Volume 1, Chapter 10

Volume 1, Chapter 10

Translator: Adam Seacord

Editor: Weasalopes

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「I want to make sure we’re on the same page. What now?」

The morning after Elena had arrived to the workshop, Tatsuya asked Hiroshi this question, representing the rest of the group. At the moment, their main objective was to treat Elena, and as such, Hiroshi was in charge of the party’s actions.

「I know y’all just got back, but I want y’all to go gather somethin’ else. Mio, ya know what a Solmizen fruit looks like, don’t ya.」

「Mm-hm.」

The party of three nodded in acknowledgement.

「While y’all are out, I’m gonna treat Ellie the best I can, and maybe whip some armors from the Wyvern hide if I got any time to spare.」

「What about me?」

「You’re on standby for now, Haruna-san. I should be askin’ ya to do some stuff when we’re takin’ care of Ellie. I don’t want us wastin’ time, though, so in the meantime, could ya fill out the unclassified potion orders with any equipment I’m not usin’?」

「You got it.」

「And, if you got time, work with Doul and Reena-san to give Elle some training.」

All three of them gave a solemn nod, understanding what Hiroshi meant. There was only so much self-defense techniques a ten year old could acquire, but at this point, when someone was directly threatening her life, any technique was better than nothing. One could point out that half-baked training would only put Aearis at risk of hurting herself, but the benefit of the correct mindset for the dangers ahead may outweigh the risk.

Besides, Aearis was a wise girl. She wouldn’t try to recklessly take down an attacker with her newly acquired self-defense moves. Even now, she understood the party’s intention, and bowed to her trainers with reverence.

「Oh that reminds me, Doul. I don’t need too much of ‘em, but can ya get me some steel ore from somewhere?」

「I have some leads that can make it happen. What do you need them for?」

「Thought I’d forge a pair of daggers for Elle and her sister, for some protection. 」

「Are you sure you want ores? I can just buy some ingots.」

「I’m gonna melt ‘em and tweak ‘em anyway, so ores are better for it.」

Nodding in response, Douga began planning out how to acquire said materials.

「Speaking of making weapons…」

「Yeah, Makoto-san?」

「Why don’t you settle on a real weapon, too?」

「I’ll get to it. Not right now though, we don’t got the time nor materials for it.」

The party couldn’t help but chuckle at Hiroshi’s apathy. Everyone else had already long acquired legitimate weapons, while this man was still using his felling axe, pickaxe, and large shovel used for digging, as well as a forging hammer, out in the field. It was quite troublesome that he was ignoring these disadvantages in combat, when he could only attack with Smash attacks to begin with.

「And why don’t you get some training in too, Hiroshi? With our party, you’re going to be the one tanking the attacks out front. Even if you don’t have time to enhance your repertoire of attacks, just learning Fortress, Defensive Circle, and Outclass would help you a lot in the long run.」

「You got those skills too, Makoto-san?」

「I do, but I’m not too deep into them since I never tanked too hard. I think they’re Uncle Doul’s specialty, though.」

「Indeed. I can’t teach you any axe attacks, but you could learn some of those skills and some advanced Smash attacks.」

「When there’s time. I don’t think I got enough time to even do that much, at least for a while.」

「Of course. Once you catch a break with the treatment, I mean.」

For a change of pace, Hiroshi was in for a lot of work. In addition to treating Elena and crafting weapons for her and Aearis, he was planning to improve their arsenal of armor, which had been neglected for the most part due to the lack of ingredients. He would also have to craft a potent healing garment for Elena, in case of emergencies. Safe to say, Hiroshi would not have time to go crazy on a passion project for the foreseeable future.

By the way, Fortress improved Defense, Defensive Circle provided wide-range protection, and Outclass was an aggressive group taunt. All of these skills were practically prerequisites for any tanks, but Hiroshi had gotten by without them. This was partially because he had never dove into a difficult dungeon, and he could use Smash attacks and Taunts well to take down almost anything one-on-one.

Besides, a player would naturally have less visibility in a VR MMO compared to conventional games. When a group of players would enter a dungeon, the group would seldom have less than two tanks. So, when Hiroshi would tag along to a dungeon, no one expected him to hold off an enemy single-handedly. In fact, he proved himself to be a rather useful tank despite his skill distribution. No one had every complained for having Hiroshi in their party.

「Yeah, that would take some serious dedication. Let’s just get on with the treatment, first.」

「I agree. It would be nice if Hiro could improve on the frontlines, but it’s not an emergency.」

「Okay. But as soon as you get a break, you’re getting on this.」

Hiroshi nodded with a chuckle to Makoto’s insistence, and reiterated everyone’s next move.

「Now, what to pack… Mio, how long would it take up to get to where these Solmizen fruit are?」

「Two days, if we don’t encounter anything on the way.」

「Okay. Food is a big issue, then.」

「Oh, just let me know what you need. I’ll make it. We can send you anything through the link.」

Haruna chimed in.

「Cool. Then we just need to pack our equipment and bags.」

Tatsuya said, relieved. Having access to decent meals was a big deal. That alone made the linked bags well worth the effort. Sure, there were some problems like no one could personally hold onto an item, but everyone here was in it together, at this point. There was no point in arguing over who gets a rare item and whatnot. One of these days, the men in the party may want to acquire some… literature of a certain variety. But when that time comes, they would just have to also acquire a bag especially for that purpose.

「Speaking of, we’re having Soba noodles for lunch. Let me know if you want any toppings, I’ll try to make it happen.」

Hearing this, Aearis brightened. Soba noodles was one of her favorite dishes. OF course, she would be ecstatic about most meals nowadays.

「Awesome. Can you do curry?」

「Sure can. Mio-chan? Makoto-san?」

「Tempura shrimp. I dreamt about it.」

「Something with meat for me. But some shredded yam sounds good too. I want both.」

Haruna assured Makoto that she could have both, as she chuckled at Makoto’s very athletic order.

「Okay. I’ll have to go get the ingredients real quick. Is that okay?」

「Perfect. I’ll get to givin’ her some medicine.」

「Okay. We’ll leave as soon as we’re packed.」

With their objectives clarified, the team split up, inaugurating their first all-hands-on-deck project.

「Now. What to do with this Wyvern meat…?」

After lunch and Aearis’ first training session, Haruna had found herself with little to do, staring into the pantry. As it measure over 10 meters, it produced a lot of meat. Since the only damage done (other than the decapitation) were the arrows to the wings, most materials were collected from its corpse undamaged.

It was still quite early for dinner, but prepping for so many portions would take a lot of time. Besides, Haruna wanted to take some time to tinker with this unknown food. One might nag her to practice making those potions from earlier, but despite the sensation of her skills improving, crafting one unclassified potion after another for eternity was soul-destroying. No normal human (excluding Hiroshi, of course) couldn’t stand to craft potions for 16 hours straight.

「I’m sure there’s no venom left in there… But I doubt it would be good raw.」

While she was confident that there wouldn’t be any parasites that targeted a creature like this, she couldn’t be sure. So, she had to cook it thoroughly, somehow. As a side note, Haruna tended to think out loud (more than usual) while facing off a food she hadn’t cooked before.

「Steak or stew seem like the safest option, but maybe I should play with it? Maybe make them into jerky or something. We have so much of it, after all.」

With that, she took out a decently sized chunk of thigh meat. She decided to cut off a few pieces and tried grilling them to check its taste.

「…Tastes like chicken. More like a gamecock or Rhode Island Red, at that.」

The first thoughts to her mind when it came to chicken were Yakitori skewers and fried chicken. However, she would have to prepare a sauce to drizzle on the skewers (which she thought would taste best if prepared overnight). So…

「Fried chicken it is. Kind of boring, though. Maybe I can put a twist to it…」

After checking the ingredients in the pantry, Haruna began to bring her inspiration to life. Once she had her ingredients lined up in the kitchen, someone came in.

「Elle-chan?」

「Haruna-sama, may I interrupt for a moment?」

「What’s up?」

「Elena says she is thirsty…」

Saying so, Aearis sheepishly held out the emptied pitcher.

「Okie dokie. Just water? Or do you want me to make something else to drink?」

「Perhaps something with a little flavor would be best.」

「Then how about… Some Safna juice? We have some left over from last week.」

「Yes, please. She likes Safna juice, too.」

Nodding in response, Haruna took out the chilled bottle of juice from the pantry. Safna was an apple-shaped citrus, with much less acidity than other citrus fruits. A ripe Safna was soft enough to be peeled by hand, and was filled with juice, enough that a glassful could be squeezed out by hand. Since it held so much juice, it was common to eat them unripe and juice them ripe. This citrus was also easy on the stomach. A warm cup of Safna juice was also a common beverage to drink when feeling under the weather.

「So, do you think Elena-san could handle some meat for dinner?」

「I gave her medicine so she could. Cook to your heart’s content, Haruna-san.」

Hiroshi chimed in, poking his head into the kitchen.

「What kind of medicine?」

「An appetite stimulant and a digestive aid. ‘Course, I got her plain ol’ nausea medicine too. She shouldn’t have trouble with somethin’ a little greasy.」

「How about the venom?」

「It’s a long road to curin’ her, but we got enough out that she ain’t feelin’ phantom pains no more. She’s good enough to go to the can on her own, so she don’t need an ICU no more.」

Haruna and Aearis let out a sigh of relief, hearing this. Watching them Hiroshi added a long sigh, remembering something.

「When it comes down to it, it ain’t easy bein’ royalty, is it?」

「…What happened?」

「Judgin’ from Mio’s examination, Ellie was in enough pain to keep a grown man either screamin’ or passed out. And there she is, actin’ like she’s just feelin’ under the weather or somethin’. She’s got some serious willpower.」

「She was in that much pain?」

「If she were still bein’ poisoned, there would have been a nation-wide funeral by now.」

Aearis froze to Hiroshi’s nonchalant assessment. She hadn’t expected them to cut it this close.

「Well, we did get her in time. Don’t worry about the worst case scenario might-have-beens. Why don’t ya take her the juice.」

「Oh, yes.」

With Hiroshi’s reminder, Aearis exited the kitchen with the pitcher a glass of juice. After watching her leave, Haruna asked:

「Oh, Hiroshi-kun. Did you want something from the kitchen?」

「Just wanted to use the stove for a bit.」

Hiroshi said, filling the wok to the brim with water before putting it on the stove.

「…What are you doing?」

「I wanna make some medicinal coatin’ for the armor.」

「You finished them already?」

「Just some finishin’ touches and enchantments left. Ya wanted soft leather, right?」

Nodding in response, Haruna was impressed all over again. Truly, his craftsmanship knew no bounds.

「And you, Haruna-san? Gettin’ ready for supper?」

「Uh-huh. There’s a good number of eggs in everything, counting the dessert. She’ll be okay, won’t she?」

「Won’t kill her.」

Hiroshi said, as he continued to boil down the mysterious liquid in the wok. Chuckling at the sight, Haruna decided to have him boil some eggs in a separate pot.

「I got a clue on tonight’s menu… It ain’t enough to use up all that meat, is it?」

「Tonight’s just the preshow, my friend. Oh, right.」

「Yeah?」

「Are you going to use the Wyvern bones on something?」

「I could take ‘em or leave ‘em.」

「Okay. I’ll try making a bone broth tomorrow, then.」

And so, their conversation ensued in the safety of their kitchen. Anyone with even the slightest understanding of the terror of the Wyvern would not believe their ears, if they happened upon this conversation. Bone broth? Actually, they would be in disbelief at the mere thought of cooking its meat. Since an ordinary kitchen knife would swiftly deteriorate to the point of no return after a few cuts through the meat. Which, by the way, would not soften enough to make it appetizing just by an ordinary chef cooking it in their kitchen. The Wyvern, in fact, can’t even be properly taken apart without the use of an incredibly sharp blade under seasoned precision.

While Hiroshi and Haruna were unaware of it, the task of cooking a high-level monster like a Wyvern required extraordinary tools and skills as a prerequisite. If someone were to watch Haruna slice through Wyvern meat with a kitchen knife (which had only been reforged on a whim after seeing some wear and tear) as if she was wielding a cursed sword, they would start seeing spots. Now these two think this is normal, mostly because Douga and Rayna were used to the sight (or have given up on confronting the absurdity) and didn’t say anything, but this was far from a normal kitchen in Farlane.

These two, oblivious to their own absurd situation, continued discussing various dishes they could make in the future until Hiroshi had concluded his work on the stove.

「That oughtta do it.」

Taking the pot off the stove, Hiroshi carried it to his work space. He would cool it enough to touch before slathering the pieces of armor with it. All that was left was to dry them afterward and put some enchantments on them.

「And the eggs are boiled, too. I’ll leave ya to it.」

「Okie dokie. I’ll make us a three-star meal, don’t you worry.」

Haruna said, and finished prepping the time-consuming deserts before straining the boiled eggs before mixing them in with the minced onions with mayonnaise to make a big batch of tartar sauce. After treating the Wyvern meat (chopped into reasonable sizes), she fried one after another. After there was a mound of fried meat, she separated them onto everyone’s plates, and finishing off with the tartar sauce on the side. She stored the portions for the collection team in an insulated container (along with separate containers for the tartar sauce) in the pantry.

Then, she took out the custard pudding she had been working on simultaneously from the steamer, and chilled it a bit with a spell before throwing them in the fridge. She also took the potato soup she was working on from the stove, and separated portions of it for the collection team, and placed them in the pantry. After whipping up a quick salad, she prepared the bread and placed everything on the cart before wheeling them all to the dining room. Of course, the bread baked in this workshop were fermented with yeast (in other words, bread from our world). Today, she had baked buttered rolls and walnut bread.

「Dinner’s ready!」

Haruna announced through the PA system (which Hiroshi had installed for convenience). Before anyone else, Rayna came down to the dining room carrying Elena.

「That smells wonderful. What’s our entrée tonight?」

「Fried Wyvern thighs, served with tartar sauce. There’s enough for seconds, so don’t be shy.」

Haruna’s nonchalant description of tonight’s specials was met with a (just as nonchalant) “Well that sounds lovely” from Douga, who had just walked in.

「…Wyvern? Are you sure it’s edible?」

「Yeah, it tastes pretty good.」

「I don’t think she meant to ask you about its taste…」

Elena, dumbfounded, began to say, and saw Douga and Rayna (who had just sat her down in her chair) shake their heads.

「…I thought you were joking… You’re really going to eat it…?」

「Hey, Lay. You came.」

「Brother!」

Layotte had entered, interjecting in Elena’s stead (who had been keeping silent, unsure of what to say). Aearis turned to him, delighted.

「I had heard that nothing harmful was served last night, but I heard Elena was recovering somewhat, and had to check on her diet for myself. I insisted I had to stop by.」

「Will you be joining us, Lord Layotte?」

「Wyvern meat’s great for ya constitution.」

「…I’ll have some.」

Hearing Layotte’s response, Aearis brightened up even more. Watching this with a smile, Haruna plated another serving. She had made extra (just in case of an unexpected guest like this) so an extra serving didn’t take away from anyone. After watching her brother take his seat, Aearis was waiting patiently for his portion to be served, but her glistening eyes were glaring down the fried Wyvern through her collected expression. She had no quandary with the abnormal practice of cooking Wyvern meat. In fact, she had no clue of its absurdity to begin with. She had been told the previous night to stop worrying about what people are thinking when eating her food, and so, Aearis could now devote her full attention (fueled with the full force of her appetite) to the meal in front of her.

「Now… Thank you for another day, another delicious meal.」

Haruna announced after serving everyone’s plates, and the others began to reach for the food as soon as they had finished their pre-consumption prayer. Layotte and Elena each struck one of the bite-size chunks of meat with their fork, and dipped it in the tartar sauce before timidly putting it in their mouth.

「It doesn’t make sense…」

Elena mumbled, with a pondering expression in reaction to the taste of the fried meat, paired perfectly with the tartar sauce. The Wyvern thighs were not too flashy, but had a substantial base of flavors. Its juices harmonized perfectly with the tartar sauce, and sang their delicious chorus through everyone’s mouth. It tasted like happiness.

「What do you mean?」

「How can such a savage creature taste so good…? I still can’t believe you cooked a Wyvern…」

「I mean, Hiroshi and Haruna are the epitome of not making sense.」

「For real?」

「Cookin’ ain’t hard. It just takes practice.」

Right. Because anyone could cook up a Wyvern with practice. Oblivious to their powers, Hiroshi and Haruna continued to ramble off their words of complaint.

「Now now, Brother. Sister. It’s quite delightful, isn’t it? Let’s enjoy it.」

Tempered by Aearis, who continued to clear her plate with a brimming smile, the two other royals at the table reluctantly conceded. Of course, their concerned expression didn’t last long against the assault of deliciousness that ensued.

「Layotte had told me so much, so I was worried what the food would be like, but…」

「The ingredient aside, it taste fine… Much better than fine. You eat these kinds of dishes every day?」

Elena and Layotte uttered, to which Douga and Rayna answered, with straight faces:

「I don’t have the palette for some of the dishes, but nothing so far was prepared poorly.」

「Once in a while, there will be a dish on the table… Where I have learned that I will be happier by not picturing the ingredients.」

A prime example of such ingredients were the Piaranork legs. These too, were extremely difficult for an ordinary chef to handle, albeit not nearly as difficult as a Wyvern. It tasted like crab, minus the tang of the sea. It was surprisingly delicious, but Douga and Rayna had some thoughts about dining on something that had nearly eaten them alive.

There were many examples worthy of note, and their frequency of appearance on the dining table had skyrocketed since Makoto joined the party. The monsters she takes down during quests or collection outing are nothing that a class 7 adventurer would come across, much less around these parts. If these creatures lurked around Wulls, chaos would ensue. Everyone in the party could only be impressed at how she keeps coming across quests of that nature.

Of course, Hiroshi and Haruna would cook everything she brought back, so they were also on another level entirely.

「Alrighty, it’s time for desert!」

After making sure that everyone had cleared their plates, Haruna brought in the custard. It had been steamed and well-chilled. Layotte nor Elena had never seen anything like it. While this world hadn’t seen the invention of custard, there were ice cream and sherbet out on the market. Different world, different culinary culture.

「It’s delicious.」

Aearis said with full-hearted glee after swallowing the first spoonful.

「Elle-chan loves custard.」

「Among other things, ya could say.」

「I love anything that Hiroshi-sama and Haruna-sama make.」

Aearis exclaimed with a brimming smile. Out of everyone in the party, she would be the one most detached from worldly things. She had said so herself: good food trumps all.

「Aearis, don’t you think you should be more cautious about what you put in your mouth…?」

「They would never serve me anything inedible, so there’s no need for that.」

When it came to dining, Aearis had grown to fully trust the chefs of the house. Of course, both of them tasted everything they made, and discard anything that didn’t come out right, so it was impossible for something inedible to appear on Aearis’ plate. Moreover, no one who prides themselves of their cooking would ever poison someone with their food.

「I see they have found the way to your heart…」

「Little sis, are you going to be able to resume your life as the Priestess Princess…?」

「…When I get back, I will try my best.」

Even as Elena wished her sister would be more trusting, she could help but reminisce, trying to remember when it was they had a family dinner together. In fact, Elena wondered, if this could be the first time she had seen a genuine smile on Aearis’ face during meal time. Elena hadn’t seen Aearis’ genuine smile at all for the past three years. Her smile alone was worthy of celebration, Elena concluded.

While some may be surprised to hear this, but before Aearis was banished, she had no interest in food whatsoever. Both an extravagant meal that even royalty would only indulge in on a special occasion, and a meagre meal reminiscent of livestock feed held the same value to her. Aearis, who was always people-pleasing to her best efforts, always slapped on a smile and cleared her plate, no matter what was on it (as long as it wasn’t poisoned). Still Elena doubted that Aearis had ever truly enjoyed a meal before.

Unfortunately, the only experience of a family meal Aearis had ever had was the chore of clearing her plate with an obligatory smile on her face (as to not worry anyone in the room) as she desperately tried to let Katrina’s insults roll off her back. As long as eating was a chore, she obviously couldn’t taste a thing that she put in her mouth. Not to mention that everything served to her had gotten cold by the time it reached her. Even Layotte and Elena had never really enjoyed the food itself. It was no wonder that Aearis showed no interest in food in that environment.

And here she was, with a genuine smile, enjoying her food. Enjoying herself. Elena couldn’t believe her eyes when Aearis (who had never shown any interest in the food served to her) was devouring her food with her eyes before it was even served. What’s more, she was astounded by Aearis (who was much more wary of things than she looked) essentially exclaiming that she trusted Hiroshi and Haruna with her life. Elena couldn’t help but be impressed that they had gotten her to open up so much in ten days or so.

「In any case, I’m sure you two are to thank for Aearis’ growing interest in dining.」

Elena noted.

「I’m still nervous if she can get back on the Temple’s diet, but I’m happy to see that eating isn’t just a chore to her anymore.」

Layotte added.

「Oh yeah?」

「At the very least, I haven’t seen her enjoy a meal like this for a long time.」

Hearing Layotte say so, Aearis sulked her head with guilt. It occurred to her that she was acting as if eating with the party here was more enjoyable than eating with Layotte and Elena.

「Aearis, you haven’t done anything wrong. Chin up. We’re not accosting you of anything. In fact, we are the ones who owe you an apology.」

「No one could blame you for losing interest in food sitting at our dinner table. It was our fault for not being able to do anything about Katrina. I never saw it as some family bonding time. I would be surprised if you did.」

Layotte and Elena rushed to console Aearis. But the fact that Aearis had enjoyed her meals here (with people she had just met, relatively speaking) more than the meals she had with the siblings she loved seemed to hit her hard. She kept looking down at her lap, her shoulders quivering.

「Y’know, Elle.」

「…Yes…?」

「What’s it been, about a month? Since ya had supper with your brother and sister. Did you have fun tonight?」

「…A lot of fun…」

「More than the last ten dinners or so ya had here?」

「…Tonight was so, so much more fun…」

「Then it ain’t a problem.」

Hiroshi dismissed, and Aearis lifted her chin. When their eyes met, Hiroshi took his face (not ugly, per say, but definitely not good-looking) and crinkled it into a (again, not handsome by any means, but loveable) grin. Seeing this, Aearis couldn’t help but crack a little smile herself, albeit still teary-eyed.

「Hey, Lay.」

「What is it?」

「If ya can, pop by more often. Won’t ya? It won’t be all fancy shmancy, but we’ll always make somethin’ tasty.」

「…Of course. I’ll have to check on Elena as well. I’ll come by as often as I can. Soon, I’ll bring Avin and Mark. We would love to have something unique as this dish. 」

「No problem. Actually, our next few dinners may by Wyvern… We still have a lot of it left over.」

Layotte gave a little chuckle to Haruna’s remark. They did take apart a flying lizard that spanned over 10 meters, after all. Naturally, a single dinner for a dozen people wouldn’t put a dent in the supply.

「You’re in charge. As long as it tastes good, we won’t complain. And if you have leftovers, do you mind if I take some with me? I would love to have some over a drink with Father and Avin.」

「Okie dokie. We have all sorts of ingredients other than Wyvern when it comes to unique dishes. Don’t be afraid to look forward to it.」

With a chuckling snort in response to Haruna, Layotte patted Aearis on the head gently, and returned to the castle with a transportation spell, the package of fried meat in hand.

「Okay. Now that we’ve had dessert, let me clean up and we’ll take a bath together.」

「That sounds wonderful. Thank you for wiping me down yesterday, but I’m feeling well enough to join you today. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a bath with Aearis, too.」

「I’ll get these cleaned up in a jiffy, then.」

「Oh, I got it.」

Hiroshi offered. He still had a lot of work to do like putting on the finishing touches to the armor pieces and preparing more medicine before he would get a chance to take a bath. The bath itself had already been drawn by Rayna. Because of how often they found themselves sweaty from training, bathes were usually drawn by either Douga or Rayna.

「If you don’t mind.」

「Not at all. I got some work to do in the kitchen too, so don’t worry ‘bout it.」

「Okay. Thanks!」

After watching the girls retreat to their rooms, Hiroshi gathered the dishes and went back into the kitchen. While women coming out of the bath could be lethal for Hiroshi, he had developed some immunity through his cohabitation with Haruna began a month and a half ago.

「Now, I could whip up some post-bath fruity latte.」

「You really do think of everything.」

Douga noted with exasperation as he watched Hiroshi poor 8 1/2 parts milk, 1 part fruit, and some other ingredients (like sugar) into a blender-like contraption.

「Finally, we can eat…」

「So many.」

「Jeez. A horde of these buggers can be a real chore. 」

The three of them mumbled with exasperation after cleaning up the piles upon piles of weaklings. They weren’t too far from a main road, and yet a surprising amount of them had attacked the party. Most of them weren’t edible and offered no materials worth the effort, which resulted in Tatsuya burning off the corpses after chopping off a body part from each as proof of their encounter. They only took apart those that were tasty, had highly valued hide or skin, and those with insides that could be turned into materials or crafting. Even still, the process taken them a long time. Even though Makoto had slaughtered nearly half of them with a single blow, it had left the three of them rather exhausted.

「Hey, Makoto.」

Tatsuya said.

「What?」

「You’ve ever come around these parts… In this world?」

「A couple times for quests. You want to know if there were so darn many of them last time? Not even close.」

Tatsuya let out a frown in response. They had set up a monster-repellent barrier, which would keep them safe until the next morning, but something still didn’t sit right with Tatsuya.

「Something bugging you?」

「Hmm… How I should I put this… When we saw the Wyvern yesterday, Mio said that it seemed more afflicted, remember?」

「Mm-hm. It feels the same around here, Tatsu.」

「I thought so. What I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t encounter a Wyvern this far down the mountain. At least, in the game, we never saw one outside an event unless we climbed way up the mountain.」

「I remember that.」

The Wyvern were powerful monsters, but for some reason didn’t come down off of the mountains. Most formidable monsters had a small range of habitat, away from any ordinary wildlife.

Of course, this was partially due to the fact that both humans and animals avoided living near the habitat of said terrifying monsters. However, the way that most fearsome monsters kept to their specific habitat was as if there were invisible barriers that only applied to them. In addition, most of said creatures lived under extremely harsh conditions, under which humans could barely live if they tried.

「Remember the robbers we were captured by? Didn’t they start to control monsters that weren’t native to the area using a monster-controlling orb or something? To separate their targets from the bodyguards in order to take them into human trafficking.」

「That’s what I’ve heard.」

Makoto confirmed.

「Hiro and I were talking about this, too. Isn’t it weird?」

「…It is, come to think about it.」

「I wouldn’t say they were third-rate, but they were definitely not up to snuff. We were in such a state of confusion back then, but we could take them down barehanded, now. You really think they could afford a monster-controlling orb?」

Makoto gave a half shrug in response to Tatsuya’s question. Tatsuya chimed in with a chuckling sigh and a nod.

「Tatsu.」

「What’s up?」

「I’m hungry.」

Mio declared, after listening in on the conversation without much interest. The sun had nearly set, and it was passed their usual dinner time. Perhaps because (unlike in Japan) she could eat all sorts of food on her own, Mio’s obsession for food was comparable to that of Aearis’.

「You’re right. It’s no use speculating this and that when we don’t have all the pieces.」

「I agree. Besides, I have a feeling the big bad boss is going to be as cliché as we think it will.」

「Yeah.」

With a nod, Tatsuya began looking for their dinner, which they assumed were prepared by Haruna.

「…Fried Wyvern thighs, huh…?」

「With tartar sauce.」

「Fried meat and tartar sauce. What do you think?」

「I’ve had some lunches like that. I don’t think it’s weird.」

Tatsuya and Makoto chatted as they produced their dinner.

「In any case…」

「What?」

「I think it’s culinary genius to turn a flying lizard into what’s essentially fried chicken.」

Makoto and Mio nearly did a spit-take at this. There was nothing funny about the remark, really. It must have been the delivery.

「Speaking of, didn’t something like Wyvern meat require a really high skill experience to cook?」

「I can’t remember. I know there weren’t too many chefs with their Cooking level over 300. It’s not like they were hermits like the craftsmen.」

「Anyway, at our level, skill experience in Cooking doesn’t mean much.」

Mio interjected.

「Guess you’re right.」

Tatsuya conceded. In actuality, the difference in a player’s Cooking experience was only noticeable until it reached 50 (not accounting for any modifiers). After that, experience would not go to waste, the change wouldn’t be noticeable in the dishes the player made. Even now, when they couldn’t see their exact stats, it was doubtful that there was much difference in this department. Of course, once an attribute surpassed the 50 benchmark, the change in stats were barely noticeable save through the automatic distribution while levelling up.

「But boy, does it look good.」

「You said it. I can’t believe this came from that flying reptile.」

Tatsuya and Makoto mentioned their thoughts as they produced a table and a set of plates from their bags, onto which they served the fried meat. They twisted open the thermos containing corn soup, and served it into mugs before setting the table with them, along with bread and salad. In the end, they were looking at a spectacular dinner table that looked too good to belong in a camp. If other adventurers had been here, they would be wide-eyed, jaws-on-the-ground at the beauty of this meal, and lose sleep over it.

「Well, thank you for this meal.」

「Thank you for this meal.」

Beside Tatsuya and Mio saying so, Makoto had swiftly reached for the fried meat. She was the one who endured the most physical labor out of the three of them. Her appetite far outweighed her patience at this point.

「Mm, it’s so good!」

「For real, these are great.」

「I’m happy.」

The meat stayed warm, thanks to the proper container (with enchantments, of course). Losing control, the three of them sang praises for the food with their mouths full. Unfortunately the hike ahead of them would have made it too dangerous, Tatsuya and Makoto only need a chilled glass of beer to call this a perfect meal.

While there is an enchantment commonly called Prevent Rot, has a slightly different mechanism than its title. This enchantment did not prevent the rotting of food, but prevented the materials under its effect from undergoing any changes. So, if a live animal would be kept in one of these bags, it wouldn’t die, and warm things stayed warm and cold things stayed cold. While this enchantment did accomplish a lot, perhaps thanks to the Heroes of the Old Times, who dedicated their lives to improving this spell, it could be enchanted without the use of a catalyst. An usually easy spell to cast for an enchantment.

Since it could be cast without a catalyst, one might ask why Hiroshi would go through the trouble of treating the Berserker Bear guts on his first night in this world. Well, he rarely used the spell in-game, and had completely slipped his mind at the moment. As for Haruna, she had no idea of most details regarding enchantments.

「That winged lizard’s a carnivore, right? It doesn’t taste gamey.」

「Mm-hm. I’m surprised.」

「I’m happy.」

Still surprised by the Wyvern meat (which surpassed their expectation in various ways) the three of them cleared their plates in a flash, and kept that same velocity as they inhaled their custard. Then, they all looked up at the starry sky, content.

「Having Hiro and Haruna on our team was the best thing that could have happened to us, considering the circumstances.」

「I guess their Achilles’ heel is that they can go crazy with passion projects.」

Makoto retorted, to which Tatsuya chuckled. Of course, the fruit of Hiroshi and Haruna’s labor for the month they were here without a voice of reason was there ridiculously abundant stock of spices that clearly telegraphed their lack of intention to ever get home. No one could argue Makoto on this. In fact, she still didn’t get what labyrinth of a thought process they took to end up selling curry buns in a food stand trying to get back to their home world.

「Anyway… Let’s talk about our plans for tomorrow, shall we?」

「Sure. Of course, we’re just climbing up a mountain all day.」

「How long until we get to where this Solmizen fruit is growing?」

「A little longer than a day… I think.」

Mio answered, not too confidently, and the other two couldn’t help but sigh. OF course, Mio didn’t know where exactly the Solmizen fruit were growing. She only cross-referenced her map and her experience to find a location where, in theory, they should be growing.

「So, is that just because of the distance, or are you accounting for more encounters with monsters?」

「Both.」

「Tatsuya, don’t you have a spell that might come in handy about now?」

「Not really. I could put up a barrier that prevents being recognized by them, but it’s useless if we get locked on to first, or if they have high senses to begin with.」

「How about with those buggers from earlier?」

「Them? Unless we screw up royally, we shouldn’t get spotted by the likes of them…」

Makoto frowned, guessing the rest of Tatsuya’s sentence. While Makoto didn’t know her way around all fields, so she didn’t know too much about which field bosses to expect, and where. It was the same in their current area. It wasn’t somewhere that combat-centric players hung around in. She had no idea which monsters to expect in the area.

Besides, this barrier wouldn’t work against an abnormal occurrence like the Wyvern from the day before.

「Just want to check. If the same amount of those guys came attacking as the same time of a Wyvern or something just as bad, could you handle it?」

「That’s going to be tough.」

「Give up. Search and destroy.」

Mio concluded with her extreme theory, Tatsuya and Makoto had to agree there was no other option.

「We work hard, food taste good. Food tastes good, we’re happy.」

「…Can’t argue with that, Mio.」

Tatsuya couldn’t help but laugh.

「Alright. It’s what we signed up for.」

They had expected the trip to take three days, anyway. Even if there were no encounters to slow them down, it would have been difficult to harvest the fruit the very next day. Then, while it was a little extra work, they decided that they could get onboard to search and destroy.

With that in mind, they decided to hurry up and get some sleep.

「Layotte. How is Aearis doing?」

「Well. And having a lot of fun, I must say.」

Sipping on his light wine, Layotte answered his older brother. In Farlane, one was considered an adult at age 15, and drinking alcohol was legal from that age, as well. However, there was unspoken rule to wait until age 20 before drinking any hard liquor. Even the shops would only sell teenagers wine (which were practically juice) until they were of a certain age.

「Fun, huh…」

「I haven’t seen Aearis have fun in a long time…」

「Also, maybe it’s the kind environment and good food, but she looked healthier, too. Seeing her now, no one would dare call her a dummy with a painted smile.」

Hearing Layotte’s report, the king and Prince Avin fell silent, unsure of what they could say.

「By the way, they wrapped me some leftovers from tonight’s dinner. Here it is.」

「Hm… Fried meat?」

The king asked, curiously investigating the food.

「That’s right.」

「What meat is it?」

Cracking a grin to his brother’s question, Layotte dropped the big bomb:

「Wyvern. Black.」

「What!?」

「What, a black Wyvern!?」

「That’s right. There’s even a hint of magic lingering, which confirms it. It’s clearly from some kind of dragon.」

The king and Avin were speechless.

「…It seems strange that we have never heard of the chef who can cook a black Wyvern.」

There were less than two dozen chefs in the entire world who could cook a high-level monster like this one. The king was suspicious that he had no idea that such a person existed in Wulls.

「That’s no mystery. They are adventurers, not chefs. But I doubt you haven’t at least heard a rumor of them.」

「Rumor?」

「Father. Brother. Do you know what a curry bun is?」

「I’ve heard of it. It’s a strange bread the people are talking much about. …You mean…?」

With a nod to Avin’s comment, Layotte continued:

「They really are from the unknown continent. They have little to no clue of the standards of our country. They said that anyone could cook a Wyvern with a little bit of practice. And meant it.」

「Things might have been different when our First King was alive, but we barely have any chefs out there who can cook a monster of that caliber.」

「Even the head chef of this castle may not be able to handle Wyvern meat.」

「First, the class 4 potions, now this cooking. Guests from the unknown continent, eh…」

With that, the king took a piece of the (still warm) fried meat and dipped in tartar sauce before putting it in his mouth. Avin and Layotte followed suit. As opposed to the king and Avin, whose posture had crumbled in response to the deliciousness exploding in their mouths, Layotte let out a chuckle in response to his second tasting.

「This really is delicious. What’s wrong?」

「Ah, nothing. I just realized that the taste does decline after some time.」

So was the way of fried food. After some time, oil coagulated, and meat hardened after losing heat.

「So, Aearis is eating something this good, every day?」

「Oh sister. I’m quite jealous, to be honest.」

「They taste good, but the atmosphere around the dinner table was something entirely different. It’s what quality family time looked like.」

The other two could only respond with silence.

「Katrina…」

「I’ve tried my best to love you all equally, but…」

「Her problem is that she believes the delusion that she deserved the position of Priestess Princess, and that Aearis stole that from her. It seems that she’s particularly unhappy with the fact that Aearis had been appointed Priestess Princess, because of a divine sign that manifested the day she was born.」

「Katrina tends to blame that as the reason why she doesn’t command any respect. But manipulating Aearis’ servant to be who she wanted to, and continuing to call her an evil spawn and whatnot only illuminates her lack of class. The fact that she doesn’t seem to notice makes it worse. She is too stupid to realize that she isn’t concealing her vile personality in its entirety.」

Hearing Layotte’s relentless assessment, the king and Avin could only sigh. They should have put an end to this earlier, but Katrina would always make up an excuse to dodge conversations, and come right back and do it all over again after a while. They had lost their opportunity to give her a proper scold until now, when it was far too late.

「That being said, Father.」

「Yes, Layotte?」

「How far along are we?」

「We have the target cornered. All that’s left is to strike at the right time.」

「What about Katrina?」

「On paper, she would have died from an illness. In actuality, people will know that she was executed for treason.」

The king was clearly in anguish over being forced to execute his own daughter. However, there was too much proof for him to pardon Katrina. What’s worse, some detailed researched had quickly revealed that every staff member around Katrina (from servant to tutor) were all tied to a sketchy collective. After a sincere attempt at speaking face-to-face with her, the king had determined that the princess was past the point of no return, in several directions. Keeping her alive could spell chaos for the country.

「That makes me feel better. The problem is…」

「Barold, was it?」

「He managed to twist the facts to make people believe we invent the evidence we have against him, after what he did and the trails he left behind. It won’t be easy. To be honest, a little man like that whose only skill is survival… Is the worst kind.」

Barold, who was the man who whispered poison into Katrina’s ears, acted no different from a petty criminal, but expertly used loopholes and ambiguities in the law to come out with a decree of innocent, despite obviously being guilty of the crimes.

Even with the incident of Aearis missing, everyone who could have given decisive testimony was either missing themselves, or dead. Barold also had an alibi during the suspected time of the crime, which left him to dodge the prosecution (who were short on evidence) and in turn, criticized the royal family for manufacturing the evidence they had.

Whether he used a transportation spell or anything else, it wasn’t difficult to trigger it without being there himself (with enough preparation beforehand). Unfortunately, the magic in Farlane was not advanced enough to be able to track the caster from the remnants of a spell. And so, they were road-blocked by the law the previous king had established, an absolute innocent-until-proven-guilty policy, falling short of nailing Barold once and for all.

「We have no idea how long they had been scheming for this, but going after Elena and Aearis means they really want to crumble this country to the ground.」

「Worst case scenario, as long as Aearis survives, the nation can be rebuilt. With a heavy heart, I must ask them to keep my daughter safe for a while longer.」

While the king’s conclusion was logical at first glance, Layotte had to interject, apologetically:

「Unfortunately, we may not have so much time left.」

「…What do you mean?」

「This Wyvern, albeit by the fastest travelers within their party, was taken down at a location a day from the eastern gate of the city, by foot.」

「…How could that be!?」

「Then even said that the Wyvern seemed more afflicted than normal. No matter the danger, we would have to return Aearis to the Temple, soon. Even if it’s temporary.」

The king gritted his teeth hearing this.

「As our first step, I would like to have you and Mark meet them, Avin. I don’t expect you two to clear your schedule tomorrow, but please make some time as soon as you can.」

「Alright. I’ll make it work.」

「Thank you. They’ll be preparing food for us. Let us know when you can come, as soon as you know.」

Nodding to this request, they all went to finish the rest of their food. The dish, while undoubtedly delicious, simply didn’t spark the same joy it did a few minutes ago.