Chapter 73

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.