OreMegane

Mabbo, Fairy, Catfish (Eme), Schwarz13

Enjoy~

16. Megane-kun, Solved the Digits" Mystery

Those digits bother me, but first I"ll have to bring down the redbear. If my prediction is correct, the digits will only get higher from now on.

Nocking the arrow once more, I then draw the bowstring.

—First step, seal its offenses.

「Rrroaaaaar!!」

It raised its upper body and shook its whole body down, packing a blow with the weight of its body from its right foreleg. I look up at the same time it swings its foreleg downwards at me, and I sent an arrow flying towards it.

「Gugyao!?」

The arrow flew exactly towards the stop as intended, pierced through the attacking right foreleg.

—Second step, restrain its feet.

I prepare the second arrow right in front of the redbear whose a.s.sail was interrupted by pain. The target is the knee of its left hind-leg, where its balance is bad while it"s still standing.

「Guuh!?」

—Third step, …is, well, not needed I guess.

His upper body folds just as his knee is shot through, with the head of the red bear falling down as though it collapsed. The distance between me and the redbear is nil. In the scenario where I can touch its nose if I extend my hand, I had already prepared the third arrow.

Anger, upset, and fear. Within the redbear"s eyes which are in line with mine, many emotions flashed by in an instant. It"s forecasting its own death. The moment it realized that it had lost, the iron arrow pierced its head through its right eye.

「…Yosh, it"s over.」

After I shot the third arrow, the digits above its head turned to 「100」. And then, they slowly vanished from the collapsed redbear.

Those digits, most likely, represent my winning percentage. I don"t know how and what it calculates, but I think that"s probably the case. Considering the time I used the wooden arrows, to the time it found me, and until the time I confronted it. It also explains why they fluctuate according to the movement of the redbear.

The reason why I only saw them above Lorobel up until now is that I"ve not met anyone besides her for the last few days as an opponent to put my guard up with. Lorobel is strong. From our very first meeting, I had judged her to be stronger than me. That"s why I"m vigilant towards her, calculating whether or not I could win against her.

That was when those digits appeared.

At first, when she was sitting next to me, the digits were 「52」. Those digits must be representing 「winning percentage by commencing surprise attack」. Conversely, there was a 50% chance of not winning even with the element of surprise. My intuition also told me so. When talking about her, I still couldn"t see my victory even if I fight her with a surprise attack.

Moreover, at that time she was not putting up any guard. Nevertheless, the winning percentage was 50% only. She"s an opponent I can"t face head-on.

Next is when she was in my room. Lorobel"s digit when she was sitting side to side with Laila was about 「31」, I guess? Simply put, that was because she and I were facing each other. The reason why it was lower than when I was beside her is simply that I was right under her nose. Any suspicious movement was out in the light.

And lastly, the time she wore the Megane. The digits jumped to 「74」. Thinking it normally, it must be because she was overjoyed when she got the 「Megane」 that she lowered her attention from me.

If I think of it like that, all the dots connected.

—I mean, if I put my mind into Laila who just got down from the tree, the digits over her head show 「99」 after all.

Un. If it is Laila, I have confidence that I can win against her in any circ.u.mstance.

In that manner, it won"t work against the target I don"t recognize as an 「opponent」, but if I"m conscious of it, maybe they will show up on every living being.

「…Y, you see! I"m more skilled at 『Flame Sphere』! If you think that that was all that I could then… How do I put it… it"ll feel like I"m, you know… that!」

Lalia is blabbering something.

I wanted to test out a few things about those digits, but let"s put them aside for now.

「Un, got that. Then, help me disa.s.semble it.」

「Deny what I said, will you! Give me your thoughts!」

No, I don"t have any thoughts about you.

「Since you can use magic, it"s so cool.」

「Those words alone are filled with sarcasm, but you put no heart into them, didn"t you!?」

「Ah~, the fur is wasted~」

「Hear me out! Show me some interest, will you!? Sarcasm is fine, just say something!」

When the redbear"s fur is washed, tanned, and finished with a softener, the bristle that could stop blades will become as smooth as a baby"s b.u.t.t. It"s said that it is the most valuable part of the redbears. If the fur is cut so meaninglessly and randomly like this, then the reward amount is sure to fall. What a waste.

「…You see, even though the outcome is like this, I"m glad that I came.」

Behind me who had already pulled out my disa.s.sembly knife and started to skin the redbear, Laila spoke something.

「Look, the people from my team, you see, they"re quite strong. Something like redbears could be cut down with a single swing. They also can defeat stronger magic beasts easily. Thanks to that, I had been misled that redbears are weak. I was wrong. They"re actually strong.」

Hmm, I see.

「Isn"t it a good thing I can learn something out of this?」

Rather than that, I wish you"d come and help me disa.s.semble this already.

「I still can"t be a.s.sociated with the strong. I haven"t reached that stage yet.」

U~n. Won"t you fetch me a pail of water~?

「T-, that aside… Megane sure is strong, huh.」

Aah, un.

「I think 『this Megane』 is amazing.」

「…?」

The words may come out unnaturally, but you don"t need to understand them.

If I have this 「Megane」, anything might really possible for me. I might etch my name as a world renown hero. Although, It sounds like a bother, so I won"t do that.

I briskly pull the fur off the redbear, then harvested the magic stone that every magic beasts have without exception. These two are the most important parts, as they could be sold for a high price. Next, I cut out the delicious portions of its meat. These are also the objects of reward.

This redbear is a heavy-cla.s.s as it is, so Laila and I alone can"t bring all of it back. The parts we can"t sell and the parts that would sell cheap are to be left behind. The rest—Ah, right. There"s something I can"t forget about.

「Do you know about meat patty[1]?」

Laila who was blabbering something joined me to dress the redbear, and the process finally ended. It"s such a scene where enormous lumps of meat and offals are presented, but we can"t leave it be. The smell of the blood might allure beasts from afar, so let"s dig a hole to hide them.

However, before that.

「 Meat patty? What"s that?」  

「It"s a cuisine where you finely mince the meat, mix and lump them together, then grill it.」

「…No, never heard of it.」

It seems that, despite imagining what I had explained to her, she couldn"t think of any dish that fit the description.

「Is that so.」

Then, is it really Shishou"s original dish? Not only Shishou taught me the how-to with a smug, 「I invented it, you know」 was what he said so proudly, I hardly could believe it though. Far from looking smug, he looked so suspicious instead.

Well, putting its authenticity aside, it"s been a while since I"ve eaten a patty. As I thought, it"s something I can"t miss out on when I hunt a redbear.

「Wanna eat?」

「I don"t get what you"re offering, but… Can I call it a meal?」

「Sure.」

「Then count me in.」

Yosh, two person"s portion it is.

I carve out the lean meat from one of the redbear"s rib. Because redbears"s meat is tough and rubbery everywhere, I was taught that this part is the most tender. I take enough for two, wrap it with the leaf that has the odor-removing effect, then bring it with me. This will do. After burying the rest of the redbear, like the bones, viscera, and etcetera, we leave that place.

As we enter the vicinity of the river where I usually do my hunts, I wash off the blood from my hands, disa.s.sembly knife, and the like in the river. I also wash the rib meat that is wrapped up by the leaf. Since it"s noon, let"s have a meal here.

「Could you boil some water?」

「Ah, un.」

While they"re indeed small, a set of cooking utensils is an indispensable item for Adventurers. For the record, I was the one who brought them, but Laila used her own pot to boil the water from the river.

In the meantime, I prepare the food. I mince the well-washed rib meat finely, chop the odor-removing leaf, slice up the big green onion [2] I brought, then mixed all the ingredients into one clump and added just enough salt. The trick is to knead it with your fingers. One for each person"s portion. The patty that had been made into a circle and flattened is plunged into the boiled water—with the boiled water being thrown away soon after.

「Eh, you"re throwing it away?」

「Un. It"s only to remove the fat.」

Removing the water from the patty with a dry cloth, I then grill it carefully. When it"s finished grilling, it"s complete. The delicious smell of the melted fat then entered our nose.

「I also have some bread.」

Eating it between two slices of bread is delicious.

「Your prep is good… And yet you give no attention to me.」

It"s different between this and that. Though it"s just me wanting to eat some tasty meat.

「Redbears" meat, huh… I don"t really like it. Should I say, the beast"s smell is too strong.」

「Aah, I got that. I also thought the same」

I put the well-baked patty that had a clear burn mark between two slices of bread, then give it to Laila. My own share will be grilled right after. The saucepan is small, so I can"t grill two at the same time.

「I"m not expecting much from this…. Hmm? Eh, tasty!? Eeh, is this that redbear"s meat!?」

That"s right.

You surprised?

I also got surprised the first time I ate it.

It seems that if a chef properly cooks it then it"ll become even tastier, but such a refined way of food preparation can"t be found in my village. The redbear I ate in my childhood was tough and smelly and left me with a bad impression, but after I ate this patty Shishou taught, it became extremely delicious.

「The smell will completely disappear if we let the meat sit out in the leaves a little bit more, though.」

「Un, it still lingered a bit, but it"s so weak that I take no mind to it! The meat"s flavor is decently felt! It"s delicious!」

Is that so. Glad to hear it. I"ll eat one too.

Thus, the redbear hunt has come to an end.

I"m planning to investigate those digits further after this.

Translator"s Note