It didn’t seem as if this fact had sunk in for the girl yet as she approached Sei, so he praised her efforts. “You did it! You beat that giant abomination!”

  “Ah. It’s dead? My gran told me that dinosaurs are scary, so I thought it would still get up or transform or something...”

  “Transform?!”

  It bears repeating that Virgo was a frog in a well, but everyone who was in the well with her were monsters. There was a sheep who could become giant, a golem who was basically a walking weapon, a scorpion who could also become giant, and a demon who could (of course) become giant. The crab had yet to giganticize itself, but he could probably do it too. That was why Libra hadn’t quite believed it when she’d been told that the dinogigant was strong.

  But she was wrong. Sei waved his hand, denying her claim. “No, that won’t happen.”

  “Uh, thanks. Your support really helped.”

  “Well, I’m happy to hear you say that, but... Sorry, that was all I could manage.”

  Sei had known full well he wasn’t powerful enough, so he didn’t consider what he’d done a mistake. Even so, he thought it was pathetic. In what world did a hero leave the fighting to a cute girl and instead just threw sand or dug holes? Even in the light novels where the hero was just a stepping stone, they could pull off a fight that was at least slightly cooler.

  “Uh... Oh right, I still don’t know your name. I’m Sei. Minamijuuji Sei.”

  “Minamijuuji...Sei? That’s a strange name.”

  “Oh, Sei is my personal name. In my country, we say the family name first.”

  “Oh, I see. Ah, my name is Virgo. I don’t have a family name.”

  Having finished introducing themselves, the two started a friendly and lively conversation. They were rivals in this hunting festival, but they were also comrades who’d defeated a powerful enemy together. Both had honest personalities, so they weren’t guarded with each other, and found that they got along surprisingly well.

  But the two of them were still immature, as one might’ve expected. Even if their enemy was no longer moving, it was a mistake to let down their guard and just chat like that.

  The dinogigant, which had been still this entire time, suddenly snapped open its eyes and almost leaped upward. No, it wasn’t yet dead. Shockingly, it was in possession of such strong life force that it could still move even with its head split open.

  “No way! Still?!”

  Virgo and Sei turned around on reflex, but the dinogigant’s mouth was already right in front of them. But before the bite could reach them, a large gust of wind blew past. The dinogigant stopped moving on the spot, and with its eyes rolled into the back of its head, it finally died. The body fell to the ground.

  To Virgo, it only seemed like the dinosaur suddenly got up and then suddenly died. She had no way of figuring out or even questioning what had happened.

  “What was that...?”

  “Who knows? It got up, but maybe that was the last of its strength? That surprised me.”

  The two of them were satisfied that it was finally over, at least for the moment. Under that conclusion, they decided to go somewhere else.

  ＊　　　　＊

  “You did it, Libra,” I praised.

  I was currently high above the spectator seats with my arms crossed. Next to me, Libra was silently peering through the scope of a sniper rifle.

  The first thing I’d done after having gotten wind that a dinosaur had appeared was to grab Libra and order her to snipe it. I knew that Virgo wouldn’t lose against a dinosaur, or anything of that level, but she still lacked experience in battle. I’d wanted to be sure. So just in case she didn’t manage to kill it, I’d been in the air on standby to help follow through, as always.

  Then, Libra had magnificently sniped the dinosaur, just like I’d wanted.

  Yeah, she’s really reliable, isn’t she?

  “...”

  “Libra?”

  “It wasn’t me...”

  Libra denied my praise, expressionless. Well, she’s always expressionless.

  Apparently Libra wasn’t the one who’d dealt the finishing blow. There weren’t very many others who could’ve pulled something like this off, though. I looked over at her, waiting for an explanation.

  “An instant before my bullet reached the target, someone else’s arrow pierced through its head. All my bullet did was hit a corpse.”

  “Who was it?”

  Libra put away her rifle. “I do not know. But in this day and age, there are a very limited number of people capable of this,” she replied, looking off into the distance. “I believe there is a more than fifty percent possibility that the ‘Archer’ is nearby.”

  “Sagittarius...?”

  “Yes.”

  Apparently we’d be met with an incident in this country, too, though we only came for a change of pace. Whether this was good or bad luck... Well, at least I could say that trouble loved me.

  9

  The hunting festival ended safely, and Virgo returned triumphantly as the winner. It was only natural given her level, but it should have at least helped her gain some confidence. I felt kind of bad for the other contestants, but without Virgo, some people would definitely have fallen to the dinosaur, so I considered that to have made things even. At any rate, we would be celebrating her victory tonight. Let’s have a small party with food made by Libra, Dina, and Karkinos.

  This doesn’t really matter, but I didn’t cook. It wasn’t like I was completely incapable, but what I always did was pretty much just chuck in a bunch of random ingredients to make fried rice. Honestly, every single dish I’d made looked way too terrible to be presented at a party. In that respect, the food that Dina and the others made passed the mark in both looks and taste. The only thing that had me confused was that I saw Libra doing something like a taste test every once in a while. Can golems even taste?

  “I cannot taste, per se, but my tongue has sensors in it. By touching the food to my mouth, I can analyze the composition of the food and its nutrients. Based off of this as well as past data, I am able to select the flavors that would most please you, master.”

  Just what the hell are golems even...? Mizar, you did way too good of a job. I had the feeling that he’d brought golem technology forward a hundred years by himself.

  Strange. Shouldn’t golems be more like autonomous lumps of iron or rock or something? Why is this one pretty much just an android?

  “Okay, the casserole’s done!” Dina grinned wide as she placed a pot down in front of us with a heavy thud. The fact that she served it to us still in the pot was kind of exciting.

  Wait, isn’t this just that western dish? A casserole? I remembered it was a dish where you sliced up meat and vegetables and mixed that along with other ingredients like cheese into some soup and baked it in an oven in a heat-resistant container.

  But this was a different world, after all. Common ingredients were probably missing, and other ingredients that hadn’t existed in the previous world were mixed in. She’d most likely used an old-fashioned oven made of brick instead of the high-tech ones that were common on the other side too. As a result, it resembled a casserole but was surely something different.

  Still... It’s creepy how similar these are. It’s like skills and knowledge were directly copied over to this world... Or am I just reading into things too much? Guess I should at least ask.

  “What’s this, Dina?”

  “Casserole. It’s a staple in Draupnir home cooking. Only, the definition is kind of vague. Pretty much anything with meat and vegetables that you stew in a big pot until it goes soft and gooey can be called a casserole.”

  “How broad.”

  “Well, it did originate from the country of beastfolk.”

  I see. So basically, anything that’s cooked in a pot is a casserole, which means the actual recipe and ingredients don’t mean much? And that would mean it doesn’t matter whether it’s Eastern or Western in style either. It’s almost like a lesser copy of that world... Like, if you just told someone who had no previous knowledge of casseroles the concept, had them make one, and the inferior copy they made spread anyway...

  No, wait. Now that I think about it, that setting did exist.

  The Goddess gifted pretty much all of the food culture and technology that existed in this world, and that was apparently why humanity never really invented anything nor felt a need to experiment with trial and error. That was the pretty meta excuse the devs gave when the players would ask, “Doesn’t this game world overlap way too much with Earth?” But that actually might have been the truth here.

  Technology and knowledge from Earth, huh? I guess it’s not impossible, since it’s already been proven by the fact that you can use Exgate to bring someone over to this world.

  “You know, this is pretty elaborate for a beastfolk dish.”

  “Are they really that sloppy?”

  “Yes. Beastfolk all have very strong stomachs, so they can easily eat meat or vegetables that have only been lightly cooked. If they have to, they can even eat raw food.”

  Raw too? I guess that part really does make them beasts.

  I ate the fake casserole—I mean casserole—as I listened to Dina’s speech. Hmm... It tastes somewhat like a gratin. It’s pretty good. Well, I’m willing to bet it was altered to fit our tastes better. It probably tastes worse normally.

  “So what’s our plan for tomorrow onward?” Karkinos asked as he placed a cup with squeezed fruit juice in front of Virgo.

  Aigokeros and I were having wine. I hadn’t really drank back on Earth, but ever since I’d possessed this body, alcohol tasted really good. I took a sip to wet my throat and answered the question. “Originally, we would have left Draupnir, but things have changed. Now that it has been revealed that the Archer could be nearby, we will be staying behind to conduct a search.”

  “Y E S. So we will be going on a S E A R C H tomorrow, right?”

  “Hmph. How could that fool dare cause Miss Lufas so much trouble? He should be showing his loyalty by rushing to her side.” It seemed like Karkinos didn’t care much about the Archer, but Aigokeros was unhappy, chugging his alcohol while muttering complaints about what loyalty is.

  Is he drunk? He’s still on his first glass.

  “Hmm. For the moment, the plan is to split up into pairs tomorrow. As for the pairs... Hmm... They will be Dina and us, Libra and Karkinos, Aries and Virgo, and lastly Aigokeros and Scorpius.”

  “No?!”

  After hearing the pairs I’d suggested, Scorpius, who had never left my side, made a face like the world was ending. Then, she glared at Dina, enraged, audibly grinding her teeth. On the other hand, Dina’s face paled, and she broke into a cold sweat.

  “U-Umm, Miss Lufas? Please change the pairings. I don’t want to be assassinated by Scorpius.”

  “Ah... Hmm, okay then. Dina will be with Aigokeros, and We will pair with Scorpius.”

  What should I do? Scorpius’s affection is super heavy and troublesome.

  Ignoring Scorpius, who was once again happily nuzzling my arm, I decided to end the meeting for today. All that was left was to take baths and sleep. This was just a small detail, but every time this happened Scorpius would offer to wash my back, and I would refuse. I had the feeling that letting her in would result in something unfortunate happening. After all, she’d been caught by Libra sneaking into the changing room while I was in the bath before. She always tried to come in after me, so I had Libra change the bathwater and clean the bath just in case. Whenever I happened to wake up at night, I could see Scorpius strung up on the ceiling thanks to Libra, who’d caught her trying to do something.

  Like, at this point, Libra was so reliable I didn’t know what I’d do without her. If only she weren’t so broken in other respects... I looked over at Libra. That was when she seemed to have noticed something, as she turned to face the door.

  “Master, there is someone outside Tanaka. Judging from their body temperature and breathing, they are nervous but do not harbor any hostility. Should I finish them off?” Libra asked as she readied her machine gun.

  Seriously, why does she always just default to deleting people like that? She’d literally just said that she hadn’t sensed any hostility, so just how did that translate to finishing the person off?

  “No, don’t. First, let us hear what they have to say.”

  It was common sense to talk first if the other party wasn’t hostile. I hid my wings within my cloak and had Dina go to greet them. In these cases, Dina was more appropriate for a first impression rather than someone suspicious like me.

  She pattered over to the door and opened it. Standing there was a bipedal fox... No, wait, a fox beastfolk. Beastfolk heads and faces were literally that of the animal they took after, so depending on the type they were really cute. It was troubling.

  Huh. What happens with echinococcus in a fox beastfolk? I’d like to think there’s no reason to worry about it, since they live with us freely.

  “Kooon.”

  The fox beastkin made a really cute cry, but Dina’s reaction was as cool, solid, and as excited as cement. “Please speak using Mizgarz Common.”

  After her retort, he spoke normally. “Ah, okay.”

  That’d probably been his best attempt at a joke. Thanks to the awful reception, his ears were drooping. Wait. Actually, is he a “he”? It’s hard to tell genders with beastfolk.

  “Um, excuse me, but is the person here on this list present?”

  “May I see the list?”

  “Yes, here.”

  Dina took the list and returned to us, leaving the fox at the door. Probably because an RV was so rare, the fox was restlessly looking this way and that around the inside.

  I took the list from Dina and started scanning the names. Among those listed were unknown names like Bikini Muscle, Shadow, Bunny Dandy, and Sei, but I did see Virgo at the top of the list. Are these the names of the top rankers in the hunting festival?

  “This is...?”

  “Ah’m not really sure on the details, but right now, we’re under orders from the emperor to reach out to all the top rankers. If it doesn’t trouble you too much, please come to the southern warrior’s yurt tomorrow at ten in the morning.”

  “And the reason for this gathering?”

  “Mah apologies. Ah’m at the bottom of the ladder, so they don’t tell me much. But they aren’t forcing you to do anything. It’s just if you’re okay with it... So please?”

  Apparently this fox was just an errand boy. He couldn’t answer pretty much any of my questions, and the fact that Libra had stayed silent meant that he wasn’t lying either.

  Hmm, if we feel like it?

  He said that they were under the emperor’s orders, which meant that the emperor was the one calling this meeting. No matter how much countries differed, ignoring such a summons would make things very hard for an adventurer or a traveler. It would probably be correct to assume that not showing up would mean they’d be left pretty much unable to work in that country.

  This is basically an order disguised as a request, isn’t it? Well, I can still ignore it if I want, though.

  Now, then. What should I do about this? If the one being summoned were me or Libra—or anybody other than Virgo, actually—I’d probably just choose to walk into the potential trap.

  Even if it turned out to be a trap, any of us would have been able to brute force our way out of it. But Virgo was different. While her level of 300 was amazing for this era, she wasn’t invincible. There were others who could match or even exceed Virgo’s strength, such as the Seven Luminaries. Take that weakling devilfolk that I’d once punched out. If Virgo fought him, there’d be a chance that she’d lose. It wasn’t guaranteed that this invitation wasn’t laced with malice, but there was no downside to being cautious.

  After some thought, I decided to respect Virgo’s will. If she wanted to go, I would support her. If she didn’t, then we would just blow them off, and I would deal with the emperor or whatever if they made any complaints. Luckily, political power or influence didn’t mean much to us.

  “Virgo, what do you think?”

  “Um, I’m thinking I might go. An invitation like this doesn’t come every day, and if there’s something I can do to help, I’d like to.”

  So Virgo’s in, then. That just means we’ll have to support her.

  I’d just changed plans, but it was time to do so again. Instead of having Aries search for the Archer, I had him on supporting-Virgo duty. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have an ear in on the conversation until I knew there wouldn’t be any danger posed to Dina and me.

  “Understood. There you have it, Messenger. Tell them that Virgo will participate in your little gathering tomorrow.”

  “Yes, I will.” Having heard my reply, the messenger fox happily ran off.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of his tail, which swayed with every step. He was probably off to search for the other participants. How energetic.

  “Then for now, we should sleep in preparation for tomorrow. Since that’s the case, make sure not to stay too long in the bath. We will be shortening our time as much as possible as well.”

  “Then, Miss Lufas, today I will—”

  “No.”

  All I can do is pray that the emperor or whatever didn’t invite Virgo out of malice. I don’t want to have to make an enemy out of an entire country, after all.

  10

  We were inside a larger yurt in the district of lined-up residential yurts. All the high-rankers from the hunting festival were lined up thanks to the emperor’s invitation, waiting for the time when the reason they were all there would finally be explained. Sei was among these people, and he was looking around in an attempt to kill time. The white-winged girl who’d been the winner was of course there, as was the pervert in the bikini armor and the pompous guy in all black.

  They’re high-rankers too? Sei felt like something was out of place. Wait... Was the all-black guy always that short? He’s wearing sunglasses too. Something seems off...

 

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