Soon, the nostalgic lines of Carelina town came into view.
âWeâre almost there,â I said.
Willem-san, who had remained pale-faced throughout the ride back on GG Airways was muttering, âCome on⦠come on⦠let me down quicklyâ¦â
At least he did not faint this time. I think Willem-san had more or less gotten over his fear of flying, but was unfortunately the type who is not good with air travel.
âWe are about to land,â Grandpa Gon announced.
I swear, Willem-sanâs face actually turned green when the air pressure changed as Grandpa Gon suddenly descended. Soon, a thump and a slight shake signalled that we had landed.
Willem-san immediately sprang up and practically skated down Grandpa Gonâs body to flop face down on the ground.
âI-itâs Carelina! Iâm finally back at Carelina!â
It was kind of sad and embarrassing to see him screaming with his hands in the air, as though thanking the gods for something.
âMy feet are now on the ground⦠*sob* I have never felt so secure in my lifeâ¦â he suddenly turned towards me. âI shall never ride on a dragon ever again!!â
I scratched my cheek and muttered, âWell, for your sake, I guess itâs best not toâ¦â
âRight!â Willem-san stood up straight. âOnwards to the Adventurerâs Guild!â
âHey, I havenât even been home yetâ¦â I said lamely and was met with Willem-sanâs glare.
âYou⦠do you know how much I have put up thus far??!â
[1] âItâs not like itâs all my faultâ¦â I muttered, mostly under my breath.
[1] âKuuhh⦠fine! I know this! But, you should understand my position too! I have done my best to be understanding, but⦠as a guild master, it is my duty to find out as much as I can about what you know! I know that you have given me the outline of what happened, but please, please, for the love of all that is holy and good, by the Goddesses of Water, Fire, Earth and Wind, come with me to the guild for a proper report! Youâre not the only person who wants to go home, you know?â
[1a] âAh, well,â if someone like Willem-san who had been suffering from airsickness and the unreasonableness of my familiars⦠I guess the least I should do is give my report properly. âI could stop by the Guild firstâ¦â
Naturally, this suggestion caused a cacophony of complaints from the other side. The Gluttonous Quartet began to complain, chief of the complaints being âIâm hungryâ, âfood!â and âmeat!â.
âHey, I have to do this first. Weâll have a steak feast later, okay?â
[1b] There was a collective âYay!â punctuated by various degrees of âumuâ, but I was already heading towards the Guild with Willem-san. Steaks, well, itâs not too difficult to cook a whole bunch of steaks at once with six working stoves and a large oven. Not to mention, I could adjust the flavour with store-bought sauce, so it was not too bad.
My main concern was how long the interview would takeâ¦
Trudge, trudgeâ¦
I-Iâm exhaustedâ¦
It was late afternoon when we arrived at Carelina via GG Airways. Soon after we landed, Willem-san escorted me to the Adventurerâs Guild and proceeded to interrogate- no, question me- um, request for my view- no, it was an interrogation, wasnât it? An actual interrogation!
Part way through the interrogation, I was given a brief respite to feed my familiars because they were getting very noisy. I guess I could have gone home then, [1a] but there was this odd look of desperate craziness in Willem-sanâs eyes that made me reluctant to say anything when he âhintedâ for the interview to continue.
When we were finally released from the Guild, it was already pitched black outside.
[2] âOi, youâre too slow. Iâll-â
[2] âFer, if you touch me now Iâm going to be very angry,â
[2] âErk, but-â
[2] âIâm so exhausted now that I would just fall off your back and die. Do you want to see me dead, Fer? That would be the end of all your food. In fact, I donât care if I die now. So, go ahead if you dare.â
ââSui be Arujiâs ride~?ââ
âAh, uhâ¦â
It was tempting. So tempting. However, I must resist the urge because what would people think if a huge Slime suddenly appeared within the city and rumours of my sweet Sui devouring people began to spread?
Aahhh, I have no choice but to slowly walk home.
Uuhhh, homeee⦠home is finally within sighttttâ¦
âAh, welcome back, Mukouda-san~â
âWelcome back,â
The ones looking after the gate tonight were Tabitha and Bartel.
âI- Iâm home~~â
âMukouda-san, you looked exhausted, are you alright?â asked Tabitha kindly.
âAah, all kinds of things happenedâ¦â
âI see, please rest well tonight,â she nodded gravely as she opened the gate. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âIâll do that, thank you. Thatâs right, Iâll be visiting everyone the day after tomorrow. I have some souvenirs from the Royal Capital. So do let them know.â
âOf course, Mukouda-san.â
âSouvenirs? Surely it canât be anything better than Mukouda-sanâs liquor,â Bartel muttered.
I wasnât sure whether I was supposed to overhear that, but letâs ignore that alcoholic Dwarf.
After leaving Bartel and Tabitha to their duties, I made my way to the main house and flopped down on a chair.
âAhh⦠Iâm exhausted.â
âOi, whereâs the Steak Feast?â asked Fer.
I blinked.
An excited Fer was wagging his tail in front of me. Behind him, Grandpa Gon, Dora-chan and Sui were practically vibrating with anticipation.
Steak Feast? Wait, why are the words capitalised⦠thatâs right, I promised to make them as many steaks as they could eat just to go and be interrogated at the Adventurerâs Guild.
â⦠â¦â
[1] Thinking back, that was an incredibly foolish action.
I was thrown into a panic by Willem-sanâs very stressed-out face and made a reckless snap decision. Haahhh⦠I wonder if I could convince them to let me off with some quick rice bowl dish?
âA Steak Feast, huh? If possible, Iâd like to have Dragon Steaks, but since we donât have many left⦠umu, Leviathan would be good too. Maybe some Gigantic Minotaur meat, and some Dungeon Beef and Pork.â
ââHey! Thatâs a great idea! Letâs have a steak extravaganza with loads of different types of meat! Oh, we should have Cockatrice meat too, so that we could better enjoy the deeper flavours of other meats!â
âHaving several different kinds of meat at once, what a compelling idea.â
ââMeat~! Meaty meat~! Yay~!!ââ
These carousing carnivorous quartetsâ¦
I canât look at them anymore.
âYeah, Iâm just⦠going to go and grill up some steaks,â I muttered.
As I made my way towards the kitchen, I could still hear the conversation floating towards me.
âHey Fer, since weâre running out of dragon meat, shall we go and hunt more?â said Grandpa Gon.
âOf course, but the issue is their scarcity.â
ââYeah, we were already quite lucky to encounter the Earth Dragon and Red Dragon,ââ said Dora-chan.
âHmm, I know an area where a Green Dragon had made its territory. We can go and collect it anytime.â
ââOh? A Green Dragon? Those are fairly rare, I have only seen them twice thus far,ââ said Dora-chan.
âThose fellows⦠they are said to be some of the stupidest of the dragon species. They are also extremely territorial and hated by others,â said Fer.
âThey are arrogant against beings they deem weaker than themselves, but when they encounter more powerful creatures, they shut themselves away or hide,â said Grandpa Gon knowledgeably.
âUmu, letâs hunt them down. We would be doing the world a favour.â
I could just hear the smirk in Ferâs voice.
ââHey, if they hide away from creatures that are stronger than them, would we have to hide our presence when hunting them?ââ asked Dora-chan.
âHoho, thatâs fine. I know exactly where that fellowâs hideout is. I left it alive as a special future treat for myself~â
ââDragon~? Dragon meat~?ââ
âIndeed, Sui, we shall be hunting dragons soon.â
ââYay~~!!ââ
â⦠â¦â
Lalala~ I heard nothing~!
Lalala~ look at all this wonderful meat~! Letâs throw some Cockatrice into the oven for grilling~ No, wait, letâs make a roast too! Ahh, Iâm so busy~
Uwaahh~ smoke got into my eyes!
Iâm tearing up!
Sob.
[Gumihou: Poor Mukouda-san~]
[1] Add details to make it so that Mukouda is not so pushover-like
[1a] Instead of Mukouda being intimidated into doing what Willem-san wants, have him do it out of pity
[1b] Instead of âoh noes, I have to grill so much steaksâ, itâs just another chore to get through, like, whatever, so annoyingâ¦
[2] Expand the scene instead of âFer did thisâ
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