Chapter 323

Chapter 323: What did They Bring Back?

Translated by Zzonkedd

Edited by Gumihou and Onionpi

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A day late, sorry.

Gumi was sick…

Members of the [Phoenix] party were shocked by the appearance of a certain Pixie Dragon called Dora-chan.

“This is Dora-chan, he’s a Pixie Dragon who joined my party just after I left Carelina. They are a pretty rare species and yes, this is his adult size. He won’t grow bigger than this. That said, he’s very strong.”

“I-is that so? No, I was just a little surprised that after Fer, you’d actually turn up with a baby dragon.”

“Rush-san, he’s not a baby dragon. Though he is a dragon.”

[9] The other members of the party were muttering among themselves, I heard variations of ‘I really thought it was a baby dragon’ from them. [5]

“Anyway, Mukouda-san. What are your plans after getting this strong?” asked Rush-san.

“Maa, well, it’s not like I have a specific goal or even intention of becoming stronger. Also, it’s not like I deliberately set out to get a dragon as a familiar…”

“Still, a baby dragon…”

““Oi! What’s all this talk about [9] baby dragons? Strength is not about size you know?! [5]””

““Now, now, I know how strong you are. [9] Anyway, showing is better than telling. Why don’t you show them the prey you caught?””

““That’s right! Fuhahahaha! I got a big one today! Hah!!””

““Umu, it was a short but fruitful hunt,””

““Sui pew pew a lot and got lots~!””

“Well, then, shall we have a look?” I said out loud before turning to Rush-san. “Is it alright for me to take a look and see what they caught first?”

“Sure, we’re interested to know too,” said Rush-san to the eager nods from his party members.

I removed the Magic Bag from Fer’s neck to check its contents.

“Woah, that’s a Magic Bag?”

“Yes, we got it from the Avering dungeon.”

Admiring and envious noises came from the party members as they stared at the Magic Bag. [5] This time, the muttered discussion was about trying their hand at dungeon diving for a Magic Bag. [5]

“Ahem, I should say, though. Things like Magic Bags aren’t guaranteed Drops.” [1] I didn’t say that we got it on the final level. After all, it’s a given that the lower you go, the better the rewards. [5]

“Right, I’m going to start now,” I said, [6] feeling a bit like a host at a lucky draw party.

“Ooh, go ahead, go ahead.”

The first thing that came out was-

“A Bloody Horn Bull!”

““Sui pew pew that one~~””

Yes, I can see the holes made by Acid Bullets. [5]

““Sui defeated a lot of Mister Cow because they are delicious~~””

““That’s right, I’m glad you remember this. Well done, Sui!””

““Ehehe~~””

There was a total of 20 Bloody Horn Bulls in the bag. Well. I wouldn’t say no to extra beef.

“It’s quite spectacular to see them all lined up like this…”

“20 Bloody Horn Bulls…” [5]

While they were admiring the cows lying on the grass, I was mostly grateful that we were outside now, with plenty of open space.

After putting the Bloody Horn Bulls away, I reached into the bag again…

“Eh? This feels pretty big, just what…”

The thing that appeared was a lizard-like monster about 5 meters long from head to tail.

“This is…”

“Do you know it, Rush-san?”

“I believe so. I’ve seen it in a book before. It’s probably an S Rank creature. The Gigantic Mimic Chameleon.”

When the peanut gallery heard this, they began screaming their heads off.

Heh, if you’re surprised by this much then you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. [1] These guys hunt dragons for sport after all.

Wait, are chameleons lizards?

[6] Are dragons part of the lizard family?

““How’s that, huh? Awesome, right? I got that one! That cheeky guy tried to eat me so I gave him what he deserved!””

[8] Ahh…

“Did the Fenrir catch this?”

“No, Dora-chan was the one who got it.” [5]

The peanut gallery immediately swung admiring gazes at Dora-chan who puffed up his chest and zipped over our heads.

““Hehehenn~! What do you think of me now, huh? I’m strong, huh?!””

While Dora-chan was basking in the praises, I put the Gigantic Mimic Chameleon away and stuck my hand into the Magic Bag again.

Ooof, looks like another big one. [5]

The thing that came out was a bird creature. It’s mostly eagle-shaped with its hooked yellow beak and black feathers. If it could stand, it would probably be about five meters tall.

““That’s the last one. That Garuda was aiming for the cows that Sui had defeated so I took it down.””

“… …” this time the peanut gallery was strangely silent.

“Uhm, what is it?” I asked them.

[10] “Th-that’s a… Garuda?”

[10] “Oh, er, I, yes? Fer’s the one who took it down.”

“… could Garuda even be hunted?”

[10] “Eh?”

“In the first place, Garudas are rarely seen. We’ve been Adventurers for a long time but we’ve never even caught a glimpse of one!”

[10] Ah, it would appear that the silence has been broken.

“That’s right, that’s right! Moreover, it’s a flying monster! A flying monster that flew at heights where normal attacks cannot be reached!”

“Even if you fight one at ground level, it’s still an S Rank. An S Ranker!”

“What is this insanity…?” [5] [6] I defaulted to my standard answer when confronted by incredulous remarks like these.

“Well, it’s Fer after all.”

All eyes swung over to stare at Fer instead. [6] The majestic, legendary beast stood with his paws neatly placed together and staring into the horizon with an unfathomable gaze, chest puffed up with the pride and arrogance of a top predator.

“… …”

Fer suddenly looked at us, “Hey, enough with that chit chat, I’m hungry. Where’s the food?” [5] [6] And just like that, the spell was broken.

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“This is good,”

Chomp, chomp.

“Awesome,”

“This sauce is just divine.”

“The spicy one is good too,”

The [Phoenix] peanut gallery was gathered around the BBQ stove, grilling meats and playing with fire while Fer, Sui and Dora-chan were making great headway with their pile of meat.

Well, I can’t blame them for loving my grilled meat. Especially when paired with this slightly sweet barbecue sauce.

“When I heard we’ll be eating Rock Bird, I thought ‘Wow, that’s some high-quality meat’ but after seeing the Gigantic Mimic Chameleon and the Garuda… I guess Rock Bird meat must be pretty ordinary to Mukouda-san. If that’s the case, I shall not hold back!”

“Aaa, that’s the spirit, Rush-san. Don’t hold back and eat! Everyone too!”

“Thank you very much,”

“Thanks for the treat!!” came the chorus from the peanut gallery.

Given free reign, the [Phoenix] party ate and ate. [2] I strongly recommended the grilled vegetables too, however, everyone was obviously more interested in the meat.

Fer & Co. had their multiple ‘seconds’, of course.

In the end, only Sui and I ate the vegetables. [2] These guys were the ones missing out though. The sweet paprika and asparagus were only seasoned with salt, olive oil and pepper but they were very delicious. The corn, grilled whole, were plump and yellow once the charred leaves were taken off.

Not long after that…

“Aahhh, I’m so full~~” people from the [Phoenix] party leaned back on the grass, stroking their bulging bellies with satisfaction.

“Umu, as expected, savoury grilled meats are the best.”

““Ahh, I’m so full~!””

““Sui is full too~~ Meat is really delicious~~””

Every single scrap of meat had been eaten up. [1] As the chef, it felt really gratifying to have my food eaten up like this.

[6] While everyone was recovering from their food coma, I cleaned everything quickly and efficiently.

“Alright, shall we return to the city?”

“We should,” [7] said Rush-san as he reluctantly rolled to his feet. “However, I’m not sure if we could make it before the gates close. What about camping here for the night? We could return in the morning.”

“No, I think it should be fine. Sui, would you please carry these people?” [5]

““Yes~~””

[9] “Wait, are you speaking to your Slime? But-”

Sui suddenly expanded in size, causing the [Phoenix] party to jump back in shock.

“Alright, please climb on top of Sui, we can return to the city faster this way.

[6] The peanut gallery suddenly began twittering again.

“Eh? Ride this Slime?”

“This Slime, it suddenly grew big…”

“Just what is this Slime exactly?”

“This Slime is awesome.”

“Well? Go on,” I said with some impatience. Meanwhile, I got on Fer’s back as usual.

[6] As expected, this way of acting as though everything was perfectly normal was the best way to get people to go along with whatever is happening. [6] Rush-san gave me an amused look as he climbed aboard but that was it.

“Alright, time to return!”

We proceeded to move very rapidly over the plains.

[6] Fer moved faster than Sui, taking the lead back to the city. I could hear excited shrieks from the peanut gallery shouting at each other about how fast Sui was going, how comfortable the ride…

Anyway, we managed to reach the city before the gates closed. [5]

“Mukouda-san, your familiars sure are something else,” said Rush-san as he slid off Sui and came over to admire Fer and Dora-chan.

“Ah, well…”

“It’s true, it’s true!”

[6] There goes the peanut gallery again.

“Being a tamer sure is awesome, you think I should try for it?”

“Idi~ot, you can’t just switch over just because you want to, you need to have the talent for it.”

“How great it is to have powerful familiars like this…”

[5] “Ignore them, and thank you for the ride,” said Rush-san. [5]

“Haha, see you later!”

We parted ways with the [Phoenix] party after that.

I seemed to have forgotten something though.

Oh right, I haven’t done an [Appraisal] on the two new monsters to check if they were edible.

Maa, well, I guess I can just do it when I get home.

[Gumihou: Deleted a lot of dialogues today. Mostly reiteration of ‘Wow, awesome! Awesome!’ Or ‘That’s right, yummy! Yummy’ from the peanut gallery]

[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs

[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs

[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue

[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue

[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information

Deleted a lot of pointless and unnatural dialogues from members of the [Phoenix] party other than Rush.

Gumi just relegated them to ‘peanut gallery’.

[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose

[7] Add Dialogue Tag

[8] Creative Licence Taken

[9] Baby dragon jokes – I think it was meant to be funny but the delivery was a bit… anyway, fixed.

[10] Logistics issue. Fer is talking through telepathy but the author acted as though the others could hear him. I prefer not to be ambiguous about these things.