“Ahhh,” I sighed as I flopped down into the big, cushy chair that I found in the living room of the house I’d rented. Now this is the luxury I’d expect from a mansion in the capital!
The chair was made from a very soft sort of leather that had just the right amount of springiness to it and was tremendously comfortable. The house, meanwhile, had come at the recommendation of the Adventurer’s guild bigwigs. They’d even covered the cost of renting it, which was pretty nice of them, though it did come with one slight drawback...
“Now this is really something! Do you always stay in fancy places like this when you travel around?” asked Willem, who’d come with the house as a package deal. As he’d put it, “There’s no telling what sort of hell you’ll raise if you’re left unsupervised.” In other words, he was both our roommate and our watchdog for the next week and change.
“Hmm. This house is acceptable, I suppose,” Fel said. “The leaders of your guild are adequately competent, it would seem. That they could provide such lodgings and butcher the leviathan speaks well of their capabilities.”
“True,” Gon agreed. “Perhaps we should consider ourselves in their debt.”
The knowledge that we’d finally get to eat the leviathan ten days from now had the two of them in incredibly high spirits.
《Man, ten days, huh? That’s the deal, right? Feels like ages, but boy, am I psyched!》 Dora-chan said.
《Sui’s really excited too!》 Sui chimed in.
Neither of our party’s smallest members had listened to our conversation at the guild—they’d both been fast asleep—but they had woken up while we’d been en route to the house, and I’d filled them in about how the guild had agreed to process the leviathan, but would need ten days to prepare first.
“Hold your horses,” I said. “They’re starting ten days from now, but that doesn’t mean they’ll finish ten days from now! Who knows how long it’ll take? You know how huge that thing was.”
“Ugh!” Fel grunted. “P-Perhaps so, but surely they will have harvested enough meat for us to feast upon after the first day!”
“Yes, indeed! Fel’s exactly right!” Gon said.
《Yeah, what they said!》 Dora-chan agreed.
《Sui wants to eat yummy meat right away!》 Sui added.
Sheesh. You guys are way too impatient when food’s on the line! Just how excited for this meat are you?
My familiars’ attitudes were a hassle, but I could deal with them. What was really weighing on my mind was how much this whole endeavor seemed to have gotten blown out of proportion.
“Hey, guildmaster? I’m glad that they agreed to handle the leviathan and all, but the ten-day delay has me wondering about something. Is this turning into, like, a really large-scale sort of project?”
“Well, of course it is!” Willem said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime undertaking, even for the capital branch.”
“Ugggh... I really would’ve preferred to keep this quick and quiet, honestly.”
“You can’t be serious. Were you really expecting to bring in a leviathan—let alone one that enormous—and not have it turn into a big deal? There’s no way, right?”
Okay...yeah. I can’t deny it. You’ve got me there.
“I’ve got plenty of other questions,” I said. “For one thing, where do you suppose they’re going to butcher something that big in the first place?”
That was a pretty major roadblock, right from the word go. The guild’s massive storehouse had just barely been able to contain the monster’s head alone.
“Outside, I figure. Can’t think of anywhere else,” Willem said.
“Outside?”
“Yeah—outside city limits, that is. Remember that big field we landed on when we first got here? I’d give it good odds that they’ll set up there. It’s the only place that makes sense.”
Oh, yeah. I guess that would probably be a big enough working space.
“From the sound of it, the higher-ups are running themselves ragged bringing together the help they’ll need right about now,” Willem continued.
“They’ll need help?” I asked.
“Oh, no doubt about it. The capital branch doesn’t have nearly enough skilled butchers on staff to handle it alone. You can’t just sic an amateur with a knife on the likes of a leviathan, after all. It’s a top-class item that takes a master’s skills to process properly. They’ll be bringing in all the capable, highly reputed experts in the field they can find, I’d bet. I’m sure our own Johan will be showing up any day now.”
I guess dealing with a monster that big means jumping through all sorts of hoops.
“I figure they’ll call in some high-ranking adventurers too,” Willem added.
“Adventures? Why?”
“Because it’s a leviathan, and they’ll be processing it out in the open, in plain view of anyone who decides to watch. There’ll always be someone trying to earn some quick coin off an undertaking like that, and we’ll need the strictest security we can drum up.”
Oh, yeah, I guess that does make sense, I thought, not seeing any reason to make a big deal out of that information. However...
“What?! You believe there are fools who would dare to lay hands on our leviathan?!”
“They’ll rue the day they try it!”
...Fel and Gon were appalled by the mere thought. A very dangerous glint had begun to shine in their eyes.
Uh, guys? You’re freaking me out a little!
“If there is truly a risk of that happening, then I shall raise as many barriers as I must to ensure it does not come to pass,” Fel said.
“And I as well!” Gon chimed in. “The barriers of a fenrir and an ancient dragon are not so easily broken!”
“Then our plan is set. Gon and I will raise a two-layered barrier. No foe could be mighty enough to break it!”
“Good, good! Best to prioritize the barrier’s strength above all else, this time. There’s no telling who might decide to steal our prize!”
“We will also stand guard, to be safe.”
“Yes, of course! That’s for the best.”
《I’m in for guard duty too! Pisses me off just thinking about someone stealing our leviathan meat!》
《Sui’ll help! Sui’ll help!》
A two-layer barrier courtesy of Fel and Gon, plus all four of them standing guard? Ha ha ha... Yeah, I don’t think that leviathan’s going anywhere anytime soon.
“Yes! Good! Do all that!” Willem exclaimed. “That’ll be worth a hundred—no, a thousand normal guards! I’ll go inform the guild at once!”
Willem really did sprint away on the spot, over the moon to tell the Adventurer’s guild higher-ups that Fel and Gon would have the leviathan’s security measures under control. I, on the other hand, sighed deeply.
It sure does feel like this is becoming a bigger and bigger deal by the second... It’d be hopeless for me to even try controlling it at this point, wouldn’t it?
《Hey, y’know what? I’m starving!》
《Sui’s hungry too!》
“Yes, indeed. I hunger as well.”
“I’m rather famished too, my liege.”
And right on cue, the gluttonous quartet sings their usual tune. Who needs a watch when you have familiars like them around?
“Okay, okay! I’ll make something right away!”