CH 42

Once the avaleyu cow’s meat was distributed, Fikar and I went home to wash up.

The people who participated in the subjugation process received larger portions of meat. Fikar and Ludo-san in particular, being the executioners, got the tastiest chunks. Each one was the size of a throw pillow and, after consulting with Fikar, I decided to split them into smoked and pickled batches of meat.

Also, one of the half-kilo lumps given to me would be shared with Su, who played a decent role in the whole ordeal. It probably wasn’t much from her point of view, but she wasn’t complaining since she’d already gotten loads of guts and tendons that the rest of us didn’t eat.

Speaking of Su, she walked home with us, her wings outstretched to make a sort of umbrella for me and Fikar. There was a small garden-like area outside the house, where Su settled down when we arrived, but it felt like she was a bit cramped. Normally, Fikar wouldn’t allow her to sit there, but now that she was helping with mushroom removal, she curled up with her head near the window in a good mood.

Inside, my body was still warm, so I didn’t need to heat water to wash the dirt off, and I did the laundry on the side. I quickly tidied up, kneaded some herbs and spices into the meat for preservation, warmed up the leftover soup, and was about to take a breather when I heard a knock on the door. Our guard dragon – not guard dog – was quiet, so it must’ve been someone she knew and someone who wasn’t afraid of her.

I opened the door, finding Kontos-san on the other side. He had no umbrella and no raincoat, but there was not a single drop of water on his black robe.

“Heyy. I’m tired and decided to take the day off, so how about those perversity mushrooms?”

Fikar silently lifted a large burlap sack. It wasn’t full, but there were a good amount of perversity mushrooms in there. Kontos-san nodded in satisfaction and held out an empty sack in exchange.

Then, he pulled something else out from under his cloak.

“Here, take this as my thanks. It’s a pretty flower, so you can display it if you want.”

What I received was a plant with a swollen bud.

Its glass vase, which was slightly bigger than an orange, narrowed towards the top. Inside, I could see a thick, white root, 5cm long and split in two, soaking in a pool of water. From the neck of the vase up, there was a stem, 15cm long, and two long leaves, each dividing into several parts at their very tips. Its expanding, dark blue bud, sitting on a laurel of tiny leaves, looked as if it would bloom in less than a day.

“What’s this? Anemone?”

“It doesn’t have a name – Anemone, is it? You can call it that.”

It doesn’t have a name, so it is a new species?

Thinking back, I hadn’t decorated anything with flowers since arriving here. Most plants were edible, spices, or knitted into something. Rather than admiring flowers in the wild, I often watched in disgust as they munched on something. This anemone-like one, though, looked almost identical to the plant I was familiar with.

I wondered if he was worried that I was in a slump because of the perversity mushrooms.

I thanked Kontos-san and took his recommendation to display the vase, putting it on my nightstand. Surely, my eyes would be healed upon waking up to the sight of a flower instead of mushrooms.

Fikar and I returned to the guild, but no other beasts went on a rampage. The day passed peacefully, with only a few requests coming in to fix leaky roofs or to help the elderly do their shopping.

That night, the guild served a soup made from avaleyu beef and perversity mushrooms. Of course, I declined – there was no way I was going to even think about eating something with those eyeballs in it. Right after I refused, though, a mushroom appeared and seemingly nodded its ‘head’. Please quit doing that… 

“Beef is made for steak, after all!”

Chewing on a slice that was seasoned simply with salt and pepper to bring out the meat’s umami, Fikar nodded in agreement. Served with small potatoes and carrots, we enjoyed our meal with bread. The burning smell of meat wafted through the air, and I could hear Su’s sad little whimpers. There was also the sound of her gnawing on an avaleyu cow bone she’d found in the woods. She’d already eaten so much meat during the day, but she was a glutton.

Ahh, I feel at home when I’m full with a good meal~.

Slowly, I was getting less and less startled by the occasional mass of eyeballs and painful colors. It looked like we would have 30 by the next day, given how the sack was bulging every time I saw it.

“Fikar, thanks~”

I thanked him for quickly grabbing and taking care of them whether I noticed them or not. He nodded, stroking my head with a comforting, warm, big hand.

He brushed my hair, which had grown a lot since I came here, a few times, then slid his palm down from my temple to my cheek and finally my chin. I tried to avert my gaze, a bit uncomfortable with being stared at so closely, but his hand softly held me there.

Fikar drew closer and hugged me tightly. Then, a thud.

I see.

A perversity mushroom came out again.

I decided to cook lots of Fikar’s favorite foods for a while.