Chapter 3: The Town by the Sea, Berléand

“So this is Berléand’s Adventurer’s guild, huh? It’s not as big as Dolan’s, but it’s still pretty big.”

Although it wasn’t as big as a dungeon city would be, Berléand was still a large city, and its Adventurer’s guild was larger than the ones in both Krehl and Nijhoff. The town also had a port, so it had quite a large population, too.

Now then, let’s go in.

It was just about noon, so the receptionists weren’t busy at all. For Adventurer’s guilds, the busy hours were usually during the morning and evening.

I immediately went up to a receptionist, and showed my guild card.

“Uhm, I’m Mukohda. I think there should have been some communication from the guildmaster at Nijhoff......”

The receptionist girl at the window checked my guild card and said, “Please wait a little,” before leaving her seat.

I waited just like that, and from beyond came a huge, absolutely ripped, bald man who might have been in his mid-40’s and looked like a pirate with his eyepatch. Woah! He’s even bigger up close. He’s probably taller than 190cm.

“Yo! Happy to see you here. I’m the guildmaster of this here Adventurer’s guild in Berléand. My name is Marcus. I heard from that old man Jöran. So let’s hurry this up and go to my room.”

We followed behind Marcus. Apparently the guildmaster’s room in every guild was on the second floor. We were thus led to the second floor Berléand guildmaster’s room too.

“Okay, just sit and take a load off.” Urged on by the guildmaster, we both sat in a pair of chairs. “I’ve heard a lot about you. Looks like it’s true that you made a Fenrir into your familiar. And a pixie dragon, was it? I never even knew that kind of dragon existed until I heard of yours, you know? Gahahahahaha!” Marcus laughed heartily while looking over at Fel and Dora-chan.

“It looks like pixie dragons are a really rare type, after all. Also, I have a slime familiar, too.” I picked Sui up out of my bag and showed it to Marcus.

“Oh right, yeah. There was a special, really strong slime, wasn’t there?” Marcus said, as he looked at Sui and nodded. “From the rumors going ’round the mill, you’re taking on high-ranking quests that’ve been sitting for a while, right?”

“Yes.”

“We have a pretty good number of adventurers here, so we don’t really have anything piled up... Though, to tell you the truth, about three days ago, a kraken appeared a bit off the port. Luckily, the fishermen who went out to fish saw its figure and turned back immediately, so as of right now there aren’t any casualties, but......”

Damn, a kraken? Hearing that name, Fel who was sleeping behind my chair woke up, and he plopped himself down again next to me, intent on listening.

“The fishermen can’t go out to fish, so they’re really pushing us to do something about it...”

I heard that the fishermen here are...rough. Yeah... I bet they barged in yelling. But fishermen not being able to go out and fish is a matter of life and death. So I get how desperate they are.

“I brought the quest up to a party of B-rank adventurers who’re staying in town, but they refused because fighting a monster at sea is way more difficult than fighting one on land. So I was wondering what I should do, but...... Will you take it on?”

Take it on, huh? That’s why we came here, though.

“Indeed. That is fine. Krakens are delicious.” Before I was able to answer, Fel did it for me.

“So it is.” When I said that, Marcus’ face cramped up.

“H-Hey, you can eat krakens?”

What? You can’t? When I looked over at Fel, he said, “You can. They are delicious.”

“Well, it seems you can......”

“R-Really? I’ve never heard of anyone eating kraken...... W-Well, whatever.”

A-Anyway, in Japan we eat squid and octopus, but there are also countries that don’t, so I guess this is just that kind of thing.

“At any rate, I take it that you’re accepting the request?”

“Indeed. We will.” Fel’s totally motivated to do it.

“Seems like it’s fine.”

“I see. That’s great.” Marcus’ face cleared up markedly. Most likely because he’d just solved a hard problem. “By the way, I hear you conquered Dolan’s dungeon?”

“Yes. Well, kind of.” Even though we’re a ways away from Dolan, I guess guildmasters would know.

“I see, I see. Then, I have something I want to ask you......”

Summing up what Marcus asked simply, he wanted to buy what we got out of the dungeon if there was anything left over. Apparently, most times drops from a dungeon are sold right then and there, so it’s rare for them to reach this town. Since we’d probably gotten a huge number of items from conquering the dungeon, he thought that we’d have some left over that Dolan wasn’t able to buy, so that’s why he asked.

Well, he’s right. But, I’ll have to figure out what’s left again before I can answer him, huh?

“Uhm, can we do this after I confirm what I have left?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I think taking care of the kraken is most important right now, so I’ll show you what I have left afterwards.”

“Sure, I’m counting on you.”

Ah, right, I have to go check in on the Merchant’s guild, too. “Uhm, where’s the Merchant’s guild?”

“What? Do you need something from the Merchant’s guild?”

I told Marcus that I wanted to rent a house big enough to stay in with my familiars. Since that was the case, he wrote a letter of introduction, just as Jöran, the guildmaster in Nijhoff, did. With that in hand, we left the Adventurer’s guild and headed for the Merchant’s guild.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Ohh — That’s nice~.” I exited into the garden, which had an impressive ocean-front view.

I was in the middle of getting shown properties by one of the Merchant’s guild’s employees, Dennis. When I showed the letter of introduction from Marcus at the Merchant’s guild, the guildmaster came and introduced me to Dennis, who headed the real estate department. I told Dennis that I wanted to rent a house that I could stay in with Fel and the others for a week, so he showed me four properties, and we were going to look at them in order of what interested me.

The best one on paper to me was a 7LDK — that is, seven bedrooms plus living room, dining room, and kitchen space — the same as when we stayed at Nijhoff, but when I actually saw it, although the mansion itself was nice, the outside yard was smaller than I thought it would be. And it was close to its neighbors, so I wasn’t sure how good that would be. I wanted to have a seafood barbecue this time, so having a larger yard would be better, and I’d like the neighboring houses to be farther away so that the smell wouldn’t travel.

So the next best property on paper was what I was seeing right now. This one was a 9LDK, and was originally a villa belonging to a noble, apparently. The insides were befitting of having been owned by a noble, and were both spacious and gorgeously shaped. Of course, the bath was also splendid, and the kitchen was wide and perfectly stocked, complete with a magic stove. It was a bit away from town, but with Fel that shouldn’t be a problem. It was detached from the neighboring houses, too, and the yard was more than wide enough.

Yeah, I like it. All that’s left is to see how they like it. 《Heeey, what do you guys think of this house?》 Since Dennis would be shocked out of his wits if Fel just suddenly started talking, I asked everyone using telepathy.

《Hm, it is large enough for me to move around easily. I like it.》

《I like it too. It’s great that the yard is this big.》

《Sui also likes it~.》

Looks like everyone loves this yard’s size.

It was more expensive to rent this one than the previous at 73 gold a week, but it was worth it, and I wasn’t that troubled for money anyway. And it also seemed that they’d bring the price down to 70 gold thanks to the letter of introduction, too. Okay, let’s take this one.

“We want this one, Dennis.”

“I see. Thank you very much. Then it will be 70 gold, just like we discussed.”

I retrieved 70 gold from my Item Box, and handed it over to Dennis.

“Yes, I have certainly received 70 gold. Okay then, this is the key to the mansion.” Dennis handed the key over to me before leaving.

“Okay, it is time for food. I am hungry.”

《I’m getting famished, too.》

《Sui is also hungry—!》

I thought they’d say it. It was past noon, after all. “Wait a second.”

I steamed a lot of rice, so I’ve still got some left over, and if I remember right I should have some small amounts of the fried stuff, Hamburg steaks, and vegetable stir fry left...... Oh, there it is.

The vegetable stir fry was made using a sauce with garlic in it, so I used it along with the leftover rice to make vegetable stir fry stamina bowls. I also served the remaining fried foods I had.

Once Fel and Sui asked for more, all the prepared food I’d had left for traveling was gone. After lunch, there wasn’t really any time to do anything, so I decided to give everyone free time.

Only Fel went, “Hm? Are we not going to hunt the kraken?” But with the current time... I had him wait for tomorrow.

In the end, it looked like everyone just decided to take a nap. Fel was sleeping in the living room like he’d just tipped over on his side, and Dora-chan and Sui were both sleeping curled up on him. As for me, I was going to take inventory on what I had from the dungeon again. Although, I still had the list from before, so all I’d be doing is crossing out what I’d already sold in Dolan.

Now then, let’s get to it.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

I finished taking inventory on what I had left of the dungeon, and there was quite a bit — or rather, a lot, left.

Once I finished figuring out what I had, there was some meat left: minotaur meat, that is. Meat as a drop item depended on the monster, but it wasn’t really that large an amount. At least, from my perspective, given how much meat we go through. In the first place, each chunk was only about 1 or 2kg, or 3 at the most. So it didn’t even count as a single portion.

I thought I’d used all of it, but there were still 11 chunks of minotaur meat left. Okay, let’s use this for tonight’s dinner.

As for the rest of the items, it all looked like this.

【Monster Materials】

Venom tarantula venom sacs x3, orc testes x31, troll’s poison claws x48, minotaur horns x49, minotaur’s iron axes x15, orc king testes x1, red ogre magic stone (medium) x1, spriggan magic stones (large) x5, giant killer mantis scythes x38, murder grizzly pelts x21, murder grizzly magic stones (large) x3, cockatrice feathers x7, rockbird beaks x10, rockbird feathers x13, paralyze butterfly paralyzing poison scales x27, giant dodo feathers x9, giant centipede shells x3, giant centipede magic stones (large) x2, wild ape pelts x41, killer hornet poison stingers x286, killer hornet’s royal jelly x1, vaasuki fangs x1, vaasuki hide x1, vaasuki magic stone (very large) x1, manticore fur x1, manticore poison barb x1, manticore magic stone (very large) x1, Gustav hide x1, Gustav fangs x1, Gustav spine x1, Gustav magic stone (very large) x1, giant sand scorpion poison stingers x6, giant sand scorpion magic stones (medium) x3, sand worm teeth x8, sand worm magic stones (large) x4, death sidewinder skins x7, death sidewinder venom sacs x5, death sidewinder magic stones (large) x3, giant sand golem magic stone (very large) x1, behemoth hide x1, behemoth magic stone (extremely large) x1, behemoth (dungeon boss) treasure chest x1, mimic treasure chest (small) x1, mimic treasure chests (large) x2

【Gems and the like】

Sapphire (medium) x1, alexandrite (medium) x1, yellow diamond (large) x1, tanzanite necklace x1

I’d be using the meat, and the magic items I planned to use or sell on my own, so I excluded them, since I’d already presented the Necklace of Antidotes to the king. And the magic sword Caladbolg was also a no go, so I took that out too.

But looking at the list, there’s still so much left... I don’t know what they’ll buy out of this, but let’s copy down this list and hand it over to Marcus. Okay, that’s all I have to do, so let’s go cook dinner using this minotaur meat.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

Now then, what should I make out of this minotaur meat......? Oh, how about that?

Hashed beef rice. When I made curry the last time, I also saw some hashed beef rice roux and thought that I’d like to try that. But with this, there’ll be some meat left over... So let’s make some Bolognese too. Just using a can of meat sauce would be fine too, but I can produce a different kind of taste if I were to make it myself. Also, it would not only go well with pasta as a matter of course, but it’d fit bread, too. It might be nice to use for tomorrow’s breakfast. I could put it in some hot dog buns with some melty cheese. And even if there’s some left over, that’d be fine, since I can use it in lots of different dishes, too.

Okay, now that that’s decided, I’ll need to do some shopping. Let’s make it simple for the hashed beef rice and only use onions and mushrooms.

In exchange, I picked out a slightly more expensive roux. It was a roux from S-company that was slightly more expensive than others. Its selling point was that it used fond de veau veal broth for full bodied flavor. For the Bolognese, I already had Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, so I just needed onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and also a can of whole tomatoes, red wine, a bay leaf, and soup bouillon cubes.

First is tonight’s main dish, the hashed beef rice.

~◇~◇~◇~

Slice the minotaur meat — as well as the onions and mushrooms — thin. After oiling up a pot, heat it, and start off by cooking the onions until they turn clear.

Next, add in the meat and season the whole thing with salt and pepper as you cook. Once the meat changes color, add the mushrooms into the mix and lightly sauté the contents of the pot.

Then, add water, and continue to stew the combination for 20 minutes while scooping out any scum that forms, before turning off the heat. After that, add the hashed beef rice roux to the pot and melt it.

Turn on the fire once again, and continue to stew and stir until the mixture thickens.

~◇~◇~◇~

Yeah, smells nice. Let’s try a bit.

Ohh, the flavor is deep and rich. It’s good. Even without any special hidden flavors, this is plenty good on its own. Yeah, this definitely stirs the appetite.

So that it wouldn’t cool too much, I quickly stored the finished hashed beef rice into my Item Box. Next is the Bolognese.

~◇~◇~◇~

First, run the minotaur meat through the mincer.

After that step is done, chop the garlic finely, and then the onions, carrots, and celery somewhat more coarsely. After adding olive oil and the chopped garlic into a pot, turn on the flame to low and start cooking.

When the garlic starts to become fragrant, add in the onions, carrots, and celery and continue cooking.

Once the vegetables soften up, throw in the ground minotaur meat and keep cooking.

After the heat has passed through the ground meat and it has changed its color, pour in a can of whole tomatoes, some red wine, the soup bouillon cube, and the bay leaf. Let it stew while crushing the whole tomatoes.

When the whole tomatoes have been crushed to a certain consistency, add the Worcestershire sauce and ketchup into the mix. Adding these in gives the Bolognese some body.

Maintain the heat at just barely a light boil or a simmer, and continue to stew the contents of the pot while stirring so it doesn’t burn. Once enough water has evaporated, season to taste with salt and pepper to finish the dish.

~◇~◇~◇~

It turned into a Bolognese with a great amount of ground meat inside, but where the flavor of the vegetables inside could still show itself.

Yeah, looks delicious. Let’s try some...... Yep, perfect.

I stored it in my Item Box while still in the pot.

The sun had sunk quite low by now, so it was about time to have dinner. Of course, tonight’s dinner would be hashed beef rice. I plated the food for Fel, Sui, and Dora-chan, each in their own personal dishes that I bought for them in Nijhoff, with lots of the hashed beef on top. I’ll just use a regular plate for myself.

And as one would expect from a mansion that used to be a noble’s villa, there was a trolley here, too. Putting the plates on the trolley, I wheeled the food out to Fel and the others in the living room.

“Food!”

As soon as I said that, everyone woke up.

“Ohh, it smells quite good.” Fel was sniffing the food.

《It really does.》 Dora-chan followed suit.

《What a nice smell~.》 And I still have no idea how Sui manages to smell anything. But, mysteriously enough, both Sui’s sense of smell and taste are really sharp.

I put the dishes full of hashed beef rice in front of each of them. All three of them wordlessly started chowing down.

“More!” 《More!》 《More!》

That was quick. Fel and Dora-chan’s mouths are both stained brown......

As soon as I served all of them their second helpings, everyone started eating vigorously. They didn’t say anything, but with how greedily they were eating, it was easy to tell that they liked it.

Let’s see, I should eat too. Making sure to get both the rice and lots of sauce in one bite, I put it in my mouth.

Hahh, that’s delicious. Hayashi rice is really great when eaten every once in a while. I made the right call buying the roux from S-company. Looks like their selling point, the flavor of the fond de veau, wasn’t just talk. I can’t stop eating.

《Hahh~, that was amazing~.》 Dora-chan looked really full after two servings, as he lay down spread eagled.

“More.” 《More.》

On the other hand, it seemed like neither Fel nor Sui were done yet. And when I served them their next portions, they went right back to scarfing down the food.

When the pot was nearly empty, Fel and Sui were finally done.

“Whoohhh, that was delicious.”

《It was great~.》

Fel and Sui really do eat so much... I thought I’d made quite a lot, but the entire pot’s just empty.

《Master — Sui wants to eat cake...》

Even though Sui ate so much, it still wanted cake.

“Indeed, a dessert after dinner is fundamental.”

What do you even mean by that, Fel...

《Pudding! Pudding!》

Even Dora-chan, who was keeled over and spread eagled, still got up with intense speed and started yelling about pudding.

“Fine, then you all still have two for today.” I promised them two a day, and they hadn’t eaten any all day, after all.

Just like always, I opened up Fumiya’s menu. Fel had the usual strawberry shortcake, Dora-chan had pudding, and Sui had a mont blanc and a summer-limited mango rare cheesecake.

As soon as I handed over their treats, they started eating again. All in all, everyone loves sweets, huh? While watching everyone eat their dessert, I enjoyed an after-meal coffee.

We’ll finally be fighting a kraken tomorrow, huh? I wonder how it’ll go.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

In the evening, I got in the bath with Sui and Dora-chan. After that, I went looking for Fel, who had disappeared up on the second floor, and I found him sleeping in the master bedroom, just like last time. There was nothing else I could do about it, so I laid out Fel’s futon. When I went to sleep in a different room, Sui appeared...

《Master, let’s sleep together~.》

And since it asked like that, I couldn’t refuse. In the end, we all ended up sleeping together in the master bedroom, just like in Nijhoff.

We’ve rented a 9LDK, an incredibly gorgeous mansion, so why are we all sleeping in the same room? But the master bedroom was spacious, the bed was huge, and it wasn’t that different from when we were traveling, so I didn’t mind too much. And early the next morning, the plan was to go out to defeat the kraken right after everyone had their breakfast. All three of my familiars did great in the morning, they all just sprang up as soon as it became bright. I think it might be habit so they don’t miss out on a chance to eat.

Now then, I think for today’s breakfast I want to use the Bolognese I made yesterday. I considered serving it with bread, but after smelling the Bolognese, I really just wanted pasta for some reason. What should I do......

Yeah, let’s go with pasta. I think it might be a little heavy for the morning, but I was surprised to learn in the past that pasta’s easily digested, and I’ve heard it turns into energy really quickly. And, because Fel and the others would find it easier to eat, I chose short pasta — penne, to be exact.

So I bought penne with my skill, cooked it, mixed it with the Bolognese sauce, and had it for breakfast. The penne picked up the Bolognese well, and it was great. It was popular with all three of my familiars, too.

Once we’d finished breakfast, we all set out to kill a kraken.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

It’s fine that we got all the way to the port, but......

Fel had experience in killing krakens, and he was full of confidence, so I thought he had some sort of way to get to it...

But the kraken’s all the way off the coast, isn’t it? What do we even do?

Oh yeah, I never asked about the details. How did Fel kill a kraken again?

“Hey, Fel, how did you kill that kraken?”

“Hm? I stood on the top of a cliff and hit the kraken in the sea with lightning magic.”

............On top of... a cliff?

“H-Hey, so you said, ‘on top of a cliff;’ does that mean you could see the kraken from where you were?”

“Indeed. He was close to the cliff, you see.”

............THIS HUGE FUCKING IDIOOOOOT!

Wasn’t Fel listening right along with me to what Marcus said yesterday? He’s way offshore!

“Hey, hey, what do we do then? This time the kraken’s all the way out there off the coast!”

“Mn, now that you mention it, that is true. So, what do we do?”

‘What do we do,’ indeed. Don’t ask me that.

“You were so full of confidence, I thought you had some way to do it, so I didn’t think of anything.”

“Gh! ......A-As long as I can see it, I can defeat that kraken right away, I swear it.”

“But you need to see it, right? Weren’t you listening yesterday, Fel? Can you see a kraken all the way in the ocean from here?”

“Gnnrrrrrrr...”

Don’t ‘grr’ me, dude.

“Hahh~...... We already accepted the request to kill the kraken, so we still have to do something. If we’re going to go out to sea, then we’ll need a boat.”

With that in mind, I went to see if we could set sail in one of the fishermen’s boats.

“No way, no! As if I could go out to sea with a kraken out there!!”

I was refused with amazing vehemence. From what I was told, krakens were famous for catching ships with their tentacles and squeezing them until they broke, so fishermen were especially wary of them. And that went double for fishermen who owned boats — it seemed like they would never go out anywhere near a kraken. For the fishermen with boats, their boats were directly connected to their lives, and something to be treasured. So they would never do something reckless that could get their boat broken under their very noses.

I tried the other fishermen at the port as well, but their answers were all the same.

“It’s great for us that you’ll try to defeat the kraken, but...”

They all said that, but in the end they all also refused. Since they couldn’t fish near a kraken, it seemed that all the fishermen were going somewhere else, and the amount they caught lessened. Apparently, the area where the kraken had settled itself was right in the best fishing spot in the area. It might be that the kraken settled there because it was such a good fishing spot, though.

Hmmm... this is troubling. If we don’t have a boat, we can’t go and fight the kraken.

《Master—! Look, look! It feels nice in this salty water!》

I looked over; at some point, Sui had jumped into the ocean and was floating around.

《Ah! Something’s there—》 said Sui, and the slime swam like it was sliding across the water’s surface over to where I could see the shadow of a fish. And......

《Hah!》

*Thud*

A tentacle from Sui’s body pierced through the fish. Sui picked the fish up......

《Master — look at this—! Sui caught it! Hey, hey, master — can Sui eat thi—s?》

Eat? It’s kinda... yellowish green. Is it poisonous? For now, I tried appraising it.

【Green Fish】

A fish that lives near the coast. Edible.

Oh, it says it’s edible. Looks like it’s safe to eat.

“You can eat it, Sui.” As soon as I said that, Sui put the green fish into its body.

《Hmmm, it’s not that gooood...》 Looks like it didn’t really like the green fish. 《Is there anything better...?》 Sui asked, still floating in the water.

Floating in the water, floating... in... the... ah! Sui’s floating! And swimming, too!

If I gave it any thought, Sui had the blessing of the Goddess of Water, Miss Ruka, so it should have been no surprise that Sui could swim. Also......

“Sui, can you still get big in the water like that?”

《Hmm? Become big in this salty water? Sui can do it—.》 Just like that, Sui got bigger while still floating in the water.

“YESSSSSS! Nice job, Sui!” Now we can get out into the water!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We were currently moving across the water to get to where the kraken was.

“Thanks Sui. It’s because of you that we can go fight the kraken like this.”

《Eheheh... Is Sui awesome?》

“Yeah, Sui’s awesome. You really saved us, Sui.”

It truly was a lifesaver that Sui was around. If we remained unable to get out into the ocean like that, we might have had to give up on fighting the kraken.

“Unlike someone who’s just full of confidence but doesn’t think about anything...”

“Gnnrrr...”

《Ahahaha! He’s talking about you, Fel!》

Fel looked bitter over what I said, and Dora-chan was laughing.

All three of us were riding on Sui, who was currently huge. It was actually a really smooth ride over the water: even though we were going quite fast, there was no sway at all. Not only that, but Sui was soft, so it was perfect to sit on, too.

Sui’s strong, and can give everyone a ride like this... Honestly, Sui’s just amazing.

But my only worry was......

“Fel, I’m counting on you for that barrier around Sui.”

“I know already.”

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Since it is in the water it is a little hard to tell, but I can feel the kraken a little further ahead...... Hm? This is............” Fel looked over at the patch of water where the kraken was with a stern look.

“Hey, it is not just a kraken!! This presence...... There is also a sea serpent!! And something else too, although it is not as strong as either of them!”

W-Whaaaaaat?! W-W-What the hell? Not just a kraken and a sea serpent, but something else on top of that, too?!

*Ssshhhpplloooommm*

With a huge spray of water, both a 10m-class kraken and a sea serpent appeared.

“W-W-W-WHAT THE HELLLLLLLLL!!”

The kraken had the sea serpent’s long and thin body entangled in its suction-cupped tentacles, and the sea serpent was biting into the kraken’s head with its sharp teeth. Before our eyes, a clash of titans was unfolding.

“This is like a movie where two kaiju fight......” With this happening right in front of me, I could do nothing but stare, dumbfounded.

“Hey! I will take care of the kraken! Dora, you kill the sea serpent! Sui will fight the one that is still under the water!”

《Sure! The sea serpent’s mine! Let’s do it!》

《Sui just has to fight the big fish under the water, right? Sui will do it!》

Huh? Under the water? Looking closely, there’s a shadow of a large fish over near where the kraken and sea serpent are fighting...... It’s smaller than the kraken and sea serpent, but it’s still really big. W-What is that?

I thought it was going to turn into a three-sided fight, but the huge fish over on the side wasn’t moving. Could it be? Is this thing waiting for them to finish their fight? Both the kraken and sea serpent were about even in power, so it was completely possible that their fight could result in both of them dead. And even if it didn’t, one would probably be severely wounded. And at that time the huge fish’ll make its move......

So you’re trying to profit off of this fight? But it won’t go as you planned.

*THCRACCKKKKKK*

That must’ve been Fel’s Lightning magic. A flash of lightning fell on top of the kraken’s head while it was fighting the sea serpent.

*BOOOOOOMMM*

The next one was probably Dora-chan’s Lightning magic, as another bolt of lightning hit the sea serpent in its huge body while it was focused on the kraken.

Oh............ Both of the monsters, stricken by my familiars’ Lightning magic, fell over and stopped moving. I’d seen the Lightning magic that Fel and Dora-chan use several times, but it was terrifyingly powerful every time. Somehow, I’m starting to feel tingling, like I got electrocuted too. Thank goodness I got Fel to put up a barrier.

A black shadow gradually approached the kraken and sea serpent, which were floating on the surface of the water, motionless.

*Splooooooshhh*

The shadow that had been lurking under the water finally showed itself. It was a huge reddish-black fish. Said gargantuan fish tried to bite into the kraken with its mouth, lined with sharp teeth. So rather than striving to prove its own strength, it’s just going to try to steal our spoils? That won’t fly.

A tentacle from Sui’s body headed for the reddish-black fish.

*Thddsshhh*

The thick tentacle pierced through the fish. It tried to put up a fight and flailed around with its tail fin for a while, but it quickly stopped moving.

《Yayyy! Sui got the big fish!》 Sui said happily.

Huh, I guess nothing changes even on the ocean. We were all the way off the coast, so I thought that they would have at least some trouble fighting sea monsters, but there was no problem at all.

Attack first, and kill them quickly: all three of them are operating just as usual.

“Hm, it is over.”

《HEHAHAH! I BEAT THE SEA SERPENT!》

《Sui too! Look! Look at the big fish Sui caught!》

Fel and Dora-chan both brought down their targets with a single Lightning spell, and even Sui skewered the fish through with its thick tentacle... So it doesn’t matter if it’s on the water or on land, anything goes, huh? Still, what is up with that enormous fish Sui killed? Let’s try appraising it.

【Aspidochelone】

An S-ranked monster. Edible. The highest grade of white meat fish.

What, aspidochelone? That’s a pretty hard to say name for a monster. Ohh, it says it’s S-ranked. I guess they’ve gotta be S-ranked if they’re this big. And it’s even edible, and the best white meat on top of that. I’m gonna have to do whatever I can to get this meat, won’t I?

Since I was at it already, I also appraised the sea serpent and kraken, and they were both S-ranked too. They were edible as well.

Marcus said, “I’ve never heard of anybody eating a kraken,” but it certainly seems like you can. Actually, my Appraisal has started to show things as “edible.” Is that an effect of my level? Although it’s kind of iffy, just being able to tell if something is edible or not. Well, thinking about it, whether or not something’s edible is really important to us, I guess.

And this also makes our first seafood ever! And it’s a huge fish. In addition to taking down a kraken, we also got a sea serpent and an aspidochelone. That bodes well. This means we’ve finished the request, and I can head to the morning market tomorrow.

I shut the kraken, sea serpent, and aspidochelone into my Item Box.

“Well then, let’s go back.”

“Indeed.”

《Sure!》

《Yeah!》

“Sui, I’m counting on you for the way back, too.”

When I said that, Sui started moving towards the port at speed.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

After returning to the port, we headed for the Adventurer’s guild. When I showed my guild card to a receptionist, Marcus showed up quickly.

“Yo, you came. So, how was it today?”

“We beat the kraken,” I said, and Marcus went quiet with a blank look of shock on his face.

“Uhm......”

“Y-You beat the kraken? But we only just talked yesterday? Also, what happened to a boat? You didn’t borrow the guild’s boat, right?”

Ahhh, so the guild has its own boat. Well, it’s the Adventurer’s guild for a port town and they probably have to go out to sea to fight monsters quite a lot, so it makes sense for the guild to have a boat, I guess. But if that’s the case then tell me that from the beginning, come on—!

“Uhm, for the boat, we had our own way of getting out there, so it was fine.”

“I-I see. I-I heard about you already, but you really are extraordinary......”

I’ll pretend I didn’t hear those last words. I’m not the one that’s extraordinary, it’s my three familiars.

“So? Where’s the kraken?”

“Yes. It’s in my Item Box. Also......”

When I explained that I also had a sea serpent and an aspidochelone, Marcus once again was dumbstruck with his mouth hanging open. What a huge waste of his scary pirate looks and eyepatch.

“Marcus?”

“Hah! S-Sorry, that was just too surprising. Anyway, it’s not like we can check it here, so let’s go to the storehouse.”

We followed Marcus to the storehouse.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Oi! You all’ve got work!” Marcus yelled out as soon as he stepped foot into the storehouse. When he did, almost ten butchers who were employed there came out of the woodwork.

“What’s up, guildmaster?”

“Heheh, don’t get scared now — it’s a kraken.”

A commotion spread among the butchers as they cried out.

“And that’s not all. There’s also a sea serpent and aspidochelone.”

“R-Really?”

“W-Wow!”

Once again, a commotion spread among the butchers.

“You all get it, right? Freshness is key for sea monsters. The iron rule is to be quick.”

“““““YESSIR!”””””

W-Wow, this guild kinda seems really jock-ish.

“There are more butchers here compared to other guilds, aren’t there?”

“Yeah. This town is by the sea, after all. A lot of people come in with sea monsters. Like I said just now, freshness is key for sea monsters. And it’s not just for edible meat, there’re a lot of materials that get ruined if they go bad. So I secured more butchers than usual.”

I see. So freshness isn’t just important for the edible parts, but many of the parts that’ll become materials too, huh? If that’s the case, then I get why there’re so many of them here.

“Okay then, can you show us the kraken?”

“Yes.” I deposited the kraken onto the empty workspace they directed me to.

“I’d like to get the others too, but there’s no space. Since time is of the essence, we’ll make sure to finish all three of them by the evening, so can you stay with us until then?”

Just as I’d expect out of a seaside town like this. It’s good that they understand how important freshness is.

“Yes, that’s fine...... Ah, can you give me back the meat? I’ll sell everything else.”

“Got it. Sea serpent and aspidochelone meat are both of the highest quality, so it’s too bad we won’t be able to buy it, but it’s still great for us that you’ll sell us everything else.”

Apparently, it had been eight years since a kraken had been caught, and thirteen years since the last sea serpent. Aspidochelones were S-ranked, but on the lower end of that scale, so it was hunted more frequently and thus it wasn’t as rare, but even then it’d been two years since the guild had seen one.

“Well then, let’s get to work!!”

“““““Yeah!”””””

All nearly ten of the butchers got to work on taking the kraken apart. Marcus was giving out instructions while watching over them. Since it’d been so long since something huge like this came along, it seemed that Marcus was going to stay and help.

《Hey.》 As I was also watching the work on the kraken being done, Fel communicated via telepathy.

《What?》

《I am hungry.》

《I’m hungry too.》

《Sui too.》

Ahhh, right. It was already past noon by the time we got to the guild. I guess they would be hungry.

《Wait a second.》

“Excuse me, Fel and the others are hungry, so I’ll be off to feed them,” I told Marcus, and we moved to a spot in the warehouse where we wouldn’t stand out. Like this, we probably won’t be seen while I feed Fel and the others. I can’t cook here, so let’s just get some snack buns.

I used my skill to buy a bunch of snack buns, cider, and cola. Then, I plated the snack buns on their dishes and served them out.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to make do with this. We should have the kraken by the evening, so I’ll be able to cook something better for dinner.”

“Mn, fine then.”

《Make sure that dinner is delicious, then.》

《Got it—.》

—They said, before chowing down on the bread.

“What about drinks? I bought cider and cola.”

“I will have the black one.”

《Me too.》

《Sui wants the clear fizzy one—.》

So, cola for Fel and Dora-chan, and cider for Sui. I poured the drinks into deep dishes for them. “Okay then, stay quiet here until they finish butchering the monsters,” I said to everyone before returning to Marcus.

The butchering progressed, and the kraken’s tentacles and innards had already been removed. Apparently, they’d all be used as materials. It seemed like each of the leg’s suction pads were great materials for shields, and Marcus’ face was all warm and joyous. Since the kraken’s suction pads were both light and tough, shields made out of them sold for a good amount and were quite popular. And the kraken’s eyes and mouth were ingredients used for alchemy, so I was told they would sell for a high price among those circles. And as for the kraken’s innards like its guts or squid ink, apparently they’d be used as fertilizer for a high-class fruit that was mainly sold to nobles, so the fertilizer sold well even though it cost several times more than normal. Though it was said that all of the kraken would become materials, the legs themselves would be scrapped after having their suction pads removed. From what Fel told me, the legs were just hard and inedible, after all. They also took out the bones. Those bones were both supple and strong, so I was told they’d be used to make fishing rods for huge fish.

Also, the kraken was S-ranked, so it had a magic stone. The magic stone was fairly large, indigo-colored, and shaped like a rugby ball. It seemed to be of quite good quality, judging by Marcus’s wide smile as he nodded.

All that was left was its meat, and it seemed that this was normally disposed of. “This meat... Usually, we get rid of it. Are you really going to eat it?” Marcus asked me while they were taking care of the kraken’s legs and innards.

“Yes, since Fel says it’s delicious.”

And also because it’s a huge squid, no matter how you look at it. I like squid, you know? From the look of it, kraken meat is thick but softer than I thought it’d be. However, this skin might be in the way no matter how I try to prepare it. A normal squid’s skin wouldn’t be a bother no matter how it was cooked, but it looks like the kraken’s skin is a little too thick, so it should probably be removed. And for this kraken — or any monster really, including the fish sold in the morning market — I really should refrain from making sashimi.

These fish and monsters were from another world, after all. I had no idea what was in them, so I was going to cook them as a basic safety measure.

Ah, right. It’s huge... I wonder if I can get some help with this kraken.

“Excuse me, can I get help with peeling off this skin?”

“Hm? That’s fine. Since you brought all these huge catches and all,” Marcus agreed, and called over several of the butchers.

“Well then, I’m counting on you for the help. First, here......” I plunged my arm between its body and its ear-like fins and separated them. Then, while having the butchers hold down the tip of the body, another butcher and I grabbed on to the fins and pulled. And from the tear left behind by pulling on the fins, several of us started peeling away the rest of the skin.

Let’s get this off... Whew, okay. Next is...... Normally, a knife is used to scrape off the hard base where the bone is attached, but this spot is pretty hard...I have no other choice but to remove the lower part.

Producing a mithril knife from my Item Box, I cut it off.

“A mithril knife, huh? Wow, you really are A-ranked,” Marcus said, sounding moved.

“Well, even though it’s mithril, it’s still just a knife,” I said, laughing vaguely.

Truthfully, it was made out of mithril ore I’d picked up out of a certain place and had Sui work it, so it was basically free. I’d never say that even if they were to cut me open, though.

While breaking down the peeled kraken meat into appropriately sized pieces, I threw the completed pieces into my Item Box.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Okay then, next I’ll take out the sea serpent.”

“Yeah. Hey all of you! Next is the sea serpent!”

I took the sea serpent out of my Item Box. Looking at it, all the butchers started whispering among themselves.

“Hey, I don’t have an Item Box myself, but I’ve never seen someone with an Item Box that big...”

“Yeah. Also, that adventurer had a kraken inside there, too. For both a kraken and a sea serpent, just how big is his Item Box?”

“From what the guildmaster said, doesn’t he also have an aspidochelone? Seriously, just how huge is that adventurer’s Item Box?”

Uhhh... I can hear you all very clearly. I think my Item Box is just about infinite in size, just so you know. It’s the one unique to otherworlders. But, I’d like it if you didn’t try to pry into that fact. I don’t want anyone to know that I’m from another world.

“Hey, stop the chatter. And I’ll tell you now: this adventurer, Mukohda, is the one that directive from the capital’s Adventurer’s guild is about. Don’t pry too much. Depending on the case, you might not even be able to stay in the country, let alone this guild, you know?”

When Marcus said that, all the whispering among the butchers suddenly stopped.

Wait. Huh? What’s up with that? From what I’d heard, the king told the nobles to leave me alone, but I see the Adventurer’s guild had something like that, too. I’m thankful that nobody will be weirdly persistent when it comes to me, but I don’t really like that it sounds like they’re threatening people, with all that stuff about not being able to stay in the guild or the country or whatever... Well, thanks to Marcus saying that, everyone stopped talking, so I guess it’s fine? I mean, there’s my case, but there’s Fel and the others, too, so people prying into my affairs would be the worst. So I guess it’s fine if I can stop them from doing that...

Even while that conversation was happening, the sea serpent butchering continued. It was being taken apart even during all that fuss. Its skin was peeled off, and its body, head, and bones were separated. In its head, everything other than the eyes, fangs, and skull were to be scrapped, and the same went for the serpent’s innards. The skin would become materials for armor, and the bones, fangs, and skull would become materials for weapons like swords, knives, or arrowheads. It seemed like the eyes would become ingredients in some sort of medicine. And the sea serpent was also S-ranked, so of course it had a magic stone. This one was a large, perfectly round magic stone, and it was colored a striking blue. It seemed that the magic stone was of good quality, and Marcus’ scary face had a huge smile on it.

Of course, I got the meat back. From its looks, it was the same as a black serpent or red serpent. I wouldn’t know for sure until I ate it, but I imagined it would taste the same as well.

And lastly......

“Okay then, I’m going to take out the aspidochelone.”

“Yeah.”

I took the huge fish, aspidochelone, out of my Item Box. Though it was a little smaller than the kraken or sea serpent, which were each in the 10-meter class of monsters. But, it was still an almost 10-meter fish, so it was big enough to call a giant fish.

The butchering of the aspidochelone also continued amidst a fuss. Its scales were stripped, and its head was separated from its body. Then, its innards were taken out, and it was filleted. Apparently, the scales would be used for jewelry, like necklaces, rings, or brooches. When polished, they’d shine a rainbow color, and jewelry made from them was so popular with women, it practically flew off the shelves, I heard.

I thought of taking its head and bones to make broth with, but Marcus stopped me with tears in his eyes. “What are you thinking? Using all this stuff that’ll make for great weapons for soup......” was what he said.

I mean, it said, “the highest class of white meat,” when I appraised it, so I just thought that if I used them for broth it’d turn out great...

But the aspidochelone’s bones would apparently become good swords, knives, or arrowheads as well, and those weapons were also quite popular. When I heard that, I couldn’t very well insist that they give the bones to me, so with no other choice, I gave up on the idea. Beyond that, it seemed that the hard parts, like its tail and dorsal fin, would also make for good weapons.

And of course, the aspidochelone was also S-ranked, so it had a magic stone. The aspidochelone’s magic stone was round and flat, and the color of water. This one was also of pretty good quality, and Marcus looked satisfied.

The leftover innards would be disposed of. I got the meat back from this as well, so I put it into my Item Box. Just like Appraisal (“the highest class of white meat”) claimed, its white meat was beautiful to behold, and it looked like it would be perfect cooked any way, whether it was grilled, boiled, or fried.

“The butchering is done, so all that’s left is to price out the materials and that’ll take a little while. Would that be fine?”

Marcus notified me that the butchering of the kraken, sea serpent, and aspidochelone were all finished. As I thought, it would take some time, huh? They’re all pretty big, so it would probably take a while to appraise the materials, too.

“Yes, that’s fine. When should I come back?”

“Let’s see. I’ll get it done by afternoon tomorrow.”

Tomorrow afternoon, huh? That’s great. I was planning to go to the morning market that those guys in Shadow Warrior told me about, anyway. I want to get some seafood there and get breakfast at the stalls.

“Well then, I’ll come back tomorrow afternoon.”

“Sure. I’ll be waiting.”

I woke up my familiars, who’d fallen asleep in a corner of the storehouse, and we left the Adventurer’s guild.