Chapter 73

Ch 73 — Don't Raise Weird Flags

"We're finished here, do you want something to eat?" I asked .

"Umuu, sounds good . I was just getting hungry . " Fer agreed .

"Food-" Sui chimed in . Right then, time to cook but . . . the pools of blood on the grass remained even after the Bloody Horn Bulls had all been packed away . The iron smell of spilt blood filled the air .

"Ah, I don't feel like eating here right now . " I groused .

"Is the smell of blood too strong?" Fer inquired . "So much blood might attract more monsters . "

"Eh? That's bad . Let's get out of here quick . " Safety first, as I might have mentioned before .

"Ehh, hang on . Sui, Can you clean up the blood here?" Fer asked .

"Oh, can Sui eat all the red stuff here?"

"That's right . Help yourself . " Fer ordered .

"Sui can do it . Wait a moment . " Sui trembled and used her Growth skill . After Sui became a Big Slime she quickly divided into smaller Slimes .

"Everyone, suck up all that red stuff–" Following Sui's order the small Slimes headed towards the pools and began to consume the Bloody Horn Bull blood . The pools disappeared in the blink of an eye leaving only trampled grassland and a lot of small red-coloured Slimes visible .

"Well done Sui . " Fer said .

"Ufu, Sui was praised by Fer-ojichan-" Sui bounced happily .

"Slimes can eat pretty much anything so I figured the little Suis could mop up the blood easily . " Fer explained .

. . . . . . Sui has so many things she can do .

"Hey Sui, are you okay with leaving those small Slimes behind?" I asked .

"Yeah, they'll probably disappear when it gets dark . " she said .

It seems the Slimes split off from her large body have a limited lifespan but do they actually disappear at night too?

"Aruji-, Sui's hungry-" Ah, right . I should get some food out .

"Yeah, hang on . Here's some sandwiches that should do you . " I put out a dish with pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches in front of Fer and Sui . I made them yesterday evening with the leftover fried pork cutlets and chicken cutlets I cooked for their dinner .

Spread butter on the bread, add some shredded cabbage and sprinkle a little mayonnaise then put a pork cutlet on top and finish it off with another slice of buttered bread . Cut it in half and it's done . I did the same with some fried chicken cutlets and put them away in my Item Box for just such an occasion .

I figured Sui wouldn't like really spicy food so these would do nicely for the time being .

""Seconds"" they chorussed .

"Okay . " I put more pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches in the dish in front of Fer and Sui . Huhuu, I can just keep pulling them out of my Item Box rather than making them one at a time . Until now I have not had time to build a big reserve of cooked food because I've been travelling but I plan to cook a lot of food to put in my Item Box while I stay in this town, especially since I've got plenty of meat available and I should have lots of free time .

I sank my teeth into a pork cutlet sandwich . Ah, that hits the spot . I settled back, making myself comfortable . I was enjoying the picnic after we had dealt with the Bloody Horn Bulls . The scenery looked wonderful as long as I suppressed my memory of the pools of blood and dead monsters that had been scattered around the grasslands just a few minutes ago . I bit into another sandwich . Delicious . Cabbage and mayo and tonkatsu sauce came together in my mouth, oh so tasty .

To tell the truth I added some mustard to my own sandwiches, a spicy sharp mustard . MMMmmm!

Eating under the blue sky is great . I started on a chicken cutlet sandwich . Ah, I want to drink beer .

"Aruji, Sui wants to drink bubbly-bubbly-" Sui said .

"Hey you, I want some too . " Fer added .

"Oh, cola? If you want to drink soda . . . just wait a minute . "

I bought some cider for Fer and Sui and canned coffee for myself from the Net Super . I wanted to drink beer with my sandwiches but I held back because it was daytime . Drinking beer during the day is a Bad Thing to do, okay?

I poured the cider into a pair of dishes for the two of them .

"Here you are . "

"What's that? It's different from the earlier stuff . " Fer said suspiciously .

"This is called 'cider', it's not the same as last night's drink but it's also bubbly-bubbly and it's delicious too . " I waved my hand . "Try drinking it . "

Sui started first . "Oooh, this is also delicious . " See, I told you it was good .

"Yes . You can feel the bubbles on the tongue just the same . Buuurp . . . . . . "

"MMMphhh- " I smothered my laugh at Fer's great eructation .

"Ahaha, I'm burping because I drank the bubbles . " Fer is shameless .

The three of us enjoyed our meal in the cool breeze under the blue sky .

"Well then, shall we go back to the city soon?" I said to Fer, after the long relaxing break . Sui was already napping in her bag .

"Well, yes . " Fer looked around his most recent battlefield with a dissatisfied expression . "Yesterday's Mithril Lizard subjugation and today's fight with the Bloody Horn Bulls was something to do but they weren't really any sort of a challenge . " I think Fer is the only one that would say such things about Mithril Lizards and Bloody Horn Bulls .

"Is there anyone around that could make me exert myself?" he asked rhetorically .

"What kind of challenge are you thinking about?" I asked foolishly .

"Well, I'd have a real fight on my hands if I was facing a dragon . Since there's none of them around here then a pack of wyverns might be worth making an effort to destroy . "

. . . I should never have asked . Don't raise weird flags . Don't mention dragons, stop talking about packs of wyverns .

"D-, dragons and wyverns, d- don't say strange things like that . " I cautioned .

"They're not strange things . " Fer explained . "Dragons and wyverns attack human cities sometimes . "

"Stop it . " I commanded him . "If you talk about them they're sure to appear . "

"Hhhmph . " Fer stretched his long body, his eyes scanning the empty sky . "If they come here they'll find me waiting for them . " He grinned, baring his teeth in anticipation .

I wish now I'd never asked . Dragons are nothing to laugh about .

"You probably don't know this," Fer continued, "but wyverns and dragons are delicious . Dragon meat is especially flavourful . " I didn't know that . Frankly the longer I go without getting the opportunity to eat delicious dragon or wyvern meat the happier I'll be .

"After we visit the ocean for some Kraken and Sea Serpents then we'll maybe go hunt some dragons . " Fer turned to face the city walls and nodded . "Yeah, let's do that . "

Nope nope nopetty nope, let's not do that please? How about you consider my input when you're deciding our future travel plans?

"Right, get on . Let's go back . "

Haa, Fer is 'going my way' for now . It might be nice to visit the beach but I'll never go on a dragon hunt .