Ch 73 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 73 -- Don't Raise Weird Flags


"We're finished here, do you want something to eat?" I asked.

"Umuu, sounds good. I was just getting hungry." Fer agreed.

"Food-" Sui chimed in. Right then, time to cook but... the pools of blood on the grass remained even after the Bloody Horn Bulls had all been packed away. The iron smell of spilt blood filled the air.

"Ah, I don't feel like eating here right now." I groused.

"Is the smell of blood too strong?" Fer inquired. "So much blood might attract more monsters."

"Eh? That's bad. Let's get out of here quick." Safety first, as I might have mentioned before.

"Ehh, hang on. Sui, Can you clean up the blood here?" Fer asked.

"Oh, can Sui eat all the red stuff here?"

"That's right. Help yourself." Fer ordered.

"Sui can do it. Wait a moment." Sui trembled and used her Growth skill. After Sui became a Big Slime she quickly divided into smaller Slimes.

"Everyone, suck up all that red stuff--" Following Sui's order the small Slimes headed towards the pools and began to consume the Bloody Horn Bull blood. The pools disappeared in the blink of an eye leaving only trampled grassland and a lot of small red-coloured Slimes visible.

"Well done Sui." Fer said.

"Ufu, Sui was praised by Fer-ojichan-" Sui bounced happily.

"Slimes can eat pretty much anything so I figured the little Suis could mop up the blood easily." Fer explained.

...... Sui has so many things she can do.

"Hey Sui, are you okay with leaving those small Slimes behind?" I asked.

"Yeah, they'll probably disappear when it gets dark." she said.

It seems the Slimes split off from her large body have a limited lifespan but do they actually disappear at night too?

"Aruji-, Sui's hungry-" Ah, right. I should get some food out.

"Yeah, hang on. Here's some sandwiches that should do you." I put out a dish with pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches in front of Fer and Sui. I made them yesterday evening with the leftover fried pork cutlets and chicken cutlets I cooked for their dinner.

Spread butter on the bread, add some shredded cabbage and sprinkle a little mayonnaise then put a pork cutlet on top and finish it off with another slice of buttered bread. Cut it in half and it's done. I did the same with some fried chicken cutlets and put them away in my Item Box for just such an occasion.

I figured Sui wouldn't like really spicy food so these would do nicely for the time being.

""Seconds"" they chorussed.

"Okay." I put more pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches in the dish in front of Fer and Sui. Huhuu, I can just keep pulling them out of my Item Box rather than making them one at a time. Until now I have not had time to build a big reserve of cooked food because I've been travelling but I plan to cook a lot of food to put in my Item Box while I stay in this town, especially since I've got plenty of meat available and I should have lots of free time.

I sank my teeth into a pork cutlet sandwich. Ah, that hits the spot. I settled back, making myself comfortable. I was enjoying the picnic after we had dealt with the Bloody Horn Bulls. The scenery looked wonderful as long as I suppressed my memory of the pools of blood and dead monsters that had been scattered around the grasslands just a few minutes ago. I bit into another sandwich. Delicious. Cabbage and mayo and tonkatsu sauce came together in my mouth, oh so tasty.

To tell the truth I added some mustard to my own sandwiches, a spicy sharp mustard. MMMmmm!

Eating under the blue sky is great. I started on a chicken cutlet sandwich. Ah, I want to drink beer.

"Aruji, Sui wants to drink bubbly-bubbly-" Sui said.

"Hey you, I want some too." Fer added.

"Oh, cola? If you want to drink soda... just wait a minute."

I bought some cider for Fer and Sui and canned coffee for myself from the Net Super. I wanted to drink beer with my sandwiches but I held back because it was daytime. Drinking beer during the day is a Bad Thing to do, okay?

I poured the cider into a pair of dishes for the two of them.

"Here you are."

"What's that? It's different from the earlier stuff." Fer said suspiciously.

"This is called 'cider', it's not the same as last night's drink but it's also bubbly-bubbly and it's delicious too." I waved my hand. "Try drinking it."

Sui started first. "Oooh, this is also delicious." See, I told you it was good.

"Yes. You can feel the bubbles on the tongue just the same. Buuurp...... "

"MMMphhh- " I smothered my laugh at Fer's great eructation.

"Ahaha, I'm burping because I drank the bubbles." Fer is shameless.

The three of us enjoyed our meal in the cool breeze under the blue sky.

"Well then, shall we go back to the city soon?" I said to Fer, after the long relaxing break. Sui was already napping in her bag.

"Well, yes." Fer looked around his most recent battlefield with a dissatisfied expression. "Yesterday's Mithril Lizard subjugation and today's fight with the Bloody Horn Bulls was something to do but they weren't really any sort of a challenge." I think Fer is the only one that would say such things about Mithril Lizards and Bloody Horn Bulls.

"Is there anyone around that could make me exert myself?" he asked rhetorically.

"What kind of challenge are you thinking about?" I asked foolishly.

"Well, I'd have a real fight on my hands if I was facing a dragon. Since there's none of them around here then a pack of wyverns might be worth making an effort to destroy."

...I should never have asked. Don't raise weird flags. Don't mention dragons, stop talking about packs of wyverns.

"D-, dragons and wyverns, d- don't say strange things like that." I cautioned.

"They're not strange things." Fer explained. "Dragons and wyverns attack human cities sometimes."

"Stop it." I commanded him. "If you talk about them they're sure to appear."

"Hhhmph." Fer stretched his long body, his eyes scanning the empty sky. "If they come here they'll find me waiting for them." He grinned, baring his teeth in anticipation.

I wish now I'd never asked. Dragons are nothing to laugh about.

"You probably don't know this," Fer continued, "but wyverns and dragons are delicious. Dragon meat is especially flavourful." I didn't know that. Frankly the longer I go without getting the opportunity to eat delicious dragon or wyvern meat the happier I'll be.

"After we visit the ocean for some Kraken and Sea Serpents then we'll maybe go hunt some dragons." Fer turned to face the city walls and nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

Nope nope nopetty nope, let's not do that please? How about you consider my input when you're deciding our future travel plans?

"Right, get on. Let's go back."

Haa, Fer is 'going my way' for now. It might be nice to visit the beach but I'll never go on a dragon hunt.

Ch 72 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 72 -- Bloody Horn Bulls

We arrived at a wide area of open grassland on the west side of the city, ready to subjugate the Bloody Horn Bull herd which was grazing there.

The Guild Master had told us all about the monster known as the Bloody Horn Bull. Each Bull was about the size of a rhinoceros with a temper to match. On top of that their cattle-herd instincts of clustering together and facing threats like a well-drilled military formation increased their danger level compared with attempting to subjugate an individual Bloody Horn Bull.

Fer wasn't bothered by that kind of threat of course. For me, I just decided to stay out of his way while he dealt with them. But where were they?

"Fer, do you know where the Bloody Horn Bull herd is?"

"Yeah, I can see them, they're not far off. Let's get closer and then I'll deal with them." Following Fer's gaze I made out some small black dots off in the distance.

"If that's the Bloody Horn Bulls over there then Sui and me will wait here." Safety first, after all.

"Do that. I'll head over there right now and I'll contact you by telepathy when I've killed them all."

"Gotcha."

Fer slunk off towards the Bloody Horn Bulls, staying low to hide himself from their sight in the long grass.

I lay down and hid in the long grass too. After all I wouldn't want to spook the Bloody Horn Bulls and make Fer's job harder, would I? It's not like I was scared of them or anything. Just playing my part.

Sui crawled out of the bag that I had placed next to my head.

"Where did Fer-ojichan go?-"

"He went off to defeat the big cow-sans." I explained.

"No fair-. Sui wants to defeat the cow-sans too-"

"Eh? There's a lot of big really scary big cow-sans out there so just wait here with me, Sui."

"No way no way. Sui is going to help defeat the cow-sans." Saying that Sui crawled away quickly.

"Hey, come back!" Wow, she's so fast. "Oh shit!" I chased after Sui through the meadow as fast as I could (crawling).  Hurrying frantically (crawling), I finally came to an opening where I could catch sight of Fer. Sui was also there, jumping up and down.

"Huff, huff, finally ......" I tried to catch my breath while not attracting the attention of any stray Bloody Horn Bulls. Fer leisurely approached me where I lay concealed in the grass.

"Hey you, what are you doing?" he called in a loud voice.

What am I doing? Well, I crawled all the way here to make sure I wasn't spotted by the Bloody Horn Bulls but your shouting will bring them here...

"All the Bloody Horn Bulls have been wiped out." Fer said. ...? What, have you finished already? It's only been a few minutes...

I got up on my feet again and stretched and twisted my body. My back hurt from all that hurried crawling. As I looked out over the blood-drenched meadow before me I felt my breath catch in my throat.

…………What's this.

A huge black cow lay in a pool of blood. There was another one over there, and another... how many more are there like this? The scenic grasslands have been turned into an abattoir. A soft breeze blew sweetly across the meadow but it couldn't distract from the horrific vision before me.

"Aruji, you're here-. Sui knocked down a big cow-san-" Sui bounced towards me excitedly, poing poing. "Aruji, aruji, Sui and Fer-ojichan defeated all the big cow-sans. Fer-ojichan used his magic first and the wind blew and lots of big cow-sans fell down. But some big cow-sans didn't fall down so Sui pew-pewed them and beat them good. Amazing, isn't it?-" Sui told me in a rush while jumping around Fer and me.

So Fer probably used wind magic to deal with most of the herd and Sui killed the remaining Bloody Horn Bulls by shooting them with acid bullets.

"Umuu, Sui really helped out this time." Fer confirmed. Heh, of course she did. I looked over the field of slaughtered Bloody Horn Bulls again. The threat they posed to the strong tag-team of Fer and Sui was negligible, it turned out. I guess they all went to heaven without being able to defend themselves in any way.

So, you guys are going to be our food. Is it time to tuck all the Bloody Horn Bulls in my Item Box? I took a really close look. Wow, a Bloody Horn Bull is a really big cow. I counted them - there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, more and more and some Bloody Horn Bulls were still hidden by the long grass. I gave up and started collecting them instead, counting them as I deposited them in my Item Box. One, two, three...

I had agreed with the Guild Master that we'd wholesale half of the herd to the Guild but it might be an idea to sell them a few more than that. Each Bloody Horn Bull really was about the size of a rhinoceros, it turned out. Thinking about how much Fer and Sui ate at a sitting it would take even them several days to eat just one Bloody Horn Bull. Besides, eating beef all the time would get tedious so I'd be serving up other kinds of meat for variety. If we held on to the meat from even half the herd then Fer wouldn't have to hunt any beef for a loooong time.

I hoped Fer and Sui don't get tired of beef quickly. I'll have to work hard there, too, serving up different recipes involving beef so they don't get bored with the same dishes too often. While thinking about this I was busy packing away the Bloody Horn Bull carcasses in my Item Box. I finally got all of them stored. There were 58 Bloody Horn Bulls in all. Half of that would be... 29 Bloody Horn Bulls we'd keep for the meat? That's a huge amount of beef.

Ch 71 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 71 -- Oh Lord How The Money Rolls In


We went straight to the Adventurers Guild as soon as we returned to the city. When I handed over my Guild card at the reception I was immediately shown to the Guild Master's room.

"Congratulations." he said, welcoming us back. "I'm really sorry I asked you to subjugate the Metal Lizard so quickly."

Well, it wasn't me that carried out the subjugation, it was Fer of course. And it only took a single magic strike. Oh, and it wasn't a Metal Lizard after all. I should really tell the Guild Master about this...

"Well, we subjugated it OK, but it turns out wasn't a Metal Lizard after all."

"It wasn't a Metal Lizard?" The Guild Master looked perplexed.

"That's right, it was a Mithril Lizard instead."

"............ What did you say just now?"

"Eh? I said it was a Mithril Lizard there."

"A Mi-, Mi-, Mithril Lizard!?" The Guild Master stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs.

Please, Guild Master-sama, calm down. He sat back down after a moment, obviously thinking hard about what I had said.

"If what you say is true," he waved his hand, "I believe you of course but-" he furrowed his brows. "It means that there is mithril ore in that area. That's supremely important. Anyway, I need to see that Mithril Lizard first."

Because the Mithril Lizard is a large monster we went down into the warehouse for the Guild Master to inspect it properly.

"Oh, Johan, sorry to bother you."

"Ah, Guild Master." The bald ojisan squinted at Fer and me. "And its you guys again?"

"Johan, please close the door." the Guild Master ordered. Johan quickly closed the warehouse door.

"So have you brought me something interesting this time too?" Johan was obviously intrigued. Well, it wasn't supposed to be special but it's what we were asked to subjugate.

"So, can I get it out now?" The Guild Master nodded so I took the Mithril Lizard out of the Item Box.

"" ............ "" The Guild Master and Johan-ojisan were struck dumb for a long moment.

"Ah, that ... ...."

"No doubt about it, right ..."

"Oh yeah, it's got to be a Mithril Lizard, look at the way the skin gleams." Johan said in a reverent whisper.

Huh? Is a Mithril Lizard really that rare?

"I thought that it was a Metal Lizard at first, but this is definitely a Mithril Lizard ..." the Guild Master went on to explain.

"When it was first observed near Pasquale Mountain it maybe was still a Metal Lizard. The citizens who saw it and reported it as such didn't get close enough to it to see it clearly since they were too busy running away, and there weren't any Adventurers willing to even go and check it out for us." He waved his hand at Fer. "We definitely didn't have Adventurers of high enough rank who could actually hope to subjugate a Metal Lizard so it was left alone for the time being. Since then it might have found a vein of mithril ore, ate it and mutated into Mithril Lizard form."

"That's probably what happened." Johan agreed. They both sighed, then turned to stare at me.

Eh, what?

"The monsters your contracted beast brings in never fails to surprise us." The Guild Master shook his head.

"It's true, only the finest top-ranked monsters from fairy tales." Johan-ojisan chimed in. I still looked puzzled so he continued.

"Look sonny, a Mithril Lizard is a legendary monster." Johan explained. "The Adventurers Guild records speak of only one other sighting ever of a Mithril Lizard and that was over 400 years ago."

Okay, 400 years ...... w- wait, Johan-ojisan. 400 years ago?

"A Metal Lizard has to eat mithril ore to evolve into a Mithril Lizard but mithril ore can only be found in  a few locations. Currently there's one mithril mine in this country, one in the Kingdom of Malbert and one in the Geisler Empire. Because you can only find mithril ore in those three places and nowhere else it means mithril products are very rare and sell for a correspondingly high price. Saying that it is rumoured that the mithril mine in the Geisler Empire has run out of ore which increases its scarcity even more." The Guild Master fixed his gaze on the Mithril Lizard again.

"Given that scarcity, if an A-ranked Metal Lizard finds a source of mithril and evolves into a Mithril Lizard, well you can guess how how valuable it is. Moreover, a Mithril Lizard means there's mithril nearby. It means that you have discovered a previously unknown mithril mine."

You're making this out to be a really big deal all of a sudden. It's kinda worrying.

"Count Langridge-dono will have to be informed since Pasquale Mountain is part of his holdings. No one thought that that mountain had any mithril ore to be mined. I'm going to be busy for now dealing with this situation but..." the Guild Master looked at me with a frown. "I am sorry but the Guild will have to purchase this Mithril Lizard wholesale."

When it's something this rare, apparently the Mithril Lizard's skin will be sent to the King along with a report about the discovery of the mithril mine. Ah well. I was thinking about making armour for myself from the skin but really Fer's Barrier magic means it's not really needed and there isn't anything else I could do with it so it's OK to wholesale it.

"Instead, I will talk with Count Langridge-dono about increasing your reward. Given the future profits of the mithril mine present on his land I would presume that the Count is likely to be very generous. So," the Guild Master ticked off on his fingers, "Mithril Lizard subjugation, discovery of a mithril mine, purchase of the Mithril Lizard, my estimate is that you'll get no less than 5000 gold coins and probably more."

Gold coins, 5000 gold coins ............. 5000 gold coins ... It feels like money is just appearing from nowhere and jumping into my pocket. It's almost scary.

"You're doing real good for yourself, sonny." Johan-ojisan confided. "You could live in luxury for the rest of your life with the cash from this deal. I kinda envy you, kiddo."

What Johan-ojisan said didn't sink in right away. I'm a low-paid salaryman and I'm not used to having a lot of money. I'm not even doing anything to earn it really so it's even more confusing to me. 5000 gold coins...

"Well, whatever it is, I have to inform Count Langridge-sama about all of this." the Guild Master went on. "You're due a lot of money but the Guild can't pay you immediately. It will probably take about a week for me to sort things out. Bring the Mithril Lizard back to us when I let you know the payment is ready for you."

The Guild Master indicated I should hold on to the Mithril Lizard for the time being. I supposed the Guild couldn't keep it without paying for it up front. I just put it back in my Item Box, not a hardship after I heard what it was worth. 5000 gold coins...

"Oh, all this information is confidential of course." I nodded. "Johan, you understand too?" The bald ojisan nodded as well.

"Oh, before I forget," the Guild Master said. "How are you going to proceed with subjugating the herd of Bloody Horn Bulls?" Oh, the other request.

"It's fine if you take your time, there's no real hurry. You've just finished dealing with a Mithril Lizard, I can quite understand that you'll need a rest before proceeding."

"Hunting a mere reptile like that wasn't tiring at all." Fer said telepathically. "We'll head off early tomorrow and deal with those cows." As usual Fer was fit and raring to go, especially if there were steaks involved. I passed on his comments to the Guild Master.

"My contracted monster says he's ready to carry out the subjugation of the Bloody Horn Bull herd tomorrow."

"Well, are you okay?" The Guild Master seemed concerned. "After all you just completed the subjugation of a Mithril Lizard." I understood the Guild Master's worry, but Fer used magic to blast the Mithril Lizard.

"Ah, I think it's okay. You see, Fer killed the Mithril Lizard easily with one shot of lightning magic." Both the Guild Master and Johan-ojisan were stunned at my words.

"Lightning magic against a Mithril Lizard, a single shot ............"

"Truly he is a legendary monster..."

Sorry, sorry. Fer is too strong.

Ch 70 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 70 -- We try katsudon

I decided to prepare a meal when we got out of the cave. Because I fried some pork cutlets yesterday, I wanted to eat 'that'. Since it would take some time to cook I decided to offer deep fried pork cutlets to Fer and Sui first.

"There is something I want to make but it'll take a while to cook so please eat this while I get it ready."

"What are you going to make? Is it delicious?" Fer inquired.

"It will be super delicious. I guarantee you'll enjoy the taste." I replied, somewhat offended at his lack of faith in my cooking skills.

"Well, you do not have to say that much." It was sort of an apology, quite something from Fer. "I'm looking forward to it." he finished.

"Are we going eat delicious food-? " Sui interjected.

"That's what we're going to do, but it will take some time to cook so eat this right now."

"Well, Sui will wait for you-"

Right, let's get cooking. The other two spent their time eating fried pork cutlets.

So the meal plan today is katsudon. I wanted to eat lots of katsudon with runny eggs and sweet-sour soup stock. First I needed the ingredients. I bought onions and seasonings to use for soup stock as well as rice and eggs on the Net Super.

I started by cooking rice. I washed the rice and started it cooking it in the pot. After slicing the onions thinly, I made soup stock. The package soup stock is almost as good as when I make it from scratch. I've tried using different soups like soba noodle stock and the like but this is the best one in my opinion.

I broke the eggs and mixed them lightly, being careful not to make them too consistent. I like it when the yolk and white are a bit separate.

While the rice was cooking and steaming, I added dashi soy sauce, sweet sake, sugar and onions to the frying pan and put it on the stove.

The onions were boiled in the soup stock until they became translucent and then I added the pork cutlets. I boiled them for a while to let the soup penetrate into the cutlets and then I added half the eggs. I continued to cook the dish until the eggs start to solidify and then I turned the heat off and added the rest of the eggs, letting them cook from the residual heat. After that the katsudon was completed by putting it on a layer of cooked rice topped with runny eggs and sweet soup.

 "The katsudon's ready." I announce.

"What's this... Mmmm, this is delicious. The egg is mixed with the Orc General meat and it tastes really good." Fer gobbled the katsudon in his usual rush. Yeah yeah, of course it's delicious.

"It's delicious, the meat and runny eggs are delicious-" Sui agreed. So Sui also thinks it's delicious? Excellent. This rice bowl dish was not a failure.

Well, it's time for me to eat too. With a rice bowl dish and especially something like katsudon, you want tea to refresh your mouth so I purchased a PET bottle of tea from the Net Super.

So what's katsudon like after such a long time without? Well, the mixture of eggs and sweet juice soup is the best and having rice underneath to soak up the juices just adds to the flavour. It's delicious, just as I anticipated.

Glug- I take a big drink of tea. The inside of my mouth is refreshed, then more katsudon, working my way down through the bowl's contents.

"Seconds here." demanded Fer.

"Sui too-"

That was quick. "Here you go." I piled more katsudon in front of the two gluttons. Both of them started eating again.

I didn't eat fried cutlets earlier like the other two so having some more katsudon myself will be OK. I started to eat, finishing off the remaining katsudon before it got cold even though I think it's still quite tasty even when it cools down.

*munch**munch**munch*... Fuuu- I ate it all.  I gulped more tea to rinse the fat from my mouth.

"Aruji-" Sui interjected.

"What is it, Sui, are you wanting more?"

"No, I'm full. Hey, is that green drink delicious?-"

"Oh? It's tea, would you like to have a drink?"

"Yeah, I'll drink some-"

I put a little tea in an empty dish and offered it to Sui.

"Oh, this, bitter. Not delicious. Sui doesn't like this, peh peh-"

Odd, Sui will eat pretty much anything (even other-world garbage) but somehow she doesn't like the bitter taste of tea. Well if you can't cope with bitterness ... How about this then? I bought some cola at the Net Super.

"Sui, how about this?" I poured some cola into the dish.

"This isn't bitter?- " Oh my dear Sui, how can you be so suspicious of me?

"No it's not bitter, it's sweet, honest!" I was hurt. Sui put a little tentacle into the cola hesitantly.

"Wow! ! !-" Apparently she thought it was delicious as the cola in the dish disappeared instantly.

"Wow, this is-, please give me more!-" I poured more cola into the dish for her. *glug**glug**glug*

"This is sweet and sweet and delicious -" I added yet more cola to her dish. *glug**glug**glug*

"Is that stuff delicious? Let me drink it too." Fer said so I poured some cola on a dish for him.

"Gulp.... Nuku, what is it, this is strange, it prickles on my tongue." Fer was surprised by the carbonation bubbles.

"Gulp, gulp. Well, my first time drinking this is not unpleasant. To think there are such mysterious drinks in the other world."

Fer and Sui both seemed to like cola, they drank a 1.5 litre bottle each.

"Well, we should be heading back to the city soon."

"Right, let's go." Fer agreed.

"Let's go back, Sui." I said. Sui got into her bag, I climbed on Fer's back and we started on our way back to the city.

Ch 69 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 69 -- Mithril Lizard

We left the city early the next morning, running toward Pasquale Mountain. Of course Fer is doing all the running, I'm simply riding on his back and Sui is sleeping comfortably in her new bag.

Fer gobbled up some Orc General steaks for breakfast before we set off. We had a long day ahead of us and I didn't want him getting hungry and crabby half-way though. Sui seemed to be quite happy in her bag.

"Is that where that reptile's supposed to be?" Fer's tone of voice was dismissive of his intended prey. Hey, it's supposed to be a Class A monster! A tall peak that I took to be Pasquale Mountain appeared on the horizon.

"If the Guild Master's directions were correct, that's Pasquale Mountain. Do you know where the Metal Lizard is likely to be, Fer?"

"Wait a moment..." Fer said and after a second or two he accelerated towards where he thought the Metal Lizard would be. When I asked him he told me he seems to know the approximate location of any monster nearby. It's something like a feeling of recognition rather than a specific location skill, apparently.

"We're just about there." Saying that Fer slowed down to a halt.

"It's over there." I followed Fer's gaze. There was a cave under the shade of a tree.

"Is that where the Metal Lizard is living?" I asked. I don't like caves for good reason. I blame Fer's magic training regime.

"Probably." Fer answered.

"So how are we going to do this?" I asked apprehensively.

"I'll think about it later." Fer answered. That wasn't the answer I wanted to hear... Fer charged into the cave with me still on his back.

"W- W- W- W- wait a minute, ahhh-" At least let me off first, you big idiot.

As we ran into the pitch-dark cavern we immediately encountered the Metal Lizard. There was a wide opening just past the cave entrance. Over by the far wall the Metal Lizard was eating something with a loud crunching sound. It looked... huh?

"Hey, what's up with that Lizard? Somehow its body is glowing...."

"So what. I'll defeat that reptile with one hit and turn it into money." Fer was indifferent to the unusual sight.

Don't just say "So what", you... To be on the safe side I used Appraisal on the glowing monster and it registered as "Mithril Lizard". ...Mithril? That's the precious metal that appears in fantasy novels?

"Fer, I just used Appraisal on that Metal Lizard and it's actually a Mithril Lizard." I warned him.

"If that's the case there's a vein of mithril ore in here somewhere. That reptile has been eating mithril ore and it's mutated." Fer explained.

So there's a vein of mithril ore here... that's an important discovery, isn't it? Well, it's not something that involves me really, but if there's some mithril ore lying about I'll pick some up. I like the idea of having a mithril sword, or if that's not possible maybe a knife. Mithril sword, mithril knife, both? hmmm... Having a knife and a sword made of such a rare metal is the stuff of fantasy stories. Mithril is especially romantic. I decided that I really wanted them.

"Mithril means that magic is not very effective." Fer explained.

Anything made from mithril is light and hard and it protects well against magical attacks by diffusing the energy. From Fer's experience he told me that magic was reduced to less than half of its usual effectiveness. Did that mean Fer's magic wasn't going to be strong enough to defeat the Mithril Lizard?

Fer shook his head. "All that means is that I'll have to use twice as much magic as normal to deal with that reptile properly." Saying that, the cavern resounded with a loud crash as Fer unleashed his magic attack. Kaboom! Rumble rumble rumble... A single flash of lightning hit the Mithril Lizard. I stared open-mouthed at the sight. Sui, surprised by the loud sound poked her head out of her bag.

"Hey Fer, what did you just do?"

"I fired strong lightning magic at that reptile." Strong? Isn't that a bit excessive? No, thinking about it using that much magic on a Mithril Lizard was probably the right thing to do. The lightning magic was incredibly loud though.

"OK, that's done. Collect it quickly and you can turn it in at the Guild for cash."

"Are you sure it's totally dead?" It was only one hit after all...

"Oh, that reptile was killed by my magic sure enough."

So the Mithril Lizard is standing there eating mithril ore, it doesn't even notice we're here and then, kaboom! and it's dead in an instant... It seems kinda pathetic, a real let-down. I am sorry, Mithril Lizard. That's what I was thinking as I put the Mithril Lizard in my Item Box.

Around where the Mithril Lizard was feeding there were lumps of ore glowing with a pale light. That would be mithril ore, I guessed.

"Fer, hang on a minute, I want to get some of this mithril ore."

"Nuuu, hurry up." Fer was impatient to get going now the job was finished.

"Aruji-, do you want this glowing stone? Sui will help too."

"Thanks, Sui. Bring the glowing stones over to me then."

"I understand-" Sui jumped out of the bag and started gathering mithril ore. I put some nearby mithril ore in my Item Box. Hmmm, I wonder if this is enough.

"I gathered some for you-" Sui chimed in.

"Wow, you sure collected a lot." I praised Sui. She had gathered enough mithril ore to fill the back of a small truck. I felt that maybe that was too much but Sui had worked hard so I couldn't refuse it. I put it in my Item Box and decided to worry about it later. I had easily enough ore now to make a mithril sword and a mithril knife now, maybe I could get a suit of mithril armour made? But if it's armour made from solid metal wouldn't it hinder my movement? Thinking about it though maybe the Mithril Lizard's skin would be just as strong as mithril metal?

"Hey, Fer, would a Mithril Lizard's skin be as strong as mithril metal?" I asked.

Fer thought for a moment."Because that reptile's skin would take on the same characteristics as the ore it ate, yeah it probably will be as strong."

"Oh? Rather than making mithril armour maybe I should get armour made with Mithril Lizard skin instead since it'll be a lot more flexible."

"Hmm?  Are you planning to get some armour?"

"Well, I thought that it would be better to have some kind of armour."

"You don't need armour, you've got my magic Barrier." Fer grumped. "Whether it's mithril metal armour or reptile-skin armour, they're nothing compared to my Barrier. It's pointless for you to have something like that."

Well, he's got a point. Fer's magical Barrier has totally prevented me from being injured any time I've been attacked. So what should I do with all this mithril ore? Even if I just hang on to it for the time being, would I be able to sell it if I wanted to?

"Hey, have you finished collecting that mithril ore? Let's get out of here and eat." Fer was getting really impatient now.

Yeah yeah Mister Glutton. We left the cave and I started preparing dinner.

Ch 68 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Episode 68 -- Deep Fried Red Serpent, Tastier Than Expected


"Hey Sui, is the bag good?" I asked Sui who was in her new Red Boar leather bag.

"This bag, it's more comfortable than the other one-" Sui told me.

"Yeah? That's great." It's good to have a new bag for her.

"Oh Fer, did you hear what Lambert-san said?" I asked.

"Uh-huh. About a black snake? " Fer answered.

"Yup. If you come across a Black Serpent, can you hunt it if possible. Is that OK?"

"For sure. That kind of meat is delicious." Fer's bottomless stomach agreed.

"Oh Aruji-, that's a great idea. It will be really delicious if you deep fried it." Sui chimed in.

"Hmmm, fried? Yeah, that was delicious. Oh, and remember we've got some Red Serpent meat. Let's try that today. After that I want you to grill some steaks."

From what everyone's told me Red Serpent meat is super high class food.

"Are you gonna fry some Red Serpent meat? I'm going to carry out the Metal Lizard suppression tomorrow and eating something extravagant like that will really get me going."

"Are you frying tonight? Sui loves fried foods! Yay!"

When I hear Sui say she loves fried food then there's no choice for me, it's going to be fried food tonight.

"Wait a bit, I want to buy some clothes before going back to the inn. I'll stop by a clothes store." I want to buy some new clothes while I've got money in my pocket. I'm OK with buying socks and underwear at the Net Super but proper clothing isn't listed in the online menu. I can buy sweatshirts and casual pants and such but wearing something like that here I'd stand out so I went to a clothes store on the way back to the inn.

I looked for something a bit colourful but it seems that dyeing is not a well-developed process here and all the clothing was a similar dull hue. In the end I bought three sets of shirts and trousers and changed in the shop. In total it was two gold coins and four silver coins.

Time to go back to the inn.

* * * * *

I started preparing the evening meal as soon as I got back to the inn. Since Fell and Sui asked it'll be fried food tonight.  I now had plenty of meat, so I tried cooking not just the Red Serpent meat but a lot more different kinds as well. I planned to put the surplus cooked foods in the Item Box so they can be eaten anytime.

I made two kinds of flavouring, soy sauce based and salt based this time. The main meats were Red Serpent followed by Black Serpent, Rock Bird and Giant Dodo.

Firstly I rubbed the soy sauce and salt-based flavouring into each cut of meat, then gave it a little time to soak in then then deep fried the meat in cooking oil. I decided to cook each piece twice this time to make it tastier.

I started with the main course, Red Serpent. The first time through I fried it in low temperature oil to let the flavourings soak in and seal the meat, the second pass I heated the oil way up. Yeah, the light brown colour gave me a good feeling about the results.

First bite... *crunch*.

............ Oh wow-----!

What is this? Crisp outside, juicy inside. Furthermore, it tastes better and better as I slowly chew it.

The meat's pale white and delicious in its own right with soy sauce and salt flavouring adding to its tase with the firmness of the meat complementing the sensation in my mouth. It might just be be the most delicious fried food I ever ate.

"Aruji-, Sui too! Sui wants to eat too."

"That's right. Let me at it."

Oh- I nearly forgot about them, it was so delicious... I put down two dishes of freshly cooked deep-fried Red Serpent in front of Fer and Sui.

"This is delicious! Sooo delicious!-" Sui was deeply impressed by the Red Serpent meat.

"Wow! ! !" Even Fer was entranced by the taste of what he was eating.

"Seconds-" they both demanded in unison a few moments later. Me too, I'll indulge myself tonight and have seconds too. I can see why everyone agrees Red Serpent is especially delicious. It is truly super high class meat.

Right then, get cooking again.  If I put deep-fried Red Serpent down in front of those two it will disappear quick so I'll cook some other meat as well. I'll fry up some  Black Serpent, Rock Bird and Giant Dodo.

I kept frying and frying for those two gluttons. I could maybe take it easy later but right now it was deep-fry for them, put it out on a plate, deep-fry again, put it out again, time after time.

"Fuu-, Sui's tummy is full."

"Gefu, I'm stuffed too."

Ha ha ha ha ha, victory is mine! I didn't repeat my previous mistake of underestimating how much those two gluttons could eat so there was plenty left for me this time. Since we've got so much meat on hand I'll cook lots more while I've got the opportunity.

"Hey? I'm no longer hungry." said Fer quizzically, watching me cooking more deep-fried meat.

"This is food I'm going to save for later. If I fry it and put it in my Item Box then you can eat it any time without waiting for me to cook it."

"Oh, that's a good idea. Make a lot of it."

Yeah yeah, like I'm gonna wait for permission from you. Heh. I won't just make deep-fried food though. For example I've got meat from the Orc Generals to work with so I started cutting up some of that meat into piecess. I thought the smell might revive Fer's appetite but he was already lying on a futon in his stall, half-asleep.

Right then, I heated up just the right amount of oil while I cut up Orc General's meat and marinated it. I did the same with with Rock Bird meat, for chicken-style dishes. OK, let's make fried pork cutlets and chicken cutlets, lots of them.

I cooked and cooked and cooked, then... "Fuuu- finally finished." I put a lot of deep-fried foods, pork cutlets and chicken cutlets in the Item Box. Fer was sleeping soundly in his futon just like Sui in her new leather bag.

Huhu, it's time for grown-ups. A big plate of hot deep-fried meat and crisp-coated cutlets and a premium beer to accompany it. The beer's nice and cold if I buy it direct from the Net Super.

Cold beer and hot fried food, it's the best.

Well ............ *crunch*. The juices flooded my mouth. Deep fried Red Serpent meat is super delicious.

Psssh-, glug glug glug.

"Fuuu-, it's delicious. Fried food and beer, what a combination!"

Next, how about an Orc General pork cutlet? Add some tonkatsu sauce. *crunch*

"Oh, this tastes better than regular Orc meat." Orc General meat is definitely better than ordinary Orc, the meat is firm and the fatty aftertaste doesn't linger. I drank more beer.

"Fu-, Orc General pork cutlet and beer are good together too."

When I looked up, a big round moon hung high in the night sky. It was a much bigger moon than I ever saw in Japan.

"Eating fried food and drinking cold beer in the moonlight, how poetical..." That night, I ate delicious food and drank delicious beer while watching the moon.

Ch 67 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 67 -- Lambert-san's shop

Wen we finally got to Lambert-san's shop it was a bigger and more up-market store than I had expected. When I plucked up my courage and entered Lambert-san was the only one there.

"Ah, Mukouda-san, welcome. I've been looking forward to you coming here."

"Ah, thanks. Uh, Fer's with me, is that okay? "

"Oh, definitely. Please come in." Lambert's shop was big and there was plenty of room to accomodate Fer who immediately curled up in a corner out of the way.

"Well, actually I was thinking of replacing my bag..."

"Well, what kind of bag are you looking for?" Lamber-san inquired.

"Well, I'm looking for something like this shoulder bag and about this size." I showed him the bag Sui was currently sleeping in.

"How about these?" He showed me some shoulder bags. They all looked like messenger bags. The mouth could be opened pretty wide with large flaps so they looked like it wouldn't be a problem for Sui to get in and out. The belt slung on the shoulder was also nice and wide so it wouldn't dig in. I asked Lambert-san what kind of leather they were made from.

"That one is Red Boar leather." he answered. It's a soft leather unlike cowhide, quite dark-coloured. It feels quite comfortable to me but would Sui like it?

Lambert-san showed me another bag. "This is Bloody Horn Bull's leather." Oh, that's a coincidence, they're one of the subjugation requests we just accepted. It felt just as soft as the Red Boar bag but it's made from thicker material. It was a deep black colour.

"And here's one made of Giant Deer leather -" This is a light brown leather, almost beige. It was hard and firm, a bit like tanned cowhide. It looked quite stylish.

Lamber-san went on to show me some other bags, telling me about the materials used for each one. "This bag is made from Sand Snake leather." Sand Snake-skin has beautiful scales peculiar to snakes. I'd like something small like a wallet or something made from this sort of skin, I thought to myself.

He showed me one final bag. "And here's my personal favourite, Black Serpent skin. Black Serpent is a high-ranking demon so it takes a lot of time and effort to tan the skin and finish it properly. Even though the price is high it's very popular. See how it shines. Splendid, isn't it?" Oh, so that's Black Serpent? A scale pattern unique to snakes shimmered over the black leather. Unlike Sand Snake's leather, it was glossy. It was very much luxury goods. I wanted something made of it but maybe not a shoulder bag.

"Lambert-san, everything you've shown me is wonderful. "

"Thank you. I'm proud of the products our craftsmen make. We like to think we're the best. "

"So, what about the price for the bags?"

"The Red Boar bag is 2 gold coins, the Bloody Horn Bull bag is 5 gold coins, the Giant Deer bag - 4 gold coins and 5 silver coins, the bag made from Sand Snake skin would be 8 gold coins and the Black Serpent bag I showed you is 17 gold coins."

I told Lambert that the prices seemed reasonable, well with the exception of the Black Serpent bag. The Sand Snake-skin bag is also expensive, but it seems it costs more here since transportation to this city from the south of the country where Sand Snakes can be found increases the price substantially. Still, it's clearly popular since the scales of this snake are beautiful. The Black Serpent and Sand Snake leather have a sense of luxury, and I feel that it seemed a bit too fancy for a bag I'm going to use all the time to carry Sui around in. Still, for an accessory like a wallet or a purse, maybe...

"Red Boar's leather is low in price and recommended for everyday use. Bloody Horn Bull's leather has a fine black finish and the leather is soft and comfortable to the touch. I'd recommend this if it's a gift for someone special." Lambert-san pointed to the bag made from Giant Deer skin.  "I should add, although Giant Deer leather is stiff to begin with, it will become more flexible as it ages and the color will darken naturally so if you're going to own it for a long time it would be my choice."

Indeed, I personally think the Giant Deer leather is a superb material but it's maybe too hard for Sui. I'd buy it for my own use otherwise. Given that it's for Sui though, it's going to be either Red Boar or Bloody Horn Bull.

"Lambert-san, I-" Sui interrupted me, wriggling in her bag.

 "Ah, hold on Sui," I turned back to Lambert-san. "Can I take my Slime out? It's my contracted monster."

"A- a Slime?" What have you got against Slimes, Lambert-san? You've got a strange expression on your face.

"Well, have a look..." I showed Mr. Lambert-san the contents of my cloth shoulder bag.

"Oh, I see," Lambert-san nodded. "The bag you're buying is for your contracted monster so a soft leather such as Red Boar or Bloody Horn Bull may be better for it, yes?"

"Well, that's what I'm thinking too, so I figure the one to choose which is more comfortable for them should be Sui herself."

I pulled Sui out of her cloth bag and held her up. "Which bag should I buy for Sui?" I asked her. Sui jumped out of my hands and quickly slid into the bag made from Red Boar leather.

"Sui thinks this one is good-"

"Oh, Lambert-san, sorry."

"No, it's okay, is it the Red Boar bag you want then?"

"Yes, please ... Oh, and I'm looking for a sheath for a knife..." I explained to Lambert-san that I wanted a knife sheath that could be hung on a belt.

"Oh, something like this?" Mr. Lambert showed me a sheath on a belt made of Giant Deer leather. "How about it?" I thought it would suit me nicely.

"How much is it?"

"The buckle is very finely made so it will be six gold coins."

On close inspection the buckle was very well crafted as Lambert-san said. It was kinda pricey but I had money to burn right now so what the hell...

"I'll take it too."

"Thank you for your custom."

I was invited by Lambert-san to look around the rest of the store.

"Ah……" My eye fell on a Sand Snake-skin wallet. Oh, that looks nice. Because this world only uses coins and not paper money, it was a simple palm-sized purse to keep coins in. The scale patterns were even nicer than the ones on the bag. I wanted it...

"Do you like it?" Lambert-san was in salesman mode. "Sand Snake-skin obviously. Since it's smaller than the bag it only costs one gold coin and five silver coins." He held it up to the light, showing it off. "The scales are particularly beautiful."

1 gold coin and 5 silver coins? I'll buy it, I'll buy it. "This too, please."

Looking around the inside of the shop, I saw rows of shoes lined up on the shelves.

"You also sell shoes here?" I didn't think they'd sell shoes.

"Yes, because they're leather goods." Lambert-san seemed puzzled that I thought only shoe shops sold shoes.

I've been wearing a pair of cheap leather shoes I bought at a chain store since I came to this world. They were getting worn out from walking on this world's unpaved roads and mountain trails. I could buy sneakers at the Net Super but anyone looking at them would think they're weird. It would be better for me to have footwear from this world. I decided to purchase ankle boots made from Red Boar leather costing 1 gold coin and 5 silver coins.

Lambert-san added up my purchases on a scrap of paper. "A shoulder bag and a belt with a knife sheath, a wallet, boots... that's 11 gold coins..." he smiled and tore up the tally sheet. "For you it's no charge."

"Huh?" Wait, what?

Lambert-san's face grew serious. "Mudouka-sama saved my life. Besides I heard from Rashu-san, I thought that the meal you made for us was premium meat but I didn't know it was Black Serpent and Rock Bird."

"No, that was just what we always eat." I explained. "Really I'm uncomfortable not paying for such fine items."

"I cannot offer you enough for saving my life so accept these gifts please." Lambert-san's eyes gleamed. "Next time you come to buy from my shop you'll pay dearly, I assure you." he laughed.

I gave in. "Thank you, Lambert-san, in that case I will accept your kind gifts." I'd just saved myself 11 gold coins. Lucky. I should save people's lives more often.

"To change the subject, I'd like to discuss some business propositions with you Mukouda-san...." Lambert-san was suddenly in Merchant mode.

"I understand you only hunted a Black Serpent for its meat?" he asked.

"Well yes but it was Fer who hunted it, not me." I pointed at Fer who was sleeping in the corner.

"Would you be willing to sell that Black Serpent to me directly? "

"Well, the Adventurers Guild..." I explained I had already sold it to them.

"Ah, that's unfortunate." Lambert-san sighed. "For monster materials, basically Merchants buy them mostly through the Adventurers Guild but right now there is a shortage of Black Serpent skin.  Buying directly from Adventurers without going through the Guild is something the Adventurers Guild and my fellows in the Merchant Guild frown upon officially but in practice they turn a blind eye to small amounts of trading of that sort. If Mudouka-sama gets anything I particularly desired such as Black Serpent I'd like to buy it from you directly..."

You're asking me to do something that shady, does that mean that Black Serpent skin is in really short supply?

"Are you really so desperate to get hold of Black Serpent skin?"

"Yes. Goods made from Black Serpent skins are popular despite being expensive, but the amount of skins on the market right now is quite limited." Lambert-san's face clouded over.

This pressure is getting really bothersome.

"Saying that it seems that the Adventurers Guild here recently purchased a Red Serpent, an upper-class variant of the high-ranked Black Serpent." Lambert-san went on. "I've worked with Red Serpent skin several times in the past, that stunning leather, it makes me sigh..." The expression on Lambert-san's face is so revealing.

I'm sorry but I feel a little uncomfortable at seeing the obvious lust on his features.

"However," he went on, "There's no way I can afford that Red Serpent skin even when it did come on the market. I heard that the entire skin was bought by the Marquis of Brauer at a considerably inflated price." He sighed. "You know, I'm somewhat envious of him."

Sorry, Lambert-san but I sold that Red Serpent to the Adventurers Guild too.

"Mukouda-san, if you hunt more Black Serpents please consider selling them to me directly. I'll pay more than the regular price you'd get from the Adventurers Guild." Lambert-san reached out to grasp my hand.

"I understand. If you're okay with it, if we get any Black Serpent I'll bring it here first." I said desperately.

After that was agreed I got the items I had purchased (well, they were actually gifts) and we finally made it out of  Lambert-san's shop before he could get me to agree to any more under-the-counter deals.

Ch 66 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 66 -- The Guild Master's Requests

After I put the sacks full of gold coins into my Item Box we discussed the requests the Guild Master was wanting to offer to us.

"Well, we've got two outstanding high-ranked subjugation requests we'd like to offer you. The first is to subjugate a Metal Lizard and the other is the subjugation of a herd of Bloody Horn Bulls."

OK, I understand what he means by Metal Lizard since we just sold one to the Adventurers Guild but what sort of monster is a Bloody Horn Bull? 'Horns dripping with blood' doesn't sound particularly gentle or meek to me. It's called a 'Bull', does that mean it's something like a cow? 'Blood dripping cow'... that's an ominous name to give to a monster.

"The first request is a Metal Lizard. Its territory is at the foot of Pasquale Mountain, about two days carriage ride from here. It was probably attracted by the minerals located there but we've not been able to survey the area properly so we're not sure." The Guild Master explained. "There are mines near this location but since the Lizard moved in they've been temporarily abandoned as the danger it poses is too great. The mine owners have requested the Metal Lizard subjugation. It is worth 238 gold coins." He shrugged. "I have been asking for this request to be dealt with for some time now. No Adventurers of suitable rank were available or they've been busy with other things. I even tried getting the reward increased but there still have been no takers."

A Metal Lizard shouldn't be a problem for us. Fer didn't have any difficulty dealing with the previous one after all. Fer is Da Man.

"The second request concerns a herd of Bloody Horn Bulls which have moved into the grasslands to the west of the city and settled down there. That area was a common monster hunting ground for lower-ranking Adventurers and losing access to it means a lot of them can't easily fulfil their own requests. They've been pushing for the Guild to do something about the herd but our subjugation request still hasn't been accepted by anyone. The reward for hunting them is 324 gold coins."

According to the Guild master a Bloody Horn Bull is about the size of a wild cow with a temperament to match. As their name suggests they gore anyone who approaches the herd with their horns resulting in a bloodbath. A single Bloody Horn Bull is only a B-rank monster but it usually takes four parties of A and B rank Adventurers to subjugate a herd of them since they are very aggressive and act in unison. Truly, herds of other-world cows that stab people with their horns are scary!

"So can you accept these two requests?" the Guild Master finished. Well, he asked me but it wasn't really for me to decide.

"Hey Fer, you heard all that? What do you think, should we accept both of the requests?"

"Of course. I can do both of them easy." Yeah, I guessed you'd say that. I told the Guild Master we'd accept both requests.

"Wonderful. I'm so pleased." he said.

"Bloody Horn Bull? That meat is delicious. I'll go do that request right away." Fer interjected, drooling. It seemed Fer was keen to get started. So he reckons Bloody Horn Bull meat is delicious, is it? I guess if it looks like a cow then it's probably something like beef. I hope so, Orc meat is really tasty and so is the Rock Bird but it's been a while since I ate any beef.

"Ah, can I ask that you deal with the Metal Lizard first, please?" the Guild Master said.

"Huh..." Fer grumped. Hey, the Guild Master asked nicely.

"Let's do the Metal Lizard request first like the Guild Master wants, hey?" I said. "The Bloody Horn Bull herd is living on the grasslands, they're not going anywhere in a hurry. Better to have some fun later." I teased.

"What sort of fun?" Fer asked, intrigued in spite of himself.

"Grilling Bloody Horn Bull steaks, that sort of fun. Interested?" Fer's head came up.

"Oh, that... ohhh..." Fer's drool was now puddling on the floor of the Guild Master's office.

"That's right, you know I can grill meat just the way you like." I'd have to restock on sauces and seasonings from the Net Super beforehand, of course.

"Fuuu, it sounds delicious..." Heh, Fer's love of steak made him easy to manipulate.

"Ah, the Guild will purchase Bloody Horn Bulls, won't you?" I asked.

"Of course we would." the Guild Master confirmed. "As we agreed the meat from any subjugation requests belongs to Fenrir-sama but Bloody Horn Bull meat is premium grade, very tasty and in great demand. The Guild would be happy to buy half of the meat from you at a good price if that's agreeable."

Half of the herd for the Guild, half for us, that sounds reasonable. I don't know how big the herd is but it's got to be more than just a few individuals. Each one's pretty big too so keeping just half of them, that's a lot of meat.

"Right then." said Fer. "Let's go and deal with that Metal Lizard."

"Hang on," I interrupted as Fer rose to his feet and turned towards the office door. "I know you're in a hurry but if we head out now we won't be back before midnight. The city gates will be closed and we won't be able to get back in." Fer stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Let's wait until tomorrow morning then we're sure to be back before nightfall." I explained.

"Nuu, you think so?"

"Yeah I think so. Guild Master, is it OK if we delay subjugating the Metal Lizard until tomorrow?"

The Guild Master looked surprised. "I suppose it's OK but will it only take you a day to do the job?"

"If it's two days carriage ride to Pasquale Mountain then it'll only take Fer and me a few hours to get there. Subjugating the Metal Lizard shouldn't take very long... Hey Fer, how long does it take you to defeat a Metal Lizard?"

"Hmmph, I can deal with mere reptiles like that no problem."

"So- so that's how it is... Fenrir-sama treats an A-ranked monster like it was a common lizard." The Guild master was amazed. "That confidence simply demonstrates his overwhelming and unfathomable power yet again. Our King was wise to extend a hand of friendship to such a being."

Hey Guild Master you wouldn't say things like that so easily if you had to live with him all the time like I do.

"Right then, we'll head off and subjugate the Metal Lizard first thing in the morning."

"Thanks. Please return to the Guild as soon as you've finished the request." the Guild Master said.

"If you'll excuse us..." We left his office and headed downstairs to the Guild's warehouse. Fer would never forgive me if I forgot to collect the meat waiting for us there. Johan had it all ready and I packed an incredible amount of meat into my Item Box before we left the Guild.

"Hey Fer, we've still got time, do you want to stop by Lambert-san's store?"

"Is it that merchant's place?"

"We've got money now and I'd like to replace Sui's bag." I patted the cloth bag Sui was in.

"It's really dirty-looking." Fer acknowledged.

"Well the bag was second-hand to start with and Sui's been living in it for weeks now. It's worn out and dirty so I've decided she deserves a new bag. Lambert-san told us his shop sells leather goods so we'll take Sui along to check out what he's got and we'll buy her the one she finds most comfortable. Even if it's expensive that won't be a problem." Anything for Sui-chan, I won't compromise. "Oh, Fer, if there's anything you want there just say the word."

"The only thing I want is delicious meals, nothing else matters to me." Fer is remarkably easy to please in some ways.

"So you wouldn't like a nice collar then?"

"Grrrr, I'll bite you if you try and put a collar on me..."

"Don't worry, no way I'd even consider doing something like that. Just kidding." Stop growling at me. Can't you take a joke?

Ch 65 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 65 -- Over Two Thousand Gold Coins In My Pocket

The next day when we entered the Adventurers Guild, we were immediately guided to the Guild Master's office by a receptionist. Of course Fer and Sui (inside her bag as usual) were with me.

"First of all, let me give you the C-ranked Guild card I mentioned yesterday." The Guild Master handed me a silver-coloured card which looked different to the G-ranked Guild card I had previously. I thought they'd look the same.

"Well," the Guild Master explained, "the colour changes when there's a big step in rankings, from probationary rank G to rank F for example." The card is this silver colour for all ranks from F to B, but for A and S rank Adventurers the card is a golden colour. A gold card is proof the Adventurer who carries it is an elite. I didn't even know that the color of the card changed at all before it was explained to me.

"Next is the accounting for the items we're purchasing from your good self." the Guild Master went on. "These are high-grade monsters in excellent condition. The Guild will easily find buyers and make a good profit for their parts after dismantling, so we won't charge you for that service." Ah, that's a nice bonus for us.

"I'll start with what you brought to us the day before yesterday." Oh, that would be the Red Serpent and other monsters.

"There are 5 Orc Generals worth 12 gold coins." Other than the meat which we were keeping the Orc General's testicles were the big earners, being one of the ingredients for a strong aphrodisiac.

"Next is three Rock Birds for 24 gold coins." The Rock Bird's materials were the beak and the feathers.

"Next is the Giant Dodo. It had a mana stone, so including that it's worth 33 gold coins." It seems there was a mana stone though it was a B rank monster. Lucky.

"Then there's the Giant Deer. It didn't have a mana stone so it's worth 16 gold coins." No mana stone this time. Ah well, you win some and lose some. The horns and leather skin are the valuable materials this time.

" The A rank Murder Grizzly is worth 87 gold coins." he continued. The fur was in excellent condition as were the liver and the claws. As an A-ranked monster it definitely had a magic stone, larger than usual in fact which boosted the price.

"The A-ranked Black Serpent is worth 88 gold coins." It had been a while since the Guild had a chance to buy Black Serpent so the price was a bit higher than usual. The main materials were the poison sacs, liver, fangs and eyeballs. As an A-rank monster again there was obviously a mana stone and again it was quite big and good quality.

"Lastly the Red Serpent." the Guild Master said. "This is worth 201 gold coins." The Red Serpent is a special variety of Black Serpent. Although it's considered an rank A monster like its counterpart it's stronger than the Black Serpent and it's noticeably more aggressive so it is very difficult to subjugate. It's a monster that only turns up for sale once every few years at the Adventurers Guild.

Like the Black Serpent, the main materials it provided were the poison sacs, liver, fangs and eyeballs plus the skin and its magic stone. The reason it was worth more than than the Black Serpent is that leather goods made with Red Serpent skin are regarded as high-class merchandise and very much in demand. The mana stone was also very large which again raised its value considerably.

"So, the sum of the purchases you brought in earlier is 461 gold coins." The Guild Master looked up from the accounting sheet. "All the meat is in the warehouse, you can collect it when you're ready to leave."

........................ Ah, did you say 461 gold coins? That's a lot more than the last time we sold monsters to the Guild back in Fariel. Fer is the real breadwinner in our little family. Oh well, I'm glad he's working hard because I get to eat well too. The meat he catches is top-quality. Fer can't resist delicious meat after all.

Sui's getting to eat good food too, not just the other-world garbage from my Net Super purchases. I can't say 'no' to cute little Sui after all. I'm helpless. I made a mental note to myself to remember to collect the meat for Fer and Sui from the Guild's warehouse. That's important. I turned my attention back to the Guild Master.

"The rest of the account is payment for the monsters that you brought us yesterday. Happily we found buyers quickly for nearly everything you're selling." The Guild Master had a broad smile on his face. It seemed it was working out to be a very lucrative deal for the Guild.

As Johan-ojisan had said yesterday, nearly every monster in the second batch was A rank or S rank. It seems that few high-ranked monsters are available on the markets so there is a pent-up demand for them when they do turn up.

"Let's go over the explanation of the breakdown of what we brought in addition. First of all, 4 Ogres worth 160 gold coins." Ogre meat is inedible (or so Fer says) but the valuable materials are the horns and skin. The horns are used for various medicines and they sell for a high price. Ogre skin is popular as a basis for leather armor because of its high defensive properties. Unfortunately there were not any mana stones in these four monsters since they were all B ranked.

"The S-ranked Blue Ogre is worth 432 gold coins." A Blue Ogre is a special variant of Ogre as Johan explained yesterday. Again the horns are prized as ingredients for a secret medicine but I don't know the details. The skin will become super-high-class leather armor with both physical and magical defensive power. There was also a mana stone and as expected of an S-rank monster it was very large and of high quality. I was kinda surprised that an ugly brute like this was worth so much even if it was S-ranked.

"Continuing, the Orc King is worth 168 gold coins." Orc King is an A-ranked monster. The meat is apparently super high-class. The Guild Master tried to persuade me to sell them the whole carcass for a good price but I refused politely. Sorry, I can't sell the meat. The important materials other than meat seems to be the testicles, the skin and a magic stone.

It seems that a pregnancy is guaranteed by aphrodisiacs which use an Orc King's testicle as an ingredient. For royalty and aristocrats troubled because of a lack of offspring to succeed them they will pay anything for such items. The skin makes leather armor providing strong physical defense and also sells well. The mana stone was also very big and high quality.

"Next is the Metal Lizard, worth 169 gold coins." the meat of an A-ranked Metal Lizard is poisonous and can't be eaten. The material it provided was its skin, its teeth and a mana stone since it's A-ranked. Its mana stone was again large and high-quality. Although the skin looks like steel, it is actually light and flexible and reputedly it's the best material available for protection against physical attacks. It's especially popular with elite Adventurers, those of A rank and S rank. Metal Lizard teeth will be used to make arrowheads for archers. It seems that such arrowheads have increased penetrating power.

"Next is the S-ranked Lake Shark. This is worth 468 gold coins." The meat smells terrible and can't be eaten, like the Metal Lizard's. The materials it provides are skin, teeth and a mana stone. In this case Johan had only retrieved the mana stone without further disassembling it. The Guild Master smiled. He explained there has already been a lot of offers by various nobles who wanted to buy the complete Lake Shark carcass to preserve it as a trophy.

I suppose if most times a Lake Shark is available to buy it's because of a drought and its lake has dried up, it's got to be quite rare hasn't it? The mana stone is again very large, typical of an S-ranked monster.

"The rest are goblins and since there was a small mana stone in the Goblin King that's 18 gold coins. There's no other materials to be purchased from them though. We will add a separate subjugation fee though." Even the higher-ranked goblins aren't worth much -- a Goblin King is B-rank, a Goblin General is C-rank, a Goblin Mage is D-rank, a Goblin Soldier is F-rank and lesser goblins are, as I was told earlier when I took the original subjugation request ranked G. It seems there are some other higher-ranked goblins like Goblin Knights and Goblin Assassins, both ranked E.

"So," the Guild Master shuffled the papers on his desk, "this second group of monsters is worth a total of 1415 gold coins. Add to that a subjugation fee of 70 gold coins for dealing with the goblin village and the 461 gold coins for the first group of monsters, that makes a total of 1946 gold coins." He bent down and lifted seven heavy sacks from the floor beside his chair and deposited them on his desk with seven heavy thuds.

"Since large gold coins and platinum coins aren't convenient for everyday use, we issue gold coins to Adventurers when we make payments. Is that all right in your case?"

I was stunned. Those bags I was staring at couldn't all be full of gold coins, could they?

"Are you all right?" The Guild Master asked concernedly.

"Is that-- is that really 1946 g-gold coins?"

"Yes. There are 300 gold coins in each sack except for the last one, that's half full with 146 gold coins. Do you want to count them?"

I shook my head violently. "I don't need to, I trust you, Guild Master. I'm just surprised at the amount..." I never thought there would be so much.

"You should know," the Guild master continued, "that amount, 1946 gold coins, is the most we've ever paid out for purchases since the founding of this Guild."

 Oh, is that so? Then again, how many guys like me turn up on your doorstep with such a big lot of monsters to sell? I felt sorry for having done so somehow but they had just accumulated in my Item Box almost by accident. I wasn't really hard up for money either, I just needed the meat. I already had a lot of gold coins from my first sale of monsters back in Fariel and I got a good reward for capturing the bandits. Adding it all up I've got well over 2000 gold coins now. Over 2000 gold coins in my pocket. That's like carrying 200 million yen around in cash. I've never had that sort of money before.

And it's not even my money, not really. I didn't do anything to earn most of it, Fer did nearly all of the monster-hunting while I sat back.  Well OK, a lot of the monsters were the result of me feeding Fer food from the Net Super and revving him up so he rushed off to hunt and burn off some excess energy. The Lake Shark was beaten by Fer's magic too. Heck, most of the lower-ranked goblins at the village were killed by Sui, not me while we were totally safe behind a Barrier Fer had created for us.

Ah well, it only goes to show that Fer is really amazing. It seems that I'm stuck with a certain gluttonous character for a long time to come.

Ch 64 Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi

Ch 64 -- My Personal Cooking Style, Quick and Dirty

So, time to make dinner. The problem is, what? I've only got Rock Bird meat right now so it will have to be something in the chicken line.

Recipes, hmmm I'll go with an old favourite of mine, Szechaun chicken in spicy sauce. Fer will complain if that's all there is so I'll do some stir-fry as well, fried chicken and green peppers. I don't hate peppers like some people do, I like the sharp taste they have. I'll tweak the amounts so there's more meat than normal to keep Fer happy.

First up, shopping at the Net Super. Let's see, tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers and some red and yellow peppers too. They add colour to the dish. I put in my order, not forgetting to buy the most important side-dish, premium beer. I deserved some beer to toast the successful solving of my Guild ranking problem.

Excellent, now to get started with the Szechuan chicken. First I boiled Rock Bird breast in wine and salted water. While the meat was cooling down I sliced the tomatoes and cut the cucumbers into thin strips. I shredded the meat with my fingers then laid lots of it down on a bed of tomato slices and cucumber strips topped off with sesame seed dressing. I cut back on the spiciness since I expected a certain someone to complain otherwise but a simple sesame seed dressing should be fine. I like it anyway... If you want it hotter you can add chili oil with the sesame seed dressing.

On to the stir-fry, chicken with green peppers. I prodded some Rock Bird meat with a fork to open it up a bit then cut it into bite-sized pieces before marinating it in a ziploc bag with soy sauce and sake. I chopped up the peppers to size while the meat absorbed the flavourings.

Once the meat was properly scorched both sides in a hot oiled pan I took it off the heat and added the peppers. Once they softened I added the seasoning, some oyster sauce from a tube then fired it up again and started tossing the contents in the pan until it was ready.

I use a lot of oyster sauce for soups as well as stir-fry and I always keep some on hand. The tubes of ready-made sauce are really convenient and I've been buying them ever since they started appearing on the shop shelves.

I turned out the chicken and green peppers stir-fry onto a dish.

"It's ready," I announced to the waiting audience behind me.

"It's not just meat, is it?" Fer sniffed suspiciously.

"Let's eat it, it's delicious-"

"What's th-... *chomp*... *chomp**chomp**chomp*..." Fer settled down to some serious eating.

Sui's telepathic declaration that "It's delicious, Aruji-" was enough proof for me that the dish was a success. Sui's so cute...

I started on my own helping of Szechaun chicken and green pepper chicken stir-fry accompanied by a beer. The beer was first, of course.

"Psssh," the can foamed a little as I opened it. "Glug glug glug..." as it went down my throat.

"Fuuu, a beer is just the right thing right now." I filled my mouth with Szechaun chicken. Munch munch, yep it's delicious as Sui said. The sesame seed topping has a refreshing taste. I followed it with another mouthful of beer. Nice. Next, some stir-fried chicken, well stir-fried Rock Bird and green peppers which have a nice crisp texture as I expected. The seasonings worked really well and they're so simple, I just add them to the cooking. All praise to the Japanese food industry! I toasted them with another mouthful of beer. It's delicious.

Oh, I forgot to cook rice but I suppose bread will do in a pinch. Lessee, can I put the Szechuan chicken between two slices of bread? Hmmm, munch.  "Oh, that works fine." I worried that the bread would get soggy from the tomatoes but if I eat it quick there's no problem. Hurry hurry... and some more premium beer. My enjoyment of my Szechaun chicken and stir-fry and green peppers and premium beer combo was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Hey, seconds here."

"Sui too-"

Yeah yeah. I've gotten used to their gluttonous demands but I wasn't going to be rushed so I continued enjoying my dinner and my beer while I made seconds for Fer and Sui.

"So? Was it good?" I enquired afterwards.

"It was so-so." grumped Fer. It couldn't have been that bad really, he finished off everything I put in front of him.

"Sui thinks it was delicious-" Ahhh, Sui's so honest. And cute.

"Well, I should get a lot more meat tomorrow so I'll grill some Orc King steak next time."

"If you're grilling steak do it like you usually do." Yeah yeah. Fer really likes steak, especially with soy sauce. Me I'd prefer to cook some curry instead but doing it in an inn, the smell is a bit strong... I guess it'll be a while before I can eat curry again. While I was daydreaming about curry I noticed Fer was stretching and yawning. Eating so much had made him sleepy.

"Move over and I'll put down a futon for you." I ordered, poking him in the side.

"Yeah, do that." Fer settled down as soon as I had laid down a futon in his stall.

"Right, we're going back to our room." Fer wagged his tail in reply, his eyes already closed. He was totally out of it. Shall we go back to our room then, Sui-chan?