Going Down the River

We drove off the squid monster believed to have emerged from the depths of the lake—the kraken—and continued surveying the lake.

The lake's perimeter, which had been sandy beach the entire way, grew steadily more rugged and varied, blocking our path.

Wherever the car could not travel, we proceeded using rubber boats, though it was questionable whether measurements taken on the water would be useful.

We were not looking for a map as accurate as one from my old world, so a rough understanding of the territory would have to be enough.

The land we surveyed would become part of Sakura Territory and, at the same time, part of the territory of the Kingdom of Kadan.

The journey was extremely difficult, but everyone's morale was high.

Nyamena had nearly broken down after the encounter with the kraken, perhaps because it had reduced her S○N value, but she had completely recovered.

After all sorts of things happened, five days after leaving Sakura, a river appeared before us.

It was about ten meters wide—not a particularly large river—and its slow current flowed out of the lake.

I had been needlessly worrying that the lake, with all those rivers flowing into it, might overflow, but apparently it had a proper outlet.

It was almost certainly connected to the great Anis River, which probably flowed near the royal capital.

The fish and other creatures in the lake must have migrated upstream through this river.

If creatures had come from the river, then the river must also connect to the sea. Had that kraken come up from the sea when it was young?

Squid could not possibly arise naturally in a lake... but could it survive in freshwater?

I understood that monsters from another world differed from animals in my old world, but freshwater squid...?

Could there be a saltwater reservoir at the bottom of the lake, connected all the way to the sea?

There was no way to confirm that...

Come to think of it, there was a theory that Loch Ness, famous for Nessie, was connected to the sea by an underwater tunnel.

There used to be countless books of occult lore like that, but I hardly saw any these days.

My old world had lost its sense of wonder, but this other world still had plenty of dreams left in it.

"Meow! There are tons of fish here!"

"Whoa! You're right!"

The two beastfolk jumped into the river, but they were so quick that the fish were not easy to catch.

I bought a fiberglass harpoon from Shangri-La—¥10,000.

"Here, why don't you try using this?"

"Nyaa? I've never used such a splendid harpoon before, nya."

I had a feeling it was meant to be used underwater, but the harpoon Myaaree threw pierced the belly of a fish that looked like a trout.

"I got one, nya!"

That was incredibly accurate. As expected, the beastfolk's hunting talent was amazing.

"Do you use harpoons for hunting too?"

"Of course, Boss. It's just like throwing a spear."

"Oh, right. If we tied a string to an arrow, couldn't we catch fish with a bow too?"

"Yeah, I've done that before."

I handed Nyamena the compound bow from my Item Box and had her demonstrate.

When I searched Shangri-La, I found arrows specifically designed for fishing.

They even sold things like this.

"Click."

Six black fiberglass arrows dropped down. They cost ¥4,500—a steep price.

Unlike ordinary arrows, they had barbs on the tips, no fletching, and holes for threading string through them.

"Nyamena, try using this arrow."

"Boss, what are we going to do if we lose such a fancy arrow?"

"Don't worry about it."

I bought some slightly thick kite string from Shangri-La and tied it to the back of the arrow.

Nyamena nocked the arrow and took aim. A column of water shot up from the surface.

"I got one, nya!"

"How was that?"

"Amazing!"

Nyamena looked proud when Anemone praised her, but Myaaree immediately chimed in.

"Any beastfolk could do that much, nya."

"Urgh..."

Nyamena was at a loss for words, but when she pulled on the string, a large trout had an arrow embedded in it.

The spots covering the fish's sides and its iridescent skin were beautiful.

After catching six fish, it was noon, so we decided to have lunch.

We split open all their bellies, removed the guts, and washed them in the river. Then we decided to cook three of them.

The rest went into my Item Box. Just because there were plenty of fish did not mean we should catch them all and fill the Item Box with nothing but fish.

As I gazed at the river, thinking that we should catch only what we needed, Bell plunged into the water and came up with a trout in her mouth.

"Whoa! Mother, you're amazing!"

She disappeared into the grass, so she was probably going to eat it at her leisure.

I always wondered whether she was all right with parasites. I was worried, but I could hardly take her prey away from her.

She had eaten raw fish before, so I decided she was probably fine.

She must have been eating her kills raw in the forest long before we met.

"With this many fish, would fishing become a major industry?"

Lilith watched as I cut off the fish heads and filleted them.

"But fish are perishable. Even if we smoked them, we could only export them as far as Dalia, at most."

"Akira has that summoned beast he operates—the truck, does he not? It could reach the royal capital in one or two days, could it not?"

"If we rely on that too heavily, everything will fall apart the moment he or I are gone."

"Hmm..."

Thinking about it, our main industries would probably be sugar and alcohol, which could be stored for long periods.

I grilled the fillets and ate mine with soy sauce, while everyone else spread pepper and mayonnaise on theirs, put them in bread, and ate them.

Looking at the slices of fish made me want to eat them as sashimi, as was only natural for a Japanese person, but...

"That's it!"

Could I use the low-temperature cooker I had used before?

Whether parasites or eggs, heating the trout fillets to around sixty degrees should kill them.

I had read somewhere about cooking raw fish at around forty-five degrees, but there were all sorts of conditions involved, making it seem quite difficult.

I thought sixty degrees would be safe, but then I found a book on low-temperature cooking in Shangri-La.

I bought it immediately and read it. It included fish recipes, so I studied that section carefully. Apparently, the temperature could be a little lower.

I took the low-temperature cooker from my Item Box and filled it with water.

"Anemone, could you warm it until it's just a little hotter than bathwater?"

"Okay! Warm!"

The water soon grew hot enough that it was almost painful to touch.

I put the trout fillets in a plastic bag, squeezed out the air, and set the temperature and cooking time.

I set the temperature to fifty-two degrees, just as the book instructed.

"Kenichi, are you making a water bath?"

"I'd really like to eat it raw, but that's dangerous. I was hoping this might make it seem close enough."

"Ugh... You want to eat fish raw?"

Even Lilith, who was unfazed by strange foods, wore an openly disgusted expression. But as a Japanese person, I could not back down here.

"But... Boss made dragon meat almost raw before, so maybe I can eat this too..."

"Well, let's give it a try."

"How can you be so greedy about food when you aren't even a cook?"

"Whatever you say, Lilith eats my cooking while shouting, 'It's delicious!'"

"That is true, but did I really shout...?"

After heating the fish for about thirty minutes, I had Anemone cool it.

"Mmph—Cooling!"

The fairly involved process of cooling it in ice water and so on was finished with a single spell.

I removed the fish from the plastic bag and sliced it on a cutting board. Naturally, I used a sashimi knife.

The outside of the flesh was white, but the inside was a delicious-looking pink.

I put soy sauce and tube wasabi in a small dish, dipped a piece in the sauce with my fingers, and popped it into my mouth.

"Eek!" "Fgyah!"

The beastfolk's fur stood on end.

"Delicious! Hahaha!"

It had a smooth texture and a natural sweetness on my tongue. This was the purest flavor, and a smile naturally spread across my face.

I really was Japanese. If Akira had been here, he would have demanded sake or beer.

"All right, I shall try some too."

Lilith shouted as though she had steeled herself.

"Huh? You don't have to force yourself."

"No. The principal wife cannot be unable to eat something her husband eats."

"That's not really necessary. Everyone has foods they dislike."

"The monster's white flesh was delicious, and there is no way something Kenichi eats could be bad."

I suppose that was one way of looking at it.

Even so, Lilith cautiously picked up a piece of sashimi with her fingers, dipped it in soy sauce, and put it in her mouth.

"Oh... It isn't fishy at all. The texture is incredibly smooth. It has a sensual quality that beast meat lacks."

She swallowed it with a gulp, then licked her lips.

"So, what is your verdict?"

"Hmm. It is delicious. I never knew fish could be eaten this way..."

"But remember, this was heated first. You absolutely must not eat it raw."

"What would happen if someone did?"

"If there were parasites, they would eat your insides and make you writhe in agony. In the worst case, your body would end up full of worms..."

The beastfolk trembled at that.

"Why would anyone eat something that could cause all that?!" "Exactly, nya."

"Why? Because it's delicious, obviously."

After hearing that, Anemone reached for the sashimi too.

"...Mmm. It's delicious."

Anemone licked her fingers after eating the sashimi.

"Oh, no..."

I had imagined that beastfolk would be the sort to eat raw meat, but they were surprisingly squeamish about this.

That only meant the way I ate had to be even farther outside this world's common sense.

After we finished eating, Lilith, who had been resting to let her meal settle, spoke to me.

"Kenichi, what are we going to do about Mother? She really might try to overthrow the country, you know?"

"I'd like to say that would never happen, but it is possible, which is why I'm worried."

"And have you noticed that she is using that slave crest as a tool to make you do what she wants?"

Lilith had suddenly started saying something strange.

"A tool?"

"Exactly. If Mother defies you, the curse of the slave crest makes her writhe in agony, does it not?"

"Well, yes. She rolled around several times."

"And when Kenichi sees that, you feel sorry for Mother, so you keep quiet instead of saying what you really want to say, do you not?"

"That is true to some extent, but I don't want to think Amaranthus is using me. I believe she really just wants to build a country with me."

"That could lead to war, you know?"

"Well, if it comes to that, I'll harden my heart and stop her. We'll talk it out properly."

"In that case, I suppose it will be all right."

Lilith had lived with Amaranthus for many years, so she had an accurate understanding of what kind of person she was.

"But what about the slave crest? Do you think she'll remove it if I talk things over with her?"

"Probably not."

Lilith's immediate answer left me speechless.

There were plenty of things to worry about regarding the future of the territory, but first we had to deal with the problems right in front of us.

Crossing the river would be easy, but perhaps we should travel downstream for two days and see where it went...

After that, we could hire a surveying team to handle the rest. Still, I did not think our settlements would spread this far, so perhaps we would not need to go that far.

If they ever did spread this far, we could think about it then.

"Boss, what are we going to do? Are we crossing the river?"

"No. We'll travel downstream for two days and survey it. There may be monsters, so stay alert."

"Nyaa." "Got it."

The current was gentle, so gentle that the river hardly seemed to be flowing at all.

The beastfolk said the river ahead did not seem to connect to a vast wetland.

In other words, the land ahead was flat the entire way.

Perhaps water from the lake had overflowed, flowed through the lowest places it could find, and eventually become a river.

If so, we could simply travel downstream in a boat without bringing out the car.

I took out a rubber boat, floated it on the river, and had the beastfolk go ahead with transceivers.

I had them set up signs according to the terrain, such as the river's bends, and I recorded the measurements with the laser rangefinder.

Even this would be faster than traveling through trackless wilderness.

If necessary, we could always put an outboard motor on the boat.

Bell had not returned yet, but she would probably follow us by scent.

Deep forests like this had originally been their home, so this should have been child's play for her.

The boat moved silently through the dense forest. Insects drifted on the surface, and fish leaped at them.

Only where the river ran did the forest open up, letting in bright sunlight.

Conversely, places with plenty of sunlight were overgrown with tall grass and covered in dense greenery.

I really felt like an expedition member. I was living out my fantasy of traveling down a river on a homemade raft—in another world.

Dreams did not make you tired, but reality did. Whenever we found a flat place where we could pull up the boat, we took a rest.

We had no idea when we would find another flat place, so we rested whenever we had the chance.

"What do you think, Lilith? Do you regret coming this deep into the forest?"

"Of course not. This is what I wanted."

"Still, joining in something this dangerous... Aren't noble principal wives supposed to stay in their mansions?"

"That may be true, but is it not frustrating to watch Anemone having fun with Kenichi?"

"Bleh! I can help Kenichi with my magic, so I'm fine! I've always said I wanted to go adventuring with Kenichi!"

"Grrr..."

Lilith had no answer to Anemone's words.

"Besides, I can bake bread."

"I can bake bread now too, you know."

Lilith had learned how to bake that bread from Anemone.

Her skill had improved until the results were just as good as Anemone's, but without magic, it took her longer to make it.

"Grrr."

"Hey, stop fighting. I want Lilith to oversee the government for me."

"Then I would be left behind every time, just like Mother."

"Why don't you stay home, Lilith? You're no good in a fight. Once Kenichi does that for me too, Lilith won't be needed, right? You'll be obsolete."

"Why would the principal wife be obsolete?!"

The two of them began circling around me.

"Hey, hey! Don't roughhouse on the boat! It's dangerous!"

After I scolded them, they fell silent and pouted.

Anemone had grown more assertive lately. Traveling all over the place and gaining experience had played a major role, but she also possessed power practically equal to this country's Grand Mage.

Suddenly, the tall grass growing along the riverbank began to rustle.

I took a crossbow from my Item Box and raised it, but then black fur appeared.

"Nyaa."

"Oh, it's just Mother."

She had apparently been following us after all.

So she could keep up even when we traveled across the water in a boat.

We found a place where we could land, so we decided to take a short break.

I contacted Myaaree and the others, who had gone ahead, by transceiver.

"Myaaree! We're taking a short break."

'Got it, nya!'

We brought the boat ashore and began our break. Bell came through the grass toward us.

"Nyaa."

"What's wrong, Bell? You're covered in grass."

"Nyaaah."

Her black fur was covered in countless grass seeds with little spikes on them.

Where I grew up, we called these "dakkonbi," but that must have been a local dialect term.

Bell silently let me pluck the seeds from her fur, then lifted her head and pricked up her ears.

"What's wrong, Bell? Is something coming?"

Voices could be heard from downstream.

"Boss!" "Nyaa!"

The grass was thrashing around, so it was probably Nyamena and Myaaree.

Where had they left the transceiver?

"Hey, what happened?!"

"Something's coming, nya!"

"Boss!"

Hadn't something like this happened before?

The beastfolk burst out of the grass covered in torn bits of greenery.

"Kenichi, it's the sound of wings!" "Boss, it's something really bad!"

"The sound of wings?!"

I immediately took out the container house.

There was not enough room, so it ended up partially on the embankment and slightly tilted, but this was no time to worry about that.

"Everyone, get inside!"

"Whoa!" "Hurry, nya!"

"Eek!" "What in the world is that?!"

"Bell!"

She had apparently slipped into the gap between the container house and the ground.

We closed the door and held our breath. Then we heard a low, rumbling sound.

I peered outside through the glass window and saw something yellow approaching.

It appeared to be an insect, but...

"What in the world is that?!"

Lilith shouted as she looked outside.

"They're bees, Princess!" "That's right, nya."

About ten huge yellow bees, each roughly fifty centimeters long, began buzzing around the container house.

"There are about ten of them. Bees attack black things, you know."

"Then this is all Blackie's fault!"

"Nyaa?"

"This box is black too, so they might think it's an enemy."

Along with the buzzing, we heard repeated thumps as they slammed into the outer panels.

No matter how sharp a bee's stinger was, it probably could not pierce a metal panel—but was Bell, who had crawled underneath, all right?

Her fur was black too, after all.

"Flying enemies are a real nuisance. My summoned beasts and Anemone's magic are at a disadvantage."

"It would be hard to shoot them down with a bow too, nya!"

"And cutting them with a sword would be difficult."

"Amaranthus might be able to do it, but... What should we do?"

Should we stay still and wait for the bees to give up, or should we go out and attack them?

For the moment, I had Lilith crawl under the bed.

"That is probably the safest place."

As I considered our options, a giant bee clung to the window and began clicking its mandibles.

The underside of an insect was creepy. Its monocoque body clearly came from a different ancestry than the endoskeletal animals we were.

The sight of its legs writhing all over the place made me shudder.

The hornets in my old world were dangerous enough, but giant bees like these were the very definition of another world.

"Whoa! This is terrifying!"

"That sound is awful, nya!" "Boss, what are we going to do?!"

The beastfolk's fur was standing on end too, so perhaps that sound inspired disgust and fear in all endoskeletal animals.

"Hmm... I just thought of something. Anemone, could you cool this one clinging to the window with magic? The spell might pass through the glass."

"I'll try—Cooling!"

The spell seemed to work. The bee stopped moving and dropped heavily to the ground.

As expected, it was an insect. They were vulnerable to cold, and in this warm country, they probably had no resistance to it at all.

"Boss, are we going to deal with them all using that spell?"

"No..."

I bought a yellow, bazooka-shaped insecticide for bees from Shangri-La.

I took the spray in hand, opened the window, and checked the surroundings. A giant bee immediately charged at me.

I hurriedly closed the window, but it tried to force its face through the gap.

It had a triangular head like a kabuki actor, colored yellow and black, with large brown eyes.

Two sharp fangs protruded beside its long antennae, clicking ominously.

"Hold the window shut!"

"Got it, nya!"

"Take this!"

I pulled the bazooka's trigger, and a white, misty jet struck the yellow head head-on.

The enemy flinched and flew away for a moment, but then clung to the window again.

"Huh? Is it not very effective?! Is there something stronger...?"

I read the instructions on the insecticide I had bought and discovered that hornets were not among its targets.

Seriously?!

So I needed to buy one specifically for hornets.

Among the insect sprays displayed in Shangri-La's window, I bought one for hornets in a black can.

"Try this one!"

The enemy was hit by the white jet of mist, immediately stopped moving, and fell to the ground.

"Oh! This one works!"

"Boss! Give me that, and lend me the transparent shield we used before too!"

"Are you planning to go outside?"

"If I stand back-to-back with Blackie, we won't have any blind spots!"

"That's a good idea, nya."

"Hey, wait!"

I tried to talk them out of it, but the beastfolk had clearly decided to do it.

Nyamena in particular seemed determined to make up for not having been able to distinguish herself during the battle with the kraken.

As requested, I took a polycarbonate shield from my Item Box.

I bought about twenty cans of the black insecticide from Shangri-La and taped them behind the shield with duct tape.

That way, they could grab them immediately.

I also took out their equipment—leather armor, swords, and the like—and had them prepare themselves.

"All right, let's go!" "Nyaaah!"

The two beastfolk stood back-to-back and leaped outside through the door.

We watched them through the window while also taking up insecticide cans to support them.

Lilith crawled out from under the bed and joined the fight as well.

The spray reached about twenty meters, so we could target the bees even from inside the container house.

The giant bees attacked amid a furious buzzing.

"Whoa! Here they come!" "Tiger! Is this shield really safe, nya?"

"I dunno!" "Fgyah! I'm an idiot for trusting Tiger, nya!"

The giant bees produced white, knife-like stingers from their abdomens and charged, but they could not pierce the transparent shield.

"Hahaha! If it doesn't budge when beastfolk slash and stab it, it should be fine against this much, right?"

"Gyaaah! Why are they attacking me so much, nya?!"

It was obvious that Myaaree was being attacked far more often.

"Didn't Boss say so? They think black things are enemies."

"Tiger tricked me, nya!!"

Meanwhile, the yellow monsters continued slamming into the transparent shield with heavy thuds.

"Take this!" "Shaah!"

White jets of mist knocked the bees out of the air one after another.

I had no idea what the active ingredient was, but the moment the spray hit them, they stopped moving and fell to the ground.

Whoever made that black can had probably never imagined it would be used against giant bees in another world.

We sprayed the bees gathering around the beastfolk from inside the container house as well.

"Take that!" "Yaaah!" "Hahaha, die!"

Anemone and Lilith seemed to be enjoying themselves. Perhaps they felt as though they were playing a shooting game.

"Did we get them all?"

Still holding the spray can, I cautiously stuck my head out through the door.

"Yeah, Boss. Probably."

I checked above, below, and to both sides before stepping outside.

"Finish off anything that's still moving. They may still sting you even after they die, so be careful."

"Then we should just remove their stingers, nya."

Myaaree stepped on the bees' abdomens, deliberately made them extend their stingers, and began cutting them off with her sword.

"Nyaa."

Bell crawled out from under the container house and sniffed the bee corpses repeatedly.

"Bell, are you all right? Now, as for me..."

When I went over to the bee I had knocked down with Cooling, I found that it was still alive.

That was exactly why I had done this—I wanted to keep it alive and use it, but...

I took a thin packing strap from my Item Box, cut off about two meters, and tied it around the bee's narrow waist.

In other words, I had made a streamer.

"Boss! It's still alive!"

"Yeah, I left it alive on purpose. It should recover soon and flee back to its nest, right? Follow it using this strap as a marker and find the nest."

If there was a nest of these things nearby, it would be too dangerous to travel downstream.

There would be nowhere to escape on the water.

"I see! Kenichi, you're sneaky, nya!"

That made me sound terrible.

"You only need to find the nest, so don't take unnecessary risks. This strap should be visible from quite far away."

An ordinary human might get lost running through the forest, but the beastfolk could find their way back by scent.

"Hmm. Sounds interesting."

"If you encounter other monsters, don't pursue them too deeply."

"Got it."

"Nyaa."

Anemone and Lilith came out of the room as well.

"I never knew such enormous bees existed... So, Kenichi, what will you do after finding the nest?"

"We'll wipe them all out at once. That's when Anemone's magic comes in."

"Okay! Leave it to me!"

As planned, we left the surviving bee alone and hid behind the house.

If it attacked us again, the plan had failed, and we would deal with it immediately.

Despite my worries, the bee woke up and immediately began fleeing from the area.

The white streamer flew between the trees of the forest.

"Good. Go after it."

"All right! Leave it to me! I'm good at this sort of thing."

"Leave it to us, nya."

The beastfolk grabbed their transceiver and ran into the forest.