Chapter 2: Don’t Defy Ugohl
Chapter 2: Don’t Defy Ugohl
It’d been a long time since I’d visited Dolan’s Adventurer’s guild.
“I’m baaack~!” Elrand said in a carefree tone.
Ah, an employee’s running now that he’s seen Elrand. He’s probably going to get Ugohl.
After a while, Ugohl came, heralded by the sound of hasty footsteps.
“Ah, Ugohl — I’m back!”
“............DON’T ‘I’M BACK’ ME!! YOU IDIOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!” Ugohl’s yell echoed through the Adventurer’s guild. Even the super-buff macho adventurers that happened to be around looked surprised.
“How many times did I tell you to come right back after you finished your business in the capital?! Huh?! And even though I did all that — ALL THAT — why did you still go into the dungeon at Aveling?! My god, you’re just... You... AAAGGGGHHHH!!!”
Ugohl’s super mad. No, he’s extra mega super mad.
“N-No, you see, when I was about to come back, I heard that Mukohda was heading for the dungeon at Aveling, and I thought, ‘Man, I sure would like to go with him,’ so......” Elrand recoiled in the face of Ugohl’s wrath.
“So? What if Mukohda was going to Aveling? Why did that mean you needed to go? You just wanted to leave, didn’t you?!”
“N-No, b-but... Mukohda’s familiar is a pixie dragon, you know? As a dragon lover, I couldn’t just let the chance to go on an adventure with a pixie dragon like Dora-chan slip by......”
I don’t think that’s a decent excuse, Elrand. I think you’re just adding fuel to the fire.
“You...... I thought you were an idiot to end all idiots, and it looks like I was right, wasn’t I?!”
Hearing that Elrand just wanted to go on an adventure with a dragon, of course Ugohl got even angrier.
“Isn’t it too much to keep calling me an idiot like that, Ugohl?”
“WHAT’S WRONG WITH CALLING AN IDIOT AN IDIOT?!!!”
Whoa. Y-You shouldn’t be talking right now, Elrand. This time it’s clearly your fault.
“Just how many times did I tell you? ‘We’re incredibly busy right now, so once you’re done with your business come back immediately.’ In fact, I think I was really insistent about it!”
“Th-That’s......”
“I won’t let you say you didn’t hear me!! In the first place, you......”
Ugohl is getting more and more excited. I should probably make my escape now before I get hit by any sparks.
《Hey, Fel, Dora-chan, we’re leaving.》 I told the two of them through telepathy. By the way, Sui quickly fell asleep in my bag after we entered the Adventurer’s guild.
《Y-Yes, that sounds wise.》
《Y-Yeah. Let’s hurry up and leave.》
We quietly exited the Adventurer’s guild.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Thank goodness we managed to get out of there safely.”
“Indeed. I do not know why, but he was really angry at that elf man.”
《It’s because he’s so annoying. Serves him right.》
Dora-chan’s being kind of cruel...
“I’m thinking of heading to the Merchant’s guild now. I think I want to rent a house here too. It’s better for it to be big, right?”
“Indeed. Bigger is better.”
《I vote for bigger, too. Of course, there needs to be a bath.》
As if I would rent one without a bath. Dora-chan’s totally crazy about baths, isn’t he?
“I’ll get one with a big bath. Fel hasn’t had a bath in a while, so once we’re settled in, he’s getting one.”
“Hm? A bath? I am not particularly dirty, so it is not necessary.”
“That’s not true. We went into a dungeon, and we’ve even been traveling since then. There’s probably lots of dust and dirt and gravel and stuff on you. Frankly, I wanted to have you take one when we left the dungeon, but the inn’s bath was too small. I’m going to properly wash you in a huge bath after we rent a house.”
“Mmnnrrrrr...”
While I was talking to Fel, we had reached the Merchant’s guild. This time I didn’t have a letter of introduction, but I was also a merchant, at least technically, so I had my own guild card. And even though a lot had happened, in the worst case I did already know the guildmaster, Adriano, so it would probably work out somehow.
For now, I simply waited for my turn to see a receptionist.
“Excuse me, you see......” Once it was my turn, I explained to the receptionist my desire to rent a house for about a week while making sure she could see my familiars behind me. In order to gain trust, I showed her both my shiny S-ranked adventurer guild card as well as my Iron-ranked Merchant’s guild card.
“M-Mukohda the S-ranked adventurer? So you’re also registered at the Merchant’s guild. Please wait a little,” the receptionist said, her voice coming out shrill and tense. She walked away.
Should I not have shown her the shiny one? But if I’m going to borrow a house, it’ll cost some money, so shouldn’t I show that I have the money at least?
After waiting a while, the receptionist came back with the guildmaster, Adriano, as well as a male employee of medium build who looked to be about 40 years old.
“It’s been a while, Mukohda.”
“Nice to see you, Mr. Adriano.”
“I heard about you — that you beat the dungeon in Aveling.”
“Yes, well... kind of.”
He really does have sharp ears; I can see why he’s the guildmaster.
“You must have lots of drop items and gems, so it’d be great if you let us buy them...”
“All the gems that dropped in Aveling were already sold there.”
Too bad, all the gems were snapped up right away.
“I see, that’s too bad. So you’re looking for a house to stay in with your familiars, yes? This here is Nikolai; he heads the real estate department. Please feel free to direct any and all requests to him.”
Adriano introduced me to Nikolai, who was in charge of the real estate department.
“All we want is a house big enough for even Fel to easily get in and out of, and that has a large bath.” I told Nikolai my conditions, and he showed me three properties.
The first one was an 8LDK (that is, eight bedrooms, plus living room, dining room, and kitchenette space), so it was fairly large, and it used to belong to a noble. The second residence was a 9LDK that was large, but a little old, and also used to belong to a noble. The third residence was a 7LDK that was a little small, but it was close to the center of town, and used to belong to a merchant.
After seeing all three in person, I decided on the first property. The building itself was relatively new and clean, and Fel could easily fit inside. Most importantly, the bath was large and magnificent.
I guess I should have expected that from a former noble residence.
The rental fee was 78 gold for a week; I paid Nikolai and took the key.
“I’ll ask them to butcher the red dragon tomorrow, so for now we can just take it easy.”
《Hey, you promised. Dinner’s gonna be turtle meat, got it?》 Immediately, Dora-chan chimed in with telepathy.
“Yeah, sure. I know already.”
“Turtle meat? Sounds good.”
Ah, that means I’ll need to prepare a lot of it, doesn’t it?
That night, dinner was soft-shelled turtle hot pot. For the first time in a while, we all had our fill of turtle meat.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, at the Adventurer’s guild—
When I asked the receptionist at the front counter to talk to Elrand, I was led to the guildmaster’s room.
“Elrand......”
There’s Elrand... Well, it’s a matter of course that he’s in the guildmaster’s room, though.
He was quietly taking care of paperwork at his desk with eyes like a dead fish, under Ugohl’s supervision.
“Welcome, Mukohda. I’ve heard from this idiot guildmaster. This time you have a red dragon with you, right?”
I-Idiot guildmaster? Ugohl’s treatment of Elrand has gotten even worse, huh? Well, Elrand totally deserved it, so I know how Ugohl feels.
“Y-Yeah. I was thinking it’d be nice to have it butchered, and also if I could sell off anything......”
“Of course! Man, all of the earth dragon parts we bought from you before sold for a high price~. The dungeon-spawned items were the same, but the earth dragon has brought a lot of profit to this guild.”
The profits must have been quite substantial, because this time Ugohl was all smiles.
“Ugohl you beast! You demon!! How could you have sold off the earth dragon’s fang that I was going to make into a dragon sword?!”
From the other side of the desk, Elrand shouted at Ugohl while looking like he was about to cry.
Ah, Ugohl did just say that he sold all of the earth dragon’s parts, didn’t he? Which means, he also sold the fang that Elrand was holding on to so preciously.
“Hmph! Say whatever you like. You’re at fault for doing whatever you want. Once I put the fang up for sale, it got bought immediately — at an unbelievably high price, too.”
“Waaaaahhhhh!!” Elrand started to cry big teary droplets.
No matter how much of a pretty-boy elf you are, I don’t want to see some old man cry.
I left him alone.
“Let’s leave that idiot guildmaster alone for now...... Mukohda, there’s no doubt that the red dragon will be even more valuable than the earth dragon. Please, let us buy some of it.”
“Yes. Then can I ask you to do the butchering immediately?”
“Of course — let’s head to the storehouse now. Idiot guildmaster, we’re going.”
“So I can butcher the red dragon?!” Elrand said, his face morphing into a smile.
Wow, this guy just immediately stopped crying after hearing he could butcher the red dragon. I don’t know if I should just call him carefree or what...
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Bring it out here, please.”
Elrand, all smiles, egged me on with, “Hurry, faster!”
I brought the red dragon out onto the same work table as the earth dragon from before.
“Ohhh~...”
“So this is a red dragon......”
Both Elrand and Ugohl had their eyes glued to the red dragon on the worktable.
“According to Fel, this red dragon’s still a young adult, so this is actually pretty small.”
“This is......” Ugohl looked stunned. No surprise there — if a twelve-to-thirteen-meter-long dragon corpse counts as “small,” well...
Elrand, practically glowing, was muttering: “To think I’d be able to butcher a red dragon after an earth dragon with my own hands, how lucky can one man be......”
“So, how long will it take?”
“Let’s see... I want to take my time and go over all of it, probe every nook and cranny, so I’d really like three days.”
You just said “every nook and cranny” like with the earth dragon, didn’t you Elrand? It isn’t surprising that a dragon lover wants to check out a lot of things, but every single thing he says sounds creepy and disgusting.
“Idiot guildmaster, you don’t need to take three whole days. With your skills it should be done in a day, surely?”
“W-What are you saying, Ugohl? It’ll take three! I want to check out a lot of things!”
“‘Check out’? You just want to stare at it, don’t you? There’s a lot of work to do, so finish it in a single day. I won’t let you object,” Ugohl said with an air of finality. Elrand groaned, scrunching up his face.
Elrand at least seemed to know that it was his fault, so he didn’t really try to object. Well, it’d definitely turn into a scene if he did though.
“Ah, I’ll be deciding what we buy. If I leave it to that idiot guildmaster, he’ll just make choices based on his own greed.”
“Ghhh......”
That’s exactly right, Ugohl.
Ugohl’s spot-on logic sunk all of Elrand’s hopes.
“We’ll have this done by tomorrow afternoon, Mukohda, and I’ll have decided by then what parts to buy. So please come back at that time.”
“S-Sure......”
No one can defy Ugohl, can they?
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
When I got back from the Adventurer’s guild......
“Alright, Fel, I’m going to wash you now.”
“Mnurrgghh, right now?”
“Since I have time, yes.”
“Uurrnngghh... Fine.”
Once I’d declared that I would be washing Fel, he slipped into an attitude of bleak acceptance.
《Oh? You’re taking a bath? Then I will too.》
《Sui also wants a bath!》
Hearing talk about a bath, both Dora-chan and Sui said they wanted one.
They both love baths, after all. All right then, let’s have them all get in first, then I can take my time washing myself after.
《Whew~, baths really are great...》
《It feels so goood~.》
Dora-chan and Sui were both floating around in the wide bath, looking like they were having the time of their lives. As for me, I currently had my pant legs and sleeves rolled up as I scrubbed Fel down.
For now, Fel was quietly accepting being coated in soap bubbles. Of course, I used the usual vet-recommended shampoo.
“Hey, scrub a little harder around the base of the neck.”
“Here?”
“Indeed. There.”
*Scrub-scrub* *Scrub-scrub*
I put a little more power into it.
“Good. Next is my right flank. Be a bit more forceful.”
Sure, sure. You really are demanding.
*Scrub-scrub* *Scrub-scrub* *Scrub-scrub*
This time I used a little more strength than before.
“Good, good. You are doing pretty well.”
With these sorts of exchanges continuing on, I washed Fel in his entirety.
“Whew, that should do it. Sui, I’m counting on you.”
《Okaayyy.》 Sui washed away the bubbles coating Fel with his tentacle shower.
All that’s left to do is wash Fel’s face...
“Okay. It is done.”
“Now listen, it’s a huge bath this time, so before you start saying ‘I will not get in’—”
“I will not be getting in.”
Fel, come on, you don’t have to reject it that fast.
《The bath feels so good, though.》
《Really.》
Sui and Dora-chan both chimed in while they floated around in the bath.
It’s kind of sad, even though getting into a hot bath feels so nice...
“Hmph! I am leaving.”
“Ah! Wait a second!” I hurried to stop Fel, who looked like he was going to shake off all the water at any second. I quickly retreated to a place where I wouldn’t get wet.
“Okay—!” I said, and Fel shook heartily from head to toe.
《Whoa! Peh! Ptoo! Ptoo! Hey, you got your fur in my mouth!》
《Yaaayyy!! So much water went everywhere! So coool! Uncle Fel, do that again!》
“I am leaving.”
This is just chaos......... I mean, after shaking off all the water, Fel is trying to leave like he no longer has any business here, Dora-chan is all angry since Fel’s fur got in his mouth, and Sui is happily oscillating in the water...
“Ah, if you’re going to lie down, do it after drying yourself off.”
“Hmph. I know already.”
After Fel left, I toweled off Dora-chan and Sui. When I accompanied Dora-chan and Sui to the living room, Fel was lying down in the center.
“You are finally here. I am thirsty. Give me the usual.”
《Oh! Sounds good. That sweet milk tastes so much better after a bath.》
《Sui wants some too—.》
Sure, sure. The usual, right?
I bought the usual fruit milk (and canned coffee for myself) with my skill and poured the fruit milk into each of their personal bowls.
“Hm, this is delicious.”
《It’s gotta be this after a bath! It’s so good!》
《It’s sweet and delicious!》
While everyone looked like they were really enjoying their fruit milk, I downed a can of coffee.
I still had about half the food I’d made for the trip out of Aveling, so I used that for lunch. By the way, the menu was fried seafood and a butter-soy sauce-flavored foil bake. They all really loved meat, and our meals always ended up full of it, so having seafood for the first time in a while really hit the spot.
After everyone was satisfied, we spent time relaxing. My three familiars each napped in whatever spot they found most comfortable. It was a little too long for a “nap” though; they slept soundly all the way until dinner. I got swept along and also ended up dozing off on a fancy sofa.
For dinner, I used the rest of the travel meal I had prepared, and it ended up being a feast of gyoza. We had grilled gyoza, fried gyoza, and a gyoza soup with lots of vegetables.
Gyoza really is good. The combo between gyoza and beer is perfect.
And after dinner, I finally took a leisurely bath by myself.
“Whew, this is nice every once in a while,” I muttered to myself, stretching out my legs, which the spacious bath easily accommodated, and enjoying myself to the fullest.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Just as Ugohl had said, the next day in the afternoon, I went to the Adventurer’s guild with my familiars, where we were immediately led to the storehouse.
“We’ve been waiting, Mukohda. Please, this way.”
When I entered the storehouse, I found Ugohl and Elrand waiting for me in the back.
“Hey, we will be waiting in that empty space over there,” Fel said, and he and Dora-chan headed off to that place.
《Master — Sui will wait with Uncle Fel.》 Sui jumped out of the bag and joined Fel and Dora-chan.
“Right then, I’ll be talking over there, so behave.” I walked slowly towards where Ugohl and Elrand were waiting.
“What happened, Elrand?”
Elrand’s eyes were lined with some distinctly dark bags.
“Don’t worry about him. This idiot guildmaster didn’t listen to me and pulled an all-nighter.”
According to Ugohl, once I’d left the red dragon to Elrand, he’d started to inspect the body all over instead of starting to butcher it. But, since a promise had been made, Ugohl had urged him on, saying, “Hurry up and start butchering.” So Elrand had reluctantly gotten to work, but it had taken a lot of time since he had also been examining the body as he did it.
“I’m not a demon, you know. I didn’t force him to stay up all night to do his job at all. And in any case, just butchering it wouldn’t have taken this much time.”
“What are you talking about, Ugohl?! A chance to butcher a red dragon only happens once in a blue moon, so I have to take my time and look at all of it! But then you...... There was no choice, I had to stay up all night!”
Ahh, is that what happened? He’s objecting to what Ugohl said, but in the end Elrand just stayed up all night for dragons. Well, it’s what Elrand decided on his own, so whatever. I shouldn’t have bothered sympathizing with him thinking that he was made to stay up all night working.
“*Sigh*...... Let’s just leave this idiot guildmaster alone for now. I’d like to move on and explain everything that came out of the red dragon. Is that fine?”
Ugohl splendidly interrupted Elrand, who growled in vexation. Oh, as expected of Ugohl — but in my opinion it’s Elrand’s own fault for choosing to do all that.
“First is the meat. Since you want all of it, it’s currently being stored in a refrigerated place. We’ll hand it over later.”
Yep. Meat is the most precious thing to us, so I’ll make sure to get it later. The earth dragon’s meat was incredibly delicious, so I’m expecting a lot from the red dragon’s meat.
“Then there’s the blood, here; in all, the count is 227 bottles.”
There were bottles filled with a red liquid lined up across the worktable.
I did think there would be a lot, but 227 bottles, huh......? I guess it’s not that hard to believe given how big the body was, but still, that seems like way too much.
“And these urns contain the liver and other innards.”
There was a line of urns filled with organs. If I remembered right, they were ingredients for elixirs and other stuff, and had many uses.
“And lastly, these are the rest of the materials.”
I followed where Ugohl’s finger was pointing to another worktable, on top of which were fangs and bones and the hide, as well as a magic stone that was the biggest one I’d ever seen.
Yep. It’s all so uselessly big.
“So, as for what we’d like to buy......”
The first thing that Ugohl wanted was the dragon’s blood — twenty-five bottles of it, at that. Since I had 227 bottles, it wasn’t really that much, but last time they had only bought two bottles of the earth dragon’s blood.
While I wondered bemusedly whether or not twenty-five bottles would be too much, Ugohl went on, “You know, the earth dragon blood we bought last time sold in an instant even though the price was pretty high. In fact, there was a mountain of people asking if we had any more, so I’m confident that this red dragon’s blood will definitely sell.”
I have heard that dragon blood is something like a panacea, so there’s probably an endless amount of people who would want it.
“Hence, I’m going to offer 160 gold per bottle.”
160 gold per bottle? You know, these days I’ve stopped being surprised hearing these numbers... Hahaha...
“Then there’s the liver. This time, we’ll be buying the whole organ. The earth dragon’s liver was bought by a certain person for a surprisingly high price; I can only imagine just how much money a red dragon’s liver would command. I want to be clear: we definitely want to buy the whole thing this time, not just half of it. Thanks to you, Mukohda, we’re able to afford so much more here at Dolan’s Adventurer’s guild! Hahahahaha!”
Yeah, I can see this red dragon’s parts being sold for a lot of money. I get why Ugohl’s so happy.
“I’m hoping you’ll sell us this liver for 3,700 gold.”
O-One liver? For 3,700 gold? Dragon materials are no joke.
After that, the list went on to the heart and lungs, then the eyes. According to Ugohl, since the dragon’s innards would all be used for different medicines (all with amazing effects), he wanted to buy all of them at a high price.
I don’t know just what medicines they’ll turn into, but I can’t imagine medicine made out of dragon organs tasting decent. I don’t think I’d be able to stomach it.
I tried to sell Ugohl on the earth dragon parts as well, saying, “If they’re that popular, want to buy the earth dragon parts, too?” But he declined, saying, “If it was possible, I would, but not even our budget stretches that far......”
Too bad.
“And lastly, the fang.”
“Ugohl! I knew you’d come through!”
The second Ugohl said that he’d be buying a fang, Elrand, who had been incredibly quiet up until now, was revived.
“What are you spouting, idiot guildmaster? I didn’t buy this fang for you. We’re going to be selling it.”
“Aww, come ooonnnn!” Elrand dropped his shoulders in disappointment after hearing the lack of room for negotiation in Ugohl’s statement.
Did this guy seriously think he was buying it in exchange for the earth dragon fang he sold off? Elrand, the world just isn’t that easy.
“Hahh, let’s just leave him alone. So, the twenty-five bottles of dragon blood comes out to 4,000 gold, the liver will be 3,700 gold, the heart will be 4,000 gold, the lungs will be 3,600 gold for the pair, the eyes will be 1,700 gold for the pair, and lastly, the fang will be 3,000 gold. All in all, your total will be 20,000 gold. Is that fine?”
20,000 gold huh? Hahaha... Thanks to Fel, I’ve been raking in money left and right, so I must have built up some resistance.
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“Like last time, we’d like to pay in platinum coins. So that will be 200 platinum coins. Please count them,” Ugohl said, handing me a bag.
I examined the contents of the bag. After counting the coins, it came out to exactly 200 platinum coins.
“Yes, there’s no mistake.”
“This was a good deal for us. Thank you very much, Mukohda.”
“No no, the pleasure was all mine. The only place I can ask to butcher a dragon is here, after all. I’m also happy I was able to sell off so much of it right away. Well then, as for the rest of the materials......”
Just when I was about to store the rest of the materials, a voice interrupted us.
“WAIT JUST A SECOND!!”
It was Elrand.
“You idiot guildmaster, what grand reason could you possibly have to interrupt us with such a loud voice?” Ugohl said, looking exasperated.
“You don’t have any objection to me using my own money to buy something for myself, right?!”
“Out of the red dragon’s materials? Well, if you have enough money to do so, it’s your own money, so why not? That is if you have the money for it. Naturally, Mukohda here has to agree to it, too.”
Elrand, Ugohl’s looking at you like you’ve lost your marbles. No matter how much Elrand loves dragons, it really wouldn’t be enough for me to let something from a red dragon go for free.
“Heheheheheh... I have money, you know~?” Elrand was grinning from ear to ear.
............Ah, right, the money I split with him from Aveling’s dungeon. Agghhh, Elrand has 50 platinum coins on him.
“Mukohda! Please sell me one of the red dragon’s fangs!” Elrand shouted while shoving a bag that he took from his Item Box at me.
“Huh? Oh, uhh......”
Ugohl was staring at us. His eyes were scary.
“Please! Sell me a red dragon fang!”
“Well... uhhh... Please calm down, Elrand.”
“PLEASE~!” Elrand clung to me, looking desperate. “I’M ASKING FOR THE FAVOR OF A LIFETIME! PLEASE, SELL ME A RED DRAGON FANG!!!”
“I’m telling you, just calm down!”
“PLEASE~!”
“W-Wait! Elrand!”
“A RED DRAGON’S FANG!!!”
“I-I GET IT ALREADY! I... I’ll sell it to you!”
In the end, I lost to Elrand’s persistence.
“Yes! Thank you so much, Mukohda!” Elrand, a full-grown adult, danced a little jig of happiness. “Alright then. Here’s your money.” Elrand handed me a bag.
I peeked inside, and saw all 50 of the platinum coins I gave him, rebounded back to me.
“This is too much, Elrand.”
The fang I had just sold to the guild was only 3,000 gold coins. This was 20 platinum coins too many.
“Ah, then use the rest to sell me some red dragon claws! Please!”
......There’s nothing else to say. This dude’s basically perfected loving dragons. He just paid out of his own pocket for expensive dragon materials.
I felt like there was no other choice, so I sold him the claws too.
“Eheheheheheh... Look, a red dragon’s fang and claws... Such awesome things are mine, only mine...... I’m so happy~.”
Elrand, that old man elf... For a while now, he’s been rubbing his face up and down the red dragon’s fangs and claws while muttering to himself. It’s like he’s achieved a complete and pure happiness by himself or something.
...That really is just creepy, Elrand.
Ugohl was looking down at Elrand like he was a pitiful madman.
“Sorry, Ugohl......”
“Don’t be. That idiot guildmaster can be incredibly persistent when he really wants to be.” Ugohl said with a thousand-yard stare.
He’s had his fair share of suffering, hasn’t he?
“I can understand what you’ve had to go through.”
Leaving Elrand alone, happy in his own little corner, I went with Ugohl to retrieve the rest of the red dragon’s materials and meat.
“Well then......”
In my heart, I cheered Ugohl on so that he’d continue to do his best. I’ll treat you to something good in the near future.
...I’m feeling really tired for some reason. Let’s hurry back.
I headed for where my three familiars were waiting and found everyone in a deep sleep.
“Hey everyone, we’re going home,” I called out to them. They woke up right away.
“So, it is finally over. Hey, you got the meat, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. Let us go back quickly and eat the meat.”
《Red dragon meat, huh? Sounds delicious!》
《Dragon meat—!》
Everyone is totally looking forward to eating the red dragon meat tonight. Looks like I won’t be able to relax when I get back — woe is me.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
I was in the kitchen of the residence we had rented in Dolan. As fitting of a stately mansion, it had a large kitchen with all the expected amenities. And right now, in front of me in this fancy kitchen lay a large lump of red dragon meat, in all its imposing glory.
For dinner, I’d be serving red dragon meat. Red dragon meat was a red meat that resembled earth dragon meat, though this meat looked much leaner.
“This has gotta be the first thing, right?”
Just like the earth dragon’s meat, it’s gotta be dragon steak for the first taste of a red dragon’s meat, right?
I brought out the sun-dried salt and black pepper jars with their own built-in grinders from my Item Box. Then, I started cutting the red dragon’s meat into thick-ish slices for steaks. I’d be grilling them the usual way for red meat steaks.
After oiling up a frying pan and heating it up over high heat, I seasoned the red dragon meat with salt and pepper right before cooking it. As soon as the red dragon’s meat touched the hot frying pan, the sizzling sound and appetizing smell of cooking meat filled the kitchen.
I took a deep breath. “Smells good.”
I started with high heat before reducing to low, and then I turned the steak over and did the same thing to the other side. Once the steak was done, I plated it and wrapped the plate in aluminum foil to let the meat rest and have the residual heat cook the insides of the steak. Once it’s well-rested, the steak is done.
“Steak really is great. It just looks delicious right from the start.”
As a special treat for the chef, I had a little taste test.
*Munch-munch*
“So goood~!” Since it was also a dragon, it was as tasty as the earth dragon’s meat.
The red dragon’s meat maybe tastes a little wilder, more gamey. It might be nice to roast this in big chunks like roast beef... Roast dragon huh? Sounds good. And I could put some gravy made from the dragon’s own meat juices on it ...... *Gulp* I feel like it would hold up nicely to this dragon steak... Ahh... Either way, red dragon meat is so delicious.
The red dragon’s meat seemed lean and somewhat tough at first glance, but it wasn’t that way at all. It was soft with just enough chewiness to really feel like you were eating something substantial, and every bite was bursting with meat juices.
Just a little more...... I thought, taking another mouthful. Before I knew it, around half of the dragon steak had disappeared.
“Whoa! It was so good I couldn’t stop myself from eating too much.”
Being too delicious is kind of a problem, huh? Because it’s so good — the best meat I’ve eaten since the earth dragon — I’ve lost all sense of proportion and self-control.
In the end, the red dragon’s meat was just as good as the earth dragon’s meat. Which one was better was a matter of preference, so it was really hard for me to rank them. Is all dragon meat this good?
I did tell Fel and the others to leave any dragons they came across from now on alone (at least, so long as the dragon doesn’t attack first), but this was making me want to take that back. Dragon meat was just that delicious. Given how tasty the dragons I’ve eaten so far have been, I can’t help but want to try the rest too... I won’t tell them to aggressively look for dragons, but now I don’t think I’ll complain if they happen to bag one while they’re on the hunt.
Well, at any rate, dragons weren’t creatures that appeared all that often.
Now then, let’s leave those thoughts for later and concentrate on cooking up more steaks. If I take too long, they’ll all impatiently barge into the kitchen.
I started cooking Fel and the others’ portions, one steak at a time.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Hm. It has been a while since I have had red dragon meat, and it is as delicious as I remember. As I expected, cooking it makes it very different,” Fel said as he tasted the dragon steak that I had seasoned with just salt and pepper.
《Even those arrogant assholes taste good when they’re just meat, huh?》 Dora-chan said, happily stuffing his face with red dragon steak.
《Dragon meat is so gooooood!》 Sui was likewise thrilled about the steak’s flavor, excitedly jiggling as it engulfed the meat.
Everyone was scarfing down dragon steaks in the spacious living room.
“It really is delicious, isn’t it? The earth dragon’s meat was good, but this red dragon meat is certainly a worthy challenger.”
I’d eaten a lot of dragon steak while I was cooking it in the name of “taste testing,’” but I still had room for more of this meat in my stomach.
Right now, I was eating a steak with onion flavored steak sauce. The sauce went perfectly with the dragon meat. The dragon meat, simply seasoned with salt and pepper, was good, but having it with steak sauce was even better.
“Even though I rarely get to eat dragon meat, all the ones I have tasted are pretty good.”
I see. So dragon meat really is good no matter which kind of dragon it is.
“If that’s the case, then it might be good to just ignore what I said last time about leaving dragons alone and just hunt them. Well, only if you find them while hunting, though,” I said, and Fel nodded emphatically.
“Indeed. That is a good idea. Ever since I met you, I luckily keep finding dragons, even when they are normally rare things. I think making sure to obtain them when we find them is a good mindset. After all, dragons are delicious.” Fel was completely on board.
It’s a bother because I have to come to Dolan to get it butchered, but for how delicious it is, it might be worth it. Still, it’s not like dragons are that easily found in the first place. In fact, we were really lucky to have found a red dragon after an earth dragon.
“Hey, I want more. Next time use that.”
《Me too.》
《Sui too—.》
Sure, sure. Steak sauce, right? Let’s start with garlic flavor.
All three of them put down one dragon steak after another. Even I managed to eat two extra-thick steaks.
Dragon steaks are way too delicious.
“Whew~, I sure did eat.”
“Indeed. I am full.”
《Me too. I think I ate a little too much.》
《Sui is also fuulll!》
After eating our fill of dragon steaks, we took a break to digest.
“Ah, right. I have something to tell you all.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“To tell you the truth......” I told them all about how I got the Creator God Demiurge’s blessing.
“.........And so, I now have the God of All Creation’s blessing. So it seems my lifespan is now like 1500 years or so.”
“Ohh, that is great for you! It is good news for me, too. Now I can enjoy delicious food for 1,500 years! FFHAHAHAHAH! I had given up, thinking that human lives were short. But now, 1,500 years, huh? Hm, good. Truly good.”
《Yeah, now not only do I get as much food as I want for 1,500 years, it’ll all be delicious! That Creator God or whoever does good work!》
《Mmm, so Sui gets to be with master for a loooonnngggg time and gets to eat the good food master makes, right? Yaayy! Yayy! Sui is happy!》
Everyone’s kinda excited... But you know......
“You’re all happy, but does that mean I’ll have to keep feeding all of you for 1,500 years?”
“What are you saying? Of course you will. You are our master. As a master, you have a responsibility to your familiars.”
Fel, guy, don’t make a face like I’m saying something crazy here. I did consider that I’d be with you guys for a while, but if it’s going to be 1,500 years, won’t they get tired of the food? From what they said just now, they’re not even close, though.
...So that means, for 1,500 long years, I’ll have to keep cooking and feeding them? Well, even I’m attached to them after being with them through so much, so maybe I should just give in and accept this as fate? It might be hard, but it’s probably not going to be that bad.
Well, I’m fine with cooking, but they’re all going to have to get their own ingredients. It’s not like I have the ability to get the meat they need myself. I’m putting my foot down!
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, Fel and the others were as full of energy as usual and made a fuss right from the start, saying, “We want dragon meat!” But as anybody else would think, dragon meat right from the start of the day was way too luxurious.
I calmed them down by reasoning that if they ate it too much, it’d disappear in an instant, but even so, they still looked like they wanted it. I promised to make it for lunch.
So for breakfast, we had meat soboro omelets using prepared meat from storage. I made the omelets filled with meat soboro, sandwiched them in bread rolls, and topped it all with some ketchup to finish. The sweet and salty meat soboro matched well with the omelet and bread for a delicious taste.
Fel and the others (well, just Fel, really) kept complaining that there was too little meat though. I just told him to suck it up because he’d be getting dragon meat for lunch.
After talking it over with Fel and the others, we decided to take it easy until lunch, and then head for the forest to hunt in the afternoon. Actually, they all wanted to go to the dungeon, but we had already conquered it before, and I had somewhere I wanted to go, so I convinced them to just go to the forest in the afternoon.
It seems like all three of them are itching to get into a dungeon since we’re in a dungeon city. I might be forced to go in again at this rate, won’t I?
For now, we were just taking it easy, and just as I’d promised, I served them dragon steak for lunch — luxurious dragon steak sandwiches, to be exact.
...Lightly toast some white bread and spread butter on one side of one of the slices. Spread mustard on another slice and use the bread to sandwich a thick dragon steak topped with some shredded cabbage and garlic flavored steak sauce...
After seeing it in its full glory and smelling its appetizing aroma, even I caught myself salivating.
Thus, all three of them had their fill of dragon meat. Fel alone got a special sandwich without any cabbage though.
After filling up on dragon steak sandwiches, we headed to the Adventurer’s guild in order to give presents to Ugohl, who seemed tired from work, and Elrand too, while I was at it. I went with sandwiches because they seemed easy to eat on the job, and part of the reason I went with steak sandwiches for lunch was because of that. So I made some extras for the two of them, and with sandwiches in hand, it was off to the Adventurer’s guild.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The employees were used to us, so they immediately led me up to the 2nd floor and the guildmaster’s room without me having to say anything. When I knocked and opened the door, I found both Elrand and Ugohl silently going through paperwork.
“Ah, Mukohda, please wait just a little bit,” Ugohl said while writing something on a piece of paper. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Was there something you needed?”
“No, I’m sorry for interrupting you while you’re busy. But I’m also the reason why there’s so much work, so...... Here, for you.” I produced the dragon steak sandwiches from my Item Box and handed them to Ugohl.
“This is......”
“They’re sandwiches with red dragon steak in them,” I said, and Ugohl’s eyes went wide with surprise.
“D-Dragon meat......”
“Yes. It’s not much, but please eat this and do your best.”
“Dragon meat... Even a king would be lucky to taste it once in a lifetime.........”
Huh? Really? I just got it, so all I did was make some extra while I was cooking up lunch for Fel and the others. But, hearing that, I guess it really was a little extravagant to use dragon meat. I probably should have gone with red boar or cockatrice, huh?
“*Gulp*......C-Can I really have this?”
“Of course. That’s why I gave it to you.”
Don’t hold back, just stuff your face.
“Th-Then......”
“WAIIIT RIGHT THERE!! W-What about mine, M-Mukohda? Don’t I get any?!!”
Aw come on Elrand, stop making a face like you’re about to cry. I have some for you too.
“I have your share right here Elrand, just calm down,” I said, putting down a dragon steak sandwich in front of him.
“Yes! It’s red dragon! Red dragon! To think I’d get to eat red dragon right after having earth dragon! It’s nice to have friends, isn’t it? You’re the greatest friend I’ve ever had, Mukohda!”
Geez, stop getting so worked up. Even though you were about to cry earlier, now that you have a dragon steak sandwich in front of you, you’re all smiles.
“Ah, also, this.” I handed Ugohl and Elrand each a basket full of treats. “This is the same pound cake I gave you before. You two like sweet things, right?”
“Wow! Thanks!” Elrand, who did like sweets, peeked into the basket and celebrated.
Meanwhile, I whispered to Ugohl: “Your basket also has red dragon meat in it, Ugohl. Please share it with your family.”
“Are you sure about this?” he whispered back.
“This time you and your family were the most troubled because of this. It’s only a little reparation, but......”
“Even though you were also troubled by that idiot guildmaster... Thank you so much for everything, Mukohda. But are you sure it’s okay not to give that idiot guildmaster any red dragon meat?”
“Do you think he’d be able to cook raw meat?”
“......That’d definitely be impossible, huh?”
While Ugohl and I were whispering to each other, I heard Elrand go, “Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Hmmm?” Elrand, who had been all smiles, was suddenly looking back and forth between the sandwiches frantically while letting out confused noises.
I tried calling out to him. “Elrand, what happened?”
“Uhhh, is it just me, or is Ugohl’s dragon steak sandwich thicker, Mukohda......?”
The reason Elrand was looking around so much was because he was comparing his sandwich to Ugohl’s.
“............It’s just your imagination.”
“Really?”
“It’s your imagination.”
That’s right. It’s just his imagination. I totally didn’t make Ugohl’s dragon steak any thicker or anything. Honest.
“More importantly, you haven’t had lunch, right? You can eat it as a snack while you’re working, so please enjoy.”
“Hah! That’s right! Well then............” Successfully distracted, Elrand quickly bit into his dragon steak sandwich.
“S-So good...... The earth dragon was good, but this is also delicious. Ugh! I-I’m so happy~!”
Oh come on, don’t cry while you’re eating.
“Hahh...... Let’s just leave that idiot guildmaster alone for now. Once he’s done eating, I’ll make sure he works properly. So I should eat now, too.”
Ugohl also bit into his dragon steak sandwich. “It’s incredibly delicious. I never thought the day would come where I would be able to taste dragon meat......” Ugohl was savoring each bite as if he was unable to fully express how much the flavor moved him.
As someone who’d recently been eating dragon meat fairly regularly, it was making me feel like running away.
“Uhh, well then, I’ll be leaving now. Please do your best with work,” I said before quickly leaving the guildmaster’s room. Fel and Dora-chan, who were staying quiet, followed me.
“Yaaaaawn~... Finally, it is over.”
《Whew, we finally got away from them.》 Dora-chan was so wary of Elrand that he spent the entire time hiding behind Fel.
Sui was, as always, napping deeply in my bag.
“That’s all I wanted to do, so let’s head to the forest.”
“Indeed.”
《Let’s go.》
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
As soon as we reached the forest, all three of my familiars happily started hunting. I gave Fel the magic bag (extra-large), so they’d probably be fine. And while they were out......
“Time to practice butchering. What should I use? ......I still have a lot of monsters that haven’t been taken apart yet... Of course, there’s more cockatrice and red boar, but there are also the ones that Fel and the others got before we came to Dolan......”
I checked the contents of my Item Box.
Wyverns: nope.
Wild bison: this is also a little too big, I think.
Golden sheep: this one has golden wool that seems valuable, and I’m not confident I’d be able to take that off cleanly, so I shouldn’t lay a hand on it.
Giant horned boar: as if I could butcher an entire light truck-sized boar by myself!
Rockbird: well, it’s big, but I think I’d be able to manage it.
So, it’s between the cockatrice, red boar, and rockbird, huh?
“Right, let’s go with the rockbird. I managed to butcher the cockatrice and the red boar already thanks to Elrand’s instruction, so let’s try something new this time.”
Pluck off all the feathers, and... in goes the vampire knife. Of course, all the feathers and other stuff that will sell go into the Item Box.
I cut and sliced the rockbird with my mithril knife while remembering the steps to butcher a cockatrice.
“Whew. This seems about right.”
Some of the cuts I’d made seemed a little rough and jagged, but for the most part it went well.
After appraising its innards, I found that while they were edible, they were disgusting. Oh well.
Meanwhile, Fel and the others returned.
“Welcome back. You were fast today.”
It was rare for them to be back while the sun was still high in the sky.
“Yes. The area around here lacks any good prey.”
“Ahh, Dolan’s a dungeon city, so maybe it’s because there are so many adventurers around? It’s not as if all the adventurers are in the dungeon all the time, after all.”
The fact that there are so many adventurers probably means that monsters around here get hunted pretty regularly. Still, there’s no way Fel and the others got nothing, right?
When I checked inside the magic bag...... many indigo-colored cows spilled out. They weren’t that big, but they had horns and looked exactly like black wagyu cows, only with indigo hides instead of black hides. When I used Appraisal on them, they turned out to be C-rank monsters called “blue bulls.”
“There’s kind of a lot here for there not being any ‘good prey.’”
“Indeed. We did find a herd of blue bulls. They are numerous, if nothing else.”
《You know, Sui went pew-pew at the blue cows and got a lot of ’em!》
《These ones were basically all taken down by Sui. I found a huge bird, so I killed that one.》
Is this the huge bird Dora-chan’s talking about? It was a huge turkey-like beast that seemed about 2-meters tall. When I appraised it, I learned that it was a B-ranked monster called a “giant turkey.”
In the end, there were thirty-eight blue bulls and four giant turkeys in the bag.
“There’s actually a lot in here.”
“Yes, well...”
With this, I now have quite a lot of unbutchered monsters in my Item Box, so I guess we should get them taken care of in the guild. I was just about out of beef, too. Even though I learned how to butcher for myself, there was a limit to how much I could do by my lonesome, after all. It really had to be the guild if I was going to ask a place to take care of a bunch of these.
While throwing the blue bulls and giant turkeys into my Item Box, I remembered something I had realized when I had been checking my Item Box’s inventory earlier. Elrand had asked for me to sell the dark balls and other stuff that would make for good weapons and armor that I got in Aveling’s dungeon whenever I arrived in Dolan, but since he never brought that up again, they were still in my Item Box.
What should I do with these? I don’t really care myself, but I guess it would be best to try asking the Adventurer’s guild tomorrow.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The next day, when I went to the Adventurer’s guild, I was shown to the 2nd floor immediately. Both Elrand and Ugohl had tired expressions on their faces.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Sorry for interrupting your work, Ugohl. To tell you the truth......” I gave him the gist of what Elrand had asked me to do in Aveling.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner, you idiot guildmaster?!”
“Why? You know you kidnapped me and confined me like this as soon as we got here, Ugohl. And I’ve been so busy with work since then that I completely forgot.”
“Idiot guildmaster. Don’t make me out to be some kind of kidnapper. The entire reason we’re stuck in here is entirely your fault because you ditched your work and went to play.”
“Grrrr......”
Elrand, when will you learn that you can’t win against Ugohl?
“So, what did you get from Aveling’s dungeon?”
“Here, take a look.” I showed him the list of what was left.
“From what Elrand said, you’d be looking for dark balls and anything that can be made into weapons and armor...” I said, pointing to the list, while Elrand explained the uses of dark balls to Ugohl. “So I think they’d sell for a pretty good price.”
“I see. From what I’m hearing, they’d be great for use in a pinch. If we explain what they do beforehand, they should be pretty popular.”
After looking at the list for a while, Ugohl asked to buy all of my venom tarantula venom sacs, venom tarantula (special individual) venom sacs, killer camel cricket paralyzing poison, giant killer camel cricket paralyzing poison, giant cockroach paralyzing poison, gigant cockroach exoskeleton, gigant cockroach claws, dark balls, and the big bronze iguana (special individual) skin.
I thought that he was going pretty heavy on the poison, but from what Ugohl said, poisons (especially the paralyzing kinds) were always in relatively high demand among adventurers, so he wanted to get some while they had room in the budget.
Thinking about it, it certainly was a good idea to try to paralyze monsters before finishing them off, so it might be a good thing for adventurers to have. I didn’t need it, though.
“Alright then, I’ll go prepare the money immediately.”
“Ah, wait there are some monsters I want you to butcher, so can you handle that at the same time?”
“Well then, let’s head to the storehouse, shall we? And I’ll have you produce the items I just asked for as well.”
“Me too, Ugohl!”
“No. You stay here and do your work properly. If you ditch this, I won’t be responsible for what happens. Now then, let’s go, Mukohda.”
Sure. That was awesome, Ugohl.
Before Ugohl’s might, even a formerly-S-ranked adventurer and guildmaster like Elrand could do nothing.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
“Well then, see you again tomorrow after noon.”
“Yes. At that time, I’ll have the monsters butchered and the money ready.”
I had asked them to butcher two wyverns, two wild bison, three golden sheep, seven blue bulls, and one giant turkey. I kind of thought it might be too much, but Dolan had a lot of butchers employed, and when I had asked Ugohl, he had assured me it would be no problem, so I went ahead with this list.
With my current stores of meat, it should hold us for a while. And with all these different kinds of meat, I feel like there’ll be a lot of variety to enjoy. Now then......
“Hey, do we really have to go?”
“Of course.”
《As if we wouldn’t!》
《Dungeon!》
Of course we’d end up going back into a dungeon. Just popping into the forest for a bit could never satisfy the three of them.
“All right, but we aren’t going down into the deeper floors, got it? We only go as far as just before the field dungeon floors. We went to the trouble of renting a nice house, so we’re going to come back up by tomorrow. You hear?”
“Indeed.”
《I get it already.》
《Dungeon, dungeon!》
Do they really get it......? Still, I don’t have the ability to stop these people since they’re so excited to go, so oh well. Let’s go, I guess.