episode_0001

The heart of the dungeon, no different from usual.

In this place where a relaxed atmosphere lingers, we were enjoying an unexpected idleness.

“I’m hungry. Yes, I’m hungry, Yuan.”

Lilien, the (former) knight, was complaining in a sulky voice with puffed-out cheeks.

A hungry her is dangerous.

Normally, she’s a graceful and calm knight, but when she’s hungry, she changes into something like a child.

Should I say she becomes a little more true to her instincts?

To be more specific, she runs wild.

For reference, she’s a knight who is rated as being on par with the Demon Lord, so if she runs wild, it’s a natural disaster.

And if it gets worse than that, she suddenly even regresses to infancy.

“I agree! I’m so hungry I want to chew on something! Aren’t there any monsters? Aren’t there any monsters who attack first?”

Oh no, our (former) Demon Lord is also getting hungry.

If Lilien regresses to infancy, Ellis, the Demon Lord, becomes a weapon of destruction when hungry.

To the extent that she’ll blast space-rending magic at a single slime.

I looked beside me for a moment. Although she hasn’t been speaking until just now—

“Are you hungry, Arte?”

“Yes, the remaining energy is about to switch from warning to critical. Yuan, fuel supply is urgent.”

Is it just my imagination that even her usual relaxed voice sounds desperate?

Ah, this person, no, this machine is Arte the Automaton.

An automaton who was a guardian of ancient civilization but left to travel.

They say that Lilien and Ellis, whom she met while traveling, arbitrarily persuaded her to join the party.

Even though she looks expressionless, she says everything she needs to unexpectedly.

Moreover, even though she’s a machine, she can eat food like us and use it as energy!

Normally she says she charges with the sun, but the current situation is what it is.

Of course, considering that something strangely unusual is happening inside the dungeon.

Not a single monster appeared when we explored this floor.

Thanks to that, we’re also completely out of food supplies.

On top of that, since it’s a dungeon isolated from the outside, we don’t even know the time properly.

Subjectively, maybe a day? It feels like about a day has just passed.

Fasting for 24 hours. It’s certainly not easy.

“Mmm… I want to slice anything. I want to swing or throw my sword.”

Lilien is quietly letting out a mad sound.

In fact, while projecting her sword, she’s idly swinging it around.

We’ve now truly entered a time attack situation.

“Can’t be helped. Wait a bit.”

Can’t be helped if I don’t want the dungeon to be destroyed. I started to unpack.

“Yuan? What are you doing right now?”

“As you can see, preparing to cook. Let’s eat first and then move.”

Ah, for reference, this is the heart of the dungeon.

Although we’re not encountering monsters right now, it’s a place where there’s a high probability of being brutally killed if we do encounter one.

Moreover, I’m not even an adventurer, just an ordinary porter and cook.

If a monster just flicks me, I’ll split in half right there.

In such a situation, just sitting and cooking might seem reckless.

But what can I do? If I don’t cook now, everyone is going to go berserk.

“Food! Food! Food! Food!”

Ellis’s eyes are sparkling, unable to hide her excitement.

Even when she’s about to cry from hunger, hearing the word ‘food’ makes her brighten up again, which is adorable.

She’s cute, but when I actually say something like that, she gets incredibly embarrassed.

“Exactly~! We want to eat buuut! There’s nothing to eat around here at all!”

Lilien is fidgeting restlessly, idly projecting and dismissing her sword in the air.

Little by little, is the infancy regression about to come?

“How about over there, Yuan? If I blast explosion magic over there, won’t the hidden monsters come out?”

Ellis is aiming at the wall, conjuring flames and lightning in her hands.

Ehei, they’re both about to explode together.

“You’re grown adults, aren’t you? Just hold on a little. I’ll have the food ready soon.”

“Ugh ugh ugh..! What are you talking about since just now?! I’m hungry right now! Are you telling me to throw a tantrum on the floor?”

“Good adults don’t cry~”

Ah, I found it. What I took out from the corner of my backpack was—

Dried meat, dehydrated food, and spices.

“Food? Food!”

Ellis’s face brightened. The scream full of excitement was a bonus.

Originally, according to the Gourmet Society’s policy, the rule is to make main dishes only from food gathered or hunted locally…

But I’m someone who always gets insurance, you see.

That’s why I always pack emergency rations like this for every exploration.

“Well done, excellent. Yuan, you are the best. The most excellent among organic beings.”

“Lilien is right! You’re the savior who saved a knight and a demon lord! To the extent that you could be tagged as a savior!”

Just because I took out emergency rations, these two people are excessively doting on me.

Ah, since one of them is a demon lord, should I express it differently?

“Arte, I’ll leave these two to you for a bit.”

“Understood, Yuan. Please leave my share as well.”

Arte is stopping the two people who are on the verge of going berserk—no, no, this is the chance while she’s appeasing them.

“I’ll start cooking~”

If I delay even a little, those two will plunder the ingredients and chew on them raw.

I quickly spread a small mat on the floor and took out a portable stove from my bag.

Normally I would use firewood gathered from nature, but right now, time is of the essence.

I have no choice but to use simple magical fuel like this.

“Next is… ingredient preparation.”

I reached out my hand towards the meat, one of the ingredients I had taken out beforehand.

Dried meat is tough, but if you use the recipe well, it becomes an excellent dish.

I took out a knife and sliced the meat into bite-sized pieces.

Since it was thoroughly dried, I had to put some effort into it, but thankfully, my strength isn’t on the weaker side.

“Yuan, not yet? Yet? Yet? Yet?”

“Uh-huh, just wait a little longer, Lilien.”

I heard whining voices from behind, but I coolly ignored them.

I put the dried meat into boiling water and sprinkled spices.

The method is to rehydrate it once and then grill it again.

That’s why I can’t go around without carrying spices.

It’s no different from a cheat key that can quickly boost the flavor with strong aroma.

“Good, it’s cooking well. It’s going smoothly.”

Immediately, I took out the dried vegetables, soaked them in water, and began to stir-fry them with the meat.

Sizzle sizzle—

Mmm~ this smell. I already have a feeling it will be a delicious dish.

Look at the oil rendering from the meat even though I didn’t add oil.

“Smells good. Can I eat it right away?”

“Just smelling the food feels like my energy is being recharged. And please wait, Ellis.”

Ellis and Arte are looking at me with faces full of anticipation, smelling the aroma beside me.

“It’s all good, but could you please stop pressing down on both of my shoulders?”

“I don’t want to~ Yuan’s shoulders are cushiony.”

“I agree as well. Therefore, I will reject Yuan’s suggestion.”

“Me too! Me too! I want to rest my face on Yuan’s head!”

Feeling the triple weight of the women, I put the sufficiently cooked meat into bowls and set them with the warm broth.

I put in plenty of spices, so the more you chew, the more the savory flavor will spread.

“Alright, the dungeon-style emergency meat stew is complete.”

“Finally—!”

“I’ll eat well, Yuan!”

“Can I eat?”

“Yes, yes, eat to your heart’s content.”

As soon as those words were finished, the knight, the demon lord, and the automaton swung their spoons as if in battle.

*Slurp, slurp*, only the sound of drinking the stew echoed around.

“Haa… I feel like I can live now.”

Lilien smiled contentedly, diligently moving her spoon.

Ellis also kept exclaiming “It’s delicious” with her cheeks flushed, broth from the stew smeared around her mouth.

“As expected of Yuan! To have this kind of taste even in a situation like this!”

“Yuan, this stew is the best fuel for me. Thanks to it, the energy warning has been lifted.”

Even Arte is satisfied~

That’s a relief. Everyone has come back to their senses a little.

I guess I don’t have to worry about the dungeon being destroyed.

“Come to think of it, Yuan, you seem to have gotten used to it to some extent now?”

While I was cleaning up after eating the stew and resting for a bit, Ellis spoke to me.

“Really? I’m not sure about that.”

Huh? A little bit of stew has splashed around her mouth.

My hand moved first without me realizing.

I lightly wiped the corner of her mouth with my fingertip—

I brought the finger that had touched her mouth to my own without thinking.

*Smooch.*

Okay, processing complete.

Anyway, is she saying my sense of awareness has improved?

“Ah.. no. It’s not that ah…”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Ellis?”

Silence.

It was an action done without much thought, but when I turned my gaze, Ellis was frozen.

Her eyes were wide open, and her ears were turning red up to the tips.

Suddenly, she didn’t know what to do and flailed her hands, then grabbed her ears and fluttered around, looking just like a cute baby animal.

“What’s not that?”

“I don’t know! Idiot! Fool! Slowpoke!”

Her flustered appearance, not knowing what to do like a small bird, is cute. Rather than a demon lord, she feels more like an affectionate younger sister.

I don’t know what it was, but it seems she was embarrassed.

“Something seems to have gotten on me as well. Yuan, please take care of it.”

Arte came closer to me with a completely expressionless face and pointed to the corner of her mouth with her fingertip.

Why are you like this too? Did the stew get inside your machine?

“No, well…”

“Oh my, me too?”

Are you telling me even Lilien is doing that now?

“A knight’s cheek shouldn’t get a scar. Yuan, please?”

“No, there’s nothing around your mouths in the first place?!”

It’s embarrassing that the people who were whining about being hungry just a moment ago are now all sticking their faces out towards me.

Meanwhile, Ellis is still bright red in the face, stomping her feet, and flustered all by herself.

Then, Lilien let out a small laugh, and suddenly lightly patted my head.

“Oh dear, our Yuan. You’ve become quite stout-hearted now, haven’t you?”

“…Huh?”

I looked at her with a puzzled face.

Lilien held a faint smile and added an explanation in a slightly soft voice.

“Perhaps the meaning of ‘gotten used to it’ that Ellis mentioned is that you don’t get scared.”

“…?”

“You used to run away even if a weak monster just came up saying ‘Hold me!,’ didn’t you? But now, even though you’re in the heart of the dungeon, it’s commendable that you’re so nonchalant.”

“Ah.”

That’s what she meant.

Ellis didn’t say I got used to the dungeon; she wanted to say that I don’t get scared anymore.

Slowly narrowing my eyes, I turned my gaze towards Ellis.

She was still covering her cheeks and feeling embarrassed, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

But wasn’t that ‘weak’ monster a Minotaur?

Its size and build were several times mine, yet that’s weak?

I quietly closed my eyes, and then opened them again.

And, I surveyed the three people in order.

A world-class strongest knight,

A world-class strongest demon lord,

On top of that, an ancient automaton who can contend with those two.

…Right.

“Well, just…”

I let out a sigh and lightly shrugged my shoulders.

“I just resigned myself to being among the world’s strongest~”

[Eyecatch!]

Today’s Dish: Dungeon Emergency Stew

In dungeon exploration, a situation like “There’s nothing to eat!” is fatal.

However, if you pack emergency rations well, you can make an excellent meal to the extent that you’d think, “Is this really emergency rations?”

Ingredients are simple!

Dried meat, dried vegetables, and spices.

The key point is to revive the juiciness by putting the meat in boiling water, then stir-frying it to add savory depth.

Since you need to bring out a deep flavor in a short time, note that the spice blend is important.

If the subtle aroma spreading from the broth makes the hungry knight and demon lord impatient, then the cooking is a success.