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Chapter 360

「……Hm? Why have we stopped here?」

Rei muttered when he felt the speed of the carriage slow down as they made their way back to Gilm after completing the Bicorn subjugation request.

Looking out the window, it was clear that the carriage was about to stop as the changing scenery was also slowing down.

However, Marka, who was sitting opposite Rei, crossed her arms as if to say ‘of course’.

「It’s already past noon, so why not? It’s time for lunch.」

「……Oh, that’s right.」

Rei was somewhat convinced before tilting his head in confusion.

If they were going to eat lunch, they should have just eaten where they had killed the herd of Bicorns. Rei didn’t have an accurate time keeping device, but it had definitely been close to noon at that time already.

You could say there was a possibility that other monsters would attack them after being attracted by the smell of the Bicorns’ blood, but if Set didn’t hide his presence as a Griffon, the only monsters they would need to be concerned about would be the ones that were either too powerful or too stupid to sense the difference in strength.

However, Rei’s question was answered by Coan, who spoke with a small smile.

「It’s not uncommon for adventurers to eat in places where there is a smell of blood. I’m sure it’s the same for guild staff like Residence-san. Judging from the way he moves, he’s probably a former adventurer. However, it would be quite cruel to expect the same from nobles. I also don’t want ojou-sama to have to eat in such a place.」

「You’re right, it would certainly be impossible.」

Maybe Daska, the lord of Gilm, might also have eaten in such an environment with other adventurers. As Rei thought about that, he considered the three nobles they were working with this time and immediately understood.

(Marka doesn’t seem like she care’s too much about it. Orkide is one of those people who hates doing troublesome things, so he probably wouldn’t even bother to move somewhere else. Then, the problem is Alnicht? But, that’s only if it’s really his true personality.)

Rei had previously conversed with Alnicht, who had always treated the test participants, including Rei, with a condescending tone and attitude. However, from Rei’s point of view, he didn’t seem to be the same type of noble as the ones who had tried to mess with him so many times before.

More than anything, the decisive factor was that Set wasn’t wary or put off by Alnicht.

「Come on, let’s get out. The others are probably waiting for us.」

Rei got out of Marka’s carriage and saw Roble, Stee and Ons standing near Residence.

「Well, this is fine, please go ahead. I will take care of ojou-sama.」

「Hmph, Coan, don’t treat me like a kid.」

「That said, ojou-sama is still young.」

「……I just look young, I am not a childish person. Well, that is fine, Rei should go over first.」

At Marka’s urging, Rei walked over to Residence, who was probably waiting for him come over. Seeing Rei arrive, Residence gave a small nod before speaking.

「Well then. I’m sure you’ve all heard in your carriages, we’ll be having lunch now. You’ll have to cook a meal for the rest of us, including me.」

「……Hah?」

As expected, Roble let out a dumbfounded voice at Residence’s words.

Next to him, Stee seemed to be pondering over something with a complex expression, but she eventually spoke up and asked Residence.

「This, is this lunch related to the rank up test?」

「You can consider it as such. As you all know, when you reach B rank, there might be cases where you will work together with nobles. It’s fine if the noble has brought a cook with them, but that’s not always the case. If you can’t cook a single meal as the adventurer with them, it’s not good for you.」

「Wait, wait, wait, wait. Then why can’t we just give them some preserved food like dried meat or baked bread?」

Roble’s words indicated he didn’t want to have to indulge the nobles, but Residence shook his head slightly.

「The aristocracy isn’t used to eating that kind of preserved food. It might not go down well with their bodies and they could fall sick. To prevent that, it’s better to serve cooked dishes to some extent. Regarding this, the more you can provide, the better.」

Having said that, since they had been told that this was part of the test, Rei and the others couldn’t afford to cut corners.

「Just in case, I have a large amount of cooked food in my item box, I assume I can’t use that?」

「If it was just you, that would be fine, but this time it’s a test for everyone. The only things you can use as part of this test are the ingredients you brought along for the test and the Bicorn meat.」

「If I’m not allowed to use my item box, then what about everyone’s belongings that I’ve stored inside it?」

「I’ll allow you to use them. In the first place, those could just have been brought along in the carriages. Any other questions?」

Having his idea of serving pre-cooked food from the item box rejected, Rei raised his hand and asked another question.

「I understand that directly serving cooked food isn’t allowed, but what about seasonings then?」

「……That’s true, they don’t take up much space so it wouldn’t be strange for an ordinary adventurer to carry some around. No problem, I will allow anything other than pre-cooked food and ingredients that were not bought for the test. Anyone else have any questions?」

No one else spoke at Residence’s question.

Roble hadn’t considered at all that cooking would have been part of the rank up test while Stee immediately though about what she would have to take care of as the cook, worrying over what to make. Ons, as usual, kept his expressionless face and didn’t say anything in particular.

「All right, let’s get to work. However, you only have one hour to cook.」

Saying that, Residence went back over to Marka and the others.

Seeing him leave, Stee immediately ccalled out to Rei.

「Rei, sorry to hurry you right away, but what seasonings do you have?」

「There’s a lot of basic stuff like salt, pepper, sugar and some herbs. I also have some sauce for skewers.」

「Is there anything we can use for cooking? Aside from the food and ingredients that were banned?」

「Let me see……」

After worrying for a few seconds as he looked through the Misty Ring’s list in his mind……he eventually found something and smiled.

「How about this?」

As he said that, Rei took out a sheathed dagger with multiple blue gems embedded in it.

「A dagger? Was that the one you used for the Bicorns……oh right, I’m sorry, but could you take out a Bicorn first? I don’t have much time, so I need to prepare it. Roble, Ons, please dismantle the Bicorn. As for the materials……」

「Well, I’m the one who got the most Bicorns, so I’ll supply the one we’ll use for cooking.」

「Thank you. In that case, please strip the Bicorn’s materials as well. Make sure to take care of the skin and magic stone.」

「Yeah, I understand. I got it.」

「……」

Roble nodded with motivation at Stee’s request. Ons nodded silently as well.

The two of them dragged the dead Bicorn that Rei had taken out from the Misty Ring a short distance away and started dismantling it immediately.

「Sorry I interrupted you. So, what’s with the dagger?」

「It’s a magic dagger ccalled Dagger of Flowing Water. It’s a magic item that can be used to make water. ……Here, drink some.」

Rei used the Dagger of Flowing Water to pour some water into a wooden cup he had taken out of the Misty Ring before handing it over to Stee.

Although she was a bit suspicious, she took several sips after receiving it……

「-!? T-This is……delicious. This water is amazingly delicious.」

「I was told I can’t take out cooked food, but I’m not forbidden from using magic items. How about we use this water to make soup or something?」

「That’s true. ……We could do that.」

Muttering the same words to herself, Stee eventually shook her head.

「We definitely could use this water. However, considering that it’s so unusually delicious, I think it would overwhelm the ingredients, even in soup. In that case, I think it would be better to serve it as just drinking water.」

「Is that so? Well, Stee is a better cook than me, so if you say so then I guess it’s so.」

「As for the soup, I’ll just use plain drinking water to make it. Bicorn meat and……vegetables are a problem. I’ve got some dried ones with me. Rei, could you bring my stuff out?」

Hearing Stee’s words, Rei took out two bags from the Misty Ring.

Stee took out another bag from inside one of them.

Inside that bag were several kinds of dried mushrooms, which she planned to use to make a soup.

She also took out some salted and dried vegetables, meat and nuts as she thought of other dishes.

As she did that, Rei gathered some nearby dead wood and used magic to start a fire before heading over to Roble and Ons, who were dismantling the Bicorn.

「How is it?」

「You can tell just by looking… We’re almost done.」

Roble replied to Rei snappily.

It was probably because he had seen his lover, Stee, get along well with Rei as they discussed the lunch menu, at least from Roble’s perspective.

However, Rei was insensitive to such matters and didn’t notice the reason for Roble’s grumpiness and just shook his head slightly as he looked at the dismantled Bicorn.

It had already been skinned and the internal organs had been removed. The magic stone had also been taken out from its heart.

Now, they were in the process of carving up meat. It could be said that their skill was outstanding to be able to get this far in less than 10 minutes.

「Gurururu~」

Next to them, Set gave a cry as he ate some of the raw Bicorn meat that was given to him by Ons.

「Set, don’t eat too much.」

Although Rei said that, he didn’t stop Set and let him continue to do as he wanted.

「Roble, bring me the meat! We don’t have much time, so I’ll start cooking a simple dish!」

「Okay, I’ll bring it over right away.」

Hearing Stee’s voice as she prepared the soup on the fire Rei had lit up earlier, Roble carried a chunk of Bicorn thigh meat over as he took a look at Rei with a proud expression before moving on.

「……What?」

However, Rei had no idea what Roble’s actions were supposed to mean as he just looked back with a confused expression.

「……」

Next to Rei, Ons cut off a piece of shank meat that was too tough to eat with the short cooking time available before looking at him.

「Anything wrong?」

「Can I give this meat to Set?」

Rei nodded at the sound of Ons’ voice, which he hadn’t heard for a long time.

Seeing that, Ons gave Set the piece of shank meat with his usual expression, but with a slight smile at his mouth.

「Guru~, Gururururu~!」

The meat was still raw, but Set’s beak shredded through it, even if it was a little tough.

Piece by piece, Set’s beak sliced through the meat and in the blink of an eye, the Bicorn’s shank meat and four legs disappeared into Set’s stomach.

About 30 minutes later……the food was ready.

「Now that the food is ready, it’s time for lunch!」

Hearing Stee’s voice, Rei, Set and Ons, who had been feeding Set, went over to her.

As for the Bicorn meat that was dismantled, it had all been stored back into the Misty Ring, except for the parts Roble had taken away in several trips and the parts Set ate. It was the same for the materials such as the magic stone and skin that had been stripped from it.

「……Wow, it is unexpectedly more than I expected. According to what Coan told be before, the food that is usually brought along on requests would be things like dried meat and baked bread, food that prioritised preservation over taste.」

Mark spoke in admiration when she saw the food that was served.

「That’s right. This time is only because we had the Bicorn’s monster meat and some food I had bought before leaving the city.」

Coan reached for a Bicorn skewer as he explained to Marka.

「However, as a noble, it isn’t very appropriate to ask us to sit on the ground to eat. And, the food is very simple compared to what is served at home.」

「Well, don’t say that. You can’t blame them as they are cooking outside the city in the first place. It’s also quite welcome considering you don’t need to worry about all that troublesome etiquette and manners.」

Alnicht frowned slightly as he reached for the soup, but Orkide just smiled happily that he didn’t need to worry about all the troublesome table manners as he reached out to the skewers.

There were three dishes prepared by Stee, grilled Bicorn skewers, Bicorn meat soup and dried vegetables as well as edible wild grasses, that grew around the area, with baked bread, which couldn’t be helped considering how long it could last.

As for the skewers, various portions of Bicorn meat was used, such as loin, thigh, belly and fillet. Normally, meat would taste better after marination, but the various portions used as well as the variety of seasonings used were a delight to the palate.

And above all……

「Delicious! W-What is this water? I have never drank water that has tasted this good before!?」

Alnicht shouted out as he drank his glass of water.

Yes, it was the water made with Rei’s Dagger of Flowing Water.

The dagger had the ability to change the taste of the water depending on the amount of magic power that was put into it and it was water made with Rei’s enormous amount of magic power. The water wasn’t just plain water anymore and had already become tasty enough that it could be considered its own dish.

It was as good as the grilled skewers and soup.

Like that, they all enjoyed Stee’s cooking and Rei’s water. Although Stee was shocked to hear that the water tasted better than her elaborate cooking, they were able to finish their lunch without any issues.