Chapter 96

Ch 96 — Fer Hunts Something Amazing

I was starting to worry as the sun set with no sign of Fer but then he suddenly returned, noisily bursting through the tree branches and startling me .

–Thump– Fer casually dropped a big lizard that he was carrying in his mouth onto the ground in front of me .

"I was delayed . " Fer not-apologised for his tardiness in a very Fer-like manner .

" . . . Uh Fer, what's with this big lizard thing?" I asked nervously, dreading the answer . It looked a bit like a Komodo dragon lizard I had seen on TV but bigger, from the tip of its snout to the end of its tail it must have been at least five metres long .

"I caught a sniff of something special and followed my nose . " Fer said in a satisfied tone . "I came across something that would put up a fight against me at last . "

That's not what I asked, Fer, just what is this big lizard thing?

"That flock of Wyverns got my hopes up but they turned out to be a disappointment . " Fer shrugged . "However after I tracked down this Earth Dragon, I finally got a little exercise . "

. . . Fer, what did you just say? I wondered if my hearing was getting worse .

"Uh, Fer, what did you say?"

"Is your hearing getting worse? I said, because that flock of Wyverns were a disappointment I went off and got some real exercise with this Earth Dragon here . "

" . . . A-, an Earth Dragon?" I stuttered .

"Yep . That's it . That's an Earth Dragon . " Fer nudged the big lizard with his snout . "Right there . "

I used Appraisal on the giant Komodo Dragon lizard thing lying on the ground .

[ Earth Dragon]

That's all, there were no other stats because, well, Fer had killed it . Ummm . . .

"What, what did you . . . ?" I stumbled to a halt, my brain locking up as I tried to deal with what Fer had just done .

"What? What did I do what?" Fer looked confused, as if he naturally hunted dragons every day, no biggie and why was I surprised?

"What?" I repeated myself . "An Earth Dragon, why did you hunt it?"

"Why not?" Fer shrugged . "Dragon meat tastes delicious, I told you before . Isn't that a good reason to hunt it?"

I thought hurriedly, trying to explain to a confused Fer . "No no no, it's great that the meat is delicious, that's not a problem . " I waved my hands . "If the Adventurer's Guild couldn't purchase the Chimaera and Orthros you hunted earlier then do you think they could buy the materials from an Earth Dragon?"

Fer looked disappointed . "Nu, Dragon's meat is really delicious . " Stop drooling, Fer, we're having a serious discussion here . He suddenly perked up .

"Hey, even if they wouldn't buy the materials, couldn't you get them to dismantle it anyway?" Oh, just dismantling? That might work . . . Smart thinking, Fer .

"I'll talk to the Guild Master and Johan about it, see if they can dismantle it for us . However it's a Dragon . . . I don't know if they can actually disassemble something like that . "

"Hm, you've got a point . I was looking forward to eating Dragon's meat after a very long while . We'll wait and see what happens . . . "

I'll see what they say but it's an Earth Dragon after all . Looks like they're in for another surprise . Haaa~ .

Fer's nose wrinkled as he sniffed . "Hey something smells good . " Now the matter of the Earth Dragon was dealt with — at least for now — Fer had reverted to his usual gluttonous self . I deposited the giant body of the Earth Dragon in my Item Box to make some space to serve dinner .

"You want to eat dinner here?" Stupid question .

"Well, yeah . " Predictable answer .

I started serving the beef bowl . Leaving the beef stew for later will make it taste better as the beef gets more tender . I put rice I had cooked beforehand into dishes and then piled plenty of meat on top . I woke Sui up .

"Sui, your dinner's ready . "

"Oh? Dinner-"

"Yes, here's your dinner . "

"Dinner-"

I gave a beef bowl (extra large portions) to Fer and Sui .

"Mumu, this is delicious . "

"Really, the meat is soooo tasty~"

The way they were talking it was clear they both liked beef bowl so I decided it was my turn to eat and what I'd like was to put some eggs on my beef bowl . When I opened Net Super and looked at the eggs on offer something special caught my eye . Oh yesssss . . . I bought hot spring eggs which had been soft-boiled in natural hot water . Soft-boiled eggs on a beef bowl are delicious . I broke them into the meat letting the runny yolk soak down into the rice below then stirred them in and popped some into my mouth .

"Yummy~"

Adding the soft-boiled eggs mellows the taste . Delicious . This calls for tea, doesn't it . . . I took a PET bottle of green tea I had bought earlier from my Item Box . Gulp gulp gulp . . . my mouth was refreshed, then back to the beef bowl . Yum yum .

"Hey, seconds here . " Fer squinted suspiciously at my own bowl . "Hold on, why've you got eggs on yours? You trying to be sneaky? I want some too . "

"Sui wants seconds too . Put egg on Sui's-"

Yeah yeah . I made up two more beef bowls (extra large), got two more hot-spring eggs and broke them on top of the meat before handing the out the dishes to the two gluttons .

"Muuu, putting the egg on top is completely delicious . "

"Sui also likes the way the eggs taste-"

So they both like beef bowls with runny soft-boiled eggs, devouring them greedily . Several servings later they finally declared they were satisfied .

"Fuu-, that was really tasty . " Fer announced .

"It was really delicious-" Sui agreed .

"Well then, are we going back to the city now?" I enquired . We were all done here, I thought .

"Uh-huh . "

"Yup . "

I was going to get on Fer's back for the trip back to town but . . .

"Fer?" I couldn't get on his back . Yuck .

"What?" He looked back over his shoulder at me .

"You- you're dirty . " I blurted out, staring at Fer's matted hair .

"W- what?" Fer exclaimed .

Until now I hidn't really taken any notice but now I'd had a bath and I was all clean myself I couldn't ignore it any longer . I poked at the clumped masses of dirty hair on his coat .

"See, all the hair here is filthy, it's sticking together and matted . You've got to have noticed it's in terrible condition, haven't you Fer?"

"Uh, well, that's not really- . " Fer hesitated . "Look, I groom myself regularly . . . " He couldn't look me in the eye as he said that though .

"No no no, you're do not doing it right . " I declared . It was obvious he wasn't taking care of his coat properly at all .

"Ummm-"

"Right, I've decided, I'm going to wash you tomorrow, Fer . "

"Wh-" Fer whined .

"Are you scared of water? Is that what you're telling me?" I pressed him .

"P- positively not . " Fer declared, still unable to look me in the eye .

"That's good then . I'll give you a bath tomorrow, Fer . I've decided . "

"Gwuuuh" Fer whined quietly, his muzzle pressed against the ground in submission . He really wasn't keen on the idea but I had to be firm, the condition of his coat was a disgrace . I'd have to get some dog shampoo and a brush to wash and groom Fer properly . Could I buy dog shampoo from the Net Super?