Master — are there more to beat—?》

“Hm? Yeah, this time we’re gonna have Uncle Fel do it, okay?”

《Whaaaaat? But Sui wants to go pew pew—!》

“You can help if there’s a whole bunch of them, okay?”

《Yeah, got it—!》

Please let there be a whole lot of venom tarantulas. Sui wants to go wild.

As soon as I got on top of Fel, he immediately started running.

After a little while, I spotted several spider nests amongst the trees. I could see large spiders around a meter in height inside those nests.

“So those are venom tarantulas, huh?”

“Yeah.”

The huge spiders were colored a dark purple that was close to black. Are those...really edible......?

“According to Rodolfo, just taking two is fine, but there’s quite a lot here.”

“We are hunting all of them.” As Fel said that, he immediately activated his magic.

*Thwang!* *crackle* *crackle* *Thwang!* *crackle* *crackle* *Thwang!* *crackle*

Lightning assaulted the venom tarantulas.

Lightning magic, huh? It looks like a stronger version of a stun gun.

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

Ah, they fell out of their nests.

“It is finished.”

“How fast. Are they all dead?”

“Yes. I hit their heads with lightning.”

It’s over already? Man, it’s always fast going with Fel around.

I retrieved the eight venom tarantulas that had fallen from their nests into my Item Box.

《Awwwww — Where’s Sui’s turn—?》

“Ah, Sui, just be patient this time, okay?”

《But Sui wanted to go pew pew and beat them too—!》

“Ah, no, uhmm...... Ah! Th-There’s a dungeon up next, so you can fight a lot there.”

《Dungeon? You mean that place with lots of enemies?》

“Y-Yeah.”

《Dungeon—! Dungeon, dungeon, so fun~.》

Khh...... Even though I’d resolved myself to never go in a dungeon again...

“Kukuku, so now it’s decided we’re going to the dungeon.”

Goddammit, stop laughing, Fel! I’m weak to what Sui wants, so what?

“There’s probably no way I can get out of going in now that Sui’s this excited about it, but make sure it’s safe, okay?”

“Hmph! There is no dungeon around that would not be safe with me around. Be at ease.”

Well, with Fel around it probably is fine......

“Then let’s go back.”

“Indeed.”

Hopping onto Fel’s back, I rode him as he ran back the way we came.

Once we’d exited the forest, I noticed that the sun was still high in the sky.

“We sure finished that fast, huh?”

“Indeed. There is still a lot of time left. I am also famished. Let us eat here.”

“Sure, let’s do that. Then I’ll get it ready, so wait a little.”

“Understood.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The food was to be the simple cutlet sandwiches.

I made three different sandwiches using the pork cutlets, cheese-stuffed chicken cutlets, and Hamburg steak cutlets I had made and stored beforehand.

Spreading butter on some bread, I added some cabbage I had cut into small strips and put some mayonnaise on top.

Then, I put the cutlet on along with lots of sauce before sandwiching it with another buttered piece of bread.

After cutting the sandwich in half, the dish was done.

This time, I tried putting a little mustard into just the pork cutlet sandwich to make mustard mayo.

“It’s done—!” I presented the plate with three types of sandwiches on it to Fel and Sui.

“Hmm, how delicious. Especially this one that somewhat stings.”

It seemed that Fel took well to the mustard mayo I used in the pork cutlet sandwich.

I’d never used mustard mayo before, after all. It looks like spicier things work for Fel, too, huh?

《Sui likes this white gooey stuff!》

Ah, the cheese-stuffed chicken cutlet, right? Sui loves cheese, after all.

“More!” 《More!》

I gave Fel a larger serving of the pork cutlet sandwiches with the mustard mayo, and Sui a larger serving of the cheese-stuffed chicken cutlet sandwiches.

I also started eating myself. I was eating pork cutlet sandwiches made with a little extra mustard in the mustard-mayonnaise mix.

*Chomp*

Yeah, this works.

The mustard mayo tasted great.

Retrieving a plastic bottle of chilled tea from my Item Box, I took a gulp. Once my palate was refreshed, I took another bite out of the sandwich.

《Master — give Sui something to drink too.》

“Me too. That fizzy stuff is good.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I used my Online Supermarket to buy cola for the two.

There was still time before the sun set when we finished our meal.

“We still have some time, so I’m gonna start doing some work, you two can go take a nap or something.”

《Got it... Sui’s gonna take a nap.》 Saying so, Sui climbed inside its favorite spot: inside my bag.

“What, are you planning something?”

“Kind of. I’m pre-making more food. There’s something I want to try.”

“Hm? Is it good?”

“Of course.”

“I am looking forward to it.”

“Yep, well that’s what I’m doing, so you can go relax over there or something.”

“Indeed. I understand.”

Now then, what I want to make is none other than gyoza.

I have some ground meat, after all. Of course I’d have to do this. I love gyoza and eat it a lot, after all. Enough to always keep a stock of it in my fridge back home.

So at any rate, I was thinking of preparing gyoza. I was preparing these to be eaten later, so I was going to make quite a lot. And if there were to be too little meat in the filling, Fel would complain, so I made it with extra meat for him. After that, all I had to pay attention to was to flavor it enough so that it could be eaten with or without sauce.

Oh, need to get the rest of the ingredients from the Online Supermarket. I remember I still have cabbage, garlic chives, and grated garlic and grated ginger in tubes. I also still have soy sauce and cooking sake. I don’t have any chicken stock, so I need that, and also sesame oil and the all-important gyoza wrappings, right?

~◇~◇~◇~

First, mince the cabbage and after rubbing in some salt, press it down.

It’s personal preference whether to use regular cabbage or Chinese cabbage, but I always use regular cabbage when I make it back home, so I’m using regular cabbage again now. After that, mince the garlic chives finely as well.

Add grated ginger, grated garlic, soy sauce, cooking sake, chicken stock, sesame oil, and salt and pepper into a bowl with ground orc general meat in it and mix together. Once that’s done, add in the salt-rubbed cabbage and garlic chives and mix thoroughly once again until it becomes sticky.

~◇~◇~◇~

Once the gyoza filling was finished, I started wrapping. I pinched and pinched, making a huge amount of gyoza. I left a little to mix with vegetables to make some extra-vegetable versions for myself.

“All that’s left is to cook these, but eating some now would make it feel even fresher and taste better, I think.”

*Ggrrwwwlll~*

Was that a stomach? When I fearfully looked behind me, I saw Fel sat there, leaking drool everywhere.

*Sigh~*

Well the sun’s sank quite a bit, so it might be fine to just eat dinner here too, I guess?

“Wanna eat here?”

“Yes, let’s.”

This time, I was thinking of cooking these as “winged gyoza.”

~◇~◇~◇~

I use two frying pans for each of Fel’s and Sui’s portions.

Oil the pans, then line up the gyoza. Once they start to change color, add some flour dissolved in water and cover with a lid.

Once the moisture disappears and I hear crackling sounds, spread some sesame oil around in a circle. Then, once the wings have turned a good color, the dish is done.

~◇~◇~◇~

Turning the frying pan over to plate the dish, once I lifted the pan the plate was filled with lined up winged gyoza.

“It’s finished.” It looks like Sui’s up too.

“Indeed.”

《Food, food!》

I properly looked after its flavor, so it was fine to eat even without sauce on it.

Fel threw about five of them into his mouth all at once. “Ohhh, the meat’s juices are bursting out. This is amazing.”

《It’s true—! There’s vegetables too, but the meat’s juices just burst out and it’s so good... and this crispy stuff on the outside is nice, too.》

Thank goodness, they both liked the gyoza.

I was right to rub salt in the cabbage since the orc general meat was really fatty; otherwise, it might have been too watery.

“More.”

《Sui wants more, too—!》

I cooked more and more helpings for Fel and Sui. I’ll eat after I finish cooking for these two.

Once Fel and Sui were done, I started cooking my own extra-vegetable versions.

And of course, to go with the gyoza, there’s only this! I retrieved cooked white rice and some premium beer from my Item Box.

Since the flavor was thinned by the extra vegetables, I ate the gyoza with sauce. The sauce was made out of a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and Chinese red chili oil.

*Gowmp*

Gyoza’s so goood!!

The crispiness of the winged gyoza was just like those sold in stores, I cooked it well. I’m so glad I made them winged.

And it pairs so well with white rice. Once I finished my bowl of rice, I used the rest of the gyoza as snacks to go with my beer.

Just like I thought it would, this gyoza works great with beer~. As I experienced this fact with every inch of my soul, I threw another gyoza into my mouth. It was then that I heard some flapping next to my ear.

When I turned to face toward the sound, wondering what it was......

...............Wha?

There was a small dragon, hovering in the air.

Uhh... wh-what the heck... is this? It looks like... a dragon... right? It’s small, though. Does that mean... it’s a child?

This dragon was only about 50cm from the tip of its head to the end of its tail.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to attack me, but...... what should I do with this...?

When I my eyes settled on the tiny dragon, fluttering its wings, I saw its attention focused on the gyoza on my chopsticks. When I tried moving the chopsticks, the tiny dragon’s head moved with it.

Does... it want to eat this?

“Hohh, a Pixie Dragon. How rare.” said Fel. It seemed like Fel knew of this thing.

“Hm? This thing’s called a Pixie Dragon?”

“Yeah. It’s a type of small dragon. It’s been about 500 years since I’ve seen one.”

“Kyuui, kyuui!!”

It looked like it wanted my gyoza, so I tried giving it one. “Here.”

When I presented the gyoza on my chopsticks to the Pixie Dragon, it chomped the whole thing down.

“Kyuui, kyuui, kyui!!” It seemed as if it was asking for more.

Oh well. “Here, you can have it.”

I gave the rest of the gyoza on my plate to the Pixie Dragon. The Pixie Dragon settled down onto the ground and started gobbling up all the gyoza.

“Hey Fel, if it’s been 500 years since you’ve last seen one, does that mean it’s rare?”

“Indeed. There are only a few of them alive today.”

“Even if they’re dragons, at this size they’re small and cute, aren’t they?”

“What are you spouting? You cannot underestimate these just because they are small. Pixie Dragons are quite strong.”

Eh? Really? It’s so small, it doesn’t look strong at all, though.

“Pixie Dragons are fast, above all else. And they have a lot of magic power, so of course they would have command of all four basic elements, and on top of that, they can even use Ice, Lightning, and Healing magic. On top of that, these things’ special move is to coat their bodies in magic — Fire or Lightning magic are popular — and use their speed to perform high-velocity tackles. Even I was made to worry over its attacks for a moment...... Of course, I won in the end.”

Coat themselves with magic to perform high-speed tackles? What are they, cannonballs? What a...... harsh fighting style.

Wait, actually... doesn’t that mean Fel fought a Pixie Dragon before?

“Kyui, kyui.”

*Plop*

“Woah! W-W-Wait what?!”

Something stuck right onto my face. Raising my hand, I found that apparently the Pixie Dragon had latched on.

“H-Hey! Wai— leggo......” I peeled the Pixie Dragon off my face like a sticker.

《Hey hey, this thing’s crazy good. I’m super hungry over here. Give me more!》

“More? Ugh, do I really have to start cooking again......... Wait, huh? Who said that?”

“You...... That Pixie Dragon’s become your familiar.”

“Wha?”

《If I could eat something as good as this, of course, even being your familiar is a no brainer.》

“Indeed. This one’s food is especially delicious. Even something as long-lived as me does not see a bad side to becoming his familiar for some tens of years.”

《Right—? At the very least, you’ll get to eat good food while you’re his familiar, after all. You get it, don’t you, Fenrir.》

Hey, hey. Stop continuing the conversation by yourselves. Or more importantly: another one that’s after my food?! Are all the strong things in this world gluttons or something?

“Actually, now that I hear it, your voice is different to how I imagined it.”

《Different? How did you think it would have sounded?》

“How? I guess, a child’s voice, like Sui?”

“You know, that Pixie Dragon is not a child. It is young, but it is fully grown.”

《That’s right! It’s just that dragons of my type are small. I’m an adult over here, you see?》

“I-I see.” So Pixie Dragons aren’t children even at this size?

《Hey, more importantly, I’ve become your familiar now. Give me a name.》

“You can’t just dump that on me so suddenly...... Hrm... well, you’re a dragon, so Dora-chan’s fine.”

《Whaaaat? Give me a better, cooler, more fitting name—!》

“Eh? But doesn’t Dora-chan suit you just fine?”

《Don’t fuck with me! I’m no Dora-chan!》

Leaving the cutely angry Dora-chan alone for now, I tried appraising him.

【Name】 Dora-chan

【Age】 116

【Race】 Pixie Dragon

【Level】 126

【HP】 895

【MP】 2879

【Attack】 2652

【Defense】 865

【Agility】 3269

【Skills】 Fire magic, Water magic, Wind magic, Earth magic, Ice magic, Lightning magic, Healing magic, Bombardment

Ah, “Dora-chan” got stuck as his name. I guess it’s because he really looks like a “Dora-chan” more than just “Dora.” So I guess it’s decided.

Looking over his stats, they’re all better than Sui’s. So he’s really a dragon, even though he’s smaller. Just like Fel said, his magic and his agility are both high. And he even has lots of magic skills.

“So Dora-chan’s 116 years old, huh? You don’t look it, though.”

《I already told you I’m not Dora-chan!》

“Give it up. It is already in your status. As long as you are his familiar, that will be your name.”

《Wha——t?!》 Dora-chan dropped to the floor, dejected. 《But I wanted a cooler name......》

“You’re Dora, like a Dragon, isn’t that plenty cool? What’s wrong with it?”

“Do not depend on this one for names. Even I was named Fel, because I am a Fenrir. Being named Dora since you are a dragon is much the same idea. But you know, even that is on the better side. When I first contracted with him, he tried to name me things like Pochi or Koro, all names that for some reason pissed me off, just to hear.”

《Pochi? Koro......? It sounds like he’s making fun of you.》

“Right? Compared to that, Dora is much better.”

《You might be right. I guess I’ll just be happy that I wasn’t named Pochi or Koro.》

“By the way, he also has a slime as a familiar, and he has named it Sui, because it is a slime.”

《......So it looks like I was wrong to expect a cool name out of this master, wasn’t I?》

......Dunno why, but it really sounds like I’m being made fun of here.

Well, whatever. For now, I should check my own status, too. Dora-chan should be in my Familiars section, now.

【Name】 Mukohda (Tsuyoshi Mukouda)

【Age】 27

【Job】 Victim from Another World

【Level】 13

【HP】 229

【MP】 223

【Attack】 206

【Defense】 205

【Agility】 200

【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Fire magic, Earth magic, Familiars (Contracted Magic Beasts): Fenrir, Big Slime, Pixie Dragon

【Unique Skill】 Online Supermarket

【Blessings】 Blessing of the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir (Small), Blessing of the Goddess of Fire, Agni (Small), Blessing of the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle (Small)

Ohh, my level’s gone up a little, too. Nice.

Well, I’m still the weakest one here, though. Still though, the others are all just too strong, so there’s nothing to be done about it.

Pixie Dragon’s right there in the familiars section, too. Fel and Sui and Dora-chan: what a fearsome lineup.

《Hey, master, I already told you I’m hungry.》

“Ahh, right right.”

Oh yeah, Dora-chan did say that he wanted to eat more gyoza.

There was no other choice, so I cooked some more gyoza for Dora-chan. Still, I was saved by the fact that Dora-chan wasn’t as big an eater as either Fel or Sui. He was done after just one more helping.

“Well then, let’s go back to town.”

“Indeed.”

“Dora-chan, you’ll fly, right?”

《What do you think I am? If you want something that flies fast, go no further than the Pixie Dragon! I can even keep flying for a whole day.》

“I see. Then at any rate, we’re going back to town. Once we’re back, I’ll introduce you to Sui, the slime familiar that’s sleeping inside my bag right now.”

《Sure, got it.》

“Then let us be off.”

With me on his back, Fel ran off toward town.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

When we arrived, there was some trouble at the gates, since even though Dora-chan was small, he still looked like a dragon. Even though I explained that he was a new familiar, and wouldn’t be causing any trouble in town, the guard still wouldn’t let me through. It’d be a different story if Dora-chan was recorded on my guild card, but I just contracted with him.

I had no other choice, so I called on the Adventurer’s guild’s guildmaster, Rodolfo.

“What? What happened?”

“Uhmm, I got a new familiar, and there’s some trouble with it......”

“Y-You!! Is that a Pixie Dragon?!”

“Yes. I’m surprised you knew; it seems it’s a rare breed.”

“Well, yes. One of my old mates really admired dragon slayers, so he gathered all this knowledge on dragons. Thanks to that, I’ve heard all about it... nonstop......”

I can see the far-off look in Rodolfo’s eyes...

“Anyway, among all that I managed to hear about Pixie Dragons.”

Apparently that person researched so much about dragons, in the end he made something like a dragon encyclopedia by himself.

“This is also the first time Fel’s seen one in 500 years, so it should be quite a rare breed.”

“Seems like it. Even he said that he had just barely found info about it after going through the entirety of the kingdom’s royal library.”

So Rodolfo’s friend went that far, huh? He must be a real fanatic.

“For now, that thing will behave, won’t it?”

“Yes. I’ve properly formed a contract and everything.”

“Also, I’m guessing that even before anything about contracts or the like, if that thing tried anything, your Fenrir wouldn’t stay quiet, no?”

“Of course. If this one tries anything, I will not be merciful. My master’s food is the greatest in the world, after all.”

Fel, you shouldn’t be boasting about that kind of thing.

“Hey, he said food......?”

“Please don’t latch onto that too hard, Mr. Rodolfo.”

“O-Okay...” Rodolfo put on a slightly confused expression.

What’s the point of even saying that? It’s this world’s fault for having so many gluttons.

“I’ll vouch for these folks, so let them in already.”

“I’ll do that if you say so, guildmaster, but please make sure not to start anything.”

With Rodolfo beside us, we managed to enter the town.

“So then, what happened with the venom tarantulas?” Rodolfo asked us, while we were still on the way to the Adventurer’s guild.

“Of course, we’ve got them. But you’ve told us it’s fine to just bring the monster’s bodies, so I did that, but was it really all right not to bring their nests back too?”

“There’s no way you’d be able to bring back something that sticky, right? You know, we make venom tarantula thread through a special process using the stuff inside the thread sac in a venom tarantula’s belly. Well, the process itself is a secret, so there aren’t many people who can do that. But the Bruno trading company from this request has someone who can.”

Hmmm, is that so? But thinking about it, it’s obvious, and it’s also obvious that the thread the spiders use for their nests would be too sticky to use, since they’re for catching prey and all. I can only imagine people getting caught in it if they tried to harvest the stuff.

“Oh, right. You told us to get two of them, but there were eight, so we went and got all of them. I’m counting on you to buy them.”

“Huh? Eight?! Well, there’s nothing wrong with having more, and I think the Bruno company will happily buy it all, but still...... to think that a Fenrir would do that all this easily... You even returned from the forest within a day.”

Well, that’s because he’s a legendary magic beast, after all. Not to mention there’s a super-powerful slime around, too.

Wait, does that mean he’ll be surprised if I talk about the giant centipede? While I was worrying over that, we reached the Adventurer’s guild.

“First, we need to register that Pixie Dragon, don’t we?”

As soon as we entered the Adventurer’s guild, Dora-chan’s presence drew all the attention. Rodolfo’s presence probably also contributed to that, though.

“H-Huh? Is that a dragon?”

“It’s small, so isn’t it just a baby dragon?”

“Even so, is that alright? It is a dragon...”

And so on and so forth went the whispers being traded around the room.

Dora-chan must have been happy it was getting attention, since it was crying out “Kyuikyui!!”

“Yo, all of you! This dragon is this one’s familiar. If you don’t try anything against this one or its master, it won’t do anything. If you all get it, then make sure to keep to yourself! As you can see, this one has other strong familiars, too. They won’t stay quiet either if you don’t!”

Rodolfo glanced over at Fel as he was giving his speech to put the nail in the coffin; the Adventurers, following his gaze, went deathly quiet.

“Now then, we’re gonna go and get your familiar registered.”

Rodolfo, can you do something about this atmosphere, first?

“Hm? What? Hurry up.” Urged on by Rodolfo, I presented my guild card.

Once we were done registering Dora-chan as my familiar, the sale of the monsters was up next, and I was told, “Well, the amount being what it is, we should do it over there.” and I was lead to the storehouse. The storehouse here was behind the service counter, so it looked like every Adventurer’s guild was built the same, or at least very similar.

“Oh, if it isn’t the guildmaster. What’s up?” The person who that voice belonged to was a well-muscled young man who looked to be halfway through his 20’s. When I looked closely, I noticed a slight limp in his right leg, so he must have injured it adventuring and had to retire. It looked like this young man was in charge of butchering at this guild.

“Okay then, can you show us the venom tarantulas?”

I did as Rodolfo said, taking out the venom tarantulas we’d hunted.

“Woah! There’s eight of them?!”

Young man, it’s too early to be surprised.

“Uhm, I also have a giant centipede, so can I ask you to buy that, too?”

“Wat?! You killed a giant centipede?!”

I revealed the giant centipede from my Item Box.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a giant centipede in my life......”

“That’d be because it’s been a while since this guild’s seen one, too. Still though, the giant centipede’s shell is hard enough to be used as armor, what did you even kill him with to make it like this?” Rodolfo asked, staring at the huge hole below its jaw that was open to the sky.

No, uhm...you see, Sui......

《Sui did it — isn’t Sui great—?》 Sui jumped out of my bag and started bouncing around.

So you’re awake, my cute Sui.

“Could it be... that slime did it?”

“Yes, well...” I won’t say how, though. Oh, right. Since Sui’s awake, I have to introduce it to Dora-chan.

《Sui, this is Dora-chan, our new friend.》 I spoke to Sui with telepathy.

《Woa~h, he’s flying. So cool! Sui, you see, is named Sui. Happy to meet you, Dora-chan!》

《Sure, pleased to meet you, too!》

While I was introducing Dora-chan to Sui amongst ourselves, Rodolfo was busy consulting about the state of our monster sale.

“There’s a lot of them, you know? It’ll take until about the day after tomorrow.”

“Yes, that’s fine. I want to go look around at the clothes in this town, anyway. Ahh, apparently venom tarantulas are edible, so can you give back their legs to me? I’ll sell all the rest to you.”

I was told that venom tarantulas were edible, and I could stomach the thought of eating their legs, but the rest of it was too gross for me to even think about it. Their bellies stored their thread sacs, so I would be selling them, but as for the other stuff like their heads or chests, I wouldn’t know what to do with them even if they were handed back to me. So even though I was told that they were edible, I only wanted the legs.

“Yes, okay. The legs are good boiled, if you didn’t know. Also, the thing we’re most interested in here is the thread sac, anyway.”

“Okay then, I’ll be coming back the day after tomorrow.”

“Sure. If you’re looking for textiles, this town’s the best for it. You can also buy good clothes for cheap here, too. Have fun with it.”

“Yes, I’ll take my time and look at lots of stuff.”

We left the Adventurer’s guild behind.

“Well then, Dora-chan, you’re going with Fel to the kennel, okay?” After I said that, Fel padded over to the futons I’d laid out in the kennel and laid on top of them.

《What? I’m in the kennel, too?》 Dora-chan looked somewhat unsatisfied, but I wasn’t about to cave on this, either.

“Even if you’re small, there’s no way they’d let a dragon inside.”

《Whaa—t? I’m small, so it’s fine, right—? Sui sleeps in the room with you, right? That’s not fair.》

“Sui stays in the bag, so it’s fine. Even if you’re small, if I try to go inside with a flying dragon, it doesn’t matter how tiny you are — the hostess’ll get mad.” Sui stayed in the bag and wasn’t visible from the outside, and so it was okay.

《Ehhh, what’s with that—? I wanted to go inside a human inn, too...》

“Now now, I’ll treat you to something tasty tomorrow, so just bear with it.”

《What? You’ll give me something good?! Whoo! YEAAHH—!》 Dora-chan zoomed circles around me in delight.

So I can fix his mood through food, huh?

“So for today, you go to the kennel.”

《If it’s going to be like that, I’ll deal with it.》

“Okay then, see you tomorrow morning.”

《Yeah!》

Dora-chan might actually be unexpectedly easy to handle.

Extra: Scotch Egg: The Gooey Half-Boiled Egg

The hand-cranked mincer I bought from the Online Supermarket after seeing it: using this, I could make ground meat, so it was cause for great celebration.

I was grinding meat today, too, but I got a little too into it and I might have made too much.

The mixed ground bloody horn-bull and orc meat that I had left on hand: saving it for use later was an option, but with how much I already had, I thought I might as well use it in a dish where ground meat is the star, and not in some stir-fry or something.

I’ve already made Hamburg steaks and Hamburg steak cutlets... so what should I do now......

What about croquettes?

Croquettes were good, but my favorites were the ones with more potato in them.

And if I did that, then Fel would most likely complain. No, not most likely — certainly. He’d be all, “There’s too little meat.”

If croquettes are no good, what should I make?

As I looked through my Item Box to grab some kind of hint, I noticed the eggs I had left over from yesterday. Eggs, huh......

Eggs and ground meat, eggs and ground meat, eggs and ground meat............ Ah! What about scotch eggs, the one that uses a whole egg? Yeah, that’s good. Or rather, that’s all I can think about now.

The egg inside wasn’t hard boiled, it was a gooey softboiled egg. I imagined cutting the scotch egg, and seeing all the gooey yolk leak out. Yeah, yeah! This is perfect. It sounds delicious.

Right, it’s decided. Tonight’s dinner is scotch egg. With that decided, I first need to get the ingredients from the Online Supermarket, don’t I? I still have a pack of eggs, but that probably won’t be enough, so I’ll get more.

I put several cartons of eggs into the cart. Also, the ground meat that wraps the egg is basically the same as a Hamburg steak, so I need onions and panko and milk, right? Nutmeg is the sort of thing I’d put in if I had it, but I can get it right away, so might as well. I added nutmeg into the cart as well and checked out.

Right afterward, the sparkling particles gathered together, and a familiar cardboard box materialized in front of my eyes. It happened every time, but I couldn’t help but be curious how it worked.

Well, leaving that aside, let’s get to cooking now that I have the ingredients.

First up is the egg, right?

~◇~◇~◇~

So that the egg would become easier to peel, I use a spoon to tap at the bottom of the egg (the flatter end) to put some cracks in it. I make sure to only do it lightly.

Normally, I’d use a safety pin or those egg-hole devices they sell at 100-yen shops. I have one of them at home, and they’re really convenient. But I don’t have one now, so I use a spoon to lightly put cracks in the egg.

Once that’s done, boil the egg normally. I want it softboiled, so the boiling time is short at about six minutes. I use a big pot to boil a lot of eggs at once. So that the yolk stays in the center while the eggs boil, I use cooking chopsticks to gently roll the eggs around in the pot. It’s a little extra trouble, but this step is important.

Once the eggs are done boiling, put them in cold water to get rid of the excess heat, and then start peeling.

Once the eggs are done, the ground meat is next. Just like with Hamburg steaks, put some panko in a bowl and soak with milk, and then add in the ground meat, minced onions, egg, salt and pepper, and nutmeg before mixing and kneading well.

Then, coat the soft-boiled eggs thinly with flour, and use the kneaded ground meat to wrap the egg in a bag-shape. After that, all that’s left is to coat in flour, eggs, and panko in that order, before frying it light brown in oil.

~◇~◇~◇~

Yeah, looks good.

When I tried cutting one in half as a test......

“Ooohhh.” The soft-boiled egg gooily leaked out.

It turned out pretty good. I thought, singing my own praises. I had managed to finish a really appetizing looking scotch egg.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Oh, there is an egg inside this. How perfectly delicious.”

《The yolk of the egg wraps everything in a really mellow taste. Yeah, it’s amazing.》

《So good—!》

It looked like the soft-boiled scotch egg went over well with Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui.

None of them were bothering with cutting it in half, and were instead eating them whole with some ketchup. Fel was even eating two or three at once.

Now then, I should eat too. First, put on some ketchup... Yep, it’s good.

I did a good job on this soft-boiled egg. And the acidity of the ketchup is mellow and brings it all together.

It was good, but I shouldn’t listen to Fel too much and start making only meat.

Thinking that I should eat some vegetables here too, I bought a salad using my skill.

When I recommended it to Fel and the others, Fel cleanly refused with a, “I do not need that kind of thing,” and both Dora-chan and Sui coldly refused with a, “No, I’m fine.”

Even if you’re all carnivores, eating only meat is no good.

Ah, that might be good with a scotch egg.

I bought some Tabasco to go with my share of salad and scotch egg and I immediately added the delivered Tabasco to the rest of my scotch egg. It would be way too spicy if I added too much, so I made sure to keep the amount down.

*Tap* *Tap*...... “Woah! I put on too much.”

“Hm? Too much of what?”

“This? It’s a spicy sauce.”

“Put some on for me, too.”

“It’s pretty strong, you sure?”

“Yes. It is fine. Hurry up.”

Fine, fine. I added some Tabasco to Fel’s scotch eggs as well.

By the way, neither Dora-chan nor Sui wanted any spice. Sui especially was bad with spice.

Now then, let’s get to enjoying this Tabasco-ed scotch egg, shall we?

“Woa~h, so spicy! Waterwaterwater!” I put on too much Tabasco, so when I tried to eat it, it was easy to guess that it was too much for me. Retrieving a PET bottle of water from my Item Box, I gulped it down.

“Hahhh— that was spicy. But still good.”

As I was drinking water, I could hear Fel’s cry. And then I could see him panting with his tongue out.

“It was spicy, right—? I told you.” I poured some water out onto a wooden plate and presented it to Fel. Fel quickly gulped the water down.

“Whew. My tongue is stinging. But still, that’s what makes it good.” After saying that, Fel, having not learned better, once again started eating the scotch egg with Tabasco on top.

《What do you mean by that? You just said it was too spicy...》 said Dora-chan with an exasperated expression, as he watched Fel eat more of the scotch egg.

《Sui hates spicy—! This is tasty as it is~.》 Saying so, Sui continued to chow down on its scotch egg with ketchup.

Geez, Fel... While chuckling to myself, I continued to scarf down my scotch egg.

Afterword

Truly, thank you very much for picking up “Campfire Cooking in Another World” Volume 2! Thankfully, I was able to safely put out Volume 2. This is all thanks to you readers.

How was volume 2? Along with Fel and Sui, a third familiar, Dora-chan, finally makes his appearance. As is custom, he’s a gluttonous character, but I was surprised and impressed that Dora-chan turned out even more cutely-cool than I imagined in print. As expected of you, Masa-sensei! You guys definitely need to see the illustration of Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan all together.

Also, the other goddesses besides Ninrir are finally here! They were also drawn so full of their own personalities by Masa-sensei. You also need to see those.

So, this work doesn’t have too many characters in it, but volume 2 has some new characters milling about, so I’d be happy if you enjoyed it.

Just an announcement, but this work has finally gotten its own comic series! Please, please go check out that version, too!

To the illustrator Masa-sensei, my editor, master I, and all the others at Overlap publishing, thank you all so very much!

This got pushed to the end, but please keep looking forward to the leisurely and heartwarming adventures of Mukohda in another world with Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan in “Campfire Cooking in Another World.”

I’m praying to meet you all again in Volume 3.

Bonus Short Stories

Mukohda’s Cooking Class

Hmm, what should I do......

In front of me were the owner of this inn and his family. There was a gruff father, who apparently was an adventurer in the past; a well built hostess that was like a caring aunt; and, between them, their only child, a 12 year old daughter with bright eyes.

All three members of that family were currently staring at me with eyes full of hope.

Please don’t put all your hopes on me like that...

As for why this was happening, it was because I always used the backyard to cook myself instead of using the inn’s cafeteria.

One of the reasons I did that was to feed Fel and the others, but apparently their daughter was always watching as I cooked for myself in the backyard. I never noticed, though.

So then, the daughter apparently told her parents, “That person’s always eating something delicious looking.” Then, the next time both parents also joined in on peeking......

And of course, even I would notice if there were three whole people watching me.

So then I asked, “Do you need something from me?” And as soon as I asked that, they suddenly burst out with, “Please teach us your cooking!!”

After that, a lot of things happened and I was taken to the inn’s kitchen. After hearing them out in detail, apparently their inn’s cafeteria isn’t doing very well.

A lot of the people staying in their inn use the cafeteria, but outside of that they weren’t getting any business. Thinking in those terms, leaving the inn itself aside, the cafeteria was barely breaking even, or in some cases, running in the red.

“So? What is this place’s best dish?”

According to the father, who was the chef of the cafeteria, “Cockatrice sauté and stew.” Apparently they were quite confident of its taste.

“It’s true that father’s cockatrice sauté and stew is tasty, but the other places all serve something similar or just as good, so it’s not like they have to eat it here......”

“That’s right. There’s nothing that you can only get at this place, so no one other than the inn’s guests bother to come.”

“Ghh......”

I could see the massive damage the chef’s wife’s and daughter’s words were doing to him.

Well, grilling and boiling are the most popular ways of cooking in this world, so it doesn’t surprise me that there’s not much difference.

If orc meat was just a little above average meat, then cockatrice would be a small smidgen below that, so it wasn’t rare to see it in a cafeteria at all.

But thanks to that, I can’t just use a high-ranked monster’s meat, and as for the seasonings, I can only use what they can find in this world...

And so, we’re back at the beginning.

Essentially, I just had to teach them something that could become their cafeteria’s specialty......

If that’s the case, I can just teach them one of the cockatrice dishes I use a lot.

Cockatrice, huh? ............Hrm... Hm? I spotted something on the kitchen shelves. There, I noticed many different bottles of dried herbs.

“You certainly have a lot of different kinds of herbs, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I just end up wanting them when I see them. Thanks to my chef’s spirit.”

“You say that, but they all basically just sit there as decorations on the shelf...”

The father hung his head in shame at his wife’s stinging words.

Hahaha, so he doesn’t use them much, huh? But I can probably use these herbs. If there’s a lot of different kinds, I can probably use that: fragrant herb fried chicken.

The recipe was very simple. In my case, buying herbs by themselves was annoying, so I just used herb salt. Doing that results in the easiest and most delicious version, after all.

For the father to make it, he would have to mix the herbs and salt himself, so this time I would be using the store bought stuff when I showed him how to make it as well.

First off, I had the father gather the following ingredients:

Cockatrice meat. It could be any size, even already cut. It was fine to have it on the bone too.

After that, grated garlic. This world also had something that resembled garlic, so that should be fine.

Then, potato starch and wheat flour. These should be fine since I already saw something like potato starch that came from some type of potato or other when I was looking around earlier. As for the wheat flour, since this world uses bread as a staple food, there’s no way they didn’t have it.

Lastly, I needed olive oil to fry the meat in. As for this, they use olive oil normally in this world so there was no problem at all.

After all of that...... I sneakily moved some herb salt that was in my Item Box from its container to a wooden bowl. There was no way I could use the herb salt as it was in its plastic container, after all.

That being the case, once all the ingredients were gathered I started my cooking class for the three of them.

“We’ll be using cockatrice meat for your new specialty dish, which means I’ll be teaching you a new way to cook cockatrice. It’s a dish that is delicious even when eaten by itself, but also pairs well with ale.”

When I said that, the three of them nodded seriously.

“First off, put the cockatrice meat in here......”

Normally, I’d use a vinyl bag here since it would be easier and wouldn’t dirty my hands, but there was no such thing in this world, so I used a large wooden bowl I found in the kitchen instead.

“Then, add in the mixture of dried herbs and salt along with the grated garlic and massage the flavor into the meat. Depending on your use of these dried herbs both the taste and the smell will differ, so feel free to try different things out yourself.”

You have all these herbs on you so you should try things out for yourself, and find your own flavor, got it, dad?

“After that, let it sit for 30 minutes to allow the flavor to cement itself into the meat. Then, mix the potato starch and wheat flour together and knead it onto the meat. Once that’s done, fry it in olive oil until it completely turns a light brown and it’s done.”

“There. Now it’s done. It’s easy, right?”

Hmm...looks good. I can’t stand the herb smell! If I had some beer to go with this it would be great.

“““Gulp......””” I could hear the sound of the three of them swallowing their drool after staring at me cook. Especially the daughter, her eyes were sparkling wildly while she salivated.

“Go for it.”

When I proffered them the freshly fried chicken, they immediately reached for it.

*Crssp———*

“So goo—d!”

“It’s delicious!”

“Ohh, this is great!”

It seemed like all three of them loved it. I was a little relieved.

Now then, time for me to try.

“Yeah, it turned out well.” The crunch on the slightly thicker breading was irresistible. Since I breaded it right inside the pickling bowl, the breading was also flavored the same way, enhancing the taste. The cockatrice meat also properly carried the herb salt flavor and the nice fragrance of the herb salt went through the nose after each bite.

Really, using pepper would bring the flavor together a lot more, but since pepper was so expensive in this world, I didn’t bother. But still, this is completely fine even without it.

“It’s delicious—! This is so good!!”

The daughter was chomping into the meat with both hands.

“Wait a second, you’re being rude.”

“But it’s so good! This is definitely gonna be popular!”

“Yeah! I agree! It’s not that hard to make, so let’s start serving tonight!”

The father was very excited.

As a warning, I told him not to make them beforehand and store it. If it’s left alone for a while, the breading will become soggy and it’ll lose its taste. Not to mention the nice crunch of a freshly fried one is one of its best points.

When I returned to my room, thinking that it was nice that I was able to help them, Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan all demanded fried chicken since they smelled me making it.

In the end, I had to make huge amounts of fried chicken for Fel and the others in the backyard.

I was about to cry.

By the way, the fried chicken the father made became so famous that it started seeing the most business it ever had.

I am a Pixie Dragon. My Name Is...

“I’m so hungry......”

As I wandered around the forest looking for prey, I suddenly caught whiff of an unknown, but delicious smell. I decided to move, following the smell to its source.

After leaving the forest, I finally found the originator of the smell.

“Hm? Is that a Fenrir? How rare. Not only that, but it’s with a human.”

There, I found a human, a Fenrir, and a slime. It was quite a strange group combination.

“But still, it smells really good......”

It looked like the human was making something, and it was from there the delicious smell emanated.

Lured by the smell, I unsteadily flew closer. Of course I was found. The human who noticed me seemed surprised.

Well, I’m strong, after all. There’s no way I would lose to a human, so it should be fine.

Man, whatever that human’s holding seems so delicious...... I want to eat it.

“Hohh, a pixie dragon. That is quite rare.”

The Fenrir, huh? As expected of it, it knows I’m a pixie dragon.

“Kyui! Kyui!” (Hey, human! Let me eat that.)

I pointed at the delicious looking thing the human was holding.

That’s right, good.

*Chomp*

Ohhh! This is really good! It’s not bad for something a human made. Or rather, give me more. This clearly isn’t enough.

“Kyui! Kyui! Kyui!” (Hey, human, more! More! Give me more!)

“Here, you can have this.”

The human handed over a bunch of the stuff that smelled real delicious.

That’s right, that’s right. Good job, human.

*Chomp chomp* *Chomp chomp*

Yeah, yeah! This is good! Really good!

So humans regularly eat stuff this good, huh? If this was the case, I shouldn’t have been so prejudiced and interacted with humans more.

Right, now’s not too late.

“Kyui, Kyui.” (Hey, human, I’d be fine with getting along with you a little. Rather, give me more to eat.)

*Plomp*

I grabbed on to his easily handleable head.

“H-Hey, let go......”

The human separated me from his head.

《Hey, hey. This thing’s crazy good. I’m super hungry over here. Give me more!》

“Even if you say that... do I really have to go make more gyoza...... Wait, huh? Whose voice was that?”

Hohh, so this delicious thing is called gyoza, huh?

“You...... That pixie dragon has become your familiar.”

This voice must be the Fenrir. By familiar, did it mean me? The human’s? There’s no wa-......... Well, if I can eat something this good, I guess it’s fine. Human lifespans are short, anyway.

If I can eat something good while this human’s alive just by becoming his familiar, that’s just fine, or rather, I’m super okay with that.

《If I could eat something as good as this, of course, even becoming his familiar is a no brainer.》

When I said that, the Fenrir nodded.

“Indeed. This one’s food is especially delicious. Even something as long-lived as me does not see a bad side to becoming his familiar for some tens of years.”

That’s right. You get it, don’t you, Fenrir?

《Right—? At the very least, you’ll get to eat good food while you’re his familiar. You get it, don’t you, Fenrir?》

According to the Fenrir, I’d just formally become this human’s familiar.

Well, thanks to that, I won’t have to worry about food anymore, so it’s all fine with me.

As I was thinking that he should give me more food since I became his familiar, the human said, “Your voice is kinda different than how I thought it would be.”

《Different? How did you think it would have sounded?》

“How? I guess, a child’s voice, like Sui?”

Sui must be that small slime over there, I guess.

Tch, another misunderstanding, huh? Just because I’m small, don’t be all simple and think I’m a child, goddammit.

“You know, that pixie dragon is not a child. It is young, but it is fully grown.”

As expected, of course the Fenrir knows, he hasn’t lived that long for nothing.

《That’s right! It’s just that dragons of my type are small. I’m an adult over here, you see?》

After I said that, it looked like the human finally understood.

《Hey, more importantly, I’ve become your familiar now. Give me a name.》

I’d heard about it from an old pixie dragon I’d met a long time ago: that if I became a familiar, I’d get a name.

So since I’d already become one, I felt like I might as well get a name.

“You can’t just dump that on me so suddenly...... Hrm... well, you’re a dragon, so Dora-chan’s fine.”

Dora-chan? Because I’m a dragon? What a simple name!

《Whaaat? Give me a better, cooler, more fitting name—!》

“Huh? Doesn’t Dora-chan fit you perfectly?”

You just had to say it fits me, didn’t you?!

I’m just stunned at this human’s lack of sense! This fool!

《Don’t fuck with me! I’m no Dora-chan!》

There should be a more fitting, cooler name for me as a dragon! Think about it properly and seriously, you stupid human!

However......

I struggled to no avail, and my name was registered as, “Dora-chan.”

The Fenrir said it, so it must have been true.

Dora-chan, huh............

《But I wanted a cooler name......》

I’m getting depressed...

Lambert’s Wife Marie’s Shock

What is it? This nice scent......

Following the source of the smell, I was surprised to see it was my husband coming out of the bath.

“Dear, what did you use?”

“M-Marie, you’re too close! W-What, you ask? Just the soap in the bath......”

There’s no way that’s true. I’ve used the soap in the bath as well, that one didn’t have this good a scent.

Not only that, but when I looked closely at my husband, his hair also smelled nice, and the unruly hair he was always indifferent about had a gloss about it and looked smooth.

“Dear husband, lies will do you no good.”

“N-No! You see......”

At first he was flustered to the point of incoherence, but as I kept questioning him, he eventually caved and told me.

An adventurer he knew asked him if this kind of product would sell, and he had my husband test it.

“It seemed like it would be popular with women, so if it was good when I tested it, I was going to give it to you as an anniversary present......”

Oh, is that so? But now that I know, there’s no way I can wait that long.

“Dear, can you show me everything you got?”

When I said that, my husband reluctantly showed me all the products he received.

I understood the soaps, but the other ones were a mystery to me. When I asked my husband for an explanation, I heard about what that adventurer told him.

“So there’s two types of soap, and this one is the cheaper one, and this one with the elegant scent is the more high-class option, it seems. Although, that being said, both of them have a nice scent, surprisingly.”

It was just as my husband said. The “cheaper” white one also had a nice scent, to a surprising degree.

As for the faintly pink high-class soap, the scent was so entrancing I could spend all day enjoying it.

“This one is called ‘shampoo with conditioner,’ and apparently, just by washing your hair with it, it will become smooth and silky. I tried using it, actually, and it’s pretty good. It’s refreshing, and my usually stiff hair is now soft.”

It was true, my husband’s hair was clearly different from before.

“And this one is something that has a stronger effect than the shampoo with conditioner. This one is ‘shampoo,’ and you wash your hair with it. After you do that, this ‘hair treatment,’ is for putting in your hair for a while before washing it out. If you do that, it seems like your hair will regain its gloss and moisture.”

How... how wonderful!!

My biggest worry right now was the state of my hair, after all. It was so dried out and stiff. Like this, I might finally be able to do something about it!

“This last one is called a ‘hair mask,’ and it’s supposed to be a very special product. If you apply this for a while to your hair after washing it before rinsing it out, apparently it will return any hair, no matter how damaged, to a beautiful state like magic. Certainly, the shampoo with conditioner and soap I used were pretty good, but making hair beautiful in one shot like magic seems fake, doesn’t it?”

Beautiful hair, like magic.........Ohohohohohoho.

My husband said that it was probably fake, but I knew. That it would definitely work, that is.

After all, the hair that my husband never really took care of and was all dried and stiff became like that with just the shampoo and conditioner.

If the effect is supposed to be more powerful than that, then there’s no way it will have no effect. Not only that, but there’s also my woman’s intuition. It’s saying that this one’s definitely going to be good.

“Dear, I’ll go right now and try this as well. If it’s good, please give me lots of this as an anniversary gift.”

Taking all that my husband had, I hurried to the bath.

“First is my hair, right...”

I used the shampoo I got from my husband. I took the yellowish, clear and viscous substance into my hand from the bottle.

Is this some sort of flower? It’s got a wonderfully sweet scent.

And so I wet my hair and gently washed it.

And after I’ve washed my hair, this one is next, right?

“The best special product, the hair mask. What a pretty bottle it’s in.”

When I opened the lid on the clear bottle, an even thicker scent than the previous shampoo filled the air. Inside was a thick, white, mud-like substance.

I did just as my husband explained, and mixed it thoroughly into my hair and left it in for a while before rinsing it out.

“This is amazing......”

Even while still wet, I was shocked at the dramatic change in my hair. It was no lie that it would make hair more beautiful, like magic.

Before, I used the soap to wash my hair, but after washing out the suds my hair would grate and tangle together, it was quite a lot of work to fix. But now... I ran my fingers through my hair smoothly.

My hair’s regained its gloss, and I could tell that it was different just by touch.

“To think it changed this much...... I’m looking forward to when my hair is dried. Ah, I have to try the soap out, too.”

Of course, I would be using the light pink high-class soap. As I rubbed the soap against a cloth, it foamed up before my eyes.

“I wonder what flower this scent is supposed to be? It’s a very nice one. Also, this is foaming up really well. I wonder what worth our old soap even has compared to this.”

Not only was our usual soap very hard to lather up, it did not smell very good. Even so, soap was a high-class commodity, and was quite expensive.

However, comparing it to the soap I was using right now, I felt like even the act of comparing it was giving the old soap too much credit: it was just that bad, I knew.

After washing my whole body, I soaked in the tub.

“My whole body is so smooth!”

Not only my hair, but my whole body smelled nice.

While enjoying that scent, I also took my time and enjoyed the bath.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Dear.”

“Ohh, Marie, how was it? ......Wait, you smell really nice.”

“Hoho, right? All the stuff I tried using had good scents. Also, they linger on the body just like this. Wrapped in this nice scent, I feel just like a noble lady!”

“I-Is that so? I’m happy you like it.”

“By the way, dear, we of course are going to start selling these products at our store, right?”

“Huh?”

“See here, dear, you should definitely start selling these. This will definitely be popular amongst women. I guarantee it.”

“Huh? But......”

“Dear, if you don’t sell this, I’ll doubt your sense as a merchant. This needs to be sold at our store, get it?”

“G-Got it, Marie.”

Sui Fights a Wyvern

Sui came together with master and Uncle Fel to a place with lots of grass.

You see, right now, we’re going to fight. Sui’s gonna do Sui’s best!

“Hmph, so that’s them. Flying around as if they own the place.”

Uncle Fel said that while looking at the sky, so Sui looked at the sky too.

And then, there were a lot of weird things that looked like large bird-like lizards flying around.

“Gyaaghh! Gyaaghhh! Gyaaaghhhh!”

Those weird things were crying out. What weird voices~.

Ah, one of the weirdos noticed us. It’s coming—!

《Are we fighting those—?》

When the weird thing came, Sui, you know, jumped out of the leather bag Sui was usually in.

The weird one was super big.

《The huge things are flying, aren’t they~?》

“I shall teach you how to hunt flying prey. Come with me.”

It looks like Uncle Fel’s gonna teach Sui how to hunt. Sui’s so happy—!

“Sui, let us be off.”

《Yeesss!》

It seemed like master would be waiting here, and Sui would be going with Uncle Fel. Sui will go pew pew and beat those weird things~.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The weird things were flying above Sui and Uncle Fel. Apparently, they’re called “wyverns.”

“Listen closely, Sui. When trying to hunt flying targets, first go for either the head or the wings. If you hit the head they die instantly, but the target is small, so the head is easy to miss. In those cases, go for the wings. Most things will fall to the ground if you hit their wings. And once they do, you can finish them off at your leisure.”

That was what Uncle Fel said. I see — so the head first, huh? And if Sui misses, aim for the wings.

《Got it. The head or the wings, right? Sui will try it!》

Uhmm... the wyverns are flying far away in the sky, so it might be better to go lo~ng and thi~n and go pew from there...

Ookayyyy, aim carefully............

*PEW———*

“Gyah! Gyaahhhh!”

The wyvern fell. But it looked like Sui hit somewhere other than where Sui aimed.

《Ahh~, Sui missed — and Sui went for the head too...》

Even though Sui aimed for its head... it looks like Sui hit its wings.

“What did I just tell you? The head is small, so it is easy to miss. But still, that was a pretty good hit, it seems. It looks like you got the base of its wings, so it will not be flying anymore.”

Ehehe...

Sui hit somewhere other than the head where Sui aimed, but Sui still got praised by Uncle Fel.

Sui’s gonna go hit some more of them—!

《Sploosh! Pow!》

Sui went pew, pew at all the wyverns. And then, Uncle Fel said, “I cannot just let Sui take all the credit. I will take action as well.”

Heheh, it’s because Sui’s gotten most of the wyverns...

*Pew* *Pew* *Pew———*

Sui and Uncle Fel shot down a—ll of the wyverns.

“There, now all of them have been shot down.”

《Yeah!》

“Once that is done, we have to finish them off, but their meat is delicious. That is why you must try not to harm them too much. In that case, the most effective way is to cut off their heads. Like this.”

*THWAP* *Thud* *Rollrollroll*

Wow, was that Uncle Fel’s magic?

The wyvern’s head fell and rolled on the ground. So you cut off the head like that for good meat, huh?

《Sui will try to do it like Uncle Fel.》

“These things have a little bit of magic resistance to them, so if you are going to use magic to cut off their heads, you will have to use a little more power than usual.”

《Okay!》

Alright then, Sui will do it just like Uncle Fel said, and use a little extra power—! Would water magic be good?

Take that!

Yay! Sui did it! Sui cut it—!

Sui will keep doing this, for good meat—!

“Gyaahhhss!!”

Ah, another wyvern. This one’s pretty big, huh?

“HEEEYYYY!!! FEL, DOOO SOMETHIIIINNGGGGG——————!!!”

Ahh! That wyvern is being mean to master! Sui has to go help—!

When Sui was going to go help, Uncle Fel already ran there like whoosh!

“So there was still one left. Die.”

*Zsshhh———*

Ah, Uncle Fel killed the big wyvern with magic!

《Wooww Uncle Fel is so stro—ng!》

Sui will definitely, definitely become strong like Uncle Fel—!

There were a whole bunch of wyverns that got beaten by Sui and Uncle Fel.

Uncle Fel said that wyvern meat is delicious... Sui can’t wait! Will Sui be able to eat it right away?

Sui tried too hard and got hungry.

A Certain Adventurer’s Testimony

My name is Lars. I’m an adventurer who mainly operates in the town of Karelina in my home country, the kingdom of Leonhardt.

The adventurer’s party that I lead, “Phoenix,” had accepted an escort mission from the familiar Lambert trading company, and headed out to fulfill it.

We went to the town of Uhland and returned, and were just about to reach Karelina when a certain incident occurred. It was thieves, even though the road we took was supposed to be relatively safe.

We were attacked by close to ten thieves. In order to protect our charge, Lambert and his group, the five of us fought desperately. However, on top of there being nearly ten of them, they were used to this kind of violence.

We were having quite a tough time. On top of that, the man who seemed to be the head of these thieves was quite skilled.

Honestly, I was prepared for death.

When I had finally started to think, “It’s over,” our god of salvation appeared before us.

*AWOOOOooooooo———*

I heard a howl that made me flinch for a second.

Then, it appeared. A silvery shining, and incredibly huge wolf.

That wolf threatened the thieves, and that alone caused them to become unable to move.

Right after, a man with black hair and black eyes, and from our perspective, a stick-like build, appeared.

That man commanded the silver wolf and a slime that was in his bag, which seemed to be his familiars.

The slime jumped out of the man’s bag, and aided the silver wolf in defeating the thieves one after the other.

It looked like that slime attacked by shooting out its slime-characteristic melting fluid. The fluid that it shot completely pierced through the thieves’ arms, after all.

You might wonder what the hell I’m talking about, but I’m only speaking the truth.

Honestly, even I would have thought it was impossible if I hadn’t seen it myself.

Then, the silver wolf started talking. He said, “You thieves, if you move one step, I will eat you whole. If you understand, throw away your weapons.”

All the thieves threw away their weapons, cowed.

Except for one.

That one being the thieves’ leader.

The largest in both body and skill amongst the thieves must have thought that there was no way he could ever lose.

Resisting until the end, the thieves’ leader raised his axe. And in that instant, his head was cut into pieces.

I’m not lying. It was from the silver wolf’s attack. It cut the thief into pieces with one swing of its front paw.

Not only that, but right after the slime covered him in its melting fluid. There was nothing left of the leader that even resembled a human. It was a miserable end.

Well, he got what he deserved.

At any rate, we were saved thanks to an unexpected savior. Thankfully, we managed not to lose a single member of our party.

We, who were saved for the moment, wasted no time in restraining the remaining thieves. It’d be bad if we failed to tie them up while they’d lost all will to fight, and they started rioting later, after all.

After all that, when our employer Lambert went to talk to the stick-like, black-haired, black-eyed man, we heard that he just happened to be passing by and decided to help.

That man called himself Mukohda. He had a foreign face unfamiliar to this territory, and a talking wolf.

That’s when it hit me.

Amongst all the rumors you hear flying around recently, there was one about an adventurer that managed to make a Fenrir his familiar. Amongst those rumors, some of them said that the adventurer had black hair and black eyes, if I remembered correctly.

When I said, “That familiar is a Fenrir, huh...? So the rumors were true.” Mukohda didn’t say anything in reply. He stayed silent with a troubled face, but that expression was basically confirming it.

When Mukohda asked where we were going and we replied that we were returning to the town of Karelina, he said that he’d like to go with us to town.

The offer was a godsend to us, too, so of course we agreed.

And that’s how we managed to get home to Karelina safely.

Mukohda’s familiar, that one was definitely a Fenrir.

I had thought that it was just a tall tale when I heard that someone made a Fenrir their familiar. However, I’d actually seen it talk. And the only wolf that talks that I can think of would be the legendary Fenrir.

Not to mention that bearing; there was no human alive that could even think of opposing it. The members of my party were doubtful of it until the end, though.

But I know for sure. That that thing is unmistakably a Fenrir.

Fel Hunts an Earth Dragon

We had come to the forest so that that guy could have a bath. It seemed like Sui would be joining him.

Of all things, I have no idea why they would want to do something like that.

Of course, in the meanwhile I would be hunting. We had come all the way to the forest; of course it had to happen.

As I was running through the forest, I felt a faraway presence.

“This does not belong to a normal monster, does it... This is...... a dragon?”

Tracking the abnormal presence, I ran through the forest. After a while, I started to be able to clearly feel it.

“This is an earth dragon, I can feel it.”

I had felt this type of presence several times before. Of course, that was not all: I had also fought them. Obviously, I was the winner.

An earth dragon’s meat is truly delicious. Though dragons were rare to find. It was lucky that I was able to notice it.

If I were to have him cook this good meat, I wonder just how divine it would taste? Heheheh, I am looking forward to it.

I’d moved quite a ways away from where that guy was, but it could not be helped -- it was to obtain the meat of an earth dragon.

I should hurry up and finish this hunt so I can go back.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The earth dragon that was the owner of this presence had made its nest in a hilly area outside of the forest.

I tried to get closer to it while hiding myself, but I was noticed before I was able to land a sneak attack.

Earth dragons are said to be amongst the lower rungs of dragonkind, but I guess even rotten, a dragon is still a dragon.

Understanding that I planned to hunt it, the dragon entered an attacking stance. Planning to land a preemptive attack, the earth dragon charged at me with its huge body.

“Hmph, as if that would hit.”

I numbly jumped to the side and dodged the earth dragon’s charge. As I did that, the earth dragon handily turned around as if it knew that would happen, and tried to slam me with its thick tail.

*THUD———*

As the tail hit the ground, it threw up a cloud of dust and dirt.

“Mm?! How impudent, you are just a lizard!”

Of course, I easily evaded the attack. However, just the fact that it expected that attack to hit was extremely unpleasant.

Meanwhile, ignoring my feelings, the earth dragon tried to pursue me, using the cloud of dirt as a smokescreen to attempt a bite attack.

“As if a dullard like you would ever be able to bite onto me!!”

I used the earth dragon’s head as a stepping stool to jump backwards.

“Hmph! You seem to have gotten full of yourself. Next is my turn!”

Having made my declaration, the earth dragon, who understood I was going to attack, opened its mouth wide.

“Your breath, huh? However, a dullard’s breath like yours could never hit me!”

I jumped high, and stomped on the earth dragon’s head as hard as I could.

“Ghgaah!”

Having had its mouth forcibly closed by my feet, the earth dragon let out a pitiful cry.

“It is not over yet!”

I immediately continued my attack on the faltering earth dragon.

*Zzgagaahhhnn———*

A flash of lightning ran through the earth dragon’s head.

I dropped some lightning magic on that pretentious earth dragon’s head.

“Ghh... Ghaahh......”

The power left the earth dragon’s limbs, and its large body fell to the ground.

Looks like it is over.

“Going after the heads of pretentious ones like this really is the best.”

Most things die if you destroy their heads, after all.

“Now then, I think I should return back.”

I could lift up the earth dragon in my mouth, but it was a little too large.

“I suppose I will just have to deal with its tail dragging on the ground and getting in the way.”

Its meat was too good to waste.

I still had time before the sun set. It was a little more work, but I decided to take my time and return with my bounty.

I wonder just how good a meal I can have with this earth dragon’s meat? I am looking forward to it.

By a Hair’s Breadth

I had the encounter when I was returning to the inn after leaving the Adventurer’s guild.

As if fearing the eyes of other people, it was being done in the shade of a building at the edge of the street.

“Now now, stop crying. I’ll give you some candy, I’ll even help find your father. Just come with your uncle, now~”

There was a man who had the face of a thug and unshaven stubble with an evil look in his eye trying to coax a crying girl in braids who looked to be around 5 years old.

“Don’t wanna! No! Daddy! Daddy!! Waaaahhhhhhhh!!!”

“Tch! I’m trying to be nice over here, won’t you shut up, kid? Fine, but we’re going!”

The thug-like man grabbed the girl by her arm and tried to drag her away. The girl started crying even louder like there was a fire lit under her.

............That’s totally a kidnapping, right?

There was no way even I could just sit by and watch a girl that young get taken away.

“Fel, Dora-chan, we’re saving her. I’m counting on you if it comes down to it.”

“Mm, fine then, there is no other choice.”

《Sure, got it!》

《Hm? What what? Did something happen~?》

Sui must have caught on to the dangerous atmosphere, as it jumped out of the bag.

“Ah, Sui, look, there’s a girl who’s about to be kidnapped by some bad people. So we’re going to save her. If that bad person tries to be violent, will Sui help?”

《Yeah! Got it—!》

With Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui in tow, I called out to stop the man who was trying to drag the girl away.

“Wait a second, that girl isn’t liking what you’re doing.”

“Hahh? Stay out of this, you......”

When the thug-like man turned around, his eyes stopped on me, or rather, Fel, who was behind me, and he instantly stopped talking.

“You don’t know that girl, do you? She’s crying and everything.”

“Sh-Shut up! Th-This girl is the daughter of one of my friends. Hey, we’re leaving!” the thug-like guy said as he tried to drag the girl away again.

Nonono, you’re obviously lying. The girl’s been shaking her head and saying you’re lying this whole time, too. She’s even trying her best to shake you off.

“Uhmmm, no matter how I look at it, you’re lying. She’s saying so, too.”

“I don’t know him! I don’t! Liz doesn’t know this old man! Let go of me!!”

The girl denied it with all her might while shaking her head side to side as hard as she could. She was even hitting the thug-like man’s arms trying to get him to let go.

“So she says.”

“Hmph, s-so what!! It has nothing to do with you!”

I would have let him go if he just released her and left... Why the hell did he get mad at me?? If that’s the case......

《Fel, scare him a bit.》 I told Fel over telepathy.

“Grrrrrrrr...” Fel started baring his teeth and growling with a glare in his eye at the thug-like man. Dora-chan who was flying around us and Sui, who was at my feet were both also in battle mode.

“Hi-Hiihhhhh!!” The thug-faced man, who saw Fel’s expression, staggered backwards a little before letting go of the girl’s hand and running away at full speed.

“Nice one, Fel. You did great. Thanks to you guys, too, Dora-chan, Sui.”

“Hmph, you should have been able to chase a small fry like that off by yourself.”

《That guy’s way too weak, he ran off before we even did anything.》

《The bad guy went away—!》

“No, I mean, clearly Fel’s intimidation was the most effective here.”

Really, anyone would run away after looking at that. Not to mention, if he tried anything, both Dora-chan and Sui were around, too.

“Ahh! It’s a talking silver wolf!”

While Fel and I were talking, the pigtailed girl hugged tightly onto Fel. It seemed that between Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui, Fel’s furriness grabbed onto Liz’s heart.

“W-What do you want, child?!”

“Talking silver wolf~.”

Fel tried to shake her off, but the girl was firmly gripped onto his fluffy long fur, and wouldn’t let go.

“I am telling you to let go!”

“Talking silver wolf~!”

The girl didn’t comply, and even started burying her face into Fel’s fluffy fur and rubbing it around.

“Nwoaahhh! Stop rubbing your filthy snot all over me, you brat!”

Ignoring Fel’s cries, the girl kept rubbing her face into his fur.

“Khhehehe...... Just give up, Fel. I’ll wash you later.”

“Gnnrrrrnnrrrr...” Since Fel couldn’t well use his power to shake her off, he glumly accepted her affections.

Now then, it’s fine that we saved her, but what should we do now? Should I do the obvious and give her over to the knights? Although, if I try to take her anywhere and she starts crying again, I’ll be the one treated as a kidnapper this time. First, I need to figure out the situation by asking her questions and calming her down.

“Uhmm, I’m the owner of this silver talking wolf, and my name is Mukohda. What’s yours?” I knelt down so that my eye level was the same as the girl’s.

“Mm? What do you mean by owner? I am your familiar.”

“Fel, shut up for a second.”

“Gn...”

Try to read the mood just a bit, Fel.

“Uncle, you’re this talking silver wolf’s owner?”

U-Uncle...... uncle...............

Khh...this isn’t the time to be taking damage from things like this!

“Y-Yeah, that’s right. So? What’s your name?”

“Um, you see, Liz is Liz.”

“Liz, huh? You mentioned your father earlier, Liz; were you with him?”

When I asked her that, Liz made a sad face.

“Yeah...... Liz was with her dad, you know? But he disappeared before Liz noticed...... *Sniff* Liz searched a lot, *Sniff* but dad wasn’t anywhere......”

So she was with her dad, but got separated, huh?

After that, I managed to get a lot out of Liz. Summing it up, this was the situation: this morning, Liz left her village with her father by carriage and arrived in this town.

Her family was one of farmers, and they had come to sell the appools they had harvested. She said that they went to several stores, so they must have sold their appools to several eateries and merchant companies.

After that was done, her father showed Liz, for whom this town was a first experience, around. Liz was also really looking forward to her first time in town, and was having a lot of fun looking around since the town was so much bigger and more crowded than their village and also had so much more for sale.

So while they were looking around town, at some point Liz got separated from her father.

“You know, Liz really was holding hands with daddy and everything! But he was gone before I knew it......”

Yeah, she probably found something that caught her interest and let go of his hand while she was distracted, or something. This is definitely one of those really common patterns. But if they left this morning, then the village must be pretty close to here.

On top of that, they didn’t have any guards when they were travelling, so it must be especially close, since they could move around without even any guards.

Liz didn’t know the name of her village, but just from that I could make a guess as to which village she was from.

Now then, it looks like Liz’s calmed down, so it’s about time to take her to the knights.

“Liz, let’s go see the knights, okay? If we do that, they’ll help you find your dad.”

“Really?”

“Really. Also, I’m sure your dad is looking for you, too. If that’s the case, then he’ll definitely go ask the knights. The knights who protect this town know everything, after all.”

“Okay, got it. Liz will go to the knights. But I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“Uhm, Liz wants to ride on the talking silver wolf!”

Ohh, so that’s what she wants. But still, how fearless of her. To think that, not only is she not scared, but after latching onto him she wants to ride on his back.

“The talking silver wolf’s name is Fel, just so you know. If you want to ride on Fel’s back, then you have to ask him yourself, Liz.”

When I said that, Liz replied with a, “Yeah, okay,” and ran up to Fel with her short stride......

“Fel, let Liz ride on your back. Please.”

“Khh......... Fine, I shall let you. However, do not thrash around up there. Also, do not pull on my fur. If you cannot abide by these rules, I will throw you off, brat.”

Even Fel couldn’t refuse such a pure little girl’s request, it seemed.

With Liz riding on Fel’s back, we went together to the Knight’s station with Liz in a good mood.

“Hey, Liz, aren’t you afraid of Fel?”

Normal adults wouldn’t even think of getting near Fel after getting a look at him, though. Mostly they would just try to stay away.

“Yeah, he’s not scary. This talking silver wolf’s a good wolf, after all.” Saying that, Liz started telling us about a story from one of the grandmas from her village.

A long time ago, there was a ferocious four-armed bear living in the forest by the village. That bear would sometimes appear in the village, ravage the fields, and even eat the villagers. The villagers were utterly helpless in their troubles, and were starting to consider abandoning the village.

At that time......

“A talking silver wolf appeared in the village, right? And it beat the bear. So there’s a festival giving thanks to the talking silver wolf in the village, now.”

Huhh — so there’s that kind of story behind it.

I had no idea when this story took place, but Fel had apparently lived for 1000 years, so wasn’t that talking silver wolf just Fel?

《Isn’t that story about you, Fel?》

I tried asking Fel over telepathy, but he only replied, 《I do not remember.》 before falling silent in thought.

《A four-armed bear, huh? I have hunted several in the past............Ah!》

《Hm? Did you remember something?》

《Now that I think about it, I did hunt a four-armed bear somewhere around here about 300 years ago.》

That’s it!

According to Fel, the four-armed bear was literally named a ‘four arms bear’ and it was a nearly 10 meter tall huge bear with four arms.

Fel had sensed the bear’s presence and was hunting it, but it seemed that the bear had already invaded a human village and was rampaging around. Fel had just told the villagers in the way to “Move,” and he slammed the bear with lightning magic to defeat it, it seemed.

《And that four arms bear was......》

《Yes, of course I ate it. That bear’s meat is pretty good.》

Yep, I knew it......

In other words, the talking silver wolf that was a legend in Liz’s village was none other than Fel. I had heard that he was a legendary magic beast, but to think that he had actually had legends about him...

Meanwhile, we had reached the Knight’s station.

“Excuse me!”

After calling out to the knights, I explained what had happened. After confirming and checking for any inconsistencies with Liz, I was told it was okay for me to leave.

However............

“No! I want to be with the talking silver wolf~!” Liz was firmly latched on to Fel and wouldn’t let go.

Since they couldn’t just rip her off of Fel by force, we were made to stay with her until they found her father. Liz, realizing that she could stay with Fel, was satisfied.

While we were waiting in the station, Liz got to know Dora-chan and Sui. She alternated between hugging Dora-chan and Sui and was having quite a bit of fun.

Rather than getting along though, it was more like Dora-chan knew that she was just a child and so just gave up resisting. Sui, however, as a child itself, was having a lot of fun though.

And so, after a while one of the knights who was sent patrolling around the town came back with a man in tow.

Even before I got a good look at the man, Liz, who was being attended on by Fel, Dora-chan, and Sui, immediately ran towards him with her small stride and hugged him.

“Daddy!!”

“Liz!” Liz’s father picked her up in his arms and gave her a tight squeeze. “Liz! So you were okay... thank goodness......”

The father was tearing up: he must have just been that worried.

“Daddy! You know, Liz was saved by a talking silver wolf and an uncle. There was also a tiny dragon and a slime. It was fun!”

At Liz’s words, the father looked over at us. When he caught sight of Fel, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Hm? The wolf from the village legends? No, it can’t be... that was several hundreds of years ago......” He started muttering to himself.

“Uh-Uhmm, my name is Mukohda. That is my familiar......”

“Yeah, sorry. I was just surprised that your familiar wolf looks just like the one from my village’s legends. But it was from a very long time ago, so there’s no way that’s true.”

Well, that wolf actually was Fel. I won’t tell you, though.

“More importantly, thank you so very much for saving my daughter, Liz.”

After saying that, the father bowed his head deeply.

“I heard about it from the knight while we were coming here. If it weren’t for you, right now Liz would......” Liz’s father started shivering after saying that.

“I only stepped in because something seemed fishy. Thank goodness I made it in time.”

“Thank you! Thank you very much!” Saying that, he once again bowed deeply. “Liz, don’t wander away from me ever again, get it?”

“Yeah!” She must have been just that happy after seeing her father again, as Liz hadn’t let go of him this entire time.

“Well then, I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wait a second, Could you please wait for me a while?”

“Uhhh, that’s fine, but......”

Thinking that it was all over now that Liz and her father were together again, I tried to make myself scarce, but was stopped by the father.

After being told to wait, and doing as I was told, Liz and her father came back riding the carriage they had apparently parked somewhere nearby.

“Sorry for keeping you.”

Then, he placed a box filled to the brim with red fruits that was in his carriage in front of me.

“These’re appools from our farm. I’m sorry that these are all I can give you as thanks, but please take it.”

“This much? Is it really alright?”

“Of course.”

I gratefully accepted the appools that Liz’s family had raised, which were a red fruit that looked just like apples.

“Okay then, be careful as you go back, and stay healthy, Liz.”

“Yeah! Bye bye, talking silver wolf and tiny dragon and slime! Bye bye to you too, uncle—!”

Liz, who was sat beside her father on the driver’s bench of the carriage, waved her hands energetically.

Liz’s father also bowed in my direction again even while manipulating the horse.

After sending Liz and her father off, I stored the wooden box filled with appools into my Item Box.

“Well then, let’s go back to the inn, too.”

“Indeed, and then it will be dinner.”

《I’m also hungry—.》

《Sui is also hungry~.》

“Okay then, I’ll make dinner once we get back.”

In a slightly good mood for having done a good deed, I returned to the inn.

One Day in Agni’s Life

Lady Agni always wakes up at 7 in the morning. The habit is sunk into her body through long years of training.

Then, after grooming herself, she eats what breakfast her servant prepares for her. After a small post-meal break, she practices her spear skills in her palace’s large garden, just as she does every day.

“Hey, everybody’s gathered, right?”

In the garden were gathered several tens of Agni’s servants (underlings).

“Now then, let’s start. Come at me!”

“Okay then!” The first servant rushed at Agni.

“Hahh!!” Agni swings her spear with transcendent speed.

*Brkkiiinnnn!!*

“Ghuaaahhh!”

Without time to guard against it, the servant was blown away. Even though the spear was dulled for training, it still sent quite a shock.

“Okay then, next!”

“I’ll go!”

“Hah!”

*Boo———m*

“Gyaahh!”

“Hoh!”

*Schwiiinngg*

“Ghueghh!”

“Take this!”

*Schwingggg!!*

“Guooohhh!!!”

...............

............

......

This time was like hell for her servants. The training would last until noon. Even so, they must bear the sadness. It was one of the rules for Agni’s servants.

1: One must not defy Agni’s orders.

2: One most never defy Agni’s orders.

3: The male servants must always attend her morning training.

If these rules were not kept, something even worse than training was waiting for them.

One time, one of the servants overslept and was late. That day, the training that was supposed to end just before noon stretched on until the sun set, and Agni had a smile on her face the whole time.

That incident became a source of trauma for all the servants (underlings).

Thus, there were almost no servants who would even dare be late for training they’d rather not do.

“Hm, it’s almost noon. Training’s over~!”

The training ended when Agni said so. Her servants, no, her underlings, were all exhausted. However, that was the fate of all who became Agni’s servants (underlings).

For lower class gods, especially the males, becoming Agni’s servants was like losing the lottery, though Agni doesn’t know about it.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Puhhaa~! This ale’s great after working up a sweat!”

After washing off the sweat that she worked up in the bath, the alcohol lover Agni immediately drank some ale.

“Lady Agni, that is unseemly.”

One of her long-time servants chided her.

However, it had never worked.

“Shut up~. This stuff is like water to me, so it’s fine. More importantly: food.”

After heaving a resigned sigh, the servant went to prepare food.

“Yeah, yeah! This is pretty good. This salty grilled meat goes well with the ale. *Glgglgglg*” After fairly throwing the meat into her mouth, Agni chugged down some ale.

“Yeah, ale’s really the best for a meal...... That being said, that otherworld alcohol — beer, he called it? — was cold and way better. Tch, I’d ask for more if those three would just shut up about it.”

While griping like that, Agni had already finished her third cup of ale.

“Whew, I’m full.”

Once she’d eaten her fill after training, just as always, she set herself up in front of her water mirror with a cup filled to the brimfull-to-bursting with ale.

It was the same kind that was in Ninrir’s palace, and only higher-ranked gods were allowed to have them.

“Now then, what’s he doing now?”

While chugging down ale, Agni peered into her mirror.

Until now, Agni would look at her mirror every once in a while, but ever since she found out about some person named Mukohda who came from another world, she would look in on him almost every day.

He held a skill named, “Online Supermarket” that was never even heard of until now, and would offer otherworld goods to Agni and the other goddesses, so they favored him.

“Hm? So they’re hunting today?”

Mukohda’s party was in a forest.

The mirror showed Mukohda’s surprised face as he encountered a giant centipede.

“That slime’s weird no matter how I think about it. What the hell is with that acid shooting? Even for a special one, I’ve never heard of a slime that does that.”

Sui, a slime that even surprised goddesses.

It seemed that, even among special individuals, Sui was an even more special slime.

“Next is venom tarantulas, huh? Are they after the strings? Looks like they’re expensive in the lower world, after all.”

There were several venom tarantulas wriggling around in their nests that they set up amongst the trees.

“Oh, there they are.”

There were quite a few venom tarantulas, but all of them were met with lightning strikes. The venom tarantulas fell to the ground one after the other.

“The Fenrir’s Lightning magic, huh? He really is strong, worthy of his legendary status.”

She listened in on Mukohda’s and his slime’s telepathic conversation.

《Muhhh, what about Sui’s turn—?》

“Ahhh, Sui, just bear with it this time.”

《But Sui wanted to go pew pew and beat them—.》

“...............What an aggressive slime. Actually, is it really a slime? Isn’t it some kind of new species?” Agni wondered over the slime that was strange on many accounts.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

While relaxing in front of the water mirror, evening rolled around.

“Right, it’s time for food~. And also, otherworld alcohol~♪”

Agni had saved a bottle of the beer she received before.

*Psshhhht* *Glgglgglgglg———*

“Kkhhhh! That really hits the spot!” Agni enjoyed the cold otherworld alcohol, or “beer,” with great delight.

“I’ll have to think up something so I can get more of this, won’t I? Well, for now I guess I’ll try that stronger liquor that I got the other day. He said it was really quite strong, didn’t he......?”

At first, she tried drinking it straight.

“Khhh! Yeah, this one’s really strong! But it’s pretty good!”

Remembering that the otherworlder said that it was delicious even diluted with water, Agni decided to have it on the rocks and created some ice with magic to put in her glass.

Then, she poured in the strong, light brown alcohol, “whiskey,” in.

“Hohh, so the taste mellows out with some ice in it. It’s true that this is much better. However, this is certainly good, but I definitely liked the beer more.”

While thinking up ways for her to somehow obtain more of it, Agni emptied the bottle of whiskey in a single night.

By a Hair’s Breadth ~The Sequel: Let’s Make An Apple Pie~

“Hr—m, what should I do with this......?”

As thanks for saving a girl named Liz yesterday, I received a wooden box full of apple-like fruits called ‘Appools’.

I tried biting into one raw, but it was really acidic, and thus, very sour. It seemed like rather than eating, it was more suited to cooking into a jam or something.

“Cook it, huh? Jam is good too, but just making jam with this is...... Ah, what about an apple pie? That’s right, let’s make an apple pie.”

I’d seen my mother make it several times, so I should be able to. After all, it was as easy as boiling the apple until it was sweet, wrapping it in a frozen pie sheet, and cooking it.

But what should I do about an oven? I wonder if I can borrow the inn’s kitchen?

After negotiating with the inn’s hostess, I was allowed to use the inn’s kitchen when it wasn’t busy. That being the case, I was going to prepare the ingredients beforehand in my room and boil the apples into sweetness; that way, all I would have to do later was bake it.

First, I needed to get the ingredients with my skill.

I’ll need butter and sugar, and some lemon juice to boil the apples with, right?

I could just squeeze some lemons for their juice, though buying 100% lemon juice in a bottle would also be fine.

Since this time I would need less lemon juice due to the acidity of the appools, I decided to take this chance and use raw lemons.

Other than that, a lot of people would add cinnamon for taste, but I don’t, since my mom was bad with its fragrance. I don’t know if it was because of that, but I never got to like the taste of cinnamon much.

And so, I didn’t add cinnamon.

All I needed to get after that were the frozen pie sheets and some eggs to make an egg wash with.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, peel the skin off of the appools, then core them and cube them into about 1cm size pieces.

It’s fine to change the size according to preference, but the apple pie I make isn’t large and round, but rectangular, so this size was best for packing the filling in, according to my mom. Also, this size results in the perfect amount of apple texture in the pie for a person to bite down on.

By the way, apparently if you thinly slice the apples, then the texture becomes quite mellow.

Once all the appools are cut, all that’s left is to boil them sweetly.

Start off by heating up the appools in a pot with some butter. Once the butter is melted and well distributed, mix in the lemon juice and sugar. When the sugar is dissolved into the solution, boil until all the water is evaporated. Once all the water is gone, it should turn semi-transparent and glossy, and that is how you can tell it’s finished.

While the appools are boiling, take out the frozen pie sheet and cut it into 4 parts. The two to be laid on top should have about an extra 1cm of room, and cut 4 or 5 slits into the top with a knife.

After laying down the bottom sheets with no slits cut in, load it with lots of appool filling. Cover that with the two slitted sheets, and crimp the edges with a fork to properly close the pie. After that, scramble an egg to make an egg wash, and brush it on the crust.

~◇~◇~◇~

After making a lot of pre prepared pies, I stored them in my Item Box.

All that was left was to bake them in the oven.

After having been notified by the hostess, I was currently in the inn’s kitchen.

As I was baking the apple pies in the oven, the hostess, her husband who was also in charge of the kitchen, and their son of around 10 years old all watched what I was doing with great interest.

You know you don’t have to stare at me like that, right?

“It smells good~”

The son’s nose was twitching as he peeked into the kitchen.

Just wait a little. I’m already borrowing your oven, so of course I’ll share some with you.

“Right, it should be about done.”

Opening the oven, I took off the well-browned cover.

“Yeah, it’s nicely browned.”

Looking at the apple pie, the boy was already drooling.

Cutting the apple pie and putting them on three plates, I offered them to the hostess’ family.

“It’s your share. Please take it.”

The hostess immediately slapped away the hand of her son who cried, “Yayy!” and reached for it.

“Not yet! Say your thanks, first!”

“Fi—ne. Thanks, mister!”

After spouting out the words, the boy immediately grabbed the apple pie and bit into it.

“Hot! hawhhho, hawhhoo...... But it’s good! It’s crispy on the outside and sweet on the inside!”

The son continued to eat the apple pie, entranced.

“Hohh, this is nice and sweet!”

The hostess also seemed to like it.

Yeah. The stuff inside is... appool? Yeah, it’s good.”

As expected of the chef and husband, he noticed that the inside was appool.

“Can you teach us to make this?”

When the father asked, I couldn’t answer right away, since I used a pie sheet and lots of sugar. This world definitely didn’t have read-made pie sheets, and didn’t seem to have sugar, either. So when I told him, “I’m using a lot of honey, though,” he gave up, since honey in this world was a very high-class ingredient.

After sharing another three pieces with them, I kept the rest for my own dessert share.

“Here you go, dessert. I made it using the appools we got before.”

“Hohh, it is quite crispy and delicious.”

“Yeah, the combination of the crispy outside and the sweet inside is great.”

《Master — this is sweet and good!》

All three of them seemed to love it. It was the first time I cooked pie myself, but I was glad it went well.

The Disappointing Goddess Talks About Red Beans

Red beans.

The taste of happiness.

Red beans are what are used in my favorite red bean buns and dorayaki.

At first, I was surprised by the black color, but when I tried it, I fell captive to its charms in one shot.

I also like sweet cakes with lots of sweat cream on top, but pastries using red beans are just......

Among them, I especially just LOVE the pastry called dorayaki.

If I was told to only pick one, I would without question go with dorayaki, which has lots of red beans sandwiched within it.

It was a good pastry, truly unbeatable with a round and sweet dough both on top and on the bottom, and with lots of red beans in between. Both the sweet dough and the red beans come together in complete harmony to form an indescribable deliciousness......

*Drool* ............ Oh no, this is bad. I’m drooling just from remembering...

Ah well, that’s just how much I love it.

Apparently, red bean paste was made from a type of bean called adzuki, and was completed by boiling it with some sweet seasoning called sugar.

At first, I was surprised, hearing that it was made from beans, but that kind of astounding idea is just what I would expect out of this other world.

This red bean paste was delicious because it had a refined sweetness that was not cloying.

There were largely two different types of red bean paste, smooth and whole red bean paste.

Smooth red bean paste was made by crushing the beans and removing their skins so the paste was smooth, and whole red bean paste was, just as its name implied, made while keeping the red bean whole. Smooth red bean paste was great since its texture was so smooth and easy, but whole red bean paste had much more texture due to the whole beans.

Both have their good points and it’s hard to pick one, but for me when it comes to dorayaki it’s got to be whole red beans.

Well, dorayaki is delicious either way, though.

These sweets that used red bean paste were apparently called “Japanese sweets,” and it seemed that they were particular to the otherworlder’s country.

There’s a lot of different sweets that use red bean paste. There’s the dorayaki I talked about earlier, manjuu, daifuku, youkan............

“Manjuu” was something with thin, chewy skin and once again, lots of red bean paste inside, and it was also delicious.

The manjuu with some warm and sweet nut called “chestnut” was also delicious.

“Daifuku” is a lot of red bean paste stuffed in a chewy and stretchy white skin.

That one was also good.

That’s right, there was also a type of daifuku with the juice of some fruit called a “strawberry.” That one combined the refreshing acidic sweetness of the fruit with the red bean paste — and it was also delicious.

Unlike the other sweets, “Youkan” was a little strange. It was made by hardening red bean paste with something called ‘agar.’ However, it was also delicious. It was smooth, and you could really taste the red bean’s naturally awesome flavor.

Now that I think about it, this one also had that sweet nut named “chestnut” in it. It was good here, too.

Just like that, happily, there were a lot of different red bean treats.

Not only that, but from what I heard from the otherworlder, there were lots of other sweets that used red beans as well.

It was so nice to hear.

I wonder what new combinations of red beans and sweets I’ll come upon next?

I’m so excited.

Hahh, I’ve started really craving red beans now that I’ve been thinking about it so much.

If I remember correctly, there should still be some dorayaki left over from the last time the otherworlder gave me an offering. Now then, I should have left it here............

*Clonk* *Thud*

Ah! I ate it yesterday!! That means...there’s no more left!!!

Red beans... red bean sweets...... my dorayaki............ That’s right, an oracle! I’ll just send him an oracle!!

“This is the Goddess of Wind, Ninrir. I desire more dorayaki.”

What? ‘Again? I just gave you some the other day,’ you say?

“It can’t be helped, I’ve run out. Hurry up!”

‘Well that’s because you just kept eating without thinking,’ huh?

And you didn’t have to mention that I’ll get fat, you know?

“G-G-G-God’s don’t get fat that easily!! A-A-A-Also I’m not fat! Being slim and beautiful is my pride, you know! I’m definitely not fat!!”

‘Sure sure, fine. But please be careful about eating too much,’ you say?

“Y-Yeah. As long as you understand. I also plan to be careful that I don’t eat too much. However, the sweets from your world are far too delicious. There’s so many different varieties, and they’re all good! It’s more painful to resist it. There’s no way I could resist something that delicious!”

What? ‘Don’t get angry at me for that?’

“You!! You’re being way too annoying about these things! More importantly, hurry up with the sweets! ............I-I’d like sweets with red bean in them, okay? With lots of dorayaki, too.”

Ohhh! It’s here! Manjuu, daifuku, youkan...... there’s lots of red bean sweets here! There’s even lots of dorayaki!

Great, now first the dorayaki...... *Nom*

Mmmmmmmmmm! Dorayaki is just soooo good!!!

*Sigh* I’m so happy!

Let’s Eat Some Vegetables Sometimes, Too

Today’s dinner was meat.

At Fel and the others’ requests, I was always cooking meat. Thinking about it, I was eating meat not only every day, but basically every meal. Not only that, but it was all rich and strong in flavor.

Today’s meal was at the request of Dora-chan: miso-grilled orc bowl. It seemed that Dora-chan was quite attracted to the flavor of miso.

This miso grilled orc bowl is good, but it’s also rich and heavy in flavor...

With every meal being this rich and dense, I personally wanted to eat something refreshing and light for once. Also, I got the feeling that just eating meat all the time was bad for health.

Apparently it was really hard to get sick thanks to the goddesses’ blessings, but I really did still worry about it.

The most refreshing and healthy thing I can think of is vegetables, but none of my familiars like that very much.......

If I were to make something using vegetables as the main ingredient, both Sui and Dora-chan would probably eat it, but I could see Fel complaining, “Why did you even make this?” before going, “I don’t want it.”

Actually, it’s pretty much confirmed that he hates vegetables, isn’t it? If that’s the case, it has to be something with lots of vegetables, but still with meat and with a refreshing taste on top of all that...

If that’s the case..... the only thing I can think of off the top of my head would be pork shabu, I guess? It would be nice to make it into a salad so it’s easy to eat. I have orc meat, too... Right, let’s make pork shabu salad.

Now that that’s decided, I’ll need to buy some vegetables. I’ll need lettuce and mini tomatoes, cucumbers, red and yellow paprika... and I think that’s it.

~◇~◇~◇~

First up is the meat. Cut the orc meat into thin slices and coat thinly with potato starch.

Add some sake and salt to boiling water, and quickly boil the potato starch coated meat. Then put the meat into a strainer and let it cool.

The important part is to coat it in potato starch, and also to let the meat cool naturally. Coating it in the starch prevents the meat from drying out, and cooling the meat naturally helps prevent it from becoming too tough.

While the boiled meat is cooling, prepare the vegetables. Rip the lettuce into appropriately sized pieces, cut the cucumbers into thin discs, and chop the paprika finely.

After that, just serve the vegetables in a dish and layer a lot of meat on top.

As for the dressing, I would recommend either japanese-style dressing or some sort of sesame based dressing. It’s fine to make the dressing yourself, but it’s a lot of work and they sell perfectly delicious dressings commercially anyway.

This time, I used a refreshing yuzu-flavored japanese dressing.

~◇~◇~◇~

“I’m done—”

Everyone gathered at the sound of my voice.

“Here’s the miso-grilled orc bowl that Dora-chan wanted. And also...... I thought that eating something with a refreshing taste every once in a while would be nice, so I made some pork shabu salad.”

I served everyone some miso-grilled orc bowl and pork shabu salad.

“Mm, I do not need any vegetables.”

I knew Fel would say that.

“I gave you less vegetables already, Fel. And there’s lots of meat on it, too, so eat it. It’s good.”

“No.”

“Come on, don’t be like that.”

While Fel and I were going back and forth like that, Dora-chan and Sui were already digging in to the pork shabu salad.

《Ohh, this is pretty delicious. It’s got a refreshing fragrance and taste.》

《It’s true—! This is goo—d!》

Right, right? Of course Dora-chan and Sui would have good taste. They totally get it.

“See? Both Dora-chan and Sui are saying it’s delicious. Try it, Fel.”

“You are too persistent. Fine, just one bite.”

Fel exasperatedly took a bit out of the pork shabu salad.

“Hmm?”

Fel started chewing it to better experience the taste.

“How is it? It’s good, right?”

“Mm? Well, it is alright for what it is.”

You could just be honest and say it’s good...

In the end, Fel had another serving of the pork shabu salad. Though he also had more than one extra serving of the miso grilled orc bowl. Even so, it was still a feat to get the vegetable hater Fel to want another serving.

If he can eat pork shabu salad, then I might be able to introduce more vegetables into our meals from now on. My current goal was to add more vegetables into our regular menu along with the meat.

It would be nice if Fel’s hatred of vegetables could be cured one day.

The Goddesses’ Round Table

Kisharle: “Oka—y, I am the chairman, the Goddess of Earth, Kisharle~. I look forward to working with you all~.”

Ninrir: “Wa—it just a second! Why is Kisharle the chairman? This meeting’s about him, so I should be the chairman since I was the one who contacted him first!”

Kisharle: “Oh my, dear Ninrir. Do you think you can properly chair this meeting?”

Agni: “Ahahaha! It’s impossible for Ninrir, impossible! We won’t get anywhere with you.”

Rusalka: “............Not suited for it.”

Ninrir: “Grrrr... you guys...”

Kisharle, “Now now, don’t be mad, don’t be mad~. Let’s get started.”

Agni: “Sure—”

Rusalka: “......Yeah.”

Ninrir: “Hurry up!”

Kisharle: “Well then, about our first impressions of the otherworlder.”

NInrir: “He’s weak and a coward. If it wasn’t for my Fenrir, he’d be dead already.”

Agni: “Certainly! Well, it looks like he came from quite a peaceful world, so I guess it’s to be expected, but he’s a little too weak to live in this world.”

Rusalka: “......He’s weak, but it’s not a problem. With that slime that has my blessing. That one is very strong.”

Ninrir: “What are you saying? That slime’s a small fry compared to my Fenrir. He’s only healthy and happy because of my Fenrir.”

Rusalka: “Mmhh...... The slime is still newly born. That may be the case for now, but it will quickly grow so strong even your Fenrir will not be able to compare.”

Ninrir: “What?! Of course my Fenrir is stronger. That thing’s a legendary beast, you know!”

Rusalka: “......The slime is strong. It will eventually become an emperor slime even stronger than your Fenrir.”

Ninrir: “The Fenrir.”

Rusalka: “Slime.”

Kisharle: “Now, now. You two stop glaring at each other.”

Agni: “She’s right, stop fighting, you two.”

Ninrir: “Mhh......”

Rusalka: “............”

Kisharle: “Okay then, the next order of business is that otherworld boy’s unique skill. It’s amazing, isn’t it~? It’s the first time I’ve seen something like that, a skill to obtain goods from another world.”

Agni: “Yeah, it’s amazing. Not just that, it’s the best!”

Ninrir: “Heheh, right? Right? And I discovered him first!”

Rusalka: “......And then you tried to keep him for yourself.”

Ninrir: “Ghh......”

Kisharle: “Now, now. let’s leave that be, Ruka. We’ve also gotten to make connections with the otherworlder boy, ourselves, after all.”

Agni: “She’s right. Also, sooner or later she’d have got herself caught anyway. It’s impossible for Ninrir to keep a secret.”

Kisharle: “Ninrir’s so easy to understand, after all.”

Agni: “Exactly. Actually, we should be thankful that Ninrir got caught. If she was discovered by other, more annoying people, it would have been bad.”

Ninrir: “Grrrrnnrrr...”

Rusalka: ...............*Sigh*

Kisharle: “Let’s leave this conversation here, the subject should be about that otherworlder boy’s skill. It’s not just amazing, it’s wonderful!”

Ninrir: “I agree! Ahh, the wonderful sweets that don’t exist in this world... Red bean buns, dorayaki, cake, pudding, I can taste all of them and more flavors that could never exist in this world thanks to that skill!”

Rusalka: “I don’t like agreeing with Ninrir, but I do. The sweets from the other world are delicious. Cake is also good, but I especially like ice cream. It’s sweet even though it’s cold. I would never be able to eat something like that in this world. Also, their regular food is also delicious.”

Agni: “Woah! What a lot of words from our usually quiet Ruka! Well, the stuff from the other world is just that good, though. For me, it’s gotta be beer! That stuff is good. Cooling it before drinking it is the best! After drinking that, I don’t feel like drinking this world’s alcohol ever again!”

Kisharle: “For me, it’s got to be their beauty products~. Unlike this world that hardly takes an interest in beauty, the other world is so advanced! After using their shampoo and hair treatments, the stiff and damaged hair I was worried about turned smooth and silky in one shot! And their soap smells so nice! Compared to that, the soap in this world is trash, I say, trash! Not only that, there’s facial lotions, latex, and creams! Those are also amazing! Even though the only thing in this world for cleaning the face is just about some purified olive oil, the other world has specialized products for maintaining one’s face! Using that, my skin that used to be dried out is now tight and smooth and vibrant!”

Agni: “Y-Yeah, sure.”

Ninrir: “You’re way too excited.”

Rusalka: “............”

Kisharle: “Oh my, sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. At any rate, I just wanted to say that the other world’s products are just perfect.”

Ninrir: “Indeed, I agree.”

Agni: “Yeah, me too.”

Rusalka: “Of course, agreed.”

Kisharle: “Now that we know the greatness of the other world, there’s no way we could live without that stuff now, is there?”

Agni: “Of course. I couldn’t live without beer.”

Ninrir: “Naturally, I’m the same! I don’t even want to think about not being able to taste the other world’s sweets.”

Rusalka: “......I would definitely hate to have it go away.”

Kisharle: “So now that that’s settled, we have to make sure that otherworlder boy is healthy and happy. Although we can’t do anything about his lifespan, we can make sure he lives it out to its fullest. For our sakes, too.”

Ninrir: “Indeed, you’re right. Thinking like that, it might be right to think about strengthening his blessings. Our blessings are all (small), no? And there’s also his affinities to think about. It’s just mine, Kisharle’s, and Agni’s blessings, but what would happen if they all stack? There was never a human like that in the past, so we don’t know anything, right? His lifespan might just increase is all I’m saying.”

Agni: “Wow, that’s a great idea, Ninrir. As for blessings, we have to consider that the creator would find out, but some risks need to be taken. If we think it can be done I’m in for it.”

Rusalka: “Upgrading his skills is possible.”

Kisharle: “Just as Ruka has said, upgrading his skills is also a possibility. On top of that, we could also give him new skills and strengthen them. At any rate, we need that otherworlder boy to live a long and happy life.”

Agni: “Right. In the first place, he’s the one that gave us all this good stuff, so he has to take responsibility ‘til the end.”

Ninrir: “Indeed. His calling in life is to give us offerings for as looo~ng as possible.”

Rusalka: *Nod nod*, *Nod nod*

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Ahh, ah, ahchoo!!” I sneezed, hard.

And the accompanying chills -- I reflexively shivered.

“Ughh~, I wonder if I’ve caught a cold?”

Even though he couldn’t get sick due to his blessings, it was just like Mukohda to not notice that fact.