Chapter 4: G-Goddess...
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.