Chapter 24
After walking for a little while, we found a good place to set up the tent.
There was a river nearby, and a huge boulder behind us to watch our backs.
“This should do.”
“Great! Leave setting up the tent to me!”
“Thanks.”
With that, Arin went to set up the tent.
She looked pretty used to it… Had she camped out a lot?
“…El? You’re not thinking anything weird, are you?”
“N-no way. I was just thinking how impressive you are.”
“Hehe. Right?”
…How did she know? Anyway.
“El. I’ll go look for some food, then. We don’t know how long we’ll be here.”
“…You’re right. I’ll look around too.”
Ian had brought up something I hadn’t even considered.
Now that he mentioned it, we didn’t know how long we’d be here, and food was essential.
“Then let’s meet back here around sunset.”
It looked like it was about three now… so we’d meet back in three hours.
“Okay. See you later.”
Usually, splitting up in a situation like this isn’t a good idea, but we’d be fine.
After leaving our temporary base camp and walking for a bit, I found some fruit trees.
A tree with yellow, fist-sized, star-shaped fruit dangling from its branches.
…What is that? Starfruit?
The starfruit I’d seen in my previous life looked a little like a starfish, but these looked more like stars.
I mean, they’re pretty.
“…Should I try one?”
I’d never seen this fruit in the original story or even at home, but it looked delicious.
I’d heard starfruit tasted a little like pears. I wonder what this one’s like?
-Chomp
“?!!??!?!?”
Wh-what is this?!
“This is so damn good!”
It was so delicious I yelled without even realizing it!
How should I put it? It tasted a little like a mix of tangerine and honey. It was much sweeter than the macarons Arin had wanted the other day, but it wasn’t cloying at all.
If anything, it was so delicious I could’ve enjoyed it even if it were sweeter!
On top of that, an incredibly fragrant scent began to waft from the spot where I’d bitten into it.
To think such an intoxicating aroma had been trapped inside the peel!
Why had I never heard of such a delicious fruit before?
It was so good I was seriously starting to wonder if I’d been poisoned or was hallucinating.
I took another bite, and its incredible sweetness was still there, proving it wasn’t a hallucination!
It was so delicious I wanted to run straight back to the family estate and ask why they’d never served me anything this good before.
From now on, you’re my favorite fruit…!
“Let’s pick them all.”
Fortunately, there were quite a lot of them. Around thirty?
Then suddenly.
-Growl.
The quiet growling of beasts echoed through the forest.
And not just one. Dozens.
Looks like every dire wolf in the area had gathered, drawn by the scent.
In a situation like this, you’d expect the safety personnel to rush out, but I couldn’t sense anyone watching over me.
I guess the man in charge figured I didn’t need a guard and pulled them back.
-Grrrr!
The wolves howled as they stared at the fruit in my hand.
“You want this?”
I held the fruit and shook it, and the wolves’ gazes followed it back and forth.
I watched their eyes…
Then popped it into my mouth in one bite.
-Gulp
“Mmm. Delicious.”
-Awooooo!
Apparently annoyed at being teased, the wolves charged at me.
Hah. They look funny charging at me, but…
“You should know who you’re picking a fight with.”
-KUUUUUNG!
I released my mana toward the wolves.
Not too far—just about fifty meters around me.
If it went any farther, the safety personnel in other areas might notice. Then my identity could be exposed.
-Whimper
Of course, even that small a range was enough to make the wolves tuck their tails and run.
Tsk, tsk. Don’t pick a fight with me.
“Hmmm~”
After driving off all the wolves, I picked the rest of the fruit and put it in the basket I’d brought.
Hehe. This looks delicious.
‘I wonder if Ian will like it?’
Thinking of Ian, who’d somehow popped into my mind, I headed back to base camp.
…
When I arrived at base camp, the first thing I saw was… a silver cow?
Wait a second, isn’t that supposed to be incredibly rare?
“Ah! El! You’re back! Ian said he was going to look for food, and he found that precious… Ah?! El, is that a Lumiesta you’re holding?!”
Oh. So this starfruit-like thing is called a Lumiesta…?
“Wait. How do you know about this?”
“I read about it in a book on fantastical ingredients once. It’s an incredibly rare fruit, and once it falls from the tree, it spoils after a day even if you cast preservation magic on it. Such a precious fruit, and there are so many…”
“It spoils after a day?!”
“Yes. That’s why it isn’t very famous, considering how good it tastes.”
No wonder. That explains why a fruit like this never made it to the Grand Duke’s estate. It spoils even with preservation magic.
Wait? So that means…
“We have to eat it all today, then?”
“Right?”
“Ughhh…”
I was planning to cast preservation magic on it and eat it over the course of a few years…
Just then, Ian picked up a Lumiesta and said,
“I’ve only gotten to try Lumiesta once before, and that was by sheer luck. I never thought I’d get to eat it again.”
“Oh, right, Ian. How did you catch the Mircow?”
Mircow. That was the name of the cow Ian had caught.
It was incredibly weak, but incredibly delicious.
Seriously, that thing has to be several times tastier than top-grade Hanwoo beef.
The first time I ate it, I actually burst into tears without thinking. Ugh. What a humiliating memory…
Anyway. Another unique trait of the Mircow was its ability to camouflage itself.
Its silver fur created a special harmony with the mana of nature, letting it hide itself. The older it got, the stronger its camouflage became, and it also grew larger, albeit at an incredibly slow rate.
Considering they were usually about the size of newborn calves… shouldn’t that one practically be called a spirit beast?
“Huh? Well… I’m the Hero’s son, right? Maybe that’s why my eyesight’s a little better.”
“Your eyesight? …Oh!”
That’s it. The Hero’s special Insight Eye.
Usually, when you clicked on an item in a game, a description of it appeared. In [Gaia Academy], that function was called the Hero’s Insight Eye.
It was a little different, but something akin to an authority. If Ian had inherited it… there was nothing strange about that.
“Anyway, I could see a place where the mana was rippling, so I attacked it, and… I caught that.”
“How is that possible?! Mircows that big are said to appear only once every hundred years! And we only catch about one Mircow a year in the first place!”
“I guess so.”
“But you picked Lumiestas, El. In a way, Lumiestas are even rarer than Mircows.”
“Urgh… You have a point.”
Well… regardless, one thing was certain.
“We’re doing an outdoor training exercise, and we found these while looking for food for it, so…”
“We have no choice but to eat them, right?”
“That’s right. We don’t have a choice.”
Well, it really was a shame, and we had no choice, but…
“Let’s eat.”
“Sure.”
“Let’s do it.”
First, I cut the Mircow into large pieces.
I took off its head and legs.
Then Arin expertly butchered the rest.
“…Where did you learn to do this?”
“My father’s a hunter!”
“…Don’t you use a shield?”
“My mother used a shield!”
“I-I see.”
Once it was butchered, Ian flash-froze the meat for storage.
“You can do more than I thought.”
“I can only use basic magic, but I’m confident I’m really good at those spells.”
“True. Who else could make a flashbang out of Light?”
“Hm?”
“It’s nothing.”
Several hours passed, and by the time it was the dead of night…
“Done!”
“This should be enough to last us a week.”
“Good work, Arin.”
“Yes!”
Since it had been bigger than most adult men, there was a huge amount of meat.
We’d also carefully collected all the by-products, like its hide and bones.
“Here. You can have this.”
“Ah?! Are you sure? These are so precious!”
“Yeah. Even if I don’t need them, don’t you, El?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
I gave Arin all the parts that seemed like they’d sell for a good price.
I had plenty of money with me, and Ian was from a count’s family, so he had plenty of money too.
“…Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. Now let’s eat.”
“Yes!”
After that, we lit a fire and started grilling the meat.
Ian started the fire with magic. He really is handy.
-Sizzle
Beef sizzled on the grill Arin had brought.
At the same time, the fragrant smell of meat filled the air.
“Don’t worry about monsters! I brought a barrier-type magic tool that only works at night but can keep out monsters up to B-rank!”
“…Why did you bring something like that? I’m glad you did, though.”
“My father told me to bring it.”
“…He sounds like a good father. Yeah.”
To think he’d even prepared for something like this. Impressive.
“And on that note, let’s have some drinks!”
“Drinks too? Even so, that’s…”
“What’s the harm? Come on!”
“Haha.”
Well, it shouldn’t matter.
“Cheers!”