Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Some time after that.

“You seem to have adapted faster than I expected.”

“That is thanks to having had a similar experience before. I spent quite a long time attaching something in place of a missing leg and walking by controlling it with aura. I even fought through several fairly fierce battles in that state.”

As Edelred added that, he lifted his right leg slightly as if to show it off. As I looked at the leg armor tinged with deep green - for now, we had decided to call it a walking aid - I found it rather unexpected.

Strange, for a swordsman who was supposed to be completely narrow-minded. Usually, they used aura only to strengthen weapons or their bodies and never even thought of trying to use it for anything else. Especially something that required delicate and complex control, like joint areas. Was that not the sort of field those stubborn blockheads hated extremely?

Of course, if it was necessary for manipulating a weapon, they would probably cheerfully try to handle it somehow. Swordsmen, as a species, were all combat maniacs.

Then was Edelred...... perhaps not completely closed off, even though he was a swordsman? Considering he had thought to use aura for walking.

Since I felt a little interested, I quietly lifted my hood and began stealing glances at Edelred. Then my eyes met his, and my body jolted in surprise. Edelred stared blankly for a moment, then smiled softly.

“In any case, thank you for accepting my proposal. Knowing that you will accompany me truly puts my heart at ease. This time, I feel as though something may finally work out.”

“Uh...... well.......”

It was troubling if he felt reassured on his own. I was simply trying to fulfill my mission as “a slave called a disciple,” namely, completing the research assignment.

In truth, my sincere wish was to return to the Magic Tower like this and shut myself in for about four hundred years. That was only natural, because recently I had been wandering around outside so much that I felt as if I would die from exhaustion. On top of that, I had unexpectedly faced the past known as “the source formula of the magic scroll,” and I had been floundering in the hollow feeling of wondering whether I could not just die outright.

But what could I do? A research assignment connected to this bastard had been added. When Master said I would be rolled around, what choice did I have but to roll? Moreover, Edelred was walking contamination itself. Although I had isolated the part around his right leg, the fact that this bastard had regressed had not disappeared.

What that meant was that if this bastard set his mind to it, he could change the future however he liked. Then the order of the world would helplessly fall into disorder, and in the end, a great disaster would arrive.

Knowing that perfectly well, how could I possibly not follow this bastard......?

Sigh, all because of this damned escaped cookie, I could not even rest properly at home. What was this mess? Feeling somehow wronged, I looked resentfully at Edelred. He tilted his head with a puzzled face, then tried to meet my eyes with his characteristic friendly smile. Startled, I unconsciously pulled my hood low and flinched away from his gaze.

How he interpreted that, I did not know, but Edelred made a strange expression, sank into thought, and then suddenly stopped walking.

“I thought you looked tired for some reason....... Come to think of it, you must have been awake since yesterday. You chased after me when I ran out in the middle of the night, and then you stayed awake all day today. It would be best to rest here for a while.”

“Huh? No, there’s no need to.......”

But before I could stop him, Edelred immediately began preparing to sleep outdoors, gathering twigs for a campfire and choosing a place to lie down. I hadn’t said a single word about resting, but apparently, inside Edelred’s head, it had already been processed as my agreement to camp.

Seeing things like that, he certainly did seem to have a stubborn side like a swordsman.......

Thinking this and that, I sat roughly on the piece of log Edelred had brought over as a substitute for a chair. As I marveled that he had somehow found something just right to sit on, Edelred lit a campfire with aura and spoke to me.

“Rest here for a moment. I will catch something nearby that can be used for dinner.”

“There’s no need to catch anything.”

Because I already had plenty of meat and vegetables. Shrugging once, I took out the design codes I had stored in my mind and spread them before Edelred. They were the design codes of the grotesque creatures I had collected while chasing him.

After sorting out the ones in good condition and roughly restoring the crushed parts, the design codes shining purple took on proper forms and changed into tree fruits, leafy greens, and dead animals.

“This is.......”

“The animals and plants you contaminated earlier. I restored them properly enough, so we can use these for dinner.”

Then he would not have to go to the trouble of looking for dinner for no reason, and these things, too, would not have met a futile end, but rather an end as food. How efficient and rational. Was this not a proposal perfectly tailored for a swordsman?

Contrary to my thoughts, Edelred seemed not particularly inclined toward my proposal.

“Is this all right? Eating things that were once seems like a dangerous idea.”

“It’s fine. I deleted or corrected all the contaminated parts. Now these are just ordinary ingredients.”

“But...... what if the contamination transfers by any chance? We would become as we are. I am already an , so becoming a little more contaminated would not change anything, but you are not an , are you? Are you not thinking of this too lightly? I know that your abilities are clearly different from those of any mage I have met until now. But danger is still danger. It would be better to think a little more carefully......”

Chatter, chatter. As I listened to the string of nagging, exhaustion rushed over me all at once. I took back my thought that, despite being a swordsman, he might not be a completely narrow-minded blockhead. This bastard was a swordsman in name and reality. Seeing how he was fixated only on the fact that they had been and could not think of anything else.

“By that logic, do you think anything newly caught would be fine? If you’re an , then whatever you catch will be contaminated too. Eating that would contaminate us just the same!”

“Th-That is.......”

Edelred wore a stunned expression, as if the thought had not occurred to him at all. After stammering for a moment, he flinched and began glancing at the log I was sitting on. Apparently, he was bothered by the fact that he, “an ,” had obtained it.

As if to show him, I tapped the log a few times and added casually,

“It’s not contaminated anywhere. It’s perfectly fine.”

“I-Is that so......?”

“I said it is.”

“Then stop being stubborn and prepare these,” I added, holding out the restored things. Edelred hesitated with a strange expression before taking them. He still seemed half-doubtful, but in any case, he had apparently decided to trust my words for now.

Around the time the process of trimming and cooking the ingredients was nearly finished, I picked up one fruit and took a large bite to show Edelred.

“Um...... are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

When I answered while chewing and swallowing the flesh without any issue, Edelred let out a short hum and picked up a fruit, following my example. After taking a bite and chewing with a subtle expression for a moment, he raised his eyebrows and nodded.

“It seems there is no particular problem with eating it. It is ordinary fruit.”

“I told you so.”

As I answered lightly and picked up another fruit to eat, Edelred turned toward the meat set over the campfire with a somewhat moved expression. The meat, making a sizzling, oily sound, seemed to become wrapped in deep green light, then was cut into bite-sized pieces and neatly placed in a wooden bowl - which Edelred had carved from wood on the spot.

“It is cooked well enough. You should try some too.”

“You eat it all. I don’t eat meat.”

“Hm? Hm....... Are you perhaps a vegetarian?”

“It’s not exactly that....... I just don’t really crave meat.”

Perhaps because I had memories of barely surviving after being mixed into a pile of corpses, including livestock, I had naturally come to avoid meat. There was even a time when I nearly became meat myself and was almost eaten. Still, I could eat seafood or eggs, as long as it was not the meat of birds or mammals.

Of course, just because my eating habits were like this, I had no intention of interfering with what others ate. Master had only said, “I am fairly picky with food as well,” and had never nagged me this way or that about my eating habits. Besides, I knew well enough that swordsmen like Edelred had to eat mostly meat for the sake of strengthening their bodies.

“So eat whatever you want. I’m just...... picky, and I don’t particularly intend to fix that.”

“I see...... very well.”

Edelred nodded and said, “Then I will not refuse,” before beginning to eat the pieces of meat. The plate emptied in an instant, and Edelred reached for the chunk of meat still over the campfire.

Crunch, crunch. The thoroughly roasted meat, dripping oil, disappeared into Edelred’s mouth. He tore into it so swiftly and neatly that not only the flesh, but even the fascia attached to the bones vanished into his mouth in an instant.

Wow, he really eats well. How can he polish it off so cleanly? There is not even a bit of grease left around his mouth. Now that I look, his hands are clean too. But it did not seem like Edelred had sucked up even the grease......

Out of half curiosity, I observed him closely and noticed something like a thin green veil wrapped around Edelred’s hands and mouth. Now that I saw it, this bastard was using aura like a napkin to prevent grease from getting on him.

It was unbelievable. A swordsman who used aura like that? I had never seen or heard of such a thing. Master probably had never seen a swordsman like this bastard either. No, really. What kind of person was this?

“Hm? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

“Uh......? Uh, ah, no?! There’s nothing on it?!”

Startled, I turned my gaze away, hurriedly pulled my hood down, and began hastily eating the fruit and vegetables. I was trying, in my own way, to pretend nothing was wrong, but the belated thought that I must have looked suspicious made my hands tremble.

And Edelred quietly looked at me.

“.......”

“......What?”

“......No. Let us finish eating.”

“O-Okay.......”

Crunch, crunch. Crisp, crisp. In the awkward silence, the sounds of chewing meat and chewing fruit and vegetables continued.