“Well then, today, we shall go hunting.”
“An excellent idea! We’ve spent so long aiding in the leviathan’s butchering, and I was just thinking it would be nice to get some exercise.”
《I’m down for that too!》
《Hunting! Yaaay!》
“Okay, nope, slow down. What’re you even talking about?” I asked. We’d just finished breakfast, and I was settling in to enjoy a nice, relaxing moment of peace when my familiars pulled a hunting trip out of thin air and slapped it right onto our itinerary. “You realize that they’re not finished butchering the leviathan, right?”
Fel, Gon, Dora-chan, and Sui all looked completely disinterested in that little detail.
“Not finished? They might as well be.”
“Indeed! We’ve obtained the beast’s meat, so the important task is over and done with.”
《Right? That’s what I was gonna say. The meat was all that really mattered.》
《Meeeat!》
“Seriously, guys...?” I groaned.
I mean, yes, I’m well aware that the four of you prioritize meat above all else. You’re the most dedicated carnivores I’ve ever met, no question about it, and since they wrapped up the deboning over the last two days, we do have all the meat we’re gonna get already. My Item Box is as full of meat as it’s ever been...but that doesn’t mean the whole thing is over!
“Okay, listen up. Just because we have the leviathan’s meat doesn’t mean we can check out and act like it’s all finished! There’s still the whole head left to butcher, remember?” I said.
“Hmph. The head is inedible, and as such, is of no consequence to me,” Fel said. Gon, Dora-chan, and Sui all chimed in with their agreement.
“Okay, but the world doesn’t revolve around you, and I’m pretty sure the head’s actually gonna be the most time-consuming part of the whole monster to process,” I replied.
“What?!”
“It will be longer still? Truly...? I’d hoped we would be able to return home next week, perhaps. I miss the bath there dearly.”
《I know, right? It’s easy enough for Sui and me since we fit in the bath here, but no way could you ever squeeze in, Gon.》
《The bath at home’s so much bigger and nicer!》
Wait, wait—that’s why you’re excited to go home, Gon? For the bathroom? Sure, I’d had it enlarged specifically so that he and Fel would fit, and it was pretty nice to hear that he appreciated it, but did it really compete with the leviathan in terms of importance in his mind? That was a bit of mental priority arithmetic that I didn’t think I’d ever be able to square. The gluttonous quartet probably—scratch that, definitely—thought that now that the meat was in our hands, we could just pack up and leave, and all I could do was roll my eyes at them.
“Ugh. Why are you guys always like this...?” I grumbled. “Not only are they still working on the butchering process, they haven’t even decided what parts of the leviathan they’re going to buy yet! We’re gonna be here for a good while longer, I’m betting.”
They’d made it pretty clear that they wouldn’t be buying everything, after all, even with all of the meat taken out of the equation. Their limited budget would’ve made that practically impossible, from the sound of it. That meant that I had to be available to collect the materials that they decided not to purchase from me, not to mention getting paid for the parts they did want and handling all the other little things I was sure would crop up. It wasn’t as easy as waiting for them to finish taking the monster apart and hitting the road immediately afterward.
“They told us that they’d be working at the guild today for a reason, you know? Let’s head over, everyone!”
The leviathan’s body had been fully processed, and now, it was time to take apart the head. It was still huge, but it was small enough to butcher in the guild’s storehouse, which was the preferable option by a tremendous margin, so long as it was an option.
“Grr! Surely we can leave that task in the guild’s hands and go on our way?” Fel protested.
“I’m sure they’ll have a lot more butchering and bean counting to do that we won’t be able to help with, yeah, but they can’t exactly process the head if they don’t have it, can they?” I countered. I was currently holding on to the thing in my Item Box. “Come on, get a move on!”