Ch.122Fishing (2)

After slicing up a Giant Frog that attacked me during my leisurely fishing session.

I continued fishing for about three more hours before noticing the red sunset spreading across the sky, and was now returning to the village.

“Is it tasty?”

“Heeheehing!!”

Though I see him every day, it somehow felt like meeting Gus after a long time. I handed him some decent fish from today’s catch and briefly inspected the cart attached behind him, loaded with cleaned fish and butchered Giant Frog meat.

In this situation where my omnivorous war horse with monster bloodlines was chomping away at fish, that large quantity of fish and meat would serve as an excellent protein source for the village.

The Giant Frog in particular is actually quite decent meat if you set aside prejudices about frogs.

Being an amphibian-based creature, its flesh is similar to poultry like chicken, and it has thick layers of fat and muscle for shock absorption, providing many edible parts.

Of course, one must inevitably deal with the distinctive fishy smell inherent to amphibian meat, including frogs, but aside from that, it provides a substantial amount of reasonably palatable meat.

Additionally, most aquatic monsters tend to be quite large (averaging 1 meter) thanks to their watery environment, so even after removing inedible parts, the yield remains impressive.

Among aquatic monsters, the Luminous Electric Catfish, which occupies roughly the wolf position, averages about 1 meter in length. Fish exceeding 2 meters can be found without much difficulty, so there’s no immediate concern about food shortages.

…That is, if you ignore the fact that from a human perspective, each of these fish is practically a carnivorous predator.

Anyway, after pulling the cart loaded with massive amounts of fish and frog meat forward, we eventually arrived at a place where the outskirts of the village… specifically the farmland under cultivation, came into view.

Farmland with boundaries marked by fences. After briefly observing it, I followed the naturally formed road where carts regularly passed through, and finally entered inside the village palisade.

“Lord Alzar?”

“Ah, good work.”

After briefly greeting the guard—a retired adventurer—watching the village gate, I entered the village and headed straight for the food storage… or more precisely, the food preservation facility.

A storehouse where Gretel had installed a barrier using preservation magic to reduce the spoilage rate of food inside by more than half, and right next to it, a food processing facility producing preserved foods like salted and smoked products.

“Ah, Lord Alzar… you’ve arrived?”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work as always. I’ve brought today’s fish and Giant Frog meat. They’ve already been cleaned and prepared.”

“…I see!”

After handing these over to the familiar face of the food processing technician working there, I was about to move on with a few fish for my simple dinner when…

‘…Hmm?’

Suddenly, I noticed Lord Malachi Falten, who hadn’t shown his face for days due to being holed up (voluntarily “canned”) in that golem armor hangar. I approached him to offer a simple greeting.

“Lord Falten? It feels like it’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has.”

“But Lord Falten’s expression seemed slightly off.”

To explain in detail, it was the expression of someone who desperately wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to speak freely, so they kept their mouth shut…

And in such a situation, there was only one way to proceed without embarrassing either party—for me to inquire about his intentions.

“Lord Falten? Is something the matter?”

“…Yes. This might be presumptuous, but if you have some time to spare, could you come with me to the hangar?”

‘The hangar…?’

What could possibly have happened to make the usually confident Lord Falten act so hesitantly and cautiously toward me?

While continuing such thoughts internally, I outwardly showed none of these concerns as I spoke.

“Of course, Lord Falten. But first… may I put this away?”

As I lifted the forearm-sized fish (my dinner) I was holding, Falten seemed to finally notice that what I had in my hand was a string of fish.

“Ah, of course. Actually, since our conversation might take some time… perhaps it would be better if you came after having your dinner, when you’re more comfortable?”

“…Indeed. Let’s do that then.”

Is this what makes someone who has properly studied and served as a faculty head different?

Agreeing to Malachi Falten’s suggestion, I decided to go home and take care of my business before meeting him again.

Although I had already grilled and eaten some fish at the fishing spot, it was still insufficient to satisfy my caloric needs.

※ ※ ※

And so, that evening.

‘Tonight’s dinner was delicious too….’

Mixed grain bread that had become a staple in the territory, pickled turnips, rat meat soup that needed to be eaten quickly, and grilled mackerel split in half and cooked over charcoal.

Accompanied by vintage wine from the Charmant region produced in Gretel’s magical goblet, and for dessert, butter cookies made with magic and raspberry tarts.

This abundant meal, which had now become almost routine, was actually not enough to complete my dinner if strictly speaking.

The various factors I had acquired raised my combat power to a level that was difficult to handle as a typical intermediate, but perhaps as a price for that, the amount of calories my body demanded had also increased insanely.

Because I needed to create chemical fire within my body, even combining the food intake of two chimeras who devour dozens of people’s worth of food wouldn’t quite match what I consume alone.

As a result, recently I’ve been separating my meals into those for taste enjoyment and those for satiety. If meals at the fishing spot were for calorie replenishment, this was simply to leisurely enjoy dining.

There was even public opinion that the fundamental cause of our territory’s frequent food shortage was my inhuman level of food consumption.

Anyway, after finishing this frenzied meal, I headed to the golem armor hangar where Lord Falten was staying, as we had discussed earlier.

Perhaps because it was getting dark and the village was relatively quiet, when I arrived at the hangar in casual clothes, what I saw was…

‘…Wow.’

That shabby wooden building from before had completely transformed into something resembling a robot hangar straight out of a science fiction genre.

The inner walls of the hangar were meticulously lined with metal container-like panels, and various low-height lift devices were positioned throughout.

As for the golem armor, which could be considered the most important element in the current situation…

‘Ooooh…!!’

It was disassembled into component units, suspended on wall-mounted object fixation devices, with damaged parts separated and hung on one side of the wall.

And as I was excitedly examining this golem armor under repair—being someone who loves such things more than anyone—Lord Falten, having removed his prop coat, was walking up from what appeared to be the underground living quarters.

“You’ve arrived, Lord Alzar.”

“Yes! By the way, this place… has become truly magnificent!”

“…You think so?”

“Absolutely!”

Since it was my genuine feeling, there was no need to feel guilty or conflicted. After spending quite some time enthusiastically discussing our shared passion for machinery, half sincere and half flattery…

“Well, enough small talk… what was it you wanted to discuss?”

“Ah, let me explain that.”

At some point, realizing we had spent too much time on this trivial matter, I calmed my excitement and he began explaining the repair status of the golem armor.

According to him, most of the non-mechanical damage—such as armor plate damage—had already been repaired.

In this golem armor designed with armor plates protecting the internal components and frame, the exterior parts had been repaired, but several problems had arisen with repairing the internal components.

While the core power unit and other untouchable parts were completely intact, he had concluded that he couldn’t repair the internal power lines and similar components with the equipment he currently possessed.

And then came the main point.

“So I was wondering… would it be acceptable for me to briefly visit a nearby magic tower to purchase the necessary parts?”

With a considerably polite and respectful attitude, the former head of the Metal Faculty, Lord Malachi Falten, was now asking my permission to temporarily leave his post.