Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Scolding and a Whole Bunch of Food

“Are . . . . . I’m alive?”

Coming to, I find myself on top of the bed in my room.

Teacher is sitting next to me with a gloomy expression on his face. The crease between his eyebrows is deeper than usual. (TL: like an ‘grave’ expression or something like that)

“Ah, Teachers. Good morning.”

“Aah, Good Morning. How is your body?”

His voice sounds like he’s in a pretty bad mood. I’m a bit nervous.

“Um? There’s nothing wrong with my ‘immortal’ body”

“If there’s nothing wrong, then that’s fine. Now then, time for you scolding.”

Eh!? WHY?

“Why didn’t you run away?”

Teacher asks this in a deeper, heavier voice.

It’s a bit scary. Seriously?

“Eh, because I thought I’d be able to fight it . . . . “

“Do you not realize how fragile your body is? Since it was too dangerous to learn martial arts and [Body Strengthening], you have run away.”

This may be the first time Teacher has yelled at me since coming here.

Seeing me slightly-frightened, Teacher stops admonishing me in a low-toned voice.

“Yuuri, your body breaks at even the slightest touch. . . It’s truly as fragile as glass. You shouldn’t be thinking of getting into a fights intentionally.”

“B-but as long as I have Accel Boost, I mean [Body Strengthening]. . . . .”

“I developed that technique to compensate when fighting at distances I’m not particularly good with. It’s not all that well suited for you with your all-around low basic abilities.”

In battle, both techniques and experience are of course important, but having several areas of high ability (stats) is also needed.

The strength to wield a weapon, the speed to make defensive movements, the dexterity to land hits. . . . .

Certainly. Since Teacher already has high basic stats, further strengthening his abilities should be able to make him good at close-quarters fighting. But with basic stats all at 1, I wouldn’t be able to do the same.

For that reason, I came up with the plan to use speed, but. . .

“B-But. . . . I come back to life. Even if it’s dangerous, I . . . “

“That doesn’t mean you should expose yourself to unnecessary danger. Not only that, but in a magic depleted state, can you truly say for sure that you’ll come back to life?”

Oh yeah. That was the first time I had run out of magic.

“Magic depletion . . . . . that was magic depletion? That was the first time I experienced it”

“I told you that body strengthening was a double edged sword. Even if you call is one of God’s Miracles, it’s not something that can be activated freely, you know!”

“Are you talking about Gifts?”

“Gifts activate by taking in its possessor’s magic. However, this only applies to some gifts, and these gifts really only use up a minimal amount of magic . . . small enough that even a regular person would be able to provide enough mana for it.”

This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything about this. This is pretty frickin’ important isn’t this!?

“I don’t know is your gift is the type that consumes magic or not, but testing it to find out is too risky, don’t you think.”

“Of course! If it ends up being the magic consuming type, I’ll stay dead!”

“Ever since taking you back with me, I felt that your magic was limitless. So I never thought you’d be able to run out of magic, but that shouldn’t be the case for anyone.”

“Well, it’s not normally an amount that should be possible to exhaust completely . . .”

Since it’s over 150 times the norm.

“I didn’t think about the connection between ‘immortality’ and mana depletion. And for that, I must apologize. I am truly sorry.”

Teacher bows deeply, lowering his head to me.

Seeing his bowing figure, I realized something. . . . I had made the same mistake again.

Having received cheat powers from God, without considering the possible drawbacks from the powers I obtained, I though lightly of danger. . . . just like that time. (TL: referring to Lilith Town)

I was just like a kid with a new toy with this new power.

That’s why — the one who’s in the wrong is me.

“Please raise you head. It’s not Teacher’s fault! I was the one fought unreasonably. . . . n, are?”

Somehow, something in the conversation doesn’t make sense.

“Are? Teacher, you did think of the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to revive. In order to run away from danger, didn’t you teach me martial arts? Yet, you say you didn’t consider the possibility of not being able to revive from magic depletion? There’s something weird about that line of thought.”

“. . . . Yuuri, you’re like a grandchild to me. Is it wrong to be worried about you?”

Otto. The heart of the matter is a bit unexpected. Your face is getting a bit red you know?

“It’s because I’m cute, right? You know, it’s alright to adore me more.”

“. . . . . Now then, you should be hungry. I’ll make some food –“

As if the trying to deceive me, Teacher ignores my teasing and says this in a monotone voice. How rude!

The rice gruel and stir-fry he brings me are very tasty.

First, the rice gruel. It’s simple with the taste of being lightly seasoned with salt. The rich aroma wafts up to my nose. . . . I wonder what type of dashi (Japanese Soup Stock) was used?

As a former Japanese person, food is really important to me.

As I thought, what was really nagging at me since coming here was the absence dashi. It seems like even in the West, no one used dashi until rather recently.

Perhaps it’s some sort of soup mixed into the rice. It has a very rich flavor.

There are also small cut-up vegetables and lots of piece of chicken-like meat.

As for the stir-fry, instead of vegetables, there is a whole bunch of crispy meat mixed in.

it’s probably some sort of innards.

I know that liver has a dislikable poignant smell, but this doesn’t smell much, so it might be very fresh.

Actually, I quite like it from because of its unique texture.

Additionally, some fish egg-like things are also mixed in. The lumpy texture makes it the highlight of the dish. This one is also delicious.

“Teacher, this rice gruel is delicious! It’s even tastier than usual.”

“Right? I used some really good ingredients.”

“Did Gustar-san come again? He just came by the other day… how strange.”

“Gustar? He didn’t stop by.”

“Eh, then these ingredients are. . . . “

“Keratos”

Kashan —-

I unintentionally drop my spoon from the surprising information.

My mind freezes, and several minutes pass until my brain restarts.

“If you don’t eat quickly, your food will get cold.”

“This, this is the one I defeated. . . . ”

“There were two. I defeated one, you know.”

“I see! So this meat if from that lizard? . . . . Then this stir-fry, too?”

“Keratos innards. Since its delicious fresh, this is a feast you can’t get just anywhere.”

Maa, I was almost eaten also, wasn’t I? Eat or be eaten is the way of the wild. Yup.

In Japan, I ate whale, sea cucumber, and even puffer fish ovaries.

There isn’t a single Japanese person that can’t eat repulsive-looking marine food products.

At this point, a Keratos or two is no big deal . . . . .

“For the soup, I simmered together pureed brain tissue. Quite a rich taste.”

“Gobuh!?”

For the Japanese people, known for eating repulsive things, even eating brain tissue is a somewhat common thing. . . . . .

There’s no way that true! (TL: he did a tsukomi on himself. If you’re familiar with tsukomis, then you probably understand, otherwise he’s just saying something like ‘yeah we eat that, too. Just kidding! Lol. There’s no way that’s true!’)

“Though I’m the one who gouged out its brain . . . . . rest in peace Keratos.”

“The rest of the meat I put in ice with [Freezing], and tomorrow we’ll smoke it. Having preserved food is important.”

“Teacher, could it be that this is a battle field?”

“What the hell are you saying, Yuuri?”

Since I’m a light eater, the amount of food I require isn’t too much, but I’m a bit greedy.

Well, there were two — each 5m tall. If we keep them frozen with Teacher’s magic, we shouldn’t be needing more food for a while.

“And these lumps in the stir-fry? What are they, fish eggs?”

“Uugi eggs.”

“. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .”

UUgi is a type of winged insect similar to a fly.

They lay their eggs in the hollows of trees, so their eggs are actually relatively easy to acquire.

During times of famine, they becomes a valuable source of protein.

“Teacher, you lived a long time on the battle field, didn’t you.”

“A long time ago, yeah. Why?”

While eating the delicious meal, I swore in my heart that I’d be the only one to do the cooking from now on.