Eguchi Ren: I wonder who made that strange sound, lol~
âEveryone, itâs been a while!â
The nostalgic faces of Werner, Ramon, Vincent, Rita and Franca warmed something inside of me and I grinned at them. âAre you here for the special project?â
âYes,â said Werner-san. âWell, we happened to be at the Royal Capital anyway.â
âWhen we heard Mukouda-sanâs name, we couldnât stay away,â said Ramon-san with a smile.
âWoah, thanks, everyone!â
âSpeaking of whichâ¦â Werner-san looked past me at Grandpa Gon. The others were also staring a little openly at my latest familiar.
âWell, this and that happened. Hahaha,â I said a little awkwardly.
âTo make an Ancient Dragon your familiar, Mukouda-san is too amazing! Astounding! Incredible!â Vincent gushed.
I coughed, âWell, he joined for the same reason Fer didâ¦â
There was no point hiding this. Rather, I hoped that these people would at least be a little more understanding than most.
âIndeed, there is nothing better than Masterâs meals,â said Grandpa Gon.
âUmu, agreed,â said Fer.
âWoah, it could talk!â Rita cried.
âAh, everyone, this is Grandpa Gon,â I said, quickly taking the initiative to introduce Grandpa Gon to the first group of Adventurers that I had ever contracted with.
Everyone from the [Iron Will] scooted away to huddle together for a moment. Vincent was the first to come back to say, âHey, um, didnât Fer-sama say that he fought with an Ancient Dragon before? Could it beâ¦â
Woah, you still remember that?
âThatâs right, I distinctly remember that!â
âUmu, you are right. We have a temporary truce for now,â said Fer.
âThough it pains me to agree, it is so,â said Grandpa Gon.
âWoah! Team Fenrir and Ancient Dragon! Thatâs so super powered!â Vincent squealed.
ââOi! Oi! Us too!ââ
ââSui too~! Sui too~!ââ
âWow, thatâs right~! Mukoudaâs small dragon and slime are awesome too!â
âThey arenât as strong as Fer or Grandpa Gon, but they are very strong together,â I said, thinking back to how they had each taken out S Class monsters by themselves.
âSo, everyoneâs here because they like Mukouda-sanâs food?â asked Rita.
âWellâ¦â I said.
âThatâs so great, to be able to eat Mukouda-sanâs cooking every day is so greatâ¦â
Ramon-san smacked the drooling Rita on the head, âIdiot child, we are not low-ranked Adventurers who only think with our stomachs.â
âThatâs right, you make it sound like we donât feed you at all,â said Werner-san.
âBut, eating regular food and eating Mukouda-sanâs food are completely different things! Mukoudaâs cooking is amazing~â
Vincent nodded vigorously from the side.
âWhen I heard that Mukouda-san was at the Royal Capital, I was hoping to bump into him at the Adventurerâs Guild, but I never saw himâ¦â Vincent said with a pout.
âSorry, sorry,â I felt a little apologetic to these fellows. Especially since I decided to stay away from the Guild for fear of meeting that one annoying guy.
We still ended up meeting that annoying guy though.
âYouâre just aiming for Mukoudaâs food, arenât you?â said Franca-san exasperatedly.
âN-no way! Ritaâs the one whoâs always drooling and talking about how she wished she could eat Mukoudaâs food.â
âLies! I never drooled!â
âHah! Youâre doing it now! Drool is still hanging off your lips!â
âYou twoâ¦â Franca-san glared at the two quarrelling people.
âStop it,â said Ramon-san.
The two stopped arguing, but the sideway glares continued.
I guess this is the âget along so well that they argueâ kind of relationship?
âApologies for the disturbances,â said Werner-san.
âNo, no, Iâm happy that everyoneâs still pretty much the same as when I first met them,â I said with a laugh.
âHaha, thatâs right. Vincentâs still greedy and Ritaâs just as noisy as before.â
âLeader!?â
âOho, your ears are still as good as ever,â
Everyone from the party laughed except Vincent and Rita, who pouted. Well, I may have pouted a little myself. It must be nice to have party mates who got on so well together like this.
âOh yes, speaking of which, our party did change, Mukouda-san.â
âOh?â
âIndeed, we are a B Rank party now.â
âReally! Goodness, congratulations!â
âThank you,â
âHohoho, which is why we are allowed to participate in this mission,â said Ramon-san.
Oh, so B Rankers are considered âhigh-rankâ?
âWe must celebrate!â
Once the Leviathanâs been dismantled and everything has settled down, I must treat them to a good meal at a nice restaurant. There must be lots of great restaurants at the Royal Capital, right?
âYes, yes, yes! I want Mukouda-sanâs delicious food!â Rita yelled.
âOu! Agree!â Vicent cried.
âEh? Donât you want something else? I mean, Iâm sure my skills canât be compared to the restaurants hereâ¦â These places serve the elite rich, after all.
âNo way! Iâve eaten at some of these so-called high-end restaurants, but Mukoudaâs food is the one that remains with me!â said Vincent.
âMukouda-sanâs food is the best!â Rita agreed.
Ehhhh? Really? Have I ever served them anything expensive like Wyvern meat? It canât be. The first thing I served them was bread and soup, and then⦠I canât really remember but it had to be some random food I had prepared for my familiars.
Even so, Vincent and Rita were looking at me with pleading eyes.
Please stop looking at me like that.
âWell, if you really want my home cookingâ¦â
âYes!!â
âAwesome!!â
Vincent and Rita both had their arms in the air as though they had won something. Iâm not sure whatâs happening, but Iâm glad they seemed happy?
âMukouda-san, please accept my apologies for these guysâ immature behaviour,â said Werner-san.
âAh, no, no, Iâm flattered that they think my humble cooking is delicious. Hahaha.â
We chatted a little while longer until the summons came for the high-ranking Adventurers to gather.
More and more people gathered.
Eventually, I was called away by the higher-ups. After waving goodbye to the [Iron Will], I made my way to meet with Bram, the Royal Capital Guild Master.
âCould you bring out the Leviathan?â he said.
I hesitated for a moment. There were too many people around me. Considering the size of the creature, the moment I reveal the size of my [Item Box], I would pretty much out myself as someone who was summoned through the [Hero Summoning Circle]. Who knows what would happen to me then?
âOi, what are you doing? Hurry up!â
âIs there a problem, Master?â
ââAruji~?ââ
ââHey, donât tell me youâre being shy for some reason now?ââ
I sighed, âI guess itâs too late to worry about it.â n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The main reason why I had been keeping my skills under wraps was to avoid being exploited. The last thing I wanted was for people to force me into churning out goods through [Net Super] and⦠well, I donât want to reveal my so-called âHeroâ status because I donât want to be tracked down by those greedy people who summoned me.
Come to think of it, that country had been crushed and taken over by the Demon Lord, right?
So, I guess I donât have to worry about being exposed as a âHeroâ anymore. Not to mention, whoever wants to exploit me would have to go through not only Fer, but Grandpa Gon and the rest of my familiars⦠good luck with that!
âOi!â
What was I thinking? Iâm being exploited now!!!
âHaahhhhh⦠fine, fine, Iâm doing it now,â I grumbled as I summoned up my [Item Box] and rummaged for the Leviathanâs head. Once the head was out⦠oh, wow, it looked super pathetic with its head like thatâ¦
After making sure the rest of the body followed after the head, [1] I moved away from the head, allowing the rest of the body to flow out of the [Item Box]. It was⦠actually quite a long walk. I think I walked for close to five minutes without stopping. Itâs not like I can just let the creature pour out of my [Item Box] as usual due to its humungous size.
I avoided looking at the crowd.
Iâm sure most of them had their mouths hanging open from the sheer size of the thing.
Even the Adventurers were staring at the Leviathan in shock.
âOhoooooo!!!!!â
Suddenly, with a weird indescribable cry, something leapt out of the crowd and attached itself to the body of the Leviathan with a splat.
âLeviathannnn!!! A real Leviathannn!!!â
I walked a little faster.
The tail part should be out soon.
I am totally not walking away from Elland-san!
[Gumihou: Eh, adjusted some little stuff to make things a bit more exciting.]
[1] Added detail re how to get the super long and big creature out from the [Item Box]
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