Chapter 99: 21.12

Extra 1.3

We’re back!」

「Hey, welcome home.」

Thirty minutes after Hiroshi had gone to the kitchen, Haruna and returned with the girls just as Tatsuya had finished drawing a bath, already utilizing the kid in (semi-)forced labor.

「Mm? Do we have company?」

「We found it.」

「…At least you didn’t make a collar or anything…」

Haruna jabbed. The kid, obviously on edge from the sudden appearance of this group of women, scuttle away to a corner of the room.

「Mio-chan.」

「Mm-hm.」

Haruna said, and Mio started walking towards the bathroom. Tatsuya called to her.

「We just drew the bath.」

「Okay, thanks.」

「And I think lunch’s almost ready. Let’s eat first.」

「Hiroshi-kun’s cooking?」

「Who else could it be?」

Haruna let out a chuckle at Tatsuya’s response. Tatsuya didn’t really cook well, and Makoto had no experience cooking (in-game or in real life) outside of home-ec classes. So, Haruna and Mio weren’t home, Hiroshi would be left in charge of the kitchen. While Haruna’s and Hiroshi’s cooking skills were on par, Mio’s were far below that of Hiroshi’s.

「Boss Man can cook, too?」

「He can cook, craft, process… Pretty much anything you can think of.」

「That’s why he’s Sensei.」

Haruna and Mio answered, which Nora found a little incredulous.

「And who is that… girl? I think?」

Haruna asked.

「She’s a girl?」

「Don’t ask me… She’s human.」

「I’m sorry, I’m not sure either.」

Nora and Teres answered Tatsuya, vigorously shaking their heads. The kid, now the topic of discussion, tried harder to intimidate the group.

「That being said, there’s reason to think so.」

「What is it?」

「Hiro didn’t look too good.」

「…Is Boss Man’s phobia really that bad?」

「I couldn’t tell you… He may not have even been aware of it himself.」

As the conversation started to derail, an appetizing smell of charred soy sauce and ginger filled the dining room.

「Lunch is ready, y’all.」

「Mm. Looks great. What is it?」

「Rock Boar ginger roast. Ya can eat it as-is, or put it in a sandwich.」

With that he served it alongside a mountain of bread from the serving cart. There were salads and soups, of course, but the soup might as well have been label “don’t ask.” They could see Hiroshi’s attention to detail as he had prepared a few pieces of lettuce on the plate for making sandwiches.

「Rock Boar meat… I thought those were too tough to eat…」

「I’m really curious as to who acquired the meat of such a rabid creature.」

Teres and Nora commentated, shaken by the ingredient mentioned with nonchalance. Rock Boar, as its name may suggest, were boars with hide as hard as rocks. So hard, in fact, that most physical attacks didn’t affect them. They also perfectly resisted certain elemental spells, not to mention that they would charge at terrifying speeds. Most would be lucky to hit a Rock Boar with a long-range attack, let alone damage it. What’s worse, they attacked any creature they could find. Naturally Rock Boar meat was one of the more difficult ingredients out there to obtain. In the first place, since the Rock Boar was only about twice the size of a normal boar, so unlike Wyverns, their meat were rarely undamaged after combat.

While Rock Boars were more annoying than most monsters, Oxygen Ring did the trick again. They were easy prey for Tatsuya. They had taken down the Rock Boars on the same day as the Wyverns, and since their hide was a strict downgrade from Wyvern hide, they had sold the other materials to Merizza after taking the Rock Boars apart, carefully. They had talked about crafting armor out of them, but they were running out of time, and since that could cause a widespread panic, they decided to have Merizza buy the parts as-is.

「Brother and Makoto-san could take down a hundred Rock Boars if they wanted to. Ain’t that right?」

「Yeah.」

Tatsuya said without a boasting tone, and dug right into the ginger roast. The ginger, sauce, and the wild flavors of the Rock Boar meat complimented each other in wondrous harmony. Even Tatsuya hadn’t personally taken down and taken apart for this meat, it was perfectly thick, far from too tough to chew. Eating it as is seemed fine, but a sandwich was becoming more tempting.

「Why don’t we have rice and miso soup with this…」

Tatsuya said, expressing the grievance of all of the Japanese members.

「We don’t have ‘enough for a buffet.」

「None of us would mind, I’m sure.」

「We won’t mind, but are we tellin’ these folks, who just came up today, to start usin’ chopsticks?」

「You have a point…」

「I mean, that’s why I prepped ‘em, ready to be made into sandwiches.」

Again, Hiroshi showed off his attention to detail by preparing tongs for everyone, just to put the meat on bread. They looked over to see Nora already putting a slice onto a sandwich with a piece of lettuce on it.

「I went ahead and cooked ‘em this time, but let me know if ya got anythin’ your species can’t eat or soemthin’.」

「Nothing like that for me. I didn’t eat much meat back in the village, but that was just a matter of short supply, rather than any rule.」

「Don’t worry. Moras are omnivores.」

With that, the two rookies happily ate the food in front of them. The kid, who had been watching this from the corner of the room, glared at them with some sadness and envy.

「…Gotcha.」

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Mio, who had been keeping an eye on the kid, scooped up the little thing. No one, including the kid, could react to her seamless snatch.

「Wh-What are you doing!?」

「When a meal is served, you wash your hands and sit at the table.」

「I didn’t ask for any food!」

「Doesn’t matter. It’s polite to eat what you’re served. Why would we poison a kid from the slums, anyway?」

Stoically shutting down the kid’s whining, Mio made sure the kid’s hands were cleaned at the sink. She washed her hands too, since they had been dirtied by grabbing the kid. Then, she held the kid’s hand and silently pushed the kid onto a chair.

「You’re pretty strong, Mio.」

Tatsuya said.

「You’re not ill. You can eat. Don’t be a brat.」

Pressured by Mio, the kid timidly carried the ginger roast sandwich to the kid’s mouth. As soon as the kid took a bite, both eyes shot open as if In shock, and the kid started scoffing it down.

「It doesn’t look like anything in the digestive tract is affected.」

「Agreed. If ya don’t mind, Brother, Haruna-san. Can y’all go to the slums with the kid to bring back the patient? We gotta take a bath and practice basic blendin’.」

「Okie dokie.」

After deciding what to do after, the Japanese members turned their focus to their lunch. Despite still wanting for rice, each of them finished two servings.

「Here they are.」

「Thanks.」

Haruna and Tatsuya had returned in thirty minutes or so, with a woman in her skin and bones, along with a child even younger than the pickpocket. Mio and the two rookies were still taking a bath.

「Alright, let’s take a look. Can ya help me, Haruna-san? After this, we’ll chuck the little one in the bath.」

「Okie dokie.」

Haruna began prepping for an examination. Hiroshi had convinced the kid to bring these two in, by the way, by saying:

「If ya brin’ ‘em in and get examined, we’ll feed ‘em, too.」

Good food was mightier than the sword.

「So, what do you think?」

Haruna asked, after a swift pair of examinations.

「Pretty much as expected. Don’t know if she’s the sister or momma, but the older lady’s got parasites and a Magical Material poisoning.」

「…Poisoning?」

「It must be a substance that’s only in this world. There’s a Magical Material called Melanite. When bonded with a certain atom, it becomes toxic.」

「…Which atoms?」

「Nitrogen. The thin’ is, nitrogen is pretty stable, so it won’t bond if they’re just left alone. They bond durin’ the process of plants takin’ nutrients from the ground. Plants can’t tell the difference between afflicted Melanite and the nutrition they need.」

Hearing this, Haruna had good guess. They must have eaten some grass sprouting from afflicted soil after the recent ordeal, until it caused a poisoning. As for parasites, there were plenty of plausible explanations.

「Can you treat it?」

「Won’t’ be a problem. The only thin’ is she’s really weak right now. We gotta take out the parasites so they don’t soak up all the nutrition for her.」

「Okay. How about the little kid?」

「Malnutrition from the Melanite nitrite poisonin’. Negative for parasites, but we should do a soft dewormin’, just in case.」

Haruna noticed something as she listened to Hiroshi’s speedy explanation.

「If that’s how they were poisoned, how come Fum-chan is fine?」

「Fum?」

「That’s the kid’s name.」

「Right, we never asked.」

Tatsuya pointed out.

「Slipped my mind.」

When first found Fum, it was difficult to communicate at all through the wall of distrust, and they didn’t have time to ask for name after that. They had not had a chance to ask for the woman’s and the younger child’s names, as they had been focusing on more pertinent information.

「Anyway, body type, weight, and the amount they consumed can change how likely they’ll get a poisonin’. Judgin’ by the smell, the kid may not be showin’ symptoms yet , but it’s close.」

Haruna agreed with a frown. Hiroshi had called it clichéd, but Haruna thought that Fum’s pungent odor caused Hiroshi to take action. Not from some phony superhero complex, but most likely to prevent the possibility of an infectious disease spreading to the rest of the party, and even Aearis. Otherwise, he had no reason to save a girl who tried to rob him.

「I’ll whip up IVs with fluids and a dewormer. Will ya give it to ‘em?」

「Mm-hm.」

Mixing this and that with expertise, Hiroshi finished up his concoction with some magic and packed it into IV bags before handing them off to Haruna to handle the rest. Fum, who had been watching all of this in hiding, was enamored by Hiroshi’s stoic expression.

「He’s pretty cool when he’s doing these kinds of stuff, isn’t he?」

「What?」

Haruna whispered to Fum, after smoothly administering the IVs.

「He was charming while he was doing the examinations and mixing the medicine.」

「He wouldn’t have trouble finding suiters if he always acted that way. 」

「No, Teres-san. The real charm is that the usually useless man becomes very competent and cool when needed.」

「Oh! I see!」

Haruna and Fum didn’t know how to respond to Teres and Nora, who had sneaked their way into the conversation. With Hiroshi’s sublime skills and ridiculously extravagant medicine, Fum’s mother and sister had become healthier than they ever had been in less than a week. Upon being presented with the generous offer of guaranteeing food, clothes, and shelter for maintaining the workshop, the entire family nearly pledged their eternal royalty to Hiroshi out of overwhelming gratitude, unbeknownst to him.

After this incident, the Japanese party informed the King and Layotte to improve the soil in the slums, in order to prevent a panic caused by the tainted soil. In the process, some of the areas that no longer housed anyone were turned into farmlands, which were used by all sorts of people from the craftsmen of the workshop to the better citizens of the slums.

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