Ten minutes later, I retrieved Gram and Gyes, who I had buried in the ground with my attacks, and we had a debriefing.
“What is with this guy?!”
“D’you think he might be stronger than the elders?!”
“Was it really necessary to bury me in the ground?!”
“Yeah, my darling’s amazing!”
“Amazing? More like abnormal. There is something wrong with his head, not to mention his body...”
I got the feeling that more of them were expressing their anger at how absurd I was than doing any debriefing, but well, that wasn’t actually important. Both Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk were putting aside their differences and coming together, analyzing how to fight an unfair opponent—me—in the future. Tailtiu was in the circle too, and watching her actively give her opinions made me feel like a parent watching his child in class.
“It all went surprisingly well, huh?”
Tailtiu had been excluded by the others because she was too strong, having already awoken to her powers. Gram and Gyes had then hidden their power because they hadn’t wanted to end up like her. My suggestion to them had been: Just fight someone who’s even stronger.
“It’d be a waste if I didn’t use this body for something, after all.”
They had originally been fighting in order to awaken their Ancestors’ powers and become adults. That meant there was no particular need for their opponents to be Ancient Dragonfolk or Fierce Ogrefolk specifically. Luckily, a god had given me this seemingly invulnerable body, so they could use their power on me as much as they pleased.
At first, both groups had been hesitant to go all out on someone who wasn’t even their rival, but after letting them attack me enough times, they started to understand: Oh, no matter how much we hit him, we still can’t do anything... Even then, none of them had given up, and they had kept on coming up with ways to fight me. I assumed that was some special racial trait of theirs. But once they understood how preposterous I was, they had all started to work together to fight against me. Meanwhile, Gram and Gyes pretended to have awoken during all the confusion.
“And those kids couldn’t do it by themselves, so Tailtiu joined the fighting too...”
Even with her on their side, they still couldn’t bring me down, but it seemed that all the bad feelings between them had faded away. She looked happy as she loudly chimed in with everyone; I couldn’t imagine anyone calling her a loner anymore.
Reina and Luna then came out from the depths of the forest. I’d made Reina leave to avoid getting mana sickness during the big fight.
“Are you guys done yet, Arata?” Reina asked.
“Yeah. They’re in a meeting right now,” I replied.
She paused, then said, “It sounds less like a meeting and more like everyone complaining about how ridiculous you are.”
“Do they hate you?” Luna asked.
“No, they’re just having a constructive conversation together about how to defeat a powerful foe.”
I’d rather you not say such hurtful things. My body might be invincible, but my heart is made of glass.
But when I repeated that out loud, the two of them looked exasperated.
“It doesn’t seem that breakable to me,” Reina said.
“Yeah, you’re pretty shameless, Mister Arata,” Luna said.
I paused. “That’s odd...”
Perhaps another meeting with them was in order. On the agenda would be clarifying what exactly the definition of “Well, it’s Arata, after all,” was.
“Anyway, all that unimportant stuff aside,” Reina said.
“Unimportant?!”
“Let’s eat already. The others over there must be hungry too. Can you get them, Luna?”
“Okaaay.”
Completely ignoring me, Reina started to take out various tools and utensils from her Storage spell. As she set up what in my past life would have been called a barbecue grill, she looked like nothing other than a college student having a good time outdoors.
“Umm, there are eleven of them, and there’s me, Arata, Luna, and Elga... And Merlyn and Zelos are probably coming too, so...” Counting the number of people on her fingers, she briskly got everything ready, then suddenly turned to me as if she had just remembered something.
“Get the meat ready, Arata,”
“Ah, got it.”
One must not disobey Reina while cooking. I did as she said, opening my Storage spell and taking out the monsters Luna and Tailtiu had hunted, then I prepared them to make them easier for her to cook.
“I’ve really gotten used to this, haven’t I?” I remarked to myself.
Simply skinning animals had been a chore at first, but after learning a lot from everyone, I could now take them apart with ease. This, too, is growth, I thought. At the same time, Luna brought everyone over.
“Sup, Arata,” Elga said. “Looks like you guys really went all out again.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty good exercise,” I replied.
“Heh heh heh,” Elga chuckled as he looked at the desolate earth. “They’re still kids, but they are Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk. You’re probably the only guy who could play with them and not get hurt.”
To a great Divine Beastfolk warrior like him, their fights were no doubt just child’s play.
“But I hear you were a rascal like them once too,” I said.
He paused. “Who told you that?”
“Suzaku.”
“That meddling hag! She’s going around spreading embarrassing stories behind my back?!”
It would probably be for the best if I didn’t mention that she had gleefully revealed everything. As his foster mother, she had been eager to tell me all kinds of stories about his past, including the beginning of his love with Livia.
It must be awful for your parent to know so much about what you did with your partner...
The rural information network was a frightful thing.
“Okay, with this, we’re done getting ready,” I said.
Including her tents, Reina’s things were intended for an army to use, meaning there was enough to accommodate everyone. Under the grill grate I could see red charcoal which gave off a pleasant smell that was totally at odds with the wasteland around us. Any meat you put on there would definitely taste good.
Reina lifted up a ladle and frying pan and clanged them together. “Everyone! It’s time to eat!”
“Yeeeaaahhhh!” Ancient Dragonfolk and Fierce Ogrefolk alike stood up and came over, shouting. They were acting almost like a high school baseball team, hungry after practice. Luna also rushed over with them.
With an unconscious sheepish grin, I stood next to Reina.
“The meat’s over here!” Reina said. “Cook your own portions yourself, and no fighting! If you can’t follow these rules, you won’t have any! Got it?”
“You got it, sis!” Gram said.
“Certainly, sister!” Gyes said.
“All right... Then, eat up!”
“Yeeeaaaaaahhhhh!” they all shouted again.
Out of respect, the Ancient Dragonfolk called me “bro,” almost like I was a yakuza superior, while the Fierce Ogrefolk used the antiquated “brother,” like they were samurai. And they referred to Reina as they just did. They had started calling me that after I showed them the gap in our strengths, whereas for Reina, it was entirely because she fed them tasty food.
“Mister Arata, this is the Shantak I hunted,” Luna said, pointing at her plate to show off her kill. Perhaps this was a natural behavior of hers.