It was Werner-san and Ramon-san, Franca, Rita and Vincent, the members of the C-ranked Adventurer party 'Iron Will' who had taken good care of me when I first came to this world . I never thought that I would meet them again and here they were, in Doran's dungeon?
"Everyone, it's been a long time . " I said, pleased to see them again .
"It's been a long time, Mukouda-san . It's amazing that we should meet again here of all places . " I shook hands with Iron Will's leader, Werner-san . As he explained it, after they left me in Fariel they set off to journey to Doran . It took a long time with many carriage journeys and they only arrived in the city the day before yesterday, beginning their dungeon exploration the day after .
"Is that so?" I gestured to Fer . "We are heading for the coastal city of Berleean . We only stopped off in Doran because Fer insisted we do so, to explore the dungeon here . " The members of Iron Will nodded in understanding . They had spent some time with Fer and me in the past, they could sympathise with what I went through dealing with him . It was nice to be with people who knew what a hard life I led coping with the demanding Fenrir monster .
"So Mukouda-san, you've acquired another follower since we last met?" Werner-san said, studying Dora-chan closely . "A Dragon indeed, a baby Dragon?" Well anyone seeing Dora-chan for the first time would think he was a baby Dragon . Of course I had made a submission contract with both Dora-chan and Sui-chan since we had last met so I had two individuals to introduce .
"This Dragon is actually an adult, fully grown, it's a rare kind of Dragon called a Pixie Dragon . It's my contracted monster, I named it Dora-chan . "
"You named it what . . . " Werner-san blurted .
"Splutter" Hey! Vincent, don't laugh when you hear the name I chose for Dora-chan . And you too, Werner-san, if you please .
Rita and Franca both said politely "Pleased to meet you, Dora-chan . " Ramon stayed admirably silent despite his red face and shaking shoulders . I continued the introductions regardless .
"And this is my Slime, Sui . " Sui-chan had crawled out of her bag to look around so I lifted her up to introduce her to the Iron Will party . Seeing the expressions on their faces I added, "Yes she's a Slime but she's a special type and very strong . "
"Having Fer alone as your contracted monster was amazing, Mukouda-san . " Werner-san said, examining Dora-chan and Sui-chan closely . "Contracting with two more formidable monsters such as these is a remarkable achievement . I am impressed . " Werner-san's praise rather embarrassed me . But I had things to do, the Gluttonous Trio were hungry and wanting to be fed . That's why they had contracted with me after all, the other two as well as Fer .
"Hey, where's dinner?" Fer demanded .
"I'm hungry . " Dora-chan added .
"Aruji, I'm hungry too-" Sui-chan said .
Oh, I'm sorry I'm sorry . "I'll get dinner for you, Fer, Sui, Dora-chan . Just give me a moment . " Well, what should I serve them? The beef stew would be nice, I decided, along with the local black bread I had bought earlier in town . It's a bit firm but it should go well with something like beef stew . I took out the stockpot of hot beef stew from my Item Box and dished out generous servings to the Gluttonous Trio .
"I've eaten this food before . " Fer mumbled, his muzzle deep in the gravy . "The meat is softly simmered, it melts in the mouth . Umu, delicious . " Thank you, Fer, I appreciate hearing you like it .
"Oh, this food is delicious again . Really, all the food you make is delicious . " It looked like Dora-chan was enjoying the beef stew too, the way his scaly nose was ringed with gravy .
"This is because the meat is soft and tastes good, too-" Sui-chan's seal of satisfaction completed the Trio's approval of my cooking . Wonderful! But a cold feeling along my spine caused me to shiver . What was it-
""" Gulp """
Looking around, I found the eyes of the Iron Will party were nailed to the pot of beef stew . Vincent and Rita had drool running down their chins . Rita, you're a girl, you shouldn't be drooling like that, it's not seemly . I sighed, it couldn't be helped, I'd feed them for old time's sake .
"Ah, do you want to eat some too?" I asked somewhat redundantly . The members of Iron Will nodded their heads vigorously . I got out more deep wooden bowls and a loaf of black bread and dished out more of the beef stew for them .
"Ha-, I can finally eat Mukouda-san's food again . It's the best . " Vincent-san said, digging his spoon into the stew .
"Vincent cried when Mukouda-san left us back in Fariel," Rita added, her own spoon poised over her bowl, "but I agree, Mukouda-san's food was delicious . "
"Hold on there, Rita," Vincent interrupted . "It was you that cried when he left, not me . But yes," he said, dipping his spoon into his bowl once again, "it was delicious . "
"Oh, maybe you're right . " she admitted, eyes shining . "And it is still really delicious . "
So while Vincent and Rita were talking to each other . . . .
"Oh, it's delicious . " Franca agreed . "The vegetables are also boiled so softly . . . After all is said and done the way this meat melts in my mouth leaves me speechless . "
"Oh, it's really delicious . Eating this bread with the stew is just the perfect thing . " Werner-san bit off a chunk of gravy-soaked bread and chewed it ecstatically .
"This deep taste with its rich flavour . . . I can't believe that such delicious food can be eaten in a dungeon . " Ramon wiped away a tear . "Mukouda-san, you can truly work miracles . "
Iron Will were filling their mouths with beef stew, mumbling between spoonfuls about how good it tasted . Yeah, it was great that everyone liked it - but I hadn't had any myself yet . That was easily fixed though, once I had my own bowl in front of me . The first mouthful, yep as they said it's really delicious . The Bloody Horn Bull meat was thoroughly simmered, so soft that it could be broken with a spoon . The soft boiled meat crumbled into flakes when I put in my mouth .
I soaked a piece of the black bread in beef stew and bit into it . The demi-glace sauce in the gravy and the chewy black bread, sheer bliss . Delicious . I took another spoonful . . .
"""Seconds"""
Fer, Dora-chan, and Sui were all wanting more . Even Dora-chan was asking for extra stew, I was surprised . What sort of evil magic had the stew worked on his little stomach that he wanted seconds? I put out more beef stew on each plate for the Gluttonous Trio .
"This stew is truly delicious . What kind of meat is in it?" Vincent asked as he dipped his spoon in the bowl again . When I replied, "Bloody Horn Bull meat," Vincent nearly choked in shock . The other members of Iron Will froze at my words, their mouths hanging open .
"Mukouda, the meat, it really is Bloody Horn Bull meat?" Werner-san asked in a quiet voice . "In this stew . . . ? I'm sorry . I didn't know that it was such a high-class food, I wouldn't have accepted it if I had known . . . " I held up my hand to get him to stop apologising . It was so like the reaction of Rashu-san and his Adventurer party, 'Phoenix' in Carerina when they discovered the food I had cooked for them on the road had been made with similarly high-class meats, Rock Bird and Black Serpent and the like .
Saying that this stew was just normal everyday food for us, nothing special . Well, the Dragon steaks we had eaten yesterday at Elland-san's house were special but they were exceptional for many reasons . Of course with Fer tagging along with me I had to provide food for him every day of the sort a nobleman might eat once a month if that, and of course I also had to feed it to Dora-chan and Sui-chan too . It helped that I could always rely on Fer to replenish our meat supply, a necessity since the Gluttonous Trio ate a lot of meat . Still, eating delicious food was a bonus .
"No, please don't apologise . We've still got a lot of Bloody Horn Bull meat left . " Werner-san looked surprised . "Fer and Sui-chan got it for me . " Werner-san let out an "Ah" as he understood what I had said .
"Fer-sama is amazing-" he said, nodding at Fer .
"Thank you Fer," Vincent and Rita said, their eyes shining as they bowed to Fer . Franca and Ramon added their own thanks and praises .
"Anyway that's why you shouldn't worry about it . " I said . "Now would you like another bowl?"
"Is that ok?" and "of course" and "please!" and "go on" and "thank you" were the responses . Fer looked displeased .
"Hey, there won't be any more left for me!" he said telepathically . His own bowl of "Seconds" was already empty and I knew Thirds wouldn't be the end of the meal for him .
"I owe Werner-san from before . " I explained . I had hired Iron Will to get me out of a certain country before the borders were closed and war broke out and they had done their job helping me to successfully escape . "I'll cook some more meat for you, Fer . " He brightened up at my words .
"Oh, that Drago . . . " he said audibly before I clamped my hands around his muzzle to silence him . "Mumble mumble . . . " He gave up trying to speak out loud . "What are you doing?" he asked telepathically .
"Fer, don't say anything about Dragon meat . " I answered him telepathically . I took my hands from his muzzle and gestured at the members of Iron Will . "They think that Bloody Horn Bull beef stew is amazing, if you mentioned we have Dragon meat they'd probably start a riot . "
"Nuuuuu . " Fer calmed down as my explanation percolated . "OK then, Wyvern's meat, that would be fine instead-"
"You can't have that either . Wyvern meat is also too good to cook in front of them, the smell . . . " I remembered the smell of Wyvern meat cooking, it was the best smell I had ever experienced until the day before when I had cooked Dragon steaks at Elland-san's house . . . I thought fast, I had fresh supplies of Orc meat, the drop from the boss room fight on the 11th level . That would do .
"Well, it can't be helped . " Fer moped . For a country-destroying legendary monster with unbelievable powers he could be remarkably self-pitying . Once more I resisted the temptation to scritch his ears and pat him on the head to console him . "You had better put lots of seasoning on it though . "
"Yeah yeah . " I wish Fer could read the mood better when we were around people but I supposed he never had to be considerate of other people's feelings before he partnered up with me .
"So, is everyone ready for seconds?" I asked .
"Is it really OK?" Werner-san asked, his eyes on Fer, aware that he didn't care for the idea of me handing out his food to others .
"Yes, I still owe you for the help you gave me back then . " At that time I was alone, new to this world and I didn't understand anything and then I ended up making a submission contract with Fer which complicated matters . It was only thanks to all the members of Iron Will that I got safely across the border and away from that Kingdom .
"Well I'll definitely have seconds!" Vincent broke in .
"Hey, Vincent . " Party leader Werner-san said quietly and Vincent froze .
"Sorry, leader . " Vincent looked down .
I listened to Vincent's apology then asked, "Well, Werner-san?"
Mr . Werner nodded to me and, saying "Please," he offered me his wooden bowl . Rita, Franca, Ramon and finally Vincent handed me their bowls too . It was a compliment of sorts, that so many people found my cooking delicious but serving them second helpings and Fer and Sui's third helpings emptied the pot of beef stew . I took out the little gas-bottle cooking stove I had bought from Net Super so long ago and fried Orc steaks for Fer and Sui-chan, with plenty of seasoning as Fer had demanded . The smell of cooking meat brought out hungry-looking expressions on Vincent and Rita's faces so I carved off a little bit of the steaks for them to nibble on .
Other Adventurers in the safe area glared at us enviously as they ate their own dungeon rations, typically dried meat and hard bread washed down with cold water . The smell of cooking steaks in such a small room was impossible to hide but I had to ignore their mute appeals because I couldn't really share our food with strangers, and besides I only really had enough for our own needs . Sure I had cooked and prepared a lot of food before we entered the dungeon but my contracted monsters, Fer especially, ate enormous quantities of food for each meal . It would all be gone soon enough .
After taking a short break after our meal I got on Fer's back and we prepared to head off for this level's boss room .
"Well then, take care everyone . " I said in farewell .
"Same to you and the rest of your party, Mukouda-san," Werner-san replied . "Still I'm sure you'll be OK since Fer-sama is with you . "
"Mukouda-san, you're going further down into the dungeon?" Vincent-san asked . "All the way to the bottom, I'd guess . "
"Yes, because Fer wants to complete the dungeon . . . . . . " I admitted .
"Behemoth is the Last Boss, they say . " Rita laughed . "You'll have fun playing with that monster when you get there . "
"That's for sure . " Franca added to general laughter from the rest of the Iron Will party . They probably understood Fer's capabilities better than I did even after I had travelled with him for many months but Behemoth, brrr . Not a monster I actually wanted to encounter myself .
"See you again . " I said as we left the safe area and headed straight for the boss room . The Iron Will party were going to explore this floor a little later before maybe going a couple of levels deeper depending on how difficult they found things . They had told me the 12th level's boss room reputedly had a bunch of Lizardmen . When we got to the boss room door there was no-one waiting so we entered straight away . Sure enough, the room was full of Lizardmen, lots of large lizards standing on two legs as the name suggested but they were no match for Fer, Dora-chan and Sui-chan . I collected the drop of Lizardman skins after the brief one-sided battle was over and we descended to the 13th level .
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login