From then on, Fel the Fenrir became one of our traveling companions, and we had made enough progress to be arriving at Veenen soon.
I was in the middle, Rita was in front, Vincent was to my right and Ramon to my left, and behind me to the right and left were Franka and Werner respectively. Added to that usual formation, Fel followed us slowly.
Werner sighed while making a thoughtful face.
“What’s wrong, Werner?”
“Well, we’re almost at the border, so I was just wondering what to do.” Hm? What does he mean?
“Nononono, Mukohda. Like this, they’ll definitely stop us.” Vincent glanced furtively behind us as he said that.
Ahh, because Fel is with us, I realized.
“The border guards will come crawling out of the woodwork. Although I think they’ll withdraw once they realize we don’t mean any harm...”
“Werner, even before the question of ‘if they’ll withdraw or not,’ the entirety of their army is still no match for a Fenrir.”
“Well, what Ramon says is true.”
“Eh, is that fairy tale of a Fenrir destroying an entire country something that actually happened?”
“Rita, that’s not a fairy tale, it’s historical fact.”
Ummm, have my ears gone bad? They’re talking some nonsense about destroying a country. That’s a joke, right? I couldn’t accept what I had just heard.
“Even if they acknowledge that it’s contracted, there’s no doubt that the entire country will move this time.” Werner said while looking at me.
Huh? Me? What now?
“There’s just no way that the country will leave you alone, now that you’ve contracted with a Fenrir, Mukohda. As long as they capture you, Fenrir will definitely follow, after all.”
Eh? R-Ramon, is that true? I couldn’t help my shock, it would be extremely troublesome to have a country stepping into my business.
“There is no need to worry. If they mean any harm to either of us, all I have to do is fight them.”
“Nonono. Th-That’d be bad. If the Great Fenrir-”
“Fel.”
“...If F-Fel were to get serious, the entire country would disappear.”
“If they mess with us, they deserve to disappear.”
Nonono, F-Fel, isn’t that a little too violent?
“If they do not want that to happen all they have to do is leave us alone. It is a very simple thing.”
After Fel made his point, the members of Iron Will could only stare, open-mouthed.
“More importantly, is it not almost time for food?”
Fel’s words marked the start of lunch.
✦ ✦ ✦
The red boar meat that the members of Iron Will hunted was in trouble. No matter how much they say that it was okay to use, there had to be a limit.
Including Fel’s portion of boar yesterday, and the meat I served him this morning because he kept going on about eating meat, we’d already gone through quite the amount.
“Hey, I request meat.”
“Of course you’d want meat for lunch too. The red boar meat isn’t mine, so if you want to eat meat that badly, go hunt some yourself.”
“Hm? Is that so. I will get some meat right away, so wait awhile.” Having said so, Fel ran off into the forest beside the road.
“M-Mukohda, it’s okay if you want to use all of the red boar meat.”
“No no, there’s no way I can take advantage of you like that. If we let him, Fel really will eat all of the boar that everyone took so much trouble hunting. Also, we can’t just coddle him like that. If he plans to travel with me from now on, he should at least take responsibility for the cost of his own food. I mean, I can’t hunt, and if he wants to eat meat like this every time, I can’t very well buy it, can I? If I tried that, I’d go bankrupt right away. Hahaha.” If he’s really a legendary magic beast then he should at least be able to hunt his own food, I thought.
“You’re amazing, Mukohda...” (Werner)
“Amazing. You’re amazing, Mukohda!” (Rita)
“You’re great, Mukohda. I really respect you for being able to order around that Fenrir.” (Vincent)
“To order around a Fenrir that could destroy a country by itself, you must be a hero.” (Franka)
“To think there would be a person that could tell a Fenrir what to do.” (Ramon)
Ehh, even if you say that... It might feel amazing if you say that Fenrirs are legendary magic beasts, but this guy, Fel, was lured into a contract by food...
To be lured in by food, honestly - that’s something I can only think an idiot would do.
It’s scary though, so I wouldn’t tell Fel that. While I was thinking that, Fel came back with a huge bird in his mouth.
“I-It’s a Rockbird...” The members of Iron Will stared at Fel with the bird in his mouth with blank faces.
“By Rockbird, do you mean the bird that Fel hunted?”
“Yeah, it’s a B-rank monster. It’s about strong enough that even if we fought it with all our strength, we might not win.” Oi, you hunted something that dangerous?
“I have caught something. Quickly, make me something to eat.”
No, I mean, even if you tell me to make food, if you just plop a huge bird down in front of me... I didn’t know how to butcher animals. There was no choice but to ask for help here.
“Fel, you know I don’t know how to butcher this? I have no choice but to ask these people for help, but is it okay to pay them with the non-meat materials from this rockbird?”
“As long as I am able to eat meat I have no problems with this.”
“Now that that’s settled, can I ask you guys to dismantle this?”
Just like that, I asked them, but the members of Iron will all shook their heads saying, “Nonono. It’s too much to take all the materials just for dismantling a rockbird.” Even if you tell me that, I thought, I really just don’t want to pay this guy’s food bill out of my own pocket.
“No no, thanks to Fel what’s left of the red boar meat has decreased drastically, and Fel himself is okay with it so please take it.” They kept saying, “It’s too much,” right until the end, but I somehow managed to convince them. It’s something Fel hunted so it’s free, after all.
Also, it seemed like there would be trouble entering Veenen like this, so collecting favors now should help me out in the long run.
With that settled, the rockbird was cleanly dismantled by Iron Will.
So, thinking that for a bird this would be just right, I used the teriyaki sauce that I bought with my skill and decided to make Rockbird Teriyaki.