I took the fish and cast a purification spell on her hands.
“Dungeon fish, huh?”
As the name suggested, they were found in dungeon waters and safe zones. They looked like bright blue carp with whiskers as long as their bodies. Normally, you’d have to make them spit out any mud before cooking them, but the water here was clean enough that they should’ve been ready to eat.
I quickly processed the harvest.
“I’ll cook the fish, so you two cut the fruit.”
“Peeling it!”
“Peel, peeeel.”
I’ll fillet the fish and sauté it—that’s the easiest way. I saw a bunch of herbs in the garden, so I can use those. I’ll cook some of the leafy vegetables here and serve them too.
“Dungeon fish sauté with dungeon vegetables, dungeon style.” Magical effects: slight life recovery, slight stamina recovery, slight mana recovery, slight stamina boost.
The magical effects were weak, but the smell was good. Since I hadn’t used soy sauce and almost everything was dungeon-grown—except the salt—the dish ended up being “dungeon style.” Way too many “dungeons” in that name, though.
In the center of the safe zone was a circular plaza. We spread out a cloth there to have ourselves a fancy little picnic. Steak and sautéed fish aren’t exactly picnic food, but whatever.
“All right, let’s eat.”
“Let’s eat,” the girls chimed in.
First up was the deadly horn steak. I bit into it, and my mouth was flooded with juices. It’s like incredibly tasty chicken breast! Except it’s pretty tough.
I may have only been four years old, but my physical capabilities had been somewhat boosted with dragon power. Even so, the meat was hard to chew, so it probably would’ve been impossible to eat for a normal child.
Shiro and Kuro, however, were ecstatic.
“So, so, so good!”
“Sooo goood.”
For carnivorous beastfolk like them, the toughness seemed to be just right—they’re wolf and tiger beastfolk, after all. They tore into the meat with gusto.
The fish is also excellent. This would work deep-fried, grilled, or stewed too. I’ll stock up later and try different preps. They should be easy to catch with magic.
The biggest surprise, though, was the fruit. It was shockingly sweet, like the selectively bred ones on Earth. Even the mellum tasted completely different. The ones I’d eaten before had tasted a bit like bananas, but these were like concentrated banana juice. No wonder there’s a time limit here. Without it, people would probably settle down in this place forever. That’s how good it was.
“That was amazing,” said Shiro.
“Soooo full.”
Shiro and Kuro flopped onto the ground, patting their bellies. And then, just like that, they fell asleep.
The sound of their soft, adorable breathing filled the air.
A little while ago I was panicking about being thrown here with just the three of us, but seeing Shiro and Kuro so relaxed, I don’t care about any of that anymore. At this point, whatever happens happens. And I’m just as full and sleepy as they are.
“Guess I’ll take a nap too.”
I used earth magic to raise walls around us, just in case someone wandered in. It would suck to get attacked in our sleep.
Then I set an alarm with time-space magic. Normally, it’s used for accurately measuring boiling times, but it works just fine as an alarm clock.
After about three hours of good rest, we woke up from our nap. I would’ve loved to stay longer, but if we lazed around here, time would keep melting away. Since safe zones had a fixed usage time per expedition, I didn’t want to waste it.
“Let’s get moving, shall we?”
“Let’s go!”
“Into the unknooown!”
“Myah-myah!”
“Arf!”
Shiro and Kuro were more motivated than ever. Kuro was wagging her tail furiously, and Shiro was fidgeting, barely able to contain herself. That rest must’ve had them overflowing with energy.
“W-Well you two sure are full of spirit.”
“We got farther in the dungeon!”
“Let’s keep going.”
They were delighted to see visible progress. After all, we’d discovered a safe zone that we barely had any info on. It must’ve felt like we were steadily advancing toward the deepest area.
I should learn from their positive attitudes.
“There’s definitely a big room over there,” I said.
There was only one exit from the safe zone. About ten meters down the corridor, a large chamber opened up. From here, I couldn’t see any monsters, nor could I sense any presence or even a smell, but I could tell it wasn’t just an ordinary room.
“Shiro, Kuro, what do you think?”
“I don’t sense any mana at all.”
“And no weird smeeells.”
“I see...”
I tried sensing mana but felt nothing. Maybe some force was blocking us from detecting what lay ahead.
“Well, how about we—”
“How about we?” asked Shiro.
“How about we eat a bit?” I said.
“Good ideeea.”
I wasn’t starving, but my body’s a lot less fuel efficient now. Better to fill up a little here.
“How does fruit sound?”
“I’ll cut it!”
“I’ll peeeel.”
Shiro and Kuro had gotten good at peeling fruit. I quickly seared the fruit in a pan, adding citrus juice and brown sugar for flavor. It was tasty plain, but I’d learned that using my cooking ability boosted its purification and detox powers.
“Dungeon-grown fruit sauté, dungeon style.” Magical effects: slight life recovery, slight stamina recovery, slight mana recovery, slight detox, small poison resistance, slight purification.
It even had poison resistance—incredibly useful for conquering the poison dungeon. We ate the caramelized fruit while brewing fresh tea from the garden’s herbs. Taking the beastfolks’ sharp noses into account, I kept the flavor subtle.
“Tasty!”
“Nicely dooone.”
The girls sipped their tea, looking content.
But the peaceful mood ended there.
“What the—!” a voice shouted. “This place is huge!”
“I-It’s beautiful,” replied another.
Just as I thought I’d sensed a presence near the entrance, I heard two voices ring out—voices I really didn’t want to hear.
“It’s them,” said Shiro.
“Delinqueeents.”
That’s right, it was the black-haired duo. It looked like they’d broken through the dungeon and made it into the safe zone. Naturally, they could see us plain as day.
“If it isn’t the twerps again.”
“I-I’m impressed that you kids were able to make it this far on your own...”
They strolled closer, a spring in their steps and no sense of caution at all. I didn’t want to get involved, but running now might have raised some suspicion. I might as well have just told them, “We’re wary of you,” right to their faces. In town, maybe we could’ve escaped, but there was no chance of that here. The garden was small, and who knew what lay ahead.
“Yo! You guys made it all the way here!”
“Yes, somehow.”
“Not bad! Not as good as me, but you’ve done all right!”
The delinquent talked to us like we were buddies. There was no malice, but he was condescending as usual. My impression of him’s already at rock bottom, so even the little things piss me off.
Shiro’s and Kuro’s faces went blank, silent.
Machina seemed to pick up on our reluctance to chat, but she didn’t have the guts to stop him. She just kept her head down, looking troubled. It was like she was saying, “I don’t know what to do either, so don’t blame me,” which made her just as irritating as the delinquent himself. That “It’s not my fault” vibe rubbed me the wrong way.
Her bangs hid her eyes, but from where we sat, we could see her face. More than whether she was pretty or ugly, all I could think was, “Yeah, she’s Japanese.”
“Huh? That stuff looks good!” said the delinquent, reaching for our fruit.